City of Time by Eoin McNamee

and a cupid's-bow mouth. She was dressed more for a party than for the mountains, wearing a black silk jacket with a gold clasp, and a straight skirt over stockings. Her shoes were patent leather with a high heel. Her gloved hands were covered with rings, Cati noticed as the girl took a makeup mirror and lipstick out of her pocket.
    “Got to apply the old war paint,” she said. “The name's Rosie, by the way.”
    “Pleased to meet you, Rosie,” Dr. Diamond said, putting the truck into gear.
    “Who's the funny-looking geezer with the bump on his head?” Rosie whispered loudly.
    “Dr. Diamond,” Cati said. “I'm Cati, and this is Owen.”
    “If you don't mind me asking,” Dr. Diamond said, “what are you doing out here on your own?”
    “Magno hunt,” Rosie said. “What else? Walked a bit far yesterday, though.”
    “Yesterday?” Cati said, but thought,
In those shoes?
    “Yeah, took a lift with a trader. He never seen me holding on the back.”
    “Did you find any magno?” Owen asked.
    Rosie eyed him suspiciously. “Why? Who's asking?”
    “I just—”
    “You just nothing,” Rosie said. With her back to the door, she slipped one hand under her jacket and brought out a long slender knife.
    “No one wants your magno, Rosie,” Dr. Diamond said softly. “We have our own. It's not what we're here for.”
    Rosie glared at them, the long needle-like knife glittering in her hand.
    “I was only trying to be polite,” Owen said.
    “Put the knife away, Rosie. Please,” Dr. Diamond said.
    “All right, all right. I suppose if you wanted to rob me, you would just have run me over back there and took what you wanted,” Rosie said. The knife disappeared again. “But you can't be too careful. The place is full of bandits.”
    “Please!” Cati said. “Do we look like bandits?”
    “You
do,” Rosie said.
    Cati folded her arms firmly and stared ahead out the window.
    Dr. Diamond suppressed a grin. “There's some chocolate in the back,” he said. “Why don't you get it, Owen?”
    Owen found the massive bar and broke it into four. Rosie sniffed her piece cautiously, then bit into it and devoured it with an expression of ecstasy.
    “Enjoy that, did you?” Cati said.
    “Ain't had any for years. Not since rationing.”
    “There's rationing in the City?” Dr. Diamond asked.
    “Not for ordinary food, but for anything posh, like chocolate. I reckon it all goes to the Terminus.”
    “What is the Terminus?”
    “Where the ones are as is in charge.”
    It was now completely dark outside and Owen found himself yawning. Up ahead Dr. Diamond spied a rotting wooden noticeboard that showed a picnic table under trees. He turned there and they saw a tumbledown building that might at some point have been a toilet. Of picnic tables there was no sign.
    “Time to stop for the night,” Dr. Diamond said. “I'm not sure how safe it is to travel in the dark.”
    “Are there Albions around here?” Owen peered into the dark.
    “You get them in the mountains,” Rosie said, “and there's a different gang near the city. Should be safe enough here, though.”
    Dr. Diamond killed the engine and they climbed through the hatch into the back of the truck. Rosie looked around her with approval. “Not bad,” she said, nodding.
    “You mentioned rationing in the City,” Dr. Diamond said. “Are things bad there?”
    “They're not good,” Rosie said, “and that's a fact. Everything's low. Magno stocks are drying up. There's only the likes of me goes up to the old mines and finds a little bit. Then there's the time famine.”
    “What's that?” Dr. Diamond asked.
    “Ain't no time coming in. They got nothing to trade in the Bourse. Reckon it's all bought up or stole.”
    “The Bourse?”
    “You know. Where they buy and sell time.”
    “How can you buy and sell time?” Owen said.
    “That's the problem,” Rosie said. “If there ain't any, you can't. The City isn't happy. There was riots last year. Now the Specials is