Chapter 6

Lise arrived at number 505 and rang the bell. Megan answered and gestured her inside. “Klarissa told me what happened yesterday...”

“It’s all right,” Lise interrupted. “I dealt with it.”

“She told me what ... word ... Geddes used. I was mortified. He did not hear it from me, Lise -- believe me.”

“I believe you. I hear that word all the time and I’m sure so do Klarissa and Geddes.”

“I am very sorry, Lise. Geddes has been punished.”

“I had forgotten it. I hope Klarissa told you the rest of the story ... how she gave one of her toys to Rinn.”

“Yes, I rewarded her for that. I think you handle Geddes well. He requires a firm hand ... firmer than mine, I’m afraid. How did you learn to deal with children?”

“I’ve been doing this for years. Before I was registered I couldn’t risk wandering away from home ... in daylight, at least. The neighborhood moms would leave their kids with me. Some days I minded half a dozen.”

“Lise’s day care,” Megan mused.

“I’ve had to deal with novonid boys who were very much like Geddes. Children are children. They behave exactly like ... children.”

“Any word on Rinn and his mom?”

“She was offered to be taken into a BSS shelter. She turned it down, because she would be separated from her man. She’s pregnant -- about half-way along.”

“Then, what’s next?”

“It could take some time to sort things out.”

“Does she have a job?”

“A female’s job is making babies,” Lise replied. “Rinn is Glinda’s...” She rolled her eyes in thought. “Her sixth I think.”

“Don’t tell me the others have been taken from her.”

“As soon as they’re old enough for training and conditioning...”

“Oh, my goodness...”

“ ... usually around age eleven or twelve.” Megan’s eyes were brimming.

“I had no idea. I know what it felt like to have my children taken from me -- but I knew I’d get them back. I had no idea ... Of course I didn’t. I had no desire to know, and our society has no desire to tell anyone ... What happens then?”

“They go to the pomma farms ... or, into the work force ... or, back into the Zone. Glinda had a little girl who died shortly after birth. Then, she spent a while as a wet nurse to a white family -- that’s also females’ work.”

Megan nodded. “I remember when the twins were born. I needed help nursing them. The hospital sent a novonid woman. She’d pick them both up, sit and feed them, one at each breast, and never say a word. After some days I was able to feed them both by myself. I never saw her again. I’ve wondered about her, though ... How long was Glinda a wet nurse?”

“Until the child was weaned; then, she came back to the Zone and had Rinn. I like Glinda. I hope her new owner is kind to her. I’ll go have a word with Geddes.”

She walked into the twins’ room. Geddes sat on his bed. “Hi,” she said.

He turned from her. “You promised you wouldn’t tell!”

“I didn’t tell.”

“You told Klarissa to tell. She did your stupid gr ... stupid dirty work for you.”

“As far as I was concerned, the matter was closed when you apologized to Rinn. What happens between you, Klarissa and your mom after I go home is no affair of mine.”

“It’s all your fault. You brought Rinn. It wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t bring Rinn.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if a lot of things had gone differently. The fact is, it did happen. You’re going to face these situations, Geddes, as you grow up. How you deal with them is your choice. Think about this ... In general, people will treat you the way you treat them. That goes for green people as well as white people. Maybe you’re too young to fully understand. Keep it in mind as you go through life. Come on, Geddes. Let’s have some breakfast.”

She coaxed him to his feet. He started toward the kitchen. Lise took his hand and he snatched it away.

Megan faced him. “So, did you apologize?”

“He certainly did,” Lise replied.

“Good. Geddes, your breakfast is on the table.” Megan nodded toward the door and stood in the house’s small foyer. Lise approached her. “Lise, I have something for you.” Megan handed her a red 25-unit scrip card. “This is yours to keep.”

“I can’t accept this.”

“You certainly can. Without you, Lise, I wouldn’t have my twins back. Having them is more important to me than anything. Take it. It’s a small, small token of my appreciation.”

Lise threw her arms around Megan. In that instant the magnitude of the breach of etiquette she was committing dawned on her. Before she could withdraw, she felt Megan’s arms surrounding her in a strong embrace, and her hands squeezing her shoulder blades.

She stood back. “Thank you,” she said and slipped the card into the pocket of her shorts.

“I’ll see you this after.”

Lise headed for the kitchen. “Klarissa ... Geddes ... let’s get ready to go out.”

“I’m ready,” Klarissa said. She pulled on her sun bonnet.

“Come, Geddes.”

Lise locked the door and slipped the passcard into her pocket. She grasped the twins’ hands and headed down the sidewalk, with Geddes dragging his feet. “Do you want me to carry you?”

“No!”

“Then walk with us.”

They reached the corner. A constable’s squad car was parked. One deputy sat behind the controls while the other stood outside, leaning against the vehicle, using his communicator. Lise walked by them and made eye contact.

Geddes began to pull away. “Geddes!”

“NO!” he shouted “Help! Help!”

The deputy approached. “What’s going on here?”

“Officer,” Lise replied, “I’ve been hired to mind these children. He’s a bit cranky.”

The officer knelt and looked into Geddes’s face. “Is that true? Is she your nanny?”

“NO!” Geddes shouted.

The officer whistled to his partner, who jumped out of the car. “Mind the kids. Miss -- step over here.” He looked at Lise’s registration number and punched it into his communicator. “Your number comes back invalid. I’ll have to take you in.”

“No! I’m registered! This is a valid number.”

He punched the number in again. “Not according to this.” He drew his baton. “Up against the car -- put your hands out.” The officer began patting her down. She felt his fingers probing her breasts, then his hands against her hips and buttocks. He reached into her pocket, withdrew the key card and the scrip and slipped them into a polymer envelope. “Now -- your left hand...” Something snapped around her wrist. The officer pulled her right hand behind her and secured it to her left. “Into the car...”

He pushed her into the seat. “This is a mistake,” she protested. She looked around and realized there were no door handles -- even if she could free her hands, there was no escape.

Geddes and Klarissa were now holding onto each other and crying. The deputy sat in the front of the car. “What about the children?” she cried. “What’ll happen to the children?”

“A car will take them to Family Services.”

Lise watched out the window. The second deputy attempted to calm the twins. They cried and pointed toward the car.

Another squad pulled up. An officer stepped out and helped push Geddes and Klarissa into the back. Its turbine whined up and it pulled into traffic.

The front door opened. The deputy sat behind the controls, started the turbine and pushed the control stick to move into traffic.

The car stopped outside a fortress-like building in the center of Vyonna. The deputy opened the door and hauled Lise out. He drew his baton and used it to prod her down a hallway. He opened a door.

“What do we have?” another officer asked.

“Unregistered -- counterfeit registry number.”

“That’s the second in two days.”

“Yeah -- but I spotted this one. I get to keep the bounty.”

The intake officer snapped a collar around Lise’s neck with a tag marked with the number 8. He opened another door and pushed her into a holding cell.

Inside was a bench, seated upon which were an assortment of rough-looking individuals. A white man with tag number 1 sat on the end of the bench. Lise sat at the other end, her hands still cuffed behind her back. The restraints were beginning to dig into her skin.

She bowed her head, closed her eyes and fought back tears.

The cell door opened and a middle-aged prostitute wearing tag number 9 was pushed into the cell. “Busy day for the inspector,” Lise heard the intake officer remark.

Lise sat and waited. The cell door opened. An officer entered and escorted Number 1 out.

The door opened. The intake officer entered and escorted Number 7 out. Lise looked down the row. They were up to number 21. She shook her head -- they were arresting people faster than they could process them.

The door opened again and the officer grabbed her upper arm. “This way, green girl.”

He led her into an interview room. A plain-clothes detective sat at a desk. On another chair sat the deputy who had arrested her. “What have we here?”

“Unregistered. I thought her registry tattoo looked awfully fresh.”

The inspector stood and approached Lise. He examined her tattoo. “Yeah ... They’re getting better and better...” He looked into Lise’s face with a smirk. “How much scrip do you have to pay for one of these? Fifty? A hundred?”

He licked his thumb, rubbed it against her serial number and examined it. He licked it again and rubbed harder. Then, he turned to his media terminal and punched in her number. He manipulated the device. “RAA005010 ... comes up registered to Ramina! Have you lost your mind, man? Bringing in one of Ramina’s?”

The deputy whipped out his communicator. “It comes up invalid on mine ... look...” He punched in the number. “Look!” He turned the device toward his commander.

“It’s a new number. You’ve gotta check the addenda, too. What are you? Some rookie?”

“She looked too old to have a new number. That’s why I didn’t ... Who IS this Ramina?”

“She’s one of the top breeders -- and she’s tied in with the commissioners and prefects. She looks like a sweet old lady, but she’s a demon. I’ve seen her flay a man at twenty-five metres with a single lash of her tongue. You have to double-check these, man! If Ramina complains to the Chief -- you’ll be busted down to beat officer.”

“I’m already a beat officer.”

“Then you’ll be busted off the force.”

“But that number’s too new for someone her age,” the deputy protested. “It still could be counterfeit. One her age should have a number in the high QZs”

“Only one way to know -- take her to the lab.”

The deputy led her to a lift and called for the basement level. Lise felt the drop as the lift descended. The doors opened and he prodded her down the corridor. She entered a room with shelves lined with cabinets holding bottles and equipment.

A white-coated woman entered. “What have we here?”

“Quick DNA screen,” the deputy replied. “Confirm the registration number.”

The woman approached Lise. “It’s all right, dear. I won’t harm you.” She turned to the deputy. “You’ll need to take the shackle off.”

The deputy unhitched a device from his utility belt. “Here’s the key...” He handed it to the attendant and drew his weapon. “No funny stuff, green girl.”

The attendant unlocked Lise’s restraints. She brought her arms to her lap and rubbed her wrists.

“Now, dear,” the attendant said, “I’ll need to take a little of your blood.” She produced a syringe.

Lise gasped and recoiled.

The attendant showed it to her. “See, dear -- it’s empty -- nothing in it to hurt you. Just relax and it’ll be done in a moment. Let me see your arm. Are you left or right handed?”

Lise stared at the needle. It grew to fill her entire field of vision.

“Look how frightened she is,” the attendant said. “You can see her heart pounding.”

“Probably ‘cuz she knows the outcome of the test,” the deputy replied.

“No. They’re all like this -- terrified of needles. They know what they’re often used for. Most of them are left-handed...” The attendant tied an elastic band around Lise’s upper right arm. “Make a fist, dear. It’ll be easier if you cooperate.”

Lise complied. The attendant was probing the inside of her elbow with her finger. Lise clamped her eyes shut and forced out a tear.

“You’ll feel a poke...” Lise chewed her lip. She felt the needle biting into her skin and let out a whimper. “Almost, dear ... All right -- you’re done.” Lise looked down. The attendant was pressing against her vein. “Put your finger here and press down.”

Lise looked at the syringe. It was now filled with a dark brown fluid. The deputy continued to point his gun at her, his finger outstretched and lying against the trigger guard.

The attendant returned and handed the deputy a viewer. He regarded the results of the analysis. “Species: Novo Homonid ... No shit...” He scanned down. “Registered RAA005 ... Ramina...”

“Did you get what you were looking for?” the attendant asked.

“Not quite...” He checked the safety of his gun and slipped it into its holster. “Come on, green girl. Back up to the inspector.”

“Well?” the inspector asked.

The deputy handed him the report. “One of Ramina’s. She was registered early this year.”

“Would it matter,” Lise asked, “if I was registered yesterday or five years ago?”

“Watch your lip, greenie,” the deputy sneered. “If I had found you a year ago -- you know where you’d be now.”

“But you didn’t,” Lise replied finding courage for some defiance. “And, now I’m legal.”

“She’s right,” the inspector replied. “She’s legal. We have to release her. I’m going to have to write this up ... don’t know how ... Must be a new wrinkle for Ramina -- cruising the Zone for unregistereds.”

The deputy faced Lise. “Okay, Zero-One-Zero. Get outta here.”

“What about the twins?” Lise asked.

“Twins?”

“The children you took from me.”

The deputy smacked his forehead. “The kids! What did you say their names were?”

“Klarissa and Geddes.”

“Come here...” She followed him into an office. The deputy made one call and another. He stood and conferred with a sergeant. “We’re trying to locate them.”

“Trying to?”

“They’re all right -- they’re with Family Services ... somewhere...”

His mediascreen warbled and he answered the call. “Yes ... Young novonid girl -- registry RAA005010.” He looked up. “They found ‘em. A car is bringing them around. You can wait at the corner of First and Hope.”

“Thank you, officer,” Lise replied. “What about my belongings?”

“Right...” The deputy rifled through a drawer, removed the envelope and tapped out the scrip and key cards. “Here.” Lise tucked them into her pocket. “I’ll show you the way out.”

“I can follow the exit signs,” Lise replied, turned and left.

Lise stood at the corner. She didn’t know what time it was, but by the look of the sun it was late. Megan was certainly home by now and likely frantic. She looked at the street, filled with two, three and four-wheeled vehicles.

A squad car pulled up and a woman stepped out. She approached Lise and compared her registry number to one on a handheld screen. “Are you looking for two children?”

“Yes, I am.”

She opened the door and Klarissa and Geddes tumbled out. They ran to Lise and hugged her legs.

Lise picked up Geddes and looked into his face. The boy broke into tears. “You’re angry with me,” he sobbed.

“I am angry,” Lise replied, “with the constables. Geddes -- do you see what can happen when you lie? You wouldn’t want to go back to the foster home, would you?”

“NO!” he blubbered.