Capítulo 18: C: Cinder-pig

Rafaela left the shop with a voucher that could either be used for a small discount or a full outfit, depending on the outcome of the race.

The experience also let her understand that the merchants offering the free services and items to the registered racers expected to get something in return, even if it wasn't money. However, instead of making her wary, that made her feel more comfortable about taking advantage of the offers, so she sorted through the list of shops more carefully, looking for ones that could be useful.

She ate the most extravagant meal that she'd had in years at one of the restaurants. In another shop the automated system cheerfully assisted her by crafting replacements for some of her clothing, without exceeding the gift credit. None of the shops were likely sources for critical ship supplies, but she checked each one that seemed to have any chance, and lucked into one that had specialty autoserve supply packets.

She had not intended to stop at any of the gaming arcades, which promised hours of play time to each of the registrants, but the argument where SkyWater was mentioned loudly, and the familiar faces pulled her toward one.

Louise half hid behind Doris as the two sisters faced the angry young woman who was currently giving an unlikely description of their ancestors.

"A pair of half-breed neanderthals could never have represented the Rians in the Princess Race! The pair of you are out of your minds, and you ought to be grovelling at the feet of the person who decided to let you two register under that ridiculous little corporation," she snapped angrily.

"We are not half breeds!" Doris protested just as angrily.

A young man snorted and said slyly to another couple of people who were clustered beside the argument, "Genetics tend to express the truth, even when the paperwork lies."

"Half what?" Rafaela asked as she came to a halt at the edge of the altercation.

Every face turned toward her, and Doris almost screamed, "Cinderella! You little traitor, don't you start!"

The young woman who had been shouting at her stepsisters looked her up and down with a sneer. "I'm not really surprised that some little shut-in pure blood wouldn't know. I bet this race is the first time you've ever been allowed out on your own. Are these rejects friends of yours miss Cinderella?"

Rafaela glanced at her stepsisters, and Louise piped up with surprising vehemence, "We are not friends!"

She was sure that her expression was as sour as she felt, as she agreed neutrally, "Friends is not an accurate description."

"Good. Keep it that way if you know what's good for you," the young woman snapped.

"Eloise Rian, you witch! You only got entered in the Princess Race because the Rians don't have any other girls our age left!" Doris snapped back.

"Because our family head got smart, and threw out the two half breeds who were trying to pass themselves off," Eloise sneered.

Rafaela knew that she was going to regret the jibe even as she made it, "Is that the father of the Rian family heir who can't seem to successfully pass his hereditary library on to any of his descendants?"

Her stepsisters both stared at her with incredulous expressions. She knew a bit about the rest of the Rian family from the fragments of gossip that had followed Elektra and her daughters all the way to SkyWater station. Her father had known more, although he had told her very little when she'd asked.

Eloise turned her glare toward Rafaela. "That's a totally baseless rumor! Those two are the defective ones and they shouldn't even be allowed to enter this race!"

"Why not? Defective in what way? Genetically they are perfect Princess candidates aren't they? Intelligent, double L, and educated in a thousand useless graces," Rafaela pointed out sarcastically.

Doris hissed in anger, with no trace of gratitude for Rafaela's interference. "You!" She was unable to come up with a descriptor vile enough to describe her stepsister.

The young man who had made the sly comment about genetics actually laughed. "Double L!? Hah! So they really aren't halfs, they are just cripples! That's green!"

The girl beside him looked at Eloise and tittered. "The Rian heir produced two double Ls? That's rich! Maybe he's the half neanderthal?"

Eloise Rian stiffened and then shrugged. She appeared to relax as she waved a hand dismissively, and drawled, "So they are only a quarter neanderthal, they are still defective. It has nothing to do with me since my family branch is descended from the previous family head, and if I win, my father will become the next family head."

The argument immediately became more general as the group started to argue about which family actually had the best ship and the best pilot. Doris, Louise, and Rafaela were ignored.

Louise managed to whine using only a whisper as she told Rafaela, "You are an evil pig!"

Doris immediately agreed with her younger sister, "I'm sure that you're too stupid to realize what you've done, but you'd better get lost Cinder-pig."

"You're welcome," Rafaela replied with false sweetness.

Her step-sisters glared in perfect tandem, and then spun on their heels as though it were a practiced maneuver and marched away.

"We didn't even get to use our pass," Louise complained as they vanished into the crowds.

"Shut up," Doris snapped loud enough for Rafaela to hear over the crowd.

Rafaela silently asked the station issued personal com device what 'neanderthal' stood for, but the answer seemed unlikely to match the literal meaning of what 'half' or 'quarter' her stepsisters were accused of being. Someone reached out and grabbed her elbow as she started to move away from the heated argument over who had the best chance to win.

She looked up to meet the bright green eyes of the young man who had called her stepsisters cripples, and pulled her arm free of his grasp. "What do you want?"

"I want to know who YOU are," he informed her with what could have been a charming grin in other circumstances.

"I'm sure the station system can inform you of my registered identity," Rafaela replied frostily.

"Cinderella, the third princess candidate registered by the SkyWater corporation," he informed her slyly. "But that doesn't tell me what family you are representing."

"Really? I would think it would be quite obvious," Rafaela said dryly as she walked away from the arguing crowd.

He walked away with her, keeping an interested smile on his face, even though his eyes narrowed. The girl who had been at his side took two steps after them, and then stopped and turned back to argue whatever had just been said.

He kept his pace matched to hers even though they were moving through the busy crowd in the wide corridors of the shopping district, and watched her face intently as he said lightly, "I have a theory. I think that SkyWater is trying to keep afloat by acting as a front for a more prominent family than the fragmented Donatellas, who already have another candidate aside from those two former Rians."

"Maybe I'm that candidate," Rafaela suggested.

He snorted and glanced at her hair. "You are not she," he stated firmly.

Rafaela tried to hide her surprise at his certainty, but she didn't know if it escaped his sharp eyes. "I don't know who you are either," she pointed out a little sharply.

Her steps faltered briefly as he came to an abrupt halt. When she glanced back he was staring at her with wide incredulous eyes

"Are you the original?" he demanded. His eyes were on her hair and his expression was doubtful.

"The original?" she repeated.

"I never imagined that a new company created by one of the old families would really change sides, it doesn't make any sense," he hissed with a wary glance around himself.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she admitted.

"Don't you? Even if you really don't, you will if you live long enough," he warned her.

Rafaela instinctively took a step back. He didn't look particularly threatening, but he didn't look like he was joking either. After a moment, she turned and walked away as swiftly as she could without breaking into a run. He didn't follow her, but she had no doubt that he could find out where she was going.

The checkpoint personnel seemed startled by her relatively early return to the docking area, but she didn't explain. She displayed her small collection of free pass gifts from the shops for inspection, and hurried back to her ship.

Something about the green eyed young man's convoluted theories about her identity, and his last words, combined unpleasantly with the scorn the entire group had shown for her stepsisters. She felt paranoid, but she was intensely aware that if her stepsisters were regarded as cripples because they lacked the M gene, then she was effectively the same with her own M's limited functionality. Originals lacked the gene pair entirely.

She hadn't expected the display of prejudice against those lacking a fully functional LM gene pair, despite knowing of her stepsisters' self-conscious judgements against themselves. Maybe she'd been naive, but it sounded like there was some kind of serious maneuvering going on in the background of the Princess Race. Unlike many corporations, SkyWater did not have any genetic requirements for holding a position within the company, but that might change with Elektra taking over.

She had thought that most of the other entrants would be similar to her stepsisters, but she hadn't imagined that they were engaged in any kind of serious turmoil either. Her stepsisters were privileged, arrogant, and annoying, but mostly focused on their own amusements. They were not subtle about their complaints.

She wondered who the other Donatella entrant he'd mentioned was, if it really wasn't her, and if that entrant thought that she was maneuvering for her parents position in the Donatella family. If the argumentative Eloise Rian planned to promote her family to the Rian's main branch, maybe it was possible.

The way the Rian girl had declared her stepsisters defective, and gloated over the way they had been thrown out, actually made her feel a little angry on their behalf. They were blood relatives, and Rafaela didn't feel like a name should be what defined the boundary of family. On the other hand, she'd never tried to contact any other Donatellas just because they were her blood relatives either.

Rafaela paused and reconsidered her own attitude toward Doris and Louise. Her only loyalty toward them was because they were part of her family registry, and now shared the Donatella name. She was almost certain that neither girl really wanted the 'Cinder-pig' to think of them as her family, but her father had wanted her to.

She grimaced as the familiar airlock opened.

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