than the green one-opened as he turned. When he spoke, his voice was deep, resonant, and had the ring of authority.
'Why are you here?'
A grinning Scatter turned to Kham, but he decided that he wouldn't give her any satisfaction. Hoping his voice would stay steady, he said, 'Hello, Harry.'
'Hello, Kham,' the ork with the mismatched eyes said softly.
The big scuzboy exchanged confused and worried glances with his fellows. 'You know this topsider, Harry?'
'Yes, Adam, I know him. He's my grandson.'
The scuzboys left in short order as soon as they untied Neko. The Green Band might have connections with Harry, but scuzboys knew families came before gangs. They wouldn't be getting their piece of Neko. At least not for a while.
Scatter was less polite. Without invitation, she followed as Harry led them to a small private chamber behind the throne, settling down on the floor by Harry's side after he took a seat in a battered but well upholstered chair. Everyone remained quiet while an old ork woman brought in a tray of refreshments.
Kham recognized her and his stomach clenched. When she offered him the tray, he was careful not to look at her face. Any other time the selection of treats would have been appetizing, but just now even his old favorite, fried cockroaches, made his stomach turn. The old woman moved on, allowing Neko to make a selection. Kham stood awkwardly before the chair, keeping his eyes on Harry and waiting for the old man to speak first. Harry downed a few of the treats and accepted a cup from the old woman before he spoke. Gesturing toward Neko with his cup, Harry said, 'This is your friend, Kham. Are you going to vouch for him?'
Kham nodded slowly. 'Yeah, I guess so.' 'You remember what that means down here?' 'Yeah.'
'Does your friend know?' 'I'll tell him.'
Harry said nothing for a while, and Kham began to wonder if he was waiting for Kham to explain the situation to Neko. If he was, he'd have a long wait. A lot of what Kham would tell the catboy about local customs wouldn't be politic to say here in Harry's office. Fortunately, Neko held back his usual fragging curiosity and kept quiet. Maybe there was something to be said for Japanese manners after all. Finally Harry spoke again.
'You came back, but you didn't come to see us.' That was so obvious Kham didn't bother to answer. What was he going to say, anyway? Harry's stare made him nervous.
'Something is bothering you, Kham, and it's not just whether this norm's gonna play by the rules. You wanta talk about it?' Kham shuffled his feet, feeling his usual embarrassment before Harry. The old ork always made Kham feel like a pup. The foot-shuffling trick was something he thought had been left behind when he'd left the Underground. Angry at himself for falling back into it, he forced himself to stand still. Squaring his shoulders, he said, 'Maybe. Don't wanta interrupt any ting, dough. Ya got lotsa stuff ta do. Maybe some odder time when ya ain't so busy.'
Harry gave him a hard look, then drained his cup. 'I may not go topside,' he said, balancing the empty vessel on the arm of his chair, 'but I've got ears up there. It was your hall that burned. The 'bodies' of you and your crew that were found. I don't have to work hard to guess that this breeder is the 'young norm' whose body was found in your hall.'
'If ya know every ting, ya don't need me ta tell ya about it.'
'You're wrong, Kham.' Harry leaned forward. 'I do need you to talk to me. If you're bringing trouble down here, I need to know everything you know about it.'
'The fix is in. Ain't gonna be no heat.'
'You're sure?'
Kham shrugged an answer.
Harry frowned for a moment then turned to Neko. 'Say, kid…'
'Neko,' the catboy impudently prompted.
Harry frowned, caught off-guard.
'Call me Neko.'
'Awright, kid, have it your way. Down here I can afford to be polite. This is my place, you know, and here the orks are in charge. Your kind doesn't belong here.'
'I believe that I have been so informed,' Neko said, pointedly rubbing at a developing bruise on his face. ' 'I have been introduced to your hospitality.''
'Oh, don't we sound annoyed.' Harry chuckled, then called for more drink. The old woman brought him a refill and took a place on the side away from Scatter, settling down by Harry's chair and resting her head against the arm. Harry took a draught and said, 'Well, I've had experience with your kind's hospitality, too.'
Neko placidly stared at the darkness behind Harry. Scatter spoke up. 'He thinks of himself as different from other norms.'
Harry squinted at the rat shaman. 'Does he now? Maybe he thinks he's not only different, but better.' 'They usually do,' Scatter said bitterly. Harry harrumphed and redirected his gaze to Neko. 'How old am I, kid Neko?'
Neko looked at him and shook his head slightly. 'I do not know that much about orks.' 'Guess.'
Neko glanced to Kham in a silent appeal for help. Kham looked away, unwilling to get involved. If Neko thought Kham was abandoning him, tough. The cat-boy would get over it. The lack of support obviously didn't faze Neko, for the catboy spoke to Harry at once.
'You look younger than some of the orks I have seen here. That woman, for example,' Neko said, nodding at the one who had served them. 'You do not look that much older than Kham, but I know you are, therefore I am confused. Your familiarity with Scatter suggests that you might be of an age with her. Forty years perhaps?'
'Ain't surprised you can't tell.' Harry reached a hand down to stroke the gray hair of the woman at his side. 'This woman is Sarah, my daughter and Kham's mother. Hard to believe, ain't it? Gray hair, bent back, palsy-used up by the world and bent by the weight of time. Like most orks her age, she's burnt out, a cinder.' Harry paused. 'She's not even thirty-five years old.'
Neko stared at Sarah. The old woman looked back with rheumy eyes and smiled, showing the gaps in her yellowed teeth. Kham had to turn away from his mother. He wanted to remember her the way she had been. Looking at her now made that too hard; she was just too old.
'Appalling, isn't it?' Harry asked Neko. 'Age comes to everyone,' Neko said quietly. 'But if you are her father, why are you not more aged than she?'
Harry laughed. 'Me? Me, I'm special. I wasn't always an ork; but then I guess I always was, or I wouldn't be now. That didn't make much sense, did it? I may not be burned out, but I ain't young either, and sometimes I get a bit confused. I'm not immortal, after all. And, like you said, sooner or later we all do have to pay the piper. Let me try again.
'I started my life as a norm like you, back before the turn of the century. I was down in Rainier when Saint Helens and Mount Rainier blew. The skies were gray with smoke for weeks. That was the first I heard of the magic that was coming into the world. Didn't much like it. Liked it even less when the Injuns used their magic to steal the land back from honest folk that had lived on it for generations. I remember the shan-tytowns around Seattle, saw them fill up with every bit of human refuse that could be crammed in, and watched the wall go up around the plex. I don't know who was worse then, the tribal guards with their holier-than-thou attitude, or the UCAS troops, enforcing the repatriation laws, always looking over their shoulders at the Injuns and playing yesmassa. They all treated us like cattle. I thought it was the worst thing that could happen to a person. 'I was wrong.
'If you think that living through the hell of those shantytowns will change a person, you're right. But let me tell you, it ain't nothing like what people'11 do to you if you don't look like them anymore. If they can point at you and say, 'Look, that's not human.' You see, come '21 and the goblinization, I went ork. It wasn't a lot of fun. Pain, pain like you can't imagine, and you locked up inside while your body changes. Ever feel your muscles crawl or your bones squirm?'
Harry paused, as if waiting for Neko to answer. Kham knew better. No one ever answered Harry when he told the story. Somehow you just knew he wasn't expecting you to answer, he just wanted you to think about what he was saying. Neko stayed quiet, so Harry went on.
'I learned what hate really was back then. Hate changes people, kid, changes them a lot. People I thought I
