“Not even half as much as you give me.”
“That was quite generous! He didn’t give a penny to any of the schools I went to.”
The waiter came to take orders. Geneva and Harold browsed the menu hastily and both ordered the first item listed in the Entrée Session. Then they resumed their conversation as if they had known each other for a long time.
“He wouldn’t have given me a penny if I had gotten along with Cutler,” said Harold.
“Cutler … Exactly what happened to make him hate you that much?”
Daniel Cutler hated Harold? Sterling didn’t know it was that serious. He had thought that Harold left the Academy because Cutler, the then-superintendent, along with other faculty, disproved his teaching philosophies.
Harold looked down at the table for a while. Sterling could almost hear the wheel of time turning backwards.
“He didn’t think it was a good idea to have the monarch take care of military issues. In the old days, it was the prime minister. I don’t know if there’s an answer to this question. It all depends on the person. At that time, the war hadn’t started, but the signs were all there. I believed your father was a better choice than William. Even now, I can’t imagine how things would turn out if William took over your position. He and Cutler are the same type—prudential rule keepers. He’d never let someone like Rafael Tait command an entire fleet.”
And he’d never dive into a battlefield and ask the enemy to catch him. Sterling smiled.
“To him, my space-battle simulation program was a waste of time, not much different from computer games. Our cadets spent hours each day studying cases that happened on the ground, in the ocean, what’s the best strategy to deal with enemies that reside on a hill or hide in a valley. That was ridiculous! The outer space is a completely different world.”
Geneva nodded. “There’s no direct experience we could borrow from the past. We only had mild conflicts here and there since the beginning of the space era. Nothing comparable to what we’re having now. That’s why we have to learn from simulations, or we’ll learn it the hard way.” She paused as the waiter served the entrées. “We did start a similar program after Cutler retired, as an elective. Still, most of the teachers nowadays are Cutler’s children and grandchildren.”
“It’s time to make a change,” Harold added.
That, Sterling couldn’t completely agree with. He had wanted to talk to Harold about this for a long time, but his vacation was always short and busy. He enjoyed reading about the historical battles at the Academy, even the ancient ones fought with spears and shields. Weapons and forms of battles evolve, but human nature seldom changes, and modern people aren’t necessarily wiser than ancient people. Baiting, deceiving, creating uncertainties. Sometimes you attack them quickly before they realize who you are; sometimes you delay the encounter and let anxiety consume their energy. Harold’s program allowed the students to figure out the right methods by trial and error, but Sterling believed old wisdom was still applicable to the space era.
Therefore, sometimes he felt he was in a similar situation as the young Harold was. One day when he took charge of the Nestor SIM Institution, he’d try out his own ideas. But now … He glanced at Geneva. Manipulative or not, she was the woman he wanted to be with for the rest of his life, and her career was certainly more critical than his.
They ate their entrées quietly for a while.
“Are your students mostly local?” Geneva asked after the waiter took away the empty dishes.
Harold shook his head. “In fact, most of them came from your system. Here, everyone dreams of going to the business schools in Artorna. Phillip and Sterling were the only exceptions. When Sterling decided to apply for your Academy, his advisors called me several times. They couldn’t understand why he would want to join an army in a foreign country, where a major war was going on. I told them, first, that’s where he was born, and second, although he’s a good student, he doesn’t have the brain for business. It would be more dangerous to let him enter the world of trading. He’d end up penniless, after he had sold everything including himself.”
Geneva considered Sterling for a few seconds, and her soft chuckles grew into laughter.
“Something funny about me?” That was the first time he spoke to her since she came.
It took her some effort before she could speak again. “I was trying to imagine you wearing a tie and studying the stock market.”
He smiled back at her. “It wouldn’t be more bizarre than seeing you operating a vacuum cleaner.”
She stopped laughing and stared at him. “A vacuum … what?”
Harold shook his head. “I hope that’s not a criterion you use to choose your wife, son.”
“Oh!” Sterling faked a surprise. “I thought this were all about a stepmother.”
They all laughed this time.
To Sterling, it turned out to be the happiest dinner he’d ever had. What he didn’t know, and couldn’t have known at the moment, was that this would also be the most frequently visited memory in the upcoming years. A man of a far sight, he was as blind as any other human being when walking along the path to his own destiny. But even if he had known it, would he be able to seize the moment? Would he have done anything differently?
Chapter 16
After they arrived home, a group of neighbors came to ask Sterling out.
“It’s kind of early,” she heard him saying. “Why don’t you come in and have a drink?”
He let them into the living room and introduced them to Geneva. It was Phillip, his sister Larissa, and three college-aged kids. They must be very familiar with Harold, who greeted them casually and went upstairs.
“You sure you don’t want anything to drink?” Sterling asked Geneva after the others sat down with wines and beers.
“I’m fine. I had water earlier.” She forged a smile.
She hadn’t been feeling comfortable since Larissa came in. When Phillip stopped at Sunphere two days ago, she chatted with him briefly and knew he had a sister, who graduated from the best business school in Artorna three years ago and was now a financial manager in a large investment company. Unlike his brother, Larissa was tall and willowy. Her dark eyes weren’t large, but always glittered with light. Whenever she moved, there seemed to be a breeze around caressing her sleek long hair.
But that wasn’t what made Geneva uncomfortable. In the society she grew up, almost every woman was a beauty. Call it experience, or call it intuition, she didn’t need to look twice to know Larissa was having a crush on Sterling. Whether he was aware of that or not, she couldn’t tell.
“You need to treat us,” one of the kids said to Sterling. “We all cried our eyes out when we heard you were dead!”
“And you too!” Larissa said to his brother. “I can’t believe you lied to me when I called you.”
“I couldn’t tell you the truth on the phone, but I didn’t lie,” Phillip said with amusement.
“You didn’t?”
“Well, I said, he was ordered to leave, and his ship was bombed. I didn’t say he left, and I didn’t say he was in the ship.”
His words successfully provoked his sister. “How could I have picked up those details under that circumstance?”
“Oh, don’t you always brag about your composure when your opponents have lost their minds?”
“My bad.” Sterling raised his hands. “I was right next to him when you called.”
“You what?” Larissa gasped. “Did you know your mom was next to me when I called? She almost passed out!”
Geneva quietly left them and started strolling around. She had never been to such a small house before. What was it like to be with one’s parents all the time inside a couple of rooms? Her mom died when she was young. Although she was close to her father, she had to walk a long way from her room to his. Most of the time he wasn’t home, or he was meeting someone in the library or his study. In his later years, sometimes he went home for dinner just to see he
r, but didn’t stay overnight. She knew he had a girlfriend somewhere and saw their pictures in newspapers, but she never met her in person. She guessed because her mother died saving him, he felt guilty about another relationship.
She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen and became puzzled. Hmm … so the kitchen was open to the dining room and the living room. If somebody cooked inside, wouldn’t all the smoke flow over? But then—she looked around the house—there didn’t seem to be a better place for it. It certainly couldn’t go upstairs.
She shrugged and moved over to the French doors. Through the windows on the doors, she saw a cobble trail glittering under the moonlight. The tree was much thicker now than it was in the painting when she borrowed Sterling’s Nebufleet. The playground on the right was occupied by a round table and a set of chairs. So the woman in the painting must’ve been Sterling’s mother.
As she moved along, she saw several photos on the wall. The time when the pictures were taken spanned at least a decade. Crystal had the typical look of a housewife when she was relatively young: a mellow face with a gentle profile and reddish cheeks. But as she grew older, authority and wisdom started appearing in her eyes. Geneva had heard that some women became more charming when they aged, and she hoped she was one of them.
Wait! That scramble-haired boy was Sterling? When he smiled one could almost count how many teeth were in his mouth and how many missing. He looked quite silly when he was young …
“We’re about to leave,” she heard him saying behind her. “Do you want to get changed first?”
She turned back. “In fact, I don’t feel like going. I had a long day.”
“All right. Let me show you to my room.”
She waved to the neighbors and followed him upstairs. Then she almost laughed when she entered his room. This wasn’t a grown-up’s room. There were action figures, ship models, and fantasy books on the shelves. The poster on the wall had faded over the years, but she could still make out a few monsters and robots.
“Good night.” He patted on her shoulder. “Don’t wait for me. I may not be back until morning.”
There was unmistakably some kind of self-contentment in his voice. Ha, paying back on her? A malicious smile emerged on her face. Didn’t he know Queen Geneva always saved her best weapon to the end?
“I wish I could have some sleep tonight.” She yawned. “The two little guys have been quite naughty lately.”
When she said the words, he was stepping out of the room with one hand holding the door handle. Then he remained in that posture for a while before he finally turned around with a pale face. “What … what did you say?”
Larissa’s voice came up from below. “Sterling! We’re leaving!”
“You said … are you … and you said two?”
“He’s coming!” Geneva answered loudly. Then she walked over and pushed him to the stairway. “We’ll have time to talk about that, honey. For now, just enjoy your night.”
Still smiling, she went back to the room and shut the door behind.
* * *
Two days later, several cars came in the early morning to pick up the queen.
“Why do you have to leave now?” Sterling sat up in the bed with a gloomy face. “My mom will be back tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry.” She had already packed her suitcase. “It’s just too many things to do.”
“Well, once you become the Head of the RA, or … or the Empress of the Universe—how about that?—you’d have even more things to …” He paused, seemingly frightened by some idea. “Would you be able to take a maternity leave?”
She decided not to answer that question. “So I’ll see you soon. Stay in bed! It’s really light.” She waved at him and carried the suitcase out of the room. Halfway down the stairs, she heard him calling her name. She looked up and saw him standing at the door.
“I almost forgot your Christmas gift.” He walked down with a small box in his hand.
It was a bracelet made of planet-shaped beads. Kind of like the one Edwards gave her.
“Is there a nanochip in each of the bead?” she asked.
He squinted at her with puzzlement. “Why would you want chips in a bracelet?”
After he helped her put it on, he picked up her suitcase and walked her to the door. “Don’t work too hard. You can’t solve all the problems by yourself.”
The morning sun was hanging below the leaves. The air was so humid that Geneva believed if she squeezed it there’d be water in her hand.
“How do you like the name, Kyle?” he suddenly asked. “If either one is a boy.”
“Uh … sure, that’s a nice name.”
She lied. She didn’t like that name, but they would have plenty of time to work on that.
* * *
Twelve hours later, the queen’s ship passed the Silk Road and entered the periphery of the Renaisun-A solar system. They waited in the line formed by commercial ships of various shapes and sizes. Away from the pathway, there were arrays of warships, the so-called Pathway Escorts. Compared with the large and shining ships owned by Artorna at the other end of the pathway, the Sparklish ships apparently needed better maintenance. What worried her even more was the sloppy service provided by her ally. When an hour later they were finally picked up by two escorts, the captain didn’t even bother to verify her identity after he was told that this was Queen Geneva’s ship.
While her ship and the escorts flew side-by-side toward the Stony Band, she sat down with a notepad and tried to make a list of things she’d like to work on once her fleets took over the pathway. She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard her maids running around and screaming.
She frowned and put down her notes. “What’s the matter?”
“A pirate ship, ma’am. It’s following us!”
Nonsense! In this area, there hadn’t been pirates for years. She left her chair and walked over to the window. To her surprise, what she saw indeed showed all the characteristics of a pirate ship. Scars and mends scattered all over the hull—pirates couldn’t get commercial ship services, presumably. A Jolly Roger was clearly printed on the bow.
As she was watching, guns and cannons stuck out from the pirate ship and began firing at the escorts. She picked up the phone from the wall and called the captain, who said that reinforcement was on the way and should be here in twenty minutes. Pirate ships were no matches for modern warships, he assured her. No matter what, the two escorts should be able to hold for twenty minutes …
Something flashed outside the window, and her ship shook violently. She leaned back to the window and was appalled to see that one of the escorts had just exploded. The other one stood farther away, firing fiercely in an upward direction. The pirate ship was out of sight, but must be where the escort was shooting at. Then without warning it appeared from above and charged to the escort at an incredible speed. Geneva’s first reaction was that the two ships were going to clash, but they missed each other at a skin-touching distance. A moment later the second escort also burst into huge flames.
Unbelievable! Geneva gawped at the sight, too shocked to realize what it meant to her ship or herself until several armed men broke in.
* * *
She alone was brought over to the pirate ship. In contrast to the exterior deterioration, the ship was well-maintained and equipped inside. It looked like one of those fast destroyers that retired only two or three years ago. Words and symbols had been scraped off here and there to hide the ship’s origin.
“What to do with the ship, sir?” one of the men who brought her over asked.
“Just leave it there. Our al … their reinforcement must be on the way,” said a well-built man who was looking at the captured ship through a window. He must be the captain who had just directed the fight. Even with his back facing her, his figure conveyed strength, persistence, and the kind of wisdom that was born within a person and tempered by experiences.
The ship immediately picked up its speed. “Don’t for
get to switch to non-battle mode,” the captain added. His voice began sounding familiar.
Non-battle mode … Geneva’s last hope of being rescued was dashed. With the advanced stealth technique that was generally applied to any modern warship, there was no way to locate a distant ship in space unless it was engaged in a fight. That was probably why those guys tried so hard to bring down the escorts in such a short time.
“And what to do with Her Majesty, sir?” There was awe in the man’s voice when he mentioned Geneva.
“Lock her downstairs.”
“Enough, guys!” Geneva called out. “This is not a pirate ship. This is my ship!” She walked over to the captain and said to his back, “and you are one of my officers, aren’t you?”
Chapter 17
“I was, ma’am.” Rafael turned around. “But not anymore.”
Oh no … Geneva looked away and sighed. Not him! It was bad enough to be betrayed and turned in—she bet they were running toward RB. She only wished he were someone else, someone less competent.
“How did you know I would be here, Admiral Tait? Someone told you my schedule?” Getting no answer, she changed her question. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” A volcano was on the edge of exploding under an icy surface. “You think I want promotions, publicity, or your affections? Like what you gave to your national-hero boyfriend? No, I want justice.”
The adverse comment about Sterling irritated her. “In what aspect have I done you injustice, Admiral Tait? You were given the chance to command an entire fleet as a rear admiral. That was simply unheard of. You think you’re the only brilliant guy in our army who deserves it? Many people never get their turn to prove themselves!”
“I’m not talking about myself, ma’am. I’m talking about those who fought the enemies up front, who dodged the nukes when your boyfriend was safely watching inside the fortress. I’m talking about those men we lost with the Caparise. They are my brothers who followed me for years, who eventually offered their lives to this country. They are the true heroes!” His voice quivered. Redness began emerging in his eyes. “What did they get in the end? How many people know their names? Just because they weren’t your lovers? Because they never fucked you?”
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