Allotropes

by Laurence Dahners

  “You can’t afford that either! The way your cousin has been gouging you to keep her in Delhi is a crime.”

  Viveka closed her eyes in despair. So far she’d only thought about the loss of her father. She hadn’t considered what it meant to her own future. She’d dreamed of one day making enough money to recompense her family for the sacrifices they’d made sending her to Delhi. She’d never pay back her father now. If she couldn’t graduate, she probably wouldn’t be able to pay back her mother either.

  Her mother said, “I know I can’t afford it. But I think you are wrong about Moman. She wouldn’t charge me unfairly, we grew up together. Perhaps… perhaps Moman will keep Viveka this one more year, allowing Viveka to pay her back once she has a job.” Viveka’s mother said this without conviction.

  “Ha!” Viveka’s aunty barked, “Fat chance of that! Moman gouges everyone when it comes to money.”

  “Maybe… Viveka could work… or get a loan?”

  “Viveka’s already working as a maid for your cousin. I’ve asked around. In the city, someone who cooks and cleans like Viveka shouldn’t have to pay for their room. But as many hours as she puts in as a maid, she surely doesn’t have time to work another job and go to school.”

  Viveka’s eyes widened. If that were true…? Perhaps she could work as a maid for someone else, getting room and board without paying extra? She’d never considered the possibility… Her mother and aunty moved out of earshot and one of the men Viveka’s fathers had worked with came to pay his respects. Viveka felt absurdly glad that this one wasn’t drunk.

  ***

  Ell looked around the table at D5R’s leaders. They were mostly people who’d been there when she started the company. They were also the people who were now leading D5R’s subsidiaries. They’d finished everything else on their agenda. She cleared her throat, “So, I’m going to be taking a long vacation this summer.”

  Ben’s head shot around with a dismayed look on his face. “How long? When?!”

  To her surprise, many of the others looked worried too. Ell said, “Five weeks, mid-July to mid-August. Don’t look so shocked… just because I hadn’t taken a vacation so far didn’t mean I never would.”

  “But, but…”

  “But, you guys don’t need me. You’ll just keep doing what you do and doing it brilliantly. If you really need me, you can always reach me.”

  “Are D5R’s investors OK with this?” Fred asked, a furrow between his brows.

  “Yeah,” she grinned, “they think I need a vacation too.”

  Ben snorted, “I’m trying to keep in mind that a few years ago… I thought the last thing I needed was an underage CEO telling me how to do my job.” He looked around the table and shook his head mournfully, “Now I’m worried about what we’re gonna do without her around here spewing crazy ideas…”

  ***

  Viveka alighted from the bus feeling exhausted. Her aunty had found a young man going to Delhi for Viveka to ride with which had at first relieved her trepidation about riding the bus alone. But it had proven that the young man had heard that all the women from Delhi had loose morals. Only a few minutes into the long ride he’d begun speaking suggestively to her.

  Fortunately, verbal dissuasion had been all that had been required to stop him. Nonetheless, Viveka had slept poorly. Any swaying of the bus that bumped their legs together woke her with her heart in her throat. She set out to walk to Moman’s house carrying her little bag.

  Moman opened the door, “Viveka? I heard about your father. You poor girl! Without your papa I didn’t think you’d be able to afford to come back to Delhi?”

  Staring at her shoes Viveka whispered, “I can’t.”

  “My goodness girl,” Moman said, “then what are you doing here? You’ll just make your situation worse.”

  “I hoped you would let me stay a few days while I look for a cheaper place to stay.” Moman said nothing for a few moments so Viveka finally looked up to see her face.

  Moman’s expression couldn’t be interpreted, but she said, “I’m not running a charity here you know?”

  Viveka nodded, “Only a few days?”

  With a sigh Moman said, “OK, three days. But you’ll need to do your chores.”

  Viveka nodded and followed Moman inside. Glancing about she realized that nothing had been cleaned or straightened since the day she left two weeks ago. She looked at Moman who glanced about without embarrassment, “As you can see, there’s a lot to do. Please get the laundry done before you go to bed, we’re running out of clean clothes.” Moman turned toward the room where she watched her vids.

  With a sigh Viveka carried her bag to the laundry room where the cot Viveka slept on had been located. With slumped shoulders she saw that her cot been taken down and would need to be reassembled.

  A little after midnight, the laundry done and kitchen cleaned, Viveka slipped into the room where Moman’s husband Alagan kept his computer. An older model, it still outstripped Viveka’s resources which consisted of the minimal net connection she could make on her prepaid phone. Her phone would provide virtually no net access before its prepay ran out. Booting up the computer, she began to look for jobs, or at least for room and board. To her surprise she found several ads looking for someone to clean and cook breakfast as she had been doing for Moman. Room and board and often a small salary were provided, rather than costing money.

  Her heart rose and she went to bed filled with hope.

  In the morning Viveka got up early to make poori for the family’s breakfast. Alagan came in, “Viveka! I was very sorry to hear about your father but it’s good to see you girl.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially, “Breakfast has been terrible while you were gone.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation, “I love your poori.”

  Viveka passed him a poori and he bit into it happily. “Will you be staying? Moman said you might not be able to afford to continue school?” He frowned, “I thought you had a scholarship?”

  “I do, but without Papa, I can no longer afford to pay for my room and board here.”

  Alagan frowned again, “I thought you cleaned and cooked breakfast for your room and board?”

  “Alagan,” Moman said imperiously as she swept into the kitchen, “don’t try to get involved in the running of the household.” She sat and turned to Viveka, “Pass me the poori.” When Viveka had handed her a plate with several poori she sniffed and said, “You used too much oil.”

  Alagan drew his head back. “That’s the way I like them. These are perfect!” He turned to Viveka, “Make a couple more, I’ll take them for my lunch.”

  Viveka finished cleaning the house in the morning and then snuck into the computer room to check for responses to the queries she’d made. Two of them had responded! They wanted to interview her.

  “What are you doing in here?!”

  Moman stood at the door. “Using the computer to look for jobs,” Viveka said in a small voice.

  “I thought you used the computers at your school?”

  “Normally I do, but they’re not available when school’s not in session. Your husband said I could…”

  “Alagan doesn’t run this household. I do. You should ask me!”

  “Yes Ma’am.” Viveka said with downcast eyes.

  “Turn it off.”

  “Yes Ma’am.” Viveka said quickly looking at the two phone numbers and committing them to memory as she reached to shut it down.

  “I need you to go to market.” Moman held out a list.

  Viveka took the list, turned it over and wrote the two numbers down. Marketing hadn’t been one of her tasks in the past.

  “What are you doing? Don’t be adding your own items to our list.”

  “No Ma’am.” Viveka raised her eyes to Moman’s, hoping her hatred didn’t show through them.

  “On your way then.”

  Viveka didn’t take her eyes away from Moman’s, “I’ll need money.”

  “Nonsense. Bring me the receipt and
I’ll repay you.” She shrugged, “Actually, you should buy these groceries to recompense us for your room these three nights.”

  “I don’t have enough money Moman,” Viveka said, waving the pencil at the list without looking away from Moman’s eyes. She half expected Moman to demand to see the bottom of her empty wallet.

  Moman sighed exasperatedly, “OK, I’ll get you money. I’ll expect receipts and change.”

  Once out of the house Viveka called the two phone numbers, hoping against hope that she could finish arranging interviews before the few minutes she had left on her phone ran out.

  Hanging up from the second call she saw with dismay that she only had thirty seconds of time left on her phone. But she did have two appointments, one in thirty minutes and the other in two hours. If only she could find both of them afoot without too much trouble.

  The door opened on a dour woman who looked Viveka up and down. “You’re looking for the housekeeping position?”

  Viveka nodded.

  The woman sniffed, “Why aren’t you wearing a sari?”

  “I’m a student at IIT and don’t have any saris any more.”

  The woman rolled her eyes and didn’t invite Viveka inside. “I need someone with a flexible schedule. Students are always having to attend class. Give me your number, I might call you back.”

  Dismayed Viveka gave the woman the number to her mobile, hoping she didn’t call when Viveka had so few minutes available. She memorized the woman’s number so she could recognize it and avoid answering unless desperate, then turned her phone off to be sure.

  At the next house a cheerful woman in her late twenties opened the door with a little girl on her hip. “Hi! You’re Viveka?”

  Viveka nodded, a tentative smile on her own lips as the little girl hid her face.

  “Come in, come in! Let me show you around.” Viveka followed the smiling woman about the house. The family had an entire empty room that Viveka could live in. The room was small but, so much better than living on a cot in the laundry! They couldn’t afford to pay much beyond room and board but only wanted Viveka to clean and straighten in the evenings after the children were in bed. She would do one load of laundry each evening and cook breakfast five days a week.

  To Viveka’s astonishment, she wouldn’t be expected to do errands unless paid extra and wasn’t expected to provide childcare more than one evening a week, and then only if the parents went out.

  She could use their computer if the family wasn’t using it and would have her days free to attend class!

  Before she left, they’d signed an agreement for Viveka to start the next day.

  Viveka left for the market in a buoyant mood.

  She started back to Moman’s house in a foul temper, having been groped twice while shopping. She daydreamed of vengeance on the walk back from the market. If only there was a way to teach those men a lesson?

  Perhaps spraying them with cheap perfume for their wives to smell when they got home? She retired that idea on the realization that such a man would likely take his own vengeance on her when she assaulted him with the perfume.

  Viveka raised an eyebrow over a new concept. She could apply sticky signs to their backs! “I groped a woman today,” the signs would say. They could be applied gently without the man even knowing. She imagined him getting home to his wife with the sign still in place. She raised an eyebrow, maybe I could sell the signs to other women and start a revolution?

  As she opened the back door to Moman’s house, Moman’s shrill voice grated on Viveka’s ears. “All afternoon for a trip to the market! And you aren’t answering your mobile! I had to make dinner without rice.” As Viveka set them down Moman peered into the bags, “Where’s the rice? You didn’t get rice?!”

  Viveka gritted her teeth, “You didn’t give me enough money to get all these items and the rice also.”

  Moman’s eyes widened, “And you couldn’t use your own money, even for a little rice?!”

  Viveka narrowed her eyes, “Moman, I have forty rupees. That’s all. The change for your items without the rice was fifteen rupees. Fifty five rupees wouldn’t buy even the smallest rice.”

  “You’ll just have to go again after dinner.”

  “I won’t. It’s not safe.”

  “Pssh, it’s fine.” She raised an eyebrow, “You’ll go after dinner if you want to stay here.”

  Alagan had been staring at them over his dinner. “Moman, I agree with Viveka, it isn’t safe for a young girl at the market after dark.”

  With some satisfaction Viveka said, “It’s OK, I’m not staying here anyway.”

  Alagan looked horrified. Moman narrowed her eyes, “Where are you staying?!”

  “I’ve found a family to stay with. I’ll have a room instead of sleeping in the laundry. I’ll do less work than here. They’ll pay me, instead of my family having to pay them.”

  Moman hissed, “What? Are you going to whore yourself to the husband?”

  “No!” Viveka said, hatred in her eyes.

  “Why are they paying you then?”

  “It turns out that normal people do pay their housekeepers, Moman. I am so sorry for my family that I never thought to look into this before.” Disgust and loathing on her face, Viveka said, “You must feel very proud Moman, using your cousin’s child as a housekeeper and charging her family for the privilege. I don’t wish you luck finding another fool to dupe.”

  Alagan turned wide eyed to Moman, “You’re charging her to stay here?”

  Tears pouring down her face Viveka turned and went to the laundry to collect her meager belongings. I can’t believe that I went to the market for that woman after realizing what she has been doing to my family for years! I am such a fool! Always trying to be so nice. Never looking out for myself.

  Or for my family, she thought with disgust, lifting her bag and turning to the door.

  “Viveka!” Alagan said behind her, “Surely you aren’t going out at night!”

  Huddled fearfully at the door Viveka sniffed and nodded. Voice cracking she said, “I can’t stay here.”

  “You can.”

  “I won’t.”

  Alagan looked at her sadly for a minute and then said, “OK then, I’ll go with you and we’ll take a taxi. I’ll stay until we’re sure they will take you in tonight.

  True to his word Alagan went with her and even had the taxi stop at a street vendor where he bought Viveka some chaat for dinner. Then he stayed until he could be sure her new family had taken her in. Before he left, he pressed a bundle of rupees into her hand and said, “If something happens, come back. If I had known that Moman was charging you I would have put a stop to it years ago.”

  Viveka nodded, a frog in her throat. She felt immensely grateful to have a backup place to live and a little money to start her new life.

  ***

  As Keldap stalked in to see Sigwald, Querlak found herself pulled into TS with Keldap again. Her point of view moved around as Keldap examined Sigwald from all sides, wondering at the fact that Sigwald didn’t seem to have changed at all in the weeks since they had bound him to the wall of the repair shed. They had expected a frenzied response to the immobilization but such a response hadn’t evinced itself.

  Sigwald hadn’t even asked for food, which Querlak thought must mean that Sigwald was a robot.

  Finally Keldap said, “Are you ready to tell us how to get to the stars?”

  As he had several times in the past few weeks, Sigwald said only, “No,”

  Keldap’s temper boiled up and for a moment Querlak thought he would do Sigwald some harm. But a push from the TS calmed him. The TS had concluded that it had no reason to rush. Sigwald couldn’t go anywhere. Rather than trying to harm Sigwald, imprisoning him until he broke from hunger or boredom would be the best strategy. Eventually and reluctantly Keldap said, “We can afford to wait a very long time. You will tell us eventually.”

  Querlak wondered to herself if that were true. The rest of the TS hadn’t seeme
d to take any notice of her observation that Sigwald hadn’t eaten and what that might mean. Although such immobilization would break a sigma, if Sigwald was a robot he might have almost infinite patience. Then the TS dropped away and Querlak lost the processing power she had been using. As her intelligence dropped, so did her interest in the question.

  ***

  Andrea guided the young couple up the steps to one of her rental properties. “You are making the honeymoon?” she asked, using her own English.

  “Yes,” the pretty young woman said. “Though our wedding was actually in May. We had some other things going on then, so July was a better time to get away.”

  Andrea glanced admiringly at the young woman’s tousled blond and oh so handsome husband. “Well, here. Now you see this is your little apartment. The room with the bed is in there… Here I show you… over here is small kitchen. I can show you a small market if you want buy food. But, Venice is famous for its cafés and restaurants. Is easy eating out all the time here.”

  “We’ll probably eat out most of the time but we don’t speak much Italian. Do the people here accept AI translation?”

  “Oh, don’t be worried. Most of the selling people speak fair well English. Those who not, they not complain about AI translation.” Andrea knew that there were always a few people who would be rude to tourists who didn’t speak Italian. But, competition to sell had been slowly driving those people out of the tourist businesses for years. Most sales people gratefully used AI translation nowadays. Andrea tried to use her own English because she hoped it provided a personal touch, though she felt pretty sure that people would understand her better if she just spoke her native Italian and let her guests’ AIs translate her words for them.

  Once Andrea had shown them the rest of the features of the small apartment they had rented for the next several weeks she took them back out to the street. “I point out some features of the neighborhood?”