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Outliers of Tirano

  A Tale In The Encircling Belts Of Tirano Saga

  by Shawn B. Thompson

  Copyright 2013 Shawn B. Thompson

  Prologue

  On the planet Tirano, my mother leads an order of genetically engineered women, the Sisterhood of Sibyls, who do not marry and produce daughters in vitro. The Vhirko, clones of females who died valiantly in battle, guard Tirano's monarch at all times. To be a member of Tirano's aristocracy, the Archonan, one must be a pureblooded descendant of the leadership of the mother ship that landed almost two millennia ago. Imagine the inbreeding that has resulted during those two millennia.

  Nonetheless, in this milieu, I'm the one stigmatized as a bizarre creature. Not because of my shoulder-length red hair, whitish skin, and stubby physique, but because of the happenstance of my birth. First, I am only half-Tiranoan. My father is an indigen of a planet called Earth that is located on the other side of the Black Cavities. But even more damning, I am the only child ever naturally conceived and given birth by a Sibyl, and to make matters worse, a male child.

  However, I'm not a Sibyl. The manner of my birth and a certain part of my anatomy disqualified me. That's fine with me; I've never desired to be a Sibyl and be cloistered most of my life in the Sibyl Compound. Nonetheless, Mom insisted that I be educated in Sibyl schools and used her authority as High Sibyl to have me admitted to the secular classes. I enjoyed legal studies and graduated with a legist degree.

  Because I'm the only male ever to be Sibyl educated, I'm the only male who knows how to manipulate a Sibyl fire opal pendant. As a result, I can use my pendant to contact Vision, the Sibyl's vast computer network. Among its other attributes, Vision's research tentacles reach every library in the galaxy, some of which aren't meant to be public, including the only library that I am prohibited from accessing - the Sibyl classified files. The ability to access Vision has proven to be the best gift Mom could have given me, and I never remove my trine necklace that holds my pendant.

  Mom could give me an education, but she couldn't give me friends. I only have one friend, Siniastra. Why? We're two mules in a herd of assess. Even though we were raised as if we were Archonan children, we weren't. Like me, Sini had a parent who wasn't Archonan. Her mother, the Vhirko Mirae, was the clone of a peasant child. Thus, under Tiranoan law we were legally classified as KaNoa, not Archonan, something the Archonan children who populated Arvor City never let us forget.

  It didn't matter to them or the law that the peasant child had helped save the life of King Mhikhel or that Mhikhel's son, King Zhun'Mar, had married Mirae and that Sini was their child and a Princess. Nor did it matter that my father had discovered the way for King Zhun'Mar, Mirae, and my mother to return to Tirano after they'd been stranded on Earth following the Mhorg's Caerwin Ambush. That he'd also discovered how to restore the vine on Tirano also meant nothing.

  But those events are subject of another archive. This archive concerns Archonan subversion of everything Sini and I represent.

  -1-

  Royal Council Chamber

  Arvor Castel

  Planet Tirano

  "All of us at this table know that Princess Siniastra is a wonderful young woman. And none of us doubt her, ah," Count Hoj Rohfek paused, leaned back in his chair, and pinched his double chin, "ability to produce an heir capable of assuming the Golden Vine Throne. Unfortunately, as we all also know, many members of the Archonan Assembly do not share our confidence. Overlady Petrella's proposal for a nondurable marriage with Lord Fiotr has provided a solution. It would permit Siniastra to produce a child and demonstrate that her line would not be defective. And it would produce a Tamok scion in our royal family. We would no longer have to worry about obtaining Tamok sihlcon. After the marriage term ends, Siniastra would be free to –"

  "Enough Count! I won't do that to my daughter." The sharp tone of Consort Mirae's voice bounced off the Royal Chamber's muhrwood paneling and echoed in the Chamber's golden dome. "I will never consent to Siniastra marrying Fiotr Lok."

  Mirae's face turned scarlet and her cobalt-blue eyes narrowed to slits. "How could you even contemplate such a thing? He's the son of Mhorg. You act as though Mhorg did not murder Tarnlot. That he never tried to kill Zhun'Mar, steal the Golden Vine Ring, and usurp the Golden Vine Throne."

  She clenched her jaw and spoke through closed teeth. "Unlike you, I was there. Two dekas may have passed, but I will never forget. Nor will I ever forgive."

  From my vantage point in a chair against the inner wall, I was so shocked by Mirae's unexpected outburst that I released my grip on my Sibyl pendant and ceased transmission of the notes I'd been sending to my archiver. Mirae seldom said a word during Royal Council meetings. She hid behind a stone face that never expressed any emotion. But I vibrated with the same emotion. I shared her repugnance at the thought of Siniastra married to Mhorg's son. While on Earth, not only had Mhorg Lok and his brother, Bhradvin Lok, murdered Tarnlot. They had also tried to destroy my father and abduct my mother. I was one who believed the Tamok should have been forced to disavow all of Mhorg and Bhradvin vile acts and to have paid reparations in the form of sihlcon. Instead, upon his return, Zhun'Mar negotiated a treaty with the Tamok to purchase sihlcon chips. Evidently, that's not enough for the Tamok. Now, they want to be rewarded with Sini's marriage to a Lok in addition to the outrageous price in assignats that we must pay for the third generation of sihlcon chips Tamok Mining produces.

  Mirae turned her glare across the circular muhrwood table to her husband, King Zhun'Mar. Zhun'Mar's blue eyes widened, as if cold water had doused his curly salt-and-pepper hair. He slumped his broad shoulders back in his chair, spoke softly. "We must consider the value of this for the future of Tirano. There is no other source of sihlcon. At the current rate, all of the Belts' sihlcon chips will malfunction within two loops. We must have the new chips."

  Mirae didn't say a word and continued to glare at Zhun'Mar. After a few milli, she fixed her glare on the gray-haired, heavy-jowled man sitting next to Zhun'Mar: Count Rohfek, the Lord Chancellor of Tirano. Rohfek lowered his eyes and stared at his folded hands. Mirae turned her head toward Commandant Lydmila, Commandant of the Vhirko Brigade. With her barrel-chested frame rigid in her black Vhirko uniform, Lydmila blankly returned Mirae's gaze. Next Mirae scrutinized Admiral Kiptani, commander of the Royal Armada. The swarthy, lanky Kiptani didn't blink and Mirae's glare landed on the last person seated at the Council table: my mother, Caykondra, the High Sibyl. Mom nodded in apparent agreement with Mirae.

  Mirae returned her glare to Zhun'Mar, which had to feel like a maser blaster aimed at him. "I will not listen to any further Archonan and Tamok folly regarding our daughter." She shoved her chair back. It toppled over and crashed on the ivory and black marble floor with a crack. Count Rohfek jumped in his chair as if he'd been shot by one of the Belts' maser blasters. The heels of Mirae's black boots pounded the floor, the heavy metal door of the chamber swung open, and closed with clang.

  I realized I'd been holding my breath and could taste the stale air in my lungs. Even though I wasn't a member of the Royal Council and merely recorded notes in position as resident intern for Count Rohfek, I didn't want to be included in Mirae's outrage. As Royal Consort, Mirae was no longer active in the Vhirko Brigade, but she maintained her Vhirko conditioning routines and personally trained Siniastra in Vhirko martial arts. Mirae could kill any non-Vhirko in the room with her bare hands if chose to do so, and even the bigger, burly Lydmila would be challenged by Mirae's superior quickness and steely will.

  I peered at Mom. Her fingers cradled her fire-opal pendant against the single shoulder strap of her vermilion trumpet gown. Others might think s
he was deep in thought as she stared out the room's single Palladian window with its second-floor view of the kilometer wide square surrounding Arvor Castel. I knew she was using her pendant to communicate with Vision before she spoke.

  After a moment, she rose from her chair, and even though she was shorter than Mirae, she too scowled at Count Rohfek as if preparing to engage in physical combat. "Mirae is correct. It stinks of Rheginahld Nhoth scheming to get himself next in line for the Golden Vine Throne. How can you and the Archonan Assembly contemplate such a thing? The Sisterhood will never condone such an unnatural marriage. I personally will do all in my power to stop this lunacy. Like Mirae, I was there, and like her, I will never forget nor forgive."

  Me too, I thought. I looked around the table to see if any other Council members would join Mom's dissent. Commandant Lydmila and Admiral Kiptani stared at each other without expression, and I could read their thoughts that this was a political matter not within their realms of concern.

  Count Rohfek puckered his thick lips and folded his arms across his rotund belly straining against his sapphire robe. "I realize how personally upsetting this must be to you and Consort Mirae," he said unctuously. "But we must face reality. No Archonan will marry the child of a clone even is she is the Princess. None will risk fathering a defective child that would contaminate his gene pool. This marriage solves two problems. It provides a husband for the Princess and it heals the festering wound between us and Tamok. It may be the only way the Arvor line can be continued in a manner acceptable to the Archonan Assembly."

  Zhun'Mar laid his right hand on the table and stared at the stub of his ring finger as if he could feel the pain of when Mhorg had sliced it off. After a moment, he swiveled his head toward Mom. "Securing a Tamok alliance is too important to be endangered by personal feelings: Mirae's, mine, or yours. In light of the Archonan Assembly's recommendation, Overlady Petrella's proposal must be analyzed rationally, not emotionally. I intend to do so and expect each of you to do the same."

  He stood. "I will speak further in private with Mirae. Council adjourned."

  I rose along with the Council members and stood at attention while Zhun'Mar and his two Vhirko guard left the room. As soon as Zhun'Mar walked through the Chamber door, Lydmila, Rohfek, and Kiptani huddled in deep in conversation. I strained to hear, but Mom's hand tugged my arm and pulled me through the door into the corridor. I winced. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face. I'd probably get a lecture about not being so obvious when eavesdropping. "What? Was I doing something wrong?"

  "No, no. I wondered what you think of Petrella's proposal."

  "Even if I didn't hate the Loks as much as you, I abhor it. Sini is like a sister to me. She's too young to be used as a pawn in interstellar politics. Especially like this. Forced into a marriage in which she could never be happy. Surely, there are better ways than this to secure the sihlcon chips from Tamok." My blood pressure rose. "And for Sini to produce an heir."

  I paused as Commandant Lydmila and Admiral Kiptani exited the conference chamber. I watched them walk together down the corridor, disappointed that they hadn't gone on record as opposing the marriage. Zhun'Mar respected both, and their opposition might have swayed him to consider alternatives or at least to delay a decision until after the Tamok had returned to Tamok.

  After they were out of hearing range, I continued. "Thanks to their refusal to speak, Sini is the only person who can put an immediate stop to this lunacy by telling her father that she won't agree to the marriage. Zhun'Mar loves her too much to refuse her."

  "You know her better than anyone," Mom said. "Do you think that she'll do it?"

  Pain seared my gut. "If Zhun'Mar asks her to marry Fiotr, Sini will do her duty to her father and agree. She's lived her whole life knowing that the Archonan wish Zhun'Mar had married one of them instead of Mirae. She's spent a lifetime trying to show them that she has no mental or physical defects. She wants to succeed her father. She won't give the Archonan Assembly any new reasons to question her ability to inherit the throne."

  "Just as you struggle against the prejudice of those who don't want you to become Lord Chancellor because of your Earther blood." Mom shook her head. "Sometimes I think Zhun'Mar, Mirae, and I should never have returned from Earth. You and Sini could have been happy there; and Ghaeah knows I would have been happy to remain with your father. Here I fear that you each and Sini will spend a lifetime bearing unasked for burdens that your parents placed on your backs."

  I'd never heard Mom express such dark thoughts. "I must consult with Vision. I think the time has come for Mirae and me to lessen one of those burdens."

  The bitterness in Mom's voice caused a shiver to run down my spine. Without saying another word, she unexpectedly turned and headed in the direction of her chambers. Normally, she would have given me a brief hug and then walked away. She must be rattled because the presence of the Tamok in the Castel brought back painful memories. I sure was.

  "Master Kuinsi," a voice said behind me.

  I turned. A tall, sinewy a Vhirko corporal stood at attention. "Yes," I replied.

  "Princess Siniastra requests your presence in the palestra. Follow me." The Vhirko spun without waiting for a reply and walked down the corridor.

  I'd been around Vhirko long enough not to be insulted by what in others would be considered rude behavior. I hustled in her wake. We turned into a long public corridor filled with government workers. It was easy to discern the hardworking KaNoa walking as if on a mission from the Archonan functionaries who sashayed while babbling in their communicator-mics.

  After several centi we reached an arched muhrwood door with a gold inlay of the symbol of the Arvor monarchy, a gnarled grapevine with five canes bearing leaves and tight clusters of shirnaz grapes. I'd been through this door many times. It opened to the Arvor private quarters.

  An armed Vhirko stood on each side of the door, each with her right hand on the hilt of the laser knife on the right side of her belt and her left hand on the hilt of the laser knife on the belt's left side. Directly in front of the door a Vhirko lieutenant stood at rigid attention. The Vhirko I followed stopped two paces from the lieutenant. With her back to me, she made hand signals to the lieutenant before she spoke. "I am to accompany Master Kuinsi to meet with Princess Siniastra."

  The lieutenant nodded and she and the Vhirko who'd accompanied me walked to the palm scanner in the center of the door. They laid their palms on the scanner, stepped back. The door slid into the wall. "Proceed," the lieutenant said.

  The palestra is at far end of the private quarters, so we had to walk the length of the corridor. Anyone who has not been in the Arvor private quarters would be surprised by the lack of ostentation. The corridors and ceilings are painted ivory and the granite floor is a slightly lighter shade of ivory. No artwork decorated the corridor walls, and unlike the golden chandeliers in the public areas, recessed illuminants provided dim, but adequate, lighting.

  The Vhirko opened a door at the end of the corridor and warm air rushed out. I entered the vaulted-ceiling palestra with sienna stuccoed-walls and ceiling. Even though her head was lowered, I recognized Sini in her ivory leotard squatting on a mat in the center of the palestra with her head lowered and stretching her bare arms in my direction. I glanced at the mats, ropes, and weights that cluttered the wooden-planked floor. "Sorry. Your Vhirko said you wanted to see me. I assumed you were finished with your workout. I can wait outside until you're finished?"

  "Oh, Kuinsi, don't be silly," Sini said in a softer version of Mirae's scratchy voice. "You've seen me sweat before. Besides, I'm almost finished. Just some simple stretching to cool down. We can talk while I'm doing that."

  She sat on the mat and stretched her long wiry legs in front of her. Her slender fingers grabbed underneath her knees and she bent her torso forward until forehead touched her knees. Her long blond hair fell forward and engulfed her face. />
  My neck and shoulders ached merely from watching Sini's contortions. I bent my neck back and rolled my head from side to side, my idea of stretching. It's a good thing that I'm a legist and don't have to worry about engaging in combat. With my inflexible and non-athletic build, I wouldn't be able to make through the simplest Vhirko workout let alone face anyone in physical combat.

  The last rays of afternoon sunlight streamed through the palestra's ceiling windows. I stopped the rolling of my head. Sini normally attends Royal Council meetings and undoubtedly wanted to know what happened at the meeting. "You were the topic of discussion at today's meeting," I said softly.

  Sini straightened her back and took a deep breath before lying on her back to stare at the ceiling. "I know. Father asked me not to attend because of the topic," she said in a flat tone. "The Archonan Assembly wants me to marry Fiotr Lok and prove I can produce an heir."

  I thought of the days when we were children and played carefree and happy in the Rwohn vineyards. I wished things could have remained that way forever, unstained by Archonan machinations and galactic politics. "You may need to produce an heir at some point. But I see no reason why you should marry the son of the Tamok whose knife sliced off your father's ring finger."

  Sini wiped the palms of her hands on the front of her leotard. "Before the Council meeting, we had a family meeting to discuss Petrella's proposal. Father said it was an opportunity to end deka-loops of mistrust and hatred on both sides. That we must have a secure alliance with Tamok to ensure so that they never again turn against us. He said no price was too high to pay to prevent the Radani from ever again exploiting Tamok insecurity about Tirano's intentions. That his duty, and mine, compelled agreement."

  She wiped the corner of her eye with a finger. I couldn't tell whether she wiped away a drop of sweat or a tear. "I've never seen Mother react like she did. She started screaming that Father didn't have the slightest idea of what he asked. Said she would never consent to me marrying Mhorg's son.

  "Father told her to calm down. That Fiotr was nothing like Mhorg. That he was an honorable man who would make a fine son-in-law."

  Sini's sky-blue eyes tried to remain expressionless; I knew she fought back tears. "That seemed to enrage Mother even more. She clenched her fists so hard I thought her veins would explode. She said that it didn't matter if Fiotr was the nicest person this side of the Black Cavities. That the marriage was unthinkable. She vowed she would do whatever was necessary to prevent it. I've never seen her so angry. I'm afraid of what she might try to do. Once she sets her mind to something, nothing can stop her."

  I pulled Sini to her feet and hugged her, not bothered for once by her sticky sweat. She leaned her head against the top of my and clung to me with her warm arms.

  "Damn Petrella and damn the Archonan Assembly," I said not trying to conceal my anger. "Why did wait until yesterday to spring this on us. I don't trust her or them. There's something else going on that we aren't aware of."

  Sini released her embrace and stepped back. "I viewed Petrella's implant archives that she sent Father. She was unaware of Mhorg and Bhradvin's treachery and remains embarrassed by it. She wants to avoid any future treachery so that Tirano and Tamok can stand united against the Radani."

  I shook my head. "I still don't trust her. Not Bhradvin's widow. She's not doing this out of the goodness of her heart. She has to be seeking some personal benefit. I'm sure she's just like Bhradvin and sees some way to gain enormous wealth for herself and that idiot son of hers, Loik."

  Sini plopped on a bench under the palestra's windows and leaned her head against the wall. For several milli neither of us spoke. Finally, I asked the question that I was afraid I already knew the answer to. "What are you going to do?"

  "I've trained my whole life to accept the burdens of ruling, no matter how unpleasant or distasteful. But this is worse than anything I ever expected." Her lips quivered. "But Father is correct. No matter how mad Mother may be, his duty and mine compel us to accept."

  My heart ached. This marriage would cheat her of her youth and her innocence. I hated to see her sense of duty rob her of any hope of happiness. "Oh, Sini," I said softly blinking back tears.

  "Don't look so sad," she said with a thin smile. "I'm counting on you being strong. I need your support if I am to make it through this. Promise to always stand by me, as my dearest friend. No matter what happens."

  "You know you don't have to ask. I could never, would never, do anything else."

  I wanted to bring a smile to her face, and knew how. "Besides, you always promised that only wines from my vineyard would be served at your wedding. I'm holding you to that promise."

  Sini laughed, dabbed her eyes with her fingers. "I should have known that the first thing you'd think of would be your wine."

  Her expression turned serious. She rose and whispered in my ear. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but Father confided that he intends to issue the banns at tonight's banquet. Will you sit next to me and offer the betrothal toast? I'll need a bottle of your wine next to me if I'm to keep a smile on my face tonight."

  I gave her hand a squeeze. "I know the perfect wine to serve for a betrothal toast. A wine the Tamok will never forget."