Doctor Who_ Halflife - Mark Michalowski [20]
He’d made his decision, little did that harpy Alinti know. That was why he’d summoned Djelardine, to finalise the arrangements.
‘Can I get you anything, Your Highness?’
He turned suddenly at the voice. It was Farine, one of Sensimi’s maids. She hovered solicitously behind him. Tannalis grinned wolfishly at her – and then realised that it probably just made him look like some sort of old pervert. Nice rump on her, though, Tannalis thought wistfully. A bit of something to get hold of. The contrast between the shy, amply bosomed girl and his shrivelled old crow of a wife made him smile. His philandering days were behind him now, 34
but it would still be nice. . . just once more. . .
He waved her away with a regretful shake of the head. King David managed to get away with it, with Abishag, but he doubted that he any longer carried the weight of such a figure.
‘I’m fine, girl. That woman of mine running you all ragged, is she?’
Farine dipped her head, not answering, but Tannalis could see it in her eyes.
‘Don’t you worry about her,’ he said. ‘She thinks she rules the henhouse, but this old rooster’s still got a bit of life in him.’
Farine bobbed and scurried off. If he’d been up to it, he’d have teased her a bit more about what she and Sensimi were up to. He might have been old, but he wasn’t stupid. There were more than just his own plans afoot in the Palace.
35
Chapter 5
‘How can we know where we’re going, when we don’t know where we’ve come from?’
‘Espero was meant to be a fresh start for humanity,’ said Roberto. ‘The Ecumenical Council decided that all we needed to make Espero thrive was a faith in God and the goodwill of the colonists. Obviously, we brought some technology with us, but we were naive and trusted in the promises of HomeWorld
– the corporation that sold us the planet – that Espero was a paradise, rich in resources, a ripe fruit just waiting to be plucked. We were gullible, desperate to leave Earth, to get away from the hegemony of the West, of North America and the Eurozone.’ At this, he raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly at the Doctor. ‘We were blinded by the opportunities that we saw out here – the chance to make our universe, in our own image. History, we were told, would start anew.’
‘So you were sold a pup? Espero, I mean.’
Roberto nodded.
‘HomeWorld told us that Espero had everything we needed. They showed us mineralogical surveys and climatological reports. It looked like a paradise.
And you can imagine how desperate the Ecumenical Council was to find a new paradise. Humanity had screwed up the last one we were given, and this was another chance. Perhaps our last.’ He smiled, but it was a cold, dry smile.
‘God was giving us another chance at Eden, so we grabbed at it with both hands.’
‘But there was a serpent?’
Roberto gave a shrug. ‘If you believe in original sin, then yes – there was a serpent. Our own stupidity, brought with us, packed into every bag and box and suitcase, wrapped in every fold of cloth and every wrinkle of every man, woman and child that made the journey. The Council told us that, in order to start afresh properly, we had to throw away millennia of human history. No looking back, no living in the shadows of the past.’
‘You wouldn’t be the first colony to set out with that ethos. But if you don’t mind my saying so, isn’t it a rather strange attitude for a religious organisa-tion?’
37
Roberto nodded ruefully. ‘Our faith,’ he said, ‘was one of the few things that we were going to take with us. At the time, so I understand, it all seemed to make perfect sense. God would lead us into the new Promised Land – we needed nothing