by Elin Wyn
Nurack balanced on a pair of his arms and used the others to pull forward chairs for us, remove scattered tablets from a table and in a surprising twist of normalcy, put the kettle on for tea.
“Now,” he said settling into a chair that was obviously his, adjusted for his own enhancements. “Please sit down. And tell me all about Doc.”
“Better yet,” Xander countered. “Why don’t I give you the coordinates to contact her, and we can move on with our business for the day?”
The man nodded, then sniffed. “It’s for situations like this I removed my tear ducts. Hot moisture, always steaming up my goggles.” He tapped one bulging lens. “You tell her, that if I could cry, I would, to hear she was back safely.”
“I didn’t know she meant that much to you,” Xander said softly. “She never mentioned you had that kind of history.”
“Not like that! Void, young people and their hormones.” A final sniff. “Her mind is what I would miss. All of that beautiful, clever madness.”
Xander shot me a look and carefully, discreetly, I kicked his ankle.
“I’ll send the message. But for now, we’ve got a job, and need a bit of a change in our looks. Nothing radical,” Xander warned, “just different from what we have now.” His jaw set. “Be careful with her. Don’t mess with what Doc patched, got it?”
Nurack raised both his hands and front set of spidery appendages. “Of course not,” he chided. “I might take a peek, but I wouldn’t touch a strand of code. If you didn’t kill me, Doc would. And to be honest I’m more afraid of her.”
Dismissing Xander he turned to me. “Now, my dear, what would you like? Grab one of those tablets and I’ll walk you through options for hair color and texture, skin tones, eye shades…”
Xander broke in. “Not her eyes. Don’t change her eyes.”
Xander
I’d said the words without thinking, but even it if was temporary, even if it was just a disguise... I couldn’t lose her eyes.
The ones that were now staring at me, crinkles of amusement in the corners.
Fine.
“I’m going to dial up some selections.” I grabbed a tablet, studied the options harder than I needed to while Nurack and Loree talked softly.
“Both at the same time?” she wondered.
“For simple changes like this, the process is nearly automated. I’m mostly involved to make sure that Doc hasn’t tucked anything interested into an unexpected place. “ He chuckled. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve found notes from her in a redundant DNA string.”
With a sweep of his arm, he directed us to the booths. Just large enough for the semi-reclined table. I leaned against it, let it adjust to my height and swing me flat,. We weren’t changing our form, so no need to get undressed.
Good thing, since the idea of Loree laying a thin wall away would have been too much.
I closed my eyes, half alert. We’d worked with Nurack for years, Doc had known him even longer.
But laying like this was vulnerable. Exposed..
What had Loree chosen? The thought drifted across my mind, distracting me.
I’d just set the sliders to random within human norms. Maybe I should have talked to her, seen if she had a preference.
Get a grip, Xander, I kicked myself. You’re acting like a cub. The tiny prick of the needle pulled at my attention.
But what was it she’d seen on that display that caught her interest?
A cool wave passed across my skin.
“And we’re done.” Nurak’s voice piped into the booth. “Come see your young lady.”
Shaking off my odd mood, I exited the booth to find a stranger.
“How do I look?” Her voice was the same husky contralto, but with an uncertainty I wasn’t used to.
Nurak explained his work, like he always did. “The code changes will take full effect in twelve hours or so. I’ve done a temporary cosmetic overlay for now, reshaped the cheekbones, nose and the line of the jaw a bit on you both.
The words droned on, and I couldn’t care.
Different, but still Loree.
Darker, deep bronze skin, sharper features.
And her hair... The auburn cloud had transformed to a rain straight fall of night, so black it shone blue.
But those were Loree’s eyes, her lips. I’d know her anywhere.
Without looking away I sent damn near the last of my cred off to Nurak as our payment.
A slow flush crept up Loree’s cheeks. “Is it all right?” She asked softly. “I’ve been too afraid to look at myself.”
“You would never be anything less than stunning.” I cleared my throat. “We might have to ruffle you up a bit, but we’ll blend in when we get there, I’m sure.”
“As long as they’re not all three meter tall blue skinned monsters with curved horns,” she flashed a grin. That hadn’t changed either.
A soft chime told me Nurak received the payment, and the commlink code I’d attached. “Ask for Nixie,” I told him.
The old man frowned. “I don’t remember a Nixie. When did that happen? How much does she know?”
Dammit, don’t make me defend a perky AI, I thought. But whether she got on my nerves or not, she was part of the Pack, now. Family.
Loree laughed, long and low and my groin twitched. “She knows more than you’d believe. Don’t piss her off, and don’t think you can flirt your way past her, either.”
“Flirt! Me?” Nurak drew himself up to the full height his appendages would allow, then slowly sank back down. “Maybe just a bit.”
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way,” I said, suppressing a slight shudder. “Where would you recommend I take my clever lady for dinner. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just good.”
I thought about how heavy she’d slept the night before, how dark smudges still faintly marked the skin under her eyes. “And maybe a little quiet.”
“It’s not fancy,” Nurak tapped his sleeves, pulling up a projected map of the station to a wall behind me, rotated the image and then zoomed in, “But for my money the best food on the whole terminal is at Mama Teese.”
“Then I’m sure it will do for our money, as well.”
Nurak reached a hand out to Loree, but she ignored it to drop a quick kiss on the withered cheek. “Thank you. Good luck talking with Doc.”
As we headed towards the front of the shop the old splicer released the bolts, and the silver shimmering restarted.
“You keep that one, Connor,” he yelled. “Xander. Whichever you are!”
Loree shook her head as I led her through the station’s passageway towards the restaurant. “What a funny man. How can he not keep you and Connor separate? You don’t look any more like him than the rest of your brothers.”
“That’s because you’re looking at our shapes. He’s looking at our code.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “I know Doc rearranged all of your genetics, every one of your brothers. Why should you be more like Connor than anyone else?”
We had to be getting closer to the restaurant. An amazing smell filled the corridor, something hot and spicy. If it wasn’t where Nurak had recommended, we might have to make a detour.
“She did, but she made in batches, tweaked each group for different types of abilities. I’m not quite as big as Ronan or Davien, never will be.”
“So what did she adjust for you two?”
We were close enough now to the restaurant for even Loree’s unenhanced senses to pick of the scent.
“That’s amazing,” she gasped. “Please tell me we’re going there.”
“I hope so.”
We hadn’t been the only ones in our batch, but that didn’t matter. Not right now. “She wanted to crank up our speed, our intuition. Unfortunately that’s a little hard to test.”
Finally we found the source of the aroma. A shop separated from the street only by a half curtain, with a bright blinking sign that ran down the side of the opening, spelling “Mama T.” The rest of t
he letters stayed dark, but it didn’t matter.
That’s where the food was.
Once seated we pulled up the menu, scrolled through choices and I gave a small sigh of relief.
By the scent, some place good indeed, and luckily cheap. Because I wanted one of everything and the purse was running a little thin.
“Allergic to anything?” My finger hovering over the selections.
Loree shook her head. “Not unless Doc stuck something in without telling me.”
I didn’t quite order everything. But close.
While we waited for the first of our orders to arrive, she got that thoughtful look again.
“Intuition? Is that why Connor and Eris have that,” she trailed off as a droid brought us the first dish, steaming bowls of soup, rich brown broth over slivers of protein. “Bond?”
The taste of the soup exploded over my tongue, and quickly I swallowed some water to answer her. “Partially. Made him more susceptible to an environmental factor, is what we figure.”
Loree focused on her soup and I focused on the curve of her lips on the spoon, the soft noises of pleasure she made as she ate, the smooth line of her throat…
“Xander?”
The lips weren’t on the spoon anymore. They were talking and I hadn’t been paying attention.
“Just thinking.”
A soft smile curved her lips. “I’m sure you were. And later I’ll ask you to tell me all about those thoughts.”
“I’ll keep you to that. But first we have a decision to make.”
She blinked. “I thought I was here to just run the comms, change records. Do the tech stuff.”
“No,” I said firmly. “If you’re here, you’re here as my partner. We need to decide how we want to play the next round of the game. Together.”
“All right.” She put the spoon down and pushed the bowl away with the same look of concentration I’d seen her use to bend code to her will. “What’s up?”
“We have two options.” I waited as the droid cleared the bowls, replacing them with pale orbs the size of my fist. Loree touched one and the surface sprung back immediately.
She frowned. “Not exactly bread. What is it?”
“It’s better.” I grabbed a shallow dish, spooned dark red sauce into it and set it between us. “Much better.” Tearing off a piece of the bun revealed the sweet and spicy protein mix within, then dipped it and reached across the table. “Come on, give it a taste.”
Loree slowly opened her lips, waiting, and with a rush of heat I realized what a bad idea this was.
“Just a taste,” my voice suddenly tight.
Her pink tongue darted out and I swallowed hard. When she leaned forward to meet my hand I groaned and quickly handed the piece of bun to her and focused on my own plate.
“As I was saying, we have two options.”
And right now, neither of them involved throwing her on the table and doing whatever the hell it was necessary to coax those sounds from her throat again.
“We could sell Tobias’ shuttle. Won’t bring much, but enough to get us passage to where we’re going. Two potential problems with that.”
Loree leaned back, two fingers in the air.
“It’s deeply unlikely SysSec would send anybody out here to chase after a shuttle. Void, they probably wouldn’t send anybody out here to save the Emperor himself. Not if they could help it.” I flicked at her index finger. “But right now not a lot connects us to the Hunter.”
Loree nodded, eyes narrowed. “I like that.”
Tapping the tip of the next finger, I continued. “Second, if we buy passage, even on a freighter running off the books, somebody will know where we’re going.”
“What’s the other option?”
“We take the money we have left and we buy a ship.”
I grinned as she blinked, running the numbers in her head. It didn’t take long. “You didn’t arrange with Nadira or any of the others for funds. Ronan didn’t slip you a credit spike.”
At my questioning glance she shook her head.
“I would’ve seen it. Believe me. You may be fast, but I’ve been around some myself. So, how are you planning to get the credits to buy a ship?
“Remember what I was saying about intuition?”
I tore off another piece of bun, swiped the last of the sauce onto the crust. “I’ve got a plan.”
Loree
I tugged at the hip of the tight burgundy dress, trying to move the slit that ran up my leg down, just a bit more. Xander had selected it from the fabricator, had charmed the style operator into pinning my hair up, applying more cosmetic than I ever wore.
The costume felt tight, unnatural. But surveying the glittering throng, I had to admit his instincts were right.
“Who would’ve thought that in a rough-and-tumble station, there’d be such a classy casino?”
“It’s a great business,” Xander murmured, grabbing two tall glasses from a passing server, bubbles of purple winding through the frosted pink liqueur. “Very profitable.” He pressed one into my hand.
“I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” I demurred.
“Just hold it. That way the server bots won’t keep coming around.” He offered me his arm. “Shall we begin our hunt?”
We slipped through the crowd, giving me a perfect chance to people watch.
Like some elegant reflection of the Under, every guest in the room was dressed in outlandish finery. I giggled at my unintentional pun and Xander glanced down sharply. “You didn’t have to drink it.”
I took a tiny sip. Too sweet.
I stuck out my tongue and he stumbled, the first time he’d taken a step out of place. Even in this sophisticated assembly he paced among the guests, like a king through his subjects.
Men stepped aside with a shallow nod, power acknowledging power. Women’s eyes followed him, needles pricking my belly at their attention.
I couldn’t blame them, not really. His hair, so blond now as to almost be white, stood in sharp relief to his new olive skin. The cheekbones weren’t as sharp anymore. The jawline still strong, but not the angle I was used to, that I’d memorized from sidelong glances through our trip.
The dark suit was unrelieved by any ornamentation other than a razor thin line of deep burgundy around the collar and down one side of the front.
If he wanted to make a statement, he was shouting it across the room.
Suddenly his hand whipped out, snagged the shoulder of a rough looking man with greasy, gray hair. “You’ll want to put that back, friend.”
The man pulled away, the ill fitting tan jacket crumpling in Xanders grip. “Not your friend. Dunno what you’re talking about.”
Nervous, I threaded my fingers around the strap of the tiny, useless purse we’d bought with the outfit. I had to cram in the commtab to make it fit, but having it near made me feel a little better. Now if I could figure out how it could help in a section of the station that had been cut off from transmissions.
For security’s sake, Xander had explained.
Not having net access didn’t make me feel secure in the least.
A group of men turned away from a gaming table to watch the altercation. Xander nodded to the one in the middle, not as large as the others maybe, but whose laser sharp gaze didn’t move from Xander’s face.
“Check your pockets, would you?” The easy grin flashed. “If I’m wrong, I’ll buy my friend here a drink, and leave you to your evening.”
“If you’re wrong, you’ll do more than that to apologize to Mr. Helo for disturbing his night,” one of the muscled men muttered. Only cool appraisal came from the one I’d have bet was the boss. “Easy enough.” At a cursory check, his eyes flared. “Search him.”
“No need.” Xander tossed a small bag of midnight velvet to Mr. Helo. “I don’t think he had time to empty it.”
Helo checked it anyway, then nodded his satisfaction. “My boys will finish this business outside.” He didn’t even lift a finger,
but two burly forms separated from the crowd and stationed themselves on either side of the grey man. Xander loosened his grip and returned to my side.
“What will they do to him?” I whispered.
“Not our concern to save him from being stupid,” was his only response.
“I owe you,” Helo said. “What do you want?”
“Nothing but to show my lady a good time,” Xander said, easing through the crush with a friendly grin. “Best of luck!”
“You could have ignored it,” I whispered.
“Maybe,” he guided me around the waist high barrier sheltering one of a number of soaring blue-trunked trees that towered over the room. As we passed, a shower of leaves fell, filling the air with chiming. “But I had a feeling it was important to step in. I don’t ignore that.”
By the time we reached one of the token dispensers, my heart beat had returned to normal. I believed in science. In logic. Maybe I could believe in Xander’s feelings. Maybe I’d better start, and fast.
Xander paused. “Everything?”
I nodded. If we were to be all in, it had to be all the way.
In just a few strokes of the keypad Xander transferred the last of his credits to the casino in exchange for a flimsy rectangle of plexi.
“It’ll track our winnings and losses.” That devastating grin flashed. “I expect between your brains and my instinct we’ll win quite a bit.”
Already I’d checked out a few of the surrounding tables, calculating odds, trying to guess which games could be rigged. Undoubtedly as many as possible were.
“Not that.” I flicked my eyes towards the table where a loud group of people screamed at, of all things, a table filled with slow moving reptiles.
“And that makes me worried.” Rows of tables seemed to have nothing but a line of people throwing colored dice. No way to get an edge without altering the equipment. Doubtless, the casino already had.
“But that,” I nodded towards a corner where small groups of men and women stared intently at the cards in their hand. “That I could probably work with.”
The fast paced game was one I’d never seen, but Xander nodded. “Gabeto. Good choice.”