"I don't know, Mariah. I mean, I'm glad that Tyr and Beka are happy, but it's weird. It's like they're doing things in the wrong order." Trance was kneeling beside a crystal blue pool, addressing a slender, willowy tree with bright aqua leaves and fuchsia cones. She dabbled her fingers in the warm water and smiled at the shimmering gold and black velvet fish that swam sedately near her outstretched hand. "Whatever's not right, they've made it a little better, but I don't think everything's on track yet." Earlier, she'd secreted a roll from the buffet they'd visited last night. She crumbled half and sprinkled the bits into the pool. "Hello, sun-striped clownfish. I hope you like stale bread."
Quiet peace engulfed Trance, but she could feel cacophonic threads disrupting the innate harmony of the universe, and they itched uncomfortably like frazzled wool against her skin. "I'm trying to make it better, but I can't see what's wrong." Her voice rose in frustration. "How can I fix what I can't find?" The clownfish began to bump into each other and sped crazily through the clear water. Their confused motion distracted Trance from her musings, and she hastened to calm the little creatures. "Oh, shh, I'm sorry, guys. Shh. Eat your lunch. There you go. Don't you guys worry; I'll figure it all out." A slow smile spread across her face. "And besides, in can't be /all/ bad whenever you can create a little more love in the universe."
An excited Perseid interrupted Trance's meditations. "Miss Lafée! Oh, I'm so glad I found you. Do you remember the two dahlia remuls I showed you earlier?" He was bouncing on his toes, emanating nervous energy the way a star emanates heat. The skittery currents around him tickled Trance.
"Oh yes. They're very beautiful." As soon as the Perseid—Dr. Leeter—had discovered that an /expert/ xenobiologist was on El Dorado, he had rushed to show her around the water garden he personally kept up. She was delighted with the personal tour and attention. "Is there something wrong with them?"
"Well, yes, a little. Nothing too bad, I hope, but perhaps you could take a look at them."
Trance rose and shook droplets from her fingers. "Of course I will. Bye, clownfish! Bye, Mariah!" The Perseid regarded her curiously but didn't say anything. After all, what could a Perseid really say about anyone else's odd behavior? "You know, Dr. Leeter, I've always admired your water garden here very much."
The gray-blue man stumbled. "You're too kind, Miss Lafée, too kind. Why, if I had sufficient resources, I would create a self-sustaining paradise of marine flora and fauna that would stretch farther than the eye could measure. Unfortunately, beauty and science that cannot be used for profit are sadly unappreciated in these days, and I count myself lucky to have this little space."
Trance laid a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Please, Doctor, call me Laura. And you should be proud of what you've made here. Beautiful things can make people happy for a little while or change their lives."
A wavering smile broke over the Perseid's face. "Yes, thank you, Laura. Oh, and I must inquire after the names of your companions."
Trance blinked. This was unexpected, especially from a chattery Perseid botanist. "W-what about them?"
"Tristan and Isolde, yes? It reminds me of a song. You see, I like to listen to classical operas from all over the galaxies when I work—they relax me—and I believe Tristan and Isolde are characters from an ancient Earth opera. If I'm correct, the odds of that are really quite extraordinary, don't' you think?"
Trance sighed in relief. It certainly /would/ be improbable that two people raised totally apart—one human and one Nietzschean, no less—with the names from some relic opera should /happen/ to meet and decide to travel together. She wondered what the story behind the names was, and if the meaning would tell her anything. "Tristan likes to say that they odds of any of us being born were astronomical, so nothing is too extraordinary if you think of it like that." And besides, what were the odds of a Perseid loving Old Earth opera?
A light sparked in Perseid's black eyes. "You know, Laura, that is quite an interesting perspective. He's right, of course. In the case of birth by sexual reproduction, the odds of two parents meeting each other and deciding to mate at just the right moment and under the precise circumstances that should lead to our particular genetic combinations of their DNA… it's very highly improbable. Why, if I were to calculate the numbers, I'm sure it should seem almost impossible!"
They arrived at the cove when the dahlia remuls slept at night. During the day, they could usually be found splashing and diving in the sandy shallows. Sure enough, two salamander-like lizards frolicked among the reeds. Trance sat on her heels and watching them for a moment before turning to Dr. Leeter. "They look happy to me."
"Oh yes, yes, they seem quite content. I work very hard to make sure all the animals here lack for nothing. The problem, Laura, is that there are only two here, and it was almost a miracle that I could acquire them at all. So far, I have not been able to induce them to mate."
Trance studied the creature awhile. "How long have they been here together?" One, spotted orange, crawled out onto the bank and gazed at her. She waved, and the remul hesitantly approached her. A few whispered words, and the tiny lizard dove back into the water.
"Fascinating! Both remuls have been remarkably timid around anyone who comes near them. Let's see, I transported them here from Infinity Atoll a month ago."
"Hmm." Trance pursed her lips. "Oh! A month ago it was winter on Infinity Atoll." Well, what passed for winter on Infinity. "They probably haven't adjusted to the sudden change in climate. They usually mate in the spring, so once they're used to it here, I bet you'll have lots of baby remuls. It'll probably take just a couple more weeks."
The doctor clapped his hands delightedly. "Thank you very much, Laura, thank you. Of course, it all makes sense! How careless of me to neglect such a substantial influence. Tell me, how much longer do you think you and your companions will stay here at El Dorado?"
A plum flush spread across Trance's cheeks. "A few more days. Um, Isolde and Paul still have to find everything we need to fix our ship, the /Valinor/."
As they walked together around the gardens, Leeter and Trance discussed all manners of natural science and exchanged botanical anecdotes. It was a welcome respite from Trance's worried ruminations. She was also enjoying immensely the opportunity to talk with someone who shared some of the interests closest to her heart.
A few hours later, an agitated human burst into the water garden. He looked around wildly, spotted a purple tale near a blue-barked fruit tree and ran towards it. "Um, Laura!"
The girl rose. "Paul! Are you okay?" Anxiety radiated from his blue eyes.
"Yeah, fine… well, no. Isolde and Tristan spotted some old friends of ours." He glanced at the Perseid near Trance. "You know, our /new/ friends. The ones who really don't like us very much?"
"I-I'm sorry to intrude, Dr. Bacchae, but how can they be your old friends if they're new and don't like you very much?" the confused Perseid broke in.
Harper looked expressively at Trance, who answered her companion. "They change their minds a lot. Dr. Leeter, I would love to come back and talk with you tomorrow, but I have to go now."
Leeter assured Trance that he would certainly welcome her company anytime. He gave her a stiff little bow and returned to his sapphire tree.
"Wow, Laura, it looks like the chinhead has a little crush."
Trance playfully swatted Harper as he made kissy noises. "Paul! Dr. Leeter doesn't get to talk to people often, especially people who like plants and animals very much."
Harper waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, say what you want. I know what I saw."
At this, Trance giggled. "Paul, you always /think/ you know when a dancer or waitress likes you, but didn't the last one press charges?"
"In love and war, Paul, uh… Paul…"
"Bacchae," Trance supplied helpfully.
"Right, Paul Bacchae never admits defeat!"
Trance teased Harper mercilessly on the way back to the little café where Beka and Tyr awaited them. They were so deep in conversation that Beka positively jumped when Trance greeted her. "Oh! Hey… Laura. I'm sorry to drag you away from the friendly neighborhood Perseid, but did Paul tell you what happened?"
She drew out the seat beside her, and Trance sat. "He said something about our old new friends who don't like us very much. Dr. Leeter was kinda confused. Paul /did/ mean the tee apostrophe dee aie el eye ehm aie are people, right?"
Trance could see Beka mentally stringing together the words she'd spelled out. "Yeah, them. I was… uh… looking for something in El D's main computer-"
"With a little help from yours truly," Harper injected.
"-and I found a classified entry in the log of ships in the area from just last night. It was strange—I've almost never seen anything classified in that area before, unless there's some visiting dignitary no one's supposed to know about. So I checked it out…and it's them. The ship itself is Nietzschean, but our friends didn't even want to risk that much evidence of their presence. A little bargaining with the FTA, and only record of them is accessible by high-level intel. It's pretty dangerous if our friends find out about even that little bit."
"High level intel and good-looking, super genius love gods."
"Yes, and delusional megalomaniacs," Tyr rumbled.
Before Harper could reply in kind, Trance asked the three why they thought the T'dalimar had shown up. "Maybe they're trying to scare us… or trying to warn us." Her eyes rested on Tyr. "Maybe they're trying to tell us something."
He steadily returned her gaze. "I doubt it. The T'dalimar do not /scare/ people. They don't have to."
Trance bit her lip. "But… if they're mercenaries, don't they do what their boss tells them to?" She couldn't see why the T'dalimar had begun to appear, and that bothered her as much as anything. After all, she definitely couldn't fix things if she or any of the crew died right now. Shadowy suspicions floated around her mind, but she refused to let them take shape—she didn't like what they signified for her mission or what they said about her friends.
Beka looked from Trance to Tyr. "She's right about that, but would the T'dalimar risk their secret for a few thousand thrones?"
Tyr leaned across the table. "Try a few million."
Silence reigned as the four pondered the situation. Then, Harper spoke up. "I don't know about you guys, but I vote we stay here for a while. I know we have to practice, Isolde, but the expression 'practice makes perfect' only applies to the living. How about we hang around here a little longer? Laura can bond with the chinhead, Isolde and Tristan can convince dealers to give us what we need… in their own special ways, and I can find an El D darlin' who likes a man with a title."
Beka sighed. "For the record, I don't like it, but I agree. We'll lay low, make friends, and hope this blows over. Maybe our friends just wanted an AP solenoid valve."
Quiet peace engulfed Trance, but she could feel cacophonic threads disrupting the innate harmony of the universe, and they itched uncomfortably like frazzled wool against her skin. "I'm trying to make it better, but I can't see what's wrong." Her voice rose in frustration. "How can I fix what I can't find?" The clownfish began to bump into each other and sped crazily through the clear water. Their confused motion distracted Trance from her musings, and she hastened to calm the little creatures. "Oh, shh, I'm sorry, guys. Shh. Eat your lunch. There you go. Don't you guys worry; I'll figure it all out." A slow smile spread across her face. "And besides, in can't be /all/ bad whenever you can create a little more love in the universe."
An excited Perseid interrupted Trance's meditations. "Miss Lafée! Oh, I'm so glad I found you. Do you remember the two dahlia remuls I showed you earlier?" He was bouncing on his toes, emanating nervous energy the way a star emanates heat. The skittery currents around him tickled Trance.
"Oh yes. They're very beautiful." As soon as the Perseid—Dr. Leeter—had discovered that an /expert/ xenobiologist was on El Dorado, he had rushed to show her around the water garden he personally kept up. She was delighted with the personal tour and attention. "Is there something wrong with them?"
"Well, yes, a little. Nothing too bad, I hope, but perhaps you could take a look at them."
Trance rose and shook droplets from her fingers. "Of course I will. Bye, clownfish! Bye, Mariah!" The Perseid regarded her curiously but didn't say anything. After all, what could a Perseid really say about anyone else's odd behavior? "You know, Dr. Leeter, I've always admired your water garden here very much."
The gray-blue man stumbled. "You're too kind, Miss Lafée, too kind. Why, if I had sufficient resources, I would create a self-sustaining paradise of marine flora and fauna that would stretch farther than the eye could measure. Unfortunately, beauty and science that cannot be used for profit are sadly unappreciated in these days, and I count myself lucky to have this little space."
Trance laid a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Please, Doctor, call me Laura. And you should be proud of what you've made here. Beautiful things can make people happy for a little while or change their lives."
A wavering smile broke over the Perseid's face. "Yes, thank you, Laura. Oh, and I must inquire after the names of your companions."
Trance blinked. This was unexpected, especially from a chattery Perseid botanist. "W-what about them?"
"Tristan and Isolde, yes? It reminds me of a song. You see, I like to listen to classical operas from all over the galaxies when I work—they relax me—and I believe Tristan and Isolde are characters from an ancient Earth opera. If I'm correct, the odds of that are really quite extraordinary, don't' you think?"
Trance sighed in relief. It certainly /would/ be improbable that two people raised totally apart—one human and one Nietzschean, no less—with the names from some relic opera should /happen/ to meet and decide to travel together. She wondered what the story behind the names was, and if the meaning would tell her anything. "Tristan likes to say that they odds of any of us being born were astronomical, so nothing is too extraordinary if you think of it like that." And besides, what were the odds of a Perseid loving Old Earth opera?
A light sparked in Perseid's black eyes. "You know, Laura, that is quite an interesting perspective. He's right, of course. In the case of birth by sexual reproduction, the odds of two parents meeting each other and deciding to mate at just the right moment and under the precise circumstances that should lead to our particular genetic combinations of their DNA… it's very highly improbable. Why, if I were to calculate the numbers, I'm sure it should seem almost impossible!"
They arrived at the cove when the dahlia remuls slept at night. During the day, they could usually be found splashing and diving in the sandy shallows. Sure enough, two salamander-like lizards frolicked among the reeds. Trance sat on her heels and watching them for a moment before turning to Dr. Leeter. "They look happy to me."
"Oh yes, yes, they seem quite content. I work very hard to make sure all the animals here lack for nothing. The problem, Laura, is that there are only two here, and it was almost a miracle that I could acquire them at all. So far, I have not been able to induce them to mate."
Trance studied the creature awhile. "How long have they been here together?" One, spotted orange, crawled out onto the bank and gazed at her. She waved, and the remul hesitantly approached her. A few whispered words, and the tiny lizard dove back into the water.
"Fascinating! Both remuls have been remarkably timid around anyone who comes near them. Let's see, I transported them here from Infinity Atoll a month ago."
"Hmm." Trance pursed her lips. "Oh! A month ago it was winter on Infinity Atoll." Well, what passed for winter on Infinity. "They probably haven't adjusted to the sudden change in climate. They usually mate in the spring, so once they're used to it here, I bet you'll have lots of baby remuls. It'll probably take just a couple more weeks."
The doctor clapped his hands delightedly. "Thank you very much, Laura, thank you. Of course, it all makes sense! How careless of me to neglect such a substantial influence. Tell me, how much longer do you think you and your companions will stay here at El Dorado?"
A plum flush spread across Trance's cheeks. "A few more days. Um, Isolde and Paul still have to find everything we need to fix our ship, the /Valinor/."
As they walked together around the gardens, Leeter and Trance discussed all manners of natural science and exchanged botanical anecdotes. It was a welcome respite from Trance's worried ruminations. She was also enjoying immensely the opportunity to talk with someone who shared some of the interests closest to her heart.
A few hours later, an agitated human burst into the water garden. He looked around wildly, spotted a purple tale near a blue-barked fruit tree and ran towards it. "Um, Laura!"
The girl rose. "Paul! Are you okay?" Anxiety radiated from his blue eyes.
"Yeah, fine… well, no. Isolde and Tristan spotted some old friends of ours." He glanced at the Perseid near Trance. "You know, our /new/ friends. The ones who really don't like us very much?"
"I-I'm sorry to intrude, Dr. Bacchae, but how can they be your old friends if they're new and don't like you very much?" the confused Perseid broke in.
Harper looked expressively at Trance, who answered her companion. "They change their minds a lot. Dr. Leeter, I would love to come back and talk with you tomorrow, but I have to go now."
Leeter assured Trance that he would certainly welcome her company anytime. He gave her a stiff little bow and returned to his sapphire tree.
"Wow, Laura, it looks like the chinhead has a little crush."
Trance playfully swatted Harper as he made kissy noises. "Paul! Dr. Leeter doesn't get to talk to people often, especially people who like plants and animals very much."
Harper waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, say what you want. I know what I saw."
At this, Trance giggled. "Paul, you always /think/ you know when a dancer or waitress likes you, but didn't the last one press charges?"
"In love and war, Paul, uh… Paul…"
"Bacchae," Trance supplied helpfully.
"Right, Paul Bacchae never admits defeat!"
Trance teased Harper mercilessly on the way back to the little café where Beka and Tyr awaited them. They were so deep in conversation that Beka positively jumped when Trance greeted her. "Oh! Hey… Laura. I'm sorry to drag you away from the friendly neighborhood Perseid, but did Paul tell you what happened?"
She drew out the seat beside her, and Trance sat. "He said something about our old new friends who don't like us very much. Dr. Leeter was kinda confused. Paul /did/ mean the tee apostrophe dee aie el eye ehm aie are people, right?"
Trance could see Beka mentally stringing together the words she'd spelled out. "Yeah, them. I was… uh… looking for something in El D's main computer-"
"With a little help from yours truly," Harper injected.
"-and I found a classified entry in the log of ships in the area from just last night. It was strange—I've almost never seen anything classified in that area before, unless there's some visiting dignitary no one's supposed to know about. So I checked it out…and it's them. The ship itself is Nietzschean, but our friends didn't even want to risk that much evidence of their presence. A little bargaining with the FTA, and only record of them is accessible by high-level intel. It's pretty dangerous if our friends find out about even that little bit."
"High level intel and good-looking, super genius love gods."
"Yes, and delusional megalomaniacs," Tyr rumbled.
Before Harper could reply in kind, Trance asked the three why they thought the T'dalimar had shown up. "Maybe they're trying to scare us… or trying to warn us." Her eyes rested on Tyr. "Maybe they're trying to tell us something."
He steadily returned her gaze. "I doubt it. The T'dalimar do not /scare/ people. They don't have to."
Trance bit her lip. "But… if they're mercenaries, don't they do what their boss tells them to?" She couldn't see why the T'dalimar had begun to appear, and that bothered her as much as anything. After all, she definitely couldn't fix things if she or any of the crew died right now. Shadowy suspicions floated around her mind, but she refused to let them take shape—she didn't like what they signified for her mission or what they said about her friends.
Beka looked from Trance to Tyr. "She's right about that, but would the T'dalimar risk their secret for a few thousand thrones?"
Tyr leaned across the table. "Try a few million."
Silence reigned as the four pondered the situation. Then, Harper spoke up. "I don't know about you guys, but I vote we stay here for a while. I know we have to practice, Isolde, but the expression 'practice makes perfect' only applies to the living. How about we hang around here a little longer? Laura can bond with the chinhead, Isolde and Tristan can convince dealers to give us what we need… in their own special ways, and I can find an El D darlin' who likes a man with a title."
Beka sighed. "For the record, I don't like it, but I agree. We'll lay low, make friends, and hope this blows over. Maybe our friends just wanted an AP solenoid valve."