by Toker, Dor
“It looks black,” Adam said sarcastically, “and big.”
“Yes,” Don repeated his words, “black and big.” He turned around and was about to leave Adam when the youth turned to him and said defiantly:
“Why should you care what I do? And besides,” he added, assuming an air of indifference, “why would anyone try to hurt me?” Don stopped in his tracks and turned to face the youth in what appeared to Adam as a dance-like movement.
“For the same reason you’re on this shuttle and on your way to Europa. For the same reason you’re using the name of a musician who’s been dead for the past three hundred years or more and for the same reason I’m here.”
Adam retreated slowly, finally bumping against the opaque window. “Are you here to capture me?” Don laughed in a hoarse voice that sounded to Adam like that of a predator.
“Chappa said you’d be suspicious,” said Don, “Good, you need to be. It’ll help you in life, keep you out of trouble.”
“Chappa?” asked Adam as if he wasn’t familiar with that name, “who’s Chappa?”
Don didn’t answer. He stood in front of the youth, expressionless. Adam straightened his eyes at him. He tried to process and decipher everything Don had just told him. “They know you’re here,” Don said after a while, “and they won’t hesitate to try and harm you.”
“How do I know you’re not one of them?” Adam was unwilling to commit yet.
Don laughed again, “You don’t. But that’s good. Watch yourself from me and from anyone else you come in contact with.”
Adam directly thought of Jewel. ‘Was she trying to harm him as well?’ He immediately chased the bothersome thought from his mind.
“You really think they’ll damage the space shuttle just to get one person?” Adam asked skeptically. “Nobody’s worth that much.”
“You’re worth much more than that to them,” said Don harshly, “they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the entire shuttle if it pays off for them.”
Adam was shocked. For the first time since he’d begun to run away from the corporation agents, he stopped to think about the enormous amount of money invested in the chase and about the various means used against him. “Do they know I’m here?”
“I suppose so,” answered Don, “they have agents here, on this shuttle. They have agents on every human shuttle.”
“Is Jewel related to them?” Adam finally dared to express his concern. Don did not answer right away. His face became grim and he directed his gaze at Adam.
“I hope not. However, I still don’t have enough information about her. She’s a coincidence that’s too good to be true in a world without coincidences. But get this, you can’t really know who to trust. Everybody’s got interests and each coincidence can become dangerous given the right circumstances.”
“And what’s your interest?” Adam fired from the hip.
Don laughed out loud. “Me?” he asked, “let’s say I have a score to settle with them.”
“You were one of them once, weren’t you?” Adam had deduced from the veteran’s answer.
“If you live long enough, you’ll discover that sooner or later everyone is or will be one of them. But yes,” admitted Don, “for almost twenty years. That doesn’t really matter now. Take care of yourself and don’t trust anyone.” He turned toward the corridor and was gone. Adam returned to sit in front of the darkness of space, trying to guess who it was that Don had referred to by saying ‘anyone’. Was he referring to himself alone? Or perhaps there was someone else? He was tired of running and in his heart materialized the realization that sooner or later he would have to confront the danger face to face. He knew this would happen and was actually craving to reach the moment in which he would finally be ready to fight them, avenge all they had done to him, for hurting him and his loved ones. “They’ll pay for it all,” Adam swore.
Chapter 17
When Adam returned to his cabin, Jewel was awake and waiting for him. She smiled at him embarrassedly and invited him to sit beside her on the bed with a gesture. He obeyed and as soon as he’d sat down Jewel closed the side partitions around them. For a moment, darkness engulfed them, then the ceiling lights turned on and spread a soft illumination around them. He tried to capture her gaze with his eyes, but she avoided him and sat motionless by his side. He waited for her to say something, to explain her behavior, but she remained silent. “I didn’t even notice when you left,” Adam finally said.
“I like to sleep in my own bed,” said Jewel and a smile shone on her face, a faulty smile, because it seemed to Adam that Jewel found it difficult to raise it on her lips.
“Are you all right?” asked Adam and placed his hand on hers. She didn’t move her hand, but also didn’t turn it around to hold his.
“Sure,” she said and jumped up. “Come on,” she announced, “let’s go and practice,” and she pulled Adam after her. Adam was dragged along. He was surprised by the quick change in her mood and wondered what she had meant by ‘practice’. They got out of their cabin and walked around the long corridors until they reached a spacious hall. Jewel explained to him it was the level training complex. It contained second-generation simulation workshops (Second Generation Simulation Workspace ©) for most hand-to-hand combat methods, as well as ones that simulated the use of light or heavy weaponry. “Fencing?” asked Jewel and pulled Adam toward the fencing workshop. Adam thought Jewel wouldn’t be much of a rival in his favorite sport and gladly obliged. He chose his weapon and faced her in the small ring allotted them. In all the combat lessons he had learned in the British training complex, the saber was his favorite weapon. When he held the long sword in his hand, he felt as if it became a part of him. Fencing helped his concentration, focused his senses and consciousness. Elizabeth had said fencing would improve the function of his brain chip, and Adam believed her. While Adam was busy with assessing the weight and balance of the saber in his hand, Jewel attacked first. Adam barely managed to evade the blow, which impressed him with its force and precision. He needed to reevaluate Jewel’s skills. She broke into an attack that combined the saber and her agile body. Adam was forced to defend himself as well as he could and tried to find an opening that will allow him to initiate his own attack. They quickly moved across the ring, perspiring and silent. Jewel trapped him in a corner and made him retreat back toward the complex’s wall. Adam began to be aware of his imminent loss. Jewel was a better swordswoman and after struggling with each other for nearly half an hour, he began to recognize that fact. She surprised him with her skill with the saber and her agility, and he was pressed back and couldn’t find a way to initiate a counter-attack. Then, when he began to see his coming defeat, his brain chip kicked into action and with an almost inhuman twist, he released himself from his opponent’s grasp. His mind quickly analyzed various attack options and possibilities until suddenly he could clearly see the opening that would allow him to win the battle. Jewel tended to incline her body slightly to the right before attacking, leaving her left side as a shield and her left hand to balance her body. Instead of evading her, Adam brought his body closer to hers and with a circular movement, struck her back with his saber. The simulation immediately stopped and he was declared the winner by the computerized system. They remained attached to one another for an instant, and then separated, breathing heavily side-by-side.
“Where did you learn to fight like that?” asked Adam once he regained his breath.
“A good actor must be successful in every role,” said Jewel and Adam felt her mood had wondrously improved following the combat training session. Jewel possessed the talent of ‘infecting’ those around her with her emotions. She certainly managed to infect him.
“What’s with the ‘playing’ and ‘acting’ you’re always talking about?” He asked, “You don’t really mean acting in movies, do you?”
Jewel turned serious and silent before answering quietly, her voice barely audible: “I’m talking about our roles in the game of life, kid. That’
s the only acting part that matters.”
Two of the engineers they’d seen yesterday at dinner entered into the training complex. The two noticed Adam and Jewel and walked toward them. Adam felt Jewel was becoming tense and without moving, transferred his suit to tactical mode. The engineers, not sensing Adam and Jewel’s tension, stood next to them and smiled at the young couple. There was nothing pleasant about their smile. “I see that you’ve already chosen your companion,” the taller of the two addressed Jewel, “a bit too young for you, don’t you think? I’m not sure he’ll be an equal rival for you on the web. Allow me to suggest myself as an alternative.”
Jewel shuddered, then her face assumed a professional-like expression. “Your request has been considered and denied.”
“He looks like a minor to me,” said the man, his smile widening, “doesn’t he look like a minor to you?” he addressed his friend who cooperated and nodded. “Perhaps we should report you to the authorities. You know the rules.” Jewel quickly dragged the confused Adam away from the two men whose cruel laughter could be heard all across the hallways. She leaned on him just as she had done the previous evening when they had walked back from the dining hall.
Adam was tired of being manipulated and stopped in his tracks. Jewel was startled and almost tripped. He helped her to balance herself by grabbing her shoulders, pinning her to her place. “Who are you?” he demanded to know, “and what the hell is the ‘web’ you were talking about?” His voice was clearly heard in the silent corridor. Jewel didn’t answer. She stood there, trapped within his hands. The strength drained from her, and she hung onto his grasp. “He thought you were a prostitute, didn’t he?” When she kept silent, he kept pressuring her, “didn’t he?” Jewel nodded and her face wore an unreadable expression.
“That is really who you are,” he said when the truth was finally clear. He felt cheated. He’d been lied to and abused again. The one who dazzled and charmed him, she, of all people, proved to be the most disappointing. He released her from his grasp and went away. Jewel remained where she was, and couldn’t even turn her head to look at his back, as he walked away from her.
Adam returned to his cabin and enclosed himself behind the partitions. He lay in his bed and stared at the smooth ceiling above. His head buzzed and ached and angered. He was angry at the corporation that was after him, at Elizabeth who had sent him into space, at Don who had planted the suspicion in his heart and, of course, at Jewel, and about the fact that everyone was deceiving him. He was mainly angry at himself. Time and again he was tempted with ease to trust people. Out of fear and panic, he did not stop to ask himself what he wanted and could do, without having everything explained to him by others and without being pushed to continue to another destination. He decided to stop running. He was tired of serving as a pawn in the games of others, whether they wanted to harm him or believed they had his best interests in mind. He was searching for answers now. A light knock on the partition wall disrupted his thoughts. He diverted the partition open and there was Jewel. She went inside his cabin and looked at him with broken eyes. It seemed to Adam that she was frightened. He rose up, pushed himself back and made some room for her beside him. After a slight hesitation, she sat down.
“Who are you?” he asked, “who are you really?”
“Jewel Barnes,” she answered.
“OK, Jewel Barnes,” said Adam, “what do you want from me?” Jewel kept quiet. She just sat there, cuddled up. “You’re just like everyone else,” he determined with distaste, “I thought you were different, that you didn’t need anything from me. But I was wrong. You’re trying to manipulate me as well.”
“I’m not,” Jewel protested, “you don’t understand anything.” She buried her face in her hands and wept. “I thought you’d understand,” Adam heard her saying from between her hands. He was surprised by her reaction and his anger dissipated at once.
“This has something to do with the game you’ve told me about, right?”
“Right,” answered Jewel.
“Maybe it’s time you told me what it is?”
Jewel raised her head. She avoided his eyes and said, “I’m marked as ‘allowed’.”
“Allowed?” Adam didn’t understand.
“My chip destined me to provide certain services. It really doesn’t matter how I feel about the profession chosen for me. As soon as I was born, I was marked as such, and the chip implanted in me adjusted me for this type of work.”
“The work of a prostitute?” Adam asked and immediately regretted it.
“Providing female services,” she answered, “that was the only implant my parents were able to afford.”
“How did the engineers recognize you as such?”
“I told you that I’m marked,” Jewel repeated, “try to look at me through the filters with which the implant allows you to examine reality.” Adam shifted his eyes to tactical mode and examined Jewel. It was the first time he examined reality through one of the eye filters. He did not understand all the data on the inner eye-screen. He selected various waypoints that blinked in front of his eyes. One of them blinked and marked Jewel as ‘allowed’ to members of a certain social status and owners of brain implants and forbidden to others. He couldn’t help but check if she was ‘allowed’ to him as well. She was.
“Do you understand now?”
“I suppose you could have picked anybody,” he said, “why me?” “Because you’re different,” said Jewel, “you can get me out of this circle.”
“Different?” asked Adam, “how the hell am I different?”
“You’re undefined,” answered Jewel, “you’re a blank page. Other than the fact they’re looking for you.” Adam wasn’t ready for her answer and recoiled.
“You work for the corporation too?” he finally realized what was so obvious.
“You know someone who doesn’t work for them?” asked Jewel. “My mother always said that there are those who already work for them and those that will soon be.” She drew silent for a moment and then added quietly, “But I’ve bought my freedom from them,” she said proudly, “and I swore never to do business with them again. I’m moving on to the private sector.”
“The private sector?” Adam didn’t follow.
“Yes,” answered Jewel, “they call themselves pirates after the pre-Mendelssohnian sea bandits from Earth. I’m going to sign a new contract with them.”
“So everything between us was an act?” Adam didn’t allow the anger to be expressed in his voice, which was cold and emotionless.
Jewel hesitated before answering: “Perhaps it was in the beginning, but not anymore,” she held out her hand and placed it on Adam’s. Adam quickly removed his hand from hers. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“And why did you tell me this now?”
“Because I’ve been exposed and it was only a matter of time before you’d discover what I do.” Jewel was upset, hysterical emotions intertwined in her voice.
Adam turned toward her. “I don’t get it.”
“What’s there to get?” screamed Jewel, “you really don’t know anything. Where did you come from, the Jewish Reservation?”
“Yes,” answered Adam, “that’s where I come from.”
“Really?” she was surprised, “you really come from there?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said with a measured voice, “get out of here.” He opened the side partition and waited with a tense silence until Jewel rose up, bent and defeated, and got out of his cabin. He closed the partition and remained by himself. Alone again.
Chapter 18
Even when inner-shuttle morning came, with its artificial light, Adam remained within his sealed compartment. He lay in bed and surfed the net through his Improvetegrated Eye-Screens (IES ©), investigating everything that Jewel had told him. He learned of her profession, and the role world-society had assigned her. He showed a special interest in the space pirates she’d said she was related to. The extent of their activities and the damage th
ey inflicted on the corporations with their raids amazed him. He was interested in the fact that anyone would actually manage to resist the corporations and the superpowers and survive. Their strength lay in their small size and quickness. ‘Small is not necessarily a disadvantage,’ he remarked to himself. More than anything, he was curious about ‘the game’ Jewel had spoken so proudly about.
Adam was angry with her. Jewel had hurt him and lied to him in order to get closer, an active participant in the new intergalactic game called ‘Use and Abuse Adam’. But he also understood her more, after discovering more details about her status and profession. He admitted to himself that he was worried about her, and his accusations now seemed petty and childish. His anger gradually dissipated, and he rose from his bed and went out of his part of the cabin.
Jewel remained in her sealed compartment as well. She knew that Adam now distrusted her and did not blame him for his anger. If fact, she was convinced he won’t ever want to see her again and once she’d realized that, felt a sharp pang. In the few days, nearly two weeks, that had passed since they’d met, Adam had become important to her. They’d spent almost their entire time together, and Jewel loved to impress him, surprise him time after time and see his eyes widen with wonder every time she shared her knowledge of the world they were headed to with him. She loved his quiet ways, the sense of security he gave those around him. She knew everything would be all right while she was with him. He wasn’t even aware of possessing such qualities. She also knew that at the moment, she was the only one who sensed all that, but before long, everyone would notice his abilities. ‘With Adam, one could steal worlds’; she borrowed a sentence one of her past lovers used to say about people whom he trusted. And now she realized she’d thrown it all down the drain. She had fallen in love with him and didn’t even have a chance to tell him that. ‘I deserve it,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m reaping what I’ve sown.’ On the previous evening, she’d contacted her employers and told them she was cancelling the deal between them, taking full responsibility for her failure and paying an astronomical amount for being released from her obligations, an amount which was much higher than the cost of space travel. But she didn’t care. Adam had changed her. By meeting him, she’d learned to separate the wheat from the chaff. The direct, simple way in which he viewed reality, had impressed her so much even during their first meeting and she, as was her way, concealed her excitement with outbursts of amusing chatter. A knock on her door startled her. She stood up, opened the door and to her great surprise discovered Adam standing in front of her. He was silent, and she waited excitedly to hear what he had to say.