Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (26 page)

“Papa?”

“Yes, what is it?” Miles said, suddenly snapped out of his day dream.

“What’s it like to have a beard?”
she asked with a puzzled expression on her face. Miles reached up to his chin and rubbed the hairy surface. He hadn’t really noticed due to everything else that had happened since his arrival, but he’d grown about an inch of dark facial hair. There was a public barber in The Dustbowl, that seemed to be where everyone in town got their hair and beards trimmed, but Miles was far too timid to leave Ransom’s Fresh Meat if he didn’t absolutely have to. And so his facial hair grew.

“I don’t know
, it’s weird. I used to shave every morning before work, I’ve never had it this long before. What do you think? Shave it off or keep it?”

“I like it, you look tough and strong,” said Lucy, then she scrunched up her face
, “hmm, but maybe you could go to the barber and get it tidied up. You look a little homeless right now.”

“Haha,” Miles laughed, surprised at Lucy’s frankness
, “I’ll keep that in mind, next chance I get I’ll be sure to get a trim.”

“Who’s ready for grub?” Guppy shouted kicking open the swinging doors that separated the kitchen from the dining area. He was carrying two steaming plates full of delicious
ly cooked food. He slapped the plates down on the table in his boisterous manner and Miles and Lucy poured over the scrumptious sight before them. On each plate was a full breakfast. Two fried eggs, two sausages, two rashers of bacon, beans, black and white pudding, two pieces of toast and a fried tomato.

“This looks amazing, I’ve never seen a meal like this on Gyaros!”
said Miles in amazement.

“Well you
all must never have been outta The Dustbowl then! Them freaks like to live like savages. I got a sister who works up in Humber Dam, it’s another day’s trip north from here, much more sophisticated than them Dustbowl weirdos,” he said twirling his index finger beside his temple to indicate their lack of sanity. “She brings me food supplies once a week and comes to visit granny. It’s good grub!”

Miles and Lucy had already tucked in and began devouring the
delectable meal. It was the single best thing that Miles had tasted in the weeks since his arrival on Gyaros and he savoured every bite. Suddenly things began to brighten up. ‘Maybe it’s not such a crazy dream to get to New Fortune. Maybe The Dustbowl really was the worst of it!’ Miles thought. Guppy returned from the kitchen again, this time with a big glass jug full of orange juice and two clean glasses.

“I’m going to need you to fill up the truck with pe
trol,” said Miles between mouthfuls of scrummy sausage and egg, “I’m also going to need some blankets, a map, a gallon of fresh water, a few cans of food and a box of bullets for my revolver.”

“No problem sir, I’ll have them al
l placed in your vehicle when I fill her up,” said Guppy with a bow and went about collecting all that Miles asked for.

“So Lucy,” said Miles and she looked up from her plate to meet Miles’ eyes
, “my plan is to get to New Fortune. New Fortune is…” but before Miles could finish his sentence Lucy began to speak quickly and in monotone.

“New Fortune is the capital of Gyaros, founded in -97 by the Talos Corporation. After the War of Unification in year one, Talos
Corporation lost control of Gyaros and it was taken over by the four criminal syndicates: The Force, The Wilhelm Militia, The Machine and The Sons of Talos. The Machine will rise again, The Force must be crushed…” Lucy snapped out of her trance- like state.

“Whoa, what was that?” Miles asked reaching across the table and placing his hand on her left shoulder
, “are you okay?”

“Y
-yeah, I think so,” she replied shaking her head and looking utterly confused. “I don’t know why I said that,” she continued, scratching her head.

“I guess it’s your memory coming back. But how do you know that stuff? They don’t teach that in school you know!” Miles exclaimed.

“I couldn’t help over hearin’,” said Guppy stepping back into the diner, “makin’ your way to New Fortune huh. Well here’s what ya wanna do.” He spread a large map of the area across the table where Miles and Lucy were sitting.

“
Now you wanna continue north to Humber Dam, whatever time you leave today, that’s what time you’ll get there tomorrow. Assuming of course that you take a break at night and catch some shut eye, if you know what I mean.” Guppy winked at Miles and gave a lecherous look toward Lucy.

“Oh my G
od!” Miles shouted standing up, “how dare you insinuate anything like that!” Lucy looked on, befuddled by Miles’ sudden change of demeanour.

“Hey,” said Guppy holding up his hands
, “I ain’t said nothin’. I know better than to go asking about people’s business. All I know is you ain’t her daddy, you a white boy and she’s slant eyed. It’s your business mister, I ain’t gonna ask how you came about this pretty little thing, hell I seen worse things in my time.” Miles, although deeply offended that this wretched hillbilly could make such a disgusting assertion, knew he had to listen to what Guppy had to say. The success or failure of their trip to New Fortune depended on it. Miles took a deep breath and reluctantly resumed sitting.

“So as I was sayin,” Guppy cleared his throat
, “head north to Humber Dam. My sister Adara runs a little motel and repair shop there called The Pit Stop, you should talk to her, she’ll take care of ya and she’ll give you the low down on how to get to New Fortune.”

“Thank you,” said Miles
begrudgingly, still peeved by Guppy’s opinion of him as someone who would take advantage of a child, and he folded up the map.

“So how much do I owe you?”
asked Miles.

“Breakfast, full tank of gas, map, water,
food, bullets…” Guppy counted under his breath doing the mathematics, “all together that’ll be one hundred and eighty Talons.”

Miles had no idea if that was a good
price or if he was being ripped off as he was still getting used to the cost of things in the local economy. Miles stood and pulled a handful of coins out of his pocket, placing ten Talon pieces into Guppy’s palm until he had counted eighteen coins.

“There you go. Thank you very much for your hospitality, I honestly don’t know what we would have done without you,” Miles smiled, his outrage fading in the face of gratitude for the lifesaving food and fuel.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Guppy said, laughing. “I’d better go give granny her sponge bath, you two finish yer grub and I’ll catch y’all again if yer ever heading back to The Dustbowl.”

“I
don’t think that’ll be any time soon,” said Miles with a shudder, “thanks again though, we’ll finish up and be on our way.”

Guppy left the room and Miles once again took his seat.

“So what’s at New Fortune? Why do you want to get there so bad?” asked Lucy still munching away on her breakfast.

“Well, you see I had a friend on Carthage, he told me a secret,” Miles lowered his voice and leaned over the table
, “he told me that there is a way to get back to Carthage, and the way to get back is somewhere in New Fortune.”

“Wow really?!” Lucy exclaimed before lowering her voice to a whisper
, “so you can be with your family again huh. Umm, I’d like to go back too, I’d like to visit Chet and Hellen, they sound so nice, and well I don’t remember my family so…” Lucy stared at the ground looking utterly miserable. Miles had planned to give Lucy to the first decent people he could find. The journey to New Fortune would be filled with danger and it would be cruel to put a child though such an ordeal. He didn’t care if he died trying to get back to Carthage but he could not justify putting Lucy in any more danger than he already had. Miles hoped that he would find someone at Humber Dam that could take Lucy in and care for her in the manner than she deserved, with love and affection, not taking part in a suicide mission to New Fortune. But right now he couldn’t dash her hopes. Miles smiled and placed his hand on her head.

“Of course Lucy, I’m sure Chet would have lots of fun playing with you.”
Lucy smiled and began pouring herself a tall glass of orange juice from the jug in the middle of the table.

“All my friend told me was tha
t I need to get to New Fortune, when I get there I need to find a guy called Mesa and I need to show him this…” Miles reached into the top pocket of his shirt where he kept The Machine token and pulled out the silver metal cube. As he did so Lucy looked up at the token and the smile dropped from her face, her dark eyes widening. The large glass jug fell from Lucy’s hand and smashed on the ground sending glass and orange liquid across the tiled floor of the dining area. Miles stiffened in shock at Lucy’s reaction and sudden change. She looked up from the cube in Miles’ hand to his eyes at which point she growled, her face contorting into a terrifying grimace. Then without warning she shot across the table at speed and threw herself at Miles. He yelled and fell backwards off his chair, the token skittering across the floor. Lucy sat on his chest, grasped him around the throat and began choking the life out of him. Her face was full of anger and rage as she slammed Miles’ head against the hard floor with strength beyond her age. Miles grabbed her wrists and tried desperately to pry her clawing hands from his strangulated neck. But to no avail. She would not budge. Guppy rushed into the room, his sleeves rolled up, his arms dripping with water and soap suds. He was no doubt alerted by the crashing sound of the shattered jug.

“Haha, see mister, sometimes they fight back,” he laughed
, “well I’ll leave you two to settled yer differences, just leave another five Talons for the jug you busted.” Guppy left the room.

“Ly…cy,” Miles managed to mutter between the gurgling and spluttering “Lucy…it’s…me…Mi…les…” The feeling of fleeting consciousness swept over him as the room became dark and blurry, he had only enough breath for one last attempt to reach the wild girl.

“It’s…me…Lucy…your…papa…” as the word papa left his purple lips she stopped, her grip loosened and Miles coughed and gulped for air, the colour slowly returning to his face. The room was silent and the usual softness and kindness came back to Lucy’s eyes.

“
What happened? How did I get here?” she asked genuinely confused. Lucy looked down at Miles who was coughing violently, bright red finger marks were beginning to appear on his neck. Lucy looked down at her hands and began to understand what had occurred. Tears filled her eyes, and her lower lip shook.

“
I-I’m so sorry papa, I don’t know why I did this, please forgive me, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Lucy buried her head in Miles’ chest and wept wildly. Miles, who was still getting his breath back, placed his hands gingerly onto her back and head, stroking gently.

“Shhhhh, it’s okay Lucy, everything is okay. I forgive you
,” but inside Miles knew that everything was not okay. ‘What the fuck was that?!’ he wondered to himself, ‘she just lost it, she nearly killed me! It was when she saw the token, that’s what set her off. Speaking of which, where is that damn thing?’ Miles searched the floor as Lucy continued to bawl, soaking his cotton shirt, finally he spotted it sitting in a puddle of Orange juice. He reached out, grabbed it and secreted it back into his top pocket, making sure Lucy didn’t notice.

“It’s ok
ay Lucy, papa’s here, everything is going to be just fine, don’t you worry,” Miles continued to sooth her as they lay there on the cold tile floor.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 18

Out on the open road again Miles and Lucy sped toward their destination: Humber Dam. Lucy was back to her normal self, cheery and upbeat, but although he didn’t show it, Miles was deeply concerned. ‘I need to get this girl to someone who can help her. She’s clearly traumatised, and quite dangerous. I certainly won’t be showing her the token ever again and I should be careful what subjects I bring up with her. Keep things fun and safe until I can leave her with the right people.’

“It’s good to have a full belly right?
” said Miles.

“Mmm hmm,” Lucy nodded now nibbling on some chocolate that Miles purchased at Guppy’s before heading out. Miles was a father and he knew that a yummy snack would always help put a smile back on the face of a youngster.

“We’re not going to make it to Humber Dam today so we’re going to have to bunk up again like we did last night. We have blankets now though so we should be much more comfortable tonight. Oh and we have food too, so no more rumbly tummies,” he smiled and looked over to Lucy, who had gone serious again.

“The Machine,” she said in a serious voice
, “I don’t like The Machine, I don’t know why but…” she winced as if her thoughts were causing her physical pain “…The Machine…they are bad…people.”

“You mean the
criminal syndicate?” Miles asked once again perplexed at her level of knowledge on the strangest of subjects.

“
The Machine develop and use robotics, they are fascinated by technology and much of their criminal activity is based around hacking, infiltration and cybercrime,” recited Lucy as if reading from a fact sheet, “developers, hackers, roboticists and robotically augmented humans are recruited by The Machine and put to work in The Machine controlled sectors of New Fortune.”