House of the Orion Sun by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64355-010-7
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

Saliza took turns seemingly at random as the two women careened through the crowded Caesar’s Villa streets. Esper kept close on her heels. She could only hope they looked more like a pair of jogging enthusiasts than a mugger and her victim.

Esper knew just how much trouble good Samaritans could be.

They finally pulled up, puffing for breath, at a rack of rental scooters. Saliza pressed her thumb to the payment kiosk, and one of the scooters popped loose from its moorings, hover thrusters flaring to life. Tapping a few more times, a locker beside the kiosk spat out a pair of helmets.

“Let’s jet,” Saliza said as she pressed one of the helmets into Esper’s hands.

Esper plunked it over her head. It rattled loosely until something triggered and the interior foam padding inflated to hold on snugly. It was like a creepy scientific headlock, but she didn’t complain. “Where to?”

“Shopping,” Saliza said. “Maybe not even in town. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Wrapping her arms around Saliza’s waist, Esper allowed the lawyer to pilot them through the city. The scooter was a peppy little doodad. When Saliza banked turns, Esper got a spectacular view of the depths of Caesar’s Villa spreading hundreds of meters down into a gloom that even the daylight lamps couldn’t chase away.

Through towering spires and beneath spindly, unsupported streets they flew. Saliza knew the flows of aerial traffic, guiding them expertly through clogged skyways and past colored flight control beacons. Esper tried to keep her bearings but found instead that she was completely lost. The skyscrapers looked too similar. Ad billboards the size of landing pads shifted every few seconds, refusing to become landmarks for her.

True to her word, Saliza guided them a long ways, longer than possibly could have been the same city even on a planet as urbanized as New Venice. With the helmets possessing no comm system Esper could find and unable to bellow over the wind, they didn’t converse during the trip. All Esper could do was maintain her hold and try to keep her hands from wandering anyplace overly friendly on Saliza’s toned midsection.

They set down at a matching scooter rack an hour or so later.

As Saliza docked their ride, Esper struggled to tug free of her helmet. Saliza returned hers to the kiosk, which thanked her in a cheery robotic voice. “Little help?”

Saliza tapped the back of the helmet, and it unsnugged. “There’s a button on the back.”

Blinking at the dim street lights after seeing only through shaded helmet vision for the last hour, Esper scanned their vicinity to get her bearings.

Saliza pointed.

Across the way was a clothing store, Blushing Curves. “Should be upscale enough for what you need.”

Esper’s stomach soured. “Oh, yeah. Almost forgot.”

“Almost forgot that you were on a rescue mission and need a disguise?”

Shrugging. “Running from those robed maniacs has that effect on me. Plus, been a while since I’ve flown a city. Visual overload.”

Hands on her hips, Saliza stared across the way. “Well, prep for another. Blushing Curves is about the most my budget can handle.

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