Chapter Text
III. Monsters
Allyman came barging into Presh's room, kicking out at the door frame angrily, almost tripping over Fenja and Liane, who were huddled on the floor, decorating their feet with UV paint. He overturned a jug of water and a stack of cups before Presh managed to get to him. She grabbed his arm and steered him out, past Fenja and Liane's curious glances, into a corner of the upper corridor which they knew from experience was a blind spot for the surveillance cameras.
Allyman was shaking, hyperventilating, balling his hands into fists.
'What are you thinking?' Presh asked him. 'Charging around like that? People will see!'
Allyman took a deep breath, as if he were gathering strength, and then said, 'This is Earth. We are still on Earth.'
And when she said nothing, he began to run, pulling her with him along the corridor until they reached the window that showed the night sky over Vexak.
'Don't you understand? There is no Vexak, there are no Vexa.'
He put his hands on the window frame and pulled. There was a tearing sound, and then the screen was ripped from its socketes, to reveal an ordinary concrete carpark in the light of the early morning.
'We are still on Earth,' he repeated.
Presh stood. She stood, and she looked. Not turning back to face him, she said, 'Does it matter?'
~
'Hythe told me,' he whispered, some time later, when the two of them were sitting, huddled together under the broken screen.
'He told me because he wants me to become like him. They'll put an implant like his in my arm.'
'And will you do it?' asked Presh, turning his hand over in her lap.
'He said Peter was already asked, that he'd already agreed,' said Allyman.
'And you are fifteen, nearly sixteen,' said Presh.
Like all peb, they knew exactly what she meant by that.
~
When, at the next training session, Allyman and Peter took their places at Hythe's side, there was a ripple of shocked whispering. Presh ignored it, and started shepherding Fenja and Liane towards the aerial hoops. They had a new routine to learn.
Leeward, Seif and Arjun were gathered in a tight little huddle at the foot of the ropes. They muttered to one another and gestured emphatically.
'Hey - get to work!' shouted Hythe. He raised his own hand, and then changed his mind.
'Peter, deal with them!' he said.
'What, use this? On them?' Peter pointed at his implant, looking queasy.
'Of course! What do you think I mean - sit down with them for tea and biscuits?' asked Hythe scathingly.
Peter hesitated, and Allyman, making a sound of disgust, swept past him, arm raised. There was a buzzing in the air and the peb clutched their heads in pain.
'Stop sitting around and start training!' shouted Allyman.
Presh hooked her arms around the hoop and began to spin.
~
She was the last to leave the Gymna that afternoon. As the other peb filed out, she remained in the heights, sitting in the hoop as Allyman packed away blocks of resin down below. When they were alone, she dropped down with a somersault to land lightly beside him. She ran a finger down the silvery implant. It felt like plastic, but cool, like metal.
Neither of them said a word. She leaned into him briefly, and then he turned off the lights, and they stopped through the doorway, and into the harsh, fluorescent glow of the corridor.