The Sarran Senator

by A. C. Katt

  “We’ll take these. You rendered the design beautifully,” Tarin said when he turned to the jeweler with a red face.”

  ::I’m sorry, love, no public displays of affection on Sarran?::

  ::That’s not it…look down at my flight suit, with Nezier I had better control.::

  ::As I did with Mary. Fate is a bitch. I loved Mary with what I thought was my whole heart and she gave me Sara, but it’s only been a day and a half and you’re dug into my heart so deeply that I’d have to rip it beating out of my chest to leave you. Now I know how Sara felt about Mark and Juraens even though she was just coming out of the worst situation imaginable.::

  ::No, Sam, the worst situation imaginable would have been Mark and Juraens not getting to her and Michael on time to save their lives. You would have lost your femspring and her WarriorPair would have lost their bonded. But worst of all, I’d never have met you, that would have been a catastrophe of epic proportions. Everything happens for a reason. I’m firmly convinced of that. I know the Goddess doesn’t control our lives, but occasionally she gives us a nudge in the right direction.::

  ::I’m not so sure about the Goddess, but all the unattached Earthen fems will be at the hanger for the buffet and mixing in less than seven risings. If we want those glasses handmade, we better get moving. We also have a house to refurbish.:: Sam clapped Tarin on the back.

  They went to the glassblowers and ordered glass the color of the moontine sky with the faintest blue orb in the distance, circling a yellow star. The grove of Tierest trees started at the right and ran along the right bank with the wider part of the stream on the left—all laid out in perfectly rendered miniature.

  ::Maybe we’ll go on Brightstar with the next trade delegation and invest in some speculative goods. The more trade ties we have with Earth the easier it will be to make them see how much better off they would be with a world council. It could be a vacation for our fem. I have a premonition that she hasn’t been very many places.”

  “I had an idea about speculative goods—skis. You use them on your feet to travel great distances and down mountains in the snow. Skiing is a sport on Earth. Juraens says you have no such thing on Sarran. My esteemed offspring said it would be a way for those in the mountains to earn credits. All you’d need are lifts and marked trails.”

  “Do you know how to do this skiing?”

  “Yes, and I’m sure you can make your own pair of skis fashioned like mine,” Sam laughed, “and improve the design.”

  “I tend to think, as Syn says, out of the box. Bron does too. That’s why we’re good engineers.”

  “How old are you? I never asked.” Sam gazed into his lover’s eyes.

  “I’m forty-six cycles and you?”

  “Forty-seven, in a half-tide. We had Sara when I was twenty-one.

  “We’ll have to have everyone over to eat for your name day. We better get busy and hire the chefs. Name days are a big deal on Sarran. Let’s go to the Village Tavern and get our midtine meal.”

  “Sounds good. Tell me about name days.”

  “The day you’re born your birth Triad gives you a name. So your birthday is your name day and that calls for a celebration. We are all so starved for celebration. Until the Earthen fems came, life was not kind to the Sarrans. It made Bron and Zaron’s job much harder. Now we want to celebrate everything.” They arrived just as the tavern opened. The owner, Zag, greeted Tarin.

  “What will it be this rising, Tarin? I hear it’s Commander Duke Tarin, now.”

  Tarin smiled. “At your service. Is Manko in the kitchen?”

  “Yes, we have fresh borad, Commander.”

  “Tarin will do. We’ll have borad steaks, fried monc, and a red leaf salad with linset nut, red fruit, and sliced vallions, with a lagger, please. This is my bonded, Commander Duke Samuel Johnson, EarthClan.”

  “So, now we have two Earthen males on Sarran.”

  Tarin looked at Zag askance.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Zag continued, “I’m not complaining, rather the opposite. Our Maude came from Earth and she likes helping to serve here. It’s wonderful that she takes an interest in our enterprise. And Maude is pregnant with our first bebe. Welcome Samuel, and thank you for allowing use to woo your Earthen fem. From what I see from the holos, you will be worthy allies.” Zag went away with his pad.

  “What did we order?”

  “Tarin laughed. All Sarran food…monc you’ve had, it’s like your potatoes with more nutrition. The borad steaks are like large pork chops, they’ll fry them in solid cha, our form of butter, and give us a side of what you would call onions and mushrooms. The salad is self-explanatory and lagger is what you call ale. Now, we sit, wait for our midtine meal, and discuss the celebration.”

  “Is it really necessary?”

  “Yes, it has the dual purpose of celebrating your life and bringing our friends together in our new home. It will establish a feeling of family for Sara and Michael.”

  “I guess I can see that,” Sam said reluctantly. Birthdays weren’t his thing.

  “We’ll have Syn’s Triad, Anya’s Triad, Sara and her Warriors, Michael, Naffie, and the cats. I’ll have to fabricate tuna for Tigger. According to Jonal and Tonas, he loves the stuff. And after a rough start, Tonas and Tigger have come to a truce because they both love Anya and neither one of them could bear being parted from her.” Tarin chuckled.

  “Jonal told me Tonas will grumble about the cat hair,” Sam laughed, “but he volunteered to brush him. It probably has something to do with the fact that Tigger saved Anya and Tonas’ lives on the Brightstar’s first trip back.”

  ::How is the planetary web coming along?:: Sam was curious and a bit nervous that the Sarrans didn’t have a Star Wars system.

  ::It’s almost finished. The shield will not only warn of a breach, but it is designed to prevent one unless someone on planet allows access. It’s top secret. We don’t know if we have any spies left in our midst. We intend to put it up the dawntine of the mixing.::

  “If I were a Zyptz general, the mixing, if I knew about it, would be a perfect time to strike. All the Warriors and all the fems will be in the same place at the same time,” Sam speculated.

  “We have to do this grand mixing, but we need to make sure we’re protected. We’re testing it now. I hate that we need this space net,” Tarin said in disgust.

  “Most good Warriors hate war and try to fight it well so there aren’t any more wars to fight with the same enemy. You bought us thirty years. It’s up to the Sarrans and Earth to use the time wisely.”

  “Our ancestors have been fighting the Zyptz for ten thousand years and the archives say that the first ones fought them too. Next time we have to beat them back for good.” Tarin was adamant. “I can’t lose you the way I lost Nezier. You’ll be called upon to lead a fighting contingent on board one of the ships of the fleet.”

  “Who are the first ones? I’m unfamiliar with this particular legend.” Sam’s curiosity showed on his face.

  “It’s not a legend, my fox. Why do you think that with a minor adjustment, the Earthen can breed with Sarrans? Once the Sarran’s DNA exactly matched yours and then we fooled with genetics. The Clan Wars followed and the Goddess determined that Warriors would have to love one another first and share our fem. It used to be that one had to come from FireClan and one from LightClan, now, since the clan derives from the mother, we will all be united under the clan of Earth which is why the council is finally releasing the properties of WaterClan and AirClan to the deserving.”

  “Are the inhabitants of other planets in the galaxy also humanoid?” Sam asked pondering this.

  “The first ones went to space and found no intelligent life. They seeded all planets capable of supporting humanoid life. As they achieved certain levels of technology, most of them chose to drastically alter their genetics for purposes other than to cure disease. Mating with them would have lost Sarran the recessive genes for psy power. We paid a very high price for fooling with ou
r DNA to inherit that gene. The result was the lowering of the fem birthrate and the ClanWars. Now we mate in Triad. There are other planets besides Earth that have humanoid inhabitants, but they are not ready for first contact because they are barely out of their caves. Strictly, under Federation Rules, Earth was on the proscribed list because you had not achieved world government, but an exception was made because of the urgency of the Sarran’s plight. I think that the first ones deliberately seeded your planet in the backwater of the galaxy so it would be there when we needed it to fight the Zyptz,” Tarin speculated.

  “Why would the first ones think that on Earth we’d be such determined Warriors?”

  “Experience, the first ones had seeded planets for generations. Your geography and topography make the planet trend toward nation states. Sarran is a single land mass with a few coastal islands and marshes. The ocean surrounds the only continent. Our people developed early and cooperated early because they lived close and resources were distributed evenly among the Clans. On Earth, that was not the case. Our histories tell of first ones stranded on primitive worlds after their fight against the Zyptz. I think that the worlds on which they settled developed in a more constructive manner than the others did. They had guidance. The Earth had none.”

  Zag served the meal and Tarin cut into his borad. “Nicely done,” he told Zag as he chewed a piece of the juicy meat.

  “The geography of Earth dictated difficult trade routes. We all fell into a tribal psychology of constant competition, instead of embracing our common humanity. Physical barriers, like impenetrable mountains and large oceans, led to the rise of different languages when humanity was first born. I did a study of it at West Point.” Sam bit into his borad. “This is better than a pork chop.”

  “That’s because it’s not factory farmed. The borad fem provide us with dairy and the bull with meat. They are what you would call free range. Our shepherds gather the fem up to tap for cha, but they run over the fields as they will. They belong to no one. Getting back to politics…on Earth, weren’t there any visionaries who saw what a united world could bring?”

  “There were, but by the time they came, it had to be done by military conquest. Several times the ancients, Roman Caesars, Alexander the Great, even Genghis Khan almost united the known world, but they did it with savagery, or didn’t govern after the conquest, so the tribes rebelled and the unity never lasted long. And that was the known world in Europe, Africa, and Asia. There were three other continents the Europeans didn’t know about until just over five hundred years ago. There wasn’t a scintilla of hope that Earth would unite until we saw what the Zyptz could do.” Sam grimaced.

  “On Earth you created a Warrior Class similar to ours, only your Warriors aren’t united. They have twenty years to start working in tandem because the Zyptz will be back in thirty and we need to be ready or we’ll have to commit genocide by using Earthen DDT and the idea of genocide despite what the Zyptz have done to us is repugnant to Sarrans.” Tarin finished his lagger.

  “We have both been long-winded. Let’s teleport over to the Duchy. I think it might be a good idea to use some fabricated items so we can move in quickly and then gradually replace them with made,” Sam suggested.

  “I agree. Although we now have Soarer’s Nest, the council is going to want it back in the housing inventory to give to a deserving WarriorPair and their fem. It could be adapted to accommodate a fem. It’s as big as the gatehouse,” Tarin noted. “We also have to join the credit accounts. We can do the administrative work next rising. This rising we need to see what needs to be done at Falling Waters and hire chefs and prepare for the party.” They finished their meal and Tarin produced his comm unit for the tavern owner to deduct the credits.

  “I’ll split it with you,” Sam suggested.

  “Not necessary, as of next rising our accounts will be mixed, so it makes no difference who pays this rising. Besides the meal for both of us was only one-quarter credit.”

  Sam’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “But the coffee was a half-credit each.”

  “Remember what I said about import items. Everything we import has to be brought in by the fleet because they are no private light slips on Sarran. All space faring vessels are in the defense fleet. Even though we fabricate most of the ship, we need experienced crew. Sarran and the galaxy are better served with the Sarran on patrol than with Sarran off on trade missions. Space in the cargo hold is at a premium, so the import items come at cost. We visit trade worlds infrequently, mostly to discuss strategy for the Zyptz War. Earth is an exception because of the fems and the possibility of an alliance with true Warriors. The other worlds are not militarily inclined.”

  Sam was confused. “The cargo holds had enough room for all the things the fems brought from Earth.”

  “That was because the Warriors chose to forgo bringing their personal items on the ships so the fems would have room for their household goods. The Warriors live on the ships. They have household goods. They left room for the coffee, chocolate, and the cats and squeezed in Sara and Syn’s grocery list by using stasis,” Tarin said.

  “How do you know all of this?” Sam asked.

  “I work at Bron’s lab. We talk. I’m trying not to sound vain, but outside of Bron, I’m the best engineer on the planet.” Tarin shifted to mind voice. ::That’s why Bron and I worked together on the Sky Shield.::

  “I bonded with a luminary,” Sam chuckled.

  ::You were no slouch in your chosen endeavors. In the military you reached one of the highest ranks in your nation state:: Tarin’s mind voice filled Sam with warmth and pride.

  ::I could have gone further, but I wasn’t effecting the change I wished; so I decided to go into politics. I ran for the Senate and won partly because of name recognition from my exploits in the wars, certainly not on political expertise. As a matter of fact, everyone thought I was going to lose.:: Sam’s mind voice conveyed satisfaction that had Tarin grinning.

  ::Why did you leave? You could have effected more change as the leader of the most powerful nation state on the planet,:: Tarin asked.

  ::In the United States, change is not easy. You have to deal with a fractious Senate, a grid-locked house whose parties can’t agree among themselves much less with each other. You go into office with hope but you don’t get done much, or sometimes any, of what needs to be done. You need to be a real prick to move things along at anything other than a glacial pace.:: Sam sighed.

  ::I don’t understand. If that is the case, why did you want the job at all?::

  ::Because I had enough of an ego that I thought I could move things along in the direction I believed they should be going. Things changed. The plague hit and the Sarrans came. Sara needed me. Anyway, Morgan is truly better suited to uniting the Earth than I would have been and he has the advantage of not having to answer to the electorate or his own conscience.:: Then he spoke aloud.

  “What a good meal. The only thing it lacked was coffee,” Sam teased.

  “We’re going to have to invest some of our credits in imports to pay for your coffee habit,” Tarin said as he turned the tables on Sam.

  “You wait; you haven’t had hot chocolate yet. Then you’ll be clamoring for the import items too.”

  “Speaking of import items, we need to stop at the cobbler for your boots. Most of the officers of the fleet have Nathrian leather boots. That can be your name day present. We also need to see the tailor for flightsuits and formal trews. For everyday use, fabricated flight suits are fine, but for going out informally, you need a few flight suits that are made, to be well dressed. And all officers of the fleet have made trews for formal occasions.” Tarin pulled out his chair.

  “Let’s get going them. Time’s wasting. Where do we go to get a chef?” Sam stood, ready to leave.

  “We’ll stop at Bron’s on the way and ask for a recommendation. I lived very simply, but that can no longer be the case.” Tarin switched to mind voice, ::We’re going to have to entertain and be entertained
. Once we bond with our fem, with your expertise on Earthen affairs and my participation in the Sky Shield project, we’re headed for council. That’s another reason they gave us the Duchy and Falling Waters.::

  * * * *

  Chapter 7

  Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.

  —W. Somerset Maugham

  Duchy of ClanWater Mid Rising

  “I’m glad Bron knew that Tron and his bonded were looking for work and willing to come to cook and act as the general factotum,” Tarin said as he opened the door of Falling Waters.

  The grounds had been cleaned. Sam thought they had his offspring to thank for that. They must have done it right after the council meeting when he and Tarin had gone for coffee.

  They walked into the main reception area and found the area completely refurbished in their house colors of navy and silver with accents of emerald green. All though the house it was the same thing. Everything was done and it was all handmade. The chairs and dining table in the formal dining room were ancient and gilded in silver. The fabric was new: navy brocade with a satin finish. Silvered mirrors hung on the walls with beautiful inlays of green and navy semi-precious stones.

  “Look, my fox, the accent pieces match your eyes.” Tarin picked up a pillow.

  Sam and Tarin looked at each other in stupefaction. ::Who did this and when did they have the time? I wasn’t awarded the estate until last rising and no one knew you were coming until you boarded the Brightstar with Sara, even less so that we would bond.::

  They heard voices and turned around. It was Zaron and Bron. “You don’t think we would have awarded you an estate that you’d have to use all of your credits to refurbish, do you?” Bron asked.

  Sam was about to speak, Zaron held up his hand, “We did the same for your offspring. We’re grateful that Sara wishes to stay in the gatehouse to help Syn keep an eye on the boys until she delivers, but she and her bonded are going to want to move out on their own eventually and we are but a thought away at Castle Air.”