The Hourglass (17 page)

“Are you sure?”
demanded Talbot. “Are you sure they said only the healthy prisoners?”

Sarah thought
back to the conversation. She nodded. “Only the healthy ones.”

Now that they
were happy that they weren’t going to be taken, Talbot and Dalton grew
thoughtful.

“Without dying,
you ask?” pondered Dalton.

Sarah raised an
eyebrow. “That would be preferable.”

“Well, there’s
the medical transfer,” said Talbot softly.

“No good. I only
have one copy and it’s someone else’s if I want to live to tomorrow.”

“Yes, of course,
because that’s now so appealing. Don’t want to miss out on being a guinea pig.”

“Guys, this
isn’t helping.”

“I don’t suppose
your sentence finishes tomorrow?”
“No.”

“You could make
yourself sick? Get someone to beat you up, maybe?”

“Maybe,” said
Sarah, thinking that would be her absolute last resort. She knew that it wasn’t
likely that Talbot would walk again without pain, and that Dalton would never be
able to use his right arm like he used to. Anything less than that, like Finn’s
broken ribs and bruised face, seemed to fall under the doctor’s category of fit
for work. And who would she get to injure her? Finn and Marland could do it,
but then who would hurt them? Heather probably would but she didn’t trust her
enough to stop when she needed to. April was too little to do the amount of damage
that was needed. No, she decided, that wasn’t the way to go.

“You could
swallow some of the cleaner to make yourself sick?” offered Dalton.

Sarah thought
about it for half a second before vetoing that idea.
“I have absolutely no idea how much I would need to drink to get sick and how
much would kill me.”

“Oh. Yeah.
Right. Good point.” There was a pause and then the two boys shrugged
helplessly.

“Sorry Sarah,
but everyone knows that’s it. You either finish your sentence, get transferred
because you’re sick, or you die.”

Sarah wanted to
scream at them. That couldn’t be it. There had to be another way. She tried to
excuse herself after that. She wanted to get back to the factory floor. At least
then she could tell people, warn them, give them time to prepare for what was
about to happen. But the doctor seemed particularly obstinate. He gave her more
work than usual, and she had to clean all of the instruments that she had
dropped earlier. She was forced to have her lunch with the other infirmary
prisoners, like normal. When Finn arrived in the afternoon she managed to get
to him a few seconds before the doctor. “Finn,” she whispered, glancing over
her shoulder as the doctor’s door creaked open, “we need to find a way to get
out of here. They’re going to come tomorrow and get us, they-” she was cut off
by the doctor’s arrival before she could say anything more. Finn had tried his
best to stay and talk further but both the doctor and the guard wanted him
gone. Sarah missed dinner. The doctor had set her another task and she wasn’t
allowed to go until she finished it. By the time she was able to leave the
infirmary dinner had long passed and the guard escorted her directly to her
cell.

“Gretel,” she
called up to her housemate, who was lying on her side with her back to her.
“Gretel, tomorrow the Hourglass group is going to come and take us away.”

“Don’t be
stupid,” replied Gretel, not turning over.

“I’m serious. We
have to do something.”

“Look,” said
Gretel, talking plainly and simply as if explaining something basic to a child.
“They only ever take volunteers, and even then only one or two at a time.
You’ve been listening too much to your crazy friend. Go to bed.”

“What do you
think the Queen’s been getting me to do, huh? She wants me to get her off the
ship because she knows what’s going to happen.”

“Shut up,” said
Gretel, her voice now low and dangerous. “I told you before never to involve me
in any of the Queen’s stuff. Annoy me again and I’ll hurt you.”

Frustrated,
Sarah went to the nearest air hole in the cell wall.

“Marland?
Marland, can you hear me?”

There was a
shuffling noise. “Sarah? Are you ok? I was worried when you didn’t turn up for
dinner. Finn said something about you looking scared. What’s going on?”

“Marland we have
to get out of here. Tomorrow the Hourglass group is going to come and take us
away.”

“What? Where?
Why?” Marland sounded panicked.

“I don’t know, I
think we’re going to be part of an experiment. I overheard the doctor talk
about it on the phone.”

“Oh my god,” she
heard Marland mutter, “I was right. They are using the prisoners.”

Sarah breathed a
sigh of relief. “So you believe me?”

“Of course I do.
How are we going to get out?”

“I don’t know,”
replied Sarah truthfully. “We’re just going to have to work that out as we go.”

There was
silence at the two girls considered what needed to be done.

“We won’t be
able to do anything tonight,” said Marland, sounding sensible for the first
time. “Best to get some sleep and be fresh in the morning for whatever might
come.”

“Right,” said
Sarah, slightly disappointed, although she didn’t know what else she could
expect. “Well, goodnight.”

“Night.”

Sarah went back
to her bunk and laid down. Marland was right, or course. She should try and get
to sleep.

Sleep didn’t
come.

Plans and Schemes

The Queen’s
henchmen were on her almost as soon as their cell doors slid open the next
morning. The girl with the burn on her face, Lorla, grabbed her by the front of
her shirt and slammed her back against the wall.

“Your time is
up, frag.”

Sarah pushed
back, hard. The girl obviously wasn’t expecting her to fight back, because she
stumbled backwards awkwardly. The look of surprise on her face filled Sarah
with a savage glee.

“Here,” she
said, reaching down into her sock and pulling out the crumpled form, thrusting
it in the girl’s face. “You can give this to the Queen, seeing as she wants it
so bad. If she wants Finn to sign it, however, she’s going to have to wait
until breakfast.” She strode off without waiting for a reply. Sarah made it all
of ten metres before her arm was grabbed from behind and she was wrenched
around. Lorla shoved the form back into her chest.

“Get him to sign
it yourself.” She walked away.

Sarah grinned
and for a moment she forgot what was about to happen. She forgot that at any
moment herself and her friends were going to be taken away and experimented on.
At that moment, all she knew was that she came out on top of that encounter. Her
hand formed a fist and the paper in it crinkled, reminding her about what was
to happen. She turned back around and hurried to the cafeteria.

Finn was waiting
for her near the entrance. He was anxiously running his hand repeatedly through
his hair. When he spotted Sarah he half ran towards her, and then hurried her
back to their usual table. Sarah slammed the piece of paper down on the table.

“I have it,” she
said, “but-”

Finn wasn’t
listening. He had a big loose, floppy grin on his face and was crowing softly.
“You did it! I can’t believe you did it! You have to give me all the details.”

“Finn, there’s
no time.” Sarah glanced around and saw the Queen advancing on them, her retinue
in tow. “Look, just sign it quickly.”

Finn glanced over
to where she was looking and quickly fished a pen out of the waistband of his
pants. He sat down and did a practice signature two centimetres above the paper
before committing himself to the actual document. Sarah was impressed. His hand
was steady as a rock and it looked just like the signature on the piece of
paper she stole a few days ago. The Queen arrived just as he lifted the pen off
the paper. He held it out to her.

“It’s done,” he
said. “I’m sure you can fill in the rest for yourself.”

The Queen snatched
the piece of paper off him and examined it, holding it up to the light. She
nodded once and then left without saying a word. Finn breathed out a loud sigh
of relief. He turned back to Sarah, grinning.

“I still can’t
believe you did it! I wish we had time to fill the whole thing in though. We
could have given her syphilis.”

“Finn-”

“Also why was
the Doctor wet? Did you do that?”

Sarah allowed
herself a quick grin of satisfaction. “Yeah, it meant he had to go change his
clothes. That way I had a better chance of getting to the safe.”

“That is
awesome,” said Finn, thoroughly impressed.

“Thanks, but
please shut up. Sometime today the Hourglass group is going to come and select
a bunch of the prisoners to be used in their experiment.”

“What?”
interrupted Finn, but he was silenced by Sarah’s raised hand.

“I was hiding in
the doctor’s office when he was on the phone. They are taking healthy, fit
prisoners aged between fourteen and eighteen. That’s why the Queen needed this
done by today. That’s why she wants to get out. Finn, she’s afraid she’s going
to be taken, and…” for the first time she hesitated.

“What is it?”

“What they’re
going to do to us, it’s not going to be good.”

Sarah could
practically see the good mood slip off Finn’s face as he digested the news.

“We should have
kept the form, used it for ourselves,” he said, shaking his head, as if he
still hardly believed it.

Sarah shook her
own head. “It’s only for one person. I don’t even know if it’ll work. I mean,
what if the doctor is there? No, we need to find another way to get out.” She
glanced over at the Queen’s table. The Queen was sitting there alone, filling
in her paperwork. All of her followers were loitering around the edges,
including Colt. He didn’t look too happy about being banished with the rest of
the girls. Sarah felt a sudden pang of pity for him.

“I’ll be back in
a second,” said Sarah. She jogged over to where Colt was standing, alone.

“Colt, we have
to get off this ship,” started Sarah, “people are going to come and-”

Colt held up a
hand, cutting her off. “Yeah, I know,” he said. Sarah stared at him, surprised.
He chortled at her expression. “What, you think the Queen didn’t tell me? I’m
her boyfriend, Sarah, she tells me everything.”

“So why aren’t
you trying to get off the ship?” asked Sarah incredulously, confused at his
laid-back attitude.

“She’s sorting
it out now. She puts our names on that little bit of paper you stole for her,
and we’re safe.”

“You seriously
think she’s putting your name on that? She’s not, Colt, it’s just going to be
her.”

Colt looked at
her pityingly. “You still have a crush on me.”

“What?” asked
Sarah, incredulous.

“It’s ok, Sarah,
a lot of girls do. Look, that kiss didn’t mean anything, ok, so you’re just
going to have to get over it.”

Sarah threw her
hands up in exasperation. “Fine, you know what? You guys deserve each other.”

She walked back
to where Finn was waiting for her, an odd look on his face.

“So is Colt
going to save us all?” he asked mulishly.

“What? I was
just telling him what was going to happen.”

“Maybe you
should ask him to get you off the ship.”

“What?” said
Sarah, confused. “Why would you sat that?”

Finn shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe because you like him?”

Sarah blushed
angrily. “I don’t like him!”

“Then why are
you blushing? Why do you blush every time you see him?”

“Because…” she
spluttered angrily.

“Because what?”
he demanded.

“Because he’s
good looking, and because, well, he kissed me.” Sarah didn’t think it was
possible, but she blushed an even deeper shade of red.

Finn appeared to
deflate a little. “He kissed you?”

Sarah gave a
small shrug. “It didn’t mean anything.”

“Right,” said
Finn, running his hand through his hair. “Right. He kissed you, and he’s so
good looking that you don’t like him.”

“Just ‘cause
he’s good-looking doesn’t mean that I like him. I mean, he’s not…” she trailed
off again, unsure of herself.

“He’s not what?”
asked Finn, exasperated.

“He’s not you.”
Sarah almost shouted it.

Finn blinked at
her in surprise. He opened his mouth but no noise came out. Sarah flushed even
more and didn’t know where to look. She saw Marland and April and waved them
over quickly.

“I’ve told April
what’s happening,” said Marland. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We, er, don’t
exactly have one,” said Sarah.

Finn nodded. He
was grinning from ear to ear and staring at Sarah. “We’re gonna wing it.”

Sarah felt
herself grinning in reply. Despite the absolutely horrible timing, she felt a
little buzz of nervous happiness in her abdomen.

Marland looked
shocked. Sarah couldn’t help herself. She felt the chuckle escape her lips
before she could stop it and before she realised it she was laughing to the
point that her belly hurt. Finn had joined in and was roaring with
irrepressible joy. They were starting to attract looks from the other tables. The
sight of two advancing guards forced them to stifle their laughter. The guards
quickly lost interest in them and wandered off elsewhere.

Finn wiped a
tear of laughter away from his cheek. “We are so screwed.”

“What if we
knocked out one of the guards and used his wristband to get us out?” offered
Marland, ignoring their outburst.

“How are we
going to knock out a guard without anyone else noticing? And where are we going
to go? We’re on a ship. Our supplies get dropped to us from the air and the
guards only change shift once a month,” replied Sarah sensibly.

“Mr Painter only
left a few days ago,” added in April morosely.

“Right,”
continued Sarah. “So they won’t leave again for another month. Even if we find
the boat they leave on, I can’t drive a boat. We would have to somehow survive
on it with no food until they leave again. Unless one of you can drive a boat?”

Marland and
April shook their heads.

“It couldn’t be
that hard, could it?” speculated Finn.

“Finn, you can’t
even swim,” replied Sarah.

“That doesn’t
mean I can’t drive a boat.”

“No, but when
the boat inevitably bursts into flames, I don’t want to have to tow you across
the ocean.”

Finn raised a
finger and opened his mouth as if to protest.

“Remember the
bus?” interrupted Sarah.

Finn closed his
mouth again.

They sat in
silence, each of them trying to work out how they could get out of their
predicament.

“Do you even
need to get off the ship?” asked April. “What if you could just avoid the
selectors?”

“Maybe,” said
Sarah thoughtfully. Then she thought of Holden disappearing overnight. “But we
couldn’t really rely on that. I mean, when I was working in the infirmary they
sent out transport overnight to collect just one kid. Imagine what they would
do for three of us.”

April looked
deflated and Sarah felt like she was being harsh. “But if that’s our only
option, it’s one I’d take.” April gave Sarah a small smile.

Finn stiffened
on the other side of the table and Sarah glanced around. A burly, large-set man
in an ill-fitting suit was approaching their table.