A/N- Hey y'all! I can give you a long list of excuses as to why it took me so long to update …or… I can give you this update. Enjoy.
Silver and cold
"…'relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!"
Hotel California- Eagles
.
You are here
.
Ayase followed Kanou again, like a puppy following his master. He had no choice but to swallow his pride and do so, it was a matter of survival.
"Where are we going?" He whispered at Zack that joined them.
"To the maintenance warehouse to get geared up." Zack said, indulging his curiosity.
Ayase was grateful that the man did not get annoyed at his constant nagging. He wondered when, if ever, comes a time when he runs out of questions. He looked up at Kanou and he wore his usual severe expression. That was understandable; the man had a lot on his mind, a lot of responsibilities, including taking care of him. Ayase was extremely confused, not sure of what to think, what to feel, how to react.
Yes, this man saved him from a gang rape and shared his food with him, but it was not out of the kindness of his heart, it came with a price tag attached. How much longer until Kanou finds it too troublesome to keep it up? When will he get bored and pass Ayase on, like an unwanted toy? What will happen to him then?
Ayase had so many questions buzzing in his mind, and so much fear fluttering in his heart it could drive him crazy if he doesn't learn to control it.
'A day at a time'. He concluded, seems like the only way to live in this horrific place, take each day as it comes, without planning ahead or contemplating on the past, a day at a time… will this corridor ever end?
"Dead man's walking…"
Ayase lost in thoughts, did not see the group of men dressed in Orange as they came across them at the hall until this taunting remark.
The largest one in the group dared to bump into Kanou, sending him to crush against the wall.
"Motherfuckers…" Kanou growled.
"Drop it." Zack whispered before Kanou could react, putting a hand in front of the man to prevent him from charging.
Kanou took one good look at Ayase and understood; picking up a fight now could put the boy in harm's way. The group of the oranges moved on, mocking his temporary incompetent.
"This is going to get really ugly really soon." Zack whispered mainly to himself. Kanou might have heard but said nothing, and they walked the rest of the way in silence.
At the warehouse, they met few more blacks getting ready for their chores, standing in front their lockers, checking out their outfits and gear. One of them was an old man, his skin so dark; it was almost as black as his overall, only his silver hair stood up in contras.
"Marcus." Kanou warmly greeted that man. "Just the man I was looking for."
"Morning to you too, youngster."
"Marcus, I already told you not to call me that way…" Kanou muttered, his face getting red with embracement, luckily no one paid attention to their conversation.
Marcus laughed softly "I am sixty two year old, sir, and I can call you whatever I want to. Now, what can I do for you?"
"I want you to team up with Zack and Ayase today."
"What? Man…" Zack jumped on the spot "I thought I was teaming up with you!"
"I know, but I need someone to look after Ayase, and I trust the two of you the most."
"Jeez man, I was counting on this credit!" Zack sighed with disappointment.
"Why can't I just…stay with… you?" Ayase looked up to Kanou and asked, blushing.
Kanou only growled.
Zack chuckled "Can you spacewalk, sweetie?"
Ayase bowed his head down, blushing still.
"So this is your candy?" Marcus turned to look at Ayase, scrutinizing him thoroughly. "I see that you went against my advice after all. I don't like it, sir… not one bit. The last thing you need is this kind of distraction. I never believed that you of all people would succumb to… "
"Are you done preaching, old man?" Kanou interrupted Marcus with anger. "I'll see you all at dinner." With this Kanou left them not even looking at Ayase as he took his leave.
"Damn… what's your mission anyway?" Zack asked Marcus.
"Fixing electric circuits at section 5." The old man answered offering a massive toolbox to Zack.
"Sucha bore…" Zack complained, but snapped out of it quickly. "I got this." He accepted the toolbox and carried it with ease, then he turned to Ayase. "Come on, let's go."
oOOo
Marcus led the way, his silvery hair shone like a guiding light at the dim corridors. Ayase wondered if this is what 950A was all about, miles and miles of cold, dark and curving corridors. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, no way to get back home. It gave him a claustrophobic feeling, he felt that at any giving moment he could find himself facing one of those walls screaming and scratching the surface until his fingers are bleeding and broken. 'Let me out of this place! Get me out of here!'
He felt dizzy, he could hardly breathe or stand on his feet, and when Marcus and Zack finally stopped and unloaded their gear, they did not pay attention to his distress. Why should they? He was just a bother, just an unwanted weight on their shoulders. Ayase collapsed o the floor, one phrase stuck on his mind in repeat. 'Let me out of here! Let me out of here!'
A slap on his face woke him up. "Get your fucking act together!"
Zack was hovering above him, screamed at him; at this close proximity Ayase noted that the dark skinned man actually had green eyes.
He also realized that he was on the cold floor, curled up against the wall bashing his head into it, his hair was wet to touch, blood.
"I'm sorry, I just…"
"Freaked out? Come on; man…take some deep breaths … calm down." Zack sighed. "Don't let 950A fuck with your mind, ok? I've seen it, it ain't pretty. Can I get back to my work now?"
Ayase tried to slow down his breathing, and the dizziness slowly subsided. "Go..."
Zack gave Ayase one last look and turned to join Marcus.
The old man sulked "So this is how it's going to be? Kanou's gonna hump him and dump him on us every day?"
"Cut it out." Zack answered, slightly aggravated.
"With this candy-boy we are just like sitting ducks here."
"You take care of the circuits; I'll take care of the rest, old man."
Marcus turned to look at the inactivated plasma screen. "Time to make myself useful."
"Need help?" Zack asked but Marcus was more interested at opening the toolbox and pulling out the drill.
Ayase only observed the two men in silence.
"Did you know that more than 17% of the deaths in 950A are suicide related?" Marcus said, out of the blue, glancing at Ayase while using the drill to release a plate and expose the electricity system under it.
"Such a great chatting topic, Marcus, thank you." Zack glared at the older man.
"Light up this area for me would you?" Marcus threw a flashlight at Zack and the younger man caught it and flicked it on.
"The life expectancy of an average inmate at 950A is 15 years, Candies however, last a year at best." Marcus continued, examining the circles and the electronic components. "This area is toasted; I'll have to make a bypass." He concluded. "Zack, please hand me over the pliers."
"Yeah." Zack complied.
"Can I help out with anything?" Ayase asked, still curled up in his corner.
"We don't require your help, candy-boy." Marcus answered, smirking. "Save your strength for later this evening."
This remark drew out a moan of pain from Ayase's unwilling lips.
"Why are you so fucking harsh on the kid?" Zack asked the old man.
"And why are you so soft? Are you sweet on him? It's not healthy for you."
"I'm just saying that if Kanou decides to…"
"What? Satisfy his dick by picking up this useless toy and…"
"I am not useless." Ayase objected in tears. "I can help!"
Marcus turned to look at him with his dark eyes. "Was I talking to you candy-boy?"
"I'm not useless." Ayase mumbled to himself and without even noticing he started crying all over again. He has been here less than 24 hr, and he spent most of them crying, such a waste of space.
"Fuck you, Marcus!" … Zack rushed back to the blonde and kneeled next to him. "Hey, hey, kiddo, look at me… I know you're not useless, just give yourself some time, ok? Look at me… I'm a big guy, yeah? But even I wet my bed the first few nights in here."
"Did you?" Ayase gasped ogling Zack with his big blue eyes.
"Don't pass it around." Zack said, slightly coughing. "Life is harsh around here, even for big boys."
"It was even worse before Kanou took over the blacks." Marcus added in his dry voice. "Five years ago, the blacks were run by a bunch of idiotic goons that almost killed me when I refused to lick the leader's boots. They had little appreciation to the fact that I am the only doctor in the Black team, and a surgeon to be exact." "
"Kanou killed most of those fuckers." Zack assured the frightened boy "The rest of them joined in with the Reds."
"Kanou is the best leader this group had in years." Marcus finished with the pliers and turned to the welder. "28% reduction in mortality rate, especially downstairs, since he took over."
"What is downstairs?" Ayase asked with embarrassment. Everyone mentioned it, but he couldn't figure this out just yet.
Marcus laughed and returned to his welding.
Zack smiled at Ayase. "I think it is time for 950A lesson number 1." He picked up a bolt from the toolbox and showed it to the blonde.
Ayase looked at the piece of metal with little understanding.
"The best way to describe 950A is to think about it as a round cap bolt, about 3 kilometers in diameter." Zack explained. "There are three main sections in 950A, same as on this bolt. The first zone is the round cap, or as we call it- Upstairs. It's the dome on the surface of the asteroid. There you have real sunshine, and that is the place where they grow food and create our oxygen with both natural and artificial photosynthesis."
"The dome creates 100% of our oxygen demand and 65% of our food." Marcus added.
"Are you with me?"
Ayase nodded. "I think I saw the dome when we landed."
"Yeah, Kanou is working out there today, fixing some equipment on the outside."
"That's dangerous…"
"Yeah, the man always takes the most risky tasks on himself. That's why he got like… gazillion credit points. Anyway, to the midsection." Zack ran his fingers down the bolt. "You are here. The dorms, the gym, the kitchen, the mechanical section, heat, power and water facilities…everything is here, under the surface of the asteroid, where the sun never shines."
"And downstairs?" Ayase gazed at the end of the bolt, where it becomes narrow and pointy.
Zack had a bitter smile on his face. "Downstairs…" he sighed. "If 950A is a bitch then… downstairs is a hellhound."
"83% of deaths accrue Downstairs." Marcus agreed.
"Why?" Ayase asked.
"Why?" Zack chuckled. "You'll find out soon enough. We go down in three weeks. All groups take turns there. You see… 950A is a very strange and irregular asteroid. Made out mostly of metal, but very porous like a sponge. The Union sends prisoners here and uses them to mine rare metals. It's a very profitable business for them, cheap labor, minimum investment in safety measurements, loads and loads of metal ors of all rare kinds- Silver, Erbium, Neodymium.."
"Don't forget the Cold." Marcus added.
"Cold is a different story, mate."
"Cold is the reason we are here." Marcus insisted "The rest is peanuts."
"Fine, that's not the point though. What I'm trying to say is that downstairs is very dangerous. There's no atmosphere there, no air pressure, and there're many chasms, vacuum traps, landslides, and many accidents can happen, of all kinds."
"The bright side is that there are no guards down there." Marcus said. "No droids there, yeah, downstairs we are all alone." "I'm done here." Marcus announced and switched the power on. The dark corridor woke up to life, the plasma screens woke up to life and shone with bright blue running numbers again, the lights turned on and the tracks on the ceiling were charged again. "To the next spot?" Marcus suggested.
"Sure." Zack helped the older man to place back the board and pack up the tools.
"Wait, where does this bolt go?" Ayase asked.
Marcus shrugged and Zack chuckled. "Keep it, kiddo, it's yours."
oOOo
"Damn bloody hell!" Kanou cursed under his helmet. He just misjudged the situation and used too much force to take out a broken piece of equipment off its place and now he harmed the dome's surface. A miniature crack appeared at the perfect smooth face of the glass, but even this smallest imperfection could make it snap in the harsh terms of outer space. The difference in temperatures between day and night alone could expand it to a critical point. "Fucking mess!"
"Are you alright?" A fellow black teammate floated towards his position and encored himself near his leader.
"Yeah, I'm just messing everything up today, Hall. Could you please hand me over the glass crack resin?"
"Coming right up."
Kanou waited for the man to fetch the risen, while watching the spectacular view that surrounded him. Three of the gas planet moons were in a perfect line of vision, the dusty yellow one, the icy white one that reflected its planet's strips in a beautiful way and the blue distant one, glowing bright like a perfect marble.
At any other day, this view would bring some peace to his tormented mind, but not today. How could he enjoy anything while everything he touches crumble under his fingers? He made such a mess of everything, and he had no idea how to fix it.
"Sir, the resin."
"Thanks, Hall."
The man hovered back to his station, and Kanou looked at the small slit, taking comfort in the fact that at least he knew how to handle this small disaster.
The shift seemed to last forever, and it took all of Kanou's power of will to focus on his chores rather than on a certain blonde candy and the way everything went wrong.
The Khaki teams were also on maintenance duty and when they came to replace the blacks at last, Kanou went straight into the showers, not talking to anyone. He was happy to feel solid ground under his feet, and breathe without the aid of tubes, but he was still brooding. He stripped out of his space suit as fast as possible and let himself drench in the hot water.
As the water washed away his sweat and relaxed his muscles, his spirit was rejuvenated as well. 'I can make this work' He thought. 'I can show Ayase that I'm not a monster.' It was true; he hasn't been a monster for a long while now.
Motivated, he walked to his locker, making all kinds of plans how to make Ayase like him, or at least be less so goddamn scared of him. After drying himself up, he reached for his closes when a purple silk ribbon fell from his locker to the floor.
Kanou froze on the spot, but no one seemed to notice, so he picked it up and stuffed it in his slacks and continued dressing.
"Hassan!"
His second in command was caught in the middle of shaving. He turned to Kanou, face all covered with white shaving cream. "Yes, sir?"
"I got to run an errant; I might not be joining you for dinner. Make sure that only the ones who earned their meal get it."
"Most certainly."
"See you at the dorms."
Kanou knew Hassan was stopping himself from asking any questions, and he did not bother to explain further. He left the showers and went into the hall, his strides urgent and hasty. He took few false turns, in case someone was tagging along, and then he reached a corner where he stopped and carefully listened for a while. He could only hear the ordinary sounds of the automated patrol robots, no one followed him. He turned to the wall and searched for the small file he knew hid there, in a natural crack. Only few people in 950A were informed about those tiny tools hidden at strategic points along the corridors, none of his group shared his knowledge.
This particular file was place there to unscrew a small metal plate. Underneath was a button, which Kanou pushed before placing the plate back and safely hide the file in its place.
All that time, a sound of rattle intensified until a hidden door in the wall opened to reveal an elevator cell. This was one of the many hidden pass-ways in 950A, such an old complicated patchwork facility that even the robotic gourds' navigation systems did not include every route in it. Once Kanou entered the elevator, he was out of the system.
The elevator went down, in complete eerie darkness and silence; it took nerves of steel to stay calm inside. The elevator took him into the heart of the mid-section, where most of the functions already broke down or operated aimlessly in neglected oblivion.
Only one essential facility was buried deep there, the heart of 950A, the old nuclear power station that provided most of 950A energy demand, and even though it was fully functional, it ran on an independent service that precede the security system and therefore was completely hidden.
They chose this place as a safe meeting ground long ago; they relied on the heavy electromagnetic and radiation interference to disturb any attempt to eardrop on them.
Kanou sent his hand into his pocket and took out the little silky ribbon. He waited, in what appeared to be pitch-black for ordinary men, but he wasn't. He was silver, a warrior designed to fight in every possible condition; it was programmed to every fiber of his genes. His infra-red vision has already been activated, and the heat coming out of the nuclear core gave him more than enough illumination.
After a few minutes, a figure approached him; he could hear the footsteps before he located her, moving through a cloud of steam.
Gold.
Somehow he always got extremely nervous in the presence of gold. The fact that they were both inmates in this shitty space wreck didn't matter. In his entire life of servitude, he only met a handful of gold, the elite of the Union, the pure-born, and the genetically designed to rule. They didn't mingle, not even with silvers. He was more than astounded to find one of them in 950A, but their background was similar and they didn't need too many words to reach a mutual understanding.
"Thank you, Kanou-san." She passed him by, reaching for the purple ribbon that matched perfectly to the color of her uniform. "I've been looking for it everywhere…" She snatched it from his hand and used it to tie her long, dark hair.
"Someya-san, I believe we agreed to keep our meetings to a minimum."
The gold smiled softly. "Yes we did. We both don't need to draw this kind of attention. Yet…recent past events made it unavoidable, I had to see you and have some answers."
Kanou looked up to meet her eyes; they shone like bright green neon as her Infra-red vision was activated. She kept the direct eye contact longer than anyone else would dare. Kanou was the one to turn away his gaze.
"Go ahead; what do you want to know?"
"Do you have Yukiya Ayase at your possession?"
"I do, he is my candy."
"Are you sure that this is the right Yukiya Ayase? Maybe it is a boy that happens share his name?"
"It is Ayase, I saw him once at his father's house when he was about ten years old, he hasn't changed much since, he doesn't seem to remember me."
A slap came on his face, hard and strong, long fingernails scratch his face and even drew blood.
"How dare you? How dare you treat this boy as a candy? You filthy lustful man! How could you?"
He stopped her hand from hitting him again and slightly twisted her wrist and smirked as she hissed in pain.
"We are no longer silver and gold; you don't get to hit me without consequences." He whispered and twisted her hand further until she yelped in pain.
"Let go, you monster!"
He did, and she cradled her hurt arm on her chest, tears in her eyes.
"If I didn't treat his as a candy that would only raise suspicions, don't you agree? Besides… I enjoy it."
Someya chuckled, disbelieving her eras "I never knew you were gay."
"I'm not gay! It's Ayase! He is special."
"He is also the son of the rebels' leader. His father…"
"His father destroyed my life and Ayase will pay for it. He'll be slave as long as we're both in this hellhole!"
"Ayase's father saved your life, and this is how you repay him? Shame on you, Kanou-san, I thought you were a better man."
"I am not a good man. Fuck this shit! Is this is what we're here for? To pass judgment on me? Because I already told you, you have no authority on me, gold, get used to it! I don't answer to any of you! Not anymore! This is getting boring, I'll leave now…"
"No!" Someya's voice echoed in the empty halls as she screamed. "I'm not done with you! Come back here!"
Kanou smiled to himself, still screaming orders, old habits die hard. And yet he turned on his feet to face her again, the leader of the purple team, the closest thing to a female in 950A, the gold, something about her made him obey. He waited for her to catch her breath.
"As long as Ayase is here, the resistance is in great jeopardy, you understand that, don't you?"
"I do."
"Ayase is the leader's son, they'll try to make him yield to get his beloved child back."
"I know."
"The leader kept his identity as a secret, even from his son. No one must know this, not even Ayase himself, or this could lead to a disaster."
"I know… but…."
"The Blue twins, they've been snooping around, do you think they know anything?"
"They know I'm silver, for sure, I think they are pretty much on to Ayase as well."
Someya-san bit on her lip in worry. "This is bad, this is really bad. The twins are here because of illegal trade of information. They are extremely clever and they know how to hack any system known to men. They must be stopped before they reach me."
"Why?"
"Come on, Kanou-san, you know well enough that I have friends on the outside, gold that helps the resistance. If I'm found out, it is only a matter of time before they reach them too. This is so bad…"
"What would you suggest to do?"
"Kill them, kill them both."
"Someya-san, they are kids, good kids."
"It is too risky."
"I think I can make them work for us. Keep them under control."
"Are you sure you can do it?"
"They have this strange idea they can break away from here."
"If it doesn't work than we'll do it you way."
It just drew a snarl out of the gold "No one can escapes 950A"
"I know, but if I play along with their delusions, I could keep a close eye on them."
Someya lingered for a while, considering the options. "You may try it your way." She concluded.
Kanou bowed, smirking "At your service, my lady."
"We have to find a way to… solve the Ayase situation. I'm sure that the Union is already using this card against the leader. He must be out of his mind with worries and very vulnerable to blackmail. The resistance mustn't fall, not for this."
"I'm sure that Ayase's father is strong enough not to make hasty mistakes."
"I need time to think things over. And we even not yet began talking about the tension with the reds."
"We can't be out of the system of too long."
"I'll meet you after you finish your round downstairs, we'll continue then." Someya said and turned to leave, not bothering with goodbyes.
"Gold and their manners…" Kanou muttered and turned to leave as well.
oOOo
TBC
OooO
A/N- Please leave a review after the beep. Beeeeep ^_^ see you soon, I hope X)