by E J Frost
tip of her nose. It’s becoming one of my
favorite spots. Particularly when she hasn’t
cleaned her teeth.
“That’s reassuring.” She wraps her arm
around my neck and tries to pull me down for
a longer kiss. I lean in and nip the tip of her
nose instead. She yelps, much to the
amusement of two blue-spectacled tourists
who are vidding every angle of the routine
departure for the K-Net.
I wait until they walk by before I pull her
close and give her the kiss she was angling
for. Her breath really ain’t that bad after all.
The Cloudline looks like mist, but it’s
not. It’s a sandwich. Three layers of
aierogel. Two layers of insulation, the most
effective insulation made by man. The
insulation prevents any sort of signal from
entering the Cloudlands. The third layer is
charged by buoys that float in the middle of
the mist, turning the insulator into a
conductor. The high voltage prevents
anything unauthorized from passing through
the Cloudline. While we wait for the
Cloudline’s security to recognize the hover’s
passcode, we float over a raft of dead birds
and sea-creatures, lit by the sickly glow of
the Cloudline’s corona.
Passing through the gel feels like a
whisper of cotton over my bare skin. There’s
none of the dampness I expect. But then, it’s
not mist. We emerge on the other side of the
barrier into bright sunlight, and the smell of
ozone.
Kez’s viewie begins its lightshow as
soon as we clear the Cloudline. I sit back
and let her take care of business. Watch the
play of the sunlight on water, and the milling
tourists still vidding each and every moment.
“It’s still there!” Kez says suddenly. She
holds her wrist out to me. I check her viewie,
which holds an image of the Spinning Marie,
and a red blinking string of code that tells me
the ship will be impounded in two hours if
today’s docking fees aren’t paid.
“Unfriendly fuckers,” I say.
“I’ll get Gig to pay it.” She hunches over
her tech. I rub my hand over the back of her
neck in thanks. “I’m deducting this from your
cut,” she says.
I squeeze her neck. My practical kitten.
“You don’t fool me.”
“I’m not fooling. That’s four hundred
soft.”
I don’t give a shit. She can have every
credit. I’ll take my cut in minutes. In a bed.
Or in a hammock.
We exit the hover carefully in the middle
of the pack. Hand in hand. Just another
couple returning from a day in the
Cloudlands. Gig is waiting on the other side
of the holobarrier. He begins vibrating as
soon as he spots us. Nearly hurdles the
barrier until I wave him back. As soon as
we’re passed through by the guard, he rushes
us. Wraps Kez in a gangly hug.
“You’re okay?” he asks.
She pats his back until he calms down
enough that she can fend him off. “Yeah, I’m
okay. Thanks for coming to meet us.”
Gig backs up a step and looks like he’s
going to launch himself at me. Fitting in and
playing nice with Kez’s crew does not
include hugging. I hold out my hand, which
he pumps enthusiastically. “Mister Snow,”
he says. He’s grinning so wide his cheek
muscles look ready to snap.
“Good to see you, kid.”
Gig hands Kez another of their never-
ending supply of black nylar bags. “The stuff
you asked for. And I, uh, brought some
clothes for you, too, Mister Snow.” He
scratches under his cap, a gesture he’s
picked up from Kez. “They’re Ape’s but I
think they’ll fit.” He eyes my skirt.
“Not one word,” I warn him.
He makes a locking gesture across his
lips. I pat him on the shoulder. Smart kid.
“Kez, your hair,” he begins, then looks
uncertain and trails off.
“It’s not a fashion statement,” she says.
“Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of the
SoBo to last me a couple of lifetimes.”
Gig leads us to the little silver skimmer
he was driving when we rescued the
beautiful girl from Eddle. It’s a zippy craft,
good for the city streets, but not as powerful
as a hover. The trip back to Nock will be
slow. Since the skimmer’s a four-seater, I
climb into the back and hold out my hand for
Kez to join me. She slides into the bench-
seat next to me and opens the bag Gig
brought.
We whizz out of Jielt’s port in a stream
of morning traffic: hovers, skimmers and
floaters segregating into their different strata
as we hit the airway. I’ve only flown in and
out of Jielt a couple of times, so I keep one
eye on the scenery. The rest of my attention
is on Kez as she wriggles out of the dress
and into a soft black unisuit. She’s too
skilled at changing in public to flash me, but
I get some nice glimpses of pale skin and one
of side-boob as she tugs the straps of the
unisuit over her shoulders. She pulls a long-
sleeved vest over the unisuit and scowls at
me. The scowl doesn’t conceal the furious
heat in her cheeks. It really is too funny that I
can make her blush.
“Now you,” she grumbles.
That I pull on a pair of soft trousers
without a hint of what’s under the skirt just
deepens her scowl. A slightly-too-tight red
and black tank goes over the trousers and I
rid myself of the fucking skirt. I toss it into
the nylar bag, but the moment I get a chance,
I’m burning that thing.
I pat the seat beside me. “C’mere, kitten.”
She immediately gives up the pretense of
being irritated and scoots across the bench to
sit next to me. Relaxes against my side when
I put my arm around her. Gig begins to fill
her in on business details that I don’t try to
follow, until he says, “Another of those black
boxes arrived for you this morning.”
Tyng. I turn my head to whisper to her.
“Promise me somethin’.”
She looks up at me. “Anything.”
“No matter what he threatens, we stick
together. United front. We need two days to
take care of business before we meet with
him. We set the meet on neutral ground. And
I come with you. Non-negotiable.”
She meets my eyes for a moment, and I
can see the struggle there. She’s afraid of
what Tyng might do if we delay, of what he
might demand. But after just a second, she
nods. “Deal.”
“We gotta give Acker enough time to get
the food to Nock. He won’t fuck around, but
it
could take him most of today. I need a
couple of hours after we’ve done the run to
Kuus. Maybe overnight.” Depending on how
difficult the bone is to carve.
“Okay,” she says. She raises her voice so
Gig can hear her over the hum of the neg
cells and the traffic. “Snow and I have a run
we have to make to Kuus. We don’t know
when the package is landing in Nock, so I
need to stay loose.”
“No problem. I’ll take your run this
afternoon. I haven’t scheduled you for
anything tomorrow. It’s sixday anyway. Only
Dunk’s got a run.”
“Thanks. How are Dunk and Ape taking
the load?”
I let them get back to their business while
I watch the blocky buildings below us thin.
Stretches of sand filter between gaps in the
buildings, until there are only wide stretches
of sand and the occasional structure. As we
pass over the deep desert between Jielt and
Golden Sands, gossamer mushrooms
blossom amongst the dunes. Reflection
farms, harvesting the wind and light that are
plentiful in the desert, where everything else
but sand is scarce.
Kez’s attention is captured by the rows of
the diaphanous collectors. Her conversation
with Gig dwindles to grunts as she stares out
the skimmer’s side window. She turns her
head and looks up at me, her wide eyes full
of wonder. “I had no idea,” she breathes.
“You never been down this way before?”
“No. Do you see this kind of stuff from
your ship all the time?”
“Not all the time.” I give her a squeeze.
Feel the aftertaste of her delight seep into
me. “I’ll take you to all my favorite places
after this is through.”
“You will?”
“Yeah, you’ve earned a vacation.”
“That’s the truth,” Gig says from the front
seat.
“Comment?” Kez asks him.
“Well, c’mon, when was the last time you
took a day off?”
She rolls her eyes. “Keeping you and
Ape fed is more than a full time job.”
“You could take six months off with what
Ape brought back yesterday and what
arrived this morning. Go on, Kezzy, take a
break.”
Kez scratches at the stubs of her
dreadlocks. That gesture of uncertainty. “I
was going to put those credits towards a
ship.”
“Now you don’t need to,” I say.
She hunches a little under my arm. “But
. . . when you said . . . I’d really like us to
have a ship together.”
I lean over, slip my finger under her chin
and tilt her head back so she’s looking up at
me. Kiss the tip of her nose. “Still can, if we
find somethin’ better than the Marie. I got no problem trading her in. In the meanwhile, we
can use a few of those credits to buy us a
week on Yrillo.” I never did make it to the
pleasure-planet after the crash. The idea of
being alone in the middle of the system’s
biggest party, after I’d just lost Marin, made
the universe seem that much darker. I went to
Cayster instead, and let the chop doc have
his wicked way with me. I’d like to get to
Yrillo, particularly if I can take my kitten
with me.
Kez’s eyes dilate so wide they look
solidly black in the skimmer’s shaded
interior. “You mean that?”
“Absolutely. I’m ready for some time off.
Only one rule.”
“Dead puppies?” she mouths.
I grin at her. “No, I get to pack your bag.”
She won’t need more than a bikini. Yrillo’s
one big beach. I want the space for
accessories. Lots and lots of accessories.
Chapter 28
The reason the Marie is still sitting
snugly on its platform becomes apparent as
soon as we walk into the cockpit. I nearly
trip over Erin. She’s sprawled on the floor
between the pilot’s and co-pilot’s chairs.
Her hand, clutching the ship’s master control,
is stretched above her head. I pluck it out of
her fingers while I feel under her jaw.
“Is she—?” Kez asks from behind me.
“Alive,” I confirm, feeling a slow, steady
beat under my fingers. “Just unconscious.
Looks like someone had a rough night.” I nod
at her torn shadowsuit. The skin showing
through is no longer svelte gold. It’s mottled
with what look like chem burns. Guess
Kimpler fought back. After checking for head
injuries, I scoop her up and back out the way
we came. Kez follows me into the passenger
lounge, where I deposit Erin in a flight
cradle.
Kez stands beside the cradle, looking
uncertain, shifting from foot to foot.
“You gonna stay with her, kitten?” I
already know the answer. I’ll miss Kez’s
company on the flight back.
Her expression twists. Some internal
tension rising to battle across her features.
Finally, she shakes her head. “She shot you.
Twice.”
I hold out my hand. Collect her against
me when she takes it. Stroke her stubbly
head, and kiss her forehead when she looks
up at me. “So, should I off her?”
“No!” Kez stares at me in shock. Then
her eyes narrow. “You’re teasing me, aren’t
you?”
“Yeah. You really think I’d kill your
sister?”
“She shot you!” Kez wails. I can see this
is tearing her up. I tuck her tight against my
chest. Cup my hand over the back of her
neck. Look down into those big blues.
“I forgive her, kitten.” My initial fury has
passed and I can barely even muster any
lingering resentment towards Erin. What’s
important is that Kez knows no matter what
she does to take care of those she loves, I’ll
back her. “Don’t ever think I’d be mad at you
for protectin’ your family. It’s one of the
things I love about you.” See if that surprises
her as much as her declaration on Outniss
surprised me. I kiss her forehead and let her
go.
I’m at the door to the passenger lounge
when she says, “Uh, Snow?”
I look back over my shoulder at her.
She’s standing where I left her, gripping the
rim of a cradle like it’s the only thing
keeping her upright. As I watch, stunned
wonder floods her expression, suffusing her
eyes with light. And she gives me the
biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen.
I wink at her, and hold that smile close as
I head back to the flight deck and fire up the
Marie.
Once I’m clear of the raptor platform, the
flight to Nock doesn’t take much of my
attention. I flip the ship onto automatic so I
ca
n have something to eat and drink out of
the cool tray. While I’m chewing, I check the
passenger monitor. Looks like both girls are
sleeping, although Erin may be unconscious.
Hard to tell under all the derms Kez has
plastered on her. Once I’ve eased the
rumbling of my belly, I take the controls
again to give the girls a smooth ride. If it
were night, I’d leave the ship on autopilot
and take a nap with Kez. But the airways are
too busy during the day. I tap on the music
system, dial up some Brukke to sing along to,
since no-one’s awake to hear me, and
entertain myself with thoughts of what I’m
going to do to Kez once we’re alone again. I
know she’ll need time with her family first.
And there’s the run to Kuus; Doc Gray will
be showing up at nightfall to perform my
favor. But there will be time in a bed, too.
Or in my hammock.
Those thoughts give me a full cockstand
that only fades to a dull ball-ache as the
green, rolling soyu fields of Roysten give
way to the urban blocks of Hemos and Nock.
The cities by day lack any of the sodium
beauty of night, and I’m glad Kez isn’t awake
to see how ugly the industrial stacks are in
the light. There are beautiful places on
Kuseros, and throughout the Vespers, that I’ll
show my kitten once this is over. For now,
she’s seen the best that the two cities have to
offer.
I bring the Marie down into her berth at
the Nock port, making sure to spatter the
Starflare still parked next door with debris
as I land. When the flight computer connects
with the port docking authority, several
messages pop up. I scan them. The usual
adverts: everything from a guaranteed fifty-
credit income per day from the comfort of
your own cube to a miracle cure for
Phogathian rectal worms. I read that one a
little more closely. Rectal worms. Fuck me.
Glad I missed that bit of local fauna.
There are a couple of real messages. One
from the head of Nock security with a terse
apology for the now ex-guard. Bet Thea
twisted his arm. Another from Maier bitching
about me missing his poker game, and
inviting me for a night out in the Delta. I
chuckle to myself as I record a response. The
Delta’s got nothing to interest me now. But to
keep him sweet, I offer him the haul I had
booked for tonight. It’s a short hop, just up to
the Ceghatan Orbital and back. But there’s a
decent profit in it, and I could use the time to
