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Aos Whey-ki, Sibyl of Doom

  A Tale In The Encircling Belts Of Tirano Saga

  by Shawn B. Thompson

  Copyright 2013 Shawn B. Thompson

  Prologue

  A cycle after Sini’s defeat of the Tamok I stumbled across the truth about the Archonan. After a lifetime of being tormented by Archonan bigots, imagine how deliciously sweet the discovery of the truth tasted. I know where they came from and whose scions they are. What will the Archonan purists think when I tell them about Aos Whey-ki? They won’t feel so high and mighty then.

  If any of the Archonan ever knew the truth, they buried it long ago so that it would be forgotten. I wonder if the secretive Sibyls have known all along and have concealed it for their own purposes. One never knows what knowledge lies in the bowels of Vision and unknown to the rest of Tirano until its disclosure serves some devious Sibyl purpose.

  -1-

  Rwohn Compound

  Planet Tirano

  Being Queen of Tirano didn't exempt Siniastra from the emotionally wrenching task of going through her dead parents’ personal belongings. She’d asked me to help because I was the closest thing to family she had left. I agreed willingly, because I felt exactly the same about her.

  Sini and I had undertaken the task of sifting through Zhun'Mar's personal portfolios of historical archives. The Vhirko guard assigned to assist us lifted a portfolio off the top shelf in the library alcove and set it on the muhrwood conference table. "The last one," Sini said. "It's awfully thin, and from all the dust on it, it hasn't been opened in dekas."

  I hoped it was the last portfolio. We'd been at this chore for what seemed like an eternity, and Sini looked awful. Instead of her blond hair being tied back as normal in a tight bun, it hung loose and stringy. The black shadows sagging under her eyes evidenced mourning and a lack of sleep.

  "Even if it's not," I said, "we should take a break. We've been at this for five spins and you look exhausted. You need to get some sleep and then pay some attention to all the official duties you've neglected since we started this."

  Sini shook her head. "I can't."

  "Sure you can. Nothing says we have to go through all your parents' belongings in one stretch."

  With her long, slender forefinger, Sini brushed away a tear. "I wish it were only that."

  She turned to the Vhirko. "Please stand outside the door. I wish to talk privately with Lord Chancellor Kuinsi."

  The Vhirko nodded and stepped out the door.

  Sini waited until the door closed before speaking. "The only good thing that's happened in cycles is your lifting the requirement that a Vhirko keep me in sight at all times. If they were still hovering in my bedroom all night, I'd have totally cracked up by now."

  I cringed with the memories of those untiring Vhirko eyes that never deviated. I'd been under constant Vhirko watch after the Tamok coup de main that killed Zhun'Mar and Mirae. No one could be comfortable with a Vhirko's constant lurking. "What's the problem."

  Sini plopped in the chair at the head of the table. "The nightmares are back and they're worse than ever. I can't close my eyes without the Kings screaming 'Usurper' at me. Grandfather Mhikhel says he personally will drive me insane unless I abdicate in favor of Zhun'Mar's true heir."

  "I thought we'd fixed that," I said softly. "Take the Golden Vine Ring off when you want to sleep."

  Her eyes tightened. She pointed a finger at me. "Don't treat me like a child and use that tone with me," she said through clenched teeth.

  My head jerked as if her finger had shoved my head back. "I didn't --"

  She waived her hand to cut me off. She stared at me for a moment. I could see her struggling to regain her composure. "I'm sorry." She wiped another tear from the corner of her eye. "I take it off, but it doesn't help. I've even tried sitting the cursed thing on the mantle in the bathroom. Nothing works anymore. I feel like my head's going to explode if I don't get some rest soon. Maybe the legend is true, and I'm not the rightful heir. Maybe the heir must Archonan."

  I prided myself on understanding Sini's emotional state, but I'd mistaken her mood as depression from sorting through her parents' belongings. It never occurred to me that the nightmares had returned. My fingers dug into my palms. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I thought that was under control and that you were depressed because of," I pointed at all the containers stuffed with portfolios that littered the floor, "all of this."

  She took the Golden Vine Ring off her finger and stared at it. "I wish I could just throw this damn ring away."

  I wished she could too. But she had to wear it all times in public. According to legend, only the true Sovereign can wear the Golden Vine Ring and receive its blessing. If anyone else tries, it will drive the wearer insane, just as Pretender Han and Usurper Rhamos were. If Sini were to be seen without the Ring, it would be disastrous. She wouldn't be regarded as the rightful heir. I couldn't permit that happen. "I'll do some more research and figure out what to do next. Hang in there. I'll find a solution. I promise."

  She gave me a steely smile, one that reminded me of her iron-willed mother. "Let's finish this last portfolio and then start tomorrow on Father's wine cellar."

  She stood and bent over the last portfolio. "Father was a pack rat about never disposing of any of his historical archives." She blew dust off its label. "This has to be the oldest one. It's marked 'Retrieved from damaged drive - early Tirano'."

  "Sounds interesting to me," I said.

  Sini laughed cheerily for the first time today. "Of course it would to a legist who thinks nothing is more sacred than precedent. In some ways, you're as much as a historian as Father was. You both believed the older a record was the more accurate it had to be."

  She shoved the portfolio to me. "Take it. Ghaeah knows I'll never read any of these. And something tells me Father would appreciate you having them."

  I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to take the portfolio or any of the archives. Zhun'Mar had always been so proud of his collection that I didn't want to be the person who broke it up. "Thanks, but keep it with the rest of your father's portfolios."

  She clenched her fist and banged it against the table. "Damn you to the blackest Cavity." She glared at me. "I try to give you something so that you can have a piece of him and you act like it's trash."

  I'd never seen Sini lose her temper so easily and so often, not even when the Archonan tried to have her married off to Fiotr of Tamok. Given her fragile emotional state, the last thing I wanted to do was upset her further. "I didn't mean it that way. Of course, I want it. I just didn't want you to regret later that you gave it to me."

  She lowered her head and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "Oh, Kuinsi, Kuinsi. Get out of here and find that solution you promised me."

  I grabbed the portfolio. "I'll pick you up here in the morning. We can walk to the wine cellar together."

  She continued to rub her forehead.

  -2-

  Rwohn Compound

  Planet Tirano

  I entered my quarters and set the portfolio on the dining table. I glanced out my dormer window. The orange glow of sunset that creased the horizon of the Rwohn Steppes reminded me that I hadn't eaten since first meal, five deci ago. I'd probably be up most of the night researching for the solution I'd promised Sini. I needed a filling meal to sustain me.

  I didn't want to take the time to fix a meal, so I grabbed a loaf of my favorite crusty bread and a round of creamy bovid cheese.

  In less that ten milli I was sitting at the table, munching on a slice of bread and cheese and drinking a glass of my spicy zin. As I ate, my thoughts turned to Sini's problem. I remained convinced that the Golden Vine Ring cau
sed her nightmares; that the Ring emitted some kind of signal that played havoc with her Arvor neuroimplant. For a while, it had been enough for her to take the Ring off her finger while she slept.

  I carried my dishes to the sanitizer, grabbed my archive reader off my desk, and returned to the table. I called up my notes from two cycles ago when Sini first started having the nightmares and re-read them.

  Sini complained of nightmares. Whenever she falls asleep, all the Arvor Kings, except her father, appear. They call her "Usurper" and scream she has no right to sit on the Golden Vine Throne. She complained that her implant burned and felt as if it would explode.

  Her mention of the implant caused me to recall the origin of the Arvor implant. Arvor the Great had modified the standard memory implant and created a variant that he decreed only an Arvor may wear. Sini had worn an Arvor implant since childhood. I asked if her implant had ever bothered her before she wore the Ring and she said no.

  I convinced her to let me hold the Ring. I ran my finger over the sides of the solid-gold ring's etched grape vines. The vines felt inert. I examined the purple cluster of grapes set atop the Ring. At each Sovereign's coronation, he would add a grape to the cluster. I ran my forefinger over the cluster. I felt each grape. As I'd suspected, the deep purple grapes were sculpted from a rare color of precious opal. Precious opal can be manipulated to transmit on a low intensity frequency, but because of its density, it can't transmit more than a few mikra.

  I didn't know why, but somehow the Ring was transmitting a signal that interfered with Sini's implant. As I suspected, if the Ring was removed a short distance from Sini, it would be out of its transmission range. She fell asleep while I held the Ring. Problem solved. She'd be able to sleep as long as she didn't wear the Ring. When I have time, I'll look into what could cause the Ring to transmit that signal.

  I'd procrastinated and never taken the time, and my inattention caused Sini, not me, to suffer. The only logical hypothesis I could come up with was that the Ring had adjusted the strength of its signal. I had to figure out how and why.

  Because of the great distance that a properly manipulated fire opal can transmit, Sibyls use fire opal pendants for wireless access from anywhere on Tirano to Vision, their vast computer network. If the answer to Sini's problem existed, Vision's search engines would find it.

  For two deci, I searched Vision for every variant of "opal" and "transmission" that I could think of, but I kept coming up with the same result. Every variety of precious opal was too dense to transmit more than a few mikra. I'd reached a dead end on precious opal. The only thing I could think of was that at least one of the grapes on the Ring's cluster was a different type of opal that could transmit a further distance. Tomorrow, I'd have to convince Sini to let me examine the Ring's cluster, grape by grape.

  With my mind wound so tight from frustration, I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. Zhun'Mar's portfolio caught my eye. His historical archives were notoriously dull reading guaranteed to act as a soporific. I could accomplish two things at once. After viewing a few milli of an archive I'd be anaesthetized, and I could later tell Sini that I'd found the archives useful.

  I opened the portfolio. It didn't contain as many archives as I thought it would. I flipped through the archive inserts. All but one of the labels were written in a language I couldn't decipher. The one I could read, an archaic cursive style of Ahngléa, sounded rather bland, "Aos Whey-ki Journal: Terra New."

  I slipped the archive in the reader. "Unknown format," the reader responded, "attempting conversion."

  The last time the reader converted an archive, it created a spectacular holo display of dancing lights. I never did figure out how the dancing lights related to an archive entitled "Vineyard Micro Management - 0492." I wondered if the result would be any better this time.

  "Archive conversion complete," the reader sounded.

  "Play archive," I responded.

  A rainbow of colors swirled on top of table. I sighed, another light show. That typified the night, another dead end. I reached to turn the reader off. The colors coalesced. A female face confronted me. If not for the depth of the crow's feet around her eyes and her gray-streaked black hair, the image could have been Mom. In fact, if I had a maternal grandmother instead of a maternal genome chart, that's how I always imagined she'd look.

  "It's been a long, arduous voyage to Terra New," the holo said in a lilting accent I didn't recognize. "Along the way I've been forced to make decisions I regret, but they were necessary for our survival. But I get ahead of myself." She paused, her eyes seemed to focus on me as if measuring me. "I am Aos Whey-ki. My story begins decades ago on Terra with my projection of the effects of the Precession of the Equinoxes Cataclysm."

  I'd never heard of the Precession of the Equinoxes Cataclysm. "Pause," I said. The image froze. This must be a novel archive instead of historical data. I hadn't viewed a good novel in ages and a good old-fashioned cataclysm always hooks me.

  Even though I was intrigued, the effect of the long spin overpowered my urge to stay up all night reading. I needed some sleep if I was to help Sini. Instead, I'd view a little of the novel each night before going to bed, beginning tomorrow. At the time, I thought it would be a relaxing diversion from the stress of trying to solve Sini's nightmares. Little did I realize the significance of what I would learn!

  -3-

  Rwohn Compound

  Planet Tirano

  Sorting through Zhun'Mar's archives had been a tedious task; inventorying his personal wine cellar would be a delight. It reputedly contained a treasure trove of vintages from the Arvor Rwohn Vineyard before the Radani poxxra wiped out all of Tirano's original vineyards. Sini's love of wine matched mine, so hopefully she'd enjoy the day even though I hadn't solved her nightmare problem.

  A Vhirko opened the door to Sini's quarters and I entered. Sini sat alone at the alcove's conference table. The bags under her eyes had deepened overnight. She poured herself a cup of tea. "How you feeling?" I asked.

  "I'm going to need a few more cups to get going." She lowered her head and rubbed her temples. "I sure hope you figured this out?"

  "No. But I've got an idea I'd like to test."

  She drained the cup in one gulp. I couldn't imagine how she kept from scalding her throat. She poured another cup. "Please stand outside and close the door, Corporal," she said to the Vhirko standing in the open doorway. "I'll call you when Master Kuinsi and I are ready to go to the wine cellar."

  The door thudded shut. "Okay, tell me," Sini said.

  "When I inspected the Ring before, I examined several of the grape inserts closely. They were made of the same type of precious opal. The other grapes looked the same, so I assumed they were precious opal too. I'm not so certain now."

  "Why?" she replied.

  "It would take a different kind of opal to transmit any greater range."

  Sini pulled on her ear lobe. After a few lacti, she spoke. "If that's so, taking the Ring off would never have worked."

  "According to my research, it's possible to program a feedback mechanism that indicates whether transmissions are received. The other opal might have programmed not to begin transmission until the feedback indicated the precious opal's signals weren't received."

  Sini shook her head. "I don't know, Kuinsi. Who would anyone go to all that trouble, and why?"

  "I don't have an answer for that. But one step at a time. First, we see if there's a different opal hidden in the cluster. Then, we figure out why." I held out my hand. "Now let me see the Ring."

  Sini extended her hand. As I reached for the Ring, Sini's private vid-console beeped. She pulled her hand back. "By the Belts. They haven't left me alone all morning. Can't I have a moment's rest?"

  The vid-con beeped again. "I'm going to ignore it."

  "You'd better answer," I said. "The Vhirko wouldn't have let the call through if it wasn't important. If yo
u don't answer, the Vhirko will think something's wrong and storm full force through the door. I don't want that when I'm examining the Ring."

  Sini grimaced. I handed her the Ring and she slipped it on her finger. "Commence transmission," she said.

  The holo of a plump, balding man appeared. "Your Highness." The man dipped his head.

  "Make it brief, Count Nhoth," Sini said sharply.

  The Count raised his head. "Ah, good. I see Lord Chancellor Kuinsi is present." His smirk showed he didn't mean it. For reasons I never comprehended, Rheginahld Nhoth had served as Speaker of the Archonan Assembly for more than a deka even though his father was the disgraced (and thankfully dead) Colonel Ohlav Nhoth who tried to usurp the Throne and kill Tarnlot. And now he was next in line for the Golden Vine Throne if Sini died without producing an heir.

  "The Assembly has been waiting for nearly a cycle for your approval of its budget." He stroked his double chin. "We've been able to keep critical departments functioning by using our discretionary funds. If you don't approve our budget soon, all Assembly functions will be forced to close. That would be a calamitous occurrence, indeed."

  Sini shrugged her shoulders. "I fail to see any calamity."

  I thought Nhoth would pull his double chin so hard he'd choke. I bit my lip to keep from smiling. "I wouldn't be so flippant," he drawled. "Perhaps, Master Kuinsi will remind you that failure to fund the Archonan Assembly violates Article V of the Founding Compact."

  Sini bolted out of her chair and, with clenched fists, leaned over Nhoth's holo. He was so surprised, he took a step back. "You know as well as I do that Article V was intended to permit the Assembly to function as a governmental legislative body, not to enrich its members. Or didn't you think I'd take the time to read and notice those details."

  Nhoth raised his hands, palms up. "I have no idea what you could possibly be referring to. After all, this is the first budget you've ever had to review. It's a complex document. It takes loops of experience to truly comprehend its intricacies," he said unctuously.

  "Don't treat me like an idiot child," Sini shouted. "Even I know that no budget has ever required the Royal Treasury to pay all of the expenses to maintain Assembly members' estates while the Assembly is in session. And that's only the most obvious misappropriation. Now go back in session and don't bother me again until you send me a budget that I can sign. Transmission terminated."