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Chap 5

The man's magnificent golden hair was proof of his privileged class and his membership in the highest ranks of the elite. His piercing, god-like visage engendered about him an unapproachable sense of dignity. The authority in his glance made others tremble.

His low, cool voice was filled with cruelty, and it had no difficulty pummeling Riki's pride. As far as Riki was concerned, he'd been molded out of the shit of Satan himself. Riki knew nothing about him except that he was a Tanagura Blondy. Not even his name.

Of course, if he'd been really dying to know and took the time to investigate, he'd probably be surprised to find the information easy to come by. But even now, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

And it wasn't just because he was sour about the ordeal.

Knowing more—knowing his name alone—meant that he would only fall further under the man's spell. The fact was, thinking about him even a little totally pissed him off.

The black market was bringing out the best of him, and to Riki the memory of that night was the one humiliating stain on his soul. He didn't want to think about it again. So why, when he could kick back and relax between jobs, did that keen countenance graze the edges of his thoughts? Appearing in his mind's eye as if imprinted on his brain?

The pain was almost so slight that it could be ignored, but it was a festering type of ache, and the swelling wouldn't go away. At times like those, half-unconsciously Riki would reach into the pocket of his trousers and grab hold of a key ring, grinding his molars. The object at his fingertips was the gold coin the man had tossed him when he left that day.

"Change for the hush money you forced upon me." That was what he'd told Riki. Riki thought of chucking it down the sewer, or better, getting Zach to fence it for hard cash. But for some reason he clung to it; he'd never seen anything like it before and had no idea how much it was really worth.

Moreover, he didn't want its origins being pried into by Zach's discerning eyes. Eventually he lost the impetus to get rid of it. It'd be different if it represented the spoils of a good war fought. Why he kept this symbol of such base degradation on his person was a mystery to him.

With the courier job falling into his lap, meeting Katze, seeing with his own eyes the life the Scarface had made for himself—Riki hadn't been aware of that humiliating coin. Though now and then the thought struck him that perhaps he kept it as a caution, a reminder of the kind of ignorant brat he had been.

But even there he had the feeling he was grasping at straws. "This is so totally fucked!" he scolded to himself, turning the coin over in his fingers and holding it up to the light. It wasn't that unusual, except for the dazzling golden design that he never could quite get used to. Was it supposed to be a kind of crest or seal or something? Realizing that he was ogling it like he'd never seen it before, Riki sighed heavily.

As he did, he courier buddy Alec plopped himself down in a chair. "Hey, nice bauble you got there." He looked at Riki, his eyes hidden by his ever-present shades. "Where'd you get your hands on it?"

Alec didn't ask because he actually gave a shit about Riki's concerns. This time was simply because he was curious... or so Riki surmised from the tone of his voice, unable to read Alec's expression behind his sunglasses.

To be honest, Riki found being examined through those clouded lenses rather repulsive. He couldn't tell where Alec was looking and what he was looking at. Not to mention that his emotions were an easy read while Alec stood behind a one-way mirror. It was aggravating, him being his partner and all.

When Katze had paired him up with Alec, Riki didn't care who his partner was. The only thing that got on his nerves was the way Alec looked at him through those sunglasses. Riki could feel Alec's eyes on him but couldn't see his eyes. It bugged the hell out of him.

If he had some sort of physical deficiency and had to wear sunglasses no matter what, that was another matter. But otherwise, when meeting somebody face to face, he wanted to look that person in the eyes when he talked to him.

"Say, Alec. Do you wear those shades for looks? Or is there something wrong with your eye?"

Seeing as he'd been pulling his weight up to now, Riki believed that he should be straight about clearing up any worries and concerns the two of them might have as directly as possible.

"What are you asking me something like that for?"

"I don't like not knowing where you're looking when you've got those things on. If they're an absolute necessity then that's that, I guess. But if not, I'd like to look you in the eyes when I talk to you."

Alec didn't answer for a while. He showed a faint smile. "Did you know I was Karinese?"

"Didn't know."

"Apparently not. Or you wouldn't have blurted out such a stupid remark."

For a second Riki held his breath, wondering if he'd somehow lit the fuse on Alec's temper. At this point he couldn't call the words back, so his only option was to press forward regardless. "So you being a Karinese or whatever makes it a bad thing?"

"No. My thought is, you got some balls on you wanting to look into my eyes." Alec leaned across the table as he spoke, their noses only inches apart. "You really want to see?"

A sudden surge of curiosity overshadowed his nervousness. Karinese eyes got some secret to them? Alec's eyes remained hidden behind the thick pair of lenses. Shit, you're not telling me I'm gonna turn into a stone or something—Riki seemed to recall a story from ancient mythology to that effect.

"Quit getting all high and mighty on me and take 'em off."

Alec stopped leaning over the table and straightened his back. He sniffed through his nose in a bored fashion. "Huh. Just like a kid. In a situation like this you're supposed to get all up tight and trembling, but I was wrong to expect such feminine delights from the likes of you."

A moment passed while Riki gaped at him in stunned silence. When he couldn't take it anymore, he bellowed at his partner. "Alec!"

Alec whipped off the sunglasses. "fine, fine. Sorry to make you wait," he said with a wry grin. He fixed his gaze upon Riki.

Riki's cry of surprise caught in his throat. The vertical irises of Alec's cat-like eyes radiated a scarlet color. Red eyes. A pair of jewels inlaid with condensed drops of crimson blood. Ghil's face from the old days flashed through his mind and a tremor stabbed at his heart.

"I'm sorry, Riki. I gave it my best shot. Gave it my best shot. I'm sorry—"

As he was apt to do whenever he recalled that thin, ghostly voice, Riki opened his brimming dark eyes wide and stared at Alec. How could it be? Despite his aversion to being viewed from behind shaded eyes, he realized that he was a bit relieved Alec hid his crimson eyes behind those tinted lenses. He reminded himself that he didn't have the time to indulge in sentimental emotions that were so unlike himself.

But at this particular moment, what was really surprising Riki was how the carefree and slippery Alec—who always remained true to his glib and laid-back manner—was seriously knocked back on his heels.

"What's the big deal?"

"Isn't that—isn't that an Aurora coin?"

"Aurora?" echoed Riki, narrowing his eyes. He'd never heard the word before.

"What—you're telling me you don't know?" Behind the sunglasses his gaze flicked back and forth from Riki's face to the coin. He was briefly struck dumb. "And now this. Un-fucking-believable." He let out an exaggerated sigh.

What's he making a big deal out of this for? Riki thought. It's just some stupid coin, isn't it?

"Well, it's actually the first time I've seen the real thing too, so I'm hardly in the position to be putting you down about it. Not to mention that it's a world completely unconnected to either of us."

"So what the hell is it?" Riki demanded. The insinuation Alec was making and the way he was going on about it were beginning to get on his nerves.

"An Aurora coin is a pet coin. Pet currency. In short, the money exclusively used by pets."

A long second passed during which Riki digested this information. His eyes went wide with a wordless retort. Pet currency? It was more than just unexpected. He felt that word—the likes of which his brain had never encountered before—ricochet around his skull like a pinball.

The World went white, like a strobe light exploding in front of his eyes. The perpetually insolent attitude plastered on his face disappeared in a flash, such that not a particle of its roguish charms remained. The expression on his face said more than any words could.

Alec stared at him flabbergasted. And then, a thought perhaps passing through his mind, a faint smile came to his lips. "That's what it's called, but because its use is so restricted—who can use it and where—it doesn't have much of an exchange value in the shopping districts. Pet coins are more commonly known as tokens."

The explanations hit him like a series of hard blows to the head. That fucking bastard— Riki felt the blood drain from his face. Pet currency. He'd never imagined anything like that existed in the world. "So we're talking about fake money then?" Despite all his self-control, his voice sharpened to a point.

"No, it's not that."

"Then what? A coin with no exchange value? What the hell do you do with it?" he said, half enraged, glaring at Alec, the glint of danger in his eyes.

Alec shrugged. "It's not used the same as money," he said frankly. "Its value is as a kind of status symbol, proof that you're so bloody rich you can afford a pet."

Its value is as a status symbol? Riki repeated to himself in disgust. Forced against his will to recall that man's face, the embodiment of wealth and power, he unconsciously grimaced.

"For what it's worth, they're traded among fanatical collectors for the value of their designs alone. Depending on the item they can demand a pretty price."

"Yeah, by idiots," Riki spat out in a venomous tone. He couldn't begin to comprehend the concept of creating a specialty currency with no actual monetary value, simply to provide pets with "pocket change." Or of fools eager to part with real money to get their hands on them.

As if Alec were privy to Riki's inner thoughts, he explained further. "The way the system's set up, the money goes round and round and ends up right back in the hands of the rich. As they say, if you can't debauch yourself the way you want to, then you're not truly in the money."

He smirked out of the side of his mouth, "That Aurora coin you've got there is for Eos-reared pets. They hardly ever show up in circulation. Collectors kill for them. I don't know where you got you hands on one, but post that thing on an Internet auction and you'll have no shortage of interested buyers. You could make yourself a sweet bit of beer money."

"Eos—that got something to do with Tanagura?"

"You ain't kidding me. The place in Tanagura where the elites live. Palace Tower. Hey, the engraved design there is the same pattern as the Tanagura banner. And not to mention that chain looks like twenty-four carat gold. It'd light up the eyes of not just the hard-core collectors."

Alec chattered on with a great air of authority about what kind of value something like an Aurora coin might have, but not half of what he was saying reached the enraged Riki's ears. That son of a bitch was rubbing my face in it!

Treat a person like shit, a mere plaything, and in the end toss him a token knowing it had no value as money, calling it "change for the hush money." How badly does a man have to fuck someone over in order to feel good about himself? Shit! Riki boiled over with anger.

"I'm treating slum trash no different than a Tanagura pet. And you're still not happy?" Those words that had stuck to his soul, pregnant with cold, sneering laughter, flashed before his senses.

Shit!

Feeling as if he might retch, Riki pressed his trembling lips together.

Shit!!

The vulgarities rising in his throat burned his tongue. He couldn't begin to imagine the humiliation if he'd asked Zach to fence this coin.

Shit!!!

His brains all but boiled in his head. Let me make myself clear, shithead. The next time we meet, no matter when or where, your ass is mine. Though they were likely to meet again about the same time hell froze over.

Still, Riki couldn't help shaking his fist and bellowing in anger.

Alec had no idea what was going on. Riki had fallen silent in the middle of the conversation and then practically had a stroke right there in front of him, on the verge of bursting into an apoplectic rage.

He took a deep breath. Easy boy, easy boy. Don't go losing it when we've got business toattend to. He kept his counsel to himself and let his breath out slowly,wondering what had set Riki off. It was enough to give a man a migraine.

The kid had worked his way up from the slums and looked at everyone with the same hard, unsentimental gaze. It was about three months ago that Katze had put them together. At the time, Alec was sure he'd rolled snake eyes. He heaved a big sigh.

At any rate, the way he saw it, he finally had his chance, though he hadn't imagined he'd end up with this particular kid. He didn't take it seriously enough to believe that, even by accident, the responsibility would land on him.

The kind of fascists who branded Riki "sewer trash" would use the same epithets on an immigrant from the Karin star system like Alec. With their empathic abilities, Karinese were renowned as a race of healers. But because of these abilities, others feared that if touched by one of them their thoughts and intentions would be revealed.

So it wasn't just a small part of the population that viewed them with a visceral revulsion. Their crimson, cat-like irises being a dead giveaway, aside from his private life, Alec never went anywhere without his eyes concealed behind a dark pair of shades.

The reasons for disguising his identity included the simple desire to avoid the rumors that invited a lot of pointless trouble. Urban folklore like: The red eyes of the Karinese are harbingers of bad fortune. And: Just by looking at you, a Karinese can drain your life energy and leave you dead.

No matter what the secret was, it would at some point unravel and gush forth as rumor. As long as he sensed those roiling sentiments in the looks that fell on him—to good or evil ends—Alec couldn't afford to let down his guard. Though he took a guarded stance and cynically cast the world aside, he still possessed a lingering fondness for humankind.

Regardless of the opinions of those around him, his was more than just a protective mask he wore. He rather enjoyed his reputation as an easy come, easy go kind of guy. "Whatever will be, will be," was his motto.

Though at least this time his sigh had the force of a gale behind it. Why? What's the deal? Why in the world did he have to be that kid's partner?

Knowing that there'd be no point to last-minute posturing, he'd raked his fingers through his oddly out-of-place golden copper hair, the color of a lion's mane. "Boss," he said, casually exercising his veto power, "Babysitting kids is hardly my strong point."

Predictably, Katze breezily dismissed his concerns. "Don't worry about it. He's not an ordinary brat. Time for a change from the same-old, same-old, don't you think?"

So the kid wasn't boring. But wasn't that just another way of saying he was a big troublemaker?

Alec wasn't so bored with the human condition that he exulted in prying into other people's business, but his colleagues couldn't resist tossing in their two cents worth.

"Hey, good luck."

"Hell, I know I'm resting easy tonight."

"Work his fingers to the bone, Alec."

"Don't go easy on him, he'll just get worse."

They might have been shooting their mouths off, but what they were really saying wasn't limited to Riki. They wouldn't dream of partnering up with Alec either.

Alec didn't fancy himself an aloof warrior or lone wolf, but he didn't want to carry this hand grenade around with him, either. His and Riki's disparate personalities canceled each other out, but whenever things turned for the worst, all of their worst aspects more than doubled.

Though Katze was aware of this, the decision had already been made, and he wasn't about to reverse himself at this point. Even so, Alec still reserved the right to bitch about it. Since then, he had come to admit that his initial read of the situation had been off base. Far from being a troublemaker, Riki was the veritable eye of the hurricane.

There were two kinds of couriers in the black market. According to the Midas class system they were assigned (according to blood line) to the Megisto, or were independently employed by the mercenary Athos.

Ridiculed as the "devoted dogs of the Market," the Megisto spared no pains following every order of their superiors. If told to fall on their swords they would do so without protest. In that respect, though, their lack of flexibility when things didn't go as planned was a serious drawback.

Routine, hands-on work was their forte, but having become accustomed to taking orders, they couldn't think for themselves and improvise on the spot when called for.

Athos was the exact opposite. Bound not by loyalty or fidelity but by contract only, they were full-fledged members of the Market. They came from various races and origins, and for the most part doubled their natural endowments of smarts and courage with equal measures of bravado. In other words, they were all lone wolves of one breed or another.

While they would not bare their claws to those they acknowledged as their equals, they demanded a deep and stubborn pride in their ability to do the job. Inevitably, their boss as well would test the limits of those abilities.

They knew that their boss was a slum mongrel who'd hauled himself out of the cesspool, and though curious enough by their own right, unlike the crusty and prejudiced Megisto, they didn't cast meaningless insult without justification.

They knew how capable and accomplished their boss was. There was no dissing him the way they did the likes of the Megisto. All the more reason to not give a damn when they called him a slum-bred mongrel pet behind his back.

The smart dog didn't bark in vain but only quietly sharpened his fangs. They didn't need to descend to the level of the junkyard hounds. Their abilities as "hunter" couriers who at times also took it upon themselves to scare up procurements were far superior as well. Their skills were obvious at a glance.

Consequently, that Katze would invite Riki into the fold as a member of Athos struck them all as some kind of joke. After a stunned moment of silence they exchanged glances and then with the same wry smiles shrugged their shoulders.

They knew this wasn't for show or on a whim, but nobody thought Katze would bring into the take-no-prisoners environment of the Market what was from anyone's perspective nothing but a greenhorn punk kid.

But this wasn't a negotiation. Katze had announced his decision and gave the final word on the subject. Uncertain of how to deal with the youngster, Alec and the others figured they could leave things up to their boss.

The nail that stuck up got nailed down. That was common sense. Nobody liked an overachiever, and if that overachiever happened to be a mongrel rising out of the slums, jealousy growing into a grudge was not hard to imagine.

No matter how severe the restrictions of a feudal class system, human desire itself knew no limits. Given the right motivation, loopholes could be found everywhere—people who couldn't find them had to reassure themselves by thinking they'd simply been dealt a bad hand in life.

As proof of their identity, the citizens of Midas had a biochip embedded in their earlobes soon after they were born. The word was they'd no sooner part with it than chop off their ears. A kid like Riki had no such PAM device

There was a fair amount of curiosity about the exact nature of the circumstances surrounding the youngster, but there wasn't a great desire to delve into a person's private matters. Mutual trust and money were essential to the contract, as was a certain degree of studied indifference: not seeing, not saying, and not hearing what they weren't supposed to.

The members of Athos, hired for money, were each in their own way familiar with the art of making friends as the situation demanded. Yet this young interloper showing up out of nowhere, in what had been thus far a problem-free environment, had thrown them all for a loop.

Should they go along as usual and treat him with suspicion, or just as the youngest underling to join Athos since it began? Katze didn't say to run him ragged and make good use of him. All he said was: "This is Riki. From now on he's one of us."

Even while announcing that he'd become a member, the feeling was that he wasn't here to pile up experiences as a courier. Maybe Katze had other plans for him. Starting out, a newbie's job typically revolved around deskwork. Katze didn't assign him anybody as backup, and that wasn't like him. His attitude toward Riki was: I'm only going to tell you this once.

Watching Riki out of the corners of their eyes, the crew had to wonder about how he ended up there. In short, the thinking was that Katze had put him on the payroll as a favor to someone. In which case he was only according Riki the treatment demanded of him.

However, with a state of mind that bordered on the arrogant, Riki shattered their expectations. To be sure, he wasn't exactly respectful to his superiors, but he wasn't an insufferable brat either.

Regardless of Katze's plans, in his own way Riki seemed determined to learn all there was to know about the Market as quickly as possible. Taking only what he was given wasn't enough. His eyes constantly searched out the next step that would sate the desire to improve himself. The kind of pure and fearless passion that the rest of them had lost long ago, that degree of youth necessary to keep moving forward with eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead.

He had a positive yearning for learning anything he didn't know. Far better to ask a question and be thought a fool for a moment than to stay silent and remain a fool forever. He'd grab any passing colleague and hound him with questions.

He used everything he had at hand to learn more. The strength of his willpower was amazing. At first his colleagues found this exuberance depressing. This degree of desire made it clear he was in no way docilely hiding his time here until something better came along.

With time though, they were amazed and pleasantly surprised. He wasn't content with the status quo. He created his own future. Nobody could find fault with that kind of indomitable spirit.

Even with the odd stumble, the occasional miss, he wasn't giving up. A guy with that kind of can-do spirit was never going to run out of things to do. Whether or not a person ended up as a freeloader just going along for the ride was a decision best made, not by other people, but by the man himself.

Riki enthusiastically made the case for himself and sold it to the jury right before their very eyes.

At the time, not just Athos and Megisto but the Market as well knew where Riki had come from. But though they now looked up to Riki with new eyes, Riki hadn't changed at all. To an admirable degree, his attitude did the talking for him: I haven't got the time to care about what these idiots think of me.

Which didn't mean that he strictly avoided unnecessary trouble. He could as easily start a fight with a look on his face as with the words coming out of his mouth.

From Alec's perspective, accustomed as he was to the ways of the world, Riki's behavior wasn't entirely the product of childish obstinacy. But when he considered it as the nonnegotiable pride born out of the clinging webs of prejudices and discrimination that Riki had always been exposed to, then that stubbornness struck him as what he should expect of a child.

And it was nothing to laugh about. Call it stubbornness or something else, a person who possessed that sense of self was bound to thrive on adversity. A sense of conviction that did not sway with every passing breeze. In these respects, Alec sensed uncanny resemblances between Riki and Katze, who seemingly shared nothing but their roots in the slums.

However, there was no end to the assholes who couldn't shut up about it. When the more impertinent Megisto gangbangers threw down, Alec and the others couldn't help but be impressed by Riki's unexpectedly strong fighting style, that of a person who'd drawn blood quite a few times before.

The look on his face right before he threw the first punch. The way he fixed his opponent in his sights. His eyes turning up at the corners and filling with bloodlust—where did this shudder of apprehension come from?

His normally sullen, youthful aura dropped away and a completely different aspect of himself was put on display. What the hell sort of creature was this? Alec wasn't the only one swallowing hard in disbelief.

Fast.

Smart.

Supple.

Striking and dancing and closing in the for the kill. A groaning, grunting howling beast, concealing its brutal fangs, mesmerizing its foes with fear.

Jeering.

Trash-talking.

Even the sightseers who stopped to watch the show would at some point hold their breaths and fall silent. The only person who didn't appear surprised in the least was Katze.

That was when Alec started to believe that Riki hadn't come to the Market to be baby-sat as some freeloader. As the saying goes, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son." In order to fully ascertain the limits of Riki's abilities Katze had placed his bet and let the wager ride, no conditions attached.

It was even possible that Katze had plucked Riki out of the same environment and was grooming him as his future right-hand man.

That's what starting him thinking about the talk they'd had about Riki being his partner. So that's what this whole thing's been about? he had to wonder. The deep sigh he'd let out was suffused with ulterior meanings.

The thought that for all Katze's apparent asceticism and self-denial, somewhere in his heart he might be searching for a kindred spirit struck him as a kind of betrayal. And thinking that way left him in an uncharacteristically melancholy state of mind that was at the same time very unlike him.

Knowing he was overstepping his position, he had to ask. "So you're asking me to strictly lay out for him the basics of being a courier and get him ready to play the first string positions?"

"No. That's not necessary. My job isn't to turn him into some kind of pro courier."

In which case his job was?

What Katze wanted was for him to pile up a wide ranges of experiences with the future in mind.

Katze wasn't about to let his diamond in the rough get fucked up by strangers before it'd been polished to a shine. Katze's expectations in this regard were as transparent as glass. Alec found himself smiling despite himself.

"So that means sticking close and keeping an eye out and making sure that nobody sets him off?"

Unable to read the irony in Alec's expression behind his dark shades, Katze didn't betray a flicker of emotion. "You needn't go that far," he said flatly and distinctly. "See, in one way or another he's a natural-born Varja."

"Varja?" Alec echoed. It was a word he wasn't familiar with.

Katze lit a second cigarette. This exacting man's one bad habit. And nobody but a Karinese like Alec would have detected the minute amount of opium in the smoke. He wasn't an addict. And the high class of his stash notwithstanding, he didn't smoke it in front of others to show off. But Alec understood why Katze felt he had to smoke it: being a courier boss day in and day out was a tough job.

Though they were both treated as the yard dogs of the Market, the mutual hostility of Megisto and Athos had already made them something close to natural enemies. And being saddled with the double-edged sword that was Riki—was enough reason for the small indulgence.

"Originally, he was that jet-black beast out of the legend of the Veela, a magical being of exquisite beauty that hunted the souls of humans. There's supposedly no end to the people who've been thrown out of kilter and bewitched by the lustrous black pearls of his eyes."

Alec thought he caught the gist of what Katze was trying to say. "In other words, as far as the person in question is concerned, even if you don't have that sense in the slightest, there's no end to the men who would miss everything by focusing on the details. Is that what you're talking about?"

Putting it in so many words he felt he was being brutally honest, but in truth those obsidian spheres were infused with a curious and charming power. Glittering eyes that brought to mind not so much the cold silence at the edge of the abyss, but simmering black magma that engendered the desire for personal possession, even if the gleam in those eyes reflected a lust for blood.

To be honest, Alec was entranced by the rough-and-tumble as well. It didn't necessarily mean he'd come to view Riki in a whole new light, but he did feel the necessity of layering on the self-restraint and locking down the baser impulses.

"It's because the slums are a strange world distorted by the overabundance of males. Anybody who doesn't fit in has got to decide whether to stand apart or get hunted down," Katze said.

"And if neither of the above, then it's a fight to the finish?"

"Go looking for a fight and expect to get paid back with interest. To the flesh and bone. That's the law of the slums."

Alec heaved a deep sigh, thinking about how Riki's inherent toughness, an apparent mismatch with his physique, had been cultivated toward those ends. In a world where the common law was the law of the jungle, you either toughened the heart and mind or you didn't survive.

And he knew with a look at Katze that the man wasn't just talk. Sporting a countenance that could have compared with the talent of any club in Midas must be a bitter burden in life. In a world where the logic of power went unchallenged, beauty did nothing but turn a person into prey.

Whether to fight or fawn or get trampled underfoot, that was the question.

He didn't know the precise details of Katze's rise as a broker. Rumor had it that the scar on his cheek was a vestige of that past. Wearing it openly as a badge of honor and taking on the moniker of "Scarface" presented—more than his desire not to be derided as a greenhorn—a threatening stance to his surroundings.

Because Katze himself said nothing, whatever the truth might be never solidified from the clouds of rumor.

Strictly in terms of beauty, there was no shortage of prettier faces than Riki's, who was still dragging that aura of immaturity and childishness. But from Alec's perspective, Katze comparing Riki to the legendary Varja was definitely no exaggeration.

Even knowing how repugnant it was to Riki, the allure of his unkempt black hair made Alec want to touch it and see for himself. The rays radiated by his black eyes reflected a preciousness more valuable than jeweled obsidian.

The smart fluidity of his limbs was exceptional, and the severity of his temperament contrasted against his slender waist had the unintentional effect of dazzling the eyes of his more depraved comrades.

But what people found most mesmerizing was the unique feel of the whole, not the quality—good or bad—of the individual parts.

"Even with a change of location, those pheromones would be spilling out all over the place just the same. As a person with no idea what's he's scattering about, that makes him the epitome of the reluctant participant," Katze said, his voice turning bitter on the word "pheromones".

That he didn't come across as a charmer alone was reassuring. Riki got guys all worked up, regardless of orientation. Make him a woman and that kind of glamorous appeal would label him a femme fatale.

But to Riki, a stray cat raising his hackles to everybody, comparisons like that were entirely inappropriate. There was nothing special about a slum mongrel. In Riki's case, projecting that strong sense of "being there" drew people in, and to good or ill ends made their hearts ache with excitement.

For Alec as well, it was a little frightening to find himself so mercilessly drawn to desires that would never otherwise have occurred to him. Not until Riki showed up in his life had he ever experienced something like that right before his eyes.

Up to a certain point in time, the Athos gang uniformly kept Riki at arm's length, probably because they sensed the same thing and treaded carefully around him,

Everybody believed himself to be the most desirable. If they didn't have the guts and the courage to press the issue and put their self-control to the test, they'd always remain on the sidelines.

Alec wasn't the only one to come to this realization.

"Isn't it the eternal dream of you and every other man in the universe to fit a collar around the neck of a wild animal and tame the untamed beast?" Katze said, casually laying bare the distorted mentality at play.

Not unexpectedly, Alec's eyes widened momentarily in reaction. Perhaps working as Riki's partner functioned as a kind of constraint. Though it wasn't the kind of thing in which he wished to read any deeper meanings.

"Well, the desire for control has always been more than just ambition, it's an essential quality in the human male. But as far as I'm concerned, no matter how enticing the creature, spotting a predator at a distance and knowing it bites should make you think twice about extending a hand, don't you think?"

Katze probably wasn't expecting such an innocuous response, but that was how Alec felt about the subject, especially if Katze anticipated making Riki his right-hand man in the future. In fact, had Katze been willing to take no for an answer, Alec would rather have given this whole partners business a pass.

If his previous partners could see him now, they'd no doubt lament that he'd turned into a loser who'd lost his stomach for the fight. But Alec personally sensed no dissatisfaction from his current association with Athos. As long as he had his self-respect, he believed, it didn't matter what others thought of him.

All the more reason that Alec hadn't grasped what Katze was up to.

That was when, after all was said and done, Katze said this last: "Nobody around here knows exactly how to factor Riki into the equation, but I'm not looking for him to undergo any big changes."

"And by that you mean—?" "By that I mean he's the type who masters the obstacles in front of him and takes it to the next level. If the nail sticking up gets a pounding, then so be it. But there's no need for you to take your time."

Katze's words had the effect of completely overturning the picture Alec had formed in his head up till now. He unconsciously straightened his posture. "So you're not training Riki with some future plans in mind?"

In response Katze twisted his cheek in something of a rare grimace. "It could be the kid's too clever for his own good. If so, then I would have wanted to see him run through the wringer too. But in Riki's case, if that'd be enough to change who he is in a big way, then frankly the repercussions could be scary."

"What the hell kind of puzzle is he riddling me with?" Alec thought.

"So from here on out, I'm asking you to keep your hands on the reins."

Even after hauling Riki up from the depths of the slums and letting him run loose in the Market, Katze wasn't looking for him to set the world on fire right away. Basically he was asking Alec to be a counterweight to keep Riki from going over. Alec was at a loss of what to say.

So now he strode toward the cargo ship, Riki a few steps ahead of him. He stared through his sunglasses at Riki's back. Even if he wanted to take off his sunglasses in front of Riki, since that day there was no way he could. Even as an empath, even as a healer, he simply didn't possess powers that great.

Which was to say, in Alec's case, his abilities as a Karinese were rather out of the ordinary, unorthodox even. His empathic abilities did not focus on human beings but were exercised most fully by machines. And not just machines, but on the artificial intelligences typified by computers.

That was the reason why Alec was a courier who piloted cargo ships as if on a whim, and also the preeminent hacker in the Market.

That's why he was honestly taken aback that day when Riki—who didn't seem to know anything about the special gifts of the Karinese—told him to take off his sunglasses, and he didn't consider putting up a stubborn front. For Alec his sunglasses amounted to nothing more than a way of avoiding unnecessary grief.

He didn't think he was trying to cement any kind of friendship with Riki on purpose. Rather, he wanted to create a trusting relationship with his partner. Except that Riki approached the whole thing with such a humorless attitude that he couldn't repress a bit of mischievous contrariness.

And so an empath who should have no special affinity for human emotions ended up "reading" Riki's. To the point that he found himself getting sucked into Riki's memories.

A pair of crimson eyes—

An emaciated kid—

A hospital bed—

And the words he should not be able to hear, the rasping moans quavered in his brain. The incandescent sensation of having organic sensations suddenly thrust upon his inorganic world. The pain of Riki's wide, black, unblinking eyes fixed upon him.

Alec jerked his head aside, averting his gaze, to break the entwining tendrils of Riki's gaze. He replaced his sunglasses with trembling hands, the world again fading into that eternal hue. The incessant pounding of his heart shook his whole body. He licked his chapped lips over and over, sensing the deep relief of returning to his well-accustomed, "normal" world.

An unexpected blunder. An unanticipated indiscretion. And feelings of trepidation he'd never felt before. Gathering his wits about him, he cast a glance in Riki's direction, sizing him up and checking him out.

Riki gazed absentmindedly into the sky. Not wiping at his moist eyes, there was a haunted look on his face Alec had never seen before. Tortured by strange feelings of discontent and not budging from the spot, he didn't say another word.

After that, he was conscious only of standing in front of Riki and looking at him through the lenses of his sunglasses.

Turning in the direction Katze had intended all along, albeit unexpectedly, Alec ended up carrying out his job as the "counterweight," the governor on Riki's spinning flywheel, to the fullest. His quiet groans were weighed down with derision and self-constraint.