The village was farther away from the checkpoint than Rena anticipated. Though she had no way to tell time below ground, it felt like the journey took three or four hours. Then again, her perception might have been skewed by the route itself. Barrett had taken her and Dal up and down countless ladders, each treacherous rung coated with a slippery layer of moisture. Dozens of tunnels, so cramped Rena couldn’t stand up straight. At one point, they crossed a menacing chasm of darkness by balancing on a pipe that spanned the gap, functioning like a bridge with no handrails. Whatever obstacles existed in the Outskirts, they were nothing compared to the ones below Esh.
When they finally climbed out of a narrow passage into a gigantic intersection of primary drainage tunnels, Rena was relieved to see other people. It meant she and Dal had arrived, and their lives were no longer under the constant threat of a misplaced step.
“Here we are,” said Barrett, his voice lost to the vastness of the open chamber.
Dal stood to his full height and stretched his back.
Rena put her hands on her hips and peered across the chamber. It was large enough to fit one of the Outskirts buildings inside of it. She stood near the top, on a metal walkway attached to the wall. Far below, hundreds of Outliers moved through a maze of channels in the floor of the chamber. Some talked, but most either carried bundles from one place to another, dug at the dirt floor, or hammered on metal.
“Are they building something?” Rena wondered aloud.
“Their village,” Barrett answered. “Come on.”
Rena followed him along the walkway and down a long stretch of stairs that felt sturdier than they appeared. Random pieces of scrap metal had been welded together, none of them originally intended to support the weight of people. She could imagine the amount of effort that had gone into its construction, starting with the scavenging of material from the Outskirts, which had probably taken place only at night, and over many years. As she noted the weld joints and the areas of metal grating allowing her to see through the stairs to the bottom of the chamber, she quickly settled on the strangest sight of all—a flickering, dancing glow of orange and red. It came from a large can, as wide as a person and half as tall. The Outliers standing near it didn’t appear alarmed at all.
“Something’s burning down there.”
“You’ve seen fire before?” Barrett asked.
Rena couldn’t take her eyes off the mesmerizing display of colors, twenty-five meters below. “One time … when Clarine tried a new recipe for dinner.”
Barrett reached a landing halfway down and turned with a smirk on his face. “She ‘versed the police, right?”
“Yeah. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it scared us all. Even Marshall.”
“I’ve never seen it before,” said Dal.
Barrett nodded. “We use it down here to stay warm.”
Rena now saw that two of the people near the fire had their hands stretched out to it, but they stood more than a meter away from it, implying it wasn’t entirely safe.
Dal leaned over the railing to get a better look. “Is that how you cook your food, too?”
Barrett ignored him and continued down the rest of the stairs.
Dal rolled his eyes and turned to Rena for help.
She could only shrug. Dal had been trying all morning to include himself in whatever conversation came up. For some reason, Barrett would only respond to him if absolutely necessary, like when giving instructions on how to cross something safely. Otherwise, he pretended as if Dal didn’t exist.
Rena grabbed Dal’s shirt sleeve and pulled him along. By the time they caught up to Barrett at the bottom of the stairs, two other soldiers were waiting there with him. One was an athletic-looking woman, with dark skin and a shaved head. She was perhaps thirty years old, although it was difficult to know for sure in the dim light. The other was a thin man, maybe twenty years older than the woman. His skin and hair were both pale. He’d obviously been blond in his youth, and from the look of it, he hadn’t been above ground in years.
“You must be Dal,” said the woman, extending her hand.
Dal shook her hand.
“If you’ll come with us, we’ll get you settled in.”
Dal turned suddenly to Barrett with scrunched eyebrows.
“Settled in to where?” Rena asked.
“His living quarters and … his job,” the woman replied, as if it were obvious.
“Wait. He’s not going anywhere without—”
“We talked about this already,” said Barrett, holding up his hand. “You’re a soldier and he’s not. That means you live and work in separate areas. There’s no way around it.”
“It’s OK, Rena,” said Dal, laying his hand on her shoulder. “Do what you need to do. I’ll be fine. I could use some better conversation anyway.” He looked straight at Barrett with these last words, and Rena was surprised by how bold he was acting.
“Hey,” she said, stepping in front of him to get his attention. “I’ll come see you as soon as I can.”
Dal looked away from Barrett and down into Rena’s eyes. “OK. Make sure you’re back by curfew, or I’ll be up all night, worried sick.”
Rena smiled and considered punching him on the arm but decided instead on a hug.
After their brief embrace, he turned around to the soldiers. “Ready when you are.”
“This way,” said the woman. The trio set out across the chamber, melding into the busy crowd.
When they could no longer be seen, Rena turned around. “What job will he get?”
“We have a storage area where we keep supplies. Non-perishable food. Clothing. Blankets. That sort of thing. He’ll help the crew with receiving, loading, and making deliveries. He’s tall and … probably stronger than he realizes.”
Rena looked back at the crowd and let her gaze linger for a few seconds, even though Dal was already gone. Despite the shock of their abrupt separation, she felt good about the work they’d arranged for him. Dal would get to meet some new people. The physical exertion would be healthy for him. And if he got to deliver supplies, Rena knew he’d enjoy helping people. It was a good fit.
“You ready?”
She turned and followed him without a word.
Barrett led her around the perimeter of the chamber, overflowing with words as if he’d been saving them up since their first meeting. He explained how the whole area used to carry a large volume of water many years ago, before the upstream flow was redirected elsewhere. Once the chamber dried, the Outliers broke through the concrete bottom and began excavating the soil to create the deep channels that formed the streets of their village. They carefully planned the number and depth of these channels to prevent collapsing of the earth. And they also used scavenged metal tubing and paneling to reinforce the soil in certain areas, as well as for pedestrian tunnels, bridges, and homes.
Most of the intersections had a fire barrel, as Barrett called them, though not all of them were allowed to burn at one time. Combustible trash was harvested from Esh to use as fuel, and large ventilation fans near the ceiling pulled the smoke out of the chamber and pushed it topside, while fresh air came in through tubes along the ground. Barrett explained the cyclical pattern of the air flow and how the vents and intakes were distributed up above so OCON wouldn’t detect them.
Hours passed as he gave Rena a tour of the village, explaining what he could about how it operated, while emphasizing the fact that he wasn’t an expert in any of these subjects.
When they stopped inside a long, narrow shed constructed of plastic panels, Barrett seemed to have run out of words altogether. But Rena didn’t need much explanation. She’d heard enough descriptions from Clarine to understand what she was looking at. The ceiling was lined with multi-spectrum illumination strips, making this building the brightest place in the whole village. So bright it made Rena’s head ache for almost a minute until her eyes adjusted to the new environment. Then she noted the hydroponic tubes a meter above the floor, arranged in a zigzag pattern to optimize the flow of water and nutrients to the root systems. Columns of leafy plants occupied the upper space of the building, each one guided toward the ceiling by a wire that encouraged its vertical growth so it didn’t spread out and compete with its neighbor for light.
“This is a greenhouse.”
Barrett nodded. “We grow most of our food in places like this.”
Rena spun around, her eyes absorbing the various bursts of color hanging among the greenery. The variety of crops was nothing short of astounding. “How did you learn to do this?”
“Some of us used to work at food distribution centers.”
Rena had to swallow a lump in her throat as she thought about Clarine. As soon as her eyes settled on the hydroponic tubes again, a question came to mind, and she was grateful for the opportunity to channel her thoughts into something that wouldn’t make her cry. “Is that wastewater from Esh?”
There was too much emotion in her voice, but Barrett didn’t comment on it, or perhaps didn’t notice. “We have some very smart people who monitor its composition. It’s … processed to remove anything harmful, or to add what the plants need for growing. That’s about all I know—it’s not my area of expertise.”
Fortunately, Rena had another question lined up and ready. “What do you use for drinking water?”
“Rain. It makes its way down through the soil. We have several places where it’s collected.”
She squinted at the illumination strips. “So … we’re below the Barrens?”
There was a long moment of silence before he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. What do you mean?”
“First lesson as a soldier … the people in this village depend on us. They survive on our courage. If you wear your emotions on your face, they’ll get nervous that something is wrong. We don’t need that. It leads to all sorts of problems.”
Barrett was more perceptive than he let on.
“But you have a little while before they start looking at you that way,” he continued. “So other than missing your mom, what are you feeling? Let’s deal with it now.”
“I’m fine.”
“That was an order … not an offer.”
“Oh!” Rena felt like she’d been slapped in the face. Orders were another thing she’d have to get used to. “OK. Well … living in Esh was hard enough. You know … with the Canopy always there. Like a cage over my head. That’s one of the reasons I had to go out to the Barrens. I needed the open air. The sun. Even if I couldn’t see very far.”
Barrett’s eyes wandered up to the ceiling. “You’re in luck. Recon members are some of the few who get to go topside. Depending on how your training progresses, you’ll start going up there again in a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?!”
“Trust me. After tomorrow, training is all you’ll have time to think about.”
Rena looked up at the ceiling. “What about today? Don’t I at least get one last wish?”
Barrett’s eyebrows rose.
Apparently he found Rena’s comparison between training and death amusing. Little by little, one observation at a time, she was starting to assemble an understanding of him. Barrett was difficult to read … but not impossible.
“Come with me,” he said.