IceFlight Page 24

Darsey dangled like a kitten, swinging in the grip of a huge and hairy mutt, while muck ran down her body and plopped onto white tiles beneath.

  “Luck above,” a high, thin voice cried behind her and she tried to turn, but failed. Instead she watched Wing lever himself from the shaft. He looked like a mud man and layers of his dirty hide rippled to the floor, to pool at his feet.

  “Disgraceful,” the stranger behind Darsey whinnied. “Beyond disgusting. Remove these stinking borraj at once.”

  Wing wiped a caked hand over his mouth to no effect. He spat instead and there was an outraged gargle from whoever stood behind Darsey. “At once.”

  The mutt still holding her turned ponderously to face his master, while she swung and dripped and struggled to control her com. Aggression surged through her to make every muscle tense. It would be so easy to kick the hairy hulk right where she knew it would hurt. A lot.

  Darsey was saved from her baser instincts by a hand closing on her wrist. Wing clutched the hidden band of her com and she released it to him with regret and relief. She instantly sagged further, while the mutt’s grip on her neck became a ring of iron. She gasped and clutched at her captor’s fingers, but the thick hair matted over them stopped her from digging in her nails. She tried to feel her legs enough to kick up and back. It was impossible to breathe and all she could see were stars and grit. An unexpected voice, deep and filled with authority, stopped her struggles.

  “Release her now.”

  The mutt flinched and the vice round Darsey’s throat snapped open. “Sorry, sah. So sorry.” The creature ducked his head until his beard brushed her filthy face.

  Darsey shuddered before twisting away on all fours to face the person who had saved her.

  It was Nightwing, although the commanding tone he had used was very different to his normal voice. He was staring past her, his face as hard and set as a clay mask. “Take us to the auction.” His expression was impossible to read through the drying muck, but his voice was clear and sure.

  The mutt dipped lower beside Darsey, but an outraged splutter at her back made her rise and spin again.

  A tall mermaridian looked haughtily past her. Silver haired and dressed in robes of chrome he was dazzling, even in the muted light. She blinked and tried to see past the stranger, but he gave her no chance.

  “What have you done?” he demanded in a shaking voice and strode forward to stand over Darsey.

  She tried to wipe the setting filth from her face, but her hand was just as dirty and she was left blinking against slime. She abruptly realized how they must appear to this mermaridian. Dishevelled beyond mere dirt, covered in mud with their clothing torn, they must have looked worse than beggars. She was unsure how to answer his question, but Wing intervened.

  “We’re here to sell.” His voice was as deep and composed as before, but the mermaridian turned on him with vicious disbelief.

  “I am Auctioneer Min-yung and if such as you were selling I would know.” His lips creased disdainfully. “You’d not make base market grade, much less Premier. If you wish to sell, I suggest the Rim. I’m waiting for new clients, or I’d see you sent to the Rim pits myself. That would fit your arrogance and your desecration of our waterfall.” He looked solicitously toward the now silent curtain of water behind them, while Nightwing spluttered out more muck.

  “It’s decorative, not sacred,” the kres protested, “and we’ve com codes to pass, because we truly are expected. This is Darsey and her people are a new-found species.”

  The auctioneer’s face collapsed in horror and he spun back to Darsey. “No. No, no, no.” He had to force his words through lips puckered by distress. “This… this is the exotic female promised by that borraj Greon? Luck it, luck it, drakking luck. This is disaster. What to do? What course, what course? I’m under the gaze of the prime auctioneer… and all the credit I authorised to spend on advertising… on raising a buyers’ bench so fast- arrggh.” He closed gray eyes, presumably to cut off the wretched sight before him. “Tragedy. Total tragedy. Where was my Luck when I agreed to such a deal all unseen?” His voice rose to a wail and he seemed to hear himself clearly for the first time. He straightened and opened his eyes, taking a depth breath before lunging at Darsey.

  “Hey,” Wing protested, but the mermaridian ignored him to grab his merchandise by the arm. He pulled hard with com-enhanced strength and was equally oblivious to her pained cry, muttering to himself in an effort to stay calm.

  “All right, all right, any-all right. Relax, relax, and easy-now.” He raised his hand and swiped his wrist carefully over Darsey’s forehead.

  His com field felt warm when it swept across her eyes, moving back and forth to compress the filth, before the auctioneer stopped cleansing to grasp her chin. He held it hard in a grip reminiscent of Greon’s first inspection. “They are blue,” he snapped, then closed his own eyes and sagged. “Blue eyes should salvage some price. Come.” He turned away from Darsey with an imperious gesture that ordered her to follow him. He ignored Wing, who stepped to Darsey’s side and took her hand. He squeezed it reassuringly, before letting go to try to straighten his tunic.

  Darsey shook her head at his efforts and he grimaced in response, before lifting his com to her face. Warmth swept over her skin again and the sense of weight plastered against her face disappeared. She sighed and found a smile for her companion, who quickly repeated the cleansing of his own features. They studied each other solemnly, until Wing gestured that they should follow Min-yung. The auctioneer was already some distance ahead, but when they turned after him, they both froze to stare at a world of unexpected beauty and chill radiance.

  They had reached the very tip of the crystal pyramid where the waterfall plummeted from its highest point to fall through the centre of every level. It filled the air with a shining spray, and threw rainbows across the white flagstones around it. They stood together, too awed to notice anything beyond that strangely silent curtain of water. They could hear it falling, but the sound was much more muted than before.

  “Wow,” Darsey whispered, and started to shiver. The bright air was damp against her uncommed skin.

  “Quick, quick,” the auctioneer called, reappearing from the eye-straining brilliance. He beckoned impatiently, but then stopped, staring blankly at Darsey. He moved closer and a forefinger started to nod with increasing enthusiasm. “Yes, yes, yes. Yes. We can do something with this. Certain-sure. Turn.” He stopped expectantly and Darsey glared at him. “Turn turn. Hurry on. Is she un-witted? Turn, girl.”

  However, she planted her feet firmly in place and Wing stepped to her side when Min-yung’s expression darkened.

  “Auctioneer-” he began soothingly, but was interrupted by an outraged hiss when the mermaridian looked at his clean face for the first time.

  “Kres? Kres? A drakking kres? Where is Greon’s thought to send a kres? Your kind cause full alert at all times. We only see kres in person when you raid our auctions. Your smug species has been trying to eradicate our business for centuries. That’s why the waterfall tried to cleanse you. Your Leader should have expected such. He lacks all intelligence.”

  “Agreed,” Wing said bluntly, locking eyes with Min-yung, who hesitated, before sneering and turning away.

  “Follow.”

  He moved off again, but more sedately this time, and the pair managed to keep pace. Wing took the opportunity to drape his com field around Darsey and it settled against her skin as a gentle warmth, but she hardly noticed its comfort. She was too busy squinting against the rainbow haze surrounding them in an effort to see. There were definitely people nearby, but their dim shapes were almost lost within the liquid light. Several distant figures were moving in the same direction, but they remained indistinct. Only the cool white tiles, beaded with water and fringed with frost, were clear beneath her feet.

  Silent and awed, she followed Min-yung deeper into the light. The auctioneer was moving faster now and the air ahead of him was more eye-twisting than ever. It sh
immered so fiercely that Darsey felt tears on her cheeks and almost missed his disappearance. He was walking ahead of her, then the air seemed to solidify around him and he was gone.

  “What?” Darsey wondered, but Wing continued on without hesitation.

  “Security field,” he said succinctly and they both followed the auctioneer.

  The air around Darsey seemed to thicken and resist her progress. There was a cloying scent and a touch of slime against her bare skin, but then they were through. An ancient stone door appeared, shockingly dark and solid in the eldritch light ahead. There was a subdued whirr as both matter and energy locks disengaged. The door opened ponderously, its metre thickness reluctant to swing toward them. The three of them stepped through together and the door closed with unexpected speed, slamming shut behind them.

  Darsey jumped, stepping away from Wing, and that was all it took to separate them. They were in a room packed with people hurrying in all directions, and Darsey was swept into their mass, caught up by a crowd of tall figures. She tried to resist the movement, twisting to look back, but she was part of the throng. Large hands gripped her elbows and someone roughly twisted her arm in order to scan her wrist.

  “Look-” she began, but her captors seemed satisfied by their com results and ignored the complaints of their merchandise.

  One gripped her around the waist and casually tossed her further into the room. She flew over a sea of heads and a distant mutt looked up, turning just in time to catch her. He plucked her from the air with the ease of long practice and carefully checked her energy tag.

  “Lot twenty-seven dash thirty-ah… five ’n two.”

  Darsey was abruptly lifted to mutt shoulder height and passed purposefully down the length of the room. Hurrying mermaridian scarcely paused when they moved her along, tossing her rapidly across the chamber.

  “Hey,” she protested uselessly while she bounced from hand to hand. “No crowd surfing. Let me do-own.” Her last word became a cry when her trip abruptly ended.

  She was dropped into a group of waiting workers. She landed with jarring force, but managed to stay on her feet while they gathered around her in instant inspection. They were shorter than the mutt, but still taller than Darsey. She looked around desperately for Wing, but it was impossible to see past the people plucking at her clothes.

  “What dross,” one examiner stated in tactless appraisal. “We should’ve had this lot for a week’s conditioning. It looks like she’s been run wild.”

  “She was brought in by a kres,” another whispered loudly, and the five dressers exchanged shocked glances. “Best check for parasites.”

  Someone tugging at Darsey’s sleeve tittered and she swore loudly in response.

  “Ooh,” another commented. “Foul in and out.” He was rummaging in the remains of her tunic and Darsey realized he was trying to unseal the garment.

  “Hey.” Darsey’s protest was loud enough to make her dressers hesitate and everyone nearby stop, if only briefly. “Don’t touch me,” she added with glacial clarity, and the figures around her were clearly nonplussed. Darsey pulled the tattered remnants of her clothes close again, with all of the dignity she could muster. However, her moment of control was brief.

  A soft but surprisingly strong hand gripped Darsey’s upper arm and Min-yung jerked her to his side. She glared up at him, but he was unmoved by her enmity. “Away,” he ordered, and flapped a hand at the hovering staff. “You can groom after scan-in. I want something unique in this one’s presentation, so get designing.”

  The dressers assigned to Darsey ducked their heads in acknowledgement and quickly disappeared into the crowd. However, she had no time for relief, because Min-yung dragged her in the opposite direction. She yelped and tried to find her feet, but succeeded only when they stopped. They were close to a wall and there was room to stand without being jostled. Ahead of them was a dark cubicle and Darsey swallowed hard at the sight of it.

  “In,” Min-yung ordered, and shoved her roughly at the waiting hole.

  Darsey twisted in an effort to avoid it, but another push sent her staggering in and she was suddenly falling into glue. The air dragged her in before thickening around her. It curdled so fast that she was held tight before she could do more than half turn to face the way out. She was suddenly trapped, a bug in amber, unable to move. She had a brief, peripheral view of Min-yung before her universe went black.

  For a moment Darsey thought she had fainted, before realising she was still aware, but utterly deprived of sensory input. She could see and hear and feel nothing. Not her own breathing, not even her own heartbeat. Whatever was happening to her body, she was completely unaware of it.

  Darsey held on hard against sudden nausea. Her greatest horror was to be out of control and the thought of what might be done to her without her consent, or even her knowledge, made her ill. Holding on to herself and her sanity, without any physical sense of self, was harder than she would ever have thought. She searched for calm, but real relief came from another source.

  Darsey, you’re kay. The thought was faint, but clear and her brain seized it with delight.

  Wing?

  Ye, you’re good, promise. It’s just scan-adapt. Relax.

  Relax? Get me out, please please please... Darsey’s emotions escaped with a surge and, as they did, the world returned. The first person she saw was Nightwing, pressed flat against the front of her cubicle as if he was embracing it. Their eyes met for a single relieved second and he had time to smile before her mind exploded. Her world vanished again, this time in an onslaught of light and sound. She threw her head back, despite the gel holding her, and screamed. Her throat was raw from the force of that cry, but she never heard it. All normal noise was drowned out by a sensory cacophony.

  Darsey shook beneath an onslaught of strobing colors and a barrage of sound. Fire exploded along every nerve when her sense of touch was violated too. The pain was so intense she was sure she would die. It grew until she wished she could die. She had no idea how to endure it, and then everything stopped. There was a sudden, complete release. The agony disappeared. Her body tried to sag, but it was still held upright by an invisible field.

  Someone else was also being held upright by her scanner. A surprisingly short mermaridian was crushed against its front face, his heels and elbows digging into its apparently gelatinous surface. The back of his head was only a hand span from Darsey’s face and his blond hair was forced even closer while she watched. She wondered why the mermaridian’s head was at such an awkward angle and then saw the gold-skinned fist jammed under his chin.

  “Wing,” Darsey croaked, and he looked quickly around his captive’s head to check that she was safe. She managed a faint smile and he returned his attention to his prisoner.

  “Never do such again,” the kres snarled, and ground his charged com against his captive’s throat in emphasis. “You hear, tek? Damage my merchandise and I’ll take the loss from you.”

  “Where do you find affront?” Min-yung demanded wide eyed. He moved to stand beside Nightwing and the tek made a small, desperate noise, but his superior ignored him. “There’s no cause for fuss, kres. Even deep-scan will leave no permanent damage.”

  “I’m not convinced.”

  Min-yung pursed his lips and muttered something about “the stubborn stupidity of non-slaving species”. His eyes glinted warningly when he moved to his technician’s side. “Get convinced,” he suggested, “I’ve got potential buyers waiting for the results of this scan and no time to call in another senior tek.”

  “All-well,” Wing agreed more calmly. “Such is possible. Let me read this one’s mind.”

  There was a strangled cry from the tek in his grip and the mermaridian started to struggle, reaching out wildly in an effort to grasp Min-yung. “No, please no. Master, Lord, I beg you-”

  Min-yung seemed unmoved and his lips pursed in apparent distaste at such a display. “Alright. Ream him as you wish.”

  “No. P-please, Lor
d Kres…”

  However, Wing ignored the tek’s distress as completely as Min-yung. The kres’ left frond snaked out to wind around the tek’s temples. The hapless subordinate’s plea was cut short. He spasmed once against the scanner, but then froze. He was still splayed against it and although his throat was free, his head remained thrown back. Several seconds passed without further sounds or struggles.

  Darsey watched the communion with horrified fascination. Min-yung studied it just as closely and could not suppress a shudder at the mental violation.

  Their tableau was broken by a harsh laugh from Wing. He abruptly pushed away his shaking captive and the tek tottered to one side before falling to his knees. The kres staggered backwards too, as though equally eager to put distance between them.

  “That was nothing like kres rehab,” he spat at his victim, presumably in answer to an unspoken protest. “None-such at all. That was sweetness and care.” Despite the denial, Wing was trembling, but he tried to hide it by turning angrily on Min-yung. “That was all a trick. His thoughts are lies. They must be.”

  The auctioneer remained expressionless, but even Darsey could sense his sudden excitement. “This one lied to you?” he demanded. “Is it possible to deceive fronds?”

  “You’ve found some way,” Wing accused, and Min-yung sighed, a noisy exhalation of both air and false hope.

  “We’ve done none-such. Why the accusation?”

  Wing frowned heavily and turned back to the tek. “This one believes that kres buy at auction. At this auction. His honest thought is that kres buy slaves.” His indignation was too great for further words and he swung back to Min-yung, as if daring him to support such an outrageous claim.

  The auctioneer yawned instead. His upper lip creased, pulling back from sharp, silver teeth, and he grinned around the yawn. The gesture lasted long enough to convey clear disdain and then he turned away from the angry kres. “Have you enough to catalogue her synaptic responses?” he asked the tek.

  His subordinate had managed to find his feet again and croaked “Ye,” without hesitation. His hands moved unsteadily through his display and Darsey was infused with a new warmth. It grew as the scanning resumed, but never got worse than a goosebump inducing tingle. She hardly noticed the sensation while she stood suspended, hoping for an answer to Wing’s accusation.

  “It’s not truth,” the kres stated flatly, but Min-yung merely raised his eyebrows in unconcerned amusement.

  “Think as you wish, I care little, but your faith is foolish. Some of your most-highs have bought here. In truth…’” Min-yung leaned forward delightedly and any protest Wing might have made was stopped by the auctioneer’s smug certainty. “In truth, the first of all kres is a most honored client. Yes, that holds no surprise for you. You know such as this…” He gestured to Darsey, “would be of interest to your Arck. Your royals have some tastes… some adventurous tastes that are best served here. Slaves tell no tales and they never refuse.”

  Wing’s expression was stricken, even though he shook his hand in a firm negative. He avoided eye contact with the mermaridian and turned to Darsey instead. She was almost as horrified as he was and her dream of running to the kres vanished, despite his attempt at a more reassuring expression. Clearly the empire’s leaders were just as likely to sell or imprison her as anyone else in this insane universe. She tried to look unmoved, but felt her jaw tighten against the viscous air and Wing’s lips clamped hard together in response. He stepped close to the scanning cubicle again. So close that its strange surface deformed against him.

  “Darsey,” he said urgently, but there was a strange hollowness in his voice. “Keep hope.”

  Hope, her mind demanded incredulously, but, if Nightwing sensed the thought, he made no response. Instead, he turned away and stepped into the ceaseless flow of mermaridian without a backward glance. He slipped between two massive individuals and was gone. Darsey swallowed and closed her eyes, the only two motions left to her. The bustle of the crowd hummed around her and so did the renewed scan.

  Waves of energy pulsed gently through her body and sensations of heat and cold washed with them. Darsey started to shiver after one passed, but was instantly hit by an attack of pins and needles. The aggravating sensation disappeared almost immediately and she realized that the tek was still taking Nightwing’s threat very seriously.

  Min-yung tapped an impatient foot, but his subordinate continued at a careful pace. The strange energies passed through her body at much lower settings and she scarcely felt them. Min-yung cleared his throat warningly and there was a final, frantic burst of sensation before all input vanished.

  Darsey’s world went blank again and she was alone once more, trapped by sensory deprivation. However, she was prepared this time and had her panic under tight control. She held firmly to her sense of self, wrapping it around her as snugly as if it was her body. She made herself relax and the nothing passed more quickly than she had feared. The outside world returned with a rush of sound and light.

  The first thing Darsey saw was Min-yung’s face, and her body tried to shudder in response, but remained quite still. It was a dead thing, embalmed in alien energy and still beyond her control. Her peripheral vision caught the tek moving his hands in her direction, but she was unable to look his way. Her eyes were now as frozen as the rest of her. Her senses seemed to be fading as well. The surrounding sounds were still present, but increasingly muted. Even the tek’s high-pitched defense of his scan to Min-yung was hard to hear. His voice was distant and bemused.

  “It is complete, Master, but still very strange. Her cells are porous, most porous. They’ve no cell wall, just a membrane that absorbs in odd ways. There are traces of exotic matter. Impossible I know, but I’ve triple checked and it’s there. Exotic matter within her cells-”

  Min-yung silenced him with a slash of his com. The tek choked and his words were lost in phlegm.

  The auctioneer sniffed with satisfaction. “No need to talk loud of differences we can little explain. Will she swell if it rains? Will she bloat when wet? No? Then all’s good. Delete such details and give me full control.”

  The tek bowed his head and moved out of Darsey’s peripheral vision. Min-yung returned to watching her, standing close to the front of her cubicle. She tried to glare back, but even the smallest of motions was stopped by the surrounding glue that still held her close. Her skin grew chilly and then numb when that energy sank into her. The restraint field felt as though it was congealing on her skin, before tightening to slip past her physical defenses. It wrapped her in cotton wool, then slid deeper still, absorbing all input until only faint echoes of her surroundings reached her brain.

  Darsey tried to ignore Min-yung’s dimly heard order to move forward, but her body obeyed promptly. She stepped from the cubicle and stopped before the mermaridian. “Smile,” he ordered confidently, and she did, although inside her mind was screaming.

  She was helpless and horrified when her body moved obediently after the mermaridian. She followed him back into the crowd as if in a trance, stepping close behind and dancing through the gaps between workers as if she had been sold many times before. They worked their way back across the chamber and eventually stopped before a close-knit group clustered around a plinth. The circle opened to let them enter and Darsey stepped numbly forward and onto the dais at their centre.

  She stood straight and apparently unconcerned while her official dressers started their work. They were quick and practised and irresistible. All Darsey could do was rail at them mentally. Her unheard curses and elaborate threats were her only distraction from the casual invasiveness of her pre-sale preparation. A trio of low-level staff finished stripping and cleansing her while their superiors argued over effective accessories.

  “No,” one wailed loudly enough to claim Darsey’s swaddled attention. “We want erotic and exotic, not Rim whore. Think true-quality. Like this…”

  Darsey blanked out his further description with some unlikely specul
ation about his parentage. She should have been shaking with rage, but her body remained perfectly composed. It bent and turned compliantly to be wrapped in scraps of dark blue silk, held together by glittering golden strands. The lowest swathe of cloth settled snugly around her hips and was gathered on the right by a gold clasp. The silk split from that point to leave her right leg as bare as her back. The expensive dilmah hugged her close, before reaching the ground in ripples that pooled behind her. She turned and smiled while her unresisting limbs accepted bangles and jewels. The final touches were made all too soon, when her hair was swept across to one side and a makeup glamour dusted into place.

  Darsey’s transformation was complete and her pack of dressers stepped back against the press of the crowd to study the result. She longed to punch every smugly satisfied face in front of her, but instead she obediently twirled to show off her finery. It was the final indignity and pushed her past rage. Her mind was ice cold and completely clear when she spun back to a halt. She found unexpected control in that chill calm and lifted her gaze above her tormentors.

  The kres was gone.

  Darsey managed to raise a hand to cover her eyes and kept it there. How could she have been so stupid? She should never have trusted him. The guy wasn’t her big brother and he certainly wasn’t something more. He wasn’t even a guy. He was a sulky alien and she had just been dumped. She had no idea why she was so sure of that, but she knew soul deep that Wing wasn’t coming back. She had no Plan B and she was all alone.

  Panic threatened, making Darsey’s stomach clench, until she remembered there was still one person she could rely on. The only person she could rely on. Herself.