The Deserter Read online

  ‘He say is good. Not to hunt you if you not to hunt him after. Is good? Shtop-mouth?’

  He swallowed, his throat so dry it seemed to have got stuck to itself.

  ‘Wh-who is it?’ he whispered.

  ‘Warden. Hanuman.’

  He dared a glance over his shoulder and recognized the leader of the guards who’d first ambushed him and Indrani with the strange metal slings. The man looked very different now. He’d replaced his uniform with clothes borrowed from the dead. This Warden was no idiot. He’d underestimated the hunter to begin with, but once he’d learned that Stopmouth and Indrani could use the masks, he’d made sure they wouldn’t be able to catch him that way. Then, rather than running deeper into the maze of the Upstairs and losing himself there, he’d turned round and followed his quarry in the traditional way, probably spying on their torches and listening out for the sound of the baby crying.

  He must have realized that his only way back to the Downstairs lay with them, yet he’d been too afraid to approach openly until the hunter had made himself vulnerable. Now Hanuman had something to bargain with.

  He swallowed when Stopmouth met his gaze. If the Warden toppled his enemy into the abyss he’d have no way across himself.

  ‘All right,’ said Stopmouth. ‘He c-can come, if that’s what he wants.’ Somehow he shoved his own terror to the back of his mind. Then, keeping his eyes on Indrani, he resumed his crawl. The ‘bridge’ felt steadier now than it had before. He realized that Hanuman must be holding onto the other end for him. It gave him the strength to continue. In no time, it seemed, he was lying on his back at his wife’s feet, thanking every ancestor he could think of for his safe arrival. He didn’t move until Indrani handed him his crutch and told him to stand up. Hanuman was coming; she didn’t want him to appear weak.

  And yet I am, he thought. His throat felt raw. He’d have killed for a full water-skin.

  But at last three adults and one baby were on the far side of the chasm.

  ‘We should p-push the bridge down now that he is across,’ Stopmouth said.

  The Warden objected through Indrani.

  ‘He not want’ – she pointed down – ‘noise. His friends see he hunt with us, much very bad for him! No noise below!’

  Stopmouth shrugged; his wife was already eager to reach the last doorway.

  His stomach gave another lurch when he followed her through. In front of them lay an amazing sight: they were standing on a platform inside the giant shaft they’d previously only seen through a curtain of slime. It was fifty man-lengths across and perfectly circular. Looking straight up or down was almost impossible for the hunter. But he hated to show weakness before the Warden, so he embraced his wife and used her support to look out at it. The top of the shaft disappeared into blackness, with only a small number of flickering or fading blue lights to push back the gloom. Except at the very top, where a few of the random tracklights he’d seen in the park lay scattered. He wondered if these too might later be replaced by the rising of a sun.

  And yet none of this was important. A Globe nestled against the wall right beside them, its metal shell glowing blue. Dozens of others lay along the length of the shaft. A few of them flickered, and Stopmouth felt sure that if he could get up close, he’d see beads of slime oozing out of them. But not this one, thank the ancestors. Indrani disentangled herself from her husband to rub her hand against its surface.

  ‘Is good,’ she kept muttering in Human. ‘Is very much good.’

  Far below, one of the craft moved off from the wall, its colour already dulling as it floated down and away. Somebody must be flying it, thought Stopmouth. The fugitives were no longer alone.

  Indrani opened the Globe. She reached inside and emerged moments later with rations and a few small bits of equipment. These she kept to herself, one eye suspiciously on Hanuman, who didn’t look as if he could have lifted them, let alone run away. Then she divided out the little water boxes, which the men consumed as fast as they got them. Stopmouth’s stomach was already growling at him again.

  Finally Indrani produced the Globe’s Talker and brought it to life.

  ‘At last,’ she said, all traces of an accent gone.

  ‘Yes,’ said Hanuman to her. ‘How lucky, though, that you and I spoke the same language!’ He gulped down another box of water. ‘The bridge might have been a problem otherwise.’

  The three sat in silence after that, feasting on the horrible rations. ‘This place is worse than anybody thought,’ said the Warden. ‘I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.’ He shivered. ‘The Roof will need years to bring it all back to normal again.’

  ‘After you get the Cure?’ asked Stopmouth.

  ‘Yes. Well … I’m sure we already have it, but it will need testing. It had better be quick, though. That stuff in there, that slime – it’s alive, I’m sure of it. And it knows what it’s doing.’

  Stopmouth agreed. When he looked back through the two doorways, he thought he spotted movement. But no. The only things he could see in the flickering green light were capsules that seemed to be sinking into the floor. Like the houses in Digger territory back home.

  ‘We have to go,’ he said.

  ‘What about me?’ asked the Warden. ‘Indrani swore you’d help me get back to the Downstairs.’

  Stopmouth grunted. ‘And then you turn us over to your friends in the Elite?’

  ‘I don’t have friends in the Elite.’ Hanuman laughed. ‘Nobody does. They’re practically all dead now anyway. But that’s not the point. Just get me back alive and I’ll say I found my own way out.’

  Stopmouth didn’t like it. Once he had trusted every promise made to him as though it were a legend of the tribe. No longer. Especially not with these Roofdwellers who fed off his people’s suffering and called it ‘fun’.

  ‘I’m going to have to tie you up when we get there,’ said Stopmouth. ‘For a day, maybe. To give us a head start.’

  ‘About time,’ said Hanuman.

  Stopmouth didn’t know what he meant by that until he turned round and saw two filthy Wardens emerging from the room with the ‘bridge’. They carried the dangerous metal slings and had cuts all over their faces. Perhaps these were the ones he and Indrani had ambushed with the rope. Or perhaps they’d found Hanuman later on. It didn’t matter. One pointed his weapon at Indrani and one at Stopmouth. Before the hunter could react, Hanuman had rolled to his feet and joined them.

  ‘I wasn’t completely lying,’ said Hanuman. ‘We did want you to find a way out for all of us. And you have. Don’t get up, savage! I told you we weren’t going to underestimate you again. Now, throw your crutch over the edge of the shaft. Throw it!’

  Stopmouth did as he was ordered, seething with anger. If only he’d crossed the bridge quicker and hadn’t been such a coward!

  ‘We were thinking of capturing you too, savage,’ continued Hanuman. ‘If only to use as leverage to make your wife talk to the Elite. But …’ He gestured to where Indrani stood with the baby.

  ‘It’s not my child,’ she said. Despite her mild tone, Stopmouth knew she was furious too. She had believed Hanuman.

  ‘I’ve seen you feeding it,’ said the Warden.

  Indrani shook her head emphatically and put the baby down.

  ‘Listen to me,’ said Stopmouth. Both the metal slings were pointed at his head now. He knew they could fire faster than any weapon back home, and probably with more force. However, the men might well be bluffing. Every other piece of Roof machinery they’d brought to the Upstairs so far had stopped working, and the same must be true for these. And the men weren’t in good condition either. None of them had eaten, being too squeamish to take advantage of the banquet all around them. Their hands shook under the heavy metal of their weapons. No, crippled as he was, he’d call their bluff.

  He raised his two hands in the air. ‘As you can see, I can’t even stand on my own, and my wife—’

  Indrani chose that moment to thro
w the Talker with all her weight behind it. It knocked one of the sling-men backwards in a spray of blood. The other man fired his weapon in panic, pinging off the floor, buzzing past Stopmouth’s ear.

  The hunter rolled to one side in time to see Indrani kick Hanuman in the stomach. The sling went off again.

  ‘Don’t shoot her!’ shouted the winded Hanuman. ‘Get the sav—’

  Indrani kicked him again, while the Warden who’d been hit with the Talker moaned and clawed at his face. The last man didn’t care about orders – he intended to live. He pointed the metal sling at the charging woman, but before he could use it, Stopmouth, crawling in from behind, pulled his legs out from beneath him. His head thunked against the floor.

  ‘But I thought their slings wouldn’t work any more!’ he said.

  His wife ignored him. She marched over to the winded Hanuman and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Stopmouth grinned. To think the man had been so keen not to underestimate the hunter!

  ‘You threatened a baby?’ shouted Indrani. ‘My baby?’

  Hanuman didn’t have time to answer. Indrani transferred her grip to his ears, then dragged him back through the door and over to the pit.

  ‘No, Indrani!’ said Stopmouth. ‘Don’t do that!’

  ‘Don’t do what?’ she said, her voice bordering on a sob. She kicked Hanuman twice, but not as hard as she could have. She pointed across the chasm. ‘Get over there,’ she said to her victim.

  ‘And have you knock the bridge down after? No thanks … I’d rather you just threw me over directly.’

  ‘I promise I won’t knock away the bridge.’ Her voice was filled with fury and Stopmouth wasn’t sure that even he believed her, especially after Hanuman had broken a pledge of his own. ‘I want you to be far enough away that when we take off, it’ll be too late for you to follow us. Otherwise, yes, I accept your kind offer to let me throw you into the pit.’

  Hanuman swallowed. Indrani let him go and he crawled across the bridge, much as Stopmouth had done that first time. She kicked the man’s comrades until they followed after him. One of them was still bleeding and moaning in pain. Broken nose, thought the hunter. Shock too. They all looked beaten, but Hanuman still had steel in him, the type born of humiliation that would not let him rest.

  ‘You see?’ Indrani growled at them. ‘We won’t knock the bridge away.’

  ‘But how … how can you trust us to stay here?’ asked the Warden chief.

  ‘Oh, you’ll stay, Warden. We have your guns now.’

  ‘You don’t even know how to use them.’

  She laughed, not pleasantly. ‘I’ve seen your men operating them. Point and pull the little lever, yes?’

  His eyes widened, and Stopmouth saw that she’d scored a direct hit.

  Indrani gathered up the weapons and the baby. ‘We have to leave now,’ she said. She nodded in the direction of the Globe. Stopmouth limped towards it, surprised at how quickly his ankle seemed to be healing.

  The hunter had been inside one of the flying craft once before. They’d been built so that they could never land on the surface of the world – the closer they got, the harder the surface pushed them away. But that one had crashed after a fight with another of its kind. It was little more than a shell that had fallen over the hunter and trapped him alone inside. He’d made matters worse by pressing some of the little buttons in the cabin; firing weapons, disgorging rotten food.

  He hadn’t seen any seating on that occasion and he couldn’t find any now. He paused, embarrassed.

  He felt Indrani coming in behind him. She pressed one of the magic buttons and a ledge unfolded right where he needed it. A niche formed above it too, roughly man-shaped. He jumped when straps slithered out from the walls across his chest and lap.

  ‘I need you to hold Flamehair,’ said Indrani.

  ‘I … OK, I will.’ He reached for his brother’s baby, but Indrani didn’t hand her over.

  She narrowed her eyes, and he realized he’d failed to keep his reluctance hidden. She was still panting from the exertion of the fight, her muscles tensed. I’m for it now. But in the end Indrani just shook her head.

  ‘Look at her, Stopmouth. She’s a miracle. Look at her. She should have been his. Instead, she can be yours. If you want her. If you think you deserve her.’

  ‘I’ll … I’ll try. I promise, Indrani.’

  ‘No, you don’t need to try, my love …’ She surprised him with a sudden, slow kiss. ‘You won’t be able to help yourself – it’s your special weakness, Stopmouth. You love everyone when you get to know them.’

  ‘That’s not true. I hate him, I—’

  She shook her head sadly. ‘I’m the one who hates him. You only think you do. Now, here. Take her. Keep her.’

  He nodded. His wife strapped herself in and he clutched the child to himself, feeling the warmth of her against his chest.

  ‘Ready?’ she asked.

  She didn’t wait for his reply. She spoke a word and the whole Globe lurched upwards and back. We’ve left the platform, he thought.

  ‘View,’ said Indrani.

  The walls of the Globe disappeared. The floor too. Stopmouth’s gorge rose and he struggled not to be sick. Beneath his feet lay only an eternal fall away into nothing. He dragged his eyes up. He was hovering in front of the doorway. He could see through to the bridge: Hanuman was already halfway across. Indrani grinned, her eyes pure malice.

  ‘They threatened Flamehair,’ was all she said.

  A green line arched towards the lintel above the doorway and collapsed the whole ceiling. Stopmouth imagined he could hear screams from the other side.

  ‘You killed them,’ he said.

  ‘Wrong. I’ve trapped them. What else could I do? I promised not to touch the bridge.’

  15. SEEDS

  THE GLOBE’S VIEW swung round as they sank down into the shaft. Here and there along the great walls, Stopmouth could see areas of rot and eaten metal. Sometimes trails of slime dripped down from a Globe, its luminosity dead, to another that was still to be infected. However, more and more as they sank, they saw strong, healthy walls, and soon they were even flying amongst other Globes. Here at last, Indrani’s anger gave way to nervousness.

  A voice echoed around them – Stopmouth felt sure it had come from another of the craft.

  ‘Who are you? What’s your authorization to be here? No machinery is allowed from the Upstairs – levels thirty and higher are in technology quarantine!’

  Indrani snarled a reply. ‘Your rules don’t apply to the Elite, idiot. This is Commission business, and if you tell anybody you saw us, you’ll find yourself starring in your own little adventure on the surface. I hope you like the taste of meat.’

  The voice didn’t come back, and Stopmouth saw a nearby Globe darting away from them.

  Indrani wiped the sweat from her brow and they sank further.

  A floor lay beneath them, covered in small flashing lights. Holes opened in it here and there, and Stopmouth spotted other craft arriving or exiting through them. A yellow light shone beyond. It looked familiar to him, reminded him of …

  ‘The Roof!’ he said. Or at least the part that he had looked up at during a lifetime on the surface.

  ‘Yes.’ Indrani smiled in spite of her nervousness. ‘I can talk to it now – can you?’

  ‘What about your secret? Do you have it back yet?’

  ‘Not yet, Stopmouth. I need … I just need to get us somewhere quiet so I can concentrate. We’re a bit exposed here. All these landing platforms will be occupied by technicians.’

  And because the Roof was with them again, Stopmouth knew immediately what that meant.

  No Religious lived here. The local tribes worked, all their efforts given in service to the Wardens in exchange for extra rations. His hands felt damp against Flamehair’s skin as they neared the floor.

  ‘Open up,’ said Indrani, the same arrogant tone she’d used when challenged by that other Globe. ‘Commission business.’


  ‘We need authorization,’ said a voice. ‘And your craft … By the gods! You brought one down from the Upstairs! Are you mad?’

  ‘All the more reason not to leave us hanging here,’ said Indrani. The sweat sheened her entire face now. Her body was sopping with it. ‘Let us through or start practising your spear-fighting skills. I swear—’

  ‘Permission denied. Please hold – we’ll have somebody reel you in.’

  The whole inside of the Globe began to shake.

  ‘Away!’ shouted Indrani.

  The vibrations suddenly grew much stronger. The Globe was trying to move, but some invisible force held it back.

  ‘Forward emergency thrust! Now back thrust! Back!’

  The baby was wailing, and Stopmouth’s teeth rattled together like a pouch full of slingstones. He heard a screeching sound within the cabin – the siren, Indrani called it – and a groan came from the metal at his back as though it was about to wrench itself apart.

  But it didn’t happen. Instead, the force suddenly released them, and they shot right up into the air while other Globes swerved in all directions to avoid them. Then the floor seemed to charge towards them again.

  ‘Fire!’ roared Indrani.

  A green light burst forth and the metal base of the shaft exploded around them. Molten pieces trailing flames seemed to fly towards Stopmouth’s face, only to rattle thunderously against the invisible metal skin of the craft. Everything shook, and the ever more urgent siren drowned Flamehair’s wail of despair. Above them, Stopmouth could see that other Globes were gathering now, hunters around the injured prey.

  But a jagged hole had appeared beneath them, haloed in Rooflight. Beyond that, albeit a long way down, lay Stopmouth’s home.

  The Globe surged towards the gap. It’s not big enough! thought Stopmouth. But they only gathered speed. The hunter had time to clasp his brother’s child to his chest, and then they were through – or almost. A huge clang sounded next to his ear. The whole craft shuddered and the external view disappeared, leaving only the terror on Indrani’s face across from him, and dozens of winking red lights.