A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2)(44)

‘How do you deal with the markets? Aren’t they distracting?’

‘They’re absolutely distracting. That’s the point of a market, to distract you into buying stuff you don’t need.’ He sipped his drink, cheeks swirling as he savoured it. ‘But I was also born here. The market’s background static to me.’ He looked around the shop. ‘Still, though. A quiet place is good.’ He turned his attention back to Sidra with a friendly teal flush. ‘But you didn’t come here to talk interior decorating. You want ink.’ He slid his scrib onto the table and gestured. A small cloud of pixels shot up, awaiting direction. ‘What are you after?’

Sidra took a sip of mek. She was stepping into a hot bath, but this body wasn’t hers. ‘I’m not quite sure.’

‘Hmm,’ Tak said, sitting back. He looked cautious. ‘Then why do you want one?’

Sidra didn’t know what to say. The truth was all she could work with, but Tak’s change in body language worried her. She’d put him off, and she wasn’t sure why. ‘Because of what you said. At the party.’

Tak laughed. ‘You’ll have to be more specific.’

The kit smiled, just a little. ‘The re-enforced circle. Bringing your mind and body together.’ She paused. ‘I want that.’

Tak’s cheeks quietly blossomed – pleased, touched, interested. His caution vanished. Sidra relaxed. ‘Okay then,’ Tak said. His long grey fingers danced near the projected pixels; they followed him like filings chasing after a magnet. ‘Let’s narrow it down. Are we going for an anchor or a compass? A memory to ground you, or a spark to guide you forward?’

Sidra processed the question fully. She had some good memories, but she could access those at any time. ‘A spark.’

‘A spark. Good.’ Tak touched the underside of his chin, tapping it as he thought. ‘Tell me what kind of imagery appeals to you. Do you have a favourite animal? A place? Anything in particular that inspires you?’

Sidra wasn’t sure she’d ever been inspired, and she wasn’t sure how to pick a favourite animal when they were all so interesting. ‘I like . . .’ Her pathways raced, trying to find a good answer in a polite amount of time. She sipped her mek again. She was stepping into a hot bath, but this body wasn’t hers. That was it – not mek, but the sensory analogues. That was her favourite thing. She considered the images she’d experienced, and tried to narrow it down further. ‘I like the ocean. When I—’ She stopped herself from saying when I eat hard candy, I see waves. ‘When I see the ocean, I feel calm. It makes me want to’ – to keep eating candy – ‘to keep going. To keep trying new things. To keep living.’ She processed what she’d just said. She’d said it aloud, so it had to be true.

‘I can work with that,’ Tak said happily. Sidra had been so focused on answering the question that she hadn’t processed him gesturing at the pixels, creating a rough ghost of a wave cresting into the air. ‘Now, how elaborate do we want to get? Do you want something realistic, or are you more into symbols?’

Sidra pondered. ‘Symbols. Symbols are interesting.’

‘I like symbols, too.’ He continued to gesture, drawing in the air. The wave became fuller, more tangible. ‘Do you want just a wave, or other things with it? Fish? We could add some fish in there.’ He added outlines of brightly coloured fish wriggling through the spray.

A memory appeared: Blue answering her questions on the Undersea during her first day at the Port. She liked that memory. Maybe a compass could be an anchor, too. ‘Yes, fish would be good.’ She shifted her gaze to the tank by the cabinet, where the strange creatures pulsed and swayed. ‘Ocean creatures in general, I think.’

‘Right, right, not just fish. I like it.’ Tentacles joined the ichthyoid outlines. Claws and fronds, too. ‘So, the question becomes: do you want a static tattoo, or dynamic?’

‘I don’t know. Which is better?’

‘That is entirely up to you.’

Sidra thought back to the party. ‘It wouldn’t bother you, would it? The moving colours?’ She didn’t want the act of tattooing her to be an unpleasant experience for Tak. She wouldn’t be doing this at all if he hadn’t planted the idea in her head. She didn’t feel comfortable getting ink from just anyone. She wanted the care she’d seen him employ on his customer at Shimmerquick. She wanted to know that he understood why she was doing this at all. It was a tattoo from Tak, or nothing.

‘Wouldn’t bother me at all,’ Tak said, ‘though I appreciate the consideration. I’ve been doing dynamic ink for standards. I’m used to it.’

‘Well,’ Sidra said, slowly. ‘Then I’d like bots.’ If the point was to give her something that would help her move forward, then she needed something that actually moved. ‘But please use colours that aren’t irritating to Aeluons.’

Tak’s cheeks turned green, through and through. ‘I’ll need some time to design this properly,’ he said, ‘but I can tell you right now this is going to be a great project.’





JANE, AGE 10


Jane had a lot of questions. She had so many questions, she couldn’t have counted them all because she’d have run out of numbers.