Rory had to break some of the doorways even more than they had been to fit the cages out, but thankfully these rainbow snakes were smallish when curled up. He stopped a few feet before the exit of Henry’s tunnel (he couldn’t stop calling it that) and he made a call on his commo. For the first time in his life, he rented a ride. He specified that it had to be on the larger side to accommodate the cages, but otherwise, nothing mattered except that it could get him from the mines directly to Elphina’s.
A ride like this cost nearly sixty pounds, which was why he had never done it before. Even if he could afford it, why would he when the transbus was only three shillings if paid in hard coin? So he set it up on his commo and waited for the signal. One scrapper walked by and scanned Rory and the boxes with his eyes, but Rory’s look must have said enough because he quickly scampered off.
Ten minutes later his commo told him the ride was close so he grabbed the cages and ran to the transbus platform. As the public transport wasn’t there, it was open for use by anyone and that place wasn’t exactly a popular stop. A moment later, a shiny silver four-door personal vehicle dropped from the sky. Rory went up to it, looked in the window, and asked, “Going to Elphina’s in the Western Commerce Center?”
“Ya, mate. Climb in,” answered the smiling darker-skinned guy with short black hair.
Rory opened the door, put cages in the back, secured them with safety harnesses, climbed in the front, and off they went. The driver introduced himself as Yosef. He was a very talkative chap. He asked Rory about how long he’d lived on the planet, what did he do for a living, what was he doing in such a shady place, what was in the boxes, did he have family, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, one of each, and on and on.
But the most unending questions were about whether he liked different types of foods. Every single answer Rory gave was a lie. He didn’t tell a single bit of truth. It had actually turned into a fun game where he had to come up with a lie to answer the question. It got a little difficult during the food portions because a question like, “Have you ever tried blah blah,” caused Rory to struggle with how to lie. In the end, he just up and said he’d pretty much eaten everything ever created and made up complete rubbish about why he liked or disliked each.
Sixty-five minutes later, Yosef’s vehicle dropped him off. Rory authorized the transaction, grabbed the cages, and waved goodbye to the friendly foodie driver who likely thought he was a bi-sexual, polygamist, food connoisseur.
He walked to Elphina’s holding the cages and, putting one down, knocked on the delivery doors. Then he picked it back up and waited for the curmudgeon.
She whipped the door open ready to snap at whoever had the temerity to bother her, but she froze when she saw Rory standing there with two cages, a shit-eating grin on his face. She quickly looked up and down the side of the building and waved him inside.
“Quickly then. Those vultures would want those more than anything.”
Rory blinked in confusion but followed. Competition maybe? Well, it was none of his business. Once they were inside, the creaky voice said, “You got two, did you? They alive and in one piece?”
“I think so?” Rory told her questioningly. “I followed your directions. They fell after the bottles hit, then I gently put them in the cages. I don’t know more than that.”
She nodded while leading him to a different room. This was bigger than the last one and had nothing else in it. She ordered him to put the cages in the middle but away from each other. He did and she went up and tapped the small projected interface near the doors. The cages increased in size and became transparent again, showing both snakes curled up but clearly alive and awake. Their tongues going in and out as they tried to figure out where they were and what to do about it.
The woman chuckled to herself as soon as she saw them. Then it rose to loud laughter until eventually she was cackling like crazy. Her steel walking stick banged against the floor with each breath as the old woman couldn’t seem to stop laughing.
Rory tried to ask about his pay between her laughing fits. “Is that acceptable. Our deal still on?”
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The woman didn’t even look at him, only laughing some more. Eventually, she managed take a breath and declared, “They’ll wish they’d never messed with me now!” This was followed by more hysterical cackling.
Rory stepped back and readied to call his weapons. He wasn’t sure if the woman was nutty, was going to try to skimp out on their deal, or was just really pleased to stick it to whomever angered her. But he was going to be ready in case it turned bad.
The tiny blond from the front room ran in followed by a plume herbal scents with an obviously worried face. Rory stepped away from her too, hands down but in a throwing position. But the blond didn’t pay attention to him at all. She skidded to stop and stared at the cages.
“You got them gramma?” she gasped.
The old woman, who had started to wind down at seeing the young woman, cackled even harder then but nodded. At this point, Rory was getting worried for her health. Was it okay for someone her age to strain herself like that? What if she died from over-laughing? She owed him a hundred thousand pounds.
“Hello?” Rory called. “Can I get paid?”
The blond blinked and looked at him. “It was you? She was right?”
“Miss,” Rory said, exasperated. “I have no idea about what right or wrong you mean. But I brought those in and our deal was fifty thousand pounds each.”
That made the old hag, who had just begun to wind down, start up again. But between gasping breaths, she barely wheezed out, “A mating pair!” Then she cackled even harder, leaning over so she could breathe.
The blond proceeded to re-ignore Rory and said, “Really?” in a shocked tone. Look closer at the cages, she gasped and exclaimed, “Oh!”
The old woman finally slowed down and her laughing became more of a self-laugh, her ancient shoulders rising and falling occasionally.
Then she turned to Rory. “Son…” she said between gasping breaths, “you don’t understand… what you did.”
Rory nodded emphatically. “I agree. I have no idea what’s going on.”
She smiled widely and he was afraid she would start laughing hysterically again. Thankfully, she didn’t. Instead, she pointed at the cages and told him, “These creatures are rarer than you realize. Their brains produce a myst-based chemical that allows them to control their bodies to a level of detail not matched in any creature, including humans. It was why I mentioned the damaged brain of the one you killed. Soul Alchemists can use that chemical to produce enhancements. The single permanent one is so rare people travel all over the galaxy to find it. The reason it’s so rare is because it degrades in minutes and thus has to come from a living snake and be used immediately. And you brought us a mating pair!” She smacked her cane down and turned back to the snakes. “While it’s possible to withdraw it and leave the snake alive, that is quite difficult. Just about all die. We are going to have to handle this quite delicately indeed.”
Elphina lifted her head and stared off into the corner of the room, mumbling. Rory thought he heard, “… start gathering the more difficult to procure ingredients. But we need to spread it out so they don’t figure out what we’re doing.”
“What does the enhancement do and how much does it sell for?” Rory asked, getting right to the point.
The little blond answered that question. “It’s only usable by normals and is called the Glittering Rainbow Stimulant. It’s been proven to increase Soul Compatibility to the point that the user has a chance of awakening a construct. On top of that, everyone that’s awakened after using it received access to an element one hundred percent of the time, which is what most people believe (incorrectly) is the reason for the word ‘rainbow’ in the name. It’s generally available once every couple of earth years on average because of the rarity of the main ingredient’s source.” She then gestured towards the snakes. “The key though, is that it sells for millions of pounds or whatever currency equivalent that is outside the empire. The public sales are usually at auctions for millions like I said, but there are rumors that some are sold privately. Mostly it ends up in the hands of wealthy Soul Wielder parents whose children failed to awaken at ten.”
Rory nodded at that. It made sense. It also made him feel like he wasn’t being paid enough. But they had had a deal and he wouldn’t betray it.
The old woman turned back suddenly and banged her steel rod down. “You brought a mating pair. A hundred thousand really isn’t enough compensation, but I can’t afford to pay more in cash since our competition has been harsh and we have a lot of spending ahead of us.” Then she stared at Rory for a bit and she asked, “What’s your construct, young man?”
Rory raised his eyebrows. That was a rather personal question. It was generally not asked except for people who are teaming up.
“I ask because we have a number of chemical enhancements that could act as compensation. But some may not fit you,” she explained, seeing his reaction to her question.
Thinking about how to reply, he said, “I don’t like it getting around. They are kind of… distinct. I can tell you they are a pair, both melee and ranged, and are slicing weapons which balance speed and strength.”
The old woman raised her hairy white eyebrows at that. “I see… Is there anything I can do to allow you to show them to me?”
“Definitely not show them,” Rory told her while he shook his head firmly.
She stared at him again. After a few moments she looked over at her grandaughter and ordered, “Penny, go back to the front please, and stay there unless there’s an emergency. This young man and I need to speak privately.”