by Korza, Jay
The service ended and T’Leh returned to his palace. His warrior escort had dwindled from twenty to five. The five who were with him had mottled skin, slow movement, faltering steps, and other symptoms that marked their time for death was near.
T’Leh felt bad for his warriors. He knew that their loyalty was genetic and that it wasn’t because they were good people, but he couldn’t help but wonder whether good people were good because of who they were or how they were born. It had all been debated over before, time and time again, Nature versus Nurture. Did anyone really have an answer? T’Leh decided that his warriors were good creatures but with monstrous orders to guide them.
D’Bath had said that he could genetically remap the warriors but it would take more than his lifetime to do it. D’Bath and T’Leh also knew that they couldn’t guarantee they could find a scientist as good as D’Bath and as agreeable to unity to carry on his work when he became too old to do so himself. After the unity, one of D’Bath’s primary goals was to try to find a way to enter the dormant warriors into the new empire as equals and voluntary members of the military. They would no longer need to conquer or kill innocent people. But that dream died with D’Bath.
Once at home, T’Leh gave his son to one of the caretakers to be put to bed. He gently kissed him on the forehead before entering his office and sealing the doors. After pressing a series of codes into his office terminal, a secret door opened and Nogil appeared.
Nogil bowed and touched his hands to his eyes and then his lower right hip area, indicating the Detrill heart. After finishing the Detrill gesture for remorse, he spoke. “T’Leh.” It still felt more than odd to call the emperor by his given name but it had been asked of him to do so. “I cannot tell you of the sorrow my eyes see and my heart feels at the loss of your friend. My people will tell stories of his deeds and life for the rest of our time. We would not be free if it were not for him.”
“Thank you, Nogil.” T’Leh handed him a glass of Nortes ale. “I am glad that we did not have to use those escape ships you had prepared for us. No one is the wiser about our plans. Without D’Bath, the scientific community is at a loss of what to do next. They all believed that he was our only hope to beat this virus. Now that he is gone, I believe that our plans to bring an end to slavery will be accelerated. Without hope of a cure, our people will want to leave this system and find a new one in hopes that it will not be contaminated. And we, of course, cannot do that without your help.”
Nogil felt that he had built not only a partnership with T’Leh but also a friendship. T’Leh was like no other being he had ever met. Of course, he had only met other Detrill, warriors, and the few Nortes who had been involved with T’Leh’s plan. Nogil wanted to help his friend.
Detrill had the ability to access any part of their memory at will. Unlike a typical photographic memory, they could also sort information in any way that they wanted to. It was almost as though their mind was a computer filing system that they could adjust and access anytime they wanted to. They also had the ability to help other Detrill access their memories. This was how they taught their children to use their abilities or help others who had suffered memory loss due to illness, injury, or old age.
Nogil had never touched anyone besides another Detrill. He had been touched many times by the warriors but only in cruel ways to punish him. Nogil wanted to help T’Leh but didn’t know whether he would be able to give him the gift. Sometimes when Detrill mourned their dead, they were so distraught that they could not access their memories. Other Detrill, usually family or close friends, would help them to access their memories of the loved one who had passed so they could remember and relive all of the good emotions they had with that person.
Nogil stepped behind T’Leh and placed one hand over his friend’s eyes. T’Leh didn’t question his motive and seemed to relax considerably at Nogil’s touch. He then placed the other hand in T’Leh’s lower torso area, where his heart would have been if he were a Detrill. Nogil couldn’t feel the connection. He gently moved his hand across T’Leh’s body until he found it. Nogil connected with T’Leh’s mind and began searching for D’Bath.
It was very difficult for Nogil. Part of the gift that Detrills gave each other during a joining was a sharing of memories. The Detrill helping to remember could see and live the memories he was helping to find. By doing so, the memories now became a part of the helper’s mind and could be shared again with other Detrill.
Nogil had memories from Detrill two thousand years ago in his mind. However, he couldn’t see into T’Leh’s mind as he could another Detrill. Nogil had to navigate by emotion alone. He could feel the sadness T’Leh now felt and assumed that it was for D’Bath. Nogil followed that emotion through T’Leh’s mind until he found the source. Probing gently, he found happy memories, memories that made him smile and allowed the pain to drain away. Nogil couldn’t see the actual memories but could sense that T’Leh did.
Nogil probed further and found an interesting strand of memory. It was one of the strongest memories of happiness that T’Leh had with D’Bath, so he followed it. Abruptly the memory went from the most joyous moment in T’Leh’s life to his worst…
T’Leh was only twenty-six when he took over the empire from his father. Although he did not agree with his father’s political views, he loved him very much. The watercraft accident was a tragedy to T’Leh and the rest of his family. His mother died not too long after his father and T’Leh suspected that her sickness was brought about by her sadness.
Today marked the two year anniversary since T’Leh had been officially taken over as emperor. He sat in his bedroom, wearing only his robe. Dr. D’Bath was reviewing his medical scans from T’Leh’s yearly physical. He was chatting with his friend while inputting and reading data. “So, what are you going to do on this special day?”
T’Leh lay back in his bed and looked up to the ceiling. “I’m going to have dinner with D’Nerth and P’Tong. They are going to try to set me up with another of their friends.” T’Leh chuckled to himself at the thought of all his previous blind dates. “You cannot imagine the look on these women’s faces when they realize that they have been set up on a blind date with the emperor. You would think that I, of all people, would be able to find someone to fall in love with.”
D’Bath looked at his young friend over his datapad. “Ah, to be young again. Of course, when I was your age, I didn’t have my choice of more than a thousand concubines to help me through the awkwardness of growing up. How is that one young girl? What’s her name? I can never recall but you seemed to have a crush on her since you were sixteen, if I recall correctly.”
“M’Tawny.” T’Leh let out a sigh. “I do love her, you know. It is just these damn laws that we live by and cannot be changed. Why can’t the emperor do as he pleases? I do not understand why I am allowed to have a child with a concubine and that child can grow up to inherit the throne, but I am never allowed to marry that same woman. Why is she good enough to incubate the seed of the emperor and add her own genetic material to the family line but cannot marry the same man?”
“I can’t say that I understand your position because I have never been in it. But I can empathize with you. If I were not allowed to openly love my wife and to be with her, I think I would go mad.” D’Bath continued looking over his data. “M’Tawny was your first, wasn’t she?”
“First and only. I wish I could move her into the palace to live with me and make a family with me. She says that she wants to have my child so that we can share that bond forever. So far we have not been able to accomplish that goal.”
T’Leh thought back to his first encounter with M’Tawny. He had been sixteen and she was eighteen. She had been raised to be one of T’Leh’s personal concubines, so she was as virginal as he was. When he began touching her, it just didn’t feel right to him. He could tell that she was nervous and not at all comfortable to be in the situation they were in. She had been taught all about her position in life and knew more about sex
than any ten Nortes women put together.
“M’Tawny and I just talked that night we were put together. We made everyone think that we had performed the rite of passage but we did not. We talked about our lives and our dreams.” T’Leh hoped that the physical would be over soon so that he could call his love to the chamber and they could spend some time together.
“A concubine has dreams? I thought that all they wanted was to please the emperor and thereby fulfill all of their training and familial obligations?”
“That’s what was so special about her. She knew that she had a duty to her family and the empire but she also had personal aspirations. She had always hoped that I would take to liking her and allow her to become more educated than just in the ways of sex.” T’Leh could feel himself becoming more aroused as he thought of her. He hadn’t seen her for three days and it was starting to get to him. “We didn’t actually join for almost two years. I fell in love with her that first night. It took her a little longer to overcome all of the training that concubines go through to help keep them from having an emotional connection with their master.” T’Leh had never liked that word, especially when referring to anything dealing with M’Tawny.
“And now I can’t even give her what she wants most. Why can’t I sire a child with her? You’ve already examined her and said that nothing is wrong.”
D’Bath had almost finished reviewing all of the data he had obtained but he already had the answer he was looking for. “I’m sorry, T’Leh, but you will never be able to father any children.” D’Bath placed a gentle hand on his young friend’s hand. “You have a genetic anomaly that is causing your reproductive organs to fail. It is very rare and untreatable. Even with my genetic expertise, I have not been able to find a cure for this disorder.”
T’Leh sat up and began to cry, not for himself but for M’Tawny. “Will you report this to the rest of the family?” An emperor who could not reproduce would be removed from the throne and replaced with another member of the royal family to ensure that the DNA carried on to the next generation.
“No. You are only twenty-eight and I am only…let’s say forty years old.” Both smiled at that. “I have not given up on you yet. You already have the makings of the best emperor this galaxy has ever seen and I may find a cure for this eventually. Besides, your cousin isn’t fit to run a food stand much less the empire that I and my family live in.
“Other than that, you have a perfectly clean bill of health. I suggest that you go out tonight and enjoy your time with your friends. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. My wife met D’Nerth at a cooking class she is taking. They began talking and realized who each other was. They have become very good friends over this past week. Isn’t it a small empire after all?”
T’Leh felt a little sick to his stomach. The cooking class was where D’Nerth and her friends tried to recruit people for the underground. He would have to talk to D’Nerth about that later. For now, he just said, “Yes, it is. I’m glad to hear that your wife is trying new things. Goodbye, my friend, and thank you for everything.”
With that, D’Bath left the chamber. T’Leh decided that now was not the time to call M’Tawny. He needed to think about how he was going to discuss this new information with his friends.
That night at dinner, T’Leh sat with D’Nerth and P’Tong and their friend he was set up with. She was attractive but lacked any real sense of the world around her. T’Leh was surprised that his friends would even know such a person, much less try to set him up with her. He was, however, polite and as charming as possible towards his guest.
At the end of the evening, the foursome took a shuttle into orbit around the planet to view the Kasmai comet. The comet had a four hundred year elliptical orbit around the system. With their technology, just about anyone could view the comet from a shuttle anytime they wanted. They would just have to chase it down, depending on what part of the system it was in. But it was special to be able to view the comet in the same sky as their planet.
“I’m so happy that Kasmai is near our home while I’m alive.” T’Leh was looking at the spectacular view through the transparent roof of the shuttle. “There are only two points in the orbit of Kasmai where it comes into contact with Tetreon radiation. Only then does it change color and glow so that the core is completely visible through all of the debris it sheds while it travels through space. It truly is a remarkable manifestation of the universe.”
“Is this real netriv leather?” This was from the woman who was not interesting enough to have her name remembered. She was touching the seats in the shuttle and looking at all of the jewels it was adorned with. T’Leh didn’t even bother to answer her.
D’Nerth couldn’t hold her giggles back at her friend’s last comment. She would have to apologize to T’Leh later. She adored her friend but should have known better than to bring her along for a blind date with T’Leh. She was one of D’Nerth’s few friends who was a Nortes through and through. She cared for nothing except wealth and personal gains. She was, however, a great friend and fun to be around. It also helped D’Nerth to network with the much higher class of Nortes that she hoped to someday recruit to her cause.
D’Nerth looked at her husband and he gave her an approving nod. She was glad that he had because she couldn’t wait any longer to tell T’Leh. “P’Tong and I saw something the other day that was even more spectacular than this.” She gestured with her hand to the view of Kasmai.
“I told you not to peek while I was changing at the pool house the other day”, T’Leh joked with his friends.
D’Nerth took a personal datapad from her pocket and pulled up an image and handed it to T’Leh. “That is the first sonogram of our baby!” D’Nerth and P’Tong hugged each other and kissed while a tear came to her eye. “I am two months pregnant. Only twelve to go!”
T’Leh began to cry almost immediately. He was so happy for his closest friends. He leaned forward and embraced them both. “I could not be happier if it were my own child. You will of course have the best doctors and care the empire has reserved for its emperor.” He thought a minute longer before adding, “I also think that you should move into the palace so that my aides can help you with your pregnancy and we can be closer together. I’ll want to see my godchild every day after he or she is born. I will be the godfather, right?”
“Of course you will, T’Leh”, P’Tong said, still embracing his friend. “But we’ve talked about living in the palace before and you know how we feel about it. Now that circumstances have changed, we should talk about it again but not right now.”
After the three friends dropped T’Leh’s date at home, they went back to the palace to talk. T’Leh brought up D’Bath’s wife and D’Nerth assured him that she was not trying to recruit the woman. They were just friends and had recently begun discussing motherhood and raising families. D’Nerth didn’t have many friends who were older and had already experienced much life had to offer. She was happy to have a new friend who could bring a different point of view into her life.
T’Leh was satisfied with the answer she gave and dropped the subject. He then told them of his horrible news that he could never be a father. The three friends cried together again, this time for the sadness they felt for T’Leh and M’Tawny. When it was time to end the evening, D’Nerth and P’Tong went to the guest quarters they stayed in every so often. In the morning, they would all have breakfast and then T’Leh would again have to deal with the affairs of his empire.
~
One month had gone by since T’Leh had received both the best news of his life and the worst. He was looking over some military documents when his call chime came alive. He pressed the button and immediately saw the visage of his highest-ranking Nortes military commander, General N’thoth. “Your Highness, my greatest apologies in disturbing you.” He bowed his head in a subservient manner. “I need for you to come to the war council chambers immediately.”
For a moment, it sounded as though the general were giving him an o
rder. T’Leh didn’t like him to begin with and he knew that the feeling was mutual. Had it been any other day, T’Leh just might have gotten into a verbal lashing of the general to put him in his place. However, it seemed as though something big was happening and T’Leh decided that he would deal with it later. “I’m on my way. But be warned, this better not be a trivial matter that has moved you to talk to me in such a way.”
The general just smiled and the screen went blank. T’Leh took the palace shuttle to the chambers. The shuttle was very roomy, even though there were six warriors with T’Leh to ensure his safety. He leaned to his most trusted warrior and whispered to him, “I think the general might be standing too close to me when we get to the chambers.” The warrior smiled in a way that was only perceptible to T’Leh. The warrior knew that T’Leh wanted him to bump the general when they entered the chambers. It was a game T’Leh liked to play and he thought that his warrior did as well.
Even though they did not generally have a sense of humor, T’Leh noticed that his warrior had seemed to gain one in the twenty-eight years they had been together. Each new baby born into the royal family was given a warrior from birth who stayed with him until the warrior died, usually around one-third of the Nortes’ life. Then another would take his place as the lead warrior for that person.
Warriors were not given names, just rank. T’Leh secretly referred to his warrior as Fouter, the Nortes slang for friend. When they arrived, Fouter walked into the chambers ahead of T’Leh and of course the general was standing in his customary spot to greet the emperor. As T’Leh walked toward his seat at the dais, he walked straight towards General N’thoth. Fouter used his lower right arm to move the general from T’Leh’s path. N’thoth would certainly have a bruise the next day. T’Leh thought that it was odd that N’thoth was still smiling.