The Exterior

By Eddy Taylor

“Visor down.” Said Ainsley. Jade slid the dome of glass over her face and breathed deeply. This would the last artificial air she would breathe for a long time, from now until their return it would be filtered, and therefore dangerous. Though all conceivable preliminary checks had been taken from the other survey teams and the unmanned scouts, she could not help but be nervous. A small of pocket of dread seized her lungs and she choked. “What’s wrong?” Ainsley turned. If not for the lights inside his helmet Jade would have been spared the grim expression.

“Nothing. Just nerves. Sir.” She answered.

“Well, keep them in line.”

“Yes sir.”

Jade readjusted her footing. Ainsley had an irritating knack for making everyone he spoke to stand at attention. He and his partner, Merrick, were the only two people Jade and her peers knew to have left the Interior on no fewer than a dozen expeditions. Most saw this as admirable quality, Jade wondered if they just liked to poison each other.

“Begin.” Came a raspy static voice over the suit’s intercom. Without hesitation Jade moved to her designated side of the capsule with Ainsley opposite. They shared a look. A moment for the canaries to show their resolve. With two slow breaths she placed her hands on the controls. She knew the sequence of instructions better than the alphabet at this point, the instructors had made sure of that, a good memory was key to surviving beyond the Interior. With the sequence complete, the capsule descended. It was built to withstand the initial impact on the surface but would be unrecoverable once they had landed. Jade felt around her waist for her long-distance radio, the small box was strapped tightly to the rubbery fabric just above her thigh. Though she could already feel its weight, having her hand around it was far more comforting. Ainsley remained completely still. He was the expert after all. Jade Understood that no matter how many simulations, practice tests or written assignments she had completed she was still a student. His experience made him her superior; even if she thought he must be a little crazed. Everyone wanted to leave the Interior, but Ainsley and Merrick had been the only people to even try, and of the two Ainsley was notoriously the more obsessed. Outside of the capsule he spent his days in the control centre planning the next expedition, failing that he was in the library, pouring himself over confidential texts and the old sciences. If not for Merrick to distract him the man would surely have died from exhaustion by this point.

Crunch. No turbulence. A smooth decent. The capsule had landed, finally she was here, now to get the doors open. Jade’s hands glided over the controls as she input the instructions, a series of passwords and then finally she was asked the all-important question. Are You Sure? The words stared grimly at her, a demanding hand clutching at her eyes. She had to be sure, of course, if she was not sure then the expedition would need to be called off. She checked the environmental scanners. They reported normal conditions. Or at least, what was normal beyond the interior. Nothing was normal for Jade now, for long as she was strapped into the tight evo suit. Normal conditions simply meant safe conditions, nothing immediately life threatening aside from the air.

“You good?” Ainsley pulled her back to reality. Out of her head she could see the words plainly. It was just a question; one she knew the answer to.

“Yes.” She said, inputting her response. The artificial lights deactivated, the round steel plates that made up the front of the capsule retreated into the surrounding walls and bright reality entered the small pocket of familiarity. They were here.

It took Jade sometime to adjust. Her eyes were not used to the sun or its own brand of radiation. After a few rapid blinks she could see clearly. Green. As far as the horizon. Shaded and muted in dozens of different ways but no matter where she looked, green was everything. Stepping outside it was clear that the capsules trajectory had been true. They were atop a hill in one of the old valleys by the sea. Though Jade could not see any water it had only recently left its mark, puddles drenched the landscape and mud oozed lazily over her boots. The feeling of the ground was uncertain, stable but not firm. In the interior you knew that each floor was fastened, here though the ground seemed to move beneath her, idly seeking to trip her up if she wasn’t careful.

“How do you like it then?” Asked Ainsley.

“Its…”

“Hard to take in all at once. Especially your first time outside the interior. Don’t worry, I had that same look on my face when I first came down here.”

“What?” Jade put a hand up to her face, forgetting her helmet, she almost nocked herself over.

“Typical teenagers.”

“I’m twenty-five Sir.”

“Up there perhaps. Round here you’re basically a child. Come on, we need to make sure the landing sites secure; then we can set up camp. The gravity will- “

“I’ve been through basic Sir. I know about the gravity.”

“No harm in reminding you; unless there’s something more important you really need to remember?”

Jade felt a twinge of embarrassment rise on her cheeks. She repressed it, here she would need her composure and if Ainsley took her seriously then that meant a good report, and a good report meant a desk job and a stable future. This was just the practical exam. An opportunity to show she could work under pressure in a stressful environment. The experience would also be something impressive to bring up at parties; a way to excite the wide-eyed children, silence the critics and intrigue a few more attractive members of society to ignore anything disagreeable about her long enough to get them into her bed. Who knows, this expedition might just be the story that found her a life partner. She just had to get through it. “No sir.” She said, perhaps a little too quickly based on Ainsley’s smirk.

“East side, one mile radius. Be cautious. See anything that isn’t supposed to be here, you call me. Got it?” Jade, irritated, threw Ainsley a thumbs up. He returned in kind.

Despite her initial excitement, Jade found the surrounding area rather repetitive. Her mile long excursion consisted of more of the same. Hills, grass and mud sluggishly rolling over each other in a mass of bumps, puddles and sticky craters. The sun hung overhead holding a repressive gaze on her activities. She marched a mile beyond the capsule before circling its position and returned from the opposite direction she had set out from. She skidded and stumbled up the final mound towards the capsule, half crawling up the thick tuffs of grass, groaning against the oppressive gravity and growing weight of her suit. She would adjust, given time. Her bones might bend a little out of shape, find herself in need of a stool should the exterior’s influence have a truly drastic effect on her. Jade sighed. She knew everything that could happen and everything that would happen while she was out her, she just needed to push through it, no matter how irritating it was. How could Ainsley take it in his stride? Had he just gotten used to it? Perhaps he was just too obsessed to admit any discomfort, or too crazy. She almost wished it had been Merrick to accompany her. The two experts had apparently tossed a coin for who would get to pick, she knew Ainsley must have won, he’d had his eye on her since she entered basic. Of course, he got his way. Merrick was notoriously laxer than his partner, his reports tidier and his recommendations clearer. Ainsley’s testimony barely mentioned his team, as such, they had all been kept in physically demanding positions, sweating away in engineering rooms and practical demonstrations for the Interior Governors. Positions Jade hoped to avoid.

Ainsley was waiting for her, perched cross legged on a fold out iron coloured chair. For a moment it looked as though he hadn’t noticed her approach, then his visor turned and the familiar clipped moustache and wavey hair came into focus. He had not been back long; distance and glass couldn’t disguise the damp sweat rubbed into his brow. “Everything normal?” He said, standing.

Jade stretched. “As it should be. Nothing unexpected, just grass and mud. Sir.” She cringed; had she been a little sarcastic? If Ainsley caught on to her frustration, she could say goodbye to that lovely desk job. “The west?”

“Normal. You made a quick sweep. Sure it was thorough?”

“Yes sir.” Was he trying to belittle her or just keep her on her toes?

“Very well. Grab a chair and we’ll contact Command.”

Jade acknowledged. From the capsule she retrieved a second chair and a table of the same dull grey colour as Ainsley’s. Positioning them beside Ainsley she retrieved her long-range radio from her waist and set it on the table. Ainsley gave her the cue to sit. She remained at attention, straight backed with feet on the ground.

“Comfortable?”

“Yes sir.”

Ainsley nodded through his visor. “I’ll make the report. Gather a few samples from this sector; eight should do it, then I want you to set up the automated scout. Understood?”

“Sir. I’ll get to it.”

…

“Grass and mud. Grass and mud.” Jade muttered to herself, checking every few minutes that her helmets communicator was switched off. The last thing she needed was Ainsley sniggering at her from back at the capsule. What an excellent report that would make. Jade Roth, excellent understanding combined with mental and physical fortitude, though she does seem to have an excellent capacity for getting bored by the most exciting opportunity in The Interiors history. Some history. Until the last century The Interior had barely been able to keep itself alive. The old ideologies had caused dozens of petty wars, and those wars had led to the deaths of thousands of citizens. Only with the ascension of the Governors had peace and stability finally been achieved. Society had its rotten heart ripped out and rebuilt; all the trappings of the ancients delegated to the libraries and museums where they belonged. To rest, out of sight and out of mind. Their influence remembered; kept in check; side-lined to the corners of the past. Only the truly academic ventured to learn from them. Now The Interior was thriving; the Governors had achieved a century of peace and prosperity and into this age birthed Jade. Now, through her own doing, she found herself in the mud and the grass, taking samples for Ainsley.

The initial readings were all the same. A dangerous level of toxins. Were it not for her suit Jade would have died within minutes of exiting the capsule. The grass simply a pretty poison pump spuing death into the air and the mud a gluey fertilising goo that savagely absorbed enough rain and sunlight to cake itself in background radiation. One break in her suit and Jade could expect to spend the rest of her short life in a quarantine ward, sealed away from the life of the interior and her body cultivated by the Bureau for Human Development.

The wind had crept up on her. Slowly rising, hardly there at first, a slight ripple in the fabric of her suit. Now it was throwing the hills into a dance. Grass ambled and Jade’s suit was waving like a flag around her. Though she could not feel it against her skin she could imagine the biting cold. Her section had experienced a blackout during her first week of training. When power is lost to an area of The Interior the nitrogen in the air stops being regulated and the heat drops tremendously. Within minutes your breath becomes a dagger in your throat and death is just waiting game. Jade had been lucky; her room was close to an emergency exist and the floors were covered with a luminescent paint to guide citizens to safety. But survival depended entirely on circumstance. If Jade had been assigned a different room. She pushed the thought down and out her mind and drew in a deep breath. She felt the filtered air enter her lungs, a small sting, the icy wind making its way through her ventilation system. A tickle of reality trickling down her throat, reminding her of just how vulnerable she was. “The Exterior demands respect.” She could hear Merrick telling them during one of his lectures. The deep rolling gravel in his voice gave him unconscious authority; a deep alluring boom bursting out from a maze of black hair. Sort of like that creature in the grass Jade realised.

Wait, creature? Where had that come from. From a position of silent stillness Jade observed the impossible. Below the grass barely twenty feet from her, crawling atop the mud, a ball of grey fury looked up at her with a wet figured nose. It couldn’t have been half the size of her hand, yet there it was. A round little being, no visible eyes, a small spot for a tail perhaps? It was like one of the elephants her mother gifted her as a child. A design humanity had found so elegant and playful that even now they still replicated it for the comfort of its offspring. But this was no elephant. It nimbly pondered its way across the hill. Stopping every few moments to nod at the ground with its nose and then, upon reaching some sort of unspoken agreement, either with itself or with the muck it would ponder some more. Only little distances, it seemed uncompelled to travel at much speed.

Jade chocked, suddenly coughing. A moment of panic swept over her, was her ventilation broken? Checking the display in her visor she found that all was normal, she had simply been too stunned to breathe. This ball of fur had stunned her just by being present in her vicinity. Was it dangerous? It had survived out here all this time, it must have developed some form of defence. Nothing obvious perhaps, maybe the fur concealed spikes sharp enough to puncture her suit? It was a risk. She stepped back. Running from a fellow living thing. But it wasn’t supposed to be here. The only live creatures outside of The Interior were supposed to just be herself and Ainsley. This was an anomaly, an impossibility. The Exterior was deemed unfit for habitation of any kind. Life was not a reality out here beyond the smallest of amoebas and complex flora. Nothing of this scale. It was, ironically, too big to exist.

Leaning down, Jade went for a closer look. She dared not startle it, just in case it was dangerous. Curiosity controlled her for a mad few minutes. The child inside her reached out a hand. Though she wouldn’t be able to make out its texture, the weight would be marvellous. Sweetly it came, nose first, sniffing her out, then one little paw, then another until the whole thing was in her grasp. Lifted, it was surprisingly heavy. By no means straining, but all the same it didn’t look like much and yet it was a hardy few kilograms.

“What are you?” She couldn’t help smiling. For at this time, in this place, she was the only person who knew. A unique piece of time was hers to possess and no one else could even interrupt her. The creature in her hands seemed unphased by this momentous occasion, the smell of Jade’s arms held far more importance. “You look just like my sister.” Jade recalled. Bonny was in many ways an equally small and curious specimen. Despite her protests when they were younger, she had never managed to eclipse Jade, and no matter what you did she could never pay attention to anything for longer than half a second. “I wonder if you have the same name. In whatever language you speak. I think you look a bit like a Bonny, don’t you think?” The creature rolled over in agreement. “Alright then. Bonny it is.” Jade decided. Bonny seemed accommodating of this idea.

“Jade. You there?” Ainsley barked through her headset.

Jade swore to herself before replying “Yes.”

“That’s yes sir. You’re slipping Jade.”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir. Won’t happen again.”

“Well?”

“Sir?”

“Well have you finished collecting? Fuck’s sake woman, what do you think this is? Some kind of holiday?”

“No sir. Sorry sir. Just taking the last samples now. I’ll be back within the hour.”

“Alright, not like I’m timing you or anything. Just make sure you’re thorough.”

“Yes sir.”

“Nothing else to report?”

Jade looked down at Bonny. She knew she should tell him. It was her duty. But it was also her right to keep this to herself. She had found it; she was the one who knew. It was her secret, and it was her right to keep it that way. She held herself still for a long moment debating whether to let that childish instinct to hold some little piece of knowledge over him. She could for once be the expert. It almost made her smile, to know something that Ainsley could not even verify. But her sensibility was winning her over. She had to tell him. It would be a breach of protocol. He had explicitly told her to mention anything that was not previously anticipated. She opened her mouth.

“No sir.” She almost whispered. “Nothing.” Instinct had beaten her. Her secret was hers to keep now.

“Alright then. Carry on.” Ainsley cut off.

Jade sighed. What had she just done? She had jeopardised everything for this. Her career, her desk job, her mission. All for little Bonny there still crawling amongst her fingers. It had been a moment of madness. One a small part of her was already regretting.

…

Jade retuned to the capsule without Bonny. She allowed the entrancing creature to return to its life undisturbed. She was doing it a service, had she brought it back with her Bonny would become another sample to be examined by Ainsley and Merrick. A curiosity to capture The Interiors imagination. This way, Jade could bare this knowledge by herself in secret. Now she just had to make it through the rest of her life without mentioning it. Not a difficult task, Jade had seen and done dozens of things that she probably should not keep to herself. Small things, from the true culprit of some juvenile espionage to being the sole confident through which a friend could confide their affair. This would be no different Jade told herself.

Ainsley was absent. The chairs, table and radio were all where she had left them. She checked inside the capsule. No Ainsley. Jade found herself still for a strange moment. He would tell her if he was going somewhere. He had no reason not to. Jade searched her mind for something she might have missed. Had he mentioned anything during the briefing? Perhaps during the last brief conversation? No. There was nothing she could recall. This was an unprecedented disappearance, though not entirely out of character Jade suspected.

Jade activated her headset. “Sir, why are you not at the capsule?” She said, feigning confidence in her decision. There was no response. Either he was out of range or was ignoring her. Neither explanation was useful. Their headsets were designed to have a range to encompass the entire sector. Merrick had made it very clear that they were not to travel beyond it. Ainsley could not be so reckless as to ignore the advice of his partner. Therefore, he had to be ignoring her. Perhaps this was some peculiar test.

“How’s your friend?” Ainsley almost whispered, causing Jade to jump. She scanned the horizon, still he was not there.

“Sir?” Jade eventually replied.

“I’m not an idiot Jade. I know what you found. I’m coming back, stay put.”

Jade dropped her head. “Shit.”

It was a long a dreadful period of maddening indecision. Jade made moves to run, to hide but every time she tried her body held her back. There was no use. Ainsley knew, and now he was going to do something. That was the worst part. Jade had no idea how he would respond. Not only had she lied but she had kept perhaps the most important discovery in The Interiors history from him. The man who had spent his life making his way out.

Ainsley crept up the hill, his silhouette obscured by the fading light. All she could make out were the lights illuminating his face. He strode forth like some kind of phantom, a light carried by a skeleton. There was something in his arms. Coddled like a baby. She had never seen a figure quite like it. Ainsley seemed to move with an ethereal grace, his steps sure and light, shoulders still, head raised and alert. He was a soldier on the march over the green marsh. He came to a stop a good ten feet away from her.

“No bullshit.” He said. “I’ll know if you’re lying. Tell me everything, and I mean everything.”

“Everything?” Jade blew the word through a breath so small she did not realise she had even thought it.

“I’m not an idiot. The governors have been keeping a very close eye on Merrick and I for a while. They’ve been doing the same with you. What have they told you?”

“Only what everyone knows. The details of your expeditions, and anything they put on the Infosphere. That’s it.”

Ainsley approached her. He was barely inches from her face. “Why should I believe you?”

Jade stepped back; Ainsley followed without hesitation. “Because it’s the truth sir.” Jade spat.

“The truth? Then why didn’t you mention this little fella?” She couldn’t justify it. Jade knew that there was no explanation that wouldn’t sound ridiculous. What was Ainsley talking about. What did this have to do with Governors? Jade tried to understand but she only had a short second before Ainsley grabbed her shoulder. “Why?”

Instinct kicked in. Jade brought up her arm and thrust a fist into his stomach. His grip disappeared and Ainsley dropped back. He rose his hands, Jade readied herself for an attack. It never came down. His hands remained up. Jade looked over into Ainsley’s mask. His face was calm, as serine as the silver ceilings of The Interior corridors. Jade didn’t let the tension go, she remained ready; Ainsley had surprised her already, she wasn’t going to let him do it again.

“Just tell me.” He finally said.

“I can’t. I just, I guess I just didn’t want you to know.” At this moment she could only be honest. If she tried to hide it, she was sure it would lead to violence. Here she made the decision to give in.

Ainsley place Bonny on the floor, leaned back to the sky and signed through his headset. In some strange way, it looked like he was about to take flight. An ancient religious figure sailing away on the wind before a lost disciple. Placing himself back in his chair, he became the small mortal he had always been. A vulnerability lit up across his tired eyes. He smiled like a proud professor, creased wrinkles and kind exposed teeth wide and joyful. “That makes three.” He confessed.

He turned to face Bonny. Jade did the same. With this there came a sudden understanding. She would not bare this secret alone. Ainsley extended a paternal hand to her, a shoulder to rest upon and place to share this sacred truth. An unspoken agreement that this remained between them and Merrick. They were to the guardians of a forbidden knowledge. The Exterior was alive, and it was their duty to keep it that way.