Step into the Light

The streets were quieter than they had ever been, but they weren’t silent. The sound of cars was replaced by voices, a few nearby and many many more echoing from farther away. There were no gunshots, as there had been. Most of the city was shuttered, but not all of it. 

The Steele worker sat in a cafe, staring out the window. His bag, unzipped with his hat exposed, sat under his table. He was relaxed in the way only someone who was very tired ever is. There was a novel open on the table, but he wasn’t reading it. Occasionally, he drank his coffee. 

The delivery boy sat down at the table across from him. There were other empty tables, but not by the window. The Steele worker nodded to him, and then turned back to the window. 

“Big day” said the delivery boy. 

“Could be bigger.” said the Steele worker. 

The delivery boy ordered an egg on toast. The Steele worker put the novel into his pocket, and left. 

Those few people moving on the street were all moving in one direction, and the sound of many voices together was getting louder. The Steele worker walked casually in that same direction. Occasionally, he would take an odd turn against the flow, but this was usually while no one else was around. 

Eventually, he passed by the library, which was closed. The librarian, happened, to come out at that moment. They walked in the same direction at the same pace, just a few steps apart from each other. This was as natural as anything; there was a knot of others moving in a loose flock. 

The Steele worker gained slowly on the librarian, and nodded to him as he came level. The librarian nodded back. “Big day.” said the Steele worker. 

“Should be.” said the Librarian. 

A moment later, as the Steele Worker passed him by, the Librarian stopped and dropped his books. “Damn nuisance!” he swore, swatting at a large insect. The Steele worker stopped and turned, raised an eyebrow. 

The librarian waved him away and gathered up the books. The Steele worker put both hands in his pockets. 

The Steele worker made his way, finally, to the town’s square. There, he milled with the crowd. He did not move deliberately in any direction, as a few were doing, and he didn’t move very fast. He explored the boundaries of the crowd until he spotted some other Steele workers. 

They came up to him, and he stopped, looking out over the crowd. “So what happened?” 

“Cops moved in last night.” said one of the Steele workers. “The line’s 40 feet back from the office now. They gassed us even; something happened with the cameras when that happened, might have been an EMP, but I think some footage went out.” said another, with much more energy. 

The Steele worker clicked his tongue. “Today has to be big.” he said. They all nodded at that. “Why are there still kids?” he asked. 

One of the others shrugged. “Same thing every day, nothing happens until after dark. People think it’s safe.”

The Steel worker shot him a look. “Fuck that.” he said sharply. 

The others nodded, and dispersed. 

The Steele worker made his way to the front of the crowd. It was dense, and mostly people were moving in that direction, so it was slow going. He took his time. 

From the front, he could see the sky through the glass. It was red, or brown really, which was normal, but never felt quite right. There was a line of cops holding up a barricade, with a line of cops behind them filling gaps. There was a general press towards the barricade, but nothing concerted. There were a few vans farther back, where the odd victim was sitting, cuffed, who had pushed just enough to annoy the cops. Behind that, empty pavement, and the city center. 

The city center had been the whole colony at one point, but the colony had only been a few hundred people at that point, all employed directly by Steele. It had been converted into an office block. All it’s art installations had been covered up with black tarps. 

A woman from the crowd nodded to the Steele Worker, and he nodded back. There weren’t as many women on Mars as men. They stayed close to each other. “Looks like it’s going to be a big day.” said the Steele worker, gesturing to the crowd. 

The woman gave him a long look. “Could be bigger.” she said. 

“Of course it could.” said the Steele worker sharply. “It has to be.” She nodded. 

They made their way forward until they were at the barricade. They shouted when the crowd did, and they pushed on the barricade when the mood struck them, but never too hard. When some more people pushed forward, they made space between them, and were separated by a few bodies. They stayed that way for a while. 

When one of the newcomers pushed hard enough on the barricades that the cops pushed the barricades back, the woman jeered at the cops. 

“Push harder!” said one of the other newcomers. The one who had pushed did, and the woman helped him, shoving one of the cops back out of line and making space which she and the newcomers surged into. 

Immediately the second line of cops moved forward. “Help!” shouted the pusher, and the woman linked arms with him. “Help them!” shouted the Steele Worker, pushing the bodies between them towards the gap.

The crowd surged forward, and met the cops in a vicious tug of war over bodies and space. Then the bomb went off, and the cops on the whole line went ballistic. 

---

“Where’s the kid?” asked one cop. “Solitary. Gotta do that for terrorists, even kids.” replied another. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

They were looking through one sided glass at a group of people all sitting chained to a table under the light of a single solar bulb, a librarian, a few Steele employees, and a woman. There weren’t as many women on Mars as men. 

The Steele worker stepped into the warm light. He smiled. “Idiots.” he grunted. He was wearing his badge. The other cops laughed.