Crimson Lotus and Sweet Honey had settled themselves at the far end of the room and were talking with another of the girls, Golden Heart. Mu Chua went across to them and settled herself on the floor between them, listening to their talk.
"I had a dream, Mother Chua," said Golden Heart, turning to her. She was Mu Chua's youngest girl, a sweet-faced thing of thirteen. "I was telling Crimson and little Mimi. In my dream it was New Year and I was eating cakes. Nian-kao—year cakes. Above me the clouds formed huge mountains in the sky, lit with the most extraordinary colors. I looked up, expecting something, and then, suddenly, a tiger appeared from out of the West and came and mated with me."
The other girls giggled, but Golden Heart carried on, her face earnest. "Afterward I woke, but I was still in the dream, and beside me on the bed lay a pale gray snake, its skin almost white in places. At first it moved, yet when I reached out and touched it it was cold."
Mu Chua licked her lips, disturbed. "That is a powerful dream, child. But what it means . . ." She shrugged and fell quiet, then changed the subject. It would not do to worry Golden Heart. "Listen. I have a special favor to ask of you girls. We are to have visitors. Three important men from the Above. Soldiers."
Crimson Lotus clapped her hands in delight. "How wonderful, Mother Chua! Soldiers! They keep themselves so fit, so trim!" She gave a low, seductive laugh and looked across at Sweet Honey. "If Mother Chua weren't here to look after us I'm sure I'd do it for nothing with a soldier!"
Mu Chua joined their laughter. "Yes. But these are not just any soldiers. These are the great General's own men, his elite, and you will be paid three times your usual fee. You will entertain them in the Room of Heaven and you will do whatever they ask."
"Whatever they ask?" Sweet Honey raised an eyebrow.
Mu Chua smiled reassuringly at her. "Within the rules, of course. They have been told they are not to harm you in any way."
"And if they are not pleased?" asked Golden Heart, her face still clouded from the dream she'd had.
Mu Chua reached out and stroked her cheek tenderly. "They are men, child. Of course they will be pleased."
EBERT STOPPED at the curtained doorway and turned to face them. "Here we are, my friends. Mu Chua's. The finest beneath the Net."
Fest laughed, delighted, but at his side Haavikko looked uncertain. "What is this place?"
Fest clapped his shoulder and pointed up at the sign of the lotus and the fish above the doorway. "What does it look like, Axel? We're in Flower Streets and Willow Lanes here. In the land of warmth and softness. At home with the family of the green lamps." He saw comprehension dawn on Haavikko's face and laughed again. "Yes, Axel, it's a singsong house. A brothel."
He tried to go forward, his arm still about Haavikko's shoulder, but Haavikko held back.
"No. I don't want to go in." Haavikko swallowed. A faint color appeared in his cheeks. "It—it isn't my thing."
Ebert came back to him. "You're a man, aren't you, Haavikko? Well, then, of course it's your thing."
Haavikko shook his head. "You go in. I'll wait for you."
Ebert looked at Fest and raised an eyebrow. Then he looked back at Haavikko. "That's impossible. I've booked us in for the night. We're staying here. This is our billet while we're down here. Understand?"
"You mean they do more than . . . ?"
Ebert nodded exaggeratedly, making Fest laugh once more, then he grew more serious. "Look, Haavikko, if you don't want to screw one of the girls you don't have to. But come inside, eh? Mu Chua will bring you a meal and show you to a room. You can watch a trivee or something while Fest and I enjoy ourselves."
Haavikko looked down, angered by the slightly mocking tone in Ebert's voice. "Isn't there somewhere else I could stay?"
Ebert huffed, losing his patience suddenly. "Oh, for the gods' sake, Fest, order him inside! Don't you understand, Haavikko? We're a squad. We need to be together when the call comes. What's the fucking good if you're somewhere else?"
Haavikko looked to Fest, who smiled apologetically. "It's true, Axel. My orders are to keep us together at all times. Look, why don't you do what Hans has suggested? Come inside and take a room. Then, if you change your mind, you've not far to go."
"I've told you—"
"Yes, yes. I understand. Now come inside. I order you. All right?"
Inside Mu Chua greeted them expansively, then led them through to a large room at the back of the House where three girls were waiting. As they entered the girls knelt and bowed their heads, then looked up at them, smiling, expectant, as if waiting for them to make their choice. Axel stared at them, surprised. They were not at all what he had expected, nor was this place the gaudy den of harlotry he had so often seen in vid dramas.
"What is this room called?" he asked, surprising both Ebert and Fest by being the first to speak.
The girl on the far left looked briefly across at her companions, then looked up at Axel, smiling radiantly. "This is the Room of Heaven. Here a man may dream and live his dreams."
She was beautiful. Even for these tiny Han types she was quite exceptional, and Axel felt something stir in him despite himself. She wore a bright red satin ch'i p'ao patterned with tiny blue flowers and cranes and varicolored butterflies, the long,
one-piece dress wrapped concealingly about her dainty figure. Her hair had been cut in a swallowtail bang, the two wings swept down over a pale ivory brow that would have graced the daughter of a T'ang, a clasp of imitation pearls holding the dark flow of her back hair in a tight, unbraided queue. Her hands, small as a child's, were unadorned, the nails varnished but unpainted. She was so astonishing, so unexpected, that he could not help but stare at her, his lips parted, his eyes wide.
"What do they call you?"
She bowed her head again, a faint smile playing on her tiny, rosebud lips. "My name is Crimson Lotus."
"Well!" said Ebert, laughing. "I see Haavikko has made his choice."
Axel broke from the spell. "No. Not at all. I-^I meant what I said. This—" he looked about him again, surprised anew by the tastefulness, the simple luxury, of the room and its furnishings— "this isn't my thing."
He looked back down at the girl and saw, behind the surface smile, a faint hint of disappointment in her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. At once he felt upset that he had hurt her, even in so small a way, by his inadvertence. "I'm sorry—" he started to say, but Ebert spoke over him.
"Ladies, please forgive our friend. We thought we might change his mind by bringing him to your most excellent house, but it seems he's adamant." Ebert looked to Fest and smiled. "1 should explain. My friend is ya, you understand? A yellow eel."
Haavikko frowned, not understanding. His knowledge of basic Mandarin included neither term. But the girls understood at once.
"My pardon, honorable sir," said Crimson Lotus, her face clear, her smile suddenly resplendent, showing her pearl-white perfect teeth. "If you will but wait a moment I shall call back Mother Chua. I am certain she could provide you with a boy."
Axel turned to face Ebert, furious. "What do you mean . . . ?"
Ebert roared with laughter, enjoying the confusion on the faces of the girls. Ignoring the edge in Axel's voice he reached out and touched his shoulder. "Only a joke, my friend. Only a joke."
The girls were looking from one to the other of the soldiers, their faces momentarily anxious. Then they too joined in with Ebert's laughter; their heads lowered, one hand raised to their mouths, their laughter like the faint, distant laughter of children.
Axel turned away from Ebert and looked at them again, letting his anger drain from him. Then he smiled and gave the slightest bow. No, he thought. Make nothing of it. It is Ebert's way. He cannot help it if he is ill bred and ill mannered. It comes from being who he is; heir to one of the biggest financial empires in Chung Kuo. He does not have to behave as Fest and I. We serve, but he only plays at being servant. He, after all, is a master.