The Strange

by Masha du Toit

  Elke nodded, and Jinan turned away without another word, and stepped through the entrance-flap of the cubicle.

  “She’s going in there?” hissed Isabeau. “How can she be going in there?” She pulled free from Elke’s grasp.

  “I know,” said Elke, “but we need to leave now.”

  “But Jinan! She’ll hurt Ndlela, I know she will.”

  “Isabeau, that’s not going to happen.” Elke blinked tiredly. “Jinan has no reason to hurt your brother.”

  That didn’t stop her before, was what Isabeau wanted to say, but she saw Danger’s anxious eyes on her. I’m freaking him out. She forced herself to take a deep breath and put a comforting hand on the big gardag’s shoulder.

  “Listen, Noor,” Elke was saying. “I need to get you back to your cubby. Then I’ve got to make sure that MJ actually gets to the lazaretto. He’s being stubborn about it.”

  “I can speak to mijnheer Mack Jack,” said Alexander. “He is at his residence?”

  “Oh, will you come help me?” Elke let out a relieved breath. “He’ll listen to you.”

  Alexander gave a little bow of acknowledgement.

  “But what about Jinan Meer?” Isabeau kept her voice as calm as she could, but she didn’t want to let this topic go.

  “Issy...” Elke looked at Isabeau. “You really don’t need to worry about that. Jinan Meer won’t touch Ndlela. She has nothing to gain from harming him. Truly. You guys got mixed up in her affairs because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all.”

  “And there’s this trial coming up, isn’t there?” said Noor. “If anything happened to any of us, it would look very bad for her.”

  “That’s true too,” said Elke. “If it will help, I’ll ask Alexander to keep an eye on her. Make sure she stays away from Ndlela. Will that make you feel better?”

  “I guess,” Isabeau said reluctantly.

  “Come then. Let’s go.” Elke set off down the corridor.

  “Why’s Danger not with Tomas?” Isabeau had to trot to keep up with Elke.

  “They won’t let him into the lazaretto.”

  “That’s stupid!” Isabeau looked round at the gardag. “Wanna stay with us, Danger?”

  “That’s actually a great idea.” Elke smiled at Isabeau. “You guys can look after one another.”

  “That’s what I thought,” said Isabeau.

  ¤¤¤

  Later that evening, Isabeau bolted the door to her cubby, then looked at Danger, who was watching her expectantly. Elke had taken him for a walk so he could pee, and Isabeau had fed him already, so she wasn’t sure what he wanted.

  “I’m going to sleep now,” she told him. “That’s my bed. Where do you want to sleep?”

  Danger promptly hopped up onto the bed she’d indicated, making Isabeau laugh.

  “No, man.” She pointed at the other bed. “You’re way too big to share. Where I’m supposed to fit in?”

  Danger snuggled his head deeper into her pillow and peeked at her to check her reaction.

  “Did Tomas let you sleep on the bed with him? I doubt it. That one.” Isabeau pointed remorselessly at the other bed. “You’re lucky. If Noor were here, you’d be sleeping on the floor.”

  Danger raised his head, clearly considering whether to obey, and Isabeau wondered what she would do if he refused. He was far too strong for her to simply pull or shove him off. To her relief, the gardag gave a grumbling yawn and jumped over onto the other bed, turned once or twice, and curled into the tight nest of blankets his paws had created.

  “That’s better.” Isabeau pulled off her shirt and draped it on the end of the bed, too tired to fold it and put it away properly as Noor would expect her to.

  “You don’t need to worry about Tomas, you know,” she told Danger. “They’ll look after him, in the lazaretto. He’ll soon be better.”

  She stepped out of her trousers and frowned as something crinkled in one of the pockets. It was the pamphlet. She’d stuffed it into a pocket and forgotten about it. Now she smoothed it out again, careful not to get ink on her fingers.

  Don’t believe the Lies!!!

  Isabeau sat on her bed and read the pamphlet. Most of it echoed what the clerk had already told her. The disease was a plot against the Realworld inhabitants in the Eye, and ultimately a plot against the Real world itself. The quarantine was a lie, a smokescreen to divert attention from what the pamphlet called “the true agenda”.

  She skimmed over the parts that she didn’t understand, references to events and people she’d never heard of, but a lot of it made a certain kind of sense. Especially the part about Jinan Meer, who was referred to as a “Strangeside Criminal Mastermind”.

  Isabeau nodded to herself. That was perfectly true. Jinan Meer had conspired to infect the Real with strangeside biologicals; Isabeau knew that for a fact. She’d seen the cache with her own eyes and felt the rough hands of Jinan Meer’s hired gunmen.

  “Why do the Authorities allow this Woman to walk free, to continue her corrupting work?”

  That was exactly what Isabeau had been wondering too. Elke’s reassurances about Jinan’s presence in the lazaretto had seemed reasonable enough, but now Isabeau was no longer sure.

  Did Elke know all these things that were in the pamphlet? If she did, she’d said nothing about it.

  Isabeau sat up suddenly. Missy Cloete! With Ndlela getting sick, she’d completely forgotten all about her. Elke hadn’t said anything about that either.

  She probably doesn’t want to worry us. That seemed the most likely explanation, although Isabeau could never understand grownups’ attempts to protect her from reality. Surely it was better to know about a potential danger, rather than keeping it a secret? Tomorrow, she’d try to find Elke alone and ask her about Missy.

  Decision made, Isabeau felt a little bit better. She read the pamphlet through again, then finally let it fall. Her eyes ached and her head swam with the need to sleep. Danger watched, chin on his paws. His eyes were slitted, as if the light bothered him.

  “Okay. I’ll sleep now.” She tucked the pamphlet under the mattress and pulled a blanket around herself. Last of all, she reached up to cover the coll, plunging the cubby into darkness. “Goodnight, Danger.”

  She closed her eyes resolutely, but it was no good. Sleep would not come, despite her exhaustion. Her thoughts were fizzing about, darting from one thing to the next.

  What would it be like for Ndlela, inside the lazaretto? Was he in a room, or a corridor, or in a cubby like this one? Did he have a proper bed, or was he just lying on the floor—who knew?

  Isabeau concentrated on making her breaths deep and even. That’s what her mother had always told her to do when she was upset or scared.

  A memory blossomed. Her mother, Thandeka, sitting on the edge of Isabeau’s bed in a room just as dark as this one, soothing away a nightmare simply by being there, calm and steady.

  Her mother was gone.

  Isabeau might never see her again. No matter how much she wanted, it wouldn’t help. It would make no difference. Wanting only made it hurt more.

  Isabeau’s breath caught in her throat as she fought back the tears.

  No. I’m sick of crying. I’m not crying any more. But it was no use trying to get to sleep now. She sat up and reached for her trousers.

  There had to be a way into the lazaretto. All she had to do was persuade the guards to let her in. Or maybe she could sneak past them somehow. Noor wouldn’t approve, but then, Noor didn’t need to know.

  ¤¤¤

  Isabeau opened the cubby door, trying not to wake Danger, but it was no good. He was already sliding off the bed, ears up and tail swinging.

  Isabeau eyed him. What were the chances that he’d stay here quietly, waiting for her return? One look at his wagging tail, already banging against her bed, and she knew he’d never let her sneak away in silence.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come with.” She buttoned her trousers and picked up
her shirt. “Everyone will notice. Big gardag in the middle of the night. Everyone will be staring at us.”

  Danger let his mouth fall open in a grin and wagged his tail even harder.

  “Stop that. Noor will hear.”

  The tail ceased its wagging.

  “Will you stay here, if I go out? Quietly?”

  He just looked at her.

  “Okay. Okay.” Isabeau pulled her shirt into place. “You can come. I bet you wouldn’t mind getting into the lazaretto yourself hey? Go and visit Tomas. But you got to stay quiet, okay?”

  Danger gave the softest of soft barks, a little “whuf” of sound that barely breathed past his lips.

  “Good.” Isabeau smiled at him. “That was good.”

  Outside, the roosts were dark and silent. Hardly a light showed in any of the cubby windows. Isabeau slid down the ladder, and Danger leaped down behind her. Maybe it was just as well, having him along. She certainly felt safer in his company. If anybody challenged her, she could say that she was taking him for a pee.

  It didn’t take long to make her way back to Short Storage and to the entrance of the lazaretto. Isabeau paused at the end of the corridor, waiting in the shadows just out of sight of the guards.

  Now what? She could just see them, two guards, dishearteningly alert at their posts. No way to get past without them noticing.

  She looked at Danger. Maybe he could create a diversion of some kind? She had no doubt that he would understand what she wanted, but would he obey? So far, he’d not exactly been a picture of obedience. The whole way to the lazaretto he’d stopped to sniff in corners, sauntered along at his own pace, or dashed ahead in sudden bounds.

  But even if he did obey, creating a diversion might put him at risk. Those guards had weapons, and they’d be willing to use them.

  Isabeau wished that she had the diadem. She’d be able to do so much more, with her senses enhanced. She studied the entrance again, trying to fit it into what she knew of the layout of the Eye.

  There must be another way in. The lazaretto was a temporary structure, a part of Short Storage blocked off by stacks of cans and plastic sheeting. This entrance was no good—it was too well guarded—but maybe there were others. She was sure she’d seen a side corridor that turned off in just the right direction.

  “Let’s go,” she whispered to Danger, and was pleased when he turned smartly and followed at her heel.

  She chose a corridor at random, but after a few minutes, they came to a halt, as it was blocked by a can. Isabeau back-tracked and found a gap between the cans. Danger followed her as she squeezed along the narrow space. To Isabeau’s satisfaction the gap grew wider and opened into a proper corridor. But was it going in the right direction, towards the lazaretto? She was no longer sure.

  The dark, confined space reminded Isabeau of her recent experience down in Works level. She’d had her face pressed up close to a hatch which smelled strongly of—

  Isabeau froze.

  That hatch had smelled of disinfectant. Elke had said Missy was using disinfectant to cover her tracks.

  Isabeau remembered the sounds she’d heard, as if somebody was moving inside the wall, and the way the hatch’s handle had twitched in her hand. The memory was so vivid she had to rub her hand on her trouser leg to dispel it.

  Isabeau shivered. What if that hatch had opened, and she come face to face with Missy Cloete, alone in the dark?

  A warm shape pressed up against her thigh, and Danger pushed his nose into her hand. “Hey boy,” she said, “at least this time, I’m not alone, am I?”

  The corridor branched, and again Isabeau chose her path at random, aware that things were not quite as quiet any more. Dexter music played, and up ahead was a clanging like somebody hammering at a pipe.

  A voice made her shrink back. She didn’t need to understand the strangeside dialect to pick up the slurred tones of an angry drunk. Glass shattered, and a figure lurched into view, shortly followed by another, who grabbed him and shoved him up against a wall.

  Something seized Isabeau by the back of her shirt and dragged her back into the gap between the cans. She flailed until she realised that it was Danger, who’d taken a mouthful of her shirt and simply hauled.

  “Let go!” She winced, wondering if her voice had been too loud. Danger released her and took hold of her arm, tugging insistently, rolling his eyes expressively.

  Isabeau obeyed, hunching down and letting Danger drag her until the angry voices were out of earshot.

  “You can let go now.”

  Danger released her but didn’t slow his pace. Isabeau followed, hoping that the gardag knew the way back better than she did. At last they stepped into a corridor she recognised. Danger turned unhesitatingly for the stairs to Long Storage, and Isabeau followed him all the way back to her cubby.

  She got back into her bed with a sigh. She’d simply have to try again some other time.

  The Void

  Isabeau woke from a confused dream of endless corridors to find Noor shaking her awake.

  “Come on, Issy. Elke says if we get there early, we won’t have to queue.”

  “Ugh.” Isabeau rolled over, to find the bed unexpectedly empty. She pushed the blanket away from her face. “Where’s Danger?” She peered blearily around the cubby.

  “I took him for his walk already. He’s waiting outside.”

  “Oh.” Isabeau attempted to burrow down into her pillow, but Noor pulled her blankets off with a brisk tug. “Up you get. Come on.”

  Isabeau didn’t really wake up until they reached the testing station, near the entrance to the cafeteria. Even then she had trouble focusing on the medic’s rapid-patter instructions.

  He was a small glim, so like the glim-clerk up in archives that Isabeau at first thought they were the same, until she realised this one was male.

  He swabbed the inside of her cheek and popped the sample into a tube, which he dropped into a slot on a machine. Isabeau watched as he drew a bead of liquid from the tube, dropped it on a glass slide, added a tinted fluid from another dropper, and peered at the mixture through an eye-piece.

  “Clear,” he announced. “Next.”

  Noor stepped forward to be tested. “Does that mean she won’t get sick?”

  “Possible,” he said as he swabbed her cheek. “Test show if your body makes the fight. So far, it mean you get not sick. But early yet to say.” He went through the same procedure again and peered into the eyepiece. “Clear also. Next!”

  “What about Danger?” said Isabeau. “Shouldn’t he be tested too?”

  The medic glanced at the gardag who was sitting at her side.

  “Other species,” he said shortly. “No necessity.”

  “Come on, Issy,” said Noor. “Let’s go. Elke said she’ll meet us at the cafeteria.”

  It was early enough that the cafeteria was relatively empty. Elke waited at a table near the entrance. Alexander was there too, fiddling with his voice box, which was partly disassembled on the table.

  “Morning,” Elke said, and Alexander waved and nodded as they took their seats.

  Meisje, who’d been under Elke’s chair, came out to greet Danger. Isabeau watched with interest as the two gardags circled and sniffed.

  “Did you get any sleep at all?” Noor asked Elke, who gave a weary smile.

  “How’s Ndlela doing?” Isabeau asked. “Do you know? Can we go see him?”

  Alexander bowed at Isabeau and set to work reassembling his voice box.

  “We can’t go see him, you know that, Issy,” said Noor. “Have you heard anything about Mack Jack, or Diesel?” she asked Elke.

  “Alex said that Diesel’s pretty sick,” said Elke. “He thinks she’ll be okay, though. Her fever’s not too bad, and she could talk to him. Mack Jack’s not so good.”

  Alex slung the voice box’s straps over his shoulders and typed rapidly. “He’s under sedation. Fever pretty bad. But he’s very strong. Glims usually are.”

  “And Ndlela?” s
aid Noor. “You’ve seen him?”

  “He’s stable,” said Alexander. “Responding well to the treatment. His fever is under control.”

  “You can talk to him? Is he conscious?” Noor’s fingers whitened as she gripped the edge of the table.

  “He’s drifting in and out,” said Alexander. “A bit confused. I explained that I’m Elke’s friend, and told him your greetings. He’s a brave boy.”

  “Oh.” Noor swallowed. “Good. Thanks.”

  Elke pushed her chair back and stood. “I’m getting some food. What would you like? The milkbread’s just out of the ovens, and the samp-and-sausage is good.”

  “What about Danger?” said Isabeau. “And Meisje? What do they get?”

  “Come with me,” said Elke. “And help me carry.”

  Isabeau followed Elke to the food counter. It was hard to remember her doubts of the previous evening. The frightening claims of the pamphlet seemed like a muddled dream. All the same, she wondered what Elke would say if she asked her about Missy Cloete. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d do it though—confess that she’d been eavesdropping, or just bring up the woman’s name and see what Elke said? Ask, ever so subtly, whether there was a chance that Missy could escape from her prison? Maybe that would prompt Elke to share her secret.

  Isabeau took a tray, and loaded it with bowls and plates, scooping extra helpings of a porridge that she knew Noor liked.

  Elke didn't speak much, just pointed at things she thought Isabeau might enjoy opening lids and letting the fragrant steam escape.

  Just as Isabeau had figured out an innocent-seeming question about Missy, one of the cooks ambled over and asked Elke how long she thought the quarantine might last. He followed them all the way back to the table, where they found that Kiran had joined Noor, and only left them when they’d unloaded their trays.

  “You want some of this?” Elke asked Kiran as she put a piece of battered brinjal onto her plate. “Plenty for everybody.”

  “Too early for me.” Kiran held up her mug. “Tea is all I can stand right now. Alex tells me Mack Jack’s not doing so well.” She edged her chair back, making space for Isabeau to sidle to her place next to Noor.