A notification popped up on his screen. Someone from the RPD was calling.
"Computer," Tarkio said, "Answer."
The screen changed from a spreadsheet to the image of a middle-aged woman with gray hair.
"Good afternoon, Lieutenant," Tarkio said.
"I wanted to give you an update on that issue we spoke of," she said.
"To be honest, I was beginning to worry."
"No need to worry," the Lieutenant said. "It's been taken care of."
"That's a relief!"
"Not a problem, Archsenator. Have a good day."
The Lieutenant's image disappeared.
Tarkio sighed. He felt regret for what happened, but he knew nothing would be gained by dwelling on it. There was too much at stake, both for himself and his constituents. After all, they voted for him and now it was his responsibility to represent their best interests. He shouldn't just throw that away because of a mistake he never intended to make.
He smiled, confident that he made the right decision.
Another prompt appeared on his monitor screen.
"Computer, answer."
A man's face, poorly shaved and creased with experience, looked back at the archsenator.
"Hello?" Tarkio said. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Detective Crawley from the RPD," the man said.
"Oh, of course. I just spoke with the Lieutenant."
"Yeah, I'm the guy she sent to take care of your little problem."
"Ah," he said, "how exactly did you get this number?"
"Well, I'm a detective after all. It's kind of what I do."
"Yes, I understand that," the archsenator said. "It's just that I didn't expect to hear from you directly. As I said, I just talked to your Lieutenant."
The left side of Crawley's mouth curled, exposing some of his yellow teeth.
"Oh, the Lieutenant doesn't know about this conversation," he said, slipping a cigarette between his lips. "It's more of a personal call."
Tarkio's mouth devolved into a frown. "I don't understand."
"Well, senator or archsenator — whatever you call yourself — I'm interested in a side deal between just you and me."
"Perhaps I should talk to your Lieutenant again—"
"Oh, you don't want to do that," Crawley cut him off. "That would be bad for both of us, that much I guarantee."
Tarkio straightened in his chair, asserting a sense of authority.
"Tell me what you want," the archsenator said.
Smoke, expelled from Crawley's mouth, clouded the view on the monitor, but Tarkio could still see the smirk on the detective's face.
"You made a big mess and I'm the guy who cleaned it up for you," Crawley said. "I expect to be compensated."
"Were you not paid enough through my arrangement with the RPD?"
Crawley laughed. "No, not by a long shot!"
"Then what are you suggesting, detective?"
"A sizable donation to my campaign," the policeman said, laughing at his own joke.
"And if I don't pay?" Tarkio asked.
"Picture the headline," Crawley said. "Archsenator murders prostitute! Details on VOX News!"
Tarkio felt the sweat accumulating around the crown of his forehead. His heart beat hard against the inside of his chest.
"Alright, Detective Crawley," he said. "Let's meet in person and I'll give you whatever you want."
Crawley pulled the cigarette from his mouth, grinning with all of his teeth this time.
"And that's how we do things," he said, "in Ashetown."
Chapter Eleven
Captain Harrison of the Imperial yacht HIMS Victoria watched Aldorus through the bridge monitors as the ship orbited the planet. A Tikarin, tufts of gray fur poked up from under the stiff collar of his uniform.
Harrison had received his commission through a naval program to promote minorities in a military predominated by humans. He knew it was a token measure to reassure the liberal wing of the senate that the Imperium was a progressive empire. Nevertheless, he appreciated the assignment. Commanding the Imperial yacht, even if it was ostensibly part of the Navy, was better than getting shot at by pirates or the occasional Magna raider.
Even if the door is only open an inch, it's a good idea to stick your toe in, he thought.
The captain straightened his attire, a blue uniform with silver buttons up the left side.
High above the capital Regalis, Victoria's orbit was taking the ship over less populated parts of the planet. While the nobles, especially the Five Families, owned much of the real estate, a few largely untouched areas still existed. Captain Harrison, an amateur geographer, recognized many of the land masses, not to mention those of a hundred other worlds he had visited.
"Where is Princess Katherine at the moment?" he asked his first mate.
"Her Highness is in the observation lounge, Captain," the mate replied.
"Ah, perfect!" Harrison said. "Patch me into the lounge."
"Aye, sir!"
"Your Highness, this is Captain Harrison. Outside the windows, you can now see the Palatine Mountains coming into view, where the famous Dharmesh Monastery is located.
A young woman's voice came over the intercom, "Ah, thanks?"
Captain Harrison glanced at the ceiling, rolling his eyes. He made a throat-cutting gesture to the first mate who terminated the comm.
Pears before swine, Harrison thought.
On the observation deck, Princess Katherine and Lady Sophia lay on stuffed chairs, staring at the planet through a panoramic window taking up much of the curved wall in front of them.
"It's quite beautiful," Sophia remarked.
"Maybe from up here," the princess said.
"I suppose things look better from a distance."
Behind them, Katherine's maidbot Dotty was at the bar, mixing a pair of cocktails.
"Speaking of which," the princess said, "we can't leave until Alexander gets here. Richard's orders..."
"Prince Alexander was never one for punctuality," Sophia said.
Katherine's focus shifted from Aldorus to her own reflection in the window and then to Lady Sophia's pallid face hovering beside her like a ghost.
"Aren't you a wee bit anxious to see Alexander?" Katherine asked.
"Not at all."
"Liar!" the princess said, prodding Sophia with a finger.
Sophia gently swiped Katherine's hand away. "I'll never tell."
"You shouldn't keep secrets from me!"
"Secrets keep the world spinning," Sophia said. "The truth is too scary for most people."
"Not for me."
"No?"
"I'm not a little girl," Katherine said. "Apparently, I'm old enough to get married off..."
"Only if the price is right," Sophia said, her voice so low the Princess nearly didn't hear it.
"Exactly!" Katherine replied.
"I probably shouldn't have said that."
"But it's true, isn't it?" Katherine said. "I'm just a digit in somebody's spreadsheet."
Dotty tottered over to the two women in their reclining chairs. Each took a margarita from the tray the robot was holding, sending her back to make more.
"Why did you break up with my brother?" Katherine asked suddenly.
Sophia's eyes widened. "What?"
Katherine laughed. "Sorry."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm just curious."
"It's nothing worth divulging," Sophia said. "I've added the whole affair to my list of regrets."
"Then why did you break up with him?"
"I didn't. He broke up with me."
Katherine's mouth made an O-shape. "That little shit!"
Lady Sophia took a long sip from her glass.
With a hiss and a crackle, Prince Alexander and his bodyguard, Lefty Lucy, materialized on the transmat pad aboard the Victoria. Both stood on the dais, looking at the transmat officer who had an expression of relief that they hadn't arrived as a pile of goo.
"Welcome a
board, Your Highness," he said.
"Thanks for the lift," Prince Alexander replied.
Once in the adjoining passageway, Alexander sighed.
"What an enormous waste of time," he said.
Walking beside him, Lucy was completely silent.
"I mean," Alexander continued, "does Richard really think shipping me off is going to keep me out of trouble?"
Lucy said nothing.
Alexander glanced at Aldorus through the windows in the corridor. "But I guess it'll be good to get out of town for a while. No sense sticking around with my cousin Rupert on the warpath."
Lucy didn't disagree, or agree, or say anything else for that matter.
"I know, I know. I shouldn't have punched him," the prince said, "but he had it coming, right? Nobody talks about you like that. He's lucky I didn't have my sword. Now that would've been a proper duel!"
A pair of ensigns, dressed in their blue uniforms, stopped when they saw the prince and bowed.
"Hello," Alexander said, saluting as he and Lucy walked by.
Even without looking, the prince knew Lucy was sizing up the two ensigns, perhaps imagining a scenario that involved cutting their throats as she hung upside down from the ceiling. She was funny that way.
Something else occurred to him.
"I think we're lost," he said. "This ship is a lot bigger than I remembered…"
Lucy stopped and stared at him without blinking.
"Oh, like you have any idea!" he replied.
From around the corner, Alexander heard his sister's voice.
"Ah," he said. "Problem solved.”
Lady Sophia saw Prince Alexander and his ubiquitous bodyguard walk into the observation lounge. She gave the princess a tap on the arm to let her know.
"It's about time!" Katherine said, nearly jumping from her chair.
"Sorry, sis," Alexander replied, slouching his shoulders. "I was delayed."
"Nobody cares!" the princess said. "This is about me, not you!"
Alexander nodded. "That sounds like something Sophia would say."
"Why yes, darling," Sophia said, also getting up. "I've trained her well."
"I bet."
In the awkward silence that followed, Sophia surveyed Alexander's face and the bruise beneath his eye. Those eyes, she remembered, those eyes...
"I've got an idea, Kate" the prince said. "Why don't you and Lefty go to the bridge and let the Captain know we're ready to depart?"
"Sure! Why don't I just give her the grand tour!" the princess said.
"That'd be great," Alexander replied.
"Fine, come on Lefty, or whatever your name is," she said.
Katherine headed out of the room. As Lucy, moving to keep up with the princess, came shoulder to shoulder with Lady Sophia, their eyes met. Sophia wasn't sure, but just for a moment she felt like Alexander's bodyguard was appraising how much it would take to cut her head off.
When Katherine and Lucy were safely out of earshot, Sophia asked the prince, "Tell me, darling, does your little friend ever speak?"
"Only with people she likes," Alexander replied.
"I bet she talks to you, " she said. "I bet she talks to you a lot!"
"It's strictly professional, Sophie. No need to get jealous. Besides, we've been over for a while now."
"You walked out on me, remember? A girl tends to take that personally."
"Really?" Alexander said, crossing his arms. "You certainly got back on the social circuit fast enough."
"It's important to carefully feather one's nest," Sophia replied.
"I'd think your nest was pretty well feathered by now."
Over the ship-wide channel, a voice spoke over the intercom.
"Attention!" it said, "Prepare for jump."
As the Victoria slipped into hyperspace, the floor under their feet shuddered and Sophia felt her stomach heave. Although she hated this part of traveling, she'd hate even more letting a good opportunity pass her by. As if fainting, Sophia dropped into Alexander's waiting arms.
"How clumsy of me," she said.
"A little obvious, don't you think?" the prince replied, smiling.
"Shut up and kiss me."
Lady Sophia sensed him drawing near, even as she closed her eyes. His lips, so familiar, touched hers. She missed feeling him so close, surrounding her, enveloping her. She only wished he was willing to stay.
Away from the political intrigues of Regalis, Empress Isabella Montros relished the privacy of the Montros estate on Revenna. It was the family's largest holding outside of Aldorus, consisting of thousands of acres of remote, wooded hills.
House Montros, like the other Five Families, traced its bloodline all the way back to one of the captains of the original sleeper ships. Over the ensuing centuries, while the other houses grew wealthy through acquisitions in various important sectors of society, the Montros family married into the other houses instead, forming alliances by blood.
As the wife of the reigning emperor, Isabella expected her children to continue the tradition, whether they liked it or not.
Emerging from her private bath at the Revenna estate, Isabella wore a white taffeta gown lined with accents dyed green and interwoven with encrusted jewels. She found three of her courtiers waiting in the salon. Each consort was a young man in his early twenties, dressed in sleeveless tunics exposing their muscular arms. The empress preferred to keep men like them around. They were both pleasing to the eye and handy if a jar needed opening.
One of them, a boy whose name she had forgotten, informed Isabella that her children had arrived and were waiting for her in the music room.
With her three escorts, the empress followed a long breezeway from her quarters to the main structure of the palace. When she entered the Rococo-styled music room, her children were huddled in a group near the piano. Two others, Alexander's bodyguard and Lady Sophia, were with them.
"Yoo-hoo, children!" Isabella trilled.
Princess Katherine, her mother noticed, was frowning already, but at least Alexander seemed to be in good spirits. Considering his son's lifestyle, Isabella was not surprised.
"Hello, Mother," Katherine said. "I'm here as you demanded."
"And so cheerful, too!" her mother replied. Turning to her three consorts, she said, "Why don't you boys run along and I'll meet you in the garden later?"
"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison and left through a pair of French doors.
"Such nice boys," Isabella said.
"Mother!" Katherine protested.
"Oh, hush," the empress said. "I'm married, not dead."
"What about Daddy?"
"Don't be such a drama queen, child," Isabella said. "It's just another benefit of an arranged marriage."
"I think it's awful!"
"Honestly, I didn't realize I raised such a prude. I'm surprised Lady Sophia hasn't taught you more about the ways of the world..."
"I assure you, Your Majesty," Sophia said, "I've only taught her all my bad habits."
"I don't want any part in your marriage schemes," Katherine said. "I'm not a commodity to be bought and sold."
"Certainly, dear," the empress replied, "but things are often more complicated than they seem. You'll understand better when you're older."
"Richard was right about one thing," Katherine said, pointing at herself, "I'm not a kid anymore! I know what I want and I don't need anyone telling me what to do!"
Her mother smiled in resignation.
"Alright, sweetheart," Isabella said. "We can talk about it later."
"But I want to talk about it—"
"May I make a suggestion?" Lady Sophia asked.
"What is it, dear?" Isabella replied.
"Perhaps we could go on a sightseeing trip to relax everyone," Sophia said. "Princess Katherine mentioned visiting the Glitter Fields from her trips here as a child. Perhaps we could take the Victoria and see them again?"
The empress clapped her hands in delight.
"That's a marvelou
s idea!" she said.
"I haven't seen those in years..." Alexander admitted.
"Why don't you go too, Alexander?" his mother suggested.
"Sure, why not?" he replied.
Katherine scowled at him. "Because I hate you."
"All the more reason!" Alexander said.
The princess stomped her foot.
"Go if you must," she said, "but we're not waiting for you this time!"
Katherine and Lady Sophia left the music room through another pair of doors. Once they were gone, Isabella touched her middle child on the arm.
"I'm glad you came," she said.
"To be honest," Alexander said, "it was Richard's idea."
"You should listen to your brother more often," Isabella said. "He truly means well."
"He worries too much about appearances."
Growing serious, his mother said, "Perhaps you should, too. There's no shortage of enemies, Alexander."
"Don't worry, Mother," Alexander said, smiling, "I'll protect you."
"Perhaps," she said, "but who will protect you?"
Chapter Twelve
On Eudora Prime, Technotown offered everything a tinker could want, whether she was willing to pay for it or not.
The eight blocks along Emporia Street assaulted a person's eyes with electronic signs, three stories high, bleeding digital words and images from the roof down to the sidewalk. People, predominantly humans, wandered along, lost in the avalanche of chaotic advertising. Nobles and commoners alike carried bags from whatever store had successfully sucked them in and spat them out again. A few were unaware exactly what they had bought.
Melinda Freck, who everyone called Mel, popped out the doorway of a store specializing in starship parts. Only three feet tall, Mel could barely carry the bulky satchel under her arm as she looked down the busy sidewalk. From a race called the Gnomi, Mel had pointed ears that poked through her light, pink hair. It was a cruel coincidence that the name of her species resembled one from ancient Earth lore, leading to jokes about little red hats and tiny shoes.
The Arks of Andromeda (The Imperium Chronicles Book 1) Page 11