literature

Earthblood amulet #2

Deviation Actions

SnappyIrides's avatar
By
Published:
220 Views

Literature Text

CHAPTER ONE: snappyirides.deviantart.com/ar…

“Oi bot-brain! Vamooshki with the Diaquiri, comprendes?" Bleu called.

A robot behind the bar jerked its spindly arms at the bartender’s voice, its hand-like fixtures collected a glass from its interior storage. With a whir and a splash, the 'bot deposited its payload at Bleu's elbow. His latest customer wordlessly took her refreshment, turning away with a haughty toss of golden locks.

She headed back to her padded Lucid seat. She knocked back her drink like a hardened imbiber, and as Bleu watched, she had her connections plugged in, and was gone. Bleu ran his hands over the back of his neck and wished he had a neurological upload port like hers.

An alert flashed on his InteNote, and Bleu cussed heartily. His glowing wrist implant displayed an alert flagged to the hotel's check-in desk. This was all he needed; the owner of the Diamonté Hotel must have mistaken him for a self-cloning mutant, who could be in two places at once. It was the only way Bleu could manage to hold the house single-handedly on a night like this. He glanced uneasily at the drinks 'bot, and hoped that none of the customers would attempted to test the accuracy of the machine's voice-recognition app in his absence. With that, Bleu disentangled himself from his rather redundant apron and hurried out of the bar.

The doors retracted into ceiling at his approach, allowing him access to the Diamontè Hotel’s reception hall, to which the bar was attached. True to its name, the floor and walls of the reception consisted of cut glass, set to fracture and reflect the myriad of colours that illuminated the city night outside.

Bleu saw three customers waiting for him, and he hurried to get behind the imposing gold-panelled desk. As he went, he cast a resentful glance at the defunct  admissions bot that sat, lifeless and motionless, underneath the desk. The hotel was short staffed until repairs were complete — just two days left, Bleu reminded himself. So much for a mechanical working-class. Bleu sighed, and turned to greet the new guests.

“Evening, ladies. What can I do for you?”

“You can start by rectifying your appalling manners, mule. You do not address your superiors in such a manner.”

Bleu stared, and gaped at the woman who had spoken. Every inch of her — from her severe black dress to her long, pinched face and proud cheekbones — emanated disdainful pride. Bleu blinked; not an inch of skin above her wrists and ankles showed — he'd never seen a dress like that in his life. Behind her stood two younger girls. One was fair like a princess out of a fairytale, clad in a rustic blue dress that swept the floor and covered her wrists. The other, standing last in line, her head bowed diminutively, had hair that approached the colour of a tawny hawk's wing, and a brown dress in a similar style to her companions'.

“I-I’m sorry, miss. Do you want to stay the night?”

“How dare you?! I am Lieko Kismet, sister of Ashem’s honoured arch-stallion, whose name is forbidden to my lips by his death, and you have the impunity to call me miss? Where is your superior? I don’t have time to waste on the likes of you!”

Bleu made a conscious effort to close his gaping mouth. He wracked his brains to figure out where he’d heard the word ‘Ashem’, but came up with nothing. Most of that speech had made a figurative whistling noise as it sailed right over his head. “Um, I’m, uh, the only one here tonight.” Well, other than the robots, he added silently.

The lady gave an irritated tisk. “Insolence! We require board for the night. Beyond that, trouble us no longer with your offensive presence!”

“Um, if you want to stay the night, we need to register your prints.” He pushed the little scanning device forward. It was a spartan steel stick, with a rubber cup at its end. Its main functional part was a low-powered laser that detected and stored thumb prints.

The black-clad lady stared down at him over her autocratic nose, and obliged him by pressing her thumb into the cup. The device started beeping erratically, and Bleu looked at a nearby screen, puzzled. “The scanner’s going haywire, what did you do to it?”

A glare from her flinty brown eyes silenced that particular enquiry.

“It doesn’t make sense. This thing should pick up any human prints and register them on the database so you can pay,” Bleu muttered, more to himself than the new guests.

“Human? What imaginary features distinguish us as human, mule?”

Bleu tried his best to ignore the weirdness in that question, “Alright, I’ll just take your money and run it past my boss in the morning.”

“I trust this will be sufficient remuneration, mule.” She tossed a blue gem on the table, and Bleu picked it up, momentarily distracted by its glorious lustre. He’d never seen a sapphire before, but he was certain that this was one.

“Uh, plenty, I think. Here is the key — room five-nine-five.”

It was swept off the desk and vanished in the folds of that severe black dress, “Come, Kyrie, Aldora. We must retire for the night.” Her nose was so far into the air that Bleu wondered how she knew where she was walking.

Bleu watched the three figures vanish into the elevator. He shook his head, completely baffled.
So I've been polishing this up over the holidays, and I thought I'd post what little that I am happy with. Please give feedback, it's what I live off ! 
First chapter: (they're really not chapters but meh) snappyirides.deviantart.com/ar…
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In