Page 10 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)
K at had nothing against cocktail parties, art galleries, or rich supporters of the arts.
He didn’t mind staring at paintings or statues he couldn’t afford to buy. The few cocktail parties he had been invited to had been dull but not unpleasant. And he supposed the wealthy could do worse things with their money than supporting art.
All three of those things at once was a lot, though.
This particular cocktail party in an art gallery filled with rich people wasn’t his scene at all.
But his sisters had been relentless. They insisted he meet the venture capitalist, and maybe it was better than sitting at home and mooning over Lyall.
“Come on,” said Naomi, steering him by the elbow past a collection of artwork based on Riftworld flora and fauna. Some depicted frightening species, like one photorealistic painting of a phantom.
Kat would never tell the artist this, but the piece didn’t even come close to showing how terrifying the murderous invertebrates were close up.
It might make the painter feel bad. Besides, Kat had told his family he had been safely in the main building during the phantom assault on the ranch.
They didn’t know he had helped Lyall and the others hold off a swarm of killer jellies and come close to being eaten.
A less alarming but more biologically correct piece consisted of broken shroom lamps and an assortment of urban detritus attached to a large shell that brought to mind crabs using the empty remains of mollusks to create homes for themselves.
The sculpture had been placed in a transparent acrylic trash can for viewing.
He took a closer look. It was a model of a Riftworld species he was familiar with, a crustacean-like creature that lived in the abandoned military base near the monstertown.
“We’re only asking you to meet him.” Jenny was opposite Naomi on Kat’s left. She had drinks in each hand, so she had provided verbal encouragement as her older sister physically dragged Kat over to meet Paul Cicero, the venture capitalist.
His sisters were dressed in diametrically opposing outfits, as usual. Naomi had on a sheath dress/blazer combo in navy and cream that epitomized the concept of office-to-party wear.
Jenny had on a red dress with a high hemline and platform combat boots in black patent leather. “Don’t be nervous because he’s so rich. He sponsored this whole exhibit and made a big donation to the art center to fund classes for underprivileged children.”
“That’s nice.” Kat said the words automatically, staring at the see-though trash can filled with Riftworld junk and wondering if it was a metaphor of his unrequited infatuation with Lyall.
He was startled when someone said, “Do you like that piece? It’s a bit pricey, but the tax write-off will cover it.”
Kat turned around. Standing in front of him was a man in a suit even Remi would have envied, with blond hair and striking dark brown eyes.
He was in his early thirties, perhaps, good-looking in a plastic sort of way.
He gave Kat a wide smile. “Kat Nakamura, I take it? I’m Paul Cicero. A pleasure to meet you.”
Kat took a few seconds too long to accept the handshake the man offered. “Oh, hi. Sorry, I was admiring the trash scorpion.”
Naomi gave a laugh that didn’t at all sound amused. “That’s one of the most expensive pieces in the gallery, Kat. It’s called “Permission of Despair” by Anonymous 3.5.”
“Our little brother isn’t much of an art aficionado.” Jenny, more accustomed to Kat’s awkwardness in this type of social situation, handed Paul one of her two drinks. “Here’s the banana daquiri you wanted.”
“I do know a lot about Riftworld animals.” Kat wasn’t annoyed by all the patronizing, not really.
Getting upset over it wouldn’t be right, since his sisters had gone to a lot of trouble to bring him here this evening.
“That’s a sculpture of an arthropod Riftworld species known as a trash scorpion.
At least, that’s my friend’s name for it.
There are colonies of them that live in the abandoned military base near the rift, and we haven’t found any mention of them in human scientific literature, so they don’t have a taxonomical name yet. ”
Kat stopped talking. Naomi and Jenny were exchanging looks somewhere between despair and amusement. He needed to learn how not to talk so much when he was nervous.
Paul, though, appeared interested in Kat’s rambling monologue. “There must be a name for the creature in the alien universe, I suppose. I understand you have a good friend who turned out to be a dragon. Does he have a draconic name for the trash scorpion?”
“Kaveh didn’t name them that. My other friend Remi did.
” Kat hesitated, because the last thing he wanted to do was get into an argument.
But Paul had only wanted to meet him because he was curious about the ranch and what had happened there, so he might as well try to educate him.
“My friend Kaveh Salehi and riftpeople like him are called drakones in English, not dragons. There’s a name for the trash scorpion species in their language and in other Riftworld forms of communication, but it’s not easy for us to pronounce. ”
“Fascinating.” Paul sipped his banana daquiri. “And your other nonhuman friend, what kind of mon is he?”
Kat didn’t remember mentioning that Remi was a riftperson—okay, half-riftperson—and he hated the ‘m’ word. Naomi and Jenny didn’t seem as annoyed with him as before, though, so he kept going. “Remi’s father is one of the ratkind, and his mother is human, so he embraces both sides of his heritage.”
“Yes, I saw replays of you with him on his livestream that went viral this week.” Paul gave Kat’s two sisters an inquiring tilt of his head, perhaps trying to include them in the conversation. “Have you seen that one? Tentacled mons and a giant dog creature with glowing eyes. Dramatic stuff.”
“Everyone in my family has seen it several times.” Jenny didn’t grit the words out, but it was close.
“Our parents are worried that Kat might not be safe working at Moon Star Ranch.” Naomi gave Kat a mini-hug.
It was like an air kiss, all display and little contact.
“Maybe the two of you could discuss employment opportunities in the companies you support that work on resource extraction from Riftworld areas. I’m sure his personal experience would be invaluable. ”
“I don’t know what resource extraction is, exactly, but I don’t think I like it much.” Kat shrugged off Naomi’s arm, now feeling a little testy, to be honest.
“It’s good to be critical of these types of proposals.
” Paul sounded as if he was agreeing with Kat, which was, okay, a little flattering.
Then he kept talking. “What’s the risk-benefit ratio?
How high can the margins go? Those are the hard questions that need to be asked, whether accepting a senior management position or investing in a company. ”
“How about asking if the resources are yours to take in the first place?” Kat was downright uncomfortable now.
Being set up with a stranger was bad enough, but Naomi was trying to use this guy to lure Kat away from the ranch, away from Kaveh and Kat’s future career as a veterinarian.
“Riftpeople have a right to decide if they want to share their resources with humans, whether those are material goods or knowledge and understanding.”
“My baby brother, the idealist.” Naomi gave an exaggerated sigh, then turned to greet two eager-appearing men coming up to their group.
More of her work engineer friends, probably.
They edged closer in, as people did when they wanted to jump into a conversation.
Kat had seen it done but had no personal experience with the tactic, because he was usually trying to get out of conversations with people he barely knew.
Paul glanced over at them, then leaned closer to Kat, dropping his voice lower.
“Many in the Riftworld have the power to protect their resources, I agree.” His grin flashed too many teeth.
“Like the now-famous Dr. Kaveh Salehi and the young man he fought a duel over. I understand you might not be interested in switching jobs right now, but I’d like to ask you out for dinner. For personal reasons, not work ones.”
He tilted his wrist, showing the surface of a fancy watch that reminded Kat of the gold Rolex Remi wore as a mark that the alien entity known as the Matchmaker had brought Kaveh and him together.
This one was platinum, with a pale blue face.
The glass surface rippled, and a pair of antenna emerged, waving at Kat in invitation.
Paul Cicero had a cyberbug, like Bug. Kaveh had told him that few humans had that sort of Riftworld tech. Well, Paul was rich enough to buy anything he wanted, according to Kat’s sisters.
“May I have your contacts?” Paul held his wrist in place, and because Kat didn’t feel he could say no, he automatically responded by hovering his own smartwatch over it.
The full head of an insect came out of Paul’s watch, followed by red wings spotted with black.
It looked like an oversized Earth ladybug, and a second later Kat’s watch buzzed with Paul’s information.
It wasn’t any different than how Kat usually swapped contacts, except for the interaction of a Riftworld species that could merge with Earth technology.
The ladybug grew until it was as large as Kat’s palm, then flew off to land on Paul’s shoulder.
“We’ll be in touch.” The words sounded like Paul was saying them, but the perfect imitation of his voice came from the cyberbug.
Paul grinned and gave Kat a wink. “Resources. I have a lot of them.”
Then he turned to Naomi and her work friends, and Kat was free.
He didn’t waste any time fading back into the crowd. Jenny tried to follow, but Kat’s luck held when a couple dressed even less conventionally than she was pounced on her, buzzing about gossip good enough that she stopped.