2569 A.D.!

THE DULARNIAN QUEEN

AN ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE OF MAN

By Jerome B. Bigge

Chapter Twenty Seven

      "You aren't planning to make such a voyage?" I smiled as we ate dinner with my father, Lorraine having said earlier that she felt it was possible now to cross the Pacific in a ship like the North Star. What the Priestesses of Lys would "think" of such a voyage was another matter entirely. The Lorr had centuries be- fore imposed upon Mankind "THE EDICT", which had strictly prohib- ited such voyages, although I knew of one that had been success- ful, the power of the Lorr to observe all that Mankind did being somewhat overrated. It being likely that their reliance upon the Women of Mars (their slaves and servants) for everything had re- sulted in a certain "slackness" and lack of control over things. Tori had done well fixing the meal, although she had joked with me that she had never thought she'd have to "cook" for her Queen as a part of her "duties" as the captain of my personal guard...

      "I'm nearly six months pregnant," Lorraine smiled back, pat- ting her swollen belly as she sat there at the table. She had also put on a bit of weight as pregnant women do, her face being a bit "fuller" than what it had been when I'd seen her last year. I had also noticed that she had muchly enjoyed Tori's good Dular- nian cooking, Tori being the sort of a woman who took "pride" in such things even if she had a slave girl at home to do the work.

      "Would you try to sail straight across, or skirt the coast?" Tori asked, it being possible to reach Asia by either method. If one skirted the coasts, it would be possible to stay in sight of land the entire time, and the gathering of firewood would be pos- sible until one reached the Bering Strait. I assumed that there would be little actual "change" in things once one passed the In- ternational Date Line and actually crossed the "barrier" the Lorr established centuries ago as the "dividing line" between North America and Asia on the other side of the Pacific. While such a voyage would be "longer", it would also be "safer" than just sailing out into the "unknown" with only maps over five centuries old to guide one as to what laid ahead. Lorraine had once ven- tured out into the Pacific in pursuit of Princess Tara a consid- erable distance with the Corsica back in 519, much to the terror of her crew at sailing so far out, as she notes in her own book.

      "In skirting the coast you would have the `problem' of Queen Valeris once you reached that far north," Lorraine smiled, "A `problem' I might note that could have been `resolved' by a bit more `reasonableness' on the part of your Queen and my Empress."

      "Imperial `aggression' is a more `proper' term," I snapped.

      "Maris!" my father snapped, looking at me across the table.

      "`Deny' the fact that the Empire has been supplying Valeris with arms and `advisors'!" I snapped right back at Lorraine then. Such "things" were common knowledge in Dularn, as Lorraine knew!

      "Or the fact that the Nevadas have been given arms," my hus- band smiled back at the discomfited Imperial Warlady just then... The Trelandarian compound bow now was "common" among the Nevadas.

      "Shall we mention the Swiftstar supplied by Dularn to Queen Freydis, the several companies of Dularnian Warrioresses, the ten thousand crossbows, the supplies, `advisors' that Maris has given to a Queen whose people made their living by raiding coastal vil- lages all the way up and down the coast line of North America? I am also well aware of the numbers of Dularnian weapons now found among the Wyomings, the fact that your father is now married to a high born Dularnian noblewoman, your marriage to Maris," Lorraine "smiled" back, her dark eyes burning straight right into his own!

      "My father married Pharis because he loved her, just as I married Maris because I love her!" Prince Paul Blue Sky snapped!! I suspected that the "same" was true of Darlanis and Prince Serak of the Nevadas, only such a "barbarian" being "man" enough for a woman like her. I recalled his "comments" he'd made to my Prince about "spanking" one's wife, the "grin" I'd seen on Darlanis' own face then. Like me Darlanis did have a nicely "full" rear end...

      "Enough of this!" my father snapped. "We are repeating the history of the past, interlocking alliances, small `limited wars' just as those of your era fought, woman from the time of legend!" I rather thought that he had "hit the nail on the head" here too.

      "Historically we are `repeating the past', such as Mankind has done throughout His entire history," Lorraine smiled back. I suspected that she was right here too. The "war" last year be- tween Mexico and California was triggered off by Nevada raids into Mexican territory. And if Valeris "pushed" too hard on the territory of Queen Freydis, I could see the same thing happening all over again. Dularn would "intervene" on the side of Freydis, the Californians on the behalf of Queen Valeris, and we'd all be right back where we were before. What we "needed" was a common enemy, someone who would "unite" us, Dularnian, Californian, Nevada and Wyoming, Northman and Free Woman, into one "society"!

      "Is there a `solution'?" Tori asked then, sitting there lis- tening to all this between us, keeping her own thoughts to her- self as she sipped at a glass of my father's home brewed brandy.

      "I once `believed' the problem was `technology', the use of military conscription to produce `mass armies', but as you've seen right here in your history, people will make `war' even if they have nothing better than rocks to throw at each other," Lor- raine answered. "Historically Man has only known `peace' when He was forced to live under the `thumb' of some absolute ruler such as Janet Rogers appears to have been in her later years now..."

      "Perhaps we were never `meant' to live in peace," my Prince smiled. "Among my people `war' is accepted as a part of life..."

      "There appears to be a `relationship' between `aggression' and the development and `advancement' of civilizations," Lorraine smiled as she sat there. "The Lorr are one of the most `stag- nant' societies that I know of," the Imperial Warlady explained.

      "Perhaps it is due to the fact that Mars is inhabited only by `females'," my husband smiled back at the Queen of Trelandar.

      "There is a `truth' to what you say," Lorraine smiled back. "We know from history that men are more `inventive' than women, perhaps because of `differences' in their `outlook' upon things. Whether or not these `differences' are cultural or innate is something that has never been determined," Lorraine then added...

      "I think a woman has a different `outlook' on life than does a man," Tori volunteered here. "Even when raised in a society where much the `same' is expected of both sexes, there is still a difference between the outlooks between boys and girls even now."

      "The `productive' women throughout history have been for the most part women who were not highly attractive," Lorraine spoke. "I know of no extremely beautiful woman who ever invented any- thing of value, and while Darlanis seems to be the `exception' to the rule in a way, she does have `problems' of her own which to me indicate a certain inner conflict which she has never re- solved. Maris here had an unhappy life as a teenager, due to the death of her own mother, while I was made fun of by my peers as a teenage girl due to my own appearance. Janet Rogers was an or- phan, and spent an extremely unhappy childhood almost up to the time that she met me. We could also consider the lives of Sanda Talen, who certainly had enough `troubles' of her own, Princess Sela Dai and the loss of the man she loved to another. Even the late Princess Tara seems to have been `driven' by her own fate."

      "You are saying then that only women who lead unhappy lives ever amount to much?" Tori answered, glancing at me, and then again at Lorraine, the Imperial Warlady giving her a smile back.

      "There is also the case of Aurora of Mars, who gave up the child she loved," the Warlady answered, this being of course Dar- lanis' own true mother. "As a matter of fact, I believe that if we study history close enough, we will see that there is a very good `match' between a woman's own `problems' and what she later amounts to in life. Even Carol Simmons, who both Maris and I knew quite well, was a woman who led an unhappy life in her early years." I nodded, well aware that such had been the case here.

      "Then my daughter should have a `brilliant future'," Tori said. Diane certainly had enough "problems", I mused to myself. The "tone" of Tori's voice, however, implied more than just what her words might imply here. Something I thought Lorraine noted.

      "My `impression' of your daughter was that she is a bright young woman, one who from what your Queen told me appears to have an excellent future ahead of her as a naval officer," the Imperi- al Warlady smiled back, no doubt aware of what Tori had "said".

      "And I am quite proud of `mine'," my father added then.

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