Never Trust a Pariah by Douglas Milewski

Author:Douglas Milewski [Milewski, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

Windy took the first shower, most likely in order to warm up the cold bathroom. While Cherryh took the next shower, Toel pulled Windy towards his shop.

He said, “I can finally talk to you alone. Who is that Cherryh? I don’t trust her.”

“You shouldn’t. That’s her ship out there.”

“She’s a Royalist?”

“Sub-Princess.”

His eyes widened. “This is an opportunity. We could ransom her.”

“No, do not. I need that ship. And knowing her, that ship is full of codes that only she can undo. Or would you prefer walking to the world control center?”

“Not again. I still don’t trust her.”

“Neither do I, but what else can I do? I can’t send her away. She won’t go. I can’t lock her up. I can’t kill her. I can’t sell her off. Tell me something better.”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either.”

Windy grabbed a nearby stool, plopping down. Toel leaned against the wall.

He asked, “Have you heard anything from Dr. Wilhelm?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t had the guts or the power to go through my back mail.”

Windy took out her TeleCom, bringing up her messages. Searching, she found nothing from Dr. Wilhelm.

“Zilch. That’s not surprising. Let me think. If the Director’s keeping a low profile, she might use a different name. Any ideas?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. Snacks? She loved snacks.”

“Right.” Windy punched in Aunt Mimi. That brought up hits immediately.

“How about ‘Aunt Mimi Fangirl?’”

Glancing through, there were a number of messages from this person. Windy picked the earliest one.

Aunt Mimi Fangirl wrote, “Hello, Windy. I bought a great box of jelly rolls. Give me a call.”

Scanning down, she kept getting those notes, all ending with, “Give me a call.”

“Maybe if I send a reply?”

The message was sent from “[email protected]” However, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t reply.

“Here goes nothing.”

He pointed up, “There’s no signal.”

Windy put her TeleCom away in disgust, looking over the older Toel. He looked like someone had stepped on his feet and stretched him.

“You’re too skinny. You really need to eat better. Military rations aren’t enough for you.”

“They’re enough for soldiers.”

“It’s no way to live. But wow, kiddo, I just can’t get over how tall you’ve gotten. You were six inches shorter just a few days ago.”

“I’m really happy to see you, too. I haven’t seen anyone out here in forever. Ninjin is fun to be around, but he’s just not a human.”

“I know what you mean. The Seventeens are nice, but they’re not real people. They’re like characters in a book, always exactly what they seem on the page, but nothing deeper. Nothing more. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have feelings, but there is something missing.”

“Yeah, but I can’t figure out what it is.”

“That’s one of the reasons that I keep Cherryh about. She might be duplicitous and conniving, but she’s still human. Don’t fall for her attention, though. She loves her shoelaces more than you.”

“What exactly do you know about her?”

“What do I know that’s true? She’s fantastic at fashion. She could small talk an armchair into adoring her.

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