Citizen of the Galaxy (3 page)

“Yes, Pop.”

“You remember the ship that brought you here. What was its name?”

“The Merry Widow. Only that wasn't what we called it.”

“You remember getting into that ship. Now you are in it -- you can see it. You remember all about it. Now go back to where you were when you went aboard.”

The boy stiffened without waking. “I don't want to!”

“I'll be right with you. You'll be safe. Now what is the name of the place? Go back to it. Look at it.”

An hour and a half later Baslim still squatted beside the sleeping boy. Sweat poured down wrinkles in his face and he felt badly shaken. To get the boy back to the time he wanted to explore it had been necessary to force him back through experiences disgusting even to Baslim, old and hardened as he was. Repeatedly Thorby had fought against it, nor could Baslim blame him -- he felt now that he could count the scars on the boy's back and assign a villain to each.

But he had achieved his purpose; to delve farther back than the boy's waking memory ran, back into his very early childhood, and at last to the traumatic moment when the baby manchild had been taken from his parents.

He left the boy in deep coma while he collected his shattered thoughts. The last few moments of the quest had been so bad that the old man doubted his judgment in trying to dig out the source of the trouble.

Well, let's see . . . what had he found out?

The boy was born free. But he had always been sure of that.

The boys native language was System English, spoken with an accent Baslim could not place; it had been blurred by baby speech. That placed him inside the Terran Hegemony; it was even possible (though not likely) that the boy had been born on Earth. That was a surprise; he had thought the boy's native language was Interlingua, since he spoke it better than he did the other three he knew.

What else? Well, the boy's parents were certainly dead, if the confused and terror-ridden memory he had pried out of the boy's skull could be trusted. He had been unable to dig out their family name nor any way of identifying them -- they were just “Papa” and “Mama” -- so Baslim gave up a half-formed plan of trying to get word to relatives of the boy.

Well, now to make this ordeal he had put the lad through worth the cost --

“Thorby?”

The boy moaned and stirred. “Yes, Pop?”

“You are asleep. You won't wake up until I tell you to.”

“I won't wake up until you tell me to.”

“When I tell you, you will wake at once. You will feel fine and you won't remember anything we've talked about.”

“Yes, Pop.”

“You will forget. But you will feel fine. About half an hour later you will feel sleepy again. I'll tell you to go to bed and you will go to bed and go right to sleep. You'll sleep all night, good sleep and pleasant dreams. You won't have any more bad dreams. Say it.”

“I won't have any more bad dreams.”

“You won't ever have any more bad dreams. Not ever.”

“Not ever.”

“Papa and Mama don't want you to have any bad dreams. They're happy and they want you to be happy. When you dream about them, it will always be happy dreams.”

“Happy dreams.”

“Everything is all right now, Thorby. You are starting to wake. You're waking up and you can't remember what we've been talking about. But you'll never have bad dreams again. Wake up, Thorby.”

The boy sat up, rubbed his eyes, yawned, and grinned. “Gee, I fell asleep. Guess I played out on you, Pop. Didn't work, huh?”

“Everything's all right, Thorby.”

It took more than one session to lay those ghosts, but the nightmares dwindled and stopped. Baslim was not technician enough to remove the bad memories; they were still there. All he did was to implant suggestions to keep them from making Thorby unhappy. Nor would Baslim have removed memories had he been skilled enough; he had a stiff-necked belief that a man's experiences belonged to him and that even the worst should not be taken from him without his consent.

Thorby's days were as busy as his nights had become peaceful. During their early partnership Baslim kept the boy always with him. After breakfast they would hobble to the Plaza of Liberty, Baslim would sprawl on the pavement and Thorby would stand or squat beside him, looking starved and holding the bowl. The spot was always picked to obstruct foot traffic, but not enough to cause police to do more than growl. Thorby learned that none of the regular police in the Plaza would ever do more than growl: Baslim's arrangements with them were beneficial to underpaid police.

Thorby learned the ancient trade quickly -- learned that men with women were generous but that the appeal should be made to the woman, that it was usually a waste of time to ask alms of unaccompanied women (except unveiled women), that it was an even bet between a lack and a gift in bracing a man alone, that spacemen hitting dirt gave handsomely. Baslim taught him to keep a little money in the bowl, neither smallest change nor high denominations.

At first Thorby was just right for the trade; small, half-starved, covered with sores, his appearance alone was enough. Unfortunately he soon looked better. Baslim repaired that with make-up, putting shadows under his eyes and hollows in his cheeks. A horrible plastic device stuck on his shinbone provided a realistic large “ulcer” in place of the sores he no longer had; sugar water made it attractive to flies -- people looked away even as they dropped coins in the bowl.

His better-fed condition was not as easy to disguise but he shot up fast for a year or two and continued skinny, despite two hearty meals a day and a bed to doss on.

Thorby soaked up a gutter education beyond price. Jubbulpore, capital of Jubbul and of the Nine Worlds, residence in chief of the Great Sargon, boasts more than three thousand licensed beggars, twice that number of street vendors, more grog shops than temples and more temples than any other city in the Nine Worlds, plus numbers uncountable of sneak thieves, tattoo artists, griva pushers, doxies, cat burglars, back-alley money changers, pickpockets, fortune tellers, muggers, assassins, and grifters large and small. Its inhabitants brag that within a li of the pylon at the spaceport end of the Avenue of Nine anything in the explored universe can be had by a man with cash, from a starship to ten grains of stardust, from the ruin of a reputation to the robes of a senator with the senator inside.

Technically Thorby was not part of the underworld, since he had a legally recognized status (slave) and a licensed profession (beggar). Nevertheless he was in it, with a worm's-eye view. There were no rungs below his on the social ladder.

As a slave he had learned to lie and steal as naturally as other children learn company manners, and much more quickly. But he discovered that these common talents were raised to high art in the seamy underside of the city. As he grew older, learned the language and the streets, Baslim began to send him out on his own, to run errands, to shop for food, and sometimes to make a pitch by himself while the old man stayed in. Thus he “fell into evil company” if one can fall from elevation zero.

He returned one day with nothing in his bowl. Baslim made no comment but the boy explained. “Look, Pop, I did all right!” From under his clout he drew a fancy scarf and proudly displayed it

Baslim did not smile and did not touch it. “Where did you get that?”

“I inherited it!”

“Obviously. But from whom?”

“A lady. A nice lady, pretty.

“Let me see the house mark. Mmm . . . probably Lady Fascia. Yes, she is pretty, I suppose. But why aren't you in jail?”

“Why, gee, Pop, it was easy! Ziggie has been teaching me. He knows all the tricks. He's smooth -- you should see him work.”

Baslim wondered how one taught morals to a stray kitten? He did not consider discussing it in abstract ethical terms; there was nothing in the boy's background, nothing in his present environment, to make it possible to communicate on such a level.

“Thorby, why do you want to change trades? In our business you pay the police their commission, pay your dues to the guild, make an offering at the temple on holy day, and you've no worries. Have we ever gone hungry?”

“No, Pop -- but look at it! It must have cost almost a stellar!”

“At least two stellars, I'd say. But a fence would give you two minims -- if he was feeling generous. You should have brought more than that back in your bowl.”

“Well . . . I'll get better at it. And it's more fun than begging. You ought to see how Ziggie goes about it.”

“I've seen Ziggie work. He's skillful.”

“He's the best!”

“Still, I suppose he could do better with two hands.”

“Well, maybe, though you only use one hand. But he's teaching me to use either hand.”

“That's good. You might need to know -- some day you might find yourself short one, the way Ziggie is. You know how Ziggie lost his hand?”

“Huh?”

“You know the penalty? If they catch you?”

Thorby did not answer. Baslim went on, “One hand for the first offense -- that's what it cost Ziggie to learn his trade. Oh, he's good, for he's still around and plying his trade. You know what the second offense carries? Not just the other hand. You know?”

Thorby gulped. “I'm not sure.”

“I think you must have heard; you don't want to remember.” Baslim drew his thumb across his throat. “That's what Ziggie gets next time -- they shorten him. His Serenity's justices figure that a boy who can't learn once won't learn twice, so they shorten him.”

“But, Pop, I won't be caught! I'll be awful careful . . . just like today. I promise!”

Baslim sighed. The kid still believed that it couldn't happen to him. “Thorby, get your bill of sale.”

“What for, Pop?”

“Get it.”

The boy fetched it; Baslim examined it -- “one male child, registered number (left thigh) 8XK40367” -- nine minims and get out of here, you! He looked at Thorby and noted with surprise that he was a head taller than he had been that day. “Get my stylus. I'm going to free you. I've always meant to, but there didn't seem to be any hurry. But we'll do it now and tomorrow you go to the Royal Archives and register it.”

Thorby's jaw dropped. “What for, Pop?”

“Don't you want to be free?”

“Uh . . . well . . . Pop, I like belonging to you.”

“Thanks, lad. But I've got to do it.”

“You mean you're kicking me out?”

“No. You can stay. But only as a freedman. You see, son, a master is responsible for his bondservant. If I were a noble and you did something, I'd be fined. But since I'm not . . . well, if I were shy a hand, as well as a leg and an eye, I don't think I could manage. So if you're going to learn Ziggie's trade, I had better free you; I can't afford the risk. You'll have to take your own chances; I've lost too much already. Any more and I'd be better off shortened.”

He put it brutally, never mentioning that the law in application was rarely so severe -- in practice, the slave was confiscated, sold, and his price used in restitution, if the master had no assets. If the master were a commoner, he might also get a flogging if the judge believed him to be actually as well as legally responsible for the slave's misdeed. Nevertheless Baslim had stated the law: since a master exercised high and low justice over a slave, he was therefore liable in his own person for his slave's acts, even to capital punishment.

Thorby started to sob, for the first time since the beginning of their relationship. “Don't turn me loose. Pop -- please don't! I've got to belong to you”

“I'm sorry, son. I told you you don't have to go away.”

“Please, Pop. I won't ever swipe another thing!”

Baslim took his shoulder. “Look at me, Thorby. I'll make you a bargain.”

“Huh? Anything you say. Pop. As long as -- “

“Wait till you hear it. I won't sign your papers now. But I want you to promise two things.”

“Huh? Sure! What?”

“Don't rush. The first is that you promise never again to steal anything, from anybody. Neither from fine ladies in sedan chairs, nor from poor people like ourselves -- one is too dangerous and the other . . . well, it's disgraceful, though I don't expect you know what that means. The second is to promise that you will never lie to me about anything . . . not anything.”

Thorby said slowly, “I promise.”

“I don't mean just lying about the money you've been holding out on me, either. I mean anything. By the way, a mattress is no place to hide money. Look at me, Thorby. You know I have connections throughout the city.”

Thorby nodded. He had delivered messages for the old man to odd places and unlikely people. Baslim went on, “If you steal. I'll find out . . . eventually. If you lie to me, I'll catch you . . . eventually. Lying to other people is your business, but I tell you this: once a man gets a reputation as a liar, he might as well be struck dumb, for people do not listen to the wind. Never mind. The day I learn that you have stolen anything . . . or the day I catch you lying to me . . . I sign your papers and free you.”

Yes, Pop.”

“That's not all. I'll kick you out with what you had when I bought you -- a breechclout and a set of bruises. You and I will be finished. If I set eyes on you again, I'll spit on your shadow.”