Episode 60

I never learned to dance. It was one of those things. Maybe I never met the right woman, maybe I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I did try it a few times but I was never a great mover. Now it’s too late. Not that there’s much music and dancing on this planet. Seems they’re not great on recreation. Anyway, as I say, it’s too late now. I can feel my legs thickening up as my body starts to change for the worse, so no more fancy footwork for me. What’s making it worse is I’m beginning to grow a tail. Fascinating as that is, it’s still a bit of a pain. It’s only about six inches long as yet but it still makes sitting very difficult. The other problem is my lips. They’re showing the first signs of changing into a snout. Not so keen on that one either. It looks like I’ve had a green Botox job. Most of all it’s the itching that drives me crazy though. They gave me some sort of lotion but it doesn’t help much. I feel like I’m slipping into a Sci-fi nightmare. My eyes hurt all the time; my vision is off and on blurry. Funny thing about the eyes though. I get a kind of double vision. If I squint it’s like a zoom lens and everything comes up close, which is handy for reading if ever I got hold of a book again. I can also see heat signatures, which means I can see more infra-red rays. Right now I can see the others through the rock-wall in the next room. Well I can see their body heat. I asked Gennetta about these things but apparently none of the Ahram have this. It must be a human/reptile mix thing. Oh, and my hair’s falling out. Lots of good news. And not only on my head – all over.

Anyway, the new girls are in the next room. Gennetta is telling them the whole sad story again. Garm’s in there with them but I’m keeping an eye on him in case he tries any moves on Gennetta. Dunno what I would do though if he did. He’s much stronger than me. For the moment anyway. Who knows how far this thing is going to go. My toenails are growing into claws and there’s no way to cut them; damn things are as hard as steel, so it’s clicketty clack, clicketty clack every time I try and walk about. My skin is burning where the new reptile skin is growing. It calms down when I take Merwood but that’s not such a good idea. I only take it when the pain gets too bad.

I can’t see this ending very well. I can’t see any of this ending very well. I’ve heard the earth-girl’s story and nothing sounds very promising there. There’s nothing much anybody can do about it all. If I had my Mech-suit and a couple of lasers we’d be talking. Now all we can do is sit and wait. All in all, it’s rather depressing.

“Hi.”

I didn’t see her walk in. That’s what happens when you daydream.

“Hi,” I say. It’s the big girl. Dutch.

“Mind if I sit?”

“No. Help yourself.”

“How you feeling?” She looks pointedly at my body.

I shrug. She seems nice enough. Bronzed and built like a prize fighter. Next to her I look like a ninety pound insect with anaemia.

“We heard your distress signal,” she says. “Didn’t expect to find you alive though.”

I shrug again. Her gaze is friendly and focused.

“Any ideas on how we gonna get out of here?”

“No.”

“How did you end up here anyway?”

“Ha!” I say, meaning - that kind of story takes longer to tell than to live. She smiles. “I was being chased by a guy with a big pair of torpedoes and going down the wormhole seemed a good idea at the time. And you?”

“Uh. We jumped a jail ship – me and her.” She nods to the door behind her. “Hijacked a nice little space cruiser – which is now drifting around on the ice-pack that circles this planet. What happened to your ship?”

“Wrecked on a moon.”

She lapses into silence and we both sit quietly.

“Tell you what. I miss a decent plate of steak and chips.” I say. How that popped into my brain I don’t know.

“Mug of beer,” she says.

Pause.

“Damn.” Another spasm of pain in my arm. I try not to scratch because there’s a new development. Now there’s a little line of pus running between the reptile skin and my skin…like my body cells are battling each other.

“So,” she says, watching me scratch. “We got a whole heap of problems here.” She looks around as if the problems are in the room lining the walls. “I’m not much of a one for sitting around.”

I grunt in agreement. “Going a bit stir crazy myself. Be good to get out. Gennetta wants to have another look for your friends – and that worm.”

“Big bugger,” she says, and falls quiet again. I was there when she told the story. Glad it wasn’t me. These two girls have been through a lot.

“What’s that big spaceship like?” I ask just to take my mind off the discomfort.

“White. Can’t see a thing. And that Seesh is a big problem. He’s got this miniature wormhole thing – and there’s a Rider who’s also got one. Makes a plasma gun look like a water pistol. Between the two of them they got everything pretty much wrapped up – and the worm.”

“Shit,” I say, scratching again. We sit and think for a while, looking at the floor.

“One of our group – Rose – she’s gone AWOL,” she says. “Managed to escape the Seesh. She’s floating around somewhere in that white junk pile. It’s like a cloud in there; all smoke and mirrors. Can’t get hold of anything. Don’t even know where you are really.”

“How do we fight them then?”

“Dunno.”

“Sabotage the ship?”

“I don’t think so. That thing is big.” And this gets us thinking again.

“Mm. You from the belt?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you do – you know – to get sent down?”

“Negligence.” She laughs as she says this. “Killed my husband…by mistake…on purpose.”

I nod knowingly. “Hard bunch of guys, those ore-workers. I was more of a prospector.” I feel very comfortable with her. I suppose we have a lot in common. “Tough job for a lady though,” I say, looking at her.

“I ain’t no lady,” she says and we laugh – but I can detect a trace of sadness there. True, she isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, but she’s very nice.

“Well, I ain’t much of a man anymore.”

She watches me scratch.

“What you gonna do?” she says, meaning my changing condition.

I shrug. Two misfits, her and I, that’s why we get along so well. Somehow with her I feel the future is more positive than it’s been up to now, like doubling our chances.

“What about stirring up some sort of rebellion amongst the workers,” she says, “get them to help us?”

“That’s actually a good plan,” says Garm from the doorway, surprising us with his sudden appearance. “It will cause some confusion anyway…and slow down the building. The Rider will find it very difficult to deal with such a lot of people at once.”

“But how will you do it?” I ask.

“I used to be on the Council of Workers,” says Garm. “It would be an easy thing to do. Workers are always unhappy. It’s just that I usually try to keep them calm and talk them out of any rash actions. It would take little to encourage their dissatisfaction.”

“Is there enough time – the ship is set to launch in a few weeks?”

“These things are quick. All you need to do is start a few rumours and get them worried - like the Seesh is planning to get rid of them when the work is done. Trust me, they are quite simple and gullible enough to believe that. I know how their minds work.”

“But from what I can tell they’re very scared of him.”

“Lure them with the promise of women. It’s the one thing that seems to get them motivated.”

Dutch doesn’t seem too convinced.

“Okay. But where do we start? How do we talk to so many of them?”

“We don’t. All we have to do is light a little fire somewhere and watch it spread. Start on the outer edges of the city, they’re a bit more gullible there and not so street wise.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me. I need something to do or else I’ll be walking the walls in here,” I reply.

Garm nods. “I find it difficult doing nothing as well.”

We look at each other and at that moment I am sure we’re thinking the same thing, ‘at least he’ll be away from Gennetta, if we both go’.

“Alright,” I say, taking up the challenge. I stand up, raring to go now that a plan of action has been agreed on. “We’d better tell Gennetta.”

“Gennetta knows,” she says from the doorway.

For a man with x-ray eyes a lot of people are sneaking up on me lately. A shooting pain runs up my back and into my brain. Christ. I hope I’m not dying. Be a bit of a disappointment. I’m just hoping that Gennetta doesn’t give Garm the ‘you must look after him’ speech.

“There’s a way down the eastern edge of the mountains that will take thee into the city of workers unseen.” Gennetta looks at me the whole time she is speaking, but she doesn’t try to talk me out of it.

“I will send a couple of girls ahead to scout the way. They’re very good at remaining invisible.”

The walls move inwards and I think it is my eyes playing up again until I hear the detonation.

Everyone drops to the ground and we wait for the roof to fall in…so strong was the explosion. But apart from a few trickles of dust and dirt it stays where it is. Then we are all running like mad down the tunnel. A lot of jibber-jabber is happening between the Ahram as more and more join the rush, laden with supplies and emergency bundles. They are very well prepared and organized. The exodus runs like clockwork. No panic, no shouting. Everyone knows what to do.

“The guard have broken into the upper chambers.”

A fiery thunder-ball zooms over our heads and explodes against the wall ahead. ‘This is not good’ I am thinking.

“That’s the Rider. He is sending these ‘runners’ down the tunnels in the hope of hitting us by accident. We will make sure they are blocked off.”

Then the damndest thing happens. I find myself running out in front of everyone else – even the Ahram – quite easily. I slow down and wait for the others to catch up. Looks like I got some serious powers going on here. Not that I want to test them against the fireballs just yet – but I’m feeling good.

Gennetta pulls up next to me. “Shim and her girls will take thee to the Eastern escarpment and show thee the way down into the city. But then they will return because they are needed here to fight.”

The moment has come but I don’t have time to think. Out of the corner of my eye I see Dutch holding Sweet Mary’s hand. For a moment I had thought she would come with us, but she’s probably concerned for her girl’s safety. Don’t blame her. Anyway, a human female would stir up the wrong kind of trouble.

Gennetta and I look intently at each other, not knowing how to say goodbye. I feel awkward doing anything in front of Garm. He too stands there like a dufus. She breaks the deadlock by kissing us both on the cheek and then she is gone. So quick are the goodbyes around here. Shim and the girls start running and Garm and I turn to follow them. I have no trouble at all keeping up with the girls, but poor Garm is huffing and puffing so we have to slow down for him. These girls are seriously fit. Shim is also eyeing me with a strange expression on her face. Isn’t that nice. I’m impressing the girls for once in my life. But I hope they brought some Merwood with them because I can feel the pain coming on in the not too distant future.

The tunnels we run in are unlit – but I can see as clear as day. Soon the sound of explosions are far behind us and I hope that Gennetta and the rest are alright. I wonder if we’ll ever meet again and I get this pain in my chest. We haven’t been separated since I got here.

And then we are out amongst the stars, high in the mountains, looking down on the dome of light that is the valley. It’s a sight that never ceases to amaze and thrill me. On such a large scale it is breath-taking; the ribs vaulting up into the night sky, the citadel in the centre, pointing upwards into the universe, the green golden glow of the valley and the blue river waters winding through. We stop and eat and I take some Merwood for the pain and the itching. Garm has only just managed to catch his breath.

“Now’s a good time to keep moving,” says Shim and I watch Garm’s face fall as we prepare for the long difficult descent. Now there is no time to admire the view as any misstep will prove fatal. But I catch a glimpse of the citadel again. It would be such a pity to destroy it. It is a magnificent creation.

Speed is of the essence, so we go slip sliding down the mountainside. Every moment is spent trying to keep upright and navigate the bigger rocks in our way but eventually we make it to the base of the mountain, hands raw and bleeding and everyone dusty and dirty. After a very short stop to drink some water Shim reminds us with military efficiency that it is the parting of the ways.

“We will go back now. Thy destination is directly ahead.”

“I thank thee,” I say. “Please go carefully.”

“And thee too. Farewell,” she says and actually smiles at me. Not that she was every unfriendly, but now there is a twinkle in her eye when she looks at me. Well, well. I do believe she is flirting with me.

And then they’re gone and I feel….well, a bit exposed and much less safe without them. They’re so capable those girls. I turn to Garm and he’s nowhere near ready to start off again so I sit down next to him. We haven’t managed to talk to each other and here we are setting off on a dangerous journey where we might have to depend on each other. I’m thinking this might be a good time to bury the hatchet.

“Thou art fond of Gennetta too,” I say, using the polite ‘thou’. It is also more of a statement than a question.

“Thou art a bit more than fond, I would avow.”

“That’s true. Yet how she could be fond of me is a mystery, especially now, when I am but a halfway monster, neither Urghan nor human.”

“Outwardly yes. But there must be something in thy nature that attracts her, for she is overly fond of thee, any fool can see, though she be none, and more fool me for having a fond heart filled with childish longings; for I have known her since a child.”

“I am sorry for thee. But I am sure she will sooner love thee than me. I can hardly love myself anymore.”

“’Tis why she loves thee. But do not fret thyself to distraction about it. It is in neither our hands, and to be at variance with each other does not enhance our position with her one jot. This lady dost not like to have men fight for her hand. It dost not impress her, for she is stronger than both of us.”

“That is true. Shall we shake and say it is not our own happiness we seek but hers, and be happy for her in her choice, whoever she chooses?”

He merely smiles in answer and we shake.

A green fug hangs over the slum city, the flickering of thousands of illegal fires contributing to the smog. We can smell it even from here – rank and dank like a big open cesspit. It looks uninviting too. Dirty greys and rotting greens, a blanket of filth and misery spreading as far as the eye can see. How the workers haven’t revolted years ago is a mystery. They must be terrified of this Seesh guy. Mind you, he’s also got their women hostage…and they can’t eat unless they work…and there’s no escaping his whipping boy either, the Rider. What a miserable life.

But, happier for resolving our personal issue with one another, temporarily at least, for the loving heart is an errant knave at best, we set off with a will. The beautiful countryside soon enough gives way to rubble and ramshackle shelters leaning over at crazy angles, sticks and rubbish poking out, forcing us to duck and dive and dodge around obstructions until we find what we presume to be a path but resembles more closely a rancid gutter gouged in the ground, snaking its way through the mess.

Once under the cloud of fog we find that it is almost night time in there. As we walk we see the Urghan watching us from their cracks and crevices, red eyed, suspicious, cowed curs that stare at us from under the murky miasma. Little groups huddle silently around smoky fires, sitting on damp logs or standing around staring into the flames as if their salvation would come from there. They, for the most part, pay us no heed. They see nothing except their own misery.

Unmolested we work our way deeper into the centre of the city – the holes and hovels and lean-to’s crowding closer together now. Every now and then a long line of workers march past on their way to or from work and we step aside and watch them go. Silent faces, grim set, lacking all signs of life. Dead people walking. I say walking, but it can be more profitably described as a controlled stagger, stiff legged and leaning over forward to give them momentum, with no strength to propel themselves forward, like zombies being dragged to their doom by a call they cannot hear anymore, going backwards and forwards until they die from exhaustion and malnutrition.

Then we come across another group, this one much larger than any we have seen so far. Circled around several fires they are roasting some small animals over a spit. We stop and watch them.

“To an Ahram, eating meat is tantamount to cannibalism. But here they often supplement their diet with the many rodents that live on their filth.”

“What is that?” I ask Garm, pointing to a dirty leather flagon they were passing around.

“Fermented fruit. That too is illegal. It affords but a momentary release from their burdens and misery by making them mindless for a while – until one day they wake up mindless forever from the side effects of the drink. Thou shalt see quite a few of those drifting around the city, begging for bits of food, eating offal, anything they can find. The Guards – Contrata – mainly leave them be.”

“Tell me about them. The Contrata.”

He is silent for a long while. I listen to the crackling fire and wait.

“They are the only ones allowed to carry bone swords – and deadly they are. Rumours say they are the direct offspring of the Seesh, bred in the Cantave from his private…what is the word humans use…Harem, which is how he controls them, having their mothers at his mercy. None love him. None are allowed to hate him. All fear him.”

“What iz this talk-talk? Who are you?”

Unbeknownst to us, while we were enwrapped in our English conversation, some members of the crowd had been taking notice of us…and not in a nice way.

“You iz not a worker, and who iz this with no snoot?” They say, pointing at me. “Some horror be dredged up from hell to plague uz ….What iz you?”

Garm begins talking quickly.

“We have not come to plague thee…but to try and help thee. To give thee surcease from thy toils and misery.”

“Ha, ha, ha. Therein lies a joke I am sure. It best be a harmless joke. For if I mistook, and youz come here to infect uz with hope…then look to your ways…for your days are bound up short,” says someone else.

“And don’t he talk pretty polly with iz thee’ing and thou’ing.” says another.

“I do not joke…and I do not offer hope…but I come to warn thee. Thou art building this ship for nothing. The Seesh is not going to take thee with him when he goes. He plans to abandon thee and leave thee here to die. He is just using thee.”

“Thatz a lie. The Seesh is going to save uz.”

“And what makes thee so sure that he’s going to take all of thee along with him? Just look at thee. Why would he want to dirty up his pretty white rocket-ship? To him thou art just riff-raff, brutes. He only needs a few thousand of his own kind to start a new race – and they are already aboard the spaceship, men and women together. Thou art just being used to build it for him and then he will discard thee and leave thee to die. We are trying to stop him, to save thee. I have friends in the mountains that are at this moment fighting the Contrata, fighting for thy freedom…women that are fighting for thy freedom.”

“Lies again. The Seesh would ne’er do that. This iz a test to see how loyal we iz. Anyway, why would he build such a big ship if he weren’t going to take uz?”

“Thou woulds’t never all fit on board. There are too many of thee. I have made all the calculations; the ship would be too heavy to take off, and he has to feed thee all. There aren’t above a hundred gardens aboard. Thou knowest that. Thou built them. How long would that food last between all of thee? He only needs thee to build the ship. After that thou art expendable.”

“What a mishmash you make of words, spreading them about like dung on the road for uz to slip on, worse the wear for having listened and none the wiser. You rave strange man…you best beware, you and your demon friend…”

I didn’t know what they were saying but I kinda got the gist that they didn’t like me very much…and by extension, Garm either. Their hostile faces showed no appeasement at what Garm was saying. And now there were a lot of unhappy faces surrounding us, and judging from the mass of heat-signatures I could see,  the commotion was drawing in many, many others from all around. This was getting out of hand.

“You have come to plague uz I say, clackering on about nuthin. None do come here but to harm uz in some way.”

“I may not be a worker,” says Garm. “But I am no friend to the Seesh and I intend only to help.”

“Why should you want to help uz? What is in it for you?” shouts the ringleader suspiciously. Garm realizes he must confess some of the truth or else all is lost.

“I came here to help thee, but indeed also to help myself. Some of my…friends are being held by the Seesh and I need thy help to set them free… and to set us all free.”

“Pah! First one story then the next. We’z not havin’ it. This is a clackering trap. You iz offering uz a bone of trouble here. It is a trap. He has sent you here to test uz,” he shouts and the others take up the cry. “A trap. A trap.”

I am now getting a little anxious and I ask Garm what is going on but he is too busy to reply. My chest is burning and my skin is itching like crazy. I know this is absolutely the wrong moment but I can feel another growth spurt coming on and I can tell this is going to be a bad one. I need some Merwood.

“Why should’st I try and trap thee. It makes no sense. Listen to me. Thou art many. If all join together then the Contrata stand no chance against thee. They are but few compared to thee. Surely anything is better than this. Look how thou liveth. Like animals. Thou sayest my friend resembles a demon…but thou art nothing less. Look at thyself. While the Seesh lives in luxury thou grovel here in the dirt and eat shit.”

I begin to feel very claustrophobic now and my bones are aching fit to bust. I have no idea what Garm is telling them, but I do know it is not going well; at all. Without any warning I have collapsed to my knees. I find it difficult to keep myself upright, but for some reason I find it important to do so. I feel real pain. In the past it was only my flesh that was changing, but now I can feel my bones start to grind and bend out of shape, growing, too fast…tearing at the sinews...thrusting outwards. Garm has his hands full but still I grab his arm.

“Merwood. Do you have any Merwood?” I ask in desperation.

“And now you insult uz. Shit-eaters you say? Does everybody hear what he calls uz?”

Garm desperately divides his attention between them and me but I can sense our worries will soon be over.

“Shit-eaters, shit-eaters…” they all take up the cry, crowding in on us. A hand pushes Garm and he staggers against me. The crowd behind jostles the ones in front and someone trips and tangles with me and we crash to the ground. That seems to be the catalyst that transforms them into a mass monster. I hear them roar. I hear Garm protest and his cry cut off halfway as we sink under the weight of bodies.