F. Wilson - Dydeetown World

"Chilly down here," I said.

Ahead of me, I could see B.B. shrug. "Allus same. No matter what upside, allus same in downbelow."

After a long, seemingly endless tunnel, I noticed a faint glow from up ahead. It grew as we moved toward it, becoming almost blinding as we rounded a bend.

A station, an old subway stop. What wall tiles that remained sparkled in the light. In one spot, some blue and orange tiles formed a sign: W. 4th . In a far corner, green things were growing. The platform was lined with a motley assortment of little shacks made of epoxied scrap vinyl and polymer. They looked like they'd been slapped together, but the overall picture was one of neatness and order. Saw a few urchin toddlers sitting and playing in a group while some nine-or ten-year olds swept the platform floor between the shacks. Cleaning up. Almost like they were expecting company.

"The Lost Boys," I said.

"Ri'!"

As we got closer, I squinted up at the bright ceiling over the platform and saw that it was lined with Ito daybars. Nudged B.B. and pointed to them.

"Where'd you get those?"

"Stealee long time go. Two-three urch life."

"Yeah, but you need power — "

"Stealee tha, too." He pocketed his handlight. "Come. You meetee my frens."

B.B. led the way up a short run of steps to the platform. A couple of the kids waved as they caught sight of him, then froze when they saw me. One of them let out a yell and suddenly a torrent of urchins of all shapes and sizes came spilling out of their shanties. Only in a few cases could I tell the boys from the girls. They were all thin, all dressed in castoff clothing, all had hair of about the same length.

And all the older ones were armed and looked ready to fight.

B.B. hurried forward, waving his hands. "No, no!" He pointed back at me. "Siggy! Siggy!"

Saw their eyes widen as they all stared at me. Suddenly the platform was silent. They began to move toward me, slowly, as if unsure of themselves.

Wasn't too sure of myself either at the moment. An awful lot of them — fifty at least — and I was pretty much at their mercy. Couldn't even run if it came to that. Didn't know how to backtrack from here. So I held my ground and let them come.

Their faces…their expressions were all the same. Could that be awe ? Of me?

They crowded around, cut me off from B.B., encircled me, but kept a distance of about a meter. Until one of the toddlers broke through the others and came up to me. He or she looked up at me for a moment, then grabbed my leg in a bear hug, saying…

"Thiggy."

That broke the ice. The rest of them crowded closer, some patting me on the back, some gently punching me on my shoulders, others hugging me, and all of them speaking softly, almost reverently…

"Siggy, Siggy, Siggy."

What was going on?

Looked around for B.B. but couldn't find him in the press.

Then the crowd parted to let someone through. An adult. A woman. Slim, with straight, light brown hair flowing over her shoulders. Nice figure.

When she smiled, I knew her. The platinum hair was gone, and so was all the make-up. But by the Core I knew her.

" Jean! "

"Hello, Mr. Dreyer," she said, calm and as matter-of-fact as if we had just had lunch together yesterday.

She put a hand on my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek.

All around us, the urches giggled and whispered.

"They like you," she said.

With the toddler urches clinging to my arms and legs, I could only gape at her.

"B.B. has spoken so much of you, about how you almost died catching the ones who were snatching our toddlers. You're a hero here, Mr. Dreyer. All the urchingangs have heard of you."

Finally found my voice.

"It's been two years, Jean. Thought you were Out Where All The Good Folks Go."

"I was. I went to Neeka and settled there for a while. I thought it would be all right. I thought I could fit in. But it didn't work out."

"You didn't tell them you were a clone, did you?"

"No. That wasn't the problem. I had plenty of men interested in me."

"I'll bet."

No shortage of food on the Outworlds, but they were always short on women.

"But I quickly found out that I would never be considered a suitable mate for anyone there."

"Why not?"

She shrugged forlornly. "I'm sterile."

"Oh. Right."

Had forgot about that. All clones, male and female, are routinely sterilized at birth — at deincubation, rather. Injected with something that keeps the gonads from producing gametes without interferring with their hormone output.

As far as Outworlders are concerned, a woman who can't breed is not a real woman.

"So, I came back home," she said with forced brightness. "

She put one hand on the shoulder of a nearby urch and tousled the hair of another. "And found some people who really need me."

"Yeah, but you were free to come and go as you pleased out there. Earthside you're — "

"A mother — something I can't be anywhere else."

The realization hit me then. I'm a little slow, but eventually I get there.

"You're Wendy!"

She curtsied. "At your service."

"Hear you're a real mother to them."

"I try."

"Wendy bes mom ev!" It was B.B. He had squeezed in beside her and was grinning up at both of us. "An Sig bes fren. Protectee."

Circuits were beginning to come to life, correlations were forming in my pitiful brain.

"You hired that actor to hire me to…to…"

She nodded, smiling. "Of course! Me and my Joey Jose holosuit."

It all fit. Someone had been snatching her children and returning them damaged. She had wanted it stopped and so she came to me — or rather, sent someone to me.

"Why me?"

"Because you don't quit."

Shrugged that off. Probably just trying to get on my good side.

"Why didn't you come yourself?"

"I wasn't sure you'd take the job from me. I know how you feel about clones. Besides, Spinner was always hovering about. I couldn't risk him spotting me."

"Doubt he'd recognize you."

"This is the real me," she said, twirling a strand of brown hair around her finger.

"You look nice," I said before realizing it.

"Why, thank you, Sig." She was staring at me, her eyes soft and wondering. "You've changed, haven't you?"

Shook my head. "Not a bit. Why should I?"

"I don't know. And I can't say exactly what it is, but you're different."

"My hair — combing it different."

Which was true. Now that I just had a little scar where my button used to be, I could keep my hair shorter and not have to worry about that little metal nubin showing.

"No, I mean different inside . And by the way, I've been wanting to ask you for two standard years now — "

That was a giveaway that she'd spent some time on the Outworlds — only Outworlders talked about "standard" years.

"— about that greencard you returned to me at the shuttleport."

Felt myself tighten up inside. Didn't want her figuring out that I'd done something stupid like changing the worthless phony card Barkham had given her to a genuine counterfeit Realpeople card. She'd probably get all sorts of wrong ideas then.

"What about it?"

"It felt…different.""

"It worked, didn't it? So don't complain." Then I thought of something: "Wait a bit. How'd you get back Earthside without Spinner finding out?"

"Simple," she said with a mischievous smile. "I declared citizenship on Neeka, changed my legal name, and came back on a visitor's pass."

"But that only gives you a limited stay."

"As far as Central Data is concerned, Jean Double came to Earth as a visitor and disappeared."

"'Jean Double,' huh? You've gotten pretty glossy since you left."

"I'm not as naive as I was two standards ago, if that's what you mean."