One morning, when a maid ran screaming that her grandchildren and another maid were murdered, she showed no grief. She briefly visited the scene and ordered their burial. If she had been a kinder or a cleverer woman she would have mourned the children or pretended to mourn.
Princess Ga’Mandazang did not shed a tear, nor did she bury them with the ceremony due to princes and a little princess. They were confined in a common grave with the maid beside the local temple. Not for paupers would there be places in her late husband’s family vault.
Prince Ga’Mushrang celebrated his assassin’s report of the children’s murder, but his joy was short-lived. If the children he had killed were Ga’Mazadeh’s, she should be shrieking for revenge. A grieving grandmother did not sling their bodies in a common grave, not even attending the funeral. “I must seek elsewhere for Ga’Mazadeh’s children and exterminate them.”
***
Marina slept in a drugged sleep, naked, muddy, bruised and chained as the space-ship headed for Kurgian space to rendezvous with Prince Ga’Mazadeh’s ship. They wanted to be out of reach of inhabited planets to which Marina could transport herself before she woke. The battleship’s doctor had provided the drugs to knock her out, visited her every four hours to administer another dose. They intended to keep her unconscious as long as possible.
Captain Ga’Gazbaba had known of the army plan to capture Marina, he allowed them to use the ship’s doctor in their mission, but he had not informed his First Lieutenant Ga’Jumtaqur. He believed an officer with his licentious attitudes was totally unsuitable; Kurgians with pure minds and bodies should serve the Empire. It was like Ga’Gazbaba not to tell his officers anything, but the non-communication worked both ways. Ga’Gazbaba spent so much time praying to his gods and prophets for purity of mind, he took little notice of how his ship was run.
Captain he was in the eyes of his superior officers, his ship always appeared smooth running, but his orders were always double checked by the crew with another officer. The crew thought Ga’Gazbaba was batty. The private opinion of his officers was that he was raving mad and unfit for command. They feared his replacement might be worse, so they covered up the worst of his lunacies and kept matters which upset him from his notice.
Captain Ga’Gazbaba had been a fairly normal religious fanatic, until his wife ran off with a door-to-door salesman with winning ways. He had married five years earlier, the daughter of one of the priests at his much loved temple, he considered himself lucky to have a beautiful wife who would want to join his regular observances to each of his 30 favourite gods. To start with she attended his prayers with a semblance of interest.
Bare weeks later, she begged to be exempted from night-time prayers as they disrupted her sleep. He was disappointed she did not share his fervour, but hoped her tiredness was a sign she would produce him an heir. This was not the case, for her waist did not swell and she was not unwell.
Captain Ga’Gazbaba was distressed, waiting for the correct date in his religious calendar when he would have to perform that distasteful act once more, in pursuit of an heir. Mrs Ga’Gazbaba’s views on that distasteful practice were never sought but it is unlikely she found it satisfying as he kept all his clothes on and got it over with as quickly as possible.
Again she did not quicken. Ga’Gazbaba might have been more successful if he had taken notice of Mrs. Ga’Gazbaba’s times and dates than those of his religion, but it was not to be. The act was so disgusting to Ga’Gazbaba, he did penance for weeks after each episode and never considered he might share her bed on other nights. If Mrs Ga’Gazbaba had got a child to nurture, she might not have been cozened by the delights of the salesman, but she was and Ga’Gazbaba went mad with shame and anger at his divorce.
Mrs Ga’Gazbaba did not spare him; she stated her husband could not father a child. She had doctors’ reports declaring she had no medical problem. He could not satisfy her but her salesman apparently could. She was blatantly honest telling the judge why she had left.
Ga’Gazbaba was divorced on the grounds of his wife’s adultery. But he became a laughing stock with his neighbours after Mrs Ga’Gazbaba described their wedding night in explicit detail in open court. Whilst Ga’Gazbaba was allowed the divorce, the penalty of death on his wife for her adultery was denied.
The judge said if her husband behaved normally, making every effort to provide her with a child, if she had then been unfaithful he would have happily sentenced the harlot to death. However the excess of his religious observances and very occasional attempts to produce a child were extenuating circumstances, the judge declared.
It was the duty of husbands to provide their wives with children and their own desires in the matter were secondary to the continuation of the Kurgian race. So Mrs Ga’Gazbaba escaped and married her salesman. The beautiful girl her father provided for the judge had more to do with his benevolent behaviour than the judge’s desire to exercise clemency.
Ga’Gazbaba’s mania related to sex, physical proximity or nudity. So when Marina was brought on board naked and unconscious. Ga’Gazbaba was informed of her presence but did not see her. The mention of Zenina was sufficient to set him off and he did not appear on the bridge for over 50 hours whilst he expunged thoughts of that harlot from his mind.
The news of Marina’s capture reached Ga’Jumtaqur as he boarded the ship. He felt guilty about the capture of his brother’s friend, but he was loyal to the Empire, if not to the crown. He personally checked on Marina, and even muddy he thought her very beautiful and envied Riyal’s luck. She should be washed, he thought, but he did not trust any of his men to the task and there were no other women on board.
He talked to the doctor about it.
“No Zeninan ever suffered from a bit of dirt. She is as tough as old boots,” the old bastard said, shoving another blunt needle viciously into her unconscious flesh. That he had been deliberately careless how he injected her, was clear from the blackening bruises on her skin. So Ga’Jumtaqur draped a clean sheet over her body and set naval guards on the door, dismissing the army ones.
Marina slept on and while she slept the treacle wore off. Her dreams pictured the death of four beautiful Kurgian children. Children who reminded her of Prince Ga’Mazadeh, yet these children were not his, only actors playing the part, but they were dead for all that. In her dream she followed the assassins back to their paymaster and their own deaths at his hands. Back further with the paymaster to Prince Ga’Mushrang and his unlovely joy.
As the treacle cleared from her body, her body’s defences took control. The drugs were driven from her system and she woke long before the doctor expected her to stir. Her head was painful, for they had fractured her skull in their enthusiasm. Her body was sore where she had lain unmoving and where needle marks bruised her flesh.
She was hungry and thirsty and was conscious she was not as fragrant as usual. What was more she needed a man. The combination of the treacle and the enforced sleep had enlivened her symbiotes, they were making their wishes known to her.
Marina opened her eyes and looked around her, identifying the grey-green paintwork as regulation for cabins on a Kurgian Battleship. From the state of her body she had been there a long time. The ship’s noise indicated it was moving, remembering the treacle she cursed her own stupidity, as she moved to sit up discovering she was chained to the bunk in which she lay. That was a minor problem, so she clicked open the locks, shaking off the chains.
She got up and stretched, then sent her mind to connect with the ship’s main computer. The information she extracted did not please her, they were way out in Kurgian space, away from any friendly planet. She feared transporting off the ship with any genuine hope of escaping. She remade the bed grateful it was not soiled and made use of the hygiene cubicle within the room. Reluctantly using the vibration shower which was the standard fitting on Kurgian ships because they refused to expend the money for water storage and retreatment that Zeninan ships considered essential. She re-braided her ha
ir and exercised her body to get the kinks out of it.
There were two guards outside her door; she could take them out, but even if she killed every sailor and soldier on the ship one by one, which she acknowledged she was unlikely to be able to do, she could not handle this ship alone. It was travelling with other ships, they would be bound to notice if the ship turned around and they would follow.
Chapter Fifty- seven - The Bare Necessities
The guard outside changed but still no one entered. Time elapsed and Marina had formulated no feasible plan. She had not wanted to return to Zenina, but wanted to go to Ga’Mishrin even less. Someone was conversing with the guards and the man would enter. She lay on the bunk and slipped back into the chains, pulling the sheet over her, lying inert. The man entered, moving diffidently over to the bunk. This was not the doctor and despite the guards allowing him in, he had no right to be there.
The man’s pulse was racing as he looked down at her body flimsily covered by the sheet, he pulled the sheet down and his hands stroked her body. She had avoided touching his mind for fear of him noticing but did so now. The man’s name was Ga’Dingsa; he had been confined to the engine-rooms during their last week in Alpha, fixing some irritating wiring problems which caused danger signals to display erratically. He had moaned to his friends that they could have brought him back a woman. They said he should help himself to the one on board.
He did not see himself as a rapist, protesting she would scream and get him on a charge. They explained she was being kept unconscious by the doctor. No risk of her screaming, not much fun either but she had a gorgeous body. She was definitely better than no woman. They teased him for two days and now two of them were on duty as guards outside. They would keep a look out for him. It did not seem right to him to make love to a sleeping woman, but they told him she was no innocent. Marina had probably had more men than he had had hot dinners. If she was conscious she might ask for seconds.
Ga’Dingsa was basically a nice lad not long out of his teens and this was his first tour away from Kochab. He was young, impressionable and easily led but he did not like to do what his mates expected of him. The lady laying there had a beautiful body, a bit thin for his taste; her face was interesting rather than perfect. He moved his hands down, trying to wriggle his hand inside her to see if it was possible. Her legs seemed stiff, but seemed to relax a little as he reached between them.
He pushed his fingers higher. She was warm and moist like a woman ought to be and his body reacted despite his reservations. He pushed more of his hand into her in order to open her sufficiently for his entry, but when he went to withdraw his hand, he found it held fast. He looked down at the face of the woman he’d been molesting, her eyes were wide open lazily watching his panic.
“They said you’d be asleep for hours,” he said resentfully.
“They were wrong, Ga’Dingsa. If I scream really loud you’d be on a charge, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes ma’am. I’m sorry ma’am. Please be very quiet and I’ll go away at once, please don’t tell anyone what I’ve done. Please ma’am.”
“I don’t think you’re going anywhere at the moment Ga’Dingsa! Relax I have no intention of screaming rape, unless you don’t make love to me, then I might. You do understand me, don’t you?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Then I suggest you get undressed and hurry up. Yours friends are getting fretful.”
Ga’Dingsa obeyed Marina and did exactly as she asked and considering his youth and nerves, he was not that bad, he was better than she feared he would be. He would improve with practice, confidence and a lot of training. She let him leave at last without swearing him to secrecy or telling him to tell lies. He staggered away and told his worried friends the lady was awake and had made him have her.
“It’s true what they say about Zeninan women, I never knew women could be that good in bed,” the bewildered lad said.
His friends did not believe him, opening the door to check. Marina lay on the bed, the sheet covering her up to her waist, watching them enter.
“Could you get me something to eat, please? I’m hungry and then ask your captain to come and see me, please.”
The bewildered guards retreated outside the door and shut it behind them. They contacted the first officer they came to asking him what they should do about her request. The officer who was a junior army lad thought it best to send for some food and then ask the captain to see her, so he sent out the necessary messages and within a few minutes, Marina received a tray containing the worst meal she had ever had the misfortune to eat.
Food on Kurgian ships is notorious for being flavourless, reconstituted pap. On Kurgian navy ships, that would be a feast in comparison to the vile stuff their soldiers were offered daily. Marina was hungry and doubted making a fuss would get her a better meal. She ate the meal using a ruse which got her through governmental banquets on planets where their tastes did not concur with her own. She switched the part of her brain that received the messages from her nose and mouth off and replayed memories of some of her most enjoyed dishes as she consumed the food without looking at it.
There was a knock on the door and the two guards informed her they had been asked to take her to the Captain. His message actually said “I have no intention of visiting the trollop; drag her in chains to me.”
He made no mention of clothing her and Marina personally had no desire to get dressed. She was not cold, it was easier to keep clean naked and she objected to wearing Kurgian uniform in any form. She was shown into the Captain’s cabin. He was seated with his back to her, ignoring her entrance.
He was in his mid-forties with a bushy greying blue beard and brutally crew cut hair. He was short, thick-set with a large hooked nose and overlong arms with large hairy hands. It would be fair to say he had not been treated kindly by Mother Nature. He turned after making her wait several minutes so she realised how insignificant she was and stared at her in disgust.
“Brazen harlot,” he screamed at her, “Cover your nakedness, you filthy whore. Beg the forgiveness of the Great Srangafan for your profanity and depravity. Weep that you have tempted and corrupted innocents with the wickedness of your flesh.” He ranted on for some minutes, Marina made no attempt to interrupt. Then she turned to the guard beside her and asked, “Is he always like this?”
“Pretty much the same,” was the whispered reply.
“Then you might as well take me back to my room. I’m not going to get any sense out of him.”
Marina turned around and the two guards had no choice but to follow. In the background they could hear Captain Ga’Gazbaba building up steam.
“Fornicating strumpet, perverted infidel…” he gibbered.
Then they turned the corner, his ravings were blocked from their ears.
On reaching her cabin, she asked the guards “Please send for the doctor, the one who enjoys sticking blunt needles in me. Is there any officer sane enough to hold a simple conversation with, without him eating the carpet?”
They sent for the doctor and Ga’Jumtaqur. The doctor was a while coming because he had been sent to sedate the captain, who after Marina left had started foaming at the mouth and throwing himself around the room in his rage. Ga’Jumtaqur came first and he apologized for her treatment.
“Your Captain is insane, you do know that?” she remarked conversationally.
“Absolutely, I had hoped you would not have to meet him. I trust he did not offend your royal highness too much. He can rant on a bit. We have to keep the venereal disease records away from him because he foams at the mouth, starts ordering executions for the offenders and if anyone says anything to try and calm him down, he demands their mouths disinfected and puts them on a charge. How his superior officers have not figured out by now, I don’t know!”
“Why don’t you do something about it?”
“Most of the sane ones are worse. He doesn’t get in our way much and usually forgets when his orders are ignored, so things are
generally all right. I’m very sorry about all this. I saw my step-brother Riyal in Alpha before we left, he’d just arrived. He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?”
“I know Riyal. You have no Zeninan blood, you’re pure Kurgian?”
“I’m all Kurgian; my father married Riyal’s mother and made an honest woman of her, so to speak. I’m not a renegade like Riyal, but we’re still friends. I’d never betray Riyal but that doesn’t mean I’ll help you escape, because I won’t. I’m a Kurgian Officer and I obey my orders, except when they’re given by a mad man.”
“Ga’Mishrin is mad.”
“Quite possibly, but it’s a thing better not said.”
“So you won’t help me escape. Do you know what will happen to me? Prince Ga’Mazadeh is in charge I believe?”
“Yes, but he’s not with us. We expect to rendezvous with his ship in about ten days’ time. I think you’re stuck on board this ship until then. Then you’ll travel to Kochab where I understand King Ga’Mishrin is desirous of your company. The army commanding officer, Major Ga’Jhushtue sends his compliments and apologizes for the enthusiasm of his men in bashing you over the head. He thought it looked a little excessive. He says you’re to be treated with respect as you may be our queen one day.”
“Thank Major Ga’Jhushtue for his respects and inform him the skull fractures are healing.Also that I think it’s a very strange way to treat a princess or a queen. How much longer will this quack of yours be? I’m starving.”
The doctor entered as she made the remark and coloured.
“I see you’re awake,” he said and was about to retrieve his hypodermic and alter that situation.
Champion of Zenina Page 22