‘Input accepted. Running cancel utility now. I have already umbrella’d my own access. You may be certain that the cancel utility run will be successful.’
‘Good. Thanks.’
The image on the screen disappeared. Slowly the school menu reappeared, a line at a time. Jak was frankly staring.
‘Never, Se Vida, have I seen such a thing, a revenant such as that, I mean.’
‘Well, neither have I. I suppose the really important people get to use them, the Cyberguild people and the people in Government House, I mean.’
‘Now that may well be true, indeed.’
‘At least now I know what he means when he says Veelivar. That’s me. Vida L’Var y...’ She paused, thinking back to the legal form Aleen had shown her the night before, and the name of the woman who had been her mother. ‘Vida L’Var y Smid.’
‘Smid? I don’t know that clan name, Se Vida.’
‘I don’t think it is a clan, exactly. I wonder what happened to my mother. She would have spent three years in the work camp, Aleen told me. But what about after that?’
Jak shrugged.
‘Perhaps there is a public record?’
Although the school Map was strictly limited, Vida could access some public records from its menus - some, but not the correct ones. In an hour of running the few public utilities open to non-adults, she learned nothing but the knowledge that there were thousands of Smids in Palace.
‘It sure is a common name,’ she said to Jak. ‘I’ll never be able to ask them all.’
‘If they would even admit such a thing, Se Vida. To spend years in the work camps is not an honourable activity.’
Someone knocked. Jak sprang to his feet and opened the door a bare inch.
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Madama Tia.’
‘Vida, Aleen’s sent for you. She’s in her office.’
‘Her office? Oh God. That means trouble.’
With Jak marching behind her, Vida left her room and headed down the hall to the lift booth station. As they stepped in, Vida remembered that she’d never even combed her hair. Aleen hated mess. She ran trembling hands through it and pushed it back from her face.
‘Office.’
The booth slid up fast, making her gulp for breath - no, that was the nerves. When the booth stopped, it took Vida a moment to force herself out. If Jak hadn’t been standing right behind her, a reassuring presence, she might have lingered in the foyer for a long time. Apparently the tri-stil door into Aleen’s office had been programmed to expect her; it slid open as she approached and let her into the oval room, filled with a cool blue light. A hundred niches, filled with holo art large and small, dissolved the walls into a web of images. The huge dome of the ceiling displayed fractals, moving, melding, changing in time to the sweet trilling music of
pa’ali,
gill-pipes invented by Hirrel musicians. Next to an enormous crystal globe of Palace, Aleen sat in a chair modified to allow simultaneous comm and data work. She said nothing until Vida sat down opposite in an armless formfit. Jak took his usual place at the door.
For a long time the madam considered her from over arched fingers, while Vida shivered. At last Aleen leaned back in her chair and glanced away, glanced up at the patterns swirling, forming, dying on the ceiling dome.
‘Something very strange has happened, Vida. An arrangement’s been made for you that’s rather different than anything I’d ever expected.’
Vida tried to answer, instead licked nervous lips.
Aleen brushed a sensor on the armrest of her chair and the music shifted into something slow, sombre - a funeral dirge of the saccules, a twined thing of harmonies and variations. The fractals became shifting shards of black glass. Without thinking, Vida laid her hand on the wooden Eye hanging from its thong. When Aleen held out her hand, Vida slipped the Eye over her head and gave it to her. Aleen looked at it for a long moment.
‘What do you know about the Eye of God, Vida?’ Aleen’s voice had changed into her familiar lecturer’s tone.
‘I... the Lifegivers say that the Eye watches over all of us, sees our sins and good deeds and when we die, if we’ve been good, God sends us into the sky to become stars, the lesser eyes of God.’
‘And if we’re sinful?’
Vida squirmed in her formfit; the chair squeaked, then reconfigured itself under her.
‘Then we’re sent back to live again as some low animal, like a ver or a saccule, until we earn the right to become human again and try to become true stars.’
‘Very good. You also know that a thousand years ago, the Church of the Eye split into four different Schisms, that each Schism had a different definition for ‘sapient’ and ‘animal’. How many sapients died in the wars that followed?’
‘Over a million, most of them on Belie.’
‘Correct. It’s something I want you to think about.’
‘What, Madam? I mean, why?’
‘You’ll understand why if you think about it long enough.’
Utterly baffled, Vida stared at her until Aleen laughed.
‘Here’s a clue, Vida. When you read about the old days on the Rim, you can see how we’re losing our diversity, out here in the Pinch. The Hirrel are a dying race, and so are the Garang Japat. The humans and the Leps breed so fast that none of the others have a chance, compared to us. What do you think about that?’
‘I don’t know, Madam.’
‘What about this, then? We all look back to the Colonizers, all of us, from some half-educated scavenger in Service Sect up to the cardinal himself. No-one looks forward, not out here in the Pinch. We’re a colony full of archivists, struggling to regain what we think we’ve lost. Don’t you think that’s dangerous?’
‘Well, uh, I guess. It’s never seemed like anything I should worry about. I mean, there’s nothing I can do about it.’
‘No?’ Aleen smiled, just briefly. ‘You’re going to be in a position to do a great deal about a great many different things, Vida.’
‘Me, Madam?’
‘Yes, you. You’re going to sign a marriage contract with Wan Peronida, heir to the First Citizen. He’s asking for fifteen years.’
All Vida could do was stare. She was going to marry Wan Peronida? Ridiculous! But if she did, she’d be free, out of Pleasure forever. Never Marked - free ... From his place at the door Jak laughed.
‘Great things, Se Vida,’ he said. ‘Great things.’
‘No, not me.’ Vida found her voice at last. ‘Madam, how, I mean, what-’
‘Karlo Peronida has taken an interest in you,’ Aleen said. ‘I thought he’d be your enemy, but it seems he thinks he can use you. Which is lucky for you, very lucky.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You were hidden from Vanna. You know how she hated your family. Everyone – I –
assumed Karlo would take on her feud when he made a contract with her. But he hasn’t. None of the great families want to marry a daughter off to his son, you see, except on the most limited terms. When he found out that you exist, that a
L’Var
exists, he saw his chance.’
‘But I’m nobody.’
‘Not any more, Vida. You’re going to inherit the L’Var property. You’ll be rich. The L’Var traced their bloodlines all the way back to the Colonizers. Your genotype stands three cuts above the Peronidas, and Karlo knows it. So will everyone else in Government House.’
Vida sat, barely thinking, for what seemed to her a long time. The music whispered and sobbed around them.
‘There’s an obvious question,’ Aleen snapped. ‘Think! What is it?’
‘Do I have to marry this Wan? What if I say no?’
‘Very good. If you say no, no-one can force you. But you’ll have to stay in Pleasure Sect. I can’t really protect you any more, not from somebody who’s powerful enough to hire an assassin, but at least you’ll have a chance here.’
‘A chance, Madam?’
‘At staying alive for a little while longer.’ Vida went cold all over. In her mind she could see Brother Lennos, smiling at her.
‘The security in Government House is amazing, from what I hear.’ Aleen glanced at Jak.
‘This is very true, Madama Aleen. We Garang make it our business to know these things. Se Vida, if you become the Peronida’s lawdaughter, you’ll have the best protection in the Pinch. Nobody will dare threaten you.’
‘But I don’t want to leave!’ Vida blurted out. ‘This is my home.’
Aleen leaned back in her chair and stroked a sensor, dropping the lights down to an azure mist. In the glowy dark the saccule dirge hummed and boomed. Her voice came from the shadows like a memory of sound.
‘The Pleasure Sect is no-one’s home. We’re all culls, dumped here, adopted out. It’s a holding pen, not a home. Vida, think! In Centre Sect you’ll have freedom, you can do great things, you can be a somebody in this world if you marry the Peronida heir. Don’t fail me, Vida.’
‘Fail you? What do you mean?’
No answer, only the music, wailing in the dark.
‘When ... when do I have to leave?’
‘Today.’
‘Today!’
‘I’ve already spoken to Cardinal Roha.’ Aleen turned her flesh eye Vida’s way. ‘He’s sending Lifegivers, his best men, to bring you to Government House. They’ll arrive late this afternoon. There’s no need to pack. You won’t be taking anything of Pleasure with you. Dukayn specifically told me that.’
‘Who, Madam?’
‘The head of security in Government House - among other things. Vida, there’s just so much I haven’t told you yet. I’m sorry, but what I’ve had time for will have to do.’
‘Can Jak come with me?’
‘I’m afraid not, but don’t worry. The cardinal’s men are highly trained. They’re not the usual run of monk.’ Vida twisted round to look at Jak, who nodded confirmation. ‘But-’
‘Hush!’ Aleen snapped. ‘There’s no time for me to tell you everything you need to know. Maybe it’s better if you figure things out on your own. But remember everything I taught you. You know how to be charming from being raised here, so charm them all. Trust no-one. Vanna Makeesa’s your most dangerous enemy, but there will be others, a lot of others. In particular, keep an eye on the cardinal.’
‘The cardinal? I thought he was helping us.’
‘At the moment.’
‘Oh. Oh, I see. He could change.’
‘He most likely will change. Government House does that to people.’
Vida hesitated, framing one last question.
‘It’s getting late,’ Aleen said. ‘You’d better leave.’
‘Madam, what happened to my mother? Where is she now?’
‘You may leave.’ When Aleen leaned back to watch the play of darkness across the dome, shadows fell like a pool of blood on her face.
Vida stood and started to walk out, but at the door she hesitated, while Jak hovered in the foyer. Aleen had raised her, protected her, taught her, and now she was surrendering her as easily as if Vida were some pet jadewing she’d been boarding. Vida fought back tears. Aleen would only despise tears.
‘Goodbye, Madam. I’ll miss you.’
She waited a moment and then a long moment more, but Aleen said nothing. The saccule dirge grew in volume until it shook the air. Swallowing hard, Vida left without looking back.
* * *
After Vida left, Hi entered Aleen’s office from a listening niche, hidden behind a holosculpture of a woman riding some six-legged creature. He’d come straight to The Close after sending Rico back to Tech Sect on the wiretrain. As if she hadn’t noticed him, Aleen lay back in her chair, her eyes closed. Hi sat down opposite her in the chair Vida had just vacated. He could smell the girl still, or rather, a flowery cheap perfume and her sweat. She’d been terrified, Hi supposed, and rightly so. Abruptly Aleen opened her eyes, then sat up, tossing her green hair back from her face. With a small whine the chair followed, curving round her back. She swept her hands over its controls, silencing the thunder of the dirge, brightening the light in the room.
‘So,’ Aleen said. ‘What do you think of her?’
‘Bright. Quick thinking. Naive about everything outside this sect. You’re very fond of her, aren’t you?’
‘Of course. The Protectors brought her to me when she was three days old, a smelly little pink thing wriggling in a blanket.’
Aleen smiled at the memory. ‘I never thought I was the sentimental type, but she was so goddamn helpless.’
‘Three days old? They found her mother fast, then.’
‘The poor little slut needed medical help after the birth. I don’t know why those women risk it, having illegal babies. They usually get caught.’
‘Maybe they’re the sentimental type?’
Aleen shrugged and rose in a shimmer of long emerald hair. Hi found himself remembering the first time he’d met her, sixteen years ago now. He’d just won election to the mastership of the Cyberguild and come to Pleasure to celebrate with the most beautiful courtesan he could find. Instead, Aleen had caught his attention - good-looking, yes, but far from the most beautiful woman in the Sect. She’d been vital, instead, and strong, a woman going places, as far as she could go, anyway, trapped in Pleasure.
‘What are you thinking about?’ she said.
‘The first night between us. Bet you don’t even remember.’
‘Yeah? You’d lose the bet.’ She smiled, briefly. ‘It stood out.’
She walked over to a polished dark wood cabinet and took out a green bottle, an asymmetric swirl of glass. When she raised an eyebrow, Hi nodded. The drink was swamp wine, one of the few decent trade items - besides neuters - offered by the free gendered saccules outside the human cities. While she poured it into green glasses, her hair slipped forward, framing her face. The red sun tattooed on her forehead seemed to gleam, as livid as a tumour. Barra’s right, he thought. Pleasure Sect’s turned into something ugly and corrupt. His sister had got those subversive ideas from Vida’s father, as he thought about it. Orin L’Var had been something of a crusader.
Most citizens on Palace never learned that along with the tattooed sun came a brain bomb, lurking inside a Marked person’s skull. How could Pleasure function as a repository for culls, all those individuals Palace society scorned for one or more of a hundred reasons, if the culls could simply walk away from it? The laws of the Lifegivers declared that the Unauthorized and Undesirable - and any offspring as well - must never be allowed to mingle with the population at large. With someone as powerful as the cardinal on her side, releasing unMarked Vida was easy. If Aleen ever tried to leave, a Lifegiver would transmit a pulse after her, and she would die, no matter who was on her side.