Xen wanted to come with me. And I wanted to get Xen off the station. I told Xen as much, and Xen agreed. So we spent the next couple of days planning our escape from the Thorn.
Frod''s data on forgers revealed a few names for me to look into. I made contact with one currently out of prison, who was cagey, of course, but when I was able to furnish him with a decent amount of credit, he was in.
There was more to it than that, of course. Xen needed a new identity and makeover to go with the passport. I bought Xen new hair and synthaskin, though I had to obfuscate the purchases so that no one would suspect I had Xen living in my rooms. Xen''s old skin was starting to get a little on the used side, or so Xen said. I hadn''t touched Xen, if I could avoid it, since our heated encounter following the fake death. Xen did not ask me to help with the application of the new layer of skin. I suppose Xen would have been capable of doing it by Xen''s self all this time anyway. And I should have been grateful that Xen was leaving me out of it, keeping me from temptation. But that whole time Xen was doing that in the back room, I had to go out to the Atrium and look at my digipad so I wasn''t completely out of my own body, imagining what it might be like if I were helping Xen right now. As it was, it was a close thing.
Between all of these expenses, my funds were beginning to run low. No help was forthcoming from Black Rose this time. Either I''d been too surreptitious about all this activity this time, or perhaps the station''s leader did not approve of my current course of action.
At least it was a peaceful time. No thugs coming for me, and Frod left me alone, presumably because he thought I had my investigation keeping me busy.
And so, a week after the incident in the Atrium, Xen came out into the corridor for the first time, a new person. The gynoid on my arm was called Lumii, and the story was that I''d purchased her indenture to take her back to Gerondia to be a nurse to my frail elderly grandmother. I had all the papers I should need: purchase papers, identification, and documents approving Lumii for travel to Gerondia. The fact that she didn''t exist in the Thorn''s system as a discreet entity shouldn''t matter: as an indentured synthetic, she’d technically arrived as property of the person I''d supposedly bought her from, a trader who''d left the station two days prior.
Was it in fact quite gross that I was trafficking this being out of the station, claiming to own them? Yes, it was, and I didn''t love it. But it was the best plausible cover Xen and I could come up with given the window of time we had. After all, Teg Korr wouldn''t be locked up forever for the assault on me.
Lumii''s hair was blue and her skin was bright pink, and she was two inches shorter than Xen had been (I still don''t know how Xen did that, especially by Xen''s self), so there was no way this gynoid was the same one who''d been beloved of the Vindemia Cafe''s clientele. She walked two steps behind me, head lowered, wearing a frumpy grey dress and matching cloche hat. Everything about Lumii was so very un-Xen that no one even gave us a second glance. We made our way down to the base of the Atrium, to board the passenger ship to Gerondia.
"Sophora?" My head snapped, too quickly for me to think twice and maybe act a little more casual. But Frod was standing on patrol, right there. Damn it!
"Constable Frod." Hopefully he couldn''t hear the grinding of my teeth.
"Leaving so soon?"
"I have to pay a visit to my grandmother. There''s something back home I need to see for myself." Namely, the look on her face when I confronted her about the connection to Lisia Helianthe. "I won''t even be gone a whole day."
"And who is this?"
Lumii spoke in a high chiming voice, quite unlike Xen''s low and soothing one. "I''m Lumii, nurse and companion."
"I''ve bought her indenture, and she''s going take care of my grandmother back on Gerondia until she''s worked off the balance."
Frod clicked his tongue and wagged his fat finger right in front of my face. "Now, Sophora, I thought better of you, especially given you were Xen''s friend. Buying an indenture and making a synthetic work to pay it off? What would Xen say?"
I gritted my teeth and lied, "The way I see it, Lumii looks after my grandmother, and gets her freedom after a year. I get the knowledge that my grandmother is in capable hands, and the satisfaction of knowing that at the end, I''ll have set a synthetic free. I''m not proud of it, Frod, but I''m also not rich enough to go around operating an emancipation charity. I need a little something in return. The work won''t be hard, and Lumii has experience."
Frod leaned forward, until I could smell what he''d eaten for breakfast. Sardines, as far as I could tell. "I''ll be seeing those purchase papers then, Sophora."
The moment of truth was here. I dug through my luggage and pulled out the papers. If the forger had done a good enough job, there was no way Frod could detain us...
... right?
He reached for the papers in my hand, smiling like the predator standing over the prey.
"Constable?"
Nadir came sauntering towards us, ropey long limbs swinging, faceless behind his black exosuit.
"Nadir, how can I help you?"
"Black Rose requests your presence immediately in the Penthouse."
Frod puffed up, starting from his legs and rolling all the way up to his head until he stood the straightest I''d ever seen him, his generous gut sucked in. "Yes, Nadir. I am ready." I only just managed to contain my laughter at his sudden formal manner.
"Good day," Nadir nodded to Lumii and myself.
"Er, yes, goodbye, safe travels," Frod bid us as an afterthought, and scurried after Nadir.
"He really is there every time we need him," Lumii murmured, slipping into Xen''s voice for a moment before remembering. "And you say he knows... about me?"
I nodded, and gestured for her to go ahead of me into the line waiting to board. She shook her head, and I remembered myself: I was ''the owner'', so I should go first. I shuddered at that, then slipped ahead. "I suppose if I were Black Rose, I would want to know everything going on in my own station too. But what I want to know is how exactly that works... and to what extent. How much do Black Rose and Nadir hear and see..."
Our eyes met at that. We were no doubt having the same thought, and both shied away from looking at each other.
On the ride to Gerondia, we mostly stuck to our private compartment for the eight hours. Lumii went walking through the public areas a couple of times once we''d confirmed that no one on the passenger manifest would have known Xen. I stayed sitting mostly, reading on my digipad all about ''the Wilt''. From what I could see through Frod''s personal notes about them, and files on individuals assumed to be in the group, the Wilt was a loose conglomeration of people with an interest in seeing Black Rose fall. In her rise to power over the station, she’d made a few enemies. Mostly real estate and business types, people who were probably hoping to be in Black Rose''s position themselves. I didn''t know why Frod wanted me to know about this, other than the connection with Korr''s lawyer, Masare Jebon. At the very least though, it was a warning to me that Korr and Jebon were well-connected with powerful people around the station.
When we arrived on Gerondia, it was mid-morning. The air was so sweet, I wanted to cry. But I held it together, pulled out the correct papers at customs, and waited in line with Lumii in tense silence.
I handed the papers over to the agent at the booth. She ran her eyes over my face, looking half asleep. "Meria Bellis Tagetes, and... Lumii. Everything seems in order. Welcome home."
"Thanks." I shoved our papers back in my pockets and strode ahead, out into the freedom of the spaceport arrivals.
Lumii hurried to catch up, then gripped my elbow as she whispered, "Wait... why did you give a fake name?"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"Because I''m not supposed to be back here." She flashed alarmed eyes at me, but I continued walking her out until we were under the bright green sky. Fields of flowers stretched into the horizon on this side of the spaceport. The only thing which broke up that view was the gondola tree, a long tall spindly structure with many different wires slung away from it. Those disappeared into the distance, leading to different population hubs nearby. I directed Lumii onto one of the gondolas heading for Quercus. Once we were alone in that small carriage dangling over the landscape, I continued my story. "I broke some laws when I was investigating what had happened to Lisia. I''m not proud of it. But part of my punishment is that I''m exiled for a year."
Lumii''s face switched back to Xen''s facial configuration on the oval of Xen''s projected face. "Marys, why are we here? My safety isn''t more important than yours. If I had known, I wouldn''t have asked you to take this risk for me."
"No, I need to be here too, Xen. I want to protect you, and I want to see my grandmother, after... what we saw in the records." Xen frowned, purse-lipped, and looked down at the floor between our feet. Xen still looked worried about inconveniencing me, when I rather thought that Xen should have been angry at me for dragging Xen here into my family and legal troubles.
Eventually, Xen sighed, and the face on Xen''s head flickered back to Lumii, with her slightly wider eyes which made her look more childlike. She gazed out at the valley under us, and smiled. When she spoke, it was her, the Lumii voice. "Well, I am glad you brought me. This place looks like heaven."
Our gondola climbed a ridge and then we descended into the Quercus River valley. The town I''d lived in while growing up hugged the river on both sides within the protective walls of the ravine, leaving the high plains to the wildflowers. Beyond, to the north, the Capital of Ligustrum stood on the horizon. Under its stormy skies, I once served as a Keeper of the Law.
No more, and never again.
Here, the oldest houses and roads were cut into the cliff walls themselves, but in the newer parts of town, modern habitation pods stacked two storeys high stood at convenient places near the commercial centres of town. My grandmother lived in the older part of town, so when Lumii and I got off our gondola, there was a comparatively long walk to get to our destination.
My grandmother was waiting on her stoop for us, hands entwining under her pinafore. Lumii froze up for a step when she saw her, but I urged her forward. I''d forgotten to warn her. Silly of me, really. Gran reached for me when I came close, and wrapped me in arms as hard and tight as wood and vines. Her skin was twisted and dark brown, scratchy bark pressed against my soft petal skin. Her hair was blood red, but straggly, tied up away from her face in a bun.
"Gran, this is Lumii."
"I told you, Marys," she rasped in a voice just this side of humanoid, "I don''t need a helper."
"It''s actually more than what I told you over the vidchat, Gran. I know you don''t need help. It''s Lumii who needs help." We''d agreed to keep Xen as Lumii, as she, while in Gran''s presence. Xen thought it would be easiest for Gran to keep the secret if she didn''t have to remember Xen was Xen''s actual identity, and Lumii was the cover. "There is someone back on the Thorn who is trying to kidnap her, and keep her to themselves. But she is a free person. We need your help until the guy has gone. Can she bunk down in my old room?"
Gran''s frustration at me evaporated, and she reached for Lumii''s hand. "My dear, I am so sorry. Please don''t think I am rude. Marys had me convinced you were here for my sake."
"A necessary cover, in case anyone was listening in on our calls," Lumii clarified.
"Of course I would love to help you." She clasped Lumii''s hands in hers, and recited her origin.
"Agathis, the seed,
Ligustrum, the bed,
Monarda, the root,
Excelsa, the stem,
Sophora, petal three of four.
"Come in, come in, you are most welcome here." She took Lumii by the arm and drew her into the house. Lumii shot me an amused look over her shoulder, and I followed slowly after. There was no stopping Gran when she was on a mission.
She showed Lumii all around the house, while I took over making cups of tea. When Gran brought Lumii back into the sitting room after the tour, she left us there. "I just have to go make up the bed for my guest." She would brook no argument on that matter, so we let her go.
Lumii turned to me, confusion written all over her projected face. "Marys, why does your grandmother look nothing at all like you?"
I looked down into my teacup, wondering how much I should say. It was all public knowledge, but it was still disturbing to talk about, especially to an non-Gerondian. "You know how I said Lisia rose to power during a pandemic she created? It was a little more involved than just that. You see, Lisia was part of a cabal of scientists working to... perfect the Gerondian species. That''s why every Gerondian you see under a certain age looks more like me, more soft and flower-like. Gerondians in the generations before were more random, I guess. Different features, sometimes even wildly different biologies that meant breeding was impossible between different combinations. But after the virus was spread, it... homogenised all the children in utero."
Lumii looked suitably horrified, the tips of her fingers covering her open mouth. "So Lisia was an eugenicist?"
"Yes."
"But you said there was a cure?"
"The cure simply stopped the ill effects of grown adults dying from the virus. Every baby born now is like me, despite the cure. Everyone has the dead virus in their DNA, from now until the heat-death of the universe. She won. Lisia won. She made Gerondians more alluring to others, especially to Terran sensibilities. But it''s made us less hardy. And when the virus was active, it did kill off a number of adults who were incompatible with it. Like my Dad. And maybe my mother, though -"
Gran returned from getting the bedroom ready. We sat and talked for the next half hour, sharing tea with my Gran, letting Lumii and Gran get to know each other. Then, sensing perhaps that I needed to have that chat with Gran, Lumii nodded to me significantly, then said, "I''ll just go unpack my bag. Be right back."
Once she was gone, I turned to Gran, my smile faltering.
"Lovely girl," Gran murmured, then sipped her tea.
"Gran. Who is Monarda Aracea Excelsa?"
Gran''s eyebrows shifted together. She sipped her tea with more ferocity, making a slurping noise. When she put her cup back on the table, she answered in a measured tone, fingers steepled, "Well, each of those are family names..."
"I know that. But Gran, I have tracked Lisia Astrantia Helianthe''s movements twenty-five years ago to the Thorn. It seems she set up a shop in the Thorn under that name, though it didn''t survive long. On the form she filled out about her business back then, she named you as her export agent. You, full name, at this address. Gran, what did you have to do with Lisia?"
At her stubborn silence, I pressed again. "Were you a follower of Lisia, Gran?"
Finally, she snapped, her voice quiet but full of ice. "Monarda Aracea Excelsa is not the same person as Lisia."
"Oh, so it''s a real name?"
"Yes. It''s a different person. A business partner I had a long time ago. We''re not related, those are just common names in Ligustrum." She wouldn''t meet my eyes. It wasn''t a universal sign of deception, but I was pretty sure she was lying.
"Okay, well, that makes more sense I guess. Because if we were related, that would make no sense at all. If Excelsa is your mother''s name but her grandmother''s name, then would she be your niece? Her mother''s name is Aracea, but she can''t be my sister, because Aracea Sophora Excelsa would have been too young to be Lisia''s mother. So... is the Aracea in M. A. Excelsa''s name a sister of yours who I''ve never met... did she die, and that''s why you named your daughter Aracea too, as a tribute to your dead sister -"
"You''re speaking nonsense, Amaryllis. We are not related to M. A. Excelsa. She is no one to you. Let this go."
"That''s not how you raised me, Gran."
She rose to her full height, the depths of the forest flashing in her dark green eyes. I deflated, envious of the way that despite her age, my grandmother, a natural, pre-virus Gerondian, could become wild again at a moment''s notice, while I was just so damn small and easily bruisable, a cultivated rose ready to wilt sooner than bloom. Gran declared in a voice of the wind through a dead and hollow trunk: "Your flight back to the Thorn is soon, isn''t it, Marys? You had best say goodbye to your friend and be off."
I jumped at her bidding, and shuffled into my old room. Lumii sat there, staring out of the window cut into the cliff face. I''d stared out of it in the same listless way, many times. She turned to me, then stood and gave me a hug. "Be safe, all right?"
I hugged back weakly, surprised. "I was about to say the same thing to you."
"I''ll be all right, here. You''re the one heading back into the fray."
"Yeah, well. I''ll be able to work a bit more efficiently if I''m not constantly worried about you." I winced. Had that sounded awkward? "Not that I won''t be thinking about you here." I winced again. Did that sound a bit dodgy, that I''d be thinking of Xen? "I hope it''s ok..."
Xen laughed. It was Xen, not Lumii, that proper melodic burst of low laughter which had so enchanted me when we first met. "It''s ok. Please, Marys, get going. I don''t want you to miss your flight. Did you find what you came for?"
I shook my head, and Xen frowned. "I''ll see what I can learn then."
"No, don''t upset my Gran, please. I want her to be a good host to you."
"I''ll be careful."
I left them both waving me away at the stoop, and walked back down the hill into town. Away from Gran''s domination of my senses, I allowed myself to feel mad. She was hiding something from me. What was so damn important that she had to lie to me about it? Could she really be attached to Lisia somehow? The woman who murdered my father, who probably murdered my mother too, except no body was ever found – there was no way Gran could be covering for the woman who probably murdered her own daughter, right?
A few blocks later, a feeling fell upon me like a cloud, the cold of it waking me out of my rage at Gran.
I was being followed.