by SL Huang
I wasn’t sure whether I was more furious at Rio for trying to protect me or more terrified of what would happen if he stopped.
“I heard Los Angeles had some excitement,” said Rio, his eyes briefly going to my broken arm.
I sighed and allowed the change of subject. “Yeah. We were right in the middle of it.”
He raised one eyebrow. “We?”
“Oh,” I said. “You remember Arthur and Checker, right?”
“I remember.” His tone was entirely neutral.
“They’re not bad people,” I protested.
“I don’t doubt it.”
“And they’re good in a pinch. Smart. You know, competent. I mean, not on your level, but…”
Rio tilted his head fractionally, studying me. “It seems you’ve made some friends.”
I wasn’t sure why, but I felt my face heating. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“No, it’s…good,” said Rio, as if the words didn’t quite fit together right in his mouth. “So I’m told.”
I swallowed. “Yeah. It is good.”
“You seem well.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess I am.”
He gave a sharp nod as if to say, Well, that’s all right then, and stood, reaching into his coat to pull out a few bills in American currency, which he tossed on the table next to his untouched food.
“Wait,” I said.
He waited.
I struggled, but the words wouldn’t come. Literally. “Help me out here,” I groused.
I wasn’t sure if I expected him to get it, but he did. “You want to ask me about Pithica.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement.” Dawna’s mental prohibition made my tongue woolen in my mouth.
“Stop fighting it, Cas. This is the better way.”
The old resentment against him flared. “Says you.”
“Please. Leave it.”
Please. Rio never said “please.”
“There’s another shoe,” I said finally.
Rio did the one-eyebrow thing. “Pardon?”
“The saying, about another shoe dropping. Pithica isn’t done with us. There’s going to be another shoe.”
“Perhaps,” said Rio. “If so, we shall deal with it.”
“You mean you’ll deal with it.”
He inclined his head to the side, as if to say, Well, yes.
“You’re not helping me by leaving me in the dark.”
“If not, that is between God and me,” said Rio calmly.
“I don’t get a say?”
Rio’s stare was penetrating. “No.”
I felt a chill, even through the warmth of the Southern California day. It was so easy to forget, sometimes: Rio didn’t care about me personally, and never would, not in any way beyond the abstract requirements of his religion.
The reminder was uncomfortable in a way it never had been before. I didn’t know why it should be. I had known Rio for years, and he’d never pretended to be my friend.
“Be well, Cas,” said Rio, and strode away, his coat flaring behind him.
I slumped in my seat and stared at our uneaten pastries. A drink would have been nice, but was out of the question because of the client meetings. I had a few hours to kill, a suddenly-deflated mood, and nothing to do.
I thought about going back to my flat and reading some papers on natural language processing. But instead I ended up at Arthur’s office, a nicely-stenciled door in a less-than-nice part of town. I knocked, wondering if he was even there.
The door opened, spilling out laughter.
“Russell!” said Arthur, delight lighting his features. “Come on in.”
I came in. Checker was there too, grinning, and Pilar was perched in one of the office chairs, her feet tucked up to sit cross-legged. They all looked relaxed. Happy.
“Heard you helped a certain father skip out on his legal responsibilities this morning,” said Arthur, but he sounded more amused than disapproving.
“You don’t mind?” I said.
He shrugged. “Exceptions for dads.”
Exceptions for kids. I hitched myself up one-handed to sit on his desk. “Think we’ll ever hear from them again?”
“Not if Warren’s got the least iota of common sense,” said Checker. “Best if they stay far, far outside the United States.”
“Is Funaki going to keep making more robots, do you think?” asked Pilar. “They could still sell them in Japan or something, right?”
“Eh, even if they do, I suspect ‘proceed with caution’ will be a mantra,” answered Checker. “They didn’t expect the bad press here to extend to the level of supervillainy, after all. I’m guessing they don’t want to pick up that mantle, even an ocean away.”
Pilar wrinkled her nose. “Robots that look like people. Can you even believe it?”
“Damn near ridiculous,” agreed Arthur.
“Welcome to the future,” said Checker. “Early last century it sounded ridiculous to talk about human beings walking on the moon. And before that it sounded ridiculous to talk about flying to the other side of the world in big metal machines. And before that—”
“Yeah, I can print out an assault rifle on a 3D printer these days,” I said. “How’s that for living in the future? Of course, it’s usually easier just to steal one.”
Checker put a hand to his eyes. “You are not normal.”
Pilar laughed.
After coffee with Rio, the banter was somehow both comforting and jarring. I found myself wanting to say something meaningful, but I had no idea what. I cleared my throat. “Hey. Arthur. Eighty-eight days and counting.”
He grinned at me like a proud father, and a warm feeling spread through my chest as I lounged on Arthur’s desk and listened to Checker and Pilar argue over whether they should get a 3D printer for the office.
Maybe another shoe was coming. But right now things were pretty okay.
THE END
Cas Russell will return in
ROOT OF UNITY
(coming 2015)
And if you’re wondering what Rio was up to during this book, check out the short story RIO ADOPTS A PUPPY – available January 2015
THANK YOU FOR READING
For new release announcements, join my mailing list at www.slhuang.com!
If it’s not too much trouble, please consider leaving a review of this book online. I’d greatly appreciate it.
The text of this book is licensed under Creative Commons, CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0. You may share it all you like (though please do not share the cover, which is copyright Najla Qamber Designs, all rights reserved). If you read this book without paying but you want to support the series, you can buy a copy through a retailer, recommend the series to a friend, or write a review—all those things are hugely helpful to me.
No matter what, thank you for reading!
FICTION BY SL HUANG
The Russell’s Attic Series
Novels
Zero Sum Game
Half Life
Root of Unity – coming 2015
Plastic Smile – coming 2016
Short Stories
Rio Adopts a Puppy – coming January 2015
Ladies’ Day Out – coming 2015
Other Works
Hunting Monsters [Book Smugglers Publishing]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SO MANY THANKS:
To my sister, always and forever. No question: I would not be doing this without you. I’d just be flailing about endlessly, a directionless squid, squirting my ink into the abyss in a senseless mess.
To the Barnyard, for everything. I can’t imagine anymore what it would be like to write without you in my life. I don’t know where this series would be without you—or where I would be. Probably walking into walls somewhere clawing my face off.
To my intrepid, fantastic beta readers, Bu Zhidao, Jesse Sutanto, Elaine Aliment, Kevan O’Meara, Tilly Latimer, and Layla Lawlor. You improved this book drastically. You are amazing. I
am acutely conscious of how lucky I am to have you. I want to start a religion and make you the deities.
To my cover designer, Najla Qamber, and my editor, Anna Genoese. The fact that I’ve been able to work with people like you, who are so incredible at what you do, and who have such a stunning level of talent and competence—it makes me giddy. You floor me every time. Thank you, a thousand times thank you.
To David Wilson, for once again spending your precious time and skill dialect-checking for me. I don’t know how you manage to be such a seriously awesome person, but somehow you do. The fact that you choose to correspond with me is sincerely humbling.
To the community at Absolute Write, for your continuing patience, your vast depth of knowledge, your brainstorming and critique help, and the absolutely heartwarming enthusiasm you all express in your support of me. I never knew that writing could come with such an infinity of good wishes at my back.
Finally: to my friends and family who have put up with my workaholic tendencies, helped me proofread, or answered my questions, and who have consistently believed in this series even more than I have. I don’t deserve you. And I cannot overstate how grateful I am, to all of you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SL HUANG majored in mathematics at MIT. The program did not include training to become a superpowered assassin-type. Sadly.
You can find out more about SL Huang than you ever wanted to know by visiting www.slhuang.com or by following @sl_huang on Twitter.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Thank You For Reading
Fiction by SL Huang
Acknowledgments
About the Author
