by M. D. Cooper
She murmured, “I don’t know what to say,” but the words came out high-pitched and were barely intelligible.
“You don’t need to say anything,” Erin said. “We love you, and we wanted to show you just how much on what could be one of the most important nights of your life.”
Isa’s capacity for speech deserted her. Erin gave her another hug, and Martin wrapped his arms around them both. Jude jumped up and down, asking to be let in to the ‘snuggle’. Martin bent down and picked his son up, holding him in the crook of his arm.
Isa sniffed. Her face buried in Erin’s shoulder, she asked, “What’s this dress made of?”
“Silk,” Erin replied.
Silk. That was why the texture had felt familiar. Isa’s new dress was made of the same material as the sheets in their hotel room in Athens.
“So, as well as the most beautiful and expensive necklace I’ve ever owned,” said Isa, “you got me a dress made of worm cloth?”
“We did,” Martin replied. “I’m glad you’re grateful.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
STELLAR DATE: 05.11.8941 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Isa’s gallery, Heliopolis, Ithaca
REGION: Troy, New Canaan System
Erin flew them in Isa’s aircar to the roof of her art gallery. It turned out to be a wise decision. A crowd had already gathered outside the entrance in the street below. Erin guessed that media reps had been the first to arrive, and then passersby had stopped to see what was happening. But arriving by air didn’t mean the family escaped the news drones, which hovered around as they exited the vehicle.
“Ignore them,” Erin said to Martin, who was visibly annoyed and shielding Jude’s face as he carried him over to the hatch.
Isa opened the small door and, gathering the skirt of her dress in one hand, descended the steps. Martin followed her, but halfway down, he paused and looked upward into the starry sky.
“Something wrong?” Erin asked.
“I don’t think so. Only I thought I heard the engine of a big ship.”
He stepped down the remaining treads to the bottom of the stairs.
Tanis laughed.
“Tanis is going to arrive via aircar too,” Erin told Isa when she reached the upper mezzanine. “I explained about the media situation.”
Isa closed the hatch. “I hope reporters don’t turn this evening into a disaster. I’m so happy Tanis could come, but I want her and Joe to have a good time, not be bombarded with questions about the political situation.”
“I wouldn’t worry about Tanis if I were you,” replied Erin. “If anyone can look after themselves, it’s her. What’s more important is that the focus of this event isn’t on the governor of New Canaan. Your art gallery is what this is all supposed to be about.”
Isa’s eyes flicked upward. “The caterers are here.”
“I’ll go down and let them in,” said Martin.
“I’ll come with you,” said Isa.
Martin handed Jude to Erin and he and Isa took the elevator.
Erin had brought a bag of toys to keep Jude busy. Holding it in one hand, she grasped Jude’s hand with the other and walked with him down the stepped bridge that crossed to the lower mezzanine.
“Whooo,” Jude said, peering through the balcony rails at the first floor. “Look. Daddy and Mommy Isa.”
“Yeah, there they are.” Erin stopped to watch what was happening below.
Isa had opened the door to the caterers, but as the workers and automatons carrying covered trays were entering, other people were pushing through the portal, trying to sneak inside along with the servers. Martin was quick to push them out again.
Erin bit her lip. Isa had worked her ass off to set up her art business; she hoped the evening would be a success. And she hoped that Tanis’s attendance would be more of a benefit than a detriment.
Music started up, and the lighting softened. The party was about to begin.
Erin was looking forward to having a good time. She hadn’t done much except work or relax at the house on the coast for a while. It would also be great to catch up with Tanis and Joe about everything that had been happening in Carthage.
She descended the rest of the staircase to the lower mezzanine and then took the elevator to the first floor.
“You’re performing your bouncer duties a little too well,” Erin told Martin when she reached the door. “You ejected two of my engineers along with the reporters.”
“Shoot,” Martin said. “It’s hard to tell who’s who. They’re all claiming they were invited.”
“I’ll identify the ones I know,” said Erin, approaching the door.
“Hold on,” said Isa as she returned from showing the caterers where to set up. “I’ll deal with this.”
She jerked the door open, causing several people who had been leaning on it to fall inward and hit the floor. Ignoring the sprawling journalists, she yelled, “If you don’t have an invite, back off to the other side of the road, or I’m calling the police! The governor of New Canaan will be here tonight, and she doesn’t take shit from anyone.”
Erin snorted with laughter. Dressed in black silk, bedecked in highly expensive jewelery, her hair beautifully styled, Isa looked like a queen… But her character had been forged as an enslaved miner at Sirius, and that wouldn’t ever change.
Isa’s tirade had the desired effect. The uninvited separated from the invited and grumpily shuffled across the street, though their drones remained, hovering annoyingly close to the entrance. Erin spotted Linch and MacCarthy and beckoned them over. Isa allowed one of her new friends in too.
The woman’s appearance led Erin to conclude that she must be from Troy’s art world. Her hair was a work of art in itself; it circled her head like a halo and pulsed purple and green. She was wearing a painfully bright orange jumpsuit that fit her like a second skin except that it flared out widely from her knees downward. Erin wondered how she could walk. The most remarkable aspect of the artist’s clothing was the two holes cut in the fabric in the area of her chest, perfectly exposing her small breasts.
“Is that suit the latest fashion on Troy?” Martin asked Erin, his gaze naturally drawn to the most eye-catching aspect of the costume.
“I don’t think that’s the latest fashion anywhere.”
She left Jude with Martin and took the elevator to the third floor. When she opened the roof hatch, she almost didn’t recognize Tanis. She was wearing a gorgeous, long, red dress that shimmered in the evening light. Joe stood beside her looking dazzling in his dress uniform.
“Thanks for coming,” said Erin as they stepped down the stairs. “This means so much to Isa. And not only because your presence has turned this into the event of the year in Troy’s social calendar; Isa really wants all her friend
s here too.”
“It’s our pleasure,” Tanis replied. “I’ve been doing my best not to strangle politicians all day, and Joe’s been dealing with the planetary militia—such as it is. We’re curious to see what Isa’s been doing. She used to talk about her ideas when she would come over to the lakehouse, but I don’t think I ever really understood what she meant.”
“Come and see,” said Erin. As they walked to the elevator, she continued, “Isa invited a couple of reporters who’ll probably want to speak to you, but we kept the rest at bay.”
“We saw the drones on the roof,” said Joe.
“They can talk to me all they want, but I’m not going to discuss anything except Isa’s work,” said Tanis. “If they want a scoop on the state of the Trojan government, they can go pound sand.”
They stepped off the elevator at the first floor.
“What is the state of the Trojan government?” Erin asked.
“It’s a mess,” said Tanis. “I’m glad I decided to come here and see for myself what is happening. I can’t understand what’s gotten into them. Pride in your planet is fine, but if they think Troy can make it alone in the system, they’re a bunch of idiots. We all have to work together.”
“Did you have any luck persuading them of that?” Erin asked.
“I think I made some headway,” said Tanis. “I’m meeting Independence Party leaders tomorrow and speaking to some business leaders. But if they do decide to secede, there isn’t a lot I can do about it—the original charter did have a lot of leeway for disparate settlements; maybe they’ll have to learn from their own mistakes. At least the Troy Independence Party won’t have a chance at government until the next election in four years. They’re the ones who will definitely secede if they get in. With luck, your station will be booming by then, and off-planet commerce will pick up.”
The room was soon buzzing, as more guests arrived and the drinks and food were passed around. The music had a catchy beat, and some people began to dance. Martin was playing with Jude, and Isa was chatting with Tanis and Joe and some of the Trojan dignitaries. Meanwhile, Isa’s artist friend had attracted a circle of admirers and seemed to be holding court as if the artworks were hers and not Isa’s. Aside from the painfully obvious upstaging attempt by the strange woman, the party seemed to be going well.
Erin sought out Linch and MacCarthy. She found Linch spinning on his heel, his gaze sweeping the gallery.
“This place is amazing,” he said. “When you invited us to this event, I thought I would come along to be polite, you know? I mean, I thought it would be something to do. I wasn’t expecting this.”
Erin hadn’t taken much notice of how Isa had transformed the space. Linch’s words caused her to really look at the gallery for the first time. He was right. Through a combination of plain 2D images, vids, holos, and 3D artwork, Isa had created a captivating, breathtaking display.
Erin’s heart swelled with pride that she was married to such a talented artist. “Isa’s created something really special, hasn’t she? But what you’re seeing isn’t actually what this place is about; it’s only an introduction to the real experience.”
“Sounds cool,” said Linch. “If this is just a taste of what your wife can do, I’d love to see what the main course is like.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Erin. “I was her test subject for some of her experimental work, which was awesome, but she’s refined her technique since then. She was saying that she might run some sessions for guests later, depending on how the evening goes.”
Martin arrived with Jude, and Erin introduced him to Linch, who said, “We already met. At the door.”
“Ah, yeah. Sorry about that,” said Martin.
“No problem. I could see you were having problems with gate crashers.”
“Great,” Martin said, “I appreciate your understanding, because I wanted to ask if you could do your boss a favor and look after her son for a while so she can dance?”
“Hey, who said anything about dancing?” Erin protested.
“Sure,” replied Linch, grinning as he took Jude from Martin. “C’mon, little buddy, let’s go look at some pictures.”
Martin took Erin’s hand and led her out to an open space near some other dancers.
“You look great in that dress,” he told her, taking her other hand as they moved with the music.
“Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.”
Martin leaned forward and whispered in Erin’s ear, but at the same time, the music hit a crescendo, and she didn’t catch what he said.
“What was that?”
Martin repeated his suggestion over the Link.
Erin shrieked and giggled. “I don’t think that’s physically possible.”
“Maybe not, but it would be fun to try.”
They danced some more, but both found themselves looking at Jude, who was holding Linch’s hand and gazing open-mouthed at the images Isa had created.
“He’ll probably get bored soon,” said Martin.
“Yeah,” said Erin. “Or tired.”
“I’ll take him home if that happens. I don’t mind leaving early. But don’t you think it’s a pity Jude doesn’t have any brothers or sisters to play with? We wouldn’t have to keep him occupied. I think he’ll feel lonely when he’s older.”
“Martin, you know this family isn’t one of your seeding sites, right?”
“Of course I do. But we are a family, and families have children. Unless you want Jude to grow up as an only child?”
“OK, I hear what you’re saying, but Isa has only just started her business, and a lot of the time she was working, she had Jude with her. That couldn’t have been easy. I don’t think it’s fair to expect her to carry another baby right now. And….”
Martin gave Erin a look that caused her to stop dancing.
“Don’t even think about it,” she told him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine myself waddling around a station like an overweight duck. Anyway, didn’t you mention something about male seahorses? Do they carry their young instead of the females?”
“They do,” Martin replied. “Still….”
He paused.
“Lindsey’s just arrived with Margot and Pietr. I’ll go and let them in.”
* * * * *
After a while, Erin grew tired of talking to the gathered throng, so she found Isa and asked if she could experience one of her installations.
“I’d love it if you would,” Isa replied. “I’ve tested them myself, but it would be great to get a second opinion from someone I can trust to tell me the truth. Do you want to select one from the menu? Oh, by the way, I asked Tanis and Joe if they’re still OK to babysit Jude if we want to go to Athens in the next few months, and they said they would be happy to. We should arrange dates with them soon.”
“Great. Now we only have to persuade Martin to agree.”
“I’ll start working on him later.”
Erin looked up the list of installations. Isa had created experiences based around places on Carthage, Tyre, and Troy. Erin was tempted by the tunnel in Mount Athos on Tyre and the musical pillars on the same planet.
“I notice you don’t have one based on the Crystal Cave.”
“Ugh, no,” Isa said. “I couldn’t bring myself to do that, though you can see I did include the Golden Cavern.”
“Hmmm,” said Erin. “I think I’ll try The Scamander.”
“Really?” Isa asked. “I thought you would go for something farther from home.”
“I can see the river and the plain from the Messene,” Erin explained. “But I’ve never managed to find the time to visit them. This will be a nice alternative.”
“Right,” said Isa. “The supporting artifacts are on the upper mezzanine, or you could hang around here to do it.”
“No, I’ll go upstairs to be out of everyone’s way.”
The upper mezzanine was empty. Below, on the first floor, Erin could see the tops of the heads of the crowd moving and m
ingling, some bobbing in time to the music. Everything was going well. In another two or three hours, it would be over and everyone would go home. Erin was happy the night had turned out to be a fantastic success.
Erin sat in one of the cushioned chairs that lined the walls. Moving and still images and holos of the Scamander river valley surrounded her. Erin focused on one vid of the river rushing over boulders and closed her eyes.
The installation kicked in. Instantly, she was in the spot where Isa had recorded the vid. The sounds, scents, and feel of the air in the scene rushed in on her. The effect was sudden and real and created such an impact that Erin jerked and opened her eyes.
She was back in upper mezzanine of the gallery. The hum of the party floated up from below.
Closing her eyes once more, Erin relaxed into the sim. It was pleasant to be transported away to the fresh, natural scene after the hubbub of the social gathering.
She was standing on the Plain of Scamander, next to the river of the same name. A strong wind was blowing, turning the long grass of the plain into a stormy ocean ruffled with waves. Along with the rush of the wind, the babble of the river dashing over the rocks filled the air. Canaan Prime was low in the sky, and sunset colors were building on the horizon, glancing off the lower edges of the clouds.
Erin wondered when Isa had recorded this moment. It was a beautiful scene, and she wished she had been there to share it with her.
Then Isa’s special added effects started to filter into the experience. The rocks in the river began to coruscate in subtle shades of color, and the river turned into a sheet of mobile silver. The water looked like mercury and reflected the deepening hues of the setting sun. The noise of the wind subtly transformed into the quiet song of a thousand voices, and rather than pushing into Erin, the breeze felt like it was blowing through her.
Erin hadn’t been aware she was smelling the earthy, grassy scent of the plain until it blended into the sounds she was hearing, and in the same way, she found she could smell the noises. The sights she was seeing became sensations on her skin. She found herself dissolving into the scene as if she were a part of the landscape, or perhaps even united with the planet, the system, and the stars beyond.