“That’s me.”
The silence stretched out, and the warm glow of her eyes seemed to bob and drift in front of me as her brains fluttered behind her forehead like swimming krill.
“I…” The room seemed to spin a little. The tank of adrenaline that had fueled me so far was running dry. “I need to return the child.”
“I know.”
“Something happened,” I said. “The place where I’m staying… some people broke in. They grabbed Dragan—”
I stopped short as she moved closer, seeming to grow in size as her eyes turned more focused and intense. The dark pinpricks of her pupils were like sunspots in the flame of her eyes.
“I will take the child.”
“He wasn’t hurt,” I said.
“I know.”
“I kept his feeding schedule,” I told her. “He’ll be okay for another four hours or so.”
“I know.”
“It’s just… my guardian is missing and our apartment is wrecked. Someone stole the ration kit from me… I don’t have any money or any place to stay. He’ll have to go to someone else.”
“I will take the child.”
She reached out, opening her hands. I adjusted the blankets around Tānchi and carefully handed him to her. As I did, I felt a pang from him that made my breath catch. Fear and a sudden shocked hurt poured through as if to say, of all things, he would never have expected this.
You’re sending me away? his eyes seemed to say. He reached out for me with his little hands. Why? What did I do?
“Sorry, kiddo,” I said. I felt a lump in my throat I didn’t expect.
“Do you want to say good-bye?” the female asked softly.
I nodded. “Yes… thank you.”
She waited, holding Tānchi out while I leaned in close.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered in his ear. “I really am, but you’ll be better off with someone else now.”
I always got a little sad when I gave them up. The mite links made for a deep bond that happened fast, and moving on always hurt a little, but this time was worse. Our time had been cut short. On top of everything else, I realized I really didn’t want to lose him too.
Maybe I can take him back. Get more rations and keep him on. I can find a motel that will take us both, and…
I didn’t have much money, though, and anyway I had to find Dragan. I just couldn’t worry about a surrogate right now.
“I’m really sorry,” I said in his ear. I gave his cheek one last stroke.
I looked up at the female and nodded. Tānchi watched me over her shoulder, still hurt and confused, as she carried him to the empty station. She opened a smooth metal hatch there and then placed Tānchi inside. He looked back at me, and I gave him a little wave. He raised one little hand and waved back before she shut the door again with a vacuum thump. A low rumble came from the wall, making the floor vibrate slightly as she tapped at a virtual keyboard in the air in front of it.
“Where are you send—” I had started to ask when the mites went dark and the connection broke.
“Back,” she said.
“Back wh—”
“Your transaction is complete.”
She handed me a black strip of paper with a series of haan stamps on it, which I realized was a receipt. I sighed, not sure if I should laugh or cry. I stuffed the receipt in my pocket and ran my hand through a sweaty lock of hair.
“Look,” I said, “I need help, okay?”
The haan stared, not speaking.
“Soldiers took my guardian,” I continued, the words coming on their own. “They tried to kill me. I can’t—”
“Thank you for your service,” she said. “Your transaction is complete.”
I leaned a little closer, lowering my voice. “One of them was a haan.” She didn’t answer, but the shapes in her head writhed a little in their fluid bath. She watched me, the rigid contours of her glassy face not moving. Whoever she was, she was good at controlling the mites. I couldn’t feel at all what she might be thinking. “She was pretending to be a human—”
Light flickered behind me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I didn’t have to turn around to see that the gate had opened again. She was giving me the boot.
“You guys are so far beyond us,” I said, looking at the floor and shaking my head. “I know you could help me. I know you could. If you wanted to you could—”
“Your tra—”
“I know.” I turned, a little wobbly on my feet, and wiped a pink mixture of sweat and blood from my forehead. “Thanks for the help.” I put air quotes around the last word, but she didn’t seem to pick up on the gesture.
I turned around and found myself looking through a gate in the wall, back into the room I’d come from. With nothing else to do or say, I stepped through.
She followed me, which I hadn’t expected. On the other side I watched her as she reached up to grip a metal, many-eyed orb nestled up in a ceiling niche. Her long fingers rotated it so that the eyes stared up into darkness.
“What are you—”
A second gate crackled into existence on the other side of the room, and through it I could see the city street outside the settlement. The protesters and worshippers were still there, and they perked up at the sudden appearance of the portal.
“Leave now,” she said.
“Fine.”
I stepped through, back into the humid night air. On the other side, I turned back in time to see her approach the haan guard who first greeted me. She placed one hand on his shoulder, and I heard a muted slither followed by a crunch. As the gate fizzled out of existence, I heard the distorted splash of water and, for just a second, it looked like the draping material of the guard’s suit collapsed to the floor.
Then the portal vanished, leaving me to stare at the brick wall. The protesters who were gathered at the perimeter looked at me with contempt, while the gonzo worshippers looked at me with awe. To my right, the guards at the station looked up from whatever they were doing long enough for one of them to laugh at me.
“How’d it go?” Sun asked.
I gave him the finger, but he just laughed and tossed my backpack over to me.
“Go on, get home before someone sees you out.”
I shouldered the pack and headed back the way I’d come. When I passed the protesters, one of them muttered at me.
“Haan fucker.”
“Excuse me?”
I couldn’t see who said it, but a small group of the men were scowling, their ugly faces lit by the glow of the electric lamp.
“Race traitor,” one spat.
“Race traitor?” The fatigue had me punchy. “For real?”
“When they take over—”
“There’s not enough of them to take over even if they wanted to,” I snapped back, “so can the ‘invader’ bullshit. They gave us gate tech, force field and brain band tech, better rations, clean water, and free energy. The only bad thing they gave us was scaleflies, and even those at least you can eat.”
“The Impact,” the guy said, raising his voice. “Was that bad enough for you?” He threw a half-empty can at me and I swatted it away.
“That was an accident,” I said, raising my own voice. “It sucked, but-”
“A quarter of a million people died!”
“An accident, ass-wipe! It was an accident! They’ve been trying to make up for it ever since, but it’s never enough, is it?”
“They’ll take over one day,” the guy said. “You’ll see.”
“What are you afraid they’ll do if that happens? Clean the place? The sweep’s in less than an hour. I hope you all get arrested!”
I pointed at the lamp they were huddled around.
“The batteries in that thing are haan tech, you know,” I said. The oldest man turned as I passed by him, and stared up at me from the hollows of his eyes.