Skyfall Read Free Page B

has tits that big or a waist that small.”
    Roca didn’t know whether to be shocked or awed. No one ever talked to her this way. It was a singularly unique, albeit equally unpleasant, experience. “It cost me nothing.”
    “Right. You just exercise a lot.”
    That was, in fact, what she did, even now when she rarely performed. But for all that she bridled at the implication, she knew what the captain meant. Many entertainers bodysculpted themselves. Although she had never changed her face or figure, she had undergone operations to improve her skeleton for ballet. One procedure altered the way her leg bones fit her hip sockets, giving her what dancers called perfect turnout. Doctors had redesigned the arches of her feet and removed a bone spur on her elbow. A computer node in her spine controlled augmentations to her skeleton and muscles, making it easier for her to adapt to variations in gravity, so she could dance on different worlds or habitats. As for her mammary glands, the only operation she had ever contemplated in that department was making them smaller, so she would be less top-heavy in a leotard.
    She said only, “Think what you want.”
    The captain leaned back and crossed her arms. “Don’t you ever wonder how it would be to live like the rest of us, the ninety-nine-point-nine-nine-nine-nine percent of humanity without your advantages?”
    “What do you want me to say?” Roca asked. “That I don’t deserve my life?”
    “No.” She shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”
    “You resent that I’ve had privileges.” Roca thought of her frantic attempts to reach the Assembly. “Some might say they are small compensation for the demands of duty.”
    The woman’s gaze narrowed. “What duties?”
    Damn. She had let the captain goad her into saying too much. “I support many charities.”
    “You know, I don’t believe you’re a Capsize twitch.”
    Sweat beaded on Roca’s palms. “Why not?”
    “You don’t talk like them. They sure as hell don’t care about duty.” She studied Roca. “And you don’t flash your flush. Capsize types, they compete to see who can put on a bigger show. Gaudy, cheap, overdone. You’re the opposite, so refined, like you don’t even breathe the same air as the rest of us. I’ll bet you have so much, you don’t even know you’re rich.”
    Roca didn’t know how to answer. She never thought about her wealth. She certainly had no intention of revealing anything about her private life.
    “I’ll tell you what else.” The captain leaned toward her. “You’re a load more arrogant than a Capsize twitch. I don’t mean the arrogance people use to hide insecurity, but the kind where you’re so sure of yourself you don’t even realize it. Capsize types are always compensating, knowing they aren’t the real thing. I’ll wager you’ve never compensated in your life.”
    Roca blinked. “You think I’m arrogant?”
    “Oozing it, honey.”
    Dryly Roca said, “Whereas you are humility personified.”
    The captain laughed. “Point to you.”
    “I’m glad I get one.”
    The captain’s smile faded. “You don’t need any more.”
    After that they fell silent. Roca didn’t know what else she could say.
    Soon they would reach Skyfall.
     
    Sunlight poured over Roca as she and the captain crossed the tarmac of the Skyfall port. Roca felt heavy. The gravity was noticeably stronger than the human norm, and she walked carefully, relearning how to time her steps. The air was rich and fresh, exhilarating in its purity. She breathed deeply, savoring it. No smog. No irritants. No impurities.
    Actually, that last wasn’t true. Clouds puffed the lavender sky. Blue clouds. They were lovely, but strange. It meant the water here had impurities that made it blue. She hoped they wouldn’t make her sick or turn any part of her blue.
    The suns were dim enough to glance at. Two suns. Another oddity. The double star system surely destabilized the planet’s orbit. The suns were