Pollen

CHAPTER ONE

He sat, arms folded, at a cheap plastic table under a café awning. Eyes closed. Sucking in humid air through his nose. Slowly he sank his chin into his chest. He wasn’t sleepy, he was scheming. Riverside Café on the busy corner of two main streets was Rome's favourite haunt. The ‘riverside’ is a reference to the last river to be filled in to make room for building developments. All the water is underground these days, no-one missed it, the mosquitoes had no-where left to breed.

Thick lilly blooms dotted every shop front, every window, yet the district only reeked of heat and people. A dangerous edge had developed here over the past five years, the familiar mix of low prospects and high ambition drove an underground element increasingly above ground and the first public punishment was due this week, the public had voted and a thief would lose a finger. 'The slum' Rome called it, but this was his home, New Hanoi.

Opening his eyes, perceiving he was being watched he peered down the intersection. A tangle of wires joining the dots of buildings swayed in the breeze, and high above a dark, titanic cloud heaved its belly over the horizon.

The cloud was slashed into ribbons by the sky scrapping city centre, they now paid the price for their gruesome ambition as the terrible monster poured down upon them.

He lent forward, keen to gauge the reaction of the people. Some ran for cover, others stopped and gawked. It hadn’t rained in the city in living memory. He knew how the cloudless skies were maintained. Measures were taken long ago to prevent clouds from forming over the city, but now this monsters dark finger nails were scratching up his street. The breeze picked up. The street lamps flickered on sensing the deepening dark, he glanced up as the beast flexed its chest.

A thick grey mist veiled the end of the street as the monster dragged its gut toward him like a wounded animal. Even the most curious of spectators began to step back under the shop awnings and scaffolding platforms.

Some screamed some laughed as they all took cover, then the beast swallowed the street whole. It hammered and pounded its millions of fists into the concrete and corrugated steel roofs. A tremendous noise, a noise like war, ricocheted between buildings. The rain roared up at him faster than he expected.

The rain bought a coolness that he embraced. A relief he’d never known. He walked out from the shelter of the café and into the street with a smile, feeling the rain hit his skull and ripples of sensations move through him, massaging his bones. Puddles and little rivers formed that meandered through the imperfections of the street, through abandoned food carts and toward the bemused spectators.

After a few moments he stepped back under the shelter of the café and sipped his coffee. Down the street the first adventurer stepped out staring directly at him. People started sticking their hands out to feel the rain. Within minutes the street was full of people. Children were pushing each other into puddles and laughing so loud he felt like he was watching a sentimental play.

Then, the downpour moved on. The long tail of the monster slithered over the intersection and dim patches of sunlight picked their way through the breaking clouds. The street sighed, then groaned under the weight of the water which had nowhere to go. And with that his allegiance had shifted. He knew now that he should make the trade. Rome knew now that your senses never lie, but people do.

24 hours earlier

Rome, New Hanoi:

“Don’t be so humble, you’re not that great.” Mae rolled out of the bed and hopped around, half in a rage and half trying to put her socks on.

“Look if I were two faced would I be wearing this one?” Rome said rubbing his eyes.

She walked out with her clothes bundled in her arms and slammed the bedroom door shut. That was very much the end of that he thought. The stifled cursing from the living room was much more colourful than usual. Rome clenched his teeth and fought back the desire to continue the ‘conversation’. He threw his head back against the pillow but caught his crown on the antique wooden headboard. He didn’t yelp, he didn’t need the attention, he was now angry and embarrassed. Annoyingly, arguments always reminded him how much he loved her.

A pale sunlight crept into the bedroom through the semi closed blinds, casting dim shadows like dust across their bookcases, yesterdays clothes and the un-made bed. He wished, every day, that upon opening the blinds he’d see something new, something different, that somehow while he slept a revolution had brewed, an advancement had been made, that the streets would reveal new path. They never did. He opened the blinds and habitually reached for his rolling tobacco ration, but surprisingly resisted. The day wasn’t that bad yet. The sun was up but his little window in his little 5th floor flat was still in the shade of Tower four.

Standing silently, staring at the scaffolding of his home, the district of New Hanoi, he used to wonder if he’d ever know anything else than home, a titanic sprawl of mud brick houses with terracotta roofs, tinged in colours of cracked wheat at sunrise. Squeezed and compressed dangerously inside the boundaries of the district walls. White smoke wheezed up through the tangle of tight streets, from early bird market stalls and open air food courts.

Yawning he scrutinised the locations of the smoke and tried to guess who was already up preparing for the day. He watched from his high vantage point as the new batch of lilies start to emerge on his street and the road below begin to queue with people commuting to work.

The front door slammed shut as Mae made her exit as dramatic as possible. Rome sighed. He wished he could understand her better than he did. He felt the twist in his stomach, the acid bubble inside, the heat radiated from his cheeks. The concentration to repress his bodily rebellion gave him the start of a headache, but he was fighting a losing battle, “ah fuck,” he said with relief. All he was left with was a guilty pang in his stomach and the shame of suddenly realising he was in the wrong. Rolling his eyes and sighing through his nose. He almost picked up his net-pad to call her and apologise, but she’d still be in a rage for a while. It was a stupid argument about nothing, more of a tone of voice betrayal than a fully fledged shit hurling match. He couldn’t hide his envy at her promotion and the recognition that came with it. Although he was genuinely excited for her, he was genuinely jealous too, mixed with a hangover and Mae’s fiery fuse he knew the conversation wasn’t going well from the start. “Ah fucking fuck” embarrassment had set in.

The morning sun climbed steadily into the bare bone sky. It was already warm as Rome set off into the busy street. The heat instantly sink its teeth through his shirt and into his skin, a tingle he loved. But stepping into the barrage of thousands of people on the same dirt road trying to make their way to the centre of the district sapped that positive energy. The sun singed his skin, the constant punch of light added to the noise and worse, the smell. The buzz in the air though, friends bumping into each other, conversations sparking up between strangers, seemed to bring the good qualities out of people. Despite the routine, he actually enjoyed the walk once he’d woken up a little, it was one moment of the day he felt connected to the bigger picture, no matter how much time he spent on the network, it still felt like a bright screen in a dark room.

Everyone walked in New Hanoi. The last bikes and tuk-tuks were converted into power years ago, there were simply too many people to allow for such space luxuries as bikes and cars. Flickering conversations created a melodic din, the heaving collective sound of inhales and exhales lingered in the air.

Only the nimble can navigate in the torrent of people. The dust kicked up by a thousand shoes, boots, plimsolls, heels, and spring feet mods, created a thick blanket of air, so thick Rome coughed as he shuffled along in the slow lane. The street was organised into loose lanes, a slow lane and a fast lane toward the centre of the street. Trouble was accelerating toward the centre. The vacant glare of the commuters in the slow lane meant that none of them looked where they were going, just following the heard. Deftly avoiding these zombies Rome cut his way through to some space and built up some speed.

He tried to think about how he’d apologise to Mae, there was the romantic apology, a candle lit dinner, but if the apology didn’t go well then they’d be stuck in silence. He could go extravagant, and take her out to a show, probably a comedy show, at least that way they’d get some laughs in, the ideas hurried about his head, but none seemed quite right, after all it was a little argument that she blew out of proportion, so he resented the idea of doing something too big. Humble confusion reigned in his mind. He knew he’d got lucky with Mae, and he also understood he knew very little about the subtleties of a relationship. The way he saw it a relationship was like the network, there’s a billion things that you can discover at any moment, but usually you see the same stuff most days and every once in a while something truly sensational comes along that keeps you buzzing for weeks, sometimes months.

Life was a series of emotional peaks and troughs which is just the way he liked it. It felt like living. Still he didn’t do well with guilt as a child he trapped a spider in a glass and left it outside, too terrified to lift the glass up and let it out (encase it came for him) it sat there for hours. As night came he worried it might get cold so bought the glass and trapped spider in and placed them in the warmest spot in the flat, the gasification unit. The shield came down and Rome watched in horror as the spider and glass were broken down under intense heat and steam and converted to syngas; energy. Rome’s nostalgia was about to take full flight when he heard someone shouting his name.

“Hey Rome.” Came a call from his left. He turned to see a friend, Mickel decelerating and negotiating through the lanes.

“Hey” Rome laughed, “long time.” This he enjoyed about the walk, everyday you’d bump into someone else, always a brief and happy conversation on the move and a grantee of something new. “How’s things?” Rome asked

“Good, good, big day for you then?”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me.”

“So what’s new?”

“Got my Ice Creme eating competition on tomorrow at the cafe, it’s going to be a fun one. What’s new with you?” It was no coincidence that Rome had organised a big fun event tomorrow, he knew today would be a tough day. The past always seems to be present for him.

“Got to level 82 on the nChart, the trophies just flooded in.”

“The nChart, that’s impressive, you must have logged some serious hours to get the promotion, what are you like a gaming legend now?”

“Nah, just short, I’m a gaming hero, legend is next.”

“And how’s the lady friend?” Rome smiled. Mikel was a grade A geek, and he’d found himself a grade A geek girlfriend 6 months ago, Rome and Mae had played match maker.

“She’s fine, still ahead of me so she’s happy! How’s Mae?”

“Fine, as combative as ever.”

“You wouldn’t take her any other way. Oh hey I got some inside info for ya, there’s gonna be a Christian riot down the Wilkens bypass in about ten minutes so it’s gonna get pretty congested.”

“Bloody hell,” Rome took a deep breath and sighed up at the sky. “Will they ever give it a rest?”

“Maybe, getting restless I think, it’s been almost five days since they had a riot, even I’m bored waiting for them to do something.”

“Getting crazy more like it. I’m sick of ‘em, you can’t even do a gods honest trade with that lot these days, I had to pass a sin test last week.”

“A sin test?”

“Yeah, they were banging their drum about gays, non-believers you know the line.”

“Did they determine you were a sinner?”

“You could say that. They said I’d have to be purged one day, but they still need food and water and, you know, stuff so we did the trade anyway, said they’d make a special exception for me.”

“Christ.”

“That’s what I said. They asked me to leave.”

Mikel laughed and Rome’s droll expression gave way to a calm smile.

“Listen my friend,” Mikel placed his hand on Romes shoulder, physical contact always made him feel a little uneasy, he liked his personal space, “we need to organise some game time soon and maybe even a drink in the real world.”

“Absolutely, I’ll get in touch. oh and if you can pull yourself away from the screen come to the ice creme eating tomorrow, there’s a whole day of events, music, artists, even booked a magician.”

“Great. I’ll see what the lady says.” Mikel indicated and with his spring feet 821k mods pulled away in the fast lane. Rome tried not to stare, but spring feet were top of his shopping list.

The dirt tracks of the ‘burbs were replaced with plates of light concrete, interlaced for maximum impact from footsteps, the vibrations pushed pistons and created low level power that kept the street lights and traffic lights on. Rome picked up some speed and zipped through the thinning crowds as he approached the Central Market, the epicentre of New Hanoi.