Steel Sky by Andrew C. Murphy Page A

pose accentuates the curve of her back, dipping in-to her tiny waist, rising again into her hips, which are unusually full for a woman of her slimness. Cadell has never known a woman who can look so alluring without even thinking about it. She is a marvel.
    “Don’t worry, sweetheart, it won’t be that bad. You might even have a good time.” He holds up one of his suits. “Do you think I should wear the green one?”
    She glances over her shoulder quickly. “No. It’s nice, but you’ve worn it too often. You ought to wear something they haven’t seen before.”
    Cadell twists his lips quizzically and studies the suit. “Are you sure?”
    “Have I ever been wrong?”
    Cadell puts the suit back in the closet.
    “And I mean it,” she adds. “I’m not going. You can just go by yourself and have a good time.”
    “Come on, Ama. This is a very big event. Everyone will be there. You know how much the other Rakehells like you. Please? This is important to me.”
    Amarantha sighs, and Cadell can see her weighing her options in her mind. They have been invited to the party by his superiors in the Rakehells, a quasi-official organization of up-and-coming political employees. The invitation of a junior member to such an important function is a distinct honor, and not to be turned down lightly.
    “Second Son will be there,” she says.
    “Of course he will. But I imagine he’ll be too busy to bother you much at his own engagement party.”
    Amarantha pulls the covers around her. “You watch — I guarantee he’ll corner me and talk at me for half a chronon. He never lets me get a word in edgewise, because he knows the first thing I’ll say is ‘I have to go now.’”
    Cadell casts a nervous eye at the camera on the ceiling. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt you to be nice to him.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Cadell hears the sudden ice in Amarantha’s voice. “Well, I mean, you could just give him a break, that’s all,” he says cautiously. “He’s just a kid, you know. And he could do a lot to advance my position if you would just . . .”
    Amarantha jumps out of the bed, dragging the sheets with her. “If I would what? Smile and bat my eyes? Do a little dance for him?”
    “Sweetheart . . . that’s not what I’m saying at all.”
    Amarantha’s voice rises in volume. “Then what are you saying? Maybe I should just pull him to the floor and fuck him right there! Would that help your career ?”
    “I didn’t mean anything at all. I wasn’t thinking.”
    Her open palm lashes out, striking him in the temple. “I can’t believe what an asshole you are sometimes!”
    He raises his elbows to ward off another blow, but she is already back on the bed, burrowing under the covers. He sees that he has genuinely hurt her. His mistake was to think of her as having the same desperate drive to succeed that he does, the same indifference to humiliation.
    “You’re right, sweetheart. I’m sorry.” He stands next to the bed, looking at her. After a few moments she shifts over to make room for him.
    They lie spooned together. He runs his hand gently up and down her arm. “I was wrong,” he says. “I’ll go to the party alone.”
    She sighs. “I’ll go. But I’ll give that squit a piece of my mind if he bothers me. A big piece.”
    Smiling, he rests his chin on her shoulder. Feeling her body relax, he runs his hand around her hip and down across her stomach. “Fair enough.”
     
    A FEMALE VISITOR
    In Hydroponics, Orel Fortigan lifts himself to his elbows, his head throbbing with pain. A thin stream of blood runs down the side of his head to drip on the floor. He hears the sound of scuffling and heavy breathing nearby. Looking up, he sees Bernie about five meters away, with the creature on top of him. Orel can see that its form is human, even if its behavior is not. Its teeth are locked on Bernie’s left arm. Bernie is trying to push it off with his feet, but the creature cannot be dislodged. Its head shakes