Anti-man

by it, snagging my clothes on the wires, my hands bleeding now. On the other side, I found another Bubble car only a dozen feet ahead of the last. I moved around it. There was a kid inside, maybe ten or eleven-years-old. He watched me with obvious fascination until I had reached the front of his Bubble.
        "Hey!" he called loudly through the plastic. "You crazy?"
        "No!" I said, nodding my head. "Being chased."
        He looked absolutely elated.
        I stood there, panting, and realized I did not have very much more strength in me-not nearly enough to keep up this pace more than another five minutes. As soon as I slowed down, He would gain, and gain fast, if He was hot already gaining now on His hard, reformed feet. Ahead lay another Bubble car, only nine feet away. I was not even sure I could make that. The thought of squeezing around yet another Bubble with the wires gouging me was not at all pleasant. Then I had the idea. It came to me from sheer desperation.
        "The authorities have been alerted and will arrive with the ambulance," the computer said. "You are urged to stop and make things easier on yourself. The sentence for sabotaging the public transportation system is no less than one year and-"
        I paid no attention to the machine-mind's ramblings. I moved around to the opposite side of the kid's Bubble and dropped to the floor, hunched at the corner next to the tube wall, nestled back in among the wires. Hopefully, when He squeezed by on the other side, He would not see me through the plastic. I should be shielded by the kid's body. Then, when He went on, I could double-back and be rid of Him.
        "What are you doing?" the kid asked.
        "It's a trick," I said. "Will you help me?"
        "Who's the good guy?" he asked.
        "The one coming wants to kill me. He is not a policeman."
        The kid nodded.
        Just then, I heard him coming up behind the kid's capsule, the wires singing as he leaped through them. I tried to huddle even deeper into the wires, did not mind that they prodded me mercilessly. On the other side of the Bubble, He pressed between the plastic and the wall. I could see His dark form.
        "Hey!" the kid said, "you chasing a fellow with a suitcase?"
        "That's right," He said.
        My heart came up into my throat. That rotten kid, I thought.
        Then the kid said, "He went up past that Bubble."
        He nodded, kept going, did not look back. I slipped past the kid's Bubble, looked in at him and mouthed, "Thanks."
        I think he blushed.
        I moved back to the crossways and started to turn back to my smashed vehicle when I remembered the police and the ambulance would be there, or soon arriving. They would take me into custody, and I would never get out. I would not be able to go to Cantwell. Even the slim chance I had against Him would be destroyed. I walked into another side passage instead, and plodded along it, moving more slowly than I had when He had been hot on my tail. Now that I could relax a little, I was aware of the pain in my ankles, hands and face. I would have to get out of the system and find someplace to buy bandages and antiseptics.
        "You are approaching an exit foyer," the computer said. "Do not proceed further, or I will have to initiate a deterrent until police can arrive at the same foyer."
        I kept moving. It was good to know that a foyer lay ahead and that I would reach it before any police could be there. Indeed, I could see the circular-membrane hatch at the end of the tubeway. I walked faster. A few more cuts would not bother me.
        Then the computer's deterrent was thrown at me. The wires in that area made perfect conductors for a localized shock. The electricity bounced through me, standing my hair on-end, then flushed away. I had gone down, ramming a wire into my hand. I plucked it free and stood.
        "Sabotaging the public transportation system is punishable by no less than one year and no more than-" the computer began.
        I ran now, the wires whining and waving about me, gouging me, hurting me. Twenty feet from the diaphragm, another shock hit me. I managed to keep on my feet, but I could barely see. My eyes were watering and stinging, and I was certain I had burst a small vessel on my right eyeball. I felt cold inside my stomach, cold down through my intestines. My bones ached and spurted fire through my body. I put my head down, hugged