by Jared Ravens
“You want to be a miner?” She asked, confused.
“No, a bouncer. On the mine carts coming back.”
She nodded. “I can see that. You stuck out like a light.”
“Why?” He asked. “What do you see?”
“I see a very handsome dark skinned young man and you have something very curious in you.”
“Are you a handmaiden?”
She choked on a laugh and asked why he thought that.
“You have that, you know, mind seeing ability.”
“I see talent,” she said. “I see what I like. You’re a little thick and short to be a bouncer.”
“Well,” he replied, a bit offended, “that’s why they said I wouldn’t make it in the army.”
“They would still take you,” she said. “Who is ‘they’.”
“My father. And mother. They thought it would be too close to Genesee’s side, too.”
“They don’t understand the politics so don’t listen to them.”
Felix looked deep into her eyes, intoxicated. They changed to a greenish orange as he watched them.
“Who,” he asked, “are you?”
“I’m a daughter of you-know-who,” she said.
“You’re a Primary.”
“So, I know the politics. Believe me.”
“You can talk in people’s heads.”
“That’s right,” she said. “Certain people. It’s unusual for men to listen.”
Felix smiled. “You thought you saw me… As a… warrior?”
“I think you’re the other person in that room that would want to be fighting robbers off wagons. Why do you think I locked myself in a cage? I don’t want you to hurt me.”
She said this coyly, drawing back a little as she said it. Felix smiled.
“I don’t think I’m the dangerous one,” he said.
She smiled again.
“I have a history with men,” she replied. “They like me and I like them. Doesn’t usually turn out well.”
“Well, you’re very attractive,” he said nervously. The intonation allowed her see his youth peaking out even more behind his brown eyes. “I bet any man would be lucky to have you.”
“They are,” she said. “They all are.”
“Oh, I see. Jealous husband, I guess?”
“You could say that,” she said, standing up suddenly. She sighed, breaking the spell suddenly. Felix stood up as well, apologizing for saying something wrong.
“No,” she said. “You’ve said everything right. But I do need to get back to the party. I’m here to supervise.”
“Oh, for Celia? I can walk you back up.”
She laughed.
“Why do you think I’m in this cage, again?”
He shook his head.
“I really don’t know.”
“You’re dumber than you look, child,” she said with a hint of condescension. “Have you never met anyone like me?”
“No…” he said, nervous again.
“I can see that. It isn’t a mistake that I put bars between me and you. Now go, before I let myself out of here and hurt you.”
Robertson
It was dark before Felix stumbled out of the temple. He walked down the stairs littered with people laying about and mumbling, resting until they could return to the roar of music. He was nicely sedated but still functional, the level of grava in his body sufficiently under the lethal level and well above his tolerance. He was walking across the nearly empty courtyard when he heard a voice calling him from behind.
McKenna was bounding down the stairs barefoot. She had shed the rose tunic she had on during the ceremony and now wore a lightweight yellow dress that flowed behind her like it was made of tissue. Her hair, mussed and frizzed from the humidity, bounced with each step. It might have been the blessing of the low light but Felix could not have thought anyone could have emerged from the party looking any better.
“I saw you leaving,” she said, huffing, “without a goodbye.”
Felix tilted his head and smiled a little. He was functional enough to toe the line of what he actually thought.
“Must have been too busy in there to find you,” he replied.
“I know, it’s been a crazy day. Theo’s been introducing me to every damned person. I could use a walk.”
She motioned for Felix to continue and they walked down the slender side street towards his apartment. The night was cool on the sweat that stuck to their bodies, and the suddenly quiet of the outdoors soothed them. Believing he probably smelled Felix kept a polite distance between them.
“So Theo was happy?” Felix asked.
“Very,” McKenna said. “Very much so.”
Felix glanced at her. She was looking down at the street, her arms crossed against her chest.
“A lot of work on his part.”
“I can’t believe how long it’s taken. I’m glad it’s over.”
“And now… Its on to other things…”
She looked up from the street at him.
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Why not?” He grinned. “Not ready to for eternal union?”
“Oh, hush,” she said, pushing him gently. “You know it’s all a scam, right? The whole union thing… Uhhh.”
“Not for everyone. You didn’t used to think that.”
“I’ve seen the other side,” she replied. They passed by a person sleeping a doorway and she turned her head towards him, cautiously. “It’s not pretty. And I don’t think he likes the people I would want.”
“Yeah,” Felix said quietly. “Its tough trade for you.”
She stopped suddenly and he did too, turning to look at her. She turned her body but kept her eyes on the road ahead. The yellow lamp light was dimmer up ahead.
“I’m not gong to complain about it,” she said. “There’s worse things than having a family you have to fight.”
“I know you won’t do anything you don’t want to.”
“Yeah,” she said, turning her head towards him but looking down, not into his eyes.
“Thank you for getting me in tonight.”
“It wasn’t any trouble,” she shrugged.
“And my family.”
“You’re like family.”
“Theo doesn’t see it like that.”
She smiled and glanced up at him.
“Theo’s not anyone’s family.”
Felix stepped back, hands in his pockets and looked up to the top of the buildings.
“I would have just liked to be seen with you today.”
“I know,” she said, looking back at the ground shyly.
“I know Theo had you for the day.”
“He wouldn’t have liked to see you doing that. It would have seemed to him that you were monopolizing my time.”
“Oh, come on…”
“I know,” she sighed.
“I just want to… talk to him.”
“Felix, we can be friends but out of his sight.”
Felix sighed. “I can work for him. It has nothing to do with you. I’m not trying…”
“Well, thanks for that. I’m glad it has nothing to do with me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know, I know. I’ve known you long enough to know that. I’m just….” She threw her hands up and sighed. “Its been a very long day.” She looked at him, her shoulders limp, her eyes tired.
“I get that.”
“I don’t like having a father that sees everyone as a plaything for his business. But if I can help you, I will.”
They embraced tighter than he had expected. She pulled away and wiped her arms.
“Wetter then I expected,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” he laughed.
“I have to get back,” she said. “And show off. Be careful up there. It’s dark.”
He fell into bed as soon as he returned home. He closed his eyes and drifted off for a moment. His father’s voice echoed in his head.
Did you use it?
Yes, he would lie
We paid extra for that room.
Of course I use it
He lifted himself off the bed. His father would hear about it if he didn’t do it. He fell out of bed, literally, then put on a jacket to cover his soiled shirt. He dusted himself off as he pushed through the curtain into a pitch black room the size of a large closet. in the center was a thick purple candle on a dilapidated knee height table. Felix dropped onto the pillow in front of it and looked up at the red and purple rug that hung on the wall in back of the candle. A rather dignified profile of Robertson was on it, with a white beard and keen green eyes that looked out into a lawful future.
Felix knew the beard hid a weak chin, and that the eyes gazed knowingly at a populous that saw him as the bastard son of Genesee. The wise bastard son, but the bastard son none the less. The story was that Genesee had set out to have an affair in the most passionless way possible: he wanted to know what infidelity felt like. It is said he went out at night in disguise and attempted to woo the ladies with expert knowledge of management techniques. He failed miserably without knowing why but eventually found luck with rather plain looking math scholar.
She was rumored to be virginal. They had quick and satisfactory copulation on an armchair in a study Genesee rented, so the story went. Genesee saw the resulting pregnancy as a boon, for he could tell Celia about it and measure her reaction. Whether she even cared about it or not is not known, but the result was Roberston. Genesee had him installed on The Hill in a cottage at the edge of the property. Whether the story was entirely true or not was not known, though Robertson was officially listed as a child of Genesee with Celia's name conspicuously absent.
The candle was lit and the flame popped to life. It danced in the shadows, becoming larger and fatter and turning a dark shade of blue.
"I ome te Robertson. I ome te Robertson," Felix hummed. He half closed his eyes, concentrating on the words he was taught.
“I sume de ne Robertson."
The flame became larger and smoked, with billows of blackness filling the ceiling. The smoke stretched itself around into a square. Blue light danced in back of the black ash, pulsing and glowing. In the billows of smoke an image appeared, the outlines of a face. The blue mixed itself into the grays and blacks to form shadows and texture. The face became orange and the beard white, a distorted coloring of the face that became clearer and more realistic as the minutes pass. The eyes didn’t exactly look directly at Felix, a quirk of that kind of long distance communication, but he knew for sure Robertson was looking at him.
Oh great, Felix thought. It's him, not an assistant. Something is up.
"You've found time in your schedule for a meeting," Robertson said. It could have been sarcasm but Robertson had a limited amount of humor available to him.
"I always find time, don't I?" Felix responded.
"It is appropriate you contact me now. You were just being mentioned."
"How fortunate for me."
"Your father requires you to speak to me directly,” Robertson said. “So you can thank me for getting you to a union ceremony."
It was doubtful that Robertson had anything to do with them being invited to the Union. His mind was occupied by justice and law, not frivolous things like ceremony. He might have had an assistant send a request to Theo, but that would likely have ended up in the trash.
"It was very honorable to be able to attend,” Felix responded.
"It was a child of one Theo Manrift?" Robertson said, looking downward to read the name off some paper out fo frame. "I know of him."
"He's probably been in your courts."
"Too much so. He's one who pushes back against the law."
"Unfortunate," Felix said lifelessly. It truth, he was glad someone did. He didn't know where this was going.
"Your father was very interested in Theo and wanted to know more of him, on your behalf. It was not until he brought him up that I realized what extent your interest in him was."
"Only professional," Felix says in gritted teeth. He cursed his father silently.
"I dressed down your father but I will spare you so much talk," Robertson said, his monotone voice becoming animated suddenly. "You don't know as much, so let me say that he is not a figure you should admire nor imitate. His accomplishments come through the stretching of common rules. He pushes the boundaries of customs and tries to use connections to jump necessary law."
Felix didn’t know how this was different from how the managers operated. They simply did not like it when a human did it. Felix couldn't let this go.
"Theo got the Copper Tower built when no one said it could be," Felix retorted, referencing the tallest building by far in Sigma, a gleaming burnt gold building that could be seen shining even from the top of The Hill.
"Illegally. There should be no building over five stories in Sigma, which is still the law. He flattered my colleges and family to get it made. That it stands mocks everything I am here to defend."
"Then you should tear it down."
Robertson's face changed visibly, noticeable even in the haze of the smoke. Felix knew what was coming as a result of his comment, but he couldn't resist.
"You mock me? You think that I wouldn't? You think the laws are created to be jumped like so many obstacles on the way to a goal? They are there for a reason!"
After so many years under the mentorship of Robertson Felix knew just how to push his buttons. He had never wanted to be in justice but he was stuck as a clerk in a court by virtue of his birth. Robertson perhaps perceived this but he hadn't put any thought into it; people were stuck with him whether they liked it or not. Now, as Felix was searching for a way out, he suddenly felt insulted. Managers didn't like it when someone was looking to move on.
"You look up to this kind of behavior?" Robertson asks sternly as his gleamed in Felix's general direction.
"I admire him for some things. I think we can all learn from each other."
"Let me make this clear," Robertson said, his face tilted over towards Felix like a wave cresting over him. "You will not learn anything from this one. He is dangerously loose with the customs that bind us. His fortune is misbegotten and his behavior in courting my equals is disturbing."
To Felix this sounded like jealously. In other words, Theo knew how to work his way up the ladder, and now he was trying to get in with Robertson's father, Genesee.
“I told you last time,” Felix replied, “That I felt the need for something different. I mentioned a bailiff.”
“You said you have a need to hit something.”
“That’s not… I said I felt frustrated and I wanted to hit something.”
“That is not consistent with the skills required to be a bailiff. You’re not the size of one and you don’t have the discipline. You have to be able to wrestle suspects down without harming them. They are many times your size.”
“Then let me prove what I’m good at. I’ll be out of your hair.”
The face drew back.
“You’re here, in my good graces, because I allow it. I will say what desires are appropriate for for the greater good and what aren’t. This is how the world is balanced, with assignment and discipline and faith in our wisdom. If you want to hit something, take a fighting class.”
Felix looked down.
"I understand."
Robertson's face regressed. His eyes softened and he paused before changing the subject.
"You were late for court this week."
"Once by five minutes," Felix said, but he knew again what was coming. Robertson launched into another lecture, this time about the need for exactness in the law. The law is there for all people, and it does everything equally, and Felix should have the respect for time in light of this. Five minutes is five hours.
Felix saw what he had seen for over a decade: the insecurity, the facade, the grandeur that hid the weakness. Robertson was good at what he did but he refused to see past
what was in the rulebook. Introspection would have shown him the unfairness he had suffered: Unloved by Celia, essentially motherless, fathered by a man who had little understanding of emotion. Robertson was his father's son but with a hidden brittleness that Genesee couldn't even convince. He was given the perfect job by his father, but it also protected him from reflecting on his own problems.
That Felix could see this clearly meant that many others could too. It was one of the reasons he wanted a switch to anyone, hopefully Spaulding or even Curson: they could be reasoned with outside of their decided professions. They weren't trying to be machines. Robertson aspired to be one.
Felix listened to the lecture wordlessly, his mind drifting as he answered the follow up questions mindlessly. He walked back to his bed, exhausted and empty headed. As he closed his eyes, the words floated into his thoughts.
Hit something.
Interesting.
I meant it literally.
I know.
Delia
The smoke from the sugar root billowed up in green clouds in front of Theo. He blinked and it changed to pink. He grinned at the illusion. The smoke turned back to its natural yellow color and formed mountains in the air. He saw greenery at the base of it and projected his thoughts into the cloud until houses formed in the foreground.
Building, he thought, even in the clouds.
He puffed out another mouthful. The smoke was green again. He looked past the smoke. The walls of room were still red. The pipe felt like it was moving in his hand so he set it down on his desk. He was relaxed and distant. He felt the lining of his slippers with his toes and closed his eyes, his fingers gliding over the fine stitching of his robe. It caused sensations that rose up through his entire body. Behind his eyes he looked for Orlando to come and dance in front of him. It was said that she only came in your dreams but he knew he had seen her before while wide awake and smoking.
Yelling penetrated through layers of doors and walls of the penthouse. He knew what was coming before he heard the heavy steps of Maxwell stomping from door to door to door of the apartment, walking closer to him. Theo tried to buy himself more time in his peaceful state but he knew the feeling would be broken long before he was ready for it to end.