text: Cameron was a good guide, and we felt more certain on our route as we weaved our way over the hillsides of Stetguttot Heath. However, it was still tiring work. My lungs and legs were relieved at the top of every hill, catching a moment’s pause before we continued descending again. It wasn’t until we started our trek the next day that Cameron quickly turned off the main road, jolting away from the rising hills and instead snaking along the bottom of a valley. The track would never have been wide enough for a cart. Boulders jutted out into the path, and even in single-file we would occasionally have to step over rocks that had tumbled down the hillside, gravity pulling them as far as it could The gentle morning breeze felt stronger, concentrated and cajoled into a powerful gust. Around us, the air whistled as it spun its way through the corridors, and I struggled to hear Cameron’s instructions as he warned us of oddly placed rocks or thorn-covered plants. After a couple of hours in the valley, the path seemed to widen out. The steep banks of the hills slowly lost their pitch, becoming more rolled, until we turned one final corner and could see the town at Section F ahead of us. Immediately I could sense something was off. In the distance, there were people running between buildings. However, they weren’t focussed like the dedicated workers of Tima Voreef or Bluekira Ministrations. Instead, their eyes darted about, their gait was unsteady. They seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere, but unsure where. In the far distance, I could hear voices. Not loud enough to make out words, but they were shrill. Orders were being barked in plaintive, hurried notes. Cameron noticed too, his feet quickly transitioning to a jog. We followed him closely until he stopped outside a building as a woman ran out of a building with a bucket of water. “What’s wrong?” Cameron asked. “One of the shafts collapsed.” The woman didn’t stop to talk, she just ran past us. “Good sixty people missing, hopefully most the other side, just trapped in there.” “How can we help?” I asked. “Any way you can. Move rocks. Help the doctor. Whatever works.” Cameron once more kicked his feet and began sprinting through the town. We stuck to his heels, darting past the buildings until we re-emerged on the otherside. Looking out ahead, I could see the entrance to the mineshaft. Where the hills began again, a tunnel had been dug into the earth. The entrance was several metres across, and wooden beams held back the mountain on either side. At the entrance, a chain of people had formed passing large rocks dragged out from the collapse. Behind them, carts, each manned by two people, trekked back and forth filled with dirt and rubble. They heaved their way out of the entrance, tipped the contents to the floor and then ran back in to gather another load. Then, emerging from the darkness, I saw two people carrying a woman with her arms draped over their shoulders. She hobbled slowly on one leg, the other refusing to touch the ground. Thick trickles of blood ran down her scalp towards her cheek. “Looks like there’s another one coming out, doc,” we heard a heavyset woman with dirt-brown hair screech from the mine. We followed her eyeline to see a man in a white shirt and black trousers knelt down by a prone body on the floor. “Come on, we have to help them.” Cameron beckoned us forward as he charged towards the mouth of the mine. We kept pace behind him until I saw Alessia suddenly stop and freeze by the doctor and the body on the floor. It was a man, perhaps in his twentie, silently writhing in pain. He rocked back-and forth, his arm held up to his face, covering his eyes. Looking down his body, I could see the source of his pain. His ankle was bent and twisted at near right angles to his leg, morphed into a position that looked so unnatural I almost gagged. “I’m not sure there’s much we can do for the ankle,” the doctor muttered to a woman standing nearby. “I think the best we can hope for is to save the rest of the leg.” “Please Doctor, please, just make the pain stop,” the man winced. “I’m afraid this might get worse before it gets better. But you’ll be okay. However, I think we might have to amputate.” He turned back to the woman standing nearby. “Do you think you can find me a saw?” “What the fuck?” Alessia suddenly blurted out loud, the words escaping from her lips like vented steam. “Amputate?” The doctor turned to face us. “I’m afraid it’s probably for the best. This will prevent any impediment caused by the useless limb and prevent infection.” “It’s a dislocation,” Alessia said. “It needs realignment, and then some elevation.” The man stood up and puffed his chest. “And you would be a qualified doctor would you?” “No,” Alessia replied, looking at the man on the ground. “But neither are you if you think you need to amputate.” “I am the lead medical officer for this entire section. Unless you have credentials, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Alessia simply stood still and shook her head. “I said leave.” “Let me realign that man’s ankle,” she said calmly. “You have no authority here,” the doctor replied, his eyes darting around us, looking for help. “One minute. If I’m wrong you can needlessly amputate my leg too.” “I am a qualified doctor...” “Oh screw this,” Alessia said, pushing past the doctor and kneeling down by the man on the floor. “Hey, I’m gonna do something that will help save your foot. But I need to pop the ankle back in its joint, and while I’m doing that it’s going to hurt. Bad. Okay?” The man nodded. “Get away from my patient,” the doctor barked. He reached down an arm onto Alessia’s shoulder to grab it. As soon as his fingers touched her, an instinct kicked in. She flicked her body back, reached up, grabbed his arm and yanked him down to the ground behind her. The doctor tumbled into the dirt as Alessia whipped a knife out from her belt. “Stay still or next time I don’t stop at showing you the knife.” She turned to me. “Ferdinand, keep an eye on him.” “Gladly,” I smirked, walking over to the doctor and standing by him. “You’re going to let this woman maim a patient are you?” The doctor glared at me. “Be quiet. Allow her to concentrate.” I said softly, nodding to Alessia and the patient. “Okay. This will hurt. But try not to fight it or buck against me. Scream if you need to.” The man got half a word into a response before Alessia lifted up the leg and with one quick movement, twisted the ankle back. The man let out a gasping scream, a roar so loud that everyone around us turned to stare, drawn towards the howl. However, no sooner had it begun, than Alessia was finished. The leg back down on the floor again, and the foot looking normal. “It’ll hurt for a bit. Keep it elevated and rested. But you’ll be fine,” Alessia said. The man’s head bobbed in confusion and relief. Alessia stood back up and turned to the doctor on the floor. “Learn what a dislocation is, you moron.” She rolled her eyes and began walking off towards the mine. I smiled to the man on the floor, and then to the doctor, before following Alessia. “I know what you did was right. But was that worth it?” “Pick your battles. I picked one. It was an easy win,” Alessia shrugged. “What if that doctor tries to get you in trouble?” “For what? Helping his patient? Yeah, he’s gonna sit scared and embarrassed, nothing more.” I paused for a moment, glancing back over my shoulder at the man, now sitting, staring at his swollen ankle. “What was all that about anyway?” “What do you mean?” “Why was a doctor preparing to cut off a man’s leg for a dislocation?” “No idea. But wanna do some good?” she said, her head bowed to the mine. “Let’s go clear as much rubble as we can.” \ We helped out for much of the rest of the day, doing our best to clear the mine as the people of Section F desperately tried to burrow through to the other side. As the sun began to fade, exhausted, we pulled ourselves away from the struggle. A few committed workers would continue to fight through the night, but most needed to stop, sleep, and finish the job in the morning. My skin tingled as the heavy sweat from the day’s labour evaporated in the cool nighttime air. We sat around a large open campfire, maybe some five metres back. Close enough to give me light, but far enough away that only the occasional crackle of the fire blew warmth my way. My body provided enough heat on its own. We had been sitting in relative peace, when Cameron walked out of the gloom, accompanied by the large woman I had seen bellowing orders when we first arrived. “Cameron says you’ve been asking about Sannaz Lytta,” the woman said as she knelt down on her haunches by the fire, the tips of the flames occasionally obscuring her face. “Yes.” I leaned forwards. “Do you know them?” “Did,” the woman replied. “I’m the foreperson of the mine here. It’s my job to know all the workers.” “Has Cameron told you about what Sannaz did?” I asked. The woman looked to the ground. “I... I feel I ought to apologize for what he apparently did to your friends.” “Do you know why he may have done it?” The woman shook her head. “Afraid your guess is as good as mine. He was always pretty quiet. Just spent his time observing the world around him. I’m sorry I can’t offer much more.” I forced a smile, hiding the disappointment. The woman looked back to Cameron. “Cameron tells me you helped a man who was injured earlier." She pointed to her own ankle. “He had a bad leg, I think?" Alessia steadied herself, preparing for trouble. “Uh huh. The doctor intended to amputate, and I-” “Yeah. That sounds about right,” the woman interrupted. “That kid’s got his whole life ahead of him, one that will remain good because of you. Thank you.” Alessia relaxed her shoulders. “I’m glad we could help.” The woman paused once more. “I’m not sure if this will be helpful, but maybe you can still make use of it.” She leaned in closer, whispering her words with the flames. “About a week before he disappeared, Sannaz said he had found an old cave system while digging out a new route - asked if he could see where it went, thought it might lead to some more veins. I said it sounded good. I never spoke to him to find out how it when. But then there’s an explosion near where he had been working. The whole shaft collapsed. Sannaz was nowhere to be seen. Truth be told I was worried he had died there, or been trapped in the caves.” She rolled her head from side to side. “By the sounds of it, may have been better if he had.” “You didn't clear the route?” Alessia asked. “No. But the explosion caused a sinkhole. There’s a straight drop down to where he was working about three hundred metres that way.” The woman pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “The ground’s unstable. And you’d have to drop straight down a good hundred metres. But if you wanna try it, it might be your best chance of finding out what happened.” “Thank you,” I said. The woman stood back up. “I am truly sorry for what happened. Sorry that someone from our island did this. And I guess I’m sorry for Sannaz too. He was a bright man." "Bright?" The words spilled from my lips like a reflex. "I thought he did terribly on the test, the... TBU thing." The woman chuckled. "You ever taken that test?" I shook my head. "Have a look sometime. Tell me how you do." The woman turned and left, her figure slowly fading into the darkness. Cameron stayed behind and sat down next to the fire. "What about the test?" Alessia asked. My eyes narrowed as I focused on the flame in front of me. "Alessia, can I have a look at that book?" "Sure," she replied. Reaching to the bag we confiscated from Cameron and throwing it over to me. I saw Cameron's eyes follow it, like a baying dog. I grabbed the bag and took out the book, flicking it open to the front. The text was in simple black and white, the occasional smudge where the printing press shifted as the ink settled. I look at the contents, found a section labeled "practice questions" and turned forward. I reached the right section and read the question at the top of the page. Then I read it again. Then again. Slowly, pausing between each word, tracing the sounds with my lips. After the fourth attempt I find myself incoherently mumbling the words aloud. “You okay there?” Alessia asked, distracted by my noises. “Yes,” I replied. “Well, no. This question...” “What?” “‘Cato takes resources from batch CF231502 for part of the smelting process, and combines them with resources from batch MW222686. This creates the correct reducing agent for which ore?’” “Copper, right?” Cameron asked. “The answer will be in the margins at the bottom.” I flicked my eyes to the end of the page where the answers was written in the tiniest font. Sure enough, as I squinted, I could see he was correct. “Yeah,” I nodded, slowly. “But the batch numbers?” “Labels given to each of the materials down at the mines.” “How many are there?” Cameron shrugged. “Thousands, probably.” “So to pass the test you have to remember thousands of batch names and what’s in each.” “In theory,” Cameron said with a tilt of his head. “In theory?” “That’s what the book’s for. It’s a study guide. To show you how to prepare for the test?” “So that’s how you learned all the batches and what’s in them?” “You don’t have to,” Cameron said, shaking his head. He uncrossed his legs, stood up, and walked over. He crouched down beside me and picked up the book, before opening it in the middle. He flipped through a few pages until he found what he was looking for. “Here,” he said, placing the book in my lap. I glanced down at the open page. *In order to assist with test grading, the examination office at Section C often use a code that ties the question to the answer. Remembering these can help speed up answering the questions.* *Arlo = arsenic* *Cato = copper* *Tina = tin* The list continued but I stopped reading. “It’s a cheat.” “It’s not a cheat. You still got to study and learn. You can’t take the book into the test,” Cameron protested. “But...” I blinked, processing Cameron’s argument. “You don’t need to know how to make copper to answer that question?” "No." “So without the book -” “- you can never pass.” Cameron finished my sentence for me. “Even with it, only the brightest, hard working students get top grades. There’s too much to remember. I got lucky with that copper question you asked. But, if you live in a section where they don’t have the book... Ain’t anyone in the whole of Section F got more than a thirty in generations.” I looked around at our surroundings, recalling every person I had met since we arrived. Everything I knew about the island was wrong. It had all been offset, slightly askew. And now a lens had been shifted, the world put into alignment, and it all became so clear. Everything seemed to suddenly make sense, from the rundown harbour, to the sad but smart people of Section F. I turned my gaze back to the fire, watching the burning wood blacken from the heat, as the flames leapt high and gracious into the night air. I watched the ash flutter up into the dark sky, disappearing out of sight. And I wondered how my life might have been had I been born in Section F. \ Next chapter released 30th September.