Beyond Our Stars (10 page)

Finally I was able to pull him away and into a small empty storage bay. As I told him what I'd overheard, he folded his arms across his chest, looking at the wall.

When I was done he ran both hands through his silvery hair. “Doesn't surprise me at all. Everyone's scared. They're not dangerous.”

“I think you might be wrong.”

Chief Up moved toward the door. I wanted him to say he would talk to them, do something about this. Chief was our leader, now was not the time for this guy to be angling to take over. “Hope, thank you for telling me. I'll keep an eye on it. But don't go spying on people again, okay? Don't worry about anyone but yourself.” He patted my arm.

He opened the doors and held his arm out for me to go first. I moved to go but he frowned and put his hand on my shoulder. “Do you hear me? This is not your job. It's mine. I won't be able to sleep at night if I know you're lurking in dark corners of ships to overhear conversations. Keep your mind focused on the Stacks. You have enough problems there.”

I was grateful for the almost fatherly affection that made him worry so much. But there was no way I was going to let this drop.

“I'll do my best to stay out of trouble,” I said. He sighed but pushed me lightly on the back and I ran off.

Outside, the festivities were beginning. There were bonfires were being lit. But there was a tangible gloom, and whispers full of fear.

I sat down in a circle where I spotted Faith and Gaia telling stories for the younger kids. They ran around, dancing and falling down comically for the kid's enjoyment. It was rare to see them letting loose, and with the beautiful green and yellow lights above their heads in the night sky, it was a lovely sight.

Cairo and Marseille were sitting together, both sipping cool water from our metal dishes. They seemed sad but were also trying to put on a brave face. For us, fresh water was as good a party drink as anything else. The purified water from the ship was fine, it was clean. But when we'd landed and then been held prisoner in this place, we'd tapped into the piping system that brought water to the crops and we were now siphoning off water from the Locals. It was cool and tasted like minerals and…freshness.

Chance was in the circle, too, sitting with some friends of his. It was this way with us now. We were nearby but not together. I sat by myself, exchanging hesitant smiles with the people around me. I didn't know them, but because I was a Spec they knew who I was.

My eyes turned to Chance as I was handed a cup of hot water. They were boiling it with leaves over a fire now, to make tea. I held the steaming cup up to my nose and pressed it to my lips, inhaling the vapor.

Chance let out a laugh at one of his friends who was relating some story. My heart started to pound in my chest. I suddenly felt very alone.

A few days of nothing. Both Helen and Duggard were recovering, and we were given a respite from the Stacks. Three days of total peace. I tried to rest but waiting for the Locals to make the next move kept me awake most nights.

I was high up in one of the wide green trees picking a sour pink fruit we hadn't named yet. I saw the occasional birds flying overhead, large jet-black ones with huge wingspans and long black beaks, and smaller, neon blue ones that twirled and somersaulted in the sky. I loved them both and wished I could hear their call. I lifted my leg to climb another branch, a burlap sack full of the fruit over my back.

It was still amazing to me how many new plants, vegetables, and fruits there were. It was a plethora of discovery. And these were only the fields and crops inside the Site. Some day there would be a fantastic world awaiting us.

“Hope,” someone called me from the ground.

I swung down from the tree in three easy swoops.

It was Marseille. Her blonde hair was wet from a group shower and braided back from her face. She looked away as I approached.

“They're back for us,” she said. Her eyes came back to my face. I was used to it now, she watched me like I watched the Locals. Like she wanted to understand something about me.

I squared my shoulders, hooking my arm in hers and marching us towards the tunnels. So this was going to resume. We met up with the rest of the group. Helen and Duggard were weak but healed enough to go back in.

Helen met my eyes as we approached and I tried not to react to the fear I saw on her face.

“I bet they take it easy,” I ventured.

A few tension filled faces turned to look at me. “They might. Remember to work as a team. And…we all lived last time. It'll be fine. Nothing's going to happen,” I finished firmly.

The rushing sound told us that we could walk in now, and each group of Specs broke away and filed into their separate tunnels.

Grim came to walk beside me and took my hand before we'd even reached the Stack, reminding me what was at stake. His hair needed a cut, it was growing into a long bowl around his face.

I stopped at the entrance. Grim looked over at the Local at the same time I did, more confident with me in between them. This one seemed younger. The tall creature didn't move. It had its head down, the large half-moon shape tilted toward me. Its blue glossy eyes weren't closed but did not look at me. Then its face moved slightly. Like…like it was drawing its eyebrows together. It was a shift of muscles that looked to me like frustration, or like it didn't understand.

“Hello?” I said.

The muscles smoothed and the look of indifference resumed. I felt like I hadn't seen anything, like I'd made it up.

I squeezed Grim's hand and we walked in together, the doors sliding shut after us and sealing us in darkness. I prayed and prayed that this would be a good one, waiting breathlessly. The walls of the Stack began to brighten and I counted down in my head. Three, two, one…

The scene was a simple room. A square box big enough to fit the ten of us with a little roaming room for everyone, and dimly lit by soft orange lights in the corners. The floors and walls were black, and smooth. It wasn't bad, but something about this room made my neck muscles tense up.

It was dark enough that I couldn't see if there was something hiding in the corners, so I moved to check them.

“Whoa! Wait a …what?” Weeks exclaimed. I felt an odd shifting of my clothing, like someone was hugging me and running their hands over me. And then my shirt and pants disintegrated.

Just…gone.

I threw my arm across my breasts and tried to cover myself the best I could as a chorus of startled cries erupted from the group.

Glancing around for the briefest of seconds I could see that everyone else was in the same predicament. I had to turn away though, my eyes were being assaulted by too much information even in the dark.

I slid against the wall since I was out of hands to cover my backside.

“Where're you goin'?” Weeks barked in my direction.

“You wouldn't know I'm moving unless you're looking!” I shouted.

“Um, of course I'm looking. And I'd be happy to show if there's anything you'd like to see,” he said in a smooth, low voice.

There was a long moment of silence.

Then I burst out laughing. A few people chuckled.

Was this it?

This wasn't that bad. We were already used to the group showers back on our ships, though those were separated by gender.

But these
were
people I had to look in the eyes every day. “You think they're having naked Friday's now?” I said.

“I suggested it,” Weeks said, “Death and mayhem Monday through Thursday, then, a little uh-huh,” he said bouncing his hips from side to side with his hand over his ‘area', “for the weekend!”

I shook my head in the darkness. We had all backed up against the wall, averting our eyes and covering whatever we could. But even I couldn't resist the occasional giggle. This was too ridiculous.

The worst part was
tearing
my eyes away from where I knew Chance was. It wasn't like his body was a big mystery to me but it had been a while. My brain recalled the rippling in his upper arms, and the roundness of his shoulders when I grabbed them and…
very much time for a new topic, brain
.

Marseille was next to me and she had her head down. I thought her cheeks must be scarlet right now. Suddenly Cairo moved from his spot against the wall and went over to her. He kept his eyes averted and then he stood in front of her, blocking most of her from our view.

I involuntarily glanced over at Chance and he held my eyes for a second, but I could see his struggle to keep a straight face.

I let out a relived breath. This session was okay, sure wasn't what I would've asked for had I been consulted, but it
really
wasn't bad. From now on, if anyone ever asked I could say with certainty that I'd take naked over almost drowning. For sure.

We stood like that for a little while. People cracking jokes as they thought of them.

We were all kind of having a good time when our clothes suddenly materialized on our bodies.

I rubbed my hands over the fabric, loving my uniform more than I ever had before.

Then the lights went out completely.
Oh good, there's more.

We'd been in total darkness before, but I knew it was worse than naked depending on how long they left us like this. I felt around, grabbing the wrong parts of people, thankful we weren't still naked, and finally found Grim's small head. I ran my hand down his arm and took his hand.

“Let's sit, in a circle, and keep talking. Just close your eyes and forget about the lights. Or lack thereof.”

This would be fine as long as they didn't leave us like this for too much time.

But they did. They left us like that for what I think was a full day. I guessed that length of time because of the hunger that got progressively worse and worse. There had been no food.

Then around the time we'd started to get sleepy and faint the lights came back on, only they went from dim orange to a bright yellow light. Then a loud sound began, like a piercing ringing that ebbed and flowed.

No one was able to sleep.

The lights and sounds would go off again for short periods but as soon as one of us got relaxed it would all start over. They didn't
want
us to sleep.

While the lights had been on I'd seen that they'd given us a pee-closet. We had these sometimes, a slim gray door that opened to a small standing space. These only appeared when we were going to be left for more than a few hours, already it was…I wasn't sure any more, it had been about a day and a half now, maybe. But no one needed to use it because they hadn't given us any water. I'd always found the closets funny before, because we must have been peeing into empty space in reality, but when you were as thirsty as we were nothing was all that amusing anymore.

The water was the thing. I knew how long we could live without food. But water was necessary. Two, three days, more, and we'd be hurting. We'd need medical care after we were released. I wanted to know what these aliens thought they were accomplishing. What purpose this was serving.

More long hours passed without sleep, food, or water. I thought we were headed into day three.

“I'm so tired,” Grim mumbled into my shoulder. He shuffled in his uncomfortable sitting position against the wall and my side. He was trying to sleep with the lights on, with the noise blaring. I was nearing the point of passing out myself. Sometimes I think I got a minute or a few seconds. But I mostly tried to stay awake and keep my hands over Grim's ears.

“They're loving this,” Legacy suddenly spit out.

I was so tired, and my head was pounding. “Shut up Legacy! No one needs to hear you! Shut up!”

I was normally more diplomatic, but the intense pains in my stomach, the pounding headache, my dry mouth, the loud noise, were adding up to more than I could manage.

“You shut
your
stupid mouth! Stupid bitch who believes these things are our friends! Do you feel friendly now?” He tried to move toward me in a threatening way but was too fatigued and slouched back down. “Stupid bitch,” he said again.

Chance got up shakily, surprising both Legacy and I. Legacy looked scared. Chance looked over at him but then came over to sit next to Grim and me.

Leaning close to my ear he whispered, “Legacy is an idiot, but maybe he's right.”

I glared at him.

“He's not right about anything,” I said slowly.

“First they hurt people, now this!”

I motioned for him to be quiet and he lowered his voice, putting his mouth close to my ear. “All I'm saying is, it doesn't seem like they have our best interests at heart.”

The blaring noise stopped, and we all heard a loud popping noise. A circle came shooting down through the ceiling on top of Legacy, enveloping him in a shimmering tube. He threw his hands against it and yelled to us but we couldn't hear him, and he couldn't get out. Total panic filled his eyes. He pushed and kicked at the force field. After a minute of this he finally stilled. When he did, a bowl of water appeared at his feet. We all gasped. Careful not to knock it over, Legacy picked it up with shaking hands and gulped greedily, streaks of water running down his shirt. As soon as the bowl was empty, the field disappeared.

We all looked above our heads, waiting for our turn. But nothing came.

“What the hell kind of ‘effed up game is this?” Weeks said angrily.

Legacy looked at us, and he didn't seem sorry.

If we were angry the first time he got special treatment, we were much angrier the second. This time Legacy smiled as he drank the water.

When the force field disappeared Chance said, “You do realize you can die in more places than the Stacks, right?” Legacy huddled in his corner again, his arms folded over his knees.

The third time, Chance walked over to the field and raised his fist as Legacy picked up the bowl. This time he hesitated, holding the bowl, not drinking. But when the force field disappeared moments later, so did the bowl and the water.