Page 92 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly
Sesi moved to curl up against Callie’s lap.Callie managed to lift her arm enough to thread her fingers through a few strands of hair.“Tell me about your mom.”
“She’s just a mom, you know?Made sure I went to creche, ate properly, helped me pay for my AI psych training.”
“Idon’tknow.”Sesi tried really hard to keep the edge out of her voice.It wasn’t Calile’s fault.
“Oh,” Callie stared.“I’m sorry.I wasn’t thinking,” she mumbles.
Sesi shifted her head.Callie took the hint and pressed her fingers into her scalp.
“Mom runs a second-hand shop.It’s nothing fancy, but at least it isn’t in The Cars.Sparx and I hang out there sometimes and she fusses over us.”Callie took a deep breath.The realisation of how she had taken her mother for granted made her feel guilty again.“It’s nice having someone who will always try to take care of you, even if you don’t want it.”
Sesi ran her thumb across Callie’s leg.“Sparx’s parents joined the Natalists when she was in her teens.That was when he came out.The operation would have destroyed any chance of him having kids, so they threw him out.Mom basically adopted him after that.”
“You have a good mom.”Sesi said quietly.“I kind of want to meet her.”
“She would be so happy, you don’t even know.”Callie’s eyes lit up.
“That your girlfriend is a criminal?”Sesi raised an eyebrow.
“Girlfriends,” Callie corrected.“God, that feels weird, but also like it’s supposed to.I’m sorry, that doesn’t make any sense.Anyway, she already knows.”
Sesi leaned farther into Callie’s fingers.“Sparx?”
“For once, I beat him to it.He’ll probably be kind of annoyed about that when he finds out.”
Sesi laughed and sat up.“Lemme see your arms.”
Callie obliged.Sesi carefully peeled up one of the wraps.Her arms were healing quickly and none of the cuts were too deep anymore.They still looked ugly.
“Let’s get those off and put some ointment on.It should relieve some of the itching.”Sesi helped Callie to stand and they moved over to the tub to soak the bandages.She sat on the edge.They peeled off into a sopping pile and Sesi opened a jar of some viscous, strange smelling liquid.
Callie winced.Sesi kept slathering.“Trust me,” she muttered.
“I do,” Callie reassured her.“It just stings.Where did you learn to do this?”
“Qimmiq.”Sesi scooped up another handful of goo.“We didn’t have DocPods.We wouldn’t have been able to use them even if we did.”
The immensity of the coming changes prodded at the edges of Callie’s mind.She didn’t know anything.Almostnobodyknew anything.“How many people know how to do this?”
“Put ointment on an arm?”Sesi looked at her like she had said something outlandish.
“We just used DocPods.Or waited until it healed itself.The nanoids speed that up too, according to the printout.”
Sesi bobbed her head from side to side.“I hadn’t thought about it.Everyone who lives outside the city should know, I guess.I don’t know how many that is, though.Some of us stay in the same place.A bunch of others travel from here to there, trading and picking up work on the outer towers.”
Sesi screwed the cap back on the ointment.“Qimmiq said we used to follow caribou.I’ve never seen one, though.A few other groups follow seals.But Qimmiq said they weren’t the same kind.Less hairy.A bunch of others mostly fish.He said that was less affected by the climate, they’re just in different places now.”
“Sounds like he knew a lot.”Callie met Sesi’s dark brown eyes.“Do you miss him?”
Sesi nodded.“I doubt he’d approve, but yeah, I do.”
Callie reached up to hold Sesi’s arm.It was feeling better already.Sesi leaned in to take Callie’s kiss.
The sound of the door sliding open made them break apart.Talia stepped into the bathroom, hair matted, black soot streaks along her eyes and cheeks, covered from head to toe in blood.
The World
January 15 2268
