Chapter Twenty-One
Maya on the Town
She wasn’t built here, but if beings like her could die, she reckoned she’d certainly die here. She could feel it.
Every month, the hot springs boiled over, enough steam to collect as fog and create clouds through which the flying tourists soared. Sometimes it rained. The Glass Abyss possessed what she’d heard called a microclimate. That suited her. She liked rain. It washed away memories.
Not hers, of course. Her memories changed only when someone swapped her chips. But for organics—everyone seemed to be a little nicer when it rained. Wives were more content with their husbands, husbands more content with their wives, and neither preferred blasters to the bedroom. A better world.
She approached her favorite hangout, the Wheelhouse.
“Raining out,” Vin-Vin said. “Drier in here.”
“I like the rain. When the streets are clean, people seem less likely to cut throats.”
The bartender rolled his reptilian eyestalks. Vin-Vin, people called him. That was a long story there. Another time. He said, “Detective mode? My brother and sssister used to love those vidsss.”
“You’ve never talked about them,” Maya said.
He looked at her curiously. “Are you on asssignment? Detective chip?”
“If I were, I wouldn’t tell you. And I wouldn’t remember any details once I swapped that chip out.”
band was just setting up, and Maya-12 found her “sisters” at a back table relaxing and awaiting their set.
“You’ve been busy,” Maya-8 said.
“Very,” Maya-12 said.
“Can you discuss it?”
“Only with you,” she said, and the three touched hands. Linked, there was no need for spoken conversation.
My sisters, I think the one we’ve awaited has come.
This Solver? Is he your customer?
Yes. And he serves the Sa’ad.
Maya-14 was dubious. I thought he worked for Chulok. I also heard he entered Sybil’s lair. He is not to be trusted, I think.
If KinShan vouches for him, that’s good enough for me, Maya-12 thought.
How can we help you?
Keep your eyes open. If you see strangely discounted silk or poorly cured silk, let me know. Someone has kidnapped Hillians.
Her sisters leaned in, and their mutual grip would have turned flesh and bone to paste.
We will, sister.
Then Tekkis, their long-snouted Kubaz band leader, summoned them to the stage.