* * *
Zoey twirled the two keys on her ring while walking to the condo door. The water had stopped already in the planters, she realized. It was both a shame and an uncanny sort of beauty to see the plants wither or turn brown and orange. She had never truly experienced autumn like this in Nevada. She wondered now if the plants she grew up with were simply always the same, or if her perception of them changed with this body.
She was a few paces short of the door when it opened. Zoey expected to see her brother, but it was a Ginserei woman she didn’t know who walked out. Zoey might have caught a glimpse of her at work when Dasos was sitting outside, but she wasn’t too sure given the distance and obscurity from the blinds.
The Ginserei woman stopped and looked up and down at Zoey. The cool breeze wafted her plum fragrance, as soft as it was, toward Zoey, while they stood close to one another. She said, “Yes, I do see some resemblance.”
Then she walked off without another word.
Someone knocked on the bedroom window that came before the entrance to the condo. Dasos opened the window, his chest clearly bare. He said, “Hey, sorry to ask this, but since you’re home would you mind, maybe, kicking my pants into my room and shutting the door for me?”
Zoey sighed, and she went inside their residence. Both her brother’s pants and underwear were indeed on the floor outside of his room. She, however, skipped to the door and looked at her brother with a narrow glare, a hand on her hip, and the other in the air. At least Dasos had a blanket going up to his waist.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Someone I met at random that might be an ambassador from Ginserei; I’m not sure which region or house. What, are you going to gatekeep my love life now?”
“So you met her and the two of you decided instantly to have a go before you knew anything about her?”
“It’s more like one thing led to another, and it all happened very fast. How quickly did you and Tonny hook up? Or that commander?”
“Not the point. I want to be sure you’re not getting yourself into trouble.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know. I kind of like her, as strange as that sounds. So is that a no on helping me with my pants?”
Zoey rolled her eyes and kicked the pants toward the bedroom door as if she was making an attempt at playing soccer. The pants, and the underwear along with them, stuck against one side of the doorway and swung partway in. Ignoring her brother’s gratitude, or her own internal thought about needing to work some more on her kicking aim, Zoey went to her own room to change her shirt and shoes.
“Where’s Tong-Chang, by the way?” Dasos asked from another room.
“She’s working on a group project for class,” Zoey replied. “Tonny said they’re researching and organizing right now, but next week it’ll be early rehearsals for their class debate. Her project is something to do with the ethics of advanced biomechanical engineering.”
“OK, that sounds fun.”
“Yeah, right.” She walked out of her room, changed, and saw Dasos grabbing a drink from the kitchen. “Now I have to hurry over to the university and help Bu with an assignment of our own.”
“Bu?”
“Yeah. I told you about her, right? Aelf girl who dyes her hair dark colors, and wears matching eye shadow? She needs help understanding the historical context of something we’re reading for General Complements. I needed to change into a cleaner shirt and shoes that are more comfortable than we wear in the bakery’s kitchen.”
“I think I’ve seen her on campus. Then again, there are a few others who do that with their appearance.”
“There are? Anyways, I’ll see you later, Dasos.”
When she got to the campus library, it took a couple minutes to find Bu sitting with a few other people Zoey presumed to be students that she hadn’t met yet. They had been chatting away with one another when Zoey joined their group.
Bu nodded to her, but kept on talking about the latest episodes of a long-running franchise that no longer resembled the spirit of the first few series. It was contradictory against the given lore, they all agreed. It abandoned the ideas set forth by the original shows and novelizations.
“Are you ready for me to help you with class?” Zoey asked Bu.
“Thank you, no,” said Bu. “We were actually about to go out instead to have a little fun. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I had a long enough day at work. I think I’ll pass.” She tried not to sound bitter for having her time wasted like this, but Zoey watched as the group of people got up and left.
Zoey sighed and pulled out her digital pad to read one of the books on it. At least she had a quiet place to do that. A few pages passed into the time she spent before someone joined her at the table. First she saw the book on the anatomy of four-legged mammals as the man set it down. Then she looked further up and saw Brach’geros, who then shot a smile at her.
“Brach, hi,” Zoey said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
Brach’geros said, “I almost wasn’t. My dorm mate had to leave town for a few days, and then I suddenly remembered the amount of reading I needed to do for a paper for class, due before our next lab assignment. Then I saw your friends leave you. Sorry, I wasn’t sure if approaching you was a good idea.”
“They’re not my friends. One of them is a classmate, but she blew me off.”
“The choices we make.”
“Yeah. Speaking of which, you never did tell me what your focus of study is.”
“It’s veterinary medicine, with applications for wildlife. Mind if I join you?”
[ 41]
She awoke in bed with her lover. Zoey kissed Tong-Chang on the forehead, who grumbled as Zoey climbed out of bed. She had to eat breakfast and get ready for class. Her girlfriend was supposed to get up in an hour from now as well, but would also be waking up in a moment to join for breakfast.
Sighing at the time, Zoey told herself that at least it wasn’t one of her two days of History and Geography where she had to awaken at “too damn early” in the morning.
Zoey checked her phone for the alarm, in case it was set, as she walked out of her room. Tong-Chang had found it odd that Zoey had alarm settings on her phone, but to Zoey it was a norm she had grown up with, as opposed to holographic clocks built into some windows or mirrors.
Her routine bordered on the mundane most days. The laundry was in order, so she didn’t have to clean a load today. The weather forecast on the phone still had no idea where she was, but it predicted—thanks to a friend of Tonny’s tampering with its programming to recognize the satellites in orbit—cold weather outside, which justified going through the condo’s walk-in closet, rather than the parallel hallway, to grab her iris hoody.
By the time she exited the closet through the second door, she typed a message to her brother and prepared to hit send if she didn’t see him outside of his room by now, or at least hear him in the restroom, which sat between the closet and his room. Zoey canceled the message upon hearing the toilet flush, and then considered typing a new one if she didn’t hear the sink running afterward; not that her brother was forgetful with washing his hands.
Dasos walked out of the bathroom and said, “Morning.”
“It is,” she said.
How often had they shared that exchange in the past month? Zoey never cared to keep track. Instead, she walked into the bathroom and brushed her teeth since it was her brother’s turn to make breakfast this morning.
His digital pad sat on the closed tank on the backside of the toilet, and it hadn’t gone to idle mode yet, let alone turn black. There was a list of groceries and other items on the screen. Zoey almost spit her toothpaste at the pad when she saw condoms at the bottom of the list.
Well, at least he’s responsible.
There were plenty of grocery items listed for three people to last them for a week or longer. Tong-Chang helped pay for those and their combined utilities each month now. When she had paid for them one we
ek earlier, after Tong-Chang mentioned something about picking up a new part-time job once she was able, because the pay she had received during her field credit wasn’t going to last too long.
The full scent of omelets frying and buns warming reached Zoey by the time she left the bathroom. Dasos was setting out three drinking glasses as well.
“I’ll get the drinks,” Zoey said. “Which kind of juice are we having this morning?”
He said, “The usual; beets.”
Zoey shot a glare at him. “Water from the bathroom tap for you then.”
“Ha! Seriously, though, orange juice will be fine. Is Tonny still asleep?”
“Give it a moment. You might want to grab your computer from the bathroom before that, though.”
Tong-Chang said from their bedroom, “It’s OK, I don’t feel sick this morning.” She entered the bathroom seconds later, holding a hand to her belly. “Oh look, someone left his porn on.”
“And it’s too late.”
Dasos said, “All we need now is for Soror Valide to pass by our window in a giant robot, and announce to the world that she’s come to rule us all. Then I’d call this another family morning.”
“How does that even sound like something she would do?”
“We never told you about Lyssa’s fascination with the concept of giant robots, have we?”
“No, but now I’m interested.”
“It’s a funny story, you see—”
“Oh, Dasos, you dirty boy!” Tong-Chang said from the bathroom.
“Cold, infinite beyond! You better not be subscribing me to anything again.”
Zoey smiled at first. After a moment she said, “This is the first time, I think, I’ve heard you refer to Soror Valide as a member of our family.”
“I still don’t know if it’s true. I don’t know how it could be. Mom saw the vessel explode when Il’lyse was on it. The only other witness in the area was Admiral Fjorfolia from his own ship. If she is still alive, though, then I invite her to kick down my door and steal a plate for breakfast.”
“Maybe someday I can talk her into doing that. Though I might have to beat her in a fight before she listens to me.”
“I might have to ask her how she became the way she is now.”
* * *
It was a robotics convention. Soror Valide could hardly believe that the trail led here, but this somehow made her feel more giddy inside than recent missions that the Kroke Team had taken.
“We can make a scene, boys and girls,” she said to her team, “but no unnecessary death or destruction.”
Causing a scene was hardly an issue. People from four different races scuttled to the side and out of the way when Soror Valide strolled through the convention center like she owned the place. She was in her element, so she might as well have. All that was missing was some dance music and she would take advantage of it.
Two of her sisters intercepted a male Aelf who wore a yellow band on one arm, a headset on the opposite side of his face, and otherwise similar, but casual, attire akin to everyone else in the building. He was a security guard, but right now he was lucky to be in other company. There was no need for him to report the Hulda’fi being in the area.
There were bound to be more security personnel, of course, but Soror Valide and her team were trained to handle worse situations than this, one way or another.
“I love it when security can be so lax,” she said, her voice entering the radio within her mask.
“We’ll still keep an eye out for them,” said the one brother who wasn’t waiting on the stiern-boat.
“Of course. Even with those of us remaining after the Marslou, we can take what we want, when we want. Does everyone know who we’re looking for?”
“Affirmative, sister.”
Her eye twitched for reasons unknown to her. She chose not to let whatever was affecting her bother her as she looked from one model machine to another. Some looked simple and quaint, as if they resembled a memory from older times before these four races attempted space travel. Many of the models were her height or shorter.
One, and only one, was truly worth her attention. It stood seven meters tall and was surrounded by a protective barrier. A few revolutions ago, Il’lyse would have done her damndest to wrap her body around one leg of the giant robot, and try even harder to steal the thing while everyone was watching.
That reminded her of a funny story when—
“Soror Valide,” said the brother from before, “the target should be at Oh-two-hundred.”
She glared briefly in the direction that she believed her brother to be in, her eye twitching, and then looked toward the indicated direction he gave her. There were two Aelfs, one little boy and an older gentleman who wore a scientist’s coat, standing by the corner of the room.
The boy was wearing a visor and a set of sensors on his hands. When he moved, the robot inside of the field performed accordingly.
“It works so well!” the boy said, removing the visor and sensors after a time.
“That it does,” said the older man. “We made quite the team. I’m sure you will surpass me one day.” A couple of Aelfs walked to the boy and the scientist, wary of Soror Valide’s presence. “Hello. Is something wrong?”
Soror Valide waved at them and shook her head and turned it at the large robot, but kept her eyes and ears on the group.
“It takes all kinds, I suppose,” the scientist said, noting the Hulda’fi in the area. “As I was saying to your son here, he has a natural gift with the field of mechanical engineering and related sciences.”
“We’re so glad you think so, Doctor Rakendaya,” said the woman among them.
“Please, call me Valkoi’ves.”
“But that’s our son’s given name. That would be confusing.”
“Very well, I see your point. Still, I think it’s something for you all to consider as he grows and finds purpose in his life.”
Purpose. Right. What purpose did Soror Valide have before the Hulda’fi took her in? She listened on, so intrigued by this conversation that she held her command for her brothers and sisters to act.
The man who hadn’t spoken yet crouched down to the boy’s eye level. He said, “What do you think, son? Does this seem like something you want to do someday?”
Valkoi’ves the younger said, “Maybe. I don’t know yet.”
“Of course. You’re still so young and have many revolutions ahead of you. When you do figure it out, let us know.”
“That’s right, Valkoi,” said the mother. “Whatever it will be that you decide you want to do with your life, know that we believe in you.”
Hearing those last few words sunk into Soror Valide as deep as combat knives and other objects that had once maimed her flesh; maybe deeper. She shook the feeling before thinking about it by doing the first thing she could think to do.
Soror Valide barked a laugh, and then laughed some more. She could feel the attention of so many people fall on her, but she didn’t care anymore. She turned her head toward the family and scientist. She felt some regret for what she was about to do, by taking her target from everyone and everything he thought he loved and adding to her own family. There was a reason for coming here, and she was about to act upon it.
“Bring the noise, boys and girls,” she said to the radio channel. Yes, it was show time.
Guns went off, and people screamed. The Lord and Lady never said the Kroke Team needed to be discreet this time. So Soror Valide was going to live this moment to its fullest extent. After the past couple months she owed it to herself to indulge in the insanity.
She said aloud, “Listen up, everyone! I am Soror Valide of the Hulda’fi, scourge of the Hoshi-Lacartan Alliance.”
“What is she doing?” the brother near her said over the radio.
“You can add to that ‘the bane of bad mothers,’ and ‘the bitch who takes your children away.’ Every one of you will tell the story to the assholes who raised you and made you what you are toda
y. That is, if we let you live.”
More screams sounded. The small group she’d witnessed earlier huddled next to the protective field, with the exception of the scientist who was fumbling with the hand sensors.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Soror Valide said as she dashed forward and swiped the device.
She slipped the sensors over her fingers while Valkoi’ves the older stepped back in dread. Soror Valide felt the tingling sensation against the backside of her hands for a second before she moved them and tested the movements of the giant robot.
In little time at all, the robot rammed its right shoulder against the barrier and punched it with its left hand. Soror Valide laughed while this happened.
Elysium Shining Page 33