Part 9 (1/2)
”Of course.”
Dtimun felt the impact of emotion like a blow. He sat down on the edge of his desk. He had never considered that there might be even one child. And now...
”A warrior should have many children,” the old fellow said. ”Male and female. But he should spend time with them, give them affection and guidance, and love them. I have failed terribly in this regard. My aim was conquest, and I sacrificed everything and everyone dear to me in that goal. My regrets are legion, my sorrows without number. I grieve for my dead children, and my lack of insight that might have spared them in the flower of adulthood.”
Dtimun had a faraway look in his eyes, which were a somber blue. ”Komak was fond of blaming fate for these tragedies. Karamesh, he called it. He had a philosophical outlook which I lack.”
”He is a student of many fields, and an expert in some. His accomplishments will revolutionize our world, and many other worlds. He will be quite famous in the future.”
”Who is he?”
There was a pause. ”I will tell you, when the time comes. It has not, yet. First things first. You must maintain contact with me covertly. I will help, if I can.”
”I am grateful.”
”You take great risks, you and the warwoman, for an enemy.”
”Chacon was never that, personally.”
”I know. It grieves me that we find ourselves in opposite camps,” the old one told him. ”Chacon will eventually overthrow his government, however, and unite his people with the Cehn-Tahr.”
”You have been listening to Caneese's prophecies,” Dtimun chuckled.
”No. I have been listening to Komak,” came the dry reply.
”He told me very little.”
”He did not dare,” the old fellow replied. ”The future is not set in stone. It can be altered. He told me the timeline and made me promise not to interfere in any of this. I could only get him to agree to let me contact you and provide help when I could. This he permitted, and he did finally understand why I concealed public knowledge of my part in these actions.”
”It is a strange concept, making the future.”
”Very strange. But if you succeed, the future is a.s.sured.” He paused again. ”You must take great care of your mate and my grandchild. Caneese and I are quite excited.”
Dtimun laughed. ”So am I.”
”Do not let the warwoman out of your sight.”
”You may depend on that.”
”And take great care of yourself, as well,” came a quieter, more intense admonition. ”We have been at odds for decades. But there was never a time when I did not love you, or wish you well. You are my only son. I...could not bear to give you up.”
Dtimun bit his lip and tried to conceal the rush of emotion the confession drew from him. He was not successful.
”And do not offer to trade the warwoman for a Yomuth at Benaski Port!” came a gruffer, humorous addition.
Dtimun laughed. ”It was a joke. I would never have done it.” He paused. ”Lawson will find it difficult to pursue his combat strategies, now that I have withdrawn the Holconcom. I am certain that it has caused great anguish in the Council. But it was the only way I could get around Amba.s.sador Taylor's orders, and to save Madeline. The humans give their amba.s.sadors more power than even their political leaders.”
”I know that. The Dectat knew, also, and your actions were approved. As it happens, they produced a grand result, the treaty with the Nagaashe. No one will oppose your bonding in the Dectat now. In fact, it will be acclaimed.”
Dtimun sighed. ”I am in your debt.”
”Of course you are. I am your father,” came the smug reply. ”Let this be a lesson to you. As when you were very young, you cannot hide things from me.”
”In the future, I will not try to.”
”Wise thinking. We will speak again. Walk with care.”
And he was gone.
Dtimun wondered whether or not to share his conversation with his father with Madeline, and decided against it. His father was risking a great deal to offer him support, even in his position. One innocent slip of the tongue could make much mischief. He couldn't risk that. Not yet.
CHAPTER SIX.
Benaski Port was built on an asteroid in the Catarus Belt, as it was called locally, a point roughly midway between the planetary systems of the Cehn-Tahr Empire and the Tri-Galaxy Council of Planets. It was the most lawless place known to humanoid life-forms, because no formal law existed there. There was Port Security, but it was a joke; its officials could and did take bribes.
Outlaws and outcasts, pirates and their pursuers, diplomats and beggars, lived in a colorful neon jungle of light and shadow, all situated under a huge gla.s.s bubble on the asteroid's surface. Gla.s.s, on a terrestrial planet, would shatter easily. But on an airless moon or asteroid, it attained the strength of steel.
There were cheap apartments midtown and luxurious dwellings on the outskirts of the city, near the s.p.a.ceport. It was to the latter that the skimmer delivered Dtimun, Madeline, and Sfilla.
”I will handle all the arrangements,” Sfilla a.s.sured them, climbing out first. She ran toward the main building of the small complex. There were artificial plants and flowers in stone planters, and a holopond, complete with CGI fish. It looked very real. Madeline almost trailed her fingers through the ”water”
before she realized what she was doing.
Dtimun, indulgent, smiled at her. ”Even in an artificial atmosphere, the gravity here would be too uncomfortable for fish.”
”I should have known that.” She smiled shyly.
He looked at her with pure male appreciation of her obvious pregnancy under the pretty blue robes she wore.
”Is my nose on crooked?” she asked self-consciously.
”Certainly not. I was thinking that pregnancy suits you,” he added in a soft, deep tone.
She flushed a little. It was difficult, this new relations.h.i.+p. And still harder to reconcile the humanoid male in front of her with the taciturn commander of the past few years.
He moved closer. ”It is difficult for me, as well,” he confessed. ”Our relations.h.i.+p, while turbulent, has always been non-physical.”
”I never thought of males as anything but comrades,” she tried to explain. ”I was honest when I told you, at the beginning, that I had no idea what was normal female behavior.”
”I believe you are better informed now,” he said, and although he didn't smile, his lack of expression was suspicious.
”Sir!” she said with mock embarra.s.sment. Then she spoiled it by grinning wickedly.