Chapter 9: Driving Force
A/N: According to non-canon, Romulus has 25 hours. By the way, it seems that in the far future, our planet Earth might also end up with 25 hours due to its slowing orbit. Great for night owls!
Also according to non-canon, Romulans who are religious worship the four elements earth, fire, water and air.
LORIOVER50, thank you for your kind review! Much appreciated!
"Kihika, can you recommend a good hairdresser or hair salon to me? I'm starting to look very untidy," Asha asked as she wrestled with the knots and kinks in her hair.
"We can have a hairdresser come to the house, or you can visit a public hairdressing salon. It depends on your preference."
The first option sounded comfortable, stashed away in the house with just one person dressing her hair. The second option would be uncomfortable, surrounded by the public and she would probably be the only Human again. It would force her to leave the house and confront her fears. She had been stuck at home during the past few days because of her heavy period and she was in danger of becoming too inactive again.
"The second option, Kihika. I am curious to know what a Romulan hair salon is like, and I want to be out in the city again and practise my basic Romulan, as you and my tutor have suggested."
Kihika beamed. "Shall we leave now, my Lady?"
"Please. I'm shedding like a...set'leth, right?"
"Yes," Kihika giggled. "Ihhai mentioned that he had one when he was a boy."
Asha smiled. "I must ask Ihhai to show me his childhood pictures."
Kihika smiled, too. "I'll take you to Rareek's."
Thorek had already left for work when the two women climbed into the flitter and flew off to town. Only four days ago, Asha had asked Thorek about obtaining a Romulan driver's licence and had shown him a copy of her Terran licence on her travelling PADD. He had immediately taken the necessary steps. Within forty-eight hours, he had obtained a licence for her that allowed her to handle a flitter without company in the city of Romulus. However, his presence was required in the vehicle outside of Romulus due to her limited rights. Asha had been impressed with the effort Thorek had put into this matter, and she was touched by his generosity. She suspected that despite his stand-offish and often lofty demeanour, he had a kind heart.
Asha took the wheel and Kihika clutched at the seat as the flitter surged out of its parking slot and they rattled off into the air. "Uh, my Lady, please keep an eye on the speed limits."
"I will. Your traffic rules are very similar to Terran ones and your flitters are practically identical. Though outfitted with more bells and whistles." She narrowed her eyes with enthusiasm and sent the flitter slewing steeply to the left. Kihika swallowed tensely, darting anxious looks at Asha's relaxed profile. When they landed, Kihika got out rather shakily. She took a deep breath. "We just have to walk for five minutes, and we'll be there."
"I'm looking forward!" her mistress said cheerfully as she locked the car.
The hair salon was like a Terran one. True, the people, equipment and hair products were different, but the hustle, bustle and chatty atmosphere were the same. Hair salons were great places to collect news. Rareek himself hurried forwards to greet his new customer, not showing a sign of suspicion or rudeness when he saw that she was a Human. On the contrary, he beamed. "What a wealth of hair!" he exclaimed loudly in excellent English, staring at her head. All the other customers turned to have a look, too. Asha blushed. He ushered her into a chair and draped a green robe over her. He brought her several hairstyle catalogues and decided to shorten her waist-length hair to below-shoulder-length.
"I used to have another Human client, with red hair. She moved to another province with her husband."
Asha's heart leapt. So there were other Humans on the planet, just as Kihika had said. She wondered if this Human had been in a happy marriage or not.
The door of the salon opened, and two Romulan men entered. One kissed the other tenderly on the mouth and stepped out of the shop, and the other was received by one of Rareek's assistants. Asha was glad. It would seem that in many areas, Romulan society was very progressive and modern. She liked that a lot. Besides so-called high-born Romulans who were tutored in English from an early age, Romulans with smart business sense obviously seemed have a mastery of English as well.
"Who knows where our dealings with the Federation might lead us? The English language might open many doors. Then again, I am not a politician or a military expert, Ihhei t'Darak," Rareek stated.
"I quite agree with you. It makes sense to plan for the unforeseen."
"Exactly!" He pinned up her hair with green clips. Asha saw that they were in the shape of raptors, the talons functioning as grips and the wings as handles. The blades of Rareek's scissors were shaped like the bill of a bird of prey, and even an eye was included on one blade. Rareek was a shrewd entrepreneur to pay attention to these little details.
When he had finished with her hair, Asha almost gasped. He had done a splendid job and made a Romulan hairdo for her with a braided chignon at the back and a cluster of more braids in front. "It's a masterpiece, Rareek," she said. "You put the hairdressers on Earth to shame."
He turned bright green and bowed. She had fortunately read up on money-spending and tipping practices beforehand, and she tipped him generously and bought a bottle of violet shampoo as well.
Kihika had returned from shopping and was waiting for her mistress next to the flitter. Her eyes grew round when she saw Asha's hairdo. "How lovely, Ihhei!"
"Kihika, you're truly an angel. That man worked magic on my hair!" Kihika smiled and inclined her head modestly. "I am glad my suggestion was of use." Then she remembered that they still had to get back home. "Shall I take the wheel, my Lady?"
"No thank you, Kihika, I had such fun driving over here."
Kihika gulped. "Very well, my Lady."
She got into the passenger's seat bravely, and her face turned an interesting shade of pale grey when the flitter swooped up into the air and took off like a bullet. On a deserted street near their home, Asha calmly ignored the red light.
"My Lady!" Kihika squeaked, gripping the door handle as they whooshed past the traffic lights.
"Well, there's no one around, and these lights have no surveillance cameras according to my research and the flitter's sensors. The costs are too high to equip traffic lights on roads with only few cars."
Kihika began to pray to the four elements as Asha slalomed casually through the air with the engine of the vehicle howling intermittently. When they landed and parked, she suppressed a groan and tottered out of the flitter. Asha sauntered out with her new hairdo perfectly intact, playing with the flitter keys.
Later in the evening, she updated Thorek on the day's happenings. He nodded approval when he heard about her outing to the hair salon and raised his eyebrows when she described her flitter trip to and from Rareek's.
"Ihhei is a…a…devil at the wheel," she told him in a low voice. Thorek listened to her report with suppressed amusement, though he did cough once in a disapproving manner when Kihika told him about Asha jumping the red light.
"Thank you, Kihika. I'll join her myself on her next excursion if my timetable allows me."
"Ihhai, you might want to refrain from doing so for safety reasons."
"Nonsense," Thorek said lightheartedly.
He did mention the red light violation to his wife during supper, however, after complimenting her warmly on her hairstyle and expressing his relief about her taking steps to integrate into her new environment.
Asha's dimples emerged. "You know, some rules are made to be broken, limited rights or not. Especially with not a soul on the street."
"Ah well, my wife, I see your reasoning, but I do ask you to respect our traffic rules more. How about we go out for a drive tomorrow morning?"
The next day was the equivalent of Earth's Saturday. Thorek was free on that day and the day after that. The Romulan calendar was different in that their days had twenty-five hours.
"Sure," Asha said enthusiastically. "I'll be glad to take you for a spin."
The next morning, Kihika gazed pityingly at her master as he got into the flitter. She noticed the enthusiasm spreading across her mistress's face. She began to pray staunchly to the four elements again.
Thorek's relaxed stance vanished abruptly as he lurched forwards in his seat when Asha steered the flitter in a steep vertical angle towards the sky and slammed her foot on the brake, bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt. Then she roared ahead merrily, sending the flitter into maximum speed when they reached a long stretch of deserted road near the woods. The engine began to howl. Thorek had become very pale with green patches on his cheeks, and he was clutching at his seatbelt. As they sped along, he glanced at his wife several times and opened his mouth once to say something, but changed his mind when she aimed the car to a path on the right, narrowing her eyes and inhaling sharply. She was thoroughly enjoying herself. He closed his mouth and stared ahead as if he was going to his own execution.
Thorek was not a religious man, but for one of the few times in his life, he began to silently call upon the four elements to bring both of them and the vehicle back in one piece.
Asha sent the flitter climbing up into the air, then pressed the brake and deactivated the hover function. The aircar tumbled down, spiralling (Thorek gasped audibly), and she released the brake and kicked on the hover button. The car hurtled upwards and forwards. Thorek's hands began to tremble noticeably.
She turned the car and flew very low above a tree, forcing a group of birds to leave their perch, squawking furiously. The rest of the drive was smooth, uneventful and silent, Asha zooming along casually and Thorek sitting stiffly in his seat like a statue. She did stop at the red light this time, tapping her fingers impatiently on the dashboard, revving up the engine ominously. Her husband dabbed at his sweaty face discreetly with a silk handkerchief.
As soon as Asha landed the flitter, Thorek got out with wobbling knees. Kihika was expecting them. She took one look at his face, gestured at a bottle of kali-fal on the sideboard and discreetly went upstairs.
Thorek wordlessly sank down into a chair. Asha joined him. He helped himself to a generous glass of kali-fal and took a massive gulp. Finally, he said: "The next time you want to make an attempt on my life, please tell me so beforehand, that way I can make arrangements."
Asha looked surprised. "Well, you did ask to be taken out for a spin."
"I didn't expect such a literal implementation. There is certainly no doubt that you can handle the flitter very, hm, competently."
"My friend André taught me how to drive."
"This André individual did a very thorough job indeed. Because, you, my wife, are a complete devil on the air roads. Rarely has anything struck such terror into my heart."
Asha dissolved into giggles. Thorek looked at her reproachfully. That made her laugh harder. It was contagious, and he began to laugh loudly, too. It was rare that the house was filled with such laughter, and whatever staff was around looked at each other and began to smile or laugh, too.
Senator Vreenak scrolled through the PADD containing the data his security officer had pulled off the cameras. Yes – there she was, and there he was, both of them staring at each other for a few seconds. He made some notes and consulted the database. He narrowed down the search to non-Romulan citizens residing in Romulus only. And there she was again. He transferred the data to a fresh PADD and looked at Asha Sen t'Darak's picture for a long time. Were those eyes real? It would seem they were.
Married. To a Romulan. Only around ten weeks ago? He viewed the marriage certificate. No signs of forgery. With narrowed eyes, he sifted through the data. He had the distinct feeling that the truly pertinent data was residing with his former employers at the Tal Shiar headquarters. He muttered a profane word in Romulan. Very well. He would have to pull a few strings to get at that data. So be it.
Within two days, he had before him a data rod with a holodeck program on it. He examined the rod closely. It certainly didn't look fake. There was another data rod containing audio logs made by the Human woman, and correspondence between her and another Human called André Schmitt. That, too, didn't look fake.
He leant back and steepled his long well-manicured fingers together. His former employers had always suffered from massive paranoia, one of his reasons for resigning from his position as Vice-Chairman. Since the fresh attacks on the Romulan outposts in the Neutral Zone, the paranoia had naturally become worse. And so they had ended up kidnapping her and wiping up all traces. They had made her and her loved ones suffer. He thought of her loved ones back on Earth. It was a despicable idea and only someone as ruthless as a Tal Shiar agent could come up with such an atrocity. Whatever his opinion on Humans, no innocent citizen deserved to be ripped from their family like that, and he had a strong feeling that she had nothing to do with any Federation spying activities. He had missed out on family because he had focused single-mindedly on his career. It hadn't always been easy.
Vreenak turned his attention to her husband, Thorek tr'Darak. He raised his eyebrows a few times. Execution of his parents by the Tal Shiar. No siblings. Remaining clan like distant cousins scattered across the planet. Exemplary academic career. Stern-looking, like most Romulans, and distinguished. An interesting match, Vreenak thought. He put the PADDs away and focused on the data rods.
