Perseus Gate Season 1 - Episodes 1-3: The Trail Through the Stars (Perseus Gate Collection)
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Jessica nodded. “It stands to reason. That Derrick was using our ship alone seemed like a gamble in and of itself. But what if his plan was to send multiple vessels, expecting some to be captured. That could even throw off suspicion that an attack was imminent, should a ship be intercepted.”
Antaris lowered his fork back down to his plate. He reached into his pocket and drew out the card with the three stars. “If there is more than one ship, and they expected some to be captured, then there is no way to know if this is a real clue, or if it was planted to lead us astray.”
“Sounds like a good, old-fashioned mystery!” Jessica announced before taking a bite of quiche.
“Do you have any experience with such things?” Antaris asked.
“In a former life, I was part of a federal investigatory branch of a planetary government,” Jessica replied. “I’ve some experience in sussing out guilty parties in situations like this.”
“May I ask which government?” Antaris asked.
Jessica took another bite of quiche and shook her head.
“I suspected as much.” Antaris was silent as he looked long and hard at Jessica and then Cheeky. “If you would be so kind, I’ll have a database made available to you, after we finish breaking our fast. Perhaps as an outsider, something will jump out at you, or you’ll ask a question none of us thought to ask.”
“I’d be happy to look it over. The place I’ll likely start is to identify the two houses who have the most to gain by allying with one another,” Jessica said once she was done chewing. “Your quiche is amazing, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Antaris replied with a gracious nod. “The two houses, by the way, would be Nebacken of Mesophis, and Charlemis of Gallas.”
“Are they currently allied?” Jessica asked.
Antaris nodded. “Very closely.”
“And who is the head of the…High Table, I believe you called it?”
“That would be my mother Anastasia,” Antaris replied.
“Out of curiosity,” Cheeky asked. “Are you next in line to rule House Laurentia?”
Antaris laughed softly. “No, though I believe I would make a good Head of House. But men do not sit at the High Table. Only women may rule at Serenity.”
Antaris sounded like he was reciting something once more and Jessica wondered how indoctrinated the population of Serenity was.
“Seems foolish,” Cheeky said. “Ruling out half the population simply because of their bits.”
“Well, it is the way of things here,” Antaris said with a shrug. “Though I know things are done differently elsewhere. My sister Kristina is next in line to be leader of our house. And should she decide the High Table is not for her—a decision which is the very definition of unlikely—then I have nine other sisters who would gladly fill her shoes when the time comes.”
Jessica made a note to consider succession for all the houses. An internal coup was just as likely as a power grab from one house.
Over the remainder of the breakfast, Jessica asked Antaris other questions about the houses, and the dance which would begin the following evening.
He responded to their questions without hesitation, but at nine-hundred hours he rose from the table and gave a short bow.
“Speaking with you ladies has been both enlightening and entertaining, however, I have duties which I must attend to before we dock at Charbidis station and then take a shuttle down to Acadia.”
“When do we expect to dock?” Jessica asked.
Antaris’s eyes flicked to the left. “Just over nine hours. I’ve been granted a priority lane to Serenity Primus so that we can meet with my mother before the hour is too late. She is most eager to meet the two of you in person.”
After Antaris left, Jessica signaled one of the servants and requested a fresh cup of coffee. Once he brought it, she held it in her hands and stared at one of the fruit arrangements, imagining the blueberries and raspberries were different factions, working to undermine one another in a complex game that had been going on for thousands of years.
“What are you thinking?” Cheeky asked.
“Well, for starters, here we thought we were in an archaic patriarchal society, when in fact we’re in an archaic matriarchal society.”
Cheeky frowned. “I didn’t know such a thing existed in antiquity.”
“Oh yeah, there were a number of them. The last one I know of was in ancient Greece, on a place called the Isthmus. The city was something like Eleusia…I think. It was a very long time ago that I learned of this. Anyway, every year they chose a new king, the queen bedded him before the kingdom, and then they took the old king, killed him and tilled his body into the Earth.”
“Holy shit, Jess, you’re making that up!” Cheeky said around a mouthful of bagel.
“I think I have it right,” Jessica said. “But all that happened ten thousand years ago—back before there were many written records, so who really knows what went on. But there used to be a lot of weird fertility rites back then. Either way, if you were a man, and women were going to kill you and till you into the soil, you’d favor a patriarchal society too.”
“I suspect I would,” Cheeky agreed.
Jessica took a gulp of her coffee and rose. “Let’s get back to our rooms. If I stay in here much longer, Addie is going to have to let out all the dresses she just made.”
“Go for it,” Cheeky said. “I’m going to grab another few bites then I’ll see how far I can wander around on this ship before someone tells me to get back where I belong.”
Jessica rose and shook her head. “Just don’t piss off our hosts, kay?”
“Jess, it’s me!”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
MEETING ANASTASIA
STELLAR DATE: 10.22.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Approaching Acadia, Serenity Primus
REGION: Serenity Ordus, Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
Night was falling as the shuttle dropped out of space toward one of Acadia’s vast oceans. The craft aerobraked through the skies, and then continued to race over the dark waves toward the setting sun which slowly became obscured by a low smudge on the horizon.
After a minute, the smudge resolved into a tall cliff, and then the lights of a sprawling villa came into view.
The shuttle touched down on a landing pad that rested on an outcropping of rock midway up the cliff. Through her window, Jessica watched the spray from the churning waves rise into the air as the craft settled onto the pad.
She wondered about the placement of the pad; it must have been purely for show as landing the shuttles atop the cliff would have been far safer—and would have kept the craft further from salt water.
Antaris opened the shuttle’s door and stepped out into the brisk evening air. He walked partway down the ramp and extended a hand. “My ladies, welcome to Acadia. Fairest of all Serenity’s moons.”
Jessica stepped onto the ramp, and walked onto the landing pad before turning to watch Cheeky exit. She smiled at Antaris, who then followed her to the landing pad.
Addie came out after them, carrying their four cases with no trouble and setting them down on the landing pad once she reached the bottom of the ramp.
“It is a place of true beauty,” Jessica said and walked to the edge of the pad to look down at the pounding surf crashing into the rocks below.
“Your morning breakfast view on the Acadian Light. It’s from one of those rooms atop the cliff, isn’t it?” Cheeky asked Antaris.
“It is, indeed. I cannot help but take a little bit of home with me when I go out into space. The view from the dinner last night was out of one of the rooms on the far side of the villa. It looks over our family’s pasture lands.”
“How much of Acadia does House Laurentia own?” Cheeky asked.
“Not too much; just over a third of the world belongs to our house. Minor houses—all sworn to Laurentia—own the rest,” Antaris replied.
A pair of porters emerged from a set of doors in the cliff face and bowed at the waist as the trio walked past.
“The porters will make sure your automaton and luggage reach your rooms. I would let you stop to freshen up, but my mother is waiting, and I would hate to keep her waiting long,” Antaris said over his shoulder as he strode through the doorway.
Jessica didn’t want to wait either. She was interested to see what this matriarch was like. Though he seemed to respect his mother, Jessica was certain Antaris was a little afraid of dear old mom as well.
From her research, Jessica had learned that Anastasia had ruled House Laurentia for over four hundred years, though from recent images in the records, she didn’t look a day over thirty.
Though Sera had spoken about how people in the Transcend had achieved immortality, they had seen no evidence of it in Orion space—although some of the elite must have learned how to entirely cheat death. Praetor Kirkland, for example, was over seven thousand years old.
However, Anastasia’s mother had only lived six-hundred years before succumbing to the rapid cellular and cognitive decline that often hit right at the end of a much-rejuvenated life span.
As they walked through the long corridor leading deep into the cliffside, Jessica wondered if she would ever avail herself of whatever immortality tech the Transcend had developed. Would she want to live forever? What if there was an afterlife, and many of her loved ones from the past were waiting for her there?
She shook her head, bringing her thoughts back to the present as they reached a lift and Antaris gestured for the ladies to enter first.
“You’re going to spoil us for when we leave Serenity,” Cheeky said. “I don’t think Cargo has ever held a door open for me in my life—unless I was carrying something expensive.”
“Who is Cargo?” Antaris asked.
“A friend of ours who captains a freighter,” Jessica replied casually.
“A fool, I am,” Antaris said as the lift doors closed and he pressed a button—a mechanical button of all things—to bring the elevator to a floor simply labeled ‘3’. “It has occurred to me that so fixated was I on learning of your possession of the weapons, and your purpose drifting at a Charlemis-controlled jump point, that it never occurred to me to ask what occupations with which you while away your time.”
Jessica tilted her head and gave Antaris a slight smile. “We’re just travelling right now. Eventually we’ll have to take up our family businesses, but with luck we can stave that off for a decade or two more.”
“What business is that?” Antaris asked as the doors opened to reveal a wide corridor featuring marble columns, gleaming onyx floors, and a high, vaulted ceiling. Lights were affixed to the tops of silver poles, and shadows danced around the column capitals and the arches of the roof.
“Oh, wow!” Cheeky exclaimed. “This is beautiful!”
“You really like your natural lighting,” Jessica said as she admired the lights on the poles which consisted of a blue-white flame.
“Mother does, especially. I’ve grown to appreciate them too. You can simulate natural light, but it’s never quite the same.”
Cheeky made several other exclamations about the art and décor, saving Jessica from a conversation about their families’ businesses. Any acceptable answer would invite more questions, and she would rather not have to expand on her rough fiction if at all possible.
Half way down the corridor, stood a pair of double doors, black and banded with silver. Antaris pushed them open without hesitation, revealing a large sitting room with several deep sofas, and chairs arranged around a low pit filled with more of the blue-white flame.
The floors here were also onyx, and white marble walls rose up to a flat ceiling made of natural rock—or what appeared to be natural rock.
Tall windows on the west side of the wall looked out over the ocean, where it was already growing dark. Based on the distance to the water, Jessica guessed they were still within the cliff, though close to the top.
There were only two women present, both seated on a black sofa on the far side of the fire. Jessica recognized them from her research as Anastasia and her daughter, Kristina.
Anastasia had a narrow face, framed in dark hair falling from her temples in twin curls. The rest of her black locks were wrapped into a long conical shape on her head, and then fell from the top down her back like oil pouring from a spout. Her gleaming green eyes were narrow and unblinking as she watched the group approach.
Her daughter’s features were nearly identical, though the younger woman’s hair was a dark red and swept up into two well-teased fohawks that flowed down the back of her head. They almost looked as though they were blowing in an invisible breeze. Her dark auburn eyes were fixed on her brother, and Jessica assumed they were discussing a matter over the Link.
Both women wore short black dresses as was the style on Acadia—a style Jessica had learned was entirely determined by what the head of the most powerful house on the moon chose to wear at any given time.
The dresses themselves were relatively unadorned, though Anastasia’s was trimmed in silver. But the remainder of the two women’s bodies were covered in rings, bracelets, necklaces, earnings, and bands around their upper arms, above their knees, and even their foreheads.
The silver of Anastasia’s jewelry contrasted with the bright copper of her daughter’s adornments, and both colors were enhanced by the silver-blue flames within the fire pit before them.
The two women rose as Antaris led Jessica and Cheeky into the room. Antaris strode forward—both arms wide—and embraced first his mother, and then Kristina. Once he had placed a chaste kiss on each of their cheeks, he turned to introduce Jessica and Cheeky.
“Mother, Kristina, these are the two women we rescued near House Charlemis’ jump point, the ladies Jessica and Cherrie.”
Jessica and Cheeky walked around the fire pit, and Jessica couldn’t help but notice that although it threw off light, almost no heat emanated from the flames.
Anastasia held out her hand and Jessica took it in hers, leant over and touched her forehead to the house leader’s large signet ring. Cheeky followed suit as Jessica shook Kristina’s hand, the mode of greeting for two equals.
She noticed Kristina’s eyes narrow at the gesture, but she shook Jessica’s hand without further visible hesitation.
Once the formal greetings were complete, Anastasia resumed her seat, followed by Kristina.
Jessica sat on a couch adjacent to theirs with Cheeky, while Antaris pulled a chair next to the fire and took a seat.
“So,” Anastasia began without preamble. “You’re the two women who were attempting to smuggle illegal weapons into Serenity.”
Anastasia’s expression was almost unreadable—bar the small arch of one eyebrow—while Kristina seemed more visibly upset.
“Weapons which we were nearly coerced into smuggling into Serenity,” Jessica corrected. “We readily, and happily, turned over the cache to Antaris.”
“Mother, do you always have to be so antagonistic?” Antaris asked. “I have already voiced all these questions and provided the answers to you.”
“You have, indeed,” Anastasia said to Antaris without taking her eyes from Jessica. “But I like to look into someone’s eyes and see their true answers for myself.”
“So you often say,” Antaris replied.
Anastasia ignored his response and resumed her questioning. “And you would have me believe that someone in the Kidron system was using you and your ship to smuggle weapons into Serenity, yet the pair of you managed to escape? How did you do this?”
&nbs
p; Jessica inclined her head. “Yes, the man’s name was Derrick. We had never laid eyes upon him before, though his foul accomplices had crossed our paths in the past. My dear friend, Cherrie and I were enjoying the delightful mineral spas on Olvives, when they barged in, took us back to our ship and forced us to load the cargo which we promptly, and without equivocation rendered unto Antaris.”
Iris said, her voice barely holding back a laugh in Jessica’s mind.
“And your escape?” Anastasia asked.
“There was only one guard on the ship with us. The others were on the dock. We drugged him and I pushed him off the ship as Cherrie flew us out of the bay.”
Anastasia smiled. “Sounds reckless. Who fired on you?”
Jessica gave a long and troubled sigh. She didn’t know how long they’d be on Serenity, and a round trip to Kidron was only fifteen days. It would be best not to lie to this woman. “Olvives station, followed by a Kidron patrol cruiser. We were not the definition of cautious as we exited the station.”
“I may have burned a hole in their bay,” Cheeky added.
“You two just traipse amongst the stars in your little ship?” Kristina asked. “I find this unlikely.”
“We are well able to care for ourselves,” Jessica replied. “As I’d mentioned to Antaris, I used to work in a government’s investigative arm.”
“Which could merely mean you sorted reports into databases,” Anastasia replied with a dismissive wave of her hand before a smile crept onto her black lips. “Why don’t you show us how you can take care of yourself. Spar with Antaris here. Show me how you could disable a soldier.”