Nightmare

'I thought …' Lizard stammered. His heart beat fast. 'I mean …it’s nothing.'

Pup gave him a long look that Lizard couldn’t interpret. 'Okay. Good night.' He turned over and lay still.

Lizard swallowed hard. What had he been thinking? What had he been doing? There was no answer that made sense to him. Lizard turned his back to Pup and stared at the wall. So much was happening, changing so fast. He’d never get to sleep.

He fell asleep.

The wind was hot and dry, carrying the scent of dry vegetation and sun-baked rock. Overhead, a falcon screamed, a high, free sound. Under his feet, the earth was hot, sandy, and full of sharp stones, but in this place, his soles were hardened and impervious to such problems. He spread his arms to the wind, let it blow over him. This place was solid. This place was real. This place was-

Child.

He had never heard human voices in this place. These should have startled him. But he felt no fear. He turned calmly. Half a dozen people, men and women, stood beside him. They were as naked as he was, their dark hair bleached brown by the sun.

'Hello,' he said.

Our time here is short, they said, and their mouths didn’t move when they spoke. The words appeared in his head and in his heart. And there are things you must know.

'What are they?' he asked.

A collective sense of shaking heads came over him. You must learn them on your own. We can only send you in the direction.

'What direction is that?'

The one within you. Follow your own self. The mutants are forcing your body down a path strewn with death and pain, but your mind remains your own. Draw strength from us. We are the Real People, and you are part of us. The mutants can take that from you only if you let them.

And they were gone. No track or broken blade of scrubby grass showed they had ever been there. The hot, cleansing breeze continued to blow, and the falcon called again. He turned to look up at the sky and saw a white canopy.

Lizard awoke, muddled and confused. He was in the wrong place. There should have been a hot wind, sandy soil. Or a lumpy pallet and frog calls? Either way, it was wrong. Everything was soft and white, and the light was dim. He heard a strange bubbling noise. Then Lizard remembered where he was and sat up. Pup’s place in the bed was empty, and the bubbling sound was coming from the bathroom. Lizard got up and stretched. Thin streaks of sunlight striped the floor around the curtains, leaving the room dim. Cool air drifted from one of the vents, and the carpet was soft on Lizard’s bare feet. He pulled on a pair of shorts, knocked once on the bathroom door, and pushed it open. Pup was sitting up to his neck in the whirlpool bath, which bubbled with white water. The room was heavy with steam.

'This is great!' Pup said. 'You have to try it! Lots of room-come on in.'

'Not the shower?' Lizard asked. For the first time in his life, he realized-truly realized-that Pup was naked in the bath. Memories from last night stirred, and Lizard found himself drawing back with uncertainty. Pup gave no sign that he remembered the previous night, but still. .

'Already tried that, too,' Pup grinned, and he was beautiful. Lizard swallowed. 'You coming in or what?'

'I’ll wait until you’re done,' Lizard said, and splashed a handful of warm water at Pup’s head to cover his consternation. Pup retaliated with a great gout that soaked Lizard from chin to waist. Laughing, he wiped his face on his arm. 'Now I don’t need a shower or a bath.'

A few moments later, they had both finished washing up-Lizard opted for the shower-and had gotten dressed. Lizard actually had to dress twice because Pup found outside the bedroom door another set of clothes in Lizard’s size. These were a long tunic and trousers in a pale yellow, with sandals similar to the type the managers wore. Pup watched him put them on in awe.

'Y’see?' he breathed. 'Light yellow, and the managers wear dark yellow. You’re almost at the same level they are.'

'I guess,' said Lizard. He held out the wrist with the metal band still encircling it. 'But only almost.'

'You think they’d assign you a body slave to, you know, lay out your clothes and stuff?' Pup asked tentatively. 'Even someone who was a …a mucker?'

His eyes were so wide and his voice so hesitant, Lizard felt his throat thicken. His best friend thought it would be a privilege to wait on him? In a fit of emotion, he grabbed Pup in a rough hug. Pup didn’t immediately return the gesture and Lizard felt him stiffen for a moment before hugging clumsily back. Lizard let go.

'Sorry,' he mumbled.

'It’s okay,' Pup said in the same tone he had used last night. 'Just startled me.'

'It’s just-I’d rather have a friend than a slave. But if they want me to have a body slave, you know I’d get you out of the muck.' Lizard paused thoughtfully. 'Unless you’d miss that frog girlfriend you’ve been seeing.'

Pup snorted. 'Well, your ma’s waiting list is too long.'

Lizard aimed a mock punch at Pup’s head. Pup ducked, and everything was back to where it had been before.

'Speaking of Mom,' Lizard said, and knocked on the door connecting their rooms.

Bell, it turned out, had herself just finished dressing. Her new tunic and trousers were identical to Lizard’s. A moment later, breakfast arrived. They wheeled the cart over to a wide window and drew aside the curtains to let in golden sunlight. They ate and talked. It was a happy meal. Lizard saw the lines on his mother’s face had smoothed a bit, and she appeared much more cheerful. For a moment, it felt like a Sunday morning back in Sydney, in the days when there had been five of them around the breakfast table. The change had come because they were Silent. Lizard looked at his mother and knew the same thing was on her mind.

'Do you think …?' Lizard asked.

Bell sighed and set down her coffee mug. 'I don’t know. We can only hope, I suppose.'

'What?' Pup said. 'You hope what?'

'That the rest of our family is Silent, too,' Lizard said.

'Oh.'

'Do you ever think about them, Mom?' Lizard said.

'Every day,' she said quietly. 'Every night I talk to your father, even though he can’t hear me. And then I pray that your brother and sister are all right.'

The door opened and Mistress Blanc walked in. All three slaves shot to their feet but kept their eyes on the floor. Lizard caught a glimpse of green robe and thought he recognized it as the one she had been wearing the day she’d bought him and his mother from the slavers.

'I’ve been thinking about what to do with you,' she said. 'My interplanetary communication is fairly extensive but it’s not enough to justify the cost of training and maintaining my own Silent, and certainly not two of them. Therefore, I’ve decided to put you both up for sale.'

The words slammed into Lizard like bullets. Every drop of blood drained from his face and the room swayed around him. Mistress Blanc’s voice seemed to come from a long distance. Then he was sitting on the floor with his head between his knees and no idea how he’d gotten there. His hands shook and his face felt numb. The silver- colored band around his wrist gleamed in the golden sunlight. Gradually he became aware of an arm around his shoulder.

'It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. All life, everything’s okay. It’s okay.'

The voice was his mother’s. There was an edge to it, as if one wrong word might send her falling into hysteria. Lizard forced himself to breathe evenly. The room stopped spinning. Eventually he looked up. Mistress Blanc was gone. Pup and his mother were kneeling beside him. Her arm was around him. Lizard stared at the band on Bell’s wrist. Bell, not Rebecca. Lizard, not Evan.

'It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay,' Bell repeated.

Lizard slowly got to his feet, assisted by Bell and Pup, who hadn’t spoken. The three of them stood in silence. After a while, Pup cleared his throat.