Page 61 of Blightfall

“We ought to give it up. The only way we’ll ever live decently is to make our way to Elysium.”

I thought they only took gladiators. But if the soldiers won the war they were supposedly fighting, more of the population would want to move off planet.

“Check it out,” Nedd said, nodding at Dayan.

Their most recent conversation had just ended, and they were gulping down their drink while they could. Nedd nudged me, like he wanted me to go first, so I walked over. Nedd followed.

Dayan seemed even more wiry hunched up on a barstool. They were thin, but clearly all muscle. They smiled at us as we approached.

“Hey!” I said. “We don’t often come up to the city, but we saw you fight today. You were incredible.”

“Thanks,” Dayan said.

“Thank you!” I said. I probably sounded too enthusiastic. But we were supposed to be enthusiastic, right? We were fans. “How long have you been in the games?”

“About six months,” Dayan said.

Six months to get nearly enough points to go to Elysium. “Did you train for a long time before that, just to get in?”

Dayan sipped their drink and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been training since I was a kid.”

“So did you always want to be a gladiator, then?”

Nedd and I were still standing awkwardly around Dayan’s barstool, but the people on the next stools finally took pity on us and vacated, letting us sit. For the moment, we had Dayan to ourselves. I scooted my chair away from the bar to discourage anyone else from crowding around.

“Sure,” Dayan said, shrugging. “Wasn’t it everyone’s childhood dream to fight in the games?”

“Totally,” I said.

It probably was, like it was every Detritus kid’s dream to be a pilot. The DDF made sure we grew up idolizing pilots, so we’d work and work to pass the pilot’s test and earn the privilege to throw our lives away against the Krell.

“I don’t think I have what it takes, though,” I said. “It looks”—I almost said “scudding scary,” but I hadn’t heard anyone use the word “scud” here; maybe they swore differently—“terrifying to ride on a thrashing tree with nothing but a light-whip to hold on to. You’d have to be brave to get up there and do it at all.”

“Yeah, it’s frightening sometimes,” Dayan said, relaxing for the first time. “I know I’m not supposed to admit that.”

“Why not? I think you’d be crazy not to be scared. Those scions are enormous. What’s the hardest part about fighting them?”

“Landing,” Dayan said, without even thinking about it. “The branches will break your ribs, but it’s nothing compared to what you can do to yourself if you land wrong. The sand looks soft from the stands, but it still hurts like hell, even if you do it right.”

I looked to Nedd. He was technically in command with Arturo absent, but I was doing all the babbling. He smiled and nodded at me, so I kept going.

“Why do you do it then?” I asked.

Dayan shrugged. “It pays well. My parents used to work in the quarry. When they got too old for the labor, we moved to the city, but it’s hard to make rent.”

Oh stars. It made sense that being a gladiator wasn’t all about some fabled path to Elysium. It was also about survival. “Some people on the farms discouraged us from coming up here,” I said. “They said it was too expensive, too hard to find a job.”

“Easy to find a job,” Dayan said. “Hard to find a good one. My parents work long hours just to cover rent. If I make it to Elysium, my family will get a huge bonus. My younger siblings want to be gladiators too, but if I make it, they won’t have to take the risk. My parents can find an apartment in a better neighborhood and not have to worry about money so much.”

No one had to worry about rent on Detritus—the DDF provided every citizen with basic housing and credits. Theoretically we were all equal, but some jobs paid more credits than others, so it was hard to believe that was really true. Some neighborhoods were still more desirable than others, some caverns safer, some more prestigious.

“I hoped things would be different in the city,” I said. “But I guess it’s the same struggle everywhere.”

Dayan nodded. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to help my family, to fight in the games. It’s everyone’s dream and I’m living it, so that makes me pretty lucky.”

I wondered if they really felt that way, or simply knew what fans wanted to hear. I thought about how to angle my next question to get into the juicy stuff.

“Do you worry about what it’ll be like?” I asked. “Elysium?”