::That’s because as Chief; I gave you access,
little Beauty. I will instruct the Concierge accordingly.::
“Where is Naffie?” Syn asked, worried about
her new son.
“Don’t worry, Highness, he is downstairs with
the chef helping to make the dawntine cake which will be served in
the informal dining room in thirty mots.”
Duchess jumped onto the huge bed, making sure
her claws didn’t pull at the delicate material of the bed
linens.
Bron opened one of the closets overflowing
with clothing. “Pa Syn, do you wish to wear Earthen clothing today
or Sarran?”
“Which would you recommend?” Syn walked over
and stood beside Bron and looked into the closet. “None of the
standard Earthen sizes fit me because of my large bust and the
small waist. I believe the Sarran styles suit me better. What does
a Sarran fem wear in the suntine?”
Zaron walked over to the closet and took out
a long top with a Mandarin collar and a pair of full trousers that
almost looked like a skirt. “Try this, the violet color matches
your eyes.”
“This is beautiful.” Syn touched the fabric
which reminded her of the fabrics used in Indian saris. “I’ll try
it on.”
She went into the dressing room and put on
the special bra and briefs then the pants and top. She stood on the
circle surrounded by mirrors. Her Warriors watched as the circle
turned. “It looks like Sarran clothing suits my figure perfectly. I
think I may abandon Earthen styles almost altogether except for
jeans, shorts, and T-shirts.’’
Zaron and Bron dressed in their vests, trews
and boots.
“If shorts and a T-shirt are what you had on
yesterday, my vote is that they stay,” Zaron leered, teasing
Syn.
“You know, when I met you on the ship, you
were so uptight that I thought you were a complete snob. I was
afraid of you.” Syn smiled as she gave Zaron a hug. “Now I find out
you are on your way to becoming a dirty old man.”
“What is this
dirty old man
?” Zaron
said as he patted Syn’s rear end.
“An older Warrior who chases young fem…”
“Bron, she has no respect…” Zaron laughed
“That’s because the Goddess chose wisely,”
Bron said as he pulled both of his mates into his muscled arms.
“Let’s go eat,” Syn said with some energy. “I
think I need something in my stomach before I get grilled by
Elders.”
Naffie was in the small dining room waiting
for his Zadda, Poppie, and Mommie while playing with Duchess and
Tigger.
Syn looked down. “How did Tigger get
here?”
Naffie shrugged, “He teleported. They both
have been back and forth from the Palace of Light all morning.
Syn was in shock.
::Teleport? Duchess you
never could do that before.::
::You’re going to find you can do a lot of
things on Sarran that you couldn’t do before now that your psy is
released.::
Syn sat down, “Fuck.”
* * * *
Anya was still in awe of her surroundings in
the Palace of Light. There were windows with grand vistas
everywhere she looked. Temperatures in this quadrant of Sarran were
temperate all year round, resulting in park-like surrounds. She had
a hard time believing that they teleported halfway across Sarran to
attend a dinner party last night at Syn’s new home.
Tigger was settled in and she was surprised
to see his psy blossom on Sarran. He went back and forth to meet
Duchess on almost an hourly basis as if the two felines were
plotting something. Anya was in the dining room having a cup of
coffee when Jonal wandered down the stairs. Jonal gave Anya a light
kiss.
“Is that the sludge from the ship or did Syn
program the fabricator to make that nectar we drank last
moontine?”
Anya put down her cup and greeted her bonded.
“TeBron and TeZaron’s chefs spent the night uploading all of the
recipes in Syn’s cookbooks into the fabricator. Duchess told me
they were promised extra time off in exchange for staying the three
tines it took to do the downloads. We sent out a universal message
to all of the Earthen fem on the com to ask them to program the
fabricators with any cookbooks and food stuffs that were sent to
Sarran as part of their household goods.’’
Tonas came up behind Jonal and gave him a
hug. “We have to negotiate for the coffee and chocolate import
contracts; once this gets on the fabricator; everyone on Sarran is
going to bid.”
“Never mind the chocolate and coffee, I want
the contract on cats,” Jonal said. Coffee and chocolate will always
have to be imported, but cats will breed. Think of a Sarran without
the plague of banc.”
“When is the meeting of the Elder Council?”
Anya asked, nibbling on her dawncake.
::At nine tines, Pa Channa. We have to
hurry to get ready. Sarran or Earthen clothing today?::
Tonas
absently stirred some sugar into his coffee.
“Take some half and half, honey, you won’t
like it black.”
“Honey?” asked Tonas smiling at Anya.
“I’ll see if Syn has any. It’s a sweet nectar
made by bees and on Earth it is a healthy alternative to processed
sugar.”
“The doctor speaks…”
Anya elbowed Jonal in the ribs.
“You don’t have to worry about being
overweight on Sarran, so long as you drink your Tierest juice. The
juice metabolizes all of the calories your body needs to stay
healthy and then converts the rest into waste,” Tonas said.
“You talk about the cat contract, get the
export contract for Tierest juice, it will be worth millions of
credits,” Anya said.
“We can’t export Tierest juice. It is a gift
of the Goddess and must remain on Sarran. We have technology to
export, but any product made from the Tierest tree must remain on
Saran,” Jonal explained.
“Well, eating all you want without getting
fat is going to be a big draw for any Earthen fem. You’ll have them
signing up for the trip in droves. Six months ago, I would have
been one of them. The plague took about fifty pounds off my frame,”
Anya said with some asperity as she opened the stasis unit to get a
large glass of juice.
“We would have loved you no matter what, Pa
Mici,” Jonal said. “It’s what you are inside that attracts a Sarran
WarriorPair to their mate.”
“You are both, as ever, sweethearts. Let’s
have the dawntine meal then I’ll get dressed. Tigger is going to
show up soon looking for his breakfast.” Anya peered outside to the
yard. “Although from the looks of the number of bancs he dispatched
last night I wonder if he needs any. I hope they are not harmful to
eat.”
Tigger appeared in the kitchen.
::Haven’t
you learned by now that a sentient feline will not eat anything
that harms them? Although,::
he looked meaningfully at Tonas,
::I still prefer my tuna.::
::Pa Channa, we must get ready to go or we’ll
be late.::
* * * *
“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest
enemy of truth.”
—Albert Einstein
The Elder Council met in the government
building on the grounds of the spaceport. It was a functional
workplace because none of the Elders lived on the property and it
was employed only for government business. It had a large dining
hall for the use of any of the guilds on Sarran or the crews of
both the exploratory and warships that the Sarran sent out to
space. It held some offices where there were clerks, although most
of the work of the Sarran Elders was done from home. Its main
purpose was storage of the archives. The Sarran archives went back
for ten thousand years to a time even before the Clan Wars.
It was because the archives held the
knowledge of how the genetic modification to the Sarran was made
that the Sarrans knew how to make the fem and the one Earthen male
that accompanied the
Brightstar
home genetically compatible
to reproduce. The archives also held some of the basic knowledge
used to create and manufacture the anti-viral compound that saved
all of the Earthen fem from the Zyptz plague.
The secondary role of the government building
was to dispense justice. It was here that the five WarriorPairs who
made up the Elder Council acted as the Supreme Court of Sarran. Any
case that could not be adjudicated at the local or clan level came
to the Elder Council for final arbitration. Since everyone on
Sarran was more than adequately fed, had shelter and medical care,
property crimes, which clogged so many Earthen Courts, did not
exist on Sarran. Divorce, or the Rite of Dissolution was so
horrendous an undertaking that the only reason it was ever
contemplated was when one of the Triad committed a crime expressly
forbidden in the Codex—abuse of a fem or offspring, assault with
intent to kill, rape, murder, or treason. Dissolution could result
in the death of the other members of the Triad and it was said that
the rite felt like someone ripped your living heart out of your
chest and stomped on it with their boot. If a single Warrior or fem
committed any of the acts forbidden by the Codex, they were put to
death.
“We have lesser crimes and the penalties vary
from time in the brig to a mind wipe,” Bron told Syn as they made
their way to the council room.
TeBron and TeZaron were contemplating the
Codex and its stance on crime and punishment as they used the
teleporting pad to reach the anteroom of the council chambers. A
WarriorPair on the Elder Council were traitors and from Syn’s
profile it looked like it might be TeAngle and TeZuff.
As they stepped off the teleportation pad,
Syn admonished Duchess to behave herself while meeting with the
Elders.
::You must conduct yourself with dignity. Along with
bringing cats from Earth the Sarrans are going to want any cat that
is willing to have kittens to bond. This meeting will determine if
more cats can be brought to Sarran and if they can fix both you and
Tigger to have kittens,::
Syn told Duchess as she held her in
her arms.
The Princes of Fire and Light arrived with
their Earthen Princess Anya and Tigger almost as soon as Syn’s
party moved off the teleporting discs.
Anya came and made a beeline for Syn as Bron
and Zaron went to the council chambers. “Are you as nervous about
this meeting as I am?”
Syn gave Anya a hug. “I’m not nervous about
meeting people of high rank. We were taught at boarding school how
to behave in this type of situation. What’s bothering me is my past
as an addict and a hooker.”
“You have no call to be nervous about
that
. You are now the bonded of a WarriorPair who not only
sit on the council; but ran the entire Zyptz war. That is the
highest position of authority on this planet. Remember that and
fuck your past. Umm, that word is so freeing.” Anya smiled and
squeezed Syn tighter. The council clerk came and asked their party
to join the council in chambers.
The meeting chamber for the Elder Council was
as plain as a municipal courtroom in the United States. There was a
raised dais where the council sat and a seating area for those
reporting to the council on Sarran affairs. Bron and Zaron left Syn
and Duchess with Anya as soon as they arrived. Only eight of the
ten seats were filled.
Bron sent a quick thought to Syn.
::TeAngle is absent. TeZuff died from his war wounds last
moontine. They waited until this morning to notify the citizens.
This complicates matters and leaves an opening on the council. I
usually leave the politics to Zaron, but we are agreed that we
should push for Jonal and Tonas to take the seats now that they are
in Triad.::
All of the council stood up as one and bowed
to the admirals and their fems sitting in the seats.
::They
don’t know what to make of the cats,::
Bron told Syn.
One WarriorPair stood. “Let us introduce
ourselves, I am TeAllen and my bonded is TeWell; my confederates on
my right are TeAwer and TeZen. Each Warrior executed a bow to the
two fem. Those on my left are TeAxit and TeZuron. You are already
acquainted with TeBron and TeZaron. Unfortunately we lost one of
our number today. TeZuff succumbed to wounds he received during the
Zyptz war. TeAngle is in official mourning. As TeAngle is no longer
a part of a WarriorPair; he is no longer eligible for council
status. He goes to Castle Fire to contemplate his loss.
“We gather today to hear the report of the
activities on the
Brightstar
. We have seen and discussed the
ships log, the Admiral’s logs, and that of all of the officers. All
reports speak of the valor of the admirals, Jonal Prince of Fire
and Tonas Prince of Light. We congratulate them on finding their
fem, Her Highness, Princess Anya; as we also congratulate TeBron
and TeZaron for their bonding with TaCynthia of EarthClan. We are
pleased that the trip turned into such a triumph when the
probability of success was so low. I give over to my beloved,
TeWell.” TeAllen sat down and TeWell rose and faced the group.
“From the logs I see that we are doubly
blessed. Along with the fem our admirals have brought us another
sentient species, felines. The two felines are in the chamber
today. We are told that they jump very far. Would Duchess and
Tigger jump up to the table to be examined?
::I’ll jump up on the table, but I refused
to be examined like a banc. You can examine the twelve banc I had
for breakfast. They are animals,::
Tigger announced to all and
sundry.
“I apologize for any disrespect, Tigger. We
are used to humanoid sentients, and of course, the Zyptz.”
::We’ll let you look at us closely; but
mind your manners,::
Duchess said,as if speaking to Naffie.
TeWell recovered quickly. Tigger and Duchess leaped onto the
table.
TeZaron and TeBron began to pet Duchess in
the manner she preferred, and TeAllen attempted to pet Tigger
behind the ears.
::You are a quick study,::
Tigger said
as he leaned into the ear rub.