by Jordan Rivet
“Of course! Why should Davey here get to have all the fun?”
David didn’t react. As much as Esther didn’t like him hanging out with Chelle, she also didn’t want to get in the way of his plans. She trusted that he knew what he was doing, even if she didn’t like it.
“I still have a lot of work to—”
“I think you should join us,” David said suddenly. “You deserve a break. You must be as stir-crazy as me.”
“You sure?”
“You don’t need his permission,” Harry said. He stood and stretched. “I insist. Burns won’t be there anyway, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Okay, I guess I can come.” Esther grabbed a rag and searched for a clean section to wipe her hands. She leaned against the workbench. “Where’s Burns?”
“Patrols. That Harvester ship is still lurking. He thinks they’re waiting for reinforcements.” Harry glanced at the door to the workshop. “Probably shouldn’t tell him I told you that.”
“Our lips are sealed,” David said. He met Esther’s eyes for an instant.
When evening approached, Esther showered in the tiny bathroom off the workshop and dressed in the spare clothes that Harry had found for her, tight leggings and an oversize button-down shirt with blue and white stripes. She rolled the sleeves above her elbows and pulled on her usual work boots. David lent her the plastic comb he still kept in his pocket so she could smooth back her damp hair.
Harry led the way out of the workshop. Level 7 was deep underground, and they had to take the stairs up to the canteen on Level 2. If the facility had working elevators, Esther hadn’t seen them. She was excited to explore more of the Calderon Group’s base, and it was nice to be doing something besides brooding over her machine. She kept pace with David and Harry, their footsteps echoing through the stairwell.
“What’s the celebration for anyway?” Esther asked.
“It’s the Fourth of July! You wouldn’t know it with how cold it has been the past few weeks, though.”
“It’s not exactly barbecue weather, is it?” David said.
“Man, don’t remind me about barbecue,” Harry said. “That’s just mean. I miss barbecue more than my own mother.”
“We raised livestock on one of the cargo ships at the Galaxy Flotilla,” David said. “The captains held barbecues on the deck of the Crown every once in a while. Only for their very good friends of course.”
“Don’t rub it in,” Harry said. “No, the annual Calderon Fourth of July celebration will feature fish, fish, and more fish.”
“Are there a lot of Americans in the Group?” David asked.
“A fair few,” Harry said. “Burns is an American. Or was. Don’t seem like the country even exists anymore. But then we do something for Guy Fawkes, Chinese New Year, and Holi too.”
“How about Passover?” Esther asked. Her family was Jewish, or at least they had been back when they lived on land.
“There’s one family that does that one,” Harry said. “But it’s tricky, since they have to substitute most of the food and stuff. And we pretty much have to eat shellfish.”
“Yeah . . . we eat whatever we can.”
Esther’s father had told her a bit about the dietary restrictions of their religion, but he’d also encouraged her to eat anything she could get her hands on, no matter what it was or how it tasted, when food was scarce. They had no choice in this world. Many people still followed their religious customs in their own ways, but they had to be flexible.
At the door to Level 2 they stopped to catch their breath, David more winded than the other two. He took off his glasses to rub his eyes for a moment. Esther wanted to put her arm around him, to ask if he was okay, but she resisted, unsure how he would respond.
There were people around, all making their way to the canteen, talking and laughing. They didn’t look twice at the two prisoners with Harry.
“So, just don’t draw any attention to yourselves,” Harry said, “and Burns’ll never know you were out past your bedtimes.”
“We’ll be on our best behavior,” David said.
“Right then. And please don’t run away. You’d owe me forever.”
“Of course not! We don’t have anywhere to go!” Esther said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. She caught David grinning at her and blushed.
Harry pushed open a pair of double doors, and they entered the canteen. It was roughly twice the size of the Atlantis Dining Hall on the Catalina. Long rows of tables with attached benches marched across the scratched linoleum floor. Some of these had been pushed against the wall to clear a space in the middle of the room. There were high windows in the long wall opposite the door.
“Level 2 is partly underground,” Harry told them, gesturing to the windows. “The view’s at ground level, but there’s not much to see in the dark.”
A few people at the table nearest the doors glanced up at them, but most fixed their attention on the far side of the room, where food was being brought out on industrial-size trays. The Calderon men and women didn’t look that different from the people of the Amsterdam. Instead of uniforms, they wore mismatched jackets and patched-up work trousers. They were a wide range of ages compared to the mostly young men and women of the Harvesters. Esther spotted a few people with silvery hair and a handful of children all sitting together at one table.
“I didn’t know there were kids here,” she said.
“They can’t go out on raids, can they?” Harry said. “We take care of ’em here while their parents are on patrol.”
“This is becoming a permanent settlement then?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Incredible.” Esther still had a hard time getting used to the idea that she was on land, even though it was just a huge hunk of rock. Being locked in the workshop felt like being in a ship’s engine room. She still hadn’t seen a proper view of the outside of the Island. She couldn’t let Harry think she was looking for a way out.
They helped themselves to steaming plates of grilled fish and found seats in the far corner of the room, not far from one of the high windows. Esther stood on her toes to peek out before setting down her plate. The view outside was partially obscured by a scrubby bush. It had grown dark, so all she could see was the shadowy outline of a spur of land curving around to the right of the facility. This side of the island faced the opposite direction from where Esther had arrived, so the harbor must be below the window. They were high above sea level, and she couldn’t see all the way down to the water without being too obvious.
Chelle soon joined them at their table. She wore a pale-green sweater with the sleeves rolled to show off her freckled arms and her hair swept up into an intricate pile. Esther had no idea how to do something like that. As usual, David gave Chelle all his attention, hanging on her every laugh. He put on his best spokesman voice and told her about the elegant parties and performances at the Galaxy Flotilla. She batted her coppery eyelashes at him.
David no longer sounded like himself when he used that spokesman voice. Esther tried not to listen. She would do as David asked and not make a big deal out of his flirtation with Chelle. Despite how friendly their captors seemed, their situation was precarious. They couldn’t let on that David was trying to find an escape route. If that’s all it is.
When they were almost finished eating, a commotion rose near the door. A short, plump woman with close-cropped hair and a tall man (whom Esther recognized as Zeke, the guard from the night of her arrival) rolled some sort of low table into the room. It had a machine on top, an old-fashioned boom box if she wasn’t mistaken. One of the speakers had been cracked and repaired. Stacks of plastic CD cases were piled on the lower shelf of the rolling table.
“All right!” Harry shouted. “Best part of the Fourth. The discs won’t last forever, so we only get them out on special occasions. We lost way too much music to the Cloud.”
Esther had no idea what he meant by the Cloud, but she could tell he was excited. Da
vid pulled his gaze away from Chelle to watch the pair set up the boom box. People shouted suggestions as the short-haired woman dug through the stack of CDs and inserted one into the device. She pushed a button.
A horrible noise screeched from the speakers. Esther winced. That must be one of the broken CDs.
“I love this song!” Harry said.
He bobbed his head, thrashing like a rutting seal.
Esther could almost discern a beat through the screeching, but she didn’t like it. The others apparently shared her view, because they shouted for a different CD.
“Aw, come on!” Harry said. “I was just getting started.”
The CD was soon replaced, and this time Esther recognized the music as rock and roll. The words were all but lost in the beat and the clatter of Calderon people singing and stamping along. Soon they were getting up to dance, and someone turned down the lights.
Harry jumped up on the bench and started gyrating and hollering the words to the song. And he was lecturing us about drawing attention to ourselves, Esther thought. She turned to say as much to David, but he was back to talking to Chelle, leaning so close he might as well have been chewing on her ear. Chelle laughed at whatever he was saying.
The music got louder. More people got up to dance. The darkened windows shook with the beat. Despite herself, Esther grinned. She liked this song. Soon she was nodding her head along with it. Harry hollered something at her and jumped off the bench.
“What?” Esther said.
“I said dance!” Harry shouted in her ear, and dragged her toward the gap between the tables.
The crowd in the middle of the canteen had thickened. They forced their way into it, stepping on toes and dodging elbows. Esther could no longer see beyond the mob. People flailed about, arms and legs jerking like squid in a current. There was little sense to the dance as far as Esther could tell. She imitated the people around her, bobbing her head and stepping in time to the beat. No one danced in pairs; they moved from tight knots to wider circles and back again. Each time the CD changed they’d call out suggestions, until a new one had been selected. Esther didn’t remember many song names and just shouted wordlessly along with them.
Harry was the most enthusiastic of them all, clearing a space with his windmilling arms and thrashing steps. His red hair whipped about like it was in a whirlpool. The others laughed and cheered him on.
It was surprisingly fun. Esther found herself grinning at the unbridled joy on the faces around her. The Calderon people were so carefree. After the stress of the previous weeks, it was good to let loose a little. It was hard to believe these were the same people who had so expertly attacked the Terra Firma.
After a while she noticed a tall flash of white-blond hair and then a swirl of copper. David and Chelle had joined the dancers. Esther tried to make her way closer to hear what they were saying, ducking to avoid Harry’s flailing arms. She squeezed between Zeke and the short-haired woman, but as she got near she could see that they weren’t really talking. David had a hand on Chelle’s waist, and they swayed a beat slower than the music. He put his head close to her ear and whispered something. Esther knew David was supposed to be cozying up to Chelle to find a way off the island, but she couldn’t push away the waves of jealousy fast enough. She wanted to be the one dancing and whispering with him. She wanted to feel his hands on her waist and his mouth at her cheek.
Instead, Chelle was putting both her hands on David’s chest and whispering back to him. Then she turned to lead the way through the dancers toward the door. Just before David followed her he looked back, scanning the dancers until he met Esther’s eyes. He winked.
What was that supposed to mean? Esther scowled back. It was pretty obvious what he’d said to Chelle. Was she supposed to give him a thumbs-up? A pat on the back? She understood the necessity of all this, but it hurt to see David going off with another woman. It hurt a lot more than she thought it would. She turned and jumped back into the crowd, bobbing her head harder than necessary to the music.
Esther had lost track of Harry, and she suddenly felt very alone in the middle of the dancers. She tried to regain the thrill of joy she’d felt earlier, but it was gone. It had become too hot in the press of the crowd. Her damp hair clung to her forehead. There were smears of sweat on her arms from the other dancers. This wasn’t fun anymore.
Esther gave up and forced her way back out of the group, squeezing past arms and elbows and bobbing heads.
When she broke through the edge of the throng, Burns was waiting. He simply stood there beside the boom box, watching his people dance. Esther half expected him to switch it off and send everyone home. Instead, he scratched at the loop in his right ear, smiling vaguely. He looked almost kindly—until his eyes fell on Esther. He raised an eyebrow and beckoned to her with his four-fingered hand.
“Don’t you have work to do?” he said.
“Uhhh . . .”
“You’d best round up Harry and your friend Mr. Hawthorne,” Burns said. “I can’t be making exceptions for prisoners, even if you’re turning out to be remarkably hardworking.”
“Sir?”
“I’ve been receiving reports on your progress,” Burns said. “It sounds like you’re holding up your end of the bargain.”
Esther didn’t answer. Had David made it out the door before Burns arrived? She didn’t want him to get caught sneaking around. They had to appear cooperative. Sweat dropped from her bangs to her cheek, and she tried to wipe it away without looking too nervous.
“I could use someone like you in the Calderon Group,” Burns said suddenly. “You’d receive a healthy share of our profits. It’s a good living.”
“I—”
“Just think on it.” He snapped his fingers, and one of his men materialized beside him. “Escort our inventor here back down to the workshop. And make sure she doesn’t get out again.”
As Esther headed for the door with her new guard, another man extracted Harry from the crowd.
“Find our Mr. Hawthorne,” Burns said. “I want to see him.”
Back in the confines of the workshop on Level 7, Esther couldn’t sleep. Would David get caught wandering around Level 1? She wasn’t sure whether he had planned to excuse himself from Chelle before or after going into her room. If it was the latter, he had less chance of getting caught searching for the satellite phone, but she didn’t like the implications if he went into her room.
Burns’s face swam before her, offering her work with the Calderon Group. Such a thing had never occurred to her. She could see the appeal of sharing the profits amongst the whole group, as the Calderon people seemed to do. She liked the carefree way they had danced in the canteen and the feeling of the ground beneath her feet. There was an openness about the Calderon Group that had been missing from the Harvesters. It was more like the Catalina or the Amsterdam. The idea of staying was ridiculous of course, but it was interesting that Burns had brought it up instead of getting angry that she was out of her workshop. Maybe he wouldn’t kill her when she was done installing the energy system in his ships after all. He must see something in her. She wanted to talk to David about it, but he still wasn’t back yet. He had been around the Calderon Group longer and might have a better sense of whether Burns’s offer was genuine. Where is he?
Of course she still had to get Zoe away from the Metal Harvesters. Burns would change his tune if he knew she was planning to deliver her invention to his biggest rivals. They had to stick to the plan. She hoped David was having some luck in his search for the satellite phone. Esther burrowed deeper into her cot, trying not to think about why he was taking so long.
She was finally drifting off to sleep when he returned. She rubbed her eyes as light split the floor. David’s silhouette waited in the doorway.
“Did you get it?” she mumbled.
David closed the workshop door, cutting off the light. “No. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
“Did Burns find you?”
“Yeah, but it wa
s fine.”
“What did he—?”
“Go to sleep, Esther. Everything’s okay.”
Esther rolled over, her back to him. Why wouldn’t he tell her what had happened? Did Burns say something? Or had things gone farther with Chelle than planned? Maybe she didn’t want to know why he had been gone for so long.
David settled into his cot beside her. She listened to the sound of cloth rustling for a while, but his breathing didn’t slow. He was lying awake too. Just a few feet separated them, but neither one reached across the gap in the darkness.
Chapter 28—The Harbor
ESTHER PUSHED OPEN THE heavy storm door that led to the harbor, a high-walled alcove with a narrow outlet to the sea. Two ships and a handful of smaller boats were moored in the jewel-bright water, looking like a school of giant kingfish. The sky was storm-cloud gray, and the air held the freshness of rain. But the thing that made her pause, as it had every time she’d stepped out this door, was the smell of dirt and stone and scrubby, green life.
She had been coming down to the harbor to work on the ships for four days. She now knew that the Island was tall and crescent shaped. It had once been a volcano, though nowhere near as large as the sleeping giant that had obliterated the mainland and nearly destroyed the atmosphere. Stubborn vegetation spurted from the volcanic rocks, hanging on desperately against the coastal winds. The bushes were a brighter green than most types of seaweed.
Esther and her guard walked along the high pathway beside the virulent plants and the red-black volcanic soil, making their way toward a staircase leading down to the boats.
“Watch your step,” said Zeke, her guard for the day.
After Burns caught her in the canteen on the Fourth of July, their guards had become much more attentive. Harry hadn’t been allowed near them since then either.
With the exception of their initial meeting in David’s cell, Zeke had turned out to be a perfect gentleman. Whenever he accompanied her to the engine room of whichever Calderon vessel was in the harbor that day, he made small talk about her work and told her about the West Texas town where he grew up, a dusty place that seemed to be all pickup trucks and gas stations.