“You’ve got him? In your tapper?”
“Sort of… Can I come over and explain?”
She sighed again and rubbed her face with the back of her hand. “I know I’m going to regret this… but yes. You can come over.”
“You still live in that apartment in the gray zone?”
“Apartment…? What? Oh, no,” she laughed, and she gave me the address. It was in a surprisingly swanky part of town.
When the autocab dropped me off, I rang her buzzer. She didn’t answer right away, so I really leaned on it. Sometimes these buttons were broken, or—
“James? I’m right here.”
I turned to see Floramel. She was tall, with long hair and an even longer neck. Besides being pretty, she was as smart as any six physics professors. I smiled to see her again.
“You’re still looking great, girl.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? Oh… yes, I’m a few years older.”
“You don’t look a day over thirty.”
Her face clouded for a moment. She’d left the legions, and she hadn’t died since Etta had murdered her. That was years back, so she’d done a little aging. It was nothing to worry about, from my point of view—but then, I wasn’t a woman.
“Come in,” she said, and she opened the metal gate. I slid inside and followed her into her townhome.
It was pretty nice inside. Everything was new, and every component of the house was always talking to you. I hated that, but I pretended to be impressed.
Floramel got us both some coffee, and the dawn was pinking the horizon outside. I sat in the middle of her couch, and she sat opposite me looking kind of wary.
“Tell me the story,” she said.
“I don’t know if I should. It’s kind of top-secret, you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “I direct top secret projects you’ve never heard of, James. Just tell me.”
“Yeah… okay. I was out at Rigel, see, a few months back—”
“Out at Rigel? Are you kidding?”
I squirmed a little. “See? I told you there are things happening you don’t know about yet.”
“Okay, okay, just tell me. What was Raash doing at Rigel? How did he die?”
I looked uncomfortable, because I was. I didn’t really have an angle to play, here. I mean, if she didn’t want Raash to breathe again, it really wasn’t my call to make. I decided to tell her the truth, not fool around with some cock-and-bull story, as it didn’t matter to me what she thought.
“Here it is… and it’s not good. Raash was working with Armel out at Rigel. You know, where he’s running that legion of lizards?”
“I… I’d heard something about that—but it’s saurians, James. You really must remember to use that term. It’s much more polite.”
“Yeah, well, whatever.”
“In any case, I recall that you met up with Armel during the Glass World campaign, didn’t you? And again at Edge World, where he was fighting in the service of the Skay?”
“That’s right. He’s been enforcing Skay Law out there in the neighboring provinces. Anyways, he’s tired of that, and he’s trying to get back to Earth.”
She laughed and almost spilled her coffee. “Good luck to him, everyone here hates him. What was Raash doing with that outfit of renegades?”
“As you know, he’s an expert at reviving large creatures—and running aliens through the machines in general. As you might imagine, his skills are rare, but not in all that much demand. Except for people who have a legion of large aliens…”
Floramel stared at me for a few moments. She seemed stunned. “Raash is working for Armel… that’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?” She put her coffee down, put her head in her hands and massaged her temples.
“You okay?” I asked.
“No. I can already guess the rest of it. You were on some commando mission—although I’m surprised I heard nothing of it—and you ran into Raash. He recognized you, then you two fought like you always do… and now, he’s dead.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much the story.”
“This is awful, James. Raash made a huge mistake. But won’t they revive him on Rigel? I mean, if he’s one of theirs now…?”
I winced. “There’s one more detail, see. He didn’t die cleanly on Rigel. He ported out with me—holding onto me, as a matter of fact.”
Floramel stood tall and aimed a long finger at me. “You took him for a death-ride? That’s evil!”
“It wasn’t my idea, girl! He latched onto me, like a chimp holding onto its mama, and I had to push the button to escape. It wasn’t like I planned it.”
“Right…” she said, regaining control of herself. She sat back down. “So… he’s as good as permed, isn’t he? He has no body to be found at Rigel, and no body here on Earth… The Skay don’t allow people in their service to be revived without certainty of death any more than we do.”
“That’s right. He’s permed as of this moment. That’s why I came to you.”
“I don’t have a revival machine in my pocket, James.”
“No, of course not. But you do have pull. You’re a big cheese at Central. Surely, you can get someone to do you a favor, right?”
She squinted at me. “No, I can’t. I don’t play that way. I’m not Turov. I do things by the book. I would like to help, but I don’t know how I could.”
“Huh… that’s a damned shame. I guess I’m wasting our time. Sorry.”
Floramel was studying her lush carpet, but I could tell she wasn’t seeing it. She was thinking hard. Just in case, I shut the hell up. Maybe she could come up with something she found acceptable.
At last, her eyes lifted again to meet mine. They were red-rimmed. Could she be crying? Over a frigging lizard? Sheesh. She’d
