by Selina Rosen
“What’s a pin?” Elantra asked.
Conner hit herself in the head. “It’s a very small thing, OK? So just be cool. Don’t ask a lot of questions, don’t answer any, and we’ll be all right.”
Elantra nodded. For some reason she was all hopped up and full of energy. She said as much to Conner, who laughed.
“It’s from eating meat and real sugar. You’ll get used to it.”
As they walked into the club five women all descended on Conner McVee. They acted as if touching her was the most important thing in their life. One redheaded woman took things a step further; she wrapped her arms around Conner’s neck and kissed her full on the mouth without any kind of screen at all for what seemed like probably longer than it actually was. It made Elantra more than a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t the sort of thing you could just pretend not to see, and it certainly wasn’t something she wanted to watch.
When the woman finally let go of Conner, McVee smiled stupidly and said, “I missed you too, Dedra. Girls, this is my friend Lanny.”
“Friend or friend?” Dedra asked with a half pout.
“Just a friend,” Conner said. Dedra smiled, grabbed Conner by the hand and dragged her onto the dance floor, where they proceeded to rub bodies in a most peculiar way. There were some people in a corner of the club holding strange looking things that made sounds and they were singing. Almost without noticing it she walked closer to look and listen. She hated to admit it, but it did sound better than dygarhythms, and it was fascinating. It was a hell of a lot of work. The people making the music were sweating, and yet they were smiling as if they were having the best time of their lives. Nothing in Elantra’s life had ever made her feel that way. Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face a dark haired man. “Want to dance?” he asked.
“I... I’m,” Elantra didn’t know what to say. There were almost as many gay couples in the club as there were straights. She’d always felt rather ambiguous sexually, and had tried both male and female virtual lovers. She found neither very stimulating. She wanted to believe she was straight because she knew that was what her father wanted for her. Right now she had no idea whether the part she was playing was supposed to be gay or not, because Conner McVee hadn’t bothered to tell her. She opted for an easier out. “I’ve only ever virtually danced. I don’t know how to dance with a partner.”
“I could teach you,” he said enthusiastically.
“That’s nice, but... not just yet.” Unwillingly she found herself looking for Conner McVee.
The man smiled a knowing smile. “Oh, I see. Well good luck. Conner hasn’t been serious about anyone since Peggy.”
“What happened with Peggy?” Elantra asked.
“You don’t know? I guess she doesn’t like to talk about it. Don’t guess anyone would...”
Later on Elantra would wonder if Conner had heard the direction of their conversation, because suddenly she was at Elantra’s shoulder seemingly appearing out of thin air. “Come on, I’ll teach you to dance.”
“I... I don’t know...” Conner grabbed her and pulled her into her arms. “Conner McVee, I don’t know what you think gives you the right to woman handle me, you might have pulled my arm out of the socket...”
“Ouch,” Conner said as Elantra stepped on her foot. “Let me lead.”
“I don’t know how to dance.”
“So I’m teaching you. Here.” She took Elantra’s arms and wrapped them around her neck. She wrapped her arms around Elantra’s waist and pulled her close. “Can you feel where my feet are?”
“I can feel where your leg is,” Elantra protested.
“That’s to help guide you,” Conner said with a smile. “Now just kind of let your feet and your body follow mine.” Elantra nodded. Conner laughed. “You know for a straight girl you’re awfully tense.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elantra asked hotly.
“It means if you weren’t at least a little turned on you’d be able to relax a little bit anyway. You’re stiff as a board.”
“Well, I hate to poke a hole in your inflated ego, but I’m completely out of my element, doing something I’ve never done before with somebody I don’t like. Excuse me if that makes me a little tense.”
“Give it a rest, Lanny, your chest’s pressed up against mine, I can feel that your nipples are hard.”
“I’m cold... and you’re crude!” She tried to push away, and Conner pulled her still closer. Elantra felt like her back was going to break.
“Look at me,” Conner said. Elantra refused. “Look at me,” she ordered.
Despite herself she looked at Conner McVee. Conner’s expression was impossible to read, and she hoped hers was, too, because again she got that weird electrically charged feeling. They were both silent. “What do you want, Conner McVee?” Elantra asked holding her gaze unblinkingly.
Conner moved her head and breathed into her ear, “To see the fire in your eyes.”
Elantra felt weak in the knees, almost faint. She lay her head against Conner’s chest, trying to stop the sudden wave of disorientation. It was the strange food, that was all. The food, or something in the air. Or she had been drugged. Conner laughed suddenly.
“Guess what kid? You’re dancing.”
Elantra realized she was, too. She looked into Conner’s eye again, and this time Conner looked away.
Dedra looked out at the couple dancing and frowned. “Friend my ass.”
All the physical activity had totally wiped Elantra out. When they had gotten back to the cabin she’d all but collapsed on the couch. Conner had covered her up and she’d been out like a light. She awoke to severe muscle aches in places she’d never had aches before. She took a deep breath; the air was heavy with the smell of food. She got up wrapping the cover tightly around her and went to the kitchen. She sat carefully in a chair. Conner McVee was preparing food by hand. Steam rose in the air over the cooking device. Conner set a cup of dark black liquid in front of Elantra. Elantra took an experimental sip.
“Coffee,” Conner told her.
Elantra frowned. This she didn’t like.
“Try it with some cream and sugar,” Conner said, pushing the containers towards her. Elantra spooned sugar into her cup. She picked up the cream container and looked in suspiciously.
“What is this?”
“It’s cream. It comes from a cow.”
“What part of a cow?” Elantra demanded.
“Its tits,” Conner said.
“I’m never drinking anything that came from a cow’s breasts,” Elantra started. Conner poured the cream into her coffee.
“Try it,” Conner demanded.
When Conner turned her back on her to finish breakfast, Elantra took an experimental sip. She immediately poured a more generous helping into her cup. Conner laughed, but didn’t turn around. She set breakfast in front of Elantra, who ate it without asking any more questions. “If you keep eating like this you’re going to weigh about four hundred pounds,” Conner said.
“Not with all the exercise I’ve been getting.” She looked into her plate. “When can I go home?”
“Soon. I can’t say exactly when, but soon.” Conner said non-committally.
Elantra didn’t know if that was good news or bad news. “I hurt everywhere.”
“Your body will adapt...”
“I know that. I’m almost a doctor, you know.”
“Did you ever work on a person?”
“Well, no, but...”
“Then you’re not almost a doctor,” Conner said.
“Why do you go out of your way to make me mad, Conner McVee?” Elantra asked in a voice filled with as much hurt as anger.
“Because I like to watch the little veins stand out in your neck,” Conner said with a smile.
“Fuck you!” Elantra screamed experimentally.
“Ah! See? That’s what I like – a girl that begs for it.”
Elantra got up and stomped towards the door, where she s
topped long enough to remember how to open it. When she got it open, she stomped through and instinctively slammed it hard behind her. She stopped, turned around, opened the door back up and slammed it again. She heard Conner McVee laughing, and she walked into the room again and stared down at Conner. “That, that felt... It felt good. So fulfilling.”
“Still think Constructionists are crazy?”
“I think you’re crazy!” Elantra yelled at her then walked back through the door and slammed it one more time just for good measure.
Chapter 6
“Well?” Tarent asked Wayne as he swept into the room.
Wayne shrugged. “This wasn’t easy to get. Between her being a cop and a Constructionist there were some serious blocks on any information about her... Computer, call up file Conner McVee,” he said. The computer started to spit out a long stream of data.
Wounded June 5, 2250 lower right leg broken and foot shattered. Titanium skeletal implant used to make repair. Dec. 2, 2251 lost right eye to gunfire. Heat sensitive, infrared, five hundred yard scan implanted. July 23, 2251, left ear damaged in explosion. Sonic amplifier implanted. Aug. 12, 2253 skull fractured. Titanium plate with empathic sensitivity amplifier implanted. January 9, 2254. Both lower arm bones broken in left arm, Titanium skeletal replacements. Wrist and hand assembly implanted. Tracer unit implanted with wrist pin.
“Computer repeat last entry,” Tarent ordered.
Tracer unit implanted with wrist pin.
“Computer, link me to Brakston Agency, James Rank.”
Jason Hunter rubbed at his feet, where huge blisters had welled up. “My feet will never be the same again...”
“Would ya quit whinin’? You had walked maybe a mile when we found ya.”
“You ever walk a mile out there, Rank?” Jason hissed back.
“No,” Rank said truthfully. One of the Agents walked in looking like he’d been run over. “Well Peterson?” Rank asked, not bothering to look up.
“Mishy’s not taking visitors,” the man said. The chair anticipated that he wanted to sit down and moved to catch him as he dropped. “No, no, Rank don’t worry about me, I feel fine... Any other units call in?”
“They have checked every Constructionist quarter in a four state area, there is no sign of Hammer. Not that the Constructionists are likely to cooperate with any agency save their own. We don’ know shit ‘bout Hammer’s personal life, so there’s no way of knowin’ jus’ where she might go. Hell, she might not even be in the country anymore.”
“You knew she was married to Mishy’s sister,” Jason mumbled. “And you knew she thought Tarent Powers had her killed. You should have given me that job...”
“Shouldah, couldah, wouldah, didn’. It don’ matter a fuck. If I’d given you the assignment the girl’d likely as not be dead right now. Hammer’s a lot of things, but she ain’t no murderer.”
“Someone cut my old lady up into that many pieces, I’d be ready to make an exception to my rules,” Peterson said.
“Yeah... Well, you ain’t Hammer.”
Rank was interrupted by Tarent Powers on his main line, “I want you to transfer Conner McVee’s tracer code to my computer...”
“McVee doesn’ have a tracer implant...”
“Don’t try to blow smoke up my ass, Rank. I have on terminal six McVee’s medical record. The bitch is nothing but hardware, and one of her spare parts has a tracer unit in it. I want the code transferred. Since she is now working for me, I have the right to have the code.”
“Fine, but I got to tell you she’s out of tracer range.”
“The global positioning system...”
“It doesn’ work with GPS. It’s low frequency radio waves...”
“How idiotic! I thought she was the Constructionist, not you, Rank.”
Rank just shrugged. He hadn’t done it at all, his father had. He wouldn’t have done it. Nothing he could think of was really worth pissing Hammer McVee off. It was too bad Tarent hadn’t known that.
“Well, she has to come back sometime,” Tarent observed.
“Actually, she doesn’t,” Rank said. He smiled at the startled look on Tarent’s face as he transferred the data. Apparently the idea that Conner might choose not to return to FreightCity at all had never occurred to Tarent. When he had transferred the tracer data he finished his thought. “She’s a Constructionist, remember? The bitch could hunker down and keep house in the middle of the woods. There’s yer data. Happy huntin’.” Rank closed transmission, happy to see Tarent’s ugly mug leave his screen. “I hope Hammer knows what she’s doin’.”
Conner spent most of the day mucking out the cabin and trying to teach Elantra how to exist in a Constructionist house. The girl balked and whined the whole time, but for all her whining, she was a quick study, and surprisingly willing to try to adjust.
Conner had insisted that Elantra walk with her to the store to get supplies, and the girl hadn’t stopped bitching since they left the house.
“My everything hurts. I don’t see why we can’t take the car. It’s cold, and it hurts to breathe... I have to go to the bathroom… And about that, the way you do that is just disgusting...”
“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to breathe so much if you’d shut up for a minute,” Conner mumbled.
Elantra couldn’t hear what Conner said. She was too far behind her, so she ran to catch up.
“Your legs are longer than mine, and I’m taking three steps for every one that you’re taking. When I get home I’m going to tell my father how I’ve been treated, and he’ll have your pay cut... he’ll...”
“Do you always bitch like this, or is it just for my benefit?” Conner asked with a laugh.
“You go out of your way to be mean to me,” Elantra pouted. “My feet really do hurt.”
“OK, I’ll slow down.” Conner slowed her pace. She put an arm around Elantra’s shoulders and the girl jerked away.
“I didn’t say you could touch me. No one gave you the right to maul me. I’m sure that my father didn’t tell you... Oh, by the way, while you’re watching my daughter, touch her where ever and when ever you want.”
“You said you were cold. I was just trying to help you keep warm,” Conner said innocently, although what she’d actually been doing was exactly what the girl was accusing her of.
“Oh,” Elantra moved over close to Conner, but Conner didn’t put her arm around her again. “You can put your arm around me now.”
“No. You hurt my feelings,” Conner said with a mock pout.
“Bitch!” Elantra screamed experimentally.
“I would be for you, baby,” Conner said sticking out her tongue.
Elantra let out an exasperated sound and charged up ahead of Conner. Conner followed behind her and enjoyed the view. A car pulled up beside Conner and stopped.
“Hey, Conner, need a ride?” Dedra asked.
“No, I’m taking my bitch for a walk,” Conner said loud enough for Elantra to hear. Elantra marched back to Conner.
“I... I hate you.” She turned and stomped off again.
“Lovers’ quarrel?” Dedra asked.
Elantra turned around and walking backwards screamed. “Most definitely not!” Then she tripped over something and started to fall. She was ready for the impact of her butt on the ground when Conner McVee caught her by her shoulders and stood her back on her feet in one motion. Elantra would rather have fallen and broken every bone in her body than to have had Conner McVee catch her at that moment. She made a fist and hit Conner in the shoulder. When Conner laughed in her face, she kicked her in the shin. Conner stopped laughing. She glared down at Elantra, and Elantra took off running. Conner limped along behind her. “You little bitch, when I catch you I’m gonna kick your ass.”
Dedra waved wildly. “Well, you two kids have a good time.”
Conner caught Elantra easily; hanging onto her was another story. The girl seemed to have bones of rubber, and she fought to get away for a good five minutes. “You fucking little b
itch. Kick me in my good leg. I ought to rip your fucking head off and shit in the hole.”
“You let me go or I’ll kick you again!” Elantra screamed.
“OK, you ungrateful little bitch.” She not only let her go, but she pushed her away from her. “You know I saved your fucking worthless life, and you never even so much as thanked me. I stop you from falling on your ass and you hit me. You’re a twisted, screwed-up little brat. You want away from me so bad, get away from me.” Conner started limping in the other direction. Elantra stood there for a moment watching her go.
She didn’t know where she was, she didn’t even know how to get back to the cabin let alone PowersTower, but... All I have to do is get to a computer and Daddy will come and get me. But is there a computer around here? I could ask at a store. I could... Did I really not thank her? She saved me from that pit, surely I did. But she thought about it, and she couldn’t remember doing so. She looked down the road at Conner McVee’s limping form. She ran after her. “Conner McVee.” Conner ignored her. “I’m sorry I hit you, and I’m sorry that I kicked you, and thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome,” Conner said. “I can’t believe I have fucking metal all over my body and you kick me someplace that’s real. You really are a rotten little cunt.”
“I said I’m sorry.” Elantra put her arm around Conner’s waist. Conner looked down at her. “I’m still cold.”
Rank hadn’t been lying about the tracer. McVee had taken his daughter out of range, which meant she was several hundred miles away in any given direction. He now knew everything he could pull from the net on Conner “The Hammer” McVee. It wasn’t a lot. Constructionists had a special aversion to having anything of a personal nature in the net, and almost like a baptism when they joined the cult they had any personal data washed from it. Police Agency records were hard to get into and even harder to decrypt. But money bought almost everything, and a good programmer had gotten him into Conner’s agency files. Unfortunately, they were cold and vague and didn’t actually paint a picture of a real flesh and blood person.
