CHAPTER 22: Conspiracy

The Chem clock told him he slept for only a few minutes.

He didn’t move or alter his breathing. His senses told him what he needed to know without the requisite civilized responses, and rather than give his awareness away Alexander stayed still and listened to his senses.

A foreign scent drifted in the air from behind. A soft footfall scuffed the metal floor, experienced rather than heard. His senses told him the position and the movement of the threat, and when it passed a certain point he acted. Alexander’s actions were half planned, half instinctive. He lay on his side with someone advancing behind his back. In one spasmodic thrashing he twisted and turned, lashing out with his leg in a wide sweeping slash. His sweep caught hold of someone’s legs, taking them out from under them.

Alexander leapt up, eyes wide and seething, even as a dark shape crashed to the metal floor. He lunged towards the figure to tackle and hold, but the figure was swifter than he. It recovered, scrambling to the side with a roll and a lithe leap. The shadow of a gun stopped Alexander from further advancement.

“Good evening, Alexander,” exclaimed a voice, at once Chem and male. The lights snapped on to reveal a Chem, as tall as Alexander, handsome and lean, perhaps three-fifths his weight.

The Chem smiled and applauded him, “Well done!”

Alexander relaxed, crossing his arms over his breast. “I’m so pleased I passed your little test. Is there anything else, or are you disturbing my slumber for sport alone?”

“Not at all, not at all my worthy charge,” the Chem laughed. “I’m here for a reason. Let me introduce myself, I am Nazar, and I’ll command the ship which takes you to Pantrixnia. I understand you’re prepared?”

“As well as I shall ever be.”

“Really, have you no unfinished business on Chem then?”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed, wondering whether the question was a trap.

“Indeed, Alexander of Terra, you spoke better before the Assemblage,” Nazar told him. “In that hall you proclaimed how honorable your folk were, and how steadfastly you met peril. I even recall anger when you thought yourself insulted. Are your words simply words, or is there resolve behind them?”

“I do not hide behind my words, Commander Nazar,” Alexander told him. “Have a care lest I make you put that gun to use. What’s your game?”

“I merely question the temerity of your word,” Nazar told him.

“That is enough to tempt me,” Alexander told him, moving forward.

Nazar held the gun up and said, “It’s your own silence, Alexander of Terra, which incriminates you.”

“How so, what are you talking about?”

“Why Bureel’s challenge to you, of course,” Nazar told him.

“Who is Bureel, and what is this of a challenge?” Alexander asked viciously. There was something smelling of intrigue to Nazar’s game, something which must have advantage to both Alexander and the Chem, so he played along. It wasn’t so difficult to act enraged at the thought of insult, as it was essential to Alexander’s present character. What made it unconsciously easier to react, as opposed to act, were the personas of days past which every hour became more and more a part of the instinctive Alexander.

“Hasn’t Nazeera told you?” Nazar asked him. Alexander’s response was exactly what Nazar apparently expected, and desired, as he continued in a more pleasant manner. “Well, then, my sister is at times more concerned with affairs of state than minor items such as points of honor. Yes, Nazeera is my sister, and the head of our house. Bureel, by the way, is her husband, though not of her own choosing. That is another story, however. It occurs to me, if you’re truly ignorant of Bureel’s challenge, that I have wronged you; if I wrove done so you have my sincere apologies.”

Nazar was circumnavigating a point he wanted to get across, and Alexander was beginning to see that there was more to his position than that of a gladiator awaiting execution. Nazar obviously had no love for his brother in law, and Alexander was not above helping Nazeera out of such a situation, especially if it furthered his cause.

“I have immense respect for Nazeera, and I wouldn’t consciously take any action to cause sorrow to her or her house. Yet I cannot overlook a point of honor, especially if I’m slighted behind my back. What of this Bureel’s challenge to me?”

“Bureel is an interesting sort of fellow in the most despicable sense,” Nazar told him, adding, “That is a personal opinion of my own. My sister and I, however, agree on many things, the soul of honor being one of them. To make a challenge is a serious act, don’t you think?”

“None more serious.”

“Perhaps I exaggerate my brother-in-laws measure, but where the honor of one’s family is concerned I must be exacting, and stringent in my regard.”

“A despicable act brings shame on not only the offender, but the whole house. In my view, it is often better that the offending member settle the matter honorably than to blight the family with shame. Sometimes, however, there are practicalities which prevent even these things from happening. A House will hide its embarrassments for the greater good.”

“At times, however, such attention to detail can be to the benefit of a house. At other times such self reflection can benefit both houses of the conflict, and their empires.”

“Say on.”

“Allow me to show you something, Alexander of Terra, which you may find interesting.” Nazar played a tape of the Assemblage. The camera zoomed in to display the discussion of Nazeera, Nazar and a Chem identified as Bureel. Nazar watched, needing to add no narrative to the scene. As the Chem warrior and statesman expected Alexander said nothing. He simply glowered, his scowl deepening with every word from Bureel.