Claustrophobia

Chapter Three - Acquaintances - 5

Passing the bar on the way to the deck they picked up drinks (both going for some of the same Amatherrone that they had sampled before boarding), Z9 using it as a perfect opportunity to look around for more of her targets. She had decided that, tomorrow onwards, she would start specifically pressing people for information of their whereabouts but, as for now, she simply wanted to see if she could spot them with her own eyes.

And I'm on a cruise, she said to herself. If I can't enjoy myself a little whilst I work, then what's the point?

'So what brings you onto Helios, Z9?' Yvatra asked as they made their way from the bar to the door to the lower front deck. Several others were on their way, with a line of five or six stopped by the door queuing.

'Leisure,' Z9 replied. 'Much like DyGleyre, I've come into quite a bit of money and find myself at a position where I may mingle with those of a, shall we say, more sophisticated sensibility, than much of Celestria and the other Empire regions.'

'Lucky for some to be born into it,' Yvatra said, 'even luckier for those born into it late.'

'I hear you,' Z9 said casually, trying to remember that she was speaking to royalty but finding it increasingly easier to forget. 'What's the hold-up anyway?'

'Not sure,' Yvatra said. 'Excuse me. What's going on?'

The man in front of them turned around to answer Yvatra. Z9 had to restrain any kind of emotion upon seeing the face of Guran Mysen stare back at her.

'Might want to drain your drinks, ladies,' he said with forced charm, his thick, bushy moustache twitching with the effects of retrained sexism, 'no drinks to be taken from inside to outside, and vice versa.'

'You're kidding?' Yvatra craned her neck as the couple at the beginning of the line, having apparently just had to down their glasses, handed them to a staff-member who placed them in a tray at the side to join several others, and opened the door to the outside. 'Well that's a rule that I think is completely unnecessary.'

Z9 tried to lock all of Mysen's details into her head. She tried noticing the way he walked, the exact clothes he wore, how well worn they were, his height, in order to try and match it with the information she had on him previously. It all seemed to match up. She didn't think that anyone would have been able to get onboard dressed as someone they weren't, but easier deceptions had happened, and greater ones still. Above all this, she took down the immediate feeling she got from the man, the air he exhumed, his aura that he radiated. She decided that she didn't like him, and definitely didn't trust him. He was only a simple arms-dealer, a major one yes but a simple business nonetheless, but she could feel a craftiness hidden behind his darting little eyes. A sly cunning that reminded her of a chess player, always looking for the best combination, the right gambit, the perfect sacrifice. And like a chess player, she was sure that he wouldn't be too hesitant to sacrifice a pawn or two to get himself into a better position.

'You never know,' Z9 said, 'what the initial reason was. Probably something incredibly trivial. Ah well, down the hatch.' She took the glass and tipped her head back, throwing the entire contents down her throat in one go. As Mysen handed his glass over, having finished the last few drops, she watched him go, not eager to follow in his footsteps. It gave her the shivers, which the drink did little to warm and soothe.

'Oh how un-ladylike of such a beautiful young woman as yourself,' Yvatra said, following Z9's example. The two of them laughed, Yvatra putting a hand to her mouth in an effort to stop herself giggling too much. It didn't help.

The two of them got to the end ofthe queue, handing their glasses over to the young man, who placed them insidethe blue box which was now sufficiently full to be handed over to a runner, whotook them off into the murky corridor depths of the ship. The spy and theprincess stepped out onto the deck under the glow of the WildFire Nebula.