9789147155958

KOLA, PARROT AND SKUNK

BOOK 2

ISBN 978-91-47-15595-8

© 2025 Coombs Andy, Scho Sarah och Liber AB. Text- och datautvinning ej tillåten.

Title of the original Work

Kola, Parrot and Skunk. Book 2: Animals © Andrew Coombs & Sarah Scho, 2024

REDAKTION Anna Karlberg

FORMGIVARE Ingela Jönsson

ILLUSTRATION OCH OMSLAG Sarah Scho

PROJEKTLEDARE Emilie Szakàl

Första upplagan

1

REPRO Repro 8 AB, Stockholm

TRYCK People Printing, Kina 2025

KOPIERINGSFÖRBUD

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Liber AB, 113 98 Stockholm www.liber.se/kundservice

www.liber.se

Prologue

Kola lives in The City, a human colony on an ocean world called The Big Blue. The City is split into three levels: the luxurious Upper, the stable Middle, and the unforgiving Lower. Kola was born in the Middle level, but her world is smashed when the workers of the Middle start to riot. In the chaos Kola is forced to flee downward to the dangerous Lower – a place where survival is bloody and food is scarce.

Scared and confused, Kola meets Doctor Jack, who offers her a terrible choice: become a “Lumper”, someone who grows organs for the wealthy, or die alone from illness, hunger or violence.

Dr. Jack introduces Kola to Landlady, a powerful woman who runs one of the only safe places in the Lower – her compound. Kola can live there as long as she earns enough to pay rent by lumping for Dr. Jack. Navigating this dangerous world, Kola must adapt quickly to stay alive.

Kola saves a quiet boy she names Parrot and his brave cat, Skunk. Together, they form a bond, sharing stories and daring to dream of a better life. Their kindness starts to spread, making small but significant changes in the Lower.

Kola reaches out to a group of street kids called the Brats. Led by Boss, the four Brats are wary of her at first. But over time, trust grows. United, they work to improve their lives. They even manage to bring electricity to their new home, lighting up not just their surroundings but their spirits as well.

Feeling that big changes are coming, Kola, Parrot, and Skunk stand together, determined to break down the barriers between Upper, Middle, and Lower.

INDEX

16. Friendships grow and a row with Landlady 7

17. The tomato plant 12

18. A terrible accident 23

19. A long, long fall 30

20. Finding history 38

21. City of cats 44

22. Kola tells all 50

23. A way out 61

24. The endless sea 66

25. The trek back 74

26. Tadpole undone 80

27. Reputations, rumors and plans 85

28. More Brats 92

29. Brats become Animals 96

30. Animals and residents start the Game 101

31. Parrot finds something amazing 105

32. Misha of the Upper 113

33. Growing games and the power of ink 121

34. Parrot of the Upper 128

35. Kola’s message 136

36. Food for the Lower 147

37. Arriving back at the compound 151

38. Origin renewed 157

39. Parrot, Skunk and Kola 165

Friendships grow and a row with Landlady

Things changed after the night of Tadpole’s dance. Now the Brats had names: Rabbit, Tadpole, Crow and Bear.

Under the watchful eye of Landlady, the Brats cleaned and repaired in return for a safe place to live.

The Brats slowly began to fit in; sharing nods with the other residents and some even started to make friends.

Harry, one of the Middle-born residents who had come down to the Lower years before in the food riots, was somehow able to get fabric and other stuff from the Middle. He had been in the Lower for too long to still lump for Dr. Jack, so now sold clothing to pay his rent to Landlady. He worked outside, expertly sewing clothes together with his long thin fingers, or using colors and dyes to shade shirts or long pants. While he worked you would often find Rabbit standing or sitting near to him.

Everything Rabbit did was fast. The way he spoke, the way he moved, the way his eyes darted from side to side, up and down. Even when standing in one place, Rabbit was never still, slightly

hopping from foot to foot, or fidgeting with his hands in his pocket, his mouth opening and closing rapidly as the words flew out of him, like sparks from fire darting into the sky. And in this way, Harry was the receptive sky. Rabbit’s words flew into Harry and if Harry minded, he never showed it. Occasionally he would slowly nod, or even manage to insert a word of his own into the unstoppable flow of Rabbit. And as Rabbit talked, he gradually got closer and closer to Harry. In just a couple of days he was leaning against Harry – talking, talking.

On one of these occasions, Kola positioned herself close enough to be able to overhear. And in that moment, she discovered a whole new understanding, not only for Rabbit, but for the rest of the Brats as well. For as Rabbit talked, he spoke of life in the Lower – it was what he knew. It may have been Harry’s calm or just the monotony of watching Harry’s fingers work on the material, but something shifted within Rabbit, and he opened up to Harry.

Rabbit spoke about what it was like to be hungry and scared and then to meet Boss. Boss had taken care of him and had kept him alive.

What Kola didn’t overhear was when Rabbit spoke of Kola taking Boss down. There was awe in Rabbit’s voice as he told Harry how with one kick, she had put Boss flat on his back and could have killed him easily if she had wanted.

Access to water was another major difference. Crow had come up with an ingenious way to combine unused junk to direct rainfall from the roofs into areas where water was needed for drinking or sanitation. While she pieced together bits of tubing, Kola noticed Misha peering at her through the crack of her door. Misha, rumored to be from the Upper itself, was a solitary person. Rarely seen outside of her room, she had never shown interest in the people she shared the compound with. So, people

noticed when Misha’s door slowly opened, and she put her hand through the crack and beckoned with her finger to Crow. Misha explained to Crow that the junk she had put together needed to be angled in specific ways. Of course, Crow did not know what an angle was, and so Misha, rolling her eyes, started to explain.

From that moment, Misha left her room more frequently, mainly to spend time with Crow.

“What do you talk about?” Kola asked Crow.

Crow shrugged. “Not much really. She knows about how things are put together and we talk about that. She says I remind her of her.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. But she knows a lot of things.”

Kola remembered what Harry had told her. “Has she told you about the Upper?”

Crow shrugged again. “Nothing like that. She’s telling me about numbers and how they fit together.”

The compound changed in other ways as well. These were ways that were extremely beneficial to Landlady. Along with the lights came a sense of security. Landlady started to allow people from the streets, traders and others who had goods to barter, to come into the compound in the evening light. A proportion of everything they sold went straight into the hands and pockets of Landlady. And because the compound was now a better place to live, Landlady raised the rent. With water, evening lights and the influx of traders there was no shortage of people who would like to take a room from anybody who declined to pay the higher fee.

Landlady soon tried to renegotiate with Kola.

“Now is all lemons and roses so everybody else is paying higher,” Landlady said with some hostility.

“We had a deal,” said Kola quickly. “And if you try to go back on that I’m taking back my lights.”

“But that deal was for the old compound,” said Landlady persistently. “And look at the place now. By the goodness of my heart and the light in my soul, everything is better. So, it’s only fair you pay higher.”

“That’s only because my friends are keeping it clean for you. That’s only because there is light for people to see by in the evenings. Without my light, without my friends, this place will go back to exactly what it was. And people wouldn’t pay the rent you’re asking for now. So, I suggest that if you want to keep things as they are, you better back off.”

Almost under her breath, Landlady muttered, “You better be careful my Lovely. There’s nothing so dangerous as people, except people with danger on mind.”

Kola took a step forward until her nose was inches from Landlady’s.

“You may be thinking of trying to take me out – slipping me or head knocking. And it might work. You’ve got keys and you’ve got your point. But then you’d have to take out Parrot as well. And then you’d have to take out every other Brat I am friends with. And you know my friends are not just the ones who live here. So even if you take out all seven of us, you’ll always be looking over your shoulder for somebody else to slip their own point between your shoulder blades. Is it worth that?”

Landlady shot back. “You may think you frighten me, Middler. I’ve heard what you did to that big Brat. But I’m no Brat. I am Landlady and if you think you’ve got friends imagine how many

people I knows down here who can take you down without a blink and a wink.”

For a moment Kola stayed exactly where she was, and then took a quick step backwards. “You really should do something about your breath,” Kola said lightly. “And now we know. You can’t take me out and I can’t take you out. But let’s also see the good. I won’t forget that you saved my life and you’ve also given me a safe place to live. Now I’ve provided lights and workers that will keep this place clean. You will benefit, and I will benefit. If you knew a bit more about how the world works, you would see there was no need for threats.”

“I am blood sure how this world works,” said Landlady in a quiet voice. “But remember my lips, I am the real boss round here.” Landlady turned abruptly and walked away.

The tomato plant 17

Dr. Jack and Kola’s relationship, such as it was, was badly affected by the night of the party. On the next two occasions that Kola went to see Dr. Jack he refused to talk to her except for cursory commands such as “lift your shirt” or “turn over”. Kola didn’t really mind. She now had more people to talk to at the compound, and Landlady pretty much stayed out of her way.

Sometimes, when Parrot was sleeping late or just hanging out with Skunk somewhere, Kola would spend time with the Brats. Boss didn’t seem to hold a grudge from their previous conversation. She actually learnt a lot from him just listening to his stories of life in the Lower. He talked briefly of his parents, who had died at the relatively old Lower age of thirty.

From the age of ten, Boss had been on his own in the Lower but due to his height and relative strength he was able to pull the Brats around him. When Kola asked him why he would bring those weaker than him into a group, he just shrugged and said, “you can’t look after yourself all of the time.”

Kola understood what he meant. She remembered her argument with Landlady, and knew it was true. Having the Brats around her meant that she had a level of security in the Lower that

she had never had before. And of course, there was Parrot and Skunk. Now, after the time they were nearly caught, when they took their trips up to the Middle, Parrot always took Skunk in the bag. Skunk did seem to have an almost supernatural sense of when danger was coming. They would hear a quiet meow or small scratching from the inside of the material, and then they knew it was time to go. Frequently, as they walked around the corner or turned out of view, they would hear or see somebody else arriving – a restaurant owner or more frequently now, an Agro worker. Parrot had started to take Kola on incursions into the Agro areas of the Middle. As he spent more time there, memories flooded back, equipping him with the knowledge of where to find fresh food and useful stuff to take down to the Lower.

Kola learnt a lot from Parrot. After her illness started when she was five or six, her life in the Middle had been almost totally confined to her family home. She remembered going to common school when she was little, but not much more. She learnt from Parrot about life in the wider Middle in a way that she had never seen before.

“You see, most of the food grown here doesn’t get eaten here,” Parrot said expansively, gesturing his arm around the near empty fields of the Middle.

It was very late in the day, and darkness was falling. Parrot had explained that the Middle Agro workers tended to work early and finish early and any other work was done by simple automated machines.

“Most of the good food, the fresh stuff, gets moved up to the Upper.” He paused and pointed out one of the machines.

“Imagine if we could take one of those machines down to the Lower. Imagine what we could do with it.”

“But there’s no way to move a big machine like that,” Kola said and smiled. “Let’s think a bit smaller, shall we?”

“Yes, you’re right. Maybe we should take something that only an Upper normally gets. That’s why my parents were so angry all those years ago. That’s why so many of the Agro workers were prepared to come out and fight with the Sparks. I remember even when I was very young, we would have fresh food to eat. But then, a year or two before the food riots, the good food started to become rarer and rarer. It was all going to the Uppers. They separated the lands down here – the land that had a high yield of low-quality food, food that went into the bellies of the Middle. And then the high-quality stuff, the fresh vegetables and salad.”

“And how about you?” he continued. “You’ve never really told me what your family did in the Middle.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it now.”

Parrot shrugged. He was growing accustomed to Kola’s reluctance to talk about her past.

They eventually came to a small shallow building. This far from the center and the Middle was exposed to the sky. The building looked even smaller with the wide orange and red swirling skies above it. The building was locked, with a common hand pad. Parrot pressed his hand to it, but just received a buzz of rejection.

“Why don’t you try and open the door?” said Parrot.

“Why would I be able to open the door?” replied Kola, surprised.

“Because of what you did to that Sparks’ building. When we were stuck in the alley, and you opened the door with your hand. I don’t know what it means, but if it works there, maybe it will work here.”

Kola shrugged and placed her hand upon the scanner. A small hum and then a pattern Kola knew, and the door slid open revealing a large printing machine, quietly humming, creating patties of pink.

“It’s a meat machine,” Parrot said simply. “High protein meats.” He turned to loaded trestle tables covered in plants.

“I can’t believe it!” Parrot exclaimed. “This is the good stuff. If we can take one or two of these down, we’ll be able to start growing our own food. This is where the Uppers will get their tomatoes and cucumbers from.”

“Come on. Let’s be quick. Light is falling and the Sparks will be more vigilant,” said Kola. “Let’s grab what we can and make our way back down.”

“You do know a lot about the Sparks,” Parrot said slowly, regarding her with his head tilted slightly to one side. He squinted and quickly licked his lips.

“Your parents had something to do with the Sparks, didn’t they? That’s why your hand can open panels. So, it must have been …” Parrot was feeling his way through the logic, “… that your parents were Sparks, or connected to them in some way. Is that why you don’t like talking about it? Because your family bloodline is in the Sparks?”

“You’re right.” Kola nodded her head. “I don’t like talking about it. So just forget about it, okay?”

“It’s your choice,” Parrot sighed. “But I tell you everything. And if this friendship is going to work, you need to open up a bit more. Skunk tells me more than you do!” From inside the bag a small meow was heard as Skunk responded to his name.

Parrot stuffed a small plant that he said would grow tomatoes

into his backpack next to Skunk. Then he took paper packets from a shelf, shoved some into the bag until it was full and gave the rest to Kola to carry.

“Plant food,” Parrot said, and his mouth twisted into an ugly shape. He spat onto the dirt. “The Uppers make sure their plants have enough food to eat, but don’t care if we starve. It’s a nice world, isn’t it?”

And it was then, on their way back, Parrot suddenly stopped. He just froze. For a moment Kola remembered his first time coming to the Middle – the way his body had seemed to reject where he was – his breathing and puffing, the sweating and jerky, uncertain movements. But this was different. He just stopped. Still.

“What is it?” she asked.

Parrot was looking down at a small and untended field space. Nothing was growing there except a small bush with yellowing flowers. The rest was scrub and dirt.

“That’s Beauty,” he said simply and then walked up to the small bush and fell to his knees.

Kola took a quick look around. No one in sight. She moved to Parrot and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“What?” she asked again.

Parrot turned to face her and took a ragged breath. Tears were streaming from his eyes and a snot bubble was growing chaotically from one nostril. This was a Parrot she had never seen.

“That’s Beauty,” he said again then sniffed the bubble into his

nose. “Dad’s Beauty. That’s what he called this bush. He called it his Beauty then Mum would pretend to get annoyed and … and … and then they would kiss. She said she was supposed to be his Beauty, not the plant. But she didn’t mind. It … it was a joke. I think.”

Parrot put his hands in the dirt and for a moment he shook. Then he pushed himself up and stood. He passed both hands through the colorful spike of his hair and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” said Kola quietly.

Parrot looked at her with a crooked smile, tears leaking into the corners of his mouth. “I’m not surprised. I don’t understand either because if this is Dad’s Beauty then this … this …” Parrot gestured at the small square of scrubland, “is … was … my home. A house, small and painted. We lived here – Mum, Dad and me. I slept under a table when I was little … I think. And then, and then … I had my own bed that Mum made from wooden fruit pallets.”

“But there’s nothing here,” said Kola uncertainly.

“Yes,” said Parrot simply, his eyes darkening. “Nothing. No house. No Mum, no Dad,” He looked down at himself, “and no me.”

And then Kola understood. She remembered reading about this on Comms when she lived with her parents. Orders to eradicate, to clean a person’s life away. Order 300. Erase. Kill those marked and remove all traces of their lives.

“Were your parents … Haters?” she asked and then regretted it immediately.

Parrot’s head snapped around and he looked at her with heat. “If you mean, were they hungry and angry? If you mean, were

KOLA, PARROT AND SKUNK

BOOK 2: ANIMALS

When global warming destroyed the earth, massive ark ships were sent out to colonize a distant world.

One of the star ships crashed on a planet and from the debris, the survivors built the City.

More than two hundred years later, the City is divided between the Uppers, Middlers and Lowers.