Jordan stormed into the guard room. There were three guards on duty, who all turned to stare at her.
"Where is Andrea?" Jordan asked, glaring. She looked at the monitor screen on the wall to see if she could spot the old crone.
One of the guards touched a hand to his headset. "Miss Portsmith, Miss Gilmore is looking for you. Yes, ma'am, I will tell her." He lowered his hand. "Miss Portsmith is walking the outside perimeter of the fence. She says you can meet her at the gate if you wish to speak to her."
Jordan turned and headed back the way she came, through the foyer, and paused before she reached the front door. Instead, she checked her jewelry to make sure everything was in place. With a brief flash of her horn, she was out by the gate.
The guards on duty did a double-take as they saw her appear.
"Which way is Andrea?" she asked the pair.
"At this point, we couldn't tell you," one of the guards answered. "She's checking the perimeter, and she could be anywhere along it right now. She normally checks the outer defenses like this twice a week, but she's been doing it every day since you arrived."
Jordan looked at the stone fence. "What defenses are there other than the fence?"
The guards looked at one another before the same guard answered.
"Some of the crystals that guard against teleportation are just inside the fence. Miss Portsmith can tell if they are each working properly as she passes them, as well as check the fence for any breaches, opportunities for breaches, and signs of snooping–signs beyond the normal drones that fly around."
"Has she found anything?" Jordan asked.
"Not that we are aware of, ma'am," the guard answered.
"Then why is she increasing these patrols?" Jordan asked.
The guards looked at one another again before the one talkative guard answered again.
"You'd have to ask her yourself, ma'am."
Jordan looked at the fence again and weighed, sitting down and waiting for Andrea. However, there was another option.
"Tell her I went back to the house," Jordan said, lighting her horn again. The next instant, she was back in the foyer.
The guard on duty jumped at her sudden appearance but quickly settled down. She didn't say anything to him as she marched up the stairs. If she couldn't get answers from one of the sisters, she would get answers from the other. They might be pulling some good cop-bad cop thing with her, but she saw through their game. The pair were a team that were Sunset Blessing's kin.
She reached Amicus's room and looked at the door frame and what was written on it.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen
Well, at least it was an appropriate Bible verse this time around. Or it would be until whenever Amicus moved out or passed away. She couldn't get rid of these. It would be hard, considering they were burned into the wood. She was allowed to cover them up. Would the verses be able to be revealed again if she painted over them? What about plaster? You could scrape plaster away to reveal what was underneath. That would take money, which meant this auction had to go well.
She knocked on the door, and a moment later, it was opened by Legal Brief.
"May I help you?" Legal Brief asked.
Jordan gave him a small smile. "Is your wife available to speak with me?"
Legal Brief shook his head. "Sorry, she headed out earlier to go speak with a client. The case will be tried in federal court, so speaking to her client about the case on the phone is inadvisable."
Jordan nodded. "Because our phones are bugged."
"No, bugging involves placing a listening device. The government can't get away with that," Legal Brief corrected. "They simply listen to all the calls from all registered residents and employees of the property directly from their carriers, as per existing agreement."
Jordan pointed at herself. "Auntie Sunset might have agreed to that, but I didn't!"
Legal Brief rolled his eyes and then looked at her like she was wasting his time. "You did agree. It was in the paperwork my wife read to you, and you signed. Whether you paid attention to what she was saying or took the time to read as well is not the government's concern. The entire agreement was provided to you both verbally and in print prior to your signing, and you signed. Nothing was done to hide what you were agreeing to. You have no case to challenge it."
She wanted to keep yelling about it, but she knew it would make her look bad. Instead, she found something else to fuss about.
"What about what Andrea's doing?" she asked. "I can rarely find her. Like right now, she's checking the house's perimeter, and I'm told she's been doing this every day since I arrived."
Legal Brief frowned. "She's concerned about our security. Even with all our security, there has been a history of breaches. Less than a month ago, we had a major breach. Sunset Blessing, despite being weak in power and permanently injured, had a reputation for being able to combat these threats. You are some random eighteen-year-old who doesn't have that reputation. Andrea fears, all of us fear, that there will be increased attempts to breach security. There's been increased drone activity around the fence since you arrived, which is very worrisome. She's being cautious. Would you prefer that she not and we end up with a break-in?"
Jordan pouted. "Is there any good news about this place?"
"You made the news," Legal Brief informed her with a smile. "One of those drones filmed you fighting with Tempest Shadow and Crystal Dreams. They love to play the clip of you sink-holing Miss Dreams over and over again. There are a significant number of videos floating around online with musical accompaniment."
"I'm a meme?!" Jordan asked in shock.
"Well, it's primarily Miss Dreams who's getting memed, but you're part of it," Legal Brief laughed. "Don't worry, that isn't a bad thing. People got to see you kick her flank."
"How is that good?" Jordan asked.
"Unicorns don't usually get the better of crystal ponies in a fight. Even Sunset Blessing would be at a crystal pony's mercy, especially with her magical weakness. People seeing you do that makes them take you a little more seriously. It means anyone trying to foalnap you might reconsider how difficult that might be and discourage them from trying."
"Well, as Auntie Sunset would say, it isn't how powerful your magic is; it's how you use it," Jordan replied.
"And yours is stronger than hers and being used in a way that aligns with her unorthodox approaches," Legal Brief said. "That should give people pause."
"She did train me in some stuff," Jordan said, lifting her head high.
Legal Brief frowned. "Don't get too cocky or try to pull anything too flashy. My sister-in-law got those scars through her cleverness. There's a standard way to do things for a reason. Unstandard things can literally blow up in your face. Be careful. Sunset had eighteen years of failures, potentially life-threatening failures, to figure out what works and what doesn't, and that was when she wasn't stealing ideas from others–which she also frequently blew herself up with. It's a wonder this place isn't a crater. You don't have her experience or access to her spies, so don't try to pull the same things."
Her ears flattened. "I'm not going to blow the house up, and if anyone does try to breach the fence, I intend to let the guards handle it. I want to teach English literature in a high school, get married, and have a bunch of kids. That's my dream, and it's a simple dream. It isn't to push the boundaries of magical knowledge. Whatever is in those vaults can stay in those faults forever. I'd seal that basement with cement if that were an option."
He sat down. "I wish it was. We'll keep her precious secrets safe. She says they could eventually become important but that the world wasn't ready for most of it. If she's afraid of it, I don't want to know what's down there. However, she wants it to be kept so that people can eventually get what's in there. Plus, she went through all that trouble of turning the basement into one big hydraulic press to crush intruders. I doubt that would work right if sealed with cement."
Jordan shivered. Auntie Sunset had some sick ideas. Not her problem. She had no intention of letting anyone down there.
"Just tell your wife and her sister to talk to me more about what they're doing and why. It's my house–like the extra security checks and Tempest and her buddies showing up out of nowhere. I deserve to know what's happening around here," Jordan instructed.
"I'll let them know," Legal Brief replied. He then shut the door.
This was so aggravating! She might be the name on the deed, but she felt like she had no control of this house. There wasn't much she could do besides what she had just done. In the meantime, she would get back to making lists for the auction. Changing the decor to fit her would be at least a start.
Jessica rubbed her legs vigorously with a towel. Adam would be at the apartment shortly, and she was nowhere near dry yet. Wet fur had a smell to it that she preferred not to be smelling like when a guest was coming. She preferred to use her hot air dryer, but that was still in a box somewhere, and she had no idea where. Packing had been done hastily, and a lot of stuff had been thrown in whatever package was handy at the time.
She glanced at her phone sitting on the floor. It was already past time for Adam to have arrived, but only by a minute. He might have decided not to come, or he was running slightly late. She didn't know which was preferable–him ghosting her or her smelling like a wet dog in front of him. Both options seemed disheartening.
She stood up from the tub's edge and gave her tail a flick. A few drops of water sprayed from it, indicating it was also far from dry. She'd known that before flicking it; it was far too heavy to be dry. The water weight pulled it down. With a groan, she continued scrubbing her legs while she continued to whip her tail back and forth over the tub in the hopes she could expel most of the water. If she was lucky, Adam would take another ten or so minutes to be fashionably late.
The doorbell rang, and her ears flattened. So much for the extra ten minutes. She didn't even have clothes on!
She shut the door to the bathroom and reached out with her powers.
"Adam, is that you?" she asked whoever was at the door.
"Yeah, sorry I'm running late. I picked up some donuts on the way here, but the drive-through took forever. May I come in?" Adam replied.
"Yes, the door is open. Come in and wait in the living room. I'm indisposed at the moment," she answered.
She heard the handle in the door turn. "Indisposed? What do you mean…where are you? It sounded like you were just inside."
"I'm in the bathroom, casting my voice," she answered in frustration. "I'm still drying off from my shower. I don't know where I put my dryer, and fur is difficult to dry with a towel."
She heard him close the door. "I forget you can project your voice in addition to hearing things. I told you about my little sister. We lost power for three days during a storm once, and her brilliant butt decided to go outside in it without any way of drying off after. She stank for the whole next day because it was cold, and it slowed down her drying, so I know all about the fur thing. It's fine."
"My fur doesn't take that long. I know earth ponies aren't the most agile holding things, but why didn't you help dry her off with towels?" She asked as she continued to towel her fur.
"She was bullheaded and didn't want anyone helping her. Natalie is like that. She's twenty-two and doesn't have her mark, and somewhere along the line, she got it in her head that she has to take care of everything herself, or she'll never get her mark," Adam explained. "Anyway, as long as you are clothed, I don't mind if you come out damp. I can deal with the wet fur smell."
She looked at the towel in her hands and sighed before tossing it aside. "Okay, give me a minute." She stood up, grabbed her clothes off the edge of the sink, and put them on. Nothing fancy, just her panties, shorts, bra, and NASA t-shirt. Her legs and feet would be on full display, but Adam had seen her legs before, and she was never putting a skirt on again. It was hot and miserable.
She exited the bathroom, and Adam stood up from the box he'd been sitting on–she didn't have a chair or couch or anything like that, only bookshelves and boxes. The only furniture to sit on in the apartment was her bed and her computer chair.
Adam stared at her, and his eyes were neither meeting hers nor looking at her legs, tail, or ears. Nope, his gaze was right where the NASA logo crossed her chest.
She crossed her arms across the area. "Maybe I should put on a sweater."
Adam pulled his eyes away. "Sorry, sorry. That was tactless. I hadn't realized you were so-" He cut himself off and cleared his throat. "Sorry. You had some data to show me and transfer to me?"
If she didn't need his help, she would have told him to leave right then. She still wanted to put on the sweater, perhaps more than ever. Here she was, thinking she might make a friend, and he fetishized her. It felt like a betrayal.
"Yeah," she said, arms still covering her bust. "Follow me and keep your eyes elsewhere." She turned and headed to the bedroom.
"I'm really sorry about that. It was just an in-the-moment reaction. I wouldn't try to make a pass at you or anything. I saw how you reacted to Violet swinging her…you know…in front of your face. That screams what you are into, and I don't pursue anyone unless the feeling's mutual. I don't pursue people just for how hot they are either," Adam said as they walked.
"Adam, you are digging yourself so much deeper. Maybe you should be quiet," she suggested, ears flat.
They reached her room, and she sat in her chair and pulled up her data. Adam stood far enough back he couldn't accidentally look at things he shouldn't.
She pulled out a pen and paper. "The object is in the pinwheel galaxy. I'm writing down the approximate coordinates that Starpiercer found it at. I can't give you an approximate mass. We don't have that, and I've got a feeling that its mass might end up being a shock to us all when we finally calculate it. As for its trajectory, all we have is the general trajectory of the solar system it was in. It was in orbit of its star at approximately zero-point-three-one AUs. The star was a type G one-point-zero-two times the size of the sun."
"Wait- it was a type G star ten billion years ago. What are the chances this star even still exists in that state?" Adam asked in confusion. "And if this thing was orbiting that close, it seems there is no chance it could have survived the expansion and collapse. Even if there was still a type G star there, unlikely as that is, that's closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun. The temperatures would be extreme. How are you supposed to visit this thing?"
She put a flash drive into her computer and started typing. "I haven't the faintest clue. From my initial work last night, I determined that its star would have progressed to a red giant and then a white dwarf, which would be its current state. I questioned the Dreamwardens about the impact of their object being so close when the star went through its red giant phase, and they seemed quite confident it would survive this. They were unsure if it would be enveloped by the star or expelled from its solar system. If it was enveloped and remained intact until the star eventually collapsed into a white dwarf, we must assume it is still somewhere in orbit now, even if that defies everything we understand about solar systems. If it was expelled from its solar system, we'll have to do some more hunting once we get there. Whatever this is, it defies our understanding of physics. We don't have a model for what happens when an indestructible object gets overrun by an expanding star. So we're going to have to do a lot of guesswork."
"How do you know it is indestructible?" Adam asked. "Nothing should be indestructible."
"The Dreamwardens say so, and they say Triss backs their claims. Dreamwardens can't knowingly lie, and Triss has no reason to," she answered. "Let's chalk this up to there's a lot science hasn't discovered. Hopefully, this expedition will shed some light on how this thing exists."
She passed him the flash drive. "Here, this is the data we have about the galaxy, the star, the solar system, and the object. Use a secure computer when accessing this, and do not put any information online. I'm showing you a lot of trust in handing this over to you. Don't make me regret it. If you do, you won't have just me to contend with; the Dreamwardens will come after you as well."
He gingerly took the drive from her and pocketed it. "I won't betray your trust, and I wanted to say again that I'm sorry about-"
"It's okay," she interrupted. "I overreacted. I'm not very comfortable with people looking at me that way, but I'd be a hypocrite if I got angry at you for it when you caught me doing more or less the same thing with Violet. Let's forget that it happened."
He sighed with relief. "Thank you. I didn't want to mess anything up between us. I idolized you as a teen–heck, I still do. I mean, you are a scientist and an action hero, a real one, not someone made up for a movie. I know there was a movie, and most of that is probably fictionalized, but the core of what happened was true. Now you are going off to another galaxy. Who doesn't want to be like you?"
She shrugged. "I walked into a hospital the other day to see someone, and the nurses treated me like I was there to rob them. I hate the sound of other people's laughter because my mind immediately goes to thinking they are laughing at me. My first day teaching had me harassed by a student who thought I was some walking sex toy. I'm afraid to walk alone in public. I'm even afraid when I'm with someone. Sound, enhanced by my powers, overwhelms me when my nerves get the best of me. If it gets bad enough, I can unleash that torrent of sound on everyone around me, and most aren't very forgiving of me assaulting them with my powers, even if it was unintended. This isn't anything new for me either. It has been this way for years. Tell me, who wants that?"
He touched her shoulder. "There's always going to be something someone is prejudiced about. If it isn't that you're a partial, it could be you are a woman, or that you have blue hair, or the color of your skin, or what you eat, or your religion, or lack of religion. At the university, we often have to deal with the old guard being prejudiced against us because we aren't as old as them or have new ideas. The only people who are going to deny prejudice in a million forms is real and negatively impacts a significant number of people are people who haven't had their lives significantly impacted by it or weaponize prejudice. Yes, it is real, and it is impossible to ignore it when you are feeling it directed at you constantly."
She couldn't help it; tears formed in her eyes.
"However," Adam continued. "You can't let all that make you too afraid to live your life. You saw Violet. Do you think for a second she doesn't deal with the same prejudices directed at her? Do you think she's blissfully unaware of what people whisper about her just because she doesn't have your powers to hear it? She's not a fool; she knows. She also doesn't have your accomplishments and fame to shelter her. You know what she does have?"
"A husband and two kids?" Jessica answered.
"Yes, but the main thing she has is pride and confidence," Adam said. "She carries herself as someone who knows their worth and sure as hell will make sure everyone else knows it. The old guard at the university doesn't dare speak ill of her. They fear nothing more than someone who isn't afraid of them. When she has a conversation with someone, she takes the lead and controls it. She doesn't beg people for things; she tells them how it is going to be. She doesn't hide what they want to mock her for; she puts it on full display and dares them to say anything about it. I'm not saying emulate everything about Violet, but that air of confidence and self-assurance she has is something you should look long and hard at. If she can climb to be the most popular and most influential person on campus, you have that power, too."
She bit her lip, considering her words.
"You are right," she said. "About all of it, but you missed something. It isn't just as easy as choosing to be more confident. It isn't some switch I can flip at a moment's notice because I want to. I do appreciate you trying to pep-talk me. It does make a difference, knowing that you think highly of me. I will call my psychologist in a few days to restart sessions. I'll talk to Violet tomorrow and see what helped her gain that confidence because I'm sure she had to build herself up over time. But for right now, let's focus on the task at hand."
He removed his hand. "Of course. I will head back home and start working on this right away. Thank you for letting me help you with this. There's a box of Dunkin' Donuts out in your living room. I only had one out of it. You're welcome to the rest."
That was good because she hadn't gone grocery shopping, and she hadn't brought any food from her parents'. Her refrigerator was utterly bare, aside from a glass of water she had stuck in there to have a cool drink later. She hadn't eaten anything since lunch at her parents the day before. Donuts weren't a healthy meal, but they were something she could put in her stomach. She didn't have time to go grocery shopping, and she didn't want to go to the store anyway.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," she said, being honest. "I'll see you out."
Adam hastily looked away and down as she stood up, and she grimaced.
"Okay, that's making me just as uncomfortable," she said. "As long as you aren't staring at my bust, you'll be fine." She took a deep breath and decided to do something risky and stupid. "And for the record, I'm bi."
Adam stiffened. "Um, I'll keep that in mind for later on."
She nodded. "Later on, once this project is done. Then, we can consider exploring other concepts, slowly, if we both want to. If I'm not being an idiot and completely misreading things. I haven't ruled that out as a possibility. I give it a fifty-fifty chance I'm misreading things or listening too much to my best friend's crazy ideas."
"Your best friend might be onto something," he said slowly. "You're also right; we deal with things first and see how things go."
She nodded stiffly. Did she just tell a guy she was interested in pursuing a relationship, and did he just say yes? It had to be that she was acting impulsively because her emotions were running high. He'd also been looking at her bust, not her legs, tail, or ears. He was looking at her as a woman, not some partial fantasy lover. It was nice to be lusted over as a woman and not a partial. That, combined with him being a nice guy, caused a lapse in judgment. By morning, she'd regret she opened her mouth. She was regretting it already. How awkward would it make things if she told him she took that back? Yeah, that would be bad.
"Slow, very slow," she stressed.
He smiled. "Slow. Got it. We'll talk about it more after you come back from your trip–provided you don't come radioactive or something."
She rolled her eyes. "Can't rule that out with how little we know. I'll see you again Thursday morning–hopefully with enough data between us so I can make that trip."
"Thursday morning," Adam agreed. "See you then. Take care."
After shutting the door, she rubbed her head, again asking herself what had possessed her to do that. She then looked at the box of donuts. Maybe it was hunger messing with her head. If she took things slow enough, Adam would get bored and forget the whole thing. Then, she could refocus on what she needed to do for Mark. Things would be fine.
One chocolate-covered donut and a drink of water later, and she was back in her room. It was time to get to work.
Her phone started ringing. So much for getting work done. She groaned and picked up her phone to check who was calling, then answered.
"Hey, Jor. How are you?" she asked.
"I'm not interrupting a romantic dinner, am I?" Jordan asked.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "I told you it wasn't a date. However…I may have suggested something might happen sometime in the future."
"Whoooohooo!" Jordan exclaimed.
"Don't cheer!" Jessica groaned. "I don't know why I did that. My best guess is I was in a vulnerable position."
"Did it not go well? Did he get rude? Did he treat you like you were disgusting? Did he say something nasty to you?" Jordan asked, seemingly growing more agitated with each question. "If he did, don't worry; I'll find him and put him in his place! Nobody treats my best friend like that!"
"No, he seemed pleased with the idea," Jessica answered.
"Oh!" Jordan replied. "So, what's the problem?"
"I don't know. He was looking at my bust earlier," Jessica replied.
Jordan clicked her tongue. "I've never gotten the strange fixation with mammaries that humans have, but I know it's a thing in most of the stories I read. I think it's kinda disgusting, but I'm a pony, and I don't want to shame humans for their kinks. What's wrong with a guy you are interested in thinking you're sexy? I mean, I'm basing what I know about what humans think is sexy from what I read in books, so maybe the whole mammary fixation is a disgusting idea to most humans, and it's only a small subset of humans who are into that thing."
"I'm pretty sure it was him thinking I'm sexy," Jessica replied. "I forgave him. He'd caught me doing the same thing to another woman earlier."
"Ick!" Jordan said in disgust. "You're into that too?"
"Not really. It was more the fact humans normally can't get away with displaying them so prominently, and she did it with such confidence."
"A bad girl, that tracks with you. Bad girl is kinda adjacent to macho girl, and you've always loved those macho types," Jordan said knowingly. "Is Adam a macho type?"
"No, not really," Jessica answered.
"A priss then?" Jordan asked. "You like the prissy girls, but I've never seen you raise your tail for a prissy guy,"
Jessica shook her head. "He isn't that either. He's just…Adam."
"Hmmm, a new form of attraction. Interesting," Jordan said.
Jessica sighed. "Jordan, can you please let up about this? I'm hoping it all gets forgotten about and blows over in a few weeks. You push too much for me to get into a relationship. It makes me think of my mom."
"Hey! I want my best friend to be happy," Jordan protested. "And I'm not pushing that hard. You should have heard Rosetta talking to Jackie last month. She was telling Jackie that Jackie was slacking on getting pregnant. Jackie's only a year older than me! Rosetta would probably be asking me why I don't have a bun in the oven already if I was back home. That mare seems to think our entire generation's job is to pop out foals. She has three grandkids and multiple nieces and nephews; she should be happy, but no, she wants more."
If her mother did that, Jessica would move much further away. Thankfully, her getting pregnant wasn't on the table. Adopting was…she needed to focus on one thing at a time. She could worry about Mark next week. Right now, she needed to worry about figuring out where that object had gone.
"Jor, were you calling just because you wanted to know how the visit from Adam went?" Jessica asked.
"Not completely," Jordan said slowly. "I'm just bored and lonely. Nothing seems to work out the way I want or expect. Amicus is the closest thing I have to a friend here, and she's away working right now. Andrea's here, but she's miserable to be around. I tried making friends with the guards, and she yelled at me for distracting them! I was kinda hoping you'd come over or let me come over there for a while so we can hang out some more. We didn't get to do much the other night–not that I minded since Mark needed you. I can't even talk to you about everything on the phone because people are listening."
Jessica shook her head. "Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do before this weekend. I must work on this project for the rest of the night."
"But I could come over there and not be any bother. I could let you work while I cook dinner. We can talk over dinner, and I'll head back home. You don't even need to give me a ride. I can get my driver to take me," Jordan pleaded.
"Jor, I don't even have anything to cook," Jessica explained.
"Then what are you having for dinner!" Jordan asked.
"Adam left some donuts. I just ate one."
Jordan gasped. "What?! Nope! You are not going to eat nothing but junk. I'm going to come over there…no, I'm going to the grocery store, getting you groceries, then heading over there. Amicus got me access to my account today. I need to pay you back for the groceries you got me. I'm getting you groceries, and then I'm going to make sure you eat something healthy."
"I need to focus on work, Jor."
"And how are you supposed to focus when you aren't eating right?" Jordan countered. "What was the last thing you ate other than donuts?"
"Uh, a sandwich, I think, yesterday afternoon…no, it was morning," Jessica said, trying to recall.
"Yep! I'm getting you real food," Jordan declared. "The fact you can't remember shows you don't have focus, and it's because you aren't eating. Your memory is usually close to perfect. You want to get your work done? Get some food in you so you can focus."
Or it could perhaps lead to impulsive lapses in judgment. She usually ate fairly large meals, and she hadn't had a large meal in…well, it had been a while. Her powers were always on. Energy didn't come from nowhere, and although her powers weren't energy-intensive, they were a constant use of energy. If she wasn't keeping up with her energy needs, it could interfere with her ability to think clearly.
"Okay, Jor, you win. You get some groceries and come make me dinner, and we'll hang out for a bit."