The Hourglass Read Online Free PDF Page B

sort of work
program, and that’s about all I know.” Sarah gave him a quizzical look. “There
was a brochure in the court room,” he explained.
    “Oh. That
doesn’t sound too terrible.”
    “But would they
put the terrible stuff in the brochure? I’m thinking not.”
    “Thanks for the
words of comfort,” she said dryly.
    “It’s what I’m
best at. So who and what do you know?”
    Sarah pointed at
Heather. “She killed someone who was trying to rob her. She’s a cow. And she,”
she pointed to Marland, “burnt down a shed. I understand her mum’s not the
greatest. She’s ok, but I think she’s a little crazy. She thinks that they
throw us overboard.”
    “Hmm,” murmured Finn
thoughtfully as he took them in. “So you would advise that I avoid the cow?”
    Sarah rolled her
eyes. “No go ahead. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to meet you. Her name’s
Heather. She enjoys sadism and knives.”
    Finn chuckled.
“So are you going to tell me what you’re in here for?”
    “No.”
    “Let me put it
this way, are you likely to cut my throat while I sleep?”
    “No,” repeated
Sarah. “I mean, it would be pretty hard, what with the boys’ sleeping quarters
being on a separate part of the ship.” He looked slightly alarmed and she
laughed.  She realised that she couldn’t even remember the last time that she
had laughed properly, even before the pie incident. And she was never this good
at talking to strangers. Something about being sent to a prison ship with no
idea what was about to happen seemed to have loosened her inhibitions slightly.
Finn grinned. Sarah looked past him and out of the window. They had been
driving for a few minutes now and she realised as she watched the familiar
buildings go by that soon they would be leaving the city. She had never left
the city before. Most people never did. Leaving the protection of the city to
go into the war zone outside was not commonly considered by the locals. Even if
they wanted to it rarely happened. Technically it was permitted, but the
Covenant couldn’t risk its citizens travelling to a city controlled by the
Accord and spreading information. This meant that if you tried to walk out of
those gates, you would find yourself in a small room with a bunch of soldiers
questioning you on, why, exactly, would you want to leave this beautiful,
peaceful, and most of all safe town? What other reason could you have,
they would ask, to leave such a protected place in the middle of a war if not
to go help the enemy? That would be treason. And predictably, every potential
wanderer would eventually end up assuring the Covenant soldiers that they love
their city, that they are grateful to stay in the city so well protected by
them, and that actually, now that they thought about it, they really didn’t
want to leave after all. And so nobody ever left the city, except for the rare
exception of someone being granted a permit. The permits were usually only
granted if the person was seeking to work on a Covenant controlled farm, or if
they were leaving on official, government-sanctioned business. Seeking a permit
to work on the farms was rare. This was mostly because the farms were populated
by convicts, and so people who volunteered to go out there were thought to be crazy,
despite the extra protection provided by the soldiers and the lucrative wages
that were available. Sarah didn’t think that working on the farms would be so
bad. When everything was factory packaged and sold for its nutritional content,
rather than taste, fresh food had become the pinnacle of luxury. If working on
the farms meant that occasionally she could taste the wares, it would almost be
worth it. Every year on her birthday her mum saved up enough money to buy her a
piece of fruit to eat all by herself. It was her favourite day of the year. Three
months, she told herself resolutely. Three months and she would be back
home.

Chapter
Six
    Alternatives
     
    The bus trundled
to a halt as there was