"2566-20" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bigge Jerome - Warlady 4 - 2566 Ad)2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twenty "I don't `like' you and I'm sure the feeling is `mutual'," Maris said to me as we came up on deck, the sun now considerably lower there in the west. "But I do think we `understand' each other considerably better than we did," the young Queen smiled. Maris had agreed to a "cease-fire", to negotiations between Du- larn and California. Now it would be up to Darlanis to make the next move. I wondered what Darlanis would do! I recalled our "talk". The "opinions" that Darlanis had expressed to me then. I wondered if Darlanis really "understood" the situation anymore. "Don't try to `exploit' Darlanis' feelings for you," I warned Maris, "Or you could find yourself in even worse trouble." Darlanis' hesitation in reacting to Dularn's attacks having made the Empress quite unpopular among certain "segments" of society! There had even been those who spoke out now that a certain Queen of Trelandar might make a better "Empress" for California than Darlanis. I feared what the consequences of "that" could be now! All of California could now be torn apart in a bloody civil war! ***************************************************************** Darlanis stood tall and golden in her famous mesh before the Senators and Representatives, the precious jewels of her crown sparkling in the light from the many lamps. Her words ringing out clearly in that great assembly hall as she said that Califor- nia had "turned the other cheek" long enough and that it was now time to put an end to Dularnian plundering of innocent Imperial vessels! The cheers that echoed in that great room at her words leaving no doubts that Imperial California would soon be taking "action" both at land and at sea against Dularnian "aggression". The tears that filled her azure eyes as they cheered none noted. Once again brave men and women would die for their golden ruler! ***************************************************************** "Darlanis has asked for a declaration of war against Dularn," the woman spoke, stepping through the "Portal" that al- lowed one to "step" from one world to another as easily as one might travel from one room to another. Aurora nodding, her jade eyes now filled with concern as she stood there at Raspa's side. "She is like all her kind a `barbarian'," another commented. "A simple beautiful `savage' with a sword on her hip and a `lust' for blood in her heart." The negative shake of Aurora's head was unnoticed. The tears that filled her eyes were quickly wiped away before any saw. It would not seem "proper" for their Lead- eress to weep. A "gamble" had once been taken. Its "outcome" had not been "expected" as it turned out to be. Again Aurora wondered if she had done the "right thing" to let her own daugh- ter grow up as she had. It was a "question" that Aurora had pon- dered many times now without any "answer" ever being forthcoming. ***************************************************************** The schooner that left the great capital that night was the fastest that the Empire possessed, a slim lithe two masted ship quite capable of "showing its heels" to anything afloat. The Sea Breeze was not a "warship", but it could fight. Its weapons few, but of a range that rivaled those of any first rate in the Impe- rial Navy. It was Darlanis' new private "yacht", and built from the designs of a "twenty meter" 21st Century racing yacht. Its masts towered up some eighty feet into the sky, giving it a speed even a full knot faster than the swiftest of my own "Squalas"! A tall beautiful golden haired woman impatiently pacing its small quarterdeck urging the warrioresses who made up its crew to even greater efforts to draw the last knot of speed from the wind. A cold icy fury now burning in her heart towards one she had once felt might be a "friend". This time, Darlanis vowed, she would see to it herself that the young Queen of Dularn met her "fate"!* * The "motivations" of Darlanis are of "professional interest" here as they clearly illustrate the "love-hate" relationship that was often found in my own professional practice back in the 20th Century before I flew through the "Gateway" and ended up "here"! According to my theory here, Darlanis developed due to Maris' ap- pearance and "youth" a sort of "maternal relationship" towards the Queen of Dularn based upon her own secret fantasies she had. "Fantasies" that I believe were caused by the loss of her uterus and the knowledge that she could never again ever bear a child. The inherent and dangerous "instability" of this "relationship" caused a complete "turn-about" when events caused Darlanis to "confront" her own emotional feelings towards Queen Maris! (LR) Comment by Darlanis Lorraine sometimes tries to "read" into people's actions much more than actually exists. While I felt a certain degree of "affection" towards Maris there in Dularn while Queen Tulis laid dying of a brain tumor, I never looked upon her as a "daughter"! ***************************************************************** "I feel `strange' escorting the North Star like this," Ja- nice said to me that night as we shared wine and cheese there in my cabin, the Huntress rolling gently in the evening swell. There was just enough wind to fill the sails, to keep us moving. "If Maris will withdraw her forces and agree to negotiations with Darlanis I have no objections to withdrawing our squadron," I answered, although personally I did not "trust" Maris too far! The woman was in my own personal opinion a "user" and just that!! "I feel as if I'm `betraying' the memory of those who died," she spoke, holding the goblet of wine there in her hand, looking down into the swirling liquid there. I nodded, understand how it must have been for her. I myself felt "uncomfortable" with this! There had been too many deaths already to make it "easy" now to forget what had happened. There were widows, widowers, children who would never again see their mother or father because of this. "I just hope that Darlanis doesn't `give away the store'," I answered, meeting her eyes with my own, a look of puzzlement now going over her features as she tried to figure out the 20th Cen- tury "idiom" that I had used. I rather doubted in any case that either the Senate or the Assembly would go along with anything! There was so much anger directed towards Darlanis now that it was quite possible that the two bodies would attempt to dispose her! Such was "possible" under our new Constitution, I knew, although it was likely to throw all of California into a bloody civil war! "There were `rumors' in Sarn that the people of California might soon be expressing their `displeasure' with Darlanis," she replied, looking up into my eyes as I nodded in reply. I dreaded what could come of all this. I knew what can happen when the people rise up against their rulers. I'd seen that in Trelandar! And I "knew" who the people would pick as their new Empress too!! ***************************************************************** "This must still seem pretty `strange' to you," Darlanis said to Serena Novak as the blonde nodded in reply, Lynn sitting there by the stern windows enjoying the mild breeze off the sea. "Like something told by our `story-tellers' around the camp- fires," Serena smiled. She was a true "barbarian", and still at times felt more "comfortable" in buckskin than in a silken gown! She wore a brief dark leather skirt, a matching halter, sword and dagger, the attire comparable to that she had once worn before. Darlanis was attired in her beautiful golden mesh that had once made my Sharon "compare" her to a 20th Century cartoon character. "Like us having a `Warlady' from a time before The War, and a hidden secret city of `Martians' beneath the mountains east of Talon," Lynn smiled, fascinated like many Californians by the beautiful blonde from the ruins of a place she called "Muskegon". "And the fact that we have never learned to `live in peace' with ourselves," Serena smiled back at the dark haired delight. She was well aware of the frequent conflicts between her own peo- ple and those of the American Indians that lived in the area now. Neither the "white" or the "red" man had any use for "blacks". "I wonder if that is as `desirable' as everyone thinks," Darlanis answered. "Those societies such as Leith and that of the Lorr on Mars are almost completely and totally `stagnant'." There being no doubt in her mind that I had been "right" in this. That perhaps I was the "second Janet Rogers" of myth and legend! ***************************************************************** "It won't be long now before we reach our destination," Mark Berson of the Squala spoke as he stopped by the small black clad figure standing there by the rail. He had gotten to "know" Prin- cess Sela Dai quite well by now, but his attempted "romance" with her had never gotten off the ground. She was "friendly", but yet seemingly "wrapped" in problems of her own that she had refused to "share" with anyone else. Sela's dark eyes looking up into his as he stood there beside her, the little brunette's white teeth gleaming faintly there in the starlight. A cool breeze off the sea chilly enough that a cloak about her body felt pleasant. "And then into battle as soon as Lorraine arrives," Sela an- swered. Would she "freeze" again as she had before when the ene- my's missiles came whistling over the railings? When she stood there and felt that there on the enemy's decks someone wanted her "dead"! That they were actually taking a "bead" on her own body! "With ships like these we'll teach those Dularnians a lesson that they won't forget for a while," Mark laughed back in reply. "Don't `underestimate' the enemy," Sela answered him back. She'd seen for herself how "effective" a "North" class ship could be even against one of Lorraine's own mighty "Squalas" in battle! "All I `want' is a `crack' at that damm North Star," Mark smiled, recalling how they had pursued it into a rain storm and then "lost" the enemy vessel. "And seeing that Dularnian bitch kneeling nude and in chains before our `Lorraine'," he concluded. "I'll feel a lot `better' once we have Lorraine back," Sela answered. Keeping to herself the terrors she felt being in "com- mand" of the squadron during the absence of the famous Warlady! Sela's greatest fear being that she would have to command the ships in battle, where her "inexperience" might well show badly! "I'm hoping that means I won't be seeing the `last' of you," Mark ventured, throwing "caution to the winds" with the Princess. "This is her `flagship'," Sela answered softly, looking up into his eyes, the beating of her heart now pounding in her ears. Her arms with a mind of their own suddenly reaching out to him! ***************************************************************** "My mother's down there somewhere," An'na spoke with a smile as she sat there at the controls of the Starfire, the great gleaming cigar shaped spaceship moving at near sonic speeds some ten miles over the dark star-lit ocean there below. The sweep of the radar having as yet detected nothing as Sarn now fell astern. "Their sailing ships don't really show up that well," a wom- an of Mars at the radar screens replied, watching the scanners. It was easier to detect the ships visually, the craft showing up well against the cooler waters on which they sailed. Water to a woman of Mars being a liquid you drank or washed with. The idea that you might be able to float upon it was something very alien! 2566 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Twenty "I don't `like' you and I'm sure the feeling is `mutual'," Maris said to me as we came up on deck, the sun now considerably lower there in the west. "But I do think we `understand' each other considerably better than we did," the young Queen smiled. Maris had agreed to a "cease-fire", to negotiations between Du- larn and California. Now it would be up to Darlanis to make the next move. I wondered what Darlanis would do! I recalled our "talk". The "opinions" that Darlanis had expressed to me then. I wondered if Darlanis really "understood" the situation anymore. "Don't try to `exploit' Darlanis' feelings for you," I warned Maris, "Or you could find yourself in even worse trouble." Darlanis' hesitation in reacting to Dularn's attacks having made the Empress quite unpopular among certain "segments" of society! There had even been those who spoke out now that a certain Queen of Trelandar might make a better "Empress" for California than Darlanis. I feared what the consequences of "that" could be now! All of California could now be torn apart in a bloody civil war! ***************************************************************** Darlanis stood tall and golden in her famous mesh before the Senators and Representatives, the precious jewels of her crown sparkling in the light from the many lamps. Her words ringing out clearly in that great assembly hall as she said that Califor- nia had "turned the other cheek" long enough and that it was now time to put an end to Dularnian plundering of innocent Imperial vessels! The cheers that echoed in that great room at her words leaving no doubts that Imperial California would soon be taking "action" both at land and at sea against Dularnian "aggression". The tears that filled her azure eyes as they cheered none noted. Once again brave men and women would die for their golden ruler! ***************************************************************** "Darlanis has asked for a declaration of war against Dularn," the woman spoke, stepping through the "Portal" that al- lowed one to "step" from one world to another as easily as one might travel from one room to another. Aurora nodding, her jade eyes now filled with concern as she stood there at Raspa's side. "She is like all her kind a `barbarian'," another commented. "A simple beautiful `savage' with a sword on her hip and a `lust' for blood in her heart." The negative shake of Aurora's head was unnoticed. The tears that filled her eyes were quickly wiped away before any saw. It would not seem "proper" for their Lead- eress to weep. A "gamble" had once been taken. Its "outcome" had not been "expected" as it turned out to be. Again Aurora wondered if she had done the "right thing" to let her own daugh- ter grow up as she had. It was a "question" that Aurora had pon- dered many times now without any "answer" ever being forthcoming. ***************************************************************** The schooner that left the great capital that night was the fastest that the Empire possessed, a slim lithe two masted ship quite capable of "showing its heels" to anything afloat. The Sea Breeze was not a "warship", but it could fight. Its weapons few, but of a range that rivaled those of any first rate in the Impe- rial Navy. It was Darlanis' new private "yacht", and built from the designs of a "twenty meter" 21st Century racing yacht. Its masts towered up some eighty feet into the sky, giving it a speed even a full knot faster than the swiftest of my own "Squalas"! A tall beautiful golden haired woman impatiently pacing its small quarterdeck urging the warrioresses who made up its crew to even greater efforts to draw the last knot of speed from the wind. A cold icy fury now burning in her heart towards one she had once felt might be a "friend". This time, Darlanis vowed, she would see to it herself that the young Queen of Dularn met her "fate"!* * The "motivations" of Darlanis are of "professional interest" here as they clearly illustrate the "love-hate" relationship that was often found in my own professional practice back in the 20th Century before I flew through the "Gateway" and ended up "here"! According to my theory here, Darlanis developed due to Maris' ap- pearance and "youth" a sort of "maternal relationship" towards the Queen of Dularn based upon her own secret fantasies she had. "Fantasies" that I believe were caused by the loss of her uterus and the knowledge that she could never again ever bear a child. The inherent and dangerous "instability" of this "relationship" caused a complete "turn-about" when events caused Darlanis to "confront" her own emotional feelings towards Queen Maris! (LR) Comment by Darlanis Lorraine sometimes tries to "read" into people's actions much more than actually exists. While I felt a certain degree of "affection" towards Maris there in Dularn while Queen Tulis laid dying of a brain tumor, I never looked upon her as a "daughter"! ***************************************************************** "I feel `strange' escorting the North Star like this," Ja- nice said to me that night as we shared wine and cheese there in my cabin, the Huntress rolling gently in the evening swell. There was just enough wind to fill the sails, to keep us moving. "If Maris will withdraw her forces and agree to negotiations with Darlanis I have no objections to withdrawing our squadron," I answered, although personally I did not "trust" Maris too far! The woman was in my own personal opinion a "user" and just that!! "I feel as if I'm `betraying' the memory of those who died," she spoke, holding the goblet of wine there in her hand, looking down into the swirling liquid there. I nodded, understand how it must have been for her. I myself felt "uncomfortable" with this! There had been too many deaths already to make it "easy" now to forget what had happened. There were widows, widowers, children who would never again see their mother or father because of this. "I just hope that Darlanis doesn't `give away the store'," I answered, meeting her eyes with my own, a look of puzzlement now going over her features as she tried to figure out the 20th Cen- tury "idiom" that I had used. I rather doubted in any case that either the Senate or the Assembly would go along with anything! There was so much anger directed towards Darlanis now that it was quite possible that the two bodies would attempt to dispose her! Such was "possible" under our new Constitution, I knew, although it was likely to throw all of California into a bloody civil war! "There were `rumors' in Sarn that the people of California might soon be expressing their `displeasure' with Darlanis," she replied, looking up into my eyes as I nodded in reply. I dreaded what could come of all this. I knew what can happen when the people rise up against their rulers. I'd seen that in Trelandar! And I "knew" who the people would pick as their new Empress too!! ***************************************************************** "This must still seem pretty `strange' to you," Darlanis said to Serena Novak as the blonde nodded in reply, Lynn sitting there by the stern windows enjoying the mild breeze off the sea. "Like something told by our `story-tellers' around the camp- fires," Serena smiled. She was a true "barbarian", and still at times felt more "comfortable" in buckskin than in a silken gown! She wore a brief dark leather skirt, a matching halter, sword and dagger, the attire comparable to that she had once worn before. Darlanis was attired in her beautiful golden mesh that had once made my Sharon "compare" her to a 20th Century cartoon character. "Like us having a `Warlady' from a time before The War, and a hidden secret city of `Martians' beneath the mountains east of Talon," Lynn smiled, fascinated like many Californians by the beautiful blonde from the ruins of a place she called "Muskegon". "And the fact that we have never learned to `live in peace' with ourselves," Serena smiled back at the dark haired delight. She was well aware of the frequent conflicts between her own peo- ple and those of the American Indians that lived in the area now. Neither the "white" or the "red" man had any use for "blacks". "I wonder if that is as `desirable' as everyone thinks," Darlanis answered. "Those societies such as Leith and that of the Lorr on Mars are almost completely and totally `stagnant'." There being no doubt in her mind that I had been "right" in this. That perhaps I was the "second Janet Rogers" of myth and legend! ***************************************************************** "It won't be long now before we reach our destination," Mark Berson of the Squala spoke as he stopped by the small black clad figure standing there by the rail. He had gotten to "know" Prin- cess Sela Dai quite well by now, but his attempted "romance" with her had never gotten off the ground. She was "friendly", but yet seemingly "wrapped" in problems of her own that she had refused to "share" with anyone else. Sela's dark eyes looking up into his as he stood there beside her, the little brunette's white teeth gleaming faintly there in the starlight. A cool breeze off the sea chilly enough that a cloak about her body felt pleasant. "And then into battle as soon as Lorraine arrives," Sela an- swered. Would she "freeze" again as she had before when the ene- my's missiles came whistling over the railings? When she stood there and felt that there on the enemy's decks someone wanted her "dead"! That they were actually taking a "bead" on her own body! "With ships like these we'll teach those Dularnians a lesson that they won't forget for a while," Mark laughed back in reply. "Don't `underestimate' the enemy," Sela answered him back. She'd seen for herself how "effective" a "North" class ship could be even against one of Lorraine's own mighty "Squalas" in battle! "All I `want' is a `crack' at that damm North Star," Mark smiled, recalling how they had pursued it into a rain storm and then "lost" the enemy vessel. "And seeing that Dularnian bitch kneeling nude and in chains before our `Lorraine'," he concluded. "I'll feel a lot `better' once we have Lorraine back," Sela answered. Keeping to herself the terrors she felt being in "com- mand" of the squadron during the absence of the famous Warlady! Sela's greatest fear being that she would have to command the ships in battle, where her "inexperience" might well show badly! "I'm hoping that means I won't be seeing the `last' of you," Mark ventured, throwing "caution to the winds" with the Princess. "This is her `flagship'," Sela answered softly, looking up into his eyes, the beating of her heart now pounding in her ears. Her arms with a mind of their own suddenly reaching out to him! ***************************************************************** "My mother's down there somewhere," An'na spoke with a smile as she sat there at the controls of the Starfire, the great gleaming cigar shaped spaceship moving at near sonic speeds some ten miles over the dark star-lit ocean there below. The sweep of the radar having as yet detected nothing as Sarn now fell astern. "Their sailing ships don't really show up that well," a wom- an of Mars at the radar screens replied, watching the scanners. It was easier to detect the ships visually, the craft showing up well against the cooler waters on which they sailed. Water to a woman of Mars being a liquid you drank or washed with. The idea that you might be able to float upon it was something very alien! |
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