Archon's Queen (53 page)

Anna mused over her past as she cleaned up and dressed. She felt bad for the man, but the guilt seemed distant now. Far away as if it had been a bad dream. Each time she reached for it to wallow in self-pity, she saw Faye smiling at her for saving her life.

Head held high, she emerged from the bathroom. Plonk sat on the couch, staring vacant at sportscaster commentary on a Frictionless match about to start.

“Oh, it’s Man-U vs. Arsenal. Can we stay a bit? Arsenal’s magic bastard Pryce is sidelined with an injury, we’re going to smash them.”

Anna’s run for the couch stalled on James’s Arm. “Catch it on the portable, Anna. We do not have the time.”

She flashed an insincere pout, and walked with him to the car. He held the door for her, closing it with a gentle touch once she had gathered her coat.

A musical jingle from her coat pocket broke the silence, becoming louder when she took it out and swiped at it. The face of Mr. Orange appeared with a trace of a smile.

“Pixie… I have some good news. Got about two dozen hunter-killers scouring the GlobeNet for that vid.”

“Um, all right. Thank you Nathan.” Anna cocked an eyebrow as he nodded and hung up, and then looked to her right. “Do you remember me asking him to fetch me a holo?”

Doctor Mardling’s index finger traced up and down over his smirk. “It escapes me. Probably nothing of consequence. I believe you may have asked him to destroy the security footage of you killing that Blake fellow.”

“Oh.” She scowled. “That grotty bastard. He deserved it for leaving me locked in that bloody cage overnight.”

“Yes… Indeed he did.”

old is an inadequate word for the floor Anna encountered the next morning in the cramped bedroom of a small house in the woods, South Snowdonia in County Gwynedd. Frigid approached the issue with more accuracy, though frozen was the closest.

“Gah! That’s fecking―”

The next word took the form of a shrieking leap back into the bed and a frantic scramble for something to put on her feet. She tried to rub feeling back into her toes through three layers of socks.

This place had no electrical connections, only a portable fubox thrumming on the back porch. A handful of lamps were, at the moment, all it had been connected to. The beautiful stone-paved floor was unfit to be trod upon barefoot this early in the morning.

Anna shuffled into the main room in an oversized shirt, panties, and boots. She went over to the pile of supplies James ordered and dragged a heater unit to the center of the room near three finger-thick cables entering under the back door. The wires glimmered with amber light, full of electricity. The interior of the vented black mechanism took on a deep orange glow as a bladeless fan got warm air moving.

She knelt in the stream of heat until the numbness left her bare legs. Still shivering, she fetched the food assembler from the stack of metal boxes. With a grunt, she managed to heft the ponderous machine, wobbled with it for two steps before she dropped it on the table, and slumped over it to catch her breath. The old wooden furniture creaked and slid several inches from the force of the device landing on it, but did not break.

The reassembler, made for camping, operated via internal power with an e-mag like an energy weapon. After some digging through the pile of stuff at the far side of the room, she found the OmniSoy tank and twisted it into place.

She set an empty plate inside the machine, dialed up some breakfast, and took a seat that made her squeal at the touch of cold wood. Clasping her hands over her mouth, she blew hot hair through her fingers while she waited.

At the center of the reassembler, a cloud of robotic arms the size of chopsticks came to life. Droplets of beige OmniSoy paste exuded from their tips as shimmering blue light formed an orb above the surface. The spider legs whirred about, faster and faster, pecking at the spot where food formed out of thin air.

Anna kept exhaling through her fingers as the device printed her breakfast, altering the atomic structure of the slime into eggs, ham, mushrooms, and gravy. Once complete, she pulled the plate out and attacked.

When she’d gotten halfway through eating, a tall woman with blonde hair down to her waist walked in the back door and glided to the sink, her pink satin robe scandalous in its shortness. The pattern of white flowers spread across in a diagonal line gave it an Oriental feel. Wet and barefoot, the sight of her made Anna feel colder in spite of the heating unit three feet to her right. She swallowed what was already in her mouth and cleared her throat.

“Um. Hello?”

The woman turned to look at her. Her skin had the white of new paper, and her eyes gleamed, corner to corner black in their sockets like onyx gems set into the head of a porcelain doll. An inch shy of six feet tall, her generous chest and curvy hips made Anna feel like an adolescent boy. The strange appearance of this woman startled Anna’s chair several inches to the rear.

The odd person laughed, offering a casual wave. “Hello, Anna. I’m Aurora.”

Anna squinted. “Stage name?”

“What?” Aurora cocked her head to the side, thinking. “Oh, no. I don’t do that. It’s actually Lauren, but I go by Aurora to protect my family.”

Anna could not help but stare at the woman’s wet feet and the trail of ice-prints leading to the back door. “Aren’t you freezing?”

Aurora took a large fruit from a box with Japanese markings and drifted to the sink, where she washed it with water from a pail. “The floor is warmer than the stream out back. It’s quite nice in here.”

“It’s positively Baltic out there! You went for a skinny in this?”

The white silhouette sat opposite her at the table. “It looks less ridiculous than wearing outdoor boots with a man’s shirt.” She bit into an enormous peach.

The girth of the thing stalled Anna’s train of thought. “What the devil is that?”

“A peach.”

“Obviously, but it’s as big as your head.”

Nibbling at it, Aurora spoke between bites. “The only hydroponics worth bothering with come out of the NSK. They have these giant artificial islands.”

Cupping her hands to her mouth, Anna exhaled to warm up. “Never heard of it.”

“Nippon Shōgyō-Kumiai, they control all of the commerce between Japan and the outside world. Since the country split into warring provinces, the NSK plays intermediary so they can continue to trade. If you’re going to buy fruit or vegetables and you don’t want reassembled, look for NSK.”

“You sound like an advert bot.” Anna giggled, pushing what was left of her food around the plate. “Well, who are you then?”

Aurora laughed with a haughty air and waved the colossal fruit at her. “Relax, dear. I’m only his friend. We work together. I think I’m a bit too odd looking for him to be honest.”

“You, um, do have a unique presence.”

“You can stare all you like. I don’t mind.”

She likes making people uncomfortable.

Eye contact lasted a minute. “You’re quite pretty. Thank you for making me feel less pale.”

Aurora smiled. “You sleep all day, come out at night, and it’s always raining in London. All you need is some sun. I’m stuck like this.”

“So what do you―”

“Do?” Aurora winked. “I’m a clairvoyant, and a spy.”

Anna froze, fork halfway between plate and mouth. It hit her now where she had heard this voice before. “Lord Thompson’s phone?”

“Good memory. Saw the blighter on the roof across the way about ten minutes before he shot at you. Truth be told, I didn’t expect the call would go through. You know, I’ve a habit of telling James where he can find Awakened. You must’ve had quite the uncertain life, girl. I never saw you coming.”

“Yeah…” Anna looked at her plate. “It’s been… far from fun. So you see the future?” She lowered the fork to the plate, uneaten. “Oh and, thanks for saving my life.”

“No bother at all.” Aurora paused to peck at the massive fruit. “Not all the time, and it’s not always so clear. The stronger the significance of an event, the more warning I get. You were a complete unknown to me at the time. It’s only because James had asked me to watch you that I saw it. I didn’t believe him at first when he said you were one of us.”

Anna resumed eating, feeling a warm presence spread through her at the idea he wanted to protect her. Quieted, she finished off her food and relaxed at the bright green leaking in through the windows. Deep within a grove of trees, the entire place held a pastoral calm that transcended time. If not for the portable technology, the scene could have been a thousand years ago.

Aurora eased back into her chair, putting a heel on the table and then crossing her other leg over it. “It is nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Yes… Does the stove work? Firewood? Wouldn’t mind some tea.”

She waved the peach at the ancient iron stove. “No wood chopped. There’s a hot plate in the oven.”

Anna got up, heading for the oven and dragging the portable cooker out. “So, how’d you two meet?”

“Part of his research with the university. Neither one of my parents were gifted. Mum worked off-Earth on a colony for a little while she was carrying me.”

Anna sighed at the lack of a faucet. Aurora pointed at the bucket of water. “Thanks. What, you’re part alien?”

They laughed.

“No… Who knows what happened. Space radiation, odd effect of gravity or jump travel.” Aurora gnawed on the peach. “For all I know, I could’ve come out like this if she pushed a broom in Manchester her whole life.”

Anna poured three bottles into the kettle. “Are they well?”

“Yes. CSB only arrested me. I think I was sixteen when they hauled me out in handcuffs, in front of the entire street.” Anna gave her a sorrowful stare. “They shut me away in some place like where you found your little friend. Course… I got out straight away. Got grabbed again. Escaped. They started keeping me in a drug-induced sleep.”

“That’s awful!” Anna switched on the hot plate and set teabags into cups. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, it’s hardly your fault. Mardling was working with the CSB as some kind of consultant. I still don’t know how he’d convinced them he had no ability.”

“I think we both know that.” Anna winked.

Once again, they laughed together.

“They brought me out of the coma, had me lashed hand and foot to a chair, blindfolded, with one of those damn headbands on. They couldn’t leave it on too long or I’d go nuts.”