Mis-matched or Perfect - a Sci Fi Question

Ellie eased her body out of the softness of the flight chair. Public Barges were great, if a bit pricy, but she wanted to walk around or her fifty-five year old body would cramp up. In an hour, they would be circling the planet where her nephew, Danny, was running a branch of the family business. It would take another hour for the barge to land and an hour after that to get through customs. She planned what she would do while she walked around the Passenger Salon, avoiding eye contact with the other passengers. She was sure that Gene had put someone on the flight to keep an eye on her, but she didn't want to know which of the two dozen people in this salon it was. When they were closer to the planet she would call Danny and let him know she was coming and maybe he could grease her way onto the planet.

She had chosen The Shimmer carefully. It was cheap enough that she would have been able to afford it on her hospital pension, but not so luxurious that it looked as if the family had paid for it. Gene, as head of security had vetted it thoroughly and although he had some minor objections, he had thought she would be safe. There had been some financial irregularities lately in the accounts and the family wanted to know about this Lucretta, girl that Danny seemed so besotted with. It would be less obvious for her to check things out than if they had sent a team of auditors. This way thy might be able to find the culprit and recover some of the missing funds.

Three circuits around the salon had loosened her joints and she resumed her seat and asked the yellow clad staff droid for a com unit. She waited after it appeared for five minutes until the ship to planet rates dropped and was starting to make her call, when the droid again appeared at her side.

"Excuse me ma'am. You are Mrs. Ellinore Martin?" came the tinny voice of the staff droid. "Yes," Ellie replied wondering what this was about. "You will come with me, please," the droid held out a limb indicating a direction. With smoothness that hid any concern Ellie rose and followed the droid to the rear of the salon, where the droid handed her off to a higher ranking orange droid. The voice was a bit deeper when it said "A ship has been sent for you along with this com." He handed her a small vid screen and an image of Danny appeared, saying, "We saw your name on the manifest and thought you might like a quicker ride planetside. Lucy will meet you at customs and bring you to our quad as soon as you are done there."

The orange droid escorted her into a shuttle and said "Your baggage has been transferred and we should reach planetside in five minutes." It then went to the front of the shuttle and stood beside the pilot droid. "Please sit comfortably" The blue pilot droid said and began the undocking procedure. El seated herself in the nearest easy chair, realizing that this was in an orange and blue, company shuttle and would have priority for landing at their own dock.

Ten minutes later she was showing her papers to a short balding creature who was reviewing everything while a sniffer unit was sitting quietly off to the side. The scans were subtle, but they were there. A tall dark haired woman was standing off to the side, waiting. When the customs creature nodded, she came forward and said "I'm Lucretta, please call me Lucy. Dan has asked that I collect you and bring you along to the quad. Is there anything I can carry for you?" Her voice was deep and almost purring as she guided Ellie across the carpet and into a small zypher for the trip to the quad. "He would have come himself, but he needed to be at the office to check in the rest of the shipments that came in on this barge. That was how we happened to see your name." Lucy kept up a string of small talk, describing various landmarks as she smoothly piloted the small zephyr, eventually easing it into a bay and shutting off the engines. "Well, here we are."

Dan was coming out of an office into the hall as El entered from the opposite end. He hurried down to hug her, laughing and talking, words tumbling over each other in greeting. "I'll make reservations for dinner while you two catch up." Lucy said as she went through a door. "Sixish, I think, gives her time to freshen. You too."

Dan lead Ellie down the hall and through a door on the left into the company guest quarters. "We're laid out just like at home, so you should know where everything is," Dan said. "My office is two down and my quarters, across the hall from the office. Lucy and I are in the process of building our own place about three squares away from here. It would be halfway between our work and give us some privacy." Ellie saw her bags had been placed in the center of the room. She went to the smaller of the two and pulled out a wrapped package. "Your mother sent this. I don't think your father knew I was coming. He was quite upset about the hospital. I assume you know." Ellie had helped her sister pick out the leather cover, which was just the color of the hills behind the family house where Dan had grown up.

Dan reached for the package and quickly unwrapped it. "Oh" was all he said as he stroked the smooth com unit cover before putting it around his com unit. "So soft. Mom's taste is im-peccable." He was referring to a family joke about the hens that pecked anything other than his mother. Now Gene would have access to all his communications and he would be none the wiser. Gene would be discreet about keeping his personal secrets, but would protect him and the company. "I have to go check on one last thing. We will probably be dining someplace pricy so you might want to put on something softer," Dan said as he left her alone in the room.

El quickly changed into a blue drappy dress that hid her roundness and showed off her coloring. Then she picked up her bag and the plug in she needed to put into Dan's desk top which would show Gene if there was anything funny going on. She walked across to the office where Dan was tapping away on his keyboard. "I thanked Mom for the cover so she knows you are here safely." He said without looking at her. When he finally did look up, he said "Wow, no wonder you were my favorite Aunt, Lucy will be jealous." El was pleased at the effect the dress had on him. "Do you mind if I let Gene know I am her? He is such a fuss budget about me." That way she could insert the minuscule plug in without arousing any suspicion.

He went to change into something nicer for taking beautiful women to dinner while she sat at his machine tapping in the agreed upon message that would tell Gene to start looking for things. She took a quick look at any mail that was waiting for her and replied to two friends while she waited for Dan to return. Lucy came into the office first, smiling and saying "May I call you Aunt El, like Dan does? I feel like I have known you forever, he has told me so many stories." Dan trailed after her, holding her hand.

Dan drove them to the restaurant, where Lucy had arranged their dinner. The lighting and background music were both soft. The linens were smooth and the china and utensils were gleaming. "I took the liberty of ordering. I hope you don't mind." Lucy said as they were seated at a table in a private room that overlooked a lake which was pink in tone. Dan said "It is always hard to get used to the colors on a different planet. The pink of the lake is caused by the chemical reactions of the shells on the bottom. I think it is pretty, don't you." Conversation proceeded comfortably as Ellie learned that Lucy had met Dan because she was a buyer for their competition. Ellie had at first settled into the warmth of the room, but soon was too warm. She asked the server if the room could be cooled a bit, and the server said, he thought it had been supposed to be warm, but he would correct it right away.

Ellie had been brought up in an earlier time, and continued to observe Bedford family protocols that the younger generation had never thought necessary. Lucy had ordered mostly meats, and was disconcerted when Ellie said that her elderly digestion would only allow her to have steamed vegetables and fresh fruit along. The restaurant was quick to provide the kinds of things that Ellie wanted. Ellie knew that with this diet her brain would be sharper than if she had eaten the heavy foods that Lucy had ordered. She quickly swallowed the anti poison pill that Gene had insisted she bring and use, washing it down with a sip from a cup of Earl Grey.

Dan was glad to talk with family and was regaling them both with stories about his older brother Martin. Sibling rivalries never seem to change much. When El asked Lucy if she had any brothers or sisters, Lucy deflected the question, by saying that it had been rocky and warm where she was born and that she grew up with many children, but she had been abandoned by her parents. As the room cooled Lucy seemed to loose some of her sparkle. She said she was tired from a long day and that she would soon be heading off to bed so that she could get an early start on the day tomorrow. Dan escorted her to the door where she found a zypher for the ride home.

Ellie and Dan headed back to the compound. Ellie explained to Dan about the problem at the hospital and was surprised that he had been totally unaware that she had been accused of anything, much less of absconding with funds. The next time she saw him, she would have to tell Gene that all his effort to make her look bad so that she could do his spying for him, had been unnecessary here.

She spent two days shopping with Lucy and getting to know her, then joining Dan for dinner at a different restaurant each evening. Lucy was tall, dark, slim and drew every eye when she moved sinuously across a room. Ellie thought that Lucy made her look even more dowdy when they were side by side. Periodically Ellie, had to insist that the temperature be turned down, since she was so very hormonally hot. When it got cooler, Lucy seemed to slow down. They went to the place that Dan and Lucy were building. It was built on a slab of rocks and was like a toaster to Ellie, who was relieved to go back to change for dinner.

"Look who's here!" Chortled Dan as he pulled Ellie into his office. There sat Gene at the computer. This couldn't be good. "Hi El," he said. "I just couldn't stand to be apart from you. Not even for a couple of days. Besides there seems to be some kind of bug in the records here and I wanted to see who was checking our records." He said as he showed her the same bug that she had put into the computer for him. He squashed the bug before it could walk away and continued looking through the computer. Then without much effort, he pulled out a second bug which tried to slither away. He put that bug into a plastic cube and dropped it into his pocket. '˜That should get some action from somewhere."

"One of my guys told me about a great place to eat out here, so grab you glad rags and let's go get some grub. You too squirt." He said to Dan, "and bring that babe I hear you have been hanging with. I want to meet her. How about cocktails here before we go." Gene was breezing along, arranging everything the way he wanted it. Nothing new there. "Hey El, I found out something about that business at the hospital, can I ask you some things while we wait for the kiddos." Gene said and walked along with me to my room.

"What is going on?" Ellie hissed at Gene. "Lots sweetie, but for now follow my lead. Lucretta isn't what she seems. Now that is all right as long as sonny boy know it, but I don't think that he does, and I think she is worming her way in to take over the company," he said as he patted the bug in his pocket. "Oh be sure to bring a wrap along with you tonight. How about that syno stole I gave you. It brings out the blue of your eyes." "The hospital still hasn't figured out who fiddled with the books. They are sure going to look dumb when the audit shows that the money is still all right there. Lots of egg on their face, big apology to you. Should make the wire. I should let them finish in about a week." Gene was still pulling wires and Ellie had no idea how he did it.

She grabbed the stole from the press and draped it over her arm. It would be warm to wear to any of the places that they had gone so far to eat, but Gene was a law unto himself. When they got back to the office Lucy was there holding out a drink for Gene and El. Gene thanked her and carried the drink around with him as he chatted Lucy up. Then he set his glass down, untouched and reached for Ellie's before she had a chance to even take a sip. He winked at her and continued with his breezy patter keeping Lucy and Dan distracted. Finally he said that he had organized transport for dinner and that it would be a big surprise for all of them.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Gene led them in before they could check out it's name. He guided them down a chilly hall and into an ever chillier room with the sound of water dripping in the background. Ellie put her stole around her shoulders and Gene winked at her, but Lucy was getting even paler than usual. Dan asked if she was okay and put his coat over her shoulders. Gene looked quickly over the menu and spoke with the waiter, who left quickly. The first course came and Ellie looked at gene like he was nuts. It was some kind of eggs in sacs that had been steamed in a peanut sauce. Ellie asked for water and watched Lucy turn almost as green as her eyes. When the main course came Lucy, looked at Gene with anger in her eyes. She was trying hard to work herself up. She knew that anger would warm her blood. "What are you doing?" she hissed at Gene as he presented the tray of fried rattlesnake as if it were a treat. "This is a delicacy, where we come from. Why? Does it give you a problem?" Her look was full of venom as her body became even slinkier than before.

"It is time for truth telling :Lucretta. Dan can't be marrying you if he doesn't know what you are." Gene was sure of himself as he asked her "Will you tell him, or should I." She whimpered and turned her head into Dan's chest. Dan started to bluster, but Gene continued as if he were silent. "There are two problems, Danny my boy. We'll talk about this one first. Lucretta comes from Lepidop where the population is very snake like. She may actually love you, but she at least loves the comforts that you can give her. What you do about that on a personal level is up to you. If you want I will give you advice but your personal life is your own. Unfortunately someone has placed a slithery bug in the company computer, which is sending information back to that planet, and that I suspect was her." Lucy writhed in Dan's arms, spluttering and caressing him as her body slowed.

"Unlike the hospital where El worked there are actual funds missing from your accounts that have been traced to companies on Lepidog. I have been watching this for about a year and the flow of funds has increased steadily. I have seen no product being received from Lepidog to account for the funds going there and judging from the look on your face this is news to you." Gene waited for Dan to reply, but he was busy untangling himself from the clingy Lucy who had changed from the bright breezy girl into an increasingly slow woman.

Gene rang for the waiter, who looked vaguely like one of the passengers on the barge I came out on. "Take Miss Asp back to her residence. She is unwell." Gene's directions were short. "We will speak with you tomorrow when you are feeling more like yourself," he said as she was helped from the room, by a man in the familiar blue and orange uniform. Dan started to object, when Ellie interrupted "This is not over. Your judgment is not in question, Dan. It was just clouded because you didn't have all the facts. When I came out here, I hoped that I was going to meet the most wonderful girl in the world and that you were going to live the happily ever after story." Ellie hoped that she could salvage her relationship with her nephew. She knew he probably thought that she had been a spy for Gene and his parents.

Dan stood up, his face white with shock. "I am leaving. I will see you tomorrow at the office." He left quickly and Gene signed at a waiter to follow him. "What are you playing at?" Ellie screamed at him. "You shattered him! He was in love with her." Gene hung his head. Then looking carefully at Ellie he said, she was robbing the company. If she loves him, she will put it back. If not, he will be stronger for it. He is not a dupe." He signaled to the waiter to remove the food and the mess. After that they returned, interrupting the starring match between Gene and Ellie. The put down bowls of spicy, steaming, vegetables with a loaf of fresh bread. Ellie shook her head. Then a memory came back to her of young Dan carrying a beautiful black snake up to the house to show his mother, who screamed and fainted.

The next day Dan looked for Lucy, but she had gone. Gene said his minders had watched as she went to the docks and boarded a ship bound for her home. Dan came into the office prepared to be returned home. "Do you really want to go? You were doing a good job here before, and you learned a lesson. Don't think that you are the first one in the family to misjudge someone. Your secret is safe with me and I think with your Aunt Ellie. We will just tell the family that you changed your mind." He looked at Ellie for conformation, and saw that she was nodding.

"Dan, don't worry about the missing money, Gene is a marvel at moving things around and making the books work out." Ellie reached out and took Dan's hand in hers. "Are we okay? You know I love you. There have been lots of mistakes made by members of the family, but we all stick together. Your secrets are safe with us." He looked at her and shook his head. "I'll get through this. Thank you for being so understanding. Now shouldn't you be getting back to tell Mom there is no wedding to plan, unless you and Gene are going to finally set things right."