John Mule - Chapters 4-7

[More Liza and the Air Pirates next Tuesday, kind of on a roll right now]

Chapter 4

 

“Three colonies of ETBs exist in the US, An Diego, Tewksbury Mass and Virginia Beach in, well, Virginia.” Maxa was making notes on her PCD.

“Not done yeeeeet!” Luce said as she tapped the keyboard in front of her.

“Wasn’t that paper due weeks ago?”

“Contrary to your stuck up opinion, we do write more than one paper in Sosch. Fuck it, I need to redo some tables anyway. I can stop. Talk to me. Three sites?”

“Three colonies, is the preferred term. Set up around military bases to keep the ETBs closer to government control.”

“Tewksbury? That’s Boston… what’s up there? What military is up there?”

“Not much, it was the first colony. Lots of different refugee populations in there. Government thought it would be a good place. It was only later they realized that the ETBs would need more oversight.”

“Babysitting you mean.”

“Yes Luce, babysitting.  Low IQ, social isolation, physical differences. Not an easy population to manage. Lucky for us this means they are concentrated.”

“OK, so we just have to go to three different parts of the country and interview 850 of them?”

“857. Yes. But we can be strategic about it. Start obvious and then save the least likely for last.”

“Easy, we should hit the beach first.”

“Luce…

“Seriously Maxa, think about it. Forget Tewksbury, that would be my last choice, it has the least government control, right?”

“Well, now they all have about the same…”

“But Virginia Beach is closer to DC and lots of government down there.”

“True…”

“And it is closer, cheaper. Speaking of which, how did the grant application go?”

Maxa sat back, staring at the ceiling of the tiny apartment crowded with Jenx’s artwork. “Fine. Not good, I don’t know. I have some money left over from the summer grant, I could spend. I mean, I could reasonably say it was for the project from then anyways. I won’t know about the new grant for another month or so.”

“Ok, so we wait.”

“Luce, I can’t wait that long, we can’t. What if something happens to the guy?”

“And you lose your chance at glory?”

“Shut up!” Maxa threw a pillow at Luce, who batted it away. “I’ve been thinking Luce- this is more than just about me right now. No, I’m serious. If ETB’s can reproduce… And the government is worried about that…”

“Still on the government angle huh? How many guys in trench coats have tried to kill you lately?”

“Funny. Look, it makes some sense. Ever since the Sojourners came here-“

“2048.”

“Yeah, ever since, the government here, everywhere, the UN, has been touchy.”

“Well they should be, how many transients work for the Sojourners now?”

“Dunno, last I heard it was upwards of a billion. At least.”

“Can you say their real name, the Sojourners I mean?”

“Nope, can you?”

“We used to play a game in middle school, trying say it. We all wanted to take language courses, we thought. Fuck, I can barely speak Spanish…”

“So, can you?”

Luce smiled, made a sound that sounded like she was clearing her throat and clucking at the same time. Maxa laughed.

“That’s awful!”

“I know, I know! So you think that mules running around having baby mules will piss off the Sojourners?”
“Who knows” Maxa said, ignoring Luce’s slight. “They never recognized ETBs as even exisiting-“

“How the fuck can that be?”

“I don’t know, it’s like a third rail, even in ETB studies. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“So how do we do the interviews?”

“Virginia Beach… 213 male ETB’s born or dropped off between 2066 and 2068.”

“I thought our guy was 2067?”

“Yeah, but I figured it would be better to be sure, and also hide our intentions a little.”

Luce went back tolooking at her screen. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Maxa visibly jumped.

“Jeeze, relax Pepper- it’s just the guy I told you about. I told him to stop by today, he’s been putting me off for weeks.”

Luce got up and answered the door. A tall, painfully thin guy with a mop of unruly blonde hair walked if. He wore large black rimmed glasses and seemed swallowed up into his clothes.

“Maxa, this is Omar, Omar, Maxa.” Maxa stood up and offered her hand. Omar seemed unsure at first and then limply shook it.

“So, Luce tells me you might know your way around some coding and media stuff?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, so like do you have access to stuff. You know, equipment?”

“Your PCD.”

Maxa looked confused. “No, I mean, ok, I should start at the top. We’re going to interview a bunch of people. Well, Ok, ETBs. I study ETBs.” She waited for a reaction but Omar stared impassively.  “ok, so we need to tape short interviews with a lot of people.”

“How many?”

“857, but maybe not that many. We’ll, we’ll do a sample, of sorts.”

“PCD is fine. We can cloud load them.”

“No, I mean, I don’t want this stuff up on a cloud.”

“Why not? Safe enough.”

“Well, uh, reasons, ok. Anthropology turf war shit or something.”

“Or something.” Omar gave the barest hint of a smile. “Ok.”

“Maxa, can we talk for a moment, excuse of Omar.”

Lice all but dragged Maxa into the small kitchen and closed the door.

“What the fuck Maxa, why are you being so weird.”

“No reason.Look, we can’t tell him everything.”

“Why not?”

Maxa did not reply, Luce rolled her eyes.

“Maxa, he is not stupid, the guy’s a brain, ok. He’ll figure something out.”

“Fine, but that’s on him.”

“I swear Maxa, you’re paranoia is gonna drive me nuts.”

“You can thank me when you don’t get killed.”

“Of course the PCD is crap!” Omar’s voice came from the other side of the door. Maxa opened the door.

“What?”

“The PC, it’s crap on resolution and sound. You doing interviews right? I got a Wawasan, Indonesian media box. Set it up on a tripod should be good to go. We can even stream it to a flashbox attached. No cloud. Reasons.”

Maxa smiled. “OK, Omar. How are you at the beach?”

 

Chapter 5

“Ok, so we’ll take turns, Luce and I, interviewing.”

“But you’ll do most of them, right?” Luce said, slinging her backpack into the back of the small car they’d rented.

“Where’s your bag?” Maxa asked as she tipped in a large suitcase.

“That’s it.” Luce said as she slumped into the backseat.

“We could be there formore than a week Luce.”

“Then I over packed I guess!” Luce fixed earbuds into her ears and stuck out her tongue.

“She’s different.” Omar said, carefully pacing a small white cardboard box into the trunk.

“We’re all different Omar. Can you drive?”

“No.”

“Ok, then, guess it’s me.” Maxa said almost to herself. “Four hours, great.”

“Did the grant check come?” Omar asked as he go into the passeneger side.

“Yes. It went in yesterday. I can transfer money to you tonight, alright?”

“Yes.”

“Four hours…” Maxa muttered as she started the car.

 

It was more than four hours, they had to stop several times for food, bathrooms and once for Omar to be sick. They arrived at the small hotel some ways away from the waterfront. Most of the places were boarded up for winter. Even the Mcdonalds was.

“Creepy, best we could do?” Luce said, scanning the area.

“We could have stayed further inland, in the year round area, but this was c heaper. A lot cheaper. Plus we can walk to the ETB housing from here. Thank God, enough driving for me for a long time.”

“What time should we meet tomorrow?” Omar asked as he got his box of equipment out.

“Yeah, uh, about that” Maxa said. “I got a room with two queen sized beds. The good news is that you get your own bed.”

“God news for both of us!” Luce said, giving Maxa a larger than life fake wink, Maxa rolled her eyes.

“We’ll all be in the same room?” Omar asked.

“Yeah kid, so no big ideas, alright?” Luce said with a smile.

“Maybe I should splurge and get me a room...” Maxa muttered as she locked the car.

The next day they walked several blocks to a large drab looking building that took up an entire block.

“They live here?” Luce asked, looking up at the windowless front of the building.

“No, they work here. Part of the program Luce.”

“So we’re going to interview them at work? Wouldn’t it be better to do it later, when they go back to their… houses? Flats?”

“Flats, yea and no. They’re not that tightly controlled then, might be, uh, more difficult.”

“OK, but won’t it be obvious if we do this at their work?”

“Maybe, but the woman I spoke with on the phone sounded bored by it. I’ve read enough papers to know that folks like me roll through here at least a few times a year, doing research.”

“Okkkaay.”

They went inside to a small lobby with some shabby run down furniture. A very bored looking receptionist told them to take a seat.

Pretty soon a large figure came through a side door. It was a woman, well it looked like a woman, but things were. She was well over seven feet tall and her skin had a distinctly greyish cast to it. Her features  were almost equine, her walk slow and her eyes dull, expressionless. She had long black hair pulled behind her. Luce couldn’t stifle a gasp fast enough.

“Jesus Luce, stop acting like a tourist!”

“Excuse me worldly one, but I’ve never seen one in real life. Shit she’s tall as fuck.” Luce whispered.

“Jealous?” Maxa asked with a small laugh.

Luce did not take the bait. “Dunno, it is legal?”

Maxa rolled her eyes. “God Luce, they’re not animals, yes its legal. Gawd, now that’s in my head.”

A woman came through the door next. She guided the tall ETB to the receptionist and then came over to where Maxa,Luce and Omar were sitting.

“I’m Director Barma.”

Maxa stood up. “Maxine Anansi, nice to meet you. And I wanted to thank you so much for letting me do some interviews here…”

Director Barmi eyed Maxa and the other two with some suspicion.

“Well, we don’t do this every day, but Gourevitch is a name and since you only want to talk to a few of the workers… Come on, I’ll show you to the breakout room. Do you have a lot to set up?”

Omar held up the Wawasan and a tripod.

They were shown to a small windowless room off a hall behind the front lobby.  The Director turned to leave but then stopped.

“One thing, Ms. Anasi, that I am curious about. Most people who come down here do samples, but you want to talk to every employee  from a certain drop off date? Why not a sample?”

“Yes Ma’am. Well, there are only 213 of them, if my numbers are right. That’s a pretty small population for statistical purposes.”

“But why only that age?”

“Oh, well, yes, I’m looking at that age group to see if they, uh, have differing experiences than older cohorts. There was a study, um, by Waltz and Ney on a co-hort from the early days, when things were not um, as well run.”

“Never heard of it.”

“I uh, could find it, send it to you.”

The Director stood for a moment. “Right, well, you have today and tomorrow, so get started.”

“I thought we had all week Ma’am?”

“No, two days disruption is enough. I can’t afford more than that.”

“But when we talked on the phone…”

“Ms Anasi , it is a privilege I am extending you to help you with your studies.”

The director turned and left, closing the door.

“What the hell?” Luce said as Omar busied himself setting up the small tripod on the lone table in the room.

“I don’t know.” Maxa said. She gave Luce a “shut up” look. Luce rolled her eyes.

“Where do I go to get the mule- the ETBs.” Luce said.

“She said the receptionist would send them into the hall three at a time. I think you had better ride herd on that. If we have two days that means we have to do a hundred each day. Jesus. OK, if we cut some questions. “

“Can’t be done.’ Omar said “It’s 9:30, even we get until 6, like she said. That is Eight and a half hours. That is 5 minutes a subject, no breaks, no hiccups.”

“We can do it in three. Just some basic questions.”

“What are we looking for?” Omar asked.

“Not now Omar, later. Ok Luce, hurry things up!”

 

The first ETB was lead into the room a moment later by Luce. Like the woman he was very tall, easily seven feet. He was larger than the woman, a larger , more muscular frame. He had the same expressionless eyes and grey skin. He sat down across from where Maxa had set her seat. Omar was behind the Wawasen. He gave her the thumbs up.

“Hi, please sit down. Whatis your name?”

“Rain” The ETB said in a flat voice. Like all ETBs he only went by one name. There were not that many of them so they never went by a last name. Any potential confusion could be cleared up by their government assigned serial number.

“Ok Rain, I just want to ask you some questions about your life. There are no right answers, so just tell me what you think. OK?”

“OK.”

“Great. Tell me, are you happy with your life?”

“Yes.”

“OK, do you have many friends?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like your work here?”

“Yes.”

“Um, ok. Is there anything you feel is missing from your life?”

Rain’s expression did not change from the previous questions. He sat there with a dull stare.

“My socks.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Sock, missing a pair. I had four, now I only have three.”

“Ok, but beyond that, um is there anything you want do to?”

“Find the socks.”

“Ok, thank you Rain. That is all.” Maxa said, trying to smile. Rain got up and shuffled out.

“Man, he was a trip.” Omar said, after turning off the Wawasen.

Maxa sighed. “Welcome to glamorous life of ETB research. The next 212 will be just the same, unless we get lucky.

By 6 pm Maxa’s voice was scratchy and she was exhausted. She had been sitting at the table for the past eight hours with only a couple of short bathroom breaks. She had made the decision early on the power through and do all the interviews. Luce had been doing a decent job of hustling the ETBs in and out. By 6 pm Maxa looked at her list. They had done 103 interviews. Most had been less than three minutes even.  And true to her prediction, most had been even less thrilling than Rain’s No one else that day had longed for socks, and very few could come with an answer for the fourth question.

They packed up and headed back to hotel.

All three o fthem said little during dinner and they were all passed out by 8 pm.

The next day they started a little bit earlier and managed, by going until 6:15, much to the chagrin of the director, to get through all 213 interviews.

Maxa felt like her head was going to split open as they packed up in the interview room. Maxa longed for the relative fresh air of outside.

“Well, we did it Pepper.” Luce said as they left the building.

“Yeah” Maxa croaked. “I thought that bitch was going to throw us out after the first day. Oh well, I guess it is for the best, can you imagine a week of that?”

“Did you get what you wanted?” Omar asked.

“I dunno. Uh, say, can you set up the media so I can look at the interviews tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“Come on Maxa, let’s take some time off.”

“Luce we’re in a seaside town in winder-“

“We can go further inland. Lots of sailors around here from what I read.”

“Just let me spend tomorrow looking at the stuff. We can hit the town at night.”

“Great, you’re buying, right?”

 

Chapter 6  

The next day Omar set up the Wawasen to the TV in the room and showed Maxa how to scroll through the interviews.

“thanks Omar, Where’d Luce go?”

“She said she was going to go walk around. Mind if I read, you won’t bother me even with the sound on.”

“Um, ok.”

Maxa spent the next three hours looking at interview after interview. By lunch time her head was splitting again and she slumped down in the chair she’d set up in front of the TV.

“Maxa, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you decide to study the ETBs?”

“Long story, I guess. Or not. I stumbled on an anthropology course in college. I was pre-med, but kind of sinking. We did this chapter in Anthro on the Sojourners and the ETBs. I guess I felt for them.”

“For the ETBs?”

“For both of them. I know no one thinks much about the Sojourners. They are kind of jerks, but they must, they must have some feelings about the ETBs. I mean, their own children…”

“Yeah, it’s weird. Maxa, look, I need to come clean about something.”

Maxa sat bolt upright, the back of her neck tingled. “What?”

“It’s nothing really, except I’m not in Medieval Literature. I’m in Political Science, specifically Sojourner relations.”

“Jesus. Why did you hide this Omar?”

“I thought you might not let me in. I thgouht you might think I was stealing your research.”

Maxa sat there for a moment and then laughed. “Stealing my research? Fuck Omar, I thought you were going to say you were government.  You study Sojorouners then?”

“Yes. Ever since I was a kid. I know people are ambivalent about them.  We depend on them to employ so many people. Yet we’ve never been to their planet, they have never shared anything with us, the way they get about the universe, their medical technology… I thought I could crack their code, as it were. I could understand what is going on.”

“And can you?”

Omar laughed, it was the first time Maxa could remember him laughing. “Would I be here if I could? The deeper I get into it the less I understand.”

“What do you know about ETBs? Research is really circumscribed about the links back to the Sojourners. I mean, I know the basic story, that is has taken decades for the Sojourners to even admit the ETBs exist.”

“Well, their culture is very different, as you know.”

“That is saying a lot. How can a being produce an offspring and not even acknowledge it is from them, a part of them?”

“In their minds ETBs are a human problem. They see sex with humans, with females, as taboo, but therefore highly attractive.”

“Yes, I know, But even so, how can they just ignore what happens?”

“I don’t know. Their… understand Maxa. They’ve been around for two million years. Two million years of their civilization. Humans, what, 20 thousand, if I am being very generous.”

“Have you ever met one”

“Yes, through a professor I worked with last year. We met a delegation up in the main work station.”

“Were they all… male?”

“Yes, well, from what I understood.” Omar blushed and then almost whispered. “Did you know the thinking is that there may be as many a four recognized Sojourner sexes?”

Maxa laughed. “Yes. Must be confusing  at weddings.”

Omar snorted. They sat for a moment.

“What are the work stations like?” Maxa asked.

“Like the media you see. Clean, comfortable, kind of sterile. People get bored. Might explain why there were so many ETBs in the early days. The Sojourners now tend to try and separate themselves more. “

“ETB’s are down 78 percent from twenty years ago, which was the height. In another decade that factory won’t exist.”

“then why study them? At this rate there won’t be any ETBs in thirty years, they die young right?”

“Mid 30s, if that is young yeah. I dunno. I guess I feel they deserve some respect. They don’t get any from their fathers and the government, people here, are afraid fo them or ignore them. You saw that building today- imagine going there 7 days a week to work, all day. That’s not a life.”

“But they’re hard to control.”

“Yes, if you’re scared of them. Look, maybe they will be gone decades from now, but now they’re here. They are half human, we owe them... something.”

“And your study, you want to understand how they feel about their life?”

“Uh, yeah, something like that.”

“Not much there.”

“Uh, no. Um, I think I need some fresh air. I’ll be back I a little bit.”

 

Maxa left the room and went outside into the biting air. A gloom has descended over the waterfront. Truth was she has not seen anything at all that would give her a clue. Maybe this was a dea end. At the very least she would have to find a way out to San Diego.

After walking around for a while Maxa came back into the room. Her mood had not been lifted, but her head felt better, at least. With just a nod to Omar, who had gone back to reading, she sat down and picked up reviewing where she had left off.

If was not even ten minutes later when Luce came back into the room. Maxa waved at her withouth taking her eyes off the TV screen.

“Found anything?”

“No.”

Luce came over and sat down on the bed and watched a for a few minutes. Several interviews went by, all the same in so many ways. The ETB’s gave mostly single word answers – yes.

“God Pepper,  this is bullshit. What are we even looking for.”

“I dunno.”

“What do you mean?”

“I odn’t know. I just .. don’t. I thought… I don’t know. I thought something would be obvious. One of them would be different somehow. Give different answers, look different, something.”

“But they’re all the same.”

“I know Luce, I know! I sat through them all and now watching them.”

Luce got up off the bed. “Right, fuck this noise. I figured you had a plan Maxa, but I guess not. I’ll just catch a bus back or something.” Luce headed in to the bathroom and closed the door.

“Luce, come on, stop pulling drama. We’ll just drive back.”

“Fuck you Maxa Just wasting time on this stupid goose chase!” Luce’s voice came through the thin bathroom door. “You didn’t even need me in the end.”

“Not true Luce, you hustled those guys through there so fast-“

The door burst open and Luce strode out, grabbing her bag.

“Mules Maxa, fucking Mules! All those goddamn John Mules, just herding Mules! Dumb as shit weirdoes! What were we going to find? The missing link, the virgin birth!?”

“Luce…” Maxa said, giving her a look.

“Fuck this!” Luce said. “Stop playing games Maxa. No one cares. No one is after you or us or him, if he even exists! What if he died, huh? Years ago?”

“Well, some did die, but I would imagine that the one-“

“Imagine! That’s rich, this whole thing is imaginary isn’t it?”

“Uh, Maxa…” Omar tried to interject.

“It’s not imaginary. Come on Luce, this is real stuff here.”

“Not fake like my gender studies huh?” Luce spat out.

“I never said that. Wait a Goddamn minute, you just slagged off my shit first!” Maxa yelled back.

“Uh, you guys…” Omar tried again.

“Because this is all just a fantasy, isn’t it? Admit it Maxa, you’re just grasping here, some idea that you can kind some exotic bird…”

“GUYS!” Omar bellowed. Maxa and Luce stopped and stared. “Sorry, Maxa, look at this…”

Omar went over and scrolled the media back a few minutes to a previous interview.  “You want something different… look.”

The ETB on the screen was answering the questions in a flat voice, saying Yes.

“What?” Maxa said, “He’s saying the same stuff-“

“Don’t listen, look!”

Omar rewound the interview.

“Oh my God” Luce said, sitting down on the bed. “Maxa, look, his eyes, look at his eyes.

Maxa tilted her head and watched as the ETB sat perfectly still, his flat voice saying yes but his eyes, his eyes were darting back and forth, up and down, taking in the whole room. Taking in Maxa across from him, the eyes were awake and alive.

“That’s him, that’s the one…” Maxa whispered.

 

Chapter seven

“What one?” Omar asked, a huge grin on his face. “Did I do well then?”

“Fuck yes!” Luce said, her mood swung completely around.  Maxa laughed and rewound the tape to watch the interview again.

“Ok, what is your name?” Her voice on the screen sounded bored, it was from the second day, she figured it was mid afternoon. She sounded rough.

“Cloud.”

“Cloud?”

“Yes…”

But those eyes, searching, taking it all in.

Maxa pulled out her PCD and began typing.

“We need to get to this guy, Cloud. What  a name!”

“Better than John” Luce said.

“Luce” Maxa said in a sotto voce. “OK, we have to find him. It’s, what time now? Close to four. Two more hours they get out.”

“good, we can go back to the factory then.”Luce said, getting up.

“No! No way. We uh, can’t.”

“That would be easiest Maxa.” Omar said.

“No way.” Maxa shook her head and then arched her eyebrows at Luce.

“Maxa’s right. No need to get that director involved again.”

Omar reached over and turned off the media.

“OK, what is going on?” He said, his voice taking on a strength Maxa had not heard before.

“It’s ok Luce. Let’s talk  Omar.”

“Yes.” He said, sitting back down.

“OK, where to start. This prof I worked for, Gourevtich, he died last month. I was cleaning his office when I found a folder, a report, about the birth of an ETB.”

“Ok.”

“No, not OK, it was an ETB born of ETB parents. An offspring from two sterile beings.”

“Clearly not so sterile then?”

“Well, I guess, I mean, I didn’t know. The report, it mentioned that the kid was put into the ETB system, the orphanage system. To be state raised. We thought if we could find him…”

“You have this report?”

Maxa paused for a moment. No, not here.”

“OK, then what?”

“Well, if we can confirm his DNA. The report had a simple DNA test. If he matches, we have our kid, well, our grown up now.”

“But then what?”

“Well, we talk to him more, I guess. Write up a paper…”

Omar did not say anything for a moment. Then he got up. “Maxa, really, then what? Do you have any idea what this might mean? That two ETBs produced a child? What this would mean to earth – Sojourner relations? Things are delicate as it is.”

“I know. Everyone knows. But truth is truth Omar. If this is real, if this Cloud is the kid, then people deserve to know. The ETBs deserve to know. What could come of it really? So there was some mutation that made them not sterile. It hasn’t happened since, it may never happen again.”

“That we know of” Luce said from the bed.

“Yes.” Maxa said.

“I hope you’re right Maxa. If I were you I would leave this where it is. So you found the guy, maybe. Let’s head back now.” Omar said.

“And never know for sure? Doesn’t sound very satisfying to me.”

“You’re on the wrong path dude.” Luce said. “She’s like a pitbull with this shit.”

“Where do we start?” Omar asked.

“We have to go to the housing area, meet Cloud there. Less chance people would notice.”

“People won’t notice three humans going to an ETB compound?” Luce asked.

“I take it you’ve never been to an ETB housing block at night Luce? You’re in for a treat. Pretty sure you’re gonna like it.” Maxa smiled.

“Why?”

“It’s a huge party babe…”