“It was toward the end of the dinner. I spoke no more with Jorran, but I made sure I was close enough to hear anything he might say. He was talking with the people at his end of the table about the tedious process of mind control in Century III prisons, to rehabilitate their lawbreakers and make them useful members of their realm again. I mentioned that even a low-tech people like the Sunderans had mind control down to a fine art, and instantaneous, at that. It was a deliberate attempt at subtle insult of which I am ashamed.”
That Dalden would have used phrases likelow-techandfine art,words he gained from having a “visitor” for a mother, not words a warrior would use, showed just how drunk he had been that night. And he probably didn’t even realize that whatever means Jorran’s people would use for mind control was probably gained from offworlders; they weren’t even low-tech, they were no-tech at all. Not that any of that mattered when the damage had already been done.
“Martha, did you know what Dalden had done that night?” Tedra asked.
“Sure did. You kept me on the Rover at the time, if you’ll remember, so I could keep tabs on Shanelle. And after what Jorran tried to pull during the competitions, he was on my personal list of ‘keep under surveillance’ as well.”
“Whydidn’t you mention this sooner?”
“Because Jorran’s intention was to return to his world, which he did. Despite the fact that he left us furious, he had few options that might cause you trouble. His learning about the Altering Rods did set off alarms in my circuits, but when he gave absolutely no indication that it was something he felt he could take advantage of, I crossed him off my ‘endangered species’ list.”
Tedra rolled her eyes. Martha’s “endangered species” crack was her way of describing anyone she saw as a threat to Tedra’s well-being. She was programmed against killing things herself, though she was rather good at threatening to do so, and she could defend and render harmless as needed. Tedra, on the other hand, wouldn’t think twice about demolishing someone who threatened her life or that of any of her family.
“But there’s no reason for Dalden to get involved, is there, aside from guilt? Thiscanbe handled by the League, right?”
“In time to stop Jorran, no,” Martha replied. “In time to prevent him from taking over more than one planet, you betcha. But that won’t help the people who get forced to worship him as their new king.”
Since that wasn’t what Tedra was hoping to hear, it wasn’t surprising that she slammed her palm down angrily on the link-unit so she wouldn’t have to hear any more of Martha’s less than supportive commentary.
“That isn’t going to work,” Shanelle pointed out.
“No, but after nearly two weeks on the ship where there is no shutting her up, since she has complete control of the farden thing, being able to do so now is a luxury I won’t deny myself,” Tedra replied.
“She can still hear you.”
“Of course she can, but she can’t reply.”
“Wanna bet?” boomed out of the heavens.
Shanelle blinked, noticed the complete look of shock on Tedra’s face, and then started laughing. “Droda help us, half the people on this planet are going to think their God just spoke to them.” She fell to the grass and held her stomach as another round of laughter ensued.
Tedra wasn’t amused, slammed the button on the unit again and growled into it, “You misbegotten metal nightmare, you know better than to cause global panic! You’re in meltdown, right? You’ve totally lost it?”
“Relax, doll.” Martha’s voice came through the unit again in purring mode. “General Ferrill doesn’t take chances with visitors anymore; he makes worldwide announcements warning his people to expect the bizarre and unusual for the duration. And since we’ve been let inside their global shield this time, we’re pretty hard to miss.”
Tedra glared up at the two spaceships hovering in the sky above them. “Beside the point.”
“Actually, that was the point,” Martha said, using her tone that was laden with amusement. “Much as I might get a kick out of being mistaken for a god, that isn’t going to happen here, when the Rover is in plain view for anyone who heard me on this side of the planet. And I have information that you require before you can make an informed decision, so shall we proceed?”
Tedra hated it when Martha dropped carrots like that. She would have preferred to tell her circuited friend to stuff it, but couldn’t now.
“Proceed,” she grumbled.
“I made a point of finding out all I could about Jorran when he became a contender for Shanelle. He’s indeed a High King of Century III, but what isn’t common knowledge is that he’s a king without a kingdom. Probables tell me he had hoped to find a kingdom in Sha-Ka’an, through Shanelle. He’s apparently been looking for one for quite a while now.”
“Backtrack, old girl,” Tedra said. “How’d he lose his kingdom?”
“He never had one.”
“Then how does he hold the title?”
“That answer requires a bit of information about Century III.”
“The brief version, if you don’t mind.”
“You got it. Century III isn’t just the name of their main planet, but also of their star system. There are twelve planets in all, but only six are habitable, and only the main planet had developed to the point of intelligence and world governance, ruled by one family that give themselves the titles of High Kings. The current family possesses seven High Kings. The planet used to be divided among the family, but that wasn’t working out well with this last crop of seven, probably because they didn’t have enough countries to go around. When they were discovered by the League and learned of space travel, they decided to divide up the planets in their system just as they had previously done with the countries.”
“But they still came up one short?”
