CHAPTER 8

It was past midnight when Ganya dropped Alida off near the market. Housepods nestled like black eggs between tarps and cardboard. The odd light glowed from within a dwelling and set shadows playing on the walls. Somewhere someone was chatting or watching a tube on their handheld. Maybe even birthing a littlie. They always seemed to do that in the middle of the night. It could end in a shouting match if a neighbour arced up. She’d have to put in some earplugs. Just in case.

The voices got louder the closer Alida got to her own shack. Stripes of light escaped through the gaps in the plywood. Alida’s gut clenched. Graycie was supposed to be asleep and alone. It could be bad news if people clocked Graycie was left home on her own some nights. Graycie would have to get tougher. She’d have to learn how to be quick with a blade. People didn’t want to mess with littlies with blades. Sure enough they’d win the fight in the end, but they’d end up with some nasty cuts in the process. Littlies survived by being wild animals, all sharp teeth and claws and not enough brain power to stress about the consequences of using them. Not Graycie though. She was timid. And everyone knew it.

Alida pushed aside the sheet of black plastic that acted as their door. Graycie was in the corner sucking her blanket, eyes wide. Sitting across from her, with feathers woven into her hair, wearing a dress pieced together from wildly patterned fabrics, was the local alternative-medicine scam artist.

‘What are you doing here, Odeene?’ Alida dropped her plastic bag of goodies on the floor behind her bedroll and crossed her arms over her chest.

Odeene smiled. Her make-up cracked into canyons and dry riverbeds. ‘I was sorry to hear about Valerie’s passing.’ Odeene and Mum had both grown up in the same anti-tekker cult in the burbs, the Rewilders.

‘Not as sorry as me and Graycie. What do you want?’

The lamp threw sinister patterns on Odeene’s face. ‘The babe was crying. Everyone in the market could hear her.’

Alida didn’t know what to say to that. She hated that she’d had to leave Graycie alone, but she didn’t have to explain herself to Odeene. Bloody Graycie. She wouldn’t be getting those bloody sweets tomorrow. Mum had warned them both heaps of times not to let the neighbours in on their business. Everyone was looking for weakness and a chance to rise, using someone else as their step.

Odeene stood up, using a carved walking stick to support her bulk. ‘The babe’s sick, Alida.’

‘Lot of people are sick right now and your dicey medicine has done shit-all except clear out their credits.’

Even uneducated Demis like Alida could see that cracking your joints, holding a crystal under the moonlight, making tea with bark and leaves or drinking some water Odeene reckoned had the essence of a toad or some ridiculous thing in it was bullshit. Even the diagnostic AI at the LeaderCorp Hub gave better medical care. Odeene was just in it for the dosh, and if her cures didn’t make you better (and they usually didn’t) she claimed it was your fault – you’d sought her out too late or you didn’t believe enough. Alida had the scar on her cheek to prove it. When she was three she was bitten by a mutt and Odeene had given Mum some kind of fermented leaf juice to rub into it. All that happened was that Alida’s wound got infected and Mum had to spend a shitload of dosh to buy proper medicine at the hub.

‘It’s true I haven’t been able to do much for this latest virus. It’s fast and I often don’t treat them in time to draw the miasma of the virus away.’

‘Miasma of the virus,’ Alida scoffed.

‘But this babe’s ailment has nothing to do with the virus. Why didn’t you or Valerie bring her to me sooner?’ Odeene looked at Graycie with her deeply concerned expression. She was more dramatic than half the actors on the tubes.

‘Why? So you could stick her with needles, take our dosh, and leave us worse off?’

It was risky offending Odeene. She had clout in the Demi-Settlements. Almost as much clout as Freel. But Alida was shattered and she didn’t need the hassle right then.

‘Let me help her build up her immune system. She has a weeping sore on her leg. It could turn septic. I have a poultice that will help.’

Alida pursed her lips and said nothing. She had zero answers when it came to Graycie’s health other than keeping her well fed, well rested and well loved.

‘If your mum had come to me about her cancer I could’ve helped her too.’

‘That’s bullshit and you know it. I’ve heard about your cancer cures, injecting poor sods with industrial chemicals you dredged up from out in the burbs somewhere. Mum died and there’s nothing anyone out here could’ve done about it, so don’t try that shit on me.’

Odeene shook her head with fake sadness. She leaned on her walking stick and pulled aside the black plastic to leave. ‘You find me when you step up and become a responsible guardian for that babe. You’re all she has now.’ Odeene left.

Alida sank down beside Graycie and hugged her. ‘What am I going to do with you, little bird?’

She wished she had another capsule of passenger to take away the fierce stab of longing she felt for Mum and the worry she felt for Graycie and both of their futures.