by Patty Jansen
“You’re going to go like that?”
“You said no uniform,” Desi sounded puzzled.
“True.” But she hadn’t meant fancy-dress party either.
Desi slid her hands over the overalls. “Is there anything wrong with this suit? I mean—people wear this sort of thing in the B sector. I’ve seen them.”
People did, but it all depended on which people. In any case, it was not as if Desi wouldn’t stand out whether in appropriate clothing or not, and like this, she might just pass for a clueless partygoer wanting to get smashed.
They left the base for the hall, where more young people had gathered and where the hypertechs had unpacked their trolley. One was building some sort of structure out of scaffolding and others unrolled cables.
Melati scanned the crowd, but all the people she recognised were miners and other labourers. Not the crowd Ari hung out with. Many of them gave Melati and the two guards strange looks. Jao ignored their stares, but Desi greeted them enthusiastically.
Out of the hall, into the market hall, to the B sector checkpoint. It was now deep into the B shift, the start of the quietest time in the station. Traffic in JeJe was subdued. Even most of the scooter boys had gone to bed. A young boy sat with his arms looped around his knees guarding a cluster of unused scooters. He looked up when Melati and the guards passed, following their movements with big eyes.
Ari could only be one place at this time of the day, and she didn’t look forward to going there at all.
At the antispinward end of the B sector, the corridor grew darker, with coloured plastic fixed over the light fittings. Dark silhouettes of people leaned against both walls. Coloured lights strobed out of otherwise dark doorways; the floor, sticky from goodness-knew-what, vibrated with heavy music; the air was thick with the scent of sweat. When passing the doorways, Melati caught glimpses of dancing people, many in costumes that looked like giant butterflies or cockerels. Jangling jaipongan music drifted out of a dark doorway ahead.
Streams of people went in and out of doorways, yelling over the top of the music, laughing. Many were barang-barang, mostly sekong, but there were also tier 1 men in glitter-covered costumes, with face paint or masks. This was the only place in the station where both groups mixed. The language was anonymity, money and sex.
The door to the emergency stairs was open and a steady stream of people, two by two, were going in and out. Enforcer men with scantily-clad barang-barang women, enforcer men with brightly painted sekong. It was no secret who called the shots here, who had the money and dictated the terms.
Single young men and women leaned against the walls, following the progress of Melati with suspicious eyes. Dressed like that, in traditional garb, they’d think she was an auntie or a mother in search of a cousin or a son. Nobody would think that the two oddly dressed constructs were with her.
Melati looked into the Bintang Club’s main room, over the heaving crowd outlined by strobing light. The walls were decorated with burlap sacks backlit by coloured lights. Cables dangled from the ceiling like lianas.
In the corner was a model of a tree trunk with branches that spread over the ceiling. There were people everywhere, dancing, attempting to talk, kissing. A live jaipongan band was playing at the raised platform at the other side of the room, but Melati only saw their heads over the mass of moving, dancing shadows. And she had been under the illusion that she’d be able to find Ari in this cesspit?
When she sensed that the guards had caught up, she pushed into the room. Red light strobed overhead to the beat of the music, bodies pressed into her. The air was unbreathable. A wall of sweaty, hot human flesh surrounded her. She could no longer see the walls or the band. Jao had disappeared in the heaving crowd, but Melati assumed he was close to Desi, whose head towered over the revellers.
Several young men looked over their shoulders, one with heavy make-up, dark painted lips and his body squashed into a tight dress. Two men were kissing, moving their sinuous bodies against each other oblivious to the world around them.
She miraculously found Ari against the back wall of the room, surrounded by a group of young men which included a young pale-skinned tier 1 construct man whose blond hair glowed in the light.
A customer. As if she needed any more reminders of Ari’s business.
Ari had discarded his dirty clothes for a tight satin blouse and trousers, both black and white checked.
She tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and his eyes widened. The heavy black outline of kohl made his eyes look even bigger.
“Melati?” His voice was barely audible over the thumping music. She sound of jangling gamelan drums made her ears ache. If the music were gas, she would suffocate.
The young construct man with Ari turned around, too. He wore a bright red singlet showing his muscular shoulders and arms and loose white trousers. He had unusually light eyes and the most perfect face Melati had ever seen.
This was not a simple Grimshaw worker. She glanced at his pocket but of course he wasn’t wearing a tag—few of the Taurus Army constructs did, even on-duty. He looked over Melati’s shoulder and a knowing expression came over his face. No, at least he wasn’t fooled by the two guards.
Ari said, “What, what, Melati? What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“What? Now?”
“I should have had this talk a few days ago.” She had to shout to make herself heard over the music.
He answered, but his words drowned in the sea of sound.
“I can’t hear you!” she shouted back. She grabbed his arm and dragged him through the crowd, bumping people on the way, into the corridor.
The relief from the thumping and jangling music was immediate.
“What did you want?” Ari asked. There was lipstick on his cheek.
He was looking at the two guards, and they were looking back at him, sizing each other up.
“Where are you hiding that guy?” Melati asked.
“What guy? What are you talking about?”
“Whatever you and Rina were up to.”
“Me and Rina?” He managed to look genuinely surprised. He was such a good actor. “We weren’t up to anything. What are you talking about?”
“It’s time for the truth, Ari. Rina is dead. A lot of lives are at risk. Everyone is turning the station over for this guy, some scientist. His name is Paul Ormerod. He’s from Ganymede, and he’s in a tier 1 construct’s body. You know where he is, right?”
He pressed his lips together and said nothing, but he didn’t meet Melati’s eyes, and instead glanced over his shoulder as if he expected someone to come.
“Ari, listen to me. You’re not getting away this time and I’m not taking any more of your lies. You are in danger from the same people who killed Rina. I think you know that, too. You might even know who they are.”
His mouth twitched, but he still said nothing. The scratch on his cheek had scabbed over and he’d covered it with make-up, but in the harsh light in the corridor, it looked infected.
She added, in a low voice, “That short fellow, looks like a New Hyderabad merchant, sitting in Uncle’s rumak that night when Rina disappeared. He wasn’t there because of you, was he? Were you trying to sell him something?”
He said nothing, but glanced at the guards.
“Ari?”
“I couldn’t help it!” Ari said and his voice squeaked. “He must have heard that my family had a business. It’s not exactly a secret, is it? I didn’t want them to come. I didn’t want them anywhere near Uncle.”
Then another thought. The tokay had accidentally recorded what was on the men’s screen. Ari had wanted to destroy that recording. There had been pictures of men. Not men they were trying to match up with girls, but pictures stolen from the mindbase exchange. That was what the men could have harassed Rina to get. Pictures of what Jas Grimshaw looked like, because they were here for him, or rather, for the guy who occupied his body.
“What
is your relationship with that man?”
“With Pandyakhar? There is no relationship.”
“But you know his name.”
“He’s been chasing me ever since he’s been chasing Rina. First he was nice, but then he started to make threats and I said I wouldn’t talk to him anymore. I was only helping Rina, and she only became involved because she was trying to protect her boyfriend.”
“So he spooked her and she asked you to help?”
“Yes. She said the scientist had come to her when he’d tried to leave the station but found that he couldn’t. And then that she had to help him, to protect Jas’s body.”
“Swap bodies are not allowed to leave.”
“Right, but he didn’t know that. He’s from Ganymede. They don’t use the mindbase exchange. And they might be smart, but they’re really stupid about life and things.”
“Please Ari, tell me where he is.”
“And then what? You’ll report me to your boss?”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Come on, Ari, this is important.”
“It’s important for me, too. I always end up getting the blame for everything that goes wrong around here.”
That’s because you are always to blame.
“If he’s still alive, take me to him. It’s time to stop playing games. Unless you want to end up in jail. Or killed by these guys, like Rina.” She glared at him.
“OK, OK, I have him.” He let his shoulders slump and it was as if a weight fell off his shoulders.
“Why didn’t you say anything, Ari? These guys are dangerous killers, why keep it a secret for so long? Especially after Rina was killed? There was no reason for you to keep hiding him afterwards.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you, because you always carry on about stupid stuff I should have done. I promised him, OK? He’s scared.” His attempt at anger fell flat. His voice sounded worn out more than angry.
“What were you going to do? He can’t leave the station, he can’t go back.”
He shrugged, looking more worn out and haunted by the second. “I was going to keep him safe, but then people started looking for him all the time, you know, checking me many times a day, and restricting access to the B sector and . . .”
He shrugged. The scientist was trapped, and Ari knew it. “And people were protesting in the hall, and Uncle was talking about you standing for the council, and I thought . . .” He shrugged again. It was getting on her nerves. He took a deep breath. “I thought, maybe he’s worth a lot of money, and you would need the money running for the council to . . .” He shrugged again. “To do the good things you are always talking about . . .” He looked down. His mouth twitched.
“Ari. God, Ari . . . You wanted to sell him?” How . . . completely stupid, how utterly moving, from the depth of his heart, but so goddamn stupid.
After a silence, she said, “Do you know why he’s fleeing?”
“Some sort of weapon he’s trying to sell for the best price.”
“No, because he doesn’t want it to fall in the hands of crazy war lords.”
“One thing I don’t understand Melati. Why are you involved with this?”
“Because the mindbase of Rina’s boyfriend returned to the station in my cohort.”
His eyes widened. “How can that—”
“Something to do with that clear film everyone’s been playing with.”
“But I only bought that off the hypertechs—”
“—who have suddenly taken an interest in politics of the station, something they have never done before.”
“And the hypertechs bought it off Pandyakhar.”
“Who is not a New Hyderabad merchant.”
Ari frowned at her.
“He’s is an Allion spy. He wants this mindbase not to sell weapons, but to make weapons.”
Ari’s mouth opened. She could almost see the thoughts churning in his mind. But the only thing he said was, “Shit.”
“You can say that again. Let’s go.”
His eyes widened. “What? Where to? What are you going to do?”
“You’re going to take me to Paul Ormerod and we’ll take him into work.”
“But ISF is after him, too. He doesn’t want them to get the data either.” He glanced over her shoulder again to the guards. “I know they’re with you. They stick out.”
“I’m giving you the choice, Ari. How much longer do you think you can hide him on your own? Someone will get their hands on him. Who would you rather give the mindbase and some very dangerous information to, ISF or Allion? This involves not only a weapon, but something alien and potentially evil. I know you don’t care much about history, but do you know what Allion is capable of? Come on, let’s take him to safety.”
Ari hesitated. His mouth twitched. He looked exhausted.
He let his shoulder slump. An expression of defeat came over his face. He jerked his head towards the end of the corridor.
They started towards the main commercial part of JeJe. The crowds of revellers thinned here and were replaced by the normal bustle of business for this time of day. Uncle’s cousin was running the rumak now and it felt strange to look in and see his daughters serve at the tables.
The two guards followed “unobtrusively” behind, which of course meant that everybody looked at them, including the hansip members who hung around at the empty shop that was Hermann’s haunted domain, leaning against the wall and “casually” talking to each other.
Ari led them to the lift foyer, full of young people talking about a party in the main station hall. To welcome the refugees, one said and another suggested that they should get the rumaks to cook the new people some real food. A number of men agreed to catch up later and bring food.
Melati remembered the singing protesters in the hall. This was what her people were about, both welcoming and infuriatingly unambitious. The moment Harto abandoned the protest, it turned into a food festival.
The lift doors opened and they continued into Jalan Nusatera, where it was a lot quieter. Three women stood chatting at an open door. A few children ran around chasing each other, laughing and squealing. They ran into a doorway when they saw the guards, but came out again a moment later.
“Melati, Melati, have any sweets for us?”
“Not today.”
“Oh, why haven’t you brought any for such a long time?” The boy came out the doorway and ran along with Melati.
“Later. Go back home now. It’s not safe here.”
“That’s boring. You sound like my mother, lo.”
Boring, that was the word. Melati remembered being holed up in Uncle’s apartment with the aunties during times of crisis. Riots or some other kind of unrest happened at the station every few years. Mothers would keep their children inside and would stay home as much as possible, but after a while people grew sick of sitting inside with screaming kids and everything went back to normal.
They walked past Uncle’s apartment—where he would be asleep—and Harto’s. Most of the people who lived here worked the day shift, so the doors were all shut.
At the end of the passage, they waited for the lift. It only went down, straight back to JeJe, so Melati wondered what the point of this excursion was. Ari was constantly looking behind him.
Melati asked, “Do you think someone’s following us?”
“No, no. Just want to make sure.”
How very assuring.
The lift door opened. Two hypertechs stood in the cabin. Their facemasks reflected the four of them: Melati and Ari and the two guards behind them.
For a moment, no one moved. Then one of the hypertechs raised a hand in greeting. They came out of the lift. As they passed, Ari looped an arm around Melati’s waist and laughed as if he was drunk. But the way he pushed her into the lift, muscular arm in her back, clearly told otherwise.
The two guards followed. The lift doors closed to the backs of the two hypertechs walking into Jalan Nusate
ra.
Ari let go of Melati. “Those were our followers,” he said in a low voice. “They’ll be running down the stairs right now.”
“Hypertechs?”
“Can you see under those face masks? Didn’t you notice they greeted us? Hypertechs don’t greet people.”
By God, he was right. Why had she always assumed that all hypertechs were barang-barang?
The lift stopped.
Ari drummed his fingers on the metal of the lift door. “Come on, come on, open up.”
Desi was fiddling with the setting on her gun.
The door opened.
Ari said, “Run.”
Melati sprinted with him out of the lift, and nearly collided with a giggling couple coming the other way.
There was a shout from behind. Ari ducked into another stairwell and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Melati followed as fast as she could, lifting the front of her sarong to avoid stepping on it. Jao was behind her.
Up to the next level, where they came out into a storage compartment that was used as a sports hall. There were coloured lines painted on the floor, and two basketball hoops stood on either end.
Ari stopped, panting. Jao came out of the stairwell, holding his gun.
“Do you know who those guys could be?” Melati asked. Where was Desi?
“No.”
“Infiltrators? The same ones who killed Rina? Harto’s sons?”
A male voice yelled in the stairwell.
“Fuck it. Where do we go?” Ari said.
“Get out of here,” Jao said, flipping the safety off the gun. He raised it, pointed at the exit of the stairs. “Go get this guy and take him out of wherever you’ve hidden him. We’ll catch up.”
“But . . .” Ari looked at Melati. He had spoken B3 to her about the scientist, and clearly Jao had understood every word.
