Crash Deluxe (11 page)

Glorious read my reaction and smiled. ‘I think the mélange I made was strong enough to disarm your defences. Don’t you?’

I opened my mouth and shut it again three times. Even then I couldn’t form a word.

She smiled again, almost smug in her sincerity. ‘I love what I do, Jales. But to me it’s science, you understand?’

Glorious stripped and stepped straight into the san, calling out some instructions to the Alkem module.

I turned away from her nakedness and forced myself over toward the window to think. I’d been dosed with an aphrodisiac without even knowing it.

Embarrassment left me hot in a different kind of way.

Lesson numero uno in the art.

I tried to clear my mind by staring at the view from Glorious’s room.

One hundred and fifty floors up and not a vestige of smoke in the sky. I didn’t know if Viva had climate and pollution controls - but it sure seemed like it.

To the east Jinberra Island floated on a glinting sea, taunting me. In a data collection, somewhere on that island, was the name I desperately wanted - the reason I was here acting as sport for a bored sex worker.

To the south, the greyish line of The Tert was the only blemish between the expanse of glittering chrome-edged city and the horizon.

I had a colossal desire to go home where I understood the rules. Where I wasn’t at the mercy of Glorious’s beauty and my overactive glands.

Thinking about The Tert soothed me some and my libido slid back under my control, leaving behind the usual restless frustration. I didn’t want or have time for these distractions and yet without Merv’s help I couldn’t get the name I needed.

‘What did you think of my blend?’

I risked turning to look at Glorious. With relief I found that the intoxicating effects had waned. Behind me stood a clean, naked girl with beautiful, intelligent eyes and a well-toned figure. The question she was asking was purely professional, one colleague to another.

I tucked my embarrassment away and tried to look casual. ‘Sure. Fun stuff.’

She bent over in the doorway of a large built-in ’drobe crammed with clothes, wig kits and other trimmings. ‘You’re not a standard size - we’ll have to order in,’ she muttered, bending down to rifle through some low shelves.

‘I don’t need new clothes,’ I said automatically, wishing she would stand up and put some clothes on.

‘You’re right. Let’s start with the important things.’ She sat down in front of her Alkem and tapped the side of her seat. ‘Come here, there’s room.’

A lesson in theory had to be safer than the hands-on variety even if the tutor was stark naked - so I did as she asked.

‘How much do you know about blending?’ she asked.

‘Just give me the quick and dirty version.’ The unfortunate words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Glorious gave me a searching look, to see if I was joking.

I took a deep breath. The heat in my cheeks annoyed me. This kind of talk was not something I did with flair. ‘Er . . . I mean, give me the short version. I’ll ask if I need to know more.’

She nodded and leaned forward, flicking her wet hair back, blowing onto a sensor. The Alkem’s cover opened to reveal rows of multicoloured vials with exotic stoppers: angel’s wings, mermaids, birds of prey, naked statuettes . . . one even featured a tiny solar system with rotating planets.

‘Our range of aphrodisiacs is extensive.’ She ran a hand lovingly along the rows. ‘And most clients still prefer to think that the effect on them is entirely natural. You can administer a blend in a number of subtle ways - stroking, kissing, biting, scratching if you aren’t geno-fixed; sweating if you are.’

Glorious pointed to an object shaped like a hollow finger. ‘If you place a finger into it, it will coat the tip in a blend. When you touch your client’s skin their body heat dissolves the coating in a few seconds. This is safer than a direct spray inhalation or a sweat exposure for new clients.’

She saw the question in my expression.

‘At the Luxoria we manufacture our own dizzies internally and our tolerances are naturally high. The receptivity of each client’s vomeronasal receptors varies so much that it’s very easy to overdose them.’

‘What do you mean,
internally
?’

She didn’t hide her surprise. ‘I suppose you must use primitive means, Jales.’

The heat rose in my face again.
Primitive
was a pretty good description of everything in my life. ‘We . . . er . . . spent more time on actual techniques.’

Glorious didn’t look convinced but she continued anyway. ‘My sex glands have been geno-fixed to produce pheromones on conscious demand. I don’t need the right enviornment or the right partner.’ She grinned. ‘The alchemy side of things is purely for the clients. Once I know someone well I can use my own perspiration to stimulate them. It’s slower to take effect but ultimately more powerful.’

‘Fascinating,’ I said, despite myself. ‘I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it before.’ I thought you could get anything done in The Tert.

‘The procedure is expensive and only one genetic chemist in the southern hem performs it. It’s irreversible, you see.’

‘What’s the payback on that?’

Glorious thought about it for a moment, giving me a chance to study her. I figured her make-up was either permanent or geno-fixed as well: full, shaped lips, balanced bone structure and seductively sloping eyebrows - more than her share of beauty. The whole package was a freaking lot more effective than the quick-sculpt I’d had to straighten my face and cover my more obvious scars.

Even her hair had been tampered with so that it fell about her face like combed silk. The artifice ran so deep that the line of distinction between real and unreal had vanished. She could have been born ugly and deformed - you would never know.

‘I guess it changes you fundamentally. Pleasure becomes so simple, and so necessary. My libido is constant if I want it to be.’ Another smile: a dirty one this time. ‘And sometimes I do - if I think my partner can handle it.’

The conversation was taking a turn for the worse and I tried to steer it. ‘You used the finger coating on me?’

She nodded. ‘On your face.’

I remembered her stroking my cheek in Breeza’s.

‘I’ve never seen a skin work quite like that before, Jales. It must be something to do with your different training.’ She paused. ‘I’d like to hear more about where you come from and what you’ve learned.’

‘Er . . . sure, later,’ I mumbled.

Glorious shrugged and went on methodically describing her formulas and their specific effects. ‘This one prolongs orgasm. This heightens its intensity but the muscle contractions can be severe. This sensitises the body to pain. This does the opposite. This combined with this is called
Elusive
. It’s the one I used on you. You rarely have to touch the person’s genitals to bring them to orgasm. It can be quite useful if you find your client distasteful or potentially diseased. Of course, here we screen for the latter.’

I stared at her, not sure whether to be insulted or relieved.

‘One thing to remember.’ She tapped each elaborate stopper lightly with her tattooed fingernails, making a clicking noise. ‘Unnecessary amounts of any of these can either kill or inflict permanent damage. And overuse is addictive.’

‘What about you?’

‘Oh, I’m addicted in a different way. We all are. If anyone attempted to alter the hyper-functioning of our glands, we’d die. But it’s not like I’ll ever have to stop.’

She threw me a questioning look.

‘Delly wants me to dizzy you up for your interview with Monk. But when you meet him in person he might be difficult. Jaded.’

‘Oh?’

‘If you get in a tight spot, these can be . . . useful.’

Glorious handed me a small, flexible ring.

‘We call them
life-savers
,’ she said. ‘Just lick it if you need to use it. The acid in your saliva breaks the seal, then the blend is released into your mouth. If you kiss your partner the chemicals are shared. This one is called’ - she squinted at the coloured stripes - ‘
Castles in the sky.
Whoever you use it on will have the experience of their life.’

I wanted to laugh. But this was her practical way of helping me, so I took the ring and slipped it on my little finger.

‘We make all our blends here but we buy in the base ingredients like synthesised androstenol and androstenone. Then we mix it with a few of Delly’s specialities.’

She pointed to a vial with a lable that read
5-a-androst- 16en-3a-on.

‘It occurs naturally in male sweat but we don’t advertise the fact.’ Glorious grinned as I wrinkled my nose. ‘I do the alchemy for some of the others as a trade-off for learning other skills. Each of us has a domain. I help Dazzle with his dizzies. He’s taught me how to tie knots.’ Her eyes widened a little. ‘You can’t believe how particular some of my clients are. Placement and style are everything.’

I blinked, knowing that I was all out of that kind of chat. If she didn’t stop, I was either going to roar or damage something.

The door clicked open and a small, fragile guy in an outfit made of rope came in. He stopped when he saw me.

‘
You
’re the new girl?’

Glorious got off her seat to put her arms around him. ‘Dazzle, meet Jales.’

The top of his head was level with her breasts. He seemed the type who might like to burrow in between them for comfort.

Who am I to talk?
I’d been trying to do something similar a short while before.

I managed to maintain an affable face. ‘Yeah, I’m here on work experience.’

Dazzle’s curiosity turned immediately to boredom and he pirouetted out of Glorious’s grasp. ‘Pity. You look like you might know what you’re doing. I’m going for a swim. Buzz me when your next client is in. I’ll come down.’ He addressed his last remarks to Glorious.

The door clicked again behind him.

‘Must take him a while to get dressed.’

She shot me another puzzled look and sat down again

‘Dazzle and I sort of . . . mind each other. Delly has things in place to keep us safe - the i-bugs and Lam and Tae - but it’s comforting to have a spotter,’ she said.

‘Brigitte didn’t have one?’

For an instant, I saw her fear. Despite her insistence that she loved her job, it was there, lurking.

Sympathy ignited in me but I blew it out. I didn’t want to have any connections to this place. I wanted to find out - and
get
out.

I couldn’t help one question, though. ‘How did you come to work here?’

Glorious’s beautiful face went taut. I’d seen that happen so many times before with so many people. Closing off. Hiding the truth.

‘I told you before: it’s a choice. A way of life. Better than the one I had before I came here,’ she said. ‘In a few days, you’ll understand why.’

 

 

 

 

G
lorious was right. And she was the consummate teacher.

Worse, though, I soon became the consummate student, ambushed by the Eskaalim.

Every minute I practised the arts it grew fat and bloated and I was powerless to fight the pleasure in the way I had fought the violence.

The visions started again and in a matter of days I became lost. Concerned only with prolonging the euphoria.

She taught me to prepare blends, crudely but effectively. I learned how and where and when to administer them and she’d let me overdose so I knew the side effects.

‘You recover so quickly,’ she marvelled.

But Glorious was wrong. I wasn’t recovering. I was deeply hooked and reaping the consequences. The parasite that I’d struggled so hard to control was shaking free again, feeding off the sex just as it fed off the violence - adaptable and resilient.

I might have resisted the shape-change before, but it was coming for me this time. Gaining ground every time I used the dizzies.

And yet I couldn’t stop.

The chemical addiction was worse than anything I’d ever tried - worse than Lark and NS. Now I understood what happened to the spinners like the one who’d killed Brigitte. And why Glorious stayed with the job. And why scum like Lavish Deluxe could make a living from it.

I’d become consumed, like them.

Worse. I’d become obsessed with Glorious, not wanting to share her with anyone. In fact, I wanted to kill anyone who touched her. I wanted her every minute, without exclusion, without conscience or restraint.

Glorious seemed fascinated by the intensity of my response.

‘We have one last experience,’ she said, not looking at me as she spoke. ‘So you understand how deep it can go.’

Her half-closed eyes and swollen lips told me that her proposed teaching
experience
wasn’t just for me. Glorious was enjoying herself.

Strangely, that made me glad.

It was early evening. At least I think it was - Delly had given her several days off work to tutor me and we’d only been out to eat.

‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.’ But my protest was brittle. In truth, I’d become ridiculously compliant. I just wanted her to dizzie me up and touch me. Nothing else mattered.

‘Don’t you want to take a little risk, Jales?’

She closed her eyes and concentrated for a few moments. When she opened them she ran her finger along the sweat that had appeared under her armpit.

Before I realised what she was doing, she had covered my mouth and forced her finger into my nostril.

I inhaled her geno-fixed sweat deeply.

Glorious took my hands and cupped her breasts with them. I watched her eyes roll back in her head as if she was fitting. Then something exploded in me, obliterating all other experiences.