Forging Zero (44 page)

“What?”
Joe asked, frowning.

“Fire.”
  Her huge eyes were aglow with interest, the pupils dilated so
fully they appeared black.

Joe was
a little stunned.  “Yeah.  All the time.  My dad barbecues with his buddies on
the weekends.  He’ll cook hot-dogs and bratwurst for us on his grill.  Mom
bought him one of those nice big ones with the lids that fold down that’s got
enough space inside to roast a pig.”

Yuil
cocked her wrinkled head. 
“What are ‘khot-doks’ and ‘bratweers’?”

“Food,”
Joe said.

Yuil
looked shocked. 
“You use fire on your
food?”

“Hell,
yeah!” Joe cried.  “Have you ever tasted barbecued ribs?  My dad makes some
bomb-ass ribs.”  His stomach groaned with the memory.  “It’s a thousand times
better than that scummy shit, I’ll tell you that for
free
.”

The
young Ooreiki stared at him. 
“Scummy shit?”

“You
know.  The stuff that tastes like something they scraped off the inside of an
aquarium?”  At Yuil’s continued blank look, Joe said, “The green slime.  Kids
have been adding the salt buildup from their skin after runs, just to make it
taste better.”

Revelation
brightened her eyes. 
“You’re talking about recruit food.”
  Yuil laughed,
a froglike croaking in her throat. 
“Recruit food’s never any good.”
 
She reached into a fold of her clothing and withdrew a bundled package. 
“Try
this.  I can get you more, if you like it.”

Gingerly,
Joe took the bundle, afraid it was something alive.  Up until now, he had never
seen an Ooreiki eat.  As far as he knew, they ate giant scorpions by the
fistful and washed it down with glasses of arsenic.

At
first, he thought the substance inside was a piece of ceramic.  It detailed a
solar system, with each planet a different color and pattern, some of which had
moons and rings, all etched with delicate precision.  It smelled lightly of
mint.

“You
recognize it?”
Yuil asked. 
“It’s one of the
new spices they found on Earth.  I was told it was quite common…”
 She gave
the solar system a dubious glance.

Joe
took a breath, allowing the smell to reach deep into his lungs.  After the
ever-present rotten stench of Kophat, it was decidedly a slice of heaven.

“You
like the smell, don’t you?”
Yuil said. 
“I
can’t stand it.  The spicers were insane to bring it back with them.  It’s like
the downwind side of a Dhasha.”

Joe
glanced up.  “Can I have this?”  His heart was pounding, his fists wanting to
tighten on the tiny morsel for fear she would take it away again.

“Take
a bite.  It’s food.”

Joe stared
at the intricate detail.  “You
eat
this?”

“Of
course.  The chefs enjoy making it as much as we enjoy eating it.”

“I’d
rather save it for the smell,” Joe admitted.  “This planet stinks like someone
cherry-bombed a fucking outhouse at a shitting contest.  This shit fucking
reeks.”

Yuil
gave him a blank look.  “That is something I never understood…  I’ve done some
research of your language and am puzzled.  Why do you humans have such an
obsession with orgies and bodily excrement?  You are as filthy as the Jahul and
the Dhasha in your speech, but even the Jahul don’t have such a barbaric focus
on reproduction and waste elimination.”

Joe
felt himself flush, because, for the first time since leaving his home, he had
felt himself ‘let loose’ as he would have with other Earth teenagers.  “Never
mind,” Joe muttered.  “Can I keep it?  To save it?”

“I
can get you as many of those as you want, Choe,”
Yuil said. 
“Don’t worry about saving it.”

When
Joe still did not move to eat it, the Ooreiki forcefully broke off a tiny moon
and held it out to him.  Joe reluctantly touched it to his tongue.  It had a
sweet-tart taste that diffused throughout his entire mouth, leaving it swimming
in saliva.  It was…different…than anything he’d tasted before, more complex and
bitter.  He knew that he would have spat the strange flavors back out on Earth,
but here, he hadn’t eaten anything so good in his entire life.  His stomach
screamed for more as he swished the last little bit around in his mouth,
savoring it.  He couldn’t remember tasting anything so wonderful, partly
because he couldn’t remember exactly what food on Earth tasted like.  Despite
describing lasagna and chicken pot pies to the kids during storytime, his
memories of those things were fading just as surely as the rest of it. 

“I
can’t remember what food tastes like.”  Joe stared at the candy solar system,
feeling as if he had failed his home somehow.  How could someone forget what
food
tasted like?  He was pretty sure, then, that whatever drug Congress was feeding
them, it was intentionally wiping away their old alliances, like a wet rag
cleaning off a chalkboard.  The idea frightened him more than fighting the
Dhasha.

“I
will bring you more,”
Yuil said. 
“They have
exotic foods in a little shop at the edge of the third ring.  It’s got a bunch
of Human stuff right now.  I can easily get more.”

“I’ll
pay you,” Joe blurted.  Then he lowered his head.  “Somehow.” 

The
young Ooreiki’s sudah began to vibrate in a laugh. 
“You’ll pay me nothing,
Choe.  Food is free here.  The shopkeepers would even give you some if you
ask.  Everyone wants to see a Human close up.”

“Thank
you,” Joe said, as he stared at the candy through tears.

Yuil
stood up suddenly, whipping around to face the entrance. 
“Peacemakers are
nearby.”
  She held up the akarit.  It had changed from gold to black. 
“Probably
just a sweep, but I’ve got to hide this.”
  She placed the akarit inside a
small bluish metal box and shut the lid. 
“If they come inside, there is a
tunnel behind us.  Run down it.  It will take you a few days, but the tunnel
leads all the way to the ground.  Takki made it when they were hollowing this
place out.”

“What
about you?” Joe asked, her obvious fear infectious.

“Don’t
worry about me.  I’ll pretend I was sightseeing.”
 
She stiffened. 
“They’re getting closer.  Go to the tunnel.”

Joe,
being the one training to be a warrior, felt as if he should somehow try to
take the brunt of their elopement.  “But I—”

“Go
now!”
Yuil snapped, shoving him towards the back
of the room.
  “If I’m caught with you, it’ll be the end for both of us.”

Biting
his lip, Joe ran into the deepening shadows.  He found the tunnel, but his body
simply locked up as he stared at it.  It was only about four feet high and four
feet wide.

That’s
a Takki tunnel,
he thought, panic swelling up from
within.

“Get
inside!”
Yuil cried. 
“Hurry, Choe!”

Joe
couldn’t do it.  He tried, but his limbs started shaking as soon as he ducked
his head to enter.  He felt like he was going to puke as he backed out again,
shame weighing down his chest like a tumor.

Yuil
scowled at him, then went to the entrance to the cave.  After a few long
moments outside, she walked back to him, sudah fluttering in a hum. 
“They’re
gone.  What is the matter with you?  Why didn’t you go down the tunnel?”

“I’m
scared of tunnels,” Joe said.

Yuil
blinked at him as if he’d said Dhasha had fins. 
“You’re afraid of
tunnels
?”

Joe
swallowed bile.  “Yeah.”

Yuil
was giving him a strange look. 
“But you can’t—”
  Then she looked away. 
“Never mind.  We must get back before they find you missing.”

“Will
you come back tomorrow?” Joe asked.

“Maybe,”
she said, looking uncomfortable.

Which
meant he had disgusted her and she wanted to get rid of him.

Shoulders
slumping, Joe followed her to the haauk
.
  “Thanks for the food.”

Yuil
said nothing and gestured for him to board the hovercraft.  Once he was
settled, she flew him back to the barracks in silence.

Once he
unwrapped the now-green cloth from his shoulders and handed it to her, the
Ooreiki wordlessly guided the haauk off the balcony and back out over the plaza. 
Joe was turning to go back into the barracks when she called his name from
above.  She was holding out the akarit box. 
“Here.  Take this.”
  She
dropped it into his hands. 
“You might need it someday.”

Joe
stared at it.  Despite wishing earlier she would do this very thing, Joe didn’t
want it.  “You don’t have to,” Joe said.  “You probably need it.”

“I
have others.”
 Saying nothing, Yuil turned off and
was gone.

Joe
stared after her in shock.  He didn’t understand.  She acted irritated, upset
with him, but had given him the akarit… 

…Then
she had flown away without a word.  He glanced down at the little box.  It felt
cold in his hands, dangerous.  He had to fight off the impulse to throw it over
the balcony. 

What’s
wrong with me?  I should be happy.  This could get me home.

Yet,
the longer he held the akarit the more he didn’t want it.  Deciding to hide it
until he found a safe way to get rid of it, Joe reluctantly took it inside the
barracks.

Maggie was
awake and sitting up in bed when Joe stepped into the sleeping quarters.  She watched
him enter with an accusing look, following him with her eyes as he undressed
and hid the akarit in the bottom of his clothes chest.  When he stood up to get
under the covers, she was still scowling at him over the other sleeping
recruits.

“What,
Mag?” Joe demanded, so tired he was near-delirious. 

“Libby
told me you left with some Ooreiki.”

He
frowned.  “Yeah, so?  It was only for a couple hours.”

“You
missed storytime,” Maggie said.  Her eyes added,
Asshole.

“Oh.”  Joe
grimaced.  “Uh.  Sorry, Mag.”

“Yeah
whatever.”  Maggie rolled over and went back to sleep, leaving him feeling like
a jackass.

CHAPTER
21: 
Sleeves

“Did
you give him the akarit
?
”

“Yes.”

“But?”

“But
what?  I gave it to him.”

“There’s
something you aren’t telling me.”

“There
is, but I doubt you want to hear it.”

“Say
it.”   

“He
almost got us both killed.  I realized Peacemakers had followed me and tried to
get him to hide in a tunnel, but he was too afraid.  I had to kill them both.”

“He’s
afraid of Peacemakers?”

“He’s
afraid of tunnels.”

“
Tunnels
.”

“You
see our problem.”

“But
the signs clearly point to—”

“A
grounder is useless if he can’t fight underground.”

“We
could pay to have him treated.”

“And
risk a recurrence?  I’ve seen things like this before.  It might be too deep to
treat.  It could come back at any time.”

“What
will the Army do?”

“He’s
hidden it well enough until now, but when they find out, they’ll get rid of
him.  They’d have to add a hundred turns to his enlistment to make it worth
their while to treat him, and a grounder’s projected lifespan is only sixteen.”

“They’ll
cut their losses?  Sell him?”

“Yes.”

“That
makes things simpler.”

“If you
still believe he’s the one we want.”

“He
is.”

#

Despite
his exhaustion, Joe woke early, a thousand different worries racing through his
head.  He and Yuil had evaded Peacemakers.  He was now Fourth Platoon’s recruit
battlemaster.  He had to lead a hunt.  In tunnels.  Knowing he wasn’t going to
get any sleep with
that
thought on his mind, Joe finally pulled his
exhausted body out of bed and tried to find something productive to do.

His
eyes caught on Libby’s gear.  She had finished modifying her pack.  It now had
a third strap, one that tied across her middle.  Joe frowned at it, wondering
how much trouble it would get them into. 

He
sighed and pulled out his jacket to look at his four-pointed star.  He finally—
finally
—had
battlemaster.  He would no longer be watching on the sidelines. 
He
was
the one Nebil would yell at when things went wrong.

What
if I screw up and he puts Sasha back in charge?