Book of Glitch - Chapter 9

For the majority of their journey, Lucretia chattered incessantly about the outfits some of the other Shamans had worn at the reception the night before. Joshua had spent the better part of the afternoon trying to hold an intellectual conversation with the female Sham about ancient homo-sapien art and culture, but she had practically yawned in his face on more than once occasion. He suspected that her newly found energy had everything to do with the close proximity he had agreed to without weighing how much she truly wished to be near him.

The two walked for over an hour and all the while Joshua plotted how he might go about excusing himself from his guest’s company tactfully.

“Elder Joshua?” she called to him.

Joshua had been deep in thought and trying to both leave the Sham’s side as well as monitor his heart for any sudden accelerations. He looked down at Lucretia to see that she was looking into the distance in front of them.

“Look over there,” she said. “Aren’t those Abraham’s Stonie friends?”

Joshua fixed his eyes on the crowd in front of them, peering as hard as he could manage to try and spot Syena or one of her family members. He smirked before quickly straightening his face as he watched two towering, brawny Stonie males walking in his direction and studied the siblings as they approached.

Both brothers were dressed in black and gray, but the bulkier of the two wore a vest and shortened trousers, which Joshua supposed was all that the large male could manage to wear around his massive limbs. The sulkier twin wore a pair of full-length pants and a fitted-sweater, but the effect only served to amplify rather than mask his sizable shoulders and arms as the garment looked as though they might shred with every stride he took.

Walking somewhat further in the distance, Joshua caught sight of a much shorter and slighter female Stonie also in black but only her trousers. He beamed inwardly as Syena followed her brothers wearing a flowing, lavender blouse that was adorned with a flower pattern around the low neckline, which she fastened loosely with a string for modesty.

As she walked behind her brothers it seemed to Joshua that the smaller sibling was in fact leading the two behemoths from behind as they wove through the crowd as she did not watch where her brothers were leading her, instead they seemed to advance in the direction their sister would turn.

Thus, the twin brothers hardly noticed Joshua as they walked by until Syena offered both Lucretia and him a polite/courteous smile before looking back at them a second time. She grinned as the recognition stole over her face.

“Elder Joshua, what a surprise to see you here,” she sang. “Pleasure to see you again, and you also Ms. Lucretia.”

Lucretia bowed her head in a quaint manner, but Joshua could not contain the glee encroaching upon his face. Lucretia cleared her throat from behind his shoulder, but it was not until one of the twins approached that he was able to gather his faculties.

“Yes, hello,” he choked. “Happy to see you all again. Lucretia and I have just come from the famed Abbey Road Elder Paul raves about from his glorious homo-sapien days. You all are enjoying the sights this evening I’m sure.”

Syena nodded her agreement with a slight look of apprehension as Phit stepped forward lugging a large barrel under his arm.

“If you must know Elder, we’ve just come from the market,” he smirked.

Joshua glanced at the barrel again and Phit began to sway it for emphasis. The other brother nudged his twin’s shoulder in attempt to make the joke stop, but in doing so the barrel became uncorked and a puddle of thick, red, pungent liquid poured onto the stones at their feet.

“What the gravel, Gray?” Phit shouted. “Grand Gab will have my arm for this. Whatever spilled is coming out of your share tonight.”

Gray responded with a sullen look on his face, “You shouldn’t fool around with the plasma, Phit. Now let’s go, it’s already late and we shouldn’t keep everyone waiting.”

Phit scrambled to wipe any evidence of the spill from the brim of the barrel before tucking it back underneath his massive bicep. As the trio turned to leave him, Joshua had a sudden jolt of confidence and rushed after them, as well as he could anyhow.

“Just a moment,” he called out. “Ms. Syena, I hope you were able to meet with the professor already. I was informed that he and the other Cerebra researchers had spent the day with Grand Council, but Reginald is of course a man of his word.”

“Actually, I have not gone to see the professor yet today,” she answered. “He had informed me after yesterday’s meeting that he would not return until much later this evening, so I plan on going around the lab sometime after dark.”

This time, Joshua made a special effort not to give his joy at this information away. He smiled and bowed his head gently as the Stonie siblings continued on their return to the guest villas. He turned back to Lucretia to see that the young Sham female was glaring down at the deep-red puddle Phit had left in his wake. She covered her mouth as though she were going to be sick, all the while peeking around at passersby as though they meant to blame the two of them for the spectacle.

“Please Joshua, we ought to be going as well,” she whispered. “It isn’t safe to be near fresh plasma with Stonies nearby.”

As she said the last bit she peeked over at the guards who were watching them from two yards away. Joshua stared down at Lucretia’s face which had gone from a look of disgust to one of unabashed loathing. Her plump lips had curled back into a small snarl and her eyebrows furrowed so close together that her large, brown eyes were in deep shadow. The young man did not appreciate being in the company of one with such a look of utter abhorrence for another living being, and even further his own guards.

“I think it might be best if you return to the house with the guards,” he said. “I failed to collect some rather important documents from the Cerebran Towers as we passed them earlier and I should head back and retrieve them, as they will need to be sent out first thing tomorrow morning.”

Lucretia peered up at Joshua’s face, searching for any misgivings of the lie he was telling.

“It absolutely cannot wait until tomorrow?” she asked.

“I’m afraid not,” he continued. “Don’t you worry, I’m sure Uncle Caleb and Madame Miasma have returned from the meeting by now. I will be joining you all for supper before you even sense that I have gone.”

Joshua kissed her hand lightly, only allowing his lips to brush the service of her hot skin, before turning on his heels to advance toward the towers. He had taken all of two steps before he felt a tug at his elbow.

“Why don’t I wait here for you, Joshua?” she asked.

Lucretia appeared to be sneering up at him, but he supposed that it may be the effects of the sun setting before the street illuminators had been lit for the evening. He allowed his confusion/suspicion to pass and instead returned her grin.

“That would be unthinkable—I couldn’t leave you standing out here like some uncherished canine,” he rebuffed. “Besides, it looks as though it may rain shortly and you wouldn’t want to ruin that lovely day-gown of yours.”

She stepped toward him and reached her hand out for his cheek, the heat from her flesh stung as it met the cool of his unclothed skin.

“You know better than anyone that the rain wouldn’t bother me,” she cooed. “And you can’t imagine how pleasant this dress looks when it is dripping wet.”

There was no question to be had at that moment, for it was clear to Joshua that the Sham female’s demeanor had absolutely shifted. She was no longer operating under the pretext of chastity, her actions were becoming steadily more calculated. He took several steps away from Lucretia and listened for his heartbeat while he held his breath. Seconds ticked away in his mind and he glanced down at his watch to track how long it had been since the last beat. After nearly half a minute he exhaled, trusting that the Sham had not put her enthrall into effect.

Joshua continued his retreat until he had the Stonie guards between Lucretia and himself, then he faced forward and proceeded toward the research towers.

“Sorry, I truly must be off,” he called back to her. “You’ll be safe getting home with Obsix and Pegma. I will be back shortly.”

Lucretia may have shouted something at Joshua, but he had sped as fast as his aged legs would allow him and he trusted his guards had made a mission of dragging the girl in the opposite direction. He slowed his pace to a stroll once he was deep within a throng of young Cerebra and Minor students who he guessed were just on their way from Professor Neil’s lecture on astrophysics as he was the one of the few Cerebra not in attendance to the council meeting, since he had only arrived from the States last week.

Joshua crept by them casually so as not to draw too much attention to himself. He hadn’t lied when he told Syena that he often spent hours at the research towers imparting any knowledge he could onto the young flowering minds of the Cerebran youth. The only trouble was that at that particular moment, Joshua simply wanted to make to Professor Reginald’s lab to wait for Syena.

He successfully made it to the professor’s lab without any of the jabbering students around him stopping to ask him to participate in one of their thesis studies. He opened the door and looked around the lab to make sure he was alone before stepping all the way inside. Joshua immediately felt a sense of peace that he could only ever gain from being in absolute solitude. He sauntered about the lab rereading scribbled notes on the floating teleboard he had seen on countless occasions, but searching for any alterations the professor may have made in his absence.