Ribofunk Read Free Page B

handholds.”
    Then he shimmied up a drainpipe that led to the second floor faster than I could follow.
    But follow I did, my molars, believe me. I kicked off my shoes and zipped right after him. No disinfo, I was scared, but I was also mad and ecstatic and floating in my own microgravity.
    The first fifty stories were frictionless. I kept up with Turbo, matching him hold for hold. When he smiled, I even smiled back.
    Little did I know that he was teasing me.
    A third of the way up we stopped to rest on a wide ledge. I didn’t look down, since I knew that even with my new perfect balance the sight of where I was would be sure to put grit in my jets.
    We peered in through the lighted window behind us and saw a cleaning robot busy vacuuming the rugs. We banged on the glass, but couldn’t get it to notice us. Then we started up again.
    At the halfway mark Turbo started showing off. While I was slowing down, he seemed to have more energy than ever. In the time I took to ascend one story, he squirreled all around me, making faces, and busting my chops.
    “You’re gonna fall now, Dez. I got you up here right where I want you. You ain’t never gonna get to lay a finger on Chuckie, you latch? When you hit, there ain’t gonna be anything left of you bigger’n a molecule.”
    And suchlike. I succeeded in ignoring it until he said, “Gee, that Ziggy’s getting kinda forgetful lately. Ain’t been taking his mnemos. I wonder if he remembered to make sure your dose had the right duration? Be a shame if you maxxed out right now.”
    “You wouldn’t do that—” I said and instinctively looked over my shoulder to confront Turbo.
    He was beneath me, hanging by his toes from a ledge, head directed at the ground.
    I saw the ground.
    Televison City was all spread out, looking like a one-to-one-hundred-scale model in some holo studio somewhere.
    I froze. I heard one of my fingernails crack right in half.
    “Whatsamatter, Dez? You lost it yet, or what?”
    It was the konky tone of Turbo’s voice that unfroze me. I wasn’t gonna fall and hear his toxic laugh all the long stories down.
    “Race you the rest of the way,” I said.
    He changed a little then. “No need, proxy, just take it one hold at a time.” So I did.
    For seventy-five more stories.
    The top of the building boasted a spire surrounded on four sides by a little railed off platform whose total area was ’bout as big as a bathroom carpet.
    I climbed unsteadily over the railing and sat down, dangling my legs over the side. I could already feel the changes inside me, so I wasn’t surprised when Turbo said, “It’s worn off for real now, Dez. I wouldn’t try going down the way we came up, if I was you. Anyway, the harrys should be here soon. The stretch for something like this is only a year with good behavior. Look us up when you get out.”
    Then he went down, headfirst, waggling his butt at me.
    So, like I asked you before.
    Now that I ain’t no Dudley Dendrite anymore, how the fuck am I gonna get down?
     
     

 
    LITTLE WORKER
     
     
    Little Worker came awake instantly. Lying curled on the red-and-black-figured carpet before Mister Michael’s bedroom door, she stretched her limbs beneath her plain beige sleeveless shift, then stood on bare feet. Mister Michael, she could sense, was still asleep. Mister Michael deserved to sleep, for Mister Michael worked hard. Little Worker worked hard too, but she never slept late in the mornings, for there was too much to be done. (If Mister Michael stayed put in his office today, Little Worker would nap at his feet.) But in the mornings, Little Worker always awoke before Mister Michael. She always would. It was her way.
    Little Worker appeared unwontedly reluctant to leave her nightly station. Something, this morning, did not smell right. She sniffed the air intently, nostrils twitching. The troublesome odor was nothing she could identify. It was new. This was not necessarily bad, but might be. The new smell emanated from