"The Class of 2012"
36. Pre Revolution
The Phisto Hub
They had to leave the barracks again, before they could risk being caught. If ever any of the slaves were perceived to do anything that looked like gathering, cooperating in too large of a group, the masters would see to discourage from ever doing it again, and if any of them had ever experienced this punishment, they were sure to pass on the rule to those more fortunate but less informed. Remy and Constance had worked out the plan together. The rest of the group would be sent to hide off in the shop where Constance worked, and after nightfall, or as close to it as the Phisto Hub would ever have, when there were much fewer clients about, the two slaves would leave their respective barracks and join them there.
Waiting out the rest of the day, holed up in the back of the shop, had been about as entertaining as one might expect. A few of them were not shy about expressing their disdain for sitting around inactively. Dex most of all wanted to be out there, to do something. In their time 'in captivity,' Jenny had managed to get a good idea of who he was and how he worked though, and so she was able to rein him in where the others had failed.
Constance had told them to listen for a series of bells, which would indicate the close of trade for the 'day,' and when they heard it they were visibly relieved. This meant it wouldn't be much longer until the others arrived and they could find out more.
Remy arrived first, without his friends from earlier. It was easier for one to sneak out instead of three. He didn't look all that comfortable with being out of bounds himself, so he didn't wait for Constance to arrive before he began to explain his side of things.
As it turned out, things had already been set in motion, for longer than most of them realized. Not everyone knew; not everyone could know. As much as they tried to spread the effort among the slaves, they were constantly afraid that it would all get too big, and sooner or later they would get themselves caught. The day this happened would be a very bad one, for all of them, whether they'd been involved or not. It hadn't reached Constance, not until that day, and they could tell if it had been up to him, Remy wouldn't have gotten her involved already, as though she would have been safer that way.
When the others had asked what had changed things for them, what had gotten them to decide they'd had enough and they needed to do something, Remy was about to reply when they heard the door and they froze. They relaxed again only when they caught the familiar violet glow sweep through the room. Constance apologized, saying she'd had more trouble than she'd hoped to get as she snuck out of her own barracks.
"This isn't the first time people have wanted to try," Remy assured them. "There will be those, newcomers especially, who will still have this thought that they're stronger, that they can find the way out, to get back to where they belong. The masters make sure to work it out of us as quickly as possible. But then we heard a story. A girl came here, to the Phisto Hub. She passed herself off as a Seller at first, which kept her hidden long enough. With all the coming and going, it's not always easy to know for certain, see? And while she was here, she told us about a friend of hers. The poor child had been taken from its home, to be hidden, protected, because there were people looking for it, because of a deal brokered here." Quinn looked to Sam, and Artie, and Finn. They had a feeling they'd heard this story before, only just that morning.
"What happened to… to it?" Quinn asked. The lack of gendered pronouns seemed to indicate whoever had told this tale – and so far only one name came to mind – had been following that same rule of keeping Padra's identity covered up at all costs.
"She didn't know. She never saw her again. People came, to her colony, trying to steal the child away, with little regard to its life, or to the lives of people who would try and stand in the way." How Nira had found her way here, they didn't know, but they did see the effects of her words. Her story, Padra… Sugar's story had lit a fire under them, and it could go one of two ways. They might bend the fire to their will, rise up… or they could get themselves burned.
"So all of you, what you're doing now… You want to shut down the Phisto Hub?" Artie asked.
"Oh, no," Remy shook his head. "That's the last thing we want. Whether we like it or not, this is our home. Some of us have nothing to go back to," he looked to Constance, who'd already been looking his way. "We need the business, need the commerce. But the hub has been abusing people's wishes and needs for too long. The system needs to change. We want to find a way to work together, without… ownership," he sought the word before speaking it.
"You think it can work?" Constance asked him. The violet light, when it hit Remy, looked sort of dream like.
"We believe it. Don't you?" he asked. She thought about it, she did. She thought about everything she'd seen in the years, the rotations since she'd been brought here. Remy was right, there was not that much more for her out there; the Phisto Hub was her home. Running would not have stopped her being what she'd been for ten long years, not really.
"How will you do it?" she asked. Here, the young man's face lost some of its fervor.
"We don't know yet. But we're working on it."
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)