Synaptic Manhunt (6 page)

The guardian bowed deferentially.

‘As you wish, miss.’

Reave looked round dubiously, but didn’t say anything. Despite the time he’d spent in Litz, he was still afraid of the menacing nighttime city.

They crossed the intersection and walked on down the throughway for another block. Then they turned off into a side street. It was like entering another world. The bright lights were left behind. Dull yellow street lights replaced the flashing reds, greens, blues and golds of the main streets. They had only walked along the mean back way for a few minutes when a group of figures loomed up in front of them. The three guardians spread out in front of A.A. Catto and Reave, their hands going to their long nightsticks.

Faint glimmers of light were reflected from the shoulders of the figures that clustered round the lamp standard. A.A. Catto felt a tingle of excitement run through her. They were one of the notorious juv gangs that roamed the back ways of the city, terrorizing anyone who strayed away from the bright lights.

The guardians ushered Reave and A.A. Catto out into the middle of the road. They spread out and formed a loose line between their charges and the juvs. As they came closer they could make out their distinctive outfits. The light had reflected from their shiny silver jackets. They were woven out of steel thread, with solid metal shoulders that rose into twin spikes on either side of the wearer’s head. There was also another steel plate set between the shoulders, which bore the emblem of the wearer’s gang. The outfit was completed by black tights with a decoratively padded crutch and heavy black knee boots, and, of course, the haircut. The juv haircuts varied from month to month. Right then, they were favouring it close cropped at the sides and very long over the top and back, with an elaborately curled quiff hanging down over their foreheads.

As A.A. Catto and her companions came within a couple of metres of the juvs, she saw that there were eight of them. They all appeared to be between the ages of twelve and fourteen. The tallest of them pulled a telescope knife from a pouch on his wide, studded belt and snapped it open. The guardians’ hands dropped to their stunners. The juv raised his hand, inspected his fingers. He jabbed at one offending nail, grinned wolfishly and flicked the knife shut.

With the three guardians keeping themselves between their charges and the gang, A.A. Catto and Reave walked slowly past. A couple of the youths made obscene gestures, but none of them seemed to fancy taking on the heavily armed guardians. Reave kept looking back until the darkness once again swallowed up the gang. He let out his breath in a noisy gasp.

‘Thank Christ that’s all over.’

A.A. Catto looked at him contemptuously.

‘Were you frightened, then?’

Reave nodded.

‘Damn right I was frightened.’

‘The guardians would have looked after us.’

Reave looked doubtful.

‘If they’d decided to jump us, any one of us could have got a knife in the gut.’

A.A. Catto pursed her lips.

‘They wouldn’t have jumped us. They knew the guardians would have burned them down.’

‘From what I’ve heard that wouldn’t deter them. They can be totally suicidal if they feel like it.’

A.A. Catto sneered.

‘From what you’ve heard?’

Reave shrugged but said nothing. They walked on in silence. The rest of the journey was uneventful until, just a short distance from the towering bulk of the Orchid House, they passed the dirty grey lights of a backway greasy spoon. A ragged figure was huddled in the doorway. As the small group walked past, it suddenly twitched and leaped to its feet. It quickly dodged past the guardians and grabbed at A.A. Catto’s arm.

‘Please miss, let’s use your credit card, just for a meal, please miss.’

The voice was high and vaguely female, but the figure was too filthy and tattered for anyone to say, for sure, even whether it was human. A.A. Catto tried to shake it off, but it clung on with grim determination.

‘Please miss, just a meal, let’s use your card.’

The guardians swung round and pulled out their nightsticks. As the first blow struck, the creature fell to the ground screaming. It jerked and twisted, covering its head with its thin arms and pulling its knees up to protect its stomach. The guardians continued beating on it with their clubs until it ceased to move. Each time a blow fell there was a dull squishing thud. A pool of blood slowly spread over the surface of the road. When the figure lay still, one of the guardians prodded it with his toe. Satisfied that there was no sign of life, he hung his nightstick back on his belt. His two companions did the same. From the doorway of the greasy spoon a group of more ragged figures watched silently. They continued to stare as A.A. Catto, Reave and the three guardians walked away.

It was only another block before they reached the throughway and the imposing entrance of the Orchid House. No more of the back area people bothered them. As the black glass doors of the Orchid House slid open, the guardians saluted, turned on their heels and marched away. A.A. Catto and Reave entered the foyer and the huge doors hissed shut behind them.

After the back ways, the Orchid House was an opulent paradise. The triangular floor was made from a single piece of polished marble. It was dominated by a huge fountain. The three walls, crossed by tier after tier of apartment balconies, sloped slightly inwards, and rose almost as far as the eye could see. They met at a point over a thousand metres above. Artificial sunlight streamed down from a huge white sphere set in the top of the pyramid. Cascades of flowers and climbing plants hung like long garlands from the balconies. They were a splash of wild colour against the white walls.

Reave followed A. A, Catto towards the lifts. These were black spheres that rose from the floor. At rest, they sat in hemispherical depressions at the side of the foyer. They moved in straight lines, parallel to the wall, without any visible support. Reave still hadn’t figured out how they worked. A.A. Catto touched an illuminated stud on the side of the lift and a section of the side silently opened. She stepped inside and Reave did the same. The interior of the lift was lit by a soft red light. Muted music came from a hidden speaker. A.A. Catto pressed the control for the ninety-third floor. Reave ran his fingers through his hair.

‘Sure is good to be back home.’

A.A. Catto’s eyes narrowed. She looked sideways at Reave.

‘Don’t get too pleased too soon, honey.’

Reave turned and looked at her in surprise.

‘What’s wrong now?’

‘You’ve been giving me a pain all evening.’

‘Oh, come on.’

‘Come on, nothing. You’ve pissed me off, and you’re going to pay for it.’

‘Please, isn’t it a bit late in the day for more games?’

A.A. Catto held up her ring finger.

‘No games, sweetie. You are going to suffer.’

Reave opened his mouth to speak. He thought better of it, and closed it again. If the fancy took her, A.A. Catto had enough dope in the apartment to keep her awake for days. The game could go on for ages. He felt sick to his stomach. The lift stopped at the ninety-third floor and Reave followed her out, fingering the collar round his neck.

Jeb Stuart Ho, despite his concentration, was beginning to lose all sense of time. He could no longer remember how long he and the Minstrel Boy had been out in the nothings. The lizard had settled down to a steady, bounding lope, exactly as though it was running on hard ground. The lizard seemed to have a very definite sense of purpose. That was the only reassuring thing about the whole situation.

Jeb Stuart Ho looked to his left. He could just about make out the Minstrel Boy against the strange glittering grey mist. The image of the man on the lizard kept shifting and breaking up. It was only when the two of them were very close together that he could see the Minstrel Boy and his mount clearly. At one point, the Minstrel Boy had drifted some distance away and vanished altogether. It was then that Jeb Stuart Ho had come close to panic. He hadn’t experienced a feeling like that since he was a small child. The brotherhood discipline had kept him from going over the edge, but he’d been immeasurably relieved when the Minstrel Boy had finally flickered into view again.

Ho stretched out his hand. It was a signal to the Minstrel Boy that he wanted to say something. Unless they were actually touching, there was no point in speaking. The words became lost and jumbled in the howling silence of the bright greyness. The Minstrel Boy moved towards him and grasped his hand.

‘What’s the trouble, Killer?’

Jeb Stuart Ho disliked the nickname the Minstrel Boy was trying to saddle him with, but he didn’t complain. There would be time enough for that when they reached somewhere tangible.

‘Where are we now?’

‘In the nothings.’

‘I know that. What I meant was, will we get somewhere soon?’

Jeb Stuart Ho made himself act very patiently when talking to the Minstrel Boy. The Minstrel Boy grinned at him.

‘Yeah … soon.’

‘How soon?’

‘Dunno. Time’s pretty relative out here.’

‘Relative to what?’

The Minstrel Boy laughed.

‘Relative to just about anything that’s going. That’s why it’s so hard to estimate.’

Jeb Stuart Ho was sure that he was deliberately trying to confuse him. He wasn’t sure why.

‘Are you sure you know where you are?’

‘Sure I’m sure. I always know where I am. I’m famous for it.’

The Minstrel Boy let go of Jeb Stuart Ho’s hand, and they drifted apart. The Minstrel Boy’s image began to flicker as the space between them increased,

Despite all his training, the lack of time sense weighed heavily on Jeb Stuart Ho. Nothing had prepared him for being mounted on the galloping lizard, rushing headlong into seemingly eternal greyness. He closed his eyes and tried to put himself into an intermediate state of trance. At first it was impossible, but gradually he felt himself merging with the strange, shattered universe. It was the sound of a voice that eventually brought him back to the material world.

‘Come on, Killer. Wake up, what’s wrong with you?’

Jeb Stuart Ho opened his eyes. The Minstrel Boy was standing beside him, tugging at his leg.

‘What’s the matter with you, I thought your brain, had fused?’

Jeb Stuart Ho shook his head.

‘I was meditating.’

‘No shit?’

Ho suddenly realized that he could hear the Minstrel Boy quite clearly without their actually touching. They were obviously out of the nothings. He looked around. They were standing on a huge, even expanse of grey rock. It was flat and featureless. The sky above was a lighter shade of grey, and the air was damp and cold. The lizards were moving about uncomfortably. Ho shivered, and pulled his cloak tight round his shoulders.

‘Are we on the same level as Litz?’

The Minstrel Boy shook his head.

‘Somewhere on the way.’

‘Where?’

‘That’s hard to say.’

‘I thought you took pride in knowing where you are?’

The Minstrel Boy scowled.

‘I don’t take pride, I know.’

‘Should a developed faculty not be a source of pride?’

‘I know, that’s all.’

Jeb Stuart Ho swung a leg over the lizard’s back.

‘As you wish.’

He slid to the ground.

‘What is this place?’

The Minstrel Boy shrugged.

‘It has no name. By rights it shouldn’t be here. I can’t see what keeps it stable.’

‘Why did we stop here?’

‘The lizards stopped. They don’t seem happy.’

‘What has happened to them?’

The Minstrel Boy took off his hat and ran his fingers through his curly hair.

‘I don’t know. Their minds seem to be closed. I can’t get across at all.’

It was the first time Jeb Stuart Ho had seen the Minstrel Boy look genuinely worried. He hesitated before he spoke again.

‘Should we not continue with caution and find out why the lizards have brought us to this place?’

The Minstrel Boy looked down at the ground.

‘I’d just as soon turn back.’

‘You know I can’t do that.’

‘Sure.’

Jeb Stuart Ho remounted his lizard. The Minstrel Boy reluctantly did the same. Before they started to move the Minstrel Boy looked across at Ho.

‘I really don’t like this. Just remember that.’

Ho looked grimly ahead.

‘I’ll remember.’

The Minstrel Boy dug his spurs hard into the lizard. It lurched away at a half-hearted waddle. Jeb Stuart Ho’s mount trailed after it in the same lethargic manner. They continued their slow progress for over an hour. A strange, cone-shaped promontory appeared on the horizon. As they gradually approached it, the lizards became increasingly restive and uneasy. They were awkward to handle, and kept trying to stray away from the Minstrel Boy’s course.

About three hundred metres from the slope of the cone, the lizards stopped dead and refused to go any further. They stood still, shifting their weight from one foot to another and swinging their long necks from side to side. Jeb Stuart Ho and the Minstrel Boy both dismounted. Whatever was affecting the lizards was also affecting the two men. The Minstrel Boy had broken out in a cold sweat, and Jeb Stuart Ho felt an irrational fear trying to take hold of him. He exerted the maximum control on his mind and looked at the Minstrel Boy.

‘There is something terribly wrong here.’

The Minstrel Boy had started to shake. His voice came out as a strangled croak.

‘Let’s get out of here.’

Jeb Stuart Ho gripped him by the shoulder.

‘Relax, breathe slowly and deeply. A man may run from an external danger, but cannot run from fear in his mind.’

The Minstrel Boy nodded. Sweat was still pouring off him. It was obvious he was trying to keep himself together, but when he spoke his voice was cracking on the verge of hysteria.

‘Let’s get the hell out of here! Now! I can’t stand it.’

‘Do not succumb to the fear. The fear of fear is the poison of the soul.’

‘I … can’t take it!’

The Minstrel Boy’s voice was almost screaming. Jeb Stuart Ho took his face in both hands. He massaged the Minstrel Boy’s neck.