The Cage of Zeus (12 page)

Three members of his team jumped on Harding and held him down.

Pressing a hand against his nose, Miles staggered to his feet. The blood dripped from between his fingers.

Shiohara pushed Arino away and rushed to Miles’s side.

Miles refused the handkerchief Shiohara offered him with a wave of a hand and spat out the blood in his mouth. Looking down as he pinched the bridge of his nose, he said in a muffled voice, “It’s nothing. It’s just a bloody nose.”

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face.

“You should go to the infirmary,” said Shiohara.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Actually, as long as I’m going there I’d rather let Harding take me.” Miles called out to Harding, who was still being restrained by his men. “Why don’t you show me what kind of leader you are? All right with you?”

Harding stopped and after taking a deep breath to calm himself, he answered, “All right. Let’s go.”

Shiohara began to protest that he couldn’t be trusted, but Miles jabbed her in the side with an elbow. “I know Harding better than anybody. Don’t worry.”

Shiohara nodded reluctantly.

Although Harding was scowling as usual, he appeared to have regained his calm.

Miles fell in line next to Harding, covering his nose with one hand and patting Harding’s back with the other. He turned to the others and grinned. “Looks like I made a mess,” he said referring to the blood spattered on the floor. “Do me a favor and get that cleaned up, will you?”

After the two men had left the mess, Shiohara muttered, “I can’t help thinking Miles would make a better leader. I wonder why they don’t make him the commander of the team.”

Arino let out a sigh. “Do you have any idea the trouble you’ve caused? You’re cleaning up this mess. Go find yourself a mop.”

5

OUTSIDE THE MESS
, Harding mumbled an apology to Miles.

“Look, don’t beat yourself up,” Miles reassured him. “Just be thankful you hit me and not the girl. Shiohara is sure to have registered a formal complaint if you had.”

“She hit too close to the mark. I couldn’t let it go.”

After rubbing under his nose to make sure the bleeding had stopped, Miles took out a packet of wet wipes from his pocket. As he wiped the stickiness off his hands, he asked, “You sleeping all right?”

“Yeah.”

“You still taking the pills the doctor gave you?”

“No, they don’t do me any good anyway.”

“You may see some side effects if you quit taking them too soon,” Miles said.

“It’s remembering that scares me,” mumbled Harding. “There are memories all over this station. Where we met. Where we talked. Even now, every time I turn the corner, I think I might see her. Like back then.”

“What you did may not have been admirable. But I would have probably done the same if I were in your shoes. Everyone on the team knows that, which is why no one blames you for what you did.”

“They may be quiet about it, but they must think I’m a disgrace. That they’re better off with you in charge. Listen to me, Miles. You should relieve me and take over command.”

“Once you’re back on Mars, everything will work itself out,” Miles said. “You’ll forget everything. About the special district, the Rounds, and about her.”

“No—every time I see Jupiter, I’ll remember. It was a mistake I’ll regret for the rest of my life.”

Miles stopped and rested both hands on Harding’s shoulders. He drew closer and whispered in his ear, “No one blames you for what happened. And no one thinks you should be punished. Shirosaki’s team is in the dark about all of this, so they may talk a lot of shit, but it’s all speculation. That goes for what Shiohara said. Call it women’s intuition—doesn’t mean she knows the truth.”

Harding looked up, his expression haggard. “I’m tired. I just want to go back to Mars.”

“Then let’s get this job over with and go home, man, and leave all of this behind.”

“Hasukawa authorized the use of extreme force to put down the terrorist threat. Then let’s do it,” Harding said, nodding, as much to convince himself as anyone else. “Then we can get the hell off this station.”

6

WHEN THE BULK
of the day’s work on the house was done, Calendula informed Tigris, “I’m going to check in on Veritas. Keep an eye on the kids.”

“What for?”

“To talk to em about Arino and to see if ey might be interested in seeing him.”

“Don’t go stirring up trouble. You saw how angry Fortia was,” Tigris said.

“I don’t have any intention of bringing him here. We’re just going to talk. No harm in that.”

Calendula went outside and walked down the path winding through the Round-made garden.

The environmental lighting inside the district was shifting to evening mode. Veritas’s child would be asleep by now—a perfect time for two parents to have a conversation.

When Calendula arrived at Veritas’s home, ey had just put down eir baby for the night and was taking a break.

“I’m sorry to barge in.”

“Good timing, actually,” said Veritas, gesturing toward the sofa.

Calendula sat down and waited in the living room, while Veritas disappeared into the kitchen. Ey returned with two packs of herbal tea.

“How are you feeling?” asked Calendula.

“I’m better.” Veritas sank down on the sofa, eir long legs dangling over the edge. “The doctor has been advising me, so I’m in better spirits.”

“Do you remember the last time you went to see the doctor?”

“Two or three days ago. What about it?”

“You ran into a Monaural on your way back.”

“Yes, he stopped me in the corridor and tried to touch me and my baby. I was terrified. I thought I was in danger again.”

“He wanted to apologize for talking to you without knowing anything,” Calendula explained. “He’s a recent arrival and wasn’t familiar with the rules of the station. He asked for your forgiveness.”

Veritas’s eyes grew wider. “You met him?”

“Yes.”

“He’s not here, is he?”

“Don’t worry, he’s gone. We spoke for a while. He seemed like a good man.”

“How could you, Calendula?” The anger in Veritas’s voice rose. “Have you forgotten how irrational they can be?”

“That’s exactly what Fortia said, which is all the more reason why I want to have a normal conversation with the Monaurals. And besides, if we sever contact with them over this, aren’t you going to be the saddest out of all of us?”

Veritas slammed eir tea pack down on the table. “You have no idea what I’m feeling! Why should we try to develop a friendship with the Monaurals? We’ll only be courting more danger.”

“Do you have any desire to meet with Arino at all? Maybe talking to him will help you see that there are some good people among them. He really seemed like a kindhearted man.”

“No.”

“Are you afraid?” Calendula asked.

“As difficult as this may be to understand, I’m terrified to put myself in that situation again. Monaural men are intensely drawn to Rounds of my type. The way they look at you with that strange glint in their eyes, like beasts. The way they mentally undress you. You know as well as I do what that’s like.”

“Yes, I’m aware we share the same characteristics.”

“I don’t have any desire to subject myself to that nastiness just to talk to him. If you want to see him, be my guest. But leave me out of it,” Veritas said.

“But telling them how they make us feel is important too. If they hear what we have to say, the Monaurals will have to rethink their behavior.”

“Go right on ahead, but don’t involve me.”

“All right, Veritas. I won’t force you. I’m sorry I even brought it up.”

Calendula got up from the sofa.

Veritas remained sitting as ey looked up at Calendula. “Why are you so interested in the Monaurals? They come and go every year. Once they leave, you’ll never see them again.”

“That’s just it—because we can only get to know them while they’re here. I’m curious to know the Monaurals in the same way I’m curious to unlock the secrets of deep space.”

7

AFTER LEAVING SHIOHARA
in the mess, Arino headed for the infirmary to look in on Miles.

But neither Miles nor Harding was anywhere to be found.

“They just left,” said Tei, who was on call. “He had a bloody nose. He seemed fine, so I sent him back to his quarters.”

“Were they fighting?”

“What? Hardly. Harding seemed terribly down about something, and Miles was trying to console him despite being the one that was hurt.” Tei looked Arino in the eye. “Were you the one who hit him?”

“Well, no.”

“By the way, I have a message from Calendula.”

“For me?” Arino asked.

“As a matter of fact, I was just planning to pay you a visit. Calendula wanted me to ask you to come and see em in the relaxation room tomorrow at 20:00.”

“Where do I find the relaxation room?”

“Inside the central axis. There’s an elevator that will take you directly there from the residential district. But first, you’ll need to check out a directional control device for when you go into the zero-G area. You’ll find it difficult to get around without it.”

Arino checked a map of the station on one of the terminals. Just as Tei had said, the relaxation room was inside the station’s central axis and zero-G area.

The high-velocity elevator transported him there in a matter of seconds. He stepped off the elevator to find himself in a zero-gravity environment. He bounced down the hall encircling the central axis and upon finding the entrance, slid open the door and peered in.

A colorful pattern of tiles like stained glass came into view.

The room was dark, but the soft light filtering in from the colored tiles filled the area with a sobering solemnity.

Arino felt as though he’d entered a cathedral.

The world on the other side of the door had a wall but no floor. The diameter of the area inside the central axis measured ten meters. The wall was covered with multicolored tiles, and a thin pole traversed up and down the center of the room.

Although the tiles did not represent any particular design, their abstract arrangement seemed to conjure a variety of images.

Arino kicked away from the edge of the door and leapt toward the center of the room.

The door automatically closed behind him, shutting out the light from the hall.

It was quiet.

Apparently, neither music nor heated discussions were allowed inside the relaxation room.

Grabbing hold of the pole, Arino circled around it several times and stopped, the friction killing the kinetic energy. At this speed, he was able to stop without using the propulsion device strapped to his waist.

As he clung to the pole, he looked up and down the cylindrical room.

The height of the cylinder might have been about thirty meters. The ceiling and floor were painted black and decorated with tiny lights to simulate stars. Or perhaps the view from outside the station was being projected onto screens.

Several people floated above and below him. The center of the room was curiously empty. The people stuck close to the walls, perhaps feeling more at ease there.

One appeared to be napping in a fetal position. Another was meditating. Another seemed to be listening to music on a sound system only he could hear.

Arino searched high and low for Calendula.

Calendula entered from a door above him. Spotting Arino right away, ey floated toward him and nimbly came to a stop around the pole with one twirl.

“I tried, but I couldn’t convince Veritas to come,” Calendula said. “Ey’s too afraid of you.”

“Gee, was I that rude?”

“You looked em up and down.”

“What?”

“That’s what Monaurals do. You leer at us from top to bottom as if undressing us with your eyes.”

“I don’t recall being as bad as that. If I was staring, it wasn’t out of malice. I was trying to be friendly.”

“It’s your insensitivity that offends us.”

When Arino started to object, Calendula raised a hand. “You musn’t make a scene here.”

Calendula kicked away from the pole and moved to where it was more private. Arino followed, then stepped on one of the shock absorbers embedded in the tiled wall and came to a stop.

Calendula said, “We were born and raised within the confines of this station, so we’re extremely sensitive to the eyes of others. In our society, staring at someone is considered very disrespectful. I know you have a habit of observing someone from afar on Earth and Mars where it’s more spacious. But you can’t do that here.”

“No offense intended.”

“Swear to me you’ll never do it again.”

“I swear. I won’t,” Arino said.

“And please tell the others. You’re all going to be here for at least another year.”

“I promise.”

“Veritas is terrified of Monaurals. Because you don’t understand our customs.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Only partners can gaze at each other like that in our society,” Calendula said. “So when someone other than a partner stares at us, we’re very uncomfortable. Do you understand?”

Arino nodded.

“Veritas was once in love with a Monaural man,” Calendula said.

Arino blinked.
In love? A Round with a Monaural?
An image flashed across his mind that nearly made him yelp.
Could that Monaural be…?

“But things ended badly with that Monaural. And because of what happened to Veritas, the Rounds have become wary of all Monaurals.”

“Did the bastard do something to hurt em?”

“I can’t say for certain. Veritas doesn’t say much about the incident, and details of the inquiry were never made public.”

Arino lowered his gaze. Given the incident, no wonder the Rounds were afraid of them.

“Why aren’t you afraid of me, Calendula? The way Veritas is?”

“I suppose I’m more curious than afraid. We’re all different, you know.”

“Curious about what?”

“Why Monaurals are only capable of seeing us as one sex,” Calendula said. “You have intersex people in your society. Then why do you think of having two sexes as abnormal? From our perspective, the Monaurals are a very inconvenient and peculiar people. You’re restricted by one sex and possess the reproductive organs of only one sex. How does that affect the way your mind operates? How do sexual distinctions change your way of thinking? How does your society manage to maintain equilibrium despite all the disparities that arise between the sexes? How can a society with sexual differences manage to nurture the same unshakable solidarity as ours, which has no such differences? These are the things I’m curious about. Like solving the mysteries of the universe. Tell me, Sub-commander Arino. How do I look in your eyes? Do you see me as a man? Or a woman?”