Perdido Street Station by China Miéville Page A

mock-forlornly.
    Derkhan creased her
face sympathetically. She is, Lin thought, a lovely woman.
    Derkhan was pale, tall
and thin—though she had gained a small gut as she passed into
her middle years. Though she loved the outrageous antics of the
Salacus set, she was an intense, gentle woman who avoided being the
centre of attention. Her published writing was spiky and merciless:
if Derkhan had not liked her work, Lin did not think she could have
been Derkhan’s friend. Her judgements in the Beacon were
harsh to the point of brutality.
    Lin could tell Derkhan
that she missed Isaac. Derkhan knew the true nature of their
relationship. A little over a year ago, when Lin and Derkhan were
strolling together in Salacus Fields, Derkhan had bought drinks. When
she handed over her money to pay, she had dropped her purse. She had
bent quickly to retrieve it, but Lin had beaten her to it, picking it
up and pausing only very slightly when she saw the old, battered
heliotype of the beautiful and fierce young woman in a man’s
suit that had fallen from it onto the street, the xxx written across
the bottom, the lipstick-kiss. She had handed it back to Derkhan, who
had replaced it in the purse without hurrying, and without looking
Lin in the eyes.
    "Long time ago,"
Derkhan had said enigmatically, and immersed herself in her beer.
    Lin had felt she owed
Derkhan a secret. She had almost been relieved a couple of months
later when she found herself drinking with Derkhan, depressed after
storming out of some stupid row with Isaac. It had given Lin the
opportunity to tell Derkhan the truth that she must already have
guessed. Derkhan had nodded with nothing but concern for Lin’s
misery.
    They had been close
since then.
    Isaac liked Derkhan
because she was a seditionist.
    Just as Lin thought of
Isaac, she heard his voice.
    "Godshit,
everyone, sorry I’m late..."
    She turned and saw his
bulk pushing through tables towards them. Her antennae flexed in what
she was sure he would recognize as a smile.
    A chorus of salutation
greeted Isaac as he approached them. He looked straight at Lin and
smiled at her privately. He caressed her back as he waved at everyone
else, and Lin felt his hand through her shirt clumsily spell out I
love you.
    Isaac yanked a chair
over and forced it between Lin’s and Cornfed’s.
    "I’ve just
been to my bank, depositing a few sparkly little nuggets. A lucrative
contract," he shouted, "makes a happy scientist with very
bad judgement. Drinks on me." There was a raucous and delighted
crowing of surprise, followed by a group yell for the waiter.
    "How’s the
show going, Cornfed?" said Isaac.
    "Oh splendid,
splendid!" shouted Cornfed, and then bizarrely added, very loud,
"Lin came to see it on Fishday."
    "Right," said
Isaac, nonplussed. "Did you like it, Lin?"
    She briefly signed that
she had.
    Cornfed was only
interested in gazing at Alexandrine’s cleavage through her
unsubtle dress. Isaac switched his attention to Lin.
    "You would not believe what’s been happening..." Isaac began.
    Lin gripped his knee
under the table. He returned the gesture.
    Under his breath, Isaac
told Lin and Derkhan, in truncated form, the story of Yagharek’s
visit. He implored them to silence, and glanced around regularly to
make sure that no one else was listening in. Halfway through, the
chicken he had ordered arrived, and he ate noisily while he described
his meeting in The Moon’s Daughters, and the cages and cages of
experimental animals he expected to arrive at his laboratory any day
soon.
    When he was finished,
he sat back and grinned at them both, before a look of contrition
washed over his face, and he sheepishly asked Lin: "How’s
your work been going?"
    She waved her hand
dismissively.
    There’s
nothing, dear heart, she thought, that I can tell you. Let’s
talk about your new project.
    Guilt passed visibly
over his face at his one-sided