Page 35 of Alien's Luck
“Split the deck,” Ari said, setting the deck on the table. Carla cut it in half and half again, before sliding the deck back to him. He placed the cards face down on the table in an elaborate pattern. “And your friend’s interests make you familiar with how to operate a highly complex vessel. How foolish of me not to understand.”
He placed the last card in the center of the wheel.
That fucking spider again.
“Fine,” she said, grabbing the card. She attempted to rip it in half, but the paper was laminated and wouldn’t tear. “I lied about the card, and I was guessing about the autopilot. Happy?”
“Please return my card.” He held out his hand expectantly.
“No. This is my card now.”
“You are being childish.”
“Yes.” She stuffed the card into the side of her bra. Hardly the most secure spot, but worth it for the look of shock on his face.
Ari made that noise that wasn’t quite a laugh, like the sound of fluttering wings and gravel. She couldn’t explain it better.
“Since you have so many opinions,” he said, gathering up the remaining cards, “what would you do with the fortune if it were yours?”
“Volcano lair,” she said without a moment’s hesitation. “Mid-century modern, all space age with glass and chrome. There’d be a waterfall, maybe natural or maybe manmade, I haven’t decided, but it’s in the middle of my receiving room. You know, the kind of feature that makes you thinkwhat the fuckand intimidate my foes. An octopus tank would be nice, too, but they’re clever. I read an article about an octopus in an aquarium that kept unlocking its tank, so maybe not. Sharks would do. Is that cliche? Fuck it. I’m leaning into all the cliches.”
Ari stared at her. “I understood half of what you said. You would not use your fortune to help others?”
“No,” she answered, wrinkling her nose for comedic effect. “I’m in my villain era.”
“That is very selfish of you.”
“Oh, and you’re some paragon of virtue? What’s the provenance of your collection? Was it all ethically obtained? Have you repatriated the pieces that were stolen? Returned them to museums?” She could use fancy words, too, dammit. “Or are you just sitting on it like a dragon in his hoard?”
“It is not so easy. I must consider the economy of the situation.”
That gave her pause. “Do you mean that if you offloaded too much of the loot, it’d drive down the value?”
“Precisely. By carefully selecting who I sell my collection to, I am maximizing my potential to help.”
“Why not go to an untapped market? There are other planets.”
“No,” he said, offering no other explanation.
Carla glanced around the lounge to make sure they were being overlooked. The amount of people mingling in the lounge had steadily increased since they arrived. Between conversation and the noise from the media screens, no one paid them any mind. Still, she spoke in a quiet voice, “What you need is a fence.”
A look of confusion crossed his face. “My ship is mobile. A barrier to secure the perimeter would be a temporary measure and ineffective.”
So, this was a problem with the translator chip. Often, it took the literal meaning of a word, and idioms were lost. Ari probably had the very best chip money could buy implanted, but some things didn’t translate.
“Not a fence, a fence, someone with the right connections to sell the goods for you,” she said.
Something snagged Ari’s attention. He no longer looked at her but at a fixed point over her shoulder. Carla turned around, breaking the first rule of playing it cool, and spotted nothing out of the ordinary.
He stood abruptly from the table. “We must leave. Now.”
ARI
Ari grabbed Carla by the wrist and dragged her away.
“What’s going on?” she asked, stumbling to keep up.
“No time to explain. Hurry.” He pushed through the crowd, his tail lashing from side to side and knocking into those notquick enough to step out of the way, aware of the disturbance he caused.
