by Scott Rhine
As Roz floated past the kegs of aged scotch, she noted that one had been tapped and an empty coffee bulb lay nearby. Maybe seeing his people made him homesick, and he hit the hard stuff?
Engaging her talent, she crept through the narrow aisles, unseen. Hearing mournful whimpers, she headed toward the crates of fur and clothing. A crate of it had been burst open, spilling its contents across the cul-de-sac like a furry nest. The ragged stump of Deke’s leg caught her eye first. She turned her head away instinctively because she didn’t like people staring at her scar. In that instant, she had noted his nudity, hunched over some sort of fox-furred footstool. Puzzled, Roz eased forward for a better view.
That’s when she saw Ivy’s distinctive blonde hair move and heard her high-pitched shriek. He’s savaging her! Roz pulled the heavy wrench from her belt and coiled herself for a launch through the low gravity. She would knock the Bat’s brains across the heap of fashionable pelts.
Just when she was about to attack, Roz heard Ivy shout, “Harder!”
Roz froze in her tracks, almost dropping the wrench. Ivy was wearing two bras and a fur wrap. This was cosplay, the same as the Goat contact lenses had been. Both of them seemed willing.
Roz’s stomach lurched in disgust. She snuck away from the tryst in shame, locking the hold access from the inner ring so no one else could make this same mistake. She propped her back against the hatch, trembling. How could she do that to Reuben? Was she buying his vote? Was this just more perversion for Ivy to punish her family for controlling her life? Roz tried to imagine the mental invasion her sisters must have felt with the Bat’s fingernails sinking into her sides and other things sinking into—she heaved, barely stopping the retch with her hand. Roz ran to the bathroom to splash her face with cold water.
Reuben was in the bathroom, running a pick through his bushy hair. “Hey, kiddo, you don’t look so hot.”
Tears started to flow. How can I lie to this devoted, gullible Goat? But how could I be the one to tell him?
Roz bit her lower lip to keep her composure. Voice shaking, she asked, “Do you believe people should keep secrets from each other in a relationship?”
The Goat turned aside immediately. “M-Max had to. Patient confidentiality rules. He can’t even tell you that he can’t tell you.”
Shock kicked her in the stomach again. Her breathing sped up until her fingers tingled. She knelt on the cool tile of the floor, weeping. “He told you?”
“He … I guessed half of it when I found medical supplies missing from the first-aid stations you installed around the ship. When I saw the requisition for extra medicine at the last minute on Prairie, I pretty much knew. I mean, I’ve been acquiring special meds for the doc for a while.”
“Does my aunt have more tumors, or is it me?” Roz asked, curling over her knees.
“Aw, Jeez. I’m not supposed to upset you. Max is going to be so pissed at me.” Reuben handed her a handkerchief. “Don’t cry.”
“Am I dying? Is that why he’s being so nice to me?” Roz wailed.
Reuben hit himself in the forehead with a balled fist repeatedly. “Stupid, stupid, ram. You’re fine. Your uncle is dying. He asked Max for some sort of a last wish. I don’t know the details, just that Herb’s a lot older than he appears.”
“Rejuvenation treatments,” she guessed, for meritorious public service. People tended to look about half their age, which put Herb at about a hundred. Periodic filtration session were still necessary to cleanse the body of toxic buildup. Free on Anodyne, these treatments were ridiculously expensive and risky elsewhere. He had sacrificed a great deal to be near Alyssa during her prison stay. Roz found it hard to keep hating someone that romantic.
“It doesn’t take a brain boost to figure out that your uncle wants you to reconnect with your Aunt Alyssa before he dies, so you can help her survive longer after he’s pushing up daisies. Plus, Herb’s technically the senior male in your family, and the !Kung tribe has this rule about honoring the head of the clan. That’s probably the only thing that kept Max from proposing to you on Phoenix. Trust me. Max really wanted you that night.”
Overloaded, she couldn’t speak, but the nervous Goat kept rambling. “Max couldn’t even talk to you for days for fear of giving something away. I don’t know what you did to him on that train ride, but he had to have a long talk with Echo afterward. She stressed no sex before marriage—some nonsense about intercourse being sacred and needing it to build up the couple instead of tearing them down. Blah, blah, blah.” The last had been one of Ivy’s trademark expressions. Reuben stroked Roz’s back with his hand in order to stop her breathing spasms.
His kindness turned the secret inside her into glass shards. The dilemma twisted her guts. Tears flowed faster than before, both good and bad.
“I-I should get Max,” Reuben said, pulling away.
“Wait.” She sniffed. “If Max knew something devastating about your family—” She blew her nose into the handkerchief. “Would you want him to tell you?”
“Hell, no. I learned something about my ancestor Xerxes a few months ago from an old Phib. Max told me not to go there. I should’ve listened. I wish I could rip that part out of my brain.”
The flash of Ivy coupled with Deke in animal passion popped into her mind, causing her to wince. No one else needs this image burned into their memory. “Right. I’ll be okay.” He helped her to her feet like a gentleman. “You’ve been a big help, and a good friend. Maybe I can make you something in the kitchen to say thanks.”
Reuben swallowed hard. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. People always say they’re grateful to the Goats for their sacrifice, but no one wants us around. We’re good enough to clean their gutters and trim their hedges, but no one treats us like people. Max is right, you really are amazing. The Trout hated my guts and would’ve spaced me on principle.” His face fell. “Oh, compost, I said her name again. I promised I wouldn’t.”
Pressing her advantage as they meandered toward the kitchen, Roz said, “Tell me about Lisa.”
Reuben panicked. “Did I mention that Aviar has changed the ‘aiding and abetting a fugitive’ charge on your record to a Bat humanitarian award? I’m thinking that might open a few doors for us when we’re negotiating prices. Even Deke earned a commendation for bringing his blade back home while injured.”
“Tell me, or we find Max right now, and I let him know what you’ve already spilled.”
“Easy. I should put blackmail on your rap sheet.”
Blackmail. Was Ivy recording the sex session to use against Deke later? If he told anyone about the radios, she could release the tape to the priest judges. He might be exiled for joining with the unbeliever … in some pretty disgusting ways.
Reuben continued, chatting about Max’s previous girlfriend while Roz located some rolled oats and a mixing bowl. Reuben had a weakness for oatmeal cookies. He summed up the relationship with, “The Trout had a fantastic rack but no soul. Max dropped her when he found that out.”
“I’m sure she had a soul.”
“She tried to offer Jeeves up to Zrulkesh at dinner time.”
The metal bowl clanged to the countertop. “Oh, God. How?”
Reuben shrugged. “She was Lunar Intelligence all along. She only pretended to like Max to milk him for information.”
“I can see why he’s being so cautious this time.”
“Don’t worry,” Reuben said, snitching a little cookie dough while she fetched a baking sheet. Alyssa was already rearranging her kitchen. “You’re the anti-Trout, like a photonegative.”
“Because I’m smart, not pretty?”
“Oh, she was a crypto expert. No shortage of brains there.” Seeing her face fall, Reuben corrected himself. “You women and your food traps. Max lusts after you just as much, I promise. He had to give your high heels to Echo to hide because he was afraid if he saw you in them again, he might not be able to keep his hands off you. When the guys stand around shooting the breeze, he
told us you have the best butt he’s ever seen.”
She felt her face flush as she spooned out dough on a cookie sheet. Guys talked about things like that? “Thanks? Do I get that rating branded to my jumpsuit?”
Reuben looked up from the cookies, something that took effort for him. “Ivy and Max both say you’re the best friend they’ve ever had. That is something I’d stick to your uniform. I only hope some day Ivy and I have half the relationship you guys have.”
Roz forced a smile. Ivy, you cold-hearted whore.
****
The crew wound up the Purgatory deal as quickly as possible to gain a head start on the Marco Polo. When Roz showed up to exercise in the birch room with Ivy the next morning, Aunt Alyssa was also waiting in a stretchy yoga outfit. She could see why Herb traded another twenty years of life just to share a few with her. Alyssa said shyly, “Ivy invited me so I can keep my abs toned. When you get to be my age … I hope you don’t mind. This way we can ease into knowing each other.”
Roz forced herself to smile back. “Not at all. Although helping you prepare desserts might be a better bonding time.”
Alyssa’s face lit with genuine joy. “I’d love that.”
Beginning her warm-up stretches on the biozone’s silvery sidewalk, Roz explained, “I promised to spend my morning time teaching Max some yoga. I thought it might be good for strengthening his back.”
Both of her exercise partners smirked. “And his libido,” said Alyssa.
Ivy nodded. “Max likes her, but he won’t do anything until he’s married. She’s going to torment him with all sorts of bending and flexibility. Reuben spilled the beans after I put the screws to him.”
Roz halted mid toe-touch. “You slept with Reuben yesterday, too?”
Both other women stopped their warm-ups. Ivy whispered, “You swore not to judge.”
Roz clenched her teeth to hold her temper in front of her aunt. “If you did it for the mission.”
Ivy stood, waving her arm in the direction of the gazebo. “You saw Deke drooling over that protocol honeypot. I thought he was going to jump her on the way back to the loading dock. That man hasn’t had companionship for a long time. He was ready to explode. I just relieved some of the pressure before Aviar could recruit him. I did it to save the team. Don’t worry. I kept it casual.”
“It might have seemed that way to you,” Roz said, pointing to the staterooms, “but other people have feelings. They can’t pretend friendship as easily as you.”
Ivy jerked back.
Aunt Alyssa put an arm around Roz. “Maybe we should—”
“I have always been your friend,” Ivy snapped. “You don’t know what this mission has cost me.”
“You’ve gotten drunk and laid more this week than you did the whole year I thought I knew you. More than I have in my whole life. Where’s the sacrifice?” Roz couldn’t stop the venom once it started flowing. “Everything I find out about myself on this ship ends up being a feather in your cap. I don’t have a best friend I can talk to anymore.”
Her face a mask, Ivy said, “Maybe I don’t either.” She turned on her heel and left the biozone. If she could have slammed the padded airlock door, she would have.
Alyssa didn’t ask anything about the argument. Instead, she talked about taking Roz shopping for more feminine clothing on Little Flowers. “As a border planet, they have shopping areas near the Human hotels. You can buy anything there.”
Chapter 20 – Land Mines
The actual jump from the Cocytus system to Little Flowers was among the shortest Roz had ever made. Due to the need to conserve fuel, however, the total time port to port was nearly thirty ship days. She was exhausted. Piloting took almost all of her waking time during the normal-space periods. In subspace, she tried to give priority to Echo’s special project, but Max, Jeeves, and her aunt also wanted blocks of time.
Ivy moved in with Reuben officially.
Roz confided her personal problems to Alyssa as they collected ingredients for Roz’s favorite cinnamon rolls. The woman was always willing to listen. “Jeeves has become quite the chunky monkey since I let him choose how much to eat. We’re turning that bulk into muscle, though. He exercises with Max and me … until he gets bored and swings off. Of course, Max can’t do the T-shaped side plank because of his wrist.”
“Vasisthasana. Try the Peacock pose. It represents love.”
She didn’t want to know why her aging aunt knew the Hindu terms for advanced yoga. “Sure, I’ll look that up. The time with Max feels natural, like we’ve known each other for years. Sometimes, I stretch it out because I don’t want the night to end.”
Alyssa’s smile made her eyes sparkle. “Enjoy this time. Even his quirks will seem endearing.”
“I was thinking of making him dinner some night this week.”
“Oh. What menu?”
“Steak and potatoes.”
“That’s your favorite, querida, not his,” Alyssa said, turning on the oven. “He prefers stir-fry. It’s a compromise between vegetarian and what he is accustomed to. He can also substitute shrimp or fish to be closer to the Magi.”
“Do you keep a list of what everyone aboard likes?”
“Yes. I’ll email you a copy, with some recipes and ingredients we’ll need more of next port.”
“Thanks.” Roz added this to her mental shopping list. Max had requested medical diagnostic and treatment programs for Bats, in case something happened to Deke. He already had a collection for Humans, Goats, and Saurians.
After they measured flour for a double batch, Alyssa recited the salt for a single batch. Roz chuckled. “I guess I didn’t get my math skills from your side of the family.”
Distracted, Alyssa said, “Your father was the one who earned the Penrose Fellowship …” She paused for a moment, confused.
Roz put a hand on her aunt’s. “Brain surgery and meds have side effects. Sometimes I mix things up, too.”
The older woman bit her lip, deeply affected by whatever memory she was reliving.
Roz pretended not to notice, crushing nuts that were sweeter Prairie variants of the pecan.
After that, they cooked every day for at least an hour. Though Roz had not been suited for the life of a migrant worker, she found that she missed women gossiping around the camp stove.
Alyssa slipped up a few times in odd ways. When Roz made her a hanging rack for her favorite pots and utensils, Alyssa muttered, “You’re kind like your father. He gave thoughtful gifts, too.”
Roz snorted. “Are we talking about the same Enrico Mendez?”
Her clearest memory of her father was him yelling, “Stop daydreaming and start working. These fields won’t harvest themselves.”
On the last night before returning to real-space, Roz looked up the Penrose prize in the ship’s library. Only one man on Napa had ever won it—Niels Anderson. When she clicked on the link for a bio, she saw the bearded math professor who had proctored her test. His photo had the same bland features and thick eyebrows that had tormented Roz in the mirror her entire life.
I guess I know where I got my math skills from, and why Niels gave me that extra time to fill in my test form.
She knew her mother, Carmen, had been pregnant when she got married, but she always thought Enrico Mendez had been the reason. Shame filled her for a moment. Roz was illegitimate. Enrico had raised her but had never been warm. Perhaps he had known all along. That would explain his willingness to risk her inside the harvester. She had never belonged. Would her biological father, the kind one, be more accepting? Could she meet him again after this mission and find out more about who she really was?
Roz scanned the rest of his biography. He had founded his career on Number Theory proofs, with an impressive list of publications. The last line gave her pause. Niels had died three years ago. Reality kicked her in the gut. She was an orphan again, minutes after the she had made the deduction.
The Napa news service reported him going down in a plane crash. He ha
d been a pilot, just like Roz! He walked away from the wreckage, but with no air filters, the planet had killed him in a day. Had he chosen the other direction to travel, he might have reached shelter. A world-class genius dead at the flip of a coin.
Carmen and Alyssa had been classmates and friends. Why hadn’t anyone told her the truth? Perhaps they were worried Roz’s negative reaction might cause something unfortunate to befall the messenger, as had happened with Max. She had to confront Alyssa with the truth, but not on the ship. Roz didn’t want Echo or Ivy overhearing.
****
On her piloting shifts, Roz was stuck with Kesh on the bridge. Max seemed afraid of her. Ivy was pissed, and her ignorant, cheated-on boyfriend took Ivy’s side. Kesh didn’t open up for a while, but once she gave him permission to criticize her color palette, he wouldn’t shut up with advice about what she should wear. “For your leadership position, you should consider a charcoal long coat. You’re muscular, but you hide everything. You should show that off with tight clothing. Black dress stockings, to accentuate your definition, covered by a jewel-tone shirt would suit you wonderfully. It was all the rage on Venice a few years ago.”
“O … kay. I’m not making that my official uniform, but I’ll try on an outfit like that when I take my aunt shopping.” Roz considered another area where she would welcome assistance. “Do you know anything about interior decorating?”
“My taste is legendary.”
“Could you offer me your taste confidentially?”
“About?” The Saurian seemed intrigued.
“Since Ivy moved out, my room is girly but empty. I’d like to transition to a room that would be suitable for a man and a woman together.”
“A particular man?” Kesh teased. She smacked him playfully at the base of his tail. “May I ask you intensions concerning my friend?”
“I’m going to sneak up on him, and when he least expects it, I’m going to make him happy.”