Chasing the Dragon by Justina Robson Read Free Book Online Page A

fingered hand, with claw nails.
Gently he attempted to snag the scarf or touch the chaise, but within
the last couple of inches an invisible force stalled his movement. "Like
magnetism," he said, and gave up his attempt and put the sheet back.

    She knew he'd seen her touch it. "He left it for me?"
    "I thought so." His orange eyes were narrowed with thought and
slight reservation.
    "Did you tell Greer?"
    "He came to the conclusion by himself."
    "You could have warned me." The resentment in her voice was
sharp. He twitched.
    "Would it make a difference?"
    She shrugged.
    He nodded. "It was something you should know. If something here
is important ... maybe ... you would have missed it."
    She sighed and relaxed, slumping, "Yes." She found her hand on
his arm, a strangely huge and muscled object she could barely reconcile with the Malachi she was more used to. "Forgiven." She looked
around her. "I'm not ready for any more of this today."
    He nodded once, and together they walked out. As they crossed
the threshold of the laboratory there was a flicker and the bulky mass
under her fingers was suddenly a lithe arm in an immaculate jacket.
She looked down at it and up into Mal's human face. "I didn't know
your clothes were part of your glamour."
    "They are not."
    She looked at the doorway with a scowl. "So how ... ?"
    Mal shrugged and patted her hand on his arm, drawing her attention suddenly to its tan smoothness, its faux ordinary skin. She made
a note to be damn careful of any mirrors back in there and wondered
what he'd seen in her place-had she changed?

    Outside Greer was waiting for them, lounging alone in the corridor, hands in pockets, pretending to enjoy the wall art and the fulllength-window view of the courtyard. "So." He grinned at Lila, his
expectant glance to Malachi confirming their complicity. "D'you like
what we've done with the place?"
    Lila punched him. It was so fast she knew he couldn't have seen it
coming. She pulled it a lot so she didn't do any real damage and was
back to her relaxed pose, arms folded, before his hand had even got to
his mouth. "See ya tomorrow," she said, and left him there tending his
split lip without waiting for a response. Malachi loitered a moment,
then came after her.
    "I guess he deserved that." He pointedly stayed out of range as they
moved towards the exit.
    "I need a bike," she said. "Do we still do that kind of thing?"
    "We do," Malachi assured her, beckoning her in a different direction
and holding up his hands in a peace gesture as he saw her baulk at the
sight of an office full of administration desks. "I'll do the authorisations
for you. Let's just get the key to the garage so you can choose?"
    Lila leaned on the meant-to-intimidate height of the fascia board as
Malachi made charming chitchat to the dispatcher, reached over, and stuck
the end of her finger into an empty port in the desk's overengineered surface. She wanted bikes, her Al gave her bikes it found in the database. "It's
okay," she said, "I chose. I filled out the forms. Done the protocols, programmed the onboard." She smiled at the dispatcher's wide-eyed face.
"I hope the insurance doesn't come out of my pay, it's kinda high."
    Malachi half smiled and stared at her with narrowed, amused eyes.
"You're enjoying this."
    Lila just kept her smile on, pushed away from the desk, and
flounced out. From somewhere the dress had gained a little bow over
her bottom, and a short train of diaphanous silk.
    For the first time in months and longer Malachi found himself
laughing.

    It was as they stood alone together in the semidarkness of the
garage, looking over Lila's exquisite piece of technological fancy, that
she looked up into his face across the saddle and he saw tears in her
eyes. "Will I find him?" she asked, so quietly he almost couldn't hear
her. "Can I? Is it even possible?"
    He thought of the yellow peach that sat on his desk, its ripe smell
and perfect skin, the still-living