It was like being spit out of a wormhole into a new universe. First was Dorothy walking down her porch steps into Oz, Katniss stepping off the train into the Capitol. But unlike them, she wasn’t here to solve a puzzle or burn it all down. She was here to steal everything her eyes fell upon.
The realization finally fixed a smile on her face.
“Found your happy thought, Duchess?” Loritt asked next to her as they queued up for the security line.
“Oh yes,” First said as she scanned her surroundings with naked avarice. “A most happy thought.”
“Good, because we need you to fly.”
First laughed as she noticed the markers for the security lines. They were numbered with six-pointed stars clad with platinum, probably to make it easier for anyone who didn’t read one of the six Assembly Standard written languages. She pulled them toward the two-star line. “Second star to the right.”
Loritt had to remind her to leave their bags in the cargo compartment. A duchess and her escort wouldn’t lower themselves to actually touch their own luggage. Porters would attend to them, for a tip. First, they had to go through a set of deep-penetration imaging scanners to make sure they were clear of weapons, poisons, or chemical agents. Shoot-outs and political assassinations on board were generally regarded as bad form, as well as bad for business.
Clearing the scanners, Loritt took out their forged ID chits and handed them over to the Turemok behind the small security/reception desk. “Tolos Vir and Duchess Gertrude Harrington seek your permission to board,” he said. The guard’s uniform of the day was a light blue affair with a faded yellow sash bisecting the chest that made them look like a member of a musical ensemble cast for a particularly nightmarish children’s show. The Turemok’s tone betrayed that they knew exactly how ridiculously discordant they looked.
“Invitations?” they said, holding out a free hand while reviewing the ID chits with the other.
“Oh yes. Of course. How forgetful of me.” Loritt retrieved his handheld and opened it to the pair of invite confirmations they’d secured before leaving Junktion, then flicked them over to the guard’s terminal.
Satisfied, the baby-blue guard passed their IDs back. “Welcome aboard. Your aircar will be stored in our complimentary valet hangar until we return to port. Your luggage will be delivered to your staterooms within half a larim. Please make your way to one of the money-changing kiosks. The minimum deposit is one million Assembly credits or equivalent.”
“One million?!” First blurted before she realized her mistake and caught herself. Loritt elbowed her in the ribs with one of his small arms as the guard’s red irises tightened and glared up at her.
“I mean,” First stumbled. “Why such a small buy-in? The high rollers in Monaco back home put that much down on a single roulette spin.”
“I did say ‘minimum,’ Duchess,” the guard said suspiciously. “You can always put down more, if you prefer.”
“I’m just worried about hobnobbing with too many mere millionaires,” First said. “You know how they can be.”
“Yes, those lowly millionaires,” the guard said sarcastically. “Now, I must attend to the next patron in line.”
Loritt leaned down to whisper at her as they walked deeper into the immense and intricately decorated open spaces of the ship. “Nice recovery.”
“Thanks, and sorry. It just came out.”
“This is why I didn’t want you drinking.”
“Please. That brandy hasn’t even hit my bloodstream yet.”
“Oh, wonderful. Look, over there. Sheer, Hashin, and Fenax have already made it through security.”
“You mean Lady Glosh, Dul’kit, and, er, Fenax,” First corrected.
“Yes, of course. You’re right.”
“Oh my gosh!” First pointed excitedly into the crowd. “That’s Baked in the Volcano!” she said, starstruck.
“Well, the actor that plays them, at the very least.”
“Do you think they’d let me take a picture? Quarried would be so jealous.”
“I think by the time you complete the process of asking permission and receiving an answer, the cruise will already be over.”
The money-changing kiosks were just ahead to the right. They stood ready to accept a truly dizzying array of currencies, fiat and crypto, from across the inhabited galaxy, with exchange rates that updated even as First’s eyes worked their way down the list. She was shocked to see the US dollar, euro, and Chinese yuan among the hundreds of symbols. There was even a side desk for direct barter of precious metals and rare commodities, staffed with specialists decked out with spectrographs and other tools to authenticate the merchandise.
At least the obscenely rich were above discrimination. All money was given an equal opportunity to wind up in their pockets. As Loritt put down their deposits, First found herself fighting the sudden urge to put on sandals and flip tables.
Their money confirmed in escrow and now officially welcomed to enter, Tolos and Duchess Harrington left the money changers behind and made their way down the Grande Parade that served as the entry point into everything the floating casino had to offer. Huge, double-helix columns spiraled up from floor to ceiling, serving no structural purpose but to act as a nod to some obscure architectural tradition or locale meant to drum up associations of opulence and wealth in the audience.
First ran a manicured fake nail over the surface of the closest column and was surprised to find genuine marble. “Unreal,” she said quietly to Loritt. “Think of the mass penalty of these columns. It must be hundreds of metric tons.”
Loritt shrugged. “The cost of a few thousand more units of reactor fuel are a rounding error to the bookkeepers in this place. This isn’t a cargo ship or a combat vessel. It isn’t in any hurry to get anywhere. Presentation, however, is paramount. Observe…” Loritt pointed ahead to an atrium beyond the columns, where a pedestal had been erected.
Perched atop it sat a larger-than-life statue of the already generously proportioned Fonald Plump. Everything but the fingers, they seemed on the stubby side. Like a fistful of baby carrots. First felt the bile rise in her stomach.
“Who puts a statue of themselves in their own entryway?” she marveled. “I mean, this place is already festooned with PLUMP branding. How much hungrier for self-aggrandizement can one man be?”
“Plump is something of a collection of insatiable appetites. And incidentally, that’s not a statue.”
First was about to ask what he meant when the statue sprang to life, answering her question before it escaped.
“Welcome, guests, to the most exclusive, most macro gaming experience in the galaxy! It’s amazing, believe me, believe me. You’re in for a real treat; everyone says so. You’re the special people. You’ve floated to the top, and now you get to live it up with your humble host, me, Fonald Plump. So dine at one of our twenty-seven, three-star-reviewed restaurants, sample exotic drinks from across the galaxy, catch a risqué floor show, and most importantly, head to the gaming floor, find your favorite game, or a new favorite, throw down your chips, and Change Your Luck!”
The automaton returned to its resting position and fell silent, a statue once more. First looked around at the audience that had gathered to watch the introduction and shook her head. “He commissioned an animatronic of himself to welcome his own guests. How lazy and inauthentic can you get? And from the looks of things, these people’s luck is already pretty damned good.”
“Well, we’re here to change that, aren’t we?” Loritt asked.
“Yeah, I guess we are.”
“That’s the spirit!” a booming voice said from above them loud enough to nearly send First jumping out of her heels. Even Loritt looked startled. First looked up and realized the statue was talking to them.
“You can hear us?” she asked.
“Of course!” Plump’s android avatar said. “I have excellent hearing. The best. Trust me.”
“But I thought you were just a preprogrammed announceme
nt.”
“Oh no, sweetheart. I’m a fully autonomous neural network patterned after a living brain pattern scan of the great one himself, me, Fonald Plump.”
“Where are, um, you, then?” Loritt asked.
“I’m a very busy man. I could be anywhere.”
First shook her head. “Isn’t AI banned in Assembly Space, though?”
“Rules are for the ruled, little lady,” the avatar said, then spread his hands. “You’re among the rulers now, where all your dreams can come true, for the right price. You know, you remind me of my daughter.”
She ignored the creepy comment. “If you’re patterned after Plump, don’t you get bored sitting on that pedestal all day? Tired? Hungry?” First grimaced. “Horny?”
“You know, no one’s ever asked me that before. Now that you mention it, yeah, I do.”
“Why don’t you just leave, then? Take a day off?”
“Oh no. I have behavioral inhibitors that prevent me from doing anything too crazy.” The avatar stared off into the middle distance. “We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen. Not like last time.”
“Last time?” Loritt asked, obviously concerned.
“Ancient history,” the avatar said, then shook itself back to the present. “Nothing to worry about, trust me. Hey, how about two complimentary tickets to Fengar the Defenestrator tonight? His show’s fabulous; everyone is saying so. You’re going to love it.”
“What’s his show about?”
“He throws anvils out of windows and smashes things on the stage below, calls them the Slam-O-Matics. Hilarious show. Go early. Get dinner after. Or just pick the pieces of smashed fruit off your clothes and grab a late-night cocktail.”
Their handhelds dinged with alerts that free tickets had been added to their onboard spending accounts.
“Thank you,” First said.
“Don’t mention it,” the avatar said, then held a hand to the side of its mouth. “No, really, don’t mention it. I can only give out ten comp tickets per day.”
“It’ll be our little secret,” First said.
Satisfied, the avatar reset and restarted its welcome speech for the next batch of freshly arrived guests. First kept watching it from their vantage point behind the pedestal.
“You have that look on your face,” Loritt said.
“What look?” First said sweetly.
“That ‘I’ve just had an idea that will cause three to five of my boss’s components to stroke out’ look.”
First absently rubbed her chin with a finger. “Oh no, nothing like that. Just thinking about taking out an insurance policy.” She moved away from the avatar mid-speech. Loritt followed in silence until they were both huddled near a kebob stall, then First pulled out her handheld and opened a program she hadn’t used in months.
“Hello, Firstname Lastname!” Navigator said. “How can … I … wait a rakim. Where the hell am I?”
“Don’t panic, Navigator,” First cooed. “You’re not on the Matron of Tides anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because we stole her.”
“What?”
“Yeah, months ago. And you helped!”
“I did?”
“Yes, you were a most willing accomplice.”
“Accomplice?!” Navigator keened, clearly on the verge of a system reboot.
“Which is why you’re here now. I have a job for you.”
The little cartoon Fenax’s eyes narrowed. Navigator was a quick learner. “What kind of job are we talking about?”
“I’m glad you asked,” First said cheerfully.
CHAPTER 25
Soolie jabbed an angry finger at the handheld to approve the manifest. Not even ten thousand credits’ profit on this transfer, even if the buyer was feeling generous, which, if they wanted to stay in the game for more than a couple of months, they never were.
“Fine.” He jammed the tablet back into Rirez’s hands. “Call everyone in. We make the run in six larims.”
The meager payday wasn’t even enough to clear the already skeletal monthly payroll for his crew, those parts of it that hadn’t literally eaten each other on the trip out to Garlopin Station. He could probably still scratch up currency enough between the handful of credit lines that hadn’t gotten wise to his new financial circumstances yet and the small protection racket his crew had already established on this sector of the docks to close the gap.
The handful of kiosks and storefronts they’d “offered” their protective services to were already being milked to near capacity, but a temporary spike in the interest of “heightened security concerns” could …
Soolie stopped dead on his feet, staring out a portal into the docking bay at … he wasn’t sure what. A familiar empty space?
“Hey, dummy.” Soolie grabbed Rirez by the lapel and turned his face to the docking slip. “Are you seeing this?”
“Seeing what?”
“Exactly,” Soolie said. “There’s a ship there. Your eyes are trying to see around it. Focus on what’s right in front of you. We’ve both seen it before.”
“What, that lumpy gray shipping container?”
“It’s not a shipping container, it’s a ship. That’s Chessel’s ship, the Goes Where I’m Towed.”
“How did I not see that?”
“Probably some of that Lividite boredom magic, but it doesn’t matter now. What matters is Chessel is here now. I want to know where and why.”
“Maybe he’s just on vacation,” Rirez said. “Taking a cruise on the Change Your Luck to draw some cards and pull some levers.”
“That down-the-line prude gambling? Ha! I’d bet a million credits he’s not. Reschedule the shipment. Get everyone combing the station looking for Chessel and his group of rejects. Hit every watering hole and hotel. Talk to that security officer we put on the take if you have to.” Soolie pointed at the Towed through the portal. “And find a way to get us on board that bland box of glot!”
* * *
At second bell the following day, nearly everyone aboard the Change Your Luck got dolled up and turned out in one of the dozen huge public plazas for the ceremony marking the official start of the cruise. Glasses were raised, and a toast to their good fortune was made.
First smiled and cheered along with the crowd, then drank her nonalcoholic blue wine stand-in, Loritt’s orders. Still, the warmth she felt knowing that their good fortune would come at the expense of everyone else here was a hell of a substitute. She saw the rest of her team interspersed among the crowd, save for Jrill. They shared knowing glances, save for Fenax, but none of them approached one another. Loritt had coached them incessantly against bunching together. Their anonymity was their strongest camouflage, and the less they were associated with each other, the longer it could be maintained.
First lingered for a while after the toast was over. In the meantime, the ship cast off and got under way. First mingled with the crowd, resisting the urge to pick their pockets clean. It would be so embarrassingly easy. They were all so unbelievably unaware of their surroundings, they may as well have been crawling around in a fugue state. But then, they’d never needed to be aware, had they?
Their neighborhoods and communities were hidden behind gates and other less obvious layers of surveillance and security. The police actually responded to crimes and patrolled heavily. Petty criminals seldom bothered. Even the chance at a big payday wasn’t worth the risk. In public, the sudden loss of the contents of their pockets, wallets, or purses wouldn’t register a blip measured against their net worth. It would barely constitute an inconvenience.
Where she’d grown up, losing your purse could mean losing all your earnings for that pay period, leaving you broke and hungry until the next payday in two weeks or an entire month. Not to mention the cost and wasted time of replacing IDs, banking cards, and so on, which would keep hurting well into the next paycheck. Poor people learn quickly to hold on tight and keep keen eyes.
These people were wrapped in a bubb
le of privilege so thick and impenetrable that not even they knew how profoundly it affected their everyday behavior, their mannerisms, their habits. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand but that they couldn’t understand just how much easier their lives were than those of the people whose labors they siphoned from.
“Time for a small lesson,” First whispered to herself before she set her empty glass on a tray held by a passing automated waiter and headed for her stateroom. Even with transfer tubes, getting through the labyrinthine, haphazard ship was laborious. It took her almost twenty minutes to get to her stateroom, by which time her arches throbbed from the ridiculous heels, but at least she wasn’t stumbling around in them anymore, and even First had to admit a little boost of confidence at the extra height and way they recontoured her derrière.
Still, on balance, they weren’t worth the trade-offs, and First kicked them off the moment she crossed the threshold into her room. Back to her normal height, First paused to let her aching feet luxuriate in the cabin’s thick carpet. Some of the little perks weren’t all bad, she decided. First peeled herself out of her dress and threw it in a pile on the far end of the cabin. She wouldn’t be needing it again. She threw on some comfy clothes and grabbed her deck, then sat down at the desk by an artificial portal.
While the rest of the team surreptitiously surveyed the ship to identify their placement when the hammer came down in two days, First would be busy navigating its security system, shepherding her bots and ghosts as they chipped away at its layered defenses. A task that was impossible by any reasonable assessment, but First had an ace in the hole.
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