We Had Flags (Toxic World Book 3) (27 page)

“And now for dessert,” The Doctor said.

Yu-jin’s eyes lit up.

“Joe, can I borrow a can opener and two forks?” he asked.

Joe brought them over. The Doctor held the Blue Can in his hand, a relic of the declining years of civilization. Some clever corporation realized there was a demand for canned goods that wouldn’t go bad after a few years and had come up with some technique, now forgotten, to preserve it for centuries. Every can was like a message from a lost time.

Although he had always scoffed at ritual, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of reverence as he fitted the can opener on the rim and broke through the metal. He spun the little handle and the can turned, a tidy cut appearing along the rim. A heavenly smell rose to his nose.

The top popped off. He and Yu-jin looked in at the peaches, fresh as the day they were packed.

He smiled at her. “How about you do the honors? I think you’ve earned it.”

Yu-jin jabbed one with her fork and put it in her mouth. “Mmmm.”

“You like it?”

“My father was right. Sweet, soft heaven.”

The Doctor took one for himself and luxuriated in the sweet flavor.

Oh damn I’ve missed these.

Yu-jin put the fork in the can again and there was a little click. She cocked her head and fished around in the can.

“What’s wrong?” The Doctor asked.

Yu-jin held up a peach pit on her fork. The conversation around them went silent.

She picked the pit off her fork and stared at it. “This couldn’t still be fertile, could it?”

The Doctor stared. “I…don’t know.”

“My field’s clean,” said a man standing nearby. The Doctor recognized him as a farmer with land close to town. “I’ll go get a pot full of earth and some fertilizer.”

The man ran off.

The Doctor and Yu-jin bent over the pit, preserved for almost a century in a sealed can. The crowd peered over their shoulders.

“Have you ever found seeds in a Blue Can before?” Yu-jin asked.

“Never.”

“Maybe some factory worker put it in there on purpose, just in case we needed it.”

The Doctor chuckled.

“Sesame chicken, solar panels, and now peaches. What else are the Chinese going to give us?”

Yu-jin smiled at him. “The same thing we’re going to give them, a second chance at a future.”

The Doctor smiled back. Yeah, they could all use that.

POSTSCRIPT

Hong-gi didn’t think they would stop so soon. They’d only been sailing north along the coast for a day before they weighed anchor close to shore.

But what a day! He’d met absolutely everyone and Grandfather Captain Wang took him all around the ship. The engines were ginormous and there were so many hallways and stairways that he knew it would take him weeks before he could go where he wanted without getting lost.

Everyone had been really nice. They told him he was very brave to walk through the wildlands and fight the tweakers to come save the ship. They all called him “little sir” which made Hong-gi laugh until Captain Wang told him that he was part of the captain’s family now and that it was important they show him respect in this way. Hong-gi wondered if he would become a captain someday too.

After a big tour and a meal with the captain, he had his first shift with Gebre Selassie. Grandfather Captain Wang made him Able Seaman Training Class and said it was best to start as soon as possible. So he and Gebre Selassie went through all the complicated electronic equipment in the radio room. The radio officer needed to check all the equipment before the long trip across the sea back home. He explained every step to Hong-gi.

That was when the message came in. The message was in English.

At first he jumped up, thinking Pablo was on the radio already, but it was a grownup, someone he didn’t recognize.

“Shore to Chinese vessel, shore to Chinese vessel, come in Chinese vessel.”

Gebre Selassie allowed Hong-gi to take over. “Chinese ship Admiral Zeng He to shore. We read you.”

“We are a community to the north of New City. We heard of your arrival and a trading party is on the beach you are passing at this moment. Please send a boat so that we can discuss trade. We have some things you’ve been looking for that New City couldn’t provide.”

Gebre Selassie understood enough that his eyes went wide. He had Hong-gi tell them to wait while he ran off to talk with Captain Wang.

Within minutes Hong-gi heard the constant thrumming of the engine slacken, and felt the tremor from the bowels of the ship stop. The radio officer came back to tell Hong-gi to go on deck to greet the shore party.

“You’re going to act as translator,” he explained.

An hour later Hong-gi stood on deck watching the rowboat return with a group of Anglos. As they climbed aboard he recognized Mr. Weissman, one of the citizens who left to make his own town after the Righteous Horde attacked. The old man looked around the ship like he was impressed, his gold-rimmed glasses flashing in the sun.

Captain Wang spoke to him with Hong-gi translating. “We welcome you aboard the Admiral Zeng He and are happy to trade with anyone who offers use fair terms and peace. May I ask what you have to trade?”

Mr. Weissman smiled and pulled a bag from his pocket. He opened it up and showed him a pile of gold rings and some silver forks and spoons.

“There’s plenty more where this came from. I heard you want gold and silver. That’s fine. The fools on my continent have forgotten the value of precious metal and I’ve been trading for it cheap for most of my life. This is just a small sample. I’ve gathered quite the hoard. I always knew it would come in handy someday.”

Captain Wang’s eyes gleamed with interest. “Well, Mr. Weissman, while we managed to get some gold from New City, we can always use more. I think we can do business.”

Mr. Weissman rubbed his hands together. “Good. There are a few things I could use around Weissberg. Let’s talk trade.”

***

Pablo made his way through the dunes, keeping a sharp lookout for tweakers and weirdoes. While he never saw anyone out here, as a scavenger he knew it paid to be careful in the wildlands. He’d gotten Mom to tell him a lot of her stories from when she was a scavenger and he’d learned plenty. He also hung out in the market and listened to the other scavengers talk. He was going to be an expert scavenger soon.

He had more important things to do today, though.

The marker came into view up ahead. He’d placed three rocks together in a rough triangle to mark where he had hidden the radio. It was a different spot than where Jessica had kept hers, just in case she came back with her father and tried to find it. This radio was his. He kinda felt greedy keeping it all for himself but everyone else had used the last one for selfish reasons so it was better off with him. Yu-jin had agreed with him and promised not to tell anyone he had it. She seemed to have kept her promise too. It didn’t matter even if she didn’t. She’d never find it. The dunes were big and there were a lot of rocks and sticks and other stuff to hide things under.

Pablo went up to the top of the nearest dune for a long look around. Nobody. Then he looked out to sea. He had been looking out to sea a lot lately. It gave him a strange feeling, like happy and sad at the same time. After a minute he hurried back down to the spot and dug up the radio.

Once he got everything set up and had stretched out the antenna against the side of the dune, he got back up to the top to check for people again. It always paid to be careful in the wildlands. Every scavenger knew that.

After he checked that he was alone, he hurried to the radio, making big leaps down the sandy slope. Using the radio was even more fun now.

He sat down in front of the radio and turned it on. The speaker let out a soft crackle. He checked the frequency, picked up the microphone, and thumbed the transmit key.

“Shore to admiral, shore to admiral. Come in please.”

There were a few moments of static, and then Hong-gi’s voice came out of the speaker. He sounded faint and far away, the static almost as loud as his words.

“Admiral to shore, we’re reading you loud and clear.”

“
Ni Hao
, Hong-gi.”

“
Ni Hao
, Pablo. Your Chinese is getting better. You don’t sound like you’re barfing now.”

Pablo grinned. “I got a good teacher. Hey, no, two teachers! How do you say radio?”

“Shou Ying Ji.”

“Shou Ying Ji.”

“You sound like you’re barfing again.”

Pablo laughed. After a moment he let go of the transmission button and heard Hong-gi laughing too. “Oh, hey! Good news, shore. Admiral says we’ll try to get back for the next harvest fair.”

Pablo jumped up with a whoop and ran around in an excited circle. Then he grabbed the microphone and said, “Cool. I’ll see you then. Are you heading out of range? You’re getting fainter every day.”

“That’s right. Don’t worry, we’ll see each other next harvest fair. Maybe I can get you a more powerful radio.”

“Maybe I’ll make one myself.”

“How you going to do that?”

Pablo looked around to make sure no one could hear his big secret. “You know Philip, the electrician guy? I got an apprenticeship with him. I’m learning all about electronics and power supplies and wiring and everything. He’s like a genius with that stuff. He doesn’t know it but I’m going to build my own radio station, just like Radio Hope. In one of his books I read about a frequency called shortwave that goes halfway around the world. I’m going to use that so China can pick it up too.”

“Really? Awesome! I’m learning a lot too. When we get together again we’ll plan it out. I’ll build a station too and we can talk to each other whenever we want. It will be way better than this marine band. We can make our own station and tell people what they really need to hear.”

“I already found some plans in Philip’s books. I’ll know how to read them by the time you get back.”

“OK. I got to go now. We have to radio to base. Same time tomorrow?”

“Same time tomorrow.
Zaijian
.”

“
Zaijian
. Hasta luego.”

Pablo turned off the radio and packed it away. Once he had buried it, he pulled out a small broom from his pack. He’d cut the handle off so it could fit inside and nobody would know he had it. Walking backwards away from the radio’s hiding place, he wiped out his tracks. Once he got far enough away, he put the broom back in his pack and walked off in the direction of New City. Philip would be expecting him.

As Pablo headed south through the dunes, three hooded figures in identical white masks watched him go. The details of the masks were painted in black, each with a smile, a thin moustache, and a small pointed beard.

One of the figures held a small radio receiver.

“We could use him,” the figure with the receiver said.

“The last time we used a child she ended up using us,” the figure next to him grumbled.

“There are more possibilities with this one,” the third figure said. The voice was that of a woman.

The figure with the radio nodded. “He’s younger, and sees more clearly.”

“He’s not as selfish, that’s for sure,” the second one said. “But it’s still risky.”

The woman said, “Pablo will do what he says he will do. He wanted to save his friend and he did it. If he wants to build a station, I have no doubt that one day he will do so. Not as soon as he thinks, but soon enough.”

“How?” the second one scoffed.

“He’ll find a way,” the woman answered. “He’ll steal the parts if he has to. He has access and no one will suspect him.”

“And if he gets caught the radio station will never be made,” the second one said.

“I think he will succeed,” the woman said. “And we can ensure that.”

“I think we should, but even if we don’t I think he’ll find a way,” the figure with the radio said. “If he gets caught he’ll try again, or Hong-gi will, or somebody will. This is what we wanted, for the world to move forward without us.”

“He’d probably do a better job than New City Radio. All they transmit is music and advertisements,” the woman said.

“Are you seriously suggesting we give a ten-year-old boy a shortwave transmitter?” the second one asked, doubt lacing his voice.

“That’s a question for the whole station,” the woman said. “We need to have consensus.”

The three figures turned and headed east for the distant mountains. Their path took them through the dunes and into an open area beyond the last farms. As they came out into the flatland they caught a glimpse of Pablo again, a tiny dot in the distance heading for the electronics lab in New City, the third most advanced electronics lab on this continent.

The figure with the radio stopped and watched the distant figure disappear into the haze.

“Good luck, Pablo. I have a feeling we will be seeing you again soon.”

Coming in Spring 2016: Book Four in the Toxic World Series:

EMERGENCY TRANSMISSION