Trance's Tale - Chapter 2

The home that Fagin had mentioned was in the Lowport district. The Bathsheba spaceport, like most spaceports subsidized by the Free Trade Alliance, was built in a remote location of the planet. In Bathsheba's case this was in the extreme southern portion of the largest continent in the planet's southern hemisphere. And like most spaceports it was a contrast between rich and poor. Spaceports all tended to evolve in the same fashion, at first being little more than landing facilities and warehouses, then an 'entertainment' district grew up around the landing pads, the entertainment consisting mostly of bars, brothels, gambling dens, pawnshops and other places designed to separate transient spacers from their money. The workers in these establishments needed places to live and buy the necessities for their lives so soon a small residential and commercial district came into being, with the owners of these establishments preying on their clients as voraciously as the entertainers preyed on the spacers. If the spaceport was a busy one, other more reputable businesses established themselves and a second commercial and residential district developed. Eventually the spaceport would become almost two different cities. The commercial district became known as Hightown or Highport while the entertainment district was generally known as Lowtown or Lowport.

Even by Lowport standards the section of town the home was located in was run down. Many of the buildings looked like converted warehouses with wide doorways that had been bricked up or boarded over, and all of them appeared dilapidated and in need of repairs. The majority of the inhabitants of the area looked nearly as worn down as the buildings. Trance noticed several young men loitering on one of the corners. They began to approach Fagin's ground car than backed off, apparently deciding that Fagin was neither a potential employer nor prey. The home that Fagin finally stopped at was a two story affair. The windows on the bottom floor were all covered by security bars. Like all the others it looked run down, unlike most of the others it appeared as if the inhabitants were actually trying to maintain the house. Fagin got out of the car and opened the other door for Trance then walked up to the house. There was a cypher lock on the door which Fagin quickly keyed open. He was obviously a privileged visitor. "Let's meet your new roommates," he said to Trance as he opened the door and stepped inside.

The door opened into a living room There were three women, girls actually, in the room when Fagin stepped inside. Two were watching a program on a entertainment console that was perched precariously on a rickety looking table while a third was sleeping on a worn looking couch. Looks of alarm followed by looks of caution crossed the faces of two watching the console as Fagin stepped into the room.

One of the girls got out of the chair she had been sitting in and approached Fagin and Trance. She was wearing a dress that revealed a great deal of cleavage and accentuated her hourglass figure. There was a look of wariness in her deep set black eyes.

Fagin took a long and appreciative look at the girl. "Decided that there are more lucrative ways of earning a living than what you've been doing I see. You should do quite well."

"Not on your life, Fagin," said the girl. "I don't turn tricks. But when a guy is staring at my boobs he isn't watching my hands. Who's your friend?"

"Meet your new roommate, Jenni," said Fagin, pushing Trance forward as he spoke. "Just off one of the ships that landed yesterday. I found her trying, and failing, to exchange currency at the bank and decided she might be welcome here."

"That's not a person," said the other awake girl who was peering at Trance through close slitted eyes. She was slouched in a pile of cushions in one corner of the room. Her reddish blonde hair was weaved into dreadlocks and badly needed washing. "That's a piece of fruit, a grape." She caught sight of Trance's tail "Or maybe an animal. Its got a tail. You bringing us a pet, Fagin?"

"My name's Trance," said Trance rather hurt by the implication that she was somehow subhuman because of her tail.

"Your name's Grape if I say it's Grape, Grape."

"Enough, Lita," said the girl Fagin had called Jenni. Then to Trance she added "Nobody around here uses the name they were born with, and Grape fits you."

"I suppose it's better than being called animal," said Trance. She shot Lita a dirty look as she spoke.

"Good," said Jenni obviously pleased that Trance wasn't going to start a fight within minutes of walking in the door. "You just met Lita. Let me introduce you to Concepcion. She must have had a really rough night to be out like this. Concepcion, wake up. We have a guest." When the girl on the couch failed to respond Jenni went over and shook her. "Wake up you lazy slug," she said.

Trance walked over to the couch as the girl opened her eyes.

"Concepcion, this is Grape. She's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Pleased to meetcha," said the girl on the couch. There was a slur in her voice and almost as soon as she had finished speaking her eyes lost focus and she lay back down on the couch. There was something about the unfocused look in the girl's eyes that unsettled Trance. And there had been something odd about her smile as well.

"Well, Grape," said Fagin, as he headed for the door, "I'll let you get acquainted with your new roommates. I'm sure Jenni will be able to think of something you can do to help pay for your share of the rent. I'll be seeing you latter as the shop, Jenni. Your dues will be due soon. You don't want to be late with them again."

"That's just like him to leave the work to me," muttered Jenni as the door closed behind Fagin. "He runs half the rackets in Lowport, but always has someone else do the real work." She turned her attention towards Trance "Fagin said you just came in off one of the ships in port. Where you from and what are you doing here?"

"I left because I didn't like the future my family was planning for me," said Trance deliberately not answering the first part of the question. "So I left to find my perfect future, and here I am."

"Ah", said Jenni putting two and two together and getting five. "An arranged marriage. I bet it was with some man old enough to be your grandfather."

"How old are you anyway, Grape?"asked Lita.

"I'm just over seven," answered Trance not bothering to correct Jenni on her misunderstanding as to why she had left her home.

"You expect us to believe that you're seven?" said Lita scornfully. "Don't give me that crap,"

"Back off Lita," ordered Jenni as she held out her hand in a 'stop' position. "It's your own fault you didn't get your fix. Don't take it out on everyone else. You're lucky that spacer didn't beat you to a pulp when he caught you with your hands on his credit stick." Then to Trance she said, "She's always bitchy when she doesn't get her fix. I'm guessing you mean you're seven in your homeworld's years. About how old would that be in Bathsheba years?"

"How long is a year here?"

"Three hundred and eighty two days," answered Jenni

Trance did some calculations in her head. A day here seemed about as long as one on her home world. "Then I guess I'm about 15 in your years. I think."

"That makes you the baby then," said Jenni. "I'm nearly twenty and the oldest. Concepcion just turned seventeen two weeks ago. Miss cranky cause I got careless, over there is 18."

"Is Concepcion always like that?" asked Trance.

"What do you mean like that?" asked Jenni taking a quick glance over to where Concepcion was sleeping. "She said she had a rough night, last night. She's just beat."

Trance shook her head in disagreement. "I think it's more than that. When she smiled at me I noticed only one side of her mouth curved upwards and her gaze seemed, well a little off, unfocused. Has she suffered a head injury lately? She really should be checked out."

"What would you know about that sort of thing,?" challenged Lita getting up from the pile of cushions and glowering at Trance. "You're not even human, you're a grape"

Trance shifted a bit uncomfortably but held her ground. She had already decided she liked Jenni, and that she wouldn't let Lita near any of her personal belongings. "My species is close enough to yours that some things are the same. Or do you keep your brains somewhere else than in your head? Just how do you think I learned Common? My people may not have much contact with yours but we have some."

"Are you sure Concepcion has a head injury?" asked Jenni taking another look at the sleeping girl. She positioned herself between the two other girls just in case Lita decided to get physical with Trance after seeing that her attempts to verbally intimidate the younger girl had failed. "The clinics and hospitals around here aren't much for charity work."

"I'm not absolutely sure," admitted Trance. "Just pretty sure. That's why I asked if she's normally like that."

"Now that you mention it, no. But still, if you're wrong..."

A touch of impatience showed in Trance's eyes and voice and her tail twitched in an aggravated manner. "If' I'm wrong and you take her to a clinic you lose some money. If I'm right and you don't she could loose her life. Which is more important to you?"

"Ok," said Jenni reaching for the cloak that was hanging on a hook by the door. "We'll do it your way, but if it turns out she's just tired you're going to be the one who pays the clinic. Come on, help me get her up. I don't want to take her to the clinic by myself and I'm not going to take Lita and leave you here by yourself. So you're coming with me."

Chapter 1

Chapter 3