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Three Days by Raye Johnsen Ai
No Kusabi is copyright The Author, June Magazine, June Video, and whoever
produced the radio drama(s). Not me.
All comments are welcome and will be responded to. All flames will be printed out and used to line my cat's litter tray. Prologue : Two Weeks Earlier Raoul was sitting in his office, reviewing his future appointments schedule. Both in his role as Comptroller of Tanagura and his personal life, Raoul was a great believer in forward planning. It was something he had learned from Katze. Anticipating problems meant that solutions could be put into place before anyone else saw the problem. It had earnt Tanagura the reputation of perfection. Perhaps Tanagura was perfect, to those who lived there. But those who ran it knew much better. As he was forcibly reminded every time a new pile of paperwork landed on his desk. He looked over the schedule once more. Why had the water engineers requested a meeting three months in advance? They must be anticipating problems - what problems? Should he arrange for emergency services to be on hand? Order a Tanagura-wide examination of the plumbing? That would not go down well. He buzzed his secretary. "Adam - what's the subject of the meeting with the water engineers on the seventh of Tifara?" There was a pause, and then the intercom crackled. "It's a progress report, sir. On the new water systems on the new city development to the north." "I remember. Thank you, Adam." The property development to the north - over the ruins of Dana Bahn. It had been Katze's idea. "We should do something about the ruins." Raoul looked down at his silver-eyed lover. They'd just spent a very active afternoon, and he was luxuriating in the afterglow. There was something intoxicating about just lying there, watching the leader of the black market, knowing that a few minutes before he'd been shrieking with pleasure that he'd induced. Of course, Raoul had been doing some shrieking himself. "Ruins of where?" he'd asked idly. The light gleaming off the sweat on Katze's hip was terribly distracting. Any minute now, he'd give into the temptation to lick it off... and maybe in some other places, too... "Dana Bahn." All thoughts of sex fled his mind, as Raoul remembered the explosion and who had died in it. Iason. His mentor, friend and senior. He had loved Iason, older brother to his younger brother, and he now knew it to be no shame. "Do you think it's wise?" he'd asked, around the stone in his throat. He never wanted to go near the place again. Katze gave him one of the looks he reserved for Raoul alone; a combination of "I understand what you're feeling" and "don't be an idiot". He was suddenly reminded: Iason had been Katze's first love. "A gang was using the ruins as a base. I cleaned them out, but what was done once can be done again." Raoul nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Katze rose, walking over to Raoul's desk. Snagging a piece of paper - a housing report - from the top of a pile, he glanced at it, lifted an eyebrow, and tossed it at him. Raoul sat up on the divan just enough to catch it. "Hmm?" Oh, Katze was beautiful like that, tall and fine with no clothing to disguise his slender form. Ironic that none of the Pets, genetically engineered for perfection, could arouse him, but this man, crafted by accident and Nature, had only to walk across a room to attract his full attention. "Read it." "It's a report on the need to expand residential areas in the next twenty years, now that Jupiter has decided to expand our population. I read it yesterday." "So expand them - to the north. Redevelop Dana Bahn." Raoul had stared. Dana Bahn was a graveyard! It was a place of death. Building houses over the top would be... Now that he thought about it... it would be appropriate. Life out of death. And the place had no other use. Iason probably would appreciate it. He smiled. "Thank you. I would never have thought of that." He stood, prowling around the end of the divan, stalking toward his lithe prey. Katze turned to face him, quirked one side of his mouth up in a crooked smile - and ran behind the desk. The next few minutes were quite enjoyable... Raoul smiled as the memory faded. The hours he stole to spend with his lover were necessarily secret, and he treasured them privately and intensely. Glancing back at his schedule, he saw, in two short weeks, an opening of three days. Three days of not a single thing. No meetings, no reports, no inspections and no analyses. Three days of nothing save paperwork. An idea struck him. A naughty, incredibly irresponsible, but totally irresistible idea. And so he tapped into his vidphone a number he'd memorized but never used. It burred, and then Katze's face appeared on the other end. "Raoul? What's wrong?" "There's nothing wrong, Katze - I'm just asking, have you got anything on your schedule for the 15th, 16th or 17th of Yufari?" Katze looked down, and there was a whuffing of paper on the other end. "Nothing but our meeting. Why?" "It's the same here - so I thought I'd take a holiday - if you'll join me?" Katze raised an eyebrow, smiled slowly and nodded. "It sounds like a good idea. I will." The connection buzzed, and then ended. Raoul buzzed his secretary again. "Adam?" "Yes, sir?" "Block the 15th, 16th and 17th of Yufari on my appointment book. I'm taking a holiday."
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