by T E Olivant
“Please Lisanne, it’s not safe.”
I turned my back on him and began the slow process of putting the mask and gloves back on. I was a little disappointed in my friend, but I didn’t want to hurt him. He had been through a lot: no wonder he was scared. I leaned toward him to try to explain why I had needed to feel real air on my face, to let my fingers touch something other than artificial fabric, but he had lain down to sleep. Kyrk glanced over at him, and gave what might have been a shrug. This annoyed me even more – what did he know of Sam and what he’d been through in the city? After checking that my suit was sealed tight I lay down with my back to them both and waited for sleep to come.
I woke up to my second morning on the frozen White. I pushed myself up from the hard compacted snow to see that Kyrk was already awake and feeding the fire. Not wanting to move yet, I let my gloved fingers trace patterns on the semi-melted top layer of snow. I found myself wondering what was underneath. My histories told me that the White had buried everything, a whole world of people and cities, animals and plants. But the histories had been silent about which bit of the world our city had been built under. Was I walking over a frozen sea? Or a jungle, with monkeys and other strange creatures I had only ever seen on a screen, but that visited my dreams. I peered down at the white, formless snow in the hope of seeing something underneath, but all it did was make me dizzy.
I looked at the outsider as he sat by the fire. He was so still that I could barely tell if he was breathing. A Hunter, I thought, probably needs to conserve his energy. I should try to be like him. The more I acted like this man, I realised, the closer I would be to figuring out how to survive on the White.
“Kyrk.” I spoke quietly not to wake Sam, but the man’s head whipped round instantly at the sound. “Can I ask you a question?”
He looked at me with those deep dark eyes and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to speak. Then he shrugged.
“Okay.” He said.
“Do you know what’s under the White?” He smiled, and the teeth he exposed were large and sharp.
“We have a clan called the Diggers and their job is to look under the ice and snow to find anything useful underneath. Mainly they find old trees that we thaw and use for building. But sometimes they find other things, from other times.”
I had a hundred questions to ask him, but Sam awoke at that moment and Kyrk turned back to the fire.
It only took us a few minutes to eat and pack and before we knew it we were back out on the White. As we followed behind Kyrk to wherever he was taking us I found I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. At the start, I was simply fascinated by his strangeness. I knew Angel Sam was too, and every so often he would catch me looking at the man and shrug, as if to say, who could have expected this?
But somehow, I felt like I should have known that there were people out on the White. Of course, I knew from my mother’s face that the Historians were no strangers to deceit, but never for a moment did I suspect that they had hid an entire race from us.
I almost fell at the thought and reached out to grasp Angel Sam’s arm.
“They knew!” I hissed to him, checking that Kyrk was too far ahead to hear.
“What are you talking about?”
“The leaders, they knew about Kyrk and the others like him. The message that I found, it mentioned sightings and coordinates. It must have been talking about Kyrk’s people.”
Sam frowned and I could see the thoughts running through his head.
“It’s possible, but we can’t know for sure. Anyway, what does it matter?”
I watched Sam trudge off after Kyrk. I was right, I knew it in my bones. The existence of these strange creatures had to be one of the secrets contained in the coded messages that whispered through the wires and cables of the city. It had to be. No wonder they didn’t want us to know – how would they keep us prisoner underground if we knew that people lived out here in the White?
And they were so different. The most obvious difference was the hair that covered every inch of his body. Kyrk wore no clothing, and his nakedness would have been embarrassing had he not had especially long fur to hide his modesty. I smiled for a moment as I caught myself wondering if they he was just like a normal man underneath the fur, then felt glad that he was striding so far ahead he didn’t notice me blushing.
His thick fur moved gently in the wind. His legs were long and muscular and his shoulders were broad and strong.
“He’s so strong he could probably carry both of us,” I whispered to Sam once as we walked.
“Or pull our arms off,” he hissed back and I didn’t say anymore.
After a while I began to notice the similarities instead of the differences between us, and in some ways these were more unsettling.
His face, though stern, was not cruel looking, and I couldn’t help but feel that this Kyrk at least was not some kind of savage. He had saved Sam from the wolves and he had kept us with him, even though we were clearly slowing him down. Every mile or so of White we travelled he would look back, realise how far behind we had fallen and stop and wait for us to catch up.
When we stopped to rest, I tried my best to help, but I knew so little of the landscape that I was more of a hindrance. Kyrk showed us how to stuff snow into the packs that we kept strapped next to our chest so that it would thaw as we walked, and even this was a revelation.
It pained me how much more we needed him than he needed us. I wished I had my computer so that I could take notes on everything he said and did. This is what our Archives should have been filled with, not useless stories from the past. We had remembered everything that we should have forgotten, and lost everything that would have been useful. For a horrible moment I wondered if we really deserved to survive at all. And then I thought of Sam and I sharing a giggle at work, or Bright Honey and her mate holding hands in the canteen, and I reminded myself that there were things worth saving. We just had to learn how to change.
When we stopped for lunch Sam lay down on the snow with a groan, and I worried that he would never get up again. There were thick clouds overhead – did that mean more snow? The Hunter, however, was pleased.
“This means we can have a fire even in daylight. The smoke will be hidden in the clouds.”
I dragged the protesting Sam into a sitting position while the stranger made the fire. I watched him carefully: this was something that we had to learn how to do.
Kyrk reached into his pack and brought out a cream coloured substance. He scooped a hollow into the snow and filled it with the stuff that was half liquid, half solid. He must have felt my eyes on the back of his neck because he turned around.
“Deer fat,” he said, as if that explained anything, but I nodded anyway. I didn’t want him to think I was stupid. He reached for another smaller packet in his bag and brought out two long thin objects. He rubbed them together so quickly that the muscles in his biceps strained under his fur. Within minutes a small flame appeared and he held it to the fat. It lit quickly and burned with a smoky flame. He blew out the thin firelighters and put them carefully back in his bag.
“Wood is precious, you mustn’t waste it,” he explained. I smiled back but he had already moved on, sorting out his pack and generally getting organised. I looked at Sam beside me, but he had curled up ready to sleep.
“I need to talk to you, Sam.” He grunted, rubbing his eyes from tiredness.
“It’s something the Physician told me.”
“That you’re a ninety, I know.” His voice was childish and petulant.
“No, idiot.” I smacked him on the arm and he turned to look at me in shock. I didn’t care; he had to get over the stupid ninety thing. There were more important things to worry about.
“The Physician said he wanted a revolution.”
“What do you mean?”
“That thing you found, the weapon, remember?”
Sam nodded. “I can hardly forget. It saved my life.”
“Well the Physician found s
ome too. Only he thinks that the…” I swallowed. “He thinks that those graded below a seventy are planning a revolution.”
Sam snorted. “I only wish that were true. The man is delusional.”
“Probably. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is he’s got a solution to the problem.”
“Really? What?”
“He wants all the... all the lower grades to be sent out. He wants to restart the population with only eighties.”
Whatever Sam had been expecting, this wasn’t it.
“What do you mean sent out?”
“He wants to send them out into the White.”
“But they’ll all die!”
“I know. He’s suggesting nothing less than murder. And guess who’s the handy ninety he wants to lead his little war?”
I picked at the pieces of meat angrily with my fingers. I looked up at a strange sound, and I realised that Sam was laughing.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” I said, appalled at his attitude. I had just told him about a plan to murder our friends and family. It didn’t seem like much of a joke to me.
“It’s not funny, it’s just... Well, he couldn’t have chosen worse, could he? You’re the only eighty – sorry ninety – that I’ve ever met that treated me like a proper human being. And you’re kind. A good friend. The last person on earth to do anything like that.”
I couldn’t speak. Sam’s words were so strong and he said them with such a fierce expression that I felt my whole body flood with warmth.
“But we need to think about this,” he went on, his face back in a familiar frown. “Now that you’ve run off, what will the Physician do? Did he seem the type to just give up on his plan?”
I thought about the mad look he’d had in his eyes when he talked about the city.
“No,” I said quietly, “He didn’t.”
Sam nodded. “Then we have to work out a way to warn the city. Only I can’t see how to do that from outside.”
I felt a little ashamed that I hadn’t considered warning the city about the danger the Physician posed. But I was still hurt from my exile, and it was hard to feel pity for the people that had rejected me.
“You mean we have to go back there?”
Sam nodded. I looked around at the White. How could I ever have been afraid to live out here? The White meant freedom, possibilities. The city underground meant only death and decay. I could not go back. Besides, the truth was that they had sent me away, and despite all my words to the contrary, I could not forgive them for that.
I turned to Sam and I felt a wrench in my heart. Was it so hard to have everything I wanted? For some reason my eyes flicked to Kyrk sat motionless in front of the fire. What if I stayed here? I would never see Sam again.
I thought of the Physician, with his broken hands in his cave of ice. He had gone mad on the outside. But surely his madness had been because he couldn’t let go of the city. If I left it behind me maybe I had a chance. Could I do it? It was selfish, but maybe that was the only way I knew how to survive.
“Time to move,” Kyrk grunted from the corner, and I started. I had forgotten he was there. I looked at Sam and he raised his eyebrows - he was obviously thinking the same thing. How much had the stranger heard, and what did he think of our story? As I forced my tired legs to stand up, I thought that it didn’t matter anyway. He probably didn’t understand any of it.
Chapter 12: Kyrk
It seemed like the aliens had just as many problems in their city that we had with our clans. I made a note of their tales of the infighting in my mind - I still wasn’t sure whether or not to trust them. Every time I thought of that small smooth object Sam had used to subdue the wolves, I reminded myself that they were not as harmless as they looked. Yes, I thought, remember any weaknesses that they let slip, we may need to know them in the future.
I got them up at first light and we started another long day of walking. Slow, they were so slow. My muscles itched to stretch out and stride back to the Peak, but I had to match my pace to the strangers. At least I had plenty of time to replenish my supplies – I found several crops of lichen and mosses that I stored carefully in my pack. Raw they tasted dreadful, but added to soup they were just about palatable. With my new companions I knew we needed all the food we could find.
The girl exceeded my expectations and was actually faster than Sam at walking on the ice. Her legs were shorter but she walked with more confidence. Sam walked as if he expected to fall with every step, and he often did. At first, they had been buoyed on by their excitement at reuniting, telling their stories to one another. As the shadows lengthened the girl showed more and more curiosity about the White. In some ways I was glad that she wanted to know more about my world, but her questions only slowed us down.
“What’s that?” the girl had asked as she pointed at yet another everyday object, a spindly brown shrub.
“That’s a tree,” I said, trying to be patient.
“Trees are tall.” The girl replied, staring at the stunted black growth in accusation.
“Not now and not here.” I replied and kept walking.
The questions stopped after a few hours. I felt stiff and sore, and I could only imagine how the strangers felt: their small, fragile bodies simply were not made for the White.
By the late afternoon we were all tired, and I was growing short tempered.
“Can’t you walk any faster,” I barked at Sam for the third time in an hour. Sam grimaced but just kept plodding forward, falling further and further behind. I knew his legs must be in agony, but we needed to pick up the pace.
“Leave him alone,” came a quick hiss from my right. “He’s going as fast as he can.”
I had almost forgotten about the girl who had so far managed to match my stride.
“It’s not fast enough.”
She grimaced and went back to help her friend. She whispered in his ear and he picked up the pace a little. The girl glared at me, but she knew I was right.
“What were you doing out here anyway, so far away from the rest of your people?” She asked as she dragged Sam alongside us.
I probably should have said nothing, but I heard myself say, “My parents died last year. A friend told me that they were killed out here on the edge of the White.”
“I’m sorry,” the girl looked me in the eye and seemed genuinely upset.
“No one knows what happened so I came out here to find out.” And then I met you and it ruined everything, I thought silently. “I wanted to go home and tell my brother and sister what happened to our parents.”
“You have a brother and sister?”
“Yes, they’re still children so I had to leave them behind with my old clan.”
The girl was silent for a few moments.
“So you came out here to find out what happened to your parents?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I stopped dead in the snow and turned around so suddenly that I almost walked straight into them. “What do you mean why? Because they were killed...”
“It just seems to me like knowing how they died won’t make them... well, it won’t bring them back.”
“Oh really. And what would you know about it?”
“Only that I lost not just my family when I was sent into exile, but my city, my entire world. Yeah, what do I know.” Sam looked on open mouthed as she stood in front of me, her eyes flashing with rage. “Don’t you think you’d be better off looking after your brother and sister than looking for revenge?”
I felt an icy shard of anger but simply walked past her without another word. How dare this stranger judge me? I told myself not to let her words bother me, but they echoed in my head as we trekked onwards.
We were getting ever closer to the Peak and I almost let myself hope that we might make it when I thought I saw something on the edge of the horizon. I quickened my steps only to hear a small cry beside me as Lisanne lost her footing. As she stumbled I reached around her waist to ste
ady her. She was so light, but I could feel strong muscles under her suit. She pulled away quickly. Don’t say thank you, I thought, and strode on faster than was necessary.
As I walked on I saw Angel Sam watching us. He was too far away for me to read his expression, but I didn’t like the way his stance stiffened before he turned and followed.
I looked at the horizon again. Sure enough, the shapes I had seen earlier were moving. People. It wouldn’t be long before they would smell us. We were in trouble.
“How do I look?” Lisanne said, a twitch of a smile on her mouth.
“Fine,” I said, although they looked anything but. The extra furs had covered their suits, but they wouldn’t bear up to close scrutiny. The strangers looked nervous and I tried to think of something reassuring to say, but the others would be here in moments.
“Try not to speak,” I explained, “and keep your faces hidden. I’ll tell them you’re sick so they don’t get too close.”
“I thought you wanted us to meet your people,” Sam said, his voice trembling a little.
“These people may not be from my clan, I don’t know how they will react if they see you.”
I took a spare fur from my pack and wrapped the wolf skin more tightly around Lisanne’s head and shoulders. I met her eyes and she nodded and pulled the hood down around her face. I didn’t need to tell her that they could be in danger if they were recognised.
Just before we were in view I pulled the gun from my pack and handed it to Angel Sam.
“Hide this under your furs,” I whispered. I pushed Sam and Lisanne behind me and stood a few feet in front of them. Hopefully whoever we met would just think I was an arrogant Seeker ashamed of his sick relations. When the first man came close enough for me to identify however I knew we were in trouble. Doctors were too clever to be fooled by my tricks.