by Jack Dann
Andi felt like someone had hit her in the face. Was this what Mama had been talking about? Was Mama right about outsiders after all? No: she was not going to believe it. Whatever Hamilton thought, Vinnie and Beth were her friends. “I am a habber kid,” Andi said. “And yes, I’m short. So what? It’s not like I asked for it.”
“Well, of course you didn't want to be a little round-faced babydoll,” Hamilton said, drawling the words. “Who would? At least you have that much sense. But you can’t expect us to ignore it, now can you?”
Vinnie and Beth said nothing, standing there with their mouths open. Andi felt hollow inside; why didn’t they defend her? That was what friends in books did. Lisa broke in as Hamilton turned her perfect profile to Andi and looked off across the Concourse. “Where are the brats? Did you manage to dump them somewhere, I hope?”
Andi had momentarily forgotten Gerry and Bird, in the rush of anger and shame from Hamilton’s attack. Now her mind snapped back to that problem. “No, I—”
Before she could explain, Beth moved over and gave her a quick hug. “I’m so glad to see you,” Beth said, grinning. She at least had no edge to her voice. “So—did you pass? I thought you’d run all the way here to tell us; I was afraid you’d been stopped by a proctor for running in the corridors.”
“Yes, I passed, but I have a problem,” Andi said. This was not how she’d planned the meeting with her friends. If they were her friends. Beth felt like a friend, at least. “I’ve lost Gerry and Bird. I have to find them.”
“Oh, Gerry’ll take care of Bird,” Vinnie said, shrugging. She was eyeing Hamilton, Andi noticed. “He’s what—eleven?—this year.”
“Yes, but I don’t think he can take care of her,” Andi said.
“I’m not even sure she’s with him. Listen: I’m in big trouble.” Quickly, she explained the whole miserable day so far.
“You weren’t supposed to take the test?” Vinnie sounded shocked. “And you went anyway?”
“I had to,” Andi said. “I couldn’t wait until next time—”
“But you lost Bird,” Vinnie said in exactly the tone Mama might have used.
“I didn’t mean to lose Bird,” Andi said. “If she’d only stayed where I told her to—”
“But you knew she couldn’t sit still that long,” Vinnie said. “You’ve told us how restless she is.” Andi had noticed before that Vinnie was a bit of a prig, but this was too much.
“You’re not helping,” Andi said. She could feel her temper rising. “I’ve got to find them; I don’t need scolding.”
“But you shouldn’t have—” Vinnie began. Beth interrupted.
“Vinnie, stop it! Andi, I’m sure we can help you. Tell us what they look like, what they’re wearing. Do they have their own phones? What’s their code?”
“If Mama hadn’t insisted on no pictures by comm, you’d already know,” Andi said. “And Bird’s got my phone—I left it with her while I took the test—but Gerry doesn’t have one. Gerry’s about this tall—” she gestured a couple of centimeters over her own head. “And he’s got brown hair and eyes and skin about the color of that biscuit. He’s wearing a gray jumpsuit just like mine.” She noticed that the other girls weren’t paying attention; Hamilton was staring across the concourse as if this whole conversation had nothing to do with her. Lisa and Terry were watching Hamilton.
Hamilton turned suddenly, avoiding Andi’s gaze and looking at all the other girls. “Look, are you coming to the matinee or not?” she said. “I’m not going to waste my afternoon skipping school on a bunch of runty habber scabs.”
“Me, either,” said Lisa quickly, and Terry nodded.
“I—” Vinnie looked at Andi, then at Beth. “I guess-—”
“We can help,” Beth said again, firmly. She reached out and touched Vinnie’s arm, pulling her closer. “We can see a matinee anytime. Andi’s our friend—”
“Yours, maybe. Not mine,” Hamilton said. “Come on, let’s go.” She stalked off, Lisa and Terry trailing. Vinnie took a step that direction, looked at Beth, and stayed where she was, heaving a big sigh.
“You know what she’s like,” Vinnie said to Beth. “She’ll be impossible tomorrow.” Beth shrugged. Vinnie turned back to Andi. “Dressed like you, then,” she said. “Basic habbers’ issue.” Her lip curled delicately. Andi felt her cheeks burning.
“I can’t help what Mama picked out for us. I was going to buy some clothes as soon as I could.” Though she didn’t have the money now that she’d bribed Gerry. And what difference did it make what clothes she had on, when Gerry and Bird were missing?
“All in gray,” Beth said, squinting a little. “Vin, didn’t we see a little boy in gray about the time we got here, before the others arrived? He jumped up from one of those benches, remember, and started walking really fast—I noticed because he was following a man with a little girl dressed the same way. I thought they were a family, he and the girl and the man. How tall is Bird, Andi?”
“This high,” Andi said. “Black hair, all curly, and green eyes.”
“I didn’t see her eyes,” Beth said. “Black hair, though. Remember, Vinnie? The naughty girl?”
“Naughty?” Andi said. “Bird’s not naughty!”
“She was with this man—I thought he was her father or something—and she was kind of dragging back. She didn’t yell, though. Then he picked her up.”
Bird wouldn’t yell. When she got scared, she went quiet, even if she struggled. None of them were yellers, not even Gerry. Mama didn’t like noisy kids. This had to be worst-case. Workforce pirates.
“Which way did they go? How long ago?”
“That way—” Beth pointed. “If that was Bird, it wasn’t your father?”
“No,” Andi said. “I told you; Pop’s back at the habitat. It has to be workforce pirates.” She started in the direction Beth pointed, slowing to glance into each storefront.
“Wait—you don’t know where they went!” Vinnie said.
“And I won’t, if I stay here jabbering,” Andi said. “Are you coming, or not?”
“You don’t have to be so bossy,” Vinnie said, but she followed Beth, who had already caught up to Andi.
“Don’t you think we ought to contact the Base proctors?” Beth asked as Andi hurried along, breaking stride only to look into each storefront they passed. “What if we run into them? Pirates, I mean?”
“No! Mama said never talk to Base officials if we don’t have to.”
“But if someone’s lost, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Beth said.
“Don’t they have taggers on?” Vinnie asked. “Little kids on Base wear taggers. We could rent a locator—”
“No,” Andi said. “Taggers cost money. Mama expected me—”
“Oh.” Vinnie’s smug look had vanished. Away from the other girls she seemed friendlier, more like the Vinnie on the comm. “This is really serious, isn’t it? Your mother’s going to be so mad—”
“Yes,” Andi said. She didn’t want to think about how mad Mama was going to be. “But what matters is Bird and Gerry.”
“If it was workforce pirates, they didn’t have Gerry,” Beth said. “He was following; maybe the man didn’t notice him, and he can get Bird back.”
“Come on, Bethie,” Vinnie said. “An eleven-year-old kid get another kid back from the pirates? They’re more likely to get him too.”
“I was just trying to cheer her up,” Beth said, with a sidelong glance at Andi.
“I am cheered up,” Andi said. Her voice didn’t sound cheerful even to her. “At least I have someone with me.” She looked around. The corridor they’d started along was narrowing as it slanted gently upward; it had changed from retail outlets to blank-fronted residential units with numbers by the entrances. “If this was a book,” she said, “Gerry would’ve figured out a way to leave a trail we could follow. They could’ve gone into any one of these.” There were no bread crumbs, no obvious bits of clothing, no cryptic chalk marks on the walls,
"or ... or whatever else Gerry might’ve thought to try. She thought of the branching corridors they’d passed, most leading downward, and wondered if she’d picked the right way to go.
“Would Gerry follow Bird and the man through a door like this, if he hadn’t been caught?” Vinnie asked, pointing to one of the numbered entrances.
“I don’t think so,” Andi said. “I think he’d wait outside or something. Call me, maybe.” She shook her head. “But he can’t, because Bird has my phone. If she didn’t lose it somewhere.”
“He could call your mother,” Vinnie said. “Or the proctors.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Andi said. Even as she said it, she thought it might be a good idea if Gerry ignored the promise he’d made. But she knew he wouldn’t. He was as stubborn as she was. He would think of something else.
“Let’s go on,” Beth said. “If he’s not been caught, and he’s waiting near where someone took Bird, we can find him—”
Andi nodded. “We can’t waste time knocking on all these doors, that’s for sure. ”
Another ten minutes took them from the residential zone to a busier area where cargo ’bots moved along magnetic lines on the floor and adults in various uniforms stared at them as they passed one open bay after another.
“We really shouldn’t be here,” Vinnie said. “We’re almost up to dock level. This is the kind of place my parents said—”
“Nothing will happen while we’re all together,” Beth said. “We’ll be fine.” She sounded almost cheerful.
Andi was less certain. She felt hostility in the glances, the closed, unfriendly faces. All but one, anyway. A woman in a blue smock smiled at them from a kiosk set a meter out from the wall near the entrance to what looked like a cafe. The name on the kiosk and the entrance both was the same: Paddy’s Wagon. Andi decided it would be safe to speak to the smiling woman. They had to find out somehow if this was the way Gerry had come.
“Excuse me,” Andi said, approaching the kiosk. “Did you see a boy about this tall—” she gestured. “Wearing a gray jumpsuit?”
“Honey, you should be in school this time of day,” the woman said. She had a pleasant, drawling voice. “Are you on a field trip? Where’s your teacher?”
“I’m looking for my little brother,” Andi said.
The woman’s gaze shifted to Vinnie and Beth. “You’re Base children, aren’t you? Why aren’t you in class?”
“It’s a holiday—” Beth said.
“We got permission—” Vinnie said. They looked at each other and turned red.
“You’re truants,” the woman said, with no doubt in her voice. She grinned, a grin that made Andi shiver. “Old enough to know better, and I’ll bet you dragged her along—” she nodded at Andi, “—because she’s off one of those habitats and too young to know the rules.”
“I’m as old as they are!” Andi said, putting together what Hamilton had said and this woman said . . . Beth and Vinnie and the others had skipped school to meet her? They must be friends, then, even if Hamilton didn’t act like it.
“Sweetie, it’s not nice to tell stories,” the woman said, coming out from behind the kiosk and patting Andi on the head, a pat that turned into a stroke of her hair. Andi shivered again. “You girls are lucky you ran into me,” the woman said. “Some of these men around here are—you know—not very nice.” She chuckled. “Why don’t we go in here, have a nice cup of something, and I’ll get in touch with your parents—”
“No!” Vinnie and Beth said together.
“No?” The woman’s eyebrows went up in a movement so obviously fake that Andi wanted to run right then. “You don’t want me to call your parents and make sure you get home safely? Or call yourself? I’m sure you all have personal phones. No?” She chuckled. “Still after adventure, are you?”
“Not. . . exactly,” Beth said. “But I’m not supposed to go into . . . into places like this without my parents.”
“I want to find my little brother,” Andi said. The woman barely glanced at her before focusing on Beth.
“Y’know, hon, if you don’t want me to call your parents or the proctors, you’re going to have to give me a little tit for tat.”
Beth looked confused; Vinnie’s chin went up. “Come on, Beth, Andi. We’re leaving.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” the woman said. Andi looked over her shoulder. Three men blocked the passage behind them. “Let’s see . . . Beth?” Beth looked at her. “So you’re Beth, you must be Andi—” She touched Andi’s hair again. “And what’s your name, Miss Priss?”
“Vinnie,” said Vinnie sullenly. “Tell those men to go away. I want to go home.”
“Vinnie, let me give you some advice. Don’t sass me and don’t try to order me around. It won’t work. Now—what’s your full name?”
“Virginia Lowes Pillar,” Vinnie said. Her chin had come up. “My father works in Central Administration; you’d better not do anything to me—”
“Vinnie, I told you. Don’t tell me what to do; I’m in charge here.” The woman’s smile now wasn’t at all friendly. Andi tried to look around without seeming to. With the woman’s attention focused on Vinnie, maybe she could slip away. But. . . could she leave Vinnie and Beth in trouble? In all the stories, friends stuck together. They had come with her, in spite of Hamilton; it was her own fault that they were in danger now. So she should stay with them. But on the other hand, Gerry and Bird—
She was still caught in this dilemma when the situation went even more sour. The men behind closed in silently and the woman in blue reached out and caught hold of Vinnie’s arm. Vinnie yanked back, right into the grip of one of the men. Andi ducked sideways and tried to get her back to a wall, but too late—she felt strong hands-grabbing her arms, and the tricks that had worked against Oscar did not work now. The prick of a needle came as no surprise, and her last thought before falling into darkness was You are so stupid!
***
Andi woke up slowly; feeling her way through misty cobwebs was what it seemed like. She was stiff; when she tried to move, she couldn’t. Panic woke her the rest of the way—where was she? What had happened? She got her eyes open; they felt gummy and she wanted to rub them, but her hands were bound behind her.
Gerry was in front of her, sideways—no, they were both on a floor. He had a bruise on his jaw; as she looked, he opened his eyes, blinking several times. Then he focused on her face and grinned.
Behind him was a gray lump that must be Bird. She lifted her head, fighting off dizziness. Bird’s eyes were closed; she looked asleep. Andi tried to look around. They were on the floor, or deck between two rows of seats. She could see an opening that looked a lot like a shuttle hatch, with brighter light on the other side of it. Then she heard voices, men’s voices, somewhere the other side of that door or hatch.
“Three habber kids, two Base—not a bad catch.”
“Base’ll be annoyed. Good families, those two; not worth the trouble it’ll cause. No special skills.”
“They’re out cold now. We can memory-dope ’em, drop ’em back near Boone, let ’em explain to their parents. They never got a look at our faces; the drug’ll eat the last ten minutes before the knockout, so they won’t be able to ID Lil. But the habber brats have potential. One of ’era’s got a brand-new Class C license.”
“Well, then. Take care of the Base kids—don’t maul ’em up too bad—”
“—and make sure they don’t wake up until late second shift. I know.”
Gerry stared into Andi’s eyes, then glanced at Bird, who was still unconscious. He opened his mouth, but she shook her head at him and he nodded.
“We’ve still got cargo to load before we take off. Not more’n twenty minutes and I’ll be out of here. Let me just check—”
Andi closed her eyes and let all her muscles slack, trying to think herself asleep, as she heard someone’s footsteps clicking on metal, coming nearer. She hoped Gerry had the sense to do the same. Someone’s breathing, someone’s clothe
s rustling a little . . . she didn’t know if it was one person or two, and she tried not to think about it, to think sleepy thoughts instead. A hard finger prodded her ribs; she grunted a little and burrowed into a tighter coil the way Bird and Damon did when they didn’t want to get up in the morning.
“Hmph,” came a murmur from overhead; she couldn’t tell if it was someone talking to himself, or to a companion. “Small as they are, that probably was enough—”
She heard the footsteps shuffling away, then the boots-on-metal sound again, and the soft thud of a hatch closing, and the multiple snicks of a lock. Was it safe to open her eyes? Had all the men gone, or was one sitting quietly, watching, as in the storytapes? She listened, hearing mostly her own heartbeat, and finally opened an eye to find Gerry staring at her.
The compartment was empty, except for the three of them. But surely it was monitored; she looked around cautiously, not yet moving more than her eyes. Anything might hide a spy-eye; anything might hide a microphone.
“Andi?” Gerry’s voice was low. She moved her head slightly, No. He subsided, but looked around as she did, then wriggled a little and showed her one hand, unbound.
Andi grinned at him, giving a very slight nod. She didn’t know how he’d done it, but if he had one hand loose ... he pulled the other out from under Bird. Andi struggled with her own bonds, but whatever they’d used cut into her wrists. Stiff plastic, it felt like.
Gerry put a finger to his lips, then moved slowly, soundlessly, first sitting up then scrunching forward. He had what looked like a fastener in his hand, something with a broad head and a strip of stiff material sticking out. He reached over Andi and did something—she couldn’t tell what—and the bonds on her wrists fell open.
She hugged Gerry, and felt much better, for as long as it took to remind herself that Bird was still out cold and they were still locked in a compartment of—of what? Clearly some kind of vehicle, but it could be a compartment in anything from a surface-traversing hopper to a space-going tradeship. And it didn’t matter, because those men were coming back, and would take them somewhere Andi did not want to go.
