Free Electric Forest by Tanith Lee Page B

He had not referred to the scene on the pier. His bruised jaw had been salved and showed no mark of its injury. Satisfied they were alone, he now seated himself. His demeanor conveyed
the impression that all former business had been an error he had eradicated, and they could begin again, on this occasion operating efficiently.
     

     
     
    In perfect unenlightenment, scenting both the sinister and the makeshift in this charade, Magdala said, Tri-V style:

    "Will you have a drink?"
    "No, I don't think so. I don't think you will either. Let's get to the point. You sent me an innuendo-packed
    stelex, unsigned. I was to meet you. I am here. What's the news?"
    Claudio, the magician. He had sent the stelex to this man. He had formed the holostet in this man's likeness in order that she exhibit a show of recognition. Claudio was manipulating both of them. Evidently, the man's assumptions were intended to shatter on her own ignorance of the situation. (The deduction was casual.) Possibly, having been informed of the man's name, she was meant to use it.

    "M. Hovak or do I say Paul," she said. "What news?"
    "I'm tired of this," Hovak said. "I haven't the space to waste my time. Do you have anything, or not?" "I would say ... not."

    His face coalesced and darkened. There was sweat on his forehead and upper lip.
    He said, "What's the matter with you?" He left a lacuna for her interjection. When none came, he said, "All right. I'll

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    assume this is just an exercise in insecurity on your part. You're making sure I'll be prompt when you do have results. When do you go back?"
    "Back to where?"

    "To Marine Bleu. Where the hell else?"

    "Is that where I'm going?"
    He rose and strode across the room to her. As he loomed, the switch clicked on inside her. She reverted to absolute terror as his hard, real-life hands clamped down on her shoulders and his dry hot breath scoured
her face.

    "I'm not in the market for clowning," he said. His voice stayed crisp as his fingers gouged the fringes into
    her arms. "Don't clown, Christa. Just get the goods you promised. The goods you're taking such a goddam
long time over delivering. Hear me? The very next call I have from you is going to be The Call. Yes?"

    She had to stop him.
    "Yes," she said, "whatever you say."
    He let her flesh and dress out of his grasp. He and she fell away from each other, breathing thickly. Paul Hovak shook his head as if he had emerged from water.

    "Your nerves are in a bad way," he said. "That's a warning. Don't crack up on me. I want this thing, and
    I'm betting on you, Christa." He walked to the door. "I'll be leaving in half an hour. When did you say you're due back at Marine Bleu?"
    She closed her hand over the three chains of the bracelet. "Three days."

    "O.K. Get some rest. And lay off the syrup."
     

     
     
    The door slid sideways and he went through it and along the corridor.
    Whatever Claudio had wished for had presumably been accomplished, and was audibly captured on the
    tape in the bracelet. The sapphires glowed warm under her fingers. With a wooden thoroughness, Magdala unsnapped the triple clasp, and as she did so, her passivity faded.

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    IV

    She made certain of Hovak's departure at the foyer desk registration screen, then took the moving stair and stepped out into the great gold casino suspended high above the restaurant.

    "May I buy chips against my brother's account?"

    "Yes, M. Loro. Of course."

    They brought her one thousand white chips in a scoop.
    Below, she could not see Claudio's platinum head, though her scan of the tiers was brief. Down in the sea funnel, the tunes which radiated from the speakers were different, but couples were still dancing the Cling. Overhead, through the peeled roof, the stars, dimmed by lights and substantially the same, revolved as
always to the rhythm of the restaurant. Only she seemed capable of metamorphosis.
    They made a place for her at the circular table. She shone there in her auburn dress, lighting them