Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5) (19 page)

****

In the cafeteria, Stu
interviewed a lot of the students in front of the cameras. Then he spoke to a
few more because of their smiles. He stayed in the common area until it closed,
signing autographs, posing for pictures, and turning down kisses. He had
learned from his court case that kisses could be contagious. Onesemo and one of
the Fortune guards kept fans at a respectful distance. The other guard scouted
the suite for him.

He
met one Active, a married instructor in alien materials science. However, he
found out something crucial about himself during this period of
flirtation—crowds where people could actually crush him were terrifying. At a
distance, the women interested in him were glowing and attractive. Up close, he
could smell their breath, body odor, and see symptoms of possible disease.
Engineering women didn’t take care of themselves quite as well as Laura. They
had hairy armpits, legs, and sometimes mustaches. A girl with sniffles coughed
beside him, and he almost bolted for the door. He compensated with lots of
germicidal gel.

When
he arrived at Kieran’s luxury suite that night, he told his guards, “I’m
heading to bed after I scald my skin clean. This has been a long and
potentially infectious day.” The time change had made the day even longer than
he realized.

Onesemo
nodded. “I’ll hang out here and call Kelly.”

As
Stu undressed in the bedroom, he found dozens of personal links from women in
his suit’s communication buffers. Some of the pictures were both disturbing and
arousing. Most interesting was the paper note in his underwear, complete with a
number and lipstick print. He was puzzling over the scent and who might have
left it when he heard Joan say, “You disgusting, rutting pig. You make me
sick.”

Startled,
Stu pulled his pants back up. “I was working the room.”

Joan
only came up to his chest, but the thirteen-year-old was a force to be reckoned
with. “Please. You’re getting your ego massaged … and some other things.”

Stu
held up a hand. “I put a stop to all that.”

“If
I lit a match, all the perfume and hairspray on you would make that suit
combust.”

“I
don’t notice it anymore. It’s their culture.”

Joan
blew a raspberry. “You need a bath. I’ll get your pajamas. I like that the bed
is finally big enough that we can share.” There was absolutely nothing sexual
about the comment. For all her bluster and muscle, Joan couldn’t sleep alone.
She needed the contact of other Actives, a legacy of the changes Baatjies had
spliced into her from the Magi. Since her mother was in Rome helping Grant, Stu
would have to play stuffed animal.

She
respected his privacy and stayed on her side of the bathroom door. “Hey. Did
you tell Uncle Creepy about me?”

“Of
course not.”
To be honest, I’d forgotten all about you.

“Then
why are there women’s clothes in these closets?”

“I
guess because it’s a guest room in a women’s university.”

Joan
chose a large, baggy night shirt that read Property of STEMU. After she bathed
also, she koalaed on his back in the king-sized bed.

As
he drifted off, he reflected on the thousands of desirable women he had seen so
far in Rio. The most interesting had been the girl with the diamond in her
navel. God help him, his next thought had been to wonder what Laura would look
like with that piercing. He had to do his multiplication tables several times
after that.

Because Stu’s internal
clock hadn’t adjusted to the new time zone yet, he wandered down for his
morning swim at dawn. He told Joan she could stay in bed. His badge gave him
complete access to the complex. He did laps in the Olympic-sized pool for an
hour before Hans arrived. The show’s director crouched beside the pool to greet
Stu. A new minidrone hovered beside him. “A week of rest and recreation will be
a nice change for you.”

“I
can’t just goldbrick,” Stu insisted. “We have to do something about my uncle.”
He described the offenses he knew about.

Hans
winced. “It is not that easy. First, a majority of the team must vote to accept
an assignment. Then it will take time to build a case. Even after we air, there
may not be enough outrage to evict him from office.”

“You’re
kidding.” Angry,
Stu pulled himself out of the water. He wore tight,
black astronaut underwear, and his formal clothes were folded on a bench
nearby.

Hans
admired Stu’s muscles for a moment before fetching him a towel. “Kieran is like
a political figure. With our increased g
overnment transparency and watch
dogs, we have created a sort of Wall of Shame,” Hans explained. “We get rid of
the most heinous offenders, but people develop an insensitivity. Yes? The bar
for misconduct for the next villain must be even higher before people react. A
politician doesn’t have to be spotless, just better than the next guy. Look at
the built-in web browsers on the clothing you wear. People will tolerate a lot
of bugs and shortcomings for a couple important features or fashion trends.”

“I can’t ignore this!”

“You shouldn’t, but we need time to
prepare the audience. We’ll begin with a feature to highlight how unspoiled and
pure the environment here is, by way of contrast.”

Stu blotted his face as he growled,
“What do I do in the meantime?”

“You’ve given a pretty compelling
pitch for joining your space team. Why not recruit some of these students?”

“I suppose. At a minimum, we need
to find replacements for the talents who died. As a bonus, I’d like to find a person
with Probability Mechanics. I guess I could just ask Kieran for a list of
Actives by specialty.”

Hans shook his head. “That would be
illegal because it is medical data. Exposing their abilities could also make
them targets for murder or kidnapping.”

“Who would kidnap one of these
girls? Most of them have nothing. One girl I spoke with had a sister die from
eating dirt.”

“I don’t know if I should tell you.
You don’t react well to these things.”

“I’m an adult. Tell me,” Stu
demanded.

“A few years ago, someone started a
school for talents in the Canary Islands. Possibly they were trying to
replicate the success of Sirius Academy from before the war. A hundred girls
were being transported to a field trip on a ship when pirates captured the
vessel, killed the chaperones, and kidnapped the girls.”

“Why?”

“The pirates sold the girls as
breeders to any country who wanted the abilities.”

Stu paled. “We have to find them.”

“All of my huntresses took part in
the UN rescue efforts when they still worked for the military. I covered the
story as a reporter. They recovered fifty-one of the victims before the UN had
to pull out to deal with another crisis. Talking over our bitterness in a bar
in Beruit, a group of us decided someone had to pick up where the UN left off.
That’s when we started Ballbusters on a shoestring. Then, after I spotted a
suspicious man following Mira Hollis, she signed us as a show on Fortune Media.
With her funding and connections, we’ve rescued seven more of the kidnap
victims since. Every additional girl becomes more difficult to locate.” Hans
looked at his hands. “It’s not much, but I sleep pretty goot.
Jah
?” The
thickening of his German accent seemed to indicate how much the topic affected
him.

Slugging Hans in the shoulder, Stu
said, “Well the whole crew is invited to tour
Sanctuary
for that
accomplishment.”

“Others would not be so generous.
Many of the people at the same Beirut bar were unimpressed by our silly
efforts. When we failed to rescue more, they took a more drastic approach.”

“You haven’t failed,” Stu said.

“I started with four huntresses.
Durga was raped and beheaded as an example to the rest of us.”

Uncomfortable with the horrible
details, Stu coughed. “I still can’t get used to what your people do to women.
I’m going to hit that topic hard when I address the UN assembly. Until then, I
need to erase some of these images. Tell me about her as a person.”

“The Hindu goddess of good
conquering evil. Durga started as a UN chaplain. She still spent a lot of time
with children’s charities. So many people loved her that
Mater Nyx
formed to avenge her.”

“Mother Night? Why do they call
themselves that?”

“Partly to honor Take Back the
Night, and the group also performs executions after dark so people can see them
better.” When Stu looked puzzled, Hans said, “Come on, you haven’t heard the
jokes since you’ve been here? If rapists didn’t want to be set on fire, they
shouldn’t walk around in such flammable clothing.”

“I don’t get it.”

Hans shook his head. “That’s
because you grew up in another world.”

Behind them, the school swim team
trickled out of the sole dressing room.

Hans whispered, “Just interview
each senior in private and hint that you are shopping for special abilities.”

Stu said, “I should start with the
academically gifted. I can dig up their advanced courses and grades.”

“I think you should look at the
whole
package
. They certainly will.” Hans’ eyes darted toward Stu’s
skin-tight J-wear.’

Embarrassed, Stu dove back into the
pool. The girls soon clustered around him at the edge of the pool.

“Hi,” one girl said with a giggle.
“How long are you going to be here?”

“There’s no set limit,” he replied.
“
Sanctuary
could orbit for a few centuries before refueling. The people
in stasis wouldn’t even notice.”

He chatted about piloting a
starship for a few minutes, answering harmless questions.

The tallest girl said, “You’re very
easy to talk to.”

“The mantra of a navigator should
be to go with the flow,” Stu replied. “It saves fuel.”

“I’m Fiona.” Her chest was bigger
than Laura’s, and she seemed to have more teeth—white ones. Her one-piece suit
provided some interesting topography.

From behind the gaggle of girls,
the coach cleared her throat. “Unless our visitor is giving a diving demonstration,
I would ask that he yield the pool to those of us who are.”

Stu didn’t want his time with the
enchanting Fiona to be over so soon. He glanced up at the board high above the
pool. “I could show you a trick I learned back home.” Now that he had their attention,
maybe he could question them about people with talents. He crawled out of the
pool near the ladder, wetting the area thoroughly.

Girls gasped and whispered as he
strode, dripping, to the ladder. As he climbed, he heard someone who sounded
like Joan. “No. Your bones are too brittle. It isn’t worth it just to show
off.” He couldn’t see her in the room but knew she was spying.

Jealous much?
He visualized
the full tumble with a twist, stopping his momentum just short of impact on the
water’s surface.
I’ll be like Superman.

When he walked out onto the plank,
Joan very clearly shouted, “You idiot. You can’t fly here.” She was invisible
in her armor, but he could see the blur of her open faceplate as she ran toward
the ladder. “Stop!”

Then Joan slipped on the wet patch,
smacked against the cement, and splashed into the water. No one would see the
sneak suit in water, and Joan didn’t have a breather tank.

Focusing his gravity sense, he
searched for her hidden mass. Then he dove into the water beside his friend. He
didn’t take long to locate her among the bubbles. They had played hide-and-seek
often as children. Stu grabbed Joan’s armored form and dragged her to the lip
of the pool. He switched off the cloak mechanism to conserve battery power and
make rescue breathing easier.

That created a buzz. Fiona and the
coach helped to drag Joan from the water. Stu detached the helmet first to make
certain Joan was still breathing. When he noticed the red skin on her face, he
panicked.
What would give her such an extreme reaction so quickly? The
chemicals in the water didn’t bother me, but I’m not part alien. Shit
.
“Showers!” he shouted, lugging his friend toward the locker room. Joan
whimpered as she wiped at her face. However, the additional pool water from her
gloves made her cry out even louder.

A few girls shrieked and scattered
as he shouldered through their ranks. Fiona ran interference, leading him to
the spray nozzles and turning them on. Stu rinsed Joan’s face first and then
every part of the armor before he removed it. Red rings encircled her wrists
and ankles at link points where water had penetrated. She was hyperventilating,
and her face turned the purple shade of a birthmark. “Calm down. We’re going to
get you to the infirmary.”

“It’s on the first floor, across
the quad. I’ll show you,” Fiona offered.

Onesemo appeared at his elbow.
“What’s wrong?”

Stu lifted his friend. “Chemical
burns?” He followed Fiona through the halls of the recreation center. “What do
you people put in that water to make it stink?”

“Chlorine. It prevents disease
transmission and algae,” Onesemo explained.

When Onesemo opened a glass door to
the outside, Stu said, “Mo, I need you to go back and get that armor for me.”

His bodyguard nodded and vanished
back down the hall.

Jogging toward the infirmary, Stu
asked, “Who teaches xenobiology here?”

“Nobody.”

“
Hans?” Stu called over his shoulder.

“Here.”
The Ballbusters director puffed along behind them. “I had to go around the long
way.”

“I need you to call Dr.
Lena Maurier in LA. Tell her she’s flying here as
soon as possible.”

“Why?”
Hans asked.

“Hint
at a Nobel prize.”

****

Covered in a medical gown, Stu sat beside Joan’s hospital
bed. The doctors had smeared her face in salve. Fiona paced the hall. A friend
had brought her clothes.

Joan groaned. “What did you hit me
with?”

“You were in a lot of pain. I
called in Dr. Maurier. She had the staff take a genetic sample so she could
formulate a custom analgesic.”

She sat up in a panic.

Stu pushed her back down and
explained, “We encrypted the genetic sample, and only Maurier saw it. She knows
about your extra chromosomes. On the bright side, the swelling went down, and
you’re breathing easier.”

“I itch all over.”

“The doctor prescribed aloe lotion.
She should be here tomorrow. While you’re in the infirmary, you’re going to
need a cover story, so I’ve registered you as a student. My uncle should arrive
with your ID in a few minutes. I sent him a photo from
before
you looked
like a beet.”

“So you’re not a total screwup,”
Joan said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry I was showing off,” he
whispered. Nodding to the student pacing the hall, he said, “Fiona probably
saved you. I gave her an invitation, too.”

Joan closed her eyes. “If you’re
apologizing, there must be bad news you’re hiding from me.”

“I called your mother. She’s flying
back on the Fortune corporate jet.”

“You blew both our covers?”

“Relax. Themis told me Brazil never
signed certain extradition treaties. Once your mom lands, they won’t arrest
her.”

“Come on, you have that guilty
look.”

“We were able to track down all the
pieces of your sneak suit except the helmet.”

“What!” The heart monitor flashed
red for a moment.

“Would you relax? Onesemo is on it.
We figure the same girls that stole my clothes at the pool took the helmet too.
I’m sure they don’t know what they have. We’re on it. Corporate security has
the list of team members, and we have a lead through an online auction site.
Uncle Kieran is being very cooperative.”

“Auction?”

“The fans didn’t keep all my
belongings as souvenirs. One of the poorer girls sold my shoes online.”

Joan giggled. This was a very good
sign, considering how much pain she had been in. She put her good wrist over
her forehead and faked a swoon. “His body actually
touched
this hand.
I’ll never wash it again.” She ribbed him mercilessly. “Like you needed more to
give you a big head.”

“Yeah. I tried to pop over to the
cafeteria dressed like this, but I got mobbed. They shredded my last hospital
gown.”

Joan’s laugh turned into a snort.
Blunt as always, she changed the subject. “So do you like the Amazon who’s out
there waiting for you?”

“Fiona’s nice. She’s from
Gibraltar. Her dad was a British athlete, and her mom is Spanish. I promised
her breakfast for everything she’s done and the secrets she agreed to keep.”

Kieran tapped on the door frame and
nodded toward Fiona. “Is she the one who stayed over last night? Good show.”

Behind his back, Stu held up a
finger, warning Joan not to correct the assumption.

“I brought the ID card you
‘dropped.’” Kieran set the card and a bundle of paperwork on Joan’s bedside
table.

“Thank you,” Stu said.

“Your new friend out there has a
spare bunk in her room. She let me fill in your crew member’s name as her
roommate this semester. No one will suspect.”

“How can I ever thank you?” Stu
asked rhetorically.