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CARNIVAL WORLD CHAPTER 43
Three days after the official briefing, Zales sat at the head of the briefing room table, for a follow up meeting. The Alpha team was assembled around the glossy black tables, each with Top Secret stamped folders with briefing papers and complimentary coffee and water.
We could see the desks of the Star Portal Control Room through the windows. I, of course, was also present. Lady Q, the former White Naga Princess, who I had released from suspended animation, on the opening day of the Conner Brother’s Carnival Theme Park, sat beside me, sipping her coffee, lightly creamed without sugar, waiting for the briefing to begin.
Zales cleared his throat, and his ice blue eyes surveyed the gathered assembly. “As you already know, Bard has done it again. I thought his snake oil aversion had ruined our secret mission to infiltrate the Dark Naga Castle.
“While their disguises did not work for odiferous excrement, their mission proved that the Dark Naga Queen, Riva Z, is not any danger to Planet Carnival World, as her mother had been in the Days of the Monster Men War.
“Agent Sully, formerly known affectionately as Sum Ting Wong, now has a new nickname, as I am certain many of you already know – Snake Daddy. Because of that, the Queen of the Dark Naga lands is not only not a danger to us but has offered us a formal alliance.”
Zales grinned wickedly as Sully slumped in his chair and busied himself focusing on his briefing packet. Turning to Lady Q he asked, “Bard here opined the other day that Riva wanted to be a mother so badly that she has no intention of engaging in world domination and will be eagerly waiting for her eggs to hatch. Eight of them.
He picked up the eight perfumed and glittered stationary thank you cards and fanned them like a circus showman before a captive audience.
“Can we trust her, Lady Quetzi? And do you have an estimation of twelve to eighteen months before we have eight new Wongs that will make things right? Is that a close estimate of when the eggs will be born or hatched? Will this serendipitous event cement our new alliance?”
Lady Q’s lips twisted momentarily, and she sighed heavily before placing her white enamel coffee cup down on the smooth black table next to her untouched briefing package. “My best guess, Colonel, is that she is already in fast-track mode. Three days is not natural for a Naga female from conception to egg evacuation, Colonel Zales. Thirty days is normal. Like all Naga royalty, she has access to the subterranean advanced technology halls.
“If she conceived and gave birth to her eggs in three days, she used one of the advanced technology machines. I did produce an egg by parthenogenesis, after my people were slaughtered and the children enslaved by Queen Riva’s mother.
“My mother had hidden me in a suspended animation chamber with a clutch of noble’s eggs, and eggs of the ladies in-waiting. I passed my egg while in suspended animation, but after being rescued by the then, High Elf Prince, Zander, I left it in suspended animation.
“When I had adventured with Prince Zander in our mercenary band for several hundred years, before Zander became Jarl following his father’s death, I reentered the stasis machine.
“After being released by Orlando Bard, recently, I also used another machine to fast track the birth of my daughter. I also used my Holographic trainer to accelerate her growth.
“What would have naturally taken years, I, using the advanced tech in my father’s lab, caused Ska Xeria Quetzicoatl, to be born within a week. Not one year to one year and a half. My daughter became an advanced toddler within a month.
“The Holographic trainer not only taught her to eat and potty train, but then measured her natural talents and skill sets and quickly trained her, to be my executive assistant.
“Because of the accelerated growth, we had to feed her much more than is normal and give her herbal medications to minimize her pain and help her sleep.
“As a royal mother, we are expected to spend quality time with our children, but just as adult royalty often are pampered by chefs, and even have maids to dress them, it is our culture to raise our children this way. Not for the peasantry and common folks mind you. Only some nobles and all royalty have access to advanced technology.
And such accelerated children excel at their studies and tend to be mentally and physically far above common peasant offspring, ability-wise, because of it. The holographic trainer is also authorized to monitor their social development as well, balancing their personality profiles, so as to limit unbefitting qualities, such as selfishness, greed and dishonesty. That is not so true among the Dark Naga. I am sure with Queen Riva, that her benevolence was not inherited from her mother, but her father. Thank Jesu!
“So, and again, this is my best guess, Colonel Zales, Agent Wong’s children will be born within the week, or so, and while Queen Riva will be very independent, she will want him there.
“And the smoother you make this transition, Colonel Zales, the more probable that this alliance will be positive and long term.
“And the eight children’s growth will be accelerated until what would naturally be about thirteen years. That means, thirteen years growth will be initially accelerated to about thirteen weeks!
“Then the children will decide whether they will take human form or Naga form. They will also decide whether to be independent, serve the snake gods or Creator!
“You must understand,” and Lady Q’s eyes left the Colonels and looked directly at everyone assembled, except Sully, whose eyes were still glued to his briefing package, “that I was an exception, when I decided to take human form rather than Naga form and follow Jesu. Even among the White Naga, who were supposed to serve Jesu, many of them became independent and only offered nominal devotion to Creator. And walked out from under his protection and blessing.
“Please keep in mind, that usually, choosing to be human for a Naga is to become a commoner, and a second-class citizen, no matter what your pedigree.
“Agent Wong has an important responsibility as a father. His influence will positively or negatively affect the future of the Dark Naga Kingdom and thus influence the future of this miraculous alliance. Don’t take this responsibility lightly!”
“Thank you, Lady Q,” Clearing his throat again, Zales continued, “My superiors are in agreement. I sent Queen Riva a one-thousand-dollar gift certificate and the Earth Imports Store catalog and promised to pass on her thank you cards.”
Signaling to his executive assistant, Sasaki Wrynn-Kaito, he motioned to the eight cards. Sasaki quietly gathered the birth announcement cards and walked them down to Agent Sully, the newest member of Alpha team.
For just a moment Agent Sully looked at the beautiful cards, swallowed audibly, then looked back at his briefing package.
Zales asked, “Any questions?”
Sitting closest to Zales, Officer Mike Miller, leader of Alpha team asked, “Did Queen Riva respond to your gift and desire for an alliance? Did she ask for any special provisions?”
“Nice of you to ask Miller, as my answer will affect your duties.”
Puzzled, Major Miller waited for the Colonel to continue.
“Yes, Major Miller, she wants a permanent ambassador in her court, and she wants us to prepare a room for her ambassador to us. Her executive secretary, a Dark Naga called Igritti, is arriving by blimp as we speak. With her sentient Rainbow Quezticoatl.
“That said, and this is an order, Ambassador Sully, so listen up and get rid of that funk and staring off into space excrement! You are the new Ambassador to the Dark Naga Court, and I expect you to perform your duties with the same decorum and alacrity that you have shown on other missions.
“We still have a bit more to cover in our briefing and then my executive assistant will be escorting you to the Gentlemen’s Quarterly Clothing Store, next to Earth Imports Unlimited.
“My assistant will help you, Snake Daddy, to select proper clothing for a visiting dignitary and then tailor them for you. You will be on the blimp tonight, no later than twenty-three hundred hours, to Dark Naga Castle.
“Now to the next order of business. Ambassador Igritti. What can we expect? Sully? Bard?”
Sully, who looked like he was recovering from a case of serious indigestion, looked around the room, his Asian American features set in stone. “My apologies Colonel Zales, Sir, but I remember her only vaguely. She seemed quiet and serious, but in my professional estimate, not evil or dangerous. Maybe Orlando Bard has more to offer.”
Zales pivoted his face with their gun turret eyes of ice onto Bard.
“I don’t have all day, Orlando. Please don’t keep me in suspense. For a Bard you are awfully short on words at times.”
I cleared my throat, then as adroitly as possible, offered my assessment. “As I have already stated to you Colonel, in my opinion, Queen Riva runs her court more like she is the president of a girl’s college sorority than as the Queen over a nation state. Careful, I thought to myself, Orlando, how do you know that if you are not from earth. If anyone asks, I’ll say that I have heard stories, and then sent to earth for books and documents to research the subject. Good, no one’s stopping me for clarification. I think they will let it slide.
“Like Riva said, and it is written in the reports, she by her own words is vain and snarky. She is as cool and aloof as any royal personage, but not evil. The ladies-in-waiting she surrounds herself with are much the same, just not as mature. Running a kingdom and having the responsibility of a realm on your shoulders can do that—”
“Tell me about it,” dead panned the Colonel before impatiently motioning with his hands for me to continue.
“Where Igritti seems to differ from the other ladies-in-waiting is that she is very serene and serious. When Queen Riva wanted doctor Orotzzz fetched from the tunnels below the castle she could have sent any one of her seven ladies in waiting. She sent Igritti.
“This is only speculation, Colonel Zales, but what makes Igritti different than the rest of her quote, sorority, unquote, is that she is not snake boy crazy and dependable.
“If Riva would have sent another one of her talented, smart, pretty, but wild and immature ladies in-waiting to fetch the old alchemist and royal advisor, they would probably have ended up oohing and ahhing in front of the dress shop for an hour, or getting lost in some dark corner of the underground labyrinth with an off-duty guard or merchant.
“Igritti is more like a den mother than a girls-gone-wild actress. And yes, before you ask, I sent to earth, in a weak moment, and ordered a copy, for my library for, quote, research purposes, unquote.” A few catcalls and snicker giggles echoed around the room.
Zales snapped, “All right now, people, we’ve had our laughs. Let’s get back to the business at hand! Bard, continue with your briefing comments. And now, we do not have three consecutive leap years!”
I cleared my throat and continued, “Naga younglings. Yes, Queen Riva’s ladies-in-waiting. They may all be one or two hundred years old, but her ladies-in-waiting are most definitely like your young and wild college women we hear about, like I said, from your earth, Colonel Zales. Igritti is the exception.
“What I am saying, is that even though Igritti is young, she will probably be a good and trustworthy fit for the position of Ambassador. What she lacks in seasoning, from not being middle aged to elderly, as many ambassadors are, she will make up for in earnest sincerity and honesty.”
“Thank you, Orlando,” said Zales crisply. “Thank you for coming Lady Q. As expected, your advice was wise and thoughtful.
“Alpha team, you have your standard orders and are hereby dismissed to get back to them.”
Zales, following the salutes of his men, spun in his chair arose languidly and exited the briefing room. Stepping onto the colored line that led to his personal chambers, he walked briskly away.
Major Miller called for an impromptu briefing with Alpha team. “Hold up, remaining members of Alpha Team, I have a few details on an upcoming mission. I will be brief.”
Sully, Lady Q, yours truly, and Sasaki Wrynn-Kaito, made a beeline to the colored path that demarcated the path to the elevator.
CARNIVAL WORLD CHAPTER 44
“Greetings and salutations, folks, your favorite Carnival World Bard has a real treat for you tonight! The true tale that I am about to share with you, I call ‘Queen Riva, Snake Daddy and Eight Exceptional Eggs, Part One: Tea Party for Two, + eight + eight and a maid.’”
Orlando Bard, six three in his socks, built like a Louis L’Amour Sacket, strutted, chest thrust out, across the stage of the Adventurer’s Inn. His short but gently pointed half-elf ears poked out of blue-black hair. He’d noticed, while performing a pre-show check at his mirrored make-up desk, that a few specks of silver forward of the ears were beginning to show.
He paced gracefully around his stage. With a dramatic gesture, he pointed to his sculpted hair. “No fancy cap tonight folks. I am wearing a tailored charcoal gray Armani suit, with a black silk pullover shirt, sans tie, purchased from Earth Imports Unlimited – well actually their specialty shop, next door, The Gentlemen’s Quarterly Menswear. You will find both in the Conner’s Inns and Suites lobby area. Elite Lady’s Fashions, for those who are interested, is in the lobby mall of Conner’s Inns and Suites as well. Tell the clerk, at any of these shops I have listed tonight, about seeing my show. They will give you, if you use the code InnBard, a five percent discount on your next purchase.”
Bard dramatically waved his hand in front of his suit, “Back to tonight’s Bard Show costume. This suit was one of several. It was, I believe, the one that seemed to be Sully’s favorite. The reason I am wearing this fine ensemble tonight is, as you may guess, a tribute to former Agent Wong, who was recently retired from the Rangers and promoted to ambassador. Yes, folks, he is and will probably be Ambassador to the Dark Naga Castle, for decades, even centuries to come, if more life extension tech is discovered or Zales’ superiors decide to extend Wong’s life with their med tech machine!
I am not into Seven-Fold Ties, and Sully refused to wear one of my favorites, an ascot. If not wearing a long tie, he usually wore fancy pocketless, crew collar dress shirt pullovers, silk of course, and once he wore an emerald bow tie.
“Well boys and girls, kitties and doggies, thank you for coming. Enjoy the show.” Orlando bowed gracefully, then sat fluidly in his stage chair and began his presentation.
***
“Do you remember the Dark Naga Queen, Riva Zzzillzzzaga?”
Riva has finely chiseled features, like those tooled by a grandmaster sculptor. Mountain Barbarian features, but softened and gentled. Anya, my mountain Barbarian waitress, is an attractive brunette, but she has caterpillar eyebrows, a steely edge to her pretty facial features, especially along her brow and cheekbones. All common traits for the mountain Barbarians who have mixed their genetics with the Sabe race. And she carries a bit more hair on her arms and legs than most other races, except the Dwarves. Did you know, folks, that some Dwarven women have beards on their chins? That is not myth!
Well, folks, I digress. Riva is every inch a regal queen, more beautiful than her famous evil mother, the Genghis Kahn of ancient Carnival World.
The present Queen is, in her own words, not evil like her mother, although vain, and self-centered. While Riva the Dark Naga Queen is kind and compassionate, she is also sharp tongued and quick to anger. That anger is legendary and yet she controls it. Riva flicks it like a verbal whip, rather than doling out sentences of dismemberment or lethal punishments.
She is six feet tall, fathered by an elderly mountain Barbarian, but her shoulders are not as wide as those of the Barbarian Anya, my inn waitress.
Riva’s long dreads were golden blond as a child, but as she entered her teenage years her hair became black with a few strands of dark honey gold.
Her eyes are amber with flecks of bright gold. She has slit dragon pupils. Riva’s powerful snake tail, black as ebony, has rows of chocolate brown and bright white scales. She has as well sprinkles of prismatic rainbowesque scales scattered around her long ophidian tail.
Riva’s snake tail, at its widest point, starts a hand-span or so under her bellybutton. She has only two arms on her torso and does not possess the white ribbed stomach armor common to many Naga. Heavier of course on the males. The Queen’s skin is a light creamed chocolate brown, even lighter than my Quadroon Charlie Girl. Charlie Girl, if you remember, was born a U.S. citizen but born of parents who hailed from St. Kitts of Earth.
Riva is a fair, but sometimes strict Queen. She runs her kingdom more like a lady sorority president from an earth college. Three hundred years old, Riva looks like an earth human of less than thirty.
Excited and a bit nervous, Riva waited in her nursery. Absently caressing her gem and feather adorned dreads, Riva impatiently tapped her long nails on the tiny oaken tea table. Today her nails were scarlet with silver glitter, a new type of nail polish, purchased by one her ladies-in-waiting, after a day trip to Carnival World.
Unlike during the last story, when I, Orlando Bard and Agent Wong met her, she was no longer wearing a Fredricks of Hollywood type of gossamer gown. From the day she found herself with eggs, Queen Riva had her ladies-in-waiting purchase bolts of cloth from the local Naga fabric vendor, then craft a slightly more modest wardrobe. She was now wearing a tube skirt and short robe, that showed off her belly button, but no more sheer fabric clothing.
The walls were ancient stone, and the ceiling, high, vaulted and shadowy. Queen Riva’s nursery is ancient. The smell of dust and timeless age have been softened by a few recent modifications. The floor of this cul de sac room is a roughly twenty-foot oval. Newly added white tiles covered the floor. Hundreds of flaming oil pots circled the walls.
To the northwest of the chamber is an arched exit leading to the maze of tunnels under Dark Naga castle. To the north is a sturdy door with the Dark Naga sentient computer and holo-studio creator. Both the studio and “Miss Zzzorna” are ensconced in the alcove housed neatly behind the wall.
The Naga nobles use a quantum supercomputer, designed by the ancient Atlanticeans, to train warriors or raise noble children. There are eight Naga Nursery Maids, but seven of them are inactive, at the moment, and still as statues. The eighth is fussing with eight eggs, one white, one black and six metallic tan ones, each sitting on a cupped pedestal. The one nanny, floating around the row of eggs like a mother hen, holds an advanced technology medical sensor. She carefully monitors each egg.
Beautiful ruby lips pressed tightly, vacillating from wide smiles to angry frowns, Queen Riva continued to watch between the arched doorway and the row of egg pedestals of the recently remodeled nursery.
Agent Sully had arrived in the middle of the night. He had then been escorted to his chambers where he slept fitfully. Ambassador Wong, the next morning, had nibbled at an apple from a complimentary fruit basket placed on his ambassador’s desk. He had declined an offer by the Naga soldiers to order breakfast. Instead, they had escorted Sully to meet Queen Riva in the nursery chamber.
Riva watched the hologram Naga nanny set down the medical sensor device and walk to her place along the east wall. There along the wall, four on either side of the ancient sliding stone door, was where all the other deactivated hologram governesses resided, when inactive.
Fidgeting, Queen Riva’s ears at last heard hopeful sounds emanating from the tunnels beyond the archway. Then, at last, the Queen heard the very distinguishable sound of slithering whispers of scales against stone and the humanoid footfalls of patent leather shod feet.
“Ambassador Snake Daddy has finally arrived!” exclaimed Queen Riva. Following a breathy pause she squealed, “I can’t wait to show Ambassador Wong our eggs!”
Black Tamanzi and Zzzika’tatat entered the nursery with a stoic Agent Wong in tow.
Holding their double-axes in their left arms, both male Naga Warriors gave Queen Riva a double-fist thump salute. Tamazi bowed formally and intoned, “Hail Queen Riva!” He added, in formal Hindi, with several rattles and hisses of serpent tongue, “Weee present to you, Ambassador Wong, from Carnival City.”
Sully then bowed and offered, “Greetings Queen Zzzillzzzaga, I look forward to my duties as liaison to your kingdom. The Conners and Commander Zales convey their well wishes to Your Eminence.”
Riva curtsied, but only lightly, before replying, “I too, Ambassador Wong, look forward to our congress. Convey my greetings to The Three Conner brothers, Commander Zales and your friend, Zeeter the Bard, when you are able.”
Snapping her beautifully manicured fingers Riva commanded, but with a slight smile, “Tamanzi and Zzzika, you are dismissed.”
As the two guards floated and slithered from the room, Riva lifted a small bronze bell and shook it three times before gently placing it back on the small tea table. “My human maid will serve us tea and scones. While we wait, Ambassador Wong, please escort me to the egg pedestals.”
Riva, smiling to the point that her face was almost more radiant than the circling oil lamps, she added, “According to Orotzzz, the first egg, the white one on our left, will be the first egg to hatch and the last black egg, on the far right, should be the last to hatch.
“Both my court advisor and the sentient computer, Miss Zzzorna, are in agreement that the present order will occur with a ninety eight percent chance of accuracy.”
Sully was a bit anxious, but a feeling of expectation was empowering a platoon of circling butterflies in his stomach. “Is Lady Q’s assessment correct about the eggs hatching in several weeks or more and then being age progressed a month or so, for every natural year.”
Queen Riva snorted, “I am glad that my mother did not find her when their castle was razed, Ambassador.
“From what I have heard of her, I rather like her. I can tell that noble blood runs in her veins. However, while her estimate is precise for their sentient computer, in the White Naga underground warrens, Orotzzz has tinkered with our machine – with Miss Zzzorna’s assistance of course.
“No, Ambassador Snake Daddy, I expect the maturation for eggs to take two weeks or so, give or take. Once they are younglings, though, the time will be much faster than the White Naga process. They will be age-progressed about one real-time day per natural year, but only until they are the equivalent of thirteen years of age. After that, Miss Zzzorna, and the eight governesses will continue at a leisurely pace, with no further advanced technology age progression, to provide advanced social, educational and vocational training for our children. They will age naturally after that.
Riva peeked a sideways glance at Agent Wong and watched as he gulped and turned red.
Riva laughed. Her amber dragon eyes, concealed under her beautifully mascaraed lashes, closed gently, as she gracefully cocked back her head and intoned dryly, “Sum Ting Wong, Ambassador?”
Agent Sully rolled his eyes and sighed, “No, Queen Riva. I am fine. Thank you for your concern.” He bowed slightly, but with more deference than that of her curtsy to him. He then continued, “It is just a great deal to take in, Queen Riva, and I am wondering what I should do to ensure that I do well at the task. Not just being an ambassador, but a father.”
Riva smiled warmly and said, “Just be yourself. If you get out of line, Ambassador Snake Daddy, I will let you know. Or the hologram governesses. And they are only programmed to interact with me as a Queen. You sir, do not benefit from that same protection, although as an ambassador they will not treat you as commoner.”
Agent Sully grinned, then chuckled, “Eight children. All at once. Roughly. This will not be a boring task. Although, we shouldn’t even need to warm a bottle or change a diaper!”
The Queen nodded, then continued to name the eggs.
“Before the end of the week, our first baby, Primi should hatch. And after that every few hours or so, they should each hatch in their turn. I have informed “Unco Oro” that they will hatch naturally, each in their time. I do not want them fast-hatched just so my Artifact and Alchemical Engineer can crack the egg and spank their bottoms to wake them up! He did that with me and has never let me forget it! He did have a good reason though.
“Orotzzz knew that my mother was entering her last molt. Rather, he detected that she was showing signs of that event coming. Such a molting – the final molt – can be a swift death or a long, lingering, painful one, where you sleep twenty-three hours in a day, and when you are awake, you are frail and mentally foggy.
“Mother lasted almost a decade like that. She wanted to be sure to see me before she slept and entered her final molt of life. She wanted to see me and hold me, whether her next sleep would be short and dark or long, lingering and brutal.
“Forgive me, Ambassador, I need to edit my statement. Orotzzz was able to do a miracle though, and she had almost a year to reign. After the miracle, she still slept about twelve to fifteen hours a day. With assistance from the administration of an advance technology soft-shot stimulant and energy cocktail. Drinking several cups,” Riva smiled warmly, “of extra-strong tea, she was able to be somewhat mentally alert and active four or five hours per day. Yes, Dr. Orotzzz was able to use his psychotronic device to postpone the inevitable.
CARNIVAL WORLD, CHAPTER 45
***
Orlando Bard stopped and stretched. “Break time, boys and girls, kitties and dogs. Time for potty breaks and drinks and food. Be back in about twenty minutes, folks and I will continue with how Dr. Orotzzz was able to prolong Riva’s mother’s reign, temporarily and what then transpired in the Dark Naga Kingdom.”
Orlando returned following the break and as his guests began to find their seats said, “And now, boys and girls, kitties and doggies, ‘The Ballad of Queen Riva, Snake Daddy and the Eight Excellent Eggs, Part Two: Diplomatic Visit to Carnival City.’” Orlando bowed with a flourish and sat in his stage chair, then began to speak.
***
“Only a week or so after that miracle and then that Hellion came to visit!” snarled Riva, her tail rattle shaking ominously.
“she who will not be NAMED” continued Riva angrily, “waltzed into our kingdom. She and her people wore the black and red and white ancient rune for peace, but they did not bring peace!
“When mother sickened, that German trollop stole us blind and snuck off with our Atlanticean Space Cruiser! That she took one of our black goat man clans as well as the Dark Atlanticean and Naga Assassins with her, I give not a rodent of unusual size’s odiferous wazoo. That was doing us a favor. After that, Ambassador, Orotzzz ran the kingdom temporarily and he sped up my growth and training so that I could take my mother’s place and the Queen’s throne. He opined that his medical acumen, even with the aid of advanced medical technology, would only be successful for a short time, a few months to a year at best.
“I later banished the other clan of goat men and warned them that if they returned to my lands, I would have them executed! I couldn’t trust them. They needed bloody sacrifices and unwilling Naga women and human servants for their Black Enoch rituals. As Queen I would not tolerate that! When I officially became queen that was my first order. They are chaotic, horrible man-goat beasts who live to rape and torture. I should have just ordered them executed, but…
Riva sighed, “Once more I have digressed. And once again I find it necessary to ask your forgiveness, Ambassador.”
Sully bowed slightly and offered, “If you need to vent, Queen Riva, then by all means, vent. I consider it an honor and a privilege to assist you to that end. Both as an ambassador and a friend.”
“Thank you, Ambassador.
“And onward, then, with our introductions. Primi of course, egg number one, is a girl. That was my first name. And of course I was the only egg. I had no brothers or sisters. Mother was too old when she gave birth to me. She was lucky to be able to bear me at all. It was all too much for her, and she knew it, but she was more stubborn than I am!
“Did you know, Ambassador Wong, that we Naga do not receive our true name until just before our first molt? Well, some of us learn our true name sooner than others, but it is more likely than not that we learn that fact just before we have our first snake molt.
Before I was Riva, my name was our term for “first egg, female.” And I didn’t try to think up a name. One day I just knew that my name was Riva. In our language it means goddess who dances with stars.”
Agent Wong replied, “Yes, Queen, I believe I heard Orlando Bard and Lady Q discussing that fact earlier today. The meaning of your name is new. It is a fitting name, Queen Riva.”
“Thank you.”
Sully nodded then continued, “Well, yesterday, it is now after midnight, and a new day.
“Since this was a diplomatic mission, the zeppelin traveled at full speed – Zale’s orders – using the worm shield drive. It uses a special ZED PM device, to make the wormhole drive shield around the aircraft.
“It – the ZED PM battery – is low on energy and we don’t have a replacement. I should have arrived here a few hours from now, but I guess Zales promised you by courier that he would be sending me before the day was over. We hardly had finished our briefing and his executive assistant – that is kind of like your lady-in-waiting, but a guy – took me to the import store and bought me several suits appropriate for a young ambassador and here I am.”
Riva glowed briefly, then continued, “Primi is my birth order name. If I would have been male, I would have been called Primus. Egg number two is Secundus. He is a boy. Egg number three is Tertius. He is a boy. Quartia, egg number four, is a girl. Pentia, egg number five, is a girl. Sextus, egg number six, is a boy. Septima, egg number seven, is a girl. Octavius, egg number eight, is a boy.
“Primi has a white egg. She will have white skin, probably like my father’s. Octavius will be ebony skinned, like my mother. The other eggs are a metallic tan. They will probably have a tan skin color either like yours or mine or a blend.”
My eggshell was a rare color. Orotzzz was concerned that I might have defects, because of the strange color. It was a metallic tan on top and the bottom was ebony with pinpoint spots of brown and specks of multi-colored glitter. Which makes sense. My scales are mostly ebony black. However, I have rows of white and chocolate scales mixed with single scales of metallic rainbow hues that flash when I move. Sometimes my metallic prismatic scales even change color depending on how the light hits them!
Meanwhile, Riva’s maid served their tea and scones. Riva and Sully returned to the nearby tea table and sat.
**
Riva mentioned that her father had been a light skinned but sun-tanned Barbarian with beautiful, shoulder length white hair. He had been chained to the blacksmith shop, with an Atlanticean braided metal tether, near the fountain. If you remember, folks, Atlanticean metal, unless you have special tools, is almost impossible to cut or scratch, even with diamond blades.
That fountain, for those of you who have heard my earlier story, the Dark Naga Castle Infiltration Quest, is where Agent Sully and I, Orlando the Bard, not Zeeter the Bard, mind you, had found the winged white talking monkey. Of course, he, the muscle bound and winged white monkey, that sounded like that earth actor, Danny DeVito, was chained to the fountain with it. I have some of that Earth actor’s movies, imported from earth, in my lending library, for earth culture studies or just entertainment.
Riva had told Sully that her father had been a kind old blacksmith, and that his face and eyes, except that the pupils were round, were strikingly similar to hers.
As soon as he had been introduced to her, even though the time had been too short, he knew that she was his daughter. Only after the guard’s explained how she had been fast-grown, with advanced technology, did her father Kerragon understand. They looked so much alike that there was no denying the fact. What was more confusing to the old blacksmith was that he had no recollection of “fertilizing” Riva’s mother. And seeing her grow a year every day for several days amazed him. In any event, Kerragon loved his first and only child deeply. He always called her Primi, or hermosa, which in his tribe meant pretty, even after she had shared her true name, Riva, with him.
They visited almost every day. He told Riva about his clan and their stories. When he found out that she had taken sword training from her hologram governess, they had even practiced with wooden swords. He also taught her how to make a bow and shoot arrows. The guards would bring him weapons to repair or sharpen, from time to time, and he also made a few wooden barrels and garden and tree trimming tools.
Kerragon was an old, old man when they had met. Even though strong for an old man, only five years after he and Riva had met, the old Barbarian blacksmith had passed away, quietly, with a smile on his face, one dark and moonless night.
**
Queen Riva and Ambassador Wong engaged in further pleasantries, nibbled scones and sipped honeyed tea. Following thirty minutes of small talk, with glances, here and there, at their eggs, each on individual, warmed, concave pedestals, they chatted.
Just as they were finishing the tea pot, and only one scone was left for the maid, Queen Riva mentioned that she would like to use the $1000 gift certificate that Commander Zales had given her. Ambassador Wong offered to call Zales and ask for permission for them to visit Earth Exports in Conner’s Inn and Suites lobby.
“What is a call, Ambassador?” asked Queen Riva. Her tail rattle twitched unconsciously as a puzzled frown crossed her pretty face.
Sully was preoccupied with watching the fine contours of the Queen’s face. Riva possessed a light chocolate cream skin. Her forehead was broad, over a delicate aquiline nose. High cheekbones, and a narrow triangular chin with a vertical dimple, completed her heart-shaped face. Riva did not have the reptilian face scales of her mother. She indeed was a feminine version of her father. His genetic marking upon her was much stronger than her mother’s. Riva’s raven dreadlock hair, except for her dark blond strands and the prominent ebony in her tail scales, and being a Naga, of course, linked her phenotypically to her mother.
Following a lingering pause and chuckle, Ambassador Wong pulled out his cell phone and explained, “This is a call, Queen Riva.” He added, technically it is a cell phone, but you make a call with it.
“If you want, Queen Riva, I can call Zales and arrange for a diplomatic visit. My guess is that a couple of your ladies-in-waiting, me, and maybe a Naga Guard or two will be able to visit. The guards, I am afraid, will need to come without their axes. Yes, Queen Riva, you, could visit Earth Imports and spend that gift card!”
Riva nodded, then said, “Let’s go find today’s guards and Xeenya. See if Ambassador Igritti, since she is there in the city, can meet us. Yes, Ambassador Wong, let them know our plans. Call Zales and find out when we can make our diplomatic visit to Carnival City.
Riva and Sully knew that they had a few days if not a week until the eggs were estimated to hatch, so they didn’t want to be gone long.
The Queen had a new Earth royalty wardrobe, party serving utensils and a flower pattern container set in mind when she had first received Commander Zale’s gift card.
Zales sent the Atlanticean Skip Jack, with Miller and Jax to pick them up. So, in about twenty minutes, the taxi was waiting on the upper Dark Naga aircraft dock. While the Dark Naga royals had never had a dirigible, Riva’s mother once owned a larger version of Carnival City’s Skip Jack. Maria Orsic, the Nazi occult channeler, from World War Two Earth. had absconded with it, flying off planet, not long before her mother’s death.
Agent Wong could tell that Riva was not so sure she still wanted to buy Earth Royalty clothes or fancy party items. More and more she was thinking in terms of nursery items as she chatted with Xeenya during the trip to Carnival City.
Zales and the rest of Alpha Team, along with Patrick Conner, Brother Anselm. Ambassador Igritti and Lady Q greeted Ambassador Wong and Queen Riva’s diplomatic entourage at the upper ship dock. Following a formal greeting, Zales and his entourage exited down the ramp into the city. Ambassador Wong and the others, along with Rangers Jax and Kai walked along the top wall to view the scenery outside of the Star Portal.
Lady Q joined them briefly. She invited Queen Riva and Ambassador Igritti to visit her at the Flying Serpent Guild, then claiming guild business duties, curtsied, and left the upper floor docking area and descended into the city.
I, your storyteller, the famous Orlando Bard, Padre, along with Ghordo and Mystica were doing a bit of deer and elk hunting outside of the Star Portal. A training trip for the guided fishing and hunting trips we do, through my Bounty Hunters Guild. We arrange for a premium price, guided hunts and fishing trips, for rich earth visitors and Carnival World nobility. If we had not been out of the area, we would have wanted to meet Agent Wong, the Queen, and her guests.
Agent Kai, the ranger from Hawaii, came sprinting over to the group, to replace Captain Miller. Miller said farewell to the group and followed Lady Q down the ramp.
Rangers Jax and Kai (Bruce the Moose) after a few minutes of observing the lands outside of the high-walled Star Portal, with the diplomatic tour, escorted their guests to the Conners’ Inns and Suites lobby.
When Riva had happily told the pretty clerk about her eight eggs, the freckled fashion model had quipped, “May I suggest, Queen Riva, that I would be happy to show you a video catalog of baby cribs and baby clothes?” She had not noticed Sully stepping back slightly, face as red as dew-spotted rose, or she might have shared a pithy comment or two.
Although the clerk’s smart checked gray ladies’ business suit, with complementary bold sunny yellow tie, had caught Riva’s fancy, that was not her purchase.
Riva had gone back to her castle, having spent her $1000 gift check, and a sack of gold, on the eight cribs, one large cedar treasure chest, full of baby and toddler toys, and one hundred cases of disposable baby diapers! She had also ordered a fine dwarven crafted bookshelf and several books, board games, puzzles and crafts for older children.
The Queen had considered purchasing several age-ranged sets of infant, toddler and pre-teen and teen clothing, but the human “cut” might not fit their hybrid human bodies. She decided to buy bolts of fabric from her Naga merchants and have her nannies or her ladies-in-waiting craft clothing. The garb would have to be crafted in a style that could be worn even as her children grew larger, quickly, during their age progression program.
Very little of her purchases were ready that day, but within a few days the order came from earth, and then was sent via blimp to her castle. Riva had also enjoyed the complimentary French Vanilla latte provided for them in the small deli at the rear of Earth Imports Unlimited.
While her lady-in-waiting, Xeenya, and Ambassador Igritti, had loved the new earth beverage, Riva had shaken her pretty head, and quipped, “Interesting, thisss… latte you call it? A bit too sweet for me. Nice to try, but I am not adding it to the castle menu. If you ladies want some, Xeenya, you need to purchase it yourself. Green tea with honey is my daily royal beverage of choice!”
Igritti laughed, “I don’t buy it often either, Queen Riva. However, I must admit, I think in the short time I have been assigned to Carnival City, I have become addicted to a beverage here called coffee – liberally dosed with sweet cream and honey of course!”
Sully took a few minutes to explain coffee beans, to Riva, Xeenya, and the two Naga warriors. “Coffee beans are grown and harvested out of doors. Next the hard brown beans after being collected and stored in burlap sacks are sold in stores. Food serving establishments, or just people in their home, buy the coffee beans. Usually they are pre-ground, but some people buy grinders and grind their own. The ground brown bean powder, a couple of teaspoons worth, are boiled in about ten to twelve cups of hot water. The technical term for that is brewed. The resulting hot liquid is poured steaming into ceramic or paper cups.
“Paper cups are like the ones you use to serve minnows at your parties, Queen Riva, except without the fish! And the coffee cups are just larger, heavier versions of the teacups we use at the castle.
“I am not sure if you would like the coffee, Queen Riva. It is an acquired taste, and very bitter. Coffee served black, without cream or sugar is the most bitter. Add cream and that may soften the bite. Add honey or sugar – sugar is a white powder that makes the coffee taste sweet, like honey. Sugar does not come from bees, but from a plant called sugar cane.”
Following Sully impromptu teaching on coffee, the group returned to the Earth Imports salesclerk who had pulled up videos on her computer of suggested products, for babies, that could be ordered.
In no time at all, the Queen selected her choices, and the clerk sent her order to the warehouse office in the underground base beneath the military command fort. They then made an order sheet that would be sent back to earth through the Star Portal device.
Her lady-in-waiting, and the two Naga Guards had finished their own small in-store purchases.
Xeenya announced that she wanted to go see the Carnival Grounds. Ambassador Wong told her that it was locked at this time of day, but that if she asked nicely, Jax and Kai would walk them over to the tall chain link fence that surrounded the fairway. Ambassador Igritti wanted them to at least take a quick peek inside Patrick’s Cathedral.
Before long Kai made a joke that the Skip Jack Commodore (Zales!) would turn them into pumpkins if the castle guests weren’t being dropped off at Dark Naga Castle within thirty minutes. And off they went, the Alpha Rangers and Queen Riva’s diplomatic entourage. Igritti offered her goodbyes, at the sky-dock, on top of the eastern Star Portal wall, and then returned to her ambassadorial suite, wondering if her Rainbow Feathered Serpent would be excited or cross at her long absence.
***
“Well folks,” intoned Orlando the Bard as he arose from the stage chair, “Look how time flies when we are having fun. No need to throw your clock and watch it sail out the window! It is break time already. Everybody use the restrooms and order drinks and food! Be back in twenty minutes and we will resume the ‘Ballad of Queen Riva, Snake Daddy and the Eight Exceptional Eggs, Part Three: Sum Ting Wong in Paradise Nursery!’”
