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The unicorn of which I speak was not the only one in the Milky
Way, but was, possibly, the most famous. Alone on Kushanah, Astreus
had no company from any of her family. But then, who has ever
heard of more than one unicorn on a single planet? She spent most
of her time in an enormous meadow of white and yellow flowers through
which ran a small, bubbling brook. In this tiny stream lived Torgoches,
Triglas, Barramudas, Rainbirds, Bobas and Kukus. Butterbirds sang
in the giant Bread Trees of the Gyges Forest that ringed the meadow.
The Gyges Forest dominated the temperate latitudes of the giant
northern continent on Kushanah and was but a day’s ride
from Akabah and the planet’s only spaceport.
Astreus was a seer and prophetess renowned for the purity and
clarity of her vision. Such was her reputation that the famous,
infamous, galaxy renowned and totally unknown all journeyed across
the Milky Way to Kushanah. Upon arrival in the capital city Akabah
which was the only spaceport, application was made to the government
office that controlled access to Astreus. She saw only one visitor
at a time. When the number of visitors waiting to be received
reached nine, all applications were turned away until an empty
place became available. No questions were ever asked of supplicants,
merely a name - be it false or true - and an address within the
city where the government could contact you when your day with
the oracle was imminent. Considering that Astreus chose not to
see visitors everyday, indeed has been known to refuse the queries
of applicants for a month or more, it was best to allow for several
weeks on Kushanah.
Akabah was a small city but it offered an exquisite array of delights
for the occasional visitor. This banquet of temptations was all
out of realistic proportion to the small number of potential customers.
Gambling of every imaginable variety was available. Games drawn
from the far reaches of the galaxy included shogi played for
rubidium ingots. The most delectable courtesans the Hominid Federation
had to offer were at your beck and call. Non primate women too,
if that was your taste. All were available singly or in groups,
if one could afford the price. Sex could be cool, warm, hot, boiling,
soft or violent with women, men and animals of every description.
Food and drink also abounded to suit any palate. This cornucopia
of pleasure was available every hour of the ten earth day week.
How did the government agency communicate with Astreus?
She would never come into town. Nor did the agency people go to
her. I doubt she would have even recognized their existence, if
they had. Astreus had a companion, a 'familiar' if you will. Oriana
was about twenty or twenty five human years old if judged on external
appearances, but she had been with Astreus for as long as the
Records existed and was therefore at least five centuries old.
A bit over five tall, deeply tanned and exquisitely proportioned
with long slim legs and high, rounded breasts, Oriana was an indescribably
beautiful woman in spite of her badly scared and disfigured face.
Two livid white scars ran down her neck and over her right shoulder
to disappear under blouse, perhaps to continue the length of her
body. Oriana was thought be very beautiful, very sensuous and
very terrifying. Oh yes, I almost forgot; she was also blind.
All Dacians are blind, judging from the handful, perhaps six known
to record history. Why so few? No one has ever located Dacia;
their home planet remains a closed mystery. Oriana had not been
with Astreus continuously for five centuries. Several periods
of long absence from Kushanah were on record, but where she went
and what she did, no one knows. Dacians hardly need spaceships
to travel between the stars, as I知 sure you know.
Once a month, Oriana rode her black stallion into Akabah to confer
with government functionaries, arrange for meetings with Astreus
and receive food and supplies for herself and the unicorn. No
money every changed hands. If the oracle was willing to see you,
she did and there was no charge. If not, all the rubidium in the
universe would not gain you access to the foremost sibyl of all
time. Many had tried that approach, only to be hustled off planet
quickly and rudely. Conversation between the Dacian and government
officials was always abrupt, courteous and to the point; nothing
more, nothing less. But then, how does anyone react to the most
beautiful, intelligent woman in the universe who is also blind
and disfigured? Did Oriana ever have relationships as we ordinary
humans know them? Gossip about her relationship with Astreus by
supplicants who had returned from audiences portrayed an interaction
of great warmth, sensitivity and compassion. Love also, perhaps.
But then, I am confusing you. Dacians are no more human than unicorns,
they only look human. Like me, I only look human.
One
lazy, languid, late spring day when the heat was a thick suffocating, perfumred blanket
and the mosquitoes and gnats were unbearable,
a Gorgon Empire spaceship landed at Akabah, disgorged one
passenger and quickly departed. The visitor wore the uniform of
the F.H.P.’s fleet but without insignia. He was of medium
height, well tanned, muscular with black hair and a neatly trimmed
beard and mustache. His age was perhaps 40 or 50, it was hard
to tell. His only distinguishing feature were his eyes which were
gray flecked with yellow and appeared, even on a casual glance,
to be utterly without emotion or feeling as if carved out of a
millennium old block of ice. Those eyes were frightening beyond
words and certainly did not fit with the academic impression conveyed
by the man’s general appearance. Unknown to all on Kushanah
and, indeed, unknown to all but a handful of the inhabitants in
the entire galaxy, for few had ever witnessed this man in the
performance of his particular craft, the Chief Assassin of the
Federation had arrived on Akabah on a mission whose security cover
was impenetrable. In the simplest terms, Jared Colfax had raised
the arts of the mercenary, intelligence agent, research scholar
and assassin to the highest level and combined them all. To further
complicate his life, he was brilliant beyond imagination and at
this moment, sad and melancholy as well.
Jared arrived in the evening and presented himself to the custom
officials at the spaceport as a military research officer assigned
by the Gorgons to their international relations project that was
cataloging the various lifestyles, cultures and intelligences
to be found throughout the Milky Way. After a perfunctory interview,
he was waved through and quickly set off, suitcase in hand, for
a little known one star hotel called the Hrafnsmal that was also
recommended in certain circles as the best brothel in the twelfth
quadrant. The Hrafnsmal was a small, three story clapboard building
that was the best kept building in the river bank dock area.
Jared knocked at the front door about 10 o’clock. The light
drizzle that had fallen all day had momentarily stopped and thick
arms of fog were rolling in from the river. No answer. Jared closed
his eyes briefly and knocked a second time. The door opened with
a snap and he faced a tiny, voluptuous redhead in her early twenties.
She wore silver boots with tall spiked heels and black shorts
that looked as if they were merely spray paint. A twenty carat
ruby rested in her navel surrounded by ring of antique diamonds
from the ancient, extinct Republic of South Africa on Earth. Around
her neck was a thin necklace of incomparable value for it was
made of 100 ringlets of pure rubidium. Beyond these accouterments,
the female volcano confronting Jared wore nothing else. Here eyes
were green, her thin, finely chiseled lips were extremely pale
and nearly the same color as her pastel rosy cheeks. A mane of
reddish, gold hair fell to her waist and nearly covered her small,
upturned breasts.
The nostrils in her perky, snub nose dilated when she saw Jared.
A single tear formed in the corner of her left eye.
“Theron,
you bastard! Whatever are you doing here? Wait, don't answer.
Please go away. I have only one heart and you successfully smashed
that two years ago. Go away!”
BB 02.10.94; Freeport, Bahamas
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