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THE STAIRS TO THE SURFACE were agony. Shannon only had to go up and down them a handful of times now, but Mimi walked them as if they were nothing. It seemed to Shannon that Mimi always walked on air. How could a woman bearing such a heavy burden step so lightly?
She opened the door that led out into the surface-level streets. It was still a few hours from designated dark. The city never had darkness anymore, as the giant, glowing shield around it which was fueled largely by the energy of the sun was its own light source. At night, the city was awash in a kind of forever sunset. It was a twilight that twinkled and twirled as the massive legs of the city marched on.
The shield protected them all from the lethal daytime heat and the cold nights. The city, constantly on the move to avoid massive sandstorms, pockets of methane and near-apocalyptic storms on the coast, rumbled almost silently beneath her feet.
Shannon took up the streets. She began walking south toward her destination. It would be a long walk to make it there and back before designated dark, but her recent forays into the underground had built her stamina. Mimi never slowed down, and it was only in the last few days that Shannon finally felt comfortable keeping up.
She walked for several blocks, mind on the earlier events. Had Mimi used her mind to speak directly to her? It had felt strange at first, but then, it had started to hurt. She didn’t think that Mimi would ever hurt her intentionally, but if somehow she lost control, Shannon needed something to protect both herself and Mimi. If she could afford it, she would also buy some sort of tranquilizer for a serious emergency. She hadn’t decided if she was going to tell Mimi this or not yet, but seeing as Mimi was able to, as she called it, ‘skim her mind,’ she probably should just tell her.
“There you are.”
The voice of the man behind her was familiar. There was an unpleasant tone in the voice. Shivering, she turned slowly. There, standing only a few paces behind her, was Andrew. His face was pale and ragged. Andrew always looked on edge, but there was something more alarming about his demeanor. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but her heart made its presence known.
“What do you want Andrew?”
“You.”
Shannon blinked, “Me? What did I do? I’ve never spoken to you in my life.”
“I know, it’s a damn shame. You know how many conversations I’ve had with your lover? She never once took the time to introduce us, and we’ve been business partners for years.” His voice was smooth. It only just masked something sinister.
Shannon glanced around to look for a way out, trying not to make it obvious. If he wanted her, it wasn’t for anything good.
She measured her will and tried her best to sound calm, but her voice shook just a little. “Oh, it’s really okay, I’m not a social person.”
Andrew took two steps toward her.
“Oh, but I am. And see, it bothers me a little when I lose a client. I always try to make sure I keep them coming back. Your friend Mimi has been a big source of credits for me over the years, and, call me old-fashioned, but I have a hard time letting go.”
Shannon took a few steps back and realized quickly she was against a wall. “So what does this have to do with me?”
“Well, I’ve seen you two together and I thought, maybe, just maybe, if we sat down and had a chat, that Mimi would decide to resume her purchases, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, we’re chatting, what do you want me to tell her?” She hoped that all he wanted was a simple chat, but she doubted it. Men like Andrew always wanted more.
“Well, you know, I thought about that. I thought about the fact that Mimi’s a pretty tough little girl. I thought perhaps, that it was best if you come stay at my place for a while so she would be...a little more inclined to talk?”
“It’s not going to happen, Andrew.”
Shannon’s heart was racing faster now. She could hear it in her ears, feel it in her forehead. Blood rushing. Fingernails digging in palms.
“But see I think it is, because if you don’t come with me right now, well, let’s just say I have some connections in security.”
Shannon swallowed hard. Ice water filled her veins.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice, Shannon.”
Shannon tried to relax visibly. Tried to make it look as if she had resigned. “Alright, I will go with you on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You keep your hands off me.”
“Baby, I’ll be a gentleman. You got my word.”
Shannon started walking, and he walked right alongside her.
“It’s not far. When we get there, we’ll send someone to find Mimi. I’m sure you’ll be out of there in a jiffy. And then you can go back to doing whatever it is you two get up to in the long hours of the night.” His grin showed a few extra teeth.
Shannon said nothing. She was watching, waiting for the right moment. She was a smart girl. She had survived on the streets long enough to know that the key to survival is to wait for the right moment to act. She just hoped there would be a right moment. Sometimes there wasn’t. Like most street kids, she learned long ago that sometimes there were no options.
Then they walked up East End Avenue. Her eyes traced the wall, only a few yards away, that ringed the edge of the world, the place where the city ended, and the wasteland began. The walls were only about ten feet high, just wide enough to support the shield, itself a semi-physical barrier made of light.
A small hedge grew a little higher than her waist along the road. It was a new thing, something someone had recently planted, but it lined the street. It was a way of trying to mask the wall, to make it less visible, to perhaps hide the view of their world.
Andrew was walking up against the hedge. Shannon glanced around. A thought occurred to her, an opportunity. She marshaled her courage and stopped. Andrew stopped in turn. The small of his back was just above the hedges.
“Why are you stopping, I said it’s not far.”
“I was just thinking about something.”
“What?” His eyes narrowed.
She tried to think of something to say, but nothing came. He cocked his head and chewed the side of his cheek.
“Come on, out with it.”
When she didn’t respond again, his face darkened. He made to grab her right forearm, but just as he did, she shoved as hard she could. Andrew fell back over the hedge and tumbled. Shannon didn’t stay to watch. She ran as fast as she could toward the lower level entrance that led to Mimi’s place.
Behind her, she heard angry shouting. She could make out none of it. Her legs pumped hard as she ran down along 79th past Orphan’s Ally. When she rounded the final corner that led to the underground access, she slammed right into someone. There was a shout and a muffled cry.
“What the hell are you doing, Lady?”
Shannon, who lay on the ground, saw an arm reach out to her. She took it, and a large man all clad in dark blue helped her up. She brushed herself off and looked up. Her heart sank.
He was security.
She swallowed hard.
Behind them, came a shout. “That’s her, Jerry. Hold her.” Jerry grabbed her. He was a huge brute of a man with a shaved head and thick black eyebrows. He was well over two meters tall and had a thick, flabby torso. Shannon tried to struggle, but it was no use.
Andrew caught up with them both and stopped. He was panting hard and leaned over, putting his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
“Little...bitch...shoved me...right in the damn bushes.”
Jerry let out a big hearty laugh. In other circumstances, it might have been a pleasant laugh, but not this one.
“Andrew,” he said in his deep, smooth voice, “you didn’t tell me how beautiful she was.”
“You think she’s beautiful, wait ‘til you get a look at her girlfriend. They’d both clean up nice.”
“Andrew, has anyone ever told you a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush?”
“No, what the hell does that mean.”
“It means, I think you should be happy with what you got here and forget the other one.”
“Now wait just a sec, that’s not the deal we had here.”
Jerry’s smile turned into a dark scowl. “The deal we have is entirely contingent on what I get out of it. A case of Likatol is nothing compared to the price this one will fetch in the Uppers. I bet you heard of that senator up there, the games she gets up to every night?”
“Reeves?”
“That’s the one. Rumor has it, the woman has quite the appetite. I’d be happy to split the proceeds with you, say seventy-thirty?”
For a moment, Shannon was sure that he would say yes and then it would be all over. She would be a plaything for the wealthy. She would never see Mimi again. Her whole world seemed to be crumbling beneath her.
Then Andrew’s expression changed. Shannon would swear that he almost seemed an entirely different person. His cheeks turned red. He pulled something out from his rear pocket. It made a loud click. Shannon looked down to see what it was. A switchblade gleamed in his right hand.
“I think you should take the case of Likatol, Jerry. She’s mine.”
Jerry let out another great, bellowing laugh. Shannon had to admit, the tiny blade didn’t look like much of a match for a man the size of Jerry. Jerry pushed Shannon to the ground with her hands behind her back. Her face smashed into the concrete and blood spurted from her nose. With tears forming in her eyes, Shannon turned her body and began trying to stand.
“Now you stay right there, little miss. Uncle Jerry’s gonna make sure that we get you to a safe place.” Jerry stood a little straighter and sucked in his gut. “Now Andrew, I am gonna give you one more chance to back down. Then, it’s off to the Runnercore with you. Is that what you want?”
There was a moment of hesitation in Andrew, and he took one small step back. His thin, wiry body looked like a toy compared to Jerry’s. But then, he took one small step forward again and widened his stance.
“You won’t be the first member of Security I’ve killed, Jerry. You don’t get to be in the drug trade as long as I have without drawing a little blood from time to time. I’ve taken down guys bigger and stronger than you. Besides, you aren’t allowed to kill me, but I can sure as hell kill you.”
Andrew reached into his pocket and popped something in his mouth. Jerry’s face darkened.
“What’s that,” Jerry said taking notice.
“A little something to enhance my strength.”
“How did a little shit like you get one of those.”
Andrew grinned. Shannon saw a few extra teeth. She shivered.
“I got a few friends in the docks.”
“In the Runnercore?”
He nodded.
For the first time, Shannon thought that Jerry looked a little less confident. His jovial smile seemed to melt away.
Shannon watched as the two men began to circle one another. She wished Mimi was here. She had a feeling that Mimi would know exactly what to do. For a moment, she wondered if she could call Mimi, if somehow she could reach out to her. She could read minds, couldn’t she? Maybe she could hear her? It was a long shot, but she tried with all her might to call to Mimi, to tell her she needed help.
“You might like that shit in pill form kid, but you’ll have wished I killed you when they start you on the chemical injections down below. I’ve heard it makes even the strongest men scream in agony. I’ve heard that some of them don’t even survive the process. Last chance, Andrew.”
Andrew did not waver. He took a swipe at Jerry, but Jerry, despite his size, was far faster than he appeared to be. It was obvious that Andrew had also not expected this, and Shannon watched his eyes grow wide.
While both men were distracted, she tried to stand and was amazed how hard it was without the use of your hands. She laid back down, rolled over on her stomach and then lifted herself up onto her knees. She got to her feet and took a single step forward.
“I don’t think so, little lady,” Jerry said. With one quick swipe, he knocked her right back down and she landed on her face. This time, she felt a tooth pop and tasted blood. She started sobbing but turned to watch the fight. She almost wished Andrew would win. If he really wanted to deal with Mimi, it was a lot better than becoming a plaything of one of the wealthy up in the tops of the skyscrapers.
At the moment that Jerry had turned to knock her down, Andrew had taken a quick swipe at Jerry’s mid-section. He had scored a minor hit; a dark patch was beginning to spread on his uniform. Unfortunately for Andrew, he didn’t even seem to notice.
Nor was Andrew’s retreat quick enough. Though he had sliced Jerry, Jerry had turned around and smashed his fist right into the side of Andrew’s face. The momentum of Jerry turning had given the punch extra weight, and Andrew was knocked down by that singular hard blow.
Jerry pulled his foot back and went to kick Andrew in the gut, but Andrew rolled out of the way just in time and got back on his feet. The left side of his face was already swelling up.
Footsteps slapped the pavement hard from behind Shannon. She hoped to god it was Mimi, but it sounded like several people. Maybe she would have the chance to get away with other people interfering. She rolled onto her stomach again and waited. She would bolt the second Andrew and Jerry were distracted by the newcomers.
She felt a hand grasp hers and lift her. They were big, strong hands.
“What the hell is going on here, Jerry?”
Shannon was standing upright now but was held firm by a medium-sized security officer. His light eyes and thick mustache both twitched as he examined the scene.
“Capitan Richardson, oh man. Glad you’re here.”
Shannon distinctly noticed a tone in Jerry’s voice that suggested otherwise and the captain seemed to notice it too.
“I bet you are, Jerry. You better explain just what in the hell is going on here.”
“This lady here, seems she’s been trading sex for drugs, and I think this guy is her dealer. I overheard them and intervened.”
To her surprise, the captain seemed to doubt this story.
“I bet, Jerry. You and I need to have a long talk when we get back to the station. Maybe it’s even time you and Daniels had a chat.”
Jerry stopped dead in his tracks. He turned his entire body away from Andrew and Andrew broke to run.
Jerry heard the footfalls and turned. “Hey, shithead, get back here.” Before the captain could say another word, Jerry began his pursuit. Shannon saw her chance as the captain was distracted and ran the opposite direction.
Neither of them got very far. Jerry tackled Andrew quickly, and the captain grabbed Shannon before she made it fifty feet. The handcuffs made running odd.
Captain Richardson said, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I can’t just let you run away from one of my SOs. Looks bad. We’ll bring you in and try to get to the bottom of this.
Shannon’s face fell.
***
MIMI HAD WATCHED THE whole thing. She watched as the guards took Andrew and Shannon away. How could this have happened? She took a deep breath. There was no time to worry about that now. She had to think quickly. Would there be a way to free Shannon from the SOs? She didn’t know.
She tailed them for many blocks from the shadows of the alleys. She knew the streets well. Every crack was familiar. Every shadowy spot was an ally.
There were no openings. No gods or devils intervened. Why would they, they were from nowhere. Even the gods and the devils cared little for those from nowhere.
When Mimi watched Shannon cross the threshold of the entrance to central security, hope leaked from her heart like a barrel of water with a hole in it.
The giant migrating city of Manhatsten had a rigid legal code. No lawyers. No public defenders. Only favoritism. Mimi had seen it dozens of times. History is a circle.
She found a place to weep, to sag in the concrete. A corner of shadows. Stinging tears. Smoky vision. Utter despair. Sleep.
***
SHE WAS BEING LIFTED. Dreaming? No. The smells were too strong. She started to struggle.
“Easy now. Calm yourself.” The woman’s voice was soft and soothing. A strange calm fell over Mimi.
Her voice embodied a dreamlike quality. “Where are we going?”
“To a library. You will be safe there.”
Mimi was certain she would be. Rarely had she been so certain of anything in her life. She found that she did not mind letting the two large SOs carry her. She didn’t mind much of anything.
This concerned her. Like the tumbling of a lock, things began to click in her mind. She became unsettled again, felt the urge to resist, to lash out, rising.
“Calm, Mimi. I am not your enemy.” The voice was compelling.
Another’s woman’s voice said, “Damn. She broke through already?”
Mimi couldn’t see either of them. Both them walked in front of the two SOs who carried her. One had long blonde hair, the other a fiery red.
“Yes, it’s curious how quickly she bypassed my suggestion.”
“She’s dangerous. We should put her back where we found her.”
“Ryla said the same thing about you when we found you.”
“Maybe, but at least I had an honest job. This one is like a stray cat.”
“Feral cat. And I would hardly call Running an honest job.”
“Either way Noatla, I don’t know if she can be trusted.”
Mimi listened, and her agitation began to grow again.
“Rest, Mimi. Soon you will have answers.”
“How many times do you think you are going to have to do that?”
“At this rate, a half dozen more.”
“Can’t we make these SOs go any faster?”
“Serah, you know very well what will happen if we push too hard. Besides, what’s the rush? Soothing her isn’t so difficult. It’s also clear she doesn’t know the full extent of what she can do.”
“How can you be sure of that?”
“If she knew what she was capable of, do you think she would have allowed her lover to be taken away like that?”
“I guess you’re right. Maybe we should suggest that she sleeps again?”
“Mimi, are you tired?”
Mimi knew it was the woman with the blonde hair speaking, but she did not turn to face her. She had the strangest impression that this woman was not using her lips to speak.
Mimi said, “I...I don’t think so.” The moment the words came out, she realized that she wasn’t using her lips, either.
“Mimi, I think you’re tired. I don’t even know how you can keep your eyes open. Why don’t you just rest a while? I bet it would feel wonderful to close your eyes, just for a few minutes.”
“But Shannon...I have to...”
“Shannon can wait. We will make sure she’s okay. Just close your eyes, Mimi. You know how good it will feel, how easy it is just to let your eyelids close. After all, they’re so heavy.”
“No. I can’t...”
Mimi forced her eyes to stay open. She felt the agitation rising in her again. She felt the strength in her arms and legs returning.
“It’s not working Noatla. You better do something fast.”
Noatla said, “Officers, put her down gently. I want to speak with her.”
They obeyed. Mimi jumped up, ready to run, but Noatla, a tall, thin, blonde woman, grabbed her by the arm and held her tight. She was surprisingly strong for how skinny she was. Her face appeared to be chiseled from rock, and her light eyes were piercing.
“Wait a moment, Mimi, just listen.”
Mimi had been wrong. The woman’s lips moved just like anyone else’s. Perhaps she was mistaken because of what she had done earlier in the day?
“Why should I?”
“You want to help Shannon, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You’d think after all the resistance she put up when we tried to get her up here earlier, that she didn’t want to save her girlfriend,” The red-haired woman said.
“Hush, you know all too well what it was like before you entered the Order. Mimi, do you recognize me?” asked Noatla.
“No, should I?”
Serah said, “Of course she doesn’t recognize you, you think this one votes?”
Mimi said, “Votes?”
Noatla smiled. Mimi liked her smile. She began to notice how attractive this woman was. A pang of guilt hit her chest, and her mind turned back to Shannon.
“Yes Mimi, I am Senator Noatla Lightfoot of District 14. This district. If you come with me, I might be able to help you with Shannon.”
Mimi scowled. “Why would you want to help me and why should I believe you?”
“Those are both very good questions. All I ask is that you come with me to the library and hear me out. After that, you are free to do whatever you wish.”
“With the SOs following us? How do I know you don’t want to sell me to one of your Upper friends?”
Noatla frowned for a moment, but then stood and turned to face the SOs.
She said, “You may go now. You are needed in District 13.”
The two SOs turned and left without a moment’s hesitation. Mimi felt a deep sense of relief to see them go, but she still was wary of trusting an Upper. The Uppers loved to mess with the homeless, some of them got off on it.
Serah said, “What’s in District 13?”
Noatla smiled, “Oh, probably nothing, but I am sure they will figure out something important to do.” Noatla turned back towards Mimi. “So, will you come with us?”
This time, the woman wasn’t using her voice. Her lips were still. Then it occurred to Mimi.
“Are you like me? Can you skim?”
Noatla smiled. “Much more than just, as you put it, skim.”
Mimi asked, “What’s at the library?”
“A chance for you to use your gifts for the benefit of this city. A chance for you to be off the streets and in a safe home.”
“Why? What’s in it for you?”
“Come, listen. Hear what we have to say. I promise if you choose to leave, no one will stop you. As you’ve already seen, we cannot even pacify you for long. You have an extraordinarily strong mind.”
Mimi nodded and followed.