"2570-35" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 8 - The Queen Of Time)THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty Five I stood at the window and looked out, aware of what the fu- ture held for my beloved country. Seventy eight years from now great tidal waves would crash over it, destroying it completely, leaving no trace of the civilizations that had once existed here. The advanced civilization of the past now only ruins in the dis- tance, and the city there below the palace I'd learned to love. It was, I mused to myself, just as well I would not live to see the end of a world that I'd grown to love over the past years... I'd scheduled audiences this morning, but now I no longer cared, as nothing no longer seemed really all that important to me now. Tais would see to the safety of those important to me, and with the Gaia's ability to travel through time I had no doubt that it would possible for them to begin new lives somewhere in the past. A faint sound behind me caused me to turn, the soft gasp of surprise that escaped from my lips making the trio smile at me! "A last `visit'," Carol said to me, her eyes moist with tears as she stood beside her husband, both of them showing all the signs now of advanced age! Their attire of the 21st Century, although "different" than before. Tais nodding quietly, tall and golden, her long white gown reminding me of ONE I'd once seen on another world. A world where great ants lived deep underground. "It is the year 2032 in our time," Bob said to me then. I knew that they had committed suicide together sometime in '33. He had been dying of heart failure, and Carol of Alzheimier's, the disease stealing her memories, "taking" from her that I feel was most dear. Memories of Dularn, of life here in this time... They were both "old", gray, their features wrinkled with age. My "reaction" was I feel now due to the fact that I was not used to seeing such things as people die here before they get so "old"! "Will you bring Hope here?" I asked the First Priestess. "I have asked her not to," Carol spoke in level tones. "We do not wish to let Hope see us now," Bob explained. "There are times I am not `myself'," Carol added then. "You will be `safe' here," I said, my own eyes wet now. "You are not `responsible', Lorraine," Tais spoke to me. "`All societies have limited resources'," I answered her, the tone of my voice bitter. Janet's own "social darwinism" had its "justifications", I supposed, but it was hard to "accept" it when one saw the actual consequences of such things. I recalled what my mother had said of the Nazis. Were we really any better? "The disease is `incurable' even by us," Tais spoke to me. "I'm `responsible' for you too," I snapped, Tais "nodding". "There is a knock at the door," Bob Simmons interrupted me. "Your majesty," June spoke, standing there beyond the door as I opened it just a bit, concealing the room there behind me. "You have `audiences' this morning," she pointed out to me then. Jon standing at her side, giving me a smile as I now nodded back. "You will see that the Simmons have everything they need," I spoke to her in level tones, opening the door wider, "And you will `inform' your guardswomen that whatever they see, whatever they hear, is not to be `repeated' or their Queen will be very an- gry with them," I added, June nodding, her dark eyes wide as she understood. "Mrs. Simmons is suffering from an incurable disease that makes her at times `confused'," I explained further on here. "Aye, your majesty," June answered, Tais now "disappearing". "They are `friends' from my own era," I told my officer. "I will see to everything," June Colt assured me then. "Don't worry about it, my love," Jon then said to me. I looked at the back of my hand as I sat there on the throne of Trelandar, searching for the first signs of age there upon it. I was clad in silk and leather, the trappings of a Warrior Queen, the lovely golden tiara set with precious gems there on my head. The long slim blade at my hip, a keen dagger in its sheath on the other. I wore leather boots, spike heeled, the latest style now. I was rich, a woman of immense wealth by the standards of this era. I could have "anything" that the hand of Man could build... The thought going through my mind that eventually if I lived long enough I'd look like Carol did, wrinkled, gray, perhaps like her even suffering from a disease that would steal away my memories! And would Jon still love me then like Bob still loved his Carol?? "What do you think, Lorraine?" Sanda said to me, breaking into my train of thought as I wondered how I'd "look" years from now. The people there before us all now waiting for my decision. The argument having been about certain "guild" and "caste" rights which certain people wanted me to enforce against any "newcomer". Much like the "licensing laws" of the 20th Century I knew well... Laws written not to "protect" the "consumer", but to "protect" those who were "established" from the "competition" of newcomers! Such had "doubled" the cost of medical care before Janet Rogers had put a final "end" to such "laws" by Constitutional Amendment. The thought going through my mind that I could do the same here!! "Historically there have always been `those' who sought the `protection' of government against `competition'," I spoke, Sanda at my side looking on, well aware of how I felt about such stuff. "It was such a political philosophy that led in part to the great `bankruptcy' of the United States of America in the early Twenty First Century, and as Queen I see no need to repeat history now." I was well aware that my ruling would not be "popular" with many, but I felt it was perhaps time that I took a stand on things now. "We need not repeat the `mistakes' of Roosevelt's `NEW DEAL', which did much to set the course towards economic destruction, a fact that I'm sure any Scribe can explain more clearly than I..." Then glancing up at Sanda as she stood there, giving her a smile that I'm sure she didn't "share" just then by any means here. My Prime Minister nodding in agreement, well aware that I'd left her with no other "choice" either despite whatever she might have had wished otherwise. I was tired of this sort of "politics", of be- ing a "patsy" for the competing political interests of Trelandar. The thought then going through my mind that what Trelandar really "needed" now was a Queen like Amethysta, who didn't fool around! "That last `decision' of yours could cost us `politically'," Sanda snapped at me as soon as she could be alone with me, the note of anger there in her voice leaving no doubts either as to her own personal feelings on these issues. Her dark eyes burning into mine as I nodded back... If the people of Trelandar wished to repeat the "mistakes" of the now distant past there was very little that I could do to stop them from it! I wondered if per- haps we'd been just as "well off" after all under Darlanis' rule? The Empress didn't seem to have the "political problems" I did... The same sort of "problems" that Maris struggled with in Dularn! Could it be that Darlanis' less democratic society was superior? "In seventy eight years the world comes to an end," I smiled back, explaining that I'd witnessed such an "EVENT" myself here. "I hardly think what we `do' now is really going to matter much." "I have `children'," Sanda breathed, looking at me in awe. "The Priestesses will `do' what they can," I assured her, Sanda standing there, the emotions upon her face making me smile. "You should have `told' me," Sanda "protested" in reply. I think she was hurt that I hadn't "shared" this "secret" with her. We were in a way "more" than a Queen of Trelandar and her Prime Minister. Sanda was a old friend, a woman I felt affection for. "I believe Tais plans to teleport people back in time," I said, recalling the discussions I'd had there in Dularn about the fact that the American Indians had adapted far swifter to the horse than what one would have expected given the situation here. "Mars can also accept colonists," I added, Sanda nodding in turn. "The `DOOMSDAY' of legend," Sanda now mused, standing there. A few guardswomen at a distance seeing that we weren't disturbed. "Tais brought us `visitors'," I added, giving her a smile. "We met before," Carol said, the disease apparently not hav- ing yet destroyed those memories of what she'd experienced here in our time three years ago, in her time forty one years ago now. "There are still those who speak of you," Sanda smiled back, holding those now withered hands of the old Dularnian Warlady... Carol nodding back, her old eyes "wet" with tears as she smiled. "I have never forgotten the `arena' here," Carol "grinned". I knew she still possessed good memories of the past, it was what happened here in the present that she couldn't remember any more! "I learned that day the sort of a `wife' I had," Bob said, his arm going about his wife, Carol's aged eyes looking into his. "And I still `love' her just as much as I did when I married her that June 14th back in 1975," he added, giving her a loving hug. Jon standing there nodding at me, perhaps understanding more now. "There are certain `things' I haven't forgotten," Carol smiled, the couple perhaps lost just then in "memories" only they shared... Sanda standing there looking at me, her eyes like mine wet with tears. They were by our standards incredibly "old", due to die in another year, but yet I wondered if even my marriage to Jon was as "strong" as the marriage had been between these two?? "You still wear a sword at your hip," I said to Carol then. She was gray haired now, no longer the "brownette" I remembered there in Arsana only a few days before. The psychological "jolt" of that was something I had a hard time "accepting" emotionally. "I plan to die with it in my hand as a Warrioress should," Carol answered, her eyes, still sharp and hazel, meeting my own! "She is still my `Warlady'," Bob said, seeing me nod back. "A `legend' who will not be `forgotten'," I answered him. THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Thirty Five I stood at the window and looked out, aware of what the fu- ture held for my beloved country. Seventy eight years from now great tidal waves would crash over it, destroying it completely, leaving no trace of the civilizations that had once existed here. The advanced civilization of the past now only ruins in the dis- tance, and the city there below the palace I'd learned to love. It was, I mused to myself, just as well I would not live to see the end of a world that I'd grown to love over the past years... I'd scheduled audiences this morning, but now I no longer cared, as nothing no longer seemed really all that important to me now. Tais would see to the safety of those important to me, and with the Gaia's ability to travel through time I had no doubt that it would possible for them to begin new lives somewhere in the past. A faint sound behind me caused me to turn, the soft gasp of surprise that escaped from my lips making the trio smile at me! "A last `visit'," Carol said to me, her eyes moist with tears as she stood beside her husband, both of them showing all the signs now of advanced age! Their attire of the 21st Century, although "different" than before. Tais nodding quietly, tall and golden, her long white gown reminding me of ONE I'd once seen on another world. A world where great ants lived deep underground. "It is the year 2032 in our time," Bob said to me then. I knew that they had committed suicide together sometime in '33. He had been dying of heart failure, and Carol of Alzheimier's, the disease stealing her memories, "taking" from her that I feel was most dear. Memories of Dularn, of life here in this time... They were both "old", gray, their features wrinkled with age. My "reaction" was I feel now due to the fact that I was not used to seeing such things as people die here before they get so "old"! "Will you bring Hope here?" I asked the First Priestess. "I have asked her not to," Carol spoke in level tones. "We do not wish to let Hope see us now," Bob explained. "There are times I am not `myself'," Carol added then. "You will be `safe' here," I said, my own eyes wet now. "You are not `responsible', Lorraine," Tais spoke to me. "`All societies have limited resources'," I answered her, the tone of my voice bitter. Janet's own "social darwinism" had its "justifications", I supposed, but it was hard to "accept" it when one saw the actual consequences of such things. I recalled what my mother had said of the Nazis. Were we really any better? "The disease is `incurable' even by us," Tais spoke to me. "I'm `responsible' for you too," I snapped, Tais "nodding". "There is a knock at the door," Bob Simmons interrupted me. "Your majesty," June spoke, standing there beyond the door as I opened it just a bit, concealing the room there behind me. "You have `audiences' this morning," she pointed out to me then. Jon standing at her side, giving me a smile as I now nodded back. "You will see that the Simmons have everything they need," I spoke to her in level tones, opening the door wider, "And you will `inform' your guardswomen that whatever they see, whatever they hear, is not to be `repeated' or their Queen will be very an- gry with them," I added, June nodding, her dark eyes wide as she understood. "Mrs. Simmons is suffering from an incurable disease that makes her at times `confused'," I explained further on here. "Aye, your majesty," June answered, Tais now "disappearing". "They are `friends' from my own era," I told my officer. "I will see to everything," June Colt assured me then. "Don't worry about it, my love," Jon then said to me. I looked at the back of my hand as I sat there on the throne of Trelandar, searching for the first signs of age there upon it. I was clad in silk and leather, the trappings of a Warrior Queen, the lovely golden tiara set with precious gems there on my head. The long slim blade at my hip, a keen dagger in its sheath on the other. I wore leather boots, spike heeled, the latest style now. I was rich, a woman of immense wealth by the standards of this era. I could have "anything" that the hand of Man could build... The thought going through my mind that eventually if I lived long enough I'd look like Carol did, wrinkled, gray, perhaps like her even suffering from a disease that would steal away my memories! And would Jon still love me then like Bob still loved his Carol?? "What do you think, Lorraine?" Sanda said to me, breaking into my train of thought as I wondered how I'd "look" years from now. The people there before us all now waiting for my decision. The argument having been about certain "guild" and "caste" rights which certain people wanted me to enforce against any "newcomer". Much like the "licensing laws" of the 20th Century I knew well... Laws written not to "protect" the "consumer", but to "protect" those who were "established" from the "competition" of newcomers! Such had "doubled" the cost of medical care before Janet Rogers had put a final "end" to such "laws" by Constitutional Amendment. The thought going through my mind that I could do the same here!! "Historically there have always been `those' who sought the `protection' of government against `competition'," I spoke, Sanda at my side looking on, well aware of how I felt about such stuff. "It was such a political philosophy that led in part to the great `bankruptcy' of the United States of America in the early Twenty First Century, and as Queen I see no need to repeat history now." I was well aware that my ruling would not be "popular" with many, but I felt it was perhaps time that I took a stand on things now. "We need not repeat the `mistakes' of Roosevelt's `NEW DEAL', which did much to set the course towards economic destruction, a fact that I'm sure any Scribe can explain more clearly than I..." Then glancing up at Sanda as she stood there, giving her a smile that I'm sure she didn't "share" just then by any means here. My Prime Minister nodding in agreement, well aware that I'd left her with no other "choice" either despite whatever she might have had wished otherwise. I was tired of this sort of "politics", of be- ing a "patsy" for the competing political interests of Trelandar. The thought then going through my mind that what Trelandar really "needed" now was a Queen like Amethysta, who didn't fool around! "That last `decision' of yours could cost us `politically'," Sanda snapped at me as soon as she could be alone with me, the note of anger there in her voice leaving no doubts either as to her own personal feelings on these issues. Her dark eyes burning into mine as I nodded back... If the people of Trelandar wished to repeat the "mistakes" of the now distant past there was very little that I could do to stop them from it! I wondered if per- haps we'd been just as "well off" after all under Darlanis' rule? The Empress didn't seem to have the "political problems" I did... The same sort of "problems" that Maris struggled with in Dularn! Could it be that Darlanis' less democratic society was superior? "In seventy eight years the world comes to an end," I smiled back, explaining that I'd witnessed such an "EVENT" myself here. "I hardly think what we `do' now is really going to matter much." "I have `children'," Sanda breathed, looking at me in awe. "The Priestesses will `do' what they can," I assured her, Sanda standing there, the emotions upon her face making me smile. "You should have `told' me," Sanda "protested" in reply. I think she was hurt that I hadn't "shared" this "secret" with her. We were in a way "more" than a Queen of Trelandar and her Prime Minister. Sanda was a old friend, a woman I felt affection for. "I believe Tais plans to teleport people back in time," I said, recalling the discussions I'd had there in Dularn about the fact that the American Indians had adapted far swifter to the horse than what one would have expected given the situation here. "Mars can also accept colonists," I added, Sanda nodding in turn. "The `DOOMSDAY' of legend," Sanda now mused, standing there. A few guardswomen at a distance seeing that we weren't disturbed. "Tais brought us `visitors'," I added, giving her a smile. "We met before," Carol said, the disease apparently not hav- ing yet destroyed those memories of what she'd experienced here in our time three years ago, in her time forty one years ago now. "There are still those who speak of you," Sanda smiled back, holding those now withered hands of the old Dularnian Warlady... Carol nodding back, her old eyes "wet" with tears as she smiled. "I have never forgotten the `arena' here," Carol "grinned". I knew she still possessed good memories of the past, it was what happened here in the present that she couldn't remember any more! "I learned that day the sort of a `wife' I had," Bob said, his arm going about his wife, Carol's aged eyes looking into his. "And I still `love' her just as much as I did when I married her that June 14th back in 1975," he added, giving her a loving hug. Jon standing there nodding at me, perhaps understanding more now. "There are certain `things' I haven't forgotten," Carol smiled, the couple perhaps lost just then in "memories" only they shared... Sanda standing there looking at me, her eyes like mine wet with tears. They were by our standards incredibly "old", due to die in another year, but yet I wondered if even my marriage to Jon was as "strong" as the marriage had been between these two?? "You still wear a sword at your hip," I said to Carol then. She was gray haired now, no longer the "brownette" I remembered there in Arsana only a few days before. The psychological "jolt" of that was something I had a hard time "accepting" emotionally. "I plan to die with it in my hand as a Warrioress should," Carol answered, her eyes, still sharp and hazel, meeting my own! "She is still my `Warlady'," Bob said, seeing me nod back. "A `legend' who will not be `forgotten'," I answered him. |
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