Galatzi Joy Read online

  I stared at the door. I didn't understand what had just happened. I had taken rejuvenation just like she and I had agreed. I looked like this for her.

  It had to be a joke. I palmed the pad, and the door complained. I asked the pad to summon Berdine again. A moment later, her voice came from the pad.

  "Maddalyn, go away. If you come back, I will have you arrested on charges of harassment. You can't really believe I want someone as pathetic and ridiculous as you in my life, do you?" And then the panel went dark, telling me she had disconnected.

  I stared at the door for a long time. I stared at the panel for a long time.

  I couldn't believe she was doing this to me. I thought she loved me. I thought she wanted me. I thought she wanted me this way.

  But slowly I realized she had intentionally done this to me; she had humiliated me as punishment for one word: Nein.

  "Du Miststück!" I screamed at the door. "Geh zum Teufel!" You're a bitch. Go to hell.

  I collected my things and turned around.

  * * * *

  The technician at the rejuvenation center was very gentle and kind. She held my hands while I cried, listening to the entire story. When I was done, she helped me clean up. But then I asked if they could undo the changes.

  "Tut mir leid," she said. "I am sorry. That would require a fresh rejuvenation. The Frantzland government will pay for your rejuvenation every nine years. You would have to pay."

  "I can't," I replied. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

  "If your health were in danger," she explained, "then we may help. But it requires a medical reason. Remorse is not a reason." She paused. "You can hire an attorney to take your ex-girlfriend to court, but these cases do not typically go anywhere. Tut mir leid, Frau Herschel."

  She spent another half hour soothing me then made sure I had somewhere to go. "Mama's," I said in a small voice.

  * * * *

  "Oh, my little Maddie, what did you do to yourself?"

  I burst into tears.

  Mother immediately pulled me into the house. My mother was not the sort to appreciate public displays of, well, anything. She certainly wasn't going to have her only daughter standing on her doorstep, crying and making a spectacle of herself.

  But she surprised me. Mother was also not one given to any displays of affection, even in private, but she pulled me into her arms and rocked me while I sobbed. Slowly, she led me further into her home, pulling me down onto a sofa while still holding me in her arms.

  I told her the story in fits and starts. She said nothing. I think perhaps she would have told me how foolish I had been, but I did that for her.

  "I was so stupid."

  "No, my daughter. You were not. You were perhaps naïve. You were foolish to trust this woman. But you are not stupid. You have never been stupid."

  "Mama, what am I going to do? I let her do this to me." I gestured to myself. "I don't even have anywhere to go."

  "Why do you need somewhere to go?" she asked. "You are home, Maddie."

  I burst into a fresh round of tears, clutching at my mother in a way I hadn't done since I was very young. She held me; she rocked me; she told me it would be okay.

  "They told me how much it would cost to change this," I said. "I cannot pay it. And I know you cannot, either."

  "Perhaps not," she said. She looked at me carefully, and I tried to avoid her gaze. "For now, you will move home and let your mother take care of you. You have had a shock, but while you look foolish, you perhaps have learned something."

  "But Mama, I'll have to stay like this for nine years."

  "Perhaps that is so; perhaps it is not. But you do not look as foolish as many people who come out of their second or third rejuvenation after taking a drastic change. You are still my Maddie here, where it counts." And she tapped the side of my head. "And in here." She tapped the center of my chest, although she had to aim carefully to avoid disturbing the ample bosom Berdine tricked me into accepting. "Can you do your job from here?"

  "Yes, Mama," I said.

  Frantzland was a technologically advanced planet, one of the most advanced throughout the empire. The results were many. Not only did we have the comforts of advanced technology, but most routine work was entirely automated. Corporate tax structure was based on income as a function of the number of employees a company had and what they were paid. Companies that were heavily automated paid large taxes. Companies that employed many people at good wages paid almost nothing.

  From this money, the basics were provided free of charge to all citizens of Frantzland. All housing was subsidized from these taxes. So was food, medical care, clothing, and all the other basic necessities of a modern life. One could find a place to live that cost nothing. One could eat, see a doctor, and keep clothes on one's back, all without a job.

  But it was contrary to Frantzland society to go without a job of some sort or another. For one thing, fully subsidized housing was small and not necessarily convenient. One could eat in a very healthy fashion on subsidized food, but luxuries cost actual credits. Alcohol was certainly not subsidized, nor was coffee, tea, or any other form of flavored drink. If you wanted them, you paid cash.

  But because no one was forced into a job, many people made their own jobs. One could live comfortably as a street performer, poet, or even graffiti artist. Anyone capable of entertaining others could find a market of some sort or another.

  Service jobs were also common. Inexpensive restaurants tended to be fully or nearly fully automated. But when you were visiting a more expensive restaurant, people like to ask the server, "Do you think the lamb or the duck is better?" And no one was going to trust a machine, regardless of its level of sophistication, to comment on which food might taste better.

  For some reason, people also preferred dealing with a living human in some jobs a computer could do perfectly well. Major corporations still used live people to answer phones. Oh, certainly not every phone, but when a personal touch was required, a simulated human wouldn't do.

  That's what I did.

  What I liked was that I could do it from nearly anywhere on Frantzland. I worked for a woman named Serilda Langenberg. Frau Langenberg was, simply stated, a matchmaker. Oh, not for love, although she could do that, too. No. If you wanted to meet the CEO of Wingroot Enterprises, you called Frau Langenberg. If you needed a good lawyer, you called Frau Langenberg. If you needed an actress to model next season's cosmetics, you called Frau Langenberg.

  Frau Langenberg knew everyone, absolutely everyone.

  And when Frau Langenberg called, people answered. Why? Because you never knew when you would need Frau Langenberg, and if you didn't answer when she called, she wasn't going to answer when you did.

  I should know. I was frequently the one turning people away.

  When Frau Langenberg called, you answered. You weren't obligated to take the case or model the cosmetics. But you better at least allow the introduction.

  Frau Langenberg didn't take Nein for an answer.

  And I was her gatekeeper. Well, one of them. And due to the magic of technology, I could work from anywhere on Frantzland, including my old bedroom in Mother's apartment.

  And so, for the next several months, that's what I did, never stepping foot out of the apartment.

  Journey

  "May I have your tablet, Maddie?" Mother asked. It was after dinner, and we had just finished cleaning up with plans to watch a video together afterwards.

  "Is something wrong with yours?"

  "No."

  Puzzled, I retrieved the tablet and returned to her in the living room. I woke the tablet, unlocked it, and handed it to her. She tapped the surface a few times before switching to her own tablet for a moment. Then she looked back at mine, tapped it a few more times, and smiled. Then she turned it around and handed it back to me.

  I looked at it. "What's this?"

  "Your ticket."

  "My ticket?"

  "Sit down, Maddie." She gestured to the other en
d of the sofa. Once I was seated, she said, "I wrote my Aunt Anna."

  I had met Aunt Anna, once, when I was eight. I barely remembered her. She had been married to my grandfather's brother at the time, a relationship that ended during my early teen years. But they had been together for a very long time, and Mama sometimes told stories of her times with Tante Anna and Onkle Ansell. I didn't know Mama still talked to Aunt Anna anymore.

  "I told her about your situation," Mother continued.

  I was immediately embarrassed, but mother ignored my reaction.

  "She wishes to meet you. She may be able to help but makes no promises. But she has paid for your ticket to Tarriton, and if she is unable to help, she will offer a place to live on Tarriton or return you here."

  "She can help?"

  "Aunt Anna is a very powerful woman," Mama said. "But her help will have a price. I do not know what that price will be, but you would almost certainly spend many years paying it." Mama looked away. "I would miss you greatly, Daughter, but this would not be goodbye. Perhaps Anna will send you to visit, or perhaps I will save my money and visit Tarriton. Maybe someday you will return to Frantzland."

  "Mama?"

  "This is a good opportunity for you, Maddie. If Anna helps you, she will also make you work for her to repay her. But any job she gives you will be important. You will meet important people and do important things, and some day you will be just as important yourself."

  "I meet important people working for Frau Langenberg."

  "No. You briefly talk with important people before passing them to your boss. You do not actually meet them."

  "You are sending me away because I am an embarrassment."

  "No, Maddie," she said, gently. "I am sending you away because I love you."

  I didn't know when the last time was Mama told me she loved me. Had she ever told me?

  I looked closely at my tablet. The ticket said the transport left early in the morning the day after tomorrow. If I was going, I should board tomorrow evening.

  "So soon?"

  "You are traveling aboard the same ship that brought news from her," Mama said.

  "I-" I looked up at my mother. I felt tears in my eyes. "I might not see you again for a very long time."

  "It is expensive to send packages across the stars," Mother said. "But it costs little to send letters."

  I looked down. "I don't want to go."

  Mama moved closer on the couch. She lifted my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes.

  "Maddie, this is a good opportunity for you. You were always a smart girl, and Aunt Anna remembers that. Furthermore, she does important work, and she needs smart people to help her. What you do for Frau Langenberg is not half as important as what Aunt Anna will have you do." She paused. "You need to do this, Maddie."

  "But I'd have to leave you."

  "It's not forever."

  "It could be years."

  "Yes, but how often have we seen each other in the last three years?" she asked.

  "We talked-"

  "A few times, but not often."

  Mother and I talked about it for another hour. I knew even when the conversation began, I would do whatever Mother told me to do. And so, when she said, "So it is decided. Tomorrow you will explain to Frau Langenberg that you must leave on short notice. We will spend the day together, and tomorrow evening you will board the shuttle."

  * * * *

  My home planet was formally known as Frantz One. It is the first planet around a small, red star. The planet is barely habitable. The remainder of Frantz system held one more rocky world, three gas giants, and several more icy rocks outside the gas giants. Because Frantzland was so close to our star, interstellar transports didn't like to descend our star's gravity well so deeply.

  And so, travel away from Frantzland involved a shuttle to low orbit and then a second shuttle to meet with the interstellar transport Safe Haven, parked in orbit between the outer two gas giants. Travel from orbit was at a steady one-gee, discounting a thirty-minute period halfway through the journey for the ship to rotate end for end to begin decelerating again. Travel time from Frantzland's surface to our berth on Safe Haven, the interstellar transport, was eight days.

  From Frantzland, Safe Haven traveled first to a system called Hope. Then from Hope we went straight to Tarriton. My total distance traveled was 59 light years.

  Arrival at Tarriton was not to the planet's surface or even planetary orbit. Tarriton maintained a space station sixty degrees behind the orbit of their second gas giant. All interstellar traffic passed through the space station. On the station, one went through arrival customs and, depending upon one’s world of origin, quarantine. Coming from Frantzland, I did not require quarantine. And customs seemed quite brief.

  The language on Tarriton was English; I spoke no English. But the official in customs had helped me download to my tablet a map in German as well as the other information I required. She also highlighted my hotel on the map.

  I had never been away from Frantzland, and everything was a grand adventure for me. My appearance garnered less attention that I expected it would, and so I spent my two days on the station seeing the sites. There wasn't that much to see, but I went everywhere I was allowed.

  I had hoped to see Tarriton itself, or perhaps the gas giant with whom the station shared the orbit. But both were way too far away. The gas giant looked like a particularly bright star against a sea of stars. Even the Tarriton star appeared quite small from a hundred billion kilometers distance.

  The time passed quickly, and soon I found myself strapped into a seat aboard the shuttle. Travel time from Tarriton Six -- the gas giant -- and Tarriton Three was another week. And then my journey was still not over.

  Tarriton was every bit as technologically advanced as Frantzland and in some ways, more advanced. The reason Tarriton was the regional imperial capital was quite simple. Tarriton had a beanstalk.

  The official name was space elevator, but no one called it that. Everyone called it a beanstalk. Imagine a tree, forty thousand kilometers tall, growing from the planet's surface. Oh, it wasn't a living tree. It was constructed of carbon nanotubes. At the surface, it was anchored on the planet's equator, deep in planetary bedrock. It extended into space, well past geosynchronous orbit. Centrifugal force kept it taut. At the furthest end was another space station.

  And so our shuttle traveled from our orbit near Tarriton Six, one hundred billion kilometers from Tarriton Star, to the top of the beanstalk. From there, we disembarked the shuttle, collected our belongings, and then rode an elevator -- an actual elevator -- all the way to the planet's surface. Those last forty thousand kilometers consumed two days.

  But, finally, ten weeks after leaving Frantzland, I stood with two feet on Tarriton's surface.

  Nature

  I had met a number of my other passengers during the weeks from Frantzland. Cloris Mandel and her partner, Charles Emerson were returning to Tarriton. Charles was a Tarriton native; Cloris was from Frantzland. They both spoke English and German. And so I was quite pleased to have their guidance.

  I didn't know what to expect upon arriving on Tarriton. But arrival procedures are the same everywhere, or so I've been told. We arrived in a secure area at the base of the beanstalk. There were ground connections into the city, fifty kilometers away, or to the airport south of the city. I actually didn't know what I was supposed to do, and so as we exited the space elevator, I plastered myself to Cloris and Charles.

  But I shouldn't have worried. We had barely exited the elevator before a man stepped up to us.

  "Frau Herschel?"

  "Ja?"

  The three of us turned to the man. He looked between us in confusion. "I am expecting only one." He spoke with an unfamiliar accent, but I was able to understand him. "Anna White sent me for you."

  "Oh," I said. I turned to Cloris. "Thank you so much for your help." I shook hands with both of them, and a moment later they walked away, leaving me alone in this strange pl
ace with a man I didn't know. I turned to him.

  "My name is Devon Parsons." He held out a hand.

  We shook. "Herr Parsons. I am pleased to meet you."

  He looked at my meager belongings. "Is this everything, or are your things arriving separately?"

  "This is all," I said.

  "Well then. Come this way." He gestured, and we proceeded to travel the same direction Cloris and Charles had taken. "How was your trip?"

  "Long. Good. It was my first time leaving Frantzland."

  "I understand Frantzland is a very harsh world."

  "The surface is harsh. We don't spend much time there."

  "Well then," he said. "We have four hours until our flight to Artemia."

  "The capital," I clarified.

  "Yes. If you're tired, there is a tube direct to the airport."

  "Or..."

  "There's a tube to Aetheria if you wanted to do a little shopping or find a restaurant. There are also restaurants at the airport. Or we can take a ground effect vehicle, and we can go for a drive."

  "Outside?" I think I squeaked.

  He smiled. "It will be a little different than you're used to."

  I had to remember that most of the planets inhabited by man were not the rats' warren of my home planet. "I-" I paused and wet my lips. "I'm not tired. I should eat before our flight."

  "Are you asking my advice?"

  "Yes."

  "Then you should see this."

  * * * *

  I stopped in place and stared at the doors. There was light shining through the glass, and I realized I was looking at sunlight. It wasn't a red tinge, and it looked quite unnatural. Herr Parsons stopped beside me, and I knew he was watching me.

  "Is it safe?" I asked in a small voice.

  "It's warm," he said. "Probably thirty degrees." By that he meant thirty Celsius, which would actually be a cool day on the surface of Frantzland. "But yes, Frau Herschel. It is perfectly safe."

  "Do we need breathers?" The atmosphere on Frantzland wasn't poisonous, but it was harsh.

  "No. It will be humid and perhaps there will be unfamiliar scents. It is safe, Frau Herschel."