Rhythm of the Imperium (2 page)

I sighed.

“Very well, then. We will meet again for the evening meal.”

“No, sir,” Plet said again, this time with open finality. “We’ll take mess in the crew’s wardroom from here on out with the other adjunct personnel. The First Space Lord’s orders.”

For that I had no answer, since the official in question was my own cherished maternal unit. Challenging Mother’s authority had landed me in trouble all of my life. She ruled our family as she did the Imperium’s space navy, with wisdom, discipline and remarkable affection. There was no need for me to court further opprobrium. Added to that was the fact that no matter how much I wheedled, Plet was unlikely to give in to my importunings. She was remarkably tone deaf to them.

“Oh, very well,” I said, disappointed. “You won’t take it amiss if I visit with you during off-shifts?”

“No, sir,” Plet replied, albeit not with any enthusiasm. “Crew, dismiss.”

“Aye, sir!” the others chorused. They saluted her, and me, and left the entertainment center. Plet hesitated, Her full lips pressed together, and she gave me what I could only classify as a speculative look. She seemed about to impart some further information to me, but thought better of it, and departed. I wished I could read the meaning of her gestures, but had to remain unsatisfied.

“Oh, Thomas,” Erita said petulantly, as I sat down and raised my wine glass to my family members. “I thought you would have grown tired of playing soldier by now.”

“Not yet,” I said, with a cheerful wave of my hand. “There’s still a bit more fun to be gleaned from it. After all, I do have my own ship. That’s a novelty that will take a while to wear off.”

“But it’s so dowdy,” Jil said. “The
Rodrigo
is still furnished as a purely military vessel, and that is so tedious. We all had to do the mandatory two years in academy. I wanted to put mine as far into my forgotten memories as possible. You seem to revel in all the trappings!”

“It is occasionally useful,” I said, choosing my words carefully so as not to arouse suspicions that I indeed remained an integral part of the crew of the
Rodrigo
and its occasional official missions, “to interact with the plebeian majority. One should retain the means of communicating with them, even if one doesn’t associate with them at other times.”

Jil made a face.

“Oh, I suppose so! To be honest, Thomas, I had my fill of rules and regulations on our way to and from the Autocracy. I almost felt as though I was under orders again!”

“Jil, you never followed a single order, within or without the academy,” I pointed out. “Suggestions, pleas, begging, even wailing at your heels was scarcely sufficient to persuade you to undertake anything but at your own whim.”

“Yes,” Jil said, pleased at the recollection. “That is true.”

An ache arising in my muscles reminded me then that I had been exercising more than my vocal chords, and my keen nose informed me that I might be giving inadvertent offense to my nearest and dearest. Not only that, but I had promised Parsons I would communicate with him in the hours before dinner.

I rose.

“Do excuse me for a time, won’t you?” I asked. “I think I will freshen up.”

I removed myself from the day room.

CHAPTER 2

My quarters, as did those of each of my cousins, consisted of a suite of several small rooms around the circular third deck of the
Jaunter
. Whereas in the Imperium Compound in Taino, those personal suites might comprise anything from a single room to a small estate covering acres, here they were uniform in size. The cozy reception room of my cabin, as I was pleased to call it, featured a large, comfortable chair, a floor-to-ceiling looking glass, and a long, low shelf to my right hand, suitable for flinging whatever I might be carrying. The shelf was unoccupied upon my arrival, but the chair was not. As I entered, the inhabitant of the seat rose. The familiar form, some centimeters taller than my own lofty height, his frame muscular yet whipcord fit, epicene chin shaved to perfection, with shining black hair and eyes as dark as the mysteries behind them, clad in self-effacing black from collar to heels, stood at attention to welcome me. This person was my aide-de-camp, overseer, intermediary and functionary of other useful undertakings too numerous to mention. He occupied the naval rank of commander, with several other titles, I was certain, to supplement that of an agent, no doubt high-ranking, in our Covert Services. He had been my mentor nearly all of my life.

“Parsons!” I exclaimed. I threw myself into an attitude of welcome that I had devised, including a gesture of offering with both hands energy that poured from my heart, and concluded with a bow that brought my chin to the floor. There was just room in the chamber to accommodate this gesture without upending my visitor. “I am overjoyed to see you. I was prepared to seek you out in the lower levels of this vessel.”

“I thought it better,” that worthy replied, “to save you the effort, my lord.”

“The soul of consideration,” I said, beaming at him. I rose to my feet. “Would it discomfit you if I tidied myself and changed clothes while we conversed?” I sniffed, and winced at the resulting olfactory input. “I’m afraid that I may not be perfectly fit for polite society at the moment.”

“Not at all, my lord,” he replied. “The sonic shower will deter any potential eavesdroppers who might be listening.”

I wrinkled my nose, an expression not unlike that of Redius, but with a more human interpretation: disappointment. “I had hoped to enjoy a bath. This suite’s tub has a remarkable heating unit that maintains the temperature at my preference for hours, and a shape that is designed to contain my entire person from the neck down. I don’t have to put the dome on it while the gravity generators are functioning. And don’t you have a small gadget that fulfills that task of providing private discourse?”

His face never changed expression, yet I could tell I had hit upon a sore point.

“I await the delivery of an upgrade to the programming of that device, my lord. Although I will deploy my ‘gadget,’ as you call it, I have received notification within the last hour that its encoding mechanism has been compromised. Hence, it would be more efficacious to use two devices in tandem.”

“Oh, very well,” I said. “Come on through.” I retired to the bedroom and retreated behind the opaque screen that stood between the boudoir and the bathing area. The latter had been constructed from one single piece of high-impact ceramic, but had been decorated in stellarscapes by a galaxy-famous artist who enjoyed a patronage from the Imperium. I had employed her skills myself in a gift I had had made for my mother’s next birthday: a small glass sculpture that emitted dancing light in the deep-blue wavelength of her formal naval uniform. I would present it at the conclusion of a new performance I had been choreographing just for that occasion, three days after our scheduled return from the coming spectacle.

I flipped on the switch that activated the cylindrical cleansing booth. An audible hum arose from its interior, indicating that the sonic scrubbers were ready. I stripped off my leotard and deposited it into the collection bin that would be policed by the LAI valet assigned to my suite. In fact, NA-836n was alerted to the presence of dirty clothes and trundled over to retrieve them. “Pray help yourself to refreshments. I have chilled some sparkling raspberry wine from the north provinces that you will find cleansing to the palate as well as pleasing to the nose, and some sesame-basil biscuits that only add delight to the experience. Anna, do help him to a glass.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Lord Thomas.”

I heard NA-836n roll across the carpeted floor plates toward the buffet bar at the side of the sitting room. I raised my voice to be heard over the rumble.

“I am a trifle surprised that you came along on what is an extended pleasure cruise, Parsons. My cousins took it as a natural compliment to our rank and collective presence upon one ship that we should receive a protective escort. We are honored and a trifle surprised to have such an enormous military guard as two rather large ships that could be out patrolling the exoplanets, but the presence of the crew of my dear
Rodrigo
tells me that there is more afoot than protecting the Emperor’s relations.”

Parsons was silent for a moment. I knew it was not to collect his thoughts; his mental processes were eternally vigilant. Stray musings would receive a demerit and punishment duty. I stepped into the booth, leaving the door open so we could continue to converse. The excited sonic waves assaulted my skin.

“There is a very good reason, my lord. Several, in fact. What do you know about the Kail?”

In spite of the warmth of the shower, I felt a chill go down my spine.

“The stuff of nightmares,” I said, applying the bay-scented surfactant spray to my skin. It tingled through to my inner soul. I shivered, wondering if it would be worthwhile to construct a dance around bathing. There were so many interpretations one could put upon cleanliness. “Ugly creatures. They look as if they were badly carved out of rough, gray stone by a disinterested sculptor. The one I met in a trading station had four stumpy legs and one arm with about nine thick, clumsy fingers. It acted as if it hated me just because I wasn’t of its species, or perhaps because I was of a more appealing shape. I tried not to take it personally.”

“It wasn’t personal, my lord. They do despise all carbon-based life-forms. They would have treated a rosebush with the same disdain.”

I reached for the depilation wand and ran it over my cheeks, chin and neck. The hairs that had grown a fraction of a millimeter over the last few hours shivered into insubstantiality and dissolved away with the rest of my discarded skin cells.

“I had heard a whisper that some Kail are coming to the spectacle. Naturally, I hoped that the rumor was wrong. It isn’t, is it?”

“No, sir. It is not.”

“I have choreographed a short routine that shows my misgivings about the Kail. Would you like to see it when I have finished my shower?” I offered hopefully.

“Definitely not, my lord.” The statement brooked no disagreement.

I mused as I turned amid the hundreds of sonic jets, feeling them vibrate my skin clean. The sensation refreshed me, though a bath would have been more relaxing to my muscles. My left shoulder was sore. I moved it closer to one of the emitters and was rewarded as the throbbing eased. I made a note to myself never in future to do a side flip landing on one hand on a rug that was not affixed to the floor.

“How many of them are coming?” I inquired.

“The intelligence I have received does not specify. The Kail, as you are no doubt aware, are secretive and untrusting of all outsiders. They do not commit their plans to any form of documentation as do those of the Imperium and the Autocracy, or even the Trade Federation. What inquiries they do make of the Infogrid are carefully camouflaged among thousands of other searches so our agents and programs find it difficult to discern which search is legitimate.”

“It all seems unnecessarily obtuse to me,” I opined. We of the Imperium were necessarily open and forthcoming to the electronic frontier. It was a matter of law to keep one’s Infogrid file updated. I had posted digitavids of myself performing a routine displaying delight and curiosity about our present journey, to mixed reviews, alas. “But why are they coming, if they know they are going to interact with such terrible creatures as humans? Why not stay mewed up in their bizarre culture and eschew contact?”

“They were invited by the Emperor,” Parsons said. I had to stop what I was doing to allow this fact to permeate my consciousness.

“They were? Why would he do that? He isn’t coming to the spectacle.”

“No, he is not. But he has sent envoys to the Kail. The Zang exhibition takes place, nominally, in what is considered Imperium space, though it has been the province of the Zang for countless millennia before humankind left Old Earth. Therefore, for the Kail to attend required permission from he who controls the Imperium’s borders.”

“I certainly hope he doesn’t expect us to make friends with them. I don’t speak Kail, nor have I studied their culture. I’m afraid I would only make relations between us worse.”

“Never fear, my lord. It is not a mission for you, or even for me. A team of trained and seasoned diplomats are on this vessel, preparing to approach the Kail.”

“They are?” I asked. “I hadn’t noticed any diplomats.”

“If I may say so, my lord, that is what you may expect to see. They know that they have no place among those of your rank, and are keeping their own company. You might find them a trifle dry of conversation. They acknowledge that. They will fulfill their own mission without troubling you or any of the rest of the Emperor’s relations. In fact, it would be best if you helped to prevent any of your cousins from interacting with them.”

“Gladly. Why is the Emperor reaching out to the Kail?” I asked. “Certainly they’d be appalling trading partners. I am not au courant with the efforts of the Ministry of Trade, but a race that wears no clothes, doesn’t eat our sort of food, hates music, art, any kind of interaction with humankind or, I presume, Uctukind or Wichukind, is unlikely to allow imports of our goods into their space.”

“I have been made to understand that the shoe, so to speak, is on the other foot. His Majesty seeks to open up the borders to allow trade in minerals. Kail space seems to be a bountiful source of rare minerals.”

“Gemstones?”

“No, my lord. Minerals of objective value, not subjective. Transuranics, rare earths, and other ores that are in increasingly scant supply in Imperium systems. Before the embargo, explorers from the Imperium and Wichu systems detected a number of planetary and asteroid bodies that contained a wealth of those minerals. They were prevented from mining those ores by the inhabitants. I am afraid that was the beginning of strained relations between our two nations.”

“But what could they possibly want in exchange?” I asked. “I know why the Emperor invited them, but why are they coming? They have certainly done all they can to avoid interacting with us. Why now?”

“That is what the government hopes to find out. However, it is not your concern. This mission is entirely separate from the pleasurable spectacle that you are going to observe. It has, in fact, provided an excuse for the conference. Cover, if you will. Not every party that will be affected by a potential détente is in favor of such a treaty, however. One of the reasons that there is so much security accompanying this ship is to ensure that the diplomatic team arrives safely. It has nothing to do with you or any other relative of the Emperor, per se.”

“Good,” I said. “As long as I don’t have to attend a daylong banquet dressed in an uncomfortable suit of clothes and make small talk with a living rock about the small pebbles he left back home, I shall feel as free as air.”

“You shall not, my lord,” Parsons said. He examined the glass of wine as though discerning whether it was listening to us on behalf of enemy combatants. “In fact, I believe that the delegates will be pleased not to have to cope with, er, unnecessary variables while working to bridge the gap between our government and theirs. The Kail have been known to take offense at even the least suggestion of impatience or dislike. You all must avoid them as much as possible.”

I sighed with relief. “Gladly. Never mind the Kail, Parsons. If they don’t bother me, I shall not bother them. I have far more interesting things to think of. I have devised an exciting dance that I created regarding our trip into Zang space. I shall perform it for our party later in our journey, as we approach the borders of their domain. This is quite an event for me. The elder race of the galaxy! They who preceded even the microbes that were humanity’s most ancient evolutionary form! It is only the thought of seeing them that makes it even bearable to be in the Kail’s presence. My teacher is on board. She and I will be working on the presentation, honing every moment of symbolism to the finest point of which my body is capable. It is a masterwork!”

“I am sure it will be well received, my lord,” Parsons said. I could tell that he had a thought he wished to impart.

“Speak,” I called out to him. “I know when you are holding information on the tip of your tongue.”

His voice assumed an aridity that had me swallowing against the desert dryness it invoked. “That is a rather unsavory, not to say inaccurate, description.”

I gestured my abashment, although he could not see me. The thought that I had made the effort had to count for something.

“Forgive me, Parsons. My new enthusiasm has plumbed both the spiritual and the visceral sides of my psyche. As well as the emotional. It may have caused me to be more eager for intellectual input than usual.” I reached for a rough towel and rubbed myself all over to loosen any remaining particles that the sonic beams had left behind, donned a robe, then stepped out of the booth. Although that manner of cleansing was not as relaxing as immersion in hot water, it did mean I wasn’t required to dry myself off. Anna had already laid out fresh underthings. I tossed the towel to her. She caught it in mid-air and trundled away. I donned the smallclothes and returned to the sitting room. “My physical efforts have honed my observational faculties to a new peak.”

As I suspected, Parsons had not seated himself. His spine was ramrod straight. I had begun to believe that he derived the same comfort and rest from the soles of his feet that ordinary mortals received from sitting down. He retained the glass in his hand, though I doubted that he had yet partaken of any of its rubicund contents.