APRIL 27TH 2014
Boss stands nobly erect, arms folded across his chest as he barks orders out across the foyer. It was three weeks to departure and the rush was on to prep everything for a seamless exodus. He had been entrusted with the task of organizing and overseeing the daily runabout that entailed every and all of the prep required to assure that five hundred and some odd people would be able to step out into the sun in less than one month’s time without a hitch.
“Mike, how many times do I have to stress the importance of those aid packs? You put one in every cargo and then you check the fucking things twice to make sure that they’re all there! Don’t come over here, I just watched you stop and duck into the filters to sneak another smoke with James and when you came back you skipped three packs. Now count back three plus however many you just finished and go over… you know what fuck it go over every single one of those again. Yes all of them, I am not having your slouch fucks get me into another shouting match with Dave. Just do it!”
“We haven’t had cigarettes since those doors closed and you know it Boss.”
“Don’t start James, I’m not stupid. Maybe I should go tell your wife about your dirty little habit?”
James grunts and turns back to his task. He had quit smoking ages ago and Persia hadn’t been happier when he butted that last cancer stick. He had been doing great too, until he discovered that one of the men on irrigation had snuck some fifty cartons in on day one and had been hoarding and hiding them ever since. He had taken two packs in exchange for his silence, he was down to one.
“Just do your job and don’t give me a hard time and we can all go home and get a good night’s sleep in three more hours.”
Last week James had forgotten to replace the old spare tires in one of the ATVs and when Dave had run his meticulously anal recheck of the entire days work after hours he had discovered the folly then woke Boss up from a sound sleep to tear into him for forty five minutes about safety protocol and his responsibilities as number two. A title that had eventually become the source of several unflattering nicknames the rest of the habitat had applied to Boss in reference to the slang term used to describe what one might be doing should they spend a great deal of time in the washroom.
Mike shrugs off the urge to throw a finger in Boss’s face and tell him exactly what he thinks of his “number two” management style. Three more weeks and he would be rid of him, more or less.
“He’s just a stressed out little prick, don’t let him get to you.” James steps to Mike and rips open one of the packs assisting in his new endeavor.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense, it’s my fault you’re on his temporary shit list, I’m the one with the contraband.”
“Right, contraband, a pack of fucking Lucky Strikes.” Mike walks halfway back down the line of backpacks, turns to spot Boss distracted and dives in some fifty from the start. “Like fuck I’m doing all of these over again.”
“Here I’m finished with the ration count let me help and we can get this done with enough time to sneak out for a puff before last bells.”
Mike chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re something else James.”
2 HOURS AND SEVENTEEN MINUTES LATER
James navigates his way through the dark humming passage that leads down to the air filtration systems that were responsible for creating breathable oxygen for the five hundred strong complex, Mike trailing.
He hoists himself onto a rock ledge and shifts to a sitting position, legs dangling over the side. The sound of the giant fans whirring some thirty paces down tunnel vibrate through the passage making for poor conversation.
James offers an arm to Mike and heaves him to the ledge then fishes a half empty pack of cigarettes from his back pocket.
“Try to blow it out into the fan path!”
“What?”
“Never mind it’s not important!”
James lights two smokes at once then hands one to Mike who takes a long, satisfying inhale. “If my wife knew I was smoking again she’d cut my hands off!”
“Just your hands? You’re a lucky guy, she sounds nice!” Mike grins, a half laugh stumbles from his cheek.
“I want to show you something!” James leans to the side and reaches back to his pocket once more. “I found this here a few weeks ago when I came down for a puff by myself!”
Mike takes the small journal from James’s hand and opens it examining it with some degree of curiosity. “What is it?”
“Not sure exactly. Looks like a diary but it doesn’t belong to anyone here!”
Mike flips to the back of the book; a map looks back up at him from the pages within.
“What do you think?”
“Of what?”
“That!” James points to the map. “You think you could find it?”
Mike’s head lifts slowly to an eye with James, a quirky expression of half confused excitement painted across his visage. He shrugs.
SOMEWHERE ELSE SOMETIME LATER
“It’s a wonder he didn’t die.”
The voices around him begin to stir Christian back to life. How long had he been out? The last thing he could remember was the mountains, going on forever in all directions. He had given up, he was sure of it, then how is it that he was not dead, and who were these people around him?
“Did you see him when they brought him in? Skin like a snake, I think he’s one of them.”
“He’s clearly as human as you or I Barnaby, he was likely the suffer of sunburn when they brought him in and you were letting your damn imagination run amuck again.”
“Fine don’t believe me. Ask Jade, she’s the one who found him.”
Christian considers opening his eyes and introducing himself to the two men debating his lineage bedside but thinks better to remain still for as long as he can gather information from their speech. For certain as soon as his lids flutter they will be on him with questions he would rather not answer yet.
“I don’t need to ask Jade, he’s laying here right in front of me as clear as day and I am quite capable of seeing for myself that this is a man decent from monkeys and not one of those mythical reptile men you and the others have become so fond of dreaming up fairytales about.”
Others, how many were there?
A door swings open slamming against a wall from the far corner of the room, a woman’s voice. “Wake him up. We’re placing him in restraints and moving him to the hole for security.”
“Jade? Clearly we’ve no reason to treat this man like a…”
Fuck it. Christian sits up in his bed, eyes open. “If you plan on locking me up like a criminal I’d just assume move on.”
The two men, one portly the other gangly, both dirtier than they need be, tip from their chairs and scramble across the small chamber to Jade’s side.
"Jesus fuck you scared me boy!" The larger of the two speaks for them both.
“I don’t think you want to argue with me friend.” Christian’s eyes go wide, stunned by beauty he has nothing to say for the six seconds it takes him to absorb the vision that stands to his front. Jet black hair curled and kinked suggestively down and round her perfect frame, green eyes...
...and a cocked shotgun pointed directly at his head. “Maybe I will stay a while, at least until I get my strength back.”
He grins at her playfully, she does her worst to force back the flirt that so desperately wants to poke through the corner of her mouth, a smirk.
“It’s a wonder he didn’t die.”
The voices around him begin to stir Christian back to life. How long had he been out? The last thing he could remember was the mountains, going on forever in all directions. He had given up, he was sure of it, then how is it that he was not dead, and who were these people around him?
“Did you see him when they brought him in? Skin like a snake, I think he’s one of them.”
“He’s clearly as human as you or I Barnaby, he was likely the suffer of sunburn when they brought him in and you were letting your damn imagination run amuck again.”
“Fine don’t believe me. Ask Jade, she’s the one who found him.”
Christian considers opening his eyes and introducing himself to the two men debating his lineage bedside but thinks better to remain still for as long as he can gather information from their speech. For certain as soon as his lids flutter they will be on him with questions he would rather not answer yet.
“I don’t need to ask Jade, he’s laying here right in front of me as clear as day and I am quite capable of seeing for myself that this is a man decent from monkeys and not one of those mythical reptile men you and the others have become so fond of dreaming up fairytales about.”
Others, how many were there?
A door swings open slamming against a wall from the far corner of the room, a woman’s voice. “Wake him up. We’re placing him in restraints and moving him to the hole for security.”
“Jade? Clearly we’ve no reason to treat this man like a…”
Fuck it. Christian sits up in his bed, eyes open. “If you plan on locking me up like a criminal I’d just assume move on.”
The two men, one portly the other gangly, both dirtier than they need be, tip from their chairs and scramble across the small chamber to Jade’s side.
"Jesus fuck you scared me boy!" The larger of the two speaks for them both.
“I don’t think you want to argue with me friend.” Christian’s eyes go wide, stunned by beauty he has nothing to say for the six seconds it takes him to absorb the vision that stands to his front. Jet black hair curled and kinked suggestively down and round her perfect frame, green eyes...
...and a cocked shotgun pointed directly at his head. “Maybe I will stay a while, at least until I get my strength back.”
He grins at her playfully, she does her worst to force back the flirt that so desperately wants to poke through the corner of her mouth, a smirk.
