That bad?
Youll see. You wont be able to avoid it. So, did you come in here to waste my time, or are you buying anything?
I looked at the digital clock blinking on the cash register behind the bar. Im meeting somebody in about half an hour.
It was Chiris turn to raise her eyebrows. Oh, business? Were working again, are we?
Hell, Chiri, this is the second job this month.
Then buy something.
I try to stay away from drugs when I know Im going to meet a client, so I got my usual, a shot of gin and a shot of bingara over ice with a little Roses lime juice. I stayed at the bar, even though the client was coming, because if I sat at a table the two new girls would try to hustle. Even if Chiri warned them off, theyd still try. There was time enough to take a table when this Mr. Bogatyrev showed up.
I sipped my drink and watched the girl onstage. She was pretty, but they were all pretty; it went with the job. Her body was perfect, small and lithe and so sweet that you almost ached to run your hand down that flawless skin, glistening now with sweat. You ached, but that was the point. Thats why the girls were there, thats why you were there, thats why Chiri and her cash register were there. You bought the girls drinks and you stared at their perfect bodies and you pretended that they liked you. And they pretended that they liked you, too. When you stopped spending money, they got up and pretended that they liked someone else.
I couldnt remember what Chiri had said this girls name was. Shed obviously had a lot of work done: her cheekbones had been emphasized with silicone, her nose straightened and made smaller, her square jaw shaved down to a cute rounded point, oversized breast implants, silicone to round out her ass they all left telltale signs. None of the customers would notice, but Id seen a lot of women on a lot of stages in the last ten years. They all look the same.
Chiri came back from serving customers farther down the bar. We looked at each other. She spill any money for brainwork? I asked.
Shes just amped for daddies, I think, said Chiri. Thats all.
Shes spent so much on that body, youd think shed go the
whole way.
Shes younger than she looks, honey. You come back in six months, shell have her moddy plug, too. Give her time, and shell show you the personality you like best, hardcore slut or tragic soiled dove, or anything in-between.
Chiri was right. It was just a novelty to see someone working in that nightclub using her own brain. I wondered if this new girl would have the stamina to keep working, or if the job would send her back where she came from, content with her perfectly modified body and her partially modified mind. A moddy and daddy bar was a tough place to make money. You could have the most dazzling body in the world, but if the customers were wired too, and paying more attention to their own intra-cranial entertainment, you might as well be home yourself, chipping in.
A cool, imperturbably voice spoke in my ear. You are Marîd Audran?
I turned slowly and looked at the man. I supposed this was Bogatyrev. He was a small man, balding, wearing a hearing aid this man had no modifications at all. No visible ones, anyway. That didnt mean that he wasnt loaded with a module and add-ons I couldnt see. Ive run into a few people like that over the years. Theyre the dangerous ones. Yes, I said. Mr. Bogatyrev?
I am glad to make your acquaintance.
Likewise, I said. Youre going to have to buy a drink or this barmaid will start heating up her big iron cooking pot. Chiri gave us that cannibal leer.
Im sorry, said Bogatyrev, but I do not consume alcohol.
Its all right, I said, turning to Chiri. Give him one of these. I held up my drink.
But objected Bogatyrev.
Its all right, I said. Its on me, Ill pay for it. Its only fair Im going to drink it, too.
Bogatyrev nodded: no expression. Inscrutable, you know? The Orientals are supposed to have a monopoly on that, but these guys from Reconstructed Russia arent bad, either. They practice at it. Chiri made the drink and I paid.
Chiri liked to keep her club dark. The girls tended to look better in the dark. Less voracious, less predatory. The soft shadows tended to clothe them with mystery. Anyway, thats what a tourist might think. Chiri was just keeping the lights off whatever private transactions might be occurring in the booths and at the tables. The bright lights on the stage barely penetrated the gloom. You could see the faces of the customers at the bar, staring, dreaming, or hallucinating. Everything else in the club was in darkness and indistinct. I liked it that way.
her. (I don't know what this supposed to be, so let it be) Then I steered the little man to a table in the back. Bogatyrev never glanced left or right, never gave the almost-naked women a moment of his attention. Ive known men like that, too.
I finished my first drink and slid the glass to the side. I wrapped my hand around the second one. What can I do for you, Mr. Bogatyrev?
Why did you ask me to meet you here?