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  • Empire of a Thousand Universes Ch. 07

Empire of a Thousand Universes Ch. 07

**Author's note.

If you are reading these lines, then you are one of the few who has not found this story to be unmitigated trash. Let's face it, this story hasn't been one of my more popular endeavors.

I'm not complaining. If you had told me when back when I submitted my first story to Lit that it would have gotten only a few hundred hits, I would have been more than ecstatic. The fact that that story now has over 350,000 seems surreal to me, and I still credit those numbers to a stupendous error in accounting.

But I digress. I just wanted to thank my loyal readers, and I will continue writing this saga until it is done, or until the readership dwindles down to the point of embarrassment.

Thanks.

D.S.

*****

Earth, The Empire' Capital

Most of the animals had long since disappeared from Earth, though one should not misconstrue that the planet was a dead one, for it teemed with life. But apart from the single-celled creatures that have occupied the Earth for billions of years, and would most likely live on long after man was gone, Earth's multi-cellular animal life was restricted to only a few hundred species, the largest group of these being humans.

Throw into that mix a number of other species that had been considered domesticated "pets" like dogs, cats, several species of birds, and the like. What was left were the vermin that man, with all his technology, could never seem to eradicate.

In truth, most of that so called vermin, mainly insects and arachnids, though mice, rats, and even raccoons fit the definition, lived in the more destitute areas of the human population, for poverty was another ill that man could never exterminate.

The rest of the life that had once lived on Earth was exiled to so-called Zoo Planets, which existed mainly as destination sites for tourists. With virtual reality making ride based amusement parks a thing of the past, the new theme parks were zoological and botanically based.

People would pay big money to see not only Dinosaurs but also to swim with dolphins, watch penguins perform their mating rituals or watch a jaguar stalk its prey all from the convenience and comfort of an invisible, automatically controlled, two-person pod.

Or they could lay out on a man-made beach surrounded by Palm trees and other tropical flora. Then at the end of the day, while enjoying dinner and cocktails poolside, they could watch as elephants and giraffes roam in a distant savanna. It seemed that man couldn't get enough of wildlife, as long as it fit into his preconceived notions.

Other animal planets that were conceived out of necessity, though not necessarily tourist destinations, were Agrarian Planets. On these planets, the usual food crops of corn, wheat, soy were raised, along with vegetables and fruits. So-called farm animals, like cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, and game were reared. Animal protein cultivated in labs, though indistinguishable from "live" animals in taste and texture, were considered unpalatable by the general populace, and so was only harvested for the poor.

Animals that were used for ancient myth based remedies were farmed like tigers whose penises were harvested for so-called impotence cures. With advances in cloning and genetic modification, extinction was extinct, and man had an unlimited supply of beasts to sate his every appetite.

But as was previously stated, the Earth was teeming with human life. Every continent was overpopulated, the skies were crowded with great spires housing billions of people, even the oceans had vast colonies.

It had been that way for ages, even before the Empire existed. So when the Emperor of a Thousand Universes needed a palace, the only large expanse of vacant land was in the Sahara, the largest "Hot" desert on Earth. So that was where it was built.

From a twenty-first century view, the whole facility would seem a miracle. It was domed with a unique material that was opaque on the outside to block sunlight during the day but translucent at night and of course translucent from the inside. The whole structure, including the dome, was a solar electric generator, providing more than enough power to run the whole capital.

From the inside, you could see the sky through the dome, but the sun's rays were dampened enough so as not to cause a pedestrian the slightest discomfort even at midday. In fact, the inside temperature was kept at an even seventy-two degrees.

Once Capital City was built it became the epicenter of the Empire, and the Palace was the epicenter of Capital City. It was in this Palace that Xho Shi now walked, hoping to some day rule it, though through her son, in proxy.

"Madam Xho?" Exclaimed one of the Aeollian Guards who was standing sentry outside of the Aeollian Guard's headquarters.

"Yes, soldier, I have come to see your captain Kurosawa. I have urgent matters to discuss with him."

"I'm afraid the captain, ma'am, is in headquarters."

"I know that soldier, that's why I am here."

"But madam must know that it is not customary for anyone but an Aeollian Guard to enter headquarters."

"I know that is your tradition, but it's not a hard and fast rule, now is it, soldier?"

"I know ma'am, but..."

"Do not stammer, son. I know your customs. The tradition may be an old one, but there's no law against it. Send a message to Captain Kurosawa, I'm sure he will approve."

"Yes, ma'am."

Xho Shi walked down the sterile corridors of the Aeollian headquarters behind the young soldier. Several times questioning eyes glanced out at her from offices along the way, only to look away when she returned their stare. She was not afraid of their interrogations.

Finally, the guard showed her to what appeared to be a central office. There in that office, speaking with two junior officers, was Captain Kurosawa. He was tall with a hard look on his face, but stunningly handsome, especially in his uniform.

His ethnicity was hard to tell, probably a mix of Japanese and Indonesian. Just the sort of man her family would hate, yet it was her mother who suggested such a relationship. Her mother was the shrewd one in the family.

Kurosawa then turned and noticed her and dismissed the other guards brusquely. "Leave us," was all he said.

Xho Shi felt a something that she had never felt before. She wasn't just attracted to this handsome man, she was attracted to the power he wielded, drawn to it like a hornet to sugar. She liked this man, and would have slept with him even if he was of little use to her.

"Why is it, Lady Xho, that your visit with us today feels that some sort of gambit has been played," he said when they were alone.

"Can't a woman come to see her lover?"

"Is that what we are?"

"Of course. Believe me, Captain, whatever notions you have of me, please believe that my feelings for you are genuine."

A smile came to the Captain's face. Xho Shi wasn't sure the meaning of it, but she was hoping that it was a good omen.

"Let me ask you something, Lady Xho."

"Yes?"

"What is my first name?" He asked still smiling.

"Isn't it true, Captain," she replied. "That Aeollian Guardsmen, upon entering the force, relinquish their first name as a gesture of humility and obedience?"

"That is true, but since we are...lovers...it wouldn't take much for a woman of your influence to find out such information, especially since you love me."

"And how would I do that, Captain, send a note to one of your schoolmates at recess?"

"So you don't know it, Ghost Cat?" She hadn't been called that name in twenty years. It was her grandmother's nickname for her. He called her that as a child because she liked to sneak into the kitchen and steal sweets.

It was a rarity to see any expression on Xho Shi's face, she made it a practice never to be taken off guard, but if anyone was in the room at that moment they would haven seen the astonishment on her face.

"Very good, Akira. Though I doubt someone as Bright or Intelligent as you could figure that out."

That made Akira Kurosawa smile again.

"Why is it that you smile, Akira?"

"You are referring to my Kanji, the meaning of my name in Japanese?"

"Really? I thought we were just talking, one lover to another."

"Come with me," he said holding out his hand to her.

"Where are we going?" She said reaching out and taking his hand.

"Where we can be alone," he said pulling her into a stark back room that held only a metal table and three metal chairs. "This is the interrogation room." He pulled her close, taking both of her wrists and pulling them behind her.

In an instant, she realized that her wrists were bound together by some sort of device and that he was kissing her on the nape of her neck.

At the same time, she loosened the ties that bound her robes, and they fell to the floor, leaving her in her "sex" garments. Then her bustier/corset tightened under her breast, heaving them up for him.

With her arms bound, she was helpless, vulnerable, which was a feeling she would normally hate, but with him, she found it exciting.

"You like tying me up?" She asked, her bosom heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

"I still don't trust you," he said as he kissed her ear, and then tore at her corset, exposing her breasts.

"Nor I you," she said closing her eyes as he fondled her.

He pushed her back, so that she lay on her back on the metal table, and then undid his pants. She instinctively brought her knees up to her chest for him, and then the folds in her leggings opened up exposing her sex.

"Sounds like the basis for a beautiful love affair," he said as he moved between those open legs, bent down and kissed her red lips, as he pushed his cock into her other lips that were also red from excitement.

HOUSE KLEET

Wolfgang Kleet walked out of his building, down the marble front steps, and out to the circular drive where the autocar was waiting. The realization that the sun was already down made him check the time, though he found that to the contrary he wasn't late for his meeting, or at least not inordinately so.

Absent a moon to regulate its rotation, their planet was prone to fluctuations not only in its seasons but in its day-night cycles. So much so, that the weather department had a unit solely responsible for predicting those cycles. He must have missed the last report, he thought.

He got in the midsized car, which wasn't his regular car. This meeting called for a little subtlety, and where he was going a large car would have been conspicuous. He was treading in an area where he needed to be careful, and that went double for his meeting in the seedy part of town.

The car took him to the prearranged location, then proceeded to drive to the rear of the building, and into a back alleyway. The car parked in front of a glass door, and when he got out he instructed it to find a place to park away from the location.

He wasn't one for details, but his wife was, and she warned him all of the precautions he would need to take. He hadn't done anything traitorous yet, only partaking in a list of "dirty" tricks, but that was soon to change, and if he knew anything, he knew that conspiracies had been tripped up on less minor details.

He walked into the alley door, which had stenciling on it that had long since been worn off in places, and into the back of a small, dimly lit tavern. Passing the toilets and the kitchen along the way, he found what he was looking for. In a booth sat a dark haired greasy looking man with a pitcher of cider and two mugs sitting on the table in front of him. He sat down unceremoniously across from the greasy man.

"You're late," the greasy man said surly.

"And you better watch your mouth. Someone with your track record should think twice about being insubordinate."

"You still harping on that nun thing? It wasn't my fault that his father was able to buy him out of it."

"You bungled it. You should have called the nightwatch sooner."

"Yeah well, I was a little freaked out by it all. You ever strangle a nun?"

"Collateral damage, Boris. We all have to do some unseemly tasks."

"Unseemly? Listen, I've done my share of killing, but a holy woman whose only crime was to try and feed the poor? She didn't deserve to be raped and murdered."

"I never knew you to have a conscience."

"Yeah well, I guess I'm getting old."

"Can I depend on you, old man?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"I have to know 'cause we have to move soon before that nephew of mine gets a wife and then gets her pregnant."

"What did you have in mind?"

"A little sabotage."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. The tricky thing is we have to do it so that we can pin it on someone else."

"Like the Triestes?"

"No! Ah, not the Triestes. Maybe, the Doefol?"

"The Doefol? That won't fly."

"And why is that?"

"Well first off, the Doefol haven't been seen anywhere near here in decades. Secondly, ever one knows the Doefol are in decline. Their empire is shrinking. People are finding empty cities on planets which used to be Doefol strongholds as if the population was exterminated. Their cities are still there, but the Doefol are gone."

"I've heard rumors about that, but we don't know any other alien race who has the power to pull that off."

"People say it's the Unbound."

"The Unbound? They're a myth, stories told by nannies to scare disobedient children."

"Yeah well, that's what they used to say about aliens visitation to Earth, back when the Multiverse was a myth."

House Trieste

The first thought that struck Paolo was why would this mountain of a man be stealing a rug. After the alarms had interrupted him and Genevieve, and he got dressed, they ran down the main stairs of the house to the formal living room, and there standing in the middle of the living room was this black man with a rug thrown over his shoulder,

On the other side of the room from Paolo stood his father and mother, and two security guards with weapons trained on the man. Genevieve was hiding behind Paolo, holding onto him as if he could save her from this guy.

"Duke Trieste, I bid you no harm," said the black man in a very soothing voice. The man, naked from the waist up, towered over everyone in the room, including the guards, and it looked as though he had shaved his entire body, including his head. "I bring you a most precious gift. It comes from the far reaches of the Multiverse, and many have died so that I could bring it here to you safely."

"What nonsense is this in the middle of the night," the Duke answered. "A rug? What would I need with a rug? And why would you break into my house to bring it to me?"

That's when Paolo noticed the design and pattern of the rug. This was not one of the rugs from their mansion. The design was all wrong, it was simpler than the design of their rugs, but he knew the pattern from somewhere.

And then it hit him. This was an Imperial rug or at least a good replica. This rug looked exactly like the rugs that they had back on Earth in the Imperial Palace. They were everywhere in the Palace, and he knew them like he knew the back of his hand.

"The present is not the rug, Sir. It is what's in the rug."

With that, the man stood back and brought a knee down almost to the floor, and then he unrolled the rug in front of the Duke and Duchess. Out of the rug, looking a little disheveled and puzzled by her predicament, rolled the most beautiful black woman Paolo had ever seen. And what was more, she was wearing the Imperial robes of a princess.

"Hold it right there," the two guards commanded in unison at the young woman who they now had their weapons trained on as she sat on the floor.

"Hold it, hold it, hold it," Duke Trieste yelled over the din. He pushed the guards away and walked up to the young black woman. One could tell that he found her absolutely captivating. "Young lady, that was some entrance."

"Excuse me, sir, are you Duke Trieste?" The woman asked trying to get to her feet.

"Yes I am," replied the Duke as he helped her. "And who may I ask are you?"

"I am Phryne Waresa," the young woman said as she stood tall before him. "Daughter of Mbaba Mwana Waresa, Imperial courtesan of Emperor Maximilian, and granddaughter of Nyambe Waresa, President of Uthlanga, the source of all things."

"Phyrne," the Duke asked.

"Yes."

"Daughter of Emperor Maxamillian, the former ruler of the Multiverse?"

"Yes, sir."

"Granddaughter of Nyambe Waresa?"

"I am."

"Paolo," the Duke called to his son. "My son spent nine years in the Imperial Palace as a ward to the Emperor," he said to the girl.

"Oh," the young woman said taken aback. "I don't think I would have met him."

"It's true, father," Paolo said as he crossed the room. "The Imperial family was kept secluded."

"Well young woman," said the Duke. "If you are who you say you are, why are you here, and why the dramatic entrance."

"My apologies, Duke and Duchess Trieste," she said and bowed. "But my family felt that my life was in danger. My grandfather informed me that you were a good man and that if I came to you, you would grant me refuge. I'm sorry for the intrusion, but secrecy was my best defense."

"Yes, I know your grandfather very well. Why not go to him."

"Again, my apologies, but that would be the first place they would look. If you catch my meaning, sir. And our system is a small one. We could not defend ourselves against the sheer power of the Empire"

"Yes, miss, I believe I do catch your meaning. Guards," the Duke turned his attention to the two men who still had their guns at their sides. "You can leave us now, and I want to thank you for your quick response. Phryne?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you come with me. Let's see if I can get the kitchen staff to scare us up some refreshments, while a bed is made for you."

"If it's okay, sir? Can I bring my man? He has suffered much to bring me here safe."

"Indeed. Though I don't think anyone could stop him if they had a mind to."

"I'll come too if you please, father," Paolo volunteered.

"Me too," chimed in Genevieve.

"Not me," proclaimed the Duchess, dismissively. "I've had just about enough excitement for one night."

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