by M. D. Cooper
“Well, Deneb’s on the network, so the tug fee would be minimal. Closest system to here with a gate is Orhault, just a few weeks coreward.”
The man turned back to his crewmates, one of whom shrugged.
“Alright,” he said after turning back. “Thanks, I guess.”
“Sorry I don’t have a magic bullet for you,” Cheeky said. “Best of luck.”
He glanced over his shoulder as his quartet walked back toward where the rest of the Bella Nord crew were sitting. “Yeah, thanks. You too.”
“Did that…strike you as more than a little odd?” Cheeky asked as the three women closed ranks. “Like he knew more than he was saying?”
“I think I suggested that it was suspicious,” Fina said. “What are you getting at?”
“Forget it,” Sabs said aloud. “Let’s just focus on tonight. Remember? Awesome club, great music and dancing…sex.”
Fina gave Cheeky a level stare. “You’ve totally corrupted her, you know.”
* * * * *
The Primal Pyramid was close to the city center and only a five-minute walk from the closest maglev platform. As the name suggested, the building was in the shape of a pyramid, fully equilateral and consuming a three-hundred-meter square section of the city.
A line stretched out from the main door, wrapping halfway around the building, and Cheeky shook her head at the sight of it.
“Well, that doesn’t look fun. Shall we skip the line?”
Fina snorted. “Stars yes. We have a reservation, don’t we?”
“Of course.”
Sabs led them past the queue, the three women taking long, sure strides as they ignored the dagger glares coming their way from those waiting their turn.
A large man stood at the door, with an even larger woman behind him. Both maintained implacable expressions as the group drew near, the man finally stepping into their path when they were a few meters away.
“Back of the line’s around the side,” he said, arms folded across his chest.
“We have a reservation,” Sabs countered. “I can’t imagine we have to wait for that.”
“Name?” he grunted.
“Sabs.”
The bouncer’s frown deepened. “S-a-b-s?”
“Yeah.”
He glanced back at the woman. “They’re late. Half an hour.”
The woman stepped forward, looking the trio up and down with a sneer on her lips. A few of the onlookers in the line began to laugh, and Cheeky could hear them calling odds on whether the two ‘sparkly hookers and their robot sex doll’ would get physically tossed into the street.
Cheeky glanced at the people in line, many of them wearing little or no clothing themselves. Hypocrites.
“Your table’s already gone,” she said. “Back of the line.”
“We didn’t reserve a table.” Sabs stood her ground. “We reserved one of the VIP nests, and we set down a very nice prepayment for our service tonight. If you’d like us to reach out to your manager and get a refund, I suppose that’s alright.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she glanced at the man’s tablet. “Says here you reserved a bartop.”
“It’s wrong,” Sabs replied. “Maybe the data’s out of date.”
“It’s not—”
Fina reached out, placing a hand on the woman’s arm. “Please, just check it for us?” She slid her hand down the bouncer’s arm, sliding a credit chit into her hand before stepping back and smiling sweetly.
The woman scowled, her fingers running across the chit, reading its value. After a moment, she nodded. “Alright. Bill, refresh the list, maybe there was a mistake.”
Bill nodded and stabbed a meaty finger to his tablet, eyes widening. “Shit…there it is. And wow…now that’s a prepayment.”
“Told you.” Sabs crossed her arms. “Now. May we go in?”
The large woman’s eyes were still narrowed, and Cheeky was certain that she knew something was up, but after a glance down at the chit in her hand, she nodded. “Yeah, head on in.”
Bill stepped aside, and the three women walked into the building, Cheeky making sure to smirk at everyone in line as they walked past.
They passed through a long, golden hallway with benches and a coat check before coming to a woman wearing a long, golden gown standing at a podium.
“Sabs, party of three?” she asked as they approached.
“That’s us,” Sabs replied.
“Excellent, we are so happy to have you here tonight.”
As she spoke, a three-meter-wide pad emerged from the floor, a railing rising up to waist-height that wrapped three quarters of the way around.
“This is your personal a-grav lift for the night. It’ll take you up to your VIP nest, as well as to any of the dancefloors and bars, and down to the restrooms and exit. If anyone else invites you to their nest, you’ll be able to take it to theirs as well.”
“Oh, this is so cool!” Cheeky exclaimed as she hopped onto the pad. “C’mon girls, let’s parrrtaaaay.”
Fina asked.
Fina laughed as the pad lifted off and drifted toward a pair of double doors.
It was a single open space with bar areas, dancefloors, and seating spread throughout, both horizontally and vertically. Bartops and a smattering of tables were on the bottom floor, surrounding dancefloors and some of the long, glowing bars where humans and servitors poured drinks for patrons. Above that, more dancefloors hovered in the air, headed by men and women on platforms controlling the music that the crowds gyrated to.
“Our nest is up there,” Sabs said, pointing to the structure’s peak. “Third from the top.”
“You totally hacked their reservation system, didn’t you?” Fina asked. “I can’t imagine you could get a spot like that with only a day’s notice.”
“Who, me? Maaaaybe. I did pay for it, at least. I’m not a thief.”
“Small mercies,” Cheeky muttered. “Still, totally worth it. We’ll be able to keep an eye on the whole place.”
“It’s not a stakeout.” Sabs’s silver brows pulled together. “We’re here to have fun.”
Fina nodded. “Of course, Sabs, but it doesn’t hurt to keep a watchful eye.”
“Oh! There’s a private bar at the top!” Cheeky exclaimed. “And the bartender is haaaaawt.”
Fina laughed and pulled Cheeky into an embrace. “Alright. No fear of the old Cheeky getting lost.”
“Told you.” Sabs winked. “She’s still there under all the captainly duty.”
“Stop talking about duty, you two.” Cheeky stepped off the pad as it docked with their VIP nest. “That’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Fina gave a mock salute.
They filed into the nest, a seven-meter-wide concave bowl lined with seats and small tables, with a raised plinth in the center, a pole rising several meters into the air.
“Bets on who will be on that first?” Fina said, winking at Sabs.
“Not me,” the AI shook her head. “Thing’s not rated for my mass.”
“You have a-grav,” Cheeky countered.
Sabs ignored her and collapsed into one of the couches, sinking into the deep cushions. “OK…this is the life. Night out with my two favorite women in the universe,
not a care in the world, and the strong possibility of some fun times.”
Cheeky snorted as she dropped onto the sofa. “Better be more than a strong possibility.”
Fina settled onto the edge of the couch and stretched out across Sabs and Cheeky’s laps. “Oh, I’d say we’re guaranteed some fun times. I didn’t fly halfway across the Orion Arm just to talk shop on our first night together.”
Cheeky traced a hand down Fina’s thigh, following the trail of one of the silver streaks that traveled across the blue woman’s body. “We’d better not disappoint, then, eh, Sabs?”
The AI didn’t reply, and Cheeky glanced to her right to see the other two locked in a passionate kiss.
“I feel like I got the bum end of this deal.” She snorted at her own joke.
Fina said.
* * * * *
Fifteen minutes later, after Fina pronounced herself both properly welcomed back to the ship and satisfied for the time being, they flagged a passing server and placed an order for a variety of drinks.
“That should keep us going for an hour or two,” Fina said with a laugh as she rose and stretched. “Stars, you two know how to give a girl a workout.”
“As if you didn’t already know that.” Cheeky smirked as she leant back on the cushions. “Should we get our dance on?”
Fina looked back over her shoulder. “What, and waste all the cold beverages coming our way? No, I wanna get a nice buzz on before we hit the floor.”
Without another word, she swung up onto the pole, pulling herself to the top, where she wrapped her legs round it, ankles crossed, before falling backward to hang upside down, blue skin glowing softly in the dim lighting.
“Stars,” Sabs shook her head, a smile on her lips as she turned to Cheeky. “It’s like she’s already ready for round two.”
“Greedy, isn’t she?” Cheeky asked, sliding closer to the AI. “Maybe she should just have to hang out up there until we have a bit of our fun.”
“Teases,” Fina said with a laugh. “I’ll wait, though…watching you two is nearly as much fun as joining in.”
Sabs touched a finger to Cheeky’s forehead, and their minds drifted away from the physical world, an expanse opening up between them as their shared love and affection took on a physical manifestation.
Cheeky fell back into the cushions, the organic heart in her flesh and blood body picking up the pace, pounding against her titanium alloy ribs as her mind soared on waves of shared passion.
A moment later, Fina was in the mental merge, a cry of delight coming from where she still hung upside down on the pole.
A laugh slipped past Cheeky’s lips.
Fina giggled from where she hung on the pole.
A sensation of warm understanding filled Cheeky’s mind, and she smiled in response.
“Drinks are here!” Fina said aloud, the sound of a person sliding down a pole following her words.
Cheeky quirked a smile.
“We were waiting on drinks before dancing.” Fina’s voice came from above the two AIs. “Drinks are here, and I want to get my groove on, so down ‘em and let’s get jiggy.”
“Stars above…” Cheeky cracked an eyeball. “Groove and jiggy? Who’s been in the music collection from that vault?”
Fina shrugged. “I make no apologies.”
Sabs groaned and rose, taking the beverage Fina extended. “You know this doesn’t do anything to me.”
“You can approximate it if you want to. Plus, it tastes really good.”
“What is it?” the AI cast a suspicious look at the glass filled with red and orange liquid.
“Coronal Mass Ejection.” Fina grinned. “It would probably kill me, so I figured you’d make a good sacrificial lamb.”
Sabs gave a snort. “What else is new?”
“I love a good CME,” Cheeky said. “Provided they can make it right. I’ve been to too many systems where they add lime. Like…what the fuck is up with that? It throws the whole acidity ratio off.”
“Spoken like someone who actually cares what their alcohol tastes like,” Fina said as she downed a clear shot, shivering convulsively after swallowing. “OK…count me amongst those. That vodka was vile. I need to specify top shelf next time.”
Cheeky rolled her eyes. “You’ve always been a choosy bitch.”
“Damn right.” Fina took their empty glasses, set them down, then reached out for their hands. “C’mon. It’s dance time.”
She led them onto the hover pad and drifted to the closest dancefloor, which was also the highest in the pyramid. It was a fifteen by twenty-meter rectangle with a few tables around the perimeter, and a six-armed woman on a platform at one end.
Holointerfaces surrounded her, and she spun and gyrated to the music as she mixed the sounds in real-time.
“Now this is what I’m here for!” Fina shouted as they stepped through the sound-dampening field, bodies vibrating from the beat pounding through the air.
“What?” Cheeky asked with a laugh as the flung her hands into the air, twisting and spinning in the middle of the dancefloor.
Only a dozen other people were in the space, but each and every one was fully committed, giving zero shits about what anyone else thought of their moves. Not that any of them were bad dancers.
A woman in a silver, vaguely hawk-like costume danced with a man in brown and red leather, their movements entirely reminiscent of a hunter sending his bird of prey out to hunt.
Cheeky found herself mesmerized by their movements, almost staring, until a hand touched her cheek, and she spun to see Fina and Sabs, limbs intertwined, motioning for her to join them.
Time ceased to have meaning as the trio danced from song to song to song, the pounding beat and wail of a thousand different electronic instruments filling the air and their minds.
Cheeky ignored the chronometer on her HUD until an accidental glance informed her that they’d been dancing for an hour.
Cheeky let herself fall back into the rhythm, but this time, she remained a little more aware of their surroundings, noting that the platform was more crowded now. At least another dozen people were aboard, all lost in their own worlds as the six-armed woman continued to drive the beats through their minds and bodies.
Cheeky closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get lost in the beat, and opened them a few seconds later only to see something flash in a man’s hand as he spun around another dancer nearby.
At first, she dismissed it—there were a thousand gleaming objects around them, not counting Fina and Sabs—but years of being caught in sticky situations had her danger radar pinging.
The man turned away, circled around another group of dancers, then came toward Cheeky from her right side.
She tapped into the nano she’d released earlier and got a clear view of him and what he was carrying.
She pulled away from the other two women, her leg darting out to kick the man’s hand away as he lunged toward them. The blade he’d held went end over end toward the floor, sinking in up to the hilt.
Cheeky quickly tapped into the club’s network and sent out a general fire alert for their platform. The dancers—those who weren’t trying to kill anyone—all stopped and looked around for the source of the fire alarm. It only took them a few seconds to realize that they were about to be in the middle of a knife fight.
Some rushed to their hoverpads, while others moved back to the edges of the platform, eager to see combat firsthand.
Idiots.
The music’s tempo picked up as the eight assassins closed, circling around the three women. The man who’d made the first move produced a second blade as a smirk settled on his lips.
“You sure you got paid enough for this job?” Fina taunted. “Because eight against three are pretty easy odds for us.”
Without a response, four of the assassins darted forward. A man came at Cheeky, blade low, until they closed and he thrust it up toward her neck, attempting to slash under her chin.
She leant back to avoid his strike, while her own blade came up and slashed his arm. Sparks flew, and instead of a severed limb, her blade only cut through flesh before hitting a reinforced skeleton.
