Brock and Sal waited uneasily at the fried meat booth near the main gate, watching Beaner approach. The market was busy, filled with the motions, sounds, and smells of commerce. The two servants were not used to the hubbub.
"Nada," said Beaner as he slouched to a stop, hangover bowing his shoulders. "You?"
"Same," said Sal, "nobody seen 'em in the market or outside."
Beaner shook his head. "Nate said they were at his place, but left early. Only peeps new in town are them." He pointed at a black trio performing an impromptu concert on the street. A small but enthusiastic crowd cheered the muscular rapper while his coffee-dark dancing girl played peek-a-boo with spinning, holographic roses. Behind them a hooded DJ squatted over his board, nodding to his driving beat.
"Crap." Sal scratched his head. "Now what?"
"We'll split up, look again," said Brock.
"I say we blow it off, man," Beaner said. "Those ninas are gone and it ain't our fault."
"Reasonable," said Brock, nodding. "Sanna won’t like it, but she needs to know." The three men headed for the exit.
Sal's attention was drawn to the performers as they passed. He stopped and fished coins out of his pocket, offered them to the dancer.
"Hey, Hot Chocolate,” he said with his usual leer, “what's your name?"
The big man rapping and stomping to the DJ's music popped up, thrust himself within inches of Sal. A heavy bass line boomed out and the rapper stabbed a thick finger at Sal's face.
"Yo, I'm Ogee Nine, an' dis sista be mine! Ya got that?" Boom-boom. "Huh? Ya want that?" Boom-boom. "Huh?" Ogee raised his loose jersey to reveal a pistol holstered inside his waistband, dropped a hand to the butt.
Sal put his hands up and backed away as the audience clapped. Satisfied, the rapper returned his performance to the crowd. Linya blew Sal a kiss as Beaner shoved the smaller man toward the gate.
Onlookers kept Linya dancing long after Sanna's flunkies left. It was Birdboy, through his holo-construct Ogee Nine, who finally announced the end of the show. The audience clapped, tossed down a few final donations, and began to drift away.
"We can't go back to Nate," Linya said quietly to Birdboy. "We don't want to get him in trouble. Follow me." With Birdboy keeping up the illusory Ogee Nine, Linya led them into the shanty town.
As long as she could remember the half-abandoned shanty town had been there. Some folks drifted through on the way to somewhere else, leaving makeshift structures. Others lived here permanently in the freedom outside the walls and law.
They had no problem finding an abandoned hut of scrap plastic. As soon as they were out of sight and direct sun they got out of their protective gear. Birdboy de-rezzed the holo-rapper and powered down the holo-suite.
"Rappa, Rappa, hard work. Sista, sista HOT work." He giggled when his sister stuck her tongue out at him. "Chow time?"
"You got it, Bird," she said, "I mean Ogee Nine." They played and teased, sharing the food she'd bought with the coins they'd earned. Linya felt pride in how much Birdboy had changed, but could still see the limitations of his disability.
"Bird, is it, y'know, easier to use the deck than just talk?" He nodded, touched the holo-suite. The rapper construct rezzed.
"Hell, yeah, little sista. It's like the walls that keep me from the world get the smack down so I get the low down, aight?" Linya felt a familiar pang at seeing Birdboy huddled over the holo-suite.
"Hey, I can even see with this viewpoint," Ogee crowed, and peeked out the door. "Uh-oh." Ogee de-rezzed. "Beaner," muttered Birdboy.
Linya darted to the opening and edged an eye out. Sure enough, there were Beaner and Sal following a ragged crone. The Mexican had his machete out and looked like walking murder.
The girl flinched back as fear dragged clawed panic along her spine. Trembling, she took a deep breath and pulled the sawed-off. Two shots, two kills, she thought, and hope I can reload before Brock shows up. She'd start with Beaner and maybe Sal would just run.
"Don't worry, Bird," she said, turning to reassure him.
Birdboy was halfway out the back of the hut, pushing through loose layers of plastic. She hurried over and passed him the holo-suite when he got through, backed into the opening after him. Dragging their bags, she tugged the plastic sheets back up to help hide their escape route. The boy was shoving through the gap between the shanties, inching along with all his strength. Any kind of real structure would have trapped them there, but here the walls flexed and bent, reluctantly allowing passage.
They'd only gone a few yards when Linya heard Beaner curse, then the sound of a blow. The old crone slammed through the wall, fell into the gap, bloody and dead. His head appeared in the gap and he saw Linya immediately. She turned and started pushing Birdboy.
Beaner withdrew his head and started hacking at the walls with his machete. Suddenly Linya and Birdboy popped out of the gap, tumbling into a muddy niche between hovels. The boy sniffled, fought back sobs.
"Bird," she whispered, "what would Ogee do?" .
"Rappa, Rappa,” Birdboy hiccupped, “pop a cappa, pull my nine, make em mine."
"No," she said, "wait, yeah, that's good." Linya pointed the shotgun in the direction of Beaner's ruckus and pulled back both hammers. Birdboy peeped and covered both ears as his sister pulled the triggers.
The double ba-boom was utterly deafening in the small space. Linya marveled briefly at the fluttering cloud of debris until Birdboy yanked at her sleeve. He headed out of the niche, holo-suite clutched tightly, his sister close behind. Glancing left and right, she could see they'd stumbled into an occupied street; a dozen people or more were looking at them.
There was Brock, not ten yards up the street.
"Run!" Linya pushed her brother, turned to face Brock. He was already stepping forward as she raised the sawed-off, pulling back the hammers in the same motion. Brock's eyes widened. His arms flailed as he tried to deny physics and move in a different direction. Linya fired from the hip.
The hammers fell uselessly at the same instant Linya recalled she hadn't reloaded. An ugly look came to Brock's face. Regaining his balance, he pulled a pistol.
Ogee stepped between Brock and Linya, raised his pistol. The holo-construct fired first, three flat pops as intense light flashed Brock's eyes. Brock flinched and fired blindly. The exchange of gunfire finished clearing the street.
"Go, dammit," Ogee yelled at Linya loud enough for her to hear through ringing near-deafness. He stalked toward Brock, gun pointed sideways. "Ya mine, punk! Don't nobody mess wif Ogee's posse!"
Linya could barely hear the gun battle as she grabbed Birdboy's arm and dragged him into the first place she saw with a real door, the Church of the Conflagration.
Inside was nearly dark. Linya could just make out at least a dozen people sitting on benches, looking down with hands clenched together over their heads. She closed the door and pushed the boy into a darker corner behind the empty last pew.
"Bird," she whispered, "can you hide us here?" He nodded and concentrated; the room dimmed further around them.
"Amen," boomed the man at the podium. "Amen," answered the congregation."Once again, as our protector the Holy Sun passes over us, we gather to affirm our devotion to our Lord and the Church of the Conflagration." The congregation repeated, "Lord and Church."
"The sins of our fathers weigh heavy upon us. The gubbermen told us gene splicing would banish famine, but splicers poisoned our crops. Gubbermen told us gene splicing would cure disease, but splicers killed our children. Gubbermen told us gene splicing would save the world, but splicers loosed the plaguewinds!" The preacher struck the podium. "Suffer no splicer to live!" He pounded the podium again. "Death to splicers," intoned the congregation.
The congregation became excited as the preacher went on, clapping and stomping. Amidst the din Linya watched the door, hoping it wouldn't open, but it seemed only seconds passed before it did. All three of Sanna's men slipped in, standing together as their eyes adapted to the darkness. A ray of sunset struck the preacher's face and he threw a hand up to shield his eyes. Linya could see that the angle was wrong and realized it must be Birdboy.
"Who comes to the Church of the Conflagration?" intoned the preacher.
A woman in the back row stood and screamed. "Oh my lord, look! Plague!" All heads turned toward the three men. After seeing their faces, Linya glanced at her brother. He was smiling, head bobbing, as more people stood and pointed. Sal's face was green and oozing from dark sores. Dark, furred patches of mold covered Brock's skin. The blood on Beaner's face and clothes was a bright, dripping red.
"Fire!" someone yelled. "Only fire can cleanse the plague!" In seconds the church was empty, but the children heard the chase for much longer.
Exhausted, Linya decided to spend the night in the church, Birdboy was immune to the plaguewinds and she was so tired she simply didn't care, hoping a simple face mask would give enough protection. They were soon asleep, huddled together like wild animals hiding in the forest.
Sunrise softly touched the rafters overhead when Linya woke next morning. Birdboy was already up, standing near a tiny window, golden sunlight giving his strong face an angelic glow. She was stiff and sore, needed an outhouse badly, but forced herself to lay there and think. They couldn't go back right now, maybe never if Sanna got her splicer hooks in Ranga. If they stayed around here Linya was sure they'd eventually be found, but going Nomad or Scavenger was just as bad. They'd have to trek the ruins and try to enter the Dome.
"Old Sanna is coming," he muttered.
"Yeah, Bird, we should move on today.” She stretched, trying to straighten the kinks. “Maybe toward the Dome."
"No.” Bird pointed out the window. “Now.”
Heart pounding, Linya rolled to her feet and looked out the window. Sure enough, Sanna was coming straight up the street to the church. Her eyes were on a splicer unit with an ambient sampler attached, a rig she called a sniffer. Corporate Exec gray draped her corpulence.
"That's it.” In cold anger Linya picked up the shotgun and reloaded. “I'm killin' her." She snapped the action closed. The preacher loomed out of the darkness behind the girl and twisted the shotgun from her grip before she could react.
"Murder is the tool of the gubbermen, my child." He shook his head, holding the shotgun out of her reach. "You shall not kill today."
“What?” It was too much for Linya; her voice rose to a scream. "She's coming to kill him!" She pointed a shaking finger at Birdboy. "I have to stop her, don't you get it?"
"Calm, my child. You are under the protection of the Church." His quiet, ignorant confidence angered Linya further, perversely helping her focus. The preacher opened the action of the sawed-off, removed the shells, and tossed the weapon on the nearest pew. "Let us confront this together," he said, turning to the door.
Still trembling with anger, Linya looked at Birdboy; he had already powered up the holo-suite.
"Never leave me, never leave you, my sista," he muttered. "Ninja time."
"Never, never, not now, not ever," she whispered back and stepped close to her brother. He took the lead, moving them closer to the door even as he nodded over the holo-suite.
At the door, the preacher looked around to see smiling children standing together behind him. Satisfied, he opened the door. Old Sanna stopped a few paces away.
"Those children are mine. I've come for them," the woman said.
"My child," intoned the preacher, "is this your mother?"
"No," said Linya.
"The child shall know the mother, so says the Book." He waved at Sanna. "Be gone, woman." He reached to close the door but an errant breeze, perhaps, swung it open out of his reach.
"Preacher, I'm not leaving without 'em." Old Sanna raised her arm, pointed two fingers at the man. Cables ran over her shoulder and along her arm, connecting the low-slung backpack power unit to the laser weapon strapped on her hand. "And this here down payment will make sure."
The preacher stepped back, uneasily eying the hollow gaze of the emitter lens. A shadow seemed to pass between them. Glancing back at the children behind him, he drew himself up and bravely faced Sanna.
"This is the work of gubbermen!” he boomed out, raising his arms, “and will not pass my door!"
Silent light slashed from Sanna’s pointed fingers, raked across the preacher's chest. Vapor sizzled, followed by a muffled ‘thump’ as steam exploded his ribcage. The man fell dead without further sound, split chest deformed and smoking.
"Dumbass," she laughed. The next beam burned across Birdboy, but left no trace. "Right. Damn holo-crap. We'll see about that." Holding out the sniffer, she moved to block the door. She looked up and saw dozens of Linyas and Birdboys in the church. "I know you're in here." Her voice softened. "I don't want to hurt you Linya, baby."
All the girls solemnly shook their heads.
"I'll have you anyway,” she snarled, “both of you." Sanna raised her hand again. The beam blazed and glittered as she drew it along the rear wall of the church, then the walls left and right. As quick as that the building was ablaze, and she concentrated on the sniffer again. "This is the only way out, now. I'll know when you come close, whether I can see you or not." She moved the weapon back and forth, ready to sweep the door with brilliant death.
Something clicked behind her. Sanna spun around, but saw only a slight shimmer of morning warmth on the street. The sniffer beeped.
"What now, Old Sanna," came Linya's voice from the door behind her.
Sanna spun back toward the door, triggered the laser, but the weapon failed to function. She reached out into the church, waving her arms, feeling for the two children, but smoke billowed into her face and forced her back a coughing step.
Birdboy de-rezzed the concealing illusion of an empty street behind Sanna. To Linya's utter amazement her brother had somehow managed to juggle all the holo-clones and still hide them both as they crept out during the confrontation. Both children now rushed the woman from behind, shoving her headlong into the burning building. Staggering, she tripped over the preacher's body and fell heavily. Linya snatched up the fallen sniffer as her brother rezzed leaping flames between the fat woman and the door.
People up and down the street were raising the alarm; an uncontrolled fire was their worst fear. Sanna rose, choking and blinded by smoke. The woman waddled forward, avoiding surrounding flames by feel, finally passing through the holographic inferno of the door. Clear of the smoke, she fell to her knees gasping and crying. A pregnant woman ran to Old Sanna's aid, but recoiled when she saw no burns from the fire.
"The fire did not touch her!" Linya stepped forward and pointed. "And I saw her kill the preacherman. She's a splicer!"
Everybody stopped and looked, even the people pulling down neighboring shanties to keep the fire from spreading. The pregnant woman leaped back.
"My Lord, look at her arm!” she screamed. Glittering points of light crawled across the laser and cables. Sanna raised her hands in defense, pointed an accusing finger at Linya, but a fit of coughing killed her voice.
"Drown her," came a yell, and the cry was quickly taken up by others. Linya and Birdboy walked away as men thrust Old Sanna's head into a bucket of water brought to fight the fire.
". . . there the old witch had to drown. Then the children went home together, and were heartily delighted, and if they have not died, they are living still."
Fundevogel, Grimm's Fairy Tales
The End
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