Editing Venus' Burn (section)

==The Eighth Part==
Vulkan’s searching gaze caught me as I turned back to my parents, nodding at something Mom had asked.  After a quick glance at Misja, he returned his attention to my parents.  “Well, of course you’re welcome to stay here a bit, but I wouldn’t want to keep Jake and Venus up on a school night.”

“We’d be honored, Sir, but I agree.  We should head out,” Dad said, though his attention was diverted by another person emerging from the sitting room, seeing what the commotion was about.  Kelly – whom I had only seen perhaps twice in my life – glanced over our little group, and, having determined that nothing was amiss, walked back in, saying nothing.

“My cousin Kelly,” Venus explained for my parents’ benefit, hanging up her jacket.  “Uncle Konrad must be here, too.”

“Yeah, he just got here,” Cora supplied.  “Hey, so, how was it?  I have to know.”

“It was just some asshole reported who thought I had some opinion to weigh in on some bylaw or other,” Venus said dismissively.  “I didn’t really listen.”

“And you had Miller vaporize his camera,” Cora said happily.

“Yep.  He should have known better anyway.”

A waiter servitor trundled out of the kitchen into the sitting room, then back out again a few seconds later, carrying a load of empty dishes.  I followed its movement for a moment, then turned reluctantly back to Venus.  “Well…I should head out.  It was great getting to get out of the hive,” I said, zipping my vest back up.

“Sure,” she said, following be back to the door as Cora drifted back into the sitting room.  “See you at school tomorrow.”

“Naturally.”  Mom and Dad walked back out the car as Vulkan followed Cora back into the sitting room.  I pecked Venus on the cheek and added an addendum.  “And thanks for the dinner and the show.”

“Har har,” Venus said, her voice oozing sarcasm.  “See you tomorrow.”

My parents and I drove straight home, and the whole time I was unconsciously bracing myself for a lecture about one of the four or five bizarre things that had happened that day.  To my surprise, I didn’t get a lecture per se, since it seemed they were both still reeling from meeting Vulkan.  I say that, because that was almost all they talked about.

“That was one of the most memorable moments of my life,” Dad said tiredly, rubbing his thumb over his palm.

“I know.  To actually be invited into his home,” Mom added, clearly not following her own logic.

“It’s too bad you didn’t get to meet his other guests,” I put in.

“Well, that cousin of Venus’, Cora, we met her,” Mom pointed out.

“Right, but I meant her father, and her uncle,” I said, trying to suppress my distinct pleasure at that idea.

“What?  You’ve met them?”

“No, but I know who they are.  Cora’s the daughter of Lord Primarch Corax.  Kelly’s her cousin because she’s the daughter of Konrad Curze,” I explained.  “Which meant they were the two people in the sitting room.”

Silence greeted that proclamation.  “I think, maybe, that may not be an entirely…misfortunate thing,” Dad said finally.  “No disrespect intended to your girlfriend’s family, Jake, but some of them are scary as hell.”

“Yeah,” I said, staring at the airlock pass us by as we entered the hive.  “Well, it’s something you could think about.”

“But must I?” Dad quipped.  We laughed together as the aircar pulled up to a halt outside our apartment.

The door was still sealed, but there was a man leaning against it as we climbed out, in a dark military uniform.  Two Enforcers and Praetor were standing nervously, just out of arms’ reach.

“Excuse me, sir, are you Jacob Seager?” the Praetor asked Dad as he approached.

“No.”

“That would be me,” I said, an inkling of what this was about floating through my head.

“Sir, were you in the company of Lady Venus this evening?” he asked.

“Yeah, we were.”

“Then Sergeant Palozzi is interested in talking with you,” he said, stepping aside.

“Sergeant.  I can assume this is about the incident at the restaurant?” I asked the dark-uniformed man, who had straightened up and turned to face me.

“Naturally, sir,” he said, his deep baritone cutting through the ambient hive noise.  “I understand there was an altercation there?”

“A paparazzi got too close to Lady Venus and was punished for it.  By your office, in fact,” I said, placing the mark on his unit patch – Treasury VIP.

“To which organization I belong is irrelevant, sir,” the soldier said placidly.  “I’m here to verify that shots were fired in your presence while you were accompanying Lady Venus.”

“And you did.  Can I go take a leak now?” I asked, stupidly, I admit, but come on, he was blocking my door.

“No, sir.”  The man put his hands on his hips, fingers centimeters from his Peacemaker.  “I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“No, actually, you won’t,” I said, as Dad took an angry step forward.  “Ask Sergeant Vincent Miller to verify that I’ve done nothing wrong.  Or maybe his spotter at the restaurant.”

The man blinked, the fact that I knew those things catching him off-guard.  I pressed.  “Maybe when Miller filed his report with Lord Vulkan he left out the fact that I was with her the whole time and completely unarmed.”  As we spoke, Dad took an appraising step forward.

“Jake, what’s Venus’ vox number?” he asked.

“Here,” I said, handing him my own cell, which had fortunately been in my hand at the time.  Dad flipped it open and hit Venus’ speed-dial while the Sergeant started glaring, clearly trying to re-impose his authority.

“Sieur Seager, your accompanying me is not optional.”

“Of course it is, unless you’re here to arrest me without even showing a warrant,” I said, stalling.  Dad put the cell to his ear and listened.

“I have that authority, sir, don’t make me exercise it,” Palozzi said, though the three cops were looking a bit uncomfortable now.

“Jake, I have her,” Dad said suddenly.

“Put her on speaker,” I said, a flush of anticipation rushing through me.  This was either going to be cataclysmic or hilarious.

“Man, Jake, you just never get tired of hearing my voice, do you?” Venus asked cheerfully, echoing from my cell.  “What’s up?”

“Venus, there’s a VIP Office guy at my door threatening me with a warrantless arrest,” I said, trying to sound calm and probably failing entirely.

The aura of cold air flooding from the speaker wasn’t physical, I don’t think, but suddenly all three uniformed cops shivered.  “Really.  Interesting.  Does he have a name?”

“Sergeant Palozzi, apparently,” I said.  “Pips say Gunny Sergeant.”

“Good to know,” she said, suddenly sounding distracted.  A few muffled words came through the speaker – she must have put her hand over the mic to talk to someone.

“I don’t know who you are, ma’am, but impersonating a member of the Royal Family carries a most severe penalty,” Palozzi said flatly, clearly done with talking.  He turned to me, and a set of several plastic restraint cords fell into his hand from his sleeve.  “We’re done.  Keep your hands where I can see them.”

“SERGEANT,” Venus’ voice suddenly barked from the speakerphone, making all seven of us flinch.  “If either I or my father have to come down there to tell you to fuck off in person, you lose a pay grade for each minute of my time you waste.”  Palozzi hesitated for a moment, but continued towards me.  I crossed my arms, staring him down.  “Sergeant, I am not hearing an apology, and the sound of a police flyer departing.  Rectify that.”

“Turn that off,” the Sergeant instructed my father, who of course did no such thing.  “That was an order.”

“That’s it.  Dad, did you get all that?” Venus asked.

“Yes,” Vulkan’s unmistakable voice replied.  Palozzi froze.  The blood drained from the faces of all three uniformed cops.  “I’m very disappointed.”

“I actually feel bad for you,” I said softly.

“Sergeant, I hate exercising my authority in front of my family, in person or indirectly.  I really, truly hate it,” Vulkan started.

“A problem I don’t share,” a much, much fainter, and somehow even scarier voice put in.  Vulkan continued.

“So if I have to come down to the nearest Arbites Courthouse, Enforcer or Praetor Precinct, or, heaven forbid, block lockup to bail out my daughter’s boyfriend, you will be transferred to a Penal Legion as a mine sweeper.  Is that understood?”

“I’m following my direct orders, sir, laid down by the Emperor himself, for dealing with Shots Fired in the Royal presence.  To the letter, sir,” Palozzi said.

“Those orders being to ensure the safety of the Royalty in question, who is currently standing next to me, glaring at you through a speakerphone.” Vulkan said, his patience exhausted.  “Consider your position revoked.  Recall yourself to your dispatch office before I decide to have you sent off to the front anyway.”

“…Aye, sir,” Palozzi said tightly.  Without a word, he slid the restraints away and marched off on his heel, fists clenched under his gloves.  Both Enforcers fell into step behind him, though the Praetor lingered.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, sir,” the Praetor said hurriedly, before scurrying ahead of the pack of law enforcement officers, who disappeared around the corner.

“…Are they gone?” Venus asked.

“Yep.  I owe you one,” I said, feeling the tension in my stomach fade.

“…God damn it.  God DAMN IT,” she said suddenly, her voice cracking with sudden rage.

“Venus?” I asked in surprise.

“I try to have ONE nice evening with you, and you nearly get BLACK BAGGED?!” she yelled, her voice sending the speaker of my poor vox into fuzz.  “Just…fucking…DAMN IT!”

“Venus, stop it,” Vulkan put in, but she was off and running.

“I should have told you, God damn it, I should have given you my signature or something, or warned you that it might happen,” Venus said, her rage melting into regret.  “I haven’t had to impose fiat in front of someone in the family in so long, I completely fucking forgot.”  Her voice suddenly dropped several decibels.  “…God damn it…”

I opened the door and sat down on the couch, cradling the phone, as Dad and Mom stood over me, looking very uncomfortable.  “Venus, stop it.  I’m not mad at you.  Blame the paparazzi if you have to blame anyone,” I said, but…in hindsight, it must have sounded as lame to her as it did to me.

“…Jake, I’m sorry.  I just…I’m sorry.”

Dad spoke up.  “Venus, I’m not mad either.  We’re not blaming you.”

“Why the hell not?” she asked, a spark of anger returning to her voice.  “It’s clearly my fault.  And this was supposed to make us even for me fucking up this morning, too!”

I rubbed my eyes, thinking furiously.  “Well…all right.  Look.  I’ll see you tomorrow.  We can talk it over after classes.”

“…Sure.  I’ll…sure.  OK.  Sure.  …bye,” she said, but the line didn’t cut.  A faint rustling sound followed her farewell, and the sound of footfalls.

“Jake, Mr. and Mrs. Seager, I’m sorry that happened,” Vulkan said.  “And for however little it may be worth, the Sergeant was wrong.  The power of warrantless arrest does not extend to Fiat BYSTANDERS.  It covers Fiat TARGETS, and Vincent…Sergeant Miller very clearly did not label you as such in the file.”

“Well, that’s…good to hear,” Dad said heavily, shrugging his coat off.  “Are we going to be put on a Treasury watch list for this?”  I jerked my head up and glared at him, but Vulkan answered immediately.

“Yes, for all of the eighth of a second it will take for Palozzi’s report to get rejected by the Office,” Vulkan answered.  “I’ll put Miller on it.”

“Thank you, Sir.”  Dad hung up our coats and looked at me.  “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t,” I said.  I addressed the phone again.  “Thank you, Vulkan.

“No problem at all, Jake, I’m sorry it happened.  Try to have a good night,” he said.  The phone clicked off.  I stared at it for a sec before switching the speaker off and pocketing it.

“Well,” I said into the air.

“Do you always refer to him by name?” Mom asked, dropping down on the stool at the counter.

“Yes.  By his specific request,” I said.  “Weirded me out too.  He resents the fact that people call him by title when they know him personally.”

“Mm.”  Mom drummed her fingers on the counter.  “Well…Jake, make sure Venus understand that we don’t hold this against her.”

“I will,” I said tiredly.  It was only 2124, but suddenly all I wanted to do was sleep.

I didn’t.  Not much, anyway.  I was tossing the whole night, trying to make sense of everything, hoping we could patch things up, and wondering why I suddenly wanted to just get up and drive over to Venus’ house, lie down in bed with her, and hold her until she wasn’t angry anymore.  The last part I didn’t need to think about too hard, though.

By the time I had scraped myself off the shower stall floor and driven to school, I was in some semblance of wakefulness, and managed not to doze off in class.  Which was good, because first class was Math, and if there’s ever a teacher you need to be attentive to, it’s Adam Blenkach.  Sometimes I think he forgets he’s not a real Commissar any more.  Second was Warp Studies, and I was actually glad for that, because we had to hand in that awful assignment we had been laboring on for weeks.  Project due-dates aside, that thing had chewed up far too much of my precious free time.

By lunch, I had more or less made up my mind about what I wanted to say, and made my way straight for Venus’ table.  By the time I got over there, though, she wasn’t alone: Miranda was with her.  I had never really spent much time with her, though I knew her well enough.  Both girls looked up at me and smiled sheepishly when I arrived, which boded…poorly.

“Hello, Jake,” Miranda said when I arrived, in that faint, almost ethereal voice of hers.  Given what had happened last time I was sharing a table with a psyker in this room, I was a bit apprehensive, but I forged ahead.

“Hi, Miranda.  How are you?” I asked, tearing into my Goo.

“Intrigued,” she responded, making me choke on my Goo.  “Venus tells me you had a bit of an adventure last night.”

“Well, I had never had carbonara before, true, but…” I joked hastily, shooting a puzzled glance at Venus.  Wasn’t that a bit personal?

“Funny.  And don’t be mad, Jake, she knew before I even opened my mouth,” Venus said, an air of annoyance warring with her good humor.

“Great.”  I stared at the pretty redhead, who was picking at her meal with a faint smile.  “So what about it?”

“I think I should say that I’m glad you didn’t let it get to you overmuch,” she said, turning the smile on me.  “I was the last one who had to impose Fiat with other people around.  They did not get arrested or anything, but they did not take it well either.”  She closed both eyes for a moment, then opened them again, her grin widening.  “You’re a good person.”

I was a bit off-guard that she would just say something like that, but then, when you’re one of the top eight psykers in the human species, privacy must be pretty alien.  At the time, though, I was hovering between disturbed and touched.  Venus’s smile took on the edge of indulgence I was more used to seeing in the mothers of boisterous children.  “Uh.  Thanks…?”

“Sorry if that was a bit too personal,” Miranda said, with the first touch of humor I had ever seen from her, a wry grin twisting her lips.  “Most of the people I live around are either mind-readers or my own sisters, so they’re more used to it.”

I seized on that, trying to steer us away from the awkwardness of the conversation thus far.  “Oh, I didn’t know you had siblings.”

“I don’t.  But…” she trailed off, glancing at Venus, who nodded quickly.  “Well.  ‘Cousins’ doesn’t quite cover it, you know.”

“Ah.”  I chewed another few bits of Goo, scrambling for something else to say.

“If you mind me being here, I can go eat somewhere else,” Miranda said, catching the tension.

“Don’t be silly, we can talk here,” Venus said.  She sighed once, shortly.  “Jake, I know that what happened last night was unacceptable.  I just want to see if there’s any-”

I cut her off there.  “Stop it.  I don’t blame you, so you don’t have to make up shit.”

“I know, but I feel terrible anyway.  I want you to reconsider being added to the VIP watch list so it never happens again,” Venus said flatly.  “If Council candidates and Senators’ families can deal with it, I’m entirely certain you can too.”

I paused mid-chew to think that over.  “…Huh.  I’ll ask Mom and Dad, it’s their call.”

“It’s your future inconvenience,” she pointed out.

“It’s their car and apartment,” I returned.  She shrugged, conceding.

“Fair enough.”  She blinked in surprise.  Miranda was shaking her head and grinning into her ‘food.’  “What’s funny?”

“Not a thing,” Miranda said.  “I’m just jealous.”

“Jealous?  Of what?  Jake nearly getting black bagged?” Venus asked in surprise.

“I could never have a conversation like that with my old boyfriend,” Miranda said, then immediately her eyes widened.  “I mean, uh…fuck.  Sorry.”

“It’s OK,” I said uncomfortably.  Maybe we SHOULD have asked her to move.

Venus laughed, surprising us both.  “Miranda, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I never know how people will take my little insights,” the psychic redhead said, shrugging bashfully.

It’s really hard to stay mad at her.  “Well, anyway, Venus, I wanted to tell you that my parents aren’t mad either.  Really.”

“OK.”  She brightened up, her eyes bathing my half of the table in red light.  “Tell you what, the next Warp Studies project, the one we got today, isn’t due for another month, right before Week 14, so how about you come over today and we just work at it?  Get some of it out of the way?  You too, Miranda,” she added.

“I’d love to,” Miranda said, nodding regally.  Well, how many chances do you get to work with a psyker of her caliber on a Warp Studies project?  I couldn’t agree fast enough.  Plus, it would give me a chance to thank Vulkan in person for his help the previous night.

Lunch wore on, and we went our separate ways.  Cogitator Design was a pain in the dick, as always.  I never could program.  By the time fifth block rolled around and it was time for History with Professor Chambers, I was ready to bolt for the door.  At least History is mildly interesting at a school with retired Astartes on the faculty.

The last bell rang, and I met Miranda and Venus at my car.  “Miranda, how do you get to school if you don’t drive?” I asked.

“I just walk,” she said.  “My father’s house is just down the road.”  Which one, exactly, I couldn’t tell, since all the manors in the area could be modestly described as ‘grandiose.’  She sat down in the backseat, clutching her backpack, already thumbing through it.

I tapped the call button on the car’s vox, paging Dad’s office.  He picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hey, Dad, just letting you know I’ll be back later than usual, I’m doing homework with some people from school.”

“Good,” he said, sounding rather distracted.  “Well, should I set a place for you?”

“Sure, we won’t be gone long,” I said, after a quick glance at Venus.  “Bye.”

“Bye.”  Miranda glanced up at the phone.

“Where do you live, Jake?”

“Habitation Block Four, Cube One, Spire One, Hive Secundus” I said, listing my hab zone, hive cube, hive spire, and hive, post office style.

“Oh.  I didn’t know you were a hiver,” she said, nodding faintly.  “That explains it.”

“Explains what?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her tone.

“Why Treasury Agents being at your house was so odd,” she said unashamedly.  “They’re crawling over this part of Terra.  What with the Palace being just on the other side of the Spire.”

“Ah.”  That wasn’t so bad.  For a second I thought she was just indulging in her cousins’ Victoria and Roberta’s quiet (or not so quiet) distaste for all things hive.

“You thought the worst?” she asked drily.

“I did,” I admitted.  “Too much time around Victoria.”

“It’s not nice to talk about people behind their backs,” Venus chided me, though she knew what I was talking about.  All too well.

At Vulkan’s house, Venus announced that proper Warp Studies cogitation was never performed on an empty stomach, and set about making something in the kitchen while Miranda and I unpacked our assignment.  The project was something Professor Ahriman referred to as ‘simple,’ meaning it would probably drive lesser men than me insane.  Fortunately, Miranda lived for that stuff.

“All right, refueling commence,” Venus declared, dropping a plate of ginger cookies on the table.  “Miranda, what’s this about?”

“Ahzek wants us to create a case study of how to predict where a ship can exit the Warp safely,” Miranda explained, shrugging off her crimson velvet jacket.

“Ahzek?” I asked.

“Professor Ahriman,” she explained.  “Before his retirement, he was a very close friend of my father.  We’ve known each other since I was two.”

“Ah.  Well, OK, if I remember right, the trick is to measure if anything has exited the Warp naturally in that spot before, yeah?  Like a Space Hulk?” I asked.  I felt oddly like I was learning at the feet of the master.

“Correct.  So…let’s see…” Miranda said, slowly dragging a stylus across a dataslate.

The afternoon passed without overloading my brain, somehow, and if I’m honest we would never have finished the assignment without Miranda there.  I kind of felt bad about not contributing anywhere near as much to the project as she did, and told her as much.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said nonchalantly, shrugging.  Her long red hair slid over her bare shoulders at the movement.  “It’s better than every single group in the class sucking up to me, trying to get me to do the project for them.”  She stood and stretched.  “Be right back,” she said, wandering off to the bathroom.  Venus waited until she was gone before we both leaned forward.

“This would be impossible without her,” I said under my breath.

“No fucking kidding, we’re almost done with the whole thing!” Venus said, looking as surprised as me.  “Fuck, should we just take our names off the paper now?  Let her have all the credit?”

I laughed and leaned back.  “Nah, I’m cool with it.  But still, wow.”

“Yeah,” she said, shaking her head.  “And the way she’s going, she’ll spend the rest of the day here with us.  Not that she’d mind.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, grabbing a cookie.

“She thinks you’re cute,” Venus said smugly.  I nearly dropped my food.

“What?”

“I haven’t seen her spend as much time looking at a guy as she has with you since she broke up with Arthur,” Venus informed me.

“Is that why you two were looking like you had your hands caught in the cookie jar when I saw you at lunch?” I asked, a few facts falling into place.

“Actually, no, that was…not that.  I had just flashed back to when I was told an embarrassing joke, and it popped into her head too.  She’s a mind-reader, remember,” Venus said.

“…Then why did you tell me that she’s got eyes for me?” I asked.  ‘She’ll know that I know now.  This is going to be super awkward.”

“No, she’s smarter than that.  And she knows you’re spoken for,” Venus said, batting her eyes at me.  I found it hard to argue with that.  I’m such a pushover.

“Well…OK, as long as this doesn’t get tense,” I said.  Miranda’s footsteps coming back down the hall silenced our conversation.  I looked back down at the dataslate in front of me, and typed a few more lines into our nascent paper.  “Venus, are you done with the graph?”

I waited a second for her answer, and looked up to repeat it when I saw that Venus was staring at Miranda with open surprise.  I glanced over at her to see what caught her attention and choked off a gasp.  She had taken her bandana off.

I snapped my head away instinctively, every horror flick about Warp Eyes I had ever seen flooding into my head at once…then realized that Venus wouldn’t have been looking at her if her eye was harmful.  I peeked back, trying not to look like I was staring.  All three of her eyes were cerulean blue, so bright and piercing they could have been CGI.

She noticed me staring and shrugged.  “Sorry.  Should have asked.”

“It’s your face, no need to ask me,“ I said.

“I’m not a Navigatrix, Jake,” she said, but she was giggling.  “It’s just…so much easier to do this kind of work with nothing in the way.”

“All right.”  I turned back to the dataslate, surprised at how fast I had stopped caring.  I guess Venus’ eyes being bright red and radioactive had sort of inured me to Miranda having three.

After another hour or so of work, punctuated by one of us saying something aloud that we thought should go into the final draft, we were more or less done.  I wandered down the hall to the bathroom myself, though the sounds of faint conversation halted my return.
“…but really, Miranda, was that necessary?” Venus asked, sounding clearly put off.

“For me to be sure, yes,” Miranda said, unperturbed.

“For fuck’s sake, sister, you scared the shit out of him!”

“I had to know.”

“Know how he would react to seeing you pull that little stunt?” Venus asked angrily.  “Why?”

“Because I don’t want you to go through what I did.”

“And I can respect that, but believe me, if all it took was an odd appearance to spook Jake off, he’d have made tracks long ago,” Venus said coolly.  “And I don’t need him subjected to tests of character on my behalf, thanks.  I want you to apologize to him when he gets back.”

“He truly wasn’t disgusted by my eye.”

“I mean for using him like that,” Venus’s voice was sounding more and more frigid by the second.

Enough.  I walked back in, and Venus’s head jerked back from where she had been leaning towards her cousin.  Miranda looked up at me as I sat down and bowed her head a fraction.  “I apologize, Jake, I shouldn’t have startled you like that.”

“It’s all right,” I said.  I sent my finished paper over to Miranda’s slate, so she could compile it.  “How does it look?”

“Great,” Miranda said, glancing over the paper.  “You’re a good technical writer.”

“Thanks,” I said proudly.  Venus settled back in her chair and sent her portion of the paper, too, which Miranda dutifully added.  After a minute of silence, she read it over and smiled.

“We have a winner,” she said contentedly.  “I’ll proof it tonight and send you each a copy.  Can I have your address, Jake?”  I wrote it down and sent it over.  She acknowledged it with a nod.  “Great.”  She checked the clock over the fireplace with a glance.  “Looks like it’s still pretty early.  Now what do you want to do?”

“Enough of homework,” Venus said, anger disappearing.  “Want to watch a movie or something?”

I didn’t, actually, but before I could say so, the front door opened.  Vulkan and a pair of Imperial Army officers walked in, speaking urgently.  When he saw the three of us, Vulkan immediately spoke up.

“Well, hello you three.  What are you up to?”

“Watching Miranda be awesome at Warp Studies, mostly,” I said, grinning at her.

“Give yourself some credit, you kept up,” she said.  “And your chunk of the paper is good.”

The Army guys both started to salute before Vulkan cut them off with a glance, handing them both a paper folder on the counter next to the door.  “Here you are, gentlemen.  I expect to see them both tomorrow.”

“Yes, my Lord.  Good evening,” one of them said, before sketching a perfunctory salute and marching right back out.  Vulkan shut the door after them, shaking his head wearily.

“It never ends, this job.”  He looked over at us again.  “Warp Studies, hmm?  I’m sure you take after your father there, Miranda.”

“I hope so,” she said proudly.  I stood up and walked over to where Vulkan was still standing at the counter, before he could ask anything else.

“May I speak to you for a moment?” I asked, not looking behind me.  He nodded solemnly, as if he had seen it coming.  He nodded over at the staircase up to the second floor, and I followed him up, feeling Venus’ and Miranda’s eyes following me.  As soon as we were out of earshot, I sighed, feeling my stomach knot up a bit.

“I want to thank you, sir, for helping us out last night,” I said heavily, rubbing the bridge of my nose as the memory came back.  “I can’t tell you what it meant to me.  I’d be in prison right now if you hadn’t helped out.”

“First off, I’ve asked you before not to call me sir in my own house, second, I meant it when I said it wasn’t a problem, third, no you wouldn’t, because the moment Venus had noticed you weren’t in school today, she would have realized what was going on.  She would have told me, and I would have come down on the Treasury like a lance strike,” Vulkan said flatly.  “And fourth, I’ve already spoken with Palozzi’s CO and told him never to assign the man to field ops again.”

“Which I can appreciate, Vulkan, and I thank you again.  But…” I felt my hands clench at the sight of the cords falling out of his sleeves, ready to drag me off.  “Venus was so angry about the whole thing I was afraid of even seeing her today.  She blames herself for everything that’s gone wrong in the last week.”

“She blames herself because she knows that it’s her fault, no matter what you and I tell her,” Vulkan said, matter-of-factly.  I looked up in surprise.  “And believe me, that’s why it’s so important to her to make things up to you.”

“I…see,” I said, thinking that over.

“No, you don’t,” Vulkan said.  “I have made completely and entirely sure that she understands that living up to a mistake is even more important than acknowledging that one has committed a mistake.”

“So…what, she’s not going to forgive herself, ever, for all this, until I tell her I blame her for it?” I asked, astonished.

“No, she’s smarter than that.  That said, she will feel obligated to do something for you regardless,” he said calmly.  “To which, I must ask, what do you want?”

“From her?  God, what could I ask for?” I said, starting to feel a little angry myself.  “See, I can’t do that.  Because the way I am, I want her to understand that I do not, and CAN’T, view personal debts and mistakes like marks on a scorecard.  I want our relationship to be more than trading favors and disfavors, and I will not accept that she can’t just be happy with me even if life does throw a caltrop in our path every so often,” I said, clenching my teeth.

“Really?  You want her to understand that?  For what tense?” Vulkan asked, his eyes narrowing.  “Do you want her not to go to school, so she can stay with you?”

THAT brought me up short.  I foundered for a second, before my lips got ahead of my brain.  “No.  I want her to be happy whatever she chooses.  I just want her to choose me, too.  And I want her to be able, whatever she chooses, to be able to live without having to keep track of every deed and misdeed like beads on an abacus.  Because believe me, that’s NOT living, and that’s NOT happiness.”

Vulkan just kind of stared at me, before a grin slowly split his onyx visage.  “Really?”

“Of course!  I may not be able to follow her wherever she goes, but-” my voice caught for a moment.  I swallowed and pressed on.  “But I’m going to make sure that however much time we get to spend together makes her understand that I treasure her.”

God, I couldn’t have sounded cornier if I tried.  I stood there for a long second, just fuming, before I mumbled my thanks for dealing with Palozzi and walked back downstairs.

Venus and Miranda were cleaning up homework implements and cookie detritus when I came back over.  Venus caught sight of the look on my face and stared.  “Jake?  You OK?”

“Yeah, I was just thanking your father for dealing with that asshole last night,” I said.  “I got a little emotional.”

“OK.  Well.  Let’s pack up.  You want to hang out here for a while?”

“Sure,” I said, grabbing the cookie plate and heading back into the kitchen.  Miranda stuffed her dataslate in her bag and tied her bandana back on, righting it in her reflection over the sink.

I cricked my back, feeling the emotional cooldown of my confrontation with Vulkan.  Miranda shot me a knowing look in the reflective surface of the counter and turned to Venus.  “Actually, you know what?  I’m heading out right now.  I’ll call for a ride.”

“Really?  OK,” Venus said.  Before she could say anything else, Miranda was already heading for the door, with Venus in tow.  Aware of the parallel between their exit and my own, moments before, I drifted back to the table and sat down.

After a few minutes, Venus walked back over to stand beside me.  She just stared at me for a moment, before reaching down and wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.  I didn’t say anything, and didn’t feel the need to.  I pushed back my chair and she settled in my lap, still leaning her head on mine, silent.

Finally, I broke the silence.  “Mind-reader, huh.”

“Yep.”  Venus snorted with sudden, forced humor.  “What DID you two talk about up there?”

“I don’t even know,” I sighed.  “I started by thanking him for helping us, then somehow we were talking about whether or not I’d ask you to not go to Kouthry if I couldn’t go.”

“What?” Venus asked in surprise, lifting her head up and staring at me.  “That’s…what did you say?”

“I said no, because I’d rather see you happy somewhere else,” I said heavily.  “Your turn.”

“Miranda was just telling me that she felt you fall down an emotional staircase,” Venus said.  “I guess I know why.”

“Yeah.”  I let the seconds drag by.  “Venus.  You understand that even if I can’t follow you, this is the best time of my life.  Right?”

She didn’t answer right away.  She just closed her eyes and settled against me, slowly entwining her hands with mine.

“…me too…” she said softly, and I felt her smile against my cheek.

“And…I don’t think Miranda trying to get a rise out of me was offensive,” I said drily.  She snorted against my hair.

“Really?  ‘Cuz I was pissed.”

“Baby, your eyes are RADIOACTIVE.  What’s three gonna do?”

“True.”  After a moment longer, she stood and stretched luxuriously.  She slid both arms down the sides of my chair, leaning in for a slow, languid kiss.  I raised my hands up to her chin, holding her still.  Time froze.  The faint feeling of her blood pulsing under my fingertips and the scent of her hair were all I could sense, besides her taste on my lips, and a gentle brush of her eyelashes on my cheek.

Radiant heat bathed my face as her eyes cracked open.  She broke the kiss and bit her lip, mischief suddenly sparking behind her eyes.  “You know what?” she asked softly.

“What?” I asked in the same voice.

“Fuck this depressing bullshit.  I wanna go for a drive.”

I smiled up at her and grabbed my keys off the table without looking.  “Hell yeah.”

Outside, I dragged Taxi out from under the front of my aircar and we took off, heading away.  I flew us over the town where we had had dinner the previous night, and set us down in public parking near the nice little square we had been in before.

The air was a lot warmer today.  Spring was wearing on, as much as the weather can change on Terra.  We were both still in our school uniforms, though I was in winter still, and Venus had elected for the much more casual-looking summer uniform, though she had abstained from the usual skirt in favor of long pants.  That was still more than enough to draw a lingering stare from the occasional passer-by, however.  And me.

We wandered around the little park, just enjoying each other’s company, watching dog-sitters by the dozen walking their rich bosses’ dogs around the place and the occasional jogger, running by.  We also stumbled upon a few families out with their kids, enjoying the artificial weather.

When we were starting to head deeper into the wooded area, though, a little kid ran up to us, clearly intent on getting past us into the woods, chased by her bellowing mother.  “Casie, you get back here NOW!” the woman yelled, as the kid suddenly stumbled to a halt, after getting an eyeful of Venus.  She caught up, panting, and scooped her errant child into her arms, chiding her loudly.  “Unbelievable.  You do NOT behave like that in public!”

Venus watched the spectacle with a wistful smile.  “Heh.  I’d like to think I was never that bad.”

“I sure was,” I said.  “My parents say I was an incorrigible little shit.”

“Ha!  Yeah?  Running away from your mother?”

“No, climbing on the shocklines in the hive walls.  Served me in good stead when I started helping Dad with the repairs.”  The mother draped the kid over her shoulder and nearly hauled her back to their car.

We pressed on in the woods, which I was still gaping at every so often, I admit.  That place had more green in one location than I had ever seen in my life, and I was determined to take it all in.  We stopped for a bite at the edge of the woods, and just people-watched for a bit, but we had to head back before long.