The Mandate of Heaven (12 page)

Jessica was helpless to watch, over-awed.  She couldn’t ever remember seeing anything so wonderful before and unconsciously leaned into Alex’s embrace, his arms instinctively tightening around her, holding her close.

“Why do you come out here every morning?” Jessica whispered softly, sometime later.  “Mary told me that you do,” she blurted out before he could deny it.

“It’s silly,” he said.

“Tell me.  Please?”

“Well, sometimes I worry that if I’m not here to watch it, then one day it just won’t happen.  That the sun won’t rise and push back against the night, instead all light will just fade away, forever consumed by the darkness.”

Jessica was silent for a long time, mulling over his reply.  “I understand why you come and stand here, but what makes you think that the sun won’t rise.  Why are you so afraid of the dark?”

Alex was quiet for a moment, before explaining hesitantly.  “For a long time I was unable to see any light, always surrounded by darkness.  I promised myself that if I survived, I wouldn’t miss another sunrise, that I would forever savour the feeling of the first rays of the sun touching my skin.  It’s amazing what we take for granted, until it’s taken away from us.”

“I think I know what you mean,” she replied slowly.  “I couldn’t sleep last night, for the first time in my life I knew what it was like to be completely alone.  My entire life I’ve been surrounded by maids, cooks, footmen and servants.  I always had somebody to call upon to help me.  Last night I couldn’t even protect myself.  I’ve had my brother’s pistol everyday with me for almost fifteen years—I suddenly feel helpless without it.”

“You mean from me?” Alex voiced her unspoken fear.  Releasing her, taking a step back.

“From anyone,” Jessica clarified, trying to make him understand.  “I’ve always relied upon others around, to keep me safe, or the knowledge that I could protect myself with my pistol, but now I have neither.”

“You have nothing to fear from me; I’ve never forced—” he looked away sharply, grinding his jaw in barely supressed fury.  “Go back to the house and get dressed,” he snapped.

“You promised me that today we’d go into the city—”

“I haven’t forgotten,” he retorted.  “I made a promise and I plan to keep it, but there is something else that I need to do first.  I won’t have somebody living in fear under my own roof.  Go,” he persisted, “get dressed and then meet me back here.”

*****

Jessica wordlessly followed him along a small path, threading their way between the trees, occasionally she had to reach out and push a low hanging branch out of the way, but otherwise the path seemed well trod.  She had tried to engage him in conversation, trying to make him understand that it wasn’t him that she was particularly frightened of, more the thought of being alone, but aside from a curt, “Follow me,” he had refused to participate in any further conversation.

The path finally ended in a small clearing and assuming they had arrived at his intended destination, she took a step away from him, glancing around curiously.  But the clearing appeared deserted, surrounded on all sides by tall trees. The path, from which they had arrived, being the only way back, which Alex was now blocking.  It occurred to Jessica that if he indeed planned any harm to her, this isolated spot was ideal.  That fear was magnified a hundred-fold when Alex reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a compact, but still deadly looking pistol.  She took a sudden step back, as he raised the pistol, but instead of pointing it at her he turned sideways, away from her.

The blast from the shot, echoed around the clearing, a sudden squawking as a group of birds took flight, startled by the gunshot.

“You said that your brother taught you to shoot?” The question took Jessica by surprise, as she had been wondering what he was doing and could only nod in response.  She was therefore totally taken aback when she found the pistol being handed to her and, unthinkingly, she took it from him.

“You need to hold it tightly; unlike a fusion pistol this will have a significant recoil.  The safety is on the side,” he motioned to the small lever.  “Don’t forget to disable it before shooting.”  He demonstrated how to unlock it, before motioning to their side. “Now go ahead and shoot.”

Jessica stared intently at the pistol, concentrating, but nothing happened.

“The trigger, pull the trigger,” Alex sighed out loud.

“Sorry, I’m too used to my own pistol,” she replied embarrassed, before pulling the trigger.  Not surprisingly the first shot went high, as she was unused to the violent recoil.  However, adjusting her grip, the following shots all flew straight and true, until with a click, the gun stopped firing.

“The clip is empty,” Alex explained patiently.  “Each one contains fifteen rounds.  After firing it that many times, you will need to replace the clip.”  He drew a spare clip from his pocket and promptly reloaded the pistol, demonstrating how to do so before returning the pistol to her.  “Keep it with you and you will have nothing to fear.  If somebody tries to harm you, shoot them.”

“And does that rule also apply to you, my Lord?”

“No,” Alex replied unperturbed.  “If it’s me. Shoot twice.”  He turned round preparing to leave, when the echo of another gunshot whistled around the clearing, but this time the round just missed his head, embedding itself in a tree a few feet away.  “You know,” he stated conversationally. “That is the second time a woman has betrayed me.  I’m starting to believe it’s a character flaw with me, trusting any of you at all.”

“I’m leaving.”

“Yes, you’ve made your desire to depart abundantly clear.  I’ve promised to take you as far as the city, after that you’re on your own.  I keep my promises,” he added in a reproachful tone.

“Then I want you to answer just one of my questions, truthfully.”

“You're the one pointing a gun at me, with my back turned.  I can stretch to one question.”

Jessica chewed on her lip, thinking what question to ask.  She had so many that they seemed to mingle together, becoming a raging maelstrom of conflicting thoughts.  “How long did you go without seeing daylight?” she blurted out, wondering why that one suddenly came to the forefront of her mind.

Even Alex seemed taken aback, turning around to face her quizzically.  He seemed to be mulling the question for a while, perhaps deciding whether to reply honestly, or even to reply at all.  In the end he simply shrugged. “Five years.”

“Five years?” Jessica echoed appalled, the pistol momentarily wavering in her grasp.

“Locked away in a cell, four-foot-by-five, in complete darkness.  I never saw nor heard another person in all that time.  I still hold the record for the longest duration, the one before me only lasted three years, but he doesn’t really count, does he?  He didn’t come out alive.  Instead he cracked open his skull by banging it against a wall.”

“But who, why?” Jessica demanded.

Alex cocked his head to one side, eyeing her knowingly.  “That’s two questions,” he said turning his back on her once again, ignoring the pistol, pointing unwaveringly at him.  “Good shot by the way,” he added over his shoulder.  “You just needed to aim a few more inches to the left.”

With that he walked away, without a care in the world.  After all, compared to being locked away in that cell, death really held very little to fear.

I have commanded some of the most powerful, and deadly, weapon systems known to mankind
—
battleships mighty enough to destroy entire Star-Systems.  Yet, I’ve often found that a softly spoken word, into the right ears, can be just as effective.

—From the journal of
Lord Alexander Greystone
,

It was the humming that finally pushed Jessica beyond the edge of reason.  She had managed to tolerate the gleeful smiles, twinkling eyes and amused laughs, but the humming was just too much.

“Are we there yet?” she asked in the surliest tone she could muster.

“Nope,” Alex replied in a barely restrained laugh.  “We’re not even halfway there yet.”

“But we’ve been walking for
hours
.”

“Not quite, but it certainly feels like it,” Alex agreed cheerfully.  “On the bright side Mary packed us a picnic, and I know a perfect spot just ahead.  We can stop, rest and have something to eat.”

“Great, I’m famished.”

“You’re always hungry.  It must be Mary’s cooking,” Alex laughed.

Secretly Jessica was inclined to agree with him.  She had hardly been able to stomach any food recently, the thought of her fast approaching nuptials leaving her stomach churning with fear.  But since arriving here, those fears seem to have dissipated and she felt constantly ravenous.  Here, now, walking in the bright sunshine to the sound of the gentle trickle of the stream they were following, the marriage seemed as distant as ever.

Dropping to the soft grass, she gratefully accepted a bottle of water from Alex, drinking in the sight, sounds and smells around her, while enjoying the refreshingly cool water.  It was a hot day and she was already sweaty and dusty, therefore with the water finished she started to eye the cool, clear, flowing stream eagerly.  Wetting a corner of the ankle length dress that Mary had managed to find her, she wiped away the dust from her face and throat.  The cold water felt invigorating against her heated skin.  Having cooled off somewhat, the aching in her feet became more and more pronounced.  Unable to find any walking boots in her size, they had to settle on a slightly larger pair, with several layers of thick socks.  Eyeing the water, with the thought of that cool stream caressing her battered feet, she hurriedly unlaced the first boot, peeling off pair after pair of socks.  Finally, with them all removed, she lowered her foot into the stream, reclining on the grass in bliss and the feeling was even better than she thought.  A furious cry from above had her opening one eye lazily.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Alex roared, red faced.

“Washing my feet.  What does it look like I’m doing?” she raised a toe above the waterline; little eddies of water swirling around it.  “It feels divine; you really should give it a try.  You look far too over-heated.”  She let her eyes close once again with a heavenly sigh.

“And how, may I ask, do you plan on getting the boot, back on?” he snapped angrily.

At those words Jessica’s eyes snapped open, glancing at her foot, which had swollen to twice its original size.

“Oh.”

“And before you ask, I’m
not
carrying you.”

*****

It was mid-afternoon by the time that the pair eventually managed to reach the outskirts of the ‘city.’  One glance at it pretty much dispelled that description, for it was nothing more than a moderately sized town.  It was certainly not what Jessica had been expecting, having been born and lived most of her life on Osiris where the capital had several million people, with skylines stretching into the skies and beyond.  Here few buildings were much above two stories; with the exception of one large square building that reached a few hundred metres in height, it dwarfed the surrounding structures.

“The moon’s only fusion reactor and the source of all our energy,” Alex explained as they followed the winding path towards the edge of the town.  For the first time Jessica could make out people going about their business, aside from Alex and Mary, the first that she had seen.  But what took her most by surprise, was the lack of any sort of vehicles, either ground based or the anti-gravity variety that were common on Osiris.

“Nobody here can afford them or the spare parts necessary to maintain them,” Alex replied, when she voiced the question out loud.

“But how do you go about transporting things?  Goods for trade, building supplies for construction, food?”

“What cannot be carried by hand, we use carts.”  Alex pointed in the direction of a wooden cart that was being pulled by a sturdy four-legged creature.  “The animals are a distant relative to wild mustangs that are now extinct on Earth.  They were genetically bred once it was discovered that they thrived here, in the higher oxygen environment.  As for the wood, it’s cheap and plentiful, as forest covers over half of the moon’s landmass.”

“But I don’t understand,” she looked around confused, seeing little sign of the sort of prevalent technology that was found in every aspect of life on Osiris.  “Technology exists for all of this, to make life easier.”

“Maybe, on Osiris,” Alex snorted.  “But that is the capital of High-Lord Hadley’s domain.  It’s a centre of commerce, industry and finance in the Imperium.  We’re far removed from the Imperium here, in fact on the very outskirts of it.  We have little commerce and absolutely no financial centres.  Our primary industry is agriculture, as there are precious few raw materials.  Unemployment is over fifty percent, with more people out of work than in.  In fact, most of the day-to-day commerce works on an informal barter system.”

“And you live here, like this?  It’s practically barbaric.”

“By and large people here are happy.  We have very little, so are mostly ignored by the rest of the Imperium, and especially the High-Lords.  There are far worse ways to live,” Alex gently rebuked, subtly reminding her of where he had spent five years of his life.

So engrossed in her surroundings and thinking of her short time here, she almost completely missed his next words.

“As agreed, I’ve fulfilled my promise and delivered you to the city.  From this point onwards you are on your own.  I wish you the very best of luck.”

The last was added with a patronising smile, laced with such insincerity that it once again set her teeth on edge.  “You’re not going to take me to the spaceport?” she asked, surprised.

“Sadly that wasn’t part of our agreement, but I’m sure you’ll be able to easily ask for directions.”  With that he offered a sweeping bow, before motioning her on.

“Well, thanks,” she muttered taking a hesitant step forward.  “You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?” she added, pointing to the fusion pistol at his side.

“No, I’m not one for taking pot shots at people when they’ve got their backs turned,” Alex laughed.

Red faced with embarrassment and no longer in the mood for any more of his verbal barbs, she straightened her back, marching in the direction of the nearest couple, an elderly woman with two small children in tow.  Surely this person would know the direction to the nearest spaceport and perhaps advise how she could find a berth on the first starship to Osiris?

“Pardon me,” Jessica called out, hurriedly approaching them.  “I wonder if you can help me?” she asked impatiently, when the woman stopped, staring at her quizzically.  “Could you please point me in the direction of the spaceport and perhaps advise who I could best speak to about booking a passage to Osiris.”

“Osiris?” the woman asked in a confused voice, looking first at Jessica then the children, with a bewildered expression.  “I’ve never ‘eard of no Osiris.”

“The planet Osiris,” Jessica clarified.  “It’s in the Pegasus star system.”

“Never ‘eard of it.  What do you want to go ‘ere for?”

“I live there, with my father, High-Lord Hadley.  Perhaps you’ve heard of him?” Jessica asked hopefully.  In hindsight perhaps it wasn’t the best thing to say, as the poor woman’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her head and she took a cautionary step backwards, taking a firm hold of both children.

“High-Lord ‘adley?  ‘Ya father?” she asked suspiciously.

Jessica sighed loudly, immediately regretting having mentioned it, now having little choice but to forge on ahead.  “Yes, my name is Lady Jessica Hadley.  Lord Hadley is my father, so you see I really need to get home, if you can just point me in the direction of the Spaceport—”

“Lord Greystone,” the woman interrupted Jessica, clearly relieved.  “This ‘ere woman says—”

“Hello Lilly, hello boys,” Alex interrupted cheerfully.  “I seem to be missing some apples from one of my orchards.  Neither of you would happen to know anything about that, would you?”

While both boys shook their heads furiously, the guilty expression on their faces seemed to indicate otherwise.

“I didn’t think so,” Alex sighed theatrically, shaking his head.  “Well, perhaps you two could do me a little favour instead?”  With this he knelt down closer to the two, whispering something to both of them, before pressing a small coin into each of their hands.

The two boys flashed Jessica toothy grins before scurrying off, leaving Lilly shaking her head in despair.  “You shouldn’t go encouraging ‘em, my Lord.”

“Oh boys will be boys.  I remember what it was like when I was their age.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, I see that you’ve already met my cousin.  She’s staying with us for a while.  Poor girl thinks she’s Lord Hadley’s daughter.  If you ask me a little bit too much in-breeding in that branch of the family, if you know what I mean?” Alex bestowed upon Lilly a smile that put Arcturus’ star to shame.

“Well, I see, my Lord,” Lilly looked a little dazed, before giving Jessica one final, nervous glance.  “I had better get going.  I should find the children before they terrorise somebody else.  My Lord, Lady,” she gave a brief curtsey before hurrying away.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Jessica exploded as soon as she was out of earshot.

“Saving your reputation, along with your family’s,” Alex said cynically.  “Can you tell me the way to Planet Osiris?  Daddy, High-Lord Hadley, is probably wondering why I’m late for dinner?  Trust me,” he nodded firmly.  “Pleading insanity was definitely the best recourse.”

“Very well,” Jessica conceded with narrowed eyes.  “Perhaps my first approach wasn’t too subtle.  I’ll be more sensitive next time.”

“Good luck with that,” Alex said with a patronising smile.  “I’ll wait around for a little while longer, just in case you need me to plead insanity on your behalf, again.”  With that he chuckled, wandering away.

What followed next was perhaps the most humiliating experience of Jessica’s thirty-odd years.  For all it took were a few, innocent, enquiries about the spaceport, shipping schedules or arranging transport and people were looking at her strangely, hurriedly making excuses, then fleeing.  Those were the politer conversations and it only went downhill from there.  For after that, simply at her approach, people turned away and some practically ran.  Doors were slammed in her face and closed signs hurriedly raised.  Within the space of half an hour she had become a social pariah, a leper.

She could not understand it, not until she spied the two young boys, both now holding ice creams larger than them, giving her a friendly wave, before quickly scampering away.  Then she had a suspicion, but not even Alex would stoop that low, would he?

Silly question.  Of course he would.

“What did you tell them?” she rounded on Alex, who had been following at a discreet distance.

“Me?” he spread his hands, eyes wide in feigned astonishment.  “I haven’t said a word the entire time.”

“What did you bribe the two of them to say?” she persisted.

“Oh that,” Alex said, as if he only just understood her meaning.  “I told them to spread the word.”

“The word?”

“Well, words,” Alex conceded.  “You know, words, like mad, crazed, lunatic, bedlamite.  It’s possible that they used others,” he hurriedly added, upon noticing her dumbstruck expression.  “While there isn’t much money, we do have an excellent school.  I told them to use their imagination and you know, boys will be boys.”

“You.  Lied,” Jessica ground out, unable to believe what she’d just heard.

Alex looked thoughtful for a moment, before shaking his head.  “No.  I’m fairly sure that we never set any rules beyond me bringing you here.  You coming?” he added looking back towards the edge of town.

“I’m never going anywhere with you.  Ever.  Again.”

“I thought that you might feel that way,” Alex nodded sympathetically.  “But I think you’ll want to meet this person.”

“Not unless it happens to be my father.”

“Sorry, I don’t happen to have him tucked away—”

“Then I’m staying right here.”

“—but I’ve got the very next best thing.  His personal representative here, Arcturus’ very own Head of Law Enforcement, otherwise known as Sheriff Abercrombie.  I thought that you and he might have a lot to talk about,” Alex added with a smirk.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so,” Jessica huffed, marching off in the direction that Alex had pointed, pulling him along close behind.

His laughter drifted along with the late afternoon breeze, while the sun blanketed everything with its golden rays.