Queen of Heaven

by Michael Orr

  10

  * * *

  ESS ASHERAH – ALLIANCE SPACE – MAR 14, 2371

  The six hour stopover at Sirius was behind them and everyone was in a mood to party. Practice time was over and Trish was manic in the spotlight before a real crowd. The Zodiac was flowing with excitement and high spirits, and she was at the breathless center of it all.

  Modesty was ancient history at this point, and she would leave her stage now and then to mingle with guests — although greeting flocks of fashionistas in nothing but her shoes felt naughty beyond words. But she was a celebrity now. Exposure was the job.

  And any gig that’s equal parts work and fun ain’t bad, she reminded herself. Nothing I could do Earthside for the Conglom would match this.

  Feeling the burn after an hour, she blew a few kisses to the crowd, promised to return shortly and triggered her stage to descend through its aperture in the floor. Now settled into her ready room beneath the club, she had a chance to catch her breath and pound a flask of rehydration.

  “I’m gonna be one fit chick by the en–”

  *Gling-ong*

  Who the heck would come by during my shift?

  “Come in,” she called heavily between gulps.

  The door swished open and a pint-sized girl with curly black hair and a sweet mulatto face stood staring.

  “Um...can I help you?” Trish had no choice but to let herself be. There was nothing handy to put on.

  The girl stood like a pillar of salt. “Delivery?”

  “Del–?”

  “I’m Caylee.” The girl blinked. “I make deliveries for this part’a the district? Ya got a lotta flowers...”

  “Oh.” Trish welcomed her in, stepping aside to make room for a small hoverjack full of bright bouquets and fauxquets from fans.

  “Guess I’ll just line ’em up on the wall.” The girl shrugged, resigning herself to the moment’s awkwardness as only a tween can.

  “Uh, sure.” Trish was still off balance. “So, this’z a nightly thing?”

  “I guess.” The girl didn’t look over. “I’m new at this.”

  “Me too. I’m Trish, by the way.” She made her hand obvious to the occupied girl.

  “Yeah.” Caylee shook it to get past the inconvenience. “I kinda know.”

  “Right. So uh, are you the only one?”

  “For this part’a the district, yeah.” The girl continued setting bouquets along the wall.

  “I’m surprised they don’t just automate it.”

  “Well, s’kind of a way ta get on a cruise without havin’ ta pay for it,” the girl said. “My folks don’t have that kinda digic.”

  “Gotcha.” Trish was aware that the Conglomerate left certain jobs manual to give people options. It was a humane alternative to automating everything, which would leave many people out in the cold.

  “That how you perform?” Caylee asked as she finished up.

  Trish glanced down at her naked self and shrugged. “s’Kind of a way ta get on a cruise without havin’ ta pay for it.”

  The wooden young face smirked a little. “’Kay.” She straightened up from her work. “I gotta go.”

  She faced Trish blankly, her eyes falling into the gravity well of Trish’s bust. “But I’ll prob’ly hafta come back later,” she realized. “Yer gonna be popular.”

  She led out her empty hoverjack like a puppy.

  “Thanks,” Trish called after her, admiring the new garden taking up residence at her far wall. The flowers made for a jubilant swath of appreciation, with offers of friendship ripe for the taking. All she had to do was get back on her stage and return to the party raging above.

  “Maybe I won’t be as alone as I thought. Let’s go, chica.”

  *Gling-ong*

  “Yeah?” Trish mumbled. Opening night was over, and with it the endorphins. She was spent and wondering what came next.

  “Hey.” Caylee poked her head in. “Why aren’t you home?” She led in her ’jack with a bunch of straggling bouquets — her third delivery of the night. “I thought I’d hafta leave these at the door.”

  “Home?” Trish shrugged and swept her glance around the small circular room.

  Caylee’s eyes narrowed. “What’re you talking about? You don’t have a staff suite?”

  “This’z what they gave me.”

  “That’s crappy.” The girl came in and sat down on the couch extruded from the circular room’s wall.

  “Is it?” Trish had nothing to compare it to.

  “Well...” Caylee chose her words carefully. “s’Not that it’s bad or anything. But it’s kinda small. And you’re way up here by yourself. How’re you gonna meet anyone?”

  “I met you,” Trish brightened.

  Caylee bounced her feet against the base of her seat. “Like I said...”

  “Hey...I think you’re cool.” Trish faced down the girl’s inner bully. Maybe her folks had shipped her off to have time to themselves. “Whaddya do when you’re free?”

  Caylee shrugged. “There’s a lotta kids at the staff park.”

  “Annnd you don’t like kids.”

  Shrugging seemed to be Caylee’s religion.

  “Why don’t we hang out tomorrow before shift?” Trish decided.

  The girl shrugged again. “n’Do what?”

  “Whaddya mean? This’z the ASHERAH!”

  Caylee was uncharacteristically bright and chirpy the next afternoon.

  “What’ve you done with my friend?” Trish nosed into the girl’s face, drawing hints of a giggle.

  “Nuthin’.”

  “Then let’s find out what this thing has ta offer.” She grabbed Caylee’s arm and dragged her off in a random direction.

  Astern of Zodiac Plaza, Mumbai district was just as urban and imposing as its centro. But eventually the skyscrapers thinned out, giving way to the fun zone’s zero-G pools, acres of jungle, and champion-level golf course at the far stern. The lakes and canals were clogged with people fishing and canoeing, although Singapore district’s huge central lake offered more adrenalized watersports. But Trish and Caylee stuck to Mumbai’s movers for a view of everything. They wandered through the jungle and sat on the banks of a canal watching innertubers float by beneath the oddity of daylight under a canopy of stars.

  Later, they took up residence in a wide-open city square to sample its jumbo cones of gelato.

  “So, what’s all the happy about?” Trish quizzed.

  “Whaddya mean?”

  “I know the glint in those eyes. Those’re somebody else’s eyes. Ya meet a boy or sump’m?”

  “No!” The girl went indignant.

  “Maybe that thirteen-year-old goob you were tellin’ me about?”

  “Sto-o-op!” Caylee shouted to the heavens.

  “Okay okay,” Trish surrendered. Licked at her cone. “What is it?”

  The girl leveled her eyes. “You’re kind of a big deal.”

  “I am?” Trish stopped.

  “You have any idea how much cred I get by knowing you?”

  “Uh-huhhh...” Trish ran a cool eye over the girl. “That’s how it is.”

  “Hey, I didn’t know.” Caylee threw up verbal hands. “It just kinda happened. Everyone heard about you an’ now I’m the cool kid.”

  Trish soured. “Z’at why you agreed ta meet up?”

  “Uh-uh. This happened today. I didn’t know anything last night. I was too busy bringin’ you flowers. Swear!”

  Trish held out, focusing on her ice cream.

  “You’re mad.”

  Trish tended to her eating. “Maybe miffed.”

  “This happened to me, not ’cuz of me.” The girl squirmed.

  “Victim of circumstance, huh?”

  They sat in a private swamp, finishing their scoops in silence with the galaxy hanging overhead. All around them, passersby milled about the plaza like grounded geese, honking at each other and heading aimlessly to wherever.

  Boardwalk-lined waterways meandered between dr
amatic crystal towers that housed exclusive designer suites and amusements of every kind. Dancing lights dressed everything like a fiesta and drew special attention to eye-catching archways and bridges. It was all designed to immerse the guest in a fairytale playground, and the perpetual twilight of surrounding space leant the district a cosmopolitan air. Each moment carried with it the grandeur of a night at the opera amidst sophisticated white-tie galas and roaring society. And this was just one district. There were three others waiting to be explored.

  The Asherah was so expansive and provided so many options that simply knowing you had everything at your fingertips made for a total absence of agenda. Cruising’s unique effect was that the ship took on all responsibility for being active. As long as Asherah herself was doing something — even if just passing through slipstream or orbiting a world — vacationers were excused from all responsibility.

  Steeped in the gestalt of Asherah’s charms, the rift between new friends simmered and they fell into a languorous trance, each lost in the stars drifting by like phosphorescent flotsam on a night-time sea.

  Asherah was deep in slipstream on her way to Saiph, Rigel, Mintaka and the rest of Orion’s major stars. It was the grandest, widest-ranging cruise in Goddess’s itinerary, and the coming prospects turned the tide of Trish’s mood. Any beef she had with Caylee was meaningless in the big picture, and she trotted out a grin.

  “Sooo, I’m that big a deal?”

  11

  * * *

  ESS ASHERAH – ALLIANCE SPACE – MAR 16, 2371

  “This’z it, huh?” Saia looked around Trish’s tiny circular ready room. It had the basics, but little else. The spherical stage ate up so much of the central space that there was no sense of openness, and the only real comfort was the couch extending from the curved outer wall. Fortunately, a wider bed portion had been built into the couch on the far side next to the bathroom entrance, but the room’s décor was all standard Goddess colors that Trish hadn’t bothered to personalize.

  “I thought you were all kindsa special?”

  “Well...” Trish floundered, “I just wonder if I could get a normal cabin.”

  “Have you asked?”

  Trish shrugged. “Who?”

  “Um...S.H.A.? Staff Housing Authority?” Saia rattled it off like common knowledge.

  Trish was coming to the conclusion that there was a lot Fey hadn’t told her about life on a liner. “Guess I shoulda figured.”

  “Come onnnn...” Saia coaxed her clueless friend out of the tiny prison.

  “Lemme seeee...” The guy at SHA brought up a glowing list of housing records that turned his face very blue. “Thierry?” He looked up at a nodding Trish.

  “Well, I have you in M one-eight-four-eight...” He seemed confused.

  “I already have a cabin?”

  “Yeah. Youuu...didn’t know?” His thick caterpillar eyebrows knitted together.

  “This was all kind of a rush,” Saia said. “I think a lotta things got missed.”

  The guy turned back to Trish. “Ya know, all you hafta do is go ta Staff Services and they’ll getcha all fixed up. Everything ya need ta know. But yeah, you’re in one-eight-four-eight, Mumbai Staff.”

  “wow.” Trish deflated like a leaky tire. “How could she not tell me?”

  Saia jumped in with her patch kit. “Well cool, right? You’ve totally got a home!”

  Trish shrugged. Getting lost in the shuffle made her feel hollow, like leaving Earth all over again.

  They took a mover to her sector and stepped out into a foyer shaped like a vertical trapezoid that opened onto a spacious commons area. A right-angled staircase of polished white metal and tinted glass led up to the next deck through a large oval opening in the ceiling. At its base, the staircase was surrounded by white cubic chairs and sofas resting on Goddess-blue carpet, giving residents a smart and soothing place to gather.

  At front, a massive convex window provided a wall-sized two-story view of space just outside, and at either end of the commons were matching hallways stretching away with cabin doors.

  “Jeez,” Saia clucked. “My commons aren’t this nice.”

  Trish was thawing back to life. “s’Kinda cool.”

  Asherah’s staff decks — all located in the foundation plate below their respective districts — were sectioned into ‘families’ of fourteen cabins per common area, and Trish’s cabin was at the far end of the section. The still-sealed door was covered in notes and invitations.

  “Looks like everyone else knows ya live here,” Saia snarked.

  Inside was a full-size staff suite divided into two sections, with every amenity and all the standard décor mods.

  “Huh...” Trish drank in her new digs. Champagne carpet and sky blue walls enclosed a front area just large enough to practice her dances in. A central archway hinted at the bedroom beyond, with a wide-open view of space like a miniature of the commons.

  “Z’at an actual viewport?” Saia marched through the archway on a mission, going straight up to the convex view and tapping it with her finger. Holoports gave themselves away with distortion ripples, but this view remained solid.

  “Oh my gawd...you have an outside room!”

  “You know I didn’t ask, right? I just wanted ‘normal’ like everyone else.”

  “Yeah but...d’you know what this means?”

  Trish waited.

  “We’re totally gonna have orgone parties!”

  “Orgone?”

  “Here...” Saia brought up a wiki page on her screem:

  Orgone, originally discovered by Russian researchers during the Cold War years of the twentieth century, accounts for the universal mechanism to produce life.

  ‘Orgone’ is the term applied to a subtle energy not fully investigated by science, which apparently supplies the creative properties behind all organic mechanisms.

  While orgone density seems to be naturally regulated on planets, the quantum environment of space disperses orgone in uneven densities, called regions. Passing through these regions has been shown to affect the human psyche in unpredictable ways, including psychosis.

  The iso-mag shielding in spacegoing ships was developed specifically to counteract the effects these regions have on space travelers.

  Of note is the unadvertised option in outward-facing Goddess starliner suites to allow temporary manual shutoff of the iso-mag shielding. This offers the more adventurous guest a visceral encounter with the cosmos.

  Trish pulled away. “What’m I reading?”

  “Basically,” Saia’s eyes were still wide, “orgone’s everywhere, but it’s not always the same as what we’re used to. When we pass through certain pockets of it in space, it does things. Think of an acid trip without all the chemistry.

  “But the only way to experience it,” she raved, “is ta shut off the iso-mag shielding in your suite. And the only suites that can do it are outside ones — like yours!”

  “Sooo...it’s safe?”

  Saia shrugged. “I’ve heard conspiracy theories that iso-mag is the real cause of EID. We’re supposed to experience orgone. It’s part’a life.”

  “Huh.” Trish glanced at the wiki again. “Anyway, All I really wanted was a normal cabin like everyone else.”

  Still buzzing, Saia surveyed the suite with its cloud bed, self-contained hygiene module and entryway to the large dressing room and closet. “s’Pretty normal. Basically standard-issue like mine — ’cept for the real-world view,” she growled. “You’ve got some decorating t’do.”

  “Wouldn’t mind some help.”

  “Knock knock...?” a new voice called from the open doorway.

  Trish and Saia turned to face a cheery young brunette gal wearing the same entertainment staff colors as Trish. She invited herself in.

  “I was wondering if anyone lived next door.”

  Trish reached to shake her hand. “Nobody told me I had a cabin.”

  “Sooo, the Trish was livin’ on the street?” She introduced
herself as Amber.

  “She’s uni-Q,” Saia quipped.

  “I just thought I was stranded in my ready room.” Trish slumped. “Anyway, nice ta finally have a neighbor.”

  “Oh, ya got a bunch,” Amber promised. Then her eyes narrowed. “You get your own ready room?”

  Saia had to abandon the decorating party for her duty shift, so it was Amber who helped the noob get things sorted out at Staff Services.

  And finally, after all the loneliness leading up to launch, Trish had her shipboard home and a deck full of ready-made friends. Plus, the Zodiac Lounge was in full swing. Her new life was settling into place.

  12

  * * *

  VIRRIS – SAIPH SYSTEM – MAR 20, 2371

  Trish’s traction soles crunched onto amethyst gravel with a satisfying grind as she breathed in the thick moisture-laden air of her first alien planetfall. Virris smelled something like sage mixed with peat.

  “Ohmygod, I’m really here!”

  Before her spread a pageant of violet-hued wetlands reaching to an abrupt cliff dropoff, with a visible horizon a thousand meters below stretching away into a misty distance.

  Overhead, the endless aurora of Virris’s colorful magnetosphere warped and undulated like a windblown veil, shielding local stars from the naked eye and giving the scene a cartoonish otherworldliness.

  “Like standing in a candy fairytale,” Amber cooed.

  They turned around and gazed past the tourist launch to study the quartzite ramparts surrounding a staggeringly tall spire in the distance.

  Closer in, scores of Asherah passengers dotted the landing zone while three more launches eased their way down through the watercolor sky.

  “Think they mind us bein’ here?” Trish wondered.

  Amber tapped her earBabel. “We could always ask.”

  “Shall we?” Trish offered an eager elbow and they headed for the tramway arm in arm.

  Eszahn wasn’t Virris’s capitol city, but as one of the planet’s major metropolises it was still jaw-dropping.