Daisy Wong, Space Marshal: The Case of the Runaway Concubine by Freddi MacNaughton (freenovel24 txt) 📕

He'd begun his life as an unmodified human being, but hadfallen for the decorative wiles of genetic engineering.  At first, he had indulgedin little things: thicker hair, keener eyesight, a longer penis, a change inhis naturally sallow complexion.

Other horizons had beckoned.

As things worked out, the change to his complexion had beenthe merest beginning.  Nowadays, tiny scales, like a snake's, covered hisbody.  Rumor had it that every so often he shed his skin, just like a realsnake.  The scales made patterns in a variety of colors: red, yellow, brown,black, and white.  Blue and green, depending.  Over time, the patterns changed. He looked a bit like a coral snake on steroids or a neon-hued cobra.

It was the ultimate tattoo, a living work of genetic art.

There were days when Daisy wished that somewhere in theuniverse there were a peacock large enough to snap him up . . . ora mongoose skilled enough to take him on and win.

Many had tried.

Nevertheless, he lived, leaving behind himself a long trail ofself-appointed mongooses, all dead.

And yet, Daisy genuinely loved her Uncle Snakeskin.  As forthe ambivalence, she could do no better than acknowledge it and let it go.

Snakeskin looked up.  His expression warmed, especiallyaround his eyes and at the corners of his mouth.

"Ah, my beloved niece, who makes her life among theGweilo.  How are you?  I see you've brought the lovely Officer Chatterjee withyou."  To Muffy, he added, "It is a true pleasure to see you againafter so many months."

Snakeskin's voice was sibilant without actually hissing, butsince the last time Daisy had seen him, his eyes had taken on a new depth and anew sadness.  A new coldness.

Was it possible that he was slowing down, beginning to weighup the road behind rather than anticipate the road ahead?

Never.  Not Snakeskin.

Muffy made thank-you noises and said what a pleasure it wasto be on Mars again.

Jimmy Fingers brought in tea and cakes.

"Our meeting may take a moment or two," Snakeskinsaid.  "Please, make yourselves comfortable."

They did.

It would have been difficult not to, given the quality ofthe chairs.  Genuine leather.  Real wood.

The tea was Chinese, as in from China, Earth, not Chinese asin from a greenhouse in New China, Mars.

They talked about life aboard Diligence, about CaptainSpaulding's generosity in allowing Daisy to take a few weeks away, aboutMuffy's vacation, about the myriad varieties of snakes in India.

Daisy set her cup down.  "Enough beating around thebush.  Why are we here?  Who's gone missing and why is it up to us to findthem?"

"You sound just like a red-haired monkey,"Snakeskin said.  He laughed and added, "How rude you have become."

Daisy caught a glimpse of her uncle's canines.  They werelengthening into fangs.  Would he develop poison sacks and ducts as well?

Daisy shuddered.

She forced her instinctive revulsion to one side.  Werefangs any worse than scales?  Were scales any worse than the thousands of otherways in which people adorned themselves?

Daisy said, "I sound like a cop with better things todo than traipse halfway across the solar system to drink tea."

"I understand," Snakeskin said, and offered apolite nod of his head, more than an acknowledgement but far less than anapology.  "Very well.  Some months ago—"

"How many?" Daisy asked.

"Ten," Snakeskin said.  "Ten months ago, MeizhenFitzgerald and I fell into a silly row.  I—"

"Who's Meizhen?"

"One of my newer concubines.  You've never met her. She's not one of your Aunt Hester's favorites."  Snakeskin shook his head inregret.  "Sadly, Hester has a point, but then she has always been mostperceptive.  Oh, Meizhen is a charming-enough girl, but she's also somewhat vainand prone to flashes of temper.  There is little extra room in her universe foranyone other than Meizhen."

"I see," Daisy said.  "Was she an active partof the household?"

"Oh, yes, of course.  She had her duties and she dischargedthem flawlessly, as far as I'm aware."

Daisy tried not to show her disapproval, or her bewilderment. The domestic ways of the Martian tongs, of the Martian Chinese in general,seemed utterly out of kilter to her.  Yes, she'd grown up in a tong family, butthey'd lived way out on the fringes of the Asteroid Belt.  And out there, womenwere at a premium.  Any of them would have fed her husband's balls to the dogsif he had dared to add a contract mistress to his establishment.

"What about the 'silly row'?"

"Ah, yes.  The row.  I did my best to make amends, but withoutsuccess.  Meizhen and I went our separate ways for the evening."

"And then?" Daisy prompted.

"And then in the morning I learned she had packed herbelongings and left my house.  She'd placed her cancelled contract on her bedfor me to find."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?!"  That seemed impossible.

"My house is not a prison."

"Then I don't see your problem.  She got angry andskipped.  So what?"

"At first, I saw no problem, either.  As I said, she isa hot-tempered girl.  I expected her to sulk for a few days.  To teach me alesson.  That sort of thing.  You're well aware of how these games are played." He left the slightest of pauses.  "But the days stretched intoweeks."

"How many?"

"Six.  I admit I let the matter slide for far toolong.  I was about to begin a search when I heard from her.  Meizhen said shewas staying at one of the lunar resorts."

"Which one?"

"New Telluride."

Jimmy Fingers stepped in and handed Daisy a slip of paper. It had a New Telluride address scribbled on it.

"Thanks," Daisy said.

"It's a fake," Jimmy Fingers said.

"Too bad," Daisy said.  Turning back to Snakeskin,she asked, "Why did she get in touch?"

"There were funds owed on her contract.  She asked meto deposit them in a special account, not the one she normally used.  It seemeda trifle odd, but I did as she asked.  I had no reason not to."

Business is business.

Snakeskin sipped his tea.  "I'm on cordial terms withmost of my former concubines.  Birthday and holiday greetings.  Exchanges ofgossip.  Idle talk.  Infrequent, true, but steady.  But from Meizhen, sincethen, I have heard nothing.  It's most strange."

"Eight months and not a word," Jimmy Fingers putin.

"Four months ago, I began a determined search,"Snakeskin said.  "But I haven't been able to locate her."

Which explained his call to