The Chaos of Luck

by Catherine Cerveny

  I shrugged. “You get used to it.”

  “Are they going to follow us all night?”

  “Me, yes. You, don’t worry. They can be discreet. Plus, they’ll get us VIP access and you’ll live your dream of drinking for free. After a while you won’t even notice them. You can make out with Buckley in some dark corner to your heart’s content.”

  Lotus beamed. “You had me at free drinks.”

  A chain-breaker took us down a set of stairs and to the main level. I didn’t think it was possible for the music to be louder. I was wrong. It actually felt like a physical thing bouncing off the top of my head. Thank the gods the shop was closed tomorrow because I was pretty sure I would need the whole day…uh, sol, to recover from tonight.

  Lotus made the universal “I need a drink” gesture, and the three of us headed to the bar. We were stopped halfway by an intimidating-looking bouncer, all flexing muscle and shaved head, who directed us to a roped-off platform near the dance floor. There, plush velvet couches and elegant tables waited. I sat on one of the couches and it felt like sinking into a dream—even better than what I had at home. Lotus and Buckley took the couch across from me, equally dazzled.

  We’d barely made ourselves comfortable when a server appeared and took our drink orders. Moments later, she was back; I don’t think I’d ever been served so quickly in my life. Lotus and I both had a Cassini Swirl—three layers of vodkas, each with a different mixing point, with a layer of chocolate between each vodka. Buckley went for the more traditional gin and tonic.

  Lotus clinked glasses with me. “I could get used to this. Any other clubs the Russian owns we can enjoy?”

  “Don’t know. I never asked,” I admitted.

  “Well, ask! Hook us up,” Buckley said. “The crew is never going to believe we’re here. I’d shim them and tell them to meet us, but they’d never get in.”

  “I could probably leave word at the door and say we had more people coming,” I suggested. Generally, I liked hanging out with Lotus and Buckley’s friends. Also, it wouldn’t hurt having more people around. I’d feel like less of a third wheel that way.

  “Excellent!” Buckley grinned then downed the rest of his drink before signaling for another. “Let’s see who I can round up.”

  I sipped my Swirl while Buckley scanned the CN-net. The first sip burned before the sweetness hit. Next came the warm glow and I relaxed into the couch. I could feel my gut unwinding, the tension giving way under the alcohol’s influence. It was still there, but the uneasiness wasn’t so sharp.

  “Looks like something interesting is going on,” Lotus commented, pointing to a commotion on the other side of the VIP lounge.

  I turned, rising from my couch for a better look. A crowd of people were clustered around one of the table groupings. They were loud and boisterous, dressed in outfits more outrageous and revealing than even Lotus and her ribbons. There seemed to be some excitement in the middle, focused on a single person. I could feel my face break into a grin as I turned back.

  “It’s Mannette Bleu.”

  Lotus bounced in her seat and clapped her hands, screeching with excitement. “Mannette Bleu? Here? Could this night be more awesome? Come on, let’s go see her!”

  The three of us were out of our seats before Lotus even finished speaking.

  By all rights, I should have hated Mannette given how she’d screwed me over when I first arrived on Mars. If Alexei hadn’t walked back into my life and swept me off my feet, maybe I would have. Instead, Mannette Bleu was far and away the most interesting person I knew.

  An old friend of Charlie Zero’s from Earth, she was to be my planet-side contact on Mars. Unfortunately, she was highly unreliable when not properly motivated. She’d forgotten I was coming or that Charlie had even contacted her. In fact, I think she was on a two-week Acidalian cruise when The Martian Princess docked at the space elevator. When Martian Immigration Services couldn’t reach her, I was placed under arrest, spent two nights in jail, and endured a week of hell as I tried to prove I had the right to be on Mars. You’d think I would have seen that one coming, but no. It went without saying that Alexei had a meltdown of epic proportions and dragged Mannette off her cruise. Between the two of them, they cleared up my problems with both Immigration and Martian Planetary Law Enforcement.

  She was a pseudo-celebrity with her own reality show on the CN-net where she put every minute of her life on display for the tri-system to watch. She had a staff of eight, who trailed her, recording and uploading her exploits to the CN-net, running simulcast experiences so a moment was never missed. Whenever she visited my shop, my clientele actually increased for a few sols afterward thanks to some weird celebrity halo effect. She was fun, smart, and had more business savvy than I ever would. She was also vain and extremely selfish, so I’d learned to take the good with the bad.

  Tonight Mannette was in her element as she whooped it up with her entourage. She was gorgeous with mocha-colored skin, a cascading mane of white-blond hair, and blue eyes that looked like the Caribbean back on Earth. She wore a sleek white dress that barely covered her butt or breasts, trimmed with enough hot pink neon it almost hurt to look at her. White knee-high platform boots completed the outfit, making her taller than everyone as she pranced around, the drink in her hand perilously close to spilling.

  With her were two of her live-feed streamers—PVRs—recording everything with their optic implants, running it through their memory blocks, then spooling it to the CN-net for the tri-system to consume. She had four others with her—two men and two women—who encouraged her antics as they alternated between drinking and taking hits of Euphoria from the clear glass bowl on the table.

  It was easy to get by the crowd of onlookers—people from other VIP tables who wanted in on the stir Mannette created. She always traveled with her own bodyguards, who recognized me and let us pass. Plus, with Lotus and I both pushing our way through, who was really going to stand in the way of a double dose of the luck gene?

  “Felicia! Lotus Flower!” Mannette shrieked. She slammed her glass on the table, breaking its fragile stem. She tottered over to capture first Lotus, then me, in hugs bordering on strangulation. “It’s been too long! What are you doing here?”

  “We needed a night out.” Lotus jerked her thumb toward Buckley. Then a gesture to me. “And Felicia is on the loose because the Russian is out of town.”

  Mannette grinned down at me. This close, she smelled of some exotic perfume that actually made me want to lick her. “Still with him, huh? The man may be every woman’s wet dream, but he will seriously fuck up your life.”

  This was exactly the conversation I didn’t want spread all over the CN-net. “Yes, we’re still together and everything is perfect. But what about you? Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  “Para-skiing at Olympus Mons. Can you believe it? It’s phenomenal! That’s where I met Glitch.”

  She pointed to one of the men on the sofa, who got up to shake our hands. Glitch? As in, a mistake? Talk about irony, because that was all he would be on Mannette’s radar—another relationship mistake. I didn’t even bother to remember him because he wouldn’t be around long. Mannette went through men like they were an all-you-can-eat buffet and she wanted her money’s worth.

  “Sit!” she cried, pushing people aside to make room. She held my hand now, pulling me to her. “I need another reading! The last one you did was unbelievable, it was so dead-on accurate. But I need to know more about this man you saw. Was it Glitch, because if it wasn’t, I don’t want to waste my time.”

  This was said while Glitch sat beside her, obliviously sucking back a hit of Euphoria.

  “Sure. Come by my shop whenever you want.”

  “Wonderful! Let me tell you about what happened while I was in Olympia!”

  And she was off, describing her trip in vivid detail until we all howled with laughter. Drinks were refilled and I could feel myself unwinding more. Gods, it felt so good to have a sliver o
f peace after being on edge for weeks. I sighed and sank back, letting myself enjoy the alcohol, the music, and the laughter.

  Lotus leaned in close to me. “Don’t make it weird, but there’s a guy over there checking you out.”

  I sat up abruptly. “Really? Where?”

  “I told you not to make it weird! He’s by the bar where we came in. Blond. Black suit. He’s just standing there, not doing anything. Just looking at you. It’s kind of hot, in a creepy, stalker-y way.”

  “Is someone checking out our little Felicia?” Mannette asked, catching the last bit of our conversation. “Where is he? I wanna see! The Russian isn’t gonna like this.”

  She stood up, making a spectacle of herself as she searched in all directions. I groaned and covered my face, hoping whoever he was didn’t take Mannette’s display as an invitation to approach. When I looked up again, the entire group scoured the club for my admirer, laughing as if it was the funniest event of the evening.

  “I don’t see anyone. Where is he?” I asked, scanning the club for myself.

  Lotus huffed with annoyance. “Well, he’s gone now. These idiots here scared him away!”

  “He probably saw my place holder flat-file avatar on the CN-net and lost interest,” I consoled. “Besides, I’m not the one who’s looking to pick up, remember?”

  “I can help with that,” Mannette volunteered, plunking down between us. “Just show me who you want and we’ll see if he’s interested. You too, Buck. See anything good out there?”

  Buckley looked like he’d just been set loose in a candy store, and Lotus punched his shoulder. “If we’re picking up, I’m doing the picking,” she informed him.

  “I’d pick both of you girls, if you were into it,” Mannette said to both me and Lotus, grinning. Then she laughed. “Come on, we have to dance. I want to see how those ribbons hold up, Lotus. Everyone take a Euphoria hit and let’s go.” She gestured to the clear bowl. Attached to its top was a long thin tube that fed into the bowl. Inside I saw thick swirling mist—Euphoria. It writhed into sinuous shapes, beckoning me.

  “Me first,” Glitch said, picking up the tube and inhaling deeply. Then he slumped back, a blissed-out look on his face—that was how fast it hit, between one breath and the next. He handed it to the woman beside him and so it went around the table until it came to me.

  I’d never been a casual substance taker. Most of the drugs were so powerful, they knocked someone like me right on my ass—someone without any tech implants and no MH Factor. Everything was designed with an extra kick to get around the One Gov gene modifications so I knew I couldn’t handle what was in the bowl. Even my gut knew it, warning me against taking the tube Lotus held out. But in that moment, I was so sick of the jangling roiling feeling inside me, I wanted to shut it down if only for a little while.

  So I took the tube and inhaled while the group cheered their approval.

  I felt the Euphoria fill my lungs and everything in me narrowed down to a single breath. I held it a beat, and when I exhaled the thick haze of smoke, everything changed. My gut fell silent for the first time in my life. The calm I experienced was like nothing I’d ever known. I exchanged a look with Lotus, who gave me a lazy grin before her head rolled onto Buckley’s chest.

  In my next breath, the music felt more intense, the velvet couches more luxurious, the zero-g dance floor more inviting. All outside stimuli were more vibrant and the internal ones were just…off. When I looked to Lotus again, she and Buckley were heading to the zero-g dance floor. Mannette got up and pulled Glitch after her, giving him a “come hither” look. In fact, it seemed they were moving to the party to the dance floor, where they could bump and grind against each other. I waved away the hands that tried to pull me with them. I had the most spectacular feeling of calm invincibility and all I wanted to do was be alone to enjoy it.

  That feeling lasted all of five seconds—about the amount of time it took me to realize I wasn’t really alone. I still had Consortium chain-breakers watching me, didn’t I? How could I be by myself when they were always there? It followed then that to be alone, I actually needed to be alone. The idea intrigued me and took up all the available space in my brain. Did I have what it took to ditch them? Time to find out.

  “I have to go,” I said aloud to absolutely no one.

  Standing, I walked to the edge of the VIP platform, where the roped-off entrance separated me from the rest of the club patrons. The Euphoria gave me the sensation I could do anything, even disappear in a puff of smoke.

  I made eye contact with one of my chain-breakers posted nearby, standing in traditional bodyguard stance—massive arms crossed over a deep chest, looking like his suit jacket could barely contain his shoulders. I smirked a little, and then like I was diving into a pool, I let myself fall into the crowd.

  I was swallowed in an instant. It was as if the people parted then closed behind me like ripples of water. I felt like a fish, swimming with the current. I laughed then clamped a hand over my mouth to hold in the laughter, afraid to let it get away. Then I removed my hand because obviously I had more laughter. It wasn’t like I was storing it up, which was just as hilarious as thinking I might be a fish.

  I swam through the crowd. It seemed wonderfully simple and everyone moved exactly the way I needed. If I was jostled, I didn’t feel it, though it was difficult to judge how hard the jostling might be. Probably not too badly or it would hurt more, I reasoned.

  The crowd carried me until I was splayed against one of the red wall projections, looking up with awe as dust swirled above me. I’m not sure how long I stared at it, mesmerized. I think someone groped me, but I wasn’t sure. It was difficult to pay attention as I stared up at the dust. Maybe hands were on my ribs, then my breasts. Maybe they weren’t. It hurt a little, but not much. Someone pressed against me and I didn’t care until I realized I didn’t like it. I elbowed them in the ribs and they let go. Then I remembered I was sneaking away from my chain-breakers so I crept along the wall until I ran across a door.

  It opened at my touch, which was perfectly sensible. Doors always opened for me. I wanted it open, so it was. Easy. I was in a dark hallway. Not the least bit surprising. I ran as far as the hall would take me. My shoes cut into my feet so I took them off. I tried carrying them since I was sure I liked shoes but holding them exasperated me. I probably had more at home anyway so I could just leave these.

  When I got to the end of the hall, I found another door. Another hall. Another door. Then another hall-door combination until the cycle got annoying and all I wanted was to get to the end.

  At the last door, I was outside. Wow. I looked around. I was in a back alley with very little light. But no chain-breakers. I, Felicia Sevigny, had finally given them the slip! I fist-punched the air, cheering for myself. Then I fell down, but that was okay since it didn’t hurt.

  If the air was cool, I couldn’t tell. All I wanted was some light, so I ran toward the street. It was farther away than I thought and I may have fallen, but I didn’t think so. If I didn’t feel it, how could it have happened?

  Once I made it to the street, I looked up at the sky, pleased with myself. I was on Mars and I was doing okay. The moons weren’t the same as on Earth though, which bugged me. Mars had too many. I could see three now. There was Vesta, full and pale. Then Pallas, low in the sky but almost identical in size. Then Phobos, rocketing past everything. I held up a hand as if I could catch it. I couldn’t, but I liked to think I could if I put in the effort.

  “Hello, Felicia. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

  I whirled at the voice. I was supposed to be alone! Not fair!

  Male. Young, but everybody looked young. The only immediate tell that gave away age was the eyes, but I couldn’t see his in the dimly lit alley. Blond hair cut short. Above average height. Probably blue eyes since those just sort of went with blond hair, didn’t they? He looked familiar and I felt I should know him, but didn’t. I’d never met him before and yet…

 
“I don’t know you,” I announced.

  “I know, but I know you, and for now, that’s enough. Though the circumstances aren’t ideal, I’ve looked forward to this meeting.” His voice was mildly accented. I couldn’t place it, but it sounded like something I’d heard before…Something about the way he rolled his r’s.

  “It’s good that we’re alone. I’m sure the Consortium wouldn’t be pleased we were meeting, certainly not Alexei Petriv after the trouble he’s taken to hide you from the rest of the family.”

  The family? I already had all the damn family I could handle. This man wasn’t any family of mine. He didn’t look like me at all. No wait…He looked like…What had Alexei done? What was going on?

  Suddenly I was very aware of how alone I was.

  “Your grandmother wanted to meet you, but it wasn’t possible for both of us to make the trip to Mars.”

  Grandmother? She still hated me because I got the Tarot cards when Granny G died. That old bat wouldn’t cross the street to help me if I was dying, and I would have told him that if I could get the words out.

  I backed away. He advanced. “I know you’re nervous. I am too. But family is important, and we’ve waited a lifetime to meet you. Your mother demanded we stay away, but…I suppose that’s in the past now.”

  And then I had it as that slip of something I couldn’t quite grasp fell into place. Monique. Somehow this man was connected to Monique Vallaincourt.

  I backpedaled away in horror. Monique—the nightmare I couldn’t ever forget was now in front of me. I turned and ran down the street, fighting to move in the murky Martian gravity. Sprinting was almost impossible and I fell, skidding across the concrete. I barely felt the pain. Instead, I forced myself up, searching the sky to get my bearings.

  That was when I saw the explosion—a dot of light high in the sky that I could reach out and catch in the palm of my hand. In an instant, it brightened the entire night sky and turned it into day before everything faded back to darkness again.