“Very funny,” Marcus said. “What good does my degree do me in a country without people? And I know what I look like.” He stared down, either at his belly or the floor, Zoya couldn’t tell.
“You need to adjust your attitude,” Zoya said. “If our law permitted it, you’d be able to marry in this country easily. It’s not easy for a woman to find a partner anymore, not with all the cheap virtual mate programs out there. Men get all they want without any of the hassle. They don’t see any point in marrying now, except for some of the ultra-orthodox, of course. I was saving up to order a baby. A few more years…”
“Order a baby?”
“There’s a clinic near my apartment.”
“Hmm, not so different from us, I guess,” Marcus said. “The Mormons still have children the old way. Lots of children. But then they have as many wives as they can afford. They don’t want us half-citizens propagating beyond what they can use in the work force, so we have to put in a request for a spouse months or even years in advance. And we need further permission to order a child. It costs a small fortune, so most of us don’t even bother any more. I figured I’d never have a family. Of course, now they’re scrambling to try to figure out what to do about Meshing. It’s wrecking everyone’s plans.”
“That’s sad,” Zoya said. “Didn’t you have any dreams at all for your future?”
“I tried not to think about it much, just focused on my degree. Designing new kinds of nanobots is fascinating. I used to dream of all kinds of crazy things I might be able to make them do.”
It seemed to Zoya that Marcus meant to go on talking, but he suddenly stood up instead and walked over to the large smartwaiter.
“I wonder if this works like ours back home or if this is only for the bots?” he said.
Zoya shrugged. She’d heard of smartwaiters but had only seen one once, a small one in a medical office. If the American wanted to play with it, she figured he was welcome to it.
Marcus stared at stainless steel door. “I’d like to order lunch, please,” he said. Nothing happened. He looked at Zoya. “How do you activate these things here?”
“I’m sorry, I have no idea.”
«Father?»
«Might as well, you seem safe enough for the moment. Tell me what you want and I’ll relay the order.»
“You want anything to eat or drink?” Marcus asked Zoya.
Zoya got an inscrutable look on her face. “Umm, okay, how about some bread, salami, cheese. Oh, and water…cold water.”
«You got that, Papa? And if they can do it, I’d like pepperoni pizza and some ice cold Pepsi.»
«I’ll see if they can do that for you.»
«And an empty pan or jar or something, too.»
«What?»
«My bladder’s about to burst and there’s no place to go here.» It was all Marcus could do not to bob in place. He clutched one hand to his abdomen to try to relieve some of the pressure.
«Got it. I’ll tell it to hurry.»
«Thanks.»
«Sure. Look, I’ll give you a little time here since I’m sure you need it, but then I have to get you out of here and safely to your apartment.»
«Yeah, as long as you help her as well.»
«We’ll see, if it doesn’t hinder getting you away from here.»
Javier’s mention of the apartment made Marcus remember the traveling bag. «Papa, I forgot the bag in the car!» With your DNA samples…
There was silence for a few seconds and Marcus began to think his father wasn’t going to answer.
«It’s okay,» Javier said. «I spoke with the driver — he’s shot in the leg by the way — and he says the bag is fine. He’ll have Diplomatic Security drop it off in your room.»
«Hey…did you have your dinner with Mama?»
«Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.»
«How is she?»
«She’s happy. Her friends are good company for her. I haven’t told her what we’re doing.»
Marcus walked back to Zoya and sat down. He now needed to go so badly he couldn’t help but rock back and forth with his arms around his knees. “Father placed the order for us.”
“Are you okay?” Zoya asked. “You don’t look well.”
“It’s embarrassing,” he replied.
“What is?”
“I…I have to go to the bathroom really badly.”
Zoya grimaced. “Now that you mention it, so do I.”
Marcus nodded and grinned.
“What?”
“I was thinking this day was like some of the action vids I’ve seen, but then no one ever talks about such things. Heroes never need to pee, I guess.”
Zoya gave a wan smile and rubbed a sleeve across her smoke-blackened brow. “Heroes, huh? Is that what you imagine we are?”
“Oh no, not me. I meant you.”
“Ha! Not a hero,” Zoya said. “I’ve…I’ve done terrible things…become a murderer.”
“Don’t say that! You didn’t choose for any of this to happen, did you? You could be dead by now if you hadn’t killed that man.”
Zoya’s face paled even beneath the grime. “I killed another man at my friend’s apartment.”
Marcus didn’t know what to say.
“And I was glad that I did it,” Zoya continued, staring down at the floor. “I’ve hated violence my whole life, but now all I want to do is find and kill the rest of these — pardon my language — these bastards.”
It struck Marcus as funny that in such a situation Zoya would still worry about the words she used. At the same time, he was chilled by the matter-of-fact expression on her face as she spoke. “You want to hunt them down? These guys are coldhearted killers.”
She turned her lovely gaze on Marcus and it was all he could do not to look away. “They took everything from me. I have nothing left. I’m going to return the favor, if I can.”
The door to the smartwaiter slid open.
“Yes,” Marcus cried and leaped to his feet. There was nothing but a yellow plastic pitcher on a tray. Marcus snatched it and turned to Zoya. “Food must not be ready yet.”
“Is that the water? I’m dying for a drink.”
Marcus turned the pitcher upside-down. “I asked for this so I could, uh, relieve myself.”
“Good thinking. You go first.”
Marcus moved to a spot where the pile of bags granted a small amount of privacy, then looked back at Zoya. “Can you, umm…”
“Of course.” Zoya turned away from him.
Despite the awkward situation, nothing had ever felt so good in his life as relieving the incredible pressure. Afterward, Marcus moved to the far side of the room to give Zoya as much privacy as possible. When Zoya indicated she was finished, Marcus returned. He noticed she had left the pitcher in the corner behind the bags. He considered putting it back on the smartwaiter, but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Marcus?”
He looked at Zoya. “Hmm?”
“If it’s so hard for your type of citizen to marry, how did your parents manage?”
Marcus was taken aback for a moment. He assumed everyone used history chips and knew at least the basics of what had happened during the Dark Times and the aftermath. “Well, it was a completely different world back then.” He mentally did the math to the year his parents met and placed it around 2112. “Pieces of the country were reforming under various warlords from the Dark Times. America West had no capital at that point, and the Mormons were just like the rest of us. The Web was dead then, so there was no Meshing. Father was conducting tests on his sentry code in order to revive the Web. Slot interfaces were new — clunky things that were visible outside the skin, and with no Web all they were good for were things like education, monetary transactions, entertainment, and such.”