by Various
“He’s a human, Father.”
The old man stepped out from the crowd.
“And you are Ananke. I raised you in our ways. Do not embarrass me in front of the people.”
Matt never took his eyes off the warrior. To do so would be to risk a quick attack and painful end. He assumed the voice came from the warrior’s father, Metis, but he couldn’t risk letting his guard down for a moment.
“I will never cross the palm with a human.”
“You will obey the command of your father,” the old man bellowed for all to hear.
York refused to move. Matt realized it was a situation that could not last much longer.
“I am Matthew, son of Roger. I was born in the Valley of Hope. I played on the Hills of the Dead. My heart was ripped from me when I was a boy and buried in the Plains of Light. I am Matthew, son of Roger.”
There was a low rumbling among the men in the group. For the first time, York took his eyes off Matt and looked at the old man. The old man nodded. York lay his flat palm on Matt’s.
“Welcome, son of Roger.”
“Your greeting warms my heart, son of Metis.”
The men circled around the marshal and his deputy. The old man stepped forward.
“Why have you entered our space?” the old man asked.
Finally Matt looked at the old man. He, too, wore the traditional garb of an Ananke warrior. More importantly, he had a long scar on the side of his face that ran from his ear down to his jaw.
“Roy?”
Roy moved near the old man and scanned him.
“I believe he is, Master Matthew.”
Matthew could see the spear being rammed into his father’s stomach and hear his mother’s screams before her throat was cut.
“I asked why you are here, Matthew, son of Roger.”
Matt wanted to turn his deputy loose and rip the hearts out of every one of these slimy pond scum. He wanted to hear them scream in agony and see their families brutalized.
But he was a marshal.
“I came to tell you that I am the new law enforcer on Altair. If laws are broken, I am the one you come to for justice.”
“We came to arrest them.” The deputy couldn’t keep quiet. “This is an illegal meeting.”
The old man stiffened.
“Roy.”
Roy recited the law and the requirement for getting permission for meetings with more that seven people in attendance.
“The humans don’t need permission,” York said. “Is that justice, law enforcer?”
“A good point, son of Metis. I will check into the reasons.”
“They would never approve our meetings,” the old man said.
“I’m the new marshal,” Matt said.
The old man thought. “Matthew, son of Roger, we request permission to have a meeting in this building with all those you see present.”
“It’s too late,” Lewis said. “The law is clear.”
“Roy?” Matt said.
Roy did a few more flashes and threw in a couple of clicks and buzzes. “There is no time frame within the Altair criminal code as to when permission for a meeting of more than seven people should be requested.”
“It’s obvious it has to be before the meeting,” the deputy pointed out.
“The law is not clear. Permission granted,” Matt said.
Lewis struggled to control his fury. “The kid dressed up like a peacock was inciting people to rebel. That’s a serious crime.”
“York, son of Metis, is an Ananke warrior. He was telling the people of the long and proud history of the Ananke people.”
“That’s not what I heard. Have your robot play back the images and any jury on this planet will convict him.”
Metis stepped between the two lawmen and his son.
“Roy, was your recorder working correctly?” Matt spoke with a tone that Roy understood.
The little robot flashed lights, made clicking sounds, then shot out a puff of smoke.
“I’m sorry, Master Matthew. I’m afraid my recorder has malfunctioned.”
The old man held out his palm. “Welcome, Matthew, son of Roger. I am Metis, son of Tamir. May the waters of Ananke wash your soul.”
Matt looked at the outstretched arm and the upturned hand. The same hand that killed his father. He wanted to grab the knife from York and plunge it into the belly of Metis, son of Tamir, and watch him die on the ground.
Instead he placed his palm on the old man’s hand. “Your greeting warms my soul, son of Tamir.”
Chapter 9
LYDIA LOOKED in the mirror and ran her hands over her bald head. She’d hoped her hair would grow back on the trip to Altair, but the doctor explained that she was receiving controlled chemo throughout the flight and it would be months before her hair returned.
Hair.
As though that were an issue.
She was alive. She had another day with her daughter and her husband. That was what mattered.
“Please drink this,” Kari said, holding out a cup.
“What is it?”
“Tea. From the Flower of Dreams.”
“You have such beautiful names for your plants,” Lydia said as she took the cup. She sipped the warm drink and enjoyed the sensation of the liquid sliding down her throat. Sensations. Those were something else to be thankful for.
Would there be sensations after death?
She remembered the ancient literature class and the words of Hamlet. “‘What dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause.’” They did give one pause.
Lydia did feel better. One treatment in that pool and she felt better.
“Would you like me to prepare your bed?” Kari asked.
“I’ll wait up for Matt and Sherrie.”
Her husband and daughter were out for a run together. Exercise was on Sherrie’s schedule, and Matt was going to make sure she stayed on schedule even if it was the first day on a new planet. He was a good father. He would see that she was ready to face whatever life threw at her.
“How far are they running, Roy?”
The robot hovered near the two women.
“Ten kilometers.” Roy displayed a map of the city, and two red dots showed where Matt and Sherrie were at the moment. “They should be done in a few minutes.”
“Is everything to your liking?” Kari asked.
Lydia looked around the apartment.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. Do all the patients live in places like this?”
Kari nodded yes.
“Is it part of the treatment?”
Kari paused for just a moment. “No. It’s what they expect.”
The way Kari said it, Lydia could tell she didn’t approve of the lifestyle of the rich and powerful who came to this medical resort.
“I certainly didn’t expect it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Lydia pointed to a small device on the wall that gave off a pale green glow. “What is that?”
“An environment simulator.”
Lydia’s questioning look led Kari to explain further.
“It will re-create an environment from another place so you can feel at home. Some of our clients have come from worlds where there are oceans.” Kari waved her hand in front of the device. “Seashore.”
Immediately the room was filled with the sounds and smells of the ocean. Holographic images of a shoreline. Waves seemed to break on the shore and roll up toward Lydia. Images of seagulls flew across the room.
“That’s amazing!”
“Would you like to re-create an image from your home?”
Lydia laughed.
“Did I say something with humor?” Kari asked.
“Roy, show her our last home.”
Roy displayed a hologram of the desert storms on Terraplan and images of the Spartan home where the Wallaces lived and worked.
“My husband is a frontier marshal,” Lydia said. “We lived in places most peo
ple would never choose to visit if they didn’t have to earn a living. I’d just as soon not have those images re-created. I like the images of your planet.”
Kari smiled and turned off the simulator.
“You like your husband?” Kari asked.
“Very much. Are you married?” Lydia asked.
“I am a healer,” Kari said. “The law does not allow for a healer to marry.”
Lydia didn’t know the customs of the Ananke like her husband did, but she was curious. “Why would your people have a law like that?”
“It’s not Ananke law,” Kari said.
“I don’t understand.”
Roy interjected: “Altair code four seven dot three five. Ananke natives who have been identified as healers shall be given permanent positions on the clinic staff. They will not be allowed to marry or live in the Ananke village. They shall be given title and placed on the regular pay scale of human staff.”
“It is an honor,” Kari said with a low voice.
“It doesn’t sound like an honor,” Lydia said. “Do you have family?”
“My father is Metis, the leader of the Ananke.”
“I’m impressed.”
“My brother is York, a brave Ananke warrior.”
“It sounds like you’re connected, girl. You must have great family get-togethers.”
“I am not allowed to visit my family. We may see one another from a distance only.”
“Is this part of the honor you were given?”
Kari nodded her head. “You have family?”
Lydia smiled. When she was growing up, that question seemed to plague her. Everyone she knew had family. Except her.
“Actually, no. I don’t know who my parents were, or if I had any brothers or sisters. I was picked up by traders in an escape pod when I was three years old. At least they think I was three. I wasn’t in any of the databases, so they had no idea who I am related to. My family is Matt and Sherrie.”
“I wish I could see my family,” Kari said.
“I could show her pictures,” Roy said.
The two women looked at the robot.
“I have images.”
“Of her family?”
“The marshal went to the Ghetto for some official duties earlier. I took images of the people with those two names that the woman mentioned.”
“Well, show us!” Lydia demanded.
Roy played a hologram of the meeting in the warehouse for the two women.
• • •
Matt liked to finish his day with exercise, and after the first meeting with the Ananke and the realization he was going to have some issues with his chief deputy, it felt good to just run.
“Mom looked better,” Sherrie said. There was no heavy breathing in her words.
She was in good shape, keeping up with him stride for stride.
If Lydia got better, that was all that mattered. He didn’t care if it cost a couple of years working with rich, self-centered clients of the medical resort. He didn’t even mind having to follow a bunch of stupid rules made by lard-assed deskbound administrators as long as he could apply the rules fairly to everyone.
He would even work with Metis. The treaties signed between the humans and the Ananke forgave all past crimes on both sides. His parents’ murderers were absolved of their butchery. It wasn’t fair but it was the law and the marshal was the administrator of the law.
Matt knew there were plenty of crimes committed by humans on the Ananke that were also forgiven. He didn’t like that any better, but at least now everyone was under the law.
From the little bit he had seen so far, the problems would be the special treatment for the rich clients, and separate rules for the Ananke. He hated politics and politicians. Justice applied to everyone, or it wasn’t justice.
“How were your studies today?” Matt asked as they rounded the edge of a small park and headed back down the main street toward the resort.
“Mom’s nurse seems nice.”
“Studies?” Matt repeated. His daughter was quite skilled at changing the subject when she didn’t want to talk about something.
“Did you know she was Ananke? She’ll be staying with us twenty-four seven to take care of Mom, so it will be like having a sister.”
“I thought you had an exam today.”
“It’s been a long time since I had someone to talk to,” Sherrie said. “For the last seven months it was just a bunch of old people on their way to get medical treatment. I should be talking to people my own age. Making friends. Doing fun things.”
“How did you do on the exam?”
“Did you have friends growing up, Daddy?”
Friends? Matt remembered when the rescue team came to their home. They buried his parents and took him in. It was a frontier post, so there weren’t any government families to take a six-year-old boy. He stayed with the marshal’s unit. When they were transferred to other remote outposts, he went with them. He had friends. They were all men and women who served in the Marshal’s Service. That’s probably why he became a marshal.
“Beat you to the apartment!” Sherrie didn’t wait for an answer but took off on a sprint.
One day his daughter would be able to outrun him, but one day wasn’t today. Matt picked up his pace, caught up with his daughter, and as he passed her, made a point of saying, “If I get home first, I’ll have Roy tell me your score on the exam.”
Sherrie tried to increase her speed but Matt had already begun sprinting and was uncatchable.
• • •
Matt burst into the apartment followed by his daughter.
“You cheated!” Sherrie yelled.
“It’s going to be a few years before you can beat me, kid. Right now I’m going to find out how you did on that exam. Roy!”
Matt saw Lydia and Kari watching the holographic display of the meeting with the Ananke in the warehouse.
“Turn it off.”
Roy shut down the display and moved behind Lydia.
“That’s an official video of the Marshal’s Office. It’s not for public consumption.”
“It’s not his fault,” Lydia said. “I ordered him to show it to us.”
“Officially, it doesn’t exist,” Roy added in his own defense.
Lydia smiled. Her beautiful, “I think you are the most magnificent husband in the universe” smile.
Matt came over and took her hand. “You look wonderful. How did the treatment go?”
“Kari is an excellent nurse.”
“You honor me with your praise,” Kari said with her head bowed.
“My daughter and I can’t thank you enough for what you are doing to help my wife.”
Kari looked up at the marshal. “Thank you for not arresting my brother.”
Matt looked bewildered by the comment.
“The boy in the hologram,” Lydia said. “That was Kari’s brother.”
“York?”
Kari nodded.
“You are the daughter of Metis?”
“My brother would not do well in jail. He is what you humans call a free spirit.”
“Kari’s not allowed to visit her family, and she was wondering if you could take a gift to them,” Lydia said.
Kari was surprised at Lydia’s request.
Matt looked at his wife. “A gift?”
“A container of water,” Lydia said.
“The healing waters?” Matthew asked.
Kari nodded.
The healing waters were precious to the Ananke. It wouldn’t hurt human-Ananke relations to provide healing waters. “I will deliver it to your father myself.”
“I am indebted to you, Marshal.” Again, Kari bowed. “I take leave of you now. I will be outside the door if you need me.”
“Outside the door!” Lydia looked at her husband. “Matthew.”
“I must never leave you alone during your treatment, Mrs. Wallace. Sometimes there are reactions that require the skills of a healer.”
“That may b
e but you’re not sleeping outside.”
“That’s where we always sleep.”
“Matthew.”
Matt motioned to the massive apartment complex. “Kari, we have plenty of room in here.”
“I would interrupt your family interactions,” Kari said.
“You’re not staying outside!” Lydia said.
“My bedroom is bigger than any house we’ve had,” Sherrie said. “She can sleep in my room.”
“It’s settled then,” Matt said. “Now Roy, what was Sherrie’s score on the exam?”
Roy could easily interpret Sherrie’s glare.
“Oh, dear.” Roy hovered over by Sherrie. “I didn’t realize the time. Little princess should be in bed. She has much work scheduled for tomorrow. Come, little princess, I’ll go over your plans for the morning. Routines are important. Very, very important.” Roy disappeared into Sherrie’s bedroom.
Sherrie grabbed Kari’s arm and pulled her toward the bedroom. “I’d better show Kari where she can put her things. It’ll be fun to have someone to talk to.” The two went into the bedroom, leaving Matt and Lydia alone.
“She’s grown up so much,” Lydia said. “But she still knows how to avoid your questions.”
Matt reached out and ran his hand gently down his wife’s cheek.
“You are beautiful.”
Lydia laughed. “I bet you never thought your wife would go bald before you did.”
“I’m not going bald.”
“I don’t know,” Lydia said, stroking Matt’s hair. “It’s receding a little at the temples. You might want to have Roy run a test on you.”
“I’m not letting that poor excuse for a vacuum cleaner tell me…”
He saw her smile and knew it was another one of her jokes and she was prodding him for being a tough marshal. God, he missed her jokes.
“I love you.”
He pulled her close but sensed her grimace and slowly let her slide back into her seat.
“Still hurt?”
“It’s better. I could feel myself getting better just sitting in the water.”
Matt leaned down and kissed her. She reached out and gripped his hand with both of hers.
“I know this isn’t your idea of a good assignment.”
“This is exactly where I want to be,” Matt said. “Like you said, Sherrie’s growing up. She needs to be around some people her age.”