Condemned (Death Planet Book 1) (11 page)

A cart of caged newbies rolled past, pulled by a hauler that hissed and sweated under the load. Daniel stared at the sullen faces of the two naked girls inside, and tried to ignore the rest of their bodies. Neither looked like Erica.

A drone hovered above the cart. More buzzed in from the sides as Guy and Daniel approached the gates, and their cameras moved in for closeups. Guy's drone wobbled nonchalantly above their heads.

“How do those drones know what to do?” Daniel said.

“Smart programmers. They look for large groups of people, or people moving in certain ways. Running, hiding, whatever. And the ship downloads new firmware and drops new drones every time it delivers a new cargo, so they program in points of interest, like this one. Or people of interest. Like me.”

Guy nodded to the Guards, whose gaze followed him as he strolled past, then through the gates. Daniel looked down, and sweated as he passed them. Better to look at the ground than cause trouble and end up on a spike. Unlike Guy, he didn’t have a gun, and didn’t know how to use one, if he did.

Then he was through, and he risked looking up. No paved streets, autocars, moving walkways, or air-conditioning like home. Just mud, a wooden boardwalk, and piles of garbage. Lopsided wooden buildings were randomly scattered along the boardwalk, with alleys where there was space between them. Wooden shutters covered the windows instead of glass, and dirty people with piggy eyes watched his every move. A few stalls filled a patch of mud in the street beyond the boardwalk, where capitalists showed off their wares. Some were no more than just a cloth spread over a crate, or a chopped down tree trunk. The more up-market had poles supporting a sunshade.

The whole place smelled of shit, piss and rotting meat. Not least because of the piles of animal parts and rotten vegetables beside the food stalls. Even so, Daniel’s mouth oozed saliva at the smell and sight of unidentifiable lumps sizzling in pans over open fires beside the stalls. He could eat just about anything now, after hours of walking on what little he had managed to keep down last night.

“How many people live here?”

Guy glanced at the stalls as they passed. “Five hundred, probably, either working for the King or selling to the rest. But it gets bigger all the time, as new shipments of newbies arrive. Then there's the slaves, and all the traders passing through, looking to buy or sell whatever they have. More of those than actual city people, I'd reckon.”

“And this is the biggest city on Hades?”

“First city on Hades, and the biggest I've been to, but who knows what's over the mountains, or on some other island?”

“No-one's been to see?”

“Some of the merchants say there are cities in Over The Sea that make Kingston look like a village, but the lying shits will say anything to make a shiny.”

“I need to find a way home.”

“Kid, I don’t know what you think you're going back for, but you're just wasting your time dreaming. There's no way back. The shits who sent us there made sure of that.”

“I just don't want to end up like...”

“Me? Life's tough when you can't rely on other men to kill for you. I just get on with it. One day you'll understand.”

Guy wandered across the street to one of the food stalls, pointed to some of the items on display, and handed over a shiny. The man behind it wrapped two pies in large leaves, and gave them to him.

A high-pitched voice yelped. Daniel spun around. Metal clattered against metal as a man wearing a rough chainmail suit with a sword on his belt strode along the boardwalk. He led a girl behind him, by a leash around her neck.

Daniel's heart jumped.

Long, dark, brown hair. Perky breasts beneath the thin cloth that hung over her body. Could that be? He stared into her sad brown eyes for a second, before she pouted and looked away.

No, it wasn't Erica.

He had to stop looking for her. She wasn't on Hades. She couldn't be Condemned. Her comrades would make sure of that. She was back home, safe in her barracks.

He would never see her again.

Ever.

Guy strolled back, dodging passers-by and carts entering the gates, and held a pie out to Daniel.

“Don’t worry, there aren’t any animals in it this time.”

“What about people?”

“Kid, I don’t want you to starve, but I’m not wasting my shinies buying you the good stuff. It’s all plant shit. Just eat.”

Daniel took it and sniffed. It smelled sweet, more like fruit than vegetables, and was wrapped in some kind of leathery pastry. It certainly didn't look, or smell, like the rabbit from the night before.

“It’s good,” Guy said, and bit into his. He stared at the slave-girl's wiggling ass as the man led her away along the street.

Daniel bit into a corner, and chewed. Sweet and crunchy, and... oh. His mouth began to burn as the heat spread across his tongue, and around his lips. He gulped it down, and coughed as the fire seared his throat. He opened his mouth wide, and sucked cool air over his tongue, until it carried some of the heat away. If that failed, he was going to have to stick his face in the river to cool it down.

“Oh, yeah,” Guy said. “It’s pretty spicy, too. Helps hide the taste of the crap they put in it.”

Daniel wafted air over his face. It was slick with sweat, and glowing. He wasn’t going to risk another bite until he’d cooled from the last one.

Men yelled.

“What’s that?”

“Slave Square, and the King’s slave market is open. Come on, let’s take a look.”

“I don’t need to see that.” The experience on the boat had been enough for one day. More would only trigger him worse.

“Yes, you do.”

Daniel followed Guy along the street, chewing as he went. He’d eaten spicy food before, and it never agreed with him. Most times, it had gone straight through him, and came out the other end a few hours later. He didn’t see any bathrooms around, though he’d seen a couple of men crouching and straining in the alleys. Which could explain why the place smelled so bad.

The yells grew louder as they walked. Then the street opened into a wide square. A raised wooden stage stood in the centre, and a banner hung from the front.

CLEARANCE SALE
.

A crowd of men, and a few women, milled in front of it. Carts were parked behind, where naked men and women stared silently from the cages in the back. A girl grabbed the bars of her cage and tried to rattle the door, but a whip cracking between them pushed her away.

“Are those...?” Daniel said.

“Mostly newbies who landed yesterday, yes. This is where you’d have ended up, if I hadn’t rescued you. Remember that, next time you want to complain about me.”

Garry strode out onto the stage, and cracked a whip toward a naked girl as two Guards pushed her out beside him, her arms and legs tied, and mouth gagged.

“Turn around,” he said. She glared at him. He raised the whip. She stared at it, then turned.

“What will you bid for this lovely prize?”

A man in the front row raised his hand. “Ten shinies.”

Garry pointed his whip at the man. Then he grabbed the girl’s ass, and wiggled it until her body shook. “She’s worth at least a hundred. You can make that back in a week.”

“She’s got no tits,” another man yelled.

Garry grabbed her small breasts, and wobbled them. For a second, her eyes met Daniel's, then she closed them. “What do you call these, then? She’s got everything a man could want.’

“And a face like a mule.”

“You don’t have to look at it.”

“I’ll still know it’s there.”

“Then put a bag on her head.”

The crowd laughed.

“I can see you're all experienced lovers,” Garry said.

They laughed again. A woman near the back, with long ears and a striped, furry face, raised her hand. “Twenty.”

“Come on now, comrades. Today’s lots are the last of the new batch. When they're gone, they're gone. Who knows when the King will have more for sale?”

Daniel lowered his pie. He didn’t much feel like eating any more. “How can you do this?” he yelled.

Garry raised a hand to shade his eyes from the sun, and stared at him. “Was that a bid, young man?”

“How can you stand there, buying and selling people like that? They’re human, not animals.”

Guy’s elbow nudged Daniel. The crowd glared at him, and their hands fidgeted with knives and swords on their belts. But he wasn’t going to stop. The others might accept this, but he never would.

“Comrades, the World State brought slavery to an end many centuries ago. How can you start it again? Would you want that to happen to you?”

“I'm sorry,” Garry said, “I thought you were a young man. I didn't realize you were a little girl. Perhaps you should take your bleeding heart back home, and have a good cry with your dolls,” He turned away. “Twenty shinies was the last bid.”

The first man raised his hand again. “Thirty.”

“I'm not a girl,” Daniel yelled. “I just have a heart. Not like the rest of you.”

The girl on the stage stared at him.

Garry held out his whip. “Perhaps you would like to come up here and run the auction for me?” The crowd laughed, and Garry turned back to them. “I heard thirty. Any more bids?”

Daniel grabbed the edge of the stage. He’d show the man. Guy pulled on Daniel's shoulder, dragged him away, then leaned closer, so he could whisper. “The King says slavery is OK. No-one’s going to stop them.”

“But how can they treat people like that?”

“A big bag of shinies soothes a lot of guilty consciences. If they have a conscience to start with.”

“No more bids?” Garry said. He shaded the suns from his eyes with one hand as he scanned the crowd, then cracked his whip. Then he smacked it against the girl's ass. “Then thirty it is. Your cock has found a bargain today, comrade.”

That was it. Daniel twisted from Guy’s grip. Guy grabbed for him as he climbed up onto the stage. His fingers slapped against Daniel’s ankle, but Daniel pulled his foot away.

If he did one thing with his time on Hades, he was going to show this man how wrong he was. This patriarchal, oppressive garbage had gone on for far too long.

“Let her go. “ Garry just stared at him. Daniel turned toward the man who had bought her. “She’s your comrade. She has her human rights. You can’t do this.”

Garry cracked the whip at Daniel’s feet. He squealed as he jumped back in surprise. The crowd laughed. Garry cracked it again. Daniel dodged, and lunged toward Garry, but the Guards stepped in the way and grabbed Daniel’s arms. He struggled, but they just gripped him harder, squeezing his arms until pain shot up to his elbows. Then tighter still, until they cut the circulation, and he could barely feel them.

“Get off me,” he yelled. “I have rights, too.”

The Guard to his left swung his free hand. The world froze for a split second as his clenched fist punched Daniel’s face. Then a wave of pain filled his head, like nothing he’d ever felt before. Daniel panted with shock. His heart thumped, and he suddenly wanted to pee. He’d never been in a fight in his life, and he’d already lost this one.

Garry looked around the crowd. “Whose boy is this?” He glanced toward Guy, and looked at his guns. Then pointed the whip his way. “Is he with you, comrade?”

Guy shrugged. “He’s kind of been following me around.”

The thump of drums, and a metallic whistle, floated into the square. Metal clunked, and something hissed.

Garry pushed Daniel from the stage. “Then keep him under control in future, if you want to keep him.”

Guy grabbed Daniel as he fell. The crowd backed toward the buildings, making space. A group of Kings’ Guards strode through the square, with shiny scales on their leather armour, and guns, bows and swords at the ready. Two drummers lead the pack, two more followed behind. A boy blew a whistle at the front. The drummers thumped on their drums with shiny gold sticks and stared resolutely ahead, as though the rest of the world was beneath their notice. Drones buzzed around them, recording the show.

Something else lumbered along between them. Something tall and metallic, surrounded by a thick grey cloud. The Guards on the stage stood at attention as it approached.

The metal thing towered above the accompanying Guards. It looked like a man, but a metre taller, and made from metal, with hinges at the elbows and knees, and blades on the hands and feet. Shining chimneys rose above the shoulders, and smoke and steam poured out of them. The joints crunched and ground as it moved. A giant robot?

No. Red eyes moved behind dark, triangular holes in the thick, iron head. Lips showed in the rectangular hole beneath. There was a man inside all that metal. One who didn’t look like he needed all those guards.

The Guard at the front of the procession held a revolver high, and smacked Daniel on the chest, pushing him away.

“Clear the street for the King.”

Guy pulled Daniel aside, into the shadow of a nearby inn, and handed him his pie. “I did tell you not to be stupid. You’re lucky the King came by when he did, and gave them something more important to worry about. Otherwise you’d be the next one up for sale.”

“You could have done something.”

“Kid, I like you, but I'm not gonna die to save you.” Guy tapped the butt of his revolver. “Lucky he didn’t know that.”

Daniel leaned against the wall as he watched the metal man and his guards approach. The crowd by the stage pressed against the walls, and faces appeared at the windows of the buildings around the square, watching the procession.

“That's the King?” Daniel said.

“What did you think he'd look like? He had an integrated exoskeleton back home, for working in the docks. PubSafe took out the nuclear power pack before they sent him here, but the Brain managed to build a steam engine to replace it, with some gear from the pods, and what he could make.”

Daniel had read about kings, in EdCamp. Monsters from the Capitalist era on Earth, before his ancestors fled to the stars. Evil men who murdered their way to power, then used it ruthlessly to keep their place, and ensure their children would rule after them. Everyone did what they said, or else. Everything in the world belonged to them, and they’d cut your head off if you tried to use their stuff. Even Capitalists were scared of Kings. They made the most corrupt commissar look about as scary as a hamster asleep in its nest.