Star Minds Interregnum Read online

  "Yes." Her tone was icy as she frowned.

  "When will you meet?"

  "We met."

  "So why are you calling me?" he asked, puzzled.

  "First of all, I didn't ask you to call him on my behalf. Second, how do you know him?"

  "This is a nightclub for both sexes," he answered. "And when Zaphadin calls, one goes even if it's on the other side of the planet."

  "Does he call you himself?"

  "The first time his manager requested young men. But then he took a fancy to me, so now he calls me personally, yes. Why? He wasn't as you expected? I'm sorry, stardom does this to people, I'm afraid."

  "And you knew it?"

  "I got to know him a little. I think he's very unhappy. And yes, he definitely likes men. But if I had told you you wouldn't have believed me."

  "Maybe I would have. You could have spared me."

  "Sorry to disrupt your dream, princess, but you are twenty-two, it's time you start being a real woman – virgin or not. You don't need to dream of the King of Music anymore, find yourself a flesh-and-blood man. I'm free at the moment and nobody is paying me to make you happy... why don't you come over?"

  "Forget it," she grumbled. "I don't want an escort."

  "I can leave this job when I want," he said. "I started early and saved a lot, so I can quit any time and start a new career to please my lady."

  "Which lady?" She was lost. Still upset with Zaphadin, but also with Feliks.

  "You, who else?" he answered with a smile.

  "Go to hell," she muttered ending the call.

  She wished she could go back a few days, to before her birthday. When she hadn't allowed any man to touch her yet, and hadn't brushed the surface of Feliks and Zaphadin's minds. And she could still imagine Zaphadin was her virtual lover.

  2.

  "Catch me, Arco!"

  "Wait, Lorinda, Vorus and Wanda can't keep up with us!"

  Lorinda stopped to turn around and stuck her tongue out at Arco.

  "I don't care if your siblings get lost, it's you I want to be with," she said cheerfully.

  Arco had stopped too and smiled, catching his breath. "Come on, let's go back, I'm hungry."

  "You're hungry?" she teased. "For food?"

  "Yes, Lorinda, you're too skinny to be eaten – and you can satisfy your hunger for cuddles when I have a full belly."

  She snorted, pulling back her chestnut brown hair and trying to knot it in a quick chignon, but it didn't hold. She walked back through the meadow, her eyes on Arco, who waited with one knee down, ready to pounce. He grinned at her pout. His girlfriend was an only child and the most spoiled of the galaxy – but then, so was he, according to his older brother Vorus.

  "Hurry up!" he said.

  She was close enough by now. He jumped up and embraced her. She screamed and lost her balance, so they both tumbled in the grass, laughing.

  "Weren't you in a hurry to go back?" she asked, passing her fingers through his short brown hair.

  "Not really," he whispered before leaning to kiss her. She hugged him, pressing her body against his.

  "Love you, Arco," she moaned when he let her mouth free.

  He grinned and kissed her again and again until Vorus's voice brought them back to reality.

  He pulled back with a sigh. He wasn't going to undress her and make love to her in the open, with the risk of being seen. He wanted some privacy in his relationship, and having sex under the sun might be fun, but not when they were with other people.

  "See, they didn't get lost," Lorinda said with a mischievous smile. "Let's go, I'm actually hungry too now."

  "For food?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

  She playfully slapped him and pushed him away, since he was trying to hug her. Again she went back almost running, and he had to chase her.

  "Where were you?" Vorus asked, frowning at them as they slumped onto the cloth that Wanda had spread on the grass for a picnic.

  Vorus was twenty-six and the head of the house. Brown hair lighter than his brother, tall and handsome, he hadn't found a girlfriend or a wife yet. His father had died in a starship accident five years earlier – a malfunctioning shield allowed a meteorite to breach the hull and the cruiser lost breathable air. So Vorus had started taking care of his father's estate and forgot about finishing his studies or finding a girlfriend.

  Arco was twenty and he adored his elder brother. But Vorus wasn't Dad, so more often than not Arco did what he wanted, ignoring Vorus's requests. His happy-go-lucky disposition meant he was a decent student who could do more, but he preferred spending time with Lorinda to concentrating on books.

  He was wealthy, had a beautiful country house, a private apartment in town where he attended university, would never have to work for a living, why should he care? Lorinda Rotering-Hunsley was eighteen and an heiress, she'd never have to work either. They were well matched, and it wasn't Arco's fault if Lorinda didn't have sisters his brother could marry. Or cousins.

  "We went to play a little farther," Arco replied defiantly.

  "Hey!" Vorus protested, glaring at him.

  Arco burst out laughing and Vorus could only do the same. Arco knew how contagious he could be when he laughed.

  Wanda had finished spreading the food and beverages and offered them to Lorinda and Arco. At twenty-two, she was still quite introverted and anti-social, but Arco didn't mind having her around. Sometimes he wondered why she was always so serious and hid in her own world – it couldn't be only because of gender issues.

  It was such a wonderful day, Arco decided to ignore the seriousness of his elder siblings. He was glad he had convinced Vorus and Wanda to get out of the house with him and Lorinda – he thought they were recluses, and even dragging Wanda to the country house had meant pleading with her for a week before she agreed. Since her birthday she was grumpier than ever, but as it would be only the four of them, she'd eventually relented.

  After a cheerful picnic lunch they decided to walk towards the nearby forest, the other way from the mansion that could be seen in the distance beyond the meadow.

  "Why don't we go looking for berries?" Arco suggested.

  "We could get lost," Vorus objected.

  "Not me. Been there hundreds of times," Arco replied. "Besides Lorinda never gets lost anywhere."

  "We can stay in the outskirts," Wanda suggested. "And we have our GPSs. I wouldn't mind picking dessert from the bushes."

  "Fine." Vorus sighed. "Let's go. No need to take everything with us, though."

  "Right!" Arco exclaimed. "Let's leave something for the ants and insects and birds and..."

  "Help me put everything in the backpacks." Wanda grinned, poking him.

  Arco was a little too clumsy in putting away a couple of bottles that rattled dangerously.

  "Careful, don't break anything!" Vorus chided.

  Arco shrugged and gave up. He took Lorinda's hand and headed for the forest without waiting for Wanda and Vorus. At the edge of the trees, he turned once to make sure they were following, flashed a smile at his girlfriend and took her on one of the well-worn paths towards the blackberry and raspberry bushes.

  "We might get lucky and find blueberries too," he told Lorinda.

  When they reached the place where berries abounded, they split up.

  Suddenly Lorinda screamed.

  "What?" Arco asked. Maybe she'd seen a snake.

  "There's a man over there!" Lorinda was shuddering and she pointed a shaky finger towards the undergrowth. "He was scary... Oh, Arco, it's terrifying!" She hid her face against his chest, hugging him tight.

  "Arco!" Vorus called. "Where are you?"

  "We're here!" Arco called back, holding his girlfriend, a little worried. "Let's go back," he told her.

  They joined the others.

  "What happened?" Vorus asked seeing their serious expressions.

  "Lorinda saw a man over there in the undergrowth," Arco answered.

  "Are you sure, Lorinda?" Wanda asked, frown
ing.

  "Yes, but he ran away," Lorinda whispered with a still shaky voice.

  "If there's an intruder on our property, we must find him," Vorus said. "Let's take the girls home. We'll search the woods until we find him."

  Arco nodded, serious.

  ***

  The hunt for the intruder was done with technology more than men. Vorus and Arco took their guns and life-detectors and headed back to the forest in their flying car, parking it at the edge of the trees and splitting along the path to search the bushes.

  Arco found drops of blood on the ground and knelt to have a closer look. He's wounded, he thought a little puzzled. He followed the track as quietly as he could, pointing the life-detector ahead and holding tight to his gun. The detector started beeping and he aimed in the direction of a seemingly harmless bush.

  "Come out or I'll shoot," he ordered. A movement shook the leaves, but nobody showed up. Arco took aim at the center of the bush and was about to pull the trigger when a young woman threw herself at him screaming, "Don't shoot!"

  Arco lost his balance and his finger pressed the trigger. The shot went up to the sky and as he fell, he lost the gun. Arco cursed under his breath as she jumped back to her feet to rush behind the bush.

  Surprised by her gesture, Arco followed her without picking up his gun.

  He found her leaning over a young man slightly older than him, with long black hair and a wounded arm.

  "Don't kill us!" she pleaded. "We didn't do anything!"

  She was probably in her twenties and was almost blonde, with her blue eyes imploring him. She had very simple clothes, but still managed to look like a celestial creature.

  "I lost my gun," he said. "Who are you? What are you doing on my lands?"

  "Forgive us, my lord, we're slaves," she answered, bowing her head. "I'm Oretta and this is my brother Moreno. We hid here without asking for permission, but we didn't touch your property. We might be guilty of trespassing, but don't send us back to our master, my lord, I beg you, it would mean certain death!"

  Arco chewed his lower lip, unsure of what he should do.

  "Arco!" Vorus called. He must have heard the gunshot and was getting closer.

  "I'm here," he answered without turning around.

  Vorus emerged from the trees and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the two intruders. Oretta was trying to revive her brother who had passed out. The young man was even worse off than her – besides the wound, he had bruises and his clothes were tattered.

  Vorus joined Arco, and when Oretta looked up at him with her pleading eyes, Arco heard his brother gasp.

  "Let us go," she prayed once more. "Have mercy."

  Arco looked at his brother. He wasn't the one in charge.

  "What happened to him?" Vorus asked, crouching next to Oretta.

  At the sound of a male voice, Moreno's eyes popped open, like two wide and terrified pieces of sky.

  "Calm down, it's all right," Oretta said gently. "They're friends. Friends, Moreno. Understood?"

  The young man didn't answer, but stopped staring at Vorus and closed his eyes again with a small sigh.

  Vorus pursed his lips and rose.

  "Arco, call Wanda and tell her to prepare the guest room."

  3.

  "Here they come," Wanda said. Lorinda ran to hide in Arco's arms as Wanda greeted Vorus and Oretta. Moreno walked on his own, his wounded arm bandaged with a piece of his own shirt, but the bandage wasn't holding and new blood was dripping down to his hand.

  Wanda was touched by the blue eyes, so beautiful yet so fixed. The young man stumbled, but his face didn't flinch. His mind was a mess of pain and shame and terror, and Wanda had to pull up her shields to avoid getting lost in the shadows. Moreno seemed to be more messed up than Zaphadin, she better be careful before she entered his mind.

  "Was it him?" Arco asked.

  "Yes," Lorinda whispered, following Moreno with wide eyes.

  Not so terrible after all, Wanda thought. He's younger than Vorus...

  Wanda helped Oretta to put her brother in bed. Wanda had already taken the first-aid kit and dressed the bleeding wound. The young man stared at her in silence – a silence that seemed to resound even in his mind. It was almost scary. No, it was scary. He'd lost his mind from the pain of what he'd been through. As she brushed his skin to dress the wounds, she could feel only darkness.

  "What happened to him?" Vorus asked, observing from the door.

  "I'll tell you later," Oretta said quickly. She couldn't keep her eyes off of her brother, too worried to help Wanda.

  Moreno closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, thanks to a sedative injection.

  Vorus came to the bed and brushed Moreno's bruises with one finger. He touched a drop of blood Wanda didn't have time to clean up.

  "What did they do to him?" he insisted.

  "They beat him," Oretta answered, hanging her head.

  "Not just that," Wanda said. "Where do you come from?"

  Oretta looked up and stared at them with her pleading look. Please don't ask! Even if she didn't say it out loud, it was obvious she didn't want questions.

  But Vorus wanted answers. He grabbed her arm and took her out of the room. Wanda followed them to the living room where Arco and Lorinda were waiting for them. There wasn't much else she could do for Moreno at the moment.

  "You will tell us who you are and where you come from," Vorus demanded.

  "Sit down," Wanda added, trying to sweeten her brother's tone. She sat on the couch next to the scared blonde, ready to protect her. She knew Vorus meant no harm, but Oretta was terrified.

  Arco and Lorinda sat on the other couch and Vorus in the armchair.

  "Like I told him, my name is Oretta," she said shyly, her chin pointing at Arco. "My partner is Moreno, my brother. We're runaways. Please, my lord, don't ask me anything for now!"

  Vorus sighed.

  "Runaway slaves mean I'll have to fight with some damn Wegan who doesn't believe in freeing his property," he said. "I'll wait. I hope you'll soon tell me everything. My name is Vorus, from Alahairo. That's my brother Arco, his girlfriend Lorinda and my sister Wanda." He pointed at each in turn.

  Oretta nodded, still frightened. "May I go back by Moreno's side?" she whispered.

  "I'll take you," Wanda said promptly. Oretta's mind was less muddled than her brother's. But Wanda decided to wait until the siblings told their story. She was sure it would probably help both to get rid of their fears.

  ***

  Oretta was startled awake by her brother's restless sleep. Moreno moaned, feverish and sweaty.

  Please, not here, not now! she thought, frightened. She rushed to his side in the darkness and held him tight. But she couldn't stifle completely the scream of pain and fear that exploded out of Moreno's lips.

  "Please, calm down," she begged, rocking him as he shivered and trembled even more. Tears were very close as she tried to keep him still and quiet.

  He seemed to ease off and she relaxed only slightly. She brushed his hair back in place, worried.

  Suddenly he opened his eyes very wide in the darkness of the room.

  "The black shadow!" he whispered, terrified.

  He raised his arms to fight something only he could see, whining softly.

  Oretta didn't know what to do to put an end to his delirium. She looked around the room, biting her lip. At that moment Moreno put his hands to his head and screamed again, louder and more desperate than before.

  Oretta threw herself over him to muffle the sound and make him shut up.

  "Stop!" she pleaded, scared. "Stop right now!"

  But they were all awake. Moreno was sobbing when Vorus appeared in the doorway and switched on the light. Oretta closed her eyes, blinded by the artificial light, and hid her face in her brother's hair.

  "What happened?" Vorus asked bluntly.

  "Moreno had a fit," she explained clumsily. "It happens... he's scared..."

  "Of what?" Vorus came closer and
she saw that behind him there was Arco, sleepy and bare-chested, but curious. And Moreno didn't seem to be calming down anytime soon.

  "Stay back," Vorus ordered.

  Oretta obeyed. Moreno was delirious again. Vorus touched his forehead.

  "He doesn't have any fever," he said.

  "No," Oretta confirmed, dejected, going back to the comfortable armchair – where she'd been sleeping – and hugging her knees. She let her tears roll down her cheeks since the brothers weren't looking at her.

  "Call Wanda." Vorus turned to Arco. "Hurry."

  ***

  "Good morning, Arco!" Lorinda greeted. "Why are you walking around the house half-naked? Did you have breakfast?"

  "Not hungry, thanks." The short sentence was like a cold shower on Lorinda's enthusiasm.

  "What happened? Are you all right?" she asked, worried. "You look wrecked." She caressed his cheek. "Did you get any sleep?"

  "Not really," he answered, rubbing his eyes with one hand to keep away the drowsiness. "Our guest went crazy and started screaming. What a night." He yawned.

  "I'll get you something to wake you up," she said, rushing to the house computer to order a strong coffee. "How is he now?" she asked going back to Arco and sitting on the couch next to him.

  "He calmed down," he answered, stretching his limbs. "Maybe his sister will be less cryptic today. I'll go put on some clothes, be back soon."

  He exited the living room yawning, leaving Lorinda puzzled and thoughtful. Soon they were all back in the living room – Arco, Vorus, Wanda and Oretta.

  "You must tell us what's wrong with him, or we won't be able to help him," Wanda said, holding Oretta's hands to comfort her and put her at ease.

  The runaway slave sat with her head hung, unable to look at Vorus who stared at her with clenched teeth.

  "Oretta, Vorus is losing his patience," Wanda warned.

  Oretta looked at the head of the house with wide doe eyes and finally gave up.

  "We were born slaves, like many on Vilas Lok," she said.

  Not Arco, Vorus, Wanda or Lorinda, though. But they knew they were lucky and came from wealthy families. Lots of people were less fortunate, especially sex slaves. Even if the Triumvirate that had run Vilas Lok for many years was no more, not many slaves had been freed by their owners.