Night Games

by Nina Bangs

  Ally grimaced. “It sounds pretty grim.”

  He smiled. “There’s still opportunity for someone with drive and ambition.”

  “And that’s you?”

  Brian nodded. “Earth is home to the financially secure. No one has to lift a finger to do anything. Machines have come a long way. If you don’t feel like thinking, a machine can do it for you. Most of the people who live on Earth inherited their wealth and have never had to do a thing in their lives. Genetic engineering produces humans who aren’t susceptible to disease. Medications not only keep you thin, but can cure anything you do happen to get. So why exercise? Sorry to say this, but humans have become donothing blobs.”

  “I want to know about you.”

  He shrugged. “I never knew my parents, or at least not long enough for it to matter. I lived on the streets. I did physical work because on the outer planets people aren’t rich enough to afford technology. They’re better off in some ways.”

  She looked away. It made him uncomfortable not being able to see her expression, so he reverted to what did make him feel secure. Touch. He reached over and lifted her hair away from her neck, then curled a strand around his finger. He liked the way her hair curled in the Irish humidity. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d stopped long enough to notice what a woman looked like. The only parts of a woman he focused on were the parts that led to a team win.

  Ally didn’t stop him. “So tell me about your career.”

  “My agent, Jupe, took me off the streets when I was sixteen. He saw potential. I trained for two years, then was drafted by the Testosterone Titans. Cap owns the Titans. Last year I was a free agent, and the Old One picked me up for her team, the Sex Monarchs.” He shrugged. “The Monarchs won the Sex Super Bowl this year.”

  She nodded. “Go on.”

  He stopped touching her hair and slid his hand down her back, massaged a circle at the base of her spine. “In 2502 all contact sports are banned. Too violent. But people still crave contact, so the game of sex is the most popular sport of my time. Hey, it’s the only game in town. I’m at the top of the heap right now, and I intend to stay there for a long time.”

  “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

  She wiggled her bottom into a more comfortable position. One that made him drop his hand from her back.

  “Times change, Ally. Attitudes change. In my time, a man’s ability to perform sexually is considered a talent to be nurtured and viewed openly. There’s no stigma attached to it.”

  Ally shook her head. “I can’t believe that. How could five hundred years make such a difference in what people view as acceptable behavior?”

  For some reason, it was important she understand. “Think about what was accepted behavior in your great-aunt’s time, then think about now. Would some of the music videos and movies you have now be allowed in her time? Think about some of the reality shows on your television. It won’t be long into your future before Sexual Survivor airs to a national audience for the first time. It’ll be condemned, but people will still watch. Then when something more outrageous is shown, people will think of Sexual Survivor as normal viewing. It’ll happen. Soon.”

  He could feel her mentally shaking off her horror. For the first time in his career, he felt the stirrings of distaste for what he did. Because he was seeing it through her eyes, her perspective, her values. He didn’t like what he felt.

  “I guess I believe you.” Ally didn’t want to believe him. She couldn’t conceive of the future he described. Any more than Katy could conceive of MTV when she was young. “One thing’s been bothering me. Why do you speak so much like me?”

  Brian grinned. “Contact sports are banned, but I guess humans will always be fascinated by violence. Movies from the past have been preserved. The ones that glorify violent sports are cult favorites. The whole planet tries to talk like the characters in the movies. For the last ten years, fight movies have been popular, especially . . .”

  For the first time since he’d started explaining his time, Ally was ahead of him. “No, let me guess. Rocky. Everyone in your time talks like Rocky Balboa.”

  “Yo.”

  She knew he expected her to laugh. She couldn’t. The whole idea of his life was so bizarre, what he was doing in her life even more bizarre.

  He shrugged. “I also used the Language Assimilation Program. It scanned this time period’s American speech pattern into my mind. When I don’t need it any longer, I can have it deleted. I didn’t want an Irish speech pattern. It would be too easy to check where I came from.”

  Thoughts of technology always made her eyes cross. Time to change subjects. “So what do you spend your money on? Big house, big vehicle? Any favorite charities in your time?”

  She watched his expression close, his lips tighten, and knew he was going to lie to her.

  “I don’t do anything with my wealth.” His body language said he’d told her all he intended.

  Ally prepared to call him on his lie when a car horn blared much too close. The wagon swerved and leaned precariously, then shuddered as something hit it with an ominous crunch of wood and metal. Losing her balance, Ally slid from the bed and landed on the floor of the wagon with a solid thud.

  “Katy!” Frantically Ally crawled toward the front of the wagon. Brian reached her in one stride, lifted her to her feet, then yanked open the door.

  Ally scrambled out behind him, then paused to absorb the enormity of what had almost happened.

  The wagon was tilted at an unnatural angle against a stone wall while the horse placidly cropped grass.

  Katy jumped up and down in place while she shook her fist at a car disappearing around a curve. “Come back here and fight like a man, you scumbag. Where’d you get your license, out of a cereal box? You want road rage, come back and I’ll show you some road rage.” Katy in full voice could shatter a whole set of Waterford goblets.

  Brian’s muttered curse distracted Ally from Katy’s tirade. She followed his gaze to the top of the wagon. The Old One crouched on the wagon’s roof, every hair on end, her mouth opening and closing on soundless snarls.

  The Old One’s fear touched Ally, and she wanted to pull the cat into her arms. Even as she reached up, she realized it was her automatic comfort response.

  Brian put his hand on her arm. “Don’t. She’s trying to change forms. This is not a good thing, believe me.” He turned his attention to the cat. “Calm down, Boss. Everything’s okay. You don’t need to do this.”

  His voice had become a husky purr. Ally sure enough would want to do whatever that voice asked. But then Ally wasn’t an ancient shapeshifter.

  “Don’t change. We’re not in danger anymore.” He reached up to touch the Old One, but she backed away from him, then started to shake.

  Ally had seen enough. And what she saw wasn’t the interfering owner of the Sex Monarchs, but a cat. Just a cat. She stood on the wagon seat and reached for the Old One. “Come on, girl. Women should stick together. I don’t blame you for being scared. Whatever happened scared me too.”

  And to the shock of everyone, probably including the Old One herself, the cat crawled to the edge of the roof and allowed Ally to scoop her up. Ally held the cat in her arms until the shaking stopped. Ally didn’t have the courage to pet her. It would probably offend the Old One’s sense of dignity anyway.

  Climbing off the seat, Ally turned to her great-aunt, who was making internationally understood finger signals toward the departed car. “What happened, Katy? God, look at the wagon.” This was directed at Brian, who’d leaped to the ground and was inspecting the damage.

  “Lots of bent and crunched stuff on this side. Afraid we won’t be going anywhere with the wagon in this condition.” Brian walked to the other side of the road to peer down at a steep drop-off. He stopped well back from the edge.

  Ally and Katy climbed off the wagon and joined him. Ally gulped. The rocky cliff dropped straight down to where the sea churned far below. Suddenly, the condition of the wa
gon paled in comparison to what their condition might have been. The Old One took a glance, then with a plaintive meow, crouched lower in Ally’s arms.

  Surprised, Ally stared at the cat. “She’s terrified. And she’s certainly not terrified of humans.”

  “She can control humans.” He shrugged. “Everyone fears something.” There was nothing mocking in his statement.

  “Even you?” Ally realized his answer was important to her.

  “Even me.” His tone warned Ally that his fears weren’t open to discussion.

  He put his arms across both women’s shoulders, then turned them away from the road edge. Ally felt a sense of security that she couldn’t explain, didn’t want to dissect.

  “What happened, Katy?” His tone was grim.

  Katy drew a deep breath, then was off and running. “I was driving there on the other side of the road, next to that cliff, just relaxing, when here came that car from behind me like a bat out of hell.” She paused for an editorial aside. “Stupid jerk.”

  “Did you get the plate number?” Brian walked over to inspect the horse.

  Katy stared at him askance. “You’re kidding, right?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “I thought he would zip on by, but he didn’t. He got right behind me and laid on his blasted horn.” Time for another commercial break. “Stupid pea-brain.”

  “And?” Brian carefully checked the harness and shafts.

  Ally wondered how he could be so calm. She was still working on her pounding heart and erratic breathing.

  “That horn scared the crap out of me. Thought it would do the same to the horse. I looked over the side of that road and thought I was about to take a shortcut to heaven.” Katy walked over, pulled the horse’s head up, and kissed it soundly on its surprised nose. “I’ll never complain about a laid-back horse again. I figured when he heard the horn, the horse would jump and take the wagon over the edge, but he kept right on walking.”

  Katy sighed and looked uncomfortable. “The horse had more sense than I did. I was scared and not thinking straight. All I could remember was that you turn the wheels into a skid.”

  Okay, Ally was officially confused. “What’s that have to do with anything?”

  Katy glared at her. “Nothing. Anyway, I steered the horse to the right, and that damned driver wasn’t expecting us to swerve into his path. He tried to go around the wagon, but he clipped us.” Katy’s expression dared her to make a comment. “Knocked us against the wall.”

  “Are you sure the driver was a man?” Brian patted the horse and turned to Katy.

  “Well, I’m not sure. Everything happened so fast. But he drove like a man.”

  “We’re not going anywhere without a new wagon.” Ally glanced at Brian while Katy walked to the back of the wagon.

  She didn’t say it, but Brian knew they’d reached a proving ground. Ally wanted him to use the Constructor. “Is this what you really want? Katy will find out. We could just wait until someone comes by, and you could go back to Liscannor to call the office. They’d bring out a new wagon. This accident wasn’t your fault.”

  Ally offered him a half smile. “Getting cold feet, Byrne? Katy will find out eventually anyway if we park at your keep while you help with my book.”

  “So you’ve made a definite decision to stay?” The logical part of him reasoned that if she stayed there’d be no relaxing vacation. But a part of him that had never spoken up before said having Ally around would be fun. Fun? Women had never been fun. They’d been nothing more than a number on a scoreboard. Maybe it was time to explore the fun concept.

  Her smile faded. “I need to write a blockbuster book about sex and the single life without going through the field-testing stage. I need to consult an expert so I can write a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. I’ve never tried to fool my readers before, but look where writing from the heart got me.”

  She meant it as a joke, but he didn’t laugh. He wanted to touch her, but he didn’t. A milestone in his life. It was the first time he’d ever wanted to touch a woman and hadn’t.

  Ally drew a deep, steadying breath. “I guess I’ve found out something not so admirable about myself. I value my writing career more than my integrity.”

  Brian couldn’t let that go by. He shook his head. “Not true. You simply realize your limitations and are consulting an expert. The audience you’re appealing to will expect wild and sexy. Can you deliver wild and sexy?”

  Her smile returned. “Wild and sexy isn’t in my experience bank. How about logical and informed?”

  “Won’t sell books, babe.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I thought. Anyway, the up side of this is you’re the perfect consultant. You know your subject, and you won’t be around later to write a tell-all book about me. Oh, and you don’t want sex or money in return. All in all, you’re the perfect one-night stand.”

  Her intense stare told him she’d just defined the parameters of their relationship. No sex.

  Brian glanced at the Old One, still nestled in Ally’s arms. “What do you think, Boss?”

  The Old One’s eyes gave nothing away. She was evidently opting for a wait-and-see approach.

  “You have a deal.” His common sense groaned at the complete idiocy of those words.

  Ally visibly relaxed. “So what about the wagon?”

  Brian reached into his pocket and pulled out the Constructor. Closing his eyes, he visualized the outside of the wagon. Then he thought about the interior. Hmm. He remembered seeing the interior of an ancient building through a Virtual Viewer a few years ago. It had fascinated him.

  Brian smiled. He hadn’t promised to restore the wagon to its exact pre-accident state. Ally needed some fun in her life. Not take everything so seriously. He could probably use a laugh, too. After he saw Ally’s reaction, he could change the wagon back to its original interior.

  Opening his eyes, he punched in the appropriate code. The ground shook, the wagon shimmered, changed, and Ally whispered a particularly interesting oath he hadn’t run across when he was learning the slang for this time period. He’d have to ask her to repeat it later.

  Ally’s face paled, and Brian realized how hard it was for her to face the physical proof of who he was. She could write off what he’d told her as the babbling of an idiot, but she couldn’t explain away what the Constructor did.

  Ally slid her fingers over the wagon’s side, a side without a mark where a moment before it had been scraped and dented. Her fingers shook as Katy reappeared around the side of the wagon. “If the horse had spooked, or you hadn’t steered away from the cliff, Katy, we probably wouldn’t be here. The driver didn’t even stop to see if we needed help.”

  Katy ignored her. She was staring transfixed at the wagon. For the first time since Brian had met her, Ally’s great-aunt was speechless.

  Katy moved closer to the wagon, but didn’t reach out to touch it. “Godalmighty, what the hell did you do to that wagon?” She turned her astonished gaze toward the Constructor, then slowly raised her eyes to Brian’s face. “I came to Ireland to see ordinary stuff like ghosts, leprechauns, or the pooka. Not weird stuff like this. This I’d expect in California. How’d you do it, and what’s that thing in your hand?”

  Brian frowned. Had he scared her? She was old, and he hadn’t thought ahead to what the shock could do to someone Katy’s age. “Sorry if I frightened you.”

  Ally intervened. She put her arm around her great-aunt’s waist and steered her away from the wagon. “I’ll explain everything.” Her comment seemed as much for Brian as it was for Katy.

  Brian walked to the horse’s head and absently stroked the animal’s neck. The confidence his sense of touch usually brought him was absent this time. When he’d first met Ally, the thought of having to cut his vacation short and return to 2502 didn’t bother him much. It was just an annoying inconvenience. But now? He wanted to stay. He wanted to know Ally better, help her write her book, even help Katy spot a few Irish fairies. Surprisingly, h
is desire to fix up the castle wasn’t at the top of his list anymore.

  This wasn’t entirely good. He’d never gotten involved in any woman’s life. Didn’t know how. And he wasn’t used to being uncertain where a woman was concerned. Besides, his time here was limited to a few weeks. It wouldn’t pay to care too much about Ally’s life.

  No matter what his logic said, the rest of him was damned glad to see Ally and Katy returning with smiles on their faces.

  Katy sidled up to him and pointed at the Constructor. “Lend me that when we get back to the castle. Got to build something.”

  “What?” He hadn’t expected Katy to be so unaffected by what Ally had told her. But then again, this was the same woman who sincerely believed she would meet a vampire. So he supposed a man from the future wasn’t such a big deal.

  “I want a john.”

  John? Frantically, Brian scanned his memory for the meaning of this bit of twenty-first century slang. “You want a prostitute’s client?” The beginning and end of that sentence definitely did not go together.

  Katy stared at him, then grinned. “You’ve got a lot to learn, good-looking. I want to build a toilet. The wagon’s great for traveling from town to town, but it doesn’t have a toilet. Since I want to stay at your castle and find some spirits, I won’t be close to any facilities. Got to have facilities.”

  Brian thought about modifying the wagon but decided a toilet would take up too much space. When he got back to—

  “And I want you to sit down and tell me all about your job. How does a passionate woman get to play your game? Your league have any openings for mature women? Bet they’re equal opportunity employers.” Katy looked way too hopeful.

  “Come on, Katy. Let’s get into the wagon.”

  Brian rubbed the back of his neck to relieve the tension. Thank you, Ally O’Neill. He didn’t think the league would survive Katy.

  Ally glanced at Brian. “Thank heavens these Irish roads aren’t busy or we would’ve been zapped a dozen times by now. I forgot that the wagon is sitting on the wrong side of the road.” She moved toward the wagon.