From rob4654@webtv.net Sun Jul 04 14:20:37 1999
The Princess Crewman
By Rob Morris
Note : The Prologue to this story is listed under 'TAS Xo prologue'
Chapter One - There's Something About M'Ress
M'ress stared in heartbreak at the screen. The man on it had once been
a giant in her eyes. Now she couldn't stand him.
"Father, please don't turn me away! I need to know if what Lord Lion-O
said was true. Is he my real father?"
The Caitian male almost seemed to be forcing himself to hate the girl
he once declared his little heart.
"You--are outlitter. You're not even Caitian. You look almost
half-human. M'ress--if you care for this family, you will not call here
again. The scandal is too great. I wish the Heir Of Omens well."
M'ress, or Siameressa, knew what was happening back on Caitia. To end
the 'scandal', an empty coffin was being lowered into an open grave. The
family she had scratched, sniffed, and hunted with was burying her in
absentia. The younger ones would be told how she had died aboard The
Enterprise. The Caitian M'ress was dead.
"Long live the future Lord Of The ThunderCats---yeah, right!"
She exited into the corridor, her soul in tatters. As she had scented,
Lion-O's General, the Sn'rf named Forad waited for her. It was all too
easy to underestimate the little creature. He was either the hero of The
Last Mutant War or The Butcher Of Plundarr. In any case, he was in every
way the equal of the Thunderan Nobility, or ThunderCats, as they were
called.
"Sn'rf! Greetings, Princess! I'm so very pleased to see you. Your
father, Lion-O, is hoping to have a meal with you and your Captain."
On Caitia--and even on Kzin, Lion-O was an Arthur figure, someone
children were told of in fabulous stories. Except all those stories were
now revealed as gospel truth--and she was Arthur's daughter, the heir to
his throne. But if Lion-O was Arthur -- who was Guenevere?
"General Forad, may I ask you a couple of questions?"
The Sn'rf had to remind himself that The Princess Royal had been raised
a commoner, and been trained for duty by Starfleet.
"Um, sure, Siameressa. You can ask me anything----"
"Who is my Mother?"
"-----Except that."
"Please, Forad. Don't I have a right to know? Is it that big a secret?"
The Sn'rf shook his head.
"Less of a secret, and more of a sore point. Let your father
explain--probably at that dinner I mentioned. Sn'rf!"
"All right, I'll attend. But just a few more questions?"
"If I can answer them, of course."
M'ress took a gamble.
"Was the Lady Cheetarah my mother?"
"Nice try, Princess. But no--Cheetarah was not, and could not have been
your mother. Phew-Boy! Talk about a scandal."
M'ress felt embarrassed without remotely knowing why.
"What would have been scandalous about it, Forad?"
"Plenty. In most cultures I know of, marrying one's aunt is illegal --
not to mention kind of gross."
"Cheetarah---is Lion-O's aunt?"
"Sn'rffff! Well, sure. She and Panthro and Tygra were the younger--much
younger--siblings of Lion-O's father Claw-Das, just as Lord Jaga was the
younger brother of Claw-Das' father, born about the same time as the
young King. In fact, Tygra was heir presumptive as oldest of the three
younger siblings---mind you, he never wanted the burden of the throne.
Said it would interfere with his spiritual quests."
M'ress raised a corollary question.
"Why don't the legends mention their direct relation to one another?"
Forad shrugged.
"That's an old tactic. Except for parents, no one is called by family
title. This way, no one is slighted, no one is specifically
targeted--and a potential enemy or ally knows only that they're dealing
with a ThunderCat--and that is enough."
"Ok--one more question--about you."
"Heh. About Me? Sn'rf! Ask away."
"You said you saw me as an infant. Are you also the Sn'rf who was
'nanny' to my Father, when he was an infant?"
Forad hung his head.
"No. That was my Uncle, Osbin Buforad. He hated being called Osbin,
though, and just liked to be called 'Snarf'. As a younger man, I often
went by the nickname, 'Snarford', in his honor. He's gone now. The
Ever-Liv-----he died. That's all."
Despite her confusion, M'ress let General Forad off without answering
any more questions. But she still had plenty of those, all ready for
Lion-O.
At dinner later, she waited for the right time to approach her father.
She was actually grateful that the Great Warrior seemed equally nervous
around her. Arex asked a question which put Lion-O into storyteller
mode. For now, M'ress would reason what she could from the narrative
that followed.
"Looord Lion-oooo, I have heard what you call Fourth Thundera also
called Third Earth. But I have found nothing of it in Earth's history
texts. How can this be?"
Kirk answered partway.
"Arex, remember the 'Onlies' world, not to mention Magna Roma? Third
Earth is yet another example of the theory of parallel development."
Spock chimed in, as he often did.
"Indeed. Lord Lion-O, was not this 'Earth' a planet with a similar,
almost identical history to Sol 3's at one point?"
Lion-O smiled, and looked at M'Ress.
"Well, M'Ress? Anxious to hear your old man blubber about the past?"
M'Ress felt so like a little kitten in this relative stranger's
presence, it wasn't even funny.
"Actually, sir, there's nothing I'd rather hear more."
"Very well, then."
The Lord Of The Thundercats withdrew his awesome weapon.
"Sword Of Omens, Give Me Words Beyond Words, That The Great Story Might
Be Told."
To everyone's shock, they found themselves on Earth as it was in the
1990's. Spock, who had been a test subject for the cutting edge of
holographic interactive entertainment, was very much impressed with this
powerful illusion.
"My compliments, Lord Lion-O. Except for the intangibilty factor, we
seem to be exactly where we appear to be."
McCoy looked around, nervous.
"Something's about to happen."
Chekov nodded as he speculated.
"Da. War between East and West?"
Uhura shook her head.
"No---a violation of some kind."
It was Sulu who took note of the light building in the sky.
"A meteor strike-like the one that killed the dinosaurs."
Scotty had his own call.
"Trajectory's all wrong. It'll nae impact -- but that rogue will cut it
close -- far too close, for my liking."
"Mister Scott is correct, Captain. Through The Sword, now witness what
followed. Mankind's civilization was cast into ruins."
The planetary devastation was at once familiar and sickening, all the
more for how very closely this world mirrored one they all knew.
Familiar-looking monuments were shredded, as though they were made of
balsa-wood. Lion-O continued.
"As what was called Wormwood by some came and went, pure anarchy
ruled--for two thousand years. Then, slowly, bare pockets of new and
shredded remnants of the old civilization began to build feudal
kingdoms. Sorcery was reborn, and mixed willy-nilly with science that
was like magic to raise up demon wizards and Hades' vilest spawn. Sadly,
chattel slavery was also reborn."
Again, the images shifted and showed wizards and their hideous servants
wielding awesome power over normal humans. Spock looked at the night
sky.
"Jim, the stars position tells it all. These events, despite the
parallel development, began almost 5000 years ago!"
Kirk was surprised, but parallels are, after all, tricky things,
subject at times to no regulation. A son could be a nephew, a daughter
a wife, and a man who took a fatal tumble here could be the survivor
there. He continued listening to Lion-O.
"But the day of slavery began its final chapter on Second Earth when
one man burst his bonds. His name was Thundarr."
To Be Continued............
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