The Gobo Bride: A Lewis Gregory Mystery

by Mason Adgett

  Indeed a new message from Lewis came shortly before we arrived at Vavaka’s estate with the subject “Call me now!!!”

  Since I made it a policy to never respond immediately to multiple explanation points I waited until we had been shown to our rooms. Then I steeled myself and told my phone, “Call Lewis.”

  I waited. Our service was provided by Liotek alien technology so the communication delay between systems was a very manageable nine seconds. I believe our videos were literally being sent back in time to accomplish the feat. Still even the slight delay grew pretty annoying over the course of a long conversation. The same could be said of Lewis so I tried to keep the whole thing as short as possible. He started talking the moment he answered, but I interrupted.

  “Lewis. Lewis! Slow down, please slow down. I’m very tired.”

  Nine seconds later he looked taken aback, then to his credit a rare bit of empathy set in and he took a closer look at me. His cell as usual was sitting on his desk but I could see his profile clearly in the upper right corner, his gaze directed somewhere to my left. He must have been watching me on the big screen. “Are you all right? Mike said you weren’t hurt.”

  “Tired, Lewis,” I said. “I’m just tired. It’s been a very long trip so far.”

  “I can imagine,” he said. “Well I haven’t had a chance to talk to Vavaka yet, just his assistant, but I’ve got the Phoenix family all over me here. They want to know what’s going on.”

  “I don’t think anyone knows yet,” I said.

  “We can’t have that,” he said. “We have to be on top of this.”

  “So far it seems like the halikari are as on top of it as anyone can be.”

  “Halikari?” he repeated. Apparently he’d never heard the word.

  “Local behavior enforcement,” I explained. “You are aware we’ve been in their custody, right? Mike told you that?”

  “He said you’d been interviewed by the cops, yes.” He frowned. “Listen, I don’t think the Phoenixes would be very happy if we lost control of this so whatever’s going on with the haliaki–”

  “Halikari.”

  “you need to keep me updated.” He came over to the desk and looked directly into the cell, his brow furrowed anxiously. “This is a disaster! You know that, right? We’ve lost India Phoenix!” He was so close now I could clearly see that he was wearing cosmetics, an affectation he had started since becoming a reality star.

  “Your foundation doesn’t quite match your skin color,” I told him. He kept going but nine seconds later it hurt his feelings and I felt bad. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m just tired. Look, let me get a little rest and I will give you a full update, okay?”

  He sighed. “Yeah, fine. Call me before you do anything else.”

  I hung up and sat down heavily in a recliner opposite what looked like a giant 3V screen. Both recliner and screen curved to follow the contour of the wall. The chair immediately adjusted itself to fit my form a little better and I leaned gratefully into its soft folds.

  While the estate outside our suite was decidedly guvian the suite itself was clearly intended for earthen guests. Whether Vavaka entertained a lot of earthen guests or whether he had enough money to set it up just for us I didn’t know but everything was top of the line, luxurious and comfortable, most of it probably imported directly from Earth. The whole room taken together was also ugly as sin, ostentatious, everything done in gold and glass and glittering like a princess tiara. Personally I liked dark blues, purples and blacks. Bright lights and colors tended to give me a headache.

  I asked the room to dim the light to about twenty percent and immediately the bright glitters of gold subsided to gentle highlights. Much better, I thought, my last conscious tendril before drifting off to sleep right there in the recliner.

  I dreamed, I know, of the kidnapping, reliving it over. Some things were changed. In my dream the killer cut through the door with the laser on my cell phone app and his voice was the same but in the dream he was a giant worm with great yellow eyes and huge shark teeth. “309J236!” he screamed. “309J236?!” I thought he was demanding some kind of answer but I didn’t have one.

  Vavaka’s estate spread over a good portion of the northern part of Jebala which in turn lie at the very southern tip of Parshun, the nation-state that governed the area. We had only seen the city from above as we flew from the station but what I saw resonated with the memory of my sim experience. Dark to my human eyes, I had adjusted the exposure on my cell to make up for it. Geometric grids rose out of the landscape in patterns that reminded me of hieroglyphics or pictograms, some early undiscovered alphabet writ large upon the city. We flew high enough to see the empty expanse of desert that dominated the south, though I knew a variety of ecosystems existed just below. While gobos had adjusted to life on the surface and lived there comfortably for over two thousand years their lives still extended deeply underground and an estate like Vavaka’s probably extended kilometers below the surface.

  We approached from the sky, following a single elevated road below that approached the giant wall surrounding the aboveground living quarters. Guards watched us pass when we flew over, which I thought curious as Jebala was hardly known for violence. A series of domes just outside the walls could conceivably have been some kind of housing; servants quarters I guessed as I couldn’t imagine who else might want to live directly under the sights of such guards.

  Once we were taken inside the translator Offman gave us a brief tour of our suite, which included a dining room, a library, an entertainment lounge, and our rooms, spaced evenly around the outside of the common area. Offman called it the “West Wing” but don’t get notions of an earthen mansion, an ancient imperial plantation or some such thing. Despite the imported earthen furniture the structure of Vavaka’s estate was entirely guvian. Where we might expect rooms shaped like squares and boxes on Asitot more natural flowing forms were preferred, free of corners and construction lines. Imagine yourself in a sumptuously decorated, electrically lit cave with passageways leading to caverns of all different sizes and you’ll get more of the idea. I could see where it would be very easy for a human to get lost over the whole estate, though our suite was straightforward enough. It just took getting used to as it followed none of our linear earthen conventions.

  I don’t know about the others but my own room was constructed in the shape of an egg. Even the floor was curved. It felt weird to walk on it. But everything already felt a little weird even without that. The gravity was slightly off, the atmosphere was too thin, and the air was so dry it hummed with static. Every motion felt clumsy. It was hard to breathe and I was always thirsty. It seemed like my tongue was constantly searching my mouth for water.

  I called Lewis after I had some breakfast and juice – I was able to sneak out and grab some fruit without running in to anyone else – and he answered immediately. I hadn’t checked to see what time it was back home but he was wearing a soft blue bathrobe, which meant it was probably the middle of the night.

  “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” I asked, hoping I had.

  “There’s no time for that,” he said.

  “What, sleeping?”

  “Listen, it’s pretty tense here, okay? I need you to call Debra Rhine immediately, I already forwarded her contact to you. Don’t wait. Any time–”

  “Isn’t it pretty late there?”

  “day or night, she said. The Phoenix family is worried, you understand? Worried sick.”

  “I do understand,” I said. “I’m worried and I barely know her.”

  “Listen, between you and me,” and here he dropped his voice to an intense whisper, “this is one of those disasters that could turn out to be very good for us. Forget Vavaka, okay? You need to find this kidnapper and rescue India Phoenix, you understand? You realize if you save India Phoenix’s life what that means for me? We’re talking India Phoenix.”

  Obviously. “You realize,” I said, “if this kidnapper kills her, what that does to yo
ur reputation?”

  “You don’t think he’s going to kill her, do you? It’s a ransom, right?” Lewis looked worried.

  “He killed several people already. He’s a psychopath, Lewis. Ransom? Maybe money is the motive. All I know is the guy is a madman.”

  He shook his head, frowning. “Look, just call Debra Rhine. I’m counting on you, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  I disconnected and called Debra Rhine. I checked Earth time zone 6 first – I didn’t want to be rude – and saw it was late in the morning. She didn’t answer quite as quickly as Lewis had but when she did she seemed fully awake and alert. She demanded a full account of our journey so far and asked several detailed questions about the events on the shuttle. It seemed I was just confirming things she already knew. When I finished she nodded once, quickly, precisely.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, “I don’t expect you or your team to find India. Your assignment has not changed. You will continue to investigate Vavaka’s background.”

  “You think the two are related?”

  She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Vavaka and this kidnapping? I do not.” She paused. It seemed like she was thinking about something so I kept my mouth shut. After a moment she said, “But if you find anything questionable in your investigations of his background, you will let us know immediately. We have no reason whatsoever to believe Vavaka was in any way behind this and have no intention of insulting his name with that insinuation, you understand?”

  “Of course.”

  “We are following up other leads from here.”

  “You think it’s the stalker?” I said. “The one who’s been harassing her?”

  She gave me a sharp look. “What do you know of this?”

  “She mentioned someone,” I said. “In passing.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She didn’t know him. A gamer, I think.”

  “We are aware of this individual and are following up on it,” she said, her tone dismissive. “We will also be sending a team to the Pyramus station but they will not interfere with your work. Please continue to focus on the background of Vavaka as’Tatim. This current situation is unfortunate but unrelated to your current agenda. In particular I would like to know his financial status, his business affiliations, and his family background, much of which is not on record.”

  “It will be challenging to investigate Vavaka when he is my host,” I said. “With all our arrangements being handled by his people don’t you think he’s going to know everything I find out?”

  She nodded. “Indeed. It was my intention to have our security keep an eye on you. I will send replacements. Until they arrive please just do your best. Please understand, Mr. Gregory, I do not expect you to find anything untoward. We have done our own work from here and all we expect is that you verify that which we already know. I will send a dossier with your security detail.”

  After we disconnected I thought about the two requests – Lewis’s and Ms. Rhine’s – and how it seemed I had been given conflicting orders. I considered calling Lewis back but decided against. Truth was I was more interested in what happened to India than in Vavaka’s background and – like Ms. Rhine – I thought the two were unrelated. All except the timing. But no doubt India’s stalker had seized on the opportunity of her travel.

  Why waste my time on Vavaka? It was a routine checkup. Merely a formality. No one had any real reason to think there was anything to be concerned about. I would keep my eyes and ears open but I knew already most of my attention would be consumed with finding India. It pained me to think it but on this occasion I agreed with my brother.

  Anyway, after thinking over things for a while I got dressed and stepped out of my room. My phone told me it was 14:14, still earthen time. It had been about six hours since we arrived, then, but the time meant nothing here. It would take me a little while to adjust to the Asitot cycle.

  I heard conversation in the dining area so I stepped around that way and found Charles and Mike having an argument. Mike cut off in mid-sentence when he saw me, looking guilty.

  “What were you saying?” I asked him.

  “We were just talking about the... on the shuttle.”

  Charles twisted his mouth quizzically and pointed his thumb at Mike. “He was wondering how the creep knew you.”

  I looked at Mike but his eyes were busy on the table. “Who, the killer? India’s kidnapper?” I asked. “He doesn’t know me.”

  Mike shrugged but didn’t look up. “I wasn’t saying you knew him or anything, sir.” Mike had called me that ever since our first job together, same as he called Lewis. I had tried to get him to quit but he was stubborn. “I was just asking Mr. Thomas how he knew all that stuff about you.”

  “He didn’t know anything about me,” I said. “That was all bluff.”

  “He seemed to.” Now Mike glanced up to see how I was taking it and I saw right away he was worried about things he didn’t know how to think about.

  “We’re going to get him, Mike,” I said to reassure him, but then I saw him wince and the look of consternation that came over his face and fixed it. “I mean the halikari will. Lewis told you we’re going to focus on Vavaka, right? That’s what we’re going to do. But the halikari will catch him.”

  “He might know things about all of us,” Mike said gloomily.

  “It was a bluff,” I said again. Then, to get his mind on something else: “You were saying something about the time here, how they break up the day into quarter-turns. Is that right?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I set my phone to it earlier.”

  “Good,” I said. “We should probably all do that. What time is it?”

  He checked his cell. “It’s almost third quarter. They call that one bazza.”

  That resonated in my memory somewhere but I didn’t go searching for it. Instead I asked, “Explain. What happens then?”

  He blinked at me, wide-eyed.

  Charles said, “Is it like morning? Noon? Lunch time?”

  “Oh,” he said. “They should be getting up soon, I think. We’re in shumbo now. Solitary time. Mostly I think it’s for sleeping. But bazza is fun time.” His brow furrowed as he scratched for what this really meant. “It’s like twelve hours of partying?”

  I flipped to the time setting on my phone and changed it to local time. It showed a graph approximately halfway full and a countdown in front of a star. As I watched, it went from “754” to “753” to “752.”

  “This display makes no sense to me,” Charles said.

  “We would say in translation, it is ‘less 8 cents to bazza,’” said a voice from behind us, and we all jumped. Yulie Offman, the translator, watched us from the other side of the lounge. “Bazza translates not well as ‘party time.’ You will see no parties in the manner you are thinking. In fact these would be quite offensive. There is no real translation for bazza. It is a time when we on Asitot focus on our health, our families, our development. It is a personal time where we respect the privacy of the activities of others and a spiritual time for those who believe in things of the spirit. It is best not to bother one in his activities during bazza.”

  I thought about that for a second. “So there’s no itinerary then? What are we to do during bazza?”

  “Vavaka will see you if you wish. He understands the human customs. But it is usual to wait until after bazza for business matters.”

  “Even in matters of life and death?” Charles asked, an intimidating furrow to his brow.

  “It is usual,” said Offman. “But as I said, Vavaka appreciates the Earthen ways and is willing to see you if requested. I encourage you, however, to focus on your own bazza, which you see is not merely a time of day but also a most important state of mind. I myself will not be available for translations as I have much to dwell on.” He nodded sharply at us. “Blessings on your bazza.”

  “Likewise,” I said. He left and the three of us looked at each other.

  “So what ar
e we supposed to do for twelve hours?” said Charles.

  I didn’t have an answer and was saved from making one by the appearance of Jack, blinking at us blearily like he had just rolled out of bed.

  “Where’s Jerry?” he said. “One of us should be filming.” He felt at his eye but his cell wasn’t there. He looked confused and shook his head. “I’ll go get my camera.”

  “Don’t bother,” I said. “It’s just over 5 cents to bazza.”

  Charles, who appreciated my sense of humor, smirked, but we both underestimated Jack.

  “Yes of course,” he said. “I’m willing to work though. I don’t have any personal business here anyway, right? Jerry signed off on it too.”

  “You know bazza?” Mike asked.

  “It’s in our contracts,” said Jack. “We’re part of the guild, you know.”

  “The union,” Charles said.

  “It’s not a union,” Jack stated firmly. “It’s a guild.” I waved aside this political argument as these things never went anywhere.

  “Take the bazza off,” I said. “Or if you’d rather you can work on some editing or something. But respect our privacy, if you don’t mind.”

  He looked a little wounded but shrugged it off. “Fine,” he said. “No big deal. But remember you told us to so we still get paid.”

  “Unions,” said Charles.

  I gave him a look and reassured Jack. “Of course. I’ll clear all that with Lewis later.”

  Jack didn’t go back to his room right away though, but instead regarded us for a long moment. “I don’t really have anything to do,” he said. “You don’t really mind if I hang out with you guys, do you? I won’t film it or anything.”

  “Of course not,” said Mike, apparently thinking he spoke for all of us.

  “Nice,” said Jack. “I’m going to take a shower.” He went back into his room and I frowned at Mike.

  “You guys have a good time,” I said. “I’ve got some business to take care of.” I didn’t know what it was yet but I kept that to myself.