2016-08-03 - spike - Trapped 3

Author: spike
Title: Trapped 3
Date: 03 August 2016

Chapter 7

Embracing the name that had been forced upon him had had a profound effect on Yi-erwu. He no longer wasted energy on thoughts of escape or finding a way home. He was home now, he had family who needed him and he gained a deep determination to never let them down.

Working in the mine was a lot more unpleasant and the work was harder, just as Lingjiu had warned, but he found strength in his name, in his brothers working along side him. Each time he felt himself flagging he caught himself muttering “I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”.

He was at the coal face, pick-axe in hand digging away at the bottom of a wall of coal about three feet high. He’d received a little instruction on safe mining from the slave who’d been working on this face before. That slave had then been returned to his chaingang and taken elsewhere. Once he was gone and all the guards were out of earshot, Lingjiu translated what had been said and Yi-erwu and his brothers began.

He hacked away at the base of the coal seam while other slaves shovelled it into a trolley. Once the trolley was full, another slave who’d been detached from his gang would push it to the mine entrance where it would be tipped onto a conveyor belt and sorted.

When the face had been undermined by about two feet, a long metal tray was put under it and they began hacking at the top, eventually allowing the whole lot to fall onto the tray where it would be pulled out and loaded into more trolleys.

Each time he felt himself tiring he repeated his mantra. He found it allowed him to dig into resources he hadn’t known he had, he didn’t slow, he didn’t stop, he just worked.

Back home that night, Lingjiu looked down from his bunk at his brother with admiration.

“Yi-erwu.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t believe how much you’ve changed in the past three weeks. It’s as if you’re a new man! I don’t even think it’s appropriate to keep calling you boy any more.”

“I’ve been thinking of this place as home now for a while, but I only noticed I had been three weeks ago. You and this cell are my family, I’ve come to accept that now. More than accept it in fact. Three weeks ago, I finally put Mike Reynolds away for good. I am Yi-erwu, you are my brothers and I realised I love the lot of you. Since then I’ve not been working for the masters or myself or to avoid punishments. I’ve been working for you, for everyone in this room to stop THEM from being punished. I don’t see this as the mark of a slave any more.” he said, pointing at his tattoo. “I see it as a mark of honour, of belonging to something bigger than me. This family.”

Lingjiu was taken aback. Yi-erwu was truly a man now. He wiped a tear from his eye. Around the room he heard several others who’d been moved by this speech, a couple were even crying. “I love you too b… Yi-erwu. I’ve never seen such maturity in one so young, such selflessness. I’ve never felt prouder for anyone in my life and I think that could be said for everyone in here.”

The next day in the mine Yi-erwu noticed a change in everyone. The workload on their seam increased dramatically and exceeded the quota three fold.

Even the foreman came down to observe this phenomenon. He scratched his head perplexed wondering what on earth could be motivating this gang. Much as he liked having his quotas exceeded, what he liked more was making slaves suffer and he determined that this gang, who were obviously suffering from an unnatural bout of high morale, would be the next to suffer in the punishment square.

He walked away concocting a little trap that would guarantee a mistake worthy of punishment.

The next day, the routine was disrupted by a disturbing reassignment. Sanwu was put on trolley pushing duty. With his withered right arm this would prove very difficult for him and Lingjiu suspected the foreman’s handiwork.

He watched the guards as he worked and waited, eventually they moved off to take a break or smoke.

“Yi-erwu. I think we’re in for it tonight. I saw the foreman watching us yesterday and I didn’t like the malicious grin on his face as he walked away. I think he’s singled us out for punishment. Thought it last night too, but his assignment of Sanwu on trolley duty confirms it. If there’s one way to guarantee a mistake it’s to put someone incapable of contolling a mine cart on cart duty. Prepare yourself. Tonight is not going to be pleasant.”

He then turned to the others and spoke in Chinese telling them to pass it down the line.

Yi-erwu heard a few groans from the ones further down.

He immediately redoubled his efforts, when the others saw what he was doing, they did too. Perhaps if they showed an even higher yield than the previous days, they might yet avoid punishment or at least reduce it.

The accident finally happened just before they were about to end their shift. The trolley hit a rock on the line and Sanwu was unable to control it. It tipped its contents. Work was stopped until every last lump of coal was reloaded and everyone from Siyisan was returned to the compound.

All the way home Sanwu was weeping, apologising for letting everyone down. Even Yi-erwu recognised what he was saying.

Lingjiu reached over and touched him on the knee and spoke to him at length in Chinese.

“What did you say?”

“I said “It wasn’t your fault! The foreman was behind this, I saw him last night with an evil grin on his face as he walked away from watching us. I knew he had something up his sleeve and when he had you assigned cart duty I knew he’d find a way to guarantee an accident. Even if you hadn’t tipped a load today, he would’ve come up with something else tomorrow or the day after. Stop blaming yourself, calm down. We’ll get through this, just like we always do.””

The routine went as usual on their arrival at first, go to the outfitters to be stripped, washroom to be blasted with water and drying room to dry out but then they were escorted to the square. Twenty flogging frames similar to the one Mike had experienced stood in a long line down the centre.

Yi-erwu groaned. Just as his back had healed completely. He dug into his resolve. Mike had been a weakling, a coward, a wimp. He’d started screaming after the first five lashes. Yi-erwu was not Mike. As far as he was concerned, Mike was dead. He would not wimper, he would not scream or cry. He determined to show no emotion what-so-ever. He would just mutter “I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me.” He would draw strength from that and hope his brothers seeing him endure would give them the strength to endure too.

As he was hoisted up he turned and his eyes met Lingjiu. He looked down the line at the fear some of his brothers were showing and his resolve doubled. Then the flogging began.

Pain shot through his entire being as the whip struck again and again. He counted them and muttered his mantra.

“One. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

His jaw locked shut and not a sound came out, he locked his expression into an impassive mask and endured.

“Five. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

He looked at Lingjiu and Lingjiu looked back, pain etched on his face. Yi-erwu just nodded and continued to impassively look down the line trying to catch the eye of as many of his tortured brothers as he could. He noticed a group of guards in one corner of the quad exchanging pieces of paper and excitedly scribbling things down.

“Ten. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

The pain was excruciating, but Yi-erwu somehow maintained his resolve, he was not going to show them weakness.

“Twenty. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

By now, Mike had been a quivering wreck, but Yi-erwu knew this was far from over.

He heard a commotion coming from the corner with the guards. A fight had broken out between them. Had they been betting on who would cry out first or how many lashes before a scream or something? It looked like several had lost their bet and were now in a brawl.

“Thirty. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

He stared down at his brothers again, several were screaming but a few had taken up his stony faced expression, Lingjiu amongst them. He nodded at them as the flogging continued.”

Then at Thirty-three something totally unexpected happened.

The world collapsed in on itself and the corridor stretched out before him. He stared at it uncomprehending for a few minutes.

“Forty. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

He extended his senses down the corridor, feeling the direction’s “essense”. Then slowly, ever so slowly so as not to break this miracle, inched his view around to green, his old home. He embraced that feeling and the pain of the flogging appeared to lessen. He sucked it up, his old home, where flogging was illegal, where the temperature rarely got below freezing, where food tasted nice and where the only smell you’d get in an average toilet was one of pine or lemon and it was there, just out of his grasp. He couldn’t move an inch and it was staring him straight in the face.

Yi-erwu began to laugh. It wasn’t a hysterical laughter, it was one of pure joy. When he’d lost the ability to drift he was convinced he’d lost the ability completely. He’d not even attempted to sense other directions since he’d got here, he’d had other concerns.

Now, he knew. This was the second time the corridor had presented itself to him unheeded, spontaneously. Maybe it was an emotional response or a reaction to danger, he didn’t know. All he knew was he could still do it, and he was determined to master it now more than ever before.

Before, it had just been a toy, a way to find new places to explore but NOW?

Now he had to. He owed it to his brothers not only to learn how to shift views at will, but to find a way to take them with him, or at least find a way to come back later to fetch them. A way to stop them from drifting back to this hell hole just as he’d been prevented from drifting away.

“Fifty. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

He realised the futility of retaining his view of the corridor now, even when released from this frame he would be chained back up to his brothers and then to the ring on the floor at home. Besides which, his brothers needed him now. He imagined a distant gunman shooting the foreman of the mine and reality reasserted itself. He looked across at his brothers again.

* * * * *
The commandant was musing over the latest quota results when he spotted something unusual. Peat cutting yields up 20%, Coal production up 10%.

Curious, he looked at the source of the increase and noticed each time it was Siyisan. Whatever was happening in that hut, he wanted it replicated across the camp.

He heard a commotion outside and saw there was a punishment in the square, nothing unusual about that. Then he looked down. The guards were arguing, it looked like it might come to blows.

He stood and stalked out of the room angrily.

By the time he got to the guards a full scale brawl had broken out.

* * * * *
“Zhan!”

“Sixty. I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me”

Yi-erwu’s resolve was breaking down. Even after the revelation he was beginning lose his grip, sixty lashes and no sign of stopping?

“ZHAN!”

Yi-erwu looked down. The commandant was marching towards the floggers ordering them to stop!

“Sixty-one.” He gave up on the mantra, letting out a wimper. If it wasn’t over yet, it soon would be.

“ZHAN!!!”

“Sixty-two.”

The commandant had reached the first flogger, snatched the whip off him and begun using it on HIM. The rest of the floggers immediately dropped theirs and stood to attention.

It was over. He repeated his mantra one last time hoping it would give him enough strength to walk back home before he collapsed.

* * * * *

Yi-erwu collapsed onto the bed and whimpered. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but not only had he survived it, he’d conquered it. As beaten up as he was he knew he could withstand anything anyone had to throw at him but my GOD it hurt.

He looked at Lingjiu sitting on the floor beside him. It looked like he didn’t have the strength to get up into his bunk. Yi-erwu groaned, crawled out of bed and helped Lingjiu to climb onto his.

“My turn to take care of you, I think”

He grabbed the box from under the bed. It looked different. Lingjiu looked over. “Bloody hell, someone’s splashing out.”

It was a new first aid kit, full of the good stuff, not just the brown liquid and a few cotton wool balls and bandages but proper dressings, a tube of antiseptic cream and proper antiseptic wipes, there were even a few tablets that looked like aspirin or paracetamol in the bottom. Two massive dressings that looked like they’d completely cover their backs rested at the bottom of the box.

Yi-erwu grabbed the bin by the door and began unpacking some of the wipes to use on Lingjiu’s back. He looked up as he heard exclamations of surprise from around the room as they opened their kits too.

Once he was sure he’d wiped every welt down with the wipes he applied some of the cream to the dressing and gently applied it to Lingjiu’s back.

Lingjiu struggled off the bed and Yi-erwu clambered on and the process was repeated.

“What’s got into him?”

“Who?”

“The commandant. He’s not one to waste money on slaves.”

“Dunno. I did see him call a halt to the flogging 3 times before they stopped though.”

Suddenly a guard burst in, no call to attention. A few of the slaves attempted to jump to attention anyway. Yi-erwu looked across from his bed. The guard had a black eye, a swollen lip and a sheepish look in his eyes. He was carrying a large crate which he dropped on the floor before backing out and slamming the door shut behind him.

“Now what?”

Several others in the room expressing similar queries.

The crate contained twenty boxes each containing the food and water they’d missed due to the flogging.

“Room service now? Something’s going on, I don’t know what, but something.”

“Take what life gives you, Lingjiu. A wise man once told me that.”

Lingjiu resumed his ministrations. “What the hell happened to you Yi-erwu? Not a yelp! Not a whimper! It didn’t even show on your face! And I’m not sure if I was hallucinating by the end but I’m pretty sure you let out a laugh, and it wasn’t the hysterical “I’m going mad” type laugh either! And I’ve heard that one quite a few times.”

“I counted them, and with each count I muttered I am Yi-erwusiyisan and my brothers need me. It’s become a bit of a mantra, I was determined before the flogging began not to show any sign of emotion, no yelps or screams. That actually did help. I hoped not reacting might give some strength to everyone else. I noticed that you and a few others were holding the same expression as me by the end.”

“And the laugh?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“On stroke thirty-three, something happened. Something amazing. I saw the corridor, I even managed to swing it around to face the place I came from, I could FEEL it, I could almost touch it. That’s when I started laughing, not just the irony of my only means of escape ever only appearing when bound immobile to a flogging frame but the fact that I still have the ability. I thought when I’d lost the ability to drift out of here I’d lost the ability to walk out too.”

The look on Lingjiu’s face turned stormy.

“Don’t worry. Mike would’ve held the corridor until he was released from the frame and run home with his tail between his legs. Mike is dead to me now, though. I willingly let it go, knowing I needed time to find a way to do it properly and to rescue you. Letting it go might have condemned me to the rest of my life here for all I know but if not, we’ll have to concoct a plan so you avoid punishment when I vanish, but I have no intention of leaving any of you here for long. I just need to find out what stopped me from drifting, find out how to use it and then use it on you to take you somewhere far more pleasant!”

“Did you have anywhere in mind?”

“I visited a place that feels ideal, even I would’ve stuck around there to sample the life when I was Mike given the chance. I even kept a set of clothes hidden away so I could return there without sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s low technology, they had a world war that lasted 40 years, they had no world war II there, their great war spanned both. They lost millions of able bodied men and they still haven’t recovered. They’d welcome new blood as long as you didn’t tell them where you came from. It’s warm, or it was in August when I went there, there are women there, far more than men. You could all finally live a life the way men are meant to live it, marry, have children, have freedom.”

“Dangerous ideas, Yi-erwu, very dangerous. Don’t tell any of the others. Hope here can be deadly. Keep it to yourself until you’re ready.”

“Understood. It was only when I thought all hope was lost that I found my strength, I’ll not put anyone else through that until it’s time. And it’s not likely to be for a long time yet. I can’t do it at will. The only way Mike could do it was by using something he saw down the corridor, first time it was a man walking away from him, second time it was with the help of that same man. Every other time it was by using an object that I’d collected. Something I had that could drift. I could just drop it, follow it with my eyes until it was almost out of range as it drifted, then bingo, the corridor would open up. There’s nothing here I can use for that. Even the clothes they stripped off me stayed here, is that right?”

“Well I saw them taking them into the commandant’s office, so yes”

“The only times it’s happened without following something is the one that brought me here when I was an inch from a broken nose at the hands of the school bully, my time in a strange room that appeared to be designed to help train people to do it and the one today, And the spontaneous ones were probably triggered by self preservation instincts or something. And I’m not going to put myself in danger intentionally just to test that theory”.

“I was just about to advise against that.” Lingjiu smiled grimly

“It just means I have a purpose in life other than work. I’ll not lose my focus on the labour, don’t worry, but my Chinese lessons will have to share time with me contemplating my navel as I attempt to master shifting. Even when I succeed it won’t be time. Could still be here months or years so my status hasn’t changed, neither has my acceptance of it. As long as I’m here I’m still a slave, I may always be, I may never be able to do it reliably enough to escape or even if I did, there might never be an opportunity to. But where there’s a glimmer of hope.”

“Just don’t let it distract you.”

“I won’t, might even make me work even harder. Before work was just to help you avoid punishment, now, it could help us all escape. One more thing though, if we do get away, I may no longer be a slave,” he pointed at his tattoo “but I’ll always be your brother.”

* * * * *
The next day began a little differently with Lingjui and Yi-erwu checking their wounds and reapplying the antiseptic cream to their large dressing. The rest of his brothers were doing the same when a call of attention from beyond the door had them all shoot up by their beds. Some a little slower than others.

A single guard marched in, undid each chain in turn forming a chain gang, barked “Gensui” and marched them out and across to the outfitters, Yi-erwu and Lingjiu looked at each other as they passed the ten flogging frames set up in the centre of the square. Normal Mao suits issued and standard boots, they were led back and chained to a ring by the edge of the quad. Several other gangs were already arrayed around the perimeter. Joined by more in a constant stream.

Jeeps could be seen parking up by the sides of the huts and men dressed like the mine foreman got out and headed to the end of the square with the processing centre.

It took an hour for all slaves to be assembled. There must’ve been over a thousand, all the guards standing at the back added to the throng when finally, the foremen parted, there was a loud “click” and the commandant stepped into the centre of the square.

He began to speak, his voice echoing around the square from loudspeakers on each corner. Yi-erwu managed to recognise a few words, disobedience, punishment and similar words the slaves always heard, but it wasn’t until one of the foremen was grabbed by the guards and frogmarched to the centre to stand before the commandant that Lingjiu began to chuckle.

Yi-erwu looked around. The slaves were all chattering amongst themselves, several were laughing, a couple even plucked up the courage to cheer. He turned to Lingjui. “What the hell is going on? I’ve NEVER seen you laugh before!”

Lingjiu began to translate. “That’s the mine foreman from yesterday! I’ll start from the beginning”.

“I have brought you all here to witness the price of disobedience. When a slave disobeys he knows the consequences but many of YOU (he’s referring to the guards and foremen) forget your place and take liberties. My orders were clear! Increase production!”

Yi-erwu noticed the commandant turn to the slaves on his side of the quad. Lingjiu shut up and stood to attention as did every slave he was facing, Yi-erwu followed suit.

“SIYISAN! XIANG QIAN YIBU!”

Yi-erwu and one hundred men stepped forward in unison, he looked around in shock, then remembered he and his brothers weren’t the only men in hut four.

The commandant turned back to the throng of foremen and guards and Lingjiu felt safe to resume the translation.

“These slaves have increased production on each work detail they’ve been put on for the past three weeks! They have exceeded their quota two fold! We do not punish slaves in this camp for obedience and hard work!”

He turned to the mine foreman with a look of fury on his face.

Lingjui put on a harsher tone to mimic the commandant’s shouting “And yet you took it upon yourself to punish these slaves for having the strength to exceed their quota yesterday by two hundred and ten percent! You arranged to have a slave incapable of controlling a cart put on cart duty just so you could have the excuse to punish them! You sentenced them to one hundred lashes for the most pitiable accident! You have exceeded your authority for the last time!”

The foreman looked smug, he looked the commandant right in the eyes in defiance, as if to say, “What’re you gonna do, fire me?”

Then the commandant reached down to a bag by his feet and withdrew a collar. He held it up before the foreman’s face so he could read the symbols.

The change was instant, from cocky to abject terror in less than a millisecond. The foreman tried to scramble backwards away from the thing as if it was a live cobra but the guards held him in place.

“Let it be known to all of you! This is not the only set of restraints I have had specially made. If anyone else oversteps their bounds you will share the same fate!”

The foreman fell to his knees and began begging, terror etched on his face.

The guards dragged the foreman up, holding him in the kneeling position as the commandant snapped the collar around his neck. He spoke again.

The entire throng of slaves erupted in cheers and laughter.

Lingjui let out a loud guffaw “Your name now until the day you die is Linglingyisan! Oh that’s beautiful, this is the best day of my LIFE.”

“What does it mean?” Yi-erwu looked perplexed.

“You know your numbers.”

“Zero Zero one three, but I don’t understand.”

“Slave zero, hut zero of camp thirteen, he is nothing, literally, there is no hut zero. He’ll spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement when he’s not on work detail and no slave will ever acknowledge his presence unless ordered to do so! It’s perfect! Couldn’t have wished it on a more deserving bastard!”

The commandant continued speaking as he attached the matching shackles and manacles and in between chuckles, Lingjiu continued the translation.

“I sentence you to the same punishment you sentenced my best slaves to yesterday!”

He withdrew a dagger from his belt the length of Yi-erwu’s forearm and proceeded to cut off the new slave’s clothing. Then the guards dragged him kicking and screaming to the nearest flogging frame and strung him up.

“I don’t think it’s over quite yet, look...” he pointed at the other nine frames.

The throng parted again as a guard dragged nine freshly processed slaves out onto the square.

Yi-erwu recognised one. It was the guard the commandant had snatched the whip from last night.

Again, the commandant spoke and Lingjiu translated.

“Yesterday, these slaves were guards on the flogging team following the orders of Linglingyisan and disobeyed my orders to halt THREE TIMES! They will join their last victims as Siyisan! I sentence you to four times the lashes you administered after I ordered you to halt, but as the minimum punishment is twenty, TWENTY LASHES!” Lingjiu took on a more serious tone. “Oh this gets better and better. Looks like our cell is going to be a little more crowded now, we’ll have to be more on guard until our new brothers adjust to their status. Most of them probably don’t speak English but they’ll know how to recognise it.”

The guard leading them proceeded to string each up in turn until there were ten fresh new backs awaiting a flogging. He spat in one of their faces.

The commandant turned back to the slaves one step forward from the rest.

“SIYISAN! YI TIAN XIUXI, XIAOQI SAN, XIUXI LIANG TIAN, TUI HOU!”

“Siyisan, one day rest, cell three, two days rest. Step back”

One hundred men stepped back in unison and let out a whooping cheer. Yi-erwu cheered along with the rest of them.

The punishments commenced. The ex-guards were finished, unhooked and led off quickly but the one hundred lashes took a lot longer to complete. The man’s back was in shreds by the end of it. He was unhooked and dragged off unconscious to begin his new life.

Lingjiu turned to Yi-erwu, “He’s going to suffer. They’ll probably issue the same first aid kit we had, but there’ll be no-one to do it for him, he’s on his own now forever.”

“BOHOI!” and the commandant marched back to his office.

“Cell three?”

“That’s us! The entire block gets one day rest, we get two, I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

“Well, he did say he wants production up, maybe this is his way of telling the rest of the camp that if they buckle down, they might get rest days as a reward. Maybe it was just the utter injustice of his best workers getting the lash because of that bastard”

“You’re probably right. Oh well, take what life gives you.” he smiled at Yi-erwu.

“You should do that more often, it makes you look like a new man, your entire face lights up.”

“Very few opportunities for a laugh around here, you know that by now.”

Slowly but steadily, the throng disbanded and returned to their duties, Siyisan last to leave as they’d been one of the first to arrive. They were led back to the outfitters to be stripped only to pass their new brothers wearing the mining outfit being led out.

Once the door to their cell was closed, Lingjiu finally felt free to comment, “Good. We’re free of our new brothers for our rest days by the looks of it. They’re off down to the mine. On guard when they return though. We’ll probably need to keep up the level of work we were doing just to keep to our quotas too with that lot as brothers, it’ll be a while before they’re capable of handling the workload. And I imagine some of them might want to sabotage it until they get a few more whippings to teach them.”

“Yeah, I imagine it’ll be quite hard a transition, guard to slave. I bet they’ll try ordering us about once they get back. Just watch.” Yi-erwu grinned from ear to ear, “What do we do then? Cold shoulder? Matter of fact explanation or punch in the face?”

“That all depends on the man and the attitude. Though I am inclined towards the punch in the face option.”

“Are slaves punished for fighting amongst themselves?”

“Only if the damage prevents work or reduces quotas, they don’t care otherwise”

“Good! So something that’ll hurt but not show or hinder...” Yi-erwu pondered as he realised he was developing a malicious streak. He grinned evilly. “How about a Welcome brother! And a friendly back slap?”

“Perfect, you’re developing a cruel side, but for them I agree.”

He proceeded to tell the rest of the room in Chinese, to be greeted with bouts of laughter and agreement from all.

“Speaking of backs… Get on the bed, time to treat each other’s wounds again. It doesn’t feel half as bad as it should”

Yi-erwu did as he was bid and lay face down on the bed while the dressing was carefully peeled off. It stung like hell but revealed the wounds already on the mend.

“I know you’re a fast healer, but your back doesn’t even look as bad as it did after the twenty!”

“Maybe it’s that cream?”

The dressing was caked in dried blood so Lingjiiu discarded it in the bin and got out the first aid kit again. The contents had been refreshed!

He cleaned Yi-erwu’s back with the wipes, applied cream to the new huge dressing and gentlly applied it before shoving Yi-erwu aside and lying on his front for his turn.

Lingjiu’s back was also on the mend. “Amazing, yours is the same! I don’t know what this stuff is, but it’s certainly doing the trick. Keep the tubes out of the kits, hide them. We never know when they’ll put the old ones back and we can continue to use it afterwards then”

“That’s a damned good idea!”, Lingjiu relayed this to the rest of the room and each took their tubes of salve and hid them under their mattresses.

The rest of the day was taken up by Chinese lessons and intensive navel gazing as Yi-erwu resumed training his senses. He noticed almost immediately that there’d been a change. Whether it was just from the two spontaneous shifts or from just getting slightly older he didn’t know but he found it easier to sense the different directions and the vibrations of his new home.

The guards finally arrived delivering their new brothers, the greeting and backslap on each produced satisfactory yelps. Each slave in the room took his turn as they were led down to the far end of the room and attached to the final five bunks.

After the fifth slap the first ex-guard growled “BUYAOI NAME ZUO!” ordering them to stop in a threatening voice to which the entire room in unison replied “Weisheme?”. Yi-erwu knew that to just mean “why?” but smiled at the way they’d planned it.

The ex-guard was finally realising he was no longer a superior to these slaves but one of them. That he had no authority here and if anything he would be treated as something lower than the other men in the cell. His expression dropped from threatening to meek and he slumped onto his bunk.

The guard laughed as he attached the final slave to his ring and left the room.

The next day was much the same, Yi-erwu’s comprehension of spoken Chinese was improving by leaps and bounds and his senses grew sharper too.

It was the evening again when he managed it. He’d been concentrating on his old home, embracing the feelings it embodied when he suddenly had the idea of comparing it to his new one. The stark difference between them. As he did this he felt the shift approaching. He relaxed, remembering Marty’s advice, “don’t concentrate, just let it come” and half an hour later, he was staring down the corridor homeward.

He saw the walls of the cell give way to open blue skies within a few feet, he couldn’t help himself, he laughed again. And this time he had someone to prove it to.

“Lingjiu! Get down here.”

Yi-erwu inched off the bed and stood, he sensed his brother drop down beside him.

“What is it Yi-erwu? You’ve got a really weird expression on your face whatever it is.”

In a hushed tone but loud enough for all in the room to hear “You’ve all heard my tall tales about other worlds, most of you don’t believe me, but believe me now. And trust me, I will be free of this place and once I am, I’ll find a way to free you all! Lingjiu, hold my hand”

Lingjiu did as he was told and appeared in front of Yi-erwu. “Sorry, couldn’t see you until you were in contact, watch, look around and enjoy some sunshine!”

And with that he hoisted Lingjiu into a fireman’s lift and they both vanished from the cell.

It was only about five steps before Yi-erwu felt the sun. He stopped, shifted back, put Lingjiu down and rested his arm across Lingjiu’s shoulder.

“This is the freedom I’m offering. Well, not this world exactly, a little too close to home, but I can’t go much further, almost at the end of my tether” he shook his shackled ankle.

“FUCKING HELL! So everything you told us was true?”

“Yes. Still a long way to go though, this is the first time I’ve willingly shifted since I was in that training room and this one took half an hour. It won’t be safe until I can do it a lot quicker and even then there has to be a specific set of circumstances that will allow me to get away safely and leave you unpunished. Sit, enjoy the sun, I have a sneaking suspicion you’ve not felt it since you were a kid.”

Yi-erwu pulled on the chain to check for slack, there was another good five feet available. He wanted to test another assumption, that now he was free of that place his drifting ability may return.

“It’s glorious, I can’t remember ever even feeling warmth like this outside!”

“My guess, nuclear winter, it’s one of the things they always talked about during the cold war. I’ve seen documentaries about it. Bombs kicking up so much ash and smoke it blots out the sun for decades. That’s why it’s so fucking cold there. Enjoy it, we can’t stay here long. Don’t want to risk them coming while we’re gone.”

“So what is your idea for an escape plan?”

“These chains hold me there just as much as my inability to drift.” He gave them a tug.

To Lingjiu the chain seemed to be floating an inch off the ground and ended abruptly.

“So the only way I can see to do it is when we’re in the mines and only then if I’m put on cart duty. The only time I’ve ever seen a slave unhitched from his gang is down there.”

“There are others, but they prefer to keep their gangs together”.

“Also, if we’re down the mine and I do manage to shift, a cave in would be the perfect cover. Fake my death, tell them I was caught directly under it and there was no way I survived.”

“That’s a bloody good idea!”

“Well, I have been thinking about it for a few days. There are other concerns to deal with at the same time. These for a start.” he pointed at his collar and cuffs. “The last thing I want to do is escape only to find myself choking on them as I outgrow them, they’ve already adjusted them six times and I’ve only been there… however long it is, I’ve lost track. At least if they adjust them just before my escape it’ll give me a few weeks to find a way to safely get them off. I have to bide my time, pick a time just after an adjustment when we’re on mine duty and then hope I’m pushing the cart. Only then will I be ready to escape and that could still be months or years away.”

Lingjiu stared at his surroundings. The grass was a lush green, the trees in the distance were showing their autumn colours, he saw a man and woman fully clothed walking a dog in the distance and a small brook babbled over to the left.

Yi-erwu also surveyed his surroundings, taking in landmarks and trying to determine the exact location they were standing. He recognised Dovestones reservoir up ahead, Indian’s head beyond that loomed up above the main body of the reservoir and the stream snaking its way towards Greenfield village.

He’d played here with his friends countless times. He was only half an hour’s bus ride from Oldham town centre.

“So near, and yet so far away” he muttered to himself.

They spent about twenty minutes basking in the sun before Yi-erwu got nervous enough to decide it was time to go home.

“Time to go back, Lingjiu, I’ll let go of you and you’ll drift home on your own, I have one more thing to test. I’ve got another five feet of slack, I’ll try drifting too, see if I’ve re-acquired the ability now that I’m away from home.”

He let go and with a sigh of disappointment, Lingjiu drifted back to his cell.

Yi-erwu relaxed and allowed himself to drift too. He watched as the whispy clouds began to dance in the sky. He was drifting! Then the clouds turned the familiar threatening black and he found himself back in the cell with his brothers.

He stared in dismay “SHIT!”

Lingjiu was in the middle of excitedly telling everyone what’d just happened when Yi-erwu reappeared. “What is it?”

“I think I’ve solved that final mystery, what stopped me from drifting, allowing them to capture me in the first place.”

“What’s that?”

“I just drifted back here. This truly is my home plane now. Where-ever I go, no matter how far, if I relax too much or sleep I’ll begin drifting back here”

“Shit indeed! Especially if you do escape! They’d probably execute you if they caught you outside the camp. Even if you got those off, that’s with you for life” Lingjiu pointed at the tattoo.

“There are ways to stop it but it’s a pain in the arse either way. What caused it? That’s the question. It HAS to be that taser. Somehow it must have… I don’t know… reset me, making this my home plane! I have to get my hands on one of those things when I try to escape. I need to find out how it works and if it can be made to do the same for other worlds. And if I can that’s our key out of here! Why did I say SHIT!? This is brilliant!”

Yi-erwu was elated, not only had he shifted, not only had he found out why he’d been unable to drift home but he’d found the best solution yet to fixing his brothers to a new, benign world.

For the rest of the evening until the guards came to take them for food and toilet, the whole room was abuzz with chatter. Yi-erwu found he was even able to understand a lot more of it. The lessons were paying off too.

When they returned, the new slaves were already there, chained to their rings and sulking on their beds so the talk returned to more mundane things.