An Adhara Space Station Story
By P. Candice Goddard
La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do gazed unhappily at her reflection in the floor length mirror. The terrible secret she had uncovered was causing her so much stress that she was wasting away. In the fortnight since she had discovered the recording she had become a shadow of her former self. Her thick and magnificent body was becoming like a stick and it was all her sister-in-law's fault.
La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do had been at Coral Castle, her family’s residence on Adhara Space Station, getting the place in order to help out her sister Varianna when she had stumbled across the recording on a data storage device she found in a draw in her brother’s study. When La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do had watched the video she had nearly been sick. It was Dove, her brother’s wife and a young man. Someone had caught the pair ‘in flagrante delicto’ and recorded it. No doubt the person had left the device for her brother to find when he next visited the station.
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| Someone had caught the pair 'in flagrante delicto' and recorded it. |
In the two weeks since she had found the incriminating recording La-Shar-Ra, as her family and friends called her, had tried her best to think of who it could have been that planted the device in the office. Not just anyone could enter her brother’s private study. He was after all the king of the Merkingdom of Varuna and this was one of his castles. The culprit had to be a member of the family or worse, a member of staff. The thought that some servant had a secret of this magnitude against her family made La-Shar-Ra sick to her stomach. She’s barely been able to eat just thinking about it. Even if adultery hadn’t been an object, wasn’t the young man in the video a bit too young to be with her mature sister in law? It’s was absolutely disgusting to think about.
Pondering over the questions raised by the video La-Shar-Ra had come up with a list of things she needed to find out. She wished that she could simply take the device to the space station’s security team but she simply couldn’t trust their Captain Roxzamora. There was something creepy about someone as petite as her supposedly being as powerful as she was. How did she fit all of that power in her tiny matchstick body, La-Shar-Ra wondered. No she couldn’t trust Roxy with the secret. She needed the help of a woman with a little more meat on her bones.
La-Shar-Ra telephoned directly to the personal secretary of the President of the Alliance and asked to speak with her as soon as possible. To her surprise she was patched through immediately. “Ah, Little La-Shar-Ra, it’s good to hear from you,” Sexzia Thanthee smiled as her face materialised on the screen. “You don’t look well at all. Whatever is the matter?” La-Shar-Ra winced, she had hoped that her alteration wasn’t obvious to others yet but it clearly was. She hadn’t been in contact with President Thanthee for years and yet she had noticed. Pushing the thoughts from her mind La-Shar-Ra quickly stated the purpose for which she had contacted the president.
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| The president smiled at her own reflection in a strategically placed mirror that made it seem as if she was paying attention to the monitor. |
“I see,” President Thanthee said with a sigh. She pretended to be worried about the situation but secretly she just wanted to see the video, after she had watched it she would assign her grand-daughter Roxy to the case as should have occurred in the first place. If Sexzia hadn’t been friends with La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do’s parents during their time at school she wouldn’t be entertaining the haggard looking woman now. President Sexzia couldn’t stand to see a once big, beautiful woman looking like a dried out twig. It made her beautiful blue skin crawl. “Send me the file. I’ll examine it personally and get the best people on the job,” the president said, smiling at her own reflection in a strategically placed mirror that made it seem as if she was paying attention to the monitor.
La-Shar-Ra breathed a sign of relief and quickly uploaded the file to the computer from the device she had found in the drawer. She was just about to transfer it to the president when the screen flashed and she thought she caught a glimpse of a face.
“Well that was unfortunate.” President Sexzia sighed her piercing grey eyes focusing on La-Shar-Ra through the screen. I’ll still look into the case if you want but I’m afraid it wouldn’t do your brother any good.
“What do you mean?” La-Shar-Ra asked desperately, a look of confusion crossing her sunken face.
“How will an investigation help now that the file has been leaked to the public?” Sexzia asked with a bored shrug. Now that the illicit recording would be viewed by all and sundry it no longer held any interest for her and La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do’s bony face was starting to annoy her.
“What do you mean?” La-Shar-Ra repeated. She had no idea what had happened but she felt a wave of nausea washing over her. The face she had seen must have really been there.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see Ta-Shia’s face just now,” President Sexzia rolled her eyes not even bothering to hide her contempt. “Why did you send the file over an unsecured line?”
“I... You...” La-Shar-Ra began but then she fell silent. Everyone knew that Empress Ta-Shia of Duat was the chief gossip columnist for the Adhara Times. Despite being the Empress consort of one of the top five planets in the Alliance, her family was also the poorest amongst the royals so the Empress had set to work doing what she could do best. Searching out intrigue, seduction and scandal and revealing it to the public for a hefty price. As far as La-Shar-Ra-Kwon-Do could remember there hadn’t been anything as juicy as this since the elopement scandal of Princess Whita of Bim. Ta-Shia had broken that story too.
La-Shar-Ra gulped. In less than an hour everyone in the Alliance who mattered, would know about her brother’s disgrace.
“Right Little La-Shar-Ra, now that you’ve ruined your brother’s life can I get back to work running the entire Alliance?” Sexzia asked rhetorically as she ended the call. “Bye.”
La-Shar-Ra’s big green eyes gazed at the screen where just a second before the face of the Alliance’s president had been displayed. She couldn’t believe how things had turned out. If only she had taken the file to Captain Roxzamora. Pressing a button on the desk La-Shar-Ra ordered that a tray of food be brought up. If her family was about to become the focus of the Alliance’s latest gossip affair she might as well look her best.
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