The Mangrove Suite (Clean Book 1)

by Tim Niederriter

  “That clean I bought at the market.” The elevator reached the twelfth floor and the door opened into the hall outside the restaurant. I stepped out with the others and leaned close to Elizabeth. “She remembered something after the attack yesterday.”

  “Remembered?” She frowned, eyes narrowing. “Did she recognize you?”

  “Yes,” I said. Thomas paced evenly past Elizabeth and went on to the restaurant. I put a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you more when we’re sure—”

  Thomas turned toward us and gave a thumbs up.

  “Now is fine,” I said. “Basically a clean’s memory can be restored for a limited time by drinking the ichor of the aeon that cleaned her.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes went from narrow, to wide, to wider, but her frown remained. “You can’t be serious, Jeth.”

  “I don’t know much about this, but I’m not lying.” I glanced at Thomas, who stood by the entrance of the restaurant, arms folded. “Look, I’ll let you see the memory. I’ll show you.”

  “Alright, Jeth.” Elizabeth shook her head. “Show me, and we’ll see if I believe you.”

  “You know I’ve never been good at building false memories.”

  Her lips pressed together. “We’ll see.” She turned and we walked into the restaurant together, joined by Thomas on the way.

  The smell of bacon drifted through the air, mingled with the fresh scent of morning from the open windows. We dished up and took a booth. I felt a lack of sleep as I looked out into the misty air outside, rising from Bailey Court Garden. My eyes drifted over the treetops and foliage where birds chirped and circled above orange and brown leaves.

  Elizabeth turned, sipped from her bottle of ichor, and then set it on the table. “Show me, Jeth.”

  I took a swallow of ichor from my flask. Sensory information flared through me. Bird calls sounded sharper, the bacon smelled more delicious. I reached out a willowy mental branch and touched the tough exterior of Elizabeth’s mind. A mind can appear small on the network, but such is the fractal nature of the mental world one sees more the closer one gets.

  Elizabeth’s mind appeared as a crystal of pale blue and glimmering white. As I drew closer, the patterns of lace-like tendrils and frost fingers curved around the edges of the crystal became visible in my mind’s eye. A bass note accompanied my closeness to her, droning low and completely inaudible to my actual ears. The temperature seemed to drop as I reached out and touched the crystal. At first, I noticed just a slight chill, then Elizabeth pulled me in.

  The shock of entering her mental space sent a message of winter cold through my brain. If I hadn’t known better I would have worried my synapses might freeze from this plunge into an icy world of logic and precision. I glimpsed a memory of an old mechanic’s workshop with the silhouette of the city’s towers thrown up against the distant skyline. A little girl with a face like Elizabeth’s sat on the curb outside. She turned toward my vantage point, which I realized was the remembered vision of Elizabeth herself. The little girl had tears in her eyes.

  Elizabeth pushed me back. Her cold fingers rummaged through my memories from the past few days. Hope and pain blended as images of Rain appeared before my eyes. First she was dancing in the clean market, a frozen image with one leg raised, knee bent and ankle held to her thigh like a ballerina in a spin. I wanted to hide her, to not show Elizabeth this sight. Yet the image remained.

  “Jeth,” Elizabeth’s voice entered through the network. “Don’t pull away from me.”

  I did not reply but tried to relax and still my desperation. She delved past the image of Rain and our mentalities arrived together at the Mangrove Suite on the next day. Yashelia had Thomas by the throat when I rushed in. I blotted out my remembered words. My pulse accelerated. Elizabeth and I followed the group of memories down the hallway to Rain’s room, and we watched the window shatter. We watched as Rain licked the blood from her lips.

  Her eyes changed, and she said, “Jeth?”

  “Rebecca?”

  “Call me Rain.”

  The image froze with her face imprinted on mine and Elizabeth’s eyes. Then we flashed forward, racing through the next moments. Numb from the cold of Elizabeth’s mind, I watched as we took the elevator down to the ground floor. Watched as Elizabeth approached. Then Elizabeth pushed me back and ejected me from her mind.

  I sat before my breakfast in a daze. “Do you believe me now?”

  Shakily, she put her hands in her lap. “I-I believe you, Jeth. I just don’t understand. Why was that aeon looking for Rain?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  Thomas sighed and leaned back in his seat in the booth. “Yeah, but we all know she was the one who cleaned Rain in the first place.”

  Elizabeth glanced sideways at him. “Why would an aeon want anything to do with a clean? I don’t get it at all.”

  “Because cleans don’t have memories?” I scowled at Elizabeth. “It’s possible we’re wrong about that too.”

  “Now, don’t go that far,” said Thomas. “We don’t have the facts.”

  I folded my arms, but nodded nonetheless. “It’s not the facts I’m worried about. It’s the leftover memories.” I looked down at my plate, suddenly without an appetite to eat anything.

  “Either way, people need to know what we know about aeons and ichor.” Elizabeth leaned back in her seat, legs crossed halfway under the table. “Jeth, this is the sort of thing a human-managed network would be perfect for revealing.”

  Thomas shook his head. “That’s not a survival plan. I don’t think you realize how much the aeons have worked to keep this from people. My contacts don’t even know this much.”

  “We’ll find Yashelia first,” I said with what I hoped was an even gaze leveled at Elizabeth. “Then we’ll find a way to get the truth out.”

  Elizabeth’s brow furrowed and she pursed her lips. At last, she nodded.

  A loud hum from outside drew my attention to the westward windows of the restaurant. A sleek shape unlike anything I had ever seen before, but which somewhat resembled one of the light vessels I knew the aeons from the seaside portions of the megalopolis used to cross the sea, hovered over the street. The vessel was some twenty meters long and tipped on each long side by spherical blue-glowing flight units. Light veins pulsed along the otherwise sleek surface like trails of azure lava in a volcanic mountainside. I stared at the shape until my eyes burned from the brightness, then looked away, blinking.

  “What is that?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I have no idea.” Thomas whistled. “A chariot of the gods?”

  I glanced at him. “You wouldn’t consider aeons gods, would you?”

  He shook his head. “Some people do.”

  Elizabeth drew in a breath. “There are temples in every district of this city for believers, but that—” She looked toward the light vessel, “that belongs to no god. It’s a ship of Sudhatho’s fleet, you can tell by the odd design.”

  “Sudhatho?” I said, still staring at the vessel.

  “He’s a greater aeon.” Elizabeth tore her eyes away from the flying ship. “He owns security forces all over the city.”

  I swallowed, and then glanced at her. “Security?”

  “Give me some time. I’ll do my best to find out why he’s here.” Her eyes glazed over with network access.

  I reached out and touched her arm to stop her. “Wait.”

  Her eyes returned to normal and fixed on me. “What is it?”

  “I’m going downstairs. I’ll try to find out what they’re doing outside the network.”

  “Why?”

  I turned to face the window where the ship descended over the street. A pair of purifier armored cars rolled through beneath it. “It looks like they’re taking this real seriously. I feel like it’s got something to do with Shelly.”

  “Shelly?” Thomas raised an eyebrow.

  “Yashelia.” I smirked. “We can’t go around calling her that long name all the time.”


  Thomas put a hand to one side of his neck. “I hope I never have to meet her again, but I’ll help you find her, Jeth. Just be careful.”

  “Yes,” said Elizabeth. “Things could be dangerous down there.”

  “I know.” I stood up. “I’ll try to stay out of trouble.”

  “Really try.” Elizabeth picked up her cup of ichor. “I’ll keep an eye on you.”

  “Thanks. Both of you, thanks.” I turned from the table and left the restaurant for the hall and then the elevator. As the doors closed with me inside I thought for a moment not to go down, but instead to go back upstairs and try to wait things out. Then I thought of Rain in my apartment, her hungry eyes and reaching fingers. I shuddered and took the elevator to the ground floor.

  I crossed through the entryway of Lotdel Tower marching like a soldier. Ichor still infused my senses if I concentrated, and I knew I had network access for at least next eight hours. As I reached the doors, I hesitated and looked out through the glass at the camp set up on the corner of Bailey Court Garden, across the street from Lotdel Tower. Sudhatho’s light vessel hung over the rooftops, still not low enough for a human to exit the ship, but aeons could float on the air.

  If Sudhatho had come here himself, he could be on the ground. I made a mental note of that fact, remembering the pain of my encounter with Yashelia on the train, and then pushed the door open. The blue lights of its flight systems cast my shadow on the pavement as I walked across the street toward the garden. Overhead, the sky was filled with clouds.

  The dead leaves on trees in Bailey Court looked white under the lights of the ship. My mind hummed with a network buzz. I made my way inward to connect mentally with Elizabeth’s mental packet. She had sent me an image of a towering, pale-skinned, golden-eyed male aeon. He wore a white cloak with a black collar. It was labeled with Sudhatho. I frowned as I thought over the image of the great aeon. What would he be doing here except looking for a rogue star? Yashelia.

  And if he finds Yashelia first he could kill her, and if that happens, Rebecca will be lost forever. I made my way to the edge of the garden, bathed in blue light. Gray autumn clouds rolled by overhead, and I heard a loud voice behind me.

  “Sudhatho, to what do I owe this honor?” Nageddia said.

  I turned to see the aeon that owned Lotdel Tower and her entourage making their way down the street toward a party of purifiers. At the center of the group of purifiers stood a mirror of the image of the pale aeon Elizabeth had just sent over the network. Sudhatho strode out from the center of his purifiers, well over two meters tall and clearly visible over their heads. He swept his cloak back with one arm and put his bloody, wound-marked fist to his heart. He faced Nageddia.

  “Little sister,” said Sudhatho in a rumbling voice that filled the street. “Thank you for meeting me so promptly.”

  Nageddia’s gaze moved over Sudatho and his entourage, and then fixed on me at the street corner beyond them. Her buzz of alert reached me over the network. “Jethro, please come here,” she said in my mind.

  I did not dare defy her, especially not with all the purifiers and a greater aeon nearby. I stepped out into the street and walked toward Nageddia. Sudhatho raised an eyebrow as he noticed me. “What is this man doing here, Nageddia?” he asked.

  “He is one of my tenants,” said Nageddia. “And he encountered the rogue star last night.”

  Sudhatho’s gold eyes moved deliberately. He looked me up and down. His eyes only closed for a moment as he accessed his network. “Jethro Gall,” he said. “That wasn’t the first time you met the rogue star, was it.”

  “No,” I said as steadily as I could while I kept walking toward Nageddia. “She was on a train, and I recognized her from there.”

  Aeons have incredible command of ichor and network powers. Sudhatho appeared to be exceptional even by those standards. I felt a pressure on my mind, vast, but momentary. Then the pressure moved away. I sighed with relief as what I guessed was Sudhatho’s mental attention moved away from me. Nageddia turned toward me.

  “What is it, Jethro?”

  I shook my head. “I was curious about the ship.” I turned toward Sudhatho. “But now I see why its here.”

  “Why do you think?” asked Sudhatho in a calm, rhythmic voice, his eyes locked on my face.

  I took a deep breath. “You’re here to hunt the rogue star.”

  “You are a clever human.” Sudhatho turned to Nageddia. “Make sure he stays out of trouble. The rest of your tenants too.”

  “I always aim for safety. Jethro, please go back inside. It will be safer for everyone.”

  I nodded. “As you wish, Nageddia.” I obeyed in my actions, walked toward the doors with my head down. I knew already I needed to find another way out of Lotdel Tower, and was doubly sure I needed to find Yashelia before Sudhatho could locate her.

  Sudden pressure made me clutch my temple. Sudhatho’s voice echoed from behind me. “Stay safe, human.”

  I limped inside. My head ached. I took the elevator back up to my apartment where Rain awaited.

  I pulled the door of my apartment open and stepped inside. Light streamed through the living room window onto the couch where Rain lay curled, arms folded around herself. She looked up at me as the door closed behind me.

  “Jeth?” her face lit up. “Are you ready yet?”

  I took a deep breath. “No, Rain. I’m not. Please don’t ask me again.”

  Her face fell and she climbed off the couch, still naked from the shower.

  I averted my eyes from her beautiful form. “Please, put something on. We need to go back upstairs.”

  Her eyes glistened with tears. I’d never heard of a clean crying. Maybe the leftover memories from Yashelia’s ichor meant she still had emotions more like ordinary humans.

  She turned from me and walked to the chair on which her clothes from the previous night were scattered. I couldn’t help but watch. To think the girl who had worn a shawl every day in the Green Valley would walk like that without any clothes on. I felt heat rising and turned away from her while she dressed.

  She finished putting on the baggie pants and shirt Thomas had gotten for her, and then turned toward me. “Upstairs?” she said.

  I turned toward her and nodded. “The Mangrove Suite. You can stay there.”

  “Thomas won’t mind?”

  “I don’t think he will. Come on.”

  Rain followed me out the door and down the hall. I felt a twinge of irritation at how long it took the elevator to arrive. No one was on it, which was a mercy. We rode the elevator to the Mangrove Suite and stepped out. Thomas was at the front desk, talking to the two young cleaners he employed. He ushered them away as Rain and I approached.

  “Jeth,” he said. “What’s up?”

  I met his eyes with mine. “Rain can’t stay at my place.”

  He nodded. “Awkward, huh?”

  “Very.”

  “Well, I can keep a room for her, but she already cost me one spare so I’ll have to shuffle things around.”

  “It won’t be for long.” I took Rain by the arm led her around the counter. “Rain,” I said. “Please, stay here for a while. Listen to Thomas until I come back.”

  She nodded without a word. Her eyes narrowed and she looked down at the floor.

  Thomas patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep you out of trouble.” He looked past Rain to me. “Jeth, what’s the plan?”

  “I’m going to search the network for Shelly.”

  “You really shouldn’t call her that.”

  “Think of it as a codename.”

  “Like a spy in old books?”

  “Yeah, just like that.” I forced a smile. “Thomas, I can’t thank you enough.”

  “No,” he said. “You can’t.” He grinned. “Now get out there and do what you gotta do.”

  I nodded, and then left Rain with him at the desk while I headed for the elevator. I felt the weight of the ichor in the flask at my side. I had work
to do, and a monster to track down.

  From Bailey Court Garden

  I spent the next day searching the glittering lights and hummed mental notes of the networks for Yashelia, doing just enough work to keep Omasoa from calling me into the office. Alternately, I spent time mentally sailing over the city and plumbing the depths of the unconscious banks, but turned up little beyond what the news networks filled in for me.

  During that time, Sudhatho’s troops expanded the net around Lotdel Tower, and people were allowed to come and go again. Three days after I had brought Rain to the Mangrove Suite for the first time, I went down to Bailey Court Garden and walked the rows of trees that looked more and more bare of leaves. As I walked, I tried to get my head around the problem.

  Yashelia was hiding somewhere in the city, and even Sudhatho’s army of purifiers and security forces could not uncover her location. What chance did I have? I thought of Ryan Carter and how he once told me that this sort of hunt could go on for months, and only when it was already obvious was the trail was declared cold. By then the rogue star would be gone. This time my chances of restoring Rebecca would go with her.

  I stopped before a large tree and gazed up at its multicolored heights. I knew something about Yashelia that the aeons had not acknowledged. Yashelia was an aeon, not a typical rogue star. She might be mad, but she had the five wounds and all the other powers. She had a human accomplice before. Could someone else be hiding her? I frowned at the tree. All my network diving had been fruitless. Perhaps because I had been looking for the wrong thing.

  My legs carried me deeper into the garden, toward the private part where the trees were still green, nourished by some unseen source despite the gray sky and oncoming winter. I walked on a path between tightly-packed trees, closer and closer to the center of the dense wood. A tree stood at the end of the path some thirty meters off, surrounded by a small clearing.

  The tree was anything but small, though. It climbed toward the sky, taller than all the others in this part of the garden. Clean-cut spots where branches had been trimmed ringed the trunk at every level. The branches that had not been trimmed completely spread out higher up, covered in leaves of an unnaturally green color. Even those branches were kept tended by Nageddia’s cleans. I’d seen it before, from about this same distance. Most everyone who walked these paths would look at it at least once if they made it this far into the park.