***
Lonny wasn't sure of what he was doing, but for the first time in his life he was determined to do what he wanted. He hadn't talked to anyone before leaving the Lower Town to go to the hospital. He wanted to know if the foreigners knew anything about Smeralda.
Now he knew Smeralda was dead, but he didn't know how she died. And he was sorry that Camilla had vanished in Haje's palace. More and more convinced of the evilness of his former friend, Lonny wanted to see the end of it.
He went to the gates and requested the temporary pass to try the perfection exam. He went straight to the palace where an android took him to the examination room.
"Hello, Lonny." Haje sat in an armchair with his shirt open. "Have you decided to try the New Town too?"
"It was the only way to talk to you," Lonny replied. "Danold says Smeralda is dead."
"It's true," Haje answered. "An awful fever she contracted in the slums."
"Don't lie to me." Lonny pouted. "I'm not that stupid. There's no deadly fever in Lower Town."
"Correct." Haje chuckled. "Aren't we getting smarter, Lonny? Maybe you are ready to join the Perfects!"
"I don't want to join the Perfects, I want to know how Smeralda died!" Lonny snapped.
"Lonny, you were nicer when you used less brainpower. You're gorgeous, why do you worry your pretty head with silly questions? I'll let you have the permanent resident pass, all right?"
"No. I don't want to become like you."
He noticed a flash of anger in Haje's eyes.
"What do you want, then?" Haje's affability was gone.
"The truth," Lonny said, undaunted. "About Smeralda and Camilla."
"Smeralda is dead and Camilla will be queen in her place," Haje replied bluntly.
"Camilla?" Lonny asked, incredulous.
Haje scoffed and rose. "Come."
He took Lonny into a control room. The cameras monitors showed Camilla being prepared for a luxurious party by two identical female androids.
"I don't know what your lord wants and why you're doing all this, but tomorrow I'm leaving!" Camilla's voice came out of the speakers as she frowned at the impassive androids. "Haje can't keep me here."
"She'll change her mind," Haje told Lonny with a satisfied smile.
Lonny stared at Camilla's transformation: the brunette's beauty was enhanced by Mirabilis's fashion – the silk, the low cleavage, the hairdo, the jewelry had turned the starship captain from a tomboy to a beautiful, very feminine creature. Maybe Haje was right, she was perfect. But she wasn't born on Mirabilis, so keeping her against her will was unfair.
Lonny glanced disgusted at Haje and ran away.
***
Camilla looked quietly happy as she combed her hair in front of her mirror.
Haje joined her and kissed her cheek from behind, staring at her reflection.
"How are you, honey?"
"I'm fine," she answered. "What will we do tonight? Is there a party?"
"Of course." He took away the chair as she rose. "And you will be the queen." He took her in his arms to kiss her and she nestled against him with a contented sigh.
"You were a tough and rebellious woman, I turned you into a sweet, feminine creature who is totally in love with me," he said, holding her tight. "Are you happy?"
"Yes," she answered.
He grinned, squeezing her. The mind-controlling device worked perfectly.
***
Lonny had received his permanent resident pass, so he hung around the palace even if he didn't really want to be there. He couldn't believe Camilla's transformation, and since he knew Haje had become evil, he decided to consult with someone smarter than him.
So he went to look for Camilla's men. He found his way to the spaceport and finally saw Camilla's starship, still docked there among others. He was glad to see her crew hadn't abandoned her.
He went onboard, determined. Danold stared at him, surprised, but proved more eager to listen to him, while Waldo – with his enhanced sunglasses and lower body exoskeleton – made him uneasy.
"Think, Lonny," Danold said, serious. "If she changed so much, she must be being controlled. From what you say, she's not dazed, so it's not drugs. Think about it, is there anything she's always wearing? A belt, a necklace, a bracelet..."
Lonny shook his head, thinking, remembering, trying to visualize the various outfits of the new queen, to find the similarities...
He brightened. "The choker! She always wears a colorful choker with precious gems!"
"One of those gems is probably a mind-controlling device." Danold nodded. "Now you know what to do. Take it off her neck and come back here with her."
Lonny nodded and rushed back to the palace.
***
"Do you trust him?" Waldo asked with a frown.
"He's not as stupid as we think," Danold replied with a shrug. "Besides, Haje didn't think you could free Smeralda... Lonny is twenty-two and even if he's not as smart as you that doesn't mean he'll fail."
Waldo had blushed at the mention of his failure, so he didn't make comments.
"Besides, we don't have much choice," Ty said with a sigh. "Unless we barge in shooting at everyone and everything, but it would be a useless slaughter..."
***
"My lady," Lonny whispered shyly.
Camilla looked at him with polite indifference.
"Your choker is a little off, can I put it back?"
Camilla nodded. She didn't have a mirror to check that the colored gems were in the right position.
Lonny hesitated only briefly, then grabbed the choker and ripped it off her neck, throwing it to the end of the corridor. Camilla moaned and crumbled in his arms.
Lonny felt his heart beat faster. He was not a child anymore and his manhood stirred. He pulled up her chin. Her eyes were still closed. Without thinking, Lonny brushed her lips with his, then tasted the kiss a little more.
"Lonny!" Camilla opened her eyes and looked at him as if she was waking up from a long sleep. "What happened?"
"It was Haje," he answered, still dreamy. "We must run away, Danold is waiting for us."
Camilla gathered her senses and nodded.
The door at the end of the corridor opened and Haje entered, stepping over the choker that cracked under his foot.
Haje looked at them and frowned. "Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.
Camilla took Lonny's hand. "Away," she answered. "Don't try to stop me."
"You'll end up like Smeralda," he threatened.
"You don't scare me," she retorted. "I'm not a precious Perfect who can't defend herself. If you want to strangle me, you first have to lay your hands on my neck."
Lonny's eyes widened in shock. "Haje killed Smeralda?" he whispered incredulous.
"Yes, Lonny, Haje has lost it completely," Camilla answered sourly. "Let's go. We won't let him stop us."
She dragged Lonny forward.
***
Haje punched Lonny in the face and tried to stop Camilla, but she was prepared. She might not have his muscles, but she knew martial arts and self-defense – something Smeralda had never learned. As they fought, she ripped off his left sleeve, which distracted him enough to let her go.
She ran away with still-dazed Lonny and he went after them. Camilla plunged in the great hall, followed by Haje, and skidded to a stop in front of the crowd of Perfects staring wide-eyed at them.
"Get her!" Haje ordered.
Camilla pushed Lonny towards the main entrance and turned to look at Haje, still panting.
"Sorry, Haje, you asked for it," she said.
He realized the Perfects were gaping at him. He glanced at his shoulder, the ripped sleeve, the purple patch under everybody's eyes. His imperfection was plain obvious.
Haje backed away, frightened. Soon he was the one pursued by angry Perfects, furious for his trick. Again he ran towards the wall between the cities, like he had done years earlier to escape from the robotic security sent by Chrystal and Smeralda.<
br />
This time he couldn't reach it though. They reached him before the wall and assaulted him with hatred. They took him up and over the wall.
"Go back to where you came from!" They shouted before throwing him down.
The ground was hard. The fall was worse than when he'd willingly jumped.
"Haje!" Miri was the first to reach him.
"Miri..." he whispered, feeling his life leaving him. "I've been a fool... I killed Smeralda, I killed myself..."
"Oh, Haje!" Miri hugged him as he sank into oblivion.
***
Camilla stared into space as she lay on her bunk. The starship was leaving Mirabilis, but it wasn't easy to forget. Haje's mind control wasn't complete, and she still remembered the feelings he had induced in her.
The buzzer snapped her back to reality and she unlocked the door, allowing her first mate to join her. She stared at his exoskeleton and his sunglasses and sighed. Hopefully it wasn't permanent, but she'd put him in danger.
"Sorry to disturb you," Waldo said shyly. "Do you need to talk?"
"No, I need to get you to a real hospital soon," she said. "I'm sorry you ended up like this."
"I'll be fine," he shrugged. "But you? How are you feeling?"
"It was a hard lesson."
"Which one?"
"Haje." She sat on the bunk, thoughtful. "I have never been in love, and it felt so good..."
"You... remember?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes," she answered.
"Why did you never fall in love?"
"Because I hated men," she answered. "I was still a child when my stepfather abused me. I never forgot. Men are disgusting. I had sex, but not with my heart, not until Haje forced me with his mind-controlling device."
Waldo didn't comment. She stared at him and wondered what his glasses showed him. She remembered his hazel eyes, and decided she must do something about it.
"We'll cure you, Waldo, you'll be like new."
"Thanks."
"Are you always so embarrassed?"
"I'm not embarrassed."
"Yeah, right... did Danold send you?"
"No, why?"
"Just asking." She lay down again and went back to staring at the ceiling. "He knows I like you."
"He never told me that!" he protested.
"I sure hope not." She smiled. "I never told him, but I think he knows me enough to have figured it out on his own."
"He should be your first mate," he said.
"If he wanted command, he wouldn't stay on my ship," she replied. "Don't feel guilty for nothing."
"I don't feel guilty."
"Man, I can't even look you in the eyes!" She snorted. "I shouldn't have left you alone in the Lower Town."
"I'm pretty tough, and you said I'll be like new."
"You will be," she promised, rising from the bunk. She went to him. "I know you're in love with me," she whispered, settling his shirt on his chest. "Your silent adoration scared me, but it also attracted me... is it too late?"
He shook his head, obviously unable to speak. He hugged her and kissed her as if he'd waited for ever. She lost herself in his mouth, feeling the kiss for the first time. It was even more intense than when Haje had done it while controlling her mind.
"What changed?" he asked, caressing her hair. "I'm always the same – quite damaged at the moment..."
"I changed, Waldo," she answered, putting her arms around his neck. "I love you."
Brothers
Raken had forgotten too much about his home planet. Upon exiting the main spaceport, he stopped to inhale the air, looking for forgotten smells – but got mostly the stench of starship fuels.
Raken coughed and wrinkled his pierced nose, wondering why the smell of freshly cooked bread and pastries was completely gone from around the spaceport. Public cars came and went with travelers and commuters. The sound of starships taking off was overwhelming and explained why there were no buildings that close to the spaceport – not for living anyway.
The skyline of Alahairo's capital was wrapped in a mist that might be either polluted air or something else. The once so blue sky was now gray, in spite of the sun shining over the planet. A strong wind messed with his long auburn hair, forcing him to tie it in a ponytail.
What a homecoming, he thought with an internal sigh. Alahairo now looked exactly like the other planets of the Star Nations, at least around the spaceport. For the rest, it was the planet of the dead, where Alahairians came back to rest in peace. He pictured the expanses of cemeteries and wished he could be already in that quiet instead of the noisy spaceport.
"Welcome to the planet of traders, mighty Alahairo," he said, grabbing the hand of I'lli'nya, a young woman with a shifty expression, long frizzy brown hair, a broad build and chocolate brown eyes. In spite of the contrasting colors of their skins, I'lli'nya had been in his heart for many years now. The pale-skinned local women couldn't compare to his voluptuous Ulba'wissian girlfriend.
Raken was in his thirties, tall and well-built, with the right muscles in the right places for the constant exercise he'd had during the three years he'd spent in a Wegan arena, where he'd been a fast and not very strong gladiator who had managed to stay alive and earn back his freedom – and that of his dark-skinned girlfriend, who had worked in a brothel while he fought for his life.
"It was high time you showed me where you came from," I'lli'nya replied, looking around with big doe eyes. "Do I get to meet your family?"
"What's left of it." He shrugged. "I left fifteen years ago... I went to college on your home planet, in case you forgot."
"How could I forget our meeting in the corridors of Ald'dyno University?" She giggled and squeezed his fingers. "One of the few pale-skinned students – and all my friends couldn't believe I dated you!"
"I guess your parents weren't happy either, but that was one more reason to leave as soon as we could." He approached the pod of an electric car that had just deposited some passengers and held the door open for her.
"Did we have to follow Maldak to Wega, though?" She frowned as they sat in a public car. At least the sounds of the spaceport were muffled inside the small passenger space, and they were soon left behind. "I thought Alahairians were traders – they're everywhere, why didn't we get in your father's business?"
"Because we eloped, remember?" He smiled fondly at her. "Besides, mine is one of the few families who stays here to take care of everything. Boring job – keeping watch on cemeteries and our one and only factory... no thanks!"
She sighed. "Didn't you say it's some kind of jewelry stuff? I like shiny golden things!"
He typed the address into the car's navigator and relaxed in the seat, putting one arm around I'lli'nya's shoulder. The pod smelled of plastic and her faint scent.
"Really? You wanted to end up with robots, supervising them as they mold golden jewels?" he teased. "You'd be sick of it after a week, trust me! Watching all that gold and not being able to get any of it... That's why it's mostly automated, so nobody gets weird ideas about it!"
"Fine, so what does your family do?"
"We take care of things... cemeteries, mostly." He looked out of the window as the car moved towards the town, then turned right and headed for open countryside. A glimpse of blue sky seemed to be ahead of them. The pod went too fast to observe the landscape, so Raken recreated it from his memories.
"And you'd rather be a trader. And sell your girlfriend's body." She shot a mischievous smile at him.
"I'm not your pimp!" he protested. "And, you're not going to sell your body ever again," he added sternly, staring at her round face. "I'll take care of you from now on."
She grinned, white teeth shining on the dark-skinned face. "Yes, my lord Raken," she teased before kissing him.
The car stopped and Raken looked outside. "Ah, yes, we're there. That's my parents' house."
They exited the car in front of a large imposing house in well-kept grounds. The mansion had been built in the countryside and if they tur
ned around they could still see the skyline of the city. The air was cleaner there and instead of civilization's noises, they heard birds singing, hidden in the foliage of the park's trees.
Raken inhaled with relief. That was much better! Flowers' perfumes mixing with the scent of freshly mown grass. That was a cherished childhood memory! He had missed that! He had always loved the garden and park surrounding the mansion.
Now for the house itself... his feelings were a little more conflicted. He looked up at the building, thoughtful. There were good memories and bad memories about that place.
"Raken Nevermind, are you rich?" I'llinya asked with a shaky voice, squeezing his fingers at the sight. Houses on Ulba'wiss were much smaller and even on Wega, mansions like that were only for the wealthy.
"Whoever chooses to stay here is well paid by everybody else," he answered, stepping towards the main door on the front porch. "But this is really the family house – Grandfather Nevermind made sure he could have everybody under the same roof, even if we're supposed to guard a lot of ground out there."
"So you were meant to take care of stuff," she chided. "And you became a bodyguard instead."
"True, I didn't follow into my father's footsteps." He grinned at her. "But I have a younger brother, I'm sure he did!"
He rang the bell, glancing at the flowerbeds and neatly cut bushes of the front-yard. He wondered if the old gardener was still alive, or had been replaced by someone else. Might be a robot these days, since everything was automated. His grandfather had a friend who loved gardening, but Raken doubted his generation was very much into that kind of thing.
The expected robot butler – no Humanoid was willing to be a servant anymore – guided him to the living room. Actually conceived as a ballroom by his grandfather, it now had lots of couches and armchairs and a long table for a banquet on the opposite side of the main door. A secondary door led to a "smoking room" and then the kitchen.
Raken found some new carpets in place of the older ones, and some new furniture, but his grandfather's armchair still sat by the French-windows. He could almost see the ghost of the old man sitting there and watching the family milling around him.
Sitting on one of the corner couches, he found Uncle Benton and Aunt Raylene. Benton had short gray hair and a plump figure. He obviously didn't keep himself fit, as if he didn't care anymore. Raylene had straight fiery red hair – the same fiery red hair of her sister that Raken had inherited – almost black eyes and a short build. She was still beautiful and looked much younger than her husband.
Star Minds Interregnum Page 13