by Jim Rudnick
He grinned at her, took her arm, and led her away from the ship.
“Maddie, Maddie. Always worrying about others. Let me tell you that the life of a Royal is not at all what it’s cracked up to be … but I would admit that I no longer have to wait in line for anything anymore.”
She nodded and as they walked inward, she was careful to keep a bit removed from him and his hugging arm.
He realized that after a few steps and let go of her, and they both headed toward the landing port doors ahead of them. Moving along, they made their way to the moving walkway and stepped on it to travel to the center axis of the ship.
“Maddie, what is new here?” he inquired politely.
She cocked her head and looked at him. “Do you mean medicine-wise or … people-wise … or patient-wise, My Lord?”
He grinned at her. “Please, drop the My Lord title—to you I’m always just going to be Tanner, okay?”
“Not okay, My Lord. A part of being a Royal is the understanding that you’re different than us commoners, so I just can’t do that—My Lord,” she said as she shook her head at him.
He sighed. What she said was most likely true, and that was a sad fact he’d have to go along with.
“Patient-wise—and I’m concerned, of course, about one special patient,” he said as the walkway slowly moved up to the central axis with its escalators going up and down. From here, one could go anywhere on the ship—well, except for the secure labs areas, but still it gave access to almost everywhere else.
Maddie nodded as she stepped on the up escalator on their way to see Doctor Etter. “She checked into room E-217—your old room—as per instructions. She has Doctor Etter as her personal psychiatrist and attends group sessions under Doctor Lathan Trystan—again, same as you. She has been with us now for about ninety days or so, and all I can tell you is what I’ve seen to be true. She’s a nice young woman. Of course, she’s a murderer, and one can never forget that either, but she is fitting in nicely. I hear good things from Doctor Trystan too, about her group work—make sure you ask about that too, Tann—My Lord,” she said. She’d almost slipped but had caught herself.
Tanner nodded at the information she’d just given him. Fitting in. Nice was a word that had been used by Maddie—someone he trusted implicitly. Of course, she’d also said murderer too, and that too was true.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t do anything except look up ahead as the escalator reached the first floor above the Hospital Ship lobby level. He and Maddie turned to go to D-198, Doctor Etter’s offices. As they walked, he noted the absolute cleanliness of the ship’s corridors, doors, and rooms that he could peer into as they walked along. Out in the hallway, there were often some stored items like a crash cart or a gurney, and he could see not a speck of dirt or dust or anything at all. Clean. Neat. And ready for use, he thought as Maddie opened up the outer door and they went inside Doctor Etter’s offices.
The receptionist, a new one, he noted, smiled at them and waved them in as the inner door opened up, and Doctor Trystan greeted them first. Tanner knew the doctor had been a great help to him when he was here, and while he’d learned a bit from Maddie, he still took the doctor’s hand and pumped it vigorously. He did the same as Doctor Etter rose from behind his desk and came around to greet Tanner.
Hell with it, Tanner thought, and he hugged the psychiatrist and got a solid hug back. He grinned at him and said, “Sam, so nice to see you once again,” and he meant it too.
Sam grinned back at him and motioned for him to take a seat. They settled in, with Maddie on his left and Doctor Trystan to his right. On the other side of the desk, Doctor Etter got himself comfortable and opened up both his hands, palms up as he spoke.
“My Lord—so good to see you up and around. I followed your rest and recuperation quite closely—the Lady St. August was kind enough to keep me informed, and I concurred with every single bit of care that you received. You look hale and hearty, My Lord,” he said. “More than a few months have passed since the wedding and the murders, and that you are here and alive is the best news of all,” he added.
Everyone nodded and turned to look at Tanner.
“I thank you all—and Doctor Etter—for my life too, really … you were right there on the spot seconds after the shots, and if it had not been for you and your medical care immediately, I too might not be present, like my friends the Duke d’Avigdor and the Master Adept,” he said. His voice was solemn; it was a simple fact that Doctor Etter had saved his life.
“My Lord—there was a full complement of trained medical personnel only a few feet away, and the robo-doc was wheeled up to you in less than five minutes. I did what any doctor would have done is all—they took it from there,” he said.
Tanner smiled. “Yes, but those first few minutes were critical, Doctor—for that, I thank you,” he said, and the man across the desk from him bowed his head.
Tanner sat back and took a second to look around. The office was exactly as he remembered it. Bland. No style or substance, but beige walls. He grinned to himself. The person facing the psychiatrist should be the focus of the room, rather than artwork on the walls or tchotchkes on the bookcase, was the real rationale for the bland room. He wondered if the good doctor still kept his own weapon up on the top shelf in that wooden box, but that query would need to wait.
He moved on to the reason he’d made the trip to the Hospital Ship.
“Doctors,” he said to the two of them in the room, “I came as it’s just about ninety days that Gia Scott has been a patient here—and I’d like an update on what you have found out so far.
“As I understand our Barony privacy laws, such information would be hidden to one and all—but I ask as a Royal, which I’m told forgoes any such restrictions. Plus, as you both know, she is my sister—so I’m officially next of kin for sure.”
He’d paid attention to his wife when he’d asked for that breakdown of what he could and couldn’t ask for—and the fact that he was Lord Scott outweighed any issues at all.
Doctor Trystan cleared his throat to speak. “Lord Scott—damn, it feels funny saying that, but I must. Gia is within our group session roster and is doing surprisingly well—at least that’s my unofficial diagnosis. She both listens and speaks her mind; she is a strong woman. She gives out praise and often commiserates with others too—she is a compassionate patient with others. She has offered up some looks ‘inside’ her own way of thinking that, at least to start with, show me that there are a few things in her life that for her—they’re carved in stone.
“One of those, sorry to say, is her hatred for you. I have not explored that to any degree, but instead, as is the rule with group sessions, I’ve let her bring it out herself. So far, she has been mostly guarded about the reason for the hatred and her sister’s death—but she is quite open about how much she despises you—backed up, she has let slip a few times, by what her mother—your mother—told her.”
Lathan’s voice was serious, and yet to Tanner, he heard a tone that sounded cautiously optimistic. It was a bit of information that he could dwell on later.
Doctor Etter chimed in then too. “And I concur on all of that. We’ve had many discussions about Gia, and as you’ve undoubtedly guessed, we think there may be a way to help her. As Doctor Trystan said, the ingrained instinctual hatred of you comes from your mother—at least so far, that is our diagnosis.
“In our individual sessions, she has proclaimed that she loved her sister, that she was torn from her life by you—and that you did that all because you were trying to ‘earn your wings,’ as she put it, with your planetary space program.
“At this point, My Lord, she has not yet identified her mother as the culprit—but that, I think, is coming. Once we can get her to see that her mother was, and is, the cause of her hatred for you, perhaps then we can begin to make some inroads on how she can give up that thinking.”
“And I’d also like to thank you for that in-depth report that you sent us about the
death of your sister. It will help us both in the future to combat those ‘carved in stone’ opinions about her avenging her sister, Nora, by killing the man that had killed her, Tanner Scott. The fact that he was her brother meant nothing to her,” Doctor Etter said, looking pointedly at Tanner.
Tanner took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.
Doctor Etter continued. “The fact that the Branton courts had found him guiltless in Nora’s death meant nothing. The fact that her mother had known that Tanner had sacrificed Nora meant everything …”
The room was silent, and Tanner nodded.
As he had suspected, she held a hate for him that was deep-set and rooted into her psyche by his mother. He felt little for the woman who had given birth to him—at least after the death of Nora. And the fact she had passed along her hatred of him to his only remaining sister meant much more.
If he would ever have a chance to converse with Gia, she would need to be more receptive than the current state of her mind with regards to him.
He nodded once more. “Doctor Etter and Doctor Trystan—can I ask this? About how long should I wait before coming back for more news—failing a breakthrough of some type, I mean?” he asked.
Doctor Etter smiled at him and pushed his hand across his desk. “My Lord, at least, say, another three months or so? If there are any unexpected changes in the patient, we will immediately get in touch—after all, as you’ve said, you are the next of kin.
”We can reconvene in ninety days and talk more. Not promising that there will be anything more to discuss, but she is making some progress, My Lord,” he said as he slowly rose behind his desk.
Minutes later, on the down escalator, Maddie, who was accompanying him back to the Sword, interrupted his silence.
“My Lord, I’m sure that there will be some progress made. She already is looking around and thinking that this could be her home forevermore—and I’m just as sure she knows that she will need to make some changes to her psyche to be able to move on … least as far as I can figure it,” she said.
He nodded to her and moments later, the Sword slipped out of the Hospital Ship on its way back to the Neres City naval base and home.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Court at the Teuku palace was as it might be expected—pompous yet, for some reason, a tad less so than what one might imagine. The big, sandstone building had ceilings that were exceptionally high and wide, wide corridors and rooms, but it somehow seemed warm to the Entiran as he walked down the third floor hallway to the major intersection ahead.
There, he turned to his left and nodded at the aides who had awaited his presence and now trooped ahead of him toward the presentation room. As he walked slowly and the aides matched his own slower speed, he saw old paintings on the wall that showed women, and he grinned.
Women, even in paintings, should be banned as well, he thought, and he decided this was something for the new Tillion Narrisol—him—to accomplish!
He entered the room from a side door, as he always did, took the four steps up to the dais at the end of the room, quickly sat in the Entiran throne, and got comfortable—or at least he tried. The large ornate chair was hundreds of years old, but the designer had not taken into account that as time went on, an Entiran would become more of an administrator and less of a noble chieftain.
The chair was too narrow for him, and he thought about telling an aide to widen it—but then again, there was a traditional sense of not altering what came before you when you were born into the nobility of his tribe. Instead, one was taught to conform to the previous historical profiles of those who had sat in this throne before him.
The tribe’s colors of red and white were a major feature in his courtly attire today. Today’s was his second favorite, and when he’d dressed for the court session earlier, he took notice of how nicely the wide red brim jutted out from his scalp. His boots were bright white Jael leather with red buckles and ties up the outsides. He loved his boots even though they didn’t look like the boots of a nation’s leader.
He nodded to an aide to his left and leaned back, his hips constrained by the hard wooden frame of the seat; there was little space for comfort in the wooden seat. He wondered if the seat was intentionally made narrow to ensure each Entiran made a quick decision and moved on—and quickly up and out of the throne as the citizen presentations were done.
He watched the double doors open and a small group of his ministers walked toward him. Four. There were four of them, yet there was really only one of them—the Minister of Trade—and he was an ally for the tribe, the Entiran thought as he let a very tiny smile appear on his face, and he nodded to the man.
His group was well dressed, of course, as was the tradition when one went to court to see their leader. He had to admit that he rather liked the green shade of sable that was on one of their hats. Must find out that color, he thought, and see what I can do to acquire something in that shade too.
“Entiran, we greet you and wish to say our thanks for the time you give us today,” the minister up front said quietly and calmly.
He nodded and waved at the man, ensuring his middle eyebrow stayed in line with the other two. No sense in telegraphing any kind of interest yet, he thought.
The minister went on. “We were under instructions to begin to use our own ministry to see what we might be able to accomplish with the uni-gender issue that all of Tillion faces. We listened to your instructions carefully, and yes, you were, of course, as correct as all the Entirans before you were as well.
“We have no women of our species. We use our technology to supplement our numbers, and that is something that all of Tillion has been—at the least—hiding from the RIM Confederacy.
“We, unlike the rest of the planet, want to bring this information out—not by a blast that ripples throughout the Confederacy, but more like a grassroots citizens cause,as you called it, Entiran,” he said. He held out his hand, and from behind him, one of his aides handed him a folder of documents. He took a half step ahead and was met by one of the court aides, who took the folder and carried it up to the throne.
Taking for a minute or two to read over same, the Entiran smiled, his third eyebrow arching up in a smooth arc, and he closed the folder and passed it back to his aide, who returned it to the minister. “I see, minister, that you’ve been able to use your own ministry to um … gently, let us say, get some kind of a student gathering conference together at the university, just a week ago. I also see that the speakers were, let us say, very vocal about the uni-gender issue and how it was time to open up to the Confederacy about same.
“I also see that the university campus police were not so understanding and that there were some minor altercations as they attempted to close down the conference. The Press reported on same, but as I remember, only barely and not fully either. That meant that there were, and are now, some students who feel that their opinions are being censored,” he said.
The Entiran stopped speaking and looked at the group before him. Taking a breath, he continued, “While we all know that students can’t get much done—we need, I believe, to somehow nurture follow-ups to this conference. Perhaps you might get the faculty involved—have them try to squelch any more of same, to egg the students on to increase their voices and their newly found pressure on the university. I must congratulate you as to how you have launched this so quickly; the students believe they are simply voicing what is real to them, but the import is to get this blown up and big even more quickly, Minister. How will you achieve that?” he asked.
The minister’s eyebrows, all three of them, reached up well toward the brim of his own hat as he smiled fully to his Entiran. “We think that, yes, we will instill in our student agitators that they invade the next university faculty board meeting and take it over—a sort of sit-in to force the uni-gender issue to the board. This will undoubtedly be forcefully resisted by the campus police, and we will ensure that some students pay a big price, violence-wise to blow this up. That
should—as we intend to get some of our press contacts into that meeting as well—get the uni-gender issue up and on the planetary news feeds,” he said.
The Entiran nodded. National press news would mean a messy scandal of massive proportions. Such a mess would not be swept under the rug by the Narrisol and his cabinet but instead challenge them at their most vulnerable level.
“And the new birthing lab video captures?” he asked.
One of the group in front of him nodded, and more discussion ensued about how that was to be played by the students who would receive it as a “brown envelope” donation from someone in the birthing labs who had a mission to publicize same. It was believed someone in the labs was on their side.
It had taken almost two months, but a new hire at those labs was a citizen from the Duchy d’Avigdor. He was a scientist who had already been somewhat tarnished for his left-wing leanings on Dover, a planet with major pharmaceutical industry, and he’d needed a new job. The Entiran smiled at what had come to them so quickly, and that third eyebrow settled slowly.
All things were coming together, except for this damned narrow seat, the Entiran thought as he squirmed to his left a bit more.
“Let some of your contacts in the press in on that brown-bag whistle-blower—not the contents at this point, I’d think, but that there is growing support for the uni-gender publicizing of same …” he said and smiled.
It had proven true that the Caliph would provide the impetus.
But the next Narrisol of Tillion at in this uncomfortable throne—a sign he hoped was not foretelling his future.
#####
Not being assigned to a current ship has its bonuses, Bram thought as he walked down the landing ramp of the BN Coventry. The frigate had just landed at Odonje, the planetary capital on Throth. The ship had arrived from Turljis, and Bram was hoping this trip to Throth would be productive. It’d been weeks since he’d been asked by the Master Adept to find more Praix planets here in the RIM Confederacy, and as yet, he was unsuccessful.
