by Gian Bordin
She was deeply touched by his confession. She went up to him and said: "Thank you, Atun. Kiss me."
He took her into his arms, his lips playing with hers, their tongues meeting, and she liked the taste of his saliva. She pressed her body against his and felt the slow heat growing in her belly, ready to receive him, wanting to receive him. "Let’s make love, Atun," she whispered, pulling him to the bed.
He undressed her slowly, kissing every inch of new skin revealed. When he played with her breasts, she asked facetiously: "Do they need implants?"
He briefly met her eyes, as if to make sure whether she was serious.
"I would not, even if you wanted it… Anyway, what is that fascination with breasts?"
"They are the symbols of womanhood," he mumbled between kissing and nibbling her nipples. "They’re delicious. Don’t you like it?"
"Oh, yes, it feels very pleasant and goes straight to my belly. Come, get undressed. I want you."
* * *
When she woke, she could see the rugged mountain range to the west, the snow-covered tops a delicate pink in the first rays of the sun. She watched as the sun reached gradually farther down the mountains. A sense of home sickness for Aros filled her. Will I ever again watch the night hunters disappear in the morning dawn, hear the awakening of the dawn birds? She doubted it. The coming of Atun had changed her life. She looked at his relaxed face, its boyish quality when he was asleep. He has become younger since I met him, and smiled. He loves me. She knew that he longed for her to say the three short words. Do I love him? Not the same way he loved her, beyond his control, helplessly. She had chosen him consciously, rationally. She liked sharing her life with him. She enjoyed their love making. In fact, it had become more. She needed and wanted it. Was that love? She did not know.
She took a long shower, savoring the luxury of ample hot water, such a contrast to the need for rationing on the ship. When she came out of the shower, Atun was lying on his back, eyes open.
She raised her arms, combing her black hair, lifting her breasts. She felt his eyes on them. "You like them?" she asked, teasingly.
"Yes, they’re perfect."
Turning, she pushed out her bum. "Are my buttocks round enough?"
"Yes, they’re perfect. You know, Yuen-mong, seeing you tease me like this, I have difficulties believing the sinister plans in your head."
A quick frown passed over her face and then she smiled again. "Everything at its proper time. Are there any other parts on me that need changing?" She turned her face from side to side and then looked down over her body, assuming the alluring posture of the model in the skin lotion advertisement displayed in the hotel lobby.
He jumped out of bed and embraced her. "No, you’re perfect," he whispered. She sensed his manhood stiffen against her groin.
"Atun, let me do t’ai chi first," she giggled, pushing him away.
* * *
More than an hour later, they went down to the dining room for breakfast. There was no question that she would try the genuine, freshly-made muesli with a topping of yoghurt, and she approved of it wholeheartedly, while Atun chose a cooked breakfast of crisp bacon and eggs. She had her first espresso with cream. "To think that I had to wait twenty years before I could taste such delicacies? Which reminds me, we must check out my mother’s credit balance."
"Yes, we forgot. We can do this from the ICE comunit in our room."
"ICE comunit? What’s that?"
"It stands for information, communication, and entertainment AI unit."
"Can we also find out what Old Earth offers in terms of ship catering for gourmets?"
"Like you. Yes."
She responded with a smile. "I still have a long way to catch up. We need food for at least 21 days. And let’s also get some good wine, maybe even stock up a bit for the future. It surely must be much cheaper here."
"Yuen-mong, you amaze me. You already think like an Andromatian."
"If that is bad, don’t tell me. With all that good food around —"
"— and on offer without having to fool the craw first —"
"— do we still stick to our plan and only spend two days here, or do we stay longer?"
"To do what?"
"Go riding into the mountains."
"Would you like that?"
"Yes, but today lets first do the things that need to be done to get the ship ready for departure."
"I see, ensuring survival comes first even here."
"If we are to succeed, make no mistake about that."
They looked up the credit balance of Yuen-mong’s father. Her memory of his pin code proved correct in spite of having learned it more than ten years ago. His balance was over one million credits. A message flashed in red letters. ‘Account subject to inheritance procedures after January 17, 2427 standard’.
"Atun, what does that mean?"
"That after that date, the legal ownership passes to the known heirs. Do you know if your father has any?"
"As far as I know, he was an only child and his parents died in an accident before he married my mother."
"There may be first cousins who’re eligible, otherwise it goes into the coffers of the Andromatis treasury."
"What standard date do we have now… Ah, I see it here." She pointed to the right-hand bottom corner of the holoscreen that showed ‘November 21, 2426, 08:47', and she realized that this was actually the current time and date on Old Earth, since the Galactic Federation had adopted it for all galactic transactions right from the very start of interplanetary explorations. "So I can still draw on it for almost another two standard months."
"No. The moment this notice is attached to an account, all transactions have to go through the official executor of the estate, and that means you have to engage a lawyer to do this for you. They’ll require proof and only then will the account be returned to the legal owner."
"What word did the driver use yesterday when the ground shuttle did not want to start?"
"Bugger," replied Atun, laughing.
"OK, bugger. What does it mean?"
"It’s a vulgar archaic swearword. You don’t want to know." He grinned, looking embarrassed.
"Don’t I?" She was curious, but let it pass. "Let’s try my mother’s."
Its balance was over fourteen million, but flashed the same message.
"At least, I still have a chance to recover it, and I already have the name of a lawyer my mother trusted. A good omen."
Atun said nothing. He does not want to disappoint me. "Atun, think positive. I will get my hands on all my parents’ wealth."
He met her eyes, smiling. "You read my mind."
The on-line business directory showed only one space caterer advertising gourmet food. Many of the items listed, including salmon, lamb fillets, venison steaks, and chicken breasts sounded appetizing, but she wanted to taste one or two before placing a full order. They called for an appointment later that morning. A taxi drove them to an industrial area on the outskirts of the city. They asked the woman driver to wait for them and went inside.
A jovial, white-haired man greeted them, rubbing his hands. Certainly, they could sample some of his foods. He entered four numbers into a keyboard on a control console. After two minutes of small talk between the two men, four trays issued from a food dispenser — a small cut of lamb, another of fillet mignon, a piece of fish, all garnished with various vegetables, followed by a chocolate mousse. They tasted them. Although not as good as what they had eaten for dinner, it came close. With his help they made a selection to last for thirty days, muesli breakfast with full-cream milk powder, espresso coffee, cold lunches, hot dinners, desserts, fresh and dried fruit.
They asked him to recommend a wine merchant. He smiled, went to his desk and called "customers" through the intercom. A short time later, the exact replica of the man appeared with a big smile, also rubbing his hands, and was introduced as the brother, wine merchant of repute. Again, they let him make the selection, including a supply for fut
ure occasions. The bill was settled in gold at the official exchange rate and both promised that the goods would be delivered to the space port early the next day. As they walked out of the building, Atun remarked grinning that their extravagance had cost them ten times more than the standard space fare.
To their annoyance, the cab was gone, the street deserted. But we haven’t paid the woman, Yuen-mong wondered. What now?
"Let’s walk to the intersection down there. We’re bound to find transport," said Atun.
She remembered seeing a stand with several taxis parked alongside, about a kilometer down the road. They had gone no more than a hundred feet, when two guys, one blonde, the other dark skinned, came away from the shade of a building, and she instantly sensed the bad emanations reaching her. Instinctively, her left hand went for the sling holding her pony tail, while the right took the three flat Aros stones from the pocket of her pantsuit. She noticed that Atun had spotted them too.
"I think we should go back and ask the caterer to order a cab." He grabbed her arm to hold her back.
Although on Aros, this would have been against her natural reaction in the face of danger, she turned around, only to face a second pair of shady looking characters rapidly coming from the other direction. She felt Atun’s sudden agitation and fear.
"Atun, let me handle this."
"But they may have guns."
"So far not. If they pull them, drop to the ground."
The two pairs were closing in on them. She knew her weapons were surprise and speed, and wondered if these men would take flight like the savages. When the second pair was about stone’s throw away, she sharply whipped the sling into action and two stones flew away in quick succession. A split second later one and then the other guy simply slumped to the ground without a sound.
At the same instant, she sensed that the dark-skinned one was going to pull a weapon. With a slight turn of her body, she sent her last stone on its way. He yelled out and dropped the weapon. Raising both hands to his face, he sank to his knees, moaning: "I can’t see."
With a few quick leaps she covered the ground between them and picked up the gun, recognizing it as a pistol. Before the blonde guy had time to pull his fully, she aimed it at him and ordered: "Put that gun down on the ground, slowly."
He did.
"Now, take your friend over there to the other two."
When he hesitated, she started pulling the trigger. He yelled "no, don’t shoot," and, lifting the guy under one shoulder, dragged him to where the other two were lying. The man was still moaning softly: "I can’t see."
She picked up the second pistol and the stone that had hit the dark-skinned one between the eyes, and followed behind them. "Sit," she ordered.
Both sank down. The blonde guy looked at her with a sullen expression.
"You question him, Atun," she said on a low tone. He had just removed the guns sticking out from the top of the trousers of the two on the ground, his face a mirror of surprised relief and apprehension. Both were bleeding from a deep cut just above their brows.
"What did you want from us?" she heard Atun’s question, as she retrieved the other two stones.
"Nothing, we were just walking along when this lady attacked us."
A lie! She took a quick step closer and pointed the gun at his groin. "Don’t take me for a fool. The truth or I will maim you."
His eyes opened wide in fear. "You wouldn’t!" he cried.
"Then don’t lie. I will know it." Her tone of voice left no doubt.
"Believe her; she’s not kidding," said Atun. "What did you want from us?"
"We were to take you to this guy."
"What guy?"
"A guy at the space port who wants to talk to you."
Immediately, the traffic controller’s face appeared in her mind. "What’s his name?" she asked.
"I don’t know; I didn’t see him." The answer felt truthful.
"Why did he want to see us?" questioned Atun.
"I don’t know." He cast a quick glance at her. "Lady, I’m telling the truth. He might know." He pointed to the guy sitting next to him, who was still covering his face with his hands, moaning intermittently "I can’t see."
She nudged him. "Answer," she said.
He only moaned: "I can’t see, I can’t see."
Turning to Atun, she whispered: "We should get away from here, before anybody comes. I don’t want to be held up on Old Earth. Let’s leave; we won’t learn much more."
He nodded. "Did you kill them?" He pointed to the two on the ground.
"Not likely. They will wake soon." She turned back to the blonde guy. "If you care to live, I suggest that you disappear for a few days."
She took Atun’s hand, and they quickly walked down the road.
"Yuen-mong," he started tentatively.
"Yes, Atun."
"Has there ever been a situation in your life that you couldn’t handle?"
"Yes, but usually only once. The second time I would be prepared or able to avoid it."
"But what made you take your sling weapon along?"
"Survival instinct. Old habits are hard to break." She briefly glanced back up the street. The blonde guy had vanished. Two of the other three were sitting.
"Who do you think is the guy at the space port?" she asked. "The traffic controller? I felt uneasy about him at first sight."
"Possible."
"He might be after our gold."
"He might even aim bigger. If he makes us disappear, he could claim salvage rights on the ship. Nobody knows yet that we’ve recovered it."
"So he wanted us killed?"
"Not immediately. He needed us to give him the access code to the ship. Without that he can’t claim it."
"But is there now not a record that we brought it in?"
"As the traffic controller he can easily falsify the record, take us into space, dump us there, and then return, claiming to have found the ship." He squeezed her hand. "If they had succeeded, we would have been in deep trouble… Yuen-mong, thank you."
"But they didn’t," she responded with a smile.
At the intersection, they spotted the cab that had brought them to the caterer and asked the driver to take them back to the hotel, where they immediately checked out. They hired another taxi to go to the space port. The ship’s security system alerted them that two attempts had been made the night before to enter it without providing the correct access code. There were even tampering marks at the lock, confirming their suspicion. They agreed that it would be wiser to leave Old Earth the following day, immediately after having received their food supplies. They would have to explore the delights of Old Earth another time.
* * *
When Atun notified the traffic controller, the latter wanted to know the reason for the hurry and suggested that they should do some sightseeing in the Southern Alps, that this was the best time of the year for that.
During the night, the alarm was triggered again. When they turned on the outside lights, they saw several people scamper away into the shadows.
As promised, the food truck arrived at nine in the morning. While Atun helped the delivery man store the goods, she stood at the door, her hands resting on the two guns tucked into the top of her pants, clearly advertising her intentions to the half-dozen guys standing around, supposedly to supervise their departure. Whoever had tried to take them yesterday probably already knew that they had failed miserably and was being more cautious. Although Atun thought that she was going too far, she was not willing to take any chances.
11
Arriving on Andromatis, they were ordered into a prescribed orbit at an elevation of 280 kilometers to await their turn to land at the congested Soro Space Port for private ships near the capital city of Androma. Their ID was again challenged and they were asked to file a detailed recovery report with OIS, the Office of Intergalactic Search, within one standard day after landing. While they were waiting, they downloaded the latest visitors’ information about the ci
ty.
Androma consisted of three separate entities. The Sanctum, situated at the base of Mount Olympus on the shores of Lake Carda, with access for visitors by special invitation only. The BD, for business district, which contained all generally accessible public shopping areas, entertainment facilities and amusement parks, as well as visitor accommodations; and the ICs, for industrial conglomerates, housing estates for the factory population of the big industrial corporations. They could be visited by daily scheduled guided tours.
Atun explained that the Sanctum was the exclusive residential and entertainment area for Foundation members who lived on Andromatis and was protected by a guarded perimeter fence. Entry was by one of the four gates, one of which was reserved for domestic staff, service personnel, and delivery vehicles. Unauthorized entry resulted in immediate arrest. The BD not only housed the corporate offices, but was also the residential area of all middle management staff and the upper echelons of office employees, while all other employees working in the BD — the lower levels of office staff, service and maintenance personnel, and of sales staff lived in corresponding ICs.
"What is the reason for this segregation?" she asked.
"Andromatis has a rather rigid social class system, aimed at keeping people of similar status and profession or work within their own social class, discouraging mixing between classes, except for work, obviously. My guess is that the restricted entry into the Sanctum is also in part for protection, since two hundred years ago there were serious riots that resulted in thousands of lower class people being killed."
"But none of the Foundation members."
"I think only a few that got caught at the wrong place."
"Where do you fit in?"
"There’s no such segregation on Palo."
"I mean, where would you fit in here?"
"BD class."
She winked at him and said: "I will get you upgraded."
He gave her an amused smile. "You first have to get in yourself, but then I’ve learned not to view anything beyond your reach."
* * *
