“The Bloom,” Smoke said, softly. “The Bloom happened here.”
“I regret that. I had orders. From the ones who hold the same keys you hold. You know what that means,” Chen said.
“Recriminations?” Smoke said, smiling. “Relax, you are not on trial here. But you are right, that must be it. It is a clue.”
“How?” Chen asked.
Smoke shrugged. “Minds? That’s what I think. The way the Center can send Guides into other worlds is by following knots of potentiality in what they called the infospace. The noosphere, Western philosophy would have called it. It gets technical, but there are ways to follow these threads, and they lead to, well, to places. Places like this.”
He shook his head. “I’m just a policeman,” he began.
Smoke chopped his hand in the air, cutting him off. “Then be a cop. Follow this evidence. The Center detected Gold and Silver’s Earth in nineteen forty-five. Not forty-four, when they had the first test bomb. The Center found them after they dropped those bombs on cities. On Japan. Many died very quickly.”
“Ah,” Chen said, realizing. “The Bloom killed many people. Very quickly.”
“All roads lead here,” Smoke said. “Or near here. Places like it. I’m not sure, and I’m a bit afraid to find out. This needs resolution here. There might not be a second chance.”
“What do you mean?” Chen asked. “Resolved how?”
“I need to talk to them,” Smoke said. “And so do you.”
“What? Why?” Fear swept Chen.
“Someone made you do it, remember?” Smoke said. “We should find out who it was, and why.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Silver found Gold in the courtyard outside the front gate, with her backpack emptied and gear spread around her. Truck loomed nearby, and as Silver approached, his massive turret swiveled slightly. A cluster of what Silver assumed were visual sensors tracked her. Gold studiously avoided looking up until Silver stopped, and her shadow fell across Gold’s knolled gear.
“You’re in the sun,” Gold said, but she said it Nahuatl, their shared secret language. An overture, then. Gold knew, Silver reasoned, why she had come here, to seek her out away from the others.
“We should talk,” Silver said.
Gold paused in her obsessive study of her gear. Silver had seen her do this before, preparation for a journey or mission. She remembered how Gold had once counted out her last nineteen bullets for her old Mauser sniper rifle, inspecting them closely for any imperfections, before loading them carefully into the magazine, the last one slotted carefully into the chamber. That night she had gone out and gotten sixteen Germans and come back with three bullets. She looked up, and Silver saw the same eyes, flat and angry.
“Talk,” Gold said, challenging her. She squatted back on her heels. Your move, Silver thought.
“The girl.” Silver waited. And waited.
Gold looked like she had bitten into a lemon. “What about the girl? Too young for me?”
Silver smiled. It was their joke. An old, old joke between two old, old women. Everyone was too young for them. Everyone but them.
“Warren infected her with…whatever the fuck they have,” Silver said.
Gold nodded, shrugged. “Saved her life.”
“She’ll live as long as they live, now,” Silver said.
“So?” Gold’s voice held an edge Silver recognized. Obsidian, jagged and sharp as a razor. “What’s your point?”
Silver sighed, she knew she shouldn’t have brought this up, but they had to discuss it. They were leaving, leaving for the Elevator, and the girl was coming with them, or she wasn’t. Silver needed to know.
“She coming with us?” Silver asked. She squatted down. “Can’t fly her friend the truck here in my blimp.”
“His name is Truck,” Gold said absently, shifting her combat knife on the blanket minutely into place. “Not the truck,” she said. “Just Truck.”
“You’re not answering me,” Silver said, not willing to let her slide off the hook as she usually did. Not this time.
“You jealous?” Gold said, catching her eye with a hint of a smile on her face. “Silver the thinker? Silver the dreamer? You don’t like her?”
“Stop it,” Silver said. “That’s not my concern here.”
“Oh really?” Gold teased. “Don’t like my new girlfriend? She’s pretty.”
“You didn’t wait that long,” Silver said. “What was it, like three months for you? If that?”
Gold shook her head. “We weren’t together, child. You’re not my man, my brother, or my father. Not my mother.” Gold looked at her. Scorn was there, and a long-simmering anger. “You sure you want to have this talk with me?”
“We’re leaving,” Silver stressed. “Is she coming with us, or not? Is that thing,” she nodded at Truck, “coming with us?”
Gold’s nostrils flared. She shrugged. “Truck is good for smashing things,” she said. She looked up at Silver, smiling now. “What about your friend? The one you hide in your blimp?”
“Carter will come,” Silver said, not knowing if it was true. He might want to stay here, she didn’t know.
“You didn’t wait long, either, you know,” Gold said, her tone dripping with insinuation. “Maybe don’t toss stones at me.”
“I’m not fucking him,” Silver said sharply.
Gold shrugged. “Your choice,” she said. “Maybe you ought to. Get some dick in you. Snap you out of this.”
“This?” Silver said, a cold flower blooming in her chest.
Gold pursed her lips. “We were not together, not for a long time. Not since…that place, Germany. Things can change.” She looked up at Silver, this time maybe the mask, Silver thought, was down. “People can change.”
“She’ll change,” Silver said. “She’ll hate you for doing this to her.”
“Saved her life,” Gold said. “And it wasn’t me, either.”
“You know that isn’t how she’ll see it,” Silver snapped. “She’ll resent you. It might take time, but you know it will happen.”
Gold shrugged again. “Resent me? Like you do, you mean?” Gold said. “Is that it?”
Li stepped out from behind the shadow of Truck. Gold rose to her feet as Li approached. “You two are fighting,” she said, in Chinese.
“Two old women chewing over the same bone,” Silver said, the first thing that came to her. It was apt.
Li looked at her. “Am I the bone?” She asked. Li’s smile was genuine and friendly.
Silver smiled back. She could not be angry at this girl. She was pretty, with her long white hair and pale, creamy skin. Thin, but padded in the right places. An alley cat. She knew Gold liked that type. Gold had had plenty, what they had called her diversions, in the long years they had been close. She had had her share too, women and men. That wasn’t it.
“You know how Warren saved your life,” Silver said to her. “How she did it?” Gold looked at her at the mention of Warren’s name, but said nothing.
Li nodded. “She gave me their sickness,” Li said. “The thing that heals them.”
“It also extends their lives,” Silver said. “Maybe for a long time.”
Li considered this. “I thought it might be so,” she said, shrugging. “So, I will make the best of it.” She took Gold’s hand, folding her long white fingers into Gold’s. She looked at Gold, then at Silver.
Silver smiled. “Do that, child.” Then, to Gold, “Do what you want. I’m not your wife. But keep in mind what I said.”
Gold nodded. She raised Li’s hand to her lips. Silver looked away, awkward despite her years, an intruder in their intimacy.
Just then a shout, from the walls. Truck rumbled into life, a cloud of steam hissing from his vents. The turret swiveled. Gold shoved Li behind her and snatched up her knife. Silver’s hand found her stones, the smooth river stones she had carried with her from another world, dry and round in her palm.
The steam cloud seemed to thicken, m
ore than what was coming from Truck. It seemed to coalesce, to darken into clumps, clumps that resolved into shapes. Two shapes. One, bipedal, the other, taller, thinner, and spindly. The haze shifted, swirled, and faded.
Smoke. He wore a simple pajama-like robe, pale gray and flecked with silver. A tattoo, linear and blue, split his face. That was new, Silver thought, thinking she should strike. Should throw her rock now, while she had the chance. Before it was too late.
The spider scuttled to the right as Warren, Thomson, and Kolton came pounding up with troops bearing weapons. Smoke raised his hand, palm outward.
“I would like to talk with you,” he said, his voice loud and mellifluous. “I am not here to fight or harm you.”
“This is Smoke?” Warren asked. “He’s with Chen?”
“Seems that way,” Silver said, raising her hand to keep Warren back.
“How’ve you been, Smoke?” She said. “I like your tattoo.”
He smiled. “An affectation,” he admitted, nodding to her. “Never had a tattoo?”
She shrugged. “They fade.”
He nodded, an inclination of his head. “Going to introduce me?”
“Why did you bring us here?” Gold snapped.
He looked at her. “All roads lead here. I didn’t have a lot of options.”
“Why are you with Chen?” Warren called. “I have a beef with him.”
“He is unique,” Smoke said. “That is important. We have a common goal.”
“With the spider?” Silver asked. “Care to explain?”
“His form is irrelevant,” Smoke said, smiling at her. “But I meant, to be clear, that we, collectively, you and Gold and your new friends, we share a common goal. Or we should.”
“Explain,” Warren snapped. “And quickly.”
Smoke inclined his head to her. “Something happened here, a while ago. Something you went through. And survived remarkably well.”
“What’s that?” Warren said. Her patience was wearing thin, Silver could sense it, a cord stretched too tight, already frayed.
“The end of the world,” Smoke said, raising one finger. “The Bloom. The death of the gods.”
“All the same thing?” Silver asked. He seemed to imply it. “Related?”
Another nod. “Just so. Something happened here that knotted the threads of the worlds. The Center, as I told you, can sense these things. So I, as the Center, know them too. There isn’t a way past this point. All roads,” he waved about them, expansively, indicating everything, the compound, the countryside, China, the world. “Lead here. But no further.”
“What is this goal?” Gold asked. She held her knife low, the blade parallel to the ground, ready to slide between ribs. Silver could see Gold measuring the distance between her and Smoke. It was too far.
Smoke smiled at her. “To find the people who did this? To find out what happened? To find out why it happened? To exact a terrible vengeance? All these things we can debate and agree on.”
“And the Spider? What about him? He’s dangerous.” Warren had her pistol drawn, aimed at Smoke’s chest. She had, Silver thought, as much chance as Gold at hurting him. Smoke was not in danger here, not from them.
“Chen is under my protection,” Smoke said.
He waved his hand, and the Spider scuttled, many legs flowing together towards them. It kneeled, thorax and sensor cluster bowed to the dirt before them. “I am…” the Spider began in Uncle’s voice.
It did not get to finish the sentence. Truck lurched forward, massive arm swinging down, six fingers spread wide. Chen leaped to get free, but Truck had anticipated this, it seemed, and batted the black spider to the ground, where it rolled, a tangle of black limbs. It writhed, inhumanly fast, to right itself, but Truck’s hand came down, pinning it to the earth. Its black forelimbs struck, and struck again, striking sparks off of the hand which held it like a cage. Truck flexed the fingers, closing them slightly, and the Spider ceased its attacks.
“Enough,” Smoke said. “I will speak plainly.” He looked at all of them. “Someone did this, the Bloom, the gods, everything. It happened.” He spread his hands. “I mean to find out why.”
“How?” Silver asked. “You have a plan?”
“The bones of one.” He smiled at her, a predatory grin. “It’s your plan too. They went offworld, so that’s where we’re going.”
“The Elevator?” Warren asked. “Is it working?”
Smoke shrugged. “We’ll find out. This was your plan, I believe? The Spider seemed to think so.”
Gold nodded. Warren looked at her, at Smoke. “If you’re going back there, I’m coming with you. I have a score to settle with these people.”
“Who are they?” Silver asked. “The ones who went upwell?”
“Politicians. The one percent. The ones who made the Bloom happen,” Warren spat. “They escaped. They fucked up the world, and they left.”
“They left you here, victims of their crime,” Smoke said. “They left Chen, their instrument, another victim. Even this young flower, this child”—he indicated Li—“is the inheritor of their legacy. We have a score, it seems, each of us.”
“And you?” Silver asked. “What’s your interest?”
“My interest,” Smoke said, “is more of a mandate, a compulsion. They did more than fuck up the world; they may have fucked up many worlds. All worlds, potentially. Things are unraveling, slowly but surely. It takes time, but it will speed up.”
“Things fall apart,” Gold said, glancing at Silver.
Smoke nodded. “So we need to stop it.”
Silver looked at Gold, and nodded back. Then she turned to Smoke. “So let’s go do that then.”
He studied her for a long moment and nodded. Another chance, another agreement. Another price. “Third time, then, for the charm.”
“Let’s not fuck it up this time,” Silver said, matching his gaze.
“No,” Smoke said. “Let’s not do that.”
Review Gold’s Price on Amazon
Did you enjoy Gold’s Price? You can make a big difference.
What do you look for when deciding to give a new book or author a try? If you’re like me, you read the reviews or count those yellow stars.
Reviews help drive sales which, in turn, means that Amazon takes notice and starts to market on my behalf.
If you enjoyed Gold’s Price I would be very grateful if you could leave a quick and honest review on Amazon by hitting the link below.
Tap here to review Gold’s Price on Amazon.
Massive thanks,
Rich X Curtis
Also by Rich X Curtis
THE TAPESTRY CYCLE is a four book sci-fi technothriller series spanning millennia and a multiverse of worlds to unravel an advanced Mind before it threatens humanity itself.
Book 1: SILVER’S GODS — An Amazon Top 100 Best Seller! Silver, a tool of mysterious gods that have guided her dreams for thousands of years, races to confront a rogue AI before it triggers a cross-dimensional cataclysm.
Book 2: GOLD’S PRICE — Exiled in time, Silver and Gold battle to find each other in a future dystopian China, unraveling a mystery at the heart of the multiverse.
Book 3: SMOKE’S FIRE — Smoke battles a rebellious Center as he scours the Tapestry for allies in the final battle to save all of existence from the nihilistic gods.
The Prequel: SHADOWS AND SMOKE — A spy for the enigmatic Select is sent to Earth to seek answers to an ancient mystery, and is drawn into a conflict between old gods and new.
TAP HERE to build your book collection now!
About the Author
Rich X Curtis is a novelist. A Californian living in New England. Always a fan of adventure stories and science fiction, he has worked as a sous-chef, literary editor, video game designer, loaded trucks in a warehouse, and toiled in the software mines. Mid-century modern is his jam, as his kids say these days. Get off his lawn. The X marks the spot.
Contents
Chapter 1
&nb
sp; Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Gold's Price Page 24