Super Spaced Out

And I Want To Be Rich...Like An Actor

Anywhere you wanted to go under Gesh Selis' many atmosphere domes was accessible by air train, air tram or air coach. When they went out they usually piled into one of the air trains or trams with all the other tourists. Tonight, doctor Puu felt like splurging, so he ordered them a private air coach. He entered his request via a booking slate while they sat at a secluded dining table on Hotel Hadet's gardened roof.

Their table was one of fifteen. Each had its own tent canopy. Instead of overheads or mineral lamps, flowers with luminous gathers of pollen packed into the apex of the canopy. Creamy, sherbert colored blooms lit the table. Now and then, a bit of pollen floated down from above like a little firefly and extinguished itself on the tablecloth.

Green grass carpeted the ground. Flowering shrubs penned them inside the manicured square. Beyond the roof, the cityscape of the habidome stretched out and up. The aggressive geometry and screaming neons of the erogogues and consumer palaces and hotels contrasted with the gentle greenery around them. While Lily ordered her meal and laced blister wine, commotion from the dining area's flowered entrance arch distracted her.

Three aliens, a Pashmi woman and a Titian woman and a Verakian woman, entered together. A swarm of kineti-caps—little orbs that flitted about and snapped captures and recorded continuous au-vi—zipped around them, moving with their movement. Murmuring from occupied tables the trio passed followed them like their kinetis did. They finally sat a few feet from Lily and crew. She nudged doctor Puu.

"Who are they?"

"Ah." Doctor Puu bent to her ear. "The Tainted Pashmi woman is Para Delmn Rimini Te, known otherwise as the Dark Star Siren." At Lily's vacant eyes, he added, "A UE pop artist. Very famous." The doctor's lips quirked. "At my most generous I would define her expression as bland and predictable. The pair with her, I believe, are Faruse Uuglette, the Titian designer the Dark Star hired for her tour of Independent claimedspace, and I'm not certain of the Verakian woman's name, but I think she's an Escapade actress. Selame something."

Reesa glanced up and over and squinted. "That sounds right. She's not Upper Echelon, though. ME at best."

"Then she must be attempting to boost her E-standing by making an appearance with the Dark Star," doctor Puu said.

A touch to one of the lower function cores studding the inside of Lily's arm, sheathed her limb in a brilliant HOptic interface. She swept up a tile and executed a USIT search for Escapade actresses named Selame. Doctor Puu pretended like he all of a sudden had no idea who Lily was.

"Selame Deece," Lily announced. "She has a new interactive au-vi coming out soon." One of Lily's flagged feeds caught Reesa's attention.

"Is that the Tasaki Council feed?"

Nodding, Lily moved to pull up the trial highlight reel as doctor Puu waved at them.

"Operating personal devices at table is an obscene breach of conduct in this establishment."

Reesa sniffed. "I'm sorry. I'm only checking to see if they've decided on my brother's ultimate fate. And those three," she tossed an arm at the Dark Star and her entourage, "have a retinue of kineti-caps winking and flashing and chiming all over the place."

Crossing his arms, doctor Puu's ears flattened and he said, "It isn't appropriate," but made no move to stop Reesa when she selected the Council feed.

Serious lead in music and a brief from an official looking Verakian anchor fronted the turn's highlight reel. Footage opened with a shot of Vortrand at the expansive table he always sat behind with his Command representative. They wore Command's dress uniform: charcoal gray trousers, tailored jackets, smart hats and high polished black boots. Copper Command insignias stamped their right breasts. For the duration of the trial, their hats rested on the table. The reel focused on a new line of questioning brought up by Vlex's representative from the Utori Obarion. For the entire turn, the Utori rep grilled the captain on his status within Command.

"Bastards," Reesa muttered. "They're trying to corner him into admitting he's a Gemmerian agent. Then they'd have an official record of the existence of Command's special ops."

Besides being the captain of the manta and its crew, Vortrand was a Gemmerian agent, a special operations branch of Verakian Command which was an open secret within the pan-galactic community. When Lily first woke up on the manta, Vortrand had told her he and his crew were couriers. She never really believed that. Couriers didn't keep Utori military prisoners and they didn't have superior officers which Vortrand did. Thanks to Vlex feeding her information from behind bars which the captain had concealed from her, Vortrand's true title finally came out. Their courier status and listing of the manta as a c-class frigate belonging to the Calcon Corporation was a big ruse.

Vortrand's real mission was to gather any and all information regarding a Bralian device called the Arcalis, some kind of super-weapon created by doctor Edward G. Hersch. That was why Lily, and the Bralian memories stuck in her head, was so important to the Verakian captain and the Utori commander. The memories belonged to Camille Marie St. Rose, Hersch's daughter. She knew all about her father's weapon and, most importantly, how to build it.

Vlex was the original owner of the memories stored in a storage globe. Vortrand, and his lieutenant, Goshan, had intercepted the commander at the Hotel Sen-Sen on Zentchi station and had absconded with the globe. When the commander had pursued them he'd gotten himself captured. Then something happened and no one seemed to know exactly what.

For reasons largely unknown, Goshan stole the storage globe and fled the manta in one of its fledglings. He crashed on Earth and that's where Lily entered the picture. Her blood activated the globe, the memories uploaded into her mind, and the fledgling blasted her back to the manta. After Vlex finally escaped Vortrand's custody he did just what the captain had said he would: went to the Xidian Heirarchy and the Tasaki Council and brought the captain and the Initiary up on charges for wrongful imprisonment, conspiracy against the Hierarchy on a mass scale, and theft of a Utori relic. The trial went on for ages.

Lily yawned. Even the turn highlights bored her. When the feed began airing the historical footage, Reesa collapsed the tile.

"Kurban's representative won't let that line of questioning go on much longer." The lieutenant-technician rubbed her hands together. "The Council Stewards shouldn't allow it in the first place. My brother's status within Command has nothing to do with the charges leveled against him. Effing Independents."

Doctor Puu rolled his eyes and appeared exceedingly grateful when their food arrived a cezin later. They tucked in even though a gloomy pall overhung the table.