Chapter Twelve
All too soon morning arrived, and it was time to get up and face the music; loud and discordant, emitting from a clock on the bedside table that I wanted to pick up and hurl across the room. Clearly my dislike of early morning wake-up-calls had followed me into the future. The huge Terron sun hadn't even risen yet. To add fuel to my reluctance to rise, Jordan was cheerfully humming along with the unpleasant tune, as he stood fully clothed, in another pair of comfortable loose pants and crisp white shirt, brushing his long hair back into a neat ponytail.
I threw a pillow at him, and burrowed back under the sheets.
Not only did the pillow come straight back at me, so did a heavy weight, landing across my body. Fingers yanked back my flimsy covering. I squirmed, trying to shake him off, but it was futile to try and move such a massive man, particularly when I felt him kiss the back of my neck.
"Rise and shine, my lovely," he murmured against my ear as his tongue followed the ridge of my lobe.
"Stop that. It tickles," I squealed.
"That's the general idea. We have a busy morning ahead of us, and if you want to take a shower, you had better hop to it," he urged, giving my rump a light whack with the palm of his hand.
"Hey!" I cried, rolling over as he sprung off the bed. This was one Terron who certainly did have a sense of humor, I thought as I saw him grin at me from a safe distance. Jordan sure seemed to like to play. And as I had only recently discovered, so did I. For too many years my spirit had been buried beneath the demands of my mother. But now that I was free of her, I could really express myself. I aimed the pillow at him again. Of course I missed as he casually stepped to one side.
"Any chance of turning that dreadful noise off?" I asked as he picked the pillow up off the floor.
"Of course," he said pleasantly. Sauntering over to the bedside table, he laid his hand on the clock. It instantly silenced. "You could have done that yourself, you know."
"Well, I know now. And what are you going to do with that pillow?" I asked dubiously, as he just stood there with it in his hands, grinning charmingly back at me.
"Nothing if you get up."
I heaved a very loud sigh and reluctantly climbed from the bed.
It wasn't until I had removed my dress, and stepped into the shower, that I realized I'd slept in the thing, and that I hadn't seen my suitcase anywhere in the suite.
Wrapping several towels around myself I returned to the main room, wondering what on earth I was going to wear, since the dress was rumpled and stained from last night's adventure.
I shouldn't have worried. Dana was standing there with her arms full of garments, already laying them out across the bed. I couldn't see Jordan anywhere. She had on a pale pink dress that looked Roman, with a beaded border around the neck and a matching beaded belt cinched around her slim waist. Her fair arms were bare.
I noticed a similar belt dangling from the pile of clothes, a blue one with silver tassels. "Is there a dress to go with this?" I asked hopefully as I pulled it free.
She smiled. "There sure is. It's one of my favorite outfits, but you're welcome to wear it today. And here are the matching shoes." She pulled a pair of soft beaded slippers not too dissimilar to my own from the heap of clothing.
I stuck out a foot. "Will they fit? We might be about the same size but I don't know if our feet are too."
She smiled at me. "They'll fit. Terron material remember? It adjusts to just about anyone's size."
"Cool. Thanks. Where did Jordan get to?" I asked, as I began pulling on the new clothes.
"The men have already left for breakfast."
I guess that meant I should hurry. Since the dress more or less glided on, and the shoes hugged my feet like a second skin, all I really had to do was brush my hair. That took the longest, since neither race seemed to have invented instant detangling brushes.
Feeling fresh and comfortable, I followed Dana to the bank of elevators and down into a massive cafeteria. It was crowded with mostly Terron males making quick work of what looked like standard-sized breakfasts for elephants.
"Get a good breakfast on board and achieve a more productive day," Dana quoted. "These guys are mostly Administration staff. Personally I think it's to take advantage of a free feed."
I was really beginning to like her brand of humor. "Do you work here too?"
"Yes, when I'm not at the hotel preparing brides for their marriage ceremonies. If mates want to work, the Administration will find you a job," she explained as she lad me over to what looked like a buffet. She began helping herself, so I too picked up a plate and began piling food onto it.
"It's been a while since I've had a job, but I would like to do something useful," I said as we began weaving our way through the other diners.
"That's good to hear. There's more than enough to go around, as you'll no doubt soon find out. This city might look enormous, but over half of it is empty."
I hadn't known that. It all looked so neat and new. I had no idea it was a city in decline.
"The Terron buildings are built to last,” Dana continued. “Derek and I moved back into his family home after our mating, but until then he was living here in the Admin building. If Jordan and Logan weren't running the farm, you too could move into his family's home. The houses are to die for. Ah, here we are."
Our mates were sitting at a long table, along with Logan and the two men I had met during the night, Brian and Mark. Like gentlemen of old they all got to their feet to welcome us, and then shuffled about to make room for us. I was also properly introduced to Jordan's best friend, Logan.
As I began tucking into my bacon and eggs, Jordan outlined today's itinerary for me. Apparently Logan had already organized for me to see a doctor who specialized in memory recovery.
"A shrink?" I queried suspiciously.
"A what?" everyone asked.
"You know - a head shrinker, a psychiatrist," I elucidated.
They all laughed. "Not in this day and age," Logan snorted. "No, he's a memory specialist, a doctor of the brain."
"As long as he doesn't try to operate on my brain, I'm prepared to talk to him," I said, becoming rather annoyed at their reaction.
"There's no need for anything quite that barbaric with today's technology. Nobody's brain has been operated on for well over a hundred years," Jordan explained.
Now I was a barbarian. Great! I decided to keep my mouth shut, and have it out with the good doctor himself should he decide to hypnotize me or stick electrodes to my head. After my experience with Professor Jackson, I didn't want my head, body or mind messed with again anytime soon!
Dana patted my hand. "Don't worry about them. They're just being typical males. If you want me to come with you, just say so."
"Thanks Dana." I was actually annoyed that Jordan hadn't given me moral support. As I glanced at him, I thought he looked worried, no doubt as concerned as I over what we would discover about Anita today. Of course that worry had never really left me either, but for a few short moments I had wanted to enjoy my food. Now I pushed my plate away, only a few mouthfuls eaten. I preferred to get this over and done with. "But I'd rather you didn't. I hope you don't mind." The fewer people involved in this the better, I thought.
"That's fine. I've got plenty to be getting on with myself. Hopefully I'll see you afterwards at lunch time.” With a smile, she got to her feet.
So this was going to take all morning, was it? Terrific. Since Jordan had also finished his breakfast, he once again did the gentlemanly thing and offered me his arm. I slid my hand through the crock of his elbow and we left the cafeteria.
"Where's your com-link?" he asked as we headed back to the lift bank.
"Back in our room, I suppose."
"Well, we'd better get it. I'm sure you're going to get a rather terse message from your father at some stage today."
Anita's father, not mine, I thought grimly, but didn't say it out aloud. We returned to the room to retrieve the tablet, and then too
k the elevator to another part of the building. In the hotel most of the signs had been in English, the universal Earth language, but here, where few Earthlings ventured, everything was written in Terron, a beautiful script, but totally illegible to me.
I finally found myself being shown into the good doctor's reception area, complete with Human secretary behind a large counter, and comfortable lounge chairs for waiting patients. After Jordan reported to the receptionist he sat down beside me on the lounge. I heard her contact the doctor via an intercom, informing him we were here to see him.
Expecting a bespectacled man in a long white coat, I was surprised when a Jordan look-alike emerged from a sliding door beside the reception desk. He was even wearing the same colored trousers and a crisp white shirt. Of course his features were different to Jordan's, and he wasn't as tall, but his eyes were almost the exact shade of intelligent silver blue.
"Good morning," he greeted us politely, as both Jordan and I got to our feet. "I'm Doctor Samson Coolongola, but I'm sure that's too much of a mouth-full for you, my dear, so just call me Sam."
"Thank you." I accepted his outstretched hand, which he gave a firm shake. Then he greeted Jordan the same way.
"So, will you remain while Anita and I go through the memory recovery process?"
Jordan glanced down at me. "Would you like me to stay?"
"Is it going to hurt?" I asked the doctor.
He shook his head. "Of course not. What kind of horror stories have you been spinning the poor woman," he chuckled at Jordan.
"I think she's come up with them entirely on her own. Anita seems to think she's actually from three hundred years into the past."
"Shall we go inside to discuss this?" Sam urged, extending an arm towards the still open doorway. He seemed almost as excited about his pet project as Professor Jackson had been, which to me did not bode well. Reluctantly I followed the two men.
I found myself in what could only be described as a laboratory. It didn't look like a surgery, or even an operating room. In the centre stood a bed with a curved metallic canopy over it that looked like a cat-scan machine. I supposed this was the doctor's mind reader. Other machines and computer monitors were positioned around the periphery, along with several chairs and desks. No need for massive medical tomes in this day and age. I couldn’t even see any paper charts or forms.
"So, you think you're from the past," Sam got straight to the point. He motioned towards the chairs and Jordan and myself sat down. Sam continued to pace about his lab, which I found irritating, so I gave him a brief nod in response.
"Well, we should be able to find out soon enough what your mind's been up to." He motioned towards his scanning machine. "When you lie down in this, I can record all brain activity going back about two weeks. The only problem is it takes a while for me to reverse the recordings, so you will need to come back in the afternoon for the results. Also, you will need to be sedated for the duration. That way you won't move so your brain will be at its most relaxed, and thus not interfere with the recording."
No one had mentioned being knocked out. Anything could happen while I was incognito, I thought fearfully, imagining coming back with a new brain to go along with the new body – or disappearing altogether because I was supposed to be dead. "Keep an eye one him while I'm in there," I whispered to Jordan.
"She's worried you might tamper with her mind," Jordan explained, when Sam stopped his pacing to regard us. No doubt he'd heard my whisper and wanted to know what it was about.
Even though Jordan and I hadn't tried to communicate directly with our minds since our temporary separation last night, it seemed he was still in tune with my thoughts and feelings. It was only me who had no idea what he was thinking and feeling, not that I really cared to know right now. Our lives were in danger, and it seemed only Anita's memories could help us discover why.
"No tampering," Sam said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just recording. All right."
"And I won't leave the room," Jordan told me.
Jordan's reassurance was enough to encourage me to agree to the test. Within minutes I was lying on the bed, with my head inside the tunnel. No canellas or syringes were needed to sedate me – just one sweet-tasting tablet that dissolved on the tongue. Almost as soon as it was gone, I was out for the count.
While Anita went through the memory retrieval procedure, Jordan communicated with Logan, Mark and Brian, but none of them had managed to find out much about the Rembrandts or Anita's father that wasn't already public knowledge. Everything appeared to be above-board and legal, although Rembrandt's release of the refined Hytana oil to his customers was slower than it used to be, causing shortages and price hikes in some areas of Earth.
Jordan rubbed his chin, wondering if this had anything to do with Rembrandt's desire to open up new Hytana farms on Terron. Was there something wrong with the oil? Perhaps there was some kind of industrial action involved that the authorities hadn't been informed about. Or could Rembrandt be keeping some of it for another purpose?
As he pondered these points, Anita's tablet vibrated in his shirt pocket, and Jordan fished it out, not at all surprised to see the message portal flashing.
It was from her father.
Jordan excused himself and returned to the reception area to play it. Luckily the area was deserted. Samson's mate must have gone for a break.
Jordan activated the message, and the careworn face of a middle-aged Human man with receding grey hair greeted him. Even though he was dressed in a tie and suit, he didn't look like he'd gotten a wink of sleep.
Anita, my girl, you must come home. Your fiance has been begging us to bring you back. What's happened to you? Are they keeping you against you will? You know your freedom cannot be taken from you in this way, particularly if you're engaged. A woman about to be married does not need to take the tour. What on earth went wrong?
The desperation in his voice sounded so genuine, Jordan wanted to hurl the tablet at the wall. Perhaps it was, he reasoned with himself. Maybe DeBurgh didn't know why Anita wanted to escape the Rembrandts, other then the fact that they looked like creeps. Some people could be unbelievably clueless when it came to reading between the lines. Perhaps DeBurgh had no idea that Anita didn't want to marry Rembrandt Junior.
Jordan suspected the only way he was going to discover the truth was to wait for the results of her memory scan. He sighed heavily. It was going to be a long morning, a very long morning indeed.