by Caro Soles
He tightened his grip on the dog’s collar as they came abreast of a shadowy figure leaning against one of the stunted trees that lined the boulevard. The dog growled low in his throat but Triani shushed him and patted his head. He had recognized Luan, gazing up at the lighted windows of the Merculian apartments, high above him.
“How can you pick out Benvolini’s window from this distance, sweetie?” asked Triani, curiously.
“It’s easy,” replied the boy.
Triani studied him. It was hard to make out his features in the shadows. “Listen, I don’t want to go home alone tonight. You want to come with me?”
The solemn dark eyes looked back at him a moment. “I know what it’s like to be lonely,” he said. “I’ll come.”
“You don’t mind standing in for someone else?”
“Not if you don’t.”
Triani slipped his arm around the boy’s waist. “So long as we understand each other, sweetie. I hope you’re not under age or anything.” It occurred to him he didn’t know the rules in this place.
“I won’t make any trouble for you.”
“I was thinking of your father.”
The boy shrugged. “He doesn’t care what I do.”
When they reached Triani’s apartment, the emptiness hit him like a physical blow. He hesitated, unsure for a moment how to continue. He offered Merculian sherry to Luan who tasted it with caution and finished it with pleasure. Triani started lighting candles. He knew there was no point. They wouldn’t be staying in this room for long, but it gave him something to do while he organized his thoughts.
Luan was watching him with sad eyes. The three strings of amber beads he wore glowed against his dark skin. “I was there tonight, in the theater. You’re a terrific dancer.”
“I know.” Triani took a drink of his wine. “What part did you like the best?”
“Oh, I couldn’t pick just one part. It was all…wonderful. And you…you’re pretty sexy, in a different sort of way.”
“That’s why you came home with me.”
“Partly. I heard the announcement, too. I thought you might be lonely.”
“You’re all heart, sweetie.”
“Perhaps I made a mistake.”
“I don’t think so. I’m good at more than dancing.” He ran one hand across Luan’s bare chest and felt the desire throbbing just under the skin. “You’re just dying to lay a Merculian, aren’t you?”
“I guess we both know that.”
“I don’t know what to make of you, Luan. One moment you’re all awkward youth and the next you come on total self-assurance.”
“I’m the son of the Great Chief. As long as I can remember, people have tried to use me to get to my father. You’re doing it now.”
Triani nibbled at his ear. “Relax, baby. Don’t be so uptight.”
“It’s no use,” Luan went on. “I can’t help you. I want to, but I can’t.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“I have no power.”
“You’ve got to have more faith in yourself, sweetie. Come on. Let’s go to bed.” Triani undressed with his usual care, folded his clothes neatly and put away his shoes. He felt numb. He didn’t want to think about what he was actually doing. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. He looked at the boy who lay naked on the bed, waiting. “Do you mind if the lights are on?” he asked.
Luan shook his head.
Triani lay down beside him feeling very small and unusually vulnerable. He wished Luan would take him in his arms and surround him with his young, masculine strength. Instead, Luan sat up and studied the Merculian’s smooth, muscular body with frank interest. Triani felt a stab of annoyance.
“What’s the matter, sweetie, don’t you like what you see?”
“I…ah….” Luan hesitated, threw back his hair. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
“Now you know, baby. For you I am a woman, okay? Isn’t that what you want?”
Luan shook his head slowly, his dark eyes fixed on Triani’s face. Gently he laid his hand on the small, shell-like fold of skin that nestled like a snail in the crisp, black hair that curled thickly between Triani’s legs. “Ah-h-h.” Triani reached for Luan’s head, guiding it gently, firmly, twining his fingers in the long coarse hair so different from Cham’s. He trembled as he felt the boy’s warm mouth opening against him. Luan’s tongue began to caress the delicate, fluted membrane that covered the core of his masculinity, and Triani closed his eyes as the first melting waves of pleasure swept over him. He felt the gradual emergence of his sex as it opened out slowly, like a flower unfolding from a bud.
Luan drew back, watching in delighted fascination. “Wonderful!” he breathed as he stroked the flexible stalk that pulsed gently in his hand. “You’re really something,” he murmured and took Triani in his arms, kissing him hungrily, his mouth, his eyes, his hair, his hard, smooth body. With a sudden movement, he flipped the dancer onto his stomach, pressing his open mouth into the warm neck.
But Triani twisted around onto his back again, his agile body slippery with sweat from his exertions. “No! This is on my terms!” His black eyes glittered as he fastened his powerful legs around Luan’s waist. “Now!” he said with an abrupt movement of his hips.
Luan was taken by surprise. He felt himself grasped, engulfed, pulled deep inside Triani. He cried out, his back arched, his head thrown back. Then he collapsed, gasping for breath. Triani pushed him off.
“Are all Merculians like you?” Luan asked finally, rolling onto his back.
“We’re all made the same, if that’s what you mean. I’m just more muscular than Benvolini.” Triani smiled at him lazily. “Have I taken away some of the glamor?”
“Oh no!” exclaimed Luan. “It’s really…exciting.” He propped himself up on one elbow and studied the small figure beside him. “I don’t think that was much fun for you, though, was it? Tell me what you want me to do.”
Triani shook his head. “Just don’t leave me tonight, sweetie,” he said, moving closer to the boy. He slipped his arms around Luan’s waist. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“Tri-ani.” Luan said the unfamiliar name carefully, almost tenderly, as he embraced the small figure beside him. “Nobody wants to be alone.”
TEN
The next morning, Luan was very talkative. He sat cross-legged on the bed beside Triani, eating biscuits and honey and drinking pamayo juice brought from Merculian.
“It’s nice waking up with someone, isn’t it?” he said.
Triani nodded absently.
“You know that kidnap thing with your flaxen-haired beauty is all political, don’t you?”
Triani sat up alertly. “No, I don’t. Tell me about it. And don’t get crumbs all over the bed.”
“Well, my guess is that Yonan has him in the mountains somewhere. He wants to embarrass my father in front of the Alliance and he’s found the perfect way to do it.”
“You mean someone took him for ransom?”
“If it was money you would have heard already. I think it’s Yonan. He’ll get in touch eventually and spell out exactly what he wants.”
“Who is this Yonan?”
“He’s the rebel leader. He and my father hate each other. Yonan could have been elected to the Council and then stood a chance of being in line to be chosen as Chief, or at least a Minister. He’s from the right clan, like a lot of the Advisors, but he wouldn’t wait. Instead, he tried to overthrow my father and found he didn’t have as many followers as he thought. Some say he was betrayed. I don’t know, man. That was five years ago and he’s been fighting in the hills ever since.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell us about this?”
Luan shrugged. “My father thought he could keep it quiet.”
Triani jumped out of bed. “Cham was kidnaped because your shitty father wanted to keep things quiet? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Don’t shout at me. I’m trying to help.” He smoothed the bed invitingly.
Triani climbed back in and sat down again, chewing his nail thoughtfully. “What’s this Yonan character like?”
“I don’t know, man.”
“Stop calling me ‘man’! You should know better than that by now.”
Luan was carefully brushing the crumbs onto the floor. “We hear only the bad things about Yonan, like the bombings and the android raids, but he can’t be all bad. A lot of people admire him. Even the First Minister, in a kind of a way. Then again, it might be one of the splinter groups who took your friend.”
“Holy shit! What’s going on in this place? Civil war?”
“Not really. There aren’t that many of them.”
“More than enough to raid and pillage,” Triani muttered. “And we were told it was safe here!”
“It is. Usually. I really don’t know all the ins and outs of the rebel thing. It’s kept pretty much under wraps.”
“I bet.” Triani added sherry to his pamayo juice and took a long drink.
“You know, I’m glad you picked me up last night. I was really aching.” Luan laid his dark head on Triani’s shoulder. His long hair fanned out over his chest. One brown hand slid down between Triani’s legs. “Let’s do it again. Please,” he pleaded.
“You help me, I’ll fuck you. Agreed?”
“Hmmm.” Luan’s tongue began making circles on the Merculian’s smooth chest. Triani let his body go limp as Luan slipped a strong arm around him and lifted him further down on the bed. It was a long time since anyone had handled him as easily as this. Triani closed his eyes and let himself drift, feeling the urgent hands, the hot breath, the fluttering beginnings of pleasure. He didn’t hear the knock or see the door open.
Eulio stood there, staring at Luan’s dark body entangled with Triani’s pale limbs. “You don’t believe in letting the bed get cold, do you?” he said in a voice tight with anger. He turned and slammed out the door.
“Shit!” Triani jumped up and grabbed an orange robe from its carved peg on the wall. He was trembling with rage. “You stay put, Luan. I’ve got a few choice words to say to that prying bastard!”
Triani stamped out the door and along the corridor to Beny’s spacious apartment. He flung open the door unceremoniously. Eulio spun around as he came in.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, bursting into my bedroom like that, you bastard!” shouted Triani.
“It never occurred to me that you’d have anyone with you! I thought you were asleep.”
“Then what did you want? A change of pace, sweetie? Is that it?”
“How dare you!” Eulio stamped his foot. “I thought you might be interested in a message about Cham. Remember him? Or has he been replaced already?”
Triani hit him hard across the face. Eulio fell back on the sofa, his mouth open in disbelief, tears of shock and pain in his eyes. “Stop!” Beny stood in the doorway, fastening his belt, his reddish curls damp from the pool. “If you ever touch him again, Triani, I’ll knock you cold. You’ve gone too far!”
Triani sank down on a fur-covered chair, his head in his hands. “God, Eulio, I’m really sorry! But you shouldn’t have said that. You don’t understand this.”
“You’re right,” Eulio agreed. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m not like you, sweetie. I wasn’t born with a gold chain around my waist and a title in front of my name. I wasn’t even born on the right side of the law. I was the product of illegal self-insemination. It’s not just for fun that I only use one name.”
“I thought it was for publicity.”
“You were wrong. I’ve been a hustler since I was twelve years old. At Cham’s age I had picked out a lover with enough clout to get me guest spots dancing with the best company on Merculian.”
“But that’s ours.”
“You said it, baby. My lover was Nevon Bantino, the then up-and-coming young director everyone was raving about. I used sex then and I’m using it now. I’m going to find Cham and this is the only way I know how. My name means nothing to these people. Sex is all I’ve got.”
Eulio picked up a small box from the table and handed it to Triani. “Do you want a tranq stick?”
“Thanks. You said something about a message. Tell me about it.” He glanced at the Ambassador.
Beny was still standing in the doorway trying to deal with the anger that flowed through him. “The personal history is informative, Triani, but it does not excuse your actions. You are behaving like an animal. You do realize that I could bring charges against you for this? You could be suspended from the company.” Triani dropped his eyes. His long fingers tensed on the arm of the chair. After a moment of silence, Beny came into the room. “Don’t let it happen again.”
Triani clenched his jaw. “Okay, Benvolini, what does it take? Me on my knees? Shit! Just let me know so we can get on with it! The message, remember?”
“Talassa-ran Zox found it this morning when he went to open the office. Cham’s yellow fringed sash was with it.”
“What does it say?”
“We don’t know. We need someone to transcribe it.” Beny looked at Triani thoughtfully. “Is Luan still in your apartment?”
“As far as I know.”
“Wait a minute, Orosin.” Eulio put a hand on his arm. “You’re not going in there, are you?”
“If necessary.” Beny sat down and studied his toes in their brown, beaded boots. “How many Abulonians do we know whose loyalty we can count on?”
“I’m not sure we can count on Luan,” said Triani.
“You can’t do this,” whispered Eulio. “It’s not fair. We don’t know what’s in the message. We could be asking him to go against his father; perhaps to be a traitor.”
“For God’s sake, Eulio, this is war!” exclaimed Triani. “There’s a secret revolution going on here! This is no time for bleeding hearts!”
“He’s right, chaleen. We have to find out what’s in that message. How do you want to work this, Triani?”
“Give me the damn thing. I’ll take it in to him.”
“How will we know what he says is really what is written there?” asked Eulio.
“We have to trust somebody,” said Triani.
* * *
From: YONAN of Quekar, leader of the People’s Technical Revolution Party
To: OROSIN AT’HALI BENVOLINI of Merculian, Ambassador from the Inter-Planetary Alliance
Your Excellency:
We are not diplomats. We are soldiers. We look to you and your Council of United Planets to help us show our people the errors of the Great Chief and his stiff-necked, reactionary advisors in turning back the clock and stopping the forward motion of progress. They have made our once great nation into a police state where slavery is secretly the norm and privacy no longer exists.
The last time we tried to get in touch with one of your people, our runner was completely discredited, publicly shamed and secretly executed. We have been forced to seek other means to gain the ear of the Alliance. To this end, we have now in our hands the Merculian CHAMION ADINO ESERIS of the National Merculian Dance Company. In exchange for his life, we demand:
A meeting with a representative of the Inter-Planetary Alliance.
The right to broadcast an uncensored video message to the people.
The reinstatement of the People’s Technical Revolution Party as the official opposition.
Amnesty for all members of the Revolutionary Army and their supporters.
Time does not stand still.
THE WAY AHEAD LIES FORWARD!
ELEVEN
“Von, how do you think the Chief is going to react to this?” asked Beny anxiously, checking his wrist chronometer.
“Did Luan give you any hints when you talked to him?” Thar-von was methodically checking through a pile of message cubes on the desk.
“He said this sort of thing had happened before and the hostages were killed because his father refused to deal with Yonan. But surely he sees this is different. I can’t believe he�
�ll just stand by this time!”
Triani spoke up from the corner. “It’s your job to make sure he doesn’t ‘just stand by’ this time, okay?” He tapped his foot impatiently.
Thar-von smoothed the fine, silver hair over his high forehead. “Let me repeat, Ben, that I do not approve of letting Triani come to this meeting. Things will be difficult enough without him there.”
Triani tossed his head. “Del, sweetie, it’s like this. Either I come to this meeting or I don’t go on stage tonight.”
“He has an understudy, does he not?” remarked Thar-von with a shrug.
Triani smiled. He looked at Beny, a mocking light in his black eyes. “Did Eulio ever tell you how he feels about my understudy?” he asked sweetly.
Beny winced. This is blackmail, he thought angrily. But the inevitable chain of events that would follow Triani’s refusal to dance was something he didn’t want to contemplate right now. “Let him come, Von.”
“Could you at least tell him to keep his mouth shut?”
Triani stood up and adjusted the gold medallion around his neck. “Why don’t you try addressing me in the second person for a change, Del? Or do you Serpians know anything about polite conversation?”
“This has nothing to do with polite conversation,” Thar-von said, turning to Triani for the first time. “This is diplomacy. Remember, you are just an observer at this meeting. Keep a sharp rein on that quick temper of yours. No comments. None at all. Understood?”
“You won’t even know I’m there, sweetie.”
“Make certain of it.” The meeting was held in a small room overlooking a garden in the Chief’s palace. Imperial Hunters, armed with a glittering array of knives, lined the halls and stood guard outside the door. There was nothing in the room but a large table surrounded by stools, carved from some rock-like material. The Chief sat waiting for them, his First Minister on his right, Luan on his left. Beny almost missed a step on seeing the boy. It had not occurred to him that the Chief would have his son present. The boy’s sleek, dark head was bowed, his long lashes downcast, his hands folded on the table in front of him, like the others. He had changed to blue beads and a white vest embroidered with flowers. He didn’t raise his eyes as they sat down.
