'Tis a Puzzle

Posted on Mon 14th Nov, 2022 @ 11:56pm by

957 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: Orchids & Jazz, Deck 600
Timeline: MD 4, 0815

Jade set a tall cup of foamy cream and caramel sauce on the wooden bar and then leaned on it with elbows folded. She observed the woman in front of her with interest. Woman ... and yet not a woman. It was an interesting puzzle Lantz was determined to figure out.

Without looking up from the PADD on the counter in front of her, the woman smiled. "You're looking at me the same way a dog presented with a meaty bone looks at the treat before him."

Laughing, refreshed by the woman's directness, Jade responded, "No doubt, and accurate."

Aradia took a sip of the cold morning drink, and then met the eyes of the club owner. "Perfect," she indicated the drink. "Why are you so interested in me? Most people don't even notice me, unless I want them to do so."

Jade considered the question. "I have noticed there are times when it's harder to focus on you than other times. You're different, not what you first appear to be."

"Ah, then it's mere curiosity on your part?"

"Maybe, but maybe more. You are ... outside my usual experience," Lantz added with a thoughtful nod.

"And your experience is wide and varied," Aradia said, as a statement of fact, not a question. "I can see where something different would attract your interest."

"El Aurians are nothing if not curious," Jade agreed. "You know something of my people, it seems." Normally reticent about her own past, whatever people told her about theirs, she didn't seem to mind speaking of it to this customer, at least in passing.

She continued to regard Aradia, but now the woman, if woman she was, met her eyes, tiny smile crinkles at the corner, though her lips were not turned up. "What puzzles you the most?" Aradia finally asked her.

"I'm not sure exactly what you are," the club owner confessed. "I have more senses than Terrans do, and I sense something about you that doesn't match your appearance. Are you related to the Addams Family, of New York on old Earth?"

A small smile did now curve Aradia's lips slightly. "Not in the way that you mean, exactly. I believe there is some connection to Chlamydia's grandmother ... and Purulence and Ischemia's, of course, being the same person. More like a very distant connection, however. My family is older, perhaps than the Addams Family. Similar influences, however. Interesting that you would have made that association."

Shrugging, Lantz said, "You and Chlamydia are exact opposites. Everything is ultra light about you, and somewhat ultra dark about her. In appearance, I mean, not in personality. I never found anything ojectionable or evil about Chlamydia, or her sisters. I suppose, really, your appearance is more likely opposite of Purulence than the doctor. Still, there's something about all of you, the four of you ... a difference from others, yet a likeness to each other."

Raising an eyebrow, the mysterious woman with only one name, said, "Interesting view." She neither confirmed nor denied any inferences Jade made. "I haven't gotten to know Purulence at all. I know Chlamydia left the station, somewhat suddenly it seems, but the other two are still here, I believe?"

"Yes, they're around. I see Ischemia more than Purulence, but I believe she's getting married soon."

"Is she, now? Purulence, you mean?" Aradia had been aware, but she made it seem as if it were news to her. "Do you know her intended?" If she planned to marry into a cross line, things could get very interesting, indeed.

"I've met him once. He brought her to dinner earlier in their relationship, after some sort of tiff. He seemed nice enough, solicitous of her. What was his name?" Jade tapped her chin for a moment, searching back more than a year. "Collins, I believe. Ignatius Collins. His family has mining interests in the quadrants and a corporate office in Tivoli Gardens somewhere."

The information matched with what Aradia already knew, and it relieved her to know that it didn't appear there was a cross ancestry involved, just a Terran family line with money. One of the Sisters could investigate further to rule out any complications.

"Oh, money," Aradia said, appearing dismissive. "I suppose that's always nice to marry into. I don't see Ischemia giving up her independence. She has quite a reputation as a lawyer defending underdogs. I believe she worked a high profile case here, last year, didn't she?"

Jade nodded, wiping the counter to the left of Aradia. "She did. I don't know much about it," which wasn't entirely true, "but I believe her parents took a woman involved under their wing and returned to earth with her."

That also matched information Aradia had gathered, though she suspected the club owner knew more than she let on. It wasn't pertinent to her own interests, just a minor point of interest. She sensed she'd probably gotten all she would get on her own line of investigation, so Aradia finished her drink and stood.

"I suppose I better be getting about my day. Mummy would say I was wasting time being friendly when I could be productive." Mummy would say that, since he was not at all interested in being friendly ... as what mummy is?

Jade watched the mysterious person, about whom she knew very little more than when she'd sat down at the bar and ordered, as she briskly walked toward the entrance and out past Reon at his post. As she cleared the dishes into the recycler below the stunning tru-wood antique bar, Jade smiled at herself. She generally got more information when she fished in unknown waters, but she had a feeling that she'd given more than she'd gotten this time.

 

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