Page 56 of Tempting Jupiter
Jupiter’s nose burned. The smell of death and waste lingered in the air. The people who made their homes along the path were unwashed, but not filthy enough to account for the foul odor. Filthy was not dead.
Fiona pulled the scarf around her neck up till it covered her mouth and nose, protecting her from the rancid air. She fished a similar scarf from her pocket and helped him arrange it around his face, then lifted the hood back onto his head. He didn’t tell her there was really no use. His senses were too sensitive and already flooded with the stench.
“Sorry, I should’ve warned you. I’m afraid it’s going to get worse.”
“It’s all right.” Jupiter squeezed her hand.
“No. Really. It’s about to get very bad.” Fiona frowned.
Jupiter just nodded. He wanted to lift her up and carry her away from whatever noxious thing lay ahead. He hated her being anywhere unsafe. Always, she was leading the way into danger.
For a moment, her footsteps slowed. Then she resumed her lead like a gladiator going into battle. Whatever she had to face, she wanted it done and over, but she wouldn’t avoid the fight.
Another fence made of interlocking chains stood many meters high. Four strings of sharp-edged wire had been added at the top. It glistened in the sunlight, a warning of the harm it could inflict. Beyond the fencing, a clearing circled a large pit. His stomach turned at the realization that the dots of color lining in the pit were people. Children in tattered garments. They were the source of the death and decay overwhelming his nose and filling his lungs with every breath. He’d seen many terrible things in the arena, but he’d never seen so big a massacre. The children’s flesh was gray and loose on the thin, bony frames. Some were recently dead. Others had been lying in the pit long enough to decay to rotten meat and bones. At the edges, he could see signs of the bed of ash and charcoal below.
The fence made a circle around the open grave, stopping only where it attached to the back side of one of the factory’s buildings. Fee had led him to the other, not so public, side of the complex.
In the distance, a man dressed in black leather, face covered, stood with his hands tightly grasping the wire fence. When he looked up and saw them, the man lifted a hand in the air, like a friendly wave. His body language was anything but friendly. He was still and stiff.
Beside Jupiter, Feeona pulled her hand from his. She jogged to the fence and wrapped her fingers around the links in the chain, mirroring the leather clad man. She stared into the pile of bodies as if the strength of her gaze could bring the dead back to life. What she could hope to find he couldn’t fathom. And then her body went still and stony. Jupiter stepped up behind her, pressing his warmth against her back to let her know he was there for her. He wanted to drag her away from the hurt that tightened her hands to a white knuckled grip on the fence.
Her gasp caught him by surprise. She looked to the man who’d waved at them. And lifted a hand just as he’d done. The man nodded then squatted down as if he intended to stay by the fence indefinitely.
She seemed to shrug away her pain. “It’s okay.” She patted his shoulder as if he’d been the one clinging to the links. “They’ll take care of him.”
“What?”
“The boy.” She pointed into the pit of death and Jupiter followed the line of her arm, searching the frail decaying bodies. A tiny movement caught his attention. He listened, tilting his head to the side. And then he heard it. Beyond the movement of scavengers, he heard whimpering. Someone was alive. A child.
“He’ll wait until dark.” Fiona spoke like she was talking to herself. Reassuring herself. “At nightfall he’ll climb the fence and take the boy to the riders.
“The riders?” Jupiter turned her to face him.
“Yes. They’re a group of survivors that live outside the city. They run messages, parcels, anything they can carry on their thrust-bikes, to the nearest town. People here don’t have the funds for planetary transports. It’s dangerous to cross the chemi-desert, but the riders are fast and they get paid well for their services.” She paused then her lips tipped in a half smile. “They’re a little wild, a little rough around the edges, but they’re good people. They’ll take care of him. Nurse him back to life. Then he’ll be a rider like them.”
At her description of the riders, he wondered how she would describe him and his brothers. Wild? Violent? Pitiful? Jupiter realized he was scowling and tried to calm. “They all came from this pit?”
“I’m not sure. Most, I think. Some might have been runaways. Maybe drifters from the badlands.”
“You admire them?” Jupiter didn’t like the jealousy that stirred.
“Yes. Yes, I do.” She laughed but the sound was bitter and broken. “I’m grateful for them. For what they do.”
Jupiter wrapped his arms around her. He wanted to take away her pain but didn’t know how.
“This whole planet is owned by Petro Corporation. They founded the colony back when the Alliance didn’t patrol this sector.” She shook her head. “Petro shipped people here to carve out the towns and build their factories. When they’d done that, Petro told them they still hadn’t finished paying back their passage. Roma aren’t the only ones guilty of making slaves of people.”
“These children, were slaves?”
“Yeah. I guess you could say that. They call it a tax. It’s the price you pay for living on Petro-5. Every family gives their first-born child to the factory.”
He hadn’t thought his opinion of humans could sink any lower. “The people of this world give their own offspring to this factory?”
She nodded. “That’s the way it’s always been. No one questions. At least not publicly. It wouldn’t be so bad, if the children worked a few years and then went back home. But that’s not the way it works. Parents hand over the child then forget about them. They don’t care that they work from the time they wake until they can’t stand. That they cry for the first few days and then never cry again because crying takes energy they can’t afford to waste.”
Her voice cracked on the words that came from somewhere deep inside her. Jupiter didn’t know how to comfort her. He could only hold her.
“They work until they’re not able to work anymore. Then they’re brought here, to the pit. Nobody cares if they’re dead when they get here or if they die lying on the ashes.”
