When Tranh finally arrives at Surawong Road, its wide black thoroughfare is nearly empty of traffic. A pair of ancient water buffalo placidly haul a rubber-wheeled wagon under starlight. A shadow farmer rides behind them, muttering softly. The yowls of mating devil cats scrape the hot night air, but that is all.
And then, from behind, the creak of bicycle chains. The rattle of wheels on cobbles. Tranh turns, half-expecting avenging white shirts, but it is only a cycle rickshaw, chattering down the darkened street. Tranh raises a hand, flashing newfound baht. The rickshaw slows. A man’s ropey limbs gleam with moonlit sweat. Twin earrings decorate his lobes, gobs of silver in the night. “Where you going?”
Tranh scans the rickshaw man’s broad face for hints of betrayal, for hints that he is a hunter, but the man is only looking at the baht in Tranh’s hand. Tranh forces down his paranoia and climbs into the rickshaw’s seat. “The farang factories. By the river.”
The rickshaw man glances over his shoulder, surprised. “All the factories will be closed. Too much energy to run at night. It’s all black night down there.”
“It doesn’t matter. There’s a job opening. There will be interviews.”
The man stands on his pedals. “At night?”
“Tomorrow.” Tranh settles deeper into his seat. “I don’t want to be late.”
Paolo Bacigalupi’s short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and the environmental journal High Country News. His fiction has been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best sf short story of the year. His non-fiction essays have appeared in Salon.com and High Country News, and have been syndicated in numerous western newspapers including the Idaho Statesman, the Albuquerque Journal, and the Salt Lake Tribune. He lives in Western Colorado with his wife and son, where he is working on his next novel.
More fiction by Paolo Bacigalupi can be found online at his website: http://windupstories.com
Paolo Bacigalupi, Windup Stories
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