Voices by M J Marlow (most popular novels TXT) 📖

to freshen up now. Dinner will be
in an hour. The maid will be along to let you know.”
“Thank you for taking me in, sir…”
“None of that, girl,” Moris broke in, smiling. “I was more
than willing to take you in. You know how much I have always
enjoyed our lessons on my visits to my cousin and the farms.” I
nodded and he was satisfied I was settling down. “This place is
much too large for one lonely widower, my dear child. It will be
nice to have a young person around again even for a little while.”
He caught a look on my face and looked at me in concern.
“Something is bothering you, child?”
“I don’t know what to make of it,” I said as I told him what
had happened in the caverns. “I have never met this young man,
but he spoke to me as if he were someone who had a true interest
in my life.” I did not see Moris’ reaction as he lowered his eyes
from mine. “Why would he say such things, Uncle Moris? It was
really unnerving.”
“Perhaps he mistook you for someone else?” Moris
suggested; knowing full well this was not the case. “Put it aside,
Laura. You have other things you need to concentrate on now.” I
nodded and he left the suite.
I sank down on the couch, overwhelmed. Once I recovered
my wits, I picked up my bags and went to put them in the closet,
dropping them on the large dresser in the center in shock as I
stepped into what would have been a bedroom back at the farm.
The room-sized closet was filled with clothing. I did not need to
check to know that it would all be in my size. It was obvious that
Joris and his cousin had been planning this with my Grandfather
for some time.
“After dinner,” Moris said as we sat at dinner together an
hour later, “I will set up the computer so you can go through a
practice exam in each subject. Just so you can go to the Solace
with confidence.”
“I’d like that,” I smiled at the old man. He actually blushed
and I was even more in love with the old darling than before. He
was not silent and spare with his emotions like his cousin. I knew
what this man was thinking; and that thought had always made me
feel safe. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do, girl,” Moris nodded and tried to
regain his composure. It had been some time since he had a young
female around. He wasn’t certain he remembered how to treat a
girl on his own. His darling wife had always been around to help
him with their children. “If there is anything else I can do to make
your stay here more enjoyable, just let me know.”
We finished our dinner and he took me into his office and
showed me how to use the computer to set up the practice exams.
Once I assured him I was fine, he kissed me on the forehead and
left. He closed the door and I turned to the computer. The exams
were simple enough to take and I found that most of the material
was surprisingly basic. I had known most of it from the age of
twelve, when Joris had decided I had the intelligence and aptitude
to be a doctor. Moris Tulin had taken me under his wing then, and
helped me with my studies on his monthly visits to the farming
regions. Even the harder material was common sense. I finished all
of the practices and was stunned when I saw the final page. It read
‘Congratulations, Candidate Greyson. You are now accepted into
the Solace training crew. A representative will contact you once
the Solace is back at Jarusian.’
“Joris suggested, and I agreed, that it would be easier for
you,” Moris explained when I questioned him; “if you took your
exams this way. I made all the necessary arrangements with the
Captain of the Solace last week.” He looked at the chronometer.
“You must be tired, Laura. Why don’t you go to bed now? We’ll
talk in the morning.” I left the room and he closed the door and
locked it. He called up the test results and whistled. “Joris was
right! This child is exceptional!”
He went over the exams question by question to assure
himself that he was not misreading the results. There had only ever
been one other student who had even come close to scoring so
highly, he thought as he closed the program. He thought over what
I had told him of the young man who had talked to me back in the
caverns and he was worried. He went to the communications
terminal.
“Governor Dav, please,” he said simply. “This is
Administrator Tulin.” He waited for the connection to go through
and saw the man’s cold expression. “You asked me to let you
know how the child did on her exams.” The Governor nodded.
“She passed with the highest scores ever seen. The Solace has just
taken her on as a trainee medic, and she will be leaving when they
arrive at the end of the month.” He hesitated a moment. “She met
Prince Aden.”
“Where?”
“In the caverns near the farms,” Moris told him. “He was
there on an inspection tour and took a moment to speak to her.” He
frowned at the dark look on Natan’s face. “There is nothing more
for now. I bid you good night, Governor.”
Natan stared at the blank screen for several seconds after
Moris had signed off, and then slammed his fist down onto his
desk top. He looked over at the man seated on the other side of his
desk and Lorn Aken, Magistrate for the colony, nodded that he had
heard. Natan knew that the time they had both hoped would never
come was about to arrive. When my parents had been murdered
with the medical team, Natan had done everything he could to keep
me safe from the men who had performed that heinous act.
“Being out there is going to expose her to their scrutiny,”
Natan frowned as he got up and went to the windows. “I don’t
need to tell you how important her security is, Lorn.”
“Your granddaughter will become our Top Priority,
Natan,” Aken nodded. “Another matter has come to my attention.
Admiral Wainwright called.” Natan turned at that. “He has been
receiving some very disturbing reports regarding the Romulans and
their interest in Prince Aden. Your granddaughter’s name was
mentioned in the communiqués.”
“You must see to it,” Natan frowned darkly; “that they
never get close to her.”
“She will not know we are watching, my friend, but we will
be watching.” He looked at the man sadly. “You are not going to
tell her, are you?”
“The day I bring her to me,” he told his cousin; “is my
warning to you that someone is moving on her.” He shook his head
as Aken started to argue. “I will not make her a target too soon,
Lorn. Let her have some semblance of calm before the storm hits.
If she is lucky, she will be on the Solace and remain oblivious to
the threats facing her because of a silly tradition that married her to
Aden in her infancy.”
“Her parents would have liked it that way,” Aken replied.
“I have always wondered if they were murdered because of that
‘silly’ tradition, Natan.”
“Why?” Natan finished. He shook his head. “A marriage
between my granddaughter and the future Emperor of the Hazri
shouldn’t be drawing such attention.”
“You forget just how fervent some of those Hazri are,”
Aken frowned; “about forming an alliance with the Romulans.” He
shook his head. “Those fools! How could they think that would be
a wise decision?”
“It is not our worry,” Natan replied. “Seeing that my
granddaughter gets off Jarusian safely is.”
Three Romulan ships slipped across their side of the
Neutral Zone and took orbit around a colony world two days in.
They had traveled cloaked, to keep from being spotted by
Federation patrols; but there had been no confrontation. This
bothered the man who was striding towards the shuttle bay with
the commander of the vessel, his uncle. He knew that the
Federation was aware of this mission. He had seen to that
personally.
“The Emperor is not going to be gentle, Tal,” his uncle,
Commander Terrh Jo’rek stated as they entered the bay. He looked
at his handsome nephew; the very image of the successful
Romulan warrior, and his frown deepened. “Are you certain this is
the situation you wish to challenge his will over?”
“It is time we made our stand, Uncle,” Tal Jo’rek e-Remus
replied. “Imagine it. I have been ordered to take this prince and
make the girl his wife. With them as our hostages, we will control
the Hazri Empire. Our household will have their sanctuary.”
“The Emperor believes we are doing this for the glory and
honor of the Empire, Tal,” Terrh frowned. “And his niece believes
you do this to bring her a breeder; a pet…”
“His niece is a symbol of all that is wrong with our Empire,
Uncle,” Tal broke in coldly. “Arrogant, greedy, and without any
thought of others. No,” he shook his head. “We go in and give all
appearance of obeying the order of our Emperor. When the prince
has his wife, we will call our household to us and take up residence
on the Hazri capital planet. Only then will we inform the
Federation of the true nature of our mission.” He laid his hand on
his uncle’s arm. “Do not look so worried, Uncle. There is nothing
that can go wrong. It is the Hazri Emperor himself who has
approved our plan.”
“Do you have to stay on this backwater world long?”
“Only as long as it takes for us to make the prince wed the
girl,” Tal shrugged. “There are officials the Emperor asked me to
meet with; ‘secret’ missives that need to be delivered.” He smiled
at that. Thanks to his imperial training, he was an expert at opening
such missives and leaving no trace of his presence. “I must assure
that the quarters are worthy of the presence of the imperial prince
and his future princess.”
“You are walking a very fine line, nephew,” Terrh frowned
as he watched his nephew board the shuttle. “Pray you do not find
the Emperor handing you your head.”
“If he does,” Tal told his uncle as his eyes went hard; “you
and the rest of my household are protected. Besides,” his eyes went
even harder; “I am his niece’s favorite. He would not dare cause
her any distress.”
“I would be careful toying with that one, nephew,” Terrh
frowned. “She can not be as vapid and shallow as you assume.”
“You have not had to spend time in her company, Uncle,”
Tal frowned back. “She is every bit as vapid and shallow as we
assume. ‘Toying’ with her has allowed me to gain valued
information for our contacts in the Federation.” He bowed his head
to the pilot. “We may go now, No’red.”
“Yes, lord prince,” the man nodded. An old retainer of the
house of Jo’rek; as were all the people close enough to overhear
such treasonous and slanderous speech, he began to raise the
shuttle hatch. “I would strap in, Your Highness,” he said, his
double intendre intended; “it’s going to be a bumpy ride. There are
storms ahead.”
Terrh watched the shuttle leave and then returned to the
bridge. He barked out orders to his crew and they moved out to
patrol. His nephew’s presence on this world would be certain to
draw attention. It was his task to make certain no one they did not
wish to contact the boy