Free Fledge by J.A. Huss Page B

much of a joiner anyway.
    The kid sits on the top bunk directly at the head of my own. He said he had a bunk before he went up to the front and was roped into Esta's mid-life crisis plan, but if he did, it's been claimed now. He didn't look broken up about it.
    He's eating some ration pack and I feel the need to eat something as well. I kick the metal bunk frame to get his attention. "Hey, where can I get some food?"
    He looks down at his ration, frowns, then offers it to me.
    "No, where can I get some food? I don't want that shit. What else do they have here?"
    "They got a machine." He nods his head down towards the front of the room. "If you got money."
    "I think I do. Come on, let's go check it out."
    "What if we lose our bunks?"
    "Who gives a shit? They'll be plenty of them empty tomorrow, right?"
    He shows a smile for the first time and I give him one back.
    The climb down goes without incident, but he waits until I am on the ground before flying down to join me. As soon as we leave the periphery and enter the throngs of people the trouble begins. A girl snarls and makes a gesture that I can only assume is something obscene. I smile and promise internally to set her straight tomorrow. Farther down a boy, older like me, gets brave and reaches out to touch my hair and hiss at me as we pass. I bat his arm away and he calls me a few choice names.
    The kid hangs back for a second, his bravado failing him at the exact moment it needs to rise to the top, and I have to stop and wait for him to make up his mind to proceed. I watch his face play out the conflict and remain patient as he moves past a group of girls that taunt him.
    By the time we reach the little galley that houses the machines he's a nervous wreck. "Hey," I call to him as he looks at the long walk back to the bunks. "Forget about them. We'll sleep in here if you want."
    He just looks at me like I'm crazy. "There's nowhere to sleep in here!"
    I pan my hands out over the floor and then gesture to the tables. "There's plenty of places. Don't sweat it, like I said, the crowd won't be so brave tomorrow. And I guarantee that you and I," I wait for him to find my eyes, "will still be alive."
    He smiles again.
    I pan my thumb across the panel on a food machine and then let the kid pick something good. I get two and we wait as the autocook prepares it. I have no idea what it is, but when it comes out, my stomach grumbles and we both scarf it down like wild animals.
    Afterward I find a cigar machine and grab half a dozen of those, then get a drink for both of us. "Wanna go outside so I can smoke this in peace?"
    He screws up his face. "Are we allowed outside?"
    I shrug. "Why wouldn't we be? Are we prisoners or something?"
    He thinks about that longer than I feel is necessary, but finally decides we are not. The fat guy at the desk tries to stop us when I head for the door, but I shake my head and he backs off.
    The day is almost gone when we sit down on the grass and I light my stogie.
    "You're not from here, are you?"
    I puff for a few seconds. "No, I'm from Earth. Just woke up three days ago. I have no idea what's going on to be completely honest."
    He shakes his head at me, but my face convinces him without words. "What are you doing in this Fledge? If you're Aves?"
    "That, kid," I pause to exhale, "is very fucking complicated."
    I look away, but when I look back he's still waiting for an answer. "Lucan made me, or else I had to go back to Earth with someone I don't care for. I'm only half Aves." I shrug. "So I don't get automatic placement, I guess."
    I lie back on the grass and look up. The Fledge building is massive, about half as tall as the height of the habitat, which from this vantage point looks to be a couple miles high. The structure slopes against the side as it climbs and I can only imagine what that does to the gravity in those areas, assuming this is a torus-shaped habitat. That might not be right, but it feels right from the way the horizon curves up on