The Wipe

by Nik Abnett

  “The residents?” asked Dharma.

  “Who else? Your mother died… It was a while ago.”

  “Yes, nearly two years. Is there a problem?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose it’s fine. You aren’t doing any harm. You’re welcome whenever you like. I don’t get many visitors in the garden.”

  “The residents don’t come down here? I thought my mother did.”

  “She did, and Libby still comes down most days. She stays in at the weekends to talk to her daughter, so you’re the only person I’ve seen on a Saturday for a long time.”

  “I didn’t mean to disturb you,” said Dharma.

  “You haven’t,” said Patience, smiling. “It’s always nice to see someone… Two years since your mother died, you said.”

  “Almost. The anniversary’s just a few weeks away.”

  “Well,” said Patience, “all the time your id gets you into the garden, you’re very welcome here.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And think about growing something,” said Patience. “I can give you all the seeds you’ll need for a window box.”

  “I will,” said Dharma. She picked some geraniums, and walked away towards the gate. When she reached it, she turned and looked back at the main entrance to the building. She stood for a minute, thinking, and then she walked up to the door and showed her id to the scanner. The door opened. Dharma stood in front of it for a few moments, not knowing quite what to do, since she had no one to visit. Then she turned and the door closed.

  She jogged home, quite comfortably, and only passed through the wipe at the entrance to her building, once. When she got home, she went into her living room, and crossed the room to the window. Her shower could wait for a minute. Dharma reached for the handle, and the window swung open, easily, on its hinge. She pulled the window back towards her, and the inertia kept it there, open just a little.

  Dharma left the window while she went to take her shower. When she’d dressed and come back into the room with her cup of geraniums, the window was just as she’d left it. Nothing in the room seemed to have changed at all.

  Perhaps she would have a window box, one of these days.

  Forty-six

  “She’s gone,” said Con. “She took a transfer.”

  “What do you mean, she took a transfer? And who are we talking about?” asked Blythe.

  “Anley Corp has cubicles in another building near here, and Joy asked to be transferred. Apparently, she’s been looking for a station in a cubicle of four for a while now.”

  “Well, good for her.”

  “Someone’s coming to remove her station overnight, so we’ll have a bit more space.”

  “That makes no sense. This is a three person cubicle.”

  “We get an extra connection, too,” said Con. “We have to share it, though. I couldn’t get it allocated to you, but I got a two-thirds split, so you get it for two weeks out of three. It means you can speak to Dharma, without giving up your old friend.”

  “Back up,” said Blythe. “You realise that I don’t have a clue what’s going on, here?”

  “I’m ninetieth percentile,” said Con.

  “And you do like to brag about that, don’t you?”

  “You’ve earned enough incentive and bonus points to bump you up to eightieth percentile.”

  “So?”

  “So, I got you a promotion,” said Con. “It didn’t take much, I just filled out the form.”

  “Aren’t I supposed to do that?”

  “We key-in, here, and I know your id.”

  “You pretended to be me!” said Blythe.

  “It sounds appalling now that you say it. I was trying to do a nice thing, and I was trying to keep a third person out of the cubicle.”

  “Weren’t you the one who said ‘a change is as good as a rest’?”

  “I believe I might have said that, at some point. Here’s the upside: you get to do more interesting work, you get an extra connection two weeks out of three, and we get a little more space in this cubicle… and a little more privacy.”

  “And the downside?” asked Blythe.

  “As far as I’m concerned, there is no downside. But if there’s a downside for you, let me know, and I’ll do my best to fix it. Anley Corp likes me, especially now that I’ve promised to un-demote myself, and do some higher level stuff for them.”

  “I thought you had to be in a single to do that,” said Blythe.

  “Not if you sign some forms saying you won’t divulge any proprietary data. You’re eightieth percentile now, and I vouched for you.”

  “And you think I want that kind of responsibility?” asked Blythe.

  “I know you’re better than the job you’re doing, and I know you’re on auto. You’ll get much more fun out of the work this way. It gets pretty interesting.”

  “Okay, assuming I go along with that…There has to be a downside.”

  “Oh,” said Con. “There is one other thing.”

  “Go on.”

  “You can adjust your tariff. You’ve gone up a pay scale.”

  Blythe was smiling, but cautious.

  “So what is it you want from me?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” said Con. “But if you did want to return the favour, you have been putting off taking that walk with me for weeks now.”

  “Ah,” said Blythe, “there’s the downside. I have to take a long walk with you one weekend.”

  “You don’t have to, but you’ve agreed to it, in principle, several times, and you always back out at the last minute.”

  “It doesn’t scare you?” asked Blythe.

  “It really doesn’t. It’s completely safe. I’ve planned a route and I know where we’re going. I’ve even booked two seats at a lunch bar, so that we can take a break when we get to the district line.”

  “And there it is!” said Blythe.

  “You’re afraid to cross the district line,” said Con.

  “I’m afraid to cross the district line without proper authorisation. Aren’t you?”

  “No, and I’ll tell you why. We aren’t putting in requisition forms for route assignment or for transport. Transport has to pass through quarantine wipes, and you need proper authorisation for that.”

  “And?” asked Blythe.

  “And, if we’re walking, we don’t have to pass through the quarantine wipes.”

  “And if we get caught?”

  “Then, we’re just out for a walk, and we didn’t realise we’d crossed the line.”

  “Do you seriously think anyone’s going to believe that?” asked Blythe.

  “I seriously believe that no one’s going to stop us to ask.”

  “This really doesn’t scare you?”

  “It really doesn’t scare me,” said Con. “I’m n–”

  “Ninetieth percentile. Yes, I know. But does that make you clever enough to break the law and get away with it?”

  “We aren’t breaking any laws by walking around. We’d only be breaking a law if we deviated from assigned routes, or hi-jacked transport. We haven’t been assigned a route, and I had no plans to steal transport. I wouldn’t know how to drive, anyway.”

  “You’re confident we wouldn’t be breaking any laws?”

  “Utterly confident,” he said. “Look, we’ll go through it all, together. I’ll show you some of the old maps, and you can see how route-planning works. It’s easy. Nothing can go wrong. You just have to know where you are and where you’re going.”

  “And you know where we’re going, hypothetically?”

  “I do. I’m sorry that I can’t tell you where that is, but I know exactly where we’re going and why.”

  “Okay. I’ll think about it some more, and I’ll let you show me how those old maps work… After that, I’ll think about it, again.

  “That’s all I ask,” said Con.

  “And I’ve got another connection for two weeks out of three?”

  “You can open your connection with Dharma to
day, and talk to her as much as you like.”

  “Good,” said Blythe.

  When it was time for lunch, Con got up from his station, and pulled a sweater over his head. Blythe often wondered why he wore a sweater, even on hot days.

  “I feel like a walk, today,” he said. “You can have all the privacy you need to talk to Dharma. I’ll bring back coffee.”

  “Thanks,” said Blythe. It had been a long morning, filling out non-disclosure forms, working through instruction manuals, and doing tests, for her to learn her new job. It was exciting though, and she didn’t, for one moment, miss the Anley Corp invoice template.

  Blythe opened her connection to Dharma, and they talked for half an hour. Blythe had managed to read through a lot of the data that Dharma had sent her, but she was more interested in the personal stories, in who Dharma was, and what she was like. She asked about how Dharma had found her, too.

  +I have good access to records, as part of my job+

  +Personal records?+

  +I’ve done some data analysis for good genetic matches, so some medical records, yes+

  +That’s how you found me?+

  +Your id was on your mother’s medical record+

  +You know things about me and Mum+

  +Only data…+

  +You paused, Dharma, what aren’t you telling me?+

  +Nothing… You’re very lucky to be here, Blythe, and I feel very lucky to have you here+

  +Yes+

  +Did Liberty, your mum, tell you anything about your birth?+

  +My mother can be difficult… demanding. I love her, but she’s too invested in me. I always disappoint+

  +Don’t be too hard on her+

  +Why not? I’ve had to live with her my entire life. She makes me anxious about everything. There’s something I’d really like to do, but I’m afraid.+

  +I’ve started to walk around the gardens of my mother’s old senior housing. I pick flowers and talk to the gardener… I would never have done that while my mother was alive. I miss her, though.+

  +What are you saying?+

  +I don’t know. Look at the data I sent you. I’ve got more, if you’re interested. It’s made me think about time and change. The New Wave is a safe place compared to everything that came before. We have good jobs and comfortable homes, and, now, you and I have this+

  +Millions died!+

  +And a couple of generations later, we can learn to live again… I think we’re living in a better World. Look at the data, Blythe, and we’ll talk some more about it.+

  +It’s good to meet you Dharma. I’ll go through the data. Con can help me make better sense of it+

  +He’s clever, and insightful, and nice. You can rely on him+

  +What do you mean? How do you know Con?+

  +We have a permanent connection, since you gave me his id to send the converted source material. We speak often. He took some intuitive leaps that helped me find more information.+

  +You speak to each other? I didn’t know+

  +Sorry, Blythe, perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything+

  +Perhaps Con should have said something to me+

  +Don’t be angry with him. He’s a good guy, and my favourite connection+

  +You’re friends, Dharma?+

  +Good friends. You should be friends with him, too, Blythe+

  +I think I am, but he pushes me to do things that make me uncomfortable+

  +Like your mother?+

  +No, the opposite. He wants me to do the sort of things that my mother would always warn me against+

  +Perhaps Con can give you a little of the confidence you say your mother robbed you of… We don’t really know each other, but I think your mother had a difficult life. I think she wanted yours to be easy+

  +So she stopped me from doing anything+

  +Perhaps she was just keeping you safe. Perhaps she couldn’t bear to lose you+

  +Perhaps… You think I should trust Con?+

  +I think I’d trust him… In fact, I know I would+

  +Thanks, Dharma+

  +Let’s speak again, soon, Blythe. This connection’s permanently open to you+

  +Thanks, but my connection is shared with Con, so I can only use it two weeks in three. You’ll soon be tired of me, anyway.+

  +We’re relations, and you’re the only one I have. Don’t worry, I won’t tire of you. Bye Blythe.+

  +Bye Dharma+

  “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Concord Penn,” said Blythe, almost before the cubicle door had closed behind him.

  Con put her coffee on her station.

  “Okay,” he said. “What have I done?”

  “You have an open connection to Dharma.”

  “Yes. We were working together on your family data… Your family, Blythe.”

  “She likes you.”

  “And I like her. We think a lot alike. We solved some puzzles together.”

  “And you talked about me?”

  “Well, no actually. We didn’t really talk about you.”

  “So what did you talk about?”

  “Data,” said Con. “Mostly we just talked about data.”

  The cubicle fell silent for a moment.

  “Why are you angry?”

  “Because I knew this would happen,” said Blythe. “When I gave her your code, I knew that you’d take advantage.”

  “She doesn’t want a relationship with me,” said Con. “Yes, we talk about data, and we’re interested in the same sort of stuff, but I’m not her cousin… You are. Dharma came looking for you, and I helped her to find you. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I don’t know why it’s upset me. It’s stupid. You’ve got no mother and no connections. There’s no reason you shouldn’t talk to Dharma. I’m sorry. I wish you’d told me, though.”

  “It seemed cruel. You couldn’t open a connection to Dharma but I could. I didn’t want to gloat about it, so I just didn’t tell you.”

  “Have you kept any other secrets from me, Con?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m still not going to tell you where we’re going on our walk, but apart from that I’m not keeping any secrets. And, honestly, I haven’t told you any lies.”

  “You swear?”

  “Swear. I like you, Blythe, and I have two more people in my life than I’ve ever had before.”

  “Good. Now, can you explain this chapter of the training manual to me, because some of this Anley Corp jargon is impenetrable, and I want to make sure I understand.”

  “Absolutely,” said Con.

  And they went back to work.

  Forty-seven

  “Hi Pa,” said Charity, checking her watch. “Is everything okay? It’s very early.”

  “Verity had the baby! Half an hour ago. Your mother told me not to phone yet; she said you’d be asleep, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

  “Oh, Pa, that’s lovely,” said Charity, nudging Able, and when he turned bleary eyed towards her, putting a finger to her lips, gesturing him to be quiet. “Is Verity okay? Is the baby? What about Mum?”

  “It went by the book, according to your mother. Sage was there, holding Verity’s hand, and it all went very quickly. He came to find your mother a little before midnight, and she was here a little after five o’clock.”

  “It’s a girl?” She gave Able a thumbs-up.

  “A little girl, about seven pounds. They’ve decided to call her Constance. Sage, Verity and the baby are all tucked up in their room, your mother’s lying down, and I’ve done some cleaning up. I had to ring you.”

  “I’m glad you did, Pa. Give everyone my love.”

  “And you’re all right?” asked Pax. “I know we speak every day, and it’s been three months, but we worry about you.”

  “How long has it been?” asked Charity, smiling.

  “Seventeen weeks and four days. Just tell me you’re all right, Charity, and stop teasing.”

  “I couldn’t be better. Check in with you later, when I’m actually awake.”

>   “Bye darling, love you.”

  “Love you, too, Pa. And give my niece a kiss from her aunty.”

  “Will do,” said Pax, before hanging up.

  Charity put her phone back on the bedside table, and turned to put her arms around Able.

  “Morning mouth,” warned Able.

  “Don’t care,” said Charity, kissing him.

  “It’s October, already,” said Able, “almost November. “It’s going to start getting cold.”

  “Have they decided whether we’re turning the clocks back, tonight? I’m still not clear on that.”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Well, not to us,” said Charity, “but there are key workers out there who could do with the extra hour of sleep.”

  “What about those who’ll have an extra hour added to their shifts?”

  “Pessimist.”

  “Realist.”

  “Let’s be optimists, today,” she said, smiling. “There’s baby Constance to think about now.”

  “Do you suppose that will ever be us?”

  “The rate we’re going through condoms, who knows,” said Charity, smiling again. “If we run out before the next rations, are you going to be able to contain yourself?”

  “No, I mean it. One day, I want us to get married and have children.”

  “We might want to finish our educations first.”

  “I’ve already started,” said Able. “I’ve been doing some university courses on the education website.”

  “All that reading? I thought you were doing that to avoid having to talk to me all day long.”

  “To avoid the gardening.” He smiled. “But, seriously, I’ve been doing it so that I can make a life for us, once this is all over.”

  “They think it’ll be soon, now,” said Charity. “The number of new cases is negligible, and the vaccine’s gone into trials.”

  “That visit from hazmat to take some samples from us was all worth it then. I’m glad we could help.”

  “They haven’t disclosed the final death toll, yet, though… It’s going to be a lot, isn’t it?”