“You have no conception of life within Rarrana. It is not a prison.”
“Can Tachyon leave?”
Zabb’s silence provided all the answer they needed. A chime indicated an incoming call. Zabb keyed the stage. The image of his secretary appeared.
“Yes?”
“Sir, Captain Nesfa,” the man said.
“Abyss take the woman!” Zabb said. “What part of no doesn’t she understand?”
“Will you speak with her, my lord?”
“No. Thank her for her continued interest in my well-being, but tell her I must decline her invitation due to responsibilities at home.” With a vicious jab Zabb killed the holo. “Now, where were we?”
“I was going to ask you if I can blow this Popsicle stand, go into town, check out the fleshpots of Takis,” Jay said.
“No.”
“Shit.”
Jay expected Mark to react with that little wince with which the other ace met all of Jay’s more outrageous remarks. But the hippie seemed to have withdrawn into some kind of fugue state, maybe an LSD flashback.
“If that is all…” Zabb began.
“Women are permitted in Rarrana without restriction?” Mark said.
Jay wondered if a space voyage had dropped Meadows’s IQ.
“Obviously.”
“Cool.” Meadows knelt and snapped open his briefcase. Pulled out the black-and-silver powder. A few seconds later, and Moonchild stood before them.
“Now, I would wish to see the Doctor.”
Jay was expecting Zabb to refuse, but there was a faint smile at the corners of that thin-lipped mouth. He didn’t seem to mind being trumped. “By all means. Just be out before the change. I would hate to have to kill you.,’
“Yeah, we feel that way about you too,” Jay said.
“He changes into a woman,” Roxalana mused. “What a useful man. We might have some hope of understanding between the sexes if more of them could do that.”
“Wish someone would give me the power to move in the other direction,” Pandasala said.
And Tisianne made a mental note that if she ever did escape from her current predicament, she would find some way to free Pandasala from hers.
“How beautiful she is,” Cillka breathed, and gently touched a strand of Moonchild’s jet black hair.
Moonchild bowed. “Thank you, gracious lady, but my time is limited, and we must reach a decision concerning the Doctor’s safety before I must leave.”
“Why can’t you stay to guard Tisianne?” Shi’tha asked.
“I exist for only an hour in human time.”
“Unfortunate,” Melant said.
“Yes, very. I have sought some way to free all of the individuals who make up Mark Meadows so that we might each pursue our own karma, our own futures, but so far I have been unsuccessful.”
“Your offer is generous, groundling,” Roxalana said. “But I can select guards for my brother.”
“Without offense, lady, I must say I would feel better if one of the guards was Mark.”
“Mark is a man,” Melant said with that careful patience one reserves for stupid children and animals.
“So are most of our guards,” Tisianne said suddenly. “The key is that they are neutered.” She gathered Moonchild’s hands in hers. “A vasectomy is easily performed. Easily reversed for my people. If you’ll do it, you can stay with me.”
“Zabb will not permit it. He has already refused to allow Mr. Ackroyd to leave the House. I think he fears that Mr. Ackroyd might find a way to kidnap Blaise. He will use every means to neutralize our powers.”
“Go to Taj. He has sworn allegiance to Zabb, but this in no way compromises that oath. He cares for me. He will help,” Tis said.
“My brother is correct,” Roxalana said. “And use my son Rowan to send us word when you are coming. We’ll see that your arrival causes as little comment as possible.”
“Moonchild, thank you.”
“We will be back soon.” The ace slipped through the door, into the shadows, and vanished.
Mark had set the telepathic damper on the table in Tisianne’s old quarters. Ackroyd’s hand shot out and caught his wrist before he could turn it on.
“Hey, doesn’t that thing, like, cause headaches, and give hemorrhoids, and cause telepaths to pick up mariachi stations on their fillings for a hundred-mile radius? In short, isn’t this really going to piss off the Takisians if we fire it up, and aren’t they going to come and pound us into the ground like tent pegs?”
Mark folded his lips in a tight line. Parted them just enough to say, “I’m in the mood to piss off Takisians. One Takisian in particular.”
Mark then outlined Tisianne’s plan. He should have predicted Ackroyd’s reaction. “You are crazy! Fucking crazy!” Jay ran agitated hands through his hair and took a sharp turn around himself.
“The issue is that you can’t be a fertile male -” Mark argued.
“I thought you were crazy when you offered to marry the bitch. Now you’re offering to have your dick chopped off?”
“These aren’t, like, primitives, man. This is a really medically sophisticated society. Hell, vasectomies are reversible on Earth. The Doc says it’s a cinch to fix here.”
“They have harems so you won’t fuck their women.”
“No. They have harems to prevent assassination and unplanned pregnancies. Sex is fine. The Doc told me they have toys – both the men and the women – beautiful neutered sex partners. A snip, and we’ll be no threat, we can stay with the Doc.”
“What’s this we, white man? I am not going to become a eunuch for Tachyon. That was not part of the deal!”
He was arrested at the door by Mark saying, If we don’t keep the Doc alive, there’s no return ticket.”
That almost got him. Almost. “Uh-uh. No. No way. This is a nice little planet. Maybe I’ll put down roots, open an office, get back into divorce work – if Takisians get divorces. Take a wife. Raise some kids.”
All the while he was talking, he was edging for the door. Hand on the knob, out the door, into the hall. Unfortunately sound carries. And you can’t not listen. Can’t not understand.
“I don’t know why you’re so upset.” Mark’s voice pursued him like a restless spirit. “You’re dickless already, Jay.”
ican’t/iwon’t/i’lldie/i’llkill!/novirus!
The slap took both of them by surprise. Roxalana for administering it, Tisianne for receiving it. They stood staring at each other, then Tis slowly lifted a hand to her cheek.
“All the years of my childhood you never hit me.”
“I left that to Melant. She was my designated hitter.” Roxalana turned away and straightened a vase that didn’t need straightening. Tis couldn’t help it. Outraged dignity, hurt feelings were forgotten. She laughed. “What?” demanded her sister with some truculence.
“It has a very different meaning on Earth.”
Roxalana lifted the meaning and the ludicrous image from Tisianne’s mind. Melant in a Yankees uniform, arranging her bat with that butt wiggle that is unique to baseball players.
“Seems like a silly game.”
“It’s a lovely game. If I ever get out of here, I’m going to introduce it on Takis.” Tis walked to the window and looked out. “But as hopeless as things seem now, I may have to settle for a ladies’ softball league.”
“Is that necessarily so inferior?”
“It’s not the future I envisioned for myself.” Standing was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Tis retired to a lounging sedan and arranged her bulky body. “I don’t think I can survive in here. The boredom and paranoia are going to kill me.”
“I seem to recall the beginning of this little squabble was an offer of employment from Segath. You have more firsthand experience with the virus than any member of the research team living or dead. Get back in the laboratory and share that experience.”
“I will not work on the virus – nonnegotiable, don’t raise it again.” Tis eyed the ceiling where guards patrolled on the hidden catwalk, watched the two women through monitors. Softly Tis continued. “For half my life I’ve been free from this scrutiny. I came as I pleased and went as I pleased. I asked permission of no one. Do you know how wonderful aloneness can be? We think we ignore them.” She jerked her head toward the unseen guards. “But we don’t. We’re always aware of them. The worst for me was when I was sick. I didn’t mind fucking, snoring, crapping, eating, farting, belching in front of them, but puking… you’re at your most vulnerable and unattractive in that moment.”