Chapter One

BURDEN OF POWER

 

KI-ZERSHAZ
PARKINSON

 

I dimmed the lumis until they were a pale blue band demarking the beltline, and seated upon the deck.

 

Blue; last watch. Sixth watch. Six watches of six hours each. First green, turning to yellow; orange, red, purple until blue. Time demarcated by Terrans.

 

For sixteen years I could calculate, to the minute, how much time I had to complete the task or to enjoy the privacy of my cabin.

 

Odd, I elect this vessel when erssavi available.

 

There is no demarking of time on erssavis. My species continues until the task complete, until so enervated one needs to gain sleep.

 

Here, on this Terran ship, the beltline's colour is a deep blue, 33:00. If I continue to observe, the lumis will green into tourquoise, but I am not here to reflect on time or colour.

 

I am here to perform a specific task, a task specific to Ki-ZerShaz.

 

I began to chant the Legend of the Sakari, my voice becoming my mother's, who taught me.

 

The Legend had held no greater significance to me than the 'Fairy Tales' Mrs. MacPherson read to her son Frank on Galteri.

 

In 2496, I heard the Legend recited by on ZerShaz by the girot, who encapsulated my lost years in a single paragraph.

 

I stood, one ZeSha among hundreds, my eyes darting, amazed to see reverence upon the countenances of those who were not hearing Fairy Tale, but history. Their History. Our History.

 

History as poetry, with salutations and mnemonics to assist in memorisation.

 

And I am to compose the quatrain which recounts the events of Argale. I am not eloquent nor literary yet did not desire another to author.

 

I chanted the saga to capture the cadence but was as devoid of idea at the end as at the beginning.

 

I rose, moved to the transparency, gaze into the nealay, allowing events of the past tekas to swirl around me. I should attend seMali's erssavi, I should encounter imKoldi, I should visit iKhyarm and find words to hearten him. But I was disinclined to fracture my solitude.

 

I ideate the travel of the vessels, the Parkinson the Odin, the esCamir, enZamba, oYoharth, each, at the rim of scanner range of the one beneath.

 

I uncork a vase of symenthe and swallow, posing by the porthole, looking into nothing, as nothing enfills me. I have stepped upon a dangerous path from which I can not retreat. Having travelled Sectors ostensibly under the jurisdiction of the iSaz of VeRash without notification, I have given insult.

 

If discovered, it is affront to iSaz eNakorli, whom I first encountered the day I was designated.

 

Contra other ZeSha of high rank, which I had previously encountered, whether upon the Courage, Odin Path, the vessel of eFriundita, or at the inclusion of Xenos, eNakorli first touched my gaze on my day of designation as Ki-ZerShaz.

 

Had eNakorli been as eFriundita, uReglimi, or isTrymatin, I might, as with iZamel, involved him in the Argale mission.

 

If uPaychel or another had been designated Ki-ZerShaz, I am assured he would not have maintained eNakorli as did I. But uPaychel is politic. He can weigh the character of every iSaz, iKhay, perhaps even oKhain in the Empire. I could not. I took the Empire as received.

 

I finish the symenthe, seise another, return to sit upon the deck, peer into the darknesse, musing as to whether there is meaning in the fact I constructed this mission to omit eNakorli, or if happenstance.

 

ZerShaz do not believe in happenstance. Every action or omission is ordained.

 

Though before this ship departed the First Sector I had no thought of that iSaz, my actions were directed by my soul, which knew all paths.  It is possible eNakorli can be confined to one planet, others selected to rule the remainder. It is also possible, internecine war be provoked.

 

No.

 

I will not lose such a war, the cost will be greater for the VeRashians, hence, I do not think it will reach hostilities. Yet.

 

It is sensitive negotiations, I am not a diplomat. However, it must be accomplished.

 

I will reward those who have served me; iKhyarm, azJikTchy, two others. I ponder if the usage of Kintwinians should be limited to two.

 

It was, as Shari remarked, not easy being god.

 

Perhaps if I untie the knots which tangled my sha I would gain a level of harmony which would inspire me. But that would demand I evacuate this silent sanctuary and expose my sha to those whose merest glance can lacerate my soul.

 

So yet, I linger.

 

I complete the second bottle of symenthe, stand it beside the first, I can feel the altered perception of mild intoxication.  I hear the ship, the dull hum, the vibration, and the silence of the soundproof cabin. I rest my hands on my knees, and demand I contemplate my disharmony.

 

Shari will not live with me on ZerShaz. I do not know when she will reveal this. Perhaps at our next encounter, perhaps a month from now. But she will go to Zechia. She will tell me she will take the burden of the Retrieved. She will inform me of this decision as if it newly arisen, instead of chosen the emi she left ZerShaz. Fate has provided an acceptable reason, if it had not....?

 

How deep a chasm will she create between us? Is it my blemish which has caused her to elect other deployment?

 

I am aware of her discomfort on ZerShaz. I have done all I could to elevate her physical distress. It was not enough.
I am also aware of her emotional disharmony. I ought have done more. I ought not have retreated from her, I ought have been beside her. I was not.

 

I know she has found much to admire in my actions as well as much to despise in my behaviour. I know that she has loved me, loved me for whom I portrayed, the iemn I would have been had Zechia not been destroyed, had I matured as any Zesha among his own people.

 

But that is not who I am, albeit it is who I wished to be.

 

I open another vase of symenthe and drink. I can buy months; extend the length of the oYokori's visits to the VeRashian worlds, enter discussion with eNakorli. I can micromanage the missions, opting not for terse efficiency but bureaucratic circumlocution.

 

There is no impetus to hasten the mission. Upon ZerShaz are circling rituals which have embedded in my life as biological imperatives.

 

Zha. Here I am free. I have no restraint. I can remain with my mate, I can devote unmarked hours to rebuilding our relationship, to creating a truthful consanguinity.

 

Zha.

 

There is a fact that can not be denied. Our relationship has been based on misconceptions, deceits, and expediencies.
I have the opportunity to create our marriage. The marriage of eDapktchoy, with all his flaws and virtues, to that of Sharon, in her myriad personas.

 

But she is not the singular who has touched my sha.

 

I move to the access. I summon a ZeSha, dispatch him to the oZoharth to encounter imKoldi.

 

Aware of how my people may miscontrue I compose my order; "Locate the iRain, imKoldi. Have him conveyed to me for significant conversation."

 

I regain my seat upon the deck, asking myself why should I fear to reveal my sha? Zha, this is what ought occupy my thoughts, to explore the knots which bind me to others.

 

To explore and comprehend why I fear and demolish that barrier.

Chapter Two

 THE CAPTAIN OF THE ODIN PATH

JILL UREGLIMI
ODIN PATH

 

I enter the Odin Path, not venturing beyond the reception area and summoned Cymbal Hope. I was in the lounge, sipping peppermint tea when she entered with that power walk, as if coming from a meeting of the United Planet's Assembly. I ordered her to guide the Kema to the agricultural deck.

 

As usual, she accepted my orders with that disconcerting mien which implied she could do anything twice as good as I, and positions really ought be reversed.  I didn't doubt her expertise. If this was a purely human environment, she would be the Chief Administrator, I would be a doctor in Sick Bay.

 

This was a ZerShaz environment, her degrees and experience signify nothing.

 

I wish I had Sharon's ability to look at her and by the force of thoughts, impart exactly how I felt, but I was not Sharon. But I was the Captain of this Ship.

 

I walked from the lounge to the private passage, to arrive in the Captain's cabin. I opened the intercom, summoned Bjorn and

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.03.2022
ISBN: 978-3-7554-0946-5

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