3.
 "Honey?"
"I'm coming," she wailed softly. For a second, she stopped in the doorway. The lumifex was folded up ten-fold and getting damp in her hand. How could she tell him—?
One by one, the magnificent Donaldo Jay Boomfani touted his wares before the assembled thousand buyers of Cygniberger's from this whole region of the Home Arm. There were glittering silvers and golds; fragrant leathers and spices; colorful parrots and paintings; euphonic harps, pianets, and violas of precious wood; rugs and carpets and silks and damascs... Suzen found herself almost bored after a while, numbed as if by a beautiful river.
"I have one other thing," Boomfani said. Two assistants in blou-gold livry rolled out a cart on which sat what looked like a pink coral under a glass dome a third as big as Boomfani. A soft spotlight pointing down made the object look creamy-rich, like some of Donaldo Jay's fine marbles. A ripple of clapping went through the audience. "Aha!" said Boomfani, "there are connoisseurs among us today. All the better. This magnificent coral is the only alien animal life within thirty light years of earth. It grows on several worlds in the Procyon area, a magnificent example of convergent evolution."
As Boomfani spoke, the spotlight grew brighter. The coral swelled up. It grew pinker, almost orange. Spikes grew out of its smooth surfaces. Boomfani signaled, and someone offstage turned on some classical music from the Chimeric Era: Madame Kelly Madrid's 2449 Saltade on the Death of Caesar, Napoleon, and Morgenpfau. As the richly massed orchestra pounded out a tone poem flowing with aural colors, the procyon coral writhed its dance in full empathy.
The crowd babbled in wonderment. Suzen gasped at the beauty.
"For years, these treasures have lived and died hidden in the dark forest moss of worlds that remain wild and unterraformed. Only the occasional research scientist, shining her light in the darkness along some uncharted path, has been privileged to witness this excellent performance. And now, because of genetic discoveries by xenologists in Venice, this magnificent creature can be sold in your stores everywhere for a modest price. You see, this coral is brought to life by light, and once it lives, it dies forever." He injected, as an afterthought: "Like the human being, no?" He smiled at this wisdom. "The coral accretes slowly for many years, exhibiting no sign of life, much as a terran virus is a lifeless crystal until it enters the bloodstream and invades the cells. During a rare occurrence of warmth and light—once a generation at most—it can be brought to life by the sun, the moons, a bright star, or even a passing comet. It may live and dance and glow like this for a day or a moment—but at the first cold breeze of darkness, it stiffens, shrivels, and blows away like dust. Xenologists have managed to mutate it so it will only react with light when a certain symphony is played. It's sure to create a sensation for the impulsive buyer who has everything. But I must warn you of one thing."
Suzen felt a chill, and for a moment she thought it was just her depression. Then she realized that the windows had slid open, letting the fog walk in on skeleton-tiptoes. The wind blew in a fine mist of droplets that settled on the tables and chairs all around. Viewers shuddered and pulled their coats closer.
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Copyright © 2018 by Jean-Thomas Cullen, Clocktower Books. All Rights Reserved.
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