by T. Wyse
“Mostly for the privs. Browns weren’t welcome,” Craig bit.
Wendy became silent then, her glowing blue face staring through the table.
"From what I've been able to figure out, it's kind of philosophical technology.” Craig changed the subject. “The idea is that through looking at engineering with the unique perspective, that it will help us become inventors, and free thinkers." Craig added.
Amelie thought back to the title of the textbook. “From what I've been able to figure out' indeed.”
"He really knows more than he should." Wendy glanced worriedly at him, the life in her expression returning. "Anyways," Her voice grew soft as blue lights had begun to filter into the gymnasium, "so the people, the ones remaining after the wave, the ones taking the special classes, they were all called to assembly in secret by The Professor. It turns out that he was working on some special machine, and they've been the ones keeping the power on using the generator. The only thing is..." Wendy paused as the server brought their three bowls of rations again.
"Only thing is...the greasejocks, as time went on, they changed. It's not easy to pinpoint it, but at first the idea was that we were all one, you know unity and all that. Well the greasejocks thought they'd mark themselves, to set themselves apart from the rest of us. The crop managers sort of ripped them off, thinking it was just a statement of 'power' or something like that. It's not though, not about power."
Craig took over, his meal dug into. "See, some of them didn't want it, and they got thrown out. Melissan's a different case, because she requested to be in charge of the cleaning crew."
"She's one of them?" Amelie asked, thinking of the older girl, there hadn’t been anything she had noticed.
"No, that's just it. She's almost totally normal. She's just like she was before, well a little more on edge, but just the same. The rest of them, well some of them were good people, nice lot, not so much now." Craig finished. "Just...stay out of their way if you can help it, and stay out of the library near mealtimes, and after dinner. It's basically their territory. You're lucky you didn't run into the worst of them."
"What book did you take out, anyways?" Wendy added finally.
"I'm not sure, it was a primer textbook of some kind." Amelie answered. "It didn't actually say what it was." She lied, allowing Craig his illusion of knowledge.
"Oh, that sounds like the second year text for the pre-set of the Macca special courses." Craig declared. "We've both got those ourselves." He mumbled, apparently realizing his subtle boast had sputtered and died.
"Is that...bad?" Amelie asked.
"No, actually it's good if anything. They'd probably see it as you trying to aspire to be one of them." Craig nodded comfortingly.
Wendy seemed to relax at that information, then noticing something from the front of the room said, "It looks like he's speaking tonight."
Craig made a motion, twisting his back to see. "Looks like." He turned back to Amelie. "Guess you're going to lose your anonymity then." He gave a halfhearted smile.
"Who’s talking?" Amelie asked, looking between them.
"Professor Barret. He's been doing talks now and then, introducing new people to the group, that sort of thing." Craig replied.
Bright white flared from the front of the room, drowning out the spectral blue faces of those in the gym. The pulse faded, and Amelie's eyes began to adjust, there was a stage at the front of the room, previously obscured in the darkness. The white light shone forward from the stage, the tables closest to it being completely illuminated within its glow, petering out towards the back, to the point that Amelie and the two at her table were still only lit by blue.
The gym's din of chattering died down almost completely with the coming of the light, completely dying out when the form of Professor Barret took the stage. Amelie looked back, towards Melissan's table without knowing why really. The little girl, E, was staring at her. Their gazes met briefly, the little girl's eyes shining unearthly blue in the darkness, then breaking the synergy between them, looked elsewhere.
Amelie spied a blue light accompanying Lyssa, leaning against the wall next to the kitchen's door. She stood there, cross armed and skeptical of some occurrence yet to happen.
The Professor was as impeccably groomed as ever, at least as far as Amelie could tell from the distance. After a moment of scoping the room, he began to speak.
"Students, faculty, and guests." He began. He used no visible microphone equipment, his voice travelled through the room, echoing in the darkness. "As each day draws to a close, we find ourselves better off than when the last began. Our group, our family, grows by the day, and before I go over the news at hand, I would like to introduce them." He nodded to himself.
"First, our roving group has confirmed that the reports of a pocket of survivors to the northeast has been confirmed, and we have established relations with them. We have three of them as guests here tonight." He made a gesture towards a table in the second line away from the light of the stage. The three of them stood up with some prompting, looking rather unsure and uncomfortable for the attention. The room erupted in applause towards their guests. "I trust you will do your best to show them what hospitality we have." The three sat down abruptly.
"With their help we have managed to procure both soy and grass seeds. We have set plans with the crop managers to start units of plantation for both within the week." There was halfhearted applause.
"Secondarily, Melissan, any progress on our little straggler?" He asked the darkness. Craig grimaced, Wendy made a wincing sound.
"No sir." Melissan stood up, completely unafraid. "I guess she's still a bit shy." Melissan was a blue specter in the darkness, standing opposed to the glowing light at the other end of the gymnasium.
"Ah well." Professor Barret gave a pointed sigh. "Still no name, then?" His figure was darkened by the illumination surrounding him.
"No sir. Again, I'm sorry sir." The blue specter replied.
"Not at all, I'm sure she'll speak to us, when she is well and ready to." He nodded, and the blue figure shrunk back to its sitting position. There was no reaction to this, Amelie sensed some kind of intangible undertone to the exchange, perhaps best left for later.
"Lastly but certainly not least..." The darkened figure started, and Amelie's stomach fell, "We have Amelie here, where are you?" He made a sweeping gesture.
Amelie stood up, unilluminated. "Here sir." She piped when he continued his seeking movements through the crowd.
"Ah, hard to see you in the darkness and in the back too." He declared. "Amelie there survived the wastes herself, without a group to speak of. She managed to come to our doors in the night. Gave dear Mrs. Roberts quite a scare, at that." There was a round of subdued laughter, and a halfhearted applause.
Amelie stood there, stunned. She was unsure of what to make of the lies being told.
"You can sit back down now." The darkened figure said jokingly. There was a louder round of laughter this time. Amelie sat down, glad that her embarrassment was hidden in the darkness.
"Now then, onto business." The voice in the light declared finally. "First, and most key, our crops are still performing beyond all expectations. Not only are we going to be able to sustain ourselves, we are going to be able to increase rationing significantly." There was fairly loud applause at this statement. "Even better, our crops of corn and wheat will be ready to harvest soon, they are growing wildly beyond expectations." The darkened figure made a motioning figure towards the tables to his left, and one of them stood up, facing him.
"Thanks to some hard, extra work by Cohen and his team, we have managed to create machinery that will be able to act as a mill of sorts. This means that we will be able to produce flour from the wheat, which means we'll be able to make rudimentary breads shortly after the wheat is harvested." There was a roaring applause to this fact, dying off slowly, then cut off completely when The Professor spoke once more.
"Beyond that, I expect that we will be able to oper
ate at half power within the month, and our water situation should also improve to three quarters capacity. Which means, of course, that we'll be able to use more for laundering and such." This, too, was met with a fair round of applause.
"As always, we are doing our best, and expect you to do your best." The figure concluded.
There was a singular, single syllabled cheer from the crowd unified. Even Wendy and Craig joined in on the invisible cue.
The lighted figure's arms went to its sides, and began speaking. The words were said with a practiced mantra, echoed by the lighted blue wisps making up the crowd.
"We will not surrender to fear, ignorance, madness. Each day we fight to survive, to maintain, and thrive. Never to cease to better ourselves, and the world in which we live. We will not turn away those in need, even if we ourselves are in need. We will not cease our journeys; when we have lost the power to walk, we shall crawl, when we cannot crawl, our will itself will move us. We will not surrender, for tomorrow we will walk again."
The light of the stage died, the gymnasium was again lit only by the personal lights of those seated.
Amelie sat there, at a loss for words.
"Yeah, kind of silly I guess." Craig said in unnecessary apology. "We sorta came up with it, early on. It helps a little, you know?"
"Gotta do what you can." Wendy said, her voice wavering. "Hope keeps us sane, work keeps us too busy to think too hard."
Even without knowledge, they still clung to hope. It made Amelie sad, but sparked the coals of her own hope at the same time.
The room began to empty out, the blue orbs slowly filtered out of the darkness, into the dimly lit hallway beyond.
"Before I forget again..." It was Lyssa, she had come behind her silently. Amelie turned to her, seeing a second blue lantern dangling from her hand in an offertory gesture.
"Thank you." Amelie smiled with a silly excitement at receiving the gift. The lantern was cool to the touch and incredibly light. The blue orb flickered slightly as it changed hands, but shone true once again as Amelie stared at the small thing clasped in her hand.
"They last a very long time indeed, and I'll understand if you leave it on at night." Lyssa said sadly. "Turn it on by stroking the top, as if you're flicking an invisible light switch, make sure your finger stays in contact." The woman demonstrated, submerging her figure into darkness, then rekindling the cool blue fire. Amelie copied the gesture, having no success at first, then trying again managed to ignite it, kill it, and ignite it again. With that confirmed, Lyssa moved back towards the kitchen, disappearing into its door.
Amelie stared, hypnotized by the small lantern. It was the size of her fist, and the light was beautiful. It was subtler than even a muted nightlight used for comfort, yet its illumination was easily as potent as a socketed light bulb.
"It's best not to try to figure them out." Wendy smiled at Amelie.
"Advanced stuff, strange stuff," Craig added, agreeing.
Amelie snapped out of the hypnosis, and joined the two tablemates standing up. Their three lights were the only ones piercing the darkness now.
She followed the two of them into the hallways, they extinguished their lanterns in favor of the dim hallway's lights.
"So, what do you do now?" Amelie asked them, following their slow pace through the hallway. They were heading towards the commons room.
"Ah, up to you." Craig said. "We usually play a game or something, and go to bed. The work tires you out pretty quick." He yawned.
Wendy stretched her back slowly.
They passed into the Commons room, now completely in the darkness of night. It was lit by four whitened globes along the two walls. Strangely the room was utterly empty, save for Melissan and her little charge. Melissan sat on a couch directly beneath one of the lights, reading a book. The little girl lay head on the lap of the older girl, her eyes looking at the sky.
Amelie hadn't noticed it before, the distances between them had been too great, but the little girl wasn't wearing a uniform. She wore a set of mundane clothes, a tattered and dirty white striped shirt, and a pair of darkened blue jean shorts.
Finally seeing the little girl in light gave a further hint at just how odd she was. Her hair seemed to be both red and blonde. The red seemed to spread out as if exploding from her skull, engulfing the blonde hair in its wake. Everyone seemed to sport wild and unkempt hair in the place, but E's hair made Melissan’s seem calm. Her hair resembled straw, jutting out rigidly. It was tied back into pigtails, but that did little to control its feral scruff.
Thinking to say hello to the two of them, and perhaps get a better look at E, she stepped into the room. Her two acquaintances noticed this, and changed course behind her.
Wendy's hand stopped Amelie before she was far into the room. "Best to just leave them to their quiet time, really." She warned softly. The two of them did look rather stoic and peaceful, Amelie resolved.
She looked up at the sky above, naked of any stars to decorate it. The night was somehow more chilling without them, like an abyss yawning above them.
"Not a really popular room these days." Craig's voice was a hushed whisper.
"Melissan comes here with E, because nobody else does. There's talk, rumors that E's the reason the crows are here." Wendy explained.
"The crows?' Amelie couldn't distinguish any shapes against the blackness of the night.
"You can't hear that? Really." He said with an annoyed tone. "Go to the window, right up against it." He instructed.
She progressed over to the window, checking with subtle eyes to see if Melissan acknowledged her presence, but finding herself unnoticed, she reached the glass mosaic.
It was dark, so dark that the multicoloured squares were shadowy, tainted shades of their daylight selves. Amelie squinted, cupping her hands over her eyes. It was strange, as if the light of the room didn't pierce into the night at all, like the darkness itself was a wall.
She staggered back, looking up. It WAS a wall; a wall of black shapes, moving so rapidly across the view of the window that they seemed to form a solid mass. She heard the sound Craig had spoken of. It was the sound of wings, many more, countless more than even the number she had seen just a few days ago. With a chill Amelie was reminded of that sound, that non-sound the Terror of Night had buzzing about it. Rationality returning to her, she grounded herself on the fact that this was not at all like that sound, this was a more tangible thing, an audible thing.
"It's worst at night." Wendy whispered, standing beside Amelie, looking into the wall. "When you're trying to sleep, I thought that I'd get used to it, like white noise, like static, but no...haven't yet." She sighed. "Three days of this, how many more?"
"So, you want to join us, we're going to the fire room." Craig declared, his voice wavering slightly. "Some people just go right to sleep...as much sleep as we can get these days at least." He winced, trying not to look at the wall, then in a whispered growl, added; "Shut up, shut up." His lips curled in a snarl.
"Don't, don't let it get to you." Wendy put a hand on his shrinking shoulder. He rubbed his tired eyes.
"I think I'll go back to my room." Amelie decided. "I'll need to get sleep for tomorrow, since I'll actually be doing something then." She smiled stupidly. "Plus Ko—my cat is probably getting lonely by now." She stopped herself, until she had an answer from him, it would be best to stop using the name.
"Was that your cat, outside the clinic those three days? He's a funny fellow, but a friendly one." Wendy smiled. "He was popular with everyone, sneaking him food and whatnot. There're some cats in the school here, but they've been so skittish, I haven't even seen them since...well..." She trailed off.
"Well, we'll see you tomorrow then, kitchen duty, noon and afternoon." Craig nodded. "We don't do the breakfast work, that's another group." He smiled, waving as he and Wendy walked away from the commons room, towards whatever destination beyond.
"Be careful how comfortable you get." Melissan said, catching Amelie before
she crossed the threshold of the room’s end, and not looking up from her book. Her hand stroked E's crazed hair gently. "I heard about your foray in the library, and I've since remembered where I knew that name from."
Amelie thought to speak to the older girl, but her body language indicated she was uninterested in a dialogue.
"Be careful what you reveal, and to whom, or you really are going to end up another person I have to guard constantly." She turned a page of the book slowly. It was a copy of the ‘Introduction to spiritual machination’ textbook. "The credo of unity, of hospitality, isn't something that seems to be taken to heart around here, not as much as one would hope. I'm willing to deal with this lie, for as long as I need to."
Amelie noticed finally, that Melissan did not bear the mark of the gear on her collar. What that meant wasn't clear, but it offered comfort to her subconscious mind.
She left the commons room, heading towards the tower, unsure of what further twists the day would bring.
11
The First Night
Upon re-entering the tower, Amelie made a stop in the little bathroom hub. Her new trivial adversary, the brush, accompanied her out, and she was nearly half up the stairs before she remembered the book.
With it in tow the blurry interaction of the air and the white clay forced a few stumbling steps before she remembered the torch. She crept up the choking stairwell with a doubled caution.
She ascended the narrow heavens on a pool of blue luminosity, ending quickly at the destination, the pool of blue now solely reflecting upon the floor below. There was a small trail of stars circling around the tower where the glass met the white clay, but it did nothing to illuminate the panes it touched in the slightest.
She stood there a moment, finally able to see the horror that awaited her in the night.