| |
Jason lay on his side watching Seattle and the children prepare for their outing, bundling up their quilts and covers that served as beds. As soon as they completed their task, they lined up in a specific order Jason didn't understand. They all stood in line without talking, waiting for Seattle, who had stepped behind a set of brightly colored curtains that provided her with a private area in one corner of the compound. In a few minutes, Seattle stepped out from behind the curtain wall to join her troops.
"Most of us will be going on the outing as I promised. Unfortunately, a couple of you will have to stay behind because of Tinker's impulsive actions last night."
"I'll stay," Tinker said as he stepped forward from the front line.
"No, Tinker, you won't. You will be punished for jeopardizing the entire family with your foolish actions, but you will not stay behind today. I need two of the older ones to stay. Wompun, you and Cinder step forward, please."
One of the older boys from the front line shuffled a couple steps forward. Jason imagined the boy would have been a real chick magnet if his well-chiseled face hadn't been so dirty and his charcoal black hair didn't look like it hadn't been washed in over a week. He was dressed in military attire from some bygone era with patches on the brown jacket, and a pair of goggles around his neck.
From the second row, a shorter, well-muscled girl stepped forward. Long blond hair in bad need of brushing partially covered a smudged face decorated with red and black marks that ran under her eyes and across her button-shaped nose. Neither of the teenagers looked pleased by their new assignment.
"I'm sorry. I know you were both excited about the outing, and I want you to know I'm not asking you to stay behind as any punishment. I feel you both will do an excellent job of guarding our prisoner."
Jason jerked his head up at the word. Despite the chains and how he'd been treating thus far, it hadn't fully sunk in yet that he was, indeed, a prisoner.
"In guarding him, remember you are protecting the entire family. I ask you to stay behind. Do you agree?" Seattle looked from one to the other.
Both teenagers straightened their shoulders and nodded.
She runs a tight ship, Jason thought. She could probably get a job on the surface as one of the Patriarchy's security guards.
Seattle thanked them as they stepped back to their respective positions in the lines. She then turned her attention to Tinker.
"You, young man, will take care of Wompun's and Cinder's needs for the next two weeks as part of your punishment. Is that clear?"
"Two weeks?" Tinker whined. "Why, that's..." But he didn't finish the statement as he noticed the look on Seattle's face. "Yes, that's clear," he murmured.
"Okay, let's go. We have a fair piece to travel, and we don't want to be all day about it." The lines quickly disintegrated as the kids shouldered their enthusiasm, running around to find their favorite buddies. Seattle walked over to the tall boy who'd been assigned to stay and handed him her stunwand. Without so much as a glance in Jason's direction, Seattle raised her hand to signal it was time to leave.
A couple of the older kids circled around the two newly appointed guards to share their condolences, then within minutes the cavern cleared out with only Jason and the two teenagers left behind.
The three of them stared at each other for a long moment before the boy turned to the girl and whispered something in her ear. I guess the boy is Wompun and Cinder is the girl, Jason thought but realized it was a wild guess. Well, no time like the present to try to break the ice with his captors.
"Bad rap, the two of you having to remain behind. My name is Jason." He started to share his last name, then thought better of it. Last names didn't seem to be needed down here. "Perhaps you've seen me on the vids. No? Well, it doesn't matter." Jason spoke in as friendly and non-confrontational a tone as he could muster. "Let's see, I know your names are Wompun and Cinder, but which is which?"
The two teenagers looked at each other for a moment before the girl turned to him and smiled. "I'm Cinder; that's Wompun."
Wompun glared, first at Jason than at Cinder. He walked over to her again and whispered in her ear. What followed was a bitter argument, all performed in whispers too soft for Jason to pick up most of the words. Looks like they're having their first power struggle, Jason thought and wondered how he might take advantage of it.
After a couple of minutes, during which Wompun threatened Cinder with the stunwand with little to no effect, the two finally came to some agreement. Wompun stomped off to a corner of the cave, sitting down where he could keep an eye on Jason but without Jason being able to see him unless he craned his neck.
Cinder stood in the center of the room for a moment and glared at Wompun, then finally shrugged her shoulders and took her station in the other corner facing Jason. Both teenagers were careful to keep their distance from their prisoner.
After a couple minutes, Jason smiled again at Cinder. "What was that all about?"
Cinder hesitated a moment before speaking, glancing briefly in Wompun's direction. "He doesn't think we should talk to you. I pointed out to him that Seattle didn't say we couldn't, and I didn't see any harm in it. We finally reached a compromise. I'll talk; he'll listen."
Jason laughed, and after a moment Cinder joined in. Jason noticed Cinder's face turned suddenly radiant when she laughed. She'll grow up to be a lovely woman, he told himself. But how would she grow up down here in the Pipes without the support and resources of a Ward? Where had these kids come from? How did they eat? What kind of life could they possibly have down here?
"You all have interesting names." Jason decided it was time to start getting some of his questions answered. He'd start with a few easy ones first. "How did you come by them?"
Cinder shrugged. "Different places, I guess. Mine came from the cinders that were dug into my hands and feet when Seattle found me." She held up her hands, palms out. Jason could see a dozen or more pinpoint specks just below the skin of her palms.
"How old were you?" Jason asked.
Cinder shrugged again. "I don't remember. I've always lived with Seattle as far as I know."
"And Wompun? Where did he get his name?"
Cinder glanced over Jason's shoulder before answering. "When he was growing up he had a habit of hitting anyone he played with. Somehow whomp up turned into Wompun."
"You all have been together for quite awhile, haven't you?" Jason asked.
Cinder shrugged for the third time. It seemed to be a favorite word of her body language vernacular. "Some of us have; others not so long."
"Where do you come from?"
Before Cinder could answer, Jason heard a loud cough from behind him. Cinder paused with her mouth open, then closed it for a moment before answering, "Different places."
So it appears I'm dealing with a censor after all, Jason thought. Let's see how much info I can get Cinder to reveal.
"How about Seattle? She's quite a woman. It must be a lot of work taking care of all of you. Is she the only adult around?"
Jason heard another cough from behind him.
Cinder looked annoyed at first, then shrugged yet again, refraining from answering.
"What were you doing down in the Commons?" Apparently, Cinder had decided it was safer if she asked the questions.
"Why shouldn't I be there?" Jason answered her question with his own. He wasn't so sure he wanted to tell his life story either.
Cinder shook her head. "Not the way you're dressed, and Tinker said you gave him money without him asking for it. No one who lives in the Commons would do that."
Jason nodded. "You're right. I came from the Gambling Zone. Are you familiar with that area of the MED?"
"Of course, silly. Who isn't?" Cinder replied as though Jason had insulted her intelligence.
"Well, I was walking...just walking," Jason said, realizing he didn't really have a good explanation for what he was doing in the Commons. It's just where he had ended up.
"It's a pretty stupid place to be walking, dressed as you are and with a pocket full of credits," Cinder said matter-of-factly without a note of condescension.
"You're right. I wasn't thinking, at least not about where I was walking. I'll be more careful in the future." If indeed, I have a future after this, Jason thought.
The two of them bantered back and forth with most of Jason's questions being censored by a cough from Wompun. Occasionally Cinder would answer anyway, but most often she appeared to accept her censor's judgment.
About all Jason could glean from her was that there were about thirty-five kids that lived under Seattle's care, but then he'd already figured that much out. They called themselves a family, a term unfamiliar to Jason, and Seattle was their mother. As in Mother Church, Jason asked, and Cinder laughed. "No, as in one who cares and provides for us." Like ULC followers believed about Mother Church, Jason thought but had refrained from saying.
After a while, Cinder excused herself and went about her other duties of tidying up the cave, then disappeared behind the wall of cloth, to do the same, Jason suspected.
Let's see, Jason thought as he lay down with one arm behind his head. He closed his eyes and pondered his situation. He was in the Pipes, that much he knew, although he had no idea what part of the Pipes, probably not too far from the Gambling Zone. I'm being held captive by at least one adult and about thirty-five kids who can't exist but do. Their sole armament appears to be one stunwand, but they might have more weapons that they're hiding. No one knows where I am, and no one is likely to start looking for me for at least three or four days, maybe a week.
The more he thought about his situation, the less he liked the predicament he'd gotten himself into. The relative safety and security of the Gambling Zone are looking more attractive by the minute, Jason thought as he dozed off.