Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 125 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: chinese, science fiction, fantasy magazine, short stories, short story, Science Fiction & Fantasy, science fiction magazine, fantasy, magazine, novelette, short fiction, Science Fiction And Fantasy, clarkesworld
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2017-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

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A quarter later, we were in the capital of the Orchid Autonomous Sector.

The touring prosecutor announced the end of the hearing. In the court’s exit hall, he privately embraced me. Lee Hort and her family had lost their archaeological licenses. They were now in prison.

Dar was there to pick me up. He was using a pseudonym, and he’d grown a beard. No one recognized him. The story of Hort was, like all miserable stories, remembered by everyone.

“I thought you’d have your law enforcement license revoked,” he quipped.

“The prosecutor owes me.”

“It must be a great debt.”

“Yeah, pretty big.”

I didn’t get into the details, and Dar didn’t press me. We stopped in a square, bought two desserts, and ate as we strolled.

“Old Mortar has returned to work.”

“He took two shots in the stomach. I thought he’d rest at least half a month.”

“From a long bitter life we’re on the run, right?” Dar said, smiling.

I answered with a tight-lipped smirk25.

“So you didn’t get your blood money,” he observed.

“My financial backer is squatting in prison. And my target is very much alive.”

“I took a job.”

“Oh?”

I wanted to tell him that he resembled his sister when he was pretending nonchalance. But I didn’t. Some things you can’t say, no matter how evident they are.

“I’ll be working in Rain Ship space. A city has been discovered, an ancient human city. Everyone’s rushing there. There’s a fellow who’s willing to pay us. Would you come with me? I’m not much of a bodyguard on my own.”

“All right.”

“We’d leave tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

“You seem a bit preoccupied.”

I smiled, licking the ice cream off my hands, and waiting.

When she came by, it was like the whole world lit up. Of course she didn’t notice me. And I didn’t watch her too obviously. We were from different worlds. I wore an old brown military uniform, hair cropped like a man’s. Two guns were stuffed in my jacket. She wore a bright skirt, and she smiled brightly, in high spirits.

She approached, passed close by me, and then she was walking away.

“Who’s that?” Dar asked.

I said a name.

“I thought that was the name on your ID.”

“I haven’t used it for a long time. I gave it to her.”

“Is this a story I should know?”

“Maybe.”

I got up and walked on, not looking back. In my memory, rain permeated the earth, never ceasing.

I gave my name to that child. After my father ran away and my mother refused to fulfill her duties, I picked her up and chose her to live. I killed and buried her litter-mates, and sent her to the temple. A good person eventually adopted her, and she had my name. She lived the life I might have.

That’s okay, I reckon. In that rain, we all died. She became me, and I became a nameless infant, and ultimately flew away to the stars. I left myself, then discovered the secret of the Rain Ships. I met Dar. This is good—a new sense of meaning, a new destiny.

Dar did not ask about her again. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I felt peace and warmth.

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