Nivello II

 “About fifteen minutes,” said Jasper, scrutinising the display in front of him.  The displays faintly reflected Honoré behind him and it looked, in the blurry incomplete image, like she was glaring.  “It looks like light traffic out here this evening.”

“That’s too early,” said Honoré after a pause.  “He won’t be ready by then.”

“We can park up aro—“

“No!  He was clear about that; no stopping, no waiting.  We drive by when he’s there and pick him up and go.  Minimum fuss.”

“Parking is hardly a fuss,” said Jasper, sounding slightly irritated.  “It’s a gravity-car, I can put it down just about anywhere for five minutes.  Ten if there’s no patrols.”

“No!”  Jasper turned his head, though the bulk of his neck didn’t let it go very far, and saw from the corner of his eye that Honoré had turned red, her cheeks flushing and the colour descending down her neck.

“Fine,” he said, resigned to her intransigence.  “Then I can find somewhere to park now and we can wait until we’ll arrive on time.  Whenever that might be.”

“Don’t get snippy with me!”  Honoré looked out of the window and the wolverine chose that moment to rattle its cage again.  Jasper jumped at the unexpected noise, and Honoré’s gaze snapped back to the cage and she smiled.

“Dr. Veille,” she said.

“Oh no!”

“Oh yes.  You have to deliver this thing anyway, and it’ll take the time we need to lose.”

“I can deliver it later.  In fact, I’d rather deliver it later.  Tomorrow, around lunchtime.”

“Dr. Veille doesn’t go out for lunch,” said Honoré watching Jasper like a hawk.  As she guessed, a look of shame and dismay appeared on his chubby face reflected in the windscreen.  She thought he had no idea about the reflection as he made no effort to hide it.

“Ah, but she… she has to be there to take delivery of it… anyway.”

“What is the problem with Dr. Veille?  I don’t get it; she must pay well for these deliveries, that’s a live wolverine you have there.  Well, if it gets fed it’ll be a live one.”

The gravity-car dipped a little and adjusted course to the left, sliding gracefully from one air-lane to another.  Inside the zero-g bubble they barely noticed it; just a tiny inertial kick making them shift in their seats a little.

Jasper hesitated so long that he saw Honoré start opening her mouth again for another harangue and decided quickly that he didn’t want to listen to that.

“She’s Nivello,” he said and then wished he hadn’t.  Even listening to Honoré’s often bizarre opinions of other people would have been better than telling her that.

“What?!”

“She’s yellow,” said Jasper, knowing he was clutching at straws.  “She’s a member of the… Yellow Party.”  He had no idea if Lustrous’s byzantine politics had a Yellow Party, either by truename or nickname, but he was hoping that Honoré wouldn’t know either.

“You said she’s Nivello,” said Honoré.  “And I—“

“No I didn’t!”  Jasper didn’t quite shout, but he still spoke loudly enough to drown her out.

“Car!” Honoré’s tone would have brought an entire class of unruly schoolchildren to immediate silence and immotion.  “Replay conversation—“

“There’s no need for that,” said Jasper sounding defeated.  “Fine, I said she was Nivello.  I was joking, I meant she was Yellow.  Yellow Party, I just thought you’d find it funny.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Honoré.  “You said it and you meant it.  Why are you defending her if she’s Nivello?  She’s one of them.”

The planet and its four moons, possibly plus an outsize comet that might or might not have been a moon once, were together called Nivello and named for the extrasolar navigator that had determined that the planet and two of the moons were habitable.  Nivello was also the title of the planetary ruler, essentially a figurehead position whose views and opinions were largely written for it by the Union of Governments of all the significant countries and realms on the Nivello worlds.  The people who worked directly for the Nivello were also known as Nivello, by association, and formed a small, elite coterie scattered across the planet and moons.  They were more frequently referred to as them and They and every policy or decision that people disagreed with, or just bad luck, was ascribed to them.

“I’m not defending her because she’s not Nivello,” said Jasper doggedly.  “I was just joking, I thought it would be funny.”  The car changed path again, this time to avoid a collision with a gravity-car that was descending through the air-lanes seemingly without looking where it was going.

“She’s always been one for disappearing without notice,” said Honoré, who seemed to be ignoring his denials now.  “That would make sense now.  I can’t believe I didn’t spot it myself though!  She’s ruthless too, I can’t believe I just overlooked that.  I bet she’s using these animals for experiments!  Vivisection!”

“Look, do you want to go and deliver this wolverine to her or not?” said Jasper hunting for any reason to change the subject.

“Of course I do!  Now I know what I’m looking for!”

Jasper’s hands hovered over the controls as he hesitated; he’d been expecting Honoré to refuse to go until she’d had time to think about it and make plans.

“Sure?” he said, trying to think of anything to make her change her mind.

“Yes!  Get on with it!”