Accidental Creatures by Anne Harris

yet. I — I ran into some trouble. Some men tried to rob me. There was a fight. I got injured.”
    Suddenly Night Hag’s eyes focused on her. “Are you alright? How badly were you hurt?”
    “I’m okay, still pretty sore, but okay. I had a concussion, some cracked ribs, and a knife wound.”
    “Who did that to you?” she asked sharply, as if she would kill whoever it was, as if she could.
    “I don’t know. Just some guys, I guess.”
    Night Hag stared at her. “You don’t know them?”
    “No! I was just walking and...”
    She took a deep breath and nodded. “You’re alright now.”
    “Yes. I-someone found me. Her name is Chango. She’s a sport like me. she saved my life. She brought me here to her friend’s house. They’re taking care of me.”
    “That’s good.” She paused, and then added, “Those men that attacked you? Did you fight them?”
    “Oh yeah. There were three of them, but one I bit pretty bad, in the neck,” she said, and pointed at her teeth, still surprised that Night Hag had made no mention of her appearance.
    “I’m glad,” said her friend. “People shouldn’t want to hurt you. But for some reason, sometimes they do. When it happens, you must fight them.”
    Helix didn’t know what to say to this. “At least I’m with friends now,” she said at length.
    “And I’m proud of you for leaving Hector. It couldn’t have been easy for you. Just don’t think that because you were attacked, you made a mistake. There was nothing for you in that apartment.”
    “Except my transceiver, and Hector’s money. I didn’t take anything with me when I left.”
    Night Hag waved one hand dismissively. “Things. Things you can buy after you find work. Are you going to be a vatdiver?”
    “I don’t know,” Helix shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m going to need some kind of job.”
    “Maybe your friends can help you.”
    “Maybe. But jobs are hard to find, and they’ve already done a lot. Chango borrowed this transceiver from a friend of hers, so I could call you.”
    “Everybody doesn’t have a transceiver?” Night Hag looked genuinely shocked. Helix laughed at her naivety. She had always been the wise one, the experienced one. “No. Everyone does not have a transceiver.”

Chapter 5 — Wronged By God
    Nathan Graham walked to the elevators, suncells in fan-shaped wall sconces brightening at his approach, signalled by his tread on the bioweave carpeting. It had taken research and development years to come up with a bacteria that would put forth a spectrum of light even approaching sunshine. These were the latest achievement, and their bright warm light was gradually spreading through the consumer market, edging out incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
    The elevator doors were covered in etched brass, a holdover from the original decor. Much of the building had been remodeled repeatedly in order to showcase the latest developments in GeneSys materials, but they saved these — oriental etchings of birds and flowers intermixed with geometric designs — and the murals on the first floor.
    The doors parted and he stepped inside. “Good morning, Mr. Graham,” said the elevator, and Graham rode it down to the tenth floor. In the lobby of the research and development department he asked a vending machine for an apple juice and swiped his card through the pay slot. He downed the juice in one long gulp, and tossed the little can into the welcoming mouth of a motion sensitive trash canister. Martin’s lab was a large, white tiled affair, strewn with instruments. Martin and his two remaining lab assistants were there; Slatermeyer, a tall, anemic-looking fellow with sandy, badly cut hair, and Greenfield, shorter and stockier, his dark hair receding at his temples. They looked at him like a trio of startled rabbits.
    Graham walked along the counter-lined perimeter of the room, glancing at this instrument and that. Everything was gleamingly spotless. Graham had no doubt that