Drifters

Inti's Watcher

"After the excitement of last week, this week we're doing something nice and relaxing," Nop announced. "Moon maze!"

Razan frowned. Moon?

"That's right," Nop continued, "we're taking everyone back to the far side of your moon! Last time we used the maze only two groups found the center, so we won't be adjusting anything. However, we will be instituting a time limit. Instead of seeing how long it takes before you give up in defeat, we'll see how close to the exit you get in four hours! You will be given no equipment other than what you need to breathe. For this contest it isn't necessary for your whole group to enter, but all participating members of a group have to reach the center for it to count as a complete win. As always, let us know by tonight if you're joining!"

"That sounds fun," Sophie said. "I'd like to join."

"Same," Razan agreed. He'd join only to see what the hidden side of the moon looked like.

Marie looked thoughtful. "What are the walls and ceiling made of?"

"Part of the maze has no ceiling," Nop told her. "Everything is made of stone. Climbing over the walls is against the rules, and will be penalized."

"Climbing over?" Marie echoed.

Razan kept his face neutral. If only climbing over was forbidden, that meant looking over them was perfectly fine.

"Yes," the raven said, bobbing. "The walls are as tall as the ceilings here, and the corridors are sixteen ban- are just wide enough for two humans to walk side-by-side through."

"Sounds interesting enough," Marie decided. "I'll join."

They all looked at Peter.

"I'd rather not," he said in a whisper. "If it's necessary I will, but…" He caught Marie's eye.

She nodded curtly. "Sophie, Razan and I will join," she said.

"Very well," Nop said, and went still for a few seconds. "You have been assigned to Area 1 in Batch 2. Batch 2 will be transported over at 1pm on Friday. When you return you will not be allowed to communicate with other groups until the last batch is sent to the moon. This is to prevent cheating."

"Will we be allowed to mark the walls?" Marie asked.

"Of course. You may mark your path in any way you choose; we will clean everything before the next batch arrives."

"Perfect."

"Are we allowed to bring anything we wish into the maze?" Razan asked.

"Anything that fits into a backpack, yes."

He nodded.

"Any other questions?" the raven asked, looking at Sophie.

"What about breaking through the walls?" she asked. "Is that penalized, too?"

Nop was still for another few seconds. "If you manage to break through the walls, we will be so impressed we won't penalize you."

Marie laughed. "Understood."

"That's all my questions," Sophie shrugged, grinning.

"Very well," Nop said. "If you have any further questions, feel free to ask." The raven hopped off the table and went to its space in the wall.

Razan got up, heading to the kitchen to make more tea.

"Why don't you want to join?" Sophie asked Peter.

Razan pretended to pay no attention.

"I don't like… stone walls in close proximity that I can't get out of," Peter said carefully.

"Cowboys need to roam," Marie added.

Razan paused. Technically, Peter's description could be two things. Curiosity overrode years of training.

"Did you get stuck in a ravine?" he asked, ashamed of himself for caring.

Peter looked over in surprise. "Yes."

"How?" Sophie asked.

"It's a long story."

Which meant he'd probably been thrown in.

"How did you get out?" Sophie persisted.

"Someone pulled me out."

"Friends?"

Peter looked embarrassed. "Uhm… no."

"Leave it, girl," Marie ordered, pushing herself to her feet. "Let's see what paints are available to us."

"Oh, yes, ma'am," Sophie said, jumping up.

Razan watched them leave, taking his cup to the table.

"Thank you for not asking if I'd been in jail," Peter said, getting to his feet as Razan sat down.

"The one who's been imprisoned multiple times is Marie," Razan said, his voice neutral. "You're clearly an upstanding citizen who has never done anything to warrant being locked up."

Peter hesitated, then moved to the kitchen to refill his coffee cup. "Right. Clearly."

Sophie followed Marie to the correspondence room. It sold everything paper- and pen-related, aside from sending and receiving mail. Sophie wasn't sure how they got the mail, and wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Once she had an address she could give her relatives, she'd have to give it to them. That would mean her mother could write to her. Sophie didn't want that.

She looked at Marie. "Have you sent anything to anyone?"

"No," Marie said, and paused. "The only person I'd care to write is safer thinking I'm dead."

"How sad."

"It's for the best," she said, somehow standing even straighter.

Sophie went to the screen that sold paints and scrolled through the color options. "What will we need?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Something bright," Marie decided.

"There's one… Here!" Sophie stopped at a color. "It glows in the dark!"

"Glows in the dark?" Marie echoed.

"That's what it says, at least. I haven't tried it."

Marie frowned. "I wouldn't trust it. It's too close to white." She moved through the colors, finally landing on the most outrageously bright pink Sophie had ever seen. "This color."

Sophie glanced at her. "Are you sure?"

"That's a color we'd be able to see miles away. It's perfect," Marie decided.

"You're the captain," Sophie shrugged, touching it. The screen changed to show types of paint available in that color. "Do we want to carry buckets of paint around?"

"Not particularly," Marie said.

The door opened, and Paola came in. She waved, walking over. "Looking for something to mark walls with?" she guessed.

"Yes," Marie said, smiling. "Any recommendations?"

"Here." She moved over, went to the main screen, scrolled down, and chose a thick pen. The description popped up. "These will mark on anything as long as it's dry. They don't have a lot of paint in them, so get a dozen or so to be safe."

"Thank you," Marie said. "Does everyone have these?"

"No," Paola said. "Some leave rocks or other markers. A few violent people bring axes and hack parts of the wall off."

"That sounds like it would damage the weapon," Marie said.

"It does, but it's also very fun."

Sophie scrolled through the colors available for the pen and found bright pink. "We'll buy twelve, then?"

"Yes," Marie confirmed, then turned back to Paola. "You were going to show me where you got your hair done. Would you have time now?"

Paola smiled. "In three minutes; I need to buy a few things."

"Of course, take your time."

Sophie frowned, feeling a twinge of jealousy. Marie was her friend, not Paola's. Sure, Marie had friends with old people, but Paola looked younger than Razan. For some reason Sophie felt that Marie shouldn't be friends with other young people.

Marie looked at her. "If you can, go find Rani and ask the best way to get through the maze. I'll have Razan ask his group tomorrow, and we'll consolidate the information."

"Yes, ma'am," Sophie said.

"Oh, Rani isn't going to be here this week," Paola said. "There's some festival in her home town she's going to. She's leaving tomorrow morning, so she's packing right now."

Sophie thanked her before heading out. All her friends were leaving or making other friends. It wasn't fair.

Well, at least she had Peter.

Peter sighed, knocking on the Seabird's door. A few seconds later, Grace opened it and grinned.

She looked him over. "Need help with something, Poncho?"

He bristled, then sighed again. "Yes, Blondie, I need help… getting stronger."

"And you came to me? How sweet," she jeered.

"Never mind," he decided, turning away.

"No, no, wait," Grace said, reaching out.

He twitched away, pulling his arms under his poncho.

She paused, squinting at him. "You gave up far too quickly. You know how to fight, you say you don't want me to touch you, but you don't struggle. Why?"

"I-" He stopped, glaring at the door frame. "I have five broken ribs."

"Five… How?"

Peter glanced around, lowering his voice even further. "A man tried introducing his boot to my lung."

"Let me get this straight," she said, crossing her arms. "You climbed a mountain. You swam around a reef. And you fought in a desert. All with five broken ribs?"

He nodded.

"Damn. Impressive."

"What was I supposed to do, not join?" he countered.

"Hey, just because the sun comes up every day doesn't mean there's no beauty in a sunrise," she told him. "Just because you were doing what you had to do doesn't mean I can't be impressed. Besides, you could have weaseled out of all three contests. You ain't weak at all."

Peter shook his head. "I am weak. I've spent so much time… recovering that my muscles have gone soft. I need to build arm strength without putting pressure on my ribs. If that's possible."

"It isn't," Grace said. "Leg strength maybe, but breathing will hurt your ribs, so anything that makes ya breathe more will hurt." She watched him. "Are the ribs all that's broken?"

He shrugged. "Had a few things out of place but they were put back when I got here."

"Like what?"

"Wrist. Shoulder. …Teeth… Spine, apparently…"

"What-" She stopped herself. "No, there's no use asking that. I'd say you need to wait until your ribs are healed to try anything."

"I can't," he said. "People are starting to notice I don't do anything. I don't spend all day sleeping any more, so I have to let people see I can fight."

Grace frowned, thinking. "No, people are starting to notice you haven't spoken to anyone outside your group. We've all seen you fight on the review. I saw you fight, briefly, on the reef. I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but you acted so defensive I had to take it as a challenge. Then Sophie came in and I thought she had you needing permission to talk to anyone."

"No, I'm just tired and in pain," Peter admitted. "I don't particularly want to talk to people."

"Well now I know," she said. "Wait another week, then tell people that. Tell them your ribs were broken. Tell them you were sleeping fourteen hours a day, but are better now."

He looked away, hating the idea.

"Actually, this week we won't be fightin'. No harm in telling people now," Grace said. "Hell, they'll be impressed more than anything." She stepped aside, motioning into her group's area. "Let me tell my group. You'll see."

Peter hesitated, then nodded. She grinned, grabbed the fringe of his poncho, and dragged him inside.

"Fael, Juan, this man has five broken ribs," she announced in an amazed voice. "And his wrist and shoulder were put out when he got here!"

"What, seriously?" Juan asked, staring. The two men were at the table, playing cards. "You scaled a cliff with a recently-dislocated shoulder?"

"You swam in the reef with broken ribs?" Fael asked, frowning. "I would not have allowed that."

"I know!" Grace said cheerfully. "He wants my help getting strong again."

"Not yet," Fael said. "You don't want to slow the healing process by pushing yourself. In fact, I'd suggest you not join this week's contest. The jumping required would not be good for you."

Peter blinked, caught off-guard. "Jumping?"

"Yes, getting from one level of the maze to the next would be painful for you," he said.

"They're new," Grace told Fael, then turned to Peter. "Mazes always have multiple levels. We're dropped at the top and have to get to the bottom. There's never any stairs; to get up and down you have to climb and jump."

"I'm… glad someone told me. I'll let Marie know." He hesitated, glancing at Fael. "And I'll… request to not join."

Fael nodded, approving. "Good."

"I'm still impressed," Juan said. "How many painkillers do you take each day?"

"I, uhm, three."

He nodded knowingly. "The ones you have to take after eating? Those are strong. They'll probably switch you to the weak ones soon. Those don't need to be taken with food, but they wear off fast."

"You've had them before?" Peter guessed.

"Everyone has had them," Grace told him. "We all run around getting stabbed and breaking limbs on a regular basis."

"Knowing how to manage injured teammates is an important part of a group leader's role," Fael said. "The rostari will pull you out of a contest if death is imminent, but not before. Even being knocked unconscious won't always get you removed."

"Living here is exciting," Juan added. "No one will ever say it's safe."

"It's safe enough if you know how to handle yourself," Grace said.

Her teammates both gave her unamused glances.

She pretended not to see. "And if you don't get easily distracted."

"I'll keep that in mind," Peter promised. He looked at Fael. "So, when would you recommend I start exercising? I don't like feeling this weak."

"At minimum wait until you're off the strong painkillers," the man said, smoothing his moustache. "Grace, give him that thing you have for grip strength. That shouldn't hurt."

She nodded, going to her room.

"Marie has your group on some sort of endurance training, yes?" Fael asked.

"Yes."

"That should be enough for now, then," he decided. "Once you aren't in pain Grace and Juan can show you their routine."

"We can show it to you whenever you like," Juan said. "You just shouldn't join until you're healed."

Grace came back, holding out what looked like if scissors and a spring had a baby. "This is the medium strength. I've got a stronger one if it gets too easy."

"Thank you," Peter said, taking it. He gave it a few experimental squeezes. "Fun."

"Do you play?" Juan asked, motioning to the cards.

Peter smiled. "Maybe. What game?"