by M M Buckner
Only an instant elapsed before Sheeba turned and saw me. Or perhaps it was an age. In that immeasurable time, I perceived the contented way she leaned into Liam’s caress, and jealousy sliced through me.
“Vlad!” Kaioko jumped off the table and ran into the medic’s outstretched arms.
Juani grinned. “Blade, is that you? You found Vlad.”
Geraldine hefted her hammer. While Kaioko hugged the medic, Sheeba faced me uneasily, and Liam swept up a heavy scrap of metal from the floor. He would have thrown it at me, but Sheeba touched his hand. “Put it down. He brought Vlad.”
My heightened senses picked up exactly how much pressure she used and how intimately their gazes locked. Liam lowered the weapon.
I took off my backpack, drew out the portable cyberdoc and set it on the table as a peace offering. Liam eyed me warily, noticing my new suit. He kept the scrap metal handy.
Sheeba ran her fingers over the cyberdoc’s controls. “You came back to make amends.”
“I stopped the euthanasia order, Shee.”
“He tricking us.” Geraldine came toward me.
“No, wait,” I said. “The gunship’s gone. The war’s over.”
“Liar.” Geraldine twirled the hammer left-handed. Her right arm hung in a sling. I’d done that when I escaped. I’d broken her wrist
A splint shackled Liam’s leg, and even in the reduced gravity, he moved with a limp as he edged around the table. I must have done that, too, when I tossed him into the bales. His face showed bruises. “Why you here?” he asked.
“Sheeba…” I couldn’t think what else to say.
Vlad met Liam in a hasty embrace, and they exchanged quick greetings. Then Vlad gestured toward the door. “Four ‘xecs waiting outside to take Sheeba Zee.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sheeba said.
Liam gripped his metal bludgeon and signaled to Juani and Geraldine to guard the door. The boy leaped to obey, but Geraldine didn’t follow the chief’s order. She moved behind me and hooked her hammer claws around my throat. “Let me kill him.”
“He save my life,” Vlad said. Rapidly, the medic told them how I’d bargained him away from the gunship and given him a transfusion. Sheeba shot me a startled smile, but Liam narrowed his eyes and chewed his mustache.
Kaioko said, “Gee, let him go. I told you he a good man.”
But Gee didn’t. When I tried to move, her clawhammer pressed into my Adam’s apple. I could have flung her against the wall with one hand, but my goal was peace, not violence.
So I drew a deep breath. “Heaven’s yours, Sheeba. I bought it for you. All these employees belong to you now. You can do whatever you like with them.”
Sheeba’s eyes went wide—with anger. “Say you don’t mean that the way it sounds.”
That wasn’t the reaction I expected. This was going all wrong. I meant to make her happy. When I tried to explain, Geraldine’s hammer claw bit into my neck and cut off my wind.
Sheeba took a step toward me, but Liam drew her back, and I hated him for that. He shielded her with his body—as if I would ever harm her. He said, “You bring these others to euth’ us.”
I pushed Geraldine’s hammer away. “Stupido punk. I came for Sheeba. Do you want her to stay here and die?”
Liam’s face reddened, and he raised the chunk of metal to strike me. Then, in a spasm of voiceless rage, he flung it across the deck. Its ringing clatter unsettled everyone, and the sound he made in his rich, manly baritone came out more a -whimper than a roar. Words rumbled deep in his throat as if he were strangling. “Sheeba, go with him. You be better away from here.”
“But we found the cure!” Shee turned to her nanoscope and bounced on her tiptoes. “Vlad, you have to see this.”
The medic crossed the small room and bent to peer through the eyepiece. Sheeba jittered with excitement. “You see? It’s a sample of Kaioko’s blood. Those crystals are called NEMs. They made her well.”
Vlad drew away with a puzzled frown. Then he lifted the cyberdoc from the table and activated its memory. “That’s the same thing Nasir gave me.”
“It’s the cure,” Kaioko whispered, almost reverently.
She stood at his elbow, bright-eyed and pink-cheeked. I think she’d grown taller.
Vlad beckoned me toward the nanoscope. “Come and look, Nasir.”
Liam nodded to Geraldine, and grudgingly, the wench let me pass. I squinted through the eyepiece, and there among the pearl and ruby platelets, I saw diamonds. The faceted silicon molecules zigged and zagged in linear search patterns, sharply sculpted, transparent, methodical. As I watched, a few of them linked to form a tiny diaphanous membrane, which folded up like origami to create a multilimbed crystal. This fantastical, jagged creature rolled along in a jerky dance till it found mates and formed a six-pointed ring. As more rings adhered together, they began to shape the first trace outlines of a lattice.
Sheeba nudged my elbow. “I was hoping to use Kaioko’s blood to inoculate the others, but her NEM count is still too low. She doesn’t have nearly the concentration you have, Nass.”
“I’ve been collecting the suckers for decades,” I muttered, lost in wonder. Under the nanoscope, glassy NEMs circled and flashed. They glowed with internal energy. They scintillated.
“There are 114 people living here,” Sheeba said, breaking my concentration. “Kaioko can never give enough blood to save them all. We need a hell of a lot more NEMs.”
I let Sheeba’s words sink in. That was way more toads than I’d guessed. “Dearest, I’ll buy NEMs for everyone if you’ll come away with me.”
She sat on the counter. “You can’t buy NEMs. They’re a controlled substance.”
Yes, I knew. NEMs were impossible to buy without an official, biometrically certified prescription. You couldn’t even get them on the hot market. Believe me, I had tried. But I was desperate.
“Sheeba, I’ve ordered a complete medical lab with all the latest gadgets. Vlad can give everyone the best possible treatment. I’ll—I’ll—transfer these people to Earth if need be.”
“Earth?” Juani fidgeted, guarding the door. “But we can’t live there. Our bones crack.”
“Nass, I’m staying to help. You can stay, too.” Sheeba stooped a little so we were face-to-face. Her water-colored eyes sparkled with reflections from the strobing fluorescent light, and her pupils widened. Dear child, how blithely she wanted to throw her life away.
“What about the four ‘xecs?” Geraldine moved to the door and flattened her ear against the steel. “They got those Nemmy things. Why don’t we take their blood?”
Everyone turned to face the wench. “She’s right,” Vlad murmured.
“Yes!” Sheeba’s face brightened. “We’ll get the Agonists to donate blood.”
In reflex, I covered the camera hidden in my collar, but it was too late. The Agonists had just overheard mat exchange. Out in the ladder well, they were watching my surf on their wrist screens, and I could imagine their reactions all too clearly.
Sheeba bounded toward the door, glowing with enthusiasm. “They can give two liters apiece if we draw it slowly. That can save at least eight or ten more people.”
“Don’t say that,” I whispered, dreading what my friends might do. Covertly, I gestured toward the camera clipped to my collar, but Shee didn’t notice.
Liam did, though. He grabbed my collar, plucked off the Bumblebee and rolled it between his fingers. “Surveillance camera. You betray your friends? Whose side you on?”
“I’m on Sheeba’s side.” I knocked the camera from Liam’s hand, and I would’ve taken possession of Shee by brute force, but at that moment, Geraldine screamed and jolted away from the door.
She landed flat on her back, and a wisp of smoke curled up from her hair. Juani yelped and leaped aside, too, just as more electric sparks crackled around the doorjamb. Then the door banged open, and Grunze stepped in, aiming his stun gun. Kat and Verinne stumbled in behind him, firing sticky-string at random,
and Winston followed, blasting the ceiling with his laser pistol.
“Grunzie, stop,” I implored. “There’s no need for aggression.”
Grunze slammed Juani against the wall, then zapped Geraldine’s bare foot with his stun gun. Kaioko crept across the floor to her injured husband, and when Vlad tried defend her, Grunze tossed the medic into the stack of benches.
“No!” Sheeba and I wailed in unison.
Liam shoved past me and reached for Grunzie’s gun. The two of them wrestled like gladiators, grunting and twisting, but it was clear who would win. Grunze was fresh, well fed and thoroughly buff, whereas Liam shuddered with exhaustion. With a banshee cry, Sheeba leaped onto Grunze’s back and pounded his head and ears.
“This isn’t necessary,” I shouted again, trying to separate them.
Howling mightily, Grunze flung Sheeba off and pinned Liam to the deck. In the confusion, I helped Shee to her feet and steered her toward the ladder well, hoping to spirit her away before anyone got seriously hurt.
“Let me go.” Sheeba elbowed me and tried to pull free.
I forced her toward the ladder. “You’re too young to die. You hate me now, but someday you’ll—”
“I’ll what? Forgive you?”
Her tone distressed me. When I briefly loosened my grip, she broke away and raced back toward her lover. But just as she crossed over the sill, Kat pumped a load of sticky-string full in her face.
“Don’t,” I yelled.
Sheeba halted, stunned.
“I was just trying to be helpful,” Kat said.
The smart string slithered around Shee’s body and trapped her in a fine, mesh cage. Then it constricted, drawing her arms and legs together till she toppled over. Liam struggled and cursed, locked in Grunze’s meaty arms. Winston shot bright blue laser beams through the air. “Molto plasmic!”
“Don’t move, Shee. That only makes the string draw tighter.” Verinne softly uncapped a sedative spray.
The defeated juves lay still, and my triumphant friends kept their weapons aimed. Grunze planted a knee on Liam’s chest. While Winston waved his pistol, Kat gave me a hearty thumbs-up and reloaded her sticky-string pump.
Verinne held the sedative close to Sheeba’s nostrils, but I knelt and stopped her from spraying it. Sheeba’s dewy face stared through the mesh, helpless and full of scorn. With every furious breath she drew, the strings tightened across her damp bronze cheeks.
I cradled her in my arms. “Dearest, this isn’t how I meant it to be.”
“Sonovabitch.” Grunzie winced and rubbed his head. Kaioko had popped him with Gee’s hammer.
There was a scuffle. Laser beams danced, blue bolts crackled, and in the confusion, Liam hurled Grunze backward against the counter. The young man’s speed astonished me. Weak as he was, he must have been mainlining adrenaline. He jumped to his feet, rushed toward me and got hold of Sheeba. He almost ripped her fettered body from my arms. Insolent prote, his audacity maddened me.
I tugged Sheeba free and circled him, holding her body under one arm like a package. I waved Grunze off. “This punk’s all mine, burly boy.”
My muscles went taut, and NEM-boosted power rippled through my limbs. Zone bliss fired my neurons. When the punk feinted left, I read his intentions and dodged. This was the fight I’d lived for. I hoisted Shee on one shoulder to free my hands.
Then I kicked the punk in the face. My blow could have cracked his skull if I’d wanted. As he staggered against the table, clutching his bloody nose, I almost chuckled. His splinted leg made a funny stumping sound till he found his balance. The kid was no match for me. Not even close.
When he rushed me again, I sent him spinning with an easy backhand. My crew cheered and whistled. But he caught the table and kept himself from falling.
“You want more?” I taunted. “Come on, juve. Take me.”
As soon as he limped within reach, I kick-punched his ribs, and he thumped against the counter and hit his head. Sheeba squirmed, so I hoisted her to a new position. Slowly, Liam got to his feet. He stood weaving, wiping his nose. Then he crouched to spring again. Stupid kid.
Sheeba was still wriggling and fighting me, despite the entangling string. I gripped her tighter, and when Liam put his head down to charge, I laughed and sidestepped him. More cheers from my crew. But Liam swung around and caught hold of Sheeba’s shoulders.
“Thieving brute.” I held fast to Shee’s hips and tried to sling him off. He clung to her like glue.
As Sheeba twisted and scratched at me, the string cut across her face—like bars. And I almost dropped her. Then my mind narrowed to one goal: Break Sheeba free. Step by step, I lugged her backward toward the door. Liam’s boots skidded across the deck because he wouldn’t let go, and blood streamed from his nose. What an idiot. Couldn’t he see he’d lost?
“Back off, juve. Don’t make me hurt you worse.”
The punk said nothing. His jaws quivered with strain as he held on to Sheeba.
When Kaioko touched my sleeve, I brushed her off. We’d almost reached the ladder well. Sheeba weighed nothing in my powerful arms. She shuddered as my grip tightened around her waist, and I jerked her hard to loosen Liam’s hands.
Vlad picked himself up and crawled toward me. “Sheeba Zee doesn’t want to go.”
I ignored the medic and yanked her left and right. Incredibly, Liam still clung to her. As I took another step backward, she moaned with a soft, throttled sound, and for half a second, my grip slackened. Her moan almost severed my concentration.
“Be calm, blade. Let her stay,” Juani said from the floor. The boy’s head was bleeding, and he couldn’t seem to move. He distracted me.
“If she stays, it’s certain death,” I hissed through my teeth.
“Death always certain,” Juani said.
Sheeba’s body stretched out between Liam and me like a failing link in a chain. With my strength, I could have torn her in two. But it was my grip that broke, not Liam’s embrace. My hands dropped, and he fled with her to the far side of the table. While I stood there like a fool.
Gently, he peeled the bars of sticky-string away and kissed her face. His mouth sought out each red welt, and his fingers searched through her hair, untangling the angry threads. I turned away and stared at my trembling hands—and I tried to swallow the bitter taste rising in my throat.
“Fuck this.” Grunze knocked the table aside and lifted Liam off his feet. “Get her, Kat.”
Kat and Verinne darted in and grabbed Sheeba, while Win painted the walls with his laser, leaving blistered swaths in the steel.
“She’s ours. Major score!” Kat crowed.
“Award-winning Reel,” Verinne said proudly.
“Wait,” I mumbled. “I can’t do this again.”
Grunze raised his fist in a victorious salute. “This is what we came for. Huah! We put these agitators down.”
“No, this is too ugly.” I swallowed the rising taste of lychee nuts. “We’re making a mistake.”
“Always such a clown. Come on, girls.” Grunze covered Liam with his stun gun while Kat and Verinne backed toward the ladder well, dragging Sheeba, bound and gagged.
“It’s over,” I said. “Our time is over.”
My crewmates laughed and kept moving. They didn’t understand. I barely understood myself. But I knew there could be no half measures. This was not the time for moderation. So I batted the gun from Grunze’s hands.
When its barrel shattered, Grunze’s wild, questioning eyes met mine. “What the shit, sweet-pee?”
Before he could react, I seized Winston’s pistol and broke it in half. Winny blinked and staggered against the doorjamb. “Did we make a new bet?”
I slammed Kat’s pump against the wall, where it burst into splinters. The load of sticky-string pooled on the floor like an alien creature.
While Liam recovered Sheeba, Kat backed away. “You’ve gone crazy. We’re your crew.”
“It’s all about Sheeba, isn’t it?” Verinne said q
uietly as she handed me her sedative spray.
“This isn’t meant to hurt,” I answered. Then I put all the Agonists to sleep.
They fell like broken dolls, and a scent of witch hazel hung in the air when I finished. I stood among the wreckage of their bodies, clutching the half-empty canister of Sleep-Eze. My crewmates. Closing my eyes didn’t help. When I opened them again, Sheeba and Liam watched me as they might watch a madman.
I dropped to the floor, understanding at last how this surf would play out. These were the resources I’d gone to seek. The Agonists. They’d been collecting NEMs as long as I had, and their blood ran thick with nanobugs. I drew Sheeba’s ankh from my pocket, pushed up my sleeve and sliced a deep cut in my arm. Warm blood splashed to the floor, cleaning bright silvery circles on the steel deck. I held out my dripping arm to Sheeba.
28
RED FRUIT
“When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old.”
-BILL CLINTON
Liam was the first to move. He frisked Grunze, then the others, searching for hidden weapons. Vlad and Kaioko rose groggily and tried to revive the unconscious Geraldine, while Sheeba freed herself from the last shreds of string and hurried to check Juani’s head wound.
“Don’t harm them,” I warned Liam as he prowled among my crew.
Instead of answering, he fell to his knees and almost fainted. Sheeba made him sit down and put his head back to stop the nosebleed. While Vlad gave first aid, Kaioko made Geraldine sit still and rest—and drink a full glass of water.
Twenty minutes later, I lay on a mattress in sick-ward, watching Vlad set up the bloodletting gear. The wound I’d sliced earlier had already healed, but my NEMs flowed readily through Vlad’s needle. Perhaps the little healers felt affinity for medical gear. Across from me lay eight stricken adolescents, the latest to fall sick. In the dim yellow light, Sheeba stooped over their mattresses and checked their pulses.
