by Scott Rhine
“Yep,” Reuben said. “Then the whole mess of them are going to run bleating to the Black Ram. ‘Save us again!’ The one in power now is looking to hand the job off to some other poor sap before the bottom falls out.”
Max asked, “What kind of idiot would walk into that trap?”
On his wrist computer, Reuben transmitted Echo and Roz the rendezvous coordinates with the CEO’s envelope information still on them. “Did I mention that Churchill Llewellyn blackmailed me into meeting with Black Ram Draven on our way out of this system?”
Daisy said, “That’s not a fair characterization!”
“And he didn’t send two armed escorts? What would happen if I jumped ship and hid on Shangri-La?”
“We’d find you … for your own protection,” Daisy said. “What? You know the Bankers would torture and kill a target as valuable as you are. If the Goats find out you can heal people, they’ll stalk you around the clock, regardless of how much it makes your head hurt.”
Max said, “How is that different from what you’re doing?”
Echo replied, “I’m certain the meeting will be a valuable exchange of information and an opportunity to perform a service for his species.”
“Really?” asked Roz. “You think he’ll have a choice?”
“No,” Echo admitted. “I just didn’t want Reuben to flee. The Black Ram fulfills the office of adversary for his entire race.” In a Magi triad, the adversary questioned all decisions made solely on the basis of how things have always been done. “They must listen to his warning cries or be doomed. Draven is also legendary for his guile. He would not invite a candidate without some sort of leverage or lure.”
Roz refused to give up. “Reuben could outfox him. Right?”
“Maybe if Draven shows up drunk or stoned,” Max said.
“Thanks,” Reuben said sarcastically.
“What are you going to do?” Roz asked.
Reuben asked Daisy to leave the room, and then he told the remaining partners, “If he backs me into a corner, I’ll have to take the test.”
“If you don’t have the Quantum Computing talent, he lets you go free,” Max said.
“He has the talent,” Echo explained. “According to Mr. Llewellyn, our Reuben’s gift is more powerful than the current officeholder’s.”
“So you’re going to beat him to a duel in the Goat Collective Unconscious?” asked Roz. “You gunslinger!”
Max, who suspected what the test entailed, said, “That’s why you’ve been abstaining?”
Reuben shook his head. “I’ve been abstaining because I haven’t given up on a future with Ivy.”
“Why the harem then?” Max asked, forcing him to spell matters out.
“If I have to have sex with a ewe, I wanted my first time to be with someone who loves me, and someone who will make an outstanding mother.”
Roz put an arm around him. “You make this sound like a death sentence. I’ve seen Blythe with you. She’s incredibly sweet and great with kids like Jeeves.”
Rueben sighed. “Unfortunately, we’re taking her home in a few hours.”
“What can we do to cheer you up?” Max asked.
“Let’s say we have the best-case scenario—I beat the Black Ram at his own game. Do you think MI-23 would ever let me into Goat space again as a free man?”
“No,” Kesh said. “You’re never going home again. I’m starting to see why you let that Bat punk take you. You wanted the sympathy to throw off your opponents.”
“No. Menelaus is really that good at fighting once he pays attention to his instructors. I don’t throw contests or run away from responsibilities. I’m bound to obey Goat laws no matter what MI-23 orders me to do … when we’re in their jurisdiction.”
Max ambled around the room. “Are you still going to meet Draven?”
“I don’t think I have a choice about that.”
“But you’re hinting that we should skirt Goat space as long as possible to avoid your responsibilities?”
“I’m saying that you should keep telling traffic control and Daisy exactly what they want to hear. At the last second, if Max wanted to fly to New Hawaii to visit one of the memorials or the Gina Millhouse Graham Community Center, I couldn’t stop him. Such a sudden course change might mislead the Bankers and keep us safer from missiles.”
Roz frowned. “Gina who?”
Reuben jerked a thumb at Echo. “You know, the babe who looks just like her. Until the day you guys got married, every credit of Max’s that didn’t go to freeing Echo went to the Community Center for underprivileged girls. They still send him fan mail.”
Raising an eyebrow, Roz said, “You told me how you wronged Gina, but you said you were over her. Do we have unresolved business you need to take care of?”
Echo didn’t hesitate. “Yes. If he were at peace, I would be able to leave this form.”
Roz crossed her arms. “So we have our excuse to plot a new trajectory. That’s four votes in favor. Motion passes. Thanks for the advance warning, Reuben.” Seeing Kesh grinning like a fool, Roz said, “You have an objection, Captain?”
“No. I frequently mourn my isolation, but seeing the difficulties of heterosexual relationships, I am comforted by my choices.”
“Bite me,” Reuben grumbled.
Kesh said, “You can help me draw up a cargo manifest that we can haul to New Hawaii for a profit.”
“Start by buying rolls of carbon-steel stock that the station keeps for repairs.” New Hawaii was extremely metal poor.
“Not too much, or we’ll telegraph our destination,” Max said.
Chapter 19 – Can’t Go Home Again
Reuben and Roz escorted the nervous, young Blythe through customs at Shangri-La Station. The racing gloves matched his outfit, but being framed by attractive women kept people from asking too many questions. He couldn’t risk touching some random ewe and exposing his secret. Reuben had a doctor’s excuse from Max to use the neural staff as a walking aid, but Blythe still held his arm. “I can do this myself,” Reuben complained after the awkward experience of passing through a revolving door with her.
“So could I,” Blythe said. “I’m an adult, and my parents will be meeting me in the luggage area just over there.”
“I’ll go rent a shuttle for the deliveries and pickups,” Roz said, giving them an excuse to be alone for a few moments.
Reuben shuffled his feet. “We really need to buy a shuttle of our own.”
Blythe handed him a bundle of oatmeal cookies, tied with a red ribbon. “Here. You’ve done more for me than I can ever repay. Roz said these are your favorite.”
“Oh-ho. Yes,” he said, inhaling the aroma. “With cinnamon. You do care.”
She gazed into his eyes expectantly.
Reuben patted his suit jacket. “I made something for you as well.” He held out a pale-blue data cube. “Instrumental music helps children improve math scores and build more structured brains. I picked selections you enjoyed so that—”
Blythe kissed him, and he forgot the rest of the speech. She melted against him, but he felt uncomfortable, like he was taking advantage.
Evidently, her father felt the same as he charged down the hallway. “What is the meaning of this, young lady?” he bellowed in Mnamnabonian. “I almost bankrupt myself paying for your treatments, and you want to throw your future away on some ram you just met?”
“You don’t understand.” Blythe began with shouting and transitioned to tears.
Reuben snuck away during the argument that followed. He bumped into an older version of Blythe at the end of the hall. With a ghost of a smile, she held out a hand, “Arabella Gentle. Pleased to meet you.”
“Sorry to cause such problems at the reunion.” Reuben never heard the father’s name.
Arabella waved the concern away. “They’re both so headstrong. It’s inevitable. Her coma was the first peace we had at the resort in years.”
Reuben frowned. “Blythe was always so agreeable and k
ind for us.”
“That’s because she’s in love and wants to put her best foot forward.”
Reuben covered his face. “I didn’t take advantage of her, I swear.”
“Why not? She’s of age. What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing. I’m the one who cured her at Laurelin Station. It would have been inappropriate.”
“I located her father in an avalanche and treated him for hypothermia by climbing into the same sleeping bag. Relationships develop.”
Reuben felt her appraising gaze on his tailored suit. “On the trip, she worked for me as a cook. I couldn’t date an employee.”
“Blythe cooked? Dear, I didn’t realize it was this serious. You’re a very brave man.” She glanced toward her daughter’s vehement gesturing. “Stop by Hidden Valley during your visit.”
Reuben slipped into the crowd before she turned back. You learn a few things hanging around Max. He found Roz at a rental counter and crouched behind her. “For this trip, we’ll drop off the perishable drugs at the elite spa. We can pick up perfume and maple syrup on the way back.”
Roz grinned. “Problem?”
“Her dad hates me, but her mom likes my income level and the idea of successful grandkids.”
“Poor baby. So misunderstood.” Roz paused for a moment. “Are kids such a bad thing? I’d have them in a heartbeat if it weren’t for …” They couldn’t talk about the subbasement drive in public. If submerging had tied together vines, who knew what it would do to an embryo? The stasis units would only operate with one life at a time. Pregnant women couldn’t travel on their ship while they were forced to rely on the experimental drive.
Unfortunately, when the critical missions were completed, Echo would leave them and disband the team. Max would delay that as long as possible. He couldn’t seem to let her go. Even he knew to steer the conversation away from this particular elephant.
Reuben peeked at the rental contract she was filling out. “Are you nuts?” He shook his head. “The insurance stuff is a scam. When have you ever hit something, even when people were shooting at you?”
“Never.”
“Exactly. You want the blinking transponder that warns people you’re not insured. It keeps them at a safe distance, and our runs go much faster. Also, you never pay for a double-decker hauler.”
“But we want one to make this stop shorter.”
“I know.” Reuben rolled his eyes. “You pay for the mid-level vessel and slip the Goat at the pickup dock a little something to upgrade you because he ‘couldn’t find the reservation.’ Everybody wins.” He took the clipboard from her. “Answer no to all this or they charge more.”
Roz was a stickler for rules. “Some of the medicine from Laurelin is radioactive.”
“Yeah, but less than a broken oven. They want to prevent people from hauling local heavy metals in these rentals. That ore contaminates the hold and ruins the suspension. You don’t want to be confined to the city outskirts and to have to mess with all the hazardous-material placards. We don’t have enough untraceable bribe money to push through the forms in a day.”
“But—”
“Go sit. I’ll handle this.” Reuben shouted to the man behind the counter. “Hey, buddy. Get me an exemption parking sticker. My girl here works for a children’s charity.”
The clerk seemed impressed. “A Human is dating you?”
“Not technically, but she said she’d ‘fix me dinner’ if I helped her with the medicine. When the ewes at the office see me coming out of her apartment, I’ll have to beat the offers away with a ski pole. Help a guy out.”
The man behind the counter appraised Roz. “That true?”
She considered for a moment. “My chef quit today, so yeah, I guess I’m cooking.”
“No need to get sarcastic. I’ll get you the charity waivers.”
Reuben winked at her flirtatiously.
While they waited at the airlock for their hauler, Roz said, “Ivy would want you to move on.”
“Stop talking like she’s dead.” His voice was tight.
She hugged him, barely holding back tears. “I miss her, too.”
The Goat worker at the docks gave Reuben the “you’re the ram” double thumbs-up.
****
The cities on Shangri-La were smaller and dirtier than Reuben remembered, but he chatted with locals about the sports teams and politics as if he hadn’t missed a day. When they passed a jeweler, he purchased a pen-sized laser capable of reading gem serial numbers. Roz called him paranoid.
Their final pickup was on the remote island where Reuben was raised. “The orphanage is on the cape over there. I’ll send them the clearance codes to land on the pad. Since I have an appointment with the Black Ram, MI-23 is using us to carry him supplies and test scores from the school. It saves a courier.”
The boys standing in line outside the headmaster’s office gawked at Reuben in awe as he walked straight past the secretary to shout, “Hey, pruneface.”
Inside the office, the occupant of the chair had changed. A former teacher of English and History, the new headmaster, smiled in recognition. “Reuben, how have you been? We bet that you’d be thrown out of university for listening to your music instead of the teachers.”
Reuben shook his hand. “They kicked me out just after I earned my degree.”
“No. You passed the MI-23 character exam, boy. One of only three since your father.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t know what the scenario was, but I’m sure MI-23 set it up to test your loyalties to the Goat people.”
Reuben collapsed into the wingback chair. “Those sons of a motherless whore.”
The headmaster laughed. “Still a potty mouth. How have things worked out for our first computer scientist?”
“I’m kind of a jack of all trades now. I do a lot of traveling.” A euphemism for being hunted.
“Gods of the sward, I’m jealous.” The head of the school checked his desktop. “Say, it’ll take half an hour for everything to get loaded and for the ground crew to refuel your shuttle. Do you think you could speak to the boys? It would mean a lot to them to see one of the alumni who made good.”
“Gee, we haven’t eaten in hours. I was hoping to take my friend to that rib joint on the beach.”
“Nanny will fix you a batch of hers.”
Reuben’s mouth watered at the thought. “Sure. I’d be honored. I’ll tell them that history is uncomfortably relevant for a ram as he gets older.”
The headmaster chuckled. “Now I bet you wish you’d paid attention.”
“No. Youthful activities are important for kids. If they ever get this far, they’ll wish they had played more.” The soccer field outside the window looked small and worn.
“How about poetry? Did it get you in with the ladies like I said?”
Sighing, Reuben said, “A woman decides in the first few seconds whether she will or won’t sleep with you. You really have no say in the matter. If you try to misrepresent yourself at all, it just makes it worse for everyone.”
“For goodness sake, don’t tell the kids that! Is there anything of value you took with you from this place?”
“I read Ozymandius almost every day,” Reuben said. “It’s on my bedroom mirror.”
“I don’t recall teaching that. Shelley was a bit morose.”
So was the Phib who recommended it to me. “It’s the perfect epitaph for Mnamnabo:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
The headmaster bowed his head. “So you’ve been to the home world? Of course you’ve visited the archives of Xerxes. They’ve been grooming you for years.”
Reuben let him assume. “Anything you wish you’d said to me sooner?”
“Forgive us for stealing your life. If you had failed at any time, you could ha
ve been so much more. You might have been happy.”
****
Kesh reported that they had a little money for cargo remaining and sent Reuben to purchase last season’s fashions at a discount from the station’s retailers. Merchants hated paying freight to return items to the surface, and the women on other worlds would only care that the designs came from the posh resorts of Shangri-La.
As Reuben wandered the retail rings, he glanced in the shop windows. Behind him, he spotted a tail wearing a hood. Pretending to limp more than he needed to, Reuben led his shadow into a cul-de-sac. When he spun on the hooded figure, his staff stopped just shy of the woman’s face. “Blythe?”
“I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to approach you.” Her eyes were red from weeping.
Reuben lowered the staff. “How did you find me?”
“I’d recognize your aura anywhere. Other people are stars in the distance, but you’re a nebula blazing with warm colors.”
He closed his eyes, dreading the fallout. “Your folks are going to be even more upset at me. Go home.”
“My family isn’t what I thought it was.” She sniffed. “They don’t understand.”
“They’re all you have.”
“My home is with you. We’re going to be together among the stars.” She wrapped her arms around him. “My parents kicked me out with only my suitcases and my grandmother’s brooch.”
It felt wrong to lead her on. He didn’t love her. “I can’t offer you anything, not even room and board unless the others agree.”
Blythe nestled into his chest. “Then I’ll spend my college money to ride to Satyrica. I have family there who can take me in. Just give me one more chance.”
Reuben couldn’t object without revealing their true destination. He took the way of the selfish coward and hugged her back without words. That’s not lying.
Chapter 20 – The Best Toys
The team unanimously extended Blythe’s tenure as cook. Once the ship left the station, Reuben explained to her, “We’re not going to Satyrica, at least not immediately. We might stop by on our way back.”
