Personal Log 158: 30 May - 7 June, 3303
24 Jul 2017Jemine Caesar
30 May – 7 June, 3303The Innocent Flower was ready and waiting for me back at Vonarburg Cooperative. Her FSD had been upgraded, and some maintenance work had been carried out on the Power Distributor. My biggest problem now was what to buy as a wedding present for father and Diadem.
My problem was solved by an article in the June edition of Valentina! magazine. Published as a download on the first of every month, Valentina! was an invaluable source of information about a wide range of subjects, including fashion and cosmetics, cookery, arts and entertainments, and space travel. I'd subscribed to it shortly after becoming a spacer.
"What do you think of this for a wedding present, Sam?" I said, giving him my dataslate to read the article in question.
'The Jaradharre Puzzle Box (it said) is an entertainment device which uses concentrated radiation bursts to detect the desires of the player and automatically and instantly creates a game with every feature they could desire. Each unit is unique, and will self customise to represent its owner. Use of another person's puzzle box is considered a great social faux pas.'
Sam chuckled. "I've heard of these," he said, "though never actually seen one. I think it sounds too good to be true, in all honesty."
"Well," I replied, taking back my slate, "it's something different, a bit of fun. And a lot better than a set of knives and forks. It says here that they're only available on Gohar Station in the Jaradharre system." I tapped the slate again and called up Ropey's GALMapp. "Jaradharre is about eighty light years from here. That's only four or five jumps. I'll head over there and buy one now."
"You'll need to buy two," Sam pointed out. "The article said that each unit self customises to its owner, remember?"
The five jumps to Jaradharre were straightforward enough, but the 526 thousand light-second trip across the system to Gohar Station seemed interminable, despite its only taking twenty minutes or so. That, too, passed without incident, and soon I was returning to Wyrd with four Jaradharre Puzzle Boxes in my hold. Curious to know whether the devices lived up to their hype, I'd decided to buy one for Sam and myself as well as for father and Diadem.
Later, back at Vonarburg Cooperative, Sam told me he'd received k-casts from two old friends.
"The first was from Alice Treadway, to say she's quit the police."
Alice Treadway was the young law enforcement officer whom Sam and I had helped to round up a gang of crooked police at Bactrimpox during the previous September.
"That's a surprise," I said. "She seemed to be so dedicated to her work."
"She was," agreed Sam. "But she's become very disillusioned. She says that the amount of police corruption is the main reason. And being shot at a few more times hasn't helped, either."
"Poor Alice. What's she going to do now?"
"She's not sure. Just considering her options for the time being."
Sam then told me his second message had been from Admiral Remi, to say he'd been transferred out of Fed Intelligence and into Internal Affairs. The last time Sam had contacted him was shortly after I had returned from Pegasi, when the admiral had just informed me that I had been taken off his list of trusted associates, meaning I'd be given no more undercover work for FIS. Sam had fired off a strongly worded protest, adding an instruction for the admiral to remove his name as well.
Reminding Sam of the incident, I said, "At least he's still on speaking terms with you."
"Oh, he's a good man," replied Sam, "and an old family friend, as you know. It'd take a lot more than a snarky letter from me to break that friendship."
On June the second I received a k-cast from my father, asking if Sam and I would like to spend time with them between now and the wedding on the seventeenth. I replied to say that we'd be delighted, and promised that we would leave for Reorte immediately.
"It'll give us plenty of time to look for some new clothes," I said to Sam, as we prepared our ships for departure.
"Indeed," he replied. "I know Imperial styles are famous for their flamboyant elegance, but the suit I wore at the 'Star's End' wrap party is a tad too garish for an Alliance wedding."
*****
We arrived at Reorte late the following day, docking at Davies High starport. I'd called ahead to let father know we were on our way, so he and Diadem were waiting to greet us in the Observation Lounge.
"Didi and I have bought a little place down on Home," said father. "It's a beach house, on a little island in the southern seas. That's where we're going to be married and spend the rest of our lives together. We're going to be so happy, aren't we, Didi?"
Didi smiled indulgently at my father, squeezing his arm in a long-fingered grip. "We sure are, Teddy Bear," she replied, using the same nickname that my mother had used for him when they had been young lovers all those years ago. "I am so looking forward it."
I thought she sounded a little less than enthusiastic about it, but I said nothing. My father clearly doted on his beautiful bride-to-be, but I was becoming more and more convinced that the feeling was not reciprocal.
Father and Diadem were living on Davies High prior to moving into their southern sea island idyll, so Sam and I took an apartment on the starport in the interim. After a brief shopping excursion to buy some necessities, the four of us went to a bar for drinks and a chat. When the conversation turned to my recent trip to the Pleiades, Diadem's eyes widened.
"The Pleiades!" she said. "Oh, but isn't that where they've seen those lotusflower ships? Did you see any of them yourself?"
I shook my head. "No," I replied, "but I wasn't there for very long. I did see the barnacles, though."
"Oh, I would dearly love to go there!" said Didi, clapping her hands with glee. "I'd love to see one of those flower-ship things for myself. I've never done anything exciting before in my whole life!" She looked at me with an earnest expression. "I wonder, would you take me there in your ship, Jemine?"
"Well, I— "
"Please say you will. It would be the adventure of a lifetime for me!"
"My ship isn't really equipped as a pleasure cruiser, Diadem. Why not book a trip on a proper passenger ship? There are plenty of taxi drivers out there."
Father cleared his throat. "The thing is," he said, "we've sunk all our money into buying the beach house. It'll be a simple tech-free life for us from now on. We can't afford any more trips."
"Besides," said Diadem, "It would be such fun, Jemine, just the two of us. You and me. We'll be like the two women in that holovid... what was it called...? You know the one I mean, it's where one of them murders an Imp trader after he rapes her. They go on the run from the law and deliberately fly their Cobra III into a star when they realise they're about to be caught."
"I don't think I've ever heard of it," I said, "and I'd rather not end up flying my ship into a star. But if you really want to go to the Pleiades, then all right. I'll take you."
"Oh! Oh, thank you! Thank you! That is so good and wonderful of you! Can we leave tomorrow, do you think? The last few days before the wedding will be very busy, and I will have so much to do. I really would like to go on our trip as soon as possible."
I glanced with suspicion at Diadem's eager face. I felt more certain than ever before that the woman didn't truly love my father, and her fervent plea to be taken on an 800 light-year round trip to the Pleiades did little to change my mind. She seemed desperate to put a great distance between herself and Reorte, and saw me as her chance to do it. Sooner or later, I thought, Diadem would see fit to tell me the truth.
Until then, however, I supposed I would have to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, it was quite possible that I was wrong about her. My lifelong naivety had been gradually diminished by my experiences since I became a spacer. In its place was growing scepticism and mistrust. But perhaps my mistrust of Diadem was unwarranted. Perhaps she genuinely was in love with my father. Perhaps she really did want to have one last thrill-seeking jaunt across the void before settling down into the humdrum of married life on a low-tech desert island.
Perhaps.
*****
I had the Flower fitted with a passenger module, just in case Diadem, being an apparently inexperienced space traveller, found multiple jumps though witchspace on the flightdeck of a Vulture too overwhelming. I'd also helped her to buy a flightsuit to wear for the journey. The one she'd chosen was bright magenta in colour, with yellow trim on the shoulders, arms and legs.
At 20:00 GST on June the fourth, I guided the Innocent Flower through the mailslot and out of Davies High. Then, once clear of the starport's exclusion zone, I engaged the FSD for the first of the nineteen jumps required to reach our destination: Pleiades Sector OI-T C3-7 A.
The enhancements I'd had carried out on the ship's FSD meant that we made good time, which seemed to catch Diadem by surprise. She was sitting in the passenger cabin, speaking to me over the ship's internal comms.
"Only two more jumps?" she asked. "We're nearly there? Already?"
"Yes," I replied. "Space travel doesn't take nearly so long as it used to just a few decades ago. A trip like this would have taken many weeks, if not months. Now it's just a matter of a few hours."
"I hadn't realised... I thought there'd be more time..."
"More time?" I asked, engaging the FSD for the penultimate jump. "Time for what?"
"Jemine," she said, "I have a confession to make."
This is it, I thought. "I'm listening."
"I... I can't go through with the wedding."
I stayed silent, waiting for her continue.
"The thing is," she went on, "I haven't been entirely honest with you. Or with your father. You see, a few years ago I was a member of a pirate gang in Reorte. The Reorte Raiders, we were called. I wasn't a pilot myself. I never went on any actual raids. Never did much travelling at all, in fact, just one or two jumps at a time. My role in the Raiders was more that of a... a companion. A comforter."
"You mean you were the gang slut," I said.
"All right, yes, if you want to be crude about it. I was a prostitute. But don't judge me, Jemine. You have no idea what that kind of life is like."
"You'd be surprised. Carry on."
"I fell in love with one of the gang. His name was Skaigh. For a time we were inseparable, but then the Raiders fell foul of a rival mob. They were big trouble to us, and so the Raiders decided to split up and lay low. We went our separate ways. I fled to Turir, and lost contact with Skaigh."
"Let me see if I can guess the rest," I said. "You met my father at Turir and felt an attraction to him. I'll stop short of honouring it with the word 'love'. Perhaps you thought he had money. Whatever the reason, you began a relationship. Then this Skaigh fellow turned up out of the blue, saying he wanted to pick up where you left off. Am I right?"
"Almost," came the reply. "Skaigh got in touch with me a couple of months ago, and yes, he said he wanted to rekindle the old flame we had. I realised I still loved Skaigh, and couldn't bear to be without him. But you're wrong about my feelings for Edward; I did love him, and I'm still very fond of him. But he's an old man, who just wants to plod along for the rest of his life in a beach house on a desert island. I can't live my life like that."
"So you've left him," I said, as the Flower dropped out of witchspace. "You've run out on him without so much as a word of explanation. Or were you kind enough to leave a note?"
"No, I didn't leave a note."
Angrily, I took the Flower down from supercruise and brought her to a dead stop. Activating my magboots, I rose from my seat and stepped across the flightdeck to a small storage area. Opening one of the compartments, I took out the shark knife I had used to kill Caz, then went aft to the passenger cabin. Diadem's mouth fell open in fear as soon as she saw the knife. Moving swiftly, I grabbed her roughly by the arm and held the knife to her chest, digging the point of the blade into the fabric of her flightsuit.
"You conniving bitch," I said. "I knew there was something fishy about you from the start. I've got a bloody good mind to space you here and now!"
"And I wouldn't blame you," replied Diadem, frightened. "Look, I had intended to tell you everything long before we reached the Pleiades, but space travel is even quicker than I thought. I was going to ask you to take me to Skaigh. He's somewhere in Pegasi space, waiting for me to contact him."
"You are fucking unbelievable!" I said. "Not only do you run out on my father almost on the eve of your wedding, you also use me to help you do it."
"At least this way, I'm not sentencing Edward to a loveless marriage. Take me to Pegasi, Jemine, and I promise I'll never bother you or your father again."
I released my grip on Diadem's arm and backed away, still pointing my knife towards her. "I'll take you," I said. "But if you so much as set one foot near me or my father again, then Gaia help me I will kill you. Now, exactly where in Pegasi?"
"I... I don't know. I'm to contact Skaigh to arrange a meeting place when I reach Pegasi space. He moves around a lot."
"Skaigh..." I said. "What is that, a callsign?"
"No, Skaigh is his family name. His given name is Norman."
I laughed. "Norman? That's not a name I'd associate with a pirate." I moved to the cabin door. "All right, Diadem, here's what's going to happen; I'll take you close to Pegasi space, but not into it. We'll stop at a starport I know, and you can call your loverboy from there. I'll decide about taking you the rest of the way later."
Diadem nodded, her face a mixture of fear and gratitude. I returned to the flightdeck, stowed the shark knife back into its compartment, and set course for the Inara system. It was a bit of a detour from a direct route towards Pegasi but, with the exception of Bactrimpox, Inara was the most familiar system to me on this side of the bubble, thanks to a couple of previous memorable visits.
Once the Flower had safely left the Pleiades sectors, I sent Sam a k-cast to tell him everything that had happened.
"Don't say anything to my father about this," I said. "It's better he knows nothing for the time being."
"Acknowledged," replied Sam. "It seems you were right about Diadem all along. Poor Edward. I don't envy you the task of breaking the bad news to him. Though I have to say, I think he's better off without her."
I spent much of the journey to Inara brooding about the whole situation between my father, Diadem and her pirate boyfriend. On arrival in Inara, I set course for Citi Gateway. It was the furthest of the system's four large starports, but only by a narrow margin. And, since I'd been there before, it seemed like the natural choice.
By the time the Flower docked at Citi Gateway I was feeling tired, tetchy and in need of a shower. I opened the internal comms link to the passenger cabin.
"We're here," I said. "Inara system, Citi Gateway. I'll book us some cheap rooms. You can make your call to Skaigh."
Diadem's voice came back over the speaker. "You said you'd been here before?"
"A couple of times, yes. I didn't think I'd be back quite so soon, though. And certainly not in these circumstances."
"I'm sorry it had to be this way, honey. Truly I am."
I shook my head ruefully. "Not half as sorry as I am."
A shower, a meal and a few hours sleep helped me to feel refreshed, but did little to improve my mood. Diadem had sent her message to Norman Skaigh, and was now in her room waiting for him to respond. Until then I had time to kill.
Wearing a light blue leather jacket over a white lace top, black cargo pants and a pair of chunky-heeled black ankle boots, I wandered the Entertainment District, lingering in the fashion stores and watching the various mall entertainers. After a couple of hours I took my dataslate from my bag and checked it for messages. Finding none, I angrily stuffed the device back into my bag.
"Come on, Diadem," I muttered to myself. "What's taking so long?"
With a deep sigh of irritation, I turned to look at a display in the window of a tattoo parlour. A sudden blur of movement in the window pane caught my attention. Shifting focus away from the display, I found myself studying the reflection of a man. His flight suit immediately identified him as a pilot, but there was something familiar about him.
I turned to take a proper look at the man. He was tapping away at a starport data terminal, perhaps looking for jobs on the mission board. There was an urgency in his manner that intrigued me, and the feeling that I'd had met him before grew stronger.
And then it came to me; the memory of an encounter in another star system, not so long ago. I walked across the mall to where the man stood, hoping my memory was correct.
"Excuse me," I said. "John? It is John Mathurin, isn't it?"
The man continued to study the data terminal as he began to speak. "That's me, who wants to-"
Then he looked up at me, a flash of recognition in his eyes.
"Jemine, right? We met somewhere in Fed space?" He took his hand from the data terminal and extended it to me in greeting.
I nodded. "That's right," I said, accepting the proffered handshake. "Jemine Caesar. We met a couple of months ago, briefly, at a bar in Ross 720. We'd been doing some merc work for a faction out there. The Crimson Mercenary Dragoons?"
"Yeah," replied Mathurin. "That's right, so we did. Well, well. Small universe, isn't it? What brings you to Citi Gateway?"
I shrugged. "Up to this moment I've simply been killing time, but here's only so much window shopping a girl can stand."
Having no way of knowing how long it might be before Didi got in touch, I decided that I may as well spend the time in company. I looked down at the data terminal screen, which was currently displaying a job offer to transport panda pelts. I had no idea what a panda was, though I wasn't about to admit it.
"There's a place here," I said, "called the Ingaba. They serve pretty much every kind of drink you could possibly want. I know I could bloody well do with one. How about you? Unless, that is, you have panda pelts to deliver... "
Mathurin gave a glance at the data terminal and put it back into standby mode. "No," he said, indicating for me to lead the way. "I think I'd rather take you up on that drink."
The Ingaba was busy. Edging my way through the crowd of patrons, I glanced over to the private cubby hole where, not too long ago, I'd sat drinking Pegasi Moon at the birthday party of a self-styled pirate queen. I recalled how I'd feared for my life at first, but, in a surprising twist, had spent an enjoyable evening with the woman and her cronies. Now, smiling at the memory of that evening, I moved to the counter and attracted the attention of the bartender.
"I'll have a Toolfa gin & tonic, ice and cucumber." Then, indicating John, I added, "And whatever my friend here wants, too."
Mathurin asked for Scotch on the rocks.
"So," I said, leaning against the counter, "what brings you here, John? I can't believe it's the fur trade."
Mathurin thought for a moment before replying. "It's the nature of the lifestyle, I suppose," he said, finally. "When the Ross 720 work fell apart, I sort of started moving around aimlessly, just going to wherever the highest paying job was headed. Eventually, I saw that the Inara system was close by, and I made a detour..." He paused, and absentmindedly scratched his bearded chin. "Maybe I just needed to be somewhere that made some degree of sense."
I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped short when a familiar voice rang out behind me.
"Hey, Jem Jem, fancy seeing you here!"
I turned to see the grinning face of Kyla Emmerich...
==========================
Author's Note:
The latter part of this instalment is a collection of posts made in the RP rooms on Inara.cz. I would like to thank John (Xeknos) Mathurin and Kyla Emmerich for their participation and continuing support for my Thinging.