Runaway, Page 2

  She snorted delicately. “With that temper? You wouldn’t have lasted long with a mister. Do you have money?”

  He shook his head. They hadn’t been able to arrange that, in the rush to get him over the border before he would be missed. All the money they’d been able to scrape together had gone to bribe the Second Landstead’s border guard.

  Halting, she let go of him, groped inside a pocket of her flimsy dress, and then held out something to him. “Here. Take the monorail to Green Village. That’s where lots of immigrant servants live; you’ll blend in. And here’s a card to an organization I belong to. We’ll help you with a job and lodgings.”

  He had no intention of staying in the First Landstead any longer than it took to get over the border to Yclau. He certainly didn’t plan to work in a brothel. But he didn’t tell her that; instead, he accepted what she handed him. Feeling suddenly awkward, he said, “Thank you for your help. I’m sorry about before. I was just—” He sought an excuse, then remembered that he had a legitimate one. “I’m married.”

  She looked behind him, as though expecting to see a wife. “Not running away from her too, I hope.”

  He opened his mouth to make a hot denial—

  Then he realized, with a thud over the heart, that the prostitute was right.

  Not that he had intended to. His intention all along had been to have Sally join him, once the baby was born.

  But all his thoughts that day had been on running away – running as fast and far as he could from the masters of the Dozen Landsteads. Not once had it occurred to him to come back to help Sally and their child over the border.

  “No,” he said, as his plans firmed finally into sensible order. “My wife remained behind because she’s expecting a baby. As soon as she’s ready to join me with our child, I’ll help her over the border.”

  Dinah gave him a smile – a knowing smile, as though she guessed what had been going through his mind. Reaching out, she brushed his cheek with her gloved fingers. “A lucky woman. Well, I’ll let you go on from here by yourself. I have to return to work.” She withdrew her fingers; the glove was now smeared with the lipstick that had been on his cheek.

  “To work?” he said, taken aback by her frankness.

  Her smile deepened. “I work for the border guards. I’m in charge of making sure that people in line have their documents in proper order, before they reach the guards.” She pushed a button in the wall beside them.

  The wall rose to reveal a moving staircase going down to a platform. Standing on the morning-lit platform were men, women, and children. The men were dressed in much the same fashion as upper landstead men, but the women . . . The women were all dressed like Dinah was. They were all wearing short skirts and no corsets. Some of the women had bare arms.

  By the time Bat was able to make sense of what he saw, Dinah was gone. His face now burning with embarrassment and guilt, he looked down at what she had given: a ticket to the Green Village station, and a small card like a visiting card. He brought the card closer to read it.

  COMMONERS’ GUILD

  First Landstead Branch

  6 Parkway

  Green Village

  We bring freedom to our fellow servants.

  Bat perused the card for a long while; then he placed the card in his pocket. His mind was no longer filled with thoughts of running. Instead, he was thinking of the long nights he had spent boating on the Bay, helping other servants escape to freedom from their masters. He had thought that this part of his life was over – that he no longer held such heavy obligations.

  He took his first step onto the moving staircase – his first step to joining the fight for freedom in the First Landstead.

  Maybe, he thought, he could learn to sing a few protest ballads.

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  Cover photography: Detail from an image by PIRO4D, using stock footage from Momentmal.