Elysium (26 page)

They all looked up — except for Antoine. He looked only at his people. Many of them wept as they watched the ship ascend higher and higher into the night sky until it finally disappeared from sight. There were no tears for Antoine. He felt only hollowness. He thought he should want to cry. But he didn’t.

Antoine waited with Eliel as the others disappeared into the many entrances to the underground. They were among the last to make their way down. Antoine’s limbs ached with each step he made. Eliel and the others helped him inside. They handled him like a treasure. He didn’t want their assistance, but he allowed them. It was time to let go. Antoine looked back once more at his world. It would be for the last time. A wind picked up and blew a gust of sand in his direction. Then he went inside and the door closed behind him.

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>> timeframe /jump +200

*SYSTEM TIMEJUMP COMPLETE*

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>> who

Tkeclc observer 0000-00-00 00:00

>> change status Tkeclc interactive

*STATUS CHANGE SET*

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>> continue

BRIDGE PROCESS: CONTINUED

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18.

Adrianne stared up at what others had either ignored or didn’t notice, a tiny green dot. In her time of captivity she had seen it hovering in the air many times. It never moved. It never altered shape or size. It remained constantly in place, rain or shine. This anomaly was only one of many strange things about her surroundings. Three moons rose one after another to crisscross the night sky. The prison camp where they lived was gateless in a field of rock and dry red dirt. There was nothing around for miles and miles. It was a land of nothing. Or so it seemed.

Antoine lumbered over and put his large hand on her shoulder. She touched it and looked up into his round watery eyes. He had never been the same since he was wounded in the head in the fighting. It could have happened to anyone, but it had happened to him. Her big brother, who was always the one who knew what to do, now had a mind like a child.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

“Then let’s get something to eat.”

They took their places in line to receive their meager food ration — a watery stew with chunks of God-knew-what in it. A bowl had enough nutrition to keep them from starving, but not much more than that. Antoine held his bowl with his head bent. Adrianne patted him on the tummy, reminding him that he would have food soon. He smiled a crooked smile, then laughed.

The krestge — the roaches — assigned one of her own people to pour out the stew — Tommy, a kid Adrianne knew from back home. She’d watched him grow up, and growing up wasn’t so easy back home where every day was a fight to survive. The krestge’s flickering shadowy bodies were everywhere on Earth now, squeezing all human life out of existence.

The morning after they arrived at the camp, they were marched, linked by chains, into the cold, miserable yard. The roaches pulled Tommy out of line, grunted in his face, and practically tossed him across the yard. Adrianne thought they were going to kill him. By instinct, she flipped over one of the guards and was headed for another before they knocked her down. When she came to, Antoine was bent over her, brushing her cheeks, shedding tears like a baby. Then she saw that they had handed Tommy a ladle and stood him before a hot caldron of stew.

Over and over again, she told Antoine that she was all right. She had to stand up straight to make him stop crying. Her whole body was a giant bruise, but she smiled so he smiled. It was funny to think that her stupid stunt was something that Antoine would have done if he had been in his right mind. That’s what he always used to do, rush in without thinking. That was how he got hurt, and it was her who used to pick him up and worry.

Large rocks were scattered about the red ground. They used them as seats. The rocks were not quite comfortable to sit on but they were better than the ground. Adrianne found a rock and sat with Antoine not far behind, willing to sit on the dirt. They huddled together as best they could during meal times and talked in hushed tones, trying not to attract the attention of their captors. The stew smelled especially bad today. It slimed and plopped in her metal bowl, the chunks moving as if they weren’t quite dead. Adrianne closed her eyes and ate. There were no utensils, so she ate with her hands, which were dirty since water was in short supply. At least the stew warmed her fingers.

“Hey, Antoine,” Jolly whispered.

“Hey, Jolly!”

“Shh! Not so loud,” Adrianne said.

Antoine put his index finger against his lips, which was formed into a little “o,” then whispered, “Hey, Jolly.”

Jolly patted Antoine on the back and leaned over to whisper in Adrianne’s ear.

“Some of the guys slipped out last night.”

“What?” she whispered back. “Damn. I told everyone to sit tight.”

“No one seems to notice yet.”

“Keep me posted, Jolly.”

“Will do,” Jolly said.

They all ate with their fingers. The stew was so watery it was more of a drink anyway. Antoine was playing with a chunk from the stew, and it wiggled on his fingers. Adrianne told him to stop messing with it and to just eat. Her stomach soured when he popped the thing in his mouth.

Jolly tapped Adrianne to get her attention. “Look what’s comin’ for dinner?”

She looked to where his head was pointed and saw what everyone else saw, a new prisoner being escorted through the gate.

“What the hell?” Adrianne said under her breath.

The roaches were escorting one of their own into the compound, pulling it along in chains. The Krestge were four-dimensional creatures. To human eyes, parts of them seemed to disappear into shadow as they moved. But this new one was different. It was more solid than the others, its planar shifts more defined and less shadowy. It emitted pale, weak colors and looked sick or beaten or both. They threw it to the ground, nearly missing a bunch of rocks that could have split its head open.

“Nice,” Jolly winced.

“Yeah,” Adrianne said.

The krestge prisoner struggled to stand up. Nobody moved to help. They watched as it stumbled to its feet. It seemed dazed. When it was fully erect, it stared over at her people. Adrianne could almost make out the thing’s expression. Some of the humans turned their backs; the krestge guards walked away. It looked around, then climbed onto a group of rocks and sat down.

“Whaddaya suppose that’s all about?” Jolly asked Adrianne.

“I have no idea.”

A freezing wind blew, causing knuckles to crack and faces to peel. They made gloves out of the thin cloth of their blankets. Wearing them didn’t give them much warmth. The cloth seemed to protect their skin a little, though. They cut the tips off the gloves so that their fingers could handle things easier and took them off when it was time to eat. It had become habit to put her numb fingertips in her mouth to breathe heavily on them. Her hands were filthy. It didn’t matter. They were the only fingers she had.

Antoine rocked himself and played with his nose. Adrianne moved his hand away from his face and wiped his fingers with her shirt. A deep scar snaked across his forehead. The result of the accident that had crippled his mind. She caressed his scar, then took him into her arms and held him close. He needed her to baby him like a child. And this she would do until her dying day. Dear sweet, sweet Antoine.

“So what’s the news?” Adrianne whispered to Jolly.

“No news is good news. The guys are still AWOL.”

“No sign of them, huh? At least that’s something.”

She wished they’d listened to her and waited. Adrianne wanted to make a real break from this hellhole, taking the rest of her people with her. But she needed time to figure out where to go. There were those who’d escaped and were never found. She couldn’t figure out where they had gone. The escaped guys must have figured out something, she thought. Adrianne did her morning check. Around them there was only a flat horizon and a desolate heavy sky. And there it was — the green dot. Same place. Same size. Same everything.

“Look at that thing over there,” Jolly said.

For a moment Adrianne thought Jolly was talking about the green dot, but his eyes were focused on the other side of the camp where the krestge prisoner sat on a rock. It was bent over, bluish where it should be purple, and shaking like it had a fever.

“Why doesn’t it get something from the pot?” Steven said.

“It looks sick,” Tommy said.

“Serves it right,” Jolly said.

“Maybe it’s too sick to get up?” Tommy said.

“Maybe we should get him something to eat or something,” Steven said.

“Whaddaya nuts?” Jolly said. “I wouldn’t lift my dick to piss on it.”

Jolly was a great fighter. He followed orders without questions, and if Adrianne told him to, he’d run straight into hell. But sometimes he made her feel crazy with his stupid talk. She stood up, went to the pot, scooped some of the so-called stew into a metal bowl, and walked over to the krestge. Antoine lumbered behind her, looking away from the creature and rubbing his nose.

“Ya want something to eat?” Adrianne said and waved the bowl in front of the krestge to get its attention.

It looked up. There was something in the way it stared at her that made Adrianne think of her cat back home. It was as if the creature understood you better that you realized and was surprised and grateful at the unexpected kindness from a lower being.

It took the bowl and nodded. It scooped some of the stew with its fingers and chewed slowly. It didn’t seem to like the stuff either, but it ate. Adrianne watched it for a bit, then she and Antoine returned to their own kind. She looked back and saw that the krestge was still eating while it stared off into space.

The three moons sat heavy and low in the dim morning sky. They had aligned themselves into an isosceles triangle. Each was a different color — orange, yellow, and the one highest in the sky, a deep purple. The krestge forced everyone out of their beds into the open area of the camp. The humans and the one krestge prisoner were lined up to face the moons and made to bow while the guards hummed what Adrianne figured were their prayers. Adrianne ventured to look around. Her eyes locked onto the krestge prisoner. The thing seemed to be smiling at her.

With the humming over, the guards replenished the pot of stew. Maybe it was some kind of religious sacrament for the krestge to feed them. Whatever the reason, Adrianne was glad for the additional food. The last few days the men had been scraping at the bottom, eking out what they could. It was slop, but it did fill the belly. The men lined up to get their share of the muck from the cauldron. The krestge prisoner joined them.

“I don’t like this thing near me,” Jolly said under his breath.

“Take it easy, Jolly,” Adrianne said and maneuvered herself to stand next to the krestge. “It’s just as much a guest here as you and I.”

“Shit,” Jolly said, “how can you stand the smell?”