Prisoner

by Gilbert M. Stack

  Alexandra stepped back, frowning as she looked Jewel up and down. “This insult,” she loudly proclaimed, “will not soon be forgotten. My daughter is wearing what appears to be simple prison garb.” Jewel did not fail to notice that they made no comment whatsoever on the few scabs lingering on her cheeks and arms.

  Well there was nothing she could do about that except maybe goad the two a little. “Prisoners wear orange here,” she informed her. Her parents had been present less than ten seconds and already she was furious with them and embarrassed by them. Nothing really had changed since she ran away from home. Why had she expected them to be different? What had she thought they’d do? Hug her? Tell her they were glad she was all right? That it was actually good to see her again?

  Behind her father, who still had not acknowledged Jewel’s presence, a retinue of functionaries pressed into the small room—functionaries and Nefer Reneb, the chief negotiator for the Khaba Cartel. She appeared to be slightly older than Jewel’s parents—say sixty to their fifty, which probably meant her real age was in the ninety standards range. She was dressed in raiment every bit as expensive as Jewel’s mother, but without any hint of the gaudiness. The same five bioware chips glittered on the side of her face, but on Reneb the display somehow appeared less showy and more tasteful.

  The negotiator surveyed the room coolly, without any histrionics or other apparent emotion. Jewel took her presence as a clear sign that the cartel had lost confidence in her parents—if they had ever actually had any.

  “And how do you know the prisoners wear orange here?” Jewel’s mother cried. “Have they had my daughter mingling with common felons? They will pay through the teeth for this insult!”

  Jewel’s father stirred himself to speak, but he still did not acknowledge Jewel’s presence. “Is this the best room they could provide us? It’s hardly bigger than a lower-class stateroom. There aren’t even any paintings on the walls.”

  “It’s a military vessel, Papa,” Jewel told him, “not a luxury liner.”

  Both of her parents, for all practical purposes, ignored her comment. Her mother, almost as if she were speaking to a prearranged script, turned on her husband and shook her fist. “They expect me to marry my daughter to one of their barbarians after treating her like this?”

  As if there was any chance at all that Alexandra Sapphira would risk her fortune by not giving Jewel to the Armenites. No, Jewel’s mother was simply setting the stage for negotiating a higher price from the Armenites for Jewel’s no longer virgin flesh.

  Jewel decided that she could set the stage for negotiations too and enjoy tweaking her parents while she was at it. “Don’t worry Mama, the Armenites don’t expect you to marry me to Kole after all.”

  Both her parents suddenly found her worthy of their full attention. “They cannot back out of our compact,” her father insisted.

  “The insult would be unbearable,” her mother added.

  Even the functionaries looked as if they wished to voice their displeasure at the idea. Only Nefer Reneb seemed undisturbed by Jewel’s suggestion. She strode to one of the briefing room’s plain chairs, flicked an imaginary piece of dust off the back of one with a perfectly manicured fingernail, sighed and sat down at the head of the table.

  “The compact is quite explicit,” Reneb announced in her quiet voice. “We have produced Luxora as required—later than expected, but the special circumstances surrounding her kidnapping by these Fringe ruffians will certainly provide an allowance for that lost time. It’s not, after all, as if the Armenites have been in a hurry to formalize this union. The marriage will go forward.”

  Jewel felt a trill of fear run up her body. She had been very nervous about the arrival of her parents, but she’d been dealing with them for twenty-three years. She knew their excitable tricks, she was familiar with their unstable temperaments, she understood their desires and weaknesses, or at least she thought she did. But Nefer Reneb presented a very different problem and she frightened Jewel, not that there was anything to do now but move forward and play out her hand.

  She moved to take the seat at the other end of the table—so different than her interview with the Empyreals where they had all sat relatively closely together across the table’s width. “The Armenites see it differently, Ms. Reneb. They did me the courtesy of explaining it all to me. You see, Mama and Papa made a major mistake when they negotiated that delay of marriage when I turned twenty-five. Good faith negotiations are very important to the Armenites as I’m certain you know. Add to that the insult of trying to foist my artificially conceived sister on them and they’re really unhappy with the two elder Sapphiras.”

  “How dare these barbarians have a conversation with you,” Jewel’s mother shouted. “She’s just a child. How dare you take advantage of her?”

  Jewel let her mother work this latest outburst out of her system before picking up the thread of her argument. “Finally there’s this little point of terminology that is so important to the discussion. You see, kidnappings occur when a person is taken by force from one location to another. That is not what happened to me and the Armenites are well aware of it. I ran away from home freely of my own will over matters of honor.”

  She threw this last part in because she was absolutely certain the Armenites were eavesdropping on the conversation and it couldn’t hurt to position herself as best she could—regardless of what she eventually decided in regard to the marriage.

  Her mother stabbed her with her infamous hate stare, but Nefer Reneb remained completely unruffled. “If you really want to waste time on this game I suppose it will do no harm,” she told Jewel before extending another of those perfect nails toward the ceiling. “First, as a majorus minor you can’t technically make the decision to run away. Those who knowingly harbored you are guilty of the crime of kidnapping under Cartelite law.”

  Jewel hadn’t actually heard of that law before. It hypocritically flew in the face of everything else that defined the majorus minor status—all the responsibilities of adulthood without any of the rights or privileges. She wondered if it were possible that the Legislative Board—the Cartelite Worlds’ parliament—had passed the legislation recently with her situation in mind.

  “Second,” Reneb continued pointing a second perfect finger into the air. “There is nothing left to negotiate with the Armenites. We’re here on this vessel to see already agreed to terms enacted, not to discuss new ones.”

  Jewel’s father frowned as if he definitely didn’t like what Reneb had said, but he didn’t disagree with her.

  “And finally, all of these concerns are irrelevant as I have been in touch by ship’s com since arriving in this system with Empyreal Justiciar General Ren Farl and he tells me that the Armenite Hegemony and the House of Delling have dropped all objections to the fulfillment of the contract and the consummation of your union with Kole Delling.”

  This final bit of news hit Jewel like a blow to the belly. It substantially undermined her position. She wasn’t certain why, but she’d expected Farl to let her work out whether or not she should marry Kole completely on her own. That would seem honorable to her. The fact that he hadn’t hit her like a betrayal and that certainly didn’t make any sense at all. She knew Farl favored the marriage. Of course, he would maneuver to make it happen.

  Jewel wasn’t ready to give up however. She had a couple of cards left to play and she tossed the weaker one out now. “Actually, Ms. Reneb, the problem here is not Armenite approval.” She realized she had just argued the opposite but you had to be flexible when negotiating. “I am the one who has to be convinced to move forward with this union.”

  Her mother’s hand snaked out and caught her scabbed arm, pinching it cruelly. “You have no choice,” she hissed. “This compact was arranged when you were an infant. You will marry this man.”

  Jewel yanked her arm free, wondering if she called out for help if the Armenites would come. “That remains to be seen,” Jewel told them. In her heart of hearts, she w
asn’t certain what she was going to do yet. She wanted Erik, not Kole, but there was a huge moral weight on her to sacrifice herself and embrace the union. It was much more than her parents’ personal fortune. There were literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs dependent upon the Sapphira compact with the House of Delling. And yet, the idea frankly repulsed her. She could admit now to herself that it had always done so. No one involved in this arrangement had ever thought it important to even discover if the prospective bride and bridegroom would get along with each other. Why should she sacrifice her happiness for them?

  “Your consent truly is unnecessary, Luxora,” Reneb observed. She remained unruffled, examining the back of her hand as if searching for a flaw while she spoke of completely inconsequential matters. “Under Cartelite law, your parents have full authority to bind you to this agreement—in fact they have already done so. If necessary, we could sedate you for the actual ceremony. But no one wishes you to be unhappy with our arrangement. Your parents care deeply about you. Perhaps there is something they could do, or buy for you, that would lessen your opposition to this arrangement?”

  A cold shiver infected Jewel’s spine as Reneb so blithely spoke of sedating her so that she could be legally raped. But whatever the negotiator’s intent, her threat served to stiffen Jewel’s spine. She wasn’t the same woman who had run away from home. She wasn’t giving up so easily. She hoped she wasn’t showing her discomfort as she played her next card.

  “Actually, if you’ll check your calendar, you will discover that I am in fact required to offer my voluntarily consent for the union to be valid—even under Cartelite law.”

  Her father appeared astounded by Jewel’s suggestion—not that she believed for an instant that he hadn’t discussed this situation with his lawyers after hearing how she was recovered. He took three quick steps across the room so that he towered above where she sat. “You are still a child,” he proclaimed. “What sort of nonsense are you talking about?”

  “How could you still be so selfish and immature?” her mother demanded in even more dramatic fashion. “Will you never begin to grow up?”

  The functionaries crowded in behind her parents adding their moral weight to the adult Sapphiras’ attempts to intimidate their daughter.

  “That’s not true, Papa, and you know it,” Jewel told him. She felt it best to ignore her mother under these circumstances. “I’m thirty-one now and outside of your direct control.”

  Nefer Reneb chose that moment to reenter the conversation and puncture this latest argument. “You might have been able to argue that a year ago. Precedent was against you, but you could have made the argument. Unfortunately for your position, we requested of our executive that the Legislative Board clarify the legal position. The new law will have passed by now mandating that subjective age be legally binding over objective age in cases such as yours involving cold sleep and slower-than-light travel.”

  Jewel’s mother grinned greedily at this not completely unexpected statement. The Board existed not to serve the people as its rhetoric claimed but to protect the power and fortunes of the elites. It was disappointing that they would change the law to further damage Jewel’s rights, but not in any way surprising.

  Reneb, however, showed no sign of triumph whatsoever. Jewel wondered if she already anticipated the counter Jewel would make to her position.

  “That’s all very nice,” Jewel said, “but it is also completely irrelevant.”

  Her parents’ triumphant expressions quickly turned to frowns, but Reneb’s bland features remained unchanged. “How so?”

  Jewel played her last and strongest card. “Armenite law does not recognize the status of majorus minor and they believe that both bride and bridegroom must consent to the union for a marriage to be valid. They will not recognize the marriage unless I give my willing consent.”

  “Of all the utter nonsense,” her father shouted. “You will cease this disobedient behavior right now and—”

  Reneb cut him off. “I’m afraid your father is essentially correct, Jewel. It is in your best interests for you to cease this unseemly willfulness and follow their counsel as a good daughter should. There would be severe penalties for you at home if you break the compact.”

  More severe than what the Armenites will do to me? Jewel wondered. She didn’t think so. The justiciar general would make her life a living hell if she disappointed him here. She’d naïvely believed that he had been delaying sentencing her crewmates to use them as a carrot to get Jewel to do what he wanted, but she now saw that that was a particularly Cartelite way of viewing things. Armenites were different. They liked the big stick and the not-so subtle threat. Farl was delaying sentencing until he knew if he had to punish Jewel for not doing as he required. He might worsen Erik’s sentence to conform to hers but he had no intention of lessening it as a form of bribe.

  So once again the question boiled down to this. Would Jewel marry Kole Delling? Ten years ago the answer would have been relatively easy. It’s what she had been raised to do and unhappily or not, she’d have conceded. But her months on the Fringe had changed her and not just because she’d found Erik. She’d dealt with crises now—real life or death dilemmas. She wasn’t going to let her parents and Nefer Reneb stampede her into a quick decision.

  So for Jewel the real question was not Would she marry Kole? It was, Is there any way to be with Erik?

  Try as she might she couldn’t find one. In no possible circumstance she could imagine did she realistically have a chance to run away with him. They wouldn’t even be able to go to prison together. She’d matured enough in the past few months to admit now that life with Erik simply wasn’t going to happen. That hurt enough to make her want to wail in despair, but crying wasn’t going to change things. Erik had been lost to her the moment an Armenite ship entered the Valkyrie System and that loss had been completed the moment they arrived in nearby Prescott.

  Why had Erik decided to steer the Genesis to Prescott? It would have taken a few decades more, but if they’d gone to Arch as Jewel had intended the issue of the marriage would be over now. They might still end up in prison but more likely they’d be in Confederacy hands with a chance of starting their lives over. But she supposed it was wasted energy to second guess the past now. She had to decide what she would do in the present. She had to choose her future.

  As Jewel considered her situation, her father continued to glower at her, but her mother’s lips had begun to smile again as if she expected Jewel at any moment to cry out in defeat and give them what they wanted. Jewel hated her. At not a single moment in her life had her mother ever put her first. Papa had when she was little, but not Mama. She could wipe that smirk off her mother’s face by rejecting Kole, but was vengeance worth the cost of a future? It had not slipped from her mind that she would almost certainly end up in an Armenite prison if she didn’t do as the justiciar general wanted. Was she actually giving up Erik if none of her choices placed her with him?

  The choices were too big; the responsibility too much. She almost conceded just to get the horror she was living over with but then she saw the smirk on her mother’s face again and her resolve stiffened.

  She considered a different question—one that would force her parents to take her seriously for the first time in her life. If she accepted that prison was not a realistic alternative to marrying Kole, did she have any room left to maneuver? What did she want out of life? Well she wanted Erik obviously, but that wasn’t going to happen now. What would her Cartelite ancestors do in Jewel’s position? She actually smiled to herself, never letting the expression touch her face. Any Cartelite worth her salt would extract something from these arrogant bastards—something equivalent in value to the price she was being forced to pay.

  “I think you are beginning to see now just how limited your options truly are,” Reneb told her. The negotiator’s voice had softened now that she believed she had won, full of doubtlessly feigned sympathy for the young woman’s positi
on. “No one wants to see you brought back home in ruin facing scandal and a prison sentence. Marrying Kole will not be so terrible. After all, it is what you were born to do.”

  Jewel was close to making her decision. After Erik, the thing she wanted most was to have the crew of the Euripides set free again, but she didn’t believe that the Cartelites were the ones to obtain that for her. That was a purely Armenite matter and she’d have to take it up, politely but firmly, with the justiciar general. So what did she want here? What did the Cartelites have that would make a lifetime as an Armenite bride more bearable?

  The answer was so obvious that again Jewel had to suppress a smile. She could already imagine her mother’s screams of anger when she discovered her daughter had finally figured out how to make them take her seriously.

  But she had to lay the groundwork. She had to make them understand that she really was willing to go to prison if they didn’t make a few important concessions to her wishes.

  “The Cartel government is certainly free to pursue whatever legal penalties it deems proper against me,” Jewel told Reneb even though she didn’t believe it. The Armenites were not going to let Jewel go if the marriage did not take place, but it would weaken her hand if Nefer Reneb realized that. “But hurting me won’t stop Khaba from breaking. The cartel, the economy of Luxor and all its dependencies will be centuries recovering.” Not to mention the harm the disruption in the armenium trade would do to the rest of the galaxy.

  Jewel felt bad pulling the futures of all those people into this fight, but it wasn’t like she was actually going to let them lose their jobs. It was a negotiating tactic.