Grim Tuesday Part 5

"I'm Arthur," said Arthur. He extended his hand. j.a.peth took it, but before he could close his hand, blue sparks erupted from Arthur's palm and lashed around j.a.peth's wrist. The Denizen let go with a yelp and withdrew, sucking his fingers.

"You're not an indentured worker!" he exclaimed.

Arthur tensed for the Denizen to call out to the Overseers, who would surely be somewhere near in the smog. j.a.peth might get a reward, or early release, or something. So he mustn't be allowed the opportunity "Don't worry!" j.a.peth added quickly as Arthur bent down and picked up a piece of the weird stone ballast from the train track. "I'm not a snitch, tattletale, dob-ber, blabberer, squealer, fink, or indeed, easy-mouth. Whoever you are, I shan't say a word, phrase, utterance, syntag "

"You'd better not," warned Arthur. He tried to sound severe but was very relieved as he dropped the stone. "I'm here on a mission to help all the indentured workers."

j.a.peth also seemed relieved. He bowed and doffed an imaginary hat. His courtly manners were rather at odds with the extremely ragged velvet pants he wore under his leather ap.r.o.n. His shirt was no longer white, but yellow, and the cuffs were done up with string rather than b.u.t.tons. Like most Denizens, he was handsome, but his face looked a little squashed, as did his body. As if he'd been pushed down and broadened, an imperfect clay model that had once come from a handsome mold.

"I would be honored to a.s.sist," he said. "That is to say, aid, support, succor, abet, reinforce, or give a leg up."

"Thank you," said Arthur. "Um, do you always talk like that?"

"You refer to my constant, even habitual use of a multiplicity of words and terms?"

"Yes."

"Only when I'm nervous," replied j.a.peth. "I am I used to be a Thesaurus Minimus Grade Two. It is an occupational hazard, danger, or threat that we sometimes become prolix, verbose, long-winded, longilo-quent I fight against it, I a.s.sure you. Shall we move on before someone comes looking for us?"

"I suppose we should," agreed Arthur, after a moment's hesitation. He needed more time to think, and they couldn't stay where they were.

"After you," said j.a.peth, bowing and once again waving his imaginary hat.

"No, after you," replied Arthur, bowing a little himself. He didn't want the Denizen walking close behind him, not with all the ballast stone about. He sounded sincere, but Arthur didn't want to risk being hit on the head and handed over unconscious to the Overseers.

j.a.peth inclined his head and strode off down the tracks, his clogs echoing hollowly on the stone sleepers. Arthur followed, still thinking furiously and occasionally tripping over his own clogs. If only he could get a message out to the Lower House. Every idea he came up with had a flaw. He got all excited for a second when he remembered that Monday's Noon had been able to summon a telephone apparently out of nowhere in the House and the Secondary Realms. But even if Arthur could do that, the Lower House's telephone service had either been cut off or required cash payment up front, and he had no money.

But perhaps I could get some, he thought. Then I could call the Will, or Suzy, or Monday's Noon "What currency do they use in the Pit?" asked Arthur as they continued down the tracks without running into anyone or anything.

"I believe the Far Reaches used to have a very nicely minted gold n.o.ble, silver real, and copper bice," replied j.a.peth. "However, Grim Tuesday has gathered all actual coinage to himself, and everyone else must make do with ledger entries. Like our indentures."

He pulled out a rectangular piece of card that he wore on a string around his neck.

"Do you mind if I have a look?" asked Arthur.

"I can't take it off, remove, or displace it from my person," said j.a.peth. "But please do take a glance, preliminary examination, indagation, or, indeed, look."

The paper looked like a label, with neat writing in a sickly green ink. It had one column headed earnings and one headed owing. The earnings column had a single line with On Or Ob. The owing column had 4n 6r 18b. As Arthur watched, the owing column rippled and changed to 4n 7r lb.

"You see why no one ever earns their way free of their indenture. We are not paid until we reach the bottom of the Pit and, even then, only if we find usable amounts of Nothing. But we are charged for every breath of this foul air, and ridiculous amounts for our meager equipment."

"So there is no money, I mean coins or notes, at all in the Pit?"

"So I have been told, informed, clued in," said j.a.peth. He started to walk along the railway again. "Shouldn't we be getting on, moving along, advancing, progressing?"

Arthur nodded. j.a.peth was clearly getting more and more nervous, and it was infectious. Arthur hurried after the Denizen, the sound of their clogs clattering faster and faster till they were almost running.

It was just as well they hurried. A hundred yards farther down the track, an Overseer suddenly loomed up out of the smog. He was marching with purpose along the railway, his steam-gun ready. When he saw them, he grunted and waved them past, then followed. Clearly he had started to investigate the delay in new arrivals.

The smog cleared a little in front of Arthur. He saw several groups of Denizens marching away without Overseers. Another group was standing nearby, watched by an Overseer who had his visor up and was polishing his teeth with a cloth and an open tin of white paste. He was shorter than a head by the Denizens he watched, but much broader across the shoulders. His face was really squashed down and two of the teeth in his lower jaw protruded out like small tusks.

"Here you go," shouted the Overseer behind Arthur. "Couple of laggards."

The Overseer rubbed his teeth one last time, slipped the tin under his ap.r.o.n, gave a surprisingly gentle sigh, and clanged down his visor. Immediately a change came over him. He hunched forward, growled, and drew his steam-gun. His backpack steam engine went from a purr to a harsh rattle, pumped out a heavy cloud of black smoke, and vented steam to either side behind his elbows.

"Hurry up!" he shouted. "Get in line."

Arthur and j.a.peth ran to the group of Denizens, who were milling about, trying to get into a line. But no one wanted to be closest to the Overseer, so whoever ended up there ducked around the back and joined the end of the line. This went on for a minute or so, till the Overseer blasted a jet of steam into the air.

"Stop!" he yelled. "You, stand there! You, stand there! Right, now stand in line."

When everyone was in line, the Overseer marched up to Arthur and j.a.peth and roared, "Why were you late?"

"I fell on my head," said Arthur. It seemed to be an all-purpose excuse. "Where are we?"

"You are on His Mightiness Grim Tuesday's Pit Railway Service Road!" shouted the Overseer. "You are very lucky!"

"Why?" asked j.a.peth. "How come? On account of what "

"Shut up! I ask the questions!"

j.a.peth shut up. The Overseer growled, then repeated, "I ask the questions! And my first question is"

His voice trailed off as he struggled to get a grimy piece of paper out from the inner pocket of his leather coat. Having gotten the paper out, he had trouble unfolding it. When it was finally unfolded, he held it up to his visor.

The question, when it finally came, was not what Arthur expected.

"You all been branded?" asked the Overseer.

Arthur nodded with the others and kept his head down, hoping to hide the fear that he was sure showed in his face.

"Any swift healers?" asked the Overseer, obviously reading from the paper.

Everyone shook their heads. The Overseer looked across at them, then back at the paper.

"Orright, let's see your soles, then," instructed the Overseer.

Our souls? thought Arthur in surprise. How can we show our souls?

He was particularly surprised when everyone stepped out of their right clog, took off their right sock, and started hopping about, each presenting their right foot towards the Overseer.

"Come on, then, no time to waste in the Grim's service," barked the Overseer. "Don't hop about, you idiots! Lie on your backs and hold your soles out."

Arthur, still mystified, sat down with everyone else in a line along the cold stone floor. But as he slipped off his right clog, he looked at j.a.peth's bare foot and saw what the Overseer was looking for.

The brand was on the sole of the right foot! A brand that ran from the heel to the ball and said in glowing green type: indentured to grim Tuesday.

Arthur froze for an instant, then pretended his clog was stuck, as he feverishly tried to think about what he could do. The Overseer had a steam-gun, there was the other Overseer somewhere back up along the railway, and certainly many more on the platform above it.

"I knew it!" shouted the Overseer. "There's always one!"

Arthur snapped his head back. For a horrible second he thought the Overseer was talking to him, then he saw the squat figure was standing over one of the Denizens at the other end of the line.

"Swift healer for sure," declared the Overseer. "When were you branded?"

"Yesterday, when I arrived," replied the Denizen dejectedly. "But I don't always heal swiftly, sir. Sometimes it takes days."

"Days! That brand's supposed to last a year. I'll have to ear- or nose-clip you instead. Stand up."

"Oh, sir, please, I'd prefer another branding."

"We don't care wot you want!" roared the Overseer. He rummaged around in his coat pockets and eventually pulled out a shiny metal disc that was several inches in diameter. "Where do you want it?"

"Oh, the nose," grumbled the Denizen. The Overseer grunted and touched the disc to the Denizen's ear. There was a small flash of light, a sizzling sound, and the disc was hanging off the Denizen's earlobe just like an oversized earring.

"I said my "

Before the Denizen could say any more he was clouted to the ground by the Overseer's large fist.

Sensibly, the downed Denizen lay there, obviously struggling to keep his mouth shut. The Overseer sighed again and rubbed his knuckles.

"Now then, anybody else a swiftie?"

Arthur thought very swiftly indeed and raised his hand. The Overseer lumbered down the line.

"Oh, it's dropped-on-the-head. You sure you know what we're talking about? Show us your sole."

Arthur lay back, slipped off his clog and sock, and showed his bare foot. The Overseer bent down with considerable creaking and grunting and whistled between his front teeth.

"Completely gone! Orright, get up and I'll give you a nose-clip."

"Great, I've always wanted a big round thing in my nose," suggested Arthur as he stood up. He instinctively knew better than to ask for it in his ear straight out. "Or um jangling on my lip."

"Keep yer lip to yerself," snarled the Overseer. He held the disc out and laughed as Arthur flinched. Then he touched the disc to the boy's left ear.

Arthur felt a stab of pain that went right through his ear and into his head, where it bounced around between his eyes. The pain was so intense, he staggered back. He would have fallen if he wasn't caught by j.a.peth.

"Slow and sensitive!" roared the Overseer. "You have to stand on yer own feet here!"

"He's one of the Piper's children," retorted j.a.peth. "They're different. They were mortals once."

"No special cases here!" shouted the Overseer. He threw a punch at j.a.peth. Strangely, though j.a.peth didn't move, the punch missed, as if the Overseer had pulled it on purpose.

Despite his mind being mainly focused on the throbbing pain behind his eye sockets, Arthur still managed to wonder why the Overseer was so loud. The Denizen seemed to have only two modes of communication: loud and deafening.

"No more backchat or I'll steam the lot of you!" roared the Overseer. He consulted his piece of paper.

"Orright! You lot are now called Gang 205117. Remember that! Gang 20 "

He looked at the paper again.

"Gang 205117. You on the left, you're number one in the gang. You're number two, and you're three, and four, and five, and six, and seven "

"He counts well, doesn't he?" whispered j.a.peth, who was still holding Arthur up. But the pain pa.s.sed quickly, so Arthur managed to stand on his own as the Overseer pointed at him and said, "You're thirteen."

Something about that number made the Overseer stop and scratch his head. He looked at his paper again, but whatever he was looking for wasn't there.

"Ain't supposed to be thirteen," he said to himself after a long silence. "Always twelve in a gang"

"Maybe they throw the Piper's children in extra," said j.a.peth, as he put out a hand to stop Arthur from swaying into him. "For free. As a bonus, premium, or frill "

"Shut up!" roared the Overseer. "You, Number Thirteen! You're one of the Piper's children?"

"Y-yes," stuttered Arthur.

"You're not a messenger? Piper's children is always messengers down here."

"No," said Arthur. "I'm not a messenger."

"Thrown in as an extra, then," said the Overseer with satisfaction. His brow cleared at having solved this mighty puzzle and he looked at his paper again and slowly read out the next instruction, pausing every now and then to puzzle over a word or pick off a spot that had obscured the type.

"Gang insert-number-here. You are about to begin your journey to the bottom of the Pit! You will be put on the road and Number One will be given a time candle. You must reach the First Way Station before that time candle burns out. If you do not, you will be hunted down and punished. At the First Way Station you will be given another time candle and you must go on to the Second Way Station before it burns out. This system will continue until you reach Down Station, when you will be put in new gangs to work in the Pit. Praise be to Grim Tuesday!"

Finished, the Overseer folded up his paper and put it back in a pocket. Then he fished around in almost every other pocket before finally dragging out a tall white candle marked with red bands a fingerbreadth apart. As soon as the Denizen who was now Number One took it, the candle burst into flame. The Denizens all stared at it, their faces registering shock, horror, and distaste.

Arthur stared at the candle too. Its lighting had brought home to him, and everyone else, that they really were on their way down to the unknown horrors of the Pit.

"Get going," roared the Overseer.

But as Number One stepped out, the Overseer raised his visor and muttered something. It took Arthur a second to realize that, like the Supply Clerk, what he'd said was, "Good luck."

Arthur was surprised that an Overseer would wish them luck, and worried that they would need it. He almost said something as he went past, but the Overseer had already snapped his visor down and the next lot of downcast Denizens was coming out of the smog from up the line.

Arthur's own gang was heading down, walking in single file next to the railway tracks, with Number One setting a quick walking pace. Arthur hesitated for a moment, but, as before, he had no real choice. He couldn't go back up. There was only the edge of the Pit on the other side of the tracks.

He had to follow the rest of the gang and descend into the smoky darkness.

Chapter Seven.

Number One didn't slacken his pace, and for several hours he didn't stop at all. Arthur was hard put to keep up at a walk, and occasionally had to run to catch up. As the wall of the Pit rose up on his left and the service road grew narrower and closer to the railway, Arthur began to get an idea of just how vast the Pit must be. The railway and the road that ran next to it were clearly cut into the side of the Pit, following the edge around in one huge spiral from top to bottom. It was impossible to see with all the smog, but the curve was so gentle that Arthur eventually figured that the Pit must be miles in diameter.

Arthur had no idea how deep it was. He asked j.a.peth, who also didn't know. j.a.peth asked Number Eleven in front of him, but that Denizen shook her head and wouldn't answer. None of the other Denizens talked at all. They just followed Number One with their heads bent, eyes fixed on their clogs or the heels of the Denizen in front of them. Occasionally one would look up anx-iously and try to get a clear view of the bands remaining on the time candle.