Slave Ship

by neetha Napew

  A few Standard Time Parts later, the pilot of the personal transport was skimming the craft over the densely forested land masses of the planet Kuat. For Kuat of Kuat, looking out at the green organic material was less pleasing than contemplating the hard, cold shapes of laser-welded durasteel in the Kuat Drive Yards construction docks.

  One of the junior members of the Kuhlvult clan, barely having achieved adult status, had come out to meet Kuat's personal transport." There are those among us," said Kodir of Kuhlvult," who will be glad to see you." Her movements in the formal robes, as she led the way to the ruling households' gathering

  hall, were more graceful than Kuat's could ever have been." Not everyone is happy with the Knylenns' agenda for this meeting."

  " Really?" As he walked beside her, Kuat searched the young woman's face for some clue as to her intent." And why would that be?"

  Kodir's smile was more sly than friendly." We know how the Kuat household runs Kuat Drive Yards; your family has kept this world one of the richest in the galaxy for generations. It did so under the old Republic, and it continues to do so under Emperor Palpatine. Such skill deserves its own reward; that was why the Inheritance Exemption was passed by the other households so long ago." She tilted her head, eyes lowered in respect." And that is why some of us would wish to keep it that way."

  In silence, Kuat walked on beside the young woman; his head of security trailed a few steps behind. The Exemption, mused Kuat. That's what it all comes down to. It had, for a long time.

  The wise among the ruling households, as Kodir of Kuhlvult had indicated, wished to keep the Inheritance Exemption. The ambitious, such as the Knylenns, wished to eliminate it; the Exemption was what kept them from achieving supremacy among all the ruling households, and from taking control of Kuat Drive Yards, this world's preeminent source of wealth.

  Alone among the planet Kuat's ruling households, the lineage of the Kuat family was the only one that was passed down from parent to child by direct genetic inheritance; that was the sole intent and effect of the Exemption. For all the other households, a strict disruption in the genetic chain prevailed: the heirs of the ruling households were not the children of the current adult members, but rather of the telbuns that were chosen to perpetuate the line. Unfortunately, such an arrangement had begun to show its faults when telbuns, chosen more for their physical beauty rather than the high intelligence and other favorable genetic factors that would produce the engineering and corporate leadership skills needed to run Kuat Drive Yards, had threatened to take the corporation into bankruptcy through their incompetence. Thus the Inheritance Exemption that effectively kept the Kuat bloodline, with its innate tendencies necessary for the success of the business, in charge. The Inheritance Exemption, as Kuat of Kuat well knew, had the additional benefit of checking the viciously squabbling ambitions of the ruling households, and keeping any of the world's nobles from conspiring and murdering to place an actual son or daughter at the head of Kuat Drive Yards.

  If only, thought Kuat of Kuat, that was the end of the matter. And the end of ambition and conspiracy. It hadn't been; the Knylenns had long chafed under the limit that had been placed on their household's ability to rise to the absolute top of their world's power structure. The Knylenns had been the most aggressive about circumventing the restrictions, by choosing their telbuns from a limited pool of candidates. Rumors abounded in the other households that some of the Knylenn telbuns were in fact the children of the already existing Knylenn adults, born in secret offworld locations and smuggled back to the planet Kuat, infant princes in disguise. Certainly, over the last few generations, the physical resemblance between the Knylenns and their appointed heirs had grown suspiciously close.

  Whereas this heir to the Kuhlvult clan, walking next to Kuat of Kuat, had obviously been chosen for her beauty and her lean-muscled, athletic grace-he had to exert himself to keep up with the long strides that billowed her formal robes out behind her. She had obviously come into her inheritance only recently; Kuat remembered having heard, most likely in a report from his security head, that one of the Kuhlvult Elders had recently died and his heir had assumed that preeminent rank in the household. Kuat was grateful that whatever the reason had been for her parent's initial selection as a telbun-the Kuhlvults had long been notorious for its weakness for attractive faces-the result had been the elevation of someone with enough intelligence to see through the Knylenns' schemes.

  Whether that would be enough-and whether there was a sufficient number like this Kodir of Kuhlvult in the other households-remained to be seen. Kuat strode on toward the meeting place, concealing his own grim apprehensions about what was to come.

  Fortunately, none of the Knylenns or their associates made any objection to Kuat of Kuat's security head attending the gathering of the ruling households. It would have been a bad move strategically, to have started off the gathering with an officious reference to the tradition-bound codes that governed the families' interactions. Better, thought Kuat, to at least pretend that we're all friends-for the moment. And let the Knylenns suffer the consequences of the first hostile move.

  " Kuat, your presence is appreciated."

  The voice was familiar to him, from the last time he had left the productive sanctuary of Kuat Drive Yards in order to return to the homeworld. He turned and gave a nod of recognition." I understand," said Kuat," that we have much to talk about."

  " True." The hatchet-sharp face of Khoss of Knylenn showed a thin-lipped, humorless smile. The formal robes hung easily on his frame; they were obviously his preferred garb." I hope you. . . enjoy hearing the words of your equals." He gestured toward the head of security standing just behind Kuat." I know how tedious it can be, surrounded only by underlings and their too-often flattering but misleading voices."

  A roseate, shadowless glow suffused over the robed figures-more than two score of them, the largest number of ruling household members that Kuat had ever seen gathered together-as the perfect opalescent dome diffused the sunlight outside. In that gentle illumination, even the most withered and cronelike Elders, of either sex, appeared as benign, attractive creatures. The younger ones and the appointed telbuns seemed to be almost godlike in their preening splendor. It had been inevitable that such lying arts, enhancement to the point of deception, would have evolved to such a degree on the planet of Kuat. The revenues from the ship-building industry of Kuat Drive Yards, preeminent supplier of military vessels to the Empire, enabled the ruling households to concentrate on all that they considered most important: the gloss of surfaces, the mechanics of deceit. Kuat of Kuat wondered why any of them would consider overturning the financial arrangements of such a system merely to fuel the Knylenns' ambitions.

  " I don't," said Kuat," surround myself with flatterers. When it comes to engineering, it's better to hear the truth, no matter how unpleasant. If a ship being built has a stress fault that will cause it to implode at full thruster force, I would rather know before a client such as Emperor Palpatine has a chance to find out."

  " Ah." Khoss nodded in feigned appreciation." Very wise. As you value the truth, then I'm sure you'll find our meeting today to be very rewarding." He turned away, his formal robes swirling at the heels of his boots. A phalanx of younger Knylenns and their telbuns turned their smug gazes upon Kuat before following after their kinsman.

  " You realize, of course, that he hates your guts." Kodir of Kuhlvult leaned her head close to Kuat's while keeping an eye on the Knylenns striding away." I don't think I'm surprising you with that information."

  " He's always hated every Kuat family member." Kuat shrugged." That's his own legacy from his predecessors. And it's why I'm pretty sure that the Knylenns have been circumventing the inheritance restrictions. You can't learn that kind of hatred; you have to be born with it, right in your genetic material."

  Before Kodir could reply, Kuat's security head gave him a discreet nudge." Here comes the Knylenn Elder. The party's about to start."

  The light fil
tering into the pearllike dome shifted in color. A flock of wind-orchids, the rootless semi-vegetative denizens of Kuat's deepest forests, had drifted across the convex exterior of the dome; their rich hues of violet and azure fell across the forms of the ruling household members like a soft optic rain. The air currents outside lifted the wind-orchids and sent them slowly tumbling away; the warmth of the blurred sunlight reentered the dome.

  Kuat of Kuat saw a flurry of activity at the other side of the gently illuminated space. The crowd parted way before something larger than a mere human figure.

  " That's the life-support system I was telling you about," said Kuat's security head." It wasn't just the functional parts that made it expensive; they had to decorate it."

  A vertically oriented cylinder was surmounted with the grey-bearded visage of the Knylenn Elder; his snow-white hair, braided into two thick ropes, looped over the shoulders of the segmented metal encasing his arms. A trembling palsy shook the vein-gnarled hands left bare, restrained by flexible straps from tripping any of the controls and gauges studding the exterior of the system's casing. Bright red arterial blood percolated through a network of tubes and oxygenating devices; above the tank treads that moved the portable system forward, patches of condensed moisture indicated the cryo-storage bins, with their valuable soft-tissue contents inside.

  The Elder's age-yellowed gaze scanned the gathering's faces, the eye muscles twitching in their wrinkled sockets. At last, the Elder fastened upon Kuat of Kuat, standing several meters distant.

  " Are you. . . surprised, Kuat?" The voice emerged from the amplified speaker at the front of the portable life-support system, a few gasping syllables at a time." That I've. . . lived so. . . long?"

  Kuat walked forward and stood before the Knylenn Elder, gazing up at the face elevated by the machinery that had consumed the aged body." Nothing you do surprises me." He could hear the gurgle and hiss of the life-support system's various components, the fluids moving constantly between sterilized metal and flesh arrested in its slow decay." When I was but a child, and you already in the prime of your manhood, you swore before our biological mothers that you would outlive me." He smiled politely up at the Elder." You might make it yet."

  The laugh that grated from the speaker sounded like sheets of corrugated durasteel grinding against each other." With your. . . help, Kuat. As you. . . shall see. . .

  Spittle had flecked the side of the Knylenn Elder's face, and shone damply in the tangles of the beard draped across the metal collar encasing the wattles of his throat. The younger Khoss of Knylenn mounted a built-in step at the side of the life-support system and reached up with a silken cloth, dabbing away the wetness as tenderly as if the old kinsman were made of crumpled paper. From his perch on the gurgling machinery, Khoss looked down at Kuat of Kuat. A spark of simmering contempt showed in Khoss's eyes.

  Kuat turned away from the Knylenns. A single nod was all the communication that he needed to exchange with Fenald.

  " Nobles of this world! My fellow kinsmen!" Khoss had not dismounted from the side of the Knylenn Elder's life-support system, but instead had climbed onto the flat area just behind the upright cylinder. The slight effort had brought an excited flush to his face; he steadied himself by reaching down and placing both his hands upon the metal-sheathed shoulders of the Elder he stood behind. The Elder's white braids were draped at the level of Khoss's knees." I beg your indulgence-but urgent matters have brought us together at this time!" His voice rang against the glowing limits of the dome." The very future of the world that we share among us; that future lies in jeopardy!"

  The overt theatricality in display offended Kuat of Kuat. He shook his head in distaste, a gesture that was noticed by Kodir standing next to him.

  " You're right," she said." They've all rehearsed their parts. Just look at them."

  In the gathering place's opalescent light, the Knylenns and their affiliates had taken up positions on either side of the Knylenn Elder. With their telbuns, they constituted an obvious majority of those present,

  the weight of the ruling households' authority manifested by the confident, even smug expressions on their faces. They stood, male and female alike, with their arms folded across the embroidered fronts of their formal robes, their booted feet spread apart as though they had been transformed into warriors.

  " That's handy," Kuat of Kuat remarked dryly to his head of security." Now at least we know exactly what we're up against."

  Kodir of Kuhlvult laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke close to his ear, turning her own back on the massed figures." The Knylenns have been sending out their emissaries and negotiating teams to the other households for a while now. In fact, ever since Emperor Palpatine dismantled the old Republic. That was when Khoss of Knylenn decided the galaxy's politics had changed enough for him to make his move."

  " I see." Her words didn't surprise Kuat; he'd already had his own Kuat Drive Yards intelligence teams report the Knylenns' maneuverings to him. The shift in the power structure among the inhabited worlds, the rise of the Empire and Palpatine's concentration of authority in his own hands, had had inevitable consequences in every council hall and parliament scattered among the stars. At the last gathering of the planet Kuat's ruling households, Khoss of Knylenn had tried to whip up a rebellion against the Kuat bloodline and their administration of the Kuat Drive Yards business. The accusation had been that Kuat of Kuat had shown a disastrous favoritism toward the Rebel Alliance by keeping Kuat Drive Yards out of any involvement with the construction of the Empire's new Death Star weapon.

  There had been other military contracting firms, on other worlds, that had reaped both the Emperor's favor and the huge profits that had come with building the Death Star; Kuat of Kuat had been aware that Palpatine himself had commented-with malign suspicion-about the reasons for Kuat Drive Yards not even bidding on the smallest part of the project. Palpatine's misgivings had been soothed away by the simple expedient of Kuat Drive Yards absorbing an unplanned cost overrun, by Kuat of Kuat's personal orders, on the design change orders for an operational wing of a half-dozen new Imperial battle cruisers. That had cut deeply into the corporation's profits for the fiscal quarter, but it had also maintained Kuat Drive Yards' inside relationship with the Empire.

  Only later, when the Death Star had turned out to be something less than invulnerable-after the Battle of Yavin, the Imperial admirals' ultimate weapon had been little more than smoldering scraps floating in the vacuum of space-had Kuat's enemies among the ruling households been forced to acknowledge his wisdom. Kuat Drive Yards' preeminent position among the Empire's military contractors was even more secure now, with Emperor Palpatine placing greater trust in Kuat of Kuat's engineering expertise. Whatever plans the Knylenns might have had for taking over the administration of Kuat Drive Yards were put on hold-until now.

  Which raised a single question in Kuat of Kuat's mind. Why now? he wondered as he looked at Khoss of Knylenn, perched on top of the Knylenn Elder's portable life-support system. What had changed? Some element in the delicate balancing act of power and ambition, either here or somewhere offworld, must have altered slightly, enough for Khoss and the rest of the Knylenn household to believe that they had another chance for realizing their goals. But nothing that had come to Kuat of Kuat through his own intelligence sources had alerted him to any new development. Either the long years of frustrated waiting had driven Khoss of Knylenn insane, or the usurpers and their affiliates had developed contacts and espionage networks that exceeded Kuat's own. The latter possibility bordered on paranoia, but inevitably so for someone in a position such as that held by Kuat, where sheer information dictated one's survival. What do they know? His gaze narrowed as he watched Khoss and the rest of the Knylenns. Or worse-what do they know that I don't?

  Those questions were soon to be answered. Khoss of Knylenn gestured with an outflung arm, silencing the murmuring hubbub from the crowd assembled around him. His hand lowered again toward the shoulder of the ancient, withe
red figure embraced by the life-support system's machinery." Let the Elder speak!" Khoss's shout rang against the glowing limits of the gathering space." Listen to what he has to say!"

  On either side of the life-support system's segmented treads, the Knylenns and their affiliates turned their respectful faces up toward the Elder.

  " This ought to be good," muttered Kodir of Kuhlvult, standing next to Kuat. The sour expression on her face made her distaste for the proceedings evident.

  The eyes in the age-wrinkled face reminded Kuat of Emperor Palpatine's cold scrutiny. But the Emperor's eyes were at least animated by the deep, consuming appetite that existed behind them, the hunger for power over all the universe's sentient beings. By contrast, the Knylenn Elder's gaze was dulled beneath the accumulated layers of time, as though any remaining spark were clouded by dust and cobwebs.

  " Would that I were at rest. . ." The rheumatic voice crackled from the amplified speaker at the front of the cylinder. One corner of the Knylenn Elder's mouth pulled downward with each spoken syllable, the palsy showing a few yellowed teeth." Would that I were at rest forever. . . in the tomb of those who preceded me, for these many years. . . than that I should live to see such treachery. . ."

  " Hear him!" Khoss raised both hands from the Knylenn Elder's shoulders and held them wide above his own head." 'This is why we are gathered at this place!"

  " Treachery. . ." The Elder's voice continued, each word like gravel scraped across metal." When treason is committed. . . by those to whom much power has been given. . . in whom much trust has been placed. . . is greater treachery possible?"

  Another murmur sounded from the Knylenns and their affiliates, rising into quick, angry shouts.

  The last of Kuat's patience had been exhausted. Before either the Knylenn Elder or Khoss standing behind him could speak again, he strode forward." Don't waste my time with your cheap theatrics." Kuat of Kuat stood in front of the life-support system's massive durasteel prow, looking up at the faces of both the Knylenn Elder and Khoss of Knylenn." If you're referring to me, then say so. And if you have charges to make, then state them. Or am I expected to defend myself against nothing more than the hatred you've always shown toward my bloodline?"