Never mind, it's the future,Susannah told herself once again. It's science fiction, like the City of Lud. Best leave it at that.
I don't care what it is or when,Mia said. I want to be near a telephone. I want to see to my chap.
Susannah walked past a sign on a tripod, then turned back and gave it a closer look.
AS OF JULY 1S
T, 1999, THE NEW YORK PLAZA - PARK HYATT
WILL BECOME THE REGAL U. N. PLAZA HOTEL
ANOTHER GREATSOMBRA/NORTH CENTRAL PROJECT!!
Susannah thought,Sombra as in Turtle Bay Luxury Condominiums. . . which never got built, from the look of that black-glass needle back on the corner. And North Central as in North Central Positronics. Interesting.
She felt a sudden twinge of pain go through her head. Twinge? Hell, a bolt. It made her eyes water. And she knew who had sent it. Mia, who had no interest in the Sombra Corporation, North Central Positronics, or the Dark Tower itself, was becoming impatient. Susannah knew she'd have to change that, or at least try. Mia was focused blindly on her chap, but if she wanted tokeep the chap, she might have to widen her field of vision a little bit.
She fight you ever' damn step of the way,Detta said. Her voice was shrewd and tough and cheerful. You know dat too, don't you?
She did.
Susannah waited until the man with the problem finished explaining how he had ordered some movie calledX-Rated by accident, and he didn't mind paying as long as it wasn't on his bill, and then she stepped up to the desk herself. Her heart was pounding.
"I believe that my friend, Mathiessen van Wyck, has rented a room for me," she said. She saw the reception clerk looking at her stained shirt with well-bred disapproval, and laughed nervously. "I really can't wait to take a shower and change my clothes. I had a small accident. At lunch. "
"Yes, madam. Just let me check. " The woman went to what looked like a small TV screen with a typewriter attached. She tapped a few keys, looked at the screen, and then said: "Susannah Mia Dean, is that correct?"
You say true, I say thank yarose to her lips and she squelched it. "Yes, that's right. "
"May I see some identification, please?"
For a moment Susannah was flummoxed. Then she reached into the rush bag and took out an Oriza, being careful to hold it by the blunt curve. She found herself remembering something Roland had said to Wayne Overholser, the Calla's big rancher:We deal in lead. The 'Rizas weren't bullets, but surely they were the equivalent. She held the plate up in one hand and the small carved turtle in the other.
"Will this do?" she asked pleasantly.
"What - " the beautiful desk clerk began, then fell silent as her eyes shifted from the plate to the turtle. They grew wide and slightly glassy. Her lips, coated with an interesting pink gloss (it looked more like candy than lipstick to Susannah), parted. A soft sound came from between them:ohhhh. . .
"It's my driver's license," Susannah said. "Do you see?" Luckily there was no one else around, not even a bellman. The late-day checkouts were on the sidewalk, fighting for hacks; in here, the lobby was a-doze. From the bar beyond the gift shop, "Night and Day" gave way to a lazy and introspective version of "Stardust. "
"Driver's license," the desk clerk agreed in that same sighing, wondering voice.
"Good. Are you supposed to write anything down?"
"No. . . Mr. Van Wyck rented the room. . . all I need is to. . . to check your. . . may I hold the turtle, ma'am?"
"No," Susannah said, and the desk clerk began to weep. Susannah observed this phenomenon with bemusement. She didn't believe she had made so many people cry since her disastrous violin recital (both first and last) at the age of twelve.
"No, I may not hold it," the desk clerk said, weeping freely. "No, no, I may not, may not hold it, ah, Discordia, I may not - "
"Hush up your snivel," Susannah said, and the desk clerk hushed at once. "Give me the room-key, please. "
But instead of a key, the Eurasian woman handed her a plastic card in a folder. Written on the inside of the folder - so would-be thieves couldn't easily see it, presumably - was the number 1919. Which didn't surprise Susannah at all. Mia, of course, could not have cared less.
She stumbled on her feet a little. Reeled a little. Had to wave one hand (the one holding her "driver's license") for balance. There was a moment when she thought she might tumble to the floor, and then she was okay again.
"Ma'am?" the desk clerk inquired. Looking remotely - veryremotely - concerned. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Yeah," Susannah said. "Only. . . lost my balance there for a second or two. "
Wondering,What in the blue hell just happened? Oh, but she knew the answer. Mia was the one with the legs,Mia. Susannah had been driving the bus ever since encountering old Mr. May I Not Take TheSk?ldpadda, and this body was starting to revert to its legless-below-the-knee state. Crazy but true. Her body was going Susannah on her.
Mia, get up here. Take charge.
I can't. Not yet. As soon as we're alone I will.
And dear Christ, Susannah recognized that tone of voice, recognized it very well. The bitch wasshy.
To the desk clerk, Susannah said, "What's this thing? Is it a key?"
"Why - yes, sai. You use it in the elevator as well as to open your room. Just push it into the slot in the direction the arrows point. Remove it briskly. When the light on the door turns green, you may enter. I have slightly over eight thousand dollars in my cash drawer. I'll give it all to you for your pretty thing, your turtle, yoursk?ldpadda, yourtortuga, yourkavvit, your - "
"No," Susannah said, and staggered again. She clutched the edge of the desk. Her equilibrium was shot. "I'm going upstairs now. " She'd meant to visit the gift shop first and spend some of Mats's dough on a clean shirt, if they carried such things, but that would have to wait. Everything would have to wait.
"Yes, sai. " No morema'am, not now. The turtle was working on her. Sanding away the gap between the worlds.
"You just forget you saw me, all right?"
"Yes, sai. Shall I put a do-not-disturb on the phone?"
Mia clamored. Susannah didn't even bother paying attention. "No, don't do that. I'm expecting a call. "
"As you like, sai. " Eyes on the turtle. Ever on the turtle. "Enjoy the Plaza - Park. Would you like a bellman to assist you with your bags?"
Look like I need help with these three pukey li'l things?Detta thought, but Susannah only shook her head.
"Very well. "
Susannah started to turn away, but the desk clerk's next words swung her back in a hurry.
"Soon comes the King, he of the Eye. "
Susannah gaped at the woman, her surprise close to shock. She felt gooseflesh crawling up her arms. The desk clerk's beautiful face, meanwhile, remained placid. Dark eyes on the scrimshaw turtle. Lips parted, now damp with spittle as well as gloss. If I stay here much longer, Susannah thought,she'll start to drool.
Susannah very much wanted to pursue the business of the King and the Eye - it washer business - and she could, she was the one up front and driving the bus, but she staggered again and knew she couldn't. . . unless, that was, she wanted to crawl to the elevator on her hands and knees with the empty lower legs of her jeans trailing out behind her. Maybe later, she thought, knowing that was unlikely; things were moving too fast now.
She started across the lobby, walking with an educated stagger. The desk clerk spoke after her in a voice expressing pleasant regret, no more than that.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi. "
Susannah made no reply, although the gooseflesh was now all the way up the nape of her neck and she could feel her scalp tightening on her very skull. Her legs (someone'slegs, anyway) were rapidly losing all feeling. If she'd been able to look at her bare skin, would she have seen her fine new legs going transparent? Would she have been able to see the blood flowing through her veins, bright red going down, darker and exhausted heading back up to her heart? The interwoven pigtails of muscle?
She thought yes.
She pushed the UP button and then put the Oriza back into its bag, praying one of the three elevator doors would open before she collapsed. The piano player h
ad switched to "Stormy Weather. "
The door of the middle car opened. Susannah-Mia stepped in and pushed 19. The door slid shut but the car went nowhere.
The plastic card,she reminded herself. You have to use the card.
She saw the slot and slid the card into it, being careful to push in the direction of the arrows. This time when she pushed 19, the number lit up. A moment later she was shoved rudely aside as Miacame forward.
Susannah subsided at the back of her own mind with a kind of tired relief. Yes, let someone else take over, why not? Let someone else drive the bus for awhile. She could feel the strength and substance coming back into her legs, and that was enough for now.
Five
Mia might have been a stranger in a strange land, but she was a fast learner. In the nineteenth-floor lobby she located the arrow with 1911 - 1923 beneath it and walked briskly down the corridor to 1919. The carpet, some thick green stuff that was delightfully soft, whispered beneath her
(their)
stolen shoes. She inserted the key-card, opened the door, and stepped in. There were two beds. She put the bags on one of them, looked around without much interest, then fixed her gaze on the telephone.
Susannah!Impatient.
What?
How do I make it ring?
Susannah laughed with genuine amusement. Honey, you aren't the first person to ask thatquestion, believe me. Or the millionth. It either will or it won't. In its own good time. Meanwhile, why don't you have a look around. See if you can't find a place to store your gunna.
She expected an argument but didn't get one. Mia prowled the room (not bothering to open the drapes, although Susannah very much wanted to see the city from this height), peeked into the bathroom (palatial, with what looked like a marble basin and mirrors everywhere), then looked into the closet. Here, sitting on a shelf with some plastic bags for dry-cleaning on top, was a safe. There was a sign on it, but Mia couldn't read it. Roland had had similar problems from time to time, but his had been caused by the difference between the English language alphabet and In-World's "great letters. " Susannah had an idea that Mia's problems were a lot more basic; although her kidnapper clearly knew numbers, Susannah didn't think the chap's mother could read at all.
Susannahcame forward, but not all the way. For a moment she was looking through two sets of eyes at two signs, the sensation so peculiar that it made her feel nauseated. Then the images came together and she could read the message:
THIS SAFE IS PROVIDED FOR YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS
THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PLAZA - PARK HYATT ASSUMES NO
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITEMS LEFT HERE
CASH AND JEWELRY SHOULD BE DEPOSITED IN THE HOTEL SAFE
DOWNSTAIRS
TO SET CODE, PUNCH IN FOUR NUMBERS PLUS ENTER
TO OPEN, ENTER YOUR FOUR-NUMBER CODE AND PUSH OPEN
Susannah retired and let Mia select four numbers. They turned out to be a one and three nines. It was the current year and might be one of the first combinations a room burglar would try, but at least it wasn't quite the room number itself. Besides, they were theright numbers. Numbers of power. Asigul. They both knew it.
Mia tried the safe after programming it, found it locked tightly, then followed the directions for opening it. There was a whirring noise from somewhere inside and the door popped ajar. She put in the faded red MIDTOWN LANES bag - the box inside just fit on the shelf - and then the bag of Oriza plates. She closed and locked the safe's door again, tried the handle, found it tight, and nodded. The Borders bag was still on the bed. She took the wad of cash out of it and tucked it into the right front pocket of her jeans, along with the turtle.
Have to get a clean shirt,Susannah reminded her unwelcome guest.
Mia, daughter of none, made no reply. She clearly caredbupkes for shirts, clean or dirty. Mia was looking at the telephone. For the time being, with her labor on hold, the phone was all she cared about.
Now we palaver,Susannah said. You promised, and it's a promise you're going to keep. But not in that banquet room. She shuddered. Somewhere outside, hear me I beg. I want fresh air. That banqueting hall smelled of death.
Mia didn't argue. Susannah got a vague sense of the other woman riffling through various files of memory - examining, rejecting, examining, rejecting - and at last finding something that would serve.
How do we go there?Mia asked indifferently.
The black woman who was now two women (again) sat on one of the beds and folded her hands in her lap. Like on a sled, the woman's Susannah part said. I'll push, you steer. And remember, Susannah-Mio, if you want my cooperation, you give me some straight answers.
I will,the other replied. Just don't expect to like them. Or even understand them.
What do you -
Never mind! Gods, I never metanyonewho could ask so many questions! Time is short! When the telephone rings, our palaver ends! So if you'd palaver at all -
Susannah didn't bother giving her a chance to finish. She closed her eyes and let herself fall back. No bed stopped that fall; she went right through it. She was falling for real, falling through space. She could hear the jangle of the todash chimes, dim and far.
Here I go again,she thought. And:Eddie, I love you.
STAVE: Commala-gin-jive
Ain't it grand to be alive?
To look out on Discordia
When the Demon Moon arrives.
RESPONSE: Commala-come-five!
Even when the shadows rise!
To see the world and walk the world
Makes ya glad to be alive.