Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

“How much of your time in Ethia do you remember?” the stern man across from me asked.

We were in Admiral Vang’s office once again. The third time in as many days. It was becoming a routine now. I would have my breakfast in my room delivered by a stern faced Blue Coat––or Zahnian as Vang emphatically told me to call them. Shortly after, Caretaker Benite would show up to give me a treatment in the cylinder machine that he eventually told me was a Remaker, and then he’d instruct me that the Admiral wished to see me.

Today was the first day I’d been able to find the Admiral’s office without the Caretaker’s begrudging help. I felt rather proud of that fact, even though the grumpy man across from me could test the patience of the Dalai Lama himself.

I shifted in my seat still getting used to the way it automatically conformed to my body as I determined the best way to response to the question Vang had so far always seen fit to start our little sessions off with. Obviously, he was hoping that being around Ethian people and getting to know Ethian ways might activate my childhood memories of Ethia. It hadn’t, and this question was getting old quick.

“Nothing, and the answer isn’t going to change just because you want it to,” I answered with a hard edge.

Admiral Vang frowned at me. “That is a shame.”

Simple words that held so much. I could feel his disappointment and anger like through my invisible barrier, but the emotions were much more pronounced today for some reason. Maybe it was the intense glint in his eyes? The hard edge to his jaw? Or the clipped tone of his words?

It seemed like there was a large reservoir of anger pooled and ready to explode just below Vang’s perfectly impassive expression. I suspected it was all directed at my mother and the man I had always thought of as my father––or perhaps even more, for the lack of knowledge of my life in Ethia. For some reason, Vang was taking my missing memory of Ethia personally. Like I was disrespecting him and my heritage on purpose, and it was driving me nuts.

A few uncomfortable moments passed before Vang spoke again. “I will just have to give you as much information as I can before we arrive at Dyniss.” His words seemed reluctant and forced, as if he was waiting for me to have a sudden revelation of all I needed to know, and his effort would not be needed after all.

In my last two sessions with Vang, I’d gotten precious little information about my birth father or the Empire. Most of Vang’s focus had been on my shortcomings, which according to him were a vast many.

Our first lesson was on core Enic words so that I could start actually understanding the language and speak it without the aid of the translator. Yes, I could technically speak it because of the injection I was given, but I wasn’t really comprehending the meaning of the words. And when I heard Enic, it was more like I was perceiving it as English rather than what they were actually speaking.

Vang made it very clear that the injection would eventually wear off and and insisted I study Enic in my spare time. And I definitely got the vibe that I wasn’t going to get another.

He did, however, give me a rectangular device like I had seen Benite using so much. I found that it was much like an ipad or tablet I’d used on Earth, only the learning curve was a great deal steeper considering the language, and the organization of the data was completely alien to me.

Vang took the time to show me how to gain entry to the language data base (which at this time was the only thing I really had access on the data pad), so I could continue to learn on my own. He then commanded that I should endeavor to use the Enic words as much as possible until I could fluently speak without the help of the translator in the back of my neck.

One the second day, Vang had me standing and walking around the his office as he critiqued my posture and stance. At first I thought he was just doing it as some sort of stupid joke, but it became clear to me that he was taking the presentation of my person quite seriously. I always thought I’d carried myself acceptably, but Vang’s perpetual scowl said differently. After three long hours, his scowled lessened somewhat and he told me to return to my room for the day, so I guess I had made at least a little progress in that area.

I shook myself out of my revere and focused on Vang’s comment. Maybe it might mean that I would finally get some answers to the burning questions I had about Ethia and why they had come so far to retrieve me in the first place. I had asked, but each time Vang ignored my questions like I hadn’t spoken at all. At first I though there might be a glitch in the translator, but I began to realize that Vang was very fond of ignoring things he didn’t want to answer.

“Dyniss?” I asked. The Caretaker had mentioned this word before, but he wasn’t any more forthcoming than the Admiral had been. Any time I tried to ask the Blue Coats––oops––Zahnians on the ship a question, they just stared back at me with a hard and stony look. And Chief Hon, the only person on the ship who’d been even a little accommodating to me, was oddly no where to be found.

The Admiral tapped a small square black box close to him on the table that lay between us. A green light began to pulse from it, and then to my surprise, the light expanded up and out across the table where it changed to show a slowly rotating planet of blue waters, brown continents, and white cloudy skies. It was Earth. The only home I had known for all my remembered life.

The transparent image of Earth then morphed, zooming out to show an image of space. The scene then rocketed across a great expanse of stars, planets, and nebula to stop in a different galaxy altogether. Great spirals of cosmic bodies appeared inside this other galaxy. It was shaped somewhat similar to the Milk Way, but with a tighter spiral and a larger, somewhat lopsided center.

A moment later, I saw a list of words off to the side written in Enic. I only got a moment to read a few of the words to know they must be names of star systems, when the image changed yet again, this time zooming to a tight cluster of stars not too far from the center of the galaxy. The image continued to move closer until I could clearly see a red dwarf star not too far away, and twelve oddly shaped moons orbiting a small planet. The word Dyniss was written just above the planet.

“That is where the Imperial Family lives. It is the Capitol of the Ethian Empire,” Vang said.

It seemed like a small planet to be the capitol of an entire Empire, but I kept that statement to myself. It looked to be about the size of Mars, slightly smaller than Earth. This world didn’t have any white clouds or blue waters. There was only dark brown that appeared to cover almost the entire surface of the capitol world.

Again, questions raced through my mind, but I settled for something simple that I thought the Admiral might be inclined to answer. “How long will it take to get there?”

Vang waved a hand and the image disappeared. The little black box glowed green for a few more moments, before the light emulating from it died. My fingers were itching to get a hold of it and see how it worked, but I settled my hands on my lap and strove to give my undivided attention back to the Admiral.

“Not nearly long enough to give you a proper education on what a Prince of the Empire should know or even how to act properly as an Ethian, but we will have to manage.” I tried not to sigh at the typical non-answer.

“First, we will talk about what is expected of you in your role as a son of the Emperor. Later, we will go over basic government structure, so you can understand the larger role of the Imperial Family.”

I schooled my face to look as emotionless as the Admiral’s. I didn’t want him to know this was the information I really wanted to know about. Well, maybe not about the political stuff, but I figured if Vang was going to talk about the Imperial Family, then he’d have to give other information too on my biological father and brothers, the kind of information I was interested in.

Since my parents revelation, I couldn’t help but imagine what my Ethian family would be like. Who were they? How would they react to me coming back? How would I react to them? Dad told me I had three brothers, and that they attacked me out of jealousy when I was child. Would they still hold a grudge? Or would time have softened them?

“As for your part, you will be expected to carry yourself in a certain way, to do certain tasks, and convey a certain image. That is, in part, what I am teaching you, so that at least you will have the basics. There will be many other teachers to take over once you reach Dyniss, including the Emperor himself. He will be your Master Teacher to help develop your Perception Dome-ni.”

My mom had told me about my Dome-ni and that one in particular had been the reason behind my brother’s jealousy and later the attack that had caused my parents to whisk me away to a safer place. The Dome-ni almost seemed like it had been more trouble than it was worth.

“What if I don’t want to learn how to develop my Perception talent?” It just seemed like an obvious solution to my Ethian family trouble, but I knew as soon as I said it, it was the wrong thing to say.

Vang gave me one of his all too familiar glares. I knew by now the best way to navigate one of those kinds of silent attacks from him was to look away until he decided he’d gotten his point across, and then he’d move on.

I diverted my gaze and waited, holding my breath and wondered if striking someone down with a look was a Dome-ni talent. Vang’s intensity made it almost seem possible. A few moments later, I heard an impatient sigh, then he began to speak again.

“Why do you think I came all the way out here to fetch you?”

I turned my gaze back to the other man. Surprisingly, there was no anger or frustration in his expression. It was like he was simply searching to read me and determining how much he should say.

“I don’t know. No one has bothered to tell me the why.” I replied, trying not to put too much accusation in my voice. This was the most open he’d been with me so far and I didn’t want to make him retreat back into his mask of grumpy silence.

The Admiral nodded as if mentally deciding something, and then he began to speak. “I was tasked by the Emperor himself to bring you back to Ethia. He instructed me to do so, because of the importance of the success of this mission. He needed to make sure you were brought home to become his successor.”

My stomach lurched at that last statement. Mom had said that might be why they’d had come so far to get me, but I had hoped that perhaps after all the years that the Emperor would have found someone else by now. “But what of my brothers? I was told I had three of them. Why go to all the trouble of bringing me back when one of them can fill that role?”

Vang pursed his lips tightly and I could see the contemplation on his face like he was trying to decide what exactly to tell me. “It is complicated. The Emperor has determined that none of them are fit to be the Ascendant. He believes you will fill that role better.”

Ascendant? That one was new to me. “What is an Ascendant?”

A look of irritation came over the Vang’s face when I asked questions that according to him, I should already know. “That is the official title of the Emperor’s successor.”

I pondered that for a moment before I went back to Vang’s previous statement that he thought I would fit better in the role of Ascendant than my other and probably far more experienced brothers.

“I’ve been gone twenty years. The Emperor knows nothing about me, or what I’m capable of. How am I a better fit for this ascension job than my other brothers?”

“It is Ascendant,” Vang replied deliberately like he was speaking to a small child. “And you have the Perception Dome-ni.”

“So? It’s one small part of who I am. What is that compared to what my brothers can do? They’ve lived their whole lives in Ethia and under the influence of the Emperor, and I am assuming preparing to be successor to him. I’m getting remedial lessons on how to be a freaking Ethian. Tell me, how does one little talent make up for all of that?”

I expected Vang to have some hard-ass comeback for me, because I was fully aware that I was crossing over into antagonizing behavior. But these were legitimate questions that had been rolling around in my head since I’d gotten on this ship. I figured if I was going to finally get an answer, this might be it. Or Vang would just go back into his I’m-going-to-ignore-you-and-pretend-you-didn’t-say-a-word act.

Sure enough, the Admiral just sat there with a perfectly chiseled expression of non-emotion like he was made of stone. But I was surprised that there was no anger this time. Just an eternity of silence sitting between us.

A thought began to form in my mind as an answer to his stoney, non-emotional response. “You don’t like this any better than I do, do you? You are just following orders like a good little soldier.”

Again, I got nothing, which told me volumes. I withheld a smirk. Maybe Vang wasn’t so hard to crack as I first thought. I sat back in my chair as I absorbed this sudden revelation. So not even this intimidating Admiral agreed with my birth father’s order to come fetch me. Interesting. Not that I knew how to use that information, but it certainly told me a lot about my birth father and the man sitting in front of me, and their relationship to one another.

“What about my brothers? Won’t they take this badly? Won’t they try to come after me again?”

I got nothing but silence. Surprise. Surprise.

And shit.

I wasn’t sure how to take that silence. Did it mean I had something to worry about, or that it had been taken care of? I got the sinking suspicion that it might be the former. I felt bile rise up into my throat in sheer panic. In that moment, I desperately wanted my dad here with me. He’d know what to do.

How was I supposed to protect myself against three people who had already attacked me once when I was a freaking kid? It was obvious that my brothers had serious moral ambiguities, especially were I was concerned. And I wasn’t eager to find out how far that extended.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breath until I could trust myself to speak in a calm voice. “Will I have protection at least?”

“Of course, it is being arranged.” The Admiral finally responded. “Also, the Emperor has taken the added precaution of relocating your brothers to other places in the Empire. They have been banished from the White Palace.”

Seriously?

Holy shit.

This was getting worse by the moment. If my brothers hadn’t completely hated me before, they definitely were hating on me now. I could feel the hysteria creeping back in.

I took another long steadying breath. “I don’t get it. It’s like the Emperor is trying to put a wedge between my brothers and I instead of trying to make things better.”

Vang was back to his statue pose.

Despair gnawed at me. This was my life now. Really? I was doomed to do something I most definitely did not want to do, while three perfectly capable people were right now probably plotting my untimely and gruesome death.

This. Was. Total. Bull. Shit.

“What if I don’t want to be the Emperor’s successor?” I challenged.

The Admiral raised an eyebrow, and I somehow knew in that moment that Vang had been leading me here all along. It was like an invisible trap had snapped around me. A queasiness settled in my gut.

“As I recall, you promised your full cooperation in exchange for leaving Aragon Remeer behind on that planet.”

A dark, cold dread spread through me as another important piece slipped into place. Admiral Vang had left my dad on Earth, not because I had asked him too, but because he knew it would be useful to him in this exact moment. Even though my dad was a traitor and deserved the punishment coming to him, this was far more important––securing the willing cooperation of the Emperor’s Heir. I felt my earlier victory of negotiation crumble to ash, knowing the bastard had been playing me from the very beginning.

It wasn’t until that exact moment that I realized that maybe I was way over my head and maybe I hadn’t read this situation the right way at all. And stupid me, I had walked right into it thinking myself some sort of hero, while all along I had been brokering a deal that had put me in a powerless situation.

You don’t know what you are doing. You don’t understand what going back would mean for you. Let me do this for you. Let me go in your stead.

Dad’s words echoed in my head. This was why he had been willing to give himself up. He knew these people better than me. He knew what they were capable of, and had been willing to give his life to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening. And I had just bumbled right into it, thinking I knew better than he did.

I felt like a total idiot.

Dammit all to hell.

I closed my eyes, feeling a since of utter loss of control come over me. It was like I was falling down a dark, deep hole and I couldn’t stop. There was no end, there was no bottom. I was free falling into oblivion.

My future had been decided. I didn’t have a say. Maybe I never did. My parents had tried to fight against that. I could see that so clearly now. It made my heart ache that they loved me so much, and any anger I once had at them for lying to me completely evaporated. How could I be angry, when they had sacrificed everything just so I could live my life on my terms?

“I think we have had enough for today. We will continue our lessons tomorrow.” I heard Vang say.

I didn’t bother to open my eyes back up. I heard him stand and briskly exit the room without another word. All I could do was sit in the silence and feel the despair as it ate away at me.

The desire to go back home to my planet––to my real home, to my real family, surged to a frightening height inside of me. My entire essence longed for the familiarity of what I’d always known and the support of those who truly cared about me.

But how? How could I even get back there? Even if I did find some way off this ship, how would I find Earth? And if I managed to get back there, what then? Because I knew with absolute certainty that Vang would come for me again, and he wouldn’t be so nice about it either.

If I went back, I knew I would be putting my whole family in terrible jeopardy. There really was only once choice, only one thing I could do. Because I realized that without a doubt that I would much rather submit myself to a life of misery, than have any harm come to the people I loved.

My decision was made, but it felt like a part of me was dying. I turned my back on it. I could not face it, not right now. My mind was made up, and there was no point in wallowing in it. So I stood up and exited Vang’s office, and tried to ignore the piece of me I was leaving behind.