Cosmic Cabaret

by SFR Shooting Stars

  Sooshie climbed the parallel pair of silks. She was spitting like a furious cat. Her fingers caught on the fabric as they splayed, reaching towards Astra. Zane squinted at Sooshie’s hands and feet. But the tail was another story. The prehensile nature of it was going to be a problem. She didn’t just have four limbs. Sooshie had five. Was she cat or monkey?

  Whatever she was, she was dangerous. Astra needed to avoid that tail. Zane stood, ready to spring, unable to help. Feeling useless. But he saw what Astra was doing. She was igniting the Vulveen’s anger and focusing it on Astra alone.

  “I know what you’re really after,” Astra said, still climbing, drawing Sooshie higher. “You only care if you can get what you want out of Cordoba, the power they’ll give you for tracking Bo down. They never stopped looking for him, because there was never a body. Cordoba always knew that he had escaped and let it be until you started killing your siblings.”

  Sooshie smiled and scrambled up, “Yes, of course it’s all part of their plan to take over Kuwaaiti by cultural attrition. They want the royal family line to die out and be replaced by new Cordoba compliant royals.”

  “Now that you’re brother is dead, your older sister is next in line. Or has she also had a tragic accident? What an unlucky family.”

  “Evil. They’re greedy, raping Kuwaaiti for its wealth! I didn’t kill my brother. He was weak. What killed him was his own weaknesses. He lived a deluded life of thinking he had power and was owed ‘the finer things’. Drugs his sycophants supplied for him did him in. My sister is stupid, too. I’m the only one with any brains. This is my right! It’s what I have been trained to do: to rule. I am the rightful heir, not him! This boy will be a puppet, too! He knows nothing of Kuwaaiti. Nothing of our traditions, our people, our value to Cordoba. He’s just a sideshow carny.”

  “Aren’t you one, too? You’re a member of the family but you’re Vulveen. Would they even accept you as a leader?”

  “Filthy girl. How dare you think Vulveens are inferior,” Sooshie hissed.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Zane saw Bo creeping backwards towards the control booth. Heavy steps echoed beyond the practice arena, growing louder.

  Thank you powers that be. Sutcliffe was finally there. Had he been there longer?

  “You can’t kill Bo, too. I won’t let you.” Astra swung out, and as she did, her hands left the silks, initiating the anti-grav field. Her signature move. She floated, body weightless, like a bird in flight. Zane couldn’t help but marvel at her grace. His breath caught in his throat.

  Poetry in every movement, she flitted from silk to silk, using the momentum with each click of the field on and off. A blue cylindrical field, normally obscured by the spotlights, flicked on and off each time she lost and made contact with the anti-grav safety.

  Sooshie held on, confused by the fluctuations of her body’s gravity weight and weightlessness. She kicked furiously at the silks, climbing it with brute strength and brawn. If she got close enough, Zane thought for sure the Vulveen could snap Astra’s neck. Sooshie could use that tail to grab Astra. That tail snapped closer to his lover—dangerously close.

  Astra snatched another silk, but even as she did so, in the midst of the anti-grav field, she kicked her legs out, shoving Sooshie beyond the cylindrical field that reached from floor to ceiling.

  Unready for the sudden return of gravity, Sooshie flailed impotently at the air. Astra dove like a fish. She navigated down the anti-gravitational field and caught her own silk with her legs. As she did, the silk wrapped around her ankle. Gravity re-initiated. Arms extended wide, she wrapped them around Sooshie’s silk and pulled. Her body bounced in a controlled motion at the end of the ribbon. Sooshie body, by contrast, was a flash of thrashing blue limbs right up until Astra wrapped a knot of silks around her.

  Zane looked on in horror as the women in the air grappled in an appendage flailing ball of fury. It was time to get going. Not bothering even to hide his actions, he took long strides towards the flurry of fists. Just as he approached, there was a whirring hum. whum-whum-whum A bubble of blue light erupted from the base of the cylinder. Anti-grav encircled the two women, though they paid little notion as they floated to the top of the spiegeltent.

  Bo strode from the booth, arms flexed.

  “No! Bo! Stay away! She’ll kill you!” Zane shouted. When he saw that the teen was ignoring him, he barreled straight for him. But before Zane could get there, Sutcliffe cut him off and scooped the brawny young man up in his massive arms. The Chief pulled Bo back from the women, who were locked in a life and death battle.

  “No! Let me at her!” He was kicking out but Sutcliffe’s grip must have been iron because Bo was solid stuck, unable to move his torso and arms, pinned to his sides.

  “Now, now, boy. Enough.” Sutcliffe’s bulging arms held the bulked up boy in check. “You won’t help Astra,” he whispered just loud enough that Zane caught the last murmured words. Bo’s body stayed rigid, but he didn’t struggle further. He seemed to dissolve into the chief’s arms, leaning back, as though shattering. Bo’s face was a mix of agony and powerlessness.

  Zane turned and watched in horror as the Sooshie’s Vulveen whip like tail swiped close to Astra’s throat. But Zane knew that Astra trained in anti-grav. The advantage that Sooshie had in bulk was neutralized by her lack of skill and now weightlessness.

  Sutcliffe was at Zane’s side, waiting for the right moment to call in his cavalry. But the close proximity of the women and their constant movement made it impossible for the forces to get in a shot.

  Astra was on her own with a killer.

  Thirteen

  As soon as the anti-grav field kicked in the weightlessness suspending her, Astra knew that Bo turned it back on. Smart kid.

  Within weightlessness, Astra knew she’d have the advantage. Char taught Astra in the anti-gravity field through training games, enabling her body for the tricks that made the crowd ‘ooh’ with delight. Astra could do drops and spins in the anti-grav atmosphere better than anyone in the show. Bo knew it, remembered it, kept his wits about him, and gave her the advantage.

  Astra grabbed for the silk. Sooshie was still getting her bearings, floating, her tail whipping to and fro in anger and frustration. The acrobat balled up her body and rotated. Using the techniques she’d been taught, as she rotated she shot both legs out, straight into Sooshie, driving her through the anti-gravitational field circumference.

  Sooshie flailed. Arms and legs wheeling as gravity gripped her. Her eyes bugged in cold fear. She whipped around trying to land on her feet as she fell the final fifteen feet in Quantum’s gravity. Though she was quick, the catlike woman attempted to land on her paw-like feet, but it was too great an impact. Her body crumpled. The air filled with the sickening crunch of bones, like crackers crumbling into soup. Sooshie slumped forward onto her hands and knees, screaming in pain.

  Astra floated in the field, high above the scene. Zane was there, nearby, holding a chair in hand ready to catapult into action should she need him.

  Meanwhile, Sutcliffe clamped restraints on Sooshie though he need not have.

  “I’ve got a medic team on the way. First we're going to need to sedate her, that tail looks dangerous,” said Sutcliffe. Said tail was whipping around.

  Still stuck in anti-grav with no help in sight to get her down, Astra spotted the nearby swinging trapeze. She jumped through the field and one handed the swing. Letting the momentum of her lunge take her across the next ring, she navigated the ladder to the main floor. “Roadside carny, huh?”

  The stricken look on Bo’s face drew Astra to him. There he stood, shoulders sagging, like a deflated balloon. She wanted to go to Zane but her duty, first and foremost, was Bo. He needed her. A feeling of being needed rose in her heart. It filled with longing to be that someone to take care of another not for selfish reasons but to protect. Take control. At that moment she realized she needed to be with her brother, too.

  She could see Zane, his eyes shone with prid
e and a look that said he wanted to hold her, to caress her, to embrace and comfort her. A pang of sympathy stabbed at her heart. But the second the boy dissolved into a puddle of tears in her arms, Zane’s gaze transformed into respect. Reflected in his eyes was the appreciation for the powerful woman he saw.

  As the security forces circled, one took the writhing blue she-devil’s arms while another tried to control the thrashing tail. The high pitch of a shock weapon resounded as the green beam flashed forth from a security officer’s wrist to the tail. Sooshie slumped.

  The medical team arrived bringing two hovering medical stretchers. White topped with a thin, silvery bottom, the slick metal sides flickered multicolored blinking bioscan lights. They lowered the hovering medical table and lifted Sooshie onto it to bring the sedated prisoner back to medical services.

  Still holding Bo, Astra looked on and allowed herself finally to cry. All of the pain of loss finally came through, squeezing her heart of its misery. Her friend. Her mentor.

  Bo’s mother.

  Their mother.

  The security chief turned to look at Astra. He quirked a brow at her. “Don’t go anywhere. You and I have some unfinished business,” said Sutcliffe. The look on his face did very little to inspire cooperation. She had left the office against his direct orders, showed him her abilities, and just took down a murderer. There would be words, but she wasn't sure which kind would come out of his mouth.

  Instead of walking over to her, however, the chief followed the other stretcher. Guilt stabbed at Astra, she hadn't noticed the Veronika was still on the spiegeltent’s floor. No longer in a crumpled heap, she was sitting up with the assistance of a security officer. Veronika rubbed her neck, gingerly moving it around, wincing.

  Zane directed a medical team, pointing to Veronika and taking a med-scan of some sort from another tech. Meanwhile, Sutcliffe hovered behind him. As Zane bent down, he raised one hand behind him to keep Sutcliffe from pouncing.

  Zane waved another medtech to where he knelt. The two gave Veronika a quick once over before standing and giving the all clear to Sutcliffe. The big man barreled in, scattering techs in a mad scramble to get out of his way. He bent down, and scooped Le Mouche’s leader into his arms.

  “So much for the bioboard,” Astra heard another medico remark.

  Astra couldn't make out the murmured words that Veronika whispered to Sutcliffe but it made the man guffaw. She watched the exchange between Sutcliffe and Veronika. Maybe, finally, those two would find their way together. Whatever held them apart appeared to be broken now. Torn asunder by tragedy.

  Bo’s muscles grew lax. Astra patted his back and rubbed it gently as she remembered Char doing for her.

  While she patted Bo, she watched the detective and her boss. The burly cyborg held Veronika closer, she snaked her hands up his chest. With a scowl towards the medical staff, Sutcliffe allowed the techs to direct him towards the hovering bio-board that awaited Veronika. The readings on the slick, silver sides steadied the second he let her down on the surface. Still holding Sutcliffe’s hand, Veronika lay on the board. The diagnostic lights went from amber to blue to green.

  Astra reached out towards them with her patting hand. The desire to manipulate and explore the colored strands emanating from the board burst across her consciousness. She wanted interpret them. Instinct told her that she could. The realization stopped her. She brought her hand back to Bo’s back and patted it again, rubbing gently more for herself this time while the thought raced around in her head. What am I?

  Zane’s voice broke through her distress in a loud and clear command, “Let’s run her through a full diagnostics set, top to bottom.” A look passed between Sutcliffe and Zane. It made the latter step back. Then Sutcliffe waved him off. He turned away with a reluctance in his shoulders. Sutcliffe watched for a moment as Veronika was taken away.

  Sutcliffe looked over his shoulder to where Astra was comforting Bo. The Chief of Security’s face was awash with an anguish of concern. It changed as he recognized her. Bundled with Bo, she was less visible. Oh boy, it’s late to hide behind Bo, now.

  A gleam appeared as Sutcliffe shook off the cloud from his eyes. Astra cringed. It was reckoning time.

  Pointing to Bo, the mountain of a man ordered, “Get him settled, then come to my office. You and I have business to discuss. Here isn’t the place, and now isn’t the time.” He drew closer and lowered his voice, “What you did in minutes, my forensic tech team would take days to accomplish. No, not even days, they would never have figured out how you did that—that—” He wiggled his fingers around his head, “jiggery-pokery.”

  “Yes, I understand.” Astra’s eyes shifted left and right but Sutcliffe wasn’t stopping. He certainly wasn’t adhering to ‘now isn’t the time’ and kept on, full steam ahead. She cringed.

  “Your little tricks have had Blue Star’s main offices scrambling to find a security leak. ”

  “I’m sorry?” She said. Bo lifted his tearstained face, which must have reminded Sutcliffe that not everyone knew where Astra’s true talents lay.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Sutcliffe said. “You’re not leaving this ship. I’ve got a nice little spot in security picked out for you.”

  Her eyes widened. Bo clutched her tighter as Astra’s body stiffened. “You’re arresting me?”

  Sutcliffe’s expression transformed from deadly serious to a cat-that-ate-the-canary smile. “Are you crazy? I’m offering you a job instead of arresting you.”

  “Sounds like an offer I can’t refuse?”

  “I think we can work something out. And take your time with him.” His chin dipped towards Bo.

  Thank you, she mouthed back. He tipped an invisible hat to her and turned. With surprising nimbleness the great man bound off, faster than she thought possible for anyone of that size. A ripple of satisfaction spread from the corners of her mouth to her toes.

  “Bo?” Astra pulled away gently, taking his shoulders in each of her palms.

  “I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do next,” he said. The grief and utterly bizarre turn that his future was taking would be dizzying for an adult, let alone a young man of sixteen. Or was he almost eighteen? Another mystery to solve, but one for another day.

  “You’re safe. I won’t leave you. Don’t ever worry about that. You hear me?”

  “You’re all I’ve got now.” A cloud came over his face again.

  “I am not. You have an entire family right here at Le Mouche.”

  “And me, too?” asked Zane, a tentative hitch to his words. Bo and Astra turned to see him walking towards them.

  Astra looked from Bo to Zane. Hand wide open, her free arm extended towards Zane beckoning to him to come closer. He took another step towards them. Their spark ignited as skin made contact. Astra’s fingers entwined with Zane’s. She gave a gentle tug, pulling them into to the opposite hip from Bo.

  In her peripheral vision, she saw Bo’s glance flick to her and Zane and back to her. He nodded, understanding spreading in a smile across his lips. On her shoulder, the extra weight of Bo’s arm brought warmth and comfort. Zane’s hand rested on her opposite hip with the casualness of belonging.

  Her two fellas.

  As she stood there, between them, the rightness of it crashed into her, through her. It smashed through the boarded up wall of her heart. Love, like a warm sun, penetrated the new spaces, filling them with contentment. That contentment seeped into her bones.

  As light finds the cracks, love illuminated the darkness of void left by Char’s death.

  Tears swelled in her eyes, overflowing with happiness. Astra tried to speak but the lump that was forming in her throat stopped words. Words weren’t needed. She ruffled Bo’s hair and leaned her back into Zane.

  Tears were falling down Bo’s cheeks, too. He would need her, now more than ever, to go beyond the grief and take hold of the responsibilities of rule.

  It was Zane’s voice that brought her back from thoughts of the uncertai
n future. As though he could read her mind, he murmured into their huddle, “We don’t need to think about tomorrow. It’ll come and we’ll be fine. In the meantime,” he paused and whispered conspiratorially, “I know a great place for pie.”

  “I’m in,” said Bo. A little croak belied the still unsettled emotions.

  Astra ruffled Bo’s hair, “Of course you are, let’s go.”

  “Nuh-uh,” Bo said and waggled his finger at Zane, “Well… aren’t you going to kiss her?”

  Zane tilted his head and looked over at the young man. “You’re right, she did just save everybody. Doesn’t the hero always get a kiss?”

  Astra's eyes shifted back and forth between Bo and Zane. Bo stepped back and Zane slid his free hand to the nape of her neck, nudging her chin up with the tip of his thumb. His finger trailed down her pulse. Astra knew he’d detect the quickening of it beneath his tender caress. He bent his neck in towards her opposite ear and whispered, “This is just the beginning.”

  “I’m counting on it,” she whispered back, her voice catching as his lips slid along her collar-bone up her neck and along her jawline. They left a trail of soft kisses, sending shockwaves down her spine. Her fingertips trailed up his chest to the collar of his uniform. His lips trailed along her cheek, to the tip of her nose until they were eye-to-eye. Astra gripped the collar and tugged.

  His lips came down on hers, crushing them with demanding desire. Their tongues followed, exploring with a slowness that contrasted the initial contact. Heat bloomed through her limbs. Heat and fire and desire and love rushed together as the pounding of her pulse filled her ears. The collar came away from her fingers, their hold a languid mirror of her body. Tension fell away. The kiss dissolved as they parted naturally for breath. Astra gazed up through her lashes. His lazy smile greeted her.

  A reverent silence filled the room, letting the two lovers enjoy this moment of victory together.

  “Whatever's ahead, whether it’s evil corporate empires,” Zane said and stepped back.