Lady Silk’s beauty was lethal.
“Come in. We’ve got a lot to discuss before dawn,” she said, turning into the alcove. A second heavier door swung inward on silent pins, the wood polished to a gleam in the lamplight.
“I hope you can speak quickly. I left a warm bed and a warmer woman.”
“I can, and I will,” she said over her shoulder. The House of Silk opened before me in all its glory, and I felt myself hesitate before going forward. I expected a brothel. What I saw was a palace. At my slow pace, she turned to regard me with those enormous green eyes. Her full lips curved into an amused bow. “You thought this would be more. . . rough?”
The central room was sunken, filled with large chairs and couches that looked handmade. Low tables were filled with decanters of wine, glasses at the ready on trays with handles for carrying. Everything was clean, tasteful, and elegant. Three hallways faded into darkness, and a single fireplace glowed with embers, the glow throwing dancing shadows over the room in an erratic rhythm.
“Yes,” I admitted. “But then, this fits what I’ve seen of you.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Wine? Or perhaps something stronger?” She held her hand over a bottle of dark liquid.
“Is that whiskey?” I asked, and she answered by pouring a good measure into an actual glass.
“It is. From Kassos, though I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep my trade lines open,” she said. Handing me the glass, she took a sip of her own, closing her eyes in appreciation of the drink.
“Hardhead is dead unless you have other issues that will stop the caravans?” I sipped my whiskey. It was different, but good. After sleeping away the end of the world, I wasn’t about to complain.
“That was a good piece of work.” She saluted me with her glass, waving to a chair. I sat, and then she did too, folding her legs up and leaning to one side. I found it hard not to stare, even as she watched me over the rim of her glass. “Hardhead was a beast. They get tired of killing after a while, or they meet something more fearsome. My issues are with humans. Traders, to be more specific, and their idiotic network of spies and thieves. They forget that my girls hear everything, and we’re experts at seeing that the right people pay well for what secrets the men utter when they’re drunk and in the arms of a beautiful woman.”
“Do your girls look like you?” I asked her.
“Of course not. There’s only one of me, although my girls are very pretty. They’re smart, too, and they know what questions to ask after a man has been...satisfied.” She sipped her drink, smiling at me like a cat staring at a bird.
“I can imagine. Where I’m from, those are called honeypots. I’m glad to see that some things never change.”
“Where are you from, Jack? It’s not here, or Kassos. I’ve heard the most amazing rumors about you, but none of them make any sense. Since Mira took you to bed, my girls were cut out of the loop,” she said. Her tone was all business, but her smile hinted at pleasure.
I considered my answer, then decided. Wetterick was a shithead, and Lady Silk was hardly a known quantity, but I knew I could do business with her. I trusted my instincts, finished my whiskey and leaned forward. If she listened, we could move on. If she didn’t, I lost nothing except the truth.
“In the year 2018, I entered an experiment that kept me in a metal tube until a few days ago, when Bel and Mira dug me out. I have no idea what year it is, or how long I’ve been asleep, or what the hell happened to my world, but here I am. In the days since my wakening, I’ve come to a few conclusions. Would you like to hear them?”
If she was surprised, she didn’t show it. I went on.
“Life went backward. Petty thugs hold power, and the Empty is a graveyard. Somehow, you’ve managed to carve out a life here, and that tells me a few things,” I said.
“Like what?” Her eyes were bright with interest.
“Why would a woman like you choose to live in a backwater, when the city is just over the horizon? Why would you run a whorehouse next to a pig like Wetterick, knowing that he is always scheming for a way to make you into his property?” I asked her.
“He could no more own me than he could satisfy one of my girls,” she replied.
“Poor Wetterick. He’s been kicked in the balls twice in two days, and he’s not even here to defend himself,” I said. Her laugh was musical, but I expected nothing less. She was perfect in every way.
She extended her legs, adding to the sense that she was a cat in human form. I knew she was a dangerous woman under the wrong circumstances. Like now.
After settling again, she answered, but not before licking her lips, and I considered how much of her erotic nature was for show, and how much was just because she was built to be that way. Probably a little of both.
“Kassos is on a path backward to a time when a woman like me would have precious little say in her own existence. I choose not to live like that.” The Lady spoke softly, but with confidence.
“Backward from this?” I asked, looking around. “No offense, you’ve built a bubble of comfort, but outside your walls? It’s a trading post. This is a whorehouse. Aside from a complete breakdown, how could Kassos go backward?” I was confused. Maybe she didn’t do well in the city, and this was her way of being free from the crush of humanity.
She held up her finger, pointing to the unseen city. “Where do you think all the trade goods end up?”
“Kassos, I’m sure of it. More money there,” I said. It seemed obvious, but I knew she was fishing. I answered and waited.
“Dozens of caravans, all digging, drilling, cutting. Every season, the desperate and stupid go deep into the Empty and find hints and echoes of something that was far greater than what you see here. A time when people lived like humans, not animals.” She snorted, and it was the first noise she’d made that wasn’t measured for effect. “We have become animals, thanks to the virus, and look what it left us. Scrabbling at the dirt to find things that might let us survive another season of dust storms, another raid...even another beast like Hardhead, risen up from the very stuff we’re made of.”
“Virus?” I asked. That was new to me. I sat up, both in body and mind.
She tilted her head, watching me. “Most of us don’t even know what the word means. It’s become something between legend and myth, but the effects are still all around us. You see it every day, even if you don’t understand. One day, you will.”
“How long ago did this virus hit?” I asked. Things were starting to come together in my head. I expected war to end the world, but not a virus. If it was artificial, then both of my assumptions were true. Biological weapons were the ultimate killer, and the Empty might be leftover from that battle.
The tube was looking like a sanctuary instead of a curse just then.
“I don’t know, but I can make some guesses. Through the years, I’ve collected some items that might hold the key to that question, but I don’t have the ability to use them. I figured I would eventually have to lure an expert from Kassos if I wanted answers to the questions that no one else seems to be asking. Where did the virus come from? Who was left? What did it do to us, and why are there survivors? Don’t you see? That’s why I sent for you, Jack.”
“You mean it wasn’t my rugged good looks?” I asked her. The laugh she gave me made the joke worth its weight in gold.
Dangerous, I thought again.
In answer, she rose to stand before me, putting a hand on my knee. Her touch was electric. “You can’t have me that way, Jack. At least not yet, because I have things I need, and the safety of my house comes first.” She leaned down, her hair breezing past me in a rush of roses. “You come second.”
“And third,” I told her, staring at her eyes. She smiled and sat back down, our mutual challenge noted.
“That’s fair. You’re a man of Hightec, though you walk like a killer and have the muscles of a wild man. My girls watched you. They said you were just when you didn’t have to be, and brutal when it was
needed. I like those qualities in a man.” She refilled our glasses in a smooth motion, crossing her legs again and waiting for me to counter her offer.
I was so taken by her physical perfection, I had to consider what the offer actually was, when it finally punched through the haze of her presence and came clear.
“Show me, and I’ll see what I can do,” I told her. To her credit, she didn’t even lift a brow in surprise.
When she made to stand, it was my turn to hold up a finger. “I wasn’t done.”
“Really? Plan on a lusty fuck here in the chair? A sample, if you will?” Her smile was lazy, her eyes narrow.
“Nothing like that, though I’m tempted. You’re used to having men spill their guts after your girls drain them of their good sense, but I’m a bit different.” When she fought a smile, I inclined my head her way. “I’m sure you’ve heard that a thousand times or more, but with me...let’s say my goals are different. A bit longer term, and I think we can help each other more than just a simple night breaking in the furniture in your house.” I held out my glass for another refill. Her whiskey was growing on me, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit drunk. Score one for the ‘bots. If they could prevent hangovers, I’d personally send every one of them a greeting card.
Her eyes went wide. Now we were getting somewhere.
“You have Hightec here, in this house?” I asked.
She hesitated for the briefest second, then nodded. “I do.”
“And you want to know if it still works?”
“Yes, as well as what it does. Can you do that?” she asked me. Her tone was more open than when we first began speaking. She was worried.
“Maybe. It’s what I did before—before I arrived here,” I told her.
“Then you’ll be getting answers as well. That seems like a mutually beneficial deal, Jack.” Her reply was cagey. She was going to try to flip me to her side, pay nothing, and walk away with unlocked questions that would help her in ways I couldn’t know, but her security would be the ultimate question, and that meant she needed answers about immediate threats.
I watched her closely before responding. “If I’m going to find a way to defend you against Taksa and his bitch, then you’re going to have to offer me something more than whiskey, Lady.”
To her credit again, she barely twitched, but it was enough. I’d hit the mark, and she let a breath trickle from her nose while she formed her answer. “Eventually, he’ll have enough people to take this place and I won’t go to Kassos. I belong to no one but myself.”
I knew there was a history there but let her keep the secret until she was ready to share it. Our own demons are just that—ours until we need to bring them into the light, where they can die.
“I won’t let that happen,” I told her. The conviction I felt was like iron in my blood. I believed it, and after a second, so did she.
“Senet does not leave anything alive in her wake, and Taksa wants the world changed to his dark tastes. He’ll bring slavery and death to a place where brutality is a daily way of life, and there will be no one left. Not a soul,” she said, her voice trailing off in a pained whisper.
“Before we crown him, let’s see what can be done, okay?” I asked her.
She smiled, but it was thin and forced. Even then she was still beautiful, and I felt the need to protect this woman from becoming a casualty in the Empty. There are people and things worth saving, no matter the cost.
“Can you move about freely here, in the post?” I asked her. I had a plan, but it would require less attention than Wetterick might give us if he knew we were working together.
“Of course. These are my people,” she said. It was fact, not her bragging. “Where and when?”
“This morning, later. House of the Sky. You bring the Hightec. What is it?” I asked, hoping it was an orbital cannon or anti-gravity, but I knew we hadn’t gotten that far after I went to sleep. At best, I expected a laptop or even an abandoned phone.
The Lady opened a small box she withdrew from a side table. “These.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed. In her hand was five external drives, small black objects with an embossed label I didn’t recognize. It was tech from past my time but still recognizable as a drive. It meant data, and a lot of it. Since any information was good, this was even better. In her hand, she held my future and her past, even if it was bullshit blogs or chat room backups. Drives were searchable, and that meant someone, somewhere had mentioned things that I needed to know. That the Lady needed to know.
The drives might be good. They might be corrupted. None of it mattered unless I could—
“They fit in this, correct?” she said, adding a small, unknown kind of laptop to the stack.
I barely breathed. It was just beyond hand sized, black, and had a flexible screen that was well beyond anything I’d seen. “Yes, they do.” I smiled at her, and she smiled back. “Lady, you’ve hit the jackpot.”
“Jackpot? Is that what you call it?” her eyes drifted over my crotch, which stirred at her gaze as surely as if it had been her hand. Dangerous.
My laugh broke free before I could stop myself. “No. That’s for later. A jackpot is a victory while gambling.”
“We’re not gambling, Jack. We’re looking for something, and I think it’s here. Don’t you?” she asked me.
“I’d bet on it. Bring them to me, quietly. I assume you have no means to power them, and that’s why you haven’t been able to use any of it?” If she couldn’t get solar cells, then that only left one way for me to do it. Brute force. It looked like Wetterick was about to have another very bad day.
“I concluded the deal for this Hightec just last night. Your addition to the post changed things, you might say.” She grinned. It was a young moment on her, and I liked it.
“Did the gentleman survive his negotiations?” I asked.
“Barely. Older fellow, he required the special attention of my best girls. I’m sure he’s fine now.” Her eyes said he would never forget the girls, just as she would never forget the deal.
“And you’re their queen,” I said, earning a flirtatious smile from the Lady.
“I see you’re capable of calculations as well. I am their queen, sister, and mother. I’m many things to them, including the woman who trained them in pleasing men, but none of that will matter if I’m dead. I need your help, and I’m willing to help you, Jack.”
“I need your help, too,” I said.
“Can you be specific, or are we still negotiating?” she asked me. It was only half-playful.
“We’re always negotiating, but I can be extremely specific. I’m going to need weapons, and not the kind that cut. I need guns, ammunition, and a source for gunpowder. I know they exist because guns would be relics without them, and that means some caravans trade war stuff. You deal in information. Along with the Hightec we’re going to crack, the cult we will smash, and anyone else in our way, I have to build a squad. Then, I’ll build an army, and maybe then, we can be safe.”
“Safe,” she said in a dreamy tone. “There’s a word I haven’t said in a while. I didn’t dare.” She shook her head as if waking. “Ask Lasser about powering the Hightec. He might have something hidden away. He’s a resourceful man and known to save things for later.”
“I will.” I stood, placing my glass on the table with care. “Thank you for the drink, Lady. I’ll see you when the sun’s up.”
“You won’t see me at all, Jack. Not until I’m standing next to you,” she said coyly. Her disguises must be excellent, but she forgot one detail.
I leaned close as if to kiss her, and she didn’t pull away. “Roses on the wind. I’ll know when you’re coming.”
Her laugh rang through the house. “If that happens, you’ll hear it first.”
16
Breakfast was warm bread from an unseen oven, the crust heavy with oil and salt. There was coffee, and water, and a berry that seemed sour until you chewed, when it burst into a flavor between sweet and
bitter. After a handful, I found myself full, sipping coffee with my legs crossed as I watched the post wake up outside the open doors.
“The Lady will be here soon, Lasser,” I remarked, watching him for any reaction. I suspected he knew much more than he let on, which was considerable.
“She came here in the night? Risky, given her position and Wetterick’s grudge. No doubt he’s plotting your demise even as we drink our coffee,” he said.
Mira grunted, smearing berries on bread without looking up. “Jack went to her. He was gone before dawn. I knew she’d send for him sooner than later.”
“You’re not the jealous type, Mira?” Lasser teased.
“I’m not jealous, and I have a nose. He smelled like whiskey and talk, not the Lady’s bed,” she said before finishing her bread.
“I wasn’t aware you knew what her bed smelled like. Dirty girl,” I told her, and she smiled before pouring more coffee.
“Roses. Everything in that house smells like roses if you can stand it.” She shuddered, then smiled again. “Not for me. I prefer the open desert, clean air.”
“You don’t like it here?” I asked her, waving around at our surroundings.
“Sure, but you smell like the desert, and the air in here smells like the sky. Much better than roses and old men grunting away to spill their seed and their secrets.” Mira was as practical as she was beautiful, a combination that made her even more likeable in my eyes.
“Speaking of secrets. Lasser, do you have access to a solar panel?” I asked him, changing the topic from thoughts of wrinkled men in the nude. Some things are best left alone.
“I have one, but it’s broken, or at least broken to me. You’re welcome to look at it and see if it’s of use,” he said. He pointed down a hall I hadn’t seen before. “Storeroom. Down there, I’ll open it and you’re welcome to use anything inside.”
“Anything?” I asked him.
He understood my intent. “There aren’t any guns, but if there were, you would be most welcome. I save things taken as payment, and over the years my collection has grown. I confess that many of the items are beyond my understanding, but the Empty is a place of mysteries, and many of them find their way here.”
Future Reborn Page 11
