Meta4City a DarkSF novel by John Argo

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= META 4 CITY =

a DarkSF Novel

by John Argo

Page 7.

title by John ArgoThe citizens of West Gotha valued whatever time they could steal from the grind of work and fighting, to pursue love or pleasure. Behind the thick blackout curtains of a luxurious industrial executive suite, such a drama played itself out tonight. The hereditary executive of one of West Gotha's top wartime industries, a beautiful young baroness, had been working alone at her huge desk. As the evening wore on, she often stopped to chew her stylus and look up at the clock. She was expecting someone, and he was late. Or was he coming at all? She put her stylus down, closed her laptop, and rose. Sensually fingering her delicate wrist in its lace ruffle, she strode across the marble floor to the wet bar. There, she poured two crystal glasses of premium sec champagne from a bottle leaning in an ice bucket draped with linen hand towels. She loosened the kerchief around her neck, and fluffed her blouse open a button or two. Holding one of the glasses, she sauntered over to the entertainment bar and twisted a few knobs. The room filled with the seductive rhythms of recorded big band music. The atmosphere dimmed a bit she switched off the working lights. The ambience in the room, already seductive with her light perfume, turned amber, at the edges verging on rouge.

The tall double doors opened at the other end of the hall, and a man stood in the high rectangle of light. She clutched her bare neck, fearing for a moment that the servants had intruded at a compromising moment. "Alton!" she said, recognizing Captain Hedrock's handsome features despite the shadows. He had to be the most charming, reckless man she'd ever known, but she would throw her sizeable share of West Gotha's wealth at his feet if must be. He closed the doors, locked them, and strode confidently toward her, taking off his jacket and tie. He wore the uniform of an officer in the West Gotha Guards, but she knew he worked for East Gotha. Her hope was to turn him—to help her overturn both wartime governments and restore peace to a newly unified city that ruled the world. As he approached, he grinned in his seductive, irresponsible manner and opened his arms to take her. They flew together, kissing hard in an embrace that could not be enough. They refilled the champagne glasses and toasted each other. Outside, in a grim and different reality, bombs fell on the city's force shields and exploded with deafening echoes. Inside the muffled executive suite, there was only sinuous Latin dance music and the sound of their laughter and heels as he spun her around on the marble floor. Only gradually did she notice the lipstick on his shirt, and smell the other woman about him—and thus another kind of war was about to begin.

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