The Streets - Next life [ 9 ] (sci-fi series)

To Unexpected [ 8 ]

Their eyes were sunken almost to the point of appearing hollow, the skin pulled tight along the lines of the skull, the high cheekbones ridges over the concave planes of the cheek itself. The skin itself was waxy and yellowing, the colour of newspaper left in the desert sun, embalmed like the pharaohs in the history books.

Bos looked on through his light HUD, a pair of tinted sunglasses. He didn't need the use of his wired eye but he felt it would be better for the ill children not to have to see the scar. He was glad he wore them though for as he looked into the darkened wells of their eyes, tears welled in his own. He hadn't doubted the gravity of the situation as Mills described, but if there had been a doubt, this sight would have blown any shadows from the mind.

The room was filled, but it was not the first he had been in, it was the third or fourth and each was the same, lines of bunks against a wall in clean, well kept order. There were a few machines for the far gone, paintings filled with colour and the worst and most heartbreaking thing of all, games spread about on tables and floors.

To look at these children in their state of decay it was easy to forget they were human, let alone innocent children born into a hostile world. Literally. To see them sit, hunched or propped up on a pillow as they resigned themselves in near silence to their fate.

A shrill laugh broke the shuffling silence.

"Ha! You owe me 600 thousand!"

"Damn."

Boson looked in the direction of the sound and then at Mills after seeing what he assumed were a boy and girl playing a game.

"They are gambling. It is something some of them do to pass the time."

He looked back at the two playing a board game at the table.

"600 thousand? I don't have it on me now but, I will soon. That okay?"

"Yeah, I am in no hurry. Next life?"

"Next life."

A song came to Bos's mind - I Bet my Life

 

Bos walked over to the table and bent down to bring himself to eye level with the children. They smelled sweet, like overripe fruit, not bad, but off-putting.

"Why the glasses?"

"Ah, I have an eye injury and its not pretty. It has scared the kids I have met in the past."

The girl looked around the room and then with her darkened eyes and an overly sarcastic tone,

"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to bring down the looks average in here."

"Ok fine, you ready?"

Bos removed the glasses to show the full extent of the scarring and the two children leaned in to look a little closer. There was no fear, just a little curiosity.

The boy called out across the room.

"Milli, you lied, you said it was hideous."

"Oh, she did did she?"

"Yeah, she has told us some stories of you when she has had a chance to visit. Of course, since you are the 'slave driver' she isn't here often."

"Slave driver, I think she has reversed those facts a little, Mills is the real Boss."

The children smiled as did Bos. And then the girl added.

"Many of us only see Milli once while we stay here but her stories of your adventures get passed around from generation to generation of the Autumn leaves. We aren't here for long, months at the most. She does vid-link with us a couple times a month though."

"Vid-links? I have never seen a record of the transfer Mills. How?"

"I am smarter than you Bos. Or, you are too trusting of me."

"Likely both by the looks."

Boson was still surprised that all of this was happening right out of his own compound, a place he designed with a security and communication system he had designed. He was not the complacent type, nor the trusting type yet, he had always trusted Mills. He still did but this raised questions, what else has he missed?

He had been at the fortress for two days now and as he so often had in the past, in his free moments, he ran mental simulations, a diagnostic check of sorts. He would run through events, scenarios, what if situations, past action, likelihoods and any information relevant to approach what he may face. In all of the thousands of scenarios he had run, nothing like this had even remotely come up.

But systems and security aside, they had asked of him a near impossible task, get them off the planet. And, he had agreed to try. How? He himself had never been since he had arrived 20 odd years ago. It was near impossible and only a few could travel freely, and none could travel with thousands of others. This was going to take a lot more than he could do alone, a lot more than his network could do.

"Mills, we need to meet with Kaara and Heleena to get organised."

"They will meet us at dinner already."

"Then, you and I at least, must go back to the Streets."

"Good."

Bos bent down to the kids again.

"See you soon?"

"Unlikely."

The girl looked saddened but again, resigned to facts.

"What's the bet?"

"100K!"

"100?! Jeez... next life?"

Both children smiled. Bos didn't see as his back was turned, but Mills smiled too.

Taraz
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