Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [230]
Weatherworn Klikiss towers poked up from the plain, but they had crumbled to little more than nubs, like rotted teeth. He couldn't identify this particular planet, but all pictures he had seen of Klikiss colony worlds looked the same to him anyway. He'd never had any intention of visiting one.
Behind him, the transportal wall was the only nearby structure. He used it to support himself as he got to his feet and brushed off his clothes--pajamas and a robe, certainly not the finery in which he wanted to be seen. Worse, he had pissed himself. It was so unseemly for a King, or even a Prince.
Indignant, Daniel raised his voice and started yelling for guards, for the Chairman. Someone was bound to hear him. He rubbed his muscles, gradually getting back full control of his body.
"Hello?" he shouted again. "Why doesn't somebody answer?"
He waved his arms, drawing the attention of the dark-clad workers tilling the crop patches. The distant group began to come toward him, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry. With a heavy sigh, Daniel trudged to meet them halfway.
The ground was muddy with irrigation and--yes, indeed--he distinctly smelled poop. He couldn't wait to tell Chairman Wenceslas what Peter and Estarra had done to him. They were going to be in so much trouble!
As he approached the group of men, he saw that they all carried dirty farm tools--rakes, hoes, shovels. One even led a plow horse! They looked hot and sweaty in their rough clothes. Every man sported a wide-brimmed hat, and most had facial hair that was untrimmed and unstyled. Perhaps they hadn't been able to find a barber to join them on their colonization initiative.
When the men came closer, Daniel almost gagged. He'd never smelled so much body odor before. The farmers didn't even seem to notice. At least they appeared peaceful and friendly, smiling beneath the shadowed brims of the hats.
"Welcome to Happiness," said the first man to arrive. "We weren't expecting visitors, but we're pleased to have you join us."
"I don't intend to join you. I'm the victim of a heinous crime, and I demand your assistance. I am Prince Daniel, soon to be King of the Terran Hanseatic League. You all owe me your allegiance." He expected gasps of awe or bows of deference; instead, the bearded men looked at him curiously. They introduced themselves faster than he could remember any names.
"We are just neo-Amish farmers," said the leader, who called himself Jeremiah Huystra. "We established this bucolic settlement here as a bastion of the old ways, one step closer to Eden."
Daniel spluttered, wondering how anyone could call this dirty, primitive place an Eden. "I insist upon priority treatment. I'm your Prince." He gestured toward the Klikiss transportal wall behind him. "Send me back to the Whisper Palace, where I belong."
Jeremiah and the other neo-Amish farmers shrugged. "Oh, we don't use that thing anymore. None of us knows how, and we don't wish to. We stopped receiving shipments from the Hansa a while back, and I doubt we'll get any more. But that is a blessing, since we came here to be left in peace."
The enormity sank in. Daniel blinked his blue eyes several times, looking around this primitive planet that someone had had the nerve to name Happiness. Peter and Estarra had planned this! They knew he would be stranded here without any hope of getting back.
As if he'd been hit with a twitcher again, the Prince dropped to the ground and began to sob. His hands made fists and pounded the unyielding dirt.
Jeremiah Huystra put a strong hand on the young man's shoulder. "Do not despair. You have nothing to fear." Huystra handed him a crude homemade hoe. "You are welcome to join us. We can always use another worker."
136
ADAR ZAN'NH