Awake My Soul

Thorpe stared at the access panel in front of him, trying to will himself to open it. But every time he reached for it, the terror of what might be behind it held him back. He’d never been to this part of the ship. As far as he knew, no Blackthumb since The Battle and the end of the war had been up here. He just had to go a little further, though, and then he could go back home. He had promises to keep, and miles to go before he could sleep.

“Just don’t seem like a good good reason to be risking our lives, ya?” Ham said. “Ain’t we got nothin better to be doin?”

“For sure,” Thorpe said. “But we agreed to do this, ya? So we’re gonna do it. Besides, ain’t you a little excited to actually see the rest of the ship? See how them fat cats in the uppers are living it up while we suffer in the bowels?”

“Nope nope. Don’t care. Rather stay down below and watch vids with Rach.”

“Get it together, man.”

They’d made their way up from engineering through an access tunnel that, as far as he knew, hadn’t been used in decades after being sealed up during the war. This tunnel, and dozens of others like it, had long been forgotten by the other factions. But not the Blackthumbs. They knew every detail of the generation ship’s layout.

“Alright,” Thorpe said, more to himself than to Ham. “Let’s do it.” He took a deep breath, flipped the latch, and opened the panel.

He’d heard stories of how good the people on the upper decks had it his whole life. How the war had broken out after they’d lost contact with Earth. How the Farmhands and the Suits had forced his people into slavery after The Battle, forcing them down into engineering to keep the ship going in exchange for barely enough food to keep them all alive and working. So, he’d been expecting everything to be bright and clean up here. He’d expected to see rows of crops lining the hallways and a bunch of fat and lazy Farmhands lounging around as their toy robots did all the hard work. He’d expected paradise.

He never expected the reality of the situation, though.

It was as dark up here as it was down in engineering, with only a few scattered lights still working. A raised planter ran along the back wall as far as he could see, but not a thing was growing in the pale dusty soil. Nearby, a broken-down robot stood watch, the dust that covered it like a death shroud making it clear it hadn’t done any hard work in ages.

The smell, though, was even worse. A mixture of rot and death overwhelmed him and made him step back into the clean air of the access tunnel. Ham, catching his own whiff moments later, gagged and covered his face with both hands like a child.

“No no,” Ham said, backing up and shaking his head. “Not goin in there. No no no. Somethin bad bad in there.”

“Relax,” Thorpe said. “It’s all good, ya? Just a surprise. You’ll get used to it. Come on, man. They probably just stopped using this section. The rest of it’ll be a lot better. I promise.”

Thorpe had no idea just how wrong he was.

Hallway after hallway revealed increasing levels of decay and abandonment. Occasionally the planters would give way to large tanks half full of murky brown water with sheets of multicolored fungus growing on the surface and walls. Not even his worst nightmares had ever been this horrifying. The further they went, the more he started to feel like he would never escape this hell.

When they were only a few decks away from the large dining area—and their prize—the two men finally stepped through a door into a part of the ship that was at least a little bit like what he’d been expecting. Most of the lights worked and the planters actually had stuff growing in them. The plants looked sick, but at least they were alive.

“Who are you?”

Thorpe jerked back violently at the voice, scared that some monster had followed them out of the vile and corrupted sections of the ship. Ham let out a small squeal and tried to hide behind Thorpe.

The source of the voice was standing in front of the planter a little way down the hall. She was an old woman, but she was tiny like a child. She was wearing the same jumpsuit that everybody on the ship wore, but hers hung loosely around her small and horrendously skinny body. Her bones seemed to be trying to force their way out of every bit of exposed skin he could see.

“Sorry,” Thorpe said, pushing Ham away from him. “Didn’t see you there.”

“Who are you?” The woman said again, ignoring Thorpe’s comments.

“Right! We’re, uh… just a couple Suits who wanted to check something out back… back there.” He jerked his thumb back over his shoulder.

He’d imagined dozens of different scenarios that might happen when he ran into somebody, from fooling them completely to violence breaking out. He never once considered that he’d be met with laughter. He just stood there silently as the woman first smiled at him, then began to chuckle, and finally gave in to laughing hysterically like a lunatic.

“Suits,” she gasped, pointing at Thorpe. “The man comes out of the Dead Zone and says, ‘Suits.’”

“What’s so funny?” Thorpe asked after another full minute of her pointing and laughing, his annoyance with this strange person overcoming his wariness of her.

“Oh, honey,” the woman said, wiping tears and getting her laughing fit under control. “What’s so funny is a couple of boys who are clearly Blackthumbs coming up here and claiming to be Suits. I guess you didn’t get the news down there in your little paradise, but the last of the Suits died off over two dozen harvests ago.”

Paradise? Had she just called engineering paradise? And all the Suits were dead? How did his people not know that?

She slowly made her way towards them, walking slightly bent over and with a noticeable limp. He was amazed again at how small she was. Definitely not the big fat Farmhands he’d been hearing about all his life.

“Who is you?” Ham asked.

“Oh, of course. I’m Mother Tee. And I’m sorry about laughing at you boys. That was rude of me.” She paused and spread her arms wide. “Enough of that, though. Welcome to the Farmland, boys! I’m guessing from the look on your faces this isn’t quite what you were expecting.”

“No,” Thorpe said, shaking his head and staring down at the woman. “What happened back there?”

“You really don’t know, do you? After you lot won the war…”

“After we won the war!?” Thorpe said, interrupting her. “What’re you talking about? You and the Suits won the war and forced us to stay in engineering after The Battle.”

The old woman chuckled again and shook her head. “I’d heard they kept you all in the dark down there—both literally and figuratively—but I’d never really thought it was this bad. But, yes, the Farmhands and the Suits teamed up and beat you lot in The Battle. But after your people fled back down to engineering, they started shutting down life support to sections of the ship and warning they’d shut it all down if we didn’t surrender. What could we do? All the supplies, and most of the food, has gone to engineering ever since. We won The Battle and lost the war.”

Thorpe could only shake his head. There was no way what she was saying was true. No way. But what about the Dead Zones? How could they be there if these people had won? He didn’t understand, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to.

“Why are you here?” She asked, losing her smile and eying the two of them suspiciously. “What else are you trying to take from us? Huh? We have nothing left.”

“We heard a rumor,” Thorpe said, still trying to sort out what the hell was going on. “About a cake. A chocolate cake. The last chocolate cake anybody would ever have. We…”

“You were going to come up here and take it from us, huh?”

Thorpe nodded. “We were gonna share it with our families. We thought…” He shrugged and shook his head.

“Well, come on, then,” Mother Tee said with a sigh, turning and gesturing them to follow. “Let’s go get your cake.”

Ham tugged on the back of Thorpe’s shirt, but he just swatted his friend away. He didn’t want to hear anything Ham had to say.

They passed through a few more hallways lined with the same sickly-looking plants, then turned into the cafeteria. Inside, sat together at just a few of the many long dining tables inside the giant room, were maybe twenty people. They all looked up in surprise at the two men, then at Mother Tee. Nobody said a word.

“Boys, meet the Farmhands,” Mother Tee said, making a sweeping gesture towards the small group.

“Where are the rest of your people?” Thorpe asked.

“The rest of us?” Mother Tee said with a harsh chuckle. “Boys, this is all of us that’s left. This ship left Earth ages ago with thousands of people on board. Now, other than whatever you all have down in engineering, only twenty people are left alive on this entire ship.” She shrugged and raised her hands in a What are you gonna do gesture.

She guided them towards the central table. “Well… Here it is. Here’s your prize.” She pointed down at a platter in the center of the table. Resting on it was the cake. The chocolate cake he’d come to take from these people.

It was a pathetic thing. It was barely even brown, and maybe half as big as his fist. He figured he could eat the whole thing in two bites.

He felt Ham back away from him, then heard his footsteps as the man sprinted out of the cafeteria as quickly as he could. Thorpe didn’t try to stop him, focusing on stopping his tears instead.

“Still want it?” Mother Tee asked.

Thorpe shook his head, then looked at the people seated all around him. All of them were as skinny as Mother Tee. All of them looked sick. And every one of them stared at him with fear in their eyes.

“What…” he started, then cleared his throat. “What happens when we make it to Sigma Draconis? Will you all be okay there?”

The looks of fear turned to looks of confusion. Mother Tee let out another one of her small chuckles.

“Oh, my boy. My poor, poor boy. We made it to Sigma D when I was younger than you are now. We’ve been in orbit around the star ever since while your people refused to allow us to land. That’s what killed the suits. All they could do was look out their big windows at the front of the ship and see the planet that was supposed to be our new home, knowing that there was nothing they could do to get us there. It’s what’s been killing my own people, knowing that all we have to look forward to is generations more of slavery to the Blackthumbs and starvation.”

“Why don’t we land?”

“Because once certain types of people get their hands on power, they’ll do just about anything to hold onto it. They’ll twist your reality and work us to death if it means just a little bit longer at the top for them. We’re all just pawns in their games, my boy.”

Thorpe didn’t even try to stop his tears this time as his universe crumbled around him.