Zane groaned. “He’ll ship me off somewhere,” he said. “Somewhere remote. I’ll never see Jenna again. Though she probably won’t want to see me again.” Jimmy tried to choose his words carefully. Zane hadn’t lost his chance to marry Jenna today—she’d never really wanted to marry him—but there was a good chance that Jenna would never forgive Zane for what had happened tonight.
“Well, an apology would probably be in order,” he counseled at last. “Your behavior was pretty hideous.” He rubbed his jaw in memory. The QE medics had looked at it and confirmed that it was not broken, but he already had a massive bruise blooming across the bottom of his cheek.
“Sorry about that,” Zane apologized, sounding sheepish for probably the first time in his life. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You weren’t the one doing the thinking,” Jimmy replied flatly. There was silence for a moment before Jimmy decided to just go ahead and ask straight out.
“So how long have you been using the nanospeed, Zane? That was no first-time user side effect.”
“A few months,” Zane admitted. Jimmy kept his face carefully neutral. He didn’t want to antagonize Zane before he even had a chance to help.
“A few months? Does that mean at each race?” Jimmy probed. “With detox every time afterward?”
“Yes, for each race. Just a small dose, enough to keep me sharp. It was such a small dose that I never needed to detox afterward,” Zane justified. Jimmy smothered a groan. So if Zane had raced every weekend—and Jimmy was pretty sure he had—and had skipped detox every time, there was no doubt the nanobots were rewiring his brain. As for the pathetic excuse that a small dose meant he hadn’t needed to detox, Jimmy knew better. Rather it was a fear of word getting back to Zane’s father that he was using the drug. Every nanospeed user needed a detox afterward, or the rogue leftover nanobots started messing with your brain synapses.
Dumb, dumb, and dumber. But Jimmy swallowed the lectures that crowded into his throat. Zane didn’t need any reminders of how stupid he had been. The consequences were staring him in the face. Besides, his father would be here any second, and then Zane would probably get the mother of all lectures.
The door to the detox room slid open, and a tall silver-haired man in a dark gray suit strode into the room. Speak of the devil. Jimmy jumped to his feet and greeted Zane’s father. Then he quickly made his apologies to Zane and beat a quick retreat from the detox room. There was no reason for him to be there. Zane would tell him everything later. In the meantime, he had a feeling that someone should check on Jenna.
She was probably having nearly as horrible a night as Zane.
*
The next day Jimmy heard from Zane exactly how it had gone. It was pretty much as bad as Zane had expected. His father was furious. Zane’s custom rocket sledge was sold before even a day had passed. As for banishment, Zane was informed that he would be personally overseeing the early construction stages of the resort in Marah. Nothing out there. No nanospeed within reach except by ship, at least not yet. The perfect place to permanently detox while still proving himself useful to his family.
There would be nothing for Zane to do. It made Jimmy’s banishment to Zenith seem like a party in comparison.
Mr. Quintan had been even angrier when he learned of Zane’s treatment of Jenna and Jenna’s unequivocal refusal of his proposal. Quintan had handpicked Jenna for his son, and he was appalled that Zane had thrown it away in a moment of drugged insanity. Under orders from the elder Quintan, Zane had gone not long before he left for Marah to see Jenna and beg her forgiveness. Jimmy tried to hope for Zane’s sake that he could smooth things over, but there was no doubt that a large part of him was gleefully happy when Zane had returned dejected from his hour of groveling.
“She was nice enough about it,” Zane reported heavily to Jimmy later that night. “She said she forgave me. But she said her refusal still stands. She said that she knows her own heart now, and she wants to stay friends. Stay friends!” Zane declared in exasperation. “I thought she’d forgiven me, but then she throws that line at my head.”
Jimmy nodded, trying to appear sympathetic. Inside he wanted to dance with joy. If Jenna was truly ending her relationship with Zane, then there was a chance Jimmy could catch her eye.
It was a small hope.
But a burning hope that caused the pit of his stomach to feel fluttery and warm.
“Is she still moving out of the Tower?” Jimmy asked, voicing his next concern. Jenna had worried about having a place to live.
“No, she wanted to. In fact she was already packing some boxes!” Zane was appalled. “However, I convinced her there was no reason for her to leave. I know she doesn’t have a new place to go to. There’s no reason why she can’t still live in the Tower just because she’s not dating me. After all, she and her roommate pay rent, and Lilah still works at the QE. It’s not like I was giving her a place to live.”
In the end, Zane had left with promises to stay in touch and declarations that he was going to win Jenna back and regain his father’s trust. Jimmy hoped for his sake that he did manage to regain his father’s trust—which meant getting permanently clean from the nanospeed. But he really, really hoped that the distance meant that Zane got over Jenna altogether.
It would be very awkward if Zane and Jimmy were pursuing Jenna at the same time. And Jimmy had no doubts in his mind. This was his opening. He was going to take it.
With Zane gone, Jimmy had thought that he would finally be done with all the harassing about his safety. However, Quintan had concerns as well, and Jimmy found that he couldn’t go anywhere without Grier as a driver and bodyguard. He felt almost imprisoned. He was making daily visits to the twenty-first floor, and then after that he was free to go—but only if he took his faithful shadow. It was irritating.
The only benefit was that he could spend as much time as he wanted in the resort. The QE covered the length of several city blocks, and he could try anything he desired (one of the advantages of being an owner’s son).
One night he threw caution to the wind and decided it was time to let Jenna know what he really thought. Or if not what he really thought, at least he would make it clear that he was interested. He commed her, knowing she would be done with work for the day, and asked her if she wanted to go skating again. There were a ton of things in the QE he’d rather try, but he remembered the look on her face while she was skating. She loved it, and that was what mattered.
He got her right away. He explained that he wanted to get out and asked if she’d like to go skating in the QE some night this week. She was silent for a moment, leaving his heart to pound and his palms to sweat while he waited anxiously for her answer. He felt sixteen years old all over again, awkward and unsure of what to expect from a girl.
“Are you asking me out on a date?” Jenna asked at last, her voice thoughtful.
“Yes?” Jimmy said it like a question. He was unsure of that himself. He didn’t mind if it was a date. He wanted it to be like one. But he was completely fine with it just being hanging out as friends too, as long as she came. He was glad his mouth was firmly clamped shut, because if he started blurting out thoughts like this, he was going to make a complete fool of himself.
“Well, I’d love to go to the QE with you. But I think we should do something besides skating,” she answered, her voice bright.
“But I thought you loved skating,” Jimmy replied, a bit confused. He knew she did. He hadn’t imagined it.
“I do,” she agreed, “but I got the impression last time that you didn’t exactly love every second of it.”
“That’s not true,” Jimmy bantered. “I loved every second being with you.” Jenna laughed. Did she think he was joking? He wasn’t, but it was probably good if she didn’t know just how strongly he felt about her. At least not quite yet. He didn’t want to scare her off. He knew that her experience w
ith Zane had made her doubly cautious, not wanting to get trapped into a relationship with a guy she wasn’t in love with.
“Do you have a better idea then?” he asked.
“Something a bit unusual, if you’re up for some adventure,” she suggested.
“I’m up for anything,” he agreed gamely.
She was almost ecstatic. “OK then, it will be a surprise. I’ll make all the arrangements, you just show up the night after tomorrow to take me to the QE by seven,” she instructed.
An adventure with Jenna, one she was wholeheartedly enthusiastic about? What opening could be more perfect?
9. The Gloriana
Two nights later, Jimmy was having second thoughts about Jenna’s idea of an adventure. There he stood, in the biggest virtual reality room he had ever seen, surrounded by people in old-fashioned fancy tuxes and huge billowing ball gowns. He himself was wearing an uncomfortable lime-green tux with a bow tie that choked his neck. The colors around him were garish, almost nauseating in their brightness. Orange and fuchsia and turquoise and violet and probably a dozen other colors he didn’t even have names for. He stared around the milling crowd, searching for Jenna in vain. He’d picked her up at her apartment at the time she’d specified and escorted her down to the QE. Then she’d led him to the VR wing, where they were greeted by a perky QE staffer.
“Are you here to participate in the Gloriana reenactment?” she said, her voice bubbly. Jimmy did a double take. The Gloriana was a famous space cruiser that had run into a comet that was breaking into pieces. It was the worst space disaster ever, killing several hundreds of people.
“Yes,” Jenna answered calmly, though her eyes were bright. Jimmy stole a sidelong glance at her. She wanted to pretend they were in a ship headed for utter disaster?
“Perfect! If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you outfitted into your period costumes and your VR equipment.”
Jimmy must have had an easier time getting dressed in his supposedly true-to-the-past tux than Jenna was having with her dress. He fiddled nervously with the netband on his head, which would display info about who he was supposed to be impersonating. Unlike the VRs he’d grown up with, though, his netband would not otherwise provide any of the virtual experience. The staff guy who’d given him the tux had also attached a node to the back of his neck with a sharp prick that had made him wince. The guy then explained that the node would receive wireless transmissions that would travel right into his brain, helping him interact with the VR room and the other guests realistically.
Jimmy wasn’t sure what he thought about all this. He had always considered himself a pretty cutting-edge guy, but being connected to the VR room and every other crazy guest on the floor, even if only wirelessly, was a little too cutting edge for his taste.
Jenna finally floated into the room. Jimmy stared at her, heat flooding his body and his heart rate rising. Jenna was always gorgeous, but tonight she was even more beautiful, if that were possible. Her eyes were glowing, and her hair hung loose in golden waves. Her outlandish turquoise gown brought out the blue of her eyes even more, and her lips . . . Jimmy cleared his throat when she reached him, intending to compliment her, but he couldn’t manage to speak.
He cleared his throat a second time and finally managed, “Hey!”
That was brilliant.
Jenna grinned at him. She exuded energy. Had he ever seen her brimming with excitement like this?
“Well, Mr. Forrest, you do look dashing in green,” she said flippantly. Jimmy groaned, looking down at his tux.
“Well, the color will help me look dead when it’s my turn to croak, I guess,” he said with a shrug. Jenna held up her hands. “At least you aren’t wearing gloves. Who honestly wore these kinds of things?” Her hands were covered in satin pink-striped gloves that went all the way up to her elbows.
“You chose this party, tigress,” he reminded cheerfully.
“I did,” she said. “I’ve always been fascinated with the Gloriana disaster, in a morbid way. I did a report on it in school, and that started it way back years ago. The QE has this annual reenactment, but I’ve never been able to come participate. I’ve always wanted to.” She twirled in her dress, the big hooped skirts skimming into several other chatting guests. “I thought their clothes were quaint, but they’re rather embarrassingly colorful in reality.” Jimmy snickered as a man walking by stumbled while trying to avoid stepping on her flying skirts.
“And space consuming,” Jimmy added. “How did they fit all those high-class sightseers on one cruiser if every woman needed a six-foot radius of space around her?”
Jenna giggled again. “Who are you supposed to be, anyway?” she wanted to know.
Jimmy flicked on his netband and scrolled through the screen of details in the air before his eyes. “Hmm, some guy named Decimus de Albi . . . something-or-other. I can’t even pronounce it. He sounds like a whiny wimp who ends up dead in the first impact,” Jimmy said.
“No, I actually think he was one of the survivors,” Jenna mused. “Check your background scroll.”
Jimmy scanned it, and then discovered that she was right. “I am! All you losers, I’m going to live through the coming nightmare and you aren’t!” he crowed facetiously.
Jenna slapped at his arm. “Oh, get over yourself. That’s only if you can manage to do what the real Decimus did. If you even have a chance to. Every year the players get the chance to try and rewrite history and see if more people can make it. We don’t get to change the pilot’s idiotic computer error leading us too close to the comet, but we can try anything else realistic during the simulation.”
“What if all I want to do is lie down and wait for the worst to happen? Go nobly down with the ship and all that?” Jimmy wanted to know.
“Then I’ll leave you to get trampled,” Jenna said. “I’m Cora Graville, and I’m doomed in real life, but this Cora intends to survive at all costs.” Jimmy looked at the resolution on her face and decided to throw himself into the playacting wholeheartedly. He would make sure Cora what’s-her-name survived too.
At least according to his netband, he would get to enjoy a fantastic party beforehand.
Soon the VR lights flashed in warning and the hum of conversation around them instantly stilled.
“Welcome to the Gloriana!” a voice boomed from all directions. A roaring cheer went up from the crowd. “The reenactment will begin momentarily. We will start from the time of the ball a few hours from the disaster and proceed from there. If you need details at any time, access them through your netband. If you have a real emergency and need to leave the simulation, you may contact the staff through the red emergency icon on your netband screen.” Jimmy noticed that a red triangle with a white exclamation point had appeared in the corner of his screen. “If your character is killed, your netband will flash red, at which point you may either lie down and watch the reenactment from the ground or exit the VR and watch the rest unfold from our observation lounge. Your body will be replaced by a simulation for the remainder of the reenactment.” Good to know, Jimmy thought. If he did get “killed” early on, he wasn’t going to lie on the hard VR floor and wait half the night for it to be over.
The list of last-minute instructions continued. “A reminder that during the failure of the Gloriana’s life-support systems, the ship also lost its gravity control. You will not experience true weightlessness, but the VR node will supply a similar feeling by affecting your sense of equilibrium. If you are prone to motion sickness, you may be subject to extreme nausea.” Just great, Jimmy groaned inwardly. Somebody’s going to puke on me. He looked sidewise at Jenna, but she just listened intently. Apparently she wasn’t worried about motion sickness. He took a deep breath. If Jenna could do this, so could he. “The simulation will start in the main ballroom of the space cruiser. Please move inside the red oval.” A red oval illuminated on the floor, and the crowd of guests pressed toge
ther, moving until everyone had fit inside the oval. It wasn’t as crammed as Jimmy would have feared, but they were still very crowded, especially with the giant hoop skirts everywhere. Jenna grabbed his hand and wormed her way between people until they were in the very center of the group. Jimmy couldn’t see how that would help. It seemed like being near the edge and able to get out would be a better place to hang out.
“The record number of reenactment survivors is twenty-six. Good luck!” the disembodied voice finished, and the lights automatically dimmed. Jimmy’s eyes blurred behind the netband, and he felt a strange prickling in the back of his neck as the node activated. In a sudden flash, he found himself in a space cruiser ballroom, with viewing glass bubbling out all around them. A waltz was being played on very unfamiliar electronic instruments by a quartet of women standing on a platform on one end of the room. He and Jenna stood in the middle of a very crowded dance floor, with tables displaying mounds of food scattered around the edges. On the far end, he could see a bar where a bartender mixed drinks. Immediately, much of the crowd started to disperse, with a large amount of the guests heading for the doors at the far end of the room.
“Where are they going?” he asked, wondering if they should follow along behind. Was it safer to get out of the ballroom right off the bat? How long did they have until the actual disaster?
“Don’t worry about them. Most of the real survivors were crew members who were stationed down in the bulkhead, so they’re probably trying to head down there.”
“Then shouldn’t we follow them?”
Jenna shook her head and tugged at his arm. “I’ve got a plan, don’t worry,” she said reassuringly. “Now come dance with me. We might as well enjoy the party. The real Cora and Decimus probably did.”
Luckily, Jimmy had actually learned to waltz. One of the responsibilities of being a playboy was learning enough not to embarrass himself at all the very different parties he had attended over the years. The music was different, but the beat was the same, and he pulled Jenna into the dance with ease. At least twenty other couples were also still on the dance floor, but they had plenty of room.
The Quintan Edge (Roran Curse Book 2) Page 9
