He looked over at the Naismith kid. She had apparently watched him throughout his preparations and continued to stare as he made himself comfortable. This was going to be a long mission.
“I must confess,” she said, “I’ve not been on a mission for the Solution before…”
“No?” Dust asked before he geed Horse out of the stables.
The Naismith kid fell in beside him. Together, they trotted toward the north gate.
“It’s not been for a lack of trying,” she continued. “But Father has not been keen on the idea; you know how parents can be.”
“I do,” Dust said, simply because the kid might throw a fit if he didn’t seem interested.
The kid smiled, a thin gesture that seemed to hold no feeling. “But, when the General said that he was sending the great Dust out after Penelope, I saw it as the perfect opportunity; what better person to go out into the Badlands with than the Solution’s most valuable Eldritch Asset?”
Dust winced but let the comment pass.
They rode into a tunnel through the thick sandstone wall. The north gate at the end approached. Two uniforms, guys Dust sometimes played poker with, pulled at the thick wooden doors for them and made the way open. Bright sunlight poured in to the tunnel, heightened by the shade the curved ceiling gave.
Moments later, they were out in the great wilds. In America. It stretched out before them like a naked woman showing herself off to a lover. Dust had ridden across America for years in the before and had come to love her deeply. Being free to wander across her skin again, to climb and swim and ride, felt wonderful. He almost laughed with joy, even with the spectre of a girl’s life hanging over him. Almost.
They turned east, rode in silence for a while. The kid kept looking at him, coughing and shifting in her saddle, so Dust decided he’d better keep the conversation going.
“I’ve never heard that word.”
“Pardon?”
“Eldritch; it’s never been said to me before.”
The kid blinked. “Oh, of course. Yes, Eldritch. From the Old English, it means of a strange realm, the Other-world. It’s the term our researchers gave to the broad genus of fauna that come from the Triangle. Not that these beasts are easy to classify; they are often so singular, so unique. Our researchers also call the energy which animates the creatures Eldritch Energy.”
Dust coughed, noting her use of ‘our’ when discussing the Solution. “Is that so?”
“Well, I just said it was, so yes.”
“And I’m an Eldritch Asset?”
She at least had the good grace to look a little embarrassed. That was something. “Yes, well, technically…”
That irked him more than he’d thought it would. “Men shouldn’t be treated as ‘assets’.”
She looked away. “Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Father might disagree with you on that point.”
William B. Naismith was a big deal in the mining business. The big deal. Even Dust knew that. If you had any Texan iron or gold, the Naismith Mining Company had probably dug it out for you. Dust supposed a man with an empire that big might come to view people as objects; how else could he make some of the decisions he’d have to make? But that must be a sad view of the world to hold, one that must make a sad man.
“Your Daddy isn’t here.”
Her head shot back round and she gave him a look full of fire. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You should not talk to me like that.”
That was more like it. Dust had heard of the Naismith kid’s temper, of her Biblical fury if she didn’t get what she wanted. A great businessman old Billy Naismith might be but a good father he was not.
Dust grinned. Not a friendly grin either. He concentrated on his tattoo and felt no heat; he wanted to lay down the law and there was no warning against doing so. Dust didn’t like to be mean but he made exceptions when things had to be said.
