and gave her a smile. She looked startled and then gave me back a smile that was the most heartwarming, biggest, brightest smile I had ever seen. I wasn't tired anymore and my head didn't hurt. All I wanted was to be closer to that woman, just to hold her hand and bask in the warmth of that smile.
One of the Emperor's aides came to get me and I reluctantly let myself be led away. I stood there with my head bowed and waited to be acknowledged. “Mr. Nesslun” the Emperor said.
“Yes, your majesty,” I said, my eyes firmly fixed on the point of his chin as I had been told to do. You never look a monarch in the eye. It's disrespectful. He still wasn't my Emperor, but all these eager young men with the force rifles, he was their Emperor. It didn't hurt to show respect.
“I understand you refused payment to come,” the Emperor said.
“Your majesty, I didn't come for the money. I came because my friend Dr Carroll has wanted to visit Lindle 4 since she was a little girl. I was almost here before I found out you needed me here. If I could stop a war from starting by saving the lives of some men I was uniquely qualified to save, I had to try. I didn’t come for a reward.”
“And yet if I ever saw a man who wanted something from me, it's you. Ask me anything. If I can grant it I will,” the Emperor told me.
“Sir, when I came on this transport, all I wanted was to get my head looked at, clean up, and find a bed where I could sleep for a couple of years. A few moments ago I saw this beautiful girl on the other side of the clear wall and she smiled at me. Now I'm not tired anymore and my head doesn't hurt. If you could arrange for me to meet her, I would be very grateful.”
“Meet her, or have her come to your bed?” the Emperor asked me with a grin.
I couldn't help but smile. The thought overwhelmed me. To go to sleep with my arms around that beautiful creature, my face buried in that gorgeous shiny black hair.
“Your majesty, I would like to meet her so that I could ask her myself.”
“Which one is she?” the Emperor asked.
“She is that exquisitely beautiful woman with the incredible shiny black hair. The girl that's...waving at you…”
“That is my daughter Lindwella,” the Emperor said as he gently waved back.
“Am I in trouble?”
“You smash the most beautiful piece of Lindle sculpture I have ever seen. You are disrespectful with your tone and with your words and are very close to being physically disrespectful, and you want to know if you are in trouble because you tell me you think my daughter is beautiful and you want to meet her.”
“I had to get your attention.”
He ignored me.
“I am glad you didn't take me up on my offer to send her to your bed. That would have been awkward. Why don't you come with me now? I am certain she would like to meet you.”
“I really should clean up and put on some clean clothes first.”
“I am certain she would not mind,” the Emperor said with a smile.
“Sir, the last couple of ghouls I killed, I didn't have to touch them. They just got close enough to smell me and they dropped dead.”
He laughed. “Alright, let's get you cleaned up and a change of clothes. Then you can join us for dinner.”
“I would be honored sir.” The Emperor motioned with his hand and men came for me.
◊◊◊
The Emperor walked through the door and Linda grabbed him. “Daddy you came back to me.”
“Was there every any doubt?” the Emperor said.
“Yes there was. I was preparing myself to never see you again. What that man did doesn't seem possible.”
“I was in there with him and it doesn't seem possible. I offered to give him anything. All he wanted was to be introduced to a girl he had seen. I offered to send that girl to his bed. Then I found out the girl he was talking about was you.”
Linda smiled. “I assume that his bed, the one you are going to send me to, will be in my quarters.”
“He told me he just wanted to be introduced to you so he could ask you himself.”
“Why didn't you bring him in with you Father?”
“He wanted a chance to clean up before he met you.”
“Maybe I should go help him clean up.”
“Linda, give the man a chance to look his best the first time he meets you. He will be joining us for dinner.”
An aide walked in the room. “Your majesty, there is a problem with Mr. Nesslun.”
◊They took me to a medical aide to have my head cleaned and healed. The aide cleaned off the dried blood and asked me how I had injured my head. I told him I had not ducked low enough when I came to a low spot in the tunnel.
“And how long ago did this happen?” the aide asked me.
“It happened when I first entered the mine,” I replied.
“Say about nine to ten hours ago,” said the aide as he looked at his notes.
He scanned the wound, turned pale and, in a tone I did not like, told me to lie flat on the bench and not move. He left. Almost immediately a doctor came in. He rescanned my wound, while a larger piece of equipment was wheeled in the room. He used the larger piece of equipment to scan me from head to toe.
He said it appeared that I had the misfortune to bump my head on a chunk of fuel quality gloride and the fibers had spread through my entire body. I would need to be put in suspension until I could be sent to a top line medical facility. Being put in suspension was never done casually. About three percent of those put in suspension never come out. I was already being given injections of medication to start the process.
“Don't I get a say in my treatment?” I asked him.
“No,” the doctor said, “There isn't time. Even in suspension the deterioration of your organs will continue, although at a much slower pace. It's go into suspension or die.”
“If you are going to send me to the planet Udell for treatment, I would rather have you cut my throat right now.”
“Udell, I have heard of Udell. That's a Market Sphere university planet. Their facilities are as good as any in the galaxy.”
“You don't understand. They want to find out how my ability to kill gloride monsters works. In order to do this they would have to dissect me and test the parts while they keep me alive. When they are done I understand that the pieces will be mounted and put on display.”
“Don't worry. You're a hero of the Empire now. We won't let anything bad happen to you,” the Doctor said trying to reassure me.
“The royal we always worries me. It implies that someone else will handle the actual details and no one is really responsible.” The doctor must have seen the stricken expression on my face.
“Mr. Nesslun, I give you my word, you will not go to any medical facility where you will be experimented on.”
I looked in his eyes. I believed him. The question was did he believe me. As consciousness slipped away, I wondered what I would wake up to.
◊◊◊
Linda opened the door and there Nesslun was. Linda looked at him carefully. Nesslun was completely naked, every last hair shaved off, tubes stuck in everywhere, down his throat, up his nose, in his penis, in his wrists, in his ankles, in his neck, in his thigh. His eyes were taped shut.
Linda had to touch him. Linda carefully ran her fingertips over the skin at the top of his head, the line of his jaw,