The Legends of Twisted Felix Katt (Book 3)

(16) Sauna with the Devil

Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first one who was ever confused, frightened and even sickened by human behaviour - J.D Salinger

Common wisdom says to never ask a question that you can't handle the answer to; thing is, I really thought I knew the answer before I asked Rorick to marry me. We've done the ridiculous pine after each other in martyred misery bit, and I thought we'd hit bliss so I asked. But Rorick didn't say yes like I expected; to be fair he didn't say no either. Instead, my ever practical lover gave me a very logical and unwanted counter. "Ask me again when we're adults and you're prepared to take the collar off of me yourself."

There is a part of me that completely understands his motivation; with me being a First Daughter Prime (even a disinherited one), cutting off a blood slave's collar to turn around and Marry him wouldn't just be a scandal, it would be declaring war on the current caste system. That one act would give Dandy's Revolution and all those other desperate borderland souls something that they didn't have currently; a Family of old political Blood backing it. If I thought that I have attention now it's nothing compared to the shit storm that is going to descend once I said my I swears. Still, my chest hurt with the lack of romantic proposal success. Sure my timing wasn't all that great, but I'd done my best to at least make it sincere. Instead of a happy celebration, after the not quite a rejection, I got to stand on the flight deck of my ship and pretend to be someone else. We've arrived at the coordinates where my father supposedly was, and now I get to bluff our way into a dirt side tour. See, there's a well known Runner trick; always have a fall back name, something you can use when your own name and ID is too hot. It takes time to build a back story that would withstand even only the most basic of scrutinizes but they were damn handy when combined with a Shuffle that lets you pretend to be anyone.

"Minerva May, cargo ship Captain with four body crew onboard the Puddlejumper. I was told you might have need of my services to ship exports discreetly." Sometimes my thoughts get independent and uppity, deciding to escape from my mouth before being thoroughly searched by my mental filter. In this case I hadn't realized this was the plan I was going to go with until I spoke because I’d really thought we were just gonna do the knock and pray method, no cloack and dagger but here we are. You bet your best britches that this is a hell of a gamble; I'm making a ship's ton of assumptions about this planet. The uni-net provided a very limited amount of information; it was a real planet, discovered and immediately turned into a resource depot that was rich in natural fauna. The best guess I can gather is that they ship out preserved goods, which means lots of customs fees to deal with and palms to grease to ease flow while protecting product. It’s a pretty easy jump from there to guessing that they wouldn't be averse to a few shipments being discreetly moved about. If you haven't deduced it yet, I mean smuggling when I say discreetly move. A smuggler takes a fee, half up front and half on delivery but it's inevitably cheaper than customs and dealing with inspections, especially if you're trying to move one of the prohibited cargos.

"I'm sure I don't do business over a com link. You may land Captain May, but any weapons and we'll open fire. Bring your identity card." Port Authority for this rock instructed. Smart not to agree to anything over the comms, I'm not above a little subtle blackmail if I think I can get away with it. The Port Authority guides me to the dock for my ship and real games are about to begin.

"Minerva May?" Van's little girl squeak is so irritating I'm actually going numb to it now I think.

"Mini Me." I quip right back. That's it folks, that's the big trick of keeping track of a pseudonym; make it something you won't ever be likely to forget. Minerva May is really mini me, and that's about as creative as I like to get with it. She's a bit dull, rather forgettable, and utterly average as a cargo ship Captain. I even had a dull as pencil eraser beacon to trick any scanner as seeing Destiny as nothing more than the ship Puddlejumper. I can feel my usual smirk sitting on childish lips and it’s an unnatural combination; I’d never been this cynical and jaded as a child. Of course, after I discovered that my Mother, and likely my Grandmother were plotting to have me disappeared so my baby half sister Temperance could be the Heir, I lost a whole lot of naivety in a hurry. Amazing what your own pending murder can teach you huh? Since my Family was clearly untrustworthy, I couldn’t turn to none of them, not even my aunt Hope whom I’d thought genuinely liked me and my dad. Goes to show that the old adage is true; the blood of the bond is thicker than the water of the womb.