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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 08 May 2010 08:00:02 -0500
From: "Elf M. Sternberg" <elf@pendorwright.com>
Subject: {ASSM} Journal Entry 001 / 01031  The llerkin Moment (0)
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Date: Sun, 09 May 2010 09:10:19 -0400
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The llerkin Moment
Yestar 1031
"That was the most amazing noise I've ever heard," I said, collapsing
into the couch along one wall. I was completely exhausted.

Anni grinned at me. "Yes, it was rather impressive, do you not think?"
She glanced at the box on the table. "What is that?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Pal must know. It would not have gotten in here without her knowing."
It was wrapped in gaily-colored ribbons and silvered paper and on top
was an envelope. Anlestin ended part of the mystery by opening the
envelope. "Ah, they are from your beloveds."

I had a feeling that I knew what was inside, but I held my breath. It
was for Anlestin to find out what miracles the box contained if my
suspicions were correct. The golden ribbon that actually held the box
closed parted with a single tug from her slender fingers. "Lightbulbs!"
she gasped, gently picking the vase out of the box and showing me the
low, shrublike collection of nondescript flowers. In the dark, though,
they would wink and glow with many different colors. "There are twenty
here! Where is the note?" She found it. "'Princess, friend and beloved
of our beloved, the lightbulb flowers have long meant love and warmth.
May this double spakeeh of those flowers warm your new world and the
love between you and Ken. With compassion, Aaden and P'nyssa.'"

I smiled. Such delicate flowers were once so rare that local regents
applied the death penalty to any non-nobles who picked them. "Oh, Ken!
Your beloveds are more than thoughtful! How could P'nyssa and Aaden put
so much into preserving these?"

"Aaden already had a collection of them before the war. I don't think he
ever meant to let them go to waste just because the rest of your planet
was being re-engineered with the biosphere the rest of us use." I
stretched out onto the couch. "Besides, I suspect that they've been
modified to be more robust and survive out here."

She smiled. "That is cheating!"

"No," I said. "That's taking advantage of what we can do. I mean, was it
cheating when your ancestors finally figured out what soil for them to
grow in, or culled the weak ones to emphasize the strongest genes?"

She took a seat next to me, leaning her head against my shoulder. "I
suppose it is not."

"By the way, have I told you how wonderful you looked?"

She stood up and turned around. "Do you really think so?" she said.

She had worn a bright yellow dress with a narrow brown trim about the
arms, skirt, and collar, the last of which came down to a point at her
throat and was held closed with a small circular sigil of the Queen's
mark. Over the left breast was a red diamond imprint of the planetary
flag. A brown, filigreed trim closed the top of the dress. The skirt
came down to just scant of her knees, exposing a lot of her very lovely
calves and a bit of thigh.

It was completed with golden bracelets about both wrists and of course a
golden crown. The old one had been destroyed in the bombing of the
Llerkin, but craftsmen had made a new crown, light and beautiful, two
narrow towers of gold pointing toward the stars. Simple yellow slippers
of silk, embroidered with red, completed her ensemble.

"I really think so," I said. "That has to be the most elegant and
beautiful dress I've seen you in in a long time."

"You are just saying that because it is an easy thing for you to get me
out of."

"Oh, guilty as charged," I admitted. I let my hand stroke her delicate
back, my fingers easily distinguishing between the zipper and her supple
spine. "You're very beautiful," I said, letting my lips brush her cheek
softly.

She giggled, then pushed me away gently. "I have to tell you something
important." She said it with a tone of voice I'd never heard from her
before, one that made me sit up and listen. "I think I have found a
husband."

The look on my face couldn't have been more clear. Even I could feel the
smile. "Anni! That's wonderful! I'm so glad."

"You are not... upset?"

"I suppose I should know the details," I admitted. "But I'm glad you
found someone you could be happy with. I know this has been a big deal
for you and your people the last few years. Who is it?"

"It is young Rulyon. He will be my Great Husband." She grinned, reached
down and touched my cheek. "Will you be content as a secretive Lesser
Husband?"

"It's hardly a secret that you and I are lovers," I pointed out. "Will
he be upset?"

Anlestin was quiet for a moment. "It is a noble marriage. It carries
with it all of the usual privileges of such an arrangement. And... I
like him. I do. I think that that is the most important thing. It is not
the most political marriage I could arrange as there were other suitors
with better power bases and more ancient wounds to appease, but Rulyon
Reffom's family is an excellent one from which to draw a husband. The
Reffoms are southerners, which is expedient these days, as that split
still exists and still appears to be our greatest conflict." She sighed,
running her hand up my thigh gently and suggestively. "I would have
thought a century on Pendor would have erased such differences."

"They exist only in the mind, and that's much harder to erase. At least,
with our laws and traditions. But... It seems I have a great deal of
reading to do with regard to Great Husbands."

"Yes, I expect that you do. But no, I do not think he will be upset to
know that my bed is sometimes occupied by other males, yourself
included. It is what one expects of a Queen. The battle for fitness is
not won merely on the battlefield."

"I am not contributing to the battle, am I?"

"Only in that you keep me in great shape for it," she said with a grin.
"Oh, Ken, I do love you, and I am so happy that you're not upset at this
news?"

"Anni, it's good news. For you and for your world. It comes between us
but no moreso than any other responsibility you might have. And that you
have found one who will also be a friend is something else I think is
wonderful. You've needed male companionship for a long time. I certainly
can't give it to you all the time."

She grinned and slid her hand up my thigh. "At least Ipsi will be
leaving me alone now."

"Until she finds something else to think about," I muttered, thinking
about the serious, almost emotionless minister who saw to the political
realities of the house of Stevves, Anlestin's noble family. My hands
found their way into Anni's elegant outfit almost by magic. I certainly
didn't guide them there by conscious thought, but soon I had parted the
back of her dress open, exposing her soft, smooth hide. I ran my fingers
along her spine again and enjoyed the reaction as she arched her back
and cooed. "You want something," she said.

"You." I reached up and tugged on the sleeves, pulling the front of the
dress forward. It slipped off her shoulders easily, the top half
dropping into her lap.

"Let's get you out of those silly clothes," she said. "Stand up."

"By your command, your Highness," I said. She stood up and shimmied out
of the remainder of her dress, leaving her standing in only her
necklace, bracelets, and ear decorations. I watched and waited. Now
naked, she walked up to me, her little black triangle of a nose pointed
upward with high impertinence. She let her hands trail down the clasp at
the front of my shirt, the fabric parting magically under her eager
guidance. She soon had it off. "You have another layer underneath?" she
said.

"The lightness of this cloth speaks to its value, but it shows off too
many underlying details. The undershirt covers those. And I like the
feel of it more."

"Well, take it off," she said. I did as she asked even as her hands
sought the same clasps down about my waist. She was soon opening my
pants. I stiffened momentarily to the feel of her cool, slim fingers
stroking my erection through the boxer shorts I wore. "It always seems
so much bigger to me than it really is." I kissed her and heard her
sigh, but it was not a sigh of pleasure. I looked at her, and she
smiled. "I hope I will not find myself comparing you to Rulyon."

"You will. We always do."

"Perhaps that will not be such a bad thing, though," she said. "What a
handsome object." Her cool fingers reached under the elastic and began
playing with the head of my cock. Her delicate touch made me sigh with
wishes.

"I thought I came here to give you relief, not the other way around."

"We all do what we must," she said with a giggle.

I reached down and lifted her into my arms. She immediately nestled her
head against my shoulder. "I should miss you so much in the coming
years."

"The missing will be mutual," I agreed. "But we'll have our
opportunities, Anni. It's not as if we are going to be completely
separated."

"I know it. But it is still hard. I do hope..."

I knew what she was had thought, and suppressed, and I did not resent
her for it. She hoped that Rulyon would grow into the kind of mel she
loved. She hoped his love would be an adequate exchange for her freedom
as a Princess. "I do too."

"And I so love you. You do understand."

I carried her to the bed and lay her down on the coverlet, then covered
her body with my own. "As well as I can. I have the luxury of
understanding." I kissed her neck, her shoulders.

She sighed. "And you are so attentive!"

"I don't think I could be anything else," I said with a grin. I kissed
her chest, my tongue picking up a salty sweat that was utterly unlike
anything mammals created, a unique taste. Her chest was completely
devoid of distinguishing marks, a uniformity of pale green fading to
white along the midline of her body, the little hints of gold between
the tiny scales speaking of centuries of deliberate and careful
selection of mates. She was as beautiful as her species could make her.

I kissed her belly, watching as she flexed it with each slight tickle,
listening to her giggle as I worked my way down further. She had no
navel. She moaned as I trailed my tongue over her mons veneris, and then
kissed at the gently clasped lips of her vulva. "Open," I whispered, and
she spread her thighs apart just a touch. I looked into her sweet sex,
at the white film that lubricated and protected her insides from the
harsh outside world, and the funnel-shaped opening barely two
centimeters wide that led into her depths. I slid one finger about that
opening and listened to her moan.

I eased my way back up her body, touching her, caressing her hide. She
was easily one of the most ready women I had ever known, but she
deserved more than a few mere kisses. We rolled over onto the bed, and
this time she understood what I wanted, kissing me hard, her mouth
pressed against mine. The solid ridge of her teeth bit gently at my lip,
and her body was cool atop my own. "You are a wonderful mel," she said.

"And you are an incredible fem." We turned over again, and this time I
eased my way down between her legs, but only to kiss her thighs, knees,
and those sweet, sculpted calves. Her feet were next, and I adored
watching her squirm as I kissed and licked her toes. "You..." she
gasped. "Stop that!"

"Maybe," I said. I relented, and turned around until I was again
eye-level with her sex. I kissed her atop her mound.

"Yes," she gasped. "Please."

I gave her what she asked for, finally, kissing the inner lining of her
cup, licking at the sensitive places. Every llerkin fem is different in
that regard, the places where she is most sensitive somewhere within the
vaginal cup. Anni had two distinct spots, and I had long ago learned
where they were as I licked at the sensitive, white tissues. She twined
her hands in my hair. "Ohhh," she gasped as I found her pleasurable
core, her sensitive spots, her warm interior. "Yes, yes!"

I could feel one climax roll through her, followed by another. It was
that easy when she was ready, and right now her defenses were down with
her exhaustion at a full day of pomp and pageantry, and I was ever
willing to take advantage of my Princess when she was in such a state.
"Ken, Ken," I heard her moan. "Fuck me, please."

"Ah, sweet music to my ears," I said as I slid up the length of her body
and pressed myself into her. She guided me into her sex and soon I was
nestled within, joined at the hips, her slim, smooth figure open and
vulnerable under mine. I looked into her yellow eyes and she smiled
back. "I love you," I whispered to her.

"I have always known such," she replied as our lovemaking become real
and urgent, our bodies gentle meeting and separating, in and out, the
rhythm of our lovemaking a happy compromise between the styles of two
different species. Her sex was, as always, much tighter than almost any
other, but the juices she produced much slicker than those from mammals.
She held onto my arms as we made love, and when I came it was a gentle
thing, moderated by my own tiredness, a happy thing.

I lay beside her, recovering just enough to get ready for sleep, and she
was already snuggling up beside me. "Don't you want to clean up?" I
said.

"The pillowcases will clean up for me," she sighed, indicating a pillow
she had placed between her thighs. "It is the seventeenth century, after
all."

I chuckled. "For you. For us it's only the eleventh. For Terra, the
twenty-ninth." I kissed her. "But, you're right." We would both wake up
with most of the mess effectively consumed by the self-cleaning
mechanisms in the bedclothes-- which were still indistinguishable from
the highest quality cottons. I suppose I was just excusing the fact that
I could barely keep my eyes open and had no desire to totter off to the
bathroom.

I was thinking about trying to make it there anyway as sleep overtook
me.

            *            *            *

Duke Conta siss-talek looked up as the door to his sitting room opened
without any announcement or prelude. He had expressly ordered that he
was not to be disturbed for any reason and now scowled as Marhn, his
senior aide, walked in. He slapped the young aide he had been
'assisting' on the buttocks. "Out, boy. We'll conduct further business
later."

The young mellerkin began closing his shirt. "Y... yes, sir."

Marhn scowled at the retreating back of the boy. One of these days he
was going to walk in on the Duke just a little later than now and find
the Duke in the final throes of ravishing one of his pageboys across the
expansive desk. Marhn believed in the Duke's vision of a new llerkin,
one saved from the malaise that had gripped its collective soul. Marhn
also knew that some days the Duke could be a little distracted by the
beauty with which he surrounded himself. Marhn understood that nobles
were supposed to be a little unusual in their tastes. The Duke's tastes
ran to simple sodomy, hardly the sort of minor offense that invalidates
one for the status of savior of the people.

"You asked to be notified when Shardik and Anlestin retired. That time
has come."

The Duke's face lit up. "Excellent."

"You should be aware, my Duke, that security around him has been
increased significantly. There was an incompetent attempt upon his life
a year ago."

"Yes, the assassination attempt on Terra. I heard about that. Terrible
thing. So sad that the assailant missed so completely. Is it a problem?"

"Not particularly. My only concern is that, if we still intend to act
soon, then the radius of that security may well include the target."

"I have an opening, Marhn. I would prefer that it happen when he is
nearby, perhaps even with the target in his hands. That eggless,
loveless, bestial whore is an obscenity to the throne on which she sits.
I will not allow it. For the sake of all llerkin, Anlestin must die."

            *            *            *

I awoke in the middle of the night with a suddenness of clarity that
would have made me jealous at other times. Something felt slightly off;
I could feel it, but I couldn't quite make out clearly what that
something might be. I eased myself out of bed and made my way to the
bath, where I cleaned up. I found myself waiting for hot water-- the
builders had actually used pipes in the palace, a necessity on llerkin
where something tinkered with Einsteinian space, shoving it around in
slight but unpredictable ways, ways that made getting lock-on with
SDisks much harder than anywhere else in the explored galaxy. It was a
phenomenon that had generated much research, and few answers. There were
a few SDisks in the castle, but the technology needed to support them
was so absurdly great that they were there as luxuries, not necessities.
Nothing in the Castle depended on SDisks.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I decided that I still like what I saw
after all these centuries, and there was nothing wrong with the eyes
that stared back at me. "Good for you," I said. I reached into the gray
duffel that I had carried in here and pulled out some clothing more
appropriate to the casual life of the palace.

I quietly made my way out to the elevator, which silently lowered me
down to the living quarters, and found my way to the small kitchen that
had been set aside at Anni's (Gods forbid I should ever start thinking
"the Queen's") request. Yes, she had at her beck and call an entire
phalanx of personnel ready to cook her anything she should desire, but
she liked to get her own cup of tea. I looked at the time: it was early
in the day, but too late to justify going back to bed. "Another day," I
sighed and set about making myself coffee. She actually had some, bless
her (or Pal's) hearts, and I set about the process of grinding,
measuring, and steeping myself an extra-large cup's worth. It was that
kind of morning.

I became aware of someone standing at the door. I looked up to hear her
say, "You're awake. Reeds said you were here."

Ipsi was watching me. She was a youthful and beautiful femllerkin, which
meant that I had to be twice on my guard because underneath that facade
beat the hearts of a ruthless bureaucrat. Her entire role in life, as
far as she was concerned, was to make sure that Anni made conservative
decisions most of the time and kept the noble houses of llerkin in
business. Her power depended upon it. I don't particularly like
bureaucrats. Unlike any other profession, bureaucracy attracts those who
want to do good for someone or something, usually themselves. But even
well-meaning ones are problematic. The only tool they have is the power
of government. The outcome of any bureaucratic decision is inevitably
the restriction of someone's freedom. But I needed to address Ipsi. "I
am awake," I agreed.

"I wanted to talk to you alone, before Anlestin awoke. I assume by now
that she has told you about her recent decision?"

"Regarding Rulyon?" I said.

"Yes, regarding Rulyon. I wanted to know what you thought of it?"

"What is there to think of it?" I said. "I'm very happy for Anni. She's
found someone that she thinks she can spend the rest of her life with--
or at the very least be pleased with her choice of a partner. It's much
more complicated, I imagine, with the knowledge that the marriage must
last at least until she steps down, if not longer."

Ipsi nodded. Her face was even more expressionless that ever. I had
never really liked Ipsi, certainly not as much as I liked Chamberlain
Maerts who, for all his tireless chatter, at least smiled once in a
while. In a dishonest way, of course.

The chime went off and I turned to look at my coffee. I was reaching for
a bottle of sweetener when I heard a grunt behind me, felt something
sharp and painful jab me in the back, and then my whole world went
black.

            *            *            *

My consciousness clawed its way back to clarity like an infant turtle
clawing up through the sand, only to find a long walk to the life-giving
ocean. Something in my back burned with a reptile's poison, and a
strange whirring sound filled my ears. I kept my eyes closed, but a
momentary shudder ran through me enough to tell me I was lying in a
puddle of something thick, sticky, and far too cool to be what I thought
it must be. I thought for a moment and called up my internal medical
display.

CRITICAL CONDITION. YOU HAVE LOST 1104 ML OF BLOOD. CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
DISRUPTED. Great, I thought. How is it I'm alive?

INTERNAL SELF-REPAIRING ARMOR HAS BEEN RE-PURPOSED FROM THE NECK AS
PATCH MATERIAL FOR DAMAGED ARTERIES AND VEINS. SELF-REPAIRING ARMOR HAS
ALSO ISOLATED SOURCE OF TRAUMA. CIRCULATION PROVIDED BY NIGHTTIME REST
PUMP. I'm a fucking mess. I keyed up another display in front of my
eyes. *Reeds?* No answer. *REEDS!* Nothing. Fuck. Great. I lay there in
a pool of my own stale and cooling blood, brought back to life by our
own incredible medicine, but there's nothing I can do. I'm still in the
same palace with my abortive murderer, and since I can't reach the local
AI I'm going to assume he's dead. I reached out, further... nothing.

There's one thing about being an ancient that helps sometimes. I
remember the backdoors into things. If I'm lucky, the last few SDisk
connections are still in the SDisk's memory, especially on llerkin where
SDisk connections are intermittent and unreliable. I worked my way past
the basic UI and got a root node accessor, looked through the lists of
lists it gave me, found the one I wanted and entered it. I looked and
found the cache for the medical SDisks on my body. Nothing. The SDisks
themselves were trashed. How was that possible? The kind of energy it
takes to ruin an SDisk is hard to come by, unless whoever it was who had
stabbed me had access to some technology I wasn't familiar with.

I was still lying there, taking shallow breaths, hoping there was no one
in the room with me to notice that I hadn't stopped breathing, when a
small miracle happened. *Ken?*

Lance! Oh, rings, am I happy to hear from you!

*Are you okay?*

No. Here.

*Holy dragonsnot, you're a mess.*

Thank you for that vote of confidence. I'm dying, Lance. Help me?
Please?

*You know I'll do ... can for you,* the AI said, the silence in between
streams painful by themselves. *But from the ... gradio I'm going to
assume that you're ... in the palace. You ... disabled all of the SDisks
everywhere in the Imperial City. I don't know ... I have reports of them
having to be close to an SDisk to do it, but there aren't .... SDisks in
the city.*

They got all of them?

*Every one ... inventory. And every one on your body, too.*

Yeah, I noticed that. Wait. There might have been one they missed.
Lance, can you access the cache for the hot water heater in the
basement?

*The cache? ... Reeds off-site. He's alive, ... but not running at the
moment. I-- ... There's an entry here I'm not ... with.*

Can you access it?

The line cleared mysteriously. *Yes! Yes, I can. What is. Oh.
Interesting. But it's so low powered, Ken, what can I do with it?*

It's mobile, Lance. Can you give Reeds enough CPU to tell you about it?

*Yes, and I... okay. I've got the access rights to it. Oh, and it has a
camera! What an excellent little platform. Lifting off. I'm coming to
find you.*

I waited, my eyes closed. I expected to hear something. Voices.
Footsteps. Gunfire. Instead, it was deadly quiet all around me, the only
sounds the whirring in my chest, the gentle push of my second heart, and
the castle's heating and ventilation systems.

It took long minutes for Lance to show up. "I see you," he said. "Hold
still."

"I'm not going anywhere," I assured him silently. I felt a touch on my
back. I heard a high-pitched whine and felt something spread over my
skin.

"Surveillance is down in the palace. I'm getting more details, Ken. Duke
Conta Siss-talek is proclaiming that in the interests of the people of
llerkin he is declaring a state of emergency. Apparently, he's not alone
in this. There's a large minority of nobles and clergy with him. They're
declaring that with the return of the llerkin people to llerkin, the
interstellar experiment is over. 'It has been a disaster for the moral
and intellectual health of our people. We thank the Pendorians for their
efforts, but their ways are not our ways, and we bid them leave.'"

"It's a fucking coup."

It took him a few seconds to respond. "Of course it is," he agreed. "By
the way, the people aren't buying it. The nobles are not in line with
their constituencies, apparently; they like what Pendor has done for
them and are resisting. Even in achla, where there's strong local-rule
sentiment."

"How am I doing?"

I heard a heavy thud beside me as the thing in my back fell to the
ground. "I take it that's a good sign?" I said.

Another delay. "You're in shitty shape but provided you don't get
stabbed or shot again you'll live. You need a new heart, though. Your
backup won't do you very good for very long. Don't run any marathons."

"I don't plan on it." I opened one eye and looked. I was still in the
kitchen. I was lying in a puddle of my own blood. "I could use some of
that back."

"I've given you some in your type, light on the plasma and heavy on the
plates. You need it. It'll help transport oxygen in case you have to be
more active. It might make you feel tired. You're in a kitchen. When you
can, get up and drink water. A lot of water."

"Thanks," I said. I turned over onto my back. The dried blood tried to
glue me to the floor, but I fought and won. "Where's Anni?"

"I don't know."

That was what I expected to hear, but I wasn't exactly happy to hear it.
"Well, are you monitoring the situation?"

"Of course I am!" he said, sounding frustrated. "Why wouldn't I be? It's
just that there isn't much information coming out of the capital city
right now."

I sighed. "Lance, can you get me some weapons through that thing?"

"You're going to look for her, aren't you?"

"You're going to advise against it, of course. But I can't just leave
her in the hands of those... shit. Calling them rebels is too romantic.
This is murder." I stood up slowly. "Urrgh."

"You're not going to not be in pain for some time," Lance advised. "I'm
not going to mitigate for you and I'm grateful you don't have an onboard
that you can program independently. Call me selfish, but I want you
back."

I chose not to argue with him. He knew better than I did the condition I
was in. We had reached an agreement of sorts-- he would let me go find
Anni, and I would let him tell me when I was pushing it too far.

I briefly considered looking at myself in one of the many mirrored
surfaces one can find in a kitchen, but I had other things to do. I
filled my coffee mug with water, drank, filled, drank again. "Okay,
Lance. Can you tell me anything about the observational systems in the
building? How many people are here?"

"High-resolution images of the Castle suggest that a very small core
contingent has taken it over, and that the majority of people inside the
castle, if they are still alive, are loyal to Anlestin," Lance said.
"Reeds is down, and he was the sole sources of information handling for
the city. There is heavy encrypted traffic going on all around you,
suggesting that the rebels have a few people and very little automation,
but they're well-organized against a population that doesn't know how to
live without an AI looking over their shoulder."

"Analysis?"

"I have no doubt that this coup is doomed to failure. The llerkin are
like Terrans rather than Pendorians; they evolved. They will not
tolerate this situation for long. It will take a few days, perhaps only
a few hours, for them to get organized against the rebellion, but at the
moment the rebellion can pretend it has the upper hand. Only lives are
at risk."

"'Only'."

"I don't like it any more than you do."

"I don't like seeing one of my favorite worlds going to hell for the
second time in as many centuries." I sighed. "Gotta find Anni."

"I advise against it."

"You've said that already." I tried the door. It came open easily and I
stepped out into the hallway. There was no one waiting for me to come
to. This was definitely a case of not seeing the body. Mine. I walked
down the hallway, listening carefully, my auditory skills jacked up to
painful levels, the pain carefully regulated down.

I turned the corner and spotted two guards, in palace formal suits of
all things, standing in front of the large conference room doors. A
metal bar had been shoved between the doorhandles to reinforce their
status as a barrier, but they were both armed only with pistols. They
must not have regarded their captives as particularly dangerous. "Ken,"
Lance whispered, and I felt something in my hand. "Here. Get ready."

An explosion ripped through the far side of the castle. There were
shouts, and the two guards ran past. I tossed whatever it was Lance had
given me after them, and both of them fell to the floor two seconds
later. "What was that?" I said.

"Just a tranquilizer."

After removing the bar, the doors were still locked. "Lance?"

"Just a second." The delivery portal on the showerhead was only a few
millimeters wide and Lance was obviously trying to find the sweet spot
between delivering material to work with and transmitting power to
operate it, but in a few seconds I heard the door open with a click.
"Damned SDisk failures," he muttered. "This is taking too long." I
picked up one of the guard's pistols, a heavy thing with a grip for a
llerkin hand, and slowly opened the door.

"Shardik!" The voice was oddly familiar as I looked in quickly, peeked
around, and then pulled my head back. I had the impression of prisoners,
so I looked back in quickly. There were Palace staff all about the
floor, sitting on tables and chairs. Most were disheveled, and all had
the tired look of people who had been caged for more than a few hours.

"Who addressed me?"

"Me, sir," said a tall (for a llerkin) femllerkin in contractor's garb.
She wore a little identification badge that said, "Tona Rycis."

"Do I know you, Miss Rycis?"

"You might not remember me, sir. You rescued me when a bookcase fell on
me during the construction of the Palace."

"Oh, yes," I said, smiling. "Did you shoulder heal well?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

I was in no mood to argue with her use of the word 'sir' today. I looked
around the room and saw functionaries and bureaucrats of all sorts of
stripes. These were the people I had to work with today. "Where's
Anlestin?"

"We don't know, sir. We think they took her to her office. She does have
the physical backups there for many of the security systems." Others
around the room nodded. Anni's office was only a few doors down from
here, so if they were there, they were being damned incompetent. Maybe
the explosion earlier had distracted most of their resources. Suddenly
she was looking at me with concern. "Sir, you're hurt!"

I nodded. "Secretary Ipsi stabbed me and tore a hole in my heart." I
sagged suddenly, feeling very tired. "I'm only being held together with
patchwork."

"Sir!" She ran and caught me as I fell to the floor. "Sir, you can't be
allowed to..."

"Rescue Anni," I said. The world was getting grayer. I handed her the
gun. "If not you, someone else. Someone here must have been a soldier
once. Rescue your queen." I leaned up against a wall, and someone
brought me a blanket. I looked up into a worried face, someone I did not
know.

Tona, to my surprise, pulled back the slide to make sure there was a
round in the chamber, checked the safety, and said, "Yes, sir."

"There's another, in the hallway." I felt dizzy and weak. I hated
thinking, I'm going to die here. There's only one of me. I don't back up
often, and I don't believe in backing up. Aaden and P'nyssa will get me
back, but I don't want to die here.

Commotion around me. The sounds of gunfire, only a short distance down
the hallway, and screams-- mellerkin screams. I hoped it wasn't whomever
Tona had found to assist her. There was a bustle at the door, and then I
heard her. "Ken!"

"Anni," I sighed. "Anni... I'm going to die."

"I forbid it." She looked at me and I saw the Queen Anni, the woman in
charge, ready to take on the world. She was more ready to rule the
universe and wipe out evil than a million priests had ever been.

Tona said, "We have to get out of the castle. Find a rescue system big
enough to get us out of here."

"The GEVs!" Anni said.

"The town is taken. You'd never get past them. And GEV's won't handle
the forest."

"No," Anni said. "The water."

"But the cliff..."

"I can do it," Anni said. "I can do it without Reeds."

I wasn't so sure, but I held my own counsel. She was probably right.
Tona said, "We should get moving. They'll check in with the guards
regularly. When Anni's detail doesn't check in, they'll come looking for
us."

"All of you!" Anni said. "We have four pistols now. Split up into four
teams of three each. Tona, you and your companion will come with us. I
want the other three to take random routes out of the castle. Create
confusion and chaos." She shrugged off her coat, handed it to a fem
about her height. "Try not to get killed."

"Yes, your highness," she said, looking more determined than she
deserved to feel.

I pushed myself to my feet, Anni helping. "Are you okay?" I said.

"They did not torture or rape me. They still have some respect for their
queen. The leaders are probably hoping for a show trial. I will not give
it to them." I had never heard her so brusque or so angry. "The stairs
are this way."

Tona and the other mel led us to the stairwell. "Why aren't the doors
locked?" I said.

"They can't be," Tona said. "The Palace was built to be a public place,
not a secure facility. Once you're past the main doors, most of the
palace is publicly accessible, and in those spaces fire escapes are more
important than securing the building."

She led us into the stairwell. I looked at the wall and in the blocked,
square script of llerkindi learned that we were on the 18th floor. I
sighed. "It's a long way down." The stairwell had the humid, cold feel
of concrete and steel.

"I'll help you down, sir," the mel said.

"Thank you," I said. I didn't want to let on just how weak felt. I had
lost more blood than I cared to admit, even with Lance's help, and my
strength was ebbing even as they led me around more stairs.

We had reached the fifth floor when I heard a door open several flights
above. "Go!" Anni whispered. We began moving down the stairs even
faster, the mel with his arm around my shoulder, helping me down the
stairs. Tona took up the rear, covering us with her pistol. I hoped she
didn't have to use it.

We reached the first floor. "Basement 3 is what we need," Anni said. I
nodded. We kept moving even as a voice far above said, "Stop now!"

"Go!" Tona shouted, giving away the game even as we ran for the door. We
reached the basement and headed out into the open parking garage. The
big open space echoed every shooed footstep, and the wet smell of young
cement hovered in each breath. The GEVs were nowhere in sight. "This
way," Anni said.

There were several vehicles in the garage. We walked around the
stairwell and then I could see the GEVs at one end, tucked into a
corner. We ran for them. Shots rang out over our heads and I ducked
behind a support column. I heard a scream. "Tona!"

She lay on the floor not three meters from me, on her back, clutching at
her waist. I could see blood on her hands. "Lance, Tona," I ordered.

"I'm on it," he said. The little showerhead dove down to her. I couldn't
see what he was doing, but I hoped whatever it was it would save a life.
She looked up at me, pain in her eyes. "Here!"

Her pistol scooted across the cement floor to me, and I scooped it up.
Lance could see four guards from his position and told me where they
were. They were running up, apparently unaware that we, or at least one
of us, were armed, as they all had their pistols down. "Lance?"

"It'll cost you," he said.

"Better me than Anni."

He swore, "History is fucking dead!" I stepped out from behind the
column. I had the four llerkin who were coming around the corner in
sight immediately, aimed, and fired. Three went down immediately. The
fourth had time enough to pick up his gun and get off a shot. He missed.
I did not.

At least, I thought he had missed. I heard a groan behind me. "Anni!"

"It's... it's okay." She had a wound in her calf, a clean shot that
missed the bone. She smiled. "The targeting system he was using wasn't
ready for a human."

"Some consolation." It was bleeding badly. I tore off what was left of
my shirt and wrapped it around the wound. Already I could see the
nanochine going to work as the blood flow closed off.

The mel came up to me. "Sir, we have to get you out of here." He picked
up Anni and carried her. "Can you operate one of these without your
leg?"

"Maybe," she said.

"Let's go." We ran for the GEV even as I heard the echoing sound of a
door opening and booted feet running. I threw open one of the gull-wings
and sat down. The mel put Anni down next to me. I regretted not knowing
his name as he pushed down the door and locked it. I pulled down my own
as Anni went through the checklist. "Thank Zhal for fly-by-wire," she
said.

Bullets pinged off the shell. "No!" Anni moaned as our last guardian
went down in a hail of gunfire. The GEV started up, and in seconds had
achieved ground effect. The tilt of the six underskirt fans adjusted
readily to the even ground and we were backing up when a hand pounded on
the glass of the door. Anni snarled "Traitor!" and banked the GEV in his
direction. They opened fire. Part of me thought her action courageous,
another thought it petty. There was no way for us to escape the
tungsten, steel, and lead with which they pummeled the GEV, but it
didn't matter. It was built to Pendorian specs. Everything in Anni's
life was built that way.

We would have to revise.

She maneuvered the GEV deftly in the tight confines of the underground
parking lot and shot for the exit. The door was wide open. I marveled at
that.

"Jeeps!" Anni shouted. I looked over to my left and saw a pair of the
wide-bodied, wheeled military pursuit vehicles heading our way, but Anni
surprised them by shooting around the edge of the castle, building up
speed for her run at the cliff. They didn't try to follow. "Hold tight!"
I paled, thinking of what she was about to try.

The GEV shot out over the cliff. I wondered, for just a second, if it
would be like something from the movies-- slow motion, silence, that
kind of thing. Like when that assassin shot at me. But no, this all
happened at full speed and the roar of the GEV's motors grew louder than
ever as the fans looked for something, anything, to press against. Anni
was pulling back hard on the power lever, her teeth clenched as the
water came up on us, fast. We slammed into it with force that made my
neck vertebrae compress with a sickening grinding sensation, the chairs
doing all that they could to keep us from harm as the water washed
completely over us and we sank beneath the waves. Then we bobbed to the
surface and the rear jets were on as hot as ever. The ride was uneven
for a few seconds and then I appreciated what Anni had done: angled the
fans, three on each side, inward, into a point so that the air would
break the wall of water before the body of the GEV hit. She could have
torn off the skirt that way.

Then I grayed out for a few seconds.

When I came to, we were going full-tilt for the horizon, the engines
screaming. "Anni?"

"They're going to come for us," she said. "Someone's going to come for
us. Hear that?" I heard the beeping sound, loud and alone over
everything else, the sound of a collision avoidance system working
without AI guidance. I looked at the display and saw that, whatever it
was, it was coming fast on our rear, an intercept. Anni looked at me.
She reached out and offered her hand to mine. I took it. "Ken, I love
you." She looked out the window. "I hope that's one of ours."

----------------------
The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik 
and Related Tales.

The entire archive of stories can be found at:
http://www.pendorwright.com/journals

Copyright 2003 Elf Mathieu Sternberg.
Distributed under the Creative Commons License BY-ND-NC/1.0
Some Rights Reserved. 

Elf's latest stories are available in paperback!  Buy 
the genderbending novel _Sterlings_, available
now from http://stores.lulu.com/elfsternberg

--

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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