01. Spirits of Flux and Anchor (8 page)

62 Jack L. Chalker

after returning to their homes, to their local parish church and receive a registry number, and then they shall go to the government house in their communities and register and receive the rights, privileges, responsibilities, and duties of full cit- izens."

She turned and looked back at the huge drum behind her. "Here are copies of the charms each wears. Seven times does the drum spin, and then the Holy Mother will tell us the names one by one."

The administrative chief and one of the wardens started the thing spinning the requisite number of times, then, finally, brought it to a stop. The hun- dreds of gold and silver colored amulets made quite a racket.

"We will now begin to read the divine will," the Sister General told them. With that she moved back, opened the small door in the drum, and without looking at anything save the crowd, now hushed and tense, she drew the first small tag. Cassie couldn't see much of the spectacle, but she had been wondering how they fixed it.

The first tag was handed to the administrative chief, who took it and then consulted a large bound volume -- the birth register. "JRL-4662-622-125K," she announced. "Dileter of Kar Riding, come for- ward to the platform."

-4s easy as that, Cassie reflected. Who was ever going to check all those numbers against the charms drawn and find out that what the clerk was read- ing had actually been worked out in advance and had no relation to the charm whatsoever?

As each number was read out, there was a collec- tive sigh, or moan, from the crowd, plus occa- sional shrieks, wails, and protests from those called or from their friends and family. Dar was the ninth called. Cassie was the fourteenth. They were tak- ing no chances on giving them any freedom at all.

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 63

Resigned, she made her way, with difficulty, through the crowd, which only gave way when she told each obstruction in turn she'd been called. Then they were very solicitous and their pity just dripped from them, yet it was mixed with a strong sense of relief as well. It's not me. It's not someone I know. And, in the midst of it all, the acute ob- server could pick out a small fortune in betting slips changing hands with each and every pick of the Sister General. Cass hated them for their pity and for their hypocrisy as well. I'm coming back, you bastards! she swore silently. I'm coming back to tear down this damned city and wipe those looks off your holier-than-thou faces.

She reached the platform and was actually assisted up by two wardens as if she were some sort of honored guest. Talk about hypocrites! She was led over to where those called were assem- bling in neat rows. Most of them looked scared to death or still in shock, and one or two were trembling uncontrollably or sobbing softly to themselves. Occasionally someone would pass out in shock when a name was called, and there were several unconscious bodies around by the end of it.

Finally, it was over. The last number had been called, and the crowd knew it, and gave the hun- dred and six lost souls on the stage the final indignity.

They cheered. They clapped. They built their joy, into a thunderous crescendo that echoed off all points of the square and throughout the city, sweep- ing over the sobbing and shaking friends and fam- ily of those on stage who would now be declared property, then dead, never to be seen or heard from again.

Out of a class of 3,941, 3,835 rejoiced, as did their friends and families. Although a hundred and six were now condemned, it was a small fraction

64 Jack L. Chalker

of the total, and would soon be forgotten except for the parents, siblings, friends, and relatives of those now gone. Even that, in time, would fade, as it always did, the same as if those hundred and six had been felled by accident or injury.

It was not so surprising that three of the un- lucky picks did not show up for the public honor;

rather, it surprised Cassie that so few had run for it. They didn't have a prayer, though, as the Sister General pointed out as soon as the crowd let her get a word in.

"Know you all that the Holy Mother has chosen three and looked for them and they are not here," she announced. "Know that all those declared prop- erty of the state must surrender within one day of the first bell of Paring Rite. Know, too, that if those we will now designate are not turned over to the Temple here within that period they will be declared agents of evil and discord. Any who help them shall suffer the same fate as they. Any who do so much as give them a cup of water, or simply not report them at once and aid in their appre- hension, shall be guilty of a mortal sin beyond any redemption in this life and punished by terrible torments in their next, and shall forfeit all rights, citizenship, and property and themselves become property of the state. Even one who hides this from us cannot hide from the Holy Mother, who shall wreak a terrible vengeance on those who help thwart Her divine will."

She read the names and numbers once again, and gave the benediction. The lottery drum was already removed to one side, and she turned and walked regally back up the steps to the Temple, and inside. Wardens flanked the miserable chosen, many of whom had to help their comrades merely stand, and they were then directed back into the Temple as well. Even Cassie found herself trembling slightly now that it was done, and more than a

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 65

little scared. Knowing that it was fixed and that it was all a lie did nothing to change the fact that she had been declared property and banished, and was now going to the same unknown fate as those around her.

MULES

They were ushered into a lower level room that was large but spartan. In fact, it was often used as a small gym by the Temple priestesses, and the remains of some gym apparatus were still there, pushed against a far wall. The entire group was lined up in seven rows of fifteen each, without regard to much of anything. Wardens with nasty looking batons were posted all over the place, but the bulk of the personnel were priestesses in medi- cal yellow. While the wardens kept them in line and menaced someone here and there who made a sound or flagged in position, the nurses measured out a clear-looking liquid into small cups and put them out on tables.

"All right -- first row, walk to that table there and each take a cup," the chief warden instructed. "Then get back into line,"

They did as they were instructed, some sniffing or looking dubiously at the unfamiliar substance. It smelled a lot like lemonade.

Cass stood in the third row and waited her turn with the rest. She looked, of course, for others she might know in the group, as some of the others did as well, and saw several familiar faces. Her riding seemed particularly wicked this time out.

Finally she got her drink and was back in line,

66

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 67

and after a while everyone had one. "Now, first row, drink all of the liquid and, when finished, turn the cup upside down," the warden instructed, "then sit on the floor where you are."

They did as instructed, although a couple of attempts to hold the stuff in their mouths brought sharp and painful blows from the batons and yelps of pain, and one was singled out, pinned down, and had a cup force-fed down his throat. The ob- ject lesson was well-taken; nobody in any of the subsequent rows failed to drink their cups dry-

Cassie had had more than a few qualms about downing the stuff after Lani's grisly catalog of horrible drugs, but the drink turned out to be some sort of tranquilizer. It produced an odd effect. She felt her body getting very sleepy, very distant, to the point where she was barely conscious that it was there at all, and her emotions seemed to be equally suppressed, yet her mind remained seem- ingly clear and sharp, and she was both conscious of and interested in the proceedings around her. In fact, it was an effective hypnotic, putting them all under yet retaining their undivided attention.

The head nurse went to each of them and checked to make certain that the drug had taken effect, then came back and stood in front of them. "You will give me your total attention and cooperation," she began, and instantly she had it. "The first row will get to its feet now." All of the first row moved as one.

"Take two steps forward, first row," she instruct- ed, "then remove every piece of clothing you have on you and place it in a bundle in front of you." Again, they did as instructed, without regard to modesty or sex. The curious thing was, they felt wide awake and totally alert -- they just did what they were told as if they had no control whatso- ever over their body movements.

"Now you will all pick up your clothing and

68 Jack L. Chalker

hold it in front of you. That's right. Now, you will all turn to your right, so that you form a line, and walk slowly to the large box over there, drop your clothes in it, then go to the first table next to the box."

The procedure was repeated for each one- At the first table non-Temple doctors of both sexes gave each a fairly routine physical, then they were di- rected to the second, where their heads were shaved clean, first with some sort of powered razors, then with a creamy compound that removed any last vestiges of hair, right down into the pores and to the base of the roots. This was the first mark of those chosen in the Paring Rite. If, somehow, one or more got away, they would be forever marked by total and complete baldness.

The second mark was the most degrading, and was administered by a very strange chair-like machine. Each in turn was told to sit in the large contraption, their rears against a metal plate of some sort. An attendant punched a button, and, when they got up, there was an indelible long number tattooed in purple on their behinds. Simi- larly, they were told to put their right thumbs in a hole in a small device, and that gave a purplish stain that made the fingerprint really stand out. Boys, Cassie noted, also had the shave and cream treatment for facial hair of any sort.

Finally, they were given a series of injections, purposes unknown, then broken up into small groups and taken to smaller rooms where they were given a basic meal to eat -- some sort of stew, not very good, but far better than the crap they'd given her in the cell -- and then were taken to basic showers and rinsed from head to toe. This done, they were taken back to the gym, where all of the equipment had been cleared and the floor covered with huge, gray cushioned mats of the usual sort found in school gymnasiums, and the

SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 69

chief warden told them, "All right. You will re- main here until it is time to leave. All exits will be guarded by wardens who would just love to make an example of somebody trying to leave. There is a basic bathroom through those small doors over there if you need to take a crap. Anybody still thinking of leaving before we let you should re- member your stigmata and know that these will make you known to one and all- There is no place to run in Anchor Logh." And, with that, she departed.

The drug was wearing off rapidly now, and Cas- sie could feel the sting on her ass where the num- ber had been tattooed, but a side effect of the stuff was that it made you terribly tired and sleepy. Most of them, herself included, just sank down on the mats and passed out.

It was an unpleasant sleep and an unpleasant awakening, although in a sense it was better because, once it was determined that what had happened was no nightmare, there was a sense on the part of most of the group to adapt to the situation as something new to be faced, with un- pleasant future realities shunted to a back part of the mind-

Cassie awoke with a mild headache and a little dizziness that soon passed, and she looked around. Some of the others had apparently been awake for some time, while others were still in various stages of half-sleep, but there was some moving around, whispered talking, and once in a while somebody would stagger to the bathroom.

They were a strange sight, all these people with no clothes or hair and numbers on their asses, but since everybody was that way it soon seemed some- what normal, sort of like a uniform binding them together. Cassie got up and, after a false start or two, started to walk around and see if she could

70 Jack L. Chatker

find anybody she knew. A large boy sitting up against a wall called to her. "Hey! CassI Is that

you?"

She smiled, turned, and went over to him. Hairless, Dar looked more the country bumpkin than ever.

"I saw you come up when you were called," he told her. "I really wasn't expecting to see you here, though." His face darkened. "I kind of figured it'd be Lani."

She sat down beside him, paused, trying to col- lect her thoughts, then said, "Lani's not with our group, Dar, but she'll probably go out with us. I've seen her." Carefully, hesitantly, she told the story from the point at which they'd split up at the Carnival until she'd been shoved outside for the Paring Rite, She spared nothing, but was as gentle as she could be.

He took it well, although for a moment he just sat there, thinking hard. Finally he said, "Damn. And I always figured she was so much smarter'n me. That's just dumb foolishness." He paused a moment more, then added, "But, like you said, this is all just dumb foolishness, isn't it?"

She smiled wanly. "That's about it. I'm a little surprised at how you're taking it all, though. Don't you go along with her that it's the divine will?"

He snorted. "Divine will -- hell! I already figured that any goddess that would do this mean thing to nice people like you and Lani wasn't much worth a damn. It ain't fair, that's all, and who wants a bunch of gods who ain't fair?"