by Sam Lippert
It was the last action he ever took, without even the opportunity to be thankful that the Ways of Verstaten did not make any allowances for the torture of an enemy.
CHAPTER XXIII
During the weeks encompassing the trip to Tzigane things aboard the Nola settled into what could only be referred to as a routine, or at least what would pass as a routine amongst the four individuals which comprised her crew. Winette spent her nights in Nathan’s cabin, and during the day all four crewmembers (both human and machine) interacted in a fashion that most would refer to as ‘familial,’ lending authenticity to the fact that the three females referred to each other as ‘sister.’ Of course, if they were sisters, it made Nathan’s relationship to them quite complicated, on paper at least.
The captain was definitely a ‘father’ to Nola, this type of relationship had been programmed into the AI when she was installed. New shipboard AI’s were always pre-programmed with certain relationship parameters to help them better mesh with the crew as their personality developed. Nathan had chosen to be viewed as a father figure so that Nola would bond closely with him without the problems of jealousy that could have arisen given the nature of his feelings for Remi. The relationship also helped him to maintain an air of authority where the computer was concerned.
The nature of his relationship with Winette meant, if one were to think about it, he was simultaneously Nola’s father and brother-in-law. Just forget trying to describe his relationship with Remi!
However indescribable, or unconventional, his relationship with his ‘crew’ was, he found it to be a blessing for him. For the first time in his life he was discovering the nuances of love, and it was exhilarating.
He was still deeply and passionately in love with the Princess, but he found that in much the way his developing ‘fatherly’ love for his AI did not take anything away from that, neither did his developing feelings for Winette. When he thought about it he was surprised, but living it day-to-day it seemed perfectly natural.
* * *
Three weeks after leaving the G’dowen, Nola dropped out of FTL unexpectedly. Unexpectedly for her and her sisters, that is, but not for Nathan. The captain had kept their destination secret, both because of its almost mythological nature, and the impact seeing Tzigane for the first time had on those who were not expecting it. He had been helped along in his secrecy by the G’dowen, as they had redirected the Nola on a course for Tzigane based on their knowledge of Nathan’s timeline. This kept even Nola from knowing where she was headed.
Nathan was in the middle of a solid workout in the ship’s gym when the AI made the announcement on the ship’s speakers.
“Hey, guys! You might want to come up to the control cabin. I have never seen anything like this before! Of course, that would not be unexpected since I am not even two months old, but I am betting none of you have either!” Nathan stopped his squats and looked at the nearest monitor, catching a glimpse of the wide-eyed avatar. He smiled. “I bet there are thousands of them!”
Nathan dropped his weights and headed for the control room, not because the view was going to be anything new to him, but because he wanted to be there for the reactions of his human crewmates. He arrived and was seated in his pilot’s seat seconds before Remi and Winette appeared.
“Oh, my!” The Princess exclaimed. “That is amazing! What is it?”
Outside the forward viewports of the Nola were not only thousands, but tens of thousands of spacecraft. Individually, the gravitic distortion of the spacecraft would have pulled the Nola out of FTL at a distance of a few hundred meters, but together the craft created the gravity well equivalent of a moon or a small planet, meaning they had been pulled out of FTL while still thousands of kilometers away from the edge of the fleet.
“That, ladies, is Tzigane.”
* * *
The development of FTL travel literally saved humanity from itself, and even so, it was almost too late. The biosphere of Old Earth had been nearly destroyed by centuries of misuse and mismanagement, leading to a shortage of resources. Once again humanity had returned to ‘tribalism,’ with ethnically, religiously and culturally similar groups banding together to share and protect those scarce resources. This had not only touched off the religious wars, but led to the persecution of groups that had historically lived on the edges of society. One of these groups were the Romani.
The Romani, more colloquially known as Gypsies, had been a nomadic people for centuries. They had historically travelled in small bands throughout Europe and Asia, and because they swore no allegiance to any king or country they were generally distrusted by all. Throughout history tales had been spun which reduced the Romani to brigands and thieves. Whenever there was trouble in a village, town or even a city, the Romani were blamed, leading to their persecution, usually random, but sometimes very systematic.
Unlike most of the other nomadic and displaced people in history, the Romani never pushed for a state of their own with physical boundaries, instead in the late Twentieth Century they declared the ‘Romani State’ to be the whole of the Romani people, wherever they might reside. That state eventually swelled to include nearly fifteen million people.
The chaos that blanketed Old Earth prior to the diaspora made possible by FTL travel hit the Romani particularly hard. Starvation and persecution took a heavy toll on the Romani State, and many of those who did not perish went into hiding and gave up their heritage, so as not to be exterminated. The discovery of FTL found the Romani population to be roughly one percent of their Twenty-First Century high.
Even before FTL opened the galaxy to human colonization, the competition for resources on Old Earth had pushed small groups into the far reaches of the solar system to scout and mine for those things that were in high demand on Earth. The Romani, with their nomadic history, and in an effort to escape extermination back home, made up the majority of the people engaged in this high-risk endeavor. By the time of the Diaspora virtually all living Romani were already in space, on ships crewed almost entirely by Romani.
Two years after Freewater Calahan set forth the principles of FTL travel, every one of those ships vanished.
* * *
“The proper response to a statement of that nature is: ‘But, that’s impossible.’” Nathan chided his crew.
“Captain,” Remini said with no small amount of sarcastic deference, “You have shown me so many impossible things in the past few months that I no longer believe in using that word. With my own eyes I see the largest collection of starships ever to be found in one spot. Since the myths state that Tzigane, the home of the fabled Romani, Gypsy people dating back to the early history of Old Earth, is made up of ‘the largest collection of starships known to man.’ I have no choice but to accept your statement.”
Nathan looked to Winette with exasperation. “Sorry, Nathan, but I must agree with my sister on this one. However, I do want to know what we are doing here.”
“We have a hold full of cargo to sell, obviously.”
“But why here?” Remi asked. “The items we have would fetch a fortune just about anywhere in known space.”
“Even before leaving Earth, the Romani were known for their mystical abilities, and being able to use things like crystal, tea leaves and cards to forecast a person’s future. Their disappearance at the very outset of the Diaspora, and subsequent appearances of individual ships, at various spaceports since then has only served to increase their image as prognosticators. An image they work hard to cultivate.” He took a breath.
“To sell these items, especially in bulk,” Nathan continued, “anywhere else in human occupied space, would require an extensive explanation of their origins if they were to be taken seriously. The Romani, however, see Free Traders, such as ourselves, as kindred spirits, and do to a long association with the Sons of Nikolai in particular (Many of the Sons have either been Romani or married Romani), they have purchased cargo similar to what we currently possess many times over the years. They then sell small n
umbers of the items when they visit various planets, enhancing their reputation as sooth-sayers.”
“Free Trader Nola, please come in.” The ship’s n-wave crackled to life. “We recognize your beacon approaching Tzigane, heading forty-two point seven by twenty-two point four.” Nathan flipped the switch to make the n-wave connection.
“Nathan, it is so good to see you! It’s been far too long!” The image that resolved itself on the view screen was that of a lovely dark skinned woman in her mid-thirties. Although her coloration was similar to Remini’s, it was obvious that her genetic heritage originated in central Asia on old earth, not Africa. Her raven hair was long and straight, terminating somewhere below the bottom of the image on the screen. Her brown eyes were brimming with excitement at seeing Nathan again.
Before Daniels could return the greeting, Winette muted the microphone.
“Seriously, Nathan?” She asked.
“Get used to it sis.” Remi responded before the captain was able to stop stammering. “I’m pretty sure he’s slept with half the galaxy!”
* * *
Kezia Bihari, the beautiful Romani from the view screen, was enjoying a pint with the crew of the Nola in the galley of that same ship. Transactions had been completed and Nola resupplied just short of four hours from her arrival, however to comply with the terms of Nathan’s contract with the Empress of Kalifet, he, his ship, and his crew were going to be a part of the fleet a minimum of three days. When Kezia had learned that, she was ecstatic!
She had been quite surprised to learn that Nathan had acquired a crew! She and the Captain went back a long way, they had met shortly after Nathan had signed on as Nikolai’s newest apprentice, when they had visited Tzigane. Nikolai and her father, then Kralis of the Romani, had been close, so naturally, with her and Nathan being near in age, a friendship had developed between them. Knowing what a loner Nathan had always been, she now wanted to learn more about these women he had allowed into his life.
When her father had died, her older brother became Kralis, and she Shora of Trade, which meant she got to see Nathan every time he paid a visit. It was always fun to catch up with him, and he usually had interesting stories of his travels, which were quite different than her own. Her position as Shora also gave her an excuse to spend time with the crew of the Nola, one that she was not ashamed to use.
Contrary to the obvious belief of Remi and Winette, she and Nathan had never really been physically intimate, except for that one time when they were both young and ‘experimenting,’ but that hardly counted. Even though most of the mahrime laws had been stricken from the Romani Code before the founding of Tzigane, it still was looked down upon for a woman to be too obvious when it came to relations with members of the opposite sex, especially when that woman was the daughter of the Kralis. Nathan’s two companions did needle him about her, as well as his other romantic ‘conquests,’ but she could tell it was not from a place of jealousy, although it was obvious they both cared for him and he for them. After the better part of two days together, she was as comfortable with them as she was with her own bhen.
“I was really impressed by your mining operations.” Remi said to her. “I would have never thought of a nomadic people engaging in something like mining.”
“We aren’t, in the traditional sense.” Kezia explained. “We were among the first selected as asteroid and comet miners before the Diaspora. That kind of life required people who were comfortable always being on the move, to go from one ore deposit to another. The ships we originally outfitted with FTL drives were primarily mining ships, and as humanity continues to grow there is always a need for the minerals we can harvest. Ore trade is our primary source of income.”
“I can believe it! But, wouldn’t you be able to trade more, and in larger amounts if you weren’t so secretive?” Winette asked. “Why all the ‘cloak and dagger’ stuff when it comes to your existence?”
“My people have been shunned and persecuted throughout history,” Kezia explained. “If something like disease or famine came to a region on the heels of our arrival, we were blamed. Because our culture was different from those of the people among whom we traveled, we were never truly accepted. Many times throughout our history we suffered genocide, often to near extinction. Now, with the expanse of the galaxy open to us, we can finally be at peace, but to do so, we must keep our existence the stuff of legend. Although, with the Romani, friendship and hospitality are high priorities, it is hard to trust when you have been mistreated for so long.”
“But you said you have over fifty thousand ships in your fleet! How can you continue to keep that a secret?” Remi asked.
“We stick to uninhabited solar systems that are far from usual traffic lanes. We FTL in, spend a few months or years mining the asteroids and planetoids, then we move on. Free Traders, such as Nathan, are the only people who know where to find us and they know that if our existence were to become public knowledge, we would disappear even from them, and the lucrative trade opportunities we provide would disappear as well.” She took a sip of her ale. Nathan always had the best beers and ales aboard his ship.
“I want to hear another young Nathan story!” Nola spoke up from her avatar’s spot on the nearest viewscreen. That last one about his first spacewalk was a hoot!”
“Nothing makes a man feel more loved then when the women in his life take such joy in sharing embarrassing stories about him.” Nathan said, sarcastically just before taking a long pull from his own stout.
“Well, I could tell you about his first FTL calculation…” Kezia eyed Nathan with her best faux sinister glance. Daniels just rolled his eyes and continued drinking.
The conversation continued well into the evening, but the group eventually called it a night. Their final day at Tzigane promised to be a busy one.
CHAPTER XXIV
Admiral Sokolov watched the most recent download from Jeremy James’ implant. He was not quite sure what to make of the situation the pompous Free Trader had gotten himself into. The admiral’s finger hovered over the button that would cause the explosive charge at the base of James’ skull to detonate.
Sokolov fought back the urge to punish James’ stupidity. The man had actually done a fairly good job of tracking Daniels and the Princess, so far. It was as if Jeremy James and Nathan Daniels thought exactly alike. Forcing Jeremy into working for him had been looking like one of the best decisions the Admiral had ever made, with James seeming to inch closer and closer to the crew of the Nola.
Then the fiasco of the last twenty-four hours. Jeremy had managed to wrangle the information he needed from that parasite Prescilla Anderson and was about to leave when he actually answered the damn intercom when it buzzed, letting thirteen damnable Verstaten priests onboard his ship. The priests had some sob story about being refugees, but they were able to pay James handsomely for passage to Verstat. Of course, the greedy worm had accepted the cash. The problem with Free Traders is they never passed up the opportunity to make a credit, and charging to ferry thirteen people to a destination that there was a fifty percent chance you were heading for anyway…
“Wait a second,” Sokolov said aloud, moving the finger that had been dangerously close to terminating the lives of Jeremy James, and thirteen Verstaten priests from the detonation button on his console to the controls for video playback. He rewound the video and paused it, framing the face of the priests’ leader on the screen. He could swear he recognized the man, but he was unable to pull up the memory on demand. He keyed in the facial recognition commands.
The computer instantly displayed a match: Omany, mentor and personal bodyguard to Princess Remini of Kalifet. Jeremy James was one lucky bastard! Whatever had transpired to separate the Princess and Omany, they would not stay apart for long. Having the priest aboard meant the Princess was likely to go looking for James.
And to think he had almost pressed the detonate button.
* * *
Devka Jardinay had enjoyed her journey aboard the commerc
ial cruise liner Dismay. Dismay, like most pleasure vessels of the time, was like a small travelling city. Due to the length of transit time between inhabited worlds, even with FTL, most commercial liners harkened back to the romantic period in Old Earth history when her great oceans had to be crossed by ship, with transit taking days, sometimes even a week or longer.
A modern space liner generally carried no fewer than four-thousand passengers, and would make a circuit of ten to twenty inhabited systems, stopping to embark and debark passengers at several ports in each system. A passenger could literally come aboard in one system and leave the ship a year later in the same system, and never have the need to leave the ship anywhere along the route, provided they had access to the funds to pay the fare.
There were four classes of passengers. First Class, Second Class, Third Class and Steerage. The first three classes were only differentiated by accommodations and dining options, and even shared common public spaces in the ‘top’ three-quarters of the ship. (The higher numbered decks being referred to as the ‘top’ of the ship, a holdover from the days of water born ships, when the higher numbered decks were farthest from the water.)
Steerage class passengers were confined to the bottom quarter of the ship and were packed in like proverbial sardines. This class consisted of mostly migrant workers and emigrants between worlds who found it impossible to assemble the tens of thousands of credits needed to book more comfortable passage.
Devka had booked Third Class passage, which entitled her to a small, private cabin on deck six, just outside of Steerage. Her cabin contained a twin bed and a bureau for her clothing. Third Class passengers were required to use one of the common bathrooms on the deck, but at least she got privacy when she slept.
