As Evil Does

by P. S. Power

  Rather than act offended, the gray clad woman nodded.

  “Point nine of one ounce. For that I will take you directly to the correct location, and if for some reason they are not there, I will give you a good deal on the next search attempt.” The words indicated something that was interesting to hear.

  That the technology there wasn’t perfect. At least the woman didn't think it would be impossible to need two searches in short order. Which was obviously true. They were standing and talking. Their quarry could be moved away from them, while they did that.

  She didn’t budge much. Enough to show she was haggling and not trying to rob the woman.

  “Half a gold, but I’ll give you a bonus of point four, if we find them in the first two attempts.”

  That got a nod, which showed a certain amount of confidence.

  “Agreed on those terms, Logged as such, in the greater system.” There was a noise then, a flowing line of information that was almost a warble. Then, after stopping, the woman put the silver slip toward Keeley.

  “Your name, please?”

  “Keeley Thomson.” That it seemed to be enough. There was movement then toward the slid walks. Heading east.

  The gray covered woman waved for them to follow.

  “This way, if you please. Do as I do and we will be at our destination inside fifteen minutes.”

  They just moved then, with Hally needing a little help in getting from one spot to another, at first. The trick wasn’t one really. You just walked into the different lanes to the right to go faster and slowed by moving toward the left. As they traveled, several kids, looking to be very similar to Human boys, even if the clothing was different, were jumping from one lane to another. Doing tricks, which were mainly long jumps, with spins and on occasion a flip or two, as they did it.

  The translator made an annoyed sound.

  “Fools. This is a transit heavy area. If they want to break their legs they should do it on the side streets. That way they won’t damage valuable customers with their insanity. I should report them, but children will be young. For some reason.” The tone was humorous under the tension on the surface.

  Hally laughed a bit, being good with people. Even strange ones.

  “That’s just true, isn’t it? I know a few who recently had their looks upgraded… They aren’t risking their lives at least. Not exactly.” She turned to Keeley and shook her head. “Mara and Sam are… Well, you made them really good looking. It’s going to their heads a bit. Not that they’re getting stuck on themselves, thankfully. Not yet. It’s just…” She blushed a bit and looked away, which was interesting. Hally wasn’t a prude after all.

  Keeley got it though, understanding the problem.

  “They’re playing the field a little?” A teen girl who looked sixteen and was probably in the top few percentage points of what was considered attractive would be getting offers to have sex, after all. Sam was nearly as good looking for a boy, and seemed a bit older than his fourteen years.

  Hally snorted as they walked, their feet barely moving as they moved along at about seventy miles per hour.

  “You know, if it was just a bit, it wouldn’t be an issue. They’re both acting like they’re starving Alede, if you want to know the truth. They’re going to get diseases if they keep it up, too.”

  Keeley sauntered along without working very hard, even though she understood that the slide walk was powered by her own foot falls. The return on energy investment was amazing.

  “They won’t. Really, neither of them will be able to get sick, really. No sexually transmitted diseases, either. Mara can get pregnant. Sam needs to be careful that way, too, unless he wants fifty kids. I could have left them sterile, but hadn’t really thought about it at the time. I’ll need to update them in a few years, to age them up a bit. Otherwise they’ll pretty much look the same way for thirty or forty years.”

  Hally nearly stumbled then, but managed to keep her feet under her with a bit of scrambling.

  “They won’t age? That’s a bit… Huge, isn’t it?” She touched her own face then, rubbing at the faint lines that were forming at the corners of her eyes. She had some light makeup on, but not enough to truly hide that she was getting older. “Damn. I should have gotten you to do that for me before I broke up with you.” She smiled, but seemed a bit sad at the same time.

  She nearly told her that she could do the work for her, if she wanted, being willing enough. That was different, of course. Before, only by a few days, she’d been a bit angry at Hally for leaving her. Now she felt a bit sad over it, but that was all. The rage that had been growing was gone, almost totally.

  The translator was in front of them and didn’t turn around, merely speaking in a mild tenor.

  “Humans can receive such treatments here. The prices are competitive. A few gold, in general, depending on what alterations you seek. We should see to finding your friends, first? The places we want for that are actually back where we came from. We’re nearly at the transportation hub, however.”

  Keeley nodded at the words.

  “That seems like a plan. I can lend you the gold for it, if you want?” She still had the sack in her left hand, having not paid for anything yet. That got her to put it away, pulling a few coins out as she walked, placing that in her front trouser pocket, on the right.

  Hally sighed and shook her head.

  “I can’t. I mean, then I’d owe you, right? Everyone I know always told me to never get into debt to a Greater Demon.” She seemed tense then, as if the words were going to be slapped down or at least start a fight.

  The translator spoke again.

  “Negative. This one isn’t that sort of being. Not at present. She is, as stated earlier, more similar to a physically oriented ethereal being than a negatively oriented human sub-species member. The readings for your friends are remarkably similar to this one’s.” There was no rebuke to the words, just a gentle correction of what had been said.

  Keeley smiled at Hally.

  “Right. I’ve been working on becoming good. I’m not perfect at it, so far, but I guess it’s actually starting to show? I’m barely half the monster I used to be, even.”

  There was no answer from the red head. Then, she probably thought that Keeley was trying to win her back. That wasn’t the plan. She’d moved on. It didn't mean she didn’t love her old friend. Enough that she was willing to spend some money on her, even if there would be no payoff for it, later.

  Which was interesting to notice.

  Then again, she wasn’t willing to go to the rest of her kind to get a vote in place just to take care of the fact that Hally was aging like a normal person. A little slower than that, even, since she’d avoided a lot of negative life habits. She didn't smoke or drink, for instance. Her weight was good as well and always had been. The woman even exercised on a regular basis.

  The transport hub was fascinating, when they got there. Keeley had figured that it would be some form of teleportation or space warping technology. Possibly even just beings with powers moving others around. Instead it was just a set of chairs, made of some form of plastic like composite you sat in. Once they were in their shared seats, that formed a sort of basket, which was big enough for six people, the translator spoke, giving instructions to the machine, in a different language.

  Without missing a beat, the thin legs of the basket like chair started to slid on the ground, heading toward an open area. There was no sensation of movement. No rushing of air, either. They simply moved, their speed growing as they were propelled on a slick gray sheet. That was the size of a fourteen-lane freeway, but no one else was near them as they zipped along. The world outside of their basket turned into a smear of color.

  Hally laughed, a bit nervously.

  “Um, how fast are we going, exactly?”

  Keeley had to guess, having never done that before.

  “Probably about… Fifteen thousand miles per hour? More or less.”

  The translator pulled her l
ittle slip out, muttered at it, then spoke, seconds later.

  “Fourteen thousand, three hundred and ninety-two miles per hour at present. We are still increasing in speed and will until the halfway point of our trip. The whole thing should take about seventeen minutes from start to finish.” The words were matter of fact, as if that kind of speed was normal there.

  Which, clearly, it was.

  Keeley looked at Hally and shrugged.

  “Neat. We should get something like this for back home. We just have to stop using fossil fuels, first. That and get a good centralized computer system going. I wouldn’t want to trust this kind of speed to Human reflexes, if we can help it.” She was making small talk, not really planning to do that kind of thing at all. Not that it would be a bad thing, really. It just wasn’t how she structured her days, most of the time.

  Which got her to nod.

  “Seriously though, Darla was talking about coming out with a free energy source not too far off. You should get with her on that and see what it will take. Cortechs can come out with it, so… Well, so that people don’t feel like they owe an ex-Greater Demon for the world getting better. It will probably need to be done slowly, over a few decades or the economic shock will ruin the world.”

  There was an interested nod then, as if it were a serious proposal.

  “I can help with that. On the PR side, of course. Do you think she’d be interested in working with me on that? She clearly doesn’t need me that way. I mean, she can do it for herself with no problems.”

  That was true, of course. Darla was a master of manipulation and doing that to the public was actually part of what she did, day to day. The idea still wasn’t a bad one. In fact, another idea came to her then, which got her to nod, as she thought of it.

  “You know, Division Six is planning some PR related things. Changing the image of Vampires, and some other beings. Mainly to influence the subconscious minds of Humanity, to make them better. You know, so that Vampires will, over the years become more heroic and all that. Shifters as well. Also, we probably want to support the idea of these groups drawing together and becoming more friendly in general. Now that the veil is gone, what people think of these things might well have a real influence on how individuals act.”

  Hally was just a Human and had been given a lot of help setting up her business ventures, even if she didn’t know that to be the case, directly. She was smart, too. Enough so that she was able to nod along, almost instantly.

  Her voice was bland.

  “So, things like television shows, movies… Human interest pieces about heroic members of other groups. Maybe a program to teach school kids about different cultures, with an eye toward positive thoughts that way?”

  Keeley actually grinned then.

  “Exactly that. I hadn’t even considered brainwashing trapped children. That’s a brilliant idea, of course. I’ll give you Will Dern’s number, if you want? He’s in charge of Division Six. You know Tyler, too, so you can use that as an in, if you don’t want to work with the ex, directly. Which I get. If nothing else it’s going to be awkward when you realize how cool Ravi is.” She shook her head then, since it sounded like she was being mean, which wasn’t her intent. “I mean that, too. Neither of them, Will or Ravi, are free right now, or I’d set you up with one of them. Speaking of which, how are things going on that front?”

  She meant dating. It would be fair for Hally to tell her to go fuck herself on the topic, but the woman was too polite for that.

  Instead she shrugged.

  “Slow. I mean, I can find men to sleep with, but no one really wants to get serious, so far. It’s like dating has changed on me while I was with you for all those years. Everyone just wants to hook up. By the way, never mention that you like kids. That does not fly with men these days. I actually had a guy abandon me at a restaurant because I mentioned that a family had well behaved children. I didn’t even say they were cute or anything. I mean, he angrily stormed off, after calling me baby crazy. It was embarrassing.” She giggled a bit, as if she wasn’t actually a victim of mommy fever.

  It was clear to Keeley that her ex had broken up with her, in part, because she really did want kids. That wasn’t happening with Keels. Plus, if you wanted tiny Human beings, you couldn’t do that with a Greater Demon. Not even a Wise One. The women were all sterile, after all. The men could have children, but only with a Human woman.

  She nodded at the red-haired lady.

  “Ouch. That sucks. We could hunt him down online and… Well, really, just put a note on his dating site data saying he did that? To warn other women away from him, in case that’s going to be an issue for them.”

  The words had Hally shaking her head, but she seemed pleasant about it.

  “That isn’t the Keeley I know. Once upon a time, not long ago, you would have suggested that we hunt him down and kill him. At the very least you would have had him gang raped in a gay bar or something for it. Putting a note on his profile is nearly… Sane. Balanced even. Not that we should do that, even. He was rude, but not at a level that needs to be punished, really. He might fix himself, even. Things were going well, before that.”

  The words got her to nod. She was going to keep speaking, but the vehicle spun without warning, so that they were zipping along backward at about that point. The translator didn’t seem upset about it, so Keeley figured it was normal. They all went silent then, just riding that way for a while, not even making small talk. It was companionable enough, really.

  Seven minutes later they were on a slid walk, heading in a different direction. In their own world, she had to figure they were in northern Africa. She hadn’t noticed moving across water at any point. Which, no doubt, meant that the entire surface of the planet, including the oceans, was covered with the one massive city. It was impressive, while also being too much of a good thing, all at the same time.

  Their guide waved a hand to the left of the slide walk, and moved in that direction, making sure she didn’t lose her paying customers. As soon as they came to a stop, the woman spoke, her voice soft.

  “This way. Building seven, subfloor three. Here.” The place she pointed at was recognizable as a structure, though it was both massive, being about a mile across in each direction, including upward. It was a soft white color, with both windows and mirrored ports that were probably responsible for piping light deep into the building using something like fiberoptic threads.

  The door opened to them, after the silver slip was waved at it. Meaning the building had some way to secure itself. Instead of moving to the side, or opening on hinges, the door simply dissolved, pulling evenly to the sides. It was a very organic process.

  They still had a good walk, to get to the right door. The stairs were more of a ramp, which moved under them, based on where they touched the wall next to them. It didn’t feel like they were rubbing anything at all. There was a blue strip that sent them down and a black one that, she intuited, would drive them upward. The thing was incredibly steep, nearly being like a ladder, but the floor fit their feet perfectly as they move, leaving it very stable.

  Three floors down, the guide stepped off, which was sudden and abrupt. Keeley managed the move on her own, but Hally needed to be tugged off, nearly missing the right step. She laughed at the move, but didn’t speak. Things were a bit tense, after all. At least for the Human woman.

  At the door, Keeley nodded.

  “Why don’t you two stay here? I’ll go and see what the situation is?” If they had to fight, she was probably the best suited person there for that kind of thing.

  The translator simply nodded, but Hally stepped forward and knocked on the door, using her knuckles. That caused the thing to flash suddenly, each thump causing it to glow bright green.

  Then they waited. Which didn’t take long at all.

  When the door opened, pulling to the sides again, leaving an oval hole, Fram was on the other side, standing there, with his hands chained in front of him.

  “Ke
eley! My favorite person! And… Hally York, isn’t it? So nice to see you both. What can I do for you today?” The man seemed calm enough, for a person who was chained to a table in the middle of the room. The cuffs he had on glowed. At least the sigils on it did. Those were tiny, delicate looking letters that seemed to be in ancient Sumerian. Cuneiform-B, to be exact. Toward the table, in a plastic looking chair, Gregor sat, looking for all the world like a Catholic priest. Cutely, he raised his chained hands and waved.

  Keeley smiled and did it back.

  “We came to rescue you. If you need it, of course. If not, we can just visit?” That they might not want help, or be able to take it at the moment was possible, of course. There was probably a trick to the chains, if the two of them couldn’t escape on their own.

  Fram waved them in, clanking a bit as he did it.

  “Oh? That sounds nice of you. I think we can deal, if you’re interested in helping us out of these? Come in. We can get some snacks for you.”

  That was interesting to note when they moved inside. There was nothing in the room, except for a white table, two plastic chairs and a port on the wall, which when touched, made food. Fram demonstrated it.

  “It’s free, so you don’t have to pay me for it. Now, what will it cost to have some help with these?” He lifted his hands then, to show the cuffs a little clearer. It took her a second to read the words on it, as they glowed with power.

  The answer, how to open the things, was interesting. It explained why Hally was there, as well. Not that her excellent idea of hiring a guide wasn’t enough. Gregor saw what she was looking at and nodded.

  “We both noticed that as well. It can only be opened by a Human being. This region is remarkably poor in that kind of person. I can’t help but notice that you, however, brought one with you? That’s wonderful, I must admit. Hello, Miss.” He smiled at Hally, his blue eyes looking peaceful.

  Fram cleared his throat, then glanced at Hally.

  “Indeed. So you have us bent over the table here, Hally. What’s it going to be? A strapon up the old exit? Spankings? I’ve learned to do some remarkable things with my tongue, if you’re interested…”