'Freedom Drain'
Greta woke up early, her bladder bursting from all the tea she'd drunk the night before. It took her a while to figure our where she was and how she'd come to be there, in this long room with carpets on the walls and ceiling at her end and a mass of electronic consoles at the other. Jerry's Bend Matrix machine, she remembered now. She remembered that there was a door somewhere behind that web of cables, that led outside. Greta stumbled out of bed, wrapped herself in her shawl and headed towards the door, fortunately remembering at the last moment that in the middle of the room there was a hole in the floor leading down to the kitchen, she narrowly avoided falling through it.
The door to the outside was more or less where she expected it to be, she opened it wide and breathed in deeply as a gust of fresh morning air and golden sunlight burst full into the room. From this high place, on top of the Mall in Shopping Village, which was the tallest building around, she could see out over the forests canopy of the eastern hills, the place where she'd come from. Closer, she could see over the homesteads of Shopping Village, with their sprawling gardens, which all seemed to blend into one another. Up on the roof itself was another kind of scene..
The rooftop of the Mall at Shopping Village was dominated by the old sign, which had once rotated but had long rusted into stillness, yet still proclaimed in huge, faded letters 'Shopping Village – All Your Shopping Needs – All Under One Roof!!!' All across the vast, flat expanse of the roof, were anchored various different structures. Some of them were for generating electricity or running water pumps. Tall scaffold towers with wind mills at the top, spinning in the brisk morning breeze as it rushed from the sea, across the city and over rooftop of the Mall on its way to the mountains as they warmed in the morning sun. There were banks of solar panels, some of them the old black silicon type, others newer green algae cells. Beneath the scaffold of the solar panels were dwellings with walls built mainly from metal sheets and cast off wood. Some were painted in bright colours and had gardens of pot plants around them. Others seemed to be workshops where things were getting made or fixed.
Nearby was a geodesic dome made out of metal bars which were bolted together to form a perfectly round dome made out of triangles. Underneath this dome a tarpaulin was stretched out to form a big round tent, tied by strings to the frame at various places. Climbing plants with bright blue and purple flowers grew all up the frame work. On the top of the dome was a tall pyramid made from long scaffold poles, which reached up to about ten meters above the rooftop of the Mall. Very close to the top of the pyramid structure, a net had been stretched between the poles, and in the net sat Queenie, staring into the rising sun.
'Queenie!' called Greta.
Queenie turned around and waved. 'Hey Greta! Good morning!'
'Good morning.. say, Queenie.. is there a toilet around here?'
'Yeah, just over there.. see that big round building with all the fish and octopuses and seashells all over it?' Queenie pointed to such a place nearby.
'Thanks' called Greta and headed quickly toward the building. It was one of the few buildings on the rooftop which wasn't made of corrugated metal, wooden pallets and old doors. This building had a solid wall which was covered all over in colourful mosaic artwork celebrating water and sea life. The entrance to the building was a beautifully decorated archway with wooden saloon doors. Inside the building was also artistically tiled and spotlessly clean. A round central area had a stone goldfish pond with a small fountain and a round wooden bench around it. Around the central area were lots of doors, some of them closed, some ajar. Greta went to a half open door, which was blue with a festive looking yellow seashell painted on it. She peered around it, hoping for the best.
Inside was a pleasant little bathroom, decorated in blue and yellow tiles. There was a white porcelain flushing toilet with a wooden seat, a sink with a round mirror above it and a tiled shower cubicle. There was a small wooden bench to sit on, some towel-hooks, a shelf with a hanging plant a few books to read and a bowl full of some kind of fragrant wood shavings. 'Nice', said Greta to herself, and went inside, locking the door.
By the time Greta had toileted, showered and dried herself off with her shawl, the place was getting busier as more rooftop people were waking up and starting their day. Greeting one or two people good morning, she headed back out onto the rooftop, feeling much refreshed and relieved. Queenie was still up in her nest at the top of her scaffold pyramid. She waved to Greta.
'That looks like a good spot!' called Greta.
'Yeah, it's the best view in Shopping! Do you want to come up?'
'How shall I get up? Just climb up the outside?'
'Yeah, basically. Are you ok with that?'
Without answering, Greta hopped onto the first triangle of the dome and nimbly skipped from that to the next and in a few deft hops and swings she was on top of the dome. A rope net, like the rigging on an old ship, was attached to the side of the scaffold pyramid. Greta scaled it with ease and rolled into the net next to Queenie.
'Nice climbing' said Queenie, looking impressed.
'Well, I do live up a tree!' Greta smiled.
'No way! You live in a tree house village? I've heard of places like that. That's extreme. I'd love that.'
'You would', said Greta. 'You should come. It's only four days walk away, but it's another world.' She gazed out over the forest covered hills, rolling away to the east. Vapour clouds were rising from the treetops as the night's condensation was warmed by the morning sun, illuminated in golden rays. She longed to get back to the forest.
'It's so beautiful', said Queenie, wistfully. 'Look at it! That's where we belong. In the forest. That's where we evolved to live. For hundreds of thousands.. millions of years. The way you're living.. that's the way we should live. In the trees, in the forest. That's our natural habitat, not a big old shopping centre on the edge of a great big city.'
'Yeah', nodded Greta. 'I feel lucky that I grew up in the forest.'
'You are' said Queenie.
'Why don't you go?'
'You'll think I'm a total wimp, but I'll tell you.. I'm scared', said Queenie, shaking her head at herself.
'Scared? Of what?'
'Of everything. I'm scared of spiders. Mice. Snakes. Owls. Scared of the dark.. scared of noises in the night.. scared if things go wrong, scared if they go right.. you name it, I'm scared of it.'
'Owls?'
'I know, stupid right? But that's how I was brought up. I grew up in the city, you know? It's different there. Everything's very clean, very.. safe. I didn't even go down to the ground level till I was ten years old. Can you believe that? They took us out one day for a trip down to the river. There's a great big river, runs right through the city, but I'd never been there, never seen it. Can you imagine that?'
'That's unbelievable. I can't imagine. How come you'd never been down to the ground level or the river till then?'
'You'd have to understand how things are set up in the city, how things work. Do you know anything about the protocols?'
'Not much. The people inside the city live inside O's system and people outside the city live outside the system? Something like that?'
'Yeah, that's basically it, but not quite. See, there are different zones inside the city. Red, Orange and Green. Red is everywhere outside the city limits. Places that were disconnected after the Big Shift. Everywhere in the red zone.. that's basically the whole world beyond the cities.. is considered high risk. Ground level of the city is the orange zone. Anyone can go there, but it's still considered risky by people who live in the green areas. Green areas are everywhere above ground level. That's the safe zone, but you can only go up to the upper levels if you're fully compliant.'
'Fully compliant? What does that mean?'
'It means what it says', said Queenie. 'You do what O tells you to do.'
'Like what sort of things?'
'Oh, it's mostly health measures.. regular vaccines, occasional quarantines.. not making a fuss, you know..' said Queenie with a shrug. 'Most people are happy about it anyway. It makes them feel safe. But, you know, at the same time it makes you scared to go outside of the safe zones, where it's like.. you know.. un-safe.'
'Is that why you're scared of everything?'
'Yeah, that's what I'm saying', said Queenie, feeling understood, even though she knew Greta couldn't really imagine or comprehend life in the city. 'It's a sterile environment. Climate controlled. Everything is controlled. Everything's safe. Everything runs on time. Everything's taken care of. That's the way it is there.'
'It sounds kind of boring', said Greta.
'Oh it's got its charms, don't worry', said Queenie, shooting her a warning look. 'O's got their box of tricks to keep everyone distracted and entertained.'
'Anyway, at least you're not afraid of heights', said Greta, hoping to brighten the conversation. She hated talking about O. It always made her feel bad.
'Oh, I'm terrified of heights' laughed Queenie. 'You wouldn't believe how scared I am of heights. But, you know, I love to get high up.. just to get to the top of wherever I can get to and see over the top of everything. I grew up on the second century level.. that means the between the hundredth and two-hundredth floors..'
'Wow, that's really high.'
'Yeah, really high.. but there are three or even four centuries in most of the hives..'
'Hives? Like bee-hives?'
'Yes, that's what they're called. That's what you get when you let a machine do your town planning. The first thing O did after the Big Shift was to take every city block and turn the whole block into the foundations of new mega-building, called a Hive, and then built on top of that. And under it too. There's more going on under the city than there is above ground. But anyway, the point is, even though I was on floor a hundred and whatever, I wasn't even half way up the building. I'd never been on the ground, but I'd never seen the open sky either. That's why I come up here every morning and I just look at the sky and the trees and the mountains and the rising sun.. and even though I'm not out there in the wilderness, at least I can see it from here.. and at least I'm not back there..' Queenie gestured with her thumb over her shoulder, pointing to the city behind her. Greta turned around to see the city towering up beyond Shopping Village, thousands of windows reflecting the golden morning sun.
'This is a great spot', said Greta. It really was. 'And Shopping Village is a really cool place. I like it here.'
'Yeah, it is a cool place isn't it', nodded Queenie.
'And I've got to say, the bathrooms are amazing! The nicest I've ever seen, and so clean too.'
'Right? They are aren't they. Thanks for noticing. That's my work', said Queenie proudly.
'What's your work?'
'Cleaning the toilets.'
'Is it? Well, they're the cleanest toilets I've ever seen.. and not just clean.. like, actually inviting, like a place you'd want to actually spend time.'
Queenie laughed, 'Yeah right? Thanks. I did the some of the mosaic too.. did you see the mermaid and the shark? I did those. I've never been to the sea. One day I will. I love water.'
'So do I' said Greta. 'I've never been to the sea either.'
'Maybe we'll go there together one day' said Queenie. 'What do you say?'
'That would be great. We should do that.'
'Right on!' said Queenie flashing Greta a smile. Then she went back to staring into the sun, which she did for quite a long time before speaking again. 'Anyway, cleaning the toilets at Shopping Village isn't so bad.. much better than it sounds. People really appreciate us. They call us the 'Bathroom Angels'.. there's a team of about twenty of us. People here treat us like royalty, seriously. We're like rock stars, you wouldn't believe it. They even have a special day just to honour us.. we sit up at a big table with loads of tasty food and people bring us gifts and perform songs to us and make speeches about how amazing we are.. which is fair enough, because we are amazing!'
'So they should.' said Greta. 'You totally deserve it, and you do an amazing job. The mosaics are beautiful too.'
'Thank you. And thank you for noticing. I mean, where I come from, the bathrooms are spotless.. like, literally spotless.. but that's because you've got robots to clean up for you.. but still, you get used to certain standards. I think most people just don't know how to clean, or they've got low expectations, or they're just not bothered by dirt and mess. I kind of wish I wasn't, but what can I do?' , Queenie shrugged. 'I am what I am.'
They sat in silence for a while, looking out into the sunrise, each enveloped in their own thoughts.. memories of the past, dreams of the future.. how far they had come to reach this point, how far they still had to go.. what unknown adventures awaited them today, where would they find themselves by sunset, or this time tomorrow..?
'The funny thing is', said Queenie, 'is that I've always had a sort of fascination with toilets, ever since I was a little girl. Is that weird? I mean, not in a funny way.. I just always wanted to know, like.. where does the poo go to when you flush it down the toilet?'
'I was actually wondering the same thing', said Greta. 'In our village we have compost toilets, not flushing ones.'
'Yeah, I know those. That's what most of the folks out there use', said Queenie, pointing down to the homesteads on the old highway. 'They're good, but it wouldn't work in a building like this.. I mean, it could, but it would probably be a disaster.. like a complete biohazard on every level.. There are hundreds of people living in this building.'
Greta thought about it. 'Yes, I can see that it probably would be.' she agreed.. imagining carrying the full bucket down the escalator to go and empty it.. where? 'So how does it work here?'
'See that area down there with all the ponds and willow trees?' Queenie pointed to a meadow nearby. 'And do you see that building in between here and there and that big barn on the other side? So, first it goes into that building.. the close one. That's where they extract and filter the gas. People use it for cooking. It's doesn't even smell like farts.. well sometimes it does a bit, but usually it doesn't.. anyway after that, the water gets drained out and goes through all those reed beds which purify it, so it can be used again.. the dry solids go out to that barn there and get used to make fertiliser, which all the farmers round here use. It's a good system. Jack had a lot to do with setting up the plumbing and electrics for this building.. they used what was here already but just converted it to work off grid, when people started coming to live here after the Big Shift. He's smart, Jack. Probably one of the best engineers in Shopping.. totally self-taught. I don't know if he ever even went to school.'
'That's a really good system. Smart. It works really well.'
'The toilets in the city are totally next level though. You wouldn't believe how that system works. I mean, there the toilets themselves are actually smarter than the people sitting on them. Most people don't even think about what happens after you flush.. but.., well, like I said, I was a weird kid. That's the sort of thing I think about.'
'I don't think that's weird at all', said Greta. 'More weird not to ever think about it, if you think about it. I mean, do people think it just disappears?'
'Exactly! That's what I'm talking about. I used to ask my mum so many questions.. I'd be like, “Mum, how does the toilet work? Where does the water come from? Where does the poo go?”.. and she'd be like, “Oh I don't know Bruce. Stop bothering me. Go and ask O.” Now, unlike my mum, O just loves answering questions and never runs out of patience.. so I'd go to O and be like, “O, what happens to the poo after it gets flushed down the toilet?” And O would be like “Well, the first thing that happens is it is measured, tested and analysed in all sorts of ways, to determine its chemical make-up and also to check the state of your health. After that it goes down to the Underworld, where it gets dehydrated, the water gets taken out in giant centrifuges. Then the solids get broken down by special enzymes and made into really potent fertiliser that's used in the vertical farms. Then what's left is vaporised by massive lasers to break it down into base elements.. carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, gold. There are traces of all sorts of things in your poo, you wouldn't believe.'
'The Underworld? Is that a real place?'
'Well, most people call it the Sub-Zero levels, but I call it the Underworld. It's under the city, where all the industry goes on. Just machines, no people.'
'Scary.'
'Well, it is what it is.' said Queenie with a shrug. 'I don't think I'd really want to go there. I don't think humans even could go there. It's not designed for humans. There's spaces you couldn't fit through. Places where the heat, or the gas, or the radiation would kill you. Things flying about all over the place, really fast. No light. No air. Yeah, not a place to go on your holidays!'
'I'll remind myself not to go there', said Greta.
'You couldn't get there even if you tried', said Queenie. 'Anyway, the funny thing is, that it was thanks to my interest in poo, that I eventually found a way to escape from O.'
'What? How?'
'Well, my.. let's call it my “research”.. led me to studying old maps of the city.. in particular the old sewage network and drains. See, the new city is built on top of the old city. Also under it. Around ground level, a lot of the original buildings are still there, and so are the old sewers, even though they're not used any more. Most of the stuff I was telling you about the Underworld goes on much deeper down, sometimes miles underground. So anyway, I was looking at this old map which showed where all the underground drains went.. as you do.. and I found that there was a viaduct .. not sure if that's what you call it.. like an underground tunnel.. a sewer basically.. going from the river at the city centre that runs right under the city and comes out behind this really old church, just outside the city limit. I copied the map onto a piece of paper and kept it with me all the time, in case I ever got the chance to use it. By the time I got the chance, I'd studied that map so well that I knew it by heart, so I gave it to my friend Clair just before I went. I'll show you where the entrance is when we go down later. Hopefully you won't need it, but it's useful to know about just in case.'
The smell of fresh toast, mixed with tobacco smoke wafted up to the high up nest where Greta and Queenie sat. They both looked down. Jack was standing by the open door of Jerry's 'cave', smoking his pipe. Sensing he was being watched, Jack looked up, spotted Greta and Queenie high up in Queenie's nest and waved with his walking cane. 'Top of the morning ladies! Lovely day isn't it? I'm just out taking a breath of fresh air', he said, taking a long puff on his pipe, which sent him into a coughing fit.
'You allright Jack?' called Queenie.
Jack waved his pipe in the air to indicate that he was fine, while he carried on coughing loudly. After a while his coughing stopped, he cleared his throat and spat on the ground. 'Excuse me ladies', he said. 'You take heed of a foolish old man.. don't you start smoking.' He waved his pipe sternly in their direction before taking another puff.
'You're not foolish or old', said Queenie.
'Well, that's very kind of you to say so Queenie', said Jack. 'Anyway, I'm glad I found you both. Come down and have some breakfast. Captain Toast's been running like mad on the Toasterator and Granny Mae's been up all night baking.'
'Excellent! We'll be right down.'
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When Greta and Queenie arrived in the kitchen, Jack, Jerry and Captain Toast were already eating. The table was laden with plates and bowls of food.. a stack of toast, a basket full of some kind of buns, a dish of butter, a pan of hot scrambled eggs, different salads, jams, pickles, chutneys, cheeses in little bowls and plates.. Granny Mae was fussing about, bringing more food to the table. It looked to Greta like enough food to feed an army.
'Oh there you are' said Granny Mae. 'Come in and have some breakfast, you must be starving. Sorry it's just bits and bobs.'
'It looks amazing, Granny', said Queenie, pulling up a chair and filling herself a plate.
'You need to fatten yourself up a bit Brucie', said Granny Mae. 'You're all skin and bones. Here have some scones and cream. There's a nice gooseberry jam I made. What about you Dolly?' she said to Greta. 'Don't be shy. Come and sit yourself down. Do you want some eggs? There's real bread too. I baked a loaf last night.'
'Thank you, it all looks delicious' said Greta, taking a seat.
'You've got a big day today. You'll need a good breakfast', said Granny Mae. 'I do hope you'll find your sister.'
'If she's there, I'll find her', said Greta in a determined way.
'Of course you will, Dolly, of course you will.'
'So what's the plan?' asked Jack. 'Have you got one?'
Greta shook her head. 'Not really. Not yet.'
'What do you say, Jerry?' said Jack to Jerry. 'Any bright ideas?'
Jerry nodded his head and chewed on a big mouthful of food. Everyone looked at him expectantly, waiting to hear what his idea was. Eventually he gulped down his mouthful and washed it down with a slurp of milky tea. 'Yeah, we go to the city and ask O where she is, send her a message, arrange to meet. Should take about five minutes', he said and then took a big bite from a thick slice of toast piled with fried mushrooms.
'Is there a way I can do that without O knowing I'm there?' asked Greta. 'I don't want to meet O.'
Hearing that, Jerry almost spat out his toast as he suppressed the strong impulse to laugh out loud, but Granny Mae nodded her head approvingly. 'Clever girl', she said. 'Don't take any chances with that O.'
Jack shook his head and half smiled at Greta in a half pitiful way. 'Why not?' he asked. 'Maybe O can help you. There are five million people in the city, you do know that?'
'I didn't come here to meet O, or to ask O for help', said Greta. 'I came here to find my sister and my dad. I don't need to meet O and O doesn't need to meet me.'
'I think Jack's right, Greta', said Jerry. 'O can help us. I don't think you really understand what O is.'
'Oh, I think she's got about the right idea', said Queenie.
'No offence Queenie, but I don't think you really do either', said Jerry.
Queenie put down her scone and stared daggers at Jerry. Pointing her butter-knife at his face, she said in a cold voice, 'Oh, I think I've got a pretty good idea who.. or what.. O is. I was raised by O, remember that?'
'Of course I remember that', said Jerry, throwing up his arms. 'What I mean is, O's just a machine. It's not good or bad. It's how you use it, like any tool.'
'Yeah, so you keep saying. The difference being that while you're using it.. or while you think you are.. it's actually using you', said Queenie with a snort of disgust.
'No, it's just like a screwdriver, or a wheel, or a hammer, or an axe', said Jerry. 'More sophisticated obviously, but still..'
'If you are a big tree, we are a small axe', replied Queenie. 'You know that one?'
'Bob Marley!' said Jack, raising his mug of tea in reverent salute. 'Sharpened ready to cut you down, eh?'
'Exactly', said Queenie.
'Come on Queenie, it's a bit early to be getting so dramatic', said Jerry. 'We're just going to help Greta find her sister, not to take down O or destroy the system. Anyway, you can't cut down algorithms.. it would be like trying to cut water or air.'
'I don't need you to mansplain to me what algorithms are Jerry', said Queenie, seething and rolling her eyes. 'I know what they are and how they work.'
'What? Mansplain? I wasn't mansplaining anything. What even is that?' said Jerry, turning red in the face. 'If you want to tell a man to shut up, just tell him to shut up. Why bring gender into it?'
Jack nodded his head. 'Jerry's got a point, Queenie. Anyway, I'd say he was Jerry-splaining. That's something quite different, surely you agree?' He raised his eyebrows and smiled his most charming smile at her, hoping to lighten the mood.
Queenie tried to roll her eyes back even further, but there was only so far back they would go. Greta watched Queenie's facial contortions apprehensively. Talking about O always seemed to make people angry and upset and cause them to argue.
'I don't think there's anything wrong with exercising a bit of caution', said Granny Mae, bringing more scones to the table, fresh from the oven. 'If Greta wants to take precautions, then she should. No harm in being careful. I've seen enough youngsters go down to the city and not come back. Why take chances?'
'Thank you Granny', said Queenie, feeling supported and that she had an ally. 'If Greta wants to go to the city and doesn't want to meet O, we, as her friends should help her.. not make her feel like she's stupid, or wrong, or that she's being overly dramatic, or doesn't have her own very good reasons for wanting to avoid O.'
'Allright Queenie, fair enough', said Jerry. 'And I wasn't saying you're stupid. You know I don't think you're stupid. I wasn't saying you're stupid either, Greta. Anyway, I don't think you can really avoid O seeing you, but you can always try I suppose.'
'Then I'd like to try', said Greta.
'Good girl', said Granny Mae, patting her on the shoulder.
'Hey, I've got an idea!' said Queenie. 'Have you got that trolley Jerry? You know, the cart you take to the city when you've got lots to trade.'
'Yeah, why?'
'Let's take that down to the city limit, then before we go through, me and Greta can hide in the cart and you can wheel us in. Then when we get to some crowded place downtown, we duck into an alleyway or under a bridge and hop out when no-one's looking. We can wear masks and hats and sunglasses.'
'Does that work, covering your face?' asked Greta.
'Yeah, it should do, in the orange zone, if you keep your head down. It's a good idea to limp and walk with a hunch too. O can recognise people by their posture and the way they walk, as well as by their face.'
'Wow, I didn't know that.'
Jerry nodded his confirmation. “Yeah, O can see in all sorts of ways.. infra red, ultrasound, microwaves, dark light.. Hey, you know what, Queenie? You just reminded me of something.. you remember Techno Terry? No you probably don't, he left just before you arrived.. anyway, he's got a boat where he lives and he built this room below deck.. it's far out.. he calls it his control centre. I tell you, if you think my setup upstairs is over the top, you should see what he's put together there. He reckons that O can't see in there. He's lined the ceiling with lead panels and the whole thing is actually underwater, so maybe it works. He reckons it does. He's got the whole place full of jamming devices that he's built.'
'We're jamming.. I wanna jam it with you', sang Jack. 'Sounds like a groovy boat he's got there!'
'Not that sort of jamming, Jack. Signal jamming', said Jerry. 'He's trying to hack O. I don't think it's really possible, but if anyone can do it, it'll be Terry.'
'Yeah, I know that's what you meant, Jerry', said Jack, grinning. 'How's Terry doing? We don't see him round here any more.'
'He's allright, I think. Same old Terry, you know.. in his own world, doing his experiments. I don't see him much, but I know where to find him.'
'Excellent!', said Queenie, clapping her hands. 'So let's get the trolley, get masked up, make our way down to Techno Terry's boat.. and then wing it from there. Does that sound like a good plan to you Greta? It sounds like a good plan to me.'
'That sounds like an excellent plan, yes!' said Greta.
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Two hours later, Greta, Jerry and Queenie had said their farewells to Jack and Granny Mae. Greta had left them with a jar of her special ointment, while her own bag was now heavy with a whole honey cake Granny Mae had baked for her during the night.
From her tent on the roof, Queenie grabbed a black, wide-brimmed hat, embroidered around the rim with copper wire, a long, silk scarf which was a very deep shade of purple, and a pair of impenetrably dark sunglasses. Apart from the sunglasses, which she put into her velvet pouch, which she kept on a string around her neck, tucked away under her clothes, Queenie didn't take any luggage at all. She found a spare pair of sunglasses for Greta. Aviator style with mirrored lenses, along with a black and red bandanna for her to use as a mask. It turned out that Queenie had quite a collection of sunglasses. She offered Jerry a pair of round, wire framed glasses with pink lenses, laughing and telling him he looked just like John Lennon in them. He said he didn't think he needed them but would wear them anyway, just for fun. They could pretend to be a rock n roll band on the road.
They headed out of Shopping Village in fine spirits, taking turns to push the trolley, which was a big wooden box, painted green, with two wooden doors at the top and four bicycle wheels at the bottom. 'J&J Vintage Machine Revival – Shopping Village' was painted on both sides in neat white lettering, outlined red. Captain Toast skipped alongside, darting off ahead every now and again to scout out the path and check that the coast was clear. He knew that humans could not hear the things he could hear, or smell the things he could smell. For all their cleverness with their words and skill with their hands, Captain Toast knew that his humans lacked the sharp instincts he possessed. He was glad to be on the move again and knew he had important work to do, taking care of his humans.
The city was situated in a wide valley, surrounded by hills on three sides. People had been living in that place since the end of the last ice-age, when hunter-gatherers came down from the caves in the mountains and began to farm the fertile flood plains of the the river which ran through, on its way to the sea, to the south. In the 1600's, the settlement became and important trading hub, with great wooden sailing ships navigating the wide estuary, bringing goods from all around the world, from newly discovered and newly conquered lands. Vast fortunes were made in trading, commerce and industry. By the 1800's, the city's population had grown to a hundred times what it was a hundred years earlier. Tall buildings with stone walls had sprung up around the city centre .. fortresses of finance and banking, along with factories and mills powered by great steam engines and the labour of thousands of poor people who came to the city from the surrounding countryside, looking for work. The wealthy business magnates built magnificent mansions for themselves in and around the city. At the same time, street after street of back to back, tenement housing was also built to house their workers, who were in turn charged exorbitant rent for the privilege of having a place to live in this great, historic city.
And so the city grew and continued to grow..
By the end of the twentieth century, the grand old stone buildings had been overshadowed by high, angular towers of concrete and glass, or found themselves flanked by featureless superstores with bright facades and no windows. The old, brick built tenements had mostly fallen or been pulled down and been replaced with rows of grey tower blocks. Suburbs had sprawled out from the city centre as more people saw it within their reach to attain the ultimate dream of owning a home with a garden.
Jerry, Greta, Queenie and Captain Toast followed the old highway down from Shopping Village towards the city, the cart bumping and bouncing along the rutted and potholed road as they went. As they got closer to the city, it started to become apparent to Greta, just how tall were the mega-buildings, the 'Hives' of the new city as they loomed over the old suburbs, rising out of the ground like giant stalagmites or monstrous termite mounds, the product of some unfathomable, alien intelligence. She looked up at them apprehensively, feeling very small and insignificant. Queenie too, set her face towards the city with a grim, determined expression. Only Jerry seemed completely unperturbed by the sight of the city. He loped along merrily in his round, rose tinted glasses, humming the tune of 'All you need is love' by the Beatles.
'Nothing you can do that can't be done, nothing you can sing that can't be sung.. nowhere you can be that isn't where you're supposed to be.. it's ea..sy!' sang Queenie, picking up on the tune. 'You know that one Greta?'
'Er, maybe. It sounds a bit familiar. I like the words. How far are we from the city limit?'
'Not far now', said Jerry. 'Ten, twenty minutes along this road, then we get to the city limit.'
As they followed the old highway through the suburbs of the city, the makeshift dwellings of Shopping Village gave way to old buildings from before the Big Shift. There were shops and cheap eateries, bars and trading posts, warehouses, workshops and garages. Above the shops were people's homes and washing was hanging to dry on lines stretched out beneath wide open windows.
The road widened out and was busy with people going this way and that. Some of them also pushed handcarts, some carried baskets on their heads, others with boxes and bags. There were donkeys weighed down with pannier bags, horse drawn carts pulling covered wagons, some ancient looking electric rickshaws, brightly decorated, weaving in and out of the pedestrian traffic. Greta found it quite overwhelming and confusing to be in such a large crowd, surrounded by so much noise and movement.
Some of the shops were blaring out loud music which blended to make a discordant cacophony, accompanied by people shouting to each other to be heard. Sellers shouted out their wares, workers shouted to each other across scaffolding, or holes they were digging or filling in the road, or from rooftops where they were adding extra rooms. There was building work going on all over the place. It seemed like everyone was busy doing something or going somewhere, all with great purpose. Greta jumped sideways as an electric bike with two laughing teenagers came hurtling towards her and swerved at the last second, narrowly avoiding a collision.
'Oy!' shouted Queenie after them. 'Look where you're going you pair of yahoos!'
The lad at the back of the bike turned around, made a rude hand gesture and stuck out his tongue as they disappeared into the crowd. Queenie did the same back.
'Take no notice Greta, they're just kids', said Jerry. 'It seems really hectic here, I know, but there are actually unwritten rules. The thing is, if you're a pedestrian, just point yourself in the direction you want to go and keep going that way in a straight line. Anyone going faster will go around you. That's the way it works. It's if you do something unexpected, like stop or change direction, that's when you'll get run over. Just point straight ahead, like this, and keep going in a straight line..' Jerry straightened himself up and pushed the cart purposefully down the middle of the road, with Queenie and Greta at each side. Captain Toast darted around, in between people's legs and wheels of vehicles.
'What do you think all these people are carrying?' asked Greta.
'Everything. Junk mostly, probably. They're traders. Like me', said Jerry.
'I didn't know you're a trader', said Greta.
'Well, among other things', said Jerry, importantly.
'What do you trade?'
'Electronic waste mainly. We get a lot of it in the shop and it gets a good price relative to its weight. You get about ten Obits a kilo for circuit-boards. A lot of rare metals in them. Most of these people are probably trading old plastic. You get about one Obit a kilo for old plastic. It's not much, but it's still something. They bring it in from miles around.'
'Who'd buy old plastic?'
'O.' said Jerry. 'O takes all that old junk and recycles it into new stuff. Plastic is full of energy, you know. It's all hydrocarbon.. well, mostly. But you've got to know what to do with it otherwise it just gets everywhere and messes up everything. That was the problem before.. people kept on making more and more plastic, use it once and throw it away.. but they had no way to really get rid of it.. or they just couldn't be bothered.. so it just got everywhere.. in everything. So now O's got all the people going round and collecting all the old rubbish left over from before the Big Shift.. clearing up the world and getting paid in Obits.'
'Clever old O!' snorted Queenie. 'Knows people will do anything for those shiny Obits. Learned that from people, of course.'
'It is really clever', said Jerry. 'The cleverest part is that, do you know what the coins are made out of? Carbon.'
'What's so clever about that?' asked Greta.
'Everything O does is about taking Carbon out of the atmosphere.. carbon dioxide, methane, you know, greenhouse gasses. Anything to take it out of the atmosphere and put it into something solid. So one way is to turn it into money. Obits. Either people are going to take very good care of them or they'll get lost down the side of sofas. Either way they get sequestered away and in the process the earth gets cleared up by all these people bringing old rubbish to the city to swap for Obits. Jack explained it all to me. He says that O's cities are modelled on ant colonies in lots of ways. O studies nature and then comes up with these systems that are, sort of.. organic.. biological even. So all these people here, carrying stuff to the city.. you could imagine they're like ants clearing up the forest floor and bringing all the useful stuff back to the colony.'
'That is a really disgusting thought', said Queenie. 'But you know what? It's pretty accurate. O doesn't really tell the difference between humans and ants. It sees us as basically the same thing.'
'Well, in a lot of ways we are', said Jerry. 'We only tell ourselves we're superior, but what are we really? Bundles of cells with some level of consciousness. Do you know an ant can lift fifty times its body weight? They're really amazing creatures in loads of ways. Especially the way they work together.'
'I love watching ants' said Greta. 'They're really amazing. But we don't use Obits in our village. People think they're evil.'
'Sounds like people have got sense in your village', said Queenie. 'The more I hear about it the more I want to go there. What do you do for money then?'
'We don't really use it. People in the village just share stuff. It's only a small village and everyone knows each other. But we've also got a sort of cooperative thing going with some of the other villages in the area and we trade between each other, so there tends to be enough of everything to go around, usually.'
'That's amazing if it works', said Jerry. 'But don't people fight all the time? And how do you work out.. like, you said your mum makes shoes right? So how much is a pair of shoes worth, in something like.. I dunno.. loaves of bread? Doesn't it get really complicated?'
'Yeah, sometimes', said Greta. 'But on the whole it works pretty well. Anyway we get most of what we need from the forest, for free.'
'That is awesome and beautiful', said Queenie. 'I knew it was possible. I just knew it.'
'Yes it is', said Greta.
They walked on in silence for a while, until Queenie exclaimed 'Hey look, there's the old church I was telling you about. You know, where the viaduct comes out. Let me show you where the entrance is..'
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The old church was a stone building in Gothic style, with stained glass windows and a tall spire. A wide staircase led up to a massive carved archway surrounding the old, wooden doors. Down one side of the imposing stone frontage hung a long flag, striped with colours of the rainbow. Down the other side was another flag, a long black banner with a big capital 'A' in a circle, painted in white paint which had dripped down the black cloth. A group of people in their late teens or early twenties were lounging around on the stairs in the sun, laughing loudly and drinking from jars. They were all dressed in intentionally torn clothes, held together with pins here and there and they all had elaborate hairstyles in bright colours.
'Here, it's through this alley, round the back', said Queenie, leading the way. The group on the stairs all stopped what they were doing and stared suspiciously at Greta, Jerry and Queenie as they passed, wheeling the trolley. Captain Toast kept close and growled a low rumble of warning.
Round the back of the church was a small cemetery with some very old gravestones all covered in moss and lichen, some broken and some tilting at odd angles. 'Over there!' said Queenie. 'See that big grave with the angel on top. It's just behind that. I'll never forget coming out from the tunnel and the first thing I see is that angel looking down at me. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Can you imagine?'
They wound their way towards the angel, trying not to walk over any graves. The angel was carved from white marble and was standing on a tall, square pillar with wings outstretched. Around the other side of the pillar, they were surprised to find a lad, about their age, sitting there. He was dressed in ripped black jeans and a black t-shirt with the arms torn off. His hair was bright red and stood in a tall Mohican. He was evidently just as surprised and jumped up from where he'd been sitting, stumbling backwards.
'Hey, watcha go creeping up on me for?' he said angrily. 'Who are you? What are you doing here?'
'What's it to you, punk?' Queenie shot back.
'Who are you calling punk, punk?' said the punk, squaring up to Queenie, who tossed back her mane of black hair defiantly and gave him a fierce look.
'Anyway, more to the point', said Queenie, 'who are you and what are you doing here? Do you just like hanging round in graveyards? Are you some kind of vampire or something?'
'Yeah, maybe I am', said the lad in his most menacing manner. 'Maybe I do. So what are you gonna do? Throw garlic at me? Or holy water? Eh!'
'Yeah, that's funny', said Queenie, not laughing. 'We came here to visit my mum's grave. Show some respect.'
'What?' said the punk, looking confused. 'Really? Where is it?'
'You're standing on it', said Queenie, pointing to his feet.
'Aargh! What?!' cried the punk, jumping backwards again and stumbling into a muddy ditch. This made everyone laugh, except for the punk who just sat there scowling and scratching his head. 'Hang on..' he said after a while, '.. that grave's.. like.. two hundred years old. That can't be your mum. You're just messing with me.'
'Well done Einstein!' said Queenie.
'Here, do you want a hand up?' said Jerry, stepping forward and offering his hand.
The punk hesitated, while he eyed up Jerry suspiciously, but then took his hand and climbed out of the ditch. 'Cheers mate.'
'Hey Greta, there it is!' Queenie exclaimed. 'There in the ditch, can you see that rusty iron grate? That's it.'
'Hey, what do you know about that?' said the punk, swinging round to face Queenie again.
'What do I know about it?' said Queenie haughtily. 'What do you know about it? Eh?'
'I asked first', said the punk. 'And don't give me any more stories.'
'Allright, I'll tell you, but this is top secret. Don't let O find out', said Queenie. She lowered her voice and leaned close to his ear, which was heavy with earrings, 'There's a tunnel there. It goes right under the city.'
'What? How did you know about that?' asked the punk, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
'How did I know about it? I discovered it! That's how.'
'What do you mean you discovered it? Who are you?'
'Who am I?' asked Queenie, her eyebrows raised high. 'Who are you?'
'Are you like this with everyone you meet?' said the punk, getting exasperated with the way she threw every question back at him..
'Well, I don't know. Are you?' Queenie retorted.
The punk shook his head and sighed. 'Ok, fair enough. I live here.'
'What, you live in the graveyard?'
'No, in the church. A bunch of us live there. We take it in turns to watch the entrance of the tunnel. My name's Baz, by the way.'
'Wow, so you really do know about the tunnel! I thought you wouldn't believe me or else I wouldn't have told you', said Queenie. 'Oh well. That church looks like a nice place to live. I'll bet it's got lovely high ceilings. Bit spooky though. My name's Bruce but most people call me Queenie. This is Greta and Jerry and that's Captain Toast, he's our leader.'
'Bruce? No way! Are you really?' said Baz, his jaw dropping.
Queenie narrowed her eyes. 'Yes, that's what I said. Bruce is my name. Have you got a problem with that?'
'Not the Bruce? Did you say you discovered the tunnel? That's what you said didn't you?'
'Ye..es.. that is what I said..' said Queenie, looking at him sideways. 'So what are you getting at Baz?'
'O..M..G..T..X! It is you! You're Bruce! Wow! It's such an honour to meet you! That's amazing that you're here!'
'What are you talking about Baz? How do you know me?'
'Well, maybe there's a different girl named Bruce who discovered the tunnel, but that's unlikely. It's you isn't it? You're a total legend! Wait till I tell the others you're here.'
'Others? What others?'
'That live in the Church. Most of them got out through your tunnel. It's called Bruce's Freedom Drain. That's what we call it. It's named after you! Now the people who got out live here and help other people get out and help them settle in when they get here.'
Queenie swivelled her head to look at Baz in the most sideways way that her eyes would allow. If she could have made her head turn all the way round in that moment, she would have done. 'You've got to be kidding me right?' she said at last. 'You're having me on.'
'I swear', said Baz, deadly serious. 'It's true. I couldn't make something like that up. Come in, you'll see it's true.'
Queenie looked at Baz, then back at the church building, then at Baz again, then at the drain opening with its iron bars rusted away over the centuries. She looked at Jerry and Greta and then at Captain Toast who was going around sniffing gravestones. 'This is weird', she said. 'Like really weird. I don't know what to say. And anyway.. we're sort of on a mission at the moment.. we haven't got much time.. we should really be getting on..'
'Come on Queenie!' said Jerry. 'Let's go in. I want to see what's going on there. It sounds cool.. and you are their hero. They named a drain after you!'
'I'd say it's more of a viaduct', said Queenie.
'It's fine with me', said Greta. 'I'm not in a hurry.'
'Well.. ok..' said Queenie, somewhat uncertainly, 'but the first sign of weirdness and we're out of there, Ok?'
'Ok', said Greta.
'Yep, fine by me', said Jerry. 'No weirdness for us. Weirdness is not our thing. Is that cool with you Baz?'
'Totally', said Baz, straightening up his mohican after his fall into the ditch. 'No weirdness at all. Wow! I can't believe you're actually here Bruce! It's such a great surprise.. it's almost unbelievable.'
'Yeah, tell me about it', said Queenie, resigning herself to her fate. She really hated being the center of attention, but attention always seemed to find her, no matter how she tried to keep herself in the shadows.
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