I’m writing this almost two weeks before it’s posted. As I write this, I am home from my first day back at school. It was pretty good. The kids seem fine. But I am exhausted. I want to write, but I don’t have much energy left. Well, only five days until the weekend.
Yuah Korlann turned away from the street and made her way up the stone walkway, through the large snow covered yard of the Dechantagne estate. In a way it seemed odd that she wasn’t living there. She had lived in one Dechantagne house or another all her life. She had grown up with the three Dechantagnes of this generation, gone to school with them, worked for them. She paused to hyperventilate for a moment before starting up the steps to the portico. She had a white fur coat over a new pale pink dress and a new, extra tight corset beneath that. Standing at attention outside of the front door was a lizardman, naked except for a yellow ribbon with a gold medallion around its neck. As she approached, the creature suddenly moved. She flinched, but it was only reaching back to open the door for her.
“Um, thank you,” she said, stepping hesitantly through the doorway.
Inside was a maze of boxes and furniture heaped up against the walls. She navigated through them and into the parlor, surprised to find it clear of any such obstructions. A large comfortable sofa and several stuffed chairs had been set up around a small table. There was even a hutch against the wall with a full bottle of sherry and several glasses upon a silver tray. A fire was burning in the fireplace. There was no drapery in place yet, but two large trees outside kept the light from being too harsh. Above the mantle was the only picture hanging in the room—a portrait of General Augustus Q. Dechantagne, the younger brother of Iolanthe’s and Terrence’s grandfather. “Good morning Yuah.”
Yuah turned to find Terrence standing in the doorway. He looked good. He had gained a bit of weight, though he was still too thin. He was neatly groomed and dressed in a black suit. His bandaged eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark spectacles. With his left hand, he held onto the doorframe. Terrence had been captured, tortured, and blinded in the lizzie city of Suusthek, along with Corporal Bratihn. Ordinarily a magic user of Zurfina’s skill could have restored their sight, but they had been cursed by a lizzie witch doctor and there was no priest in the colony powerful enough to remove the curse.
“How did you know it was me?”
“The smell. With all those potions and lotions you use, it had to be either you or a group of a dozen other women. And since I didn’t hear any chattering, I decided it couldn’t be the latter.”
“Very astute. I was just admiring the portrait.”
“Great Uncle Augie, is it?”
“Yes. Isn’t he the one that… um…”
“Lost his manhood to a musket ball. Yes. I think Iolanthe is trying to send me a message, but I don’t know what it is.”
“I’m not certain I would want to know.”
Terrence made his way to the hutch, stepping confidently but following along the wall with his left hand.
“Brandy?”
“It’s way too early for me to drink,” replied Yuah.
“Fortunately, it’s not too early for me.” He poured himself a glass, his finger dipping over the lip of the glass so that he could tell when to stop pouring, and took a sip. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“I was hoping I could get you to take me somewhere. You really should get out.”
“Get out? I’ve just gotten in here.”
“You know what I mean. You’ve been cooped up inside, first in the apartment and now here, since the first snow fall.”
“Where do you propose that I take you? Birmisia isn’t exactly known for its lively social spots and it’s too bloody cold to do anything out of doors.”
“Well, we could take a stroll to Mr. Parnorsham’s Pfennig Store.”
“More lotions?”
“Notions actually,” Yuah replied pertly. “I need a bit of thread and a needle.”
“Of course you realize that you passed Mr. Parnorsham’s on the way over here.”
“Of course.”
He took another sip of his brandy, and then set the glass down next to the others. “I’ll have to get my greatcoat.”
While Yuah waited, she pulled a hand from her fur muff and primped her hair. Within five minutes Terrence had returned, dressed for cold weather. Yuah took him by the hand and led him through the mazes of boxes and furniture to the front door. The lizzie opened it just before they got there.
“What do you think about all these lizzies your sister is hiring,” she said as they made their way across the front yard.
“I prefer not to think of them at all.”
“Hmm.”
They reached the center of the road and began walking west toward the Town Square. The road was slightly slippery from the snow, which had over the past few nights turned into ice. There were no vehicles in Port Dechantagne, unless a wheelbarrow could be considered a vehicle, so the roads were often left to the vagaries of the weather. Yuah tucked her hands in around Terrence’s arm as though he was guiding her rather than the other way around.
“I went to the execution the other day,” she said.
“Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know why I did it, but it was awful. There was so much blood, and that poor creature with her tail cut off.”
“What possessed you to go?” Terrence asked again. “I don’t understand why you would want to see that.”
“I didn’t want to see it! I don’t know why I went. I just wish that I hadn’t.”
“That’s one thing I don’t miss seeing.”
“Well, I can’t see how anyone or anything could have deserved that,” said Yuah. “Having the skin scourged off your back for a few marks?”
Ssissiatok shuffled down the road and through the gate in the great wooden wall. On either side, groups of soft-skins watched her and the other people. The people walked slowly as they always did in the cold. This was not to say they could only walk slowly in the cold, but Ssterrost had reminded all of them coming from Tserich how they were to act. They were to act slow and they were to act simple and they were not to show the newcomers anything they weren’t expecting. Most of the people in this group were from Tserich, but there were a few others. Ssissiatok recognized the tribal symbol of Tuustutu on the shoulder of one very tall male in the back of the group.
Ssissiatok herself was slightly less than six feet in height, about average for members of her sex and species. She was young and didn’t have the mottled skin and scars of most of her elders. Her face and the top of her head were a deep forest green, which ran down her back, punctuated with darker stripes just below her shoulders. Beneath her long powerful jaw, on her dewlap, and extending down her front, was a lighter, pale green. Her most attractive feature, her long powerful tail, followed her just a few inches above the ground.
The line of people filed through the wall and between the large square huts of the soft-skins. Though she had heard elders telling stories of the great cities of Suusthek, Tsotollah, and Tsahloose, this softskin village was the largest community that Ssissiatok had ever seen. More and more of the soft-skins lined the road to gawk and to jabber with their little mouths, as the people reached the bigger buildings that were “the base.” Ssissiatok knew “base” and many other human words.
The line stopped and a softskin ahead was shouting. “You lizzies move on up here.”
Ssissiatok and the other people moved forward into a group.
“You will step up to the table and give the soldier your name and information. Then you will be given your identification and you will wait on the seats over there until the employers come to select you.”
Ssissiatok fell in line behind Tissonisuk, an older male she knew from the village. Unlike most of the others, Tissonisuk was not hunkering down to make himself look smaller for the soft-skins. He was standing up at his full six foot seven height. The line moved forward until Tissonisuk reached the table with the softskin seated behind it.
“Name? Oh, hey. I know you, don’t I? Tisson. Right?”
Tissonisuk bobbed his head up and down in the way that the soft-skins did.
“Come to sign on permanent, eh? Good for you. Hold out your hand. Keep this identification bracelet on at all times.”
Tissonisuk, now just Tisson, stepped away from the table. Ssissiatok stepped forward.
“Hey now. You’re a short one, aren’t you? Are you a girl?”
Ssissiatok didn’t know this word.
“Female?”
Ssissiatok hissed in the affirmative, but the softskin didn’t understand, and lowered his hand to the weapon on his belt.
“Fee nail. Fee nail,” said Ssissiatok quickly.
“That’s better. And you can talk too. A little feisty. Don’t worry. We’ll work that out of you in no time. Hold your hand out.”
Ssissiatok did as directed and the softskin tied an identification bracelet around her wrist. She looked at the strange symbols on it.
“Want to know what it says? That’s your number now—295. And it says you can talk, so you can’t fool us. Don’t even try. What’s your name Little Miss Lizzie?”
“Ssissiatok.”
“Cissy. Perfect.”
“Ssissiatok.”
“You’re Cissy now, got it? And I’ve got just the place for you. Go stand over with that lot there.”
The softskin pointed to where Tissonisuk sat. Ssissiatok walked over to them. She recognized Hekheesiatu, another female just older than she, but from a house with slightly less status. The third person she didn’t recognize. He was an average looking male with mottled yellow skin and brown stripes on his back.
“Tissonisuk,” she said, raising the back of her hand to her dewlap.
“No,” he replied in the human language. “Not Tissonisuk. Tisson. Only the hoonan name. Kheesie,” he said, pointing at Hekheesiatu, and then pointing at the person Ssissiatok didn’t know, he said, “Sirruk.”
“The soft-skins are still angry,” he said, dropping back into the language of the people. “They are still angry because Ssithtsutsu attacked them. They already destroyed Suusthek and killed many, many people, but they might kill more. We are here because they need us, but don’t think they are not dangerous.”
“They are so small and soft,” said Ssissiatok, now just Cissy.
“You see that one over there?” Tisson indicated a softskin leaning against one of the big buildings. He was watching the other humans and the people. “That one is called Clark. He is smaller than you are and he is soft in their way, but he is one of their strongest warriors. He killed hundreds of the people. I tell you these humans are like the blue frog that lives in the tallest trees. You could easily crush it with your foot, but one touch would kill you.”
Cissy nodded.
Now another softskin was talking to the one that Tisson had pointed out as Clark. Both were looking in the direction of Cissy and the others.
“What is it?” asked Cissy.
“She is a female,” said Tisson, standing up. “The females have very wide bottoms. And you can see she is older because the tuft of hair on her head is grey.”
The snow was falling from the sky in great clumpy bunches. They dropped like feathers through the still, cold air to form great piles on the ground. The snow had been coming down steadily for four hours. The huckleberry and azalea bushes were covered over with a thick blanket. The little walkway of stepping-stones that led to the road and the road itself were just memories, covered by billowy white. Spruces and maples dipped their bare branches forlornly and even the mighty redwoods struggled under the weight of the gathering snow. But the snow didn’t care. It continued on, relentlessly smothering the world. It completely surrounded the strange five-story home nestled in the Birmisian woods. Not too far away a tremendous roar echoed through the trees.
“Monster,” said the steel dragon, peeking out the door from between Graham Dokkin’s legs.
“Tyrannosaurus,” corrected Senta Bly. “I guess he doesn’t like the snow too much.”
“Well who does?” wondered Graham, looking down at the dragon. “And get your head away from there. That’s all I need, to have my goolies bit.”
“He hasn’t bitten anyone in almost a year,” countered Senta. “Has he Hero?”
Hero Hertling didn’t answer. At the mention of goolies, she had covered her face with both hands, though one could still spot the spreading blush around its edges. She and her brother Hertzel, along with Graham, were spending the day at Senta’s house. They had been delivered just before the snow started by Graham’s Da to the five-story structure set well away from the rest of Port Dechantagne. Although Senta and her guardian, Zurfina the Magnificent, had been living here for almost a year, it had taken quite a while to convince Graham’s parents and Hero and Hertzel’s older sister to let them spend the day there. This was the first time that all three had visited together.
“Why don’t you close the door?” said Hero from between her fingers. “Who knows what might run out of the forest and into here.”
Her brother, who never said anything, nodded.
“Alright then. Move over dragon.” Graham scooted the steel beastie with his boot while shutting the door.
“Call him by his name,” said Senta.
“Bessemer,” said the dragon, and then made his way to the far wall to curl up on a single large pillow next to the cast iron stove.
Though more than eight feet from tip of whiskered snout to the barbed tip of his tail, Bessemer was not much taller at the shoulder than a medium sized dog. Scales the color of polished steel covered him from his nose all the way to the clawed tips of his fingers. Even his eyes were steel colored, so much so that it was difficult to see just where he was looking. So lithe and agile was he when he moved, it was rather like watching a river flow across the room.
“Bessemer,” said Graham, still looking at the dragon. “It just doesn’t fit. I’d have gone with Whiskers or Peetie.”
“Zurfina says that dragons are born knowing their own names,” said Senta. “It’s just another sign that they are so much smarter than people.”
“Fina,” said the dragon.
“When is Zurfina getting home,” wondered Hero, at last uncovering her face. “I can’t believe she left you all alone out here in the wilderness.”
“This isn’t the wilderness. This is our house.”
“You know what I mean.”
“It’s not any farther away from the wall than your new house is.”
“No, but there are other houses around ours.”
Hero and Hertzel lived in a small but sturdy house that was part of a new neighborhood on the east side of the growing colony. Though their house had been the first one built in that area, there were now more than a dozen similar structures, all occupied by ethnic Zaeri, who had fled persecution in Freedonia.
“Zurfina is very busy lately,” explained Senta. “With no wizards in the colony, she has to do all the magic stuff herself—at least until I get good enough to help out. Besides I’m used to taking care of myself.”
“It’s on account of her being a orphan,” offered Graham.
The three other children all stared mutely at him.
“What?” he asked, having forgotten that of the four, he was the only one who was not an orphan.
Graham, who although he had recently hit a growth spurt was still decidedly chunky, had brown hair, freckles, and very large teeth. He was dressed in a long-sleeved flannel shirt and dungarees rolled up around the leather boots that had once been his father’s. Graham always wore his dungarees rolled up at the ankles, as his mother was in the habit of buying them to fit him sometime in the distant future. Still the fact that all his clothes, save the boots, were new, spoke to the Dokkins family’s growing prosperity. Hero and Hertzel, who were twins, both with thick dark hair, though Hertzel kept his cut short around the ears, and beautiful dark eyes, wore neat and well-maintained, but obviously home-sewn clothes. Following the Freedonian Zaeri custom, which eschewed color, Hertzel wore a white shirt with brown trousers while his sister wore a brown dress with a white linen overdress.
“Hungry,” said Bessemer from the corner.
“Yes, it’s about time for tea,” agreed Senta.
Two years have passed since Senta, the sorceress Zurfina, and Bessemer the steel dragon, and hundreds of colonists arrived in the strange land of Birmisia. Their new home, Port Dechantagne is under construction in this dark and forbidding land, ruled by terrifying dinosaurs and strange lizardmen. Ten year old Senta must discover which is the greater threat, a would-be wizard or the ever-increasing presence of the tyrannosaurus. Meanwhile, former maid Yuah Korlann must negotiate living among the aristocratic Dechantagne family and deal with their new servants, the aboriginal “lizzies.” And young militiaman Saba Colbshallow finds himself in the middle of espionage intrigue.
The Dark and Forbidding Land is available in every ebook format for $2.99 at Smashwords.
In an alternate 1975, where men are almost extinct due to germ warfare, someone is trying to kill history’s greatest rock & roll band. It falls to Science Police Agent John Andrews, only recently arrived from the distant male enclaves, to protect them. As the band continues their come-back tour across North America, Andrews must negotiate a complicated relationship with Ep!phanee, the band’s lead singer; drummer Ruth De Molay, bassist Steffie Sin, and the redheaded clone lead guitarist Penny Dreadful, as he protects them and tries to discover who wants to kill the Ladybugs.
This newly revised and edited 5th Anniversary edition contains the complete guide to the world and music of the Ladybugs.
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“Brussels doesn’t know what to do,” said Wright. “They want you off the detail, but not necessarily off the team.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“It means they’ve got another agent on the way to take your place. Once she gets here, you’re going to be off checking those few remaining people in our threat files.”
“I thought we had eliminated pretty much all the credible threats.”
“We have. This way they can say you’re still on the case, but you’re not engaged in any high profile sexcapades.”
“Great.”
“I feel for you partner. It’s not like I haven’t found my way into some nice warm beds in the past two weeks. Mine just aren’t so famous.”
“What do I do in the meantime?”
“Same thing you have been doing. Stay close to the Ladybugs. Keep them out of danger. We’ll decide what you’re doing next after your replacement gets here tomorrow.”
Andrews was halfway back to his room before he realized that his jaw was clamped shut. He stepped into an alcove and closed his eyes. He took three deep breaths and then held the last one as he rolled his head around. He pictured his dorm room in the enclaves as he took several more slow deep breaths. All he had ever wanted when he was there was to leave, and now that he was gone, it was the safe place he visualized in times of stress—the bare cement block walls, the simple white dresser and desk, the well-worn rugby ball sitting on his tightly made bed.
When he opened the door to his room, he was expecting to find Ruth there, or perhaps Ep!phanee. Instead Steffie was there. She was wearing a floral print cropped tie top with widely flaring sleeves and a pair of hip hugging bellbottoms in the same design. Her mass of platinum hair hung loosely about her shoulders, making her thin face look less predatory. Andrews thought she looked pretty, and he told her so.
“Before you say anything else, I want to apologize,” she said.
“For the interview?”
“No, for the other night at the club. I was completely toasted.”
“Yes, I remember. And now you’re here… because this is your day?”
“That’s right. Here. Ruth made this calendar for you.” She handed him a monthly calendar with a name written in each square.
“Steffie, Steffie, Penny, Penny, Ruth, Ruth, Steffie… Looks like you hit the jackpot.”
“Are you mad at me?” She had a hurt look on her face that gave him a sort of choking feeling.
“No, I’m not mad at you. I’m just upset. They’re going to send me away. They’re going to take me off the detail.”
“They can’t do that! We won’t let them.”
“No choice, I’m afraid.” He walked to the couch and sat down. “Probably all for the best. I’m sure this is playing right into the hands of those women in the Science Police who think men have no business in the agency. We can’t focus on anything but our penises.”
“That’s just stupid. Obviously they don’t know any men.”
“Maybe. Or maybe they know us too well.”
“You need to not think about it. Why don’t we have breakfast? Have you eaten?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Then let’s just sit and talk.”
“I don’t really feel like talking either.”
“You remember when you first interviewed me?”
“Yes.”
“We took turns asking questions.”
Andrews smiled despite himself. “That’s right.”
“Let’s do it again.”
“Okay, but you go first.”
“What’s your favorite sport? Is it that rugsby?”
“Rugby. Yes. Your’s?”
“I liked baseball when I lived in California, but since I’ve been living in Europe, I mostly watch football. Did you play rugby growing up?”
“Yes. All the boys did. It got pretty brutal. I busted my chin open and had to have six stitches right here.” He lifted his chin and pointed to a thin scar. “It was mostly just an excuse for the bigger boys to beat the crap out of the smaller boys, but it was a lot of fun.”
“Okay, your turn.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your nose ring.”
“Yes?”
“Piffy and Ruth have the side of their nostrils pierced, and so do other women I’ve seen with nose rings, but you have it right in the middle. Why?”
“Do you think it makes me look like a cow?”
“No. But I can see how people might make that connection.”
“I wear it for two reasons really. One: it kind of touches on this submissive streak that I feel inside, but don’t otherwise let show. And two: it just pisses a lot of women off for some reason, and that’s always fun.” They both laughed. “Okay, my turn. What’s your favorite food?”
“A month ago, I would have said tacos, but now I have to go with hot dogs.”
“Have you had a chilidog yet?”
“No. Hey, you snuck an extra question in there.”
“Oh no,” she said, her eyes large with mock surprise. “Maybe you’ll have to punish me.”
“Maybe.”
“Ask me two questions then.”
The local police had removed the robber’s hoods. They were all women in their early twenties. Andrews stood looking at them for a long time. When he found Ep!phanee standing next to him, he realized that he had almost forgotten she was there.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes. I don’t think they even shot in our direction, did they?”
“No.”
The police took both their statements and then released them. They climbed back in the car and the driver took them to the Royal Continental. Neither of them had much to say along the way. Once at the hotel, Andrews met briefly with Wright to fill her in and then he went to his room to begin filling out the inevitable paperwork.
When the Science Police officer opened the door to his assigned room, he decided that a major mistake had been made. Instead of the simple room that he had been assigned in the other hotels, and which had suited him just fine, he found a spacious suite. He stood at the entrance of a large central room with features of both a living room and dining room. A roaring fire was already burning in the gas fireplace next to a fully stocked bar. He realized for the first time that he was shivering, having been out in the pouring rain for most of the evening and not having had the chance to dry off.
He walked to the fireplace and held out his hands to warm them. He stayed in that position until the front of his legs became unbearably hot, and then he turned around and warmed his back. Just as his back was becoming too warm and his front was feeling once again cold, Ep!phanee walked in from the bedroom. She wore nothing but a gauzy nightie through which her tattoos were clearly visible.
“I don’t think I’m really in the mood,” he said.
“In the mood for what? Don’t worry. I know just what you need and I’m going to take care of you.”
“I didn’t realize that you were the ‘taking care’ type.”
“Of course I am. Look how well I take care of myself. First you need to take off those wet clothes. Portland isn’t like the Caribbean. If you get a little rain on you there, it dries off in minutes. Here, you’ll catch pneumonia.”
“It does kind of sink right into your bones,” he replied as he began peeling off his still damp clothing.
“You need to get into the hot shower,” she said, stepping behind the bar and filling two shot glasses from a whiskey bottle. “First have one of these.”
When Andrews came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a very fluffy complimentary robe, he found Piffy seated at the table with a pot of hot coffee. She had already poured him a cup. When he sipped it, he found that she had laced it with more whiskey.
“I think you need to get right to bed,” she said.
“I have paperwork to take care of.” He went to his luggage, which was sitting just inside the door and found his portfolio, bringing it back to the table. Halfway there he stopped and looked back at his luggage. “What am I doing in a room like this anyway?”
“I had you upgraded. If you’re going to be with us, you’re going to go first class all the way. It’s one of the perks.”
Andrews sat back down at the table and began filling out the seven forms necessary when an agent discharged his weapon, all of which required long written statements and all of which were sandwiched with carbon paper and other sheets so that they were produced in triplicate. When he finished the second, he stopped to warm up his coffee and noticed for the first time that Piffy was no longer in the room. He found her, once he was completely done, sprawled across one side of the bed, her bare, very white bottom staring at him from below her nightgown hem. The California king was large enough though that once he stripped off his robe and climbed in, he didn’t notice her presence the entire night. When he woke up, she was gone.
“Good morning.” Ruth walked into the bedroom carrying a tray. “Come on, sit up. I’ve bought you breakfast.”
“I could just get up.”
“No. You need breakfast in bed after the day you had yesterday. You need to be pampered a bit.” The tray contained two eggs, two strips of bacon, hash browns, a waffle with blueberries, milk, and a cup of coffee.
“I don’t know if I can eat all this.”
“Just eat what you want.” She pulled a chair away from the wall and sat down to watch him eat.
She was already dressed for the day, wearing hip-hugger bellbottoms and a halter-top, both of which resembled the Union Jack, white platform shoes, and a red headband holding back her dreadlocks.
“I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” he replied
“I’ve hardly seen you in three days.”
“Well, we’re together now. Do I get to spend the day with you?”
“Actually, we’re supposed to meet later this morning and work out the schedule, but Piffy thought you needed somebody to pamper you this morning.”
“And you thought you would be the one to do it?”
“I jumped at the chance.”
“I can take care of myself. I’m a big boy.”
“You’re telling me,” she said with a sly look. “Now don’t dawdle. Eat your breakfast.”
Andrews finished, though he had only a bite of his waffle, before even thinking to look at the clock.
“Good grief, it’s after nine.”
The next morning Andrews got up and disentangled himself from Penny’s arms and legs. The bed was really just large enough for one of them. He had slept well through the night, but now he had several pains in his neck and shoulders and he was unsure whether to attribute them to his workout the day before or to not having enough room in bed. He slipped back into his workout clothes and put on his wristwatch, checking the time. It was not quite seven. Stepping quietly out the door, he walked the length of the ship to the dining room and found an early continental breakfast. He grabbed a pair of Danish, two bananas, and two cups of coffee; and balancing them, carried them back to the cabin. He found Penny awake and putting on his robe.
“I brought you some breakfast.”
“Thanks, I’m starving.”
“Thank you for the card,” he gestured toward the greeting card still standing on the desk.
“Not from me.”
He opened it and looked again.
“Must be Piff,” said Penny.
“What are you planning to do today?” asked Andrews as they ate.
“I’m going to try and write. I’ve got a few songs, or at least pieces of songs, that have been rattling around in my head since New York.”
“I’d like to see that.”
“No you wouldn’t. It would be incredibly boring. I’m just going to pluck a few strings and jot down notes. It’ll be the most uninteresting thing you can imagine. Besides, it’s Piffy’s day to spend with you.”
“When do I get a copy of this schedule?” He sounded peevish even in his own ears.
“Ask her.”
Andrews did plan to ask her just as soon as he could, but when he finally saw her again, the question fell out of his brain and crawled away to some dark corner. When Ep!phanee saw him, she ran and leapt into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and her lips around his mouth. He couldn’t have gotten free if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to. They kissed for several minutes, and then at last, he set her down.
“Did you send me the card?” he asked.
“Of course. You didn’t recognize my P?”
“Well, you know… Penny?”
“Oh yeah. Well, she’s not likely to send you a card though, is she?”
“Maybe you could sign it with an F for Fanny?”
“You’re bad.”
“Or you could draw a little clownfish…”
“You’re very bad.”
“In any case, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. It’s because I missed you. That’s why it said ‘miss you’ on it.”
“Very clever. So what are your plans for today?”
“We can do anything you want to do. What were you planning?”
“I’d like to work out again in the weight room. And Penny gave me a book that I haven’t had enough time with yet.”
“What is it—Edgar Rice Burroughs?”
“H. Rider Haggard.”
Piffy rolled her eyes. “No wonder people think she’s a dyke. I’ll work out with you.”
Andrews changed back into his shorts and tee shirt and met her in the weight room. Piffy was waiting, wearing a pair of shorts that were so small they almost deserved some different and as yet uninvented name, and a tube top. Both articles of clothing were made of some shiny black material that he had never seen before. Even in a world where just about everything seemed to exude sex appeal, it had not occurred to Andrews until that exact moment that gym clothes could be sexy. They worked out for over an hour, and Andrews didn’t know if it was the weights which caused his heart to pump so forcefully in his chest, or if it was the sight of Ep!phanee’s remarkably toned body.
“You must work out quite a bit.”
“Yes, I have a fully stocked gym in my home at Thatch Cay. What is that?”
Spreading out below them was a great tan blanket moving across the landscape. It moved and undulated in swirling patterns. The dirigible was passing over one of the legendary caribou migrations. Tens of thousands of individual animals moved across the ground like a kaleidoscope of reindeer. Andrews set down his barbells and moved to stand next to the large window. Piffy followed him.
“Caribou,” he said. “The great plains of the United States used to be covered with buffalo like this. Now they’re extinct. I think women have done a better job of running the world than men did.”
“Say that when you’re flying through the black haze above New York, or when you’re outside your dome in Ohio and the acid rain is coming down.”
They spent the rest of the day together, comparing their lives up until that point, talking about their interests, and eventually getting around to the possibility of their shared future together.
“I was quite ready to find that you wouldn’t live up to my expectations when I met you,” he said, “not that I expected anything more than a professional relationship. But I like you. I like all of you. And the sex… well I really, really like it. It’s much better than I imagined it would be. But I don’t really see how our lifestyles are going to mesh. I don’t know if I can handle all the complications.”
“What do you want to do for the next ten years, John?”
“I want to continue with the Science Police. It’s exciting and I’m good at it.”
“And what is your concern about it… about your job and being married?”
Andrews spent the morning with Ruth. They ate breakfast and then they took a long walk around the Doric House grounds. Just after noon, he and Wright left and flew to Bloomington, Minnesota to go over the security at the Metropolitan Stadium. That evening’s concert went off, like the one two nights before in Atlanta, without any major problems. Afterwards the band returned to Doric House for one more night.
Having been, for the most part, too busy for dinner, Andrews was just beginning to think about ordering a snack from the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. He opened it, half expecting Ruth with another hot fudge sundae. Instead he found Ep!phanee, still in her costume from the concert.
“Hey lover, what’s up?”
“Good evening. I was just thinking of ordering something from the kitchen. Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
Picking up the house phone and asking for a connection, he ordered sandwiches and hot chocolate.
“I’ve been looking forward to seeing you,” Piffy said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his.
“Really? You didn’t look particularly anxious.”
“I had to let Ruth have a chance to get to know you. And she did… finally.”
“Now you’re back with me?”
“Only for today. Tomorrow, you spend with Penny.”
“I’ve already been with Penny.”
“Yes, I know she snuck into your room for a quickie, but you need to spend some time getting to know her. Relationships aren’t just about sex, you know.”
“Really? So far, that has not been my experience.”
“You sound a little testy about it,” she said, leaning back and looking him in the face. “Most guys would give anything to be in the position you’re in.”
“Maybe. I think it’s one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ situations. I just get to know you. I like you. I want to spend more time with you, but I can’t because I have to be with Ruth. Now I want to spend more time with her and I can’t. I suspected that this type of relationship would be too much for me and I’m finding out that I’m right.”
“It will get easier once you know all of us and we can work out a schedule.”
“This just isn’t natural. I think men are wired so that they are in love with one woman at a time.”
“Well, of course it’s not natural. It’s not natural that men are almost extinct either. But that’s the way it is. We have to make due the best we can with what we have.”
“Hmm.”
They spent the remainder of the evening talking about less weighty matters—what life was like in the Virgin Islands, favorite places to visit in Europe, and what the weather was going to be like on the west coast. They spent the night together, and for the first time in his life, Andrews shared a bed with a woman without having sex.
The next morning Andrews left Piffy sleeping in his bed while he shaved and showered, but she was gone when he came out of the bathroom. He met briefly with Wright but there was little to discuss. The entire group was treated to a champagne breakfast. Then it was off to the airport again. The dirigible was fueled and supplied and waiting to go. It lifted off as soon as everyone was aboard, flying directly north.
Andrews made a quick inspection of the ship after seeing that his few personal possessions had been carefully stowed back in his cabin. He then went to the bridge and watched the crew at work until he was called away to answer a telephone call. It was from Evan Larkin, the man he had met in Bolingbrook. Larkin wanted nothing more than to talk for a few minutes. Andrews let him ramble on for a while and then confirmed that he had heard the news regarding the arrest of his former fiancé.
“Yes, the poor girl. Elke and Inga are going to see if we can’t get her accepted into a mental health facility.”
“That would probably be for the best. Well, goodbye Larkin.”
“If you’re ever in the Chicago area, give me a call. We could have dinner.”
“Thank you, I will. Goodbye.”
He started back toward his cabin, but was intercepted along the way by Penny.
“Hello beautiful,” she said.
“Hi. How are you?”
“I’m feeling fine. We’d like you to come back to the port side lounge for a minute. The band has something they want to run by you.”
She led him to the lounge where the other three Ladybugs were seated, as well as Alexa Rothman. When he stepped in the room, they all looked up and smiled. He sat down on one of the overstuffed couches, as Penny took the spot beside him, tucking her legs up under her.
“We have something we wanted to share with you,” said Piffy, “before anyone else knows.”
“Oh?”
“We have the Asia tour coming up in two months,” explained Alexa. “It should really be called the Asia-Australia tour, since after Singapore; we’re going south to hit Melbourne and then Sydney.”
“But then we’re going to the enclaves,” Steffie spouted.
“That’s right,” said Ruth. “After Sydney, we’re going to Tasmania, South Island, and then Cape Horn.”
“We were going to wait until the South American tour to do the Cape Horn enclave,” continued Alexa, “but we might as well do it at the same time as the others.”
“That’s very exciting.”
City of Amathar 