The Line

by K J Southworth

  The gelatin starts to tremble. A faint buzzing noise penetrates the stillness. You have to cut people out of this stuff with a fine laser. The process can take hours depending on whose doing the cutting. Wulff, with his steady hands, frees my head first. He pries off my helmet and I suck in cool, refreshing breaths.

  “You’re as close to home as we could come to it,” Wulff says with tear filled eyes. Placing a calloused hand on my forehead, he welcomes me back. “We thought…we might be too late. It took me a month to get this much gelatin.”

  I don’t know what to say. Everything is fuzzy right now. It doesn’t feel like a month. It feels like Selim caught me yesterday, like he caught me a hundred years ago. Was I in the courtyard again? Maybe. I remember squatting in a corner, growling at anyone who came too close. Are those my fingers in someone’s eye sockets? Was that this time or last time? I don’t know. It’s all blurred together—one big heaving mass of congealed memory.

  Wulff stops waiting for me to reply. Eyes bright with concern, he gets back to work. Jack’s head needs to be freed from the gelatin.

  I’m having trouble connecting with my surroundings. It all feels distant even though I know it’s real. We’re not in the hideout but there’s something familiar about this place. I can hear soft buzzing and whirring noises. In the distance, metal is clanking on metal. Kentucky Jim! We’re in the old man’s hideout. He’s nowhere to be seen but I can feel him pacing, nervously waiting for news.

  “We did it,” Frenzy cries behind me. His astonishment is evident in the breathless way that he’s speaking. “We fucking did it. We got Copper out!”

  Wulff pulls off Jack’s helmet. “Everything smooth?”

  “No hitches to report, fearless leader,” Wulff reports. “Just have to get you out of this stuff and I’d say the job is over.”

  Gazing happily into my eyes, Jack graces me with his soft smile. “I don’t want to know what I saw in there, do I?”

  I don’t have the energy or the presence of mind to answer him.

  “According to the Prison’s system, Yulie Thorp is still inside,” Frenzy chimes in excitedly. “It doesn’t even know she’s gone.

  “You won’t believe it, Copper! I got into the Cop security system, I made Wulff a biorhythm, I infiltrated the Prison’s system—did you know it operates from a completely different power source than the rest of the City, using different codes but the same symbols? I gave the truck security clearance, I powered down four A Sector blocks.” Frenzy can’t stop talking. His voice is getting louder and louder. “No manipulator has ever done anything like this; none of them could if they tried! And Jules didn’t have to strap me down afterwards. It took moments instead of hours; there was no adjustment period. It was insane, Copper, absolutely insane!”

  “Sweet Sky! Give it a rest, Frenzy,” Jules says. “You haven’t stopped chattering for ten minutes!”

  Is she still with the crew? What the hell are they seeing in her that I’m missing? In my mind she’s a liability, but Jack is the boss, not me. Besides, I just got out of the Prison for the second time. She isn’t my concern.

  Wulff is working down at our feet, carefully leaving a quarter inch of gelatin around our bodies. Picking up a portable heater, Jules puts it near the remaining gelatin and it slowly evaporates.

  “Doesn’t anybody else realize what this means?” Frenzy continues. “Not one of you guys understands.”

  “I get it,” Jack mutters. “I just don’t like it.”

  “What’s not to like?” Frenzy cries. He looks as though he might jump out of his skin. “The system runs the City, the system is made of code… I can control the codes! Think big, Jackson. It’s what you do. I can plug into the system and not blow my brains out doing what everyone thinks is impossible. We hold the keys to this entire place!”

  “I get it, Frenzy,” Jack replies, “and I’m thinking even bigger than you. What you’ve got is power. One wrong move and our entire society will collapse. Not even the walls will be able to keep the chaos in.”

  “What good are the walls anyway? What do they really do? I could shut the gates down, open them wide and let the people decide!”

  “Yeah, you could do that,” Jack agrees, “but do you really want to see what will happen when the walls are gone? Our planet is dead. There isn’t enough to go around. Take away the walls or the system and you take away how we survive. Remember: the City born out of the ashes of a ruined world, humankind working together for survival, for the good of the people, beyond their understanding, forever, without question. The system keeps this City alive; it keeps us alive.”

  “Spoken like a Scientist,” Jules pipes in.

  “As long as Criminals are making credits by getting around the walls they won’t thank anyone for opening the gates,” Jack adds. “Besides, each Sector makes its own rules.”

  “And if you don’t like it you can pay a Criminal to get you out,” Wulff says. “Or become a Criminal, if the life suits you. In the Bank, most everyone has some contact with Criminals.”

  “It’s the same in K,” Jack says.

  “Almost got you out,” Wulff mutters as a giant slab of gelatin falls to the floor. He brings the hand-held laser around my shoulders and down my back. “Frenzy, you might want to look to that.”

  Looking to my red-eyed friend, I see blood trickling from his nose and down his chin. He quickly puts a finger to his face. Half smiling, half frowning at the bright red stain on his fingertips, he shrugs.

  “Maybe it was harder than I thought,” he whispers. Wiping the blood onto his pants he accepts a tattered piece of cloth from Wulff.

  “You should be careful how you use that brain of yours,” Jules says.

  Wulff lets out a little whoop of excitement. “Here goes nothing!”

  Another piece of gelatin slides to the floor. Grabbing me around the waist, he gently pulls me away from Jack’s embrace. My muscles have taken a vacation. Using the table for support, I let Wulff guide me toward the nearest seat. Shoulders hunched and chin on my chest, I try to keep the room from spinning. I’m not all here yet.

  “You gonna be OK?” Wulff asks.

  I can’t answer his question; I’m too wrecked. If I open my mouth my heart will jump right out of my chest and flop uselessly around on the floor. My senses tell me that I’m home, but everything is dulled right now. My mother’s face keeps flashing through my brain, torturing my already overstretched emotions. Pressing my lips firmly together, I stare at the floor.

  Wulff smiles encouragingly. “You give yourself time to recuperate. When you find your voice again, you’ll have to explain why Locket was so eager to get you out of there.”

  Locket. The mention of his name sends jolts of electricity through my muscles. Wulff gives me a significant look. I hold his gaze as I wait for an explanation.

  “He’s the one who told us where the line is,” Jules obliges. She holds the heater over the final remains of gelatin on my back. “That’s how we got Jack into A.”

  “Does anybody else remember him asking us not to tell her?” Jack calls from the gelatin.

  “Fuck it!” Wulff brushes away Jack’s protest with a wave of his hand. “I’m too curious to keep that promise. Why do you think I cut you out last? Now you can’t do anything about my asking. How does Locket know so much about A, anyway? Does anybody know what Sector he’s originally from? Maybe he was a Cop like our girl here.”

  He doesn’t fight like a Cop, I think uselessly. My mouth is hanging open in bewilderment. My mind is starting to focus again. Locket could have taken the line for himself. No one would have been the wiser. What does he gain by getting me out of the Prison?

  “Get over here and get me out of this stuff,” Jack orders. Wulff jumps towards his boss and continues shaving off pieces of gelatin.

  “Locket even told us where the Prison is,” Frenzy chimes in. Putting a finger under his nose, he checks to see if the bleeding has stopped. “And he told me where to look in the system to access
their security.”

  “He was a fountain of knowledge,” Wulff says as he continues to cut around Jack.

  Jumping to my feet, I grab Jules’ shoulder for support. The room is spinning uncontrollably but I have to know, I have to understand, I have to find Locket. One foot in front of the other; but my legs aren’t cooperating.

  “You need to rest,” Jules says.

  “I need to figure out what the hell is going on,” I rasp back. “Locket has some fucking explaining to do.”

  “What are you going to do, beat it out of him?” Jules frowns and fixes me with a look of condescension. “He’s not going to tell you anything he doesn’t want you to know.”

  “At any rate, it’s not like you can go outside,” Wulff adds.

  “And why is that?” I ask.

  “Madman was the one who gave the order,” he explains. “He’s the one who brought the Cops to our front door.”

  Shocked, I finally accept Jules’ offer of a chair. Elbows on my knees I stare at Wulff as he continues to carve Jack out of the gelatin. “What…?”

  “Lyons was desperate,” he continues. “The public doesn’t know about this, it was strictly a private job. According to Locket he hired some nobody to lead them straight to us.”

  “They must have been desperate.” Jules offers me a drink of water that I gladly accept. “If the citizens knew about this they would rip whoever it was limb from limb.”

  The bounty hunters’ words echo in my head: Weren’t there supposed to be four? Maybe the girl was wrong. The girl.

  Jules smiles in congratulations. “That’s exactly what the Cops said. We don’t know who the girl is, but Locket said he’ll keep his eyes and ears open for us.”

  “Isn’t that nice of him,” I reply sarcastically. The fuzziness in my brain is finally dropping away. “Did everyone forget that Locket works for Madman?”

  Wulff lets out a hefty guffaw. “I do keep forgetting.”

  “Forgetting? Are you kidding?”

  “The point is that Lyons thinks you’re in the Prison,” Jack explains. Another piece of gelatin slides to the floor and he slowly unfolds himself. Covered in the clear, oily substance he ineffectually tries to brush it off. “He’s already broken two codes to get rid of you—never disturb the sanctuaries, never involve the Cops. There’s no telling what he’ll do once he finds you’re out.”

  “There’s no telling what the citizens will do once they find out, either,” Wulff adds. “They think you’re gone, Copper. Nobody could survive the Prison twice. If they see that you got out, there might be a riot.”

  I roll my eyes at the thought. “I’m sure that’s an exaggeration.”

  Cursing my physical weakness, I look up at Jack. He’s carefully studying my face, searching for the warrior I used to be. Someone must have told him about my episodes. He wants to know if they exaggerating.

  I slowly scan the crew. They’re watching Jack, awaiting his decision. It’s possible they broke me out of the Prison just to lock me up down here. I might be exchanging one jailer for another. Meeting Jack’s probing gaze I raise an eyebrow.

  After a few moments of silent contemplation, he finally speaks. “It’s good to see you.”

  His words are genuine, but there’s a note of suspicion in his voice. Gone are the days of lively admiration. He can’t decide if I’m a danger to the crew. If I am, he won’t hesitate. I’ll be dosed and bound before I have a chance to struggle.

  My mother’s face flashes through my brain. She was there; she was there! She told me, she said… She said, ‘I’m here with you’.

  The fuzziness returns, swaddling my overstretched nerves. Retreating into the hazy fog, I decide to rest.

  “Nobody goes top-side until we figure this out,” Jack orders, his soft voice a stark contrast to his iron will.

  I slowly nod. It’s okay to let him make the decisions. I’m not in any place to make them for myself. Exhausted beyond measure, I let my head fall back and stare at the ceiling. I’ll figure out what I’m doing when I feel better.

  30

  The people in Heidi’s Restaurant go stone cold quiet when I walk through the front door. Pinned by their shocked stares, I nervously shift from one foot to the other. They’ve actually stopped eating Lenny’s food—that’s downright unnerving. As I sweep my gaze over the stunned crowd, I spot Hyde sitting in a small booth. Relieved to see a familiar face, I hurry over to him. The lethargic Criminal gets up to greet me. Smiling with contained joy, he offers me his hand in friendship.

  “Nothing will surprise me after this,” he says. “You’re a bloody miracle worker.”

  I squeeze his hand warmly. “Hello Adam Sorhab. Everything working out for you and Lily?”

  “We were already at the breeding house. Lily wanted to have a parade in your honor. When she heard you were back in the Prison…” He trails off and shrugs helplessly.

  “That’s the reason I’m here,” I explain. “I want to make sure she’s okay.”

  Hyde nods approvingly at my concern and offers me a seat at his booth. When I slide in, we descend into friendly silence.

  The crew doesn’t know I’m here. I snuck out through Kentucky’s back door. Frenzy was taking well-deserved naps; Kentucky was fixing a glitch in his suit; I don’t much care what Jules was up to; Jack was discussing a new hideout with Wulff. Apparently, he’s already scouted a new spot. The new hideout will be in H Sector and Jack’s planning on expanding. Not quite as big as Kentucky’s place, but definitely multi-leveled. He and Wulff were animatedly discussing the details before I slipped behind the industrial storage unit.

  I experienced a moment of deep self-loathing when I reached the surface. The sky was cloaked with threatening clouds. According to Jules, the lightning storms have been coming every few days or so, but it still hasn’t rained. I wasn’t thinking about the strange weather, though. I was thinking about Wulff. He asked me not to disappear again but that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Locket has no reason to seek me out so I should be able to find someplace that’s well out of Cop radar and far away from my old life. Before I got pulled into this mess I thought I was just going to retire. Silly me. I refuse to live in a straight jacket but I also refuse to endanger the people I love. Like my mother explained so many years ago—it’s for the best.

  But I still feel like shit. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m betraying the crew, that I’m making a cowardly choice. It was fine when I could stand on my own two feet, when I could carry my share of the burden. Now, I am the burden; I don’t know how to let the others carry me.

  “Daryl?” Lily’s hope filled eyes heighten my shame. Her shaking hands cover her mouth as tears stream down her face. “Is it really you?”

  “Hey, Lily.” I get to my feet. The people around us start muttering to each other. “Hyde was just telling me how much you miss me.”

  “It’s not possible…you’re gone!”

  “I was gone, but now I’m back.”

  “H-how?”

  I suddenly feel the entire restaurant lean in towards me, eyes staring and ears straining. They all want to understand. But I’m not a Whisperer; I can’t tell this story. Hyde motions towards the back and I follow gratefully. Retreating through the swinging door into the kitchen, I look around for Lenny.

  “He’s on break,” Lily says. Her soulful eyes drink me in. “He’s going to have a heart attack when he sees you!”

  “Sorry, I can’t stay long,” I apologize. The people’s attention is starting to alarm me. Peeking into the sit-down portion of the restaurant, I realize a crowd has started gathering outside the building. Soon, Heidi’s Restaurant will be full beyond capacity. I nervously examine the back door of the restaurant. “I just came to make sure you’re doing okay.”

  Lily lets out a giant sigh before collapsing into a chair. “I’m fine…now! But I’m exhausted and things are going to get mighty uncomfortable when this baby really starts to grow. Do you want to know about Locket before you leave?�
�

  Hyde chuckles. “Didn’t he ask you to just say the name?”

  “Daryl is my priority.” Shooting Hyde a rebellious look Lily turns to me. “He came in three days ago. He said that if any one of your crew came in I should whisper the name in their ear.”

  “Name?” Intrigued, I give Lily my full attention. “What name?”

  “Sonora. Apparently, that’s supposed to mean something to you guys.” Lily shakes her head. Looking to the ceiling, she lets out a frustrated groan. “You and Locket are absolutely maddening!”

  For a moment the world drops away. All my senses have abandoned my body. I know what that name means—Locket found the girl who betrayed us to the Cops. Clarissa Tyler, the scavenger otherwise known as Sonora. It isn’t surprising. Orphans don’t think ahead. Life goes from meal to meal for them.

  “Why did you guys break up?” Lily finally asks.

  I have to resist the urge to strangle her. “Lily, we couldn’t break up because we were never together.”

  “Oh, give over,” she returns. “It’s so obvious you guys had a thing. What happened, anyway? I’m dying from the curiosity!”

  “Locket’s eyes nearly fell out of his head when Lily asked him the same questions.” Hyde can’t control his laughter. The deep, rolling sounds are grating on my nerves. “I’ve never seen him look so scared.”

  Rolling my eyes, I quickly readjust my day’s schedule. I came here to say good-bye. It was my plan to find another manipulator this afternoon, but I won’t until after I find Clarissa Tyler. It’s a fucking shame. She had something, real talent. She could have made a career for herself.

  “Tell Lenny I’ll be back later,” I mutter under my breath.

  “You just got here!” Lily protests, but Hyde puts a hand on her shoulder. She glares at him before standing up and giving me a hug. “I’ll tell Lenny to make your favourite.”