Filaria - Brent Hayward [47]
Other prisoners in the room now were also bound to benches, though earlier some had lain, prone on the floor, apparently free to go. If they would only stir. Had they been somehow stunned? Was the benevolence Tran so had experienced an act?
Men and women had been detained here. For a time, there had been a small child — when Tran so had first arrived — but only four prisoners remained, including him, and all four were men.
Marked on the wall opposite, above a sleeping figure of one of the men, painted in deep vermilion, were the words HUMAN RESOURCES. These glyphs appeared to be the last legible elements of what had once been an entire paragraph of writing covering most of the wall; only these two words had been restored.
Not many residents of Hoffmann City could read. Encouragements of Minnie sue, shortly after they’d met, had spurred Tran so Phengh to become literate. Courses were given at the nearby Community Centre. The teacher had been a lesser god. When afternoon classes had ended, Tran so and his wife had often gone home to make love. Tran so would cover Minnie sue’s soft mouth with one palm when she came — for there were other people sharing the house with them, living beyond the partitions — and Minnie sue’s shrieked orgasms could shake the walls of any building.
Recalling the sound, Tran so smiled grimly. He did not know what these two red words HUMAN RESOURCES could mean, but their presence, and the fact that he could read them, made him think fondly of Minnie sue. The image of her naked body, the sounds of her guttural, almost dirty comments, her sharp nipples pressed into his palms while she ground her hips back into his own, did not, this time, depress him. These memories were integral to what made him Tran so Phengh. Never could they be stolen from him. Not by time, not by illness, not by uncertain gods.
On the bench he shifted; his cock had started to harden. For the first time since he had been abducted, he wished his hands were free.
Lost in thoughts of abandon, it was some time before he realized that the man across from him had not only awoken but had lifted his head and was addressing him quietly from across the floor:
“Hey, hey? Got any water?”
Tran so blinked. The features and the accent were very different than his own. People came from all over the world to visit Hoffmann City, to patronize its sex clubs and enjoy the renowned decadence; Tran so was used to foreigners. This face was long, with a full beard. The man’s eyes were round and his hair blond. He was dressed in a tan uniform.
“Have you got any water?” the man repeated. “My head’s splitting. I’ve been here a day and a half and I’ve drunk nothing. They can’t keep us here like this, without water, and not tell us anything. There are conventions to keeping prisoners.”
“I am ill from drinking water.”
“They poisoned you?”
“No, no, they have not poisoned me. It was from a lake. From an unclean lake. This was before they took me.”
“You resemble someone who lives near the water supply, near the reservoirs. I’ve been there. I’ve seen others like you.”
Cries from next door faded to a low sob.
These round eyes staring at Tran so seemed to contain little intelligence. “Others like me?” Tran so asked.
“Yeah. I visited the reservoirs once, as a kid. I hear the water in that place was much higher back then, that it’s all drained out. My old man took me and some other kids down the shaft, cause he had some business there with one of the supervisors. My old man, see, was in the diplomatic corps. Back when they was still trying to be diplomatic. He dealt with machines. And I recall that people who lived there, on that reservoir level, looked just like you. With straight black hair, and slitty little eyes.”
Yes, Tran so Phengh had met men like this before. Many times. They came to Hoffmann City in hordes, loud and drunk, often hurting the citizens they employed. He had chased several on occasion, had fought one or two. At work, Minnie sue had once been punched in the face by an inebriated client.
Usually, he tried to avoid such men. Not so