At the bottom of the alley, another short street. At the end of it an elevator. No line, and the door standing wide open—God on my side for once. Ragged breathing on either side of me; Nearly’s high heels hardly an advantage. As we stumbled into the street I shouted for the girls to keep their heads down. Kinks in the alley had protected us from shots. Now the guy had a clear sight. We dived across the road bent double, the doors tantalizingly close now; another shot whistled past and spanged into the metal of the elevator shaft.
“Get in!” I shouted. They jumped into the carriage and I turned to face the man. He was halfway up the street and slowing down, gun held up in a safe position.
“Randall,” he shouted. “There’s nowhere you can go.”
“There’s always somewhere,” I muttered, pulling my own gun out. The guy had stopped completely now, and was standing about ten yards down the street. “You can’t stop me. He wants me in one piece.”
“If I take back your liver he’ll be happy,” the man said, but I knew he was lying. We wouldn’t be having this conversation otherwise. “Come away from the elevator or I’m going to blow your cock off. The bitches can go—they’re no use to anyone.”
Nearly stuck her head out of the door. “Fuck off, maggot dick!” she shouted cheerily. Not helpful, I thought for the second time. Impugning hoods’ masculinity is like poking rattlers with a stick.
The guy aimed at my head, evidently deciding he could just say I resisted too hard. I pulled back the hammer on my own gun, backing toward the elevator. Watching the guy’s eyes, seeing him make his calculations.
“Press a button,” I whispered, still holding my gun steadily on the other guy’s head. I heard a click behind me, but remained still for another moment—before suddenly stepping backward. Not a second too soon: The doors closed swiftly in front of me, nearly taking my hands off—and leaving the guy outside openmouthed and looking stupid with surprise.
Not a very clever trick; but then he hadn’t been a very clever man.
Feeling slightly smug I turned around, and saw that I was standing in a forest. The elevator’s light condensed then diffused until it was only a far-off blue glow, barely visible through the trees. It was cold and yet unpleasantly clammy, as if I was wearing too many clothes in a snowstorm.
No, I thought, in a childlike and horrified whisper. I’m not back here. I can’t be.
I whirled and saw the forest stretching in all directions around me, cold and fetid and dank. The distant light wasn’t trustworthy; sometimes it appeared to be there, sometimes not. The bark of the trees ran like tiny vertical streams, the gnarled surface rubbing amidst itself with sudden slimy hissing sounds. Or perhaps the sound came from the sweat working against my skin, crawling like a patina of tiny liquid creatures. There was no one in sight and I swallowed tightly, feeling as if I was dropping into the center of the earth. I’d gotten cut off, and the unit had run away into the trees, fighting in the only way they knew how: running, howling in silent terror, remembering me for no more than a second as someone else who had been lost. I looked down at a rustle below me to see faces in the leaves, huge grins twisting around my feet, and then—
I was in the elevator, hearing only a slight swishing sound as we shot up through the floors. The elevator was bright, walled with glass, sane: an elevator. Nearly was regarding me dubiously.
“You okay, big guy?” she asked, head slightly on one side. As usual, her attitude toward me seemed to be one of mild amusement.
“I don’t know,” I croaked, turning my head to check that everything was as it seemed.
“Looked kind of flaky for a moment there. I’d offer you a line of coke but you look like you’ve got enough weirdness going on already.”
“Flashback,” I said, shivering. One of the most vivid I’d ever had. I reached for a cigarette, lit it with shaking hands, and pulled deeply, yanking as much smoke as possible into my lungs, I felt truly dreadful, and Suej was staring at me strangely.
“Smoking in an xPress elevator is not permitted,” said a droid voice, and Nearly rolled her eyes.
“Fuck off,” I requested, taking another deep pull. I was having this cigarette if it killed me. The elevator immediately halted between floors.
“We’re not going anywhere until you put that out,” the voice said primly. “Cigarettes cause death, illness and death. And they smell.”
“What do you care?” Nearly said, lighting up one of her own just to be difficult. “You don’t have any lungs.”
“No, but subsequent elevator patrons will have, especially those from the higher floors. Please extinguish all cigarettes.”
“Where are your cognitive centers stored?” I asked, racking a shell into the barrel of my gun with jittery hands. “And can the elevator function without them?”
“Yes, it can,” the elevator said, with an air of slight puzzlement. “And I’m behind the red panel on your left Why do you ask?”
“Because,” I said, “if you don’t shut the fuck up I’m going to blow you to shit and then spend the rest of the journey smoking in comfort. I may even have a cigar.” To drive my point home, I held my gun at arm’s length so that the barrel was aimed straight at the panel it had referred to. “And a tip for the future—think before you answer questions truthfully.”
There was a pause, and then the droid spoke again. “A valuable piece of advice, and in recognition of that I shall permit you to continue your journey as requested. Please stand by.” A slight hum, and then the elevator started to ascend again. “Though I still think you’re very naughty.”
I laughed, a short quavering bark which had nothing to do with amusement I think it was a first for “naughty” in probably thirty years, I turned to Nearly and Suej, and noticed that they seemed to be looking each other up and down. Suej does look as if she’s been through the wars, and in turn I realized Nearly was also probably the first nonspare female Suej had seen at close quarters. But there seemed to be more to it than that: a kind of mutual appraisal.
“What floor did you press?” I asked Nearly, to break the silence.
“Sixty-six,” she said, “it’s where I live. I’m done for the night I’m going home.”
“Where are we going to go?” Suej asked, her eyes firmly on me now. I looked at the floor indicator and saw we were coming up to 40.
I looked at Nearly. “Can Suej come with you?”
“Sure. There’s only a couch, but…”
“No!” shouted Suej. “I’m not going. I’m coming with you. I want to find David and the others. I’m sick of being left places. You never used to be like this. You were there all the time and now you’re never here.”
64.65.
“What’s the address?”
“Sixty-six/two thousand and three—corner of Tyson and Stones.”
“See you later,” I said, jabbing a floor button as the doors opened behind her. “Stay indoors.”
Nearly stepped out and I gently shoved Suej after her. She stumbled backward out of the elevator as the doors closed, her face like thunder.
Then I stood, facing the doors, as the elevator shot up toward 135. I was trying not to think about the forest, and not succeeding. I’d never had a flashback to The Gap before, and in that two-second glimpse had been everything I’d been trying to forget. I was also trying not to think about Nanune, and the fact there’d been something wrong with her head over and above the fact that it was no longer attached to her body.
About the fact that there’d been “unspecified facial damage.”
In my current state I couldn’t work out how this changed things, though obviously it changed everything. I didn’t know where to look for the blue-headed man who’d come asking for me with Nanune’s head in a box, and sensed I wouldn’t have to. In the meantime, there was someone else looking for me. I’d shoved Suej out because I’d decided to save him the trouble and go looking for him instead.