Life On Netori Island - Chapter 8

The late summer sun baked Al’s skin as he labored on a drone charging station above the forest canopy.  The station looked like a cell phone tower, but instead of antennae, the tower had electrified hooks that the drone could attach to and recharge.  Patrick had given him five inverter modules and told him to install them on the stations that were furthest from the maintenance garage.  While the bike helped a lot, it was still a long trek into the wilderness using the trailblazer.

He installed the final module for the day and the lights on the charger started to blink in a steady pattern.  Al could already see one drone divert its course to recharge on the station.  Going to his belt he unhooked his secret weapon, a can of white reflective spray paint.  The housings for the chargers were gun metal gray, a choice he didn’t understand.  Covering the metal with the reflective paint would cool the enclosures by a significant amount and reduce faults.  He suspected that the installers had failed to do this on purpose so they could charge more for replacement parts.

The technician climbed down the metal rungs of the drone station when he heard a woman scream.  He ran a few hundred feet in the distance of the scream and found a young patrician man standing over a patrician young woman and pulling down his pants.

The man spoke down to her. “You think anyone’s going to hear you all the way up here, you goddamn cock tease?!”

The girl looked to be in her early twenties.  She was a thin blonde with a haircut that just went past her shoulders.  The woman stared up at her assailant in absolute terror.

“Please don’t hurt me!” she begged.

“It wouldn’t have hurt if you didn’t reject me.  I don’t care who your parents are.  I’m going to fuck you till you’re screaming my name.”  

“NO!”

The two fought on the ground until the man managed to pin her wrists.  He started trying to kiss her but she twisted her face away from him.

“Sir!” Al cried out. “Step away from the girl.  She’s obviously not consenting.”

“What?” the attacker said, looking at Al with contempt. “Fuck off plebe scum.  Patrician relationships are none of your concern.”

“I’ve called in a drone,” Al said.  “It will be here any moment.” He took a few steps towards them but stopped short of putting his hands on the offending patrician.  “You can either be found in this compromising position, or you can look like you two were taking a nature walk.  The choice is yours.”

“Shut your mouth!” the man said. “I can even fuck this bratty bitch with you watching and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.  It’s her word against mine, and everyone in the settlement saw her trying to drag me up here.”  He started to suck on her neck.  She screamed.

Running up to the two patricians, Al yelled, “That’s enough!”  The collar recognized his aggressive actions towards a patrician and started to choke him.  Al wound up and gave the man a swift kick to the ribs, hearing a distinct crack.  The assailant rolled off the girl, who scrambled away a few feet before getting up.

“Now you’re going to pay,” the man said as he got up.  He got into a fighting stance but winced. “You broke my fucking rib, you bastard!”

Al’s face was red; he didn’t have much time.  He managed to look over to the girl and say, “run away.”  

To his surprise the girl didn’t run but just backed away a few more feet.  Al turned to see the attacker send a punch to his midsection.  The wind got knocked out of him and he fell to the ground gasping for air.

The man picked up a large stone and said, “Should I let the collar do its job, or should I help things along?  I never killed a man before.”  He smiled maniacally and raised the large chunk rock above his head.

Al’s vision became blurred and dark.  This is it, at least I died trying to help someone.  He blacked out from the collar choking him.

When he woke the young blonde woman was kneeling over him, looking at him with beautiful blue eyes.  She smelled of coconuts and flowers.  His collar was more loose than usual.  Looking behind her, Al could see that two security androids had their swords drawn and were handcuffing the attacker.

She was caressing Al’s face and said, “Are you alright?”

He could feel the ache around his neck.  He tried to shrug it off and said, “I think I’ll be OK.  I’m probably going to get kicked off the island aren’t I?  I’m so stupid.”

The girl frowned and said, “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Plebeians aren’t supposed to lift a finger against patricians,” he replied. “I should have stopped when the collar activated.”

“Silly boy,” she said. “The collar’s intelligence only goes so far.  You saved me.  It was so brave of you to fight that bastard even when you knew you’d get choked in the process.”

The androids lifted the man up.  He now had a gash on his head and a vicious black eye. “You’ll pay for this plebe!  I’ll find out who you are, and when I do, I’ll make sure you suffer a good long while before you die.”

The girl continued to look into Al’s eyes, but her eye twitched.  The android next to the attacker squeezed his wrist until Al heard it crack. The man shrieked in pain. The android stated evenly, “You have been found in violation of the patrician general contract terms.  If you return to the mainland without protest, your spouse may not be demoted to plebeian status and avoid free use duty.”

He cradled his broken wrist as they dragged him away.  “This is an outrage!” he yelled. “Just wait until my father hears about this. Ow!”  Al couldn’t see what they had done to make him scream in pain a second time.

Al took his time to get up and then offered his hand and said, “My name is Al Mardresson, I work at the cybernetics maintenance facility. What’s your name?”  He felt the soft skin of her hand and enjoyed the warmth as they shook hands.

“It’s nice to meet you Al.  My name is Sage North. I’m a patrician here on the island.”

Al stiffened, bowed his head slightly, and said, “North huh?  You must be related to the boss I guess.”

She laughed and said, “Related?  I’m his daughter!”

He yanked his hand away like she was red hot.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know patricians would have their families on the island.  I thought it was strictly a couples only settlement, besides babies of course.”

Sage tugged on his wrist and led him down the path to the service road and said, “It’s not totally unheard of to bring adult children to the island once they reach adulthood.  Daddy wants me to marry into one of the other families.”

“So that’s why you brought that guy up on a nature walk,” Al replied. “Too bad you had to find out he was a pig the hard way.”

Sage’s grip on his wrist switched to holding his hand as they walked down the path.  “The island has a bad effect on some people.  They think they can treat anyone as objects.  I didn’t find out he was married until we were all the way up here.  You’re not like that Al, are you?  That’s why you worked on the farm equipment, you wanted the men to be with their wives longer.”

“Oh, so you do know about me.”

Sage winked and said, “I know everything about what happens on the island.  Part of the perks of being a member of the North family.”

When they reached the service road, Al saw his bike was still there.  An android was putting it into the back of a fancy looking golf cart.  It looked back at Al and Sage and waved. Al couldn’t help but laugh.

“I guess I’m hitching a ride back into town.”

“It’s the least I can do for my rescuer,” she replied. “I’ll take you back to maintenance.”  She let his hand go and got in the back of the cart.  She patted the seat next to her. “Hop in!”

As the android drove them down the road to the settlement,  Sage hesitantly asked, “Hey Al, I would really love for you to come to dinner at the Mansion this evening.”

“I couldn’t, it wouldn't be right for a plebeian to sit at the table of a patrician.”

Sage ignored his refusal and said, “It would really help to have you there if my parents ask about what happened.  I also think having you as a guest would make for an interesting dinner.  Pretty please?”

Al thought about how he could weasel out of the dinner. “Would it be possible for me to bring my wife Jo?”

“Right, your wife,” she said. Sage’s bright smile immediately darkened. “I hadn’t thought of that.”  

“It would be hard for me to explain that I was going up to the mansion to have dinner with a pretty girl and her parents,” he replied, laughing.

She looked at him and put her hand on his as the cart rumbled down the pathway.  Sage gave a small grin that conveyed more concern than anything else. “You can bring her if you need to. I wanted to have a special thank you celebration.  Come over to the side entrance at six.  Sounds good?”

Damn, almost got out of it. “Sounds great, I can’t wait.”