Chương 29: Interlude - Good Lad

Balfus knew he wasn't the smartest guy around, mostly because everyone told him so. His dad was an Ogryn, and since his mom never showed up for his birth, he grew up as just another orphan in the bowels of the ship. If it wasn't for the Orlus boys taking him in, then he might have ended up just another one of those guys moving heavy things around in the bowels of the ship. But the guys gave him work, told him what to do, and fed him good. Sometimes, the things they did...

well, he wasn't too fond of them, but he tried to not think on that too much. Balfus went to the small church next to the main concourse once a week and confessed his sins to Mister Rone, the old preacher man. He had told Balfus that he was a good lad, under all that thick skin, and good lads, good men, tried to do right by the emperor.

That meant giving people a helping hand, keeping an eye out for those that needed help, not hurting people more than he had to, and only killing people if they were heretics or if one of the big bosses really insisted. The bosses had been pretty busy today, after that big crash. Apparently, The Broken Scale had bumped into something pretty hard, and there were lots of folk that needed help. That, and there were whispers of fighting elsewhere on the ship.

The Enforcers had almost entirely left the area to take care of things like that. Then the healing lady had come. Balfus had never seen her sort. She was... nobility, maybe? She was tall, and pretty, with nice skin and piercing eyes, and when they brought her people that were hurt, she fixed them right up. The bosses were mighty happy about that. So much so that they'd decided that they were gonna keep her.

Balfus wasn't sure he liked that, but the gangs and families sometimes did that kind of thing, if someone was useful enough, and the healer lady was mighty useful. At least, until she'd knocked his pals out and poisoned him. He walked a few steps ahead of her now and was keenly aware of the prick in his side where her needle had stabbed him.

"Will it hurt?" he asked. His voice echoed funny in the tight (for him) passage they were in.

"Will what hurt?" she asked. He looked back, and was surprised, not for the first time, by how tall she was. Most people he had to look down to, but he could meet her eye-to-eye.

"The poison," he said. She blinked slowly at him, then one of her eyebrows--just one--perked up.

"Do you know what a 'saline solution' is?" she asked. He shook his head. He'd never heard of that kind of thing.

"Well, in great enough doses a saline solution would cause cellular suffocation, that is, hypoxia, and even exsanguination." He shivered. He really didn't want that.

"Okay," he said.

"I'll be a good lad."

"You're being one by helping me already," she said.

"I healed those that needed it, and I think I deserve to leave peacefully, right?" He reached up and scratched at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I suppose. You did your bit."

"Exactly."

"But then, if you're gonna leave, why not just leave? This ain't the way back up," he pointed out. Far from it, actually, they were heading to the sides of the ship, where there were actually fewer paths up.

"You said this was the way to the biggest air scrubber, right?" she asked. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Yeah," he replied. It was. The air systems in the ship were important. There was a whole clan that took care of them and had for something like two hundred years. That was a real long time. They made it to a bulkhead, and he twisted it open, then stepped in before the healer lady. There was a passage, one that was a bit more open, with a wall that had glass at the end and which opened up to a big room. This was it, actually.

The far end of the big room had three huge fans, and there were big ducts running down and into these big, complicated machines. A few folk were around, but while the clan here was nice and important, they really didn't have all that much to do. There was cranking one of the old fans that had broken down, which had to be done by hand, but that just took a few guys spinning these big wheels. The healer looked around the room, then pointed to one of the big machines in the corner.

"That one," she said. It wasn't long before they were both at the machine. All he had to do was scare off some of the locals that came to see what was up, and that was plenty easy. Miss healer opened up one of the machines, grunting for a while as she tried to pull some things apart, so he reached over and opened the whole thing up with a grunt and a heave.

"Why thank you," she said.

"That'll make it easier." Within the machine was a bunch of spinny things and big filters. The air blowing through smelled stale, but also like the air after lasfire had gone through.

"What are you doing now?" he asked. She reached into her satchel, and he noticed that her lips were moving faintly. Then she pointed across the room.

"What's that?" He turned, then squinted at... a poster? It was of a commissar on a white background, pointing. Someone had drawn tiddies on him, which made him chuckle.

"That's just a poster, miss." When he turned back, she was standing next to a new filter. When had that got there?

"Oh, I was curious. Can you remove the old one and place this one in, please?"

"Hm? Sure thing," he said. It didn't take long for the new one to be in place. He tossed the old filter aside. There was a heap of 'em. The clan would clean them up eventually. She nodded, clapped her hands together, then smiled.

"Ah... well, that was fast. I suppose the air dispersal rate from here is quite fast. If this system covers the entire port side of the ship and the lower decks, then normal air movement will carry the aerosolized... I'm wasting my time explaining, aren't I?"

"Hm? No, it's okay," he said.

"Your voice is real pretty."

"Thank you! Here, this is for you," she said as she reached into her satchel. She came out with... a candy? It was pretty, in a little wrapper and all. He grinned, undid it, and gave it a sniff. It smelled nice, like what he imagined fruit smelled like. He popped it into his mouth, then swirled it around.

"Sweet," he said.

"Sure is," she said before reaching into another pocket. His eyes went wide as she took out a paper throne and gave him the bill. It was more than he made in a month! Usually there was just scrip, but you needed thousands of that just for one throne!

"And here's for the help. Good night."

"Good night?" he asked.

"But I just... started... my..." He slowly sank to the ground, and when he slept, he dreamed of pretty long-legged healer ladies and air ventilation systems.