New Taboos by John Shirley Read Free Book Online

its plastic and metal head, and she finished lamely, “I’m … just not.”
    She was outside—but inside too. They were each allowed one hour in the outdoor exercise cages whichextended out from the back of absconder unit—they were steel mesh open-air pens with a gap of about five feet between them. It felt zoolike. Several human guards stood together, talking, across the courtyard area from her.
Lockiffers,
the prisoners called them. But being out here where she could see sky and sun was an enormous relief. Faye looked up at a wispy cloud, elegantly attenuated, startlingly white against the blue sky. She couldn’t remember looking at a cloud so closely before—not since childhood. Or seeing a sky quite so perfectly turquoise-colored.
    The breeze was coming from the south, wending its way between buildings. She could smell sage, and minerals. She could glimpse other prisoners in other cages beyond Rudy. They were all men.
    â€œRudy—how come they’re keeping me here, where I’m the only woman? Letting me come outside like this … Why don’t they put me in some woman’s population?”
    She thought she knew the answer. Hortense had hinted at it. She was hoping Rudy had another response.
    He started to say something, then broke off. A moment later he shrugged and said, “One thing, you got sick. They got to get you well. So. Coming out here helps. And …” He broke off again, as someone walked up to the cages, shoes squeaking.
    It was Gull, hands in his jacket pockets. He ignored Rudy and paused near Faye’s fence, his gaze roaming freely over her. He had a look of speculation on his face. “You have ten minutes more out here,” he told her, before strolling on.
    She thought about calling him back just to once more demand a lawyer, or at least the phone call she’d nevergotten. But they just shrugged, if they reacted at all, when she asked for those things. There was one possibility, something as wispy as that cloud. It probably wouldn’t work.
    Don’t think like that. It has to work.
    Rudy watched Gull till he was out of earshot. “Never see that guy around here,” he said, in a low voice. “He seems to be keeping you under some kind of personal surveillance.”
    Faye wondered about Phil. Was this really all down to him? All this time, no one looking for her? It had to be his doing. He just hadn’t seemed like that kind of person. He was no saint. But still …
    Faye looked to see where the autoguards and the lockiffers were. None of them were close by. “Rudy …” She turned her back on the courtyard, making her voice as low as she could and still be heard by him. “There have to be cell phones in here somewhere. The prisoners have to …”
    He shook his head. “Cell phones are bigtime contraband,” he said glumly. “Used to be people keistered them in. But you can’t keister anything now—they got machines that look right through you. I haven’t seen a cell phone in years, except when the guards use them—and even they aren’t supposed to use them except in emergencies. No. Got to think of something else.”

    Gull came into her cell right after breakfast the next morning; a stocky black guard with a heavy belly and yellowed eyes came with him, the man silent, except occasionally humming tunelessly to himself. The black guard had noidentification badge on, but he carried a set of handcuffs loosely in his hands. Both men had gas masks hanging loosely around their necks, in case of need. Outside the cell an autoguard waited, eerily silent, somehow radiating alertness. Faye could see its chest panel was open; inside the panel was a row of nozzles. “Be careful,” Rudy called, from across the hallway. He was shouting through the hole in the door. “They got that panel open, they’re full on Dalek! They’ll spray you with