Rome - Bliss

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Bliss

by David Rome

The Ship was divided into three huge sections within which two separate factions had survived thelong voyage through interstellar spacebut they were separated by the impenetrable sectionknown as The Ruins

An A\NN/A Preservation Edition.

On those secret evenings when Joann and I would huddle together in the ruins of the disused lowerdeck transmitter, I would often talk about my familyand Jack was always largest in my mind. I could never remember a time when I had bested him. At seven he was twisting my arm up my back and making me shriek like a girl; at twelve he was smooth-limbed and tall, smiling and lording it over me; and at twenty, in a fit of temper, he tossed a heavy book across the cabin one night and sent me staggering. Our cabin wasnt like the decaying lowerdeck nest where Joanns people lived. It was lavishly upperdeck, thickly carpeted and expensively furnished. Ion-gravity here was more efficient too. My father sat comfortably reading, knees crossed and body relaxed. He didnt look up when Jack threw the book, but mother came fussing in, a tiny woman with a dimple-soft mouth. Shaking her head, she didnt say anything. She stooped to pick up the book, but Jack snatched it away and crossed to the shelves.

He slotted it neatly into place, smilingly arrogant. His eyes moved to father, bland face complacent. Father had looked up sharply when mother bustled in. Now he turned to Jack, a tall man with dark, in-sucked cheeks. His lips were thin and pale, like a chalk line under big hooking nose.

Curb your enthusiasm, he said coldly.

I laughed softly, and Jack snapped a glance at me, eyes flashing. I gestured obscenely at himan upthrusting motion with the fingers that Id learned from the lowerdeck people. His mouthso like fatherswent tight. He pivoted spotted a vase behind mother, lifted it and threw it hard and viciously, at chest height. I ducked aside and it shattered on the wall at my back; the pieces fell plopping into the carpet.

There was a silenceand mother scurried forward, snatching up the fragments as though their disappearance would lighten Jacks punishment.

But Jack had no intention of being punished. He was stabbing his fingers into the air, imitating my gesture.

He was doing this to me! He learnt it from the Plebs!

None of my family knew of my close contact with the lower-deck peoples, but my father was a member of the Presidium and mention of Pleb influence on his son was enough to heat him to violence.

Is this true? said my father.

The truth was already a flush in my cheeks. He stepped forward slowly, his eyes dark with fury. I felt a rush of nausea and swallowed desperately. I didnt know what it meant

Mylesplease! Mothers hand was on his arm.

For an instant fathers eyes were close to mine, still black and smouldering. Then he gestured very obviously with his chin in the direction of my room, and mother bustled forward, anxious to get me out of his sight.

You thank your lucky stars, she said later.

My what? What are stars?

Her soft mouth was puckering.

Go to sleep, boy.

What are stars? I persisted.

A saying, just a saying

And when she was gone I slept, dreaming. Somehow our ship crossed the unlit emptiness of space and reached Bliss during my generation; and the lowerdeck rose in revolt and the ruling Presidium was destroyed

The next day there was to be a whipping and Removal in the Lower place, and father was up early, dressing in ceremonial black.

While he was twisting and turning in front of the mirrors, mother hurried Jack and me into our robes and out of the cabin. Father would be practising with the whips, and this was something even Jackalmost adultwasnt allowed to see.

As we turned into the passagetube leading to the avenue, Jack swung on me.

The climb? he said, smiling. Or arent you in the mood? His eyes were on mine, his lips curling. I knew what he meant. For years now, Jack and I had shared a secret. At the end of our passagetube, no more than a yard from the avenue itself, there was a natural ladderthe corner of a window, the top of a door frame, another window, a creviceand then the roof of the deck house. It was a dangerous climb and Jack knew I was afraid of it.

Now, though, with the memory of our clash the night before fresh in my mind, there was a strange tightness in my throat. I said very softly, Im in the mood, and Jack saw this as the challenge it was, and his eyes sparked suddenly.

Together, then already jostling for first place, we followed the passagetube until we reached the point where it broke out into the avenue. We looked across the wide street, but it was deserted. Jack was a second faster than I was. He turned back into the tube, gripped the ledge of the window with expert ease. His feet found a hold and he flowed upward. I followed. I was shorter and thinner, and the climb was hard going for me. Jack had reached the roof and was laughing down at me while I was still clawing my way past the second window.

I looked up into his smooth, smiling face, and the hate surged inside me. Then it was gone and there was only determination. I flexed my legs, groped with my fingers until I found the slight crevice that was the only aid to the summit at this point, and with one leg swinging dangerously over the thirty foot drop I literally flung myself at the roof.

And somehow I got over the edge. I had to strain with my palms flat on the steel and the corner of the roof cutting into my chest, but I made it. I came to my feet, shaking, and together Jack and I looked along the tops of a dozen other houses, all exactly the same height, forming a pathway that was only broken by the narrow passagetubes.

Someday, Jack breathed, well go all the way down that pathway, Dom. Right into the heart of the Presidium

I nodded shortly, because I knew we didnt have much time. If we werent at the Lower Place, mother would get to hear of itand she would mention it to father.

I tugged at Jacks robeand regretted it instantly. He took it as a sign of weakness, and he dawdled down the side of the building after I had reached the deck again. He made a show of fear at the bottom, mimicking me, and I turned away from him, going off down the avenue. He walked just behind me for a while, repeating the act, but finally, when I didnt respond, he grew tired of this and he spurted a little, drawing level with me as we strolled together down the wide street, where the hydroponics were trimmed and neat, forming squares of colour in front of each deck house. It was quiet out here, with only a few people making their way in the direction of the companionway. Overhead, the sunlights were burning down as they always did during daytime, diffused by the vastness of the ship.

None of us really knew how big the ship was. We knew that beyond the Pleb city where thousands lived now, and beyond the machine domes and the cultivated hydroponics, there were the Ruinsanother city where other people had lived generations ago. But no onenot even members of the Presidiumever went to the Ruins now. There were dangersand stories of ghoststhere that none of us could understand.

We had reached the companionway now, and the Power Room was below us. Jack and I dawdled down the steel steps and reached the lower level. And now, approaching the viewports of the Power Room, we did a forbidden thing: we raised our eyes to the level of the ports, and looked in at the deserted bucket-seats and strange white dials. (Centuries ago the ancients of the ship had worshipped herehad paid homage to these instruments. Now the PresidiumGods and Masters of the shipforbade it.

As we stared, footsteps sounded on the companionway above. Jack breathed a warning and we ran. We rounded the Power Room and the companionway to the lowerdeck was ahead. We took the first dozen steps at full tilt, then slowed down. Below us now was Pleb City. Jack led the way down the companionway, his back arching in excitement. Cold eyes touched us as our robes caught the momentary attention of the Plebs; but there were others from the upperdeck among them, and Jack and I threaded our way through the crowds until we reached those we knew. Jack was loud and cheerful, slapping backs and smiling at the girls. I stood a little apart, searching the Plebs for Joanns slim body and her copper coloured hair. But I couldnt see her, and after a while my eyes were drawn to the cleared circle of the Lower Place, where the single steel pillar rose into the sky. A man and a woman were out therethe man wearing upperdeck robes, the woman a Pleb. They were bound by the wrists, their legs spread wide and their bodies hugged close to each side of the pillar. Behind them was the Presidium stand, filling quickly. These men were bright-robed, hard eyes already feeding on the woman at the pillar.