to wipe it discreetly. ‘Thanks for…for having —’
Mr Proctor put a hand on Kyn’s arm. ‘Shh, Kyn,’ he said. ‘Don’t be silly. We’re all in this together. And once it’s done, we’ll go see what’s happened, with your people.’ He didn’t try to tell her it would all be okay. But something about his presence was enough. ‘And Kyn?’
Kyn looked up at him, so tall and certain. ‘Yes?’
‘Call me Pietr. You kids are all going to have to grow up now.’
Chapter Four: Dancing Queen
The dreams would not leave her alone tonight. They chased her through every elusive microsecond of sleep, taunting and haunting. Her quarters were too small, too spare, too clinical. If she stayed, she’d go mad.
Kyn turned on the shower. Hard. Her second shower that night. The water usually managed to chase some of it away, bring her back to her body. Take her out of her mind, force back ancient history. But no chance tonight. She rested her head on the cubicle in front of her, letting the water course down her back, and tried to think about something that wasn’t death and pain and obliterated worlds. It was pretty hard to do.
Then that face came to her. That slow wink, and that lazy, easy ‘let me know if you feel like dancing again some time’. She stood up, stabbing the shower button. Well, she did feel like dancing. She sure did. Not with him this time, not the kind of dance he had in mind with that lascivious wink, but a few hours of dancing might be just what she needed to chase away the demons.
She was at the club in twenty minutes. The same routine: dress, mask, vibro…and Connect. It was hard to do it without the Connect. Hard to just let go and give in to your body. Hard to see these other writhing, undulating bodies as brethren instead of threat. With the Connect, she could just about manage it. She popped two purple pills and followed them swiftly with a whiskey chaser.
If it were possible, it was even busier tonight. The dance floor was lit with strobing green and white, and the mass of bodies spinning under their attention resembled a single beast. It writhed and slid and leeched sex and movement. It was alluring and dangerous. She wanted to go up and stroke it, but she knew it might suck her in and never let her go. Kyn shook her head to dispel thoughts of beasts. She’d seen too many things to let her imagination have any kind of head. Things only half the people in this place knew about. The men. The Avengers.
But then she saw something else, from the corner of her eye. Her conscious mind may not even have registered it, but the Connect did things to you — joined things you had seen to parts of your sub-conscious. It made links. Guess that’s why they called it Connect . And Kyn knew better than anybody here how to look for patterns. And how to listen to them when they made themselves known; even if only at the edge of your consciousness.
What was it she had seen?
Kyn focused hard on the dance floor as the Connect and the whiskey and the music tried to lull her into letting it go. The beast was beautiful; made of so many bodies. There were men and women in various states of dress and undress, touching, moving, spreading love and connection with their fingertips. And in the centre of it all, the thing that had caught Kyn’s eye: a girl. A girl like all the others, in a mask and wearing a vibro. Hard-bodied and perfect, moving to the music under the strobes. She could have been just like any of the others, out to snag an Avenger, except for two things.
Firstly, she was moving like no-one Kyn had ever seen move before, or at least not for a very long time. Fluid and graceful. And…Kyn looked for what it was that she had noticed. Expert. That was it. Although she was adapting and playing with them, her moves were the result of training. And they were technically perfect. Someone had taught this girl ballet, against all the rules. And she was damned good at it.
Kyn was almost certain no-one
Mr Proctor put a hand on Kyn’s arm. ‘Shh, Kyn,’ he said. ‘Don’t be silly. We’re all in this together. And once it’s done, we’ll go see what’s happened, with your people.’ He didn’t try to tell her it would all be okay. But something about his presence was enough. ‘And Kyn?’
Kyn looked up at him, so tall and certain. ‘Yes?’
‘Call me Pietr. You kids are all going to have to grow up now.’
Chapter Four: Dancing Queen
The dreams would not leave her alone tonight. They chased her through every elusive microsecond of sleep, taunting and haunting. Her quarters were too small, too spare, too clinical. If she stayed, she’d go mad.
Kyn turned on the shower. Hard. Her second shower that night. The water usually managed to chase some of it away, bring her back to her body. Take her out of her mind, force back ancient history. But no chance tonight. She rested her head on the cubicle in front of her, letting the water course down her back, and tried to think about something that wasn’t death and pain and obliterated worlds. It was pretty hard to do.
Then that face came to her. That slow wink, and that lazy, easy ‘let me know if you feel like dancing again some time’. She stood up, stabbing the shower button. Well, she did feel like dancing. She sure did. Not with him this time, not the kind of dance he had in mind with that lascivious wink, but a few hours of dancing might be just what she needed to chase away the demons.
She was at the club in twenty minutes. The same routine: dress, mask, vibro…and Connect. It was hard to do it without the Connect. Hard to just let go and give in to your body. Hard to see these other writhing, undulating bodies as brethren instead of threat. With the Connect, she could just about manage it. She popped two purple pills and followed them swiftly with a whiskey chaser.
If it were possible, it was even busier tonight. The dance floor was lit with strobing green and white, and the mass of bodies spinning under their attention resembled a single beast. It writhed and slid and leeched sex and movement. It was alluring and dangerous. She wanted to go up and stroke it, but she knew it might suck her in and never let her go. Kyn shook her head to dispel thoughts of beasts. She’d seen too many things to let her imagination have any kind of head. Things only half the people in this place knew about. The men. The Avengers.
But then she saw something else, from the corner of her eye. Her conscious mind may not even have registered it, but the Connect did things to you — joined things you had seen to parts of your sub-conscious. It made links. Guess that’s why they called it Connect . And Kyn knew better than anybody here how to look for patterns. And how to listen to them when they made themselves known; even if only at the edge of your consciousness.
What was it she had seen?
Kyn focused hard on the dance floor as the Connect and the whiskey and the music tried to lull her into letting it go. The beast was beautiful; made of so many bodies. There were men and women in various states of dress and undress, touching, moving, spreading love and connection with their fingertips. And in the centre of it all, the thing that had caught Kyn’s eye: a girl. A girl like all the others, in a mask and wearing a vibro. Hard-bodied and perfect, moving to the music under the strobes. She could have been just like any of the others, out to snag an Avenger, except for two things.
Firstly, she was moving like no-one Kyn had ever seen move before, or at least not for a very long time. Fluid and graceful. And…Kyn looked for what it was that she had noticed. Expert. That was it. Although she was adapting and playing with them, her moves were the result of training. And they were technically perfect. Someone had taught this girl ballet, against all the rules. And she was damned good at it.
Kyn was almost certain no-one
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