Wormhole Pirates on Orbis (21 page)

Charlie glanced out into the garden before he said, “So are you offering to keep everyone in line from now on?”

“No,” Max said matter-of-factly. “You told us to be kids, Charlie. And one of us is a softwire and another a telepath.”

“I certainly have my hands full, don’t I?”

Max nodded, waiting for Charlie to speak again.

“If anything happened to you kids, you know, like what happened to . . . Switzer, I couldn’t handle that. I don’t know what I would do.”

“It’s not going to happen, Charlie. I’ll promise you that.”

Charlie stood up and smiled. “You’re a good negotiator, Maxine.”

“I like Max, just Max.”

“All right, Max. But no wandering off at night, no strange purchases, no gambling, and no getting hurt.”

Max nodded again, but I noticed she did not promise.
Good job, Max.

Max turned to leave the chow synth, and we all scrambled. I was afraid Theodore would rush to the shed the moment he heard that Charlie had lifted the lockdown. He just wasn’t the old Theodore I knew. The wandering off, the strange charges, even the gambling charges — those were all things Theodore had done. That’s how he was hiding payment for the tetrascope. But without chits now, I doubted Sul-sah would let him in.

Theodore let out a deep sigh when he heard the news about the lockdown, but made no mention of the shed or tetrascopes. He also promised to play Quest-Nest as my partner the first chance we could get a match, and I intended to make him keep his promise. Max and Ketheria got a match right away, and I went to watch them after the spoke.

I went to the Labyrinth and sat by myself in the lower section near the goal. Without a Citizen, knudniks weren’t allowed in the fancy section, where we usually sat with Charlie. As I waited for the match to begin, I spotted Riis on the other side of the playing court. I got up to go sit with her, but Dop and his friends beat me to it.

It was obvious to me that Riis did not welcome their company. She moved to another bench, but they simply followed her, tauntingly. Riis finally turned on them. I thought that she was going to strike the closest one, but she stopped. Instead she ran from the Labyrinth. I started to run after her.

“Leave her alone, knudnik,” Dop called after me.

“Nice trick with the pobs,” I said, turning my back to him.

“Your Guarantor can afford them.”

“That wasn’t the bet.”

Dop grinned, glancing at his accomplices. “When are you going to get it, Softwire? It doesn’t matter what
you
want. The sooner you’re off this ring, the better it will be for all of us.”

“I
will
become a Citizen when I finish my work rule,” I warned him, but this only made him laugh out loud.

“So optimistic, these knudniks,” he said. “It will never happen; you can count on that. That’s why
she’s
so upset. Riis likes your kind. She has a soft spot for knudniks — why, I’ll never know.” His friends laughed again. I turned for the exit.

“You have a nasty habit of turning your back on Citizens, knudnik. It will get you hurt one day.”

“Get used to it,” I yelled, and ran after Riis. It was time to get some answers.

Riis moved quickly through the narrow streets, away from the Labyrinth toward the center of the city. I knew I was not authorized to wander beyond the Labyrinth or the Illuminate, but I went after her anyway. I was not sure how the roadways functioned, so I kept close to the buildings. Carved paths in the concrete roads channeled some vehicles back and forth while other vehicles moved freely around on the surface. Even more vehicles, fliers and things like stridlings, scurried back and forth in the air. It was a busy place.

I jumped to avoid hitting a Citizen who had her head down, moving very fast. I felt a tug on my skin as the Citizen grabbed me.

“What are you doing here? Where is your Guarantor?” she demanded. The alien’s face was painted in soft shades of purple and pink, and her robe glittered in the late light.

“Um . . . I’m sorry, I fell behind. My Guarantor is just ahead of me,” I mumbled, trying to think quickly.

“You’re lying to me. Security!” the alien screeched, scratching my eardrums. Her jaw seemed to dislocate, and her mouth hung open as she screamed. Her thick purple tongue licked the air.

“He’s with me,” Riis told the Citizen as she ran up behind me. I was very glad to hear her voice. I didn’t know how Charlie would take me getting into trouble again. “I told you to stay close,” she reprimanded me. I forced back a smile.

“I was worried it was running free,” the Citizen exclaimed. “You can’t be too careful anymore, especially with wormhole pirates roaming about and the Chancellor’s Challenge so close.”

“No, you can’t,” Riis agreed. “Will you be attending the Challenge?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Then I hope to see you there,” she said, and ushered me away.

“Thanks,” I whispered. “What’s the Chancellor’s Challenge?”

“A big Quest-Nest tournament for the Citizens.”

“Can I play?”

“Not unless your Guarantor signs you up. Otherwise it’s Citizens only.”

“That will never happen. Charlie only lets me play in the school league.”

“It’s better that way. You don’t want to play in this tournament.”

“Can I watch?”

Riis shook her head. “It’s in another Labyrinth, deep inside Inner Tromaine. Not even Keepers can go in there.”

I had heard of Inner Tromaine before when Theylor told us that it was exclusive to Citizens, and I had no desire to go there. I was quite capable of getting into enough trouble out here.

“Why are you following me, is the question I should be asking,” she said.

“I saw you arguing with Dop and his friends.”

Riis grunted at the sound of his name.

“What’s up with you two?” I asked her.

“Nothing, and it’s none of your business,” she reminded me.

“So much for liking knudniks.”

Riis stopped and grabbed my skin, spinning me toward her. “Is that what he said to you?”

“He said you had a soft spot for knudniks and he didn’t know why — but I think he did.”

“No one will understand,” she said under her breath, and continued walking.

“I’m a pretty good listener,” I told her. I ran after her. Riis had long legs, and she could move fast. “Tell me.”

Riis let out a heavy sigh. “Dop is a
well-born.
”

“And?”

“It means he is a Citizen born on the Rings of Orbis.”

“Aren’t most Citizens born here now?”

“Many are, but Dop’s lineage also makes him a member of the First Families. It was his ancestors who fought for their right to live on Orbis and create the luxuries we have.”

I wondered to myself if the Keepers would agree with her statement. “I suppose a lot of people died on both sides of that war,” I said.

“Not Citizens,” she corrected me. “They spent a lot of money paying others to do it for them. A lot. Much more than most wanted to part with.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“The Citizens don’t understand
fair.
We have raped the universe for our own cause. Our power is built upon the forfeited pleasure of others. Others like you.”

“Did you say
we
?” I said.

“I am a Citizen, JT. You are a knudnik,” she reminded me. “And I’ve been forced to learn that distinction the hard way.”

“What does this have to do with Dop?”

“I, too, am a well-born and a member of the First Families. The power and wealth of our families will be merged through the union of Dop and myself.”

“But aren’t you two different species?”

“That’s trivial. In fact, any argument as to why we should not be together is not even considered.” There was venom in her voice as she spoke. She never looked at me once, but I could see her eyes glistening. I didn’t think that she’d told me the whole story yet.

We walked in silence. Riis was trying to compose herself, and I was simply trying to understand what she was going through. She stopped next to an open courtyard off the main street. There was a large concave plaza surrounded by square pillars. At one end stood an enormous crystal, maybe five meters tall. It seemed to shimmer off the stars in the sky as it faced the plaza.

“I come here sometimes to think.” She spoke softly. “And listen to him.”

A diminutive alien walked out in front of the crystal. His back was slightly bent, and he was dressed in nothing more than a dirty rag. His eyes covered a large portion of his face, and his lids looked heavy with worry. On his left hand, attached to his fingers, were three glass bowls of different sizes. The alien held them up to the crystal as if he were letting them absorb whatever gathered at the concave center.

From the rag wrapped tightly to his body, he withdrew a small cream-colored device that looked like a bone, except it was highly polished. He tapped the largest bowl with his fingertip and began rubbing the stick against the glass. Then he began to play.

The sound was a haunting vibration that I felt go straight through my chest. I mean I physically felt the sound, and it wasn’t any louder than a regular conversation. Then he struck another bowl, and then another, each layering its own sound on top of the other. I began to see colors and thought I could smell the most amazing flower I could ever imagine. When the alien began to sing, I lost it. I could feel my cheeks now wet with my own tears. My mind wanted to rub them away, embarrassed that I was crying next to Riis, but something in my heart wouldn’t let me. Instead, I sucked in every sound, every texture, every feeling this alien gave me, and in return I let out all of my anger, my resentment, and my hatred. I cried like a little one, but I smiled. I was happy, truly happy, and then he stopped.

I quickly wiped away the tears, turning my back from Riis.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” she whispered.

“Who is he? What is he?”

“He’s an artist,” she replied. “And he, too, is a knudnik.”

“I can see why the Citizens want to keep him around.”

“Most don’t even know about him. And those who do are afraid of him.”

“How did you find him?”

“He is kin to my love, the one they took away from me after his work rule ended with my family. I begged my family to grant him Citizenship so we could be together. It was all he and I dreamed about, rotation after rotation, but it did not happen. He was not from a First Family: he was not a well-born.”

“And that’s why you don’t want to be with Dop, isn’t it?”

Riis closed her eyes and nodded.

“Where is
he
?”

“They forced him off the ring. When his work rule was done, they sent him to the crystal mines on Ki. It’s a horrible, horrible place,” she croaked softly.

“He’s a knudnik, too?”

Riis could only nod again.

“They have no intention of letting us become Citizens after our work rule is finished, do they?”

“No.” She hesitated, dropping her eyes. “Not if the First Families have it their way.”

“Then everything I’ve done was in vain. My parents were tricked.”

The Citizens had used us to do the work they were too lazy to do themselves. Their promises were empty. Theodore was right. What kind of life did we have?

“Do the Keepers know about this?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “Many Keepers have been corrupted, too. Most of them, anyway. It feels like there isn’t a species in the universe capable of achieving a higher existence.”

“What was his name?”

“I’m forbidden to say it ever again. I must obey my family. It is the only way,” she said. Her voice was full of sadness. “I do not make the rules.”

“But you certainly don’t have to live by them,” I said. “Especially when the rules are wrong. It’s your life, Riis. You only get one.”

She looked at me and smiled. Her eyes said
Thank you,
but she was still going to do what she was forced to do. “You are far from home,” she whispered. “Come, I’ll show you a chute.”

“What about the attacks on the Borean moon? Thirty thousand people died in one cycle. Survivors said they couldn’t tell where their attackers were coming from. They just kept appearing!” Max shouted at me. We were both standing next to the chow synth.

“That could have been anyone!” I cried.

“They were Space Jumpers.”

“You sound like a Citizen. Why do you assume that?”

“I’m not assuming anything. Everyone knows it.”

“Who’s everyone? Everyone who watches those pobs?”

“Not everything is a lie.”

This was exhausting. I let out a deep breath. At least Max and I were talking. “Max, you don’t find it odd that the moon is now in the hands of the Zinovians? Zinovians and Space Jumpers? They don’t make good business partners,” I said. “Besides, Space Jumpers aren’t like that. They help people.”

“Then why don’t you just become a Space Jumper?”

Max stormed out of the room. I couldn’t understand why Max would say such things, especially when she knew the mystery surrounding my father. It was hard for me not to be mad at her, but I shrugged it off and went to see how Ketheria was doing. I found her sitting in the garden with Nugget. It didn’t take my sister long to see that I was troubled by something.