by Gene Wolfe
“You’re saying that’s what my bracelet was. I believe you.”
“I believe it, too.” Gideon looked glummer than ever. “As of now I can’t prove it, but I believe it. The first clue was that it was a massive gold bracelet without gems. You called it barbaric, but that’s not Reis’s style. The weight of the long box he kept it in made my conclusion almost certain. He wouldn’t have wanted to carry it around without some shielding. There are millions of craftsmen who could make him a long box of thin lead and cover it with leather. Ian Mersey might manage it. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Who’s Ian Mersey?”
“Oh. The man who repaired your wall.”
“You know him?”
“Slightly, yes. He seems a good all-around handyman; but I’d like to talk about biology, and we don’t have much time.”
“I’m not ready yet. Where do you think our friend got the radioactive gold?”
“I believe he made it. I suppose you’re right — it isn’t really clear that he did, but it’s what I think. I think it because it explains other things.”
“Like why the president wants him,” Cassie said.
“Exactly.” Gideon gave her a sad nod. “They want him, and they want him alive. Alive because they want him to tell them where his equipment is and how to operate it. Why they’ve found him so hard to catch is another question, one I can’t answer yet. May I talk about biology?”
“No. Where were you, Gid? What happened? I want to know about those things.”
He nodded. “You should know them, too. I was walking down the second-floor hall of my building, on my way to my flat. I heard a noise and saw a man behind me with a gun. I broke down the nearest door, hoping to hide in there. He shot me as I was going through the doorway.”
“You can’t be sure? I want to see your leg.”
“You won’t, because I’m not going to take the bandage off. Not yet. Anyway, he followed me in and I threw a cleaver at him. It hit him in the face and must have cut him pretty badly. He dropped his gun and ran.”
“And?”
“I tied dish towels around my leg and drove over to see a man I know. He’s not a doctor, but he knows a lot about treating bullet wounds. He told me I was lucky; the bullet hadn’t hit anything important and had gone through, so he didn’t have to worry about getting it out. He took out some scraps of cloth — tiny scraps, you understand — sewed me up, dressed the wounds, and gave me a couple of injections. After that, I came here.”
“To see me.”
“Correct. I wanted to tell you what the situation was, and see whether they had gone after you.”
“Is that all?”
“I wanted to see you and hear your voice. One more time, knowing it might be the last time.” Gideon, who did not often meet her eyes, was meeting them now. “I don’t think Reis is going to hurt you. Not soon at least, and perhaps not ever. But he’s decided to kill me, and he may succeed.”
She took his hand. “I said I didn’t want to talk about biology, Gid, but we’re talking about biology.”
He nodded.
“Is he watching this place?”
“I don’t know. He may well be. If it was watched when I came in, I may have been seen. If it’s watched now, they may get me when I go out. I have no way of knowing.”
“You’re certain this wasn’t just some criminal?”
“I am. They don’t do that. Fire at a man walking down a hall? Fire without warning, without any demand for money?” Gideon took a deep breath and let it out. “He wanted to kill me. That was his objective. I know of no one other than Reis who might want me dead, so it seems safe to assume Reis sent him. From what I’ve learned, he must have hundreds of millions. Perhaps a billion or more. He could pay for any number of assassinations and never feel the pinch.”
“From poisoned gold.”
“Poisoned gold and other things. I can’t prove it, but I’m confident the gold’s his principal business. He’d prefer that it weren’t poisoned, presumably; but he can’t decontaminate it, so he sells it as is. I’d be very much surprised to learn that he handled big shipments himself.”
“So would I. Want a drink? Last chance — we close in five minutes.”
“No, thanks.”
“Well, I do.” Cassie disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and returned with a glass of wine. “Can I ask a question?”
“About biology? Certainly.”
“Nope. About Dr. Gideon Chased.”
He tried to smile.
“Margaret was in here. So was the man who fixed my wall. You showed up as soon as the coast was clear. Was that coincidence?”
He shook his head. “You’re very perceptive. I was listening.”
“Where the people have gone to Europe?”
“Correct. You’re going to say that the repairman was in there. You’re right; he was. I tried to stay out of his way until he left.”
“The man you know just slightly.” Cassie sat down and sipped. “Sure you don’t want one of these, Gid? It’s just Chablis.”
She made a living portrait, Gideon thought: Lady in a Spring-Green Gown. Aloud he said, “Very unsure. I do want one. In fact, I want half the bottle. It’s simply that I can’t afford to drink half a glass.”
“They’re looking for your car, the brown one. Did you know?”
“No, but I’m not surprised.”
“If they find it, will they find you?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t think so. Aren’t you afraid they’ll come here? You think our friend’s had you watched. Anybody who’s been watching you would guess you might come here.”
“You’re right. I’m testing. I don’t think Reis will want you to see me die. If I’m right, I’m safer here than almost anywhere else; if I’m wrong, I’ll find out when they break down your door.”
“What if they’re watching the building?”
Gideon shrugged. “I think they are. Certainly I have to behave as though they are. As I will.’
He picked up his walking stick. “Biology, and then I’ll go. I’m not sure where I ought to begin, so let’s try this. Are you aware of shape-changers? Werewolves and their ilk?”
“I suppose everybody’s heard of them. Are you going to say there really are such things?”
“There are. I know a few. Some human beings can transform themselves, Cassie. The cells of their bodies rearrange themselves. It’s actually a lot more complex than that, but that’s the basic idea. The weight has to stay the same, you understand. If a hundred-pound woman becomes a she-wolf, it’s a hundred-pound she-wolf. Wolves, dogs, and leopards are the most common forms.”
Cassie set down her glass. “Either you’re kidding me, or you’re crazy. Which is it?”
“Neither.” He shook his head. “The most common forms, I said. The most common forms but not the only forms. Keep that in mind, please. It’s important.”
“I’ll try. Wait a minute! You were talking about that advisor — I forget his name.”
“John.”
“Right. He said they knew more biology on Woldercan. Are you going to tell me they can change themselves into dragons or something?”
“They cannot transform as we do. Not at all. What they can do — this is a side issue — is the thing that made John think they knew more biology. You see, he knows what they can do, but not what his own kind can do.”
“My life was so simple before I met you.” Cassie sighed. “I ought to dump you and go back. Why don’t I do that?”
Gideon’s hands flexed the walking stick as though he wanted to break it. “Because you know I love you. With all my faults... I have a great many, believe me.”
“I don’t.” Some unfamiliar emotion had Cassie by the throat. “I don’t know anything about any faults of yours, and I wish you’d come over here.”
“You’ll encounter more as we go along.” A painful smile flickered and died. “Indifference to you will never be one of them, howeve
r. Hasn’t it ever seemed strange to you that though some humans can become animals, we never hear of animals becoming human?”
“Weremen, Gid?” She wondered whether she sounded as puzzled as she felt.
“That would be man-men. But yes, that’s the idea.”
“I’d never even thought of it.”
“It almost never happens because it is much, much easier to go down than to go up. It’s so easy to go down that werewolves have trouble maintaining their human forms at times.”
“I still don’t believe you.” Cassie looked stubborn.
“You’re beautiful like that. Of course all your other expressions are beautiful, too. You must believe me, but that doesn’t worry me. You will.”
“John didn’t.”
“We didn’t even discuss this. He knows that male Wolders can hybridize with lower animals, the males having the ability to alter the DNA in their semen enough to make it acceptable to the female’s reproductive system. Like you, he doesn’t believe that any human has the ability to transform.”
“I should be talking to him. Are you going to tell me you’re a werewolf?”
“Let’s get that out of the way. No, I’m no werewolf. I don’t have the ability to transform at all. Not down, and certainly not up. Those human beings who can transform up find it almost impossibly difficult. In almost every case, they require expert assistance.”
Bewildered, Cassie shook her head. “I don’t get it. Do they become angels? Or — or...” She froze, one hand clutching her glass, the other clenched.
“Yes.” With the help of the walking stick, Gideon rose. “I may die today. It’s entirely possible and almost probable. It is easy, terribly easy, for someone who has transformed up to slip back down; and it wouldn’t be right for me to die without having warned you. Without having warned you and without having told you I love you. I have, and now I’ll go.”
NOT long afterward, the maintenance man who had repaired Cassie’s wall loaded a large cardboard box into the back of his pickup. Lettering on the box indicated that it contained a toilet particularly adapted to the needs of invalids and the handicapped. It was clearly heavy; but he was just as clearly strong, lifting it from his cart and sliding it onto the back of his truck with only a small grunt of effort.
When the truck had covered about three and a half miles, Gideon (who was finding the interior of that box almost unbearably stuffy) opened the top and risked a look around. After another quarter mile he had established to his own satisfaction that the truck was bound for the remote suburb of Sweden Hill. For the moment, he had escaped Reis; and he was seized by a presentiment that he would eventually triumph. A song he had heard years ago — a chantey he would have sworn that he had forgotten — slipped back into his consciousness.
“We’re a Liverpool ship with a Liverpool crew.
Yo, ho, blow the man down!”
His clear tenor rose above the hum of the tires.
“A Liverpool mate and a scouse skipper, too.
Give me some time to blow the man down!”
THE DOTTED LINE
“Please understand, Cassie. Please!”
She felt sure India was striving to sound sympathetic.
“If you don’t sign, the deal will collapse. Everybody will be out of work. All your friends. The whole cast.”
The read-through had wound up a quarter of an hour ago, and they stood upon the darkened stage of the Tiara and conversed in stage whispers. Ghostly echoes of lines spoken long years ago had muted India’s voice and now muted Cassie’s as she said, “Everybody being you and Vince. I’ve got it.”
“A lot more, Cassie. Norma’s already on board, and I’m planning to sign half a dozen other people.”
“Norma’s signed?” Cassie raised a carefully darkened eyebrow.
“Today. Before you came.”
“Before you heard her read the sister. Before you even knew she’d be right for it.”
“No! I know what she can do, and she could play Jane Brownlea with her eyes shut. She’s like Vince. Like you. A natural for her part.”
“Who’s going to play the sailor?”
India shrugged. “Up for grabs. I’ve got feelers out to various agencies.”
“Bruce?” Cassie smiled.
India shook her head. “He’s great for spoiled rich guys. Not for the mate of a whaling ship. I want somebody not too tall, tough-looking, and muscular. Sexy. Bruce is sexy, I admit, but not sexy in the right way.”
“As I am.” The smile had gone inside.
“Exactly. You can get out there and be the reverend’s twenty-year-old daughter, brought up in exciting prayer meetings and hotter ’n hell’s horoscope. It came through in every line you read. I’m pretty damned sure you can be sexy in a dozen other ways, too. Bruce has only got one.”
Cassie considered that, her head tilted to one side. “Tell me something, India. Make it as honest as you can. Woman to woman.”
“At your service. Sisterhood forever.”
“Would you get in bed with him to save the show?”
“With Bruce?” India shook her head.
“Of course not. You know who I mean. Would you?”
“I’m not into men, Cassie, and they’re not into me.”
“That’s a no. You’re expecting me to do something you wouldn’t do.”
“Holy snot, Wanton Woman!” India pushed back a stray wisp of coarse, dark hair. “Cassie, darling, everything you just said was wrong. That wasn’t a no, I was saying it would be harder — I mean tougher for me, and a whole lot less likely. Yes, I would. I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I’d yell and cry on his shoulder and put on the best damned act he ever saw. We’re soul sisters — women together. Right? You said that.”
Cassie’s nod was guarded. “Sometimes we are.”
“Good. This’s one of the times, and I wouldn’t ask my sister to do something I wouldn’t do myself. Only I never asked you to, Cassie darling. I want you to sign on the dotted line, that’s all. I want you to be Mariah Brownlea and give Wally a sporting chance to talk you into the sack. If he does, fine. He won’t be any happier than I will. If he doesn’t, just string him along for a year or so. He’s not the type to give up easily.”
He’s not the type to give up at all, Cassie thought. Aloud she said, “Somebody’s listening to us. Do you know that?”
“Ghosts.” India shrugged.
“Maybe. But somebody’s listening, somebody who hears every word.”
“We can go somewhere else.”
After a moment, Cassie shook her head.
“All right, keep your voice down and try to forget it. There’s nobody here except us. How many men have you made it with?”
“That’s my business, India. Mind your own.”
India grinned. “You can’t remember.”
“The hell I can’t. I’ve been married twice. How’s that?”
“I’m going to guess. I’m going to say a dozen.”
“Nuts!” Cassie turned away.
“You won’t tell, so I have to guess and that’s mine. What are the odds that Wally will be worse than anybody in the first twelve was? Pretty long, huh? And Cassie dear — ” Ponderously, India circled to face her again. “Here’s a sure thing, a lead-pipe cinch. He’ll be richer than the first twelve put together. One hell of a lot richer.”
“Good point.” Cassie’s smile would have etched steel. “When you work, you ask what you’re worth, don’t you? I always do.”
Reluctantly, India nodded.
“Well, I’m worth a whole lot to you. And to — what did you just call him? Our friend?”
“I called him Wally. I call him Wally and he calls me India.”
“I know another name,” Cassie said.
“Really? What is it?”
“Indie.” Cassie smiled again. “Don’t you think Indie would be nicer? Rhymes with undies.”
As India turned and stalked away, Cassie bowed to six hundred twenty-one empty seats. “I hope y
ou liked our little show.”
Applause reached her out of the darkness, the sound of a single pair of hands clapping.
VERY few people can maintain their concentration while reading legal prose, and Cassie was not one of them. On page seven, she discovered that she had just read the same paragraph three times, and still had only the foggiest notion of what it meant.
A knock rescued her. She dropped the sheaf of papers and jumped up to admit Margaret.
“I’m awfully sorry to bother you like this, Miss Casey,” Margaret said as she trotted through Cassie’s doorway, “but Miss Dempster won’t leave me alone.”
“I know how you feel.”
“So I said I’d measure you. You said it would be all right. On the phone?”
Cassie nodded. “I remember.”
“I’ve got my tape measure and my notebook. That’s all I need now, and my little camera. Pictures help sometimes. Take off your slip, Miss Casey? That would be the best.”
“I’m not wearing one.” Cassie demonstrated, dropping her skirt and stepping out of it.
“You can keep on your briefs and bra,” Margaret told her, “but I’ll need you to take off your blouse and those shoes.”
Cassie did.
“Hold your arms out to the sides, please, Miss Casey. Do you know, I never did believe that tiny little waist. But it’s real. How do you do it?”
“I don’t,” Cassie said. For a moment she was tempted to say that Gideon had done it.
“I always measure twice to be sure.” Margaret whipped her yellow tape around Cassie’s waist for the second time. “That’s the best way, and that way I don’t — ”
There was a knock and Cassie said, “Get that, will you please?”
Margaret put on the security chain and opened Cassie’s door two and a half inches. “Whom may I — ”
“Cassie! It’s me! Have you read the contract yet?”