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Today is the day. It might be the most publicized wedding in ship history.
Why is it so popular? It seems that Waldemar and Audrey are somehow famous
for being famous. A few people heard their story, and they told others, and
the story spread. Even though the braintrust is aware that he is destined to
become captain one day, to everyone else, there should be nothing
interesting about this story. Yet here they are, waiting to get married to
much fanfare. Audrey’s mother has been helping her get ready, as has Tinaya,
since Audrey doesn’t have any friends besides little Silveon and her fiancé.
She has a maid of honor, and bridesmaids, to be sure, but all at the
insistence of Waldemar. He has chosen to perform a more traditional wedding.
Audrey’s father will be giving her away like she’s a possession. The groom
had a wild night with his buddies at a bachelor party. Again besides
Silveon, all of these friends were fake, but they agreed to participate,
because it sounded like fun, and he just has this magnetism. It’s part of
why he ends up being the leader of the whole ship. He doesn’t take control
using magical powers. He gets people on his side. He gets them to believe in
him and his cause. This could be where all that begins.
“Thanks, mom. Could you go get me something blue?”
Her mother looks over at Tinaya, realizing that she’s being shooed out for a
private conversation, but not wanting the day to devolve into a fight. “Yes,
dear.”
Audrey picks up her long, flowing dress with her forearms so she can sit
down on the ottoman.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m gonna throw up. Everyone’s gonna be watching.”
“That was the point, wasn’t it?”
“Should it be? We’re the ones who are putting the spotlight on him, and I
find that sickening. We came here to stop him from being a ruthless tyrant,
and we think that involves still helping him gain power, but we don’t know
that. Should we be pushing him down into obscurity instead?”
Tinaya sits down next to Audrey, partially on her dress. She breathes in
deeply, and makes it seem like she’s about to say something profound. “It’s
too late. I don’t know if this is the right path, but you’re here now, and
you’re in a better position than ever to control the narrative. If you had
discouraged from pursuing notoriety, he would have caught on eventually, and
resented you for it. He would have severed his connections to you and
Silveon, and that could have been...permanent, if you know what I mean.”
Audrey nods. “He wants me to be a tradwife. He doesn’t want my input.”
“Then don’t give it to him. Make him feel like every idea you have is his.”
“He had a kitchen built in our new unit. No dayfruit, no synthesizers; not
even as backup. I am to cook for him every day, the way they used to, where
you buy the ingredients, and put them all together in a recipe.”
“How are you going to buy anything? Where are these ingredients coming
from?” Tinaya asks.
“He also built a store. He doesn’t want me to be the only tradwife, and he’s
not the only one who wants that.”
“He’s starting a movement,” Tinaya says, nodding her head. “Do you remember
this, from the other timeline?”
Audrey takes a beat, then slowly shakes her head. “No. I mean, I think he
treated his first wife like this, but I don’t think he convinced others to
do the same. We did this. We made things worse.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Tinaya contends. She stands to pace. “If he
keeps his definition of a wife a secret, he’s free to act on his principles
in secret. But by trying to get others to walk backwards with him, he
invites scrutiny.” She shines her flashlight on the wedding poster on the
wall. “Our spotlight will show the people the truth. We don’t have to build
a resistance ourselves if people become disgusted with him on their own.”
“It’s his growing group of sycophants that worries me,” Audrey clarifies.
Tinaya opens her mouth to respond when she thinks better of it. They could
go on and on forever, gaming out strategies, and trying to rig the system,
but that’s not what today’s about. What Audrey needs right now is to pretend
that she’s happy, or even find a way to not have to pretend anymore. “Well.
Don’t let it worry you today. You look very beautiful, and your confidence
needs to reflect that you belong here, like this. You’re going to brighten
your eyes, go out there, and put on the performance of two lifetimes.”
Audrey takes a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right.” She stands back up, and
approaches the mirror, letting Tinaya stand behind her. She stares into the
glass, contorting her lips, trying to form them into a smile.
“No, it’s not your lips that’s the problem. It’s your eyes. That’s where
your real smile is. If you can make your eyes sing loud and proud, the
corners of your lips will reach up to meet. There. Close, you’re really
close. Oh, not so wide. You’re not in a dark room, trying to gather as much
light as possible. Oh no, you went way too far the other way. Now you look
mad.”
“I’m just trying to reset. Maybe tell me a joke?”
“Did somebody say mad ma?” The two of them turn around to find Waldemar’s
mother, Calla. She looks surprisingly...sober. She’s gently shutting the
door behind her. She glides over to them.
“We don’t think you’re mad,” Tinaya replies. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“Oh, honey, there’s no trouble,” Calla insists. “This is a great day.” She
looks over at Audrey. “Finally, someone will be responsible for taking care
of Waldy for me.”
“Mrs. Kristiansen—” Audrey starts to say.
Calla holds up a silencing hand. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I
don’t know why you’re marrying my son, and frankly, I don’t wanna know. But
you’re not as good of an actor as you think, and on this—on this one day—I’m
afraid that won’t do.” She pulls a tiny silver tin from her purse, holds it
in the palm of her hand, and carefully opens the lid. Inside of the tin is
what looks like granulated sugar, but the granules are pretty large, and
yellow tinted. “This...is madma.”
“I don’t know what that is,” Audrey admits.
“The name is ironic. It will make you feel serene and loving. You won’t be
faking a smile; you’ll be genuinely happy. Not about my son, of course, but
no one has to know that.”
“It’s drugs? You’re trying to give my daughter drugs?” That was a huge slip.
“I mean, my son’s friend.”
“I assure you, it’s legit. I take it all the time. I prefer it now to
alcohol. Just stick it under your tongue, and let it be absorbed into your
bloodstream.”
“Thistle?” Tinaya prompts.
“I cannot condone the use of recreational drugs,” Thistle begins, “but objectively, I can confirm that that is indeed
methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as MDMA, molly, or since the
22nd century, madma.”
“What are the side effects?” Tinaya presses.
Thistle drops a hologram down, listing all the negative effects of the drug,
mostly framing them as problems that arise after repeated use.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Audrey decides. “It’s just one day.”
“I’m sure a lot of drug addicts throughout history have shared your
sentiment,” Tinaya warns.
“Drugs were phased out at the same time that money was,” Audrey reasons,
reaching into Calla’s hand, and taking the tin. “My problems are so much
worse than money.” She licked her finger, picked up the granules, then stuck
her finger in her mouth, moving it around for a more even distribution.
“It’ll only be a few minutes.” Calla takes the tin back, and begins to
leave. “Merry Christmas.”
“I’ll never forgive you for this, Calla,” Tinaya calls up to her.
Calla stops, and looks back. “I won’t live long enough to care.”
Just after Calla leaves, Audrey’s mother returns. “What did that woman have
to say?” She doesn’t like her either. Calla isn’t as good at hiding her true
feelings as Waldemar, so she pretty much rubs everyone the wrong way.
“Aud was nervous about her relationship with her mother-in-law, but Calla
came by to build bridges, and assure her that she’s happy that your families
are coming together.”
“That doesn’t sound like her,” Mrs. Husk argues.
“I think she meant it.” Tinaya cannot disclose that she let her daughter
take drugs, so this is a good enough lie. Had the mothers not seen each
other in the hallway, Tinaya wouldn’t have said anything about Calla’s brief
visit at all.
“Are you feeling better now?” Mrs. Husk asks Audrey.
Either Audrey is still faking it, or the drug’s effects are beginning to
hit. “I’m so happy, mother.”
Mrs. Husk smiles tightly and nods. “Your father’s waiting in the corridor.
It’s time.”
Tinaya excuses herself and leaves first. She joins her own husband and son
in the front row of the groom’s side. “Who is that?” she whispers to Arqut.
Why isn’t Jennings the officiant?”
“That man is a priest,” Arqut whispers back. “Or a reverend, or whatever.
Waldemar asked him to take seminary classes from the archives. He’s been
working on this for, like, three years.”
“And the captain’s okay with that?” Tinaya questions.
“Religion isn’t illegal, it just doesn’t exist anymore, except on days like this,
which we know to be Christmas Eve. The charter technically allows for religious
leaders to officiate weddings as well. The only requirement was that at least one
person getting married be a member of the church,” Arqut explains with
airquotes. It’s as real as they want it to be. It’s a special denomination of
Christianity that only has two members.”
“Is he expecting Audrey to convert?”
Silveon leans in. “It’s just for show. Waldemar doesn’t believe in the hocus
pocus either. He just wants this all to be very backwards. And he wants it
to be special. No one else is getting married like this. Look at this place;
it’s made of wood. I didn’t realize they had cut down enough trees on
Verdemus to build an entire fake chapel out of wood.”
Arqut looks uncomfortable. “The wood isn’t from Verdemus.”
Tinaya’s rage bubbles up in her chest, threatening to spill out all over
Waldemar’s asshole face. How dare he? She digs her fingernails into the seat
of the pew, trying desperately to keep her cool. “This is not what the Attic
Forest is for. Who the hell approved this?” Out of the corner of her eye,
she sees Arqut turn his head to the other side of the aisle. She turns the
same direction, quickly making eye contact with Oceanus.
I’m sorry, Oceanus mouths to her.
Tinaya isn’t wearing her wristband or her wristwatch. Instead, she
has a holographic projector hidden in a dress-appropriate bracelet that
she’s wearing. She takes Arqut’s hand and flattens it out so she has
something to project the image onto. She taps on the images of the keys on
her husband’s palm to write up a text message to Oceanus that reads,
you will be.
Arqut reaches down with his free hand, and wipes the text away. “You are
not...sending that to the captain.”
Tinaya gives Arqut the stink eye while she’s reaching over to arrange her
son’s hand the same way. She projects her screen over there instead, retypes
the message, glances at it to check for spelling errors, then seethes at
Arqut again while sending it off.
Arqut looks back at the altar, and shakes his head. “You’re going to regret
that.”
“You’re going to sleep on the couch.”
The ceremony begins, interrupting any further fighting between the two of
them. Waldemar waits up at the front as Audrey walks down the aisle with her
father. She looks gorgeous and ecstatic, but Tinaya can’t tell if anyone
else can tell that she’s high. She’ll have to remember to ask Arqut whether
he picked up on it, and to make sure that Silveon isn’t in the room when she
does, because he would not approve. The ceremony is long and boring. Tinaya
doesn’t remember what she learned in school about old Earth traditions, but
it seems about right. All the inequality, all the possessiveness; it’s here.
Audrey couldn’t be more pleased. She’s very smiley; showing all of her
teeth. The drugs are definitely working.
After the wedding is the reception, and after that, the crowd cheers as the
happy couple go off to their VR honeymoon. Obviously, no one is there to see
what it’s like, but Thistle reveals that it’s a simulation of a beach resort
on an island. Pretty typical. While they’re doing that, Waldemar’s mother kills
herself in her unit. Despite not being in any real position of power yet,
Waldemar uses his burgeoning influence to cover it up.
