Star Minds Third Generation Snippets

by Barbara G. Tarn

  Stan-luc sighed, but nodded. He left the Labs and went back to the small house he shared with Arielle Drake. It looked very old-fashioned and the interior was done in colors that reminded of a cloudy sky, except for the mural on the one big wall of the living room where Arielle had painted a landscape.

  The yard was small and looked very formal, with room for a flying car and a motosonic but not much else. Not that Stan-luc or Arielle cared for gardens. They'd been living together since Arielle had come back from college with Stan-luc's sister Carissa.

  Arielle and Carissa were both twenty-two and they'd finished their studies together. All of them had been born on Marc'harid, the Sire planet that was now a charred and dead rock orbiting around its sun, but Selinda had taken her two children back to Ypsilanti when Stan-luc was five and Carissa two.

  They had gone back to Marc'harid for a year during childhood when Selinda had taken part in a musical at the Mega Arena, then they'd gone back to Ypsilanti and their mother had practically retired from the entertainment industry to raise her children, with frequent visits from their biological father and his life mate.

  Bess-lin, along with Stan-luc's father Kay-low and his lover Jay-lee had avoided the catastrophe on Marc'harid because finally, after fifteen years of watching Maela with her grandchildren, Bess-lin had decided to meet her own. Maela, Dadina, Wim and their children had miraculously escaped the destruction of the Sire planet and had ended up settling on Ypsilanti, where Dadina had found work at the Labs immediately. It had taken Wim longer to manage a position in the Ypsilantian Labs, because Ypsilanti was a matriarchal planet, but it was quickly moving towards equality like the rest of the Star Nations.

  Thus the Drakes had been living on Ypsilanti for ten years, and during those ten years Carissa and Arielle had become inseparable, and Stan-luc had fallen in love with Arielle.

  "Hey, you're home early for a change!" Arielle grinned when he stepped into their love nest.

  She had colored her dark hair mahogany red and had as many tattoos as her father, but Stan-luc loved her, because she was wild and cheerful and passionate and everything he would never be. She had really swept him off his feet with her personality, so different from Carissa's.

  He sat on the couch next to her and pulled her close.

  "What happened?" She frowned at his concerned looks. He told her of the visit to Bess-lin's and Wim and Dadina's comments. She shrugged. "My parents are right, she can't stop us from getting married. But you better stop seeing her until then."

  "I think I should tell my father as well," he said, thoughtful. "He must have his say on his mother's destiny. I mean, she has an immortal, eternally young body, but if she loses her marbles, what will she do with her immortality? Shouldn't we put her to rest somehow?"

  "It's not your decision, Stan-luc," Arielle said gravely. "Now let's just look forward to the ceremony. Carissa is coming as well as Jay-lee and Kay-low and..."

  Stan-luc smiled despite himself. His sister was on Vilas Lok with their father and his lover, trying to break into the entertainment industry. Both he and his sister had the Vaurabi genes, but while Stan-luc had inherited Kol-ian's skills with computers, Carissa had inherited Kol-ian's love for music and acting. Their father had also preferred the entertainment industry to computers, and Stan-luc often sorely missed his grandfather who hadn't made it off Marc'harid.

  Making plans for his wedding distracted him from the disturbing thought of his grandmother going crazy.

  ***

  Maela opened the front door of the Villa unhappy with what she was supposed to do. Dadina had given her a EEG recording machine disguised as headpiece that she was supposed to put on Bess-lin's head.

  Maela wasn't sure her beloved would fall for it, though. Bess-lin had changed since the destruction of Marc'harid, and it couldn't be just because her home-planet was no longer habitable. The powerful Sire mind could still control or abuse, although lately Bess-lin had lost interest in Ypsilanti. Since they'd moved to the Villa, Bess-lin had recreated the Imperial palace apartment and seemed to live in the past.

  The transplant into a young, immortal body had gone well at first. Then Bess-lin had started having episodes of forgetfulness, and some confusion in situations outside the familiar. After the catastrophe and their settling on Ypsilani, Bess-lin had shown greater difficulty remembering recently learned information and often had trouble knowing where she was, which might be a consequence of the forced unexpected move, hence Maela hadn't really worried.

  But now, ten years later, Bess-lin was more abusive than ever, often anxious and sometimes paranoid. And sometimes she treated Maela like a simple palace guard as if she were still on Marc'harid.

  Last week she had almost thrown the house laptop against a wall. Maela had grabbed it just in time and asked what the fuss was about, to which Bess-lin had replied, "They keep changing stuff around! I can't find my files, my contacts or the Sirenet anymore!"

  Maela had stared at her wide-eyed. The Sirenet was gone with the planet, being the Sire's intranet for planetary communication. Bess-lin didn't recognize the computer interface because she was looking for things that were long gone.

  And now she even called her grandson "Kol-ian"! Stan-luc didn't look like his grandfather, how could Bess-lin see him as Kol-ian? Dadina had suggested an electroencephalogram, since the brain was the only biological part of Bess-lin that remained.

  Maela quickly checked downstairs, then slowly climbed the main staircase. She must convince Bess-lin to try on the "headpiece" and keep it on for at least half an hour. Dadina was ready to check the output of the EEG machine that was wirelessly tied to her computer.

  Bess-lin was in the posh bedroom, seated at the dressing table, combing her curls with a frown on her face. She was obviously still mulling over "Kol-ian" refusing to marry her.

  "What do you want?" she snapped at the sight of Maela.

  "I brought you a present." Maela offered the EEG machine wrapped in paper. "It's for tonight's ball. It will look good on your red hair."

  Bess-lin grabbed the parcel and opened it by ripping the paper. The machine looked like a hairnet with pearls, all white, which would indeed look good on her red curls. Maela counted on Bess-lin's vanity, since there was no ball coming. But then, Bess-lin had been wearing a ball gown.

  "Let me help." Maela opened the "hairnet" and gently put it over Bess-lin's head, flattening her curls on her scalp, but making them look even more abundant around the shoulders. Bess-lin grimaced, unhappy.

  "Don't you think it makes me look weird?"

  "It makes you look like an ancient princess," Maela assured her. "Would you prefer I braid your hair with pearls to match?"

  "Yes, please. I'm considering cutting it anyway." Bess-lin sounded impatient.

  "If you cut it, it won't grow back," Maela warned.

  "Maybe Kol-ian will like me more if I have short hair. I think he prefers men."

  Goddess, she's obsessed! Maela quickly braided Bess-lin's long hair.

  "When did my parents hire you?" Bess-lin asked, rising from her chair. She stared suspiciously at Maela. "I don't remember ever seeing you."

  "Bess-lin, this is the Villa, it's not Mansion Meraini or the Imperial Palace," Maela said patiently. "And we're on Ypsilanti, not on Marc'harid."

  "You're trying to confuse me!" Bess-lin pulled off the EEG machine and threw it on the dressing table, glaring at Maela. "Get out of here!"

  Maela glanced at the net of sensors and left, walking stiffly downstairs. She slumped on the couch. Her left leg hurt. The phantom leg she had lost in her twenties and that had been replaced by a prosthetic. She caressed the metal under the fabric of her pants with her prosthetic hand.

  I'm a cyborg and I'm more human than Bess-lin. She sighed as her phone rang.

  "Mom, what happened? I didn't have time to read anything!"

  "She took it off, dear. But don't worry, she's convinced she has a biological body that still needs to sleep and eat... I will put it back o
n tonight."

  "Oh, all right." Dadina sounded disappointed.

  "Don't stay up for us, dear, I'm sure your computer can record the data and you'll find it tomorrow morning," Maela said, trying to be more soothing than she felt. "Today she's definitely on a trip to the past. She thinks she's still at her parents' house. Tonight the readings will be as good as now."

  "All right, I'll wait." Dadina sighed and hung up. Maela pursed her lip. What would she do if Bess-lin's brain was diagnosed with dementia? Could the Sire even get dementia? Or had it happened because Bess-lin had survived?

  ***

  Stan-luc left the office with Wim, but they separated in the corridor of the labs as one headed for the exit and the other for the cybernetics department. Stan-luc called Arielle on the way out, asking her what she wanted for dinner, that he'd grab it on the way back.

  As he reached the lobby with its glass wall and doors, he cursed under his breath. In came Bess-lin with her hair cut short but still curling around her head and a male outfit that tried to hide her breasts. She looked around, worried, as if she didn't know where she was.

  Stan-luc wanted to hide in the elevator again, but he decided to pretend he didn't know her. He sauntered to the door staring straight ahead, praying she wouldn't notice him.

  "Kol-ian!" her call made many turn, puzzled, but not him. He heard her run to catch up with him and stopped at the glass door. If she was going to make a scene, better inside the Labs lobby than on the sidewalk.

  "Kol-ian!" She grabbed his arm, panting. As if she needed to pant. Or to breathe. "It's me, Bess-lin... do you like my new look?"

  "No, I don't like your new look," he answered bluntly. "And I'm not Kol-ian, I'm Stan-luc Angelle Meraini, your grandson. Kol-ian is dead, and Marc'harid is no more."

  Her eyes had widened and she gaped at him. And then she frowned and touched his forehead.

  "Are you all right?" she asked, worried. "What trip are you on?"

  "You're the one on a trip down memory lane," he snapped. "Leave me alone!"

  He pushed her back and opened the glass door, leaving the building and heading for his motosonic parked in a side street. When he rode in front of the building to go home, he saw she was still inside, talking with Wim and Dadina – and she looked angry.

  He almost forgot to stop and buy dinner. How did Bess-lin get to the Labs if she thought she was still on Marc'harid? The Ypsilantian Labs were nothing like the Vaurabi Labs! They were in a tall building, one of the few skyscrapers of the city, while the Vaurabi Labs had been buried under the Imperial Palace with no windows to speak of!

  "She took an automated cab to the Labs," Dadina said when she called that night. "The term was generic enough that the self-driving machine took her to us, but of course she didn't recognize anything except you. She was about to ask the reception, can you imagine if she requested to see Kol-ian Vaurabi and was denied?" She chuckled. "Took us some convincing, but we managed to take her home. I guess we'll have to restrain her somehow."

  "Did your mother manage to put that EEG machine on her?" he asked, unhappy. He was curled up on the couch with Arielle and both stared at Dadina's face in the videophone.

  "Yes, last night." Dadina sighed. "She has a neurodegenerative disease that is destroying her brain cells. There is gross atrophy in some parts and degeneration in others. Her biological brain is damaged beyond repair."

  "So what will you do about it?"

  "My mother will contact your father, and they will decide her fate. She certainly cannot decide for herself. She has a rare case of Sire early dementia – although she's over seventy, but we don't know much about Sire senility."

  "So will Kay-low and Jay-lee come sooner than expected?" Arielle asked, brightening. "Will Carissa be with them?"

  Dadina smiled. "We'll see. I'll keep you posted. We'll have to find a way to keep Bess-lin at home until then."

  Wim leaned in the frame. "And I'm afraid you are the only way, Stan-luc," he said. "You'll have to play Kol-ian until Kay-low gets here."

  "What?" Stan-luc protested. "I can't!"

  "Yes you can." Wim smiled. "I don't think she'll notice, since she doesn't seem to remember what he looks like that well."

  He superimposed a picture of a young Prince Kol-ian Vaurabi on the camera.

  "Whoa, who's that hunk?" Arielle asked.

  "That's my grandfather when he was my age," Stan-luc retorted. "I can't do it, Wim."

  "You can and you will." Wim and Dadina stared back at him. "No lab work for you until Kay-low arrives. You'll go to the Villa every day. Maela is talking to Kay-low and putting some urgency in his coming. Hopefully in a couple of days he'll be here."

  "Should I cut my hair shoulder-length?" Stan-luc asked, unhappy, looking away.

  "Not unless you want to," Dadina said. "She doesn't seem to notice that your hair is longer than Kol-ian's."

  "She has cut hers and dresses like a man now."

  "Yes, her subconscious is probably reminding her that she has seen Kol-ian with Ker-ris, so she's trying to pass herself off as a man to seduce him back."

  Stan-luc rolled his eyes. "Is there any cure for her... disease?"

  "I'm afraid we haven't found it yet." Wim shook his head. "Neurodegenerative disorders are still a mystery to us."

  Stan-luc sighed. "Fine. I'll go to the Villa tomorrow..."

  He wished Arielle's parents good night and sulked as Arielle switched off the videophone.

  "Do you want me to come with you?" she asked, diving her fingers through his long black hair. "Do you need help dealing with your grandmother?"

  "Definitely." He took her in his arms. "I won't go alone. If she sees me with another woman, she might regret cutting her hair..."

  "You're mean..." she smiled.

  "I love you," he replied before kissing her.

  ***

  Maela stared at the face of Kay-low Meraini on her computer screen and wondered how Bess-lin could think Stan-luc was Kol-ian. If there was someone who did look like Kol-ian Vaurabi, it was his son, especially now that he'd gone back to his natural hair color.

  Except Kay-low had longer hair and those tattoos he had requested in his teens. His arms were covered with them, since he didn't have the genetically reinforced skin of his father. He was now forty-five and he stared back at Maela with a thoughtful expression.

  "My mother has definitely lost her marbles," he concurred. "We will come in earlier. And I'll bring a Sire elder to help us deal with her."

  "You know one of the surviving Sire elders?" Maela asked, puzzled.

  Kay-low smiled Kol-ian's smile. "You know him too, Maela. Leo-will Khamisi was at the High Council when the Mega Arena hit Marc'harid."

  Right! Maela remembered now. Kol-ian and Ker-ris's cousin had survived. She had no idea where he lived now.

  "He's on Gweltaz," Kay-low continued, as if he'd read her mind – which he couldn't, not from another planet, but her thoughts must have been plain on her face. "He knew Bess-lin well too. I'm sure he'll come and help us decide."

  "Good. Make it the sooner the better. Your son is very worried. He must pretend to be his grandfather so Bess-lin won't do anything stupid. She already escaped from the house and found her way to the Labs to talk to him..."

  "Oh God!" Kay-low rolled his eyes. "I'll call the Nova Falstelo immediately. David should be able to take us to Ypsilanti in a couple of days. Tell him to stay calm and humor her."

  Maela smiled despite herself. "Kay-low... do you realize that's what he keeps hearing from you since his grandmother moved here? He's twenty-five, and he's sick of humoring an old Sire lady with the body of a young woman, especially since she's now determined to seduce him and have his baby, when she doesn't even have a biological body anymore!"

  Kay-low chuckled. "You're right, Maela. Well, just tell him to stay calm. Unless you manage to restrain my mother."

  "I've tried it, but her body is stronger than a biological one. And I can't convince her to obey me, since she thinks I'm
a total stranger serving her..." Maela sighed. "I'm afraid putting her to sleep forever is the only way."

  Kay-low nodded gravely. "We'll be there as soon as we can," he promised. "Hang on, all of you. We'll soon take the burden off your shoulders."

  ***

  "Why did you bring Ara-lee?" Bess-lin pouted. "You're obsessed with those Shermacs! What does she have that I don't have?"

  Stan-luc exchanged a glance with Arielle, then turned back to his grandmother. He was seated in the middle of the couch, with his girlfriend to his left and Bess-lin to his right. He wasn't sure which was clinging to him more, but he certainly preferred feeling Arielle's warm body against him, than his grandmother's artificial frame.

  "Her name is Arielle, not Ara-lee," he said. He hesitated. "Do we really look or feel like mighty Sire?" he wondered.

  He was only half-blood. His telepathy had gone dormant when his mother had taken him away from Marc'harid. He had grown up on a Humanoid planet with no telepaths and had certainly not developed whatever mental powers his father had passed on to him. Couldn't Bess-lin tell they were normal non-telepaths? Or was her brain so damaged that she had lost her telepathy too?

  "Of course, Kol-ian." She sniffed. "I remember the smell and touch of your smooth skin."

  Arielle squeezed his arm. She had often admired his hairless Sire body. Stan-luc never really shaved because the Sire had no facial hair, but his Ypsilantian mother's blood had given him some. It would take days to grow a real beard, more than any other Ypsilantian man, and he was sort of androgynous.

  But then, so was Wim Drake. Stan-luc often thought that Arielle had transferred to him her love for her handsome father. Which suited him fine, since he greatly admired Wim. He looked forward to becoming Wim's son-in-law.

  Stan-luc sighed. There was no reasoning with Bess-lin.

  "Will you tell me how you do it, though?" his grandmother continued, glaring at Arielle.

  "Do what?" he asked, puzzled.

  "I read in the Vaurabi Labs archives how Lin-sun killed Kay-low. How do you do it?"

  Stan-luc opened his mouth and closed it. Twice. He had no idea of how to answer that. He assumed she was talking about her brother, Kay-low senior, not her son. He knew a lot about his grandfather's generation, but not enough to answer that question.