Meisje caught a mouse and swallowed it while Danger watched, wide-eyed. He began sniffing about with even more attention.
“Later, boy.” Tomas patted his thigh. “Come, we’re going now.”
On their way back through the Works level, they ran into Diesel and the kids coming out of the hydroponics room.
“Enjoying the tour?” said Elke.
Ndlela nodded eagerly. “We’ve been right up to the Solar level, but I like it best down here. This place is the coolest.” He looked back at the green and gold glow of the tanks. “Some of those fish are big. Do people really eat them?”
“They do. They’re good eating. But where’s Issy?”
Diesel jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “She’s still in there.”
“She’s sulking,” said Ndlela.
“She’s just hungry,” said Noor.
“Then she’s been hungry for the last six months,” said Ndlela. “Elke, can we stay a few days longer? Mijnheer Sparks says he’ll show me how the filters work. They have this special kind of bacteria that keeps the water clean. And I want to see how they deal with the pumps when there’s no electricity.”
Isabeau emerged from the hydroponics room. Her arms were tightly folded, and she kept her face downcast.
Diesel smiled tiredly at Elke. “Been a long day. You?”
“Not so bad,” said Elke. “Hey, Issy.”
“Hey,” muttered Isabeau. She caught sight of Danger and Meisje, and her expression lightened a little. Elke moved her fingers in a surreptitious command, and Meisje trotted up and shoved her nose under Isabeau’s elbow, which drew forth a reluctant smile.
Tomas caught Elke’s eye, and twitched his fingers too. Danger promptly went to join Meisje, sitting in front of Isabeau and offering her one of his enormous paws.
“Oh.” Isabeau looked at Tomas. “What does that mean?” She laughed as Danger pawed at her impatiently and caught his paw in both her hands.
“He just likes attention,” said Tomas. “Scratch him there by his ear. Under the edge of his face-plate.”
Isabeau inserted a hesitant finger beneath the gardag’s armoured mask and her smile warmed as he stretched his neck in evident pleasure. “He likes that!” She scratched more confidently. “He’s cute. How old is he?”
“He’s a year and a half,” said Tomas. “He’s just a big puppy.”
“Glad we ran into you,” Diesel said softly to Elke. “She’s been alternating between hyper and misery the whole time.” Then, in a more normal tone, she said, “Listen—we’ll be having our meeting at Zyta’s new restaurant. It’s got tables to fit all of us, and it’s more private than the cafeteria.”
“Good idea,” said Elke. “I didn’t know it was open yet.”
“It isn’t. They’re still finishing off the interior, but Zyta said it’s not a problem, as long as we don’t mind a bit of builders’ chaos.”
“Are you coming to the meeting too, Tomas?” asked Isabeau, who was crouched down now and rubbing Meisje’s chest. “We’re going to talk about how to find Mom.”
Elke glanced at Noor, who shrugged. “Sure,” said Noor. “Why not?”
“Um—” said Tomas. “If it’s okay with Constable Veraart—”
“You’re welcome to join us,” said Elke.
“You have to come,” Isabeau said, bouncing to her feet. “Danger can help too.”
“Cool,” said Tomas. “We’ll be there.”
Disinfectant
Elke was exhausted long before her day ended. Having Tomas follow her everywhere she went was surprisingly tiring, even though both he and his gardag were on their best behaviour. Tomas had developed a sharp interest in the technical workings of the Babylon Eye, and soon his questions outstripped her knowledge.
“You know what?” she said when he asked a particularly insightful question about the technology that opened the gates between the worlds. “After this meeting tonight, I’ll introduce you to mijnheer Sparks. He knows way more about this stuff than I do.”
At last the time came to call it a day and make their way to the meeting with Diesel and the kids.
Zyta’s restaurant was on the outer edge of Gardens level, near one of the big view-ports that looked out onto an undersea view of the Real. The restaurant was going to be spectacular once it was finished, but at the moment it was covered in sheeting and crammed with boxes of tiles, paint tins, and ladders.
A man mopped the floor and somebody in a wetsuit was waist-deep in an aquarium, an exceptionally long tank that ran the entire length of the back wall.
Diesel and the kids had already claimed a table and some chairs.
Isabeau seemed more cheerful. Somebody had given her a pile of scrap paper and a pen, and she was hard at work drawing.
“Hey there,” said Diesel. “Kitchen’s not up yet, so I asked Mack Jack to bring us something from the cafeteria.”
Elke lowered herself thankfully into a chair, and Tomas cleared some paint tins from another chair and pulled it over to sit in. The gardags curled up, each at their handler’s feet.
Ndlela and Isabeau were full of the day’s sights and events. Noor was quieter, watching as her younger siblings talked.
“These your drawings?” Tomas asked Isabeau as he reached for one of the pieces of paper. His eyebrows rose as he studied it. “Wow,” he said, his expression carefully neutral. “These are great.”
Intrigued, Elke leaned over to look. The drawings were of the same thing, over and over, page after page. They featured a headless man with cartoonishly muscular arms and a bewildering assortment of weapons slung about his person. Knives, guns and rifles, and even a sword. And was that a crossbow? In most of the drawings the sword was stained blue up to its hilt, and the man’s hands were blue, and a blue fountain rose from the stump of his neck.
“That’s blood,” Isabeau said, seeing their interest. “I didn’t have a red pen.” The drawing she was busy with depicted an animal crouching on the chest of a fallen man. The ground was covered in blue stuff—more blood, Elke supposed—and the creature had a severed human hand in its jaws.
“This one’s a gardag,” Isabeau said complacently, scribbling in more blood.
“That,” said Tomas, “is one big gardag. Bigger than Danger, even.”
“Her name’s Xun,” Isabeau explained.
“Okay, you guys will lock up when you leave, right?” The man with the mop clattered his bucket into a corner and waved at them as he went out the door. The workers in the kitchen were leaving as well, allowing the doors to slam behind them as they went.
Soon, the aquarium cleaner was the only person left, completely submerged, adjusting something under the gravel at the far side of the tank. Judging by the amount of wires and tubes hanging loose, it seemed likely that they’d be busy for some hours yet.
“Shall we start?” Elke said. “Tomas doesn’t know what’s going on yet, and I can’t remember what I’ve put into the letters I sent you guys, so I’ll just go over the basics again quickly.”
“You haven’t found Mom.” Isabeau didn’t look up from her drawing.
“That’s right. I haven’t.” Elke waited till it was clear that Isabeau was not going to say anything else. “Before I start, I have something to tell you.” She looked around at the table. “I’m leaving the Eye soon. I’m going to get promoted away from here.”
“What?” Noor leaned forward, frowning, and Isabeau, forgetting her drawing, sat bolt upright.
“Not for a while yet,” Elke said quickly. “I can help with your search; it’s not a problem. But you should know that I will be leaving, and that Tomas will be taking my place. So, it’s actually a good thing that he’s part of this meeting.”
“When will you be going?” said Noor.
“You’ve got a new job?” asked Ndlela.
“I’m going to be in charge of the gardag unit out in Kaapstadt,” Elke told him.
“Wow,” said Ndlela. “That’s awesome.”
“I don�
��t know when that’s happening,” Elke said. “There’s still a lot of paperwork. It should still be quite a while.”
“So, what have you found so far?” Isabeau, a stubborn jut to her jaw, had started drawing again.
Elke turned to Tomas. “You know that we are looking for their mother, right? Her name is Thandeka Mahlangu. She came to the Eye— Now about a year and eight months ago, right Noor?”
Noor nodded.
“She came here with a friend called Jayden,” Elke continued. “Thandeka was hoping to find work in the Eye, maybe even move here with all the kids, but she never went home again, and neither did Jayden.
“We know that Jayden was caught trying to get into the Eye with a hardflask full of strangeside biologicals. Jayden wasn’t travelling under his own name, but we’ve confirmed his identity. There were photographs taken. We know for a fact it was him.” Elke looked at the kids. “As you all know, Jayden was found guilty of smuggling contraband, and executed.”
Nobody said anything, and after a brief pause, Elke continued. “I’ve been checking the records for anything about your mother. There’s nothing. No record of anyone named Thandeka Mahlangu entering or leaving the Eye.”
Ndlela shifted in his chair and made as if to speak.
“You’re right,” Elke said with a nod to him, “She probably didn’t use her own name. There are records of many women, more or less her age, broadly matching her description but there are no records of anyone arrested along with Jayden.”
The children already knew this. It was the first thing she’d written in the letter she’d sent them, but it felt different, telling them face to face.
“I’m as sure as I can be that your mother was not arrested, and she was definitely not executed. In fact, no women were executed at all, during that time.”
“You’re sure.” Noor’s face was calm, but she clutched the edge of the table with tense fingers.
“I’m sure.” Elke wanted to reach over to comfort the girl, but she was too far away. “We keep pretty good records of those kinds of things. I also spoke to all the customs guys, all the guards, the lawyers, everyone who might know. If Thandeka did come into the Eye, she was not arrested, and she was not executed.”
“You think she might not have come here?” Noor’s eyes were intent on Elke’s face.
Elke took a sip of water to give herself time to frame her response. “I don’t know. We haven’t found any traces of her in the Eye. Or, nothing that was definitely her, and not somebody else.”
“What do you mean?” said Noor.
“I’ve been talking to the fugados. The people who clean the lower levels. They live down there, and they’re pretty good at seeing without being seen. One of them admitted that people hide there, sometimes, in Works and Long Storage. The fugados aren’t very, um, trusting, so they wouldn’t tell me more than that.”
“So, she could be hiding down there.” Noor sat back in her chair. “But why would she? Why wouldn’t she just come home?”
“You forget,” said Elke. “Say she came in with Jayden, and somehow avoided getting captured along with him. She must have known what happened to him—” Elke glanced at Isabeau. “It must have been frightening, and getting back out of the Eye into the Real isn’t that easy, not if you don’t have the right papers. She would have assumed that the gate guards would be on the lookout for her.”
“So, you think she went into hiding.” Ndlela looked unconvinced. “But then what? You think she might be hiding in here all this time? Couldn’t she, you know, go through to the other side? Into the Strange world?”
Noor gave an exasperated sigh. “We’ve been over this, Ndlela. Realside people are not allowed into the Strange. We can come into the Eye but that’s it. Only Strangers can go through the strangeside portal.”
“Couldn’t she have—I don’t know—sneaked through, somehow?” Ndlela turned to Diesel. “Isn’t that possible?”
Diesel was shaking her head. “Not possible. Security is very tight, and if you are caught, you’re dead. On the spot. No trial.”
“And I checked that too,” Elke put in before anyone else could speak. “She definitely didn’t try getting out that way.”
“And anyway, Ndlela, why would she?” said Noor. “Why would Mom go to the Strange? I mean—” She held up her hands as words failed her.
“I don’t know.” Ndlela avoided his sister’s angry eyes. “Maybe she thought she had to.”
For a long moment, no one spoke.
“I guess— I’m just— I don’t understand how she could be hiding here for all this time,” Ndlela said at last. “Wouldn’t somebody notice?”
“I hope she’s not in the Strange.” Isabeau was hunched over her drawing again, forcing the pencil along so that it dug into the paper. “I heard that it makes you crazy, to go over there. You forget where you’re from, or who you are, and you never want to come back.” The tip of the pencil broke, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Maybe that’s why she never came back. Maybe she’s over there, and she’s forgotten all about us.”
Noor drew a breath, but Ndlela got in first.
“That’s not true, Issy. That’s just a story people tell. The Strange isn’t”—he snorted—“ fairyland, or something. It’s just a place. Isn’t that true, Diesel? I mean—you’re from there, aren’t you?”
All the children turned to look at Diesel.
“Ah.” Diesel was clearly disconcerted by their combined attention. Elke watched her friend curiously. She’d noticed that Strangers avoided talking about their world, and she’d learnt not to ask Diesel any direct questions.
“Well.” Diesel shifted in her chair. “You’re right, Ndlela, of course. It’s just a story that people tell.”
“But stories start somewhere,” said Isabeau. “Is it just a lie, then? Why do people say so, if it’s not true?”
“Uh—well, no, not exactly a lie.” Diesel frowned earnestly at Isabeau. “There are parts of the Strange that have that effect on people. Not just on realsiders. Everyone who goes there, gets changed.”
“But how does that work, if it’s not magic?” Isabeau looked uncertain. “It’s not magic, is it?”
“No, definitely not magic,” agreed Diesel. “There are places, cities in the Strange that are, we call them tuned. Mesmeric landscapes. Hypnotic. They resonate with your psyche. The colours and shapes, the sounds, they rewire your brain. You become addicted to them.”
“Like the Fata Morgana,” said Elke, speaking out loud without meaning too.
“What’s that?” said Isabeau.
“It’s a city you can sometimes see through the Strangeside viewport.” Elke turned to Diesel. “Isn’t that right? That’s the place people say Maxwell Jali went.”
“That’s what some people call it,” agreed Diesel. “Although I sincerely doubt Jali ever got near the place.”
“Wow.” Isabeau had forgotten about her drawing, and was gazing at Diesel, fascinated. “Have you ever been there?”
“No,” said Diesel.
“And anyway,” Noor broke in, “the point is that Mom’s not there. She’s either here in the Eye, or somewhere in the Real. Let’s not get side-tracked.”
“If she’s here in the Eye, someone must have seen her.” Isabeau sat up straight. “We’ve got that photo of her. Can’t we make lots of copies, and put it up everywhere? Like a poster.”
“Would that work?” Noor looked at Elke.
“It might,” Elke said reluctantly. “And it’s a good idea, Issy. The thing is, it might be dangerous.”
Isabeau’s jaw pushed forward, always a bad sign. “Why?”
“We don’t know what your mother might be involved in.” Elke picked her words carefully. “We don’t know why she’s been away all this time. It’s possible that she’s hiding from people who want to hurt her. Like the people Jayden was trying to contact. Smugglers.”
“I thought that was all sorted out.” Noor frowned. “Jinan Meer’s been arrested, ha
sn’t she?” She glanced at Diesel, clearly just remembering that Jinan Meer was Diesel’s mother.
“That’s right,” said Diesel. “Jinan has been arrested, but she hasn’t given up the names of anyone else involved. Elke is right. We don’t know enough to risk something like putting up a poster. Your mother might be in hiding or trying to avoid exactly this kind of attention. We need to keep our search for her as quiet as we can.”
Isabeau didn’t look convinced. “So, what can we do, then?”
“The first thing,” said Elke, “is for you guys to help me go through the Eye’s archived records. I’ve been relying on the records that are available to the public, but the full records have a lot more data.
“I’m pretty sure that Thandeka came in as a worker and not as a tourist. That means there will be more information in her record, if there is one. Like photographs. I’ve finally got permission to access those records. That’s why it was so important for you guys to come. Chances are that I might not recognise her photograph. I’ve never seen her, after all, but you won’t have that problem.”
Even Noor looked happier at this. “They’ll let us look at these records?”
“They will. Dolly must have called in quite a few favours, as it’s not usually allowed.”
Ndlela, who’d been frowning down at the table for the past few minutes, looked up. “What about those people, the ones you said saw people hiding down in Works level.”
“The fugados? What about them?” said Elke.
“If they saw someone hiding— Can’t we show them Mom’s picture, find out if they saw her? They’re not smugglers, are they?”
Elke blew out a breath. “The thing is, it’s not that easy. I used to have a contact among the fugados but she’s left the Eye. The others either don’t know me or they don’t trust me. I don’t blame them. They’ve been treated pretty badly, and to them, I’m just another cop looking to make trouble.”
“That’s true, but they might speak to me.”
Elke turned so abruptly that her chair tilted, and both gardags scrambled to their feet.
She hadn’t noticed that the aquarium was within arm’s reach of their table. In it, waist high in the murky water, stood the aquarium cleaner, her tattooed arms resting on the rim of the tank. She was clad in a black wetsuit. A rebreather pack was strapped to her back with the mouthpiece pushed aside so she could speak. Her head was hooded in the thin black stuff of her suit, leaving only her face visible.
The Strange Page 4