The Real

by Masha du Toit

  “Open it for me,” snapped Jinan, who was looking intently into Diesel’s eyes, first one, then the other.

  Missy bent to open the latches on the case.

  “Now find me a patch,” ordered Jinan. “A white one with a blue cross. You’ll have to open the packaging for me.”

  “I can apply it,” said Crosshatch. He held Diesel’s hair out of the way so that Jinan could work.

  Elke didn’t dare look directly at Moraes. A glance told her that the woman was nearly at the entrance to the yard. Any moment now Missy would turn and see her. Got to say something to distract Missy. Keep her occupied.

  Missy was still busy with the med-kit, peeling open the patch and handing it to Crosshatch. Elke moved over to stand behind Crosshatch so that Missy wouldn’t have to turn to see her.

  “So”, she said. “Missy. I must say, you’re the last person I expected to find here.”

  That did the trick. Missy’s body stiffened and her eyes rose to meet Elke’s. Her lips moved as if she were working at an inedible piece of gristle, then she spat. “You.”

  Even without her gun Missy radiated threat. Elke found herself wishing that Meisje was at her side. Her stomach twisted at the memory of those gunshots. Let her be unhurt. Please let Meisje be unhurt.

  “I thought you were dead.” It was all she could think of to say.

  “I bet you did.” Missy’s voice was tight and sour. “No such luck, though.”

  How much time did Moraes need? Elke didn’t dare even glance towards the yard now. How long would it take Moraes to get out of range of the remote?

  “So— If you don’t mind me asking.” Elke allowed a tinge of sarcasm into her tone. “Why did you shoot at me just now?”

  Missy rose slowly to her feet. Her face was a blaze of anger. “Don’t give me that innocent milksop act. You know as well as I do, you traitorous little bitch!” Her voice was so venomous Elke had to fight the urge to step back.

  At least she had the woman’s full attention now. Where did Missy keep that remote? In a pocket? She’d have it somewhere she could get to quickly.

  Missy was studying Elke, looking her up and down. “You’ve changed, but you’re still the same. Smug and oh-so-calm. I always knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

  Elke’s own anger stirred. “What is it you think I did, exactly?”

  “Oh please.” Missy’s mouth twisted. “Don’t come over all innocent now. You know exactly what I mean. Who was it who betrayed us to the cops? Who told them where we’d be, and when?”

  “You’re still going on about the Rent days?” Elke stared at her. “About that raid? The ambush? That’s like more than twenty years ago.”

  “The cops knew exactly where we were.” Missy smiled. “They just happened to know that, by accident? Somebody tipped them off.”

  “They were always on our track,” said Elke. “We just ran out of luck that day.”

  Missy snorted. “Yeah, right. I heard that they let you off scot free. That’s when I figured out who the traitor was. Why else would they let you off so easy, unless you were the snitch?”

  “Aardvark told them I was a hostage, and I was only seventeen. They gave me a suspended sentence.”

  “Aardvark.” Missy ground her teeth together. “You know what happened to Aardvark?” Her face was white with anger. “They sentenced us to labour on the plastic reefs. Out in the middle of the Atlantic. You heard of those?”

  Elke did not respond. She had heard, and what she’d heard had been bad. Prisons were expensive to maintain these days and many convicts were sent to work out their sentence doing hard labour.

  “They work you day and night.” Missy licked her lips and swallowed convulsively. “Out on the reefs or on the boats. Retrieving plastic waste from the gyres. Working in the sun till your skin peeled. Salt water. You never get really dry, and they work you till you drop. Your friends’ bodies floating—”

  She rubbed a shaking hand over her mouth.

  “That’s how Aardvark went. One minute he’s there working next to me, hauling nets full of plastic waste up out of the sea. We were on a raft. Right there in the middle of the ocean.” She drew a ragged breath. “I didn’t even see him go. Just turned and he was gone. The others said he slipped in. Maybe a shark got him. I hope it was a shark. Quicker than drowning.”

  Elke just looked at her, horrified.

  “They implanted leashes in all of us. Put them in right here.” Missy touched her nape. “The guards were always threatening to blow us up, but it was good, that made them slack. They relied on the tech instead of on their wits.

  “I cut mine out. Cut it out myself with a piece of glass. Bled like a pig.” Her eyes were unfocused as if she were reliving the memory. “Stowed away.”

  For a brief moment Missy stood, staring into nothing. Then with a shudder, she came back to herself. “I was on that plastic reef for more than ten years. Took me ten more years to get back here. Three more to find out where you were.”

  Elke wanted to shut her eyes and turn away. All that time, through all those years Missy had been out there, burning with rage and the lust for vengeance.

  “Then I met your friend,” said Missy. “Skyler Moraes. She was very quick to tell me that she knew you, once she heard I’d been in the Rent.” A sour smile touched Missy’s lips. “She was trying to impress me, but that gave me the thing I needed, the way to lure you out of the Eye. All those codes in your bank account. Clever stuff.”

  Elke risked a glance at Crosshatch. The old man had his hands in Diesel’s hair, carefully probing at her skull, but he was clearly listening to every word Missy said. Good. At least he’s hearing this.

  Then Missy turned to look behind her and gasped at the empty yard. Elke threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Missy even as the woman’s hand rose to her throat. Elke tightened her grip, desperate to pin Missy’s arms to her sides but Missy had the strength of desperation. She pulled one arm free, her elbow clipping Elke on the chin.

  “No!” Elke tucked her head into Missy’s neck, grabbed for her hands but it was too late. Missy tugged a thin black strap out from the collar of her shirt.

  The remote was in her hand. She flipped open its safety shield and pushed the button.

  No! Elke had Missy by the wrist, tugged her arms behind her and handcuffed both wrists. Too late. They were down on the ground, Elke kneeling on Missy, wiping the blood from her mouth with her free hand.

  Missy shook with weak laughter, or was she crying? Elke slid a finger under Missy’s collar, snagged the strap and slipped it off over her head. The remote dangled there, utterly innocuous, a lozenge of grubby blue plastic, faded with age.

  Too late. She pushed that button. I saw her do it. Elke clipped the safety shield back down over the little button. She felt numb.

  Missy spat sand. “Fuck you,” she gasped. “Tie me up if you want, your friend is just as dead.”

  “I didn’t hear anything. No explosion.”

  “Doesn’t make much noise,” said Missy. “Just a little pop. You wouldn’t hear it unless you were right up close.”

  Elke patted Missy down. Her hands moved out of habit rather than conscious decision. She found a belt knife, some keys, a wallet with ID documents and money, and the ignition chip for the sand bike. After a moment’s hesitation, Elke tucked the money and the cards back into Missy’s pocket, but kept the keys, the knife, the ID cards, and the ignition chip.

  She stood, keeping a wary eye as Missy rolled over and hunched herself up into a sitting position. Jinan and Crosshatch had moved Diesel, propping her up against one of the benches.

  “Diesel?” Elke looked at Jinan. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She should be.” Jinan closed the first-aid box. “Now. This is what’s going to—”

  “Put down that box,” said Crosshatch. “And then put your hands up where I can see them.” He still crouched where he’d been, bloody cloths at his feet, but now he held his ancient revolver train
ed unflinchingly at Jinan.

  She looked at him in surprise, opened her mouth, but closed it again as Crosshatch gave the revolver an emphatic twitch.

  “Oh man, what next,” said Missy with a snort. “This is just getting better and better.”

  “Up with those hands.” Crosshatch glanced at Elke with hooded eyes. “Get the guns off her and search her. You.” His gaze went back to Jinan. “Don’t doubt I’ll shoot you, if you give me the excuse. Get up. Slowly. And you.” He shot a glance at Missy. “You just stay exactly where you are.”

  Elke stepped carefully around Diesel’s outstretched legs as Jinan rose to her feet. She patted down the woman, placing the gun she found at Crosshatch’s feet. “She’s clean,” she said, stepping back. To her relief Missy had not moved at all. She sat watching, a look of amused sarcasm on her face.

  “Now go.” Crosshatch gestured with his gun again, making both Elke and Jinan wince.

  “Wait—” Diesel stirred, her voice weak. “You can’t— We’ve got to—” She looked at Crosshatch. “Why are you letting them go?”

  “What else can I do?” Crosshatch didn’t move his gaze from Jinan for an instant. “Do you want me to shoot them?”

  Diesel closed her eyes and slumped back. “Of course not.”

  “We can keep them prisoner,” said Elke. “At least until we’ve figured out what to do next.”

  Jinan looked outraged but Crosshatch nodded slowly. “You might have a point. No knowing what they’d get up to if we let them run away now, but where do we put them?”

  “There are some cages at the circus,” said Elke.

  “You’ve got to be joking.” Missy sat up a little.

  “You wouldn’t dare.” Jinan looked at Diesel. “Shoshana, you know this is useless. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

  Crosshatch’s scarred forehead wrinkled as he considered Elke’s words, the gun steady in his hand. “The lion cages. Not bad. You got another set of handcuffs?”

  “Only the one Missy’s wearing,” said Elke.

  “You can lock us up.” Jinan looked angrily from Elke to Diesel. “But how will that help you? If word gets to the Eye, and it will, they’ll never believe your story. They already think you’re a suspect, Shoshana. Everyone knows you’re friends with Elke Veraart. First she leaves the Eye, running from the law, and then you follow after her. It doesn’t look good, does it?

  “So you make your accusations. Who will they believe? The way you’ve been avoiding your family responsibilities has been gossip in the Eye for years. It’s not a secret that we’ve never been close, you and I.

  “Now you try to get revenge on me with baseless accusations. The fact is that you have no proof. No witnesses worth their salt.” Jinan looked at Elke. “Now, if Veraart was still a shade with full recording abilities, I’d have reason to worry, but she’s not. She’s a fugitive on the run, and so are you. Nobody will believe you. Or, by the time you raise enough doubt for them to act, it will be too late. I don’t need much time to do what I have to do.”

  “That was your only set of cuffs?” Crosshatch said to Elke. “Well. There are some cable ties in my workshop. Think that would work?”

  The Shade

  Elke found the cable ties and used them to bind Jinan’s hands behind her back. The woman had finally stopped talking, silenced by Crosshatch’s threat to gag her with a bandage.

  “Is it safe for us to come out now?”

  The voice made Elke whip around, and even Crosshatch’s head twitched. It was Ndlela. He was at the passage that led to the underground route.

  “Ndlela!” Beyond him, to Elke’s inexpressible relief came Isabeau, Noor, Meisje and Robby. “Is everyone alright? Are you hurt?”

  They came out warily, their eyes on Jinan and Missy. Noor had her arm around Isabeau and all three of them looked ready to run back into the tunnel again.

  “Are you okay?” Elke didn’t dare take her eyes of their prisoners for more than a second, but she reached down to rub Meisje’s neck. The gardag was wagging her tail so hard her entire body arched from side to side.

  “We’re fine.” Noor’s arm tightened around Isabeau, who took one look at Crosshatch’s gun and hid her face in Noor’s side. “What’s going on here?”

  “We’ve had some unexpected visitors.” Crosshatch never moved his gaze from his prisoners. “We heard some shots. What was that about?”

  “Those men are dead.” Ndlela looked angry and Elke guessed that he was fighting back tears.

  Jinan stiffened and Missy’s head came up to stare at the boy.

  “They grabbed Isabeau,” said Ndlela. “Then the dogs got them. They’re both dead. We checked.”

  Crosshatch’s gun didn’t waver for a moment, but his face went very still. “Right,” he said. “Any of you hurt?”

  “No.” Ndlela sat on a bench as though his knees had given way. “We’re okay.”

  “Good,” said Crosshatch. “Now, Noor. Me and Elke are going to take these two down to the circus and lock them up in those lion cages there. You and the kids stay here with Diesel. Keep her quiet. Don’t let her agitate herself. She’s got a nasty head wound.” He glanced at Elke and tapped Missy’s gun now jammed into in his waistband. “You want to take this?”

  “No,” said Elke. “Meisje will keep them in line better than any gun could.” She turned to their prisoners. “See this dog? She might not look it, but she’s a gardag. She’ll have your throat out before you even think of trying any tricks.”

  Meisje obligingly rolled her lips back and snarled, the hair on her back bristling.

  “Get up,” Crosshatch said to Missy. “Get going, now.” He gestured with his gun. “I’ll be right behind you all the way with this, don’t forget.”

  As they left the yard, Elke looked back at the three young people clustered around Diesel. They’ve all forgotten about Moraes. Even Crosshatch.

  She couldn’t help picturing Moraes’s body lying somewhere nearby in the dunes. There was no way to know if she’d managed to get out of range before Missy pressed that button. Elke decided to keep her thoughts to herself. It’s not as if she can do any harm, handcuffed as she is. I’ll deal with her later.

  ¤¤¤

  When Elke, Crosshatch and Meisje returned they found Noor had moved Diesel onto one of the benches and had her propped up with pillows and covered with a light blanket.

  “She might go into shock. Got to keep her warm,” Noor explained as she tucked the blanket around Diesel’s knees.

  Isabeau, Elke was glad to see, looked a good deal better. Somebody had made her some tea and she had more colour in her face.

  “You locked them up?” Isabeau wanted to know. “Those two? You put them in the lion cages?”

  Elke nodded wearily. It had been a gruelling trek down to the circus with the old man and his two unwilling prisoners. They’d found no sign of Moraes and that worried Elke. She desperately wanted to try find her tracks but there were other, more urgent things that had to be dealt with first.

  Isabeau was full of questions about Jinan and Missy. “You didn’t leave those handcuffs on them, did you? Did you give them water? And food?”

  Elke assured Isabeau that the prisoners were as comfortable as they could be under the circumstances, but the girl looked far from satisfied. Elke was relieved when Noor interrupted the flow of questions.

  “Diesel wants to talk to you.” Noor handed Elke a mug of water. “She should really be drinking more water. Give her this.”

  Elke dragged a chair over to Diesel’s bench. “Hey,” she said. “You’re looking better.”

  She meant it, too. Diesel’s head was neatly bandaged and while there were still bloodstains on her clothes, her face and neck were clean.

  “You come right with those two?” said Diesel. “They didn’t give you too much trouble?”

  “Your mother talked our ears off all the way down to the circus,” said Elke. “Meisje kept them in line, though. Nobody tried any tricks.�
� She paused, awkwardly. “That cage is pretty awful. I hate locking anybody up in there, least of all your mother.”

  Diesel didn’t seem to be listening. “Elke, what are we going to do now? Jinan—” She struggled to sit up a bit more. “She told me everything. While she was busy fixing me.”

  “She’s carrying out Maxwell Jali’s plan,” said Elke.

  “That’s right. That’s it.” Diesel pulled restlessly at the blanket. “She says she knows exactly what’s in that cache. Must have found old records. If she gets hold of even a fraction of that stuff, she knows how to spread it. Spores on the wind. And in the river.”

  Diesel licked her dry lips and Elke silently held out the mug.

  “She told me why.” Diesel drank, holding the mug with trembling hands. Then she lay back against her pillows again. “It’s the old religion of spreading the Strangeworld ecosystem wherever it will take root. I always thought she was a rationalist, but now—” She grimaced. “I guess I really don’t know her at all. She says that this world is half destroyed already. Oceans fished out almost empty. Coral bleached and dying. The ocean full of plastic waste. The poachers. The pollution. Extinction.”

  The mug was tilting in her hands, so Elke took it from her. “She wants to replace it all with a Strangeworld ecosystem? Is that even possible?”

  Diesel moved her head uneasily against the pillows. “Not all at once. It’s a lifetime’s work, really. Several lifetimes.” She wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “But she can give it a good start. Destroy the Muara. The thing is, we can’t do anything to stop her. We have no proof. She can just say that she was gathering plants out here for her garden when we attacked her for some reason. Who’s going to take our word over hers?”

  Elke turned in her chair. “Where’s— Hey. Crosshatch. Come over here a moment won’t you?”

  The old man was feeding his chickens. At Elke’s shout he gave Ndlela the bowl of feed and came over.

  “You were here when Frau-eid Jinan Meer was talking to Diesel, right?” Elke asked him.

  Crosshatch nodded. “I heard, and I saw. On this day, I did record, and I will bear witness.”