INTO AN INTERIOR DISTANCE

1563 4D

Here, andros sat at smaller tables, apparently ignoring the bangs and shouts from the dining room up front. Ezzar and Grendel found one open table; when Andrew tried to go on to another, Ezzar reached out a hand in front of him. “Just a minute. I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“About Arlen. If he’s after you, if you’ve got something he wants, some of us want to know what it is.”

“You didn’t seem very interested in anything but insulting me.” Andrew started to take a step, and Ezzar stood up in front of him now.

“No, wait. I’d just like to know more about what happened to you. I already know—" She stopped.

“Aren’t you worried about— it’s quiet.” The noise from the front room had died down as abruptly as it had started.

Puzzled, Andrew turned and went back to the steel door. Andros moved from the door back to the tables, shaking heads and exchanging brief bursts of scraping music. He looked in.

Not a single one of the hanging lamps had been touched. All the brawlers had reclaimed tables; some were reassembling furniture, the woman who had kicked the man’s face examined his bleeding nose tenderly, while he rubbed vigorously at a spot on her lower thigh. Laughter bubbled around the edges of the anjive. Andrew looked back at Ezzar and Grendel. “All right, what’s going on?”

“The dance is over. The corpos left.” Ezzar motioned Andrew back to her table. He stood, wondering, until she added, “They had to take in a few people for the fighting. They won’t be back for a while, probably not until late tomorrow. We’ll all be out of here by then.” She beckoned Andrew again.

“Was this all a show? Or was it real? And why do you care about me?”

“This was to give us time. That’s all. Now before you try to walk away, I want to know what Arlen wants from you. Then maybe I can get you some help, that is, if your story makes sense.”

Four tanks of brew arrived at the table. Grendel pushed two toward Andrew and Martin.

“Sit,” Grendel said. They sat. Andrew told Ezzar and Grendel about the ores on his land, about his long stay in the warehouse through the winter, and about being dumped by the roadside. He sipped. The brew tasted sweet and sharp, with a hint of chillberry.

Martin put in, “Then two old women found him and got him stitched up.”

“What old women?” Ezzar‘s voice sharpened.

“They called themselves Deen and Marra,” Andrew said.

Ezzar smiled. “You’re lucky,” she said, “They aren’t that nice to everybody.” She looked down.

“I know,” said Andrew, “They called a doctor. But—“

“They’re not always what they act like,” Ezzar said, “Not at all. How long were you there? Did you have dreams?”

“Yes. The same one.” Surprised, Andrew stared at her. “I was there for a few months.” He looked away.

“She nursed you?” Ezzar pressed.

“No. Well, just a few drops. Wait, that was the dream,” Andrew muttered. “How do you—“

“Never mind,” she said. She looked over Andrew‘s shoulder into an interior distance.

Martin broke in. “I told him about Leil and the children.”

Ezzar snapped her eyes back to Andrew. “That beastfucker Arlen…" She stopped. Her hands trembled and the drink slopped a little from her cup.

“What? What did he do?” Andrew couldn’t breathe; fear clenched his muscles.

“Didn’t you tell him?” Ezzar turned on Martin, who shook his head.

“Not yet. We were in the open.”

“Tell me what? What’s going on?” Gripping the edge of the table, Andrew looked from Ezzar to Martin and back again. He stood up, his heart pounding. “What happened?”

“Well? I’m not the one to do this.” Ezzar frowned at Martin.

“Andrew, sit down,” his brother said. Andrew, fumbling with his hands as he stared from Ezzar to Martin, found his chair again. Martin bent close and spoke low. “Some corpos bragged that he… gave her to them.”

Andrew choked. “Is she alive?”

Martin looked down. “No way to tell. There’s no trace. You know how they threw you away. They just find a place.” His eyes softened as he looked at Andrew again.

Andrew‘s mind emptied out. He wanted to find words to say, words he could hear that would tell him that this was just a story and he could forget it all. Nothing came. “Engel,” he said at last. “Is he all I’ve got left? Where is he?”

“We sent word but they said he was on leave,” Martin said. “He might have been trying to come home.”

Grendel shifted his weight, looking troubled. Ezzar looked at him. “What is it, Rennie?”

“I used to drive for the Mines,” he rumbled to Andrew and Martin. “One of the drivers just told me he took six corpos and a guy in a wrapper up to Arlen‘s late last night from a farm.”

“Yes?” Andrew waited, not breathing.

“He said they were taking their package to the City this morning. One of the corpos said, ‘It’s the last one of them. He’ll get off our backs now.’“

Andrew‘s eyes burned. He clenched his fists. The bagged figure in the van could have been Engel. It had to have been. He turned to Martin. “That’s where I’m going,” he said. “The City. Back to the City. I’ll find him.” He remembered the datacard in his pocket, found it, and pulled it out. Its face glowed blank. He squeezed it, rubbed it, spoke to it softly. The display flickered and faded several times.

“Is it broken?” Grendel asked.

“I think so. I found it up by the farm. It might be Engel‘s. My son’s.”

“Let me see it.” Grendel‘s large hand waited. Andrew handed it to him. Grendel turned it over, sniffed it, and said, “I know someone who can get this going for you again.” He pointed to a table where three andros sat. “Look, I’ll introduce you.” He buzzed sharply.

One of the three, a slim man with dark hair, came over. “Jeddin, Andrew,” Grendel said, “and this is Martin and Ezzar. Check this.” He handed the card to the newcomer.

Jeddin sat down and examined the datacard, sniffing it as Grendel had. His slim fingers flew over its surface. It glowed briefly. “It was passworded,” he said. “I solved it but I didn’t read the stuff. Password was ‘Martela', permuted. Here.”

Andrew took it. The card read: ACTINIDE MONOPOLES?? SEE NORGRIST AT UNIV. He looked up. Jeddin had returned to his table. “Thanks,” he called. Jeddin ignored him.

“It was Engel‘s,” Andrew said, showing the others the card. “Martela‘s his stillborn sister.”

“Do you want to go to the University?” Ezzar asked. “It’s not a long way.”

“No. I want my son.”

Martin bent forward to intercept Andrew‘s gaze. “Where do you want to start? He’s probably dead right now. Think about this. It’s just like you to jump right up and run straight into trouble, like you did with the corp up there. You’ve got to think first. That’s what I’ve told you and Raul and Norwell for years.”

“Yeah, I could’ve sold out,” Andrew said. The blood came into his face. And then my wife and children would still be alive. He lowered his head for a second, and then raised it to look at his brother. “But I won’t give up until I know. The City‘s where I’ll start. I know Engel, and that’s where he’d go. Right away.”

“How are you going to get there?” Martin said. “You’ve got no money for trains. The autocarts and vans‘ll take you ten days or more. And the corpos will find you again.”

Andrew threw up his hands. “Shit, I’ll walk if I have to.”

Grendel murmured to Ezzar, and she shook her head. While Andrew watched, the two of them debated, and finally she nodded. “Can you walk for a day or two?” she asked Andrew.

“Yes,” he answered, hoping it would be true. “Why?”

“We’ll get you in on the power route,” she said. “The City taps magma, but they need atomics for secondary supply.” She drew lines with her finger on the table. “Tube trains deliver refined plute and packing ore from Drevill west of here about two days by foot. You can be in the City in three days that way: two days to Drevill, one day to the City. A City man, right?”

“Yeah, from Sobi and Poly Town. I grew up at the low end.”

Ezzar reached down and pulled a long knife from her boot. Its edges shone with grease. She turned it slowly, looking up and down its edges. “I’ve got my own business in Sobi. I know the way, and the people at the other end. Rennie here and I will take you in, and then it’s up to you.” She sheathed the knife again, and turned to Martin. “You coming with him?”

“No, I’ve got a job out here. Trying to get enough to buy myself another place.” He hesitated, and looked from her to Andrew.

Ezzar snorted. “Here’s your brother who’s lost his whole family, and he nearly got killed, and he needs you, and you say, ‘I’ve got a job out here.’ If this is typical Hejji thinking, I’m glad I’m Arcus. We don’t leave each other alone like that.” She drank some brew. “Look, I know your coll didn’t want to fight in the wars. But when it comes to family, if you don’t stand up together, you’ll fall down in a breeze.”

“We stayed together,” Andrew said, his throat tightening with anger, “Martin‘s done a lot to pull us through this far. Don’t pick on him.”

“And you’re the older one, right? Are you the oldest? You should have taught him better, instead of defending him now. Or don’t the Hejj do that?”

“Ease off,” Andrew said, louder. “What’s the matter with you? You don’t know anything about us. I don’t need your favors. I’ll get to the City my way.” He stood up. Andros at tables near them stared, and the anjive hiss took on spatters of urgency.

“No, listen,” Ezzar said, looking up at him, holding up her hand, “I’m sorry. I lost most of my family a long time ago. I just wish I had folks to be there for me. At least I’ve got Rennie.” She nodded toward Grendel, then turned to Martin, waiting for him to speak. Andrew watched her.

“You piss me off,” Martin said slowly. “We’ve lost family, and so have you. Don’t you have a sister in Monford? She doesn’t run around out here like you do, does she? But you don’t blame her for that.”

Ezzar looked down.

Martin went on, “You’re right, though. I’m going to go with Andrew. But I’m sending word to Varnell over in Tarbruk to tell her when I’ll be back.”

“Varnell?” Ezzar and Grendel both looked at Martin.

“Yeah, so what?”

Ezzar said, “She’s andro. Never would have thought you’d jump.”

“There’s a lot you don’t seem to know,” Martin snapped.

“I’ve been on edge.” Ezzar called a server and ordered another round of tanks for the table.

“Thanks,” Andrew said to Martin, sitting down with them again. The server arrived with the tanks of brew and two large bowls of steaming tubers, crisp and fragrant with spices. Andrew dug in, then paused, his mouth full. “I don’t have any cash. Who’s paying for this?”

“I am,” said Martin. “I didn’t need any lectures to decide on that.” He glared at Ezzar, and began to eat.

Ezzar stared at him very hard for a long moment, then looked off across the room. Watching her mouth and eyes relax into a softer look, Andrew chewed on a tuber, savoring the warmth and crispness of it, and tried to think of where he would go once he reached the City.

He knew Sobi Zone very well. But who was still there? It had been more than two years, no, more than three, and things changed so fast in the City. If you didn’t make enough noise, move fast enough, the City ate you and you became part of its grease and grime and peeling surfaces, lost your nouess, your self, your soul.

A face came to his mind. Nexi Harren. Yes, Nexi would still be there. Nexi had ducked two relocs, and stayed in Sobi to open a mechannibalization shop, stripping old equipment and integrating the pieces for special customers. Nexi would never leave. Andrew smiled.