3 The Idiot in Heels #2
Residence : 812 Basalt Rd. #63, X72-1, X72, X System, Expan Empire. Currently resides with mother and younger brother, Apollo Ialan .
Occupation : Trash collector with Gareth’s Refuse in X72-1. Click here for a list of previous employers and addresses.
Education : Never completed secondary school. Reported dropout during her ninth year. Academic records here .
Criminal History : Found guilty of two major charges, one for robbery and one for the sale and profit of stolen goods. Served six months in X72-1’s Women’s Correctional Facility. Click here for all relevant court documents.
The profile vanished an instant later. The yellow-hatted woman yelled, “I’ll need a full work-up on Artemis Ialan. Arrest records, dirty secrets, primary school marks, finances, the works. Anything we can use if it comes to it.”
If what comes to what?
“Um, can I— I need to leave,” Temmi said.
The yellow-hatted woman was already walking away, calling out more orders to the crowded loading dock.
The bald man, Kalvin, said, “We’ll need a reaction interview.
Say you’re Spie’s jilted lover or a stalker or something—we’ll feed you the words.
” He turned, called out, “Blessing Stone, do we want her dressed as she is now, or should we clean her up first? I’m thinking we lean into the filthy-trash-collector angle? ”
Without looking up from a screen someone was showing her, Blessing Stone called back, “Trash-collector angle, definitely. Might help if you throw a little more dirt on her face to really sell it.”
Kalvin walked away briefly, returning a moment later with a slender, brown-skinned man carrying a case of cosmetics. “Don’t overdo it, Manny; just a touch more grime on her cheeks. Her hair is already great as is.”
Well, that was insulting.
The makeup artist laid his case on the ground and leaned down to open it. Temmi took a step back. Her action was mimicked by the guards flanking her.
“No,” she said, then again, louder, “NO.”
That got Kalvin’s attention. And the attention of most the people on the loading dock.
Including the yellow-hatted Blessing Stone.
Temmi took a steadying breath. “I’m not running damage control or whatever the hell is going on here.
It’s not my problem. Arrest me if you’re going to arrest me, but I’m not going on fucking camera.
And if you’re not going to arrest me, then I’m going back to work. ”
More than one set of eyes glanced between Temmi and Kalvin, then between Temmi and Blessing Stone. The makeup artist hovered, frozen, above his case.
Temmi’s face burned with something more potent than embarrassment, but she held her ground. She might’ve just caused an incident , but she wasn’t about to go on a galactic holovision network and destroy what shreds of her dignity remained.
Blessing Stone thrust the screen she was holding into an assistant’s hands, then marched back to where Temmi stood. She leaned in to Kalvin. “ Can we arrest her?”
Kalvin glanced at the visored guard on Temmi’s right. “Captain Glossen?”
The guard made a full-body shrugging motion. “Technically, the crime is with the two journalists from The Buzz who filmed without a prior disclosure. And Shorz is already sorting them out with the local authorities.”
“Seriously?” Blessing Stone pursed her lips into the shape of a puckered asshole. “You can’t make anything stick? Defamation, threatening a member of the Expani family, treason? She’s already got a record; it shouldn’t be hard. Pick something.”
“It’s not that simple, ma’am,” the guard captain said. “At least, not in the wake of such a publicized event, if you understand what I mean.”
“You expect me to get on a call with Her Excellency’s chief of staff, the Marta Eulogon, and say, ‘Sorry, because of a complete lapse in security, the emperor’s daughter looks like a fool on every network in the empire and I’ve done nothing to spin the narrative’?
You think any of us are going to keep our jobs? ”
The captain glanced at Temmi. Her pulse picked up—she couldn’t make out his face through his helmet and visor.
“I suppose we could detain her,” the guard relented. “At least until after we’ve heard from Madame Eulogon or one of her assistants.”
“Wonderful.” Blessing Stone turned to Temmi. “My dear, you’re free to leave as soon as you’ve given us an on-camera statement. It’s up to you if that happens before or after we’ve heard from the emperor’s chief of staff. If I were you, I’d make it before.”
Blessing Stone tapped on a device attached to her wrist and stepped away to answer a call. A commbridge. Temmi only knew the name from catching bits of Ollie’s holodramas. X72 didn’t boast any technology as advanced.
Kalvin watched Blessing Stone go before turning back to Temmi.
“Miss Ialan, I viewed a secondary stream of your encounter with the heirs only seconds after it was broadcast. For what it’s worth, I believe you’re an overworked grunt who didn’t know who she was speaking with.
But the rest of the empire won’t be so kind.
And if you refuse to do an interview with us now, then we’ll be forced to push a smear campaign to discredit you in an attempt to rescue Her Highness’s image.
It’s not a threat; it’s simply the fact of the situation. ”
Temmi stared longingly at her truck, the solitude of the cab less than sixty feet away.
Her overcoat was in there, tossed across the passenger seat.
So were her earplugs. If she said what these people wanted, she could hop in, close the door, and go cry somewhere privately.
What was one more hit to her pride today, anyway?
“Fine.” She shoved her hands into her jumpsuit’s pockets. “I’ll apologize.”
“Oh, we don’t want an apology.” Kalvin snapped his fingers at the makeup artist. He stood and immediately started applying a sticky substance to Temmi’s cheeks.
“We want an angle. And this is it: you’ve been stalking the heirs’ press tour.
” He held up a hand when Temmi started to protest. “You were desperate for a shred of the princess’s attention, something to that effect, something that justifies her attitude toward you. ”
Temmi flinched away from the slimy feel of whatever the makeup artist was applying to her face. “I’d really rather apologize.”
“Hold up!” Blessing Stone called. Her yellow hat nearly toppled sideways in her rush to get back to Kalvin’s side. She whispered something in his ear.
His black eyes narrowed. “Change of plans. Manny, put the faux dirt away. We’re not doing an interview right now.”
Thank all that was and wasn’t holy.
“So, I can go?” Temmi touched a finger to her cheek. It came away sticky with something that looked and smelled an awful lot like tar. The makeup artist tsk ed at her.
Blessing Stone typed out an invisible message on her commbridge, her fingers jabbing air. Without looking up, she said, “Oh, no, my dear. We’re going to need a lot more from you than an interview. Captain Glossen, we’re taking her up.”
A firm hand clamped around Temmi’s upper arm. Panic found its way into her throat. “Up? What do you mean, up ? I have to get back to work.”
“The imperial starship. Marta Eulogon herself would like a word.”