Iona Perkins just lost her job but Emperor Ry'nao asks her to risk her life to rescue his son, trained against his will to be a ruthless slaver.

This story is connected to the Battle Of The Cubes.

EmperorRy'nao

I got off the bus and enjoyed the smile of the grandfatherly driver. I should be posting my resume, but I need to rewrite—nope! Gonna rebel and get that ice cream! Almost as an instinct, I looked towards the Peachtree Plaza Hotel. How I'd love to go up that elevator and see Atlanta! But, I looked down at my frayed jeans and this T-shirt had a stain at the bottom. Not dressed for that fancy restaurant at the top of the cylinder. And, what would I say to people? Hi, I'm Iona Perkins. I had a nice job in Nickerson and Naughton Law Firm as a courier--

Had, you say? Just a courier? My income speaks. I can't afford my apartment. My school loans are killing any chance of a decent living. Dad's a pervert. Mama's too scared to move in with me. I can't move back home! I'd rather be homeless--

The revolving doors moved, and there, with Governor Brown, is someone in a fancy uniform. "I am very happy with our location. Sherri Lawson is moving forward with the Thordes Embassy in Brookhaven, and the Elshar Embassy building, the closing is Tuesday, if our lawyer, Tan Links, cannot obtain an appointment Monday. I do apologize that we cannot put an Areonian Embassy in Atlanta yet. Their council voted for Cleveland, Ohio."

"What's Cleveland got that Atlanta hasn't got?" Governor Brown spread his arms out. I voted for the Dem. This man doesn't care about the 70% of Georgians at my income level.

"Relatives. Many people who still live in Cleveland have ancestors who joined the Areon Colony. I will ask them again, to consider an Atlanta location. If you will excuse me, Governor, I must leave you."

"Then, I am headed to Top of Atlanta for lunch with Leader Fisna."

"Be careful. Are you sure you do not want one of my diplomats to accompany you?"

He frowned. "I thought the Elshars were yours!"

"Many are, but I do not trust Fisna. We do not have enough evidence, but in the meantime, do not visit the Elshar Embassy. Public places should be all right, but do not touch him, not even a handshake, for your safety."

"I see. Thanks for the heads up! See you, Emperor Ry'nao." He went back into the revolving doors. Emperor? I watched his speech about the new treaty this morning, SETI's exciting news.

Ry'nao looked straight at me, gawking like a tourist. But, he smiled. Walked towards me. Those red-violet eyes seemed to see past my calm facade. I couldn't look away. He's immaculate in his gray jumpsuit, pants with a wide sash like a curtain thing under a curtain rod, and a gray sash with so many sparkling pins, like a starry sky.

I couldn't think of a thing to say. He stopped in front of me. "Miss Perkins? I think you know me. I hide us with my telepathy. May I ask if you have time to come to our embassy ship?" Ship?

"Yes, I have time!"

He gave me his arm and I stumbled along with him. But, his wispy gray curls fluttered on the breeze. A green swirl of light appeared and I saw people on the other side. There was a slight resistance, like stepping into bath water, then a cool breeze followed us.

We stepped onto the red-violet ship. Dad said he wanted to ask about jobs when I stopped at his place for breakfast, as if we'd ever meet any of 'em. He had the news on and they were talking about the new Treaty with Earth for two trade networks. Emperor Ry'nao spoke at the UN this morning. It's 1:30 pm. That was at 9 am.

The crowd on the ship, diplomats in sashes with blue or white uniforms, traders with light blue or cobalt robes, and scientists in ScSv purple jumpsuits. Oh, and healers with white robes. Ry'nao realized I didn't recognize him, so he updated me.

None of them seemed to see us! Some were Elshar diplomats. Easy to pick out the show-offs with lots of pins in dull colors. Overbearing. Trying to intimidate others. Then, the others. Pins with bright, sparkly colors, like genuine stones compared to cheap costume jewelry. Not as many, for the most part. The ones with more held their heads high, but not in a haughty way. How do I know this?

Traders didn't have pins, but the ones in cobalt blue had robes with Tessite trim. Its not for show. It gives strength for a man to trade longer. Again, the uppity ones were easy to spot. Huh. None of these folks would give me a second glance.

But, Emperor Ry'nao patted my hand. His don't have thumbs? Neither hand? "Miss Perkins, will you come to my office? I will bring another diplomat—ah. Cev, will you come with us?"

Cevit Ion, another important one! He's Seventh Galaxy Minister, where the Alliance Seat of Government is on Elshar Mashai. He bowed to Ry'nao, then to me, a shallower bow, but still almost like a split.

I tried to return it, and stumbled. But, I should've bowed to Ry'nao first!

His hand held my arm up. "Miss Perkins, I feel your respect, but you are not a diplomat, and have no need to bow to me. Come this way, if you please."

"Thank you." I followed him to a tapestry with him and his wife. Sweet! We walked through it. I hesitated, but he pulled at my arm and I didn't feel resistance this time. Warm, then a cool sensation.

They waited for me to sit first. I tried not to look stiff, but I sure felt that way! Like my whole body was ratchets.

Cevit Ion—there were several kings and galactic ministers like him here—he sat beside me. "Maiden, do I frighten you?"

"Me? No." I waved a hand down. He saw it tremble. He knows.

"Would another setting be more comfortable? We could sit in the main chamber with others." Ry'nao leaned against the desk. But, his hand shook, too.

I took it, almost as a reflex. "Sir, you are very kind. I'm all right." My voice rose as if to say, liar!

"Your hand is cold--"

"Does it hurt?"

I started to let go, but he held it. Chuckled. "Your touch cannot hurt me. Perhaps you are wondering why I brought you here. I think my answer will shock you. I tremble because I am very worried about my son."

"Did he get hurt?"

"Yes. Slavers hurt him."

"I'm very sorry! Will he be okay?"

His eyes filled. "I do not know. May I show you where he is?"

"Is he here?" I started to look around like an idiot.

"No. I can use my telepathy to show you a memory. One of my team sees futures. When a future involves someone from Earth, we contact the person, because these futures can be changed.

"One of these futures involved this world, MarKu." He waved up a holo of an orange world with lots of green and flowers. Cities have buildings like jewels! People in one of them walked through a market with their kids. Twin-fingered and twin-toed people, mostly with orange skins, but some had yellow like Cevit Ion. MarKu has lots of cities with no pollution and no poor people!

"Because Adia Rayaline showed me the invasion of MarKu, we moved its star system to Alb, a day away. We saved 70 decillion people who live there." That many! Oh, I felt happy to see them! Some were in a market with traders. Kids played nearby. People made artworks as they sat in orange sand with bright flowers growing in it under a bright green sky.

"Other people whom Adia saw are my diplomats, who had injury. I instructed all of my galactic ministers to release them, and not to send them to places where they got hurt.

"This memory I want to share with you shows—my son!" He trembled harder. "You saved him."

I looked at this man, the most powerful official in this new universe, but like any father, he wants his son to have help. But, me? "How? I don't know first aid, or CPR--"

"May I show you?"

I nodded. Trembled. This is serious. What if I--

Don't know what I expected, but the red-violet hull of the ship faded into the Atlanta Airport near the International gates.

"Hey, Babe, where you goin' with that slave?" A huge Elshar walked with me. I stared into the crowds for a security officer. People stood in fast food lines, sat in rows of padded seats waiting for ships and planes, and no one noticed when a second Elshar pulled Lester, a Zheien friend, off my back.

"I'm doing fine! Let us—" My shout died in the green swirls of the dimportal.

We fell on the floor of a ship.

"Nae! You must nae—" One of the Elshars held yellow and blue leaves in Lester's mouth. Slowly, he relaxed with a long sigh.

The man shoved him at me. "Your friend's hurt. If you know what's good, you'll care for him. If he dies, you get to live in my bed." He grinned and looked me up and down.

I pulled Lester against me. My heart pounded so bad it shook both of us. Lester pressed his fingers on my arm. "I can nae sleep. Wake me—"

"There's no choice."

Lester shuddered, but he stopped sweating. Arms and legs curled up tightly. "Ejis, it is regen, Iona! I die here."

I'd held several of my adoptees in regen. All of 'em died. Lester got limp in my lap.

"Go to sleep, Lester." I looked around. Zheien sat shivering on the cold floor. In another group, purple men.

Nearby on our other side, four-fingered men with deep red skin. I hadn't seen that species before, except holos of Ry'nao! They cowered when a huge man like them strode past. Stopped. Looked down at us with cold red-violet eyes. Dark curls framed a square, hard face. One of his large hands reached for Lester's head. "Pah! Who did this? Who wasted my expensive yllis on this slopfah?"

The Elshar threw himself on the floor. Shook so hard his arms and legs tapped on the floor. For an instant, the large red man got a blank look on his face. Then, a look of rage. "Slopfah! Get up!"

He got onto his feet and cowered. The red man put one hand around his throat and picked him up. "All guards! Consult me before giving new Zheien anything! I am Ilios! Here is what will happen to anyone who disobeys my orders!" He squeezed. The man convulsed, went limp, and vanished. Ilios whirled. "I will see anyone ported to this ship! Obey me, and live!"

I cringed as he turned towards me. "You! Get up!"

I carefully tried to put Lester down, but Ilios waved, and he vanished. "I'll trade that slopfah to Ilhanhsa. Come with me." His hand jerked me up. We ported.

Ilios put me on a bed and laid down with me. I trembled.

His hand stroked my face. The same hand that just killed a man. "Your eyes are as blue as the okasan trees at night, in Foriru, when Pirasu rises. As blue as a happy Elshar, but you aren't Elshar, are you? Elshar women wear their dark hair long. Yours is as short as mine, but straight. Soft. I love soft hair." His hands, both of them now, stroked my hair. I laid frozen on the bed, staring at those red-violet eyes. Had they been cold? Sad eyes.

Suddenly, he looked at my T-shirt and pulled at the collar. "Such soft clothing, but not pretty." His hand moved down to my jeans pocket and felt the material. "That's not soft! Earthans wear such strange clothes."

His hand went to his black robe. "I hate black. Guards wear black to hurt my slaves, and I wear it when I'm angry. I don't want to frighten you. I don't hurt women." With a wave, we both wore different clothes. His, a deep red robe, with a silky, long-sleeved shirt under it, and pants with horizontal layers. Silken boots. I had on a beautiful, impossibly soft dress of shiny dark purple. It had jewels at the neck. Boots like his.

"You're scared of me, but I only want love. No one loves me. My life is hard. If I'm not cruel, I lose everything. Traders want what I have. Ships. Mines. More slaves than any Elshar alive. I can give you Tessite. Do you know what it is?"

With a smile, he waved, and his huge hand held the most beautiful necklace I'd ever seen. A heavy gold chain with a purple stone at the end of it. Ilios gently took my hand, kissed it, and pressed the necklace into it. I felt strength flow into me. I stopped shaking. "Do you like it?"

I looked up at him. "How can I like it? I just want to go home! I just want Lester to get healing!"

"You like it, so keep it. I'll give you gifts until you like me." He stroked my face, and tears came into his eyes.

Part of me said, throw the necklace in his face and let him kill me. But, his hand felt gentle. He didn't—I shouldn't—his touch didn't match the cruelty he showed out there. In this small room, this room with beautiful hand-sized jewels lying around, tapestries, pottery with bright designs—this wasn't what I expected from a man who obviously enjoyed terrorizing people!

I held the necklace. I did like it. I'd never owned a pretty necklace that was expensive. I'd never worn a dress like this. A modest dress, to my ankles. The neckline was where I usually wore it. The long sleeves helped me feel warmer—I'd been cold in the T-shirt.

Ilios put his hands over his face. Four-fingered hands. "My head hurts. Every time I come in here, my head hurts, so I stay out there with my men. Why did I bring you here? I never brought any woman in here. I take my women to—"

Abruptly, he waved, and held a flask. A clear flask, wide at the bottom, round, and full of blue liquid. He sniffed at it. His eyes looked dull. "Fostok. Would you like a taste?"

The scent of it, a sweet smell, made me dizzy. "No."

I expected him to force me to drink it, but he just sat there. Stared at a tapestry on the wall. Sniffed it again. "I grew up on V'chsan. Played in fields of blue okasan trees. They glow at night. The first time I tasted fostok, it was with Maisa. Maisa looked just like you. She was older. Wiser. We traded together. Father—" He shivered, and took a gulp of fostok.

"Why did you have to look like Maisa? You don't act like her. You sit looking at me as if I'd kill you for it." He gulped more of the fostok and held it against my face. Compared it to my eyes. "Your eyes, the color of fostok. Oh, you make my chest burn as much as this does!" He laughed. "Blue, beautiful blue!" His fingers tapped on my head. "I feel the rhythms that beat in my heart, in the heartstrings of my life!"

One arm swept me up, and he leapt to his feet. Danced me around the room. My feet dragged on the floor as I stumbled. I thought a drunken man would drop me, beat me, I didn't know—

He danced. Those feet—wearing delicate, silken shoes of dark red, I had them, too, now—how could he move so fast? He tapped—not like tap-dancing—his feet made rhythms on the floor like a horde of African drums. The rhythm reminded me of the shaking guard and the look that came over Ilios.

He laughed, and I laughed, too and felt guilty. The smell of the fostok got to me. As he danced us in circles, he kept drinking. The tapping got more complicated. I moved in rhythm to it.

The fostok flask vanished in a dim flash of light, and both his arms held me. His hand stroked my hair. His fingers tapped gently on my head. His mind came close to me—telepathy? I'd never had anyone touch my mind. He knew my thoughts. He saw that I planned to try to get out when he passed out.

But, he laughed. "I know you want to leave me, but you can't. You can't open a door here. You can't hurt me. I have progs to protect me. If you try to injure me, you'll go to sleep and wake up a mindless slave. I don't want to do that. Please, don't try it. I can make you feel wonderful. Feel what I feel!"

Suddenly, I tasted the sweetness of the fostok and his cravings for more. His yearnings for my body. But, he wanted me to give myself to him willingly. Blue flowers danced in front of his eyes. Stroked his face. Impossibly soft. I felt everything he felt.

And, something more. No matter how many slaves he collected, how many Tessite mines, how many herbs to make him feel happy, he wasn't happy. Fostok didn't last, and left him with bad headaches. He had headaches nearly constantly.

We kept dancing, and I stumbled less. I saw glimpses of his home. A happy family. Good parents—not like mine—I was abused. His father—

Ilios stopped dancing. He held me and wept. Dragged me to the bed and fell on me. I stiffened.

His face pressed against mine. One hand rustled in a bag and came up with a faded green leaf, a very small leaf. I trembled as it came near my mouth. He's going to drug me. He's going to rape me!

But, the leaf went past and I heard a quiet crunch. Ilios sobbed. "Father, come to me. I am in anguish! These people—Maisa—"