Asimov's SF, April-May 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors

Author:Dell Magazine Authors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dell Magazines

Short Story: MALICK PAN by Sara Genge

Much like his early twentieth-century namesake, an odd little boy living in the same desolate future as the author's 2009 tale “Shoes to Run” decides that he, too, may never grow up.

When the nanners wake, so does Malick. He feels rather than sees them, filling the space around him, feeding stuff into his head. It's taken him years to realize that only he can hear their voice different inside his skull. Most of the time they behave, letting him keep his own train of thought. But the nanners always have something to say, always, always, chit-chat. They call it education. Some days, he hates them.

He's hungry so he pulls the cord that opens up the rat cages. He hears the patter of tiny claws above his head and the screeches of the first explorers to reach the outside. A few will try to hold back but they're greedy and hungry. Those in front get pushed out by the flood from behind. Poor paws on burning black-stone. The nanners correct him,

"It's called concrete."

The nanobots are particular about how he thinks about things. They also hate it when he calls them nanners, so, of course, that's what Malick does.

Through the air-hole comes the scent of burnt fur.

"Buen dinner,” Nelly says, and nods for emphasis. She's small but smart. Even though she can't see in the dark, she understands that Malick can.

The nanners zoom around and talk. They tell him about how the children's maze used to be a playground in an amusement park, whatever that is. When the city locked itself up and let the outskirts fade, the maze was buried in mud and garbage drifting here from the trash-tubes. Big people don't fit inside the maze and Malick is glad: life would be unbearable if the big-hungries shared the children's space.

"Got to be careful, no getting greedy,” Malick says. They must give the rats a chance to make babies. Greedy today, hungry tomorrow.

The screeching stops and Malick braves the heat near the air-hole to let his nanners taste the night. The sooner they emerge, the more rats they will nab before the other children leave the maze. But even his nanners can't take the full blast of daylight, and Nelly has no nanners. If he opens the tube too soon, she'll roast.

When the nanners think it's safe, the children scamper out into the glaring dusk, hopping like mice, avoiding the patches of black-stone coated with rubber where the rats have stuck and died.

Nelly spits on a rock and giggles at the sizzle. Then, she jumps ahead to spot rats for Malick who can, with nanner-coated fingers, pick them up by the tail and brush his hands down their bodies to get rid of the fuzz. They gobble one, two, four rats each before the sound of rolling pebbles tells them that the big-hungries are digging themselves out. The big-hungries live in deeper, spacier pits, but they always want what can be had near the surface.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.