Allison was pouting the whole trip to Titan. At her mother’s insistence she left Bit behind and flew on a civilian interplanetary transport. Apiyo shook her head at Allison.
“Are you going to do this the whole time? First you complain you had no vacation, now you get one and you’re pouting. Does nothing make you happy?”
Allison rolled her eyes.
“Why couldn’t I just fly Bit here?”
“What, you have your own fighter and suddenly a luxury transport isn’t good enough for you?”
Allison frowned.
“Its slow. Whoever is flying this thing has no idea what they’re doing. The internal dampers are not set right for the ship class, they navigated space dock like they were clueless. I’ll be surprised if we don’t crash into the planet.”
Apiyo threw up her hands.
“You learn how to fly and now you’re an expert? I hope you don’t start this when I’ve driving.”
Aryna sat across from the pair. Her delicate fingers pulled apart the cherry strudel she’d ordered. She kept quiet. She had learned early on that remaining neutral was the safest bet with the mother and daughter.
“I would have been there in five minutes, not five hours. Luxury transport… luxury would be getting there already.”
Apiyo frowned.
“It is about the experience. You are so impatient. Look at Aryna she is just enjoying it.”
Aryna glanced between the two with her magenta eyes. Allison rolled her eyes for the hundredth time on the trip.
“Yes, but she’s going to live to be six thousand years old. She practiced breathing for ten years! She’s never in a hurry.”
Allison crossed her arms. Aryna said nothing, still hoping to keep herself out of the mother-daughter conflict. Apiyo and Allison fell into silence. Apiyo spoke with Aryna as the trip went on. The pair were discussing their outfits for the Ratoan ball. Aryna was trying to include traditional African style with Ratoan style to design something truly unique and representative of the Wanjala family. Apiyo was all in on this. Allison did her best to ignore the pair she spent the rest of the trip staring out into space petting Oozie. She wasn’t really thinking about the trip, or the ship. She kept replaying Enid’s message over and over again in her head. Her finger was tracing a pattern on Oozie’s fur. A half-remembered symbol from the half-remembered vision she’d had just after her first meeting with Enid… or the Dark Mother, billions of years in the past, if she was to believe what she’d been told.
The luxury liner, named the Sol Skipper arrived at Titan. Before it docked with the orbital platform it did a slow cruise past Saturn’s rings. Most of the passengers lined up on the observation deck to grab holo-images. Apiyo was no exception. She took several holos of the girls in various poses and a few with Allison. She got a passerby to take a holo of the three of them. Allison was getting quite annoyed with it all. She’d seen her fair share of planets with ring systems on her patrols. She was about to snap at her mother when it dawned on her. To her mother, this was probably something special.
She realized, maybe this was something her mother wished she could share with her twin sister. Allison smiled at her mother and tried to appear excited. She decided she would not rob her mother of this moment. She wrapped her arm around her mother’s shoulders and kissed her cheek just as Aryna took the latest holo-image. The ship pulled away and Apiyo moved away from the observation deck.
Allison leaned on the railing and looked at the rapidly approaching Titan. Its thick atmosphere reminded her of AN-AP-01. She shook her head. Aryna stood beside her, her magenta eyes scanning the large moon.
“You humans really are not easily dissuaded, are you? People truly live on that moon?”
Allison nodded.
“You know, there were two pleasure domes built there before the one we’re going too. One was destroyed by a Mars separatists. The other was abandoned by the corps and taken over by criminals and gangs. I think its because they can fly past the rings.”
Aryna smiled.
“You didn’t seem impressed by them. They are beautiful. I have never seen anything like it.”
Allison shrugged.
“I’ve seen much larger rings, prettier on patrol. And I was much closer. I realized though, for my mom, she probably saw images of Saturn when she was young and probably never dreamed, she’d visit herself. She has this book… I have no idea how it survived in the ice, probably plastic, that stuff never goes away… apparently. It has this starfighter on it, flying in Saturn’s rings. Even before I was a pilot, I always thought how silly it was, choosing to fly into a rapidly orbiting debris field. It’s in a frame, I have no idea what it is about, but she treats it like it’s a priceless artifact. Something to do with her twin sister. I decided I didn’t want to ruin the moment for her.”
Aryna touched Allison’s upper back.
“My sister, I wish she could know you as I know you. You love each other so much yet, you fight… I wish I could show her your heart.”
Allison shrugged.
“We should get going so we can beat the line up to get off the ship. It’s full of old people and they take forever to do anything. Like its their Dark Mother given right to teach us kids to take things slow.”
Aryna laughed musically. The pair grabbed their things. Allison tugged her mother to one of the airlocks. When the ship crewmember tried to get them to move away Allison flashed her Alliance Military ID and motioned to Aryna.
“Sorry, System’s Alliance business. This is a dignitary from the League of Sentient Races. We need to avoid the crowd for security reasons.”
Apiyo crossed her arms and stared daggers at her daughter. Aryna played along.
“Yes, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. I am a member of the Qual’sa royal family.”
The crewmember blinked a few times when he realized Aryna was actually an alien. He nodded.
“I am sorry! I wish we had known.”
Allison nodded.
“Yes, yes, we were travelling on the down low. You know how the SA is with paying for anything. It was either this or a full security detail.”
He motioned to Apiyo.
“Uh, well how does she fit into all this then?”
Allison looked at her mother.
“Oh, that is Governor Wanjala. This is all very hush hush.”
Allison put her finger to her lips. The crewman blinked a few more times.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Oh, I am sorry Governor. Please accept my apologies.”
Finally he looked at Oozie.
“And that thing?”
Allison put her hand on Oozie’s head.
“Oh, she is my partner. Military dog.”
He shrugged it was too late to send them away anyway because the ship shook as it docked. The two teenagers, Oozie and Apiyo were out of the ship before the other passengers even got out of their seats. Apiyo smacked Allison on the back of the head.
“Such lies! If you were younger, I’d tan your hide.”
Allison winced at the smack. She risked digging the hole deeper.
“I didn’t lie! We were sent here by a board member, Aryna is a Qual’sa Royal, and you are Governor Wanjala.”
Apiyo frowned.
“It was still deceitful. All to get out of the ship faster. You do not deserve special treatment no matter what the news reports say!”
Allison nodded.
“Yes mom. Sorry mom.”
The trio swiped in, for Allison and Aryna it was holo-tablets. For Apiyo it was her embedded ident chit. The orbital station directed them to a shuttle bay. As they arrived their actual luggage was being loaded onto a private shuttle. The pilot was dressed in the blue uniform of Pleasure Dome 3’s concierge staff. He was young looking and when he saw the three women, he went beet red. Specifically, when he laid eyes on Aryna who was by all intents and purposes the most attractive girl anyone from the System’s Alliance had ever seen. The Qual’sa were an almost supernaturally attractive species. He did a clumsy bow.
“Highness. Please take your seat. We already have clearance.”
Aryna bowed her head slightly and she offered her hand. The shuttle pilot took it and helped her up. Apiyo and Allison seemed to be left to their own devices when it came to climbing into the craft. Allison rolled her eyes as the pilot sealed up the small craft and moved towards the cockpit. She looked at Aryna.
“I still have no idea how you deal with that…”
She waved her hand toward the cockpit. Aryna laughed musically.
“I am used to it. I am sure if he realized who you were he would have done the same.”
Allison crossed her arms and shook her head.
“I’d have slapped his hand away.”
Aryna smiled.
“Which is not very noble.”
Allison shrugged.
“I’m not a noble.”
Aryna touched Allison’s forearm gently.
“As Duchess, and my sister, you are royalty. When I bring the Qual’sa to our new home world, you will sit in the circle. There you will be treated like he treated me.”
Allison blushed.
“Come on, I’m not even one of you.”
Aryna squeezed Allison’s forearm.
“I have declared you to be my sister. I have declared your house one of the great houses. The ancients have spoken, and I have acted. Only the fallen house ever defied the ancients, to question your house, and yourself is to question the ancients. It is to risk banishment, or worse. You are Qual’sa, as your children will be. It is done and can never be undone. You’ll need to get used to it, sister.”
Allison sighed. She glanced at her mother who was engrossed by an in flight video about all the features of Pleasure Dome 3. Allison whispered to Aryna. This was a rare occasion where Allison was alone with Aryna and away from adults with super keen vampire hearing and cybernetically enhanced Russian black ops agents.
“Why did you tell Eyre about the vision?”
Aryna smiled sadly.
“I understand you shared that with me in confidence, but the ancients… gave me a vision. They wanted me to share it with Eyre, and Eyre alone. I am bound by their will, as you are now. They bid her use the memory as she saw fit. I am sorry, sister.”
Allison sighed.
“They could have just told me too you know.”
Aryna patted Allison’s forearm.
“Yes, but you have not yet developed your mental discipline enough to have done it yourself. I was uncertain about doing it. She hides much. Her mind is very strong, but things snuck through. There is more to this trip than any of us realize, and she is very afraid for you. Your president has made a unilateral decision, and it has upset the whole family in addition to Isis. What the decision was, I could not see. They all seek to protect you. They all have their own thoughts on it.”
Allison frowned.
“It would be nice if they’d just ask me.”
Aryna glanced at Apiyo.
“They feel you are too young. Your mother has agreed with the president. Perhaps this is why I was asked to share the memory. Eyre’s mind was impenetrable until she saw her mother in the vision.”
Allison rolled her eyes.
“They treat me like I’m a kid.”
Aryna smiled.
“Sister, we are kids. I believe, to your vampire family, we will always be children.”
The shuttle shook as it interacted with the thick atmosphere of Titan. Once they passed through the outer layer a strange looking rain pounded against the windows. Aryna quirked her head to the side.
“That does not look like water.”
Allison shrugged.
“That’s because its methane.”
Aryna quirked her head to the side.
“Truely? What a strange place to travel to.”
Allison nodded.
“Yea, all I can say is, flying at high speeds through it is very bad for a ship.”
“This is about your mission here.”
Allison held up her hands.
“Yep, and that’s it. All I’m going to say about it to anyone. It was a bad day I want to forget.”
The shuttle flew into a docking bay. As they disembarked, they were met by a mousy looking woman with brown hair who looked to be in her thirties. Allison’s contacts told her the woman was all human, no cybernetics. Even more interesting, she was wearing a pair of glasses. When Allison had told Tyler she’d never seen anyone else wear glasses she had been one hundred percent accurate. She had a Dark Mother pendant displayed prominently. The woman smiled and moved forward to greet them.
“Hello. Your highnesses, and Governor. I am Morgan. I am part of VIP relations here at Pleasure Dome 3. I am assigned to you as an assistant. It is my responsibility to ensure you get the most out of your stay here. I have been informed of your dietary requirements and have arranged for a supply to meet your needs.”
She focused on Allison.
“As a vampire, I need to make you aware of certain features of our dome. It simulates UV light. This has resulted in… incidents. We respectfully request you avoid being out of doors during our day cycle.”
Allison looked behind herself then pointed at her chest.
“Me? I’m not a vampire… I’m only half vampire. UV light has no effect on me.”
Morgan tapped a few things on her tablet. She looked quite embarrassed.
“I am so sorry for the confusion, Duchess. I have updated your file. I believe it is your dietary needs that confused my assistant.”
Morgan motioned to four men who were waiting in the wings. They quickly took their luggage. Morgan stepped aside and motioned to the exit from the hanger.
“Please, if you’ll join me, I will take you to your assigned rooms. You have our President’s suite. It has four rooms and an attached room for your security when they arrive.”
Apiyo spoke.
“We do not have security.”
Morgan blinked a few times.
“I see. We will have some assigned from staff.”
Allison disliked the thought of that.
“Could we just skip the security? Please?”
Morgan shook her head.
“I am sorry, highness, we do not take chances here. I assure you they are discrete and professional. You will forget they exist.”
She led them to a large suite that had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the mini-ocean. They arrived just after dark. Their stay was scheduled for three days, and four nights. Allison closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The ocean breeze felt so real. Just like when they visited the northern ocean on Eden Prime in the summer. It smelled so real. The dome was so high definition she couldn’t tell definitively they were not on an H class moon. On one side were stars, on the other was Saturn in all its glory. Morgan motioned to the dome’s night’s sky projection.
“Impressive, isn’t it? Realtime positioning tracks Titan’s orbit. The sky you’re seeing is what you would see if you were on Titan’s surface and the atmosphere was like Earth’s on a clear night. During the day cycle, you’ll see the sun, though it will appear substantially closer than it actually is. Will you be dining in one of our many restaurants this evening, or would you like me to order your preferences to be delivered to the suite?”
Allison looked out the windows to the west. She saw a Winter Wolf 21 restaurant. She wanted nothing more than one of their authentic twentieth century style burgers, cola and fries. Aryna and Apiyo had already requested meals delivered to their room. Allison pointed at the Winter Wolf 21.
“I’m going to go there.”
Morgan seemed shocked.
“Highness, that is the… umm…”
She seemed to be searching for the least derogatory term.
“That is on the public boardwalk. I can have whatever you want delivered here.”
Allison’s eyes caught a bonfire on the ‘public’ beach. She shook her head.
“Nah, I’ll go. Do they allow animals?”
Morgan looked down at Oozie.
“Not unless they’re a service animal, my apologies.”
Allison smiled.
“Oh, Oozie is my bodyguard. Nargles are traditional guardians of Qual’sa high nobles and the royal family.”
Oozie sat down beside Allison dutifully. Morgan looked a bit flustered.
“Of course. I apologize. I will ensure she is listed properly.”
Allison looked at Apiyo.
“May I go, mom?”
Apiyo sighed and motioned towards the door.
“Stay out of trouble, both of you.”
Allison smirked. She pulled her shoes and socks off. They left the suite behind. She walked across to the public beach.