by R. K. Thorne
“No promises, Doc.”
Dremer turned to the side at some sound. “Oh, hello, Merith. No, it’s okay, come on in. Good luck, Commander.”
“Thanks. Over and out.”
She’d just leaned back in the chair, hoping to relax for a few before Ostrov showed up, when the screen fluttered to life again with a request.
Ostrov. Why was he calling instead of showing up? She waved acceptance at the thing like dismissing an annoying bug.
Ostrov’s face filled the view screen. It was all she could do not to groan.
“Ryu! Something has just occurred to me,” he said before she could open her mouth. “I have a brand-new, state-of-the-art Peaks and Valleys gaming table. And Chaya sadly does not. I simply must insist the two of you come up here to play.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. What could she say to that? She groped for an excuse, but his smile grew smug as the silence stretched on. Eh. Whatever—she could handle the fool. “Fine. I’ll check with Dr. Persad.”
“Or come without her.” That smile widened, clearly indicating his preference.
“See you shortly,” she said curtly. She slapped the button to cut him off. His smug smile vanished.
Well, frag. She hit the space for Persad’s comm. Lazy, perhaps, as she could just walk a room over, but what the hell.
“Here.” Persad raised her head from tinkering to face the screen, her hugely monocled eye rearing up. The equipment she was hunched over likely magnified the work on top of what her monocle could do, or perhaps it was an electronics printer. Or maybe she just liked the dramatic effect. Some fashion statement.
“Do you do all that work by hand?” Ellen asked absently.
“Nah, there’s a printer that does the finest electronics. State of the art. But it’s the connections. And a few other things that are much too hard to explain. I could program nanos but then I still have to verify they did the work correctly, and…” She looked up, the giant eye blinking. “Am I rambling?”
“No. Just answering my question. But it’s really beside the point. Sorry for distracting you. Ostrov just called and said he wants us to go up there.”
Her face fell into a frown of disgust. “Oh, that man.”
“Yes. But he seems keen on me going by myself, so I think I will.”
“Really? Excellent! That would give me more time to work on the chips. I’m surprised you can take one, by the way.” Her head bent down even as she was talking, unable to resist continuing her work.
“Long story.”
“Your augmentation is better hidden than the Theroki’s.”
“Former Theroki. And don’t call him that, he’s not especially fond of the reminder.”
“I wouldn’t be either.”
“It has a certain brutish charm.”
“He does, doesn’t he?”
Ellen opened her mouth, starting to say that wasn’t what she’d meant. But what the hell had she meant, then?
Persad continued. “I guess I can’t be surprised that their work isn’t as delicate. I presume yours was Union?”
“Technically, yes. Sort of. As I said, a long story for another time. Going to this thing with Ostrov alone will also mean I don’t have to both guard you and try to get information out of him at the same time, so it’s easier for me too. And perhaps then the chips will be ready when I get back?”
“I’ve got his almost done, so I think so. Yours should be more straightforward.”
“Got it.”
“I’ve made some assumptions on standard Theroki hardware ports. Do you have any info on yours?”
“Sending it over now. And Kael’s too.”
“Fantastic.”
“Off to greet Ostrov.”
“Wear your power armor and bug repellent.”
Ellen couldn’t help but grin. “Already planning on it.”
Ostrov opened the door and his eyes flew up. “Armor. Really.”
She looked down at her form and back up at him. She’d set the lean Foundation armor to a sleek black.
“Oops.” She blinked, voice dry.
“I suppose I should be flattered. Ah… come on in.” He grinned and held the door as if it were truly in danger of sliding closed, and she stepped inside. An expanse of brutally modern, richly furnished apartment stretched out behind him. A charcoal sofa floated above orange carpet, a large holodisplay took up one wall and part of the floor, and a sleek bar curved around the far edge of the room. Three doors led to other parts of the apartment. He shrugged. “You shan’t be the first awkwardly dressed genius to enter here.”
It was all she could do not to roll her eyes. As if she’d show up here, with him, unarmed or unarmored. Especially with one of the women downstairs having last been seen at his place. She was tempted to pounce right on it, ask him when he’d seen her last to get revenge for that comment. But that didn’t seem like something charismatic people did.
He leaned out into the hallway.
“Persad bowed out,” she grunted.
He grinned even wider. “She never was one for strategy games, although she’s quite good.”
“Some work came up suddenly.”
“I’ll bet it did. Can’t say I’m disappointed, though.”
She steeled herself not to react. He suspected something, that she and her friends were up to something here on Capital, something more than accompanying Jenny. The question was—what was he guessing they were doing here?
“I’d offer to take your coat but… clearly that isn’t necessary.”
She shrugged. “At least I left off the helmet.”
“Indeed, you’re sure letting your hair down now.”
“I can raise it if you like.”
“No need to get feisty.”
“I’m always feisty.”
“Can I get you a drink?”
Hell, she probably couldn’t turn down every single thing, but consuming anything was a bad idea. “Trying to dim my wits to buy you some time?” She gave him a slight smile. A predatory one.
“Never. I want you to know I beat you fair and square.”
“I don’t see how that will happen, since you won’t win.” She glanced quickly around the bar; vacuum packs and bottles lined one ledge at the back. She pointed. “Is that zeefruit juice?”
He nodded. “Want to get hopped up?”
“On sugar?”
“Of course. Everything I have is illegal here, and I’d never dream of being anything but a law-abiding citizen.” He leaned against the back wall, hands folded behind the small of his back, and she did have to admit he knew how to show off the strong lines of his form. Surprisingly masculine for a scientist. His smile was smaller now, more friendly. Designed to look humble and draw her in.
“It’ll do.”
He handed her a pack. “Let me get you a glass.”
“I’m fine.” Not happening. “So where is this table of yours?”
He pointed into the next room. “My, my, you aren’t much for foreplay.”
Actually, with the right man, foreplay seemed to be all she knew how to do.
Where the hell had that thought come from? Shit—and now she was blushing. Fortunately he seemed to attribute it to her “awkward genius” as he closed in on her, looking a little flattered. Small graces.
He was still closing in, looking as if he’d come up behind her.
She turned to meet him head-on. “I thought eagerness was a desirable quality in a woman.”
His eyebrows flew up, and he slowed his approach. “I can’t disagree with that.” He grabbed a glass off the bar and pointed toward the other room, clearly suggesting she go first.
Great.
Juice unopened, senses on high alert, she spun and headed for the indicated room.
Xi, you watching? Through the suit’s connection to the ship, and her arm port’s connection to the suit, she’d asked Xi to explicitly tag along. Not that all recordings didn’t go to Xi eventually, but it made her feel a little better about
handling Ostrov.
I’m present, Commander. No warning indicators that my presence might be interrupted either.
Good to hear it.
As she stepped into the room, a low blue light came up, the source somewhere near the floor. Windows surrounded the curved room, providing a magnificent view of the Capital skyline, the sky purple with sunset and the moons hanging like ornaments to match the delicate towers.
“Pretty,” she murmured.
“Thank you.”
In the center of the room was a round table, the top of it flat black glass, surrounded by six plush white chairs in a swooping, rounded design.
The hair on the back of her neck was standing up as Ostrov slowed to a stop behind her, rather than beside her. Without moving, she tensed, readied herself. If he didn’t truly want to play, this was an elaborate ploy to get her alone. She’d assumed his motives were amorous, but now that she was here… it felt different. Dangerous. Or maybe those two things were the same for him. She repressed a shudder.
“There she is,” he said, his breath whispering against her hair and the skin of her nape.
She drew another careful breath, in the nose, out the mouth. An elbow to the solar plexus really wasn’t justified yet, as rewarding as it would be.
“State of the art.” He eased beside her, finally, a remote in his hand. His thumb punched the button dramatically, and the table sprang to life, holos in a variety of colors dancing through the space above the table until they settled into elegant blue dots and lines, pools and valleys, summits and cliffs. A beautiful, geometric game, if not the most challenging. “Peaks and Valleys. Room for as many as ten, but I prefer one-on-one.” He smiled crookedly at her. “Don’t you?”
“I’m not much for sharing. And more players just increase the chance that luck influences the gameplay. It’s purer with two.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Ah, indeed. Now, the map is set. And I promised you dinner. You take a look at it, plan a move or two. I’ll be right back.”
Hell. She sank into one of the velvety chairs as he swaggered out. Now how was she going to handle this? She was showing plenty of trust by being in here without a breather or helmet. Wasn’t that enough? People who hadn’t spent as much time in the deep going from atmo to atmo tended not to value that trust as much, she supposed. She withdrew the needle from the gauntlet and slid it into the top of the juice box as she groped for a plan to deal with the food.
Clean, Xi murmured a few moments later. Matches factory specifications.
Ellen pressed the button to pop out the thigh compartment to discard the needle and slowed. Maybe… Her suit was going to have to clean overtime if she filled it with whatever dinner he’d cooked up, and there still probably wouldn’t be enough room. But she could feign nerves. Or travel sickness or something.
As footsteps approached, she hastily let the compartment retract. It slipped silently shut. It’d be open again soon, wouldn’t it?
He sat a plate down before her, gesturing like a maître d’. “Sushi, red curry, dim sum, red bean mochi.”
“Wow. Covering all the bases, aren’t you? Did you pick something from every major Old Earth Asian culture?” Because he wasn’t sure which one she belonged to… ? She hid a wince. If he’d looked her up, it couldn’t be that hard with a bare minimum of effort. Sure, her father’s father had been descended from Australians, but the planet name was pretty clear.
“I did. I thought Vietnamese might be overdoing it. But if you stick around for a second date…” He winked as he sat down directly across the table from her.
She should try to be more polite. “Well, uh, thank you. This looks great.” For me to slowly smuggle off the plate and into my leg compartment.
“Did you get a chance to study the map?”
“Hmm?” She picked up a piece of sushi and waved a hand. His eyes tracked her hand earnestly. “Oh, I don’t need to study it. I’m ready. You can go first.” It was a standard starting map, one of two hundred and change that were part of the game package. She might have played it fifty times or so. Some of her favorites she’d played a hundred times or more in the first few months of trying to get the chip out of her system.
He shook his head. “No, no—you. I insist. You’re the guest. I have home-field advantage.”
She set the sushi back down as if annoyed and not simply stalling. “Let’s flip for it then.” She took a sip of the juice, hoping she wasn’t emphasizing it too unnaturally. She wanted to make sure he saw her consuming something, since most of that curry was going into her pants.
He grabbed a nearby coaster. “Heads or tails?”
“Heads. Of course.”
He laughed lightly, one of the more sincere expressions she’d seen on his face. “So cerebral, and yet so rough. I must admit I like you, Ellen Ryu.”
The sound of her name on his lips gave her a chill—the creepy kind. She kept her eyes on the coaster.
“Heads will be the stars, then, and tails the blank side.” He tossed it up and let it land in the middle of the table with a soft flop. The elegant star pattern stared up. “And it’s heads! Your move.”
She rolled her eyes. Now he’d wonder if that was how she’d beat him. She stood and stabbed a finger at an orb high on one peak, claiming it as her own. It glowed a sudden gold, like the sun, and she smiled at that, inadvertently letting a real grin slip out. She drew the orb to her desired spot in a valley and ended her turn with a smack on the table.
His eyes bored into her, curious, as he studied the map to take his turn as well.
She reclined back in the chair as far as it would go—which wasn’t far—and knitted her hands behind her neck. “Did you know that the name Ellen means the sun? Like a sunbeam, a ray of light,” she explained. “The gold. It’s fitting.”
“Indeed it is.” He rested his cheekbone against his fist, leaning on the table casually. In that pose, he looked more like a magazine model than a scientist. The shadow of a beard was even more dramatic in this darker room.
“What did you say you researched again?” she muttered.
“I didn’t say anything about it, actually.”
She waited. But he said nothing. She frowned. “Top secret?”
He lifted the shoulder he wasn’t leaning on. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.”
Of course. She hadn’t identified herself as Foundation to him. So he ought not to mention it. She nodded, accepting that. He didn’t need to know, although he ought to suspect. “We all have our secrets. I’ll just imagine you’re designing a better gerbil and leave it at that.”
He barked out a laugh, and she regretted the flippant comment. It was like she was flirting with him. Frag. “I truly wish I could share it with you, I’m sure you’d appreciate it. But I am obligated to move on to other, less interesting matters… Let’s see.”
“Like your turn?”
“I suppose.” He gripped his own point of light, and it flooded a vibrant red. That also seemed fitting, but she wasn’t sure why. He moved to capture a small peak, an aggressive tactic. “How long are you planning to stay on Capital?”
“It’s not clear yet. But I don’t expect more than a week. We’re acquiring some new things for Ms. Utlis’s career. Depends on how long it takes for them to be fabricated.”
His eyes twinkled. He wasn’t buying it. “That’s a shame. You’re so straightforward. Down to earth, as the silly saying goes. You don’t fit in here, but I wish you did. I rather like it. Refreshing.”
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She simply took her turn, a seemingly lateral move.
On his next turn, she took the opportunity to smuggle one piece of some kind of white meat and one bamboo into the hip compartment. Next she went for the first piece of sushi, a small, white delicate fish on top of carefully shaped rice. Maybe octopus?
He looked up just at the last moment, and she fumbled it. The sushi fell silently to the floor.
She buried her consternation in a frown an
d a blush, faking pondering the game. He had a clever edge to his strategy, but it wasn’t going to work. She moved her next two captures to block not his next move, but the ones he was clearly planning beyond that.
He outright scowled now, and it was all she could do not to smirk at him.
She glanced down, hoping to still sneak the piece she’d dropped somewhere hidden.
That was odd. All she saw was shiny wood floor. She hadn’t heard any cleaning robots. Where had it gone?
She blew it off and refocused on the game. Her move had gotten his attention. He was concentrating on the game now, and she was concentrating on dramatic juice sipping. One fermented veggie made it into her compartment. Who served that on a date anyway? Good thing she was armored.
He took his turn. She’d left him with two options: follow his original plan, or try to respond with the optimal moves for the new situation. None of them were great, but she didn’t think he’d thought that far ahead yet. He went for the current optimal move, marginally better than the original route she’d messed with.
So he favored adapting, rather than sticking to the plan. She made a mental note as she rose and seized another orb.
His eyes tracked her move, and he sat back in his chair when she slapped her turn over. “My, my. You are… unexpected.”
She narrowed her eyes a bit as she sat back down. When was the last time he’d spent significant time training in military strategy? She didn’t see why he should be at all surprised.
He pondered a little longer this time before hastily taking a turn. She timed the disappearance of part of the dessert with his jerky movements.
“There! Let’s see how your fancy IQ manages that!” He sat down, looking satisfied. “We plebeians might surprise you.”
She snorted. “If you make your living as a scientific researcher, I’m sure you’re not too shabby yourself.”
“I suppose my IQ has paid a few bills. Saved me from a few stupid decisions in my day.”
She shook her head, absently beginning her next, more complicated turn. “People with high IQs still do stupid things.” As she knew too well.
“Really. Ellen. Don’t you think that’s a little blunt?” He frowned as he watched her hands move. “You just said I wasn’t too stupid.”