by Speer, Flora
“If you have no other messages for anyone at Capital,” Jyrit said to Elyr, “then we will return your ship and its crew to you, with the suggestion that you train those men better before sending them out into space again. We intend to leave the Regulan Sector in two hours.” Jyrit paused, but Elyr said nothing more. At a nod from Jyrit, the communications officer closed the video link with Regula.
“Mother, you were wonderful,” Halvo said, laughing. “What a marvelous example of diplomatic double-talk. Elyr won’t dare to harm Thori now.”
“Let us hope not.” Kalina looked at Perri. “Thank you for suggesting that Thori will need protection from her scheming husband, since he has achieved his goal and does not need her anymore.”
“It was your idea to include Cynri in the warning,” Perri said, adding, “though I do not seriously think Elyr would harm his own mother.”
“You never can tell with Regulan men,” Kalina said. “They cannot be trusted.”
“How well I know that. Lady Kalina, I hope you believe my story now.”
“What I believe or do not believe does not matter,” Kalina said. “The fact remains that you did, by your own admission, deliberately and willfully abduct my son, and for that crime you must face trial on Capital. What happens to you then will be up to Leader Almaric.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Perri had never seen a city as magnificent as Capital, nor a house quite like the one where Kalina and Leader Almaric lived. With the Krontar docked at the orbiting spaceport high above the planet, Kalina, Halvo, Perri, Captain Jyrit, Lieutenant Dysia, and a still deactivated Rolli had all boarded a shuttlecraft, which Halvo then piloted to a landing spot in a park that faced the Leader’s house.
“As soon as he became Leader of the Jurisdiction, Almaric insisted on having a more convenient place to land than the main city strip,” Kalina said. “This does save time, and since we had these trees and bushes planted, the view remains an agreeable one. As you see, we can walk to the house.”
The instant they stepped off the shuttlecraft they were surrounded by Service guards. Two of them carried Rolli, while two more walked on either side of Perri.
The house to which they went presented a pale stone face, with stone steps leading up to the wide entrance. Once inside they paused only briefly in the stone floored entry hall before their group was ushered down a corridor to closed double doors of black wood that had a swirling design carved into them. In the design Perri recognized many of the symbols of the various Member worlds of the Jurisdiction, including the Sign of Regula, the familiar spiral. Two of the guards flung open the doors, and Kalina led everyone into the room beyond.
It was an office, with dark, paneled walls and shelves that held audio and video records. Even a few antique books had their places on those shelves. There was a green-and-red carpet on the red stone floor, a couch and several chairs grouped for easy conversation, and a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto a stone terrace and the garden at the back of the house. A bowl of fruit, a thermal qahf jug, and a plate containing pastries sat together on a table.
Perri glanced around quickly, taking in those simple domestic objects before her eyes were drawn to the wide desk at one end of the room. A man sat at the desk, his head bowed over his work. Perri needed no introduction to recognize him. The Leader of the Jurisdiction looked up as Kalina entered.
“My dearest! Welcome home. I am happy to see that you are here at least an hour earlier than I expected.” The man rose and came around the desk to Kalina. They went into each other’s arms for a long, tender kiss.
“You are too thin, Almaric,” Kalina said. “Every time I go away, you lose weight.”
“Now that you are with me once more I expect to regain all of it.” Almaric’s attention moved from his wife to his son. He opened his arms. “Halvo, my boy, I feared I would never see you again.”
As the two men embraced, Perri noticed Kalina brushing at her eyes.
“Captain Jyrit, welcome and thank you for all of your help,” Almaric said, gripping Jyrit’s hand. “And you, too, Lieutenant Dysia. It’s good to see you again.”
Then all the pleasant warmth left Almaric’s face. The look he gave Perri was icy enough to freeze the blood in her every vein. “I need not ask who you are.”
Perri regretted that icy look. Almaric so closely resembled his younger son, Tarik, that Perri had at once experienced a rush of friendly emotion toward him. Like Tarik, Almaric was tall and slim, though the father’s once-dark hair was almost completely silver, and his sharp-featured face was lined. His eyes were a lighter shade of blue than Tarik’s and cold when they looked at Perri. So very cold. With a chill in her heart, Perri saw that Almaric might never forgive her for abducting the beloved son of whom he was so proud.
It was Halvo who saved Perri from collapse in the face of his father’s coldness. Halvo put an arm around her and drew her against his side. With a question forming in his icy-blue eyes, Almaric regarded his older son.
“This is Perri.” Halvo’s tone of voice made it clear that she was important to him. “She and I have an amazing story to tell you.”
“Indeed?” Almaric’s lips barely moved when he spoke.
“Captain Jyrit, Lieutenant Dysia, and my own mother are witnesses to much of the tale,” Halvo said. “We also bring news from Regula.”
“Unless you have been in direct contact with Regula during the last day or two, I expect the news I have of that benighted planet is more recent than yours. I shall wait to reveal what I know of Regula until after I have heard all you can tell me of your adventures. After listening to your story, I am sure what has happened on Regula will hold greater meaning for me, allowing me to interpret events more accurately.” Almaric gestured toward the grouping of couch and chairs. “Please be seated.”
All of them did as he ordered, except Perri, who hung back. Going to where the guards had set Rolli down before departing, she laid a hand on the robot’s shoulder.
“I want Rolli reactivated,” she said to Halvo. “Rolli is a witness, too.”
“I will decide when that thing should speak,” Almaric said.
“Father,” Halvo said in a voice that suggested to Perri the beginning of a dispute.
“Actually, Almaric, my dear,” Kalina said, breaking into the tension between father and son, “Perri is correct in this instance. I also suggest that the robot be included in our discussion.”
“I see.” Almaric let them wait for a minute or two while he pondered his decision. “Very well, Kalina, I will accede to your request. Let the robot be activated. No, Perri. Take your hands away from it. Halvo will do it.”
“As you wish, Leader Almaric.” Perri sat down in the chair Kalina indicated to her.
“Admiral,” Rolli said, blue eyelights scanning the room, “where are we now?”
Halvo explained, introducing those members of their company whom Rolli did not know.
“I ought to be the one to begin this story,” Halvo said, taking the chair next to Perri. “As you know, Father, I was returning to Capital from the hospital planet where I had been recovering for a year. It is difficult for me to remember now just how bored, how listless and weary of life I was after months of a strict schedule of intensive therapy.”
“You had the very best of care,” Almaric said with some irritation.
“I know I did, and I thank you for arranging it,” Halvo said. “It is not your fault that I could not deal with what my life had become or with the future I knew I would face once I reached Capital. When the Krontar was hailed by a tiny pirate ship and a robot’s voice declared that a meeting with me was desired, my curiosity was aroused. It was the first time since I was wounded that I had felt any spark of interest in what was happening around me.
“I want to make it very plain,” Halvo said, “that nothing that followed was in any way the fault of Captain Jyrit or of any member of his crew. I was repeatedly warned against meeting with anyone from the pirate shi
p and warned again about the possible danger in boarding it.”
With Halvo suggesting when each of them should speak, the others told their respective versions of the story roughly in chronological order. When Halvo produced the specimen capsule containing the device that had been intended to make Rolli destroy the Space Dragon, Almaric took it with an angry exclamation.
“This is damning evidence,” Almaric said, “though it may prove to be irrelevant.”
“I don’t see how that can be,” Kalina said.
“When the tale is done, I do not doubt that you will all understand.” Almaric looked at his wife. “Tell us now about your first visit to Regula.”
Not having heard that part of the story, Perri listened to Kalina with great interest. She was aware that Leader Almaric’s eyes were often fixed on her face, and she feared he was agreeing with every unkind thing the Regulans had said about her.
Though when it was his turn to speak again Halvo repeatedly pointed out that Perri had been little more than an unknowing pawn in the schemes of Elyr and the Chief Hierarch. Perri did not think Almaric was impressed by that argument, not even when Rolli also attested to Perri’s ignorance of any intrigue and spoke of Perri’s simple and perfectly natural desire to help her betrothed. Rolli spoke eloquently of Perri’s hurt and her rage at Elyr’s betrayal.
Rolli then went on to mention the subservient position of women in Regulan society. At that point Almaric appeared to be having some difficulty in controlling an impulse to laugh. Perri thought his reaction was probably caused by the fact that she was no longer a typical Regulan woman, which the shrewd Almaric must have noticed. During the course of her adventures with Halvo she had changed until she was anything but subservient. And she was certainly not passive either. Recalling her last night with Halvo aboard the Krontar, Perri was forced to admit that on Regula she would no longer be considered a woman of acceptable temperament.
When at last they all fell silent, their story told, Almaric looked from one to the other. The gleam in his eyes reminded Perri once again of Tarik. In her brief acquaintance with Tarik, he had often had the appearance of a man who was hiding a delicious joke that he could scarcely wait to reveal.
“Will you accuse Elyr of abetting pirates?” Jyrit asked Almaric.
“I do not believe it will be necessary to do so,” Almaric said.
Perri could tell he was teasing them. His humorous gaze even included her.
“But, sir,” Jyrit protested, “those cursed Regulans dared to have an Admiral of the Fleet kidnapped! An example must be set or the crime could be repeated, if not by the Regulans, then by some other Race. Not all the Members of the Jurisdiction are entirely law-abiding Races.”
“Captain Jyrit makes an excellent point,” Kalina said with a smile for her Jugarian friend.
“I do not want a war, Kalina. This present peace was too hard won,” Almaric said. “If we accuse the Regulans or attack them, their trading partners, the Cetans, are sure to join the dispute, and where will our peace treaty with Ceta be then?”
“I was thinking more of strict economic sanctions,” Kalina said.
“Such restrictions would greatly anger the Regulan merchants,” Almaric said. “Every one of them would be furious with the Hierarchy for bringing Jurisdiction sanctions down on them. You know how the Regulans are. There would be intrigue upon intrigue upon intrigue. I have no desire to cause any difficulty for the present Hierarchy.” Almaric paused, his face a remarkable study in laughter and the attempt to prevent it.
“I think,” Kalina said, looking into his eyes, “that you ought to reveal to us exactly what the latest news from Regula is.”
“How perceptive you are, my dearest,” Almaric murmured. “How could I possibly lead the Jurisdiction without you by my side?”
“Almaric.” Kalina tried to look stern, though love for her husband was written clearly on her face for everyone in the room to see. “Speak before I strangle you.”
“When Elyr made himself Chief Hierarch,” Almaric said, “the other six Hierarchs were greatly displeased by his presumption. They immediately fell to squabbling among themselves about how best to remove him.”
“I am not surprised to hear it,” Kalina said. “Are you telling us that Elyr has been deposed?”
“He has,” Almaric said, “but not by the other Hierarchs. They were too busy devising intrigues against each other to form a coalition strong enough to remove Elyr.”
“Then who did remove him?” Kalina asked.
“His mother and his wife,” Almaric said. Laughter threatened to overwhelm him, but he swallowed hard and kept his composure.
“What?” Kalina’s jaw actually dropped open at that piece of news.
“Thori and Cynri?” Perri said. “Those quiet, peaceable women who would never dare raise their voices to any man?”
“They claimed to me that they were inspired by Kalina’s example,” Almaric said.
“I knew it!” Halvo burst into laughter. “Perri, didn’t I tell you once that, if ever my mother went to Regula, she would turn the planet upside down?”
“I did nothing of the kind.” Kalina sent a quelling look toward her laughing son before turning to Almaric again. “I assure you I was the very model of diplomatic propriety during my visit to Regula.”
“Sir,” Jyrit said before anyone could dispute Kalina’s somewhat exaggerated claim, “may we assume from what you have said that Elyr was dispatched once he was removed from office?”
“Not at all,” Almaric said. “Elyr is currently under house arrest, held there by Thori’s authority. Thori says she will decide later what to do with him, but she suggested that she may keep him alive, since she wants to have a daughter and Cynri has expressed a wish to be a grandmother.”
“How can Thori bear to lie down with Elyr after he killed her father?” Perri cried.
“It seems that Elyr lost his nerve and neglected to kill the former Chief Hierarch,” Almaric said. “Elyr only imprisoned his father-in-law, and in prison the man will stay since, like Elyr, he is now accused of dealing with pirates.”
While they all digested the unexpected news, Dysia spoke. “If the women are determined to pay the men back for past injustices, then I cannot think the Regulans will be any better off under female rule. They will simply reverse the situation instead of improving it.”
“Apparently, Cynri takes the same point of view,” Almaric said. “According to the report she made directly to me, she intends to keep a hierarchal system of government in place. Cynri herself has been installed as the new Chief Hierarch. In her capacity as head of the Regulan government, Cynri has made a profound apology for the previous government’s involvement in the kidnapping of Halvo.
“She has also offered an explanation of the motive behind your kidnapping that accords with what you have deduced,” Almaric said to Halvo. “According to Cynri, the old Chief Hierarch and his pirate friends were making so much profit from their illegal activities that they could not risk having the flow of money cut off if Halvo should decide to continue his crusade against the pirates. Whether you were healthy and commanding a warship, Halvo, or here at Capital where you could influence me to act against them, you represented a threat to pirates and Chief Hierarch alike.”
“So,” Halvo said, “greed was the ultimate reason for this intrigue. What reprisals will be made against Regula?”
“I consider myself a civilized man,” Almaric said, “and I try to run a civilized government. Therefore, I will not call for vengeance. I assured Cynri that I believe her assertions about the great changes currently taking place on Regula. Of the six Lesser Hierarchs recently installed, three are women and three men. At Cynri’s insistence, Thori is one of the female Hierarchs. Furthermore, Regulan women have at last been given equal citizenship with men, though I personally believe it will take many years for them to learn how to cope with their new freedoms – and their new responsibilities.”
“The Jurisdiction could he
lp them learn to be fair to both men and women,” Kalina said.
“I have already offered our help, and Cynri has accepted.” Almaric smiled at his wife. “I am so proud of you, my dear. These changes on Regula represent yet another diplomatic triumph to your credit.”
Almaric looked around at his audience before continuing. “Captain Jyrit, I have a new assignment for you. The Regulans have requested our assistance in dealing with the problem of those pirates who are lurking in their sector. A certain Captain Mirar particularly asked that you be sent to help. I gather that he holds you in high respect. I know you are overdue for leave, but would you have any objection to postponing your time off so you can return to Regula for a while?”
“No, sir.” Jyrit’s antennae were a bright and startling shade of orange. “I would be delighted.”
“Despite the fact that he wounded you, Jyrit,” Halvo said, “Captain Mirar impressed me as an honest man. Perhaps not all Regulan males are addicted to intrigue.”
“An interesting possibility,” Jyrit said. “It would mean there is hope for the future of Regula.”
“As for you, Lieutenant Dysia,” Almaric continued, his eyes dancing with amusement, ”several days ago, I received a recommendation from your commanding officer, citing your exemplary service during a time of peril. I am happy to approve Captain Jyrit’s commendation of you and to promote you to the rank of lieutenant commander.”
“Thank you, sir.” Dysia looked from Almaric to Jyrit.
“No thanks are needed,” Jyrit said. “You have earned your promotion.”
“Well, Halvo,” Almaric said, turning to his son, “the next question is, what to do with you? For administrative reasons it was necessary to place someone else in the position being held for you. However, posts here at Capital do open up with some frequency.”
“Of course they do.” Halvo interrupted his father with sudden, barely controlled anger. “Since most of those administrative positions are held by Service personnel who are too old, or who have been too badly injured to remain on active duty, we can’t expect them to live very long, can we?”