Borne On Wings of Steel (12 page)

"Yes, yes. Come over here, my lovely little alien. I have something here that will enhance your natural beauty. And it is priced right—just for you.” The shopkeeper was covered with long, flowing yellow fur from head to toe. It wore a black tunic and pants, while its large, brown eyes seemed to draw the trio closer.

Elise looked questioningly at Krinia.

"Let's go see what he's peddling,” Krinia encouraged with a smile.

"Yes, yes. Look at this, it's all the rage now among beings with long, silky hair like yourself.” He held in his hands what looked like a small net, its fibers translucent and seemingly as delicate as a spider's web—and just as strong. The trio caught a glint of supple metal as the alien let the light glance off the miniature netting.

"What does it do?” Elise touched the fragile-looking net. It was so soft, softer even than the strands of her long, blonde hair.

"Allow me."

Taking the net with both furry hands, the alien held it just above Elise's head. His smile grew as he allowed it to gently fall until it seemed to melt into her hair. He stepped back with an approving expression, a strange pinkish glow now glistening from the fur of his face.

"I love it!” Krinia exclaimed with pure joy. “What do you call it?"

"A
Hair Lighter
."

"It is very nice,” Jysar agreed as he gazed at Elise. “Very nice. There must be some embedded technology within the tiny fibers. How does it work?"

"What, what? Let me see too.” Elise took the hand mirror the alien offered her. She looked at herself and gasped.

Her blonde hair glowed a bright, neon pink. It looked so natural, not like it was colored or dyed in any way. It glowed as if electrified somehow.

"How does it work?” Elise's voice was full of wonder.

"It draws its power from your body, from your body's natural energy. And this model determines the color it emanates based on a formula detected from the emotional energy of its wearer—calculated partly on pulse rate, body temperature and on and on. I only sell them—they're made by the Razzaza—so I can't explain the exact process. And I sell a lot of them to pretty beings with long hair such as yourself.” He smiled knowingly as he held up another small net of translucent threads.

"Oh, remember that one alien with the mountain of hair?” Elise said quickly. “Her hair seemed to glow, I bet she wore one of these."

The alien smiled even bigger. “These are all the rage right now. And they are so natural, they work in harmony with your body. We call ours a Hair Lighter because that in essence is what it does. Other manufacturers have different names—Color-Nets or Light-Nets."

"Will it change colors?” Elise asked excitedly.

"Of course! Right now, you must be in a high state of excitement and happiness for it to glow this bright shade of pink.” He took a handful of Elise's glowing pink hair and held it. “When you are more calm, it will glow with more of a greenish or bluish color. And if you are angry, upset or...” The alien smiled, his eyes alight. “Or if you are feeling passionate, your hair will glow red or orange—depending on how intense your mood."

Jysar stepped closer to Elise, a stern, fatherly expression on his face.

"I love it!” Elise exclaimed as she looked at herself in the mirror again.

"Where is the technology embedded?” Jysar asked as he peered at the neon glow of Elise's hair.

"It is located at the thick corners of the netting."

"Wow!” Elise exclaimed.

"And it is so cheap—
only
four hundred Mrad tokens. Other brands of Hair Lighters go for twice as much."

Krinia pursed her mouth. “That seems a little much."

Elise turned to Krinia with a look of shock.

Krinia nodded to Elise, indicating she knew what she was doing. Her head-tail flicked rapidly from side to side as she turned to face the alien seller.

"Tell you what though, seeing that my friend does like your little trinket.” Krinia reached into her purse and pulled out three tokens. “I'll pay you three hundred tokens for it."

"But, I couldn't take less than three hundred and seventy five tokens for this model!"

"And I can't pay more than three hundred fifteen.” Krinia smiled shrewdly.

Elise watched closely as the alien waved his hands and began espousing the real value of this particular model while Krinia explained their budget and that they would continue looking and perhaps find another vendor with a better price. This bantering continued for five minutes while Jysar grew bored and sauntered over to another booth filled with electronic gadgets.

"Done!” The alien took the three hundred and fifty Mrad tokens Krinia held out to him.

As the women moved to join Jysar, the alien called out to another prospective client, a female alien with long, black hair covering her entire face and head.

"Why didn't you pay him the first price?” Elise asked as they walked out of earshot.

"It's called haggling—negotiation.” Krinia paused as she gathered her thoughts. “A seller will ask a higher price in order to make a higher profit—if a buyer has not shopped around in order to determine the actual value, they may pay that higher price without knowing. Research is important, even in purchasing items. And impulse purchases are not normally good ideas.” Krinia paused as she noticed Elise's puzzled expression.

She realized this was Elise's first shopping experience. Krinia tried to simplify her previous words. “If a buyer does research and learns the range of prices for a particular item, it will enable the buyer to recognize a good deal—a fair price."

"Oh,” Elise said.

"A shrewd consumer, one with knowledge of an item's price range, then will haggle—she'll offer to purchase it at a lower price, the lower price range, while the seller counters with a higher price, until they reach one that is mutually agreeable—a fair price for both."

Elise nodded. “Then I should have gone to another seller first, to check their price to see if it was fair."

"Probably. But we negotiated a lower price with the assumption his asking price was high.” Krinia smiled. “Plus, you really wanted it. And, it's a gift from me."

Elise turned and hugged Krinia.

Krinia smiled. “So, we did all right. If the price had been outrageous, we would've shopped around some more."

"Wow, I do love it! I feel so pretty.” Elise noticed a few admiring glances from the crowd as they made their way forward.

"It is fascinating technology. I almost bought one just so I could take it apart and see how it works,” Jysar said admiringly.

"I bet you would, you curious technology-fiend.” Krinia chuckled.

"I'll let you scan it when we get back to Mother,” Elise said with a smile.

"Let's take a break, my feet are killing me.” Krinia looked around intently a moment. “There, over there looks good. It's both a restaurant and a bar. I think I'd like a nice glass of Mrad fruit wine myself."

Elise's eyes brightened as her glowing pink hair grew a shade darker. “Do you think I can have a glass too?"

"We'll see. I'm not sure if eighteen is the drinking age here on RahajMr."

They made their way inside, only to find the crowds more tightly packed than back at the shopping complex.

They finally found three open spots at a small table against the far wall. Krinia activated the small console on the table and began looking at the list of wines while Elise and Jysar glanced down their own tiny consoles and reviewed the list of food and drink offered.

"I could use a bit of lunch myself,” Jysar said.

"Me too. I'm famished from all this walking.” Elise smiled at the others.

"Well, well, don't I know you? I think we met back at Alexxa Four last week? Ah, one could never forget such beauty."

The deep, confident voice seemed to come out of nowhere—unseen from behind them. Elise froze, afraid to turn.

Krinia replied for her.

"That's got to be the oldest line in the galaxy, fella.” Krinia glanced at the orange-skinned humanoid alien with a bored expression. “And we've never been to Alexxa Four. So, keep moving, pal."

The young alien wore his jet-black hair slicked back over his head. The dapper alien sported a red jacket over a lavender shirt with a myriad of thick gold chains around his neck. His large, leaf-like ears were pierced with several golden earrings.

He stood out from the other aliens crowded in the room.

"But everyone needs a new friend, especially beautiful aliens such as yourselves.” The alien Romeo sat down with a flash of teeth from a shark-like smile.

Krinia almost laughed out loud, but she held herself back—for the moment.

"Listen, we're...” Krinia began.

"You don't mind if I sit here and get to know you better?” The alien smiled from Jysar to Elise and back to Krinia, whose expression grew rock-hard.

"Listen...” Krinia began again, a forcefulness now in her voice.

"Ah, your hair is so lovely, my young beauty.” The alien smiled wolfishly at Elise, who blushed in return. “That color becomes you."

"Thank you.” Elise smiled innocently. Her pink hair turned reddish.

Krinia groaned.

"And you,” he said to Krinia. “You are like a goddess. Actually both of you are.” His eyes flashed from Krinia back to Elise. “Ah yes, one is the goddess of youth and love.” He picked up Elise's hand and kissed it passionately. He turned to Krinia. “And you, you are like the goddess of fertility and..."

"Could you shut-up!” Krinia's exasperated shout drew a flurry of attention. She rolled her eyes and leaned over the table toward Elise to speak to her alone, but she was loud enough so the aliens at the next table could hear.

"This is the kind of alien your mother warned us about.” Krinia jerked her thumb towards Romeo.

"Oh no, but you misunderstand. Allow me to introduce myself.” He rose with a great air and bowed. “I am Lamall dex Fronato Presanntos of the planet Kinallias. I am eldest of my father's house, and the favorite.” He flashed his toothy smile once again.

Krinia opened her mouth but he continued before she could speak.

"And let me assure you that I, Lamall dex Fronato Presanntos of Kinallias, am the kind of alien that you ‘
take home to Mother
.'” He stroked his perfect hair with an air of aloofness.

"I sincerely doubt that,” Krinia said with conviction.

"But...” Elise began.

"And what kind of technical knowledge do you possess, my dear Lamall de Frompus Presentus?” The Hrono smiled wryly as he carefully mispronounced the alien's name. As the silence grew, Jysar carefully stroked the upright scales across his head as his green complexion deepened with emotion

Lamall eyed him carefully without answering.

Finally, after a lengthy silence, Lamall shook his head. “You do me a disservice, sir. I am a friendly kind of alien, I only want to get to know all of you much better ... and what does technology have to do with love or friendship anyway?"

"Why, a lot of things!” Jysar said with shocked amazement.

Lamall, Krinia and Elise each turned with puzzled expressions to Jysar, who looked back at them with surprise.

"Well, you've lost me on that, my green, scaly friend. But these lovely, wonderful female creatures, surely they know..."

"Yeah, we
know
.” Krinia sighed. But the sharp, angry flicks of her head-tail gave away the emotions that boiled inside of her.

"Ah, but I love this. It is so wonderful.” And before Krinia realized what he was doing, Lamall reached behind her neck and caressed her head-tail.

A low growl emanated ominously from Krinia's throat.

"But I love this, it is so soft and yet so firm. This...” His caress changed to a gentle grip.

"Uh-oh,” Jysar quickly moved his chair back from the table, knowing what would happen next. “You shouldn't have done that, Lamall de Dumbest Dunderhead."

With a flash of movement, Krinia knocked his arm away.

"Owww!” Lamall groaned. “But you have hurt me..."

With a deadly earnestness on her face, Krinia rose to face him.

Her fierce gaze caused Lamall to stumble backward in surprise.

Krinia slowly lowered herself into a battle stance. In the next instant, she launched herself into the hapless alien.

Lamall shouted for help as he waved his arms wildly in a vain effort to fend off her determined assault.

But Krinia meant business.

With two rapid blows to his mid-section, she knocked the breath from him as he doubled up with pain. He raised his hands again, panting for air, but Krinia knocked them away as if they were nothing.

She sent him reeling with a solid blow to his chin. He fell to the ground in a heap and lay still a moment. With a painful groan, he tried to crawl away.

But Krinia planted her foot firmly on his back.

Lamall's body tensed, waiting for the next blow.

"A word of advice,” Krinia said in a hushed voice.

Lamall groaned again as her foot pressed harder against his back.

"Never touch a Mewiis’ head-tail—unless she
wants
you to touch it."

A muffled groan answered.

Krinia took her foot off and then looked around at the faces staring at her and her handiwork.

"Anybody got a problem with this?” Krinia asked them all.

Everyone turned back to their companions and began talking as if nothing had happened. Within seconds, the room filled with the normal crowd noise.

Nobody paid attention to Lamall as he crawled painfully toward the back door.

Elise's eyes were the size of saucers as Krinia sat back down.

"And I don't think Mother needs to know about this little incident.” Krinia smiled conspiratorially at them. “We'll just keep this to ourselves, right?"

"But, what happened? He seemed so nice.” Elise's hair now glowed with an electric purple sheen.

"He was
too nice
. I'll explain more to you later, when it's just us girls. Now, let's get back to the food and wine. And I sure need that glass of wine now.” Krinia peered at her tiny console.

"He had motives,” Jysar added with a knowing glance.

"Motives?” Elise asked with surprise. “Is that like negotiations?"