Season 02 - Episode 02

‘we begin now’

Ny is afraid.

There are people in his room.

There are more than a dozen of them, perhaps twenty. It's been decades seen he's seen this many people in one place. A couple of them are sitting in his armchair and in the other chair beside it, the one that's otherwise always empty. The sight of someone other than her sitting in that chair tightens his birdcage chest but he ignores the feeling and looks away.

The rest of the crowd are standing about, crowded together in his drab little room, chatting or inspecting his things. Ny stands by his workbench and wrings his hands then finally clears his throat. Gradually the room falls silent. All eyes turn to land on him.

“Welcome,” he says, but his voice catches and croaks.

He clears his throat and tries again.

“Welcome, neighbours, friends,” he says. “Thank you for coming. Now as you all know, the things we're going to discuss today are highly illegal and could get all of us in a great deal of trouble. If anyone here is unprepared for that then now's the time to leave.”

Everyone in the room looks at everyone else.

No-one leaves.

“Ok then,” says Ny, licking his lips. “Over the last few years it's been increasingly difficult to get GovCo to repairs things. You log a call and they say they'll come...”

“...but they never do,” says Es from near the front of the small crowd.

“Exactly,” says Ny. “But since... well... since The Collapse...”

A ripple of discomfort flutters through the gathering.

“I don't know about you but I haven't even been able to get through,” said Ny. “All I get now is a recorded message.”

Grumbled agreement and muted outrage accompany grim faced nods of agreement.

“So, a few of us have taken it upon ourselves to...” he falters at the critical moment.

“We've been fixing things ourselves!” says Es proudly, saving him.

Everyone in the room already knows this, but hearing it said out loud is still outrageous. A few people gasp despite themselves.

“That's right,” says Ny with renewed confidence. “We have. I've personally made repairs to several of your rooms and Es here has been mending clothing. What we'd like to start doing now, is to teach you all to be able to do these things yourself.”

“What about tools?” asks someone from over by his bed.

“Yes,” he says. “That's a good point. Tools are very hard to come by and I don't have enough to go round so I'm going to start by showing you how to fashion some rudimentary tools from everyday household objects.”

“What about if the EnFo's come?” asks Ol, the nervous little man by the door.

“Absolutely,” says Ny. “It's vital that we hide what we're doing. That means we must stop logging repair requests. If GovCo doesn't know something was broken then they can't prove we fixed it. From now on, no-one should speak to GovCo or to the EnFo's unless absolutely necessary, for all our sakes.”

“And what about the Disciples?” asks Ol.

“The who?” snaps Clo, the elderly woman sitting in Ny's chair.

“The Disciples of the Beast,” someone else explains.

“Who's that then?” Clo snaps again.

“The culty men,” says Es.

“Oh,” says Clo, disgusted. “Them.”

“Even if we do fix things up,” says Ol. “They'll just come and take it all. They've only left us alone recently because they don't think we've anything left worth stealing.”

“That's true,” says Ny. “We have to not only fix things but also make them look like they're still broken or else hide them really well. So, with all that in mind, shall we begin? Now, this is what's known as a crab hammer...”

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