Y.T. waits so long that she thinks the sun must have come up by now, but she knows it can't really be more than a couple of hours. In a way, it doesn't even matter. Nothing ever changes: the music plays, the cartoon videotape rewinds itself and starts up again, men come in and drink and try not to get caught staring at her. She might as well be shackled to the table anyway; there's no way she could ever find her way back home from here. So she waits.
Suddenly, Raven's standing in front of her. He's wearing different clothes, wet slippery clothing made out of animal skins or something. His face is red and wet from being outside.
You get your job all done
Sort of," Raven says. "I did enough.
What do you mean, enough
I mean I don't like being called out of a date to do bullshit work," Raven says. "So I got things in order out there and my attitude is, let his gnomes worry about the details.
Well, I've been having a great time here.
Sorry, baby. Let's get out of here," he says, speaking with the intense, strained tones of a man with an erection.
Let's go to the Core," he says, once they get into the cool air above deck.
What's there
Everything," he says. "The people who run this whole place. Most of these people" -- he waves his hand out over the Raft -- "can't go there. I can. Want to see it
Sure, why not," she says, hating herself for sounding like such a sap. But what else is she going to say
He starts leading her down a long moonlit series of gangplanks, in toward the big ships in the middle of the Raft. You could almost skate here, but you'd have to be really good.
Why are you different from the other people?" Y.T. says. She kind of blurts it out without doing a whole lot of thinking first. But it seems like a good question.
He laughs. "I'm an Aleut. I'm different in a lot of ways
No. I mean your brain works in a different way," Y.T. says. "You're not wacked out. You know what I mean? You haven't mentioned the Word all night.
We have a thing we do in kayaks. It's like surfing," Raven says.
Really? I surf, too -- in traffic," Y.T. says.
We don't do this for fun," Raven says. "It's part of how we live. We get from island to island by surfing on waves.
Same here," Y.T. says, "except we go from one franchulate to the next by surfing on cars.
See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places," Raven says.
Right. I'm totally hip to what you're saying.
That's what I'm doing with the Orthos. I agree with some of their religion. But not all of it. But their movement has a lot of power. They have a lot of people and money and ships.
And you're surfing on it.
Yeah.
That's cool, I can relate. What are you trying to do? I mean, what's your real goal
They're crossing a big broad platform. Suddenly he's right behind her, his arms are around her body, and he draws her back into him. Her toes are just barely touching the ground. She can feel his cool nose against her temple and his hot breath coming into one ear. It sends a tingle straight down to her toes.
Short-term goal or long-term goal?" Raven whispers.
Um -- long term.
I used to have this plan -- I was going to nuke America.
Oh. Well, that'd be kind of harsh," she says.
Maybe. Depends on what kind of a mood I'm in. Other than that, no long-term goals." Every time he whispers something, another breath tickles her ear.
How about medium-term then
In a few hours, the Raft comes apart," Raven says. 'We're headed for California. Looking for a decent place to live. Some people might try to stop us. It's my job to help the people make it safe and sound up onto the shore. So you might say I'm going to war.
Oh, that's a shame," she mumbles.
So it's hard to think of anything besides the here and now.
Yeah, I know.
I rented a nice room to spend my last night in," Raven says. "It's got clean sheets.
Not for long, she thinks.