Heroine of Zenina Read online

  Some did not consider him of enough importance to shield their thoughts from him. Stung by their low estimation of his worth, he was ashamed of himself and for Marina. How could she be proud of him if her friends thought him so stupid?

  “They are right, what chance have I of keeping my place with her? I didn’t believe my luck when she bought me. It’s not enough to be handsome, clean, fit and well groomed. Even my lust for her is nothing special. Every man desires her, so what makes my desire exceptional?” He had thought seeking an explanation for her behaviour.

  From then on he began to listen and learn. He read everything he could lay his hands on. Always noticing the books left out. Sometimes they cleared up questions he had not understood, sometimes they opened up a new subject he had not considered studying. He asked permission to attend College and tendered a course of three subjects to follow. Marina glanced at his syllabus, struck out one subject and wrote in two others. He attended the chosen courses obediently, studying diligently.

  Charles worried she would replace him whilst he studied, but when he returned from College she was usually there. Sometimes she would cook a meal for them and they would eat together. The change was dramatic, no longer was his mind a morass of junk. It was not as well ordered as Marina’s but neither was it a pale imitation. He began to have original thoughts if only to keep his mistress’s interest. Two years on, Marina had many offers to buy Charles, if she tired of him. No longer did Marina’s friends dismiss Charles as a handsome dunderhead.

  Now many women who would not normally pass the time of day with a slave, conversed with Charles as an almost equal and many women had sought to buy him, but Marina had refused to sell hm.

  “So what am I searching for? Is it a book? No books have been left out.”

  He checked her desk for a note. He found nothing. He looked through her files. Nothing jumped out at him. Then he switched on the terminal. He checked through the files she had worked on in the last couple of days. There were not that many of them. Most clearly concerned her work and were not relevant to him. But one file was entitled “Protest Movements of the Planet Earth” it was not written by her, but by Father O’Flaherty.

  Charles wondered why Marina would bother to transfer one of Father O’Flaherty’s lectures onto her terminal, particularly as it had been transferred that very morning. He called up the file, the screen scrolled by:-

  Protest Movements of the Planet Earth

  A brief historical examination of the achievements and tactics of Earth Protest Movements; written by Father Niall O’Flaherty, Bishop of the Zeninan Empire.

  Charles skipped through the lecture notes taking in the salient points as Father O’Flaherty explored the rallies and hunger marches of the British Suffragette movement. He reflected on the passive resistance of the Indian people to force home-rule on their British rulers. Then he discussed various separatist movements but not in depth as few, he said had lasting success. Moving on to the black equality movement in a place called America he mentioned a charismatic leader named Martin Luther King who had been assassinated, but whom the Bishop clearly admired.

  Fascinated, Charles read on as Niall weighed up anti-government demonstrations in places called the Philippines, Iran, Antigua, Kenya and Ethiopia. Touching on other much more recent protest movements although Father O’Flaherty was unsure whether they had achieved their objectives. He offered no presumption as to their efficacy. He pondered the tactics of various organisations splitting them into groups.

  1) Violence, Terrorism, Bombings, etc. Niall suggested violence was rarely successful against governments except when a full scale war was launched. Coups were more effective when little blood was shed. Father O’Flaherty believed most “Terrorism” or Patriot fighting had failed in their objectives as the blood spilt hardened the government line and lost them public support, frequently resulting in a more repressive regime.

  2) Masochism, Hunger strikes, Public Suicides, Suicide Bombings etc. Charles noted Father O’Flaherty’s opinion that most of these methods failed to achieve their aims and he considered them inadvisable. He argued it did not matter what you died for, dead was dead. He concluded that only the deaths of well-known people influenced public opinion, although rarely instigating change in Government policy. He dismissed them as cranks viewing their deaths as unproductive in advancing their causes.

  3) Mass Protest Rallies, Protest Marches, Petitions, Obstruction, Chaining to Railings etc. Father O’Flaherty asserted these practices had proven extremely effective against democratically elected governments. When sufficient numbers participated they had swayed their governments into reconsidering their stance.

  4) Passive Resistance, Sit down strikes, Mass refusal to move (see 3 obstruction) etc. Father O’Flaherty declared popularly supported protests had been successful in Earth’s history even against dictatorial governments. Many protesters were killed and imprisoned attempting to persuade their governments to back down. He regretted such regimes had repeatedly used brutal force to discourage protest. Yet many of the groups who were brave enough to continue objecting had finally achieved their objectives and caused the crumbling of their governments.

  Charles came to a snap decision as to what kind of protest was required. He set about organising it, by calling Jelen,

  “We need to protest about slavery at the Imperial Council meeting this afternoon. Marina is to present our petition and will need all the mental support we can give. Ask all your friends to come to Mermaid Square before the council meets and ask them to ask all of their friends,” Charles asked.

  “Won’t the police try to move us on?” Jelen asked.

  “They might, bring all the chains and locks you can with you and get the others to do so too. That might make it harder to get rid of us.”

  Charles continued calling his friends and Jelen called his and their friends called every slave they knew. Over three thousand slaves were contacted in all. They were all told to “Come to the Mermaid Square an hour before the Council Meeting starts.” The exquisite square had been named for the statue and fountain of the Arms of the Bazinian Dynasty which decorated one side of the Square.

  Chapter Two – Understandings

  Vellina put Jessina through a battery of tests and the results were correlated, confirming Marina’s assessment. Jessina was a natural telepath; she would definitely change to Gold. Marina and Vellina discussed Jessina’s results in the High Gold Language but decided honesty was the best policy. They informed Jessina of their findings. She was overjoyed at the prospect of becoming Gold. She was falling in love with Zenina, feeling more at home in Hemithea than she had ever done with her father. She loved her mother; she would miss her if she stayed. But if she was Gold she could stay in Zenina, Floren could live with her and they would have a wonderful time. She would write to mother, and perhaps she would visit them.

  Marina and Vellina read Jessina’s reactions with mixed relief, but Jessina knew too little about Zenina to make such a commitment for herself and Floren. They decided she needed to know more, so Jessina was provided with a booklet normally given to children of Markaban descent when they recovered from treatment and wanted to know more about where they were and how Zeninans lived. It was not a full disclosure of the unsavoury side of Zeninan life, but what it said was true. It was critical enough to trigger doubts in children as to whether they wanted to stay there. She was sent to read it in the hospital gardens with a picnic lunch and an orderly in tow. Earlier, Marina had asked,

  “Jessina, will you be all right here with Princess Vellina while she does some tests on you?”

  “Yes Marina, Princess Vellina has such a wonderful mind,” Jessina responded precociously.

  “Good I’ll take Colonel Bromarsh to see Tippy while you have the tests done as we’re not really needed here.” Marina said leading the colonel away. She stopped at a hospital room door and knocked.

  “Enter,” was called in Markaban and they went in. Tippy was sitting watching an adve
nture vid in Markaban, which he switched off as they entered. Colonel Bromarsh recognised his former pirate comrade in spite of his colour change to Silver. He was relieved to see Tippy was no longer childlike and needing constant supervision.

  “Tippy, it’s good to see you, I’m glad they have helped you,” Bromarsh said with some feeling.

  “Major Bromarsh I am so sorry. I wanted to be a witness at your court martial. But we have never met before. I know you knew my fiancée Karella because she was the old General’s secretary,” Tippy said apologetically.

  “You were my comrade on a pirate ship, but then you were injured and your brain reverted to infancy. Of course I remember Karella, but I never met her fiancé although she told me he was a Corporal in another regiment,” he said.

  “I don’t remember anything about being a pirate. I know I travelled a bit and people gave me orders which I obeyed. I can’t remember knowing they were pirates though. I asked Karella to contact you because we knew you were not responsible for the massacre…,”Tippy said trailing off.

  “I am grateful that you tried. I want to prove I was framed more than anything.”

  They seemed to like each other immediately despite the former difference in their ranks. Marina did not tell Tippy she might have located Karella, not wanting to raise his hopes.

  They left Tippy to visit Adelza and Belabeza. They were up but looked fit, although they had not checked out. Adelza was still totally blind, but she could use Belabeza’s eyes to see through her mind. They were happy to be still together and alive.

  Marina’s suggestion they recuperate at her farm was agreed to; particularly as Marina told them she was sending Carina’s children and Konsky there. Adelza and Belabeza both loved children yet had resolved not to have any, because of their love for each other. They could not have each other’s child as Zeninan Science had not yet made that possible so they remained childless.

  Bromarsh remembered Marina’s visit to the pirates and asked her about it.

  “They were not much help. They picked Tippy up on Alpha and he never talked about his past nor did they ask. They were asked about the Leprosy Outbreak. They’re either apologetic and weepy, or aggressive and recalcitrant.”

  “What will happen to them?”

  “It’s not in my hands,” Marina replied. “I’ve declared an interest so I can’t judge. I was asked to act as prosecutor for the doctor who was stupid enough to ask to be tried separately. Most will be sent to different planets to colonise.”

  “A penal colony?”

  “We don’t believe in prison. It doesn’t work. People imprisoned came out worse not better, therefore it wastes money. If it’s necessary to remove criminals permanently, we execute them. As telepaths we have few incorrect verdicts so we’re not killing innocents. We don’t kill many. Some are ordered into exile for a period. Others go voluntarily into exile. Brawling and other minor offences are punished by a flogging or a fine.”

  “The Doctor, what will happen to him?”

  “We have a special punishment for Doctors who abuse their skills. We let our medical students practice on them. Occasionally they have accidents senior Doctors can’t correct but usually they have an extremely painful and humiliating few months before colour change. Few change to higher than Blue as their minds are limited by their cruelty. Most high colour changers, Blues, Silvers and Golds are well-rounded people. Very few bad eggs change colour higher than Green, but unfortunately we have enough Zeninan-born bad eggs to make up for it.”

  ***

  Zadina and Ga’Mikkal had reached an understanding, or so he believed. Prince Ga’Mikkal’s presence in Hemithea was ostensibly on a trade mission on behalf of his cousin King Ga’Mishrin, but in fact after the foul-up at Hugganeit where Ondiella was raped, he had been ordered off Kochab in disgrace. King Ga’Mishrin had been furious. His orders had been to leave no survivors. Ga’Mikkal had not been methodical enough so the king considered he had failed. Awkward questions were being asked about Kurgian involvement in the attack.

  King Ga’Mishrin continued to deny any knowledge of the action and promised hypocritically if Kurgians were involved that they would be punished. Blame was laid on a group of Kurgian and mixed blood renegades under the mongrel Captain Ga’Riyal. If survivors identified Prince Ga’Mikkal as the leader of the party, it would be an embarrassment to Ga’Mishrin and he might cynically order Ga’Mikkal’s execution. The Kurgians had tried to dispose of the pirate Ga’Riyal for seven years without success, so they were happy to implicate him misdirecting the blame.

  Ga’Mikkal had realised he would never be named heir to the Kurgian throne. Three rival Princes had better claims than his. All were backed by strong factions. His own political support was weak in comparison and King Ga’Mishrin intended to live forever. Prince Ga’Mikkal did not want to wait. There were other ways to become King and other Empires.

  Zenina had stronger ships and weaponry than the Kurgian Empire. If he became consort to the next Zeninan Queen, he could subjugate the Kurgian Empire to his will. Then he would rule both Empires. Zadina was obsessed with her desire to be Queen. She would do his dirty work for him. He had given her some new high-powered explosives. He regretted her desire to kill Marina as well as Kerina. He personally doubted Zadina would kill Marina, although he could not explain that assumption. He had decided it was wishful hoping on his part, but he was convinced she would get rid of Kerina for him.

  Mikkal had ordered the horoscopes of all the leading ladies in Zenina done and Kerina’s had very tragic predictions. Zadina would definitely outlive her. Plavina was weak, she would not last long and Dalzina would not long survive her. Princess Marina’s horoscope gave his astrologer the greatest difficulty. A supernova had exploded in direct conjunction with her natal star at the moment of her birth. If the astrologer ignored the supernova, then her chart indicated she should have died many years previously.

  The astrologer insisted the period after Kerina’s death would definitely be a dangerous time for her, but he believed she would outlive Kerina. When he tried to include the new neutron star left behind by the explosion of the supernova in her chart, he found a very different aspect. Marina would be a great Queen he said, vital to the survival of the Zeninan Empire and perhaps the universe. Nothing could alter her destiny. She would love an outsider who would be her consort. She would bear him many children and give birth to dynasties that would ultimately control the universe bringing an era of great peace.

  Prince Ga’Mikkal had been disturbed by his astrologer’s predictions and sought reassurance in his own chart. The astrologer couched his words with care. It was Lord Mikkal’s destiny to rule an Empire, the astrologer told him. He did not also tell him he would one day become a slave. The astrologer had no desire for his own life to end prematurely. So Ga’Mikkal was content. If Zadina succeeded, he was convinced she would be an easy puppet for him to control. If Marina lived, he would look forward to bedding her and ruling with her. They would make such a team.

  Zadina was besotted with Ga’Mikkal. She wanted to keep him to herself and he had provided her with the means to become Queen. She thought it would be simple. Although she was still frustrated by her failure to beat Marina in a fair fight, she had changed her plans. Her dupe would give Marina the package before she climbed the stairs to the Council Chamber that afternoon. Zadina would already be in her seat and would trigger the explosion mentally, taking Marina and the messenger together. Even if the messenger lived, she could not identify Zadina. Dalzina was more likely to be implicated. The removal of Kerina and Plavina would be child’s play once Marina had been dealt with.

  Marina felt unsettled all day. She rationalised her disquiet as the expected consequences ensuing from the petition, her irritation at the behaviour of Ga’Mikkal, Bromarsh and Konsky and the aftermath of her fight with Zadina.

  Chapter Three – Mermaid Square

  Marina headed for Mermaid Square but was forced to park in one of the approach roads. There was
no space in Mermaid Square for her to land. It overflowed with handsome young men. All chained to at least one other and the chains were linked and twisted together so it was a terrible tangle. Police officers were trying to clear them from the Square, but as one row stood as ordered, the next sat down making movement impossible. Marina wove her way through them, they knelt as Marina passed them and a cheer went up through their ranks. Marina carried the petition. Before reaching the steps of the Council Chamber she noticed Charles at the front of the tangle kneeling chained like his fellows. As she neared him, he rose and bowed deeply.

  “What is all this, Charles?” she asked innocently. “It’s a week until our tenth anniversary together. Is this an early present? They’re all very pretty. Should I select half a dozen for this evening’s use or would that be too greedy?”

  “I’m sure each gentleman here present would wish to serve you in person, ma’am as I have the honour to do. However, they would prefer to do so with free will. We’ve come to request our freedom from the chains of slavery and to be accepted as Zeninan citizens in our own right,” Charles replied in a clear and carrying voice. His words were cheered by the crowd.

  Marina climbed the steps so she could be seen by all and then spoke to the men.

  “Charles, I’ve offered you your freedom and passage off Zenina many, many, times. Whilst slavery is legal in Zenina I cannot keep you as a free man and protect you from enslavement by others. I deplore the possession of one human by another and the enslavement of free men against their will. It’s time the women of Hemithea see the strength of feeling amongst you; for they are not ready to accept the abolition of slavery.” She paused and let her words sink in. Charles moved and kissed her feet, she smiled down at him before continuing to speak.