The Real

by Masha du Toit

  It took Diesel a moment to understand. When she did, her eyes went wide. “Oh,” she gasped. “You are— You’re—” She stared at Elke. “That’s why you didn’t let him go, that’s why you asked him to stay— You knew! You knew all along. He’s a shade!” She grabbed Crosshatch by the sleeve, gazing up at the old man. “You’re Mare Lapis. You’re Maxwell Jali’s shade translator.”

  This brought Noor hurrying over. “Calm down!” she said to Diesel. “You need to stay calm.”

  But Diesel didn’t argue. She sank back, her mouth working as she fought back her tears.

  ¤¤¤

  After that, it was all Noor could to do prevent Diesel from getting up and rushing back to the dike workers’ camp to send a message to the Ishtar Gate.

  It was only when Noor reminded her about radio on Missy’s sand bike, that Diesel agreed to stay on her bench.

  “We can wheel the bike right here next to you,” Elke said. “You can use the radio and put a call through no problem. Who are you going to speak to?”

  “Ricardo, if he’s on the Ishtar Gate today. And I know some of the other customs guys too, if he’s not. I’ll get them to summon as many of the Eye Coalition as we can get.”

  “They’ll come out here?” Noor sounded doubtful.

  “You bet they will, once they know what’s on the line.” Diesel had pushed the blanket aside and was sitting upright on the bench.

  “There is one thing.” Elke glanced at Crosshatch. “I should have thought of this before. Won’t they see you as an unmarked shade, Crosshatch?”

  Crosshatch swept a hand over the scars that covered his forehead. “You mean because of this?”

  Diesel opened her mouth, clearly at a loss for words. Elke guessed that this particular problem hadn’t occurred to her.

  “I’m not exactly unmarked, am I,” said Crosshatch. “I know that law word for word. It specifies the location of the mark, from the bridge of the nose to the forehead. It doesn’t say that it has to be a tattoo. In fact, the earlier shades used to be scarified rather than tattooed anyway.”

  “That’s true!” Diesel breathed in relief. “Many of the old family marks used to be scars. Also, I highly doubt they’ll try to play any legal games with Maxwell Jali’s own shade translator.”

  “And they’ll believe that?” said Elke. “That Crosshatch is who he says he is?”

  “They’ll have my blood sample on file,” said Crosshatch. “That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.”

  Diesel had Elke take the children and dogs for a walk while she made radio contact. “I’m stressed enough as it is without having you guys chattering in the background. Crosshatch must stay, they’ll want to talk to him. But the rest of you, scram.”

  “In that case, I’ll be off,” said Noor. “I’ve never been this late for work before.”

  “But what about us?” Isabeau frowned. “What can me and Ndlela do now?”

  “Why don’t we go and find the dike workers,” said Elke. “They need to know what’s going on. Especially if a whole bunch of Eye people are going to be showing up here soon.”

  ¤¤¤

  “Why did you send Meisje off like that?” asked Isabeau.

  She, Elke and Ndlela were making their way towards the river mouth with Robby running up ahead.

  “Just something I wanted to check,” said Elke.

  “And why are you carrying your pack?” insisted Isabeau. “Aren’t you going back to Diesel again? You could have left it there.”

  “You guys haven’t told me all about what happened to you yet,” countered Elke. “What were those shots we heard?”

  This was too much for Isabeau to resist. They had already told their tale to Diesel, but Isabeau jumped at the chance to repeat it, telling it all in a jumble with many interruptions and contradictions from Ndlela.

  “So both of those guys are dead,” said Elke when the two of them had explained it all. “Are you sure about that?”

  Ndlela nodded solemnly. “I checked. So did Noor.”

  “It must have been terrifying.”

  “It was.” Isabeau looked solemn. “But Xun was amazing.”

  “What happened to Xun and the other two dogs?”

  “They went away,” said Isabeau. “Xun let me stroke her. That made me feel much better, but then she just turned and walked away. We came through the underground route and waited till it seemed safe to come out. I still don’t understand. Can you explain it to me? What’s Crosshatch doing? Why did Diesel call him a shade?”

  “You know what that means? A shade?” Elke looked down at Isabeau, who was hopping along, using her crutch only every now and then. The girl was flushed and over excited, but she seemed to be recovering her emotional equilibrium.

  “It’s strangeworld person,” said Ndlela. “Like a glim or a geist.”

  “It’s a special kind of strangeworlder,” agreed Elke. “They’ve got an incredibly good memory. They’re almost like a machine for recording things. They don’t have electricity in the Strange so they use people to do the things that machines do for us.”

  “Diesel told me that Crosshatch came out here with Maxwell Jali,” said Ndlela. “They brought all that stuff that’s in the Cathedral.”

  Elke nodded. “That’s right.”

  “And then they left him here,” said Ndlela. “All that time ago.”

  “Almost eighty years,” said Elke. “He was just a boy. He must be even older than he looks.”

  Isabeau didn’t like this at all. “Why did they leave him?”

  “To guard the Cathedral, maybe?” Elke looked down at the girl. “We don’t know. I think they didn’t mean to be gone for long.”

  “And then they never came back.” Ndlela pulled a wry face. “I wonder why he stayed.”

  “Shades are trained carry out commands without question,” said Elke. “Maybe he didn’t really have much choice in the matter.”

  “Do you really think so?” Isabeau squinted up at Elke.

  Elke shook her head. “No. Crosshatch seems like he makes up his own mind about things.”

  “But still, he stayed,” Ndlela pointed out.

  They came to the river and for a while they stopped talking, concentrating on getting across the stepping stones and avoiding Robby splashing them. When they reached the other side, Isabeau had another question.

  “So, Crosshatch is a kind of recording machine, but why was Diesel so excited about that?”

  “Crosshatch can prove that that woman, Jinan, is the person behind all this stuff that’s been happening. He heard her tell Diesel all about it, and in the Babylon Eye a shade is an infallible witness. They cannot lie about what they’ve seen and heard.”

  Isabeau pondered this for a while. “So they’ll believe him then. What will happen to those two women? Diesel’s mom and the other one?”

  “It’s about smuggling biologicals,” said Ndlela. “If those Eye people think they’re guilty, they’ll kill them, won’t they?”

  Elke wished she could avoid the question but there was no way around it. “It all depends what laws they’ll decide to use. Out here in the Real smuggling biologicals doesn’t always mean the death penalty. It could get you locked up for life. But if they decide that it’s the Eye law that should be applied, then yes, they’ll be executed.”

  “I don’t really get it,” said Isabeau. “What’s so bad about strangeworld animals and plants and things coming over here? It didn’t sound so bad to me, what Diesel’s mom wanted to do. Why would they kill her for that?”

  “You can’t just bring life forms from another world in here,” Ndlela said, shocked. “It could destroy our entire ecosystem!”

  “But why should it destroy things?” countered Isabeau. “Can’t they live together with ours? And it’s not like we’re doing such a good job looking after things. It’s like Diesel was saying. What about the pollution, and all that? Doesn’t the plastic-eating bacteria come from the Strange? That stuff is good, isn’t i
t?”

  The argument continued until the dike workers’ camp was in sight. As they paused to catch their breath, Isabeau said, “Diesel spoke about Missy working on the plastic reef. Could she be sent back there?”

  “It’s possible,” said Elke. “They do send prisoners there. I’m sorry you heard about that. It’s a horrible thing.”

  “If it was me,” said Isabeau, “I’d want to be killed rather than be locked up my whole life or made to work like that.”

  “No, you wouldn’t,” said Ndlela. And the argument started up again, only breaking off as the children scolded Robby, who had rolled in something extra smelly and wanted to share his bounty.

  Elke watched them, wondering. I hope they come through this okay. Today was enough to traumatise anyone. Being grabbed and threatened, seeing two men die. They seem like tough little kids, but you really don’t know what’s going on under the surface.

  ¤¤¤

  It was mid-afternoon by the time Elke crossed the river mouth again.

  Leendert and the other dike workers had insisted on sharing their lunch and it took longer than Elke had planned to tell them the full story of everything that had happened.

  Then Leendert had insisted that the children should stay with the dike team for the time being. “I know those people are locked up and safe, but I won’t feel easy till all of this is dealt with. Isabeau, how would you like to spend the night with us in our camp? I know Cilla has space in her trailer. Your sister always comes past the camp anyway, on her way back from work. She can join us too.”

  To Elke’s relief, Isabeau and Ndlela had seemed perfectly happy to fall in with this plan. When Elke finally left they were both busily at work, helping the dike workers move sandbags.

  The journey back across the river felt longer than before. When Elke eventually reached the entrance to Crosshatch’s yard she found Meisje waiting for her there.

  “Have you found her?”

  Yes.

  “Is she close by?”

  Yes.

  Somehow, Elke couldn’t get herself to ask the final question. I’ll know soon enough if she’s still alive.

  “Show me.”

  Meisje trotted ahead, tail curved, looking perfectly at ease. As the gardag pushed through the scrubby undergrowth and among the rubble, Elke hardly dared to breathe. If Moraes hadn’t managed to get out of range of the remote, her body would be somewhere in these bushes. But as the minutes ticked by, Elke found herself relaxing.

  The range was one kilometre. It took about six minutes to run that far, more over this uneven footing. How long had it been, before Missy had realised Moraes was gone? Of course, Moraes might be miles away by now, if she’d kept on running. But she has no food or water. No money. And she looked pretty rough. She couldn’t go far.

  They found her in a clearing near the river, curled up under an old traffic sign. As they approached she struggled up, then sank back, every line of her body signalling defeat.

  “Hey.” She licked her cracked lips. “Wondered how long it would be before you found me.”

  Elke didn’t answer. She knelt and examined Moraes’s bonds. “Good,” she said. “That’s easy enough to get off.”

  A moment’s work with her knife released the plastic straps that bound Moraes’s wrists together. Then Elke swung her pack off her shoulder, dug out a water bottle, and held it out to Moraes who shook her head.

  “Hands still pretty numb.” She rubbed at the welts on her wrists. “You’re going to have to open that for me.”

  Elke unscrewed the cap and Moraes took the bottle. “God. Thanks.” She held the bottle clumsily in both hands and took a long drink. Then she sighed and sat back.

  For several minutes they just sat there, not speaking. Moraes drank, and Elke, one arm around Meisje, watched her.

  “What about Missy and them?” said Moraes at last.

  “Long story,” said Elke. “You really want to know?”

  “Sure. Why not.” Moraes scraped her hair out of her face. “God, I’d love a shower just about now.”

  Elke told her the bare bones of what had happened.

  “Wow.” Moraes smiled wearily when the story reached its end. “Now that’s what you call karma. Missy Cloete in the lion cage.” She smiled wryly. “And now what? You going to take me back to the Eye to face my just reward?”

  Elke gave the backpack a shove towards her. “You’ll find everything you need in there. Some food. Camping stuff. Little bit of money. Oh.” She took something out of her pocket. “And this. Careful not to push the button.”

  Moraes stared at the little square of blue plastic. She looked up at Elke. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “You’re letting me go?” Moraes’s voice was flat with disbelief. “After everything I did to you? Why the hell would you do that?”

  Elke shrugged, uncomfortable. “I’m no angel myself. I’ve done some pretty bad things in the past.”

  “I bet you never betrayed anyone the way I did you.”

  The silence stretched out between them.

  At last, Elke spoke again. “I hated seeing you in that cage, and I never really got a chance to know you. Maybe if we’d met in other circumstances...”

  Moraes leaned in and kissed Elke on the lips. After a long moment, she pulled back just a little. Elke felt her breath, breathed in the scent of her body.

  Then, wordlessly, Moraes took the backpack and pocketed the remote. After a last, long look at Elke she got up and limped away.

  ¤¤¤

  When Elke got back to Crosshatch’s place, Diesel was fast asleep on her bench.

  “How did the radio thing go?” Elke asked Crosshatch.

  “Good,” he said. “She spoke to about a hundred different people, but they’re coming. Tonight already. But where’s Isabeau and the boy?” The old man frowned in disapproval. “You didn’t leave them at the hotel?”

  “No, don’t worry, that’s all arranged,” said Elke. “They’re staying up in the dike worker’s camp for tonight. Leendert insisted. So they’ll be safe enough till things are sorted out.”

  “Well, good,” said Crosshatch.

  “How’s Diesel’s head?”

  “She’ll be okay. I can’t test her blood pressure, don’t have the equipment, but all her other symptoms are good. She’s just got to rest a bit now.”

  Elke closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face, fighting back a yawn. “Well,” she said. “All we can do now, is wait.”

  Questions

  It was late afternoon when the radio message came through confirming that the party from the Eye was on its way.

  “We’re to meet them by the circus,” said Diesel, awake again after a long nap. “They should be there in half an hour.”

  First came a group of technicians in full-body protective suits and breathing masks. They gathered samples of soil and air, and spent some time peering at the screens of their instruments, ranging all over the Muara from the circus to Crosshatch’s yard. After several hours they finally came to a conclusion and unzipped the head-coverings of their suits.

  “No guarantees, of course,” one of them told Elke. “But we’ve picked up none of the big bad bugs. As long as they wear masks and nobody stays here for more than twenty-four hours, we should be fine.”

  There were about thirty people in all, driving down from the freeway in a convoy of sand bikes. Elke spotted several customs officials she knew from the Isthar Gate, as well as some Realworld cops.

  “Veraart!”

  Elke recognised Inspecteur Ncita even before he removed his helmet. “You here too?”

  Elke grinned at her former boss. “Oh, yes.”

  Ncita adjusted the slim breathing mask that was strapped over his mouth and nose. “It’s going to be fun, figuring out who’s responsible for what.”

  “How’s Dolly? Is she still under arrest?” Then Elke saw a passenger on one of the bikes, fastidiously brushing the dust off his jack
et with gloved hands. “Oh no. Not him.”

  Ncita followed her gaze. “Herr-eid Argent, yes indeed.” His eyes crinkled above his mask as he grinned at Elke’s obvious disgust. “Officially he’s still doing Dolly’s job. Dolly’s not quite out from under the cloud yet, but with all the stuff you’ve dug up out here, that could change soon.” He laughed grimly. “Seems you’ve been stirring up a hornet’s nest.”

  ¤¤¤

  The talks went on deep into the night. The officials from the Eye set up their base at the circus and Elke spent hours in a small room while one person after another came and asked her questions. She eventually lost track of how many times she had to repeat her story.

  A technician drew a sample of her blood and a took a scraping of her skin. She peered into Elke’s mouth, ears and eyes, pressed a stethoscope to her chest and back, and didn’t answer any of her questions.

  Elke had seen them take Crosshatch into another room quite early on. Argent had gone in there too, along with Ncita and a number of other officials.

  She was soon able to build a pretty clear picture of the various interests involved. There were those like Ncita, who were open to her story and asked about the facts and the sequence of events. Others, mostly realworld business-types in suits, refused to listen to what she had to say about Jinan and insisted on questioning her about Dolly. They seemed convinced that Dolly was behind it all and kept asking her leading questions that assumed Elke’s complicity.

  When her questioners finished at last, Elke was allowed out on the deck under the watchful eyes of a realworld cop. She could see the door to the room where Crosshatch was. People kept going in and out, or standing just outside, conferring. It was long after midnight before the door opened and they all emerged.

  “What’s going on?” Elke asked Ncita as he came walking up.

  “You can go, Barnhard,” Ncita told her guard. “No need to watch her anymore.”

  The guard acknowledged the order and moved away. Ncita pushed his mask up on his forehead and lit a cigarette. “Good news and bad news.” He took a long drag and rolled his head back, savouring the smoke. “Man.” The word came out with a puff of smoke. “Those people do like to talk.”