SF in The City Anthology (14 page)

             
Having reached her early sixties, Grace had decided to do more with her time on Earth than her parents had managed in their brief lifespans. Her father worked in a drug shop his entire life before he passed away. Much to Grace’s sadness, the late Mrs. Sequelae lived a raucous life as a stripper, and her father did nothing to discourage his wife from continuing this career once they were married. After all, they could use the extra money.

             
Grace did not want to grow up living like her parents. As a matter of fact, she joined a small church of “cross bearers,” or Christians, as they called themselves, and devoted more of her time to charitable activities than to money making ones. “I will only live once, and I want to insure that it’s spent helping those born to less fortunate conditions,” she had told others.

             
She was especially popular amongst gangs in the Gorse, since she would bake chocolate chip cookies and set them on her windowsill every day.  It didn’t matter to her who took them. She would write “FREE” on the bag with an old fashioned marker and wait to see who would like them. When a single person or group of people would drop by, she would address them and have conversations with them. She would tell them of God above and miracles once performed on Earth. An old fashioned bound book version of the Bible rested on the small table she kept by the “cookie window.” Most of the people, young and old, who visited her thought she was insane, but that did not deter Grace’s efforts.

             
That day, the Kongamatos, a notoriously dangerous gang, decided to drop by and pick up a bag of the cookies they had heard so much about. Grace’s apartment rested in a gang neutral part of the Gorse known as “the Nest,” and most gangsters followed the rules established for this area, since they did not want all the other crews to team up and destroy them as punishment.

             
When the Kongamatos’s leader, Cunorix Koenig, approached the apartment’s window to take the cookies, Grace popped up to say high, accidentally causing the young man to nearly jump out of his skin. She tried not to laugh, happily surprised that a boy capable of the violent acts he had committed in the past still felt badly about taking cookies form an aging woman.

             
“Forgive me,” he said once he had regained his composure. “We heard that your cookies are
free
. You wouldn’t mind if
we
took them, would you?”

             
“Who else would they be for?” Grace laughed.

             
“Well we didn’t know if they were for the…homeless…or anything,” a second gang member with an icy blue Mohawk asked with uncharacteristic shyness.

“They are for anyone willing to ask,” Grace replied. “Just like the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. Are you familiar with the cross bearer religion, or ‘Christianity,’ as it used to be called?”

              “What is that, some kind of cult?” the third boy of the gang asked, his hand slightly inclining towards the ko-wakizashi
[17]
in his belt. He apparently had a bad history with people who started off a conversation in this manner.

             
“Well, what do you define as a cult?” Grace asked meekly.

             
“I believe the size of a religious group determines whether or not the label ‘cult’ is used,” the fourth and shortest boy added. He had a bag full of cybertech slung over his shoulder, indicating his status as the group’s hacker. 

             
“The point being that society gives the label and probably not the members,” Grace said gently “Why don’t you boys try some of those cookies and see how they taste.”

In all honesty, she not only wanted to keep them their longer for the sake of sharing her faith, but also because life could be very lonely for a woman with decreased mobility. Grace had broken her right leg only a year ago, after falling down steps. The older one became, the less easily one’s body healed. Grace didn’t get out as much as she used to.  

“We’d love to, but, we are meeting some girls later,” the boy with the Mohawk said.

              “It’s not like we’ll be late if we stay for a few minutes,” Cunorix replied.

“Why don’t you boys come ins
ide,” Grace said with a smile.

The gang members looked at each other in shock. Why would an older woman trust four weapon toting youth to enter her domain?

“Okay, just as long as you aren’t a serial killer or anything,” the fourth boy chuckled awkwardly.

“I have some oolong tea just waiting to be made,” Grace said as she unlocked her door. “If you boys want any, just let me know.”

“We would love some tea,” Cunorix spoke for the group.

“Perfect,” Grace replied, as she showed the boys to some seats around a tiny dining table an
d started preparing the drink.

“You have a nice place here Ms. S.” the boy with the sword spoke up.

“Why thank you, but how did you know my last name started with an ‘S’?”

“You’re popular amongst freeloaders like us,” t
he smallest boy said jokingly.

“I don’t let
freeloaders
in my house,” Grace responded with a mock frown. “If you want those cookies so badly, you’ll have to pay me by telling me your names.”

“Cunorix Koenig,” the leader spoke up first, just before
putting a cookie in his mouth.

“My name’s Oblivio Druick,” t
he sword wielder spoke up next.

“Mictlan…Lobson,” the group’s hacker choke
d as he scarfed down a cookie.

“Chi Composerson,” the kid with the Mohawk answered proudly as he set the Tac-50 sniper rifle he had been carrying up against the dining room’s wall. 

“They are all interesting names,” Grace said as she put a kettle on her kitchen’s Druebex Calfaction Coil to boil. “Tell me about these girls you are meeting.”

“Oh you probably wouldn’t know them,” Oblivio said
as he waved a dismissive hand.

“You would be surprised how many people drop by for cookies,” Grace said with a sly smile.

“I wouldn’t be,” Mictlan chimed in, just as he shoved another cookie into his mouth. Chi gave him a slap on the hand, preferring that his friend didn’t eat the whole bag.

“We’re meeting up with the Harpie gang, to sign a treaty between our crews,” Cunorix said hesitantly. He had a more cautious leading strategy, and preferred keeping the Kongamatos’s movements as secretive as possible. It seemed prudent to leave the locatio
n of the rendezvous unspoken. 

“Oh, I know those girls,” Grace said with excitement. “I haven’t seen them around here for a while. Elegance Pang was a really fun girl to converse with. Maybe you could tell them to
stop by here again sometime!”

“Well I hate to be the harbinger of bad news,” Cunorix turned a cookie over in his hands, “but Elegance has been missing as of late.”

“Oh Really? That’s hidoi
[18]
!”

“Araña fears that the Bessies and the Black Shucks will attack them soon. After all, both those gangs have five members, yet the Harpies have kept them in check territorially for a long time. Now that they’re down to three members, Araña and her crew suddenly look like an easy target, and maybe they are. We’ve agreed to offer them protection, as long as they give us permission to enter their territory whenever we like.”

“Not that their turf offers strategic value, so much as we want access to Nasonov's Ice Cream Parlor and Pâtisserie on Zeit Street. The Daifuku
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there is amazing and best of all…cheap!” Oblivio spoke up.

“I
s that a joke?” Grace laughed.

“
More or less,” Oblivio grinned.

“To be quite honest, I’m surprised the Harpies didn’t make a deal with the Dingoneks,” Grace said. “They’ve always been close.”

“You know a lot more about what goes on in the gang world than you let on Grams,” Chi pulled the bag of cookies closer to himself and Oblivio, as Mictlan reached over for another helping.

“Snack food, like religion, brings people from different walks of life together,” Grace smiled sweetly as she put a ba
g of tea in the boiling water.

“We don’t fully understand the reasons the Harpies turned to us as allies,” Cunorix looked at the simmering water as he spoke. “From what we’ve gathered, the Dingoneks lost a member, Vox Fuchs, recently. Plus Charlisle Bungard disappeared the same day that Vox died. The Harpies wouldn’t get much protection from a three man gang, and they have reason to suspect that Charlisle was involved in Elegance’s disappearance, since both vanished the very same evening.”

“That’s terrible about Vox,” Grace said solemnly. “He was a smart boy. If only you boys and girls didn’t have gang wars.”

“Like that will happen,” Mictlan said with unconcern. He didn’t say anything further, after Cunorix
cast him a disapproving look.

“I’ll have to remember to pray for C
harlisle as well,” Grace said.

“Pray?” Oblivio ra
ised a single eyebrow.

“Are any of you boys religious?” Grace look
ed at the gangsters hopefully.

“I’m an atheist, sorry,” Mictlan finall
y got ahold of another cookie.

“Agnostic,” Cunorix said with a raised hand.

“I don’t know anything about the subject of religion,” Oblivio said flatly.

“Well, I actually have a long standing belief in a spiritual world,” Chi spoke up. “I’m familiar with many Kami, though I’ve ne
ver heard of a
Christ
spirit.”

“These data files will tell you everything you need to know about the Christ,” Grace said as she pulled out a DS (data stick) on which a complete file of the Bible existe
d in five different languages.

Chi put the stick to his head, politely downloading the contents in a fraction of a second. “Don’t you have nanotubes in your own head?” he asked her. “You could have mailed me the file just as easily.

“No, I can’t afford it,” she poured the oolong tea into four cups.

“Would you like to check this out,” Chi waved the stick at the other members of the group. Cunorix accepted, but Oblivio and Mictlan felt satisfied leaving the data out of their heads.

“I hope you will consider what the contents of that file have to say,” Grace addressed the boys. “The Bible says that there is one God who is omnipresent, as opposed to many gods living in the streams and trees. Perhaps the very Kami you believe in were a, if I may use the word, misinterpretation of the idea of omnipresence. Hearers of this doctrine could not comprehend a being that could exist everywhere at once, so they suggested many gods had to exist to fill up the universe with a spiritual
essence
.”

“This is getting a bit too metaphysical for me,” Mictlan said before taking a loud slurp of tea. “No offense, but is there something else we can talk ab
out besides gods and spirits?”

“If this conversation is making you uncomfortable, we can always talk more about missing Dingoneks
and Harpies,” Grace suggested.

“We already told you all that we know,” Cunorix answered. “If we hear any more about what happened to them, we’ll tell you during another visit. That is, if you don’t mind another stopover?”

“Oh of course not,” Grace put a wrinkled hand on Cunorix’s shoulder, since he sat closest to her. “Feel free to drop by whenever you wish.”

“We’d actually better get going now,” Oblivio had called up a clock inside his mind. “If we’re late to the meeting, Araña will skin us, and
I don’t mean that as a joke.”

The Kongamatos set their Yixing clay cups on the small dining room table and got up to leave. Chi shouldered the Tac-50 he had brought with him and made a small bow to Grace, setting off a ch
ain of bows amongst the group.

“By the way,” Cunorix slid his right hand to the tactical knife on his hip. “Do you have nasty boys coming around here and bothering you? If anybody tries to rob you or hurt you, just let us know. We
can make problems…
disappear
.”

“Oh no, I’m quite safe, or at least as safe as a Gorser can be,” Grace smiled sheepishly. “Besides, I already have a p
rotector,” she looked skyward.

“Well, tell us if anyone messes with you none the less,” Mictlan chimed in. “I just remembered something I wanted to tell you about before we took off. Over in Prefecture 56, there’s this new business that went up called Copy Rites. It involves all this mysticism stuff, so I thought you might look into it.”

“I will. Have a good day and be safe!”

Grace sat down at her dining table, wishing that she had more money, but not for the sake of spending it on herself. Her faith made her into a woman who did not “work a
ll uncleanness with greediness
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.” She wanted to go looking for Elegance and Charlisle. While Grace wasn’t a person with political convictions, she doubted Central Authority’s willingness to find missing youth with gang affiliations.