Post-contact report, Planet 5

  The conclusion of the contact team is that most of society on this planet is not ready for contact. Some of them saw us, decided we were gods and started to drag their slaves to a rock to sacrifice them to us, or thrust their virgin daughters our way. Some of said virgin daughters weren't happy to be rejected either, holding on to us and weeping, because the stubborn attitude of some parents was that if the gods didn't want them, it must mean their daughters hadn't been good and so they didn't want them either. They just wouldn't believe we weren't gods, and were monogamous. The girls who genuinely needed to fear for their lives we did take away, and then after teaching them a bit we played match-maker for them.

  In central Dahel, the emperor (who accepts worship, and enjoys the virgin-daughter bit) gave a long speech saying that he'd personally invited his fellow gods to visit, and that to show they were friends he'd give us his knife and we'd give him a rock-cutter. Our interpreter chain said sorry, no, mistake, we were creatures who worship the one God who made all thing visible and invisible and will judge the living and the dead at the end of time, but added that if he really wanted to swap his sword we'd give him a mer-knife instead.

  He looked at it and asked where the burning light came from, and then we realised that the ceremonial canons were now pointing at us. Sathzakara got a bit cross about that and stuck the Mer knife into one of the canons, and we left rather quickly.

  Tesk and the nearest land area is mostly OK, but there are still pockets of people who want a return to the old ways (human sacrifice included), and a lot of the ships from the Confederation of the Isles indulge in piracy when they don't think anyone's looking except their victim. We are keeping in contact with a few people from Tesk, now that they have a copy of the whole Bible.

  They only have a few chapters of their own scriptures, which talk of creation, their fall, an ethics code, texts condemning the abominations of human sacrifice and slavery, and God making some promises calling us their older siblings who'd be coming with the rest, and not to worship us. We also left them a challenge: we'd only come back if they got rid of slavery, and human sacrifices, have good literacy levels, let all adults have some kind of say on who ought to be in some kind of group of advisory council to whoever was in charge, and stop trying to solve everything with wars. We also set a technology challenge, that they'd have to send a message saying they'd done that to a probe that we'll leave in orbit. We did gave them some clues that ought to take them up to radio. They have to send that message in a coordinated way from all over the planet, so hopefully they get the idea of using radio to talk around the planet too.

  “My prince,” Salay's secretary said, “I humbly apologise this intrusion, there is a barbarian who came with two messages in a hand and with a seal I do not recognise but bearing an appeal to your royal purse. The guards called me, and I paid him, but then he sat down, he cannot speak our tongue, but still he tried. He seemed to be saying that he will be arrested, or maybe that he will wait. Shall I have him arrested or shall I send urgently for an official interpreter?”

  “You have the letters?”

  “Here, highness, as you see, one is very long.”

  “It is. Perhaps the short one gives a clue. I have seen this hand before though.”

  The prince broke the seal and looked for the signature. “Call for an interpreter. When he or she arrives, tell the visitor that I must read these letters first, but I will probably talk to him. The hand that wrote these is is that of Duchess Hayeel.”

  “Shall I also inform your imperial mother that you will be delayed?”

  “Delayed, no, distracted certainly. It seems from the second letter that the man is called Teng, an academician, and the duchess arranged passage for him. She writes that she has received my letter.” He checked the seal, and smiled, “Oh, my secretary, did you not see that the seal on the second letter is not the same as the first? The first letter was written before she received her seal, the second after.”

  “A hundred apologies, my prince, a thousand apologies.”

  “You are forgiven. She writes the second letter assuming I am familiar with all in the first, so it makes little sense, but still, it warms my heart. Kindly tell mother that I shall come, at the appointed time, but I might still be reading this epic. And then please make sure I am on time.”

  “Well, my son, other than lots what does your duchess write?”

  “She writes of how she lives and received so much money for some medicines that she is sure they are illegal, and of treason in Caneth by the only son of the king who had introduced her to the drug dealer, of how she became aware of the treason and how that treason was resolved when the princess-regent was rescued from where she was kidnapped to by crown-prince Hal of the Isles, and of their growing love for one another. She writes about how the princess-regent has befriended her and named Hayeel ambassador even before she got my seal, and how crown-princess Esmetherelda, her sister whose name I can't remember, and my duchess are three of only five who have the gift of Tesk.

  "She writes about how the princess regent personally questioned soldiers of their neighbour Tew, and determined that she had not got such real proof that war with Tew was needed, which she is happy about because her friend the princess of Tew may inherit the throne there.

  “She also writes that the corpse said more than he wrote, that she is the virgin daughter of a slave, but if that means I want her as an empress then she will reject me if I have no faith in her God. Then she writes in a second letter that she's sorry she was so blunt in the first one and how she's hopeful, but I must not go to visit her overland or on one of our river boats, because she expects the princess and the prince will visit Wahleet, and because of the title I gave the corpse she is expected and invited to travel with her.

  She writes about policies and half-formed plans shared openly with her, of the international political changes she is amongst, of haggling for fruit and vegetables. She begs me to warn father against ever going to war against them, and describes the harbour defences as far superior to what is in Wahleet, but that even then prince Hal does not view them as sufficient. And she writes about how the men who train for it are punished by their mothers or wives if they fail to hit the target. She spoke to the ill king, and says she is sure that he has planned the uniting of his kingdom with that of the Isles for years.

  "She also, eventually, in the final paragraph of the first letter, explains the presence of a scholar from Tesk who she writes knows nothing of the prophecy, but thinks the sun will destroy us unless we have help from the aliens, and he hopes to call them, and needs imperial support, and asks that even if I reject her for being so forward and uncompromisingly open with what she's written, I do not reject him.”

  “And what do you think of her now?”

  “I am amazed and astounded, mother. She writes from her heart, and is so unguarded.”

  “And?”

  “I wish to meet her, mother. I wish to meet her and hear her actual voice rather than imagining how she says things as I read her letters. I wish in fact to risk my life on one of these foreign ships that she says never tip over unless they are sinking already, although they look like they should. And if I go to meet her I wish to have father's permission to marry her, so that I may make promises. Except of course, that she says she might be coming here but not when.”

  “She might be coming? Why?”

  “Because her title means that she's ambassador to the monarch or regent is and his or her advisors wherever that is. She's been accepted as such and that apparently has changed into an invitation to follow the princess-regent wherever she goes on state visits. Crown-princess and regent Esmetherelda has expressed a desire to see Wahleet's harbour wall, but first the crown princess and Hayeel travel to Captita, capital of the Isles to meet the family of the crown prince. Apparently Hayeel has been told she'd be derelict in her duties if she didn't go.”

  “And so dutifully she sails windward?”

  “Yes, mother. Dutifully she goes where she believes I have sent her and her friends invite her with open arms. She writes that princess Esmetherelda insists not only first name terms, but a shortened form from Hayeel. But I think I should listen to this brother of a queen who is downstairs.”

  “Brother of a queen?”

  “Academician Teng of Tesk's sister is queen Eslind of Caneth.”

  “And you keep him waiting?”

  “He told the interpreter that he spent almost a week in the jail in Caneth before he spoke to his niece, and she almost threw him back there because of a rule of the academy. Oh! I forgot, he is not allowed to directly approach a ruler, but must first go through a servant. He was worried that since Hayeel had been made a duchess she might not count, and so he asked my secretary to say that he has come because his research shows the sun will become unstable soon, and these aurora that light up the night and day will eventually destroy the air we breathe. He seeks help to call the aliens.”

  “And he thinks he can do that?” she asked.

  “I presume he needs some kind of help.”

  “Probably. Shall we listen to him?”

  “I was planning to.”

  “Your Hayeel begged you to.”

  “Would you like to read what she wrote about him, mother?”

  “Certainly. I'd like to read the whole book, so I can get to know what to expect if you do marry her.”

  “Here is the letter, mother. A third of the way into the final paragraph.”

  Salay waited while his mother read the paragraph, and then, he noticed, read the previous one as well. He didn't comment; that she could choose to do so was implicit in him giving her the precious letter.

  “You have a good ambassador, my son. They do not seek war but they practice for it, and they are good at their practice, and the king of Caneth will take enormous risks to protect his friends. That is important knowledge indeed, especially since what is true of the father is probably true of the daughter too. We will put your Hayeel's judgement to the test, Salay. She says it is important that this academic has your father's support, does she not?”

  “You consider that wise, mother?”

  “How much do you trust your Hayeel? Would she ask for an audience for this man if he could not present clearly, or if he was insulting in his manner?”

  “I believe she would give advice, unasked for,” Salay said, with a smile.

  The weather and the drink he had been given were pleasant, the smells and the sights outside the window were fascinating, and Academician Teng was enjoying his stay in this waiting room. So much so that he didn't notice a sudden flurry of activity behind him.

  The interpreter coughed politely, and whispered “You should bow to his most noble highness, crown prince Salay, academician.”

  Teng turned and saw a young man dressed in white, remembered his lessons from ambassador Hayeel and bowed deeply. He knew not to speak first.

  The prince spoke, and the interpreter did his job, “You have been trained in the correct bow, I notice.”

  “The lady ambassador tried hard to teach me, most noble highness. If I do right it is to her honour, but when I make mistakes they are to my shame.”

  “Do you have all you require to present your request? If not, it must be fetched immediately.”

  “I left nothing on the ship that I require, most noble prince.”

  The prince said something and the interpreter became pale, “His most noble highness has listened to what was said to the secretary, and has read what the lady ambassador wrote. He hopes that you do not betray the trust he shows in the lady ambassador's judgement. We go to straight to the imperial throne.”

  “Does this cause you concern?”

  “Does it not cause you concern? There is no time for me to understand what I must translate!”

  “Can you respectfully ask his most noble highness if the ancient document, 'The Challenge of Tesk' is known? What the aliens asked us to do?”

  “Most noble highness,” The translator said, “he asks about an ancient document describing what the aliens asked us to do, he called it something like 'The Contest of Tesk,' or the 'The Difficulty of Tesk'.”

  “Might he mean 'The Examination given at Tesk'?”

  “Ah, yes, that could be a translation, yes. I do not know of it.”

  “You would not. Tell him that in Dahel stability of society is valued highly, so I hope that he does not suggest we fulfil all the changes the work he refers to ah... suggests. Also tell him the political sides of work he refers to should not be discussed in detail, as the view of society it suggests is not the one we have.”

  That was relayed, nervously, by the interpreter.

  “I understand, highness. I have discussed what is possible and impossible with the Honourable Duchess. My hope is that we can fulfil the technological challenges, then we can send a much more basic message, like 'The sun is in trouble, we don't want to die, can you please help us.' It is not what they asked for, but, perhaps...” he shrugged, and said “They made no promises. only said that they would not come back until and unless we could make the changes. If his imperial majesty and the laws of social change declare it impossible to end slavery, it is impossible, and maybe they will understand our need, maybe they will not come anyway.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “You may tell him that slavery is ending, although it will take time,” Salay said, “But we must go to the throne room. You have been before, imperial interpreter?”

  “To the heart of the empire? Never, most noble prince.”

  “The heart of the empire, and the origin of all change not brought on us by disaster or providence. You must remember, imperial interpreter, you are about to leave the central zone.”

  With that cryptic remark hanging in the air, and Teng left wondering what had been said, prince Salay and his bodyguard led the way towards the most heavily protected part of the Empire. First they entered the courtyard of the children, where the interpreter said that school parties could come if specially honoured. It was also known as the courtyard of the knife, because here the alien had plunged an alien knife into a cannon. Then they passed through the administration buildings to the courtyard of administrators, then a further series of buildings and courtyards as the authority of the workers increased. Teng noticed that each successive door became more ornate, and the guards' uniforms had more armour, and their eyes were more alert. It was clear that there was a hierarchy, and they were going up it. It also looked to Teng, from the way that the guards looked so surprised, that they did not expect to see the crown prince escorting foreign visitors. He didn't feel precisely honoured, but he realised that somehow the letter that he had delivered from Ambassador Hayeel had performed a wonder seldom seen. But the subject matter was most serious, and he was pleased that, for whatever reason, he was getting the chance to explain his results to the most powerful man on the planet after only being in the empire for a few hours. He also realised that this was going to be his only chance. They entered another courtyard, and Teng expected to hear the interpreter name it, but he did not.

  “This courtyard has no name?” Teng asked.

  “I do not know it, I am three courtyards closer to the throne-room than ever before.”

  “The courtyard of viziers,” one the guards provided. “Beyond which is the heart of the empire.” They passed yet another set of guards, and entered another outside space. The heart of the empire was protected by a wall of white marble, polished to almost mirror finish. The space between the wall they'd just passed this one was not a rectangle, as all previous ones had been, but there while the outer wall was rectangular, the inner wall was a series of straight sides. The angles were not right for a hexagon, Teng, thought. It seemed that the heart of the empire was an octagon. and there was no gateway straight ahead as there had been so far.

  They turned left, but on the right Teng noticed that a group of soldiers was washing the wall.

  “The soldiers are on punishment duty?” He asked, and the interpreter asked the guard.

  “No, they are volunteers. They perform a noble task and take pride in their work. Also there is a reward each month for the cleanest section,” the guard replied.

  “There are no slaves within the palace.” The prince added. “So all cleaning work is done by civil servants or soldiers. All are volunteers; attitude towards menial tasks counts towards promotion when candidates are otherwise almost identically qualified. Some candidates for the civil service ask for respectable or honourable jobs, and think they do better thereby, but the candidate who places limits on their role places limits on their promotion. I think you placed few limits on your application, imperial interpreter, am I right?”

  After interpreting, the interpreter replied, “I asked that I not be assigned far from my ageing mother, as I was her only living child.”

  “See? An honourable request that does not preclude promotion. But you spoke in past tense?”

  “She died a month ago, highness.”

  “My condolences. Did you ever meet the Lady Ambassador Duchess Hayeel, who before then was language teacher?”

  “I had the honour to study with her one term, highness. I did not know she was a duchess!”

  “Nor was she at that time. Her grandmother had been stripped of nobility and no one had thought it important enough to bother the emperor with when the miscarriage of justice was discovered after her death. Policy on such things has changed, it is not necessary any more that a request for rectification be made for family members of the deceased to receive it. But such a request can still be made, if the family know it has been determined as a miscarriage.”

  “May I ask, highness, is there a way to know if a case has been determined to be a miscarriage of justice?”

  “It is possible to ask at the ministry for internal affairs to see the list toof unrectified miscarriages of justice. A lawyer could review the case and the evidence presented and evidence not presented, and then charge even more for asking the ministry if they have performed their jobs adequately. Sometimes that is successful, but I hear that mostly it is a good way to make the lawyer richer and the client poor, and that in most cases when it is successful, there was already an investigation in progress at the ministry. You could ask at the ministry about lawyers who have made that kind of request, and how many cases they have been successful in. Anyone can also approach the ministry as a humble petitioner, and ask if there is any doubt about a particular case, you may also say why you believe it may not be reliable.”

  “Thank you, highness.”

  “As you can see, we are no longer in the central zone, we go in here.” Salay said. It was a small, ordinary-looking doorway. Teng had guessed it might be some kind of tool store, or servant's entrance. Beyond the door, they passed through a short passage, much like a back alley in a provincial town. At the other end of the passage Teng saw that they had come between some houses; ordinary looking houses. In the middle there was a park, with a central fountain, and an area of grass and an orchard in the distance.

  There was a herd of sheep grazing on the grass, kept away from some flower beds by low fences. To one side of the fountain, there was a summerhouse, equipped with some lightweight chairs and and ordinary looking desk, with a pile of papers on it. Beyond the fountain, Teng could see a long low building of undefined purpose. It looked like the roof was partly collapsed.

  The prince noted his gaze and puzzled expression and said, “That building is where the old emperors, who thought themselves gods, played with the lives of men and women. A place of evil that nature reclaims and purifies. The fountain is where the old throne-room was, at the exact centre of the palace. A stupid idea when a cannon could shoot over the walls at such an easily determined target. Today the throne-room is in the summer house. Tomorrow it will probably not be. My imperial father will join us when he is ready.”

  “I had expected... more grandeur, highness.” Teng said.

  “You think of the central zone, where authority needs to be shown externally. We are not in the central zone now.”

  “Salay! Grandma's room!” a young woman's voice rang across the park.

  “Ah. You are honoured, academician.” Salay said, “It looks like the entire imperial family will listen to your presentation.”

  “I think the honour does not go to me, but to whatever has been written in the letter I delivered, and the noble duchess who wrote it.”

  “Not to mention a prophecy you fulfil,” Salay said.

  “Ambassador Hayeel asked me about some prophecy, but I know nothing about it.” the interpreter said “And then, I am sorry highness, he then continues 'I concentrate my studies upon the observable and mathematical certainties, not on vague and imprecise mutterings that might fit anyone or any situation.'”

  “You are not responsible for his lack of faith. He has already claimed fault for himself. Tell him: 'Then present the results of your mathematical certainties, academician. For we are here.'”

  The crown-prince led Teng into a well-lit drawing room with paintings and texts on the wall. In place of honour sat an elderly woman, beside her a mature couple who Teng assumed were the emperor and the empress, and a woman possibly a couple of years younger than prince Salay. Salay sat beside the woman, on the last chair. All were wearing plain white, like the crown prince, except that the elderly woman wore a black hat and a black shawl around her shoulders.

  She also had a walking stick which she poked towards him “You look like a boring scientist,” she accused, her voice was cracked and accented, but entirely understandable. Teng bowed very low, and replied “I am a scientist, most noble and respected lady.”

  The interpreter replaced 'lady' with 'Empress-mother,' and the Empress-mother gave a crackling laugh, “Good lad. Smooth the ignorant foreigner's mistakes.”

  “What did you say to him, mother?” the emperor asked.

  “I accused him of being a boring scientist. He said he was a scientist, so I guess he doesn't think he's boring.”

  “Do you wish to put him at his ease more, grandma?” princess Naneela asked with a straight face.

  “Let us see how boring you really are. Start!” the Empress-mother said.

  “The most noble Empress-mother commands you to start, academician Teng.” the interpreter said.

  “And show us how boring you are or aren't,” she added, clearly enjoying herself.

  Not very sure how to start, Teng bowed again. “I am academician Teng of the academy of Tesk. For the last twenty years I have been studying a cloud of dust that has been approaching our solar system.”

  The interpreter, hoping that the Empress-mother would not interrupt, interpreted with the proper honorifics. Teng continued, leaving gaps for the interpreter. “I now lead a team of twenty astronomers, and we have studied it in detail. The dust cloud has been dimming the light of more and more stars as it comes closer, which is why the stars towards the crown are not as bright as they used to be. Their brightness varies as we circle the sun and we have carefully measured how much cloud darkens each star, each night of the year.

  Like any cloud of dust, it does not have a hard outer edge but it does have a centre, and in our studies we have been trying to identify how large the centre of the cloud is and how far away the centre would pass us. We have done many measurements of how quickly the stars in that direction are dimming, and a lot of calculations. I do not want to bore you with all the details, most honourable Empress-mother, most honourable Emperor and Empress. The cloud will not miss the sun, indeed the gravity of the sun is pulling it in, concentrating it. The aurora that we see during the night and now during the day are the start of the cloud reaching the sun, just the very edges of it.

  "Within thirty years my studies show the centre of the cloud will reach the sun. When that happens, the sun will become unstable, our air will be blown away like a flame from a candle, and the planet burned.

  "We are certain that that much dust hitting the sun would destroy all life on this planet very quickly. But that is not the only problem. There is some uncertainty, but our current understanding says that within just fifteen years this planet of ours will hardly have any air left. There are different mechanisms possible, but it is a little like the tail from a comet; the air we breathe will have been be blown away into space.

  "As I say, there is some uncertainty. It might be twelve or eighteen, but that is the time for hardly any air left. There will be a time, perhaps in five or six years time, when the barometers start to show changes: nothing noticable to people, but maybe measurable. Then it will speed up.

  "I do not know what it will do to the weather, but it will not be good. I do not know when the people will start to panic. I do not know if or when lights in the sky will be so bright that they feel as hot as the sun. I have not investigated these things, it does not really matter.

  "Some of my colleagues have lost hope, and have killed themselves. Others spend all night every night repeating our observations, hoping against hope that there is some mistake. That we did last year and the year before, before we realised that we did not have the thirty years before the centre arrived, but less, far less, even. As soon as we realised that, I left Tesk to find help.

  "The academy has strict rules, and would not change them, even for a thing like this, they do not listen to our analysis, only to their rules. They make no exceptions, for fear that people will lie to break the rules. As I am head of department, only I can leave to present the results of our research to governments, that is why it is only me here. Only me visiting every government that I can. I believe we must call for the aliens to help us.

  "I am convinced they are our only hope. I humbly believe that we have to do the Challenge of Tesk, at least enough of it to beg for help. I do not believe that the aliens are gods, able perform miracles. It will be a big project for them too, surely. I do not know how powerful they are, but, to stop a cloud that weighs more than our planet....

  "It may that it is too big a challenge, and late for them to help us already. But every year it takes is a year less for them to help, and we do not have many. I beg you to support this project, imperial majesty.”

  “This man gives no respect to prophesies,” Salay said, “but fulfils them admirably.”

  “Just like the prophetess said,” the empress-mother said “The learned will call and the faithful will pray, and the King of kings and Lord of Lords will send help from the skies to the earthly rulers over kings, and so the sun shall not destroy. No, don't try to interpret that, I'll tell him.” Switching language she said ”Learned man, the grandmother of my husband, empress-mother when I first set foot here, who taught me to speak this barbarian language, gave a prophecy, one bit of it goes 'the learned will call and the faithful will pray, and the King of kings and Lord of Lords will send help from the skies to the earthly rulers over kings, and so the sun will not destroy.'” She switched back to her mother tongue. “Most of it is about the bold young woman my grandson is looking forwards to marrying, who sent you here. So tell me about catching things in empty glass tubes.”

  “Mother,” the Salay's father said, “you can quiz him later. Assume we know the.examination of Tesk. Tell us about your plans for the timing.”

  “There is a lunar eclipse in four years. That might work, as long as it can be seen, and it is not raining like it was two months ago, and if only it was sooner. It is not reliable enough. Caneth has towers that send signals, it might be possible, if enough of these were set up, to send the timing signals from one side of the land to another, to work out how long it takes for a message to get from one end of the network to the other, and so make estimates. It might work, economists say it would change trade: traders could send messengers to their friends so they could know that there was enough cloth here but not enough beans, or whatever, rather than guessing. It would help militarily, it would help ambassadors send messages quickly. That is one option. Another option is to join these sending towers with wires.

  It means even more building, because the wires must be held off the ground, high enough that carts do not damage them. Lines of posts, crossing the continent. It is more fragile, but if it could be built, then rather than the problems of a person seeing a moving flag and moving his own flags in reply, there could be mechanisms to send the message on automatically. The delay would be perhaps a tenth of a second at each tower, or less, and much more repeatable. And if the wires all work, then instead of a tower, it could just be a small building. These things, work could start on them today. They are known technologies. But there is a third option. I do not know if it is more ambitious or less ambitious. We know that we must send a message to the alien device by the thing they called radio. Some scientists on Tesk are experimenting with that. They have a device they call a sender, and thinking that maybe I would be coming here, they gave me a listener to try at different distances from Tesk.

  I expected that once the signal had faded there would be nothing, but they said keep listening, we have an idea it might bounce from the aurorae. So I kept listening. I do not understand how it works, but.... certainly sometimes the listener can hear the sender, and other times it cannot, both in terms of time and distance. It seems that time of day matters as well. Certainly it is better than the towers — the listener could hear the sender a hundred miles away. So one tenth of the towers could be

  built. But such towers do not work to the Isles, this reflection thing seems to work better, but the distances are not the same as the numbers they gave me from the aurorae. The sender is big and complicated and fragile. They would like to have another decade to perfect it, and it is not the same as the sender they need for the probe. They have become side-tracked, in other words. There are not many who work on it.”

  “You have your listener here?” Salay asked.

  “It is in the ship, highness.”

  “The imperial scientists have been looking at the examination as well,” the emperor said. “They are not so distractable. But, perhaps, with some experiments, they could make a sender that your listener can hear, and of course our own listener, and then...”

  “Communication!” Salay said, “Communication could be established with Tesk! It seems impossible!”

  “And perhaps also with Caneth, my son?” His mother suggested.

  “And the Isles,” Salay mused, ignoring that reference. “And when the rulers of the world can discuss everything, then the final kingdom does not sound so much like fantasy.”

  “It will bring social change,” the king mused.

  “So will the sun destroying the air, father,” princess Naneela pointed out.

  “Might the social change laws be unthinking laws and traditions of desolation?”

  “That can apply to many things, Naneela,” Salay said. “Isn't the way that internal affairs have been ignoring restitution of miscarriages of justice a tradition of desolation? Repink looked pretty desolate.”

  “You're sure that's not just because you were trying to imagine what it would be like with its lawful duchess there?” Naneela asked.

  “No, because I don't want it's current lawful duchess there.”

  “You want her to stay where she is?” she asked confused.

  “I think your brother wants her here, Naneela,” her mother corrected, looking up from the document she'd been writing. “Preferably wearing her wedding gown.”

  “Enough.” the emperor said. “Naneela, I assume you would like to go to the research centre?”

  “Certainly, father,” Naneela said.

  The empress handed the emperor the paper she'd written. He read it and as he affixed his seal he smiled his thanks to her. As ever, she'd interpreted his thoughts admirably. “Academician Teng, you will take your listener to the research centre. The interpreter will accompany you, and show this document to the guards at the gate to the central district. They will assign you guards to ease your passage. You may leave now, the bodyguard will escort you to the central district. Salay, you have a request to make?”

  “I do, honourable father. I request your permission to marry the noble virgin daughter of a slave, who has the gift of Tesk, duchess Hayeel.”

  “She's got the gift already?” Naneela asked.

  “Will you allow your sister to read to us what she has written?” the empress asked.

  “Yes, mother.”