Sirius Academy (Jezebel's Ladder)

by Scott Rhine

  “He really wants to have sex. Being around you guys exacerbates it. He even stared at my chest,” Yvette said casually.

  “I’ll talk to Risa. I’ve been neglecting her lately. Z can explain to Herk about lifting weights. You got the Ethics page early, didn’t you?” Red guessed.

  Yvette replied, “Yes, there was no queue, so I decided to get more practice before we resumed training. How could you tell?”

  Red laughed. “You’re normally blunt, but that last comment could get Herk killed if the wrong person overheard.”

  “It’s a natural thing, nothing to be ashamed of,” Yvette countered. “I trust every man on this team and I’ve worked hard for this body.”

  “That could get you slapped or worse,” Red warned. “Dial back the volunteered comments to ‘need to know’. Even helpful information has to be managed carefully in front of others. Telling Herk and Sojiro that Risa’s period was this week was over the line.”

  The French nurse blushed. “I don’t know how to stop the honesty side-effects.”

  “Pretend the other person has a tape recorder and is working for a newspaper,” Red suggested.

  Yvette replied, “That’s surprisingly helpful and perceptive of you. How did you know?”

  Mira had formed the word “Mom” on her lips when Zeiss interrupted. “She learned a lot about Alien 101 because her teacher thought she was cute and liked to talk to her every chance he got.” The couple smiled.

  Red added, “Also, edit your use of adverbs like ‘surprisingly’ or you’ll offend people.”

  After the nurse apologized and left, Zeiss told Mira, “The labs tried out the last of the new fuels yesterday. I just got the reports.”

  Mira read his pad over his shoulder. “The more complex atoms and molecules generate radiation when the Cassavettis field rips them to pieces.”

  Zeiss nodded. “They’re increasing the shielding on the hull to compensate; however, shielding will add to our mass, and radiation still leaks through at full throttle. Long term, we’ll need a new Calabi Yau shape for the resonance chamber. In the short term, it’s close enough that oversight has approved the design for brief test runs.”

  “Meaning?”

  “In six months to a year, we get to take Tetra-1 on her maiden voyage.”

  His wife cheered, jumping up and down. “It’s all coming together. That calls for a celebration.”

  “I can do you one better. Lou convinced one of the experts in plasma physics that Kaguya snatched to defect to us. He hadn’t been to any of her special parties yet, so he should be safe. That makes fifteen. We only have three more selections left until our team is complete.”

  She hugged him. “Our family. I’ll be so excited when I don’t have to hide secrets from them anymore.”

  ****

  The whole team flew to Panama City the day before the wedding. Mira, Conrad, Herk, and Sojiro drove to the hotel in an armored limousine. Zeiss was dressed in his interview suit, while the rest wore bulletproof flight suits. Herkemer sat in the front, eager for some excuse to use his new strength and burn off nervous energy. Sojiro wore mirror-shade goggles. A satchel full of art supplies and videogames lay next to him on the seat facing the couple; his head was tipped back. “Keep turning the lights green,” Mira ordered him.

  “I don’t like this,” Zeiss complained, fidgeting with his suit lapel in the car. He looked for snipers on every rooftop.

  “We have to be there,” she countered. “I’m the matron of honor and you’re the best man, in addition to being my arm-candy.”

  “Someone could recognize you.”

  She shook her head. “Mary’s here as me already. I saw her on the TV at the airport. She looks sharp. We made a good choice.”

  “Who’s Mary?” Herk asked.

  Zeiss whispered to Mira, “He should know. He’s team security and his wedding could be affected.”

  Mira turned on her media blocker, causing Sojiro to snap back to his body. “Ambush?”

  “No, need-to-know information,” said Zeiss.

  Slowly, she said, “Mary Smith is one of several aliases for Miracle Hollis.”

  “Arguably the richest, most-reclusive woman on the planet?” asked Sojiro. “How do you know her?”

  “I . . . um . . . went to school with her.”

  Zeiss radiated dissatisfaction but said nothing.

  “Why is she coming to my wedding?” asked Herk.

  “Yes, dear, you never told me, either,” Zeiss noted.

  “I . . . forgot to invite her to mine, and she’s on the Fortune Aerospace board. When I went to ask for a board signature for something, she . . . reminded me.”

  “I still don’t see what that has to do with my wedding,” Herk said.

  Mira floundered. “The . . . signature permission for you getting two pages a week apart. This was thanks. It’s the under-twenty social event of the season.”

  Zeiss sighed. “The truth is: Red wants to tell her how she should vote in next week’s board meeting so the school gets the funding it needs. This was the only way she could think of to bump into her casually.”

  “Why didn’t you just say so?” Herk said. “It’s for a good cause. Hell, Risa’s father invited enough cronies so he could write this event off as a business expense. Are the professors going to make it?”

  Sojiro answered, “Daniel couldn’t. But his getting a new assistant freed Trina up to be my date. She’s coming on a later plane.”

  “Why should that matter to Horvath?” Herk asked.

  Seeing Mira struggle with another miserable lie, Zeiss said, “They’ve been sharing a pod since I convinced him to ask her out at the faculty gym one day. The dean doesn’t approve, so don’t tell anyone.”

  “Good for him,” Herk laughed. “It makes sense now that you mention it. Damn, that makes me wonder what else has been going on at Sirius that I haven’t paid attention to.”

  “Have you finished rewriting your vows in Spanish yet?” asked Mira.

  “Crap. I need vodka,” Herk moaned.

  Mira shook her head. “No. You need help, and we’re here for you. Your wedding day should be one of your clearest, happiest memories, unclouded by alcohol.”

  Herk raised an eyebrow. “You’re clearly not European or Catholic.”

  ****

  As they dressed for the rehearsal dinner, Zeiss admired his wife’s knee-length dress. The smell of angel food filled the room. “We have to leave in five minutes, Taz,” she said with a wicked smile.

  However, when she put on a pair of heels, his smile vanished. “You’re not going out like that, are you?” he asked.

  “Do I have toilet paper on the shoe?”

  “Other men would be able to see your ankle,” he whispered.

  “And?”

  “I’m the only man who’s ever seen your ankle,” he nodded to the tattoo.

  “This?” she said, flashing it his direction.

  His breath caught. “Yes.”

  “I’ll tell you what: for tonight, I’ll put on a pair of black hose. No one else will know the tattoo is there unless they’re standing within a foot.”

  “But I will.”

  “Uh-huh. We’ll let that simmer during rehearsal, and tonight when we’re alone, you can take them off.”

  “Okay,” he agreed quickly.

  The entire evening, he stayed as close to her side as he could. On the drive from the church to the rehearsal dinner, Mira wanted to ride with Risa and the ladies, so Conrad rode with the men. When they passed an upscale mall, Zeiss made them stop the car. He ran into a jewelry store and came out moments later with a bag.

  At the restaurant, he rushed over to Mira. “I saw this and had to get it for you,” he told his wife, wrapping a thick, braided, tri-color, gold anklet around the rabbit tattoo.

  “Thank you?”

  “You’re so distracting that I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the meal if I didn’t put a little more covering on you.”
r />   Risa’s mother tapped her daughter on the shoulder. “This one is a good example for Rafael to learn from.”

  “Yes, Mama. Mira says it’s all in the training.”

  Back at the hotel, Trina met them in their suite in a dark mood.

  The couple went from giggling to serious. Red asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “The island’s military escort was called away today—an NCIS investigation in Tonga involving Navy personnel. I had Sojiro keep an eye on the satellites for me.”

  “I wondered why he was so distracted,” noted Red. “He barely touched his calamari.”

  Trina was pacing. “Five suspicious cargo ships drifted into the island’s projected path. I pulled in a favor and had them boarded by someone else’s Coast Guard.”

  “More rockets?” asked Zeiss.

  “No weapons; barely any people. They were hauling large, portable generators to Tasmania.”

  He shrugged. “Tell them to keep at least a kilometer’s distance, arm the missiles, and double the watch.”

  “Something’s wrong,” Trina said. “I should be home with Daniel.”

  “The wedding starts in about twelve hours,” Mira said. “It’d take you that long to fly home and the ships will be long gone by then.”

  Trina looked more distraught than they’d ever seen her. Zeiss took a deep breath. “Would it help if you slept in the same bed with Mira? You used to sleep with her during storms.”

  Tears leaked from her aunt’s eyes. “Yes, it would. You really are a saint, Conrad.”

  “I should take Herk, Auckland, and Sojiro out for some kind of party. But I’ll make sure Sojiro keeps an eye on the school. Rob Roys for him.”

  After she blew her nose, Trina said, “Those have caffeine.”

  “Yes ma’am,” admitted Zeiss. “We’re breaking all the rules.”

  Walking down the hall, he knocked on the groom’s door. Herk opened it and dashed for the elevator. “Thank God! I had blue balls all evening from what you and princess peek-a-boo tattoo were projecting. When Horvath got here broadcasting her worries, I thought I was going to open a vein.”

  Sojiro followed more slowly, like a boy distracted by a video game.

  “She can’t help it,” Zeiss explained as the car descended. “I let her stay with Red.”

  “Are you sure that’s . . . safe?” asked Herk.

  “Trina’s her aunt,” Sojiro said matter-of-factly. “Duh!”

  Zeiss put a finger over his lips and nodded to the security camera.

  Sojiro snorted. “I looped the feed already, plus the one in the hallway. Officially, we never left the building.”

  Herk smiled. “Covert stag party. I like.”

  “So where do you not want to be seen going?” asked Sojiro.

  “I hear they have lingerie shows—”

  “You’re not finishing that sentence,” Zeiss said as they entered the lobby. “Women have a better sense of smell than men. Women, even strange ones, will mark you with scent.”

  “They’re like dogs?” Herk joked.

  After Sojiro turned the lobby cameras and signaled them, they ran to the exit. Outside, Zeiss continued his lecture. “Whenever you make love to your wife, you’ll share things over the link: hopes, fears, disappointments, and what you did in the last day. As phenomenal as the link experience is, it’s kind of like dreaming—you don’t always have control of the content.”

  “Uh-oh,” Herk muttered.

  “So I’m not looking at anything on a woman that has a nickname.”

  “How do you live like that?”

  “Share with her what you need and she’ll satisfy you,” Zeiss asserted. “What do you want to do instead?”

  ****

  Early the next morning, Risa’s father was bailing them out of jail. Herk had a huge grin on his face and not a mark on him. “Fighting?!” her father the diplomat shouted.

  “Technically, we were arrested for destruction of private property,” Zeiss explained. “But Herk had to throw the bar at them when they pulled guns.”

  “A little metal bar and he hospitalized four men?” said the father, incredulous.

  “The whole top of the bar, the thing you drink off of,” clarified Sojiro, catching up to them. He hadn’t been arrested but had called Risa’s family for rescue. “I have it on video.”

  The diplomat stopped outside his Rolls. “You don’t have a temper, do you?”

  “No, sir,” Zeiss said with a sly smile. “I wanted to buy him one last drink as a single man and the sailor next to us said all Panamanian women were whores. Rafael took offense. I offered to pay for the bar. It was my fault. I was supposed to take care of the weapons.”

  “You got the knives,” Herk encouraged.

  “I have it on video,” Sojiro repeated.

  Risa’s father seemed mollified.

  The repetition disturbed Zeiss. “What’s wrong, S?”

  “I don’t know. The ships have turned the generators on,” said the Japanese man. “I’ve told Daniel to climb in his escape pod.”

  “Warn Taggart; the Mori computers have a way to remote destruct,” Zeiss shouted. Herk caught Sojiro and shoved his limp form into the back of the Rolls. Zeiss hopped into the front and said to the chauffeur, “Back to the hotel; don’t stop for red lights. Somebody give me a cell!”

  One appeared in his hand; he dialed Trina. “Mori electromagnetic attack on the island. Round up the crew.”

  “Underwater cameras are picking up lights underneath the ships,” Sojiro muttered.

  “Faster!” Zeiss snapped. Risa’s father went pale when the best man handed over the phone and said, “Wake up your guards, Ambassador De Gama. Round up your family. A war’s about to start.”

  “Satellite confirms that the lights on the island are blinking out,” Sojiro reported.

  “We switched phones and control systems off Mori equipment months ago,” Zeiss bragged. “They’ll have to do better than that. Check your back door on their satellite. See what they’re watching. Strap him in Herk.”

  The Rex buckled himself and the hacker into old-style lap belts and placed an arm in front of both Sojiro and his father-in-law-to-be. “Brace yourself, sir,” he growled. “There may be hit squads. I’ll take the first few rounds until Z spots them for me, and then I’ll eliminate the threat. Try to stay down if you hear gunfire.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Risa’s father.

  “Their ships are transmitting . . . sonar images?” Sojiro relayed. “Different than any sonar I’ve seen before.”

  “Any weapons?”

  “No.”

  “Just the island images?”

  “Whales too.”

  “Tell Taggart to aim the missiles!” Zeiss snapped.

  “He wants auth codes.”

  “Earth-shattering kaboom,” Conrad said, rattling a series of number and letters off, followed by, “Board-level.”

  “Confirmed. But there are five ships and only four missiles,” Sojiro noted.

  “Fire, and aim the island at any ship you can’t destroy,” Zeiss wheezed.

  “Z?” asked Sojiro.

  When there was no answer, the bomb technician shouted, “Do it!”

  The chauffeur was hyperventilating. When Zeiss screamed and blood began leaking out of his eyes and nose, the driver was so distracted that the vintage car skipped the curb on a curve and rammed a statue.

  When the ambulance arrived, no one in the back seat was physically injured. Zeiss was unconscious and Sojiro kept crying, “Silver Dances. Why did they have to kill the baby?”

  “What’s he saying?” asked the driver in Spanish, nursing a nosebleed of his own.

  Rafael shuddered, “Someone just murdered a pod of whales to get even with my boss.”

  Chapter 42 – Endings

  Mira sat beside Zeiss’s bed, talking on her goggles while she held his hand. Once the cetacean deaths stopped, his vital signs stabilized. When his lids fluttered open, Zeiss said, “The whales?”
>
  “Six dead,” she replied. “Brains cooked by overpowered sonar. Your actions saved the rest, but they’ve scattered. The Shambhala zone is gone.”

  “Daniel?”

  “My uncle was at ground zero for the death screams. Between that trauma and the shattering of their protective zone, he’s in another coma. Dr. Marsh moved him to Sydney.”

  “Trina?”

  “Had to be sedated.”

  “Did we get the killers?”

  “The ones on the cargo ships.”

  “Kaguya kept her word. She didn’t kill anyone on the island, just under it,” he said bitterly.

  “She sent me email. One line: maybe the stain will come out if you wash it enough times.”

  He furrowed his brow. “She’s equating the death of Actives with paint stains on her clothes? She not human.”

  “She’s taking credit without admitting guilt,” Mira complained. “Kaguya’s email to Trina pushed her over the edge: let’s see how you like forced celibacy for the rest of your short life. Herk had to pick her up and hold her to keep her from going on a killing spree.”

  “We could gather enough proof to get Kaguya reformatted,” he insisted.

  “The UN won’t call it murder for cetaceans,” Mira said. “I tried to get the whales protected status and the US ambassador told me no government will lift a finger—the US would have to veto because they’ve accidentally killed whales the same way and don’t want the same punishment.”

  “We need to get back to check on the others in the pod and have a funeral.”

  “Sojiro is already arranging a ceremony on Tonga with Greenpeace and a few other organizations.”

  “Why not on the Academy?”

  “Conrad, between the impact and the electromagnetic pulse, the island’s too damaged to house the school. Emergency crews are containing the fuel leak now. We can’t land a plane on the deck anymore. It’d take a year to make all the repairs. With Daniel in a coma, no one in Fortune Aerospace will fight for the expenditure. The board considers it a total loss; we . . . can’t go back.”

  “Space,” her husband concluded.

  “I wish.”

  “Claudette will back a proposal from you at the board meeting. Her son, Daniel, will need to return to moon base if he’s going to live. We can go with him. We have all the necessary training; we’ll just get into space a few months early.”