Chapter 2,
The Reservation
“My name is Louis.” Louis took his drink in both hands and took a long swig. It was made for ursa size patrons, and this man probably drank a third of it in one gulp. It smelled vaguely alcoholic with a hint of something foul. Louis wiped his lips. “Tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know much. Grandma said to tell you she knew about your friend with the tattoo.”
“Your grandma was smart not to give you the full story, but I need more than that. Anyone can have a tattoo. Where is it?” She started to respond, but he cut her off. “Don’t say it, point.” Sadie tapped her left hand. “What is it?”
Sadie put two fingers together, making an incomplete triangle. Louis nodded and finished off the rest of his drink. If it was alcohol, he was going to be drunk or dead in an hour. The bartender returned with two enormous bowls of soup and a glass of water. He had human sized glasses? Why did Louis have such a big glass?
“Eat. You look like you need it.” She sniffed the bowl warily, and Louis smiled. “It’s safe for humans. There’s even real meat in there, not protein sludge.”
“Real meat?” Sadie wasn’t sure she’d ever eaten real meat. It smelled salty, but it was hot and there wasn’t a minute in the day when she wasn’t hungry. She placed chapped lips against the bowl and sipped slowly.
“My reservation…” she started again.
“Is in danger. I know. You eat. I need to think.”
Sadie waited as politely as she could even as she was about to tip the whole bowl into her mouth. It was good! It was made with real spices and noodles, giving it a hot touch every time she breathed. Spices of this quality were highly valued in this frozen wasteland. She knew they didn’t actually provide warmth, but to walk around and feel like your mouth was on fire was a blessing. The soft pieces of tangy flesh were delicious. This soup was more than she might eat in a normal day. When she was finished, he waved a finger and the ursa brought her a second bowl! Her stomach might explode, but it was worth it. Louis drank his soup slowly and pounded another massive beer. His stomach was surely going to explode.
“Where did your grandma hear about this tattooed man?”
“We get visitors in the reservations. City rats, traders, even butlers. Mother and grandma frequently take care of them. They share stories.”
“What did she tell you about the tattoo?”
“Not much. She and some of the elders spoke in hushed whispers. They said they were important once. Marks of great warriors.” She stared at his gloved hands. “Do you have one? Is that why she told me to find you?”
“No, but I know what they mean. You don’t find a lot of those people anymore.”
“Bastion?” she whispered.
“No. The Last Bastion are just human military forces.” He spoke casually, unafraid of anyone hearing about the Bastion. “That marking, means something else.”
“What?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. What’s happening at your reservation?”
“We’re a mining reservation.”
“I gathered that, worm. What’s the war? I haven’t heard anything.”
“They are expanding our operations, but we’re close to a hive. The ursa are our keepers, but by the time they come in force…”
“Half your reservation will be bug food,” he finished. “Got it. I’m hoping you have your own security.”
“We do. I don’t know how they’d do against a swarm.”
“I can guess,” said Louis, already out of patience. “Finish up. I need to use the bathroom and then we can go.”
No surprise there considering how much he’d drunk. It must not have been alcohol after all, because he didn’t even seem buzzed as he passed her. Sadie lived in a constant state of starvation and this soup was doing her wonders. Two bowls of real food, and she felt like she had more energy than she’d had in weeks.
“Morsellll…” clicked something behind her. Sadie turned slowly, bringing the soup bowl up like a shield.
It was the bug. It wasn’t much taller than her, but its body was bent in an S shape. It was colored a deep clay red with its armored back a muddy brown. It stood on four legs, with a pair of hands that could act as another pair of legs, and two spindly arms up top. Supposedly they weren’t very strong, but they tangled their prey up with multiple arms before bringing them into a maw of needle-like teeth. Two big eyes and six smaller ones were locked on her. When it lunged, her only hope would be to jam the bowl in its mouth and wait for someone to save her.
“Bug.”
The bug’s body whipped around like a snake to see Louis behind it. His fist connected with its face and its head snapped so violently that Sadie thought she heard the carapace break. But when it collapsed, she saw the carapace hadn’t broken. The sound had been its body being forcibly removed from its armor.
“You alright?” Louis asked, like breaking a bug with a punch was an everyday event. She wanted to ask how, but she was still in shock. Louis looked at the bartender and shrugged. “Told you. Bill me.”
“Let me put it on the menu tomorrow and we’ll call it even.” The ursa gave him a toothy grin and Louis smiled.
“I love this place. Ready to go?” When she didn’t respond, Louis took her by the hand and led her over the bug corpse. “How far away is your reservation?”
“Not far,” she muttered, eyes still on the dead bug.
“What’s not far?”
“Hour walk.”
“To hell with that.”
Sadie wasn’t really paying attention until she realized he’d taken her to a docking station and was paying for a ride. The ursa was probably a teenager, which meant he was only a little taller than Louis. He took the money without question and they climbed into the back of a snow crawler. Its tracks spun up with bitter efficiency, chomping through the snow as they sped out of town.
“How did you do that?” she asked, breaking the silence. Louis looked at her with a raised eye. “Kill the bug, I mean.”
“You didn’t hire me for my diplomatic skills.” She wanted to ask more questions, but he shook his head, pointing at the driver. His gesture said this was human business.
The ride back was anything but smooth, but Sadie tried to enjoy it. Crawler trips were a rare experience and it wasn’t often she experienced what people called beauty on her planet. In a plastic chair many times too big for her, she felt like a child as she looked out the window. They couldn’t hear the wind howling, only watch the snow being swept across the land. The clouds were thinning just enough for the sun to break through, bathing the area in a bluish white haze. It was freezing outside, but here, it was comfortable. With a belly so full it ached every time the crawler bounced over a rock, life seemed strangely pleasant for the moment. Sadie could almost lie to herself and say that when the ride stopped, the peace and quiet would last.
An hour’s walk wasn’t even a ten minute ride. Louis dropped a few coins into the boy’s hand and thanked him. When the door cracked open, the wind came in like an angry mother, slapping them both for being gone so long. The mine entrance was close, but the wind was going to scream at them the entire way. They weren’t going to get away without a lecture and a beating. Or at least she wasn’t. Louis she noted, didn’t even have a face covering and walked like the harsh weather didn’t exist.
The mine entrance didn’t have any obvious signs. It was a reservation and they weren’t trying to advertise their location to the world. You either knew about it or you didn’t. Usually the only people who came here were visiting humans. The automated trucks which took the mining materials out had a different entrance placed closer to the city. The entryway had been enlarged enough for the occasional ursa overlord who chose this route, but they seldom came. Even as the wind cut out, Sadie could already feel her lungs tightening. Home, the one place nobody wanted to leave and nobody wanted to come back to.
Dim orange lights clicked on as they approached the hidden gate. A panel of rock slid away to reveal glass with two humans sitting behind it. They should’ve been asking for her identifier, but they were too busy staring at Louis.
“I can tell this is going to be fun,” said Louis. “Louis Sunkissed, off worlder, just visiting.” The two stared at him. “Can we come in?”
“One moment.”
The two continued to stare at him. Louis looked at Sadie. She produced the identifier disc and moved up to the window, waving it to get their attention. One remembered where he was and pressed a button, opening a slot for her to slide the disc in like a coin.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“This is the one Grandma Snibbs told me to find.” The two looked at each other before one responded slowly over an intercom.
“You better speak with security. Come in.” A small section of wall slid open.
“Well, at least that’s clever,” commented Louis, clearly already bored with the gawking.
They stepped inside and the wall shut behind them. The air instantly became warmer. Sadie squinted to see through the haze. There were a few areas in the reservation designed to vent the pollution from the mines, but the air exchange was never enough. The top layers of air in the cavern were so dense that you could see subtle changes of color and taste the faint hints of exhaust and metals. If the wind was the angry mother outside, the air in here was the joyous father who smoked three packs a day and loved big hugs.
They stepped out of a tunnel into the main cavern. The ceiling was lit with its own miniature sun, a radiant beacon of yellow and orange light. Maybe it was because she’d grown up here, but Sadie had always felt the sun was supposed to be this color. The reservation was a corkscrew tunnel that just kept going further and further down. There was one only road that followed the city down, engineered for the cargo trucks that went out every few days. The inhabitants lived on the sides, tunneled deeper into the rock. There were a series of crisscrossing platforms made of metal grating designed to allow what little light there was to pass through. The further down they went, more lights were added to bolster the fading effect of their false sun.
“Welcome to the reservation,” she said, with a mixture of pride and disappointment. “Sometimes called the UMC, Ursa Minor Colony.”
“Someone has an awful sense of irony.”
“Why?”
“Because you can’t see the stars.” Sadie looked at him confused and Louis sighed. “Right. Nobody remembers.”
“Remembers what?”
“Just go. Where is this Grandma Snibbs?”
“Below.” Sadie motioned to the wall where a cargo elevator was coming up. “We need to go all the way down.”
“Beats walking.”
Men were waiting at the elevator with a small cargo truck. Despite being ten years older than her, they didn’t look much different. Sadie knew women were supposed to be shaped differently than men, but that only showed once women started having babies. Those without children still looked like men; short, skinny, and hungry. The only women with long hair were those carrying children as they were allotted more food. The young worked in the mines where short hair was a requirement. Those too old to work were almost always bald after a life exposed to harsh chemicals.
The three men started unloading the metal crates when they saw Louis and stopped. His golden hair transfixed them. Louis let them be astonished for a minute longer before he spoke. “Hungry people are waiting for that food.” He’d correctly identified the markings on the boxes as canned food. “Don’t disappoint them.”
Sadie had never heard such a strong and confident voice come from a human. Louis spoke with the strength of an ursa. He didn’t berate them, just reminded them of their duties. The men agreed silently and quickly went to their work while stealing the occasional peek at his hair. Louis nodded to each as they got into the truck and the pair of them took the lift. Louis pressed the oversized button and the platform began to slide down. It had no roof and only thin barriers to keep cargo from sliding off the edges. People were coming out to see him as they descended.
“I hate coming to these places.”
“We have never seen anyone like you. Your hair is…”
Sadie stopped talking. Louis’s hair was rising like it was caught in static electricity. As they passed under a light, she swore something was moving in his hair. Then his hair began to dim, as if only the light had given it a temporary golden glow. As the invisible current dissipated, Louis’s hair settled back into place, only now a deep brown. Her gasp stayed silent, but she stumbled, causing him to look over at her. His green eyes were speckled with brown splotches. In a few seconds, they were fully brown. She backed into the railing as his skin began to darken. There was no hiding his size or posture, and his skin was a few shades too light, his hair too straight, but now he almost looked like he belonged. He smiled at her shocked face. She and her pounding heart were waiting for an explanation that he never gave.
*
While Sadie nearly had a panic attack, Louis took in his surroundings. As expected, there was very little to see. The mine had started with large scale excavation equipment before someone had decided it was too costly and dropped humans in the hole. Or maybe it was something that required a gentler touch than a mining drill made for asteroids. The air stunk of chemicals and noxious gases. If they were refining something like roxm gas he’d bet the average person didn’t live past forty. He could feel his nostril hairs burning as particulates were caught. Phlegm was already building in the back of his throat. Even his eyes started to water until his body could adapt. The smells were getting stronger the further they descended. A minute later he could taste metal shavings. Correction, these people would be lucky to live past thirty-five. The girl was creeping closer back to him. She was scared but curious. His nose twitched again. Copper?
“Trouble,” he said loudly.
*
“What?” Sadie didn’t know what trouble he meant. She didn’t hear any alarms. He made a quick punching motion and metal clicked under his jacket.
The elevator settled on the bottom floor and two men in beige security uniforms were waiting for them. What alarmed Sadie was they were carrying flechette cannons. Both men were tense and looked one second away from pointing the thick cannons at them. They both looked a little old to be on security detail. One looked at her with wide eyes and she recognized him.
“Dorkin?” Louis snorted at the name. “What are you doing? You stopped working years ago.”
“They needed reinforcements. You two need to come with us.”
“Reinforcements?”
“The bugs hit the reservation,” answered Louis. “I’m looking for Grandma Snibbs.”
“She’s with the others. Come.” Dorkin led the way and Sadie hurried to his side to ask questions. The other man walked alongside Louis as if he were a prisoner. One look between the two men and the security guard understood that if anyone was at the mercy of the other, it was the guard holding the gun.
“What happened?” begged Sadie.
“We had a breakthrough in shaft forty-three. Bugs came through before anybody knew what was happening,” said the man. “By the time security got into place it was too late. We’re still counting the bodies.”
His grimace made her too full stomach curl into a ball. Bug attacks were said to be ugly, bloody affairs. When they swarmed, bugs would pull men apart to get at them. The battleground might be littered with so many parts that they were unsure how many people had died. Sadie tightened her resolve and asked the next horrible question.
“Did they take anybody?”
Bugs were known to take live prisoners. Rumor had it that people were caged in pens like animals, taken when the hive needed more food. Dorkin’s chest fell before he tightened the grip on his flechette cannon.
“At least forty confirmed.”
“Gods above.”
“No gods down here, that’s for sure.”
“What did your masters say?” interrupted Louis. The man next to him spit and Sadie’s uncle frowned.
“Blow the hole, bury the entrance.”
“Not a bad idea.”
“How can you say that?” asked Sadie, panicked.
“Do you have the power to invade the hive?” Nobody said anything because everyone knew they didn’t. “It’s called cutting your losses. It’s terrible, nobody likes it, but it might stop another attack and more death.”
“That’s not for me to decide.” Dorkin sounded like he was very grateful that decision wasn’t his.
They walked for a time deeper into the mine. A heavy metal door had slid down over the paved road, but there was a small side tunnel carved into the wall. Two more security guards watched it with their cannons braced on rock formations left for this exact reason. It was a kill hole in case the mine was compromised. Even if there was a horde of bugs, two men could cover the hole for an eternity provided they had ammo. The box of grenades at their feet would keep the tunnel clear at all costs, closing it permanently if they had to. Personally, Louis thought if the bugs were this close the mine was dead anyways, but from a defensive perspective, it was a fun dream.
On the other side, they were able to take the main road again through a large cavern. No large drills had been used here. This enclosure was a mixture of natural formations and where humans had dug it clean. There was a squat building ahead next to a warehouse. Louis guessed the squat one was for administration and the warehouse for either storage or processing materials. There were no miners present. Only more beige security uniforms. They opened the door to the administration building and were led to a conference room in the back. Its walls were lined with mining maps. Men and women were arguing, each shouting over the rest so loudly that nobody noticed them enter.
“Where’s grandma?” demanded Louis.
Sadie looked around the crowded room and pointed toward the back. Louis saw an elderly woman in a wheelchair. She was one of the few not shouting. She looked quietly in shock. Louis walked through the crowd calmly toward her, gently nudging people aside. But something about him made people go quiet as he passed. He was like a shadow slinking through their nightmares. They didn’t recognize the threat until the light was gone and he was looming over them. The room was almost completely silent when he stood before Grandma Snibbs. His presence had pierced the veil of worry and she leaned forward to get a better look at him.
“Everybody out.” Her voice crackled followed by a sharp wheeze. It sounded as if she was choking on rocks and might spit up a pebble at any moment.
“But Grandma Snibbs,” started a woman.
“Out!” She hacked loudly, her frail body shaking itself to pieces with every breath. Cold eyes stayed locked on Louis’s. She waited until the room emptied and the doors were shut before she spoke again. “Show me.”
“You’re demanding for a cripple,” said Louis cheerfully.
“If you don’t have what I need, then I don’t need you.” She coughed harder, chewing up the bile in her mouth before swallowing it back down. “And you don’t need what I have.” Louis unstrapped his left glove and held his hand down for her. Three gray circles in the formation of a triangle were visible on the back of his hand.
“Happy?”
“Ecstatic.” She looked anything but.
“Tell me what you know.”
“I know that bugs are days away from overrunning my home. It might be weeks or months, and the ursa might help us, but someday soon, they’re going to hit us hard.” She let out a long shuddering breath before she looked at the door. “I know I’m going to have to tell Sadie that my daughter, her mother, was dragged away by those damned things.” Tears were forming against her leathery cheeks.
“I’m not here for any of that.” Louis stood over her and took hold of the edge of the table. It was a cheap metal that made a satisfying squeak as it bent under his fingers. “I don’t care about you or your people. You know where my friend is. You’re going to tell me before you stop breathing for good.”
“I do and I will.” She made herself comfortable, getting her blanket just right before she continued. “But you and I have a deal to make first.”
“What do you want?”
“I want my daughter back. I want everyone who was taken back.” She tried to raise herself higher on her armrests, but couldn’t maintain the balance. Instead, she shook a thin arm at him. “I want so many dead bugs that they don’t ever consider coming back this way again in three lifetimes.”
“How many of yours taken and dead?”
“At least forty gone and twenty dead.” Louis knelt so she could see him easier.
“I could kill twice as many in ten minutes. I am five times your age and have centuries of experience causing pain.” His voice was emotionless. He put a hand on her wheelchair. “Tell me what I need to know.”
“You’re used to threatening people and it working.” She pointed a bony finger at him. “Now look into my eyes. I heard my daughter screaming as those things dragged her off. Trapped in my chair, I couldn’t do nothing. There’s nothing you could do to me that hasn’t already been done.”
“You have a granddaughter outside. I’m sure there’s more family and friends.”
“Damn bugs are going to kill them all, what does it matter if it’s you or them?” She chewed the gunk accumulating in her throat. There was even a crunch as yellow teeth bit into something hard. “What’s it going to be? You want to help us out or spend all day killing your own kind?”
“You are not my kind.” Louis stood up, arms tense. He looked ready to pick her up out of that wheelchair and toss her through the wall.
“Ralli, or something like that.” The anger in Louis clashed with hope as the old crone spoke. “They said he’s famous for the stars. That part didn’t make sense to me, but maybe it does to you.” Louis headed for the door.
“Don’t you dare die before I come back.”