But I'm not a cripple who has to be taken care of! The thought surprised her. They weren't treating her a whole lot differently than she'd been treated all her adult life. And she'd always accepted it without question before. And it always got me in trouble!
Meanwhile, the marshals arrived to sift the contents of the court buildings for assassins, found they couldn't gain admittance even to the courtyard, swore lustily in several languages, and finally settled for the cordon that Azevedo had predicted, sealing them all into their dwellings until the cavalcade had passed.
This didn't sit well with the other gypsy tribes. Within hours, several harassing incidents had been directed at the marshals stationed at the mouth of the court: a bucket of dirty water—or worse– slopped onto them; the dogs got loose and bowled over two of them before gypsy children rounded them up, accidentally downing more of the marshals in slippery dog leavings; and then windows opened all around the court and gypsy music filled the air, several different pieces played at the same time, as near as Laneff could tell.
In the first three hours, the entire troop of eight marshals was changed three times, but they were sure their cordon held. Meanwhile, gypsy commerce continued over the rooftops and through the Ancient sewer accesses. The marshals, native to the Embankment, veterans of dealing with gypsies, knew their efforts were futile as well as unnecessary. But orders were orders.
By the time the cavalcade approached in early afternoon, the gypsy adolescents were in the spirit of things. The courtyard, ordered cleared by the marshals, teemed with disorderly youth, dancing to the music, creating confusion.
Yuan, Azevedo, and Shanlun were watching from an upper window with Laneff. Shanlun's field was rock-bottom, lower she thought than after a transfer with Digen. And Azevedo seemed in a fine mood. He commented, "They're trying to make the place as unappealing to Mairis as possible, hoping he'll just skip the stop."
Shanlun said, "If we could get him away from Security we could bring him in any number of other ways."J
"That might be possible tomorrow, if he's still in town."
"He won't be," said Shanlun morosely. Then, straightening, he said, "I'm going down there and crash that line. The worst they can do to me is fine me for deserting my post, escaping arrest, maybe disturbing the peace!"
Laneff had prepared for this moment. She wanted to see Mairis– to have her pregnancy checked out. She wanted to tell Mairis all her discoveries, but not without proof. Not while she stood junct.
Azevedo had had his transfer, and a splendid one if she was any judge. There's no reason now not to do it.
From the capacious pockets of her beige smock, she produced the two small vials of liquid she'd prepared, one of the purest moondrop, Azevedo's own synthesis; the other her own K/B, purified and dissolved. As Shanlun turned from the window, she uncorked the K/B and downed it in one gulp just before Azevedo struck the vial from her hand with one tentacle.
"Laneff!" he cried, horrified. "Not here! Not like this!"
The two Gens added to his cry. She tossed the remaining vial, neatly labeled, to Azevedo. "Let Mairis be turned away now. We can find him later, and see him officially!"
Azevedo frowned at Shanlun, saying cryptically, "There's no blackroom prepared!"
"The lab's windowless," said Shanlun. Then, "The kittens! Yuan, don't ask questions, just run and get those cats out of the lab. Make sure you leave the lights off!"
Laneff began to feel a little woozy and looked about for the hallucinations to begin, to confirm her theory. But there were none, and she was beginning to be scared.
Yuan's nager itched with puzzlement as he sidled past Laneff. She tried to scratch his itch with a tentacle. The poor Gen was in such a hurry, he hadn't time to scratch his own nager. If this stuff doesn't work, I'll never get another chance to scratch him.
Azevedo caught at her hand, his tentacles made of clear blue sparks. They hurt where they touched.
She flinched away, impatient for the confirming hallucinations. It had surely been nearly two hours since she'd swallowed the stuff. The sun was shining directly into the window; the brightness was unbearable, and it was increasing rapidly. The sun is falling!
There was panic in Yuan's nager now as he fled past her. He knows, too. The sun is falling!
Suddenly, it was unimportant to wait for the hallucinations to begin or for the chemical to make her sick. People had to be warned. With a mighty tug that nearly unrooted one of the tentacles Azevedo was holding, she broke away and pounded after Yuan, augmenting with all her strength.
Giddy, she flew down the stairs, crashed through the gawkers piled around the front door, and tore through the whirling dancers in the courtyard, shouting.
They took her for part of their game of deviling the marshals and collected around her as she ran at the cordon. Behind her, Azevedo, far outdistancing Shanlun, was gaining. Then she was in the alley. The cordon of marshals had their backs to her, the tumultuous noise of the gypsies masking Laneff’s approach.
She breasted the cordon, the slightness of her body fitting cleanly between the shoulders of two burly Gens. The two Simes on either side of the Gens reacted fast enough to get a tentacle hold on Laneff, but Azevedo hit the line at that moment, and three of them went sprawling, dragging Azevedo down with them. .» The swarm of children fell on the marshals, laughing gleefully, but she didn't pause to watch. She plowed into the standing crowd, shouting in every language she knew, "Hurry, hurry. The sun is falling! Tell everyone. The sun is falling!"
It was already so bright that she couldn't see. She was certain her optic nerve had been destroyed. But zlinning, she made her way along the street, leaving astonishment ringing behind her. She thought surely the weight of that rising astonishment would buoy the sun up long enough for everyone to find safety, as she would. • Running, shoving, she cut across the line of bedecked cars creeping along with their waving dignitaries. She spooked an honor guard's camel mount and made it out a side street. Here she had the sidewalk to herself.
Running under high augmentation, she barely felt need against the euphoria of hunting mode. People began to pour into the street behind her, spreading her message by their shouts, and the shouts themselves rose like doves carrying blue ribbons of peace to the warring heavens. And it seemed the sun was slowing in its fall!
She was glad she'd seen it in time; perhaps humanity had a chance after all. She ran. She didn't know the city, but something about the place seemed familiar.
With the Simes on her heels, gaining on her again, she beat a jagged path toward that familiarity, wondering when the hallucinations were going to begin. But that hardly mattered if the world came to an end before she had a chance to disjunct. She came out of the narrow streets fronted by a thick-walled stone building into a huge, flat, round area, grassy fields and a few scattered trees, benches, strolling couples. In the center of the area was a dark stone monument, a huge replica of the starred cross. The sun was falling right onto it. Yelling her message, she leaped over the plastic chain fences and ran up to the monument.
Sandblasters had been working to clean the monument, their scaffold on the ground, cables pooling about it, and the men themselves were gone. An open padlock lay beside the equipment, security forgotten as the men went to lunch.
The monument itself stood on the two splayed points of the five-pointed star, the fifth point shooting straight upward. The equal-armed cross, carved out of the same solid piece of pink granite as the star, was suspended in the air just high enough for people to walk erect under its bottom flange.