Firefly--Carnival Read online

  She didn’t seem very happy about it either. Perhaps she didn’t like the idea of Katarina having other friends in high places. Anna and her brother had inherited several of the casinos on and around the Platinum Mile. Only Jacob Roberts owned more on Bethel. Not that Anna appeared to take any interest in family affairs. She presented herself to the world as someone careless with her time and her money, someone who preferred partying than business.

  “How did you meet?” asked Hilde.

  “We studied together,” Katarina said. “I was at the med school while she was at the business school. We room shared.” In fact, Katarina had lived in the house that Anna’s parents had bought for her to use while she was away studying. Katarina had been astonished by that; her first real encounter with real wealth. She remembered going shopping with Anna once. On the spur of the moment, Anna bought a vastly expensive pair of shoes. When she’d seen Katarina’s expression, she asked what the matter was. “That’s what I pay you in rent every month,” said Katarina. An important moment, for both of them.

  “Of course,” Hilde said. “I forget your central planet connections. You seem so much one of us these days.”

  “I thought Bethel considered itself a central planet.”

  Hilde smiled, opaquely. “It’s getting there,” she said. “Though anyone who knows anything can see that it’s rather rough around the edges. Still, I understand that’s part of the attraction, for many of our visitors.”

  “A bit too rough sometimes, perhaps.”

  “It’s only for a couple of days,” Hilde said.

  “A lot of damage can be done in a couple of days.” Particularly when you were short-staffed.

  “Not at the kind of event that I host. Which brings me to my reason for coming today. I have a small party happening on Last Night, you know.”

  Of course Katarina knew. A small party? The Guild’s last night party was one of the most exclusive events on Bethel. People were desperate for an invite.

  “And you’re invited,” said Hilde. “Do bring a guest, if you like.” She considered this. “Not Anna Liu. She can be chaotic.”

  Oh, thought Katarina. I wasn’t expecting that… “I… I don’t know what to say. I’m very gratified, obviously, but it’s going to be so busy here over the weekend, and I should be available—”

  “I told you that money would be no object.” A little steel had entered Hilde’s voice now. “Hire whoever you need. Spend whatever’s required. But come to the party.”

  Was it worth trying to explain again that you couldn’t conjure the right people with the right skills out of the air? Hilde didn’t look like she was ready to hear that.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “I’m sure you’ll manage,” said Hilde, as she rose from her chair. “That’s what I pay you for, after all.” She smiled. “I’ll see you at the party.”

  This was the problem with accepting patronage, Katarina thought, watching Hilde go; you were not permitted to say ‘no’. One could spend whatever one liked, as long as you obeyed whims, did what you were told, and somehow achieved the impossible. Money no object, eh? I wonder what would happen if I put that out on the Cortex…

  * * *

  Joseph Liu didn’t, in general, eavesdrop on his sister’s calls, but there was something about the urgency in her voice that made him stop outside the door of her sitting room and listen.

  “…No, listen to what I’m saying. I want a room, and I want a room tomorrow. Whatever you have to do to make that happen, do it. I’ll pay a hundred platinum… Yes, you did hear that right. And if I have to do, I’ll buy the damn motel and make all the rooms available… Oh, good, I’m glad to hear that. Yes. Tomorrow. Thank you.”

  The call ended. Joseph waited a moment or two in case there was a follow-up, and then tapped on the door and went inside. Anna, his brilliant little sister, was lying on the couch, eyes closed. Joseph looked at her sadly. Anna, as a girl, always had so much promise… She’d shone at school, gone off to the central worlds at sixteen to study, went to college on Osiris, went into finance… And then their parents died, and she came home, and since then her whole life seemed to have been knocked off course. Gone was the ambition, the drive. All she seemed to want to do these days was stay out, drink, sleep until the afternoon. He tried to be patient, but he wished she would set herself straight.

  “That sounded angry,” he said.

  She cracked open an eye. “Are you listening to my calls now?”

  “They could probably hear you on the Mile. Are you moving into the hospitality business?”

  “What?” she said.

  “Buying a motel.”

  “Oh,” she said. “No. Nothing like that. A friend arrived this morning and her room had been double-booked. I was undouble-booking it.”

  “For a hundred platinum?”

  “I can do what I like with my own money, Joe.”

  That was true. Half of the estate had been settled on her by their mother and father, and it was none of his damn business what she did with the money. She could drink away the whole pile, and it wouldn’t, technically, be even remotely his business. Except that he loved her, and he didn’t think this life of hers made her happy.

  “Must be a good friend,” he said, still fishing. “Do I get to meet her?”

  “When I say friend,” Anna replied, “she’s more a friend of Kay Neilsen’s really. So no, probably not.”

  Kay Neilsen was one of Anna’s old friends from her time on Osiris, who for some reason had followed Anna back here. Joseph had met Kay once or twice: a doctor, serious and intelligent. Why she’d come to Bethel he had no idea. He’d thought once or twice that there might be something between them, but when he’d broached the topic with Anna (he wouldn’t have minded, he just wanted to know), she’d laughed in his face. “Kay? Oh, Joe, no! Absolutely not!”

  “I like Kay,” Joseph said. “I wish you saw more of her.”

  “Prefer her to my current gang, you mean?”

  Anna’s current group of hangers-on were the worst of Bethel’s elite, in Joseph’s opinion. Five or six years younger than her, and not a single intelligent thought between them. “I don’t know what you see in them, Anna, that’s all. You used to enjoy good conversation. That lot… they’re dull. They have no opinions. It’s all gossip.”

  “Nothing wrong with gossip,” said Anna. “You can learn a great deal from gossip.”

  Joseph poured himself a drink and took the seat opposite her. “So what are your plans for Carnival?”

  “I’m going to enjoy myself,” she said.

  “No change there,” he said, lightly, although he wasn’t entirely convinced that she enjoyed this life of hers. Mostly, she seemed to be doing nothing more than filling the hours.

  “I see no reason to change,” she replied. Then she seemed to decide to want to make an effort. She sat up, curling her legs beneath her, and smiled at him. “What are your plans, Joe?” she asked. “For First Night?”

  A few years back, at this time of year, this big house up in the hills would be bustling with life, as they made ready for Mother and Father’s First Night party. That was where everyone wanted to be on the first night of Carnival. Planning for one of these parties was one of Joseph’s earliest memories: choosing the theme; sending out the invitations; picking out the masks and costumes. And then, on the night, Mother beautiful and funny; Father charming and expansive. All these happy memories brought to an end when their new flyer plunged out of the sky just short of the north-east perimeter road. The year after their death, Joseph had considered hosting a party of his own but knew he couldn’t face it. Four years later, and he still couldn’t. “I guess I’ll go over to the casino,” he said.

  “You’ll miss out on all the fun,” she said.

  “You’ve seen one parade, you’ve seen them all,” he said.

  “You won’t be there all the time?”

  He shook his head. “There’s the party at the Guild House,” he said. He di
dn’t want to go to that. Jacob Roberts would be there, satisfied how things had turned out on Bethel, and there was the head of the House too, Hilde Becker. Joseph found her cold and calculating. But these days you had to be seen at the Guild House party. So Joseph would be seen, although he’d taken the precaution of engaging a companion for the night, to do the small talk for him.

  “Maybe I’ll come by the casino later,” Anna said. “Waste a little money.”

  She wouldn’t. She never came near any of their casinos. She preferred to waste her money elsewhere. “You know, Anna,” he said, “at some point you’re doing to have to decide what you’re going to do with the rest of your life.” You have to put what happened to them behind you…

  She raised her glass. “I’ve already decided.”

  “I mean something serious.”

  “I’m very serious about what I do.”

  “You weren’t like this before…”

  “Before, Joe?”

  “Before you went to the Core. You used to work so hard. We all thought you were going to do great things—”

  “I didn’t like the Core worlds,” she said. “I thought they were dull.”

  “Dull?”

  “The people—all the same. Their conversations—all the same. I know we think those worlds are so beautiful, so shiny, but…” Anna shook her head. “Bethel is so much more interesting, don’t you think?”

  “That’s a long way round of saying that you got homesick, Anna.”

  “Perhaps I did get a little homesick. There’s nothing like this in the Core worlds. Everything is so smooth. Here…”

  “You like the rough edges, hey?”

  He couldn’t read this expression. Sometimes she slipped away from him, and he didn’t know what she was thinking, couldn’t begin to guess.

  “I wouldn’t say that I like them,” she said.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t like Osiris.” Joseph had loved his time in the Core worlds. The order and regularity of life had suited him. He’d planned to open a restaurant on Sihnon. He loved to cook, and he loved the restaurant business. “I’d happily go back there if it wasn’t for all this…” He held his hands out, rather helplessly. He’d been home on Bethel when their parents were killed and he hadn’t left since. Someone had to keep everything running, and Anna wasn’t going to do it.

  “Poor Joe,” said Anna. “Trapped by inheritance, while I have all the fun.”

  “You know,” he said, “Father intended for you to take a full part in the business.” Maybe he could persuade her to do more. Maybe he might still get to leave here…

  “Maybe one day,” she said. “Right now—I worked so hard for so many years. I intend to enjoy myself.”

  Or maybe not. Joseph looked down into the glass. “Do you remember,” he said, “the parties Mother and Father used to have?”

  “Not really,” she said, but of course he knew she did.

  “Maybe we should start them up again.”

  “Joe,” she said. “Those days are over. They’re not coming back.”

  She was right. Joseph finished his drink and stood up. “Don’t get hurt, Anna.”

  “Hurt?” She was looking at him in real surprise. “What makes you say that?”

  “Those friends of yours… They’re not that nice.”

  “Oh.” She relaxed back into her seat. “I see. I won’t, Joe. Not that way.”

  * * *

  “And the preacher said to the companion, ‘Those ain’t potaters!’”

  A raucous burst of laughter jerked Simon awake. He had a cold cup of chamomile tea in front of him and a crick in his neck. The dining room had become much busier: Zoë and Wash were at the other end of the table, holding hands. Inara was leaning against the doorframe, cool, distant, smiling that quiet smile that always seemed full of secrets. Everyone was there. Almost everyone. Simon said the first thing that came into his head; said what was always on his mind.

  “Where’s River?”

  Kaylee, opposite, said, “She’s still sleepin’, Simon.”

  “Okay. And… what’s happening?”

  “What else?” said Kaylee. “Schemin’.”

  “Now that you’re back with us, Doc,” said the captain, “we can go through the plan.”

  “Oh, yes, the plan,” said Simon, pulling himself more or less upright. “I’m glad to hear there is one at least.”

  “I’d hold fire on that, son,” said Book. “We ain’t heard the details yet.”

  “No need to be anticipatin’ trouble, Shepherd, it’ll come lookin’ for us by itself,” said Mal. “But it’s a fine plan, as you’ll know when I’ve had my chance to tell you—”

  “Stop fussin’ and get on with it,” muttered Jayne. He was flipping a pocketknife open and shut, open and shut.

  “Far from bein’ a house of God,” said Mal, “Bethel is more what you’d call a den of vice.”

  “That’s my kinda house of God,” leered Jayne.

  “My apologies in advance, Shepherd,” said Mal, “for putting you in the way of maybe seeing all manner of unseemliness—”

  “Accepted,” said Book, with a gracious nod of his head.

  “So,” said Mal, “the planet upon which we shortly be coming to land is called Bethel. Now, small world like this, more or less out on the Rim, people most usually come for one thing. Might be farmin’, might be minin’.”

  “Me, I’m here for the whorin’,” said Jayne.

  “We ain’t here for the whorin’,” said Mal.

  “Well, I am,” said Jayne. He reached across the table to spear his knife into an apple and bit down hard. Was it too much to hope he’d break a tooth, wondered Simon. Apparently so.

  “Now, a man on this den of vice, name of Jacob Roberts, put out a call on the Cortex for some people needed for a job. Seems Roberts owns a lot of businesses down here—”

  “You mean whorehouses,” said Jayne, mouth full.

  “I don’t,” said Mal, and Simon, who had attended one of the best medical schools in the central worlds, taught by some of the most inspirational professors in their field, began to despair of ever learning anything from this conversation. He caught Inara’s eye. She didn’t do anything as broad as wink back at him, but he saw the slight twist of her lips. Patience, she seemed to be saying. All will be revealed.

  “Mal,” said Inara. “Don’t rise to the bait. Just tell us what the job involves.”

  “I’m coming to that,” said Mal. “First thing you got to understand—Bethel got settled back in the day because of the minerals under the surface. Whatever it is that they dig up out there in the desert, people in the Core worlds want a great deal of it.”

  “It’s called verterium,” said Wash. “It goes in components for calibrating navigation systems.” He looked around. “What? Why are you all looking at me like that? You think I don’t know things?”

  “I’m impressed, sugar,” said Zoë, taking possession of both his hands.

  “That,” said Wash, leaning in for a kiss, “is pretty much all I care about.”

  “I’ll take your word on the components and the calibrating,” said Mal.

  “When I think of Bethel I think of the casinos,” said Kaylee. “You know, all those fancy people dressed up and spendin’ their money like it’s goin’ out of fashion—”

  “A lot of people made a lot of money out of vertenium,” said Mal.

  “Verterium,” said Wash.

  “Whatever it’s called they made a fortune. And they wanted to live somewhere a mite fancier than a dustbowl minin’ planet. And that’s where the casinos came in. The idea was to bring a little glamour to their world.”

  Jayne, finishing the apple, threw the core onto the table. “I ain’t followin’. What’s fancy about diggin’ rocks up from the ground?”

  “With the casinos came the hotels,” said Inara. “Some of them are very expensive. They attracted wealthy people from the central worlds. The more people who came, the more they wanted to do
. There’s the restaurants, the nightclubs, the shows and entertainments. Not to mention the exclusive resorts out along the coast.”

  “Money brought money,” said Mal. “Walk round parts of Neapolis these days, you might think you were in the Core.” He didn’t sound very happy about that, Simon thought.

  “So what’s the job, Captain?” said Zoë.

  “More to the point,” said Book, “which side of the law is it?”

  “Strictly legal this time, Shepherd, as I’m sure you’ll be glad to hear.”

  “That I am,” said Book.

  “I hope it takes us somewhere fancy,” said Kaylee, longingly.

  “It’s a security job,” said Mal. “Shipment of erbonium being transferred off world.” He looked at Wash. “Anything you’d like to share about erbonium, Wash?”

  “We’ve hit the outer limits of my expertise,” said Wash. “I only minored in minerals.” He shrugged. “More of a hobby than a specialty. Not even a hobby, really. More of a near-total lack of interest.”

  Sometimes, Simon thought, sitting round this table was like watching an elementary class at show and tell. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his encyclopedia. He held it under the table and began to read. BETHEL, he read. LOCATION: Red Sun system. POPULATION: 530,000. MAIN SETTLEMENTS: Neapolis (capital); Evansville, Nashton, Lauriston, Mount Greyling. (Simon shuddered slightly at the thought of what these crappy townships would be like, but perhaps he was being unfair and none of them burned passing strangers at the stake…) CULTURE…

  “Erbonium,” said Book, “comes in mighty useful in the manufacture of lasers.”

  “Geologist and man of God,” said Mal. “No end to your talents.”

  “I dabble,” replied Book.

  “Well, today we’re dabbling in providing a security detail for that shipment of erbonium. This shipment has to be off world before the party really starts, which, so I’m told, is this evening.”

  Kaylee sighed. “So nothing fancy, then.”

  “Not today, Kaylee,” said Mal.

  ECONOMY (read Simon) : Mining; hospitality. Bethel’s wealth derives from two main sources, the chief of these being the extraction of various rare minerals necessary for interstellar navigations. The mining operations are chiefly located in the desert regions located upriver from the capital. [See entries on: verterium, erbonium, malefinium.] In the past two decades, however, a rising proportion of the world’s income has derived from the dozens of resorts and entertainments clustered in and around Bethel’s main settlement, Neapolis. This, with the looser gambling laws on Bethel, has made the city an increasingly popular destination for tourists across the central worlds…