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PROLOGUE

TWO ASTEROIDS COLLIDED in space. Both were bumped out of their orbits and one broke into pieces. Two of those pieces soared towards an occupied planet. One hit land, throwing a thick layer of dust into the air and starting countless fires which consumed most cities. The other landed in an ocean, creating massive tidal waves. The waves submerged islands and swamped half the continents, drowning all people and animals in their paths.

The dust blanketed much of the planet and plants not hit by the waves died for lack of sunlight and moisture. Survivors of the fires and waves choked to death or died of starvation. When the water finally subsided, it exposed the islands, now bare, and left huge lakes behind. It took months for those living on the untouched areas to assess the destruction. One-third of the planet’s former landmass was under water or covered by a dust mantle, and half of the planet’s population had died.

The bump occurred during the planet’s equinox and that was how the planet stayed. The equator permanently faced the sun. Over the next few years, the sun’s rays burned off the ozone layer there. The sun shone with a brilliant white light and the land, for long distances on both sides of the equator, could no longer support life.

Great bands of inhabitants trekked north and south to cooler climates. Fences, patrolled by armed guards, were erected around the cities in their paths, but the bands were hungry and angry and could not be stopped. Thousands were killed as they swarmed the cities, looting stores for food, water and clothing, and setting fires. In the end, hundreds of thousands starved to death before tent cities could be set up and meagre rations of food distributed.

Fear, and the knowledge this may be their only chance, drove all countries to join as one Global Alliance. Leaders of those countries worked together to decide the best way to save their species. In what became known as the Great Change, twenty mega-cities called Megalopolises were built on huge tracts of arid land close to enormous farmable parcels. These Megalopolises consisted of levels dug into, and rising above, the ground. Once they were completed, all those who weren’t farmers were moved to the cities, given jobs and provided with rent-free apartments until they could afford to buy.

The cities were then demolished so spare land could be turned into more farmland. Special forests were planted for the cultivation of medicinal plants, and for the small percentage of air purification they provided. It took years for the farmers to work the land for seeding. They went as high up the mountains as trees had grown and claimed the edges of the deserts through irrigation. Anything too rocky or with substandard soil was turned into feedlots or pasture for the animals. Species of animals not of direct benefit to the dominant race were exterminated.

Scientists developed new strains of grains and vegetables that grew faster and larger so that six crops could be planted each year. Animals were fed growth hormones and were ready for market in half the normal time. Fish farms were set up in oceans and lakes.

At the same time, there were purges. The Leaders decreed that everyone must have a job. So began the Tech Purge. Technology, such as machines, tools, and communication and transportation devices, that had been developed over hundreds of years, first to make life easier and then to increase company profits by eliminating the worker, was banned. Walled-in industrial parks were erected beside each Megalopolis and any company wanting to move there hired employees. Soon, equipment that had taken over assembly lines, apparatuses that had mixed and built, and computers that had done the thinking were thrown into Tech Dumps. Residents ran the looms to make cloth, used scissors to cut the patterns, and sewed the garments. They worked on the assembly lines, filled the ledgers, and made the bread.

When a Megalopolis’ walkway needed repairs, residents mixed the moon dust compound by hand and carried it in buckets to the repair site. When a new level was to be constructed, they carried the materials, mixed the moon dust, poured the bricks, and built the apartments. Everyone capable of working had a job and everyone earned enough to look after his or her needs. It was only where the lift-and-carry was too heavy or the distance of transport too far that limited machinery was used.

Some remnants, such as telephones for communication and television for in-home entertainment, had been kept. Only government-run agencies had computers. Education, especially history, was encouraged.

Before the asteroids hit, their civilization had had hair, but after living indoors for the past three centuries their hair had slowly thinned until they now had none. For the most part, present life was good. The population was growing slowly, and the food supply was increasing. The one drawback, though, was crime. It, too, was increasing and the huge Megalopolises were running out of room to house prisoners.

Banished To The Fifth Planet

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CHAPTER 1

“GET READY, ADRIN. He’ll be coming soon.”

Seventeen-year-old Adrin crouched behind the artificial bushes. This was a bad idea but he didn’t know what else to do. Both he and Finn, a fellow student, needed the money if they were going to be able to pay for their examinations and graduate. And graduate they must.

“I see him,” Finn said, excited. “He’s coming this way.”

Adrin peeked through the bushes into the dim light. According to Finn, all they had to do was threaten the professor into giving them his money and then run away. “I’ve done it before. It’s easy,” was the way he’d put it.

“Pull your mask over your face,” Finn said.

Adrin adjusted the neckerchief to cover up to his eyes and gripped the brick in his hand. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. Last month he’d been attending classes in his final year of school. He’d been accepted into university to study Depository Managing and would be starting work as soon as his exams were over. His life was going as planned and then his father died. The jobs his parents worked only provided enough money for rent, groceries, and taxes with a little left over for his schooling. He’d lived at home and worked in a clothing store to make up the difference. With his father gone, what little money they’d saved went to supporting his mother and that money included the fee for his final examinations. Without the money, he couldn’t write the exams that would provide him a better future. So now he was breaking the law to get what he needed.

“Now!” Finn yelled.

Finn jumped out in front of the professor, and Adrin behind. They brandished their weapons. Adrin’s hands shook so badly he was afraid he would drop his brick.

“You can give us your money the easy way,” Finn said, “or we’ll knock you out and take it. The choice is yours.”

The professor raised his hands in the air. “Take it easy,” he said. “My money’s in my pocket.”

Adrin was so scared his mouth was dry. He looked wildly around. Finn had picked an area between streetlights, but someone could come along at any time.

“Lower one hand and take it out slowly,” Finn commanded.

Adrin watched as the professor reached in and pulled out a handful of bills.

“Put them on the ground and step back.”

When the professor backed up, Finn lunged at him. “Go! Run!” The professor turned and glanced at Adrin as he ran past him. Adrin was glad for the bandana.

Finn bent and picked up the money. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Adrin threw his brick into the bush and followed Finn. His stomach clenched in fear as they ran into a crowded area, side-stepping people and dodging around corners. His heart pounded and his breathing was laboured when they finally ducked behind a dumpster. He slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

“That was incredible,” Finn panted. “I told you it was easy.”

“I’ve never been so scared in my life,” Adrin wheezed.

“That’s what makes it so excellent. We have some fun and make money at the same time.”

Adrin’s breathing slowed and he sat up against the dumpster. He was still terrified about being caught and just wanted to go home. “Let me see it.” He held out his hand.

“Hey! Where is your brick?” Finn demanded. He jumped up and looked around.

“I threw it away.”

“You what?” He stood over Adrin angrily.

“I threw it in the bushes.”

“You idiot! You were supposed to bring it with you.”

“Why?”

“You touched it. The police can run tests and trace it back to you through your sweat.”

“Oh no!” Adrin dropped his head into his hands.

“Didn’t you know that was why the doctors swab the sweat from every newborn baby?”

Adrin shook his head.

“They analyse and store it in case the person commits a crime.” Finn held up the brick in his hand. “I’m going to smash this into small pieces and throw them away.”

Adrin looked up. “Just because I held the brick doesn’t mean I committed a crime with it. They can’t prove anything.”

“The professor will tell the police that we had bricks. What if the professor can identify you by your clothes?”

Adrin closed his eyes and groaned.

Suddenly Finn jerked him up by the front of his shirt. “If you tell the police about me, I’ll kill you and your mother,” he growled. “You hear me?”

“Y...yes,” Adrin managed.

Finn flung Adrin back against the dumpster and threw half the money at him. “Don’t ever speak to me again.”

Adrin sat for a long time before finally picking it up. A lot of good it will do me now, he thought as he stood. I’m going to the Fringe.

Adrin trudged home. His mother was at her evening job, so he went to his room and flopped on his bed. He might as well just wait here for the police.

He heard his mother come home and pretended to be asleep when she checked on him.

Space Trainee Jordea stared out the spacecraft’s window as it hovered above the planet. Its vivid greens, blacks and blues sure beat the browns and yellows of the two previous planets they’d visited.

She turned to watch Exploratory Captain Derck at the instrument panel. She had his movements memorized and thought, given the chance, she could run through them herself. “First the air sensor,” she whispered as he flipped a switch to suck in some of the atmosphere. The computer immediately began calculating the temperature. It was much lower than their planet’s present temperature; it was more like theirs had been before the asteroids hit.

Derck pushed some keys, and the computer determined the air composition. “Seventy-eight percent nitrogen,” he read aloud. “Twenty-one percent oxygen, plus some carbon dioxide, water vapor and other minor gases.” He looked at Exploratory Officer Ange, Jordea’s mother. “Check the wind,” he said.

Jordea watched her mother send out a probe. “The winds are light,” Ange said.

“The air pressure and gravity seem comparable to that on our planet and its sun is just like ours.”

“This is the closest one we’ve found so far. Are we going to suit up?”

Derck shook his head. “Not yet. We’ll move over what appears to be water and take samples.”

As the spaceship drifted leisurely over land, Jordea gazed out the window. She couldn’t believe that at eighteen she was on a mission so far from her home planet. Okay, maybe it wasn’t her mission, and maybe she was only there because of her mother, but she was actually flying over the last of five planets they were investigating.

The landscape was different from what she’d seen on other planets, but so similar to what she’d read about their planet before the hit. Meadows, trees, and hills passed beneath them. Clouds swirled to create shade in some areas and rain in others.

Above the mass of blue, another probe was sent for a sample. The computer confirmed that it was liquid with a composition comparable to their water. Winds and temperature were again recorded and stored.

“Looking better and better all the time,” Ange said.

“We’ll check its dark phase.”

In a matter of minutes, the craft had travelled to the other side of the planet and was engulfed in darkness. From the windows they could see some of the millions of stars which made up the galaxy in which their own planet and this one resided. Also in the darkness they could see a moon. When the samples of the air and water proved to be the same there, the ship returned to the sunlight.

“We’ll float and observe for a couple days,” Derck said. He set the controls on solar powered self-propel.

The ship was known as a space clipper because of its small size and speed. It consisted of one octagonal room, in the middle of which stood a metal cylinder that reached from floor to ceiling. Rings of different-coloured, glowing lights circled the cylinder. Two of the walls had doors leading to tiny personal berths, one of which Jordea shared with her mother. There was only room for a set of bunk beds clamped to the wall, two drawers for uniforms and other clothes, a cleansing chamber, and a vacu-potty. It was barely large enough for two people to be in there together. Another wall had the door to the intermix air chamber. The upper half of the remaining walls were windows made of a thick, clear substance embedded with rows of little black dots. The lower half of three of the walls had control panels—one for flying the clipper, one for conducting their tests, and one for recording the information.

Derck touched the red ring on the centre cylinder. Part of one wall beneath a window folded out into a table with two narrow chairs extended on each side. Recessed into the wall were rows of tubes containing their meals.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

Ange, still sitting at her panel, wrinkled her nose. “I’m so tired of eating that tubed food.”

“Tough,” Derck said. “What will it be? Beef, chicken, or vegetarian pulp?”

“Chicken, I guess.”

“Jordea?”

Jordea also scrunched her face. Once she’d decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she’d joined the Space Organization as a Space Trainee. This voyage in the last year of high school was part of her education. If she liked it and passed some preliminary tests, she could apply for a permanent position with the Space Program after graduation. She’d been excited when she learned that her first flight would be on an exploration trip in search of a suitable planet for their criminals. It was the culmination of her dream, and she was proud to wear the red uniform that matched her mother’s. However, if she’d known how bland her diet was going to be, she might have thought other-wise.

“Vegetarian.” She liked her meat but needed a different flavour once in a while.

After the meal, they watched the darkness envelop them. The outside lights automatically came on and Ange pressed a grey ring to dim them.

“Isn’t this beautiful?” Ange sighed as she and Jordea looked out the window.

“Yes,” Jordea breathed as she looked at the planet’s moon and the sky full of shimmering stars.

“I’m going to bed,” Derck said.

Ange turned to him. “You’re not going to watch this?”

“It doesn’t look any different from what we’ve seen every night since we began this voyage.”

“I know, but soon we’ll be home.”

Derck shrugged and went to his bedroom.

Jordea never tired of seeing the real night of the planets on this trip. The actual expanse of the sky, the vividness of the moon or moons they had, and the brightness of the millions of stars were much more radiant than the artificial night at home. She shook her head. “I wish I’d lived when our nights were like this,” she said.

“Yes,” her mother agreed. “Me, too.”

The morning after the robbery, Adrin got ready for school as usual. He stuffed the money in his pocket, not knowing what else to do with it. There was no place in his room to hide it. Not because his mother would go through his things, but because he just didn’t want to leave it anywhere. He needed it with him.

Adrin went to the kitchen and ate the breakfast his mother made him. He had a hard time looking her in the eye as he tried to carry on a normal conversation. He thought about telling her what he’d done, warning her about what might happen. But he couldn’t admit his stupidity. He didn’t want to see the disappointment and fear in her eyes.

Adrin kissed his mother and left. He wondered if this was the last time he would see her. He rode the train to the campus and walked cautiously to his first class. No police constable approached him.

He entered the classroom and sat at his desk. He opened his books as the teacher began the lesson, but he couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept wandering to the night before, to the brick he had thrown away. Should he go and see if it was still where he had tossed it? Could he retrieve it before the police found it? He should have done that last night, but he’d been so shocked and scared that his only thought was to get to the safety of his home.

“Adrin, I asked you a question.”

Adrin jumped and looked up. His teacher stood next to his desk.

“Um, sorry. What was it?”

“Never mind. Just pay attention from now on.”

Adrin nodded and tried his best, but his mind quickly drifted to the dilemma of whether he should warn his mother about his impending arrest. He remembered when his brother, Ryke, had been arrested three years earlier for assault. Both his parents had been shocked. His mother had cried and begged the constable not to take him. His father had hit the wall with his fist. They’d attended his trial, and, despite their pleas, the judge sentenced Ryke to five years in the Fringe. Now he could be putting his mother through that again, this time without her husband’s support.

When the class was over, he headed to his next one. In the hallway he saw Finn, who glared and hurried away. He’d meant what he said about never having anything to do with Adrin again.

The rest of his morning classes were the same as the first. At the end of each he had no idea what the teacher had said. When lunch break came, Adrin watched for the police but there were none. By the end of the day, he started to feel better. Maybe they hadn’t found the brick. Maybe he’d worried for nothing. His spirits rose on the way to his part-time job. Finn was wrong. They had gotten away with the robbery.

His mother was home when he arrived after work. He pulled the money from his pocket and showed it to her. “Look at the bonus my boss gave me tonight!” He’d rehearsed that all the way home. It was the only explanation he could come up with for where it had come from.

“Oh, Adrin.” Her eyes filled with tears and she hugged him. “That’s so wonderful!”

“Now I can write my exams.” He knew that ever since his father had died, she’d been frantic about how he would get into university. Now she could relax.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. “Open up!”

Adrin’s heart jumped. His legs gave out and he sank to the floor. He remembered the same order when the police had come to arrest Ryke. His mother’s eyes widened as she looked at him. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No!”

There was nothing Adrin could do. He slowly stood. “Keep the money,” he said to his mother as he stumbled to the door. He opened it, stepped out, and closed it on her crying.

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CHAPTER 2

THE CLIPPER FLEW above Planet Five, as they had named it, for two more days. Jordea’s job was to record information regarding the plants and animals she observed through the powerful external binoculars. There were red, yellow, and blue-coloured flowers, green grasses, insects of different sizes, small rodents, and small-to-medium-sized mammals. Jordea called the larger species in the waters fish, sharks, and whales because they were similar to those that had once swam in her planet’s waters. The names, though, came from their pictured history books. All larger life forms on their planet, except those kept for consumption, had been destroyed long ago.

“It’s strange that, with this atmosphere, we haven’t seen any signs of intelligent beings such as buildings, food crops, or signs of transportation,” Ange said on their third day of flying over the planet. “It’s so much like our own that I’ve been expecting to see a species similar to us step out of the trees at any moment.”

“That’s what worries me,” Derck replied. “The other planets we visited, although not suitable for our species, had some sort of advanced life forms living in constructed shelters.”

“Maybe they detected us and are hiding,” Jordea said.

“Or waiting to ambush us.” Derck slowed their engines. “It might be time we found out.” He gently landed the clipper in an open area near large, leafy trees and a flowing river. He touched the blue ring in the central cylinder and a storage cabinet under one of the windows opened to reveal their protective suits. In spite of the air being similar to their own planet’s, the three donned suits and headgear and hooked up their air hoses. Ange pushed the green ring which opened the door to the intermix air chamber. There wasn’t room for all three of them, so Derck and Ange entered and the door closed behind them. The chamber slowly descended to Ground Level.

As on the other planets, Jordea watched from the clipper windows and waited for Derck and her mother to survey the area from the windows of the intermix air chamber. She kept an eye on the instrument readings as one of them pushed the button to let in the outside air. When no alarm signaled a problem with their suits, the seal to the outside automatically opened.

Jordea saw Derck step out onto the grass with Ange following. She watched but there was no sudden attack by planet dwellers. When the chamber ascended, Jordea picked up the soil-testing equipment and stepped inside. She joined her mother and Derck, and the three waited for the air quality sensors on their suits to beep. When none did, Derck turned off his air supply. He slowly opened the front of his mask. Jordea and Ange watched, ready to rush to his rescue if, in spite of the readings, he could not breathe. Derck took a tentative breath, then another, and when nothing concerning happened, he began to breathe normally. He smiled at Ange and Jordea, who shut off their own supply and opened their masks.

“Off with the suits,” Derck said.

They quickly removed the encumbering outfits and stood in the sunlight in only their space suits. Jordea turned her face to the sky. “I could get used to the feel of a sun shining on me,” she said. “I wish we could still use ours for pleasure.”

“Check the soil for nutrients,” Derck said abruptly.

He and Ange scouted the area while Jordea parted the tall grass. She pushed the probe of the soil sampler into the ground and watched the readings.

“Almost an exact match to what’s necessary for our seeds,” Jordea told Derck. “Plus, it’s rained within the past two days.”

While Derck and Ange studied the numbers, Jordea glanced around her. Everything here was real and alive. Birds glided on the wind drafts, and small animals so much like their squirrels chattered in live trees. At ground level, insects she named butterflies and bees flitted among the flowers. She took pictures with her wrist camera since there were too many different insect types to record individually.

“I think we may have found a third potential planet,” Derck said.

Ange turned to him. “Do you think it will support our people?”

“We’ll soon find out. Let’s plant our seeds so we can get out of here.”

Because of the complexity of their own farming technology, they could not bring along the equipment now used for working the land. Scientists, therefore, had had to go back in time and replicate the tools used by early farmers to turn the soil. Even then, because of the small size of their clipper, the scientists had only been able to provide shovels and rakes and instructions on how to use them.

Jordea went back inside and brought out the two shovels, the rakes, and the bags of various types of seeds. They found it was harder to dig on this planet than on the others. The grass was tall and thick in the meadow and got in the way when they tried to push the shovels into the ground.

“What are we going to do?” Ange asked.

“Maybe there’s an easier spot somewhere else,” Derck said.

They pushed through the tall grass to the trees. Under the branches the grass was sparser, but they encountered roots when they tried to dig.

Jordea grabbed a handful of grass and pulled on it. The stalks tore off halfway down. “What if we tear the grass down to the ground and then dig?”

“That might work,” Derck agreed.

They bent and tore up handfuls of grass, throwing them to one side. When they’d created a good-sized area of stubble, Derck tried digging again. This time he was able to push it into the ground with his foot. He turned the shovelful of dirt and grass roots over and chopped at the clump to break it into smaller pieces. He did another shovelful and another until he’d made a short row. He was sweating in the heat.

“I’ll take over,” Ange said. She took the shovel and dug up another row, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

Jordea was next. It wasn’t easy, but she soon finished her strip. By the time they’d each done two rows, Derck decided the plot was large enough. With a rake, Jordea tried to smooth out the clumps of dirt and roots. She jabbed at them with the prongs but they became embedded between the spikes. She shook them off then turned the rake over and banged on the mass with the back. That worked better, and after taking turns the soil was as level as they could get it.

They sowed their variety of fast-growing vegetable and grain seeds into short rows. On other planets they’d been able to dig larger plots and broadcast the seeds by hand before raking the soil over them.

Here, they used their hands to smooth the dirt. Jordea was happy. Now that the planting was over, she could explore the area around them.

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CHAPTER 3

ADRIN STOOD ON the step at the end of the last car of the commute-train. It had backed up to the huge doors to let him and fifty other convicts off. To his right and left were the thick, brick walls protecting the four-storey-high Megalopolis One. Ahead of him, through the doorway, was the Fringe.

Like everyone else, he’d learned about the Fringe as part of grade school history. Before the asteroids hit their planet hundreds of years ago, it had been the capital of a prosperous country. Now it was used to house prisoners from Megalopolis One. Fear had been building since he’d been found guilty of robbery and sentenced here, and it held him now, for he’d also heard the horror stories.

Adrin glanced back. The guards gripped their stun guns as they stared at him. They waited for him to go through the doorway so they could close the massive doors and be gone

Adrin looked beyond the walls. The convicts straggled haphazardly as they headed across the open ground that separated the protective walls of the present city from the remains of the old. Their feet kicked up dust around them and then it settled again when they were past.

He picked up his suitcase and, with a deep breath, stepped off the train into the Fringe. The door clanged shut behind him, but he didn’t look back. He was here for five years, after which he could apply for readmission to Megalopolis One. If his application was approved, he would be given a job sweeping or repairing the walkways or mixing dust into bricks at construction sites. There was no hope of finishing his education and getting the job he desired.

The sun was searing, the air dry. Adrin had been given a hat when he boarded the train. “You have no hair to protect your head from the sun so wear it when you go out in the daylight,” he’d been told.

In spite of the hat, he was sweating before he made it halfway across the open ground. When he reached the street, he looked up and down. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, stepping from one zone into the other, but nothing happened. There were no swarms of people fighting or killing or burning everything in sight. No crazed person attacked him; no shots were fired. The only activity was that of the convicts ahead of him spreading out along the crumbling sidewalk.

Some stared in bewilderment at the mess around them while others referred to the metal notes they had been given by a group called the Association for the Ethical Treatment of Prisoners. If the newly sentenced had a friend or relative in the Fringe, that group made an effort to locate the person and gave the information to the new convict. They believed it helped to have some support with the transition.

There were no street names or numbers. Adrin, like the others, stopped at the old man sitting in the shade of a doorway to what looked like a former office building. Up close, Adrin realized he wasn’t as old as he’d first thought. The man looked up at him with one eye. The other was an empty socket with the lid hanging limply. Adrin glanced down at the name carved into his silver metal note as he set his suitcase down.

“How do I get to The Troll?”

The man pointed. “Go down this street until you reach the bridge.”

Adrin turned his head. The street stretched far into the distance between dilapidated buildings, but he saw no bridge.

“After you cross it, turn left and go to the end of that street.”

“How far is it?”

“Further than it sounds.”

“Do you sit here every train day and give directions?”

Instead of answering, the man shook his finger. “You’d better get there before dark. You don’t have the survival look about you and this quiet only lasts until the sun goes down.”

Adrin picked up his suitcase and started along the street, which was almost empty again. The other convicts had gone down side avenues or into buildings out of the brightness of the sun. If not for the man’s warning, he’d have hidden in one of the doorways until evening.

The Megalopolises were built on dead land as close to the farms as possible. Their enclosed levels kept inhabitants from the sun. The Fringe, however, was left as it had been before the asteroids had hit. None of the wooden buildings survived the centuries. They’d been torn apart for cooking fires by the first prisoners. Leftover glass and metal were heaped in the streets.

The buildings made with bricks formed by mixing chemicals and moon dust had fared better, but many of them now stood at odd angles or were slowly collapsing due to the constant heat. The only shade in the Fringe came from these buildings.

There were no police or mayor in the Fringe. Some of the residents had tried to set up a government of sorts, but very few were willing to obey the proposed rules. There was no power, and no repairs were ever made to the sidewalks, streets or buildings. Ownership of anything consisted of being able to fight off attackers or intruders.

Adrin’s bag grew heavy and he switched it from hand to hand as he walked. The first convicts sent here had stayed in the area nearest the Megalopolis, but as more and more arrived, they’d had to move further into the old city until most of it was occupied. The heat was oppressive, and he understood why he was the only one in the streets. He tried to walk faster but the past two days of being processed for his trip to the Fringe were beginning to tell. Fatigue slowed his steps.

There was no glass in the windows of the buildings he passed, just holes which appeared black when viewed from the brightness. Occasionally he saw someone at a door or window either dozing or watching the street. He didn’t make eye contact. He wished he’d inherited the height and strength of his father’s side of the family. But he hadn’t. He was short and skinny like his mother.

Finally, Adrin reached the bridge. The long structure had once spanned a wide river but now the riverbed below it was dry, its cracked surface a dull mixture of brown, black, and grey. During the building of Megalopolis One, the planners had diverted the river’s water for the city’s use. When the Corruption Purge began, the one necessity grudgingly meted out to the convicts by the planet Leaders was water. Spaced throughout each Fringe outside the 20 Megalopolises were water pipes.

Adrin saw one of those pipes in the riverbank. Rusty water trickled into a pool on the ground. Adrin’s lip curled at the look of the water, but he needed a drink badly. He slid down the well-worn path, dropping his suitcase before reaching the muck. He bent over and drank greedily, then removed his hat and splashed water over his head to cool down. In spite of the old man’s warning, he had to rest a few minutes. He picked up his suitcase and crawled into the shade under the bridge. With a sigh he leaned back and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, he was jerked awake by a hand grabbing his shirt and pulling him upward. His eyes flew open. A scarred face leered at him and something sharp, like a knife, pressed against his neck. Momentary confusion was replaced by a quick, deep fear. The horror stories were true. He was going to be killed on his first day.

The knife moved and pain shot through him. Terror held him so tightly he could do nothing to defend himself, not even beg. He stared helplessly into the eyes of the man holding him.

“You newcomers are all alike,” the man rasped disdainfully. With a snort, he shoved Adrin against the bridge base and snatched up the suitcase.

Adrin held his breath as he watched the man walk out into the sunlight. That bag had contained the few pieces of clothing he’d been allowed to bring, but right now he didn’t care. He took a couple of deep breaths then gingerly touched his throat. When he looked at his hand it was bloody.

Adrin sank back as hopelessness overwhelmed him. He felt like crying. What was he going to do? How would he survive the rest of his sentence if he could be so easily robbed and threatened now? Maybe his brother could help.

He rose and climbed back up to the street. Somehow it didn’t matter anymore if he was out after dark. What else could be done to him? Adrin looked around. His instructions had been to turn left after the bridge. He did and trudged on.

As daylight turned to dusk, more and more people appeared. Their clothes were torn and dirty and the collective unwashed smell was overpowering. Some jostled him and he could feel their hands searching his clothes. He didn’t bother reacting.

Had his brother gone through this? Had he been robbed on his first day? Adrin doubted it. Ryke was tall and husky and had never been afraid of anyone.

Just as darkness settled in, Adrin came upon The Troll. He sagged against the doorless entrance in relief, but not for long. A man bumped against him and he toppled through the doorway. Conversation inside stopped.

The room was dim. Candles flickered in the hazy smoke from tobacco pipes and he could make out figures around the cement block tables and along the brick counter. All of them looked in his direction. Adrin nodded as he leaned on the nearest table. Within a few moments, conversation resumed and he was ignored. The bartender poured a drink and handed it to the waitron, who carried it to one of the tables. Laughter came from a back table and one of the women left the table to walk to the bar. She said something to the bartender and he filled a glass with a green liquid and gave it to her. She went back to the table.

This was where the Association for the Ethical Treatment of Prisoners had told him Ryke worked. Adrin hadn’t seen his brother in three years, but he was sure he’d know him. After all, how much could a person change in that time? He ruled out the bartender and the men at the tables and was just about to head to the counter when the server dropped a tray of empty glasses.

“That’s going to cost you!” the bartender yelled at the flustered waitron, who bent to pick up the broken glass. “Leave that alone and take these drinks to the back table.”

The waitron stood and hurried over to the bar.

The bartender pushed open a door behind him and hollered, “Hey. There’s a mess here for you to clean up.”

Adrin stared at the man who came through the doorway. Ryke was thin and his face was scarred as badly as the man’s who had robbed Adrin. He looked like the rest of the people in the bar, the people on the streets.

Adrin hung his head. He still couldn’t believe his life had changed so much, that he’d been so stupid to end up here. During the Corruption Purge, it was decided that anyone who committed a crime would not be tolerated. All petty criminals, no matter what they had done, were sent to the Fringes for five years. What they did there was of no concern to the justice system, but if they were caught back in the Megalopolises during their terms, their sentences were doubled and they were sent to the Orbital Prisons. Anyone in the Megalopolises who committed murder or sold drugs, which included tobacco, was automatically jailed in the prisons. Those sentences ranged from ten years to life.

Despite the Corruption Purge, crime still existed in the Megalopolises. Adrin had heard of students who robbed people both on and off campus when they’d needed extra money. It was a terrible chance to take but sometimes, if they wanted to continue their studies, they had no choice.

Adrin didn’t want to meet his brother in front of strangers. He turned and stumbled out of the bar. The crowd on the street brushed against him and he moved back until he was against the front of the building. He didn’t know what time the bar closed or when Ryke finished work, but there was nothing else for him to do except wait there.

His mind drifted back to when his brother had been arrested and he and both his parents rushed to the courts.

“Where is my son Ryke?” his father demanded of the receptionist. When she couldn’t answer immediately, he rushed through the first door down the hallway only to find a court in session. The next door was the same.

Finally, a guard had accosted him, and he asked for Ryke’s whereabouts. “If he’s charged with assault, he’s probably in the Low Court cells,” the guard said.

“How do we get there?”

“You don’t.”

“But we want to see him!” Adrin’s mother said.

“Anyone accused of assault isn’t allowed visitors.”

“But he hasn’t been found guilty yet.”

“That’s for the court to decide.”

“When will he go before a judge?” Adrin’s father asked.

“Tomorrow, but only the accused and the judge are allowed in the court.”

Adrin’s father had clenched his fists and growled with frustration. “He needs someone to defend him!” he yelled. “What can I do to get him some help?”

“You can’t. The evidence is being carefully examined right now and a decision will be made tomorrow.”

They’d hung around the building, stopping anyone who looked like they might have answers. No one did.

“I’ve never felt so helpless!” his father had yelled.

When the court building closed they’d headed home, and this was the first time Adrin had seen Ryke since. Now Adrin wondered if his mother had tried to see him before his hearing, too. Had she accosted people asking where he was, or had she decided it was time to give up on her sons who had caused her nothing but heartbreak?

In spite of the bustle and noise, he drifted into a light sleep, waking every time someone came out of the bar. When Ryke finally did appear, Adrin struggled to his feet.

“Hey, Ryke. Remember me?”

Ryke squinted at him. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Smart Kid,” he said, eyeing him up and down.

Adrin winced. While Adrin had always done well in school Ryke had struggled, and in his last year he hadn’t passed his final exams. He’d been delegated a menial job with little promise of advancement. His resentment of Adrin’s natural ability had caused him to give Adrin the nickname.

“That Ethical Association told me you were coming,” Ryke continued. “What did you do, cheat on your tests?”

Adrin shook his head.

Ryke walked away through the throng.

Dismayed, Adrin hurried to catch up. “I was robbed,” he blurted.

“So?”

Adrin couldn’t think of an answer.

They walked a few minutes in silence. The only light came from the moon overhead and the windows of the odd building lit by candles. As Adrin’s tired eyes adjusted to the moonlight, he noticed that the people walking on the crumbling sidewalks watched the hands of anyone they approached as if expecting a weapon to appear.

“Dad’s dead.”

“Oh.” There was a pause. Then Ryke asked, “Is that why you’re here? You kill him?”

“No!” Adrin was disgusted. “He was working on a multi-block and fell and hit his head.”

“So why are you here, then?”

“With him gone, Mom didn’t have enough money to pay for my final exams and I tried to rob a professor.”

“And got caught.” Ryke shook his head. “And you were always so much smarter than me.”

Ryke abruptly stopped as a large man, followed by two equally burly men, approached them. The man smiled at Ryke. “You still have time,” he said, not slowing his pace. “We’d make good partners.”

Ryke didn’t reply, just pivoted to watch the three pass. When satisfied there was no danger, he resumed walking.

“Who was that?” Adrin asked.

“Just a guy.”

“Where are we going?”

“What do you mean ‘we’?”

Adrin’s heart dropped. He’d hoped for a better welcome, hoped that Ryke would help him.

“Can I stay with you?”

Ryke shrugged. “You can stay anywhere you want as long as you can defend it.”

Adrin knew he couldn’t defend anything. But Ryke hadn’t exactly refused him, so he kept walking. They passed one of the waterspouts and Ryke stopped to have a drink and wash his face. Adrin did the same and they continued down the street.

When they reached a tall metal fence, they followed it until they came to a hole which was covered by a rusted piece of metal. Ryke swung the metal up and yelled, “It’s Ryke!”

“It’s about time you got here,” a voice hollered back.

“My brother is with me.”

“Your brother?”

“Yes, and we’re coming in.” Ryke climbed through the hole and Adrin quickly followed.

“Since when do you have a brother?” The man who stepped out of the darkness was short and wiry. Adrin watched him set down the club he’d been holding.

“Since he showed up at the bar tonight.”

“What did you bring him here for?”

“He was just committed and has nowhere else to go.”

“What’s his name?”

“Adrin.” Ryke turned to his brother. “This is Luka.”

Adrin nodded to the man.

“Is he joining us?” Luka asked, ignoring the nod.

Ryke shrugged. “Why don’t you ask him?”

Luka turned to Adrin. “So, are you joining us?”

Adrin was at a loss as to what to say. He didn’t know who ‘us’ was and what ‘joining’ meant. He looked to his brother for help, but Ryke was already walking away.

“’Cause, if you ain’t, you might as well leave now,” Luka snarled.

Knowing he had no choice, Adrin slowly nodded. “I guess I’m with you.”

Luka turned back to guarding the entrance. After a moment’s hesitation, Adrin dashed after Ryke.

“What is this?” he asked, once he’d caught up.

“A Tech Dump.”

Adrin had heard of them. “What are we doing here?”

“This is where you’re going to be living.”

“In a Tech Dump?”

“You have a better place?”

Adrin looked up at darker hulks that loomed against the soft glow of the sky as he scrambled to keep up with Ryke. Eventually they arrived at what looked like buildings. They rounded one of them and came to a small candle-lit area. Men and women wandered in and out of the gloom.

Adrin followed Ryke into the light.

“This is my brother, Adrin,” Ryke stated, to no one in particular. “He’s one of us, now. And,” he paused for effect, “whatever he had worth stealing has already been taken.”

The Fringe dwellers continued their business. There was no welcoming gesture from any of them.

“Is there something to eat?” Adrin leaned towards Ryke and whispered.

“Did you bring anything?”

“No.”

“Then there’s nothing for you to eat.”

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