by S. H. Jucha
Aurelia’s thoughts scared her for more than one reason. Her mother had repeatedly admonished her that she was an empath with tremendous power, but Aurelia had no means of measuring and comprehending her strength. The only people she’d openly shared her power with were her mother and sister, and then it was rarely a negative emotion. Even when Sasha attempted to infuriate her, she was careful to be patient and return her sister’s dark emotions with calming support.
Dimitri’s actions had broken her control. Where she was normally fearful in his company, there was a sudden uncontrollable anger and a desire for revenge. Her mother’s repeated warnings came back to her, “Aurelia, child of my heart, you’ve no idea what you can do with your mind. You must be careful. I wish I could train you, but I was never taught, and I have little concept of how to teach you. All I can tell you is that you must minimize your emotions. Never push with even half your strength.”
Before recriminations could grow, the e-trans slowed, as three Pyrean youths in bright, colorful clothing skipped through the front gate of an elegant home, and one of the boys stepped in front of the transport to stop it.
“Where you going?” a girl asked Aurelia.
“The El,” Aurelia replied.
“Great,” the girl replied. “Jump in,” she ordered her companions.
The moment everyone was seated, Aurelia, said, “Resume,” and was relieved that the e-trans proceeded on its way.
The boy in the front seat with Aurelia said, “E-trans, destination dome five, block three.”
“Understood, sir,” the voice of the e-trans replied.
When the boy turned to eye Aurelia, she abruptly laughed and said, “Oh, Sasha, you say the funniest things.” The entire trip with her companions, Aurelia kept up an imaginary conversation with her sister. In her mind, she was repeating a conversation they had a few days ago. Then, it had been funny, but repeating it made her stomach clench at the thought she might never see her sister again.
After transiting several domes, the car stopped, and the threesome climbed out. Aurelia waved her fingers brightly at the girl who’d asked her destination, and the teenager signaled back with a hand motion Aurelia couldn’t translate. Instead she ordered the e-trans to continue.
While the transport was navigating the next interconnector, which was designed to isolate the domes from each other in the event one of them was breached, Aurelia hurriedly reopened her instructions. At the far end of the transparent tunnel, the sign on the upcoming hatch read “Dome 8, El Transport,” and, soon after entering the dome, the e-trans came to a halt.
Aurelia anxiously looked up. She hadn’t finished reading her instructions, but a group of people were approaching a growing line of empty e-trans, and her transport had joined the line. She stuffed the instructions into her bag, continued her charade of conversing with Sasha, and climbed out of the vehicle.
Close to panic, Aurelia angled away from the massive landing pad of the space elevator. A line of Pyreans was waiting to board the El for transport to the station, and Aurelia wasn’t ready to put her mother’s plans in action.
A stack of crates seemed the perfect hiding place, and Aurelia casually walked behind them, despite the pounding of her heart. When no hail or shout of alarm followed her, she breathed a deep sigh of relief and opened her instructions. She read carefully. Many of the steps were foreign to her, since she’d never been off the governor’s grounds. At the end of them, her mother had written, “I love you, Aurelia, memorize these instructions and dispose of them. If you make it to the joss and security questions you, they must not find them on you.”
Mother, couldn’t you have told me what the joss was? Aurelia thought. She read the instructions twice more and then knelt to unpack her next disguise. She glanced around to see if anyone was watching her. Confident she was hidden from view, she yanked out the trans-sticks, the colorful hair adornments. Then she opened a small container and pulled a single mist wipe out. Following her mother’s instructions, she pressed it to her face and felt the tingling sensation she was told to expect. When it stopped, she examined her face in a small mirror, and removed the little amounts of makeup that were missed.
Next, Aurelia stripped out of her frilly clothing and silly shoes, grateful she didn’t have to walk anymore in them. She unpacked the tech clothing and slipped on the coveralls. The legs and arms ended past her ankles and wrists, and there was room in the body for her little sister. The poor fit reminded Aurelia that her mother was desperate to accept any clothing she could procure to fulfill the family’s escape plan.
Aurelia twice folded the ends of the voluminous coveralls’ arms and legs until they ended at her wrists and ankles. She tucked her long, auburn hair under the cap and yanked it down on her head. Thin socks and some light shoes, which had a quick close and an odd coating on the bottom, completed the outfit.
The El had yet to return from its last trip topside, and Aurelia was forced to wait. As time passed, she grew more nervous, sure she would be discovered. To occupy her mind, she practiced walking, as per her mother’s instructions. She wasn’t an elite anymore; she was a tech. Techs don’t appear proud and are careful to pay deference to privileged downsiders.
Twenty minutes later, Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief. The El car was transiting the dome’s airlock, which kept Pyre’s heavily laden air, contaminated with noxious gases and ash, out of the dome. When the El settled onto the landing pad, there was another excruciating waiting period for Aurelia, while the passengers exited the upper level and the cargo crew dropped a ramp on the lower level and began offloading passengers’ personal items and freight. Aurelia recognized that the crew wore similar clothing, except much nicer and better fitting, to the coveralls Helena had given her.
Aurelia waited until the line of passengers, who were traveling topside, had dwindled to a few stragglers, and the cargo crew’s trips down the ramp seemed to be ending before she left her hiding place and walked toward the car’s lower bay. Aurelia was near the ramp when she heard a demand by an angry voice, “Where you been? Grabbing a nap or something?”
“Sorry, sick to my stomach,” Aurelia replied, holding her lower abdomen and playing true to her mother’s ruse.
The cargo chief took in the ill-fitting coveralls worn by the teenager, and his demeanor softened. “Newbie, huh? You’ll get used to it. It always hits the newbies hard, if they’ve never left the station. But, hear me, newbie, admin might have hired you, but you work for me now. If you haven’t checked in with me and you’re not wearing a badge, you’re not earning any coin. Am I clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Aurelia replied, quickly bobbing her head.
“And another thing, newbie, as soon as you collect some coin, purchase a decent pair of coveralls. That pretty face of yours will only get you so far. Once the downsiders get a look at those coveralls, they’re going to start complaining about the service. So, don’t embarrass me. Now, get aboard.”
Aurelia nodded and hustled up the ramp. The freight crew was seated and strapped in, and Aurelia took an empty seat at the end of a double row and fumbled with her straps and buckle before she got it right. She could hear the snickers of those around her at her ineptitude, and she reined in her anger. Try being in prison all your life, and let’s see how well you get on in the world, Aurelia thought.
The cargo chief walked by Aurelia and handed her a bag. “If you’re going to be sick, newbie, use this instead of spraying my deck, and after this lift, come see me. You’re supposed to report to me first. Not start work, unless maybe you don’t want to be on the rolls. In which case, you’ll be working without earning any coin,” he admonished before he took a seat and connected his harness.
A senior crew member leaned over to the chief and said, “I don’t think that one is going to make it.”
The cargo chief grunted in reply. A shame, he thought, the girl looked like she could use a break.
A red light flashed for five seconds, and Aurelia felt the car move. For a whi
le, there was little sensation other than the car’s stopping and starting as it transited the airlock. But, after that, and the higher the car rose, the lighter she felt. Soon her stomach seemed to want to climb out of her throat. She gagged, swallowed, and tasted bile.
A boy across from Aurelia, not much older than her, motioned holding the bag tight to her face and taking short, quick breaths. His pantomime didn’t make much sense to Aurelia, but she did as he indicated, since she sensed compassion and sympathy from him. Keeping the bag tight to her mouth made it difficult to breathe. Within thirty seconds, the dizziness and nausea she was experiencing subsided, and Aurelia realized she’d been hyperventilating, dragging in huge gulps of air, as the weightlessness accelerated her anxiety.
Slowly, Aurelia gained control of her upset stomach and calmed down. She pulled the bag from her mouth and smiled crookedly at the boy across from her. Around Aurelia, the crew, including her sympathetic helper, underwent various reactions, indicating that Aurelia had driven their fears too, and now they were recovering. That realization alone jarred her, and she concentrated on sending soothing calm. The last thing she needed was to have the cargo crew suspect she was a sensitive.
Finally, the El car decelerated and came to a stop. Aurelia determined the best course of action was for her to pay close attention to the boy across from her. He picked up on her intention after tapping the release for his harness and noticing that she did the same thing and waited. He exaggerated placing his shoes firmly on the deck, picking up one, and placing it back down before he picked up the other.
Aurelia felt a tacky sensation from the soles of her shoes when she walked across the decking after climbing aboard the car. Now, she understood why. She nodded to him, and, when he stood, she did too.
“Look, best you stick with me,” the boy said to Aurelia. “I’ll operate the e-cart. You stand by. I’ll signal you when I have the load secured. Then, you unlock it from the deck. Okay? And, the name’s JD.”
Aurelia smiled shyly at him, thanking him for his kindness. It seemed best not to encourage him, but she couldn’t help sending the smallest amount of appreciation.
JD used a hand signal to tell Aurelia to wait, and he left. The thought of being weightless made Aurelia giddy. She wanted to shove off the deck and fly, but she noticed that around her the crew were walking with a fixed gait, placing one foot solidly before lifting the other. Once you leap up, silly girl, Aurelia admonished herself, just what are you going to use to guide yourself around … wings? The thought of having wings made her snicker, which drew a few glances her way, and she cleared her throat and tried to look as if she belonged on the crew.
When JD returned, driving an e-cart, he pointed a device at the crate in front of him. A red telltale flashed, and he read something on a handheld device screen and then stuck the unit to the front of his coveralls.
Aurelia stepped away from the load, noticing the e-cart’s wheels were covered in the same material as the bottom of her shoes. She glanced down at the pallet that JD hooked to his cart and saw a clamp attaching it to the deck.
“Got it,” JD said. “Release the load.”
Thankfully, for Aurelia, the clamp had a square, red button, which was labeled “load release,” and she happily mashed it, watching it spring free of the pallet. She stood and smiled at JD, who gave her a silly grin and shook his head. “Both sides, newbie,” he said good-naturedly.
Aurelia mimed “oops” to him, flashed her best smile, and then hurried to the other side. She could sense JD’s reaction, and it gave her mixed feelings. They felt similar to the emotions Dimitri emanated when he looked at her but without the ugly darkness. She released the second lock and gave JD the thumbs-up signal she’d witnessed the other assistants giving their e-cart operators.
When the belly of the El car was empty, Aurelia followed behind JD’s last load. After exiting the El car, he turned toward an airlock that would accommodate his e-cart and load, but Aurelia spotted a sign that directed people to the El car’s passenger access level, and she followed the sign up the ramp.
-2-
Secrets
A stationer, Phillip Borden, who rotated planetside for three weeks of each month to tend the grounds of many of the dome’s wealthier families, finished checking the beehives in the rear of the governor’s home.
Every inch of the grounds under the domes that wasn’t covered by environmental control buildings, houses, ped-paths, walkways, patios, or other small sundry items was planted with small fruit trees, herb gardens, and flowering shrubbery to satisfy the bees’ desire for pollen. Crimsa’s light, which was filtered by the hazy atmosphere, required the bioengineering of every plant species brought from Earth to thrive. No plant cuttings were ever wasted. Each house had several composts.
The domes tended to be as self-sufficient as they could be for food, but they still depended on an exchange with the orbital station, which contained extensive hydroponic gardens and protein culture vats.
Phillip was carrying a collection of honeycombs to the house when he spotted Dimitri’s body. A weaker person might have dropped the precious container, but, like most stationers, Phillip had seen his share of death. After witnessing a fellow human killed by explosive decompression, there’s little that can disturb an individual about a dead body.
Despite the gruesome circumstances, Phillip obeyed rule number one of his employment: Never enter the house, no exceptions. Setting the honey container on the patio, Phillip pulled his comm unit and contacted Giorgio Sestos, the governor’s head of security. Sestos was the kind of man, who when he laid down rules, Phillip, having a sensible head on his shoulder, knew better than to disobey any of them.
“Sestos here, go ahead, Phillip,” the voice on the gardener’s comm replied.
“Sir, Dimitri’s on the back patio. He’s dead.”
“Dead? Are you sure? Did you check for a pulse?”
“It wasn’t necessary, sir. I think he fell from the balcony. His head looks squashed.”
“Anybody in sight when you approached the body?”
“I didn’t see anyone, sir.”
“Stand by the body, Phillip. On my orders, no one is to touch the body. I want the evidence preserved. I’ll be there in five.”
“Understood, sir.” Phillip barely finished when the comm signal cut off. He stared at Dimitri’s blank eyes and the darkening pool of blood. Couldn’t have happened to a better kid, Phillip thought, but he was careful to keep his expression neutral. At this point, caught smiling over the body of a household member could make him a suspect.
In short order, Giorgio Sestos and a second security man came through the patio doors. They were careful to step in a wide circle around the body.
“Did you or anybody else touch the body after you discovered the boy?” Giorgio asked Phillip, drilling the groundskeeper with cold eyes.
“No, sir,” Phillip replied evenly. He knew Giorgio was a dangerous man, but he was too old to be intimidated by him.
“Sniffer scan, then body temp,” Giorgio ordered the second man.
Pulling a sniffer from a case, the man leaned over and traced the body at about 8 centimeters above it. While the sniffer analyzed the intake, he inserted a digital thermometer into Dimitri’s ear. When the sniffer beeped, the man checked the results. “Negligible results on the scan, Mr. Sestos. No significant DNA contamination here. Body temp suggests the boy died within the last hour.”
“Where were you during that time, Phillip?” Giorgio demanded.
“Pruning fruit trees and then at the beehives, sir,” Phillip replied, pointing to the container of honeycomb near his feet.
“And you heard nothing?”
“I thought I heard an argument or, at least, Dimitri’s voice from an upper floor. But, I’ve often heard him raise his voice. So, I didn’t think anything of it. If you’re asking if I heard anyone else or if I heard Dimitri scream as he fell, the answer is negative.”
Giorgio regarded the misshapen skull
. The impact must have been head first, he thought, and he stepped out to look up at the second- and third-floor balconies. “Stay with the body,” he ordered his man and ran back into the house. Giorgio didn’t wait for the lift but ran up the back stairs instead. In the private bedroom reserved for Dimitri, he searched for signs of a struggle, but there was no evidence of any. A drawer was open, revealing Dimitri’s sex toys, and Giorgio closed it, thinking he should get rid of the items before the household or, worse, the governor discovered them.
Carefully checking the railing, Giorgio found no marks or scuffs. It looked as if the boy had gone over the rail without a struggle. Except Giorgio knew Dimitri wasn’t the type to commit suicide. “I knew this day would happen,” he muttered. “You had to play domination games with a powerful teenage bender, didn’t you, you little idiot?”
In a foul mood, Giorgio took the stairs one floor up to Helena’s rooms. She and her daughters occupied half the house’s top floor, where their isolation could be easily maintained. Giorgio didn’t bother knocking, hoping to catch the family by surprise.
“Mr. Sestos, how rude of you,” Helena said tartly. She was busy preparing a meal, and the small table was set for three people. “I didn’t make enough for four if lunch is what you’re after.”
“Where’s your daughter?” Giorgio demanded.
“Which one?” Helena retorted, turning to face the man she’d come to despise even more than the governor.
“Don’t play games with me, woman. Where’s Aurelia?”
“She’s with that psychopath. It’s where she is every week, at this time.” Then Helena smoothly switched roles. “Why are you asking? Did something happen to my daughter?”
Not getting the expected reaction, Giorgio stomped across the sitting room and opened the girls’ bedroom.
When light spilled into the darkened room, a sleepy-eyed Sasha raised her head from a pillow, saying, “What’s wrong?”
Giorgio turned on the lights, and Sasha sat up quickly, calling, “Momma.”
