"You can take her," the tall man said. "But you have to pay."

I stepped forward—this was something I knew about. "You want credits, barter, or task?" I asked.

"Tasks," he said.

"Time tasks or results task?"

"Time tasks."

"How much, then?"

"One cycle."

"Cycle? What does that—?"

"One woman's cycle," he said.

"About twenty–four days," Fyyah whispered to me, still holding her sister.

"Done," I told him. I walked toward him, holding out my wrists for the handcuffs.

"Hexon! You can't —"

"Shut up," I told her. "Take your sister and go. I'll be out in twenty–four days. Give me another ten, maybe twelve to get back out. Take the sleep–tube and the freeze–dry. There's almost forty credits in the tube. Bring the kid to the West–Orange Medical Tunnel, get her a checkup. Then come back, in forty days. I'll be somewhere near the entrance—I'll find you."

I moved away before she could argue, but the tall man held up his hand, palm out, telling me to stop. "Both of you," he said,

I took out my blaster, pointed it at him. "Let them go," I said. "Both of them."

"I am not ready to die yet," he said. "And if you kill me, you will never leave." He pointed a long bony finger at the furry mass behind us. "You can't scare animals with weapons," he said quietly.

"Hexon, he's right!" Fyyah whispered in my ear.

"Both of you," the tall man said again.

That was about a year ago. We learned the truth in those caves. This is a family, not a spray. The tall man never told us his name. He didn't talk much. But some of the little ones called him Father, and we kind of got into the habit too.

Father knows the outlaw tunnels better than anyone. He showed me, a little at a time. Some of them run so close to the Charted Zone that you can just step across.

This is a family, not a spray. I go back into the Charted Zone once in a while. To get things we need. Sometimes I trade, sometimes I steal. It doesn't matter. It's my family.

After a while, Father showed us how he gets the babies. It's easy. Real easy.

Father said he used to buy the Bad Babies. They were real cheap. But now, when the fathers can't make babies with their own daughters, there aren't any Bad Babies to buy. That's when Father started to take them.

When I go back into the Charted Zone, I always come back with a lot of credits. I know many ways to do that, ways I never dreamed of when I was a Merchant Boy. Soon we are going to buy children…the ones in Year 8 that their parents want to sell to the work–sites. We'll just pay more, that's easy.

Fyyah wanted to cut the implant out of her thigh, but I wouldn't let her do that. It is only about twenty months until Year 17. Then we'll have our babies.

Fyyah says she knows three Dancing Girls who would be with us. I only know one Merchant Boy. But there have to be others. We'll find them. They'll find others.

By the time the Book Boys get to write about it on the walls, we'll be too strong.

And too many.

Then we'll see what's Outside.

Into the Light

Dear Logan:

I hope you get this. The cyber–link up here is real old, maybe two or even three spans, and we don't have generators like you do. We have panels that store energy. Big ones, too. Most of them were broken, but there's quite a few good ones left. Besides, there aren't many people up here.

If you're listening to this, you know I made it.

Nobody thinks much about Outside. I mean, not really. It was too many spans ago. They say that some of the ancients were born Outside, but I never believed it—people just don't live that long.

It was the Terror that brought us down. Brought us to the Underground, I mean. That's what they say, the Rulers. It was impossible to stay Outside. But it took a few spans before everything was set up. I guess most of the Originals died trying to do it. That's what the Rulers say.

Do you ever think about Outside, Logan? I always did. When I was being schooled, they didn't say much about it. And I got up to Learn–Rite/Seven before I had to go to work, so I had plenty of chances. All the programs ever said was that the Terror was Outside so we all had to go Underground. The programs never said what the Terror was, you know? They kind of let you believe it was something in the air. Like chemicals, or even radioactive stuff. They all say something like that—I was only in Learn–Rite/Two when I first heard it.

It's a lie, sister–of–my–spray. The air is fine up here—at least where I am it is.

After I was up here for a while, I figured it out. There is no Outside. I mean, there isn't only one—there's a lot of Outsides. Travelers come through here and they tell us. They come to trade. Some of them trade stories. In some places, it's warm all the time. And in others, believe it or not, it's cold all the time. And where I am, it's both. Not at the same time, but at different times. It's about three slice–cycles for each change. When I got here, it was very warm. Hot, sometimes. Then it got cooler. Then real cold. Then warmer a bit. Then it was back to where it was when I got here.

The slice is in the sky. You can see it when it gets dark. It gets dark, and then it gets light. Not like home…I mean, not like Underground. Anyway, sometimes the slice is round, like a ball. And sometimes it's so skinny you can barely see it.

Things…change up here, Logan. The Rulers don't act the same way all the time. One traveler even told us there aren't any Rulers up here. Nothing happened to him when he said that, so maybe…maybe it's true. I'll wait until I see him again. If I see him again, then I'll know for sure he was telling the truth.

I always wondered about Outside. I guess most people do, right? I mean, people talk…that's one of the things people do.

Talking isn't the same as thinking. I know that now. It isn't the same as doing, either.

There's only two things that could be true, I guess. Because the Rulers put people Outside. They do it all the time. So either all of the people they put Outside died because the air was so bad…or they didn't die at all.

If you think about it, really think about it, it couldn't be all bad air Outside. I mean, why would the Rulers go through all that just to make somebody dead? People die all the time.

First I thought it was a lie. To scare people. Not because of the air, but because the Terror was still there, Outside.

But then I realized…maybe the Rulers aren't lying—maybe they just don't know the truth.

Because you can breathe the air Outside, Logan. I know. I'm here.

When they took Cain, I knew I'd have to find out. He broke a Rule. A Major Violation, so they put him Outside. When the Drover came to our sector, he said I had to go to the Sex Tunnels. I was just in my Year 14, Cain told the Drover—they can't make you go until you're Year 16, that was the Rule.

The Drover told Cain the Rule had been changed. Cain stabbed him and the Drover died.

You remember what happened then, right? Cain had to go in front of the Video–Counsel. It turned out the Rule really hadn't changed—the Drover was lying. But killing is against the Rules, so they still put Cain Outside.

The way I figured it, if I just stayed around and waited until my Year 16 to go into the Sex Tunnels, then it was all for nothing. That's when I decided…well, you know what I decided—if they can put you Outside, there had to be a way to get to the Outside too.