THE QUEEN OF TIME

2570 A.D.!

A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE

By Jerome B. Bigge

Chapter Thirty Three

      "How are things in Dularn?" June Colt asked as she greeted me there at the dock, my husband and Sanda there along with her. Sue Cross holding my baby son in her arms like any good nanny as several of my guardswomen secured the airplane after its flight. The ripe bodied brownette's belly swollen with my Princess to be.

      "Seems that Princess Tara's old `Organization' is still in operation even if the Princess herself finally has `retired'," I answered, well aware that I still had to deal with her lieutenant here in Trelandar. His identity something I had no doubts about!

      "That Les Hawkins is making `trouble' for us," Sanda spoke.

      "Amethysta wants to fight a duel with him," Jon grinned.

      "Where is she now?" I asked, wondering about her here.

      "Out touring the country," Sanda answered quickly.

      "You and her have `words'?" I "challenged" Sanda.

      "She's an `uncivilized barbarian'!" Sanda snapped.

      "Kind'a `fun' to have around the place," Jon grinned!

      "You're as `bad' as she is!" Sanda quickly retorted back!

      "She was one of Trelandar's `better' Queens," Jon smiled.

      "Let's take a little `stroll'," I spoke, taking his hand.

      "Amethysta's a lot of `fun' once you get to know her," Jon said to me as we walked hand in hand. Pausing there by some drawn up boats where he gave me a quick kiss. "But Sanda is the sort of a woman who just can't tolerate taking orders from anyone she considers beneath her in intelligence," my husband explained. I supposed it was true, as Sanda only respected me because my own mental abilities exceeded hers to some extent. She was by the "standards" of this era a very well "educated" woman, a member of the caste of Scribes; the sister of the last Queen of Trelandar, and she did appear to feel at times she "knew it all"!! "I also have a hunch," he continued on here, "That she feels as if life is passing her by," Sanda now being a grandmother, Jon told me... Her daughter in law Phara having recently given birth to a son.

      "She's never gotten married," I mused, aware that so far as I knew Sanda had no serious "romantic interests", which was some- what surprising considering that she was a very attractive widow, a woman of "power and position", and rather "well to do" to boot. She was a good mother to her four year old daughter, but other than that, she seemed to have no "interests" outside of politics. She was a very "capable", "competent" woman, but one very private in her own personal life which seemed to consist of little more than reading books often late into the night before retiring...

      "Don't believe she's..." Jon smiled, looking over at Sanda.

      "She `isn't', I can assure you of `that'," I quickly said.

      "Good face, good figure, nice ass," Jon grinned in reply.

      "Her `private life' is none of our concern," I answered.

      "It might be if she snaps at Amethysta again," he warned.

      "Les Hawkins been trying to stir up the people," Sanda said to me as we rode along in the open carriage, one of my guardswom- en as driver with June and three of her women as my own "escort". "He's got hold of some 20th Century political philosophy and he's `milking' it for all its worth," she explained, the description leaving no doubt that these were the exact same "tactics" I'd seen there in Dularn. The same "tactics" others had used there in Orgon and Sarn against Queen Sharon and Empress Darlanis here. Even Talon had its share of "radicals", although Dala Dai, the Queen of Talon, was not the sort to long tolerate such things... I'd not "heard" anything about Queen Freydis, but Freydis was not one that even the most rabid socialist would want to "fool" with! Like Amethysta, Freydis was the sort to just lop off a few heads! I had little information about Baja, although I suspected that if it came to it Prince Jers Bisan's wife, Lara would see to things! The Japanese ship had returned to Japan, the last I knew of it... I'd taken Black Lady north, talked to Freydis, who had told me that the Japanese didn't seem all that "impressed" with her here. I was rather surprised they hadn't headed south to Dularn, but I supposed that they had their own reasons for not doing so here.

      "Socialism didn't work then, and it won't work now," I said. "What it is `based' upon is nothing more than the `envy' that the lesser qualified feel for the more qualified in our own society." Keeping to myself the thought that Sanda herself with her "Free Trelandar Movement" had once advocated ideas not that different, a fact I was sure Sanda was as much "aware" of as I was here too!

      "That is nothing but `human nature'," Sanda pointed out. A prostitute strolled along the street, her attire reminding me of Hope's there in the 21st Century. I am in many ways still yet a woman of the 20th Century in my attitudes towards such things...

      "Once you start taking away people's hard earned money, just wait and see how long it is before you get into trouble," Jon now added to this conversation. His words making me smile, as he had gotten the "facts" of the issue here as they actually did exist! It was the small businessmen who were the most "conservative"...

      "The `Conservatives' are only a `minority'," Sanda smiled.

      "So are Les Hawkins' `Democrats'," I pointed out to her.

      "There is so much that could be `done'," Sanda said to me.

      "And just `who' is going to `pay' for it?" I challenged her.

      "Our taxes are `lower' than they were under Darlanis," she pointed out, the implications being that if the taxpayers of the country could have managed to make "do" then, they could again... The Empress having drained the countries she ruled to maintain her "bloated" military forces both in money and in manpower too. There had also been the "cost" of maintaining the Lords and La- dies that Darlanis had imposed upon the people of my lovely land.

      "And the `standard of living' is higher," I now pointed out, recalling what I'd learned there in Dularn that Princess Tara's most "able" lieutenant was right here in Trelandar making trouble for me. And could that "lieutenant" possibly be Sanda herself? Les Hawkins, while a good public speaker, was not an intelligent man as such, while Sanda herself did possess a quite high "I.Q."! Such an "idea", I mused to myself, was completely "unthinkable"!!

      "The `poor' are just as `poor' as ever," Sanda pointed out. "Our `revolution' did them but little good," she added to me now. I'd heard "that" too in different words one time from one of her own Scribes, a Tom Stevens, who was also just as "Black" as June.

      "Those who are `ambitious' have raised themselves," I said. My relaxing of the "laws" that prevented people from seeking out a living had made a considerable "difference" here in Trelandar. There were those who "opposed" such things, "established inter- ests" who didn't like the "competition" from the newcomers, but that had been something I'd also pretty much expected here too. Back in the 20th Century those most in favor of "regulation" had not been the customers of such "services", but the "providers" of such services themselves. Licensing and regulation being one of the "means" that businesses have always used to "protect" them- selves from "competition". Often in "partnership" with organized labor, who is also well aware of the implications of competition! The best "proof" of this being the actions of the automobile in- dustry back in my own era attempting to keep out foreign imports.

      "There is a growing `opposition' from the guilds," she said.

      "Who are concerned about `competition'," my husband added.

      "`Overpaid unionized workers'," I now smiled back at Sanda.

      "That was a term often used by Janet Rogers," Sanda smiled.

      "I had a few delightful days to speak with her," I told her. The look of "awe" on her face something to see as she sat facing me in the carriage. "Tais teleported her and the Simmons back to this time for a short while to assist us in dealing with Princess Tara's latest `plot'," I added, wondering again just "who" Tara's agent was here in Trelandar? Senator Ola Mathis had only been able to tell us that such an "agent" existed, not "who" he or she might be. And how long had such an agent been here in Trelandar? Princess Tara's "Organization" actually dated back to when she was the Queen of Sarn, even before Darlanis replaced her in Thar Marden's affections! And although it yet appeared that Tara had finally "retired" from her career of "evil", still, I wondered at times if she'd been "replaced" by someone else just as "evil" as she had been. "WAS THERE ANOTHER `PRINCESS TARA' SOMEWHERE NOW?"

      "I `wish' I could have been `there'," Sanda said to me in tones that left no doubts as to her own feelings about Janet too! Feelings that I myself somewhat shared having now met Janet in person, having had the chance to ask her the questions I'd had...

      "Do you believe in socialism?" I suddenly challenged Sanda, aware that in a few more minutes now we'd be at the palace. Was it POSSIBLE that Sanda was Tara's "agent" here in Trelandar. The woman responsible for all the problems we'd been having here now?

      "I'm `aware' of the history of the past," Sanda answered me, the tone of her voice leaving no doubts that she was aware that I was probing at something here, and that she was the object of my suspicions! "But I hardly believe that a socialist state could be established at our level of technology," she pointed out then. Such a belief was of course untrue, as "socialism" can be estab- lished at any level of technology, although it probably works most effectively at a "level" where computers are commonplace...

      "If one could be established, would you support it?" I asked, driving in at her like I might any opponent with my sword! Sanda was a well educated woman, highly intelligent, probably equal to Hillary Clinton if not quite "up" to me or Janet Rogers. And much of what Sanda stood for had been the same sort of things that Hillary Clinton had stood for over five centuries ago here! I have an excellent memory, and I could still recall the conver- sations that Sanda and I'd had back there on the estate in 2565!

      "If you could rule it..." Sanda smiled, "I think perhaps we might think `differently' about such matters," my Prime Minister added, obviously just a little smarter here than I'd planned on! "You are a woman to which I think `nothing' is really impossible if you put your mind to it," she spoke softly, her dark eyes holding mine as I nodded back, well aware of the high opinion she had of me. "A woman who in her own way has become a `living leg- end' in her own time," Sanda Talen spoke as Jon nodded in turn...

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