Nanowrimo 2011 - Day 17

[LI - MEETING THE GODDESS]

The ride in the truck had been an exercise in restraint. The truck driver smelled bad, even to her nostrils, a mix of sweat and a rank animal aroma. Occasionally he muttered to himself but it never made sense or clearly resembled words of a language she would understand.

The farmer, sat to her right, was far clearer and in many ways far more unpleasant than the odd little man driving the truck. What had Kat said about “farming” - only those deemed “unfit” to be farmed were allowed to grow up and tend the farm. Li glanced at the driver, yes, he looked like he fitted that bill quite well.

The farmer was clearer in what he said, speaking with an accent, and seemingly fixated on getting her to the central hub. He wanted a reward for finding her, and intended getting her there unharmed - even threatening violence to anyone who might seek to thwart that plan. As they traveled he told her stories of the colony and the journey. He was been involved in the “import/export” business back on the generation ship, with a cover of being a well-to-do gentleman with interests in and around the dock area. Tall ships coming into the docks would be unloaded and he would oversee a distribution business. Meanwhile he was to make sure that the automated deliveries of produce werent suspected as being as such, and that all the machinery of the docks continued functioning.

The farmer told her about a young boy, twenty years before the generation ship arrived at the planet it was planned to colonize. The boy was part of a gang who came to the docks one night - this kid was about eleven - and was bragging to his friends that he would leave London and make his fortune overseas. He planned to sneak on board one of the tall-ships and when it reached its eventual destination he would start a company there, and when he had made his fortune, he would return and summon his friends to be part of the comapny with him.

They all laughed - it was a pipe-dream of course - all three expected to end up working in a factory before the year was out to start supporting their families. Whatever future they had would be blue-collar, working class men who might one day marry and have kids just like them.

They came to the docks and a single tall-ship was docked that particular night. Crew and dock workers - mostly paid hourly as cheap labour - unloaded wooden crates, barrels and what looked like long rugs rolled up and tied off at the ends. The boys watched as all the unloaded items were whisked off into warehouses or carried away by people waiting on the deliveries. Finally the dock workers drifted away one by one. The crew checked various things around the ship before breaking into small groups and disappearing off into the night.

“Go on!” urged one of the boy’s friends, “Now’s your chance!”

“Chance for what?” he asked.

“To go make your fortune, to come back, and then rescue us!” the other kid said.

The boy paused, looked at the earnest looks of his friends, and back to the ship. He took off at a run and heard quiet cheers from behind him, egging him on, and he sped down the dock and with a huge leap jumped onto the deck. He looked around, and there was an opening down into the hold, so he hid.

Some time later he heard noises outside - workers untying ropes and making ready to pull out of dock. There was movement and he chanced to come out from his hiding spot. The deck was empty. He could have sworn he had heard voices up here. He looked around. There was thick fog obscuring anything beyond about five feet from the boat in all directions but he couldnt see the docks behind them, and there was inky black water in all directions. He shivered, suddenly cold, wishing he had planned ahead for the journey. Still, if there were crew on board he could eat with them later on.

He walked around deck and stopped when a noise sounded wrong. He looked and the masts were all tilting, lowering themselves toward the deck. As he watched their cross-beams folded in, ropes wrapped neatly, until the mast was finally stowed firmly against the deck. What tall-ship runs without a mast or sail? From the front and the back of the ship two metal sheets began moving to cover the whole deck area, the boy ducked under as they closed across above his head. The metal sheets connected and after a number of clunking noises, locked firmly together. Then the whole deck tilted sharply downward. The boy slid forwards, tumbling and finally hitting the front of the ship at a dead run. It knocked the wind out of him. Then he heard a sound that terrified him, waves breaking overhead onto the metallic cover. Still the boat tilted and the temperature around him dropped. Surely it wasnt diving under the ocean was it? Water leaked in around the metal sheet, slowly filling by his ankles, and the boat levelled out. The whole ship jerked suddenly and he was knocked off his feet onto the wet deck. He lay there, aware of the boat now accellerating forward. He was cold, it was pitch black, and he was scared. This was not the adventure he had imagined. He didnt dare move from the space by the front of the ship for fear of falling down into the hold. He didnt know what would happen to him in there - had water gushed in? Would he drown?

The farmer fell silent.

Li frowned, “Well, what happened to the boy?” she asked

The farmer turned to her, “They found him there, huddled in the dark and almost dead from fright. He was dehydrated and suffering exposure. I hear they nursed him back to health, even, but he never truly recovered. He became one of them and he never returned to the city. how could he? He had seen too much, knew what was outside. He had secrets that they needed kept.”

Li nodded, this confirmed her suspicions after skimming through James’s memories. A fixed society on the ship would need external help, who else would send in deliveries of all the items that they themselves could not manufacture. Somewhere outside of the “bubble” of Victorian era London was an entire crew running the rest of the ship. The confirmation of the theory was encouraging but she also felt a certain sadness at not being able to document it fully.

The farmer continued, “I was demoted after that incident - He punished me ever-so-severely for not having adequate security in the dock area, and allowing children to be present. I was assigned a farm in one of the poorer, outlying regions, for my various crimes.
Exile you might say, for my previous transgression. You are my ticket back in though. He is sure to reward me for bringing such a prize to him.

Li looked at him, “Who is this He that you speak of?”

The farmer shook his head, “You dont know do you? I guess not, having come from Earth so recently, He came to power on board the orbiting ship. He cast his predecessor down, killing him, publically. The coup was swift and they say that his rise to power was the result of the glorious angel that adorns his arm at social functions. I dont know who she is, but they say that her eyes will cast a spell over you. They say she is from an old family … even older than He is from. She is the power behind the throne, behind his rise to prominence, and even in his brutal pride he doesnt forget her. He weilds power on board the ship and now here planetside too. All because of his successful strategy to erradicate The Watcher.” the farmer said.

Li had heard The Watcher mention being hunted, and his processing nodes getting shut down, maybe it’s the work of this particular individual, “Does this man have a name?” she asked.

The farmer nodded, “He is no ghost. His name is Lucas - Lucas Wainwright.”