Chapter 10

Lise slowed her descent as the darkness thickened. Total blackness had enveloped her by the time she reached the bottom. She was in one of the old service tunnels that ran between the buildings in this part of Vyonna. Long abandoned power, communications and data mains ran through the tunnels. In the direction away from the Zone the tunnel had been bricked up, to prevent Zone inhabitants from using it as a hidden highway into other parts of the city.

She felt for one of the sticks left by others who traveled before her. Her hand touched one. She grabbed it and swept it before her as she worked her way through the tunnel under the pavement. Eventually dim light appeared ahead. She reached the terminus and set the stick in another pile for use by a traveler heading the other way.

Her eyes now accustomed to darkness, she walked through basements and connecting passageways until reaching another set of steps. These led to the surface safely inside the Zone.

She climbed to the street and walked briskly toward the courtyard and to the doorway leading down to her basement home.

“Mother! Father!” she called.

“Lise!” her mother replied. “Bar the door.”

She pulled shut the door leading to the courtyard and dropped a heavy steel bar into brackets bolted onto the building’s frame. Below her, at the foot of the steps, came the orange flicker of a greaselamp.

“We heard the sirens and you weren’t here,” Grott admonished her. “Your mother was worried.”

“I was well in the tunnel when curfew sounded,” she replied. “I wasn’t on the streets.”

“Still -- you were cutting it close.”

“I came home as soon as I could,” Lise replied. “Is Tagg working tonight?”

“Yes,” Rayla replied. “He left before sundown.”

Lise pulled aside the sheet that screened off her sleeping area from the rest of the basement. She emptied her pockets and placed the scrip card under her mattress. Then, she stripped off her sandals, shorts and bandeau and stretched out on the mattress.

Dawn twilight roused Lise. She arose and began her morning routine. She was getting better at rising early. Even so, Grott and Rayla had already left the house. Lise was happy, at least, that Megan’s workday started later than her parents’.

She bathed, dressed and headed for the courtyard, pulling shut the door behind her. She had no way of locking it from the outside, but that was no matter. There was nothing of value in her basement home worth stealing. Grott was right about one thing, she reflected. If you have nothing, then no one can take it from you.

She headed toward the gate leading outside the Zone. “Tagg!” she yelled upon seeing him approach. She ran to him. “Tagg! How was your day?”

“My day? Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Just like every day.”

“Horrible how?”

“I’m the junior guy so I get all the shit tasks. The others tease me and the foreman rides me. I hate the work. I’m an artist. I want to draw. I want to sell my art. Lise ... When are we going to see each other? How many days has it been? I might as well sleep in the barracks at the restaurant and save myself the trouble of coming home.”

“This after,” she said. “I’ll come straight home. We can have time together, then.” She regarded the exhaustion on his face. “Get some rest while I’m at work.”

“I need sun.”

“Nap in the courtyard. I’ll get my sun during the day, too. Get some rest and then ... When I come home...” She put her arms around his neck and thrust her hips against his.

“Your folks will be home. We can’t.”

“They understand. They won’t disturb us.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you this after.”

“Right.” He shuffled toward the courtyard.

Lise headed for the corner and stood with a growing crowd of other novonids. The streetcar pulled to a stop, the driver not bothering with opening the door. Lise could see a handful of white passengers inside the coach.

A pair of pubescent novonid boys approached the side of the bus, shouting and pelting the windows with loose chunks of pavement. The driver gunned the turbine and pulled away, leaving most of the assembled standing at the corner. Some of the men in the group shouted and began chasing the two boys, who laughed and ran back into the Zone.

Lise climbed the steps to Megan’s house and pressed the chime. The door opened and Megan welcomed her with what had become her usual greeting: a firm hug.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Lise said, “there was trouble with the bus over by the Zone.”

“You’re not late,” Megan replied, “but I have no time to spare. Klarissa and Geddes are finishing breakfast.” She grabbed her bag and rushed out the door.

Lise cleared the table of breakfast detritus. “Geddes ... Klarissa ... Use the toilet and put on your sun hats. We’re going to the park.”

“Awww,” Geddes whined, “we go to the park every day.”

“The fresh air is good for you.”

Lise walked, holding hands with the twins. Megan’s neighborhood was becoming as familiar to her as her own. She saw familiar faces and some of them acknowledged her with a nod or a smile.

Upon reaching the park the twins headed for the playground. Lise sat on a bench, took a swig from her bottle of water, then stretched out her legs and leaned back to absorb sunlight.

“Hello,” a voice called.

Lise rolled her eyes. “Thom...”

“I worried about you after dropping you off.”

“I told you I’d be fine and I was. I know my way around that part of town.”

“I’m sure you do. May I sit?”

Lise gestured that he may. “Thom ... don’t you have anything better to do than stalk me?”

He rolled his eyes in thought. “No ... As a matter of fact, I don’t.”

“I thought you had a company to run.”

“It runs itself ... Lise -- I hope after you’re off work today you could...”

“Not today, Thom. I promised Tagg I’d spend some time with him.”

“Your lucky boyfriend ... Maybe we could do some talking now, while you watch your charges.”

“Fine, Thom. What do you want to know?”

“Everything. I want to know how this world looks through those beautiful orange eyes of yours.”

Lise uncapped her water bottle and took another swig. “I don’t know how to begin.”

“Have you thought any more about what we discussed yesterday?”

“Do you mean Margliss and Benn?”

“Precisely.”

“Yes, I have.”

“And...”

“And I believe she is a fortunate woman.”

“No, Lise. Have you thought more about physical relationships between our kinds?”

“I haven’t dwelt on it.” She sipped more from her bottle and capped it. “I suppose if I were in Margliss’s position and a white man demonstrated his care for me, then I could love him.”

“Could you make love with him?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Thom. I think I could ... if I loved him.”

“Then, there’s hope for someone like me.”

“Thom ... Please.”

“I’m serious, Lise. I have ... feelings for you. To my eyes, you are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. I’ve never met your equal.”

Lise could feel warmth in her cheeks. “Thom...”

“Yes -- the combination of your face and your body ... your long, shapely legs ... the muscle definition in your arms ... perfection.”

“Thom, please stop this.”

“And, your personality and your intellect. You are undoubtedly as bright as any white I’ve known and brighter than most. I must know, Lise. How do you find me, physically?”

“You’re all right physically.”

“Do you find me at all attractive? Does some ... chemistry get ignited?”

“Thom -- we don’t have that sort of friendship.”

“Nonsense. Whenever a man and a woman interact, there’s a sexual element. There can’t help but be. To deny it is to deny biology. I know I feel it with you. You ooze sex appeal. I need to know if you feel any ... intrinsic biology from me.”

“Thom -- if you don’t stop this right now, I’ll have to ask you to leave. Or, I’ll gather the twins and leave myself.”

“Oh, Lise ... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I do care for you. I’ll bet I care for you as much as this Tagg fellow does.”

“I believe you do. It’s different with Tagg.”

“Because he’s ... a novonid?”

“No.” She looked him straight in his face. “It’s different because I know Tagg cares for me, for me. I don’t believe you do. I believe you care for me, for you; not for me.”

He held both hands to his sternum. “Lise! You’ve wounded me! How could you think that?”

“It’s simple. I’ve told you repeatedly that I’m uncomfortable discussing ... this topic with you. If you cared for me, for me ... you’d understand that -- and stop talking about it.” She stood. “Klarissa! Geddes!” she called.

“Wait, wait ... I’m sorry, Lise. I truly am. I hope I haven’t ruined the rapport we’ve built.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Is there any way we can get together tonight? I want to discuss with you what it’s like to be you. I promise ... physicality is off limits.”

“I can’t tonight, Thom. I promised Tagg.”

“You’re sure it’s impossible.”

She sighed. “Tagg goes to work around sundown...”

“That’ll work. Suppose I wait for you where I dropped you off last night -- outside the Zone.”

“Thom -- if I agree to this will you promise to stop pestering me?”

“Absolutely.”

“Fine -- I’ll meet you at the corner.” The twins raced each other to where Lise stood and each wrapped their arms around her legs. “Klarissa, Geddes -- you nearly knocked me over!”

“I was here first,” Geddes yelled.

“No, I was,” Klarissa replied. “Lise, which one was here first?”

“You know -- I really couldn’t tell. Come on, gang...” She held their hands and led them toward the street.

“Sundown!” Thom called after them.

Lise sat cross-legged on the floor playing a board game with the twins: one in which players’ pieces chased each other around the twists and turns of a track. The latch on the front door rattled and the twins leapt up and ran toward it. Megan stepped into the house and hugged each twin.

“I’ll pick this up,” Lise said and scooped game pieces off the floor.

“Leave it lie, Lise,” Megan replied. “Maybe they’ll play more, later.”

“Megan -- may I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Lise.”

“Do you ever have a problem with men making unwelcome advances?”

Her eyes widened. “Hmm ... I can’t recall the last time it was unwelcome ... I’m flattered by your question, Lise. Truth is, it’s been a while since any man has looked twice at me. You, on the other hand -- I imagine you have to chase them away with a stick. You’re a knockout, Lise ... a very pretty girl.”

Lise bit her lip. “Thank you. Megan -- what would you think if a novonid man started following you around ... telling you how alluring you are ... suggesting the two of you start a physical relationship?”

“I don’t know ... I’d complain to his owner.”

“What if you believed he truly did care for you, but didn’t quite know how to express it? What if you liked him as a friend otherwise, but wished he’d stop the sexual advances?”

“That complicates it. Is this your problem, Lise? A white man has been harassing you?”

“Harassing is too strong. Bothering me would be more accurate.”

“Have you told him to get lost?”

“He doesn’t like hearing no as an answer.”

“I wouldn’t be afraid to slap his face ... or, kick him in the balls. Most white men understand that message.”

Lise giggled. “Most novonid men, also...”

“Lise -- we’re so much more alike than we differ. You and I have more in common being women than I have with any white man I know.”

“Megan ... How would you feel if, when they’re old enough, Geddes fell in love with a green woman or Klarissa with a green man?”

Megan stared at her. “How would you feel?”

“They’re your children.”

“I don’t want to think about them dating at all,” Megan replied, “not for a number of years yet.” She looked at the ceiling and sighed. “That wasn’t an answer, was it? I understand your question. It is the test, isn’t it? The test whether or not I’m sincere. I’ve learned a lot from you, Lise. I claim ... I like to believe I consider you and your kind equal partners on this world. How would I feel if one of my children fell in love with one of yours? I don’t know, Lise. That’s an honest answer.”