THE ANTH

1529 4D

Andrew looked up and down the street, and with both of his small hands, dragged the cubby‘s door open. He called in, “What’s the matter?” His voice squeaked. He shouldn’t have come down here. “Can I get you a med man?”

“C…come.” A gasp from inside.

Andrew slipped in and closed the door behind him, afraid of both the man inside and the thing that had left him here.

“Get the Lady.” A slim hand gripped Andrew‘s. This felt like a dream. “I’ll be… dead soon.” The white face grimaced in the shadows.

Andrew stared at the body. The man’s middle had been taken out just like one big bite.

“Don’t look… at that.”

Andrew forced himself to look at the pale andro face. “Who’s the lady?” he asked.

“Go to Aswal Guisanash… stand under the dome, on the… star, and say what you… saw and where I am. I’m Jeddin. She’ll help… me.”

“All right.” Andrew started to back away.

“Hurry. They’re going to…" The voice stopped. There was no more breath.

Andrew turned and ran.

The crossing called Aswal Guisanash was up many levels, well above Andrew‘s home and off toward City axis. His short legs took him up a wide spiral stair, past noisy drums and cries, past shrieking quarrels, past drug-stupefied bodies being picked over by children, past streetrodents with teeth locked in each other, until he stood trembling and panting on the star engraved on the floor, under the center of the metal-studded dome at Aswal Guisanash.

No one nearby. The shops and entertainments were shuttered and dark. Two druggies lay in a dazed embrace just off the circular space of the aswal. One of them swatted ineffectually at a lingering, sniffing, miniature purple canine hoisting its leg.

Andrew, heaving and sobbing for breath, closed his eyes. He said in a whisper, “There’s a man, an… andro down in… Grize Walk. He was partly eaten… his stomach. He’s in a… sleep cubby. He’s Jeddin. He wants the… lady to come help him.”

He said it all twice. He would have to go home soon to sleep, or his father would find out about his absence and beat him. He waited. The andro hadn’t said to wait. His breath returned. He started for the stairs to go back to Rumchi Zone when a soft voice said behind him, “Show me, little one.”

It was a young woman, with dark-gold skin, and pale hair like an andro, dressed in a long, billowy, dark-blue bodysuit. She reached out to take his hand, and he gripped hers, and he felt better.

They entered the cubby and stood looking down at the body. The woman dropped Andrew‘s hand and knelt by the body, placing her face close to the andro‘s. The body lay still; the eyes were shut. “Jeddin,” she said. “Not again.”

Andrew looked down at the floor. Under the andro‘s dangling fingertips, a blue-black stone gleamed. Andrew bent down and picked it up. It was warm. He cradled it in his closed hand, but a melting sensation made him look at it again. His hand was empty. He looked around in confusion.

The woman took Andrew by the shoulders, getting on her knees so that she was eye to eye with him. In the dim light, her irises made deep-gold circles around dark pupils.

“This is bad for you, child,” she said. “You see too much. Here is something to help you forget, and to help you sleep.” She kissed him on the mouth.

He started to pull back, but she was so gentle that he just stood and let her hold him. Her kiss tasted sweet. A delicious sleepiness came over him; he swayed, and she held him firmly as she stood again.

“Go home now. You’re not one of the lost ones. Go to your bed and sleep, and forget all this.”

He turned, his thoughts fading just the way they did before he slept, and then he steadied enough to hear her say, “Don’t worry, now. When you need to, you will remember.”

In the morning, Martin asked Andrew where he’d gone, and he said, “I just wandered.” He could remember nothing else.