The Empty Glass

Posted on Sun 27th Oct, 2019 @ 1:16am by

540 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Outside The Orb of Change
Timeline: Any Day in Paradise

The man didn't always like his boss. Truth be told, he never actually liked him, but he could tolerate him some times more than others. Today was not a tolerant day.

He blended into his environment of shadows, wearing gray - medium gray formal trousers of a bygone era, dark gray snakeskin boots with pointed toes, a darker gray shirt than he usually wore, a black string tie tonight, a long gray coat that covered most of his body and clothing, and a gray felt hat. It was perfect for the darkness in which he lived.

His eyes, also gray, watched the interior of The Orb of Change. He'd been here once before, to see Kel Nola. She'd refused to do business with him then. Now ... maybe she'd change her mind. He didn't want to hurt her.

Blanking his mind completely, and his features, he pushed into the bat wing doors of the establishment and headed for the same table Nola always chose. He saw her awareness of him, and then her eyes met his. Hers were steel, but his were ice.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked in a soft voice that matched his eyes.

"Free country," she said, equally brief.

"I made you an offer," he reminded her.

"And I turned it down."

He remembered. Refusals were not common in his world. He hadn't held it against her, hadn't taken reprisals. Now things had changed.

"Someone wants you involved," he said.

She gazed at him, her eyes not flickering or dropping, though there was an intense desire for both. "No."

"Yes. It's worth your life now."

Does that change anything? Kel asked herself. She didn't believe it did. What was the point of having standards, if they were flexible?

"Or yours," she answered.

There might have been a flash of humor in his wintry eyes, or it might have been a dance of the lighting. "It won't be me. There are darker things than I loose on the station."

She knew that. There were the rumors, the uptick in bodies, those who disappeared and were never found. "Are there?" she asked, philosophically.

In a long forgotten part of his mind, there was a pinprick of dislike, not for her, but for her opinion of him. He shut it down ruthlessly. "24 hours to change your mind," he told her.

"24 years wouldn't matter. I don't do the work you want. I never will. Take your answer and go back to your master with it. To clarify," she leaned forward slightly, "the answer is still no."

After a moment, he nodded and stood. "So be it."

The gray man walked out, as quietly as he had entered, his boots leaving no sound and no tracks in the detritus on the floor.

After a moment, Pinky stopped by the table and set a drink in front of Nola. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said.

She knocked the drink back and swallowed. Then she took several coins from her pocket and handed them to him. "Just in case," she told him.

His fist closed over the money. "I ... be careful, girl."

"Always," she said. After a moment, he walked away, taking the empty glass with him.

 

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