Only Nancy seemed set apart from the general festivities. She sat back in her chair and watched as A.A. Catto started to move in on Presley. Nancy wondered if he’d survive the night. Nancy had been there too often when A.A. Catto had fun with one of her custom built males. Nancy knew that only a small percentage lived through it.
Nancy looked carefully at her friend and leader. She was suddenly very aware that she was the only natural human who came anywhere near A.A. Catto. Everyone else around her was custom built to her fantasy. At the start, the idea of conquest had seemed like a game. Now it was becoming reality, Nancy was filled with misgivings. She had never been on anything more than nodding terms with any kind of morality, but she was beginning to have grave doubts about what world A.A. Catto thought she was going to create, and, more particularly, how long Nancy would last if A.A. Catto ever got tired of her.
A.A. Catto seemed to have no doubts at all. She was leaning on the Presley reproduction and running her fingers across his chest.
‘I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to be pleased I ordered you.’
‘Thank you, ma’am, it was great to be designed.’
‘You’re glad that I picked out this personality for you?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I expect you feel lucky to be beamed out to someone like me.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘You do know who I am, don’t you?’
‘Sure Ah know who you are, ma’am. Ah was tol’ when Ah beamed out.’
‘And you know what I do?’
‘No, ma’am, not for certain sure.’
A.A. Catto’s voice became very soft and coy.
‘I’m conquering what’s left of the world.’
Presley nuzzled her ear.
‘That’s very impressive, ma’am.’
‘Isn’t it just?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I’ve conquered a good deal of it already.’
‘That’s a very fine achievement, ma’am …’
He slid his left hand inside her djellabah.
‘… Specially for a cute little girl like you.’
A.A. Catto lay back as his hand cupped her breast. She smiled up at him, and ran her fingers through his greasy hair.
‘You think I’m cute, do you?’
‘Ah think you’re the prettiest thing Ah seen.’
A.A. Catto began to undo his shirt.
‘I suppose you could say that I’m building an empire …’
She sighed and wriggled her hips.
‘… the like of which the world has never seen.’
The Presley reproduction ran his tongue round A.A. Catto’s left nipple.
‘That’s a fine thing to say, ma’am. Ah never met no woman with an empire.’
A.A. Catto’s voice became deep and husky.
‘It will stand for a thousand years.’
‘That’s one hell of an empire, ma’am.’
A.A. Catto propped herself up on one elbow and looked around the room. The rest of the guests had fallen into a tangled squirming heap on the floor. The harp player bounced up and down in the middle of it all. Only Job Yok the necromancer still sat at the table staring disconsolately at his empty plate. A.A. Catto nibbled at the Presley reproduction’s ear.
‘I think we should go somewhere more private. I want to tell you all about what I’m going to do to the human population. I’ve got some fantastic plans for them.’
‘It’d be a blast.’
A.A. Catto disentangled herself from the Presley replica and stood up.
‘Let’s go.’
Presley also stood up, straightening his clothes. A.A. Catto looked at him and shook her head.
‘There’s one thing wrong with you custom mades.’
Presley looked at her in surprise.
‘Huh?’
‘You’re all so goddamn docile. You have the built in anxious to please factor.’
‘Ah’m sorry, ma’am.’
‘According to the tapes, the real Elvis Presley would never have said anything like that.’
She turned to Nancy.
‘You better come too. I’ve decided to wrap up this dinner. I’m bored with it.’
The other guests were still squirming on the floor. A.A. Catto nodded to the guards.
‘You can go ahead, I’ve finished with them.’
She walked briskly out of the room with Nancy and the Presley replica obediently following her. As the doors closed behind them, the gunfire started.
***
Billy, the Minstrel Boy and Olad moved silently through the shadows of blacked out Feld. The drizzle fell in a continuous veil. At regular intervals, an Ocpol ground car would cruise past and they would have to freeze in a doorway or the entrance to an alley. Slowly they made their way towards the city wall, following the directions that Carmen the Whore had given them.
They kept to the inside of the wall until they could see the jagged hole blasted in it by the Quahal army, silhouetted against the dim skyshine. When they were about thirty metres from the gap, the Minstrel Boy halted and motioned to the other two to do the same. Billy leaned against the wall trying to keep his teeth from chattering. He was soaked to the skin.
‘Can you see any guards?’
The Minstrel Boy shook his head.
‘There’s nothing moving, but it’s too dark to tell for sure.’
The three of them strained their ears for any telltale sound. All they could hear was their own breathing and the drip of water as it fell from walls and roofs. The Minstrel Boy shivered.
‘I don’t see how they’d be dumb enough to leave a gap in the wall like that unguarded. Let’s move up a little way. Take it real slow and quiet.’
They moved another ten metres towards the gap, keeping close together and hugging the cover of the wall. Again the Minstrel Boy stopped. Billy put his hand down to his gun.
‘See anything now?’
The Minstrel Boy peered into the darkness.
‘I ain’t sure. Wait a minute … Yeah, I think there’s someone moving up there.’
He began to edge closer. The other two followed. The Minstrel Boy dropped behind a pile of rubble. Billy crouched down beside him. The Minstrel Boy slowly raised his head.
‘There’s definitely one guard out there. He’s standing right in the gap.’
‘Just the one?’
‘That’s all I can see.’
‘You figure there’s any more?’
The Minstrel Boy looked at Billy impatiently.
‘How the hell should I know?’
Olad pulled his gun from his holster.
‘I’ll go deal with him.’
The Minstrel Boy grabbed his arm.
‘You stay right where you are. You’d wake up the whole goddamn army.’
‘So what do we do?’
The Minstrel Boy grimly took two of his knives from his belt.
‘I’ll take care of this. You two’d only fuck up.’
He scrambled over the pile of rubble and vanished into the shadows. Olad looked at Billy.
‘Think we should follow him?’
Billy shook his head.
‘We’ll just stay put.’
They waited, holding their breath. For a long time nothing happened. No sound came from the darkness. There was no sign of movement. Olad drew his gun.
‘He’s gone and got himself killed.’
‘He ain’t. We would have heard something.’
‘Maybe he’s selling us out.’
‘He wouldn’t do that.’
Olad peered dubiously into the night and rain.
‘Wouldn’t he?’
Billy suffered an instant pang of doubt. Perhaps the Minstrel Boy was betraying them. He put it on one side.
‘He wouldn’t do that.’
Still nothing happened. Then they heard a sound in front of them. They both crouched down with guns held tensely in their hands. The Minstrel Boy appeared over the pile of rubble. He was carefully wiping his knives. He slipped them back into his belt.