Page 24 of Alien in the Depths
Her pink and mauve dress was intentionally short at the hem and low at the neck—something she’d borrowed from Carmen’s costume suitcase, though she couldn’t understand why it had been thrown in there in the first place. Probably a joke from one of her sisters when all of this seemed theoretical. Now that it was actually happening, the costumes seemed childish.
That said, the dress had ended up coming in handy, as had the blue suit and helmet, so maybe they hadn’t done too badly after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a particularly vile man sidled up to her and hungrily looked her up and down. She didn’t know what kind of alien he was, but his gray-blue skin, yellow eyes, and flickering tongue reminded her of some kind of snake from back home.
“How much?” he asked, his lipless mouth sneering to reveal a row of rotting, pointed teeth.
It made her skin crawl, and although Zaraq said nothing through her earpiece, she was sure he’d be fuming at the man’s words. Luckily, she’d had enough practice fending off men back on Earth. She figured the same rules pretty much applied.
“How much what?” she asked sweetly, feigning ignorance.
The man seemed not to like this, and he blinked a couple of times. Only, he blinked them sideways.
“How much for a ride, sweetheart?”
Everything in Sofia was repulsed, but she kept up the act. “I think that depends where you want to go. I guess back home a cab would cost you about three bucks a mile, but then you have to factor in the base rate, that’s about another three bucks, plus is it peak or off-peak? Right now it’s about 11:30, so that’s off-peak. You’re in luck. I guess you’ll need to convert that toRikuuns, though, and I don’t know if you have different tariffs here.”
The man flickered his tongue again, but this time Sofia got the feeling it signaled confusion rather than salaciousness. Over his shoulder, Sofia caught sight of a pod and flagged it down.
“Well, good luck!” she called to him as she hopped into the pod and slammed the door hard. As the pod drove away, she looked back to see the man still standing there, trying to figure out what had just happened.
“That was…” came Zaraq’s voice over her micro earpiece.
“Masterful, I know,” Sofia muttered under her breath as she handed Vexis’s address over to the driver.
Zaraq spoke again. “I was going to say risky. Honestly, half of me is impressed. The other half is terrified for you. You can’t speak to everyone like that. When you meet Vexis, just—”
“Be careful,” Sofia finished for him. She said it a little too loudly this time, though, because the cabby—or was it poddy?—yelled over his shoulder.
“Hey, lady, I drive how I drive! You want careful, you can get out and walk!” He shot her a look in the mirror but didn’t make any move to stop the pod. Sofia had to force herself not to giggle.
By the time she arrived at Vexis’s doorstep, though, she didn’t feel like giggling anymore. The ride had taken her through some of Rikuus’s worst neighborhoods, and she witnessed the extreme poverty some of these people had to endure.
Children begged on the streets, countless women leaned into pod windows looking for their next john, and plenty of thuggish men guarded shady establishments. In one alley, she’d caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a drunken brawl, five or six men all scrabbling at each other and throwing wild punches, many of their faces already streaked with blood.
Sofia imagined that this must have been the world Zaraq was thrust into after his parents were killed, and her heart ached at the thought.
No wonder he’s worried about me, she thought, and a tendril of fear snaked its way up her spine.Maybe I’m getting myself in too deep.
It was too late for that, though. The cab had come out the other side of the ghettos and into the rich neighborhood, which presumably only meant that the criminals there were more successful.
She now stood at Vexis’s address, a house that was opulent and imposing. Its tall double front doors were made out of some hard, black stone and shone to a high polish. To the side of the door was a sleek silver panel, which Sofia recognized as a security pad.
With a deep breath, Sofia approached the pad, knowing already that she was probably being watched. As discreetly as she could, she held her purse closer to the silver panel, hoping the reader Elena had given her was close enough to work.
“Hello?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelids at the camera hidden inside. “I’m here to see Vexis?”
There was no answer, and for a second, Sofia was afraid something had changed. Maybe Slikrim had changed his mind about her. But then a tiny beep sounded from the panel.
Sofia hoisted her purse up on her shoulder, silently praying that the reader had caught the door’s opening frequency. She wouldn’t find out until later, and until then, she had to play the part of an aspiring casino dancer.
The shining black doors slid open with little more than a whisper, and Sofia was greeted by a tall Rikuan man standing in a large foyer. The floor was black and white marble, the roof arched, and the walls hung with tasteful art. But Vexis himself really caught Sofia’s attention.
His pale mauve skin perfectly matched her dress, and his eyes burned black. He was almost as tall as Zaraq’s six-foot-two frame and just as muscular. His shaved head was covered in bright white tattoos, though they could have been skin markings. Sofia didn’t know enough about Rikuans to make that call.
Either way, she was immediately intimidated but fought down the urge to run. Instead, she shot him a flirtatious smile.
“Slikrim didn’t tell me you were so handsome,” she told him, batting her eyelashes at him.