Inyanga's Star and Other Constellations

Mirai's Star

A/N: Hello, fam! I pulled an old story out of the depths of my writing files to release today. This is the story of Aguila and Sueno's mother, and how aeh, Mirai, got pregnant at a time when an animus transfer is at an all time high price. Mirai gets pregnant with an in vivo spell and gives birth to the first immortal, soul-sharing, twins in history.

Mirai's Star – Part I

"You're pregnant. The fee for an animus transfer is in the hundreds of thousands."

Not exactly the words Mirai expected aer doctor to follow the news with, but it beat the days when doctors never told you how much anything was going to be upfront.

The laugh was an automatic reaction, nor could aeh control aer reply. "I'm good for it, Doc. Don't you know who I am?"

"Yes, you directed all those movies. Clocks and Flames and Guardia this and Parens that. I read the papers." Ah, there it was. By papers, she meant tabloids. "If you don't make the animus transfer payments, Constellation won't guarantee your baby an immortal animus."

"Don't you worry about me."

"If you don't get the animus from Constellation, your child will leach your immortality for aer own eternal life. You understand?"

"I understand."

"Because the papers say you've squandered your estate."

"Shouldn't we have had this discussion before we did the in vivo insemination spell?"

"I'm not saying you're destitute, but this is a hefty sum."

"This is starting to feel like an invasion of privacy."

"They say she wiped you out, that publicist you were having the . . . the one who lived with you at the place on Aries." Her raised brows explained the way this conversation was going. Doc wanted to know about Mirai's famous 'Affair.' Couldn't bring herself to say the A word, though.

"Don't you get a stars damn cut of those hundreds of thousands of solidae? Is this what I'm paying for? There's other patients out there in the waiting room, and you're wasting my time and theirs with these questions? I waited forty minutes to see you, were you interrogating Cat Virgo about the assault that went uncharged because of aer relationship to the chief of the guardia, according to tabloid headlines? Or Jazz Capruzzi about aer alleged underground sex ring, according to the tabloid headlines? Is Melody Gala bankrupt, can you confirm that one? I've always wondered."

"All right, all right," the doctor blew aer off. "Do you want to see the sono or not?"

The sono would change life in Soliara in a way no one, least of all Mirai Ossani, could ever have predicted. The doctor believed her eyes less than she believed Melody Gala had two solidae to rub together. It was beautiful. She used a gnomon wand to direct pulses of high frequency sound into Mirai's body and listen for the echo. Three dimensional images projected against the white hospital room wall. Beautiful, but impossible. Like gemini, two twins swam in midair, moving only very slightly. Their limbs curled in on themselves, each other's legs intertwining together, as if for warmth. Two bulbous heads tucked towards their chests but sharing an intimately close space. Two sets of breathing lungs swelled and contracted; two heartbeats echoed into every corner of the room.

Mirai and the doctor sat in silence for a time, just watching the miracle. "They didn't teach us this in magician's college."

"What did they teach you?" Mirai pushed aerself upright with the use of aer elbows.

"They taught us that one soul must fuel the new life of evert immortal to be born. When nature takes its course, a mother who brings one child into the world will share aer immortal animus with the babe. As the child grows strong and healthy into adulthood, more and more of the animus will be taken from the mother, until aeh returns to mortality, ages, and passes from this world. One mother, one animus to pass on, one child. Nature has never yet provided an immortal mother with a multiple pregnancy. We do not know if the animus can be shared between two infants."

"Will they die?" asked Mirai.

"I can't say what will happen. There are no documented cases of multiple pregnancies since the inception of immortality."

"But we can. . . fuel their eternal lives with two animus transfers from Constellation stockpiles."

"How should I know? It's possible, but the great mystery remains. . ." How had Mirai gotten knocked up with two soul suckers?

#

"The animus transfer for two infants will drain every solidae in my account."

"What choice do you have?" asked Lien. Mirai's ex-wife, Lien. It had been an amicable split half a century ago, which was why Lien met for lunch with Mirai and Canción 'the publicist' at the Cloud every other week. Their regular table by the window had been replaced by a levitating airweave surface tabletop, and something about the lack of table legs kept giving Mirai virtigo and making aer drop things. Aer napkin, aer fork, aer water glass — which wouldn't have smashed had it been made of airweave, but floating tables were trendy and thus more worth the expense than an unsmashable drinking receptacle.

Picking aer spoon up for the umpteenth time, Mirai slumped. "Pay it. Negotiate with Constellation for a bulk discount? Beg for a refund policy if the transfer doesn't save the little ones? That, or I can live the rest of my life as a rapidly aging, yet loaded, mortal. And then die. And risk that the babies won't make it either, what with splitting our alma three ways."

Canción put an arm around aer. "We'll make it work."

The three looked up when a latecomer arrived at their table.

"Lien, this is Sierra. I hope you don't mind my personal advisor joining us. Sierra, you just met with Echo?"

Sierra shook Lien's hand and sat. And gazed into space without speaking. When she didn't reply, Mirai clarified to Lien and Canción, "Echo is the head of Lo Specchio studio's accounting." The reserved hesitation muting Mirai's financial advisor was far from encouraging. "What is it?"

"It seems that some recent mismanagements of funds has had a significant impact on your overall worth. The index fund will rally, as will your portfolio; quickly or slowly, depending on the amount of risk we take on. I encourage you not to panic at this unexpected slump — it happens to everyone in the business. It's just that the kind of cash on hand that you require for this . . . medical emergency — it's not readily available."

"Not readily available? Flames Never Die grossed 16 billion and we netted half that in profit. How do I not have a million in hand? What was the 'recent mismanagement?'"

Sierra opened a briefcase — animated with magical blinking white polka dots — and placed a page on the table. Which Sierra stabbed with a finger. "Unpaid credit debt at 19% interest on 5mil over four decades. Lawsuit for copyright infringement from Espejo Studio; lawsuit for defamation in Stars and Stopped Clocks from Constellation's president. Lawsuit from your lawyers on outstanding law fees. 6 million fee for failure to pay taxes in 3209SE. 500 thou per month on shopping sprees over the last two centuries."

"Hold on. This is the first I've heard about a line of credit. And the first I'm hearing of these lawsuits."

"Have you been avoiding the headlines?" said Sierra. "Echo settled out of court. She passed along the communications about the lawsuits through your assistant slash publicist slash partner."

Then she looked from Lien to Canción.

"Why don't you ask them? The lawsuits, failure to pay taxes, it's all a team effort. You blew all your cash on unnecessary parties and auctions, your partner's been shielding you from bad news you won't want to hear, and your ex—" She turned back to Lien — "takes financial revenge with a line of credit on your levitating penthouse."

Mirai didn't even like living in a home that flew above the city.

Mirai fell back in aer chair, surrendering. "What do I have to sell off to save the babes?"

Aeh closed aer eyes and flinched when Sierra said, "Everything."

"Everything everything?"

"Everything. Possibly including your immortality subscription."