felt tense as a snake about to strike.
The giant set him down in the lowest level of the city. Thinner met him there. Jeshua saw the girl waiting on a platform near the circular design in the shaft.
"If it makes any difference to you, we had nothing to do with bringing you back," Thinner said.
"If it makes any difference to you, I had nothing to do with returning. Where will you shut me tonight?"
"Nowhere," Thinner said. "You have the run of the city."
"And the girl?"
"What about her?"
"What does she expect?"
"You don't make much sense," Thinner said.
"Does she expect me to stay and make the best of things?"
"Ask her. We don't control her, either."
Jeshua walked past the cyborgs and over the circular design, now disordered again. The girl watched him steadily as he approached. He stopped below the platform and looked up at her, hands tightly clenched at his waist.
"What do you want from this place?" he asked.
"Freedom," she said. "The choice of what to be, where to live."
"But the city won't let you leave. You have no choice."
"Yes, the city, I can leave it whenever I want."
Thinner called from across the mall. "As soon as the city is put together, you can leave, too. The inventory is policed only during a move."
Jeshua's shoulders slumped, and his bristling stance softened. He had nothing to fight against now, not immediately. He kept his fists clenched, even so.
"I'm confused," he said.
"Stay for the evening," she suggested. "Then will you make thought come clear of confusion."
He followed her to his room near the peak of the city. The room hadn't been changed. Before she left him there, he asked what her name was.
"Anata," she said. "Anata Leucippe."
"Do you get lonely in the evenings?" he asked, stumbling over the question.
"Never," she said. She laughed and turned half-away from him. "An' now certes am dis em, you no' trustable!"
She left him by the door. "Eat!" she called from the corner of the access hall. "I be back, around mid of the evening."
He smiled and shut his door, then turned to the kitchen to choose what he was going to eat.
Being a whole man, he now knew, did not stop the pain of fear and loneliness. The possibility of quenching was, in fact, a final turn of the thumbscrew. He paced like a caged bear, thinking furiously and reaching no conclusions.
By midnight he was near an explosion. He waited in the viewing area of the terrace, watching the moonlight bathe God-Does-Battle like milk, gripping the railing with a strength that could have crashed wood. He listened to the noise of the city. It was less soothing than he remembered, neither synchronous nor melodic.
Anata came for him half an hour after she said she would. Jeshua had gone through so many ups and downs of despair and aloofness that he was exhausted. She took his hand and led him to the central shaft on foot. They found hidden curved stairwells and went down four levels to a broad promenade that circled a widening in the shaft. "The walkway, it doesn't work yet," she told him. "My tongue, I'm getting it down. I'm studying."
"There's no reason you should speak like me," he said.
"It is difficult at times. Dis me -- I cannot cure a lifetime ob -- of talk."
"Your own language is pretty," he said, half-lying.
"I know. Prettier. Alive-o. But -- " She shrugged.
Jeshua thought he couldn't be more than five or six years older than she was, by no means an insurmountable distance. He jerked as the city lights dimmed. All around, the walls lost their bright glow and produced in its stead a pale lunar gleam, like the night outside.
"This is what I brough' you here for," she said. "To see."
The ghost-moon luminescence made him shiver. The walls and floor passed threads of light between them, and from the threads grew spirits, shimmering first like mirages, then settling into translucent sharpness. They began to move.
They came in couples, groups, crowds, and with them were children, animals, birds, and things he couldn't
The giant set him down in the lowest level of the city. Thinner met him there. Jeshua saw the girl waiting on a platform near the circular design in the shaft.
"If it makes any difference to you, we had nothing to do with bringing you back," Thinner said.
"If it makes any difference to you, I had nothing to do with returning. Where will you shut me tonight?"
"Nowhere," Thinner said. "You have the run of the city."
"And the girl?"
"What about her?"
"What does she expect?"
"You don't make much sense," Thinner said.
"Does she expect me to stay and make the best of things?"
"Ask her. We don't control her, either."
Jeshua walked past the cyborgs and over the circular design, now disordered again. The girl watched him steadily as he approached. He stopped below the platform and looked up at her, hands tightly clenched at his waist.
"What do you want from this place?" he asked.
"Freedom," she said. "The choice of what to be, where to live."
"But the city won't let you leave. You have no choice."
"Yes, the city, I can leave it whenever I want."
Thinner called from across the mall. "As soon as the city is put together, you can leave, too. The inventory is policed only during a move."
Jeshua's shoulders slumped, and his bristling stance softened. He had nothing to fight against now, not immediately. He kept his fists clenched, even so.
"I'm confused," he said.
"Stay for the evening," she suggested. "Then will you make thought come clear of confusion."
He followed her to his room near the peak of the city. The room hadn't been changed. Before she left him there, he asked what her name was.
"Anata," she said. "Anata Leucippe."
"Do you get lonely in the evenings?" he asked, stumbling over the question.
"Never," she said. She laughed and turned half-away from him. "An' now certes am dis em, you no' trustable!"
She left him by the door. "Eat!" she called from the corner of the access hall. "I be back, around mid of the evening."
He smiled and shut his door, then turned to the kitchen to choose what he was going to eat.
Being a whole man, he now knew, did not stop the pain of fear and loneliness. The possibility of quenching was, in fact, a final turn of the thumbscrew. He paced like a caged bear, thinking furiously and reaching no conclusions.
By midnight he was near an explosion. He waited in the viewing area of the terrace, watching the moonlight bathe God-Does-Battle like milk, gripping the railing with a strength that could have crashed wood. He listened to the noise of the city. It was less soothing than he remembered, neither synchronous nor melodic.
Anata came for him half an hour after she said she would. Jeshua had gone through so many ups and downs of despair and aloofness that he was exhausted. She took his hand and led him to the central shaft on foot. They found hidden curved stairwells and went down four levels to a broad promenade that circled a widening in the shaft. "The walkway, it doesn't work yet," she told him. "My tongue, I'm getting it down. I'm studying."
"There's no reason you should speak like me," he said.
"It is difficult at times. Dis me -- I cannot cure a lifetime ob -- of talk."
"Your own language is pretty," he said, half-lying.
"I know. Prettier. Alive-o. But -- " She shrugged.
Jeshua thought he couldn't be more than five or six years older than she was, by no means an insurmountable distance. He jerked as the city lights dimmed. All around, the walls lost their bright glow and produced in its stead a pale lunar gleam, like the night outside.
"This is what I brough' you here for," she said. "To see."
The ghost-moon luminescence made him shiver. The walls and floor passed threads of light between them, and from the threads grew spirits, shimmering first like mirages, then settling into translucent sharpness. They began to move.
They came in couples, groups, crowds, and with them were children, animals, birds, and things he couldn't
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