Nightmare

of it. He watched as she freed the girl, whose name was Willa McRay, and the boy, whose name was just Kite. Willa was painfully thin, perhaps thirteen years old, with stringy dishwater hair and a long nose. Kite was short and about fourteen. He had night-black hair and deep black eyes that met Lizard’s with wonder and awe as his bands fell away.

'You truly mean this?' Willa said in a tiny whisper. 'We’re free?'

'Absolutely.' Ara swept the pile of slave bands aside with her foot as if she were clearing away a pile of trash. 'Come along with me and I’ll explain exactly what’s going on.'

A light went on in Lizard’s head. 'Mistre-I mean, Mother-wait a minute. You buy Silent slaves?'

Ara nodded. 'Among other things.'

'My mom,' Lizard said. 'All life-my mom.' The words spilled out in a babble. 'She’s Silent, too, but someone took her away just before you bought me and it wasn’t more than an hour or two so they can’t have gotten far with her and maybe she’s still on the station or the ship she’s on is still close by.' He paused for breath, heart pounding, tension singing along his veins. Every second they spent here was one more second further away. 'Please, oh please can you find out if she’s-'

Ara spun and ran out of the bay without a word. Lizard and the others stared after her. Jeren was the first to recover.

'Come on!' he said, and ran after her. Lizard and the others hurried to catch up. The corridor beyond the bay was well worn, with beige walls and a gray floor. It smelled faintly of disinfectant.

'Chan, open intercom to the bridge,' Ara yelled as she ran. 'Tora, get on the horn to the station. I want their general manager right now. Anna Kay, all stop. How far are we away from the station?'

Their footsteps echoed off the ceramic tiles. The group passed occasional doors, corridors, and ladders, but they didn’t have time to look at them in detail. Ara didn’t slow a single step and Lizard was surprised at how quickly she could move.

'Not even two thousand klicks,' came Anna Kay’s voice.

'Ara, what’s going on?' Michel asked.

'I’m almost at the bridge, Father Adept,' Ara replied. 'I’ll explain there.'

The doors at the end of the corridor snapped open when Ara approached, and Lizard and the others followed her onto what he assumed was the bridge. It was a fair-sized room, brightly lit, with several workstations and a large view screen that took up most of one wall. Currently it showed a live picture of the station, all white circles and straight lines. A readout in the corner indicated the magnification. Half a dozen humans worked the stations, and keys chattered like teeth beneath their busy fingers. Every one of them wore around his or her neck a round gold medallion the size of Lizard’s palm. A rangy man with dark hair and blue eyes sat in a chair at the center of the bridge.

'I have the manager’s office,' said a small Asian woman in a black jumpsuit. Lizard assumed she was Tora.

Ara gestured for Lizard to come with her. 'The rest of you stand by the door and stay quiet.'

'Ara, what’s up?' the rangy man asked. He looked to be in his fifties.

'Got a line on another Silent slave, Father, but we have to move fast,' Ara said, dropping into a chair near his. Lizard realized with a start that Father Michel must be the captain. He nervously took up a position next to Ara’s chair, wondering what she was up to.

'Open the link, audio only,' she ordered, and a short burst of static hissed from hidden speakers. 'This is Trader Araceil Rymar of Galaxic, Incorporated. Who is this, please?'

'This is Assistant Station Manager Kent,' came a deep voice. 'How may I help you?'

'I have just received word that you sold a Silent slave named-' she gestured at Lizard.

'Bell Blanc,' he murmured. His heart was pounding again.

'Bell Blanc,' Ara repeated. 'Earlier you told me that there were only four Silent for sale on the station. Bell, however, wasn’t one of them. Was there a …misunderstanding?' She added a hint of menace to the last word.

'One moment, Trader Rymar. I am accessing the records.' Pause. 'The slave Bell Blanc was put into a lot that went up for auction before you arrived, Trader. My sincere apologies.'

'Manager Kent, my corporation has charged me with finding every Silent slave I can get my hands on. Would you be so kind as to tell me who the buyers were and perhaps how I can contact them?'

Another pause. 'Again my apologies, but that information is confidential. We cannot under any circumstances short of a government mandate release that information.'

Lizard staggered, but Michel made a halting gesture.

'Manager, this is Senior Trader Michel Granger,' he said, his deep voice taking on a strangely oily tone. 'Is there anything we can do to persuade you? My corporation is very generous to people who aid us. We can arrange-'

'I’m sorry, Senior Trader,' Kent’s tone was frosted with iron, 'but that information is absolutely confidential.'

Lizard’s heart dropped into his feet. Ara and Michel harangued, cajoled, and threatened, then demanded to talk to the Station Manager, whereupon they went through the same process, also to no avail. Finally, Ara met Father Adept Michel’s eyes for a brief moment. He shook his head and ordered Tora to close the connection. Then he gestured at Anna Kay, who set to work at the pilot boards. Ara turned back to Lizard.

'I’m sorry, Lizard,' she said softly. 'Your mother’s gone.'

Lizard sat in the ship’s lounge, staring out a porthole at the stars and feeling very strange. His eyes were red and sore, and he wore a soft brown robe and comfortable shoes. Lizard’s memory of the moment after Ara told him the bad news about his mother were hazy, but he did remember tearing at his clothes. Hence the robe.

The other three slaves-Jeren, Willa, and Kite-sat clustered together, talking in low tones. Lizard didn’t feel up to talking, so he ignored them. The lounge was small and dimly lit, but it was comfortably furnished with easy chairs and couches. Stars drifted steadily past the porthole. Every moment widened the distance between Lizard and the last remains of his family.

Draw strength from us.

The voice came into his head as clearly as it had in his dream, but Lizard continued to stare out the porthole. He had lost everything important to him-his family, his friend, even his name. He had been answering to the name Lizard as if he’d been born to it. He had no control over anything, over no aspect of his life.

We are the Real People, and you are part of us.

But they had been nothing but a dream. A simple, night-time dream. It had felt absolutely real, but that didn’t make it so.

The mutants can take that from you only if you let them.

Only if he let them. If only it were that simple.

Only if you let them.

Maybe it was.

Lizard sat up straighter. No one was going to give him control. He knew that. What if he just took it? Starting with his name. Outside the porthole, the stars looked as if they were swimming below him, and if he took a step forward, he could walk on them with no effort.

Only if you let them.

Lizard firmed his jaw. So what if it had only been a dream? That didn’t mean the words were any less true. He was one of the Real People, and he had been through pain and trials at the hands of mutants, just as the Real People had, and he had survived. He would survive. They would give him strength.

The lounge door slid open and Ara came in. She was wearing a gold medallion around her neck like the rest of the bridge crew and a gold ring set with a gleaming piece of green jade graced her right hand. The little group of recently freed slaves stopped talking and turned to face her. Jeren and Willa started to rise, but Ara waved at them to sit and took a chair herself.

'You aren’t slaves,' she said, 'and you don’t have to stand up whenever someone comes into the room. Anna Kay says we’re well away from the station and should have slip at any moment now-' As if on cue, the stars