Charles Stross - The Merchant’s War

"I hope so." Miriam forced a smile. "I need a new hairstyle, and I need it now."

Six hours later, footsore and exhausted from the constant bombardment of strangeness that the city kept hurling at her. Miriam clambered down from the back of a cab outside the Great Northern Hotel, clutching her parcels in both hands. The new shoes pinched at toe and heel, and she was sweating from the summer weather: but she was more presentable than she'd have been in the shabby out-fit they'd passed off on her at Hogarth Villas, and the footman leapt to open the doors for her. "Thank you!" She smiled tightly. "The front desk, I'm meeting my husband-" "This way, ma'am."

Miriam was halfway to the desk when a newspaper rattled behind her. She glanced round to see Burgeson unfolding himself from a heavily padded chair. "Miriam! My dear." He nodded. "Let me help you with those parcels." He deftly extricated her from the footman, guided her past the front desk towards an elevator, and relieved her of the most troublesome parcel. "I almost didn't recognize you," he said quietly. "You've done a good job."

"It feels really strange, being a blonde. People look at you differently. And it's so heavily lacquered it feels like my head's embedded in a wicker basket. It'll probably crack and fall off when I go to bed."

"Come on inside." He held the door for her, then dialed the sixth floor. As the door closed, he added: "That's a nice outfit. Almost too smart to be seen with the likes of me."

She pursed her lips. "Looking like a million dollars tends to get you treated better by the kind of people those million dollars hire." She'd ended up in something not unlike a department store, buying a conservatively cut black two-piece outfit. It was a lot less strange than some of the stuff she'd seen in the shops: New London's fashion, at least for those who still had money to spend, was more experimental than Boston's. The lift bell chimed. "Where are we staying?"

"This way." He led her along a corridor like any other hotel corridor back home (except for the flickering tungsten bulbs), then used an old-fashioned key to unlock a bedroom door.

"There's, uh, only one bed, Erasmus." "We're supposed to be married, Miriam. I'll take the chaise."

She blinked at the acrid bite of his words. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I'm sorry." He rubbed his forehead. "Blame Margaret's sense of humor." He looked at her again, appraisingly: "With hair that color, and curly, and-you've been using paints, haven't you? Yes, looking like that, I don't think anyone'll recognize you at first sight."

"I think it's ugly. But Mrs. Christobell-she ran the salon-seemed to think it was the height of fashion." She carefully hung her hat and jacket on the coat-rail then touched her hair gingerly. "That feels really odd. Better keep me away from candle flames for a while."

"I think I can manage that." He laid his hat and newspaper on the occasional table. "You did very well at making yourself look completely unlike yourself-it's going to take some getting used to."

"That goes for me, too. I'm not sure I like it." She headed for the table, but before she could reach it he ducked in and pulled a chair out for her. "Thanks, I think." She sat down, bent forward to get closer to her shoes, and sighed. "I need to get these off for a bit-my feet are killing me."

"Did you spend everything, or do you have some money left?"

"Not much." She focused on his expression. "Did you think I can keep up appearances by looting your shop?"

"No, but I-" He rubbed his forehead wearily. "Forget it."

"I had to do something about my appearance, make myself less recognizable. And I had to get hold of a respectable outfit, if I want to pass for your... spouse. And I had to buy shoes that fit, and a couple of changes of underwear, and some other stuff. It costs money, and takes time, but it's necessary. Are you still taking your medicine?"

He frowned at her effusion: "Yes, every day, as you said."

"Good." She managed to smile. "One less problem to solve." She crossed her legs. "Now, what have you been up to?"

"Getting the job done." He looked in her direction, not focusing, and she shivered. Who is he seeing? "I'm supposed to catch the train back to Boston tomorrow, but I wasn't planning on staying long-I'm needed in Fort Pet-rograd, out west." He blinked suddenly, and looked her in the eye. "You don't have to come with me-you can stay in my apartment if you prefer."

"And do what, precisely? Sit down, pacing like that is making me itch."

"I don't know." He pulled out the chair opposite and sat down. "I've got a job to do, and you turned up right in the middle of it."

"I could keep the shop open." She sounded doubtful, even to herself. Do I want to he on my own in Boston? What if Anghard sends someone to look for me? It would be the first place they checked. Best not to wait until they start looking, then.

"That's not practical." He frowned. "I trust you to do it-that's not in question-but there are too many problems. Business is very poor, and I'm already under observation. If I take a wife that's one thing, but employing a shop assistant while I take off to the wilds of California is something else: the local thief-takers aren't completely stupefied. I'm supposed to be a pawnbroker, not a well-off store-holder." He shook his head. "Unless you've got any better ideas?"

"I think... well, there's some stuff I need to pick up in Boston. And then I need to get back in touch with my relatives, but carefully. How about if I went with you? How long will you be gone?"

"At least a week; it's three days each way by train, and flying would attract the wrong kind of attention." He smiled lopsidedly. "Frankly, I'd be grateful if you'd accompany me. It'd strengthen my cover on the way out-we could traveling on our honeymoon-and if we arrived back together I could introduce you to the neighbors as someone from out west. Wife, sister, brother's widow, whatever. And, to be truthful, the three days out-one gets tired of traveling alone."

"Oh yes," she said fervently. "Don't I know it." It was traveling alone that got me into this mess, that courier run to Dunedin. That, and boredom, and wondering what Angbard was doing funding a fertility clinic - "Before we skip town, though. There are some things I left in my office, at the works. I really need to get my hands on them. Do you think there's any way I could retrieve them?"

"You left your relatives running the business, didn't you? Do you know if it's still going? Or if you'd be welcome there if it is?"

"No." She realized she was shaking slightly. "No to both questions. I don't know anything. I might not be welcome. But it's important." She'd left a small notebook PC locked in a drawer in her office, and a portable printer, and a bunch of CD-ROMs with a complete archive of U.S. Patent Office filings going up to the 1960s. In this world, that was worth more than diamonds. But there was something on the computer that was even more valuable to her. In a moment of spare time, she'd scanned her locket using the computer's web cam, meaning to mess around with it later. If it was still there, if she could get her hands on it, and if it worked- I'm free. She could go anywhere and do anything, and she'd had a lot of time to think about Mike's offer of help, back in the basement of Hogarth Villas. It wasn't the only option, but just being able to get back to her own world would be a vast improvement on her current situation. "I need to get my stuff."

"Would it be-" He licked his lips nervously. "It's not safe, Miriam. If they're looking for you, they'll look there."

"I know, I just need-" she stopped, balling her hands into fists from frustration. "Sorry. It's not your fault. You're right, it's risky. But it's also important. If I can get my things, I can also world-walk home. To the United Slates, that is. I can-"