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Ray Brede passed a professional eye over the room to check his customers were still happy and unlikely to start any trouble. He was tired, bone tired. He didn't want to be pulling pints, mixing revolting fluorescent cocktails or making polite pointless chitchat with overly-friendly customers. No, he wanted to slouch off home with a bottle and some downs. He wanted to close his eyes for a decade or two, and sleep.

In the background a comedian kept up his banal patter as, bleary eyed, Ray moved around the room collecting empty glasses, a permanent if artificial smile etched on his face in the hope of attracting tips.

'Fat chance of tips' Ray thought as he slid his fingers and thumb into five empty pint pots. Clinking their rims together he picked them up. 'Why, oh why, oh fucking why do I bother?' he muttered as he deftly manoeuvred back through the crowd until he was once again behind the safety of the bar. He nodded at the security camera monitoring him, slotted the glasses into the washer and said "glass cycle." He waited a moment to make sure the computer had heard his command over the din and nodded as its light blinked on. Then, fed up with the new incessant ad for 'Mary-Jane - an affordable stone for all!', he changed the bar's advertorial wall to another channel; this one showed an animated rodent espousing the financial benefits of an early death. Ray was about to change the channel again when a petulant and vaguely familiar voice drawled behind him.

"Any chance of a drink, barkeep?"

Ray took a deep calming breath. He was so tired he didn't bother with his usual smile as he turned around to be met by a pair of twinkling, silvered eyes above an almost perfect nose on a face he had thought he would never see again. He blinked, then blinked again.

"Ceil?" he said, almost reverentially, as if, had he said it any louder the man would vanish. "Ceil, is it you?"

Ceil rolled his eyes, stuck his hands on his hips in such a divinely camp move that Ray, tired as he was, had to smile.

"Tsk-tsk! Of course it's me you daft ha'p'orth," Ceil said, gliding onto a stool that was almost miraculously vacant. He looked around the bar with a half sneer, then looked directly into Ray's eyes and lowered his voice. "I've come to rescue you from this shit hole, dear-heart." He put his elbows on the bar, his chin in his hands and cocked his head a little to the right. "So get your stuff and let's get out of here and go somewhere we can talk without having to shout, hmm? what say you, lover?"

Ray found himself blushing. Oh yes, it was Ceil alright. No one else, not even an A-grade sex clone, would have been able to make him blush like that. Ray picked up a bar cloth. He needed some sort of prop to keep his mind off the apple tree in the Garden of Eden sitting in front of him. Not that it had been Ceil he had loved - it never had been - but the bastard had always known which of his buttons to push. He turned away from Ceil's silvered and quizzical eyes, popped a 'pick-me-up', and feigning nonchalance began wiping down the bar.

"How about I say no?" Ray said. He'd meant to hiss the reply, to shock Ceil with his vehemence. Instead it came out as a loud guttural wail, as he shed years of pain and angst. It was so loud that almost the entire bar, except the comedian, stopped and looked at him.

Ray had wanted to say 'How about fuck off and die, you miserable, manipulative, cock-sucking son of a bitch!' It was lucky he hadn't as his 'no' seemed to have shattered Ceil's friendly bonhomie and the man's silver eyes were now in the process of turning red, and as far as Ceil was concerned, red, Ray knew, was not good. Not good at all.

"No?" Ceil spoke quietly. So quietly, Ray thought, that he'd have missed it if he hadn't been looking directly at his lips.

"Umm, no." Ray nodded, then shook his head, confused. Ceil had always confused him. It was bad enough that he'd turned up at the bar at all, let alone after so long and without an insta-com or a by-your-leave.

"Even if I wanted to I can't," Ray said, "I have to work. At least that's what we call it. Double-you oh aar kay - work. You should try it sometime, Ceil, though I suspect you'd think it either a real drag or fabulously freaky fun, depending." Ray tried to look away from Ceil's eyes, without success. His heart was pounding and he knew he was probably blushing, too. He took a deep breath and continued, "Whereas to me it's a necessity: a requirement if I want to carry on living."

"And do you?" Ceil interjected, the red flare in his silvered eyes had gone and he was now sporting a sardonic grin. .

Ray had been on a bit of a roll and wasn't expecting Ceil's riposte. He frowned, not feigning puzzlement in the least. "Do I what?"

"Do you want to go on living?" Ceil's eyes riveted the barman. "You know, now that Asher ha ...."

"GET OUT! YOU BASTARD SCROATY VULTURE'S PIZZLE!" Ray roared, losing it entirely and slamming his fist on the bar. He'd once read an adage about the sound of a pin dropping and had thought it bollocks. Amazingly enough it seemed it was true. What the adage hadn't included was expressions on faces which ranged from outright shock through annoyance to amazement. Even the comedian was staring at him slack-jawed.

Through the silence Ray heard heavy footsteps cross the floor above, then thump-thump-thump down the stairs. Ray turned as the door slid open behind him.

Robert Key, the owner of the bar, put his arm across Ray's shoulders and quietly said, "What's going on, Ray?" His gaze sweep over the silent patrons as he waited for Ray's reply.

"Nothing," Ray said, wishing he was somewhere, anywhere else. Though he considered Robert a friend as well as his employer, there were situations from his past he'd never told him about; the most obnoxious and loud mouthed of them standing on the other side of the bar right behind him. Ray steeled himself and took another deep breath.

"Nothing Robert, really, it's nothing. It's all under control now." The level of conversation had begun to pick up and was almost back to its normal volume, so Ray took a chance on Ceil being civilised. "Robert, I'd like you to meet ...." As he spoke he turned to introduce Ceil to Robert. The problem was Ceil was nowhere to be seen.

"Who?" Robert asked, his arm sliding off Ray's shoulder as he raised an eyebrow.

"Erm…." Ray glanced around the room but there was no sign of Ceil anywhere. "I'm sorry, he's gone."

"Oh," Robert said, looking at Ray with an odd expression. "Maybe next time, then."

"Yes, yes, next time."

"You sure you're okay, Ray?" Ray nodded, though if he were honest he was so far from okay he thought it would take a miracle and a tub of 'sort-me-out' pills to get him back. Shaking his head in apparent amusement Robert went back upstairs.

The rest of the evening passed normally. By 02:00 Ray had managed to clear the stalwarts out and was upending the chairs onto the tables. By the time he'd swept up and cleaned the night's only pool of vomit from the corridor by the lavatories, Ray was completely knackered. He transferred his tips to his Zukerberg, thumb verified the till and took the small number of physical creds upstairs, briefly knocking before entering Robert's apartment.

"You look tired," Robert said, glancing up from the couch where he was watching a holo and drinking a beer. "Want to stay?"

Ray paused a moment, then shook his head. "No. No, thank you. I need to crash and fast. My bed's calling me." He smiled as Robert nodded.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Ray."

"Mmm. See you then."

Ray rented a single cube apartment ten minutes walk from the bar. When he didn't stay with Robert it had become routine for him to walk home along the river embankment. It had rained earlier and the paving slabs glistened and steamed, their commercial content dark for the nightly sys-check. Ray had just walked under the uptown monorail bridge when he became aware of a second set of footsteps close behind.

"If you mention Asher again, Ceil, I will kill you."

"Touchy, touchy." Ceil said, his footsteps quickened as he caught up to walk in lockstep alongside Ray. "Shall we repair to your place then?"

Ray stopped under a sodium streetlight and looked at him. Even under the vile yellow of the light and in his late twenties Ceil still resembled a smooth-cheeked teenager more than a man. Ray shut his eyes. They'd been so close: friends forever, he'd thought. And yet…. Ray blinked back a tear. It would never do to show weakness, especially in front of Ceil.

It seemed like an eternity but was probably less than ten seconds before he nodded. Ceil smiled and interlinked his arm with Ray's.

"I thought so."

"Did you? I didn't." Ray replied, pulling his arm free. He was well aware Ceil was annoyed but he didn't give a damn. "I meant what I said, Ceil. It might all be water under the bridge to you, but to me ... if you mention his name again I'll…."

"You'll?" Ceil said, raising an eyebrow. Ray glared at him, then looked away across the river. On the far side of the placid water a young couple were sitting on a bench holding hands. As he watched they leant together and kissed. Trying to keep his lips from quivering and his eyes dry, Ray started shaking as he broke down and sank to his knees. Dispassionately Ceil waited; not trying to comfort or help but not moving away either.

"Why?" Ray cried out. It was a cry from both his heart and from deep within his soul. Ray desperately needed to know - had needed to know for well over a year - and now, finally, he had the chance of an answer.

"Because it was the way the game went; the way the dice landed," Ceil said sadly. "Had I known then what I know now we wouldn't be here."

Ray looked up at him. "You killed ..." Ray gulped. "You killed our friendship. I don't understand, how could you do that?" Ray's voice strengthened as he got to his feet, grabbed Ceil by his arms and shook him. "How could you fucking do that? How could you kill him?"

Ray realised the truth was his for the taking and was about to batter it out of the man if he had too, when Ceil's eyes widened.

"You ... you think he's dead?" Ceil looked truly astonished, an expression Ray had never seen on his face before.

"Yes." Ray said, the fight draining out of him. He let go of Ceil's arms fully expecting him to strike out, but he just stood there.

"You are such a fool, Ray." Ceil said quietly. "Such a fool."

"I'm what?" Ray said, remembering that whatever else he was, Ceil had never had time for time wasters and had always cut to the truth.

"Asher is, well, he ...." Abruptly Ceil stopped, his whole body tensed as he looked around. Then he stroked his earlobe implant and closed his eyes.

"Asher is?" Ray demanded. "Asher's what?"

"Shh. Be quiet. We've been followed."

"So?" Ray frowned. It was a fact of life and an ingrained part of the public psyche that everyone was tracked and often followed. Since the 2018 elections the central government hadn't bothered trying to deny it anymore. "So what?"

"It's not the government." Ceil muttered under his breath.

"Oh." Ray grinned, feeling smug and wondering what Ceil had or hadn't done. Whatever Ceil's problems were he was in the clear: his contract owner, Robert Key, made sure of that and it had been written into the small print

"Don't look so smug, Ray." Ceil said, grabbing him by the arm and walking them at a smart pace back toward the bridge. "How long until the ads update and restart?"

Ray triggered his implant and checked. "Another couple of minutes, why?"

"Because if you don't want to die I suggest you latch onto my port and pray everything's in place to get us out of here."

"What the fuck have you done, Ceil?" Ray started to panic. Only once had Ceil freaked him out so much and that had been years ago. As they got under the bridge and into the cover of its shadows Ceil yanked Ray towards the wall just as Ray felt the air displaced by a projectile and heard a gunshot.

"Not just me, Ray. You too. We're all involved and we need to get to Asher's place right now."

"But Asher's dead!" Ray said, automatically slipping his hand into Ceil's and triggering the lock that bound their com ports together. Instinctively he jumped them a foot and a half to the right and another projectile missed them, shattering a darkened pavement display that exploded in a shower of sparks and ruptured vapour.

"Good move," Ceil said. "And no, Asher's not dead." Ceil wrapped his other arm around Ray's back and finalised the jump bond. A vivid purple glow expanded from their joined hands, engulfing them. A nanosecond later they were gone; a third gunshot lost in the blare of sound and light as the embankments advertorials re-started.

They re-integrated in what Ray assumed was a public transportation booth. He hurriedly disentangled himself from Ceil who had, he thought, judging by the grin on his face, enjoyed their escape a little too much. He looked around for some indication of their location but found nothing. The walls of the booth were a plain dull metal which was odd, Ray thought, as all booth owners ran advertorials to offset their cost.

"Where are we?" Ray asked.

Ceil smiled. "Safe. We jumped several times, Ray." He lowered his voice conspiratorially, "and the last seven were encrypted."

"The ... the last seven!" Ray was appalled. He couldn't afford one public jump, let alone a series with seven of them encrypted. "You should have asked, Cee. I can't ... I can't possibly pay you back."

"Ask? Are you insane?" Ceil laughed as rolled his eyes. "We were being shot at! Besides," he added after a moment's dramatic pause, "I'm not the one footing the bill."

"Then ... then who is, and you didn't tell me where we are. Cee?"

"Oh, Ray. I do appreciate that you've started calling me Cee, again." Ceil said smugly. "And I also thank you for stopping my head being blown off. However, as much as I'd like to take the credit, you need to thank the person responsible." He nodded towards the booth's exit. Ray looked at the slowly pulsing green button that would give him answers he wasn't sure he wanted.

"Is it ... is he ...?" Ray felt like curling up in a ball and crying until he grew old, withered and died. He'd dreamt of how the next few minutes might go ever since Asher and Ceil had disappeared.

He'd realised early on that they had been using him for their own amusement, but he hadn't cared. He'd been enjoying himself and having fun, he had liked them both too much, and wasn't that bothered at being used. And then, right at the end, in the three weeks before they'd disappeared, he'd known that Asher had truly fallen for him. He'd known because he had fallen hard for Asher himself. Yet he'd never let on. Asher had told him and he'd sneered in return, determined to get at least a little entertainment and payback before he admitted he knew their game and that he truly loved Asher too ...

... and the next day they'd gone. Gone as if they'd never existed and he hadn't had a chance to tell Asher anything. A year of his life he'd spent trying to find them and only run into dead ends and obfuscation. And now ....

Ceil coughed politely and Ray realised he'd been vacuously looking at the exit button like an idiot. Ceil moved forward, his arm sliding around Ray's shoulders, comfortingly.

"We were all stupid, Ray." He whispered. "Ash and I were hung up on having fun and it was me who suggested we string you along. So ... if you blame anyone blame me, okay."

"Are you his brother or…." Ray tailed off.

Ceil looked away and Ray could see he was chewing his bottom lip. Finally he looked back, his silvered eyes absent, pale sky blue their true colour. "I'm his younger brother and as stupid and as protective as brothers get," he said. "Please believe me, Ray: if I could change what has happened I would. In a heartbeat."

"I don't understand. Why now? Have you any idea how long I was looking for you?"

Ceil sighed. "Politics, and more importantly family. Mother and father were dead set against our games and as a consequence, you. We thought they'd stopped but, judging by tonight's close escape, they haven't.

"We had no idea you'd been looking for us until last week, and only then because our sister found out what our parents were up to and told us. It took us a few days to set this place up and then tonight I came to the bar. You know the rest."

"So?" Ray asked, looking into Ceil's twinkling blue eyes.

Ceil smiled. "He loves you, Ray. He truly does."

Ray kissed Ceil briefly on the lips. Then, his mind alive with possibilities, he squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and pressed the glowing exit button.

 

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