by Waiting for the Machines to Fall Asleep- The Best New Science Fiction from Sweden (retail) (epub)
"No point if you won't help me," she had said. "And I'm going to sleep here tonight, just so you know."
Great, Marcus thought as he fetched the day's first cup of almost drinkable coffee. There's a smelly goblin sleeping on my couch and eating all my food, and I don't have the heart to throw her out. I'm too nice to people. Goblins included.
He sighed and went back to his office, making the usual little prayer directed at whoever wanted to listen, that there would be something to install or fix on her computer today, and that she would be in a mood for small talk, and that their small talk would lead to her discovering what a great person he was.
By lunchtime, he seemed to be out of luck. No reason to visit her office had presented itself. Just before Marcus went to lunch, his job phone rang. A deep, yet female voice growled a heartily "hello dear" in the other end of the line. Marcus frowned.
"Who is this?" he asked, convinced that the old lady had dialed the wrong number.
"Oh, you don't know me, dear," the coarse voice said with something between a laughter and a cough. "Name's Marilla. I do believe that you know my granddaughter, though. Ella."
Marcus almost dropped the receiver in his knee.
"What?" he gasped.
"Ella," Marilla repeated. "Skinny little redhead in her teens. Works as a cleaner. A tendency to get herself in trouble. Has she been trying to sell you something of value recently?"
"Uhm ... no. I'm sorry, but why do you think I know this granddaughter of yours?"
"Because she was seen through your window last night, of course. You're that Marcus Jensen, right? Had no idea she socializes with humans, but I suppose you can't always keep the young ones away from bad company."
"Excuse me? Bad company?" Marcus might have his flaws, but hardly enough to earn that label.
Of course, in the eyes of a goblin, any human probably was bad company, he thought. He needed to figure out what was going on, and getting upset with this Marilla person would hardly help. With a sigh, he admitted that Ella had shown up at his place yesterday.
"But I can't say I know her," he added. "We've only met briefly. For some reason, she asked me to help her. Have no idea why she picked me, really. Maybe she thought I looked kind."
The elderly goblin laughed.
"Yeah, right," she said. "So, she didn't try to sell you anything, but needed your help, then. With what?"
Marcus almost cursed aloud. I knew I should've kept my mouth shut the moment I realized I had a goblin on the line, he thought.
"She was hungry," he said, "and she said she didn't have anywhere to stay. I got the impression she had argued with someone, but she wouldn't give me any details. Her parents, maybe?"
He sucked his lip, hoping Marilla would swallow the lie.
"Her parents are dead," she said.
"Oh. Well, someone else, then."
"She lives with me. And we haven't argued."
"Well, I don't know! Ask her yourself. I'm terribly sorry, but I have work to do. You obviously know where Ella is, so please, by all means, go and get her."
"Ah, but that's the problem," Marilla said. "She's not there. And no one knows where she went. Hence this call."
Marcus rolled his eyes for himself.
"Well, I have no idea. As I said, I don't really know her. I gave her a place to stay and some food, and if she has left, that's fine with me. I don't mean to be rude, but now I've really have to go. Good bye."
He hung up before Marilla had any chance to object, quickly set the phone message to "out of office" and went for lunch.
So Ella had left his apartment. Good. He decided that he would assume that her grandmother would find her pretty soon and convince her to return the wrist-watch. Not his problem anymore. Now he could spend the rest of his day daydreaming of her instead, wallowing in his unrequited love.
Much better.
Marilla lit her pipe, sucking in air and breathing it out in short bursts. Small clouds of smoke emerged in a steady pace from her mouth until she decided the pipe had the proper glow and let out a happy sigh filled with smoke that slowly curled its way up against the ceiling.
Her pet rat squeaked.
"Yes, yes, I know, sweetie." She glanced at the phone on the table. "He wasn't very helpful, was he? And I have no idea where Ella has gone. Here I thought that stupid girl would consider herself safe with the human. Turns out the girl isn't so stupid after all. One might even think she inherited some wit from me! Ha!"
The rat squeaked again.
"There must be some trace," Marilla continued. "A scent – you must have picked something up."
The rat tilted its head and peered at its mistress with peppercorn eyes.
"You did pick something up, didn't you? Well, go then. Hurry, see what you can find, and report back to me when you know something." She raised her voice. "Gorm!"
A young goblin with bleached hair stepped into the room.
"You go with Rat. We need to find Ella before she gets herself into even deeper trouble. Don't hurt her, or I'll kill you myself."
Gorm crossed his arms.
"You know I wouldn't," he said. "Come on, Rat. Let's go."
A few floors above the office where Marcus spent his weekdays, dreaming hopeless dreams of a beautiful brunette he basically only knew by name, there was another office. This office looked very different. It had designer furniture, a large piece of trendy photo art on the wall and a young, pretty assistant, who fetched lattes, answered the phone and always made sure there were fresh flowers in the vase on the table.
Behind the large desk sat the woman with steel colored hair in her tailor-made suit. The facelift she had had a couple of years ago was so well-done it was hardly noticeable, and her forehead was Botox smooth. Her mouth, however, grew more and more tense while she was staring at the computer screen in front of her without really seeing it.
She lifted her cup, only to realize it was empty.
"Emilia!" she yelled. The assistant took her outstretched cup. She didn't need to ask to know that her boss wanted another latte (with triple shots of espresso). Besides, she knew better than to ask anything at all when Christina Lorentz was in this mood.
Christina leaned her head into her hands. That the goblin girl had stolen the watch was beyond question. But what the cameras hadn't shown was how the girl had managed to open the safe.
That safe was among the most advanced on the market. Absolutely no one except Christina was supposed to be able to open it.
Unless someone had found a way to fool the system with her DNA.
That "someone" could hardly be a goblin teenager, Christina thought. Which meant the girl must have been working for someone. Someone who somehow knew what Christina kept in her safe.
Question was, were they after the watch, or did they know the truth?
Christina rose from her chair and started to pace back and forth while waiting for her latte.
Her DNA. It wasn't too hard to get a sample of DNA. A stray hair from her suit. Or some lipstick scraped off her coffee cup.
I need to get out of here, Christina thought.
"Cancel my meetings for today," she said when Emilia returned. "I'm out of office for the rest of the day. I have something very important to do."
"Okay," Emilia said, with a quiet relief. With her boss out of the office she would get more work done, and probably be able to leave a little earlier than usual as well. As Christina put on her coat, Emilia was already canceling all meetings for the afternoon. No explanations were needed – everybody would assume Christina needed to attend some even more important meeting.
Marcus placed the pizza box on the kitchen table with a sigh. Ella was gone, but she had left his kitchen a mess. She must have gone through everything edible in the kitchen. She had eaten some, left opened boxes and trash on the floor and table, and even spilt milk all over the kitchen sink without wiping it up. He cleaned up after her while the pizza grew cold.
When he had finished his pizza, Marcus opened his second
beer and actually found something on TV almost worth watching. When he leaned back, he noticed something odd with one of the pillows in the couch. He recalled having felt something small and hard against his back when he first sat down, but since he immediately had leaned forward to eat the pizza he hadn't paid attention to it until now.
The line between his eyebrows deepened as he found the zipper that kept the pillow cover closed, and unzipped it. He put his hand inside and felt his fingers close around – a wrist-watch.
"What in Oblivion?" he mumbled.
It looked terribly expensive, shining like gold and glittering of gems that Marcus feared actually were real diamonds. The words "Patek Philippe Geneve" on the dial didn't exactly calm him down, either. Ella had told him the watch was valuable, but not that valuable.
Hopefully, it was a fake. It has to be, he told himself.
He carefully put the watch on the table, where it looked out of place next to the empty pizza box and the two beer bottles.
Going to the police was out of the question. Who would believe him if he said that a thief had left something instead of stealing? And if he admitted that he had invited Ella to stay, he would probably be a suspect, too.
Ella had wanted him to help her return the watch, but since she had left it in his home without telling him who actually owned it, that left him with only one option: he needed to find Ella. But he had absolutely no idea where to look for her.
Her grandmother had called from an unlisted number, but at least he knew her name. That was a start. The goblins lived in the sewers, didn't they? People said they had whole systems of tunnels down there, and underground houses. It would be like looking for the famous needle, but it was the only clue he had. He turned off the TV and emptied his beer to be a little more courageous.
Just as he put on his shoes and jacket, he was startled by the doorbell. He opened the door, for a moment hoping it was Ella.
It wasn't.
"Hi," the young goblin outside the door said. Marcus was almost completely sure it was a boy. His bleached hair fell down into his eyes, creating a quite striking look against with his red eyes and grayish skin. "I'm looking for Ella. Is she here?"
"Seems like everyone is looking for Ella," Marcus muttered. "No, she isn't. And no, I have no idea where she is."
"Too bad. Her smell is all over the place, Rat says."
"Sorry?"
The goblin nodded in the direction of a Dachshound sized creature in the corner.
"Oh dear God," Marcus exclaimed without thinking. "That's a rat?"
The rat rose on its hind legs, and to his horror, he could have sworn that it nodded.
Since the goblin stood right in Marcus's doorway and didn't show any signs of moving, Marcus felt obliged to keep talking to him.
"You're a friend of Ella's?"
"Yeah," the goblin said. "I am. So you don't know where she is?"
"No, I don't," Marcus answered with a feeling of already having had this discussion. The goblin, however, still didn't move.
An idea formed in Marcus's head.
"Did by any chance Ella's grandmother ask you to come here?"
The red eyes narrowed.
"Maybe," the goblin said. "Did she contact you?"
"She called me today, actually. Was quite concerned. I think. You know what ... What's your name, by the way?"
"Gorm."
How very goblinish, Marcus thought.
"You know what, Gorm? This might be a long shot, but thing is, I'm also looking for Ella. She's barely more than a child, and she's missing. Maybe we could, you know, join forces, so to speak?"
"A human concerned for a goblin?" The boy seemed genuinely surprised. "Okay. Okay, fine. If you think you can help, yeah, why not. Did she say anything before she left?"
"She left while I was at work," Marcus explained. "She seems to have had a good meal before she left, but that's all I know."
No need to mention the watch. Not until he knew more about Gorm and what this business really was all about. He had it in his inner pocket. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but he didn't want to leave it in the apartment, either. God only knew who might break in looking for it.
She stirred in her cage as she felt it move, noticed the shifting lights and new voices. She was excited. After ages of darkness, she saw opportunities.
She had always been good at seizing them.
At least the rat keeps itself out of sight, Marcus thought as he followed Gorm through city streets filled with people going for gentle strolls, and crowded cafés and restaurants. The young goblin with his almost white hair and motorcycle jacket and the human man in jeans and fleece sweater formed an odd enough couple, in Marcus's opinion.
Gorm seemed to know exactly where the rat had gone. Without hesitation, he turned left and right and eventually took another turn into a small park. Marcus followed, hoping the goblin knew what he was doing.
He hesitated when Gorm was about to leave the lit main path and enter a narrow, dark path that winded in between the oak trees. Maybe the goblin had let him tag along only to rob him? He didn't think Gorm could possibly know that he was carrying a watch that might very well be worth more than any of them would earn in a lifetime, but he could still make an educated guess that Marcus had his cell phone and wallet, and not to mention, the keys to the apartment.
"Are we really going in there?" he said, probably sounding just as nervous as he felt.
"That's where Rat went," Gorm said. He didn't stop to discuss it further, but jogged up the path. "Come on," he shouted over his shoulder. "We'd better hurry!"
With a feeling that he was about to do something immensely stupid, Marcus followed the goblin.
That was when he felt something stir in his inner pocket. A quick check confirmed that he had his phone in the pocket of his jeans, just as he had thought, and besides, it didn't really feel like a phone vibrating. The only thing he had in his inner pocket, maybe apart from an old receipt or shopping list, was the watch. When he clearly felt it stir again, he had to stop and take it out, discreetly, trying to hide it in his hand.
The dial was glowing mildly in the darkness. As it vibrated again in his hand, something flickered on the dial. Marcus squinted. It looked like a shape – a tiny, humanlike shape.
Then it was gone, and the dial went dark. Marcus frowned and was just about to put the watch away, when it moved again. He almost dropped the watch. It wasn't just a stir this time. It felt more like holding a thin paper box with a small animal trapped inside, desperately trying to get out.
Come on, Marcus, he said to himself as he squeezed the watch tighter in his hand. You're imagining things. A watch can't move. Nothing can be trapped inside.
By now, Gorm had begun to wonder why Marcus had stopped, and before Marcus had a chance to put the watch away, the goblin stood there, asking what he was doing.
"Is that a watch?" he said. "Looks expensive."
"It's a fake," Marcus said, maybe a little too quick, as he put the watch away. "Well, not really a fake, more of a toy."
Gorm raised his eyebrows.
"An expensive toy, then."
"No, no, I ... uhm ..."
A squeak and a rustling in the vegetation further up the slope followed by the voice of a girl cursing interrupted them.
"Ella!" Gorm shouted and started running. "Stop there!"
A small shape emerged from the bushes and started to run. Gorm ran after. So did Marcus, even though he lagged hopelessly behind.
Ella was quick as a mouse, but Gorm turned out to be an explosive kind of runner. Within a couple of seconds, he was close enough to throw himself forward and knock her to the ground. He pinned her down.
"Did I hurt you?" Marcus heard him ask in an anxious voice. "Sorry."
"No, you didn't," Ella grumbled. "Just let me go, I have trouble enough as it is."
"Sorry, I can't," Gorm began, but when he paused, Marcus added:
"That's why we're here. We want to help you s
olve your problems."
"That's very nice of you, human, but I don't think that's why Gorm's here," Ella said. "You can let me go, I won't run," she added.
Gorm got up, allowing her off the ground, but he didn't let go of her arm. It looked brittle in his hand.
"Your granny wants to see you," Gorm said and was rewarded with a glare.
"No kidding," Ella muttered under her breath. She glanced at Marcus, a sly glance. He bet she wondered if he had found the watch.
Suddenly, she quickly turned around, making an elegant movement with the arm Gorm held that caused his own arm to twist in an awkward angle. As he lost his grip, she pulled away, slightly crouched, ready to attack. Her right leg whipped out to kick him in the groin, and as he bent over with a moan, another, lower kick swept him off his feet. Ella hurried to Marcus.
"You've got it?" she hissed.
He nodded, a bit shocked by the sudden display of martial arts training.
"Mrs. Lorentz owns it," Ella whispered. "And please don't let her out."
She walked back to Gorm with an innocent smile.
"I'll kill you!" he groaned.
"No, you won't," she said. "Come. Let's go see granny."
Marcus watched them go, confused by Ella's last words. Mrs. Lorentz was his boss, and he understood that the watch belonged to her, but why wasn't he supposed to let her out? And from where?
He supposed he had to figure out a way to return it without getting arrested for theft. Maybe he could send it by mail? Or simply throw it in the river instead? That might in fact be an excellent idea, he thought.
Since her husband had left the house in the afternoon for a golf weekend down the coast, Christina figured it was safe to call Emilia after work.
"I need to see you," she said. "Can we meet at the usual place?"
"No, I, uhm, have plans," Emilia tried, sounding reluctant, but as usual she agreed anyway. Christina was never sure if Emilia only came to their secret rendezvous out of fear of losing her job. She never took the initiative herself, and always let Christina convince her. On the other hand she seemed to enjoy their meetings once they took place, making love with great enthusiasm and creativity. Christina didn't care, as long as she got what she wanted. She bought Emilia expensive gifts every now and then, had even helped her with buying an apartment, and the girl certainly couldn't complain about her salary.
