Every Man's Fantasy Ch. 21

"Hello, Madam," she replied. It was clear she didn't recognise him, didn't know he was a man.

"I've brought some people to see you," he said.

Annela smiled politely at Yael and Freya but her face changed when she saw Gloria.

"I know you! You're a Cloner. How come you're here?"

Annela listened politely but disbelievingly to the story that Gloria told her, that Ezra and she were bedmates and that Freya was their daughter. She wouldn't credit it, even though Freya called her 'Mummy' and Ezra called her 'Darling'.

After this, Annela improved daily in the hospital, regaining her strength, standing up and walking, able to receive longer visits.

Her doctor was very kind and patient. She ran tests and always looked optimistic when she discussed the results with Cassie, who welcomed Annela's improving brain-functions. Annela was happy to comply with all the tests. She enjoyed running on the treadmill and willingly gave blood-samples. She sat for hours under the brain-scanner, looking at the words and pictures Cassie showed her.

Because everything was so strange to her, being a guinea-pig gave her something to do between the at-once welcome but disturbing visits from the strange people who said they were her daughter and friends.

******

Gloria, Ezra and the girls visited Annela every evening and although Annela still recognised only Gloria, she at last believed the absurd story they told her.

She was fully active now, able to perform hard physical exercise. Only her memory was missing. However, Annela's brain-scans showed so much progress that there was nothing more to be done for her medically. It was just a matter of waiting for her memories to come back naturally, so Cassie persuaded Annela to move in with Ezra, Freya and Yael. The more time she spent with them, she said, the more likely it was that her memory would be jogged.

In preparation for Annela moving out of the hospital, Ezra, Yael and Freya moved into a spare apartment half-way between the medical centre and Danielle and Roger's flat.

It was an unstressful move for Annela, who was a naturally calm person, difficult to make nervous or to excite for no reason. She felt comfortable in the medical centre but it was only a short walk away and she would return there every day for more tests with Cassie.

Although no memories were returning, she liked Ezra and the girls. Before she went to bed the first night, she said to Ezra:

"I wish that everything they told me were true."

"It is," he assured her.

"I don't remember you, Ezra, but I'd like to. I believe you when you say you love me. I'm sorry I can't love you back."

"That's all right," he said. "I'll just have to make you fall in love with me all over again."

Annela smiled happily.

It was so strange, being told she loved both an actual man, a lively pretty girl and her own daughter, but she couldn't remember any of them. Even so, their faces seemed to trigger submerged emotions. She liked being with them and couldn't explain why. She believed Cassie when she said that her normal feelings would percolate to the surface in time.

Freya wanted to sleep with her mother and Annela agreed at first but when they cuddled up in bed, Annela found it too strange and disturbing to rest properly. It was emotionally painful to be loved by a girl she didn't recognise and didn't quite know how to treat. When Freya fell asleep, Annela left her in bed and went into the corridor to pace up and down and try to understand her feelings.

Ezra heard her and came out of his bedroom to ask what the problem was. It was hard for Annela to explain but Ezra got the gist.

"You need time to adjust. I'll take Freya into my bed tonight."

As he went into Annela's bedroom to pick up Freya, Yael also came out of her room, yawning in her blue silk pyjamas. She was not used to sleeping alone and was only able to doze. She heard what Annela explained and understood completely. Yael suggested they sleep together.

Yael was as much a stranger to Annela as Freya was, but it was the custom on Samothea for women to share their beds, even with strangers, so it didn't feel odd to Annela when the girl stripped naked and joined her under the covers.

Annela had a glimpse of her forgotten self when Yael kissed her on the lips in the Woodlander style and snuggled close, resting her head on Annela's shoulder. This was how Annela had liked to sleep with Yael a few years before, when Yael was younger and smaller. Muscle-memory took over and she held Yael by her waist pulling their breasts and bellies together, bending her knees to cross their legs over each other at their thighs and ankles.

"I love you, Annela," Yael said, comfortably warm.

Annela couldn't say it back. Her body remembered Yael but her mind was still a blank. She kissed the top of the beautiful girl's head and held her tightly, trying to remember. In a few minutes, both women were contentedly asleep.

******

This all happened in the first ten days since the visitors from Samothea arrived on Celetaris. The conference would begin in another ten days and Gloria, Ezra and Roger had many meetings to prepare for it. Gloria spoke for hours by video link to Solange and the Advisory Council on Samothea. When she filled up her lawyer's notepad, Roger taught her to use a computer tab.

Danielle worked with Rosa on hyperspace pathways, tutored her post-grad students, smiled with satisfaction at the healthy dividends from the air-suit business and looked forward to her parents finally arriving. She also tried to mollify Stephen Oakshott and HyperStar Japan, who were bursting to start selling the hyperspace technology and make their fortunes. With tethered links to New Exeter and Samothea, the technology was surely proved now.

With effort, Danielle persuaded her partners to wait until the conference was over.

Annela went daily to the medical centre and submitted to tests. She and Yael shared the pleasure of keeping Freya entertained or giving her lessons from some books that Danielle ordered.

Most days, Yael took Freya exploring. They wandered around the park, the conference centre, the university and even Arts City; but they were always prompt in meeting Mr. Fanshaw and Charlie-dog in the morning or afternoon.

They visited the lake where, in defiance of by-laws against public nudity, they stripped off and went swimming. They tried to stalk the deer but the timid beasts were too flighty. Yael wished she had her bow and arrows with her. She'd love to bring home a goose or a duck for Danielle.

One of the purchases Danielle made for the girls were not a success. She ordered shoes of a strange jelly-like material which started out flat and, when the jelly was stepped on, moulded itself around the foot, hardening on the sole and sealing itself up on the instep, turning whatever colour or design the wearer chose by tapping buttons on the heel.

Even such marvels of technology couldn't persuade the girls to wear shoes. They kicked off the jellies as soon as they reached the park. Yael preferred her thin leather sandals and Freya preferred bare feet.

Annela took Freya in the afternoons, so Yael would meet up with Kelly; but sometimes Yael wandered off on her own around the university, sneaking into lectures, picking up nuggets of education like shiny jewels. She lost herself for hours in the library, sometimes coming home late for dinner. Once she climbed to the highest level of the domed conference centre and found an unlocked maintenance stairway above the reporters' gallery. This eyrie above the conference centre became her favourite place. She would sit on the floor, her legs poking through the railings, watching the bustle far below, still barely able to believe there were so many people in one place.

Another favourite thing for Yael was to take a jet-car to Ocean City and wander the streets, getting neck-ache from staring at the sky-scrapers, much taller than any building in Arts City.

When she needed the exercise, Yael ran around the park as hard as she could. Seeing this, Danielle realised she had lately neglected her own exercise regime. She invited Yael and Annela to join her and Cassie on their morning runs around the park, which Cassie had maintained despite Danielle dropping out. They did so with pleasure. It turned out that both the Samothean women were fast runners with excellent stamina, even Annela, who was still regaining her strength.

******

When Yael first visited Kelly at her home, she saw a bedroom even more cluttered than the Junior dormitory in the Cloner City, with more pink things - toys, pillows, bags and clothes - than Yael had ever seen. The best thing, though, was a cat. He was a large short-haired black cat named 'Monty', who spent half his life asleep on Kelly's bed.

Kelly rudely pushed Monty onto the floor.

"Oh!" Yael exclaimed, going to pet him. "Poor thing!"

"Careful!" Kelly said. "He's got a temper. He'll scratch you."

"Really? He's so pretty."

"He's a lazy wretch. All he does is sleep, except when he's out catching birds, which he brings into the house. And he leaves hairs on my bed!"

Yael sat down to stroke the cat. He rubbed his chin against her knee. She tried tickling his ear and he liked it. He began to purr.

"I don't believe it!" Kelly said. "Monty never likes anyone."

The cat climbed onto Yael's lap and curled up. She tickled him under his chin and he purred even louder.

"Traitor!" Kelly hissed at the cat.

From then on, whenever she visited Kelly, Yael always sought out Monty, to stroke him and make him purr. The same instinct that told her she didn't like dogs now told her she loved cats. She loved Monty's independence and 'couldn't care less' attitude; his selfishness; his affection on only his terms; and the fact that he was a ruthless, silent and sharp-clawed killer.

One day, while the girls were hanging out in Kelly's bedroom, Kelly received a video call. It was a girlfriend of hers and it was very serious. One of those gormless boys about whom Kelly and her friends were so inexplicably obsessed had said or done something to upset the girl. There was a balcony outside the bedroom and Kelly went there to give her friend much-needed psychological counselling.

Yael sat cross-legged on Kelly's bed and petted Monty. She tickled the cat's stomach and he stretched out on her lap.

A young man walked past the bedroom and glanced in. He saw a thin girl on the bed, her long golden hair concealing her face.

"Hey Kells," the young man said. "Since when have you played with Fleabag?"

Yael looked up. The young man was taken aback and stopped dead.

"Kelly's on a video call," she said. "I'm Yael."

"Oh! ... er, I'm Ryan. I'm Kelly's sister," he stammered. "I mean, er, Kelly's my brother. ... I mean, I'm her brother .. er, I'm Ryan," he repeated.

She smiled at him. He was tall and thin with floppy hair and wispy bits of moustache and beard, crumpled blue denim jeans and crumpled denim jacket. He carried a guitar over his shoulder.

Yael had told Ezra how stupid and unattractive she found the boys of Celetaris, with their creased clothes, their floppy hair and their almost-beards; and here was the type-specimen of the silly-looking creatures; but Yael wasn't repulsed at all. In fact, the opposite. She was smitten.

"Why did you call Monty 'Fleabag'?" she asked.

Ryan got his voice under control and entered the room.

"That's what my Dad called him when I first brought him home. 'I'm not having that fleabag in my house!' he said; but Mum said I could keep him, so we kept him."

"Oh! He's yours, then?"

"No one really owns a cat, I suppose, but I gave Monty his formal name. While I'm away at medical school, he prefers Kelly's room. He likes company."

"He does. He's a big softie but Kelly thinks he's bad-tempered. That's a guitar, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I've never heard a guitar before. Will you play it for me?"

That was when Ryan's brain caught up with his glands. It was easy to find Yael attractive. He did so, instantly. More than attractive: stunning. But he also had one of those peculiar moments when he was sure he recognised her and realised it was impossible. Then he had another revelation.

"You're the girl from Samothea! I've seen you on the news."

Yael smiled again.

"I want to hear your story," he said. "How are you finding Celetaris? It must be very strange to you. How are you being treated?"

"I like it. I like the people."

He took his guitar, tuned it and began picking out a melody.

He strummed as they talked. She spoke about her life on Samothea and the differences between Samothea and Celetaris. He told her that he was nineteen years old and a medical student at Ocean City University; that he liked all kinds of music and had written a few songs but they weren't any good.

Of course, she had to hear them and, though he was right, they weren't any good, yet Yael thought they were the best songs she'd ever heard. She got him to repeat them and sang along with him the second time.

This was when Kelly finally came back from her video call.

"Ry, you're back!"

Kelly was pleased. She liked her big brother and missed him while he was away on his degree course.

"Hey, Kells. Yael and I, ... we've just met. We, er, we were just ... er, playing some songs."

His awkwardness was back but it amused Kelly, who was pleased to see sparks crossing between Yael and Ryan when they looked at each other. She decided to help them along.

"Yael and I are going to meet my friends at the mall," she said to Ryan. "Do you want to come along?"

Ryan came along and, from then on, joined Kelly and Yael whenever they hung out. Pretty soon, Yael and Ryan were hanging out together.

******

Of course, Ezra never followed through on his promise to make Annela fall in love with him again. He was busy with many things and, though they lived together, the most time he spent with her was at the family dinner with Gloria every night at Danielle and Roger's flat.

Occasionally, from old habit and sometimes because he was tired or distracted, he touched Annela on the hand or elbow, or even stroked her long red-gold hair, forgetting that he was really a stranger to her. She never objected but she never touched him back. One day, when he was in a particularly good mood, however, he spontaneously held her by the waist and kissed her cheek. It was an unthinking gesture, meant to be a loving one, but she flinched and turned away, leaving Ezra mortified.

She said nothing. In fact, it was an involuntary reaction. But, from then on, he kept his distance. Annela had no idea what to say to him. She decided to carry on as if nothing had happened, but she was disappointed he no longer even touched her hand.

*******

Danielle was pleased when she found out that Yael had been looking in on classes at the university. It was clear that Yael was a bright girl with a sponge-like memory. She read very quickly and seemed to absorb information well, judging by the questions she asked Roger about his history books. She also asked Danielle about the physics books she read. Here the girl proved she was a quick study but (as might be expected) she lacked background knowledge. Few of the equations or diagrams made sense to her; yet she seemed good at maths.

Danielle to put the girl's intelligence to a test. It happened one night at dinner, when Gloria mentioned Yael's upcoming eighteenth birthday. Danielle asked:

"Yael, when are you eighteen?"

"I don't know exactly ... " the girl said.

Danielle was disappointed. It wasn't that hard a problem to solve.

".... but about two-thirty on Thursday afternoon."

Danielle was impressed.

"That's pretty precise. How do you work out two-thirty?"

"Well, Mum told me I was born just after midnight on day nineteen of month twelve, which I translated into the Galactic calendar and then into the Celetaris calendar. Then I adjusted for the time difference between midnight on Celetaris and midnight on Samothea."

Danielle punched some numbers into her computer tab and smiled at the result.

"You're very close. Show me your working out."

"What do you mean?"

"Write down the steps of your calculation."

"I can't. I did it in my head."

"Blazes!" Danielle exclaimed to Yael's delight. It was her favourite imprecation, one she learned from Ezra.

Danielle put her computer to one side and gave the girl her full attention. Ezra looked on, smiling. He knew Yael's gifts and looked forward to seeing them tested by his equally brilliant sister.

"All right, young lady," Danielle said. "Talk me through the calculation."

"So, there are twelve months of twenty-eight days on Samothea," Yael said, "plus either ten days or eleven days at the end of the year to make the year on Samothea the same length as an Earth year, which is the Galactic Standard. That much everyone knows."

"Exactly how many intercalary days are there?" Danielle asked.

"Four times every thirteen years the Cloner Fair is only ten days long, which means an Earth year is three-hundred-and-forty-six and nine thirteenths Samothean days long."

"We left Samothea in the afternoon of month eleven, day twenty-seven. We've been on Celetaris for sixteen days. But I think the days on Celetaris are shorter than the days on Samothea."

"They are. Do you know by how much?"

"About two hours, nearly."

"One Earth-hour, forty-three minutes and eight seconds, exactly. Which means that your birthday is at 2:23 on Thursday. You're only seven minutes out."

"My birthday used to be on Haircut Day," Yael added, for completeness' sake, "which was the first day of the Fair proper, because the Herders who kidnapped me didn't know my real birthday. Also, it was a sort of compensation because I could never go to the Cloner Fair."

This was superfluous knowledge to Danielle, who was seriously impressed by Yael. She sat back in her chair and looked at the girl.

"Is everyone on Samothea this good at maths?" she asked.

"Most of us. You need to meet Wildchild. She's much better than me."

"I can count!" exclaimed Freya.

"Freya's good at counting, too," Yael confirmed. "She can count in sixties because it makes fractions easier."

Danielle invited her niece to come and sit by her while she and Yael took her through her numbers. Freya counted on her fingers but also employed her wrists and elbows, which she used like an abacus. Sure enough, she could count in base sixty, though she got a little lost between six sixties and ten sixties.

When she saw Ezra smiling, as if it were he that was clever, rather than the women of Samothea, Danielle said:

"You can shut up, Ezra!"

"I haven't said anything!" he protested.

"Your smug grin is so loud the neighbours can hear it."

He laughed.

"Yael," Danielle continued. "If I could get you a place here at the university, would you take it?"

This got Gloria's attention. She had been looking over a law book with Roger and half-following the maths lesson. She looked up.

"I don't know," Yael answered. "What would I study?"

"Any science you like. I recommend physics, but any hard science would test you."

"Would Yael be able to step right into a university course?" Gloria asked. "None of our girls have had much of a formal education. Would any of them be able to finish a course?"

"No, there's a problem," Danielle answered. "Yael would need to do a foundation course for a year, to get up to speed in the fundamentals; but I have no doubt she's capable. She could probably do the whole foundation course in a summer holiday."

"It's something to consider, anyway," Danielle finished, leaving both Yael and Gloria agreeing to think about it seriously.

"What do you want to do on your birthday, Yael?" Roger asked.

"Can I go hunting?"

"What do you want to hunt?" Danielle asked, somewhat shocked.