Diamond Sky (Diamond Sky Trilogy Book 1) (3 page)

Of course, she understood where to draw a line between
science and superstition. Despite the romantic notions represented by her work,
she knew that the cord was actually a signal tying together particles and
energy in a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Effectively, this meant
that no matter how far her consciousness and body became separated, they
retained a spontaneous level of communication that was unaffected by distance.
The cord was her lifeline.

She started to feel vulnerable. What if the connection were
to break? Was it even possible for the connection to break? The questions were
causing her stress and the stress was increasing her focus. The more aware she
became, the less clarity she could feel around her and she could sense herself
being pulled back into her body. She tried to resist, but her efforts were
entirely futile. The draw of the living flesh was too strong. The mind and the body
are meant to live as one and the temporary separation was extremely fragile.

She opened her eyes.

***

Lucy sat in a booth in the underground hotel. She did not
think it any different to being in a cellar or a basement bar. The walls were
perfectly geometrical and neatly finished with well placed and effective
artificial lighting. If anything, she would have preferred it to have been a
bit more “tunnel-y”.

The mix in the bar leaned ever so slightly in favour of
tourists over locals. She recognised an elderly couple from her tour group
earlier in the day and the others all had various tells. Shopping bags were the
biggest giveaway, particularly the brown paper variety as given out in the
museum gift shop.

Most of the patrons remained standing after buying their
drinks as they had only come for the novelty value and did not plan on making a
night of it. Lucy, on the other hand, had already booked a room and could not
think of anything else to do in the town. There were a couple of restaurants,
including a pizza place, but they were all above ground, which was why she had
chosen the bar. She was beginning to regret her decision until she saw a pair
of cute guys enter. She hoped they would notice her too, but their attention
was quickly taken elsewhere.

A pretty red-headed girl was sitting at the bar, reading,
and the newcomers made no effort to disguise the fact they had spotted her and
liked what they saw. One of them offered to buy the girl a drink, but she
indicated that she already had a full glass and did not take up his offer.
After buying a couple of bottles of beer, they made their way to a pool table.

 Lucy glanced back to the bar and her eyes met with the
redhead. She felt a little embarrassed, as if the stranger may feel she was
being intrusive, but the girl smiled back and raised her glass. Lucy raised
hers in return and mouthed the word cheers, but the girl had already gone back
to whatever it was she was reading.

She decided to take a chance and walked across to the boys
playing pool. They were both local. It was their clothes and hairstyles that
gave them away. A mishmash of too many cultural influences picked up from
attempts to emulate the different styles and fads of the foreign clientele that
so often frequented the bar. Since they displayed an obvious, albeit flawed,
awareness of the world outside of Coober Pedy, she hoped that the allure of a
sophisticated city girl would be too much for them to resist. She placed a $2
coin on the rim of the table before returning to her booth.

It did not take long for the guys to start looking over in
what they believed was a discreet manner. This meant they were unsure of her
attractiveness. If she had looked like the girl at the bar they would have made
no attempt to hide behind their pool cues, but as it was, they were being
cautious not to show any interest in case she was not worth a root. She hated
herself for getting them so wrong.

She sipped her drink and glanced back at the pretty bar
bunny. Perhaps she could pick up some tips. The girl again noticed that she was
being watched, but offered a more subdued smile this time. Lucy realised how
peculiar it must appear that she kept looking over at this girl. She wondered
if she should go over and explain, but then thought better of it. The best
thing would be to finish her drink and retire to her room in order to kill the
rest of the evening with a good paperback.

‘Hi there,’ said a voice. ‘You’re up.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘The pool; that is your two dollars, isn’t it?’

It was one of the local boys. She quickly regained her poise
before picking up her drink and following him over to the table. She held
little hope for the endeavour ending well.

‘I have to warn you that I am not very good,’ she said and
then wondered why.

The boys did not reply. All she could read from their body
language was an air of boredom. She sensed they wanted to beat her quickly and
then get back to playing each other. The one who was to sit out the game went
to the bar whilst his friend racked the balls.

‘Challenger breaks,’ the guy said, rolling the white down to
the other end of the table with little interest.

Lucy felt awkward and wanted to get the game over with as
quickly as possible. Losing was a foregone conclusion and losing quickly was
the best she could hope for. As she was just about to play her shot, her
opponent’s friend returned from the bar, but he was not alone.

‘Hey, guys, how about we make this a game of doubles?’

He was with the girl from the bar. Up close, she looked just
as pretty as she did from afar, but was not wearing nearly as much make-up as
Lucy had thought. No amount of mascara can enhance a face as much as simple
self confidence. The boys both looked to Lucy, eager for her acceptance. When
she gave it, they actually had the audacity to give one another a high five.
She wondered if they had already decided which of them would be handed the
short straw.

‘Girls against boys?’ offered the redhead, in an exotic, yet
recognisably European accent.

The two guys nodded with enthusiasm, but Lucy just shrugged.

‘I am Anna,’ the girl said.

She placed her book onto a shelf by the table. It was a copy
of the
Lonely Planet
–
Deutsch Edition
. Lucy’s big city
credentials paled in comparison. Even if she had come from Sydney, which she
had not, it would seem insignificant next to Germany.

‘I’m Joel and this is Josh,’ said the guy holding the cue.

The three then waited for Lucy to introduce herself.

‘
Er
, Lucinda,’ she said, after a
brief hesitation.

Why did she say Lucinda and not Lucy? It is too formal and
made her sound snooty. She thought the boys would now try for a threesome with
the German girl and leave her out altogether. The two were whispering between
themselves and she suspected they were discussing things she would definitely
not want to overhear. She chalked her cue and then leaned over the table to
take her shot. As she was about to strike the ball she heard a wolf whistle. It
did not come from either of the boys.

She blushed.

‘Don’t be shy,’ said Anna. ‘We are going to beat these boys,
no problem.’

Lucy smiled and then took her shot. Somehow, the compliment
meant more coming from this girl than if it had been made by either of the
boys.

The pack split, sending one red ball into a corner pocket
and leaving another perched on the edge of the other corner. As she walked
around the table to take her follow up shot her partner held up her palm for a
high five. She duly obliged, but then felt a little stupid upon hearing giggles
from the guys. To make matters worse, she completely fluffed her next shot and
the cue ball followed the red into the pocket. Again, the boys laughed.

‘You guys will not be laughing when we beat you,’ said Anna.

‘Is that so,’ replied Joel, placing the cue ball back onto
the table. ‘If you are so confident, perhaps you would like to make this a
little more interesting. You’re already two balls up, so what do you say?’

Anna looked to Lucy, who instantly dismissed the idea. That
first shot was a fluke. She did not want to get fleeced by these guys.

‘What do you have in mind?’ asked the German girl.

‘How about the loser gets in the next beers,’ replied Joel,
receiving a nod of approval from his wingman.

Anna shook her head.

‘You boys should be buying a pair of beautiful ladies like
us drinks anyway,’ she told him. ‘I’m sure you can think of a more fitting
forfeit, do you not agree?’

Lucy cringed when she heard the word
forfeit
as she
knew at once where the conversation was headed. She shrunk into her seat as the
two boys engaged in some sort of
blokey
sign
language, the meaning of which she had no desire to learn.

‘Losers have to get their tits out,’ said Joel, making Lucy
wonder how she had mistaken these guys for being cute.

‘You have a deal,’ replied Anna, without even consulting her
teammate.

Joel took to the table with relish and potted three balls in
succession. He then ended his break by leaving Anna snookered behind the black
ball. Lucy did not think she would even get another shot and she was right.
Anna played a precision double off of the side cushion to not only get out of
the snooker, but pot a red as well. She then polished off the next four balls
with ease before doubling the black into a corner pocket.

The German rose from sinking the winning shot with a
triumphant grin across her face.

‘I think it is time for you boys to pay up,’ she said.

The guys sheepishly lifted their tops, but they were more
embarrassed about losing to a couple of girls than for baring their flesh.
Showing their nipples was hardly a forfeit at all for them.

‘I demand a rematch,’ said Josh. ‘You girls got lucky and I
did not even have a shot!’

‘What do you say,’ asked Anna, ‘shall we give this pair
another chance?’

‘I think we’ve humiliated them enough,’ replied Lucy.
‘Besides, we’ve already seen what they have to offer and it’s not all that
impressive.’

‘She’s right,’ agreed Anna. ‘What is in it for us when we
beat you a second time; are you guys going to kiss?’

Josh began to falter, but Joel was quick to jump back into
the negotiation.

‘You’re on,’ he said, ‘but only if you two do the same.’

‘You want us to kiss when you have not even seen our breasts
yet?’ asked Anna, incredulously.

Joel was taken aback by her answer and looked to his friend
for support, who in turn just shrugged.

‘Okay,’ he replied. ‘The same forfeit stands for you guys as
in the first game. We win and you show us your tits. You win and we...’

He could not bring himself to finish the sentence.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Anna. ‘I did not quite hear you.’

‘I said that you win and we...kiss.’

‘It looks like we have a deal,’ said Anna, who then winked
at Lucy.

It was the boys turn to break and since he did not even play
a single shot in the first frame, Josh stepped up to the mark. He placed the
white down and then smashed it as hard as he could with a thunderous cue shot,
which made Lucy shudder.

 Balls bounced all around the table like a flock of
birds scattered by a mischievous cat. As they eventually came to settle, just
one of them found a pocket.

It was the black.

At first, Lucy was unsure what this meant. Anna was laughing
and both boys also seemed to think they had claimed the victory.

‘We win,’ declared Joel. ‘When you pot black on the break,
it is game.’

Lucy bit nervously into her top lip, looking to her teammate
for guidance.

‘That is not how we play it in Deutschland,’ replied Anna.
‘You fouled, so that means we win.’

The barman had come over to collect the empties from the
table and he overheard the conversation.

‘Are you kids having trouble deciding who won?’ he asked.

‘No problem,’ replied Anna. ‘These guys are too pigheaded to
admit that they lost. Josh potted the black on the break.’

‘That means we won,’ said Joel. ‘Tell her the rules,’ he
then asked of the barman.

The barman looked first to the girls and then back to Joel.

‘House rules state that potting black on the break forfeits
the game. It also means you’ve been seven balled and you know what that
means,
don’t you,
fellas
?’

‘What does this mean?’ asked Anna, excitement punctuating
her words.

‘It means that we are all in for a treat,’ replied the
barman.

He leaned over and rang a bell that was by the table, to get
the attention of everyone in the bar. A few people glanced at their watches and
then relaxed when they saw it was not yet last orders. Others knew exactly what
it meant and they turned to face the table.

‘Come on guys,’ said the barman. ‘Rules are rules.’

Joel gave his friend a little thump in the side for getting
him into this mess. They then both dropped their pants down to their ankles and
walked a lap of shame around the table to a huge applause from amused locals
and surprised visitors alike. When the fuss died down and they refastened their
belts, Anna was quick to remind the boys that their humiliation was not yet
over.

‘I think you boys owe us girls a kiss.’

Joel smiled at first, but his face dropped when realisation
dawned.

‘I’m not kissing him.’

‘Rules are rules,’ said Lucy, who was finally feeling the
confidence to play along.

‘Ah, shit!’ exclaimed Joel.

The two boys moved sheepishly towards each and leaned in to
touch lips.

‘I did not say that I want you guys to kiss on the mouth,’
said Anna.

‘Cheeks?’ suggested Josh, hopefully.

‘No, I want you guys to kiss on the nipple.’

‘On the nipple?’ asked a clearly surprised Joel.