Aedre's Firesnake

by Rayner Ye

  Aedre gaped. “Are they manual?”

  He nodded.

  “What about my hoverchair?”

  He stood and walked around it. “It’ll slot into the hoverdisc like a bed. Does this hoverchair morph perpendicular to the ground?”

  Dad shook his head and looked at Aedre. “I couldn’t afford one. Sorry.”

  “Don’t worry, Dad. It’s okay.”

  The assistant scratched his chin. “You can use your chair, but this brand doesn’t go above ten km. So, I think you will want a hoverdisc at this time.”

  Dad nodded. “How will we input data?”

  “When you’re inside it, tell it where you want to go, a flatscreen map will pop up. Then you can plan your journey with an operator.”

  “Is the operator human?” Aedre asked.

  “No. A computer.”

  Her eyes widened. “Can we trust it?”

  The assistant frowned. “I’d trust a Mayleedian computer system over a human any day.”

  “It’s only sixteen km, Aedre,” Dad said. “That’s about ten miles per hour.”

  She nodded slowly. “That’s a long time to get from A to B.”

  “We Mayleedians try not to rush. We make plans around slow city transportation.”

  “That makes sense.” Aedre nodded. “Are there places to park these things?”

  “No. When you vacate your vehicle, it’ll immediately transport to its next customer.”

  “So people who buy their own susmans...park them where?”

  “They put them in their pockets and bags as foldable devices. Only the wealthy can afford their own susmans.” He smiled at her. “The rentals have a personalised app connected to your bank account.”

  “Oh,” Dad said. “That’s something I haven’t done yet...opened a bank account.”

  “You didn’t bring all your money, did you?” Aedre asked.

  “No. I need to transfer it.”

  “You’ll need money before you buy my treatment, Dad.”

  “I know.”

  “You need not worry,” the assistant said. “I can connect this app to foreign accounts too. I’ll scan in your details.”

  The rentals assistant connected Dad’s bank details to the system, and when they exited the ground port, their green fish waited at bay 231 on a broad black path.

  Aedre’s hoverchair transformed into a bed, upon her verbal request, then slipped into their susplan and moulded into its Biluglass seat.

  “Wanna see the view?” Dad asked.

  “Come on. What do you think? Am I scared of heights?”

  He chuckled, and lines radiated along his cheeks. “I don’t know.” Then his face dropped. “I mean...after Mum…”

  Aedre sighed. “It’s okay, Dad. I want to see. Did I ever not want to look out a maglev? I enjoyed orbiting Mayleeda in one. How about you? You scared?”

  “You know I’m not.”

  The transparent susplan travelled over an immense forest, which soon became a city, alien to any city on Nerthus. Flowering climbers covered green-glass skyscrapers. Lakes twinkled from below.

  Not exclusively a habitat for humans, but plants, trees, insects, birds, aquatic life, and animals too. Gardens grew on roofs and arches. Multi-levelled natural havens were living symbiotically with nature. People floated, walked, skated, scootered, cycled, and ran over black pathways.

  They travelled away from the city, over valleys, through gorges, and over more woods and meadows until they lifted over another city.

  Windows set in rolling hills glinted in the sunshine. Kitchen gardens between fruit orchards grew different species of food-bearing plants to share and enjoy, another reason Aedre had always yearned for Mayleeda—its love and respect for biodiversity.

  Four hours into the journey, and flying over more woods, Aedre stretched her chair into a bed via voice command, closed her eyes, and slept. She awoke when the doors opened.

  “Here’s our susman.” Dad departed first, then Aedre’s hoverbed followed him into the black hoverdisc.

  “You going to sleep?”

  “No way. I have to see what this city looks like. Let’s set it on transparent.”

  “Shall we choose a scenic route to our hotel? We get to decide.”

  “I’d prefer the quickest. I’m dying for a shower, and we need to hire a nurse too, remember?”

  Eeshwair Sher’s Biluglass architecture was nothing like anything Aedre had ever seen. Hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, and museums, resembled organs and molecular structures in shape and colour. The Hospital of Cardiovascular Medicine resembled a giant red heart, the Eye Hospital was an eyeball, and the Hospital of the Nervous System looked like a neurone.

  While Plan8 had an array of humanoid sub-species, all humanoids had the same organs and basic biological structures. Depending on water and being carbon-based had helped them evolve in such a way, as had space travel. Planets with silicon, ammonia, and sulfur-based life had organisms with entirely different biological structures. Still, these were left alone, as the threat of contracting their alien viruses was too much of a risk for water-loving organisms.

  After they checked in at a hotel next door, tourist information said they could rent a specialised human or android nurse from the hospital.

  The Biluglass at the neurology department contained moving visuals of lightening travelling through neurons and sulphur and potassium ions entering and leaving the cells’ electrical pathways. It was more like a microbiology museum than a hospital, with other educational visuals of different nervous disorders and modern genetically engineered medicine for fighting them.

  They entered a sparkling room, which calmed to turquoise upon entering. Aedre’s handsome consultant looked only a few years older than her. He had dark purple skin and a black braid thrown over his shoulder.

  He stood and bowed. “Please sit.” He gestured to two cosy seats across his transparent desk. “How may I help?”

  “I’d like you to cure my daughter’s paraplegia.”

  His brows drew closer, and his face tightened. “I must warn you before I discuss this procedure, it is incredibly expensive for foreigners.”

  The hair stiffened on the back of Aedre’s neck. She avoided eye contact and spoke in a wavering voice. “My mum’s from Mayleeda.”

  “Did she keep her citizenship?”

  A sheen of sweat appeared on Dad’s face. “No. She withdrew it to cease Nerthus’s indefinite leave to remain payments.”

  “Did your mother travel with you? She could reclaim her citizenship and receive free treatment for you.”

  Aedre’s vision blurred. Time slowed as she watched hands ticking on a clock. “She died.”

  The doctor’s posture stiffened. “I’m sorry.”

  “How much?” Dad asked.

  The doctor splayed his fingers on his glass desk, then relaxed them. “Three million wandee.”

  Dad’s face became blotchy. “Sorry, Aedre. I can’t afford it.”

  With shallow breaths, she gave him a vacant stare. “Don’t worry, Dad. We’ll get by.”

  “Can’t the fact my wife was Mayleedian give us some funding?” He bumped the desk as he reached into his briefcase, then pulled out Mum’s birth certificate.

  The doctor rubbed his forehead. “No. I’m extremely sorry.”

  After Aedre’s consultation, they proceeded to Occupational Therapy. Rather than renting a nurse, Dad bought an upgraded robot similar to Margo to work as a home-nurse. Made purely from Biluglass, Fern hovered and could shrink to attach to Aedre’s specialised wristband.

  After returning to the hotel to get help from Fern, they meandered along a facade, searching for somewhere selling milk-tea, then passed a neon green Biluglass building, shaped like a marijuana leaf. Aedre stopped and smirked.

  Dad arched an eyebrow. “Now, that place looks like your cup of tea.”

  Aedre gave him a half-smile.

  “Wanna go in?”

  “Huh?”

  “Come on
. When was the last time you smoked it?”

  She blushed. “In Rajka.” Her blood went cold at the thought of Mosh and Nabi’s murder.

  “That stuff’s illegal there.” He shook his head, then looked up at the leaf building. “It’s not here, though. Come on.”

  She hesitated before following him through the door. They bought some bud, and a wooden pipe, similar to the one Rajkan police had confiscated.

  On the way out, Aedre asked. “You’re not buying gin?”

  He shook his head. “I’m cutting that habit. I wouldn’t mind trying some leaf, though. Will you share?” They chuckled and returned to the hotel.

  As they puffed and drank tea, they conversed about Mum and her death. Dad opened up. It was the first time he’d ever talked about Mum since the maglev accident. They both had a good cry. They discussed Aedre’s paraplegia and how everything was so bloody unfair considering how many slaves were being saved daily due to her discovery.

  “We should ask MSS or FRAP to fund your cure,” he said. “They must be rolling it.”

  “We can try,” Aedre said. “But I don’t think we’ll get anywhere.”

  “If you married a Mayleedian, you’d get funding.”

  She winced as her body and mind filled with hopelessness. Even before paralysis, she couldn’t find anyone to love her.

  Dad scrutinised her face. “I could bribe someone to marry you. I might not have enough to cure you, but I still have a lot.”

  “No, Dad. Don’t.”

  He opened a globe on his airSphere. “Here’s Mayleeda. Where shall we live?”

  “I told you where I want to live. Did you forget my pipedream?”

  “Volunteer for FRAP?”

  “Yes.”

  His eyes seemed to glow as he sat forward and clutched her hands. “Okay. Shall I contact them?”

  ***

  The next day, Dad and Aedre rented a susman and susplan to get to Flower Mountains in western Teeyen, where FRAP housed rescued slaves and migrants of war and famine.

  A middle-aged usher met them at the entrance of FRAP’s forest. His skin and hair glittered orange, and his amber eyes glowed. He led them to Tree-Town, talking about the history and management of FRAPS woods. He discussed what migrants did here, and how FRAP’s multi-species farming methods worked symbiotically with a high human population.

  They went through a healing area with tipis, yurts, and sensory gardens, offering different holistic healing such as massage, crystals, chakra balancing, union, aromatherapy, and various alternative medicine.

  Her breath bottled in her chest, and she gazed into Dad’s eyes. “Perhaps I could be healed here.”

  He gave her a hesitant nod, then slipped his hands in his pockets and led them to FRAP’s offices. Housed in green towers, they were constructed from photosynthetic Biluglass held within living willow and bamboo frameworks. Behind green towers, earth-sheltered homes dwelled under hills. Their usher showed them to their living quarters in the side of a chalk escarpment. Skylights brightened the interior, while a ventilation system freshened the air.

  “Your home will be cool in summer and warm in winter. Even though Mayleeda’s receives free energy from Tanmixan, we don’t need any here. Everything’s self-sustaining.”

  “This is heaven,” Aedre said.

  “I can’t believe I doubted you before,” Dad said. “Nerthus has a lot to learn from this moon, after all.”

  She smirked. “I told you so.” She glanced at the usher. “Where will we work?”

  “You’re eager,” he said. “You’ve only just arrived.” Then he chewed on a nail and averted his gaze. “There are many options, but because you have paraplegia, you’ll work in a tower facing your home.”

  “Is that why we live here?”

  He nodded. “The housing department considered your disability before you came.”

  “But I have a robot and a hoverchair.”

  He cleared his throat. “I know. Tree-Town’s green towers have plentiful voice-activated positions, such as data analysis, journalism, editing, publishing, design, administration—”

  “I want to work with nature.”

  “Sorry. It’s not possible.”

  Dad rubbed his jaw and looked away.

  She gave a heavy sigh and broke eye contact. “I hoped to work in the gardens or healing area. I taught union in Giok.”

  “We already have union teachers. You could teach a weekly meditation class, but would need to work from the office too.”

  Dad patted her back. “It’ll be okay. Can I work with Aedre too?”

  “Certainly, we have two positions working in advertising.”

  Aedre shook her head. “My dad was an electrical engineer and who designed androids at Oxfire’s Hi-Tec.”

  The usher’s smile widened. “Great. We need electrical engineers—”

  “No,” Dad said. “I want to stay with my daughter. We were apart too long before.”

  ***

  One evening, Aedre levitated up a smaller flower mountain. Tushing twinkled red from the sunset beneath it.

  Although she wanted to scream about her inability to move and feel, at least she could see colours, hear the wind whisper and bees buzz, smell the the flowers, and fulfil her dream, working for the best organisation in Plan8.

  She wasn’t whole, though. Unconnected to the land’s energy, she couldn’t release her stress into the moonrock and breath in cleansing light. If only she could hold her body in different union positions. Then, life force could flow through her, balance her, and cleanse her of dross, stale energy, and blockages.

  Teaching the meditation of self-love tomorrow morning in the healing area might help. But if Aedre taught union by river and rain travel, she could move in her limbs in their shape-shifted form.

  River and rain Agents

  A Treetown attendant told Aedre that Yasmin’s mother, Foster, had arrived. Aedre used his directions under stars and moons to reach the campfire in the forest. Aedre’s gaze met the only Jerjen there, and Foster’s eyes met hers.

  The woman touched her pendant, and her voice rose in pitch. “Aedre?”

  Aedre nodded. “Foster? Yasmin’s mother?”

  Noomy Foster pushed herself to her feet. “Yes! Thank you for saving Yasmin.” She approached her.

  A tall, ginger woman joined them and clutched Aedre’s limp hands. “You saved Yasmin?”

  “Yes.”

  She leaned over to hug her. “Thank you.”

  “Are you Inga?”

  “How d’you know?”

  “I’ll tell you another time.” Roobish’s memories had never left her. Aedre shifted her gaze to Foster, who stood and came to her side. “What about your other two daughters?”

  “Albina and Naomi are still concubines. You know Roobish?”

  Aedre nodded.

  “She told me their futures over five Nerthus years ago,” Noomy said.

  “Did she get information from the Satsang?”

  Noomy Foster nodded. “She said Naomi would live with other concubines in a rich druglord’s mansion in Mayleeda, and Albina would be a rich Jerjen’s only concubine in Nerthus’s tropics.” Her features became tight, and she crossed her arms. “I don’t know if FRAP has freed concubines.”

  “I can look into it,” Aedre said. “I’ve been working on logistics. Can I return tomorrow?”

  “Please.”

  “I’m going to see my dad now. See you tomorrow.”

  ***

  The next evening, Aedre returned to Foster with a heavy heart. The fire crackled as she drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. FRAP doesn’t know anything about rescue efforts anymore. They say all slave liberation missions are in MSS’s hands.”

  Foster’s chin quivered. “Please help, Aedre. Please find them by river and rain.”

  Sweat beaded on Aedre’s forehead. “I don’t want to. I want to help these migrants.”

  Noomy Foster squeezed her hands repeatedly. “But you’re useless here
. You’re better a warrior. You saved Yasmin.”

  “Which paralysed me.”

  Foster averted her eyes before darting them back to Aedre. “How about the others who conquered Glass City? Can’t we make our own alliance?”

  Aedre looked into the fire, then nodded. “Yasmin may want to, but Akachi, Sharr Shuvuu and Apek won’t. Akachi wants out, Apek’s old, and Sharr Shuvuu’s returned to Eeporyo to pursue art.” Aedre frowned. “But Yasmin needs rest first. She’s traumatized and must heal.”

  “Pass me the fig wine!”

  A woman passed a bowl of black liquid to Foster who gulped it in one. “I’ll wait for Yasmin and be patient.”

  ***

  Z’Das had called Aedre and asked that she bring Foster to her home so they could speak in private. After talking to an attendant, she discovered Foster was working the beehives. Aedre used insect protection on her aurashield and went to find her right away. Her hoverchair droned quietly as it levitated along a path. Amongst purple, red, yellow, and orange heads, Foster’s black hair caught her eye. When she approached the perimeter of the hive area, she stopped and waited.

  Foster oulled out a panel of honeycomb and gave Aedre the double take.

  “Someone wants to see you. Will you come?”

  “I’ll tell my supervisor.”

  “I’ve talked to her already.”

  They travelled for a mile through wildflower meadows to Tree-Town, Aedre in her hoverchair, and Noomy Foster on foot.

  In her home set in a crag, Aedre asked her robot, Fern, to make them strawberry tea.

  Foster rested on the sofa in the living room. “Where’s your father?”

  “Working in the office.”

  Noomy Foster nodded. “Who wants to talk?”

  “Z’Das from the Mayleedian secret service. He runs the human trafficking department and uses river and rain travel.”

  Noomy Foster shrugged. “They’re rescuing sex slaves?”

  “Yes. Shall I call him now or wait for a bit? He is intense.”

  “I’m used to intense people. Don’t worry. I’ll handle him.”

  “He’s sly from what I hear. Don’t let him make you agree to anything you’re not comfortable with.”

  “Call him.”

  Once Aedre opened her airSphere, called Z’Das and told him Foster was with her, she floated out, and Noomy Foster entered the orb. Aedre exited her home and watched the warm breeze flutter through leaves on tall trees.