Lloyd drank in the glowing skyscrapers of Altamira with an enthusiasm that apparently disconcerted Raine.
"Will you close your gaping maw?" she nudged him as he stood in awe at the entrance to the city. "It's not that interesting."
"But look at them! Look at how they're all lit up! It's insane—where do they get all that power, how do they run it all through the city like that?"
"That will take a while to explain," Raine sighed. "I don't really have time to walk you through all of it. We just need to get to the hotel and I need to make a call." She led Lloyd into the city, between the shadows of tall buildings glinting in the setting sun. Lloyd could barely keep track of her movements with all those distracting lights flashing in every direction. Words he didn't know and couldn't read danced around him, neon outlines of female figures, dancing purple and pink coins falling into the pocket of a glowing businessman, the bright triangular shape of a cocktail glass. It was a miracle that he managed to follow Raine to the hotel without stopping to take apart one of those signs.
The lobby amazed Lloyd more than the exterior. He stood beside Raine, looking up to the tall glass ceiling, translucent ropes of silk hanging down from the highest story to the tip of the gurgling fountain. Raine told him to stay there and don't cause trouble while she walked up to the reception desk and spoke with the woman there. After a few minutes, she strode back to him and motioned for him to follow her to the elevator. On the way up to their floor, he pressed himself against the glass, watching Altamira spread out before him.
"What the hell is that?" he asked, pointing to a congregation of baffling, brightly colored machinery, twisting and turning in the dimming light.
"That's the theme park," Raine answered disdainfully.
"What the hell is a theme park?"
"It's where idiots and their idiot children aggregate to indulge in deep-fried food and ride in circles on useless machines."
"So that, right there—" he pointed to a tall rail that stood above the rest of the park. What looked like a small car zipped along its tracks, dangerously fast. "You ride on that? For fun?"
"That's the idea."
Lloyd laughed. "These are my kinda people." He started to miss his hovercraft, miss the wind and the speed. He decided that the first chance he got, he'd take a stroll down to that strange park.
He almost forgot about the park entirely when Raine opened the door to their room.
"Holy shit!" He couldn't help himself. He danced around the suite, leaning over the balcony, looking down on the city below. "It's huge! Gods, it must cost a fortune to stay here."
"It does. Which is why Forcystus pays."
"Man… maybe one day I can be rich. Elá would get a kick outta this room. Much better than our old tent." He turned to Raine to see her disinterested, on the far side of the room, fiddling with some sort of communication device on the wall. She sat mumbling into it, one hand on her hip, the other holding it to her face.
"Yes, he should be expecting me at some point. No—" She groaned. "What do you mean he's out? Who is this? This is a representative of Lord Rodyle. You get the President on or I'll—at least—yes, tomorrow will have to do. Yes. No. Goodbye."
She scowled, clicked off the communicator and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Well, we can't get in until tomorrow. We have all night to sit around. Maybe get some lessons in. We can take some data on that exsphere."
"No way," Lloyd said. "Just look at this place. It's amazing. You can't just stay up here when there's all that going on down there! At least let's go get a bite to eat." When she shook her head, he decided to entice her with something a little more effective. "They have cocktails down there."
He saw the temptation flutter in her eyes, before she sighed and acquiesced. "I suppose we have time for a drink or two," she said. She followed him out of the room and down the elevator, and emerged out into the busy street.
"Whoa, everyone has exspheres here," Lloyd muttered.
"Yes. It's not uncommon. But here they don't know where they come from."
"That's… really sad."
Raine sighed. "There are a lot of things about Tethe'alla that are sad."
"Well, let's forget about those things, then. Just for a little while. I want to go in there." He pointed to a large building lit up with bright lights.
"There? Lloyd, that's a strip club."
"A what?"
"Let's go here instead." She indicated another place, smaller but no less bright. It didn't matter to him—everything was so saturated in neon lights it was hard to tell one place from another. She brought him inside and sat him down in a booth, reclined across from him and looked over the drink menu.
"Whisky, neat," she told the man who stood at attention beside their table. "And bring me the girliest drink you have." He nodded and disappeared into the haze of bright light and music.
"This is such a weird place," Lloyd admitted.
"It is."
"So tell me about this company president guy. What's he like and why are we meeting him?"
"He's the owner of the Lezerano exsphere company. All those exspheres you see the pedestrians wearing? Those are all his. He mines the materials here in Tethe'alla, and then they're sent to the ranches to be refined into real exspheres. Then we ship them back and he makes a fortune."
Lloyd gripped the edge of the table. "Inter-world shipping, huh? And we're the ones who pay for it."
"Oh, yes. But it's business as usual for Lezerano. The only hiccup they've had so far in profits was a murder scandal a few years back. It just started as a regular sex scandal—high-up president stooping to propose to a servant. Then things got a little more violent. He apparently decided to call off the marriage by disposing of her. He choked her to death and left her body on the rooftop."
Lloyd felt a little sick. "What the hell…" he muttered.
"Unfortunately for justice, people like him can afford to avoid jail. Apparently the whole affair did nothing but put a tiny dent in profits for a little while. Seems that after all that, the company came out stronger for it. They treated the scandal like advertisement and made more money than ever." Raine sighed. "Humans."
The waiter returned with their drinks, set the whisky in front of Lloyd. He reached out for it, but Raine's hand found it first, and she pushed what looked like a pink cocktail toward him. He took a sip, licking his lips, then another one as she nursed her own drink.
"Unfortunately for us, they're the only viable company around that can meet our demand for raw materials. Their mining operations are something to truly behold."
"Hope I never do," he said, taking another sip. "This is really good. What is it?"
"No idea. But it seemed like you'd like it." She gave him a grin.
"You want some?"
"No. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth."
"Your loss," Lloyd said, before ordering another one.
Around his fifth helping of that particular cocktail, he considered slowing down. Raine watched him carefully, listening to him ramble on about how to fix this and that, how his hovercraft worked, what he could build and how to build it. He told her about his bombs in Triet, about the vehicles in the desert, about the circuitry in the human ranch. He told her about his old job, crawling through the shafts and shadows of the prison he'd grown up in.
"I reckon here they make half-elves do stuff like that," he said.
"Yes, they do."
"Goddammit," Lloyd muttered, resting his head between his hands. "I don't blame you for going to Sylvarant." Just like no one would blame any humans if they wanted to move here.
"Well, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Although, I really can barely blame my mother for ditching me. Over here, you rape or kill a half-elf, and judges look the other way. But if a halfie so much as crosses the street at the wrong place, it's straight to the slaughterhouse for them."
Lloyd clutched his aching head. "This shit is heavy," he said. "I thought we were drinking to forget about it."
"Well, it's difficult to escape ubiquitous inequality," Raine said.
Lloyd lay his head on his crossed arms. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Oh come on, it's not that difficult of a conversation."
"No, I'm really gonna…" He got up, stumbling out of the booth and toward the door. Raine slapped a few bills down on the table and followed him out, taking his arm and leading him away from the door, to an alley behind the building. She patted his back as he bent over, head swirling, and threw up five drinks and a few snacks into the gutter. When he stood up, he felt only marginally better. He held his head, groaning.
"It was all that sugar," Raine said. "Shouldn't have had that many."
"Yeah, sugar sounds like a good idea."
"It's not. We should get you back to the hotel."
"Nah, I'm going to the theme park."
"Lloyd, wait—"
She followed him down the street, trying to keep him from stumbling across bridges, down stairs, until he sat himself down in the only railcar that seemed to depart in the direction of the park.
"Last train tonight, kid," the conductor told him, and he waved him on. Raine barely had time to jump on after him before it crawled across the surface of the water and came to a creaky stop at the entrance to the park. He stumbled off the train, Raine following, and stood staring at the massive machines, now sleeping, lights dimmed.
"All the rides are off," he said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. There were still a few booths open, selling candy to stragglers leaving the park. "I'm gonna go see what they have," he told Raine, who sat herself down on a bench and watched a family try to drag their crying son away from the closing rides.
When he returned from the booth, a fortune's worth of candied walnuts in hand, he sat down beside her. She looked sullen, refusing to take her eyes off a couple dangling a child between them. He waved his hand in front of her face and she turned to him.
"What are you watching other people's kids for, ya creep?" he asked.
"Sometimes I like looking at people. From far away, I mean. I see a lot of them, some with kids, some with little boys. Sometimes… I'll catch a glimpse of one that looks so much like my little brother, I'll consider just… taking him. When his mother isn't looking, I'll just take his hand and walk away with him, and never come back."
"Whoa, that's—"
"A little twisted, I know. Of course I would never actually do it. Besides, I can't give a child a good life. I've already been a horrible sister, and I'm sure I'd be a worse mother."
Lloyd had no reason to disbelieve her. She was so unlike his mother in so many ways, he couldn't imagine her raising someone. But still, when he glanced into her face, he saw a little hint of motherliness she did too good of a job hiding.
He wondered if Anna would like her. They didn't have too much in common, except maybe smarts. But even then, the two women boasted very different forms of intelligence. Anna was socially adept, resourceful and an ingenious improvisor. Raine was meticulous, systematic, and had stockpiles of knowledge that could put a library to shame.
He wondered what his mother would say, if she saw him sitting here, blasted, moping about. She'd probably be disappointed he wasn't taking advantage of his surroundings. She might feel even worse he was subjecting Raine, the only friend he had, to his self-pity.
"Hey, Raine," he said, crunching a couple walnuts.
"What?"
"Let's go play."
"What?"
"Yeah, let's go get one of those rides up and running. I bet we could do it. Let's go have some fun."
"No, Lloyd. We can't possibly turn one of those on without being caught. Those rides are for children, anyway."
"Come on…" he stood up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her off the bench. She tottered a little, trying to steady herself. "Hey, I have a real good idea." He started off back toward the train, to the tiny, empty station hidden safely in darkness. By the time they got there, the streets had emptied, the stationmasters had gone home and left the little train unguarded. He knelt by the control board and smiled. "I bet we could rig this thing to go really fast."
"No, Lloyd…"
"What? Don't worry about the water, it's shallow enough to stand up in. You'll be fine. Come on, Raine." He bent and pried open the metal door to the circuitboard, glancing inside. "You go get the engine to turn on. You might have to hot-wire it if you can't find any keys."
"Are you seriously…" she didn't need to finish asking, since he pulled out two yellow wires from the board and started twisting them together. "Oh, gods, fine." She jumped into the little train and began fiddling with the controls. He heard a loud metallic squeak and figured she'd disappeared somewhere under the steering, trying to get the thing up and running. He thought it was kind of nice to have another capable technician around. Maybe together they could build something amazing.
He bit his lip, tipping back and forth, concentrating. When he finally managed to override the security on the control, he glanced up and saw Raine standing at the front of the little train, engine gurgling.
"Sweet," he muttered, and jumped down beside her. "How do you work this thing?"
"Well, it looks like this lever controls the speed—"
He pushed it all the way forward and the train took off like a rocket, spewing white foam in its tracks. The engine began to scream, and the whole thing shook on its rails as it sped toward the first corner.
"Hold on," Lloyd grinned, seawater spraying in his mouth. The shallow ocean swelled over the front of the machine in an angry splash, filling the space at their feet. Raine clung to his arm for dear life as the train tipped around the corner, inner wheels leaving the rails entirely. On the other side, they splashed back down, and started to pick up speed in earnest.
He never thought he'd manage to get a dinky public transport vehicle like this going as fast as his hovercraft back home, but as the salty air flew past him, deafening him and drying his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little proud. He kept the train geared up, speeding forward, spraying and howling with effort.
The rails creaked, the engine wailed in agony, and he thought he heard Raine screaming. When he glanced over at her, her mouth was upturned, her eyes closed, her laughs coming out in panicked, desperate spurts. Drops of shining seawater flew from her silver hair, glinted across her cheeks, drying rapidly in the wind.
He was so busy looking at her he failed to notice the second turn. She pointed, mouthing something he couldn't hear, and he looked back only in time to realize what was happening. The train hit the curve with such force it flew from its rails, tipping sideways. Lloyd flailed, not sure exactly what he was trying to hold on to, as inertia thrust him over the side of the train car and straight into the water. He flopped under the surface, gasping, and struggled to find his way upright. His head spun, he felt sick, but his feet found the sand and he stood up, water dripping off him.
"Raine?" he called to the dark, foaming water. The water was up to his waist, but if she had hit her head, she could easily still be under there, unconscious…
She broke the surface right as he started to worry. Her hands splashed the water desperately, ineptly. "I can't—" she gargled.
"Stand up!" he called back.
She took his advice, rising slowly from the water. She shook out her hair, gasping, red-faced. She shivered, hugging herself, and he slogged over to her. She looked like she was about to scream at him, but her angry stare gave way to a masochistic laugh.
"I can't believe I let you do that," she said. She looked back over to the train, now a bent, useless piece of shrapnel in the gurgling water.
"We better get outta here," Lloyd suggested.
"Yes. That's probably for the best." She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the water, toward the shore. The rear entrance of the hotel led out to the beach, so when they jogged up through the sand, they slipped into the maintenance stairway before anyone could see them. They were in their room and drying off well before transport security showed up.
Raine stood on the balcony, hair done up in a towel, and stared down at the train station, now lit up and crawling with people. "Look at all those night guards," she chuckled slightly. "Good thing we got out of there in time."
"Yeah." Lloyd strode up beside her and leaned over the railing. She reached out and grabbed his arm to keep him from tipping over. "You know, I think it's kinda fun to do bad stuff sometimes."
"And you're the one who always bleats on about not doing harm."
"Hey, no one was hurt. No harm was done. Just a little 'gentle mischief,' as my mother would say."
"Is that what she would call it?" Raine took a moment to survey the damage. "I suppose I might agree with her. I've always thought a surface-train a stupid idea anyway. Now maybe they'll put an actual road between the main boulevard and every other part of town."
Lloyd threw himself on his bed, adrenaline wearing off. His eyelids drooped, he suddenly found himself limp. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just gentle mischief…" he muttered.
"What was that?" Raine asked.
"Hm…" he answered, before he passed out.