ANOTHER SLEEP
2407 CE
Ludko knocked at Trin‘s apartment door. It had been three days, and Mina hadn’t answered his calls, which meant she’d gone to Trin‘s. By now, Trin would have gotten the vial from Mina and either sold it or tried it out, and Ludko knew Trin was much too curious to sell it without checking it for himself. It would be easier if Mina had just taken the stuff alone.
Ludko didn’t get it. How could these kids act so protective of each other? There was no money involved, and they were both survivors, so why did they look out for each other so much?
The door opened a crack, and Mina looked out at him. “Ludko? You looking for Trin?”
“Yeah. Is he here?”
She glanced down, and Ludko knew she was avoiding his eyes. “Nah.”
“Come on, Mina. You don’t come here without him. Is he okay?”
Her eyelids fluttered a bit. “He’s all right, I think. What was that stuff you gave me?”
He said, “I just thought you’d like to play with a little of it.”
She opened the door wider. “Come in and you can talk to him. It’s bad stuff.”
Maybe they tricked me with some other drug. Ludko brushed the thought aside and went in. The apartment was a mess, as usual, and Trin was sprawled out on a couch next to a low table littered with magazines. He struggled to sit up.
“Trin. What did you think of that stuff I gave Mina?”
Trin looked at Mina, then back at Ludko. “That shit is weird.”
“What did it do?”
“It put me to sleep. I heard this voice. Then I woke up.”
“What voice?”
“I don’t know. It was very warm.”
The voice. Then this was actually tau. Now he could let JJ know he had the real thing. “Is there any left?”
“Yeah. We were going to – hey. What’s that for?”
The two of them huddled together, staring at the gun in Ludko‘s hand, thin arms around each other. “Where’s the rest?” he asked patiently. Mina pointed. He picked up the vial, checked its sense chemicals, and pocketed it. That gave him a vial and a half. “Sorry, kids.” The words came naturally, neutrally. He shot them both through the head, and left the apartment.
