A/N: Sorry about the long wait. Been working on my other pieces. Go and read them. Go! Go! No, wait, come back and read this first. Then go and read them.
WARNING: This chapter contains references to homosexuality, bullying, and a bunch of bigoted cunts making somebody's life difficult. If this disturbs you, don't read it.
All previous disclaimers apply.
Once back in his own room, Allan found himself at a loss. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now, but he didn't what else he could do.
He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Metal segued into rock over his head. Metal into flesh in the back of his head. He thought over that for a moment, wondering if it was a deep and meaningful thought, then decided probably not.
He was hungry. He hadn't eaten since the morning before. The thought lay in his mind like a cat, curled up contentedly, and he pondered it for a good ten minutes before realising that he should probably eat something.
It was nice, he reflected, rolling off his bed, this pleasant, sleepy feeling of not having anything to do. And just being able to relax. His mind drifted off on tangents, and he felt no real need to call it back to task.
He wandered off to the elevator, in no real hurry, happy to just go along and see what there was to see. His eventual destination was the mess hall three floors down, but there was no urgency. Zion was a fascinating place to go sightseeing.
He was leaning against the railing, looking down at the long drop and admiring the way the pathways crisscrossed back and forwards across the cylindrical space, when he heard his name.
It was Dante, coming up the walkway towards him. A small, slim boy with Hispanic colouring and an effeminate manner, Dante was about Allan's age, and the two had formed a wary friendship when Dante had been responsible for waking him from his nightmares. He had a self-deprecating sense of humour that Allan was sure was heavily influenced by Queenie's robust manner.
"Hey, Allan," said Dante, offering a rare smile.
"Hi," he replied lazily.
"I was just going down to the mess for some lunch. You up for it?"
"Yeah, I was sort of headed that way myself. It's a nice view."
"You should see it at night," replied Dante as they started to walk. "When the main overheads are off, it looks like you're standing in a column of stars."
Allan was slightly surprised at the poetic metaphor coming out of the other boy's mouth, but quashed it as they reached the mess.
The only other people in the place were a group of boys about their age lounging at one of the long tables on the opposite side of the room. They looked up at Allan and Dante's entrance, and immediately began to talk amongst themselves.
Dante noticed this and turned his head away, rocking on his heels for a moment.
"What's their story?" asked Allan quietly.
Dante gave himself a shake and led Allan over to the kitchen window. "That's Eagle's gang. They hate me because I got into the fleet, and he didn't even pass his final exams."
"Trouble?" Allan knew all about bullying. Mind you, he'd usually been on the giving end rather than the receiving, but he still knew how the game worked.
"They won't start anything, if that's what you mean. They don't dare touch me; I've had the combat training. Only the military get that. But they might try and get me to hit one of them."
"So they could complain," stated Allan. It was a dirty trick that he'd never used.
Dante nodded. "It'd ruin my career."
"Ignore them," advised Allan as they grabbed trays full of food - sweet heavens, actual food - and headed to sit at a table away from the lounging boys.
"Hey, Dante!" yelled one of the boys, and the whole crowd of them sniggered as if there was some huge joke.
"Didja have a fun time on patrol, Dante?" yelled another, sneering out the name as if it were something filthy.
"Looks like you found some nice fresh meat," said the biggest boy there, a huge fellow with a shaven head and cruel look. Allan surmised that this was probably Eagle.
The whole group got up and slunk over to the table, sitting down all around Allan and Dante. "Oh, yeah," continued Eagle. "Looks like you gotchorself a nice soft piece of ass."
Dante shoulders were trembling as he hunched over his food, fork clutched so tightly in his hand it was almost bending. Allan ran over all the facts, then calmly leaned back in his chair and spoke to Dante as if the others weren't even there.
"What I want to know is why you give a damn what some cretinous twat thinks. I mean, come on." He looked up and saw Shadow appear at the door. Her eyes fell on the two of them, surrounded by the gang, and widened in horror. It seemed she'd seen this play out before. He shook his head at her and kept talking. "From what I've been told, you had half the captains in the fleet after you. Munin trusts you enough to stick you on night watch with no supervision - dude, that's a huge responsibility." He hoped that Eagle and his crew didn't know about the knew rule that put Queenie on with Dante every night. "And here's this asshole, making you feel like crap when he couldn't even pass his final exams even though I bet he cheated." Eagle's face turned red with rage. "So, why do you even care? Their opinions don't mean shit where it counts, and they ain't gonna hit you. Ignore them."
Dante looked at him incredulously. Allan nodded encouragingly and picked up his fork. "So what is this? Actual food?"
Dante swallowed once, then again before he could talk. The rest of the room was frozen - the boys around them, Shadow in the doorway. "Yeah. It's sorta like tofu. Doesn't taste of much, but you can chew it. And then for afters," he pointed to a dish of something grey and blobby "doesn't look like much, but it tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Jello."
"Hitchhiker's Guide," said Allan absently, taking a bite of the something that was on his plate. It was quite novel to actually need to chew something, and Allan realised that his jaw muscles were severely out of practice.
"Cookie for you," applauded Dante, then paused. "Except we only get cookies twice a year. Oh, well."
"Hey, Dante," snapped Eagle. No response. "I'm talking to you, fag."
"So did you see Shadow this morning?" asked Allan as if nothing else was happening.
"No, I didn't. How is she?" replied Dante. His voice was not quite as natural.
"Oh, it's a total bummer. She's gonna be off ship for two and a half months."
"Damn," said Dante sadly.
The girl in question approached, and plunked herself down between the pair of them, as it was the only place left at the table. It was rather a tight fit, but nobody protested. Alan noted that her hair was wet, combed back into a braid, and her bad hand was strapped to her body, underneath her breasts.
"I tell you something," she said offhandedly. "I'm sure there's something to be said for sponge baths, but god, it's good to warm and clean."
"Hey, baby," said Dante, putting an affectionate arm around her shoulders.
"Hey," she replied, leaning against him briefly.
"Oh look, it's the Ice Queen," said Eagle, his voice suddenly oozing what he probably thought was charm. She ignored him.
Some of the group of bullies had gotten bored and returned to their own table to continue whatever discussion they had been having prior to Dante's entrance. Allan noted this with quiet pride. That's the way to do it, he told himself. Just ignore them. They'll get bored and wander off.
Eagle, however, was not so easily deterred. "Hey, new boy." His voice was sharp as he leaned over, getting in Allan's face so it was impossible to ignore him. "Did little Dante tell you his big secret? Did he tell you he's a goddamn fag?"
"Yes," lied Allan calmly. In truth, he hadn't, but Allan had guessed as much from Eagle's earlier taunts. Dante's posture stiffened, but Shadow's right hand was rubbing his back gently, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
Eagle glared. "Oh, so I suppose that's why you got unplugged, is it new boy? He wanted a new butt monkey."
"Nah," said Allan off-handedly. "He was pimping."
Eagle blinked, apparently taken aback. "Pimping for who?"
Allan turned and looked him in the face, all innocence. "Oh, he said he knew this guy back in Zion, who'd just love to have a new boyfriend. What did he say his name was? Some kind of big bird. Falcon, maybe, or Buzzard."
"Eagle?" asked that boy, his face growing purple.
"Yeah, that's the one," replied Allan calmly, then coathangered the bully as he tried to leap across the table to throttle Dante.
"I'll kill you, you fucking faggot! I'll fucking kill you!" Eagle collapsed to the floor, clutching at his throat and hissing threats at Dante, who sat wide-eyed and shaking in his seat.
"Now, that's not nice," said Shadow reprimandingly. "He was trying to do you a favour, after all." She collapsed into giggles at the thought, and Allan blinked at her. Shadow giggling?
The others in Eagle's gang stood around uneasily, looking to each other, searching for some signal to tell them what to do.
Before anybody could move, though, a small woman with white-blond hair standing on end around her face came in and took in the whole situation at a glance. "Eagle!" she roared, in a throaty alto that belied her small frame.
Eagle rolled onto his side, coughing and clutching at his throat. "Yes?" he rasped hoarsely.
"Brawling again?" she demanded in a sharp Irish accent, glaring down at him.
He shook his head weakly. "Not my fault," he insisted, his voice cracking like a prepubescent on the last word. Shadow hid a snigger behind a cough.
"I don't suppose they started it, did they?' inquired the woman with aggressive, forced patience.
Eagle lay still, then shook his head. "He shouldn't have said those things about me," he mumbled, his voice slowly returning to normal. The woman turned her formidable glare on the three sitting serenely at the table. Shadow was calmly eating Allan's lunch while he wasn't looking.
"What happened?" she asked.
Allan shrugged smoothly. "He was getting in my face while I was eating and picking on my friends. So I cast aspersions on his sexual identity, and he tried to strangle Dante."
The woman blinked at his calm reply. "You cast aspersions, so he attacked Dante?" she asked.
Allan tilted his head. "Cast aspersions by saying that Dante had said some things to me."
"Foolish," she said sharply. Allan inclined his head, admitting that. She crouched down, glaring at Eagle. "You're a fine fecking one to talk about saying things about other people, Eagle. I know all about the shit you give Dante. You deserve whatever comes to you."
Eagle shot upright. "He tried to kill me, Wisp!"
She glanced over at Allan. He shook his head. "Just defending my friends." Shadow nodded encouragingly, starting on his dessert.
Wisp sighed. "Right. The whole lot of you were supposed to be back at work half an hour ago. The fact that you're still here is enough reason for punishment. But brawling -" She shook her head tiredly. "This is the third time this week. This time, I'm gonna drop the book on you."
None of the boys moved. Allan noticed what Shadow was doing with his lunch and tried to reclaim his spoon, resulting in a playful tug-of-war.
"Well, why are you all just standing there?" shouted Wisp. "Get back to work!"
Boys scrambled up from their chairs and rushed for the door, eager not to be associated any further with Eagle, who looked like he was about to get into a lot of trouble. He also had a rather nice bruise forming on his throat. Allan realised with a guilty start that actually could have done some quite extensive damage.
Wisp glanced down at the three fleet kids sitting quietly at the table, Allan and Shadow still wrestling over the spoon, Dante looking down at his food disconsolately. "Nice way to start in Zion," she said to Allan, but there was no bite to her tone.
He shrugged. "What would you have done?"
She twisted her mouth to one side and glared after Eagle's retreating form. "The same, I guess. That boy needs to get some sense smacked into him."
"It was self-defence on Allan's part," said Shadow, releasing the spoon.
"Yeah, I got that," replied the older woman. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him."
She left after the retreating boys, and Dante slumped in his chair. He hadn't said a word through the whole encounter. "Sorry about that," he mumbled.
"De nada," said Allan lightly, and looked down at his now-empty tray. "You ate all my lunch," he accused.
"So?" asked Shadow, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
"So, go and get me some more, damnit," he said, poking her in the ribs.
She squirmed away, unable to defend herself with her hand strapped to her body. "I can't carry a tray with one hand," she replied.
"Sure you can," he replied, getting up to go and get it himself.
Dante stood up abruptly, taking his tray. "I gotta go," he said, not looking at either of them. "See you guys around."
Exit Dante, apparently pursued by an invisible bear. Shadow watched him go with a sad expression.
"What's his story?" asked Allan quietly.
Shadow shrugged. "A lot like mine, really. Abusive parents, bad background. A lot of kids like that will just sit back and take the abuse from anyone, because it's normal for them."
"Damn," breathed Allan softly.
"That's why Munin put him on with Queenie," continued Shadow calmly. "She doesn't let him take shit, even from her."
Allan had noticed that when Queenie was around, Dante stood up straighter and gave his opinions with more confidence. "He really wants to make her proud," he guessed.
"Yep," replied Shadow. "Which is good, because she'll push him a bit. Did you know he's actually a genius?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. He's got some ridiculous IQ, and his ability for spatial mathematics and logic is just amazing. He can do huge complicated equations in his head faster than the computers can. It's so cool."
Allan smiled, returning to the table with another tray full of food, smacking Shadow away when she tried to reach for it. "Get out of it. You already ate the other one."
She pouted, then leaned back in her seat.
"So, how do you like Zion?' she asked.
"S'nice," he replied through a mouthful of food. Swallowing, he continued, "It's good not to have to do anything."
"I suspect I'll get bored of it after two months."
"Probably."
WARNING: This chapter contains references to homosexuality, bullying, and a bunch of bigoted cunts making somebody's life difficult. If this disturbs you, don't read it.
All previous disclaimers apply.
Once back in his own room, Allan found himself at a loss. He wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now, but he didn't what else he could do.
He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Metal segued into rock over his head. Metal into flesh in the back of his head. He thought over that for a moment, wondering if it was a deep and meaningful thought, then decided probably not.
He was hungry. He hadn't eaten since the morning before. The thought lay in his mind like a cat, curled up contentedly, and he pondered it for a good ten minutes before realising that he should probably eat something.
It was nice, he reflected, rolling off his bed, this pleasant, sleepy feeling of not having anything to do. And just being able to relax. His mind drifted off on tangents, and he felt no real need to call it back to task.
He wandered off to the elevator, in no real hurry, happy to just go along and see what there was to see. His eventual destination was the mess hall three floors down, but there was no urgency. Zion was a fascinating place to go sightseeing.
He was leaning against the railing, looking down at the long drop and admiring the way the pathways crisscrossed back and forwards across the cylindrical space, when he heard his name.
It was Dante, coming up the walkway towards him. A small, slim boy with Hispanic colouring and an effeminate manner, Dante was about Allan's age, and the two had formed a wary friendship when Dante had been responsible for waking him from his nightmares. He had a self-deprecating sense of humour that Allan was sure was heavily influenced by Queenie's robust manner.
"Hey, Allan," said Dante, offering a rare smile.
"Hi," he replied lazily.
"I was just going down to the mess for some lunch. You up for it?"
"Yeah, I was sort of headed that way myself. It's a nice view."
"You should see it at night," replied Dante as they started to walk. "When the main overheads are off, it looks like you're standing in a column of stars."
Allan was slightly surprised at the poetic metaphor coming out of the other boy's mouth, but quashed it as they reached the mess.
The only other people in the place were a group of boys about their age lounging at one of the long tables on the opposite side of the room. They looked up at Allan and Dante's entrance, and immediately began to talk amongst themselves.
Dante noticed this and turned his head away, rocking on his heels for a moment.
"What's their story?" asked Allan quietly.
Dante gave himself a shake and led Allan over to the kitchen window. "That's Eagle's gang. They hate me because I got into the fleet, and he didn't even pass his final exams."
"Trouble?" Allan knew all about bullying. Mind you, he'd usually been on the giving end rather than the receiving, but he still knew how the game worked.
"They won't start anything, if that's what you mean. They don't dare touch me; I've had the combat training. Only the military get that. But they might try and get me to hit one of them."
"So they could complain," stated Allan. It was a dirty trick that he'd never used.
Dante nodded. "It'd ruin my career."
"Ignore them," advised Allan as they grabbed trays full of food - sweet heavens, actual food - and headed to sit at a table away from the lounging boys.
"Hey, Dante!" yelled one of the boys, and the whole crowd of them sniggered as if there was some huge joke.
"Didja have a fun time on patrol, Dante?" yelled another, sneering out the name as if it were something filthy.
"Looks like you found some nice fresh meat," said the biggest boy there, a huge fellow with a shaven head and cruel look. Allan surmised that this was probably Eagle.
The whole group got up and slunk over to the table, sitting down all around Allan and Dante. "Oh, yeah," continued Eagle. "Looks like you gotchorself a nice soft piece of ass."
Dante shoulders were trembling as he hunched over his food, fork clutched so tightly in his hand it was almost bending. Allan ran over all the facts, then calmly leaned back in his chair and spoke to Dante as if the others weren't even there.
"What I want to know is why you give a damn what some cretinous twat thinks. I mean, come on." He looked up and saw Shadow appear at the door. Her eyes fell on the two of them, surrounded by the gang, and widened in horror. It seemed she'd seen this play out before. He shook his head at her and kept talking. "From what I've been told, you had half the captains in the fleet after you. Munin trusts you enough to stick you on night watch with no supervision - dude, that's a huge responsibility." He hoped that Eagle and his crew didn't know about the knew rule that put Queenie on with Dante every night. "And here's this asshole, making you feel like crap when he couldn't even pass his final exams even though I bet he cheated." Eagle's face turned red with rage. "So, why do you even care? Their opinions don't mean shit where it counts, and they ain't gonna hit you. Ignore them."
Dante looked at him incredulously. Allan nodded encouragingly and picked up his fork. "So what is this? Actual food?"
Dante swallowed once, then again before he could talk. The rest of the room was frozen - the boys around them, Shadow in the doorway. "Yeah. It's sorta like tofu. Doesn't taste of much, but you can chew it. And then for afters," he pointed to a dish of something grey and blobby "doesn't look like much, but it tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Jello."
"Hitchhiker's Guide," said Allan absently, taking a bite of the something that was on his plate. It was quite novel to actually need to chew something, and Allan realised that his jaw muscles were severely out of practice.
"Cookie for you," applauded Dante, then paused. "Except we only get cookies twice a year. Oh, well."
"Hey, Dante," snapped Eagle. No response. "I'm talking to you, fag."
"So did you see Shadow this morning?" asked Allan as if nothing else was happening.
"No, I didn't. How is she?" replied Dante. His voice was not quite as natural.
"Oh, it's a total bummer. She's gonna be off ship for two and a half months."
"Damn," said Dante sadly.
The girl in question approached, and plunked herself down between the pair of them, as it was the only place left at the table. It was rather a tight fit, but nobody protested. Alan noted that her hair was wet, combed back into a braid, and her bad hand was strapped to her body, underneath her breasts.
"I tell you something," she said offhandedly. "I'm sure there's something to be said for sponge baths, but god, it's good to warm and clean."
"Hey, baby," said Dante, putting an affectionate arm around her shoulders.
"Hey," she replied, leaning against him briefly.
"Oh look, it's the Ice Queen," said Eagle, his voice suddenly oozing what he probably thought was charm. She ignored him.
Some of the group of bullies had gotten bored and returned to their own table to continue whatever discussion they had been having prior to Dante's entrance. Allan noted this with quiet pride. That's the way to do it, he told himself. Just ignore them. They'll get bored and wander off.
Eagle, however, was not so easily deterred. "Hey, new boy." His voice was sharp as he leaned over, getting in Allan's face so it was impossible to ignore him. "Did little Dante tell you his big secret? Did he tell you he's a goddamn fag?"
"Yes," lied Allan calmly. In truth, he hadn't, but Allan had guessed as much from Eagle's earlier taunts. Dante's posture stiffened, but Shadow's right hand was rubbing his back gently, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.
Eagle glared. "Oh, so I suppose that's why you got unplugged, is it new boy? He wanted a new butt monkey."
"Nah," said Allan off-handedly. "He was pimping."
Eagle blinked, apparently taken aback. "Pimping for who?"
Allan turned and looked him in the face, all innocence. "Oh, he said he knew this guy back in Zion, who'd just love to have a new boyfriend. What did he say his name was? Some kind of big bird. Falcon, maybe, or Buzzard."
"Eagle?" asked that boy, his face growing purple.
"Yeah, that's the one," replied Allan calmly, then coathangered the bully as he tried to leap across the table to throttle Dante.
"I'll kill you, you fucking faggot! I'll fucking kill you!" Eagle collapsed to the floor, clutching at his throat and hissing threats at Dante, who sat wide-eyed and shaking in his seat.
"Now, that's not nice," said Shadow reprimandingly. "He was trying to do you a favour, after all." She collapsed into giggles at the thought, and Allan blinked at her. Shadow giggling?
The others in Eagle's gang stood around uneasily, looking to each other, searching for some signal to tell them what to do.
Before anybody could move, though, a small woman with white-blond hair standing on end around her face came in and took in the whole situation at a glance. "Eagle!" she roared, in a throaty alto that belied her small frame.
Eagle rolled onto his side, coughing and clutching at his throat. "Yes?" he rasped hoarsely.
"Brawling again?" she demanded in a sharp Irish accent, glaring down at him.
He shook his head weakly. "Not my fault," he insisted, his voice cracking like a prepubescent on the last word. Shadow hid a snigger behind a cough.
"I don't suppose they started it, did they?' inquired the woman with aggressive, forced patience.
Eagle lay still, then shook his head. "He shouldn't have said those things about me," he mumbled, his voice slowly returning to normal. The woman turned her formidable glare on the three sitting serenely at the table. Shadow was calmly eating Allan's lunch while he wasn't looking.
"What happened?" she asked.
Allan shrugged smoothly. "He was getting in my face while I was eating and picking on my friends. So I cast aspersions on his sexual identity, and he tried to strangle Dante."
The woman blinked at his calm reply. "You cast aspersions, so he attacked Dante?" she asked.
Allan tilted his head. "Cast aspersions by saying that Dante had said some things to me."
"Foolish," she said sharply. Allan inclined his head, admitting that. She crouched down, glaring at Eagle. "You're a fine fecking one to talk about saying things about other people, Eagle. I know all about the shit you give Dante. You deserve whatever comes to you."
Eagle shot upright. "He tried to kill me, Wisp!"
She glanced over at Allan. He shook his head. "Just defending my friends." Shadow nodded encouragingly, starting on his dessert.
Wisp sighed. "Right. The whole lot of you were supposed to be back at work half an hour ago. The fact that you're still here is enough reason for punishment. But brawling -" She shook her head tiredly. "This is the third time this week. This time, I'm gonna drop the book on you."
None of the boys moved. Allan noticed what Shadow was doing with his lunch and tried to reclaim his spoon, resulting in a playful tug-of-war.
"Well, why are you all just standing there?" shouted Wisp. "Get back to work!"
Boys scrambled up from their chairs and rushed for the door, eager not to be associated any further with Eagle, who looked like he was about to get into a lot of trouble. He also had a rather nice bruise forming on his throat. Allan realised with a guilty start that actually could have done some quite extensive damage.
Wisp glanced down at the three fleet kids sitting quietly at the table, Allan and Shadow still wrestling over the spoon, Dante looking down at his food disconsolately. "Nice way to start in Zion," she said to Allan, but there was no bite to her tone.
He shrugged. "What would you have done?"
She twisted her mouth to one side and glared after Eagle's retreating form. "The same, I guess. That boy needs to get some sense smacked into him."
"It was self-defence on Allan's part," said Shadow, releasing the spoon.
"Yeah, I got that," replied the older woman. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him."
She left after the retreating boys, and Dante slumped in his chair. He hadn't said a word through the whole encounter. "Sorry about that," he mumbled.
"De nada," said Allan lightly, and looked down at his now-empty tray. "You ate all my lunch," he accused.
"So?" asked Shadow, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
"So, go and get me some more, damnit," he said, poking her in the ribs.
She squirmed away, unable to defend herself with her hand strapped to her body. "I can't carry a tray with one hand," she replied.
"Sure you can," he replied, getting up to go and get it himself.
Dante stood up abruptly, taking his tray. "I gotta go," he said, not looking at either of them. "See you guys around."
Exit Dante, apparently pursued by an invisible bear. Shadow watched him go with a sad expression.
"What's his story?" asked Allan quietly.
Shadow shrugged. "A lot like mine, really. Abusive parents, bad background. A lot of kids like that will just sit back and take the abuse from anyone, because it's normal for them."
"Damn," breathed Allan softly.
"That's why Munin put him on with Queenie," continued Shadow calmly. "She doesn't let him take shit, even from her."
Allan had noticed that when Queenie was around, Dante stood up straighter and gave his opinions with more confidence. "He really wants to make her proud," he guessed.
"Yep," replied Shadow. "Which is good, because she'll push him a bit. Did you know he's actually a genius?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. He's got some ridiculous IQ, and his ability for spatial mathematics and logic is just amazing. He can do huge complicated equations in his head faster than the computers can. It's so cool."
Allan smiled, returning to the table with another tray full of food, smacking Shadow away when she tried to reach for it. "Get out of it. You already ate the other one."
She pouted, then leaned back in her seat.
"So, how do you like Zion?' she asked.
"S'nice," he replied through a mouthful of food. Swallowing, he continued, "It's good not to have to do anything."
"I suspect I'll get bored of it after two months."
"Probably."
