Star Minds Interregnum

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "I'll find a way to get you out of that prison," she insisted. "You can have a new ship, and I'll be again by your side."

  He smiled ruefully. "Stubborn girl," he said with gruff gratitude.

  "I don't think she's going to forget you that easily," Jan-win said as they were taken back to the home planet.

  He shrugged. "It's her problem."

  "We shouldn't have let them onboard in the first place," Jan-win retorted. "Neither her nor anyone else."

  "Too late. Do you think Gari-jon is all right?"

  "If he manages to get rid of the hitmen his cousins will send after him, he'll be better off than us..."

  ***

  Mar-kus and Cor-ina Alligood's faces were stern as they stared back at Gari-jon from the computer screen. He had narrow amber-colored eyes and thin lips, she had freckles and bronze eyes. Both were quite vain and wore elegant, form-fitting aqua garments – his with shoulder pads, hers with lace – and the family jewelry to show they were still in charge.

  "So you don't want any of it?" Mar-kus asked.

  "I told you, if you want the starship back, send someone to pick it up here on Ypsilanti," Gari-jon repeated patiently. "I have sent you the document, will you stop sending assassins after me?"

  Cor-ina sniffled. "Not that you had trouble with her," she muttered.

  "I won't let you kill me, and that's for sure," Gari-jon snapped. "Leave me alone and I won't come back to Marc'harid."

  "Fine." Mar-kus nodded haughtily. "Let's agree to never meet again."

  "Happy to comply." Gari-jon signed off and snorted. "Snobbish bastards," he grumbled. "No wonder their own father disinherited them!"

  I'zet'ta giggled and hugged him. "So, let's start our new life with a wedding, shall we? Sindy said married women have even more chances to have a career here... although of course that would make you a house-husband."

  "I wouldn't mind that," he replied, caressing her frizzy hair. "How many kids again?"

  ***

  Arica had gloomily gone back to Sylvania on her own and stayed mostly in her room, writing letters to Star-din and keeping a correspondence with Lenard Muss who was still following the case, hoping to have the Sire released at some point.

  Her friend Wenona knocked on her door one day, in spite of her refusal to meet anyone. But she'd grown up with Wenona and felt almost guilty she'd left her behind during her years at the Academy and her adventure with Sindy, so she let her in.

  Wenona had golden skin, gorgeous features and a short, broad build. She liked gambling, spicy food and members of her sex. She'd had a crush on Arica when they were teens, but it hadn't gone anywhere and they'd managed to stay friends.

  "So, how was your adventure in space?" Wenona asked. "I hear you spent a few months with space pirates?"

  "Yes, Sire renegades who plundered to survive," Arica answered gloomily.

  "And did pretty Sindy stay with you as well?"

  "Yes, but she's gone back to Ypsilanti since. I think she's going to marry her bodyguard – a handsome Ulba'wissian."

  "Marriage, pshaw!" Wenona glared at her. "Who needs it on the Y-chromosome toxic planet? You should go to the Fertilization Center, Arica."

  "No, I wish to have a baby with a man," Arica retorted. "I already picked him, but he's temporarily unavailable."

  "Really?" Wenona raised her eyebrows, skeptical. "Would that be one of those Sire renegades?"

  "Yes, he's a widower. I think he's been very lonely since his wife's death."

  "So you hope to heal him." Wenona scoffed. "A Sylvanian princess in love with a man! Wonders never cease!"

  It was Arica's turn to glare. "We're not all lesbians, Wenona!" she snapped. "And he's a Sire. Just imagine having the Sire genes added to my own!"

  "You're already a telepath," Wenona replied. "What else do you need?"

  "Sire minds are more powerful than ours anyway."

  "So you want to be the next Sylvanian queen and have even more powerful daughters – since the boys won't survive four days..."

  "Why not? I'm not the heir, but if I can provide a girl more powerful than me and my mother together, I'm sure she'll be queen!"

  Wenona snorted. "I sure hope you're not doing this only for the Sire genes."

  "That's the only thing you'd understand, since when I spoke about love you scorned me," Arica retorted. "I'm in love with Star-din, and if he's willing to share his life with me..."

  "When he gets out of prison."

  "Yes. I'll wait."

  "Wasted years." Wenona rolled her eyes. "Still, you're too stubborn to listen to advice. Good luck with your Sire renegade!"

  Arica scowled. She could see Wenona's envy and jealousy at her feelings for Star-din.

  "Find yourself a girlfriend, then maybe we can talk," she told Wenona.

  Her friend shrugged and left as her videophone rang. Frowning, Arica took the call. A prison guard announced he was putting her through with an inmate. Puzzled, Arica waited. How come an inmate was allowed to call outside of the prison? And who was it, since Lenard hadn't given her any news on Star-din's case?

  Jan-win's face was very serious. "Hello, Arica," he greeted.

  "Jan-win! What's going on? How come they allowed you to call?"

  "They know how much you care for my cousin," the Sire answered. "So I told them I wanted to give you the news personally."

  "What happened?" Arica felt her heart sink. This couldn't be good news.

  "Star-din managed to take his own life in his cell last night," Jan-win said. "I'm sorry, I don't have a gentler way to tell you. I called you to beg you not to do anything stupid. Star-din was already dead inside when we left Marc'harid. Unfortunately you met him at the wrong time of his life – when it was already over and he couldn't find happiness with another woman."

  Arica remembered to close her mouth and breathe. "Thank you, Jan-win," she whispered with a lump in her throat.

  "I know how much you loved him," he continued. "I'm mourning the loss too. I don't have much time left to talk to you, but if you'd like to write to me, I'll answer, unlike him. And if you'd like to wait for me, I don't think they'll keep the life sentence for me – after all I was only the first mate."

  "I know you like me." Arica blushed. "But I need time."

  "You have years. Just don't lock me out of your life because I'm not my cousin, all right?"

  She nodded, gulping down her tears. "Stay safe, Jan-win," she said ending the call.

  ***

  Life went back to normal after the interlude with the space pirates. Having found – and then lost – a man worth dying for, Arica lost all interest in visiting the Star Nations. She rekindled the friendship with her Academy classmates, who were much nicer than Wenona.

  Arica, Bolla, Daura and Frika had all come out of the Sylvanian Academy together. They were the ones who had snuck in to the party at the university when they'd met Sindy, who had dazzled Arica a couple of years earlier. Bolla had a girlfriend, blonde Regina, and Daura had Britta.

  They decided to meet outside of town, on the sandy beach near the capital, for a picnic. Daura and Bolla brought their girlfriends to the cheerful reunion, which put Arica and Frika in a strange situation.

  The princess knew Frika had a crush on her, but while at the Academy, she'd been too taken by Sindy to return her classmate's feelings. Now that Sindy was back on Ypsilanti, and Bolla and Daura showed off their girlfriends, Arica was starting to consider Frika a nice companion.

  They'd been kissing under the sun when Britta exclaimed, "A fleet of incoming starships is gliding on the capital!"

  Startled, the four soldiers turned around to look.

  "That's an awful lot of ships for a friendly meeting," Daura commented. "Arica, is your mother expecting some official visit?"

  "No!" Arica frowned and jumped to her feet. "It's an invasion! But from where?"

  "Not the Reptilians again, I hope!" Bolla moaned, rising too.

  "I thought the Star Nations were at peace,
" Regina said with a shaky voice, her eyes wide in fear. Bolla hugged her to reassure her.

  "We are, but some Humanoid planet must have gone crazy now that the Imperial governors don't control the galaxy anymore," Arica muttered, checking her tablet.

  "Duumme," Frika said flatly. She'd been observing the shape of the incoming fleet even if they were against the sun. And she'd always been the best at recognizing starship models in tests.

  "Unlikely, their women are slaves," Daura said. "And they wouldn't live long on Sylvania."

  "I don't think they're here to stay," Bolla said. "They'll grab what they can and leave."

  "It's Duummians all right," Arica said. "Let's go, girls. We don't want the bastards to leave with any of us!"

  All six rushed back to the capital with their flying cars. Britta and Regina went to hide in the basement of their condo as the four soldiers joined the other members of the Sylvanian army to stop the Duummian forces.

  "What do you want?" the Queen demanded of the incoming fleet.

  "Women," came the reply. "Surrender them or we will destroy you."

  The Sylvanian air force took off to fight back the invading fleet. Arica took her star fighter instead of the Storm Demon and preceded her friends into the skies of Sylvania. Her co-pilot, Droid 205, took her on target and she started shooting.

  The adrenaline rushed through her veins. A real air fight! It was much better than those academy simulators! This also reminded her how much she liked to pilot starships. She'd take the Storm Demon for another trip, possibly with Frika, as soon as the battle was over. She wouldn't mind taking Frika to the green and blue Ypsilanti, and kissing her under the planet's two moons.

  Seen from the air Sylvania was even more depressing than living on it. Miles of golden sand or desert plateaus, low mountain ranges and the hive-cities of Sylvanians pointing to the blue sky like lighthouses. The cities had been build over deeply-seated underground rivers, since there was no freshwater on the surface of the planet.

  The star-cruisers of the Duummians were too big to be damaged by star fighters. They landed in front of the palace and troops started flooding out – all men who had at most an hour to leave if they didn't want to die of old age.

  Arica adjusted her shooting to ground troops, but there were too many. And then the star-cruisers started firing back at the smaller fighters pestering them.

  Arica screamed when an ionic bolt hit her fighter and destroyed her Droid. She lost control of the ship and crashed, losing consciousness.

  ***

  Arica woke up in the palace's hospital, tied to a medical machine. She was restrained, her mouth was filled with a feeding tube, and her left arm hurt like hell.

  Mother! she called with her mind, since she couldn't use her mouth.

  "Arica, be quiet." Her mother's face came into her field of vision. "You lost your arm, and we're repairing it by attaching a prosthetic. You will be back on your feet soon enough."

  What happened to the invading fleet? she asked through her telepathic link with her mother.

  "The Duummians grabbed whoever they could and retired inside their spacecraft," the Queen answered gravely. "The attack was sudden and very fast. You and your friends were very brave. I'm very proud of you. You should wear your golden arm with pride. A war maiming for your generation is not something common."

  Are the others all right?

  "Bolla almost lost her legs, but Frika and Daura are fine. Their girlfriends weren't captured."

  Why the attack? Arica winced at the sudden pain in her left arm – the one that had been cut off according to her mother. Why did they come here to take women?

  "Apparently they attacked Ypsilanti too," the Queen said somberly. "There's only one Humanoid planet that treats women worse than Xi-kong, and that's Duumme. Domestic violence is very common there. Female suicide rate is higher than male. Literary rate is among the lowest of the Star Nations, since the families fear risking kidnapping and rape when sending the girls to school. Women are gang-raped as punishment for men's crimes or are treated as personal possessions of their male relatives. I wouldn't be surprised to learn they killed all their women and had to replenish their homes with foreigners."

  The Queen leaned forward and gently freed Arica's mouth from the feeding tube.

  "You obviously have enough strength to talk," she said tenderly. "Just don't move yet."

  Arica panted for breath before nodding. That was much better. But she wanted to know more about the invasion.

  "So they attacked the two matriarchal planets to get more women? Wouldn't that give them half-blood children anyway?"

  "They are as fair skinned as us and the Ypsilantians, they wouldn't notice the difference..." her mother replied. "I don't want any of us to end up a sex slave on Duumme – or anywhere else for that matter. We shall get our women back."

  "And the Ypsilantians too?" Arica asked.

  "Even if they don't risk their lives on Ypsilanti, the Duummians used the same tactic there. They hit, grabbed what they could, and left before anyone could react. They probably have more Ypsilantian prisoners, since we reacted quickly and took down some of them."

  Arica wondered if Sindy was all right. Or I'zet'ta. Both had men to protect them, but what if Gari-jon and J'eff'erey had been killed in the attack?

  "Frika would like to see you. Are you up for another visit?" her mother continued with a smile.

  Arica sighed. "Maybe later," she said, feeling her eyelids becoming heavy.

  "I think you're being sedated for the worst part of the surgery..."

  Arica barely heard the last words as she drifted back to sleep.

  ***

  When she woke up again, she felt the neural interface that allowed her to move her left arm. She wasn't restrained anymore and only a few wires tied her to the medical machine. She raised her arm and stared wide-eyed at the golden arm and hand attached to her forearm. Not a prosthetic as good as the ones coming out of the Vaurabi Labs, but it was beautiful.

  She opened and closed the golden fingers. She touched the sheet, and realized they had some sensors. She touched the golden bones with her right hand, and again felt some kind of touch. Not completely like a real arm, but it seemed to be working fine.

  The door opened and a doctor came in.

  "Good-morning, Princess. I see you're experimenting with your new limb."

  Arica asked her the specifics and what she could or couldn't do with it. It wasn't a secret weapon, in spite of being a war maiming substitute. She was the Queen's daughter, so it was more cosmetic than useful.

  "Your friend Frika would like to see you," the doctor said at last. "Would you like me to let her in?"

  "Yes, please." Arica was a little worried that Frika's crush would vanish after she saw her maimed.

  Frika's smile warmed her heart, though.

  "Arica, you made it! Soon you'll be back on your feet, and you'll be able to come with us to the rescue!"

  "How do I look?" Arica asked, still a little insecure.

  "Sexy as ever." Frika giggled. "Even the neural interface over your right breast is good looking, like a strange tattoo that you can easily hide with a high neckline. But I'd show it off, if I were you. And that golden arm is... Wow."

  Arica smiled, relieved. "Glad to see you're unscathed. I'm a little worried for my friends on Ypsilanti. I hope they're fine too."

  Frika frowned and offered her videophone.

  "Why don't you call Sindy?" she suggested, as worried as Arica was. "Britta and Regina are fine and Daura and Bolla are ready to come with us to Duumme."

  Arica nodded and called Ypsilanti.

  Sindy was fine – she'd gone to Ulba'wis to meet J'eff'erey's family when the Duummians had come, so she'd missed all the action.

  "But J'eff'erey is going with our army," she said proudly. "And when he comes back, we get married, and you're invited!"

  "What about Gari-jon, will he be piloting one of your army's ships?"

  "Knowing him
, yes." Sindy chuckled. "I haven't heard from him or I'zet'ta yet. I'll let you know. Good luck in rescuing your women!"

  Arica knew Sindy wasn't a soldier, so she wasn't surprised she wouldn't come. Sindy might have studied space travel, but for civilian purposes. In spite of her experience on the armed Buckaneer, she wasn't going to work on a warship anytime soon.

  But Gari-jon told Astrid both he and I'zet'ta were on an Ypsilantian star-cruiser that was ready to leave for Duumme. Not because they'd joined the Ypsilantian army, but because their new planet needed them, and they were happy to help.

  "I'll see you there," he promised with a grin.

  Arica didn't mention her maiming to any of them. But she allowed Frika to cuddle her to sleep before the hospital let her go on her rescue mission.

  ***

  On most Humanoid planets of the Star Nations, men and women had equal rights. There were only four exceptions to this rule: Sylvania, Ypsilanti, Xi-kong and Duumme. On Sylvania there were no men, since the Y-chromosome didn't live long on the surface of the strange planet. On Ypsilanti and Xi-kong positions were reversed, with one sex ruling over the other who had no decisional power.

  On Duumme, things were even worse for women. A late acquisition that had joined the Star Nations at the same time as Earth and a few more low-tech planets – former colonies of more powerful planets – Duumme was proving unworthy of being part of the Star Nations. The men, now able to travel to space, had decided they needed more "breeding females". Since no sane woman would move to Duumme, they had mounted the expeditions to steal women from the two matriarchal planets.

  The High Council of the Star Nations decided Duumme should be declassified as a "civilized world" and go back to its "colony" status. They should be stripped of technology and taken off the interstellar routes.

  No Duummian bothered to come to the hearing, therefore the High Council called upon all the warships available to surround the planet. Galaxy Police star-cruisers were already converging on Duumme to force them to surrender the abducted women. The Sylvanian fleet joined them and the ten Ypsilantian star-cruisers before the rest of the Star Nations answered the High Council's call.

  Arica wasn't happy to see the Galaxy Police star-cruisers and even less that the commander of the whole operation was Jako-wan Silverio, the man who had arrested Star-din. But she wasn't her mother's Admiral, therefore she stayed put and ready to jump on her repaired star-fighter with Droid 205bis.