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We both got up, heading off in different directions as we made for our homes. I had only just left the Commons when I heard raised voices behind me, and it sounded like one of them was Pitr. I made my way cautiously back to the entrance. If it was nothing major, I didn’t want to embarrass him by sticking my nose in.
There were three guys towering around him. Sometimes Pitr’s build can get him into trouble. He looks like he eats more than the rest of us. He doesn’t. His body is just like that, and that seemed to be what the issue was. They were pushing him back and forward, and yelling stuff into his face.
‘Hey, fat boy.’
‘Your dad been keeping a little back for you again, huh?’
‘Maybe you should be bringing me some of the extras you steal.’
‘Thief. Yeah, I could use a brick or two.’
Pitr was shouting back at them to leave him alone and he wasn’t a thief. He was trying to push his way through, and even threw a punch or two, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. I decided he was in over his head and started to walk across. I recognised all three of them – but, heck, everybody knew everybody else anyway. They were having so much fun they didn’t notice me, so I managed to get right up close before I kicked Terk in the back of his knee. He didn’t go down – quite – but he stumbled sideways. The other two stopped. Terk spun around, ready to hit me, but stopped when he saw who I was. I guess being the head dog’s puppy has its advantages.
‘Problem, Terk?’
All three of them were backing away. ‘He’s fat,’ Terk protested. ‘We don’t get hardly enough, and he’s getting extras.’
‘Better be very sure of that, Terk,’ I replied. ‘Serious thing to say, calling someone a food thief. I suppose I’ll just have to take your concerns to my father, get him to talk to your dad and take a look into it. You got your evidence?’
‘Wait. We just ... ’
I stepped up close, my nose about level with his, poked him hard in the chest with a finger. ‘Beat it. Leave him alone, and if I hear you did this again, I’ll tell my dad anyway.’
‘You can’t do that. That’s favour - favri - ’
‘Fine. Go tell the Sherrif and see what he says.’
Terk and one of the others flipped me the finger then they all hurried off, laughing and probably making up lies to each other about how they had made me look a fool and I how I wouldn’t mess with them anymore. I turned back to Pitr.
‘You OK?’
He nodded, looking embarrassed. ‘Thanks.’
I waved a hand to brush it away and started walking back towards my home. It wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last. That was the way we work, me and Pitr. We look out for each other
I had big trouble getting to sleep that night. I couldn’t get my mind to shut off. Things kept whirling around in my head; the fight with Pitr, the fight with my dad, the conversation with Jedd. Underneath it all was the never ending, always muttering fear that this was everything there was, everything there ever would be. Just beating on machines to make food bricks for someone else, and living in a stinking pit with a permanent layer of grime over everything. Nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. It would get me like that, some nights, like a toothache. Some days I could ignore it, other days it spiked up and wouldn’t leave me alone. This was a spike night.
I must have got to sleep at some time. I remember looking at the timepiece in the wall at 02:34 because of the odd number, then I was lying in a drowse with a buzzy feeling in my head, like a noise had just half-woken me.
‘Garret Barton Trent. The access code for maintenance panel J4, level 6, corridor A is 777gate142star’
My head cleared slowly but I never really woke up, or perhaps something stopped me from properly waking up. The voice had gone before I remembered what I was supposed to do. I cursed, then held my breath and waited to see if it would speak again. The buzzing feeling in my head was still there, so I had some hope.
‘Garret Barton Trent. The access code f...’
‘Ident.’ I thought as hard as I could. The voice broke off. I thought I could feel something like surprise, but I could have been imagining it. Then the voice spoke again.
‘Repeat.’ It was an instruction, not a question
‘Ident,’ I thought again. This time I did what Jedd had told me. I thought it, saw it as though it was written in front of me, and said it under my breath. There was another pause.
‘Ident. System PAL 1138. Aphrodite Settlement Management System. Impaired,’ then another pause followed by ‘Garret Barton Trent. The access code for maintenance panel J4, level 6, corridor A is 777gate142star.’
The buzzing in my head faded. There was a big grin on my face, but I couldn’t stop myself sinking back down into sleep.