Empire 1: Humiliation Page 9
what?" Aidan didn't look at him.
"Why did you imply something immoral between us to that soldier last night?"
"It got what you wanted, didn't it? Michael called it an act of courage."
"I thought that you didn't care what Michael thought. It doesn't matter. It was wrong. The Bible says it was wrong."
Aidan picked up and opened the Bible, turned to face Randolph and drew her knees up to her chin.
"James 2:25 says, "Was not Rahab the harlot justified by her works, when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way?' Rahab was justified by a lie."
"Aidan, who do you think we are? I'm not asking what you think about us."
"Michael said last night that he was the son of the king of the Space Empire. You are his friend. Your people have a reputation of extreme cruelty. It makes no sense that someone as rich and powerful as you two are here, yet here you are. You have put the lives of everyone in this campground in jeopardy just by coming here, so you cannot have a tremendously high regard for our lives. Michael has boasted of killing people, and I believe his boast, yet you do not make the same boast, and I do not believe that you are capable of killing.
"Your story seemed incredible until last night. Someone was willing to risk her life to give you an interplanetary transmitter and you knew how to use it. So you are at least telling the truth about coming from the Space Empire. And in spite of all your insistence to the contrary, I want to know more about you. Michael isn't going to tell me anything, so I'm asking you."
"Our legal names are Randolph and Michael. Around friends even in the Space Empire, we are simply called Mike and Randy. But officially only legal names are used. It's just a safe habit to get into. But that's not what you want to know. Michael is who he claims to be. His parents had no other children, so he is heir to the throne.
My father was Baron Worthy. He and my mother were killed in a raid by Earth ships on the lunar colony ten years ago. A lot of nobility died in that raid. I had no other living relatives and only Michael for a close friend, which put me in an awkward position. By law, only parents can pick a mate for a child of noble or royal birth. In practice, it's a mere formality because most parents simply agree to whatever their children decide on. But a parent must sign. I was old enough to do anything else including run their estates, but I could not marry. So the king and queen legally adopted me. It was a mere formality to enable me to marry. I inherit nothing. But it was a great act of kindness that I will never forget. It was the queen's idea and now that she's gone and Michael and I have grown up, few people even know about me, except that I'm Michael's official Recorder."
"What's a 'Recorder?'" The sun was fully set and the evening star was visible. The moon had not yet risen. Aidan had not moved.
"A Recorder is responsible to keep official records of all activities and make all official reports. Even commoners with the position of Recorder are often summoned directly to the Council to make reports on activities. We keep people honest."
Aidan shook her head. "It sounds horrible, spying on your friend. I guess that most Recorders only make friends with other Recorders."
"Not at all, though it is true in my case because I'm the only one in Michael's crew that the Council approves of. I have to disagree with a lot of their decisions."
"Thank you for disagreeing with Michael and telling me this."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't disagree with Michael about you. Yesterday afternoon I wouldn't have told you any of this. But after last night, I disagree with Michael about whether it matters if you talk or not."
Five
Michael and Sandy watched Aidan and Randolph walk down the knoll and sit. Michael turned to Sandy. "I've never seen Aidan wear anything like that before. Isn't it a little short?"
"Neither have I," said Sandy. "I've known her for four years and lived with her for three, but she's always been the example of modesty. I've never even seen that dress before. That's not something she should be wearing in public. I'll have a talk with her about that later. She sure acts strange around you two."
"Maybe it's because they don't answer questions and they're driving her crazy with curiosity," said Annette.
"I'm sorry, did you ask me something?" asked Michael.
"Men!" Annette folded her arms and sat back. "I was looking at the campground. I said that it was beautiful, and asked you what you saw in it. Obviously we're not on the same wavelength."
Michael looked at Sandy and said, "She reminds me of Aidan. Are all of your friends this touchy?"
"Only when they're ignored. Why don't you try talking to her? It couldn't hurt."
Michael looked at the campgrounds. "I don't mean to be rude, it's just that I have other things on my mind. Annette, I'm sorry, but I'm not one to look at a beautiful scene -- and this is beautiful -- and get much out of it. For so many years I've been too preoccupied to simply think on beauty. But I have a friend named Alexander who is a lot like you in that respect. You're an engineering major? What field?"
"Civil, specializing in road and airport construction. I'm on a military scholarship, so they're just waiting for me to graduate to gobble me up. Six-year commitment to wherever they want to send me."
"Are you planning on any graduate work?"
"I'd like to, but it'll be rough for awhile just doing my job. Graduate school will have to wait. You look and act military yourself."
"What's Aidan told you about us?"
"That's another thing that's strange about you two," said Annette. "Aidan talks more than any girl I know, but she hasn't said a thing about you two. From what I can get out of her, you two might not even exist. You sure have cast a spell on her."
Carl and Sandy got up and walked off in the opposite direction from Randolph and Aidan. Neither of the other carts was within earshot.
"Were you part of this setup," said Michael, "Or was this entirely Carl's idea?"
"Entirely Carl's, Sandy's, and Aidan's. But I am a very willing stooge, in this case. Do you have a girl?"
"No." Michael grinned, turned and leaned forward on the driver's seat. It made him look lanky. Annette grinned back.
"Why?"
"Other things to do."
"Have you ever wanted one?"
"What man hasn't?"
"In college, there are thousands of vain men who pride themselves on their looks. They are the most vile, wicked creatures that a girl could know. Girls who want to keep their purity stay far away from them. I come to church, or come here, and there are dozens of moral, upright, supposedly righteous men who look, dress, and act like slobs. Please don't judge Aidan too harshly. You two look and act like Prince Charmings. Knowing Aidan, she's already said this, but you're better than anything we've ever known before. I didn't know anything about you until last night, but I would have missed final exams for this night with you."
"Please don't exaggerate, Annette."
"It really isn't much of an exaggeration. Only the last part about missing finals."
"You're not exactly bad-looking yourself."
"And I think that is part of Aidan's problem. She looks at me, sees the way the Lord made me, and she becomes very dissatisfied with herself. She has been told that she's pretty dozens of times, but that hasn't seemed to satisfy her. She wants to be what she isn't."
"Sandy is the plainest of you three, though she's very attractive. Yet she doesn't act like Aidan."
"Carl is responsible for that. It's partly just because she's got a boyfriend, and partially due to the quality of Carl's influence. Carl is super, both as a man and as a believer. We've been sitting all day. If we walk straight down to the right, we'll stay in view of Carl and Sandy."
As they left the cart, the rising moon broke through the trees and tried to bathe the meadow with her soft light. High clouds, however, broke it into small patches of luminescence.
Aidan and Randolph stood and walked down near the edge of the m
eadow. Only one cart was near them. It momentarily blinded them with its lights before leaving. Aidan looked around and sat down.
"You can't see the campground from here, Aidan."
"Randy, do you have to go back to space? Earth has free flowing water, free animals and air. Sit down and enjoy the beauty of it all. Space has nothing like this."
Randolph sat. "But space has beauty you'll never imagine. The stars don't twinkle—there are millions of them--they're so clear that you think you can touch them. And Earth is splendid from space. Look at the stars even from here." He threw his arms in a wide arc while Aidan laid back and looked. "Mars and Mercury are fearful." He pointed each one out quickly. "Venus is glorious. The asteroids look menacing. But the gas giants are more beautiful than anything on Earth is. Jupiter and Saturn bewitch. Their deadly gases swirl in an eternal kaleidoscope of hypnotic beauty. And their moons! Each one is different, with a personality of its own. Volcanic sulfur, frozen methane, and a million other wonders too fantastic to describe. Aidan, you'd have to see them."
"Randy, take me to see them. Please."
Randolph leaned back on his elbows, at first looking at the stars. His eyes closed. "Is that what you've been driving at?"
He turned to face her.
"Believe me, I hadn't thought about it until now." She half-rolled toward him. "I've only thought of you. I never really thought what having you would mean."
"You said you liked free animals and air. You would live your entire life in what you think of as a cave. The inside of a spacecraft is incredibly