Governor's Tribute

by Sharon L Reddy

Chapter Eight

  Ven looked up when Misty and Via dashed in the door to her quarters. She usually left it open in invitation when she was there and Anverd was on the bridge. Both were giggling.

  "I think I have a tea that would go well with giggles."

  "Please."

  "Yes."

  "Something went extremely well?"

  "Going extremely, we hope."

  "Uh-huh."

  Ven fixed tea. She was sure they wanted to talk, but they hadn't quite figured out where to start. She thought about 'Via and Misty' and smiled. She had an idea why they wanted to talk, but was still very interested in giggles.

  "Boer decided to remind you he expected some of you to bring others into the family?"

  "Yes. I realized I miss politics and he thumped Misty with a memory of teaching his cousin to kiss."

  "We left them to... make it a real marriage with all of them in it. Not just me, you, you, you married to Boer."

  "About time. I don't know how the previous governors did it, but I know Boer and I know he needed it to be more than that."

  "It was Jobe and Eddy. She was sure the family should have his children, but she wasn't paying attention to herself and he couldn't do anything about it while she was also sure he was just Boer's bride. Did that make sense?"

  "Emotions only make sense as emotions, Misty. There are always reasons for them, but they aren't logical. Since we're talking about Jobe, Eddy and Boer, they all realize it."

  "Boer found the reasons and Nora took over."

  "Of course. She's the one who has the most complete understanding of marriage and family and how to build both. Now you're trying to figure out how to find two more who actually belong in it."

  "Exactly. A world is a big place, but... even if I could talk to everyone on it, I'm not sure I'd find someone who does belong."

  "I've been thinking about it since Boer said he was doing his best to remind you that he did expect some of you to ask to be replaced, Misty. I think I knew you two would some time ago. I'm sure it doesn't sound sensible to say you were too carefully chosen, but it's true. The others either chose themselves or... fate did it."

  "I do know what you mean. Boer says he doesn't believe in destiny and he's sure it's laughing at him."

  "I've heard him say that too, Via. I think it took a hand with you two as well."

  "He's told me he's going to leave me on Boniface with Eddy. I imagine he's going to leave Misty there too, since that's where his cousin is."

  "Ganthin?"

  "Yes."

  "He's the only other one on Boer's mother's side of the family who inherited her grandfather's size, though he's not as big as Boer. Do introduce Via to Larim Algordin, Misty. I've got a feeling they'll have a wonderful time arguing about everything they agree on."

  "You're right! Via, he's Grainland's representative to the imperial court. He's held it for eleven years. He was appointed to it the first time and has been yelling find someone else every three years ever since. They send him a campaign schedule, he sighs, goes back to Grainland and campaigns for re-election and everyone else who he thinks should be elected."

  "He's also refused to campaign for a couple people his party nominated. He didn't campaign for their opponents, but people did take note he thought they were more suited to the position, even if he didn't say it. He's going to end up president eventually, yelling he doesn't want the job and making everyone absolutely sure he's the right one for it because he does understand it."

  "I think I like him already, but that doesn't help find the right person for... the central marriage in our family."

  "That's good, Via. I'll borrow it. But it doesn't give me any ideas on how to go about it."

  "I don't think you need to worry about it, Misty. Somewhere on O'Dona and Rinder, there are two people who will know they belong in it."

  "Uh... "

  "Misty?"

  "Not women, Via, people."

  "I don't think I was ready for that thought, Misty."

  "I wasn't either, Ven, but something said, 'Good, you're on the right track,' as soon as she said it."

  "Boer is going to accept the person who belongs in the family no matter who it is, but he's going to have some real problems if it's another man. The marriage has to be consummated."

  "I think we could figure a way to do that without... really doing it, Ven."

  "What?"

  "We were giggling because they're all together in the bedroom playing. Does it have to be just Boer and the person added to the marriage in the bedroom? The answer is the treaty doesn't say that, just as it doesn't say the person selected for the governor's family must be of the opposite sex. I think it's intentional and carefully worded that way just for this reason. Boer may be the first governor who is actually determined to build a family of the assorted people from fourteen worlds. I'm trying to remember what I've read about the other governors, but I don't think they really built families. They accepted who was presented and consummated the marriage, but they were basically a working relationship called a family."

  "Governor Chiss Tomad Handirmini had three children, Via. Lorind from Kime was the father of them all. She was the only woman governor, but I think that's the proof you're right about them in general, if not individually. I know the right person!"

  "You do?!"

  "Yes. Oh, dear, how do I convince him? Hmm, maybe the answer is I don't. I let Anverd do it."

  "Anverd?"

  "Boer doesn't really need someone in the marriage who understands palace intrigue, Via. He's got me in the family for that and I'll be on Boniface where it's needed. I think he needs a spy and I know the right one."

  "A spy?"

  "He's been one since he was about nine. The government just made it official when he was eighteen, just before I left O'Dona. Nine years ago, he was sure Tharmer Pharmaceutical Corporation was working on something illegal and Harkassi Osmon, his mother's uncle by very political marriage, was involved in it. He didn't like him. He built a device to break into Tharmer's research laboratory and found proof they were working on a drug that would make people trust what they were told. I really can't think of a better way to say that. It was more than a suggestibility drug, but based on one that was very illegal already. Then he built a device to monitor the comm net for calls Osmon made from anywhere. He handed the recording of him talking to the person doing the research on the drug, and his opinion of what they intended to do with it to his father's sister, a judge. She couldn't do anything with it because it was illegally obtained information, but she could state she had cause for suspicion and get people to work on obtaining proof legally. He's done about the same thing, including building what he needed to do it, four times. He's got an incredible education, but he refused to submit any more work for evaluation at the age of eleven. He was about to get an advanced degree and did not want it. I don't know what it would have been. I doubt anyone besides the judge does. She pulled his records and sealed them at his request. He doesn't really have any friends because he... can't talk to anyone and she may be the only person he trusts. I said 'may' because it's possible he doesn't, not that there is someone else. He's brilliant, beautiful, lonely and an unkempt, stringy-haired, mess."

  "To hide he's beautiful and keep people, especially girls, at a distance."

  "Yes, Ven. It's also a good disguise twice."

  "Twice?"

  "One; he certainly doesn't look like an aristocrat when he's a mess. Two; I don't know if I'd recognize him at first glance cleaned up with his hair brushed out of his face. He could also use something to... dim it a bit and I'm sure I wouldn't."

  "Dim?"

  "It's red, or maybe 'orange' is a better term. He's not as fair as most who have hair that color, but not as dark as most people in general. Sort of between Jobe and Boer with some freckles, but not like his mother, who stays out of the sun so hers don't run together in blotches between burn. He's
also high-psi. That hadn't occurred to me before, but it's obvious to me now. He just suspects people no one else would."

  "Well, that's one. I'm sure you're too sure not to be sure, if that makes sense."

  "I think it's a reasonable statement, under the circumstances. Via, worrying about it now isn't. You still have quite some time before you can even ask for replacement."

  "I know, Doctor."

  "You are worried. Doctor?"

  "Ven, maybe that's a clue from her sub-conscious, not worry."

  "If it is, I need more, Misty. Or do I? I don't think she's too old to have children yet, but I can't remember how old she actually is."

  "She who, Via?"

  "Doctor Morrisid Toriallim, Venida."

  "I know that name. The Evolution of Society and Development of Homogeneity; the Nodal Theory and Growth of Seed Cultures. It's the fundamental text and handbook for professionals in any branch of cultural anthropology in the empire. I'm sure I can find out more about... Yes, there she is. Age fifty-two, about to be fifty-three. That's not too old to be capable of having a child for most women, but I wouldn't recommend it. The bio info says born on Rinder and nothing about naturalization on Taslim or Boniface."

  "She's Rinder's only real 'claim to fame' in intellectual circles in the empire, Ven. She may not have lived there since she was about twenty, but we still think of her as 'ours' and she knows it."

  "I didn't realize she'd written that many books. They're fiction! She's Tori Morris!"

  "What?! Let me see that! Ven, I didn't know that. I don't think anyone does. Well, you know what I mean."

  "That's my husband, Via. I've run across several things 'no one' knows when I was looking something up I just wanted a bit more information about. Why does she keep it secret? Silly question. It's because she's the leading cultural anthropologist in the empire and Tori Morris writes absolutely torrid fantasies. However, the societies she creates have 'very strong internal logic.' I'm quoting a reviewer who at least came up with a phrase to describe it."

  "I've heard them called 'trash,' Ven."

  "So have I, Misty, but they're good 'trash.' Just plain fun to read and Tori Morris has stated her intent is to 'entertain, not win awards for literary achievement,' in the front of several. I had the feeling she has a rather low opinion of people who tout their qualifications to judge such things. I haven't read all of them, but I enjoyed the ones I did and rather agreed with her not-quite-stated opinion."

  "Convincing her may be easier than I thought. Boer about fits the description of some of her heroes."

  "In a lot of ways, Via."

  "Oh, I want to read one."

  "I don't have any of them, Misty, but Lieutenant Urber may have several. She's picky about her torrid, but she definitely likes it."

  "Well, I've gone from wondering if I'd find the right person to wondering how to do it now and not in about a quarter-year. I'm sure that's progress, but patience is definitely not one of my strong points."

  "Mine either, Via, but I'm just sure being patient isn't a lesson I should be learning in this case. Thomin Prave is... withdrawing into himself, pulling in tighter with every day that passes. Too many people on O'Dona think about everything they do and have done that they'd prefer no one know about, even if those things are just a bit embarrassing, as soon as they see him. Ven, pull up the treaty. Let's see if there's a way to do this without waiting to formally petition our governments after a half-year. I'd like to dodge the petition itself if possible. Sort of do 'another was chosen,' without much notice or really saying who the person was."

  "I don't think that's possible, Misty. Boer is a hero and so is his family, especially now. You know how much attention you're all going to get even better than I do."

  "Maybe we could use that to do just what we want, Ven. Misty and I did the job our worlds were sure needed doing and chose us as the best to help Boer do it. No one, including us, expected us to do it that fast, but it absolutely proved our worlds did make the best choice of aid for him at the time. This is sooner than expected, but still the time for our wise worlds to choose the best for the job of being part of his family. We both know that's not us. Misty loves someone else. I'm a 'campaigner' to the core, he does not belong in politics, and I would get involved in them and pull the rest of the family in with me, no matter how hard we all tried to avoid it. Basically, we yell, 'Help! Get us out before we mess up their marriage!' We tell everyone we know we're not the right people for the marriage, but solving the problem, freeing the Nunturi, was of primary importance at the time. Now it's time for those who belong in the marriage to help build it and our worlds do know who those people are. They've already been chosen. Eddy, Nora and Mim are beginning to be obviously pregnant. Misty is going to be obviously in love with Boer's cousin. I'm going to be campaigning for something or someone within hours if I have to invent an issue. The contrast between those in the marriage, obviously sure they're married and several 'in the family way,' and the two of us, obviously sure we finished the job and pleased with the way we did it, should emphasize the marriage is not political as far as any of us, especially Boer, are concerned. Our worlds are going to send the people whose important qualification is belonging in the marriage and nothing else. And, unless you'd really like to be told off by Nora with at least twenty worlds making sure you pay attention to what she says, you'll leave them alone to build it."

  "We can do it! Look, Via! Read section six, sub-section four, paragraph twenty-six. Our worlds don't have a time limit on replacing us. It just says they can do it. It's in the section that says we can request replacement after a half-year, but it doesn't say only for that reason. They left a loop-hole. It had to be intentional. They left a way for worlds to say, 'Oops, obviously wrong person. Sorry, Governor.' The governor can't tell a world to replace a person, but he can tell them their advocate is definitely not making him want to do anything for them. Via, we have messages to send. I think the right place for Franner to send Thomin is Valer. The doctor is on Boniface."

  "What about the presentation, Misty?"

  "We'll tell them to send a recording of presenting them and Boer to send one of accepting them back. There's nothing that says it has to be done in person, just they have to be presented as the choices for his family by designated representatives of their governments, he has to accept them and a recording of both has to be sent to imperial court records. It doesn't even say it has to be in that order."

  "You know, I had a political history professor who said the Treaty of Relatross may have been the most carefully worded treaty ever written and certainly the most carefully worded of all the empire treaties. I thought I understood what she meant. I'm beginning to see why I had to do a research project in addition to my course work, to get above an average evaluation for it. At the time, I was very aggravated. I was also about sixteen and not pleased I had to take the course. I was going to be a doctor and was quite sure it and several other required courses were irrelevant."

  "I yelled I wasn't going to be a doctor when I had to take physiology, Ven. I remember being very surprised when I told Lady Forthier she wasn't going to convince anyone the allowable PPM of a chemical compound should be lowered if she kept saying it affected altosterone--"

  "Aldosterone. Sorry, Misty. I realize that was the point, but I've got twenty years of correcting student pronunciation and habit supplied the correct one before thought processes identified it as intentional. If the compound affected hormone production in the adrenal glands, there shouldn't have been an allowable PPM. There shouldn't have been an allowable PPB."

  "It was a special dispensation in the secondary waste-disposal from a laboratory and she was arguing it needed to be lower than that before it reached that point because it endangered the people monitoring the process. Thomin took care of it when he put the company out of business."

  "The same pharmaceutical company?"

  "
No, an industrial coating company. He was sure they were falsifying the test results saying it was that low at that point. He ran the tests himself and his mother told mine the judge loosened his teeth with the slap she gave him for going in to get a sample without protective gear."

  "I think I really like this judge, and Thomin. Who do you think should officially send the messages you two are going to send?"

  "I don't know, Ven, just they shouldn't 'officially' come from us or Boer."

  "Let's do what Boer does in situations like that."

  "That is?"

  "Comm bridge. Anverd, I need your help."

  "There?"

  "Here."

  "Farner, I'm deserting you. I'll be in my quarters."