Eclipses v1 0, p.5
Eclipses (v1.0), page 5
“I suppose hot showers come with it,” Beth muttered, resenting even a failed attempt to manipulate her as much as this new offer with its hidden payments.
Aram stared at her a moment, then glanced at Calib. He was eating his porridge as if he’d not heard, but Beth suspected his hearing was fine. Beth resumed her own meal silently, watching Aram swallow every mouthful with deliberate effort.
The silence was broken by the arrival of the platter of sizzling meat and steaming apples, placed on the table by the woman Beth had seen in the kitchen. There was a place at the table for her, too.
“Maria, let’s eat in the sunlight,” Calib said before she sat down. “It’s too chilly here in the shade.”
Maria frowned and glanced from Calib to Beth and Aram. Then she said, “It’s not the least bit chilly,” and began methodically dishing out portions for herself and Calib. “Too much sun is worse than too little, but, if you insist, I’ll eat in the sunlight.” She handed the plates to Calib and took the beverages. The motor on the chair whined.
Beth watched the woman and Calib going down the path to the sunny garden. She knew he wasn’t cold and she felt very guilty at making Calib feel uncomfortable at his own table. But she couldn’t help the resentment she’d felt. “I’m sorry,” she said, hoping Aram would understand.
His usually soft brown eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
Beth sensed he was controlling a lot of anger. It frightened her to know it was so close. Quickly, she tried to explain. “Perhaps it’s because I’m a foreigner and don’t understand the contracts yet. But I was under the impression that personal relations—anything beyond the most casual—were contracted.”
Aram nodded and waited for further explanation.
“If I understand the implication, I can use your equipment and showers, in exchange for … certain services …”
“No,” he said, slamming the spoon down on the table. “There is no connection between my equipment and my bed. You’re welcome to both, or choose one or the other. If you stay, it would be an opportunity we could use to get to know each other better.”
Beth shook her head, deliberately controlling a swell of dismay. The offer still seemed compromising. “How do I pay for the equipment’s use?”
. “No payment.” He sounded exasperated and angry, and his face was dark. “I didn’t offer to pay for that lunch you gave me the first day in the canyon. We are allowed to be neighborly, despite the contract system.”
Now he was being sarcastic, too. Charity on Serensunar was a personal decision. Aram’s motivation was very personal, and Beth felt as nervous as a rabbit in the wolfs den. She glanced out at the mountains toward the safety of wide-open spaces and knew she could not sit still another moment. She stood up, but he caught her wrist in his grip, forcing her back into the chair.
“Last night you wanted to be close to me and to know me, too,” he said, his voice harsh with anger. “It was damn good for a first time; you know it was. Are you going to throw that away because of some ignorant prejudices you brought from Earth?”
It had nothing to do with Earth. She was on her own and Beth wanted to tell him so, but though his hand was clamped on her wrist, it was as if it were over her mouth. And when she couldn’t pry his fingers loose, she felt a panic brushing past the dam she’d placed around it the first moment she sensed him getting angry. Now she struggled, terrified that she’d never get loose. She wanted to scream, but only a muffled sob came out.
“Beth, Beth!” she heard Aram saying. “I’ll let go. Just don’t run. Beth?”
Against every instinct, Beth forced herself to stop struggling, and then she looked at Aram. His eyes were wide as if shocked, his posture tense. He let go of her wrist the instant their eyes met; then he sat back, his hands open and palms down, as if still to hold her in her seat. She rubbed her wrist, -watching him warily.
“You’re trembling,” he said quietly, sliding his hands off the table and onto the arms of his chair. “Do you want to go inside?”
Beth shook her head and bit her lip. He looked as shaken as she felt. She breathed deeply, forcing the panic to subside.
“I’m sorry,” Aram said. “I had no right to do that, but I thought you were going to leave without hearing what I had to say. Is your arm all right?”
There was no doubt that he was concerned and regretful, and now Beth was beginning to feel foolish. She had intended to run—maybe only as far as the terrace rail, and hopefully with dignity, but it had seemed urgent that she put some distance between herself and Aram’s anger. He wasn’t angry now, and Beth forced herself to smile, hoping to put him at ease.
He studied her for a while, as if puzzling something out in his mind. Then, moving slowly and deliberately, he reached over to pour coffee from a carafe. He handed her the full mug. Beth accepted gratefully.
“I am really sorry,” he said, still watching her closely.
Beth sipped the coffee, taking strength from the hot, strong brew. “Apology accepted,” she said, feeling more composed.
He nodded, believing her. “I meant what I said about last night, but pretend I said it without raising my voice.”
He was leaning back, ankles crossed and fingers intertwined in his lap; his very posture released the last twinges of fear, and even her embarrassment was ebbing fast, leaving her free to think clearly. She sipped the coffee again, then said, “You were right; it was good last night, and maybe we should see if the rest of the relationship can be as satisfying.”
He smiled broadly, but it was too soon, for Beth was not finished. Shaking her head, she got up and walked to the terrace railing, unopposed this time, and unafraid.
The gardens below her were broad and impressive with their many paths and carefully tended beds. She recognized purple and yellow irises and crimson tulips imported from Earth and carefully bred varieties of wild Serensunar blooms thriving equally, with the care of professional gardeners. Gardens such as this existed only in the holdings of wealthy monasteries back on Earth. The public parks were just grass, if they were maintained at all, and the private parks were beyond her means. She’d lived frugally to save for her passage to Serensunar, but even if she’d lived differently, she knew she’d never have seen the inside of a private park.
She felt Aram’s presence at her side and she sat on the broad railing, then found herself looking into his eyes.
Aram took her hand. “There is still something bothering you,” he said gently. His eyes were sincere. He did not want any misunderstanding.
Beth nodded, grateful for the opening.
“You want to get to know me better. That’s fine, Aram. I’d like to do the same. But, all of this …” Beth gestured helplessly. “It’s not what I want.”
’ “It’s too soon to think of a contract between us,” he said.
Her bold implication had been gently rebuffed, but he’d not denied that it was his ultimate goal. “But I don’t want to stay under false pretenses. That is what you have in mind, isn’t it? A contract between us?”
“Perhaps. Is that what bothers you?” He seemed faintly amused.
“Yes.” Beth took her hand away. “Aram, you are the Water Baron … or you will be soon.” She looked at Calib, still sitting in his garden while Maria retrieved a napkin that had fallen out of his reach. Beth shook her head sadly. “I knew about you within a day of landing; you’re the most powerful man on the planet. They just didn’t expect anyone to be able to hold so much land, to secure it and develop it.”
“It’s the dams and reservoirs I control. Colonists have to come to me because I have the water and the power they need to run factories or to irrigate a farm. I dictate how it will be used within the Empire; all these mountains are mine. Two hundred thousand square kilometers.”
“You’re even powerful along the coast where you don’t own the land.”
“I’ve come by it honestly,” he said. “The headwaters of the Rift River are here in my mountains. You know the rain forests only account for a small portion of land. Away from the effects of the cold ocean current, the climate turns rapidly arid. I guarantee a continuous water supply, even in drought, in exchange for petroleum and other commodities. Most of my contracts are filtered through Research City, as is proper, though my demands are usually more stringent than theirs. But what has that to do with us?”
“It just means that by the very nature of what you are, this structured Empire with you at its core, I feel… unsuited., You’ve lived in this mansion all your life; your father and grandfather before you. If we … Aram, I could never say that I would want to stay all my life nor even for a long time. I believe that’s what you would need.” Beth looked at Aram. “Perhaps I should leave now.”
“No,” Aram said. He touched her cheek and tucked a curl behind her ear. “There are many kinds of contracts; surely you know that. Even on Earth no two people live the same.” “Yes, but—”
“Trust me,” Aram said. “I won’t ask anything you can’t give.”
Chapter 6
Aram helped Beth move from her canyon campsite to his mansion. There was little in the way of personal effects, only a pair of dungarees and a few shirts to account for aside from the clothes she wore. What took the two of them and several trips was the material from the cave, her tools and gear, and an assortment of rocks and pebbles she refused to leave behind. Once settled into the mansion, she explored, shyly at first, then more boldly as she came to realize she was not the only person outside the family residing in the great house. Its main function at the moment and for the next several years was to headquarter the dam construction, but it also supported a computer wing of a size rivaled only by Research City’s own computer facilities. Computer operators and technicians were on duty around the clock, although only two actually lived in the mansion. The others had homes or rooms elsewhere in the valley, and many did their work via remote terminals, rarely appearing at the big house in person.
Beth joined Aram in his custom of dining each night with those contractors who cared to partake in the* hearty feast his staff prepared daily. Beth sensed without being told that these dinners gave him an opportunity to talk with people whom he -might not see otherwise. There was a regular turnout of forty or more, far more than he could possibly want to see in an evening. But of course it was not only he who used these dinners to advantage; his subcontractors found each other and often resolved problems before they came to his attention. Of late, even distant suppliers took to attending the dinners via commscreens, knowing they had a good chance of getting the complete attention of the person they wanted while he or she ate. So the presence of portable commscreens on the tables had become a common sight, and Beth was even getting to know people whom she might never see in person.
Since she was quite attractive, beautiful, really, though her dungarees downplayed a certain natural elegance, Aram was not surprised when several of the men paid her special attention. When Beth’s and Aram’s tentative relationship became clear to them, a few demurred, but certainly not in recognition of a greater claim. They knew better than that, and if they didn’t they had only to query the computer to learn that no formal contract had been made. It was Aram’s power they considered, his favor they curried, and it irritated and disappointed Aram to know that was happening. They didn’t know him well if they believed their contracts with the Water Baron were safer if they left the woman in his house alone. Nor did that kind of person have much respect for himself or his ability to keep a contract, since performance was Aram’s only consideration. Other men, whom Aram knew were his friends or whom he knew only by reputation, courted Beth openly. He was surprised to know how much that alarmed him. He knew his feelings were unreasonable, but he couldn’t help wishing that all of them were happily contracted elsewhere and that Beth didn’t look so interested. These were strange and new feelings to Aram, and he wasn’t altogether sure he liked having them. He didn’t think about them much when he and Beth were alone. At times like that he was only aware of how much he loved her already, and it didn’t amaze him that it had happened so quickly and so thoroughly.
What he liked about Beth was her self-assured way of learning to operate such simple but different items as faucets or motorbikes, experimenting with them until they worked. He rarely knew that anything had given her a moment’s concern until she might announce—with no small amount of pride, and he liked that, too—that she had learned how to charge up the battery of the electric motorbike he’d loaned her to hasten her frequent trips across the valley to the canyon. But some things were not meant to be learned by self-exploration, and then he could count on her getting angry.
While escorting two engineers from his office by way of the kitchen, so that they might have some refreshment before returning to the dam site, they came on Beth, standing before one of the terminals. Though they’d been talking as they walked, she hadn’t heard them come in. Her hair was damp as if she’d just come from a shower, and her dungarees had yet another patch on the knee. She was frowning in concentration as the screen before her did a rapid flip from query please to menu display? and back to query please, all in rapid succession.
Shelley, the junior of the two engineers with him, noticed Beth’s difficulty, too. Aram and Lydia fetched the drinks and finished talking while Shelley went to Beth, and Aram heard him say to her, “What’s cooking?” in his always cheerful manner, which disarmed Beth’s anger, at least momentarily.
Unfortunately, Lydia was not yet satisfied with the experimental work she was doing with computer earthquake simulations in regard to deformation capacity of reinforced concrete. She wanted time for more extensive tests, and Aram had already granted the time, yet Lydia felt compelled to continue justifying her request and the resulting postponement of actual construction. He listened patiently, sipping on the cool drink he’d drawn from the refrigeration unit and nodding at appropriate intervals. This kind of discussion, one-sided as it was, was a part of Lydia’s thought process, something she probably did frequently with Shelley, who was her assistant on the project and with whom she had recently signed a personal contract. So it wasn’t absolutely necessary that he stand there and listen to her; if he cut her off, she’d have the same discussion later with Shelley. But listening to her was a learning experience for Aram, too; he imagined that he almost understood the complex simulation process when Lydia talked. Even so, he sensed he wasn’t giving her his usual attention. His eyes kept wandering over to Shelley and Beth, him with his arm on the top of the terminal leaning over Beth. He was taller than Beth, with dark auburn hair and eyes that flashed and talked more loudly than words. He was handsome, too, and looked more like a lumberjack than an engineer with his muscles bulging under the tailored shirt he wore. Shelley caught Aram looking at them, and he winked good-naturedly, completely unabashed, a gesture which put Aram at ease. Aram turned back to Lydia, hearing her words again, and finding himself realizing at the same time what a delightfully pretty woman she was.
Finally Lydia put her glass down on the counter. “We’d better go,” she said, sounding guilty for taking so much of Aram’s time. She glanced meaningfully at Shelley.
Apparently he’d had one ear tuned to Lydia’s direction the whole time, for he nodded and said good-by to Beth, only pausing to drink down his glass of juice in what seemed like one long gulp before steering Lydia out the door with one firm hand on her shoulder. “Oh, Aram,” he said, before closing the door. “Explain to Beth about menus.” His blue eyes were full of laughter, which, from the look on her face, mystified Beth as much as Aram.
“But I don’t want to cook,” Beth said in a voice that was nearly a wail. “I told him I didn’t want to cook, but all I can get on this damn thing is a menu.” Beth sighed, took the glass from Aram’s hand and swallowed the last mouthfuls. It must not have been enough to satisfy her, for she went to the refrigeration unit and drew another glassful. “Did you know Shelley was from the coast?” she asked Aram suddenly.
“Sure.”
“And that he came to the Empire to study dam building with Lydia, and that he intends to go back to the coast and build dams there?”
Aram nodded. “It’s not entirely fair to say he’s studying with Lydia. He had to have done all that before she ever „ accepted him as an assistant, and considering how good she is, he must be pretty good, too.”
Beth shrugged. “Whatever he lacks, he no doubt makes up in charm. He’s awfully nice.”
Aram was a little surprised by Beth’s insinuation. “Do you really believe that?”
“What? That he got the job because he’s good in bed or something?” Beth laughed now. “Not everyone is as able to separate work from pleasure as you are, my dear Water Baron. Shelley was bored from listening to you and Lydia talk all afternoon, and that isn’t exactly the mark of a dedicated engineer.”
“I was bored, too,” Aram confessed. “At least, I was the second time through the same conversation. But that’s what a good student has to put up with at times, and I include myself as well as Shelley in the term student. It may have been the third or fourth time through for him. I can’t think why she brought him along today.”
Beth giggled and pointed out the window. Shelley and Lydia had stopped under the shade of the tree in Aram’s garden. She wasn’t talking now; her lips were pressed to Shelley’s, and even Aram could tell she couldn’t possibly be thinking about Calib’s dam just now. Thoughtfully, Aram put his arm around Beth and kissed her neck.
“I’m glad there’s more to him than glib remarks and gorgeous eyes,” Beth said. “I like him, even if he does plan to go back to the coast to build dams there and make a pauper out of you.” Her eyes were mischievous now, and the comers of her mouth were twitching to smile.
“He’d never make a pauper of me by building good dams on the coast; indeed, the opposite is true. He’d relieve me of a tremendous legal obligation to keep them in water, which would allow more expansion in the Empire. But there are big problems in building dams on the coast ; even if he comes up with a design that doesn’t rely on the perfect sites such as we have here in the mountains and which they don’t have on the coast, he still has to get some of those anarchists together long enough to finance the project. I keep hoping, but I don’t think Shelley or anyone else can do it.” He watched Shelley and Lydia, walking hand in hand, until they got past the garden gate. Then he nuzzled Beth again, liking the feel of her soft skin against his cheek. “We could go upstairs, or do you really want to know about menus?”
