“Cool, you have cereal,” she said, taking a box full of squares of crisped grain and cinnamon on one side.
“What’s that?” her mom asked.
Zoey presented the box from the kitchen’s entryway. “It’s cereal. This one looks decent.”
“You refer to your auxes as some kind of series?”
“What? No, it’s named after a goddess of grain, Ceres.”
“Huh. It was an old god of growth for us. Anyways, you can help yourself to a bowl of that. There’s a new carton of milk in the fridge. Do you have a different word for that as well?”
“Nope.” Zoey opened the refrigerator door and found two cartons inside a tray attached to it. One was opened and marked at the top with a pen.
She grabbed a spoon on her way out of the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in hand, and saw Dasos had finished his meal already. Her brother had been sitting at the dining table and waved at her, so she sat with him.
“Where’s Dad, by the way?” she asked.
Dasos said, “He left early to take a transmat up to his ship. Mom drove him to the port a couple hours ago.”
Bon’sinne said, “Aerak has had time to set things down in his quarters and enter briefing with ranking members of his crew. He should be calling any moment to let me know they’re heading out.” The screen on the wall rang, and she checked her cell-comm, which had a flashing light upon it. “Talk about timing. Hello?”
On the screen, the bridge of a spaceship appeared. The crew began singing, and Keft’aerak turned to the screen to join them. Zoey recognized the melody as the shanty that her dad had hummed earlier. She broke out laughing.
“This is why I married him,” Bon’sinne said.
Keft’aerak said, “We’re off for now, my darling. I’ll be home again in a few months.”
“Try not to do anything too crazy while you’re out there, my love.”
The ship’s crew laughed as the screen went black again. Bon’sinne let out a bemused sigh. She got up and joined her kids at the table, even though Zoey was the one person still eating.
Dasos said, “I got a call from my roommate last night. He’s moving out in a hurry before the next week because he got one of those job offers that’s a ‘take it or leave it’ sort of deal. It’s on the other side of the continent.”
“So you need a new roommate then?” Bon’sinne said.
“I’ll have room for someone, but ‘need’ is a bit of a strong word for it, at least for the next few months.”
“Good to know. Hopefully you’ll have a new roommate for your condo soon so you can pay us back for it. Meanwhile, Zoey, we need to figure out your situation still. Elysium University in Trullwick is a big deal. You’re more than welcome to go there, but we’d have to pay for that one. I’m not sure how many burras we have available; I’ve been trying to calculate that this morning actually.”
Zoey said, “Too bad my money from Earth won’t help.”
Footfalls echoed from the stairs. Tong-Chang came down the steps with her clothes on and a towel wrapped around her head, which she unraveled and rested behind her neck before Dasos could see her.
She threw her arms in the air and said, “Breakfast party!”
“Someone is in a cheery mood this morning,” Bon’sinne said.
“I checked my grades while getting dressed, and I earned top marks this semester. My mother’s servants also messaged me to let me know that they fixed the doors at our residence, so that’s one less thing to worry about when I get back.”
“Are these the same doors that you broke as a teenager?”
“That was only one of them, and even then it was because they went overboard with the locks to try to keep me from sneaking out at night. It’s a simpler door now that I’m older. Anyways, mind if I have a bowl of auxes? That looks good right now.”
“Help yourself. How is the heiress Lanfen, by the way?”
Tong-Chang stopped in place a couple steps short of the kitchen. She turned to Bon’sinne with panic in her eyes, and then went into the other room to grab her breakfast. Once she returned with a bowl and sat down her face shifted to one of expectation, wanting. She ate, but her face remained unchanged.
Bon’sinne said, “I worked for the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance for twenty-five years, as you know. In that time I traveled to and from Ginserei on a few occasions. Let me be perfectly clear that I was not expecting to learn as much as I did when I asked about House Leezu, or about their customs regarding succession.”
“Did you learn everything about me?” Tong-Chang asked.
“Not quite. I learned that it was not uncommon for members of a High House to leave behind their royal stations, though they often kept the surname until marriage demanded otherwise. I learned that most Ginserei who do so are of age and don’t carry the mark of royalty. I learned, from the heiress herself, that she helped her second daughter leave that moon, but was expecting as far as the fourth moon.”
“So was I, actually. She has a bad habit.”
“She gets turned around easily.”
“Yes, and my mother didn’t even realize her servants and I were on the stiern-boat headed for Elysium IX until we were a few hundred megameters away. That was a strange conversation after we landed. We had a bit of a disagreement over what I’d have to do next.”
“Heiress Lanfen told me you never call. I had to show her a picture that we took of you spending time with my own children in order to convince her that you were safe and having a good time on this planet. She told me that she gave you something of your father’s to use in an emergency if you ever needed to fly back to Ginserei.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t take you hostage in an attempt to negotiate my forced return. I wouldn’t have put it past them.”
“They aren’t like that, Tonny.”
“Sure they’re not.” Tong-Chang shoved the biggest spoonful of cereal in her mouth that she could, her face almost pouting with spite.
“Uh-huh. I’m not going to force you to do anything, but call your family sometime. You might be surprised how much they care.”
“And you let me believe I got away with my lie?”
“Aerak and I figured you were going to tell us the truth sooner or later.”
“Stars beyond, I can’t believe this. I feel terrible for lying, but I thought it was necessary for all of our benefit. I see now that that was foolish. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Tonny; not if you are OK with Aerek and me looking into things as we did over the revolutions. Now then, when you have all finished your breakfast and brushed your teeth, we’ll all head into town. I need to drop the two of you off at your homes.”
“That’s not all.”
“What else is there?”
“I’m pregnant, and revealing the sire’s identity will mean the end of my career with the Allied Peacekeepers since he is of high rank and I was technically supposed to be on duty when it happened.”
“Oh, honey.”
“I know, I fucked up big time. I can’t even tell my family or they’ll fly me back to Ginserei and force me to raise however many children I have growing in me. I’ll be lucky to still have my name at all after that.”
“Why do you tell me this?”
“You have me spilling my secrets now. I almost wish it was with your son, but that was too long ago.”
Dasos turned beet red and coughed.
“It wasn’t going to be Il’lyse when I was with her; that’s for sure.” Then she went silent and raised her hands to her mouth like one more sound could set off a bomb.
Bon’sinne pursed her lips for a moment. Afterward she said, “You’ve slept with all three of my children. You’re pregnant and telling me this when I am still getting over what I did eleven months ago. You know, Tonny? If I didn’t love you like you were a daughter of my own, I would probably strangle you right now.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m so sorry.”
With a growl, Bon’sinne walked
away from the table and up the stairs.
“This is so awkward,” Dasos said.
“It is,” said Zoey, who took another bite of her cereal.
[ 25]
Trullwick was a grand city, in Zoey’s eyes. She had never seen a city look so clean that even the dust on some surfaces was inviting. Every so often she spotted a plaque or statue she wanted to examine. Tall bushes and trees provided some level of shade for the sidewalks. The crosswalks on major streets were reinforced with a system of short, amber energy fields that all vehicles adhered to in addition to the stoplights above. Zoey caught, on one occasion, a yellow light appear inside the driver side of the dashboard, which faded as Bon’sinne slowed the car down to a stop before the coming intersection. She swore that the yellow light came on mere seconds ahead of the barrier.
In one neighborhood there was a wide park with a waist-high hedge maze and a fountain on either side of the maze. The four roads had one lane per either direction, not counting the room made for emergency parking—the signs indicated the allowance of cars that had broken down—as well as bicycles on the outer sides of either street.
Bon’sinne pulled her car into the parking structure found at one corner of the neighborhood. There was a security station posted at the entrance, but no one charging fees; Zoey looked and saw the same sort of situation at what she believed to be the other exit. The same investigation found a sign warning that, between certain hours, the cars and bikes permitted needed stickers to prove relation to the parkside buildings.
“Here should be good,” Bon’sinne said as she stopped the car in one of the available spaces. “OK, Dasos, would you like any of us to walk with you up to your condo?”
“I’m good,” he said, “but thanks, Mom.”
Dasos gave everyone a peck on the cheek or forehead, and then got out of the car with his cases, one big and one small, of belongings. He gave them all one last wave goodbye and walked out of sight.
“Tong-Chang,” said Bon’sinne, “your guardians, or whatever you want to call them, are due here in a bit, right?”
“One of them,” Tong-Chang said. “We might be about half an hour early.”
“Well, it’s nice out today. What do you say we go for a walk in the park for a little bit? I think we did enough sitting for the better part of the morning.”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
“It does,” Zoey said. “Let’s go check out that maze I saw.”
The air, even inside the parking structure, once again held a crisp fragrance. Zoey wasn’t sure where it was coming from. It was pleasant, though by no means overbearing. She entered the park with the others and saw that the maze was a simple one with an entry or exit on either of the four sides, surrounded by patches of unkempt grass and sandy walkways that cut through a type of clover she had never seen before. Navigating the maze was still a must, and it lifted her spirit to run from one end to another, and over again.
Zoey crossed the maze toward one exit and came back to the open center where there was a concrete bench molded into the general shape of a lotus flower, its top surface level except for the unlit lamp in the center. She could picture people from the surrounding shops or homes coming to this spot to relax, though no one else was here but herself and the other women she had come with.
Someone had left a book sitting on the bench. The lack of water damage on its cover or pages told Zoey that it had been abandoned recently, without any rain or sprinklers having a chance to reach it. A couple spots of the ground were wet, by comparison.
“I wonder who left this?” Zoey said as she picked up the book. It was paperback and thicker than her thumb. She opened it to a random page and let her eyes fall on a descriptive, steamy paragraph about male anatomy and the main character interacting with it.
As red-faced as she was, Zoey wanted to hide it behind her back to take home for later, rather than to continue reading while her mom and girlfriend were both looking at her.
“Well now,” Zoey said, “if no one comes to claim it, then I may have to rescue it from possible water damage.”
“What is that one?” Tong-Chang asked.
Bon’sinne said, “It’s a smutty romance novel. I had a couple members of my crew who were into that sort of stuff and traded their collections with one another.”
“Oh really? I’ve never read any of those before.”
“I have. When those two officers brought aboard a trilogy starring a crew of seafaring pirates, I took it upon myself to confiscate their reading material for a week.”
“Bon’sinne, you cheeky woman you.”
“Then your mother caught me reading one of them when I sought a private place to read during the week, and that was how we met. She apparently loves those books.” She cleared her throat and averted her gaze.
Tong-Chang’s face read as someone who officially heard way too much of the wrong kind of information about another person they knew. Zoey resisted the urge to giggle at her forlorn expression.
In the distance, an Aelf woman with black hair came out of a shop wearing a matching dress and wide-brimmed hat. She came closer, making it easier to see the sunglasses that she wore, or the cardigan she pulled from her tote bag that hung from one arm. The muffin in her hand became easier to see as well.
The woman slowed as she entered the maze, not because she needed to concentrate on it, but rather because she saw the three ladies in the center of it. Tong-Chang turned her way and then waved at her.
“Hello, Laeknar Saludalta,” Tong-Chang said.
The doctor reached them, studying the trio. She said, “I was not expecting to see any of you so soon.”
“Oh!” Zoey said while holding out the book, “Here you go. I’m assuming this was yours and you were coming back for it.”
“That’s some assumption, Miss Thalassas. You didn’t read any of it, did you? I mean, not that it matters since—”
“Please take it from me before I bring it home.”
In a flash the doctor grabbed the book and clenched it to her chest. Then she regained her composure and slipped the book into her bag like it never existed.
“So what brings you here?” Zoey said. “I thought you’d still be on the Marslou.”
Doctor Saludalta said, “It is true that my work requires me to be on the ship, but we are docked up there for a while, pending a fair number of debriefings, reviews, and potential reassignments. You may recall that we lost a third of our crew in one night, which of course means those positions will need to be filled. You may also recall that the appearance of a certain someone threw our protocol out into oblivion. All of our government bodies and ranking military will be busy for quite some time.
“Meanwhile, I decided now would be a good time to visit a few friends, see the old sights—”
“Read smutty novels in public,” Zoey said.
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I still won’t judge. If my mom and girlfriend weren’t here, then . . . Scratch that. Hi, how are you?”
Her mom muttered, “Nice save.”
“Truly?” said the doctor. “Some of us in the medical field are a little perplexed for a couple of reasons. For one thing your case was theoretical at best in many works of fiction until you appeared on the Marslou with a different body than the one you had left your home planet with. It’s all that I’ve been able to do so far to keep my colleagues from calling you in to open studies on the matter.”
Zoey said, “A little peace and quiet is appreciated. Thank you, doctor.”
“Oh it’s ‘laeknar’ right now since I’m not teaching anyone at the moment, and my remaining staff is on leave. We’ll see how that goes in the coming days.”
“Fair enough.”
“Secondly, we picked up a disturbing sample during the trek home. We have a medical procedure that allows us to reverse a person’s age considerably, to change their anatomical gender, or regrow limbs that have been lost to any trauma. It has been hig
h among our crowning achievements in medicine since it was developed close to three hundred years . . . revolutions ago.”
“Go on.” Zoey smiled, seeing hope that one of her Earth words was catching on.
“When it was developed, however, it came at a terrible cost that we try never discuss out of shame, but at least have the good sense to bring it up in medical studies on a level that I am certified to teach. It involves a substance that we now synthesize from base atoms and molecules, like you have seen done with some meals or ingredients on an industrial level; or the captain’s tea maker. The sample that we found is the original substance. There is no mistaking it. However, it shouldn’t even be possible. The original substance and its manufactory were both outlawed after thirty long revolutions of war and the sort of crimes that society doesn’t bounce back from like nothing ever occurred. Had we continued to make the original substance on the scale that we did then, chances are that none of us would be standing here now.
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