Quadrille

October 12 - Leaving Paquin

"What matters it how far we go?" - Lewis Carroll

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Some were calling it the Black Pox.

It had been identified as originating in Araxes. While the Laandsrat talked, the USD had tried to keep it contained, imposing a blockade and threatening to shoot down any ships that tried to leave that planet.

But it was either not enough or it was too late.

Reports started filtering in from several places in the 34 Tauri system, almost simultaneously. The virus was travelling the trade routes.

The government was quick to act. Spinwheel was placed under quarantine. Zenobia closed borders to all but official traffic. Military and medical personnel were mobilized. We needed to keep this out of the Core.

The call came through while I was at the office.
Report to X. Board transport Y.

Ceasar, no longer military, would be stuck in Spinwheel.

On my way to my transport, I put a call through to his mobile and another to his office. My arm was still sore from a new regime of mandatory vaccinations.

There was no answer. Perhaps he was in his own briefing. I left him a message. "Something has come up," I said, loud enough to be heard over the noise around me. "Will call when I can."

He would know what that meant. That, coupled with the roar of Alliance transports thundering across the skies of Paquin.

This morning, I had left him some cabbage rolls in a plastic container in case I had to work late. That could be his supper. There was a potato salad in the fridge and fish in the freezer...

We didn't even get a proper goodbye.

----

As we broke orbit, I settled into a black vinyl chair in an alcove reserved for my use and reviewed the latest item to cross my desk.

It had arrived in a plain envelope earlier that day. It was addressed to me. The letters of my name were perfectly formed. No return address. No signature.

Close inspection had revealed one hair, a light blonde curl, stuck in the envelope glue. Analysis had found a match as surprising as the envelope contents.

It was from Aurora Blue.

Lily's cub.

I carefully removed the envelope from the transparent, plastic evidence bag. I turned the envelope over and let the contents gently slide out onto the table before me.

One item.

A photograph from Al Raqis. Not a static picture, but rather a video capture on a paper screen. On the back, in printing that matched that on the front of the envelope, was a date: June 29.

I turned the capture over and watched as the image came to life...

-----

"MISS ARDRA! Miss Ardra!" shouted LilyBell Snoodle.

She stood on the ridge over looking the Wadi Emet. To her right, the imposing figure of Lord Krakken Hyperion of the Myrmidon Order. House Morloch was visible in the distance.

Before them, the avatar form of Ardra Aurotharius, Guild Navigator, hovered in the air. Its wings outstretched. Its claws slightly curled. Its metal chassis surmounted by an attachment resembling a head, but ablaze like the heart of a furnace.

"Yes I am," acknowledged Ardra.

"It me, Lily. L i l y . Remember?"

"I remember you," answered the Navigator.

"I hided you," continued LilyBell.

"I remember that."

"I maked a present for you," Lily wiggled and was clearly excited.

"I received your message regarding said present," Ardra replied.

LilyBell nodded. "Osmium, and some other fings. Thing is, it NEVER break." She then added, "Miss, why you on fire?"

"I am not on fire," said Ardra simply.

"Oh," continued Lily, "and this Kraaken. Him going to be my husband, but we not dance yet. I will smile for him."

The Navigator continued, "The Guild accepts deliveries of small parcels at the tower of the Guild Citadel."

"Miss," Lily explained, "legs ain't small. And, them got to be attached to you. Dr. Qui said him will help put you in them."

"I doubt we would allow Qui to have access," remarked Ardra. She continued, "Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. Good luck to you, Lord Hyperion."

"Your image is very appealing," responded Lord Krakken, "my compliments."

"You knows him?" Lily looked at the Myrmidon and then at Ardra.

"Lord Hyperion brought war to Mu Draconis and a blockade," explained Ardra.

LilyBell blinked.

"It is the way of things," added the Navigator philosophically.

"Him nice, Miss," said Lily.

"I do not judge."

"Anyway," continued Lily, "Miss Reiko say war is good. Miss, do you want me to make whole body of that osmium? Or just legs. Oh! You sister was here and it was sick."

"What do you mean by 'sister'?" asked Ardra.

Lily elaborated, "It say it related to you. There many more of it though. Not special, like you." She looked at Krakken, "If there only one of somefing, it more special, I mean to say, precious."

"Arudra is a drone," explained the Navigator.

"It say you is a drone," said Lily, "But you not. You my friend and I give you strong legs if you wants them."

"I use many drones," replied Ardra, "such as this body."

"I forge them in the mines," added Lily.

"I will accept your present."

LilyBell smiled, "Oh, Miss... You remember them girls, you know them two twins? Them got disappeared."

"I am aware of them," admitted Ardra.

"Them dead?" asked Lily.

"They are safe."

"Where at?" asked Lily, "Cause they said them come to my house to play and make tea but them not come, and I want them come. I got a new friend, him black and mean too, name Shaft, lif at the mines wif me. Him fast."

"They left here and returned to their school in Spinwheel City on Paquin of Heinlein," explained the Navigator.

"Did you ....put anyfing in their...selfs?" asked Lily. "Dr. Qui said Wylder not your Daddy, also," she added.

"I do not respond to interrogation," replied Ardra, "but the girls were unharmed." She then addressed the other remark. "Qui has a limited perspective and his knowledge is limited in this matter."

The Hyperion of the Myrmidon Order, silent for most of the conversation, now addressed the Navigator, "I am awed by your presence. I am honored."

Lily turned to the warlord, "You want dance wif Ardra instead of me? I step out of dance if you wish it." Not waiting for an answer, she returned her attention to Ardra. "You fix up some new place on you ship Miss. Pink."

"You may continue your pre-reproduction rituals without any interference from me," Ardra replied.

LilyBell tilted her head to the left and looked at the Navigator. "Faeries already been here, Miss."

Ardra changed the subject, "The Alcubierre Drive now directly links Mu Draconis to 34 Tauri."

"I know a secret," said Lily.

"No doubt you do," replied Ardra.

LilyBell nodded.

Ardra asked, "Have you found Wylder?"

"I know a secret," repeated Lily with a smile.

"It is her manner to make provocative statements and then to flee from the vicinity," Ardra told the Hyperion.

"Miss, do you want me make any more parts?" asked Lily, "How you going to attach them if you not let Qui do it? Maybe Blue could do it...."

"Arms and torso, no wings," said Ardra.

LilyBell nodded.

"We have our own technicians," added the Navigator.

"You never get sick or break again after it get all fixed," promised Lily.

"I am beyond those things now," declared Ardra, "I am distributed."

"So is Blue," replied Lily, "but...him got more ..." She may have struggled for the right word. It was hard to tell.

"It is the way of the future," said Ardra.

"Distributed?" asked the Hyperion.

"I know a secret," repeated Lily.

"Am I supposed to ask what the secret is?" asked Ardra.

"Massively distributed system of course," said Lily as she nodded, effectively answering them both at once.

"What is your secret?" asked Ardra. "I misunderstood your ritual process."

"It a secret," replied Lily.

Ardra spoke, "Lord Hyperion, do you know the rules of this game? I am unaware of the process."

"Rules of the game, My lady?" asked Krakken, "Which rules for which game?"

"The game which starts with LilyBell Snoodle saying 'I know a secret.'"

"That me. That me," cried Lily and she spun around, drooling a bit.

"Is it an animal, vegetable, mineral or concept?" inquired Ardra, the spines of her wings catching the light of the Sun.

"It a SECRET," said Lily and she stuck her tongue out at the Navigator. She turned to Krakken, "Miss Ardra beautiful like I said, huh? Glorious."

Lord Krakken Hyperion was eloquent. "Lady Ardra. I do not even try to fathom what secrets lay within that lovely head of LilyBell."

LilyBell looked at him, then quickly looked away.

"It must be emergent from her base programming," remarked Ardra. She addressed Lily, "Do you still steal the dreams of men and transmit it to the distributed network?"

"It not stealing if them wants to come. I do. But I not transmit everyfing. Some, I keep."

"What is the mechanism for this process?" asked Ardra.

The Myrmidon interrupted, "Mechanism? I don't think LilyBell is made of machine. Nor do I think she runs on a program. She runs on her own free will."

"I will not interfere," said Ardra.

"A system far more effective than a program," declared Krakken. "Please you are not interfering." He smiled

"Think of it metaphorically if it helps," suggested Ardra.

"As with LilyBell," he continued, "I am enjoying your company. I am learning a lot.....and LilyBell beguiles me in other ways," added the Myrmidon with a smile.

Ardra elaborated on her point, "Your hand is the mechanism by which you type on a keyboard..."

"It is a way I translate speech to other species," he agreed.

"...thus you can think of your hand as the mechanism in that case."

"As I can think of your thoughts and ideas generated by your mechanism fired by electrons within your head." He paused and peered closely at Ardra, as if to see if there was, in fact, a head.

"The mind is an emergent feature," added Ardra.

LilyBell spoke quite softly, "Dreams is like, electricity. Like, Blue. It sings".

Ardra circled back. "Thus, back to my original query: what is the mechanism by which you can take their dreams?"

"The Mind," continued the Myrmidon, "is actually an incorporeal lifeform trapped in the given vessels of which we roam our given quadrants of the Universe."

"Very poetic," commented the Navigator.

"Miss Ardra, never mind about that..now," Lily glanced in the direction of the man, "We got to go...." She pulled at his arm. "We got appointment."

Lord Krakken was not finished. "My species has lived for thousands of years in space, so we have learned to be poetic, since space is a very, very predatory environment. A constant reminder of how short a span of time is in the vastness of either nothing or forever. In either case, cold, lonely, never-ending and a wonder." He smiled.

"I will let you to your mating," said Ardra charitably.

Krakken turned to Lily. "... and wonders so deep that now and then, if one is so lucky, comes in the form of you, LilyBell .. You and - if finds the time - me." The Myrmidon laughed again.

"A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Lord Hyperion," she added.

"I leave message when that present all done," promised Lily.

Lord Krakken addressed the Navigator. "If you get a chance, Ardra, go and visit Ta'Seti. I do believe it would be a great habitat for you to just enjoy."

"I will," replied Ardra, "Thank you, Lord Hyperion."

"Things bites there," cautioned Lily.

"Only in the Labyrinth, LilyBell. Only in the Labyrinth," he smiled tolerantly.

"No," corrected Lily, "they bited me in the meadow. I tell that man. BUGS."

"Meadow," repeated the Myrmidon.

".....Lord Hyperion." LilyBell giggled.

"Oh, the small bugs," said Krakken, finally understanding.

"Kraaaaaaaken," purred Lily.

"Yes, Lilybell," he replied.

She smiled up at him.

"LilyBell," he promised, "Tomorrow, you, me, we dance. First thing, before the Universe realizes our fun." He laughed, a deep throaty laugh.

LilyBell nodded.

"Lady Ardra," smiled the Myrmidon, "you are more than welcome to come join us. However, I owe LilyBell a dance, and I need to keep my word and honor."

"I have other duties to attend," declared the Navigator, "Animadverto vos nunc iterum."

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[OOC - Thank you to Ardra, AuroraBlue, Krakken and Lily for permitting me to scribe your story. Photo credit Blue Sun.]