‘It might have been a little easier if you’d left him alive.’
‘You run the security services,’ Gillian commented. ‘They do whatever you tell them. Would you like some coffee?’
‘No thank you, it makes me hyper.’ She did move over to one of the couches beside Gillian and sit down. ‘Now, we identified the man who shot at you and you have done the galaxy a favour. He’s not exactly a first rate assassin, but he has been identified as the person responsible for various killings on the Rim Worlds. Someone hired him in to send you a warning shot.’
‘Nice of them to send a professional,’ Aneka commented. ‘It doesn’t make sense though. The Knights of the Void try to kidnap me, and then an assassin is sent to scare me. Fanatics and professional killers don’t go well together. And what’s the point in trying to scare me if I don’t know why?’
‘I don’t know why, but I can theorise about the connection.’ She looked around at Gillian, and then Ella. ‘This does not leave this room. We have had a suspicion for a while that the Knights of the Void are operated by another group. As yet, we don’t know who, but there are a number of candidates. Certain commercial interests would benefit from a reduction in legal regulation. Of course, there’s Humanity First. Charles Hunter has decried the Knights’ activities, but his goals are a subset of theirs.’
‘A subset?’
‘Humanity First wants the human worlds to secede from the Federation,’ Gillian said. ‘The stated view of the Knights is more of an anarchist agenda, but dissolving the Federation is certainly among their goals.’
‘Hunter is rich enough, but the probability favours one of the trans-stellar corporations,’ Winter said. ‘I have people going over our gunman’s data to see whether we can find anything. The only other option is to wait and see whether they make themselves and their wishes known to you.’
Aneka gave a shrug. ‘I’m a soldier, I’m used to waiting.’
Yorkbridge, Leighbridge Airport, 26.6.254 FSC.
‘That’s what we’re flying on?’ Aneka asked. Outside the windows was an incredibly sleek, ultra-streamlined aircraft with stubby, back-swept wings. It looked like one of the lifting-body designs NASA had come up with.
‘Uh-huh,’ Ella replied. ‘Hypersonic transport. It uses a multi-mode scramjet engine to get it off the ground and land, and a fusion torch to accelerate it into a ballistic trajectory for high-speed flight. A little expensive to use, because they don’t carry many passengers, but it’s the fastest way to get to Antipose.’
‘Antipose because it’s on the bottom of the globe?’
‘Something like that.’
‘You know, I expected to spend your birthday in bed.’
Ella giggled. ‘Tempting, but I haven’t seen my mother in over a year and I’d like you to meet her.’
Aneka grimaced. ‘Back in my time “meeting the parents” was one of those horrific things you had to go through when things got serious.’
‘Mom’s really great. She’ll love you.’
‘Yeah, but I’m the big, bad woman from the past who’s fucking her daughter.’
‘Aneka, she’s a stripper. Seriously, where do you think I get my attitude to sex?’ She turned her head and added, ‘Come on, we’re boarding,’ before Aneka could respond, and they trooped toward the gate.
With only sixteen passengers, there was not much boarding to do. Fifteen minutes later the aircraft was taxying out from the terminal. Aneka sat strapped into the, very comfortable, seat watching the small screen in the back of the chair in front of her. There were no windows, just the view screens, though Aneka was pleased to discover that there was a public wireless network on board which gave access to several applications for entertainment and communication, and allowed access to the ship’s navigation system. Most of the passengers would have to use portable devices for that; Aneka watched the craft’s progress in-vision while the outside view displayed on the screen in front of her.
‘Here we go,’ Aneka said quietly as the graphics she was watching showed them lining up with the runway.
Ella gripped her seat arms. ‘I hate this bit.’
‘You fly on spaceships.’
‘They’re huge, and go straight up and down, and have anti-grav. This thing is a held up by aerodynamics.’
‘Even in my day air travel was statistically the safest way to get about.’
Ella just grunted, but then they were being pushed back into their seats by the thrust of the engine and Aneka let it go. Fear of flying was not a rational issue and she was sure Ella would be fine when they got airborne.
The craft seemed to take a while to lift, but once it got its wheels off the runway it raised its nose steeply and started to climb. Where a normal aircraft would have throttled back and levelled out after a few minutes, this one powered up when it had reached three thousand metres, pressing them into their seats at around one gravity. That was just the start. The navigation display was now counting down to the ignition of the fusion engines.
‘Does this thing actually make orbit?’ Aneka asked.
‘Technically they can, but they aren’t really rated for it. It follows a parabolic arc, skims over the upper atmosphere and then drops back down. The acceleration will cut back once we’ve hit the required speed, but it gets a bit worse first.’
‘Uh-huh. Engines switching over… now.’ They had hit twenty thousand metres and the engine tone shifted from a sort of throb to a high-pitched roar as the fusion torch drives cut in. Somewhere behind them hydrogen was being fused into helium and the resulting energy was being focussed into an intense exhaust cone. In under five seconds they were being pressed into their seats at twice normal gravity. ‘Oh wow,’ Aneka breathed. Now this was what she sort of expected spaceflight to be like. Anti-gravity systems really took the discomfort out of it.
The screen in front of her showed the sky turning from blue to black as they rose into thinner and thinner layers of atmosphere. The pressure began to ease off not long after they had passed through into the lower bands of what Aneka thought of as space. She heard the engines drop to idle, and then she was floating against the seat straps.
‘Zero-G,’ Aneka commented.
‘Uh-huh, but it’s only for forty minutes or so. The whole point of this is that it’s fast.’ She still did not look particularly comfortable. Maybe it was being in what amounted to space without a ship-suit on.
Most of the other passengers seemed to be business people, the majority dressed in some form of suit. It was unlikely that you would see some of the outfits in the City in London, or on Wall Street, but what they were wearing was more formal than the casual outfits Aneka and Ella were in. Skirts were shorter, blouses and shirts were translucent, very sheer, or mesh, and the tailoring was more form-fitting. On the other hand, just like on any commuter flight, everyone spent the entire time working on computers. In contrast to flights Aneka was used to, there was a lot of chatter since everyone could, and did, use their personal phones relayed through the ship’s comm-system.
Ella had said that they were meeting her mother at the club where she worked and then going on from there, and they had some very basic hand luggage with them, so they had dressed for a club. Aneka suspected that Ella was wishing she had worn trousers as her micro-skirt floated languidly in her lap. Aneka was in her jeans and basque, though Ella had pointed out a feature of the SensiCloth she had failed to mention when they had bought the outfit and her nice, black jeans were now semi-transparent. There had been eye-rolling.
Aneka had expected to have problems taking her gun on the flight, but Winter had been rather more thorough in preparing the paperwork than she had expected. The pistol, in its case, was in the overhead locker. Airport security had passed her straight through without comment and Aneka had made a note to check exactly what Winter had authorised her to do. To be honest, she was carrying the gun out of paranoia; there had been no sign of the Knights for days and she hoped they would not be disturbed on this little trip.
Of course, assuming you would not be troubled was a sure-fire way of making sure you would.
Barnard City
The airport was around fifty kilometres from Barnard City and Ella had made sure they were covered for transport by arranging a hire car for the day. Aneka had been impressed with the efficiency of the system; Ella had arranged the hire in Yorkbridge the day before and been given a bay number to collect the vehicle from there and then, and it would respond to her transponder as soon as they arrived. There had also been some bemusement when they had arrived to discover a huge, plastic suitcase was in the bay they had been sent to. It had promptly unfolded itself into a car. Aneka had felt close to a huge geek-out.
Driving into the city, Aneka had to admit the vehicle was comfortable. The seats adjusted to your body and came with secure crash harnesses. Crashes were unlikely, though Aneka was a little freaked that Ella was not actually driving. The car was self-piloting and hooked into the city’s traffic management system. No accidents, no congestion, no getting lost.
The city itself was more industrial complex than city. They drove through several kilometres of factories and chemical plants before they passed into office buildings and then a central core of high-rise shops and residences. It looked like a less well maintained version of Yorkbridge Mid-town, though Aneka suspected that it was more that it was just dirtier.
‘There are more Rim Worlders out here than in Yorkbridge,’ Ella said as the electric car slid smoothly through the streets. ‘There’s a bit more crime, but not much, and they play a little harder. A lot of them are temporary residents, in for the plants. They’ll stay here for a few years and then move off-world with enough money for a comfortable retirement on the Rim.’
‘Things really don’t change much, no matter how much they do,’ Aneka replied.
The car pulled off on the left, approaching a large door which slid smoothly upward as it did so. A soft voice announced that, ‘We have arrived at the nearest parking location to your destination. Parking has been arranged in bay ninety-three. Halting at disembarkation zone.’ The car pulled to a stop beside what looked like a pedestrian access area and Ella climbed out. Aneka did the same, walking around the car just before it pulled away again, going deeper into the structure.
‘It’ll go fold itself up and park until we need it again,’ Ella said.
‘Those things can’t fold up while you’re in them, can they?’
‘Technically not.’ Ella started for the stairs up to ground level.
‘Not a comforting answer.’
Up on the street they made their way along the pavement about three hundred metres past various signs which advertised drinks, large-screen sports displays, and live music available within, and then crossed the road to another club where the sign said “Live Girls!” It really was just like walking through Soho back in the day. Ella pushed in through the door and they found themselves in a room with matt black walls, a bouncer standing in one of the corners, and a pretty, black-haired girl behind a counter. She was wearing a string-bikini top and a bright smile. Yes, this seemed like a strip club.
‘Good morning. I’m Petra, welcome to the Black Lily. There’s a cover…’ Aneka saw Petra’s eyes flick downward, presumably to look at a hidden console where their identification was being displayed since Al had said he had been asked for it. Petra looked up again, at Ella. ‘Oh! You’re Janna’s daughter. Sorry. Go straight through, you’re both covered. Janna’s on stage in about five minutes. I’ll let her know you’re here.’
Ella gave her a smile. ‘Thanks, Petra.’ She started for the inner door, and Aneka gave the receptionist a nod and a smile and followed.
The club was as dark as the reception hall, the walls painted gloss black and the floor made of black-stained wood. The furniture, low couches and tables encircling a stage area at one end of the room, was also black. Well, it would tend not to show stains.
Over in the stage area a tall, slim redhead was swinging around a steel pole set between floor and ceiling. She was dressed in a tight, black mini-dress and platform shoes, and doing a fairly impressive acrobatics display. Aneka had been to strip joints before, usually with men who had been far more enthusiastic about it than she was, but when you worked with a largely male group in a masculine environment, you did your best to fit in. She noticed that, while the clientele were largely male, there were several women in as well. The atmosphere was different, more like a general entertainment establishment than a sweaty pit of barely restrained testosterone.
Ella located an empty table with a good view of the stage and walked over to it, and one of the waitresses appeared as though she had been dropped in by parachute. ‘Hello, I’m Tina and I’ll be really happy to be your waitress.’ Tina was short, cute, and stacked, with a bright smile, short, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and no clothing above the waist. ‘You’re Janna’s daughter, right? You look a little like her.’
‘Yeah,’ Ella said. ‘I got most of my looks from her.’
‘Would you like a drink?’
‘Couple of glasses of wine?’ Ella glanced at Aneka, getting a nod.
‘Sure. Janna said to charge it to her. She said to say, “Don’t argue, it cost you enough to get here.”’
Ella smirked and shook her head. ‘Okay. Thanks, Tina.’
‘Have you been here before?’ Aneka asked once Tina had gone to get their drinks.
‘Once, about five years ago. Mom says the management is good and the girls here aren’t as catty as they can get in some places. She likes it and they seem to like her.’
‘You know, I think if you asked people whether strip clubs would still exist in the year three thousand, they’d have said no.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s demeaning to women, along with porn, fashion magazines, uh… photography, I think.’
‘What about the male strippers?’
‘Well, there were a lot less of them and it was women who had the chip on their shoulder about being demeaned.’
‘Huh. I take it you didn’t think it was demeaning?’
Aneka shrugged. ‘Oh, it probably was. I just found the people who went on about it annoying. The best way I found to make myself equal to men was to damn well be better than them.’
Ella grinned. ‘What if the women wanted to be strippers?’
‘I’m not sure anyone ever grew up with stripper as a career plan. Back then anyway.’
‘Oh, well Mom wanted to dance when she was six, according to her, and she tried out all sorts of things, but she says that she likes the intimacy of stripping.’ Aneka’s eyebrows went up. ‘I mean, it’s being close to the audience. Like you’re dancing just for them rather than some huge audience, or for a camera.’
‘I… guess I can see that. And, to be honest, the audience seems better than the clubs I’ve been in before.’
Tina was walking back with the drinks and the music changed over from the electro-pop the redhead had danced to to something more like a smooth jazz. ‘Janna’s on,’ Tina whispered as she put the drinks down. ‘Enjoy yourselves. She’s off after this set, so she’ll come over then.’
As Aneka looked back toward the stage a woman slipped out of the hidden backstage entrance dressed in a red, wet-look bikini, fishnet hold-ups, and high-heeled platform sandals. She was taller than Ella, a little wider in the hip, and her hair was blue-black and cut short, but the most noticeable difference between Ella and Janna was that Janna had huge breasts. Aneka looked between them as the older Narrows stalked toward the pole.
‘What happened to your boobs?’
Ella winced. ‘Mom had a bit of work done, but I didn’t get her breasts, no.’
Janna saw them and flashed a slightly brighter smile in their direction, but she was a professional, and she had a job to do before she could socialise. As the music’s beat grew stronger, going from a jazz-like melody to something with a mix of rock in it, Janna gripped the pole and swung upwards.
‘She’s good,�
� Aneka said after a minute or so.
‘She’s been doing this for almost a century. She should be.’
‘Yeah, but… she’s even more bendy than you are.’
‘I don’t take the time to practice. Never have. She always said I could be that flexible if I wanted.’ There was a little hint of envy in Ella’s voice. ‘She’s incredible in bed.’
‘How, exactly, do you know that?’
Ella blushed profusely. ‘I… We’ve never! I mean, we used to talk about it and, um… I saw a video once.’
‘Incest, I take it, is still a taboo.’
‘Well, not a general one. It’s not illegal or anything. Having children by a close relative is, but not actual sex. Most people think it’s distasteful.’ There was a slight pause and then she added, ‘Won’t stop Mom making a pass at you though. She is a lesbian.’
Aneka blinked, her mouth hanging open for a second before she came up with, ‘So, uh, how did you happen?’
‘She went off men after Dad. Uh, not because of Dad, but when we came to New Earth she swore off men entirely. She never told me why, but I think it was some of the stuff she did to get the money.’
‘Ah.’ Aneka was silent for a while, watching Janna as she swung and swooped around the pole. ‘She must really love you.’
‘It’s mutual.’
There was applause from the audience as the music ended, and Aneka looked back to the stage to see Janna picking up her bikini and taking a bow. Then, instead of turning back to the backstage entrance, the dancer tripped lightly out through the audience heading for their table, still naked aside from her stockings and pumps. Grinning brightly, she bent at the hips and gave Ella a kiss on the cheek before collapsing breathlessly onto the seat beside Aneka. Close up there were more differences; slightly thinner lips and a harder, thinner face, brown eyes instead of blue. The similarities between them were quite obvious though; Ella was her mother’s daughter.
‘Happy birthday, daughter,’ Janna said. ‘What’s this? Sev…’
‘Nuh-huh, no mentioning the age,’ Ella interrupted. ‘Aneka’s a little sensitive about it.’
Steel Beneath the Skin Page 25