Triton by Samuel R Delany

Author:Samuel R Delany [Delany, Samuel R]
Format: epub
Tags: sf
Published: 2010-10-20T19:08:30.734000+00:00

“Could I see you again!” he blurted, taking her hand in both his. “I mean ...

maybe tonight. Later, after your performance. We’ll go somewhere. We’ll ...

do something! Something nice. Please. I ... I do want to!”

She regarded him.

The desperation he felt was heady and violent. He started to release her hand, then squeezed it harder. Movement happened behind the skin of her face.

Was it pity for him?

He hated it.

Was she searching herself?

What did she have to search for!

Was she considering things to say?

Why didn’t she just say, “yes”?

“All right,” she said. “Yes. I’ll go with you this evening. After our last performance.”

He nearly dropped her hand. Why didn’t she just say—

“Is that all right,” she asked, with that slight, familiar smile, “with you?”

He nodded, abruptly wondering: Where would they go? Back to his guesthouse? To her place? No—he had to take her somewhere. First. And he was a hundred million kilometers from anywhere he knew.

“Meet me here,” she said. “At nine. How’s that? It should be just about half an hour after sunset, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“And we’ll go out somewhere.”

He nodded.

“Good.” She pulled her hand away, glanced at him again, hesitated: “Till nine then?” She pushed open the door. “I’ll meet you here.”

“That’s awfully nice of you ...” he remembered to say.

“Not at all,” she said. “It’ll be fun,” and closed the door.

He stood on the narrow sidewalk thinking something was very wrong.

It was not exactly an adventure finding Sam again. But in the hour and a quarter it took him, he decided that whoever had laid out the village must have been certifiably insane. And while there were some jobs that the certifiably insane could do quite well, and while metalogics, as Audri occasionally used to joke at him, was one, city planning was definitely not: There was a living establishment—the People’s Co-Op—and there, to its left, was some sort of shopping area; and around the corner from that was a small eating place. All fine. Wandering through the small streets, he found another collection of small shops: Was there an eating place around the corner to its right? No. Was there a living establishment—of any sort—

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