RAINBOW RUN

by John F. Carr

  I helped myself to some of Boget's jarva and lost myself in sleep. I hoped I wouldn't dream of running from the elite guards. My dreams were of Lyonella. She came to me like a succubus that hovered over me in the darkness. I couldn't make out her features but I felt her presence. I was lying on my back.

  In a voice so hoarse with passion that I hardly recognized it, she said, "Lie still. I will do everything."

  She aroused me quickly, mounted me, and began a series of sensual motions—clenching and releasing, drawing me into her warm wetness, bracing herself by pressing her hands against my wrists as if to hold me to the platform while she rocked back and forth. I could feel my imminent climax building. Everything seemed so real, I could scarcely believe it was a dream.

  In a throaty, breathless voice she said, "Now. With me. Both of us together." Everything happened at once. I felt her climax along with my own.

  Suddenly, the lights came on.

  I was looking into the face of Ozerta.

  A voice from the doorway said, "You're under arrest."

  I recognized the voice—it was Incate’s.

  EIGHTEEN

  Ozerta recovered before I did. I was shocked that this hadn’t been a dream, that my sexual partner was not Lyonella, and that Incate and Prevance had entered Boget’s dwell. I lay on the sleep platform stunned while Ozerta calmly got up and slipped a tunic over her well-shaped body. She said to Incate and Prevance, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

  Incate started to speak but Prevance restrained him and said, "My name is Prevance. My partner’s name is Incate. We are special investigators sent here by the Universalist Council—"

  Ozerta stepped into her sandals, smoothed her blonde hair back from her face, and interrupted with, "I'll get Boget or Wanklurm to straighten this out."

  Then looking at me, she asked, "Where's Boget?"

  Incate answered, "Boget's dead. Your friend here knows that. The last time we were in this dwell we found him here with the corpse. What are you doing here? Replacing an old lover with a new one?"

  Ozerta, looking down her nose at Incate, asked, "Do you know who I am?"

  Her haughty tone reminded me of the bickering couple in my Simulike experience; she was the woman of that couple.

  Incate answered, "You're Ozerta, overseer of the House of Rebirth. You are being arrested for conspiracy."

  Ozerta addressed both investigators. "Do you two think I had something to do with Boget's death? I've been in the Fane of Change. When I was ready to leave, I was given a message from Boget saying he had a surprise for me. I came here and was surprised to find my lover waiting for me. He's been missing for some time. I was afraid that Wanklurm had imprisoned him."

  Turning to me, as I was rising from the sleep platform, she asked, "What happened to you, Tannet? What kept you away from me?"

  I was confused by her questions. The only memory I had of Ozerta was the pixcube that Clandine had showed me. Prevance spoke before I could gather my thoughts and produce an answer. He said, "You know this man as Tannet?"

  "Yes. He's a very important person. He's going to become a rainbow and be the new overseer of the clergy."

  "He claims to be a blanc who took the name of Rathe," Incate said. "I think he's found some drug that enabled him to beat the vericator."

  Ozerta looked at me and asked, "What's going on here, Tannet? Tell them who you really are."

  "The only name I have for myself is Rathe. I entered this life as a nu-blanc, dumped into the Rainbow Room to die. I managed to survive. Boget got me this white wristlock and wanted me to help run the Simulike Palace."

  I saw sadness in Ozerta's expression as she asked, "You have no memory of me, of being a master Game player, of our plans for the future?"

  "I'm sorry. No."

  She turned to Incate, her face red, saying, "Wanklurm and his crazy jealousy! We argued a lot but I never thought he'd try to stop my affair with you by such drastic means. He must have done it. Had you brainwiped and dumped in the Rainbow Room. He knew that if your body had turned up in the Medical Complex, I would have heard about it. Boget must have recognized you and befriended you so you and I could be together again."

  That explained two things: why I had been left to die after being brainwiped and why it had been so easy for me to insinuate myself into Boget's life. He had recognized me and thought he was doing a favor for Ozerta. He had me stay in his dwell so Wanklurm wouldn't know I was still alive.

  Now I knew who my enemy was—Wanklurm, the most powerful person on the planet. Ozerta said they had argued, a verbal confirmation that she and Wanklurm were the bickering couple in my Simulike experience.

  Prevance said, "It's time for all of us to go to the overseers' urbode and investigate this further."

  Ozerta asked, "You still think I had something to do with Boget's death? That's unreasonable. He was my friend."

  Incate said, with a triumphant note in his voice, "You are being arrested for conspiracy to import and distribute Cainenol."

  Ozerta's face fell. Her posture sagged. Prevance halfway supported her as we headed for the door.

  Incate said, "I've got a stun gun to make sure that all four of us get where we're going." He glanced at me as he said it. His suspicions and hostility toward me had not been diminished by this episode.

  On the slideway Ozerta asked me, "Who killed Boget and why?" I answered, "Errox. He wants to take Boget's place."

  Ozerta said scornfully, "That little gray upstart. Wanklurm will kill him."

  "That's enough talk until we get you hooked up to a vericator," Incate said.

  He was looking at Ozerta as he said it, but I knew that he didn't believe I was telling him the complete truth.

  When we got to the overseers' urbode, Ozerta demanded that Wanklurm be notified that she was under arrest. Prevance told her that wasn't going to happen. He didn't tell her that he knew Wanklurm was part of the Cainenol conspiracy. I was careful not to reveal anything to Ozerta. I didn't want to increase the suspicions that Incate, and perhaps Prevance, had about me.

  The vericator session with Ozerta was attended by Incate, Prevance, Yondoka, Nordel, Arvon, and me. Everyone had been briefed on the situation including my part in it. I knew that my story would be verified if I submitted to a vericator session, but I wanted to be trusted without being tested.

  I hoped that Ozerta's session would confirm at least part of what I'd revealed about seeking contacts in the gray community to locate Errox, as well as going to Boget's dwell to avoid the elite guards who were looking for someone who had killed one of their number.

  I asked where Clandine was and was told she was pursuing a possible lead on the location of Flantel. According to cleric sources, Flantel was away on a spiritual retreat. I remembered his rampant sexuality on All Hues Day. Evidently he found sexuality and spirituality compatible.

  Prevance started the questioning, "Ozerta, you are accused of conspiring with Boget, Flantel, and Wanklurm to import and distribute Cainenol. Do you admit your guilt?"

  "No," she answered, her voice firm.

  "Do you deny your guilt?"

  "I have no reason to admit or deny anything."

  I was surprised by Ozerta's response. I'd been the subject of two vericator sessions and I'd observed two others, one with the dying Crusader and the other one with Dreena, the smitty. I'd told the truth because it seemed like the only course to follow. The dying Crusader was certain that she would be reborn in paradise and she knew that she had no information that would damage the Freedom Crusaders so she had no reason to be reticent. Dreena was truthful because she knew nothing that would be disadvantageous to her lover Errox. She had been working at an illegal trade for some time and may have been prepared for eventual discovery and arrest.

  But Ozerta was skilled in dealing with the vericator session. She neither confirmed nor denied, giving nothing away. She was being defiant even though she must be without hope. Prevance asked a few more questions without any significa
nt results. Yondoka tapped him on the shoulder to indicate she would take over the interrogation. Prevance stepped back. Incate glared at Yondoka.

  Yondoka said, "Ozerta, I understand your reluctance to answer questions. We know that you, Boget, Flantel, and Wanklurm conspired to bring in Cainenol. Boget is dead. Flantel will soon be under arrest. We are formulating plans to arrest Wanklurm as soon as that can be done with a minimum of violence. We don't need your testimony to convict anyone. What we do want is information that will help us transform this culture into one that is based on truth and responsible freedom. We would like your help. Do you have any questions that you'd like the answer to?"

  Ozerta looked at Yondoka and asked, "What's going to happen to me?"

  "You won't be allowed to continue living as Ozerta," Yondoka said. "You'll be subjected to memory removal. Your appearance will be altered to conceal your previous identity and you'll start life over."

  "So I'm to be brainwiped, reassembled and made to live on this planet again."

  "Yes."

  "I want the suicide option. I want your guarantee that if I answer all your questions, you will allow me to use the suicide chamber in the Medical Complex."

  I hadn't known there was a suicide chamber. There were a lot of things I didn't know.

  "The suicide option is yours if you want it. Will you tell me why that is your choice?"

  "I don't want another life as a prisoner."

  "You won't be a prisoner," he said. "You'll be as free as the rest of us."

  Ozerta said, in a louder than normal voice, "You people don't know you are prisoners. All of you. This is a prison planet. We are all imprisoned here because we are the genetic undesirables from the twenty-two Universalist planets."

  I looked at the monitor and saw that she believed what she was saying. I felt as if someone had thrown cold water in my face. We had all been judged undesirable on a genetic basis.

  Yondoka appearedshocked. Nordel looked pensive.

  Arvon kept his face impassive but his posture became rigid.

  Prevance and Incate exchanged looks with each other. I wasn't sure what those looks meant but I was certain that they were displeased about what was being revealed.

  "Genetically undesirable in what way?" Nordel asked.

  Ozerta took a deep breath and said, "All of us sent here have a genetic combination that makes us potentially capable of possession—taking over the mind and body of another human being for a short time and imposing our will. I was given the whole history by Wanklurm when I became a rainbow. The Universalists used to kill us in the early days; until they discovered that the same genetic combination included a potential for forecasting the future. To utilize these predictive abilities, the Universalist Council set up this planet as a self-sustaining prison with a culture that discouraged any change and offered the cruel illusion of upward mobility."

  The believability line on the monitor never wavered. What Ozerta was saying fit with what Nordel had revealed previously, that the Game was nothing more than an elaborate forecasting system.

  Arvon looked at her in disbelief. "If we have this possession ability, why aren't there any manifestations of it here on this planet?"

  Ozerta replied, "The machines that harness the tidal energy emit a frequency that blocks possession here and keeps the possession signals from leaving the planet. The Simulike machines were intended to guide the possession energy into dreamlike sequences in order to keep the population content. Some time ago it was discovered that a design flaw allowed some people to overcome the frequency blockers.

  “When Boget learned that he would be getting new Simulike machines, he thought it would be a perfect opportunity to import Cainenol, a drug he thought would be interesting for experimental use. Boget thought he could bring Cainenol in first with the machines and then later with the blancs sent to the House of Rebirth. That's when he, Flantel, Wanklurm, and I decided we would get our revenge on the Universalists.

  “Boget loved the intrigue. Flantel wanted Cainenol to create love slaves. Wanklurm wanted to become ruler of the planet and threatened to dismantle the Delphiunits unless the Universalist Council met his demands. I merely wanted to live the rest of my life as a queen; my compensation for the hard work I performed to become a rainbow—only to find that the eternal life I'd been promised was a fraudulent deception."

  Yondoka responded in a kindly voice, "Ozerta, it must have been terribly disturbing for you to realize that the House of Rebirth was merely a receiving station for the unwanted people from the Universalist worlds."

  She nodded with tears welling in her eyes. "I turned the day-to-day operations over to my associates. I could no longer stand to see the blancs arrive in their pods—fully grown but brainwiped and sterilized like the rest of us so we can't reproduce."

  A perplexed Yondoka asked, "What do you mean by fully grown, sterilized and can’t reproduce?"

  Ozerta asked, "You don't know how human beings are created?"

  "Reincarnation is what I always believed, until I just heard we were blancs from other worlds. Now I don't know. Tell me."

  "Human beings are created through sexual intercourse. When a man's ejaculate enters a woman's vagina, there is a substance in the ejaculate that can combine with eggs that are sometimes present in the woman's body. This combination, when it exists, forms a tiny human within the woman's body. This is called reproduction. After three seasons, the tiny human emerges from the vagina. Over a long period of time the tiny human becomes larger and larger. When the process halts, the human is considered fully grown, like all of us.

  “Sterilization is the medical process that ends the capacity of humans to produce the substances that can create a tiny human."

  The monitor said she was telling the truth but I found it difficult to comprehend. I had experienced sexual relations with Lyonella and with Ozerta. It seemed inconceivable to me that such an act could have such far-reaching consequences. I wasn't the only one having trouble digesting this information.

  Yondoka and Nordel had reached out to hold hands; both seemed to be in a state of confusion.

  Arvon's head was angled toward his left sandal. His facial expression was troubled, as if lost in thought.

  Prevance and Incate glanced at each other as both of them endeavored to reveal nothing by their facial expressions. I was certain that this was not new information for them. After the initial shock of Ozerta's information wore off, I said, "Incate and Prevance. You already knew this, didn't you?"

  Incate blustered.

  Prevance said, "We were not authorized to tell you. We were instructed to avoid revealing anything that might disrupt this culture."

  "Are you two sterilized genetic undesirables also?" I asked.

  They both nodded.

  "How does the Universalist Council prevent possession actions on your part?"

  Prevance answered, "We have implants that block the signals."

  “Enough,” Nordel ordered. "We'll discuss this later and decide if the two of you should be subjected to separate vericator sessions. Does anyone need more information from Ozerta?"

  No one did. I think we all had gotten more information than we had been ready to absorb.

  Nordel asked Ozerta, "How soon do you want to utilize the suicide chamber?"

  "As soon as I can be disconnected from this machine and given a chance to clean up and get a fresh tunic."

  Incate said, "I'll accompany her to the Medical Complex."

  Yondoka, ignoring Incate, asked, "Who would you like to escort you, Ozerta?"

  "Just Tannet, whom you know as Rathe."

  I nodded acceptance and said, "I'll wait in the lounge until you're ready."

  By the time I'd finished a cup of cokafa, Yondoka entered the lounge with Ozerta. Ozerta and I went to the Medical Complex, followed at a discrete distance by Arvon, who was to make sure that Ozerta didn't try to escape. I wasn't sure that Arvon was needed because Ozerta's manner indicated that the only thing she wanted to
escape was this life.

  In the Medical Complex, she held both my hands, looked into my eyes, and said, "I’m sorry it didn't work out, but what you and I had together are the best memories I have of this life."

  "I only wish I shared your memories," I said sadly, knowing I was about to lose the only person who truly knew who I had once been.

  She stepped into the chamber and was gone. Along with my past….

  NINETEEN

  When I returned from the Medical Complex to the overseers’ urbode, there was a visitor waiting for me, a slender, brown-haired woman with brown skin and a gray wristlock who introduced herself as Quenlu and told me she would take me to Kahalyton who wanted to see me. I left with her.

  There were very few people traveling on the slideway. I commented on this and Quenlusaid, "Kahalyton has advised all the Counter Colors to make no trips unless they are essential because they might be mistaken for Crusaders. Wanklurm's white caps are killing suspected Crusaders on sight. They're using those guns that shoot a lightning bolt. Once you're hit, it's permanent cardiac arrest."

  "Are we in danger?"

  "Probably not,” she answered. “Your white wristlock identifies you as not being a Crusader—they're all grays. If we were both grays the guards would probably stop us as suspects and kill us."

  We changed slidestrips. At the slideway interchange there was a pair of VIS patrolling. A group of four elite guards entered the interchange. Both groups avoided making eye contact with each other. The white caps got on behind us. My guide leaned close to me and said, "Time to put on the show. Kiss me and pull up my tunic enough to show my rump. Put your hand on it. Make certain that the white caps see your white wristlock against my brown bottom. They'll think you're a Listener or a Cleric with a sexually interested client."

  I'm sure the kiss and fondling convinced the elite guards that we were a couple headed to a private spot for sexual intimacy. I found myself almost convinced after the second kiss aroused me. The guards saw my condition as we moved to a slower strip and they passed by us.