ANTARCTICA

It might have been prudent to slow on the tiled surface of the Antarctica Extension, as one moment tremors seemed to come from the nose of the car, and next the back would hum an odd harmonic, but I kept up my speed, afraid that I was falling behind.

Five hundred miles from my destination, an emergency call came in. "Mr. Cedar," said the cool voice of a Mz Foss of the Security Board, "I need to ask you a few questions."

I cursed myself for not turning off all communication. "Yes please… go ahead." I tried to make my tone as light and cheery as possible.

"You had a visitor."

"I did?"

"We believe a woman visited your design studio yesterday."

"A client did."

"We suspect this client may be a freeboot."

I shook my head even though she couldn't see. "I doubt that."

"This matter is of extreme concern." She had stretched the second syllable of extreme like spandex. "To be blunt, the woman in question is wanted for crimes against humanity."

"I didn't know. I don't quiz clients about their personal lives."

"Mr. Cedar," said Mz Foss, her voice shifting into a lower, more powerful, gear, "the Security Board is fully aware of your history, actions, and associations." She paused as if waiting for me to confirm.

"I am aware of your awareness," I replied.

"Am I to assume from your insouciant tone that you spoke with this wanted criminal and are possibly engaged in criminal acts yourself?"

"I'm just stating the facts as I know them, Boardmember." Grasping the steering, I mashed the accelerator to the floor for a moment in anger. Letting up, I finished, "Please accept my apology, Boardmember."

I heard nothing for several seconds. I hoped that the connection had been cut, but just as I had positioned my index finger above the off button, she spoke again. "You are hereby charged with aiding the enemy of the families. You must immediately report to the Security Board headquarters and plead your case."

"Yes, Boardmember," I replied, pulling down the skin beneath my eye to give her a Red Hole! "I'm on my way now." I switched off the communications and pointed the Chang toward the exit ramp activating the mercury brakes.

From the off ramp, I found the highway heading toward Birudu and sped along. The drivers here, mostly in ancient Wangs, Arlies, and Maxis, were an aggressive bunch, but not enough of a distraction from the call and its implications. A storm was building on the horizon, and I worried that Vada would be caught before I ever made it back. I hated to imagine what the satins would do to her.

I gazed out to my left, where the land slowly descended to reveal a tangle of crowded roads lined with shops and coffee houses and their twittering and blinking signs. The windowless, hulking warehouses, the drab slabs of factories, and above it all-the product of a hundred smoke stacks darkening the sky-a writhing mass of black smoke lit by the flashing licks of flame from the oilrigs below. A travel poster for hell.