Sirius Academy (Jezebel's Ladder)

by Scott Rhine

  She kissed him on the forehead. “I’ll have Mary start the ball rolling.”

  “Did I miss the wedding?”

  “Yes. Auckland and Yvette played understudy for us. We told everyone that you had a car accident, and the team wore the bulletproof flight suits I bought them just in case.”

  “Where’s Sojiro?”

  “He finally went to sleep in Trina’s room. We didn’t want to leave her alone.”

  “Wake him up. Get the phone number for Mori’s mansion from my computer pad.”

  “What are you planning?”

  “I want ‘Miracle’ to phone her and offer a deal to stop the feud. Have everyone leave her house so we can speak in private. Then have Sojiro drop the Mori satellite on the mansion. There won’t be any evidence linking the event to us.”

  “Unfortunately, that sounds like a Red move—too impulsive.”

  “You object to ending the threat?”

  “The fact that you even suggested revenge makes Red want to jump you here and now,” she said, radiating mouth-watering Crème Brule. “But you know Sojiro has to sign his work—the blue whale symbol. In his manga, one of the eco-terrorist groups is the Cetacean Liberation Front. They’d put him in jail for the rest of his life.”

  “Then what?”

  “I’ll meet with Kaguya in person as Miracle.”

  “She’ll tell everyone your secret.”

  “She won’t be able to talk. I’m going to kiss her goodbye with the Index. She’s been begging for Quantum Computing; I say she gets it.”

  “She doesn’t have the support system,” Zeiss noted. “She’ll go into navel-staring mode.”

  “Just like she did to Lazlo and might have done to you,” Mira said coldly.

  “Wait,” he said. “She has to accept the page willing.”

  “I can arrange that.”

  “And I know the perfect way to tell her what’s going to happen,” Conrad said, whispering a phrase in her ear.

  “Red likes,” Mira chuckled throatily. “You’ve just earned an hour of . . . kissing.” She melted into his arms, and they forgot about the rest of the world.

  ****

  Trina signed off on the plan and the necessary voting rights.

  Then, Miracle Redemption Hollis announced to Wall Street Journal Online that she’d be attending the board meeting with her own 2 percent and the proxy for Daniel Fortune’s 30 percent. An hour after the story posted, Mira sent an invitation to Kaguya Mori, inviting her to the New York board meeting. The email was short and to the point. “I’d like to personally discuss terms for the cessation of hostilities. Bring your navigator. Press conference to follow.” A voucher followed for the top floor of the best hotel in town plus tickets for a Broadway show. Her mother accepted the tickets but declined the hotel for security reasons.

  At noon, an hour before the board meeting, Kaguya, her mother, and Syd Green showed up outside Mira’s office. A third-party lawyer, standing by the open office door, said, “My company has been asked to certify that there are no weapons, listening, or recording devices inside, and that the woman in this office is indeed Miracle Hollis.” After he handed over an affidavit, the man added, “A copy has been sent to you electronically. There are, however, writing utensils and three metal cases: two contain bearer bonds, and the other is a sealed UN diplomatic courier case. I have counted each and attached the confirmed totals. I will notarize the contract when the terms have been settled.”

  Kaguya smiled as she tasted victory. When all three attempted to enter, the guard said, “Only the one with the invitation. Even we’re not allowed inside once the place has been certified—for the safety of everyone in the negotiations. The boss said you could scan for Actives.”

  “And nats,” Kaguya boasted. Closing her eyes, she swept the corner office with her Empathy. There was only one occupant, a young woman. This close, Kaguya read a rich and complicated aura that held more talents than she’d ever seen in one place. “It’s her; I can handle this.”

  A young blonde in a Jovani original stood looking out at the panoramic view of Manhattan with her back to the door as Kaguya entered and locked the door from the inside. Mira pushed a button that drew the blinds closed and said, “This office is now impervious to all listening, normal and psychic.”

  Kaguya’s head jerked when she recognized the voice.

  Mira smiled as she turned. “Shall I pour tea?”

  “No. Well played. I never suspected.”

  “I had to get a degree before I could inherit.”

  “An M-R-S?” her nemesis joked.

  Mira bit her lip. “Conrad’s influence convinced my grandmothers to let me assume my position on the board.”

  “Old women love him; he’s cougar bait. Why did you pick Sirius Academy?”

  “To learn the family business firsthand. The competition was refreshing.”

  Kaguya looked her up and down. “What are you offering as spoils?”

  “Cookie?” Mira offered. The scent of fresh macaroons wafted through the air and aura of the office. They were the same style as the ones Miss Mori had stored in the kitchen. Off to the side were chocolate confections.

  “What are those?” Kaguya demanded.

  “Conrad’s mother made those. I brought the last few for Claudette to try.”

  Kaguya scooped one off the tray. “You’re in no position to withhold anything.”

  Mira took one of the remaining fruit and chocolate confections. “I guess I’ll have to take seconds . . . again.”

  The singer laughed. “I was born first. You were just more famous. You’ve been hiding from your talents since the day you manifested, while I’ve embraced mine.” Sitting in a chair, she propped her feet on the table so that Mira could see her tattoo.

  “But I do it with more style.” Mira displayed her right ankle. A soft leather boot sagged at the edges revealing just the ears of the same tattoo, draped in jewelry.

  “We’re more alike than you admit. Conrad nailed you on that one. Again, what are you offering?”

  Mira slid a piece of paper over. It agreed to a truce with one of the selections, each with a check box beside it:

  Access to the Quantum Computing Page by any one person of your choice.

  $50 million in bearer bonds.

  A blank line.

  The document had already been signed by Miracle.

  Kaguya cackled as she checked all the boxes and began to write a final term of surrender into the blank. “Wait, it has to be in my handwriting, or Grandma won’t sign off.”

  “I want to lead the next team into space.”

  “I would phrase it that you personally, without the ability to commute this right, want the option of first refusal for each mission into space for the next year.”

  “Two years, and an observer from Mori corporate on every exercise.”

  “A woman, and we won’t take a Rex.”

  They haggled for twenty minutes until the added terms filled the back of the contract. When Mira narrowed her eyes and conceded to the final hurdle, Kaguya signed.

  However, when the Japanese woman tried to stand, she fell back to the chair. “Mother!” she shouted.

  “She can’t hear you,” Mira reminded her, touching the other woman’s forehead. Whispering, she added, “That was me in the cookie, you greedy bitch.”

  Kaguya pulled out her smart phone and typed the unlock code on its screen before the convulsions wracked her body. Mira took the phone from her hand, found a suitable music selection, and looped it. Then she broke the seal on the courier suitcase, revealing the shining gold page. This would make it look like she read the page herself instead of receiving it by infection. Inside two minutes, the singer was staring up at the lights, locked in computational bliss.

  Mira carried the signed contract out to the people waiting in the anteroom. “Countersign this for your company and we can have it notarized. She took half the cash I had and a pound of flesh.”

  Mrs. Mori grin
ned, reveling in what the contract offered. She signed without hesitation, handing the contract to the third-party lawyer. “Where’s Kaguya?”

  “Counting her money,” Mira spat. “I have a press conference to attend and an angry board to placate. I never want to see another member of your family again.”

  After the press conference, Kaguya Mori was shipped to Ward Seven and placed next to Professor Lazlo. No one doubted that she had taken the page for herself and crossed a threshold into the forbidden. Otherwise, her parents found the terms of the agreement most favorable. Upon her commitment, Kaguya’s second album, In Search of O, went platinum.

  Chapter 43 – Ascension

  Red’s team grew to eighteen in the next few months. The first woman was a friend of Trina’s, a space hand who’d been on the team that rescued her from the two week ordeal in orbit. The second woman was a technician from Mori Electronics. The third was a gravity-mechanics expert, Mary Smith’s oldest sister Mercy, chosen because she was the lead scientist on the Tetra project. Mercy had inherited her father’s Icarus page and grown up surrounded by math geeks. She rode along for the maiden voyage to make sure nothing went wrong with the prototype’s four synchronized space drives. Old friends, Red told her everything about the team and their plans.

  They easily set the speed record for the test course using only half the prototype’s capacity.

  People on the radio whooped with excitement. “Taz, you’ve exceeded every expectation. Come on home, kids,” Professor Horvath said from Mission Control on moon base, pride in her voice. Daniel was on moon base as well, but he’d never regained consciousness.

  “Permission to take a victory fly-by over Russian moon base,” he requested.

  Trina almost fumbled the reply. She hadn’t planned for the final run to be this early. “Roger. Everybody to the break room for champagne. Clear the tower.”

  When the last supervisor not wearing an Academy uniform objected, she drew her sidearm and recited a UN clearance code. Guards came in to escort the reluctant partier away. Only a skeleton crew remained. Over the open channel, she confirmed, “Taz, you could do anything you wanted; everyone here is celebrating.” Over a private channel, she added, “Mira, you were the best thing I ever did.”

  Red held back tears as she signaled the passengers to shut off all unshielded electronics. Herk helped the spy from Mori strap in. Confiscating her transmitter, he announced on the ship-only channel, “Ears are off.”

  Risa said, “It’s time, Mercy. We’re going to open it up full bore.”

  Mercy checked a few readouts and switches. “Right front field is fluctuating 1 percent. Try to stabilize it. Otherwise, seven-league boots are ready to stride.”

  Super-goo began surrounding them in a cocoon. Herk sat in the less-protected rumble-seat.

  Sojiro took out a glass globe and began interfacing. “Gravity lens has been aimed away from our approach. Eyes are off.”

  In the copilot chair, Lou checked off a long list of items. “Radiation counters on. Shielding between the command module and cargo in place. Full power to Icarus fields. Fuel injectors primed. All brace.”

  Red nodded at her husband. He announced, “Video log: on. Changing ship name to Ascension One. Bearing on slingshot course four around the moon. On my mark.”

  “Roger, Ascension One,” Trina echoed. “Godspeed.”

  “Adjust azimuth point five degrees,” Zeiss said after triple-checking.

  “Point five exact,” Red adjusted.

  “Full burn!” called Zeiss.

  Lou lit the fuse and Red flew the ship like she’d stolen it—which, technically, she had.

  The copilot announced. “Radiation red-lining. We’re leaving a trail of hot carbon. Drive flare bigger than predicted. All eyes are closed.”

  Zeiss reported. “Clear of the moon’s umbra in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1. Give me four more minutes maximum burn.”

  Red realigned toward their target and Lou opened the fuel flow. Forces pushed them back in their seats. The fluctuation in the acceleration filters made their faces ripple. “Adjust phase of right field,” Zeiss tried to say.

  Lou tweaked the control a hair’s breadth. Now the vibration was merely uncomfortable, not bone-jarring. After two minutes, he announced, “Critical buildup of carbon around injector three. Halt thrust.”

  “Zero thrust.”

  “Cycling to a clean nozzle. Go!”

  “Full thrust,” Red announced.

  “Add three seconds,” Zeiss ordered.

  At almost four minutes, Lou said, “Buildup in injector four. Request—”

  “Negative, she’ll hold,” Red insisted. “Hollis was a safety freak.”

  “Wait for it,” Zeiss decided. “Begin slowing to approach speed now.”

  After Red adjusted the curve and Lou switched fuel to the front fields, the copilot complained, “Sir, these are dangerous risks. Don’t think with your Johnson, Taz. Permission to speak freely?”

  Red interrupted, “Lou, trust me. I’ve been playing with parts of this ship since I was in diapers. I knew Hollis better than anyone. She was so afraid of killing someone, she’d over-engineer by a factor of ten. I can see the equations in my head. We’re good.”

  “I’ll follow Taz into a court martial because I trust him; however, your judgment has been suspect in the past, Red.”

  Zeiss told her, “Give him the second shoe. We need him unconditionally.”

  “Jezebel Hollis was my mother, Lou. I’m the Index page. The artifact talks to me,” Red announced over the in-ship channel.

  “She is Miracle,” Mercy chimed in. “I remember how bossy she was on an Easter Egg hunt.”

  “That’s what it said on my marriage license,” Zeiss confirmed. “The name, not the bossy part.”

  Most people in the ship were stunned. Herk muttered, “That explains a few things.”

  Risa recalled, “She told me her middle name was Redemption and it didn’t match her records.”

  “Objection withdrawn,” Lou muttered. “But if a contractor cut any corners, we’re an object lesson for future generations.”

  Mercy broadcast, “I double-checked every bolt and diode myself, Lou.”

  “Twenty seconds to the final adjustment,” said Zeiss.

  Several seconds elapsed before Sojiro announced, “We’ve appeared on the feed from the gravity telescope.”

  “On final approach,” Red announced. “Confidence is high.”

  “Time for those radiation pills, Taz,” announced Lou.

  Sojiro informed them, “Gravity lens set to widest aperture. Broadcasting signal requesting it to open.”

  Red saw the image of her father next to her on the bridge. “Sing us your code of ethics,” the artifact demanded.

  “He means like the whales do, speak it over the psi-link,” Zeiss interpreted.

  “You see him too?” Red asked as she struggled to match velocities and carry on mental exercises at the same time.

  “All of you must sing,” the artifact ordered.

  “Lou, take over,” Zeiss ordered. “Hover until it opens, and then glide through. If I’m right, there will be an increase in gravity.”

  “Drives powered off,” said Lou with the click of a switch. “Maneuvering on thrusters.”

  Then Red opened the hatch to the cargo area. “Everyone with Collective Unconscious join hands. Yvette, we need you to lead us in a recitation of the Ethics code.” Everyone but Lou and the spy peeled out of the gel. Everyone except the maneuvering copilot joined hands and closed their eyes as they reviewed the rules human beings had committed to for their foray into space.

  When the recitation was complete, they opened their eyes. Below them, a membrane inside the Eye in the Sky pulled back, revealing a docking chamber.

  “Decoupling drive pods,” announced Mercy.

  “Are you sure?” asked a computer interface on Zeiss’s panel. He punched “Yes” and small explosions vibrated the hull. “Good-bye two billion dollars.”
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  “We tagged the drives with beacons,” Mercy reassured him,

  Lou dropped them gently into the hole, and the hole closed again after them.

  “Pile out,” said Herk, unlatching himself and opening the hatch. “That Kumbaya session took longer than we expected.”

  Mercy grabbed a metal urn wrapped in an odd, gray, memistor cloth—the ashes of Elias Fortune. “You made it.”

  “We have missiles inbound,” Sojiro announced. “Relaying everything through the drive beacons.”

  “Weak gravity,” noted Red as she climbed first out the front emergency exit. “That might change once we’re inside the ecology sphere.”

  As Herk ushered him out the cargo exit, Auckland said, “The chamber outside is pressurizing with atmosphere.”

  “Oxygen?” asked Zeiss as he followed his wife out the cockpit exit.

  “Mixture,” said the doctor reading his analyzer. “Heavier on methane than Earth normal, but otherwise it’s like home.”

  “Do the aliens breathe methane?” wondered Toby, the next through the door.

  “Could be a fuel leak,” suggested Risa as she piled out.

  “Cow pies,” guessed Red. Gesturing to the green and blue patterns on the walls and the red barn in the distance, she said, “They sampled the field in Kansas where they made first contact. Mom took me there once. The aliens are trying to make us feel welcome.”

  Herk was nervous. “Where are the controls? How do we get all the way inside?”

  “Close the gravity lens,” ordered Zeiss.

  Sojiro stroked his controls. “Roger. Sir, we’re now sealed under the rubber sheet, cut off from moon base.”

  “On our own,” echoed the commander. “This is what we trained for.”

  Red walked up to the smooth wall that looked the same as the golden fabric of the twenty-seven alien pages. Taking a deep breath, she placed her gloved hand on the wall, and said, “We’re here for our inheritance, Sensei.”

  The section of wall reconfigured into a ramp, inviting them in.

  ###

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