Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [82]
Latourn, the one who had brought Thales from the OLOSS ship, stood up and belched. He had not been with them. ‘I hear we’re goin’ to the Fest, Capo?’
‘Reckon we might be due some downtime, Lat. Not much work around for a team of three.’
Latourn nodded. Then he gave the Baronessa a lingering look. ‘Reckon I’ll go rest up, then, ready for the show. Never know what Luck might bring me.’
Rast and Catchut laughed at that. Leaving their plates and cups piled at random, they followed Latourn from the cucina.
In the silence that followed Thales was surprised to find the Baronessa staring at him.
‘Will you go out this evening, Thales?’ she asked after the others had gone.
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps, Baronessa. It seems there is little else to do.’
‘I am sorry for the way things have happened. And I have had little time to thank you for what you did. I fear Sophos Mianos would have imprisoned me.’
Thales was unsure how much he should tell this woman. She seemed educated enough, but something irrational lurked within her, something stronger than she could control. She lacked the centred calm of the truly sane. ‘Sophos Mianos has a habit of doing such things.’
‘You seem unsuited to the job you have undertaken.’
‘Bio-courier?’
‘Si.’
Embarrassment warmed Thales’s cheeks but he decided to continue. He badly needed to unburden himself a little. ‘M-my circumstances changed. I was wrongfully accused of sedition. My world has become a reactionary, oppressive place.’
The Baronessa nodded thoughtfully. ‘I am distressed to hear that, Msr Berniere. At my Studium we were taught that Scolar was Orion’s ethical and ideological centre—her soul.’
Thales felt the passion rising in his breast, loosing his tongue. ‘It is no longer what it should be. It is like a malaise that has crept unheard and unseen upon us. My colleagues have embraced Pragmatism and, worse, I fear that the Sophos have ceased to encourage honest discourse.’ He thought of The Children of God and Villon. More than that, they have murdered it.
The Baronessa watched him with an intent expression on her face.
He stopped. ‘My apologies—I am speaking of things that mean nothing to you.’
‘No, no,’ she said. ‘Please continue. Although I am not a philosopher I am educated and I have a love of learning. It is ... invigorating to listen to a man with such meaningful comprehensions.’
Thales blushed again. He had not been called a man before—not by a woman.
‘I had heard that your culture did not encourage women to be ...’ he searched for words that would not be offensive ‘.. . reflective or informed.’
The Baronessa smiled and her face lost the tiny age lines that should not have been there. ‘You have a most refined manner... may I call you Thales?’
Thales nodded. ‘Of course, and should I continue to address you as Baronessa?’
‘Mira,’ she said. ‘And you are partially correct. The women of higher castes in my culture are educated in a certain way. It is expected that we should have a full comprehension of Latino history and we are encouraged to be familiar with literature and art and with alien genera. I am unusual in that I have acquired learning in aerospace technologies.’
Thales put a mouthful of the recomposed potato to his lips and sucked at it. ‘This is part of your Innate Talent, I suppose?’
Mira’s smile faded and he saw bleakness replace it. ‘In part, I suppose. But much was from my own initiative. Women are not supposed to possess an Innate Talent. It has not been that way before.’
‘It was difficult for you, then—in a patriarchy.’
Her face took on a gaunt appearance. ‘They sought to take my Talent from me.’
‘How so? I am not trained as a biologist but I imagine it would need something akin to gene transference.’
She bowed her head. ‘Si. And afterwards…what would be left?’
They sat in silence then for a while.
‘Would you accompany me this evening? I am uncomfortable with the mercenaries,’ Mira asked.
Thales thought of Rene and felt a pang of guilt. ‘I—er—of course, though you