Ectopia by Martin Goodman

two shadows. I feel him turn in step with me and we pounce, leap with hands held high to dive upon the shadows. They tail behind us as we stream into silence, riding as one with the speed of light, floating as wide as space.
    No bodies now, just a memory of bodies. A memory of Mal and me stretching limbs around the block, lungs breathing in rhythm, looking ahead with two pairs of eyes. We float as space with the memory of body, our four eyes set to see all things at once.
    One way jungle. We fly as a swarm through a swelter of leaves.
    One way sea. It scatters as bubbles as we race beneath the surface.
    One way city. Our passing sends trash spiraling round highrises.
    One way … Sound returns as the distant beat of a vast drum. All ways are this way now, the swallowing of light in a crimson black, space confined by a narrow tube that jets us round smooth corners.
    Pulsing.
    Pulsing.
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    - Bender
    He speaks it soft and the name’s like a breeze, coating my body as it shapes me.
    I move a finger. It meets a hair growing on Malik’s wrist. The hair’s as wide as a trunk. I stroke the width and height of its bark, smooth as blood, then travel down to where it plunges its roots into the earth of his skin.
    - Bender. End it Bender. Come back. Come back now.
    He strokes his hands through my hair, across my face, down my body, bringing me back.
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    - You scared me, he says.
    Night’s passed. Mal’s on his back, looking up to where daylight smudges the sky.
    My head is on his chest, my ear pressed to the flesh above his heart. The heart pumps steady. I feel the tremble of his voice as he speaks.
    - What do they give you, Bender? It’s not qual. Qual like I know it’s what I gave you just now. You went wild on it, like a little kid. That was your first time. You’ve never been in qualspace before. You were out there. Way out there. Way out of control. I couldn’t break it. Snap. Flash. You kept to no line. You were all places at once. Then you got stuck. Dark, warm, wet. Where was that?
    - Blood, I tell him – We were one cell two cells who knows same thing. We were what blood feels as it shifts round the bloodstream.
    - What bloodstream? he asks.
    It’s a no sense question. Like asking which Bender am I.
    - There’s only one, I tell him.
    I move my head so it’s flat on his stomach, and look up at the sky. I love the soft round of his stomach. Colors are seeping in with the daylight now. The full drab display of daytime.
    - I’ve got to go, I say – They’ll be preparing Mom for the off.
    - You think you’ll miss her? he asks.
    - Like pickled onions miss vinegar. We’ll bump against each other more when she’s gone. Bruise more easily.
    - You don’t have to stay, he says – Leave. Bring Karen. Bring her here. Run off.
    - Go outlaw? I ask.
    - Not outlaw, he says – Outlaw’s their word. Leave their system, fuck their words.
    - Who needs Karen? I ask.
    - The system’ll get her if we don’t, Mal says.
    - It’s welcome, I say.
    I sit up. There’s no point staying for talk about Karen.
    - You got a qual for Mom? I ask.
    - You still want to do that? Your Mom goes into orbit like you, she’ll blot out the sun.
    I hold out my hand. He sits up and hands me a tab.
    - It’s my last, he says – You get yours this morning. Bring em straight round when your Mom’s gone. I’ll be here.
    - You want another qualrun? Straight off?
    - It won’t happen, he says – Whatever they give you it’s not qual. You don’t handle it, Bender. It smashes you. If I hadn’t pulled you back you’d still be out there. No, they’re giving you something special. Something different. I want to try it.
    His skin’s the same oriental brown as ever but the sheen’s gone out of it. He looks pale beneath.
    - I’ll bring you food, I say.
    - No need. Just a tab. Wake me when you get here.
    He lies on his