Cosmic Cabaret

by SFR Shooting Stars

  “Holy stars! Really?”

  “Yeah. That residue seems to fade over time, though. The more recently someone has been around crystele, the stronger it is. When we were going through the Venteg’s belongings before, I thought I caught a little bit of the crystele vibration in some of it, but I wasn’t really focused on it, so I couldn’t be sure. I’d like us to work together to go through all this stuff again, but this time I want to focus on looking for a crystele vibration level. I’m not sure what it will tell us, but it might give us another clue. The concept is a little woo-woo, so I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”

  “Are you kidding? I can’t believe you’d think I’d have some sort of a problem with this. First of all, we are woo-woo. I mean, all our psi-abilities would have been considered out there or fake or even magic by a large percentage of scientists, even as recently as a couple of hundred years ago. Before that, we might all have been burned at the stake for being evil. I consider this to be a fantastic research opportunity and I’d love to try it, even if it doesn’t bring us any results at all right now. Let’s just do it.”

  “Excellent. Okay.”

  As with a usual psi-read, Sabrina put her hand on Kendra’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She then visualized the walls around her own essence fading away until she was totally open and able to sense the psychic connections that were all around her.

  The links were like delicate elusive filaments. When she mentally approached them, they seemed to float away, just out of her grasp. Finally, she sensed Kendra’s essence and psychic strands. They were much thicker than usual; more resilient and unbreakable. As she psychically advanced on them, they remained solid and unmoving. She wove her way through and around them until she sensed a mesh formation.

  It, too, was different from the type of web she normally perceived when she connected with psi-touch talents, so she psychically let them move in whatever direction and way Kendra needed them to go. She thought she sensed a cave, a place surrounded by rocks, with a mountain in the distance. She never shared the mental image of a touch-psi, but this time she did. She could see images flashing through her mind. She had no idea where they were, in a psychic sense, but they seemed to stay there a long time.

  She could hear Kendra speaking out loud, describing everything she was seeing. Sabrina was viewing those images as well, although they appeared to her as if they were in shadow. Eventually, she sensed they had finished reading all the Venteg’s items and she reversed the process, unwove her strands from the web and pulled them back into herself. Once she had them all, she allowed her walls to reestablish themselves.

  Sabrina opened her eyes and removed her hand from Kendra’s shoulder. Disoriented, she staggered, but felt arms close around her to hold her steady and upright until she regained her footing. After a few seconds, she looked up to see Dayor’s intense grey eyes staring into hers. She watched as his gaze shifted to her mouth and had to stop herself from licking her lips.

  No! This is not going to happen. I’m not going to allow myself to be attracted to him. I don’t need or want this right now, but Sabrina found herself replaying Kendra’s words in her mind, “I believe Dayor has feelings for you. Serious feelings.”, and she knew she was starting to have feelings for him as well.

  Sabrina mumbled a thank you to Dayor and slowly pushed herself away from him. Then, she heard his deep voice as he wrapped his hand around her elbow and gently guided her to a chair so she could sit.

  “Easy now, Sabrina. I don’t want you to fall. You need to sit down. I’m not sure what you and Kendra were doing, but she’s in about the same shape as you are.”

  “I’m okay now. Where’s Kendra?”

  “I’m over here. I’m fine.”

  Sabrina looked to her left and saw Kendra perched atop one of the bare metal tables in the coroner’s area. Valon, a worried look on his face, was standing in front of her with his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from pitching forward. Remarkably, Kendra had a huge smile on her face.

  Sabrina suddenly felt exhilarated and smiled as well. “Holy shit! What in the stars did we just do? That was incredible. I was right with you. I could see the images.”

  Kendra looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled once again, “I’m not entirely sure, but I agree that it was unbelievable. I want to think about it for a while and then I’d like to talk with Dev about it. Let’s do our psi-reads on the bodies so we can finish up here. We can talk about it once we get back to our quarters and make sure they’re secure.

  After assuring Valon and Dayor they were fully recovered, Kendra and Sabrina completed their inspections and reads on the bodies. They detected a slight crystele residue on both. It was very faint, but curious. Other than that, they didn’t sense anything unusual. They finished everything they needed to do at the morgue, then hopped on one of the many available mini-trams and headed back to their quarters.

  As agreed, for the sake of security, they delayed any discussion of their findings until they got back to their suite. While they were in route, they pointed some of the sights and activities out to each other, from waterfalls of sparkling, rainbow colored water to floating above the lush, green parks inside a transparent bubble. They vowed to return when they’d be able to enjoy everything as regular tourists.

  Five

  When they arrived at their suite, Jeeves was at the entrance to greet them. He had an odd smile on his face and a large crack on the side of his head that started just above his right ear and ended toward the top of his head. There, it merged with a gaping hole that exposed some of the circuits in that portion of his skull. His tuxedo was dirty and torn. He’d clearly fallen, either due to a mishap or an attack, but was acting as if everything was completely normal. He was holding an electronic message ball in one of his hands.

  “Good morning, everyone. My name is Jeeves. Did you enjoy your outing?”

  They all looked at each other and then back at Jeeves. Sabrina approached him and reached her hand out for the ball. Jeeves handed it to her with great flourish.

  “Yes, Jeeves. We had a wonderful morning. Thank you for asking. Did we have any visitors this morning or did something happen?”

  “Why yes, you did have visitors and, yes, I believe something did happen. I recall two or three gentlemen coming to the entrance but, I can’t recall exactly how many or if they left a message or not. How odd. I’m sensing a possible problem within my memory lobe. My apologies. I believe I need to go to my docking station and run a full diagnostic. It won’t take long. I just have to go to the alcove next to the entrance of this magnificent suite.”

  “You go right ahead and do that, Jeeves, and then you can shut down for the day.”

  “Thank you. Enjoy your afternoon.”

  They continued to watch Jeeves as he headed to the docking station. He was walking with a slight limp.

  Sabrina activated the message ball. A mini holo image formed, but it appeared as just a blob of static on its mini-holo platform. The computer-generated voice, however, was loud and clear.

  “Our ability to gain access to your suite and the damage to the android are just small examples of our capabilities. Return to Malli and forget about the Ventegs. This is your only warning.”

  Dayor was the only one who spoke. “Full security search. Now.” He entered the code they’d been given for emergency situations into his com link. Security would be arriving shortly.

  As one, the group immediately started a full security inspection of their suite. Their search scanners found several new monitoring devices that had been installed in their absence. They left them enabled for Quantum Security to see.

  The perpetrators had been smart. They’d only blocked Quantum’s security sensors. If they’d been disabled, local Quadrant Security would have been immediately notified that there was a problem. That still didn’t explain, though, why no automatic alerts had gone out when Jeeves, as Quantum’s property, had been damaged.

  All the Alliance’s devices had
been disabled, except for one. It was a small device that had been secreted inside of a sculpture and had been sitting on a table in the foyer. Hidden in plain sight, it had somehow been overlooked by the perpetrators.

  They activated its readout. It showed three men. All were armed with blasters as well as search scanners. Jeeves greeted the men at the entrance to the suite. They saw one of the men hold a small rectangular box out to him. The second Jeeves grasped the box, he froze in place, apparently in a complete circuit overload.

  Through the still functioning monitoring device, they watched as the men either blocked or disabled all the security monitors, one-by-one, depending on their type. Just as one of the men scanned and then approached the sculpture containing the hidden monitor, Jeeves reactivated himself and confronted him. He shoved the box at Jeeves a second time. When it froze him, the man knocked him over before rejoining the others who were installing their own monitoring devices in the suite.

  The men did a quick physical search of all the rooms and left shortly thereafter. One of them kicked Jeeves on his way out.

  Valon stood up and paced the room. He was swearing. Sabrina noted that some of the Calivan phrases he was using didn’t run through Earth’s translators very smoothly. He suddenly stopped mid-stride, pointed in their direction and emphatically announced, “The horses do not die when the dogs want them to.”

  Dayor solemnly nodded his head at the wisdom of the old Calivan proverb. Sabrina glanced at Kendra quizzically and saw that she was struggling not to laugh.

  Valon noticed it, too, and became completely incensed. “Are you crazy? You think this is funny? We haven’t even been here a full day and we’ve already been threatened and our quarters have been broken into.”

  Kendra went to him and ran her hand down his cheek. “You’re right, of course. I’m just having an Earth moment. I’ve explained to you before that Calivan sayings sometimes sound odd to me. Someday I’ll go over Earth sayings with you and you can be the one laughing. Let’s sit a moment until Security arrives.”

  Mollified, Valon allowed Kendra to lead him back to the group. As they passed where Sabrina was seated, Kendra surreptitiously rolled her eyes. Sabrina quickly looked down so she wouldn’t start laughing.

  Dev’s view of Valon as he had shared with Sabrina, was that he was highly intelligent, loyal and that he could be counted on. He also felt that Valon, like his entire family, lived by an ethical code that was based on the highest of principles. In other words, Dev felt Valon was good enough for his partner and friend, Kendra.

  He also felt Valon had a flair for the overdramatic, particularly if he thought Kendra’s wellbeing was at risk. His outburst was obviously the product of the latter. Sabrina found herself looking at Dayor and wondering if he would have the same kind of protective reaction towards someone he loved as deeply.

  No. Stop this kind of thinking. Not going there. But deep down she was starting to realize she had already gone there and there was no going back.

  Dayor contacted Deputy Secretary Moore to report the break-in to her directly. She told him she’d already been alerted of the situation and that she and two of her people were already in route. They arrived within minutes. Dayor took the lead on reporting what they’d found. They reviewed the images of the break-in with them and arranged to provide Security with a copy of everything that had been captured on the monitoring device.

  They all agreed on a couple of things. First, the reason the monitoring device hidden in the statue hadn’t been disabled was because the perpetrator had been distracted by Jeeves. They wondered if he’d later remembered that he’d left it operational.

  Second, for the men to have been able to get anywhere near their suite, let alone as close as its entrance, they’d all have to have had high level security clearances. That meant there was either a flaw or a mole within Quantum Security. By the look on her face, they knew that the Deputy Secretary was not at all happy with that realization.

  Deputy Secretary Moore’s people inspected every inch of the suite, both manually and by using scanners. After they disabled the devices the perpetrators had installed, they determined that all the illegal monitoring equipment had been identified and removed. They rebooted their own security equipment and offered to assist the group in rebooting theirs.

  Dayor declined their offer. He knew they’d be double checking the premises themselves as soon as they were alone. They’d reactivate their equipment when they were ready for it.

  Security also ordered a replacement android butler for the group. When they found out, they all agreed that they’d rather just have their original Jeeves repaired and reactivated instead. He had grown on them in just one day.

  It was late afternoon by Malli and Earth Standard Time before the security people left. Valon and Dayor re-inspected the suite while Kendra and Sabrina reactivated their own security equipment. Jeeves had been taken away for repairs and would be returned to them the next day.

  They set up a holo-conference with Dev, who was overseeing Calivan security in Dayor’s and Valon’s absences. He reported that all was quiet. Then, the group updated him on their morning and on the break-in. Per his request, they forwarded a copy of the data Deputy Secretary Moore’s people had provided to them. Dev would start his own identity search, from Caliva, on the two men who had yet to be identified.

  Kendra and Sabrina also set up a holo-conference with their Alliance supervisor, John Randall, and provided him with a similar update. They forwarded a copy of the data from Quantum’s security people to him as well, so he could have his people do a full Alliance identity search. They also requested all information that could be gathered on the two men who had been identified.

  It had been an eventful day for all of them, so they decided to have a relaxed dinner. They ordered in and sat together in the dining area within their suite. After dinner, Kendra and Valon excused themselves and went to their room for the night.

  Sabrina was tired and was tempted to retire for the night, herself, until she looked over at Dayor. She could see that same sad look in his eyes that she’d seen when he’d spoken of the loss of his parents so long ago. She decided she’d sit with him for a while. They moved to the great room and sat comfortably near each other on the long sofa that faced the cosmos, so they could look at the stars while they continued talking.

  Dayor asked her about her family. He seemed to want to know everything about them, like how many sisters and brothers she had and how many aunts and uncles and cousins there were and what kind of dwelling they grew up in and what her schools were like.

  She told him about her cat, Buffy, which then started a whole new round of queries about the animals of Earth. His questions seemed to be endless and Sabrina found herself talking and laughing and, generally, feeling very relaxed and warm in his presence. When she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer, she regretfully told him she was going to her room to go to bed.

  He still looked a little sad, so she leaned toward him to give him a quick peck on the cheek before she left. Instead, she found herself giving him a butterfly light kiss, first on his cheek, and then on his lips, which were warm and soft and full. As she closed her eyes, she heard him softly moan. She felt the warmth of his hand as he gently cupped the back of her head to deepen the kiss. With his other arm, he pulled her onto his lap, facing him, and she pressed herself against him. She wanted the kiss to go on forever.

  The sound of Jeeves’ cheerful voice startled them both. “Good evening Quantum guests, Ms. Sabrina and Mr. Dayor. I was repaired promptly and wanted to return as soon as possible, so I could continue to be of service to you all. I have been instructed to tell you that I have had some programs added to me. I’m now fully functional in three types of martial arts and in hand-to-hand combat. I will now be more effective in helping to protect you, as well as Quantum’s property.”

  Sabrina heard Dayor utter a stream of typical Calivan oaths just as she scrambled off his lap. She felt embarrassed and ridiculous,
just like she had when her parents had caught her necking with the boy down the street in their living room when she’d been thirteen years old.

  “Um…Good evening, Jeeves. Welcome back.” With a quick glance at Dayor, who was glaring at Jeeves as if he’d like to strangle him, she mumbled a quick, “Goodnight.” and hurried off to her room, slamming her door when she got there.

  Sabrina chastised herself as she got ready for bed.

  How could I have let that happen? Correction, I didn’t let that happen, I’m the one who started it.

  Six

  Voices snapped Sabrina awake. She jumped out of bed, primed and prepared to defend herself. Then she realized the voices belonged to Kendra and Jeeves. They were discussing the care of plants, of all things, in the middle of the night right outside her bedroom door.

  She checked her wrist band. Six a.m. Earth Standard Time. Later than she thought. Sabrina rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she made her way to the shower. She vowed she wasn’t going to think about what had happened between her and Dayor the night before, which meant she hadn’t been able to think about anything else.

  Sabrina emerged from her room freshly showered and ready to work and headed for the refreshment programmer for a cup of real Earth coffee. She ran straight into Dayor…literally, ran into him just as she was rounding the corner to the dining area.

  She fought to steady herself. “Excuse me. So sorry.”

  “No problem, Sabrina. In fact, I’m happy that you just threw yourself into my arms.”

  Sabrina looked straight into Dayor’s intense grey eyes and started to sway toward him. No! Not doing this. Remember? She quickly stepped back.