Bringer of Chaos Short Stories

Downtime

This exclusive story from the Bringer of Chaos series covers a period after the end Forged in Fire.

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Here's the thing about backbreaking work: no one tries to take it away from you. You can have all of it you want, no questions asked. So if you like grime caked into your pores and crud crammed under broken fingernails, then hey, manually hauling lifepods is for you.

A pod weighs about as much as four fully-grown adults and Pietas says there are nine pods per pallet; fifty-four pods per set. Seven hundred sets in every delivery unit and there are fourteen units, each about the height of a fourteen-story building. Imagine haulin' a total of ninety-eight hundred sets of fifty-four pods, one pod at a time. The delivery units are lined up four across in the first row. The ten suckers behind them are wedged into a narrow canyon.

One unit up front fell over and took out about three thousand Ultras frozen in cryosleep. There's no coming back from being shattered. With Pi's folks, his sister, and Lig underway for Terraformer City, there are only eight people available to work, so that's fourteen hundred pods apiece. Over half a million people, all told.

At this rate, it'll take over thirty years to free them all. Not going anywhere for a while?

The thing is, all these pods are set to open at the same time. Because they're stacked in pallets, that means the occupants will be trapped inside. No way Pietas wants any of his people to suffer even a moment of what he went through, let alone being trapped like that for years.

Anyone who knows anything about Pietas knows he doesn't quit when there's work to be done. With his bad shoulders, he can't lift or team-carry pods, but he can push 'em. So all day, he's bent over, arms out, pushing pods across gritty sand. If you need a break, he lets you take one, but he's not takin' it with you.

This one day, all the weight of a pod was suddenly on my arms. I stopped and turned to see what was up. Pietas had slumped over the pod and wasn't so much as twitching. When I set my end down, he slid off and landed in the dirt. A few people stopped what they were doing and ran over.

Joss arrived first and took control. She directed them to move Pietas into the shade under a tree and then knelt beside him. She looked over at me, a hand on her heart. "He's only sleeping."

"He's gonna work himself to death." I wiped my sweaty brow with a forearm, the dirty sleeve probably making it worse.

"Six." Joss laid a hand on my shoulder. "He's totally exhausted, but when he wakes, he won't rest."

"I know. I've tried getting him to take some down time, but he just says he'll sleep when he's dead."

"I have an idea." She directed me to shift so I leaned against the tree and Pi's head was on my lap. "If you sit with him, he'll rest easier. It's ok to sleep a bit yourself."

It wasn't like I couldn't use a few winks. "Ok. How long you think he'll be out?"

"An hour or two maybe." Joss stood. She looked as dirty and haggard as the rest of us. "I want to trick him into sleeping a little longer. Are you up for it?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"When he wakes, I'll tell him not to move because it'll wake you, and you need a bit more sleep."

Not like that wasn't true. "You think he'll go for it? If he gets up, I want to get up too. I don't want to sit here snoozin' while all ya'll work your tails off."

Joss bent closer and squeezed my shoulder. "He'll feel the same way. So I'll impress on him how much you need the rest. For you, he'll keep still."

As soon as I shut my eyes, I was out.

When I finally jerked awake, it was full dark, and a chill had settled around my shoulders. Firelight flickered across from me, highlighting the faces of the Ultras sitting around the firepit. The pale, spiraling smoke brought the smell of cooked meat, making my stomach growl.

My legs had gone numb. Trying not to disturb Pietas, I tightened the musles in my thighs.

He sat straight up and turned to me. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." My hands were filthy, so I scrubbed their backs over my eyes. "You?"

"Same." Pietas cocked his head. "I think Joss set us up to look out for each other so we'd both sleep."

"Sounds like her." I stretched, yawning.

He got to his feet and dusted himself off. Ultras don't help each other up. They don't need it, most of 'em. But Pietas held down a hand to me.

When I took it, he hauled me to my feet, a smirky smile on his face. I checked around me. "What?"

"With that dirt smeared across your eyes, you look like me after a ritual gone bad."

"Oh yeah? I see one big difference." I brushed off sand. "I'm not naked."

Pietas laughing is a sound you don't hear often, and everyone in camp looked over at him. He slapped a hand across my back, and nodded toward the fire. "Let's eat."

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