Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Having said his piece, he leads me back off the stage, and asks me if I’m hungry. I am.
“I don’t know any of this food, though.”
“No? Oh. I forgot. You’ve been on worker rations. Come on. I’ll choose something for you.”
I find myself sitting at a window seat with an array of various foods laid out before me on a tray. I don’t quite know where to start, but they’re all good, each one better than the one before.
“Shah.”
The speaker is a big man whose eyes are far too golden to be natural, and whose skin is marked with pale designs, like reverse tattoos, and whose overall bearing is that of someone who just smashed the brains of his nearest enemy out.
“Malik,” Shah says. “This is Dreamy.”
“Hello, Dreamy,” Malik says. “Nice to meet you.”
He doesn’t talk like he looks. He looks like his voice would sound like gravel eating other gravel, and I guess his tone is that way, but he’s very refined and restrained. He speaks like an Elite. I think he might, in fact, be an Elite. I drop my fork and stare at him. I’ve never met an Elite in person before. I’ve heard them over the speakers, but workers aren’t allowed to be in the presence of their betters. I always wondered what they were like. It turns out they’re terrifyingly large and incredibly handsome and they make me feel like I’m barely human.
“Hoo… Hi…” I try to form a greeting, but it’s not happening. I have been taught never to speak to Elites. I shouldn’t even be looking at him. But I can’t stop staring. He’s scary in a very different way to the way Shah is scary. I’ve been programmed to fear creatures like this Elite, those with elegant augmentations and perfect elocution. Shah will break your body and maybe kill you if you cross him, but an Elite will exorcise your entire bloodline if you cross him. The impenetrable menace of the man is so intense I find my breathing becoming shallow, the tips of my fingers and toes tingling as my body prepares to flee.
“We need to talk,” Malik says. “Privately.”
Shah nods. That seems to be enough for Malik, who also nods, and then leaves us to our lunch.
“He’s an Elite,” I hiss to Shah when Malik is gone.
“He was. He’s an outlaw now. You don’t have to fear him. You don’t have to fear anybody here. If they have any sense, they’ll fear you.”
“I don’t think anybody would ever be afraid of me.”
“Give it time,” he says with a wink.
I don’t want to give it time. Suddenly, I want to be home. I want to be in my little apartment with my gray appliances and my gray bedding and the digital red clock that determines all the activities of my day. It was a simple life and an easy one. I knew who I was and what was expected of me. I don't know who I am or what I am here. All I know is that I don’t belong, and that there’s an undercurrent of menace in every glance and stare that comes my way. I crave familiarity and the safety of meaning nothing to anybody.
And then it all gets much worse.
“You finish eating,” Shah says. “I’ll go talk to Malik and be back for you soon.”
“You’re going to leave me here?” I look around at all the people, the dangerous outlaws whose company I do not want to keep. My entire life I have been taught that these are people to be feared — and I do fear them.
“Not going to keep you locked up in my bedroom, Dreamy,” he says, putting one last snack in his mouth. “At least, not all the time. You may have the run of my ship, all the public spaces. I’ve authorized you on my accounts. If you’re hungry, eat. If you want something you see for sale here, get it. You’re my hostage, but you’ll live free, Dreamy. As we all do.”
With that, he gets up and leaves me adrift in a sea of criminals and thieves.
Shah
“It’s fucking crazy!” I hear a scandalized female voice coming from inside Malik’s rooms. I know that voice. It’s Zeki. She went running to Malik, complaining about my choice in partner and the slap she got for mouthing off. I don’t know why she’s bothering. She won’t find any sympathy from Malik.
“You know what your problem is? You’re a fucking pussy.”
I chuckle to myself. Zeki’s temper just got the better of her again. Malik doesn’t let anybody speak to him that way. She’s about to experience a whole world of pain if I know anything.
Sure enough, I hear another sharp impact, followed by a curse. He probably smacked her ass. Yep. Sure enough, she comes racing out of the room, clutching at her butt. She catches my eye on the way past but doesn’t say anything. Might be the first smart thing she’s done all day. Someone really needs to get that girl in hand before she causes serious trouble.