Emergency Transmission

by Sean McLachlan

  “That’s what my grandparents thought,” Yu-jin said. She finished her meal and stood.

  Randy looked up at her. “Are you going to help me at the kiln today? I have a big order for dinner plates from Joe.”

  Yu-jin shook her head. “You know I have to help Reginald today.”

  “They’re going to let you remain his assistant?”

  Yu-jin went to the mirror and started combing her long hair. “They can’t stop us. All they can do is make it inconvenient. Make me leave every evening.”

  “So if you had gotten citizenship you would have moved in there?” Randy asked, sounding hurt.

  Yu-jin tensed. Asking questions he already knew the answers to was Randy’s way of starting an argument.

  “It’s a good job, good pay, and he gives me free meals.”

  “What else does he give you?” Randy grumbled.

  Yu-jin turned and glared at her boyfriend. “How many times do I have to say it? He’s gay and he’s old enough to be my grandfather. Plus I love you, even though you’ve been really annoying lately.”

  Randy raised his hands in frustration. “Well, how do you think I feel? I’ve been dating you for years and you’ve been lying to me all this time saying you’re Korean, and when it turns out you’re Chinese I get beaten up, lose a ton of business, get called a traitor by half the Burbs, and then lose you to The Doctor! I’m getting persecuted for being your boyfriend and I don’t even get to see you anymore!”

  Yu-jin sighed and tried to be patient. Everything Randy said was true, even if he did show a massive lack of understanding. How could she have told him she was Chinese? She had never told anyone, and by the time they had fallen in love, she’d been lying about it for so long it had become easier not to tell the truth.

  Of course, she had to admit to herself, she had always been afraid Randy would reject her. That’s what really bothered him. He sensed the mistrust and felt betrayed by it.

  Easy for him to feel that way, he hadn’t had to hide all his life. Still, looking at it from his perspective, she could see how it would hurt.

  “Look,” she said, going over and putting her arms around him. She felt him stiffen. “I’ll try to make it a short day today. Get the plates fired and I’ll help you with the painting. Joe still going for the same pattern?”

  “Yeah,” Randy grumbled.

  Yu-jin kissed him. When he didn’t respond, she kissed him again until he did.

  “Got to go,” she said, extricating herself.

  “All right,” Randy said, managing a smile. “See you this afternoon.”

  More like evening, Yu-jin thought.

  A few minutes later, Yu-jin entered another world, the world behind the wall. The world of safe, clean streets, and electricity in every home.

  The world that was totally different from the Burbs except for one thing—it didn’t want her either.

  Entering the warehouse and going upstairs, Yu-Jin nodded to the guard as she came down the hall to Reginald’s private rooms and medical lab. She’d become enough of a regular that no one escorted her now, although she suspected that Reginald had given an order that she was welcome in his quarters at any time.

  The guard at the door gave her a neutral look. This one (what was his name?) was one of the nicer ones, in that he wasn’t openly hostile. Clyde’s closest people weren’t allowed to guard Reginald anymore. Sadly, there weren’t too many guards the mayor could trust.

  Yu-jin knocked.

  “Busy!” Reginald’s voice snapped from behind the door.

  “It’s me!”

  “Oh, come on in!”

  She heard the door unlock. As she entered, Reginald Hines, who most of the world knew as only by his title of The Doctor, shambled over to the couch and flopped back down, opening a book.

  “Yes, I can see you’re busy.”

  “Medical book,” Reginald said, waving the volume over his head. “Research. Close the door, will you?”

  Yu-jin did as he asked and locked it. The Doctor liked his doors locked. When she did, he got up and walked over. They fell into each other’s arms and hugged.

  “Good morning,” Yu-jin said.

  “It is now.”

  Yu-jin could feel his back muscles relax. How could someone be this tense this early in the morning?

  “You get enough sleep?” she asked.

  “Six hours.”

  “That’s two more than usual.”

  “If I didn’t, you’d gripe at me.”

  “You smoke this morning?”

  “You know I don’t mix work and play,” The Doctor said, still hugging her.

  “But you smoked last night.”

  “Yes, after a sixteen-hour day and a really annoying Citizens Council meeting I lit one. It kept me from becoming a mass murderer.”

  “You smoke too much.”

  “I don’t smoke enough.”

  “Have you eaten yet today?”

  “Yes, mother, I had my breakfast.”

  “What?”

  “I said I had my breakfast.”

  “Don’t avoid the question. What did you eat?”

  “Some bread.”

  “And?”

  “Bread. Enough bread that it counts as breakfast.”

  “You need to—”

  “You need to stop bossing me around.”

  His voice got a slight edge to it, and his back muscles tensed a little. Yu-jin hugged him harder.

  “How’s the boyfriend?” he asked.

  “Ugh. Insecure and jealous as hell.”

  “Have you explained it to him?”

  “A million times. He doesn’t understand.”

  Yu-jin didn’t feel that was quite fair. She didn’t really understand this relationship herself. All she knew was that it made her feel happy and at home. Not to mention needed.

  She pulled herself away and jabbed a finger in his chest.

  “You need to eat more. How about one of those nutrition bars you make?”

  “You want one of those?”

  “No, I want you to eat one of those.”

  The Doctor pulled away and moved towards his kitchenette. “We’ll split one.”

  Yu-jin rolled her eyes and followed.

  “I’m sorry about the meeting,” he said, opening the door to his refrigerator. Although it hadn’t worked in years, it was still a handy place to store food.

  “It wasn’t unexpected,” Yu-jin sighed.

  “We’ll work on them. Do you really want to go on patrol with Clyde?”

  “Yeah, it’s kind of a dumb idea. It just came out. But we need to build trust.”

  Reginald snorted. “With him?”

  He pulled out a nutritional bar made to his own recipe with oats, honey, and berries. He broke it in two and offered her half.

  “Give me the smaller half,” Yu-jin said.

  Reginald pointed at her. “Annoying.”

  He gave her the smaller half.

  They went back to the living room and munched in silence, sitting close together on the couch.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do about Randy,” Yu-jin said after a time.

  “Love’s rare in this world. Keep him.”

  She waved her hand in frustration. “He’s gotten so insecure! He’s jealous of you, he’s jealous of me having a more important job, and he’s angry about losing so much business because he’s dating a Chinese woman.”

  The Doctor gave her a sideways glance. “Do you think he’s blaming you for being what you are?”

  Yu-jin shook her head. “In a way I wish he would. Then it would be easier to make a decision. No, he doesn’t have a trace of racism. Well, I’m sure he was as scared as everybody when the ship showed up, but that vanished when I told him what I was. His problem is that he’s sensitive and can’t handle the rejection. You know one of Randy’s old customers ripped up a portrait he bought right in front of him?”

  The Doctor made a sympathetic noise and put an arm around her. Yu-jin
leaned into him and continued.

  “The real problem is that he can’t have children. This whole fight was coming even before the ship showed up. The mess afterwards just made it worse between us.”

  “You think he’s going to leave you?”

  Yu-jin grimaced. “No. I don’t know. Randy would make a great father.”

  “Why don’t you adopt?”

  “It’s not the same.” Why do men always say that?

  “Why not? A kid’s a kid.”

  “Most women want their own children. And since I can have them and he can’t …”

  She let her words trail off. She didn’t want to think of the obvious solution—leave Randy and find someone else. Maybe Randy sensed it too and wanted to push her in that direction?

  A knock at the door took her out of her thoughts. The knock sounded angry and urgent, demanding.

  She knew who it was almost before Reginald unlocked his door.

  Clyde stood on the other side. He did not carry his M16 as usual but his 9mm automatic was in his holster.

  “Hey Doc …” he began, and trailed off as he looked over Reginald’s shoulder and saw Yu-jin sitting on the couch.

  “What is it, Clyde?”

  “Can I come in?” Clyde asked.

  “If you must.”

  As Clyde entered, the guard at the door slipped in behind him, closed the door, and took up position behind Clyde.

  Clyde looked over his shoulder and frowned. When he turned back to face them, Yu-jin thought he looked hurt. She doubted Reginald noticed. People skills weren’t exactly his strong point. Odd for someone who cared so much.

  Clyde inclined his head towards Yu-jin. “Can we talk alone?”

  “She’ll know what we talk about anyway. Sit down.”

  Reginald sat on the sofa next to Yu-jin while Clyde took a seat opposite them. The guard remained at the door, his M16 sloped but ready.

  “We got a problem,” the Head of the Watch said.

  “We got a million problems. Could you be more specific?”

  Clyde gave Yu-jin a hard look. “They’re planning some sort of Chinese New Year’s party.”

  Yu-jin’s jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Oh come on, don’t act like you don’t know,” Clyde said.

  Reginald turned to her in surprise. “You mean you didn’t know? I was just going to talk to you about it.”

  “Who’s organizing this?” she asked.

  “One of the Yaos,” Reginald said, waving his hand in a vague manner. “The pregnant one.”

  “You mean Xinxin?” Reginald really needed to get better with people’s names. He had two categories for people—important people and everyone else. He was a walking encyclopedia about the first group, and clueless about the second.

  “Yeah, that’s her name,” Clyde said, the heat audible in his voice.

  Yu-jin turned to him warily. It was obvious her friend had made it into the “important people” category for Clyde.

  “I didn’t know about this,” Yu-jin said. “But—”

  “Yeah, right!”

  “No, I didn’t know about this. We aren’t one monolithic group who all act and think alike. We’re individuals who have our own lives.”

  “You plan, you conspire—”

  “Getting pretty close to Blame there, Clyde,” The Doctor growled.

  The Head of the Watch paused, then continued. “OK, even if you didn’t know, she’s your friend and part of the community. You’re marrying her brother, right?”

  “No.” How the hell did he know Da-bin wanted to marry her?

  “Whatever. You’re as thick as thieves. You caused a lot of trouble when you suddenly announced you were Chinese.”

  “Trouble for us, not for you.”

  “Instability in the Burbs is trouble for everyone. You know what a security risk this party will be?”

  “Then you better start planning,” The Doctor said.

  Clyde shook his head. “No. The Burbs aren’t my problem.”

  “You just said trouble in the Burbs is trouble for everyone,” Yu-jin pointed out.

  Clyde glared at her. “My job is to protect New City, and that’s what I plan to do. My men are going to guard the wall and the gate from whatever shit storm you people create from your little cultural festival. Beyond the wall, what goes on is your business, and your fault.”

  The Doctor leaned forward, “Clyde, you have a duty—”

  “New City’s charter is quite clear about my duties, and they stop at the wall.”

  Yu-jin glanced at Reginald and saw frustration. Apparently New City’s charter did say that. Of course Clyde sent his men out when he felt like it, but it seemed that was at his discretion.

  Clyde stood. “I’m sorry, Doc, but this whole thing’s a bad idea. I wish you’d listen to me.”

  The last sentence came out pleading.

  Reginald flicked his hand like he was dismissing a disobedient child.

  “Go.”

  Clyde headed for the door, shaking his head. The guard stepped out of his way.

  On impulse, Yu-jin got up and went after him. She made a point of not catching up to him until they were out in the hall and alone.

  She put a hand on his shoulder. His muscles tensed under his old army camouflage.

  “I know you’re only doing what you think is best,” she said.

  Clyde snorted.

  “I don’t blame you,” she said. Actually she did, but Jesus taught you to be kind to everyone, even dickheads like Clyde. Especially dickheads like Clyde. Being kind to good people just came naturally.

  Yu-jin let her hand slide down his arm and then held his hand.

  “We’re both on the same side here.”

  Clyde yanked his hand away.

  “You and me ain’t on the same side, missy.”

  “We both care about our community, and we both care about him.”

  Clyde wouldn’t look her in the eye.

  “And we both have a job to do,” she went on. “Remember I said I’d go along and check out Weissberg? We need to see what they got from the freighter. I already believe you, but Reginald never will until I go see it with my own eyes. So let’s do it. Let’s go up there.”

  “It’s already planned,” he grumbled. “He gave permission for Rachel to drive us in one of the vehicles. Speed and maneuverability are essential in a mission like this. Grab your gear and let’s go.”

  Yu-jin nodded. “Fine. I can be ready in an hour. I’ll just go talk with Reginald.”

  “Make it half an hour, and don’t call him by his name. He hates it when people do that.”

  Clyde stalked away. Yu-jin watched him go.

  He doesn’t hate it when I do.

  She couldn’t help but feel a smug satisfaction at that.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  David and Aaron searched the entire bunker and found nothing except for the bags of cement and the strange barrels labeled “Cement Mixer”.

  David was practically insane with rage, stomping around the bunker and kicking the bags.

  “Cement! Nothing but fucking cement!”

  Aaron looked confused. “So wait, this powder stuff makes cement?”

  David snarled. “Yes, damn it. In the Old Times they mixed it with something, I don’t know what, to make that stone they used in their houses and sidewalks. That’s all there is here. We might as well eat rocks!”

  Aaron leaned against the wall, looking faint.

  “Now what do we do?” he asked.

  David paused. Tried to get a grip. There were two thousand hardened killers out there who wanted an answer to the same question. What could he tell them?

  God is playing tricks on me. Why did he let me live through last night only to bring me to this?

  Or is this a test?

  David looked up at the roof, as if he could see right through it and all the way to Heaven.

  “Why?” he asked out loud.

  “Why what?” Aaron asked.
<
br />   “Nothing,” David said, bowing his head. “I need some time alone.”

  He strode out to the waiting crowd, who stared at him with a mixture of expectation and glee.

  For a moment they stood facing each other in silence. The wind had picked up and plastic bags floated through the crowd like little clouds. There was a hollow rattle as an old plastic bottle rolled along in the face of the breeze.

  David raised his arms. “My people! The Lord has given me a sign. I must go to this hilltop and pray. Make camp a kilometer away from this hill and have your midday meal. When I have communed with the Lord I will return to you and give you his words.”

  “Purity! Purity! Purity!”

  Shut up, you fucking sheep.

  He turned to Aaron. “Guard the entrance. Don’t let anyone get close.”

  His friend nodded, and David walked partway around the hill to get out of sight of the Righteous Horde. He started to ascend. The way was rocky and steep, the loose rocks skittering out from beneath his feet. In places he had to climb with both hands and soon sweat poured down his face even though it was still winter. The entire time he climbed he kept muttering, “Why? Why?”

  A plastic bag wafted in front of his face. Angrily he batted it aside.

  He reached the summit, panting and sweating, and glared up at the sky.

  “Why? Isn’t it enough to burn me for all time? Do you have to play with me too?”

  David grabbed a stone and tossed it into the air.

  “Fuck you!”

  The rock came back down and nearly hit him. He snarled and kicked it, then slumped down on a flat stone as high as a seat. Cradling his head in his hands, he tried to regain his breath. The bag he had knocked away on his climb spun in the air before getting caught in the bare branches of a dead bush. The plastic whipped in the breeze, crackling and snapping like fire.

  David looked out across the land. Below him, the Righteous Horde had settled down for its midday meal. They would still be eating the food he had given away last night. That would probably last them for the evening meal too. After that it would be back to half rations, and those would only last two weeks.

  Two weeks. Two weeks before these people started starving. Why couldn’t the bunker have held food? Aaron was right, they could have made a new start. All the killing could have stopped.