by David Winnie
A nearly imperceptible nod of her head acknowledged her ministers’ acclaim, and she pointedly removed the nullifier and handed it to a page. “I believe this is no longer necessary,” she said. Several councilmen looked stricken. Particularly the Justice Minister. His eyes bugged and his mouth gaped like a fish removed from the water. She reached out and touched his mind. The old fool believed he could block her by thinking of nursery rhymes and working math problems. His defenses were easily swept aside. They would stop an inferior. Not her. Especially not now. She found what she wanted. Pointing to him, Annika announced, “Arrest him. I shall forward the charges later. Contact my brother, Noire. He shall personally supervise the interrogation.”
She settled back on the chair. “There is a ceremony that occurs at this point, formally anointing me as the new Crown Princess. Given the nature of the current crisis, I propose we forego this tradition for now and get straightaway to work.” The Council voted. As Crown Princess, they would favor the future Khan with her wishes.
Tahn bowed. “Since we are no longer required, we shall take our leave of this hall and depart for our monastery in the morning.”
“What is the condition of the Regent?” asked Annika. A minister on her left stood.
“Health and Welfare, Crown Princess. I am in contact with the palace hospital. While grievously wounded, none of his injuries are life-threatening. He is through surgery now and recovering. He was shot in the chest, stomach and one arm by what was probably friendly fire.
“His lung was nicked and collapsed. His liver, stomach and intestines were all punctured or perforated. His right arm was shattered; the bone has been regenerated. Given his physiology and excellent health, I anticipate he will be able to return to his duties within two months.
“His distaste for Giza Palace is well known. The Empress has expressed she would like him to be fit to return to Argulea as soon as possible. I estimate he should be fit to travel in a week. In the interim, he has been moved to the Imperial Army Hospital in Thebes.”
Annika nodded assent. “Very well. Do whatever is required to return my uncle to health. Please express my regards for my uncle and tell my mother I will visit tomorrow.”
She changed the subject. “Casualty numbers from the attack?” she asked. The Defense Minister stood.
“Majesty,” he said, “General Teague has still not been located. General Han would have come himself, but he pointed out that it would be inappropriate to leave his post as Deputy Commander of Central Command with General Teague missing. As such, he has sent Colonel Forrester to give that report. Colonel?”
Colonel Forrester was a broad, heavy man with a thick, wide moustache. His accent was Terran Australian. “Ma’am. Overhead imagery showed the attendance at the Plaza was approximately two point three million beings. The enemy dropped forty-eight high explosives. They also fired nineteen hundred rounds of mid-range energy weapons. We have accounted for approximately one hundred thirty-seven thousand dead, including your family. An additional fifteen thousand are missing. We have sixty-five thousand injured that are requiring hospitalization. Fortunately, we have the Seventeenth Fleet available. They provided two hospital ships and supplemented our shuttle fleets. Casualties triaged as savable have been spread around the planet and are being treated now. There were, in addition, four hundred ninety-seven thousand who had minor injuries, were treated and sent home.”
The Council was silent. Nearly one hundred forty thousand dead. The number was unfathomable. However, Annika was trained not to be overwhelmed by numbers. “And the attackers, have they been tracked down and captured yet? Do we know who did this?” The Colonel swallowed and read his pad. He sighed and responded.
“Augmentons,” he intoned.
Augmentons. The bastard children of Terra’s genetics programs. Modified beings who used mechanical components to enhance themselves physically. The drawback was that the enhancements drove the augmentons insane. They were banned throughout not just the Empire, but throughout the quadrant as well.
General Han was keeping the raiders’ mother ship secret. Good. Until she and Noire, along with her loyal officers, could find all her enemies, she would withhold that information from the council.
The Prime Minister interrupted. “Crown Princess, it is getting late in the day. Might I suggest we adjourn to dinner and resume this meeting when there is more and better information available?”
Annika checked her chrono and swore. It was nearly supper! She had missed lunch with Yuri. “Yes, of course, adjourn the meeting,” she said as she hurried without ceremony out of the hall. Major Campion waited with four soldiers to escort her back to her suite, protection for the head of state.
“Out of uniform, aren’t we Major?” she asked him. “Still wearing Captain’s bars.”
He blushed, “One, I haven’t had time. Miss, er, Majesty. Two, the official order hasn’t come through Command. Three…”
“One and one only. You work for me now.” Annika was firm as she traversed the hall, encircled by her guards. “Get those oak leaves on, Major.”
Yuri was already in the suite. Supper was on the table, but he was at the window, watching. “They’ve already filled the morgues,” Yuri said, “Here, in Cairo and the surrounding areas. The army is setting up refrigerated cars and converting warehouses as quick as they can. It’s an impossible job, Annika. Some will be identified. Many will not.” She moved to him; he wrapped his arms around her. They watched the search for bodies in the Plaza for a time until Dohlman appeared and cleared his throat.
“Majesty, Sir, your supper will be best if you eat it before it gets cold.” He watched them silently until they relented and sat to eat. Then he closed the curtains and programed a holo of the ocean before he disappeared.
“Ah, I forgot. Congratulations on your ascension. I am so proud of you. I know you worked so hard,” Yuri said.
“I didn’t win anything,” she said quietly. “I worked hard, yes. But it was all to prepare me,” Annika flourished a hand in the direction of the window, “for this. I’ve been taught what to say, how to think. They poured terabytes of data in my head and challenged me to make sense of it all.
“I am as prepared as any Khan before for my task,” she hesitated. “Except for…”
“Except for me,” Yuri finished.
“You are a complication,” Annika snapped. “I know how to run my Empire. You…”
“Are a complication, yes,” Yuri finished. “I’ve been many things in my life. A complication is not one of them.”
“Yuri, be reasonable…” Annika started.
“Reasonable?” Yuri nearly shouted. “I thought I was your friend.”
“We are friends,” Annika argued.
“But with all your new duties, I am an unaccounted variable,” Yuri spat. “A miscalculation in your perfect programing.”
Dohlman appeared, holding a silver tray bearing a note. He extended it to Annika. It was in elegant script, clearly handwritten: “I will have tea with you at dawn. The Dawn Tower. Please come alone. Tahn.” She folded the note and tucked it in her left sleeve, under the sheath for her knife. She got up from the table. “I’m sorry, Yuri, it’s been a long day. I have a lot to think about.” She turned and went to her room, firmly closing the door.
When her nightmare returned that night, she cried out to Yuri, who came at once, wrapped his arms around her and sang a lullaby.
Chapter 11
Flanking the center of the Imperial Palace at Giza were two elegant barbicans towering over the plateau. The western was the Tower of the Evening; the east was the Tower of the Dawn. Neither had an easy way to the top, only the spiral staircase that wound through the interior. There were no landings to rest upon; one was expected to start and finish in one long climb.
Emperor Hinabrian Khan had them built this way. The stairs started at a small door on the ground level of the palace. Hinabrian wanted only the most fit and honorable to be allowed to scale either meditation tow
er.
Annika woke before Yuri, and slid out of bed. She dressed and kissed him on the forehead before leaving. After last night, she wasn’t sure she wanted to face him. Not yet.
Annika hoped the old man, Tahn, would be able to make the climb. For her, it was a strenuous workout, but easy enough for someone as superior as herself. She was surprised to see the shadow of Tahn framed by the window facing the sunrise. “Ah, my old friend, Angkor, welcome. I am glad you made it!” the old man said, joy palpable in his words. “It has been a long time, my old friend. Here, sit with me. The sun shall be up soon.”
Annika selected one of the plump and colorful cushions scattered across the floor, and sat at the low table next to Tahn. The eastern sky was beginning to glow, a golden white light on the distant horizon, chasing the stars once more to their daytime caverns.
“Here now, watch closely,” breathed the old man. A brilliant drop of liquid gold heralded the sun’s first appearance. It spread as the disk formed, growing brighter and brighter. The gold faded to orange, then to white ringed with gold as the whole of Sol appeared in all its glory, the golden light reflecting on the few clouds visible.
Tahn raised his arms, smiling broadly as the sun shone on his weathered face and warmed his heart. “Of all the vistas I’ve been to, of all the sunrises I’ve seen, each is always better than the last,” he said. “It fills me with great hope for the new day.” He closed his eyes. “Thank you for sharing the sunrise with me, Angkor Khan. It seems so long since we have done this together.”
“Master?” Annika asked, wondering who he was talking to.
The old man chuckled. “Do not worry, Girl,” he said kindly. “I know you are Annika Raudona Khan, daughter of Emperor Robert De L’Orange Khan. I am not senile.
“I knew you before you were born,” he continued in the same gentle voice. “I knew you before you were even conceived. I knew you before you were a sample in a Petri dish on the table in my lab.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “You are the second Khan I have designed. The first was your father, although I simply finished him. You, I oversaw from your beginning. After your Father was named Crown Prince, I was assigned to head the Red File. My team and I wrote much of your code before your father met your mother. You may have noticed I gave you my chin!” He smiled and stroked his pointed chin. Annika laughed and imitated his gesture.
He leaned forward. “I snuck that in,” he confided. “I wanted to give you a piece of me I could see. I’m glad to see it worked so well. It makes you so attractive!” His smile faded. “You are my greatest creation. Unfortunately, I fear I failed miserably.”
“I don’t understand, Master. I am the superior, the Crown Princess. Where am I lacking? What is it I need? I’ll do what you ask, Master!”
“I know you will try, Child,” he said sadly. “But I failed in your humanity. You are the most brilliant mind we ever created. Yours is the brain that every Khan will be measured against from your progeny until the end of our Empire. But I failed in in making you human. My dear, you are stunted emotionally, only able to respond to that for which I programed you. You’ve made progress. If there is one area I feel you may never be able to measure up, it is your ability to be human. Not just act human, but be human.”
“I don’t understand, Master,” said the confused girl.
He added tea to the pair of gilded cups on the table and handed her a cup of exceedingly bitter tea. Annika made a face. “Yes, exactly,” Tahn said. “The sunrise was so brilliant. The moment is perfect. So how can the tea, with all things in perfect harmony, be so bitter?” He held his hand out for her cup and threw it against the wall, smashing it. Two more cups were produced and the tea made again, this time adding a helping of sugar.
“That’s better, Master,” she said.
“Yes, but now the sun is up, the moment lost. How sad, when the sun was perfect, the tea was bitter. Now the tea is perfect and the sun…is just the sun.”
He pressed his lips together. “Daughter, when it was clear you were to be the next Khan, we have been doing everything we could to create humanity within you. When you were injured at fifteen, I had hoped it would be the fulcrum to your emotional development. I felt that experiment was an outstanding success!”
“Wait,” Annika asked. “Are you saying my leg injury was a result of a File Committee plan?” Her anger began to arise.
“No,” he said. “We can only create circumstances that lead you to make decisions. Immature decisions, as it turned out. That was what I hoped for. Your poor decision led you to being injured. That made the lesson even more valuable. Telling you that we were considering discontinuing your file was the most successful part of the whole experiment. I wept for joy when you had your emotional outburst!”
Annika was shocked. “I thought you were going to kill me when I got home,” she gasped. “I thought I was going to be dissected and examined! I thought I was a f-f-f-f-failure!” Her lip quivered and her eyes reddened as tears began to form.
The curator of the Red File was overjoyed. “Oh, better and better! Some of your programing works! Perhaps there is hope yet.”
“Tell me, Child, have you been having nightmares since the attack?” he asked clinically.
Annika nodded.
“And have you turned to Dohlman for assistance or this young man of yours?”
Annika answered in a small voice. “Yuri has come to me when I cried out. He has comforted me and helped me to sleep.”
“Excellent! Perhaps there is hope yet, like the new dawn. Or the bitter tea.”
His sipped his cup again, but it had gone cold. He threw the cup against the wall and nodded to Annika. Hers had gone cold as well, so she tried to copy Tahn’s action, but her cup flew over the wall and out the window. “Look out below!” he chuckled.
Two more cups appeared, but this time her Proctor indicated Annika should pour the tea. She added the tea and sugar, then the water. Watching closely, she handed Tahn his cup. He sipped it and smiled. “Yes, perfect.”
He sat back in the cushion. “Tell me, what you think of this young man of yours?”
Annika shrugged, “I like him,” she said, “but I fear for him. I have trained my whole life to be Khan. I don’t think he knows what it will entail. I’m afraid if we continue our relationship, that he will be hurt by what I must do as Khan. All the scrutiny, all the attention.” Her eyes moistened again. “I don’t want to hurt him!”
“But if you send him away, that will hurt him even more, no? I like this young man, Yuri. I have studied him for some time. I think you need him more than you know.
“It is written we are all born as half people,” said the old man, “and we spend our lives looking for our other half. Do you remember the story of Angkor’s wife, Sophia?”
Annika’s face brightened at the remembrance. “Yes, Master. He saw her in the market in Delhi and followed her. He said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It took him days to muster the courage to talk to her, even more to ask her out. In the end, though, he won her heart and they married. When she died, he nearly died from grief.”
“Do you understand why he nearly died?”
Annika snorted. “That’s easy. It’s because he loved her.”
Tahn shook his head, “Ah, so close. I thought maybe the programing was right. You are so close.” He tapped her forehead. “Listen and think, Child. Why did Angkor Kahn nearly die when Sophia died? Why can I feel my own wife, although she is three thousand miles away at our home in the Angkor Khan’s temple? Why is it, when you are in pain, you call for your friend, Yuri?”
Annika scrunched her brow. “Is it because you believe he is my other half?” she asked.
Tahn shook his head. “Closer and closer,” he said, “but not there yet. Well, if she can’t get it, then maybe in the next file.”
Annika didn’t like the sound of that.
“What next file?” she demanded.
“You are Khan now,” he told her. “We have al
ready started to lay down the patterns for your heirs. It will require you choose a partner. Fortunately, we have time, as you seem unable to complete the formula yourself.”
Annika sat back, pondering. What was he trying to teach her? She thought about the sunrise and the tea. When the one was perfect, the other was not. When the other was made perfect, the moment was passed and there was still imperfection. Then it hit her.
“Master, when did the File Committee know I would be Khan?” she asked.
“Ah, the light comes on,” Tahn said happily. “Child, we knew when we reviewed the patterns before we planted the embryos into their Vinithri eggs. Your brothers and sisters were there all along to make you ready to arrive at this point. But you haven’t answered my question. Why is Yuri so important to you?”
“Because he is my other half.” She was solemn as she voiced her truth. “Without him, I am incomplete. Without him, I will never be Khan. Not like my father.” I need Yuri.”
“You need your Yuri,” agreed Tahn, “Tell me, Daughter, how do you feel about your Yuri?”
She closed her eyes. A tear escaped her right eye, coursed down a perfect cheek. “I love him,” she answered.
Chapter 12
They came down the stairs together. Annika escorted Tahn to his shuttle surrounded. Tahn joked that since he was such an old man, perhaps he guards should have carried him. Having made the climb up and down the Tower of Dawn’s staircase herself, Annika wondered if perhaps he could carry a guard.
They talked quietly about things of little importance. At the shuttle, Tahn turned to the girl. “You and your Yuri. You must come to the Temple of Angkor Khan as soon as possible. There are secrets that you must know to be Khan. And there are things you must do.” He lay his hand on her forehead and mumbled a prayer. Then he boarded the shuttle, not looking back.
Major Campion was wearing the correct collar device today, she noticed. Good. She liked the young officer who had taken charge of her during the attack. Today the detail was to escort her to her office. She had never had her own office before and was eager to see what it looked like. Naturally, she read Campion and led the way. Major Campion was becoming used to the rapid pace the Crown Princess kept. He staged guards along the route.