A Step to Nowhere (11 page)
A few minutes later, when I had taken a shower and rubbed my hands with some white, stinky cream that was supposed to heal my injuries, I was sitting at the table again and Velma was fussing around me. She was brewing tea following my instructions. Regular black tea like we had on my planet. From my planet.
“People bring souvenirs from Planet Two all the time.” Velma looked at the tall mug impatiently. It was covered with thick cloth and tea leaves were infusing under it. “There’s a little store where you can buy different things. My friend bought this for me for my birthday. Crazy money, but she can afford it. I’ve heard you drink it all the time. Is it true?”
“They didn’t lie to you about that.”
I took the tea that had become dark brown, and poured it into two white cups. “It’s good with lemon and sugar.”
“I don’t have a lemon,” the woman said. “But I do have some sugar.”
She ran to another room and returned with a bowl filled with lump sugar.
“Is this okay?”
“It’s great.” I dropped one little cube into my cup, stirred it, took a sip, and burnt my tongue. Of course. “Careful, it’s hot.”
The woman smelled the drink, but didn’t venture to try it.
“It’s strange that you don’t have tea,” I said.
“We’ve read about this drink in the history of Planet Two. We haven’t developed it. We drink coffee here. We used to.” The woman blew on the tea and drank a little. “It is hot! The taste is interesting. You also have coffee, right?”
“Right.”
“We can’t buy it here anymore. Well, sometimes I can find it and stay in a huge line to get a small box.”
“Shortage?”
The woman looked at me for a few seconds then grabbed the dictionary and started to turn the pages. She stopped on one, smiled, returned the book to the table.
“Shortage. I’ve heard it is going to be illegal soon, just like alcohol.”
“Alcohol is illegal? We used to have that, I think. Long time ago.”
“We know. Alcohol, and now coffee, are called
stimulants of violence
. They don’t like violence.” Velma’s smile was sad. She took a sip of tea, then another one. “Violent man doesn’t like violence.”
“What’s happening on your Planet?” I asked.
“It’s a very long story. I called our people and they are going to be here soon to take you to The City of Lost. You’ll have to stay there for some time even though it’s not the right place for you. It’s the only place where you can stay safe while we are thinking on the options. You can’t be here. On this Planet.”
“I know. But I need to get to Park Street Twelve. How can I do that?”
“What’s there?”
“Somebody’s waiting for me. They promised to help. If I can get there.”
“They will help you to get inside of the corporation?”
“The person who helped me to come here and who made a promise – is a big boss there.”
“I believe that. Everything and everyone is for sale. Why didn’t he send you back right away? I don’t understand.”
“It’s a long story,” I hugged the cup with my hands. “Tell me why everything here is so … gray and bland? Why does everyone wear some sort of uniform?”
“It wasn’t always like this. Only the last eleven years. From the moment the lottery started and Bristow hogged everything.”
“Bristow?” I almost dropped the cup I was moving to my mouth. My namesake. She said this name before, but I thought I’d misheard. Bristow’s dogs.
“He’s a demon in a human body, a dictator. He put our country in darkness. Destroyed it.
“Is he the president?”
Velma waved her hand.
“Our president is just a stick. Bristow owns everything. It started twelve years ago and eleven years ago people started to disappear. At first he kept everything quiet, but then he lost fear and conscience. Killing his enemies became a law. I’ve read about a period like this in the country of Russia. Stalin?”
I nodded.
“Stalin in this reality was a bad actor and an alcoholic. He died from the bottle. Maybe it is good they have forbidden alcohol. I know your history, that’s what I meant to say. What we have now is so, so bad. People have been killed. For us, the biggest dream is to get to your planet. From the time these trips started, it has become our only hope. Get a transfer to your planet and maybe stay there. Your life is wonderful.”
“Not perfect.”
“
Disepare
for us. Now I know what’s going on there and it’s horrible.”
“So, you want to live on our planet?” It flattered and made me mad at the same time.
“It’s understandable.” The woman gave me a guilty look. “The freedom of choice. Life. Bright colors. By the way, Bristow banned bright colors as stimulating, therefore leading to violence. He even banned fashion. That’s why for many years we have been wearing this.” Velma pulled the overall on her chest. “I threw away my last dress last week because it became too old. Everything on your planet is different. That’s why people play lottery. You can win money, but the main prize is a trip to Planet Two. I’ve heard they help to immigrate there.”
I was silent. Drank my tea and digested the received information. This country was so developed technologically, but submitted fully to the power of one man. How was it even possible?
“Bristow subdues the world. Slowly but surely. We are the only country who has created a corridor to another dimension. Monopoly. Other countries want to join us; they merge with us. Five countries in seven years. Of course we can’t keep our politics secret, the information gets out and there are fewer countries that are willing to become our family, but there are still some. The leaders of other countries are ready to sell their own people for the opportunity to walk in the corridor.”
“No one attacked you. That seems logical.”
“The wars on our planet were centuries ago. The last one was with Napoleon. That’s why we have overpopulation. We’ve had the same circumstances in some things, but our histories are different. I’ve read about your Hitler. He was a horrible man. I tried to find him here, but I found only one cook. I’m not sure it was him.”
“So Bristow destroys his enemies.”
“He sees enemies in everyone.”
“How does he explain his actions?”
“They threaten his life or the president’s. They want to assassinate him. Tens of people every day threaten his life. One report to the authorities is enough for a person to go to jail. Almost always—death penalty. The earth is overpopulated and this, I guess, is a good method of cleaning. We created a movement—
Hlifian.
You don’t use this language now. I would translate it as
Rising.
We try to stop all of this. Save the accused. We have our people working as Police. They inform us about new names. If we have time to warn people, they run. We call them irnaners. Most of them reach The City of Lost and hide there. It’s an area of poor people and criminals. They hide irnaners in their homes or other places. Police rarely go there. They’re being careful about stepping on that territory. Sometimes they organize military cleanings and arrest lots of irnaners during those.
“That’s horrible. Death penalty?”
“There’s no money to feed criminals,” Velma smiled sadly. She drank her tea, not looking at me. “It’s a nice drink. Strange, but nice. I’ve heard that you have delicious food.”
“I like it,” I said. “I’ve known your double in our world.”
“That can’t be true!” The woman straightened up. “It’s so interesting. Who is she? What does she do? Is she a good woman?”
“She’s a very good woman. I haven’t seen her in ages, but she was my teacher in the art school.”
Velma raised her hands.
“I was a chemistry teacher before retiring! But I can’t tell you how much I love to paint! I’ve been painting forever! Do you want me to show you some? Actually, what am I talking about? You’re in such great trouble. We’re also waiting for the call.”
“I’ll look at them with pleasure.”
The woman jumped up, rushed to the bed, and pulled a huge box from under it.
I am in a parallel dimension, somebody wants to kill me, and I am looking at my art teacher’s double’s paintings.
Somebody, please, wake me up!
Jason looked at the picture again.
“Are you sure it’s her?”
His partner, Vlad, nodded.
“Can you believe it?
They received the photo a few minutes ago on their portable screen in the patrol car, and now they were looking at it, passing it from hand to hand. They were hunters and they had to catch an irnaner. They had gotten used to it; every day there was at least one irnaner. Today the case wasn’t ordinary. They didn’t hunt just another criminal; they were chasing a spy from the parallel dimension. At least it was what they had been told.
“How could she get here? How could she run from the corporation?” Vlad said as he took the picture back.
Jason looked at him, chuckled.
“I’m also interested, but will they tell us? I don’t think she has super powers. Do you think she’s really dangerous?”
“They sent her from that side for a reason. She must be something else.”
“Why? Why can’t we just communicate with them normally?”
It looked like Vlad suddenly wanted to change the subject. Yes, they were friends, but you couldn’t trust anyone at this time, so he didn’t. Anyone who had a family and kids tried to be as careful as possible. People had to control their words and even their thoughts, so they wouldn’t slip out by accident.
“Something is going on there,” Jason said as he turned to the window. He felt Vlad’s gaze. “In the corporation.”
“People from Planet Two have never shown up before,” Vlad said. “I wonder how they found out about the corridor.”
Jason turned to his friend and partner, who didn’t trust him. Did
he
trust anyone? Did he trust
himself
? He, like anyone else, was afraid of every rustle. He was afraid to say a rude word to his neighbor, so he wouldn’t snitch on him. He was afraid to look at a stranger. What if that person interpreted his look as threatening? For him it was easier than for other people because he was a representative of the law, but he didn’t have a veto. No one was protected from the decision of the government. Everyone could be sent to Onis. He knew the word they used for it on Planet Two, they had told it on TV.
Onis
—jail. Many people had been using it in conversations lately.
“If they’ve found out about the corridor,” Jason said carefully, “why don’t we try to talk to them? Why secrets? Why should we arrest this woman? Maybe they are afraid of invasion? War? What do you think?”
“War? Why?” Vlad lowered his voice to a whisper.
“To overtake the regime of Bri …” Jason snapped the sentence in the middle when he realized he had gone too far. “We are going to do what we have been ordered to do,” he continued. “That’s our job.”
Vlad nodded eagerly.
They sat quietly for some time, waiting for the next order, watching the pedestrians. The team of hunters searched the closest buildings. According to police, the spy ran in that direction. Hunters were ready to catch her. Jason was a team leader and he had gotten used to sitting in the office and tossing out orders, but today he went on a hunt himself. Actually he was
sent
to control the process personally. He had always worked with Vlad even though his partner was one rank down. They both were what people had called, Bristow’s dogs. Jason was proud of this title before, but now it insulted him. He saw the bad meaning of it and started to hate it.
Vlad took a plastic lunch box from the backseat and removed some fruit
keshir
from it. He offered one bar to Jason, but he wasn’t hungry and Vlad unfolded a crinkly wrapper. The car filled with the smell of strawberries and oranges.
“If they have learned about us on Planet Two,” he said with his mouth full, “the lottery could be cancelled.”
There was nothing criminal in the statement, but Jason noticed nervousness in his friend’s voice.
“Do you play?” he asked
“Sometimes.”
“Want to live there?”
Vlad’s eyes widened; he shook his head.
“No, of course not. Just to look around, as a tourist. I’m more for winning money. I like my planet. What am I going to do there?” His laugh was fake.
“Like a tourist,” Jason agreed. Lottery. During their two years working together, they had never discussed this subject even though it was the most popular. As if they had been afraid to say too much, to say the truth. Of course, all of them wanted just
to look around as tourists
. Then stay there, as many of them had done. They had never come back. The lucky ones. Every one of them who owned millions or hit the jackpot in lotto. They could run from this planet, full of pard, cowards and traitors. Who wanted to live on a planet where kids snitched on their parents to get a five thousand dollar reward? What about the parents? They were thrown into Onis and very few of them had gotten out of there alive and free. There was no kindness on this planet, no love. Human life lost its meaning, but gained a price tag. Five thousand dollars. Jason had never reported on anyone even though sometimes they needed money more than conscience. He just couldn’t. He knew that with the first report he would sell his soul. Sometimes the investigation had been minimal, formal and a suspect in Bristow’s association was released. That happened if an arrested person was a friend or relative of somebody in the government. If he had a responsible and exceptional profession, like a school teacher. Despite of everything, Bristow valued teachers and medical workers. If an arrested person had deep pockets, he also had a chance to go free. Sometimes the richest of the country also had been reported. People did it for revenge or because of jealousy. A canary knew beforehand that his tip-off would be ignored and no reward would be provided, but his self-esteem was rewarded because a person who lived
better
than he,
because
of him, had been in
lleh
for a few days. People had modest ambitions these days and ways to satisfy them.
“Why did they tell us not to take her to the corporation or Onis? What do you think?” Vlad asked thoughtfully and immediately focused his worried eyes on Jason. Jason wanted to let his friend know that he would never snitch on him, but conversations like this could only make the situation worse. He would believe silence more than words like this.
“I don’t know,” Jason finally said. “Out of interest?”
Yes, Jason knew that Vlad hadn’t reported, but how could he foresee when a person was ready to cross the line? On another side, he was promised to have a happy life. What would he give? And what would give to
him
? How many years had he been carrying the plan? If somebody would read his mind, they could learn that his biggest desire was the assassination of the unofficial leader of America. Nickolas Bristow. Maniac, with too many hang-ups. Despot, hated by everyone, but no one would say it out loud. Kill Bristow and paint the building in green, blue and red, drink vodka with coffee, blow up colorful balloons, and dance. Smile at each other openly, make friends, and start living again. It seemed so easy.
“Even if she has been in this area, somebody could have helped her get to The City of Lost,” Vlad said. “
Hlifian
takes over the city. They are everywhere.”
Could Jason hear something like triumph in his friend’s voice? He wanted to believe it, he wanted to ask. Even more than that, he wanted to know someone who belonged to the movement so he could join them. He heard that they’d even sneaked into the government. Too bad they worked slowly. Too slowly.
“Those bastards are everywhere,” Vlad said indifferently.
“Yeah.” Jason copied his tone as he looked at the photo of the young woman. Was she really what they said? Should they hunt her down? Maybe they should let them infiltrate here, so they would overthrow the government? Horrible thoughts. Bristow didn’t know that a future betrayer worked for him. He hoped Emma would never find out his real thoughts. She would be so disappointed in him.