by DP Scott
Chapter Six
The Veectoreze dignitary Pont was fuming and stood waiting at the elaborately carved doorway for the Erosian representative to finish his conversation with a Zorrti inhabitant. Tapping his foot impatiently, he listened as the Erosian Soty complemented himself on his thoughtful and unusual gift to the Queen.
“The fool--a Farilight--of all things to give the new Queen! Why are we involved with Eros, a planet of imbeciles, always doing without thinking!” he said to himself. “We must look at getting new partners, this is ridiculous!”
Tired of waiting, Pont called out politely, “Soty, could we speak? I’d like to talk with you before my next meeting.”
As the Erosian excused himself and came towards him, Pont continued, “An interesting gift for our new Queen.”
“Yes, yes, it was just by luck that I happened to come across the Farilight and the Queen seemed so pleased to have...” began Soty, with a grin.
Interrupting him by grabbing his collar, Pont pulled Soty roughly into the hallway and out of the hearing of the few remaining inhabitants in the dining hall. “You fool, I don’t know where you got the Farilight, but we have an agreement with your planet, and you embarrassed Veectors! Did you even think Farilights are known as interpreters, that they speak many languages? Tell me you didn’t discuss anything confidential in front of the Farilight!” demanded Pont, obviously annoyed.
Soty’s eyes were wide with fear. He had never seen Pont so angry before. “Relax, my friend, the Farilight doesn’t speak, it’s inferior, damaged, just an interesting tidbit.”
“And how can you be so sure about this? You’d better be right! The problem is not just that the pixie could alert the wrong party about our plan, but giving a gift to the new Queen was not part of the PLAN! Do you understand Soty? We must follow the plan exactly or we’ll get nowhere.”
Soty remained silent for a few moments as though he was pondering Pont’s criticism of him, but he was really thinking that the Veectoreze were very rude and pompous inhabitants. What gave the Veectoreze the right to be in charge of the “plan” as Pont had called it? Eros was just as important as Veectors, maybe even more important. Besides, he had his own plan, a plan to marry his only son to Saturna.
“Well speaking about the plan, there’s something I don’t understand?” Soty replied cautiously.
“And what is that?” asked Pont, already exasperated with him and his ignorance.
“I was looking over the agreement before we came to the celebrations and I don’t think Eros is getting a fair share. It reminds me of the Great War and of how we came to your assistance, but didn’t receive anything in return for all your promises,” said Soty glad to have the opportunity to raise this point of contention.
“Do I have to remind you that we lost the Great War? The sanctions Veectors subsequently incurred were much harsher than the ones your planet received. The most embarrassing is being prohibited from submitting an invitation of marriage to Queen Saturna. And Veectors is known for the most handsome bachelors, such a shame!” Pont took a deep breath before he got back to the business discussion, thinking how stressful it was to deal with Erosians. He almost preferred Kievils--at least Kievils did as they were told.
Soty listened and looked to the floor, pretending to admire the intricately hand cut, colored marble, but secretly he was trying to cover his smile as he thought about what Pont was saying. Yes, it was lucky that the planet Veectors was out of the way in regards to Saturna. In comparison to the Veectoreze and Zardites, Erosians were not felt to be the most attractive race, which was an unfair assessment as far as Soty was concerned. His son, Poochy was handsome and now in a very good position to become the King of Zard by marrying Queen Saturna.
Pont continued talking, oblivious to the smug look on Soty’s face. “The planet Zard will be split in half. You have my word, as long as you make no further mistakes.” Turning quickly to end the disagreeable conversation, Pont left before Soty could reply. What Pont didn’t tell him, was that Veectors would take the best half of Zard, and the other half of the planet would be split between Eros and Jattee.
