Chapter I of the sequel to Hardin’s War
Hardin’s Dilemma
The sun was bright on all the busy citizens of Wall City. The people hustled across streets and down sidewalks to get to their jobs and lives. They took little notice to all the people around them doing the same thing. On one particular street walked Nara and I, much slower than those around us.
It was our morning routine to walk around those crowded streets before she had to report to the Mayor’s office. Nara would share what news she had and I would wait patiently for the news that pertained to me going back in the wall to try and save the rest of Humurom. I didn’t want to go back in at first, but as time passed and days wore on I yearned to reenter and save the only home I knew. I couldn’t stand not being able to know what was happening inside.
“Have you heard any news yet? On anything?” I asked; stuffing my hands deep into my pockets as a cold wind blew by. It was early spring, but winter didn’t seem to want to give up its hold just yet.
“You know I haven’t. I would have told you if I had.”
“I know; I just can’t stand waiting around for things to get decided. Things may be getting worse in there and I have no way of knowing.”
I looked up at the giant dome that was visible from anywhere in Wall City. There were still so many mysteries about it. Why the tiny country of Dizuria wanted inside was the most striking at the moment. It had been two months since I risked six lives to get my sick mother out of the horrible conditions of a one hundred and fifty year old bomb shelter. She desperately needed medical attention. Everything turned out all right in the end on that journey, though my friend Morome was badly injured. It was around the same time that I found out that the people I had grown up knowing to fear were actually innocent. Hunters from my home of Humurom had been getting killed while looking for food. For years we blamed the only other country in the dome, Bozlin, but we discovered that it was actually Dizuria that was behind it all. Sadly in the last two months no more had been discovered.
“I’m sure the president and Gilik will figure something out.” Nara said.
“Isn’t it strange that the president comes here so often?” I asked.
“Evidently he thinks this is important enough to be involved in. And didn’t you want him here?”
“I did, but I hate to think that this is getting so much attention by the government here. He makes everything take too long. If it was just me and Gilik then I probably would have been back in there with some troops to finish those Dizurians off.”
“Gilik can’t authorize sending anyone in and the president doesn’t want to.”
I groaned. “But now we have an enemy. We should be sending troops straight to Dizuria.”
She frowned. “How is your mother?”
Nara wasn’t very good at changing the subject, but I let it slide. “She’s doing great. The treatments are almost over and the doctors see her making a full recovery.”
“And Morome?”
“He was released from the hospital a few weeks ago.” I said. I had completely forgotten to tell her when it happened.
“Where are the hunters now? I haven’t seen them in a while?”
“Gilik sent them on a Journey Train to see the country. I think he just didn’t want us all in his face all the time.”
“That’s right. I remember now.”
Nara and I went into a little bakery to get something for breakfast. Every morning we walked someplace new and stopped in at someplace different. It was such a big city that I wondered if we would ever explore the whole thing. We each got a little pastry and went back outside. She had to pay for everything because I didn’t have any way of making money. Since I wasn’t a citizen of Azureland I would have a hard time explaining to employers where I was from since me being from Humurom was still kept secret. Or at least it was supposed to be. Several local newspapers ran the occasional article about how I was being experimented on. Nobody seemed to know that the hunters had ever come out.
I felt bad about Nara buying everything for me, but I promised myself that if I ever managed to get a job I would pay her back.
The first thing I felt outside was another cold blast of air. “I wish it would get warmer.” I lamented.
“It should be heading that way soon.”
She didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold at all.
We turned around and started back towards the government building. I tried to think up something that I could ask her that I hadn’t yet, but nothing came to mind. So I asked her something that I had already asked her many times.
“What do you know about Dizuria?”
She sighed, clearly exhausted by that question. “It’s supposed to be a nice country. It has several resort cities on the ocean. The government is secretive and the leader rarely leaves.” She put up her hand to stop me. “Except he was here just as you arrived.”
This was the first I had heard of this. “He was?”
“Yeah, I just remembered. I was supposed to get him an appointment with Gilik but he left before I could. He only stayed one night.”
For the first time in two months I felt like I was getting somewhere. “I must have been the reason he was here. He probably assumed I stole the bracelet.”
“No, he couldn’t have been. You being here wasn’t made public until the day after you arrived. He was here that same night you came out. It was probably just a scheduled trip that happened to coincide with you.”
That didn’t dampen my spirits. “But either way he was here. I wonder if I saw him.”
“Maybe, you were staying on the floor usually reserved for officials from other countries. The public does not have access to that floor so you were safe there.”
So I might have seen the leader of the enemy country. That excited me for some reason. I was so close to the person causing all of the trouble and didn’t even know it, and he didn’t even know I was there.
My mind filled with all sorts of fantasies where I beat this mystery leader up and threw him down the elevator shaft. Those sure made me feel good. If only I could get a chance to do it in real life. After a while I grew tired of the fantasies and grew bored when thinking about how little there was for me to do.
“I wish I had something to do.” I finally said.
“Gilik did suggest that you go on a Journey Ship and see the world a little. Ships leave from several countries all the time, even Dizuria.”
“I told him that I wasn’t going to leave while Mama was going through her treatments. And don’t you think it’s strange that he wants all of us Humurom’s gone from Wall City?”
“He just wants you all to be doing something and not just waiting for the president to decide on what to do.”
“If you say so.”
We passed a stand selling newspapers and Nara grabbed one up. She paid for it, grabbed my arm, and took me out of the busy sidewalk and into an alley.
“Do you see this?” She flashed the newspaper in front of me but I didn’t have time to make anything out. “Someone knows there are more of you here.”
“How did they find out?”
I took the paper and looked. There was a headline that read: More among us. The picture showed a blurry image of people in front of the dome. It was a real picture. I could even see Lace kneeling over Morome and me falling to the ground.
“No idea, it could have been any number of things.”
“I don’t get it. Who could have been waiting there to get that picture, and why only put it out now? We’ve been careful around town. No more than three of us leave at a time and if anyone asks who we are we say we are part of the janitorial staff.”
“I don’t know who leaked it, but I’m sure Gilik will be mad.”
“I hope he can find out who did it. What do you think it means for us?”
She thought for a minute. “It may mean you all should leave for a while and let the
rumors die down.”
“I’ll think it over.”
We arrived at the building about twenty minutes later. Nara left me to start work and I went straight for the elevator.
Also by A.S. Morrison
Hardin’s Dilemma
Hardin’s Calling
The Last Golden Rose
Poiye
The Tunnel Dream
The Little Brown Box
A Translation of Inspiration
Three Very Short Stories
Evening’s with Littleberry and Other Short Stories
A. Candle’s Light
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