Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire by J. W. Murison Read Free Book Online Page B

the cover off, and had a good belly
laugh.’
    ‘ All of this, of
course, was a gift from the Emperor. We all received one once we
had passed military academy. We had got drunk in the officers mess
and returned here; the statue was waiting by the door and we
decided to simply carry it in. I’m still not sure who tripped, but
the statue went tumbling. It is made from a very brittle stone and
must have shattered into hundreds of pieces. To deface anything
with the Emperor’s face on it is a serious crime – smashing a
statue of him is a disaster. We were all much younger then and
panicked. Gairloch sent out for a dozen packets of glue and we
tried to piece it all back together.’
    ‘ He told me you
raided the cellar here and were each sitting with at least a couple
of bottles of wine at your side.’
    Rannalld’s laugh echoed around the
cellar. ‘That’s right, and the drunker we got the worse it got. We
all fell asleep after it was finished. When we woke in the morning,
we couldn’t believe what we had done. So we snuck it down here and
ordered another. It cost us a pretty penny too.’
    ‘ A secret shared
among loving brothers.’
    Rannalld felt his heart soar, ‘It
certainly is.’
     
    By the time the Emperor had replied,
Rannalld had shown her around the house and the private garden. Mya
thought she could have built four villages in the space.
    ‘ You have to
understand that everything belongs to the Emperor. We can decorate
the house however we wish and the gardens are our own private
affair. The rest of the land belongs to the Emperor and is none of
your concern. Of course you are free to wander over it as much as
you like. The boundaries of this estate are easy to see.’ He swept
his hand round in a large circle. ‘They are bound by the hills you
see surrounding us. There is a small villa on the edge of the
mountains for when it gets too hot. We don’t have seasons as I
understand you do on your planet but there are times when our sun
goes through periods of higher activity. When this happens it can
become quite unbearable at this latitude. That’s the best time to
live in the highlands.’
    ‘ The heat here
doesn’t bother me. I lived in a jungle all of my life where the
temperature was much hotter than it is here now. What bothers me
most is the longer days. At home we have twelve hours of sunlight
and twelve hours of darkness. Here it is eighteen hours of
both.’
    ‘ Ah, you mean Earth
hours.’
    ‘ Yes. What are
those?’ She pointed to some strange plants that ran down the
walls.
    ‘ I did some research
and the nearest Earth equivalent would be trees. They convert
carbon dioxide into oxygen.’ He saw her frown. ‘Air you can
breathe.’
    ‘ Ah, I get it. I have
heard people talk about that. I am afraid I have almost no
education. To you I must seem a strange primitive.’
    Rannalld suddenly felt awkward,
‘Actually it doesn’t bother me. I find it somewhat refreshing.’
    She swished her hair, ‘In what
way?’
    He hesitated a moment, ‘I’m not sure
really. Maybe it’s because of the way you don’t try and hide it.
You are completely forthright and honest. When you live within
privileged circles, there are a lot of people who pretend to be
something they are not. They try and deceive to curry favour. It is
exactly the same if you are trying to deal with politicians. We
live in a world of half-truths and shadows.’ He lifted his hands to
indicate the estate, ‘There are Modloch that would kill to be in a
position like you. Yet you do not feel you deserve such a position
in life. I am beginning to see what it is my brother saw in you.
Did you speak to him often?’
    ‘ He invited me to
dinner a few times. After the meal we would sit and
talk.’
    ‘ You mean he sat and
talked.’
    Her laugh did strange things to his
ears, ‘No, not all the time.’
    His wrist communicator beeped and he
read the message. ‘The Emperor has denied your request. I am sorry
Mya.’
    She looked round