Stardust Dreams (8 page)

Josep's own performance
some minutes later earned so many cheers from his audience that he could hardly
wait for the formal ceremony to end and the open celebration to begin. For that
night at least, he was once again one of the infamous barbarian warriors of
Illusia.

"You're blocking
something from me," Aster accused Rom as they finished breakfast. "I
feel it as strongly as this baby's kicks. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out
sooner or later, so you may as well get it over with."

Rom tried not to appear as
guilty as he felt, but she saw through that also. "I just didn't want to
upset you. It's nothing serious."

"Then tell me."

With a sigh, Rom ran his
fingers through his hair. "Cherry won't be having lunch with you today
either."

Aster narrowed her brows at
her mate. "Yesterday, you told me she couldn't keep our lunch date because
she was tied up. What's today's excuse?"

"I didn't say 'tied
up.' I said 'detained/ and that still goes for today."

"Tied up, detained,
whatever. It sounds like we're back to variations of the truth game." The
Noronian code of honesty forbade anyone from lying outright, but evasiveness
was occasionally employed to avoid the whole truth. "Your daughter and I
are both getting upset. I want to know what you're hiding."

Rom shook his head in
resignation. Actually, he had managed to keep it from her longer than he'd
expected, hoping the whole time that Cherry would be back before Aster knew she
was gone. It was probably best to get the facts out as simply and quickly as possible.
"Cherry witnessed an assassination the night before last and has been
temporarily removed from Innerworld for her own protection."

Aster blinked at him. "I
beg your pardon? I believe I am still Co-Governor of this colony and, as such,
assassinations and Terrans being
removed
from Innerworld would
normally be brought to my attention."

"Well, yes," Rom
said with a decidedly sheepish expression. "Normally that's true, but
under the circumstances…" He looked at her swollen abdomen and hoped that
would be sufficient explanation for his duplicity. Her annoyed frown told her
he'd have to give details.

"The other day, I
introduced you to an old friend of mine from the academy, Gallant
Voyager."

Aster could not have easily
forgotten the dangerous-looking man with the odd name. "Yes, you said you
hadn't seen each other for a while and I left you alone to catch up on old
times. What did I miss?"

"He was here as part
of a highly confidential mission. The only information he would give me was
that he was currently in the employ of the Consociation of Planets, and that
the future of the entire civilized universe could be at stake."

"You said there was an
assassination. Did he—"

"No. He didn't do it,
though he is authorized and has been known to use lethal force on occasion."

"Please, Rom, just get
to the point. How could there have been an assassination and no one in
Innerworld is talking about it?"

"Gallant was on the
trail of a man who had come here as a visitor, but the assassin was on the same
trail. The man was incinerated in Fantasy World, right in front of Cherry. Gallant
was there also, in the guise of an actor, but he was unable to prevent the
murder. He convinced everyone that it was a part of the enactment, so that no
one would panic. That was why you didn't hear anything about it."

Aster was not at all
satisfied with that explanation, but Cherry's situation had to be discussed
first. "So, what happened to Cherry?"

Rom shrugged.
"Unfortunately, the message I re-ceived from Gallant was very vague—only
that she was under his protective custody, and that he would return her as soon
as it was safe. The one thing I want to know is how he got Cherry out of here
without anyone being the wiser. Security has not been able to explain that, but
they're still investigating the matter… discreetly, of course."

"I don't like any of
this, Romulus."

He knew just how upset she
was by the way she used his full name, and he sought to reassure her. "There's
really nothing to worry about. If Gallant says he's protecting Cherry, you can
be certain no harm will come to her. His reputation is mostly hearsay." In
spite of his words, he sincerely hoped Aster never got wind of some of that
hearsay.

She did not care for the
sound of that one bit. "Mostly? Even if he's only half as wicked as he
looks, Cherry could be in serious trouble."

Rom raised an eyebrow in
disbelief. "Our Cherry? More than likely, Gallant's the one in trouble by
now."

Aster thought about it for
a moment, then decided he might be right. There hadn't been a man born that
Cherry couldn't twist around her little finger in no time. Surely Gallant
Voyager wasn't that different from the other men Cherry had encountered. But
then she recalled her first impression of him—the devil in black leather—and
she started worrying all over again.

"You are in serious
trouble, mister!" Cherry marched into the bridge with her fists planted on
her hips and an accusing glare in her eyes. She noted how Dot spun away,
leaving Mar to witness her anger, but her attention was captured by an
incredible sight beyond the bridge.

A giant tortoise suddenly
appeared in space, withdrew its head and feet into its shell, then vanished. "What
the hell was that?"

After taking a moment to
adjust his eye patch, Gallant turned toward her and cocked his head. "Is
there a problem?"

"What
was
that?" she demanded again.

"What?"

She pointed at the spot
where she had seen the tortoise. 'There was a… a… tortoise, and then,
poof,
there wasn't."

He raised one eyebrow at
her in disbelief. "A
tortoise?
Out there?" He clucked his
tongue and shook his head slowly back and forth. "Mar, did
you
see a tortoise?"

"No, Captain. Perhaps
Cherry is coming down with space sickness. It is known to cause hallucinations
in some species. I don't believe we have any antidote pills on board
either."

Cherry didn't know anything
about space sickness, but she clearly had hallucinated since there was nothing
out there now and no one else had seen what she had. Regardless, she couldn't
think about that now. Remembering how furious she had been when she awoke, she
took the few steps needed to get into his air space and stared down at him. "How
dare
you do this to me? How
dare
you pretend to be friendly
yesterday when you had this planned all the while!"

"It must be the
sickness," Gallant said with an-other concerned head shake. "I don't
understand anything you're saying this morning." He moved to rise, but she
instantly pressed the palm of her right hand against his chest.

"Oh, no you don't. I
have no intention of looking up at you while I'm trying to put you down."

He tried to resist the
pressure of her hand, but it was as if he were nailed to the chair. "A
robotic arm?"

Cherry eased back a
fraction of an inch. "Yes. I don't usually rely on it, but in your case,
it looks like I need every advantage I can come up with." She didn't
mention the fact that at the moment that arm was acting most peculiarly. If it
had been her left arm, which was real, she would have thought it had fallen
asleep the way it was tingling.

He looked down at the soft
hand rapidly spreading heat through his chest, then let his gaze slide up her
arm, over her breasts, and finally to her eyes. "Any other artificial
parts I should know about?"

Cherry might have been
pleased that he finally seemed to notice that she was a woman, if she hadn't
recognized it as another ploy to distract her. "Don't be a smartass. And
stop trying to change the subject."

Gallant attempted to look
innocent, but he couldn't resist testing her temper. "I didn't realize we
even had a subject yet."

"Was my bunk
comfortable enough?" Mar asked, abruptly splintering the tension on the
bridge.

Cherry looked at the he-she
without lifting her hand from Gallant. "Yes, it was quite comfortable. Thank
you for letting me use it." When Mar-Dot had awakened last evening, the
captain had retired to his room, leaving Cherry to seek her rest in a different
place than she had before. "In fact, it was so comfortable, the clock in
your room says I slept almost ten hours.

"If my calculation is
correct, that means it has been over twenty-four hours since you said we were
one day away from Earth. Now, I'm no expert, but there is nothing out there
that bears any resemblance to my home, and I don't think that's the way it
should be." She watched the captain's mouth twist into a frown, but he
said nothing.

Suddenly a light blinked on
in Cherry's head and she glanced at the screen in front of Mar-Dot. The blue
dot was still following the red sparkles at a distance. "You
son-of-a-bitch," she muttered, applying more pressure to his chest in
spite of the strange sensation touching him was causing. "We're still
tracking that beast aren't we? You never had any intention of turning this ship
around, did you?"

His eyes widened with the
awareness that she was capable of collapsing one of his lungs with almost no
effort at all, and yet his body was responding to her touch as if it were a
tender caress. Careful not to make any sudden moves, he said, "I had no
choice. My mission—"

"Your mission be
damned. You
lied
to me. You're
not
a Noronian, are you?"

"I have no idea."

Dot swiveled toward them. "Captain,
if I may make a suggestion. Some explanations on your part might go a long way
to relieve Cherry's mind… as well as your discomfort."

Gallant smirked at her,
then frowned at the dainty hand that hid so much strength. Nothing was going
the way he had expected on this mission. Recalling his plan to use Cherry to
lure Frezlo out of hiding, he realized he would have to do some fast,
believable talking. He wondered if she had any sympathies he could tap into.

Not certain what tidbit
Mar-Dot might feel tempted to add to his story, he said, "All right. I'll
tell you everything. But let's go to my room so we don't disturb Mar-Dot."

Cherry could see by Dot's
crestfallen expression that she did not want to be left out of this discussion,
but she simply pursed her lips and turned away.

"Fine," Cherry
said and moved away from Gallant.

He took a gulp of air into
his lungs as he rose and led the way.

The moment the door closed
behind her, Cherry said, "Okay, shoot."

Gallant still thought that
was a very odd expression, but he decided he'd better get started testing her
sympathetic nature. "I suppose I could begin with my background. I don't
know if I'm a Noronian by birth, but I was raised on Norona. I was abandoned as
a baby and adopted by a good man and woman. The only thing that was left with
me was a note requesting that I be named Gallant Voyager. I possess certain
characteristics that are not precisely Noronian, so there is a question of my
genetic origins. However, I usually abide by the Noronian codes of behavior I
was taught."

"Except when it's not
convenient," Cherry added in a sarcastic tone. "If you think I'm
going to feel sorry for you because you don't know who your real parents are,
you've made a tactical error. You see, I was raised by my biological parents,
and always wished I had been orphaned at birth. I figured any foster home had
to be better than the one I was in. So forget the poor Gallant angle and try
for a truthful explanation of why I'm not back in Innerworld by now."

Gallant realized his plan
had backfired. Rather than instill sympathy in her, she stirred it in him. Once
again damning the volatile emotions he was forced to live with, he quashed the
urge to ask her more about her childhood and sat down on his bunk. Immediately
he realized there was nowhere for her to sit but right next to him, which was
altogether too close for his comfort. Berating himself for not taking her into
the larger,
less intimate
facility chamber instead, he did what any
civilized adult would do. He shifted to the foot of the bunk and waved her
toward the other end. "Sit. Please. This will take some time, and I don't
like looking up while I'm talking any more than you do."

Cherry lowered herself, but
her crossed arms and stern expression warned him to make his explanation a very
convincing one. It was time for the truth… at least enough of it to assure her
cooperation. Now he would see if she bore any loyalty to Norona.

"Please understand,
the mission I am on is so sensitive, I didn't even reveal details of it to
Governor Romulus. He was not personally involved, however, and you are. I see
now that you should have been informed of the situation right from the
beginning. You must swear that what I am about to tell you will remain
confidential. Millions of lives could be at stake."

Cherry clucked her tongue. "You
know, you almost had me before that last line. Don't you think millions of
lives is a bit much?"

Gallant sighed. "I
realize you have reason not to trust me, but I swear by the Noronian code of
honesty I was raised with, everything I'm about to tell you is the truth."

"Okay, I promise
whatever secrets you reveal will stay inside my head." She proceeded to
get into a more comfortable listening position by folding her legs Indian-style
on the bunk. "Aster and Rom saved millions of lives ten years ago when an
asteroid was heading toward Earth. Is this something like that?"

"I'm afraid it's not
that simple. For you to understand, I'll have to go back in history about four
hundred years. Within the same solar system as Norona is the planet Illusia. At
that time, the Illusians were a barbaric warrior race, kept isolated from the
other planets by their own lack of development. It isn't known positively, but
it is assumed that a spaceship from a more sophisticated civilization landed or
crashed there and, suddenly, the Illusians gained the ability to leave their
home planet and make war on one of their neighbors.

"When the first planet
was devastated, they moved on. Wherever they went destruction and violence
followed. Ultimate power was their only goal. They cared nothing for the people
they conquered other than how they could most effectively be used to entertain
the Illusian warriors. There are wild animals more civilized than they
were."

Cherry wondered at the
vehemence of Gallant's speech. He had started out in a matter-of-fact tone, but
it quickly altered as he began listing the atrocities accredited to the
Illusians. There was no question he was being truthful and that the truth
infuriated him. The horrendous cruelties he went on to describe made Cherry's
stomach queasy, but she didn't interrupt him until he paused on his own. "But
how was it that such primitive people could so easily overcome more
sophisticated nations?"

He took a slow breath as he
brought his obvious disgust back under control. "The Illusians have the
uncanny ability to create perfectly realistic illusions, complete with sound. It
was the only mental ability they were known to have, but no other talents were
needed. Basically, their victims were either fooled or terrified into
submission because of images they saw and believed to be real. The Illusians
were able to make a conquering army of one hundred appear to be one million
strong. They didn't have to actually possess city-leveling weapons, they only
had to make the people think they saw such a weapon aimed at them, then demand
their surrender."