Prophet's Journey, page 37
part #1 of Prophet of the Badlands Series
Teal sat in the back of the room, quietly observing the villagers dance, make music with drums and pots, and otherwise enjoy a few hours of happiness before a long, dangerous journey. At one point, Avie connected the little device she had to a speaker and blasted that ‘heavy metal’ noise over the room, standing there bobbing her head up and down. The people making music stopped, staring at her with stunned expressions. Ell-Gee ran over and shut the thing off before the entire village erupted in a panic at the frightening noise.
“… and then the giant face man tried to hurt us with bad air. It made him angry when we didn’t die, but Kye broke the magic window so he couldn’t yell at us. We had nasty stuff all over us but we had to swim down this big scary pipe to get out, so it’s kinda okay. We got clean.”
Paama fussed at Althea’s hair. “Do you want a bath? Your hair is sticky.”
Ooru drained the last of his water cup. “You kinda smell weird.”
“Hey!” Paama elbowed him. “Not nice.”
He cringed, then smiled at Paama, giving off an emotion that reminded Althea of the way Den felt around her, but not quite as intense. “What? She does.”
Paama appeared oblivious to the affection from him. She sighed. “Because, it’s not nice to say.”
Althea gathered her dress to her nose, sniffed, and shrugged. “I do kinda smell.”
“C’mon.” Paama stood, took her hand, and led her across the large chamber.
They went into a narrower hallway laced with the fragrance of wetness, metal, and a hint of smoldering. Two doors stood opposite each other on either side with another at the end of the short corridor. Paama went to the left, entering a tile-floored chamber full of warm, humid air.
A waist-high wall sectioned off the right rear corner into a square pool, big enough for about ten people at once. Althea hurried over and stuck a hand in, astounded at the warmth. She’d never seen such a large amount of hot water before, and whistled in awe.
“Is this magic?”
“No.” Paama laughed. “It’s a bathtub.”
Althea looked back at her. “How is all this water hot? At home, Karina has to heat it by buckets. They keep saying we’ll get magic hot water soon, but it doesn’t work yet.”
“Ell-Gee made it. There’s wires around pipes that make it hot and the water goes out and back in, staying hot. He said old Silver Men give us power. Sometimes, bugs crawl on the things that make the hot, and they burn. That’s the smell.”
“Wow… Why did they make the bath so big?”
“Because we only have two that everyone shares. This one’s for girls. Boys are across the hall.”
Althea pulled her dress off over her head, her agate arrowhead pendant flopping back against her chest.
“That’s pretty,” said Paama.
Althea managed a weak smile, sad and guilty over how Den must be feeling with her missing. “A boy named Den gave it to me.” She climbed over the edge, sitting neck-deep in the tub. The heated water practically pulled all the misery and exhaustion straight out of her body.
“Eww.” Paama picked up the dress. “You need something else to wear. This has holes and rips and smells bad. Oh, here”—she dropped the garment and fetched a bowl of white granules from a shelf at the back of the room—“cleaning powder.”
Althea looked at the gritty substance. “How does it work?”
She set the bowl on the edge of the tub. “Scoop some up and rub it around. It makes clean.”
“Okay.” She stood, scooped a handful of the powder, and rubbed it onto her arm. It scratched a bit at first but soon dissolved into a sudsy foam that reminded her of the stuff Karina used to clean her hair. The more it foamed, the more a strange herbal-minty fragrance filled the air. Grinning, she took another handful and proceeded to wash herself.
While Althea bathed, Paama ran off, returning in a few minutes with a hide shirt and a short fur skirt to replace her beat-up dress. Althea dunked underwater for a moment to rinse her hair of cleaning powder before getting out of the tub and standing on the rubber mat, dripping.
She looked around. Evidently, the Transit tribe didn’t believe in the existence of towels—or simply didn’t have any. Most likely, any available cloth had become clothing. With a shrug, she took a seat on an improvised bench of a board across plastic crates to air dry while raking her hands over and over at her hair in hopes of speeding up the drying process.
Paama sat next to her, chatting randomly about her life. She lived with her two parents, but had no brothers or sisters. Except for Ooru, the other kids didn’t seem to like her much because they thought her ‘bossy.’ Althea smiled to herself, remembering how the girl threatened to hit her if she didn’t hand over the ‘pretty anklets’ that glowed.
When Paama reached over to examine the arrowhead pendant, Althea tensed, half expecting her to demand it. But, the girl didn’t radiate any sense of greed, only curiosity. Maybe because the agate didn’t glow or look like it came from another world.
“Who is Den?”
Althea bowed her head at a pang of sadness. She missed him, too. Trails of bathwater ran down her skin, dripping to the bench or running along her legs to the floor. She held the agate arrowhead while talking about how she had met Den in a Scrag tribe and he’d been the only one there who had been nice to her, treating her like person instead of a prize. Althea’s mood brightened when she spoke of how she felt when they did the lip touching thing, but still didn’t know what the purpose of it was or why it kinda made her feel strange.
“You’re too small to have a boyfriend. You have to be grown up first, like me.”
“You’re not that much older than me.”
“I’m twelve.” Paama held her chin up. “Will be thirteen in three months.”
“I’m eleven. That’s not different much.”
“Really? You look younger than that.”
Althea sighed. “Everyone says that. I’m malnurmished and small for my age. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Not right now, but I’ve had two before.”
Althea gasped. “Two? What happened to them? Did they die?”
“No, silly.” Paama giggled. “They were boyfriends for a couple days, then not boyfriends.”
“Oh. Did you do the lip touching thing?”
“The what?”
Althea demonstrated by kissing her hand. “Like that?”
“Yeah, with Wix, once. But he kept laughing, so we stopped.” She rolled her eyes.
Finally feeling dry enough, Althea put on the fur skirt and thin leather top. The outfit reminded her of being feral and wild, like before she’d found Querq, but not wearing a ‘modern dress’ also had a certain comfort. Even if the giant city might not be as horrible as she thought, she still didn’t like things that reminded her of it. If she’d been wearing a dress that Karina made or gave to her, it would upset her to see it so damaged. But, that white one had come from the Zero police, from the big city… and she had many of the same kind back home. She liked wearing clothes that could tolerate the rigors of being out in the Badlands, but the furry skirt would be horrible if it got wet.
The subject of short-lived boyfriends continued for only a minute or two more before Paama asked about Querq. Althea rambled about everything from the Water Man to the Zero police to the Watch. Eventually, a woman poked her head in, seemed surprised to find them in the bath room, and chased them to bed, scolding them for being up too late. Althea hugged her friend good night and ran off to the room she slept in last time. It must have been late because all the adults had already come in and gone to sleep. Careful not to disturb them, she tiptoed over to the same bed and crawled in under the furry blanket.
Feeling reasonably safe, warm, and comfortable, she closed her eyes and spent a few minutes concentrating on home. A vague notion of Karina sitting on the sofa in their house, leaning against Father and crying filled her thoughts.
Don’t be sad. I’m coming home.
Father and Karina looked up.
“Thea?” shouted Karina. “Where are you?”
A village. They said it will take fifteen days to walk. I’m okay. Please don’t cry. I’m sorry for being kidnapped.
Karina cry-laughed. “It’s not your fault.”
“Where is this village?” asked Father.
Near a place called Detroit, said Althea. Please don’t be sad. I will be home soon. And please tell Den I am okay.
Father and Karina held each other, glancing around, but neither noticed the spot she watched them from. She wanted to tell them so much, to hug them, fall asleep in their arms, but could only peek at them from far away.
Althea sighed, and tried not to worry that the CRP robots would invade this place before they could leave.
40
In The Dark
For most of the next day, Althea sat in the main room of the Transit settlement watching people scurry around making preparations for the trip. Even Ooru and Paama worked on packing, carrying stuff, and getting ready. A few people with injuries approached asking for her attention, and she happily mended their hurts and sicks.
She found Teal sitting by one of the cook stations, chatting with a pair of men who had evidently become curious about her jumpsuit and blue-green hair. It surprised her to still see the woman hanging around, since she’d already helped get Kye out of the tube as promised. Still, Althea wandered over to sit beside her, politely remaining quiet until the men finished their lunch and hurried off to pack.
“You okay, kid?” asked Teal.
“Yeah. Thanks for helping get Kye out of the medicine cage. Where are you going to go now?”
“Ehh… I’ve been thinking about that. You said you have Zeroes hanging out in Querq?”
She nodded.
“I figure I might spend some time there. I may occasionally need some things from the modern world, but if they have an outpost there, that’ll do for it. Given the job I’m not going to finish, it’s probably better for my health to disappear out here for a while, at least until the company forgets about me. So, I was thinking I might see about helping you get back home. Considering the whole reason you’re out here is my fault, it’s the least I can do.”
Althea perked up. “Really? Oh, thank you!”
She leapt into a hug, thrilled that a woman she’d come to regard as somewhat of a mother figure would be there for the long journey home. It seemed like forever ago that she’d been frightened of and angry with her, but Teal’s entire attitude had changed. Unable to read thoughts or emotions from a synthetic, she couldn’t know for sure, but she trusted that the woman really did want to protect her.
Teal had seemed so sad when she talked about the day she discovered herself not to be the human she’d grown up believing she was. Perhaps Althea’s complete acceptance of her as a real person reached something deep inside her. Of course, going into the Great Forge to save her probably helped a lot, too.
“Yeah, yeah.” Teal winked. “Don’t say it too loud, but I’m sometimes not as mean as I act.”
Althea stuck out her tongue.
“Seriously.” She patted her on the head. “I’ve done some stuff I’m not proud of. Gotta keep up a certain air among the circles I run in. Get labeled too soft, you don’t get work.”
Her goofiness faded to concern. “Have you ever hurt anyone?”
“Significant injuries? Only people trying to shoot me. You were my second kidnapping, and first actual kid.”
“Is it still kidnapping if you steal a grown-up?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because adult napping is something old people look forward to.”
Althea blinked. “Why?”
Teal laughed… then shook her head. “Joke. Old people sleep a lot. Napping?”
Althea scratched her head, shrugged, then grinned.
That evening, Althea played with kids of similar age in the village.
She, Ooru, Paama, and about nine others ran around the platform by the village exit kicking a ball in a soccer-like game. The Transit kids had slightly different rules, mostly that the defending team could tackle whoever tried to move the ball toward their goal. Althea didn’t cheat by enhancing herself, but even without, she made a few goals. She surprised the heck out of a boy about her size by shrugging off his attempting to tackle her, as he hadn’t expected a girl her size to be that strong—or have such a sense of balance. The two bigger kids on the other team, she mostly dodged around. They got her a few times, knocking her to the ground and stealing the ball, but she adored being just another kid playing like everyone else. No one here even hesitated a little bit before grabbing her or trying to trip her away from the ball.
Thrilled to feel like a normal kid with normal friends doing normal things, she didn’t feel sad and homesick until later, after she’d climbed into bed. Again, she used the clairvoy ants to visit her family back in Querq, reassuring them she would be home soon.
Preparations to leave happened faster than anticipated.
Queen Kye decided to begin the trip on what would have been the second day of making ready. The villagers packed up all the possessions light enough to carry that they felt worth keeping. Except for a handful of royal artifacts and tiny items, all things considered useless and decorative had to stay behind. They loaded several long litters with the food and provisions, each carried by four villagers, two on either end. The whole tribe except for small children carried large sacks with their personal possessions, bedding, and blankets.
The morning meal consisted of bread baked the night before. Once all had eaten, Kye, Noema, Sumiko, and Bill gathered everyone in the main chamber. Althea figured something important was about to happen because Bill didn’t have a drink in his hand. Noema lit a small fire in a bowl, sprinkling it with incense. They prayed to the gods, mostly Beemer, Amazon, and Disney, thanking them for the protection of this home and acknowledging they had received the messenger directing them to leave it.
Sumiko and Bill prepared a sacred mixture of blue dye over the fire, which they proceeded to use to paint war lines on Kye’s face while asking the gods to grant her wisdom and protection to lead the tribe on this journey. Noema then painted Sumiko’s cheeks while Sumiko painted Bill’s, and he painted Noema’s. They asked the gods to protect them and grant wisdom. Next, all the spear-bearers of the tribe received paint lines while the councilors invoked the gods to provide them with strength, speed, and protection to defend the people. Last, the scouts—children from around twelve to fifteen—approached for their face paint. Noema beseeched the gods to protect the scouts, make them invisible and swift, and help them see danger.
With the last of the paint, Noema drew some marks on the nearest column, including the three-circle glyph of Lord Disney as well as the grand M, bidding farewell to their home.
Soon after the ritual, they left the Transit village for the last time. Ell-Gee stood at the inner end of the jaw traps with an electric light, little Avie at the far end with another lamp triumphantly held over her head in both hands, so the people who had not been trained to count steps could navigate the spring-loaded hazards safely. Mostly without conversation, the people of Transit made their way up the stairs to the outside world. Nearly all but the scouts and younger spear-bearers gasped in awe at the sight of the sky and ruins. The oldest among them raised their hands to the sky, awestruck—and somewhat afraid of having so much open space over their heads.
The young scouts took the lead, advancing ahead of the main group to watch for Silver Men. No matter how often Althea or Teal called them CRP, or robots, or androids, the villagers couldn’t seem to stop using their old term. At least they mostly no longer believed the robots served as agents of their gods’ will.
After only a few blocks of walking above ground, they entered the transit system again via a huge stairwell wide enough for six people to stand shoulder to shoulder. A bronze plaque near the top had frozen speech too small to read without walking right up to it, but the number 2088 near the bottom stood out.
She tapped Teal and pointed. “What’s that say?”
“It’s a dedication. This station opened for use in the year 2088. It’s mostly a list of names of people who helped pay for it.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “How did the Ancients shape stone like this and dig all these big places?”
As they descended the stairs into a huge station complex, Teal explained about concrete being liquid at first, then how modern society had huge machines like the CRP robots, but used them to build stuff instead of kill people. Hearing about ‘construction’ mystified and confused her, but she listened with as much interest as possible for a topic she couldn’t really follow or imagine.
“I saw a little silver robot in the Ancora place that also called me a contaminant, but it didn’t want to kill me. It tickled my feet.”
Teal laughed. “A cleaning bot. Its program code is probably the same code the CRP bots were designed with. Programmers are nothing if not lazy. Replace dirt as a contaminant with bio-weapon organisms, and cleaning hardware for weapons… easy swap.”
“Oh,” muttered Althea, somewhat following along. “So they have the same brains?”
“Sort of.”
“Teal,” called Kye.
“Yo?” The woman looked over at her.
“You have the map sight?” Kye, near the front of the main group, waved for her to approach.
Teal took Althea by the hand and jogged up to the front of the formation. “Yeah. Isha showed me some old train schedules that had route maps.”
“Can you lead us to the southwest?” asked Kye.
“Sure.” She pointed out one of eight track tunnels. “That way.”
Kye nodded to Bill who sent the scouts into the tunnel ahead to check it out. Paama, one of them, looked back at Althea with a grin before running into the dark. The kids didn’t appear to hesitate despite not being able to see.
