Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

I bummed around my tiny little room for about ten minutes before I decided to set out and explore the ship. I had tried to do so after one of my sessions with Vang, but the stoney gazes and silent treatments from the Zahnians quickly got old, so in a short time, I made my way back to my room. This time I decided to hell with it. I was going to enjoy myself no matter how unpleasant the Zahnians were to me.

I exited my room and walked in the opposite direction I usually went to get to Vang’s office. I had remembered coming up this corridor from the bay area where all the ships were parked, but it had been a long journey through the ship. I’d also remembered quite a few turn offs, so I figured I’d find one and see where I ended up.

Sure enough, I found my first turn off around the corner from my room. I could go left or right, so I randomly chose the right, and began a leisurely walk along the drab gray corridor.

No surprise, this drab gray corridor led to another, then another, and another one after that. There were doors periodically set in each side of the passageway, but from the numbers markings each of them, I figured they were sleeping cabins like my own.

I managed to confirm it when a Zahnian walked out into the passage almost in front of me. I got a quick peak behind him before the door closed. Yep, he had the same small room like mine complete with the low platform used as a bed, and even the tall cylinder of a Remaker.

I gave the burly looking Zahnian a smile in greeting. He stood there in the middle of the corridor for a moment like he was trying to get his bearings, and then quite abruptly, he turned on his heels and briskly walked in the direction I just came.

My heart fell a little, but then I remembered my decree not to let anyone get me down. “Nope, don’t care. Moving on,” I said to myself.

And yet, as I walked, the pep in my step wasn’t quite as peppy. I kept up my search, but I also couldn’t help but start mulling over why everyone was treating me with such coldness. Did I do something wrong? Did I say something they didn’t like? It just didn’t make sense to me.

I didn’t like this one bit and it made me realize how much of a people person I was. I missed hanging out with others. I missed the idle chit chat at work, the nights at the bar with my friends, the morning chatter over breakfast with my family. How had my active and full life suddenly turn into only spending hours of boring lectures with a man I’m pretty sure hated me with every fiber of his being?

I let out a breath of frustration. This sucked. Big time, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I didn’t know if I could fix it. I couldn’t make people talk to me. I continued down the corridor, but the excitement to explore was quickly dwindling. I stopped in the middle of an intersection, and decided to head back to my room. I was getting no where, and every single room I’d passed only seemed to be sleeping cabins.

What a bummer. I was hoping to find a room with a cool designation like armory or engine room. The way my stomach was growling, I’d even settle for a cafeteria, or whatever this ship designated the place they got food.

So far, all my meals had been delivered to me by a Zahnian in my room. It was never the same one, at least I didn’t think so. It was hard to tell, because many of them looked like cut out copies of each other. Did they manufacture all their soldiers in a factory or something?

That made me chuckle, not that I knew how it was funny exactly. “Maybe I’m just going a little crazy because no one will talk to me, except to berate me and tell me what I’m doing wrong,” I said to the empty corridor.

“Sounds like every day of my life too.”

I whirled around to find Chief Hon coming up the corridor behind me.

“Where have you been? You promised me a tour days ago?” I couldn’t help but scold the man, but I also couldn’t help feeling relief that I might get a decent conversation after all.

“Forgive me, Highness,” the Chief stopped before and gave a bow. “I have not gotten permission to speak with you again until just a little bit ago, and then I had to track you down because you weren’t in your room or the Admiral’s office.”

I put my hands on my hips, because I wasn’t going to let him get off easy, not even if I was glad to see him. “Why do you need permission to speak to me?”

“You are a Prince of the Empire, and I am just a Chief.” Hon said like that explained everything.

He’d alluded to something like that before, but I didn’t really take it seriously. Maybe it was more serious than I thought. “And? I already told you to tell whoever you needed that I wanted you to come give me a tour.”

The Chief shook his head. “You do not understand. It is not your permission I need, though that helps. There are strict rules about who you can interact with and who you cannot.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you talking about? What rules?”

“It is just how things are done,” Hon shrug and looked down uncomfortably.

Suddenly, things started to become more clear. The way everyone was treating me like I was someone with a disease, or more correctly, someone they weren’t allowed to converse with.

I threw my hands out wide and exclaimed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The Chief stepped back as if I had slapped him. I immediately tried to soothe him.

“No, I’m not talking to you. It’s me. I just put it all together. So let me get this straight? Are you telling me that every Blue Coat I’ve run into on this ship, but you, has been treating me like I’m some kind of leaper because I’m freaking royalty they aren’t allowed to talk to.”

Hon looked stunned and more than a little puzzled. “I…ummm… Blue Coats?”

I shook my head at the realization of how badly my new life was going to suck if I was actively being blocked from making connections with whomever I wanted.

“Un-freak-ing believable.”

All I got from the Chief this time was a raised eye brow. He wisely stood in silence as I began to pace the corridor in madness. All the things I had to endure since the moment this damn ship popped up on the television in the New Horizons conference room was starting to take a toll on me, and this felt like the very last straw.

“How can I be expected to operate and do anything if I can’t talk to anyone? How can I fully embrace my Ethian heritage if I can’t even get a good grip on what being an Ethian is like? Having lectures and learning on the data pad is one thing, but none of that can substitute talking with the people and being an active participant in the day to day. How can I learn if I can’t even ask these people questions?”

I stopped my pacing and ranting to stand in front of Chief Hon. There was real fear in his eyes. It made me pause and check in with myself. I noticed a pain in my palms. I slowly opened them to see red imprints of my nails. What the hell was I doing? I exhaled a large breath, and with it went most of my anger.

Guilt washed through me. Only a few minutes ago, I was lamenting about not having someone to speak to, and here I was, scaring off the one person who had bothered to approach me in a personable manner.

I took a moment to mentally let go of my anger. Once I felt more in control of myself, I gave the Chief a smile in a hope to make up for my outburst.

“Please forgive me. I’m still trying to figure all this out. I guess it wouldn’t be so difficult if I could get a little more cooperation. I greatly appreciate your candor and your willingness to talk to me. Though now that I know why everyone is giving me the cold shoulder, I am wondering why have you taken the risk to talk to me? I am assuming that the consequences for talking to me are severe?”

Chief Hon looked down to the floor. “It can result in remediations, yes.”

Another puzzle piece snapped into place, and I suddenly understood why the Chief had taken so long to get back to me.

“That’s where you’ve been, enduring this remediation? Just because you had a short conversation with me?”

The Chief gave a nod, and he still wouldn’t look at me.

“I am sorry. I did not know.”

The Chief looked up. “It is alright. I chose to talk with you, knowing what the consequences might be. It is not your fault.”

And yet it was, or at least it sure felt like my fault. The desire to hit something or someone came back, but I quickly clamped it down. This might not be fair, but there wasn’t anything I could do right now to change that.

“Then why are you here at all?”

“You expressed your wishes for me to give you a tour. I told my commanding officer this. He gave me remediation for our first conversation, and then since you ordered it, he has given me permission to do as you asked.”

I wanted to know what remediation was exactly, but I decided that maybe for now, I didn’t want to know, so I let that pass. But something else was bothering me.

“Look, you don’t have to be here with me if you don’t want to. I only asked you for a tour because you seemed like a nice person and someone I might enjoy spending a few hours with exploring the ship. So if you would rather be elsewhere, then I release you to do so.”

The Chief looked up to me with almost panic on his face. “No, I want to do this. Let me give you a tour, Highness.”

I stood there for a moment studying him carefully, and unsure what to do. The last thing I wanted was for someone to get in trouble because of me.

“Will you have have any remediations for this?”

The Chief shook his head. “You asked for this and so I was allowed the proper permission to be here with you. There will be no remediation.”

I felt relief at that. “Alright then. Where should we start? Actually, do you think we could find a place with food? I’m starving.”

The Chief gave me a small smile. “Yes indeed. I can show you the commissary and it’s a good time to go. There won’t be many there at this time.”

I stretched out an arm to show the Chief I was ready for him to lead me to our destination. “Excellent, lead the way.”