by L D Strawser
Shar’el and Rhan’vi appeared to be considering what Tash’na had said and then Tash’na thought of a reason that even I could not argue with, as much as I might want to.
“Besides as you said, she has met with Pan’Ar already, what if they have been together? What if she is already with child? Are you willing to kill mother and child? I realize that it is unlikely they have been together but she is an alien and not necessarily going to follow the ways of our culture or even know about them for that matter. We cannot take the chance of killing her when she could already be carrying his child.”
“Fine, then we should at least capture her and question her then we can decide what to do once we have some answers and she has been seen by our Seer. If it is safe to let her go then we will release her, if not then we will have to decide what we should do.”
Tash’na did not look like she liked the overall plan but seemed to be willing to go along as long as the alien was not arbitrarily killed right away. Rhan’vi was agreeable and looked as if she would kill the alien herself if it was necessary. Shar’el seemed to agree but she also had something else going on in that beautiful head of hers.
“Are you sure we should let her live if she is pregnant?” Shar’el apparently had no problem killing the woman and any child of Pan’Ar’s she might be carrying. A look of shock crossed most of the faces in the room. I was not one of them. I understood why Shar’el would want woman and child dead. It was a matter of competition to her, a matter of pride and her record only had one mar upon it—her inability to conceive a child with Pan’Ar.
“I cannot believe you would actually kill a child and not just any child but a child of one of your husbands. He may not be a love husband to you or to any of us but he is still a husband. How can any of you even think of betraying him in that way?” It was time to stop this before Tash’na could talk all of them out of the entire plan.
“Tash’na, I give you my word that if she is pregnant no one will kill her or her child.”
“Words you have given and I have accepted as truth sister. Do you have a plan for contacting this alien woman?”
“Yes, as it turns out, Tren’Ar has been keeping me closely informed of what Pan’Ar has been doing. I will have him take us to the planet and we will bring her here to this room and talk with her. While she is here we will have the Doctor test her, if she is pregnant then all we will do is talk, if not, then we will have decisions to make at that time. Are we agreed?”
“I want to know as soon as she is on board, I would like to meet this alien that has so obsessed the mind of Pan’Ar.” And with that Rhan’vi left the room with Vash’ir and Lark’ty.
“I too want to know when the alien woman is on board Kish’ra but I also want to be present during her entire stay sister.” Tash’na left the room in a sweep of air that held in it the tang of her disapproval. Tash’na would have to be watched, she was probably the most dangerous next to Rhan’vi and myself.
Shar’el waited for the others to leave before speaking, “I only want to know if this woman is pregnant by Pan’Ar, if she is then perhaps you and I should discuss it at that time.” Shar’el was only deadly when a situation affected her personally. Of course in this case she would be more deadly than Rhan’vi and I combined.
Present… Brenthin Stellar Class Ship Vora’Cort
The device used was something that was common on our planet and it had taken a bit of research to find the setting that would knock her out but not harm her or a child. The physiology of these humans, compared to our own, was very weak. By the time I had finished researching the subject Pan’Ar had returned to the fleet and announced his upcoming wedding to the woman. He then confided to Tash’na that they had been together and he was certain she was pregnant. I am hoping he is wrong so that we can kill her and be done with it but Tash’na carries too much power and going against her or my word was impossible now.
Personally I could not see what he was obsessing over. She was different to be sure, but hardly unique. She was frail, she had no remarkable features, her skin was pale beige in color, there were no ridges or spines on her ears and she appeared to be a malformed animal that had been born mangled and hideous to the eye. She was quite ugly in fact and repulsive. There was no understanding the male mind and what they found attractive. So now it was a matter of waiting for the Doctor and the Seer to show up and run their tests. In the meantime I would question her and perhaps try to make some sense out of Pan’Ar making a fool out of himself over her.
“You must be one of the wives Pan’Ar told me about.”
“I am pleased that you are not bothering with any pretense. Do you know why you are here?”
“I’m not trying to please you and no, I don’t know why I’m here but I’m sure you will tell me eventually. I’m curious though—did all of your people learn our languages before you arrived?”
“Learn your language? No as a matter of fact you are speaking ours.”
“I don’t speak your language.” She must have had knowledge insertion done at some point and did not understand how it worked. Pan’Ar would have provided her with language at the very least. Her accent was strange and she seemed to slur the words together at times but she was coherent and understandable.
“You have obviously had knowledge insertion done by the doctor. You have assimilated the information without realizing that you have done so. Most complex life forms know when they are acquiring knowledge; perhaps your race is not as advanced evolutionarily speaking as we thought.” The surprised look on her face was genuine. She honestly did not realize that she was speaking our language. Her facial expressions were many and varied—it made reading her not as easy as I would have liked. It made it harder to gage the emotional responses to my minor insults.
The others would arrive soon but perhaps I could gain information before they walked into the room. If Pan’Ar had told her about his other wives then perhaps she would be receptive to questions without any need of threats.
“You’re telling me that I’m speaking your language and I don’t even know that I’m doing it?”
“Yes. But it does not matter—we have more important things to discuss. For instance, Pan’Ar has announced his upcoming wedding to you. He has confided to us that he believes you are already carrying his child. Is that true?”
“He thinks I’m pregnant? That’s not possible…”
“Why is it not possible?” Finally I would get the answers I needed and if she was right and she was not pregnant we could dispose of her without further argument.
“Because after my third child I had to have an operation that…” she hesitated as if she were thinking of something else and then continued, “I can’t be pregnant, I’m too old to be pregnant.” She closed her eyes and her face looked strange for several seconds. The door to the room opened and the Doctor came in followed closely by the other wives I had contacted.
“You say you have had three children, were they all with the same man or did your children have different fathers?” She looked surprised by my question and even a little angry if I were reading her expressions correctly.
“Why would you think my children would have different fathers? They were all fathered by the same man, my former husband.” She said this in a tone of voice that made it clear that having children by more than one man was not acceptable normally. I had the pleasure of seeing the reactions to this statement on the faces of my sister wives. They were not pleased at this confirmation of my information. Now for the Doctor’s examination, if he confirmed that she was not pregnant it might be easier than I expected to simply shove her out of an airlock.
I had not counted on two things—the Doctor confirmed she was indeed pregnant and Pan’Ar storming into the room with all of our death’s in his eyes. Obviously he had seen something of the future and decided to cancel his trip that would have put him out of reach and out of the action necessary to save his alien love.
“Doctor, I hope your only part in this
was an examination of my new wife,” he stated flatly.
“Pan’Ar, we have a right to speak to any new addition to the family,” I said clearly.
“Kish’ra, you may have the right to speak to any new addition to the family but that is not all that you had planned. I decided to wait until all those who were to betray me had made an appearance before I intervened. Doctor, I am awaiting your answer and explanation.”
~I was asked to come here to examine a female for evidence of pregnancy. I was not told who that female was and did not know until I entered the room.~
“Kish’ra,” now Pan’Ar was obviously angrier than before, “my marriage to you and those present was open and honest. I stated in the contract that I would find a love wife among an alien species and have the only progeny I could have with that alien female based on the knowledge my gifts allow me. I did not hide this fact from any of you as potential wives.”
“Betray is a strong word Pan’Ar and as for being open and honest—I believe that considering the circumstances your omissions of certain facts made our actions necessary. You stand there with your self-righteous attitude and yet you did not bother to mention that this single woman would give you more than one child. Nor did you mention the fact that any of the women on this world could do the same for any Brenthin male who desired to have more than one child with a single female. You act as though the very destruction of our society is nothing to you.” As I made my accusations the fury was plain on his features. He may not have meant to destroy our society, our culture, the very fabric of our lives, but he would do exactly that and for nothing more than a love wife who could give him multiple children.
“Pan’Ar, did you know this as Kish’ra has suggested? Have you put our families, our lives, the lives of our children, and our very world at risk for the love of this alien female?” Tash’na was powerful politically and she had resources that I could only dream of and now she was angrier than I have ever seen her. If she were to talk to her father Pan’Ar would have more to worry about than several angry wives. As an Elder on the Council her father has power that exceeded the reach of the power Pan’Ar thought he wielded.
“The only affect that my union with Cassandra will have on our society is to bring our two worlds together politically, the same as some of my unions with some of you. Her culture and the cultures of her world do not influence or affect ours any more than any other union would have with an alien species.” Pan’Ar looked at all of us in turn as he spoke. He did not dare use his influence on us but the power of his stare was not just based on his ability to influence.
There was something about the way he said this that made me think he was lying in some way. He had never outright lied to us but he did not always tell us everything either. His power with the Council of Elders and the military prevented him from telling us certain things, we all understood this restriction but this was different. It was as if he had knowledge that he did not want us to know even though we should know of it and he knew he should tell us. Knowing how protective he could be of his secrets and people he cared about, it had to be some knowledge he had of his new love wife. If only I could get more time with her to pry out her secrets. Perhaps there was a way without alerting Pan’Ar.
“Pan’Ar, if you want her as a part of this family then allow us to perform the rites as they should be done.”
“You would do this? You Kish’ra would guarantee her safety? You would act as her Sister?” The incredulous look on Pan’Ar’s face made it clear that he did not expect this move on my part.
“I will take her as my Sister and school her in our rituals and the ceremonies to come. When it is time, I will act as her second in any challenge that may be leveled towards her. I will protect her life with my own according to our traditions.”
“Words you have given and I have accepted as truth Kish’ra.” Pan’Ar escorted his future bride from the room without another word. The other wives were now looking to me for an explanation.
“If she is to become one of us then she must be taught our ways, after she knows our rules she will be bound by them. If she betrays those rules then we will be free to exact punishment accordingly. Pan’Ar cannot argue with that and he will be unable to stop us without proving himself a liar.”
“Well played Kish’ra, even in apparently losing you won the battle. Be careful though, I have a feeling that Pan’Ar is hiding something of vital importance about her and I believe we should do everything in our power to find out exactly what that is, do you not agree?” Obviously Tash’na had made the same observation that I had and come to the same conclusion.
“Yes Tash’na, I will make certain that this new Sister of ours is not only worthy to be in our family but that she poses no threat to us or our way of life.” And when I know her secrets I will use them to expose her and make certain that she is publicly denounced by Pan’Ar himself.
This is the end of Catalyst Part I, Catalyst Part II will be published soon. If you have comments or suggestions check out the author’s website at bemopub.com or the author’s page on amazon.com/author/ldstrawser.
L.D. Strawser welcomes all comments and critiques. Thank you for reading.
