Hostile atmosphere recalibrated. Compatible air inflated Lily's lungs. The world, the real world, solidified. She had no time to parse the vivid hallucination she experienced because four steely presences loomed over her.

A Verakian woman flanked by three others glowered at her. A fringe of dark hair spiked from the woman's head. The rest of her skull was shaved. Squiggles of neon from HOptic ads writhed over her slick barriersuit. She gripped doctor Puu's dab pouch in a clenched fist.

"If you don't hold onto this someone else will." Eyes and fangs glittered under the glow of mineral lamps. She held out the money sack.

Lily accepted the pouch. Holding her breath, she braced for more HAF interference while she searched the ground. Some dab spilled from the pouch when she fell. She didn't see any of the quartz chips glimmering underfoot. She hefted the bag. Was it lighter?

A pale hand secreting something into the folds of a tunic flashed in Lily's periphery. One of the Verakian men accompanying the woman tucked what looked like the missing dab into his Titian garb. Red cloth bound his muscle-taut legs in the sloppy-breeches style. Save for an upwards tuft of hair at the apex of his forehead, he was bald. A snarling, fang filled mouth scrawled in screaming, light sensitive paints decorated the ventilator mask covering the lower half of his face.

"Hey." Lily started towards him, but doctor Puu caught and held her.

"Thank you," he said. "Not everyone would offer such altruism."

A half smile curved the Verakian woman's mouth. She elbowed another of her pack who wore a pressuresuit. A scrolling feedout overlaid his helmet's visor.

"Sure." She shrugged and her sticky gaze clung to doctor Puu's adornments. Grey-on-grey eyes flicked over his golden hands and feet and rested the longest on the crellis pouch clipped to his belt. After a few uncomfortable moments, she motioned her crew along.

Even after the group of Verakian left, Lily couldn't shake the itchy feeling of being watched. She kept looking over her shoulder. If the pack tracked them, the crowd hid them well. As the stalls and clubs grew fewer and the throng of aliens thinned and she still saw no one familiar or threatening she relaxed.

When the doctor stopped to inventory their purchases, Lily asked, "Why didn't you say anything to those Verakian? They stole that dab. We should go to the...do they have police here?"

Doctor Puu didn't even stop his inventory to answer her. "Verakian, even civilian Verakian, possess a great deal of power in their claimedspace. Laws here are not on our side."

"But that's not—"

A sharp glance from the doctor cut her off. "Let it go, Lily."

Swallowing, Lily dropped the topic. An exchange of crellis and some instruction from doctor Puu sent their guide to the shuttle, the fully loaded gambul in tow. She would load their cargo while doctor Puu and Lily travelled to their final stops. Drawing his shuttle pass from his pocket, the doctor checked their remaining time.

"We'll be cutting it close for fabrication, but ZaZee will at least be able to fit you." Mechanical hands skimmed the cuffs at his ears and the collar at his throat. A sharp tug to his robe's lapels set the garment straight. "If we must leave before she completes your barriersuit we'll have it couriered to the manta. Shanti Plava first then Physical Dream."

Even though Lily had no idea who any of these people and places were, she nodded and trotted alongside the doctor who'd picked up his pace as they headed to Shanti Plava, an exclusive boutique owned by the second Pashmi Lily had ever met.

Zazee Tsza Darr Fabine greeted them at the door. A flustered doctor Puu performed the introductions. The Pashmi woman ushered them inside and, with her assistants, set to work on Lily immediately in one of the boutique's private back rooms.

ZaZee Tsza Darr Fabine employed Arkin twins. Burki and Larca, swept over Lily's naked body with a pair of flat wands. The twins propped on their primary set of arachnid legs. They positioned and repositioned Lily for her body-form scan. Burki swatted Lily's stomach when she sucked it in.

"The scan won't be accurate," the Arkin woman admonished.

An accurate body scan was essential for proper fabrication. The tedious process sent Lily retreating into her thoughts.

The vision that possessed her in the Twilight Market was some of the memories the storage globe implanted in her. They had to be.

Consciousness circled around the hard packed node deep in her mind, worrying it like a sore on the inside of her cheek, half afraid she'd set off another drop into this Camille's memories. Teeth dug into her bottom lip.

They'll use it as a weapon.

But what was it?

Camille wasn't sure about revealing whatever was in her father's journal to anyone. Why should Vortrand be an exception?

Wands fed Lily's scan into a large console ZaZee monitored. Unlike the bulky machines in the orbit station, the Pashmi woman's workstation was as ornamental as it was practical. Everything about the Pashmi was fine. And everything about ZaZee was fine too.

No wonder doctor Puu dressed up, Lily thought.

ZaZee wore her own version of Titian garb. Under a robin's egg colored tunic, a bell sleeved, full skirted sheer rustled. Mechanical feet peeped from beneath the hem. A crimson pelt covered her skin. Gold flecks in her fur matched her large eyes and mechanical appendages. Announcing the scan complete, she called off her assistants. The twins spider-walked away from the platform upon which Lily posed. Crossing her arms over her chest, Lily fiddled with the bandages on her arms while ZaZee sculpted her body-form.

Next to her console, the solid seeming surface of a circular dais rippled. The body-form bubbled from the platform. Another Lily replicated from the substance, her duplicate a matte gray dummy arranged with arms and legs akimbo.

"Very good." ZaZee's voice was a lullaby. "We can fabricate with that. Lily, if you'll get dressed we can review designs in the show room." She paused. "I cannot believe you are Verakian. Sy warned me you were very open, but I've never felt anything like this from another sentient."

Forcing laughter, Lily waved off the comment. Hopping into her clothes and galoshes, she squeaked along behind ZaZee and her Arkin entourage to Shanti Plava's front.

The boutique was styled like an elegant boudoir. Patterned silk gathered by a luminous globe-chandelier concealed a wood beam ceiling. The same silk drops curtained the walls and gave the impression of being hidden away inside a drawn canopy bed. Velvet upholstered arm chairs and a settee surrounded a mahogany table where doctor Puu drank tea.

He sipped from a gold rimmed tea cup so delicate the shadow of the steamy liquid it held showed through. A matching pot painted with pink flowers rested on the table. ZaZee sat herself and Lily on the settee. The Pashmi woman assembled a frame she produced from a pocket in her tunic. She manipulated the HOptic tile it contained.

"I can modify my existing designs as I assume there's no time to draft a few unique concepts?" ZaZee glanced hopefully at doctor Puu, but he shook his head. Though the woman's ears drooped, her disappointment didn't diminish her enthusiasm. "Convertible ensembles aren't exactly a showcase for my work, but I suppose practicality is essential on a long tour starship."

Leaning into Lily like a conspirator, ZaZee showed off the samples on her slate. Spicy incense burning in ornamental pots stationed around the showroom perfumed her fur.

"The sleeves are detachable. We can shorten the top to fall mid-thigh. You can wear the tunic as a dress or shirt. Some thick hose will suit either style for modesty or colder climes." ZaZee zoomed in on the various features of the design. Outfits displayed on an animated model of Lily that strutted and posed. "We'll leave an opening in the hose soles. You can fold them up if you become uncomfortable. The boots will work the same way. Wear them at the knee or fold them to the ankle as weather permits. What do you think?"

Lily sat the slate on her lap. She tabbed over what they'd viewed. "I think they're amazing."

"Splendid." Metal hands clapped together with a sharp clink. Zazee's tail undulated at the praise. "Burki, Larca, would you please pull the appropriate bolts? And the starcollide in the deep ranges."

The twins attended their employer's request. The wall they poled to on their primary extremities crammed with bolts of cloth in every color, material, and style conceivable. Burki and Larca busied themselves at the expansive shelving. With their spidery arms and legs, they scaled Shanti Plava's east wall. With their secondary, shorter appendages they plucked the appropriate materials and lowered them to the floor, pausing now and then to consult HOptic interfaces that drew themselves over their left-secondary arms when they flicked their wrists.

"I make all my barriersuits with starcollide," ZaZee said. "It's one of the best Nevia smart-fibers and comes in one hundred and fifty colors." She motioned to doctor Puu. "Sy, will you join us on the couch so I can show Lily the samples?"

"Of course." Nudging his cup and saucer to the opposite end of the table, the doctor rose and settled on a free cushion next to Lily.

Glass enclosed inlets scalloped the west wall behind doctor Puu's former seat. Housed within the enclosures were ZaZee's barriersuit samples. Garment displays rotated on carousel conveyances. With her slate ZaZee controlled the showcase. Clear body forms fleshed out the suits. When a form centered behind the glass, a voxic projection painted the body. Images of Titians, Pashmi, Verakian, and a rosy skinned species unfamiliar to Lily circled passed with catwalk-blank faces.

Barriersuits hugged the body. An alien's shape dictated the suit's form, but ZaZee had a set of design flourishes that personalized the garments. Metal scales and decorative armored plates adorned one suit and set-in gems another. Translucent starcollide swatches arranged for maximum sex appeal were the most common design feature. A suit a Verakian woman's projection wore heated Lily's cheeks.

Doctor Puu lifted his cup and saucer and studied the designs up close.

"Your work is phenomenal, ZaZee," he said at which the Pashmi woman let out an exasperated sigh.

"How long have we known each other, Sy? Do you require a formal invitation to address me by my close name?"

"Very well," doctor Puu cleared his throat, "Fabine." The cup and saucer rattled in his trembling hand. Lily broke in over the strained silence.

"They are cool, but..." She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. "Does mine have to have see through parts?"

Showing skin wasn't a huge deal. The short-shorts and tank top she wore was her favorite around-the-house outfit, but she rarely wore it out out. Attention she attracted in them was addictive. It was also scary sometimes because she couldn't control it.

"Strategic translucency is a benefit of starcollide that's underused," ZaZee said. "You'll be able to adjust the opacity with a dedicated function core." On her slate, she indicated set-in gems on a suit design she rough sketched with a fingertip. The gems were functional not just decorative. "Burki and Larca will demonstrate the barriersuit's programs during your fitting."

"Would it be possible to include an interface in the suit and helmet?" Doctor Puu asked.

ZaZee's ears flattened. "I'm out of in-house equipment. Everyone's wanting voxic accessories this season."

"We planned a trip to Physical Dream during fabrication," the doctor said. "Lily's TR-buds are sub-par. I can rush courier the necessary equipment to you." One of the transfer notes whispered against his robe as he slid it from an interior pocket. "This has been signed and notarized. Will you fill in the amount if I leave it with you?"

"Certainly." ZaZee lifted herself from the settee and accepted the note. Swishing to the counter cordoning off the fitting rooms and the upper levels of the shop from nosy clients, she placed the creased paper atop the bolts the twins left her. "Fabrication should be finished upon your return. You will venture out until then?" Subtle strain pinched the question.

"We shall," doctor Puu said.

"I see." The moment ZaZee's expression soured she banished it with an over-bright smile. "May your time together be joyous."

Doctor Puu lowered his head in kind. On their way out of the boutique, he set his delicate cup and saucer on the circular table. They wended back through Kotta Chobi and to a destination that screeched while the rest of Myskuul sang.

Time spent in the Twilight Market accustomed Lily to the subdued ambiance of the shops, stalls and residences. The chatter of merchants and customers, the plucked twang of a lap harp accompanied by the lilting voice of a busker, the laughter of aliens parked in bars, created Myskuul's gentle melody. Splashes of soft color from a twirling mineral lamp, voxic ad, or a vibrant door hanging textured the barge city's neutral palette. Amidst these sounds and sights, Physical Dream stuck out like a bird of paradise amongst rock doves.

The super-tech citadel—"Odovian architecture," doctor Puu commented in a disparaging tone as they approached the entrance—spiked into the purple sky and slashed across Kaptune's spectral rings. Light emitting crystals Titians used in mineral lamps sprouted from the tower like multicolored barnacles. Circuit displays threaded metal sheeting covering the structure. The circuit-laced material changed Physical Dream's color in time with violent pop music that shook the wood planks underfoot. Thudding bass hijacked Lily's insides. Heart and guts beat along with the rhythmic music. Physical Dream was a hypnotic drum, calling all consumer-insects to it with the unrelenting draw of a bug zapper.

"Welcome to Physical Dream." A disembodied voice sang to them over the Odovopop when they crossed the consumer palace's threshold. "Your dreams are our realities. Greetings, new dreamer. That we may better cater to your technological desires, please, follow the illuminated path to your Dream Guide so we may create your Dreamer Profile."

"What the eff..." Lily said under her breath.

A lighted path formed at her feet. It led into the upscale showroom for Nevia brand tech.

"Come, Lily," doctor Puu said when he noticed her reticence. They followed the path, which created itself as they walked.

Color and activity tempted Lily her from the walkway. If she deviated from the pre-plotted course, the path flashed red and the sing-song voice reprimanded her.

Voxic projections layered over the interior walls' circuit displays added another dimension to the already over-stimulating environment. Aliens mingled in the lobby and the showroom which was more like a club than a mall. Odovian Dream Guides—the witchlight aliens—accompanied buyers.

There were red and black and white Odovians all tall and slender as their consumer spire, their faces featureless coverings of blank skin. Swarms of witchlights flitted about their impressive shoulders. At the end of the lighted path, one of the Dream Guides, a black one, awaited them like the Great and Powerful Oz.

A black robe with the iridescent sheen of embedded circuity shrouded the Odovian's spare form. Material clung to their twig neck and arms like latex. Draping off the alien's wide shoulders, the robe tapered at the torso and legs then billowed out over the floor like the base of a champagne flute. Enormous black widow hands and its face were uncovered. One of those hands extended to her. When Lily slipped her palm into theirs—the Odovian's flesh squished in her grasp like a glove of gel filled vinyl—the red and pink witchlights that haloed their head surrounded her. Ghostly laughter filled her ears. Thanks to doctor Puu's coaching prior their entrance, she resisted shooing the wisps and avoided an inter-species faux pas.

"Dreamer, what is your name?" The witchlights addressed Lily in a whispering chorus. Their volume rose and fell as the wisp host bobbed around her head. Their motioned tickled; a fly's wings beating too close to her ears.

She answered and cringed back when the Odovian craned down their head at her.

They asked her lots of questions that seemed irrelevant to buying Nevia tech.

"You seriously need all this for my Dream Profile?" Lily asked after ten peccards of steady back and forth.

Doctor Puu stepped in. "An extensive Dream Profile reduces browsing and ill matched purchases. After they establish the profile they will know which products best accommodate you. And if you ever visit the Dream Capsules your Escapade will be more tactile and unique. The profile carries to all Nevia outlets through your D_ID. I already possess a D_ID, so if it will not upset you, I will purchase ZaZee, ah, Fabine's interface materials while you finish."

"OK..." Lily said and carried on without him.

The Archivist best suited Lily's Dream Profile. The Nevia persotome had two input interfaces: one HOptic and one dedicated haptic screen. Compartments secreted in the design stored accessories like a camera and stylus. After doctor Puu returned and selected her new TR-buds from the array her profile curated, he had their guide correct the language setting on her Archivist from ketour, the Titian language, to dense.

"Dense works for standard communication across species," doctor Puu said while their guide packaged their items, "but it can't pick up the nuance of emotion. There is no poetry or literature in dense except for some disastrous experimentation by the Cafitids, but they'll try anything once."

Free of Physical Dream and the heart jittering Odovopop, Lily and doctor Puu carted everything back to Shanti Plava. Once or twice while they navigated Market Street, Lily thought she saw a flash of the Verakian thug's snarl-decorated mask. Each time she paused and took a better look.

A lot of Verakian wore ventilator masks tricked out with light responsive paints and tiny voxic animations. She convinced herself she was just paranoid, but as soon as she about faced, itchy patches bloomed on her shoulder blades and the back of her head. She ground her teeth, refusing to look behind again.

The courier with the interface materials beat them to Shanti Plava by a wide margin. Lily's outfits and her interfaced barriersuit were complete. ZaZee emerged from the fitting room. The Pashmi woman's half-lidded eyes were only