Teela of Kolander Read online

  Teela of Kolander

  F. Hampton Carmine

  Copyright © 2018 F. Hampton Carmine

  All rights reserved.

  DEDICATION

  I want to dedicate this story to everyone who is struggling to discover who they are, and to all those who help them.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I want to thank my family for putting up with me during the writing of this story. Thanks to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Group of the Durham Writers Group for excellent and constructive feedback.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Appendixes

  About The Author

  Also by F. Hampton Carmine

  Connect with Me

  Chapter One

  -Escape-

  Teela shuddered at the thought of the absolute nothingness that existed outside the bubble of their ship's warp-drive. She tried not to look at the viewing portal in the luxurious royal sitting room displaying warp-space's flat, depth-less black, a purity of nothing, an emptiness that made her stomach turn.

  She understood the science behind the warp bubble that surrounded the Empress' personal yacht, but the absoluteness of the void beyond it was terrifying to her. Even normal empty space was something. Out there, outside of normal space, well, it made her head hurt and her stomach weak. But she could not show her feelings. She could only stand still, mute, ready to attend to the royal family's slightest whim.

  The Empress of Barkol and her daughter, the Princess, sat quietly on the other side of the cabin from Teela. The Empress read calmly from her small hand held communication screen and the Princess practiced drawing on hers. Their faces showed none of the fears and worry that must be raging behind the calm facade royalty were expected and trained to present.

  Garela of Bardonis, the Empress of the far flung Barkol Empire, sat stoic and composed, even though her empire had been violently stripped from her, usurped in a coup. The Emperor, her husband, had been murdered in front of her by Kregus, the Emperor's own brother. He had seized control of the Empire in a violent takeover forcing them to flee their home and their planet to avoid certain death at his rebels' hands.

  The Princess and Heiress Apparent, Tulorus of Bardonis, sat appearing as equally composed as her mother, but Teela knew that Tulorus' tranquil exterior was a sham. She knew the Princess even better than her own mother did. Tulorus' calmness was mostly shock coupled with an inherent vacuousness that made it difficult for her to truly understand the gravity of her current situation, or any situation out of the ordinary.

  The many days of their flight, had taken its toll on Teela. Unlike the Empress, she had felt anything but serene, but had been required to bury her feelings as befitted her servant's position. Even now, eight long empty days into their flight, as the royal family once again sat around doing nothing, Teela stood nearby stiff with her own repressed fear and unresolved shock.

  Her request to change her assigned station away from the open viewing portal had been denied with derision. So she remained in sight of the nothingness that made her ill even to think about, stewing in her own fear and nausea. She stood ready to address their slightest command as she had been doing every day of her life since she had been six and a half years old.

  The stoic, calm demeanor demonstrated by the Empress, escaped Teela's grasp despite the fact that she had spent nearly the last four years of her life assisting the princess with all of her lessons, academic and deportment. She had even attended the tutoring sessions with her, being forced to help Tulorus study, often doing the schoolwork for her. She had absorbed all the knowledge the tutors had laboriously attempted to drilled into Tulorus. Teela had never complained about that particular duty, knowing, that as a servant, she would never receive an education any other way.

  The sciences, mathematics, languages, histories and politics had all been easy for Teela, but she knew she would never understand or be able to demonstrate royal deportment. Any appearance of a calm exterior from her was the result of strongly repressed emotions, not confidence in one's self and one's station in life.

  The only clue to the royal family's true feelings were carefully hidden behind their eyes, where Teela recognized the hollow look of dread and fear for the future. She knew that with Korg, the deposed Emperor of the Barkol Empire now dead, the royal family were now fugitives, and by association, so was she.

  In her mind's eye, Teela could still see Korg's smoking remains laying on the surface of their ship's docking pad. They had scrambled on board their ship in near panic and took off just as the rebels swarmed into the royal family's private space dock. Korg may have been a brutal dictator but he had protected his family at the cost of his own life, shot in the back as he shielded them with his body.

  Teela's own feelings for the royal family were confused and disjointed. Korg had been a despot, cruel and heavy handed, even with his own people. However, for the past last nearly four years, he had also been the only adult male in her life. He had been the only father-like figure she could remember, regardless of his remoteness and cruelty.

  Try as she would, Teela could only recall vague, hazy images of what must have been a farm, before four years ago. The first solid, memory she could recall clearly, was serving the Princess breakfast one day, when she had been six years old. She knew the memories of her life before her royal servitude had been blocked and wiped as was standard practice for all incoming servants. It was so frustrating not to have a history and fond memories of a family of her own.

  The Empress, Garela, had been a little nicer, but had been no mother to her. In fact, she had almost not been a mother to her own daughter, the Princess Tulorus, who was only a little more than a year older than Teela. The Princess had not been smart enough to be evil, just self centered and vacant.

  Now, their royal lifestyle was over, and they were fleeing at many times the speed of light from rebels intent on killing them. However, Teela's life of servitude continued, unchanged. They were moving toward an unknown destination in the Empress' personal, highly advanced, faster-than-light ship. But it had now been moving at maximum-plus velocity for more than eight days and Teela knew that the ship was never designed to move this fast, this long. She had no idea where they were headed and it was not her place to know or even ask. She felt like part of the ship itself or their luggage, hurtling through space.

  Her self-indulgent mental rumination was cut short by the sudden sounding of the ship's warning klaxons. The intercom burst to life shortly after with the voice of the captain. “Your Highness! We have pushed this little ship beyond its limits considering the damage we took during our escape from the Donistor palace. We must locate a bio-compatible planet im
mediately. We have already slowed our velocity to reduce the rate at which we are loosing structural integrity.”

  The Empress nodded without visible excitement. “Thank you Captain. Please alter our course toward the third planet of star G-85 in the fourth quadrant. The initial course I gave you has had us traveling in that direction now for eight days and it should be close. It is a primitive planet that I have been monitoring for a number of years. They have not yet traveled out of their solar system and so, are not actively monitored by the Empire. But they do have great cities, like Donistor, so we may be able to hide there for a while. The natives there call it Earth.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” There was a slight pause. “We have the course laid in. We should arrive in half a tenthday. Prepare yourselves. Our landing may still be rough.”

  Half a tenthday! Teela thought to herself. That's barely enough time to pack their clothing.

  The alarms were silenced but Teela could not shake the pall that had settled over her. She was scared of dying in space if the ship were to suddenly blow up, even though she would be sharing equally in the royal family's fate. She was also afraid of crash landing onto an unknown planet. There, she knew her own fate would be even less certain. If they landed without dying, as a lowly servant, her needs would be inconsequential and no resources would be made available for her survival.

  Without other options, Teela continued to wait for orders, standing by the hated viewing portal suspended between her ingrained duty to the Royal family and her own seething panic.

  The Empress rose without warning and grabbed the stiff and open mouthed Tulorus by her shoulders. “Tulorus! Pull yourself together, girl. You are still the legitimate heir to the Barkol Empire. Sit up and act like it.”

  The Empress' tongue lashing of the Princess also broke the spell Teela had been caught in. Tulorus? She thought. The vacuous heir to a morally bankrupt Empire that for all intents and purposes no longer even exists. Teela burst out into a hysterical laugh as her vision went dark and she slumped down against the portal. Words began to pour from her mouth in a drone. “When the heir … when the heir is chosen … the heir … when the heir is chosen.”

  Images of Kregus of Bardonis, the Emperor's younger brother and usurper of the crown, flashed through Teela's mind. He was leaning over her, smiling without humor and she began to tremble in escalating fear. “Kregus … get away!” She shouted out loud.

  “Shut up Teela. We know that bastard Kregus was behind the coup. Now get over here and help Tulorus into my suite. We have things to do and not much time.”

  Tulorus had slumped back down to her chair when the Empress had released her to speak to Teela and the Empress grabbed her arms again. “Tulorus! Get up. Don't you know what's happening? Remember who you are. With your father dead, you're the last chance for the Barkol Empire. For the First Star's sake, at least pretend to be the heir.”

  Teela still lay crumpled on the floor lost in a mental fog. Another flash of memory surged through her mind, but she knew it couldn't be a real memory. It had to be a vision or dream, because she saw herself sitting across the Princess' chest with her hands on her throat. The Princess was dead with dull bulging eyes and a purple lolling tongue. “What is happening to me?” Teela shouted.

  The Empress stepped over and slapped Teela across her cheek. “Stop it Teela! Get up, I have no time for your hysterics. I told you to help Tulorus to my suite. We must prepare for landing. Now move.”

  The pain across her face dispelled the mental fog, and once again shoving her own fear, disgust and anger down deep, Teela stood up. She grabbed one side of the Princess and the three of them staggered toward the Empress' suite even as the ship began to lurch from its first contacts with Earth's atmosphere. The pitching turned into a serious swaying back and forth by the time they reached the royal suite.

  The Empress released Tulorus and spun to face her. “Switch clothing with Teela! Do it now and do it quickly!”

  “Mother!” Tulorus said, twisting her lips into an expression of extreme distaste. “Her dress is so low. It has tears and thin spots in it. I just won't do it.”

  “Shut up, you stupid girl.” Garela said shaking her head in disgust. “Don't you understand what has happened, where we are? I'm trying to save your life. Now do as I say!”

  Teela meekly stripped her dress off and handed it to the Empress and waited for the Tulorus' dress. The Empress grunted and roughly stripped Tulorus' dress from her and tossed it to Teela. Then she forced Tulorus to step into Teela's old dress.

  “Tulorus, you and Teela must switch places to protect your life. If the rebels catch us, you and I would be summarily executed. But your servant may escape death … and even that's not certain.”

  So, I'm to be a sacrifice? But if the royal family's personal servants are to be executed anyway, what different does a dress really make? She quickly pulled the billowing royal gown over her head without comment.

  Teela dutifully buttoned Tulorus' dress up the back for her and the Empress glared at Tulorus. “Teela, turn around. Tulorus, button up her gown. The Barkol Princess would never be partially dressed.”

  Teela would never forget Tulorus' expression as she was forced to button the dress all the way up the back on her servant. As Teela smiled at Tulorus' discomfort, the Empress drug a small chest of jewels, crowns, tiaras, and other golden objects from a space under the bed and handed it to Teela. “Take this to the ship's main exit now. The people of this planet are somewhat primitive and to be safe, Tulorus may need things of value to impress the inhabitants. She may even have to buy their loyalty with these jewels and gold. Go.” The Empress turned to Tulorus. “Tulorus, come with me, there are a few things I must tell you privately about the Empire before we land.”

  The ship began to buck and jerk as it plunged ever deeper through the Earth's atmosphere. Teela felt they were moving much to fast for a controlled landing. She arrived at the anti-room for the ship's main exit just as the more severe movement began, forcing her to drop the chest. She stumbled through the room and grabbed the edges of the inner door to the airlock and looked out of the large viewing port beside it. They were streaking over a large land mass that moved ever closer. The sun was high in the sky but still in front of them. Suddenly Teela saw the edge of the land and the beginning of an expanse of water. They were going to land in the water. Could this ship even float?

  The ship suddenly pitched downward at the bow, toward the rapidly approaching water, just as the Empress and Princess stumbled into the anti-room where Teela waited. All three of them were thrown brutally against the walls and hardware of the inner door.

  “Water landing!” The Captain's voice screamed from the ships communication system, still barely audible over the sounds of the tortured metal of the failing ship. A second massive deceleration threw them once again against the wall of the chamber and a bench tore loose from the opposite wall and smashed into them as they lay bleeding on the floor. Teela could hear the Princess crying and moaning, but the Empress was silent.

  As the ship settled into a slow rocking motion, Teela assumed that they were now floating on the body of water they had crashed into. She staggered from the room and stumbled toward the bridge and the pilots, knowing she would need their help lifting the Empress and the Princess.

  She could barely see through the smoke and her feet suddenly slipped, dropping her to her knees on the corridor floor. Water splashed up to her thighs. Most of the long hallway to the bridge was gone. She saw bright light filtering through the smoke and sprays of salty water drenched her as it rushed in through the ship's missing bow. The crew were gone.

  She scrambled back to the main exit and knelt beside the Empress who was bleeding profusely from her head and her eyes were looking in different directions. “Your Highness! The pilots are gone. The ship is sinking! What are we to do?”

  With an extreme effort the Empress turned her head to her left and with a shaking arm, pointed to the airlock door. She whispered with a
bubbly voice, “Red handle.”

  Teela stumbled along the wall of the chamber till she reached the door and pulled the red and yellow lever. The inner and outer portal doors both slid open reveling an endless blue sky that met an equally endless sea at a faint horizon. The sky and water extended to the left and right as far as she could see.

  A small flexible water craft slid from a hidden compartment under the floor hitting the water with a splash where it began to expand and become more rigid; a life boat. Teela crawled back to the Empress and knelt beside her. “What next Your Majesty?”

  “Get Tulorus into the boat,” the Empress muttered through bloody lips but still did not move.

  Teela hesitated, wondering if she should help the Empress instead. “But Your Highness, you are the more injured.”

  “Do as I commanded. Put the Heir in the boat. Then put the chest in.” Blood now began to run freely from her slack lips. Her head began to fall forward but she whispered one last command. “Remember your duty. Protect your Princess with your life.”