“I know you, Chango. Why were you following her?”

“When I tapped her for her cash card, she freaked out and ran. I was curious. There was something about the way she looked. She was terrified. Now I know why. She told me she hasn’t let anyone but her father see what she is for the past ten years.”

“Oh my goddess, that's... that’s weird.”

“Yeah. If she goes out, she wears the raincoat. I guess I brushed against her arm when I tapped her, she felt it. She thought I knew.”

“Does she know you followed her?”

“No, apparently not.”

“Then I take it you haven’t returned her cash card,” said Mavi, pouring her tincture into a jar.

“Well, that’s a bit awkward, isn’t it?” Chango put the dripping fork in the sink. “‘Oh yes, I’m glad I could help you, and by the way, here’s something I stole from you.’ No, besides, it isn’t a cash card. It’s data, from GeneSys.”

Amber tinted liquid spilled on the stove. Mavi set the pan down and looked at her. “GeneSys?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s hers.”

oOo

That night Chango brought her spaghetti in bed. Helix sat up, bolstered by pillows. She kept her lower hands under the afghan, balancing her plate in them and wielding a spoon and fork in her upper hands. Chango sat cross-legged at the other end of the bed, holding her plate in her lap.

“So, do you live here?” asked Helix around a mouthful of food.

“Not really,” Chango shrugged. “Sort of. I stay here a lot, and sometimes I sleep in my car, or at another friend’s house.”

“Oh,” Helix nodded, trying to think of something else to say. “So how did you find me?” she asked. Chango stopped chewing and stared at her. “I followed you.”

“Followed me?”

“Yeah, you’re going to find out about it soon enough anyway. No one around here can keep their mouth shut. I followed you from the casino because I’d been-I’d been trying to scan you.”

“Scan me?”

“Yeah, you know, rip off the code for your cash card. Brokers pay good money for those codes.”

“Oh. But I don’t have a cash card.”

“Yeah, I know now, but I didn’t then. When I tried to flush you for your uh, wallet, I brushed one of your arms, one of the lower ones, remember?”

Helix remembered going inside the casino to get out of the rain, and then being overwhelmed by the crowd. She remembered the touch against her arm that had frightened her, and then that sharp little face, saying something to her as she fled.

“It was you,” she said. “You’re the one who touched me.”

“Yeah, and you freaked out. It made me curious, so I followed you.” Chango was watching her anxiously, as if she feared her reaction to this news.

“So I owe my life to the fact that you tried to rip me off, huh?” Helix smiled. “Thanks.”

Chango laughed with relief. “I’m glad you’re not mad.”

Helix shrugged. “It’s not like you knew me or anything.”

Chango pursed her lips. “Do you play cards?”

“What?”

“This kind.” Chango brandished a deck of playing cards. “Gin, hearts, poker? No?”

Helix shook her head.

“Then you’re going to have to learn. You can’t be laid up in bed for days on end without at least learning gin rummy.”

About halfway through their third hand, Helix brought her lower hands out from under the afghan and started holding her cards in them.

It felt like something that was wrapped very tightly around her heart was starting to unwind. She couldn’t help it, she kept staring at Chango’s eyes, one blue, one green. They were the visible proof. She wasn’t alone.

She liked Hector, she’d been grateful to him, but she’d never felt this comfortable with him. There’d always been some unbreachable distance between them. Each knew the other was different, and somehow she’d always felt he was watching her from the other side of a polyglass window. Chango discarded the eight of clubs. Helix picked it up with her upper right hand, and lay down the rest of the set with her upper left. She looked to see Chango looking, and their eyes met, and they smiled at each other.

“You’ve got five hands,” said Chango. Helix looked down at the cards she held and laughed, which made her wince.

Chango stepped out into the cool night air, her ancient jean jacket clammy against the gooseflesh on her arms. Helix had gone to sleep, and she was restless. She left the Chevy where it was, parked by the curb in front of the house, and walked to Josa’s.

Hyper and Magoo and Pele were hanging around outside the bar. “Hey, what’s going on?” she said, joining them.

“Not much,” said Hyper, “same old, same old.”

“Hey, I heard you’ve got a houseguest over at Mavi’s,” said Pele.

“Yeah,” Chango glared at Hyper, who shot Pele a look.

“She’s got four arms,” continued Pele, oblivious or more likely, unconcerned. “Is she cute?”

“Yeah,” Chango admitted, “she’s fucking gorgeous.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t pure altruism, eh?” said Magoo.

“I saw her, she needed help, I helped. Why is everyone trying to twist this around into some sort of bizarre pickup scenario?” she protested.

“Well, you did follow her,” said Hyper.

“Oh, oh thanks a lot, buddy.”

“You followed her?” said Magoo. “I didn’t know that. It doesn’t look good for you, Chango.”

“Screw you, pink boy.”

“Not lately,” he said loftily.

“Oh, girl,” Pele told him.

“Anyway, you guys have to meet her. You know, she’s never met any other sports before.”

“Really?” said Pele.

“Well, think about it, she was in this orphanage, where she was the only sport there, and then she got adopted,” she looked at Hyper, “by this guy that works for GeneSys. She hasn’t been out of the Fisher Building for ten years.”

“Ouch, maybe getting knifed in an alley was a good thing for her,” said Magoo.

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but at least now she’ll get to know some of her own people.”

It was only ten, but Josa’s was already crowded with divers off shift for their weekend. The four of them snaked their way through the crowd to the bar. It was still Josa back there, pouring and polishing as she had for the past twenty years.

Chango leaned over the bar with a mylar bill rolled up in her hand. “Josa, a round for me and my friends here, draft.”

Josa cast one jaundiced eye in her direction, took the bill and grunted when she unrolled it. “Four drafts,”

she said briskly, and went off to pour them.

“Oh look,” said Pele, “There’s Monkey with Oli, I heard he took Jan’s mother’s china with him when he left.”

“Yeah but that was after Jan threw his couch out of the window of their third floor apartment.”

Hyper laughed, “Coral told me she saw it go down. Jan had been screaming all morning about throwing that couch out of the window, so by the time it finally happened, there was a little crowd outside, waiting. Can you imagine? That lime green velour atrocity tumbling through the air and then splat, like a huge upholstered bug.”

“That’s entertainment,” said Magoo.

Chango spotted a lean figure with short dark hair and sideburns come in the door. “Hey, Benny!” she shouted, waving him over.

“Hey, what’s going on?” said Benny slapping her on the shoulder, “I heard you have a houseguest,” he said.

“She’s from GeneSys,” offered Pele.

His eyebrows went up, “GeneSys?”

“She is not, Pele,” said Chango, and then to Benny, “she’s not.”

“Well you said her father worked for them,” Pele noted.

“That’s not the same thing is it? Besides, I was speculating.” She looked at Benny again, “She’s a sport.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s what I heard.”

“What did you do, Hyper,” Chango turned on him, “broadcast it?”

“No,” he protested, “I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I mean, what’s the big deal?” said Pele.

“I guess,” she said warily, “It’s just that she’s understandably timid around people, Benny, and when she finally comes out of Mavi’s house, I don’t want people staring and talking about her.”