The Sum of Her Parts Read Online Free PDF Page A

heads. “Is this all it takes?”
    Barnato cast a squint upward. “The material has the same absorption number as the ground. Searchers and satellites don’t see me. When I move around it’s mostly at night. They use infrared, but I’m careful and I know how to mask my heat signature. You can live off the land here if you know what to eat and where the water is. The San people have been doing it for thousands of years.”
    Whispr frowned. “San people?”
    “Might as well be. I try to avoid them as much as possible. Which suits them just fine, since they try to avoid everybody. It’s a habit they picked up a long time ago when one of the then-regional governments kept kicking them out of their homelands and trying to make them into farmers and tradesfolk. Not everybody wants to live in city or on a mechanized farm. Some folks, they like the old ways.”
    “I understand.” Whispr spoke emphatically. “For example, right now I wish I were enjoying the old ways back in Savannah. Sitting on the riverfront sipping an iced coffee and eating a beignet.” His voice faded, growing dreamy.
    “Actually,” Ingrid told their singular host, “if there’s anything we can do for you in return for your—hospitality—you just have to ask.” Ignoring Whispr’s increasing disquiet she added boldly, “I’m a doctor. I could check you for problems, maybe prescribe some remedies.”
    “A doctor.” Barnato did not try to hide his incredulity. “Sure you are, pretty missy.” As she bridled he added, “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I don’t have any problems.” He stretched, extending all four arms before retracting the two that were tipped with digging tools. “By Society’s lights I shouldn’t be alive. Yet the lifestyle I’ve chosen has kept me healthier than any thousand men my age you might stop at random in Lela or the canals of London. I’m happy here. It’speaceful, I pay no attention to the conflicts of an overpopulated, confused world, and if I wish I can dig for pretty rocks all night long.”
    “I don’t think the company would respond real well if they were aware of
that
,” Whispr remarked.
    Barnato shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what I do. Just living here puts me in defiance of every regulation that’s governed travel in the Sperrgebeit for the last two hundred years. If they find me they’ll shoot me for shitting sand as soon as they would for prospecting.”
    “Have you?” Whispr could not keep himself from asking. “Ever found anything, I mean.”
    “Rocks.” Barnato smiled. “Lots of rocks. I like rocks.”
    “Okay, okay.” Whispr was disappointed despite himself. “I should’ve guessed.”
    “You never go down to Orangemund or Alexander Bay?” Ingrid prompted their host.
    Barnato shook his head dolefully. “Too many people. Shouting and yelling, arguing over nothing. Trying to sell stupid electronic gadgets, qwikmelds, outdated food, religion. I prefer the desert. Snakes, scorpions, lizards, insects. We understand each other. It’s not all about predation out here, the way it is in town. Though sometimes I see leopards or cheetahs. Sometimes I encounter a herd of gemsbok.” He licked his lips. “Good eating, gemsbok. So are a lot of the local grubs.”
    Whispr licked his lips. “You’ll excuse us if we don’t stay for dinner, but we’re on kind of a schedule.”
    Barnato turned serious. “Which way you two—scientists—going?”
    “North.” Despite their strange host’s apparent affability Ingrid saw no need to be more specific. She wasn’t as naïve as Whispr often seemed to think.
    Barnato’s expression grew dour. “You keep on north and companysecurity will catch you for sure. You’ll end up food for crows and vultures. Better you should turn back now and return to Orangemund. With caution and luck you’ll make it without being spotted or picked up.”
    “Can’t do that,” Whispr told him. “As dedicated scientists we have no choice but to keep on until we