Cha’Rolette turned to her with a hurt expression. What kind of person do you think I am?
“Sorry, I just... uh...”
Do you know how expensive it is to have someone killed? You have to pay off the police, you have to pay off the judges, you have to pay off the district attorneys. It costs a fortune.
“Oh.”
Cha’Rolette shook her head, causing her ringlets to flop about. I’m a businesswoman, and murder is bad for business. Much too expensive.
“That’s the reason you are against it?” Tulda grumbled to herself.
“So what are you going to do, Madam Ssykes?”
Cha’Rolette’s eyes sparkled. He’s publicly preaching his religious pap, so he needs to be publicly humiliated. After that, the other boys will reject what he has been teaching them.
“How are you going to humiliate him?
Cha’Rolette smiled wickedly. I’ll get him to fall for me. Then, once the other guys see his hypocrisy, I’ll crush him in front of everyone.
“You sure you can do that?”
Cha’Rolette flicked her hair back in her special sultry way. Please. There isn’t a man alive who can resist my charms.
“That’s what I mean. Look at the way he acts. I’m not even sure he is a man.”
Oh, he’s a man all right, and they’re all the same. Show the slightest bit of interest and I’ll have him panting for me like a tog in heat.
Cha’Rolette raised her hand. Thuquan, Jonarl, she ordered. The air beside her warped as if it were made of bent glass, and then there were two heavy-set bodyguards standing alongside her.
“Yes, Duchess,” Thuquan said, his dark eyes diligently searching around for any threat.
I want you to have some of the boys look into this Dyson guy. Find some dirt we can use.
“And if there is no dirt?”
She gave a superior sniff. Everyone has dirt.
As the bodyguards phased back into invisibility, Cha’Rolette leaned forward, her glowing hair writhing about like snakes. That boy is going to find out why no one dares to cross the Ssykes family.
* * *
“Okay, so what’s this one here?” Gerald asked, tapping his finger on the little squiggly symbol. “The one that looks like a desk?”
“That’s a basic greeting to someone of equal standing,” Ilrica explained, her long gray tail swishing about. “It’s pronounced tzerbia.”
“Tzerbia,” Gerald repeated.
Her tall ears twitched. “No, you need to roll the ‘R.’ It’s Tzerrrbia.”
“Tzerrrrrrbia,” he tried again.
“Tzerrrrrrrrrbia”
He brought his hand up to his mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
“I bit my tongue.”
Ilrica threw her head back and laughed heartily, revealing a maw full of sharp white fangs. Although he was sitting in a corner, she was actually sitting on the wall next to him as if that was the floor for her.
“Um, could you not sit that way? It’s kind of throwing off my sense of balance.”
“Deal with it, human.”
“Right, sorry.”
Gerald turned the book over and gave it a tap. “This is really great, with the text printed side by side in both Stolleckian and Standard, I should be able to piece together a workable Standard to English translation.”
He ran his hands over its leather bound surface. “Actually I’m kind of surprised you found this. I didn’t know the Alliance still had paper books.”
“Well, it’s not paper, it’s actually a kind of metal, but yes they still have some. Mostly for historical value. This came from the vaults in the archive.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “The restricted archives? Did you steal this?”
“All the locks at the academy are broken right now, so it’s really more of a door than a vault,” she said, waving her clawed hand at him. “I just saw this while I was in there and thought it might help you learn standard.”
“Yes, but what were you doing in the vaults?”
She used a claw to pick at something between her teeth. “Oh, you know... stuff.”
“Uh huh.”
Gerald opened the book again. “I had no idea Standard was so complicated. How long did it take you to learn it?”
“Half a second.”
He looked up at her in shock. She lifted up the fur on the back of her neck, revealing the crystronic plug points there.
“Oh, right.”
She smoothed her fur back down. “Even then it does take some work, though. You can download the language, but you can’t download muscle memory. You still have to practice speaking it a whole bunch to get the sounds and rhythm and tone down. It’s kind of a pain, that’s why most people don’t bother, they just use a translator. Heck, three cycles ago, before I got outfitted with crystronics, I couldn’t speak my own language.”
Gerald looked at her stupidly. “How could you not have been taught your own language?”
Ilrica looked at him seriously, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Gerald, can you keep a secret?”
He was surprised at how candid she was being. “Um, yeah.”
She patted him on the cheek. “So can I.”
Gerald shrugged and ran his finger across the page, finding a phrase that roughly translated to ‘thank you anyway,’ then pointed to her. “Tzdiol... llietz... nesha... tzlliek,” he said as best he could.
“No, that’s wrong. You only use ‘nesha’ to an equal. When addressing a Bertulf you’d need to use keiitzha.”
“But, we’re both students, wouldn’t that make us equals?”
“Pbbbth,” she said, sticking her tongue out. “As if.”
“Hey, I’ve seen your scores, I may be bottom of the class but you are just above me.”
“The Bertulf don’t care about that kind of stuff,” she said, grabbing her feet and rolling on her back like a little kid. “There are only two races. The hunter, and the prey.”
Gerald thought about this for a moment. “So, if your people don’t care about academics, then why are you here?”
She froze in place. For a brief moment, a wave of panic washed over her face, but she quickly covered it up.
“Oh, you know how these things work,” she said flippantly as she pounced down from the wall and landed next to him. “It’s just politics and all that. If the Bertulf didn’t send at least one representative everyone might forget the natural food-chain and start getting all uppity.”
“Do all of your people boast this much, or is it just an Ilrica thing?”
She smiled and flipped upside down, standing on the bottom side of a tree-branch. It was so disorienting that it made him wobble back and forth a little to look up at her.
“Look, I get it, Dyson. You humans didn’t ask to be the inferior species, just like the Bertulf didn’t ask to be the superior species. That is just how the dice fell. When you humans came along you had laughably little to compete against. It only took sticks and rocks to kill off the neanderthals or whatever and then found yourselves at the top of the heap with nothing to do but kill each other. You didn’t have to compete against psychic-stalking interplanetary predators, or take-down carnivores with diamond-hard skin twenty times your size. You were small fish in a very very small pond. Now you’ve been dumped into the ocean, and you find yourselves at the bottom of a much larger food chain. I can understand why that would be so upsetting.”
“Why do you always assume I am upset?”
She furrowed her brow. Her wolf-like ears fell down. “Because I would be.”
“Well, I am not. Being angry doesn’t solve anything.”
She dropped down next to him and slapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over. “You know, you’ve got a good attitude about this whole thing. I appreciate that. When the Bertulf hunt your world, I’m gonna have them add your name to the protected list.”
“Um... thanks?”
Ilrica looked him over, concern in her eyes.
“How’s your legs?”
“Pretty sore,” he said, rubbing them through his robes. “The bones haven’t completely mended yet.”
It was then that the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Instinctively he looked around. Somehow he just knew that someone was watching him, but all he saw was a quad full of bored students. Finally, he noticed a red silhouette up on top of the church tower beyond the girls dormitory where Trahzi stood, watching him.
“Forgive me for being a stereotypical xenophobic human, but it kind of creeps me out when she watches me like that.”
Ilrica looked up and noticed Trahzi as well. “Gerald, can I be serious with you for a moment?”
“I dunno. Are you physically capable of being serious?”
She swatted him on the butt with her tail.
“Hey.”
“No, Gerald, I am being serious. You need to stop talking to her. She’s dangerous.”
“Trahzi?” he asked, rubbing his backside.
Ilrica nodded solemnly. “The Bertulf hunt because it is what they were born to do. They never take more than their fill, and they live by a strict code. The Trahzi aren’t like them. They are monsters. They reduce whole planets to nothing but ash for no reason at all.”
Gerald looked up at the red-skinned woman watching them from afar.
“You need to stay away from her,” Ilrica said.
Before he could inquire further, Cha’Rolette floated by, a ray of sunlight causing her jewelry to sparkle as she hung in the air. Good afternoon, her voice sang sweetly in their minds, as she gave off a surprisingly radiant smile.
“Good afternoon,” Gerald said back.
Ilrica only nodded. “Why are you being so polite?”
Oh, don’t be silly. I am always polite. Her eyes sparkled a little as she settled on the ground.
Faolan, would you mind if I borrowed Dyson for a minute? I wish to speak to him.
Ilrica yawned and laced her fingers behind her head as she stood up. “Hey, you can have him. I’ve done my charity work for the day.”
As Ilrica walked away, Gerald looked around apprehensively.
Cha’Rolette daintily dusted off her skirt then knelt down next to him, her hands resting elegantly in her lap. She looked the very picture of nobility.
Mr. Dyson, I feel that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.
“You attempted to have me thrown out of school.”
She smiled demurely and crinkled up her cute little nose. Yes, but the way you stood up for yourself in class has given me cause to reconsider my opinion of you. I was hoping...
“You called me a plebian.”
Yes... please let me finish, I am not used to being interrupted.
“‘Kay.”
She breathed in deeply, and her voice inside his mind took on a very open and sincere tone. The truth is, I had become accustomed to being treated a certain way. But, you are not Issaguardian, and you have your own customs and traditions and I need to learn to be tolerant of them. That is, after all the point of this academy.
Gerald seemed to let down his guard a little bit. “You are right, of course. And I am completely ignorant of your ways.”
Cha’Rolette brought a dainty hand up to her face and giggled coquettishly. The truth is, all the men around here are so deferential to me. Sometimes they trip over each other just to talk to me.
“I have noticed that.”
But you’re not like them. You’re different.
She slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again, emphasizing her long beautiful eyelashes.
The truth is... I find you very interesting, and I would like to get to know you better.
She linked her hands behind her back and leaned in towards him, tilting her head coyly. Gerald had watched other girls at the school use this flirt pose before, but having it used on him caught him quite unprepared.
Her ringlets began glowing faintly, and he felt a tickle inside his skull.
Her dazzling jade eyes, looking up at him through smoky, hooded lids were infinitely inviting. Her hair tucked back over one ear, revealed just a hint of the nape of her long elegant neck, just begging to be nuzzled and kissed. The glow of her flawless skin, something about it just made his fingertips instinctively know that it would be deliciously satiny to the touch. Her striking jawline, her cheekbones high and lovely. Everything about this creature was beautiful. Something to be protected, something to be treasured.
Gerald could feel his heart beating in his chest. She was so close he even got his first hint of her perfumed scent. She smelled different than a human woman, but in a good way. A very veeerrrry good way. A kind of exotic spiciness that was hard to define, but instantly alluring. It was all he could do to stop himself from breathing it in right in front of her.
Gerald could feel his face flush, his breath quickening. Experiencing this flirting technique for the first time himself, he had to admit it was wickedly effective.
“No thanks,” he said politely as he returned to studying his book.
She looked stunned, like she had been struck in the head. W-what?
“I’m not here to go on dates. I have work to do.”
She shook her head, trying to regain her composure. B-but this place has the greatest concentration of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in the galaxy. Half the kids at this school are under strict order from their families to secure a quality engagement by the end of the school year.
“Well, I’m not one of them,” he said without looking up.
Cha’Rolette looked around in astonishment, as if she half expected people to jump out of the bushes with hidden cameras at any moment.
Gerald stood up. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a language to learn.”
As he walked away, Kamanie and Tulda walked over from the statue they were hiding behind.
“Wow, I have never seen anyone shoot the Duchess down like that,” Tulda mentioned.
“Told you he wasn’t a man,” Kamanie added.
Cha’Rolette’s eyebrow twitched angrily.
* * *
Gerald wiped the sweat from his brow as he worked the patch of soil before him in the school’s conservatory. It had taken him years to get a Stollickian Lotus to successfully grow in Earth’s soil. Losing the little plant when his luggage was incinerated was a setback, to be sure, but he was hoping he’d have more luck here on Central, since the soil conditions were far more similar to Stollick, and the tiled roof could be altered to create sunlight conditions from a variety of worlds. At least they’d be able to once the engineers got them working again.
Gerald set the rake aside and plunged a little stick into the soil, testing to make sure he had achieved the proper aeration and texture.
Suddenly a pair of shoes dropped down into the plot before him.
Hi Gerald, what are you doing? Cha’Rolette asked. She played with her necklace, trying to draw attention to her deliciously feminine neckline.
“I am preparing the soil for a seed,” he explained.
Soil? She looked down at her sinking shoes and stepped back. Awww, now my shoes are all dirty.
“My apologies,” he said, picking up the rake again.
Now I have to go track down a servant to polish them.
“It must be terrible for you,” he said as he worked the soil anew.
She watched him for a moment. He had taken off the top layer of his cassock and tied it around his waist, leaving him bare from the waist up. A lifetime of working out in the sun had had its effect on him. He definitely had a sculpted and athletic build with layers of natural muscle, and that healthy glow people get from being outside in the cool mountain air. The noblemen she was accustomed to seeing were attractive, but usually in a lean and pale kind of way. Not like this. This was something she had never seen up close before.
His back was particularly impressive, rippled and strong from years of carrying heavy burdens. For a moment, she completely forgot what she was here to do and just stared at his chis
eled physique as he worked.
You know, I find it really attractive when a man can do things with his own two hands, she said as she stepped closer. Her ringlets began to glow with power. She casually reached out and touched his forearm to stop him.
He looked at his arm and his eyes widened a little bit, as if he had been bitten by something. When he looked back up, he found her beautiful jade eyes looking right back into his. Wide and inviting, with just a tantalizing hint of playfulness. He felt himself getting lost in her eyes. They were hypnotic in a way that was hard to describe. It felt to him like lying down in the world’s most comfortable bed, and drifting off to sleep. He felt like he never wanted to get up again out of that bed. Her ringlets glowed brighter and brighter. The tickle in his brain became a pressure.
Just as she began to lean in closer, he shook his head and snapped out of it. “I’m sorry, but I promised the cooks I’d help them with the dinner preparations. Apparently they’ve never had to cook over an open fire pit before, and I’m going to teach them how it’s done.”
Gerald pulled his arms away and walked out of the conservatory. Tulda and Kamanie poked their heads out from behind a fruit tree.
“Is he playing hard to get?” Kamanie asked.
“Where did a country bumpkin like him learn such a high-level technique?”
Cha’Rolette gritted her teeth. He should have been eating out of my palm after that. Okay, the usual stuff isn’t working, I’m going to have to push a little harder.
* * *
Gerald finished scattering the coals until he had a good bed of red-hot charcoal going. Laying down a couple hickory knots for flavor, he placed the grill down and pronounced it ready. The cooks thanked him in their various ways and began laying out the prepared meats and seafoods. Since all the preservation units were broken, it seemed like a good idea to use as much of the meat as possible before it spoiled.
Gerald leaned back against a marble counter and took in the scent. Already he realized how much he sorely missed the smokey scent of a fire pit, the airy hint of pine needles in the air, and the touch of salt that touched everything where he was from. Everything was so clean here in Central, but not in a good way. It felt like breathing out of a tank. So antiseptic that it felt unnatural. At times like this, he regretted ever leaving his little valley.
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