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Mitigated Futures

Page 18

by Buckell, Tobias S.


  Tia looked around pointedly. “I’ll be gentle. Besides, do you see anything else you could be doing with your time?”

  Riun conceded the point and tapped the delivery button. “Since you promised,” he muttered.

  As they waited for the next game to arrive, Tia craned over the shield to get a better look at his whole face. He did have the remains of a smile still. “Tell me about the places you’ve visited,” she suggested.

  And Riun began to spin tales of cities perched near cliffs with pipes dug far into the crust of the world to deliver steam, or dug into giant pits, and even one at the top of a tame volcano.

  ***

  Quarantine broke. Three days of playing Gorithims, eating, and putting up with the diplomats pointedly ignoring them. All the while, the fifteen minute shift changes of observers continued in the gantries overhead, shuffling in and out to observe them all.

  It wasn’t all that unusual for Tia, who enjoyed the gentle rhythm. She’d done several quarantines already. And to be honest, there were worst people than Riun to get stuck with. He was easy on the eyes, and he could chatter on about the rails he’d traveled, the citypeople he’d met, and the places he’d been. But in a neutral manner, not a boasting one.

  She liked that.

  When the doors cracked open, Riun excitedly packed his things. “Thank you for the company,” he said, and gave her a half bow.

  “My pleasure.”

  And they parted ways, Tia headed for the south switchbacks, threading her way down through the houses clustered on the ravine’s steep walls. Riun would be headed for the guest houses, from where he’d launch a campaign of interviews and his explorations of the new city.

  It felt, Tia thought, vaguely treasonous to wonder whether she could submit herself as Riun’s minder to the city while she was getting ready to meet her family, and her new cardmate.

  ***

  At the card ceremony, Tia arrived stripped out of her Ambassador’s garb. She now wore her red leathers, with a bustle designed to shove and prod and push her into what her mother called a ‘more pleasing shape,’ though Tia preferred the comfortable fit of her work clothes. Her hair had been carefully brushed down, and adorned with brass clips.

  Here she was, an ambassador, an elite trainee tasked with the city’s defense. Her parents had spent money to have her mate-card bronzed, as they were not powerful nor rich enough to afford gold. Tia carried it in her gloved hands up the street toward the sub-routines check palace and Gorithims parlor that dominated the nearest intersection.

  There, in black leathers and a tie, was her cardmate.

  According to the life long database kept by the city, her life in punched out rows and marks, this was the unmarried city man with the best statistical chance of making her happy.

  Actually, that wasn’t technically true, was it?

  No, this pairing was the most statistically valid, and most likely to work. There might be someone else better for her, but who wouldn’t be interested in her.

  Could she fall in love with this man? He cut a fine figure. Dashing dark hair and large eyes. A certain precision to his movements that spoke of self control and quickness. Those were qualities she loved in a person.

  It was long a tradition to know nothing about your cardmate. Getting to know each other was half the excitement. Who was this person you were matched to by the great city?

  That was something to discover.

  But did it make her another switch, or lever? Was this truly the person she would love, if left alone? Or was this another calculated move by a greater calculation, testing some subroutine?

  The two families moved together, their center of focus the two card mates.

  Tia held out her bronzed card. “It says we are most compatible.”

  Her cardmate held out his silvered card. “Then let us verify it.”

  They put the two cards into a machine, and it whirred and clicked, and then a green light glowed.

  Compatible.

  “My name is Owyn,” the man said.

  “I’m Tia.”

  She hung his silvered card around her neck, and he her bronzed card.

  It was done.

  ***

  On the first night, she was expected only to eat a dinner with Owyn. A celebration of a new life that was to slowly bloom. She’d done that, sitting politely in place, and asking after his family. They were a family of silk merchants, and Owyn occasionally rode the rails to other towns and even some cities in order to trade for the city. And normally… that would have been fascinating and exotic to her.

  Tomorrow there would be a banquet, with dancing and instruments. And on the third day…

  Well, on the third day, her parents and friends and extended family would walk in a procession down the road, and Owyn’s parents and friends and extended family would do so as well, all carrying possessions to the new couple’s home, where there would be yet another celebration.

  And after that, everyone would withdraw, leaving them alone.

  It should have been all she was focused on. So why was she wondering how Riun was doing, his first night alone in the city?

  Her stomach full of rich food and tea, Tia climbed up on her roof and looked up at the atrium lights far overhead. Somewhere else Riun might be looking back at the same lights, she thought.

  And then she swore at herself and climbed down the wrought iron ladder along the side of her parent’s house and snuck off into the night.

  ***

  Riun answered the door to the guest houses with a frown. “Tia?”

  She slid right past him.

  He was puzzled, but offered her tea from a side-table and lit some lights. His hair was disheveled, and he wore his nightrobe tied tight around his waist.

  They sat in the large foyer near the coolant fans. At night, this close to the city’s lower depths, it grew hot at night.

  “What’s wrong?” Riun asked.

  “What makes you think anything’s wrong?” she asked.

  “You’re an ambassador, here in the middle of the night.” He looked guarded, and tired. “Should I begin repacking?”

  “You’ve done nothing wrong.” She curled up on a small couch and hugged her knees.

  “Then why are you here?”

  Tia sighed. Typical of men, to miss the obvious and wallow in their own confusion. It was no wonder the great City Minds took to giving out cards that told you who your best match was. “To see you,” she said, a bit more angrily than she’d meant.

  And why hadn’t he picked up on that? Or did city women who’d just met him show up at his door at odd hours of the night all the time?

  Riun downed the last of his tea and stood up. He walked over and sat next to her, and Tia felt a thrill of excitement run through her as the couch shifted from the added weight.

  But Riun didn’t look happy. A weary look had replaced what she had hoped was intrigue. He reached over to her neck and held up the silvered card. “That isn’t wise,” he murmured. “I am here at the courtesy of your city, and I will be expelled if I violate that hospitality. Your city has computed the best possible match already for you. I will not endanger that.”

  He let go of the card suddenly and pulled his hand back.

  For that, she found herself even more interested in him. “You’re right,” she said.

  He relaxed, slightly.

  But Tia grabbed his hand. “You’re right: you’re an outsider. The city never had a chance to run your profile. Maybe we would have been a good match. But we’ll never know. We could never know. And maybe the city made a mistake. There are mistakes made, that’s why there are error checks.” That’s why every game of Gorithims involved cross checks for secondary points.

  Riun pulled his hand gently away and stood up. “Tia, I’m something new and exciting. An outsider. Maybe even a little scary. Many are attracted. I will not destroy your life on a fancy. I can’t.” He walked to the door.

  It was time for her to leave.

/>   At the door she paused, and then looked up at him. “Don’t you get lonely, out there? Traveling those lines by yourself? Is it hard that its only you that ever gets to see those amazing sights? Don’t you wish you could share those adventures?”

  He looked pained. “It is lonely out there, Tia. But few have the courage to truly abandon all they’ve ever known. It sounds exciting, but when it really comes down to it… they can’t make that jump.”

  He’d been let down in the past.

  Tia imagined him watching someone realize what they were doing and rush out of a train at the last second, leaving him alone inside, pulling away.

  What would it be like to rip yourself out of the guts of a city for good?

  ***

  Her father sat in the chair by the entryway playing soligorithim at the family games table. It was odd to see him up this late. He worked an early morning shift at the calculating farms, running numbers on slide rules along with thousands of others.

  He set his playing cards aside and held up a red letter. “This woke us up. It came through mail chute. Priority. For you.”

  Tia read it. A simple warning, generated somewhere deep inside the city’s bowels, just for her.

  It forbade her from seeing Riun for the duration of his stay. Any violation would result in his expulsion.

  “Is there a problem?” her father asked.

  Tia folded the letter up. “Did you read it?”

  “I did.” He looked back down at his cards. “Some of us have had friendships, or… more, before our cardmates were revealed. People we knew and thought we liked. Over time, you realize you were mistaken. The city is wise.”

  “Did you want someone else?” Tia asked.

  Her dad turned back to the cards. “Tomorrow is the banquet, Tia. You should focus on that.”

  Tia walked up the stairs to her room. In bed she lay down and reread the warning.

  It wouldn’t be fair to Riun to get him expelled because of her own confusion. He was a traveler, an explorer of new cities. She wouldn’t rip this one from him, she decided.

  ***

  Her cardmate sat across from her, partially hidden behind a staggering assortment of elaborate cakes, pots of loose teas, coffees, and fancy aerated drinks.

  It seemed like half her street had boiled out of their multi-storied tenements bolted to the sides of the beginning of the ravine’s steep climb to celebrate.

  And Tia found herself forcing her smile.

  One of her aunts patted her shoulder sympathetically. “It gets better,” she whispered. “Give it time. All of us are in shock, at first. It’s okay.”

  So apparently her smile was not very believable.

  Later into the night Owyn found her, trying to hide behind a flower display.

  “Are you feeling well?” he asked hesitantly.

  “Everything is fine,” Tia insisted.

  Owyn stood awkwardly by her, then finally nodded and walked away. Tia sighed. He looked crushed and frustrated. And none of this was really his fault, was it?

  Neither of them left the banquet happy. When Tia got home she just sat in the middle of her room, frustrated and getting angrier.

  Her dad knocked and entered the room. “We have a problem,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” Tia said, looking down at the carpet on her floor. “The city provides. It calculates the best outcomes for us. We have jobs we are engaged with. Lives that are often fulfilling. And I know that Owyn is a good choice. I’m struggling, but I think I’ll get through.”

  “Your aunt just sent a runner, he’s at the door. She says a quarantine order has been issued for you.” Her dad squatted down in front of her. “What have you been doing, Tia?”

  His face was so full of concern it hurt to see. Tia flinched. “I haven’t done anything since I came home.”

  “There must be probabilities, or some new calculations the city has made,” her father muttered. He sat down on another chair and rubbed his forehead. No doubt he was wondering where he had gone wrong in raising her. Or trying to figure out what he could do.

  Which was nothing.

  “Or,” Tia said, “the city is right.” It was strange to think of the city itself bringing its attention on her. It was more than strange: it was scary.

  “What do you mean?” her father asked, looking up.

  “I’m an ambassador. I’m exposed to things that come into the city. It’s my job to stop them. It does mean there is a risk. And I know who I need to talk to.”

  “You can’t leave, there are ambassadors on the way,” her father protested, but Tia was already out of her chair.

  ***

  She used a long black cloak with a hood to help her slip around the shadows of the streets and flit her way to the guest houses.

  When Riun opened the door again, she pushed him back inside and closed the door behind her.

  “What did you do to me?” she demanded.

  “What are you talking about? What are you doing here?”

  “There’s a quarantine command on me. You’ve infected me with something, I want to know what.”

  “It’s just me,” Riun protested. “I’m not an agent. I’m not anything. I don’t have anything.”

  “Then you must have gotten something from someone else,” Tia insisted. “Do you have anti-city propaganda you’ve been exposed to, or thoughts?”

  “What? No!”

  “What city sent you?” Tia poked his chest.

  “It was my own idea. I wanted to see the world. That’s all.”

  Tia threw herself down on the couch. “Then why am I suddenly a threat to peace and order? Why is the city going to quarantine me?”

  “I don’t know.” Riun said. He looked just as upset as she did. “There’s always a risk, being a traveler. That you picked something up somewhere. Some mannerism that a host city will get upset by. But I swear to you, Tia, I haven’t set out to do anything to you. I would never forgive myself if I did.”

  She looked at him sharply. “You seemed quick enough to push me out of the guest house earlier.”

  “For both our sakes, Tia. You and I both know you have a cardmate. You have a place in this city. I won’t jeopardize your life here.”

  But he already had. Just be revealing his existence, she realized.

  She opened her mouth to try and explain this, and a loud rap came from the door.

  “Open up!” shouted an authoritative voice. “Traveler Riun, in the name of the city open up!”

  ***

  Tia stood up. “I’ve ruined it all for both of us, haven’t I?” The city had figured out she came here. Now Riun would be expelled.

  “What will they do to you?” Riun asked, eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem to be worried about expulsion. “Answer me quickly, for I’ve been to many cities, and the punishments for disorder vary wildly, Tia.”

  “Long term quarantine,” Tia said. “Maybe a year. A recomputing of my personality profile based on an interview, pending release. Reeducation during the quarantine.”

  Riun grimaced. Tia stood up and walked over to him. “It’s not your fault, Riun,” she said. “It’s mine for wanting something that isn’t mine to have.”

  She touched his lips with her fingers. To her frustration, he didn’t seem to be sharing the moment with her. His brow was creased with thought, as if he were struggling with something.

  Then he gently held her shoulders. “And what is it you really want, Tia? Is it me, or the traveling? Or to escape the city? Some want to leave it, but there are always more cities, more places you’ll have to navigate carefully. More places you’ll be considered an outside threat by the city’s Mind.”

  Tia looked into his eyes. He looked quite earnest at this moment. So she returned that with honesty. “I know I’m attracted to the outside. I think that’s a part of it. And I think a part of it is you as well. I hope that’s the greater part. But how am I to know? You are not my cardmate.”

  The hammering on the door stopped
. They would be breaking it down shortly.

  “If you truly are in love with both, and not just one of those things, then come with me,” Riun said, and held out a hand.

  ***

  Riun led her to his room and pulled on a coat, then swept his books and notes into his trunk.

  “Lock my door,” he said.

  Tia did, hearing the Ambassadors crashing against the outside door. It creaked, seconds away from breaking open.

  “It’s not uncommon for travelers to have to run for it, when a city changes its mind,” Riun said. “So we always have a way out that we note for each other.”

  He kicked at a panel, and a small section of the wall swung aside. They walked into the empty room next door and closed the false wall behind them. Outside, Ambassadors trooped down the hallway and started banging on Riun’s door.

  Riun took them through two more rooms until they stopped at one with a window onto an alley.

  They squeezed through, yanking his trunk along with them, and clattered out into the alleyway. Riun pulled his collar up, making to run for the street, but Tia stopped him.

  “This way,” she said, pointing at their feet. Wisps of steam leaked out from the edges of a manhole. “There’ll be watchers on the streets. I know the steam tunnels.”

  Inside the dark tunnels they ran for the edge of the city, and emerged near the ravine elevators. Again, Tia directed them away from the street. “I know a faster way, my dad works around here,” she huffed.

  They broke through the doors and ran down the long halls of a calculating factory instead. Clean white, brightly lit, and filled with thousands of sober-faced men and women, leaning over abacus trays, flicking beads in response to equations being offered up to them by blinking lights near their control boards.

  Their presence caused a rippling effect of commotion as they passed through, with calculators in clean white robes standing up to shout at them.

  Tia threw open the rear doors, and they pushed past the handfuls of people waiting to board the city elevators. Curses and complaints followed them, but Riun shut the cage to the elevator shut and Tia hit the switches.

 

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