Chapter Eight

The Madness of Marty Naples

Agloff stuffed his hands into his pockets and wore his best look of indifference, in a vague effort to pretend he belonged there. He followed Marty’s instructions, up onto a balcony snaking overlooking the kitchens, past the fronts of homely crates, boxes stacked three stories high.

He followed the railing, up onto the second floor, looking for Merry and Memphis. He peered past curtains to inspect their cosy insides. The pods were about fifteen feet deep and half as wide, furnished to within an inch of their lives, personalised with banners and beds, ornaments and odd treasures. They were microhomes. Entire families pressed into their confines. But the people here seemed in no want for space, even as the earth threatened to suffocate them. Instead, they twirled around each other, as if in some elaborate dance.

No one seemed to speak in the Underground, thought Agloff. The conspicuous chatter of Backwater was absent, as if they communicated through telepathy. A single people, their differences chiselled away from them. If only his life was so singular.

Merry and Memphis had their backs turned to the pegged-back curtain that split them from the rest of the universe. Lady was twiddling with her plaits between them, her cap still screwed onto her head. Agloff tapped his fist against the wall and Merry turned giddily.

‘Agloff! Agloff!’ she whispered, raising an arm to guide him in. Their cell was grey and uninteresting, with only a double mattress rammed into its back. They had moved in in haste.

‘How are you guys doing? If there’s anything I could do… I am so sorry what happened—’ His words were weighed by his failure to Ariea.

Merry cut him off. ‘Oh, don’t be silly. What happened was not your fault. And I’m saying now so it doesn’t need saying again.’

‘Thanks.’ Agloff smiled for the first time in a while. ‘All the same. Are you guys okay?’ he repeated. Agloff glanced at Memphis. He looked contemplative, as if he had not noticed Agloff enter.

‘We’re fine,’ Merry insisted. ‘We talked. And I promise you, he doesn’t blame you.’

Memphis then stood and reached a hand to Agloff, who accepted. A part of Agloff imagined it was a trick, and Memphis might use the opportunity to break his by the wrist.

‘I am sorry,’ he said. ‘I shouldn’t have blamed you. But you get why.’

Merry then gestured to Memphis to move, and she wrapped her arms across Agloff. He returned the favour, burying his head in her mop of straw-coloured hair. It wasn’t until it happened, he realised how much he needed it.

Agloff thought he could cry. When she broke from him, he only gave a grateful grin. He considered telling them about Ariea, but no. He had come here to escape his sorrows. Not to wallow in them. He buried Ariea and his shame with her, to the fringes of awareness.

‘Is she okay?’ Agloff nodded to Lady.

‘Tired and confused, but isn’t that everyone,’ said Memphis.

‘Why do you call her Lady?’ Agloff asked. He wondered if that was some kind of forbidden question. Surely she couldn’t actually be called Lady.

Memphis slouched. ‘Never told us her name.’ He paused and Agloff wondered if that was the end of the story. ‘We had a few picture books at the Giant. And there was this one called Lady Zandros and the- what was it?’

‘—Monsters from Mars,’ Merry said nonchalantly.

‘She used to sit and stare at them for ages. I don’t know. Somehow, the ‘Lady’ stuck.’

‘It’s amazing what you do,’ said Agloff. ‘How you’ve looked after her.’

Merry’s cheeks ripened a shade. ‘Oh, well, she looks after us.’

‘You should have established Fort March!’ Agloff raised his hands to gesture some imaginary sign. ‘“Guests welcome, population: three.”’

For a moment, Merry looked caught in time, as if her mind was captive in the past.

‘Did Miller actually set you guys up with anything? Like, work?’ continued Agloff.

Merry snapped back. ‘Oh, yes!’ she gushed. ‘Yes, we’ve been assigned to one of the agrifloors. Farming!’ She pointed to two violet uniforms hung behind the curtain. ‘We start in a few days! Miss Miller said it wasn’t hard to set up. They always need ’ Agloff’s lip curled in amusement. Merry’s enthusiasm was almost infectious. It was strange to see someone excited to work. Agloff’s labours at the factory had brought him only spades of misery. Still, Merry smiled as she did, never seeming to stop.

‘I’m sorry… you had to come here,’ Agloff repeated. ‘It’s not the nicest of places.’

‘At least we know what we’re eating the next day,’ Merry pointed out. ‘We’ve had some dirty looks though.’

‘Yeah, apparently they aren’t big on strangers.’

‘Oh,’ Merry said. ‘Well, I’m sure we’ll get to know some people soon enough,’ she added. She turned her gaze to Lady, knocking the cap from her head. Immediately, Merry plucked at strands of Lady’s hair, unfurling and weaving them into tidy plaits before she let it flop onto her shoulder. Her fingers twiddled feverishly, as if she were mesmerised by every aspect of her being. Lady giggled and Merry watched in adoration. Memphis placed an arm across them both. Agloff suddenly felt an intruder upon them. Their maturity transcended their years, and it beset him with a kind of butterflies.

‘She’ll be going school one day, for the first time,’ Merry announced. ‘Miller said she’s sorting it all for us. But I’m worried about how the other children will treat her.’

‘It’ll be fine,’ Lady said, in that whiney protest only children knew. Agloff had used it well on Michael. ‘I’m excited to learn history,’ she added, ‘and science.’

‘Oh?’ said Merry.

‘What do you want to learn about?’ Agloff dipped a toe back into the conversation.

‘I want to learn about all the kings and queens,’ she spewed excitedly. ‘And spaceships, and the different planets.’

Agloff laughed and Memphis spoke. ‘She likes space,’ he whispered. ‘Not sure they teach it here though.’

‘Me too,’ Agloff said. He reached a hand out to Lady which she shook with vigour. ‘Planets are the best. Just imagine exploring all those places. What planets do you know, Lady?’

The girl hummed, biting her lip in thought as though it were a test. ‘Earth,’ she said first, like it might be a trick question. She continued in sing-song, her voice skipping from world to world, ‘there’s the colony planets: Salus and Solitude, Solace and Mercy, Olympus, Gallhara and Borinair too. Okra and Lourdes, Fhitellios, Azuus, Huruma, then comes Veldern, and don’t forget ‘bout Ku.’ She stopped, clapping her hands with satisfaction and pulled her cap back upon her head.

Agloff gestured in applause, his stresses momentarily lifted.

‘Where are you living, Mr Agloff?’ Lady said.

‘Yeah,’ Merry added, ‘what’re you and Ariea are up to down there.’

And instantly the stresses pressed against his shoulders once more. ‘I— Well, I’m not sure. Fall wants me for… Well, I don’t know why he wants me. I’m important to him for some reason. It’s all… I feel a bit lost if I’m honest. Imagine we’ll be cooped up down there.’

Merry held his arm. ‘That’s interesting, though. It’ll be okay. We’ll be able to come down and visit and see what posh people do.’

Agloff feigned a smile. ‘Yeah.’ But reason told him if Fall was half what Memphis made him out to be, he and Merry might not even last a week on this floor, let alone make it down below.

Metal clanked and their heads spun in unison as Oxford Blue stood, a smile spanning from cheek to cheek, against the wall of the cell. Merry almost fell, dodging Agloff, as she staggered towards him across the narrow bedchamber into Oxford’s arms. Agloff looked at Memphis, his knees withdrawn into his chest.

‘Oxford, hello.’ Merry grinned, nodding frantically as she ushered the Operative in to sit beside Agloff, extending a firm handshake as she did so. ‘Water?’ she offered, delightedly pointing at a small washbasin adjacent to their mattress. Running water was one of the Underground’s many mundane delights to which Agloff assumed Merry was unacquainted.

‘Sorry, I can’t stay,’ Oxford replied. ‘How are you guys holding up?’

‘Better, I think.’

Oxford leaned past Agloff to look at the shrunken figure of Memphis. The boy dipped the tip of his head at Oxford and turned to Lady. Oxford knew better than to provoke him and looked back to Merry. ‘I just wanted to give these to you,’ and he passed across three envelopes. The envelopes were marked ‘Esteemed Guest’ in floral handwriting. With care to tear the line of the fold, Agloff opened the envelope, unclipping the sheet within:

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Agloff Ashborne is cordially invited to the wedding of Oxford Samson Blue and Alice Mieko Middleton on the date of the 10th September, Year 18 at 8.00 LT on Floor One, HabCom Three in Ceremonial Chamber Nine. You are welcome to bring a single guest. Food and drink will be provided in the reception. We hope you can make it!

Wishing You Well,

Alice and Oxford

‘Congratulations,’ Agloff said kindly, looking up at Oxford who laid a hand upon Agloff’s shoulder.

Merry began to hyperventilate. Her hands flapped. She floated across the room, clutching at her teeth. ‘I’ve never been to a real wedding!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh, but I wouldn’t know what to wear, or for Lady, or how to act proper.’

Oxford’s features jerked to stifle a laugh. ‘I’ll find you guys some clothes out, don’t worry. Anyway, few more to dish out. Agloff, d’you imagine Ariea will want to come?’

Agloff shrugged. ‘I expect so.’ Was it selfish of him to hope that she would not though? The very thought of Ariea right now knotted his stomach, turning it inside itself. He wanted to see her, but the way things used to be.

‘You guys will love it!’ Oxford said, clenching his fists in excitement. ‘The ceremonial chambers, they each have a panel of screens across the ceiling connected to cameras on the solar array on the surface. It’s so clear, it’s like you’re outside under the stars, the whole chamber!’

‘And yet you’re not,’ Memphis quipped.

‘I’m so excited!’ gasped Merry. Oxford nodded in acknowledgement to each of them, amused, before vanishing out of the cell, drawing the bars closed behind him once more.

‘I should be off as well.’ Agloff stood, his neck stooped into his shoulders for fear he might bang it against the roof of the cell. ‘Not much room.’

‘Okay. Thank you for coming anyway.’ Merry held a hand up to his back, nodded. Agloff returned the look then followed in Oxford’s footsteps, out on to the walkways of Floor Nine. The smells of bread and meat from the kitchens below rose and fell in currents and Agloff was already regretting not eating more at Fall’s banquet. He traipsed down and across the plaza, back where he had come. The clusters and crowds from the changeover had dispersed. Guards called him to a halt from a distance, but every time he came into focus, they backed down in apology, as if they had mistaken a prince for a commoner. Agloff did not complain, eerie though it was that Fall had given these people his face. The innocuous apology of the guards as they recognised Agloff was a warning he could never hide in this place. Not even on its most forgotten floor. They knew him.

He slipped along the deserted corridors, twisting back towards the lift whence he had come from to one of the floor’s far edges. He was waved through a checkpoint and arrived at the lift shaft. Prodding the lowermost button until the lift coughed into life, Agloff watched the doors draw themselves closed and the lights flicker as the cage began to grind down the shaft.

For the first time since he was last home to find Michael Finland’s porridge stale and uneaten upon the counter at Backwater, Agloff was alone.

It was a novel feeling. The reality was his birthday was only a week ago and he had spent near half of that time unconscious on a hospital bed. Yet Agloff felt far older for those days, while the weeks before had flittered past in the blink of an eye.

The cage crunched, skirting the shaft walls as its hoist tightened to standstill. Agloff stepped out into the lavish brickwork of Fall’s palace. He sighed. His brief escapade was over. This time there were no guards to greet him. Maybe Fall was arrogant enough to assume Agloff could not go missing. It was better than being coddled and choked up in his bedchamber all day though. Why not test the limits of Fall’s oversight, his mind continued? He would be here a long time. It would be a good idea to start filling some of those hours. Ingratiate himself to his new surroundings.

Agloff darted left from the main corridor, into a wide path that dropped down, under the main palace. It was a sloping arc, downwards and inwards, lined by torchlight. Agloff followed. He sensed the path tightening. A couple of workers in black boiler suits passed by. Each occupation seemed to wear different colours. Violet for the agrifloors. Black for maintenance. He passed Fall’s kitchens and the quarters of his staff, and the way reached its end at a large staircase. Agloff followed his curiosity to the floor below, marked Maintenance 1.

Agloff couldn’t believe this place was only two floors removed from Fall. This was the engine of the Underground. The corridor hissed with steam and the churn of machinery. Gears and pipes popped and clanked, carried by a ceiling that hung as low as his head. The air had an oily miasma, beckoning from small alleys that jutted from a main corridor. There were shouts and chatters of workers, as black-boiler-suited labourers headed one way or another. The pathways and corridors were all so similar, it was impossible to discern between where Agloff had been before and where was somewhere entirely new. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, in that dumb pretence that he belonged there.

On his left, he saw a note, marred by grime, pinned to a notice board on the wall.

Jo,

Sorry bout the mess but the smell of the cleanser was making me nauseous. Really needed a lie down after that! I told Chief I’d cover your hours for the next week. Least I could do.

Happy birthday Kid!

By the way, there’s a present for you in the canteen. Just ask.

Marc

A bucket and mop, bound by a red ribbon, and an assortment of chemicals with faded labels sat below the note. It was bizarre, thought Agloff, how kindred the people of the Underground were, given their scorn for outsiders. Everyone left their doors open and spoke to strangers in passing. It was a weird inversion of life at Backwater. That was a fort that had prided itself on its acceptance of outlanders, but where everyone bore a pervasive distrust for everyone else.

‘Yes, Officer Naples,’ Agloff heard. His ears perked, as if they were somehow standing on end. He bolted for the voice. ‘Yes… Yes, I’ll be there right away…. No…. No, it won’t be a problem at all… It’s per your instruction, Sir.’ There was a beep and Agloff darted behind a wall at the thickening of footsteps. He gulped down breaths of stale air, then stepped out to see the face of a young woman in front of him. Dust caked her cheeks with large rings round her eyes where she had been wearing the goggles now pinned to her head. What was Marty wanting with a scrawny-looking mechanic?

‘Hi?’ she said, catching Agloff ogle her goggles. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Sorry,’ said Agloff, with feigned innocence. ‘It’s all good.’ He waved a hand of apology and backed away from her, allowing the mechanic to pass. Agloff bit his lip, watching her vanish down one of Maintenance’s alleys. Agloff’s immediate impression was that the people of below didn’t tend to mix all that much with other floors. But Marty was a high-ranking member of Fall’s inner circle. Why did he have personal business with a simple engineer? Agloff gingerly followed, grimacing at the patter of his footsteps across the steel grates.

He dropped down a flight of stairs, chasing the woman’s shadow. The walls began to darken with grime and dirt, decorated by vents, knobs and dials. Agloff gagged on the air, drawing the cuff of his sleeve against his mouth in the darkness.

‘Foreman Ashley Keyes, please proceed to Cooling Chamber Three,’ a speaker blared above Agloff.

He watched from behind a deck of panelling. The woman slipped through an open door, turning to check the way was empty behind her. She heaved the door closed, and it snapped into its magnetised frame with a click. Agloff waited a moment in case she reappeared, but the way lay silent. He followed to where she vanished and saw that the door led into a workshop, one of many. Adjacent, a service hatch was pried open between the woman’s workshop and her neighbour’s. It was a dark tunnel, barely wide enough for one that ran deep into the HabCom. There must have been a network of these for quick repair access all over the HabCom, every floor. Pipes ran on both sides, spitting steam in Agloff’s eyes.

Wincing, he pulled on two, praying they didn’t burn his palms, and yanked himself into the hatch, dragging the access point as closed as he could behind him. Tiny viewing ports ran down the length of the tunnel into obscurity. Agloff shifted further, mounting himself upon a pipe beneath a port with a good view of the workshop.

A workbench sat at the far side of the room. Tools, papers and nests of cables smothered it, while complicated machinery sat in every corner. To the left, just visible from the angle, Agloff could see a two-way mirror that led into some kind of heavy-duty testing room, with yet more equipment.

Two figures were deep in conversation by the time his eyes found them: one was the engineer, the other was Marty. Nervously, Agloff prodded the port open so he could hear into the workshop, pressing his eyes against the narrow slit of glass. Agloff’s trepidation surrendered to burning curiosity. Why the cloak and dagger?

‘Commander Naples, I—’ the engineer began.

‘You agreed, Mel. You’re not doubting yourself now,’ said Marty, dropping into a chair at the workstation. He reclined in the seat, clasping his hands across his belly.

‘No, not doubts, Sir.’ Her tone of voice did not seem to agree however, and Marty hummed.

‘Good. But it’s for the greater good, and soon this will all be over. And when it is…’

‘I know. I know.’

Agloff’s leg spasmed. He kicked it out and the pipes behind him clanked, booming through the access tunnel. Catching Marty’s eyes wander from behind Mel, Agloff ducked from the port, letting the moment pass. ‘And I appreciate the discretion too,’ Marty said eventually. ‘A lot of people are counting on us. They just… don’t know it yet. Did you bring it?’

There was a jangling as Agloff heard Mel rummage through her bag. ‘Aye,’ she said. ‘Do you want…’

‘Thank you,’ Marty said, taking whatever item Mel had offered him. ‘I’ll keep it close.’

‘Goes without saying I guess but no one, Officer, has the level of access you do. Please don’t screw this up. It’s been months of effort.’

‘I appreciate your encouragement, Mel,’ Marty chuckled. ‘I’ll do my best. Let’s hope that my best is good enough. Discretion is nothing I haven’t done hundreds of times before during the war. And god help me, I’ve never messed up yet.’

‘I don’t need to talk you through the plan, do I?’

‘Every other Thursday, first hour of the night shift.’

‘That’s the one. Well, see ya, I guess. Thanks for… and good luck.’

‘My best to everyone,’ Marty replied.

The door to the workshop grinded open. Agloff heard footsteps make towards him and he shuffled for the tunnel only to feel a ray of light beating against his eyelids. Before he had even made it a step deeper into the tunnel a hand snatched at the back of his collar, hoisting him into the corridor. Snatching his eyes shut, he felt the coolness of empty pipes press against his throat.

‘Officer!’ Mel barked as she jolted Agloff’s head back, tugging at his hair as she did.

‘What— Agloff,’ Marty said disdainfully, emerging from the workshop.

‘I saw him earlier, on me way here. Must have followed me, the bastard.’

Marty chuckled, unnervingly calm. It was unsettling. Agloff half-expected to be smacked round the ears. ‘And you didn’t notice him. My, my. Let him go.’

Mel did not relent. ‘What if he’s one of Fall’s?’

‘Agloff Ashborne bares no love for Norman Fall, isn’t that right?’

Agloff nodded. Mel released Agloff from her grip and he was left gasping, dropping to all-fours. ‘Sorry, Marty, I left Merry and Memphis and I got lost when I got out the lift and I was trying to find my way back and I heard her mention you so I just tagged on after her and hoped she’d take me to you but I was not up to shady business, I swear. I’m so sorry,’ Agloff panted in a single breath.

‘That was a lot ands in that sentence,’ Marty observed. ‘Take a breath once in a while Ag. Mel was just being cautious, though, not cautious enough it seems. I’ll walk you back. I’ll explain everything, don’t worry.’

‘You will?’ Mel scoffed.

Marty briefly contemplated this. ‘I will,’ he said eventually. ‘After all, were we to fail, Agloff would be the most unfortunate.’

Mel must not have been able to argue that point, because she said nothing. Nodding, she donned her flat cap to Marty and whisked herself away in the opposite direction. Agloff was relieved he had not been disciplined, but now he was terrified for a whole other reason.