by S. J. Bryant
The others drew sharp breaths and looked away.
"Zap," Cole said.
"Just saying what everyone is thinking."
"And how has that worked out for you so far?"
Zap scowled and turned back to her food.
Aart got the sensation that there was more going on than he could see, but he didn't want to put himself in the middle of an argument on his first day. "So, uh… what are you all doing on a place like this?"
"You're new so we'll let that slide," Cole said. "But that's not a question you should ask in a place like this. The answer is the same in the end anyway; money."
"For ten credits a day?" Aart said. "There's got to be better ways."
"Then why are you here?" Zap said.
"Oh… I—" Aart rubbed the back of his neck and a blush crept over his cheeks.
"Don't be too hard on him," Cole said. "Look at his tattoo and his last name is Goldson so I'd say, compared to the slave work he was doing, ten credits a day is pretty good. Isn't that right, Aart?"
Aart cleared his throat. "Yeah, it is."
"Most people who come here are from the Resources District," Jen said. "That or Snoth."
"You don't have the tattoos," Aart said. He reached up and brushed his temple where his origin tattoo marked him as a slave of Goldson.
"Got rid of ours," Jen said.
"One of the first things we did as soon as we left Cupron," Berry said.
"Oh." Aart hadn't even considered getting rid of his. He hated what it represented—his time as a slave, but on the other hand, it reminded him how far he'd come, and also what he owed the people who were still trapped there.
"I'm from Tabryn," Gin said. "But I got caught counting cards. They gave me the option of Ankar or coming here."
"You made the right choice," Cole said. "Even just the stories of that place are enough to make your blood cold."
"You came here instead of prison?" Aart said. "But I thought this place was privately owned?"
He made a mental note that this was another thing he should have looked up in the Cloud before he decided to sign a contract and give up all his possessions.
"In a way," Cole said. "It's owned by a Confederacy general. He has an arrangement with the Confederacy to get some prisoners for cheap labor. Mind you, he doesn't have much to do with the running of the place."
"Who does?"
"The managers and the enforcers." Cole glanced at the door. "Just don't get on their bad side. The boss might think that things are run to a better standard here, but the enforcers make sure it's not so different to Goldson and the other slave planets."
"Oh."
Zap snorted. "Yeah, except they—"
"Zap!" Cole said.
She fell silent and the rest of the group dropped their eyes to their bowls. Uneasiness crept over Aart's skin. What were they hiding? Was it something to do with Delia? He got the impression that Zap didn't want to hold back… he'd bide his time until he had a chance to talk to her alone. Maybe she'd be able to help.
The uncomfortable silence made Aart nervous. "So, uh— how do you guys live with that noise?" After spending the whole day surrounded by sharp buzzing, Aart was ready to tear his own ears out. The wooden building gave some relief, but Aart didn't think he'd be able to sleep with the noise.
"You get used to it," Cole said.
"More like, it makes you deaf so you can't hear it so good," Jen said.
"I made ear-muffs out of my old shirt," Gin said. He rifled around near his feet and came up with what looked like a tangle of rags. He pulled it on over his head like a bonnet so that two wads of material covered his ears. "It doesn't stop it completely, but it makes it better."
"It's not part of the uniform," Cole said.
Gin rolled his eyes. "The enforcers haven't said anything yet."
"I need a pair of those," Aart said.
"I'll show you if you want. You just need an old shirt or something."
Aart hurried to his bed and came back with his shirt.
Gin helped him cut and tie it while the others cleaned up the dishes and went about their own business. Aart pulled the finished product over his head and sighed. It cut the noise of the locusts down to the level of dull static coming over a radio.
"That's amazing. Thank you."
Gin shrugged. "I'm getting off of here eventually and I don't want to be deaf when I do."
Gin wandered off and Drax appeared at Aart's side. The thin man had long, spindly fingers and his eyes kept darting around the room.
"So where have you been since you left Goldson?"
"What?" Aart said.
"It's been a while since you left," Drax said. "Your skin is too tanned, not enough tunnel dirt on you."
Aart swallowed. He didn't like that Drax could tell so much just by looking at him. "I've just been… around."
"Around?" Drax licked his lips. "You've got some scars on you, calluses too, and you know, just before you arrived I saw a ship land. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a bounty hunter."
Aart's eyes narrowed. "I thought Cole said it's rude to question people here."
"Oh, it is," Drax said. "But I can't help wondering why a perfectly healthy bounty hunter with a ship all of his own would come to a place like this. Some people would wonder—"
"Those people should mind their own business." Aart turned and moved away from Drax. The last thing he needed was people asking questions. If the enforcers found out he was actually here to find and rescue Delia…
"Everything okay?" Cole said, his gaze moving between Aart and Drax.
"Just getting to know our new visitor," Drax said.
Cole's expression darkened. "You leave him alone, Drax; he's only just got here."
Drax chuckled.
"It's been a long day," Cole said. "We should all get some sleep."
Aart went to his bed and peeled off his overalls. He lay down and stared up at the ceiling. Cole turned off the light and plunged them into darkness.
Aart's skin crawled knowing that Drax lay just two beds over. He didn't know what it was about the other man, but he reeked of trouble. Aart wished he'd been allowed to keep his gun, or even his knife. Knowing that he had no weapons made it hard for him to close his eyes. What if he woke up to find Drax's fingers wrapped around his throat?
He reached up and rubbed the chip. If all the enforcers could tell where all the workers were at any time, then there was no way they could have lost Delia. But then, if they hadn't lost her and she hadn't contacted her father, what had happened to her?
Aart grimaced. If Raster were run like Goldson and Delia had been killed, they'd just as likely hide it and claim nothing was wrong. What if she'd been dead this whole time and Aart had committed a month of his life just to tell her father that she were dead?
Aart shivered. He couldn't think like that. Delia was okay. He'd find her and bring her home. Then he could get away from Raster and the locusts, and he would never take a job like this ever again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Aart sweltered under the hot sun and his overalls clung to his body with sweat. The earmuffs Gin had helped him make dimmed the maddening drone of the locusts some, but not enough. It felt like a fly had got into Aart's ear and landed there, buzzing, and refused to leave.
Aart snatched for a locust but his hand closed too tight and mashed the insect's body against his palm. He grimaced, hurled it into his basket, and then wiped his palm on his overalls.
His shoulders and back ached and each movement sent a new spark of tenderness through his body. He hadn't felt this much pain since his mining days on Goldson, and he'd only been working the fields for two days. He couldn't keep it up, not for a month, but he'd signed a contract. There had to be a way out of it, perhaps if he found Delia he could buy his way out.
He inched across the field toward Zap until he was close enough to talk to her over the buzz. The bruise on her cheek had faded to a dull green color.
"Hey," he
said.
She glanced up then went back to harvesting.
Aart snatched another locust and this time managed to avoid crushing it. "How'd you get the bruise?"
"Accident."
Aart bit his lip. The bruise and the cut didn't look like the result of an accident but Zap didn't seem to be in the mood to talk about it. "Why do they bother harvesting locusts anyway?"
Zap hurled a locust into her basket. "What?"
"Why harvest locusts? The food generators—"
Zap snorted and went back to work. "Not everyone can afford food generators, you know."
"But a whole planet—"
"Planets are easy to come by; cheap labor doubly so. Now did you come here for a reason or are you hoping we both have to work late to meet quota?" Zap stared at him with hard eyes.
"Uh… no," Aart said. He looked up over the field and considered his options. He didn't want to risk revealing his true motives to anyone, but he needed help finding Delia, and Zap didn't seem especially fond of the enforcers. "Actually, I came to Raster looking for a friend."
Zap stiffened.
"Her name is Delia, I—"
"Don't know her."
"Do you know—?"
"I said I don't know her! Now get away from my patch or I'll get Cole over here."
Zap bent and snatched three locusts in quick succession and hurled them into her basket.
"Sorry." Aart backed away.
He'd considered trying again but the look on Zap's face made him keep his mouth shut until he was well away from everyone else in his own patch of the field.
He'd been hoping for something more useful than that from Zap. They'd been hiding something from him the night before. If it had something to do with Delia then he had to find out what it was. He turned his attention to harvesting locusts while his brain worked on another plan.
Jen and Berry worked not far from him and they'd seemed nice enough. Perhaps they'd be willing to talk to him about—
A cry sounded behind Aart, just audible over the drone of insects and his earmuffs. He spun to see an enforcer snatch Gin and lift him off the ground while another slammed his fist into Gin's stomach.
"Think you can ignore us?"
Thump.
"Think you're too important to follow orders?"
Thump.
Blood poured out of Gin's mouth and he didn't seem to be able to catch a breath.
Aart dropped his basket. It toppled and spilled locusts across the ground. He sprinted through the field toward Gin and the enforcers.
"Whoa!" Cole snatched Aart's sleeve and hauled him to a stop. "What are you doing?"
"They're going to kill him!"
"And you, if you run in like that. Get back to work."
"No, we need to stop them!"
"I said get back to work." Cole shoved Aart in the chest so that he stumbled back and then Cole strode through the field toward Gin and the enforcers.
Aart tore off his make-shift ear-muffs and the buzz of locusts filled his head. He battled with himself and rocked on the balls of his feet; he had to do something. He couldn't let the enforcers beat the kid to death for no reason, but he couldn't risk—
"What seems to be the problem?" Cole said. He stood a yard away from the enforcers and didn't look at Gin.
"Your little worker here ignored a direct order."
"Ah," Cole said. "I'm sorry to hear that. The insects… you lose your hearing after a while. I'm sure he didn't mean any disrespect."
"He should have thought of that before making these." The enforcer tossed Gin's ear-muffs across the field.
Gin hung limp from the man's arms like a rag-doll.
"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
"I'm sure you would," the enforcer said. "But I've got to take him to the shed. Teach him a lesson."
Cole's face turned white. "Surely that's not—"
"You want to join him?"
"No. No, of course not. You do what you have to do."
"That's what I thought."
The first enforcer turned and strode across the field. The second followed, dragging Gin behind him.
Cole hung his head, collected Gin's basket, and poured it into the deposit bin.
Aart jogged to him but kept his eyes locked on Gin and the enforcers as they trekked through the fields. Speckles of blood leaked from Gin's face and dotted the ground behind them. "What just happened? Where are they taking him?"
"It's none of your business. Get back to work."
"They nearly beat him to death! Are they taking him to the medical building?"
"No, boy."
"Then where?"
"I said it's none of your business! Get back to work or I'll report you to the enforcers myself."
Cole trudged into the field, to his patch, and snatched locusts from the plants.
Aart stared after him with his mouth hanging open.
Jen and Berry emerged from the field and poured their baskets into the deposit bin beside Aart.
"Best do what he says," Jen said.
"Mighty brave what you did, trying to run in," Berry said. "Stupid, to be sure, but brave."
"But it won't help Gin if you get yourself in trouble," Jen said.
Aart looked at them. "You know where they took him?"
"Not now, love. Get back to work." Jen patted him on the shoulder then she and Berry went back into the field.
Aart trudged away from the deposit bin to where he'd dropped his basket. Locusts dotted the ground and half of them had flown away, costing him hours of work.
He sighed and collected the ones that remained, which left him with only half a basket, and went back to harvesting.
Nothing about Raster made sense. It was like everyone was hiding something. And what about poor Gin? They said they were taking him to the shed; what did that mean? If it wasn't the medical building, was it some kind of prison or punishment? Gin didn't deserve that. It wasn't his fault a person couldn't even hear themselves think over the bloody locusts. Had the same thing happened to Delia? Perhaps she'd done something to upset the enforcers and they'd decided to take her to the shed as well? Whatever that was…
Aart didn't want to risk putting his ear-muffs on; didn't want to end up like Gin. So he resigned himself to the maddening buzz that beat at his eardrums. It didn't take long for a headache to form behind his eyes.
When the bell rang for dinner he was still half a basket short so he kept working. Cole and the others disappeared inside the wooden building, all except Zap.
"Here," she said, thrusting her basket at him. "I got extra."
Aart raised his eyebrow.
"Don't get used to it. I saw you run for Gin, he's a good kid. Anyway, take it before I change my mind."
Aart took her basket. "Thanks."
"Whatever." Zap spun away and entered the wooden building.
Aart poured both baskets into the deposit bin before he followed her inside.
A pal lay over the workers and they ate their gray mush in relative silence. Aart shifted in his chair. He needed to know what was happening to Gin. If he were being punished, then Aart had to do something to help him. The boy had been nice, and had shown Aart how to make the ear-muffs.
"I warned him about those inventions of his," Drax said.
"Shut up, Drax," Cole said.
"I did. He was always coming up with new things and I told him the enforcers wouldn't like it. But did he listen?"
"He said shut up!" Jen thumped her bowl down so it made a loud crack that echoed around the building.
"Just saying," Drax mumbled into his bowl.
"Wouldn't have made any difference," Zap said. "He would have ended up at the shed anyway."
"Yeah, we all do in the end," Fillup said.
"Zap, Fillup," Jenny said.
Zap leaned forward. "What? How long have you been here now? Are you telling me that it's not true?"
Jen sighed. "That's not the point. It's best not to—"
"To talk about it? Didn't help me much did it. How much longer do you think I've got before they drag me back there?"
Everyone dropped their eyes.
A tight knot formed in Aart's stomach. Everyone knew something except him. "Um, do you think you can tell me what's going on?"
"Don't worry about it," Cole said.
Zap rolled her eyes. "You think he's got nothing to worry about? I'm surprised it was Gin today and not him or Fillup."
"Zap!" Cole said. "That's enough."
"I really think—" Aart said.
"No," Cole said. "That's enough. No more talking tonight."
Jen and Berry shared a glance and then retired to their beds. Aart got the impression that they wanted to say more but no one disobeyed Cole. The old man seemed nice enough but if everyone was so scared of him, what could he do? He had threatened to call the enforcers… but would he do that? Would he get them to give Aart a beating if he kept talking? Aart decided that his second day on the job wasn't the best time to push the boundaries.
Zap stomped over to her bed and lay down facing the wall. Drax and Fillup followed suit.
"Time for bed," Cole said.
Aart glanced at him and nodded. He'd go quietly for now, but he needed to find out what had happened to Gin. If he was in some kind of trouble then Aart had to do something. Perhaps he'd pull Jen or Berry aside in the morning and ask them straight to their faces. If he offered to help Gin they might be more willing to tell him.
None of it helped with his real mission though. Delia could be on a whole other planet for all Aart knew and he barely got a spare second to think about it because he had to work the fields from sun up to sun down.
He made a mental note to research his jobs better in the future. If he'd known what Raster was really like he would have tried to find a different way onto the planet, one that didn't involve selling himself into slavery. He couldn't even call Tyra for help because she'd gone into deep cover, for that matter he didn't know how he'd call her anyway because the enforcers had taken his communicators and he hadn't seen one in the wooden building. Still, there had to be some around because Delia had been speaking with her father. Aart would ask Cole about it when he got a chance.
That was a problem for another day; for the moment, Aart concentrated on trying to sleep but thoughts of Gin kept plaguing his imagination. He hoped the boy was okay.