THE QUEEN OF TIME

2570 A.D.!

A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE

By Jerome B. Bigge

Chapter Thirty Six

      "Sanda," I said, walking to the window, looking out, "Per- haps there is a `way' around our `problems'." My Prime Minister standing there looking at Bob and Carol, perhaps aware for the first time too now of the true "power" of the Priestesses of Lys.

      "And `what' would `that' be?" she then challenged me back. Jon giving me a grin, aware that Sanda was not my "match" here...

      "Consider the `possibilities' of `Constitutional Amendments' that would prohibit the government of Trelandar from `involving' itself in any way in the economy, or in `relationships' between people. We would limit the government to `national defense' and `relations' with other nations," I concluded, giving her a smile. "Janet Rogers did the same thing back in her own time," I added. That was not exactly true, but Janet had done something like it.

      "You could `sell' them to the people of Trelandar as means of `insuring' their `freedom' from `government tyranny'," Bob now added, standing there with his arm about his gray haired wife. "Point out what Darlanis `did' when she was ruler of Trelandar."

      "I'll make the same `suggestion' to Darlanis and the others," I "smiled". That would put a "halt" to this "socialist plot" against us. "Limiting" government to national defense and relations with other nations would force the "pro-socialist" forces and others of the "ilk" I'd met this morning to reveal their true intentions here in a way that would leave no doubts...

      "Take some `doing', but I think it could be `done'," Sanda mused thoughtfully, "Although you realize that it could boomerang against us in the future," she now pointed out to me as I nodded. Bob grinning at Carol, holding her close, her body against his. Such a "love", I thought to myself, was something rare, something like a lovely beautiful flower one might find in bloom somewhere. They would die together in another year, and Janet Rogers would carry out their last wishes to be irradiated and then placed in stainless steel coffins hidden just outside of what was once Vic- toria on the island of Vancouver where they would remain forever.

      "If such had existed in the past, there never would have a `national bankruptcy' or any `need' for Janet Rogers," Bob said. "Nor any civil rights laws, social security, or anything else..." I reflected that if we had a "second chance", this time we'd do it differently, making sure that government was limited in power.

      "People would have been forced to resolve their `differ- ences' without the `intervention' of government," I pointed out. "See to their own `welfare' without relying upon `government'," I added, looking out over the ruins of Los Angeles, remembering how Hope and I had ridden across them, the "horrors" that we'd faced. It had been FDR here in the United States who had introduced the concept of a government that looked out for people's "welfare"... The philosophy of "socialism" had been popular then too, I knew, few understanding that the ultimate consequence of giving a "gov- ernment" unlimited power was a "social order" like Soviet Russia.

      "We could have a problem of people `taking the law in their own hands'," Sanda pointed out thoughtfully. I suppose it was "possible" here that the castes and the guilds would try to do so to "protect" their own "interests" from possible "competition". On the other hand perhaps "that" was better than the way we were doing it now. Sometimes it is "best" if "issues" are "settled" with cold steel. Then there is no "doubt". The "abortion issue" of the 20th Century wasn't resolved until the time of Janet Rog- ers, and even then it was more the destruction of Christianity by the Priestesses of Lys that actually "settled" the issue here...

      "I am of the Warrioresses," I smiled, Sanda nodding back.

      "And `steel' is a Warrioress' `companion'," Carol added.

      "I don't `understand'," Sanda spoke, standing there.

      "Some things cannot be `explained'," Bob smiled then.

      "I suppose not," Sanda admitted, giving him a grin back.

      "There are `issues' that cannot be decided by vote," I said.

      "You are `different' now than you used to be," Sanda spoke.

      "I am `older', and hopefully a bit `wiser' too," I smiled.

      "If word ever gets out..." Sanda mused, looking down at the wine there in her goblet as we ate lunch, her eyes meeting mine.

      "I doubt if anyone would believe us," I smiled back at her.

      "The `death' of a world," Bob smiled, picking at his food.

      "I `remember' you from `before'," Sanda said to him then.

      "You're the `same', the old former Dularnian Sealord said.

      "I keep wondering if this is a dream or reality," she said.

      "More wine, `mistress'?" Yvette asked, standing at my side. I shook my head in the negative, Jon now motioning the girl over.

      "I want you to get your staff working on those Constitution- al Amendments just as soon as possible," I then said to Sanda... I wanted to set an "example", to see if what I believed was true. In the past "government" has been more often the "problem" than the "solution" to social problems. I wondered the same was true now in this era. There was a constant "pressure" upon my govern- ment to extend "favors" to this group against that group. My own audiences this morning had been ample proof of this here too now! Everyone with their "hand out" to their Queen for some "favor"...

      "Queen Amethysta is back," June Colt said to me as I nodded the next afternoon, Bob and Carol off somewhere with Jon. She'd been out "touring" the country, seeing all the "changes" I'd made since her time. I suppose for many people life was little "dif- ferent" now than it had been back there in the 24th Century. Sanda was away from the palace, trying to drum up "support" for my proposed Constitutional Amendments there in the Assembly. She had not been too sure if our "trick" wouldn't be seen through, but I thought it well worth the attempt, as if she couldn't do anything with the Assembly, I might be able to take matters to the people of Trelandar, and get what I wanted in that way too...

      "I'll met her at the entrance," I said, standing up, June taking the lead as I followed, leaving the throne room where I'd been having another "audience" with those who were attempting to get me to "support" things that I had little desire to "support"! More and more it seemed that everyone wanted ME to "support" this cause or that cause, spend the taxpayers' hard earned money upon some "pet" project of theirs that I myself saw little value in...

      During the first four years of my reign I'd been busy fight- ing one war or another against first Dularn and then Mexico. I'd let Sanda run things, and she in turn had deferred things upon a basis of while we were at "war", we couldn't "afford" to "do" it. Now that there was no longer a military threat to concern people, everyone had their own pet project or "cause" they wanted me to support, usually against some other group who wanted ME to sup- port them against the first group. As you can see, I was readily starting to see that perhaps the sort of "policies" that Darlanis used to carry out, that Amethysta had a couple of centuries ago were perhaps the best way after all. A sort of "`KILL THEM ALL, LET LYS SORT THEM OUT!'" I've seen on an Imperial battle flag...

      "You are a `popular Queen'," Amethysta said to me as I took her hands into mine, glad to have her back, even if there wasn't anything she could do either here to help me with this "matter".

      "So were you in your time," I smiled back at the blonde.

      "I don't see that Mrs. Talen around," Amethysta smiled.

      "She's hard at work on a `project' of mine," I said.

      "I think she `needs' a man," Amethysta grinned back.

      "I could use a little `advice'," I smiled back at her.

      "You have to be `strong'," Amethysta said as we walked along the corridor, a number of my guardswomen at a discreet distance. "Either you are in `control', or `they' are," she explained then.

      "It is `said' that you had no `living' enemies," I smiled.

      "Those who `opposed' me knew the consequences," she nodded.

      "I became `Queen' not because I wished it, but because Sanda and others saw me as a `means to an end'," I said to Amethysta... Like Maris Marn of Dularn I was not a Queen "born to the throne".

      "My late husband saw me in somewhat the same light," she an- swered, looking up at one of the tapestries that decorated the hallway. "He wanted a woman `good with a sword'," she grinned.

      "Sanda `wanted' the `same'," I said, remembering just "how" I'd become Queen. Sanda had been awestruck by my "abilities" with a sword, and she'd no doubt hoped that I might kill Darlanis for her, thus "avenging" her sister's death at Darlanis' hands!

      "She is a woman who `uses' others," Amethysta said to me. I supposed it was true. Amethysta was a woman who "saw" the truth.

      "She could just as well been `Queen' instead of me," I said.

      "But you were the `swordswoman' that she was `not'," my com- panion answered, her eyes like azure gems glowing into mine now. The thought occurring to me that I actually knew little of Sanda. That she was devoted to me was something I had no doubts of here. On the other hand did she see me as a "weapon" to be used against her own political enemies? I had no doubts that she was aware if pushed far enough that I would become a ruler like Darlanis had!! And if I did, would Sanda become my own "Princess Tara" here too? Amethysta giving me a "grin" as I now stood there beside her deep in thought. She at least was a woman that I could relate to... A woman who I could "trust" as much as any that I knew here now.

      "Yes," I breathed, recalling the events of five years ago.

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