Season 04 - Episode 10

‘the knife shouts’

“Will you hurry up!” Si hisses, glancing over to the doorway where Ny is keeping watch.

“Well maybe if you'd help me,” Ko replies, whispering through gritted teeth.

Ko and Si appear to be floating in mid air over a deep, ragged edge chasm. Ko is kneeling and moving his hands around what appears to be an empty space.

“We're behind schedule already!” Si continues. “You're going to get us all caught! What are you even doing? I've set these up in minutes!”

“Yeah well they're a little more difficult to take down once they're on because they're, y'know, invisible!!” seethes Ko, trying to concentrate.

“You two!” Ny hisses, turning from the doorway and stepping out onto the void to face them. “We don't have time for this. Si, either help or shut up. Ko, just do your best and hurry up. We need to...”

“Hey!” crackles an electronic voice from behind Ny. “You! All of you! What are you doing? How are you... how are you doing that?!”

Ny turns in horror, following Ko and Si's open mouthed stares to find an EnFo sighting his rifle at them from the doorway. A single click breaks the silence, followed by a brief, descending hum.

The great hole punched through the floor suddenly flickers and vanishes, leaving behind an ordinary, unbroken room. Ko is kneeling beside a small box covered in dials and wires while Si and Ny stand beside him, swallowing and trying to think.

“What the hell is that thing?!” snaps the EnFo, crackling through his mask. “Right! All three of you, over here and on your knees, NOW!”

Ko stands slowly, showing the EnFo his palms. Ny glances at Si who is staring at the EnFo while his right hand drifts slowly toward his belt. Ny widens his eyes and catches Si's stare, shaking his head just a little.

“Ok,” says Ny, turning back to face the EnFo. “No problem, we're complying, see?”

Ny moves towards the EnFo, Ko and Si a step behind him on either side. Ny licks his lips and thinks desperately, staring into the little black circle at the tip of the rifle's barrel. Ko glances over and sees Si's hand drifting again.

He tries to catch Si's eye, to warn him off but the blade is already in his hand. Ko turns back to the EnFo and swallows, preparing to attack. The EnFo is too close, he won't be able to shoot them both before one of them can reach him.

“You!” snaps the EnFo, swinging his rifle to sight on Si. “Drop the knife! Do it now!”

“Hey,” Ny says to the EnFo, his voice suddenly calm. “Hey, it's ok. No-one's going to hurt you, alright?”

“I said drop the knife!” shouts the EnFo, his voice breaking and distorting with electronic fuzz. “Drop it now or I'll shoot you where you stand!”

“Kid,” says Ny gently. “You are a kid, yes? We both know there are no bullets in that gun. So why don't we all just calm down and talk this out?”

The EnFo sights his rifle back on Ny, then on Ko and back to Si. For a moment they all freeze and it feels as if all reality is teetering on a single pivot, about to swing one way or the other. Then the EnFo's shoulders sag and he lowers his rifle.

“It's ok,” says Ny to the EnFo, then turns to Si with a furious stare and a downwards gesture. Si frowns for a second but then relents and returns the knife to his belt.

“Listen,” says Ny, once more to the EnFo. “You don't owe GovCo anything, ok? They've sent you out here on your own with an empty gun. They don't care about you.”

The gleaming black of the EnFo's mask reflects first Si, then Ny and then Ko. Then he is swinging his rifle back over his shoulder and reaching up to take off his helmet. The face revealed is pale and young, lips quivering, skin blemished with acne.

“Dad died in The Collapse,” says the boy, his now unfiltered voice quavering and weak. “And Mum died in the war. I was hungry and alone and I didn't know what else to do.”

“I understand,” says Ny. “We all do, it's fine. Look, if you're hungry come join us. We don't have much but what we have, we share and we'll never ask you to kill.”

The boy in a man's armour looks at each of them in turn then bursts into tears.

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