The Constant Star (67)

THE STORY SO FAR

The young boy must be about four years old. What is he doing out here all alone? Lucas runs over to him and calms him down, quivering lip and tear streaked dirt on a young face, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Look, I’m your friend. I’m hiding from the bad men, too. See, I don’t have any weapons, but I do have some food. Would you like some?” Pulling off his pack, Lucas offers the boy a packet of food. He doesn’t know what it is or how to eat it, but the child does. Eagerly peeling the wrapper back he takes a big bite of the protein bar, “Is that yummy?” The boy nods, “Look, bad men are coming this way. I need to get you somewhere safe.” The boy nods again and points toward a ruined building nearby, “There?” The boy nods, “You sure?” The boy nods again, “Okay, let’s go.”

Lucas picks the child up and sprints between cover, keeping them unseen and leaving no tracks. Even so, the troops keep getting closer. There are too many for them to be able to stay out in the streets. They need a place to hide, and fast. They get to the building and Lucas looks to the boy for direction, he points to the corner of the foyer where Lucas is able to discern a few tracks around some boards. They reach the corner and Lucas lifts the floor to reveal a ladder heading to an underground room. Still carrying the boy, Lucas hides the tracks then replaces the boards over his head. He gets to the bottom of the ladder, turns, and sees a tube connected to a box pointed at his face. He doesn’t know what it is, but he assumes it’s a weapon. Lucas puts the boy down who then runs past the middle-aged man with the weapon into the dark behind him. Lucas puts his finger to his lips and points with his other hand to indicate the troops above. The man points to Lucas then to the ground. Understanding the message, Lucas sits down. They are going to wait here, it seems, until the danger overhead has passed.

It is only a few seconds before muffled voices are overhead. The thudding footsteps of soldiers looking for any trace of life. Lucas sits and lets his eyes adjust to the dark room beyond the guard. It becomes apparent the man is not alone. In the darkness behind him there is the glint of several more weapons pointing toward him, and beyond that the shadows of several dozen terrified civilians cramped and huddling together in the small room.

The footsteps tread overhead for a while longer, Lucas can feel the tension in the room rise as the soldiers get closer to the corner, but the darkness does not utter a sound. He is impressed: it is a difficult thing to not be vocal or lose control of yourself when fear grips. The footsteps leave and the voices disappear, there is a collective sigh of relief, but the danger is not over yet, “Who are you, and why are you here?” The man’s voice is rough and afraid, but also warning.

“My name is Lucas. And I am here because I needed a place to hide, and the boy showed me how to get here.”

“Where you from, Lucas?”

“Grem, don’t you recognize him?” The voice comes from the shadows.

“Naw, can’t be…cannit?”

Grem takes a closer look, peering at the seated man, “Holy shi…it is him, lads! How the hell’d you get outta the Tube?”

Lucas’ countenance drops, “My village and family and all my loved ones were destroyed by the gods, but Jupiter chose to bring me here.”

“Why would they do that?! We love you up here! All Janus loves you!”

“He said we were infected by his daughter who came to us several days ago. He said the gods had decided to cleanse us.”

“That piece of shit! And that stupid selfish bitch! There is so much about the upper levels that makes me sick. Us Lowers may be filthy on the outside, but those fuckers are pure evil.”

“Not pure evil, no.” Lucas stands, “They are misled. Once I spoke with Jupiter he recognized the evil of what had been done to us, as did his daughter. They brought me to Janus so that I can help change the minds of the gods. To see if they are worthy of forgiveness. So that things can be different. Tell me, where are you from? And what are you doing here?”

“We’re the collateral damage.” Grem huffs and lowers his weapon, “The regular folk. The ones just trying to survive the violence. Many of us came up from the lower levels days ago, looking for a better life. But the fighting forced us into hiding, as it did the upper level civilians who joined us. We’re just trying to survive. In this room there are no less than fifty of us, but there are hundreds—possibly thousands—more scattered about the ship. We keep in contact with runners taking messages about, so we know where the fighting is and good places to hide. We’re waiting on word the fighting up top has ended so we can either move on or find some food.”

“You said both factions are represented here?”

“Yep. Rich and poor alike. When it comes to survival we’re all human and we all look out for each other.”

“What has happened to you is evil. Why do your leaders not value you?”

“I wish I knew, kid. It’s not like this ship could run without us. Shooting one another doesn’t keep the engines running or the fields planted. We have to keep that up even with all this fighting or else Janus won’t last a week.”

“You plant fields and work for the ones who abuse you?”

“Well, if we don’t they’ll take a greater interest in hunting us down and shooting us.”

Lucas

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