F. Wilson: Dydeetown World

Right. A good lesson.

The Man From Mars already had a ruthless reputation, and when word about this got out, no one would ever try to short him again.

"So he winds up with the Zem and his money."

"Not money…thinks Yoko…has it."

Which meant that as far as The Man From Mars was concerned, the deal was done. Yokomata's lieutenant had tried to short him — Barkham had probably slipped ten dummy vials into the case — but that had all been taken care of. The Man From Mars had all the Zem he had paid for, and was no doubt well on his way to Mars at this very moment.

But Yokomata didn't have the payment. She'd never received it. And she wanted it before word got out about her Number One Man doubling her. She'd lose lots of face if she got left with no Zem, no payment, and no Barkham.

"Where is the payment?"

"Don't you…know, God?"

"Of course. But it's good for you to confess these sins. Cleanses the soul."

"In L–I…Port locker…had it…routed there."

"And the key?"

A grunt — an attempt at a laugh?

"Hidden where…only you can…find it!"

"Where's that?"

"Not of…your making."

Then he began to gurgle and roll his eyes. The more I asked, the more he rolled and gurgled. Was tempted to flick a finger against one of his exposed nerves to get his attention but didn't want to touch him.

Changed the subject.

"What about the Dydeetown girl?"

The eyes widened. "Truly you…are God!"

"We've already established that. Where did she fit in?"

His upper lip curled into a sneer. "Meatbag clone…too stu…pid to know."

"Yeah. You used her to make the drop for you here while you were trying to sell the ten stolen vials to Lutus. Told her you were going to marry her. She loves you."

He made a noise like, " Glah! …stupid clone…going to…leave her stan…ding at the gate."

Said nothing.

"God can…I die…now?"

Turned and started walking back toward the cave mouth.

"Don't think so. You've still got some time coming to you."

His voice rose to a shrill squeak, see-sawing up and down with the in-and-out of the machine's respirations.

" Youuuuproooomiiiised! "

Stopped. Had promised, hadn't I. As he wailed and keened, I turned and walked back toward his set-up, careful to make sure every footstep landed as hard as it could. Was reaching for the power switch when I heard Harlow-c's voice cry out behind me.

" No — don't! "

So I didn't.

Watched the look of horror on her face as she stumbled forward. She had her fist crammed halfway into her mouth and her whole body was shuddering like a vaporbrain in withdrawal. Was afraid she was going to fall apart completely. But she held up until she reached the heart-lung machine, then crumpled to her knees in front of it. Her voice was a low moan.

"Kyle-Kyle-Kyle! What've they done to you? What've they done! "

But Barkham had finally gone over the mental edge. Maybe it was the sound of her voice that finally pushed him over. He said nothing, just rolled his eyes and made squeaky noises.

Heard her begin to retch and pulled her away.

"There's nothing you can do for him now."

"I can stop the machine!"

"Was just about to do that when you barged in. Stand over there while I-"

"No! I'll do it. It's the least I can do for him."

That was a laugh. "You don't owe him anything."

She turned on me like some sort of wild thing.

"I do! He's the only Realpeople who ever really cared for me and treated me decent. I owe him everything! "

Said nothing. Just stood there and bit my tongue as she went over and reverently pushed in the power switch. She was irrational on the subject and probably too dumb to see the truth even if I drew her a picture. So I dropped it. Watched her turn away as Barkham's face turned a dusky color and went through its final spasms.

"It's over," I said after a while.

She stuck her chin out and strode ahead of me, leading the way back to the flitter, seemingly oblivious to the cold and the wide open spaces.

After a long silence during which I told the console "Home" and we took to the air, she spoke without looking at me:

"Did you see what they did to him?"

Of course I'd seen. That wasn't what she wanted to know.

"Yeah. Too bad. Really tore me up."

She turned to me. "Don't you ever feel anything ?"

"None of your business, but I'll tell you this: I don't feel anything for guys like Barkham."

"Because he was going to marry a clone?"

"He wasn't. And even if he was, that has nothing to do with it."

"How about for me, then? You know me. We've been together all afternoon and you know how I felt about him. How about feeling something for me?"

"As a rule, I tend not to feel too much for clones, either."

"How about for your wife, then? Ever feel much for her? Or your daughter? You ever feel anything for anyone ?"

Did feel something then: anger. Wanted to hit her. She had no right even knowing about Maggs and Lynnie, let alone talking about them. But I bottled it up. Good at bottling. Dangerous to show what's going on inside. People get to know your weak spots, your vulnerabilities, they can get to you.

"That's me," I said lightly. "Feel-nothing Sig."

"Maybe that's why she left you behind when she went Out Where All The Good Folks Go. Maybe she wanted someone who's alive rather than a walking corpse."

"Maybe."

Knew the clone was trying to get a rise out of me. Just leaned back and looked straight ahead at the darkening landscape.

"Well, I'll tell you this, Feel-nothing Sig: I'm sneaking home and scraping up everything of value I can find and I'm getting a ticket on the first shuttle out tomorrow morning."

"Why sneak?"

"Ned Spinner. Remember?"

"Oh, right. Your classy owner."

"We clones have a saying: You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your owner. With luck, I'll be far into subspace before he misses me tomorrow night."

"You can't buy a ticket. Clones don't have credit."

Her smile was humorless. "How long do you think it'll take me to barter someone into buying me one?"

"No Realpeople will buy a shuttle ticket for a clone. It'd be like leaving your name and address at the scene of a felony."

"I have my- hey! You've still got my greencard." She stuck out her hand. "Give it back right now!"

"Don't have it with me."

" What? " If she hadn't been belted into her seat, I believe she would have leaped on me.

"Don't worry — it's safe. I told you" — thinking fast as I could now-"I left it with someone to see if it could lead us to Barkham. Didn't think we'd find him up here."

That seemed to mollify her a bit, but not much.

"I want that card back, Mr. Dreyer, and I want it soon."

"Don't worry. I'll get it back to you before the first shuttle tomorrow morning."

But I was going to put it to good use before then.

"You'd better. Because I don't intend to be anybody's property after tomorrow. I'll drop the — c from my name and be a free citizen of the outworlds. And nobody had better try to stop me."

She looked at me defiantly, as if daring me to protest.

"Fine with me," I told her. "Means one less clone on Earth."

She leaned back in her chair. "Maybe I'll run into your wife out there. Should I say hello for you?"

Didn't reply. Just stared straight ahead and whistled through my clenched teeth.

Dropped her off in Dydeetown.

Don't know why they call it a town. It's just an old, old building on a short strip along the East River. Not a very imaginative building — big rectangular slab with lots of windows. Striking at night with all the red lights in the windows. Could have dressed it with a holo envelope, but people liked it the way it was. A landmark.