Rubberman's Cage Read online

  1st Edition

  Joseph Picard

  © 2014 by Joseph Picard.

  1st Edition

  Legal crap: (You knew it was coming)

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from author. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fines of $250,000.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of authors.

  For information, feedback or other questions, contact the author.

  Joseph Picard [email protected]

  Cover art by Joseph Picard

  Other books by Joseph can be found at www.ozero.ca

  /// WARNING! \

  This book is written using a form of English which is somewhat more English than some readers in some regions may be accustomed to.

  As such, be advised that colour will be spelled with a 'u', as will honour, valour, neighbour, and so on.

  Don't panic, it's all Queen-approved.

  Also, it's “zed”, not “zee”.

  This page was left intentionally blank.

  Except now it isn't.

  Okay, fine. You got me.

  The truth is, every time you see something like this, it's just the publisher trying to mess with your head.

  Contents

  Contents

  Foreword

  Prologue

  1 Out with the Young

  2 Spots

  3 A Hole

  4 Fill

  5 Six & Eyes

  6 Beyond the Noisy Box

  7 Fair

  8 Eval

  9 Gabe

  10 Eyes Witness

  11 Girl Stuff

  12 Understand

  13 Fruits of Asking

  14 Of Air and Ascending

  15 Studying for Citizenship

  16 Idiot

  17 Welcome, Lofu

  18 Poking Around

  19 The Maybe Once, Maybe Future Kinda-Leader

  20 Deported

  21 Almost

  22 Heart

  23 Flee

  24 Roots

  25 Come Undone

  26 The Big Room of the Enemy

  27 Necessary

  Epilogue

  The Rubberman Series

  Also check out the Lifehack series:

  About The Author

  Foreword

  This is the way it always was; this is normal.

  You work, you eat, you sleep, you work. This is normal. You know three people and a faceless, silent leader.

  This is the way it always was; this is normal.

  This is all that exists. Work, eat, sleep. Or you get punished. It's not so bad.

  This is the way it always was, this is normal.

  Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many books in the Rubberman series. When I started this book, I assumed it was science fiction, as my previous books were, but at some point early on I realized that the story could be told with little to no need for sci-fi tropes.

  That said, it still has a notable sci-fi feel. The hero explores, discovers things new to him, enters strange environments, and he meets groups that he never imagined existed.

  Thanks to my usual eyes, Adam Zilliax, Dolores Picard, Meggin Dueckman, and Gilles Picard. Additional thanks to Michelle Patricia Browne, and Tabitha Ormiston-Smith, whose trained eyes whip my slop even further into a respectable shape.

  Dedicated to the spirits of imagination and exploration that grow in

  Caitlin and Lachlan.

  Prologue

  And suddenly, there was so much blood. Without knowing of death, or of vengeance, 'Six' now stood over two dead bodies, one of which was a Brother.

  He turned to one of his Brothers, 'Eyes', and asked, “What…what just happened?”

  “They're both sleeping. Or broken,” Eyes said, with hands almost as bloody as Six's.

  The mess was everywhere. The floor, the bed, the grating that had fallen. It was far more blood than Six had ever seen. It clung to him, and trying to wipe it away only made the mess worse.

  The fourth Brother—unique for his smattering of freckles--sat in the corner, shocked into silence.

  With a hand still trembling from combat's thrill, Six reached down to examine the target of his vengeance. “He broke, just the same. I didn't know if he would, but...I was so...”

  Eyes nodded. “He deserved it; no argument here,” he said.

  “I didn't get shocked,” Six said. “Maybe this nightmare is over.”

  “Fine, great,” Eyes said, “but now what?”

  “Yeah!” Six said, “now what? Go back to work? Back to the usual? I don't think so. We have to make use of this situation.”

  Chapter One

  Out with the Young

  Slim felt the familiar little pinch on his wrist from the bulky cuff that kept him tethered near his bed. “We're getting pricked tonight,” he warned his three Brothers¸ who hadn't yet put on their own restraints.

  The elder Brother Joints grunted as he sat on his own bed across the seven-metre wide room. “Goody.” He put on his own cuff, which clicked and locked for the night. His own little jab soon followed.

  Blue settled in as well, putting his cuff on and getting his jab over with.

  Lenth wandered over to Slim with a gentle smile, and Slim began to return it.

  Slim's eyes widened, and he groaned with pain. Collapsing back on his bed, he gripped the sides and bucked back.

  “What's wrong?” Lenth gasped. He wanted to help his favourite Brother, but had no idea what was going on. Slim let out terrifying soft groans. His body thrashed to the side, his eyes wide in terror.

  “Lenth! What's going on with him?” Joints yelled.

  “I...I don't know!”

  Slim gagged and began to slip off his bed, but Lenth helped him stay on, fighting another of Slim's convulsions.

  Overhead, upon the Brothers' iron grate ceiling, the faceless Rubberman stomped, calling attention to the green light that had turned on behind the head of Lenth's bed.

  “But I have to help Slim!” Lenth hollered up to the dark figure. The Rubberman stomped again, harder.

  Lenth looked at Slim and over to his own bed. “Now? I can't leave him! Something's really wrong!” Lenth looked up at the Rubberman and back to the convulsing Slim.

  The Rubberman stomped on the grating once more, and the room shocked all the Brothers.

  Disobedience warrants punishment.

  Knowing that his actions were harming his Brothers as well as himself, Lenth scurried over to bed and secured his cuff around his wrist.

  Rubberman ran out of view as Slim's convulsions began to calm a little.

  Slim alone was shocked again. He had a sudden, violent convulsion.

  “What are you doing to him?” Blue yelled up to Rubberman's level. No reply, not that any was expected. Rubberman never spoke.

  Again Slim was shocked.

  Again.

  Again.

  And then it was quiet. Slim had stopped convulsing. He wasn't making any sou
nds at all now.

  “Slim?” Lenth said. He sat up on his bed, but being tethered with his cuff, he couldn't go check on Slim. The cuff wouldn't open until Rubberman made it so. “Slim, you okay now?”

  Joints leaned forward in bed to peer over at Slim. “He ain't breathing.”

  “What?” Blue said, puzzled. “Slim, what are you doing?”

  Joints sighed. “I've seen this before, I think. Before you three came here. If it's the same thing, Slim won't be here tomorrow.” Joints lowered his head.

  “I...what?” Blue was alarmed. “I don't understand! Why not? If he's not breathing, why does he have to go away? He'll start again, right? Where's he going to go?”

  Lenth stood up and walked as far towards Slim at the tether would let him, which was about two metres from his own bed, still about four away from Slim's. He stood silently, looking at his dead Brother, not knowing what death was.

  “Slim...wake up, moron,” Lenth said quietly. “I don't want you to go away, that's stupid.” He turned to Joints, looking for the wisdom of his age. “Hey, away where? Where would he go? Up with Rubberman? Or the place Rubberman goes when he isn't here? What...”

  Joints' face wrinkled inward with consideration. “How am I supposed to know? It's not as if I can fathom the ways of Rubberman any more than you, Brother.”

  None of them were actually Brothers, but they had always called each other that. There existed the Brothers, and there existed the Rubberman. And that was it.

  As far as they could tell, anyway. Joints had told them before that his old Brothers had gone away, and that then, his new Brothers came. There was no explanation of 'where from', or 'where to'.

  These were things for Rubberman to know, and Rubberman never talked.

  That much was understandable, since he didn't have a mouth. Even calling him a man was a point of question. A man, or an 'it'?

  The Brothers all wore plain cloth foot coverings, slightly tougher on the bottoms, and simple cloth bodysuits, from the neck to the knees and elbows. This left a fair amount of skin showing. This was not the case with Rubberman.

  Rubberman was all black rubber...even over his head. Where eyes would be, he had only a pair of large dark circles that reflected light at certain angles. Where a mouth or nose might be, there was a metal circle, about as wide as his eye. It did not seem as shiny as the eyes, and had many little holes.

  But Rubberman had gone away now.

  Lenth still stood there, as close to Slim as possible, pondering what had happened. What might be about to happen. Slim was their Brother after all, but Lenth felt the fear of losing Slim the most keenly.

  The green lights behind the beds lit up again. The lights were built into the white, age-worn walls, and sealed in with a clear layer of a plastic-like material.

  It was bedtime. The day was officially over.

  The Brothers all tried to get as comfortable as they could on their beds. A three-centimetre thick pad was bonded to the metal bed frames, and indestructible to any force the Brothers had ever been able to summon.

  “Slim doesn't look very comfortable,” Blue said quietly. Indeed, Slim's position suggested that he would wake up sore in the morning if he didn't move.

  Lenth stared at Slim and the lights dimmed. Breathe, you idiot. Just breathe again.

  A soft hiss came from above.

  “Sleepy-smell,” Joints observed. Sometimes, sleep-smell would come when a change was going to happen.

  “So...so it's true,” Lenth said quietly. “G...goodbye, Slim.”

  Chapter Two

  Spots

  When morning came, they were woken by the usual tiny, room-wide morning shock. Sometimes, they were scarcely aware of the shock at all. This was one of the mercies of Rubberman.

  Blue sat up and looked over to Slim's bed. But it wasn't Slim's anymore. There was someone new in it. “Brothers. We...have a new Brother,” Blue said groggily. His voice carried no celebratory cheer, but no spite either. It was an observation, and nothing more.

  The new one was a little smaller than any of them. Not a great deal of hair, other than eyebrows, just like the rest of them. But his eyebrows were orange. “I think we'll call him 'Orange'.” Joints said.

  Blue was now awake enough to put things together. “That sounds dumb. Besides, I'm already named after a colour; it would be a little redundant. Look at his face. He's got all those little dots. We should call him 'Dots'.”

  The new one sat up, looking bewildered. “Where am I? Who are you people?”

  “Where?” Joints snickered. “You're here!” Where else would you be?”

  The new one thought for a moment, but didn't have an answer. Were there other places? Not as far as he knew. “All right. So...who are you people?”

  “Joints. I got the name when the Brothers were debating a name for me, and I made the mistake of complaining about stiff joints.”

  “Blue,” Blue said, pointing at his own eyes.

  Lenth looked Slim's replacement up and down. He meant no enmity, but the others could see spite on his face. Lenth sighed, and spread his arms wide. “Lenth. Like length, but we got lazy saying it. So, Lenth.”

  “Lenth, Blue, Joints,” the new one said to himself. “So, where are my Brothers?”

  “We're your Brothers now, I guess. You had other Brothers?” Blue asked.

  “Yeah. I...you know, I don't remember a lot about them, but now they're gone, and you're here. My head feels kinda fuzzy.”

  “You got it wrong, man,” Blue said. “Our old Brother is gone, and now you're here.”

  Joints huffed. “You all...it doesn't matter; here we all are. What do we call you, then?”

  The new one searched his memory, finding only squishy fragments. “Yeah, uh, you almost got it with 'Dots'. I'm 'Spots'.” He brought his hand to his face, as if he expected to be able to feel the spots. He stroked a finger along his forearm, where more of the spots could be found, but more immediately interesting was his cuff.

  “What's with this?” Spots waved his arm to make the cuff's thick cable wiggle around a bit. The jostling made the now-unlocked cuff open and fall to the floor.

  Blue already had his own off. “We have to put them on for the things we do, or we get shocks.”

  “Shocks? What do- oh...I think I remember this a bit.” Spot's voice trailed off a little. He stared at his hands.

  A green light turned on above one of the doors as it 'clunked' to unlock. Spots only noticed because the others turned their heads to look. Blue turned back to Spots. “Don't worry about it. If we just do the right stuff, there's no problem. Come on.”

  The four men went through the door to the small, subdivided shower room. The door locked behind them. There were four stalls, and each one had a cuff in it. The aged walls were the rustiest here.

  The footfalls of Rubberman were heard above, but the walls being closer here made it difficult to get a good look. Most of the Brothers ignored the footsteps, but Spots peered up in fear as he cowered back.

  Before Spots could ask about it, Joints offered helpful instructions. “All right, Spots. Get your clothes into the little bin there, then cuff up in a stall. After, we get fed. Easy.”

  As instructed, Spots got into a stall. This all became more familiar as his head gradually cleared. A cuff like the one he had on in bed hung there.

  Spots heard the others already getting undressed and slapped on his own cuff. It fell off. That was wrong, he'd done things out of order. It was familiar enough, as more memory began to come back. He got his shoes and body suit off, and stuck them in the little bin, closing its hatch flush with the wall.

  He put his cuff on and was pleased that the lock clicked shut. That's how things are done; that's right.

  Naked and cuffed to the wall, Spots would have felt vulnerable if he didn't know that three other men were cuffed to walls and naked as well. Oh wait, what about that person above the ceiling grate?

  Spots looked up. The same grating was above, but no Rubb
erman. There were two other things. Spots couldn't figure out what they were when one supplied the obvious answer.

  Water. It was a shower room, after all. It was a perfect temperature, but that was little comfort as it spurted into his face. Spots huddled over, spitting and rubbing out his eyes. The taste was a little unpleasant, flavoured with a trace of soap.

  He could hear the others moving around. He also heard sliding metal in the wall and movement of the Rubberman overhead. Spots made sure the water got him everywhere, then just stood in the downpour, trying to enjoy it. Then it stopped. Then a blast of noisy, warm air. Spots closed his eyes, and just waited for it to be over. When it ended, he found he was dry. Mostly.

  “Good, I'm starved!” came a voice. It sounded like Blue. Spots looked up again, and the other object began to lower down. It came down on one solid rod of rust-caked metal in the corner of the stall farthest from the entrance. Twice the size of his fist, the roughly round object was hollow, open on the top, and full of small ochre disks about a centimetre thick and three or four centimetres wide.

  Spots turned to it hesitantly, unsure of why he felt nervous. Shaking it off, he popped one in his mouth. It crumbled into tiny lumps when chewed. It was a pleasing enough taste, if bland. He realized that yes, he knew these as well. He gobbled until they were all gone.

  When he was done, there was nothing to do. He was still tethered to the wall, and it didn't provide enough slack to even leave the stall. He waited for a bit, and didn't hear much. He was just about to speak up when the cuff popped open and the bin in the wall opened again, dispensing his suit. He gratefully fumbled to put it on and realized it wasn't the same suit. It was clean and unwrinkled.