The Burn Zone (10 page)

The first call came in on my 3i then, and the display
popped up of its own accord as one of them pried open a channel. Before I knew it, dozens of them had begun to hammer the connection, and the junk call buffer overflowed. I cricked my neck to stow the 3i window, but it just popped up again.

“
Enough, guys,
”
I said, but my voice sounded a little unsure. Several shadows moved along the walls of the buildings to either side, and I heard footsteps from the darkness of the side streets there. A few seconds later an empathic spike shot through the mite cluster, and I felt a pang of hunger. The intensity of it made my stomach clench, and it grew as the eyes followed me down the walkway. All the while, a mass of invisible feelers probed the 3i for a crack they could sneak into.

“
Enough!
”
I shouted.

The hunger signals grew stronger as my phone buzzed in my pocket. One of them had given up on the 3i and found the cell connection. I dug it out and my hands shook as I switched it off. I told myself I would be okay, but as a wave of firelit eyes surged in my direction, I felt fear prick in my chest.

What happens then?

They eat you
…

I stood up and began to take long strides down the walkway in spite of the pain in my leg. One at a time the haan weren
’
t exactly intimidating, but when the streets and building faces all began to crawl with movement, my fear edged toward panic. The kid picked up on it and squirmed in my arms.

Wait.

The word appeared in the 3i window in front of me as one of them somehow managed to sneak its way in. More of them had started to worm their way through, and unlike the kid
’
s curious probes, these were pushy and insistent.

“
It
’
s okay,
”
I whispered. I shut the 3i down but
couldn
’
t do anything about the mite cluster. The hollow ache in the pit of my stomach had turned my legs weak.

They
’
re hungrier than we are,
I thought.
They take so much... eighty percent of all consumable calories from the combined feedlots ... how can they still be so hungry?

The surrogate center loomed up ahead and I picked up the pace. When I got closer to it, I noticed that the eyes around me began to thin out until, by the time the pinprick scanners at the gate flashed black-light blue, they were gone.

I hopped off the walkway. The front entrance, a thick glass partition so clear and clean I hadn
’
t even realized it was there, slid silently on its track to let me through. I glanced back once and saw the smattering of staring eyes in the distance wink out one by one.

“
It
’
s okay,
”
I whispered in
Tānchi
’
s ear, hugging him to my chest. I felt him relax a little as he held me back.

Inside the building a long, empty corridor stretched off into darkness where there were no signs in any language. Not sure where to go, I started down, the squeak of my damp rubber soles echoing ahead and behind. The air turned cooler, and I
’
d passed several closed doors on either side when something flickered in the dark up ahead. Electronic black-lit eyes stared down at me, and a knobby metal ball dropped down on a mechanical stalk that trailed a web of hair-thin wires. The array of electronic sensors focused on me, and the ball emitted something between a chirp and an electronic fart, but my attention had turned to the shadows beyond it.

Whoa.

Past the eye, the walls had been stripped down to their I-beams. The tiled floor had been peeled away to form a yawning, circular hole underneath the steel framework.

What the hell is that?

The hole dropped down into blackness, ringed by what looked like giant spines or bristles. A low rush of air rumbled from its mouth, and the kid clucked happily, pawing at the air toward it as the shape inside his head shuddered.

I had stepped past the eye to get a better look when I felt a hitch and the view in front of me changed. I
’
d passed headlong through an unseen gate and stumbled into a dark, low-ceilinged room somewhere else. I heard scurrying overhead and looked up as a series of soft white lights flickered on to let me see. Tiny little servos,
biogel
blobs with wiry mechanical legs, streamed across ordered clusters of wire above me.

With a jolt, I spun around but saw only a honeycomb-scaled wall behind me. I turned around again and found myself facing a semicircular guard station on the other side of the room, where a uniformed male haan stood.

His wide-set eyes glowed brilliant orange, his skin glistening in the low light. Through the forehead of his handsome mannequin-like face, I could make out the
grublike
curls of his two brains, and the clusters of cilia that tethered them to other half-seen nodules in there with them. The little brain began to quiver, and when I glanced down at
Tānchi
I saw the smaller shape inside his head stir in response.

“
Excuse me,
”
I said, breaking the silence. One of the haan
’
s eyes turned to me, the pupils making a quick revolution. His suit draped from his broad shoulders, folded around him like leathery wings as he stared.

“
I need to
—
”

“
Wait,
”
the haan said, the voice box at his throat flickering as the smooth, synthesized voice issued from it. A scalefly buzzed out from the folds of his suit.

“
But
I
—
”

“
No further information is required of you at this time,
”
he said.

“
Stop cutting me off,
”
I said evenly.
“
Don
’
t you want to know why I
’
m here?
”

“
No.
”

I opened my mouth to say something else, but closed it again. Sometimes haan were like that. I adjusted
Tānchi
’
s weight in my arms and tried to keep from swaying as I waited.

“
I
’
m fine, by the way,
”
I said.
“
Thanks for asking.
”

He just stood there, unmoving, even when the air next to him began to crackle and the wall shimmered and warped. A moment later, a pinprick of light dilated out until it formed a hexagon that stretched from floor to ceiling, and through it, I could see a second haan.

This one was female, and it struck me as weird to see two haan females in one day. She was smaller and lither than the males, with slender limbs and a pair of translucent breasts that rested to either side of her pulsing heart. I wondered if they dispensed the same speckled goo found in the surrogate rations.

She made a low, fast clicking sound as she leaned closer to me. Her neck was long and thin, and her glassy face was delicate and pretty. Her eyes were the color of fire, surrounded by a cornea of hot blue. When she entered the room, I felt a surge of excitement from the male.

“
Um, hello?
”
I said. She stared at me,
then
gestured for me to approach, to step through the gate. I looked to the guard, then back to her. She gestured again, her thin fingers beckoning me.

I stepped through. When my foot came down on the other side, I found myself in another small chamber, this one round, with some kind of console to my right.

“
The guards signaled that you were coming,
”
she said, voice box flickering as her deep, sultry voice issued out of it.
“
I
’
m sorry to have made you wait, but I wanted to meet with you personally.
”

I stepped toward her, really unsteady now. The events of the night had begun to catch up with me.

“
Sam Shao,
”
she said without consulting any sort of computer or tablet.

“
That
’
s me.
”

The silence stretched out, and the warm glow of her eyes seemed to bob and drift in front of me as her brains fluttered behind her forehead like swimming krill.

“
I...
”
The room seemed to spin a little. The tank of adrenaline that had fueled me so far was running dry.
“
I need to return the child.
”

“
I know.
”

“
Something happened,
”
I said.
“
The place where I
’
m staying... some people broke in. They grabbed Dragan—
”

I stopped short as she moved closer, seeming to grow in size as her eyes turned more focused and intense. The dark pinpricks of her pupils were like sunspots in the flame of her eyes.

“
I will take the child.
”

“
He wasn
’
t hurt,
”
I said.

“
I know.
”

“
I kept his feeding schedule,
”
I told her.
“
He
’
ll be okay for another four hours or so.
”

“
I know.
”

“
It
’
s just... my guardian is missing and our apartment is wrecked. Someone stole the ration kit from me ... I don
’
t have any money or any place to stay. He
’
ll have to go to someone else.
”

“
I will take the child.
”

She reached out, opening her hands. I adjusted the blankets around
Tānchi
and carefully handed him to her. As I did, I felt a pang from him that made my breath catch. Fear and a sudden shocked hurt poured through as if to say, of all things, he would never have expected this.

You
’
re sending me away?
his
eyes seemed to say. He reached out for me with his little hands.
Why? What did I do?

“
Sorry, kiddo,
”
I said. I felt a lump in my throat I didn
’
t expect.

“
Do you want to say good-bye?
”
the female asked softly.

I nodded.
“
Yes ... thank you.
”

She waited, holding
Tānchi
out while I leaned in close.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
I whispered in his ear.
“
I really am, but you
’
ll be better off with someone else now.
”

I always got a little sad when I gave them up. The mite links made for a deep bond that happened fast, and moving on always hurt a little, but this time was worse. Our time had been cut short. On top of everything else, I realized I really didn
’
t want to lose him too.

Maybe I can take him back. Get more rations and keep him on. I can find a motel that will take us both, and...

I didn
’
t have much money, though, and anyway I had to find Dragan. I just couldn
’
t worry about a surrogate right now.

“
I
’
m really sorry,
”
I said in his ear. I gave his cheek one last stroke.