Interlude 6: FLOWERCHILD

Interlude 6: FLOWERCHILD

Flowerchild liked this planet. It was so wonderfully primitive and rigid; it reminded her of her own home world, Hé máng.

He Mang the planet of a thousand rivers and ten thousand mountains actually not that far from Nilfeheim, only about 96 light years if her Databrain was correct, which it of course always was. Chinese traditionalists had settled He Mang and many of the people there lived in similar primitive and simple conditions. Traditions, superstitions and strong family bonds ruled her society just as it did here.

She was the child of an old Chinese Settler Family and her mother fell in love with an Off-Worlder and a Saresii no less. The family felt ashamed for her as she was the product of a union not approved by her family. Flowerchild cared little about this anymore. She would have killed anyone in her own family but only if it was part of a contract, they didn’t deserve a free kill. She had forgotten much of it including her real name Jing Wei Leong. Her father a real Saresii was the reason for her own psionic abilities. Of course she was not a full Saresii and her powers were weak compared to full Saresii, her Heidelberg Psi Index was just a little above 150 and she was mediocre telepath. Like all Union Citizens she was tested and registered.

That it was strictly against the law to pry into other minds did not matter on a planet where no one really believed in Psionics in the first place. She was very careful when she used them in more sophisticated environments. She respected the Union police but she was truly weary of the Union Psi Corps. There was no danger of either institution on this world and she used her ability freely and traced the murderer of the senior Bendixen in short time to a group of girls. One of the girls had been brutally raped by the Elder and had no chance of any legal recourse as the Elders were virtually untouchable in this society. However she would not tell her employer. He and his clan firmly believed in a conspiracy and he would be much more generous with his payment bonuses if she delivered him someone he thought was behind the assassination. Ulfred Lindbergh was dead so she decided to kill someone of the Olafson clan. The Olafson clan was a declared enemy of her Employer’s family and Brunar told her about the warning uttered by the Olafson clan chief. Her Employer went out of his way to make her feel comfortable and she had a nice suite of rooms at the Bendixen Burg. Of course that was not how she operated; she rented a room in the local Portel under a male disguise and name. Brunar could contact her via Nilfeheim Radio placing a small classified ad. The plan was agreed upon and she operated independent until it was done. She was a professional and that was her craft.

Now behind closed doors she took of the Bio flex mask, relaxed the field binders across her chest, took off the padded suit and relaxed on the couch. Before her a dossier about the Olafsons, Brunar had prepared for her. She was impressed. The clan was rich and influential. The Silver Hawk Corporation was even by Galactic standards, not a small business operating profitable Mines, and a Chain of General goods stores here and on 40 other planets. Most of the company was sold recently for a staggering amount of Money to Enroe Corp but a tidy stock package remained under the name Eric Olafson. The Family structure itself was not as easy to understand. It seemed there were three sons and the father and clan leader hated his first born and favored his second son, but she understood the traditions of First born children only too well. There was this first born named Eric and judging by this file he was already an important person, celebrated for slaying two of these ridiculous big fish, while diving in the water with little else but a harpoon gun and being the grandson of the founder of Silver Hawk Corp.

His now deceased grandfather was the world’s representative on Pluribus and had been the chairman of the very influential Trade and finance Council of the union. She watched the included footage of the young man fighting with an archaic sword against another kid. She considered herself a martial arts expert and due to her trade kept up with weapons and their use. He was good she could tell. The next footage showed him fighting like a demon let loose against 5 armed men twice his size, granted the men had no swords but still the boy killed them with an unstoppable purpose to his moves. She decided to kill him next and do in the guise of the local girl underground organization. Girls were underestimated here anyway and she could get close. She smiled as she programmed the Saresii Mask Maker with the features of a girl named Sif. The machine would weave a lifelike mask out of semi-living tissue and it would have a muscle layer below that would not only retain the false faces shape but allow all facial movements. Once a Bio Flex mask was worn it could not be distinguished form a real face.