by Gail Gernat
The three colors sharpened into a lancet, piercing the black and red throbbing cancer that threatened Radhya. The pain burst over them, an outrushing tide of pure poison. Her deepest, most painful memories invaded their minds.
Radhya was a teenager and Geo a younger, more vigorous man. He was striding back and forth in a darkly paneled room. They heard his voice.
“No! I’m not letting you go.”
Radhya replied, “I am going. You are not going to stop me.”
“Radhya, be reasonable, you don’t know the kind of men you are dealing with.”
“I know they poisoned my Grandfather. I know they want to kill me. I know I will get revenge.”
Geo continued, “It is a very bad idea, and I can’t let you go into a situation that is that obviously dangerous. Your confidence is too high compared to your skill at survival.”
“Geo, I am the master here, and you are the slave. I am going to get the information to bring these murderers down to slave status. I owe Grandpa that.”
“Your Grandfather would not want you to jeopardize yourself to get revenge for him. You know that. I can’t let you go.”
“Geo, I beat the university aristocrats, didn’t I?”
“Yes, little darlin’, you did. Nevertheless, they were men and women with at least a few morals left. You have no idea of depravity of the men you want to get involved with now. They would dearly love to torture you and kill you very, very slowly. You can’t do this.”
“I can and I will.” Radhya strode to the door.
Geo seized her by the arms. “I can’t let you do this.”
She tapped some codes into her wrist comp. Geo arched backward as a horrific scream burst from his throat. He fell to the floor in convulsions. Radhya stood looking down at him.
“I’m going,” she said.
The shame in the memory took their breath away, curdling in their guts and tensing all muscles into a painful rictus. They struggled to pull air into their starving lungs, but the memory continued.
Radhya and a young Rory were in a tiny two-man ship about to land on a small dark planet. The craft was slipping planetward with skill and stealth. Landing behind a large snow covered hill, Rory cloaked the ship.
“Stay here,” Radhya commanded. “I’ll be back as soon as I gather the information. Have the ship ready to lift the second I get back.”
Rory nodded as she slipped a hood over her head and popped the canopy. She was over the side and struggling up the hill in the blink of an eye. On the other side, a squat transport ship steamed in the freezing air. Radhya crouched on the hillside pointing a holomera at the scene as dozens of bewildered, naked people disembarked in the chill. One of the women, a tall, elegant brunette with a perfect oval face, fought with the guards. They tazed her into unconsciousness, then kicked her over the side of the gangplank. Radhya heard the crack of the woman’s head hit the frozen ground from her perch on the hill. The woman lay moaning in the snow. Large hovers drove up, and the new slaves were herded into the back. The vehicles were open, so the cold was not relieved for the victims.
Keeping low, Radhya snuck around the ship and jogged after the retreating vehicle. A new one approached, and she buried herself in the snow. After it passed, she rose and continued. A long, low, wide building hove up out of the blowing snow. It was enormous, but Radhya circled it, finding no entrance, except the one that the slaves were using. She waited until the door was clear, and then tried to slink inside.
“I was wondering when you were going to come in and join us,” a voice spoke behind her. “If you wanted a tour, you should just have asked, Lady Kirbyson.”
Radhya whirled. Lord Reman stood behind her, dressed in scarlet red, like blood to her eyes. He grabbed her arm and twisted up behind her back. He marched her into the room where dozens of slaves were being fitted with collars.
“Is this what you wanted to see? Or maybe you wanted a closer look.”
Reman tore away her clothes, leaving her as naked as the slaves around them.
“Not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe we can have a little fun, after your re-education.” He fondled her, and she came near to throwing up.
“You know former Lady Jamison didn’t make it. I could just brand you with her number and sell you in her place. It would be very easy, and I already have a sale for her. Lord Jabin is always especially interested in ex-royals.”
Lord Reman fitted a collar around her neck. “Barone would kill me if he knew you were here, so we will have to keep it quiet, but just to get you started, this is what the slave collar discipline is like.”
Reman hit some buttons and pain shot through Radhya. Even the memory of that pain was heart stopping. The Chandrans added strength to the humans and encouraged them to continue.
The memory continued, Radhya lay on the wooden floor in a pool of her own vomit. Others lay around her, in their sickness, or having convulsions. Cries and moans rose about them. Reman was droning on and on about the horrors in store for her. From somewhere Radhya summoned the strength, rose from the floor and slapped him across the face. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head back. His hand was around her throat.
Another red-clad figure came into the room.
“Is there trouble Chet?”
“Noel? I, uh, need to discipline this slave. It’s a little aggressive.”
Lord Barone came around and looked at Radhya. “Where is the brand?”
“I’m not a slave. I’m Lady Kirbyson, and this filth has put a collar on me,” she spat.
Lord Barone’s eyes widened. “Kirbyson? What are you doing on my planet? I don’t remember inviting you. Besides, young royals should always travel with bodyguards, big ones with wide shoulders and lots of muscle.”
Radhya flushed scarlet. “I was spying, trying to discover who killed my grandfather.”
She raised her chin in bravado.
“Noel, Lady Jamison suffered a fall from the ramp and died. This one could replace her,” said Reman with a sly smile. “Jabin likes them young and pretty.”
Barone nodded, his eyes roving up and down her naked body. “I wouldn’t mind her myself. Let me check her connections before I make a decision.” He marched from the room.
Lord Reman tied her wrists in front of her and fastened her to a stanchion on the floor. With a wink and a smirk, he left the room. Radhya stared at the writhing humanity on the floor, their smells and cries of pain soon to be her own and knew shame to the deepest core of her soul.
The door blew in with a tremendous crash. Geo stood there, three other men in familiar livery behind him. The back door swung open, and Reman dashed in followed by a dozen grey-clad guards. The Lord stood at the back directing his men against Radhya’s rescuers. Geo fought like a maniac, throwing bodies left and right. He shrugged off the tazers and slapped the projectile weapons from the hands of the enemy before they could aim them. Reaching Radhya’s side, he pulled a huge knife from his belt and slashed the bonds holding her.
He dashed across the room and grabbed Reman before he could escape to the back. Crushing his throat, he made him release the collar around Radhya’s neck, and then he threw him to the floor like garbage.
Lord Barone entered the room caring a tank on his back with a long nozzle protruding from it.
“What are you doing to my training facility?” he demanded.
“I am retrieving, my Lady,” snapped Geo.
A long tongue of flame shot out of the tube Barone carried.
“And I am protecting my property,” snarled Barone.
“Run Radhya,” yelled Geo.
He placed himself between Barone and Radhya. She dashed for the door. The three other slaves surrounded her and brought her to a waiting spaceship not far from the building. Radhya paused.
“Geo,” she cried.
Rory raced down the ramp. “I’ll get him. ”
Two men returned with Rory. Radhya boarded the ship and sealed the doors. Throwing on a garment, she watched in anxious s
uspense.
Rory staggered through the snow, Geo in a fireman‘s carry over his shoulder, wind whipped stinging particles into his eyes. Radhya opened the door. He dumped Geo on the metal grating and leapt for the cockpit. The small ship lifted without waiting for the passengers to buckle in.
Radhya stared at Geo. He lay unmoving, barely breathing. From the knees down, his legs were gone. Smoking black stumps were all that was left of his thighs, and scorch marks criss-crossed the rest of his body. His eyes slitted open despite the pain. Radhya fell to her knees beside him.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” he croaked.
“They put a slave collar on me and activated it. That’s all they had time to do. Then you came.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt.”
Geo closed his eyes.
Radhya’s shame rose and overwhelmed them. Padr accepted, swallowing all the recriminations, matching them with the feelings from his own past. The horror at her own actions still pulled her from life. Padr, Max, and Will poured love at her. Radhya struggled.
A faint blue spark kindled in her consciousness. She breathed upon it with her spirit. She superimposed their faces on the spark. It grew to a small flickering flame. A shuddering breath rushed into her dying body.
“Come on darling, you can do it,” entreated Padr.
She could feel Will pounding on her chest, and her face was wet with Max’s tears.
“Max should never cry,” she thought. “His soul should see only beauty.”
Clinging tenaciously to the thought of helping Max, Will, and Padr, she rose on the blue flame. The black was thick and heavy. She pounded on it from within. Their colors pummeled it from without. It cracked. Through the fractures, she could see the gold, green and violet. Her soul yearned as never before, and the dark gave way before it. The colors merged in a glorious kaleidoscope, healing, purging, cleaning, twirling around the bond mates, affirming and cementing the love. The rainbow colors swirled in an ecstasy of sharing. They settled exhausted into themselves. Padr held Radhya close.
The Chandrans surrounded them again. “We are sorry you did not understand, to isolate is death.”
“Why weren’t the men affected?” asked Radhya lying contented in Padr’s arms.
“The fathers have the Talrie, the brotherhood of males. It is as strong as the Seliflarie, the bonding of genders. They did not shut themselves in, you did, you are the nexus, and therefore you were the one to suffer the most. They felt pain as well.”
“Is there more we should know about the bonding?” she asked.
“Your lives will be long, be without disease, unless you neglect the bond. You neglected the bond. There is a way to have emotions to yourself. We show you. ”
The Chandrans did something to each of the humans’ brains. The colors of the selifla dimmed. A twist in the brain and they were back to full brilliance.
“If there arises a need for separateness that is how to obtain it. If there is a need for far voyaging apart, use the Kenrie we just showed you. But not for too long. The more you join, the better will your life be. The Mokdor is a way to see with another selifla‘s eyes.”
Another part of the brain was accessed. Suddenly Radhya found herself staring down at her body. An eye blink and the perspective shifted, herself, Padr and Will. Again, this time she could see Max, Will, and herself. She did not want to leave Padr’s mind. A gentle push and she was home in her own skull. Then the men each tried it. She could feel each presence as they shared her mind and looked with her eyes. Each returned home.
“Mokdor is useful, but again keep the time short. The body deteriorates without the mind.”
“Thank you, thank you for coming here. I know how hard daylight is for you, and how difficult it is to leave your mother,” Radhya uttered to the Chandrans.
“She insisted we try to save you. If the bonding failed, there would be no more we could do for your species. Now we go.”
The Chandrans vanished into the hidden passage as Radhya gazed at the three men who again, had saved her life.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.
Love and affection coursed down the bond.
“We’re relieved to have you back. Do you know I felt worse at the thought of losing you than when my son and Debra died?” asked Padr.
“Yes I did know,” said Radhya softly. “The same way I know the pain of Max’s father’s death and his pony being sold, and I know how Will fears to be abandoned again after his mother died when he was seven. I feel all your pain, but it amounts to nothing next to your love and your acceptance of my pain. We heal each other. I must remember that.”
As they were hugging, a tapping came at the door.
“Milady, are you there?” came an anxious voice.
Max rose and opened the door. Rory was fidgeting in the doorway. He looked at them curiously.
“Milady, Lord Grant wishes to speak to you, in the office.”
Radhya rose gracefully. She shook her ebony hair into place and rearranged the folds of her robe. Then she strode across the dining room to Rory’s office. At her nod, Rory put through the call.
“Yes, Lady Kirbyson, quite a wait you gave me,” huffed Lord Grant.
“Forgive me, Lord Grant, I was elsewhere, and my comm was off. I apologize.”
“Yes, of course, accepted,” he continued. “Are you feeling better after the altercation?”
“Yes milord, very well. Thank you for asking,” Radhya smiled broadly at the old man.
“Ah, good. That being the case, as chairman of the Status Review Location Selection Committee, I have the pleasure to inform you that your planet, Pleasant, has been selected to host the status review in exactly sixty-three days.”
“Thank you, milord Grant. Thank you more than I can express,” beamed Radhya.
“Quite all right my dear. Frankly, that last planet was a drag; dark, dreary and fishing was the only occupation for a gentleman. See you in two months.”
The old man winked and signed off. Radhya stood in silence for a moment. She looked at Rory and grinned broadly.
“Tell everyone we’re green for the status review. Plan countdown started at sixty-six. Go.”
Chapter 24
Having heard of Radhya’s pleasure world, many aristocrats arrived a week or more early to enjoy the many activities. Lady Clarke handily won the endurance race scheduled the week before the review, with Lady Simms a close second. Radhya herself placed fortieth in a field of one hundred.
Two days before the review, Princess Felina arrived with her father, mother and Prince Phlip. Prince Phlip was very fair skinned with golden blonde hair and light blue eyes with a downward slant. Two meters tall and slender, with long legs, long thin fingers, and toes, his face was not the usual aristocratic oval but round and childish looking. He had a short upturned nose, and full pouty lips, the exact image of his father but younger. King Smon added silver to the gold of his hair, while Queen Chas proved to be a platinum blonde with a kind, aging face. Smile lines bracketed her violet eyes, and her slender lips were hidden by the wrinkles wreathing her mouth. She was buxom and short, reaching to the king’s shoulder. Prince Phlip and Padr disappeared together.
Felina immediately began decorating for Radhya’s contract day to Lord Barone. A decorated cake three meters high, thick with flowers, ribbons, birds, and stars was her centerpiece. Since Radhya’s house color was forest green and Noel’s red, it made a garish, highly visible clash. Felina was in her element decorating the banquet room and ballroom in green, red and white. Red flowers burgeoned on every table, and green ivy garlanded every door and opening. All the place settings were changed to red and green, on snowy cloths. Even the chairs wore verdant dresses with red ribbons.
Radhya tried to stay out of her way as much as possible, but finally, Felina cornered her.
“Radhya, my dear bride, I have been looking everywhere for you. I have a gift,” cooed Felina.
She handed Radhya a box. Opening i
t, Radhya saw two slender gold bracelets, a wire fine golden hair band, and a golden choker the width of her little finger.
“Thank you, princess, a lovely gift but....”
“Radhya, put it on, right now,” giggled the Princess.
Radhya donned the jewelry, one bracelet to each wrist as she was instructed, the choker and the hair band. Felina produced a tiny jeweled box and hit a green button. A holo dress flowed into being around Radhya. It billowed up her arms in full sleeves to the choker and clung to her body to the waist where it flared into a bell with a two-meter train behind. The hair band flowered into a sparkling headpiece with a long veil reaching to the floor. It was glistening white with rainbow shadows drifting through it, like a soap bubble.
“Felina, I am speechless. It is truly magnificent. I cannot accept such an extravagant gift.”
“Oh poo, of course, you can. Besides, it’s from Noel, not just me.”
Felina pressed another button, and the dress disappeared. Radhya tried to remove the jewelry but it sealed itself around her neck as firmly as a slave’s collar.
Felina produced a miniature key from the little box. She giggled.
“I’m going to give this to Noel. He’ll remove it on your contract night. Oh, I need to warn you, he’s moved the ceremony up to the third night, right after final business. I hope that will be all right.”
A shadow of worry darkened the princess’s face, and the effort to dismiss the concern caused a struggle with her lips. She smiled, and with a final giggle, the princess departed with the key. Radhya headed for Dave immediately.
“Check me out, I can’t get this off, and it’s from Barone. He’s liable to blow my head off,” Radhya told him.
Dave took her to the security room and ran her through the scanners, twice.
“No trace of explosives,” Dave said. “It appears to be a lot of nano electrical equipment. Any idea as to what is its intended function?”
“It’s supposed to be a contracting dress,” Radhya snapped.
“Yes, I can see that it could be. There are a number of miniature holocams and quite a few unusual electrical circuits. It even has a minicomp.”