The Impressionist

Chapter 2

As she walked through the streets of the little outer-world colony, weaving in and out of the market day crowds, Jen allowed herself the luxury of reviewing this last assignment. It had looked like a lightweight floater trip. Her mark’s devoted lifetime partner, the Governor of this colony, was on earth for the semi-annual political debates.

The assassination attempt was being made by one of the smaller and not so well funded political factions in an effort to weaken the Governor and gain access to the exported minerals. There was even a hidden room in the bedchamber, always a bonus, as the contractor that was hired to construct the buildings on this colony was under the thumb of Control, themselves. Jen could not have wished for an easier scenario. It had all looked very neat and tidy. But, as Mac used to say, it was always the little things that tripped you up. There had been many of them this time, an unknown lover, a pet, and a “traditional” public ceremony. Someone in the research department had ben slacking. They had overlooked some important details. Jen would be causing a scene over that when she got back. It was inexcusable incompetence, the sort of thing that could throw an entire operation off balance and get someone hurt or killed.

The lover had been easily distracted, and a good thing too because acting out physical intimacy took a great deal of research and in-depth investigation. That is why it had been considered a primo assignment, because the spouse was away. Alara’s lover had shown up over lunch the first day that Jen had arrived. As soon as she had figured out what was happening, and it had been far from obvious, Jen had thrown a fit that was very much in character of the woman that she was portraying. The man had magically disentangled himself with the excuse of an unexpected “shipment” arriving, whatever that had meant. He hadn’t shown up since that day. Obviously, Alara’s fabulous temper was well known throughout the colony and the man was waiting for a signal that she had “cooled off.” Throwing a temper tantrum was exhausting, but that one was one of the few times that Jen had truly enjoyed being the Governess.

The evil cat, however, was another story entirely. Jen didn’t know how even the most inexperienced researcher could have missed that important tidbit. Finding out if there are pets in the household is supposed to be a high priority. Amazingly, Jenn could fool someone’s mother, husband, even their child, but those damned animals could peg an impressionist more often than not. If a pet was meant to guard someone, or was just plain mean, it could present a dangerous situation. Jen had become religious about closing doors behind her in that household. Somehow, the extra-large feline could distinguish between the plain meat pellets and the ones injected with sedatives that Jen had been planting everywhere, at every opportunity.

But, by far, the pairing had been the toughest. She had been approached by a young couple from the colony. They had asked her permission to take the vows and join as partners. She had simply said, “Okay,” and shrugged her shoulders, not knowing that Alara, herself, would be expected to perform the ceremony. At some point in the ten-year history of this colony, someone had decided that it was a great honor to be paired to their spouse in a ritualistic ceremony performed, usually, by the Governor. Since he was gone, the next person in line to lead the rituals was the Governess herself, the awful woman that Jen temporarily embodied.

In front of a large group of witnesses, Jen had fumbled her way through the service as best she could. Occasionally, someone would say, “aren’t you going to place the flowers first?” or whisper to each other, “she was supposed to cut the ribbons before that promise.” Jen has then placed the flowers or cut the ribbons as casually as possible. She covered it up with a faked drunken carelessness that would most certainly be in keeping with her mark’s personality.

Jen smiled to herself. It was irreverent, almost. The holes in her knowledge did piss her off to a certain extent, but she did also get an adrenaline burst when something like this happened in the field. Some part of her reveled in the challenge. She also knew that she was alone in having any joy associated with an unexpected conflict. Another agent might not have been able to pull it off. She was itching to record her report before she could forget even one of the hilarious, panicked, adrenaline packed moments of this assignment. She could never remember having had so many large holes in a personal history of a mark.

She paused as she reached the edge of the residential part of the city. This was a relatively new colony, so the landscape was bleak. The procedures for settling were made with safety in mind, not aesthetics. Every piece of native foliage for about two hundred square miles was burned to ash. Every hill, bump and ditch had been razed out to a perfectly flat surface. The city planners then put in place a sterile grid that was exactly the same dimensions as every other colony city that had been built in the last fifty years. You could see from one side of the colony to the other down each perfectly straight road. There were advantages to this. You certainly could never get lost. For those who moved from colony to colony. It must always feel like home, no matter where in the galaxy you were. The only things that changed were the names and the faces. Jen looked around. This would never feel like home to her.

 Control always insisted on public meeting places for impressionists and their contacts. “The more you try to hide, the more others will try to find out what you are hiding.” The pub where she had met her contact just two weeks ago was just around the next corner. She walked into the crowded brew house and scanned the tables for the small raven-haired woman. No, she was not in here. She approached the man tending the bar and gave him a tentative smile. Lissa should have been well known here. The character that she had adopted for this colony was gregarious and playful so that she could be seen just about anywhere and not be questioned.

“Hello there Missie,” the bar keep said, “what can I get you? You’re new here, yes? I’ll tell you what, the first drink is on the house,” he said flirtatiously.

She struggled for a moment, lost without a character to play. She flashed back to the sight of her own face in the mirror only thirty minutes earlier. No good, it didn’t help. Jen made a split-second decision and took on the personality of Lissa herself. Body relaxed, lead with the head forward, matched accent and a hint of the voice, not an exact duplication, but close enough to convince him.

“Oh yeah, I’m new here alright. But my sister has been here for a year. I’m sure you know her. Lissa? Lissa Childe?” She went on, “we don’t look that much alike, different father, you know? She’s got long jet back hair, super fashionable, killer body… If I didn’t like her so much, I’d hate her, you know? She said, mimicking Lissa’s airy, casual style of speech. “She told me all about this place and I was expecting her to meet me here. I should have called to remind her that I was getting in today.”

“Oh yeah, Liz, you mean? She shipped out about a week ago.” He put a glass out in front of her as he uncapped the bottle to pour her the drink he promised.

“Shipped out?” Jen put her hand over the top of her glass before he could fill it. “I’m sorry to seem confused, but I thought that she was stationed here for another year or two with that supply company she was working for…”

“Hmmm,” he wondered. “I don’t know. Last week her partner came in to wish us all goodbye for her, He said she was packing and didn’t have time to come down herself. She ate lunch here everyday and I didn’t even know that she was paired. Go figure.” He paused, then motioned to the bottle, “did you want that drink, gorgeous?”

“No, but thank you. Some other time perhaps,” she flirted. “I want to try and call her company and find out where she was moved to. I was so excited that we were going to be stationed near each other for once.” She sighed and stood up casually, deliberately masking the urgency that she felt. She thanked him and sauntered out the door, pausing only to give the bartender a friendly wave.

Lissa hadn’t taken the vows of partnership with anyone, not in reality and not as the identity that she had taken on with this contact posting. Jen was curious and concerned. Who was the man who had come down a established a cover story for Lissa’s disappearance, because it was clear that something had changed for Control and Lissa rather suddenly in this colony. She had wanted to ask more questions about the man who had claimed to be Lissa’s partner, but could hardly do so without drawing even more attention to herself than she had already done and compromising her impulsive cover story.

If the company had moved Lissa, for whatever reason, Lissa would have tied up her own loose ends, including Jen. A sudden spouse? It didn’t make sense. Control was usually neurotic about maintaining consistency. They wouldn’t just move a spouse into the picture like that. It had to have been another organization, but who?