Watching Yute

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Watching Yute Page 18

by Joseph Picard


  “These chant idols carry prayers from a High Elder. I cannot say who he is. As you know, High Elders have their political status to protect, and being connected to the A.R.A. would not be productive for him nor us at this time. Not yet. Do you understand?”

  Horad narrowed his eyes, and nodded, ‘knowingly’. “So what do I do with them?” This was great. Kirison was tempted to tell him he needed to shove them up his ass and sing, just to see if he’d do it. Unfortunately, the situation wouldn’t bear that kind of entertainment.

  “As you approach the temple, break the 'V' one in half. The magic of the prayer the High Elder chanted into the idol will be released. This will call to the statue’s spirit, and help you get inside the temple. When you stand before the statue, break the circle one. This prayer will speak to the spirit, and free the Aguei’s power. If you’re reasonably quick, the first totem should still give you time to escape without trouble.”

  “You speak easily of such magics.” Horad said, staring at the idols.

  Kirison felt doubt from Horad. Play careful. He drew upon his most somber, wise sounding voice. Hopefully this would not sound like pure crap from a white faced norther. Hopefully the lighting made him look half as grim as it did Horad.

  “Do you not feel it? Do you not feel the weight, holding you back? The control being pressed onto you? Do you not see your brethren struggle to make their way though life, while those favoured by the government thrive?”

  Horad took and deep slow breath, and sighed. “I do.”

  Bingo. Maybe. Close enough. “Horad, you must know that violence and bomb threats will not solve things. Look what that has gotten. We have to hide in places like this, just to speak our minds. It makes them all the more glad that you are where you are.”

  Horad scooped up the idols in his hand and held them to his chest, and nodded. “I must make plans.” Bingo confirmed.

  “I have one other thing to help. A suit I liberated from my old work for your use. It’s in my car.”

  ~~~~~

  :::C /26

  ~~~~~

  Cassidy and Cheryl sat together in the back of a transport chopper. Bumming a free ride was easy enough. Yute central was sensitive to the fact that the Yute temple base was essentially marooned, and diverting an occasional flight to do a favour here and there was no huge ordeal. The only downside was that you couldn’t always get a flight at the time you wanted.

  At any rate, the two of them were on their way to visit Cheryl’s parents out west. Unfortunately, bumming free rides would mean several transfers, and potentially long layovers.

  “Scared?” Cheryl smiled, cuddling up to Cassidy’s arm.

  “Of meeting your folks face to face? Not really.” The truth was, Cassidy was starting to feel a little apprehensive. A little edgy. “How about you?”

  “I’m sure they’ll love you, Cassie.”

  The flight continued, and Cassidy’s uneasiness only grew. Conversation was all but gone. Her breath was a little laboured, and she was feeling jumpy. She didn’t realize until her nails made her palms sore, that she had been clenching her fists. She looked over at Cheryl. Cheryl wore a strange expression, and stared intently at nothingness. She was grabbing the seat tightly, white knuckled.

  “Cheryl. How are you feeling?”

  “Huh?” She sounded almost startled. “What? I’m fine. I’m fine.”

  “I’m not fine. You’re not fine.” This felt a bit like the last time she had gone to Yute central, but worse. The world was closing in. Everything felt wrong.

  “I’m not? No, I’m not. I think. What the hell? Do you love me?” Cheryl shot a look at Cassidy that bordered on terrified.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t. What’s going on? Did we eat something rotten?” Cheryl continued to grasp the seat, and looked around like a deer that heard an unwanted sound.

  “I don’t think so. Do you think this will pass?” Maybe it was a spot of hypochondria that made her stomach suddenly turn. Cassidy turned and held Cheryl tighter, as if she would fall off the world if she didn’t. Cheryl barely seemed to notice.

  “We have to get out of here! Where’s the door?

  “Cheryl, we’re in the air, we’re flying.”

  “Oh my god! Who’s flying this thing!? I’m not, are you supposed to?” Cheryl stood up, almost falling.

  “No! No! There’s a pilot guy. I’m pretty sure there’s two of them.” She grabbed Cheryl’s arm, and guided her back down. “Just relax, we’ll be at central soon.”

  “I don’t want to be at central, I want to be at our camp!” She looked around. “Which way’s our camp?!”

  “I don’t know, I think-“

  Cheryl interrupted, her breathing shallow and ragged. “Right. We’re in the air, we can’t walk there. Why are we in the air?”

  “We’re going to see someone.” Cassidy said. “Someone. I don’t know who. Who are we going to see?”

  “Maybe it’s Cipriana or Marcus. If we go to see them, then we can walk to camp.”

  The chopper landed at central, and the two of them emerged, after being told repeatedly by the co-pilot that they had arrived. After getting more than a few strange looks, they stepped off the helipad, grasping each other’s hand tightly. Wordless, they gravitated towards a large metal tool case that doubled as the deck chief’s counter, only because it looked like a destination. The chief put down his clip board, and paid full attention to the unusual two.

  Now visibly trembling, and sweating, it was Cassidy who managed to summon words for the chief. “We have to go back.”

  “Are you two all right? Maybe you should check out the infirmary.”

  “We... we have to get back. Now.”

  “But you just got here!”

  Cheryl, who had been silent for a while, spoke up, jaw clenched. “She said….!”

  “Alright!” The chief interrupted. He grabbed a headset out of his large pockets, and talked into the mic. The words were mostly lost on Cassidy and Cheryl, but some words sounded favourable to what they wanted. “Are you going to be okay?” got through to Cassidy, so she replied with as much stability as she could gather.

  “Yes. Yes, we just have to get back.”

  An indeterminate amount of time passed, and they found themselves herded onto a chopper. They sat in a seat very much like the first ride, holding each other, almost afraid to talk. It felt like forever, and it felt like an instant.

  They felt the chopper land, and Cheryl pulled herself from Cassidy so she could lunge at the door, almost screaming with effort to open it as fast as she could. Cassidy was afraid that they imagined feeling a landing, but thankfully as Cheryl jumped out, she landed on solid ground. Cassidy followed and stumbled, landing on the gritty helipad on all fours as the customary small sand storm washed over them.

  “What the fuck was that?” Cassidy yelled.

  The pilot walked back from the cockpit to the back of the chopper. “I still think you two should have…” He stopped to watch Cheryl help Cassidy stand, now moving much more naturally. “Are you two….?”

  Cheryl looked into Cassidy’s now-sane eyes, and took a deep breath. “We’re fine. I think we’re fine.”

  The pilot looked at them both for a bit, mulling it all over. “Well. Alright, I guess. You’re sure?”

  Cassidy confirmed with a nod. “Yeah, everything’s fine now.”

  The pilot paused. “Okay then. Get clear, I’m out of here.”

  Cassidy threw the pilot a casual salute before she and Cheryl jogged clear of the pad. They glanced back as the engines sped up, and the chopper lifted off. They silently strolled along the path until the chopper was far enough that they didn’t need to raise their voices to be heard.

  “Seriously,” Cassidy repeated, “what the fuck was that?”

  Cheryl glanced around, still shaken by the experience. “I don’t know. I feel fine now though. I don’t get it. Oh! My parents!”

  “I guess w
e should ring them up, and tell them what? Are we not going now?”

  Cheryl glanced back at the helipad. “No. I don’t think I can risk that again. We’ll just tell them we got sick. It’s the truth, kind of.”

  “I guess. Let’s go check in at the base.”

  They wandered towards the base, not talking, and went into the barracks. Cipriana watched them enter from her bunk, but said nothing to them, mildly surprised that they weren’t talkative. Wanda was near her bunk folding her laundry, and took notice as well. The two of them just went over to their bunks, and sat with their feet on the floor, facing each other but looking at the floor.

  Cipriana asked “Ladies? Didn’t you leave?”

  “Yeah.” Cassidy replied, looking over to Cipriana with a hollow gaze.

  Cipriana leaned forward to them. “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah.” Cheryl said, “No. We weren’t, but now we are. But we’re not sure what happened.”

  Before Cipriana could ask further, Cassidy posed her own question. “Cip, the last time you left the base, did you feel alright?”

  Cipriana furrowed her brow a little. “Yeah, I was on shift just last-“

  “No, no.” Cassidy interrupted, “I mean left the whole ruins area. Went to central or something.”

  Cipriana glanced away, searching her memory. “It’s been a bit over a year, but I don’t remember being ill or anything.”

  “What?” Cheryl asked, “You haven’t left in over a year? I thought Cassie and I had been here for a long stretch at half a year.”

  Wanda spoke up. “It’s probably been about a year for me, too.”

  “What the frig?” Cassidy blurted, “What, is everyone saving their vacation time to take the next decade off, or what? I know who’s been offsite recently.”

  Cassidy grabbed her little terminal, and marched over to the men’s barracks as Cheryl followed along. Cassidy stood at the doorway, and glanced around at the handful of guys there. “Hey, anyone seen Marcus?”

  Alan spoke up. “I think he want out to his meditation spot, along the path to the temple.”

  “Thanks.” Cassidy started to turn, but stopped. “Hey guys. Any of you leave the ruins in the last year or so?”

  A bit of a pause as they thought, and then only Karl answered. “Yeah, I did. Just a while before you came along, Cass.”

  “How did it go?”

  “I got really… sick, I guess. I canceled my trip, and came back. Stupid thing was, as soon as I got back, I felt better. But once I was here, I didn’t really want to go anymore.”

  Cassidy and Cheryl looked at each other. At least they knew they weren’t crazy. “Thanks, Karl.”

  Cassidy and Cheryl headed down the path to the temple and as suggested, Marcus was meditating in the spot he usually chose.

  “Chief?” Cassidy said.

  Marcus opened his eyes and smiled at the two. “Oh! Hey there, I thought you left for Cheryl’s folks’ house!”

  Cassidy skipped the explanation to that, and went right to the question on her mind. “Marcus, you were at central recently. At the very least, I know you were at central half a year ago.”

  Marcus looked puzzled. “Yes. I go there now and then to attend to administrative things, mainly.”

  “Did you ever get sick while you were offsite?”

  Marcus tilted his head. “Not that I remember, why?”

  Cassidy glanced at Cheryl, then back to Marcus. “I’ve talked to a little under a third of the base since we got back, and including me and Cheryl, only four of them have been offsite in the last year, and you’re the only one to not feel like total garbage when they leave.”

  Marcus shrugged. “Really? I don’t know what to tell you!”

  Cassidy looked at Marcus with a stare that bordered on accusing. After a bit, she spoke her mind, “Does this have anything to do with your ghost-thing? Because you hear it, and no one else does?”

  “He hasn’t said anything to me about it.” Marcus’ voice trailed off as he glanced towards the temple. “He doesn’t see anything wrong. Seems to think it’s fine just to stay where you feel good.”

  Cassidy got a little cross. “You said it likes company. Are we some kind of prisoners?” Cheryl’s eyes widened with that new worry.

  “Prisoners?” Marcus was entirely shocked by the notion. “He’s totally harmless! He wouldn’t try to keep anyone here against their will! I don’t think he could!”

  Cassidy stared into Marcus’ eyes, and swallowed hard. She adjusted her voice, and spoke calmly. “Marcus. I like you. I’d go as far as to say I respect you. But I’ve gotta ask. Has it ever occurred to you that he might lie? Or that you might be a bit off your rocker?” Even as she said it, she knew his mental health couldn’t explain the grenades.

  Marcus smirked. “Bat shit insane was what you were thinking, wasn’t it?”

  “A little.” Cassidy smirked back. It was hard to feel accusing towards Marcus. Cheryl sighed, relieved that the adversarial feeling was dissipating.

  “Sergeant Hood!” Marcus piped up suddenly.

  “Who?” Cheryl asked.

  “Oh yeah, him.” Cassidy scratched her chin, and then turned to Cheryl. “He retired from here just before you transferred in. Maybe we should give him a ring.” Cassidy pulled her terminal forward, and looked to Marcus. “It was Eliot, right? Sergeant Eliot Hood?”

  “Yep.” Marcus nodded, “Might help looking him up if you add retired in there somewhere.”

  As the call went through, and they waited for Hood to pick up, Cassidy sat, and Cheryl followed suit. It occurred to Cheryl that when everything was fine, she was the leader. When things were messier, Cassidy took charge.

  A few moments later, Sergeant Hood’s face popped onto the screen. He was wearing civilian clothing as you’d expect from a retired soldier, and appeared to be in his kitchen. “Stanton.” He said with some surprise in his voice, “To what do I owe the honour?”

  “Hi, Hood.” While Cassidy spoke, Cheryl was partly visible to Hood on the edge of the screen, and Marcus was on the wrong side of the terminal to be seen at all. “You look like retirement’s treating you well enough!”

  “Yeah, I can’t complain.”

  “This is going to sound pretty odd, Sergeant, but when you left the temple, did you get.. sick?”

  Hood suddenly looked a little startled. “Ha, it happened to you, didn’t it? I had to go to a funeral, and I got an hour’s flight away from the post, and the whole world started closing in on me! I was going out of my mind!”

  Cassidy, Cheryl and Marcus all were now paying strict attention. “That’s exactly what happened!” Cassidy said, “We were going on vacation, and bam!”

  “And you went back to the temple base…?” Hood asked.

  “And then we were fine!” Cheryl chimed in. “One of the guys here sounded like he had a similar experience!”

  “This is troubling as hell!” Marcus said.

  “Marcus?” Hood heard Marcus, and didn’t seem so thrilled about it.

  Marcus moved around the terminal so he was in the picture. “But you’re fine now?” he asked hopefully.

  Hood huffed. “Yeah, but I wasn’t at first. When I first left the temple base after retiring, I expected it to happen, but I started falling apart at central. The same thing. Claustrophobia, paranoia, just generally messed up. An M.P. got a hold of me, and I ended up in the infirmary for a couple days. I felt fine after about twelve hours, but they wanted to keep an eye on me, and run some blood tests.”

  “And?” Cassidy asked.

  “I was clean. So I went home. It hasn’t happened since.”

  Cassidy turned to Marcus. “Sir, I suggest we have a medical team come here and test us. Especially me, Cheryl, you and Karl.”

  “Absolutely! Tests for everyone seems prudent.” Marcus agreed.

  Hood nodded at Marcus. “I guess you’re okay, Marcus. Do you still talk to that damned ghost, though?”

  “Of course.”


  Hood smirked. “Crazy old bastard. You be careful now.” He glanced over at Cassidy. “All of you be careful.”

  ~~~~~

  :::C /27

  ~~~~~

  At the little camp, Cassidy and Cheryl pecked at their grilled dinners. Cheryl dragged over her terminal to call her folks.

  It didn’t take long for her dad to answer. “Hey! Oh.. where are you? That looks like your base!”

  “Yeah, it is.” Cheryl sighed. “Something weird happened. There’s… there’s some kind of flu running around the base, so …”

  “Is it serious? You don’t look so bad, we can take getting made a little sick.” By now, Cheryl’s mom had come into the picture, looking concerned.

  “Well, it’s a little complicated. It just seemed best that we stick around here until things have been sorted out.” Cheryl wasn’t lying exactly. No quite.

  “Complicated? Complicated how?”

  Cassidy stepped in. “Well, Mr. Lowe, to be quite honest, there’s some sensitive information involved. I really don’t want to worry you, we just can’t get into all the details until all the brass has sorted things out.” Technically all true, but it felt like a lie.

  Cheryl’s parents shifted uncomfortably. Cheryl cuddled up against Cassidy, smiling at her parents. “It’s really okay.”

  Cassidy’s dad grumbled. “Cassidy. I’m pretty sure I told you to call me Pete, so can the ‘Mr. Lowe” stuff, alright?”

  Cassidy smiled. “Alright, Pete.”

  “I’ll call you soon, kay?” Cheryl said.

  Her mom nodded. “You better!”

  Closing the terminal, Cheryl buried her face against Cassidy's arm and sighed. “Aww, that felt like crap.”

  Cassidy squeezed Cheryl and looked over to the nearby chunk of wall. Over the past couple months Cheryl had been painting little bits of art; not really anything more than doodles, mostly things like flowers and hearts with all the deep complexity of a twelve year old’s notebook, but Cheryl said it was an expression of her feelings.

  “Go work on that a bit,” Cassidy said, “I’ll clean up dinner.” Cassidy would make fun of the ‘mural’ a little now and then for being so ‘girly’, but honestly didn’t mind one bit. It was a cute activity, like Cheryl’s diary. Cheryl kept the diary top secret, but the art was something Cassidy could see. Today’s addition was a butterfly in the upper left area.

 

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