I was curious if it was because of the properties of foliage, or if it was just a side effect of Knomen’s atmosphere.
I turned and looked at Carl, he was studying me and I did my best to keep a bland face, but I knew I didn’t fool him. I wanted to get out and take a deep breath of the air, I wondered what scents this world would have. The world I should have been born on, and was glad I hadn’t been, no matter how damn nice it looked.
Carl nodded as if he’d found what he was looking for, and said, “Follow me.”
I followed him out of the shuttle and through a path that led to a garden. I couldn’t help but move my eyes from flower to flower as I took in the scents of this world. It was… stimulating. I felt wide awake as well, my boredom left behind in the shuttle. When we reached the other side of the garden, there was a very large sprawling building. It had the square footage of a mansion, but it was all one level, and seemed designed to blend into the nature around it.
I was also confused, I’d been thinking I was under arrest and about to be processed somewhere. Not delivered to some paradise.
That’s when my grandmother came out the door.
“Elira? I hadn’t expected to see you.”
She smiled, “Welcome Alicia, even under these circumstances. Welcome to my home.”
She looked tentative for a moment, so I stepped forward and gave her a warm hug. My mind was also racing, how did my grandmother rate a house in the middle of a forest paradise, when surely most Knomen citizens lived in mega-cities.
I whispered, “So how much trouble am I in?”
She released me and squeezed my shoulders, “Come in, I’ll show you to your room,” she turned to Carl, “I’ll make sure she arrives in time tomorrow Facilitator.”
Carl just nodded without comment and turned around to leave.
When we got inside Elira sighed and spoke in a matter of fact voice, “You’ll be fined, and probably disowned, if not banished for your actions.”
I shook my head, “I don’t understand.”
Elira stopped, “He didn’t tell you?”
I frowned, “Tell me what?”
Elira shook her head, “Let’s get some tea, I can show you your rooms later, at least you’ll get a day’s use out of them,” she ended angrily.
“Are you mad at me?”
She shook her head, “A little disappointed you stayed on Earth, but I understand loyalty and I will come visit every once in a while, no matter what he decides. They did a good job with you, your human parents I mean. Problem is, that’s ruffled some feathers.”
I nodded, I had so many questions, the most obvious one was just how important was my family? Apparently far more than I’d guessed, or had even considered a possibility. We stayed silent as we walked to the kitchen, and she made the tea herself and joined me at the table when she was done.
She sighed and took a sip, and I did as well. It was good, a little tangy but not too bitter.
She said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I was forbidden too when we met on Earth. Your cousin was embarrassed when you took control of the fleet, even though it was the fault of the remaining captains being too timid to take command. When he found out you’d snuck to Tressia while Carl was tied up in negotiations,” she giggled, “Which is pretty damned funny by the way, he went through the roof.”
I shook my head, “But why couldn’t Carl judge me, and who’s my cousin?”
Elira snickered, “Your cousin is the emperor dear, and Facilitators can’t judge the royal family, only the emperor can.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I was trying to process what I was just told. I wondered if I could just not tell Kristi, she’d probably start calling me princess… which would be annoying.
“Carl is a distant cousin as well. You’ll find our family is wary of sharing power. Most facilitators and even agents, like your parents, are part of the royal family. It doesn’t mean all that much for you though, I think there’s around a hundred and twenty-two people ahead of you in the succession, and that’s about to be a hundred and twenty-four as soon as your cousins Ciara and Olive give birth, any day now. My point is, when you chose Earth over Knomen, you were really turning your back on the ruling family, your family. Of course, your cousin wouldn’t let us tell you, he didn’t want you if you’d only pick us for the power it would give you in the empire.”
I snorted, “I wouldn’t have taken it anyway. I want a relationship with you, I want you to tell me about my parents sometime, but Earth is my home.”
She was silent for a moment, “Why the contempt in your chi when you said that?”
Chi? Another word for aura, or soul, interesting. I kind of liked it too as a description for what I did… soul reading.
I sighed, “You said it yourself, the Knomen empire is now wary of sharing power. I don’t think it started out that way, but it isn’t good in my opinion. The rules are less about protecting the empire and more about protecting power now. It doesn’t matter, it won’t change. I like you a lot, hell I might even like my cousin when I meet him, but the bureaucracy has gone too far.”
She looked at me for a moment, “Perhaps. But we’ve kept the peace for over a thousand years among fifty races, and protected the Earth and many other races against any who would want to plunder it before you entered the FTL era.”
I nodded, “Those are some very good things, I’m sure there is more too. But the good doesn’t excuse the bad, or vice versa. It’s human nature though, all of the races have that within them, do they not?”
She nodded thoughtfully, and I shut up about it before she drew the wrong… or should I say right conclusions.
“So what will happen to me?” I asked softly.
She shrugged, “I’m not sure, at the least you will be fined, and most likely for not returning you’ll be removed from the succession. He may go further though, and banish you as a traitor.”
I frowned, “Since I’m not here, or at least plan to be on Earth, what exactly would that do? I’m also not a traitor, I was born on Earth and grew up there, to be a traitor I would have to betray something I held an oath or loyalty to.”
She raised an eyebrow, “I don’t think you are dear, but I’m older, and not in charge of everything. I have some influence, but only as much as the emperor allows. Banishing you would mean you no longer have authority over the other races as a Knomen, and if Earth was called up again, the Admiral in charge wouldn’t have to treat with you, or give you a preferred place in the formation. The ruling would be sent out everywhere as well, so other planets would know you didn’t need to be bowed to or scraped over, or even simply get decent deals when trading.”
She looked at me in the eye, “In short, you’d just be another terran in space as far as authority, and would have to respond and obey the orders of all other Knomen Captains in space. You also don’t seem bothered by that at all. Why is that?”
I shrugged, “Mostly I’m not bothered. Losing any say during a mutual act of defense concerns me, but the rest of it? I’m used to not being bowed to.”
In a few months none of that would matter anyway, we’d either be free, at war, or back in the stone age. One of the three at any rate. I couldn’t tell her that though.
She nodded, “I like you Alicia, I hope he doesn’t go that far. Did you know the Tressians are facing a fine as well?”
I shook my head, “Why? Either I did wrong or they did in ignorance, how can it be both ways? This is what I meant about the bureaucracy.”
She sighed, “It’s automatic, when someone is charged with the crime it goes down the line where the technology passed. Your situation was, or is rather unique, so the laws don’t account for it. Perhaps they’ll be pardoned, I don’t know. You’ll find out tomorrow.”
The rest of the day we just talked. She showed me around the place, and my rooms turned out to be a suite of five rooms. It was an impressive place, but I hadn’t changed, so it was mostly just a nice place to visit. Living in a
place that big didn’t appeal. The one exception to that was the gardens, we spent quite a while out there while she told me about all the different plants.
At the end of the day I compiled what I’d learned and sent it to Kristi, General Denton, and the USFS board. I wondered for a moment if they would still all want me, if I lost the immunity to being in the first wave. I hoped not, I’d done a lot more than just that, and so far they’d approved of the job I was doing, and no one had questioned the promotion lists.
Still, it had only been two weeks, and I was a problem and quite possibly a liability now.
My probes were built, and were on their way, I should know more in four days when they started taking scans if there’d be any issues with the Seltan about it. Hopefully it wouldn’t trigger anything, I was taking them in closer to the black hole from above, in an area that wouldn’t support life bearing planets.
Kristi responded almost right away to my report, with the expected princess joke. I hoped she’d get tired of that fast, but I kind of doubted it, my best friend was evil that way. The General told me not to worry about it, even if we were on the front line again before we were ready to break, we’d chew up and spit out whatever the Seltans sent at us. The board took a little longer to respond, but they showed support and told me to hang in there and get back as soon as I could.
So far nothing had fallen apart back home in my absence. I was fairly confident in Sergei and Anthony, and they could still reach me if there were any issues they needed assistance with.
It was when I was falling asleep that I realized what the worry was that had been gnawing at me. I would still support Earth. I, along with the rest of Earth, would want to be free of the Knomen if everyone knew what I and the world leaders knew. It was a no brainer. But if the Knomen didn’t let us go gracefully, I could find myself leading a war against my own family. I hardly knew them except for Elira and Jorl, but that was enough, especially because I kind of liked them, so far anyway. The idea of doing that hurt, it would be like holding a gun pointed at my own grandmother.
No. It would be holding a gun pointed at my own grandmother, I corrected my thought.
Still, I had the idea I wouldn’t feel nearly as guilty when I met my cousin, I hoped so anyway…
Chapter 11
I woke the next morning very early as usual, and seemed to be the only one up, although I imagine a brigade could get lost in this house and I’d never find a sign of them. After I washed my USFS Admiral uniform and took a shower, I went to the kitchen, grabbed a sweet fruit that was almost like an Earth plum, and made an egg sandwich. I carried it outside to the garden along with a coffee, and watched the sunrise while I ate.
I felt both grateful and regretful.
I regretted I’d never know what it would be like to grow up with my natural family on this world, yet I was so grateful that I didn’t. I liked my grandmother, but she hadn’t really seen the point I’d tried to make yesterday. They didn’t have to struggle for anything, and they were entitled to a large extent. So much so that morality and integrity had taken a back seat to expedience and power.
So much so they couldn’t really even see it was wrong. I even wondered when they put those civilizations back to the stone age, after they simply expressed a preference to go their own way and not join the empire, if my family even believed the lie they told themselves, when they decided the race was too dangerous to allow in space.
Not that humanity couldn’t be just as bad, even worse in some cases, but I believed they tried to be more for the most part, I wasn’t even sure if the Knomen tried anymore.
My grandmother came out then, and called me in. I followed her to their garage, although it was more like a landing bay, and joined her on one of the small shuttles. I tried to relax, I was a bit nervous, but according to what I’d heard I didn’t have to fear my life, just possible banishment, and a big fine. The first I could live with, and the second I could afford.
She didn’t go that fast so I was able to enjoy the scenery as we chatted. I wasn’t all that surprised when I saw the rolling one story edifice we were going to. It made my grandmother’s place look like a shack, though it still did well at blending into the nature around it. It wasn’t one long block of a building however; it was more a great number of wings with covered walkways between them. I had to admit it looked really impressive.
“My cousin’s house?”
She looked at me with a wry smile, “Yes. Also the seat of government.”
I nodded and looked back outside as we landed. There were two men outside who looked like they had no sense of humor, apparently the concept of the secret service was universal. When I got up Elira gave me a firm hug.
“I’ll come visit when I get a chance, I’m not coming in. Good luck.”
I returned her hug and said goodbye, then followed the men in. I guess I was going straight home from here? We didn’t go very far before I was led into a room, my grandmother must have dropped me off at the closest door for my trial in this wandering monstrosity of a building. The room was medium sized, maybe fourteen by twelve, and held a couple of rows of chairs, that faced an elegantly inscribed wooden table with even more elaborate chairs behind it.
Carl was there, sitting in one of them, and he smiled at me woodenly, it didn’t reach his eyes and he felt annoyed at seeing me. I guess we’d just go on hating each other then, and I could live with that just fine. Still, I wondered why he bothered with a fiction that wouldn’t fool either of us, until I realized it was a show for the others in the room.
I took a seat close to Jarnud and Nora. Jarnud still looked like he closed his eyes before picking out an outfit, and his hair hadn’t improved much either. He gave me a friendly smile and a nod. Nora… smiled too, but felt really pissed off, I guess she thought this was my fault, and she’d be right. The last thing I ever thought was that they’d get caught in any backlash from my actions.
Another man came out, he was a bit older than Carl, but still young with darker hair. When he didn’t sit in the center seat, I let my attention wander again, he wasn’t my cousin, well at least not the emperor one, apparently I had bucket loads of cousins around here.
Carl cleared his throat, “We’ll deal with the Tressian aspect of this crime without the Emperor present. Nora, could you tell us what happened on that day?”
Nora went through the whole spiel. By the way she was talking, I could tell she’d already told it over and over already, it had the feel of something very well memorized. Carl nodded in all the right spots. Then it was Jarnud’s turn. He… well he made Carl cringe with his accent, and the way he talked all about how the young and beautiful Knomen woman came in to purchase stuff.
Nora actually looked terrified, and that scared me, because I really couldn’t see what the big deal was. The guy was a little folksy, and had found me attractive, so what? Did that really offend the fine sensibilities of my race? What a joke, a bad one I mean.
I still don’t think I was ever scanned, because I was currently recording and streaming everything I saw and heard back to Al’s mini-mainframe on Earth. I’d have Al forward it later.
Carl cleared his throat and held up his hand. He looked… snootily offended. Who’d have thought it, the grand menace in space is a snooty race who let political correctness go wild. It reminded me of the movie Demolition man with Snipes and… that other guy that’s famous. Stallone. With the machine on the wall that printed out tickets if someone cursed, violating some morality statute. I almost giggled at the image, but managed to suppress the urge.
They both looked at me anyway for a second, I forgot they’d feel my mirth, can’t hide anything on this damned planet.
Carl said sternly, “Although you were misled, you should have realized something was wrong and investigated when she didn’t even know about accepted currency, especially as she was accompanied by a group of humans who weren’t part of the Empire yet. You will both be fined ten pounds of gold, Tressia will get a thousand pound fin
e of gold, and you both will attend a class before you return to your jobs, Jarnud on comportment, and Nora on service. You may both go.”
I felt a surge of anger at that, and Carl looked at me warningly. I couldn’t believe they and the planet were getting fined. There was no way they’d ever question a Knomen, they were too afraid. Although they all liked me after I saved some Tressians after the battle, except maybe Nora that is. I felt Nora’s anger but she kept her head down and wouldn’t meet my gaze. Jarnud… checked me out when he passed, I almost laughed again. Maybe he does need a class.
Something told me it wouldn’t be that easy, especially for Nora, Tressia would be mad about it and would no doubt blame her. I remembered what an ass her boss was, Telmun the station manager. I waited in silence a little longer, and then another man came in. Carl and the other guy stood, so I followed suit, it wouldn’t hurt to be polite on the outside, even if the emperor could feel my… inner glare.
I pushed that down a bit, I could control my emotions, so it would be stupid at this point not to.
The emperor sat, and I sat when the others did.
He looked at me for a moment, “I’m inclined to fine you a hundred pounds of gold, and let it go. It was unfortunate when I heard, and this case is a little… sticky. At the time you were technically a dual citizen, and even Knomen royalty at that, though you didn’t know it. And from what I understand you didn’t even sell it to your… birth and chosen world, Earth, you simply gave the designs to everyone.”
He seemed almost amused.
I said neutrally, “I see…” and kind of trailed off not sure what to call him.
The emperor gave Carl a hard look and told me, “Sire, or your majesty, either one will do. I’m afraid I can’t offer you to call me by my given name in this… proceeding. It is Neman by the way cousin.”
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