by E J Frost
rabbit finally gets tired of being passed from
hip to hip. Ronnie kicks his hind feet like
he’s trying to jump. I may not know
lagomorph language, but that’s pretty clearly,
put me the fuck down.
Chain gets it. He kneels and releases the
giant rabbit. As soon as Ronnie’s four paws
hit the floorboards, he hops over and joins
the queue at my feet.
I didn’t think Chain’s expression could
get any darker, but I was wrong.
Kez interposes herself between the two
of us, picks up Ronnie and flips him over
onto his back like a huge baby. She scratches
his furry tummy and Ronnie goes so limp he
could be dead, paws dangling. “I saw you’d
posted a route from Hot Sands to the
Cloudlands on the Plank.”
Chain’s light eyes shift from me to Kez.
“That’s why you called me?”
“Yup.”
“Mature, Kez, real mature.” He turns on
his heel and stalks out of her room.
Kez throws me a puzzled glance. I shrug.
She follows him into the hall, toting the
floppy bunny. I smile to myself and scratch
Helas a little harder. I’ll give them a moment
alone. See if Kez can get what she needs out
of her ex without my assistance.
“I thought you wanted to talk!” Chain
shouts. “But you just got me here so you
could throw him in my face!”
“This is not about you!” she responds at
the same decibel. “I need to get to the
Cloudlands today without getting my ass shot
off. He’s helping me, which is more than I
can say for you! What happened to, ‘I’ll
always be there for you, baby’?”
“You don’t need anyone! Don’t you
remember tellin’ me that?!”
I chuckle to myself. I bet she did, my
feisty kitten. Probably right after she found
out he’d been humping the beautiful girl.
“I’m asking for your help now!”
Whether or not my presence will add
anything to the conversation, it’s time for me
to make an appearance. She doesn’t sound
like she’s getting anywhere on her own, and I
don’t like the idea of her groveling to get
info from the fucker who cheated on her. I
straighten slowly, dust fur off my fingers, and
stroll into the hallway where Chain and Kez
are facing off. She’s put Ronnie down and is
standing with her hands on her hips, her back
to me. Chain faces her. His skin’s too dark to
tell if he’s gone red, but the tendons in his
neck are standing out like zip-wires.
I sidle up behind Kez and put my hands
on her shoulders. “I hate to break up your
reunion,” I say to Chain over the top of Kez’s
head. “But we’re on the clock. If you can tell
us somethin’ useful, do it. Otherwise—” I
hook my thumb in the direction of the front
door.
Chain’s face twists with rage. He raises
his hand and points at me. “Stay the fuck
outta this.”
“What concerns Kez, concerns me,” I tell
him, finally staking my claim. “You can help,
or you can keep on wastin’ our time.”
Chain yanks something out of the pocket
of his pants and throws it at Kez’s feet. I pull
her back a step in case whatever it is is
unfriendly. Looks harmless: a thin metal
chain with a silver-blue sheen to it. But the
threads wound through Kez’s dreads look
harmless, too, and I’ve seen first-hand the
damage they can do.
“I’ve been saving that for a year. Shoulda
kept my credits,” he spits. “Go to Orange
Beach. Find Shaker. He rents skimmers. The
Mirrormen have a route from Hot Sands to
the North Island. Shaker’ll give you a tracer
so you can find the route. Pray you don’t run
into any Mirrormen while you’re on it.”
Kez crosses her arms over her chest.
Doesn’t make any move to pick up the silver
chain. “Thanks. Really, I appreciate it.”
“Don’t call me again. We’re done.”
Chain turns and strides away down the
hallway towards the door.
“We were done a long time ago,” she
says softly. If Chain hears her, he gives no
sign.
I rest my chin on Kez’s soft head and
watch him until the hallway door slams shut
behind him. “You gonna take that?” I ask,
flicking my finger at the chain by her feet.
Kez looks down at it. Shrugs. “I’ll give it
to Nevie.”
“If you like it, keep it,” I tell her.
“Doesn’t have to remind you of him.”
She snorts. “That’s oborundum,” she
says, referring to a native metal that’s mined
in Kuus. It’s supposed to have healing
properties, but I’ve never put any stock in
that particular bit of folklore. “I’m allergic to
it. Brings me out in great big red spots. If
Chain’d paid one fucking bit of attention,
he’d have known that. But Nev loves
oborundum.”
I press my cheek against her crown. She
has reason to be angry, and bitter. Much
more reason than her ex does.
“You trust what he told you?”
She nods, rubbing her head along my jaw.
“Chain wouldn’t fuck me over that way. It’s
not even that we used to be together. He
wouldn’t do that to another runner.”
“You sure?”
“Mmm, pretty sure. It’s worth a detour to
Orange Beach at any rate. And if we can’t
find Shaker or the route’s closed, there’s
always the Mirrormen.”
She doesn’t need to tell me who the
Mirrormen are. Unlike the strange
underground clans of Kuus, I’ve heard of the
Mirrormen. They control the long shoreline
south of Hemos City, which the locals call
Orange Beach. Ultimate MAO-A boys:
unstable, violent, anti-social. Addiction to
the trance drug Hyp is a prerequisite to
membership; otherwise, I’d fit right in.
“You know any of Capp an’ Dag’s
crew?” I ask, referring to the titular leaders
of the Mirrormen. Like Kez, the Mirrormen
have major issues with authority. Capp and
Dag barely rule the mob, and they do it by
being bigger, stronger and more violent than
the rest of them.
Kez nods. “I’ve bought passage from
them before.” She twists her head to look up
at me, and kisses the underside of my chin.
“I’m glad you’ll be with me.”
She doesn’t need to tell me why. The
Mirrormen think women are only good for
one thing. They wouldn’t have negotiated
directly with Kez, and she’d have had to pay
more than credits for passage through their
territory.
“Any of your scars their work?” I ask
quietly.<
br />
“The one on my thigh. A gift from Dag.”
She shifts slightly in my arms. “Like I said,
I’m glad you’ll be with me. Let’s get going.”
I nod and release her. Follow her when
she heads back into her bedroom to finish
packing her backpack-of-many-tricks. Add
another name to the growing list of people
I’m going to kill before this is all over.
I don’t need as much gear as Kez. Just a
change of clothes and a few more knives.
Kez lounges on my bed, watching me dress.
She wolf-whistles when I trade the soft pants
I wore to her place for black genSkin. I grin
at her as I strap on a Biosteel vest, since I
figure sooner or later I’m going to get shot at
during this run, and my trike jacket. Her
viewie buzzes as I’m pulling on my boots
and tucking knives into hidden sheaths.
She puts her viewie on speaker and I
recognize Gig’s voice.
“I’ve found the guy you asked me to,” Gig
says. “He runs a skimmer rental place, Shake
‘n’ Wake. In Golden Sands. He’s tied, so
we’ve never used him.”
“Who’s he tied to?” Kez asks.
“The Vark Brothers,” Gig says.
I don’t need Kez or Gig to tell me who
they are, either. They style themselves neo-
Bedouins, but they’re just punks in sandy
clothes. Small time criminals – drugs, K-net
fronts and protection, mostly. Small enough
that I wasn’t worried when they hired the
Marie because I figured they weren’t running
anything serious enough to get me noticed.
“They’re clients,” I grunt.
“Really?” Kez looks up at me. “Good
clients?”
I shrug. “Good enough that if I give ‘em a
call, they’ll get us in.”
Kez grins. “Ideal.”
“We’ll call ‘em from the Marie. Let’s
go.”
“Okay. Gig, once we take off, it’s all
quiet. My vcom will be on outbound only. I
won’t take any calls. If there’s an emergency,
plex me on the house secure channel. I’ll try
to check in when we get to the Cloudlands, if
I can get an outbound signal. Okay?”
“Aye-firmative, boss. When’s the drop?”
“Midnight.”
“You need a place to stay and passage
back from the Cloudlands?”
Kez scratches her chin. Looks at me. I
shrug. “It’s not the worst idea.” Assuming
we survive the run and that Tyng doesn’t
demand his pound of flesh from Kez
immediately, I wouldn’t mind having
somewhere to spend the night.
“You want to stay in the same place as
last time?” Gig asks.
“Yeah, it was nice. And they didn’t ask
any questions, even when I showed up half-
drowned. What was it called?”
“The Gemini Cloud. Gimme a second . . .
okay, you’re booked in. You got hard credits,
right? Cloudlands won’t take a transfer from
the mainland. And there’s a hover to Jielt at
ten tomorrow morning. I’ve got you two
seats.”
“No problem with a one-way booking?”
Kez asks.
“They don’t care how, as long as you
go,” I answer for him. The universal truth of
the Cloudlands. They won’t look hard at
where you’re from or where you’re headed,
just as long as you leave. And have the good
taste to part with some of your credits while
you’re there. “Good job, kid.” I like Gig, and
he has done a good job. No reason he
shouldn’t know it.
“Thanks,” Gig says. “Take care of the
boss.”
“I will,” I promise.
Kez shakes her head. “Worry about your
own end. How’s Nevie?”
“Sleeping,” Gig answers. “Chi’s with
her. She knows the dosage.”
“Good. See you tomorrow.”
I don’t say good-bye, or that I’ll see Gig
tomorrow. I don’t want to make any
promises I can’t keep.
The docks aren’t that far from my place
by the river. A half-hour stroll. But with
Kez’s gear, it’s easier to take the trike. And
it’ll be convenient to have the trike waiting
at the docks for us when we get back from
the run. Of course, if Kez is in the same
shape she was after the last run, I’ll need a
floater to get her home.
Kez slides her hands up under my jacket
and leans against my back as I power up the
trike. The feeling of her against my back is
better than good. It’s right. Natural. I put one
of my hands over hers and press it to my
stomach for a moment before I open up the
throttle.
As we roar through my house’s gates, she
slides her hand down the front of my pants.
“Bad kitten,” I growl at her, but I doubt
she can hear me over the wind and I haven’t
bothered to synch the helmets’ mics, since
this is just a quick trip. Her hand settles
comfortably into the curve of my groin,
fingertips scrunching through my pubic hair. I
leave her hand there. The little monster’s
tucked down my left pant leg, so she’s not
going to give me a tent pole. Maybe she’s
doing it to provoke me; maybe she wants the
comfort of a very intimate touch. Whatever
the reason, I like the feeling of her skin
against mine. And I enjoy the shocked
expressions of the pedestrians we pass who
notice the flash of her pale wrist above my
waistband.
She removes her hand as we pull up to
the dock’s security gates. The guard waves
us through after a glance at Snow’s Multi. He
can’t see my face under the visor of my
helmet; I could be anyone. He doesn’t ask me
to take the helmet off. He doesn’t even look
at Kez. I’ve never thought much of the Nock
security, but this is a new low. Lax security
generally suits me. It suits me less when it’s
guarding my ship.
“Gimme a minute,” I tell Kez when we
pull up next to the Marie. I check the ship,
then leave Kez stowing her gear while I go to
talk with Thea, the docking clerk.
Thea grins when I stride into the port
office. Her orange-red lipglow makes her
teeth look yellow. She leans forward against
the desk, so her breasts bulge out of the
stylized waves of her SleekSuit. I ignore
them.
“Who’s the asshole on the gate?” I ask
without preamble.
Thea blinks at me several times. “What’s
wrong, Snowy?”
After a day with Kez, there’s something
discomfiting about being called by that dead
man’s name. Even more so by Thea’s
ridiculous nickname. I want to reclaim my
name. I want to be myself again. Throw off
the guise of some two-
bit backwater
smuggler and reclaim the power of my real
name. I was someone with who you did not
fuck: soldier and survivor. Now I’m Snowy.
I shrug it off. That’s not going to happen.
“Who is he?”
“His name’s Kyler. He’s new.”
“Too new to know how to do his job.
Tell him to check ID next time. Someone gets
past him and fucks up my ship, it’s his ass.”
Thea sits back in her chair and taps the
display pane next to her. Her eyes flick back
and forth as she reviews the dock’s security
record. “Oh, great Helas. I see what you
mean. I’ll tell Travis,” she says, referring to
the dock’s head of security. Travis is no
Sherlock himself. When I first showed up, he
accepted Snow’s Multi without asking for
DNA or fingerprints. Of course, a thousand
hard credits in his pocket probably helped
him overlook those details. This noob
doesn’t even have that excuse.
“I have a message for you,” Thea
continues. She pushes the pieces of flimsy
scattered across her desk around with the tip
of one long, multi-colored fingernail until
she finds the one she wants. She holds it out
to me, pinched between those lacquered
talons.
I take the flimsy. Scan the list. Pan Henji
Correctional Institute. Klein-Gerry Penal
Colony. Ixes Island. Tol Seng Maximum
Security Prison. Next to each hole, the dates
of my incarceration. I shrug like the message
is unimportant. “Thanks.”
“Does it mean anything to you? I didn’t
understand it.”
“Yeah.” It means that someone other than
Kez and the Snatchers knows who I really
am. And they’re letting me know they know
it. I might end up reclaiming my identity
whether I want to or not. I roll the flimsy into
a tube and tuck it into a pocket. “I’ll get back
to them after this hop.” I turn away.
“Do you want me to file a flight plan for
you?” Thea calls after me. I glance back to
see that she’s pushed up against the desk for
another three-D display. It’s eye-catching, in
the way that physical deformities sometimes
are, but there’s nothing sexy about it.
“Yeah,” I say. There’s no reason to
conceal the first leg of the run. “I’m headed
up the valley to Zhonnys.”
Thea nods and sits back down at the
desk, looking a little disappointed at my
failure to respond to her cleavage. “Okay,
I’ll take care of that for you.”
