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saw the nearly ready-to-fly fledgling huddled on the deck. The girl raised her bare foot and stomped down on the baby bird, crushing its back and making it squeal, a sharp anguished sound. The girl stomped her foot again and again, giggling as she crushed the life out of the chick.
    Else watched as the child grinned at the smear of mashed flesh and feathers, then scraped her foot along the deck, wiping it clean. Lowanna stirred and started to grizzle. The child spun around and stared at Else with wide green eyes. Her expression was a mixture of guilt and angry surprise. A dark bruise running from her eye and down across her tanned cheek colored her face even darker.
    “Go away!” the child shouted and bolted through the nets and containers towards the high structure of the ship’s interior.
    Else followed, ducking and weaving past the ropes and nets. She reached the door just as the girl was heaving it open. Overbalancing, Else slammed her shoulder into the wall and grabbed the girl by the back of the neck. The child screamed as Else swept the machete up to the girl’s face. “Shut up!” she growled. “Shut up or I will cut your fucking head off.”
    The trembling girl went silent. Else felt a warm wetness spreading over her leg as the terrified child wet herself.
    “Who else is on this ship?” Else snarled over the girl’s shoulder. The girl whimpered and said nothing.
    “Tell me,” Else warned.
    “Ev-everybody,” the girl whispered.
    “Show me,” Else said, aware that Lowanna was crying lustily now and even the noise of the roosting birds wasn’t enough to cover it.
    The girl reached out and gingerly twisted the door handle. Else stepped back, the tip of the machete hovering over the girl’s shoulder. The child pulled hard and the door creaked open wide enough for them to slip inside. A puff of stale air that stank in a thousand different ways wafted out over them.
    “The ones inside, alive or dead?” Else asked.
    “Alive,” the girl replied and stepped into the dark. Else followed her. The girl stopped and looked back. “You have to close the door,” she explained. Else reached back and pulled the door shut. They stood now in the pitch dark of a narrow corridor.
    The child seemed at ease here. “I’m going to get in trouble for sneaking on deck,” she said. “But not half as much as you’re going to cop it,” her voice carrying a malicious smirk in the darkness. A click, and a jury-rigged line of electric lights banished the shadows.
    “Where is everyone?” Else said.
    “Below decks and the up-highs are up there,” the girl waved at the ceiling. “Captain and crew mostly. They live good up-high. One day they’ll take me and I’ll live above too.”
    “How old are you?” Else asked.
    “Dunno. Almost old enough for boobs, I reckon.” The girl stared at the wriggling lump on Else’s body. “That baby yours?”
    “Kinda,” Else said, not in the mood for further explanations. “Show me where your people are.”
    The girl walked ahead, leading Else down a flight of stairs. Turning at the landing the girl skipped down the next flight. Else followed her; close enough to cut her down if necessary, but not too close. The walls here were painted in garish graffiti. Stick figures marched in crooked lines and tiny crosses floated above their heads. Scraps of faded cloth and plastic hung from the ceiling and walls. Older art had been covered with new layers in some places. In others the paint had been scratched away and rough letters, spelling out names, were etched into the metal. The girl stopped at a door set in the painted wall.
    “You can still run away,” she said with a sly smile.
    Else lifted the machete and pressed the point to the girl’s cheek. “I can still cut you too,” she smiled back.
    The girl twisted away and opened the door. The smell was stronger now. A miasma of shit dissolving in piss, the stench of sweat, sex, and cooking smells all combining into the stink of