Undercity Read Free

light glinted on her polished knee-boots.
    “Would you care for a drink?” she asked. “I have a bit of Kazar brandy.”
    Seriously? I’d give a decade of life for genuine Kazar. I said only, “Thank you, yes.”
    Majda touched the scrolled arm on her chair. A circle the size of her fingertip glowed blue, but nothing else happened.
    Then we sat.
    I had no idea what to do with the silence. She would set the conversation. So I waited, racking my brain for what I knew about the Majdas. Five millennia ago, the Ruby Dynasty had reigned over an empire led by the Ruby Pharaoh, who was also Matriarch of the House of Skolia. Although the elected Assembly ruled the Imperialate now instead of the dynasty, the Skolias still wielded substantial power. After the Skolias, the Majdas were the most influential House. They no longer ruled Raylicon; in these modern times, their empire was financial. They controlled more wealth than the combined governments of entire planets.
    They also controlled a significant portion of the military. During the Ruby Empire, the House of Majda had supplied generals to the Pharaoh’s Army. Today, they dominated the two largest branches of Imperial Space Command, the army and the Imperial Fleet. Majda women served as officers. Only the women. Of all the noble Houses, Majda adhered most to the old ways. They kept their princes secluded, never seen by any women outside the family.
    A man in dark clothes entered the room carrying a tray with two crystal tumblers. Gold liquid sparkled in them. He set the tray on the table and bowed to Majda.
    The general inclined her head. “Thank you.”
    He left as silently as he had come. I stared after him. No one had human servants anymore. Robots were less expensive, more reliable, and required less upkeep.
    Majda indicated the tumblers to me. “Please be my guest.”
    We both took our glasses. The brandy swirled in my mouth, went down like ambrosia, and detonated when it hit bottom. Saints almighty. I sat up straighter. The nanomeds in my body would keep me sober, but gods, with brandy like this, I was tempted to get drunk.
    “That’s good,” I said, ever the master of understatement.
    Majda sipped her drink. “You have an interesting reputation, Major Bhaajan.”
    “You’ve a job for me, I take it.”
    “A discreet job.”
    Discretion was my specialty. No messes. “Of course.”
    “I need to find someone.” She considered me. “I’m told you are the best there is for such searches and that you know Cries.”
    “I grew up here.” I had no wish to remember my youth. I had lived in the undercity, deep below the gleaming City of Cries, a dust rat surviving on my wits, my ability to steal, and my sheer cussed refusal to let poverty kill me. I knew Cries in ways no Majda could understand. Before she could bring up any more about my past, I changed the subject. “I’ll need to see all the details you can give me about this person and how she disappeared. Holos, mesh access, traits, everything on her habits and friends.”
    “You will have the information.” Her voice hardened. “Be certain you never misuse it.”
    That didn’t sound good. “Misuse how?”
    “He is a member of this family.”
    He. He. Ah, hell.
    Majda had lost a prince, one of those hidden and robed enigmas that fascinated the empire. You could end up in prison just for trying to glimpse one of their men. It wasn’t so long ago that the penalty for a woman who touched a Majda prince was execution. My life wouldn’t be worth spit if I offended this House, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to piss them off than to trespass against one of their men.
    “What happened to him?” I asked.
    She tapped the arm on her chair and the room dimmed. Curtains closed over the windows. A screen came down in front of the wall across from us and a holo formed, the image of a man. He stood in a room similar to this one, but with wood paneling and tapestries on the walls instead of books. He looked in