SquidgeWorld Archive

Red Roses Lying
by Evita

"Ladies an gentlemen, we just arrived at Shalifei Drift. Thanks from your captain Valentine for flying with us. We wish you a pleasant stay."

Beka stand up from her pilot's seat, took a bow all around and then went to the exit of the command deck.

"Beka, one moment please", Hunt called before the young woman could leave.

"Hmmmm? "

„Because we are all here together, there is something we need to discuss." Tyr clarion growled. A general announcement of the captain could only mean that there was another deadly mission ahead of them, which there seemed to happen nearly every day.

Hunt simply ignored the Nietzchean.

"Tomorrow it's the 14th of February. Because of that I decided, that we not only take a break in our flight here today but take the day off tomorrow too."

"Hey, I call that a really nice surprise", Harper called. "A day off for an old holiday from earth. Do we get chocolate and flowers too? We should establish a few other holidays like that. Then there would be a lot more shore leave."

"A day off to eat chocolate? What's that? I've never heard of such a thing."

Trance looked around perplexed while her tail twitched up and down excitedly.

"February 14th isn't a holiday of eating chocolate, but It is Valentine`s Day. It's a holiday for lovers."

"Oh, what a nice idea!" Trance was enthused with the idea. "Does everyone fall in love, then?"

Tyr coughed to cover a laugh of derision. It could only be one of Trance's ideas that everyone had to fall in love because of a holiday. The Nietzcheans had long ago changed this special holiday into something much more important. In many prides, the young men came together to prove themselves in competitions and practical tests and to be chosen by their first wife.

Anasazi thought back on the days of his youth. "On this holiday there was a hustle and bustle at all public place. But in the evening, there were only children and old people there. Nine months later the birth rate skyrocketed." He grinned.

The holiday of the humans wasn't foreign to him. Before Harper could start to tell a lot of humbug he took it upon himself to explain everything to Trance.

"You don't fall in love on Valentines Day, but lovers celebrate their love. Some use that day to declare their love for the first time and others make their proposal of marriage on this day."

"Anasazi, if someone hears you talking like that, one could get the idea you would be a romantic. I didn't even know, that you know so much about love because you don't even believe at love", Beka piped up with a smirk.

"I never said, that love does not exist. I merely state, that love is a trick of nature to convince living beings to procreate. And that's exactly what Nietzcheans celebrate at Valentines Day."

"Pah! Procreation. I'm going to go and find a date! "

Beka turned around, waved for good-bye and then left the deck. Extra vacation was great, especially on Valentines Day. If there wasn't an opportunity for fun and a really great night then … well, then her name wasn't Beka Valentine.

"Look! Look! "

Trance jumped excitedly all over the command deck, where Dylan, Beka and Rommie had just read the messages that arrived last evening.

"Beka, you seem to have broken the hearts of some men yesterday. That is already the fourth invitation for a Valentines date, that arrived for you", Rommie sniffed.
"And you are nosy. Who has actually allowed you to check my messages and then to tell everyone about them? "Beka asked.

"I check on every message to prevent that viruses are smuggled into my systems. And I didn't think, that your messages were so secret that I may not talk about their content", Rommie explained pouting.

Dylan grinned. He knew long ago that Rommie took herself some liberties to take part on the lives of her crew. Only rarely a comment about that slipped out of her.

"Look at what I have!" Trance jumped excitedly around holding a huge bouquet of flowers cradled in her arms.

"Did Harper attack your roses?" Dylan was perplexed because Trance seemed not to mind that her beloved flowers had been removed.

"No, these are not from my bushes, someone sent these to me. Of course it is sad, that they were cut, but a whole rose bush would have been too difficult to transport for the carrier. And it wouldn't have fit into this lovely flower paper", she added as she buried her nose in the fragrant roses again.

Only just now Beka saw, that Trance tail not only waved left and right, but she held a page of rose flower paper with it.

"You are getting roses? From whom?"

Now Beka was nosy, her own messages and invitations forgotten.

"Oh … I don't know"

"Wasn't there a card anywhere?" Dylan asked with a raised eyebrow. "Normally the donator of the flowers wouldn't want to remain unidentified." He assumed that Harper had sent the flowers to Trance, because he had seen him sneaking out of the ship earlier the day started on the drift. He himself was returned from a very hot date at that time.

"A card? Why didn't I think about it myself? I have a piece of paper that came with the flowers, but I thought it was nothing. Please hold these", she said and pushed the enormous bouquet of flowers into Beka's arms. Trance plucked with her hand at her trouser pocket and then pulled out a crinkled envelope.

Carefully the purple being opened the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"Read it out loud", Beka demanded impatiently. She was a little envious of Trance. Beka had invitations for drinks and dubious dates, but Trance – lovely as she was – had beautiful red roses. Beka put her nose into the flowers and absorbed the sweet fragrance, when Trance started to read out.

My love,

I have admired you for long time now. At first, I thought you a little odd, perhaps a little unladylike, but as I have got to know you, I see the wonderful woman you really are. I would be very honored, if this evening you would give me the opportunity to tell you in person. Would you join me for dinner at "Haszla's Rest" at 8 o'clock tonight? I have reserved a table for us there.

Please forgive me, I'm not able to express my feelings better in written words and give me an opportunity to tell you personally about my love for you this evening."

"Is that all?" demanded Beka, when Trance finished. "No name? No signature? Nothing?"

"That`s all there is." Trance paused, a little confused. Then the cheerful smile came back to her face. "Someone loves me. I can't really believe it! But I have no idea who it could be. I guess I will find out tonight."

Trance took back the bouquet of flowers from Beka.

"I hope you'll have an evening as nice as mine. Well, it will be nice. I am loved. And I'm celebrating Valentine's Day. Isn't that great?"

With these words, she bounced up the ramp of command deck. But before she disappeared through the door, she bumped into Harper, who just turned around the corner.
"Harper! Be careful, you are crushing my flowers!"

Now it could become interesting, Dylan thought as he and Beka watched.

"Trance, I didn't see you behind all this green stuff. Why are you even carrying this here from Hydroponics Gardens? "

"These aren't from Hydroponic Gardens. They are a gift", Trance declared proudly.

Dylan wrinkled his brow. Why didn't Harper know that? Wasn't he the mystery man?

"Well", Harper said, "my Purple Princess, I thought I would invite you for dinner tonight so you don't have to hang around on Andromeda on Valentine's Day. We could be lonely together."

"Oh, Harper, I'm sorry, but you are too late. I've got already a date."

"What?"

Dylan's face showed the same expression than Harper's. Both men were very surprised.
"I guess you have to be purple", Beka commented, "in order to get dates from men, who seem to mean what they say." She threw a glance towards Harper.

"Well, I have to go", Trance said. "I need a perfect outfit for tonight. I'll go and see if Rommie can give me something." Trance left command deck.

Harper looked after her, really confused.

"She's got a date?" he murmured. "She's got a date? With who?"

Questioning he looked around but no one of the crew could give him an answer. Rommie said, "She got no digital message so I can't discover who has invited her."

Tyr groaned. He had thought through everything, had prepared everything and now this.

When he entered the "Haszla's Rest" Trance immediately waved at him. Why did the purple girl have to show up at exactly this day exactly this restaurant? He had an important date here tonight. How could he get her to leave? Should he simply ignore her? What if his plan failed because of the little purple person?

"May I help you?" the waiter asked as he took the Nietzschean's coat

"I've got reserved a table for Anasazi", Tyr said rather absent-mindedly. He still wasn't sure how to handle the situation. Perhaps his table was on the other side of the room and Trance wouldn't disturb his date?

"Please come with me, Sir. Your guest already arrived."

Anasazi followed the waiter and thought with every step he made, that everybody there was snickering, including the waiter, as they approached the table where Trance was sitting.

"Mr. Anasazi, your table", the waiter said and pulled out a chair opposite to Trance.

Anasazi prevented a groan, sat down, took the menu, which was given to him and waited until the waiter left.

When they were alone, Tyr put down the menu and wanted to start to speak, but Trance Gemini spoke first.

"Oh, Tyr, how nice of you. And you are looking great. Do you like my outfit?", Trance preened. "And I've brought one of the roses you sent with me."

Trance pointed at a single red rose, which stood in a tall vase in the middle of the table.
"Trance, what are you talking about? What are you doing here? Is this some kind of a joke?"

Trance looked confused because of the words of the Nietzschean.

"What do you mean, a joke?" Trance looked more confused than she normally did.

Tyr observed Trance carefully. She really did look like she knew nothing about what had happened.

"Who sent you here?", he asked.

"You did." Trance sounded a little indigent.

"I? When would I have said to you to come here tonight?"

"In your card. You wrote it to me. You wrote that I should meet you here."

Something was going terribly wrong. That was sure.

"And who gave you this card?" he asked.

"A delivery man. He gave me the bouquet with your card."

"But I told that idiot to bring the flowers directly to the captain of the Maru!" Tyr exploded.

"Captain Valentine? The flowers were for her?"

Trance looked astonished, watched Tyr for a short moment and stated then: "Well, I was on the Maru, when the flowers arrived. He must have thought I was Beka. But that's all not that bad."

"Not that bad? Not bad? I'm sitting here with you instead of Beka. That wasn`t the plan. I was supposed to been eating dinner with Beka, not you", the Nietzschean growled. "Sorry, but I would rather be with her."

"Oh, I'm not sorry", Trance said smiling. "That's no problem. Far from it!"

"What?"
What was the purple girl saying? There was no problem? Far from it? He was confused. He didn't understand anything anymore. What did she want?

"I think it is good, that you didn't want to declare your love to me. I'm not even in love with you. I would have been honored. It's a great feeling to be loved. But a Nietzchean? No, I'm sure that you wouldn't be Mister Right for me."

"Well, here we think along the same line", Tyr growled and hid his face in his hands.

"Don't worry", Trance said and pulled her hand back before she stroked the Nietzchean's hair. Presumably, he wouldn't like that.

"Everything will be okay? I'm sitting here with you, Beka has a date with an unworthy admirer and I had a terrific plan. It was such a good plan, but now…"

"What was a good plan?" Trance asked.

"Nothing", Tyr murmured.

"Nothing? You said you had a good plan. That's not nothing."

"Trance! You are bugging me. That's very unhealthy!"

"If you aren't well I'm sure I could help you. I know a lot of medicine."

Tyr moaned. He could say what he wanted, the naive purple girl didn't recognize how much she was bugging him.

"I'm well. And don't ask why I told you something would be unhealthy. That should have been a very special day, but because a collection of bad circumstances I'm sitting here instead of making a proposal to Beka."

"You want to marry Beka? Oh, congratulations! How long have you now been a couple? You were very secretive."

Enthused Trance clapped with her hands and smiled all over her face.

"A couple? We are no couple. I don't know until now if she would consider me as her lover and husband. I wanted to ask her today. But … oh … I should just forget this silly idea. Presumably it would have been an error to start anything."

After a few seconds, Trance answered: "You wanted to make a proposal to Beka? Without knowing if she loves you? Without having kissed her once? Without having shared her b…"

"Yes, without all that! That is not the Nietzchean way. And because Beka would presumably not react very well on me participating in fighting competitions for her or something like that, I thought I would prove myself with a romantic proposal. I heard that humans do that."

Now Trance couldn't resist to snicker and laugh. The Nietzchean looked at her, anger and disbelieve in his eyes.

"Oh, Tyr, I think you should be glad, that you are not sitting here with Beka just now. She would have turned you down in one second."

"Did she tell you that she doesn't like me? Has she got another lover?" Tyr asked promptly.

"No, but as you nearly recognized Beka is human."

"Of course I know that Beka is human. I thought … well, I thought that it would be only a problem for me to marry away from my species."

"That's not the problem", Trance tried to explain. "But I don't think that Beka would marry you from one second to the next. Not without any relationship before."

Anasazi looked at Trance thoughtfully. "But that's not the Nietzchean way."

"The Nietzchean way isn't what Beka is used to. And I know her very well."

Trance pushed her chair back and stood. "I'm better going now. Harper wanted to invite me for a date. Perhaps he has still no other plans. I think he likes me also."

With these words, the purple being left the Nietzchean and disappeared from the restaurant.

Tyr didn't want to stay either. He put some credits on the table and went out of the restaurant. It was possible that the purple girl was right. She was naive but sometimes she knew more than anybody thought. Perhaps with all chaos this evening he was saved from being turned down. On the other hand, he was angry that he had pulled himself together for this date and had forgotten all his principles without achieving anything.

Back on Andromeda the Nietzchean went instantly to his quarters. He just wanted to strip out of his elegant clothes when he caught a glimpse of something on his desk. There was … a single red rose.

Anasazi was certain that his quarters were locked when he left and when he came back. Who had been there and brought him this rose?

Tyr took the tender but also thorny plant and sniffed the sweet scented blossom. He sighed silently. Actually, he should have Beka showered with such roses long ago. She really was a remarkable woman, whom he cared for much. But he had never told her that.

But, that didn`t answer his question where the rose came from.

Actually, Anasazi knew only one person who could have brought the flower here without being noticed be anyone: Trance. The purple girl had the ability to sneak in everywhere. But why now?

There was no other way: He had to ask her.

"Hello?"

Nobody answered. Anasazi went through the silent Maru. Trance hadn't been in her quarters and now he thought that she was perhaps here in her former home.
"Trance?"

Again no answer. He couldn't find her anywhere.

Suddenly Anasazi heard something behind him. When he turned around a door wished open, the door of Beka's quarters.

"Anasazi? What are you doing here?"

Tyr met Beka with disbelieve. He hadn't expected her to be here or to be wearing a very sexy… negligee.

"Is that for me?" She asked.

"What?"

Tyr glanced bewildered from Beka to the rose he had brought with him from his quarters.

"Well…"
Beka lifted her brows.

"Here." Tyr was not able to say anything else. All those well thought out words were lost now that he was confronted with Beka so suddenly. He pushed the flower in her hands and turned around. Today really was not his day. First, the wrong woman came to his date and now he had interrupted Beka when she was with another man.

"Anasazi, would you please explain to me what this means?" Beka called after him. She followed him on naked feet in the corridor of the Maru.

"I didn't want to disturb you and your … friend", the Nietzchean said. "I was just looking for Trance.

Tyr didn't turn around but he heard that Beka was followed him and stood now directly behind him.

"Then the rose is for Trance? Well, she is lucky. Two men who are giving her roses and a date with Harper. Purple seems to be a great color."

However now Anasazi turned around.

"No, the rose was meant for you, not for her. That means, well … I don't know. I wanted to ask her. Well, it doesn't matter at all."

"Trance isn't here. She took Harper with her to go to some disco.

"I know … No; I knew that she was looking for Harper. I just thought …"

"Anasazi, what's wrong? I'm not used to you stuttering and stammering."

"That's because … well … you are the cause", the Nietzchean spit out. "I can't think clearly if you are standing in front of me … like that." He pointed at Beka and let his gaze wander up and down her body.

The young woman now first recognized that she wasn't fully dressed.

"Sorry, I was already in bed. Wait a minute, I'll dress and then I'll make coffee for us. I think you need some.

Beka turned around for her quarters, but Tyr grabbed her arm gently.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes?"
Beka looked at Anasazi questioning. She could see that he was unsure about something. He wasn't himself today.

Tyr closed his eyes for a second. Slowly his hand went from Beka's arm to her hand. Where were all those beautiful words he had thought about saying to her?

"I …"

Tyr took a deep breath, opened his eyes and looked Beka directly in the eye.

"I love you."

The Nietzchean didn't give Beka an opportunity to answer anything. He bent down to her and kissed her tenderly.

When he gave her a little breathing room and looked down at her with a little smile around his lips, Beka looked up to him in total confusion.

"I love you", he repeated, since perhaps she hadn't understood what he had said.

"And I want to …"

Tyr stopped. Should he make now his proposal?

"And I want to kiss and caress you and … why do you have to wearing so little?"

"Because I wanted to go to sleep?"

Beka tried to understand what a rose for her or Trance and the sudden declaration of love had to do with her clothes. Then this kiss. This tender kiss. He wanted to kiss her. Kiss.

"Kiss me!"

Tyr didn't to be told twice. Instantly he pressed his lips to hers this time with more passion than before, but also very reverently.

His proposal had time until tomorrow … or the day after tomorrow … or until some other time when he was able again to catch a clear thought.

The End