Ok, enough waitin, here it is.
Chapter 3, Corridor AC
The next morning Aaron had regained consciousness and got on with his work. He didn’t speak throughout the evening meal and Bill thought his spark had been snuffed out. And it really did look like he was right, till they were all alone in their bunks.
“So Bill,” Aaron asked him jauntily after the sligs had left the bunks, “What’s the big secret in corridor AC?”
“No idea. And we’re forbidden to talk about it. Hasn’t anyone told you?”
“Course they told me, anyway, you gotta know something about it.”
“I told you, nothing, except they keep it guarded fully, night and day like they expect someone to come and steal it.”
“Like Abe.”
“Who?”
“What, you don’t know who Abe is?”
“Should I?”
“Man, I can’t believe you don’t know. Abe’s this really great rebel. Used to work for some great glukkon, can’t remember who, then one day, FLASH, he left and took about 30 slaves with him. He must of saved like, 10,000 slaves already.”
Bill didn’t answer and Aaron had a feeling that he didn’t believe him. But he couldn’t believe that Bill had never heard of Abe. He wondered if there was anyone here who knew about Abe, Munch and their rebellion.
Next thing he knew it was almost pitch dark and there was an old mudokon hissing through the bars of the cage to wake him up.
“Hey, hey kid.”
“Wuh? What is it?” Aaron sat up and saw the mudokon. “Huh, hey! How did you get out?!”
“They leave my cage door open.”
“Why don’t you make a break for it? The door to the bunks is left open.”
“Not me, I’m to old, to weak. Can’t run as well as I used to be able to. I wouldn’t reach the front door.” The old mudokon sighed. “Haven’t got much time left anyway.” He sighed again, then suddenly looked serious. “Listen, you wanna know about what’s in AC, right?”
Aaron nodded.
“Ok, do you know what The Orb is?”
“The what?” Asked Aaron confused.
“The Orb, from ancient Mudokon legends.”
“Not a clue.”
“Alright.” The old guy glanced towards the door. “I’ll speak to you again tomorrow.”
“But wait, I…” But the old mudokon had already run off and disappeared.
“Ah come on Bill, you MUST know something!”
“Will you keep it down?! Do you know how much trouble you can get in to for talking about AC? You can get in to trouble for even listening to someone talking about what’s in AC!”
Throughout the day, Aaron had asked as many people as he could manage about the corridor, and just as many about The Orb, whatever that was. He hadn’t seen that old guy and wondered if he’d dreamed his coming. He didn’t expect anyone to turn up outside the cage that night.
But sure enough, “Hey, kid?”
“Hey, you came!”
“Course I came. Listen, I haven’t got time to repeat this.”
Aaron nodded.
“Ok, The Orb is a weopon created by 2 shamen, hundreds of years ago, back when the glukkons were just starting to invade. It has the power to save us all, it’s the only thing that can. And that’s what they’re guarding in corridor AC.”
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