Outliers of Tirano

by Shawn Thompson

  -6-

  Arvor Castel

  Planet Tirano

  A squad of Vhirko blocked the doors to Siniastra's chambers. "The Queen is in mourning and does not wish to be disturbed," said the tall and sinewy squad leader. "My orders are to let no one pass," she said sternly.

  The words pelted me like cold raindrops. I'd been so wrapped up in my own problems, I hadn't thought about how devastated Sini must feel. She shouldn't be alone, not tonight. I should be with her. I was the closest thing to family she had left. "Please inform the Queen that Kuinsi wishes to see her. I'm sure she'd agree to permit me to pass."

  The Vhirko's expression didn't change. "I have my orders. Only the Queen may change them."

  "And how will you know if she wishes to change them unless you ask?"

  The Vhirko continued to stare straight ahead without replying.

  I stood as tall as I could and raised my face toward the Vhirko's. "This concerns Royal Council business that must be attended to immediately." I had mixed feelings about using his position as a Council member to threaten the Vhirko, but I had to see Sini. "Your failure to ask her to see me will endanger the security of Tirano. As a member of the Council, I demand that you tell her I am here."

  The Vhirko's eyelid twitched slightly. I decided to press my advantage. I looked at the name tag on her chest. "Corporal Svetlena, if you refuse my demand, I will inform the entire Royal Council of your refusal." If it wasn't so important that he see Sini, I would have hated myself for threatening the Vhirko by such a blatant misuse of power.

  "Do as you will. I must follow my orders," Svetlena said, her voice steady.

  I should have realized I couldn't bully a Vhirko. Her training, like all Vhirko, would have conditioned her to never to do anything other than follow Sini's orders. I turned to return to my quarters; upset that she hadn't let him in, pleased that she had followed her orders. If I couldn't bully my way in, then no one would be able to, including Rohfek. I remembered another way I could contact Sini: semaphore. No one actually typed courriel messages; they used holo messaging. But Sini and I had adopted semaphore as a method to communicate without anyone being aware. It had been especially useful in Council meetings when we could communicate undetected with each other.

  When I entered my room, Corporal Oksana followed. I'd never had a personal Vhirko guard before and found it disconcerting, and slightly creepy, to have her in my quarters standing behind him like my shadow. Despite my discomfort, I sat at my muhrwood desk and actuated my celpad. She stepped behind me, and I wondered if anyone ever got use to a Vhirko's constant lurking.

  I typed in my code name, "Zinfandel," and then Sini's, "Warrior Princess." I'd always teased her about her Vhirko training sessions and called her the Warrior Princess. She thought it was funny and adopted it as her semaphore identity. In the message block, I tapped: "You shouldn't be alone tonight. I'm your family now. Send your Vhirko to get me. Zinfandel." I pushed the transmit icon and waited.

  The wait seemed like deci even though only a few milli passed until a knock sounded on the door. I rushed to the door and opened it. Corporal Svetlena stood in the entry. "I am ordered to accompany you to the Queen's chambers. Please follow me."

  Without waiting for a reply, Svetlena turned and marched down the hallway. I followed her, not even bothering to close the door. I'd seen enough Vhirkos chasing after Sini to know that Corporal Oksana would close the door and follow.

  When we reached the doors to Sini's quarters, Svetlena opened a door so I could pass. I couldn't read her expression, but I wondered if she thought I'd report her to Sini as I'd threatened. I stopped and faced her. "You performed your duty, Corporal Svetlena. You followed your orders. I will commend you to the Queen and to your commanding officer." A brief flicker of a smile creased her face.

  When I enter Sini's chamber, only a single sconce lighted the reception room. She sat on a black couch in an ivory-colored robe, the Golden Vines embroidered on the right shoulder. Her blue eyes no longer contained the fury displayed in the Council Chamber, only overwhelming sorrow.

  I scurried to the couch and sat next to her. "Sini, Sini," I whispered. She threw her arms around him and buried her head on his shoulders. Her warm tears ran down his cheek.

  "I thought I'd be sad today because I'd be betrothed to Fiotr, not because my parents are dead."

  I held her tighter, knew there could be no words that would comfort her. We clung to each other for several milli, neither saying a word. Sini lifted her head off my shoulders. "Mother would have wanted me to be strong, like a Vhirko. I wish it were so easy." She paused, looked at the floor. "I've been too afraid to ask anyone. Is your mother safe?"

  I nodded. "She's at the Sisterhood's retreat. I've contacted her and arranged for her to be escorted back tomorrow. She wants to be here for you."

  Sini sobbed. "I'm afraid I won't make it that long."

  "What are you talking about? Of course, you will. The Belts are restored and they'll soon have the virus removed."

  Sini wiped the tears off her cheeks with her fingers. "The Ring's curse," she whispered. "It's driving me insane."

  I jerked my head back. If any Archonan heard Sini say the Ring cursed her, the Assembly would try to remove her from the Throne. "Order the Vhirko to leave so we can talk freely. I don't want to take a chance they'll overhear."

  Siniastra turned to the two Vhirko. "Please stand outside the door."

  Corporal Oksana stood at attention. "Under orders of Commandant Lydmila, I am not to let Master Kuinsi out of my sight."

  Sini tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. "What's that all about?"

  "It's an ugly story and now's not the time to go into it," I said. "Tell them they can leave the door open and keep an eye on me."

  "You heard Master Kuinsi," Sini said to the Vhirko. "I will be safe."

  The Vhirko left the room and stood at attention outside the open door. Corporal Oksana riveted her eyes on me. Luckily only the one sconce lit the room. As long as we remained in the shadows, the Vhirko couldn't read our lips.

  "Even if I believed the legends of the Ring's curse," I said, "it would only affect you if you weren't the rightful heir. You're Queen Regnant."

  "Try telling them that. I haven't slept more than a few milli since I put the Ring on my finger."

  "I'd be surprised if you had. You were too close to your father and mother not to be too devastated to sleep."

  "I've fallen asleep several times. The legend exists. Each time all the Arvor Kings but father wait for me. They call me the usurper Tarnlot's child and scream neither he nor I have the right to sit on the Golden Vine Throne. Grandfather Mhikhel says he personally will drive me insane unless I abdicate in favor of Zhun'Mar's heirs. Before I can respond, I'm awake and afraid to go back to sleep and face them. But if I don't get some sleep soon, I think my implant will explode."

  I pulled Sini closer and held her while I remembered the archives he'd uncovered. The original Arvor King, Ahrtzor, had modified the standard memory implant chip and created a variant that only an Arvor was permitted to wear. It was also Ahrtzor who had first worn the Golden Vine Ring. "Has your implant ever bothered you before?"

  "I've worn it since I was a child and never noticed it until now. It burns constantly now, as if it's overheating."

  I rocked Sini in my arms. "The legends are false, Sini. You are the rightful heir. Something else is happening, and we'll figure it out together. I've got an idea. Take the Ring off and give it to me."

  Sini clenched her fingers. "I can't do that. It would be admitting that I don't deserve to wear it."

  "Don't worry. I'm only going to hold it while you sleep. I won't leave. I'll give it back to you as soon as you wake."

  "Why will that help?"

  "Deductive reasoning. Something's affecting your implant. If you didn't have a problem until you started wearing the Ring, it must be s
omething the Ring's causing."

  Sini remained in my embrace, her hands shielded from the Vhirkos' view. She used her left hand to pull the Ring off her finger. I opened my hand. Sini hesitated a moment. "Here." She dropped the Ring in my palm.

  I closed his fingers around the Ring. I gently rocked my torso back and forth. Within a couple myria, Sini's eyes closed. Her chest rose slowly and evenly. She'd fallen asleep. I released my embrace and slid to the other end of the couch. With my back still to the Vhirko, I opened my hand and stared at the Ring.

  The Golden Vine Ring was a ring of legends. The sides of the solid gold ring were etched with grape vines. A purple cluster of grapes set atop the Ring. At each Sovereign's coronation, he would add a grape to the cluster. I ran my forefinger over the cluster and felt each grape. As I suspected, the deep purple grapes were sculpted from a rare color of precious opal. Because of its density, precious opal couldn't transmit over as great a distance as the fire opal of my pendant. In fact, if I remembered my studies correctly, it couldn't transmit more than a few mikra.

  I nodded in admiration. Ahrtzor would have known this. He'd selected the densest precious opal he could find precisely because of its finite frequency. I also suspected that the Ring's transmissions were encrypted and could only be decoded by a uniquely programmed implant chip. Clearly, Ahrtzor didn't want anyone other than the person wearing the Ring to receive its transmissions. Especially someone like a Sibyl who would have an implant coded to receive high frequency wavelengths through a fire opal pendant.

  But surely Ahrtzor had a purpose other than to drive people insane. I activated my pendant and searched for a locally transmitted frequencies. As I expected, my pendant found none. I switched frequency to contact Sibyl archives. I wanted to review any research on precious opal photonics that existed, and who had conducted such research and when.

  I was on the fifth text when Sini stirred. I glanced at the chronometer on the wall. He'd been so absorbed in his research that he didn't realize that more than a deci had passed.

  Sini raised her head and smiled. "Thanks, I needed that rest. Now perhaps I can think straight. I've got so much to do."

  "No dreams of a curse?" I asked.

  "No."

  "Good. I think you can put this back on. Just be sure to take it off when you sleep. I sat at the other end of the couch, so if you keep it that far away, you should be okay. When all of this mess is over, we need to experiment with the Ring. It has to do more than cause bad dreams."

  Sini laid her hand on mine. "I'd be happy merely to wear it without worrying about those dreams."

  "I've got some ideas, but they'll have to wait. I'd better leave so you can attend to what you need to."

  Sini squeezed my hand. "I've been too worked up to say it earlier, but thanks for being here for me. I know I can always depend on you." She took a deep breath. "Unlike the traitor. What kind of Tiranoan would sabotage the Belts and murder," she wiped a tear from her eye, "Father?"

  I'd gotten so wrapped up the Ring and its tormenting of Sini, I'd forgotten why he'd come to see Sini. I pulled her closer. "It's Rohfek," I whispered in her ear.

  She pulled back, her eyes wide. Her lips quivered. "Oh, Kuinsi. No. He was Father's lifelong friend. He was Regent when Mother and Father were stranded on Earth. I can't believe he'd ever do anything to harm Father, or Tirano. How could you think such a thing?"

  I had to tell Sini as quickly and succinctly as I could and hope she believed me. "After the Council meeting I went to his quarters to thank him for defending me against Lydmila's accusations. He must have been in a hurry because he didn't close his door securely. Through the crack I heard his holoconf with Petrella and Loik. He's going to plant evidence to make it look like I'm the traitor. Then he's going to convince you to send the Armada into a Tamok ambush."

  Sini couldn't blinked back the tears streaming from in her eyes. "I never expected the burdens of leadership to come so soon and be so heavy. I never thought I'd assume the Golden Vine Throne in the same manner as Father. Unable to mourn his death because of the need to confront alien duplicity and a Tiranoan serpent."

  She clenched her fists. "I'll call an emergency Council meeting. We'll expose Rohfek. Get this over with."

  If only it were that easy. "It wouldn't work," I said. "We only have my word. Lydmila would never believe me. Rohfek would deny it. He'd say I used my closeness to you to turn you against him because I knew where his investigation would lead. They might even use it as an excuse to try to remove you from the Throne."

  Sini pulled on her earlobe, the same habit her mother had when deep in thought. She'd never done that when Mirae was alive, now it seemed natural. She sat in thought for several myria. "Father always said that if the fate of Tirano depended on one person, he'd want that person to be Admiral Kiptani." She released her earlobe. "I think I know a way to expose Rohfek and to spring a surprise on the Tamok."