Part 25 (1/2)

”What do you want in return?” he asked.

Obyx nodded: an acknowledgment of the debt. ”Nothing, for now. I understand you have been involved in two different attempts-successful ones-to save Zekeston. Those acts have benefited us also. Though our offer of training remains open, if you decide to continue with your dabblings in juice-hacking. And I am obliged to warn you that if you choose not to take us up on our offer, and if by some chance you are idiotic enough to cause something like this again, we will out you as the culprit without hesitation.”

Geoff shrugged. ”Vivian made that clear.”

”But,” said Obyx, ”given that we have just saved you from a prison sentence, you still owe us.”

Geoff looked suspiciously at hir. ”Like what?”

”Hmmm. I'm not sure yet. Something. Not too big, not too small. A goldilocks favor, shall we say? In exchange for our actions today, let us stipulate that Viridians may need a mediumish favor from you sometime. When the time comes, you will provide it without hesitation. Agreed?”

Geoff looked at Obyx a long time without speaking. He could still end up in jail if they chose to out him. But he was not willing to sign a blank check. Better to take the hit now than ransom his future to an uncertain fate. ”I guess that depends on what the favor is.”

Thondu threw his head back and laughed. Obyx glanced at Thondu, and finally broke into a real smile. ”Your momma gave you three stones, I give you that. Very well, we'll agree that some sort of favor is owed, but we'll negotiate further when the time comes.” Obyx languidly waved an oversized hand or two. ”Now, if you don't mind. Thondu?”

”Of course, Learned.”

Thondu escorted Geoff in silence back down across the catwalks and bridgeways, to the edge of the Badlands.

”Thanks,” Geoff said.

”Think nothing of it,” Thondu said, with a smile that reminded Geoff of Vivian's.

Geoff said, on impulse, heart suddenly pounding against his ribs, ”And tell your sister-” Thondu raised eyebrows. ”Tell her I said hi,” Geoff finished lamely. ”Tell her to call me. If she wants. I mean, I wouldn't mind.” Thondu gave him an arch little smile. Geoff felt his face grow hot. ”She helped me out. I want to thank her. That's all.”

Thondu eyed him speculatively. ”Well, well. You are a complicated young man, Mr. Agre. I will relay the message.” He flicked a hand.

Something about his grin lingered in Geoff's mind. He thought about Thondu and Vivian. He sensed that Thondu and Vivian shared some connection he didn't understand, some bone-deep secret tie. That bothered him a lot. He had to admit, he had already fallen, hard, for Vivian. But Thondu unnerved him, and something about him drew Geoff, too. He'd never thought of himself as attracted to men. What was he getting himself into?

Still, he had gotten out of the Badlands with body and soul intact. That was something.

At the hospital he found his friends having a picnic on Ian's bed in a private room. Amaya and Kam had smuggled breakfast past the orderlies. Ian held up a pastry. Geoff's mouth filled with saliva. The room's antiseptic smell did not put a dent in his appet.i.te. ”We saved one for you, doof. But you'd better hurry or I'm going to eat your roll.”

”Not on your life, chinpo chinpo.” Geoff took the last sticky bun. It was dripping in brown sugar and b.u.t.ter. He bit into it, and felt as if his face would explode from sheer caloric overload.

Amaya leaned across the bed to hand him a coffee. ”Well?” She was referring to the bone dancers.

The room was thick with motes and mites, so Geoff merely said, ”We're good.” He would fill them in on his visit to the Viridians later-back on Ouroboros, perhaps.

Over sweet rolls and hot, bitter coffee they went over the prior night's events. Ian was pallid, and not as loud as usual, but still in good humor. Geoff wondered what painkillers they had him on.

”Hard-Rock News 42 came by earlier. And Upstreamers 180! I'm going to be all over the nine o'clock news. Have you seen my sammy cache? Take a look!”

Geoff exchanged an amused look with Kam and Amaya. They all agreed the contents of Ian's cache were impressive. ”You're famous,” Geoff said. ”No doubt about it.”

”The prime minister is coming by! Can you believe it? Get my arm ripped off and everybody thinks I'm hot s.h.i.+t. Maybe I can write my memoir and make a million.” Kam and Geoff both laughed; Amaya looked mildly disgusted.

Kam replied, ”Now if only you could write three sentences in a row, you'd be all set.”

”You're just jealous.”

”Oh, yeah. I can hardly wait to get my arm ripped off.”

”Great! The gimp twins. We'll get adjoining hospital beds,” Ian said. But the idea made everyone queasy. To change the subject, Geoff asked, ”You said they're going to start growing you, you know, a new arm today?”

”Yeah.” Ian looked at his covers, at the place where his arm should be, as if still surprised it was not there. ”They said there was so much damage to the old one that it's easier to just start from scratch. In a couple of months, n.o.body will be able to tell the difference. Look.” He pulled up his sleeve. The others recoiled-but the wound had already closed up. Pink, baby-smooth skin stretched over the shoulder joint, and just below that was a b.u.mp with five little nubs. Ian wiggled them, and Geoff thought again of the Viridians. Was what they did so different than this?

Amaya's anger at Ian seemed to have cooled; she touched the tiny new fingers growing there, and then they kissed. Ian gave her this wondering look. Geoff knew, even if he didn't; even if Amaya didn't. Ian had just figured out he loved her. Geoff wondered if that meant he'd stop being such a chinpo chinpo. One could hope.

”What?” she demanded. He only shook his head, and laid his head back on his pillow. ”Nothing.” He laughed. ”It's weird, I keep feeling my arm there. I mean, my whole arm. They tell me that's normal. It hurts like h.e.l.l, when they aren't doping me.”

”Good thing they're doping you,” Amaya said.

”Yeah.” He grinned. ”I thought I'd get me some neon tattoos, once it's all done, all down the new bicep and forearm, you know, to impress the girls. What do you think?”

Amaya rolled her eyes. ”Oh, please.”

Ian asked, ”Did they get the thing? You know, the feral?”

Geoff shrugged. ”I guess so. The old man just made sure we got checked out and then sent us home. We didn't get any more out of him.”

Amaya said, ”The biker buzz this morning is that they killed it, or whatever they do to stop them, and it's gone now.”

Everyone looked at Ian then. His eyes were sunken, shadowed in his pale face. No one said it, but Geoff knew he wasn't the only one thinking it: Ian should be dead. He would have bled out in seconds if the feral sapient hadn't rendered aid-and feral sapients did not render aid. Something strange had happened last night, they were all witness to it, and no one could make sense of it.

After awhile, Ian's parents showed up. Mr. Carmichael had showered and his hair was combed for the first time since Geoff had met him. He wore a nice suit. His pores still smelled, faintly, of stale booze, which he had tried to mask with cologne. Mrs. Carmichael had her hair coiffed and wore a bit too much makeup. They greeted Geoff and the others with a plastic cheeriness. It grossed Geoff out to look at them. They looked like doll versions of themselves.

Geoff, Amaya, and Kam made their good-byes and left. Geoff was glad that he would not be required to partic.i.p.ate with his parents in a meeting with the prime minister. Just, yuck. On a whole lot of levels.

On their way out, the doctor gave them each a quick checkup, and gave Geoff another shot of bug juice. Almost immediately he felt better, and saw in a nearby mirror that the swelling in his face had already gone down.

Outside Yamas.h.i.+ro Memorial, they all looked at one another. All were conscious of the soft mote haze around them.

”Spin the rock?” Kam asked.

Amaya hung back. She looked around, and said softly, ”What about the ice?”

”Well?” Kam asked. ”Didn't you hear the PM's announcement? We're getting a big s.h.i.+pment in a couple of weeks. Everything is going to be fine.”

”But the black marketers know about Ouroboros.”

”They were all arrested,” Kam said. ”And we did what we were supposed to. I notified the bank.”

”You notified the bank,” Geoff pointed out, ”but I didn't sign the paperwork yet. They're not going to send anyone out to survey it till I do. And we didn't do everything everything we were supposed to do-they told us they wanted a statement from us at the precinct.” we were supposed to do-they told us they wanted a statement from us at the precinct.”