Steel Beneath the Skin (32 page)

Driving into the city, Aneka had to admit the vehicle was comfortable. The seats adjusted to your body and came with secure crash harnesses. Crashes were unlikely, though Aneka was a little freaked that Ella was not actually driving. The car was self-piloting and hooked into the city’s traffic management system. No accidents, no congestion, no getting lost.

The city itself was more industrial complex than city. They drove through several kilometres of factories and chemical plants before they passed into office buildings and then a central core of high-rise shops and residences. It looked like a less well maintained version of Yorkbridge Mid-town, though Aneka suspected that it was more that it was just dirtier.

‘There are more Rim Worlders out here than in Yorkbridge,’ Ella said as the electric car slid smoothly through the streets. ‘There’s a bit more crime, but not much, and they play a little harder. A lot of them are temporary residents, in for the plants. They’ll stay here for a few years and then move off-world with enough money for a comfortable retirement on the Rim.’

‘Things really don’t change much, no matter how much they do,’ Aneka replied.

The car pulled off on the left, approaching a large door which slid smoothly upward as it did so. A soft voice announced that, ‘We have arrived at the nearest parking location to your destination. Parking has been arranged in bay ninety-three. Halting at disembarkation zone.’ The car pulled to a stop beside what looked like a pedestrian access area and Ella climbed out. Aneka did the same, walking around the car just before it pulled away again, going deeper into the structure.

‘It’ll go fold itself up and park until we need it again,’ Ella said.

‘Those things can’t fold up while you’re in them, can they?’

‘Technically not.’ Ella started for the stairs up to ground level.

‘Not a comforting answer.’

Up on the street they made their way along the pavement about three hundred metres past various signs which advertised drinks, large-screen sports displays, and live music available within, and then crossed the road to another club where the sign said “Live Girls!” It really was just like walking through Soho back in the day. Ella pushed in through the door and they found themselves in a room with matt black walls, a bouncer standing in one of the corners, and a pretty, black-haired girl behind a counter. She was wearing a string-bikini top and a bright smile. Yes, this seemed like a strip club.

‘Good morning. I’m Petra, welcome to the Black Lily. There’s a cover…’ Aneka saw Petra’s eyes flick downward, presumably to look at a hidden console where their identification was being displayed since Al had said he had been asked for it. Petra looked up again, at Ella. ‘Oh! You’re Janna’s daughter. Sorry. Go straight through, you’re both covered. Janna’s on stage in about five minutes. I’ll let her know you’re here.’

Ella gave her a smile. ‘Thanks, Petra.’ She started for the inner door, and Aneka gave the receptionist a nod and a smile and followed.

The club was as dark as the reception hall, the walls painted gloss black and the floor made of black-stained wood. The furniture, low couches and tables encircling a stage area at one end of the room, was also black. Well, it would tend not to show stains.

Over in the stage area a tall, slim redhead was swinging around a steel pole set between floor and ceiling. She was dressed in a tight, black mini-dress and platform shoes, and doing a fairly impressive acrobatics display. Aneka had been to strip joints before, usually with men who had been far more enthusiastic about it than she was, but when you worked with a largely male group in a masculine environment, you did your best to fit in. She noticed that, while the clientele were largely male, there were several women in as well. The atmosphere was different, more like a general entertainment establishment than a sweaty pit of barely restrained testosterone.

Ella located an empty table with a good view of the stage and walked over to it, and one of the waitresses appeared as though she had been dropped in by parachute. ‘Hello, I’m Tina and I’ll be
really
happy to be your waitress.’ Tina was short, cute, and stacked, with a bright smile, short, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and no clothing above the waist. ‘You’re Janna’s daughter, right? You look a little like her.’

‘Yeah,’ Ella said. ‘I got most of my looks from her.’

‘Would you like a drink?’

‘Couple of glasses of wine?’ Ella glanced at Aneka, getting a nod.

‘Sure. Janna said to charge it to her. She said to say, “Don’t argue, it cost you enough to get here.”’

Ella smirked and shook her head. ‘Okay. Thanks, Tina.’

‘Have you been here before?’ Aneka asked once Tina had gone to get their drinks.

‘Once, about five years ago. Mom says the management is good and the girls here aren’t as catty as they can get in some places. She likes it and they seem to like her.’

‘You know, I think if you asked people whether strip clubs would still exist in the year three thousand, they’d have said no.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s demeaning to women, along with porn, fashion magazines, uh… photography, I think.’

‘What about the male strippers?’

‘Well, there were a lot less of them and it was women who had the chip on their shoulder about being demeaned.’

‘Huh. I take it you didn’t think it was demeaning?’

Aneka shrugged. ‘Oh, it probably was. I just found the people who went on about it annoying. The best way I found to make myself equal to men was to damn well be better than them.’

Ella grinned. ‘What if the women
wanted
to be strippers?’

‘I’m not sure anyone ever grew up with stripper as a career plan. Back then anyway.’

‘Oh, well Mom wanted to dance when she was six, according to her, and she tried out all sorts of things, but she says that she likes the intimacy of stripping.’ Aneka’s eyebrows went up. ‘I mean, it’s being close to the audience. Like you’re dancing just for them rather than some huge audience, or for a camera.’

‘I… guess I can see that. And, to be honest, the audience seems better than the clubs I’ve been in before.’

Tina was walking back with the drinks and the music changed over from the electro-pop the redhead had danced to to something more like a smooth jazz. ‘Janna’s on,’ Tina whispered as she put the drinks down. ‘Enjoy yourselves. She’s off after this set, so she’ll come over then.’

As Aneka looked back toward the stage a woman slipped out of the hidden backstage entrance dressed in a red, wet-look bikini, fishnet hold-ups, and high-heeled platform sandals. She was taller than Ella, a little wider in the hip, and her hair was blue-black and cut short, but the most noticeable difference between Ella and Janna was that Janna had huge breasts. Aneka looked between them as the older Narrows stalked toward the pole.

‘What happened to your boobs?’

Ella winced. ‘Mom had a bit of work done, but I didn’t get her breasts, no.’

Janna saw them and flashed a slightly brighter smile in their direction, but she was a professional, and she had a job to do before she could socialise. As the music’s beat grew stronger, going from a jazz-like melody to something with a mix of rock in it, Janna gripped the pole and swung upwards.

‘She’s good,’ Aneka said after a minute or so.

‘She’s been doing this for almost a century. She should be.’

‘Yeah, but… she’s even more bendy than you are.’

‘I don’t take the time to practice. Never have. She always said I could be that flexible if I wanted.’ There was a little hint of envy in Ella’s voice. ‘She’s incredible in bed.’

‘How, exactly, do you know that?’

Ella blushed profusely. ‘I… We’ve never! I mean, we used to talk about it and, um… I saw a video once.’

‘Incest, I take it, is still a taboo.’

‘Well, not a general one. It’s not illegal or anything. Having children by a close relative is, but not actual sex. Most people think it’s distasteful.’ There was a slight pause and then she added, ‘Won’t stop Mom making a pass at you though. She
is
a lesbian.’

Aneka blinked, her mouth hanging open for a second before she came up with, ‘So, uh, how did you happen?’

‘She went off men after Dad. Uh, not because of Dad, but when we came to New Earth she swore off men entirely. She never told me why, but I think it was some of the stuff she did to get the money.’

‘Ah.’ Aneka was silent for a while, watching Janna as she swung and swooped around the pole. ‘She must really love you.’

‘It’s mutual.’

There was applause from the audience as the music ended, and Aneka looked back to the stage to see Janna picking up her bikini and taking a bow. Then, instead of turning back to the backstage entrance, the dancer tripped lightly out through the audience heading for their table, still naked aside from her stockings and pumps. Grinning brightly, she bent at the hips and gave Ella a kiss on the cheek before collapsing breathlessly onto the seat beside Aneka. Close up there were more differences; slightly thinner lips and a harder, thinner face, brown eyes instead of blue. The similarities between them were quite obvious though; Ella was her mother’s daughter.

‘Happy birthday, daughter,’ Janna said. ‘What’s this? Sev…’

‘Nuh-huh, no mentioning the age,’ Ella interrupted. ‘Aneka’s a little sensitive about it.’

Janna turned to Aneka, smiling brightly. Aneka could see where Ella had got her inability to hide her emotions from too; Janna’s emotions were written all over her face and posture. ‘So this is the famous Aneka Jansen. Pleased to meet you. I’d shake hands but I’m covered in sweat.’

‘Nice meeting you, Janna. I’ve heard a lot about you, and your dancing is amazing.’

Janna’s back straightened a little at the compliment. ‘Thank you. I have to say, Ella, you’ve really fallen on your feet with this one. She’s absolutely gorgeous,
and
you can talk about ancient history with her. Did you wish
really
hard or something?’

Ella giggled and blushed. ‘I said she was gorgeous when I first saw her, and she has given us huge amounts of valuable information about Old Earth, but mostly she’s just a really nice person.’

‘And I’m going to have a swollen head if this keeps up,’ Aneka told them.

‘Can’t have that,’ Janna said. ‘Your head is just perfect the way it is.’

Aneka smiled and wondered whether she really was going to have to turn down an offer of sex from her girlfriend’s mother.

~~~

Janna lived in an apartment block about ten minutes’ drive from the Black Lily. Normally she would have walked it, but since they had the car she got to ride. Aneka sat in the back to allow the two Narrows to sit beside each other. Besides, it kept Janna from watching her with hungry eyes.

The woman’s street clothes were not that much different from her working ones. Ella obviously got her fashion sense from her mother too. Currently Janna was dressed in a red, fishnet teddy, a micro-skirt, and thigh boots with five-inch heels. She was actually managing to make Ella look conservative.

‘I’ve got stuff in for a meal,’ Janna was saying as the car pulled into the block’s garage, ‘so we can sit and chat, and you can tell me all about your adventures on… was it Alpha Mensae? Oh, pull into the spot there. I’ll clear it for visitor parking.’

Ella took the wheel and directed the vehicle smoothly into the space Janna had indicated. ‘Alpha Mensae Four, yes. There’s some stuff we can’t talk about. You have been warned.’

‘Secrets… How exciting.’ She opened the door and climbed out.

‘Uh-huh, but these are
real,
“we can’t tell people,” secrets so it’s not as much fun.’

‘Oh,’ Janna replied, sounding a little deflated. ‘The news reports said you were a soldier on Old Earth, Aneka. You’d be used to secrets, I guess?’

‘Some,’ Aneka replied as she climbed out of the car. ‘I tended to avoid knowing them if I could possibly manage it. I’m having to keep more here than I did back there.’

Janna led the way toward the residents’ lift as the car quietly reformed itself into a brick behind them. ‘That must be annoying. I hate having to keep secrets. I’m terrible at it… so I’ll just get this out in the open and we can get it over with. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in a quick fuck after dinner.’

Aneka could tell Ella was mildly mortified, but far less so than she would have been if the position was reversed. However, the car journey had given Aneka the time to consider a response. ‘No, Janna. From what Ella told me we don’t really have the time to do your talents justice, so I’ll have to decline until we can do more than a quickie.’

Janna nodded. ‘That’s fair.’

Ella managed to position herself in the lift so that she could whisper in Aneka’s ear on the way up. ‘That was a damn clever answer.’

‘I had time to think about it,’ Aneka replied, ‘but you do realise she’s going to want to collect on that sometime.’

Ella’s grimace said she did know, all too well.

~~~

‘I like your mother,’ Aneka said as the car whisked them back toward the airport, ‘even if she does have a little trouble taking “no” for an answer.’

‘Huh,’ Ella grunted. ‘I think she was hoping the alcohol might have weakened your resolve.’ She gave Aneka a slightly mischievous grin. ‘Android body wins again.’

‘You seem to be taking it rather well.’

Ella shrugged. ‘I can’t really blame her. I know what she’s like and I love her anyway… and you really are absolutely gorgeous. I’m lucky I got you first because you could do better than me.’

‘Insecurity doesn’t look good on you, Ella.’

‘It’s true! I’m good looking, I admit, but you’re a work of art. Do you think people would be quite so enthusiastic about an
ugly
girl from the past?

‘Well I suppose, but…’

‘No buts. Insecurity doesn’t look good on someone who looks like you. Makes it sound like you’re fishing for compliments.’

Aneka closed her mouth, and then tried a different tack. ‘But I don’t
want
to be famous.’

Ella giggled. ‘Stunningly beautiful, unique, and modest. Sucks to be you, doesn’t it?’