Chione had learned very quickly that reputation mattered in Asphodel, and you didn’t want a bad one. News of the incident with Romanoff and Rigoletta, had spread furiously. In a secluded world where the entire galaxy beyond was nothing to them, these dramas constituted the real events that punctuated the daily repetition of prison life.
But it wasn’t just entertainment. Gossip and whisper had a practical advantage in an environment where everyone lived on the edge. Being able to assess peers by checking a common reference was useful for navigating friend, foe, and whoever was entangled in this feud or that. Before, she was a nobody, but now everyone had the measure of her.
Chione was an icy bitch.
At first she hoped she could brush it all off –– she didn’t need these people’s approval. But again, there was a practical element to personal reputation. Suddenly dinner prices were half up, or even double what they were before, no matter which stall Chione approached. All she could do was scowl at them, but she kept back from verbalising her complaints. Still it gnawed at her, and she kept running it in her head. So what if she had asked for money? She was just doing what was needed to survive, isn’t that what they were all doing? Overcharging her just meant not getting her business, so it hurt them as well. The stupidity of spite.
“It’s not that,” the older woman Cheshire would explain in her deep, sultry voice, “they’re being rational, just in a roundabout way. If you punish the dishonourable, you discourage the bad behaviour. And all bad behaviour just comes down to whether you’re contributing, or if you’re freeloading. Everyone is acting in the interest of collective harmony.”
“In this place?” Chione asked. “Where it’s every woman for herself?”
“See you’re still not getting it. Self-interest runs through group interest, and vice versa!”
Whatever it was, it was getting to Chione. One day when went to collapse into bed in her cell, it collapsed beneath her. Stunned and writhing between broken mesh and torn cotton, she heard the snickers from some of her cellmates. Unbolted screws were rolling along the floor. Another day she found some of her underwear shredded, dirt sneaked into her soup during lunch, and even in her morning shower when she had double- and triple-checked she was alone, she was certain she heard nearby creaking.
Worse somehow was when she went to the refectory one afternoon, and caught sight of Patch and her family. Leonore and Tomei’s usual pleasant expressions grew hard, and Zak threw Chione a look that screamed intent to homicide. Patch however just glanced down, before standing up and encouraging the others to follow her out of the room. Chione went to eat, but with a hollowness in her stomach that couldn’t be filled. She deserved this one, she could admit.
“Have you run into Rigoletta’s gang again?” Cheshire asked that evening, as she firmly massaged her thumbs into Chione’s neck.
“No, fortunately.”
Cheshire’s cell was no less bare than the others, but it was more welcoming: the light had been busted for years so the area was filled with candlelight, and it was a more compact space since it only housed the three prisoners. Cheshire was joined by Melissa –– a very young, pale girl with messy hair that was a faded grey-blue–– and Rover –– who was short but beefy, with brown dreads the same shade as her skin. The two always seemed to be on guard, although it was the latter who was the lookout. Melissa always had a wary eye on Chione.
“Rigoletta’s not the strongest gang I’d wager,” Cheshire said, “but they’re good at sniffing out weakness like sharks to blood. I think some of the younger girls call them the Dyke Pack. You can see why….”
“Why?”
“Well, their orgies are rather famous at this point. There’s no structure, they just fuck and fuck and fuck. And they actually enjoy it, heh heh.”
Chione swallowed, trying not to let the images flood her mind. She’d already caught a glimpse of Vil and Tatiana doing something on her first day. Could two women even do anything in bed together? She’d rather not find out.
“It’s one way to keep a group close together,” Cheshire elaborated. “To stick together.”
Indeed, Cheshire would know something about that. Her little group had a peculiar arrangement: Cheshire was at the top but unlike Patch (a provider) or Rigoletta (an enforcer), she didn’t seem that different to Chione in skill-set. In fact, Cheshire invited her to join every mid-morning, and they spent most of the time washing through cloth and linens, while it was Rover and Melissa who went to do the ‘real work.’ But at the end of every day, the two girls would return exhausted, and then willingly link hands with the older woman –– with a zap, every credit they had earned went straight to Cheshire’s account.
“You okay with that?” Chione asked Rover, the first time she saw the transaction take place.
“We trust momma,” the girl said, jutting out her lower lip.
“She’s better with finances,” Melissa said, before spitting out a couple coughs, “keugh, keugh… we wouldn’t have survived without mommy.”
Chione responded with a weirded look, and turned to Cheshire with an upturned brow.
“Heh, don’t you suppose I’m rather mature? Perhaps in another life I’d have a daughter your age by now.”
After all the years the woman had been at Asphodel, she’d gained many insights. Her management of the funds was deft –– enough to cover her girls’ expenses (and now Chione’s), and then to retain a little more. She called this her ‘capital’ and had even begun giving out loans to other prisoners, with interest rates varying according to reputations. But there was no contract law in Asphodel, so apart from the payment for mining work and the purchases at Commissary, nothing need be honoured. There was risk in someone just taking the money and running, especially if they ran in a big gang.
“And so we punish the freeloaders,” Cheshire said, pressing her thumb particularly deep into Chione’s shoulder blades. “So people can play fair.”
“Nngh,” Chione stretched out, feeling the sudden rise and fall in tension. “Aaah….”
“Did that get that knot, dear?” Cheshire asked, smiling with hooded eyes, “I do so pride myself on my masseuse skills.”
“You’re great, Cheshire!” Melissa enthused with sparkling eyes. “You…keugh… you’re so great with your hands.”
“Aw thank you, dear Melissa!”
At that moment, a guard appeared in the open doorway, rattling her knuckles on the frame. It was Zoe Dee.
“Alright, girls, it’s count in seven, make sure you’re in place.”
Chione quickly stood up, although was a bit too limber after that sensuous loosening. She just gave an appreciative nod to her impromptu physio-therapist.
“See you in the morning?”
“Of course, my dear,” Cheshire’s smile parted, showing her prominent front teeth, “I’m already missing you.”
She followed Dee out of the cell and along the narrow walkway. Although it wasn’t necessary to keep by her side until lockdown, she followed along as the guard continued making her rounds. Chione was eager to ask her something, but before she could broach the topic, Zoe spoke first.
“Since when were you with Cheshire’s lot?”
“Couple weeks now,” said Chione. “I might as well make some money while I’m waiting, and she’s been good to me so far.”
“Be careful of the ‘good ones’ especially her,” Zoe said, with a twist of her cheek, ”at least with the assholes you know what they want.”
“Well she hasn’t beaten anyone up, so I think I prefer her to the assholes, thank you. I mean, aside from the ‘mommy’ thing she seems normal.”
Zoe let out a chuckle, “yeah, that’s kind of tame compared to some of the role-play in here. In any case, I’d just stay wary if I were you.”
Chione’s chest tightened. She refrained from the retort, but it would have been easy to ask what the hell Zoe thought she had been doing? Of course she didn’t trust anyone on this rock. Cheshire was helpful, and kind. The hours spent washing through clothes had been the least stressed Chione had been in over a month. And, to be truthful, there was something maternal about Cheshire. She was probably the same age her mother would have been…
Finally Chione could hold back no more and blurted out, “has there been any word then?”
Zoe glanced back at her, wearing a quizzical look.
“Excuse me?”
“My letter.”
“Oh that,” she gave a rather long sigh, and seemed to search around for the right words. “There’s a lot of process and approvals to even get it onto a shuttle, you know. After that, it’s gone. Technically speaking, no one can even attempt to contact you, so unless they barge onto the asteroid I won’t even know if they’ve read it. Who are you even expecting?”
“The Eosides clan had connections,” Chione said, gritting her teeth. “We have patrons within the Kratian imperial councils. And I still have family under that name, even without my father!”
“Oh man.”
Dee came to a stop, turning to face Chione with a pained expression. Chione stared at her, at first defiant but then softening as she realised a shift in the guard’s aura.
“I… didn’t know, I’m sorry,” Zoe Dee said.
“Yeah well…. It’s all because of him that…. He’s gone and I shouldn’t be here.” Chione dug in her brow, and loudly said, “but I won’t dwell on it. Not for a single second until I’m home. I can think about it then.”
“Chione, seriously ––and I mean this with all love–– but get real.”
Zoe pulled away, as if it hurt to look at her. She let out a sigh.
“If you’re gonna mourn him, do it now. Because that reply isn’t coming, and no one’s going to save you. Later will never come.”