SciFi and Fantasy Stories: Hearts of Stone pt 3

Riana paced in his cell, eight paces one way and eight back. It wasn't much of one. It could be better described as one of several holding rooms for prisoners awaiting trial. Its only amenities were a couch long enough to catch some sleep if one desired and a rather basic-looking toilet behind a divider.

The Grebsas who passed his cell every so often seemed content to ignore him. The Enforcer who had put him in here had rather gleefully described to him if he tried to escape. He couldn't go out the window without receiving a potentially lethal electric shock. If he tried to pick the code on the lock, the computer would record it and pump knockout gas into the room. He would wake up with a killer headache. The prison medical ward could handle most health-related emergencies among the prisoners, but didn't stock aspirin. He wished the Enforcer hadn't sounded quite so cheerful about it.

Finally, a Grebsa opened the door. Riana raised his hands to about waist level and the Enforcer put handcuffs on him.

"Come with me," he said in a growling bass voice.

Considering what Riana's own niece had done to him, it wasn't a good idea to ignore a Grebsa's command. As he left the cell, he noted the golden weaving on the Enforcer's collar.

"You're a lieutenant."

"Yes. Did you expect a Grebsa of higher rank to be running errands for the Golden Guard?"

Riana shut up. He would only dig a deeper hole for himself if he sounded like he was making an issue out of an Enforcer's rank. The lieutenant watched him out of his peripheral vision. He could easily turn on Riana if provoked into it.

The Enforcer led Riana to the courtroom and made him sit in the box meant for defendants. Riana got a good opportunity to look around as he waited. The "balance and sword" symbol of the Golden Guard hung behind the judge's box. A bench stood beside and behind the box. Presumably, it was for favored observers, maybe even for Veroshi.

Several Grebsas filed through a side door. Some of them were Amazons and Defenders, representing the oldest and most human-like Factions. They were dressed in simply adorned deerskins and carried staffs. Rumor had it that they could use those staffs to devastating effect in a crisis.

Two Guardians came in, growling playfully at each other. They wore the protective armor of their Faction, the backs of which were shaped like stylized saddles. They could carry Veroshi at need. Riana tried not to scowl at them. It wasn't their fault they were the direct slaves of the Veroshi. They settled into positions close to the judge's box.

A half-wing of Enforcers flew in and circled one lap around the courtroom before landing. Riana had heard about this from a few of his followers who had done time in the labor camps. It was a way of signalling that the prisoner was a result of a swift victory and they expected an equally swift conviction. They looked as savage as they had on the day they had "rescued" Tera. The deadly gleam in their eyes indicated that they hoped the prisoner would make trouble. They wanted an excuse to make an example of him.

Finally, a heavy-looking set of golden double-doors swung outward and two Veroshi paced in, singing a hymn in flawless Standard. A member of the Golden Guard followed about five paces behind them.

"All hail Captain Opala of the Golden Guard and her Special Ones, Yarra and Srain!" the Guardians boomed together.

Opala let her two young attendants work golden glittering powder into her fur while they sang a playful hymn in round. It wasn't strictly necessary, of course. She could handle her job just as well without glittering. However, like with so many "unnecessary" things, the twins liked to make her look impressive for the court.

She spent the time mentally going over the cases for the day. The leaders of the Rianan cult were up first. Whatever had possessed them to kidnap Tera was beyond her. At least one of them had shown a bit of sanity and tried to help the Enforcers, though. There was that.

Even crazier was the idea that the Grebsas were the Veroshi's slaves. Somehow, it never occurred to humans that the Lords of Sol System had some sense of decency. They treated the sweethearts more like favored friends than anything. What else could they do, when just getting pregnant without permission could make a Veroshi sick with guilt?

It would kill her mood fast to continue that line of thought. She didn't want her attendants to think they were making her unhappy. That was the worst thing she could do to them, besides not doing her part to protect them.

The attendants helped Opala into her ceremonial armor. It was more showy than functional. The helmet only covered the top half of her face. The collar was a complex affair that wrapped around her neck and upper chest with holes for her arms and wings. She hated the last piece, an uncomfortable thing that wrapped around her hips and held her tail up. This was the third one she had tried and no amount of adjusting could stop it from pinching her tail.

The attendants walked in front of her on the way to the courtroom, singing one of the few hymns they had bothered to translate into Standard. In past lives, when Opala was still a relatively "young" Grebsa, this might have embarrassed her. Now, if they wanted a little ceremony, she could indulge them and ignore anyone who requested that they not flaunt the fact that the Veroshi worshipped them. It wasn't hurting anybody and it made the Veroshi happy.

She tossed her head, dismissing the train of thought and scattering a little of the golden glitter, as they approached the double-door entrance to the courtroom. Stars, she would drive herself to distraction that way!

A pair of Amazon lieutenants swung the doors open. The Amazons looked human enough, a throwback to the days when it would have been impossible to tell the difference between Grebsa and human without access to the Grebsa Network. Opala dipped her head to them respectfully. They all served the same cause.

She took the familiar courtroom in at a glance. The defendant sat off to one side, shackled and guarded by two Enforcers.

"All hail Captain Opala of the Golden Guard and her Special Ones, Yarra and Srain!" thundered the two Guardians.

The Grebsas in the room came to attention. One of Riana's guards cuffed him lightly and growled in his ear. He stood up. He looked a fair sight better than the images that the Shadow assigned to his cult had sent to her. The Enforcers had followed the procedures involving basic hygiene for prisoners, then.

*Nicely done. I wasn't sure he would clean up so well,* she complimented the lieutenants.

*I do not think he enjoyed it,* one of them replied.

She curled her tail as she settled on her bench. The Veroshi took their places on the bench behind her. At a nod from Opala, those in the room resumed their seats. The Defender handling the prosecution read the list of charges.

"Joseph Riana is charged with conspiracy against the Veroshi, attempted coercion of the Veroshi, kidnapping a Commander of the Guardians of the Veroshi, plotting treason against the Solar Empire, and slander against the Veroshi."

Opala thanked the Defender. The penalties for any action against the Veroshi automatically doubled. If she found Riana guilty, he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

"How does the defendent plead?"

Riana leaped out of his seat. He would have leaped clean out of the box if he could have managed it. The Enforcers forced him back into his seat. He fought them for a few seconds, and then he relaxed.

"Hey, I don't want to fight you. You're the Veroshi's slaves and you don't need me making things worse for you. I did all those things you said because I want to free you."

The Enforcers and Guardians gathered in the courtroom roared their rage. The Amazons and Defenders banged the floor rhythmically with the staffs that were their traditional weapons. Opala let them vent their anger. The Veroshi behind her whimpered in terror, but would stay in place as long as she remained calm. After about two minutes, the Grebsas in the room subsided.

"What did I say?" asked Riana.

"You insulted every Veroshi and Grebsa everywhere. We Grebsas would not tolerate being slaves and the Veroshi have never enslaved us. I would not expect you to understand the ties that bind us, human, because you cannot understand the innocence of a Veroshi or the honor of a Grebsa. Do not offend us again."

He gulped. He was in a room full of angry Grebsa warriors and that was enough to intimidate anybody. Opala nodded to the prosecution to proceed.

The room suddenly heaved. Opala was thrown against the side of her stand. She recovered quickly, but the shaking made it hard to keep her feet. The Veroshi behind her screamed in fright. She leaped about five feet straight in the air and landed with her arms and legs on the stand. Then, she saw the large, metallic "balance-and-sword" symbol of the Golden Guard fall from where it hanged. It was aimed directly against the Veroshi who were paralyzed with terror. Opala leaped to intercept the twins and knocked them out of the way. The symbol landed on her, smashing her to the ground. She heard the sickening crunch of her own bones and screamed in pain.

*Someone, anyone, please protect my Special Ones,* she broadcast to anyone who could hear. Then, she felt the dizzy disorientation that meant she was reincarnating.

Riana's chair fell over backwards when the quake hit. He yelled, more in surprise than pain. The Moon never had quakes. Well, almost never, and they never got this strong. With the lack of plate tectonic activity, people simply didn't expect it.

The yelping Grebsas wouldn't lift a claw to help him, either. They were too busy trying to keep their balance. He pulled himself to his feet. He wanted to prove that if he was going to die today, he could die with dignity. The Grebsas might not be impressed, but it would make him feel better.

He saw the symbol of the Golden Guard begin to fall on the Veroshi. Opala bravely leaped to shove them out of the way and the symbol fell on her. She screamed in mortal pain. Two Guardians leaped toward the whimpering Veroshi.

"Good," he muttered.

This was their opportunity to kill two of their oppressors. However, for some strange reason, they did not. Instead, they crouched to let the Veroshi climb onto their backs. One of the Veroshi reached out to Opala's broken body and said something in her own language in a shaking voice. The Grebsa answered confidently in the same language. Then, the Veroshi climbed onto their backs.

The Guardians proceeded into the passageway that the fallen symbol had revealed without even once glancing at Opala. Riana lifted his eyebrows. Either they didn't care, or they knew their fallen sister was beyond help. In any case, keeping the Veroshi safe was more important.

While the Enforcers were still distracted, he ran for the passageway. He knew perfectly well that he didn't stand a chance if they caught him. When they caught him, he corrected himself. The Veroshi could ignore people who were just harmless pains in the neck. They would drive the Grebsas after anyone who threatened them directly and might even reward one of their slaves who brought him to them. Things might be different if he could capture one of those two Veroshi and use that one as a hostage.

The passage promptly branched off into three separate ones. He hesitated, knowing he had only seconds before the Grebsas sounded the pursuit but not wanting to make the wrong choice. Then, he heard one of the Guardians saying something in the Veroshi's language and he ran down the right passageway.

The howls of fifty angry Grebsas hit his ears all at once. He ran faster, aided by a surge of andrenaline and thanking the stars that he had mandated regular workouts in the gym. He quickly ran into more branch-offs and ran down first one, then another without even pausing to get his bearings. He hit a grate and cursed wildly. The hunting Grebsas were close behind.

If he hadn't been panicking, he might have admired the Grebsas' cleverness. The Guardians knew the way to safety, but a hunted human would inevitably get lost.

He banged twice on the grating and it swung away to hang by one screw. A rough pair of hands promptly came down and hauled him out of the tunnel. He struggled.

"Stop it unless you want me to drop you," snarled a human voice.

He looked up. "Tiffany! However did you escape?"

She stared at him and let out a sizzling curse. "They never arrested me. I don't have time to go into details."

She looked up and did an imitation of a satellite dish. Then, she returned her steady gaze to Riana.

"The Enforcers know you're here. It would be more merciful if I let you fall."

Riana missed the obvious. "Don't. Please. We can work together."

She pulled him up on the roof. "All right. Maybe the Enforcers won't rough you up too badly."

Riana realized they were on top of the courthouse. Perhaps he should have wondered how Tiffany had gotten up here. He simply spotted the nearby glider and assumed she had flown in. Later, he would realize how idiotic that was.

"I don't intend to get caught. The Grebsas don't even think they're slaves. At least, the Golden Guard denies it." Riana ran toward the glider. "I'll come back for you, Tiffany, I promise!"

Tiffany ran behind him. "Stop, you idiot! The Enforcers will catch you before you get out of the Sector."

He slung himself into the seat and started the engine. Some small, rational part of him shrilled that Tiffany was correct. No matter what happened, he wouldn't get far. However, he threw all caution into the wind and steered the glider off the roof. If he did go out, at least he would have the satisfaction of knowing that the Veroshi couldn't have everything their own way.

Lizzy poked around on the desktop, feeling rather disconsolate. It was becoming clear that Stacen didn't care about her or even remember her very well. What he did remember seemed to be distasteful for him. She didn't think she had been that bad of a little sister. Was I? A few pranks, maybe, but they were harmless. How was I supposed to know I was the kid sister of an Honor Line of the Grebsa Network?

She typed "Stacen family videos" into the search engine for the fun of it. After a few seconds, the screen displayed a menu consisting of a series of dates. She chose one at random. The screen switched to a view of what looked like a baby's room. A big, shaggy Grebsa was curled up on a rug next to the crib.

A Veroshi infant began to whine and pulled itself up to hold onto the top of the crib's rail. Lizzy nearly fell out of her chair. Is that Rora? She's adorable!

The Grebsa who could be a younger version of Stacen pushed himself to his feet, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He let out a huge yawn. Rora bopped in place.

"Ru, ru, ru, ru!"

Lizzy guessed she was babbling the Veroshi version of "Da, da, da, da". Stacen gently lifted baby Rora out of her crib and said something to her in Veroshi'i. She reached for him.

"Ruru!"

Stacen tickled under her chin with some wing feathers. She giggled. He carried Rora out of the room and, in passing, pushed the camera down toward the floor. Lizzy whooped in laughter. He wasn't the only person who had ever been embarrassed by a movie camera.

Over the next couple of days, Lizzy watched several of Stacen's home movies. Most of them involved Rora in some way, she noticed. One of her favorites involved Gana teaching Rora how to make cupcakes and they both wound up with chocolate batter all over their faces. Another showed her playing a simple ball game with some Grebsa children. Her playmates would sometimes pass the ball to her even though she obviously couldn't keep up. Lizzy thought that showed a considerable amount of maturity for a bunch of young children until she remembered that Grebsas were capable of reincarnation. Those Grebsas could be centuries or millennia old.

Lizzy finally couldn't deny the truth staring her in the face. Stacen had his own family. He saw her as the outsider and the nuisance, even as a threat to his adopted daughter. They had threatened to confine her to quarters. Only some quick negotiation and a promise that she wouldn't approach Rora unless either Stacen or Gana were there had saved her from nine months of seeing nobody but Gana, and her only when she brought meals.

She didn't guess that Stacen was monitoring her computer use until he let a comment slip when she expressed concern over Rora eating nearly as much chocolate pudding as Stacen did.

"Don't worry about Rora. You saw that chocolate doesn't make her sick."

"You knew I was watching your movies," Lizzy accused.

"Did you expect that I wouldn't know? The Sulans have a good record, but you did hack into our files. I have to keep a watch on your computer use."

Lizzy blushed. "That makes sense, I suppose. I hope I didn't embarrass you."

"Rora and I never did anything that I would be embarrassed about. It wouldn't be a factor even if we did."

"It must look like I'm barging into your personal life. I mean, I wouldn't want a complete stranger watching some of my personal videos."

Stacen gave her the exact same look her father had always given her when she was missing the blindingly obvious. She closed her mouth before she could dig herself into a deeper hole. Then, she got it. He was giving his tacit permission for her to watch his videos. He wanted her to see what it was he protected and why he couldn't give her what she wanted. It was possibly the only thing he could do for her. She gave him a hug and felt some tears rolling down her cheeks to fall on Stacen's mane.

"Shoot. I'm going to make a mess all over your fur. It's just not fair, is it? I love you and I know you must care on some level, but you have that pretty daughter you have to protect and I can't blame you for that."

"You're right. There's nothing fair about it. The Veroshi depend on us for protection and we just don't trust humans. Things might have been different if we knew we could."

He said it without any kind of anger. Instead, he seemed to regret it, the sort of regret one might feel if one accepted that things were never going to change. He ducked out of the hug and entered the quarters he shared with Gana and Rora.

Lizzy felt a little guilty about that. Had she turned Rora out of the room she should have had? For some reason, that had never occurred to her. She wished to the heavens that she could understand Veroshi'i. While she was at it, she wished that Rora wasn't so terribly afraid of her. She seemed like such a nice young lady otherwise. Lizzy had the feeling she would find a friend if she could just get past those barriers.

She inched toward Stacen's door, trying to build up her nerve. On the one hand, she didn't want to intrude on his privacy. On the other, if he wanted privacy, the worst he would do was throw her out. It was quite possible that he was going to cry his heart out.

Rora flew over Lizzy's head and landed in front of Stacen's door. The door slid open and, for an instant, Lizzy saw the vague outline of the monster in the dark. Then, Rora stepped inside and the door slid shut.

Lizzy shook herself. That was Stacen. That's what he looks like when he ambushes an erring human in a dark alley. She could pretend she hadn't seen that, but it was hard to loosen the fist clenched around her heart.

~~~~~~~~

Rora threw her arms around Stacen's neck. She had felt his wave of grief and resentment from the kitchen and come straight here. He hugged her gently. He was feeling better already. He always told her that nothing ever seemed so bad when he knew she was safe and she loved him.

She smelled the human's cry mess on his fur. If she had been capable of it, she would have cursed Lizzy Sulan for putting him in a bad mood. However, Rora was Veroshi, and she merely kept her attention on her father and god.

"I'll clean your mane for you, Daddy."

As she led him into the bathroom, she felt gentle bemusement from Stacen. No Veroshi could overwhelm a Grebsa by main strength. They didn't need to. A civilized Grebsa avialeo¹ would allow his worshippers to handle his grooming needs and, in exchange, he would protect the darlings. As the Grebsas repeatedly tried to beat into human heads, it wasn't slavery or feudalism. It was a perfectly legitimate, honorable, and ancient Agreement.

Rora ran some water in the bathtub. By mutual agreement, they decided that they might as well give him his weekly bath and she gave him a thorough shampooing.

She asked, "What's the matter, Daddy? Did the human upset you?"

Stacen growled a bit. "She doesn't like that I can't give her what she wants. I'm not going to forget thousands of years of protecting Veroshi just because I was forced into a near-human form one time."

Rora's hands quivered. She hated it when he spoke like this.

"You were never human."

He turned a gentle eye to her. "I apologize, Pearl," he used his nickname for her. "I just wish humans could be more like you."

She wanted to kiss him, but knew he would taste terrible with shampoo in his fur. She hummed a phrase, and then she sang as she worked.

"What does a Grebsa love?
He loves those who come in friendship.
He loves beauty in all its forms.
He loves those who love selflessly.
Fight him, and he will fight you.
Befriend him and he will befriend you.
Come to him with your sin.
Come to him with your love.
Come to him with your fear.
Do not resist, for the Grebsa is a loving god."

Stacen beamed at her. "You have a beautiful voice, Pearl."

"Thank you, Daddy."

Rora rinsed him off. She could tell her adoptive father was anxious to shake off some of the excess water. No one could give a Grebsa a bath and not get a little wet. However, Stacen suppressed his natural instinct until she could get out of range. She got sprayed by the peripheral of it anyway.

"Sorry, Rora. I did tell you about how most cats don't like water."

She forgave him with a wolf-grin.

"Sometimes I do wonder how much of our pampering requires some patience on your part."

Stacen's eyebrow went up. "And sometimes I wonder how many Veroshi even think of that. We had to put some limitations on it fairly early on to keep it from getting out of hand. I don't mind you giving me a bath. I would only have a problem if you tried to lasso me in the middle of my duty shift."

Rora wrapped several towels around him. At least she didn't have to let him drip all over the floor. Living with her father had taught her a few things about the gods that maybe even the Priestesses didn't know. They hadn't sought godhood, but accepted it in the same way they accepted that humans hated them. They didn't try to change the hatred of humans and they didn't try to change Veroshi worship. According to Stacen, they would practically have to rebuild her people from the ground up to stop their worship, and then they wouldn't be Veroshi anymore.

She shuddered. "Veroshi" meant "Beloved Companions" in the Old Tongue and the idea of not being Stacen's Beloved Companion was repugnant to her. It was small wonder that Stacen hated Lizzy Sulan so much. She was obviously trying to drive a wedge between them.

"What's the matter, Rora?" asked Stacen.

She told him. "It's not that I hate Lizzy Sulan. I just don't want her coming between us."

"She won't. She's just another human. I don't owe her anything."

That seemed to close the matter as far as Stacen was concerned. Rora combed and dried his fur in silence. She wasn't as good at it as the professional spa attendants, but Stacen felt satisfied and even a little relieved when she finished. She reasoned he felt relieved because she didn't know what to do with most of the hair products the hairstylers regularly used. The smell of hairspray was so overpowering that it was no surprise that he limited his visits to the baths to once a week.

Rora decided that was one of the reasons she loved her father. If she couldn't do something for him, he probably didn't want it anyway. He certainly would never bring it up.

As they left the bathroom, the lights suddenly went out and the floor shook under Rora's feet. She yelped in surprise and caught a handful of Stacen's mane to steady herself. Stacen stood there, as sturdy as ever. He made no sound, but he was as surprised as she was. After about thirty seconds, the lights came back on and the shuddering stopped.

Rora let go of his fur. "Did we hit something?"

"I'll have to check. I would appreciate it if you would stay here. Lock yourself in. I don't want that human taking advantage of the situation."

Rora wagged her tail. Whatever was going on, she trusted her father to take care of it.

"Yes, Daddy."

Stacen left their quarters and Rora promptly locked the door. Unless the human woman knew how to get around a thumbprint reader, she wouldn't be able to get in.

Stacen tried to ignore Lizzy's demands to know what was going on until she blocked the entrance to the cockpit. Then, he aimed a slash at her face. Despite her attempt to dodge, he managed to snag her cheek with two claws.

"What was that for?" she bleated.

"I do not know what is going on. You are endangering Rora by blocking my way."

Wisely, she fled. As he entered the cockpit, he contacted Gana.

*Lock that human in her quarters.*

*My pleasure.*

He ran through a series of system checks. While the diagnostics were running, he ran the sensor logs from the past five minutes. At first, everything looked normal. No asteroids were more than a couple of hundred kilometers from their projected positions. Nothing seemed about to collide with the shuttle.

Then, he spotted a strange energy surge and zoomed in on the readings. Magnetism's a bit on the strong side, light's brighter than the sun, kinetic-odd. For the mass and velocity, there shouldn't be this much kinetic energy! Stacen thumbed for a visual of the phenomenon.

The phenomenon displayed on the screen as part of a brilliant ring coming from, apparently, empty space. Curiouser and curiouser, he thought, quoting an ancient children's tale. He would have expected a sphere, if anything. He instructed the computer to calculate where the ring originated from. After a few seconds' delay, the answer appeared on the screen. Earth.

"That can't be right," he spoke aloud. That was a rarity for him when he wasn't around people who relied on verbal communication. He decided to contact the Grebsas on Earth.

*Commandrix Tranna, this is Honor Line Stacen Humanbane. Do you know anything about a strange phenomenon originating on Earth?*

*You, too?* She sounded harried. *Sorry, Stacen, I'm getting reports from Guardians all over the inner solar system. We're trying to keep the Veroshi calm. I'll let you know when we have an explanation for this.*

Stacen understood. This was the best Tranna could do right at the moment. She would only snip at him if he pushed.

*Thanks, Commandrix.*

She shut down their telepathic connection. Stacen went over the results from the diagnostics. The phenomenon hadn't caused any serious damage. He could easily repair the damaged power nodes and make some adjustments to prevent another overload. He left the cockpit to retrieve a repair kit and heard Lizzy yelling curses.

"Computer, please mute the sound from the secondary quarters."

The sound of her voice cut off in mid-curse. Perhaps Gana wasn't bothered by such a thing, but Stacen preferred that Rora not have to listen to a yelling human, whether she understood Standard or not. He was about to press his thumb against the reader that would allow him access to the engine room when he heard Gana calling to him.

*Get Rora. Hurry,* she told him, and then he felt the pain of her belly clenching through the link.

He dropped the repair kit and went to tell Rora. Mentally, he blessed the Healers he had bullied into teaching her the basics of healing. She would make quite an acceptable midwife in a pinch.