(2.3) The Market
The sun had just began to ooze above the city skyline when Kael caught the early bus to the central zone. The driver shot her a look as she shoved her change through the slot. A girl her age was guaranteed a Valuit City System card. Was it really that hard to believe she'd left it at home? Or that she was hiding from those who could read an electronic trail like it was a picture book? The bar code scanner sitting near the door was as good as walking into the police station, or the Inposterum science building.
Kael laughed quietly, but quickly caught herself, hoping that the bus's one other passenger hadn't noticed. The pills still sat in her pocket, back in their container, burning a hole. But it just felt so wrong, leaving a mystery like this unsolved. This early in the morning an hour drive shrunk to twenty minutes. Out the window, Kael watched the city wake up. Though the closer she got to the centre, the less it had actually gone to sleep.
The canvas roofs of The Market covered ten city blocks. The thriving economy of Valuit really took a physical form here. Businesses—both legitimate and not—rubbed elbows in the covered alleys, and buildings which had long since been completely taken over. For those in the outer zones, like the one from which she'd arrived, The Market had taken up the characteristics of a bad urban legend. But for those in the central zone it was just a part of life. So confusing was it under the patchwork of colourful cloth that some locals had began to carry maps: maps that Kael felt she would be qualified to create. If she needed something, she knew exactly where to find it. She knew which areas to avoid, not that that really matter anymore—not to her.
She was wound so tight, as she hopped off the bus, that she was almost craving a confrontation. With her hardened gaze she dared someone to challenge her. The power burned beneath her skin. She caught herself again, wanting to hurt someone, and the bottle in her pocket put on a few pounds.
Most of the stalls were still closed, but Kael knew there were parts of The Market that never shut down. As she walked under the shade of the tents, Kael pulled up her hood and shoved her hands deep into her pockets. Her fingers closed around the pill bottle like it was a stress ball.
A woman smiled at her as she passed by. She unloaded vegetables from crates. They were rejected stalk from the greenhouses, thrown away for imperceivable imperfections, until entrepreneurs like the smiling woman offered to buy them up for a miniscule price.
Kael was less than a block away from her destination, when a group of young adults pushed their way out from a particularly dark tent. They barely cast her a second look. Hair was messy, black makeup smudged below eyes. Kael payed them no mind. There it was, looming above, only visible in the crack between two pieces of fabric. The building to which Kael was headed must have once been something else; apartments maybe. Now it was hollowed out like a drum, stalls littering the ground floor, and the balconies that looked down at it on every level. There was no door, and she strode through the frame.
Here, eyes watched her warily. One didn't browse here, like out in the alleys. In an ironic way this place was high class, exclusive. Those who came here knew what they were looking for. Kael couldn't stop her eyes from wandering to a clean area displaying glittering electronics. If she had to hazard a guess, she would say that these were the kind built so they couldn't be traced or listened in on. For a moment she played with the idea of having a phone again, or a computer, but quickly dismissed it. What good was technology when she was dead?
Instead, she headed for the stairs. Three flights up, she stopped. Her destination was different than most things found in The Market, bigger money, higher risk. That should have been evident from the fact that its walls weren't made of cloth. A section of rooms had been left intact to house it.
Kael pushed through the curtains covering the door. The man at the desk spun his chair to face her. She knew he would be here early.
“Kael!” The surprise was genuine, and he jumped to his feet, hurrying around the desk to great her. “Of all people, I didn't expect to see you here.”
In truth, she'd only spoken to the man once before, very briefly, but he greeted her like she was an old friend.
“I wish I could say it was a pleasure, Elris.”
The man was grey, with a scruff of a beard, but it was obvious he'd gone out of his way to stay fit, muscles obvious through his suit jacket, which must have been at least a size too small.
“What could the likes of me possibly do for you?” He lead her towards the next doorway. “Or are you finally sick of your lone wolf stic?”
The cafe that lay on the other side was still closed, empty aside for them. Kael knew that those who stayed here were probably still in their rooms, asleep. What reason did they have to wake early?
The inn keeper waited for her to speak, his salesman's smile not quite managing to cover the analytical eye with which he observed her.
“I need information,” Kael said. “That's it. I need to find someone.”
“Does this someone have a mutation?”
Kael nodded.
“And since when did you start giving a damn about those like us? Hmm?”
“That's none of your business. I'm not here to stay, I'm not here to work, and I'm not here to be part of whatever it is you're going to try to make me part of this time. I'm here to get my information, give you my money, and leave as soon as possible.”
“All business, are we?” Elris teased. “Come over here.” He walked towards the counter. “I'll make you some coffee. Those dark circles tell me you've been up all night.”
“Your right it's business.” Kael protested, though she still found herself leaning on the counter, watching him as he puttered in the kitchen. “I give you the money, you find out what I want to know.”
“And what makes you think I want your money?” Elris slapped a mug down in front of her.
Kael raised an eyebrow.
“I make enough here that whatever you're going to offer me really won't make a difference.”
“What do you want then?” Kael asked, with the undeniable feeling that she was making a mistake.
“For you to take a job—just one job, nothing permanent”
“No.” Her answer was automatic.
“Then I guess we're done here. It's been a pleasure, Kael, as always. Feel free to stay for breakfast. I was just about to open up.”
She almost turned and walked out. She could go in blind on this. Why not? Or she could not go at all. But then it dawned on her how little a promise meant to her now. She was already supposed to be dead, after all, and dead men don't keep promises.
“Alright.” A genuine look of surprise crossed Elris's face. “But you better dig up something really, or I'm not doing shit.”
Elris beamed at her. “Fair is fair. What's their name?”
“Idan,” she said, “don't know the last one.”
“Don't recall anyone right off the bat, but my memory's not what it used to be. What can he do?”
Kael had been dreading this question. “I'm not entirely sure. He can appear out of thin air, and disappear like someone turned off a projector. But he's not fully in control of it. He told me he didn't have much time, when I met him, then disappeared right in front of me. The lights flickered too.” She was watching Elris's face for any sign of recognition. “There was lots of static in the air. He also knew my name, and I have no idea how. So either he runs in some circle, or he's psychic on top of all that...” She trailed off.
Elris looked pensive.
Kael sipped her coffee. On the other side of the cafe something caught her eye. An man had emerged from one of the curtained doorways. He looked at them for a fraction of a second, and Elris waved, but he continued on right out the door.
“So?” Kael prompted.
“Still not ringing any bells. I'll look through the lists but I'm pretty sure I've never found work for him. Doesn't mean he's never been here though. I'll ask around.”
“Alright.” Kael tried her best not to feel too disappointed. “I have 'till tonight. After that the deal's off.”
Elris nodded. “You can hang around if you want. I hope you know I mean it when I say you're always welcome.”
“I might stay for a bit.” Kael sipped her coffee.
What was going on with her? Not only had she failed to kill herself, but she was doing everything she'd sworn never to do. Not only was she getting involved, she was seeking out trouble, not the mention the fact that she was hanging out in Elris's cafe. Tonight she was going to the main headquarters of Inposterum sciences. It was one of the main, if not the main company controlling the way the government treated those with genetic mutations. This is who took them, when those who frequented this cafe—those like her—disappeared.
“You don't look so good,” Elris commented. He spoke as he worked, preparing to open for the day. “Are you alright?”
“Alright enough.” Kael cast an eye towards the door. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to stay after all.
“I heard what happened.”
“I expected you had.”
Kael made eye contact, tightening her jaw. She wanted to make it perfectly clear that this was not a topic of conversation she wished to pursue.
“You know,” Elris was unfazed, “Sometimes it's good to have friends. No one does well to be completely alone.”
Kael said nothing to this, at least not out loud. She used to have friends. She used to have a family. But she'd messed up. She'd disappointed her mother, and terrified her friends. Even before the incident yesterday she'd been isolating herself, or at least trying her best to. But her best hadn't been good enough and the results had been devastating.
Elris brought her a bowl of porridge, and she insisted he take her money for it, and for the coffee.
A few spoonfuls in three people sauntered in through the door: a woman and two men—all young.
“Elris!” The girl yelled. “Get us something greasy.”
“On it!”
Kael stared down into her food, trying to look as small as she could, perched on the bar stool.
The group sat down at a table.
“Coffee?” Elris asked.
“Of course!”
The man poured a few cups, setting them on a tray. “Think fast!” He tossed it like a Frisbee.
One of the boys looked up with a start, extending his arm. The tray winked from existence, reappearing on the table, as if it had gone through a tunnel Kael was unable to see. Everyone laughed good-naturedly.
Despite Kael's original concerns, no one attempted to speak to her. This could not have been the first time this cafe had hosted someone who would rather be left alone. Soon after, a man emerged from the curtained doorway, taking over behind the counter, and Elris returned to his place at the reception desk, attending to the other service this place offered.
A few more people wandered in, and Kael ordered another cup of coffee. Those here this early either slept here, or had been attending to some other business in The Market during the night, or at least that was her best guess. Those who entered from outside looked tired, like her.
“You look like you're going to pass out.”
Kael's head snapped up from the swirling black in her cup.
The man who had replaced Elris was looking down at her. “If you don't have anywhere to be you can have a room. Take a nap for a few hours, on the house.”
Kael was unsure if he knew who she was, or if he was acting on Elris's orders, or if he was simply being kind. There was a type of community spirit that existed in this place
“I... uh.”
Maybe he was right. She was having trouble making sentences. She was much too tired already, and she needed to be at her sharpest tonight.
“Seriously,” the man prompted. “You really look like you could use it.”
“If it's not too much trouble.” Kael gave in, pushing the mug away from her, though the coffee had had no effect thus far.
The man gave her room five. Kael told him to wake her if Elris came looking. Hopefully he'd have information when she awoke. Pushing through the curtain, Kael entered a small room with a metal ladder leading up through the roof. On the floor above was a hall lined with rooms, and ending in a communal bathroom facility. Kael used it before going to her room, thankfully encountering no one along the way.
The room was minimal, empty aside from a bed. But it was clean, and she collapsed onto it gratefully, removing her jacket, and sweater, with the pills still inside it.