Elysium (28 page)

“In-ter-est~~ing,” the krestge said after a time, then moved a piece on the board.

Adrianne leaned over and moved another stone, jumping over the krestge’s piece.

“You have games like this where you come from?”

“We have~~games such~~~as this, yes — for child-ren.~~”

“Yeah, this is usually for kids on my world, too. But in this shit-hole we might as well do something.”

They continued to move their pieces across the board.

“~~King me~~,” the krestge said after making its latest move.

“Damn, you learn fast.”

“Learn fast~~, yes.”

Adrianne put one of her captured rocks beside the krestge’s newly elevated rock. Antoine laughed.

“They really laid into you last night, didn’t they?”

“Laid~~in-to~~me?”

“They kicked you bad. Howya feeling?”

“No~~need to~~wor-ry a-bout my~feel-ing. I~~will be~~~ well.”

“I want to thank you for trying to stick up for my men.”

“No need~~to thank. It~~~was my duty.~~A-buse~~~of hu-mans was~~in-cor-rect. I was~~ un-a-ware of such~~~harsh treat-ment. Now, I see~~for my-self. For this,~~~I apo-lo-gize for my~~people.~~~”

They finished their game then began a new one, carefully setting up the pieces together.

“Who~~is this hu-man~~~who always~~fol-lows you?”

“He’s my brother.”

“What is~~wrong with him?~~~”

“Nothing’s wrong with him!” Adrianne said sharply. Then she added, “He got hit in the head fighting your people.”

“I see.~~~For this, I am~~also sor-ry.”

Antoine laughed.

Heavy thick drops of icy rain fell the next day. The men shivered with bent necks and bowed heads as they waited in line for their share of stew. No one covered the pot, so water fell into it. Jolly said that he thought it made the stew taste better, like seasoning from above. Adrianne squinted at the darkened sky, unable to find the green dot. Then, as a cloud drifted past, a patch of light came through, and the small dot of green reappeared.

“Hey, man, you okay?” Tommy said.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“How’s Kim doing?” Adrianne asked.

“I don’t know, man.” He nodded in a way that said that he
did
know. Adrianne gave him her metal bowl and walked toward the bunkhouse for the sick. Antoine tried to follow.

“Stay with Tommy,” she said. He sniffled but stayed where he was told.

Kim and the others who’d been whipped lay on their stomachs. Their backs, exposed to the air, were ripped crimson and orange flesh as if a great force had violently ripped their wings off. Kim labored hard to breathe through his mouth. He could barely open his eyes.

“Hey, kid, howya doing?” Adrianne said.

“Hiya, not too good, ma’am …” Kim mumbled.

“Don’t say that. You’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Kim grunted or something. Maybe it was an attempt at a laugh.

“Anything I can do for you?”

“No, Ma’am. Dank you …”

Adrianne bent down and put her face close to his.

“Kim, I want you to listen to me real careful, okay son? This is
very
important. I want you to tell me what you saw when you were outside the camp. And I mean everything. No detail is too small.”

Kim swallowed and closed his eyes. He wet his lips and whispered, “At first, it was all rocks and stones, den I saw green, ma’am, just green.”

The effort to speak took a lot out of Kim, Adrianne could see. She wanted to ask him more but decided that she would wait and talk to him later after he had rested. But Kim died in the night, and the guards took the body away. To where, no one asked. It didn’t seem like it mattered. Dead was dead. His friends slowly burned his things to stay warm. Everything that they tossed onto the flames was like watching him die once more.

Adrianne considered the new dynamics of the game. The krestge was winning. It had won all of the last few games. She moved her man at the edge of the board over one spot, then saw a clear opening the krestge had made for her to jump two times and get kinged. She bit her lip and said nothing, hoping the thing would not see its vulnerable position.

“You are~~not what~~~I expect-ed,” the krestge said.

“In what way?” Adrianne asked.

“You~~are so much like~~~naïve child-ren.”

It made a move leaving its opening on the board. She wasn’t sure if the thing did it because it felt sorry for her or because it truly didn’t see. It didn’t matter, Adrianne was going to use its lapse of judgment. She picked up one of her rocks and jumped over two of the krestge’s pieces, then saw another opportunity to jump before she removed her hand.

“Hmm~~~,” the krestge said. “I was~~not a-ware that this~~ you could do.~~”

“Now you know,” Adrianne said. She collected three of the cream-colored rocks and put them with her recently diminished pile.

“You do know that we aren’t actually here?” Adrianne said.

The krestge looked at Adrianne.

“What~~is it do you mean~~~by this?” the krestge said.

“I mean this place is not where we actually are.”

The krestge put his four fingers on Adrianne’s hand. “Yes~~, this I know.~~~How is~it that this~~you know as~well?”

Adrianne shrugged as if the confirmation of her theories didn’t make her guts feel like melting and said, “I figure, we’re in a projected environment of some kind.”

“Hmm~~, may-be~~hu-man is not~~~so naïve af-ter~~all.”

“So how’d you figure out this place ain’t real?” Adrianne asked.

“This~~~is a perfect repro-duction~~of the nor-thern contin-ent~~of my home-world. In this~~~period of time, my~~people have des-troyed~~most of this~~~land.”

“Destroyed? Whaddaya mean, destroyed?”

“This place~~was home~~ to dis-si-dent groups. We~~~ annihil-lated them~~and made this~~~land unin-habit-able,” the krestge said. “There-fore~~, our sur-roundings~~~can-not exist.”

“How did you do a thing like that?”

“Of all~~peoples, hu-mans~~~must know.”

“Yeah,” Adrianne said a little above a whisper. Her mouth went dry, and she thought of Earth. The krestge stared at Adrianne as if it could sense her discomfort.

“Do not~~look so con-cerned, hu-man. It is no~~more than they de-served. The~~~dis-si-dents commit-ted~~much worse atroci-ties~~~in their time.”

Adrianne leaned back and rubbed her face, then looked away for a minute and said, “Why do you suppose they are doing all of this?”

It thought for a moment. “At this time~~in our history~~~, my people are reexamin-ing~~our relation-ship with~~the hu-mans~~~. Man-y dis-agree.~~Previous to~~this, soldiers such as yourself~~would not have been~~~kept alive.”

Adrianne wiped her hands on her numb legs, stood to walk around to get the feeling back into them, and said, “So if we are not here, where are we?”

Adrianne walked out to the edge of the encampment. The moons shined high in the distance, and she was surrounded by shades and the irregular shapes of the rocks and the barracks. There was a chill. A wind had shifted over the horizon, causing a distortion in the landscape. An apparition of dust formed a glimmer of green in the distance. She thought she saw something move — floating high above, dipping and swooping.

She went into the barracks and watched her brother sleep for a while. Antoine was such a beautiful man. It was hard to believe that his mind had been so damaged. She missed his wit and charm, his quick comebacks and jokes. She missed talking to him about her fears and hopes, and the way he gave her comfort with his strength. Those late-night conversations when they dreamed of their world free of the krestge, humankind once again building cities filled with people and art and music. She took a few moments to compose herself and thought, better to risk it all than rot here.

She shook Antoine awake. His eyes opened wide in fear.

“Shh,” she whispered, covering his mouth. “We’re getting out of here tonight. Help me with the others.”

“Hey,” a voice behind her said. Adrianne couldn’t see the source, but she knew it must be Jolly. She could feel his male bulk. “What’s going on?”

“Get your things together. We’re leaving.” True to his nature, Jolly didn’t question. He simply helped gather the others.

“Where’s Steven?” Adrianne asked.

“He’s left already.”

“What?”

“He said he had to do something,” the one-who-didn’t-talk-too-much said.

“I~~wish also~~to come with~~~you,” the alien prisoner whispered in his bunk.

“No way!” Jolly nearly screamed.

“Shh!” Adrianne said, and thought, if they left it behind, it could raise the alarm, and they would be caught before they even left. And it could be useful if they managed to get out of the camp with its intimate knowledge of the krestge.

“It comes with us,” she said. She held up her finger to Jolly. “There is no negotiating this. We have a long night in front of us. Let’s go.”

They crossed the boundaries of the yard without notice. The group traveled in the silence and the dark for what felt like hours with no one behind them. It was strange that it was so easy to escape. She was ready for a fight that seemed like it was not going to come. The moons’ failing light left them unable to see. The alien prisoner trailed behind. They waited as it shuffled over the dirt. When it approached them they said nothing and continued on together long into the night.

Before them appeared a large wall. It was old and seemed abandoned and was crumbling in several areas. It stretched from horizon to horizon with turrets every mile or so. It looked like her ancestor’s wall. But it couldn’t be, Adrianne thought. That wall was back home on Earth. She looked up into the empty sky and saw no stars, no moons, only deep, deep indigo as far as the eye could see.

A trench ran parallel the long distance before the wall. It would make the climb to the top even harder. Adrianne sighed and began to trudge forward when the ground began to rumble. A vibration that could be felt deep in the heart. Adrianne turned to see the guards coming for them. Shifting, flittering, more shadow than form, riding on the wind.

“Come on!” Adrianne called as she scrambled frantically over some rocks. Everyone ran. Jolly was way in front and arrived at the wall first. He stopped to help the ones behind him over the loose stones, screaming “Hurry up!” as if it were necessary. From where Adrianne stood, all there was to see was a haze of green. She could hear voices coming from the other side of the green. Antoine stood beside her, frozen, waiting for her to tell him what to do. Adrianne pushed Antoine over the wall and into the green. She looked around at the oncoming brood then jumped.