Quietus

Adam was grateful he didn’t have to do that. As usual, when he thought of that particularly tedious task, he remembered how the captains themselves once had to personally do their own datawork when their enterprise was simply a smuggling operation.

That was Then, this is Now.

Currently freed of duty, he hurried down the walkway leading from the cluster of buildings near the runway to the Pride House’s entrance.

K’Mu was waiting for him. He handed her both his kit and his coat, stamping his feet against the shagra grass mat stationed inside the door.

“Welcome home, Master Adam,” the servant said, adding before he could ask, “Mistress Shalimar’s in the garden.”

“Thanks, K’Mu.” A little wearily, Adam crossed the courtyard. His route was an exhausting one, the run from Terra to Felida even more so because it was single-stop.

Continuing into the house, he walked down the hall to the doors leading to the garden. The heels of his boots made a hollow tapping on the marble floor.

With his hand on the door handle, he paused, staring at his image in the mirrored tiles of the opposite wall.

The man in those little mirrors looked more Felidan than Terran, in spite of being only a quarter blood. Sinbad sh’en Singh’s paternity was definitely visible in Adam’s handsome feline face.

He was as tall as his father, his dark red hair twisted into a long braid, though unruly tendrils always managed to escape and hover in front of his slightly-peaked ears and fall onto his forehead. His slit-pupiled eyes were as green as his father’s and when he smiled, which was seldom and then very quietly, it was an expression as pointed and sharp-fanged as Sin’s ever was.

Perhaps I should’ve changed. He studied the captain’s uniform critically. I look a little travel-weary. What the hell. This is home. If I can’t look crumpled and worn here, where can I?

Adam had been away for months, his routes consisting of picking up contraband at one port and transporting it to another, culminating in arriving at Terra and bringing goods back to Felida. He was ready for some peace and quiet, and nothing else, except to enjoy being again in the Pride House.

It was good to be back on Felida. For a little while, he could forget about sh’en Singh Shipping and the long hours in space.

Adam smiled as he thought how the Federation turned the tables on his father.

Once it was learned the man they knew as Sinbad sh’en Singh was intent on making Felida a smuggling planet…and going to succeed because a single paragraph inserted into their treaty with the Felidans and overlooked by all in their haste to get it signed and officially end the war, prevented them from retaliation as well as collecting any tax on the contraband smuggled…the Fed struck back with the only avenue left open to it.

They declared his criminal operation a legitimate business.

***

“How can they do this? I don’t want to be a businessman, damn it!”

Sinbad had stormed through the Pride House and down the hill to Kas’ clinic, bellowing his rage to his cousin.

He always came to Kas when something happened. His cousin was his sounding board. Even if he did nothing but listen, Kas calmed many turbulent sh’en Singh waters.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do, Andrew.” Kas stifled a smile as he glanced at the PCU his cousin thrust at him, on whose screen the email received moments before, superimposed over an image of the Stars and Bars, was visible. “Except hire a good tax accountant.”

To the Noble Murad sh’en Singh, Priem Pride Chief of Khurd Province and the Western  Quadrasphere

and

the Noble Andrew Malcolm McAllister, a/k/a Sinbad sh’en Singh, Pride Heir:

Be it known upon receipt of this communication onwards.

After careful and long consideration, the United Terran Federation,by vote from its Department of Law Enforcement, Department of Justice, and Department of Business and Trade Administration (Planetary Import/Export Division), forthwith declares the smuggling operation established on the planet Felida will from this time forward be considered the legal enterprise known as sh’en Singh Shipping, with all the legal benefits as well as responsibilities of such a professional endeavor. 

Tax, licensing, and other pertinent information to follow.

It was signed with the chairman’s own delta, making it legally and irrefutably official.

All Sin could do was mourn, “They didn’t even give me the privilege of naming my own company.”

From that moment on, Clan sh’en Singh found itself owners of a legal import/export firm, protected by the very government whose laws it attempted to break. This brought with it an unexpected benefit, for once the business was under UTF law, the attacks by the smuggler Tsan-Hsi, in retaliation for having Sinbad’s former territories returned to him, became assaults against a Federation-protected organization and were declared piracy. Now, the Taun was being sought not only by the sh’en Singhs, but the United Terran Federation, also.

On Sin’s thirty-fifth birthday, Pride chief Murad surprised everyone by relinquishing control of the Pride to his grandson and heir. The old kh’ta, approaching his two hundred and ninety-fifth year, further confounded his family by selecting himself a young concubine who was little more than a nurse during the day while she divided her time between his three young guards at night, a fact Murad informed his grandsons he not only was aware of but to which gave his full permission. He was happy, someone else had the responsibility of the Pride, and that was that.

It remained that way until his death two years later. Murad now rested in the Clan cemetery, mourned by his grandsons, his House, and the rest of the Pride.

In the ten years since Sin took over from great-grandsire, business had quadrupled. Being forcibly legitimized made it flourish. The fleet had enlarged until it was rumored it outnumbered that of the Federation though that had never been confirmed. The UTF would’ve probably suppressed the information if it had ever gone public.

Now, the smuggling operation begun to thumb its nose at the United Terran Federation supplied goods to approximately fifty planets in one federated sector alone…and the Fed had a great many sectors.

…and Sinbad sh’en Singh ran everything.

***

Opening the door, Adam stepped onto the terrace, waving to Shalimar who sat on a small wicker loveseat under an umbrella-shaped lantana tree. Putting down her reader, she raised her own hand in greeting as she watched the tall figure in the black captain’s uniform walk toward her. The red braid hanging one shoulder, swung in rhythm with his easy-going gait.

“Welcome back!"

Adam always had a peaceful feeling when he was with his father’s former concubine, now an adopted family member. Whenever he saw her slender figure in its soft Felidan robes, that was when he felt he was truly home. With a slight shock, Adam realized he didn’t miss his father or Andi or any of his siblings as much as he longed to see Shalimar during the time he was away.

As she moved her skirts aside, making room for him on the loveseat, Adam settled himself beside her with a sigh. Leaning back and stretching his long legs, he crossed his ankles, staring at the dull leather surfaces of his boots.

I really should’ve changed, he reflected. At least polished my boots before disembarking. He didn’t want Shali thinking he was a total slob.

“Tired?”

“And how. I’ve just completed six non-stop runs from Felida to Gataeus to Arcanis and Vercingetorix-2 and then to Terra and back. Brought in a cargo of China silk. Those ’Rixians have an absolute passion for the stuff. We can’t supply them with enough of it.”

“Did anything exciting happen?”

She always asked him that, usually in a wistful tone envious of the many worlds he’d seen while she barely left the shelter of the Pride House. She’d been ill most of her adult life, beginning with the loss of the two children she’d attempted to give his father, a fact Sin still deplored and felt guilt over. Although she was better now, thriving since the moment the Kh’ta took away her designation of concubine and made her a member of his family, she seemed to feel safer inside the Pride House compound than venturing outside it.

Because of that, Adam became her tie to the worlds beyond Felida’s planetary borders.

“Most of it was routine.” He smiled slightly. “There was one incident…on Vercengetorix-2…We met their princess this trip. Actually had dinner at the palace with her and her spouse.” He paused and gave a comic smirk. “Yes…we were actually invited.”

“Oh?” Shalimar swiveled, facing him. Face alight with curiosity, she leaned an arm against the back of the loveseat. “Tell me all about it. Was it elegant? Did you use the correct forks?”

“Nope, gobbled everything straight from my hands and wiped my fingers on the tablecloth afterwards.” Her curiosity made him lie. “Nearly made Her Majesty faint.”

“Oh, Adam, you didn’t!”

“Of course not, Shali. Guess I shouldn’t tease you so.” He laughed as she blushed. “Relax. I didn’t embarrass the Pride at all. It was a little odd, though…”

“What do you mean?”

“Well...” He paused as if trying to put into words the feeling he’d had in Her Majesty’s presence. “The princess is a pretty little thing, let me say that. She’s still fairly young, maybe close to my age, and her husband? He’s Albegensi, the strong silent type and totally devoted to her. Nice guy, too, really easy to talk to. They’ve got two beautiful kids, son and a daughter. Boy looks like him, the daughter like her.” Realizing he was rambling, Adam got back to the subject. “What was odd was that all she wanted to talk about was Da.”

“Why would she want to talk about the Kh’ta?” Shalimar looked surprised. “I’d think she’d want to know what goods you had to offer and what they cost, maybe when the next shipment of silk would be in. Things like that.”

“So did I,” Adam admitted. “In fact, when my First Mate and I received the invitation, that’s what we expected. We even went over all the information we had on shipments, their prices, and availability, so we’d be prepared. We were so stoked with info, I thought my head would crack. Then, we get there, and what does she do? Smiles at me and says, ‘I understand you’re Kh’ta Sinbad’s eldest son?’”

He shook his head.

“‘Kh’ta Sinbad.’ She kept referring to him like that. Kept calling Andi ‘Kh’tara Andrea,’ too.” He gave Shalimar a mischievous grin. “There’s a story there. Wonder what it is?”

Shali looked a little disturbed. “You don’t suppose the Kh’ta and the princess…I mean...He’s a handsome man, and if he knew her before he met the Kh’tara...”

“I doubt that.” Adam decided to quash that idea before it went further, mainly because Shalimar looked so upset. “First of all, she’s too young. Sometime during our conversation, she mentioned she was fifteen when she first met Da..and he’s no cradle-robber…Uh-oh…” He looked a little thoughtful. “That’s how old you were when you became Da’s concubine, weren’t you, Shali?”

She didn’t answer, merely nodded. Adam rarely mentioned that fact. Once her master elevated her to family member status, everyone shied away from speaking about that other phase of her life.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Adam looked apologetic. “I remember Da was always very sensitive about the difference between your age and his. He felt it was indecent somehow, though you were considered an adult by Felidan standards.”

“Kh’ta Sinbad’s a good man,” Shali said quietly.

She loved Sinbad passionately, and always would. After he told her he’d never touch her again because he didn’t wish to endanger her life with further pregnancies, she gratefully accepted the fact that he made her a family member instead of shaming her by setting her aside. Shalimar stored her feelings in a secret part of her heart, and never spoke of them.

“I’m afraid he’s let the mores of Terra influence him too much.” She decided to change the subject. “You said, First of all...There are other reasons you don’t think they were...lovers?”

She used that one word hesitantly, as if it disturbed her to speak it.

“Plenty of reasons.” Adam nodded. “I doubt if the Princess’ husband would allow something like that. He looks like he could give Da a run for his money in the combat department. Besides, she spoke of Andi with genuine affection.”

“So there’s still some mystery in your father’s life, isn’t there?” Shalimar finished for him. “I wonder where they met?”

“Maybe I don’t want to know. She looked so familiar. I can’t help thinking I’ve seen…” Adam stopped, mouth falling open. “Oh my God!”

“Adam?” Shalimar’s hand went to his arm. “What is it? You look shocked.”

“I just remembered where I saw the princess before…the husband, too.” Adam laughed. “God, how could I forget?” The look he gave Shalimar was shaken. “She was with Andi when we rescued her from General Chang.”
As Shalimar shook her head, indicating she didn’t understand, he explained, “That was one of the names Day-lin Tran li used…you know, Andi’s first husband? The princess’ soon-to-be husband was one of the general’s guards. Da and Dr. DuPont arranged for them to leave without being detained by the Fed.” He looked a little chagrined. “How the hell could I forget something like that?”

“It was a long time ago.” Shali commented. “So you knew the princess before she became the Princess.”

“In more ways than one.” Adam didn’t go into detail.

He wasn’t about to tell Shalimar the ‘princess’ had not only not been royalty in those days, she hadn’t even been female, but was a transvestite boy-whore named Cassay, the lover of the hereditary prince of Vercingetorix-2. Cassay’s one wish in life had been to become a woman. The murder of the prince by blackbirders taking the boy from His Majesty’s ship gave him the chance. With the fortune as well as the title he inherited from Prince Ludsa, he was able to accomplish his goal, and marry the Albegensi soldier who fell in love with the person he mistakenly thought a ‘pretty little girl’.

How in the world can they have two children? Adam wondered. Those two resemble their parents too much to be adopted. My God.

 It came to him in a shocking flash. He’d heard the hospital Cassay went to was doing some very interesting experiments in cloning.

Cassay and Shannir had themselves cloned. I wonder if the children know?

He also wondered how Cassay, who irrefutably still had male DNA managed to be cloned female.

Those doctors must really have made strides.

As for the children being aware... Something made him think once Cassay became as female as possible, he’d buried his past life completely.

Since talking about his father’s old friends wasn’t what he wanted to do when with Shali, he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest, and closing his eyes. “God, Shalimar. I think I’m getting too old for this.”

“Oh sure.” She went back to her reading, scrolling down the page. “Give up all the glory of being a captain for Sinbad sh’en Singh, smuggler turned shipping magnate? You know you’d miss it…the travel, the exotic places, the women in every port.”

“Not so many women,” Adam corrected, opening his eyes.

“Unh-huh.” She gave him an unexpected smile. “Don’t think I’m ignorant because I’ve never been past Khurda Village’s gates, Adam. I’ve heard Lan and Rahn talking. I know how that uniform attracts females. Those two have never said ‘no’ to any of them, I’ll bet.”

“Those two maybe…not I.” It worried him Shalimar might think that. He’d had very few encounters on his voyages, strictly by choice. “After all, the captain has to maintain some sort of decorum while his crew runs wild.”

“Your half-brothers are captains, too. Did anyone tell them that?”

That little dig of cynicism surprised him.

Putting his hands behind his head, he looked up at the tree. It appeared about to erupt into full bloom. Once that happened, no one would be able to sit under it without being showered with petals.

Shali would lose her favorite spot until summer.

“I’m thinking of retiring.”

“You’re not old enough to retire.” She didn’t look up from her book. “You’re only thirty.”

“So? I never really wanted to be a ship’s captain. I mostly did it because Andi didn’t want me or Cash being involved in something so dangerous as smuggling. You know how kids always rebel against their parents. Say ‘no’ and we have to do it. I had to show both of them how mature I was. So…”

“What would you really like to do, Adam?” Shalimar dropped the reader to her lap.

He looked at her and she was startled by the seriousness in his expression.

“There’s some land in the High Deps. Good farming country. My mother’s people are farmers and that’s what I want to be.”

“You still miss your mother, don’t you?”

Something in the way he spoke told her he did. After all, at the age of fifteen, he’d left his mother, the entire Navajo community, and later, Terra itself behind, though it was with Victoria Lawless’ blessing.

“I did at first, but now, Felida seems like home.”

Once Adam met Sinbad sh’en Singh, any thought of returning to the Naturals’ territory in the Buffalo Commons sector of the Federated States of NorAmerica disappeared from his mind.

When he believed his father was terminally ill, he was determined to stay until the end. Then Andi had been kidnapped by her former husband and Adam certainly wasn’t going to abandon his new family to face that grief alone. With Sin’s recovery and his determination to find his wife and rescue her from Tran, Adam wholeheartedly joined in, committing himself to his newfound family.

Surprisingly, his mother made no attempt to force him to return home. It had been she who sent him to the reservation where Sin lived with his bride. She spoke to him often, using the old-fashioned telephone in the Talltrees farmhouse’s kitchen. She’d agreed Adam should stay when she learned Sin was ill, sympathized with him over Andi’s abduction, worried when he enlisted to help rescue her, and unselfishly sent him on his way to Felida when he told her he wanted to accompany his father.

It was only after they arrived and he realized how far away she and his half-brothers and sisters were that he missed her. Though he could speak with her any time he wished, as well as see her, utilizing the voiceover IP portal installed in Sin’s Pride House study, he still had pangs of homesickness after all this time.

“I’ve visited while the ships were being loaded. Mother was glad to see me, and disappointed I’m not married.” He laughed, a little sheepishly. “Father—I mean her husband—took me aside for a little man-to-man. Said he hoped I was simply being very particular about finding the right woman and there wasn’t any other reason I’d managed to reach my thirties without finding a mate. He actually blushed when he said it. God, they’re so old-fashioned.” Adam could almost see his stepfather, face crimson, eyes avoiding his as he said that.

“The High Deps are pretty far away,” Shalimar murmured. “If you live there, we won’t see you as much.”

“You’d see me more than you do now.” Adam looked at the hand unit she held, abruptly changing the subject. “What are you reading?”

“One of Kas’ psychology books. The Adolescent Psyche.” She seemed surprised he’d be interested. She held it out. “I thought I’d better be prepared since the children are going into their teens.”

She looked across the garden to where twins Tran and Andrea and Andrew Tas sat at a picnic table. The youngest members of the den were playing a board game. They were laughing, the two dark heads and their half-brother’s tawny one bent over the table.

Shalimar smiled as she looked at her adopted son, the child of Sin’s other concubine, headstrong Senset.

Senset was the daughter of Mahasset Assad, a sub-chief of the Kapur Pride. She’d been given to Sinbad to bind her family to the sh’en Singhs as partners in their smuggling venture. Unlike Shalimar who adored Sinbad, Senset hated her master and didn’t care who knew it. She’d even given away the cub they’d had…Andrew Tas.

Shalimar still remembered the day Senset tossed the infant into her arms, telling her she wished never to see it again. Still mourning her own lost babies, Shalimar gladly adopted the cub, with Sin’s permission.

Senset later became so disruptive Sinbad set her aside and confined her to an isolated wing of the Pride House. While there, she began an affaire with Cash, Sin’s stepson who’d fathered the twins, and they ran away together. When Senset deserted him, Cash sent his children to Sinbad, begging him to care for them.

“They look just like Cash and Senset, don’t they?” Adam said softly. “Pray God they never act as those two did.”

“Do you suppose they ever think about the twins?”

“Cash might, but Senset…?” He shrugged. “I doubt it. That was one selfish bi…” He bit off the word and didn’t finish.

“Kh’ta Andrew tried to find them, you know. He said Cash has become slightly infamous as a mercenary, and Senset…” Shalimar lowered her voice as if afraid the children might hear. “She’s working at a pleasure dome on Bel-Ammon. Kh’tara Andi told me that,” she added.

“I’d say she’s right at home then.”

“Adam, how can you?”

“Shalimar, dear, sweet Shalimar…” Laughing, he patted her hand. “I can because she never thought of anyone but herself.” He took a deep breath, hesitated, then continued, “When Cash left on a run for Sin and didn’t tell her, the bitch tried to seduce me to get back at him.”

Shalimar gasped, more at his language than what he was telling her.

“She ruined Cash’s life and hurt Andi very much, as well as dishonoring our House and her father’s clan.”

He looked at the children again. Andrea was laughing while Andrew Tas shook his fist at her in mock anger.

“They’re good kids. Andi’s done a good job, and you’ve raised a fine son in Andrew.”

“Thank you.” The smile she gave him was shy.

Even after all these years, Shalimar was still quiet and timid. In Sin’s presence, she rarely spoke, still awed by him, though he’d never been anything but kind to her. It was only with Adam she became the least outspoken, even joking and laughing.

With Adam, she reflected, I feel safe. I always have.

It had been difficult, living in a household where there were so many children and so much love, watching Sin’s other cubs grow to be adults while she had none of her own. Though everyone treated her kindly, Shalimar felt she’d failed as a concubine, indeed as a Felidan female, because she’d produced no living babies. Only Adam’s presence, and his kindness, made it bearable.

Then she was given Andrew Tas, another woman’s child, and her self-esteem was somewhat restored. Between raising Andrew and Adam’s visits, Shalimar was content.

“You should’ve found another mate, Shali,” he said, studying her face. “You should have someone to love.”

“Oh, who’d want me?” she murmured. Looking down at the hand-unit again, she rubbed her fingers across the screen, pretending to be engrossed in the text, avoiding that green gaze that suddenly delved too deeply.

“I would.” Adam looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected to say that.

As Shalimar looked up at him, her expression mirroring his own surprise, he went on, “Come with me to the High Deps, Shalimar.”

“B-but,” she stammered, “if you’re going to farm, you’ll need someone strong. Someone to give you sons to work your land, not a weakling like me.”

“You’re exactly who I need, Shali. My God, it, how could it take me so long to realize it?” Adam caught her hands, pulling them away from the unit so it slid from her lap and struck the flagstones. He looked as if he’d just discovered something he’d previously ignored. “It just hit me …like a ton of polyconcrete.”

“I don’t…Kh’ta Andrew…”

“…will be happy for both of us. Didn’t he give you permission to take a second mate?”

“Yes, but…” Shalimar looked down at the hands holding hers. She tightened her fingers around them.

“Then there’s no problem.” Adam concluded. “While I’d really prefer to be Mate Number One in your life, I’ll gladly take second place to my father if it means we can be together.”

Shalimar didn’t answer. A wave of something she could only describe as sheer terror surged through her.

Gently, she extracted her hands from his and bent to pick up the reader. “I hope it’s not broken.” She began to punch pressure pads, checking its functions.

“Shali?” Adam scowled as she did that. “You do love me, don’t you? Or have I completely misunderstood everything going on between us all this time?” When she didn’t reply, and kept her head down, he looked anxious. “Please stop fiddling with that reader and answer me.”

“You’re not mistaken.” Placing the reader on the seat beside her, she raised her head. “Not at all.”

“In that case…” He looked around, as if checking to see if the children were watching. “How about it? Will you marry me…in spite of how oblivious I’ve been for so long?”

“Yes, Adam,” she whispered. “I will.”

“Thank God for that. Do you realize…” he said, the barest smile touching his lips. “We’ve known each other for fourteen years and I’ve never hugged or kissed you…or anything?”

She allowed herself to smile also. “If we’re going to be married, don’t you think you should?”

With a laugh, Adam reached for her. Fingers under her chin, he tilted her head and pressed his mouth against hers, kissing her soundly.

She was as warm and soft as he’d always imagined.

“Uncle Adam?” Andrea, sounding shocked, asked loudly, “What are you doing?”

“Celebrating,” Adam answered, as he released Shalimar and smiled at his niece. “Your Aunt Shali and I are getting married.” He looked past Drea to Andrew. “Drew, I’m going to be your new stepdad.”