A City Called Smoke: The Territory 2 (3 page)

“Back off, lady,” she said.

Squid watched Lynn’s eyes dart quickly from the woman to others around the circle and back again. He could tell she was sizing up the situation, looking for who would be the most dangerous opponent, but it didn’t matter, there were too many of them. There was nothing Lynn could do if the crowd decided to turn violent.

“We’re going to stop them,” Squid blurted out. “That’s why we’re going east. There’s a prophecy and we’ve been sent to find out how to stop the ghouls forever.”

“What do you mean?” said the old man.

“There’s a prophecy of Steven,” Squid said, “about a vaccine.”

“A what?” asked someone else.

“Some sort of weapon. Something that can stop the ghouls.”

Further murmurs spread around the circle, sounds of consideration.

“We’re supposed to believe that you’re going to save the Territory?” said the old man’s son, still twisting the wooden club around in his hand.

Squid nodded.

“Where is this weapon?”

“Big Smoke,” Squid said.

The club-wielding man scoffed. “Big Smoke is just a story. There’s nothing outside the fence, just wasteland.”

“It has to be there,” Squid said, “because I have to find it.”

The circle of people stared at him, unmoving. He could tell that no one believed him. How was a scrawny boy who happened to be wearing the uniform of a First Apprentice going to leave the Territory, travel east through ghoul-infested lands and find a fabled weapon hidden away in a city everyone believed to be as mythical as bunyips, unicorns and whales?

“Look,” Lynn said. “I’m from the Inside. It’s true I don’t know what it’s like to live here and frankly I wouldn’t want to, but I’ve lost people close to me, so don’t think just because I grew up having baths whenever I wanted means I don’t know what it’s like to be scared and alone. I know just as much about that as any of you.

“Squid isn’t an Insider. He’s from a dirt farm near Dust. How do you think he feels? Dust is gone, probably already overrun by the ghouls. At least you’re still here, and while you’re still here you’ve got a chance. When the ghouls come I’m sure the Insiders will open the gates and let you in. Until then, we survived the Battle of Dust so guess what? We’re it. We’re all that’s left of the Diggers and we’re going to try to save the Territory, including all of you. So, are you going to let us go or what?”

Everyone, including Squid, stared at Lynn. Eventually, Hank, the old man, nodded.

“S’all right,” he said to the crowd, raising his hand as if to ward them away. “Let ’em go. If they’re willing to go outside the fence looking for some way to stop the ghouls, we ain’t nobody to get in their way.”

Slowly the crowd around them began to disperse. Eventually even the woman with the knife and Hank’s son went back to whatever they had been doing. It wasn’t until then that Lynn sheathed her sword.

“Do you really think there’s something out there that can stop them?” Hank said as Lynn turned to walk away, Squid following behind her.

Lynn turned back. “I don’t know,” she said. Then she looked at Squid. “But he believes it and I believe in him.”

Hank nodded and Lynn and Squid continued on their way, though Squid could feel the eyes of the slums watching them more intently now. Looking back toward Hank, Squid caught sight of two figures standing in the shadows beneath a rusting metal facade overhanging the front of one of the huts. They seemed out of place; not dirty like the rest of the residents. One was short and wore a white shirt, dark pants and a round bowler-type hat. The other was tall, thick limbed and dressed in brown pants and a sleeveless vest. Squid realized he’d seen them before. They were the same two men who had been watching them before they walked out the Great Gate. Now here they were again. It was unnerving. He was about to tell Lynn, but she spoke first.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell anyone else about the prophecy,” she said.

“Why?” Squid asked.

“I just think it’s better if we don’t draw too much attention to ourselves.”

“You’re the one who pulled out your sword.”

Lynn looked at Squid. She looked like she was about to argue, but then she smiled and shook her head, chuckling. “Yeah,” she said. “I suppose I did, but let’s just try and keep from letting everyone know what we’re doing, okay? We don’t know who might be listening.”

“Excuse me,” called a voice from behind them. Squid and Lynn both turned to see a hooded figure standing watching them. “I hear you’re looking to go to Big Smoke.”

Lynn looked at Squid. “See,” she said. “This is what happens.”

The figure standing in the middle of the dusty street watched them. The hood of his dark green cloak had been pulled forward, casting most of his face in shadow; the end of his nose and the ginger-tinged beard around his mouth were the only visible features.

“If you want to go to Big Smoke,” the hood said, “I can help you.”

Lynn moved her hand as casually as she could, resting it on the hilt of her sword. She hoped she wouldn’t need to draw it again. She had pulled it automatically before, had let her emotions get the better of her, and things had turned dangerous as a result. She needed to stay vigilant. She needed to remember that ghouls weren’t the only dangerous things in the world. Since her father’s murder, since being sent to the Sisters, since their return to the Administrator, through everything that had happened, it had become apparent that the people on the inside of the fence were far more devious than the monsters the fence was meant to keep out.

“Sorry,” Lynn said. “We’re not interested.”

The figure reached up and pulled back his hood. The man’s appearance was not what Lynn had expected. He didn’t seem like a shady character, an outlaw or bushranger ready to pray on distracted travellers trying to navigate their way out of the labyrinthine slums. Instead what Lynn saw was a middle-aged man with graying red hair, a curled moustache, raggedly trimmed beard and thick circular glasses.

“We’re not going to Big Smoke,” Lynn said. “It doesn’t exist.”

“I heard you before. You’re looking for a weapon against the ghouls.”

“You must have heard wrong,” said Lynn, turning away. “Come on, Squid.”

“Let me help you,” the man called. “I know where it is.”

Squid stopped, turning to look back at the man. Lynn did the same, but only to make sure Squid didn’t get himself in trouble.

“How do you know where it is?” Squid said.

“We can’t trust him, Squid,” Lynn said. “Let’s just get out of here.” She knew as well as the next person that there was nothing beyond the fence, no people, no mythical city, nothing but wasteland.

“My name is Archibald Richmond,” the man said, pushing his glasses up his nose with the end of his finger. “I’m an explorer.”

“A what?” said Lynn.

“An explorer,” Archibald said, “someone who has been beyond the fence.”

“That’s illegal,” Lynn said. “The Holy Order would drag you into the Supreme Court for that. It’s treason to go beyond the fence.”

“I’ve done it, and I’ve been hiding from the Sisters and the Holy Order ever since. They know what I did and they’ve been searching for me for years. Why do you think I’m here in the slums? I’m an Insider but they would arrest me as soon as I set foot inside the city.”

“Why did you do it?” Squid asked.

“Haven’t you ever wondered what’s past the fence? I did it because I wanted to know.”

“And?” Squid asked, his eyes widening.

Lynn jumped in before Archibald could answer. “There’s nothing out there. There’s nothing past the fence.”

“That’s what they want you to think,” Archibald said. “But it’s not the truth.”

“You’re lying,” Lynn said, feeling a rise of anger as if someone had lit a fire in the pit of her stomach. “My father always told me there’s nothing out there, just wasteland.” There were too many lies in this world, too many things she didn’t understand. She couldn’t believe that something her father had told her, something she took to be a fundamental truth of their world, could possibly be a lie.

“I’m not lying,” Archibald said, his voice remaining calm. “I met people beyond the fence. There are whole towns out there, other places like the Territory, other colonies.”

“Stop,” Lynn said. “Just stop lying. I can almost believe in an abandoned city left by the Ancestors, but people living out there? It’s just not possible.”

“Why would you help us?” Squid asked.

Lynn shot Squid a look, a look meant to ask him whether he was serious, whether he actually believed this nutcase, but Squid wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were fixed on Archibald.

“If what you’re saying is true, if you are really searching for a way to defeat the ghouls forever, then why wouldn’t I help you?” Archibald turned his attention back to Lynn. “We’re all in danger. What possible reason would I have for lying to you?”

“Have you been there?” Squid asked. “Have you been to Big Smoke?”

“No.”

“See,” Lynn said, “how do you know it exists if you’ve never been there?”

“Like I said, I met people beyond the fence. People who
have
been there.”

“Come on, Squid,” Lynn said. “This is no better than the fairy tales we already know.”

“How are you going to make your way east?” Archibald said as Lynn made to walk away yet again.

Lynn turned back, fixing the man with a razor-sharp stare. “You think because we’re young we don’t know what we’re doing? Or is it because I’m a girl? I’m perfectly capable of finding my way in this world without any help from you. I’ve done it before. We’ll pay our way onto a bio-truck and catch a ride as far as we can.”

“And then?”

“We’ll keep going east,” Lynn said. “I can navigate.”

“The east is a big place.”

“That’s what I said,” Squid added.

Lynn turned to him. “That’s not helpful, Squid.”

Archibald stepped closer. Lynn’s hand moved to pull her sword.

“Listen,” Archibald said, lowering his voice, apparently so his words wouldn’t carry too far into the slums around them, “if you won’t let me help you at least listen to what I have to say.” When this was not met with any objection from Lynn he continued. “Go to the fence and climb over. Once you’re beyond the Black Stump continue traveling east until you reach a river. Follow the path of the river south and eventually you’ll reach an underground town. Go there first. They will know the way from there.”

“An underground town?” Lynn said, not even trying to hide the disbelief in her voice.

“That’s right,” Archibald said. “You can see towers and smoke stacks above ground on the eastern side of the river. You can’t miss them. That’s where the town is.”

Lynn stared at the man. It had taken until that moment to be certain but now she was sure: Archibald the Explorer was completely insane.

“Right,” Lynn said. “Got it. River, smoke stacks, underground town. Can we go now?”

“If what you say about searching for a weapon is true then you’re not just going east for yourself. You’re doing it for everybody in the Central Territory. If you wander randomly into the east you will die and then what will you have accomplished?”

Lynn didn’t reply. She turned, and when Archibald spoke this time she didn’t turn back.

“Follow the river,” she heard him say.

Lynn headed off through the slums, telling herself they wouldn’t stop again until they reached the bio-fuel delivery station. It was there that the bio-trucks would be bringing in Alice’s constant supply of fuel from the bio-fuel plants further out in the Territory. That’s where they would find their ride east.

Alice’s supply of bio-fuel was kept in storage tanks inside the walls, but the bio-fuel delivery station was on the outside of the city, allowing trucks to come and go without needing to use one of the main city gates. The delivery station itself was protected within a square section of fence that jutted out from the main wall. A large gate sealed the station off from the outside world. As they emerged from the slums Lynn saw that the delivery station was far busier than she remembered. There were four bio-trucks lined up on the road waiting to approach the station, the drivers and crews standing around, leaning against their vehicles, impatient looks on their faces. The front-most bio-truck had pulled up outside the gate. Several Holy Order clergymen were hovering around the truck, others standing protectively around the station entrance. Lynn shied away when she saw this. She didn’t think they would recognize her but still she turned her face away, not wanting to risk it.

“Come on,” she said to Squid, “let’s find out what’s happening.”

Squid followed as Lynn walked over to the last of the trucks waiting in the line. The crew watched them approach, unmoving.

“Hello there,” Lynn called to them in a voice she hoped made her sound older but was probably just louder than usual.

The three bio-truck crew members looked at her, then two of them went back to their conversation, plainly ignoring her, while the other, the one who must have been the lead driver, pulled the long piece of dry grass he was chewing from his mouth.

“G’day,” he replied, his voice gruff.

“What’s going on?” Lynn asked, indicating the gate ahead. “What’s with the Holy Order everywhere?” She paused. “Are they looking for someone or something?”

“They’re doing cargo inspections,” the driver said. “Doing it all over the city now, not letting hardly anyone or anything in or out without being checked.”

Lynn’s brow dropped into a confused furrow. “Why are they doing that? Is there a quarantine or something? A disease outside the city?”

That was the only reason Lynn could think of that the Holy Order would be getting so involved in what was going in and out of Alice. Apart from dragging citizens of the Territory into the Supreme Court for crimes against the Church, managing outbreaks of disease had always been the other major jurisdiction of the Holy Order – because of a belief that their faith would keep them safe from the disease – but she had never heard of them doing anything on the scale of locking down the entire city.

“You ain’t heard?” the driver said.

“Heard what?”

“The Holy Order and the Sisters have taken over the city,” the driver said.

Lynn stared at him for a long moment, not comprehending what he had said. She looked to Squid, who shrugged.

“What do you mean?” Lynn asked.

“I mean the Holy Order and the Sisters have taken over the city,” the driver repeated. “They’re claiming they run the government now. It’s a … what did they call it?” The driver addressed this question to the other two men who stood leaning against the truck.

“A coup,” one of them said without looking toward him, barely breaking stride in his own conversation.

“Yeah,” the driver said. “That’s right, a coup.”

“What about the Administrator?” Lynn said.

“Reckon he’s been arrested, least that’s what I heard.”

Lynn didn’t know how to feel at hearing this. Of course she was glad the Administrator was probably imprisoned beneath the Supreme Court, but it was for her father that she wanted him punished. She wanted to go back into the city to find whatever evidence against him she could. There had to be something somewhere. But she knew that if returning had been dangerous before, it was impossible now. If the Holy Order was guarding every entrance then she stood no chance of getting into the city. She just had to hope they weren’t going to do anything rash like execute the Administrator before she could figure out how to prove he was involved in her father’s murder.

“Once you’re done here are you going east?” Lynn asked the driver.

He nodded, chewing on his dry grass again. “Matter of fact we are.”

“Could we ride along?” Lynn indicated herself and Squid. “I’m Lynn and this is Squid. I’ve got money to pay our way.”

The driver stared at her and Squid and then nodded. “I’m Bishop,” the man said. “This is Randal and Barra. Don’t know why you’d want to go east – we don’t much want to be going ourselves – but we’ve got a cargo trailer that will be mostly empty on the way out, you can ride in that as far as we’re going. S’got a mattress and all. We’ll be heading back out just as soon as this hold-up is over. All right with you?”

Lynn looked up at the walls of Alice, contemplating whether or not she was making the right choice. She hoped she wasn’t abandoning any chance she had at justice for her father. She looked at Squid. For now she would go along with this ridiculous quest. She nodded to Bishop. “Perfect.”