The Diamond Deep Page 21

  Onor licked his lips. Ix. “How much will it be changed?”

  “It should work better. It’s not a very smart one, very old. I taught it what I could. You really must save for a new one; but this will be better than nothing.” Naveen pulled a drawer that Onor hadn’t even noticed out of the wall, and handed Onor a small round object that looked like an oversized ball-bearing from the water plants back on the ship. Silvery, but not shiny. Big enough to have weight, and for his palm to cup around.

  “That’s Ix?”

  “That’s a copy of Ix for you. You should be able to upload it to your community computer system.”

  “Our what?”

  “Your life support computer. You must have one.”

  Onor shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Naveen sighed. “I’ll come over and look. Soon.”

  Onor felt both grateful and confused. How much should he trust Naveen? “Thank you.”

  “Come on,” Naveen said. “Let’s eat. Time is wasting.”

  “How long did I sleep? I don’t even remember getting here.”

  “Perhaps turnabout is fair play. I’m glad you enjoyed our alcoholic treats.”

  “As soon as we rebuild the bar stock, I’ll invite you back.”

  Naveen laughed.

  By the time they left, Onor was full of bread that melted in his mouth and smelled of herbs and flowers, strange pastes that Naveen had spread onto the breads, and three new fruits. One of the fruits had been green and smelled like sugar. He was still wearing the sparkling pants and the soft brown shirt, and felt entirely unlike himself. The ball of Ix seemed heavy because it mattered so much, even though it was actually so light and small he could barely feel it as he walked.

  “Where are we going?” Onor asked.

  “To scare you.”

  “Why?”

  “This station is layered in dangers, and I’m going to show you one of them.”

  Onor tried to make light. “Only one?”

  “Yesterday, I showed you some of our beauty. That was so you wouldn’t despair after today.”

  How . . . theatrical. Onor didn’t know quite what to say, so he followed quietly. From time to time he stopped to take a picture, or to ask a question.

  They used a different train than the one they had been on the day before. It took them nearly an hour to get wherever it was that Naveen was taking them.

  After they disembarked, Naveen said, “This is the worst place where normal people like you and me could end up without committing a serious crime. And more important—and you must remember this—it’s not something is usually talked about. You must not tell Koren we went here. She will know you and I left together, and she will know when you return, and you now have pictures of the aviary and gardens to show for your trip. That is all you’ll have, and if she asks, that is where you went.”

  “She won’t be able to tell some other way?”

  “The Deep’s central systems will know—they know everything—but they’re secure. Unless you commit a crime, no one can look into your every move.”

  Onor felt for Ix in his pocket, cupped his hand around it. “Our AI treated us about the same on the Fire.”

  “I’m not surprised. The core of our privacy laws were created long before you left. Just remember, the station won’t divulge your moves, but people and robots can follow you illegally if they are willing to take the risk.” He grinned. “I’m seldom followed.”

  “Because?”

  “Because I caught some of my followers.”

  “And?”

  “I know how to embarrass people.”

  Onor licked dry lips and wished he had some water. “Is this a jail?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Naveen led Onor to a window in a wall. “This is the Brawl.”

  The smoky window glass distorted Onor’s view, giving the scene on the other side an unreal quality, like watching the map table on the Fire. It showed a vast, flat place full of people. The crowding was far worse than where Onor and the rest of the refugees from the Fire were now. Rows and rows of cots filled the floor and served as chairs, beds, and storage. Robotic posts moved among the people. “What are the robots?” Onor asked.

  “Enforcers. If you watch long enough, you’ll see one of them hurt someone. Or maybe you’ll see a crazy attack one and get killed on purpose. We’re too far above it to really see the details, but these people live on almost nothing and a few die each day. They have air and food and water sufficient to live, but little else. Slates, I think. For entertainment.”

  Onor tried to notice details. They were so far above the crowd that facial expressions were impossible to see, and of course, they could not hear any sounds through the glass. But body language spoke volumes. Protective. Confrontational. Worried. Exhausted.

  “There are no children.”

  “Children have not failed yet. You have to be at least a teenager to be sent here, but practically, it doesn’t happen.”

  “Because there are almost no children here at all.”

  “Sure there are.”

  Not like they had on the Fire. They watched for at least fifteen minutes while nothing dramatic happened below them. People moved in and out of groups, and good and bad confrontations happened. Hugs and words were exchanged, and enforcers served food from a corner.

  “Why robots? Why do robots watch them?”

  “Because it would turn humans cruel to do that job.”

  Like the reds back on the Fire. A fight broke out below them. When it first caught his eye it was four people in a knot of arms and legs, a silent and strange dance to watch. Others surrounded the fighters, keeping some distance.

  Onor had seen this, even on the Fire, the way people will circle a fight and then clap. Except there it had been children, maybe teenagers. These were adults.

  “Watch for an enforcer,” Naveen whispered, pointing. “There.”

  Onor squinted, looking for the enforcer through the thick window.

  “And there.”

  “I see it.”

  Soon, people were stepping back from three of the cylindrical robots, tripping in haste. Something happened that Onor couldn’t see and the combatants fell into a pile of unmoving flesh. A woman fell as well, but she rolled and then crawled away, struggling to reach the crowd which stepped ever further from both her and the enforcers.

  One of the enforcers came close to her, and she turned on her back and was still, eyes fastened on the robot. She threw her arms out at her side, a gesture of surrender.

  The crowd stopped at what must be safe distance—maybe four times Onor’s height—watching.

  A conversation occurred between the woman and the silver post. Even though he couldn’t see her features clearly, he rooted for her, chewed his lip, held his breath. She must feel like he had when the spiders were chasing him, like a small piece of meat in the sights of a more powerful being. He let out a sigh of relief when she stood and backed into the watching crowd, disappearing in the mass of people. “The fighters.” His hands were clenched on the sill, and he released them. “Were they stunned?”

  Naveen’s voice had none of his usual mischievous edge. “That depends on what they have done before. The enforcers are not allowed to kill in most circumstances. But life down there often does not last long.”

  Onor’s eyes flicked over the bodies below them. He could see . . . Thousands. It had to be thousands. “How many people live on the Deep?”

  “Millions.” Naveen closed his eyes for a second, seemed to flit away. “Forty-seven million, three-hundred and twenty-one thousand, and change. It’s never more exact than that with ships going in and out all of the time.”

  Onor stared down below. “There’s more of these than this, then.”

  “Yes.”

  “And I needed to see this so I’d know how bad it can be here?”

  “Your circumstances were designed to force you into the Brawl. You should know what fate awaits you if you don’t a
ccept my offer of help, or find another way to earn a lot of credit.”

  For the first time since Marcelle had told him she carried his child, Onor felt afraid for the baby. He pulled his hands away from the windowsill to hide the fact that they were shaking.

  Koren had stopped talking and looked forward, still and regal. Not a single white hair was out of place. Wherever they were going, they had been on the train long enough for Ruby to feel a need to stand, to walk, maybe to run. She resisted. Beside her, Joel was stiff and angry, and everyone in their group had grown quiet. Probably thinking, like Ruby, about the way things were here. They had all been born expecting to work, knowing their place. But even in the old striated society of colored uniforms where the reds like Ben used stunners and power to control the grays like Ruby, they always knew the general shape of their lives, and they knew that if they survived they would be fed and cared for. Four out of five people on the Fire died of old age, which did not seem to exist here. Now she felt unmoored, lost in a sea of new rules and new ideas and new demands. Her mind catalogued a flood of questions and spun across new worries.

  When the power structures of the Fire changed, some people had died, most had adapted, some had thrived. They would have to adapt again. And some, like Lya and her whispering women, had chosen to be left behind.

  In a way, Lya had refused to change as much as Sylva. Ruby would never have done what Joel did to Sylva; but she would have killed her in a fair fight. She put a hand on Joel’s thigh, briefly, as unseen as possible, a reminder that she loved him. A reminder that he was warm and alive and vital.

  The train slowed so smoothly Ruby barely realized they were stopping. Koren stepped off the train and waited for the others to disembark, watching them with her golden eyes, showing very little emotion. She looked like she was discharging an onerous duty, already bored, already about to move on. “Welcome to Exchange Five. This is where you can bargain for work.

  “You will stay close to your guide. He will show you people from starships looking for crew, people from mining concerns looking for people to work for them, employers who need cargo moved or counted. Your slates have been sent directions about how to get here and how to get home.”

  A young man—no, Ruby corrected herself, a man of indeterminate age who looked as young as Koren—came up to them and Koren turned a dazzling smile on him. “This is Lake. He is a guide who helps newcomers to the Diamond Deep navigate the Exchange. We have paid him to spend a few hours with you, and to then make sure that you arrive home safely. I wish you luck on our world.”

  Wow. A dismissal. A complete dismissal. Koren might as well as have said, “I have everything I need from you and you weren’t, actually, that interesting. I’m going to go do more important things that fit my station.” Well, good riddance. Ruby hadn’t liked the woman from the moment she set eyes on her.

  Bright colors clung to Lake’s body, yellows and oranges with streaks of red. His hair was impossibly orange, a color she had never seen anywhere, and it hung down his back in a long ponytail.

  Ruby felt drab next to him, and swore she would bring Jali next time she came here.

  They gave Lake their names. He hesitated when SueAnne introduced herself, as if her appearance bothered him. Maybe the wrinkles and age spots and graying hair, or the shape of the old woman’s body: blocky and waistless with thin shoulders.

  Lake’s voice was silky and easy to listen to, full of confidence. “I understand you are new to the Diamond Deep. Welcome to the station and to Exchange Five. The most common goods and services all flow through the exchange, as do most requests for work. This area closest to the station is where the paymasters—the people who will be able to hire you—come every morning. It is a chaos in the early morning. An hour ago there were hundreds of people here. The best jobs go quickly.”

  “What kind of jobs?” SueAnne asked.

  “Anything. Sorting and cataloguing incoming goods for buyers, loading and unloading cargo, working booths at food exchanges, repairs of all kinds, sometimes caring for people.” He glanced at SueAnne. “Most of the work exchanged here is physical, usually a few days’ worth of credits for a day of work.”

  Ruby frowned. The grays would do all right, or at least the young ones. “Why use people instead of robots for carrying?”

  Lake smiled at her. “We use both. Robots are more expensive, and make bigger mistakes. The Economist structures a certain amount of work for humans. So it depends on the job.”

  Exchange Five throbbed with light and sang with a cacophony of sound. All of this mixed in a single wide-open space, a big box of a room with high metal walls and a metal ceiling, and an assault of words written on signs and in light almost everywhere. People in booths called to people outside of them. Here and there, humanoid robots played either role: seller or buyer.

  Other booths sold food and drinks.

  Color bloomed everywhere, although on closer examination the clothes weren’t as rich as Koren’s or even Naveen’s. Most of the robots were less smooth or unblemished than the assistants Koren had brought with her.

  KJ broke his long silence. “How many people look for work each day, and how many find it?”

  Lake looked down for a moment, as if uncomfortable. “There is work for a little less than half.”

  Ruby wondered if a little less than half meant a quarter. “And the other half?”

  “If they are lucky, they get work on a different day.”

  “Not all work comes through here,” Joel observed. “Where would a trainer or a fighter or a singer go for work?”

  “Professional work happens on the boards. You can access those via your slates. But those jobs need certificates and approvals.”

  SueAnne frowned. “So how do we get those?”

  “With credit.”

  Ruby asked, “Does credit rule everyone’s lives?”

  Lake laughed. “You must have it. But whether or not it rules your life is up to you.”

  “So what can we acquire here?”

  “Almost anything. Things to wear, delicacies from other lands or gardens to grace your table, medicine to help you feel better, skills to give you access to new jobs, a moment of live entertainment or a copy of a song to play over and over. You can buy a program to create new things, a larger place to live, pretty shoes for your pretty little feet.”

  He gave her a little bow. “You are a beautiful redheaded woman. What could you possibly need that the Diamond Deep cannot provide? Ask, and I will try to show you.”

  A short silence fell on the group from the Fire and they looked from one to another before Ruby looked back at Lake. “Food and sustenance for thousands.”

  He blinked at her, as if counting. A beat of silence passed before he said, “Easy enough to order. I’ll show you.”

  Joel added, “Physical training.”

  Lake nodded. “Of course.” He looked around. “Is there one more thing?”

  They all looked around, and SueAnne whispered to Joel.

  Lake smiled. “We should begin to tour. But you have still not told me what third thing you want to acquire today.” He looked right at Ruby.

  “Bits of the colored materials you used in your clothes.”

  “All right, then. We’ve talked enough. Allow me to show you the wonders of Exchange Five.” They followed Lake into the swirling movement of commerce. Dayn and KJ walked side by side at the end and watched all of them. Joel let SueAnne lean on his arm so that she could keep up.

  When they finally passed through the doorway to home, Ruby could barely walk and her stomach felt slightly nauseous from the assault of the new. Colors she had never seen before, scents she hadn’t known existed, people with hair and skin and eyes of all colors. She’d seen a man with metal legs.

  Beside her, SueAnne sat in a wheeled chair that moved by itself. Her gray hair lay flat against her face, and her lips were drawn thin with pain. Before they’d made it even half-way through Exchange Five, she had begun to falter so much
that Joel’s arm wasn’t enough. Dayn had taken her other side, but in spite of the extra support, they had slowed so that people stepped around them. Lake had ordered up a robot chair for her and showed her how to give it basic instructions. Then he had helped them buy one. Their first purchase aboard the Diamond Deep.

  The whispering women waited for them at the door. Lya stood in front of her, blocking the way. “Tell us what you saw.”

  It was all Ruby could do not to snap at her. “Tomorrow. We’re tired. We’ll share everything we learned tomorrow. In the meantime, can you find it in your hearts to help SueAnne get back to her place?”

  Lya stopped moving as if Ruby’s tone of voice had been a command to become a piece of art.

  “Please?” Ruby said. “The chair probably can’t do stairs. I really don’t know.”

  Lya blinked.

  One of the three women with Lya nodded and tugged on Lya’s sleeve until Lya nodded as well. The five of them left, the four women and SueAnne heading silently away.

  “I think you should keep them busy all the time,” Joel observed.

  Ruby shook her head softly, bemused. “At this point, I’ll try anything except violence.”

  A shadowed figure sat by the door. For a moment she thought it might be Onor, but when he stood up she noticed the slighter form. “Haric, what are you doing here? Do you have a message for us?”

  He shook his head. “I just wanted to know if you were all right.”

  The earnest look on her face touched her. She gave him a long, soft hug. “We’re fine, and thank you.” She smoothed back his hair. “How are you?”

  “I’m scared,” he said. “And I’m bored.”

  She’d thought she was too tired to laugh but she wasn’t. “And we’re very tired. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Could you pass on a message for me? Could you ask Jali to meet me in the morning? Tell her I’ve got work for her.”

  He looked pleased and left quickly, as if he had wanted something to do more than anything in the world.