23. Axl

As soon as my sister returns home I begin to question her, “Did you see Georgiana?”

“I did. She has not been harmed.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“You know what. What did she say about me?”

“Not much. She’s looking forward to returning to Earth.”

“That’s it?” I ask in disbelief.

“Did you expect her to want to stay in a place where she would always be considered a second class citizen? Mother told you she would choose to go and so she is.”

“I want to hear those words from her own mouth.”

“Well, that’s a pity because you are barred from the Imperial Palace until Madame Georgiana has left.”

“When is she scheduled to leave?”

Lia doesn’t answer me. I know she knows but is refusing to tell me. “Don’t you have any feelings?”

“Axl, Mother has a good match set up for you. It’s clear you are finally ready to marry after all of these years. Why do you want to marry a human?”

“Why don’t you think she is good enough for me, but Aru is? Would you really rather spend your meals with Aru than Georgiana?”

“No, honestly I wouldn’t, but I think you’d come to resent Madame Georgiana and she you. She ran from the High Priestess. She won’t accept her position in the Empire as a human. She’s too clever to be content here.”

“You like her too.”

“I never said I didn’t like her. If she were an Alliance woman things would be different, but she’s human. I don’t make the rules in the galaxy or in Alliance society. I would hate to see her suffer and House Zu suffer because of her. You need to accept that this was doomed from the start.”

“She’s one of the Lost People.”

“Who, as I told you before, should remain Lost. It’s too late for them to return.”

“When is she scheduled to leave the Capital City? You know I can ask other people but I’d rather get the information from my sister.”

“You’ll find a good wife in another marriage to an Alliance woman.”

I walk out which is preferable to saying something in anger to Lia.

I leave House Zu and head to the military barracks. It’s rare that the admiral of the fleet is on planet but as luck would have it, he is here today. I don’t know him personally, but I know he has a secret human wife, a secret that everyone knows, but isn’t documented anywhere.

I take the House Zu transport to the barracks. After using my ID as a pass, I’m allowed into the officers’ area and then to the imperial officers’ area. Once there, I look around for the admiral. It would be ideal to meet him casually rather than arranging an official appointment. I find a place in a quiet corner and make it look like I’m researching my next mission.

After about three hours, the admiral walks in with his first officer. I’ve never met either man but I know them by reputation and no doubt vice versa. I put away my IC and approach them.

I bow. “The goddesses shine their light on us,” I say. “I was hoping to meet you here, Admiral.”

“Axl of House Zu,” the admiral replies, “What could I possibly offer such a man as yourself?”

The admiral is not imperial by birth, but by rank. “I have an issue that only the most powerful man in the Empire can help me with.”

“Ah,” he says. “Let me guess, your relationship with the Empress has finally turned sour?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the most dangerous part of your job I suspect, working with the Empress. I suppose this has to do with the human woman you were seen with while disembarking from the Hio?”

“Yes.”

“I had heard she’s a guest of the Empress in the palace. But what advice could I give you? Forget about her.”

“Admiral, please,” I say. I don’t want to publicly talk about his wife so I add, “She knows nothing of the Empire and is all alone.”

“Send your sister.”

“I have. The Empress is sending Madame Georgiana back to Earth.”

He searches my face. He’s too slick to ask who she is to me. Like him, this isn’t something I want made public. “If I help you, you must help me in return. Otherwise we both know the Empress will make sure you never see that human woman again.”

“I’m listening.”

The admiral gets out his IC and sends me a few classified documents. They are for men’s eyes only and are genetically coded. “Look over those, if you are willing to take on the extra work, I’ll make sure that certain ships are waylaid for spot checks and specific passengers shifted.”

“I’ll look over the files and give you an answer by the Watching.”

“Walk in the goddesses’ light Commander Axl and remember the god of war has not abandoned us.”

The admiral and his first officer leave me to speak to others. I return to my original seat and begin looking through the files on my IC. I’m only somewhat shocked at what he’s asking me to do. Most of these missions directly involve sabotaging women’s power in the Empire. And one of them only I or the first officer of the imperial guards could accomplish. Did the admiral know I would come looking for him? Is this why he’s on the Capital Planet now? Being in love with Georgiana has made me sloppy.

I look over the admiral’s tasks again and weigh out my allegiances. What do I want more; to remain steady in my work and society and give up Georgiana or to fight for men’s equality and, at the very least, give Georgiana the opportunity to reject me herself. What if I choose to do this for the admiral and Georgiana decides she doesn’t want me? What if I help the admiral and am executed by the Empress if I’m found out? I decide the latter doesn’t matter. The Empress grows more corrupt with every decade and she still has fifty more years left to rule. She might kill me for an imagined slight in ten years. I have no guarantees in the Imperial Palace. I have no guarantees anywhere.

It was probably only a matter of time before I joined the men’s cause. It’s no secret that I’ve not married because I have a reputation for being difficult among Alliance women. That I want more equality than most and don’t want a woman having the final say over the choices I make in my life. No doubt when the admiral saw me with Georgiana he could foresee what would happen.

Before I lose my resolve, I accept the admiral’s offer by message. Then I leave the barracks. I must trust the admiral now to stick to his word. As I walk out I realize that I can do the first task right away. I return to House Zu and begin contacting my imperial male peers. I send a VM to each one of them personally using the men’s language which is always in a state of flux to keep ahead of the female translators to tell them of my newfound allegiance to the men’s movement for equality in the Empire. And I urge them to join the movement if they have not already done so.

I don’t know how many of these men are already a part of this movement. They would have been hesitant to tell me because of my position in the Empire and my closeness with the Empress, but now they would see that even a man like me is nothing to a woman. That I’m not even allowed to court a woman that I would like to marry if the Empress doesn’t want it. There’s no equality or justice in that.

After I’ve sent out a little less than twenty individual and authentic VMs, I feel emotionally exhausted. I lay down on my bed and look up at the nearby planets through my skylight. I think of Georgiana and telling her about this bed. I hope that she is safe. “Only you will be able to tell me you don’t want to be my wife. No one else’s word will do. And I will not allow anyone to decide for you or me,” I say quietly out loud to myself, hoping that I will see her again.