Chapter 27: What's Mine is Mine
Shay woke up to a tapping at the door. "Come back later!" She insisted. It continued.
"If you don't stop knocking, I'm going to put you in a bag and shake you up and down."
Knock, knock, knock.
"Blegh!" She rolled out of bed, groggy, and answered the door. An official-looking person was behind the door.
"Are you Shay Solis?"
"Never heard of her," she said, ready to go back to bed. When she tried to slam the door, the gloved hand of the uniform in front of her stopped her push. "You and your cohorts are asked by the Prime Minister to join me."
Vesta and Priscilla were returning at this time, joining the other two in the doorframe. "Oh sweet," Priscilla commented. "Field trip, where we going?"
Shay ducked out to go freshen up for the day, leaving everyone else to iron out the details. When she hopped in the car, she had no idea what she was getting into. They drove east, to a point on the island far from the dense inner city.
They saw little at first, but, gradually, everything came into view. A great mine was beneath them, with an incredible density of people descending via dozens of elevators, going deep into the earth. The miners entered blasted caverns to inspect for... what?
"This," said the uniform, "is a Lindium mine."
"And I thought the trees were big!" Priscilla commented.
"How is this kept secret?" Vesta asked.
In a sorrowful voice, the uniform replied, "An ungodly amount of paperwork. Plus, smuggling."
"The Prime Minister is offering you limited access to these resources as a show of good will, and you are encouraged to continue covert joint military operations with Redwood intelligence services."
Priscilla and Vesta shared a look.
"While you think about that, we have prepared your escort to Hirudinea."
--
"I don't know what I expected," Shay commented. They were dropped off on the shore of their great looming enemy, and then their escort boat left. They were in the middle of nowhere. "Should we just... walk?"
"I guess so," Vesta replied. They did. It was seven kilometers to the nearest building, part of a small town. The stores and housing looked fairly clean and safe, but the roads were littered, and not much vegetation was growing there. In fact, the general area seemed pretty dry, despite its proximity to the ocean.
"So, what's our cover story?" Priscilla asked. "Remember, there's no way Vesta's face isn't going to be recognized."
They thought about it for some time, and made full use of the supplies they were given by the Redwoods. Shay covered Vesta's face in bandages. Priscilla picked up another fake face at some point, somehow. Shay could only cross her fingers. They knocked on a door.
"Hello," Shay said. Being the youngest among them, she was using her best "broken child" voice, which wasn't that hard to tap into. A husband and wife answered the door "We're on the run. I'll be upfront: can you take us in for the night?" She used Curtains to make the couple hear one other say "yes" to the idea.
They joked about how this would be a trial run for when they were ready to have kids, which was odd, considering they seemed well into their forties. Shay, Vesta, and Priscilla sat down at their dinner table, happy to have the hospitality after such a long walk. They certainly looked the part of stranded, tired strangers.
Priscilla took the first shower, despite Shay's evil eye, leaving just the four at the table. "Well," the wife said, "we're Mr. and Mrs. Marble, welcome!"
"Again," Shay affirmed, "thank you for letting us be guests in your home. I assume you want to know why we're stranded like we are?"
"Well..." The husband started. "I know it's not our business, but, of course we are!" His genuine laugh made Shay feel surprisingly comfortable. Vesta wanted to scream.
Shay drew on the knowledge she had absorbed from Tenra. "Well, we're from down South, around Arroubton. Pretty much our whole extended family was working in retail, and then our place got shut down by the soil creep. We were all unemployed, everyone started fighting, and soon, we just split. We three are one of the groups that stayed together after everything. We've hitchhiked and used public transport, but we had to walk the last few couple of kilometers. We don't know where we're going to go after this."
She was an incredible liar, and with the help of Curtains, even Vesta believed it for a second. Her knowledge of Hirudenian affairs was helpful for making it convincing.
"My cousin twice removed here, she..." Shay leaned and whispered, as if she wasn't actively hoping Vesta could hear every word. "She was mugged, and her face was cut pretty badly. We ran after her when we knew it was happening, but we were too late. She was too helpless to defend herself."
Vesta kicked Shay's shin under the table. Then, once more for good measure. Shay winced, but played it off, "sorry, I just get so emotional thinking about it..."
"Oh, you poor things," Ms. Marble said. "You get comfortable, and we'll make sure you have a place to go tomorrow. In the meantime, get showered and eat all you like."
--
"2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner?!" Shay shout-whispered. "These people are animals. No wonder we're fighting a war against them." She dabbed at her hair with a towel.
"Focus," Vesta commanded. "We need to do the battery trick again, and you need to keep an eye on those two in there." They eavesdropped for a minute, and decided, "actually, let's keep an eye on them after they're done."
Priscilla crept outside and peered through the window. Oh, jeez, he thought, are those ropes? The couple was sleeping soundly now. Then, he saw the husband stand up and rub his eyes. The current must have passed through him, Priscilla figured. He remembered that Vesta was positioned right outside their bedroom door, so he snuck to the side of the house, and began his sketch. After some more quiet movement, they had a new sketch of the world.
(show tha sketch)
"Now, before you two go to bed... Shay, show him the pictures." Vesta ordered.
Shay pulled out her Port, and Priscilla saw what they were talking about. They were images taken the day before.
"Shay, these are pictures of the back of your hand."
"Well, yes, I had a weird mole, forgive me for wanting to talk to my doctor about it." She zoomed in. "But, if you would look in the background, we stole away with some proof of the Lindium mine's existence."
Priscilla leaned in and squinted his eyes. "Huh. So, what do we do with it?"
"The question of the night." Vesta affirmed. The three sat together chewing on it. They had no obligation to keep quiet about this, unlike everyone on that island. The information was more powerful than their Kits combined.
"I guess the obvious is we just take the offer from the Prime Minister. She annoys the shit out of me, but I'm sure we could find something to do with the stuff," Shay suggested.
"Like what?" Priscilla asked. "Actually, let me double down on that. What are we supposed to do with it? Make weaponry? For a small group of people who are mostly already armed? I guess we might know some people that could make... something out of the Lindium."
Vesta spoke up, "I have an idea. What if we tell Gorschez about it?"
"Oh, nice!" Shay said. "If we have a second enemy, we'll always have a good excuse for losing!"
Vesta shook her head. "No, listen. Gorschez has made it clear he favors the old aggressive foreign policy of when Leonastan first became a country, so he would totally find a way for go for this. Then, Hirudinea seizes the opportunity to pounce on Leonastan, leaving Cremsillian untouched."
Shay chimed in. "Right. After the war, Leonastan was actually the first to make a move on Cremsillian. But, they weren't so subtle about it, or as clever as Hirudinea, who came after them."
"So, you really think they'll take the bait?" Priscilla asked.
Vesta argued further for her idea. "They're a country that has not been to war in a few decades. Plus, given what we know about Gorschez, the current administration should leap to the fight."
"So, we put the two against each other to take the heat off of Cremsillian. What about the people who actually live on Redwood?" Priscilla asked.
"What about the people who are still de facto under Hirudinea's thumb?" Shay proposed. She seemed to be siding with Vesta now. "Imagine what could be done if Hirudinean troops were gone, and all that remained were the stragglers from the old Alogos military? Damn, the whole continent could be back under Alogan control, but the new Alogos, with Maro in charge."
Priscilla shook his head. "I don't know... Just, if you do go through with this, give the people of Redwood a warning. Not only that, but we'll need to act fast if, like you suggested, Hirudinean troops start retreating. I don't even know what any of us could do, besides join if a fight already started. Please, think before you act."
Vesta asked to see Shay's Port. After some research, she sent messages to the appropriate departments of the Leonastanian government.
--
In the morning, Priscilla sat and ate breakfast with the Marbles. He watched the news, because the Proctor had asked him to record what it was like. The lady delivering today's information discussed the "soil creep" thing Shay had mentioned the night before, as well as bringing up some internal political moves. He searched for mention of the ongoing conflict in Cremsillian, and he found it, but only in the scrolling bar underneath the talking head. Despite the ongoing discussion of political activity, and the consistent mentions of Banner, there was nothing to do with his military decisions. Priscilla inferred that this news station must be one somewhat opposed to Banner, but the criticisms were only directed at domestic policy.
"So, forgive me if this is a touchy subject," Priscilla dared. "But what do you think of Banner?"
The husband and wife looked at one another, then Mrs. Marble hesitantly said, "We're not the biggest fans."
"Oh?" Priscilla raised an eyebrow. "Neither am I. He's totally..." Priscilla took a guess. "Totally unpresidential."
"You think so?" Mr. Marble seemed to disagree. "He's pretty composed, and I respect him as a person, but I'm really on the other side when it comes to his competitive trade policies. His tariffs are enough for him to lose my vote in the next election. Plus, he pushed that Family Funding act which... ugh."
"The next election?" Priscilla was confused.
"Uh... yeah?" Mr. Marble replied. "You don't seem like you're too young to vote. Have you not...?"
"Oh, no, yeah," Priscilla stammered. People are voting this guy in? I guess it was silly of me to assume that he's a king or something. "I just look old, first time I'll be able to vote is the next one."
"Alright, alright..." Mr. Marble dropped the subject and went to get another bowl of cereal. Priscilla made a mental note to try out all the Hirudinean types of cereal before he left.
--
After parting with the Marbles and doing some hitchhiking, the group made it to the center of their sliver. Now, Vesta thought, we have to do the battery trick again, in the middle of their territory. "Priscilla, you said you had a face guy, right?"
"Well," he hesitated. "I do. In Cremsillian. But, hear me out..."
"What's our scheme?" Shay asked.
"If our last thing had people thinking we were street performers, why not just lean into that? Shay and I could go buy some masks, and we could act like it's some deep commentary on the futility of death, or something."
"That sounds trite and empty," Vesta commented.
"People love that stuff," Shay insisted.
--
"Wow," a woman in the crowd commented. "Do you think this is Banksy?"
"Shut the fuck up, Brenda. You weren't even alive when Banksy was a thing," another commented.
One of the performers were drawing some odd shapes on the ground, and another looked like she was about to hit a suicide attempt with a battery and a piece of metal. The third was chanting ominously, but had a very young and high voice, so it was more uncomfortable than scary.
The moment came, and some lucky audience members had the chance to stand in the chalk lines. They watched from up close as the daring, muscular woman electrocuted herself. She lay sprawled on the ground. She's going to get up, right? was the general thinking of the crowd.
With a great grumble, the masked lady did get up. The crowd was still held in silence, waiting to hear the punchline.
"Yo," one of the performers yelled, "she almost died, can we get some applause?!" The performers then pointed to one of the people inside the chalk outlines, and began to discuss something amongst themselves. They were pointing in one direction: North.