Chapter 1: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-1/ 

Chapter 2: https://markcheverton.com/the-algae-voices-of-azule-chapter-2/

The Algae Voices of Azule

Chapter 3

 

The twins hid in their hidey-hole all day, too afraid to go to school; that would be the first place the Inquisitor would look for them. They’d stored games and toys in their hideout over the years, and had no shortage for entertainment, but the nagging fear of getting caught was always on the edge of their minds. By the time afternoon came, hunger started to become a problem. They hadn’t eaten since the morning and now their stomachs were grumbling their complaints. Fortunately, school would be out soon and they could head for home. Their plan was to blend in with all the children and try to get lost in the crowd as they walked home. The twins knew that this probably wasn’t a very good idea, but they couldn’t stay here in their hidey-hole forever.

“Come on! It’s time!” Billy urged.

“Ok.”

The twins wormed their way out of their hideout, through the maze of crates, and back to the ground. They could see broken crates all around their hideout, but were able to weave a path through the destruction to make it safely to the ground. Moving to the warehouse doors, they looked cautiously outside. Everything appeared normal; freight-bots moving crates of algae, hover trucks from the spaceport with more crates for storage, algaemen coming in the fields, more heading out. It was the normal cacophony of noise and activity.

Billy and Ali slipped out of the warehouse and headed back toward their home. Wending their way along narrow streets and alleyways, they stayed off the main roadways where the military patrols frequented, keeping to the shadows as best they could. Scanning the streets, they looked for a group of kids to walk with and quickly found a small cluster—fourth graders from their school. Ali recognized them first. They were a group of kids who lived on their street. Ali and Billy fell in behind them and quickly merged into the conversation, their smaller size allowed them to blend in completely.

They saw security forces about, their angry eyes scanning the crowds for anyone that looked remotely guilty of something, anything. The twins were sure that they were looking for them, but Billy and Ali were able to pass by unnoticed; the flock of kids protecting them from the unwanted attention. The group walked slowly, stopping occasionally to admire a 3D holographic sign with realistic images floating above the sidewalk to entice potential buyers into the shop. They stopped to look at wares behind plas-steel windows and sampled the free smells from some of the numerous restaurants that dotted the street. They took a meandering path from one side of the street to the other, the children attracted to everything and anything.

Ali quickly started up a conversation with another girl about something that had happened at school, some boy that had looked at some girl. Billy listened silently. Many of them were talking about the Inquisitors at the school. That had never happened in the past and was the buzz of the school. Two of them apparently had come to their school. They stepped into each classroom, their black on black clothes striking fear into all, the guilty and the innocent alike, for all it took was an accusation to change one to the other. They had been looking for someone, nobody really knew whom. Some of the kids figured it was Mr. Schrodinger; he was always a little strange and probably Gifted, one of the younger boys figured. Billy didn’t ask any questions, just walked quietly with the group, watching for threats and looking out for the dark monsters.

They took their time walking home, stopping at a fruit stand to buy some sweet katharos berries, some of the kids choosing candy instead. Billy’s hunger was considerable, but he couldn’t eat. He was so scared he thought he’d be sick. Instead, he focused on looking for threats, ready to grab Ali and sprint for safety. He could see security forces everywhere, their eyes scanning the crowds, but none approached; the gaggle of giggling children was apparently a good disguise.

As they neared their bakery, Billy became more and more nervous. It seemed that every pair of eyes to focused on them looked suspicious, and if everyone was looking for them. When they reached the alleyway that led around the back of the store, Billy grabbed Ali’s arm and pulled her into the shadows.

“Come on…around the back,” Billy said softly.

Ali nodded.

The twins slipped away from the group of fourth graders and ducked into the dark alleyway. It was dirty and smelled of rotten algae and stale beer. The homeless sometimes used it for shelter. Their father chased these less fortunate away at every opportunity, but their mother frequently slipped bread and biscuits to them, which only encouraged them to stay. Today, there were three men sitting with their backs against the wall, passing a bottle of something between them. Billy grabbed Ali’s hand and pulled her into the alleyway, but his sister hesitated; she was afraid.

“Come on, Ali! We need to get inside.”

“I’m afraid…not this way.”

By now, the three homeless had stopped drinking and looked up to see the new visitors. They looked like a collection of dusty cloth and ragged coats, like something that had been rolled through a life of dirt and pain, then left to rot. Ali was afraid, but Billy pulled his sister further into the alleyway. He could feel her fear seeping from her Gift, but kept pulling her forward. They had to get inside, quickly. As the twins neared the three homeless men, one of them looked up and grumbled something.

“What?” Billy asked.

“I said you’re the baker’s kids, right?” the old man repeated, as he passed the bottle to his neighbor. His voice sounded scratchy and old.

“Ahh…”

“Yea, I recognize you too,” said the next man through dirty teeth and an unkempt beard.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Billy lied as he took another hesitant step closer.

“You kids in trouble?” the bearded man asked, as he sat up a little.

“Why would you ask that?” Ali asked.

“Cuz you look scared,” said the third. “You scared of us old men?”

“Well, ahh…” Billy stammered.

Just then, a military ground speeder stopped on the street at the mouth of the shadowy alleyway. Billy and Ali both turned and froze in place, fear painted their faces with a pale white.

“You are in trouble,” said the first man. “Quick! Come over here and sit between us.”

Billy hesitated.

“Come on, quick!” the old man commanded.

Billy looked at the ground speeder on the street. Its anti-gravity generators shaded the gray street a pale blue, glowing dimmer as the soldiers climbed out. There were five of them, each wearing the uniform of Azule Security and armed with lase-guns and plasma rifles.

“Go,” Ali said as she pushed her brother forward, fear of the military overpowering her fear of these strangers.

Billy and Ali quickly moved to the three homeless men. They scooted over and made room for the twins between them. One of them took off a jacket and draped it over Ali’s small frame, while another pulled a blanket from behind him and spread it over Billy, covering him completely.

“Here! Hold this, sweetie,” said one of the men, as the bottle was passed to Ali. “Make sure they can see you holding it, but keep your face down.”

Ali reached out and grabbed the bottle as one of the men rustled her hair, then put a dirty knit cap on her head.

Billy tried to peek through the rough weave of the blanket but could see little. He could hear the sounds of boots approaching from the street, the clatter of their heels somehow sounding angry.

“What are you doing there?” asked one of the soldiers, the sound of command in his voice.

“We’re just busy doing medical research here,” replied one of the homeless as he took the bottle from Ali’s hand, then gave a harsh choking laugh.

“Yea, we’re curing the Voices,” said the man with the beard, his laughter caused his elbows to poke into Billy’s shoulder.

“Shut up you two and be respectful!” said the third homeless. “I apologize from my comrades. We’re just retired algaemen, too old to work the fields anymore.”

“So now we’re enjoying our retirement so graciously provided by our government,” the bearded homeless concluded.

“Have you guys seen some two kids coming by? They look alike, twins maybe?” asked the commander.

The bearded homeless man grunted. “Twins? Huh?”

“Yeah, twins,” replied the commander. “There’s a reward for information.”

Fear bubbled up from within Billy’s soul. He could feel Ali’s fear as well, almost overpowering. These men didn’t owe them anything; they had nothing, no food, no place to live—nothing. Why would they risk everything to protect them? They were doomed.

“Twins…we ain’t seen no twins, just this bottle here,” the bearded man said with a scratchy voice. Billy could feel him reach over and take the bottle from his friend and take a swig.

“Yeah,” another homeless confirmed, Billy wasn’t sure which one. “We haven’t seen any, but if we do, we’ll let you know. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that reward.”

“Well, you boys see anything, you let us know right away,” the commander said as he walked away.

“Sure thing, captain,” the bearded man yelled as the soldiers moved away.

Billy could hear the boots move away and reach the end of the alleyway, then climb into their ground speeder and move away.

“It’s OK, they’re gone.”

Billy pulled the blanket off his head, and Ali looked up, shrugging the dirty coat off her shoulders. Standing, the twins brushed themselves off and turned to face their saviors, Ali returning the cap.

“Thank you,” Billy said. “I don’t know why you risked yourselves for us, but thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Ali added.

“Your mom has always been good to us,” the bearded man explained. “Your dad, not so much, but he’s still an algaeman, and we take care of our own, even if he doesn’t get that. You always got friends here. You remember that.”

Billy nodded then gestured for Ali to follow. The twins sped down the dusty alleyway, leaping over puddles of who knows what. Turning at the end of the alley, they bolted to the backdoor of their bakery. A palm reader was mounted next to the door. Ali was about to put her hand on it when Billy stopped her.

“No, they can tell we’re here,” Billy explained. “Use the key, instead.”

Ali reached up to an innocuous brick in the wall, its edges worn with age and slowly pulled it free. Behind it lain a silver key. Billy reached in and grabbed the key and pressed it against the magnetic lock. Once he heard the lock click open, he put the key back in its hiding place and Ali replaced the brick. They then cautiously entered the back of the bakery and closed the door behind them. Running quickly through the back storage room, they burst into the bakery, overwhelmingly relieved to be home.

“Wait a minute,” Billy said as Ali was just about to head up the stairs. “Something’s wrong.”

“What is it?” Ali asked?

“Listen…there’s no sound.”

The twins stood still and listened to the sounds of the house: the ventilation system whirring, the sounds of ground speeders and hover trucks whooshing by on the street outside, the antique clock ticking on the stairway. They could hear sounds that would normally be covered up by mixers and the dishwasher and the robot vacuum, but everything was silent.

“Mom, where’s mom? She’s always here when we get home from school,” Billy said in a quivering voice.

They both looked about the empty room. They were alone.

Normally at this time, their mother would be attacking the dirty pans, burned cookie sheets and dough lined bowls, but they were alone. Dirty utensils were scattered about as if dropped in a hurry. A sheet of icy fear wrapped around the twins; did the Inquisitor come take her because of what they’d done?

Ali darted up the stairway to their apartment.

“Mom, are you here?…Mom? Mom?”

Billy could hear her running through all of the rooms frantically, looking for the person that they both knew was not there. Then the running stopped and Billy could hear her crying upstairs, trying to keep it quiet so that he wouldn’t hear, but the empty house seemed to magnify every slight noise. Slowly, she came walking back down the stairway, face white with fear.

“What did I do?” she said to no one. “Did I get her caught and taken away?”

“We don’t know what happened. Maybe it wasn’t the Inquisitor, maybe it was…”

“The vid,” Ali snapped.

Billy looked up and saw the vid-phone was blinking, the red pulsing light signifying that they had a message. They both streaked to the vid, Ali reaching it first and pressing the playback button. A holographic screen appeared floating in midair with a 3D image of their mother looking worried. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot; they could tell she’d been crying. The image started to talk.

“Kids, we called the school, but they couldn’t find you. We’re at the hospital, it’s your brother, he’s been…hurt…We’ll be here for a while, but either your father or I will be home around dinnertime. Stay there, don’t go out, stay home so that I can reach you and…” She had to pause as tears were beginning to flow freely down her cheeks. She looked away from the camera for a moment, then was gently pushed aside and their father took her place. “Stay at home; we’ll be back when we get back. If you need anything, ask Mrs. Faraday across the street.” And then the screen disappeared, the message ended.

Ali and Billy were silent, taking in the message. Francis hurt, their brother, hurt. Billy turned and looked at Ali.

“We have to go to the hospital,” Billy decided.

“But dad told us to stay here.”

“I don’t care, he’s our brother; we have to go see if he’s alright,” Billy said.

Ali paused to consider this then nodded. They gathered the supplies they’d need: a few cookies, some pieces of the now cold bread, a couple of astral fruits. But before heading out the door, Billy decided that they should change their clothes, so at least they would look a little different from this morning. Gathering everything they needed, they headed toward to the back door, leaving the front door undisturbed. Before they left, Ali grabbed two loaves of bread and a wheel of cheese and stuffed them into a canvas sack, then headed out the back of the bakery, Billy on her heels.

They entered the dark alleyway, this time without any fear. Moving as quietly as they could, they walked from shadow to shadow, trying to look casual but also difficult to recognize. Ali led her brother through the dusty passage, directly toward the three homeless men. When she reached them she stopped.

“You’re back!” coughed the oldest of the three. Ali now noticed that he was a gray-haired man with scratchy whiskers on his cheeks and neck, but with dark eyebrows and a dark mustache, the salty gray avoiding these patches for some reason.

“Here, this is for you,” Ali said as she handed over the canvas sack.

The gray-haired man reached out and took the sack, and quickly looked inside. Reaching in, he pulled out a fist full of bread and stuffed it into his mouth, then handed the sack to his neighbor—a balding man that looked overweight, yet starving at the same time. He also took a fistful of bread and stuffed it in his mouth, then handed the sack to the bearded man who took out a chunk of cheese and stuffed it hungrily in his mouth.

“Thank you,” the three men each said between mouthfuls of food.

Ali and Billy smiled, then turned and headed back toward the street.

“Where are you two going?” asked the gray-haired man.

The twins stopped and turned back to the homeless men.

“We have to go to the hospital,” Billy explained. “Our brother is hurt.”

“Your brother an algaeman like your old man?” the bearded man asked.

“Yes, today was his first day,” Ali explained. “We have to see if he’s alright.”

“Well, you two can’t just go walking around out there,” explained the bearded man, “you heard that soldier; they’re looking for you two. You gotta have a plan.”

“We don’t really have a plan,” Ali said. “We were just going to walk there as fast as we can.”

“They’d pick you up in a second,” the bald man stated. “I don’t know what you two did, but they seem pretty interested in catchin’ you.”

“Yeah,” added the bearded man. “You need to be invisible.”

“And we’re experts at being invisible,” added the gray-haired man as he turned and smiled at his comrades.

The three old men slowly stood, aching joints and bad backs making the process a painful one. After they stood, the bald man put his jacket back on Ali’s shoulders. It smelled dusty and damp as if all the years it had spent on the ocean were trapped within its threadbare folds. The smell of it made Ali crinkle her nose, but she tried to not let the old me see.

“It’s OK deary,” said the bald man. “My old coat has been dunked in algae more times than I remember. That’s a smell you never get out, no matter how hard you try.”

The bearded man laughed as he draped an equally dirty blanket over Billy’s shoulders.

“Seems like you never really got that smell out of your own skin either,” the bearded man said the laughed a joyful laugh that brought a smile to the twins’ faces.

“You two come with us,” the bearded man said. “We’ll get you to the hospital and no one will even look at you. All you gotta do is look poor, grumble with a low voice that you want money, and no one will even make eye contact with you…invisible.”

“Yeah, come on,” the gray-haired man said as he shuffled toward the end of the alleyway and into the harsh light of Azule’s dual suns.

“Can you tell us your names?” Ali asked. “My name is…”

The bald man held up a hand and stopped her in mid-sentence.

“Names cause trouble,” he said. “And around here, with our wonderful President Macab always watching and always listening, the less you know, the better. So you don’t need to know our names, and we don’t need to know yours. Got it?”

Billy and Ali both nodded.

“Excellent, now let’s go.”

The five of them walked to the end of the alley, then turned and slowly headed down the street. Billy noticed the way that the homeless men shuffled, barely lifting their feet off the ground, and he did the same. Nudging Ali with an elbow, he gestured to their feet then imitated the shuffle, trying to move as if every joint hurt. Ali started doing the same, moving as if in agony.

They passed an anti-gravity repair shop. Billy could see ground speeders up on lifts with greasy legs sticking out from underneath. The clink-clink of tools sounded from beneath the speeders as the mechanic did surgery on the anti-gravity generators, repairing whatever was broken.

“Hey, how ‘bout a little donation,” yelled the bald man into the shop.

A customer waiting near the doorway casually turned away, as if he hadn’t heard anything, pretending to be engrossed in the show that was playing on the shop’s holo-vid. A pedestrian walking toward them suddenly stopped and stared into a nearby clothing stores, looking carefully at the display, keeping their eyes away from the homeless crew.

“You see?” the gray-haired man said, “Invisible.”

He gave the twins a broad smile that made his face light up then extinguished it quickly. People would remember a homeless man smiling.

They walked toward the hospital, sometimes two on one side of the street, sometimes all together. Every time they passed someone with nice clothes, they reached out and asked for money and were passed by with eyes averted, invisible. No one wanted to look at them for fear of being asked for money. As they walked, Billy’s fear seemed to slowly evaporate.

This might be easy, he thought to himself.

But then his blood turned to ice. Ahead of them he could see two soldiers, both dressed in the gray uniforms that marked them as Azule Security Forces…that meant they were President Macab’s personal army.

This was trouble.

Billy started to slow his pace, looking for somewhere to run, but a gentle hand settled itself on his shoulder. Glancing up, he found himself looking into the eyes of the bald man.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said in a quiet voice. “Remember, a homeless person has nothing to fear, other than starvation or cold. Anything else is a treat. Now walk straight toward him, but keep your face down. It wouldn’t be very helpful if he was able to figure out your age.”

Billy nodded and kept walking, trying to keep his fear in check. Turning, he looked at Ali, and he could tell that she too was ready to run, but he had to have faith in his new friends. They were their only hope. Turning forward, he lowered his head and shuffled his feet, adding a slight limp for artistic flair.

“Hey, soldier-man, how about giving us somethin’ to keep us alive tonight?” one of the homeless suggested, the gray-haired one.

One of the soldiers turned away, but the other looked straight at them.

“Yeah, give us something we can eat…or sell,” the gray haired man said. “We haven’t had three squares for…ahh…I can’t even remember. Hey Stubbs, when was the last time we had a decent meal?”

“I think it was when that nice soldier-man invited us home to have dinner with him and his family,” the balding man said, his voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “Come on, how about helping us out?”

The soldier grunted as the homeless party closed in on him. The gray-haired man and the bald man stopped to stand up close to the soldier. Turning, the soldier looked away from them, looking down the street, as if there was something important somewhere else, anywhere else that needed his attention. The man with the gray hair grinned at Ali and Billy, then winked and continued shuffling down the street, the other two rejoining the march.

They made it to the hospital, without incident, the trip only taking twenty minutes. Moving near the entrance, the party moved off to the side. Billy and Ali removed the borrowed disguises and gave them back to the men.

“Thank you for your help,” Ali said, giving each of the men a hug. She was rewarded with toothy smiles from dirty, whiskered faces.

Billy shook each of their hands and also thanked them.

“Be safe and be careful,” the bearded man said as he stuffed another piece of bread past his thick mustache.

“Yeah,” agreed the bald man. “May you have fair winds and flowing seas!”

“What?” Billy asked.

“Ignore Stubbs,” explained the bearded man, “he’s an old sea-dog, like all us algaemen. Just be safe.”

And the three homeless men, now transformed into visible friends, turned and left the twins, heading back to their alleyway and their lives.

Billy waved once, then turned and faced the hospital. A feeling of fear for their brother washed over him, making him shiver ever so slightly. Reaching out, he grabbed his sister’s hand.

“I hope he’s alright,” Billy said.

“He has to be. I’ve had enough excitement for today.”

“Yeah, me too.”

And the twins walked into the hospital, confident yet scared.