Illicit Sleep in the City of Vanth; a short story

The rule was well and widley known. It was criminal to sleep in the city of Vanth. Hae slid through the eternally night shadowed streets. Vanth is the largest city on the planetoid Orcus which orbits the planet Neptune. Vanth was so far away from the sun as to render it only the brightest star in their universe instead of its center. The Vanthians naturally lived their entire lives under the shroud of night. Regarding human habitation in the solar system it is, currently, the end of the line. This had many effects on the people who came to call it home. The first humans to come to Orcus settled what would become the city of Vanth. They slept most of the way and once they got off, even with indoor machines to mimic day, they spent most of their time sleeping while the ‘momma birds’ (colonization drones sent decades before to terraform the environment and build the first structures on which the colonists could live) continued to see to their necessities.

They lived and died in docile languor, their need seen to by the momma birds and their children who, in time, rose from their trances to begin the first economy on Vanth. The second generation became the apothecaries, innovating new drugs to facilitate the snow white sleep of their parents and liberate civil blood, making civil hands unclean. They would continue this way for a generation, fighting for the right to sell their wares in a place where day never came. Once the sleepers had all but passed and the brawls of the aging apothecaries brought discord to Orcus and the city of Vanth in particular, the third generation (the righteous) came of age and passed a great judgment on the ones who came before and the ones who carried on their ways now. The fourth generation is indistinguishable from the third. They hate the apothecaries for bringing their potions, and the sleepers for failing to rise, for dreaming instead of making reality the dream. Those who call themselves righteous eschew sleep entirely, believing that on other worlds it was a necessity but on Orcus it was a vice.

They mistook their lack of sleep for vigilance and Orcus was that much darker for it. Hae was a hold over. She was a child of control yet, covertly, she sold chaos. It was this profession she chose which has her now, dodging behind refuse cans and atmospheric producer nodes, jumping onto moon-clay roofs and sloughing the accumulating frost off her thermo-suit every few minutes and putting some of the ice in her mouth to mask her breath from the men who would be coming for her.

In the distance, the voices of five could be heard accompanied by three Plutonian hounds. She scraped some frost off a nearby aluminum wall and tried to pack the inside of her pocket with ice, thinking perhaps the ice might hide the smell of her product. She backed away, eyes in the direction of the sounds, back towards the docks. It was a small jaunt but it was not going to be easy. As the sounds moved further away she felt inclined to turn and pick up the pace. She passed the old homes the momma birds had built, the old district where the first landed, where the sleepers lived and died, and where people lived now and tried to forget the pain that had happened in these houses before they were born. In this district a statue stands in a town square.

It is rocket shaped and was designed on earth before the first wave ever left. “TO THE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO TROD THE DARKNESS, AND BROUGHT LIGHT WHERE BEFORE THERE WAS NONE,” and below that the names of the first passengers and citizens of Orcus. The momma birds had set it up by the time they arrived. People from Earth stopped coming quickly once they heard about the Vanthian sleeping sickness. What was once a triumph of colonization, what should have eclipsed in fame the colonies of Mars or Titan, was cut off in hysteria and became the first planetary quarantine. The monument was a wish that never came true, and the shape of that rocket only served to remind Hae and people like her that there was no way out.

She had lingered too long. She looked to the signs plastered to the sides of buildings to see which way the docks were and began her sprint once again. Silent feet disturbed nothing as they made their way through the second district, built by the ones who sloughed off the sleep and began to live and sell at night. These buildings were ostentatious but carried an honesty with them. These homes were built by human hands and lacked things the first district made central. The beds were coarse and provoked an itch, making sleep uneasy, and the daylight simulators were all but phased out. It was in a house like this where Hae grew up. Where her father taught her to make the syrups and drams which might help regulate the sleeping and waking of a world forever dark.

Hae learned well but, like many her age, learned to make the opiates too, the things that keep one from caring they lived on Vanth. She was getting close now. The purges had chased many like her from the city to die of exposure in the wilderness, else they beat them to death in the streets or spirited away to some cell where they were deprived of sleep meds and subjected to perpetual waking torture…or so Hae’s friends had said. There had already been a great push out of Vanth a week ago. Hae stayed because she didn’t think it would last and she had not lived enough to know the difference between a trend and a catharsis. If she could just get to the docks or a canal birth she might meet a gondolier willing to take her up one of the liquid methane tributaries to a town which may be cooler. Where she could work and sleep and live the rest of her life in the night without end. The trip was going to cost her everything she’d made selling this week…it might even cost her the rest of her stash…that still might not be enough. She found the Oscan Canal. The sub-frozen green liquid which would lead her straight to the docks. What a triumph!

The snarl of a plutonian hound echoed up the alley from behind her. No way to turn back now. She lifted a foot over the bridge joining the two sides of the canal and started to climb sideways across the building. The frost on the walls made it hard. She slid down a ways, praying she would not fall into the frigid main and die. She made no sound. The hound had come no closer. She punched broken finger nails into the ice sheet covering the walls and climbed. Inching her way closer to where the canal meets the dock. At the edge of the wall she saw rising from the methane jetty the half submerged remains of a momma bird. She jumped from the wall landing on its head and sliding down to its giant broad shoulders. The conductive cooling effect of the river on the dead robot was chilling, her hands burned with ice and her breasts were beginning to tighten and burn under her protective suit. She was scared to jump but even more afraid of frost bite so she leapt again blind, hoping the tide was not up and that she might land again on solid ground. As she ripped herself free she felt frozen skin tear off and stick to the giant’s back.

It was successful. She breathed a sigh of relief and then choked back a scream as she looked down at the pink and red blisters forming on her hands before her very eyes. Blood pulsed out and began to freeze. It’s not long now, she thought, I’ll be done for if I don’t get upstream to the hospital in Tyche. They still had their fair share of sleep activists in Tyche but it was all together the most centrist version of a city they had on Orcus, or so Hae’s friends had told her. She looked left and right. There were no boatmen in sight. Stay calm, she reminded herself. There must be a boat someone forgot to secure. Creeping about she saw every one of the vessels were locked by pad, code, or key. Damn it, she thought. Were it not for the ice burns on her hands picking half of these locks would have been quick. She’d have to wait for the next boatman.

The boatmen did not come, but the righteous did. Their boots paraded down the main road, just a block up, and with them the three hounds barking, growling, and sniffing. She looked around, took a breath, and hid between two barrels and the half drowned momma bird, mere inches from the toxic cold of the shore. The men emerged on the street and looked around. The leashed in hounds had their bonds cut and they wandered the docks, looking. From between the barrels she could see them. The monstrosity that is the plutonian hound was bred on Pluto being the only form of life that thrived on that celestial dwarf. The people moved away, the hounds brought back to earth and other colonies became sun sick and died. Orcus is the only place in the solar system you can find them now and they thrive here. Feral packs of the unblinking albino beasts roam Vanth in numbers, attacking the smell of sleep potions either on a person or being secreted from their pores. One of the hounds looked her way. She jerked her body still. As it moved over to her she felt a burning pain on her left heel. Her foot must be in the river. She left it there, knowing the pain would boil over in a moment but if that hound pounced on the barrels she would be pushed back into a green icy death.

It moved forward, sniffed, and moved on. The smell of the methane masked her perfect. The hound retreated to the man holding the leash, stopping at his feet. While he secured the beast it cast its red reflective eyes back towards the cans. Not safe to move yet. The cold had definitely made its way through her shoe and now her sock was becoming frosty. Look away…please look away. The hound cast its gaze up and as the man was telling him what a good boy he was. Hae slid her foot out of the shore. The pain would not set in for another moment but she may be able to keep it when she got to Tyche. She was not so sure about her hands.

“North dock!” the man called out.

The mob reformed and roamed on, looking through the night for Hae and people like her. She waited until the sounds died away. Now all to do is wait. She tore the scarf around her neck and wrapped them tightly around her hands and wrists, making small squeaks of pain. She made her way over to one of the fire silos that perpetually burn in Vanth and held her hands out to it to keep warm. On the side was a plaque, “In loving memory of Samos and Deirdre Lang.” Hae didn’t know who these people were or how an eternal flame bares their name but she was grateful for the warmth regardless. Most perpetually burning silos in Vanth bare the name of someone who was only important to the people who put it there.

She could take a swig of syrup to ease the pain but she didn’t. She might fall asleep and miss her boat. Depending on how long she passes out she might end up waking in a cell, if the hounds found her first she would not wake at all. A mist fell over the river as it often does regardless of season or time. She wondered how they might treat her on the other side of this ride if she’d ever make it? The ice burns were beginning to numb themselves. The street was quiet, she assumed more people were sleeping in private than they were letting on and she wondered how long it would be before the Righteous began breaking into darkened homes with ammonia capsules and stimulants.

“I think he smells something,” she heard about a block and a half away. She knew the end was coming and she was trying to decide whether to run, fight, take the entirety of her stash, or simply lie to them. Instead she stood before the fire doing nothing. She had not the will to move, nor the energy. If this was the choice she had to make she was refusing to make it.

Through the mist glided a long dark metal boat being pushed by a single gondolier. Its oar slid through the emerald mirror and propelled it soundlessly passed the dock. “Need a lift?” the tightly wrapped figure called from the boat. Hae mouthed a ‘shush’ and the gondolier spoke no more. She climbed on, as the boat rocked it knocked the dock. A hound broke out in abundant cries. They were on their way.

“Go,” Hae said quiet but panicked.

The boat pulled away from the dock and veered starboard into the great mist as the gondolier shoved at the edge of the birth. Hae stayed down in the boat, eyes perched over the stern, looking at her pursuers. They filed into the empty docks again, investigating what the hounds heard. But they were too late, the journey was already underway. Hae saw them because they were behind the lights. There were no eternal flames, flash lights, street lamps, or gauche neon between Hae and where this ancient boatman was taking her. “Eun,” the boatman said in a muffle.

“What?” Hae whispered.

“My name,” she took the scarf from around her face, leaving her hood in place, “is Eun.”

“I’m H…Holly.” Hae said.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise.” Hae trailed off, looking back towards the dock listening for any indication they might be coming.

“You don’t have to worry.” Eun said.

“What do I have to worry about?” Hae asked reflexively as though acting indignant might hide why she was fleeing.

“They won’t get a boat in time to follow us in this fog. Consider yourself lucky. They can never touch you again.” Eun said looking ahead into the amorphous dark gray ahead.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve ferried tons of people from this place. Most of them were good fine people who didn’t do much, some were respected swindlers, and some were like you.”

“Like me?”

“None of the types I just mentioned…”

“You might wanna put your breather on. You’ve got one don’t you?”

“Of course.” Hae said defiantly.

“No gloves though?” Eun said. Hae looked down at her hands wrapped in shrouds.

“I left in a hurry.”

“I bet. Where to?” Eun asked casually.

“Tyche.”

“Whew, you must be in trouble.” Eun let out a small chuckle.

“Just looking for a change.”

“Then don’t go to Tyche.”

“Why?”

“More of the same. I go between these towns a lot. I don’t see much difference.”

“Do you live there?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

“Fair point…” Eun was silent for a moment. Eun reached into her pocket and pulled out two green monocles, she fit them in both eyes. Hae did the same. When the disks were in her eyes the expanse of the crossing became visible in the darkness so far away from the city lights.

“How much do I owe you?” Hae asked, a little scared. She’d heard of people being thrown into the canals and the small bay for not paying the exact toll. She wondered how many bodies lay, flash frozen forever beneath the silky green surface. Eun pushed the oar back down to the bottom and pushed them further again. Hae wondered if the leverage which propelled them this time might have been the rib cage or groin of some poor bastard who tried to cheat the night and lost.

“How much have you got?” Eun asked.

“Two hundred.” Hae said. She actually had five.

“We’ll I think fifty otta do it.” Eun said, looking ahead. Hae was surprised. She expected to be taken advantage of tonight.

“Okay.” She reached into her inside coat pocket, hissing from the pain. Fumbling with the stinging snow inside surrounding her credits and her stash. They were too tightly bound together. Her body heat had melted the snow in her exertions, now tin medicine box and plastic credit purse were fused. She tried to pull it out now for easier access later.

“Beautiful aren’t they?” Eun said distracting Hae from her task. She raised her head to see what the gondolier was talking about and in night vision green she saw them. Momma birds as far as the eye could see littered the small bay between Vanth and Tyche. They passed one immediately to port. It was almost totally submerged except for where the face of its smooth egg shaped head would be. It was a small humanoid island where two dead sensors looked towards the sky and a cyclopean hand reached up skyward to its left like she was waiting for one of her fellow robots to reach in and lift her out.

“I think they’re creepy.” Hae said.

“Is there some reason creepy things can’t be beautiful?” Eun asked pushing her oar as they glided past the mechanical victim.

“Yes…beautiful things should be beautiful.” Hae was defiant on this point as she was on most things.

“Then I feel bad for you,” the gondolier said still not looking at her fare, “those hands will never look or work quite the same. I hope that doesn’t mean you’ll regard them as any less beautiful.”

“Maybe I’m not interested in being beautiful.” Said Hae. There was silence a moment.

“Doesn’t mean you aren’t.” Eun said. Hae resumed her task of extracting the stash box and credits with her mangled and wrapped hands. She freed the box and card sleeve from her pocket and was now trying to wrench them apart. The pain was intense but she had to pay this woman. She was the kindest person she’d met tonight, even if she finds creepy robots beautiful.

“Shit!” Hae burst as the credit sheath and tin stash separated violently sending the cards to the bottom of the boat and the tin to the bottom of the frozen bay.

“What happened?” Eun asked concerned.

“My meds,” Hae explained, “I dropped them into the methane.”

“So?”

“So?! I can’t sleep without them.”

“People here don’t need meds to sleep. Most of them do it wide awake. Even those men chasing you.”

“They seemed pretty awake to me.”

“Somnambulists usually look that way and that’s all they are, wide eyed sleep-walkers. Besides, how could you sleep on a night like this?” Hae looked out into the night Eun was talking about. Even with night vision there was nothing to see. Eun seemed to see something in the darkness though. Something she truly thought was beautiful.

“Do you sleep?” Hae asked.

“When I can I guess.”

“You take anything?”

“Not really. Sleep is like an old friend. Sometimes we get into a fight and they run off, or I leave them home and go out to work. Sometimes I don’t come home but after a while we work it out and lie down together again.” Eun was pulling them through another thick fog.

“Can you sing?” Eun asked.

“Not very well.”

“Do you mind if I? I find music is always best received in the dark.”

“Knock yourself out.” Hae bundled up her coat and pulled down her hood. Casting a glance out the side of the boat she saw another momma bird, the methane current was breaking on her waist, she was looking down at the frozen mess she was in. She’d be doing it tomorrow too, and the day after, and every day.

Eun continued pushing the gondola. Without conversing she remained silent for a moment. Feeling the rhythm of the ride, letting it become the rhythm of the song. She sang a few fa-la-la-la-la’s and did a quick up and down of the scales. Her surprisingly beautiful soprano ascended and descended the ladder of the scale as gracefully as a practiced firefighter carrying stranded people out of a burning building over one shoulder. It was a rescue in song. She began singing. It sounded like any one of a hundred gondolier songs one can hear in Vanth, except she’d never heard it before.

Drift with me on dreams of green

It’s happier than it seems.

Outside the boat we drift on cold

But inside the boat there’s love.

Though the days are long and dark,

The fires burn and warm our hearts

And leave their ashen marks.

Drift with me on dreams of green

It doesn’t matter which stream.

As time grows cold our friends get old

And turn into the sounds of bells when tolled.

Don’t hide in fear, don’t shed a tear

Don’t descend into this nocturnal sphere.

Our souls as wise will virtue deem

As fish in our autumnal streams will teem.

Drift with me on dreams of green

The journey is only as high as we esteem,

For the sake of our theme, sing with me

And beat back the dark with light and be

Adrift forlorn, with cares unborn,

And only the things the dark can see.

By the end Hae’s eyes were closed and she was at peace, drifting out of the bay and up another river, to a place she had never been and where the gondolier never stays long. It can be a happy place, mostly it’s just another place. Still dark, still lonely, only peaceful for some but in the end, it is home.