Chapter Twelve
Thomin felt his face and made a decision. As usual, he worked out what would do it and did it. It didn't take long. He was surprised the crew member who brought his dinner yelled for an aid kit. Of course, he hadn't looked in the mirror either. He'd expected a bit of blistering. The compound he used hadn't been carefully constructed to slowly kill the hair follicles over several treatments of several hours. He'd decided he'd never want a beard and gotten rid of it, period. He did admire the petty officer's vocabulary and appreciated the cream she spread on him. Ignoring the burning had been hard work.
She asked him why he hadn't asked for depilatory. He told her he'd had everything to make what he wanted and that wasn't temporary. She impressed him with her vocabulary again, sighed, handed him the container of cream, said, "Every four hours for three days and someone will remind you. That's the only thing we've got that will even probably keep you from scarring," then left.
He decided he'd underestimated the amount of blistering a bit and reworked the formula to see why. The answer he came up with was his skin was more delicate than he'd realized. The formula was correct.
He used the cream as instructed. Scars attracted attention and were more difficult to cover than red hair. It was the only consideration he gave it. He'd have been very surprised to learn the PO cried after she left his quarters and some of it was because she knew it.
Jobe had made the same decision Thomin had, but for a different reason. He didn't like the smell of the twenty-day depilatory, and after fifteen, he looked like he hadn't used it in twenty-one. His beard wasn't all over his face yet, but where he did have it was obvious and it was dark and stiff. When he 'sanded' Lou's face with his four days before he was supposed to use the depilatory, he asked for help.
"Boer, when we shop today, can we get the stuff to get rid of my beard for good?"
"Not really, but Ven can get it for you. She may not want to though, Jobe. You don't even have a full beard yet."
"And Lou doesn't have any skin on her face. I'm not supposed to use the stuff you gave me for four days yet, Boer. I know you can see where it is. Now feel."
"Four days, huh?"
"Yes. It's more obvious sooner every time. I went from, 'It's a whisker!' to 'I'm beginning to actually have a beard,' to 'Oh, Lou, I'm sorry,' before I ran out of the first tube of it."
"I don't have really noticeable in twenty. I have the comp remind me. I spend ten minutes, wipe, rinse and do it again when the comp reminds me. I never really considered perm because it's expensive and takes several treatments, usually by a doctor, though there are places with licensed professionals who aren't doctors where you can get it done."
"You don't even know anyone who had it done?"
"I probably do, but I don't know who, other than not several who have worn beards, mustaches or long sideburns at some time. Are you sure you won't want to?"
"I think it's a much smaller possibility than I'm going to spend about five days of twenty hiding and avoiding bumping soft skin. Lou actually needs something for hers."
"Comm emperor's apartments. Tam, it's Boer."
"You sound worried, Cousin."
"Not really, but I don't know what to do. Jobe looks like he should have used depilatory a couple days ago and has four to go. He's upset Lou's face needs treatment because his does. He wants perm removal and I know we haven't got it on the ship. He convinced me, so he can probably convince Ven. Meanwhile, I've got one who's thinking of hiding because his, still a bit splotchy, beard is obvious and one who's probably pretending her face isn't burning. Help?"
"Karr just put the name of a product in front of me and Lavir is headed your way with something he grabbed out of the med kit. Thank you, Karr. The info file on the product says not within fifteen days of temporary. It takes off the beard during the treatment series. It's a pretty long one, eight treatments, but that may be worth using this one rather than one of the ones that only take five. I've got a comparison. Yes, the others are wait twenty-two days after temporary removal. I can get it for him and a doctor to do the first treatment, but I think yours would be upset."
"Probably. Get enough for me too. I've grown a mustache and beard once. I won't do it again. Temp works fine for me, but I don't like the smell and I have the comp keep track so I don't have to. Since I can afford it, I might as well do it and be done with it. I'll talk to our doctor."
"I think I'll order for three. I don't like the smell either. This one doesn't have the disadvantage of having to put up with the beard while you get rid of the beard, which is basically why I never had it done before. It's been on the market about a half-year. I'm a bit surprised I hadn't heard about it."
"Three more treatments is three more clinic bills to pay for it, Tam. Men who have beards like Jobe's do it for the same reasons he gave, but looking like they're trying to grow a beard while they're getting rid of it is probably less disadvantage than the additional cost."
"I'm spoiled. I know it. Yipe! Karr just pointed out additional cost isn't just additional treatments. You're paying for enough for two."
"Tell Mim how much. By the way, Jobe really likes his toe ring, but it makes him giggle a lot. The girls like it too and his toes are ticklish. Out."
Ven was much easier to convince than Boer had expected. She knew about the product Karr had recommended and Cal had added, "Lou's cheeks look peeled." to Boer's request. Jobe's wince when she said it was a good argument as well. She took a shuttle down and did three treatments. Tam hadn't used depilatory for eighteen days and Boer for nineteen. She set up the rest of Tam's treatments with his regular physician and checked Lou's face and what Lavir had brought her while she was there, then she checked the rest of her.
"You're pregnant."
"I had a feeling I was, but I'm not late yet."
"Jobe's?"
"Yes. Boer knew I wanted his and sort of... helped."
"I don't think I'll ask for an explanation of that, but I think I will do a scan on everyone while I'm here. Besides, I want to see his and Boer's faces when you tell him."
"I haven't exactly figured out how to do that yet."
"Why?"
"They're going away. Adding another to the ones they're worrying about just... "
"I know, but it will also make both of them very happy, especially Boer."
"I'll tell them."
"Everyone in here! I want current scans on all! Boer, everyone!"
Boer wanted to know why everyone. Lou smiled and told him, so Ven could see their faces when she said she was going to have Jobe's baby. Then Dirda's scan showed pregnant and she said she was going to have "someone's." It was the perfect answer and a very happy group who went shopping that day. It was their last. The next day was the emperor's tea. They'd leave the day after. They had nothing left on their list but baby things. They'd even found the yachts they wanted. Three hours into the shopping trip, Boer looked at Dirda, not the little outfit she was holding.
"I feel strange."
Aura caught him, Jobe grabbed and lifted and fourteen ran. Dirda commandeered a flyer at the loading dock and yelled for help on the comm while Aura lifted it. They raced for the palace. The ship landed. There was just enough 'open space' on the palace grounds. There hadn't been at the port. Too many ships would have had to be moved. They got him to Ven in medical section seven minutes after he'd suddenly swayed. She put the diagnostic scanner on full search. She expected allergic reaction, but it wasn't there.
"He's been poisoned! Help me get him in the surgical unit!"
Aura, Nora, Dirda, Eddy and Li stripped Boer as Jobe lifted him. Ven set the controls while he put him in the unit. Seven-and-a-half minutes.
The emperor ran into the ship and Jast led him to medical. She kept up with him. When he got there, he just sat down on the floor with the others. There was nothing they could do but wait. Ven sat down beside him a few minutes later.
&nb
sp; "It's a household poison, not an assassin's tool, but it's been concentrated. He's got a scratch on his hand. Dirda said he reached into a rack of baby clothes and jerked his hand back not long before he collapsed. Anverd has the store security recordings. He said there was a person on the other side of the rack, male, but facing away from the cam. He's going through all the rest of the recordings looking for a match, but has a suspicion the brown jacket came out of a bag and went down a disposal chute. He still has hopes he'll find something."
"How long before we know?"
"Hours before we're sure, but I think he's going to make it. Believe it or not, the treatment I gave him earlier today helped."
"Helped?"
"One of the compounds to reduce allergic reaction, if there was one. If he wasn't so big, it still would have killed him before they got him here, but it slowed it just enough to get him in there. Right now it's a contest of speed between the poison and the unit. I'm betting on Li and giving odds. She's got the best 'pit crew' ever assembled."
"It didn't occur to me he'd be in danger yet, Ven."
"Tam, it didn't occur to Anverd either. This was... shopping three days and an opportunity to get rid of a man who's already shown he could be dangerous. Anverd says the person doesn't know enough about Nunture to realize there just aren't any 'disgruntled former bureaucrats' or Turons running around. Jobe's the only person from that world not on that world, but some credits moved off of it into Yarrow sector."
"I trust his speculations more than most physical evidence. By the way, the ship is sinking, but I don't think I'll need a ladder to get off it in several hours. This is pretty solid ground beneath what used to be the Imperial Terrace Gardens. No one's going to complain, including the gardeners. However, the people at the terrace tea will not have the option of strolling through them or sitting on the lawn. Should I cancel it?"
"If he makes it seven hours, he'll make the tea. He'll sit through it, but he'll make it."
"Has Jobe moved?"
"No, on his knees beside it with both hands on it since we closed it, which was only a few minutes ago, but I expect he'll still be there when we get ready to open it."
"It's going to be a very long day, probably the longest I've ever experienced."
"Considering what some of yours must be like, that's saying a lot."
"He's my best friend. I always wished I could be his. An emperor can have a best friend, but he can't be one. I'm very glad he has one now."
"Tam, who are you waiting for?"
"What?"
"An emperor can have a best friend if he's married to her. Who are you waiting for?"
"I don't know. I do know I haven't met her yet. Met a lot of women I'd have liked to get to know better, at least in some ways, but not the right one."
"Tam, are you saying... "
"Yes. I've never shared a bed with anyone. Or a couch, or a corner... I'm a forty-six-year-old virgin. There are women who I know would never speak of it, but that's not really enough. I haven't given up hope yet. Boer hasn't met everyone yet."
"And he has a perfect record. Larim is a very surprised and happy man."
"Yes, he is. Fight, Cousin. The universe, the species, the empire, your emperor and your family need you."
Jobe stayed on his knees beside the unit with both hands on it. Ven just shook her head when Harmon brought food for them and nodded toward him. None of them ate much, but they moved around a bit. Then suddenly, more than an hour before Ven had expected it, the unit began to drain. She checked the scan, smiled and told Jobe he had to move. The chorus of cheers was very loud in the fairly small area, but she didn't mind that her 'eyes were crossed' at all.
"He's going to be very sticky. He's also going to be a bit weak. I didn't set it for full restoration, just get rid of it and fix damage. Jobe, I know you proved you can carry him, but I think a couple more to get him out and rinsed is reasonable. You're going to feel those muscles you used putting him in it. I still don't have a medical explanation for why they aren't strained."
"Because he needed it, Ven. He and Aura carried him to the flyer."
"I said medical explanation, Dirda. There isn't one for why there was a flyer big enough for you all at the loading dock either."
"I want to help."
"Warm water that way, Tam."
Boer woke while they were rinsing him off. They knew how weak he was when he started to raise up, then just laid his head back across Tam's arm.
"What happened?"
"Someone tried to get rid of you before you became a problem, Cousin. He underestimated your size, family, ship, doctor and how much fate likes you. Ven said the treatment we all had earlier slowed the poison just enough to get you here and in the unit. I'm sending an invitation to tea tomorrow to the young woman who leapt out of her employer's flyer, which was just about to leave the store loading dock, too. I thought of ordering a massage for the muscles Jobe used moving you from the diagnostic bed to the surgical unit, but I think there are several who intend to give him one. They're all here."
"I can feel Jobe's hands. I... felt him holding me."
"He did. His hands may have been on the outside of the unit, but we all knew he was holding you for all of us for about six hours, more than an hour less than it should have taken to clear the poison."
"Jobe?"
"I'm here, Boer."
"I knew you were. I knew all of you were. Did you... feel one who isn't here?"
"Yes. I felt many, but I know the one you mean. I think... Misty found him for us."
Thomin laid on the bed in his cabin and stared at the ceiling. He didn't know what had happened, but he had no doubt something had. He'd helped fight some kind of battle. He was sure of it. He was very tired. He fell asleep smiling. He knew they'd won.
Tam told Anverd to leave the ship where it was for the night. It had stopped sinking and he thought the family would be more comfortable in their quarters on it. He said he also had a feeling there wouldn't be many on it if they moved Boer back to the palace for the night, so it could lift. Anverd told him he'd tell the marines they wouldn't need their watch kits that night.