Check out of one and check in to another

Posted on Fri Jan 22nd, 2021 @ 5:34am by El Plexuco & Black Market Jemison (Jemi) Ajayi

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: the Tenzing Momo
Timeline: after 'Riders on the Storm'

Jemi checked her cortex hand-held as she left immigration. She was on deck four, the docking ring. The Tenzing Momo Spa and Hotel's lobby was on deck two. Once she'd left the secure area, the walkways bustled with foot traffic and motorized carts. Jemi clutched her bag and kept her suitcase close as she fell into step. A sign brought her to a full stop, heart racing. The people around her grumbled and swore, then hurried past. She re-read the sign. Buford's Ship Repair. Not Bluford, her father's name. Jemi took a deep, shaky breath and put her hood up - always best to hide from security surveillance. She headed for a public lift.

Finally, Jemi had arrived at the Tenzing Momo lobby entrance. It was a grand place, opulent and ostentatious. Jemi wasn't sure she could afford to stay here, not for long anyway. Two Alliance security personnel stood outside the main entrance. Weird. She recalled a time when seeing those uniforms on the streets of Londinium made her feel safe. Now she kept her head down and walked past without meeting their eyes.

There was more Alliance security in the lobby. If she turned around and left now, she'd call attention to herself. Jemi went to the counter and presented her IdentCard. "My name is Jemison Ajayi. I'd like a room for a few days."

A very well manicured Gentleman dressed in a full length white suit was working at the registration terminal in the lobby. The engraved placcard on his lapel displayed the name Marccus Lofey/ He accepted Jemi's IDent card inserting the card into its reader slot and scanned his monitor. His face was passive at best some would say cold. "I am sorry, we appear to be booked up for the duration of this week. Perhaps the Alliance Hostel may have some vacancy."

Jemi felt a little odd invoking the name of a person she'd just met. A young woman who hadn't even told Jemi her first name. "Well, uh, I met a woman in SkyPlex Immigration, a Ms. Petrovich, and she told me to say I'm a guest of the Petroviches."

While his face did not shift much, Marccus, paused, visibly considering his options. "Of course Ms. Ajayi. Your room should be ready for you." he said in a freindly voice, with a touch of fear. He turned and opened a small drawer behind the desk, with drawing a key chip. "This is for the Petrovich suite, It is on deck one in the outer ring, room 177. If there is anything we can provide to make your stay more pleasant do not hesitate to ask." He handed her the chip and IDent card, quickly looking her over but avoiding eye contact. "Please give our regards to the Petroviches. It is a pleasure to serve."

Jemi accepted the key chip and took note of his name pin. "Room 177, got it. Thank you, Mr. Lofey." Because it seemed like she should say something reassuring, she added, "I will pass on your regards to the Petroviches."

Weird. Jemi made her way through the luxurious lobby to the lift, thinking. She should have asked what it would cost to stay there, but she had the feeling most of their clientele didn't care and asking would make her stand out.

From the lift she made her way to room 177. Alliance security seemed to be everywhere. When she found it, the door opened to her key chip, and Jemi stepped inside with her suitcase.

The room was enormous, half of it was windows looking out at… the black. Greenleaf, the planet, was framed like a precious emerald and sapphire ball nestled in black velvet. A kitchen and a wet bar that appeared fully stocked to her untrained eye occupied part of the inner wall. The room itself was furnished with two sofas and several plush chairs. Interesting little knickknacks seemed to occupy random niches and surfaces, and against the wall a glass case… Jemi gasped. Inside were Russian nesting dolls and pysanky - Ukrainian Easter eggs. They couldn't be real artifacts from earth-that-was. They had to be reproductions, right? And yet…

Jemi forced herself not to try opening the case. This was a room for entertaining guests. Wealthy guests the host wanted to impress.

This could not be where she was staying. There must be some mistake.

At the side of the main room opposite the bar, she found four doors - one of them opened to her key chip. Inside she found a room more like she'd been expecting. A bed, an attached bathroom, a cortex terminal. She queried the terminal immediately. There was no charge to her accounts for the hotel. Jiàn tā de guǐ (Damnit). She composed a short wave to the Greenleaf Skyplex Administrator, requesting an appointment. After a few moments of internal quandary, she mentioned Ms. Petrovich, then sent.

Jemi kicked off her shoes and collapsed across the fancy bed. What had she gotten herself in to now?

"You are make self comfortable?" a voice came from behind Jemi to the left of the bed. Standing there, with no clear evidence of how exactly he got there was a large bald slavic man. "I am interested. What are you called?" the unwelcome stranger asked.

Jemi scrambled to her feet to face the strange man from the other side of the bed. "I, uh… my name is Jemison Ajayi. Most people call me Jemi." She swallowed, and tried to gauge her chances of running past him without getting caught – not likely. "What's your name?"

The entrance to the suite was just tot he right behind the man. He wasn't blocking it directly, but it would be unlikely she could bolt past him.

"Jemi. Jemi, it is a good name I think. If we be friends you may call me Zeno. If not, well you call me Mr. Petrovich, if you are able."
The large man watched her reaction carefully before moving over and sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Tell me Jemi. How did you come to be in this place? I think your name is not Petrovich, and this is place it belongs to Petrovich. You do not seem to fear Petrovich. Perhaps you not know where you are."

Despite the fact that the man looked a lot like somebody's grandfather, the hairs on the back of Jemi's neck stood on end. She settled on the edge of the bed next to him, folded her hands in her lap, and thought carefully about what he'd said. Not only did she not belong here, she was trespassing in the home of a man who expected her to be afraid of him. "I meant no disrespect, uh, Zeno. When I arrived at the SkyPlex today, I met a lovely young woman in immigration. She was so kind and she told me to go to the Tenzing Momo and say I'm a guest of the Petroviches. I must have misunderstood. I didn't expect… that is, I'm so sorry to have bothered you. I'll go."

Jemi had the feeling she needed this man's permission to leave. She chewed her bottom lip and looked at his profile, and recalled a museum patron friend of her mother's who came every Tuesday afternoon when Jemi was a child, and helped with her math homework. "You remind me of Uncle Andriy."

"Ah, Jemi, you come from immigration. Oksanna! You speak of Oksanna. Why no you say so. Always she help people. Heart of gold that girl has. Not like her sister. If Oksanna say you stay, you stay. Zeno lives just down hall. You need help you call. You call me Uncle Zeno if you like. As guest of Petrovich, you are protected. No one give you trouble or Zeno has little talk with them." Zeno said enthusiastically, lightly slapping the top of her thigh as he stood up. "Jemi good. We good. You need Petrovich we help you." he stated moving to the door way.

Oksanna. So that was her first name. The bed shifted as the large man stood and patted her thigh in a paternal way that was not exactly reassuring. Who exactly was this Petrovich family? What had she gotten herself into now? "Thank you, Uncle Zeno."

Jemi was pretty sure that if she put on her shoes and left right then, she would offend this man of indeterminate threat. She got to her feet and followed him to the door of her room. "I don't expect to stay long, just until I can get residential quarters." She hoped. Jemi checked cortex hand-held for a reply from the Skyplex Administrator. To make polite conversation, she said, "This is such a lovely suite. The nesting dolls are gorgeous, and I've never seen pysanky outside the Londinium museum."

Zeno stopped in his tracks and turned and looked back at Jemi. "You know psysanky. Are you versed in other objects of antiquity?" He moved over to a shelf nearby and pulled down a black lacquered box with an intricate painting on the cover. "What you make of this?" he said, handing her the box.

Jemi could not resist. She pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt down over her hands as impromptu gloves and gingerly accepted the box. It was not as heavy as it would have been if the box was made of wood instead of papier-mâché and lacquer. She opened the box and inhaled the distinct scent. "Linseed oil." Kindra closed the box and tapped the bottom with a fingernail. "The click is muted, not harsh." She examined the painting, three horses pulling a sleigh, signed by the artist in fine gold, no year. "Beautiful, troyka theme." The walls of the box were just a little too thin, and the box's condition was pristine. She'd need her equipment and archived data to be certain, but this was not an earth-that-was artifact, and not a piece she'd made herself. Jemi adjusted her grip, to hold it in her hands, then offered to back to her host. "Where did you acquire it, Uncle Zeno?"

Zeno watched her carefully as she examined the box. "I have an associate on the Skyplex that brings me curiosities of slavic origin. She has cousin who says piece is very rare. I know much of artifacts, but expert no. What do you say of piece? Would you buy if offered?"

"Well I, uh…" Jemi hoped his associate wouldn't get in trouble because of her answer, but even if she weren't a terrible liar, she had no idea what lie to tell. "I wouldn't buy it, but only because I don't have a lot of discretionary funds at the moment. My uh, educated guess is that it's a recent and original piece. The artist did their research into historic methods to create such an authentic-looking piece. As you say, lacquered boxes were unique to the Slavic region of Earth-that-was. It's so gratifying to see the artform revived."

"What you say is piece is fake. Pretty but fake. Not of the Rodina." Zeno's face began to take on a bit more of reddish hue. "I will be having words with cousin expert. I had suspicious that too confident he is. Most interesting." The brow of the large man furrowed as his thoughts went through his head. "How come you to know antiquities. Your eye, it sees things others do not. You have knowing of such things. Why?"

Jemi wrapped her arms around herself, shoulders hunched, and took an unconscious step back. How was it possible for an older man to seem like a big teddy bear one minute, and so damn frightening the next? She was afraid to answer his question, but even more afraid not to. "I… I've studied art and art history my whole life. I grew up in the museum on Londinium, and worked there as an adult. And… and I, um…" Tears filled her eyes and Jemi blinked to stop them from falling.

"I was convicted for creating copies of Earth-that-was artifacts for an exhibition that were stolen and later sold as authentic. But I was always completely transparent about the art pieces' origins. I never tried to pass them off as authentic." This was a point her lawyers had failed to make during her trial, lawyers who turned out to be working for the people who benefitted from the sales of her creations and her taking the blame. A tear started to roll down her cheek and Jemi brushed it away with the sleeve of her hoodie like a child. "To determine if this box was made on Earth, I would need to examine it more carefully, compare my notes, do some tests. But, legally, I'm not allowed to have anything to do with Earth-that-was artifacts, fake or not. I'm sorry, Uncle Zeno."

Zeno put an arm on Jemi's shoulder. "Nyet. Nyet. Malen'kiy tsvetok, you are not worry. There are many who take law too serious. One with learning such as you should not be constrained by legally. You have skill to make quality artifacts? Not that I ask you to do anything to bring trouble. But much profit is to be made with right connections. I must to ask you tsvetok, why are you her at skyplex?"

Jemi leaned closer to the large man. She was pretty sure he was calling her something like little flower, and with his arm on her shoulder it was almost like a hug. "I came to Greenleaf because I wanted to be far away from Londinium… and people who know about who I was and my criminal record." It might not be safe to tell Zeno, or anyone, about the art collectors who still kept her on retainer. Their wealth gave them influence and a long reach, she could never truly escape. "When I get my own place and take my equipment out of storage, I can show you some holos of artifact recreations I made."

His comment about profit and connections reminded her a little too much of her employers. "Uncle Zeno, art is more than what someone will pay for it. Art is the feeling it evokes. Sometimes it's a reflection or celebration of culture. It should be experienced by many, not horded by few. For me there is happiness in rediscovering and reviving artistic methods like this lacquered box. Art doesn't just come from our distant past, it can be part of our present, a gift to our future."

She hesitated a moment, then said, "I also thought a place like this... there are probably little shops that sell odds and ends... salvage. For a hobby... I like to look for broken artifacts among the junk. Sometimes I find something I can restore

Zeno gave Jemi a toothy grin. "You an idealist. I like that about you tsvetok. You are right. Art should be cultural celebration to be shared. But one must collect to make celebration, otherwise there is nothing to celebrate. I think you have talent and vision. I too have a vision. I want Skyplex to have fine collection of slavic and slavic inspired art that draws folks all the way from Core. A magnificent menagerie of fine things. Perhaps you like to help Zeno add to this collection. You are right, many many ships with exotic cargo come to port to trade. Much money change hands. My family Petrovich it has ties. fingers that extend out far into Black. Many things we can find if you ask right persons."

He paused looking the young woman up and down. "You are small thing, my mama would say you need eat more. But much energy. Much drive. I like that. What kind of space you need to make things you like? I think we could, how you say, come to an arrangement. I have means to make what you need happen. You have means to make what I need happen. This sounds like good partnership, yes?"

Jemi's cheeks warmed at his praise. She wasn't sure she deserved it, and she wasn't sure she should trust this man she'd just met. But the prospect help from someone like Zeno - with influence and connections, who seemed to share her values and vision – it was just too good an offer to pass up. "Yes, Uncle Zeno, that sounds like a wonderful partnership."

Letting out a bellowing laugh the big man embraced her in a hug that literally took her breath away. "Partners. Yes. Many things to do. You get yourself settled in, enjoy family suite. Tomorrow beings new day for us!" Zeno released her and moved back toward the hallway he somehow had appeared from. He gave her a quick wink and turned about, disappearing from her view. She never heard him actually leave the suite, but he would not reappear that night. Jemi was left alone in the suite with a new Skyplex to explore.