Day 2: Coming Clean

Jacy popped her head inside the communal bathroom, peaked around and saw Dorian was the only one there then stepped in fully, shutting the sliding pocket door behind her. She had a towel wrapped around her body and a small bag of toiletries in one hand.

“Good morning, Dorian. I thought I’d use these showers and see if they were suitably icy. The water in the shuttle’s tanks is maintained at too high a temperature for my tastes and I haven’t gotten around to asking our engineer to look into it. I don’t think he cares for me much.”

Dorian paused, the straight razor hovering over his cheek as he cast Jacy a sidelong glance. “Good morning,” he said. “There’s no hot water here. Brace yourself,” he warned. “It was so cold that mah voice went up two octaves.” He tilted his head, eyes upon the mirror as the blade resumed its work.

She hung her kit of wash articles inside one of the two shower stalls and walked over to the mirror where Dorian was shaving. “You have a very steady hand, Dorian. I do not regret the extensive electrolysis I had done for hair management, not one moment of it, but if I still required a barber’s cut I’d trust you with a straight blade anywhere.” Jacy gave his reflection a wink and pulled her hair out of its ponytail.

He paused to crack a smile among the shaving cream. “As fine a compliment as Ah could evah hope for,” Dorian replied as he turned his gaze toward her. “While we’re on the subject,” he drawled, “tha hair color change is most becoming. Yah’ve got a very fine face, with lovely eyes. The blond hair accentuates your finer features,” he said admiringly. “Quite alluring for one who chooses to fly so far beneath her station, if Ah may be so bold.”

“Thank you, Dorian; I was hoping someone would notice. It may stand out a bit more, which is what I was hoping to avoid when I first flew out of Londinium, but continually applying that brown coloring agent was becoming tiresome. My roots were growing in faster than I could keep up with. I enjoy pampering myself at least as much as the next woman, but daily touch ups were a hassle I could not nurture, not aboard a vessel like this where privacy is in such short supply.”

Jacy unwrapped her towel and hung it over the shower stall. True to her word she was indeed bald as a button from the nose down. She stood there in the nude scrutinizing Dorian before reaching a hand in to turn on the water. “I think now would be a suitable time to have our discussion on the state of things between you and I. May I assume from your recognition of the concealed markings on my lip and your familiarity with the silent tongue of the fallen woman, that you are aware of my profession?”

He’d known companions, society debutantes, high priced call girls, and even five credit whores. All of them were in agreement that men were basically simple creatures to be manipulated with the push of a few well known buttons. Dorian had to admit that he was enjoying Jacy’s efforts at seeing just which of his would serve her aims. “Please,” he gestured with his open hand in response to her conversational overture. “Yes,” he replied. “Ah am aware, but Ah’m curious as to yah choices.”

There was no place for modesty here, during this first test of power between them. Though he always appreciated a fine looking woman, Dorian’s real admirations would grow for one who knew her strengths and was not afraid to ply them. The two faced off, sizing the other as words and body language passed between them. He likened it to any one of a hundred duals in the street, face to face with a seasoned gun hand, or more frequently some wannabe who hoped to make a name for him or herself by outdrawing Dorian Adler and advancing up the ladder. But now, the move was hers to make.

“I am not a criminal and I am not on the run from anyone. This is just me taking some brief time from work to assess the viability of this crew for a job I may hire out to them. The criminality of that job may reduce my legal and professional status so I’d prefer not to acknowledge who I am or why I’m here to the rest of the crew. Not until I’ve committed to the act and decided these are the people to do it. As you may have discerned, this crew lacks cohesion at the moment.”

He took a moment to set the razor down. “Are you asking fah mah assessment?” Dorian removed the towel from his waist. After wiping the last of the shaving cream off his neck, he slipped into his bathrobe. “As yah dentist,” he said, “you enjoy complete doctah-patient confidentiality. Ah’ll repeat none of what Ah’m told. Howevah, Ah want reciprocation.” He tied the belt to his robe as he strode across the bathroom. “Here,” Dorian said as he produced a coin. “Please accept this as my payment. Now, if you would, take mah hand fah a moment.”

The physical contact thus established, Dorian said “If Ah understand the codes of yah Order, our newfound professional relationship grants me client confidentiality...correct? Now that we’re both equally bound, tell me what it is you want.”

“Indeed it does, Mr. Adler, though I daresay at these rates I could not possibly extend to you the full range of my physical company.” She examined the coin and looked about for some place to put it. “Shall we agree to limit our exchange to one of mutual reticence regarding each other’s disguise? Or will you stand there and tell me you are merely a humble dentist and nothing more?”

He had to smile. Then again, words were not necessarily the best allies when confronted with such a question, especially in the presence of one so trained to read the significance of a shrug and an open handed gesture. “Fah safe keeping,” Adler nodded by pocketing the coin. “Please proceed.”

“I like the way you stand Mr. Dorian, so a few mysteries between the two of us will not be a problem for me. As you are aware, the Alliance has little use for the currency and coinage in circulation out among the Border planets. I am paid in Alliance credits and paid well, but my money is tied to an account accessed only by IdentCard that I would prefer not to swipe or flash about. I still owe you for the oral surgery and I will make good on that.”

“We’ll discuss that upon completion,” Dorian offered. He understood the desire to avoid any major transactions upon one’s ident. Better to ride chance in the black, given the current climate. That proved true for a great many different professions, it seemed. His hands dipped into his pockets, his eyes staring directly into hers as Jacy offered her account.

“The Companion Guild has a long standing financial arrangement with The Cassalantar Bankers. The Cassalantar Bankers have long standing arrangements with many guilds and many illegal factions as well. I will not lie to you, I started down this road thinking it was one of revenge and I was just fine with that. The Cassalantars brought about the ruin of my family and others. So when I learned the Guild was tied to them as well I carefully broached the subject with Wilhelmina Gentry, the head of my guild. Let us say that no amount of care would be sufficient for broaching that subject again. Clearly the Cassalantar Bankers have a deeper involvement with the Companion Guild than that of mere creditors. I suspect there are those of my status who share their knowledge, illegally, once they’ve spent time with their clients. If a Companion cannot be trusted, she cannot do her job. I trust you know we do more than lie with wealthy men. Of a certainty our clients are wealthy, but we are mady privy to their deepest desires, ambitions and concerns. That is marketable information for someone who no longer honors the code they swore to uphold.”

Jacy stepped into the freezing shower and stiffened under the bracing cold waters. “When I was a child, my mother pushed me to follow in her footsteps as a systemwide prima ballerina of the White Sun Dance Company. She pushed me hard and I learned to appreciate the beneficial effects of a freezing shower to numb aching joints and reduce recovery time. She was a beast of a woman in her behavior and treatment of others, but she still had her beauty. I promised myself I would never be her. I swore I would never let my behaviors sully and spoil my beauty. I endeavored to be the perfect woman, inside and out, and to use my assets and influence to guide powerful men into making powerful decisions that empowered good people. I know now that there is no such thing as a perfect woman, but it is a worthy aspiration to strive towards and there are those of us who are closer to it than others. I do not wish to tear down my Companion’s guild from inside or without, but it must be purged and like any businessmen would tell you, you must follow the money. I plan to take down the Cassalantar Family, the Cassalantar Bank and sever their influence once and for all.”

She’d left the dingy shower curtain undrawn, inviting Dorian to lean against the opening as she spoke. As the tale grew in complexity and depth, he folded his arms, his gaze settling upon the trickle of water into the drain at her feet. Cassalantar...one didn’t require a degree in finance to know the name. His father had always tried to draw historical parallels as an important part of young Dorian’s education. To whit, Jacy’s mention of the Cassalantars conjured for him darker stories from Earth-That-Was, and the exploits of families whose houses bore the names Borgia, Winchester, Astor, and Medici. In their times they were a power to be reckoned with, families who needn’t waste time garnering political or military power when both could be so easily bought.

“So,” he thought to himself, “what’s her play? The purge of one guild? The blackmailing of powerful men? The destruction of one of the most powerful banking empires in the ‘verse, or just the age old desire of a roughworn daughter to repudiate her mother? Clearly, Jacy had the training and skill to read and please any man she met...including himself. “Seducing my mind,” he considered the possibility. “Offering me an irresistible puzzle, complete with numerous gratifications.” For a moment, he wondered just how her calculated behaviors might’ve changed had he presented her with an erection and eyes crawling hungrily over her body. “Then again,” he mused, “she could just be moon brained.”

All of these thoughts went unspoken. Dorian’s gaze was thoughtful as his eyes lifted to find hers. “Then it’s time fah tha obvious question,” he said. “Tha idea that you’re gauging this boat and her crew would suggest that yah’ve got a plan?”

Jacy’s eyes were closed as she rinsed the lather out of her hair and laughed a well practiced twinkling of vocal bells. “Mr. Dorian, you are quite a man and I hope to discover the scope of your endowments in due time. I have a plan and you are now in possession of its objective. Don’t rush me to the climax nor surge ahead to wait for me there. I was hoping we’d get there together. Let us leave the finer points of logistics aside for now. The crew must want this or they won’t agree to it. Eventually I’ll need them to rally together in their mutual discontent for the Cassalantar family, but all business begins with commerce and for that the crew will require wages. We need to put jobs in front of Captain Keller that see him paid, the crew galvanized and ….. I will have to get back to work myself very soon. If I do not, the Guild will come looking for me. So one pretense is wearing thin and coming to an end very soon.”

“As they frequently do,” he nodded. Dorian held her towel within easy reach as Jacy seemed to retreat into the sort of ribald coquettishness that doubtless entertained some of her clientele. Given the frank, albeit somewhat unfocused nature of her previous account, he found this withdrawal a trifle off putting, yet recognized it for the tactical retreat it surely was. A few more situational hooks thus delivered, it became obvious that Jacy would not reveal the ultimate nature of her plan just yet.

She turned off the icy flow of water and squeezed as much of it from her hair as possible. She was drying off with her towel as she addressed Dorian. “If I’m not mistaken, you are a man of some intelligence. Certainly resourcefulness. It has not escaped my notice that you’ve offered up very little of your own motives. So they are either directly aligned with my own or I’ve blundered terribly in this Shower Confessional. A calculated risk, but a woman can’t get there on her own. Well, I could, but it’s so much more enjoyable with a partner. So I’ll leave you with this, Dorian. I’m reasonably convinced that you’ve benefited in at least some small way from me exposing myself to you.” She gave the belt of his bathrobe a little tug and stepped around him into her slippers. “When next we’re alone and I’m lying on my back with my mouth open to your tender administrations, perhaps you’ll have a bit more to offer than dentistry.”

“And there it is,” he couldn’t help but smile in response. “Very well,” Dorian chuckled at her play. “Yah scheduled with me at three o’clock this afternoon, for a complete follow up exam...and,” he added, “Ah’ll include tha requested quid pro quo. Ah enjoyed our conversation,” he offered a grin. “See you at three.” The appointment thus set, Dorian collected his toiletries and exited the communal bathroom. There was still time for a splash of coffee. Hopefully someone had already made it.