Kingdom of Cages(11)

“Yes, indeed,” murmured Mom, a polite nothing. “Girls, let’s get our things.”

Mom opened the locker that had their names on it. The towels she found were thick but rough, and the soap was a yellow cake with ragged edges, as if it had just been broken off from a big slab.

“What’s this?” said Teal, holding up the soap. “Where’s the shampoo?”

“This is what there is for now, Starlet,” said Mom, gathering clothes and towels. She pushed Teal gently into the mob that was gradually forming itself into a line in front of Madra, who was fielding a dozen questions about sleeping arrangements, job ops, and breakfast. “We’ll buy ourselves what we need later.”

Chena staked out a place next to Teal, eyeing the other kids in the crowd, trying to see if any of them looked friendly or looked like trouble, but mostly they just looked sleepy and a little confused. Just like she felt.

Madra lifted her voice over the flutter of questions. “Everybody ready as you can get? Good. Follow me, please.” Madra smiled reassuringly at the befuddled herd of people.

Bet her mouth gets tired, holding that look, thought Chena grumpily.

But apparently it didn’t. Madra’s smile stayed fixed in place as she took the lead. The men and a few boys seemed to have slept in the round room across the way, and they joined the procession through curving, branching halls that smelled strongly of earth and too many people.

Madra seemed to know just about everybody who came and went, skirting their crowd, and she had a cheerful greeting for them all. “Good morning, Yuri, how’s your hip? Hello, Dulce, Shukmi. Come see me later. I’ve got news for you. Gardens of God, Buile, you’re huge! Have you felt it kick yet?”

Madra took them down a flight of stone steps. The air grew warm and damp and became filled with the echoing sounds of voices and splashing water.

“Now, then,” said Madra. “There’s something I ought to warn you about. It comes as a shock to a lot of our new arrivals from the stations where private living is the norm.…”

But Chena, ducking her head so she could peek between the screen of people in front of her, already saw. Past the squared-off doorway was a room lined with flat gray stones. In the center was a shallow pool of steaming water. In and around that pool, all the people were naked—men, women, girls, boys, and little babies. They soaped up and rinsed, walked back and forth, and even chased each other, and not one of them had a thing on.

“No,” said Chena, swinging around to face her mother. “I’m not going in there.” She wasn’t the only one. A whole eruption of exclamations and protests exploded around them.

Mom sighed, pressing a hand to her ear against the noise. “It’s just for now, Supernova. Soon we’ll—”

“I don’t care.” Chena slashed her hand through the air between them. “I’m not taking a bath in front of… everybody!” She gestured behind her. There were men back there, and boys, and old women. Even aboard the station they’d had their own shower. Okay, it was about the size of their locker down here, but it was private. “There’s got to be—”

“Believe me, I understand.” Madra’s voice lifted above the general din. “It was really bad the first few times I had to do it too, but then I realized that nobody was paying any attention to me anyway. They just wanted to get cleaned up and get into the breakfast line.”

As if to prove her point, a small string of people, dressed and smelling like soap and warmth, shouldered their way through the crowd of newcomers and hurried down the hallway. Some of the others shrugged and took themselves through the doorway.

No one was leaving. Some were still grumbling, but if even one person left…

“Mom—” Chena started.

“Not a word, Chena,” said her mother. “I don’t like it either, but we are here and we have to make the best of it.” More of the others were starting to file in. Chena felt her chances to get out of this slipping away.

“Couldn’t we just go dirty until we get our own place?” suggested Teal plaintively. “I mean, you said it’d be soon.”

Mom’s sigh was short this time, frustrated at being caught by her own words. “Soon could be a month, Teal. Do you want to go dirty for a month?”

Teal’s sideways glance at the bathroom said she did, and Chena was ready to agree with her, even though she knew it would never happen.

Mom just looked at them both. “I know this isn’t comfortable. I know it isn’t any fun. But if things are going to get better, we are going to have to get through this, and if we’re lucky, this is as bad as it’s going to get.” She gave one more brief, sharp sigh. “Now let’s get over it. Chena, bring your sister.” She fixed her eyes straight ahead and marched through the doorway.