Fic: Necessary Evils
Aug. 17th, 2006 05:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalNote Terinu and related charactres are copyright Peta Hewitt, and used without permission.
“Do you have everything ready?” Melika whispered outside the boy’s door. It was just past three am in the cabaret. Here in the rear section, away from the patron’s entertainment areas, it was dead quiet, all of the Cabaret’s staffers having gone to sleep after a long evening of shows and songs for their paying guests.
Ninetta smiled nervously and patted her shoulder bag. “Spare clothes, toothbrush, a new pocket comp with his favorite games.” She frowned. “Are you sure we can’t take one of his toys?”
“I can’t remember which ones he took with him when that woman took him away for one her little trips,” Melika said bitterly. “I wouldn’t put it past her to have tracking tags put in them.”
“I guess you’re right,” Nin said. “Do you have the tickets?”
Melika reached into her belt pouch and flashed the gleaming print passes. “Just purchased less than two hours ago. Paid in cash to a gray-market broker.” She handed a pair of tickets to Ninetta. “Do you remember what to do?”
Nin nodded. “I take Terinu. At the freighter’s first port of call, not the destination our ticket is set for, we disembark and take the next available ship going in any civilized direction. We’ll meet you at Vulpine Prime’s highport as soon as we’re able.”
“And I head directly home in the meantime, because that’s what Madame would assume I would do if we did something this mad.” She’d even bought three tickets going directly home, one for herself, and two others for Ninetta and Terinu, creating the illusion that they were traveling together. “Let’s start this. The freighter departs in less than forty-five minutes.” That was perhaps cutting it too close, but they dared not chance anyone discovering they’d left before their transport was well out of the system.
Ninetta nodded, and pressed the pad on Terinu’s door. It slid open silently. Visible only by the dimmed lights in the hallway, the young, so young, gray cubling lay nestled under his covers, silky black hair falling over his face, his arms wrapped around his long tail. “Are you sure he’ll stay asleep?” Ninetta whispered.
“The sedative I gave him is the one we found that worked with his night terrors,” Melika said. “I gave it to him with his goodnight glass of water and told him it was vitamins. Goddess forgive, he believed me.” She leaned over Terinu’s bed and pulled the covers away, quickly pulling his pajamas off and dressing him in new clothes, purchased just for this special trip, for much the same reason that they weren’t taking any of his old toys. The boy was so hard asleep that he barely stirred as she dressed him, and only let out a contented murmur as she gathered him up in her arms, his little head resting against Melika’s shoulder.
Ninetta glanced nervously at the open door. “Let’s go already.”
“Yes.” Melika stepped past her and headed towards the the Cabaret’s service entrance. She hadn’t jiggered the monitors that would record their passing though it, there would have been too much chance that it would have set off alarms, but her intent was too be long gone by the time anyone thought to check their records.
Holy Den Mother, beloved Goddess who watches over all our precious young, forgive me. I am taking this boy from everything he knows, to a world of strangers. But it will be a better world than the one he would have to face under that terrible woman’s control.
And here was the door. Two more steps and they would be out of the Cabaret and well on their way. Melika touched the door pad and waited a moment for it to open. To her surprise, it stayed firmly locked.
“What’s the matter?” Ninetta demanded.
“I don’t know, it’s not opening,” Melika told her. She touched the pad again. There was no alarm, no beep of malfunctioning circuitry. It just simply would not open.
“Do the both of you find the comfort of my home so confining,” a voice said behind them, “that you would leave like thieves in the night?”
Melika turned, holding Terinu close to her, while Ninetta let out a startled, “Eep!” Madame Cher stood before them, in her most formal kimono, looking tall, regal and vastly unhappy.
“Please open the door, Madame Cher,” Melika said, recovering from her own startlement.
“Ninetta, take the boy back to his room, then go to your own and stay there until I call upon you,” Madame Cher ordered.
“No,” she said, biting down on her lip.
Madame raised an eyebrow. “Do as I say.”
“Open the door, Madame Cher, or we will break it down,” Melika said, ears flicking back as she held Terinu tightly against her.
“That would attract much attention, Melika. What explanations would you offer to the rest of Cabaret’s staff for your actions?”
“They would understand that what we are doing is right.”
“This door will not open for you. Your plan has failed. If you insist on still pursuing it, I will call upon the civil authorities and have you both arrested for kidnapping.”
Madame Cher would, Melika realized. The human woman did not make threats that she was not willing to carry out. “Nin,” she said softly, “take Terinu back to his room.”
“But...”
“Do it. I believe Madame wishes to speak with me.”
Ninetta took the little cubling from Melika’s arms, and held him close it her. She hung her head down as she carried the boy away down the hallway, back to his soft little prison.
“My office, Melika,” Madame Cher ordered. “Our remaining conversation should be private.”
“Yes, Madame,” Melika said, following her, tail between her legs. When they arrived, the door slid shut behind Melika with a thump and a click. More locks.. The air felt suddenly close, subsonic humming tickling her ears as anti-monitoring equipment was activated when Madame Cher sat behind her desk.
Melika stood fast, not having been offered a chair to sit in, and really not expecting it. Better to get the first shot in, she thought, Madame’s mood can hardly get worse. “How did you know what we were going to do?” she demanded.
“Do you imagine me blind and ignorant of what occurs in my own house?” Madame Cher said with surprising mildness. “Your and Ninetta’s love of the boy is hardly a secret. Neither is the pain you both show when Mavra Chan takes him away from this refuge.”
“Refuge? More like a prison! What are we doing except holding the boy here for her, keeping him ready for the day when she takes him from us forever, to do whatever horrible things she has planned for him?”
“That is precisely what we are doing,” Madame Cher agreed. “It is not by my choice.”
Melika growled deep in her throat. “Then why didn’t you let us take him away? Every time he returns from one of Chan’s trips, his soul has died a little more. You’ve seen it, don’t tell me you haven’t! It is wrong, by the blessed Goddess it is wrong!”
“Would taking him away be worth the price you would have to pay?” Madame Cher asked. “You came here to protect the reputation of your sister-in-law. Would you so willingly drag her good name and your own through the mud just to save one alien boy?”
“If it means preserving the life and soul of a single cubling against an evil such as Mavra Chan, then yes. I will return home naked, tail between my legs, crawling to my father if he demands it, and beg his aid to pay off the debt I still owe. What good is our reputations, if I know I kept them safe by sacrificing the life of an innocent child?”
Madame Cher nodded. “Commendable of you. But do you understand what would have happened if Chan had caught you, before you reached the safe harbor of more civilized worlds?”
“She would have killed us, or worse,” Melika said flatly
“Yes,” Madame Cher said. “Then she would have killed me, or worse, and then she would have killed every person who dwells with the walls of the Cabaret, or worse.”
Melika shook her head. “No, no she wouldn’t have. That’s why Nin and I were going to sneak away. All the blame would have been on us. You could rightly claim that you didn’t know what we were planning.”
“I could have claimed that, but not rightly, and Chan would not have believed me in any case.”
“But... to kill everyone, that’s madness!”
Madame Cher sighed, and for a moment the dignified mask of the Cabaret’s mistress slipped away, revealing a human woman who merely appeared very tired, and old. “Melika, for all the years you have spent on the frontier, you still fail to understand how far we are from the rule of law that is so carefully preserved on both Earth and Vulpine Prime. Mavra Chan is building an empire for herself in this area of space whose foundation is human greed and its mortar the blood of innocents. Compared to what she has done for that goal, killing us all would be no more troubling to her than stepping upon an anthill.”
“Oh, Goddess,” Melika said softly. “Then what... what are we to do?”
“You may have the pleasure of going to bed., while I must speak to Ninetta, as I have spoken to you. In the morning, we will all go back to what we were doing before.”
“That’s all? We merely sit and wait, until the day she takes Terinu from us, never to return?”
“Not merely wait,” Madame Cher said. “Every moment we are here, you must give him all the love in your heart. It is the only defense we can offer him against what ever weapons Mavra Chan brings to twist his soul. Never forget this.”
Melika nodded grimly. “Never.”
The End
“Do you have everything ready?” Melika whispered outside the boy’s door. It was just past three am in the cabaret. Here in the rear section, away from the patron’s entertainment areas, it was dead quiet, all of the Cabaret’s staffers having gone to sleep after a long evening of shows and songs for their paying guests.
Ninetta smiled nervously and patted her shoulder bag. “Spare clothes, toothbrush, a new pocket comp with his favorite games.” She frowned. “Are you sure we can’t take one of his toys?”
“I can’t remember which ones he took with him when that woman took him away for one her little trips,” Melika said bitterly. “I wouldn’t put it past her to have tracking tags put in them.”
“I guess you’re right,” Nin said. “Do you have the tickets?”
Melika reached into her belt pouch and flashed the gleaming print passes. “Just purchased less than two hours ago. Paid in cash to a gray-market broker.” She handed a pair of tickets to Ninetta. “Do you remember what to do?”
Nin nodded. “I take Terinu. At the freighter’s first port of call, not the destination our ticket is set for, we disembark and take the next available ship going in any civilized direction. We’ll meet you at Vulpine Prime’s highport as soon as we’re able.”
“And I head directly home in the meantime, because that’s what Madame would assume I would do if we did something this mad.” She’d even bought three tickets going directly home, one for herself, and two others for Ninetta and Terinu, creating the illusion that they were traveling together. “Let’s start this. The freighter departs in less than forty-five minutes.” That was perhaps cutting it too close, but they dared not chance anyone discovering they’d left before their transport was well out of the system.
Ninetta nodded, and pressed the pad on Terinu’s door. It slid open silently. Visible only by the dimmed lights in the hallway, the young, so young, gray cubling lay nestled under his covers, silky black hair falling over his face, his arms wrapped around his long tail. “Are you sure he’ll stay asleep?” Ninetta whispered.
“The sedative I gave him is the one we found that worked with his night terrors,” Melika said. “I gave it to him with his goodnight glass of water and told him it was vitamins. Goddess forgive, he believed me.” She leaned over Terinu’s bed and pulled the covers away, quickly pulling his pajamas off and dressing him in new clothes, purchased just for this special trip, for much the same reason that they weren’t taking any of his old toys. The boy was so hard asleep that he barely stirred as she dressed him, and only let out a contented murmur as she gathered him up in her arms, his little head resting against Melika’s shoulder.
Ninetta glanced nervously at the open door. “Let’s go already.”
“Yes.” Melika stepped past her and headed towards the the Cabaret’s service entrance. She hadn’t jiggered the monitors that would record their passing though it, there would have been too much chance that it would have set off alarms, but her intent was too be long gone by the time anyone thought to check their records.
Holy Den Mother, beloved Goddess who watches over all our precious young, forgive me. I am taking this boy from everything he knows, to a world of strangers. But it will be a better world than the one he would have to face under that terrible woman’s control.
And here was the door. Two more steps and they would be out of the Cabaret and well on their way. Melika touched the door pad and waited a moment for it to open. To her surprise, it stayed firmly locked.
“What’s the matter?” Ninetta demanded.
“I don’t know, it’s not opening,” Melika told her. She touched the pad again. There was no alarm, no beep of malfunctioning circuitry. It just simply would not open.
“Do the both of you find the comfort of my home so confining,” a voice said behind them, “that you would leave like thieves in the night?”
Melika turned, holding Terinu close to her, while Ninetta let out a startled, “Eep!” Madame Cher stood before them, in her most formal kimono, looking tall, regal and vastly unhappy.
“Please open the door, Madame Cher,” Melika said, recovering from her own startlement.
“Ninetta, take the boy back to his room, then go to your own and stay there until I call upon you,” Madame Cher ordered.
“No,” she said, biting down on her lip.
Madame raised an eyebrow. “Do as I say.”
“Open the door, Madame Cher, or we will break it down,” Melika said, ears flicking back as she held Terinu tightly against her.
“That would attract much attention, Melika. What explanations would you offer to the rest of Cabaret’s staff for your actions?”
“They would understand that what we are doing is right.”
“This door will not open for you. Your plan has failed. If you insist on still pursuing it, I will call upon the civil authorities and have you both arrested for kidnapping.”
Madame Cher would, Melika realized. The human woman did not make threats that she was not willing to carry out. “Nin,” she said softly, “take Terinu back to his room.”
“But...”
“Do it. I believe Madame wishes to speak with me.”
Ninetta took the little cubling from Melika’s arms, and held him close it her. She hung her head down as she carried the boy away down the hallway, back to his soft little prison.
“My office, Melika,” Madame Cher ordered. “Our remaining conversation should be private.”
“Yes, Madame,” Melika said, following her, tail between her legs. When they arrived, the door slid shut behind Melika with a thump and a click. More locks.. The air felt suddenly close, subsonic humming tickling her ears as anti-monitoring equipment was activated when Madame Cher sat behind her desk.
Melika stood fast, not having been offered a chair to sit in, and really not expecting it. Better to get the first shot in, she thought, Madame’s mood can hardly get worse. “How did you know what we were going to do?” she demanded.
“Do you imagine me blind and ignorant of what occurs in my own house?” Madame Cher said with surprising mildness. “Your and Ninetta’s love of the boy is hardly a secret. Neither is the pain you both show when Mavra Chan takes him away from this refuge.”
“Refuge? More like a prison! What are we doing except holding the boy here for her, keeping him ready for the day when she takes him from us forever, to do whatever horrible things she has planned for him?”
“That is precisely what we are doing,” Madame Cher agreed. “It is not by my choice.”
Melika growled deep in her throat. “Then why didn’t you let us take him away? Every time he returns from one of Chan’s trips, his soul has died a little more. You’ve seen it, don’t tell me you haven’t! It is wrong, by the blessed Goddess it is wrong!”
“Would taking him away be worth the price you would have to pay?” Madame Cher asked. “You came here to protect the reputation of your sister-in-law. Would you so willingly drag her good name and your own through the mud just to save one alien boy?”
“If it means preserving the life and soul of a single cubling against an evil such as Mavra Chan, then yes. I will return home naked, tail between my legs, crawling to my father if he demands it, and beg his aid to pay off the debt I still owe. What good is our reputations, if I know I kept them safe by sacrificing the life of an innocent child?”
Madame Cher nodded. “Commendable of you. But do you understand what would have happened if Chan had caught you, before you reached the safe harbor of more civilized worlds?”
“She would have killed us, or worse,” Melika said flatly
“Yes,” Madame Cher said. “Then she would have killed me, or worse, and then she would have killed every person who dwells with the walls of the Cabaret, or worse.”
Melika shook her head. “No, no she wouldn’t have. That’s why Nin and I were going to sneak away. All the blame would have been on us. You could rightly claim that you didn’t know what we were planning.”
“I could have claimed that, but not rightly, and Chan would not have believed me in any case.”
“But... to kill everyone, that’s madness!”
Madame Cher sighed, and for a moment the dignified mask of the Cabaret’s mistress slipped away, revealing a human woman who merely appeared very tired, and old. “Melika, for all the years you have spent on the frontier, you still fail to understand how far we are from the rule of law that is so carefully preserved on both Earth and Vulpine Prime. Mavra Chan is building an empire for herself in this area of space whose foundation is human greed and its mortar the blood of innocents. Compared to what she has done for that goal, killing us all would be no more troubling to her than stepping upon an anthill.”
“Oh, Goddess,” Melika said softly. “Then what... what are we to do?”
“You may have the pleasure of going to bed., while I must speak to Ninetta, as I have spoken to you. In the morning, we will all go back to what we were doing before.”
“That’s all? We merely sit and wait, until the day she takes Terinu from us, never to return?”
“Not merely wait,” Madame Cher said. “Every moment we are here, you must give him all the love in your heart. It is the only defense we can offer him against what ever weapons Mavra Chan brings to twist his soul. Never forget this.”
Melika nodded grimly. “Never.”
The End
