RAINBOW RUN (11 page)

I felt that I could trust Clandine to make the best use of me that she could. I wanted her to be pleased enough with me to provide me with a wristlock and a dwell. I wasn’t sure that she would until she got confirmation of her conspiracy theory, which may or may not have any basis in reality. Regardless, she was my best hope for a better life. So I told her, "I’m ready to rehearse my story whenever you're ready."

The next day Clandine shared more details of her mental map. "You have to know your way around so you can find Lyonella’s dwell as soon as I learn where she is. Here’s a pixcube that holds a likeness of her. Study it so you'll recognize her when you see her."

I looked at the pixcube and saw a three dimensional image of Lyonella. The image was accurate, displaying her tall, slim body with good muscle definition; her triangular face with the knowing expression and the haunted brown eyes that appeared to have seen more than I could imagine. I felt an inadvertent rush of blood to my groin: Lyonella’s sensuality had been captured by the pixcube.

"Is something wrong?" Clandine asked.

I was still hoping that I wouldn’t have to tell Clandine that I’d encountered Lyonella previously. "No, I'm just concentrating to make sure that I'll recognize her when I see her."

"I should get the location of her dwell today from the rainbow who oversees the Listener Guild. After third meal, I want you to try to arrange a listening session with her. I want you to be ready with your story as we rehearsed it."

"I'll be ready." I had mixed feelings about seeing Lyonella again. If she accepted me as just another gray, who wanted to tell her the story of his troubles, I'd be all right and I could tell Clandine whatever Lyonella said. But, if Lyonella identified me as Vargan, there might be several kinds of trouble. If I had been Vargan before I was brainwiped, I didn't want Clandine to know that, just like I didn't want her to know I'd encountered Lyonella previously. Clandine might think I had been or was now some part of the grand conspiracy that she perceived. I thought it quite possible that she was a bit paranoid, seeing a power-grabbing conspiracy where there might be none.

The rainbows and her other suspects were people with power; they might not be in a conspiracy at all. Just merely indifferent to those who posed no threat to their positions and activities.

* * *

Later in the day, Clandine returned with Lyonella's location. When she was sure I knew how to get there and had my story straight, I headed toward Lyonella's dwell, hoping that all would go well.

Clandine told me that the most direct route to Lyonella's dwell involved going to the Medical Complex and walking through to the opposite side. I took three different slideways to reach the Medical Complex. It was a refreshing change to see buildings that were shaped differently from the ubiquitous urbodes. I followed the walkways through the cluster of buildings, heading for the slidestrip on the far side.

I passed the Rejuvenation Center, a tall oval building, where the sick and injured were taken to be healed or readied for reincarnation. It was next to the House of Rebirth where citizens were reborn without their memories into young and healthy bodies, ready to begin a new life. In the distance I saw the Fane of Change where aging rainbows went so they could emerge with their bodies reconditioned and their memories intact—eternal life with periodic renewal.

I envied the rainbows their retention of memory. I felt I could lose that envy only by becoming a rainbow myself. I had hopes. I'd been good at the Game when I played it in Ural's dwell. If I managed to get a wristlock of my own instead of wearing one that identified me as Errox, I'd play the Game again. Maybe I could become a rainbow and hold onto my memories forever.

I took the slideway on the far side of the complex to a section of one hundred urbodes, got off, and counted my way to the urbode in which Lyonella lived. The entrance portal was guarded by the same tough-looking woman who had been at the door of the urbode where I'd gotten Errox's wristlock, the urbode where Hushel and Lyonella both had dwells. I remembered Lyonella had told me she would be near Hushel.

I supposed that Hushel, Lyonella, and many others had moved from the former urbode to this one on Transit Day. I stooped down in front of the portal guard and said, "I'm here to see Lyonella the Listener." With her hands, she indicated the floor and dwell number. Then she motioned for me to enter. I pressed the wristlock against the door plate. The door opened and I entered. I passed a few grays in the corridor, all strangers to me.

I stood at the door to Lyonella's dwell. I wondered what kind of a reception I'd get as I pressed my wristlock against the dwell plate. Nothing happened. Either Lyonella was not home or was not answering her door. I waited in the corridor for a while and then tried again with no results.

Finally, I left the urbode. Outside I went straight ahead and took a position across the walkway where I could watch the entrance, hoping that Lyonella would return soon. My waiting paid off. While it was still twilight I saw Lyonella, not entering the building but leaving it. I followed her. I told myself that I was following her in order to get more information for Clandine, but I knew that part of my motivation was the physical attraction I felt for her.

Lyonella went to a portal slidestrip leading to the slideway. Her loose-limbed, hip-swinging walk was a pleasure to watch, so different from the tightly controlled movements of Clandine. I made certain that there were always several people between us. I was counting on that and the fading twilight to prevent her detecting that she had a follower. Lyonella changed slideways. I followed close behind, keeping an eye on her and keeping track of my changing location on my mental map. I was surprised when Lyonella got off the slidestrip in the autofactory section.

There were few slide riders around. I tried to keep in the shadows as I followed her off the exit slideway and down a long passageway between two humming buildings. Ahead I could see the passageway ended at an entrance to a short, apparently square building with open doors. A giant of a man, more than a head taller than me, stood outside the door.

Lyonella had a brief conversation with him. He handed her what looked like two strips of tunic cloth. I saw her tie one over her wristlock and the other around her head like a headband for her shaggy hair before she went through the door. I hadn't come this far to turn back. I walked up to the giant, wondering if there was a password or some other sort of identification required to enter. I wanted to know what Lyonella could possibly be doing in the autofactory sector. As far as I knew all the factories were automated.

As I approached the giant, he said, in a rumbling bass, "The woman you are following said it was all right for me to admit you." He handed me a strip of tunic and said, "Tie this around your wristlock."

I took it and covered my wristlock. He handed me another strip of tunic and said, "This is your mask." I saw the piece of tunic had two holes for my eyes and a triangular notch cut out between them for my nose. I put the mask on.

The giant said, "Enter and enjoy freedom."

Freedom! What adangerous word. Had I stumbled into a gathering of Freedom Crusaders? Maybe Clandine was partially right in suspecting Lyonella of involvement in a conspiracy. I looked at the entrance, obviously intended to admit machines larger than people, machines the size of walkway washers and slidestrip sweepers. I saw jumper wires attached to the alarm circuits.

Someone had outsmarted the devices intended to keep people out of the factory buildings. It was too late to turn back. I went in. The lingering twilight didn't penetrate all of the building, an edifice that had obviously been designed strictly for machines. On each side of the wide center aisle there were bins the size of large rooms, which held varying amounts of material. The bin nearest me held a variety of metal parts, some of them obviously damaged. I recognized some bent pieces of a walkway washer, a broken Simulike headband, and a damaged wristlock machine. Maybe this was where Hushel's machine had come from—a broken machine repaired by human hands instead of mechanical ones.

I walked down the wide aisle toward one of the room-like bins on the left where flickering shadows and rhythmic drumming indicated the presence of people. The drumming was pervasive. I found myself walking to its beat without having made a conscious decision to do so. My first look at the people inside revealed that they were wearing masks and wristlock covers, as I was. I focused on the drummers at the rear, partially visible in the light from a fire bowl in the center of the room.

The smell of the smoke was unfamiliar but agreeably piquant. Through the smoke Iwas able to make out a dozen drummers, using hands or implements, beating out rhythms on a variety of instruments fashioned out of the damaged materials from the storage buildings. I saw several clusters of people sitting on piles of old tunics and a handful of dancers, both men and women, dancing individually to the hypnotic beat of the drums.

Among the dancers was Lyonella. Although the mask partially hid the expression on her face, she seemed completely absorbed in her own movements. I lost track of time as I watched her sensual movements, the suppleness of her limbs, the sureness of her grace. She seemed like a different person than the disturbed woman who had taken me to be Vargan. She saw me watching her. She danced toward me, beckoning for me to come to her, my invitation to the dance.

Captivated by her allure and the pervasive beat of the drums, I found myself moving within her reach, matching her movements as best I could, reveling in the physical joy of expressive dance. I turned, whirled, dipped and pranced, feeling the gloriousness of being part of a creative whole. The drumming slowed and then stopped.

Lyonella took me by the hand and led me toward the left wall where bottles of jarva were being passed and shared. Lyonella and I both drank from the same bottle as if in a symbolic union of unknown dimensions. We sat on a pile of tunics. In the glow of the firebowl I could see a thin sheen of perspiration on her forehead above the mask. I took a deep breath and smelled her sweet muskiness.

"Enjoying your freedom?" she asked.

I had almost forgotten my suspicion that this gathering might be a function created by the Freedom Crusaders. I wondered if Lyonella was part of the conspiracy and if she was trying to recruit me.

"What freedom do you mean?"

"Freedom of the mask. Your face is masked, your wristlock concealed. You're free to be. You followed me, but didn't feel free to approach me. I told the door guard to let you in because I wanted you to be free, free to tell me what you want from me."

"I want you to listen to my story and give me advice."

"Be free, Stranger. You want more than advice. I can feel your want."

As she said that, Lyonella put one hand on the cloth covering my wristlock, the other hand over my heart, and rested her forehead against my own.

"I…I feel your wristlock is wrong for you—not in tune with your heart or your head. The dance didn't loosen all your tension. You want me and yet you're hesitant to act. Don't be wary. Don't talk."

She pressed her smooth, full lips to mine. Her tongue sought and found a gateway between my lips that allowed her to explore my mouth. I put my arms around her and drew her even closer. The touch of my hands on her skin was electrifying. I felt fully alive and held her as if I never wanted to let her go. My heart was beating in sync with the drums. I hadn't been aware they had started playing again. I was enveloped in a sensual universe where there were only the two of us.

We burrowed into a pile of tunics as if making a nest, eased out of our own tunics and pressed flesh upon flesh. Her small, round breasts flattened against my chest. I pulled back to touch one gently with my fingertips. When her nipple hardened, I took it between my lips and tenderly teased it with my tongue. Her hand moved from my neck and began a sensual journey to my abdomen. She found me ready and guided me into the union of opposites.

We moved with the beat of the drums. In the flickering light I could see the smile of her mouth. Her mask eyeholes were two shadows and I could not tell if her eyes were open or closed until a shift of the tunics which we were nesting in let a beam of light illuminate her soft brown eyes which were looking directly into mine. I felt my essence escaping my body as I experienced a thundering climax.

I'm not sure whether or not I lost consciousness but when I was able to think again, I could only think of Lyonella and the experience we had just shared. We stayed entwined for another timeless moment until the drums stopped and someone said, "There's jarva for everyone."

We put on our tunics. I asked her, "Do you want some jarva?"

"Not especially. Do you?"

"I don't feel I need anything."

She smiled at me and then a more serious expression settled on her face. She said, "I think I need to listen to you. Your body is at rest but your mind remains restless. Tell me what led you to seek my advice."

Reality came rushing back—the Rainbow Room, Errox, Ural, a disturbed Lyonella, Hushel, Miral, the Simulike Palace, the tribal initiation interrupted by the VIS, the Freedom Crusaders attacking the VIS Center, Clandine and her disciplined ways—I had to have something to tell Clandine.

"I was brainwiped, stripped of my wristlock and dumped in the Rainbow Room to die. I survived. I managed to get a wristlock but it belonged to someone wanted by the VIS. The VIS took me into custody. I'm in a dwell with a VIS officer who says she'll get me a wristlock if I help her. I don't know if I can help her and I don't know if I can trust her to help me."

Lyonella’s face took on a trancelike look as she closed her eyes and said, "Change wristlocks at the first opportunity. Never play the Game. The Game is not what it seems. The VIS officer can be trusted only as long as she can use you. Her suspicions await transformation. Be of use if you can."

I memorized every word she said.

Lyonella opened her eyes and said, "I get veiled future images. They’re gone now. I hope I've helped you."