Starblade (20 page)

“Why allow him… Why let him have these women
at his beck and call?” Frederika asked and turned to look at the
Queen.

A curious, distant expression hung over
Nadia. Clearly she was deep in her thoughts. As if she were playing
out probabilities in her mind's eye. A look of profound calculation
caused her to stare off at a naked winged female statue at the end
of the pool.

Frederika felt Nadia's tail jerk under the
water, its biorobotic plates striking her bare thigh. Nadia snapped
back into herself and looked at the girl near her in the perfumed
water and focused on the girl's question instead of her own
thoughts. “Because he is a Maharajah. Deserving of the finest
pleasures his whim calls upon.” The Queen swam a few inches away
from the blonde while she continued to examine the dancer's
features. She noticed the freckle under Frederika's left eye. An
artfully placed mark, the flaw that enhances beauty. Turhan had
once spoken to her about asymmetry, and how when done correctly the
unbalanced could make an already pretty thing more beautiful such
as a misplaced strand of hair or a mole.

“What I mean is... doesn’t it bother you? If
he is in love with the memory of his lost muse, don't you feel
threatened he will find another amongst all these females to
capture his heart like this Aria once did?”

“His love for me is secure.” How else could
she respond to such a question? “The love he felt for Aria does not
lessen how he feels about me.” Of course, it had taken Nadia
sometime to come to terms with this. Long ago she had cried many
times in her pillows, her mother her only comfort when Nadia
learned of Sharr's affection for the now long dead Aria
DeFalco.

“So…” Frederika became nervous again as
Nadia looked her over. She had the distinct impression the queen
wanted to inject herself into Frederika's mind. “My lady do you
have a Falcanian name? Nadia is Russian if I recall correctly.”

“It is Russian,” Nadia said in affirmation
glad for the change in conversation. “In the official records of
the Aeries of Falcania I’m known as Maharani T'Kara.”

“T'Kara,” Frederika murmured. “What a
beautiful name. What does it mean?”

“It means 'hope', an equivalent to my given
name Nadezhda,” the Queen said.

“Why not use it commonly?”

“Skora is an ironic language. In it the word
‘hope’ carries implications of doom.” Nadia peered sideways and
smiled to herself, a glint in her blue eyes. “My Sharr chose this
for me. He enjoys bequeathing names.”

The early afternoon sunlight shone across
the stacks of books in the Imperial Library.

Frederika peered out the elliptical windows.
A pleasant day waited outside where a squad of Drakorian flew past,
armored tails whipping behind them. To see them fly was incredible.
Mia was right – To witness a Falcanian in flight would always be a
thing she would remember.

The Queen made it very clear it would be
best if the Shotar woke to find Frederika still in his nest. To
awake and not see Frederika would have greatly angered Sharr. So
after her bath, she returned and curled up beside the Falcanian
ruler.

In the morning Sharr Khan asked if there
were anything that she would like. She asked if there was a place
where she might find something to read. He brought her to his great
library filled with stacks of books and writings from across the
globe, a well stocked collection of tomes rested on many
shelves.

Her emerald eyes glanced past the
manuscripts on the shelves which ranged across numerous topics:
The Rig-Veda
,
Ramayana
, and
Mahabharata
.
The Bible
,
Koran
,
Torah
… these were expected. The works of
Nietzsche, books on genetics, robotics and a wide amount of science
fiction including
Stranger In A Strange
Land
,
A Canticle For Leibowitz
,
Skyfall
. Herbert, Heinlein, and Vinge
occupied the shelves beside a Falcanian publication, translated
into English with the curious title: 12th Daughter of Kobol by
Tanis Rao. Frederika also had been delighted to come across her own
favorite book among the high stacks:
Watership
Down
. And an original edition at that!

In the center of the library rested a large
leather bound copy of the Telchar Shanral. Raised on a pedestal,
Frederika leafed through the illustrated pages written in the
curving Falcanian calligraphy. A translation would need to be found
as it had been written in Kaliburn script. Frederika wanted to
understand her host's moral center.

A computer terminal stood against the end of
a huge shelf, the first that she had seen. There were none to be
found in the entertainment center within the nodor. Frederika
guessed the Khanate didn't wish for random messages to be sent from
within the palace by the dancers. Curiosity compelled Frederika to
search for anything she could find on Falcanian biology. She did
not discover much but for a broad scientific classification of the
species.

Falcanian:
Falco Ornis-Sapien
Invictus. Biorobotic, winged-hybrid created using genetic
manipulation and cybernetics. Chief characteristics: Bat-like wings
and an armored pincer tail. Males and females are covered with
primitive feathers, also with human hair in mature form. Oval ears
are a prominent feature of the Falcanian. Falcanians are able to
survive harsh environments.

Reproductive Method:
Classified.
Males take more than one mate and live in extended family groups
called tharrin or aeries.

It went on like that, listed some details,
but much remained hidden behind a lockout. She needed to find
someone who knew something about the subject and would be prepared
to talk about it with her. Mia certainly wasn't going to, Frederika
doubted she knew more than herself anyhow.

“Falco Invictus,” Frederika said to herself.
She giggled after a moment. “'The Unconquered Falcon'. Fitting, if
a bit arrogant.”

“Ahem!”

Frederika jumped at the sound and turned
around. “Sitara!”

“I see you've found our library.” Sitara
strode over to the girl. “Doing some research?”

Frederika could not be sure if the question
was an accusation or not. “Um… I was wondering…”

Sitara smiled at Frederika and waited for an
answer. The Princess learned this morning that her trip to Mars
would be canceled. The Dreikatha met in an emergency session and
her father, along with Urksa would be unavailable for the trip. The
Princess thought she'd come down here to research her plans for the
new FX-24 Capital ships. She hadn't expected to see Frederika, who
had mostly been at her father's side or off exploring the
island.

“Well, your father and I... We...” This felt
almost as awkward as when the Queen found her naked in Sharr's
lair. “He and I made love. Und I wondered… We didn't use any
contraceptives…”

“Ah!” Exclaimed the Princess who easily fell
for Frederika's impromptu lie. “You wondered if you could become
pregnant.”

“Ja.”

“I assure you, that’s not possible. A
Falcanian can only reproduce with another Falcanian…” Her next
words were carefully chosen. “We are... Physiology different from
you.”

The blonde raised a brow. “Oh?”

“Come, I'll show you what I mean.” The
Princess took Frederika's hand. A taboo subject to be sure. What
she was about to show the girl remained forbidden to an outsider's
eyes. Her mother would surely not approve, yet Sitara thought this
girl deserved to understand this little bit. Coming here and giving
herself to her father for his pleasure that entitled her to
understand why it was impossible to become impregnated by a
Falcanian male.

Why didn't they ever warn these girls?

A fury raged in the Dreikatha hall and
Kheira stood at its center. Hidden in his canopy, her father sat
upon his Claw-Throne. Not far away the Queen waited, serenely
composed while she listened as the nine caste Lords argued. This
discussion had gone on for hours, and it did not appear it would
stop anytime soon.

The Princess glanced at the faces of the
nine Lords. An argument waged between the Tahru and Guilthari about
the implications of Shiertar's prophecy. The Konar were doubtful of
the story's accuracy. Especially since no such being had been
detected on Vanguard's holy shores. How could it escape notice?

Nadia remained silent and kept her opinion
of Kheira's truthfulness to herself. At the moment, she surrounded
herself with her green and gold clad Valküri Sisters. Each eagerly
awaited for her to read the child's thoughts, but also wondered how
they might use what the learn toward Falcania's advantage.

Sharr leaned forward on his throne. He also
contemplated the meaning of what Kheira told them. Oh yes, the
temporal dynamics and the paradox of Shiertar's presence here
implied much to the Lord of Falcania. The future created its own
past so it could in the end make itself manifest twisted in Sharr's
mind. Had what the advanced Falcanian told his child been what was
to come pass? Or did it remain simply one of a thousand outcomes?
If merely a possibility then whatever action they took now would
recalibrate the future to set it on the right course based on that
new set of choices.

But what if Shiertar had put a delicate set
of events into motion that could not be thwarted?

What must be, must be!

Nadia cleared her throat. “Lords of
Falcania's castes, here me!” All eyes focused on the Queen's as the
arguments subsided. “You trust my insights. Let me now look into
this child's mind and tell you what she has seen.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Frederika exclaimed as
she followed Sitara into the hatchery.

Frederika glanced at the unhatched eggs in
awe. The green ovum rested in little incubator nests and were
slightly larger then an old American style football. Clutches of
green eggs were cared for by Valküri nurses and their concerned
progenitors. While they waited for their offspring to reach the
fullness of gestation and hatch, mothers gave affection to the eggs
they had produced.

“Sitara, is this how you came into the
world?”

The Falcanian Princess nodded. “My mother
still has the shell of my birth.”

A distinct crack came from a nearby egg
which had begun to hatch. A baby Falcanian forced its way from its
shell. A kind of mask with a sharp beak broke the egg much as a
bird would do. Once out of its shell the child's beak would fall
away. Except for the oval ears, the baby looked like a normal human
with one important difference: the immature Garuda merged to its
spine which as the child rapidly matured would one day allow it to
fly.

The mother lifted her child and helped the
baby remove its beak. She placed the newborn to her nipple so that
the child could sate its hunger. An attendant Valküri placed the
cracked green shell into an emerald box and gave it to the
mother.

“Why not live births?” asked Frederika,
curious at this choice of avian like gestation.

“It’s a survival mechanism,” Sitara said. “A
Falcanian egg can survive in suspension for some time. The
gestation can be halted, to wait for safety and begin the hatching.
Though we resemble you, we Falcanians are not human.”

“To be human is more than appearance.”

“Indeed it is.” Sitara nodded in the
direction of the newborn. “We Falcanians are more than wings and
oval ears. Our bodies have a few extra organs, not including the
Garuda which we are bonded with from birth.”

Extra organs?

Frederika hid her surprise. “More organs?
Like what?”

“We've got something like a gizzard,
Falcanian digestive tracks are highly efficient. As you might
guess, we need a lot of energy to sustain ourselves.” Sitara
smiled. “Like I said, we are not human.”

Realization dawned on Frederika. “Sitara,
when were you born?”

“September 9, 2018. Three months after the
Great Rashalon.”

What the Princess said began to sink in. The
fast growth rate of the Falcanians meant they were a hearty species
designed with endurance in mind. A three-month gestation period
could ensure a quickly established population in bombed out
sections of Earth, or indeed on far off worlds. The control exerted
over fertilization would keep the populace in balance but the
Falcanian species could, if they desired overrun the human
population in a few years if they so chose.

Doing some fast math Frederika said: “That
would make you like twelve Sitara.”

“Another survival trait, we must mature
faster than a human to ensure the continuation of our species,” the
Princess told her. “I may be only chronologically twelve, however
I’m a mature, fully grown woman Frederika.”

The discontinuity of age shook Frederika, it
made perfect sense however. To get a foothold the Falcanians needed
to be biologically vital. Certainly the Princess was a mature
woman, both in her conduct and her obvious feminine charms, there
could be no mistake of that fact.

Light filled Nadia's mind, and its vibrancy
warmed her soul. Her mind merged with Kheira's as they both watched
Shiertar open his shell, bathing them in this glow unlike any other
light she had seen.

Nadia probed deeper. By some paradox of time
and space, the Queen felt a sense of none-location as they stood in
the garden in front of Shiertar. It was as if Nadia was also joined
to the evolved Falcanian's mind.

Looking into his thoughts, she saw he spoke
the truth to Kheira. There was no doubt what she had said was
so.

Nadia gazed into the future Falcanian. She
witnessed the very fiber of his essence, the DNA composing the rich
tapestry before her inner eye. The Queen could look at what would
make the Falcanians become what Shiertar now was. The strings of
the genetic strands unraveled and laid out a map for her to follow.
Nadia reached out and touched the triple coded spiral structure.
Pieces of the genetic web coalesced into a new helix. She looked
for genetic markers and committed them to memory for later use.
Shiertar had given them much more than he had expected.