Shadowkill

4

She stripped the dress off, threw it on the bed. “We’re in, Kuna. I’m having lunch with Jao tomorrow. I have a feeling he’s going to offer the invitation then.”

Kikun was curled into a tight ball. His skin fell looser by the day, his bones were starting to show. “Soon enough,” he said. His voice was dull, dragging.

“You all right, Kuna?”

“No, I’m not all right. I’m tired, Rose. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. I need things I can’t get here.”

The words came to her as sighs puffing through the flicker of the candlelight; she had to strain to hear them. She pulled the woolly robe around her, irritated by his limpness. She’d come home high and happy and he’d gloomed her down till she was low as the rug. She couldn’t do this thing without him, not the way it was set up, but more than ever she regretted not being on her own. She sat on the bed and began taking down her hair. “It’s almost over, Kuna. Tell me what you got from the office.”

He muttered words she couldn’t hear, uncoiled and sat with his legs dangling, his hands clutching the edge of the seat. “I picked up two more passkeys. Wrote them down, they’re on the table. I don’t see any pattern in his keys, I think he’s using private symbols translated through the local ideograms. Not numbers. Gestalt of some kind. Probably interlocking gestalts. Ideograms lend themselves to that sort of thing. You’d probably find it simple-minded. It works for him, lets his women get what they need to run the business for him, keeps the rest private. Gaagi…” he blinked and looked unhappy, a small gray-green manlizard sinking into wrinkles. “Gaagi decided to show, he says the machine is trapped, push it wrong and the whole building goes boom.”

“Lovely. Hmm. If I can get in, pull the data without bringing the house on my head, I’ll have the Shimmery for refuge, three days, that’s how long Topenga Vagnag takes. I’ll be sleeping there, won’t go out till the Game’s over. That’ll give you a chance to rest, if you can hang on till then. After you get a look at the Players.” She pulled the dozens of fine plaits apart, dropped the pins and clasps on the quilt beside her, working quickly, impatiently, ignoring the sharp little pains when she pulled too hard. “I need you hot and ready to go when it’s time to get away. This is going to be tricky, Kuna. Hadluk and Pulleet will do their best to put me down, types like that always get greedy, want it all, and the other Players will be… hmm… shall we say MOST unhappy. And one of them’s going to be the High Vaar. They say they want a good game, what they mean is they want to win. Mmm, we can’t come back here, not after the Game. We should have everything we don’t want to abandon packed and ready to shift before I go. When you have a moment, Kuna, see if you can locate us a tractor, that’s about the fastest way out of town, we need to get close to where the miniskips are before anyone wakes up to the fact that we’re gone. About milking that kephalos the night before the Game… hmm… impossible to do it without traces… you think you could get me something that would make Sai think it was lice nosing into his business? Insignia or something I could leave lying in some inconspicuous spot? I should have the timeline set after my lunch with Jao. Then we’ll know where we are.” She thrust her fingers through her hair, combing out the worst of the kinks. “Bath. Goerta b’rite, I NEED a bath.”

“How much did you get tonight?”

“I don’t know. All they had, I didn’t bother counting it.”

“You are odd, Rose. I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“Why? Because I don’t give a damn about money?” She shrugged, got to her feet. “I can always get money. It’s other things that don’t come when you whistle.” She made a face, collected the towel and facecloth and coins for the heater slot. “You want me to run water for you when I’m finished?”

“Please.”