Read Online Rhythm of the Imperium by Jody Lynn Nye - Free Book Online Page A

closer to my age than her own, yet finds it very difficult to keep up with her. I thought they would be coming along to the spectacle. I was rather surprised to have them decline. On an alternate extremity, the many weeks of travel from the Core Worlds to the edge of Zang space would try Aunt Nestorina’s patience greatly.”
    “I would have enjoyed seeing her ladyship again,” Deirdre said.
    “And she you,” I assured her, courteously. “No, Lord Malent was a great student of genealogy. He knew his own descent, dating all the way back to Old Earth. He thought he had traced the first of the Kinagos to a humble beginning, as traders in pearls and seafood, he believed; but he died before he could make any conclusive pronouncements. I would have been interested in his findings, but, truthfully, not many of my relatives agreed with me. It is more to their taste to publicize the known family tree only from the point at which it became rich and powerful. Not that the information is unavailable on the Infogrid. All of our past foibles are readily available to the diligent scholar. It’s a pity that he never wrote an autobiography, as so many of my more recent ancestors have done. I am sure it would have made enlightening reading.”
    “And that is why your dance has the ring of truth, Lord Thomas,” Deirdre said, tapping her nose with her forefinger. “You don’t shy away from the facts. Perhaps you will take up the study of your family one day.”
    “I doubt it,” I said, cheerfully. “At the moment, I can’t consider anything more delightful than my present enthusiasm for dance. I plan to perform until I can’t move a muscle without assistance.”
    To underscore my point, I bounded forward, sprang into the air, and twirled one and a half times around. When I alit, arms outspread, I was facing my teacher. I bowed to her deeply with my right foot out before me, indicating that I wanted my fame to be during my lifetime, not afterward. Anstruther was moved to spontaneous applause. To my delight, so was Deirdre.
    “Bravo!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “You have licked the error of tangling your ankles together during your spins. Well done.”
    “Thank you,” I said. I had labored in secret for weeks to correct the spin. It was gratifying to have her acknowledge my accomplishment. Nothing could have pleased me more.
    “In movement!” she said, aiming an admonitory finger in my direction.
    I stood straight, put my heels together, and inclined my head, hunching my shoulders to indicate humility. Deirdre smiled, showing long, narrow, almost rodentlike teeth.
    “Very nice, indeed. Now we will work on your arm gestures. You have begun to acquire grace, but are still failing in meaning.”
    She moved an arm; I copied the motion. She repeated the movement again and again as we walked. I did my best to follow each nuance, squinting to follow her subtleties through the glaring neon forest of advertisements that broadcast in three dimensions from every surface, including the bodies of some vendors. It was only when my viewpad, that had been programmed to indicate when we arrived at one of Odile’s shopping choices, chimed loudly that the lesson halted momentarily.
    Anstruther laid her hand on the butt of her holstered laser pistol. Madame Deirdre glanced at me to determine the meaning of the sound. I sprinted lightly and halted before them both, stopping them in her tracks. Instead of performing an obvious pantomime of donning and doffing garments, I put on a show of looking over, then plucking flowers from an invisible garden. One imaginary bloom met with my greatest approval. I admired it from every angle. I held it to my nose and inhaled, with a look toward heaven as though the sweet essence raised my consciousness to another level.
    “How interesting,” she said, approvingly, then glanced to her right. The masonry building, a large one for the bazaar, had a large oval window behind which was a