by J. Naomi Ay
The other Andorians in the room started shouting too. “Andorus submits itself to the Crown Prince of Rehnor.”
Senya blinked a few times. His eyes grew brighter still.
“Senya, let's go,” I ordered. “Come on big guy, move it!”
“Okay,” he said again but still didn’t budge.
“Senya!” I shouted and yanked his arm hard. He stumbled a bit but started to wake up. “Come on!” I pulled him to the door and back towards the main gate of the building.
Lt. Zem was waiting outside the shuttle smoking a cigarette. “What are they all yelling about?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I snapped, climbing aboard. “Let’s go.”
“That didn't take you long,” Zem said, strapping himself in. “Bad party?”
“You could say that,” I sighed, shoving Senya down in a seat and fastening my own belt.
"Looks like some drunk took a dive out the window," Zem remarked. “Quite a mess over there.”
“I need to go north,” Senya mumbled.
“What?” I said and fastened his belt since he didn’t seem to be making any effort to do it himself.
“Where would you like to go, Doc?” Zem set the controls. “Hey, what's going on?” The coordinates on the navigation computer flipped. The spaceplane took off and immediately veered 160 degrees. Zem sat back with his hands above the controls. “It's flying itself. Okay. Hope it's going where you want it to go, Doc.”
I glanced at Senya. He was holding his thumbs against his closed eyes as if he had a migraine.
“Hey,” Zem called about ten minutes later. “We're landing. I don't know where we are but check out that building.”
We pulled up in front of an ancient fortress type building. It was enormous and built from massive stones with iron gates and iron bars across the windows. The place was built atop a rocky peak and looked like it was surrounded by a moat. It was an Andorian Alcatraz.
We landed about a mile from the fortress and all three of us got out to look at it. Senya walked ahead of us a few paces and then stopped short.
“Why are we here?” Zem asked.
“I haven't a clue,” I shrugged, noting that Senya's hands were starting to tremble again. He held his head.
“Is he okay?”
“I don't know, Zem,” I said, moving forward. “He has seizures sometimes. Senya?”
His eyes were closed as he fell to his knees, still clutching his head. He swayed there for a moment and then fell completely to the ground.
“Senya! Help me, Zem!”
The ground began to rumble. Zem and I ran to Senya’s side but neither of us knew what to do. Senya didn’t seem to be convulsing. The ground shook violently and both Zem and I were knocked off our feet.
“Look!” Zem cried as a huge plume of dust or smoke rose from the fortress.
I threw myself on top of Senya as the fortress rumbled and great blocks of stone and rocks came tumbling down the sides. We were too far away to be hit by anything large but instead were covered in dust and gravel. Then an explosion sounded from within the fortress and the whole complex collapsed inward. None of us moved. The ground stopped shaking. Another cloud of dust and smoke passed over us. I was coughing out dust but the sky above was blue again. The fortress was gone.
“Whoa!” Zem gasped. “Should we go see if anyone was in there?”
“Senya?” I coughed. His eyes were open now and the light was dim. “Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Can you get up?”
He let me pull him to his feet.
“Commander, don't you think we should check under it?” Zem asked.
“No one is in there,” Senya whispered. “I will go back to your ship now.”
“Okay, Doc,” Zem replied with a glance at me. He got up and tried to dust himself off. “The ship it is.”
“Sorry, Captain?” I said the next day.
“That's why I never accept those types of invitations,” Capt. Richard growled and dismissed me from his office. “Can't stand a bunch of stupid drunks.”
I got into the lift totally stunned. Caroline was standing there.
“What's the matter, honey?” she asked.
I shook my head. “We went to this party last night, you know, and it turned out really badly, so I went to the Captain to explain what happened but the Prime Minister of Andorus already rang him and explained but he explained it entirely differently.”
“Which version is better?” she asked.
“Prime Minister Mrufe said the man who got killed was drunk and fell out the window.” I looked closely at Caroline wondering if I could tell her the truth.
“But that's not what happened?” she prompted.
“He wasn't drunk,” I said. “And he didn't fall.”
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling and chewed on her lip.
“Better go with the Prime Minister's version,” she said.
I got back to my cabin to find Senya on a call and working away at my desk as if nothing had happened. He had been working since shortly after we returned last night.
“My spaceplane will be here tomorrow morning,” he said, clicking off his cell and returning to his netbook.
“Ok,” I nodded. “How can you sit there working like that? You just…you just…”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look like he was listening to me.
“Why did you do it, Senya? I don't understand how you can do it. One day you are working your ass off trying to save lives and the next you murder a guy in cold blood.”
"It was not murder. I do not murder."
"You gutted him like a fish with that knife of yours!" I practically screamed. "You killed him with a room full of people watching and then tossed the body out the window! Are you some kind of psychopath?"
No answer.
“What did he do to you? What did he do that you had to brutally eviscerate him in front of an audience?"
He stopped typing. “What do you think he did?”
My heart seized. "I don't know."
"Figure it out," he hissed. “Then tell me, you would have done something different.” He turned back to his netbook.
The next morning he left.
While the ship was in drydock, I went to the library to look for any information that I could possibly find about the Andorian fortress. The internet was slow and most of the pages I pulled up could not be translated into English because the Andorian language did not use written symbols. I did find a pic of the fortress turned into rubble and was staring at it when a young woman came up beside me.
“That just happened,” she said. She had a very thick guttural accent and her skin was tinted blue. She wore an ensign's stripe.
“Can you translate it for me, Ensign Tilia?” I asked, reading her name tag.
“Of course, MaKani,” she replied. “May I sit beside you?”
I wasn’t sure I heard her correctly.
“I'm Commander Katie,” I said, indicating that she should pull up a chair.
“MaKani.” She said again and nodded her head. Then she said something so garbled I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
“Tell me what this says, please.” I turned back to the pic. “Tell me what you know about this building.”
She named the building in words so strange I could not even begin to repeat them. “It was destroyed by a quake two days ago,” she said. “It was a very odd end to the prison.”
“It was a prison?” I repeated.
“Yes, Madame,” she replied. “It was a very famous and very old place. No one ever escaped from it.”
“I was right,” I mumbled. “Like Alcatraz.”
“Pardon, MaKani?”
“Can you just call me Commander?” I asked, getting annoyed. “How long has the prison been closed?”
“Andorian people call you MaKani,” she replied, again with a lowering of her head. “Andorus submits to the rule of the Crown Prince of Rehnor.”
“Excus
e me?”
“The Rehnorian Crown Prince called the MaKennah has demonstrated his superiority over the people of Andorus and we submit to him as our sovereign.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“The MaKennah has the powers of a great and wondrous god."
“He does?”
She nodded, looking at me like I was the crazy one.
“We'll see about that. Tell me more about the prison. When and why did it close?”
“It closed maybe twenty years almost? I was little but I remember because it was very scary. All Andorus knew of this because it was a very famous place.”
“What happened?”
“It was haunted by a terrible beast. The beast killed three guards and no guard would work there anymore, so all the prisoners went to other places.”
“Do you know what kind of beast it was or how it killed the guards?”
“It was said to have great wings and huge claws.” She showed me claws with her hands. “It came in the night and took the guard’s hearts out of their chests with its claws.”
“Oh lord,” I gasped.
“And more, Madame,” Ensign Tilia smiled shyly. “It did more to them. It cut…”
“Cut what?”
She blushed purple.
“Man thing.”
“Penis?” I prompted and probably blushed myself.
“Yes, Madame. It cut this and put in each man's mouth.
“Oh God,” I muttered, stunned. “Are you certain this if for real? Maybe someone made that up?”
“No, for real!” she cried and crossed her arms over her chest. “I tell Madame, the MaKani only the truth.”
“Thank you, Ensign,” I replied, my head swirling. “Do you know or can we find out if the prison took prisoners from other planets? Could there have been Rehnorian prisoners there at that time?”
She flipped through the screens, going back into the history of the prison.
“Stop!” I shouted.
She looked at me blankly.
“Who is that?” I demanded.
“He died.”
“Tell me who he was!”
“Lord Srutow. He worked for the Prime Minister until our Savior the Rehnorian Crown Prince killed him and threw his worthless body out the window.”
“Yes, I remember that, I was there,” I said. “Did he have any connection to the prison?”
“Oh yes, Madame!” Tilia exclaimed. “He was the warden when it closed. He was at a party when the guards were killed. Then he refused go back to the prison to do his job.”
I put my head down on the table. I was sick. Almost twenty years ago would make Senya seventeen when this happened. Seventeen was when he came to me with his head shaved and lay in my bed too weak to move.
“Are you okay, MaKani?” Tilia asked.
“No,” I replied. “No, I'm not okay at all and quit calling me that!”
“I will take care of you,” she said. “I am here to serve you. You are the wife of our Overlord. You will be our Queen.”
“I think I'm going to throw up,” I mumbled into the table.
“I will fetch for you a basin to spew in,” Tilia replied and rose to her feet.
The next two weeks, I monitored the ship's repair work followed by some vacation time. It was a working vacation though, most of it having been spent attending SdK board meetings and traveling with Senya to visit our new facilities. SdK hospitals were on four planets now. The month after that, I returned to Rozari and worked in Admiral Mattson's office doing a budget proposal for him. To tell the truth, I loved being home and by the time I had to go back to space, I was torn again about going. I was anxious about Senya. The beta proteins were obviously building up in him and he was extremely antsy. He didn't sleep at all. Frankly, he could hardly sit still for more than a few moments. During meetings with SdK staff, he continuously paced the room. Both Thad and Shelly rang to tell me how worried they were.
“Maybe we should go to Karupatani?” I suggested later that night. We were walking the grounds up to the waterfall and back. Exercise seemed to help a little bit.
He considered it for a moment.
“I do not have time now," he decided. “I shall go to the Karuptani continent here after you leave; as soon as I can spare a day or two.”
“Don't explode and blow up something,” I cautioned. “Keep a handle on it, please?”
He nodded but was obviously preoccupied with something else and as soon as we got home, went right back to his office.
Two days later, I was back in space on the ship. I was sitting at the com, overcome with guilt. I shouldn't have left him. He was obviously on the edge and now without me there to monitor him, what would happen? I decided to call Shelly before we went dark. She could alert Donak and maybe they could convince Senya to let them bleed him or something. I took out my cell.
“You okay, Commander?” Hevzi, our pilot turned to me.
“Fine,” I replied and forced a smile though my stomach was in knots. “Why?”
“You didn't respond,” Hevzi said. “I was just asking permission to engage propulsion.”
“Sorry.” I tried to clear my head. “Engage and let's pull out of here.”
The ship rumbled a bit and then glided away from the Spacebase.
“Coordinates are set,” Hevzi announced. “Enroute to Taurus IV, ETA 74.43 hours.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” I said, palming my cell. I moved to go ring Shelly from the lift where I could have a minute of privacy but there was a young woman standing next to me.
“May I get you something, Commander?”
“No,” I replied, not recognizing her. Her skin was tinged slightly blue, Andorian. She had Yeoman stripes. Her name tag said, Siria. “Thank you, Yeoman Siria.” I tried to move past her.
“Nothing at all, Commander?” she insisted.
“No,” I replied a bit forcefully. “What would you possibly get me?”
“Anything,” she said. “Andorus serves the MaKennah ka Rehnor.”
“What?” I coughed into my hand.
“You are the MaKani. I will serve you.” She started to kneel.
“Stand up,” I hissed.
“Yes, Madame.” She stood up straight and at attention with her shoulders back.
“Where is your duty station?”
“I am off duty, Madame.” She followed me to the lift.
“Can I have a moment alone?” I asked, showing her my cell.
She shook her head no. “You are not to be left alone, Madame.”
“Says who?” I demanded.
“Andorus serves the MaKennah ka Rehnor, our Overlord,” she said again. “The MaKennah has the powers of a great and wondrous god.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I heard that,” I snapped. “Give it a rest.”
Hevzi stared at me.
“What?”
He shrugged and turned back to his console.
“Can you get me some coffee, please?” I asked the Andorian. “Decaf single tall skinny vanilla latte?”
“Yes, Madame,” she cried jubilantly as if I just rewarded her. She ran off in the lift I was planning to use.
Hevzi snickered.
I glared at him and my cell as I waited for the lift to return. When it did, I had lost my signal.
“Sorry Commander,” Lt. Perina, the communications officer, called after I waved my cell at her. “We're already into the dark.”
By the end of the week, I had four Andorian crew following me around including my once translator, Tilia. They would take turns, whoever was off duty became my personal servant. Despite how many times I would yell at them to leave me alone, they stood outside my cabin or in the bridge elevator or where ever else I happened to be.
“This is ridiculous, Commander,” Captain Richard growled after summoning me into his office again.
“I know, Sir. I've told them to leave me alone.”
“Do you know why they are doing it?” the Captain demanded.
/> I thought carefully before answering.
“They think my husband is their overlord?”
Richard laughed heartily. “Yes, I did hear that from the Andorian Prime Minister. Seems your husband is either the Infidel or the Savior depending on which planet he is on.”
“You know about the Infidel stuff on Rozari?” I gasped.
“Of course. I had to approve his petition for boarding privileges didn't I?”
“I guess,” I replied, feeling pretty stupid. I wondered what else the Captain knew.
“I'll see if I can put a stop to this while you are aboard,” Richard said. “But I can't make any promises about what they'll do when you are ashore.” He laughed again. “Looks like you've got your own groupies.”
Unfortunately, the Captain was not able to put an end to the Andorians attending to me. Citing cultural differences, the Andorian government claimed it was their religious duty to serve me and by preventing that on board, Spaceforce was violating their civil rights. Nobody seemed to care about my civil rights.
I think I developed an ulcer during this time. I almost hoped that Andorians were following Senya around Rozari, keeping an eye on him. Between the annoyance of their constant hovering and my worrying about him, I barely slept and felt like a hole was burning in my stomach.
Two days before we emerged from deep space, I was working two shifts because the Captain had a report to finish and could not sit the com. I was tired. I had been on duty nearly twenty hours and I dragged myself down to my cabin to sleep for a brief four hours before I had to take the com again.
“Katie?” Jerry nearly scared me out of my skin by coming up behind me as I unlocked my cabin door.
“What the hell were you doing?” I gasped.
“I was just waiting to ask you something.” He threw up his hands. “No need to bite off my head. Do you think I have enough money in my budget this year to request another nurse?”
“Come in,” I sighed even though I was so tired I could hardly see. “Let me just pull it up for a second and look at it.” I pushed open the door to my cabin and turned on the light. I shrieked!
“What?” Jerry shrieked back.
“Senya!” I cried and raced over to the bed. He was lying there face down, covered in what looked like red dust with cuts all over his arms and legs. His hair was filthy and matted with red mud. “Senya! Senya!” I shook him.
