Tethered Twins

Chapter Twelve

Emmie Keyes

I knew two things for certain. The first was that Grace was hiding something from me. The second was that I needed her as an ally and that whatever crimes she and her friend had broken to get me this far were worth the deceit.

For now I needed Grace on my side and that meant hiding my suspicions. She clearly had friends in powerful places, that much was true and when we had finished in TethTech answers would need to be shared.

“Everything ok Emzie?” asked Grace, after she finished her interrogation.

“Yeah,” I hushed my voice so it couldn’t be overheard by the guard. “The documents worked like a charm.”

“Excellent, for a second I thought I may have to go in guns-a-blazing!” Grace was far less quiet. Does she have a gun?  I thought to myself. This was just a research mission and talk of firing guns didn’t appeal to me. I’d only bought my own gun with me to protect myself.

“Well let’s get going,” Grace grabbed my hand and dragged me towards a huge sign that showed the different routes through Birmingham. “TethTech,” said Grace and the map zoomed into show their building on the map alongside the words “TethTech is located on Broad Street on the Pride line, Building B.”

In front of us were five large buildings, each of them enormous warehouses with giant letters from A-E on the front of them. We headed towards the building with a giant letter ‘B’ that filled the entire front of the building. A ramp led up from the floor and we entered through the lower part of the B.

Inside the warehouse was a platform that filled the building from left to right. As I looked up I could see what looked like two or three more platforms that could be accessed through a sequence of stairs. A further set of stairs also descended downwards to what I assumed were more platforms.

“We want the Overground Level 2, come on Emzie,” she continued to hold my arm and led me up a wide staircase towards the 2nd level. The station was buzzing with activity and everyone around us seemed to be in a rush. Heads down, legs running, no one in the entire station seemed to say a word to each other, even couples that were clearly together.

 We dashed through the crowd of people to our platform and saw the giant train sitting on the platform waiting. Coloured in a metallic grey and designed with a curved shape it gave the presence of a giant bullet. Inside the train there were two clear compartments, one for the haves and one for the have-nots.

The haves would prefer to keep Birmingham all to themselves and at one time it had been that way. Prices had risen in the city to such an extent that it had become possible for only the wealthy to live there.

But the have-nots fought back. They built small towns on the edge of the city to provide things that the wealthy could not. Food, clothing and shelter were still three basic human needs and there would always need to be people to provide the raw materials and put the work in. So the edge of the city had large blocks of farmland and factories that provided food, clothes and building supplies. The have-nots were also worked in the city power plants to do the jobs the rich felt like they were too good for.

In return they didn’t receive a salary but were guaranteed a place to live, heating, electricity, clothes, and food for their family and a rail pass for their daily commute. They got the bare essentials, with clothes that were usually unwanted rags from the rich and food that was often the leftovers from city centre stores that would go off that day.

If they wanted anything else they could only get it by keeping back some food and selling it. A trade that was seen as illegal. If the Government couldn’t make tax from something then they’d arrest you. Unlike the town I grew up in, bartering was strictly forbidden.