A lone star on the Lady Liberty: Episode 2
Echo searches for a star
This is episode 2 of my “card” story — read part 1 if you’re just joining or learn more about the challenge.
Echo pressed her ear to the door, trying to appear as if she were doing anything but listening for sounds of movement on the other side. A ship like the Lady Liberty might claim to ‘have the utmost respect for the privacy of our guests’, but that didn’t mean there weren’t eyes everywhere. She glanced down the hall at the ceiling, playing spot the camera, then turned the other way.
“Laramy!” she hissed, catching sight of her friend as a sound further along the corridor reached her ears.
“What?” Laramy stopped doing cartwheels and came to stand beside her.
Echo pulled them close and wrapped her arms around their torso, pressing her face to their neck.
“Now, Echo, you know I love you but—” Laramy’s hands came up to her chest.
“Quiet, love. I’d hate for anyone to hear us.” She jerked her chin down the corridor, and the conversation of the two stewards who’d just turned the corner became audible.
“Ah,” Laramy said, lengthening it into a moan for good measure. Slowly, too slowly, the ship’s employees passed.
“No fraternizing with the guests,” the one on the right said, a smirk on their face. But they didn’t stop and didn’t appear to call anyone.
Echo let go of Laramy, and once again cursed the uniform she was wearing as she tugged down the hem of the jacket. “Hera wept, who did I piss off to be cursed with this uniform?”
She turned back to the door and decided if there was anyone in the room — Gar’s arm candy, for example — she could handle them. She swiped the card Laramy had procured from Davit, and the metal slid away with a hiss.
Silence.
Stepping into the luxe suite, Echo’s breath hitched in her throat. How the cream of society lived always made her flush. The padded floor muffled her footsteps as she crept into the first room. She ran her fingers along a bookshelf topped with Denovian marble, shot through with a meteor shower of sparkling mica. A blown glass vase held a bouquet of flowers — real flowers. She leaned in to inhale the scent through her nose. And promptly sneezed.
“Hush.” Laramy shifted a painting, producing a painful screech as the frame grated along the wall.
“Really?” Echo shook her head, but ignored Laramy’s continued thumping and rustling as they rifled through the cases stacked beside the desk. Echo focused on the entryway closet instead, tapping the walls as she searched for a hidden panel concealing a safe. But the walls were solid. She shoved her hands into coat pockets, the spider silk slithering over her fingers. Popping up onto tiptoes, she checked the shelf above the hangers — nothing but a sealed box of premium cha. Crouching low, she delved into the shoes, trying not to think about the feet that had worn them.
No jewel.
“Zeus’ bollocks.” Laramy stood in the centre of the room. Their usually pale cheeks were speckled red as a timothy bird’s eggs.
“Have you checked under the cushions on the chesterfield?”
“Yes, of course.” Laramy’s voice crept up a register, betraying their frustration. The toes of their left shoe tapped the floor.
Echo tried to ignore the energy coming off her old friend. Instead, she headed towards the other door. “The bedroom,” she said as Laramy came up behind her, wrapping their arms around her neck.
“The bedroom,” they said as the door slip open. “Of course.” Laramy slipped inside and twirled as the lights came on. The lights picked up the metal threads in their dress, making it sparkle. Then they flung full body onto the bed.
“No, we _search_ the bedroom. Nothing more.”
“Party pooper.”
“I’m not your type.”
“No, but I bet Davit could be up here within minutes.” Laramy ran their hands over the coverlet. “Feel these sheets. Can you imagine taking a tumble on those?”
Echo frowned, then found herself creeping over to the bed and running her fingers over it. “Nothing special,” she muttered, then added louder. “Search that side, I’ll search over here.” She slid her hands under the mattress. She sighed. The sheets really were as soft as an Angwati goat. Not that she’d felt up an Angwati goat, but she had caressed a scarf made from their wool once. She would have pilfered it if the shop steward hadn’t been so on his toes.
A pillow hit her head. She popped up and glared at Laramy. “What in Hades?”
“Loosen up.”
“Not until we’re done.” Echo lowered to her knees to peer under the bed.
“What are you doing down there?” Another pillow landed on her back, then Laramy continued. “Gar isn’t going to have it under the bed, no more than under cushions on a chesterfield. It’s the crown jewel of old Meropi — it’ll be in a safe.”
Echo’s nose scrunched. “Do you see a safe?” But Laramy had a point. She stood sharply, like she was the security officer she played at. Then a sound made her spin on her heels.
She swallowed the squeak that tried to escape as she came face to face with a monster. A lizard the size of a hunting dog peered at her. Its iridescent green scales rippled as it moved. She blinked. It blinked, and its fleshy tongue darting in and out. She grasped one of the pillows from the floor, holding it in front of her. She was not proud of the sound that escaped her mouth when its maw opened and it lunged towards her.
“What?” Laramy asked from the bathroom.
It took Echo a second to gather her thoughts enough to reply. Her heartbeat slowed as she realized the creature was behind glass. Nonetheless, she still jumped when it hissed.
“Um.” She turned to Laramy, who’d come out of the bathroom, and pointed at the lizard. But her friend stared at their wrist.
“Jacks!”
“What?” Echo asked. She strode over to Laramy, whose lips were pressed together when they jerked their head up.
“Gar.”
Echo shook her head and shrugged.
“He’s on his way back.”
“He’s supposed to be gone until ….” Echo squinted at her wrist patch. “Another hour, at least.”
“Davit says he’ll be here in 8 minutes. Something about forgetting to feed his pet.” Laramy’s head tipped to the side. “What in Hades? There’s no cat or dog, or even a bird.”
“Lizard.” Echo spun them around to face the giant glass terrarium.
“Oh.” Laramy frowned. After a pause, they shifted their attention to the picture hanging beside it. They grasped the frame and dragged it aside. “No safe.”
Echo grabbed them and turned them back to look at her. “We have to clean this place up. If that Star is here, and Gar gets any sense that someone’s been in his suite, he’ll lock it up tighter than the Imperial Vault on Metropolis.”
She grabbed both pillows Laramy had thrown at her. “Check the bathroom, make sure everything is as you found it.” Laramy twirled away, and Echo stared at the bed, trying to remember what it had looked like.
A minute later, Laramy came back into the bedroom. “Done.” They grabbed Echo’s arm as she rearranged the pillows again. “Davit says 5.”
Echo let Laramy drag her away, ignoring the pit in her belly. From the door of the bedroom, she cast one last glare around the room. The lizard still stared at her, its mouth now closed, and she wondered if the thing was intelligent.
Then her cheeks flushed and her jaw dropped as she inhaled sharply. “Zeus’ bollocks.” The words escaped in a whisper. Her breath caught in her throat as she stepped forward, but Laramy pulled her back.
“Four.” The timber of Laramy’s voice lowered in urgency.
Echo blinked then turned to follow Laramy … to follow her away from the Star of Meropi that hung around the lizard’s neck.
Continue to episode 3. To read more in this universe, pick up books in The Lyra Cycle on armchairalien.com or your favourite online bookstore.