Betrayal (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 14)

by J. Naomi Ay

  "Two drops is what the doctor recommended. You'll want to take it with water or some other kind of liquid."

  The women air-kissed each other, and promised to visit again real soon.

  Afterward, Joanne and her guardsmen set out for the garage while Gwen went the other direction into the mall, as she had promised Jim that she'd bring some Cinnabons home. She stopped at the Popcorn Emporium to pick up some kettle corn for Admiral Tim, followed by Mrs. Fields, as Shelly loved her chocolate chip cookies.

  When a rat scampered across Taner’s bed in the middle of the night, he decided that was the final straw. Apparently, no one else was dealing with the rodent infestation, so he’d have to take the matter into his own hands.

  The first thing Taner did was speak with the gardener again.

  “We need something stronger, something that will kill them.”

  “That would be cyanide, Mr. Taner, but I don’t have any of that around here. It might end up killing something else by accident.”

  “Can you get it? I, personally, will put it out, and make certain no one else comes into contact with it.”

  “I suppose,” the old gardener said. “I’ll go into town tomorrow, and pick up a bottle of the crystals. Just sprinkle a little bit here and there. That should do it. Be sure to wear your gloves, and seal the bottle tightly. A few drops can kill a man as large as you.”

  The next day, Taner was rewarded with a bottle of potassium cyanide in the granular formulation used for killing rats. He donned a set of garden gloves, and a surgical mask to protect his face.

  “What are you doing, Taner?” Kinar asked, approaching from the Family kitchen, while Taner was sprinkling poison into the garden. “Don’t we have a gardener on staff to manage the grounds?”

  “It’s the rats,” Taner tried to explain, although his words were muffled by the mask. “Whatever you do, Kinar, don’t touch the white crystals.”

  Kinar studied them from afar, his mind considering the implications. Potassium cyanide was lethal to everyone, not just rats. Drop a few grains of this in someone’s drink, for instance, their black coffee, which they consumed every morning without fail. They would die within an hour, two at the most. One large crystal would kill them within ten minutes, long before anyone anywhere could offer help.

  But, there was no one who Kinar wished to kill. Well, not at the moment, anyway. Was there? Actually, now that he thought on it, yes, there was. There really was someone who ought to be erased.

  “Might I have that bottle when you have finished?” Kinar asked Taner.

  “This one?” Taner inquired, holding it aloft. The two men exchanged glances full of meaning, and innuendo. “I’m not certain, I’ll have any left, when I have finished. It’s very dangerous, you know. It can kill creatures, much larger beasts.”

  “Such as…birds?”

  “Indeed,” Taner replied.

  “Large birds such as raptors with enormous wings?” Kinar held out his arms as if demonstrate such a wingspan’s breadth.

  “Easily,” Taner nodded, “I am afraid. Very, very dangerous, Kinar, to one and all.”

  “I shall take the utmost care,” Kinar said. “I promise only to use it on the rat which now resides in my office. I should like to dispose of him long before he decides to breed again.”

  Taner nodded slightly, climbing out of the bed of dead tropical plants.

  “I’ll take your word for it, as it seems we are overrun with the little buggers everywhere. Why don’t you come to my apartment, and I shall pour some into an extra vial. I’m afraid this is my only supply of poison, and I must keep some on hand, just in case. But, I can spare a little, I suppose, for your office rat.”

  Kinar smiled, and inclined his head in a courtly way. Then, he followed Taner to his apartment in the annex.

  “Always wear gloves,” Taner instructed. “We should all hate to lose you by mistake.”

  “I promise,” Kinar promised, pocketing the vial.

  Chapter 23

  On a whim, Rent had sent a note to Ivana Ivanovka. It was long before he knew he would be traveling to Earth. It was a pretty benign note, saying something like, ‘My name is Rent, and I’m single, six-foot-one, one hundred ninety pounds, blonde, blue-eyed, mid-thirties, interested in women.’

  He had left out all that unimportant stuff about his father being the Evil Emperor, and his mother being lost somewhere out in the galaxy. He omitted mention of his brother, Steve, and all the other odd members of his family, although he did say he owned a condo, and was employed.

  Ivana Ivanovka, upon receiving Rent’s letter, didn’t bother to read it for several weeks. When she finally got around to perusing it, as well as the thousands of letters from similarly unattached men, she was struck by the appealing simplicity of Rent's words. She also found his physical description quite enticing, far different from the portly, pimply, basement dwellers who usually wrote. The fact that he owned a home, and wasn’t relying upon government or parental handouts for his subsistence, vaulted Rent to the head of the pack when it came to a response.

  Rent was equally surprised, and delighted when he received Ivana’s email. Coincidentally, at that moment, he was staring at her face. The mail-order bride catalogue was open on his screen, the newest additions highlighted with pink hearts.

  Rent decided that none of them compared to Ivana, who was singularly perfection in a woman. Although, he was still mildly heartbroken over Eva, Rent knew the best way to recover was to dive right in to something else, and Ivana was as good a something else as there ever could be.

  “What are you doing, dude?” Steve asked, gazing over his brother’s shoulder, as Rent intently studied the vid in the spaceplane's lounge. Steve yawned and stretched his arms above his head, arching his back so much so it cracked. “Man, twelve hours in that chair is an incredibly long shift. One of these days, dude, you’re going to have to learn how to drive this plane.”

  Rent didn’t respond as he was reading Ivana’s letter. It said something along the lines of, ‘Rent, I am receiving note and I am liking you very much. Maybe you send me picture? I am liking you better when I see smile. XXXOOO, Ivaninka.’

  “Ivaninka,” Rent breathed, reading the missive again.

  “Ivaninka?” Steve snickered. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Then, Rent clicked on Ivana’s picture, the one where Ivana was fully exposed.

  “Whoa,” Steve gasped. “Ivaninka. Does she have a sister?”

  “I think so.” Rent opened another tab on the vid screen, launching another query in which to check. As it turned out, Steve was in luck. Ivana had seven sisters, all similarly endowed. “How about Yulya Yulyanovka?” Rent asked.

  Steve blinked rapidly, while wondering if all of Yulya's parts were real. He squinted to read the legalese at the bottom of the screen.

  "Guaranteed 90% Human," it read.

  “Yeah, that chick would work for me," Steve told his brother. "How much does she cost?”

  “I think it depends on how far she has to travel. Moving her to Rehnor might be a little expensive.”

  "I wonder if they offer a discount if we take two?"

  “What are you looking at?” Arsan asked, now peering over Steve’s shoulder at the screen.

  “None of your business,” Steve replied, clasping his hand in front of the young boy’s eyes. “Go do something else. Go play outside, or drive the ship.”

  “I don’t know how to drive yet, Steve. I’m only fifteen.”

  “It’s easy. It flies just like a bird. You know about wings and those kind of things, don’t you, Arsan?”

  "I don't know. Should I, Steve?"

  "You conveniently don't know anything when you don't want to," Steve challenged. "Like who your mother is, or your father, for that matter. You're just a man of mystery, aren't you, Arsan? Except when it comes to receiving instructions from our dad. He told you to come with us, didn't he? Admit it, junior."

  Arsan shrugged, and stared impassi
vely back.

  "Is that important, Steve?"

  "As important as knowing who you are."

  "Is it important who I am, Steve? Would it mess up your already screwed up life if you found out that I was your son?"

  "Are you?"

  "Are you afraid I'll steal your crown, the crown that you don't have, or are you afraid you'll have to pay more attention to me than you do Sara?"

  At this point, Rent shut off the vid, and rose to his feet. He couldn't concentrate on a proper response to Ivana with the two of them bickering right behind him. Furthermore, he had already heard this argument. In fact, he had heard it several times over the course of the last week. Not a day went by when Arsan and Steve didn't find a reason to start a fight.

  By next week, Rent figured, they'd be at it with their fists instead of words, and he'd have to intervene to keep them apart. Hopefully by then, they would all be on Earth, and have more important business to attend to than these endless and silly disputes.

  "I'm going to go sit in the cockpit and pretend I know what I'm doing," Rent told them. "Steve, you should get some sleep. Arsan, go find something to do. Don't you have any homework?"

  "Homework," Steve snorted. "Who gave you permission to check out of school anyway?"

  "I'll make it up when I get back," Arsan insisted. "If it'll make you feel any better, I'll go online and do it now."

  Sitting down at the console which Rent had just vacated, Arsan flicked on the vid. Ooops! There was Yulya Yulyanovka once again.

  "Whoa!"

  "No!" Steve snapped, once again wrapping his hand around the boy's eyes. "Go read a book. Huck Finn or something. Maybe next time, Rent won’t forget to log out."

  Rent shut the door to the cockpit, relishing the silence that simple action brought. While he had never enjoyed traveling in space, even Rent had to admit the view was incredible. Everywhere he looked billions of stars flickered back. Clouds of space dust swirled in a rainbow of colors. Somewhere off over there, or maybe it was over here, or maybe even this way, Rent couldn't tell, the Planet Earth awaited, and somewhere down there was his mom. A needle in a haystack. A grain of sand in the desert. A distant star in the universe on the other side of his window.

  The day Rent saw Earth for the first time, he nearly missed it. His attention was split between the rat that was scampering through the passenger lounge, and the note from Ivana Ivanovka, which was displayed on the screen.

  ‘Rentichka,’ Ivana had written. ‘Now I see smile, I love you very much. I see you look like man on show with island. I see you handsome and look like prince.”

  At first, Rent was quite flattered with Ivana’s response, but as he began to analyze it more, he wondered if she suspected the truth. Would she only want him for his money? He really didn’t have any when it came down to it. He had spent all his wages on his condo, and there was nothing left.

  ‘I dream of my Rentichka when close eyes at night. Ivaninka want only Rentichka, not blanket.’

  Rent felt his face get hot. A blush crept up his cheeks.

  ‘Ivaninka want kiss Rentichka on his…’

  “What are you reading?” Arsan asked.

  “Nothing. Go away,” Rent snapped, quickly covering the screen with both hands.

  Arsan shrugged, and started to walk off, back to his cabin in the aft, just as Steve opened the cockpit door, and whistled.

  “Hey guys! Check this out. We’re almost there. Come get your first look at our other mother planet, Earth.”

  Right at the same moment, a huge black rat appeared out of nowhere. It bolted across the floor, right in front of Rent’s feet, and in between Steve’s legs, sidling through the crack in the cockpit door, and under the console.

  “Ah!” Rent screamed.

  “Kari-fa!” Steve yelled. “Where the fuck did that thing come from?”

  “The aft,” Arsan replied, pointing towards the spaceplane’s rear.

  “Rent, do something,” Steve ordered. “Get rid of it.”

  “I hate rats,” Rent replied.

  “And, you think I don’t?”

  Both men turned, and looked at Arsan.

  “You get it.” Steve pointed. “You’re Senya’s mini-me. You probably eat them for dinner.”

  “I don’t like rats either,” Arsan complained. “Why should I have to do it?”

  This argument went around and around for a few more iterations, while all three princes tried to get another to do the deed.

  “You were in the SpaceNavy and you’re afraid of rats?”

  “You’re a hundred and ninety pounds. You told that to Ivaninka yourself. The rat weighs what? About two pounds, three ounces?”

  Unfortunately, while they fought, the rat had found a cord wrapped in insulated PVC casing, a nearly indestructible plastic covering, except when it came to tiny, sharp, rodent teeth. Unfortunately, this wire controlled the rudder system. Upon breaking contact with that most important piece of steering equipment, Jimmy’s Chariot went spiralling toward the planet.

  Rent’s first view of his mother’s planet was a large blue and green orb that was filling the cockpit windows awfully fast. That was until they hit the outer thermosphere, and everything around them instantly burned to ash. The temperature inside the plane rose so high, it nearly melted their skin.

  “I’m not sure I like Earth,” Rent gasped, his hair and face somewhere near the cockpit’s ceiling.

  “Prepare for a crash landing!” Steve barked.

  “How?” Rent cried. “What do we do?”

  “Everybody sit down and buckle up,” Steve ordered. “Ooops. It’s too late for that.”

  Chapter 24

  Twenty minutes after Gabe left in pursuit of a vehicle, Katie was still standing on a corner in the metallic metropolis. During that time, she had been panhandled by no less than three people, as well as accosted by four Rossorians attempting to recruit her.

  “Rosso knows the way,” a tall, skinny man declared. At least Katie thought he was a man, although under his blue robe, she wasn’t certain. “Follow Rosso and his laws, sister, and your life will be one of meaning.”

  “I’ve had plenty of meaning already,” Katie muttered. “In fact, I’ve had so much meaning, I don’t know what anything means anymore.”

  “Ah!” The Rossorians jumped at that. “We can help with your distress!”

  “Once you meet Rosso, you will see the light,” a woman said. Presumably, she was a woman. All Katie could see was a nose peeking out from a hole in the robe. “You must discover the truth in the Book, sister.”

  “That’s okay.” Katie tried to wave them away, crossing the street and heading down the block.

  “You must,” the man insisted, following Katie wherever she went. “You must listen to my words now. It’s the law.”

  “What did you say?” Katie demanded, pulling up sharply, causing an innocent passer-by to nearly collide.

  “It’s true,” the passer-by said, stepping sideways to avoid Katie. “So you don’t infringe on their free speech, you are required to listen to their spiel. Just nod your head and act like it interests you. Anything less will get you thrown in jail.”

  “Lord Rosso says that all men must sleep on cows,” the Rossorian intoned, pulling out the Book of Rosso from beneath his robe. “On page two hundred twenty-seven, when the moon is full or waxing gibbous, the man must spread his blanket on a bull.”

  “You’re kidding,” Katie gasped at both the Rossorian, and the passer-by. “This is a joke, right? Some kind of hidden camera show on the vid?”

  The passer-by shrugged and shook his head. “That’s the way things are now on this planet. Don’t worry, it’s all politically correct.”

  “And, women must bathe their toenails five times a day, after which they are required to walk upon crushed ice."

  “Shut up!” Katie pointed her finger at the Rossorian man. “I don’t want to hear this kind of crap. Move along, or I just might shoot you.”

  “You must l
isten, sister,” the woman replied. “Or, we’ll place you under arrest for violating our civil rights.”

  "That's right," the passer-by called, from half way down the street. "Bullying Rossorians is a crime punishable by death."

  "On the fourth day of every month, between the hours of one and three, all Rossorians must weigh their buckets of corn on a bathroom scale."

  "Wait a minute," Katie interrupted. "You mean to tell me that I can be arrested if I don't want to hear this, but you can infringe on my rights all you want?"

  "It's Rossorian Law," the woman replied. "So, the answer is yes."

  "If one doesn't have a bucket or any corn to place inside..."

  "What happened to Allied Law and the Constitution?"

  The woman stared at Katie blankly. In fact, her spouse stopped reading from the book.

  “The Constitution?” they asked.

  "The Constitution?" Katie repeated.

  Fortunately for Katie, a large motorhome arrived. Gabe was sitting behind the wheel, smiling joyfully.

  "I thought this might be more fun that a little speedster. Hop aboard, Cassie. You and I are going to hit the road."

  Katie scrambled aboard to the brief dismay of the Rossorians, who were still pondering the meaning of that funny Constitution word. With Katie gone, however, they quickly turned their attention to a homeless man who was rummaging through a dumpster down the street.

  “Where to?” Gabe asked, directing the giant box through the downtown, rush hour traffic. “We can’t go west because of the ocean, but we can certainly do north, south, or east.”

  “Don’t we need to be someplace?” Katie buckled her belt, and then gripped the edge of her seat as Gabe nearly barreled over a crowd of pedestrians.

  “We’ll be exactly where we need to be at exactly the point we need to be there. Now, that I’m with you,” he added with a smile. "Don’t worry. We’ll stay on course. Is south hot? I don’t like hot. I’ve been to too many hot places, mostly on account of my brothers. Shall we go north? I wouldn’t mind a little ice and snow. We could go skiing or skating. How does a cup of hot cocoa next to a blazing fire sound to you?”