The Worker Prince – Chapter Four (part two)
by Bryan Thomas Schmidt
“You come here to my quarters unannounced—” Miri said, standing to confront Xalivar. Despite knowing his penchant for spying on people, she felt betrayed, disrespected.
“It’s my palace. I go where I please, when I please,” Xalivar said. “A worker boy raised in my own house!” He’d heard it all. “You had no right to keep this from me. To make this decision—”
“It’s the Borali Alliance’s palace, and I am your sister, not your subject,” Miri snapped.
“Stop acting as if you are the one who should feel betrayed,” Xalivar said. “He does not belong here!” She saw his fists clench and unclench at his side, something he always did when he was angry. Davi winced at his uncle’s every word.
“He’s an outsider! In my palace, Miri! Have you no loyalty to your family?”
“Have you no loyalty to yours?” Miri demanded. “He’s been like a son to you his whole life. You loved him, as I do!!”
“Based on your lies—”
“I never lied,” Miri said. She’d never lied. She just hadn’t told him everything. The distinction had allowed her to feel she’d never misled him.
“You never told the truth,” Xalivar said, fists clenching again.
“And you never asked,” she reminded him.
“Have I been such a terrible nephew?” Davi demanded. “For you to hate me so much. . .”
“You are an enemy of our people,” Xalivar said, frowning as his eyes met Davi’s.
“He is a human being!” Miri’s voice grew getting louder, along with her desperation. How could Xalivar be so cold to his own nephew? She knew he loved him. Witnessing Xalivar with Davi over the years had been her only proof that her brother was even capable of love.
“He will never belong here!” Xalivar’s voice boomed. He punched a button on a wall communicator near the door. “Manaen.”
Miri ran to him and fell to her knees, grabbing his arm in desperation. “Please, Xalivar. He’s my only son.”
“He just told you about meeting his real mother,” Xalivar said, emphasizing the last two words to make them sting.
Miri looked away, fighting tears again. “I need him!”
“Then pack your things!” Xalivar said, pushing her away. She collapsed into a ball on the floor at Xalivar’s feet as his fists clenched again.
“Don’t touch her!” Davi said, stepping forward. The door opened and Manaen appeared.
“He is to be reassigned to Alpha Base on Plutonis at once. Get him suitable clothes and notify the commander,” Xalivar ordered as Manaen and Miri reacted, confused.
“He is wanted for murder,” Manaen said.
“Let the Council go to him, if they wish,” Xalivar said.
Miri screamed and grabbed Manaen by the leg. “No! He’s my son! Don’t send him away!”
“He’s sworn to serve the Alliance,” Xalivar said, “As are you,” then turned and marched through the door.
Manean motioned to Davi. “Come with me.” Pulling free of Miri, he turned toward the door. Davi followed reluctantly. The door slammed shut behind them.
Miri collapsed on the sofa again, sobs bursting from her like gasps for breath. Everything that mattered had just been stolen from her.
Plutonis? The ice planet? Things had not gone the way any of the possible scenarios had played in his mind. He was being banished, but not for the reasons he’d expected. Maybe he’d been wrong about Xalivar. By sending him away, Xalivar had protected him from discovery. It would be hard for Miri, sure, but at least he wasn’t being thrown out of the Alliance.
He’d feared the worst once his heritage came out, wondered if his uncle loved him the way he’d always thought he did. Now Davi thought his fears had been misplaced. Maybe Xalivar would make the murder charges disappear, too. Despite his anger and disappointment, Xalivar was taking care of his family. And Davi hoped Alpha Base would be a better adventure than Vertullis had been.
He couldn’t get the worker’s situation out of his mind. He had to find a way to change things. If Xalivar cared about him despite the revelations of his heritage, maybe there was hope he’d be open to considering that, too. It would take time, and it wouldn’t be easy, but Davi intended to e-post him about it as soon as he got settled on Plutonis. He was sure his mother would help, too. He reminded himself he had two mothers now. He would also have to let Lura know what had happened. She had been so worried when he returned to Legallis. He would e-post her, too.
He was still trying to wrap his mind around his new identity. It was a big change, and he had a lot to learn. He knew nothing of the workers’ religious beliefs, history, etc. Outside of anything he’d studied about them in school—mostly negative due to the Alliance’s slant—he knew very little about them, which needed to change. He would ask Lura for resources to begin his reeducation. It would be strange at first, but he had to start thinking of himself as a worker now. Everybody else would. That would be hard as well. At least, he didn’t have to change his name.
Xalivar had gone to Miri’s quarters after going over some reports with Manaen. Instead of the corridors, he’d taken a private passage only Royals knew about. He entered Miri’s main room through the back of her closet, slipping in unnoticed, to hear Miri and Davi’s conversation. Their words took him by surprise. My designated heir sympathetic to the Alliance’s enemies! One of them!
Xalivar raged at Miri for allowing such a betrayal. Lonely and barren or not, she had no right to make a decision which put the Royal family at risk without consulting him! If word got out, it could jeopardize everything the family had worked for since his grandfather’s reign! He had to protect the family as well as the Alliance. So he’d isolate Davi in a remote part of the system until his true loyalty could be ascertained and full damage control achieved.
Damage control started with select, trusted operatives searching Davi’s quarters and office on Vertullis, clearing them of all personal belongings and references to Davi and his interactions with others. They then set about trying to locate anyone who knew the truth about Davi’s identity. It would take longer and be difficult, because interrogations would have to occur with neither the interrogator nor the subject knowing the full details. They couldn’t know. He wanted to control damage, not spread it. Davi’s worker family would have to be dealt with as well. He should have ordered Davi to tell him their names, but it could wait until his nephew settled in on Plutonis. He took care not to act in a way that might cause distrust. He needed Davi to trust him now more than ever.
He sat gathering his thoughts, when Miri burst through the Royal passage, unannounced, into his chambers. “How dare you send him away!”
“How dare you leave me no choice,” Xalivar responded. She was far too emotional for her own good.
“Plutonis is the edge of the Alliance!” Miri said, shooting him a cold stare.
Xalivar was glad then that he’d never married. He’d spent little time with women outside of a few social interactions and found himself unburdened by the guilt men always associated with such female stares. “Which makes it all the more likely he’ll be safer there,” he said.
“Safe from whom? You? The Council?”
“Do you realize what would happen if his heritage became public knowledge?” Xalivar said. “We could lose the throne! It could undo everything our family has been working so hard for over the past five decades!”
“No one has to find out,” Miri said.
“How long do you think we could keep a secret like this with Xander on Vertullis, interacting with his newfound family?” Her ignorance sometimes amazed him. “I did what’s best for this family and the Alliance.”
“He’s my son. I should have a say,” Miri said.
“You’re not the High Lord Councilor. I am!” Xalivar turned away. “You’ll never understand the difficult decisions I am forced to make on a daily basis.” He cursed his father for allowing her to be soft.
“I understand the difficulty, just not the choices,” Miri said, then whirled and disappeared back into the passageway. Xalivar sighed and hit the button on the communicator to page Manaen. It was time to find out if everything had been arranged per his instructions.
Alpha Base was the outermost post for the Borali Alliance in the solar system. Close enough to protect tourist haven Regallis with regular fighter patrols, Plutonis also had few inhabitants and even fewer visitors, thus fewer prying eyes to protect military secrets from. Even the base itself was hidden deep within a manmade cave created by terraform scientists whose technology wasn’t up to the challenge Plutonis posed them.
Snow was everywhere, and a cold which was almost overbearing. It felt like being nowhere, because that’s pretty where Plutonis was—in deep space far from anything important. Inside the base, Davi and his companions lived as they always had because the computers generated an atmosphere suitable for humans. But when they ventured outside, they had to strap on breathing apparatuses, not to mention an assortment of heavy, winter clothes. The air was cold and thick and hung heavy in their lungs.
Plutonis only had two native species. The antlered Qiwi it was well known for and the humanoid aliens calling themselves Plutonians. Their skin was bluish green, and they had three eyes and four arms. The Qiwi and the Plutonians were the two known species in the system that could live on the planet without breathing apparatuses.
The surprising thing about the antelope was their ability to adapt to other environments. They had long been loved for their meat, but merchants also transported live specimens for sale on other planets. If they were transported on a ship on which the air quality in the hold was adjusted gradually over the course of the voyage, they could adapt themselves to survive in the environment of any planet. Thus, Davi had seen them for sale at the market on Vertullis. He had heard of some on Legallis as well. The Plutonians were not so adaptable. Outside their home planet, they required space suits; because the heavier atmospheres wore them out so much that their hearts would sometimes give out.
While he found the planet itself unpleasant, his duties as a squadron leader thrilled him. The squadron of eight would break into pairs on patrols, spreading themselves out to cover the outer reaches of the system. While they never experienced much excitement, Davi enjoyed the exploration and the thrill of being in flight. It gave him lots of time to think and to continue to wrestling through all the revelations he’d been hit with in the weeks before his reassignment.
He e-posted Xalivar after his first two weeks on base to thank him for protecting him and to remind him to take care of Miri. He also suggested he would welcome more discussion on the worker problem, but Xalivar’s reply had not mentioned it. His uncle simply said Miri was doing fine and he’d been glad to hear of Davi’s taking to his assignment. Davi had not written his uncle since. Instead, he formulated a plan, hoping to offer Xalivar at least a starting point.
His correspondence with Miri occurred with more frequency. Yao continued to look in on her once a week as Davi had requested. Miri worried about Davi, sad to be so far apart, but seemed to be handling it well otherwise, much to Davi’s relief. Davi also e-posted Lura to reassure her of his safety and let her know things had worked out well. He’d heard no more about the Captain’s death, though he wasn’t yet sure what his uncle’s negotiations might have produced on that front. No LSP had come looking for him. He would have to inquire about that as well.
To his surprise, he encountered a small team of worker mechanics on Plutonis. He knew Vertullians had mechanical aptitude. Lura told him his own father had been a mechanic at the depot on Vertullis. But he hadn’t realized the Alliance shipped worker mechanics to all major outposts and trusted them with responsibility for the maintenance of all starcraft. Unlike his squadron mates, Davi took time to engage the workers in conversation. For them, lives as slaves on an outpost were much better than lives on their home planet. Here, at least, while facing some restrictions and the usual discriminatory attitude from soldiers and pilots, they were pretty much left alone to do their work and lead their lives. Several of them said such assignments were very competitive.
Seeing the workers every time he entered the launch bay set him to thinking again about his own heritage. It had been unsettling at twenty years of age to realize he wasn’t who he’d thought he was. He was thankful for the rest he’d gotten during the voyage to Plutonis. The voyage had taken four days, and instead of spending his time wrestling with his thoughts, Davi had slept. Like his uncle, Miri offered little comment on the new realities in her e-posts, instead reassuring him that Xalivar had things under control and urging him to relax. As much as he enjoyed being a pilot again, it continued to weigh on him that his blood relatives still lived as slaves on another planet. He had to do something to help them. He just didn’t know what.
After a long patrol, Davi sent another e-post to Xalivar and Miri reminding them he’d lost sleep worrying about Lura and other family members. The situation needed to be addressed. I’d expect you of all people to understand the importance of family, he wrote. Miri’s reply startled him:
To: AgriCptSouth@Federal.emp
From: HRHMRhii@Federal.emp
Subject: Your concerns
My dear son:
While I fully respect your feelings toward these people, what I cannot understand, after all the love and support we have provided is why you think these people still have rights to your love and devotion. They launched you into unknown space on a dangerous, makeshift craft. I think they forfeited their parenting rights and any claim to you with such an act. We are the ones who have raised you, supported you, and helped you for twenty years. We are the ones you should be concerned about, not the worker family whose only tie to you is genetic.
Wanting always what’s best for you,
Your loving mother
Xalivar’s e-post was short and to the point, reading: “I concur with your mother.”
Davi knew his mother to be a caring person. Although this must be hard for her, he couldn’t simply ignore people who were his family. After all, they had not given him up out of a lack of desire. They had done it to save his life from Xalivar’s decree. Davi realized he couldn’t fight this battle from six planets away. He had to go back and confront things face to face.
Miri had taught him not to use his Royal status for special treatment, and Davi had done his best to avoid it. But when he filed a request with his commander for emergency family leave, and his commander grumbled a bit about granting a leave to someone who’d arrived only a few weeks before, Davi used his status as Royal. He was granted leave and passage on a transport two days later.
Not wanting to give them time to argue, Davi did not notify Miri and Xalivar. Xalivar might well get word of it through military channels anyhow. Besides, Davi had asked his commander for passage to Vertullis—something he didn’t want to have to explain just yet.
A week later, he arrived at Lura’s door. Once she overcame her shock at seeing him, she embraced him joyfully. “I’ve been so worried about you. Thank you for the kind e-posts. I cherished every one!”
Davi smiled. “I’m sorry to have caused you any worry.”
“Well, you should know by now that mothers worry. We can’t help it,” she said with a laugh. Thinking of Miri, Davi realized mothers on every planet must be the same and laughed with her.
“How was Plutonis?”
Davi told her about the antelope, the Plutonians, the worker mechanics and life as a pilot. He spoke with great passion, and she seemed enraptured by his story. When he had finished, he apologized. “I know it must not be as exciting for you as I make it sound.”
“Sounds like a fascinating adventure,” Lura said, her face sincere. She patted his arm. “Are you hungry from your journey?”
“I spent most of the time asleep,” Davi said. “But I wouldn’t mind a good home-cooked meal.”
“Didn’t you go to Legallis first?” She asked as if she expected it.
“No. I came to see you.”
She smiled, surprised. “I’m so honored.” Then she moved to the kitchen, opened the cooling unit and began preparing a meal.
“I had something very important I needed to tell you,” Davi said, choosing his words with care.
Seeing the look on his face, Lura stopped what she was doing and their eyes met. “What is it?”
“I know the truth now, mother. I’m sorry if I caused you pain taking so long to accept it.”
Lura smiled bigger than he’d ever seen and rushed to embrace him. “The hardest part was over the day we met. Welcome home, Son!”
He hugged her back as their tears flowed. It felt so natural to be in her arms, as if they’d always known each other.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, an honorable mention on Barnes & Noble’s Best SF Releases of 2011, the collection The North Star Serial, Part 1, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. His second novel, The Returning, is forthcoming from Diminished Media Group in 2012. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog. He resides in Ottawa, KS with two precocious dogs.
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