The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2 (10 page)

I smiled at Max.

“Besides, look at you now,” she said. You have an important job, JT. Charlie says it’s really golden that you’re going to be able help the Keepers. Odran has had too much control for too long. They never had to worry when Space Jumpers were working with the Samirans. You should be happy.”

“Somehow I just pictured it differently,” I said, and looked down at the brown glop. “Max, you ever heard of the Samirans having bad hearing?”

“I never heard of Samirans until a phase ago.”

“Have you ever heard or uplinked anything about something called a
Scion
— something to do with the Ancients?”

She shook her head. “Never. Why?”

“Nothing. I was just dreaming. Forget it,” I said, and set the bowl aside. The food
was
awful. I needed to get some of that sweetener from the other kids.

By the next cycle, I was able to stand on my own, and I set out to explore my new home. Construction robots still zipped about as I scaled the mountainous stone steps to the top of the tank. The tank had been refilled, but there was no sign of Toll. I sat near the edge, where the aroma was strong, and looked out over the water. The sugary smell didn’t seem as sweet now that I knew those little bio-bots were farting up a storm in there.

I have to admit that I was a little excited to have my own job on Orbis. Did I get a title? The
Samiran Caretaker’s Assistant
didn’t have a very good ring to it. But wasn’t
I
the Caretaker now? I mean if I could talk to Toll, then why did they need Odran? Maybe that was why Odran didn’t want me around. Max was right, though — just three more rotations and then I could apply for Citizenship. Both Theylor and Charlie mentioned how important this job was. I had to do well. This was my chance to prove myself. Looking out over the tank, I decided to do the best job possible, no matter what Odran thought of me.

Without warning, something surfaced right before my eyes. No more than two meters away was a Samiran. It wasn’t Toll. This one was smaller and a little lighter in color — more of a gray-blue. It lifted its head out of the water just far enough so it could speak.

“Are you Johnny Turnbull?” it said in long, drawn-out vowels. My head throbbed with each word the Samiran spoke, and I stood up.

“I am. Who are you?” I said, hoping I was speaking loud enough.

“I am Smool. Mate of Toll,” she said.

“Nice to meet you!” I shouted.

“No, it is far nicer to meet you,” she said. “It has been a very long time since we have communicated with anyone on Orbis. You should be very proud. Your name will be added to a list of very honorable people.”

I squeezed my temples with the palm of my hands.

“You’ll get used to that,” Smool said. “Your small brain will adjust over time.”

“Is that why Toll is so mad? Because he can’t talk with anyone here?”

“That is for him to communicate. But would you permit me to ask you a question?”

“Of course!”

“Why are you shouting?”

“So you can hear me,” I said, lowering my voice. “I was told Samirans could not hear very well.”

“A Samiran can hear the purr of Linkian two hundred kilometers away. I am afraid you were misguided,” she informed me.

A long, deep vibration rippled through the water. It did not translate. I held my hands to my ears.

“I must leave,” the Samiran said. “Toll would enjoy a conversation with you at the start of this spoke, next cycle.”

“That’s my job now,” I said.

“Are you the Caretaker now?”

“Well . . . no, I don’t think so. I mean Odran’s still here. I guess I’m like a helper — but an important helper,” I said.

Smool sank back into the water, swirling hundreds and hundreds of liters of murky green water in her wake.
Important helper?
I’m such a malf.

I watched Smool swim to the horizon.
Why did Odran tell me they couldn’t hear very well?
Smool could hear perfectly.
Did he want me to go in the water? Did he want me to freeze to death?

I turned toward the light chute and ran smack into Odran’s tank.

“You are to inform me every time you speak with the Samirans,” he said. Odran glared at me as if he was searching for something.

“Of course,” I replied.

“What did the female want?”

“She said Toll wants to talk with me this spoke, next cycle.”

“Don’t be impressed. I will alert the Council. It is them he wants to speak to,” he said, and turned his glider away.

“Odran, why did you tell me they couldn’t hear — the Samirans, I mean?”

Odran turned back. “I never said that.”

“Yes, you did. When —”

It happened very fast. Odran hit me with some sort of prod: a metal device that sent a shock wave through my body, knocking me to my knees. I clamped my hands around my jaw, not to keep from screaming but to prevent my teeth from falling out of my head.

“Think twice before you call me a liar, knudnik,” was all he said.

By the next cycle, six members of the Trading Council had arrived at Odran’s along with Drapling and Theylor.

“Pretty impressive,” Max whispered.

“What is?” I said.

“They’re all here because of you,” she replied.

“Yeah, you’re gonna be pretty important around here,” Theodore added.

I was more worried about my teeth than what was going on around the tank. Ever since my incident with Odran, I’d been convinced my back molars were loose. I kept checking and rechecking to see if they were staying put.

“What are you doing?” Max said, catching me with my fingers in my mouth.

“Nothing.”

Another group of aliens shuffled about in long red-and-white silk robes, following the Keepers. They crept along with their feet bound together and their arms extended out from their sides as they entered the tank area.

“Nagools,” Ketheria said, pointing to the aliens.

We sat and watched from a room off the top of the great stairway.

“Nagools?” Theodore asked.

“They study OIO. We saw them before on Orbis 1, in the Trading Hall,” Max said.

“OIO?” I said.

“The art and science of cosmic energy,” Ketheria said matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” I looked at Theodore and raised my eyebrows. Theodore shrugged.

“Didn’t you see the markings?” Max said, and pointed to the circular shapes painted on the ashen face of one Nagool.

“Odran has the same one on his temple,” Ketheria said.

“I can’t look at that guy for long without feeling weird,” Theodore said.

“He’s a believer,” Ketheria said as she continued watching the procession of aliens.

Meanwhile, the Trading Council members had grown rest less, walking in circles and only stopping to shout at each other. Two council members had sent their holograms, which floated above a portable seating area attached to the platform. They, too, bickered, but the Nagools ignored all of it. I could see the water rumbling on the horizon, so I stood up and said good-bye to my friends. Toll would be at the platform soon.

“Where is the Softwire?” Drapling called out. “It is time.”

“I’m here,” I replied.

I stepped onto the platform. Everyone in attendance was staring at me, but I didn’t mind. They needed me, and that felt kind of good. I looked at the group; there was no sign of Charlie.

“Very well, then,” Drapling said. He turned and addressed the others, his voice filled with authority. “We are eager to gain a better understanding of the male Samiran’s heightened anxiety, especially since the Harvest of the Crystal of Life is once again upon us. Orbis and its Citizens, as well as a multitude of worlds, greatly depend on this particular harvest from the crystal moons. The Samiran’s work here is of great value. We must understand what is disturbing him.” Drapling’s right head said the last sentence directly to me.

I was suddenly struck with the overwhelming feeling that I would not be able to understand Toll.
But you spoke to Smool,
I tried to tell myself.
Yeah, so what?
I really wanted everything to go perfectly. I wanted to show these Citizens that I could do this. I wanted to show them that I was important, too.

Max attempted to move Theodore and Ketheria toward the platform, but a Trading Council member, dressed in glimmering silk robes, pushed them back. Citizens only, I supposed.

I stood at the edge and waited for Toll. My vest itched from the Citizens staring at my back. I wanted to scratch it. I wanted to turn around and tell them to stop staring, but I didn’t. I focused on the water and shut them out of my mind.
Concentrate. Make this work.

I followed a row of cool-blue crystals that lined the inner edge of the tank. They spread out as far as I could see, and in the distance they looked as small as the stars in the sky. The waves were closer now, and Toll slowed as he approached. The green water bubbled in front of me and the hard shell of his back broke the surface of the water, then his massive head. Toll’s eyes were half the size of my whole body, maybe even bigger. A huge flap of leathery skin with two giant nostrils partially covered his mouth. He looked straight at me, and I instantly saw sadness in his enormous green eyes. At least that’s what I felt. I’m sure he saw only fear in mine. Toll made a snorting sound with his nostrils. Odran motioned me to move forward. The protective clear skin over Toll’s huge eyeballs peeled backed as he lifted his head far enough out of the water to speak.

“I am glad to see you are here,” he said in long tones that only tickled my skull this time. The pain inflicted by his voice was lessening, just as Smool had predicted.

“Thank you for saving me when I fell in, Toll.”

“I apologize for that,” he said. “I never imagined they would be foolish enough to put someone in the tank.”

“Odran said it was the only way you could hear me,” I whispered to him.

“Odran’s motives can be obvious sometimes.”

“Please proceed with our needs, Softwire,” Drapling urged.

“Sorry,” I said. “Toll, they want to know why you’re so upset, why you keep thumping on the tank. They want to know what’s the matter. Is something wrong?”

“Many things on Orbis are wrong, my friend. . . .” Toll stopped. “I’m sorry. I do not wish to be bold. I do not mean to burden you with the obligation of friendship,” he said.

I didn’t quite understand Toll’s meaning. The central computer stumbled sometimes when it came to cultural translations “That’s all right, Toll,” I said. “We can be friends, if that’s what you mean.”

Toll’s eyes widened and his mouth cracked opened slightly. I think it was a smile.

“This is good,” he said. “It is a privilege to have a Citizen as a friend.”

“I am not a Citizen, Toll,” I informed him. “I am here to work. Just like you.”

“You do not look like a Space Jumper.”

“No, I’m a softwire,” I said. “A human softwire.”

“This is very unusual.”

“I’m contracted to work here and help out, find out what’s wrong.”

But Toll didn’t seem to be listening. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was looking past me. What was he thinking? I hope I didn’t say something stupid. I did not want anything to go wrong.

“Then you are here under the same Keeper decree as myself and Smool,” he said.

“That’s right.”

“And you must do as they say. You are forbidden to leave. You have no status on Orbis,” he said. The water stirred. Toll dragged his front fins through the water.

“So I understand how you feel. I can understand what you are going through. Tell me what’s wrong,” I said, and glanced over my shoulder.

It happened very fast. Toll thrust forward and exploded onto the edge of the tank. His big hands gripped the edge, crushing the crystal light as he held up his colossal frame. The group shrieked and shrank away. Water splattered everywhere. I felt droplets land on me, but they only managed to freeze my skin slightly.

“I am Toll. For nearly two thousand rotations I have done your bidding and cooled your crystals.” My skull felt like it was cracking again as the giant bellowed. “And now you send me a child — a slave like myself — when we are in need.”

I held my hands over my ears. This wasn’t making a good impression. I was sure of it.

“Toll, what do you mean? What needs? Let me help you!” I shouted up at him.

Toll twisted his huge head around and looked down at me. “My friend, I have no anger with you, but those you serve are guided by other hands. I know. I have seen it with my own eyes. Be wary of whom you trust. Tell them . . .” Toll lifted his right fin, and the monster teetered on his left hand. He pointed at the Trading Council. “Tell them it is time to release us!”

Toll shoved off and twisted his body in the air high above the tank.

“Move away!” someone shouted, and Theylor flung his robe around me. I was covered in darkness. I heard a huge splash as Toll hit the water. More screams.

“That didn’t go too well,” I said to Theylor as I pushed the robe away.

The water, thick with bio-bots, didn’t hit anyone, and the council members sidestepped the puddles on the platform. Everyone moved quickly.

“What did he say?” Odran demanded to know.