The Compound Read online

then the pilot flooded them with gas they could explode. It had something to do with the chemical instability of the natural gas on Beta Earth and how different it was from Earth gas, which was pretty much used up besides being extremely expensive to import. But she’d been raised on the old models. Her father taught her to fly in them and had her work on duel engines enough to know how far she could push them. It was what made her interested in science in the first place. The knowing of how things were made. How to make them work and come alive. Although she doubted she could fix an engine now, she still remembered the way perfectly synchronized engines felt under her fingertips and to never, ever flood them if they weren’t.

  Once in the city she took a room in a motel and started searching for ways to get Brian off the planet. On Beta Earth, the Compound had the reign of all planet-wide surveillance. If she stayed there they would find her within a matter of days. Even Earth and Deltan were too close. Her best option was to take Brian as far away as she could. Perhaps she could join a ship’s crew or a new far off colony. Somewhere far away out of the Compound’s reach.

  She located the docking stations and looked up the departures in the next three weeks. There were two. The first was a ship called the Galaxy V. It was a commercial ship that carried tourists and business people between the three main planets and was scheduled to leave in a week. The second was called Rosebud’s Revenge and was a cargo ship. It was scheduled to leave in three weeks.

  Allia figured she would check both ships out and set off for the docking stations. The streets were pretty quiet, but as she drew nearer to the docking stations more and more people rushed about. There were vehicles with cargo, fuel and other materials backing up and landing all around her. She could make out the Galaxy V from a whole street away. It was huge. White panels and silvery accents covered the parts that she could see rising above the buildings and warehouse.

  As she entered the main hanger she searched for the first person in uniform. A woman with her blonde hair pulled into a tight bun.

  “Excuse me,” Allia said. “I’m looking for passage.”

  “See the ticket desk,” the woman said without looking up and she jerked a thumb at the left side of the building.

  Allia turned and made her way over to the glass doors leading to a brightly lit room with counters. She hesitated just a moment before crossing under the scanner. It would mean the Compound would know she was there if they were tracking her. They would also be able to respond faster once they knew Brian was missing. She might not make it off the ground.

  It took fifteen minutes of awkward waiting outside the door, before one of the blue shirted employees came out from behind the counter and exited the door. Allia wondered if she should leave more than once, but she refused to let her feet walk away without talking to one person.

  “Excuse me,” Allia said hurrying after the young man. “What would I have to do to get passage on this ship?”

  “You need to check inside.”

  “I know, but I just want to know about the process, not to actually buy one.” Yet.

  The man stopped and turned around, a tired look on his face. His eyes glanced down at her blue card in her palm.

  “You’d need exit permits from Beta Earth and entrance permits to your destination. Galaxy V is going to Deltan and then back to Beta Earth. Unless you already have entrance permits to Deltan that process will take five months. And the ticket would be about 20k.”

  Five months? Allia muttered a quick thanks although the man was already walking away. She slowly followed him out of the docking area and then looked up to see where Rosebud’s Revenge might be located. Unlike Galaxy V which she could see streets away, the only indication of Rosebud’s Revenge were the few people walking to and from the eighth hanger.

  She was relieved to see that there were no scanners on the doorway of the eighth hanger, but the men inside wore clothes that hadn’t been washed and automatically cast wary, angry eyes at her when she stepped inside. It took several tries to get someone to talk to her, but she finally found a young man not more than 19 who didn’t look quite as hardened as the others. He gave her directions to the loading dock where she could find a Captain T.J. Harrell and then he quickly stalked away.

  The first thing Allia noticed as she entered the loading dock was the sharp stench of manure and then her ears were assaulted with the rumble of a deep engine and the riot of cows and chickens all crying to be free. Large wooden crates, some completely covered and others with open slats were stacked so thickly in the room there was only a small path. Allia strode through them with care making sure her clothes did not touch the splintered wood and tear.

  A group of men stood in the center of the loading area. They were circled around two handheld devices and the men were arguing and jabbing their oily fingers at the screens and the crates. Allia waited for a few minutes until two of the men stomped off. A broad shouldered man with a trimmed goatee and baseball cap with a sports logo Allia didn’t recognize. Probably because the team was from a different planet, although it could have been on Beta Earth since she couldn’t remember the last time she’d watched a game.

  “Captain Harrell?” Allia asked.

  The man’s eyes hardened as soon as he saw her. “I told the last guy I have no comment.”

  “What?” Allia blinked. “No, I’m not a reporter... My name is Allia Washington. I wanted to ask about purchasing a ticket.”

  Captain Harrell’s expression didn’t change much, but it softened just enough that Allia felt it was okay to keep talking.

  “I mean. I actually need two tickets. One adult and one child.”

  “This isn’t a passenger ship,” Captain Harrell stated. He eyed her from the soles of her shoes to the top of her graying hair. She was glad she wasn’t wearing the traditional Compound uniform.

  “I know.”

  “Our flight path doesn’t take us to Deltan or Earth and the space stations we visit are not child friendly.”

  “But you are departing in the next three weeks and I can find another passage from a space station.”

  The Captain shrugged his shoulders. “All passengers need certified travel documents including entrance and exit permits presented a week in advance. If you have that then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Again she would need travel documents. “Is there a way to travel without all the permits?”

  “Are you talking about a bribe?” The Captian’s tone grew dark.

  Allia shook her head. “No, I was just looking for other options.” Her voice faded a bit at each word until she couldn’t hear herself over the noise of the engine and animals. Her skin grew hot and she knew her face was turning red. This man would not help her. He’d insinuated that she wanted him to break the law. And it was with a start that she realized she did.

  A cow kicked a nearby crate and Allia’s arm jerked at the sound. Her heart was sinking fast. There was no way to get an exit permit. Not without alerting the Compound that she intended to take her son and run.

  She was walking down an abandoned street before she realized she’d even left the dock. The buildings and street names were unfamiliar to her. One of the suns had already set leaving the other to cast deep shadows although it was still the early afternoon.

  For a moment she paused wondering which way to turn.

  In the silence there was a dry squeak like rusted metal on rusted metal. She followed her ears and saw a surveillance camera turning from pointing down another street to face Allia’s position. The rusted mounting made the camera jerk and pause as it tried to obey a command to move with parts that didn’t have the capacity to do so. For the next few seconds she was still out of the camera’s view. There was no way to know if this was a routine change of position or if someone was watching her, but the reminder that she was not alone was enough to send her scurrying around the next corner and the next until she was certain the city’s surveillance could not see her.

  At her next turn she found herself facin
g an alley with a dead end. The concrete grew cold under her feet as the scent of rotting meat and urine curled around her nose. A young boy the same age as Brian froze in the midst of reaching into a dumpster. His blue eyes watched her with the weary alertness of a raccoon. Then he went back to his search, yet she knew he was still very much aware of her.

  The boy was so small and frail. She wondered where his parents were or if he had a place to stay. He found a half-eaten sandwich and immediately began stuffing it in his mouth. Allia was horrified and stepped forward to stop him, but the boy sensed her movement and jumped down from the dumpster. He ran to the end of the alley, pulled up a rusty grate and slipped down into the water drain under the street.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell the boy to wait, but what would be the point. She wouldn’t be able to give him a lift home and all of her money was invested in the broken dream of leaving the planet. She could have taken the boy to social services or an orphanage. She paused. Even an orphanage would be better for Brian than the Compound was. Suddenly her feet found purpose and she navigated the streets with the aid of a map on her handheld until she found the nearest orphanage.

  It was in the heart of the poor section of the city, but Allia liked that. The surveillance was ancient and some of the street cameras she saw had frayed and rusted wires