Chapter 2: Sürch

Sürching

I can’t believe I’ve been walking around in circles for the past three hours. My feet are getting tired and I see nothing in this wasteland. My blue eyes search the horizon but the only thing I see is the sky ablaze with the colors of the sunset. I brush my dark hair across my forehead and plop down on a broken tree stump. Just another relic from the Wipeout.

Sweat drips from my perfectly curved brow. Plunging my hand into the one sack I have, I pull out a small fragment of a mirror. Staring into it, I swear I can’t read my own eyes. Dark blue, stormy almost, going so deep I could fall into them.

SNAP!  I tear myself away from the mirror look around. At my feet is a broken branch. I look up. A large raven of some sort is eyeing me. In fact, it looks so human I am not surprised when it speaks.

“Who are you? Why have you come here?” it asks, in a raspy voice that drives my indefectible ears nuts. I didn’t see how talking to a large bird could change my current predicament, but I answer in a deep voice. A deep, unequaled voice. A voice which only could come out of my throat.

“My name, is Sürch Noriss, and I need a place to stay for the night.”

***

The raven turns around and takes flight. I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but if I sprout wings, I bet they’d be beautiful. Disappointed, or worried, I don’t know, I sit back  down on the tree stump and think about what I just saw. I think I’m going crazy. Since when do ravens talk? Or am I hallucinating? I search my pack for some kind of comfort, but all I can find is a daffodil, slightly crumpled. I breathe in its heavenly scent, but I know I don’t need to. I smell like that 24/7; even my sweat smells like that.

“You think about yourself too much.” The raven’s voice startles me, and I wonder how he can read my thoughts, and how long he’s been behind me.

“I’m an animal. I can sense emotions. You, young man, are obsessed with yourself. I’ve been behind you for about ten minutes. Even called to you a few times.”

I squint at the figures behind him in the fading light, and I make out three dark shapes. More ravens.

“Come with us. We will take you to a safe place.” And with that, two ravens clutch me by their talons and spring into the air, the contents of my pack, including the mirror, streaming behind us. I howl in protest, but they ignore me. Instead,they chit chat about the events of the day, and while I try not to listen it was quite funny. Apparently some guy named Hoss got tangled in his chair. Again.

I wonder if they were kids like me. They sure seem to be talking about school.

By the time I get over the fear of my unblemished arms being marked with the sharp talons of the ravens - I still am - I start to appreciate how beautiful everything is at sunset. Not as beautiful as me, of course, but, still. The sun pours over everything; the meadows that are now deserts, the rivers which are now valleys, and the lakes, which are now mere craters, reminders of the Wipeout. The sun gives everything a pink or purple or baby blue hue. My eyes wide open, trying to see as much as I can until it becomes too dark. I find things I haven’t seen in a long time. Barren landscapes with a lone tree, a shrub with just one shriveled up leaf on it, and I see a moon. A moon. Oh, I want to cry. The moon reminds me of the stories I heard about before the Wipeout, and I am suddenly jealous. I don’t know why or who I am jealous of, but I dislike the feeling. People have only been jealous of me, not the other way around.

I am so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice the ravens stopped talking. I turn my attention to the front, and gasp. It’s a country almost as beautiful as I am. Almost.

“Welcome to the country of Eirus Arc. We doubt you’ve seen anything like it before,” the ravens say in unison.

***

The ravens were right. It’s  a country washed over with rainbow hues and in harmony with the sunset, every single building sparkles. I’ve never seen anything like it. They set me down at the steps of a building with pure white slabs of marble as stairs. But I am taken by surprise as the marble begins to levitate and propels me toward a big room where a tired looking man is sitting. Finally, another human!

The slabs begin to fold themselves and the next thing I know is that the hum of electricity used to propel me forward was absent. I absentmindedly wiggle my hands, getting agitated - I want to see if I look okay. But my sack as well is my mirror is gone. So is my flower. But I see a penguin faced human wearing glasses gather up broken off petals of my flower and waddle into a lab of some sort. I wish I could wake up from this dream. I am amazed but scared, which is unlike me.

“Sit down. Welcome to Eirus Arc. My name is Nic Risch.” It took me awhile to understand that the man was talking to me, and when I did get it, I sat. The chair molded itself to suit me, making me yelp. The man had a short clipped voice, but I was sure he could talk long when he needed to.

“What is your name?” he asks

“Sürch Noriss.”

“How old are you, young man?”

“17, sir.”

“And you were doing what when my team spotted you?”

“I was searching for survivors of the Wipeout.”

“Why?”

The questions drone on and on, and I try to answer as much as I can before I pass out from exhaustion. After about an hour, Mr. Risch nods curtly and tells me to wait outside.

I walk out and a marble slab zooms over to me. I sit on it, willing it not to go to the other side. Thankfully, it stays put and I am able to see my reflection in the brightly polished floor. My cheeks are blotchy, my eyes have a red tinge to it, and my arms are covered in grooves made by the ravens’ talons. Groaning, I wish I could retrieve my pack and make myself handsome again.

Mr. Risch comes out in a couple of minutes. “You have permission to stay at the guest home on my estate.” I thank him, shake his hand. With that, he puts on a bowler hat and slips into a coat. I follow him across the hovering bridge and down three flights of escalators that could fly.

At the bottom, there is a big purple circle in the middle of the room, like an art exhibit. Its label reads: “For Mr. Risch and authorized personnel only.” He beckons me in front of him, gives me a slip of hard paper.

“Slide this into the card reader when you are inside.”

“Inside what, sir?”

In answer, he pushes me into the center of the circle and says “Happy Trip.”

I hold in a yell as I feel myself turning in circles. The giant building is disappearing from sight, and I feel the heat of a fireplace and smell toasted marshmallows. A metallic voice says, “Enter, visitor. Please insert card into reader.” Following directions, a purple screen slides open and I step out of the teleporter into the biggest house I’ve ever seen.

***

Looking around, I see that two girls are near the fireplace, toasting marshmallows. But as I  shake the dizzy feeling off I realize that one has red and gray striped cat ears and the other has long dog ears. Ok. Now I know I'm going crazy. They are both talking animatedly about something.

Mr. Risch enters the room and nods at me. Very quietly, I take a seat and Mr. Risch whispers in Long Ears’ ear. She gasps very quietly and slightly turns her head. She gasps at the same time I do. Her eyes are so light blue they are almost gray. But the rest of her head is a dog’s head - black snout and caramel and black ears. She is probably the oddest thing that I have ever seen. Everything about her is perfectly normal until you reach her head, and she also appears to have a tail sticking out from her moss green pants. She has that same dazed expression on her face that every other girl I meet has - she, like so many others, adores me. But there's no way I could ever love her; she is literally a dog. On the other hand, the girl next to her isn’t that hard on the eyes. She has dainty features with a small little nose and red and gray striped cat ears sticking out from the top of her head. She looks like she dressed up in a costume. She even has the same colored tail peeking out from her sapphire blue jeans. The girl smiles at me and I find myself giving them each a hard look. No one can love me except for me. It is the way of life.

“Cassie, meet Sürch Noriss, the...” Mr. Risch hesitates for some reason.

“May I go to sleep?” I probably sound rude, but I am so tired I could slump down here and not move until I get my full eleven hours worth of beauty sleep. Mr. Risch looks grateful for the distraction and leads the way to the guest house, which is almost a kilometer from the main house, so I am extremely tired when we get there. . But for some reason, once I lie in bed, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m forgetting something. “Yeep!” I squeal, remembering it at last. I leap out of bed and burst into the bathroom. An entire wall is a mirror. I yell with happiness and everything I could use to make myself pretty again appears in a cup - rather, cups - on a shelf that pushes itself through a slit in the mirror, which I swear wasn’t there a second ago.

I jump into the shower and a bar of jonquil soap appears by my side. As I scrub myself clean, I think about the strangers in this society. Why are there dogs and cats and penguins and ravens who look human? By now, my mind is bursting with thoughts and we can’t have that, can we? I shake my head and shift my thoughts to food. Oh, darn. Now I’m hungry. I wrap myself in a green towel and proceed back to the mirror, where a blow dryer from the ceiling dries my hair in a matter of seconds and even shifts it into the right place. One less thing to be done!

A knock sound on the door. I pull on some clean clothes that have magically appeared on the giant countertop and open the door. Oh. It’s the girl who looks like a cat.

“Hi. I’m Erissa.” I step out of the bathroom and nod.

“Sürch.”

“Ok, buster. Playing nice is over. I swear, if you hurt my best friend I will punch you and ruin your amazing face!” I nod vigorously and she smiles sweetly. “Goodbye! See you in the morning! Sleep well, Sürch.” It almost sounds like a challenge. And with that, she steps out into the cool air.

I am already trying to think of a plan to see if she will really hurt me.

© Copyright Roopal Kondepudi, Erin Hearne. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1: Cassie

The sun streams in the schoolhouse window in strips of rainbows as Mr. Striver drones on about some old dead dude and what he did to help our country. I, for one, couldn’t care less. I mean, why did we have to sit around all day learning about the past when there was a whole future out there to explore? I look at the clock above the smartboard - just five more minutes to freedom. Glancing over at my best friend Erissa, I give her a sly grin. She’s absentmindedly rubbing the half moon shaped scar on her right arm - the same one all of us have.

THUMP! I am pulled from my thoughts and look over to see a small form entangled in his chair. Of course, it is no one but Hoss. Small, skinny, sweet Hoss. He struggles away from the chair’s grasp and stands up, his pink tinted skin glowing crimson with embarrassment.  

“Hoss, that is the third time this week you’ve been tied up in your chair!” Mr Striver sighs, disappointed that his top student had disrupted his class. His giant glasses are almost falling off his pink triangle of a nose and he pushes it up with one neatly trimmed claw. His nose twitches and the glasses slide back down.

“Sorry, it’s my tail! It’s been growing and it sets my balance off,” he whispers, so quietly that only Erissa and I could hear. We smile sympathetically and I squeeze his pink hand. I can almost feel the heat of more embarrassment flooding through him.

We turn our attention back to Mr. Striver, who had already begun the conclusion - YES! - of his lecture. “... so, that’s why Eirus Arc is how it is today - smart, tech savvy and amazing. Just because of that one great man, who by the way, also...”

So much for conclusion, I think.

***

When the ultrasonic wave passes over us, Mr. Striver ignores it, listing the greatness of other dead people who brought Eirus Arc to its state today, even as the other students leave the classroom to paw at their snack bags filled with Milkbones or Friskies or other treats until the end of school.

I have to admit, our country is pretty amazing. Smack dab in the middle of nowhere, the Scholars, the people who created our country, strived to make our society work. I glance, jealous, at the bag of rich, dark chocolate Hoss is half heartedly nibbling. I can’t eat chocolate. I wish more than anything that I could. I can eat small amounts at a time, like maybe a 1/16 of a square, but if I eat anymore, my stomach turns inside out and I am sick everywhere. I’ve done this before and it wasn’t pretty.

Hoss notices me noticing and pulls me up to my feet. I smoothen my long, silky ears and open my blue eyes wide. My father is walking briskly down the halls. Hoss turns around to see what I’m seeing and gasps. On his heel is Cossan, my little brother. He seems frightened. My father’s face shows worry and anger.

“Papa! What are you doing here?” My voice is panicked, and the ultrasonic wave for the end of school rings in my ears - 23 KHz. Gets me everytime. I’m glad they didn’t put it too high a frequency. Hoss wouldn’t be able to hear it and Erissa and I would just about bleed our ears out. My father ignores it. Of course - he can’t hear it. But Cossan, too young for such a high frequency, whimpers in protest. I rush over to him and cover his ears with my hands. His ears aren’t like mine - they’re human. I huff at my dad, irritated. That gets his attention. He whirls around and shows a ghost of a smile at me.

“Cassie, I need you to take Cossan and I up to Mr. Nach’s room.” In answer, I give my brother a look that clearly says What did you do this time? I nod and lead them up a series of flights of hovering escalators and over a hoverbridge, which quickly pack into boxes and stack neatly into a pile, ready to spring open at the next visitor. Outside his room, Mr. Nach, the principal, has a statue of an Older. Mother always tells me that her great grandparents were Olders. They were four legged, without opposable thumbs, and were kept as almost slaves by the Scholars’ ancestors. Mother said the Olders were called “pets”. And the Scholars believed that “pets” and people needed to be equal.

And that’s why the majority of our population is genetically mutated. And that’s why my mother is a mutated dog and my father is a human. And that’s why Hoss, tinted pink, with a corkscrew tail, is half pig, half human; Erissa, with her striking green eyes and red striped pointy ears, is half cat, and me, with my silky long ears and blue eyes and a voracious appetite for reading, am half dog, half human.

***

I scan my school card against the statue’s eye, the card that reads:

Name: Cassie Risch

Date of Birth: October 22

Years Until Graduation: 1

Printed on the side is a small square image of me - light blue eyes that were almost gray, long brown and black ears, a middle size triangle of a black nose... The statue turns its head, and says in a metallic voice, “Enter, Cassie Risch.” The statue splits apart to reveal a stone staircase - something very rare, something from far before the Wipeout - and we descend it. I hear the statue close behind us with a resounding Crrreeak.

Mr. Nach looks smug, like he knew Cossan would be back in his office, but I saw a flicker of worry in his eyes. Nodding curtly to Mr. Nach, I whisper, “I’ll leave you now.” I turn around, but when I reach the base of the staircase, I hear Papa whispering to Cossan to tell Mr. Nach what happened, inside the Private Room.

“Wait, Cassie. I need to tell you something,” my dad is speaking urgently and quickly.

I turn around again and cock my head, look expectant.

“My office, they search for potential threats to Eirus.” I know that... he tells us every night at dinner. How is it important?

“They found an outsider.”

***

My ears prick up. I need to hear this. I’ve never seen an outsider in my life. “What? Who?”

“A human. One of my employees is going to go and find out who he is and where he’s from, after dark.” My dad seems agitated somehow. “It’s possible he’s a survivor, but you never know with people who haven’t seen Eirus Arc. They get scared of us and often try to do something that could destroy us.”

“But, Papa, how do you know this? He’s the first outsider in a hundred years, and Eirus didn’t exist a hundred years ago.” I think my voice seems too elated. I need  to know who he is.

I don’t care much for the outside world. I know it’s just deserts or mountains of rubble. I feel safe in Eirus. I hope the arrival of the outsider won’t change that.

I feel the same safety blanket me as I join hands with Erissa and Hoss, who waited for me outside. We walk out the door, when Hoss drops my hand and smiles at me. I give him a quizzical look but grin back at him. Finally, I can’t hold in my excitement any longer. “My dad says they found an outsider.” Erissa lets go of my hand too and gasps. Hoss looks crestfallen, but I don’t see why.

“WHO?” They speak at the same time. In answer I shrug, try to look disinterested. I am trying to hide a smile but it slips out and I start laughing.

“I love your laugh.” Hoss is smiling at me again and suddenly I feel blood rushing to my cheeks. I smile in answer and ask Erissa about her day, trying to change the subject. Hoss’s hand slips into mine again and it feels right. All three of us have been friends forever, so I know nothing could be different.

We reach Hoss’s house first, so I walk with Erissa in silence for a few minutes before she asks me about the outsider again. “Is your dad going to interrogate him? I know that is his job, but is only he supposed to do it or can someone else?” It wasn’t often that Erissa asked about Papa’s job. Her own dad was the president of the Architectural Board, so she didn’t really know about anything outside of that. I, on the other hand, pelted her with questions, all of which she answered in a patient voice. So I tell her.

“Yes, Erissa. Many people can interrogate suspicious people, but an outsider is the most dangerous thing that could end up in Eirus Arc. That's why my father needs to question him. He’s the head of his office." My voice is small, because I'm realizing what I just said. The outsider could be a trained assassin. Erissa nods knowingly. My thoughts flit back to what is happening to Cossan back in Mr. Nach’s office. I turn to Erissa, worried about him. Just when I’m about to tell her what happened to Cossan, my thoughts are interrupted by squawking.

“I can’t believe he picked us for a mission! A mission! I think I’m going to scream. Do you think we’ll be able to talk while we’re on it?” It’s Hessa and Nessi, two half-ravens whose excessive chatter gets them into a lot trouble at school.

“I hope so! I wouldn’t be able to go a day just by being quiet. I’m so happy. A mission! A mission! I think I am going to go crazy!!! Aaaaahhh!” Wow. Nessi is going crazy. She is always a loud person but that scream just about blew my ears up. I don’t see how they would be offered missions, they talk way too much for ravens.  Ravens are supposed to be secretive and quiet. But either way, it would be a mission at night so nobody would be able to see them. Their feathers are as black as grease on a hoverbridge engine.

As we steer away from them to enter an architectural masterpiece - Erissa’s house, I hear them screaming loud enough to wake up every sleeping child in Eirus Arc. Erissa whips inside to put her backpack on her bed and bounds across the beautiful green lawn with a neon yellow bag on her shoulder. I grin mischievously and she laughs.

“I thought, you know, since your father’s working late and my parents are out visiting Arch - you know, the old cousin who brings me clothes about forty sizes too small - I could spend the night?” I nod in reply, glad I’ll have company. Other than Cossan, who is extremely annoying, I never have anyone to do anything fun with. Mama loves doing random projects which makes life at home interesting, but she never wants help on anything.

Things are eerily quiet as Erissa and I cross the street to my house. Correction. My estate. It is a 3 acre lawn with fountains, a guest house, a pool inside the living room and a big theater that was customized just for me, because nobody watches movies nowadays. Plus, very few movies were saved from the Wipeout and they were evenly distributed to all the families of Eirus Arc. So at home we have only one movie. Erissa has one I’ve never seen before in her paw, though. “Where d’you get that from?” I ask, curious.

“Oh, Rissa gave it to me” she says dismissively.  I raise my eyebrows at her, but she just laughs.

“Let’s eat dinner first, Then we’ll watch it. I think my mother will let us eat marshmallow cookies for dinner!”

“Oh, the ones with the chocolate sauce?”

“Yes, precisely, but I can’t eat chocolate. We have to toast the marshmallows so they are warm and gooey!” I can’t help but feel excited. The sun is setting already. The winter night sets in fast. We step into the warmth of the house, but I think about the outsider one last time before he is completely wiped from my mind.

What’s he like?

© Copyright Roopal Kondepudi, Erin Hearne. All rights reserved.

A Short Story

The Things I Have Discovered

By Roopal Kondepudi

It was wrong of me, but I am the curious kind. Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a nosy parker who never finds work babysitting because of one thing – I always put myself out of business. I find things that get my boss in jail. I think the most famous guy I’ve put in jail is Berry Hausmen. I found a check in 20,000 dollars which was addressed to his wife, and then a note spattered with blood saying, “I’m sorry Betty – I needed the money. I shouldn’t make a habit out of killing people, should I? I love you, and hope that in hell you’ll get all the money you want. I say hell because you are – I mean were hellishly freaky to me. Always telling me what to do? Ugh.” Signed Berry Jacob Hausmen .

I testified against him – he actually also didn’t have any children. He told me never to go into his kids’ rooms, and I thought it was because he hit them and they had welts to prove it or something. But I noticed at 10:00 pm every night they magically go silent. It’s like a recording stopped playing – and it sure did. I think to avoid suspicion he pretended to have kids, therefore hiring a babysitter.

Now here I am, in front of a house, wait, no, a mansion, and I’m awaiting a new job. This one’s in Lansdale, Pensylvannia, and Hausemen’s was in Cleveland, Ohio. Wait – someone’s opening the door.

I’m inside – it is BEAUTIFUL! A really cute little girl named Orion walked up to me three minutes ago and said “Are you Kathleen Winters? Papa said you were coming, and then mama told papa that if you even t-” A man came up to her and put his hand over her mouth. I guessed it was Mr. Beckinsale, and wished him a good evening. He explained all the rules to me, and when I could actually hear things – my head was swimming – I heard

“And now, Kathleen – I want Orion and Delphinia (Mr. Beckinsale’s 16 year old daughter) asleep latest by 9 pm. You can watch T.V. or read a book if you’d like. Don’t bother sorting out the attic.

I found that a little strange. Why should I sort out the attic? I am a babysitter, for heaven’s sake, not an attic organizer, or whatever it’s called. But obviously it made me more curious.

I nodded and watched Mr. and Mrs. Beckinsale leave. I got the kids together and whispered to them “Do you know any secrets?”

“Papa said not to tell anybody” was Orion’s answer.

“But you are awesome, Kathleen, so I will tell you this – the’re things in the attic. Let’s bring the boxes down and look at them!” Delphinia told me excitedly. I guess she hadn't had much contact with people her age – I was 17 at the time.

Being the nosy parker I am,  I readily agreed, and brought down eight boxes with the help of Delphie (she insisted on being called that) and Orion. We opened them, one by one, laughing, when I noticed something. “Here – Delphie, can you help me with this?” We pulled out a small, copy machine kind of thing, and a picture attached to it. It was a picture of Mr. Beckinsale, easily ten years younger, and a boy wearing a tshirt saying ‘Bruno Mars – live in concert’. Mr. Beckinsale was holding a 5 dollar bill. And the copy machine thing was right behind them. “Delphie; isn’t that Morbo Merrun, papa’s best friend?” Orion sounded positively gleeful, probably because she was actually helping.

“Oh no,” said Delphie, probably coming to the same conclusion as I did. We turned the picture around to the back, and it read “Brian and Morbo with their first counterfeit bill”.

Delphinia and I gasped at the same time – and the Delphie said with a moan “It says first. Like they printed more. And more. And more and more and more and…”

I stuffed it back into the box, pushing the money printing machine on top of it.  

“My name isn’t Kathleen Winters. It’s Wendy Waters, the girl who got Mr. Hausmen in jail. I like you kids, so I won’t tell the police about your dad.” I spoke in a low, urgent voice.

“He’s not my dad. He was working with a criminal organization called Briamorb, founded by him and Morbo. When he met my real mom he lied to her, but when she found out he threatened to kill her. Then he got married to Mrs. Beckinsale and had Orion here. He kidnapped me and I’ve been forced to live as his daughter.”  Delphie spat the last word out like it was disgusting.

I gathered her up in my arms as she began to cry. Orion was confused, because she really loved her ‘sister’ and wanted to know what was going on.

“I didn’t want to say anything because of Orion. I’m afraid of what will happen to her. Her mother doesn’t know.” Delphinia sobbed in my arms.

“Tell her.” That was my simple advice.

“I will”.

The end