Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Yes, but I have been wearing that outfit for a number of years. In fact, I wore it before I joined the Union of Ultrahumans so…’ She sighed. ‘I’ve taken on an apprentice recently and I believe it’s time to be a little more serious.’ She lifted a hand, finger and thumb held an inch or so apart. ‘Just a little more serious. You designed both of Cygnus’s costumes and Twilight’s new one. I should like you to design one for me.’

  June’s eyes widened. ‘Really? Well, obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked. I’d love to. Uh… The only thing is that I know Cygnus and Twilight pretty well. It was easy to decide what I wanted for their look.’

  Viviane nodded thoughtfully. ‘You would wish to get to know me a little better to decide on my new look? Commendable. My confidence in this decision grows stronger with every minute. Perhaps you could come over to England for a few days. We can talk, you can observe, and we could discuss possible styles.’

  June turned as the kettle began to boil and set about making the tea. ‘I guess I could do that. We’ve got the shoot in Florida next week, uh, some admin to do after that…’

  ‘Perhaps the first week in December,’ Viviane suggested. ‘The Union can arrange transport and handle the paperwork.’

  ‘I’ll be in San Francisco that week anyway,’ Penny said. ‘Cygnus is testifying in Professor Blutadler’s trial. Twilight too.’

  ‘Okay. Sounds like it’s a date,’ June said. ‘Think the tea’s ready?’

  ‘Give it another minute,’ Viviane suggested. ‘Earl Grey takes time.’

  San Francisco, CA.

  The woman in the red dress looked out of the window at the view of the bay and nodded. ‘It’s just perfect, Rex, darling. As usual, you know exactly what I’ll like.’

  ‘The rent’s acceptable,’ Rex replied, ‘and there’s room to set up operations. I figured you’d like the view, Diamond.’

  ‘I do!’ Diamond smiled and turned on the spot, a giddy, blonde schoolgirl settling into her own room for the first time. ‘Now, let’s get everyone settled in. We take the weekend to get organised here and then, on Monday, we begin getting ready.’

  Rex nodded, but he looked a little uncertain. ‘Diamond, is this city the right place for us? Cygnus and Twilight were here not long ago, and you did say we shouldn’t go back to New Millennium and try to start from scratch.’

  ‘We won’t be starting from scratch here, Rex. The police have done a fine job of shuffling the Nine Kings up, but they can be set straight. We just need to learn the new deck. It’ll take a little time, but we can do it. As for the other thing, I don’t think that’ll be a problem, and I already have a plan to deal with the local hero squad.’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Oh yes. But we’re gonna need an ace in the hole to do it. Finding him is going to be your job for the next few days.’ Diamond smiled and walked over to Rex, reaching up to stroke the big man’s cheek. ‘Don’t you worry none, Rex, honey. It’ll take a little time, but the best things always do.’

  Miami, FL, 9th November.

  ‘There she is,’ June said, pointing up and to the north.

  ‘I see her,’ Svetilo said. ‘Suka. We spend hours on check-in and flights, and she does entire thing in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘She hates flying on airplanes. And she’s faster than anything that isn’t headed for orbit.’

  ‘Da, she has an excuse.’

  The white dot that they had spotted was resolving into a more recognisable shape as it got closer at considerable speed. The white hair was most visible, gleaming in the late-afternoon sunlight. Cygnus’s flight plan had been fairly simple: head due south until she hit the ocean and then follow the coast down to Miami. They were back in the same hotel as the year before, so she knew fairly well where she was going. A minute or so later, Cygnus circled once over the hotel and then dropped down to land beside the pool.

  ‘Good flight?’ June asked, stepping forward.

  ‘Not bad,’ Cygnus replied. ‘I didn’t push it too much.’ She caught June around the waist and pulled her into a kiss.

  ‘Bozhe moi, you saw her a couple of hours ago!’ Svetilo was grinning at the display.

  Cygnus broke the kiss and grinned back. ‘Yeah, but you two have been on one of those flying tombs.’

  ‘Huh. I bet I don’t get a kiss.’

  ‘Only if you’re a very good girl. Where’s our room, love? I could use a shower and a change of clothes.’

  ‘Come on then,’ June said, turning to lead the way. ‘I think you depressed Dom.’

  ‘I did?’

  ‘Da,’ Svetilo replied. ‘I am never a very good girl.’

  ~~~

  ‘Almost everyone is here,’ Svetilo said from where she was perched on the edge of the bed beside June. ‘We have just the engineer from San Francisco–’

  ‘Jennifer,’ June supplied.

  ‘Da, Jennifer Pulli. She will not be here until Tuesday, but we plan to have everything ready for a shoot with her and Ever on Wednesday,’

  ‘And we’re going out to meet Ever tonight,’ Cygnus called out from the bathroom.

  ‘Da. At the visitor centre. I have not seen it yet. It will be nice to see where some of the money from last year went.’

  ‘It’s nice,’ June said. ‘And they’ve probably repaired the bullet hole by now.’

  ‘I heard about that. A sniper?’

  ‘Yes. Not exactly a good memory of the place, but if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have met Bianca Fullerton and she’s a good friend to have.’

  ‘I like her,’ Cygnus said, wandering out of the bathroom.

  ‘Bozhe moi!’ Svetilo exclaimed. ‘Are you doing this on purpose?’

  ‘All my clothes are in the bag June brought down on the plane,’ Cygnus said, lifting said bag, opening it, and removing a thong. ‘And it’s not like you haven’t seen it all before.’

  ‘Last time, I was allowed to touch. I don’t poach from other girls. Share, but not poach.’

  ‘Well, you’ll just have to be content with looking.’ Cygnus pulled on her panties, settling them carefully, perhaps a little too carefully, into place. ‘Until I get dressed anyway.’

  ‘Did I, perhaps, kick your favourite puppy in a past life?’

  Cygnus raised a pensive finger to her lips. ‘Don’t know. I only do alien past-life memories.’

  ‘I’ll buy you a new puppy anyway, just in case.’

  ‘No thanks. I’m perfectly happy with the pet I’ve got.’ Cygnus grinned at June.

  And June said, ‘Meow.’

  The Everglades.

  A sound like rushing water announced the arrival of the Avatar of the Everglades, and the little group waiting for her turned to the balcony to see her emerging from her swamp. The limber, stunningly attractive woman vaulted the railing, water glistening on her green skin, and smiled.

  ‘Welcome, all of you,’ Ever said. ‘It’s nice to see you again, Dominika. See what your work has achieved already?’ She raised her arms to indicate the building they were in: a building which had not been there when they had done the first calendar the year before.

  ‘I am impressed,’ Svetilo said. ‘You have done much with your money.’

  ‘And a few other things. With the money from the calendar, I was able to secure grants from the state and federal governments. Something of a compromise since they require so much justification of goals and assurances of outcome. This year, I intend to make use of the money for more personal targets without the need for external aid.’

  ‘It is still impressive, and it helps others appreciate the Everglades as you do, da?’

  Ever laughed. ‘Perhaps quite not as I do, but appreciate my lands more, certainly.’

  ‘We’ll be looking for grants for what we want to do,’ Cygnus said. ‘You heard about the riot in New Millennium City?’

  Ever nodded to the make-up and costume girl, Susan Brace, who had done a lot of the organisation work in Miami. ‘Susan told me your aims and I took a little
time to access what I could on the riot. There seemed to be a lot of film of you soaked to the skin in a rather flimsy top.’

  Cygnus blushed. ‘Yes, well, it kept spirits up among the emergency crews and I didn’t want to be in costume at the time. There are a lot of buildings out there which need work. Churchton could really do with being redeveloped and we’re hoping to get that started. It could take years, but it could have a big effect on the city. Not very nature-oriented, sorry.’

  ‘On the contrary. Brownfield development is something I promote in this region. Redeveloping land which has already been damaged stops people trying to develop on natural land. Obviously, I would prefer to wipe out the insufferable meatsacks and their monstrous, unnatural structures, but we can’t have everything, can we?’

  ‘You do know it’s hard to tell when you’re joking, right?’

  Ever smiled. ‘So I’ve been told. Is someone going to introduce me to the one person I don’t know?’

  ‘Ah!’ Svetilo slapped her forehead. ‘Sorry. There is actually one other you have not met, but neither have I and she won’t be here until Tuesday. This is our photographer, Rosanne Mellor.’

  Rosanne stepped forward, holding out her hand. Her eyes were a little wide, as though she were about to shake hands with a goddess. ‘Uh, hi,’ she said.

  Ever took the offered hand. ‘Welcome, Miss Mellor.’

  ‘Oh, you can call me Rosanne… Or anything else you like really…’

  Svetilo rolled her eyes. ‘Down, girl. Tomorrow morning we go check out the sites you think we should shoot in, Ever, da? Our schedule is more relaxed this year. We did much work in the studio in New Millennium. Here we focus on us and Miss Pulli in the natural settings.’

  Ever nodded. ‘I’ve a list of locations. You can pick the best.’ She flicked a glance at June. ‘I found a very interesting mud pool for our threesome shot this year.’

  ‘Mud?’ June asked.

  ‘I thought it could be strategically smeared.’

  ‘Mud doesn’t stick to you. Me and Cygnus will be hours getting it out of all the cracks.’

  Ever pouted a little. ‘Not a good idea then?’

  ‘I’ll think about it. Don’t think that pout is going to influence… Okay, so the pout is working, but I’ll still want to think about it.’

  Miami, FL, 10th November.

  ‘Stop… torturing me,’ June gasped.

  ‘Okay,’ Penny said, grinning up at her girlfriend, and she moved the lipstick vibrator she was using off June’s clitoris.

  ‘I didn’t mean– ohh...’ June trailed off as Penny’s tongue moved in to take over while the vibrator moved down between June’s labia. It kept sliding down… ‘What are you… up to with that… No! Not there! Please not there!’ The vibrator reached its new target and Penny pressed it in. ‘Pleasenotthereyouknowitdrivesmeeeee…’ June’s back arched and her hands clutched frantically at the sheets. It took seconds before her climax enveloped her entirely.

  Ten minutes later, when they were in the shower, June asked, ‘What is it about hotel sex that makes it seem so kinky?’

  ‘Thin walls. Doing it somewhere that’s kind of public. Maybe,’ Penny replied. ‘Personally though, I think it’s down to the fact that someone else has to wash the sheets.’

  June giggled. ‘You don’t get that little niggling worry about getting the stains out. Could be. Thank you for changing.’

  Penny shrugged. ‘It’s not like last year. I can be Cygnus-shaped in a second now. Mind you, I’m not doing that to you again in this shape. Your thighs are way too strong.’

  There was another giggle. ‘Sorry. I have a sensitive ass. When you do that, I go a little nuts. To be honest, it still surprises me that you do do that. I mean, my little Penny doing something that kinky?’

  ‘It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch.’ Penny turned her head. ‘Was that someone knocking on the door?’

  ‘Damn! I was hoping for one more round in the shower.’ June opened the screen and stepped out, grabbing a towel. ‘I’ll get it. You get changed before you come out.’

  When Cygnus walked out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, it was to find Susan and a suitcase. ‘It’s good you’re not dressed,’ Susan said. ‘I’ve got stuff to try on. Uh, couple of bikinis, some swimsuits–’

  ‘Swimsuits?’ Cygnus raised an eyebrow. ‘That sounds covering.’

  ‘You haven’t seen them. Couple of bodysuits, again, don’t expect them to hide much, and there’s this strappy deal Dom found that she thinks you’d look good in. It’s silver.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound much,’ June commented.

  ‘I’ve got a costume for Miss Pulli, but that has to wait. To be honest, the nudes last year worked so well, and we got more costumed shots in New Millennium, and we figured we’d minimise the outfits down here. We’re not shooting in the city so we can be pretty sure of privacy.’

  ‘Yeah, Ever’s security force is pretty good. You know, with the scales and the teeth.’

  ‘True. I wouldn’t try getting past them.’ Susan unzipped the case and rummaged through the contents. ‘Right. Uh…’ She pulled out a white, string bikini. ‘Cygnus. Let’s just check this doesn’t fit the right way.’

  Cygnus giggled and let her towel slip. ‘Hand it over.’

  Susan paused, looking at the naked heroine. Then she shook her head. ‘Damn, girl, you could give a supermodel body-image problems.’

  ‘I thought they all had them naturally.’

  ‘Does that mean I have to start worrying about my weight to really make it?’ June asked.

  ‘You don’t already?’ Susan grumbled. ‘I hate you both.’

  The Everglades.

  Fascinated by the human habit of wearing bits of cloth to cover specific body parts, Ever watched the shooting of a session around a pond in the Big Cypress with an amused expression on her face.

  Given that June and Cygnus were wearing so little that the garments might as well not have been there, perhaps the avatar had a point. June’s bikini was two sizes too small, a common trick designed to make the model’s breasts look larger, while Cygnus was wearing three small patches of white cloth wired together with thin cord.

  ‘Sometimes,’ Svetilo explained to Ever when asked, ‘something hidden is more interesting than something seen. The imagination fills in the blanks. And there is another factor, da? Society wants us dressed. We are not supposed to see these things. The cloth reminds us of that, but we can see more than we “should,” so we feel the little, naughty thrill. It is psychology.’

  Ever frowned. ‘That may explain why some of the men I talk to seem more distracted when I fashion a dress for myself than when I’m naked.’

  ‘I’ve seen the kind of thing you make,’ June said. ‘Leaves and vines twisted together. It looks great, but the men are all probably spending more than half their attention trying to see nipple.’

  ‘And if they could just see them,’ Svetilo added, ‘then they don’t have to keep looking.’

  ‘Many of them still do,’ Ever pointed out. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I understand mating urges. I was just a little perplexed at what a few leaves, or patches of cloth, do to make them stronger.’

  ‘You wouldn’t like these patches of cloth,’ Cygnus said. ‘Synthetic.’

  ‘I know. I can feel it from here. Just a tiny disturbance, but it’s there. You are not uncomfortable? The insects are keeping away, I think.’

  ‘Nothing’s biting. To be honest, I feel great. I wish I could do this every day.’

  ‘You could,’ June said. ‘But you’d have to give up the crime fighting and we both know that’s not going to happen.’

  ‘No. It’s not. It’s kind of an imperative for me. But I could stand doing a bit more of this. It makes a nice change. Happy days.’

  ‘You could probably do a few gigs, once in a while,’ Svetilo suggested. ‘Supplement your income, take a few days out of usual schedule…’

  ‘We could call them “Cygnus’s Happy
Days,”’ June added.

  ‘Though they might not be so happy on a more conventional shoot.’

  ‘That’s true. Some photographers can be real bitches. And that’s not a comment on gender.’

  ‘Da. The men can be worse than the women. We are lucky to have good photographers.’

  ‘And an easy schedule,’ Rosanne said. ‘If we had tighter timescales, I’d be cracking the whip more. As it is… Let’s do a costume change and restage before the light goes.’

  ‘And we can practise the whip-cracking later,’ Svetilo said with a slightly malicious grin.

  New Millennium City, MD.

  ‘So, what do you think?’ Andrea sounded pensive, which was not entirely without precedent: Twilight was the ultra-confident one.

  Jacob was going through a book of prints which Andrea had carefully put together from the shots Rosanne had taken of her the week before. It was a modelling portfolio for a woman who had no intention of doing modelling, but it had been an experience and she had felt like commemorating it with something. Jacob considered himself prejudiced, but he agreed.

  ‘I think,’ Jacob said, ‘that you look fantastic and, after going through these, I feel the need to demonstrate how fantastic you look in a physical and intimate manner. Which probably means I should be uncomfortable with anyone else seeing these, but–’

  ‘But it’s for a good cause.’

  ‘Yeah. That. I’ll try to remember that when a few dozen of these start appearing around the office.’

  ‘Just remember, they can look, but only you get to touch. Anyway, won’t they ban them at the UID? Cygnus and I aren’t exactly flavour of the month.’

  ‘Huh.’ Jacob kept flicking through the pages as he talked. ‘And if it got out that they’d banned agents from buying a calendar which is raising money to redevelop an area torn up in a riot, how would that go down in the media? They’re already in trouble over blocking us from helping at the time. The local press are particularly adamant about not letting that rest. You know, I have to admit that Cygnus looks pretty good in these shots with you.’

  ‘Cygnus looks good in all her shots,’ Andrea replied, grinning. ‘Compared to her, I’m a sack of potatoes.’