They must have hit July, because Benji said it would be hotter then. Halfway through their second week, Gale dumps water on himself in the shadow of the farmer's home.
Benji created a rota for the week. The calendar is posted on the wall in the kitchen. The paper edges are fraying, already yellowing like the wallpaper below it. Now, Gale would look at it to hope tomorrow will be better than today, but Harvey is in the kitchen. Of course he is. Harvey is only ever in that damn kitchen.
There are only two others on break. Calath balances on her knees over the kitchen sink, using a wrench to pry open the tap. It's been dripping, a sound so constant it could be mistaken for the ticking of a clock. Harvey knows it is just a beat slower, a fraction of time off from the actual rhythms of a clock.
Unfortunately, Calath's tool clicks periodically, and it's driving Titus mad. Even though Harvey doesn't mind, Titus bends over, pressing his head in between his knees. Sweat rolls down the back of his shirt. Drip. Click. Click. Click. Drip. Click. Click. Click.
Harvey tries to eye Calath, he really does. He has seen all the tool belts; Calath shouldn't have a wrench. Yet, they do. The tap clangs as it comes loose. Calath pulls out a circular metal piece, and Harvey should look but instead he's got his eyes trained on Titus. All week, every break, watching and waiting for Titus to try to flee.
Being in the kitchen, Harvey knows the schedule well. He watches it every day, waits to see how it works. Over the weekend, Benji used a tractor of sorts to remove all of the corn husks after the first round of corn was collected. Now, they are getting ready to plant the second round, which will be ready in about nine weeks for harvest, so Benji says. The groups have been rotating through stations. Hoeing, laying compost and fertilizer, planting the seeds in identical rows, and watering rows of freshly packed dirt. If it weren't for the trellises at the front of the farm, the field would suddenly look barren except for the sweaty figures of the other delinquents.
The worst job, which Kae, Eurydice, and Gale have been assigned to today, involves weeding English ivy that has begun to creep around the back of the vegetable patch, at the farthest end of the farm. The first day, when Calath, Faris, and Rhiannon Rose were assigned the task, Faris came back and slammed his wedding gloves on the kitchen table. Yesterday, Norbu didn't tell a single joke after coming back from the fields, and Cosmia was quiet, somehow more terrifying than her usual snappy tongue.
Yet, Titus was no different. All of that back-breaking labour, and Titus made no comment, had no twitch to his face, and today he is just as tired as he was yesterday. It is rare that a clock stops working and Harvey cannot tell which cog needs replacing. It is even rarer he finds a working clock and can't understand explain why it continues ticking away time.
When it is Thursday, and the sun is breathing life into the pink sky, they gather at the porch. Benji is in his truck, pulling out from beside the house. He rolls down the window.
"I've got errands to run today," he tells them. "If the farmhands say things go well, I'll take off the English ivy from you list next week."
He switches gears and pulls out.
The thought of it would make Kae cry if she was not the daughter of her father. She is used to looking beautiful, to pleated skirts and folded legs, to goosebumps on her skin left unattended by her idle hands. Beside her, Gale does cry, tears leaking from his eyes at the thought.
The groups start to head out. Faris leads his group first, and then Norbu is heading out with Cosmia, Titus wandering along side them but several metres apart. Eurydice squares her shoulders and looks at Harvey.
He shrugs, "I'm not going to make you work. But keep in mind you do share a room with a bunch of criminals who won't be happy to keep picking weeds."
She glowers at him but heads off into the fields.
The thing about bad days are they compound. Eurydice was charged with money laundering; technically accurate even in maths wasn't one of her strongest skills in school. However, bounty hunting requires a base understanding of pressure. She's used to cold nights in Flage, stumbling behind a mark, watching closely to tell exactly when he realizes she is not a drunken partier stumbling home to Leth but someone following him. Eurydice knows when enough coincidences or pains or incidents will add up too high, and a mark will spill over into terror and rage.
Normally she wouldn't care enough to think about Gale, but he's making it obvious that he's going to blow over. Slamming the watering can down in between rows, denting the metal bottom, cursing at the rust under his breath. The farmworker around them is too stupid to be antsy, or perhaps to use to scary men. Kae, however, quakes. Her hands are shaking, and Eurydice smirks.
"Kae, we're taking a break," she decides.
Gale scowls, but then looks at her and flinches. Eurydice shrugs. She grabs Kae by the elbow, fist too rough, and drags her off.
Without explaining why, Eurydice goes towards their quarters. Of course, Kae knows. She heads into her bunk and digs through the pillow with Eurydice guarding outside. Together, they head upstairs again, ignoring Harvey in the kitchen. Eurydice shuts herself in the bathroom, and Kae on the outside with her set of metal picks Eurydice helped fashion begins to work on the lock.
It takes fifteen minutes, according to the clock in the kitchen, for Kae to pick the lock, but then twenty to relock it. The time is not good enough. They need to practice relocking. Eurydice has counted the locked doors upstairs. Two. If she wants to get behind them both, she's going to need Kae to be sure she can lock the door while Eurydice stalls Benji, should he come home or intervene.
"Eurydice..." Kae trails off as they head back to their workspace.
The girl turns around, black bob swinging even though the top of it is covered with a hat. Eurydice glares at Kae, who pushes her shoulders back.
"Why do you want into the locked rooms?"
"Why do you care?" Eurydice snaps. "Be lucky I've chosen you for the job, sticky fingers."
Kae closes her mouth. She's never wanted to take something that wasn't physical. Pickpockets want things, not ideas and beliefs, but she feels her hands twitching and her mouth opens before she can stop herself, "I just want to understand."
Eurydice doesn't answer. Hiding things is second nature, first being scowling. Her criminal activities, her sister's secret girlfriend, and her inconsistent feelings for her old boss, Zephyr. She tells herself that the farmer is too good to be true, that the farmer is hiding something behind those walls. That she'll find it, blackmail him, and make more money. She'll put her talents to use. Now nearing the end of her second week, she'd be surprised if Benji had a nickel to his name or a thought in his head.
"It's cute that you think I care about what you want," Eurydice snarls.
Kae bows her head. They walk back to Gale, who only grunts when he sees her. As Eurydice begins to work again, a fist ripping a piece of English ivy that wormed its way into this part of the vegetable patch, dirt sprays across Kae's shoes. Suddenly, she is sure that Eurydice was nicer than she could have been.
~~~
When Faris leaves for his break, so does Rhiannon Rose. Group members aren't supposed to take breaks simultaneously, but if anyone ought to be an exception, it would be Rhiannon Rose. She hasn't fainted since, and her skin is now peeling off all over the top half of her body. Yet, Benji has still checked on her every day this week. Clearly, he thinks she isn't well. Despite her glares whenever he is present, he is correct. Her artificial arm is fine, supposedly. The skin is sagging in the heat, puddling at the bottom of her body. She's getting a rash.
She heads back into the little shack which she sleeps in, passing by the window at the back of the house where Benji sometimes is. Of course, he isn't home. Now, the curtains and blinds are drawn shut. Rhiannon Rose stares at it for a second too long.
The curtains don't blow in the breeze. It's a bit odd, she thinks. Rhiannon Rose has seen the way many curtains sway from the rushes of hot air in the houses she burns. These curtains seem sturdier, thicker. She wonders if they would burn slow.
After they extinguished the bonfire, her desire to see things burn increased substantially. Once, she purposefully turned up the heat on Harvey's cooking just hoping the oil would catch flame. Benji promised her they would have another bonfire on Friday, but he's rarely around except to breath stale air on her sweaty neck. He has the lighter. Maybe it won't be hers again tomorrow.
In their little shack, Rhiannon Rose washes the prosthetic arm in the cold water of the shower. They are allowed soap, and this week Benji let her have the prosthetic cleaner in the room, even though it is technically poisonous. She rarely removes her limbs back home, the doctor who fitted them telling her it was designed to stay on for weeks at a time, but here the heat has begun to make the stump of her arm and leg slick and smelly, and so now she cleans this too.
Rubbing her body clean, Rhiannon Rose thinks of fire, and hopes the sight of it is worth this heat.
~~~
On his break, Faris only goes to the kitchen to quickly fill his water bottle and grab the cookbook. Chatting with Harvey, who burnt his hand on the inside of the oven right before lunch, seems even more unpleasant now. He finds Norbu planting seeds of corn with Titus and Cosmia. Technically, Norbu is supposed to take his time off now as well, which he does by hovering over Titus. Watching him slack would be infuriating if Titus weren't leaning into the sliver of shade Norbu's shadow slices into the dirt.
"Did you talk to Benji last night?" Faris asks.
Norbu slams the palm of his hand into his forehead, "shit, I forgot. It's fine."
"You're all friendly with the farmer now?" Cosmia wipes her brow, still crouched in the dirt.
"Nobody can resist my charms," Norbu laughs. "Certainly not the pretty farmboy who lives alone, isolated from all of society."
Cosmia cocks an eyebrow. She would just ask Faris to explain rather than rely on the never-together Norbu, but now, she thinks he is perhaps the most dangerous person in North Marcanty, and she has yet to decide how she wants to talk to the man charged and sentenced to hard labour for trafficking girls to the MFZ.
"You don't think he's going to agree," Faris says.
Titus digs his hands in deeper, trying to ignore their droning voices. The shade isn't worth the distraction. The one benefit to repetitive tasks is the opportunity it gives Titus to think. Creating an escape plan requires meticulous planning, which would be easier if he had a tablet to type and save his thoughts. Instead, his days are spent memorizing all that he can discern.
"Agree to what?" Cosmia huffs. "If you're going to talk about it in front of me, might as well spill it."
"Faris wants to leave the property," Norbu looks over at Faris and winks.
The other man uncaps his water bottle and sips, "really? You're going to blame me? Dorjee, come on? I'm sponsoring your plan, not the other way around."
"This about the pond still?" Cosmia turns to look at Norbu. She crosses her arms, "this is why you're working so hard today. Trying to impress the farmer?"
Norbu rolls his eyes, "I'll go tomorrow evening without his permission, but I figured he'd rather give it to me. Mullins is lax on the rules anyway. Letting Clockwork holding knives, thinking about letting us into town. I think I can get him to allow us to go for a little swim, especially since he brought it up to convince me to come here back in the panopticon."
Faris chokes on his water, spewing it down. It lands on Titus' back, who slowly looks up. Norbu's raucous laughter scatters Titus' plan, already soaked with Faris' spit.
"Lucky that wasn't me," Cosmia shakes her head. "I'd straight up kill you."
"You in for murder?" Norbu asks.
She doesn't answer, but instead glares at Faris.
"Nah, what's it for you? I'd guess hacker, but I think you're a little to hands on for that," Norbu says. "Maybe cybercrimes, but my guess is unauthorized use of an android and theft over five thousand credits. Obviously organized. Am I right?"
Cosmia cracks her neck. The assessment is too accurate. The sun blares down on her. Cosmia is used to working in dim lit rooms, talking to criminals who have cold hands and frigid expressions. Ace is right across from her.
"Want the laundry list, do you?" she snaps. "Trafficking in substance, smuggling in substance, unauthorized use of an android, participation in terrorist activity, and homicide two. So maybe I would fucking kill someone, starting with you if you don't get off my last nerve."
She gets up and storms off.
Faris stares back at her, before glaring at Norbu. Norbu raises his hands, showing they are empty, "guess that's my break cut short."
~~~
When Benji returns after dinner, most everyone is quiet. Music plays on the radio in the lounge, where Faris and Cosmia are tackling a puzzle. Norbu bounces around the room. He's put more pieces together than both of them combined however, mostly because Cosmia hoards several pieces and refuses to go near Faris and his half. Gale ices his hands in the kitchen, trying and failing to start a conversation with Titus. Rhiannon Rose is in their too, fiddling with the burners on the stovetop. Eurydice and Kae are just making it down the stairs, Eurydice having sat in the locked bathroom and hurried out the door when headlights began to glow out in the night. Harvey had planned to wait on the porch for the farmer, but instead he hides in his bunk alone, roughly massaging the palm of his hand where the ill-fitting cane has left a bruise. As such, it is only Calath who Benji sees when he steps out of his truck.
His steps are even, little rocks in the dirt crunching beneath his feet. Calath puts down her strawberry. It's dipped in sugar, so sweet it makes her pucker her lips.
"Did good today?" he asks.
Calath nods, "yes. I think your test worked."
"Test?" he asks, furrowing his brow.
She copies his facial expressions, curious too, "yes. All of us worked. Just as hard as we normally do too."
"I'm sure my farmworkers will tell me all about it."
He gestures towards her. Calath leans against the railing, creating enough space for Benji to slip up the stairs. The hinges of the door creak as he opens it.
"Your workers don't talk."
Benji holds onto the cool metal, hanging in the doorway.
"Some of the others think they are from The ROM or Serment. The Serment government in particular is known for removing the tongues of dissidents. Regardless, your workers aren't going to tell you anything. We all know that," Calath looks out at the farm and smiles. "Still, we all did the work."
Benji looks back at her, "I didn't mean to underestimate you, Cal. I think it's a bit easy to since you are so quiet. You're really clever though."
Calath smiles at the nickname, still staring at the farm, "oh yes. If you gave me tools, I could solve your irrigation problem by the end of next week. I'm really clever."
"We will get you tools then."
"Thank you," Calath smiles, looking back at him. "Just one question, Benjamin. Are your refugee labourers cheaper? Or do you prefer employees who don't ask questions?"
In the kitchen, the tap turns on. The sound of the water in the metal basin can be heard over the katydids. The water sounds cold in how it pours, likely too cold. The breeze at night is lovely. It reminds Calath of standing on the dock in Neo Elysium, the breeze blowing over the cold water, though the smell is not terrible.
Still, Benji's face seems to contort at an unpleasantness Calath cannot feel.
"I told you that you could ask me anything," he says. "When you first got here. It was the first rule I gave."
"I just asked you a question," she points out. "And you didn't answer it."
The catydids seems to get louder.
Calath turns back around, "Good night, Benjamin."
Inside, the cold water turns off.
Benjamin adjusts the collar of his shirt and heads into his home, filled with strangers.
~~~~~
Obsessed. And, on time. I'm editing these now. Already halfway through the next one (which is also far too long). Anyway, now that I'm sketching out the rest of the book, I'd love your feedback! Anything in particular you want to see from the characters? Any events that seem fun to you? Interactions you want? Or even predictions, since of course I have some things already up my sleeve.