Usurper

by Richard F. Weyand

  “All right. So let’s just say that on these two floors, in the Imperial Residence, it’s just us, just Dee, and Cindy, and Sean, and Bobby, like it’s always been. Unless someone else is here, anyway. And I don’t think anyone else can come up here unless I let them. Is that right?”

  “That’s right, Dee,” Bobby said. “Other than Guardsmen on watch duty and Housekeeping staff doing their jobs. Even General Daggert won’t come up here without permission.”

  “OK, well that’s settled then,” Dee said.

  “Did you know this was coming, Dee?” Sean asked.

  “Honey, I had no clue until the Empress told me on her deathbed. I’m still in shock.”

  “Us, too,” Bobby said.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Sean said.

  “She knew it was coming, though. She’s been leaning on me more and more the last three years, having me sit in on her meetings, all of that. She said she had hoped she would be able to give me ten more years, but her body didn’t cooperate with her plans.”

  “So you guys are moving up here, right? Will we ever see you again?” Cindy asked.

  “Actually, I wanted to meet with you here, because there are a number of apartments up here. This is called the family apartment, right next door to the Empress’s apartment. Do you guys want to move up here? Then we’d all still be together.”

  “Really?” Cindy asked.

  She looked around, walked over to the windows, which were more of the sliding glass wall panels, but this opening and the balcony beyond were even bigger.

  “Nice place, no doubt about it. even better than downstairs. Whaddya say, Bobby?” Cindy asked.

  “OK with me. Then we get to be together, like Dee said. But there’s some other amenities, too, that you girls probably don’t know about.”

  “Like what?” Dee asked.

  “Like the private dining room, which is basically a five-star restaurant with one table. And the gardens.”

  “The gardens?” Dee asked.

  “The roof gardens. Private to the Empress.”

  “Oh, let’s go look,” Cindy said.

  “Can we?” Dee asked.

  “Of course. You are the Empress, after all.”

  They went up to the roof on a private escalator that turned on when they touched a button on the handrail.

  “Only one escalator?” Cindy asked. “How does that work?”

  “It runs in either direction. There’s another button at the top,” Bobby said.

  The escalator stopped in a small glass cupola.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Cindy said.

  They went out onto the roof, a six-acre space of grass and trees and flowers, artificial streams and waterfalls and koi ponds, stone walking paths and intimate meadows and shaded verandas. A twenty-foot-tall glass wind-screen circled the roof, protecting it from the heavy breeze you could get several hundred feet off the ground.

  “All this is just for the Empress?” Dee asked.

  “And her guests, though it’s probably been twenty years or more since anyone other than the Empress was up here. Since Adannaya’s husband passed away,” Bobby said.

  “But why? Who maintains it?”

  “The Imperial Guard maintains it. We don’t like the Empress leaving the building. It’s almost impossible to guarantee her safety. But not getting outside, ever, no interaction with nature or the out-of-doors, is bad for your sanity. So the Guard built this garden.”

  “But this has to be insanely expensive.”

  “It’s actually cheaper than having the Empress leave the building with any regularity. And you can come up here on a moment’s notice. There’s no month of planning involved.”

  “Dee, you can sunbathe nekkid up here!” Cindy said.

  “What?”

  “There’s nobody to see. All the other buildings in Imperial Park are lower, and the taller buildings in Imperial Center are miles away.”

  “There’s actually a normal swimming pool up here, and a hot tub, as well as a swimming hole,” Bobby said.

  “And a barbecue grill, and a fire pit if you want to sit around a campfire,” Sean said.

  “An open fire? On the top of the building?” Dee asked.

  “Well, it does have a sprinkler system, but it’s really well hidden. And there’s a tennis court, and lawns for bocce ball or horseshoes. Lots of different stuff.”

  “Amazing,” Dee said.

  “It’s all so you don’t leave the building,” Bobby said. “And if you say you want to leave the building, General Daggert will explain to you for a couple of hours just why that’s a bad idea.”

  “So I’m basically a prisoner,” Dee said.

  “In a gilded cage. Yep,” Bobby said. “Or you can step down as Empress. Pick your successor and walk away.”

  Dee looked around the gardens.

  “Maybe someday. But for now, there’s work to be done. Let’s go.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “Mr. Perrin, the Dunhams will be moving into the family apartment, while Captain Garrity and I will move into the first guest apartment for the time being. Have Housekeeping see to the moves.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Ma’am, a question came up while you were at your meeting. Have you selected a reign name?”

  “Yes, Mr. Perrin. Ilithyia the Second. Her work is unfinished.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “That is all for now, Mr. Perrin.”

  Settling In

  The Empresses of the Sintaran Empire considered themselves public servants, not public figures. They did not make public appearances, they did not hold press conferences, and they did not give interviews. There was an annual recorded message to the citizens of the Empire over VR, and that was it. In one of those perversities of life, this actually made them more popular than the monarchs of other star kingdoms who courted public opinion.

  They also considered their families off-limits, a longstanding rule that had been effectively reinforced thirty-nine years before when the newly named Empress Adannaya III executed a reporter who accosted her daughter, then forty-five years old, in the supermarket. The press got the message, and had since left the Empress’s family alone.

  So news people did not go to Travers World. The news, however, did.

  Within a few hours of the death of the Empress, the Imperial Palace issued a terse press release announcing the death of the Empress Ilithyia I due to natural causes, and the accession to the throne of Deanna Dunham Garrity, the Empress’s Personal Counsel, as the Empress Ilithyia II. The press release flashed across the QE network, and was the top headline in every city and hamlet in the Empire within the hour.

  Doctor Joshua Harding saw the headline in the news, ‘Empress Ilithyia I Dies Of Natural Causes; Empress Ilithyia II Named.’ He scanned the article quickly, looking for the cause of death. Dying at age 72 wasn’t unheard of, but it was unusual for someone with the quality of healthcare that the Empress likely had. Ah, there it was. Congestive heart failure was still a tough one, but they should have been able to implant a heart pump or perform a transplant. Either would result in a long convalescence and reduced capacity, however, and he suspected the Empress hadn’t wanted to subject herself to such extreme measures.

  He was about to close the article when something caught his eye. A name. ‘Deanna Dunham Garrity.’ Well, that was one hell of a coincidence. With three hundred trillion people in the Sintaran Empire alone, the idea of any name being unique was long gone. It was still a hell of a coincidence. Let’s see. The prior Empress’s Personal Counsel. Age 27.

  Not a coincidence then. The child he had treated for Melsbach Syndrome fifteen years ago had grown up to rule the Empire. Just yesterday he had seen a child in his waiting room playing with the blocks she had given him after she was cured. Remarkable.

  That a person of such humble beginnings and purity of heart could grow up to rule the Empire gave him the feeling that all was well with the world, and he found himself whistling off and on throughout the
day.

  Over the past ten years, with Bobby and Dee sending ever-increasing sums of money home to their parents, Bob and Megan Dunham had expanded their lifestyle a bit. They saved a lot of the money toward the future, but they had spent some of it on things to make life a little easier.

  They had electricity run to the house, as well as natural gas, so the heat was now automatic and a fire in the fireplace was for atmosphere, not warmth. An electric well pump and a gas water heater gave them hot and cold running water, and they had splurged on an indoor bathroom built onto the side of the house under its own shed roof. The wood-burning kitchen stove had been replaced with an electric one, with a microwave oven thrown in to boot. Megan Dunham thought a machine to wash dishes was silly – with hot and cold running water in the kitchen, it was so easy – but she welcomed the machine that washed and dried their clothes.

  Bob had also had the lane up to the house widened and graveled, and had bought an old pickup truck. He enjoyed tinkering with it, and it made running into town for supplies much easier. They even used it for the occasional night out.

  All the freed-up time they had, with no need to chop wood for the stove and fireplace or to carry water into the house and heat it, they spent in the VR reading. Neither was stupid, they had just lacked opportunities. They had both used the VR to finish their high school educations, and dabbled in some college courses in their areas of interest. Now they mostly read for enjoyment.

  Megan was reading when she got the message signal of an incoming call from Dee, so she joined Dee in the VR copy of their living room she had captured with the camera of the VR box.

  “Hi, honey.”

  “Hi, Mom. Have you seen the news today?”

  “No. I don’t really read the news, dear. Did something happen today?”

  “The Empress died this morning.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry to hear that. She was so special to you.”

  “Yes. It’s pretty sad. Only seventy-two. Congestive heart failure. They could have done a pump or heart transplant, but it would have meant a long convalescence, and she decided against such extreme measures.”

  “I understand that, dear. I would probably make the same decision myself.”

  “Yes. Me, too. But she did something before she died, something I need to tell you about. Mom, she made me her heir.”

  “What does that mean, dear? Did she leave you a lot of money or something?”

  “No. Mom, she made me the new Empress.”

  “The Empress of what?”

  “The Empress of Sintar. Of the whole Empire.”

  There was a long silence.

  “Mom? Are you there?”

  “Yes, I’m here, dear. I’m just trying to wrap my head around that. The Empress? Of the Sintaran Empire? All of it?”

  “Yes, Mom. There’s only one Empress, for all of it, and that’s me, as of this morning. It’s all over the news.”

  “What does that mean for us, Dee? Your father and I?”

  “Nothing,” Dee said sternly. “The press has to leave you alone. Badgering you or anything like that is a capital crime, and they know it. But if you wanted to, you could come here and visit, or come here and live in the palace, for that matter.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so, dear. Your father doesn’t like crowds. I imagine it’s more crowded there than, say, Grand Fork, isn’t it?”

  Grand Fork was the nearest ‘big city’ to Craigs Notch. It had a population of maybe fifty thousand.

  “More than a thousand times bigger, Mom.”

  “Well, your father was never comfortable in Grand Fork, dear. ‘Too dang crowded,’ he said. He’d rather stay out here than even go into Craigs Notch, if he could help it. But you can’t exactly come home to visit, either, can you?”

  “I’m afraid not, Mom. They won’t even let me leave the palace. Too dangerous. I couldn’t be gone that long anyway. There is a nice garden on the roof, though. It’s about six acres, and very pretty. I’ll have to send you some VR of it.”

  “That would be nice. Maybe we could sit up there some time. You know, in the VR.”

  “Sure. We can even go for a walk in it. I’ll set it up.”

  “That sounds really nice.”

  “All right, Mom. I have to go now. Things are very busy here at the moment, as you might guess.”

  “All right, dear. You take care now. And be careful. I didn’t like that ‘too dangerous’ part.”

  “I will, Mom. Talk to you later.”

  They had dinner in the Empress’s private dining room on the top floor of the palace. Where the Empress’s private apartment was at one end of the hall, and the guest apartments were either next to the Empress’s apartment or at the other end of the hall, the dining room and the connecting large living room were part of a group of common rooms in the center near the elevators.

  The glass wall opposite the door from the hallway was open, with a view of Imperial Park and Imperial Center beyond. The room could accommodate a table for twenty, though it currently held a table for four, set with fine china and silver. A sideboard along the wall opposite the connecting portal into the living room allowed the servers to stage the meal and refresh servings and drinks on request. Two Guardsmen, as always, stood at ease in the corners to either side of the door from the hallway.

  The kitchen had been scrambling to accommodate the sudden change in their clientele. Servers from the staff cafeteria five floors below had been interviewed as to what they could remember of Dee’s tastes in food, based on her selections in the past. Staff also reviewed what the foursome had ordered up to their rooms when Bobby and Sean were recovering from their injuries on Wollaston. Unsurprisingly, then, dinner was one of their favorites – seared salmon, with peas and chanterelle mushrooms in a creamy dill-chive sauce.

  After dinner, they went up to the roof gardens and walked the paths. It was warm, but not humid, and very pleasant in the gardens. At one point they came out on the swimming pool.

  “Shoot. I could use a swim, and I don’t have a suit up here,” Dee said.

  “Do without,” Cindy said.

  “I don’t want to shock the Guard.”

  Bobby snorted, and Sean said, “Not likely.”

  “Even so.”

  “Actually, there’s a small cabana and bathroom right behind that windscreen,” Bobby said. “Unless I’m mistaken, there will be suits in your sizes there.”

  “In our sizes? Already?” Dee asked.

  “Never underestimate Housekeeping.”

  “Come on, Dee. Let’s go,” Cindy said.

  The girls went around into the cabana and found beach towels and swimming suits, both one-piece and two-piece, laid out for them. There were also both briefs and trunks for the guys. Four signs above the table read, ‘Her Majesty,’ ‘Ms. Dunham,’ ‘Mr. Garrity,’ and ‘Mr. Dunham.’ There were also very large plush bath towels set out. The suits were even in colors selected to enhance their coloring, with Dee’s in a medium blue and Cindy’s in white.

  “Wow. I thought they were kidding,” Dee said as they changed, hanging their clothes on hooks on the wall.

  “Well, they’ve had twelve whole hours,” Cindy said.

  “And they hit the nail on the head with dinner, too. Amazing.”

  “This whole setup is so you can just do your job and not worry about literally anything else. There’s only one of you, and there’s only so many hours in a day.”

  “I suppose,” Dee said. “It’s still amazing.”

  They went back out to the pool and dove in from the edge. The guys were content to lounge in chaises and watch the girls swim laps.

  After twenty minutes, Dee and Cindy got out of the pool and sat in chairs by the guys. They dried their hair while they talked.

  “I called Mom this afternoon, Bobby. To tell her.”

  “What did she say about it?”

  “Well, she was speechless at first. Then she told me to be careful.”

  “Good advice.”
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  “And I asked if she and Dad wanted to come and visit, or even live here. She said Dad wouldn’t want to. You know how he hates crowds.”

  “Always has. Although that’s probably an excuse, too, at least a little bit. She doesn’t much like being away from home either.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. Don’t you remember her turning down invites to go to Grand Fork with the other wives? Girls day out, they called it. She always said there was too much to do at home. But I think she just doesn’t enjoy being in town.”

  “Huh. Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Dee said.

  She turned to Sean and Cindy.

  “Have you guys talked to your folks yet?”

  “No, not yet,” Sean said. “I figured I’d wait for you to call your Mom first, Dee. I’ll probably call her tomorrow. They’re what, about three hours ahead now?”

  “Yeah, something like that. I called after lunch and Dad wasn’t home yet. What about you, Cindy?”

  “I got a note from my Dad. Of course, the news ran through the bureaucracy like wildfire. He said to be careful.”

  “Still good advice,” Bobby said.

  Dee and Cindy changed out of the suits, dropping them in the bin provided in the cabana, and they all went downstairs.

  “See you guys tomorrow,” Dee said.

  Bobby and Cindy went into the family apartment. All their things had been moved in, and were in the approximate locations they had occupied in their apartment in the Residence Wing.

  “Dee. The Empress. This is going to take some getting used to,” Cindy said.

  “She’ll do a good job,” Bobby said. “She’s smart, and she likes people.”

  “Unlike you?”

  “People can be OK. Or not.”

  He shrugged.

  “The world would probably be better off without some of them.”

  “That’s what the Marines are for?” Cindy asked.

  “Maybe.”

  When Sean and Dee went into the first guest apartment next door, they also found all their things laid out as they had been downstairs. And two Guardsmen standing at ease in the corners of the living room, of course.