The Light-Field

  ‘Just what I was thinking,’ he concurred with a smile, obviously pleased about that. ‘I’m going to live in space one day.’

  ‘Could it be better than this? This room is bigger than my entire apartment!’ Aurora turned in circles, taking it all in. ‘Whatever you do for the government, they certainly seem to appreciate it.’

  Zeven dropped his bags to approach a rail that ran across the end of the room where the window was located, and look down into the rather large void between. ‘Check this out.’ He waved Aurora over.

  The huge window continued down another level, where it split the living area from the outside balcony.

  ‘This is a loft,’ Aurora stated with envy.

  To each side of the bedroom was a door. To the left was a large bathroom, which featured a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out to the larger window with the night sky view.

  ‘So this must be,’ Zeven staggered to the door on the right side of the room, ‘the stairs down.’

  Aurora clapped, delighted as she followed him down to the living area; its huge windows gave the illusion that the apartment was much bigger that it actually was.

  ‘There’s a spa pool on your balcony.’ Aurora gawked at the setup through the window, as Zeven checked out the bar that ran off the end of the open kitchen.

  ‘Yes!’ he cheered upon discovering it was fully stocked, and having perused the huge selection of intoxicating substances on offer, he opted for a bottle of water. ‘Can I get you something?’

  Aurora smiled at the query, realising there was nothing that could make this moment any better. ‘I’m just happy to be here.’

  ‘You say that as if you expected to find me?’ He took another few long gulps of his water, while she considered her response.

  Her head was telling her to shut up at this point, but her heart was urging her to be open and honest. ‘I’m just going to level with you, Airman Gudrun, and if you arrest me, so be it,’ she began awkwardly.

  ‘My friends call me Starman.’ he said, leaning on the bar for support as he came out from behind it to offer Aurora a seat on his lounge.

  ‘Starman,’ she repeated, enchanted, but shook her head to decline the seat.

  Her host, however, appeared to be having a little difficulty keeping himself upright, and so collapsed into the seat himself.

  ‘The truth is,’ Aurora plucked up her courage, ‘ever since I saw your picture in the paper, I’ve been receiving dreams from you.’

  ‘Dreams from me?’ Her host rubbed his eyes and then looked to her, puzzled by the remark.

  ‘No, not dreams.’ Aurora turned away to find the right words. ‘More, experiences really. It’s like I see things through your eyes … I’ve seen you testing cars, airships, bikes, and some huge prime-movers —’ Aurora looked back to catch the pilot’s reaction, to find him sleeping like a baby. ‘Starman?’ She was annoyed for a second, but then the chance to observe her dream man up close drew her to him on tiptoes.

  Every time she considered how handsome he was, her heart did a flutter and she was sick to her stomach at the thought of having to leave his company. She knelt beside him and held her fingers out toward his face, then hesitated to make contact. Worst that could happen is that he’ll wake up. As she made skin contact, a warm wave of feeling surged through her, that felt wonderful and yet scary at once. She gasped on the amazing feeling and, overwhelmed, she withdrew to standing. Why was she fearful? Was she afraid of falling so deeply in love with the wondrous energy of this stranger that she would lose herself in her own desire? ‘I was about to admit to being psychic,’ she whispered under her breath, and placed both hands over her mouth, as if to ward herself away from ever disclosing such a theory to a total stranger! Shit, Aurora, you idiot! she scolded herself. You are so not in control of this situation. Call a cab and go now, before you get yourself in any real trouble!

  She reached for her communicator, but as her sights turned back to Starman, her paranoia ebbed and she calmed inside. He’s not going to remember any of this in the morning, she realised; should she hang around, get some answers, and risk exposing herself to danger, or get out while the going was good? How much do you really want to know about your connection with this man?

  When Zeven awoke late the next day, his head was pounding, his eyes stung and his mouth felt as dry as the desert beyond the large windows in front of him. He looked around the room, having absolutely no idea of where he was, or how he got there.

  His mind rolled back to arriving at the club the previous evening; he’d drunk heavily with Mythric, had some food, saw a band —

  Zeven gasped when his inner eye spat forth a vision of Aurora singing on stage and then handing him his car key. The ensuing flashes of Aurora dancing around him, driving his car and standing in this very room, sent shockwaves so powerful through his form that Zeven couldn’t feel his throbbing head a moment.

  ‘I am never drinking again,’ he scolded, as he shook his head at his own stupidity and then stopped the movement abruptly, as it made the throbbing worse. ‘I have no idea what I said to her. What happened when she left?’ Or even, if she left? he noted quietly.

  The prospect drove him to stand, and bracing his head for support, he staggered about in search of her.

  Scaling the stairs to the loft level was laborious, but Zeven figured that even if he didn’t find Aurora, he’d find a shower. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to find her or not. A flash of memory from another life, of Aurora’s sheet-swathed body curled up on his bed, made him smile. Then the notion of answering Rory’s zillions of questions in his current state put an end to his fancy. ‘Not would be easier right now.’ He opened the bedroom door to find the bed had not been slept in. ‘Not it is,’ he uttered, relieved in so far as he could continue straight through to the bathroom.

  After a shower, some fresh clothes and a couple of glasses of juice, Zeven felt ready to go yell at Mythric.

  He grabbed his keys and exited via the back door to see his new car safe and sound. This lifted Zeven’s spirits, as he did a walk around it to be sure it was unscathed, before knocking on the door next to his in the carport.

  ‘There is a front door, you realise?’ Mythric complained. ‘And you promised I didn’t have to see you for —’

  ‘You promised you wouldn’t let me do anything stupid!’ Zeven stormed past him and inside to say his piece.

  ‘I didn’t let you drive your car home?’ Mythric closed the garage door, playing ignorant, then followed Zeven up through the bedroom and down into the main house.

  ‘No, you let my ex drive me home! Who I am not supposed to meet for another five years!’ Zeven exclaimed. ‘And then you left me alone with her!’

  Mythric shrugged. ‘I suggested we get her a cab, but she was in no hurry and you wanted her to stay.’ He threw his hands up, absolving himself of all responsibility for the outcome.

  ‘You wouldn’t let me fly into a black hole just because I wanted to,’ Zeven said. ‘The enigma that is Aurora is just as precarious.’

  Mythric shrugged again. ‘Then stay away from her.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Zeven was quick to say, and when Mythric queried this with a glance, Zeven plucked a rational reason from the ethers. ‘I have to find out how much I told her about me.’

  ‘Why? Who is she going to tell?’ Mythric argued.

  Mythric’s newly found carefree attitude was starting to annoy Zeven. ‘Since when did you not care about exposing ourselves?’

  ‘I’m not indisposed,’ Mythric poured coffee, ‘you are.’

  ‘But the boss sent you to protect me …’ Zeven began and then humbled himself, ‘… from myself. So what do you advise I do?’

  Mythric chuckled at this. ‘Since when do you listen to my advice?’

  ‘Since I’m actually asking for it.’

  Mythric took up his coffee and headed out onto the balcony.

  Zeven followed him outside, where Mythric took a seat at the table to gaze out at the view.
‘Why do you really want to seek Aurora out?’

  Zeven sat across the table, facing Mythric, rather than the view. ‘It’s my Juju, it wants me to, when every other woman …’ He shrugged in conclusion.

  ‘Then go, do that.’ Mythric nursed his sore head. ‘Maybe she is one of us?’

  ‘But I know she doesn’t want to end up like us and if she’s exposed to the Juju …?’ Zeven’s mind boggled at the thought of how angry Aurora would be when he couldn’t go back in time and reverse what he’d done to her. ‘Besides, an insightful man once told me that Aurora was not the one I was meant to be with, as the woman I was looking for would encourage me to be all that I can be.’

  ‘Well, Aurora didn’t seem that opposed to the subject of the Powers yesterday,’ Mythric commented, staring out at the desert. ‘Nor was she shy about driving your car as recklessly —’

  ‘We spoke about Powers?’

  ‘It’s okay, I slapped you about the head every time you nearly gave something away … that is, until you threatened to rearrange my face,’ Mythric concluded with a frown of disapproval.

  ‘Sorry about that.’ Zeven smiled weakly. ‘Tell me what to do?’

  Mythric was clearly growing tired of the argument Zeven was having with himself. ‘If I say one thing, you’ll probably do the other, agreed?’

  ‘Please don’t play a head fuck game with me right now, Mythric,’ Zeven pleaded wearily, but Mythric’s smile only broadened in challenge — he liked to play mind games when he got bored with a conversation, or wanted to avoid stating an opinion.

  ‘I say, go for it.’

  Zeven was bemused. ‘So what you really think is that I should avoid the precarious situation altogether.’

  ‘It’s my job to have that view, to avoid unnecessary risks.’ Mythric finished his coffee, placed the cup aside and headed for his cool spa bath. ‘Is she an unnecessary risk at this stage of the game? Yes. Could you be putting her at risk? Yes.’ Mythric raised a brow in conclusion as he sank into the cool water. ‘Still … she is very alluring, yes?’ He smiled and submerged completely.

  ‘That was unhelpful, thank you, Mythric.’ Zeven gave a deep sigh and lay back in a chair to rethink the situation yet again.

  As Aurora had procrastinated until dawn over whether she had done the right thing in leaving Starman’s place before he awoke, she slept through until afternoon — when Zanthie’s clattering about in the kitchenette woke her. ‘It’s okay, Zanth, I’m awake, you can stop banging things now.’

  In a second her roommate was at her bedside with coffee, which she placed on the table, ahead of plonking herself on Aurora’s bed. ‘So what happened?’

  Aurora groaned at the notion of having to think, but grinned as ‘he’ came to mind.

  ‘So spill.’ Zanthie gripped Aurora’s nightshirt to shake it out of her if need be. ‘What’s his name?’

  The answer made Aurora’s secretive smile all the broader, as her gaze drifted to the sky outside. ‘I don’t think I’m permitted to know.’

  ‘You mean he is secret service?’ Zanthie let Aurora go and reached for the coffee.

  Aurora shrugged, still lost in her pleasant memories of the night before. ‘He told me they call him Starman,’ she said with mystical exuberance, as she ventured to sit up.

  ‘Wow.’ Zanthie handed the coffee to Aurora, eager to hear more. ‘So did you kiss?’

  ‘No,’ Aurora stated emphatically: she’d wanted to kiss him, but if just touching his skin was enough to send her into euphoria, what would kissing him do? Sex with the man would surely mean death by pleasure. Good name for a song, she thought. ‘I just drove him home and he passed out.’ Aurora sipped the coffee and then placed it aside in a scramble to get past Zanthie to check her clothes from the night before.

  ‘What is it?’ Zanthie wondered, until Aurora pulled a laminate from the singlet she’d been wearing.

  ‘A little memento.’ Aurora admired it.

  ‘What is that?’ Zanthie climbed off the bed to take the pass from her and gasped as she viewed it. ‘Shit! Where did you get this … Doltrice?’ She read the name and gasped again as she read the rest of the details on the government pass. ‘This belongs to the president’s private secretary!’

  ‘Cool, huh?’ Aurora grinned.

  ‘Cool? What in the name of Sermetica did you get up to last night?’

  ‘I just used that pass to drive them home.’ Aurora shrugged. ‘We didn’t get caught, I won’t do it again, no big deal.’

  ‘Are you telling me that you’re not going to try to use this pass to see him again? Come on!’ Zanthie wasn’t buying it.

  ‘I’m not going to see him again,’ Aurora advised solemnly, turning back to get her coffee and drink some more.

  ‘Lie,’ Zanthie decreed.

  ‘I know he’s dangerous,’ she admitted, ‘and I am way out of my depth with him.’ Aurora was filled with sadness, and Zanthie saw this.

  ‘Something bad happened?’

  ‘No,’ Aurora shook her head, ‘more like, too good to be true. I don’t trust it.’

  Zanthie was stunned. ‘Are you mad! He is gorgeous! The man of your dreams shows up in real life, and —’

  The door chimed and the girls looked to each other, puzzled. Zanthie ventured to check the little surveillance screen on the back of the door. ‘It’s him!’ she shrieked back at Aurora in a whispered panic.

  ‘Oh damn.’ Aurora ran for her closet to grab a few items and then to the bathroom. She’d been so determined that she would not risk seeing Starman again, but now that he was at the door, it was excitement and not fear that gripped her. ‘Stall him!’

  Aurora heard the door chime again from the bathroom, as she dressed with all possible haste.

  ‘Just a minute!’ her flatmate called to their impatient visitor.

  As Aurora splashed her face clean and patted it dry, she heard Zanthie open the door.

  ‘Hey Starman, what’s happening?’ Zanthie announced as if she’d known him all her life. ‘Come in. Rory’s just in the bathroom.’

  ‘And you would be Aurora’s flatmate?’ he queried, as Rory brushed her hair and then shook her head about.

  ‘Zanthie.’

  Aurora heard the chime on the control panel that indicated the front had locked closed.

  ‘You haven’t been trying to get my dear friend into trouble, have you, Starman?’

  Zanthie’s query sent Aurora racing to the bathroom door. She opened it a crack to see her flatmate holding out the government pass so that Starman could look at it.

  He appeared puzzled, but smiled and stated in his own defence, ‘None that I couldn’t get her out of.’

  ‘You know what?’ Zanthie found his comeback amusing. ‘I actually believe you.’

  ‘So are you here to arrest me?’ Aurora emerged from the bathroom, dressed and semi-refreshed.

  ‘Why would I want to do that?’ Starman replied winningly and smiled broadly upon sighting her.

  ‘So you must be here to thank me for putting myself at risk to get you home safely?’

  The pilot grinned and, like a magician, produced a large bunch of fresh flowers from behind his back and handed them to Aurora. ‘I thank you, very much.’

  ‘How did you do that?’ Zanthie was baffled that he’d managed to conceal the flowers from her detection. ‘I swear he didn’t have them when he came in.’

  Aurora was delighted. ‘You really didn’t have to buy me flowers. Driving the Borealis was worth a thousand such risks.’ She breathed deep of their fragrance, as she accepted the flowers from him.

  ‘The Borealis is right out front, if you’d like to go for a coffee?’ he offered.

  Aurora felt a little swept off her feet an instant, until Zanthie relieved her of her flowers. ‘She’d love to go,’ she told Starman on Aurora’s behalf.

  ‘Really?’ Starman didn’t look so sure of himself for a second.

  ‘I would.’ Aurora decided that there was really no reason not to explo
re their association a little more — she just wouldn’t tell him about her dreams.

  The first thing Aurora noticed about Starman was that he was a lot more polite when he was sober, but at the same time more distant. They exchanged some polite chitchat until they had hot coffee in front of them, whereupon Starman brought up what was really on his mind.

  ‘About last night,’ he began awkwardly. ‘You might have noticed I was a bit tipsy —’

  Aurora suppressed a laugh. ‘Sorry. Yes, I did notice that.’

  ‘So some of my queries might sound a little odd, but please humour me.’

  ‘Okay,’ Aurora agreed.

  ‘Have we ever met before?’ he asked in all seriousness.

  Aurora was startled. ‘Before yesterday, you mean?’

  He nodded.

  ‘No.’ She gave half a laugh, and thought to remind him she’d found him through a news article but he was already onto the next question.

  ‘Did I perhaps say anything about being involved in government work?’

  ‘Secret service?’ Aurora guessed this was what he meant, and Zeven gave a nervous laugh.

  ‘I was joking, of course.’ He grinned and seemed pained to continue with his interrogation. ‘Did I say anything that might get me into trouble with the PMD?’

  Aurora frowned, surprised he would ask about the Psychic Monitor Database in a public place. ‘It would hardly matter if you did, as I hear that there is a bill of rights going through parliament that will limit the influence of that organisation on this planet.’

  ‘Look, I am sorry if this seems like an interrogation,’ Starman forced a smile, ‘but did I mention the boss to you?’

  ‘Your boss?’ Aurora queried and he nodded. ‘No.’

  ‘Or did I say anything about my Juju, the Juju?’ he queried hopefully.

  ‘You’ve lost me.’ Aurora chuckled, but Zeven was perturbed and seemed miles away. ‘Is there something wrong?’ She reached out to place her hand on his arm, but he moved to avoid her making contact. ‘You can trust me,’ she told him, retracting her wavering hand.

  ‘But you should not trust me,’ he said in all seriousness.