Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5)

by Scott Rhine

The combination of food and the dark beer was more enjoyable. Soon, Stu was alternating as he chatted. “So. Do I have an aunt here?”

  “Ivy? No. She lives in Cardiff with her lazy husband who claims to be a plumber. You should see the gut on him.”

  “I meant, do you have a wife?”

  Kieran replied, “No, lad, none of them has caught me yet, though enough have tried. You’ll see the lay of the land soon enough. Lay … hah! I slay myself. Think you’d like to take in a game of football while you’re here? I was skeptical as first, but they’re brilliant players. Not as good in a fight as our boys, but their footwork is tremendous.”

  Stu concentrated on the beer and scenery.

  The university wasn’t far. The front gate had high walls and impressive security. Guards gave Stu and Onesemo each a badge for campus access. “Your mum wanted safety of the girls to be foremost. No one but a student or a vetted worker can enter the campus.”

  Soon, his uncle pointed out various science buildings and pieces of art that had been donated. “That scale model of Ascension is a memorial to your mum, commissioned after we lost contact.” A six-meter hologram of Mercy Llewellyn, the shuttle’s chief architect, hovered above it like an angel. The English inscription called her an inventor, pioneer, and mother. “Everyone wore black for a week—even their knickers.”

  “What do you teach?”

  “I don’t. I started in accounting with a specialization in not-for-profit organizations. I helped turn that nest egg of your mum’s into a full-blown aviary. Nowadays I greet the alums, fish for celebrity donations, and keep the local government happy.” Kieran chuckled at his own jokes. Then he pointed out to the numerous sails on Guanabara Bay. “I literally go fishing with them, right out there on my yacht. The school takes care of itself. No one comes to my office for a spanking … unless they want it.” His uncle winked.

  Stu faked a smile and crunched on the crackers to avoid speaking. Next time we meet, I should bring a hidden camera.

  Girls were everywhere—many of them in shorts and bikini tops. The variety of shapes and sizes amazed him. None of them were ugly. Few were talents, though. Then he noticed the walking. The wiggles, sways, and struts were captivating.

  When Stu missed a question, his uncle had to ask it again. “Bird watching never gets old, does it? I have to pop up to my office to put on the old gown for the assembly. You want to come up? I guarantee you’ll love the view.”

  “I’m easy. What’s the assembly for?”

  Kieran smiled. “To introduce my favorite nephew to the school. You just need to march out and wave a bit like you did at the airport. Say ‘Hi’ with that accent of yours. They’ll eat it up.”

  I have a Sanctuary accent. Hah. “As long as it’s televised.”

  His uncle wagged a finger. “You’re a politician in the making. I respect that.”

  The car stopped in front of a five-story office building with glass elevators on the corners. They rode up to the penthouse suite in a private elevator on the beach side. Kieran waltzed past his assistant in a lobby bigger than that of a hotel where Stu had stayed. He nodded toward Mo. “Leave your guard out here. My office is safer than a vault, bulletproof glass and everything.”

  The office was even bigger than the lobby. It had a bar, entertainment center, and a bathroom with gold fixtures. When Kieran caught him staring, his uncle asked, “Need to use the loo?”

  “Maybe to comb my hair.” Stu went in to survey the extent of the luxury. Roman senators would have been embarrassed by this display. He adjusted his hair and tie for the sake of formality.

  Back in the main room, his uncle had donned a chancellor’s robe. He gestured to a magnified panel on one window. “Have a look.”

  When Stu stepped forward, he was shocked by the telescopic view. “They don’t have tops on.”

  “That’s the way the girls sunbathe around here. No tan lines that way. They lay about on every flat rooftop we have. Since the university is girls only, you get to see some of their bottoms, too.” Kieran wiggled his eyebrows. He touched a button at the bottom of the panel, and names and ID numbers appeared under the women. “I have access to their schedules if you want to bump into any of them. For you, they’re going to be fish in a barrel. Just pace yourself. No public displays of affection. No acknowledgement. Like the old joke about the bull says, ‘Take it slow, and you can fuck them all.’”

  Stu covered his mouth as he swallowed bile.

  Kieran offered him a small container of breath spray. “Have a spritz of this. It’s also a pheromone blocker. Keeps you from getting tongue-tied around the real lookers.”

  “You know. If this assembly is going to take a while, I might want to empty out that beer.”

  “Wise man.”

  In the bathroom, running the water, Stu called the film crew. “Hans. I think I know what the next exposé should be about.”

  ****

  Stu had the event planner hold his introduction so he could appear last and his crew could get there with cameras. As heir to this trust, he wanted to replace Kieran with someone more suitable. However, Stu couldn’t drop the hammer just yet. He needed to document the abuses on the sly while he searched for a qualified replacement.

  The auditorium was enormous, normally reserved for graduations, inductions, and indoor sports. When Kieran introduced him, Stu took the microphone and paused for a moment as he gazed out over the crowd. His chest constricted until he focused on a single teacher in the front row. “You all have made this the premier science university in the world—not just the best women’s school. Through your hard work and your giving back, you have made my mother’s dream a reality.”

  The cheering took over a minute to subside. During this time, he moved into another spotlight, and the glare prevented him from seeing the enormous crowd.

  “I came here to say that space doesn’t come in blue for boys and pink for girls. In the eyes of the Union of Souls, you are equal. The women actually survive longer out there because they don’t think with their testosterone. Half the people on the Sanctuary mission were competent women, not the quarter you find in industry today. Fifty percent. And if the UN gets its head out of its arse, you can be with us in space when you graduate.”

  He thought the rivets were going to pop out of the auditorium walls at the roar of approval. Once the audience quieted, he shared with them about the dangers they had discovered on the twenty-year mission, such as mental imbalances caused by entering subspace. He gave them a preview of the radio message Sanctuary sent from Labyrinth, which Earth would receive in another ten years. He spoke about life on another planet and how members of the Sanctuary crew could become their faculty for new subjects like xenobiology and xenolinguistics.

  Then he shifted to the long journey back to Earth, keeping his listeners on the edge of their seats. “Collecting methane fuel at extreme gs, even Magi engineering breaks down. The hull ceramics developed microfissures like broken bones or teeth abused from grinding. We could smell the methane all over the biosphere, so we knew there had to be a leak. Only two of us were qualified to patch the damage. Risa fabricated some of the replacement parts out of synthetic diamond, and Herk did the installs. Dad kept watch on the bridge while I managed the gravity generators. We had to keep the power levels low to conserve our leaking fuel, but high enough for the animals to have gravity.” Stu told a war story about reshaping a fitting while Herk held an active Icarus device in place above his head.

  An hour later, the audience was still rapt. No one moved or left. He walked the aisles, addressing the older students based on their majors. He told them what their jobs would be like in a few years and how their world would change if Earth recognized Sanctuary.

  Kieran had to tap Stu on the shoulder to let him know that the ladies needed dinner.

  Stu wiped the sweat from his forehead and apologized. “Forgive me. I’ve kept you long enough. Maybe I’ll get a chance to speak to you talented people again sometime. Until then, m
ay you find safety, dignity, and purpose.”

  The applause was deafening. Kieran held up Stu’s hand to pose next to him for the photos that the girls were snapping.

  Off stage, Kieran said, “Guess you didn’t need that spray. You’re a master at this, lad. They’ll do anything you want. You won’t even need alcohol. For the sake of propriety, though, try to do them one at a time or people might talk.” This comment puzzled Stu, but he couldn’t form a reply before his uncle asked, “What restaurant would you like to go to tonight? The best one has every kind of meat you can imagine on a skewer, and they bring each to your table and carve off as much as you want. The whole thing is all you can eat.”

  “Um … I thought I’d try the cafeteria and rub elbows with the students.”

  “Elbows. That’s a good one.” Kieran tossed Stu a key. “That’s for my spare flat on the fourth floor. Knock yourself out. You’re a Llewellyn through and through.”

  ****

  In the cafeteria, Stu interviewed a lot of the students in front of the cameras. Then he spoke to a few more because of their smiles. He stayed in the common area until it closed, signing autographs, posing for pictures, and turning down kisses. He had learned from his court case that kisses could be contagious. Onesemo and one of the Fortune guards kept fans at a respectful distance. The other guard scouted the suite for him.

  He met one Active, a married instructor in alien materials science. However, he found out something crucial about himself during this period of flirtation—crowds where people could actually crush him were terrifying. At a distance, the women interested in him were glowing and attractive. Up close, he could smell their breath, body odor, and see symptoms of possible disease. Engineering women didn’t take care of themselves quite as well as Laura. They had hairy armpits, legs, and sometimes mustaches. A girl with sniffles coughed beside him, and he almost bolted for the door. He compensated with lots of germicidal gel.

  When he arrived at Kieran’s luxury suite that night, he told his guards, “I’m heading to bed after I scald my skin clean. This has been a long and potentially infectious day.” The time change had made the day even longer than he realized.

  Onesemo nodded. “I’ll hang out here and call Kelly.”

  As Stu undressed in the bedroom, he found dozens of personal links from women in his suit’s communication buffers. Some of the pictures were both disturbing and arousing. Most interesting was the paper note in his underwear, complete with a number and lipstick print. He was puzzling over the scent and who might have left it when he heard Joan say, “You disgusting, rutting pig. You make me sick.”

  Startled, Stu pulled his pants back up. “I was working the room.”

  Joan only came up to his chest, but the thirteen-year-old was a force to be reckoned with. “Please. You’re getting your ego massaged … and some other things.”

  Stu held up a hand. “I put a stop to all that.”

  “If I lit a match, all the perfume and hairspray on you would make that suit combust.”

  “I don’t notice it anymore. It’s their culture.”

  Joan blew a raspberry. “You need a bath. I’ll get your pajamas. I like that the bed is finally big enough that we can share.” There was absolutely nothing sexual about the comment. For all her bluster and muscle, Joan couldn’t sleep alone. She needed the contact of other Actives, a legacy of the changes Baatjies had spliced into her from the Magi. Since her mother was in Rome helping Grant, Stu would have to play stuffed animal.

  She respected his privacy and stayed on her side of the bathroom door. “Hey. Did you tell Uncle Creepy about me?”

  “Of course not.” To be honest, I’d forgotten all about you.

  “Then why are there women’s clothes in these closets?”

  “I guess because it’s a guest room in a women’s university.”

  Joan chose a large, baggy night shirt that read Property of STEMU. After she bathed also, she koalaed on his back in the king-sized bed.

  As he drifted off, he reflected on the thousands of desirable women he had seen so far in Rio. The most interesting had been the girl with the diamond in her navel. God help him, his next thought had been to wonder what Laura would look like with that piercing. He had to do his multiplication tables several times after that.

  Chapter 26 – Morning Swim

  Because Stu’s internal clock hadn’t adjusted to the new time zone yet, he wandered down for his morning swim at dawn. He told Joan she could stay in bed. His badge gave him complete access to the complex. He did laps in the Olympic-sized pool for an hour before Hans arrived. The show’s director crouched beside the pool to greet Stu. A new minidrone hovered beside him. “A week of rest and recreation will be a nice change for you.”

  “I can’t just goldbrick,” Stu insisted. “We have to do something about my uncle.” He described the offenses he knew about.

  Hans winced. “It is not that easy. First, a majority of the team must vote to accept an assignment. Then it will take time to build a case. Even after we air, there may not be enough outrage to evict him from office.”

  “You’re kidding.” Angry, Stu pulled himself out of the water. He wore tight, black astronaut underwear, and his formal clothes were folded on a bench nearby.

  Hans admired Stu’s muscles for a moment before fetching him a towel. “Kieran is like a political figure. With our increased government transparency and watch dogs, we have created a sort of Wall of Shame,” Hans explained. “We get rid of the most heinous offenders, but people develop an insensitivity. Yes? The bar for misconduct for the next villain must be even higher before people react. A politician doesn’t have to be spotless, just better than the next guy. Look at the built-in web browsers on the clothing you wear. People will tolerate a lot of bugs and shortcomings for a couple important features or fashion trends.”

  “I can’t ignore this!”

  “You shouldn’t, but we need time to prepare the audience. We’ll begin with a feature to highlight how unspoiled and pure the environment here is, by way of contrast.”

  Stu blotted his face as he growled, “What do I do in the meantime?”

  “You’ve given a pretty compelling pitch for joining your space team. Why not recruit some of these students?”

  “I suppose. At a minimum, we need to find replacements for the talents who died. As a bonus, I’d like to find a person with Probability Mechanics. I guess I could just ask Kieran for a list of Actives by specialty.”

  Hans shook his head. “That would be illegal because it is medical data. Exposing their abilities could also make them targets for murder or kidnapping.”

  “Who would kidnap one of these girls? Most of them have nothing. One girl I spoke with had a sister die from eating dirt.”

  “I don’t know if I should tell you. You don’t react well to these things.”

  “I’m an adult. Tell me,” Stu demanded.

  “A few years ago, someone started a school for talents in the Canary Islands. Possibly they were trying to replicate the success of Sirius Academy from before the war. A hundred girls were being transported to a field trip on a ship when pirates captured the vessel, killed the chaperones, and kidnapped the girls.”

  “Why?”

  “The pirates sold the girls as breeders to any country who wanted the abilities.”

  Stu paled. “We have to find them.”

  “All of my huntresses took part in the UN rescue efforts when they still worked for the military. I covered the story as a reporter. They recovered fifty-one of the victims before the UN had to pull out to deal with another crisis. Talking over our bitterness in a bar in Beruit, a group of us decided someone had to pick up where the UN left off. That’s when we started Ballbusters on a shoestring. Then, after I spotted a suspicious man following Mira Hollis, she signed us as a show on Fortune Media. With her funding and connections, we’ve rescued seven more of the kidnap victims since. Every additional girl becomes more difficult to locate.” Hans looked at his hand
s. “It’s not much, but I sleep pretty goot. Jah?” The thickening of his German accent seemed to indicate how much the topic affected him.

  Slugging Hans in the shoulder, Stu said, “Well the whole crew is invited to tour Sanctuary for that accomplishment.”

  “Others would not be so generous. Many of the people at the same Beirut bar were unimpressed by our silly efforts. When we failed to rescue more, they took a more drastic approach.”

  “You haven’t failed,” Stu said.

  “I started with four huntresses. Durga was raped and beheaded as an example to the rest of us.”

  Uncomfortable with the horrible details, Stu coughed. “I still can’t get used to what your people do to women. I’m going to hit that topic hard when I address the UN assembly. Until then, I need to erase some of these images. Tell me about her as a person.”

  “The Hindu goddess of good conquering evil. Durga started as a UN chaplain. She still spent a lot of time with children’s charities. So many people loved her that Mater Nyx formed to avenge her.”

  “Mother Night? Why do they call themselves that?”

  “Partly to honor Take Back the Night, and the group also performs executions after dark so people can see them better.” When Stu looked puzzled, Hans said, “Come on, you haven’t heard the jokes since you’ve been here? If rapists didn’t want to be set on fire, they shouldn’t walk around in such flammable clothing.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  Hans shook his head. “That’s because you grew up in another world.”

  Behind them, the school swim team trickled out of the sole dressing room.

  Hans whispered, “Just interview each senior in private and hint that you are shopping for special abilities.”

  Stu said, “I should start with the academically gifted. I can dig up their advanced courses and grades.”

  “I think you should look at the whole package. They certainly will.” Hans’ eyes darted toward Stu’s skin-tight J-wear.’

  Embarrassed, Stu dove back into the pool. The girls soon clustered around him at the edge of the pool.