and patched together from mothballed units. It never had a working gene-splicer. And in the years I’ve been using it, a lot of the systems it had to start with have either become unreliable or else failed outright. So I’m reduced to watching from the sidelines and giving a thumbs down when the double recessives collide.”
I nodded like I knowed how she felt because this was something that happened to me from time to time. I got the main point anyway, which is that the dagnostic was meant to be able to fix sick babies before they was even born. Only Ursala’s dagnostic couldn’t, and that made her unhappy.
We turned to other talk after that. I told her how I come to be made faceless after I stole the DreamSleeve and showed it off at Haijon and Spinner’s wedding. And then about my going to Ludden and fighting Mardew there, and afterwards being took by Sky and them. I told her in a whisper that I had the DreamSleeve still with me, which she was inclined to misbelieve. She had got to set her hand on my shirt, where it lay hid, before she trusted me – and I don’t think she believed even then what the DreamSleeve could do.
She was not happy either to hear of me being exiled. “This is why I stay away from people as much as I can,” she said, somewhat bitter. “When I fraternise, things like this happen. I’m sorry I did that to you, Koli.”
I told her that was far from how I was seeing it. “All you done was to tell me the truth, Ursala, which there ain’t no blame for. And besides that, the DreamSleeve is the best thing that ever come to me. It’s a miracle, is what, and I can’t ever thank you enough for putting me in the way of it. I wanted a weapon at first, but it’s better than any weapon could be.”
“I don’t know about that. A weapon would be nice right now.”
“Well,” I said, “it might be we got a weapon too.” I give a nod, and she turned to look where I was looking. At the back of our narrow space, a bar of yellow light struck down on the dark stone, come from far up above us. I think it was the first time in my life I was ever happy to see the sun come out, since in Mythen Rood it was ever an ill omen.
We went about to charge up the DreamSleeve without nobody seeing us. We sit down side by side in front of the little strip of sunlight that was as narrow as a ribbon. Our backs was to it, so we was looking out into the cave. I slid the DreamSleeve out of my shirt and set it down behind me, judging by the warmth where to put it for I did not dare to look.
We wasn’t able to measure time except by counting, and counting would of drawed attention, so I can’t say how long I steeped the DreamSleeve in that light. I didn’t feel no change in that time, but I hoped I would hear Monono’s voice soon. I thought of praying too, though I never believed in any god. But in the end, I did not do it.
Any prayers I throwed out in this place was like to go through Senlas on their way to Heaven.
47
We slept, and we woke, and Senlas called for me to be brung to him again.
He wanted to talk some more about Tokyo. I didn’t mind telling it neither, for it made me feel a little bit closer to Monono. The DreamSleeve was back where it belonged, tied up against my chest. And though I had give it some charge the night before, I didn’t yet dare to turn it on, both because of there not being nowhere where I was truly alone and because of what Monono had said about her charge being so low. It might be that the personal security alarm would help us to get out of this, like I had said to Ursala, though I couldn’t figure how it would do that with all them hundreds of people between us and the entrance. I wasn’t even sure I could find that door in the wicker screen again, and I knowed for sure there was guards set on it.
So I talked, and I kept my eyes open, and I remembered everything I seen and told