by John F. Carr
"Did any of the Simulike characters remind you of me?"
"No. It's possible one of them represented you and I just didn't make the connection." I wondered if he was looking for an ego boost or for information about the future. He might have been seeking some other information but I couldn't be sure what it might be. I would be willing to polish his ego a bit if that was what it took to get a new wristlock, but I didn't want to lie to him any more than necessary, especially when I couldn't be sure what he wanted to hear.
I wasn't certain exactly what was going on. It was possible that he had recorded my Simulike experience and was asking about it to see if I would give an honest account.
Boget said, "I think I'm going to play an important role in your life. If your Simulike journey didn't bring you into my orbit, two major possibilities exist. It could be that our relationship is going to go so smoothly that you don't need to be prepared for it or, at the other extreme; our association may be limited in ways that can't yet be foreseen. I think the first possibility is the more likely one.
"I want you to be my assistant at the Simulike Palace, if you are willing. All of the old Simulike machines are being replaced with new ones like the one you used. The work should be finished today. I'd like for you to be my eyes and ears."
I didn't know what that position might entail but I wasn't going to turn it down if a new wristlock was part of the package.
"I'd like to do that but not while wearing a wristlock that identifies me as a suspected criminal. I wouldn't be of much help to you if I had to worry continually about being arrested by the VIS."
I tried to express my desires in terms that implied our interests coincided. I watched his reaction to see if my point of view fit with his intentions.
Boget smiled. He reached into his waist pouch and withdrew a white wristlock. He said, "This is for you."
This was what I'd been waiting for but I felt letdown. I had expected something more official. Maybe the ceremony came when the wristlock change was made and recorded. Then I got it. Of course, Boget must have procured another illegal wristlock. I wondered what new entanglement I was letting myself in for. I knew Clandine would be pleased to learn that Boget was providing illegal wristlocks to bancs, but I wasn’t convinced our interests were the same. Regardless, the new wristlock was an improvement over Errox’s castoff.
"I appreciate the attention you've given to my problem, Boget. I'm eager to wear a white wristlock. Can the change be made this morning?"
"I've made the arrangements. We can leave now."
We left the urbode and got on the outbound slidestrip. When we reached the slideway I paid attention to the route, adding it to my mental map. Our journey stopped at a purple urbode that looked like all the others. I had expected an official building of some sort. We went into the urbode and on the fifth floor we approached a dwell. The door opened at Boget’s request.
He introduced me to the occupant, Dreena, a short woman who was thickset without being fat.
She said to me, "I'm pleased to meet you, Rathe."
I knew I'd heard her name before, but couldn't remember where or when. To Boget she said, "Your runner said you needed my services. How can I help?"
Boget gave Dreena the white wristlock. "Put this one on Rathe. Dispose of the gray one he's wearing and destroy it. It belongs to someone who’s in trouble with the VIS."
Dreena's expression changed as if she had just learned something of importance. Then I recalled Clandine having told me that Dreena was one of two illegal smitties used by Errox. I couldn't understand why Boget was using an illegal smitty. I didn't understand why he wasn't doing this in some kind of official manner, but I wasn't going to ask. My focus was on getting Errox's gray wristlock off and the white wristlock on.
"I'll do a remote demolition on the gray wristlock," Dreena said.
Boget said, "Good," to her. Then he turned to me and asked, "Can you find your way back to my dwell?"
"Yes," I said. "On the way, I made a mental map of our route."
"Okay. Come back to my dwell when you're finished. Your new wristlock is keyed to open my door. Then we'll go to the House of Rebirth and get Ozerta—she's the rainbow overseer there—to get you officially registered as a white wristlock wearer."
"I'll be looking forward to that." Ozerta was one of Clandine's conspiracy suspects. If Boget could use an illegal smitty and get Ozerta to register the event as officially sanctioned, then he and Ozerta might be conspirators. Perhaps they were not as dangerous as Clandine seemed to think, but they were definitely involved in some illegal activity. Two rainbows who were bypassing the existing system.
I wondered why they were doing it. Maybe they were just going around the bureaucracy to save time and effort. Rainbows held the power in this society. Surely they could change the system if they wanted to? I wondered if Clandine had detected some irregularities and deduced a conspiracy, mistaking shortcuts for corruption.
Boget said goodbye to Dreena and left. She had me sit in a chair. Her setup was just like the one that Hushel had used to give me Errox's wristlock.
Dreena locked my right arm in the frame, fit the wires to my fingers, and removed the gray wristlock with the spreading tool. She wasn't as skilled as Hushel. She scraped my knuckles deep enough to make them bleed.
"I'm sorry. I'll put some antiseptic new skin on your knuckles." She picked up an unmarked container and sprayed on a liquid that stung me. Dreena removed the gray wristlock from the machine and said, "I'll get rid of this gray wristlock while the new skin dries."
She left before I could make a reply. I hoped she wouldn't be long. Although I was glad to be rid of Errox's wristlock, I felt vulnerable without a wristlock of my own. My wrist looked naked without one.
I looked around the dwell from my position in the chair where I was imprisoned by the hardware attached to my right arm. The dwell held nothing to distinguish it from other gray dwells except the smitty equipment.
After a while I began to wonder when Dreena would return. What if the VIS came to arrest her and took me, too? What if she was doing the wristlock demolition and injured herself? What if she never came back? I realized my thoughts were becoming paranoid and I started counting backwards from one hundred, one number with each breath, in an attempt to calm myself. I kept losing count as unpleasant thoughts flitted through my mind.
The way the hardware was attached to my right arm held me in place. I couldn't reach any of the controls with my left hand. The chair was firmly attached to the floor and wouldn't move despite my struggles. If Dreena never came back, would Boget look for me when I didn't return to his dwell? Was it possible that Boget suspected I was really an agent for Clandine and the VIS? If he did was he intending to have me killed or brainwiped?
I shuddered at the idea of being brainwiped again. Regardless of who I had been before, I was now Rathe. I had a character and a personality that I could live with. I hoped I hadn't fallen into a trap that meant I would have to start over as a blanc or a rebirth.
My hopes were at low ebb when Dreena finally returned. She wasn’t alone. Alongside her was Errox.
"Rathe, my friend, I'm glad to see you again."
"Hello, Errox." I saw that he was wearing a green wristlock, probably the one he'd cut off the dead woman in the Rainbow Room. I tried to banish the memory from my mind.
Errox looked at Dreena and ordered, "Install his white wristlock, Dreena. Rathe is on his way up in the world." Then turning to me he said, "When you figured out the color tile pattern in the Rainbow Room I knew you had the potential to be somebody valuable."
"I'm making my way as best I can," I said, wondering what he meant by ‘valuable.’ Valuable to him, most certainly, but how? I had seen the way Errox treated the grays and those he believed were beneath him. I didn’t want to be included in his entourage.
Dreena compressed my hand with her machine and slipped the white wristlock onto my wrist. She said, "Your hand will hurt for several shifts."
"Rathe is experienced. He's been through this before."
Turning to me, Errox said, "The problem you had last time was unexpected. I never meant for you to fall into the hands of the VIS."
"I didn't think you helped me just so I could be arrested," I replied.
"How did you manage to get released?"
"One of the VIS agents wanted to use me as an information source. I don't trust the VIS. I went to Boget to find a way out."
I didn't think I was telling Errox anything he didn't know. Since Dreena had sought out Errox and brought him back here, I could reasonably assume that she had told him everything she knew about me and Boget.
"Hear that, Dreena? Rathe hasn't been around for two transits yet and he's already slidestrip smart and walkway wise."
Dreena nodded yes as she finished cleaning the blood off her equipment, the dried blood from my knuckles that she'd scraped getting the gray wristlock off my wrist. I was certain the scraping had been no accident, just a ploy to give her a chance to leave me here and contact Errox. Since she knew how to find him, he must trust her or need her. She didn't have the subservient attitude toward Errox that Ural and Miral had shown in their dealings with him.
He looked at me knowingly. "When I gave you my wristlock, I thought you'd eventually go back to the Rainbow Room and upgrade your wristlock color by beating the odds and getting into the winner's circle."
"I was considering that as a possibility, but I was arrested before I had a chance to follow through." I had thought about it. I knew the danger would be minimal if the equation stayed the same. But if the Rainbow Room equation was different, or if it changed while I was there, I could lose my life if I didn't figure out the new equation. My main plan had been to find a way I could play the game. I knew I was good at that. In addition to the danger in the Rainbow Room, I was reluctant to return to the scene of the most traumatic experience of my present life.
"Your VIS arrest would have never happened if Boget and Wanklurm hadn't disagreed."
I asked, "Who is Wanklurm?"
"He's the rainbow who is Chief of the VIS. He and Boget argued over how things should be done so Wanklurm decided to have me arrested to prevent my helping Boget."
"You're helping Boget?"
"I'm one of his most important associates. Have you heard about the new Simulike machines?"
"Yes. I had a Simulike experience in the one in Boget's dwell."
"What did you think of it as compared to the experience in the Simulike Palace before the VIS interruption?" he asked.
"My first experience in the Palace was engrossing. At the time I was struggling to find my own identity. The Simulike experience was like living another person's life as his own identity was confirmed. In the second experience, the one in Boget's dwell, I was myself in a series of encounters with other characters, some from my present, some possibly in my future. The second experience was more meaningful and seemed that it might be useful as my life unfolds by making me aware of whom I'd be dealing with."
Errox's expression became guarded, a change from the open-faced, nothing-to-hide look that he'd been wearing since he entered Dreena's dwell. He asked, "Was I represented in the experience?"
"Yes, you were a magician who told me I could become a winner, a major player."
He smiled. "You can, Rathe, with my guidance."
"I've got to get registered before I can play the Game."
"Not that Game. It's a diversion, useful in several ways, but it's not the game that matters to winners like you and I."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"You will later. Now that you've got your wristlock, you're going back to Boget's dwell, aren't you?"
Since I was reasonably certain that Dreena had told Errox I was going back to Boget's dwell, I answered in the affirmative. "He's going to get me registered as a white wristlock wearer."
"I'll come along with you. I want to tell Boget that the installation of the new machines at the Simulike Palace has been completed."
I didn't have much trust in Errox's friendliness, but I had no reasonable way to decline his company. If he was truthful in his statements about being a valuable associate of Boget's, I might be having more dealings with him.
My Simulike experience had indicated that I shouldn't trust the magician. I wasn't sure I could trust Boget either. He had gotten me the promised wristlock but his association with both Dreena and Errox made me somewhat suspicious of his methods and ethics. Of course, I hadn't met anyone yet that I had complete trust in, except perhaps Kahalytonand he had his own agenda. Maybe I could trust Lyonella when she wasn't under the influence of Cainenol.
Errox kissed Dreena goodbye just before we left to go to Boget's dwell. That confirmed one of my suspicions, but I kept that suspicion and all the others to myself for now.
FOURTEEN
On the slideway Errox and I made our way toward Boget’s dwell. Errox seemed more relaxed than he had been at our previous meetings. Before he had been competent with a somewhat forbidding manner, a facade of confidence and arrogance that discouraged or deflected questions. Now he seemed much more open and friendly, as if things were going his way. The difference in his mood was his happiness.
Why shouldn't Errox be happy? He had a green wristlock, probably had Dreena as a lover, and also had a working relationship with Boget. Although Errox's manner suggested that he might now answer the kinds of questions that he would have rebuffed before, I didn't ask any because I wasn't sure I could trust his answers.
If Clandine's conspiracy theory had a factual basis, Boget might have brought Errox into his schemes for some illegal purpose. I believed Errox was an unlikely choice of an associate for Boget unless Boget was attempting to rehabilitate him. Maybe Boget was helping Errox just as he was helping me. I couldn't be certain of that, but I would probably learn more about their relationship when we reached Boget's dwell. I decided my best path for now was to maintain comfortable relationships with both Errox and Boget until I discovered more about the nature of their association.
I needed more information but I wasn’t going to ask any unsettling questions until I was registered in the House of Rebirth as a bona fide wearer of a white wristlock. Once I had that legitimacy, I would be in a better position to make decisions about my immediate future. I had accomplished one of the things that Clandine wanted me to do. I had located Errox. But I wasn't going to tell that to Clandine yet, not until I knew more about the situation.
Errox had saved my life and I didn't want to betray him. Regardless of what motivated him to help me, he had enabled me to continue living. I owed him for that.
Previously, Clandine had led me to believe that finding Errox would allow him to end his troubles with the VIS. I wasn't sure that was true, now. Clandine's power was limited compared to that of Boget. Boget might be able to do more for Errox than Clandine could ever do. I needed to find out if there actually was a conspiracy before making any potentially rash decisions. If there was a conspiracy, I wanted to discover whether it had sinister implications or was merely an agreement among certain rainbows to bypass unwieldy procedures.
Both Errox and I became aware of mass movement on the slidestrips ahead of us. Most of the people moved over to the slowest strip to get off. I could see a crowd had gathered in front of one of the urbodes. Errox said, "Let's see what's happening."
We moved over to the slowest strip and got off at the urbode’s apron. A crowd gathered around the cluster of VIS who encircled the urbode. As we watched, the VIS brought the urbode residents out in a single file, all of them wearing custodial collars and chained together. I felt a constriction in my own neck, remembering when I had been collared. I wondered what deviation these grays were being accused of.
Errox stared as if transfixed. The tightness of his face showed an extreme emotional reaction—anger, maybe rage, and other emo
tions that I couldn't identify. Instead of asking him anything I listened to the people in the crowd.
"What are they doing?" asked a young woman, addressing her question to whomever might answer.
An older man with a resigned expression said, "That's Chief Wanklurm's elite squad. They're arresting all the grays in that urbode."
Someone else in the crowd, someone I couldn't see clearly said, "They're all Freedom Crusaders. They refused to move on Transit Day. They breached the portal plate and declared the urbode a safe house for anyone seeking freedom. I knew it wouldn't work. You can't fight the VIS."
The young woman who had asked what was happening broke free from the crowd. She ran toward the VIS officer who appeared to be in charge. His back was toward her. She leaped on him. With her right arm around his neck in a stranglehold, she yanked on her gray wristlock with her left hand. It exploded, killing her and the VIS officer, taking his head off. Gore splattered over the apron and I felt sick to my stomach.
What Hushel had told me was true—when you pull real hard on a wristlock it explodes and it renders bodies into chunks the size of food cubes. I was still stunned by what I had seen when Errox tapped me on the shoulder and gestured toward the center of the slideway.
We quickly got back on the center slidestrip and proceeded to the urbode where Boget lived. Neither of us spoke. It was as if our silence was some sort of homage paid to the deaths we had just witnessed.
We went to Boget's dwell and, as promised, my new wristlock opened the door.
Boget was surprised that Errox was with me. If he was disconcerted, he covered it well by playing the good host, inviting us to sit down and offering us a drink of hot cokafa. Errox and I both accepted the offer. Boget made preparations for the brew and set a timer to ring when the drink was hot.
Errox said, "I came by to tell you that the new Simulike machines are all in place and the Palace can be reopened."
