The Hourglass (9 page)

A Queen’s Bargain

The next few
days repeated with the same monotony their first morning had given them a taste
of, without the release of working outside on the deck. The same tasteless
food, the same seating at the same conveyer belt on the factory floor…

“Sarah!” Finn’s
urgent tone finally cut through the haze Sarah was in. Sarah blinked slowly and
raised her gaze from the tube she held in her hand. Both Finn and Boulder were
staring at her.

“What?”

“I called your
name five times,” said Finn.

“What?”

“You’ve been
holding that tube like it’s the most fascinating bloody thing in the world for
five minutes,” said Boulder disparagingly. “Do you want a guard to knock you
out?”

Sarah glanced
back at the tube. Her hands were trembling slightly and she dropped it.

“Holy shit,”
said Finn. “Sarah are you alright?”

“They’re all the
same,” she said, a feeling of hysteria rising in her chest. “They’re all the
same.”

“Yeah, no shit,”
said Boulder.

“No.” She
slammed her palm down on the edge of the conveyer belt. The two boys looked
alarmed. “You don’t understand. These are all the same tubes we’re looking at.
The
exact
same tubes. We’re not building anything. This whole thing is…
it’s pointless! There’s no purpose to any of this!” She was hyperventilating
now and she felt tears threaten to spill down her cheeks. Even as she was
speaking she knew that it was insane. She could even see the damn machine that
made the tubes, but the idea had taken hold of her in a way that seemed
completely beyond her control.

“Sarah,” said
Finn, his voice low and urgent in case a guard was starting to notice her
behaviour. “Snap out of it. It’s not true. They’re all new. They’re all
different.”

“But how can you
know?” whispered Sarah back, something Finn and Boulder were grateful for. Her
previous loud, anxious voice had made a few heads turn. “All the boxes are the
same. They all have the same, damn, symbol on them.”

Finn glanced
across the room to where the boxes lines the walls, all stamped with the
Hourglass Group logo. She had a point. Everything that came in was packaged
exactly the same as everything that came out.

“Look,” he said,
“I’ll prove it.” He sorted through the next lot of tubes, picking each up and
examining them all much more thoroughly than he had ever done before. Sarah
frowned, confused as to his motives. Finally he seemed to find one he was
satisfied with. With a grimace he used a small, jagged section of metal that
protruded from the chosed tube and cut himself across the base of the thumb.
Sarah gasped as blood started to trickle out.

“What-” she
began, but was cut off as Finn started to smear the tube all over with his
blood.

“See? I’ve
marked one of the tubes. Now I’ll just send it down the conveyer belt. If we
see it again then you’re right. If not, well, then you’re just crazy.”

Sarah snorted.
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better,” she said sarcastically, but even
as she said it the anxious, hysterical feeling that had been all but erupting
from her chest slowly died away. She felt like she could breathe again.
Unfortunately she also felt like she had just succeeded in making a huge ass
out of herself. A blush spread across her face as she fumbled with the bottom
of her shirt. She managed to tear off a strip without doing too much damage to
the rest of it.

“Give it here,”
she said, beckoning to Finn’s hand. He had been trying to stifle the flow of
blood by pressing his hand against his pants. This was mostly succeeding in
getting his pants bloody. Finn blinked but passed his hand to her under the
cover of the conveyer belt.

He had nice
hands, she thought. They were large with long fingers and somewhat calloused.
She quickly wrapped her strip of cloth around his hand, tucking the end of it
back into the wrapping.

“Thanks,” he
said.

Sarah gave a
small smile in reply. She still felt like an ass. Not that it was going to stop
her looking for the bloodied tube though.

“Does, er, does
anyone else go crazy here?” she asked Boulder. She chuckled nervously and
immediately hated herself for it.

“Most people do.
It’s fragging tedious, is why,” replied Boulder. “And it’d be more fragging
tedious if they didn’t,” he added unhelpfully with a small, self-satisfied
grin.

He was right.
Sarah wasn’t the only one who was affected by it. Justin had been getting
increasingly withdrawn and uncommunicative over the last few days. Finn’s
theory was that Justin just couldn’t cope with not being outside. They tried to
involve him in their conversations, but lately the best they could get out of him
were monosyllable responses. It was worrying but they had no idea how to deal
with it. On their eighth day Gretel, Sarah’s silent roommate, who had since
their first meeting had ignored her completely despite sleeping less than a
metre away, waylaid her on her way back to their cells that evening.   

“Don’t bother
going to our cell. The Queen’s expecting you.”

“What?” asked
Sarah, alarmed, “why?”

“Why would I
know?” replied Gretel, before leaving Sarah to join up with another girl.

Sarah turned
back to face April, who she was walking with.

“Have you heard
anything?” she asked the younger girl.

April shrugged
apologetically. “No, sorry.”

“But she hasn’t
talked to you after that first day, right?”

April shook her
head. She wished Sarah good luck as they entered the cell block and separated.
Sarah took a deep breath and headed to the Queen’s cell. She knew, of course,
which cell to go to. The Queen had a corner cell that was slightly larger than
the others and despite containing a bunk bed, the Queen was the sole occupant.
There were always a number of girls milling outside the entrance as well, as if
they were trying to absorb some of the power and magnetism that the Queen
emanated in waves. The girls also functioned as bodyguards, intimidating anyone
who dared to come too close to the Queen. Heather was one of them. She was
standing slightly off to the edge of the group. She was pouting. Sarah got the
feeling that Heather wasn’t quite getting along with the others.

She could guess
why.

About three
metres away from the entrance to the Queen’s cell a girl purposely stepped in
front her, blocking her path. The girl was approximately the same height as
Sarah, with light brown hair and a nasty burn that marred half her face. She
was the same girl who had saved April from Ferrit on their second day.

“Where do you
think you’re going?”

“I was told the Queen
wanted to see me,” replied Sarah bluntly. She didn’t want to seem afraid and
she instinctively felt that a polite enquiry would be met with scorn.

The girl gave
her a disbelieving look but turned back to look into the cell anyway. Sarah saw
a small white hand make a gesture that approximated ‘approach’.

“Don’t keep her
waiting,” snarled the girl, as if it was Sarah and not her who had been the
cause of the hold up.

Sarah walked
past her and into the cell. The Queen was sitting on the top bunk with her back
resting against the wall, so that Sarah was forced to look up at her. The Queen
stared at her appraisingly. Sarah said nothing. It was for the Queen to make
the first move.

“I hear you
steal things,” said the Queen eventually.

“That’s what I
was sent here for,” replied Sarah cautiously.

“Are you good?”

It dawned on
Sarah with a certain amount of horror where this conversation might be going.
“Terrible. After all, I’m here, right?”

The Queen jumped
down from the top bunk in one fluid movement. Sarah, who had already been
standing with her back against the wall of the cell, found herself nearly nose
to nose with the girl. The Queen was nearly exactly Sarah’s height. Seeing her
cold, dead eyes so close only seemed to enhance their unnaturalness. Sarah
suppressed a shiver.

“That’s
unfortunate,” said the Queen softly. “You’ll just have to get better.”

“And if I don’t
want to?” whispered Sarah, dreading the answer.

“Then one of my
girls will gouge out one of your pretty eyes with a butter knife, and after
that remove the eyes of one of your friends’ as well. The crazy one, I think.
The one with all the conspiracy theories.”

Sarah swallowed.
“I wouldn’t like that.”
“Then you better do as you’re told, yes?”

Sarah nodded.  Then,
much to Sarah’s combined surprise and horror, the Queen stood on her tiptoes,
leaned forward and kissed Sarah softly on the forehead. “Good girl. We’ll talk
again soon.” She shoved Sarah gently on the shoulder in the direction of the
cell door. Sarah took this correctly as an indication to get out, which she did
as quickly as she could. Somehow she found herself back in her cell, breathing
deeply.

“So, you’re
still alive,” commented Gretel, as if she was observing a particularly
interesting bug.

Sarah ignored
her and headed to the bathroom to wash her forehead. It felt dirty and she wanted
the feeling of the Queen’s lips off her. After scrubbing for a few minutes she
returned and sat on her lower bunk.

“She’s mad,”
whispered Sarah to Gretel, running through what had just happened in her mind
and not believing it for a second.

“Shut up,”
hissed back Gretel. There was a pause before she added, “and whatever it is she
wants, leave me out of it.”

Finn’s Hair

Marland caught
up with Sarah as they made their way to breakfast the next morning.

“Morning,” said
Marland. “So am I just crazy or did I actually see you voluntarily walk into
the Queen’s room last night?”

Sarah sighed.
“It wasn’t really voluntary,” she grumbled.

“Eek. What did
she want? Or should I be asking what did you do?”

“I didn’t do
anything!” protested Sarah in self-defence. She glanced around and then pushed
Marland to the side of the crowd so that they were away from inquisitive ears.
If anyone was listening in they would now have to stop to do so. Sarah guessed
that the Queen wouldn’t be too happy about her sharing what had happened, but
right now she didn’t care. Her anxiety had kept her up all night and she needed
to get it off her chest. “Out of nowhere I get summoned to her room. She’s
acting all creepy and bossy. She tells me that she wants me to steal something
for her, but doesn’t tell me what, kisses me on the forehead and then shoves me
out the door. It was seriously the weirdest and scariest thing that has ever
happened to me.” Much to Sarah’s horror she felt tears well up in her eyes. She
blinked them away as quickly as she could and hoped that Marland hadn’t
noticed. She needn’t have worried. Marland was giving her a weird grin.

“She kissed
you?” she said.

“I know!”
exclaimed Sarah. “Why would anyone do that?”

Marland giggled.
“Maybe she thinks you’re hot?”

Sarah rolled her
eyes. “It was not that kind of a kiss,” she replied dryly. She shook her head. “Besides,
you’re missing the point. She wants me to steal something! What am I meant to
do?”

The grin slid
from Marland’s face. “What if you just say no?”

“I asked her
that,” said Sarah, now despondent, “she said that she would get someone to
gouge out my eyes.” She decided that there was no need to mention the part
about Marland’s eyes as well.

Marland looked
horrified. “She couldn’t, could she?” Her voice trembled a bit.

“I’m not about
to call her bluff, if that’s what you’re asking?”

“What do you
think she wants you to steal?”

“I have no
idea.” She had been thinking about it all night. So far she hadn’t come up with
anything.

“Well,” said
Marland, trying to give her an encouraging smile, “let’s just hope that it’s
something easy.”

“You know it
won’t be.”

“Maybe,” agreed
Marland, putting an arm around Sarah’s shoulders and guiding her back towards
the cafeteria, “but you’re clever. You’re clever, and talented, and you’ll be
able to do whatever it is she wants you to do. I mean, it must be doable,
right? Otherwise what’s the point of her giving you the task? And you’ve stolen
things before, that’s why you’re in here, right? So it’s not like it’s your
first time.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as
Sarah.

“Yeah,” said
Sarah dully, “because that would make it terrifying.”

“See?” said
Marland, patting Sarah gently on the back, “there’s always a silver lining.”

Sarah couldn’t
decide whether she wanted to laugh or cry. They arrived at the cafeteria, lined
up and received their grey watery porridge and then returned to their usual
table. April was sitting there with Justin, but by the way he just sat there
holding his spoon, not even moving, she might as well have been alone.

“Hey, where’s
Finn?” asked Marland.

April shrugged.
“I haven’t seen him all morning.”

“Justin?” asked
Marland, not really expecting much of a response but hoping for one anyway.
“Have you see Finn?”

Justin looked up
at her and blinked slowly but didn’t reply. Sarah frowned at him over her
porridge, which she had been stirring hypnotically as she contemplated her own situation.
She bit her lip, worried. Justin was getting worse.

“That’s odd.”
Marland twisted around in her seat, staring around the room. “He’s not at
another table either.”

Sarah tore her
gaze from Justin and also scanned the room. “Where could he be?”

“He could just
be sweeping the cells or something,” said April through a mouthful of food. “Lorla,
you know, the girl with the burnt face? She was made to do that yesterday by
one of the guards and she didn’t get back until people were starting to head
off to the factory floor. They didn’t even let her have breakfast.”

“She was
probably quite happy about that,” said Marland, looking incredulous as April
seemingly enjoyed eating the porridge.

“It’s not so
bad,” said April.

Marland fished
out a suspicious looking chunk from her porridge. “Yeah, it is.”

By the time they
reached the factory floor Finn still hadn’t appeared. Sarah sat down at her
usual spot and was shortly joined by Boulder.

“Hey Boulder, do
you know where…” the words died on her lips as she saw Finn hurry through the
door behind the last of the stragglers.  He was limping, favouring his right
leg. His lips were swollen and his left eye was completely closed and black.
Dried blood stood out starkly on his white hair. He slumped down on his usual
stool with a sigh of relief and started to massage his left leg.

“Finn…”

“That bad, hey?”
he smiled ruefully, but it turned into a grimace as his swollen face protested.

“What happened?
You should see a doctor. Surely this ship has someone like that.” She stood up
to wave energetically towards a guard.

Boulder leant
over the conveyer belt and pulled her back down into her seat. “Stop waving
your arms, you idiot. You’ll make it worse for everyone.”

“He’s injured.”

“No shit.”
Boulder sighed at the look on her face and rolled his eyes. “One, he can walk,
which means he’s not bad enough to go to the infirmary. Two, you don’t want to
go to the bloody infirmary, even if you can’t walk. More people disappear that
way than is normal, even around here. Three, you don’t want to make a fuss and
draw the attention of all the guards. They’ll just treat him worse because they’ll
think he’s putting it on.”

“Putting it on?”
hissed back Sarah, but she stayed still and made a show of examining the tubes
at the same time. “Look at him!”

“Sarah, its
fine, leave it,” muttered Finn.

“What the hell
happened?” she muttered back, holding up a tube and looking at him through it.
A guard was chatting to someone nearby and they had to look industrious.

“I got into a
fight, that’s all.”

“More like you
were beat up,” snickered Boulder.

“Shut up
Boulder,” said Finn automatically.

“What do you
mean?” Sarah asked Boulder, figuring that this time she would get more out of
him than Finn, who was trying too hard to look unconcerned.

“For some reason
he caught the attention of the King. Finn didn’t act with the proper respect.
Idiot.”

“What did he
want?” asked Sarah.

“Nothing,” said Finn
truthfully. “Something about me just rubbed him the wrong way. Look, don’t
worry, it’s not the first time this has happened.”

“So you
regularly get bashed to a pulp?” enquired Boulder politely, as if he was asking
about a regular tennis game Finn participated in. Sarah and Finn both ignored
him.

“What do you
mean?”

“I don’t know,
it’s my hair usually,” Finn shrugged. Sarah’s eyes flickered up to his white
hair. He read the confusion in her eyes. “It makes me different. People don’t
like that for some reason. They feel… threatened.”

“I personally
find it terrifying,” butted in Boulder conversationally.

Sarah didn’t
even spare Boulder a glance. “I don’t get it.”

“You wouldn’t,”
said Finn, stressing the ‘you’. “You’re probably the first person I’ve met who
hasn’t pointed it out to me.” He gave her a wry smile.

“Why would they
point it out to you? Do they think you don’t know?” she asked, incredulous.

“My thoughts
exactly,” agreed Finn.

Boulder
interjected with his first sensible comment. “Why don’t you just dye it?”

“I shouldn’t
have to,” replied Finn stubbornly.

“You also
shouldn’t have to walk around being a human punching bag, but here we are.”

“I quite like
it,” said Sarah.

Finn turned to
her, a look of surprise on his face. “Really?”

“Yes,” she said,
feeling awkward.

Much to her
relief the chatting guard had moved on and was now hovering around their
section of the conveyer belt, meaning that they all had to bend to their work
and stop talking.

“So is this
likely to happen again?” she asked after the guard had gone.

“Yes,” said
Boulder.

“No,” replied Finn
at the exact same time. Finn glared at Boulder, who just smirked back.

“So what are we
going to do about it?” she asked.

“First off,
there is no ‘we’,” said Boulder. “Second, this is the bloody King we’re talking
about. You don’t just go up to him and ask nicely if he can stop beating up
your boyfriend.” He raised a hand to stop her objection that he wasn’t her
boyfriend, as if he knew what she was going to say. “The only thing you can
do,” he said, now talking to Finn, “is stay out of the guy’s way and keep your
fat mouth shut.”

“I know what I’m
doing,” replied Finn.

“It really
doesn’t look like it.”

“Boulder’s
right,” said Sarah, surprising both Finn and especially Boulder. “You need to
keep a low profile.”

“I was,”
muttered Finn petulantly.

“Then keep it
lower.”

Her tone
surprised Finn further. She was quite serious.

“And if it
doesn’t work? If I still get singled out?” he asked, complaining for the sake
of it and not really expecting any answers.

“Then,” she
thought about her own experience with the Queen, “then find some way to be
useful.”

Boulder let out
a long, low whistle. “Mate,” he said, turning to Finn, “she is definitely going
to outlive you here.”