Red Planet: The Slave Queen (Tamarians Book 1)

by Jessica Snow

  Tauren ignores my order, and instead explains. “I believe that your friend is giving you the choice. Those are standard field rations of the Tamarian army. There's twenty-four choices, so she's asking you do you want the odd numbered pack, or the even numbered pack.”

  His arrogance irks me, and I'm tempted to start kicking his ass again, but Rebbie's here, and I don't want to look barbaric in front of her. “I'll take even.”

  “Good choice, pasta with meat sauce, sweetened moon fruit, and vegetable bar,” Rebbie says, handing me one of the boxes. She turns to go, and Tauren starts to raise his hand, but lowers it into his lap, realizing nothing was brought for him. Rebbie opens the door, and I make a decision.

  “Rebbie, wait,” I say, standing up. I step closer to her and whisper in her ear. “And Tauren?”

  “Fuck him, let the Prince starve,” Rebbie whispers back. “I spent years starving, living on less than the equivalent of one ration pack a day.”

  I nod and look back over my shoulder. “Perhaps.... but Jensen wants him taken care of. I know he didn't have breakfast, so he's got to be hungry by now. I've got a job to do, Rebbie. Please, let me have the other pack.”

  Rebbie growls but thrusts the other pack into my hand. “Here. I'm not happy about this though.”

  “Me either,” I reply. “Thanks, Rebbie.”

  Rebbie leaves, and I turn, tossing the pack to Tauren, who catches it against his chest. He reads the label on the outside of the pack, and while he does a good job of suppressing a shudder, I can still see it. “What? Sorry, it's not pan roasted fowl with a spiced glaze and all the trimmings.”

  Tauren snorts, smirking. “Your anger is misplaced, Audra. I wouldn't even wish this particular pack on Lady Neyilla. Try reconstituted eggs with what they claim is bacon pieces, green vegetables that I think are garden trimmings, and a spicy sauce. I did a year training with a Lancer regiment, and even the troops hated the Number Eleven. You wouldn't happen to have a spare salt pack in your kit, do you?”

  I look, and see a pack. I toss it to him, letting it bounce off his mattress. “Here. Don't say I'm not a kind hearted fool.”

  “I'd never call you a fool,” Tauren replies, picking up the little packet and tearing it open. “You stayed away from most of Neyilla's wrath for far too long to be a fool.”

  His words are honest, and despite the fact that I'm still angry, I give him a nod of respect. “You have no idea, Tauren. Sometimes, if you hang around here long enough, maybe you'll get a chance to hear what it's like, living in the House of Neyton.”

  News reaches the camp two days later of the King's response to the kidnapping of his son. “They what?”

  Mathias, now dressed in all black from head to toe, nods. “He had ten percent of all noble house slaves killed, lined up in the arena and beheaded by a company of Lancers. They were chosen at a random lot, a full decimation.”

  I shudder, looking back over my shoulder at the corridor where I know Tauren's cell is. “What does Jensen say?”

  “He says that he's going to find out what's going on,” Mathias replies, his face stony. “He's taking a group of us with him, both for supplies and to maybe enact a little retribution. I'm going with him.”

  I nod, glad. “Mathias, you've waited a long time for this.”

  Mathias nods, his gloved fist clenching. “Too bad we won't be going close enough to the house that I want to visit again.”

  “Can you?” I ask, chewing breakfast. “I mean, the drugs?”

  “They're starting to fade, slowly. I actually got to sleep without having to jack off three times last night,” Mathias says matter of factly. “Been a long time since I woke up without a chapped cock.”

  I nod and pat him on the shoulder. “Mattie.....”

  “Don't worry, Audie,” Mathias says, a bloodthirsty grin on his face. “She took away my future. Now I start to take away hers.”

  Mathias stands up and wipes his lips on his sleeve before looking at the corridor. “How is Prince Pinko?”

  “I'll find out. I'll probably get him out of here, take him for a walk outside on hobbles, unless I want to have a riot on my hands. I'd prefer to keep him alive, or else all those deaths are for nothing.”

  Mathias growls, but he understands. “I gotta go. Audie.... be careful. He's still a fucking Pinko snake.”

  Mathias leaves, and I finish my breakfast quickly, stopping by Rebbie's desk. “Hey, Rebbie? Where can I get some ankle and wrist restraints?”

  “Found yourself a boyfriend already?” Rebbie jokes. “They're in the storage room close to Tauren's cell. Why?”

  “To get him out of here. Jensen says he wants Tauren to have a little bit of freedom, to move around some. Well, I can't exactly have him unrestrained outside, and if I walk him around the cave he's going to get beaten to death after this morning's news.”

  Rebbie's smile disappears, but she nods. “Smart idea. Listen, about what happened that first day... I apologize, you were right. You were doing your job.”

  “You mean that I agreed with you, Rebbie. I just, I've swallowed a lot of shit, living under Neyilla. I suppose that's why Jensen put me in charge of Tauren, he guesses I can deal with it better than most.”

  Rebbie nods and hands me a key. “Here, you'll need this for the cuffs. I'd get Tauren out of here quickly, I've already heard grumbles.”

  I give Rebbie my thanks and head quickly to the storage closet, taking out a set of di-car ankle and wrist restraints. He might be able to walk, but it's not going to be a fast walk, not with his height. I go to Tauren's cell, opening the door. “Hold out your wrists, you're coming with me. Your father just decimated the noble house slaves, I think you need to spend some time out of the cave.”

  Tauren nods and lets me attach the wrist and ankle restraints without complaint, after which I unlock his wall cable, stepping back with my powerlance ready. “Don't try anything, Tauren. It's not set to stun right now, got it?”

  Tauren nods and lets me lead him out of the cave. I can see angry looks passed our way and a few whispered comments, but so far the anger hasn't percolated long enough. Outside, Tauren shivers, but says nothing as I point towards the trees. “Come on, we can go for an hour long walk before we need to take shelter.”

  “Of course. By the way, where's your coat?” Tauren asks, and I realize I'm not wearing anything outside the normal thermal clothes that I wore yesterday. “Do you want to get a coat?”

  I shake my head, extending the powerlance to its half extended length, making it a meter long and poking him with it. “I'll be fine, Tauren. I'm sure you'll be a little chilly, but if we keep moving, we'll be fine.”

  Tauren shrugs and turns, shuffling off. He can lift his feet, but not a lot, and the forest doesn't exactly have well-worn paths. If it wasn't for my powerlance with its built in inertial tracker I'd be lost probably, I'm no expert with forest craft. After walking for about ten minutes, Tauren shakes his head. “It was a waste.”

  “What was?” I ask, keeping pace next to him. I've retracted my lance again, but it's still in my hand, the power cell warming my right hand.

  “The decimation,” Tauren replies. “I heard about it as well. I doubt that Father had the slaves do it to themselves, and there he missed the vital point of decimation. Do you know how it was done, classically?”

  “No,” I reply, wishing I'd never said anything. I can feel the anger building within me again, and I don't want it to be there.

  “Decimation was a punishment used only in the military,” Tauren explains. “Used only in extreme circumstances, like cowardice in the face of the enemy. Units were divided into groups of ten, and they drew lots. The one who lost was then literally beaten to death by his own comrades. If they refused, then all ten were put to death. The idea was to play off the cowardice of the men, to use their fear of death which had recently dishonored them, and drive them towards an act so horrible, so unspeakable, that it would forge an unbreakable bond between the survivors. Call it survivor'
s guilt, call it whatever, but a unit that had been through decimation then would routinely go on and display courage almost to the point of recklessness. Merely slaughtering ten percent of the slaves.... it didn't do a thing except waste resources.”

  “Resources?” I ask, turning. Without even thinking my hand flashes out, the tip of my powerlance catching Tauren in the side, the electrical stunner discharging and sending him to the ground. “Resources? Those were real men, women and children, you inhuman fuck! Maybe even people I knew! And you call them a waste of resources? I'll waste you, you fucking lack of resource!”

  I extend my powerlance, swinging it in whistling arcs, beating him again and again. Tauren rolls, saying nothing as I scream and curse at him, just covering up to prevent me from killing him, until the air sears my lungs and I'm gasping for breath. “I should shoot you.”

  “Do that and you prove my father's point,” Tauren gasps, struggling to his feet. “You prove that you're nothing more than a semi-sentient animal that only responds to violence and force. I think you're more than that.”

  “You do, do you? Then why call us just a waste?” I ask, bringing my lance up, the plasma charge end pointed at him. “Five seconds.”

  Tauren takes a deep breath, his face calm. “Because you didn't let me finish before trying to beat me. I said waste because I've been trained to see every individual, human or Tamarian, in economic terms. The noble houses have now lost a lot of manpower that they depended on. Also, now Father will have to devote more guards to protecting the noble houses instead of trying to stop the Resistance, to finding me. He now has to worry about the very slaves inside his own households. Neyton's hypnotics are powerful, but they're not foolproof. None of the conditioning is foolproof, which is more evidence than ever that humans are not animals. At least in my eyes. Now, are you going to prove me right or wrong?”

  My hand trembles, and I can feel my thumb start to tighten on the firing stud, but before it goes past the point of no return, I jerk the lance to the side, the plasma bolt shooting out to splash against a nearby rock. “Walk, Tauren. You're right, I'm no animal. I'm no Tamarian noble. I see people as people, not economic resources.”

  Tauren nods silently and starts walking again, painfully. As he does, I realize that while I'm still angry, I don't hate Tauren. If anything, it took a lot of balls to say what he had to say. And he didn't flinch, he didn't cower when I was a half second from killing him, at that distance a plasma charge is fatal. His eyes were still calm and determined. In fact, watching him walk, pained from the beating that I just gave him, I feel a little bad. He's getting stiffer, more pained in the cold and the wind, and I point ahead to another small cave. “In there, let's get you warmed up.”

  Tauren looks like he's about to protest, but then nods and stumbles his way towards the cave. It's empty, and I quickly gather some dead branches from the nearby trees. I set my powerlance on thermal discharge and light the pile of hastily stacked wood, making a decent little fire. “Thank the heaven and stars that I don't have to know how to start a fire the old fashioned way.”

  “Honestly, neither can I,” Tauren says, his voice chuckling. “That year I was with the Lancers..... I never had the need to set a fire. Thank you.”

  We sit, watching the flames for a few minutes until the cave starts to warm a little bit. Finally, I look over at him. “So, now that we've got not freezing to death taken care of, what about entertainment?”

  Tauren looks over, smiling a little. “I don't sing or dance. At least, not with di-car restraints on.”

  I laugh, and for the first time I see Tauren look truly happy. “What?”

  “I rarely get to make people laugh,” he admits. “With my role in life, most people are often worried, or just thinking that they have to be serious. I get it, I'm a straight talker, and when I do try to be a little funny, most people either don't recognize it or they just come off as fake. You're different, and it's.... well, you have a nice laugh, that's all.”

  I can't help it, I smile back, nodding. “Thank you. Actually, I was kind of wondering more about your background. I mean, beyond the public persona, and what Neyilla kept gossiping about. I know what you mean, watching you around the court. People tended to walk very carefully around you for some reason, even though at least from my point of view you weren't that much of an asshole, for a noble. Or at least, you were a more tolerable type of asshole than Neyilla and her kind. So, from what you said the other day, you were tutored by Mogar?”

  Tauren nods, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking into the fire. “I was. And yes, I can be an asshole too. As for Mogar, I can tell you a little bit, if you'll throw another chunk of wood on the fire. Please?”

  Chapter Six

  Tauren

  “For the first few years of my education, I was taught by the normal assortment of tutors that most noble house children get,” I tell Audra, watching the flames dance. It's been a long time since I talked about my past, almost every noble either knew me or just didn't care. “Perhaps the pace was faster, I certainly was reading what they teach elementary school commoner children by the time I was five, and I was doing some pretty advanced mathematics by the time I was nine. While Mother had me spend time with her part of the time, that's how I first met Neyilla actually, I spent most of my 'mentoring time' shadowing Father as he met with his ministers, including Lords Neyton and Mogar. When it came time to select my personal tutor, the decision came down pretty quickly to one of those two.”

  “They're so different though,” Audra notes, and I nod.

  “They are. Neyton's a brilliant man, and he knows more about medicine, biology, chemistry, things like that than entire universities. He's also a very trusted advisor to the crown, and his family has been influential for many generations, stretching back all the way to even the previous dynasty,” I tell Audra, shaking my head, “but since his wife's death in giving birth to Neyilla, it... it changed him. He was always one of those who looked down on humans, always pro-slavery, but afterward he... it's hard to describe, really. You lived in his house, so I guess you know better than I do, but I think that maybe the inability to stop his wife's death even with all his medical knowledge twisted him, made him more perverse, maybe?”

  “That's an understatement,” Audra says, shaking her head. “He's as twisted as they come. Another time, when I'm not trying to keep my dinner down, I'll tell you about some of it. You should know before you take the throne what sort of advisors you'll have.”

  “Thank you. I think that perversity is why Father chose Mogar for my tutor,” I reply. “Yes, he's younger by decades. Yes, he's a reformist, a new age thinker in a lot of ways, ways that traditionalists like Neyton see as a threat. But even before he was my tutor, Father always spoke highly of Mogar in private. And while they disagree on the exact reasons why, Father knew that despite Mogar's supposedly radical ideas, he wants Tamaria to be strong, for the planet to be fruitful and peaceful.”

  “Peaceful? He has a funny way going about it, getting you kidnapped and apparently assisting the Resistance,” Audra says. “Not that I'm complaining. I like being the one holding the powerlance instead of the one the powerlance is being pointed at.”

  It's my turn to laugh, nodding. “Funny? That's Mogar. Being his student was totally unlike anything that I'd done before. While there was a lot of reading, there was a lot more critical thinking, and Mogar's one to employ the object lesson quite often. He taught me physics by having me construct an ancient catapult in order to break a stone wall, then he taught me engineering by having me rebuild the stone wall, and to improve it enough to resist attacks from my catapult. He also taught me about leadership, about law, about philosophy. He taught me many things.”

  “Do you know why he's helping the Resistance?” Audra asks suddenly, curious. “He's a noble. He might be a reformist, but his family is nearly as old as Neyton's, stretching back all the way to the foundation of your family's monarchy. He should be as much a traditionalist as
Neyton.”

  I nod, looking into the fire. “While his direct involvement in my kidnapping was a shock, and when I get back he and I will have some words in private, I do know. You see.... Mogar showed me things that most Tamarians, and almost all humans, don't know. The history of our people.”

  “You use the term people, not peoples. Any reason for that?” Audra asks, and I nod. “Why?”

  “Because ten thousand years ago, at least by Tamarian point of view, we were the same,” I reply, sighing. “What do you know of the origin of humanity?”

  “Nothing, just some rumors. There was a story that I was raised to believe that Tamarians brought humans to the planet a few thousand years ago and that we've been Tamarians' slaves ever since,” Audra says, perplexed and a little bit breathless. “When I asked about the similarities between us, I was told something about parallel evolution. But you're saying that humans and Tamarians are the same? That's rather radical of you to say so. Some could even say treasonous.”

  She looks stunned, and I can understand. It took me a long time to accept what Mogar showed me as well, even after seeing the hard evidence. “We didn't evolve on this planet, Audra. Humanity's origin is thousands of light years away, a planet called Earth. Apparently ten thousand years ago, humans were making their first attempts into colonization, they'd nearly exhausted the resources of their own solar system.”

  “How? I mean, Tamaria is a planet with nearly infinite resources,” Audra asks, and I nod. “Then how?”

  “We evolved there, and in that evolution, we wasted a lot of what Earth had to offer. By the time we'd figured that out though, the Earth was pretty screwed up, at least from what Mogar showed me. Also, while Tamaria can hold two billion people comfortably, Earth had a lot more land mass, yet still they had packed in over twelve billion people onto their world, and those extra mouths required resources. In a last grand, desperate attempt to survive, Earth created a fleet of colony ships, using all the resources of their asteroid belt to do so. They then staffed those ships and sent them out towards the stars. But, they had a problem. Well, numerous problems, but one right off the bat,” I tell her, recalling from memory the grand story. It was epic, it was doomed to tragedy, and it stirred my heart as a teenage boy when I first read the records. “At the time, Earth hadn't yet figured out faster than light travel.”