Pip and Tino Go To Mars – Part Two
We covered the holo base and disk and headed to the house the gang used as a base, an old mansion that was just outside the city, a mile away from Virgil’s library. The house had six bedrooms and a huge living and dining room. There used to be a music room, but a storm had destroyed that part of the upstairs, leaving an ugly gap in the wall. In my opinion the whole house was ugly. Senility or bad taste had led to the walls being painted what Tino and I called ‘squashed bug purple’ and the shutters were bright green. The only pretty thing about it was the white, wrap-around porch with swings attached to the ceiling. The bushes in the front had grown over the bottom windows just before they died. Now they looked like leafless, brown, electrocuted wigs.
The lieutenant at the door didn’t bother asking us why we were so late; most of them were used to Tino’s digging trips. He did yell that fees were due in two weeks as we climbed the stairs to the attic where the Littles slept. A Little was anyone under sixteen. Tino and I would fit that description for four-and-a-half more years. He and I shared a corner next to the only window, protecting each other’s backs as we slept. If you slept in this part of the house, it helped to have a light sleeper like Tino beside you. You always knew if someone was trying to steal your stuff. No one really messed with me though. Not unless they were initiates. I’d been living with the gang longer than almost everyone here.
I laid down on one of the mats we used as beds. The rain I’d smelled earlier was beginning to make an appearance. Soft ‘tings’ from the drops rattled the tin roof and echoed around the attic. A few of the older Littles played cards with an incomplete deck while the rain picked up tempo. The last thing I thought about before I drifted off was that it felt like the beginning of a story. A dark and stormy night. Did the people in those stories ever make it to Mars? I wondered if Virgl knew any like that.
When you’re a Little, no one really cares what you do, as long as you pay the fee and stay out of the way. The Bigs were the ones that got the big jobs in the gang. When we left the mansion the next morning, twelve boys, all between seventeen and nineteen wearing masks over their mouths and noses, were packing white powder into lipstick tubes, like shotgun shells. Four of them worked the pressers and passed the tube to the next one who attached the fake lipstick, then gave it to the third one who arranged them in packages.
In another room a bunch of girls were loading already made lipsticks and porn disks into ‘preggo pouches.’ One girl pulled a tube out of her pouch and slipped it in her pocket before securing the pouch under her shirt. I didn’t blame her. I’ve been told the drugs help. No one noticed Tino and I going off to the library at dawn and coming back late at night. Some nights we even slept at the library, practicing reading the textbook pages Virgl would create. Some words that I got stuck on Tino could read easily and some words that always stumped him I got every time. After two months we could both read whole sentences and Virgl had us reading short stories out loud to each other.
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury concerned me.
“Why’d they lock her up?” I asked after we’d finished.
Virgil tilted his head. “I was informed once, that children can be quite cruel to those who think differently.”
I had enough experiences with orphanages to agree with him.
“Is that really what living in space is like? Will Mars be like that?” I asked instead.
“Mr. Bradbury created this story to be part of the science fiction genre in 1954, before humans relocated to space, so there is very little about it that is based on factual evidence.” Virgl thought for a moment. “The Mars relocation was the first known case of human inhabitation on a foreign planet. According to released data, scientist were able to create the proper atmospheric conditions for one to survive on such a planet the same way they would on Earth.”
“Is the sky blue?” Some of the stories we’d been reading talked about the sky changing colors depending on the weather, but in every one it always started as blue, not brown like now.
“I don’t have that data,” he replied.
Virgl said good night and faded away. Tino stretched out on the mats we’d brought over with us since we were practically living at the library now, his eyes closing. There was a small pile of refurbished electronics next to him ready to sell when we went into the city tomorrow to collect fees for this month. I couldn’t fall asleep that night. I kept looking out the window at the brown clouds that covered the sky even at night.
The next morning we went into the city with the backpack. Tino was on speaking terms with most collectors and museum managers in the city thanks to his grandfather’s hobby, so he made his rounds while I went to my usual corner. For some reason the crowd was thin today. There wasn’t enough people that I could use as camouflage while I picked their pockets. I sighed and went to my second favorite hunting grounds: the Shuttle Port. As usual it was filled with people rushing around with bags, or zoning out in chairs while they waited for their connecting shuttle. Plus, there were whole groups of people too busy talking to each other to notice me sticking my hand inside their bags and taking out whatever currency chips they had handy. The only down side was that there were extra guards.
Every time a guard came towards me I had to slip behind someone and pretend I was part of that group or stare at a holo-board until they walked by. One guard watched me for so long, I wound up reading the entire list of ticket prices. One ticket in particular caught my eye, the one for the Mars shuttle in two days. The price was nearly half of what I’d been told it was. There was small red print beneath the number: ‘Due to a sudden increase in cancelations, ticket prices will be reduced in order to fill shuttle to capacity and keep with original flight scheduling.’ I mean, it was still really expensive but now, it didn’t feel like it’d take a lifetime to pay for. I sighed, giving myself a reality check.
Even if the price was lower I wouldn’t be able to snitch that much money in time for the take off. I turned away from the board, checked for the guard, and went back to work. After a few hours I had enough for my fees and was waiting in front of a café for Tino. Their special’s screen that was standing outside caught my eye. I spent the rest of my wait sounding out the words in my head.
“Well look who it is.” I whirled and saw Boss looking down at me. Boss was pretty tall, so he wound up looking down at almost everybody, but being smaller than most, I found it pretty terrifying. He also looked like someone you wanted to avoid. He was over twenty and had long greasy hair and a scar that wrapped around his left eye. The grimy, white coverall didn’t help either.
“Pip Squeak, I haven’t seen you in a while. Why ain’t you coming home any more?”
“I’ve been paying my fees,” I squeaked out. Boss shrugged. He looked over at the café we were standing in front of.
“You getting something to drink, Pip Squeak?”
“I’m just waiting for Tino,” I mumbled. Though he’d never raised a hand to me, Boss terrified me. Standing next to him made me remember how little people would care if I disappeared, the way a lot of other gang members that pissed him off did.
“Well I want a drink, come on.” I didn’t have much of a choice so I followed him into the shop. We sat down in a booth by the window. A slender woman with her hair tied into a bun and glasses nervously offered Boss a menu. He waved it away and simply said “Coffee.” She nodded and looked at me.
“Anything for you, kiddo?”
I looked at Boss, not sure what to do.
“Just get something, Pip Squeak.” He smiled at me, which was another kind of scary. “What kinda boss would I be if I didn’t treat my followers every once in awhile?” The woman didn’t offer me a menu like she had with Boss.
“What’s a ma-chi-ato?” I asked. She looked confused for a half a second at the way I sounded out the word.
“A macchiato? It’s espresso with milk, would you like one?” I nodded. She typed my order on her pad. “Sweetened?” I nodded again. She jotted that down too and went off to place the order.
“Where’d you hear about Macchiatos from?” I turned back to Boss who was studying me.
“The specials- The specials board outside.” I stammered.
“Huh, so Pip Squeak can read.” I nodded, not sure what to say. Our drinks came a few minutes later. The top of mine was covered in foam, while Boss’s was plain black. I started to reach for mine but Boss reached out and picked it up.
“Let’s trade,” he said, smiling and sliding his cup over to me. Before I could say anything he took a sip out of my cup. I picked up the mug he’d given me and took a small sip of the hot liquid. I’d never had coffee. I never wanted it again either. The bitterness shocked me, and the drink burned my tongue. I set the mug down too quickly, sloshing some of the coffee over the sides.
“Careful!” Boss growled. I jerked back. He gave me a napkin. “Clean up your mess.” I wiped up the spill and put my hands in my lap, wondering what was taking Tino so long.
“Not gonna finish?” I shook my head, not wanting to irritate him again. “Too bad.” I sat quietly looking at my hands while Boss lit a cigarette and sipped his macchiato. The cigarette was my timer, the ash crawling down the stick counting down how long I was stuck under Boss’s gaze.
I heard him chuckle and my eyes shot from the toxic smelling smoke to his face.
“It’s your buddy Tiny.” I winced at how he said Tino’s name but didn’t say anything. Instead, I looked out the window and saw Tino clutching the empty backpack while studying the specials. “Looks like he’s reading too.” Boss leaned over and tapped his cigarette against the rim of my mug, knocking ash into the now cold coffee. I didn’t move.
“You two get on. Don’t stay back on my account.” The sickly sweetness of the words made them feel like a trap, but I was grateful for any excuse to leave. I nodded and slipped out of the booth. “Remember, fees are due tonight.”
I didn’t say anything when I got outside. I just grabbed Tino’s hand and ran, dragging him along behind me.