me.”
The guard hands Ki a brush, but addresses the king. “The less said in there, the better. You’re not here for small talk. You two aren’t pals. He’s going to evaluate the product, and if he likes what he sees, he will pay you, and then you will turn around and leave. That’s it. Don’t ask him about his day. Don’t ask him what his favorite team is, or what he thinks the stock market is going to do. Right now, you’re just a delivery boy. Understand?”
“I’m not an idiot,” the king says.
“That wasn’t the question. The question was whether you understand what I just told you.”
The king takes a moment to compose himself before he responds. “Yes.”
Ki is finished with the brush and hands it back to the guard. The guard leans into the lavatory and secures the brush in a pocket beside the basin. The boarding ramp has been withdrawn, and Ki watches the guard from behind as he carefully extends himself out over the runway and reaches for the tether dangling from the hatch. His feet are on the edge of the opening and Ki sees that it is only the grip of one hand on one small rail that keeps the man inside the plane. She looks at the king and then back at the guard as he pulls the heavy hatch closed and seals it.
“I’m not going to search you,” he says as he seals the door, “because you couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to be carrying a weapon. Right?”
“People like me don’t carry weapons,” the king says. “That’s why we hire people like you.”
The guard looks down at the king through his wide tinted glasses. His hair is barely long enough to be called stubble, though he does not appear to be balding. The king is significantly smaller than the guard, but he is unmoved beneath the larger man’s glare.
“And it’s a very good thing for you that you do,” the guard says. “Through there. All the way back.”
There is a single button beside an intricate wooden door whose interlocking triangular panels come from multiple species of trees with grains of differing characteristics. The guard leans around the king to reach the button and the door slides noiselessly to the side. The king waits for Ki to enter first.
The conference room is empty. Dark plush leather chairs are arranged around a table with an active surface on which some sort of heat map of the world is currently displayed. Whatever the map is quantifying, there seems to be more of it in West and Central Africa than in the rest of the world. The door slides closed behind them, and Ki is not sure whether the action was automatic or initiated by the guard. There is a similar door ahead and the king steps around Ki to touch the button.
The rest of the plane is a single long and surprisingly wide compartment. There are islands of blond leather chairs around tables with active displays. The back of the plane ends in a glass staircase leading up to a second level, and beside it is a man sitting on an L-shaped couch with anold leather book in his lap. The various screens along the walls show the same map as the display in the conference room. The floor is slightly translucent, and Ki can see several vehicles parked end-to-end below them. One reflects several points of light from an abundance of highly polished chrome; one is sleek and angular and an angry shade of red; and at least one is heavily armored and openly weaponized.
Ki is surprised to see that there is another girl on the plane. Her legs are folded beneath her in a big reclining chair, and she is playing a puzzle game on the interactive surface in front of her. Before Ki looks away, she sees that the girl appears older than she is, with long red hair, creamy skin, cool blue eyes, and full red lips.
The man in the back of the plane closes his book and leaves it on the table in front of him as he stands. The leather-bound volume is an anachronism among the glass surfaces and active displays around them. Ki glimpses the Vs and Rs and Ks of a Russian name
The guard hands Ki a brush, but addresses the king. “The less said in there, the better. You’re not here for small talk. You two aren’t pals. He’s going to evaluate the product, and if he likes what he sees, he will pay you, and then you will turn around and leave. That’s it. Don’t ask him about his day. Don’t ask him what his favorite team is, or what he thinks the stock market is going to do. Right now, you’re just a delivery boy. Understand?”
“I’m not an idiot,” the king says.
“That wasn’t the question. The question was whether you understand what I just told you.”
The king takes a moment to compose himself before he responds. “Yes.”
Ki is finished with the brush and hands it back to the guard. The guard leans into the lavatory and secures the brush in a pocket beside the basin. The boarding ramp has been withdrawn, and Ki watches the guard from behind as he carefully extends himself out over the runway and reaches for the tether dangling from the hatch. His feet are on the edge of the opening and Ki sees that it is only the grip of one hand on one small rail that keeps the man inside the plane. She looks at the king and then back at the guard as he pulls the heavy hatch closed and seals it.
“I’m not going to search you,” he says as he seals the door, “because you couldn’t possibly be stupid enough to be carrying a weapon. Right?”
“People like me don’t carry weapons,” the king says. “That’s why we hire people like you.”
The guard looks down at the king through his wide tinted glasses. His hair is barely long enough to be called stubble, though he does not appear to be balding. The king is significantly smaller than the guard, but he is unmoved beneath the larger man’s glare.
“And it’s a very good thing for you that you do,” the guard says. “Through there. All the way back.”
There is a single button beside an intricate wooden door whose interlocking triangular panels come from multiple species of trees with grains of differing characteristics. The guard leans around the king to reach the button and the door slides noiselessly to the side. The king waits for Ki to enter first.
The conference room is empty. Dark plush leather chairs are arranged around a table with an active surface on which some sort of heat map of the world is currently displayed. Whatever the map is quantifying, there seems to be more of it in West and Central Africa than in the rest of the world. The door slides closed behind them, and Ki is not sure whether the action was automatic or initiated by the guard. There is a similar door ahead and the king steps around Ki to touch the button.
The rest of the plane is a single long and surprisingly wide compartment. There are islands of blond leather chairs around tables with active displays. The back of the plane ends in a glass staircase leading up to a second level, and beside it is a man sitting on an L-shaped couch with anold leather book in his lap. The various screens along the walls show the same map as the display in the conference room. The floor is slightly translucent, and Ki can see several vehicles parked end-to-end below them. One reflects several points of light from an abundance of highly polished chrome; one is sleek and angular and an angry shade of red; and at least one is heavily armored and openly weaponized.
Ki is surprised to see that there is another girl on the plane. Her legs are folded beneath her in a big reclining chair, and she is playing a puzzle game on the interactive surface in front of her. Before Ki looks away, she sees that the girl appears older than she is, with long red hair, creamy skin, cool blue eyes, and full red lips.
The man in the back of the plane closes his book and leaves it on the table in front of him as he stands. The leather-bound volume is an anachronism among the glass surfaces and active displays around them. Ki glimpses the Vs and Rs and Ks of a Russian name
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