Free Vurt by Jeff Noon Page B

the salt tears away.
    "It was a yellow feather?" Tristan asked.
    "Yes. Small and yellow. Totally yellow," I managed. "It was beautiful." "You want to tell how you found it? Or what happened?"
    I didn't. Tristan just nodded. "I understand," he said. Did he?
    "I've been there," he added. "What?"
    "I've been inside English Voodoo."
    "Tell me." I was desperate for knowledge.
    Tristan looked over to where Suze was working the cards and the bones. Then he looked back at me. "You lost your sister there?" he asked.
    "Yes."
    "And got what in return?"
    "I don't know what it is. Some kind of Vurt alien. We call him the Thing." My mind dragged me back. Me waking up from the English Voodoo feather,
    covered by the weight of slime. The Thing writhing about on top of me. Me screaming at it, pushing with all my strength to get out from under, tears falling from my eyes, a cry rising in my throat. The sister gone forever, replaced by this lump of stuff.
    Tristan nodded. The rates of exchange are complex. Nobody really knows how they work. Only that a constant balance has to be kept, between this world and the Vurt world. Both worlds must always contain the same worth.
    "The Thing can't be as worthy as Des. Just can't be. . ."
    "In his own world, that Thing is loved just as much. Everything adds up. The Game Cat tells you this. Believe me, the Game Cat knows."
    "What do you know?" I asked.
    Tristan looked over at Suze once more before answering. "Your sister took Curious Yellow."
    Oh Christ!
    Even the Beetle was aroused, out of Haze slumber. "Curious Yellow!" he shouted. "Holy shit! We're fucked, Scribble, baby!"
    "Most probably," Tristan said. "Curious Yellow lives inside English Voodoo. It's a meta-feather."
    Curious Yellow was often talked about, never seen, never felt. It was up there in the higher echelons, where the demons and the gods lived. Nobody pure could ever touch it, but Desdemona had touched it, tasted it, and now she was no more of this world, and the chances of getting her back were falling rapidly to zero. "What is Curious Yellow?" I asked. "How can I find it?"
    "It can't be found, Scribble," Tristan replied. "It can only be earned. Or stolen." "Desdemona's in there. I know she is!"
    "Most probably she's dead."
    His words cut me, but I wasn't giving up; "No. She talks to me. She's alive! She's in there, somewhere. She's calling to me. What can I do, Tristan?"
    "Give up."
    "Is that what you did?" I asked, and I could tell that I'd got to him. He'd lost somebody! He'd been there, in the Voodoo, lost somebody to the Curious. I could see the pain in his eyes, like a mirror.
    "There's no hope," he answered. "Believe me. I've tried." "So you won't help us?" the Beetle asked.
    Tristan stared at Beetle. Then he turned away, towards Suze. He was running his hands through their joint hair, almost like he was testing just to see if she was still there, attached, safe. Suze picked up a card from the table, and held it out to me.
    "This is your card, Scribble," she said. "No. No, it's not."
    "You just don't know it yet."
    The first drifts of darkness showed through the flat's windows, and I was thinking about Bridget and the Thing, and how I should get back there, see how they were doing. And how everything was over, and another night without love.
    "Well, cheers, mate," said the Beetle, with bitterness in his voice. I guess the guy was looking out for me.
    "Karli will see you home," said Tristan.
    "You won't get scared without the pooch?" asked Beetle.
    Tristan opened a door in the wall and I smelt turds and bad breath, meat and piss.
    I looked into a dark place. The walls were covered in scratches and bites. In the shadows were darker shadows. Sleeping shadows, moving and breathing to a slow pulse. A low growling started up as Tristan turned on a sad little light and I saw the dogs there, a fur-lined duo. Great beasts. All plastic bones and synthetics.
    "Robohounds," Tristan whispered. "Karli's mum and dad. Be careful. They bite." And I