The Demon and the City - By Liz Williams Page 0,22

which seemed to go on for hours, stifling it in a wad of tissue. When she took the paper away from her mouth it was bloody. Robin stared at it in disbelief. She should not go near the experiment in this state, but the thought of going off work scared her. It would cost too much: she might be fined, and now it looked like she had something serious and that would mean more expense. She could not afford medical insurance either. Come on, she thought furiously. You drag yourself in there and give the poor thing the four o'clock jabs, and then you go home.

She stood up and the tiled room spun. Somehow, she got back to the office, took the right jabs out of the canister and went in to the experiment.

"Just me again," she muttered. She sat on her usual place by the bunk, and took out the little syringes. Nothing seemed to make sense. She stared at the labels, hoping they would become clearer. Everything was very dim and furry around the edges. She looked up and saw that the experiment was watching her, raised on his elbows. The blue eyes were very clear, and very bright.

"Mhara," she said.

"Yes?"

"That's your name," Robin whispered. "You have a name."

Mhara said softly. "But you knew that."

"No," Robin said. "I didn't understand it, not until now. Not really. Mhara, I think I'm really sick."

"Sick?" His eyes seemed to fill the world. She began to fumble with the activation unit for the bonds that held him to the cot. "Robin? What are you doing?"

"Setting you free. Doing something good. Before I die," Robin said, and then she felt the cough beginning deep in her throat. It took hold of her and she bent over double, spluttering. She felt a gentle hand on her back, stroking and soothing, and oddly it stopped the cough.

"You're in pain, aren't you?" the experiment said, gently.

Gratefully, Robin turned to him.

"Yes, I—" and then she realized what she had done. Her head swam with panic and elation. But he wouldn't hurt me, not after I've helped him! was her first confused thought, and then: Why not? You're his torturer. She tried to get up from the bed, but her legs would not obey her.

"Please—" she started to say.

"Goodbye, Robin," Mhara whispered. His hand gripped her wrist, keeping her pinned to the bunk. He was much stronger than she would have expected, after all the testing. The frail patient in the bed was not so fragile, it seemed. Robin stared at him without understanding and tried to pull her feeble hand away. Her experiment gave her his sweet, vague smile and kissed her on the forehead, and then she felt his fingers close gently around her sore throat.

Eleven

"They've found another body," Ma said, sounding almost cheerful.

"Have they indeed?" Zhu Irzh murmured. He put down the copy of the Hell Morning News, which was delivered promptly to the station house every day, took a sip of blood tea, and gave Ma his full attention. "Who and where?"

"It isn't a woman this time, but it's in pretty much the same condition. Looks as though something tore it apart, and it's a few days old, probably about the same time of death as the first. They found it up on a mining site, dumped in a landfill crater. It was sheer luck that the foreman spotted it; they were about to fill in the hole when he noticed the foot."

"The foot?"

"They found the rest of the body nearby."

"And have they figured out who it was?" Zhu Irzh rubbed gritty eyes.

"As a matter of fact, yes, they have. It's the body of a local feng shui man, named Hsu Ko. Seems he was undertaking some dowsing on the site, to check for minerals. He's one of a number of feng shui experts on contract to the mining companies."

"Any obvious suspects?"

"No, apparently he was liked well enough, kept to himself. He was brought in to replace someone who was having problems with their license—" Ma frowned. "A man called Paravang Roche. Didn't you have a run-in with someone of that name?"

"Yes, I was the one who got his license revoked. He hadn't paid his bribes. It was a trivial affair."

"Maybe not to Roche. These people can get very jealous with one another. My cousin used to work for the Feng Shui Practitioners' Guild but he packed it in, said there was too much backstabbing. Anyway, the foreman said that Ko was the last