Har Norma Byukan
Norma's aircraft sped along above dark, thundering clouds, like a herd of cantankerous beasts.
Somewhere beneath them, the rainforests of Continent Carpenter soaked up their droppings. Up here,
though, quiet, thin air supported her passage without a tremor.
In another four-kay seconds, she'd be landing at an out-of-the-way drome on Continent Glenn and
connecting with a scheduled shuttle down to the interstellar Backdoor deep in the planet's crust.
Her second trip off-planet since she'd decided to become a queen. Oh, Norma smiled, the demands of
ambition. Once she'd ascended to her throne, she'd commission a project to dig their own spelunca
and set up a Royal Backdoor sheltered by earth from cosmic interference ,,, just an easy walk from
her quarters. Of course, then the subterfuge would no longer be necessary. Not that anything was
really a secret on this planet; the best she could do was make the data about her whereabouts hard
to find in the vastness of the Mirnaya Direvnya.
Speaking of this planet, where was Tidhar today? Recruiting a crew on the Islands of Exile, if she
remembered right. He had taken so well to this mission she'd given him. She'd seen him twice
since he'd set off around the world to create havoc for Gatogrebok, and each time, he'd seemed
larger, more a part of zhuhndí life, growing into the true partner — Queen's Consort — that she
wanted. Still, she missed him, his breath at her side during the night, his quick insight when she
explained a business concept to him, his energetic and stalwart love-making.
Ah, well ... where was I?
Norma found herself staring into the holoscreen that embodied her traveling office. Ah, yes, a few
loose ends to tie up. She reached out and flicked an unacknowledged request for a
meeting/can-be-seen. It quivered into action and sent out an answer. A moment later, it morphed
into the three-dimensional head of Dyr Kanpachiro Nitsta, his eager face surrounded by a stand of
black hair.
"Thank you for seeing me," he said immediately. "I've attached our anshin proposal for Ganj Dareh
Direvnya to this can-see. Your approval will submit it to their Collective."
Norma had no intention of looking at this meeskait's work — at this point, it made no difference
in her grand scheme — but noblesse oblige required some acknowledgment of his labors.
First, the bottom line, of course. "What impact will this have on profits?"
Nitsta put on a placating face. "They're going to drop the first year due to training and other
transition expenses, but I expect we'll break even, compared to current profit trends, starting in
the third year as the zhee-tely relieve us of trivial and costly duties. We'll do even better in
the following years."
"I don't like waiting that long."
"Yessir." He squirmed a little, but gamely kept his smile. "But we'll make it pay off. A
three-year return is not unusual in these situations. If you'll look at these precedents ..."
Pointer glyphs made a trail up the side of her holoscreen. Norma ignored them and frowned at the
man instead. "Is this a winning proposal?"
Nitsta reacted with a long blink, then recovered to convert his face with wide eyes and a charming
grin, obviously practiced in a mirror. "I've turned the Collective inside-out virtually,
statistically, and every other way short of talking to each zhee-tel myself. I've wrung complaints
and suggestions out of nearly each combine member. And I've folded all that data together using a
pattern language that was successful in fourteen simulations. I cannot say it's invincible, but I
will say it stands a much better chance than our standard proposal."
Norma pondered the earnest face before her. She'd never seen such enthusiasm from a member of her
staff before, especially not from one who'd just returned from eighteen days in the field. He
actually made her believe in his work and his commitment to it. She would need someone like him in
her court when the time came — and come it certainly would.
"I approve," Norma said to make it official. She heard a faint whoosh! sound as the policyware
forwarded the proposal. She wondered how the selection would go, whether she would beat Gatogrebok
there, in that remote place where he had chosen to challenge her on her own continent.
If not, if the Ganj-Dareh Collective betrays me in this, as their queen, I will make them pay. And
regardless, I will make Gatogrebok pay for his impudence.
"Thank you, Har Norma!" The words nearly exploded out of Nitsta.
Norma liked that. "What are your plans now?"
"I'm flying back to Ganj Dareh tomorrow afternoon. We've got a marketing campaign laid out, to
make sure the Collective understands what we're proposing, to guide them to the right choice, to
focus them on renewing our contract despite the problems they're having right now."
"Problems?"
"Some issues between the residents and the people who've come to town for your Rendezvous of
Futures. Nothing Phoebe can't handle, Har Norma."
"Oh, that."
"Thank you again for the quick approval. Meeting adjourned."
Nitsta's face disappeared. Glyphs of queues and services replaced it.
Norma sighed. She found it hard to keep the old establishment going while she yearned and worked
hard to bring about the new one. Still, it must be done. She wasn't quite ready yet to begin her
reign.
She awakened a queue and acknowledged another meeting request.
