by Gian Bordin
* * *
She dreaded her weekly visit to her grandfather the following day. For the first time, she did not kneel, but only stood with a bowed head in front of him.
"Come, child," he said, taking her hands, "tell me what pains you."
"I betrayed the memory to my parents. I cannot forgive myself."
"Yuen-mong, I would like to thank you for sharing your memory to my daughter. Since I heard you play that song, I have been thinking of nothing else but your pain of losing your mother so young and of how brave you have been."
"Thank you, grandfather," she murmured, trying to smile though her tears.
"I have discovered a beautiful, new person in you, a person with deep feelings, a person able to express these deep feelings in the most poignant ways. I am proud of you."
She dried her tears with her sleeves.
"Here, take this tissue," he said, smiling. "And I would like that you come again to our weekly Sunday dinners."
The shadow passing over her face betrayed her feelings. "I’m not welcome there."
"But it is my wish. I welcome you there, and I know that Mai would like you to come. In time, the others will learn to appreciate you or fear you, and you will learn to appreciate them. Ming has been asking for you every Sunday. If you do not want to come for the others, come for her."
"Thank you, grandfather. I will."
"Now tell me about those two beautiful songs."
She told him of the morning song, the departure of the night hunters, the first stirring of the dawn birds, the teasing, the duet and then her practice of t’ai chi. She told him how she would wait at night for the night hunters to return from their offshore island, how she would call them, how they would answer and circle above her, and she would follow them with her tune as long as she could hear their haunting response, of how for her this was like meeting up for a short moment with the souls of her parents.
He did not say a word for a long time, looking out the window, letting his gaze lose itself in the distance. Then he turned back to her and said: "I will have a flute for you next time you visit. Will you play for me? I beg you and I have never begged anyone in my whole life."
"Yes, grandfather, I will, for you only."
* * *
She and Atun attended the next Sunday lunch. When she entered, dressed in an elegant black dress that enhanced her beauty, Ming came running to her, crying: "Yuen-mong, hold me."
She swept the little girl into her arms and kissed her.
"I’m so happy you have come," Ming exclaimed and kissed both her cheeks.
"She asked after you every Sunday," murmured Bee. "I’m glad too that you are here."
She sensed the mixed mind messages in the room, positive from Mai and Bee, neutral from Bee’s husband Dan, confused from Susan and her uncle, and increased hostility from Pat.
When they sat, her grandfather held up his hand for silence. "Yuen-mong wishes that she is not asked any question or explanations about the songs Anco Molena played at the concert, and I ask you to respect that."
"Suddenly coy," muttered Pat and got angry glances from everybody, except Yuen-mong, who deliberately did not look at him. She wondered how her grandfather had guessed that she did not want to talk about the songs. She had not asked him for it.
* * *
But there was no escaping from both her status of notoriety and celebrity. Wherever she went, she heard one or the other of her songs. They had taken Androma by storm. Her face appeared on holoscreens and wall projections everywhere, often followed by her cartwheeling action of disabling the android, shown in eerie slow motion. She watched herself a few times, pleased by the grace of her movements, and then tried to ignore it. But it meant that wherever she went in the Sanctum or the BD, people stared and recognized her. She adjusted to the heightened murmurs around her and learned to block most of them out. She avoided going out, unless there was a compelling need. In the Sanctum, many younger women greeted her warmly, others, particularly young men, avoided her. She was amused that none ever challenged her again to yield passage. In fact, they made it a point to step aside. She herself applied the rule that she would yield to both men and women she judged to be considerably older than her and that seemed to work well.
18
The time approached when the various modules for the equipment were ready. Rather than pick them up himself, Atun arranged that delivery was made at the same time after dark in unmarked vehicles directly to Vishnu still parked on the tarmac of the Soro Space Port. They hoped that in this way at most one of the vehicles could be followed by their shadow and therefore only a fragment of information could be gleaned. That would not allow anybody to deduce what the project was all about. Atun would spend three or four days assembling both units while he lived on the ship. Yuen-mong and Anouk were scheduled to join him after that, and they would then depart for Palo.
Late afternoon of the scheduled delivery, Yuen-mong left the apartment complex with Atun and went to the main crowded shopping area in the BD, where they separated abruptly, Atun going by detours to the BD ground shuttle terminal, while she entered a fashion store. Almost immediately she sensed that the shadow was not tailing her any longer and called Atun to warn him. She returned to the apartment and practiced self-hypnoses with Anouk. They went out to a small restaurant advertising Italian cuisine. Through their intense training practices, they had developed a warm friendship.
Atun reported that all equipment had arrived safely. She informed him that she had also ordered gourmet foods which would be delivered the following day.
Next day she made her weekly visit to her grandfather. When she came out of his apartment on her way to see Mai for her third modeling sitting, she felt strong negative emanation coming from several minds she recognized as males. Passing by a window, she looked into the courtyard and saw her uncle with three athletic men in their late twenties or early thirties, who were just getting into a taxi. She probed her uncle’s mind and had a sense of danger, not for herself but for Atun. He needed to be warned.
She quickly went to Mai’s rooms. The young woman beamed when she saw her.
"Oh Yuen-mong, you are here. Come in. Look, I have done some more work," she said excitedly and removed the sheet draped over a rough life-size statue.
"Mai, I’m sorry, but I cannot stay. I have to leave right away."
"Why? I was so looking forward to this session."
"Mai, I don’t want to lie to you, but I cannot tell you. I will be back another time." She hugged her and rushed away.
Once out of the courtyard, she called Atun, warning him and telling him that she and Anouk would join him as quickly as possible, that he should file a clearance report so that they could lift off immediately once they were there. He did not question her why, and she was glad that she did not have to explain her ominous premonition. Maybe there was nothing to it, but she could not convince herself of that. At the Mall she hailed a taxi that took her agonizingly slowly through the heavy late afternoon traffic to her apartment.
When they approached the building, she knew something was wrong with Anouk. So rather than go first to her own unit she went straight to hers. At the door she stopped and probed. There were three people inside, the familiar but frightened emanations of Anouk and two males. She removed the sling and readied three stones. Then she slowly and silently opened the door and entered the dark corridor that led to the lounge, past the bathroom. As she gained a clear view of the lounge, she saw two men standing over Anouk who was tied to a chair, her hair disheveled, the make-up streaked with tears. One guy was slapping her.
"I don’t know anything. Please don’t hurt me," Anouk cried out.
Yuen-mong whipped the sling into action and the stone hit the guy’s temple. Without a sound he collapsed on Anouk, who screamed in fright. The other man turned, his hand reaching for his shoulder holster, but Yuen-mong’s second stone hit him between the eyes before he could draw his weapon.
After pushing her first
victim off Anouk’s lap, she cut the ties and took the sobbing girl into her arms. "It’s OK, Anouk. You’re safe now." She stroked her hair. After a while, the girl calmed. "Thank you, Yuen-mong. I was so frightened."
"It’s my fault you got into this, but I promise I will protect you. Come, help me now dispose of those two. Check that nobody is on the landings outside, and then open the staircase door for me."
"Shouldn’t we call the police?"
"We don’t have time to lose with that. Go, please."
She picked up her second victim under the shoulders and dragged him to the door. When Anouk reported that all was clear, she pulled him to the nearby staircase and dumped him in a corner. They repeated the operation with the other guy. He was dead.
Back in the apartment, she picked up the two stones and then helped Anouk pack essential things. They did the same in her apartment, adding some of Atun’s clothing, as well as the two loaded pistols she had taken from their assailants on Old Earth. She again notified Atun that they were on their way. She ordered a taxi to take them to the BD terminal of the shuttle trains. When Anouk wanted to know what these two men had wanted of her, she only put her index finger on her mouth, shaking her head.
The trip out to the space port was difficult, with Anouk in severe distress. It took all of Yuen-mong’s empathic skills to instill some sense of calm in her. The girl again wanted to know why these men had attacked her.
"Anouk, it is better you don’t know yet what this is all about. I promise, I will protect you. And you must now also use your skills to look out for people whose mind doesn’t forebode well toward you or us. All I tell you is that they want to know the nature of the project all three of us are engaged in and then prevent us from realizing it."
"Is this why you have been training me?"
"Yes, I told you when you came to us that I would train you, and then you would help me."
"But will it be dangerous?"
"The project is not dangerous and will help all mankind, but there are some people who want to prevent us from doing it. Haven’t you noticed that the last several weeks we have always been followed when we went out?"
"I felt something was different, but didn’t know what it was."
"Different men were following us to find out what we were doing. That’s what I mean by looking out for minds that send out negative vibes."
By the time they reached the Soro Space Port, night was closing in and she experienced a sudden sense of urgency. They were driven out to Vishnu by a self-guided open vehicle. As they skirted past dozens of parked spaceships, the ominous emanations reaching her became stronger. Atun’s were missing, and she became aware of Anouk’s sudden state of terror. The girl has learned. All she still needs is to use it positively. She stuck the two pistols into the top of her pants. Anouk watched, frightened. About two hundred yards from Vishnu, she overrode the automatic control and sped the vehicle on a course that took her past the ship at a distance of some fifty meters, partially hidden by a row of other craft. She could see a covered ground transport, its headlights illuminating the open door of the ship and five men standing nearby. They briefly looked in her direction.
She went well past them, shut off the vehicle’s lights and then turned it around. About a hundred meters from the ship, she killed the engine and let the vehicle roll on silently.
"Anouk, you stay with the vehicle. And don’t be alarmed if you hear shooting. If I don’t call you within five minutes, take the vehicle back to the terminal building and call the police."
Anouk’s face mirrored the terror she sensed in the girl. She kissed her cheek and then silently loped toward Vishnu, keeping in its shadow. One gun held by both hands, she sneaked partially around the ship until she could hear the men.
"Let’s pack these things and disappear."
"And what do we do with him? Shouldn’t we take him along to the boss for questioning?"
"Yeah, I guess so. But tie him up and gag him, I don’t want any noise when he wakes."
She stepped silently from the shadow. In quick succession she fired five shots and then jumped back. Yelling and swearing erupted. She sensed two minds in severe agony, another had disappeared. With the other gun in her hand she jumped out again, firing another three shots while still moving. She felt heat singe the material on her left arm and fired again at the last man still standing. His laser gun dropped from his hands and he fell backward from the impact of the bullet. One guy was struggling to remove his gun. She fired another bullet, shattering his hand. He screamed. Then she surveyed the scene and checked each of the assailants, removing their weapons and throwing them past the truck. Three were dead and two bleeding profusely. She went to Atun and felt his pulse. It was still strong. There was severe swelling on the side of his head.
She quickly ran back to the vehicle, where Anouk was cowering in the seat. A minute later, she stopped the vehicle in front of the open door.
"Come, Anouk. Courage. You must help me now."
She went to Atun and lifted him up by the shoulders. After a moment’s hesitation, Anouk followed her and took his feet. They carried him into the first sleeping cabin and carefully secured him in webbing on the bed. She fleetingly caressed his cheek.
"Put our baggage into our rooms, and then come back and help me shift the boxes inside."
She dragged the two bleeding guys away from the vertical thrusters of the ship. They protested weakly. Then she placed the equipment in the door opening, while Anouk shifted it farther down the corridor. She told her to secure it in the cupboards. Next, she put the ground vehicle on automatic again and sent it back to the terminal, watching it roll away for a few seconds. With one last look at the carnage outside the door, she closed it. On her way to the flight deck she checked on Atun. He was still unconscious. There was not much she could do for him until he woke up.
"Come to the flight deck," she ordered the girl who had just stashed away the last box, "and strap yourself into the seat next to mine."
"Are we leaving?"
"Yes, and the faster the better."
"I haven’t told my mother."
"We can do this once we are in space. Come, have courage now. We are safe and you are not harmed."
She strapped herself in, checked that Anouk was secured in the seat, and contacted port control. "Soro Space Control. This is Vishnu, asking for permission to take off immediately." While waiting for a response she started up the thruster engines for liftoff and set the main engines on standby.
"File clearance report first and give credit details."
"Clearance report has already been filed earlier tonight. Here come the credit details."
"Wait for credit clearance."
"I will not. My credit is good. I’m taking off right now."
She lifted the ship slowly and then starting rising more rapidly.
"Vishnu wait… you are in violation of Androma flight procedure."
"Your port is not a safe place. We were attacked by five men. Good-bye and clear the mess on the ground. Out."
She cut the transmission link and engaged the main engine. They were pushed into their seats as the ship gained speed. She sensed Anouk’s renewed terror and smiled at her. "Everything will be fine, Anouk. Have you never been in space?"
The girl only shook her head.
"Then look out the window. It’s exciting."
She did not go into an orbit, but once she had escaped gravity set course for Palo and put the ship on automatic control.
"You can get out of your seat for a while, Anouk. Please, prepare some food and drink for us. I’m both ravenous and thirsty. Aren’t you?"
The girl only shook her head. "How can you be so calm after what happened? I’m still shaking."
"It comes with practice," she answered, smiling.
Next she contacted Andromatis’ galactic communications. She asked to be connected to Syd Twan. It took several minutes before his face appeared on her screen.
"Yuen-mong, where
are you? What happened? Are you OK?"
"Why do men always ask several questions at the same time?" After a small delay, she saw his smile. "I’m fine. I’m in space on course to Palo, and this afternoon two guys manhandled Anouk in her apartment and later five attacked Atun at the ship. The two of the apartment may still be in the building’s staircase. One is dead. The five at the space port are on the tarmac, unlikely to go anywhere fast. I left a bit of carnage behind. Does that answer all three questions?"
"I’m glad you have not lost your wit. You know that you’re very dear to me. But why were you attacked? What did they want?"
"Here you do it again. The short answer is that somebody wants to know what we are up to, and we don’t want to let them. Look, Syd, I lifted off without getting full clearance at the space port. Will you calm their nerves, please? I don’t want the space police sent after me. Thanks. See you hopefully in about two months. Take care. Bye."
She cut the connection. Then she probed Atun’s mind. He was still unconscious. She took the drink Anouk offered her and helped the girl to contact her mother. Her last task before getting too far away from Androma was to inform her grandfather. She could not reach him and left a message that unexpected events had forced them to go to Palo, that Syd Twan knew more, and that she would be back in two months.
After eating the food Anouk had prepared, she ordered her back into the seat. "We will now go into hypertransition. You will feel some discomfort, but it’s nothing to worry about, OK? Just relax."
She initiated the command sequence and released the tension in her own body. After a few seconds, she felt a tingle, followed by a slight nausea. She answered Anouk’s startled look with a reassuring smile. Fifteen minutes later it was over.
