‘What the hell do you want? Don’t you know we’re questioning a prisoner?’
‘They want your prisoner up at the top.’
‘The hell they do, we’ve only just begun to work on him.’
‘They want him and the other one. Straight away.’
The bad guy started to button his tunic.
‘Who wants him? I’ll sort them out.’
‘It’s a directorate order.’
***
‘Directorate?’
‘Miss A.A. Catto called in herself. Shower, delouse, and send them both straight up.’
‘What does she want them for?’.
‘To fuck her, probably. That’s all the families seem to think about.’
‘Why can’t she get herself a Steward-1? I got to turn in a report on these two.’
The third man shrugged.
‘It ain’t my problem. Orders is orders.’
‘When Data want their report, I’m going to send them straight to you.’
‘Do what you like.’
He took a slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the bad guy.
‘Here’s a receipt for prisoners 79021 and 79022. They’re off your hands now. You don’t have to worry about it.’
The bad guy took it grudgingly.
‘Okay, but I don’t like it.’
Billy felt himself being unstrapped from the chair. He was hauled to his feet, and at that point he passed out.
He came to under the shower. Reave, who’d been holding up Billy’s head, helped him to his feet and supported him.
‘They sure messed you up.’
‘Yeah. You were lucky they picked me to work on first.’
‘Do you know what they’re going to do with us now?’
‘I was pretty groggy, but I heard something about how we were being sent to the top. Whatever that means. Some guy came in and stopped the other two beating me up.’
‘Maybe they’re about to start treating us right.’
The water stopped and jets of warm air dried them. Reave helped Billy out of the shower, and a grey-uniformed guard led them to a glass cubicle and told them to step inside. They both suffered a moment of panic as yellow-green fumes began to fill the chamber. They found that they could still breathe, even when the gas filled the whole cubicle. An extractor fan was switched on and it quickly cleared. The guard opened the door and led them to a table on the other side of the room, where pants and jackets of some striped material were laid out.
Billy and Reave quickly dressed. They were each given a pair of plastic slip-on shoes and led through a series of corridors to a moving walkway. The walkway led eventually to a set of blue steel doors. The guard inserted an electronic key and the doors hissed open.
Beyond them was a lift. A lift, however, that was fitted with contour seats. The guard told Billy and Reave to sit. He strapped them in and then stepped back outside. The doors shut and the lift rocketed upwards at a tremendous acceleration that pushed Billy and Reave down into their seats. Minutes passed and finally they came to rest. The doors sighed open again. Three men in light blue uniforms and short-cropped blond hair were waiting for them. Each held what looked to Reave like some kind of stun weapon.
Billy and Reave were unstrapped from their seats and led on to another moving walkway. High, almost subliminal music came from hidden speakers, and the corridors were decorated in rich gold and pure white. The city seemed to be presenting another face to them. Reave leaned close to Billy and whispered in his ear.
‘This looks a good deal better than down below.’
Their guards seemed to ignore the conversation. They changed direction twice, then left the walkway. They marched Billy and Reave down a short corridor and halted in front of a pair of gold double doors. One of the men in blue pressed a bell. After a short delay the door slid back and with one of the guards, they stepped inside a luxurious apartment. In the centre of the large main room a girl of about thirteen wearing heavy makeup and a slightly incongruous silver sheath dress stood flanked by two well-developed blondes in short pink tunics and thigh-length pink boots. The girl looked angrily at the two guards.
‘Who told you to bring them to me in that condition?’
‘That was how they were sent up, Miss Catto.’
‘In prison suits, and one of them covered in bruises. Is it the way I’m supposed to be presented with people? I want clothes for them, and a Steward with shaving equipment. I also want a Medic for the one who’s been beaten up, and the names and numbers of the Personnel officers who did it. Do you understand?’
‘Of course, Miss Catto.’
‘Then get out and see to it. I want it done immediately.’
The man in blue bowed and hurried out. The girl turned to Reave and Billy, and smiled graciously.
‘I deeply regret that you’ve been treated so badly. Please be seated. The Steward will see that everything is put right. I am, A.A. Catto.’
Reave nodded his head and shuffled a little. He was bemused by the way the girl’s manner was such a sharp contrast to her appearance. She looked like a child who had scarcely reached puberty, but behaved like a mature woman. He made stumbling introductions.
‘My name’s Reave, Miss, and my partner here, he’s called Billy. He normally does the talking but he’s feeling a bit rough since your cops, or whatever they were worked him over.’
A.A. Catto gestured to a pair of antique tubular chrome and black leather chairs.
‘Please sit down. You both must be exhausted.’
Reave grinned.
‘Thanks ma’m, we are kind of ready to cave in.’
Billy said nothing, and flopped into a chair. A.A. Catto turned to one of the girls in pink.
‘The injured one is no use to me as he is. You’d better arrange for him to have a guest suite down on 1009. Detail two Hostess-1s to look after him. They’re to extend him the full service. Get them to explain what that includes. He can be taken down there when the Medic comes.’
She turned her attention back to Reave.
‘So where do you two wanderers come from?’
At the question, Billy’s eyes opened and flickered round. Then he saw where he was and closed them again. Reave coughed and shuffled his feet.
‘A place that goes by the name of Pleasant Gap, Miss.’
‘Is that beyond the water?’
‘Beyond the water and then some.’
‘How wonderful. We meet very few new people here.’
Reave smiled.
‘Sometimes you can meet too many new people. Perhaps you got to meet our friend the Minstrel Boy. He was leaving town as we were coming in.’
A.A. Catto frowned politely.
‘I don’t recall anyone of that name. Does he come from Pleasant Gap, also?’
‘I don’t rightly know where he comes from.’
Before the conversation could go any further, the door buzzed, and one of the Hostess-1s admitted a Medic, two Stewards and three more Hostesses. A.A. Catto hurried about the room supervising the various operations. She chose wardrobes for Billy and Reave from a design catalogue, she watched as the Steward fitted Reave’s chin into a permashave, and stood beside the Medic-1 as he gave Billy a series of shots, and prepared to have him moved. Once the clothes had been ordered and Billy dispatched to his temporary apartment, she sat down next to Reave.
‘Now that’s all done, you must take off those ugly clothes and get better acquainted.’
She patted his knee and smiled. Reave gestured to the two remaining Hostess-1s.
‘What about them?’
A.A. Catto looked up.
‘What about them? They’re here to assist us in any way we want. Unless of course they embarrass you, then I’ll send, them away.’
Reave looked at the two girls appraisingly.
‘No, let ‘em stay. They look like they might come in handy.’ He stood up and slowly began to strip off his striped suit.