Nehru, the Canal City Part 2

That boy who came with the red haired youngster had been standing outside for their entire conversation. He’s probably getting tired of standing, but the operator was too old to care.

That, and the fact that this young man really enjoys his stories. Nobody in Nehru listens to him. It takes an outsider to value him. Why is he not surprised? People who value wisdom are a rare commodity nowadays…

Asa listens intently with an elbow on the desk and his chin in his palm. He’s smiling with slightly wide eyes, honing in on every detail of the story.

The operator raises a brow when he spots someone in a cloak through the open blinds. She approaches the boy, then drags him by the hand (presumably to hop the gate).

The boy fights her half-heartedly. Should he intervene? That depends. Does he have enough energy to get out of his chair? No.

And does he want to stop his story? Also, no. He turns a blind eye and continues speaking with Asa.

☼

The girl leads Mint to a thin alleyway off the side of the road. She crouches down next to a grimy, green dumpster with chipping paint and fishes for something underneath it.

“Is your friend down there?” He asks timidly.

She shushes him. It’s a harsh, coarse noise. She pulls out a small creature, about the size of a ferret, and holds it flat in her palms.

It’s a serpent mouse, a species of rodent on Nue. They’re like a ferret, but longer. Their body has a lot of cartilage and can stretch and squish into many positions. The Serpent Mouse is known for being intelligent, playful, and fast, climbing up trees with their sharp claws.

However, this one isn’t demonstrating any of those traits. It lies on its back and sluggishly squirms, hardly even moving. Its fur is matted and bloody.

If it wasn’t for the serpent mouse’s soft groaning, he’d think it was run over by a car. “This is your friend?”

He was under the assumption that they were human.

“Yes!” The girl snaps. “Are you gonna heal her or just let her suffer?”

Mint swallows his tongue and focuses. He sends some of the nanomachines from his Animaguard into the mouse’s body.

Thankfully, it's small in comparison to a human, so treating its numerous wounds doesn’t take too much energy. As he heals the animal, her worry subsides suspiciously fast.

Her eyes narrow and she smiles slyly, seeming pleased with herself. “It looks like these injuries came from another animal.” Says Mint. “Was it in a fight?”

“Why does it matter if it was in a fight?” She says, belting the words out as quickly as she can.

“Sorry.” Mint says, gaze falling to the ground. Looking into her eyes makes him anxious. Now that that’s done, I can leave.

“Well, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.” He turns to leave the alleyway. A steel grip captures his wrist.

The girl’s eyes pierce him. “I have something else I need help with.”

ꕤ

“He said he’d only take a few cups of flour, but that he needed to check the recipe to see how many and then he’d return it. He didn’t. He stole multiple bags of flour and sugar this way. His excuse was that he'd been scatterbrained since his wife divorced him and swore he wouldn’t forget it next time, always saying ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again’.”

“I felt bad for the guy, so I kept letting him get away with it. He borrowed my screwdriver, my blender, my toilet paper… all of it. He didn’t even ask every time, just started taking it. My garden tools, my hose… Eventually he said ‘I’ll get a job. I just need a decent suit’, and then he stole one of my best suits!”

I think you were perpetuating the problem. Asa thinks.

“The last straw was when he stole my car. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was screwing my wife!”

Asa’s smiling mouth falls open. That’s quite a bombshell! “It turns out she would vouch for him because they were in a relationship…”

“Listen up!” The operator says sternly. Asa jolts up, straightening his back.

“Don’t repeat my mistakes! If someone keeps doing the same thing over and over and over, no matter how many times they swear they’ll stop… They’re doing it on purpose! Learn from an old man’s wisdom.” He crosses his arms and nods sagely.

He’s entertaining, but he also talks a lot. Mint’s been waiting for at least 10 minutes. Asa places 2 10 gram yingium bars, each smaller than his palm, on the counter.

1g of yingium, a rare metal used as universal currency on Nue, is about equivalent to 1USD on Earth. The operator strokes his beard. “And there’s also TKwar and TKwar2…”

He focused on a personal problem from decades ago and then tacked two major wars onto the end like a side note… But if he was alive for TKwar, he must be at least 120! Maybe he doesn’t remember them well. “I’ve got to get going. Thanks for the story.”

The operator smiles. “My pleasure!”

The bell on the door tinkles and Asa walks outside. “Sorry I took so…”

His hoverbike seat is empty. The trees sway peacefully, undisturbed. There’s no one outside the toll booth besides him. Asa whips his head around. “Mint?”

“Mint! Hey, Mint?” He calls. He runs back through the door.

“Did you see where the kid who was traveling with me went?” Asa asks.

“Didn’t you say you were in town to visit your sister? I saw her pick him up.”

“Ok, thanks!” He says with urgency. He runs out, jumps onto his hoverbike, and turns Mimo on.

“Mimo, give me a layout of the city!”

“Why so urgent?”

“Just do it!”

Asa revs the engine. Please, please don’t tell me someone took him!

☼

The alleys of Nehru are winding and complicated. An alley leads into another, and another, making a maze.

Mint can’t tell where the girl’s taken him, outside of it being a place where three alleys intersect, making a somewhat closed-off area that has four walls, like a large, off-white brick room. The serpent mouse he treated fights a rotund grasspig (a Nue animal that’s like a guinea pig, but big, round, yellow-furred, and badly tempered).

The two animals hiss and bat at each other as a circle of children cheer around them. One child is supervising the betting. Mint watches, stunned.

The girl crouches beside him, cheering fiercely. “Was that animal hurt because you’re making them fight?” He asks, stomach churning.

“Hey, shut up! It’s not my fault that Ming’s ferret is a nasty bitch who doesn’t play fair!” She barks.

“You know nanomachines don’t heal instantly, right? The animal needs rest or she’ll get worse!”

The girl ignores him, besides making what looks like a subtle sneer, and goes back to cheering. They may’ve lived rough lives and might not know better, but these kids are cruel. I need to get out of here.

Mint slowly inches towards the alley that leads to a main street. Just when he thinks he’s going to escape, she grabs his wrist again. “If you leave, there'll be no one to heal the animals when they get hurt.”

Guilt weighs him down like lead. He reluctantly returns to his spot on the ground.

ꕤ

Asa, panting, stops a lovey dovey couple on the packed sidewalk. “Have you see a kid this tall,” He asks, placing a hand at his collar bone for scale, “With blond hair, wearing green clothes?”

The woman shakes her head. “No we haven’t. Sorry.”

“Okay. Thank you.” He runs down the crowded street. Where could he have gone?!

☼

Running footsteps belonging to multiple people come from the alleyway leading to the street. All of the kids’ heads suddenly shoot up.

Mint’s the last to respond, looking to the alleyway with caution. The girl stands and gathers up the ferret.

“What’s wrong?” Asks Mint, anxiety rising. She climbs onto a dumpster, then pulls open a loose vent and slips inside. Within seconds, all of the other kids have fled too.

“Hey, where are you all going?” He cries.

“What’d we tell you kids about illegal animal fighting?!” Scolds a deep voice. It belongs to a towering man with shoulder wide enough to seat at least one and a half adults. He has red hair in a jerry curl and thick lips. His body is the shape of an upside down triangle, with tiny legs at the bottom.

Beside him is a scrawny, average-sized man with black hair, five o’ clock shadow, and dark circles. They’re both in blue police uniforms. Mint freezes.

“Looks like they ran again. There’s only one left.” Says the shorter officer.

He gestures Mint to follow. “Okay. C’mon, little guy. The jig is up.”

Fear flutters in Mint’s chest and he starts to tremble. He books it down a random alley. “Hey, we’re not gonna hurt you!”

Mint realizes that he has no clue where he’s going, then runs into a dead end.