Qiwi hovered just above the bottommost canopy of leaves. In a second the intruder would be in view, but she could already hear him. It was Ritser Brughel. The Vice-Podmaster proceeded across the moss, cursing and whacking at something in the bushes. The guy was a real sewer-mouth. Qiwi was an avid student of such language, and she had listened to him before. Brughel might be the number-two boss man of the Emergent expedition—but he was also a one-man proof that Emergent leaders could be bums. Tomas seemed to realize the fellow was a bad actor; he'd put the Vice Podmaster's quarters off the rockpile, on the oldInvisible Hand. And Brughel's Watch schedule was the same as much of the regular crew. While poor Tomas aged year after year to keep the mission safe, Brughel was out of coldsleep only 10Msec in every 40. So Qiwi didn't know him very well—but what she knew she loathed.If this jerk could be trusted to pull his ownweight, Tomas wouldn't be burning his lifetime away for us. She listened in silence for a moment more.Neat stuff. But there was an undercurrent to it she didn't hear in most folk's obscenities, like the fellow meant what he was saying literally.
Qiwi pushed loudly between the branches, holding herself so that she stood half a meter in the air—about eye-to-eye with the Emergent. "The park is closed for maintenance, Podmaster."
Brughel gave a tiny flinch of surprise. For a second he was silent, his pale pink skin darkening in the most comical way. "You insolent little... so what areyou doing here?"
"I'm doing the maintenance." Well, that was at least cousin to the truth. Now counterattack: "And what are you doing here?"
Brughel's face got even darker. He pulled himself upward, his head ten centimeters above Qiwi's. Now his feet floated on air, too. "Scum have no business questioning me." He was carrying that silly steel baton. It was a plain metal dowel incised here and there with dark-stained dings. He braced himself with one hand and swung the baton through a glittering arc that splintered the sapling beside Qiwi's head.
Now Qiwi was getting angry, too. She grabbed one of the lower branches, hoisted herself so that she and Brughel were eye-to-eye once more. "That's vandalism, not an explanation." She knew that Tomas had the park monitored—and vandalism was at least the crime for Emergents that it was for Qeng Ho.
The Podmaster was so angry that he had trouble talking. "You're the vandals. This park was beautiful, more than I thought scum could ever make. But now you're sabotaging it. I was in here yesterday—you've infected it with vermin." He swung the metal dowel again, the blow dislodging a garbage web that was hidden in the branches. The web creatures floated off in all directions, silken glides streaming behind them. Brughel poked at the web, shaking beetle casings and dead leaves and miscellaneous detritus into a cloud around them. "See? What else are you poisoning?" He leaned close, looking down at her from above.
For a moment Qiwi just stared, uncomprehending. He couldn't possibly mean what he was saying. How could anyone be so ignorant?But remember,he's a Chump. She pulled herself high enough to look down at Brughel, and shouted into his face. "It's a zero-gee park, for God's sake! What do you think keeps the air clean of floating crap? The garbage bugs have always been here...though maybe they're a little overworked just now." She hadn't meant it quite the way it came out, but now she looked the Podmaster up and down as though she had one particularly large piece of garbage in mind.
They were above the lower leaf canopies now. From the corner of her eye, Qiwi could see Papa. The sky was limitless blue, guarded by an occasional branch. She could feel the fake sunlight hot on the back of her head. If they played a few more rounds of one-up-one-up, they'd be banging their heads on plastic. Qiwi started laughing.
And now Brughel was silent, just staring at her. He slapped his steel baton into his palm again and again. There were rumors about those dark stains in the metal; it was obvious what Ritser Brughel wanted people to think they were. But the guy just didn't carry himself like a fighter. And when he swung that baton, it was as though he had never considered the possibility that there might be targets that could fight back. Just now, his only hold-on was the toe of one boot hooked between branches. Qiwi braced herself unobtrusively and smiled her most insolent smile.
Brughel was motionless for a second. His gaze flicked to either side of her. And then without another word he pushed off, floundered for a moment, found a branch, and dived for the bottom-level hatch.
