Lady Lure

by Speer, Flora

  know. Through the dreams your mind is trying to release that knowledge into your conscious thoughts.”

  “I fear Halvo may still be in danger,” Perri said. “If whatever is buried inside my mind could help to protect him, then I need to release it as soon as possible. Can you help me? If you want to use your telepathic power on me, then do it. I give you permission.”

  Osiyar’s sea-blue eyes locked with hers. Perri could not turn her glance away from his. As she continued to stare into those blue depths, she began to feel slightly dizzy and at the same time she became aware of a faint prickling inside her mind. It was not frightening, but it was strange, foreign. The sensation was withdrawn as soon as she recognized it.

  “Child,” Osiyar said softly, “you have been sadly used. I am sorry for it.”

  “Never mind my past. It doesn’t matter now.” Perri brushed aside his sympathy. “Just tell me how to help Halvo. What did you discover?”

  “I do not know enough about Regulan culture to enable me to put the pieces together properly,” he said. “It is possible that there is still another part of this puzzle waiting to be uncovered.”

  “Then how can I keep Halvo safe?” she cried.

  “He will be on a Jurisdiction warship under command of the honest Captain Jyrit,” Osiyar said. “So long as you are near, I do not think Halvo will be tempted to leave the Krontar a second time.”

  “He cannot stay on the Krontar forever.” Pern’s growing frustration sounded in her voice. “Sooner or later, I am going to be sent off to some distant prison planet. If I remember something important then that might help him, it will be too late. Halvo is too old to obey his mother’s insistence that he stay safely at home, and he hates the very idea of a life spent at Capital. He will leave. He will relinquish the security his parents can offer. What will happen to him then?”

  “Perhaps Halvo feels that a life without risk is no life at all,” Osiyar said.

  “There must be some way for me to dredge up whatever information is lodged in my deepest mind and to recognize what I need to know,” Perri said.

  “When a dream occurs,” Osiyar said, “do not resist it. If you are aware of dreaming, then try to learn as much as you can.”

  “I do,” she said, “but Elyr just laughs at me.”

  “Elyr may not be the key to the answer you seek.”

  “Then who? The Chief Hierarch?”

  “Do you think it is possible?”

  “Of course it is. He is the most powerful person on Regula.”

  “In my youth,” Osiyar said, “I was no stranger to intrigue, myself. It is amazing how the powerful scheme and plot. When next you dream, think of the Chief Hierarch.”

  “Is that all you can tell me?”

  “I know you are disappointed. You were hoping for a simple, definite answer. But sometimes, Perri, the most important answers are the ones we must struggle to find for ourselves.”

  “You sound just like my father,” she cried.

  “It was my intention.”

  “He always told me to work out my problems for myself.”

  “He taught you well.” Osiyar was smiling again. “Better than you think.”

  * * * * *

  The midday meal was over, the afternoon was well advanced, and farewells were being said outside the headquarters building. Jyrit, though still rather weak, had recovered enough to join the party and to walk to the shuttlecraft on his own. Halvo had insisted that he would pilot the craft to the Krontar with Dysia as his copilot, a decision that made Perri feel left out. Halvo had paid no attention at all to Perri since accompanying her on her morning visit to Jyrit the previous day.

  “Under other circumstances, I might enjoy living here on Dulan’s Planet,” Perri said to Dysia. She was wishing she did not have to leave at all.

  “Perhaps you will return some time in the future.” Dysia’s eyes were on Osiyar, who was at that moment accepting Jyrit’s thanks with dignified grace. “I know I will come back if I possibly can.

  “Meanwhile,” Dysia said, as if giving herself a lecture, “I have my career to think about. And my first duty is to get my captain back to his ship – after I try to tear Kalina away from her beloved grandson!”

  Chapter Twenty

  From her previous views of the Krontar while she was on the Space Dragon, Perri knew the ship was huge, but she had not imagined what it would be like to be aboard the giant warship. The corridors seemed to go on for miles, crossing each other in a bewildering maze. There were uniformed Jurisdiction Service personnel everywhere.

  Immediately after disembarking from the shuttlecraft on the docking deck Halvo and Jyrit left for the bridge to confer with the first officer, who had been in charge of the ship while Jyrit was absent.

  “The robot is to be placed in sealed storage in the same cargo bay with the Space Dragon,” Jyrit said as he went through the hatch.

  “No, I want Rolli with me,” Perri cried. The hatch slid shut behind Jyrit before he could answer. Perri wasn’t even sure he had heard her.

  “Your ship and robot are evidence,” Kalina said. “They cannot be tampered with until we reach Capital, where Almaric will decide what is to be done with them.” Kalina’s two aides were waiting for her. She went off with them, leaving Perri with Dysia. Immediately, half-a-dozen security guards moved into position around them.

  “Don’t mind the guards,” Dysia said, leading the way out of the docking deck. “It’s just regulations to have them here.”

  “I must be an important prisoner of state.” Perri tried to sound more cheerful than she felt. “I didn’t know the Space Dragon had been brought aboard. There is certainly enough room on this ship to hold it,” she added as they turned yet another corner and started down a long corridor. She was already thoroughly lost and could not help wondering how those serving aboard the Krontar ever learned their way around the vessel.

  “Captain’s orders,” Dysia said, “and Halvo concurred. Don’t worry, Perri. I have a feeling that both Rolli and the Space Dragon will be released into Halvo’s care after the technicians at Capital inspect them and make their reports to Leader Almaric.”

  With the guards marching before, beside, and behind Dysia and her, Perri fully expected to be shown to a holding cell. Instead, Dysia halted during their progress down the latest corridor to push a button. At once a sliding door opened upon a large, well-furnished cabin. At Dysia’s gesture Perri walked inside.

  “If I weren’t a prisoner, I would like this,” Perri said, looking around. The carpet was light gray and the walls were blue. On one side a large bed extended into the room. Several built-in cabinets and a door filled the opposite wall. Two easy chairs with a low table between them completed the furnishings. The most striking features of the cabin were the three long windows that allowed a clear view of the black space outside the ship.

  “Are they real?” Perri went toward the windows to look at them more closely. “The Space Dragon has only viewscreens. I didn’t know it was possible to have windows in a spaceship.”

  “Technology is wonderful.” Dysia appeared to find nothing unusual about the windows or the view they revealed. “It’s not glass, of course, nor even plastic, but a special compound developed by the Famorat, who, as a result of their inventiveness, are now growing rich making and installing windows in all kinds of space vessels.”

  “The Famorat,” Perri said, recalling what Halvo had told her about the mating customs of those folk. Then she decided it would be well for her to pay close attention to what Dysia was saying.

  “This is the lighting control.” With her fingertips Dysia stroked a panel near the entrance and the light in the cabin dimmed. There were no lighting fixtures to be seen. Illumination came from the walls and ceiling in a manner Perri did not understand. “You can make the room completely dark or as bright as noon if you prefer.” Dysia proceeded to demonstrate.

  “I like it the way it was when we first came in,” Perri said, and Dysia returned
the cabin to a soft, early morning glow that was remarkably like natural daylight on Regula. The overall effect was heightened by the way in which the sky-colored walls and ceiling brightened or darkened at a touch.

  “The food processor is over here in these wall components. After your time on the Space Dragon, you won’t have any difficulty using it,” Dysia said, moving to the bank of cabinets. She opened a long door next to the food processor. “This section is for your wardrobe. Push this button and you can speak directly to the ship’s computer. Tell it exactly what you want and it will measure you and produce the garments you request, though it does take a few minutes. And finally, through this door is the bathing room.” Quickly, Dysia explained the functioning of the sonic shower stall, the sink, and the waste receptacle.

  “If you should need something that isn’t available in the room,” Dysia said, “the guards outside the door can help you.”

  “What I want is to talk to Halvo,” Perri replied.

  “I’m sure he will be in touch with you soon.” Dysia paused at the sliding door to the corridor. “When I see him, I will tell him you want to speak with him. In the meantime, why don’t you relax, Perri? Have a shower and change into fresh clothes. That’s what I intend to do as soon as I possibly can. I’ll check back on you later, but right now I do have a report to hear from the junior armaments officer who has taken my post while I have been off ship.”

  Left alone, Perri decided to follow Dysia’s advice. Stripping off her clothes, she stepped into the shower, which cleaned by sonic waves. She had used a similar shower while on the Space Dragon. It worked well enough, though she did not think she would ever prefer it to real water and scented soap.

  At least she did not have to close the curtains over the cabin windows. Still naked, she stopped for a moment to gaze out at blackness and a few stars. In the distance she could just discern the faint, pinkish traces of the luminescent gas that marked the boundary between the Jurisdiction and the Empty Sector. She knew the Krontar had departed Dulan’s Planet, heading back toward the Jurisdiction before she and Dysia had left the docking deck, but Peril had no sensation of motion.

  “I wonder if I will feel anything when we cross the boundary,” she said to herself, “or if the Krontar is so large that I won’t even notice the difference this time.”

  Turning from the windows to the clothing processor she tried to decide what she wanted to wear. Except that she knew she wanted a change from the tunic and trousers she had been wearing for weeks, she could not at first make up her mind. Never before had Perri been allowed to choose her own clothing. When she was a child her mother had seen to her wardrobe, and after she went into Elyr’s household his mother, Cynri, had made those decisions. While she was still a growing girl her clothing had been limited to two outfits at a time, which were changed when she outgrew them. Her most recent garments had been a dark gray dress for everyday wear and the purple-blue tunic and trousers she had donned for her fateful interview with the Chief Hierarch. She had been wearing the same clothes ever since.

  “I want a lighter color,” Perri said aloud.

  “A more precise description is required,” the computer answered her.

  “Green.” Perri said the first color that came into her mind. “Pale green.”

  “Specify style,” said the computer.

  “I don’t know. Oh, wait – that long, loose robe that Halvo was wearing last night that his brother lent to him, except it was blue, not green. Something like that.”

  “Request is incomprehensible,” the computer responded. “Restate design preference more exactly.”

  Perri did so, describing the robe as she recalled it, asking for the pale green shade she wanted and adding gold embroidery at neck and sleeves.

  “Is footwear also required?” the computer asked.

  “Yes. Mules, low heeled, in a color to match the robe,” Perri said at once before the computer could ask more questions. Under happier conditions, she knew she would have enjoyed the session with a machine programmed to give her whatever clothing she could imagine.

  “Specify other accessories,” the computer said.

  Perri thought for a moment. She had never owned any jewelry. Such adornments were considered highly inappropriate for unwed Regulan females, though married women were encouraged to flaunt their husbands’ wealth with multiple necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Perri did not want to wear anything even vaguely Regulan in style.

  “I want Demarian earrings, gold with green stones. My ears are not pierced. No other accessories are wanted.”

  “Processing will require three minutes. Please close the wardrobe door and wait for the light to flash before reopening it.”

  Perri did as ordered, then wandered around the cabin, occasionally glancing at the silent clothing-processing unit, but mostly wondering what would happen to her and to Rolli. She was certain her future would hold no cell as attractive as her present accommodation.

  “I may as well enjoy what I have until they take it away from me,” she said to herself.

  When the light shone forth on the wardrobe door, Perri held her breath in expectation and pulled it open. The robe she had requested hung there, its soft, pale green folds gleaming when she removed it. The gold thread embroidery along the edges of the sleeve hems looked as if it was stitched by hand. A wider band of gold threads in a similar pattern bordered the high neckline and the slit that reached to well below her bosom. Tiny buttons made of gold thread fit into a series of golden loops to hold the front of the robe together. The garment fit her perfectly, as did the shoes.

  The earrings were like no jewelry she had ever seen before. When she put them on, thin golden wires swirled over her ears, with tiny, milky green stones dangling from the wires here and there and one larger green stone hanging at each earlobe. Tossing the waves of her dark red hair over her shoulder to better display the earrings, Perri stared at her reflection in the mirror.

  “Is this the way Demarian women dress? Do the men enjoy seeing their mates like this?” The computer did not answer her. It had automatically turned itself off as soon as Perri’s requests had been fulfilled. But there was an unexpected sound, a quiet chime that came from the direction of the door. Perri hastened across the room to press the panel Dysia had shown her how to use. The chime stopped when the door slid back.

  “May I come in?” Halvo asked.

  “Please do.” Perri stepped aside and Halvo entered. He was followed by a young man in Jurisdiction uniform who was guiding a covered antigrav table.

  “By the window, I think,” Halvo said to the young man. “Lower it to chair height and take the cover with you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Perri watched in silence while the table and chairs were positioned as Halvo wanted and the cover removed from the table. At Halvo’s signal the young man saluted and left. Halvo followed him to the door, which he sealed so no one could enter unless admitted from within. Then, before he returned to Perri’s side, Halvo dimmed the lighting to a shade approximating dusk.

  “I thought you might like company for dinner,” he said in a casual way.

  “How charming. I notice the guards are still at my door. Did Captain Jyrit order them posted there, or was it your mother?”

  “I cannot deny that you are a prisoner. However, we do not plan to torture you,” he added in a dry way that she suspected was meant to make her laugh.

  “What a relief.” Perri did not know why she did not respond to his humor or why she snapped at him when what she really wanted was to go into his arms and be reassured that he cared about her.

  “Shall we eat before our meal grows cold?” Giving no indication that he was annoyed by her attitude, Halvo gestured at the table floating between the two easy chairs at a level exactly right for dining.

  “What is this?” Perri regarded the pale blue cloth, the crisp white napkins, the temptingly arranged food on delicate ceramic plates, the crystal and silver. Tiny lights burned in low, cut-cr
ystal holders. A bouquet of blue, yellow, and white flowers completed the setting. Perri sniffed at the fragrant odors of a well-cooked meal. “I thought food was provided by the ship’s computer.”

  “It is.” Halvo moved to stand behind one of the chairs. “There is also a galley, where traditional food can be prepared by those who prefer it.”

  “You never made this yourself.”

  “There is an excellent cook aboard. Jyrit is something of a gourmet, though I do not think you would care for Jugarian specialities. This meal is Demarian, with some of my favorite dishes. Will you sit?”

  He was still holding the back of the chair, and Perri realized there was some ceremony involved. She sat, and after making certain she was close enough to the antigrav table, Halvo took his own seat.

  “Regulans don’t do that?” He shot her a knowing glance. When she did not respond at once, he lifted a decanter of wine and began to pour it into the tall, stemmed glasses.

  “A Regulan man would consider it demeaning to hold a chair so a woman could sit more easily. I am beginning to comprehend how badly Regulan women are treated. The more I see of the respect accorded to women of other Races, the more angry I become. This is delicious,” Perri ended on a note of surprise, tasting a thin slice of meat. She chewed and swallowed, then took another forkful, adding a bit of grainy vegetable.

  “Roasted peloron fowl and wild hairgrass.” Halvo attacked the meat on his own plate with enthusiasm. “If you think this is good, just wait until dessert. We are having stewed rockfruit.”

  “I will try to contain my impatience.”

  “Don’t wrinkle up your nose like that.” Halvo laughed at her. “It is called rockfruit because it grows only in rocky areas and when it’s dug out of the ground it is as hard as the rocks. After it is stewed for several hours and sliced open, it has the taste and consistency of a very rich custard, but it contains no fat, just a lot of necessary vitamins. The first human settlers on Demaria lived on it for months, until they could start their farms and bring the crops to harvest. Now, it is our official planetary dish and an important export.”