Season 03 - Episode 23

‘small I’m not’

“Ste,” says Syl, looking across their shared desk. The old man is fast asleep.

“Hey!” she shouts, then kicks the desk. “Ste!”

Ste wakes then, confused and mumbling.

“Wha...?” he manages.

“I have something to show you,” she says coldly.

Ste is trying to straighten his clothes and compose himself.

“What time is it?” he says, rubbing his eyes.

“Late,” says Syl. “Or early. Doesn't matter. You said you were going to ask about the discrepancies I found with the production reports?”

“Oh,” says Ste, tentatively sipping at the contents of a cup then putting it down and pulling a face. “That. Yes, well, I haven't had the chance yet, there is a war on you know.”

“I thought as much,” says Syl. “So I've carried on digging.”

“Now, Syl,” says Ste, waking fully and gearing up to be angry. “I specifically told you...”

“I don't care, Ste,” says Syl simply so that the old man's mouth falls open. “I've been looking through security camera footage, trying to find someone who works in the industrial sector who I could talk to only guess what?”

Ste says nothing, he just frowns.

“There's no-one going anywhere near the industrial sector,” she says. “No-one. No workers, no supervisors, no inspectors. There's no-one down there Ste.”

“Well,” Ste blusters. “That can't be right!”

“Well,” she mocks. “It is. The only person I found anywhere even close was this guy.”

Several images of the same man appear on the vidscreen. Sometimes alone, sometimes amid crowds, he is very tall, has very dark hair and is wearing an immaculate suit.

“I found him again going in and out of the detention centre on the night someone cut off The Enemy's finger,” she continues. “And again near The Scapes before The Collapse.”

“This is nothing more than paranoid nonsense,” says Ste, waving the images away.

“The thing is, Ste,” says Syl, glowering at her boss. “I recognise him. I've seen him before. I bumped into him once coming out of your office.”

“What are you saying?” says Ste, his voice suddenly weak and small.

“I'm not going to stop looking,” she says. “So you might as well just tell me.”

“I didn't know!” Ste screams suddenly, bursting into tears so that Syl actually leans back in her chair, aghast. “They didn't tell me! They said it was a just going to be a publicity stunt, to turn the public against the cults. If I'd known... all those people...”

“GovCo caused The Collapse,” says Syl, barely believing her own words.

“My life used to be so simple,” Ste is moaning. “Twenty years ago I was managing box pushers. It was boring but it was honest work. But no, I had to get on, had to climb the ladder and now... this. Oh no, Syl. What did I do? What did I do?!”

Syl's head is spinning as she leaves the old man distraught and stumbles through the corridors. She's getting The Enemy out, right now, no matter what. She storms into the detention centre, raging and flashing her pass at every EnFo she encounters. Then she's in the room and the grumbling EnFo is reaching for the light switch.

The cell is empty.

Syl and the EnFo stare at the empty cell for several seconds until the EnFo erupts into action, racing to slap at the big red alarm button on the wall. Before he has chance to push it however, the alarm sounds anyway. Briefly baffled, the EnFo steps back but then cocks his head as his radio fills with desperate chatter.

“Ma'am,” he says then. “The Church have launched an all out assault. They're killing everyone they can find and they're here, in the detention centre. They're coming.”

“What?” says Syl, now completely overwhelmed by one too many dramatic reveals.

“Here,” says the EnFo, offering her the knife strapped to his leg. “I have to go. We'll try and hold them back but if they get through then... just do your best.”

Then the EnFo is gone and Syl is alone with a knife in her hand, while just outside the sounds of slaughter and panic grow gradually louder.

©  a d a m   b y f i e l d , not to be reproduced in any form without written permission