Dreamer Read online

  “What the fuck?” Sejal said hoarsely.

  Kendi shook his head. It felt as if every vertabra in his spine had fused for a split second. He had never felt a jolt that strong before.

  “What the hell was that?” Sejal demanded.

  Kendi cleared his throat. “The Silent touch,” he said. “It happens when you touch flesh-to-flesh with another Silent old enough to reach the Dream.”

  “Every time?” Sejal asked, eyes wide.

  “The first time,” Kendi clarified. “And once you touch another Silent, you’ll usually be able to find them when you’re both in the Dream.”

  Sejal stared. “That’s being Silent? That and the voices?”

  “That’s part of it,” Kendi said.

  Sejal blinked hard and remained quiet for a moment. It took Kendi a second to realize that Sejal was holding back tears. Kendi’s chest welled with sympathy. Poor kid. His childhood had obviously been hard, he’d been selling himself on the street, and now Kendi was scaring the life out of him.

  “Hey, it’s all right,” Kendi soothed. ”Being Silent is a gift. We can teach you—”

  “It’s not that,” Sejal said in a thick voice. “I’m relieved. God, it’s a fucking relief.”

  Now Kendi blinked. “A relief?”

  “About six months ago,” Sejal said, swiping at his eyes with quick fingers, “I started hearing voices whispering in my head. Some days they got so loud I couldn’t even hear myself think. I couldn’t tell anyone—they’d think I was crazy. I thought I was. Now you pop up and tell me—show me—that I’m not.”

  “You’re not crazy,” Kendi said with an emphatic nod. “But you are Silent.”

  “So if I’m Silent,” Sejal emphasized the two words as if he were tasting them, “why didn’t I show up on the Unity gene scans?”

  Kendi shook his head. “That I don’t know. It may be an old-fashioned mistake.”

  “Maybe,” Sejal said dubiously. “So what do we do now?”

  “Now we—”

  “Kendi,” came Ben’s voice in his ear. “Kendi, are you there?”

  Kendi held up a hand to Sejal. “I’m here,” he subvocalized. “What’s going on?”

  “Trouble,” Ben said. “You and Sejal are on a wanted list for the Unity guard.,”

  “What? Shit!”

  “Was there a raid on a hotel in the market?”

  “Yeah. I almost got caught in it. Why?”

  “One of the guards had a camera. Standard Unity procedure on a vice bust in case someone gets away—like you did. Your and Sejal’s pictures are on the nets. You’re wanted for unlawful solicitation, breaking and entering, malicious destruction of property, assault of a guard officer, and resisting arrest.”

  “What’s going on?” Sejal asked. “Who are you talking to?”

  “We’ve got to get moving,” Kendi said, rising and throwing a kesh on the table for the untouched drinks. “The Unity’s looking for us.”

  Without a word, Sejal followed Kendi out of the restaurant. Kendi eeled through the crowd outside, trying to glance in all directions at once. Every muscle was taut with tension. The crowd, however, seemed content to ignore them. If anyone recognized them as fleeing felons, no one gave any indication. Kendi refused to relax. The general populace may not be up on the latest wanted pictures from the guard, but the guard itself was, and the guard would have ocular implants just like Kendi’s that would alert them if any wanted criminals passed through their line of sight.

  “Where are we going?” Sejal asked.

  “Kendi, what are you doing?” Ben asked almost simultaneously.

  “I’m heading for the ship,” Kendi replied to them both.

  “He what?” Ara screeched.

  “He interfered in a Unity raid,” Ben replied calmly. “Kendi got Sejal out of there before they would have been arrested.”

  “That idiot,” Ara fumed, nearly knocking her coffee cup off the console in her quarters. Ben stood in the doorway.

  “Idiot?” Ben echoed, confused. “Kendi saved Sejal from the guard.”

  “And caused us a hell of a lot of trouble.” Ara closed her eyes, trying to bring her temper under control. Once, just once, she wished Kendi would think before he acted.

  “I don’t see how—”

  “If the Unity had arrested Sejal,” Ara said in a level voice, “we could have bailed him out. Sejal would be grateful. Vidya would be grateful. Sejal would want to come with us. Everybody wins. Now they’re both wanted and we’re in up to our necks.”

  “Well, in any case, he’s headed back here with Sejal.”

  Ara bolted to her feet, and this time the coffee cup went crashing to the floor. “He’s what? Shit! Ben, get on the transmitter and tell him to stay the hell away. Go! Hurry!”

  Ben fled. Ara rushed into the corridor behind him, pulling her purple trader’s tunic over her clothes as she went.

  “Peggy-Sue,” Ara barked, “open intercom channel to Brother Pitr. Pitr, grab two sets of slave shackles and two brother’s robes. Meet me down at the main hatchway on the double! Move!”

  “All right, Mother,” Pitr’s voice said. “But what—”

  “Peggy-Sue,” Ara interrupted, “close channel and open intercom to Harenn Mashib. Harenn, emergency. Meet me down at the main hatchway with a medical kit, and I mean yesterday!”

  “Obeying,” Harenn replied instantly.

  “Peggy-Sue, close channel and open intercom to Ben Rymar.” Ara reached the lift, decided not to wait for it, and started down the ladder instead. Ceramic clanged beneath her hurried feet. “Ben, have you gotten hold of Kendi yet?”

  “Yes, Mother. He and Sejal are in the spaceport. Kendi wants to know why—”

  “Where’s the first place the guard will come looking for Kendi?” she snapped. “God, I can’t believe that boy’s stupidity today. Tell him to find someplace to hide. We’ll be there shortly. Peggy-Sue, close channel and open intercom to Jack Jameson. Jack, we’re going to have company pretty soon and they’re going to ask a lot of questions. I want you to keep your mouth shut. You don’t have any idea where Kendi is, or where I am.”

  “But I don’t have any idea where Kendi—”

  “Meanwhile, I want you, Gretchen, Ben, and Trish to get the ship ready for takeoff. You might only have a few seconds’ warning, so I want the bridge staffed at all times. Clear?”

  “Clear. But—”

  “Peggy-Sue, close channel.” Ara reached the bottom of the ladder and all but flew down to the main hatchway. On the way she met up with Harenn. Harenn’s veil was slightly askew, and she carried a briefcase-sized medical kit.

  “What happens, Mother?” Harenn asked in a breathless voice.

  Ara was about to explain when Pitr’s solid form hurried up, his arms piled with cloth.

  “Slave shackles?” Ara asked.

  “Under the robes,” Pitr replied.

  Ara opened the hatchway. “Peggy-Sue, activate magnetic locks ship-wide and open them for no one but me or Brother Kendi.”

  “Acknowledged,” the computer said.

  Ara waved Pitr and Harenn through the hatch and shut it. A faint hum indicated the magnetic locks were active. The landing field, carefully gridded with precise yellow lines, stretched around them in all directions. Ships of varying shapes and sizes rested like giant insects, one to a square. Transports carrying fuel and cargo zipped over the aerogel asphalt. Overhead, the sun burned in a cloudless sky.

  “Ben,” Ara subvocalized, “where’s Kendi hiding?”

  In response, a red trail overlaid itself on her field of vision as Ben uploaded directions to her ocular implant.

  “What happens, Mother?” Harenn demanded again. “We need to know.”

  “It’s Kendi.” Ara said, and strode off along the trail. She explained with short, terse phrases as they went. Pitr whistled under his breath.

  “Are any Unity guard coming now?” Harenn wanted to know.

  “They’re demanding entrance at th
e ship,” Ben said. “They said Kendi and Sejal are wanted for assaulting an officer. That makes them high priority.”

  “Stall,” Ara ordered. “Tell them the locks are malfunctioning.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  The red trail lead Ara into the spaceport proper, a large, flat building filled with customs offices, air traffic controls, and who-knew-what. The air inside was cool, and the volume of voices rose considerably when they entered. Ara followed the trail to a private restroom that offered showers as well as toilet facilities.

  “Well, that’s one intelligent decision he made,” Ara muttered, and thumbed the chime.

  “It’s occupied,” said a strange voice, and it took Ara a moment to recognize it as Sejal’s.

  “Let us in,” Ara snapped. “Quick!”

  The door slid open. Ara, Pitr, and Harenn ducked inside. Kendi and Sejal sat on narrow benches within. The cubicle was tiny, too small for five people, so Ara turned to Pitr.

  “Wait outside and play guard,” she said. He set down his bundle of cloth and left.

  “Ben told me what’s going on,” Kendi said. “And I don’t want a lecture, Mother. I’d do everything exactly the same way if I had to do it again, so don’t waste your breath shouting.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Sejal broke in.

  Ara drew herself up, trying to reign in her temper. “I’m Mother Adept Araceil of the Children of Irfan.”

  “Okay,” Sejal grunted. “What’s that mean to me?”

  “It means,” Harenn said, “that she can take you off this planet.”

  “I’m not going anywhere if she—” Sejal pointed a finger at Ara “—gets Kendi in trouble.”

  Kendi shot Ara a smug look, and it took all her willpower not to smack him. Later, she told herself. We’ll hash this out later.

  “Sejal,” she said in a calm voice, “you and Kendi are both at grave risk. We have to get you off Rust, and quickly, before the Unity gets hold of you. Harenn—your kit.”

  “What about my mom?” Sejal said as Harenn opened her medical kit. “I can’t just leave her.”

  That stopped Ara dead. She had been concentrating so hard on Sejal, she had completely forgotten about Vidya.

  “We can come back for her later,” Ara said. “The Children of Irfan usually offer relatives work at—”

  “Just leave her? What are you, nuts?” Sejal said incredulously. “She’s my mother!”

  “Hey, it’s all right,” Kendi said, laying a hand on Sejal’s shoulder. “We’ll send another team later.”

  “No!” Sejal shook off Kendi’s hand and scrambled to his feet. He was almost a full head taller than Ara, and she was forced to look up at him. “I’m not leaving without—”

  “All right,” Ara broke in quickly. “We won’t leave until we talk to her. Ben, how are things at the ship?”

  “Who’s Ben?” Sejal demanded.

  “Jack’s still stalling,” Ben reported. “Trish is in the Dream helping him by whispering at the guard to keep them calmed down.”

  “Good. Can you patch me through to the Unity communication system and connect me with Vidya Dasa?”

  “It’ll take a minute,” Ben said doubtfully. “The Unity’s monitoring us pretty closely right now. I have to change channels and masks every few seconds.”

  “You’re wonderful, Ben,” Ara told him. “Let me know when you have her on.”

  “What are you doing?” Sejal asked.

  Ara wedged herself next to him on the hard, narrow bench. “I’m setting up a call with your mother. Meanwhile, I want you to put these robes on and let Harenn work on you.”

  “Work on me?” Sejal echoed, looking a little bewildered. Now that Ara had promised to contact Vidya, most of his belligerence had faded. Ara herself had also calmed down a little, and it came to her that she was sitting next to the person she might have to kill. She swallowed, wanting to edge away from him on the bench, put some distance between them, but there was no room.

  “I will change your face, Sejal,” Harenn said. “Hair and eyes, perhaps your nose and forehead. Come by the mirror. There will be no pain.”

  Sejal glanced at Kendi, who nodded. Everyone remained silent while Harenn worked. She lumped coagulant paste over Sejal’s nose and forehead and worked it like a sculptor. The material was normally used to seal cuts and other wounds, but in sufficient quantities, it could be used for short-term cosmetic alterations. When Harenn took her hands away, the paste faded and matched itself to Sejal’s skin color. His profile had been altered significantly, with a longer nose and thicker forehead. Next, Harenn had Sejal cover his face while she sprayed his hair with a strong disinfectant. She waited one minute, then told him to rinse off in the sink. When he finished, his hair was several shades lighter, almost blond.

  “Now you, Kendi,” Ara said.

  Kendi wordlessly submitted to Harenn’s ministrations, though he refused to look at Ara. Before Harenn finished, Ben came on over Ara’s earpiece again.

  “The Unity guard are demanding entrance,” he said. “They’re going to damage the ship if we don’t get the door open.”

  Ara gritted her teeth. “Peggy-Sue, are you monitoring?”

  “On line,” the computer said.

  “Peggy-Sue, release hatchway magnetic locks. Then initiate file lockdown and scramble, priority one.”

  “Working.”

  “Mother!” Ben yelped. “What are you doing?”

  “Kendi and Sejal aren’t on board, Ben,” Ara explained. “Let the guard look. Tell Jack to spread some chocolate and kesh around if he thinks it’ll help. I just wanted to stall.”

  “Acknowledged. Vidya Dasa is on the line. Keep it short, Mother. I’ll have to terminate the connection once the guard reaches the bridge, assuming your file scramble doesn’t do it first.”

  Ara ran a lead from her earpiece to a speaker set into the wall for just this purpose. “Ms. Dasa?” Ara said.

  “Where’s my son?” Vidya demanded without preamble.

  “I’m here, Mom,” Sejal said. “Can you hear me? I’m all right.”

  “Release him now,” Vidya snapped. “Harm one hair and you will pay.”

  “Ms. Dasa, we’re trying to help,” Ara said as calmly as she could. She could already imagine the black-booted feet of the guard tromping through her ship, turning the rooms upside-down, flinging possessions to the floor. “There isn’t time for long explanations. Your son is in trouble with the Unity. So is my appren—so is Brother Kendi.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Ara saw Kendi’s expression darken. Her verbal slip hadn’t been lost on him.

  “We need to get Sejal—and you—to safety,” Ara concluded. “Can you meet us somewhere?”

  “Mom, it’s okay,” Sejal interjected. “Kendi helped me out of a tough spot. I trust him.”

  Pause.

  “Where are you?” Vidya asked.

  “I’d rather not say on this channel,” Ara said.

  “Then how can we arrange a meeting?”

  “Mom,” Sejal put in, “meet us at the monster building. You remember where that is?”

  Another pause. “I remember. I’ll be there in fifteen—”

  “Guard’s coming,” Ben cut in. “Good luck.”

  The com line went dead.

  “Monster building?” Kendi asked.

  Sejal grinned. “It’s an office not far from here. They built it when I was little. Mom and I were walking past when they sprayed it up, and I thought it looked like a monster coming up out of the ground. We always called it the monster building after that.”

  “Then let’s go,” Ara said, disconnecting the lead. “But first put these on.”

  She handed Sejal and Kendi each a brown robe. After they put them on, Harenn sprayed some of the cloth with disinfectants to discolor the fabric while Ara tore holes. Then she held up sets of shackles. Each set was made of one large collar and four smaller ones.

  “This one’s for the neck,” she told Sejal, indic
ating the large collar. “The others are for wrists and ankles.”

  “I know how they work,” Sejal said. “What are they for?”

  “No one looks twice at poor, bedraggled slaves,” Kendi said in a bitter voice. “Come on.”

  Sejal swiftly donned the shackles. Kendi put his on more slowly. Ara clipped the master unit—a box the size of a fist—prominently to her belt.

  “It isn’t activated,” she said. “But stay close.”

  Ara braced herself for a smart remark from Kendi, but he said nothing. The lack was surprisingly jarring. Hiding her consternation, she slid open the door and greeted Pitr. He raised an eyebrow at Kendi and Sejal’s changed appearance but said nothing. They set off through the port, Kendi and Sejal walking humbly to the rear, heads low beneath their ragged hoods. Ara’s heart jumped every time she saw a guard, but they ignored the little group as they processed to the exit.

  “Now where?” Ara murmured.

  Following Sejal’s quiet directions, they proceeded up the crowded street. Ground cars honked, flit cars swooshed, and starships rumbled. The heavy air smelled of sweat and fuel. A pair of Unity guards stood silent watch by the door, and Ara casually turned her face away from them. Her back felt exposed, and she had to force herself to walk at a normal pace.

  The monster building looked much like all the other buildings around it—tall, gray, and blocky. Vidya, tight-faced, was standing near the main entrance. It took her a moment to recognize Sejal. She started forward, apparently intending to grab her son, then aborted the motion, opting instead to wait for the group to approach.

  “A small courtyard is in back of the building,” Vidya told them. “It remains empty at this time of day.”

  Ara nodded and followed Vidya around the office building to the rear, where a little cobblestoned area occupied space between the buildings. Little sunlight reached the place, and a tired-looking tree drooped over a wooden bench. Food containers littered the stones. Kendi and Sejal started to take the bench until Pitr caught Kendi’s arm.

  “Slaves sit on the ground,” he said gruffly.