The Meaning of Us

Road Trip!

ALCYONE

    The first thought that came to her, weirdly enough, was this day can’t get any worse. And she was right. It really couldn’t.

    “Rise and shine, princess!”

    Well, scratch that. This day just got horrible.

    Lana(Leila?) from the appeals. Right. And she was uncomfortably close to Alcyone’s face. Unfortunately, this afforded a very detailed look at her obnoxiously wide smile. Smug bastard. She said she was going to kill Alcyone and didn’t even follow through on it.

    Alcyone tried to sneak a glance around her to check her surroundings, but her kidnapper (a downgrade in Alcyone’s mental judgement of her, since she wasn’t holding a g*n or anything) had left her hair untied, and it fell in a dark curtain around both their faces. There was nothing to look at except her face, which quickly led to an impromptu staring contest that neither backed down from for a solid minute.

    Shifting in her seat, Alcyone found that she wasn’t restrained. She was grateful for the opportunity to stretch her limbs, though less grateful for the smirk that made its way across her kidnapper’s face when she broke the staring contest.

    Upon further examination, the space she was in appeared to be some sort of car. It was much smaller than any she’d been in, but she had seen cars of this size before. The closeness of the space unnerved her. There wasn’t any space to stretch your legs, lie down, or even stand up.

    “Well? Is the bougie baroness going to say something?” The girl had moved to what passed for a front seat in the tiny capsule she called a car. “Curse out the peasant? Demand a ransom price? Call for her daddy?” She was clearly trying to get a rise out of Alcyone, setting the car on autopilot and glancing over her shoulder to see if it worked.

    It had, but Alcyone was going to  die before she let it show to this rude… she still didn’t know her name. She was also going to die before she asked her name. That would imply respect for her kidnapper, and no matter how many people had drilled it into her head that it was best to be cordial with people who have power over you, she thought she deserved this bit of pettiness.

    Her nails dug into her palms. She wasn’t going to let Luna(Lydia?) have the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten to her.

    “Shut up. You don’t know anything about me.”

    Well, that plan went down the drain fast. Her kidnapper’s face morphed into something like glee, if glee was expressed by baring one’s teeth in a very threatening manner. Something about that expression reminded Alcyone of a film she had seen as a child. A huge animal, lithe and muscular, about to pounce. When she had first seen the film, though, she hadn’t been its target.

    “Oh, clearly not. I wouldn’t want to imagine I know anything about you.” The expression of glee turned sour. “Listen. You can either cooperate, or I’m going to cash in on that ‘dead’ part of ‘dead or alive’.”

    That was concerning. People putting bounties on the heads of politicians weren’t unheard of, of course. But why on her? She hadn’t even inherited the throne yet. And why send this… Scrawny little sixteen year old? (Alcyone stubbornly refused to acknowledge that she was sixteen as well.)

    “So what do you want me to cooperate with? You already failed to cooperate with yourself. You know, by not killing me.” Oh, real smooth. She will regret saying that for the rest of her life. No matter how short it may be. But her kidnapper seemed bothered by it, so that was a victory. Sort of. Maybe.

    “I’m going to take you… Somewhere. I don’t know where yet.” She was chewing on her lip. “Eventually I’m going to get an order to bring you somewhere, or if you’re dead, proof that you are.” That whole thing was about as sound an argument as a Jenga tower, so Alcyone took it upon herself to pull out a few more blocks.

    “...And then what? You get paid?” A nod from her kidnapper, who was still chewing on her lip. “And then what? Where do you go with all that money? You think anyone is going to accept your money then? You think anyone is going to accept you?” That bit was good. It almost made up for the “cooperating with yourself” thing.

    Lily (Leah?) laughed. It was an ugly thing, more a cackle than a laugh. There was no humour behind it.

“Oh, poor little rich girl. You have no idea.”

LYRA

    Well, if nothing else, this was fun. The heiress was actually a decent person to talk to. If one ignored her glaring privilege, that is. And her obvious attempts to break down self esteem. And more or less everything else about her. But hey, Lyra wasn’t about to judge. She was no stranger to girls like her.

    She did have to think about what came after k********g and/or killing the heiress. It was an oversight. One she shouldn’t have made at all. But at the time she had been all excited about finally doing something she wasn’t graded and measured on that she had forgotten. On second thought, she had forgotten just about everything. It wasn’t like her to forget things. But it also wasn’t like her to commit crimes. Or kidnap someone. Especially when that someone is the daughter of the ruler of a Citadel.

    In as many words, Lyra was cosmically screwed. This came as such a surprise that she barked a laugh. Should’ve known that this was a bad idea. She was here to have bad ideas, but this one took the cake.

    “Oh, poor little rich girl. You have no idea.” It was probably a bad idea to keep calling her rich or boujie, but the look on her face was worth it. Maybe not worth getting executed for disrespecting the Administrator’s family. But worth it. And if Lyra pulled this off right, she would never even see the Administrator.

    While the heiress was busy processing that, she pulled out her phone. One of the things she had remembered to do was cut it off from all communications networks. All but one, and that one wasn’t doing any communication. To pass the time, and to avoid looking her biggest mistake in the face, she scrolled through the last text log.

You will be duly compensated when you apprehend Ms. Pleiad.

ok but with cash? or with online trans or what

Whatever form you like. A sum of 1.6m credits will come into your possession.

& where do i bring her?

You will be contacted with that information once you have either secured her or have evidence she is dead.

    She shut off her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. Fat lot of help they had been, in the end. When she looked up, Alcyone was watching her. It would have been creepy if there was anything else to look at besides the inside of the car and the moving scenery of who-knows-where. Lyra swallowed, watching her hair drift slowly in the car’s air circulation system. It was time to face the music, it seemed.

    “So.” Surprisingly enough, Alcyone spoke first. “Are you going to drift on that power trip, or tell me what’s going on?”

    “You wish.” The answer was reflexive and easy to regret. Lyra cleared her throat. “Like you said, I didn’t do a lot of planning for this trip. I’m just going to drift around until I get my next orders.” She gestured vaguely out the window, where steel and highway blurred past. The car had been on autopilot for a while, but she didn’t really remember what she had set it to. Oh well. She had a lot more time on her hands than she wanted. If she got her orders, she could make them wait for her. See how they like it.

    There was a moment of silence. “So we are on a road trip for the foreseeable future.” And oh, there was that practised politician poker face. A nice alliterative phrase, but not a pleasant sight. Lyra gave a nod that hopefully didn’t look as pained as she felt. “And you expect me not to make any escape attempts.” Again, it wasn’t phrased as a question. Just a statement. For someone who made a point of not wanting to be the Administrator, Alcyone sure was good at it. Wait, she didn’t want to be Administrator. This could be useful information.

    “Well, I don’t think you want to go back to the Citadel, anyways.” It was a risky thing to say. “They’re just gonna force you back into doing those… Whatever you were doing. What were guards doing there, anyways? Can’t you afford a better security system?”

    She’d evidently hit a nerve, because Alcyone rubbed at her face for a bit before speaking. “They think having human guards and mandating physical presences makes it more authentic. A show of genuine devotion from the most human of wants.” The first part of that was just an annoyed teenager, but the further Lyra listened the more it sounded like she was reciting some sort of slogan. It figured.

    “Damn.” Not the best show of solidarity, but it would do. And the more Alcyone opened up about what was going on in the Citadel’s upper crust, the more Lyra would have to use as ammo. “That sucks.”

    “It would ‘suck’ less than me dying.” A wry smile.

    “Well, I don’t plan on killing you. For now, at least. Whatcha say we take a bit of a joyride? And maybe I can be convinced to not kill you by the end.” This was a hare - brained idea at best, and an even riskier gamble than bringing up how Alcyone didn’t want to be the Administrator. But hey, almost all of the gambles she had taken so far had paid off. So why not just toss another one on the pile?

    She received a heaping load of side-eye for her efforts. Once the mask of being a politician slipped off, Alcyone was much more expressive than just about anyone Lyra had ever met.

    “What will it take to convince you?” Lyra pretended to think for a bit, even placing her hand on her chin for maximum effect. She could have a little bit of dramatics. As a treat.

    “Welllll, my employer is offering a large sum of money for your capture. But I’m sure you have more than I’m being offered.” Here she rubbed her fingers together for emphasis. “And you have access to all of it through daddy’s bank account. So what do you say to buying your freedom? After you pay for this road trip, I guess. We can pull this whole ‘take a gap year’ thing or whatever. You get to run from your responsibilities, I get paid. How’s that sound?”

    If either of them had a knife at the moment, they could’ve cleaved the tension in the air clean in two. Smile faltering just the smallest bit, Lyra stuck out her hand for a handshake. It hung there for a while.

    Alcyone grabbed the proffered hand with a surprisingly firm grip. The two met eyes.

    “Deal.”