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DUN COULD FEEL A LARGE room full of clutter: crates, machines, and who knew what. The door closed behind them with a quiet hiss. Then bustle broke out all over, had people been keeping quiet when the door was open?
“Medic!” Bel shouted.
“Welcome to the Community,” Tam said.
Folk rushed everywhere. A small team arrived with some kind of medical kit and took Mazzy away to some other room to treat her. Another group swarmed around Tam and Bel removing equipment and taking things away.
“Right,” Bel said, “food and debriefing. In that order, I think?”
“Canteen, it is,” Tam said.
They led the way through the throng of folk and Dun was starting to form an opinion of the Over-folk. Taller than him, although skinnier. Sweeter smelling, often in subtly different ways; underlying a male and female smell, different but similar to the ones he recognized. The people at least seemed to be cheerful from first impressions. That at least they had in common with the Bridge-folk.
They reached the canteen. Dun thought he’d heard bustle before. No, this was bustle. The folk here were shouting, laughing hysterically, bartering, and bantering. It seemed like very little actual eating was going on.
“Lunch seems to be miso,” Tam said.
“Could be worse,” Bel said.
“Yep, could be rat again.”
They joined the edge of another throng of people, and Dun was presented with a plastic mug of something watery but wholesome smelling and some kind of soft and beautiful smelling warm round thing. Once they had sat in curious molded plastic chairs around a raised table, Tam explained it was hubbous and was for dipping in the thin broth. It tasted fantastic, sweet and savory at the same time and a beautiful texture that melted in the mouth. The soup was pretty good too, salty and a bit fishy smelling, but not fish. It was the best thing he’d eaten for a cycle. Bel arrived with a handful of more plastic beakers containing flat tasting but clean water.
“Feelin’ a little better?” Bel said.
“Mmph,” Dun said.
“Good. Your friend’s gone to sickbay, not sure how she’ll do. She seemed pretty rough to me,” Bel said.
“Never know though, and she’s in the best place,” Tam chipped in.
“Right, get the rest of that down you. We need to get you debriefed.”
Dun didn’t really like the sinister sound of that, but these people had rescued him, and they seemed okay. Besides he had so many questions. He had to know the answers to some of them. Why had he been led here? What was going on in this world of crazy folk, cells and torturers, factions and fights? He gulped down the hubbous with the remainder of the soup and felt better than he had for cycles.
Some kind of whoop-whoop alarm went off, drifting into the canteen from the landing bay that they had all come in through.
“What’s that?” Dun said.
“Door opening alarm,” Tam said. “Means everyone knows the doors opening so’s they know to be quiet.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what happens in a secret base?” Bel said.
“Oh.”
“So be quiet now.”
There was some kind of movement to the landing bay from some of the canteen residents. Some kind of outgoing party? For what reason he was a little afraid to ask after being cut off quite so abruptly. Seemed like Bel could be a bit spiky when it suited her.
Tam tugged gently on Dun’s arm and led him back out of the canteen. He could hear more vehicles revving up in the landing bay. He recognized the sound of bikes and some kind of larger bike-like thing. Quite an outing then, wherever they were off to. They turned in the corridor away from the noise and past a quiet room with a faint smell of antiseptic, and then another room that smelled of wood with two of the community arguing over something. Then they passed a room with the smells of cooking coming from it. Some kind of stewing meat? It smelled fantastic whatever it was. They certainly ate well here.
From behind them, the sounds of bikes and folk faded and a different siren, and a longer horn sounded. It echoed through the corridors.
“All clear,” Tam said. “Come on.”
Tam led them to a long wide room that had a big shape that Dun could sense, in the middle of the room, another table? They were fond of those here. Dun was led to a plastic chair; they seemed fond of those too.
“Sit,” Tam said in a friendly tone.
It seemed that they’d lost Bel on their journey there. It seemed that Tam was aware of that too.
“She’ll be along in a minute,” Tam said. “She’s gone to get someone else, I think. I’ll get us some water.”
He left through the door they’d come in through, and Dun could hear his voice in the kitchen, joking with someone. He returned with some kind of receptacle and some more cups. Water sloshed onto the table as he put it down.
“Oops.”
“You probably want to mop that up,” Bel said from the doorway.
“Just going to,” Tam said with a hint of testiness.
There was someone else with Bel in the doorway. They both came in and sat.
“Hi,” the new someone said.
“Sorry,” Bel said. “This is Stef, our technician. Stef, this is the Bu... oh, I never did get your name.”
“Dun,” he said.
“Right, Dun... Stef, you get the idea.”
“Hi,” Dun said.
“Hi,” Stef said back. She had a patient tone.
Tam came back in and set to squeaking the water up off the table.
“Okay, sit down Tam,” Bel said.
“Make your mind up.”
“We need to orientate...”
“Dun.”
“Dun here quickly, so he can start being of use. Okay,” she said, warming to her theme. “This is how it works. You’re not being interrogated, but the more stuff you tell us the more it will help us and probably you too. To show our good faith, we’ll do this on a turn by turn basis. And you can even go first.”
“Okay,” said Dun. “First, who did you rescue me from?”
“Good question. They are called the Duchy. A nastier bunch of folk you’ll never want to meet. We’re the Community, and we’re... Well, a guess you’d say we’re at war with them,” Bel said.
“I was starting to work that out, what with the torturing and all.”
“Yes. Okay. Now. Why are you here?”
“Oh, I had a foretelling, that I was supposed to come here. I’m a shaman. Well, a trainee shaman anyway.”
“Ah,” Stef said.
“Yeah,” Bel said.
“I think,” Tam said, “we have something you need to know about.”
