Iris: I know you do. And you’re right, there’s no sense in bringing her into this.
Me: We are a team.
Iris: A team that doesn’t communicate with each other?
Me: I know, I set myself up for that one.
Iris: You really did. But that’s fine. All this is okay.
The rest of our trip was relatively pleasant. We transferred in New Haven and took a direct train to Providence, Lady C. just as fascinated by New Haven’s tiny station as she was Grand Central Station’s grandiosity. She loved the textures on the walls, the tiling, being part of the crowd, the narrow tunnels that connected the tracks.
It was cute, and I was starting to feel like the tension between Iris and her would subside. At least I hoped it would.
The train from New Haven to Providence seemed even faster, Iris and Lady C. downright chatty now, Iris opening up about her family, the Snouts, and one of the trips she had taken to Newport when she was a child.
It was good, and thankfully, things were starting to feel normal again.
From Providence, it was easiest to take an UberLyft to Newport. Even though we had requested a smaller vehicle, they actually ended up giving us an aerosSUV, which only made the ride that much more comfortable.
We headed toward the coast, moving over patches of wooded areas and large tributaries, a few big lakes. Eventually, we started to come across a bridge that separated the mainland from Jamestown, and from there, a huge suspension bridge that connected Jamestown to Newport.
“It’s so stunning,” Lady C. said, her face pressed against the window as she looked down. Iris was in the front seat again, and I was on the other side of Lady C., watching some of the sailboats in the glittering water below. There were gray clouds overhead, but there was still enough sunlight to make the water sparkle.
“It really is,” I said.
“This is where you should live, Chase. This is so much prettier than New York.”
“I know, I know, but the City has its charm.”
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
“The Gilded Age, huh?” I said to Iris after we got our passes. They were pricey too, at least they would have been had I still been on UBI.
We hadn’t found a hotel yet, but that wouldn’t take us very long. Besides, everything was so quickly booked online that it would only take a single thought for us to have a room waiting for us, or better, as Iris had already suggested, two rooms.
“That’s what they called it,” Iris said as we came into a dramatic grand hall with clouds and angels painted on the ceiling. “The Gilded Age.”
As I looked up, I was told via a pop-up on my HUD that the art on the ceiling had been painted by an artist from Italy who one of the Vanderbilts had hired after seeing work he’d done for the Catholic Church.
Neat.
“I love the angels,” Lady C. said. “Especially the little fat ones.”
“Cherubs,” I told her.
“So cute…”
The sound of running water met my ears; I looked left to see that there was a fountain beneath a stairwell, which I naturally walked over to, Lady C. at my side.
“A grotto under the stairwell,” she said, “which I guess all rich men should have.”
“I suppose having one of these is no different than Ray Steampunk having an airship,” I told her.
She considered this for a second. “Perhaps.”
More self-guided tour info presented itself on my pane of vision, and as soon as I focused on it, it told me why the grotto was here, and why the Vanderbilts particularly liked the space as it reminded them of visiting Rome but without the long travel times.
I wanted to go upstairs, but before I did, I activated the rare monster locator that I had purchased on the train ride over. It had come with two codes, which meant Iris had one as well, and by the way she was looking around, I could tell she had already activated it.
“Finding anything?” I asked her, even though I could clearly see on the schematic that there was no activity.
“I’ve got nothing over here,” she said.
“It says the next place we are supposed to go is the game room.” Lady C. headed toward the western end of the home, gesturing for me to follow her.
We stepped into a medium-sized room with a pool table in its center and elaborate tiling on the floor. As I looked around the room, information presented itself to me, like how the marble had been imported from India to make the walls, that it had taken a team of artisans over a year to make the tile flooring and the tiled ceiling, which had various animals hidden in the designs, including a turtle and a mermaid.
“The entire place is themed after the sea,” Lady C. said as Iris entered.
“That’s sort of the point,” Iris told her she nodded to the window. “The ocean is literally right there.”
“I know that’s the point…” Lady C. smoothed her hands over her clothing. “Hey, it looks like a local school is on the tour as well.”
Sure enough, children in matching shirts were starting to pool up, some of them already exploring. A few pressed past us, one bumping into Lady C.
“Careful,” she called after him in a nice way.
“Careful yourself, droid!” he said, his friend snickering.
“Hey!” I called after him, but he had already moved to the next room by this point.
“Seriously?” Iris asked. “We should be past any humandroid racism by now.”
“Don’t mind them, they’re just kids,” I said hurriedly.
“How did they know about me?” Lady C. asked, touching her dress as if she’d be able to feel out the problem.
“Because of your eyes,” I told her. “You scan things sometimes; when you look at things, they dilate completely.”
“This used to have a purpose,” Iris explained. “Now humandroids just do this so they are distinguishable from real people.”
“Okay,” she said as more kids pushed past, laughing and giggling. “I won’t let it get to me.”
We continued into another room, this one as much a space for guests as it was a place to enjoy relaxing coastal views.
And what a view.
The sea outside the Breakers mansion was violent and tumultuous, the home sitting on a cliff, a perfectly manicured yard looking out onto the water below, the greenness of the grass at odds with the gray, overcast skies.
It had already started to mist out there, making me wish I had brought a rain jacket.
But no matter. We were planning to spend most of the day indoors anyway.
“Anything?” I asked Iris as she admired some of the china behind a glass display case.
“I’m not getting any signals yet.”
“Maybe we need to come back at night,” I suggested.
“Or check the servants’ quarters,” said Iris as more kids passed.
“Why there?”
“Chase, I want to go into the other room. There are supposed to be decorations on the wall completely made of platinum,” Lady C. told me excitedly.
“Sure, we’ll catch up with you,” I said, returning my attention to Iris.
“You didn’t listen to that part yet, did you?” Iris asked me. “About the servants’ quarters?”
“We just got here,” I reminded her. “I was more interested in the grotto…”
“There’s also a tour of the servants’ quarters, and the hidden hallways that connect them to the main part of the house for an extra hundred dollars.”
“Hidden hallways?”
Iris nodded. “The Vanderbilts didn’t want the servants to be seen. No, let me rephrase that. They wanted it to seem as if the servants just came out of nowhere with whatever the guests wanted, so they had secret passageways and elaborate call systems put into the walls that featured tubes that ran through the house, so they could speak into one of the tubes and the servants would hear below.”
“Sort of like what Ray Steampunk has?”
Iris snorted. “Touché. You know why Mark Twa
in called it the Gilded Age, right?”
“No,” I said with a shrug.
“Twain called it that because to him, the period was shiny and perfect on the surface, but corrupt and ugly underneath. You know, it sort of feels like this applies to now in a way, to 2090. Especially his most famous quote referring to the age: ‘It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a death,’” Iris said as she turned back to the giant window. “Around two hundred servants worked in this home. A home for four people. Think about that.”
“But they had guests,” I said.
“True, but that’s why all these other mansions are now abandoned, and it’s also why the city of Newport has had to adjust to all the servants leaving.”
“Because once the rich people abandoned their mansions, the main industry left, right?”
“I think,” she said. “Oddly enough, what these people left behind, like this home, and Marble House, and the other ones we’ll see today, have created a tourism industry.”
“It’s kind of funny, in a way. Servants served the Vanderbilts here in the Breakers, and the mansion still employs people serving those wanting to come see how the wealthy people spent their fortunes.”
“That’s pretty much historical tourism for you, examining the stuff left behind by those rich enough to build it. It’s interesting, though, right? That’s why Jeff Bezos’ house in Washington, D.C., now has tours, and Bill Gates’ home, and Mark Zuckerberg’s mansion, Elon Musk, you know, all those guys from the beginning of the century that made so much money. Now their homes are tourist destinations.”
“And they aren’t even the modern-day Vanderbilts…”
“Nah. Those are the people that designed humandroids and aeros and iNet,” she said. “Well, not Dr. Hewman, the actual Humandroid designer, but the companies like MercSecure that have made a killing off employing and managing humandroids.”
“You know…” I told Iris a few moments later, after I had done my own research over iNet. “To be fair, Mark Twain’s home in Connecticut had twenty-five rooms, its own conservatory and library.”
She smirked at me. “Are you trying to make a point here?”
“It’s kind of funny, if you think about it. Someone who would speak so harshly about the rich people of his age, pretty much lived like them.”
“Isn’t it always that way?” she asked.
“We should check out his home though, see if there are any rare mythcrea there.”
“Not a bad idea,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “It’s in Hartford, which is sort of on our way back to New York.”
Some of the kids from the other room came running back in, laughing, the boys nudging each other with their elbows.
“That was funny as hell,” one of the boys told the other.
“Yeah, did you see that stupid droid? She didn’t know what to think.”
Iris and I locked eyes.
“She ran right out the back,” the third boy said.
“No, she didn’t; she ran up the stairs,” said a fourth boy.
“Hey,” I called after them. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Like you need to know,” one of them said to me, stepping up.
I didn’t know what came over me, but I grabbed the kid by the shirt, pulling him in close. Iris immediately came to my side and placed her hand on my arm.
“Last chance to tell me,” I said, glaring him down.
“Let me go,” the kid said, his friends slowly backing away.
“What did you say to the humandroid?”
“Just, whatever, she’s gone!”
He twisted his shoulders, freeing himself from my grip as Iris slowly lowered my hands. With that, the kid and the other boys were gone, racing off to the other room, crashing through a crowd of young girls entering the dining area.
“Sorry,” I told Iris as I looked around frantically. “But I have to go find her. I have to make sure she’s okay.”
“Then find her,” Iris said. “I will keep poking around here. Maybe it’s best just to…” Iris bit her lip. “Maybe it’s just best to leave the humandroid behind for now, until she’s a little better adjusted. Find her, get a hotel, check in, leave the body there, and come back with Aya and Lady C. as Huntresses, the way they are supposed to be.”
“Yeah,” I said under my breath, turning to the other room. “I’ll take care of this.”
Chapter Fifteen: Chateau-sur-Mer
Instinct sent me running out the back of the mansion rather than up the stairs, as one of the boys had hinted at. I could hear the water just as soon as I made it to the yard, and after looking around, I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled her name.
“Cassandra!”
A few seagulls flew by, noticed my crazy ass yelling in the yard, and moved away.
I saw the gate at the end of the Breakers and ran toward it, wondering if she had exited through one of the side entrances. I made it there, just as a man and his daughter stepped through the gate, the young girl pointing up at the mansion.
“Did you see a woman come by?” I asked them hurriedly. “Dark brown hair?”
The man nodded. “Yeah, she went around that way, along the seawall.”
“Thanks,” I told him as I took off to the left.
I followed the path down, and called her name again, hoping that she would respond.
“Cassandra!”
When she didn’t answer, I continued along the sea walk until I came to an area with marble benches and a fence separating the ocean from the jagged rocks below.
It was there that I saw Lady C., sitting just out of view, her hair beating in the wind as she looked out at the ocean, waves crashing beneath her, the frothy white ocean water soaking her clothing.
“Lady C.!”
She looked up at me and back to the water. After a quick glance around, I climbed over the fence, dropping down to the other side. I carefully made my way down the rocks until I was just a few feet away from her.
And just as I was reaching out to her, I slipped.
The wet rock gave way and I started to fall; Lady C. jumped to her feet and immediately caught my arm, helping me back up.
“Shit!” I said, breathing heavily. “That was close!”
“You shouldn’t have come down here,” she said, concern in her eyes, even though they were dilated as she scanned me for any injuries.
“No, you shouldn’t have come down here. Don’t listen to those kids. They’re just… Look, there are issues in America right now between humandroids and humans. Pockets of android racism, I think that’s the best way to describe it, but it’s not in all places. I didn’t think it would be here in Newport, but you never know where it will be.” I placed both hands on her shoulders. “My point is: you can’t let what they say affect you.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Chase. This is just all so new to me. And I’m still feeling awkward with Iris… And…”
“No, it’s my fault,” I told her, wiping some of the water out of my face. The rain had picked up now, both of us completely soaked.
“I’m sorry…”
“Let’s just find a hotel, and then we can join Iris and hunt. Or stay in the hotel, if that’s what you want. What do you want? Not me, not Iris, what do you want?”
“Yes,” she said after a long pause. “I think it would be nice just to have things how they were before, for a little while at least. Lady Aya, me, you and Iris as our Alphas. Let’s just do that. Let’s hunt.”
“And I’m so sorry,” I told her, my hands on her shoulders. “I just wanted you to enjoy this, to be part of this world. I’m sorry if my words aren’t making any sense.”
Lady C. took a step closer to me, completely drenched, a smile taking shape on her face. “I know you’re sorry. Let’s try to salvage this.”
I looked up at the path that we had come down, only now realizing how steep it
was. “Yes, but first we need to get back up the cliff.”
“Just stay close; I won’t let you fall,” she said, taking my hand.
We started to make our way back up the rocks, and rather than worry about the lashing waves below, I put my faith completely in Lady C., as she had done with me time and time again.
We made it to the top, and hopped over the fence just as a man exercising in a raincoat jacket jogged past. He grunted something about being cautious and went on his way.
“Let’s grab our bags from the coat check area, and then we’ll get a hotel. I’ll call an aeros,” I told her as we turned back to the Breakers mansion.
Now sopping wet, we made our way around to the front, where I got the bag I had packed, Iris’ too. As the UberLyft landed, I fired off a message to Iris letting her know I had her luggage, and that I was taking it to a hotel.
By the time our vehicle took off, Lady C. and I sitting in the back on heated seats, I had already booked a nice hotel that overlooked the sea. The hotel was closer to Middletown, which was a small city directly next to Newport.
It only took us a few minutes to travel there, Lady C. staring out her window, her hand wrapped around mine as we landed.
We checked in to our room, and I also got the key for Iris’ room, placing her bags inside.
I knew things were going to be awkward going forward, but we would cross each of those bridges when we got there. For now, this was just how things were, and all three of us would surely adjust.
And regarding the humandroid, that would be up to Lady C. If she wanted to keep it, fine, but we had a return policy, and I had no problem returning it.
“This room is nice,” she said, standing by the window now, looking out at the sea.
I started to change into some of the clothes I’d packed, draping my jeans and shirt over one of the chairs.
“I just want you to relax,” I told her. “Let’s make something out of this trip, let’s salvage it, like you said. And we can figure out everything else going forward. Including keeping the body.”
“Okay,” she said, running her hands down her sides. “I’m still on the fence though, you know. It might seem like I don’t like it, but it’s interesting. I just don’t know…”
Monster Hunt NYC 3 Page 23
