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CHAPTERS
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Four 2/12/2007
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Five 2/26/2007
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Nine 3/26/2007
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Fledgling
...A Liaden Universe® Adventure
by
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
...the story of Theo Waitley and how she came to have a "kind of complicated" problem to lay before the delm of Korval.
==============================================================
Chapter Eight
Theo's mumu chimed quarter-to ninebells as the bus
pulled into the Wall terminal. She threw herself down the exit
ramp and ran across the plaza for the entrance.
"Chaos and destruction!" Night Eyes opened at
tenbell, but Mice who hadn't had their Gigneri were supposed to be
inside by ninebells, or they'd better have a bluekey to show the
safeties at the entrance. Being Outside after curfew without a
bluekey -- that was a trip to the Safety Office, Kamele and
Marjene called in for an instant meeting with a safety liaison, and
herself presented with a Plan of Behavior. At least, Theo
thought, running as fast as she could, that kind of trouble wouldn't pull down the Team average.
"You weren't in enough trouble for one day?"
she muttered as she slapped her palm against the scan plate and waited
in an agony of impatience for the main door to open.
Open it did, painfully slow. She slid through
when the gap was wide enough to admit her skinny self, took a breath
and walked -- calmly -- past the safety station and the Eye, toward the belt platform.
Her mumu thweeped ninebells as she stepped onto the
belt for Quadeight Twobuild. Theo sighed in relief -- then shook
her head. She'd managed to dodge trouble with the safeties, but
she still had her mother to face.
"The bus was late," she said experimentally.
While this was actually true, it sounded like an excuse. Kamele
-- and Father too, if it mattered -- would say that it was her
responsibility to be sure of the timetable before she traveled and to
plan in advance. She had just assumed that the late bus would run the same route as the morning commuter bus -- and she'd been wrong.
Unlike the daytime commuter, the late bus wandered
the streets of Nonactown, picking up and setting down an astonishing
variety of passengers, most of whom stared at her coveralls and sweater
like they'd never seen a student before, and two who were definitely
the kind of people that Father Looked At. People Father Looked At
inevitably looked -- and often moved -- away. Without
Father there, they stared, and then they moved, all right. They
came over to sit in the seat behind her, whispering loud enough for her
to hear.
"Fluffy-headed dacky girls shouldn't be on the bus all alone, should they Vinter?" the first whispered.
"Dacky girls think the whole world's safe," the
second, presumably Vinter, whispered back. "Dacky girls think the
Eyes never close."
"The Eyes don't watch everything -- even we know that!"
"Got another maybe," Vinter said.
"What's that?"
Vinter's voice sank, though it was still perfectly
intelligible to Theo, where she sat very still, with her head turned
toward the side screen, pretending not to notice them.
"Maybe not a dacky girl at all," he whispered, his voice falling, but not nearly enough, in Theo's opinion.
There was a moment's silence, then the first one
whispered hoarsely. "You mean -- a Specialty? Down
here?" As near as Theo could tell, he sounded truly awed.
"Happens," his friend said sagely. "Knew a
techie saved up a whole half-year's cred to have a Specialty come down
from the station all dressed up like a Liaden."
"But who'd pay for a fluffy dacky?" the first wondered, and the two of them laughed noisily. Theo bit her lip.
The route map she was staring at flickered, the upcoming stop limned in green.
"That's us, then," said the whisperer named
Vinter. There was the sound of shuffling behind her as the two of
them got up -- while the bus was still moving! -- and stepped toward
the exit. Theo watched them out of the side of her eyes.
The first nonac looked at her, giggled, and moved
on, shaking his head. He then casually put his hand against the
low ceiling, saying, “Wow, this is a rough section of road, ain't it?
Hold on tight!” At that point his hand slipped over the Eye in
the ceiling.
The second...paused, grinning. "Hey, dacky girl."
Theo turned her head carefully, trying to arrange her face into Father's Look. Judging by the way the nonac's grin widened, she didn't do a very good job.
"Be careful," he said, and before she understood
what he was going to do, he'd put his hand against her shoulder and shoved her against the screen.
"Stop that!" Theo yelled, but the nonac was already on his way to the opening hatch.
"Go back inside the Wall!" he called over his
shoulder -- “where a rough bus ride won't bang you around like
that!”
His buddy smirked, and moved his hand off the Eye,
and the pair of them laughed and then were gone down the hatch and into
the low lit night. Sounds changed – it was the hatch rising, and then
the whine of the electrics as the bus got moving again along its
extended route.
Theo looked around her, but she was the last one on
the bus. She settled into the corner of her seat, hand rubbing
the shoulder where he'd pushed her...
Her belt stop was coming up, she realized, her
attention suddenly on the reality at hand. She grabbed the bar
and swung onto the platform.
For a moment, she stood still, eyes closed while she
took a deep breath, like Father had taught her to do. She tried
to clear her mind, too, but all her mind wanted to do was try to figure
out how mad Kamele was going to be, and what she could say to defend
her actions that didn't sound either stupid or antisocial.
Well, she thought, taking another deep breath; she'd just have to improvise.
"Theo? I'm home!" Kamele's voice slid
off the slick walls, coming back to her in a faint echo. There
was no other answer to her call.
"Theo?" Half worried and half irritated, she walked
into the dim, untenanted dining alcove. The door to the kitchen
was shut tight. Frowning, Kamele opened the door, and touched the
kaf's query button. As she had suspected, the last withdrawal on
record was breakfast.
Kamele shook her head, irritation edging over
worry. This antipathy to the kaf -- obviously, she needed to have
a chat with her daughter -- now. Kamele spun on her heel and headed for Theo's room at a determined pace.
The status light showed that the room was occupied,
and Kamele's irritation spiked into anger. Sulking in her room,
pretending not to hear -- she slapped the entry override.
The door opened, displaying the desk, school book
jacked in, but the student nowhere to be seen. A small ball
winked red lights at her from under the chair. The closet was
against the left hand wall, and a packing cube, too; on the right were
two bowls, one filled with water, the other with kibble, and a litter
pan. Regardless of the assurance of the status light, the room
was empty.
Or not.
"Prrhp?" Coyster commented, as he appeared from
behind the cube, and wove a long, welcoming hug around her ankles
before strolling out into the hall.
"Coyster!" Kamele called, but the cat,
predictably, kept to his route. She took a breath, adding the
smuggled cat to the list of her daughter's transgressions. How
long had the girl thought she'd get away with that? she thought irritably, snatching her mumu out of her pocket.
She tapped up the parental oversight section and
keyed in the tracking request as she walked back down the hall.
Her mumu squeaked.
Startled, Kamele looked down at the screen.
Out of range. The letters were red. Kamele tapped the query button.
The unit you attempting to contact is not responding. The help text scrolled, as if she didn't know that. This
may mean that the device has been damaged, or that it is presently
located at a point outside the university network. A systemic
lapse may, rarely, return a false negative. It is suggested that
you wait a few moments and try again. If a second negative is
returned, please contact the Office of Academic Safety.
Out of range? Kamele eased down into one of
the rickety plastic chairs in the receiving parlor, and pulled Theo's
message out of archive.
Gone to buy a rug, back before ninebells.
Terse to the point of rudeness, with no please or thank you or request
for a bluekey...
Kamele bit her lip, staring hard at the blameless
floor. Request for a bluekey... If Theo's mumu was outside the
university network -- but surely not! No question that she was
headstrong and willful -- but even Theo wasn't foolish enough to go
Outside without a bluekey --
Unless, she interrupted herself, Theo had a bluekey. What if she had applied to Jen Sar?
But there, Kamele acknowledged, she had to depend on
his judgment -- and depend on it she did. Theo might have asked,
but she would have not have talked Jen Sar Kiladi into violating the
proprieties.
Which left two possibilities: Either there had been a
rare momentary stutter of the Wall intranet, or Theo had gone
Outside without a bluekey, without asking permission, and without
telling her mother where she was going.
Well, thought Kamele, there was one way to test the proposition.
But she didn't immediately tap her mumu.
Instead, she sat with it in hand, her eyes on the rug she had brought
from home. She and Jen Sar had bought it together, at an
eccentric little shop in Nonactown. They'd laid it on the floor
of the common room, and there it had stayed, a delight to the eye and
the foot until -- Kamele shook her head. They'd put it away years
ago -- she no longer remembered precisely why -- and forgotten about it
until --
The apartment door twittered, clicked and opened.
There was the sound of quick steps, and a quiet, “Oh no, the
door!”
Theo stepped into the room.
Her mother sat poised on one of the stupid plastic
chairs, mumu in hand and an expression of cool remoteness on her face
that Theo knew all too well. Kamele was in what Theo privately
called her Mother Scholar Mode. What it meant was that Theo was
about to be questioned, lectured, then questioned again to be sure that
she had internalized her lesson.
She felt her shoulders crawling up toward her ears,
fingers unoccupied with handwork curling in toward the palms. She
tried to take a deep breath, but her chest was so tight, it --
"Prrpt?" The query was followed by a vigorous
bump against her knee. Theo looked down as Coyster wove himself
around her ankles, then sat down on her foot.
You should've told her about Coyster at breakfast,
Theo told herself. She wouldn't have heard you, anyway.
"Good evening, Theo," Kamele said coolly. "Would you like to tell me where you've been?"
Well, no, Theo thought; she wouldn't. Unfortunately, she couldn't see any way out of it.
"I left a message in your queue," she said, sounding sullen in her own ears. "I went to buy a rug."
"I saw that message. You promised to be back before ninebells, but you failed to tell me where exactly you intended to purchase this... rug."
Theo bent down and picked Coyster up, which at least
gave her something to do with her hands. He hooked his front paws
over her shoulder and stuck his nose in her ear, purring.
Kamele raised her mumu and Theo saw the glint of red
letters on the screen and the unmistakable shape of the Safety Office
logo. She swallowed. Had the Eye reported her, after
all? But she'd been inside before ninebells!
Perhaps a case of luck over intention, Theo? Father's voice asked from memory, and Theo bit her lip. Great. Like it wasn't bad enough that Kamele was going to lecture her...
"Could you," her mother said quietly, "be a little more specific?"
Might as well, Theo thought, reaching up to stroke
Coyster, get it over with. She raised her head and met Kamele's
eyes.
"I went to Nonactown," she said. "To a store
called Gently Used." She hesitated, then decided that explaining
a bit further wouldn't seem to be a excuse. "Father had taken me
there, when... before."
Kamele...blinked, her expression wavering. She looked down quickly, and cleared her throat.
"I see," she said after a long moment. "And you went alone on this...expedition?"
"Yes," Theo admitted, adding, "I knew exactly where
I was going," which might have been -- just a small -- excuse.
"Sometimes," Kamele said, glancing down again, "the
unexpected happens, even when we know where we're going." She sat
up straighter in her chair and lowered the mumu to the battered table
top.
"Traveling to Nonactown by yourself demonstrates an
extreme lack of judgment, Theo. I'd thought you were more mature,
but obviously I was mistaken. For the remainder of this
grade-term you will go to school and to teamplay, and then you will come home.
We'll revisit this subject at the Interval, and evaluate. If, at
that time, I see evidence of more mature ratiocination, we'll discuss
an adjustment to these arrangements. Am I clear?"
Theo stared. No lecture? And hardly any
questions? That was so unlike Kamele that for a moment Theo
forgot to be upset about being grounded.
"Theo," Kamele said sternly. "Am I clear?"
"Yes," Theo assured her. "However, I have ...conflicts."
Kamele looked stormy. "And they are?"
"Tomorrow after teamplay, I have an appointment with
Marjene," Theo said hurriedly. "And on Oktavi, I'm...Father and I
agreed to meet for dinner."
Her mother sighed. "You may keep your
appointment tomorrow with Marjene, of course, and will come directly
home afterward. As for the Oktavi arrangement with Professor
Kiladi..." She glanced down -- maybe at the floor, or maybe, Theo
thought, holding her breath, at the rug.
"I will consider that, and let you know my decision tomorrow. Is there anything else?"
"No, Mother," Theo said meekly.
Kamele nodded. "Where's your rug?" she asked suddenly.
"My -- rug?"
"You went to Nonactown to buy a rug, you said.
Where is it? Or didn't Ms. Dail have anything to your liking?"
"I...she..." Theo closed her eyes and
concentrated for a moment on the solid presence of Coyster beneath her
hands -- soft over hard, she thought, and stroked him again before
opening her eyes and looking at her parent.
"It's going to be delivered," she said steadily. "Tomorrow. After teamplay."
"Delivered," Kamele repeated, and sighed. Theo
waited, shoulders tense despite Coyster's warmth -- but Kamele only
sighed again and shook her head.
"Very well. My last subject for the
evening." She frowned. "Smuggling a cat into this apartment
shows another disturbing lack of judgment. How long did --"
"I didn't smuggle him!" she interrupted, stung. "He brought himself!"
Kamele frowned. "I beg your pardon?"
"He brought himself," Theo repeated. "I was
packing, and turned my back -- he must've jumped into the cube when I
wasn't looking, and then I was in a hurry, so I just sealed the lid
without -- and when I opened it here, there he was!"
"And you didn't bother to tell me?"
"It was late," Theo said, trying to be as diplomatic
as possible about her mother's state on the night of the move, "and you
were -- you were tired. I was going to tell you tonight,
but --"
"But other matters intervened," Kamele finished for
her, lips pressed tight. She sighed. "Call Professor
Kiladi, please, and ask him to arrange to retrieve his cat."
Theo stared at her, tears rising, hands pressing
Coyster so tight against her shoulder that he grumbled a complaint and
squirmed. She let him go, barely attending as he dropped to the
floor and strolled over to sit next to Kamele's chair.
"Kamele...." Theo began, horrified to hear her voice quavering. Her mother raised a hand.
"Now, Theo," her mother said, implacable.
Bottom lip caught between her teeth, she pulled her mumu out, tapped the quick-key, and raised it to her ear.
"Good evening, Theo." Father didn't sound
surprised to hear from her. On the other hand, he didn't sound
pleased either. Neutral, that was it. Inside her head, she
could see the bland expression that went with that tone.
"Father," she said miserably. "Um..."
She took a breath, ducking her head to wipe her damp cheek on her
shoulder. No word from Father. He would, Theo knew, wait
until she told him what she was calling for. Silence didn't
bother Father, like it did some people...
She cleared her throat. "Coyster's here," she managed, voice shaking.
"Ah! I'm pleased to know where he is.
I'd thought he was angry with me for having...misplaced you, and was
hiding."
"No," Theo said shakily. "He packed himself
into my cube and I didn't know he had come along until I opened it last
night."
"I see. Well, he appears to have decided on his posting. I can hardly argue with his choice."
"Yes, well... Kamele, um..." She closed her
eyes, picturing him in her head, eyes sharp, face attentive, waiting
politely for her to continue. "Kamele asked me to call you and --
and ask you to, to arrange to come and ...take him back."
The silence from his side continued a little longer
than she had expected until it was broken by a light sigh.
"Theo," he said gently -- no. Carefully. "Please ask your mother if she will speak with me."
"Yes, sir." She diffidently looked to her mother. "Father asks if you'll talk to him."
For a second, she thought Kamele was going to
refuse, then she rolled her eyes and held out a hand. Theo
crossed the room and gave her the mumu.
"Jen Sar?" she began, in her briskest, coolest
voice. "I --" She stopped. Closed her eyes.
Coyster stood up, stretched -- and jumped into her lap.
"Yes," Kamele said. "I am aware of your thesis
that cats are symbiotic rather than parasitic. However, the fact
remains that --" She stopped again, mouth tight. Coyster
bumped his head against her free hand; she raised it absently and
rubbed his ears. Theo held her breath.
"That's nonsense!" Kamele exclaimed. "There's nothing strange
to her here! She has her team, and her school work, and her
--" Another sharp silence, while her fingers continued to rub
Coyster's ears.
"Very well," Kamele said finally. "But only
until the end of the term, are we -- You're quite welcome, Jen
Sar... Yes, of course -- and you, as well." She turned the
mumu off, placed it on the table next to hers, and sat staring at them
for a long moment. Theo kept as still as she could, hardly daring
to breathe.
Finally, Kamele looked up, and gave Theo a small smile.
"Professor Kiladi makes a strong case for the
benefits of Coyster's continued residence here -- at least until the
end of the term," she said moderately, and sighed. She picked
Coyster up and put him gently on the floor, then rose, brushing cat fur
off her coveralls.
"It's long past time for dinner," she said, and held
out her hand. "Shall we see if the kaf will provide anything
moderately edible?"
Theo smiled, reluctantly, and came forward to put her hand into Kamele's.
"All we can do," she said, "is try."
==============================================================
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Fledgling in serialized format is a draft. This
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We don't know how many chapters there will be. We're free-form writers,
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What are the rules?
What you can do:
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Who are we?
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Base page created December 1, 2006 by Sharon Lee
Chapter updated March 19, 2007
technical revision posted April 7, 2007
Update March 15, 2008, 12:20 p.m. EDT
copyright © 2006-2007 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
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