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    Paradiso Stories
    Paradiso Stories
    Paradiso Stories
    Ebook124 pages1 hour

    Paradiso Stories

    By Linda Jordan

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    About this ebook

    Paradiso is a colonized planet used by humans for sexual tourism. The surface is a blazing desert. Beneath lie caves bursting with the aphrodisiac sanshay. The main inhabitants are strange humanoids with five genders and three horns. Inside you’ll find just a few of Paradiso’s stories of theft, love, deception and transformation.
    Includes: ‘Shifting Sands’, Jake’s Cave’, The Path of Balance’ and ‘Talking to Yama’.
    Sandstorms, earthquakes and sanshay. What could possibly go wrong?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMetamorphosis Press
    Release dateAug 13, 2012
    ISBN9781476365510
    Paradiso Stories
    Author

    Linda Jordan

    Linda Jordan writes fascinating characters, visionary worlds, and imaginative fiction. She creates both long and short fiction, serious and silly. She believes in the power of healing and transformation, and many of her stories follow those themes.In a previous lifetime, Linda coordinated the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop as well as the Reading Series. She spent four years as Chair of the Board of Directors during Clarion West’s formative period. She’s also worked as a travel agent, a baker, and a pond plant/fish sales person, you know, the sort of things one does as a writer.Currently, she’s the Programming Director for the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.Linda now lives in the rainy wilds of Washington state with her husband, daughter, four cats, a cluster of Koi and an infinite number of slugs and snails.

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      Book preview

      Paradiso Stories - Linda Jordan

      Paradiso Stories

      by

      Linda Jordan

      Contents

      ~Preface

      ~Shifting Sands

      ~Jake's Cave

      ~The Path of Balance

      ~Talking to Yama

      ~About the Author

      Preface

      Paradiso is a planet on the far edge of the galaxy. Almost entirely desert, with two suns and riddled with caves where the native humanoids have lived for thousands upon thousands of years.

      This world has been on my mind for several years. It started off with the character of Reilly, rushing off a transport. She was on Paradiso to work. I wondered what would it be like to travel to a planet dusted with sanshay; a drug used throughout the galaxy to enhance people’s sex drive. And then to have to take drugs to suppress that so you could get the work done of mining it. Drugs with consequences. I wondered how different people would react to that. And their stories began to come to me.

      When I saw the photo which I used for the cover of ‘Talking to Yama’, I knew what the Paradisians looked like. Over the past year as I’ve worked on these stories more details about the world and the natives have shown up.

      I hope you enjoy the stories and that they do what stories are meant to do.

      Take you to new places.

      Shifting Sands

      Lillian Cavaletti stood behind the faux wood counter of her shop, blinking at the two suns, Koleko and Anya, streaming in through the tall permaglass windows. She scratched beneath the itchy waistband of her work pants. The cloud of fine sand which rose from the fabric smelled like Sanshay, making her sneeze. Should have changed back into her store clothes. But there hadn’t been time.

      She hadn’t expected to drive out of town to pick up the new shipment, but the suppliers had been shorthanded. And she needed to move things. Right now there was no one except her to cover the shop. So there it was.

      Her bracelet alarm beeped, reminding her to take a nalo. She opened a small charm on the bracelet and popped the last pill into her mouth. She needed to remember to refill it. Lillian swallowed, washing the nalo down with Paradisian tea. The floral taste covered the bitterness of the antidote. How much longer could she take the antidote before the side effects got too bad. For most people it was ten years, give or take a year. She’d been on Paradiso for nine.

      The door opened, bells tingling as the heat of outside flooded in. An off-worlder by his clothes and pale skin. Except he was alone, which made her immediately suspicious.

      Good day, she said.

      Hi, he said.

      He peered into the display cases which lined the room with two more in the center of the floor, eyeing the native made crafts. The guy wore fake leather pants, a silky shirt, black shiny boots, longish hair and looked very relaxed. Too relaxed for a businessman.

      The skin on her shoulders and the back of her neck felt that creepy crawly feeling she got when trouble was coming. Cop trying to pass for tourist. But it was so obvious, it confused her. He couldn’t be that stupid, could he?

      A tourist on Paradiso would most likely have their current date along with them. Even if their toy was only a rental for the three week stay. Sanshay did that. Best sex ever, but you had to have it all the time. People who came to this world to work, dressed for business or for manual labor. This guy moved like someone who could run fast and hit hard.

      She turned around and busied herself with some bookkeeping, using an old style pad which linked with her gilt and could be worked manually. She liked old technology as well as new. Working it made her feel good. Gave her a sense of the past and how safe and simple life used to be before humans expanded across the universe. Few people knew how to use them anymore, which meant she had more control over her privacy. It felt safer.

      Lillian pressed a button beneath a shelf to make sure she’d closed off the back room and the entrance to the caves below. Then she reset the alarms to blow if the doors were forced. There were workarounds, but most people didn’t know them. Neither did she. Not her forte.

      She thought to her gilt, Facial Recognition Match, then glanced at him and away. The answer came back.

      No match found.

      Lillian scratched her head, fluffing her short-cropped chartreuse hair around the gilt partially embedded into her brain. He could still be a cop. They didn’t have photos on any of the systems.

      Through her gilt she sent a message, Lover, can’t meet tonight. Too much work to do, as she moved the credits from yesterday into a different account and shut the system down, erasing everything. Done. She just had to make it to the door and she’d be clear.

      The guy came up to the counter near her.

      Anything I can help you with? she asked, casually moving towards the door.

      I’m looking for something more unique than I see out here, he said.

      Like what? she asked, wrinkling her eyebrows as if confused.

      A buddy of mine has a Paradisian skull, horns and all, that’s inset with local gemstones. Anything like that?

      We don’t sell things like that. Those sorts of artifacts were made illegal by the embargo ten years ago. And even if you could find one to buy, there’s no way you could get it off planet, she said.

      I have private transport.

      That pegged him as either a businessman or a lying undercover cop.

      I don’t sell anything that’s illegal, she said, firmly. Don’t know anybody who does. Too easy to get shut down. It’s not worth the risk. Maybe he was just fishing. Still, it was too risky. Lillian would tell Maslow she wanted to close up and move.

      Would it be worth the risk if I could buy a whole shipment of those sorts of things? he asked, staring at her intently.

      The guy was persistent. She’d give that to him.

      Don’t sell it, don’t have a supplier. So, no. She shook her head.

      You sure you can’t point me to anyone who could help? he asked.

      No. I really don’t. I just run my store and live my life. I don’t know many of the other store owners except food vendors, she said.

      Thanks, he said, moving towards the door.

      She had a few minutes of indecision. Should she run for it or assume he believed her?

      A couple of tourists, wrapped around each other and constantly touching, came in as he left. They bought the usual; beaded necklaces and carved gem stones that the Paradisians crafted.

      She stayed. For the time being, but had a sense the cop wasn’t done with her. The sand covered work clothes probably hadn’t helped. She doubted that escaped his notice. But he didn’t have anything on her or he would have shut her down and arrested her.

      But her message would have alerted Maslow that someone was sniffing around and she wouldn’t have any more illegal shipments for a while. But she would have to move what she had. And she wasn’t familiar with the buyers for this morning’s load.

      Still uneasy as she left the shop for the day, the dry heat hit her. It was the beginning of the sandstorm season. Soon she wouldn’t be going outside without protection. She climbed into the van, punched the home destination for her rental on the edge of the city and turned on the cold air.

      The van began driving down the smooth stone streets of Paradiso City. The streets were laid out in a grid and they were five lanes wide throughout the city.

      She flashed on the small town of Madras with its cramped streets and buildings. At least in the part she grew up in. Everything was tiny and cramped. Much easier to steal things and disappear there. The work she did there would be impossible here.

      Lillian tapped her gilt into a secure, but very busy network.

      Yeah, said the voice on the other end."

      Hey, it’s me, she said. I just wanted to check about the beads and rocks I got this morning. You said you knew the exporters well. I don’t have a number for them and just wanted to make sure they paid for everything and we were all square.

      I’ve checked their finances. Their credits transferred fine. Do you feel a need for some help from me, just in case they want to leave with more than they paid for? asked Maslow.

      I’m feeling a little edgy. Don’t know if it’s connected to a customer, maybe a cop, asking for illegal stuff that I don’t deal with. But I’ve always trusted my instincts. Something’s up. Just can’t identify what. Got any prayers for me? she asked. Prayers was their code for help. Send the thugs in.

      I’ll send you some good thoughts, he said.

      He’d send some help when the buyers came, just in case.

      Thanks, I could use that, she said, severing the link.

      At the last minute, she decided to stop for groceries and find something interesting for dinner. Her fridge didn’t have any good food left.

      Outside of Moe’s stood a couple of Paradisians. She nodded at them.

      One stared at her with amber eyes and asked Buy you our carvings? as it towered over her at eight feet.

      Paradisians. Sometimes they got English and sometimes it completely confused them, all in the same sentence. Should she buy from them?

      "What

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