New Experiences #TeaserTuesday

Kolya kept his head down and stayed close behind Jadzia as they walked through the hotel. He didn’t see Hans, and more important, Hans did not see him, or so he guessed from the lack of disturbance as they slipped out a side door and into the darkness.

The snow had stopped, but the wind hadn’t. Kolya wished he hadn’t left his cloak with Hans all those hours ago. Under his feet the new snow creaked in the cold, and Kolya hoped Rafe’s place wasn’t far. Was he new? Maybe he would push Gevinni out of the capital entirely. If all his whores ate as well as they’d fed Kolya–

“Don’t speak to anyone,” Jadzia said over her shoulder. “Let me handle everything.” She trotted down stairs set in the middle of the sidewalk. The subway! Kolya had not been on the subway since–

“Hey, pretty lady,” a man said, but Jadzia swept on by, and Kolya stayed on her heels. She scanned a card twice, never breaking stride despite the suitcase, and they were both through the gates and onto the train just as a strident voice announced, “The doors are about to close. Please find a seat. Acceleration imminent.”

Jadzia sat; Kolya sat next to her. The train lurched into jolting motion. He’d thought it would be smooth. On rails, shouldn’t it be smooth?

A shaggy man with stains on his shirt grinned when Kolya’s eyes fell on him. Kolya dropped his eyes to his hands, and crossed his legs. When he glanced up, the man was leering. Gevinni would want him to flirt, Kolya knew. Always take an opportunity for free advertising. But this Rafe–Kolya didn’t know. Jadzia had said to let her handle everything. He’d already made her angry once–

“She’s twelve,” Jadzia said. Across the car the man grunted and turned away. Kolya wondered if he really looked like a twelve-year-old girl while he examined the car.

It was old, beige and brown and yellow, and someone with wrong ideas about sex had been carving at the seat divider beside him. Straps hung from the ceiling in empty loops. A drawing of a bunch of squiggly multi-colored lines hung on the wall across from the door they’d come in through. Kolya squinted and sounded out “legend” and realized it was a map. Of the subway lines? He wanted to look at it, but stayed next to Jadzia instead.

“Next stop,” the voice said and Kolya jumped, “Kaiba station. Transfering to: grey line. Red line. Tahachi express.”

Jadzia put her hand on her suitcase. Kolya checked the scarf on his head, and adjusted the blanket on his shoulders. His feet were damp from snow-melt, but not too cold yet. His stomach gurgled and he thought maybe Jadzia had been right and he shouldn’t have eaten so much. Or maybe it was the subway.

The car jolted to a stop. The doors opened. Jadzia stepped out and turned to the right and Kolya followed. They walked a long ways, to where the tunnels were smaller and more crowded and people grumbled and chatted and hurried about. Jadzia didn’t slow. Kolya stayed on her heels until she walked down a narrow corridor and stepped into a smaller car with tiny windows on the side and none at front or back. This one had eight seats, all facing forward, and seatbelts. Jadzia waved Kolya to sit next to a window, and put the suitcase in a rack over her head before she sat next to him and buckled into the seat. She took a device from her jacket pocket and it lit up with words and she started to read. Kolya turned to the window and saw only his face reflected and distorted.

He was starting to think he’d guessed wrong. Jadzia was too nice. Hans was nice sometimes, when he was bored and wanted to talk, but not when they were working. And Keen–he seemed scary, but he brought all that ice cream, and the jiggly food, and–maybe Rafe wasn’t a pimp. Maybe he was like Master Hiram. Maybe Keen hadn’t come for–hadn’t come only for the data. Maybe Rafe wanted Kolya, had seen him with Givenni and decided to take him. Then that john came along with his schedules and the schedules and Kolya in the same place was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Gods he hoped the schedules were on the chip like he’d said they were.

A man came in, grunted at Jadzia, and sat in the seat behind them before she answered. Two women came in, giggling and leaning on each other, and they spoke to Jadzia too and she smiled at them before they sat down and buckled in. Kolya wondered if he was in a private car.

His reflection was fading as the light grew outside the tiny, thick window. His eyes picked out a white shape and Kolya realized. It was a wing. He wasn’t on a train. He was on a shuttle.

Jadzia was taking him off-planet.