“The good news is that we didn’t actually commit ourselves when we picked the men for the celebration. The bad news is that we showed favor, and that’s the next thing to a commitment as far as they’re concerned. That’s the way they’re interpreting it, anyway.
“Something you apparently said has led them to believe the final approval will only come once they’ve proven their value by building a meznooku worthy of the one who ‘smiled’ upon them.
“Right now they’re working out their aggression in creativity, trying to outdo each other in producing the most magnificent meznooku of all. If we reject them, they will be shamed because they have been found unworthy and chances are good they’ll seek lscindee, their word for ritual suicide, because it’s the only accepted way to redeem their honor. If we accept one brood and reject the others, and the rejected decide to challenge that decision instead of seeking lscindee, which they might since they’ve become somewhat ‘uncivilized’ since they came here and are reverting to the ‘old ways’, the chosen will try their best to kill the unwanted to prevent them from trying to steal their queen.”
Eden stared at Liz in horror for several moments and finally leaned back in her lounge, massaging her temples. “Oh god! That was stupid! Criminally stupid. I should have taped my mouth shut instead of trying to negotiate peace with them!”
Liz drained her own drink, but unlike Eden, she saw no reason to stop there. Rising, she helped herself to another glass. “I’m not going to tell you I wasn’t furious when I found out, even though I knew all along that you’d done your best to try to keep peace. But after I cooled down a little I realized that you were no more to blame than the rest of us. We all agreed to the celebration as a way of gaining a better understanding of the people we were dealing with.
“I felt like kicking my own ass when that occurred to me, but blaming anybody isn’t going to get us any where. We have to deal with this.” She settled in her seat again, studying Eden’s profile for several moments. “Ivy’s going to be fit to be tied.”
Eden’s eyes flew open. She sat up abruptly. “I’d forgotten she chose, too! This is a hell of a mess!” she cried, jumping to her feet and beginning to pace.
“Suggestion?”
Eden glanced at Liz hopefully.
“Give her the same ultimatum you gave the others. She knows she screwed up big time when she tried to usurp your powers and take control of the militia. That was a clear case of treason and under the circumstances she should be facing life in prison or death. The alternative might look a lot better to her.”
Eden considered it for several moments. “Even if she went for it, do you think she could be trusted to stay in line? It’ll only make things worse if she appears to go along and then offends the Xtanians.”
Liz thought that over and finally shook her head. “I am as certain as I can be that Ivy thought she was doing what was best for everyone or she wouldn’t have committed treason to start with. She’s as by-the-book as they come. I don’t believe her loyalty is really in question. She’ll do her best to protect the colony, even if she doesn’t like your politics or like what will be required of her.”
Relieved to discover that Liz’s assessment matched her own, Eden hesitated and finally went to pour herself another drink. “I’d hoped to avoid having to choose a pazaan,” she said reflectively. Ignoring the look of surprise on Liz’s face, she settled on her lounge again with her drink. “You said they didn’t seem to care what female they got so long as they got one?”
Liz was studying her with frowning intensity when she looked up again. “You’re suggesting sending someone to take your place?”
Eden found she couldn’t maintain eye contact with her long time friend. She shrugged. “I’m thinking it might be best if I remain unencumbered, particularly in light of the information you’ve gathered. We don’t know that all of the colonists would be in agreement on taking a pazaan. In fact, I know they won’t. They’re very divided on this. Some of them are almost too eager, others nervous but intrigued, and still others completely revolted at the thought. I could manage, I suppose, but I don’t like the idea of emptying New Savannah and casting our lot with the Xtanians. We’d be divided and vulnerable.
“Add to that the fact that it could be a year or more before we could even conceivably prepare the ship for an evacuation, and that puts us all in a very dangerous situation.”
“That’s the very reason I don’t think we have an alternative at the moment,” Liz pointed out. “We can’t evacuate, and they’re working like hell to get those domiciles erected. My guess is we have a matter or weeks, not months, to decide.
“Every day I go out to check the progress, I find another group that’s decided to build a meznooku to attract a queen. And the broods are forming triads. They know exactly how many females are in New Savannah. Don’t ask me how, but they do.
“And I haven’t got a clue of how to stop them or even to slow them down, but, at a guess, I’m thinking the Xtanian compound will be emptied in a lot less than a year.
“If we want to keep the peace--even if it’s only a ruse to allow us time to escape, everybody, and I do mean everybody, is going to have to choose a pazaan of their own.”
Eden went back to rubbing her temples. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
Liz set her glass down and moved to the lounge beside Eden, giving her a reassuring hug. “It’s Baen, isn’t it?”
Eden gave her friend an unhappy look. “It’s that obvious?”
“Do you want me to lie to you?”
Eden sighed. “I think it would be better to choose a different group, if I must.”
“You think it’s going to make you feel better to know he belongs to someone else?” Liz demanded, shaking her head in disgust. “You are gone or you’d have enough sense to know that would only make things worse--all the way around. I said they don’t seem to care, but that was a generalization. Baen and his brood do care. They’re expecting you and I don’t think disappointment would even begin to describe how they’d feel if you rejected them. Hardly a day passes that one or another of them doesn’t come up to pump me for information about your likes and dislikes.
“You can do this, Eden. You’re stronger than anybody I know. I know you can do this.”
Anger surged through Eden. She wanted to scream at her friend that she couldn’t, that she wouldn’t. Whatever Liz said, she didn’t think she could bear being with Baen all the time and not being with him … ever.
Almost as if she’d read Eden’s mind, Liz spoke again. “It wouldn’t have to be forever. We’re in power here, unless we give it over to the Xtanians. We can yield now, and try to teach them our own customs--at least in so far as the maintenance of the colony and the jobs we’re committed to. When we’ve had the time to prepare the ship, if we still find the situation intolerable, we can leave. Even if some want to stay, those who don’t will have a choice. Right now, I don’t see a lot of options for us, unless you want to declare war now and try to wipe them all out. And I’ll be honest with you. I think we’d have a hell of a time convincing the majority of the colonists that war is in our best interest.”
Eden digested that for several moments and finally rose and began pacing. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But that doesn’t change the fact that even yielding is incredibly dangerous. We’ll be divided. Even if we insist on coming in to work each day, that’s going to leave us vulnerable to them probably two thirds of the time.
“And what about the vast difference between us and their women? They’re going to be expecting us to produce--and not just a baby. Even if we take the fertility injections a lot of us aren’t going to be able to produce at all, and I doubt many will be looking at multiple births.”
Liz frowned. “Going along still gives us time we wouldn’t have otherwise. Like I said, if things don’t work out, we can always evacuate and find a new location for the colony if we stick to the plan and re-equip the Plymouth.”
Ede
n was not happy with Liz’s report or her suggestions, but once Liz had left and she’d spent hours, and then days trying to come up with an alternate plan, she finally conceded defeat and called a council meeting to announce Liz’s findings and open the floor for discussion.
The council was divided. Weeks of meetings produced more arguments instead of bringing them closer to a solution, primarily because everyone felt the pressure of time limitations.
The first meznookus were nearing completion.
A decision had to be made.
Finally, the council arrived at the same conclusion that Eden and Liz had. The Plymouth was a long way from being even adequately prepared for another trip and they had no choice but to at least appear to concede to the Xtanians. Thankfully, it was the council members’ task to explain the situation and to convince the people in their sectors, not only of the appearance, at least, of full compliance, but also of the necessity to keep their contingency plan a secret, and to insist upon the freedom of movement needed to implement the contingency plan, because that one deviation from the customs of the Xtanians was going to be a major stumbling block in and of itself.
The solution to that was to make that a non-negotiable point of acceptance.
Eden thought she’d prepared herself.
She hadn’t.
When her prospective pazaan presented themselves at the gates of New Savannah to request an audience she took one look at the team of men she was supposed to accept as her ‘grooms’ and felt her knees turn to water. “Oh my fucking god!” she whispered.
Liz slipped an arm around her waist for moral support. “You’d think they would have enough sense to pick one to represent them,” she snapped angrily.
“I feel a little lightheaded,” Eden gasped, struggling to keep from hyperventilating.
Liz pinched her, hard enough it drew a yelp of pain and a glare. “There you go,” she said bracingly. “Better now?”
Eden rubbed her abused flesh, still glaring at Liz. “I’d rather have fainted.”
“But it wouldn’t be a good example. Remember, you’re the queen. You’re the boss. Tell them point blank that you’re flattered, but you won’t take no for an answer. You have to ‘rule’ the colony and they’ll just have to get along without you while you take care of business.”
Eden nodded, thankful that Liz had had the presence of mind to remind her because she wasn’t really capable of thinking for herself at the moment. Straightening her spine, she steadied her nerves with an effort.
“Uh … did I mention that they have a consummation ceremony?”
Eden’s head whipped around so fast a bone cracked in her neck. Liz wasn’t smiling, however, despite Eden’s hope that it was some sort of sick joke prompted by a misplaced attempt to distract her from her anxieties.
Liz quailed before the look in Eden’s eyes. “Guess I didn’t.”
Gritting her teeth, feeling much, she thought, like a felon facing a death squad, Eden moved to the entrance to the safety corridor. Liz caught up to her again when she was almost halfway through.
“There’s something else …. I don’t know how important it is, at this moment, but I thought you should know. I just discovered it myself or I would’ve told you before,” she added hurriedly.
Eden contained her fear, anger, and impatience with a strenuous effort. “Something I should know right now? Because I have to tell you if it’s more bad news I’m not sure I can handle it at the moment.”
Liz bit her lip. “It’s about the fertility.”
Eden felt the blood rush from her face. “Don’t tell me! They kill the queen if she doesn’t produce.”
Liz blinked at her. “The queen kills them.”
Chapter Seventeen
Eden thought for several moments that she was going to disgrace herself by throwing up. “How?” she finally managed to ask weakly. “You said their queens were virtually helpless.”
Liz swallowed audibly. “They pinch their heads off.”
Eden stared at her friend in disbelief. “You’re serious?”
“One of them asked me why we didn’t have pinchers--why we had hands instead. That’s how I found out. I told you the men have no value to them. If they don’t reproduce, the queen is considered well within her rights to dispose of them, or have them disposed of. Sometimes they merely use their weight to crush them to death and pretend it’s an accident. I didn’t say anything because I don’t know how to handle it and I was afraid--Well, you know how Ivy is. She’s liable to take it as good thing and use it to wipe her pazaan out. I wouldn’t put it past her to encourage everyone to do so and we could end up causing the war we’re trying to avoid.”
Eden’s mind was chaotic, but one thing became crystal clear to her almost immediately. Liz was right. “Does anyone else know?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. It’s in my notes, but ….”
“Delete it from your notes and omit it from your report. I’ll give it some thought and try to decide the best way to handle this. We’ll discuss this again when I come back.”
A sea of male faces greeted Eden at the exit to the safety corridor. She was distracted enough by the ‘food for thought’ Liz had given her that she managed to greet them with what she thought was a nice mixture of aloofness and politeness. Bracing herself, she glanced around at the men, wondering if all of them were ‘breeders’ except the small army of warriors standing at the rear, or if only some of them were. She hadn’t given it much thought, she realized. Baen had made it crystal clear, however, that the warriors were merely warriors, and not allowed to be considered for breeding.
Lucky them.
Enlightenment about their barbaric practices would certainly explain why the Xtanians had first received them with a mixture of excitement and fear. They desperately wanted a mate for themselves and at the same time knew that if they failed to ‘please’ they were dead men.
All things considered Eden had to wonder if their women simply disposed of the men any time they were displeased.
Maybe that was why they sometimes ‘accidentally’ crushed the life out of them?
It didn’t matter, Eden told herself, smiling woodenly as one of the men, one she didn’t recognize, bowed formally and asked if she would care to examine the meznooku they had designed and built in her honor.
She graciously agreed that she would be absolutely delighted and curbed the impulse to whirl around and run back down the safety corridor.
She was distracted by movement within the group as four men came forward carrying an odd looking contraption supported by poles that rested on their shoulders.
They set the thing on the ground.
Eden stared at it, completely dumbfounded.
The stranger, who’d introduced himself as Jred, or something like that, took her hand and led her toward the thing. Another stepped forward, grasped one side and opened it. When she stopped and leaned down to peer inside curiously, she saw that the interior looked to be padded and filled with brightly colored pillows. She had no idea what the pillows had been made from, but she suspected some of their clothing had been sacrificed for the project because the color and texture looked very much like the uniforms they wore.
She saw that everyone was watching her expectantly when she straightened and looked around. Frowning, she looked at the thing again, studied the poles, and finally it dawned on her that they expected her to climb inside so that they could carry her.
At any other time, she would’ve flatly refused. It was absolutely absurd to consider being carried when she was perfectly capable of walking.
Truth be told, though, she didn’t actually feel perfectly capable of walking at the moment. She felt weak and ill and confused and frightened and the prospect of even a few minutes respite after what she’d just learned from Liz was enough to clench the matter. She climbed inside.
A wave of dizziness washed over her as the door was closed and the men lifted the thing to their shoulders again. It subsided slightly when th
ey began to move, but only slightly. The thing swayed with their measured steps, even though she could tell they were trying very hard not to jostle her.
Lying back among the pillows, she closed her eyes and tried to focus her mind away from the motion and the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
What the hell were they going to do about this newest ‘wrinkle’ in the bizarre mating practices of the Xtanians, she wondered, feeling borderline hysteria?
What could they do?
Would the Xtanians decide that they were weak and unfit to be queens if they didn’t kill the men that displeased them?
She pushed that thought aside. How long, she wondered, before everyone knew, Xtanians and colonists alike? Unless another Xtanian decided to question the lack of pinchers, or a colonist decided to ask too many questions, months?
Maybe.
If the practice was to slay the ones who weren’t fertile enough to impregnate the queen, then that was something that would take months to know.
Unless their gestation period wasn’t the same as Earth females?
She frowned, but it seemed to her that it was more likely that it would be longer, not shorter, if anything.
Unless the Xtanians decided to get talkative and/or the colonists curious, they should have a couple of months to figure things out.
It occurred to her about the time the conveyance stopped that she was probably worrying over nothing. These males hadn’t had a female--ever, unless she was greatly mistaken and the colonists hadn’t had a male in years. How likely was it that they were going to be doing any chatting?
That realization would’ve soothed her a lot more if she’d been sitting at her desk in her office instead of surrounded by eager young men with nothing on their minds but waiting their turn.
She hoped they were going to wait their turn.
Her first sight of the meznooku completely obliterated all other thoughts from her mind.
Ninth Orb Page 17
