A Seeker Betrayed

3. Sur'ten Ken

Sur'ten could feel Gamman's mood shift from irritation to anger, and then to anticipation. Their cart was crossing the plaza now and Sur'ten could see the academic buildings off in the distance. He said, "Would you like me to round up Shamma and A'Gahtay?"

Gamman's intense gaze fell on him and after a moment he replied, "You want me to let you off here?"

Sur'ten nodded, and the cart glided to a stop out of the way of the others that were streaming by. "Thanks." He released the restraint and turned before stepping through the opening at the back of the cart. "I'll make sure they show up."

It was a ten minute walk from the edge of the plaza to the House of Lords and the surrounding complex where all the young men were housed. Feeling a little lighter now that he was on his own for a little while, Sur'ten stopped at a food stall and picked up a wrapped sandwich to eat on the way.

Gamman's current lover was one of Sur'ten's favorite people and he reached out to him through the obomae. Hey, are you done for the day?

The response was immediate. Yep! I haven't heard from Shamahan yet.

Sur'ten checked the schedule. His group is doing a session with Infrastructure Management - those always run long. Why don't we go out?

They met in the back courtyard behind the House of Lords, that led directly into the park. Eager for a hug, A'Gahtay came right up to him and squeezed him around the waist and drew away, smiling.

Sur'ten couldn't help but to smile back, scanning A'Gahtay's expression. He had partly let down his silky black hair - it was drawn back from his face and pinned so that it fell in waves down his back. He seemed relaxed and happy, his cheeks plump and rosy and his dark eyes cheerfully set off by his long lashes and thick eyebrows that were raised in anticipation of Sur'ten's next words.

Sur'ten switched to talking aloud. "Which would you rather do, Seekers Rec or a club?"

The younger ken made a funny face and asked, "Those both sound so tame."

Sur'ten laughed. "Well if you're looking for spice we're going to 'Kiyiya' later, don't worry! But not yet. You're right, the clubs are probably just getting started, but I think 'White Honey' is probably a good place to start. Unless you'd rather go the seekers' route."

As a seeker ken Sur'ten had privileges in all the seekers' haunts; soon A'Gahtay would be a seeker's ken too. Their kind - the ones that did the special underground work that depended on the seeking ability - were a special brotherhood.

Seekers Rec had a special set of caverns set aside at the base of the 'Bath Peaks,' the hot springs in the mountains nearby. In total there were only about two thousand seekers and they covered all shifts - a lot of them preferred to spend their time relaxing as far away from the working underground as they could get. The hot springs were a good place to commune with the others who worked during the third shift, deep in the night. A'Gahtay didn't have full privileges yet, so Sur'ten at least wanted to offer it.

On this occasion though the young man seemed wound up; it was too early to meet up with Gamman and he acknowledged that by saying, "I know Shamma wants me to wait for him. White Honey sounds good."

Sur'ten smiled. White Honey was a convenient place to go - it was located just outside the main plaza and it had a lot of traffic early in the night. It 'trapped' a lot of the younger men because of its location and many of them ended up spending their entire evening there. It was always bustling.

As they walked up to it Sur'ten felt the rhythm of the music that was going on inside. He loved the persistence of the beat, which was meant to be inescapable. The combination of having the body physically moved by the beat, while also using the obomae to pick up the nuances of the music was one of his favorite things.

Almost everyone picked up the other strands of the music in their body too and sang with it one way or another. He'd heard foreigners thought it was the weirdest thing, but Sur'ten loved it. He had training for singing when he was growing up, and actual singing - with his own voice - was something he was good at. But for people who didn't sing well, who didn't even know how to match pitch well, they all liked to sing within the obomae. It freaked the foreigners out.

Sur'ten laughed to himself. Being able to tune the experience to your own taste was a definite advantage of being part of the city - of being 'fully integrated' with the artificial intelligence. For hearing the subtleties conveyed inside the mindspace - or for tuning out the unwanted bits, foreigners were at a disadvantage.

It was pretty loud and they stopped in the waiting area to strip off their jackets and tunics and check them there. An attendant offered them a choice of a vest or a colorful, soft t-shirt. Sur'ten blocked his younger friend from accepting the t-shirt and made him take a vest instead.

They also picked up ear inserts to protect their eardrums from damage, and on the way in both asked the artificial intelligence to turn off their auditory receptors.

When men used the obomae to communicate, they used two types of communication: vocal and subvocal. It was common to talk without actually looking at the people you were talking to - some found it confusing to look at their conversation partners because without using the mouth to form words it felt intrusive to look. The subvocal channel in the obomae conveyed the type of information that was normally picked up with sight. Cues about mood and intention came through the subvocal.

It was dark inside. There was cool air circulating at the floor but at chest level it was warm. When they entered the dance floor there was a smooth beat going, and everyone was chanting the song over top - everyone was singing out, and Sur'ten let his voice join immediately. He heard his breath vibrate through his body as he sang, and heard himself - and everyone else - in the obomae. The electric thrill of hearing it along with the subvocal swept him up immediately and he caught A'Gahtay's wrist and pulled him into the crowd where they moved together in rhythm.

The songs each gave way to the next one seamlessly and Sur'ten grinned at A'Gahtay's obvious delight. There was pleasure in watching him; he still seemed so innocent and at the moment he was focused on enjoying the dance.

Sur'ten always looked forward to moments like this. He felt free... he could almost imagine having the freedom that Gamman had. If he were a sia like Gamman, he could support other kens, have an assistant of his own, and a lover, maybe even one who was a sia or a lord himself.

He looked away from A'Gahtay, across the bobbing mass of men around him. The ear inserts glowed - blue, green, or pink - and there was also a bright blue underglow from the stage at the wall off to their right. He couldn't afford to start looking at his young friend as a target. Gamman was protective of him, and if he didn't end up making a contract with him, then Shamahan might very well do so.

Besides, he still didn't trust himself to treat a lover right.

Everyone thought of Sur'ten as nice, but he didn't see himself so. He felt something was off, but the healers said he was 'dysphoric,' or disturbed. It felt worse than the description made it sound. On the inside he was pretty aggressive and quick to anger. But... he had to get along. It was easy enough to pretend to be nice the way he was supposed to, with all the techniques he had learned.

Plus, he didn't have any power. He felt protective and kind towards A'Gahtay, since they would only ever be friends.

And, he said to himself, having A'Gahtay be an extra anchor for Gamman would be good....