Phantasm 2: In the Shadow of Iniquity (two)

Chapter Three

Minarth

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life but that it bothers him less and less.

Vaclav Havel.

Though he had met her only recently, Scott found himself fascinated by Willow, much as he might not want to admit that fact.

A major part of his attraction to her was how alien she appeared, yet something about her didn' t seem quite right either and it kept nagging at him, spiking his interest. She looked alien; however, somehow she seemed strangely human in many respects also, her personality especially. She seemed - in a word - normal to him, despite the way she looked.

Perhaps spending time around humans and around Laura in particular had served to rub off on her. In any case, Scott couldn' t help but feel a little disappointed. This was his first encounter with a member of another race. He thought it natural to assume that alien life would be remarkably different to what he was familiar with, which was exactly what Willow didn' t seem to be.

Still, she was alien, there was no doubting that. Her body was vaguely feline and she had a strange elegance to her movements that no human possessed. She almost glided across a surface rather than touched it, to bounce and repeat the motion, a curiously graceful way of moving. The top of her head was covered by a series of small horns and long red hair. Her voice was a soft, silky purr. Dark tattoos swirled on her flesh. To know she was alien, but then to hear her speak? that was different. She had a perfect grasp of Standard and spoke with emotion and feeling, like a human, with the same infliction, possessing the same mannerisms as he or Laura or a thousand others. That was what kept putting him off and what he anticipated would keep doing so.

It didn' t help as well that he felt vaguely attracted to her. She looked sensuous and beautiful no matter what her race might (or might not) be and she was alluring. He hated himself for the feeling. He didn' t want his first experience away from Gondowin to be an infatuation with an eetie. He tried to push any thoughts which seemed as though they might head in that direction from his mind as quickly as he could.

They had been walking for about ninety minutes and had left the shuttle well behind them. Laura had landed the shuttle even further from the spaceport than she had intended, though they were still within the parameters of the protective field. Minarth' s two suns were still visible but it probably wouldn' t be long until they began to set. It was unbearably hot though anyway, even for the relatively late time of day. Perspiration hampered his movements, making him uncomfortable. The heat tired him. It didn' t matter how long they had been travelling (long or short it would be the same), he just wasn' t used to this sort of terrain. He didn' t anticipate being able to endure a long trek through the desert if that proved necessary at a latter stage. He supposed if that happened he' d find a way to manage, somehow; quite likely he would have no other choice, his survival would depend on it.

He continued for a little while longer, then couldn' t go on any further and had to stoop down, hands on knees, to catch his breath. Laura and Willow were ahead of him and he called, bringing them to a halt. "I' m sorry. Just a couple of minutes, that' s all I need."

Laura smiled and motioned for him to drink from one of the flasks he had with him inside a replicated pack. "It' s okay. My fault. I' m used to setting my own pace with Willow following. I forgot what it' s like having someone else tagging along."

Scott did as she suggested and drank. The flasks had a special cooling system which kept the temperature of the liquids inside constantly regulated, and so the water was icy cold. He wiped his mouth when he was done and sat on the hard ground, glancing up at the blue sky, the first unfamiliar sky he had seen since leaving Gondowin.
Laura removed a flask from her own pack, which was the same leather one she' d had on Aurora, and drank as well. Willow did the same. Scott noticed Laura watching Willow while she drank, as though she were studying her. He couldn' t quite think why. Laura glanced away from Willow to Scott. "What' s your home like?" she asked. "I mean, I know I' ve been there, but I doubt as a visitor I experienced it quite the same way as a resident would."

"If you have enough money to spend then I suppose it' s okay," Scott said slowly. "How generous you are with your pocketbook always dictates life on Gondowin. I never really got to see much of the planet itself. I was either in an orphanage or on the streets the whole time. As you probably know there' s not much to see from behind closed doors, except what people want you to see. The society was pretty highbrow, all politics. I think the real power on Gondowin was on the streets, in alleys and back-room dealings. I got to know the type of people pretty well, well enough to know that the politicians and governments were only figureheads. Organised crime-gangs and syndicates had all the influence, the Black Market pulled all the strings. You probably saw none of that, you' d only notice it if you knew where to look. And it wasn' t as bad a thing as you might think. There was a lot of good on Gondowin as well. It' s just that, in my experience, our society was corrupt but all the while kept trying to seem respectable to outsiders."