Chapter 2 - Scavengers
785 Words
Chapter 2 - Scavengers
The candle’s burnt down to a nub, William notices how much the room is cleared out, then offers a new note for Amina to take down. The Collapse would have seen scavengers for many years, he thinks, as they continue searching. He keeps trying to excuse his earlier fear. Remembering how Amina glanced nervously at the puddle and asked, “Dangerous?”
“I reacted without thinking.” William had grinned with embarrassment, offering his short apology. “Gasoline’s almost never infected, anymore. Your people will send more help?”
“Pilani keeps twelve on staff in our library,” Amina reveals. “If we bring out everyone, we can control the block. If we need it, we can call on local authorities to provide more help.”
“I’ve never seen operating internal combustion machinery. Except in museums,” he explains. “Only smelled gasoline from containers used in trainings, at the library, to give us investigators experience. It was different then, somehow.”
Amina now asks, “What do you suppose they were doing with gasoline in here?”
“Don't know.” Shaking his head, bemusement in his tone. “Perhaps they used it to light up the room? Either burning it directly or powering some machine? “Come here, Amina,” calling her over to a workspace table, waist high, against the wall. “Do you smell something else?”
Amina stoops to look. William holds the lamp close for her. “I think maybe something fell down between the shelving, see? Against the wall?”
“Yes, you’re right.” Lowering the lamp to the floor, William gets down on hands and knees to peer below the table. “Some kind of ceramic pot down here.” William hands up an empty jar, neglecting the spider webs clinging to his shirt. “Can you make out that writing? We’ll need to note this also.”
They find it’s opened.
“Bhadawari ghee,” she reads the label. “I have heard of those cows. They hail from Uttar Pradesh.”
William continues searching behind the table, spying something wedged next to the wall. He reaches to yank it out: a torn paper sheet.
Examining it in the light, they notice it's machine typed with mathematical symbols. “This might have been a page from a book.”
“Oxidation-reduction reactions,” Amina reads from the page. “What's that? It’s like a whole other language.” She hands him the sheet, which he reads from slowly, so she can make her notes.
“I don't know.” He wishes he could sound more knowledgeable. “Some sort of chemistry?” He shakes his head, confused. “I didn't study much of that, in school.”
Amina nods knowingly. “I didn't either,” she tells him, “being a Dalit.”
“So you're like me.” Confusion twists her face at his words. “I’m an expat,” William explains. “Part African, the local schools didn't expect me to do well.” Her eyes say, there’s quite a difference between a Dalit and an expat. “But living in an expat compound helped. I was forced to work hard at school.”
“It was a struggle staying in school,” Amina relates. William nods in sympathy. “Pressure to drop out. Most of my Dalit friends did,” she clarifies. “It's just expected that Dalits won't get much education. But I was determined.”
The two continue moving around the room on their tasks of investigating this site. “I was trained to search an evidence scene at the Jaipur library, just last year,” William relates.
Amina appears interested. “You do seem young.”
Nodding, William explains, “I am. My first day. The youngest they have.”
“Wow.”
William dips his head. “Not so impressive considering I have lived in libraries since I was little. I only know libraries.”
“What was it like—growing up an expat?” Amina asks.
“The Librarian of Goa had been a small girl when the Collapse happened and always supported expats left behind,” William informs her.
“I remember tales of how the mass of trapped foreigners were granted permission to stay by the Kingdom of India.” She nods. And turns while talking, William can practically read her eyes in the dim light, he almost asks, was that a noise? “Did you enjoy...”
Definitely a noise. And coming closer
William's eyes catch reflected glints—tips of swords. As he studies the large men moving into the room, holding them, “Amina, step behind me.”
What could they want? He wonders.
One of the men says, “I’m sure these two are alone. I found no one else in the other rooms, Vasu.”
A deep voice booms, “Librarians! What did you find?” Amina moves her notes behind her. Only a small crinkle sounds. “Give me that paper!”
William forces himself farther in front of Amina. He pushes her back toward the wall. The two swords move closer, aimed at his chest.
As one blade tip touches his vest, Abha flies into the room. Armed, luckily. William presses back against Amina, attempting to shrink away from the blades clashing in the dimness.
An important find and a duel all on my first day!
- Writer
