Space Dragon Allepexxis

by C. K. Pershing

  The two stood there a moment, neither one in a particular hurry to open the door. Finally, Paress reached forward and turned the nob. “Bah…”

  They entered a room filled with overstuffed file cabinets, stacks of books, and papers scattered all over. Paress finally got the nerve up to call out. “Hello? Dr. Behlen?”

  “Back here, guys. Follow the trail,” Behlen’s voice called out from the depths of the office.

  There was a sort of makeshift trail through all the office debris, so Paress began to make his way through with Casten close behind. As they went farther in, the smell of old musty books wafted into Paress’ nostrils. He drank it in, enjoying the rich smell of the place.

  They eventually came into a small clearing to find Behlen sitting at a desk that looked like it came from the era before space travel and the establishment of the Star Calendar. It had a classic charm to its design, while not being ostentatious. Papers were stacked in huge piles all over the desk and Behlen had carved out just enough space to sit a small computer and a mug of something to drink.

  Behlen stood up from behind the desk and reached across to shake Paress’ and Casten’s hands, knocking some papers off the top stacks in the process. Paress reached down to pick up the papers and put them back as Behlen, seemingly oblivious to Paress' efforts smiled. “So what do you think of the Academy? Do you like your room? Sleep alright?” He waved for them to sit in wooden chairs with a classic style similar to the desk.

  “Uh, well,” Paress began, then unsure what to do because the chairs had books and papers stacked in them.

  “Just sit that stuff on the floor,” Behlen said.

  Paress and Casten did so and then gently sat down. “The Academy’s cool,” Paress tried. “It’s uh… different than anything I’ve seen before.”

  Behlen laughed. “I’d imagine so. Were you alright last night? Need anything?”

  “I’m fine,” Paress said and Casten nodded. “Uh, are we gonna have to go through all this stuff every time we come here? It took like, an hour and I’m afraid we’ll get lost. And those Dread Phantom things…”

  Behlen’s eyes brightened. “What about them? Could you see them?”

  “Yes…”

  “That’s impressive. What’d you see?”

  “Well, it’s kinda hard to describe. I only saw them for like a half second. But they looked like giant dead things wearing old-time armor. There was like a…blackness…spilling out of the armor and sort of hovering around them. They were looking away from us so I couldn’t see their faces…”

  “That’s probably for the best,” Behlen said. “At any rate, that’s fascinating that you caught a glimpse. Almost everybody feels them…”

  “I definitely did,” Casten mumbled.

  Behlen gave Casten an understanding smile before continuing to Paress. “But for you to see them when your psychic abilities are more geared to manipulation than spirit-phase-perception is really interesting. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

  Behlen hadn’t answered Paress' question. “But will we keep having to come here? And to pass them every time we do?”

  “Sadly, this is my office,” Behlen said. “I inherited it— some would say that I took it— from my mentor when he decided to do his thing. I’m afraid to move any of it for the time being until I get everything catalogued. As you can see that’s gonna take a while.”

  “What was ‘his thing’?” Paress asked. “Your mentor? The guy who built #25?”

  “Yes, that’s him.” Behlen smiled at some internal joke. “I’ll fill you in sometime.”

  He stood up. “To get here from the Academy, yes, I’m sorry to say you guys will have to go through all of that stuff.” As the two boys began to frown, he held up a hand. “But! Never fear, because we’re not going to be coming here all that much…” As he spoke, he reached down and typed out something on his computer before looking back up. “Let’s go.”

  Behlen made his way from around the desk and started to venture out through a pathway opposite the one that Paress and Casten used to come in. File cabinets and scattered papers and stacks of books gave way to rows of bookshelves stretching off into the darkness where the fluorescent lights were either off or burned out (Paress figured it was the latter). There were entirely too many books to fit on the shelves in an orderly fashion and many were double and triple shelved or laying on the floor in front of the shelves.

  “This place is a lot bigger than I thought,” Paress said. “It didn’t look so big from the door outside.”

  “Yes, it’s certainly interesting, isn’t it?” Behlen said.

  “How big is it in here?” Casten asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Behlen said. “Just when I think I’ve figured it out, I find another part to it. I’d say at least 5,000 square feet. But don’t quote me on that.”

  Paress didn’t want to insult Behlen by asking why he just didn’t look up the floor plan or get a crew in to measure it. The man obviously had his reasons. Still, was it that hard to measure a room? Even a gigantic room like this?

  “Dr. Behlen?” a girl’s voice muffled by centuries of books and papers called out from behind them. “Dr. Behlen!”

  “Back here, Jil,” Behlen called.

  “Back where?”

  “Here!” Behlen called again. When there was no response he yelled louder, “Here!”

  “Okay!”

  Eventually a young dwarven girl wearing a gray lab coat emerged from the gloom. Paress knew plenty of people from the dwarven clans. His next door neighbors were from the Stonecutters clan. Still, this girl was different. Her face was softer than the dwarves he knew; she looked almost like a halfling. Her dark hair tied into a pony tail with silver dwarven rune clasps and earthy complexion were the only things that gave her away as a dwarf. She wore glasses with thick lenses that made her eyes look huge.

  “I went to get them, but they weren’t there,” she said in a despondent voice. “I’m so sorry, Doctor! I don’t know…”

  “Jil,” Behlen interrupted. “They’re right here. Don’t worry.”

  Paress was amazed that the girl, Jil, hadn’t seemed to notice him or Casten until just that moment. Apparently her glasses didn’t help her eyes as much as they should have.

  “Ohhh!” Jil said, focusing on Paress and then Casten. “But how…?”

  “A good question,” Behlen said. “I sent Jil here to get you guys. I just assumed she brought you and then went to get herself coffee or something. How’d you get here without her?”

  Paress and Casten looked at each other. “Uh, well, Mriniw brought us,” Paress said.

  “Mriniw?” Behlen asked. “What?” He stood there for a moment and looked toward the ceiling. As if having a conversation with himself, and then perhaps with someone they couldn’t see as his mouth began to move and small snippets of words began to appear, Behlen closed his eyes and snorted a laugh. “Mriniw.” He repeated. “Unbelievable…”

  “Were we not supposed to go with him?” Paress asked. “I’m sorry, he acted like we were meant to go with him…”

  “No, no, it’s okay,” Behlen said. “After all, he did bring you to my office. He didn’t take you on any detours, right? He brought you straight to me?”

  “From our room, across the campus, past the Phantoms, down an elevator, through a hub and down a bunch of weird halls to you,” Paress said. “I’m pretty sure we came straight to you.”

  “Okay,” Behlen said. He snorted another small laugh. “He must’ve been curious and wanted to get a look at you.”

  “He spent the entire time walking in front of us and barely talked to us,” Casten said.

  “Yeah, he only really talked about the Dread Phantoms,” Paress agreed. “He told us about the Empress and the Dark Queen.”

  Beheln’s eyes widened slightly, but after a moment he said, “That’s not surprising. Mriniw’s one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet, maybe even the Empire. He didn’t have to look at you, or even talk t
o you, to read you. I’d imagine he spent the entire time rummaging through your mind. He probably told you that story about the Empress to read your reactions.”

  “What? Isn’t that illegal?” Paress asked in shock.

  “Yes, but he’s very discreet. He knows where to go and where not to. I assure you, your deepest darkest secrets and desires are safe.” Behlen rubbed his chin. “No, he was likely looking for stuff that you don’t even know is in your head.”

  “What kind of stuff?” Paress asked.

  “The kind of stuff that makes you perfect for #25, I think. We’ll see. The fact that he brought you straight to me could mean he’s satisfied with what he found out. Or that he wants to wait and see what we end up doing.”

  “Can you just ask him?”

  Behlen laughed. “God knows, I’d love to be able to do that about so many things. But no, Lord Mriniw lives his own life and is only approachable if he allows himself to be approached. And I’ll tell you from decades of personal experience, that’s a very, very rare thing.”

  Behlen looked over at Jil who was clenching her hands together nervously. “Don’t worry, Jil. It’s not your fault. Our old Felis friend likely put events into motion to keep you from getting Paress and Casten before he could. Let me guess, something like your door lock was stuck? Or a fire alarm in your building?”

  “The door lock, sir.” Jil said, relaxing. “I had to call my neighbors to help me get out. I knew I didn’t have time to wait for a locksmith. Just as they were going to break the door down, it opened by itself like magic.”

  “Heh, not magic, telekinesis,” Behlen said. “He probably opened your door the moment he got our boys here, knowing they’d be long gone by the time you got there.”

  “Then a food cart worker tripped while carrying some condiments and spilled some on my coat, so I had to go back and quickly change into another one,” Jil said.

  “Ah, I’d say he threw that worker at you when he realized his story about the two princesses were going to take some extra time.”

  “Really?” Paress asked. “Wow, he could do all that without even being there to see what he was doing? I wish I had that kinda control over my abilities.”

  “Who knows? Maybe someday you will,” Behlen said. “For all we know, Mriniw might even be the one to teach you how to do it.”

  When Behlen finished speaking, they all stood there a moment in silence. Finally, Behlen shook his head and laughed. “The Old Man would find this hilarious.”

  “Oh!” Jil suddenly exclaimed. “I just remembered, this was taped to your door.” She handed over the note that Paress saw earlier.

  Behlen read it. “I’m a dead man? Ha! She can try! If she thinks that bunch of assholes she’s hanging out with are going to take me down, that bitch is even more delusional than I thought!” He thrust the note back into Jil’s hands. “Here, dispose of this!”

  Jil, looking around helplessly, finally just opened her lab coat to stuff into an internal pocket. As she did so, Paress noticed that underneath her coat, she had a curvy body. She wore a very short sports bra that barely covered her breasts fully and an incredibly short black skirt with garters coming out leading to black stockings.

  The fact that her body was curvy instead of stocky meant that among Dwarves, she would be considered almost malnourished. But by human standards, she had an amazingly sexy body and Paress was shocked at her choice in clothing to show off that body considering her ultra bookish demeanor and lab coat “camouflage”. Noticing his appraising look, she quickly closed her lab coat back up with a scowl and turned away.

  Paress turned to Casten to see if he saw her too, but Casten was watching Behlen, who was saying, “First, I find out Mriniw is making moves that us mere mortals will never comprehend. Then I find out that this stupidity is getting escalated. Maybe I’m being punished for thinking things were turning around since I found Paress here. Well, I should have known better.”

  He patted Casten on the back as if they shared a private joke. “Yes, I’m positive the Old Man would find all of this absolutely uproarious. Hell, he’s probably the one orchestrating all this from…wherever he is.” Behlen inhaled and then exhaled quickly. “Alright. Enough of this. Back to the important stuff.”

  As he walked purposefully off into the darkness, arm still draped around Casten, Paress dropped back a little to talk to Jil.

  “Listen,” she hissed. “I don’t care what you’ve heard. I’m not for sale to kids.”

  “What?” Paress asked. “I don’t know about any of that…”

  “I saw how you were looking at me. I can be bought, but not by you.”

  “Sorry! I guess I just wasn’t expecting those clothes under that coat. You’re very pretty.”

  She adjusted her glasses, her magnified eyes staring at him.

  “Wait,” Paress said. “What do you mean you can be bought?”

  “Never mind,” Jil said, an edge entering her voice.

  “Are you a Painted Lady?” Paress asked, using the term the professional escorts in Galarisa used. Prostitution was a legal and honorable profession in the Empire since before it even was an Empire, so he didn’t judge her poorly. “I’m just surprised you have the time to do two jobs is all.”

  Jil’s expression softened. “Ah, sorry then to snap at you. It’s just that some people would wonder why I’m doing a ‘low’ job when I also have a job with a bit more clout. Not everybody gets accepted here, you know.”

  “Yeah, I do know…” Paress said.

  “Well, lab assistants don’t make any money. Or at least not enough to really live on. Unlike some of my friends, I don’t have a rich family taking care of me. My dad’s one of those old-school dwarves where I have to make my own fortune in some fancy job and then contribute that to the clan. Of course, since the clan never actually spends any of that money, I don’t know what the point is. I’m on my own for personal spend money…I like to fuck and I make a lot more money doing that than waitressing at the cafeteria, so there you go.”

  “Huh,” Paress swallowed. He hadn’t expected her to be so forthright. Then again, she was a dwarf and they were the epitome of forthright. “Okay.”

  “Someday I’ll move up to technician and maybe a department head after that,” she said. “Then I really will be too busy for anything else, so that’ll be that.”

  “I’m…sorry?”

  “Yeah, me too. It’s fun, I’m good at it, and humans seem to really like my body. I’ve always been really skinny. Dwarf guys don’t even look twice. But you humans, yeesh. Humans don’t seem to mind my glasses— it seems like some kind of turn-on, so I guess a blessing in disguise.”

  Paress thought it interesting that she referred to herself as “skinny” when she was anything but by human standards. And he had to admit that he did like her glasses. “You’re very pretty,” he repeated. “I mean, I understand what the other guys see in you…”

  Jil smiled. “Thanks, you’re a darling.” She leaned in close, her hard breasts pressing against him under her coat, and kissed his cheek. For the second time in as many days he cursed his age.

  “Now what did you want to ask me before I dumped my life story on you?”

  “Oh! Uh…” He stammered trying to remember what he wanted to ask her. “The Old Man the doctor was just talking about. Who…?

  “Paress! Jil! What are you doing? Come on!” Behlen called from ahead. He and Casten were barely visible.

  “Coming!” Jil called. She turned to Paress. “Let’s go. I’ll look you guys up later and answer your questions. I know where you live of course.” She grinned.

  They were getting closer to Behlen and Casten. Jil said softly, “By the way, it’s best if you don’t ask the doctor about any of that stuff. He doesn’t react well… If he volunteers info, that’s one thing— but don’t expect him to. He’ll generally just put it off if he doesn’t get pissed.”

  Paress was reminded how a little while ago, Behlen said he’d fill Paress in on h
is mentor “sometime”, so Jil’s statement about him putting things off rang true. He turned to speak to Jil, but she picked up her pace. “Here we are, Doctor! I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I tripped over some books and Cadet Handrel helped me up.”

  “Oh Jil,” Behlen said. “How many times have we walked through here and you still haven’t figured out how not to crash into things?”

  “Sorry!” she said in a voice that seemed somewhat put-out.

  Behlen turned to Paress. “Thanks for helping out my assistant.” He turned back to Jil. “It’s those eyes of yours. You’re blind as a bat. I’m telling you, having artificial eyes would make a world of difference. The process is fast and painless…”

  “No!” she shrieked and hid behind Paress, shivering.

  “Alright, alright. Forget I said anything. We don’t have time for this. We’re here.” Behlen turned and stepped away to reveal elevator doors. They slowly ratcheted open after Behlen pressed the call button. “After you.”

  Paress stepped past Casten and grinned at his friend’s confused expression about the still-cowering Jil. He wanted with all his heart to tell Casten that she had kissed him moments before, but had to hold his tongue. Casten opened his hands with a “What’s going on?” expression on his face, but finally just rolled his eyes and followed Paress and Jil into the elevator.

  The elevator’s interior was also in the classical style of Behlen’s office furniture. The walls were done in rich, dark stained oak, and the elevator controls were in brass buttons and fittings. It was obviously a disguise placed over very sophisticated machinery— likely not an elevator, but a turbolift— but it was still charming.

  Behlen stepped in and hit a few of the buttons on the control panel and the doors closed. “Here we go.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Are you excited?” Behlen asked. “I know I am.”

  “Yes sir,” Paress said. “I can’t wait to see what #25 actually looks like.”

  “You didn’t tell them?” Jil asked.

  “Nah, they’re boys. They’ll get a kick out of it and I don’t want to spoil it.”