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“Come on,” he told Seline, taking her by the arm. “I think I see the representative the cred-chip dealer told us about.” He pointed at the male in the black body armor with the bright silver scales covering his head and hands.
“Oh—he’s certainly, uh, shiny, isn’t he?” Seline asked, examining the representative.
“He is,” Nox acknowledged. “And we must impress him if we’re to have any hope of getting an audience with Mistress Lendrex.”
“Should we do the Move then?” Seline looked up at him.
Nox nodded.
“It seems called for in this case—we want him to think of you as a strong and forceful Mistress.”
“Well then, let’s hope he didn’t just see me get attacked by a bird,” she said dryly. “And speaking of birds—I’m not sure if I ought to try and send Peep-a-cheek away while we do this or not.”
Nox lifted an eyebrow.
“Peep-a-cheek?”
“Oh, that’s the noise he makes, so I thought it would make a good name for him. He’s got to have a name, you know,” Seline said. “Don’t you, Peep-a-cheek?” she asked, turning her head to nuzzle the little pink creature which was perched on her shoulder.
“Peep-a-cheek! Peep-a-cheek!”
The flur’fa actually seemed to be agreeing with her, Nox thought. He wondered exactly how intelligent the animals were—this one seemed unusually bright for a newly hatched creature.
“You could try,” he said. “After all, the Move is meant to convey your ruthlessness and strength. Having a tiny, fluffy, pink bird-like creature on your shoulder might diminish that image somewhat.”
“Okay—I’ll try.” Seline lifted her finger to her shoulder and Peep-a-cheek obediently hopped onto it. “Hey, little guy…” Her voice grew soft and coaxing as she looked at the little pink bird. “I know we just got together, but would you mind flying out of the way for a few minutes while I talk to that man over there?” She nodded in the direction of the representative. “I’m going to have to look tough and I don’t want you mixed up in it, okay?”
Nox had no idea how much of this the little creature understood but it simply bobbed its head and cheeped at Seline before flying up towards the vaulted ceiling of the Hub.
“Okay—I think he understood.” Seline looked up at Nox. “Let’s go.”
He made a sweeping one-handed gesture.
“After you, my Mistress.”
“Thank you.” Seline took a firm grip on the chain leash which was hanging down from Nox’s collar and together they approached the representative of the Upper Disk.
TWELVE
SELINE
Seline took a deep breath as they came up to the Upper Disk rep. He was huge—though not quite as huge as Nox—and he had on black body armor that reminded her of the exoskeleton her Protector had worn all the time before she asked him not to. His hands and face were covered in bright, shiny, silver scales about the size of small coins. They glimmered and reflected the light in a dazzling display that was a stark contrast to his dull black armor.
She lifted her chin as they came up to the stall where the representative was sitting. He had a holo sign which simply said, “Upper Disk” floating above it and a bored look on his alien face.
“Yes?” He raised brow ridges—there were no eyebrows or indeed, any body hair that she could see on his shiny body—at Seline. “How can I help you?”
Seline gave him her very best haughty Mistress look.
“I am Mistress Seline and I require an appointment with Mistress Lendrex,” she announced.
“Mistress Lendrex, did you say?” The representative’s brow ridges lifted higher.
“Did my Mistress misspeak or are you just stupid?” Nox growled.
“Silence, bodyslave!” Seline barked. She yanked on the chain attached to Nox’s collar and the big Kindred fell at once to his knees before her. Seline took him by the throat—though their size difference was so great, there was no way she could have actually choked him—and looked him in the eyes. “I can conduct my own affairs!” she told him, doing her best to make her voice cold and harsh.
“Yes, my Mistress,” Nox rumbled. “Forgive me if I have overstepped my bounds.”
“Very well, you are forgiven. For now,” Seline emphasized, at last releasing his neck.
This little scenario was something they had perfected in order to make her look as tyrannical and controlling as the Yonnie Six Mistresses they so often had to deal with. Nox had actually suggested it himself and they had used it to great effect many times. They called it simply “the Move” and it usually elicited gasps of admiration from the watching Mistresses whenever they performed it—though of course no one but Seline and Nox knew it was just for show.
However, when she turned to face the Upper Disk rep, she saw not admiration but extreme surprise—if his widened eyes and open mouth were any indication. He looked from Seline to Nox and back again.
