For all his admirable traits, Rathaniel was not now, nor would he ever be, an actor. The tall laborer was certain he had plenty of valuable talents to offset such a minor shortcoming. Unfortunately, after mentally populating a list that included some of his best traits, Rath was forced to accept that the current problem wasn’t likely to be solved by his skill at Sudoku or his ability to recite the alphabet backwards. Talent notwithstanding, Rath gamely attempted to affect an air of nonchalance when his hazel eyes slid across the mirrored mask of the Peace Keeper that was following the trio of laborers down the street. This particular Peace Keeper had shared the tram with he and his friends since the moment they’d boarded the maglev train. It was difficult to imagine that the continued presence of the blue uniformed Keeper was mere coincidence. Effecting the very portrait of an unconcerned citizen, Rath’s bored gaze drifted back toward the ongoing argument between Mary and Marco taking place a few steps ahead of him. Purely by happenstance, the pace set by his heavy work boots against the cold concrete casually quickened to bring him abreast of Marco and Mary once more. Quite proud of his subterfuge, Rathaniel turned toward Mary only to find the young woman already looking up at him with a glimmer of apprehension in the depths of her bottomless brown eyes.
All it had taken was a glance at Rathaniel’s face for her to see the tight, thin line of his pursed lips and the contours of his clenched jaw.
“What’s wrong, Ratty?” Mary murmured, disabusing Rath’s thoughts of being a spy craft prodigy with three soft-spoken words.
Marco had taken note of his friend’s obvious distress as well. True to form, Mary’s silent partner let her do the questioning while he took a quick look up and down the street. Unlike Rathaniel, the blonde man did a laudable job of hiding his emotions when he saw the Keeper. About half a block behind them, dressed in a dark blue polysynth uniform, the law enforcer kept pace with the trio.
“There’s a Keeper behind us,” Rath said, resisting the urge to lean in and whisper his reply. “I think it's the same one from the tram. Do you think they heard us?”
“In that noisy tram? Not a chance. We could barely hear that loudmouth analyst and she was sitting far too close. Maybe if they have some Keeper tech helping them out, but I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Mary turned to look to Marco for confirmation, to which the big man could do nothing more than offer a helpless shrug.
“It doesn’t matter whether he heard us or not. The fact that he’s obviously following us is what we need to discuss. Right now.” There was a rare edge of urgency in the way the usually stoic Marco clipped his words. Unbidden, Rath’s eyes began to drift towards the yawning entrance to an approaching alley. Without an occasional lamp to light the way, that passage was even darker than the dimly lit street ahead. Before he could give more than a passing thought toward fleeing into the darkness, Marco’s voice brought his attention back to the conversation at hand. “We have three blocks before we get home. If he makes a move, it’ll be when we go into the lobby. So we need to decide on a plan before we get to building four. Any thoughts?”
“We have to run, right?” Mary chimed in, her steady soprano voice equal parts question and statement.
“I don’t think we have a choice. But only if we’re sure he’s making a move to scan our ONI,” Rathaniel said, his words laden with grim conviction.
Once a Peace Keeper scanned someone’s ONI they had the authority to activate the root command protocol of the nanites within that citizen’s body. In a matter of heartbeats, the very technological wonders that supplemented a citizen’s life processes from birth could be suborned by the political police. LIke a double edged sword, the manifold abilities the nanites bestowed upon the citizens of Nox were paralleled by the city’s shepherds using the access granted by the ONI as a way of tending to their subterranean flock. The root command protocol was the tool used during a shuffle to retrieve a citizens identification number so that individuals would be properly assigned to their next work detail. Infrequently, the protocol could be used to access the data storage of a person’s ONI system since the nanites, literally, recorded everything a person said, saw, or heard from one mensis to the next. There were rumors of the available data lasting far longer than a single mensis, but there were more unverified rumors of the ONI than Rath could count and since any experimentation on the system was forbidden, he had no way to confirm if any of the urban legends were true. Finally, and most immediately relevant, a Keeper could take over an ONI and shut a citizen down. As long as they were within twenty meters of a target, the Keepers could force a citizen to collapse like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Where would we even go?,” Mary asked, already second guessing her initial response. “If they don’t know who we are, it’s only a matter of time before they do. Even if we get away this time, they’ll put our IDs on a watch list. We won’t be able to go home, or recharge our ONI, or even get one of the flickering nutricubes that I flickering hate..”
“Two blocks,' Marco pronounced as they passed a narrow alley. As the trio grew closer to the residential building they called home, the streets began to fill with citizens once more. A far cry from the writhing mass of humanity choking the streets beneath the Helios towers, travelers on the edge of the city gave each other a wide berth as they navigated their way through Nox’s back alleys. Unlike the inner city, there were no green or red uniforms on display. Gray and white coveralls were the exclusive dress code of the growing crowd beginning to choke the street. The one exception was the Peace Keeper trailing behind them. Despite the heavy foot traffic, the people of the lowest caste flowed around the blue uniform like dolphins avoiding a patrolling shark.
Though the sounds of life began to gain volume around them, silence descended on the trio. For a handful of steps, all three racked their brains to find a solution. It soon became clear that the hush around them was the product of all three arriving at answers that they would prefer to leave unspoken.
“Mary is right,” the blonde man rumbled. Carefully weighing his words, Marco glanced toward Rathaniel as he spoke, “Running isn’t an option. We haven’t done anything wrong, so we’d be better off trying to talk our way out of any trouble.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rath could see Marco looking toward him for support. Instead of meeting his friend’s sapphire eyes, he turned his gaze down to the gray concrete. Marco hadn’t seen them drag Jared away. Marco didn’t understand, or didn’t want to accept, that nothing could keep them safe if the upper castes decided to punish them. Rath understood the reasoning. Yesterday, he’d have felt the same way. But the shuffle today had changed everything for him.
Seeing no support from either of his friends, a long sigh slid from Marco’s lips before he finished quietly, “The Keeper behind us may not even know who we are. Maybe they’re looking for Ovid.”
Rathaniel slowed to a near stop. Shaking his head, one word tumbled from his lips, “Ovid,” he said, with a mirthless chuckle.
“Batshit for brains,” Mary hissed, reaching back to latch onto his hand. Her firm tug nearly pulled him off balance in its haste to get him moving in the right direction again. “Are you trying to get yourself pinched?” The young woman was still seething when she released his hand but her paramour remained quiet. Marco turned an expectant gaze toward Rathaniel that was far more patient than the imminent doom promised by Mary’s molten look.
“Jared said he hadn’t seen Ovid in more than two mensis. His ONI should have shut down after the first shuffle. There’s no way it could have lasted past the second. But here they are, still looking for him.” Rathaniel managed to keep his feet moving and his voice quiet, but the words fell from his lips in a rush of realization. “Whatever he’s done, he must have figured out a way to recharge his ONI and still stay hidden from the Keepers. Somehow. All we have to do is find him and he’ll be able to hide us too.”
Mary’s only reply to his revelation was the way her nose wrinkled as if she’d caught a whiff of a particularly putrid aroma. Marco offered a more measured response, though it was impossible to miss the dull shimmer of skepticism in his deep blue eyes.
“He could be dead, Rath,” Marco said, making no attempt to mince words.
Mary snapped out of her sour expression to cast a wide-eyed look toward Marco. She started to speak, but Marco barreled on, “Nobody wants to think about it, but it’s the most likely scenario. With all the resources the other castes have at their disposal, the only realistic way he could have avoided detection for this long is if he’s managed to crawl into a hole somewhere and never crawled back out.”
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Refusing to be ignored any longer, Mary’s balled fist struck Marco in the side. A wordless growl of frustration from the young woman offered a threat of more violence if Marco wasn’t more careful with his words in the future. Despite the Mary's scowl, Rath could tell that her heart wasn’t in it.
Marco didn’t even break stride as he weathered the assault. “We’re coming up on a block left,” he said. “Right now our best plan is to pretend everything is normal and hope for the best. It's not much of a plan, but we’re awfully short on time and alternatives ”
Rathaniel didn’t realize he was clenching his jaw until he felt his teeth grinding together. He understood his friend’s logic. Marco always approached his problems from a simple, rational angle. On a normal day, solving a normal problem, the best way to approach a difficult issue was exactly what Marco described. But today was not a normal day. Nor was being stalked through the city by a Peace Keeper considered a normal problem. Rathaniel’s mind insisted that there was a reason his world had been turned upside down over the course of a single morning. The other castes were investing too many resources into tracking down a wayward laborer. The only way it made sense is if Ovid knew something dangerous. Rath was convinced that there was more to the story, but he couldn’t risk Marco and Mary on little more than a hunch. That left only one alternative.
“We need to split up.” Rath said, a sense of calm clarity settling over him for the first time since he’d woken up in his apartment this morning.
“We…what…?,” Mary stuttered, her voice rising an octave higher than her usul tone. It was a rare thing to catch both his laborer friend off guard. Rath would have basked in the moment had they not been rapidly running out of street to enact his plan. Any teasing would have to wait until the next time he saw them. And there will be a next time. Rathaniel would make certain of it so that he could see Mary's face when he bragged to Krista about leaving the her dumbstruck.
“We have to split up. I’ll distract the Keeper. If he’s not here to take us in, I'll meet up with you two at Krista’s. If he is here for us, I’ll run.” Rathaniel tossed a glance over his shoulder. As he’d expected, the Keeper trailed after them with the lazy gait of someone strolling through a Verdant Park. “Someone has to get back to the others and tell them what happened today. This is the only way we can make sure Jared’s story gets back to everyone else. Who knows what they might have seen or heard. The key to finding Ovid could be waiting for us in Krista’s apartment.”
“That analyst trollop scrambled your brain.” Mary said, blinking owlishly. Awestruck by Rathaniel’s supreme stupidity, Mary regarded him as if bat wings had sprouted from his back. “They can shut you down, Ratty. Did you forget about that part?”
While Mary continued to dress Rath down with a series of insults that seemed to revolve around him being a ‘horny lizardbrain,’ Marco drug the pad of his right thumb against the chiseled line of his jaw. After several moments of consideration, the blonde man finally mused out loud, “If they’re looking for us, what good does it do to distract them right now? Won’t they search the building anyway when they realize we slipped past them?”
“Maybe.” Rathaniel begrudgingly admitted. His hand balled into a fist as if preparing to lash out at someone, anyone, to release some of the frustration he’d felt building ever since the shuffle. “But it gets us out of the situation we’re in right now. We can worry about tomorrow if we get that far. Right now I want to get Mary off the streets and loop Krista in so that Jared’s story doesn’t vanish with us if we disappear.”
Marco’s reply was murmured in the tired, defeated tone of a man who knew the strife his words would bring crashing down onto his head. “If you’re going, you need to go now. We’re running out of time, Rath.”
At the sound of Marco’s voice, Mary spun toward him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Mary’s dark eyebrows furrowed in an expression that transformed the shock written across her face into a glare of righteous fury. “No! He’ll disappear like Ovie! LIke Jared! We can’t lose Ratty too! I can’t lose…I can’t…” Mary’s loud, insistent protest trailed off when some of the pedestrians around them began to take notice of the argument. A subdued Mary turned back to Rathaniel and saw the straight back and squared shoulders of a man marching off to war. “Don’t go,” the young woman whispered, curling her slender fingers into the sleeve of his coveralls to offer a gentle tug. “Please don’t go, Rathaniel.”
The way his old friend looked at him broke his heart, but Rath had made his decision. Carefully, as if she were made of the most fragile porcelain in Nox, Rath worked her fingers free of his polysynth uniform.
“If I don’t make it back before the first work period tomorrow I’m either in custody or on the run.” He could see Mary’s eyes growing damp so he rushed to turn from her before the tightening in his chest could affect the tone of his voice. “If I don’t make it home, look for me in Labyrinth Park on your next rec day. Krista knows the spot..”
Dodging Mary’s attempt to grab his arm was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. As he turned to face the Keeper, Rath saw Marco give an almost imperceptible nod while Mary struggled against the arm that had been wrapped around her waist. For a split second it felt like all three of them were pulling the world in different directions. Reality itself seemed to hold its breath in anticipation.. Then Mary wilted against Marco’s side and the world began spinning again, its course forever changed. After accepting their friend’s choice, the retreating couple seemed to grow more confident with each passing step.
While Mary and Marco’s steps carried them toward their home, Rath’s feet had shuffled to a stop. Facing the Keeper, Rathaniel took a deep, calming breath and began to focus on the task at hand. By the time the law enforcer was close enough for Rathaniel to see his reflection in their mirrored mask, he had to admit that his plan may have been inspired by a misguided notion of heroism. When the cold claw of fear began twisting his gut, Rath made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t disappear before giving Mary the chance to say ‘I told you so.’
“Thank the light! It's brilliant to see a Peace Keeper out here on the edge.” Rath had no idea why he’d settled on this particular story. He’d opened his mouth and the nonsense had spilled out like sewage pouring from a faulty pipe. “Are you here about the graffiti down that alley?” Rathaniel lifted a long arm to gesture toward the dark corridor carved between the two nearby buildings. Open conversations with Keepers were rare enough that several passing citizens slowed their steps so that they could watch the exchange. More than one of the curious onlookers directed open disdain toward Rath. A Peace Keeper would never win a popularity contest. Especially out here on the city’s edge. Their caste would, however, rank higher than a laborer working as an informant.
The smile Rath kept plastered across his face, did nothing to ease the tension in his hazel eyes. He ignored the sneer one woman tossed at him and the jostling bump applied by a blonde man who stood nearly as tall as Marco. They could think whatever they wanted. Rath’s only concern was for the person in the blue polysynth uniform. As the Keeper grew closer, Rath kept waiting for the sound of their modulated voice. Or perhaps they would reach for the datapad holstered against their thigh. As fate would have it, Rath was spared either of those responses.
Rath’s smile finally faltered when the Keeper walked past him without ever slowing down.
“Hey!,” the dark haired laborer called out as he turned to face the departing Keeper. A sense of relief swept through him after a quick sweep of his eyes across the street showed no signs of Marco and Mary. They’d managed to disappear into building four while he was watching the law enforcer. The same law enforcer that stopped and turned back toward the shouting laborer.
“Didn’t you hear me? There’s a wall filled with graffiti less than a block down that alley. Unlicensed art is a crime against the city.” Rath didn’t have to pretend to be outraged. Like thick oil bubbling with searing heat, the rage he’d wrestled with all day threatened to spill out of his tight grasp. “Shouldn’t you go see it? Or is walking down the street intimidating innocent citizens the most important thing you have to do?” He didn’t remember walking forward but, by the end of his growled accusation, Rath found himself within an arm’s length of the target of his ire.
A laborer tipping off a Keeper to a crime was barely worth a passing glance. A laborer shouting criticisms at a Peace Keeper in the middle of the street was worthy of a crowd. Citizens, mostly in white recs, began to form a knot with Rath and the law enforcer in the center. In a sharp contrast to Rathaniel’s barely contained wrath, the Keeper seemed utterly relaxed. Their back was straight, shoulders square, and their arms were hanging loosely down their sides. Their hand never so much as twitched toward their datapad while they stood still, letting the crowd gather and the silence grow. When they did speak, the mirrored mask they wore shifted to glance at the throng of citizens around them. Some flinched away at their reflection. Others stiffened with an anger that was a match Rathaniel’s.
“If you are so worried about our fair city,” the Keeper began, their heavily modulated voice hauntingly clear to those among the hushed crowd. “Then I would suggest you spend your time doing something about it instead of spending your time telling someone about it. I am not the solution to all your problems. Stop waiting for my caste to fix things. Do it yourself.”
Rathaniel wanted to argue. He wanted to shout and scream and spit. He wanted to insist that they were all doing the best they could. He wanted to challenge the Keeper’s perspective and defend the lower caste who were trying to survive while they were locked in this living tomb named Magna Spelunca. He wanted to do all those things and more.
But he did none of it. He spoke no word when the law enforcer turned away. He shouted no curse nor raged against the cruelty of their magnificent city. He made no promise of vengeance when the Keeper vanished into the dispersing crowd. He could only stand there, playing back the cold, mechanical voice in his mind over and over again.
Rath was not the only person disturbed by the Keeper’s proclamation. When he glanced around, blinking like a dreamer struggling to shrug their way out of slumber’s embrace, he found an assortment of men and women with wide eyes and slack jaws. A part of him yearned to comfort those people who looked as lost as he felt.
He pushed the thought to the side as quickly as it had flashed through his mind. Rathaniel spared one last look down the street before striking off toward the entrance of building four at a determined pace. There were no Keepers following him. Nor were there any waiting to ambush him at the entrance. He had no doubt that there would be more encounters with the political police in the future.
But for now, it was time to find his friends.