Another man stood up, hands visibly shaking. Runt, we called him. His bad deed was petty theft after his friend shot at a cop. He wasn’t a bad man, but he sure as hell didn’t know how to function in any collective society.
Bolstered by Cade’s behavior, Runt walked near my table, hands lightly brushing my shoulder. Scooting back, I threw the paste onto the floor and stood, feeling out of control.
Runt simply laughed. “My turn,” he said.
Juliana smacked his hand, distracting him. “Mark my words. It’s starting,” she said.
“What is?” I asked.
But before Juliana could reply, Runt mimicked Cade and dipped his finger in her food. “Why do you eat the space garbage when we have an entire garden to eat from?” he asked.
My attention was directed toward the nearest hallway. The door was closed tight, so that nothing would disturb the Garden’s growth, but in the window, one could see thick layers of green.
Juliana grabbed her tray and knocked it straight against his throat. He fell to the floor and choked. “Stand down, inmates. Both of you. You’re two seconds away from going back in.”
“Solitary,” someone said behind me. The hole. It was supposed to be darker than space itself.
No one was ever sent to solitary except for Cade. I would’ve been surprised if he didn’t know that room inside and out. Despite it acting as a decent hold for prisoners acting out, it never cured him. And a part of me wondered if it didn’t make him smarter.
Solitary gave some men courage. Others, it would break them.
Most of the time, we relied on the magnetized walls and floors to control any outbreaks. In six years, we’d suffered few incidents. It may sound like we let them roam free, but the metal implanted inside their wrists only allowed them certain access throughout the ship at certain times. We felt sure we’d be safe if any crisis unfolded.
Runt wasn’t
one of the bad ones, but he was easily manipulated. And he was fond of helping Cade.
He kept the garden thriving. Fresh fruits and vegetables were a necessity, and, for a while, the growth unified us. But now, not too many people cared enough about the plants’ health. The garden was hardly used.
“All right. Look. We’re deep in this, together. That means we need to stay on each other’s sides. If you don't act out, you won't get thrown in solitary. Do you copy?” Juliana asked.
Cade stood, saluting for good measure. His tattoos looked like a mess of chaotic ink. Thick scars ran over each wrist and legs. This man wanted to die. “An ecosystem not only requires a delicate touch…”
“Cade,” Juliana interrupted.
“But,” he continued, “maintaining balance is essential to its survival.”
I ignored his pompous monologue. Instead, I took the core of his apple and tossed it into his face. “The more you take, the more you are robbing all of us life,” I said, swallowing.
“It’s unfortunate how easy it is for you to prove my point,” Cade said, thoughtfully.
I yearned for that sense of balance. But when you’re floating in the absence of everything material, you have nothing to grasp.
Aggression takes over a man’s cowering guilt. A man knows what’s wrong.
Cade turned deep red, even underneath his heavy set of tattoos that coiled around his face like snakes. Each scale seemed to move. His mouth twisted.
A look of pure anger was written all over him. Revenge was brewing.
Revenge for locking him up. Revenge for bringing him here. Revenge for being a woman. I was ready for him, but not for what was coming.
He bit his lip until blood trickled down the sides of his mouth. His eyes were black as night. He punched his plastic tray, sending food flying above our heads. I should have been quick enough to lock him down, but it happened so fast.
“It’s your job to deal with life,” he said. “But keep one thing in mind when dealing with me, woman. It’s my role to expose what’s wrong with the world, and I won’t stop until someone makes me. Get it?”
I nodded. Everything felt wrong, and I didn’t dare breathe. The whole crew was watching from their tables. No one made a sound.
He had won the game. As I sat, closed mouth and dumbfounded, I knew that everything had changed. We looked weak.