The Sarran Senator (10 page)

“We’ll have to have everyone over to eat for
your name day. We better get busy and hire the chefs. Name days are
a big deal on Sarran. Let’s go to the Village Tavern and get our
midtine meal.”

“Sounds good. Tell me about name days.”

“The day you’re born your birth Triad gives
you a name. So your birthday is your name day and that calls for a
celebration. We are all so starved for celebration. Until the
Earthen fems came, life was not kind to the Sarrans. It made Bron
and Zaron’s job much harder. Now we want to celebrate everything.”
They arrived just as the tavern opened. The owner, Zag, greeted
Tarin.

“What will it be this rising, Tarin? I hear
it’s Commander Duke Tarin, now.”

Tarin smiled. “At your service. Is Manko in
the kitchen?”

“Yes, we have fresh borad, Commander.”

“Tarin will do. We’ll have borad steaks,
fried monc, and a red leaf salad with linset nut, red fruit, and
sliced vallions, with a lagger, please. This is my bonded,
Commander Duke Samuel Johnson, EarthClan.”

“So, now we have two Earthen males on
Sarran.”

Tarin looked at Zag askance.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Zag continued, “I’m not
complaining, rather the opposite. Our Maude came from Earth and she
likes helping to serve here. It’s wonderful that she takes an
interest in our enterprise. And Maude is pregnant with our first
bebe. Welcome Samuel, and thank you for allowing use to woo your
Earthen fem. From what I see from the holos, you will be worthy
allies.” Zag went away with his pad.

“What did we order?”

“Tarin laughed. All Sarran food…monc you’ve
had, it’s like your potatoes with more nutrition. The borad steaks
are like large pork chops, they’ll fry them in solid cha, our form
of butter, and give us a side of what you would call onions and
mushrooms. The salad is self-explanatory and lagger is what you
call ale. Now, we sit, wait for our midtine meal, and discuss the
celebration.”

“Is it really necessary?”

“Yes, it has the dual purpose of celebrating
your life and bringing our friends together in our new home. It
will establish a feeling of family for Sara and Michael.”

“I guess I can see that,” Sam said
reluctantly. Birthdays weren’t his thing.

“We’ll have Syn’s Triad, Anya’s Triad, Sara
and her Warriors, Michael, Naffie, and the cats. I’ll have to
fabricate tuna for Tigger. According to Jonal and Tonas, he loves
the stuff. And after a rough start, Tonas and Tigger have come to a
truce because they both love Anya and neither one of them could
bear being parted from her.” Tarin chuckled.

“Jonal told me Tonas will grumble about the
cat hair,” Sam laughed, “but he volunteered to brush him. It
probably has something to do with the fact that Tigger saved Anya
and Tonas’ lives on the Brightstar’s first trip back.”

::How is the planetary web coming
along?::
Sam was curious and a bit nervous that the Sarrans
didn’t have a Star Wars system.

::It’s almost finished. The shield will not
only warn of a breach, but it is designed to prevent one unless
someone on planet allows access. It’s top secret. We don’t know if
we have any spies left in our midst. We intend to put it up the
dawntine of the mixing.::

“If I were a Zyptz general, the mixing, if I
knew about it, would be a perfect time to strike. All the Warriors
and all the fems will be in the same place at the same time,” Sam
speculated.

“We have to do this grand mixing, but we need
to make sure we’re protected. We’re testing it now. I hate that we
need this space net,” Tarin said in disgust.

“Most good Warriors hate war and try to fight
it well so there aren’t any more wars to fight with the same enemy.
You bought us thirty years. It’s up to the Sarrans and Earth to use
the time wisely.”

“Our ancestors have been fighting the Zyptz
for ten thousand years and the archives say that the first ones
fought them too. Next time we have to beat them back for good.”
Tarin was adamant. “I can’t lose you the way I lost Nezier. You’ll
be called upon to lead a fighting contingent on board one of the
ships of the fleet.”

“Who are the first ones? I’m unfamiliar with
this particular legend.” Sam’s curiosity showed on his face.

“It’s not a legend, my fox. Why do you think
that with a minor adjustment, the Earthen can breed with Sarrans?
Once the Sarran’s DNA exactly matched yours and then we fooled with
genetics. The Clan Wars followed and the Goddess determined that
Warriors would have to love one another first and share our fem. It
used to be that one had to come from FireClan and one from
LightClan, now, since the clan derives from the mother, we will all
be united under the clan of Earth which is why the council is
finally releasing the properties of WaterClan and AirClan to the
deserving.”

“Are the inhabitants of other planets in the
galaxy also humanoid?” Sam asked pondering this.

“The first ones went to space and found no
intelligent life. They seeded all planets capable of supporting
humanoid life. As they achieved certain levels of technology, most
of them chose to drastically alter their genetics for purposes
other than to cure disease. Mating with them would have lost Sarran
the recessive genes for psy power. We paid a very high price for
fooling with our DNA to inherit that gene. The result was the
lowering of the fem birthrate and the ClanWars. Now we mate in
Triad. There are other planets besides Earth that have humanoid
inhabitants, but they are not ready for first contact because they
are barely out of their caves. Strictly, under Federation Rules,
Earth was on the proscribed list because you had not achieved world
government, but an exception was made because of the urgency of the
Sarran’s plight. I think that the first ones deliberately seeded
your planet in the backwater of the galaxy so it would be there
when we needed it to fight the Zyptz,” Tarin speculated.

“Why would the first ones think that on Earth
we’d be such determined Warriors?”

“Experience, the first ones had seeded
planets for generations. Your geography and topography make the
planet trend toward nation states. Sarran is a single land mass
with a few coastal islands and marshes. The ocean surrounds the
only continent. Our people developed early and cooperated early
because they lived close and resources were distributed evenly
among the Clans. On Earth, that was not the case. Our histories
tell of first ones stranded on primitive worlds after their fight
against the Zyptz. I think that the worlds on which they settled
developed in a more constructive manner than the others did. They
had guidance. The Earth had none.”

Zag served the meal and Tarin cut into his
borad. “Nicely done,” he told Zag as he chewed a piece of the juicy
meat.

“The geography of Earth dictated difficult
trade routes. We all fell into a tribal psychology of constant
competition, instead of embracing our common humanity. Physical
barriers, like impenetrable mountains and large oceans, led to the
rise of different languages when humanity was first born. I did a
study of it at West Point.” Sam bit into his borad. “This is better
than a pork chop.”

“That’s because it’s not factory farmed. The
borad fem provide us with dairy and the bull with meat. They are
what you would call free range. Our shepherds gather the fem up to
tap for cha, but they run over the fields as they will. They belong
to no one. Getting back to politics…on Earth, weren’t there any
visionaries who saw what a united world could bring?”

“There were, but by the time they came, it
had to be done by military conquest. Several times the ancients,
Roman Caesars, Alexander the Great, even Genghis Khan almost united
the known world, but they did it with savagery, or didn’t govern
after the conquest, so the tribes rebelled and the unity never
lasted long. And that was the known world in Europe, Africa, and
Asia. There were three other continents the Europeans didn’t know
about until just over five hundred years ago. There wasn’t a
scintilla of hope that Earth would unite until we saw what the
Zyptz could do.” Sam grimaced.

“On Earth you created a Warrior Class similar
to ours, only your Warriors aren’t united. They have twenty years
to start working in tandem because the Zyptz will be back in thirty
and we need to be ready or we’ll have to commit genocide by using
Earthen DDT and the idea of genocide despite what the Zyptz have
done to us is repugnant to Sarrans.” Tarin finished his lagger.

“We have both been long-winded. Let’s
teleport over to the Duchy. I think it might be a good idea to use
some fabricated items so we can move in quickly and then gradually
replace them with made,” Sam suggested.

“I agree. Although we now have Soarer’s Nest,
the council is going to want it back in the housing inventory to
give to a deserving WarriorPair and their fem. It could be adapted
to accommodate a fem. It’s as big as the gatehouse,” Tarin noted.
“We also have to join the credit accounts. We can do the
administrative work next rising. This rising we need to see what
needs to be done at Falling Waters and hire chefs and prepare for
the party.” They finished their meal and Tarin produced his comm
unit for the tavern owner to deduct the credits.

“I’ll split it with you,” Sam suggested.

“Not necessary, as of next rising our
accounts will be mixed, so it makes no difference who pays this
rising. Besides the meal for both of us was only one-quarter
credit.”

Sam’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “But
the coffee was a half-credit each.”

“Remember what I said about import items.
Everything we import has to be brought in by the fleet because they
are no private light slips on Sarran. All space faring vessels are
in the defense fleet. Even though we fabricate most of the ship, we
need experienced crew. Sarran and the galaxy are better served with
the Sarran on patrol than with Sarran off on trade missions. Space
in the cargo hold is at a premium, so the import items come at
cost. We visit trade worlds infrequently, mostly to discuss
strategy for the Zyptz War. Earth is an exception because of the
fems and the possibility of an alliance with true Warriors. The
other worlds are not militarily inclined.”

Sam was confused. “The cargo holds had enough
room for all the things the fems brought from Earth.”

“That was because the Warriors chose to forgo
bringing their personal items on the ships so the fems would have
room for their household goods. The Warriors live on the ships.
They have household goods. They left room for the coffee,
chocolate, and the cats and squeezed in Sara and Syn’s grocery list
by using stasis,” Tarin said.

“How do you know all of this?” Sam asked.

“I work at Bron’s lab. We talk. I’m trying
not to sound vain, but outside of Bron, I’m the best engineer on
the planet.” Tarin shifted to mind voice.
::That’s why Bron and
I worked together on the Sky Shield.::

“I bonded with a luminary,” Sam chuckled.

::You were no slouch in your chosen
endeavors. In the military you reached one of the highest ranks in
your nation state::
Tarin’s mind voice filled Sam with warmth
and pride
.

::I could have gone further, but I wasn’t
effecting the change I wished; so I decided to go into politics. I
ran for the Senate and won partly because of name recognition from
my exploits in the wars, certainly not on political expertise. As a
matter of fact, everyone thought I was going to lose.::
Sam’s
mind voice conveyed satisfaction that had Tarin grinning.

::Why did you leave? You could have
effected more change as the leader of the most powerful nation
state on the planet,::
Tarin asked.

::In the United States, change is not
easy. You have to deal with a fractious Senate, a grid-locked house
whose parties can’t agree among themselves much less with each
other. You go into office with hope but you don’t get done much, or
sometimes any, of what needs to be done. You need to be a real
prick to move things along at anything other than a glacial
pace.::
Sam sighed.

::I don’t understand. If that is the case,
why did you want the job at all?::

::Because I had enough of an ego that I
thought I could move things along in the direction I believed they
should be going. Things changed. The plague hit and the Sarrans
came. Sara needed me. Anyway, Morgan is truly better suited to
uniting the Earth than I would have been and he has the advantage
of not having to answer to the electorate or his own
conscience.::
Then he spoke aloud.

“What a good meal. The only thing it lacked
was coffee,” Sam teased.

“We’re going to have to invest some of our
credits in imports to pay for your coffee habit,” Tarin said as he
turned the tables on Sam.

“You wait; you haven’t had hot chocolate yet.
Then you’ll be clamoring for the import items too.”

“Speaking of import items, we need to stop at
the cobbler for your boots. Most of the officers of the fleet have
Nathrian leather boots. That can be your name day present. We also
need to see the tailor for flightsuits and formal trews. For
everyday use, fabricated flight suits are fine, but for going out
informally, you need a few flight suits that are made, to be well
dressed. And all officers of the fleet have made trews for formal
occasions.” Tarin pulled out his chair.

“Let’s get going them. Time’s wasting. Where
do we go to get a chef?” Sam stood, ready to leave.

“We’ll stop at Bron’s on the way and ask for
a recommendation. I lived very simply, but that can no longer be
the case.” Tarin switched to mind voice,
::We’re going to have
to entertain and be entertained. Once we bond with our fem, with
your expertise on Earthen affairs and my participation in the Sky
Shield project, we’re headed for council. That’s another reason
they gave us the Duchy and Falling Waters.::