Ntshona (2 page)

Less than thirty minutes had passed before the three men became bored of clothes shopping.

“Come on now,” they pleaded to the girls, “we haven’t eaten for hours”.

The girls too realised they were hungry, so conceded to the request. The five of them crossed the canal bridge to head to the restaurant area. Despite there being numerous traditional Mediterranean style restaurants and eateries, the group decided on a pizzeria in the centre of the terrace named ‘Mario and Luigi’s Pizza Parlour’, set between a Spanish tapas bar named ‘La Piña Picante’ and a German pub entitled ‘Der Kleine Wurst’.

As they began to take their seats at a circular table near the pizzeria’s entrance, Lon took note of the German pub and posited “That’s a bit stupid,” he gestured with his hand towards the German bar, “I’m sure Germany wasn’t in the Mediterranean”.

His friends regarded him with puzzled looks until Marcus semi-confidently asserted “Nah bru, It was definitely a Mediterranean country”.

“Are you sure?” Lon was not convinced that Marcus knew anything about history or geography, “I’ll see what my palm screen says,” he stated as he sat down in between Andres and Eve.

“Don’t bother, it’s not important,” added Andres, “let’s just order our food”. He handed each of them a menu from the pile at the centre of the table.

“Okay then. Let’s see
…” said Lon as he analysed the list of traditional Italian style foods and drinks. “Oh, this is a little expensive”.

Alta and Marcus concernedly looked at each other and then at their companions. “Yeah, I don’t think we can really afford this much, we’re a little short on money this month
… my dad kinda stopped giving me money, you know, to make me appreciate more what I earn on my own, or something like that,” said Marcus.

Andres was also slightly concerned about the price difference between usual meals and the meals here, but he had more than enough money nonetheless, as his family had recently been doing well socially.

“I’ll pay,” proclaimed Eve to everyone’s surprise.

“No no no no,” voiced Lon, “you can’t afford to pay for all of us”.

“Yeah man,” added Marcus, “it’s cool, we’ll pay for ourselves, you don’t have to”.

Eve insisted, “It’s fine! I can afford it now!”

The group were amazed. “How?” they inquired simultaneously.

“Well,” Eve began to explain, “I was waiting for a good chance to tell you all, and this seems to be a better time than any”.

Her friends looked on in anticipation.

“I’ve been moved onto a new project, apparently it’s quite an important one”. She concluded her explanation too soon for the others to be satisfied.

“Is it?” asked Alta.

“Yes, it is,” replied Eve.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

“So?” Andres broke the silence.

“So?” repeated Eve.

“So,” Andres clarified his question, “what project is it?”

Eve grinned cheekily, “I can’t tell you”.

Everyone else at the table was clearly frustrated with her overly inadequate explanation.

Alta began to plead, “Come on Evie, you know we won’t tell anyone!”

“Sorry guys, you’re aware of how important secrecy is,” Eve disappointed them. The reality was, if someone was sworn to secrecy, they had no choice but to be silent until told otherwise.

“Well that’s a disappointment!” Lon voiced his opinion, “I think I’m just gonna go with a deep-pan meat feast pizza anyway; keep it authentic, hey”.

The rest of the group quickly made their decisions as well.

“Um…” Eve was puzzled about something, “where…?” she looked at the centre of the table, under the table, then she turned herself around to look at the other tables that belonged to the pizzeria, “where’s the ordering console?”

“Oh, we saw something about this online,” responded Alta, “like a hundred years ago or something, they didn’t use consoles in restaurants”.

“Oh, is it?” said Eve.

Despite the enlightenment, they remained at a loss about what to do next.

“So, ummm…” Andres scratched his head in deep thought, “how do we order our food?”

“I can-a do that for you sir!”

The group were in such deep thought that they had not noticed a young, dark curly haired man approach them. He wore a white shirt and black trousers. The five friends were somewhat confused by his non-casual attire.

“I’m-a your waiter,” said the young man in an unusual, bouncy accent.

This was a perplexing moment for the five people sitting at the table.

“‘Waiter’?” they repeated.

“Ah,” replied the waiter “I take-a your orders. It’s-a how restaurants-a worked in-a the past”.

Andres was still confused, “What’s with your accent? I’ve never heard an accent like that before”.

“Yeah, it’s fake right?” added Marcus.

The waiter gave him a sarcastic smile. “Have-a you ever-a met uno Italiano?”

“Well,” Lon replied on behalf of the whole group, “no, seeing as Italy hasn’t existed for quite some time”.

The ‘Italiano’ continued to grin sarcastically, “Then-a why you think-a you know-a the accent?”

Again Lon answered for the sake of the whole group, “But it just sounds so-”

The waiter cut off the end of his sentence, “May I take-a your order?” he opened his hand and gestured to reveal his palm screen.

“Okay, whatever,” responded Lon.

The five friends gave the pseudo-Italian their orders, which he noted on his palm screen.

“Thank-a you for your orders. Your-a meals will arrive-a soon,” he promptly turned around and left towards the inside of the restaurant building.

At the dining table the group of friends were chattering away like friends usually do, eating their meals slowly to savour the ‘authentic’ taste of the past.

“Oh,” Marcus cut into the conversation, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he turned towards Lon, “how come I’ve never seen you do a retina scan?”

Alta gave a recent example, “Yeah, you’ve only used your palm screen today to check into places”.

Lon sniggered lightly under his breath, “I’ve been wondering for a while when you’d notice”.

“How long have you been doing it for then, and why?” asked Eve.

“Umm
…” Lon’s facial expression twisted with thought, “I think, about, three and a half years. The reason is… well…” he glanced over both his shoulders to make sure no faux Italian waiters were in close proximity, “so the government can’t track me”.

It took a moment for the statement to sink in, and for the others to consider his situation.

Marcus was the first to find fault in his theory, “But the government always know where you are, they can track you using your palm screen too”.

“Yeah, that thing’s registered to you alone, so if you use it to check in anywhere or pay for anything, they’ll know exactly where you are,” Alta reinforced Marcus’ point.

Lon breathed in deeply, then pretended to clear his throat, “Well, you know me, and you know I like to mod my stuff. This thing isn’t exactly difficult to crack; it took me ten minutes once I got hold of some decent tools. Now every time I check in somewhere or pay for something, I have a choice of being myself, or one of six billion other randomly generated people”.

His friends were gaping at him by the time he had finished his explanation.

“That’s some clever shit,” proclaimed Andres.

“But,” looking for more holes in Lon’s theory, Marcus asked “why did you check into the NGT using your real name if you don’t want the government to know where you are?”

Lon grinned at this, “I didn’t”.

“Yes you did,” argued Marcus, “the console clearly said ‘Please enjoy your ride Mr. Dres’”.

This set Lon off laughing, “Put it this way, if my palm screen generated a name like ‘
Kili Muntu
’ or ‘
Luó M
ǎ
xiū
’ or something, and then said that name out loud for everyone to hear, it w
o
uld make me look quite suspicious considering I’m probably the whitest skinned person you’ll ever meet in this city, and those aren’t traditional white names”.

His friends’ eyes were all wide with amazement.

“Wow, you really thought that through!” stated Eve.

“Yeah, that is clever shit,” Alta reiterated what Andres had earlier said.

“However,” continued Lon, “it means I have to be careful when police or other government people are around, because if they hear what the console says, then, well, they’ll know I’m me”.

“You sound like you’re on the run,” said Eve as she continued to consume her lasagne, to which Lon wittily replied, “It’s better to be safe than dead”.

The other four nodded in agreement. Outlandish statements like this were common among the people of the city. The government claimed to be “for the people”, but of these people, most were of the opinion that the government were in fact for themselves, and anything or anyone that stood up to their ideals, or that was even misconstrued as doing so, was swiftly punished. Being careful was a serious survival tactic.

Chapter 2

As the sun descended into the depths of the Atlantic, and the sky outside turned a brilliant mixture of pink and orange, so too did the digital sky above the shopping centre. Most of the people shopping before sundown had now returned home, and gondola rides on the canal seemed to be taking a break. This gave the five friends, who had just completed eating their meals, a chance to peruse the shops with less hassle from bustling crowds. The waiter came to their table with the payment scanner and registered Eve’s retinas, after which the group left to explore. As they crossed the bridge they noticed an NGT train arrive at the entrance of the shopping centre and release a flow of individuals who, it seemed, had come for some evening drinks or dinner at the multitude of bars and restaurants across the canal where the five friends had just been.

“Hey Marcus, what do you think about this one?” Alta was holding a blue and black polka dot dress up to her body.

“Yeah, it’s nice babe,” replied Marcus, hardly paying attention to what the dress actually looked like.

“Argh! If you’re not gonna give me a real answer, then I’ll ask someone who will!” Alta irritatedly responded. “Hey Andres, what do
you
think?”

“Well, I think the polka dots complement your beautiful complexion, and the shape of the dress perfectly accentuates your delicate, yet sexy curves”. He was playing the gentleman to poke fun at Marcus, who couldn’t come up with anything better than “Yeah, whatever man”.

Alta stuck her tongue out at him, giggled, and then turned towards Eve, who had also taken an interest in the polka dot dress.

“Screw this, I’m gonna wait outside,” proclaimed Marcus as he turned to face the entrance of the boutique store.

“I think I’ll join you,” added Lon.

“Yeah, me too, I wanna gaze at the fake stars,” Andres followed.

The three men strolled over to the canal, where, they decided, it would be better to stand and do nothing than in the clothes shops. Despite their initial intrigue about the place, they had soon realised that they were hardly interested in clothes shopping, and there was not a great deal else on offer after having already eaten.

“So, how’s work?” Lon started up the conversation.

Marcus answered first, “It’s okay, but I think I need to be paid more for the amount of shit that I’m designing for them”.

“Yeah,” Andres joined in, “it’s the same for me too, hey. In fact, it’s the same everywhere you go now, they want more out of you for less pay”.

“Hmmm. I heard the other day,” began Lon, “that people in underdeveloped countries like America have a much higher quality of life than us”.

Marcus nodded. “I’m not surprised, they don’t have to deal with shit from the government like we do”.

“Not only that,” continued Lon, “but they have higher salaries and longer holidays too”.

Andres was annoyed by this, “That’s kak man, why do we put up with this shit? I mean, I’d rather be in a place where I can have freedom and earn more!”

“It sucks because we can’t leave this place”, added Marcus, “Nobody has dual nationality these days, so it’s impossible for us to get a visa for another country. Even my dad has trouble with international business trips these days”.

Another minor influx of people entered the shopping centre through the NGT station.

The three friends continued their conversation in the same vein, complaining about their situation, while eying up the bars over the canal near where they had been earlier.

“Man, why are the girls taking so long?” Inquired Marcus, “I’m gonna go tell them to hurry up,
cos I want a
beer
”. As he said this he stretched out his arms, yawned deeply and quickly turned round. “Shit!”

He did not expect it, but he had, quite by accident, just punched somebody in the face.

“Oh my god, I am
so
sorry! I didn’t see you there!”

The man he had just hit was smartly dressed in a rather expensive looking shirt and trousers, and had a slightly bloody lip. With him were three companions, all of whom were attired equally as sprucely, and of which none knew how to react.

Lon could not help but notice the distinctly angular facial features and the unnaturally blonde hair of the man closest to him.

The man with the bloody lip did not appear to be in any pain, which was a relief for Marcus, as he imagined it would have made it easier to accept an apology than if he had actually hurt the man.

The man lifted his left hand towards his face, placed his thumb on his bottom lip where there was blood and took a look at it. He looked at Marcus, then back at his thumb, and looked at Marcus again, this time dead in the eyes.

“Look man,” Marcus again tried to extend an apology, “let me buy you a-”

Before he could finish his sentence he was struck square in the nose by the well-dressed man. He instantly stumbled backwards and grabbed his nose in an attempt to stem the immediate flow of blood, which was already forming small blobs on the floor by his feet.

“What the hell man?!” yelled Andres, “He said he was sorry, it was an accident!”

“Yeah, there was absolutely no need for that!” Lon yelled in addition.

The commotion was noticed by Eve and Alta, who were leaving one of the nearby shops. When Alta saw the blood on Marcus’ face, she promptly dropped her shopping bags and, followed closely by Eve, ran towards the group of men, screaming “Marcus! Marcus!” She quickly approached her boyfriend and tried to inspect the damage caused to his face. “Marcus! Are you okay my baby?!”

He was clearly hurt, but she knew it was not too extensive. She then set her sights on the man who had hit her lover. “What the
fuck
do you think you’re doing?!”

The man spoke to them for the first time, “I
hate
lower class sodomites like you people!”

To hear something like this was like being punched in the face ten times, as far as the five friends were concerned.

In spite of Lon usually being a calm figure of reason, the man had somehow easily managed to find and press his trigger button.

The man received a foot to the side of his head.

Despite both groups of people being shocked at the sight of the well-dressed man instantly hitting the floor, Alta quickly took the opportunity to assert her authority.

“Do you have any idea who the
hell
you just insulted?!” she directed her question at all four smartly dressed men.

The three still standing were at a complete loss, and they had no idea what to do while their ‘leader’ lay on the ground.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?!” she continued yelling at them, “And you don’t know who he is either, do you?!” she gestured with her hand towards Andres, who was wearing a serious scowl on his face.

The unfolding situation was attracting attention from people on both sides of the canal.

“Wait Alta,” Marcus managed to overcome the smarting pain in his nose enough to speak, “don’t make it worse, what if the police get involved?”

Eve voiced up as well, “Yeah, let’s just leave this arse hole and his friends, this already looks bad enough on us”.

Alta’s gaze pierced the eyes of the three men opposite her, but she broke off her attack, knowing that they all could get into real trouble. “Okay,” she said, “but don’t forget this!” she viciously advised the other men.

The five began to back away when the man on the floor, dazed and in pain, got to his feet. “Fucking scumbags!” he screamed as he lurched forwards, his fists targeting Alta’s head.

Before anybody could intervene there was a sudden and almighty flash, and visibility waned.

Alta thought she had been hit hard in the face, yet could feel no pain. “Wha
…?” she got no opportunity to complete even a word before she heard shots.

Someone grabbed her wrist from behind and yelled “Fucking
run
!” at which point she was pulled sharply from her position and dragged into the direction of the clothing shops.

As he got his sight back, Lon was alarmed to see three of the men they had been confronting lying on the floor near where they had been standing, and in the direction of the NGT platform, through thick white smoke emerging from canisters spread across the ground, he could just make out several of what looked like riot police running in his direction with their arms outstretched in front of them holding some sort of automatic rifle.

Still buzzing from adrenaline after kicking a person in the head, he quickly scanned his surroundings, wanting to make sure none of his buddies had been shot.

Screams began to emerge from different parts of the shopping centre; it seemed the police infiltrated from more than one entrance.

Lon noted that his friends were escaping in the direction of the shops to his right, except for Eve who was too frightened to move. Being high on adrenaline, he tightly gripped her left arm below the elbow and ripped her away from her frozen position and ran for cover in the opposite direction to their friends.

They were headed directly for the canal.

He had no plan, but for some reason he hoped there would be a boat. Lon felt like he was overdosing on adrenaline by this point, and without thinking he launched Eve straight into the water, then followed immediately after. He hit the surface hard, and the shock of the contrast in temperature between the cool water and his hot skin sobered him up enough to start thinking more clearly.

He rapidly reassessed his surroundings, and was momentarily relieved to see most of the areas near the canal were shrouded in smoke.

Eve had completely gone under the water; she was totally unprepared for what had just happened.

Lon hastily lifted her top half out of the canal, “Eve! Are you okay?!” it was now that he realised he was tall enough to stand, however Eve lacked his height. “Can you stand up?!”

She could do nothing but sputter and cough up water in between gasps for breath. The noise of bullets and screams could be heard above the sounds Eve was making.

Lon knew they had to hide, but where?

A few metres away from them was a docked gondola.

“Ah!” he remembered why he
had wanted to land near a boat. “Eve, try to swim, we need to get to that boat!”

They both frantically pushed themselves through the water hoping not to get hit by a stray bullet. They were extremely lucky to be concealed by the clouds of smoke that had been set off. They reached the boat.

“Now what?” coughed Eve as Lon began to push down on the side of the aquatic vehicle.

“Help me flip it!” he instructed.

Eve did as he said and also grabbed the side of the boat and pushed it down with her weight. After a short struggle it flipped, and the two were out of sight.

“Try not to move,” Lon told Eve, who was still coughing, her head barely above the water, “and try to be quiet”.

The echo inside the overturned gondola was unnerving.

Lon was worried about their legs being visible in the water, but the turquoise colour seemed to be quite concealing. He was also concerned about Eve, who was dishevelled with her soaking hair covering most of her face, and did not look like she could hold up their wooden shield for long. Lon was also immensely concerned about his friends who might have been shot by now. Why were they shooting at everyone? Police brutality was a well-known issue, but this was far too extreme.

After what seemed like hours, the violence seemingly came to an end, and silence eerily fell upon the shopping centre.

The sound of Lon and Eve’s rapid, heavy breathing was unnervingly loud in comparison.

They remained still for another short while, in case there were still police in the area, yet not a sound could be heard other than what they themselves were making.

“What now?” their eyes were interlocked in a confused gaze.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should take a look outside”.

It was not easy to right the boat, therefore Lon had to push it upwards in order for them both get from under it without submerging their heads again. After they were out he gently let the gondola back into the water, desperately trying not to make any obvious sounds.

Despite being tall, he could not see beyond the banks of the canal. He silently gestured to Eve to swim towards the closest docking point where they climbed out of the life saving waterway, careful not to attract attention from any remaining parties.

What they saw could not have been prepared for. They did not see extraordinary carnage, nor did they discover a hint of destruction. There remained nothing to suggest an attack had taken place. In fact, there was no proof that anybody had been in the shopping centre
at all
.

“What the hell? I don’t get it,” Lon was not expecting an explanation from Eve, this was too strange to comprehend as things were.

Vigilantly the lonely couple surveyed their setting, and searched their immediate surroundings. There was no trace of blood anywhere that they could see, even where they knew blood had fallen from Marcus’ nose earlier.