Red Rock

Chapter 6: Check to the Primate (Part 1)

Chapter 6 Check to the Primate (Part 1)

Daire wasn't sure what to do. It all started off with such a harmless move. They weren't even five moves in and Daire could feel the heat of defeat sizzle in his head. 'Where was the mistake?' he thought, rubbing his scalp. 'Was it moving my Knight out of harm's way? Or maybe it was moving the Knight there in the first place?' It was hard for him to tell. He was about to make his fifth move and there were no good scenarios on the horizon. Timothy's Queen was sitting hungrily on 'e2' with a clear path to the Black King sweating across the board. "Check!" Timothy finally said barely holding in his excitement. Daire delayed the inevitable, placing his Knight back in the middle of the board blocking the White Queen's sight of his King. "Check!" Timothy said even louder slashing the Black Knight off the table with the butt of his Queen, placing it in the middle of the board.

"You win," Daire gritted, flicking over his King on its side, knowing that whatever he did to protect it would result in a compromised Queen. It took Timothy six moves to win and advance to the finals against a little short brunette woman named Sasha from hallway B. The match was set to take place the next morning. Nobody knew that Timothy would be so good at Chess. He successfully demolished every opponent he faced, and did so with arrogance. All twelve people in the residence knew Timothy was going to win as he had previously dueled with Sasha in the round robin part of the tournament and it had been a massacre like every other match.

"YES!" Timothy celebrated, "You're probably the worst person I've faced so far!"

"That's great Timothy, but you don't have to be an asshole about it!" a frustrated Neil said, still bitter from his early exit from the tourney.

"You suck too Neil! You didn't even make it passed the round robin! Ha!"

"You're a little prick, you know that?"

"Nuh-uh! You're just jealous of my superior intelligence level!" Neil bit his tongue, knowing that the end of this conversation would not have a favorable outcome. "Nothing to say, huh?" Timothy continued boasting, smiling at Neil.

Neil walked hastily out of the common room cursing under his breath. Another ten seconds with Timothy, and he would have been charged for homicide.

*

The tension died down in the common room and most of the residents retreated to their stiff beds to get some sleep. "Goodnight Ron!" Daire waived at the elderly man disappearing through the doorway of his bedroom in Hallway B.

"Good night, Daire!" Ron waved back giving a wrinkly smile before the automatic door closed shut. Daire knew everyone in the residence at this point. Being trapped in an enclosed area for so long forced him to socialize. In Hallway B, there was Ron and his wife Hazel, a balding ginger named Daniel in his early forties, a lesbian couple Sasha and Jessica, and a reclusive depressed looking man named Denis. Though Hallway A consisted more young people from the same generation, everyone in the residence became a family, with the exception of Timothy.

Daire, Marth, and Maria sat at the dining table whispering to each other as Timothy stood from afar, peering in on their conversation while waiting for an invitation. "I just worked at this shitty factory for the longest time," Marth continued. "I dropped out of school because I knew I wasn't going anywhere special. I wanted to be an artist, so I got this job cleaning out furnaces to make some extra cash before I went to Nashville to get famous."

"Why didn't you go?" Daire asked, sounding slightly intrigued.

People didn't like talking about their past. Everyone was trying so hard to get away from it that the topic was generally avoided. Marth sharing his past made Daire and Maria feel privileged that he would share such private information.

"Lost my dream," he sighed, his fingers twitched on the table. "Every day just molded together and each dollar I made was just another one I had to earn, and eventually I forgot why I was there in the first place. I became a machine."

"So that's why you're here?" Maria asked unimpressed at his decision making.

"Partially, but let me finish," he said flashing Maria a smile. "I was tired of working in a furnace all day, getting burnt, constantly sweating, always aching, and all at a minimum wage salary. So one day I took some of the precious metals that I work around all day to make some extra cash, and I got caught."

"How?" Daire asked.

"They measure the metals throughout the day and realized they were a couple of kilograms short from what they should have had. One of the workers noticed that my pockets were pretty full and I was searched. I was sentenced to eight years in prison with no one to bail me out. So I figured since my life was a shit hole anyways, I might as well start over."

Daire frowned. "Sounds like management took precautionary measures just for those occasions."

"Well, no shit," Marth sighed, leaning back in his chair. "It doesn't matter anymore anyways. The all and powerful Akin has taken me under its wing, and soon I will be in paradise."

"Ha!" Timothy yelled, running toward the dining table and pulling up a chair. "You won't!" he smiled, springing on the perfect moment to join the conversation.

"And what makes you think that?" Marth responded sounding offended.

"That's the whole purpose of the Surveyor! To find 'Paradise' like landscapes so that Akin can charge millions of dollars to vacate the spot for their suitors on Earth!"

"Well how do you know I won't find one?" Marth asked, feeling his confidence sway.

"Because we are going to a Sector Two location, which means there has been little to no proof of any kind of luscious habitation where we're going. All the good prospects are given to the Sector One Surveyors and even they have little to no chance of finding 'Paradise,' so ha! You won't find it!" he finished pumping his chest. For someone who was socially inept, Timothy was pretty smart.

"How can they do that?" Maria asked, showing little regard to the assault on Marth.

"They're the largest corporation in the world, they can do whatever they want," Timothy said, enjoying the acknowledgement. "Even Countries let them do whatever they want. Any Country with a Space Program or wants a share in the Space Mining industry has to go through Akin."

Marth sat in his seat, fuming over Timothy's derogatory remarks towards his fantasy. "So, what? You think we're going to live like animals?"

"Did you think there's a house on a beach waiting for you or something?" Timothy laughed, turning to Maria. "He's so dumb! You should have sex with me instead!"

Marth felt liquid anger flow to his head and he lunged across the table grabbing Timothy by the collar. Timothy gave out bird-like shrieks trying to break Marth's grip on his shirt. The only thing standing between Timothy and a severe beating was a flimsy plastic dining table swaying back and forth from the commotion. Daire grabbed Marth with two hands around his waist dragging him to the hallway, and struggling to keep a steady pace backward. "I'll kill you!" Marth yelled trying to get loose from Daire's grip. "You're fucking dead! You hear that? Dead!" he finished, finally disappearing behind the doorway, still heavily resisting Daire's clench.

"You're sick," Maria coldly spat toward Timothy.

"I'm intellectually superior to him! You saw! That means you should have sex with me!" Timothy excited, looking up and down Maria's body.

"Go fuck yourself," Maria stated angrily leaving Timothy alone in the common room.

"He owes me a new shirt!"

*