Pawns and Symbols Read online

  Tsuyen's family was one of several who lived on the station and served as laborers. She worked as a general kitchen maid and also helped in one of the livestock barns. She customarily ate in the courtyard and after a few days her curiosity overcame her cultural reservations. Through her Jean began to gain insight into some of the more mundane aspects of Klingon life that Aernath neglected in his complicated disquisitions on interplanetary politics and intrigue. In return, Jean provided an endless source of fascination and amusement to Tsuyen.

  This evening after third mess Jean lingered in the courtyard. Tsuyen had promised to demonstrate the use of a Klingon lap loom to her. The women of this region were apparently famous for their weaving and on several occasions Jean had noticed them at work by their doorsteps. Her kitchen duties done, Tsuyen appeared with her loom. Settling her back against the low stone wall of the courtyard, she bunched her skirt above her knees. With one sturdy foot planted in the dirt, she held the loom taut between toes and waist. With the other foot she worked the two wands attached to the warp. Jean watched as she worked rhythmically. "Let me try it," she coaxed, as she pulled off her boots and sat on the ground beside the Klingon woman. Tsuyen helped her attach the loom to her waist and showed her how to hold it. Jean worked with clumsy concentration until suddenly her toes slipped.

  With a peal of laughter, Tsuyen pushed her over into the basket of weft threads. The loom was a tangled mess. "You're as clumsy as a boy-child with that. Here, give it to me." She retrieved the loom and skillfully untangled it. Then she set to work again. "Is it true Commander Kang captured you and spared your life?"

  "He pulled me out of the wreckage of my lab after an earthquake. I'd have died if someone hadn't come along about then," Jean replied.

  "So to repay your bond-debt you're working on a new food grain to feed his people. That's good." She nodded her vigorous approval. "It's a fitting tribute to that commander. You're fortunate it was Kang. From him it may even win you your freedom if you succeed."

  "It better," Jean said drily. Then she asked, "What would you say if I told you it was a gesture of goodwill from the Federation, that they would have given help anyway if you had asked?"

  Tsuyen spat derisively at her feet. "That's a very bad joke. Just the sort of sneaky trick your Federation would try though, to spot our weak points. But you're not like that. You'll work out your bond-debt like a true Klingon." As far as the woman was concerned that settled the issue.

  Jean glanced at the lengthening seyilt shadows across the courtyard and realized with a start that Tirax was lounging in a doorway watchig her. She wondered if he had caught any of their conversation. Kang had been explicit about not discussing the Federation and she felt sure Tirax would delight in reporting anything that would compromise her position. Seeing he was noticed, Tirax sauntered past the two women and left the courtyard. Jean suppressed a shiver. At Tsuyen's glance, she explained, "I think that man really hates me."

  "Then stay clear of him," Tsuyen responded promptly. "He's about as safe as a cornered slean." The slean was a furred predator of the Tahrnian grasslands. Jean had seen one that had been bagged on the station perimeter by Security. She found the comparison apt.

  They had arrived in early spring. In addition to regular test plots, she and Aernath were testing both kinds of quadrotriticale under various special conditions. The work was going well. Spending her days in the fields or lab with Aernath and the field hands, Jean could almost forget she was deep in hostile territory, half a galaxy away from her own planet.

  This morning the illusion was almost complete. She had risen early and left the compound before first mess. Now, seated in the grove Tsuyen had showed her a few days before, she reveled in the tranquil scene below her. The sun had just risen. A light dawn breeze rippled the surface of the pond in the hollow. The normal sounds of birds and insects rose around her. A graceful orange-furred animal was feeding at the edge of the pond. It fished here and there in the shallows with quick movements of its forepaws. Suddently it reared, alert, and faced in her direction. Could the breeze have carried her scent? Jean wondered. The sudden crack of a branch behind her brought her to her feet.

  Tirax stood a short distance away holding the snapped stick in his hands. He continued his ominous appraisal of her. At length, in a tone of quiet menace he demanded, "Do you have a dagger with you, human?"

  Jean's heart was pounding and her throat went paper dry. She tried to keep her voice steady. "Why should I need one here?"

  He tossed aside the sticks. "You are a fool. Do you know what I can do to you?" Panic rooted Jean to the spot. Tirax watched her, somehow cognizant of her terror, deliberately savoring it. Then he sprang, seizing her wrist and twisting it cruelly behind her. He pulled her roughly against him, glaring pure venom. "Any—thing—I—want—to … So could anyone else on these grounds. If anything happens to you, Kang will personally claim my life by slow torture. Now you get back to the compound and don't go wandering off by yourself." He released her abruptly and turned on his heel without a backward glance.

  Frightened, Jean started to follow automatically. Then she rebelled. Running. forward, she confronted the startled Klingon. "No!" she screamed furiously, "I'm not going to let you take away what little bit of peace and beauty I can find here. Kang ordered me to work on this station. He ordered you to protect me. I'm doing my job. Now you do yours!" With her last bit of fury she added viciously, "And stay out of my sight while you're doing it. You proved this morning you can do that!"

  Tirax stared at her in astonishment. The hatred in his eyes was joined by a grudging respect. "Siee! Kang is right. You'd defy Durgath himself in his lair. Fortunately for you, human, I follow orders. But someday your usefulness to Kang will be at an end. Then we shall see how tough you are." He strode off in the direction of the station.

  Amazed at her own audacity now that the fury had passed, Jean contemplated the receding back of her foe, knowing that nothing but Kang's word stood as shield between her and that implacable hatred. She had best take what precautions she could. That afternoon she persuaded Aernath to give her a dagger. Although she persisted in her solitary walks she never again ventured out without it in her boot, Klingon-style. Whether Tirax trailed her, she never knew. If he did, he took her advice and stayed out of sight.

  Carefully worded questioning of Aernath yielded the information that Tirax also was not of Tahrn but from Tsorn, one of the rim planets of the Klingon Empire. While apparently completely loyal to Kang as his commander, he made no attempt to conceal his hostility to humans and the Federation. He was of the faction most opposed to any negotiation. "And therefore, he would also be opposed to any reconciliation of Mara with Kang," Aernath concluded. "Though, of course, he would never say that openly."

  Jean drew her cloak tightly around her shoulders, shivering slightly in the early morning chill as she and Aernath watched the ploughman. Both the Czerny strain and the regular one had done well. Some of the early stands were near maturity. The Klingon laborer was preparing a fall-planting test plot, using the traditional animal drawn plough still in common use in much of the countryside. They watched the ancient double plough lay down neat dead-furrows. The moist smell of fresh turned soil permeated the air. She filled her lungs appreciatively.

  "Let's go check plot K-Thirty-six and see if any heads look ready yet," Aernath suggested.

  Jean toed a clod of dirt pensively. "Aernath, how long will we be left here? Do you know?"

  He shot her a quick penetrating glance. "Hard to say. My orders were 'detachment for temporary duty assignment'. That is usually less than a year, but it could be longer."

  "How will you know? What will happen next? And what about me?"

  "I'll get my orders sent from Kang. The next step—for you or me—that's up to him. We'll just have to wait." He put a cloaked arm around her shoulder drawing her closer to his side. "Meanwhile, you couldn't ask for a better place to work than here. Let's look at K-Thirty-six."

  "You mea
n you couldn't ask for a better place," Jean said. "I could—any place in Federation space would do."

  Aernath stopped and drew her into a gentle embrace. "Heeey! You're really upset this morning. Has Tirax been after you again?"

  She shook her head, then simply stood a moment savoring the physical pleasure of cloak and body warmth and the mental comfort of a friendly touch. Such a fragile thing against the weight of hostility and the vast stretches of space that separated her from home. She tried to put her despair into words. "No, but Tirax symbolizes the whole Klingon Empire that stands between me and home. You make it possible for me to endure it but there's no way you can change the outcome. That leaves Kang. He frightens me, but he is my only line back to the Federation. What if he simply leaves me here—abandons me—to Tirax? There's nothing I can do to stop it."

  "We are all prey for Durgath's palate," Aernath responded soberly. "But don't go looking for his lair. His claws haven't closed on you yet. Tell you what, after we get this plot planted let's take the rest of the day off and hike up to your pond. Maybe we'll even see your mystery animal."

  Obviously he meant to cheer her up. She smiled and changed the subject. "I keep hearing references to Durgath. Who or what is he anyway?"

  "The giver and taker of life, also the Klingon god of war. You must have seen his image in the emperor's reception hall?"

  "The beast on the mural?"

  "Yes."

  "Oh! And the image in Kang's quarters on the cruiser."

  "Right. All cruisers are dedicated to Durgath. On most worlds the ruler is accepted as his temporal representative. He also plays a prominent role in the m—Siee! Look at that! I told you this plot would be ready today."

  In the cool morning sunlight the heads of grain gleamed coppery gold. Other things forgotten for the moment, Jean watched as Aernath plucked and threshed one on the palm of his hand. Blowing away the chaff, he held out his palm to her. She took a few kernels and chewed them experimentally. Aernath popped the rest in his mouth. "Yeah. It's ready. Let's get some samples for analysis. They can cut the rest this afternoon."

  This first plot had been planted under standard conditions. Some of the later experimental-condition plots were nearly ready, too. They completed their tour of the plots with satisfaction. Aernath handed her the harvested samples. "Here, take these back to the lab and thresh them out. They'll be dry enough for analysis tomorrow. Then why don't you see if you can talk Tsuyen out of a food parcel for this afternoon? I'll go supervise the fall planting."

  Back in the lab she spread the newly harvested kernels carefully on a shallow rack, then gave some brief instructions to Kuri, the young ag-tech apprentice who had been working with them for the past few weeks. She found Tsuyen in the kitchen and wheedled a promise of a food basket out of her. Then she rejoined Aernath.

  The point of this planting was to duplicate conditions as they existed in much of the planet's rural areas. Thus, much of the work was being done by hand. After ploughing, the land was worked with a heavy double-headed implement, a sort of cross between a mattock and a rake. She tried her hand at it but that caused so much general merriment and distraction among the field hands that she gave it up. One old farmer patted her arm consolingly. "Don't be discouraged, daughter. It takes long years of practice to swing it smoothly. You'll get it in time."

  Jean was both warmed and saddened by this. She encountered little personal hostility among the farm laborers though their prejudices against humans in general were intact and vigorous. But was she in fact condemned to spend the rest of her life here?

  By mid-afternoon, the planting nearly done, they directed their attention to crews cutting plots K-36 and K-43. Aernath had decided the second one was ready as well. The autumn sun was at its warmest. Satisfied that all was going according to schedule, Aernath turned to Jean. "Well, shall we pick up the basket and head for the pond?"

  They had a pleasant hike to the pond. Seated on a flat rock at the water's edge watching small pond creatures skim below the surface, Aernath returned to her gloomy forboding of the morning. "There's no love lost between Klingons and humans as you well know. Your Federation now lies athwart our natural path of expansion. The hostility is natural. So are your fears I guess, but I don't think you understand the importance of what you and I are doing here. It's vital. Because of that no one is going to harm you. We have the finest resources of the Empire at our disposal. Surely that says something to you."

  "Weighed against that is what Tirax says," she replied grimly. "That when my usefulness to Kang is at an end then he will be waiting to get me. I don't flatter myself that I'll get a chance to defend myself then. By our success it would seem I am signing my own death warrant. What's to stop him?"

  Perhaps she had cut close indeed. Aernath's response was angry. "Kang's word and mine, that you are indispensable to the project. After all these months you still really don't give Klingons any credit for honor or integrity, do you? The Commander has given you his word! Or does that count for nothing among your Starfleet officers?" His blue eyes flashed.

  Jean swallowed an angry retort. "Aernath, I'm sorry. It's just that I feel so vulnerable when Tirax—"

  "Tirax!" Disgustedly he flung the straw he had been chewing into the pond creating a microcosm of watery pandemonium. "Yes! He would cheerfully cut your throat and sometimes I think I understand why. By the claws of Durgath, he is a Klingon Imperial Fleet officer! He lives by his vow. He will not contravene his commander's orders."

  In his agitation he stood and strode to the bank. "Jean, your 'Czerny strain' is the more promising of the two. You're the originator of that grain. If we encounter any problems, your knowledge and experience with it will be irreplaceable. Kang understands that—I've told him more than once. Controlling access to you as well as seed supplies gives him tremendous power in the cultivation and use of this grain. And, Cymele help us, we need that grain!" He dropped to her side again with a groan. "The death rate on Tahrn this year is approaching two percent. Infant mortality is soaring. The harvest is very poor this year and the emperor has just announced more stringent rationing for the winter. There have been riots, including a small one in the capital itself. And I heard this morning that the virus has spread even more rapidly on Peneli and Klairos than here."

  This was news to Jean. With a jolt she realized how isolated they were in the cocoon of the experiment station. Here, there was no evidence of famine and starvation. Hearing no news from beyond the gate, she had gradually banished the images of suffering from her mind. Now she saw them again in Aernath's face. "Aernath, forgive me. I didn't know." Impulsively she reached out to cradle his head against her shoulder. It was the wrong move. She felt him stiffen and withdraw.

  "I shouldn't have spoken of it. However, you can take comfort in knowing there are that many fewer Klingons waiting to cut your throat."

  "Now thats really not fair! I didn't ask to be brought here. But I would have volunteered to come and help stave off this famine if you could have swallowed that damned Klingon pride long enough to admit the disaster and ask for help. I want to save those lives as much as you do. But for God's sake, don't ask me to pretend the hostility isn't there or that some days it doesn't half terrify me to death." She was shaking with indignation.

  Aernath took this in with some consternation. "All right. All right. Truce. Siee! I intended this afternoon to cheer you up and now I'm only making it worse. I hope I have at least convinced you that we are not about to toss you bound into the teeth of Durgath?"

  She was not entirely convinced that her position was so secure as he painted. Despite what he chose to tell Kang—for whatever reasons of his own—she knew Aernath now knew almost as much as she did about her grain. Nonetheless she managed a smile. "Well, you have convinced me that you won't and that you firmly believe Kang won't either. For the moment, I'll have to be content with that."

  "Let's eat." He opened the basket, poured and handed her a cup of Tahrnian ale, "To our success and survival.
"

  "I'll drink to that!" she responded fervently.

  Their picnic was cut short by dark masses of clouds rolling in from the northwest. It had also grown markedly colder. The storm struck before they reached the station compound and both of them were soaked to the skin by the time they reached their quarters.

  The storm lasted much of the night and in the morning Jean found a light dusting of snow on the ground as she stepped outside. She immediately turned in the direction of their test plots. Aernath had beat her there. They stared in dismay at the wind and snow damage. A couple of plots were completely ruined. The others would recover or could be salvaged by immediate harvest.

  "At least it didn't lodge badly. We can save most of it."

  "Yes. I'll get the hands on it right after breakfast. It's good we got the first two plots done yesterday. We can run those analyses this morning. Come on, let's go eat." He set off for the mess hall. They ate together and shortly were joined by Kuri who had also been out to survey the damage. Aernath gave him the responsibility of supervising the salvage harvesting.

  Heads together, Jean and Aernath bent over the analyzer watching the results emerge with mounting elation. "And protein … twenty-six point nine percent!" Cheerny! We did it!" In his exultation he seized her in a hug and swung her around. "Now that will feed an empire …" Abruptly his voice trailed off and he stiffened, looking over her shoulder toward the lab door. Jean turned in his grasp to see what had startled him.

  An eminence grise, Kang stood in the doorway regarding them somberly. One could not tell whether he had just arrived or had been observing them for some time.