Lithia drank deeply from the flask in her hand. The harsh homemade alcohol burnt as it went down and Lithia felt its warmth spread through her body. She coughed a bit as she passed the flask on to the blond woman sitting next to her on the log and looked around her. There were maybe ten or eleven other people clustered around the fire, but Lithia only knew four or five of them by name. Lithia smiled a bit as the woman took a deep draft from the flask in her hand and Lithia could see a sick look come over her heart shaped face a moment before she spat most of it out over the fire. Everyone joined Lithia as they turned to see the fire sputter blue for a moment before returning to its crackling orange and yellow.

“Easy Siri.,” Lithia said; “I think that stuff may have been made from hopper fuel.”  

Lithia handed Siri another flask, this one filled with cool water.  

“Thanks for the warning  Lithia.” Siri said grabbing the flask and taking a gentle drink before handing it back.

“You insult me.” came a hurt voice from Lithia’s other side. A young man was standing there, several more flasks and bottles clutched in his arms; the light of the fire reflecting in his dark hair and eyes.  “I would never use hopper fuel in my drinks.”

“What is it then?” Lithia asked.

“No idea, something I found in an old funeral home. Tastes like crap, but it kills flies and goes down smooth.” the man said.

“You’re so full of shit Vijay.” Siri said  patting a seat next to her hopefully but Vejay ignored her squeezing his slight frame in between Lithia and another man.

“Here try this instead. it’s a little less harsh.” Vijay said passing over a thick brown bottle.

“What is it?” Lithia asked suspiciously

“Why do you always ask those questions?” Vijay replied putting his arm around Lithia and passing her the bottle.

“Because I know you.” Lithia said.

“Then you know i would never give you anything unsafe. I test all my stuff before serving it to anyone.” Vijay  said.

“Getting drunk in the back of  a truck while you’re brewing does not count as testing.” Siri said grabbing the bottle from Lithia and uncorking it.

“How did you know?” Vijay asked.

“Because we know you.” Both Lithia and siri said as one.

“But seriously what is it?” Lithia asked sniffing the bottle.

“No idea actually, some fruit I snatched last time I was on the upper levels. Soft little yellow things, all covered with fluff. Might have been from off world.”

Siri looked like she was about to spit out this last gulp too at hearing that, but managed to force it down as she ran her fingers through her dirty blond hair.

“I’m drinking something made from fruit covered in fluff ? I may not know much about growing things, but generally fuzzy fruit are the ones even we throw away.” Siri said.

“Nah think they were supposed to be that way, they didn’t seem rotten or anything, and a bunch of rich people were buying them.” Vijay said.

Lithia smiled and finally took a long drink from the bottle as Siri handed it to her.  The taste was sweet spicy and a little bitter like apricots and cinnamon .

“See if our own baby can get it down it has to be safe.” Vijay said pulling Lithia in just a little tighter.

“That doesn’t mean anything, she drank your embalming fluid too. She might just be looking for something that will finally kill her.” Siri said, but she took the bottle as she did.

“I know what they are. They’re face squid eggs. You know you guys are going to have to get inoculated soon or…” Lithia let a small smile come to her face as she took the bottle and drank another big gulp.

“But, but what about you?” Vijay said turning a little pale.

“I already was, everyone who goes into Hyper Sleep has to to make sure that there isn’t an outbreak.”  Lithia said. Offering the bottle to Vijay.

“But I let them sit for a week in yeast and other stuff. They can’t still be dangerous.” Vijay said, clearly wanting it to be true.

“You’d think that, but actually egg is a bit of a misnomer. they really aren’t eggs as much as a cluster of spores covered with a protective skin. They can survive in space and any environmental conditions we’ve yet found. “ Lithia said, her eyes boring into Vijay.

“So I’ve just given everyone…” Vijay turned to face the fire and started spitting up everything he’d taken in in the last day or two.  

At this Lithia couldn’t contain herself any more and started laughing so hard she fell off the log they were using as a bench.

“They’re apricots. there’s no such thing as face squids and even if there were, why would they be selling them in an upper level shop?” Lithia said through peals of laughter.

“I don’t know.” Vijay said; “Rich people keep some weird things as pets. Saw this one woman once with this tiny hairy guy on a leash who was eating a banana. Actually kind of liked him. This old man slammed into the little guy and he just went off, screeching and throwing shit.” Vijay said.

“The old guy?” Siri asked.

“No, the little hairy guy. Just remember thinking I’ve been there man.” Vijay said wiping his mouth and turning to help Lithia up.

Lithia took Vijay’s hand and found her seat again between Vijay and Siri.

Look what you’ve done,” Vijay said looking lithia dead in the eye; “everyone’s spitting out my good upper city stuff.”

“Serves you right. Brewing with stuff you don’t recognize. That could have been anything.” Lithia said; “What were you doing in the upper city anyway?” Lithia went on, a note of curiosity creeping into her voice.

Lithia knew Vijay sometimes made his way to the upper city, she also knew that often times these little trips would end with Vijay ending up in serious trouble.

“It was nothing major. Just a little walk around the back of a few stores. It’s not like anyone ever realized I was there.”

“You’re sure.” Lithia said.

“Completely. Anyways, even if someone did see me on some sort of door mounted security sensor… well it’s not like I’m in the system anyway.

“Eventually they’ll start some program to get the Helix down here, and then they’ll know.” Lithia said.

“That’s a joke. I mean maybe if we had something they wanted, but they don’t want people like us hooked into their system.” Vijay said more than a little anger and frustration  coming out in his words.

“It’s true, they keep saying they have…” Lithia started, but she was cut off by Siri.

“Lithia, we love you, but trust us. No one cares about us as long as we stay down here. there’s going to be no program to get us hooked into the Helix.”

“Yeah, maybe if we lived out in the Colonies or somewhere like that, they’re giving those guys free Helix earrings, but down here it’s like we don’t exist. “ Vijay said.

“Lithia, we love you, but you don’t understand. You can’t. You don’t live here. You come down here and you hang with us, you bring food and clean water and you’re cool. But when the Night’s over you get back on that train and you leave. We don’t get to do that, this place is our home all the time.” Siri said putting a hand on Lithia’s arm gently.

Lithia didn’t know what to say. What Siri said was true, she didn’t live down here but she did understand. She knew it was hard. That was why she brought the things she did when she came, not because they expected them, they didn’t. Lithia brought the food, the water and even sometimes clothing because she wanted her friends lives to be a little easier. She’d have done more if she thought they’d let her, but she knew they wouldn’t. Vijay and Siri were proud. Lithia knew they stole to live, but that was different than just being given something. In many ways Pride was the only thing they really had and Lithia would not be the person to take that from them , because if they lost that they’d be like almost everyone else down here. The under city was where people came when they had nowhere else to go and no hope and to see her friends give in to that would be too much to watch.

“Lithia, it’s not your fault. You didn’t choose to come from up there any more than we chose to come from down here, it’s just the way it is.” Vijay said, standing up and leading a somewhat unsteady Siri away.

Lithia sat at the fire considering everything the two of them had said as Vijay lead Siri with a couple other girls, and started walking back over to where Lithia sat alone.  Was she an outsider here too? Was she just some rich girl slumming and not really understanding the world she was spending time in? Lithia didn’t have much time for these thoughts though as Vijay sat back down, taking one of her hands in his and wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in tight.

“Don’t let it bother you Lithia. Siri knows you get it, we all do. She’s just had a rough day and a little too much to drink.” Vijay said speaking into the top of Lithia’s head.

“She’s not wrong though, I don’t know what it’s like, not really. I don’t know what it is to be hungry and not know where my next meal is coming from, or any of the other things you guys deal with everyday.” Lithia said, her voice muffled a little bit by Vijay’s somewhat threadbare sweatshirt.  

“It doesn’t matter. None of it does.” Vijay said a hand gently patting Lithia’s back softly.

Maybe it was the cold, or the drink but Lithia was happy to let Vijay comfort her, his arms felt firm, and his chest was soft as she closed her eyes.

“That’s it Lithia, in the morning everything will feel better.” Lithia heard Vijay say, but his voice sounded like it was so far away.

“I just want…” Lithia mumbled.

“I know. I know.” Vijay said softly and Lithia felt the soft pressure of his lips on the top of her head as the world slowly drifted away.

Next Chapter: Chapter 17