The passengers fit right in.
A dozen young hoodlums, sprawling in their seats in the back corner of the car. Typical naturals of the type that make do with dirty work. All were drunk. All were dopers. All were staring at Alex with the same torpid curiosity. Just a few paces away, dozing off in her window seat, sat a girl of about fifteen, as dingy and scruffy as the rest of them, dark circles under her eyes.
Alex sat down at the head of the car. With a jolt, it started up again.
“What do we think of the locals, Demon?” he asked, glancing at the tattoo. The Demon’s little face twisted into a grimace of disgust.
“I’m with you,” whispered Alex. Tried to make himself a little more comfortable, fully realizing the futility of the attempt.
Well… At least it was warmer inside… He thought he might even nod off for a bit, while the monorail was crawling through the suburbs.
“Get away from me!”
Alex turned around.
Great. Just what he needed. A chance to be heroic. Right out of the hospital.
One of the guys had moved next to the girl. He was slowly, unhurriedly unbuttoning her coat.
“I said, shove off!” said the girl harshly.
The other naturals just watched. Both their pal and Alex. Hell, would they have had the guts to try this if he were wearing his master-pilot uniform?
Not likely.
But who would think him a spesh now?
The girl glanced at Alex. The expression in her eyes was nice. Incongruous with the rest of her appearance.
“Tell me, Demon, do we need this?” asked Alex.
The tattoo on his shoulder didn’t say anything. It couldn’t talk. The Demon’s lips were tight, and its fists opened slightly, letting out its claws. Its squinting eyes filled with fiery red.
“You sure?” asked Alex with a sigh. Got up and walked toward the girl. The guy next to her immediately turned, tensed. He wasn’t as drunk as he let on. The whole group got quiet.
“She isn’t interested,” said Alex.
The guy licked his lips, got up. Alex saw rough, bulging muscles rolling under his coarse sweater. Looked like an altered body. Probably modified for physical strength. Really bad news… Guess this wasn’t just public transport for the naturals.
“She’s interested,” the guy informed him. “Just playing hard to get. The way we do it ’round here. You got that? Two’s fun, three’s a crowd, get it?”
A harsh slurring accent made his speech barely intelligible. Seemed like in pursuit of physical strength, all other functions had been minimized.
Alex looked at the girl.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m all right, thanks.”
The Demon on his shoulder looked perplexed.
“Yeah!” said the fellow triumphantly, bending towards his newly subdued prey.
“I said shove off, you jerk!” said the girl sharply. “You stupid, or what?!”
Alex leaned on an empty seat. The situation was getting interesting.
The guy let out a low growl—his small mind just could not process the need to retreat. He stretched out his hand, casually sinking it into the girl’s open coat.
“I warned you,” she said.
Her first blow doubled up the pseudo-natural. Her second, with spread-out fingers, broke through his sweater, where a bloodstain instantly appeared. The third blow smashed his head into the window. It crunched, covered with a web of cracks, but held together.
A moment later the girl was standing next to Alex. The hoodlums, stunned, sat speechless.
“Any of you move, and you’ll catch hell,” said the girl quietly.
The fellow slowly sank to the floor. Groaned, holding his head in his hands.
Alex glanced sideways at the Demon.
The creature smirked, crouched, as if ready to leap off his shoulder to join the fray with relish.
“I liked it, too,” said Alex. The car slowed down, the door hissed, opening.
“We’d better get off,” Alex told the girl.
“I’ll manage,” she answered curtly.
“I almost believe you. But how’ll you manage the police? Let’s go.”
Somewhat cautiously, he took hold of her arm. The girl obeyed.
They jumped out onto the platform, and the monorail door closed behind them. Could the driver have stopped just for them? The naturals had already come back to their senses. Some of them were helping the altered fellow get to his feet. His head wobbled slightly as he tried to walk. Others were shaking their fists at the window.
“I wasn’t bothering them!” exclaimed the girl.
She raised her hand, shaking off a few droplets of blood.
“That kind doesn’t need any bothering.”
Alex watched the monorail depart. It had already sped up to about forty miles an hour, probably the best it could do. As if the driver had decided to get the brawlers as far apart from each other as possible.
“Did you notice—that guy was also a spesh?”
“A spesh?” she said with a note of curiosity, omitting the “also.” Maybe she didn’t want to deny the obvious, or maybe she just hadn’t noticed. She sniffed, got out a crumpled handkerchief, wiped off her hand.
“Yeah, maybe. He recovered too fast.”
Alex watched the girl with growing curiosity. She really couldn’t have been more than fifteen… and considering the obvious alteration of the body…
“What’s your name?” he said. The girl glanced at him as though he was asking about her banking code. “I’m Alex, spesh.”
“Kim…” and after a short pause, she added, “spesh.”
“And this is Demon,” Alex turned slightly, showing her the tattoo on his shoulder. “Just Demon.”
The Demon smiled an ingratiating smile, crossing its legs, hiding its tail behind its back, and leaning on the pitchfork as though it were an elegant walking stick. Kim’s face promptly grew serious.
“It… He wasn’t like that before. I saw…”
“Of course. Demon can change.”
A look of distrust came into her dark eyes. Well… Quicksilver Pit was, after all, a backwater place, despite its status as an industrial center.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Alex. “It’s just an emotion scanner. See?”
Kim didn’t pretend to understand and just shook her head.
“It’s not much, really. A liquid-crystal screen inserted right under the skin. Look at my Demon, and you know what I’m feeling. Afraid or angry, thinking or daydreaming… it’s all right here.”
“Wow! Neat…” The girl stretched out her hand, threw a questioning glance at Alex, then cautiously touched his shoulder.
The Demon smiled very slightly.
“I like that,” said Kim. “And you don’t mind being all exposed like that?”
“When I mind, I turn off the lights.” At this, the Demon’s smile grew a bit wider.
“I see,” the girl nodded. “Thanks for your help, spesh Alex. Best of luck to you!”
She ran down the stairs, lightly, easily, not a hint of fear at the shaky railing and more than a thirty-foot drop below her. Alex leaned over, watching her descend, barely visible in the dusk. They were somewhere at the very edge of town; all around stretched row upon row of dark and seemingly abandoned buildings. Maybe these were warehouses, maybe long-closed factories, or tenements so ugly that no one could bear to live there.
“Hey, friend-spesh!” shouted Alex, as the girl reached the ground below. “You hungry?”
“Very.” Kim answered simply. “But I’m broke.”
“Wait up!”
Alex glanced at the Demon. It shrugged.
“Yup, we’re out of the habit…” agreed Alex, and jumped over the railing. Thirty-two feet. Free-fall acceleration on Quicksilver Pit was twenty-seven point two feet per second. He turned in the air, assuming the right position, bending his knees at impact, and then squatting slightly to counteract inertia. A leap like this would cost a natural a broken spine. Alex’s body reacted precisely as it was designed to.