"I heard about your accident. I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you were okay."
"Your concern is touching."
"Truth, Dreyer. I was really worried when I heard. After all, you're probably the only one who knows the whereabouts of my stolen clone. I didn't want the secret to die with you."
"You can go now."
He hesitated. "Look, Dreyer. I'll make a deal. I know you've put her in business somewhere, but the take you're getting off her can't be anything near what she could earn back in Dydeetown. She was dregging good, one of the top earners in the whole — "
"The door is behind you, Spinner."
"I'm offering you a cut, you jog!" he screamed. "Tell me where she is and I'll go get her. I'll set her up in her old spot in Dydeetown and give you a percentage! What could be fairer? After all, she's my dregging clone!"
Stared at him.
"Well," he said. "What do you say? Attractive offer, no?"
"No. Because then I'd be like you, Spinner. And I don't find that the least bit attractive."
The sneer that he tried to pass off as a smile crawled across his face. "All right, Dreyer. Play your roguey game. But keep in mind that I'm always around. I'm always watching you."
"Each night I rest easy knowing that."
"Don't rest easy, Dreyer. I'm the guy that's going to cut you down. Remember: every day, I'm watching. And one of these days, you're going to lead me back to my property."
"Your clone is on one of the outworlds, Spinner. And since I don't plan on heading off-planet soon or ever, you've got a long wait ahead of you."
"Keep lying, Dreyer. You'll lose more than your head when I catch you with her.""
"Look," I said, trying to talk some sense into him so he'd leave me alone. Doubted that was possible — after all, he'd made a good living off his Jean Harlow clone and now he was on the dole without her — but figured I'd try. "Even if you got her back, she'd be no good to you. She'll refuse to whore a Dydeetown slot for you. So why don't you face facts? You lost. She won. She got away and she's staying away. Give it up."
His eyes blazed as he slammed a fist on my desk.
"Never! She's Earthside! Probably right here in the Megalops! And I'm gonna find her! And if she won't cooperate, I'll memwipe her and we'll start all over again from scratch! But I'm never giving up, Dreyer!"
Good thing he left on his own then. The thought of him wiping Jean's memory and sticking her back in Dydeetown had me itching to go for his throat.
Was just about calmed down when B.B. popped in. He looked dazed as he plopped down on a chair.
"Something wrong, kid?"
He shook his head slowly as he spoke, as if not fully understanding what he was saying.
"Har b'lieve, Sig, b'Wendy say sh'jaw you, see you."
B.B. was definitely spending too much time with his old urchingang. Had to work on getting him to do some time in front of the datastream before his speech got stuck in pure urch pidgin again.
"Well, I assume you gave me a bloaty recommendation."
"Bloaty, yeh, b'she nev see toppers."
"She's gotta see somebody when she disappears topside."
He thought about that one. "Mayb. B'when sh'go way, nev f'long. Allus back morn."
Understandable. No matter how overdone she was on urchins, even this Wendy had to crave some adult chatter once in a while. Maybe that was why she'd agreed to meet me. She'd know from B.B. that I wasn't some dregger out to stake some sort of claim on them, especially after taking that pair of vultures from NeuroNex off their backs.
"When do we meet this lady?"
"Now, today, ri'way."
"Whoa, little man. I've got business to tend to."
Not true, but I wanted to have some say in how and when this meeting took place.
"Sh'say now or nev. Or leas nah f'verlon time."
Wasn't happy with the ultimatum, but the meet had been my idea, in the first place. She was agreeing to it, but on her own terms.
"Where?"
"In downbelow."
"In the tunnels?"
"Wendy n'like upside."
"Bloaty." Last place I wanted to spend a day was in the old trans tunnels. "I'll get a handlight and then you can lead the way, B.B."
We tubed across to the Battery area, back to the foundation of the Okumo-Slater building where I'd met my first urchins, then shot north two stops. From there it was all on foot. We walked further north until we came to a middle-sized office complex.
B.B. led me through the sub-basement to an old sealed up subway entrance. The kids had unsealed it long ago. He ducked within, I squeezed through behind. Out came our lights and we began our crawl into the Megalops' nether regions.
Down concrete steps with our handlights refecting off old tiled walls, along rubble-strewn corridors, hopping down concrete embankments to follow steel rails through passages crudely hacked through the living granite. Moisture had collected in puddles, some small, some wide enough to block our path so that we had to creep along a raised ledge to get by. Something splashed in one of the bigger puddles as we passed and I felt my hackles rise.
"Chilly down here," I said.
Ahead of me, I could see B.B. shrug. "Allus same. No matter what upside, allus same in downbelow."
After a long, seemingly endless tunnel, I noticed a faint glow from up ahead. It grew as we moved toward it, becoming almost blinding as we rounded a bend.
A station, an old subway stop. What wall tiles that remained sparkled in the light. In one spot, some blue and orange tiles formed a sign: W. 4th. In a far corner, green things were growing. The platform was lined with a motley assortment of little shacks made of epoxied scrap vinyl and polymer. They looked like they'd been slapped together, but the overall picture was one of neatness and order. Saw a few urchin toddlers sitting and playing in a group while some nine-or ten-year olds swept the platform floor between the shacks. Cleaning up. Almost like they were expecting company.
"The Lost Boys," I said.
"Ri'!"
As we got closer, I squinted up at the bright ceiling over the platform and saw that it was lined with Ito daybars. Nudged B.B. and pointed to them.
"Where'd you get those?"
"Stealee long time go. Two-three urch life."
"Yeah, but you need power — "
"Stealee tha, too." He pocketed his handlight. "Come. You meetee my frens."
B.B. led the way up a short run of steps to the platform. A couple of the kids waved as they caught sight of him, then froze when they saw me. One of them let out a yell and suddenly a torrent of urchins of all shapes and sizes came spilling out of their shanties. Only in a few cases could I tell the boys from the girls. They were all thin, all dressed in castoff clothing, all had hair of about the same length.
And all the older ones were armed and looked ready to fight.
B.B. hurried forward, waving his hands. "No, no!" He pointed back at me. "Siggy! Siggy!"
Saw their eyes widen as they all stared at me. Suddenly the platform was silent. They began to move toward me, slowly, as if unsure of themselves.
Wasn't too sure of myself either at the moment. An awful lot of them — fifty at least — and I was pretty much at their mercy. Couldn't even run if it came to that. Didn't know how to backtrack from here. So I held my ground and let them come.
Their faces…their expressions were all the same. Could that be awe? Of me?
They crowded around, cut me off from B.B., encircled me, but kept a distance of about a meter. Until one of the toddlers broke through the others and came up to me. He or she looked up at me for a moment, then grabbed my leg in a bear hug, saying…
"Thiggy."