RAINBOW RUN (19 page)

"I didn't know where their stories came from. I always thought they were just old tales and fables that were useful for instituting change. How did you learn that the storytellers are Counter Colors?"

"I deduced it from the information I had. The storytellers are using their tales to prepare the grays for change, a cause that is dear to your heart. The Alliance has uncovered some of the truth about this society and intends to transform the culture."

"Will you tell me what those truths are?" Kahalyton asked hesitantly, as if he were afraid of what he might learn.

"Yes. I'm sure you suspect many of them already. First of all, this world is one of twenty-three known worlds—"

Kahalyton interrupted again. "Twenty-three worlds? I had heard old tales about other worlds, but I wasn't sure how much truth was in them. Are the other worlds like this one?"

"There are differences, but I don't know how extensive the differences are. The other twenty two are members of the Universalist Council. This world is not; it was set up as a service organization for the Council. This culture and the Game are artificial constructs designed to serve the Council."

"What is the purpose of the Game?"

"The Game produces forecasting information that the Council uses for administering the other twenty-two worlds. The culture of this world is filled with deceit and beliefs that can't be verified."

"Like the religion?" he asked. "I found little value in spiritual exercises that are supposed to make the next reincarnation better."

"Reincarnation is unproven. The humans that emerge from the House of Rebirth are blancs, brainwiped people, sent here from the twenty-two worlds; they are not reincarnations of people who have died on this world."

"Why are they brainwiped?"

"I don’t know, but I mean to find out. I’m beginning to suspect they’re subversives or political outcasts of some sort. People who don’t conform to the norms of their world."

Kahalyton nodded as if that assessment agreed with his own.

I continued, "Getting people to compete in the Game for rainbow status is a cruel hoax. Rainbows are not reincarnated. They just get periodic rejuvenation treatments."

He looked at me with newfound respect in his eyes. "You've learned in a short time much of what we Counter Colors either knew or suspected. You must have been someone special before you were brainwiped. What does the Alliance you belong to intend to do about it?"

"They are going to arrest the other conspirators and transform the culture as best they can. Their plans aren't final. There are still too many questions to be answered."

"Who are the other conspirators?" he asked.

"So far we've identified Errox, the late Boget, Ozerta of the House of Rebirth, Flantel who oversees the clergy and Wanklurm."

"How are they going to deal with Wanklurm?"

"I'm not sure but the Alliance has ascertained that most of the VIS personnel, other than the elite guard, have not been corrupted and will cooperate in neutralizing Wanklurm. When that happens, I hope there can be a closer relationship between the Alliance and the Counter Colors."

"I hope so, Rathe. In the meantime, I'll get the Counter Colors looking for Errox discretely. If I learn anything, how do I contact you?"

"My dwell is in the overseers' urbode. There's always someone there to take messages if I'm out. How do I find you, if I have more information for you?"

"I'll let all the storytellers know that you can be trusted. At twilight every evening, storytellers can be found outside most public buildings and on the front walkway of almost every urbode section. Any storyteller can arrange another meeting like this."

I talked with Kahalyton a while longer and we both drank a bit more jarva before he left with Counter Color friends.

A tall, lean man with piercing gray eyes told me that he would escort me from the meeting place to a location I would recognize. He put the blindfold on again before we left. When my guide took the blindfold off and bid me goodbye, I was on a slidestrip that was near the Simulike Palace. I was checking my mental map to determine the best route to the overseers' urbode when two of Wanklurm's elite guards, wearing their distinctive white caps, began moving from the adjacent slidestrip to the slowstrip I was on. They were looking all around, as if seeking suspects or trouble.

As I attempted to look as innocent and trouble free as I could, a group of five or six grays clustered around the white caps and a scuffle ensued.

I got off the first exit slidestrip, but not soon enough to miss seeing two white-capped bodies thrown over the side as someone yelled, "Freedom forever!"

I saw other white caps moving over to the slowstrip I had just left. One of them said in an authoritative voice, "Officers down. Search the area. Arrest anyone you see. Kill anyone who looks like a Crusader."

I scrambled under the slidestrip, knowing my life was in danger. I had to find a safe place. I could hear the white caps but I couldn't tell whether they were pursuing me or someone else. Then I heard an explosive sound, not as loud as a wristlock exploding. I saw a body fall just to my right. I realized that the sound I heard was made by an illegal bolt gun, a device I'd heard about from Kahalyton but had never seen. I tried to get back on the slideway but I was on the far side, next to the fast strip. I jumped on, trying to run as I hit. I tumbled, lost a sandal, and felt my tunic rip as I fell off the strip.

I hadn't traveled far enough to be out of danger. I had to get away from public places and open spaces. Where could I go? The answer suddenly came to me—Boget's dwell. It was in the right neighborhood and my wristlock would open the door.

I kicked off the other sandal hoping I'd look like a barefoot enthusiast rather than someone who'd lost a sandal. I tucked part of my tunic into the waist pouch to conceal the rip. I stayed in the shadows, moved cautiously down the slideway, and kept alert. Only when I was safely inside Boget's dwell was I able to resume normal breathing.

I put my torn tunic in the recycle slot. I cleansed myself and put antiseptic new skin on my knees and elbows. I took a new tunic and a pair of sandals from Boget's closet. I started to put them on and then realized that I was safer from the elite guards here than I would be traveling to the overseers' urbode. The sleep platform looked very inviting.

I helped myself to some of Boget's jarva and lost myself in sleep. I hoped I wouldn't dream of running from the elite guards. My dreams were of Lyonella. She came to me like a succubus that hovered over me in the darkness. I couldn't make out her features but I felt her presence. I was lying on my back.

In a voice so hoarse with passion that I hardly recognized it, she said, "Lie still. I will do everything."

She aroused me quickly, mounted me, and began a series of sensual motions—clenching and releasing, drawing me into her warm wetness, bracing herself by pressing her hands against my wrists as if to hold me to the platform while she rocked back and forth. I could feel my imminent climax building. Everything seemed so real, I could scarcely believe it was a dream.

In a throaty, breathless voice she said, "Now. With me. Both of us together." Everything happened at once. I felt her climax along with my own.

Suddenly, the lights came on.

I was looking into the face of Ozerta.

A voice from the doorway said, "You're under arrest."

I recognized the voice—it was Incate’s.

Ozerta recovered before I did. I was shocked that this hadn’t been a dream, that my sexual partner was not Lyonella, and that Incate and Prevance had entered Boget’s dwell. I lay on the sleep platform stunned while Ozerta calmly got up and slipped a tunic over her well-shaped body. She said to Incate and Prevance, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Incate started to speak but Prevance restrained him and said, "My name is Prevance. My partner’s name is Incate. We are special investigators sent here by the Universalist Council—"

Ozerta stepped into her sandals, smoothed her blonde hair back from her face, and interrupted with, "I'll get Boget or Wanklurm to straighten this out."

Then looking at me, she asked, "Where's Boget?"

Incate answered, "Boget's dead. Your friend here knows that. The last time we were in this dwell we found him here with the corpse. What are you doing here? Replacing an old lover with a new one?"

Ozerta, looking down her nose at Incate, asked, "Do you know who I am?"

Her haughty tone reminded me of the bickering couple in my Simulike experience; she was the woman of that couple.

Incate answered, "You're Ozerta, overseer of the House of Rebirth. You are being arrested for conspiracy."

Ozerta addressed both investigators. "Do you two think I had something to do with Boget's death? I've been in the Fane of Change. When I was ready to leave, I was given a message from Boget saying he had a surprise for me. I came here and was surprised to find my lover waiting for me. He's been missing for some time. I was afraid that Wanklurm had imprisoned him."

Turning to me, as I was rising from the sleep platform, she asked, "What happened to you, Tannet? What kept you away from me?"

I was confused by her questions. The only memory I had of Ozerta was the pixcube that Clandine had showed me. Prevance spoke before I could gather my thoughts and produce an answer. He said, "You know this man as Tannet?"

"Yes. He's a very important person. He's going to become a rainbow and be the new overseer of the clergy."

"He claims to be a blanc who took the name of Rathe," Incate said. "I think he's found some drug that enabled him to beat the vericator."

Ozerta looked at me and asked, "What's going on here, Tannet? Tell them who you really are."

"The only name I have for myself is Rathe. I entered this life as a nu-blanc, dumped into the Rainbow Room to die. I managed to survive. Boget got me this white wristlock and wanted me to help run the Simulike Palace."

I saw sadness in Ozerta's expression as she asked, "You have no memory of me, of being a master Game player, of our plans for the future?"

"I'm sorry. No."

She turned to Incate, her face red, saying, "Wanklurm and his crazy jealousy! We argued a lot but I never thought he'd try to stop my affair with you by such drastic means. He must have done it. Had you brainwiped and dumped in the Rainbow Room. He knew that if your body had turned up in the Medical Complex, I would have heard about it. Boget must have recognized you and befriended you so you and I could be together again."

That explained two things: why I had been left to die after being brainwiped and why it had been so easy for me to insinuate myself into Boget's life. He had recognized me and thought he was doing a favor for Ozerta. He had me stay in his dwell so Wanklurm wouldn't know I was still alive.

Now I knew who my enemy was—Wanklurm, the most powerful person on the planet. Ozerta said they had argued, a verbal confirmation that she and Wanklurm were the bickering couple in my Simulike experience.

Prevance said, "It's time for all of us to go to the overseers' urbode and investigate this further."

Ozerta asked, "You still think I had something to do with Boget's death? That's unreasonable. He was my friend."

Incate said, with a triumphant note in his voice, "You are being arrested for conspiracy to import and distribute Cainenol."

Ozerta's face fell. Her posture sagged. Prevance halfway supported her as we headed for the door.

Incate said, "I've got a stun gun to make sure that all four of us get where we're going." He glanced at me as he said it. His suspicions and hostility toward me had not been diminished by this episode.

On the slideway Ozerta asked me, "Who killed Boget and why?" I answered, "Errox. He wants to take Boget's place."

Ozerta said scornfully, "That little gray upstart. Wanklurm will kill him."

"That's enough talk until we get you hooked up to a vericator," Incate said.

He was looking at Ozerta as he said it, but I knew that he didn't believe I was telling him the complete truth.

When we got to the overseers' urbode, Ozerta demanded that Wanklurm be notified that she was under arrest. Prevance told her that wasn't going to happen. He didn't tell her that he knew Wanklurm was part of the Cainenol conspiracy. I was careful not to reveal anything to Ozerta. I didn't want to increase the suspicions that Incate, and perhaps Prevance, had about me.

The vericator session with Ozerta was attended by Incate, Prevance, Yondoka, Nordel, Arvon, and me. Everyone had been briefed on the situation including my part in it. I knew that my story would be verified if I submitted to a vericator session, but I wanted to be trusted without being tested.

I hoped that Ozerta's session would confirm at least part of what I'd revealed about seeking contacts in the gray community to locate Errox, as well as going to Boget's dwell to avoid the elite guards who were looking for someone who had killed one of their number.

I asked where Clandine was and was told she was pursuing a possible lead on the location of Flantel. According to cleric sources, Flantel was away on a spiritual retreat. I remembered his rampant sexuality on All Hues Day. Evidently he found sexuality and spirituality compatible.

Prevance started the questioning, "Ozerta, you are accused of conspiring with Boget, Flantel, and Wanklurm to import and distribute Cainenol. Do you admit your guilt?"

"No," she answered, her voice firm.

"Do you deny your guilt?"

"I have no reason to admit or deny anything."

I was surprised by Ozerta's response. I'd been the subject of two vericator sessions and I'd observed two others, one with the dying Crusader and the other one with Dreena, the smitty. I'd told the truth because it seemed like the only course to follow. The dying Crusader was certain that she would be reborn in paradise and she knew that she had no information that would damage the Freedom Crusaders so she had no reason to be reticent. Dreena was truthful because she knew nothing that would be disadvantageous to her lover Errox. She had been working at an illegal trade for some time and may have been prepared for eventual discovery and arrest.