In a secluded corner at the back of the Talewood Arms, Nina looked at the pair of women before her with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
“We come from the same place?”
“Yup,” replied one of the pair as she leaned back on her chair, tucking her knees up to press her feet against the edge of the table. “Hala and I both dropped through the Earth just like you did, although we had the fortune of screaming together as it happened.”
Nina watched as the woman, who must be Cross, balanced with ease on the tipped chair.
“Can you tell me more about this place then? What is the relationship between here and the place you call Caecus?”
“We could,” Cross mused as she rocked back and forth with Hala watching on in silence. “But I’m pretty thirsty, you know?”
Nina sighed as she watched Cross’ foot nudge one of the empty glasses on the table before them. Fishing four discs from her pocket, she placed them on the table before sliding the pile in Cross’ direction.
“Perfect! Gramps we’ll take 8 more!”
As the weathered man behind the bar began to pour the drinks, Cross turned her attention back to Nina. “One question before I start. Who picked you up?”
“Reina.”
“Oh, not bad,” Cross mused as she watched the man behind the bar load the drinks on to a tray before passing it to a girl who was now heading in their direction. “The Cloud Orchestra is a good place to end up.”
“Why is that?”
“Reina might be a little strict at times, but the girls there seem to have fun considering what they do.” As the waitress placed 8 glasses of ale on the table, Cross and Hala both walled off three each with their arms, leaving Nina with two. “Reina carries some clout down here.”
Watching as the waitress picked up the four credits and retreated, Nina sighed as she realised that even at two credits, she had overpaid.
“It’s cheap because we are here all the time,” Cross said as though she had read Nina’s mind. “Come with those two from the Orchestra and you’ll be a regular in no time. You know, the ones that are like opposites and the same together.”
“Jade and Aline?”
“Yep, them,” Cross said as she clicked her fingers. She had already finished half of the first drink and Nina hadn’t even found any answers yet. If she was going to hear what she wanted to hear before her money ran out, she was going to have to press a little.
“So, the relationship between these planes?”
“Nobody is sure about it all. Well, maybe the officials up the top are, but not people down here. It’s like when you were up on Caecus, right? You have a basic understanding of how the world works, but you don’t know the specifics for yourself.”
Cross paused while she drained the remainder of her glass. After glancing at Hala as if to question if she wanted to contribute, she sighed. “Scientists can say this and that but people rarely prove it for themselves. The fact that you’re down here should already be proof enough that what you think to be fact might not be. You can read things in a paper but can you truly say with confidence that it’s right unless you’ve seen it yourself?”
“So, people form their own theories?”
“There are things that everyone knows. The easy bits you could say.” Cross laughed as she added her empty glass to sizeable stack of empties in the middle of the table. “The differences between theories are mostly how the rest of the gaps are filled up to make a complete picture,” she continued as she moved on to the next glass with a practiced motion. “Even Hala and I don’t agree on the specifics.”
Nina looked to Hala, who had also finished her first glass. Machines, she thought as she looked at her own glass which had barely been touched. Deciding that she was going to have to speed up a little, she raised her glass.
“Everyone knows that there are 7 planes,” Cross said as she threw Nina a smile when she saw her attitude towards drinking the ale turn. “Most people call them plates, but how they all sit together, we aren’t entirely sure. What we do know is that while it’s possible to go down, it’s essentially impossible to go back up.”
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“Then how am I supposed to return to Caecus?”
“Keep going down until you get there,” Hala said as though it was basic.
“But I thought Caecus was above us? If I have been falling downward, how could it be below?”
“That’s why the theories are all different,” Cross laughed. “Even we can’t agree.”
“I think the plates are like the parts of a waterwheel in a stream,” Hala said before Cross could continue, as though the first idea to be but forward would be more valid. “Instead of part of the wheel being in the water, some of the plates are submerged in darkness during the night as the wheel rotates.”
“But if the planes were in a wheel, wouldn’t we feel like we’re on an angle? What happens when it goes around to the other side? Wouldn’t we be upside down?” Cross began to pick at Hala’s theory while Nina watched the pair with a bemused look on her face.
“We wouldn’t be upside down because of gravity, and we can only travel in one direction because a wheel in a stream can only follow the current,” Hala concluded.
“Then how does the plate elevator work?”
“A strong fish can swim against the current, can’t it?”
“Sorry,” Nina said as she split the debate, “but what is the plate elevator?”
“Ah, the plate elevator is the only place on the seven plates where you can go up,” Cross explained. “It takes people up from this plate to the Skywall.”
“If people can travel up from here to the Skywall, why is it so empty compared to here?”
“Because the Skywall is a fortress. SuTSU personnel only.”
“SuTSU?” Nina asked as she finished her glass. The ale was surprisingly decent, she thought to herself. Then again, it seemed that the ale was the only thing that they served here, so it needed to be quite good.
“Seven Tiles Security Union,” Hala replied, her distaste evident.
Cross laughed as she watched Hala drink as though she was trying to remove the bad taste of the words. “SuTSU are in control of the three plates. This one, the Skywall above us, and the Luesa Badlands below. They have allies everywhere though.”
“So, they’re like the government?”
“Yep!” Cross laughed. It was obvious that the two women had no appreciation for the group, which made Nina think. What types of people tend to have something against the government?
“Did Reina say anything to you about suits?”
“She said to avoid them.”
“Good advice, considering your armband,” Cross laughed. “You’ll end up in a jail somewhere in the Badlands as an illegal if you’re caught without a proper ID.”
I’m at odds with the government? Nina thought. Not only had she been torn away from her stable day to day life, she had been dropped down here as something akin to a criminal?
Unbelievable.
To become a criminal was something that happened by choice, something decided when you chose to act against the law. If you do nothing wrong, there should be no way for you to become a criminal. Even if you are blackmailed into doing something, you can still be proven as not being responsible.
Why me?
The ceiling seemed to spin as Nina slumped back in her chair. Confusion turned to anger as she felt her hands tighten into fists, Reina’s face appearing in her mind from when they had first met. Every detail, from her hair which was flowing with the breeze to the slight curve at the corner of her lips was etched in her memory like crystal. As she recalled the events from the day, pieces from the day began to fall into place.
How the group had become quiet when they had approached the surface.
How their path through the Skywall had seemed so remote.
How Svanda had been carrying an assault rifle.
Everything about their actions had screamed that they weren’t supposed to be there.
The sigh that had squeezed out from Reina when Nina had initially rejected her surfaced in her mind, that flash of disappointment that had lasted for only an instant.
A wry smile appeared on her face when she thought about the position she was in. To Reina, her refusal must have seemed foolish. Where else was she supposed to go?
“Is Reina responsible for me being here?”
The knowing smile on Cross’ face showed that she had a clue about what was currently going on in Nina’s mind, as though she knew that her answer would shape the future.
“Yes and no,” Hala said with a nonchalant face, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had cut the tension at the table.
“What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Hala instead turned to her glass. Nina had thought that she had been clueless, but now it seemed that she almost enjoyed stretching the moment.
“Reina is responsible for you sitting right here,” Cross answered instead as she pointed at the table. While Nina had been thinking, she had moved on to the third glass and was already nearing the end of it.
“But Reina isn’t responsible for you appearing at the Skywall.” Hala finished the thought before proceeding to finish her own glass.
“What do you mean? Reina was right there once I fell through from Caecus.”
“She knew you were going to be there,” Cross said as she stood up, stretching her arms behind her back with surprising flexibility. “But that doesn’t mean she was the one that was responsible for you being dragged below.”
“Let’s get something to eat,” Hala said as she mirrored Cross’ movements, nodding towards Nina. “We can continue talking.”
“And drinking,” Cross laughed. Nina watched as she moved off in the direction of the stairwell before turning to face her.
“You could say…”
“Say what?”
“That Reina saved you.”