Regnar's Search

By Marjorie Otte

Not long ago, you were an ordinary businessman, just starting a career. Now you are a prince, one of a hundred and forty-nine. With odds of 149 to one, what chance have you? Each contestant must perform an assigned Task to demonstrate his worthiness. But is that the only factor that counts? Could something extra move the odds your way, some bribe, some secret plan? Each prince chooses his own way.

Regnar puts all his hopes on succeeding at his Task. Will that be enough?

Regnar, Crown Prince-Designate of the Imperium, meets a pleasant musician, Lethos, whom he hopes will be a good friend. He is greatly distressed to find out that Lethos has a disease which the doctors say is final and that he may have only five or six months to live. Determined to find a cure, Regnar will undertake whatever that may require.

As he researched everything known about the disease, the discovery that the girl he loves has also contracted it adds urgency to his effort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662453328

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Regnar's Search

Marjorie Otte

Copyright © 2022 Marjorie Otte

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-5331-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-5332-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Appendix

About the Author

Prologue

Mankind had reached out to the stars and settled compatible planets. It had spread fingers into the universe, carrying with it that which it could not abandon: its human nature with all of the good and bad which that implies.

Chapter 1

I will speak to Regnar alone, now, the emperor had said, sending Elther (the emperor's friend) and Aletta (Regnar's mother) out of the room where he had just pronounced Regnar the designated crown prince of the Imperium.

Then he had told Regnar what only the two of them were ever to know—the god had chosen Regnar from among Jan-Alard's sons and shown it by speaking to him in an audible voice.

The emperor had faced Regnar and put a hand on each of his shoulders, with a slight shake; a kind of embrace, one man to another.

I'm afraid I was rather abrupt with you, he had said. It happened so suddenly that I could barely think. After all the waiting and conjecturing, to have you say so calmly, ‘The voice.' He called me ‘son' and told me they needed me. I should have thought that I imagined it, except it was the same voice.

The same? the emperor had asked.

Regnar, involved in his memories, had not noticed Jan-Alard become tense, his whole self concentrated on Regnar's face and voice.

Yes, Regnar had continued. He came before when they operated on me. He said that I would save them and that he was always there, for me.

As Regnar said these words, the emperor had stood up, uttered some kind of dismissal, and left.

How was Regnar to know then that the voice was God's and that is was the sign for which Jan-Alard had sought. The sign that indicated the one son that should follow Jan-Alard as emperor—the crown prince.

In the silent, impersonal rooms assigned to the princes until the declaration, Regnar slumped into an armchair. The day had been exhausting, not only on his still-recovering body but even more for his mind and emotions—unexpectedly presented with nearly unimaginable privileges and obligations. For Regnar, the selection of himself as crown prince changed his whole perspective.

Would he get used to it? When he had first come here, to the Orb, it had been almost as an observer. As the last of the emperor's sons to come of age—the youngest of the emperor's sons to come of age—the youngest of the original and hundred and fifty—he had been very much the neophyte, not even knowing the dress or customs of this planet, the center of universal government.

The ceremonies and social functions of the gathering had let him become acquainted with some of his half brothers, representatives of various worlds to which the human race had spread. Some of them he liked, some not, but they were soon scattered, performing their appointed Tasks, which served to show what manner of men they were and how suited to the government they might be.

His own Task, so critical to those involved but so seemingly unimportant to the larger scheme of the universe, he felt that he had done poorly. Never having had expectation of being chosen crown prince, his motive for accomplishing the Task had only been to please his father and to save the poor creatures to whom he had been sent.

Yes, he considered it a failure; yet when he had scarcely begun to tell the emperor about it, that abrupt dismissal had offended him deeply. He had tried with all that was in him to achieve the seemingly impossible, but then to be summarily dismissed without even a thank you or some such acknowledgment was like casting away all his effort. How could he then comprehend that not only was the emperor preparing to proclaim him as crown prince immediately. His mind was awhirl, trying to imagine himself as the chosen son and future ruler of all the worlds.

Regnar's course to this moment had been a strange and painful one. The sons of the emperor, scattered throughout the planets of their birth, had by custom been raised without knowledge of their high estate. Then called together in the gathering at the time the youngest reached twenty-five—the age of majority in this culture, each was to be assigned a Task, a work undertaken to demonstrate his personal qualities and abilities.

Regnar's Task had been to persuade the Aags—a group of aquatic beings—to leave their planet before their ocean home was destroyed by volcanic activity, to be accepted by them and communicate the danger. He had to undergo operations that changed his appearance and also allowed him to live with them in the water. The changes imposed on his body could not all be erased by subsequent operations; he understood that he would have lived with them.

The history that had led to this moment was now more than just a list of events that had occurred before his own generation. They now were a stream of events to which he would be a lasting part. He should know of them as they would relate to the actions he would someday take as the leader of the people of the Imperium.

Thousands of years before, men had learned to leave their native planet and travel through the reaches of space in search of other habitable planets. That they had discovered many had not dissipated any of their problems. Wide lands, plentiful harvests, abundant minerals, and great forests had not satisfied all.

War raged, and technology brought unimagined destruction. Through the years of combat, civilization was reduced to primitive huts in some places while in others, some areas of expertise were all but obliterated while others survived relatively strong.

Rather than continuing to progress steadily, mankind's fields of knowledge became disjointed; in some places, the creation of electricity was known theoretically, but there was no industry to create it or use it. In others, medical knowledge survived for a few decades, isolated by great heaps of rubble that could not be penetrated, let alone crossed by those without workable knowledge of heavy machinery.

Many interplanetary ships survived however, and the skills and means to maintain them were zealously guarded in outposts of various lands. Gradually, bits and pieces of former life came together—new governments were created and, once again, man was able to assert his dominion over other men. The age of resurgent rivalries began, and the demands of war once more stimulated the rise of industries, though not all the same as before. The arts were purely luxuries, pushed aside. Indeed, little had survived the general destruction.

By Regnar's time, the warring governments had been consolidated and subdued by one encompassing authority: the Imperium. The Imperium alone controlled interplanetary vehicles, allotted resources, approved urban construction. And at the head of the Imperium, the emperor had supreme power over all the planets, all life. Appointed by his predecessor from among his own sons and, in turn, choosing one of his many sons to succeed him. His choice could not be questioned. Today he had chosen Regnar, the youngest of them all, whom none, including Regnar himself, had ever considered a likely candidate for that high office.

* * *

I long to see Janet, Regnar said to his mother as they discussed over and over this stunning event. I wonder if she'll even remember me?

Aletta laughed. No girl would forget you, even if you hadn't almost proposed marriage to her.

I wish I could tell her! But the emp—father said not to tell anyone until the announcement. That's going to be very hard.

Janet was the girl he had met during one of the outings arranged for the princes while they awaited their assigned Tasks. They were taken to the famous Hartzman Museum, the most prominent place where one could see items actually used by their distant ancestors. Because Janet's father was one of the outstanding experts, they lived at the museum, where he kept his valuable collection of ancient books and papers and received visiting scholars. Janet had lived most of her life there, helping as she grew older, to arrange displays and prepare the neatly lettered cards that described the objects. She had been so sweetly charming, showing him around; they had found each other easy company. Walking about the parklike grounds whenever they had been able to arrange a bit of free time, they had developed a warm friendship that to Regnar became somewhat more than an acquaintance. But she was only seventeen, and even if he had not been aware of her father's disapproval of her spending time with an older man (a prince, to be sure, but from some planet scarcely of importance anymore), he had not expressed to her how deep his feelings had become.

When he allowed himself to think of such things, he longed to be with her to tell her how he imagined it would be to hold her, listen to her sweet voice, and hold her so close that the fragrance of her hair, lightly touching his face, would lift his spirit like a scented breeze.

He had put off going to her because he had to overcome the weakness that the operations and exertions of his activities with the Aags had made him feel less of a man that he wished to be, but he could wait no longer. The time he had to live just as one of the princes was going fast. Once he was officially declared to be crown prince, his relations with her would not be free. They would both feel constrained. He would go now.

The front-door guard had not seen Janet, he said, and Regnar could not hope to cover the grounds in search of her. After a perfunctory check of the museum rooms, he went to her father's work space in a separate building.

Dr. Melanese.

The man looked up, and his expression showed surprise. Hastily, he got up and saluted the prince.

I'm sorry, he said stumblingly. I didn't think that you were back yet.

Regnar merely inclined his head. I am hoping to see Janet, he said.

Oh, exclaimed her father. It's unfortunate she went to visit her cousins. She has been depressed lately, and we thought, her mother and I, that the company of other young people might help.

Yes, certainly, Regnar replied. Then she isn't interested in anyone?

She might be, by now.

Dr. Melanese did not approve of a junior prince from some outland planet paying court to his daughter. Besides, in his mind, she was still so young! She had been sheltered here. True, she met many people, but only in a surfaced way. She had not worked anywhere away from her father's supervision, had never lived alone. Even this trip to visit cousins was an adventure for her.

Where do these cousins live, sir? Regnar asked neutrally.

Cressa. They're my sister's family. She married an anthropologist, but he was killed accidentally. And she decided to stay there, where he was buried. She's paired up with a government man now. The girls are his and hers. There's a boy, too, nearly Janet's age. Henry had him from his first mate. Dr. Melanese heard himself giving all this unsolicited information and realized that he was unexpectedly nervous with this prince, whom, before, he had dismissed as a nonentity. The young man seemed to be different now.

When will she be back?

No time has been set. We thought we would see how it goes.

You know that I asked her to wait for me. I practically proposed.

Oh, yes, but you were going away, and it was such a short acquaintance. We thought that Janet ought to have a chance to meet other people before she became serious about anyone. She's very young—

Yes, you've said that. I'm not exactly old either. Not yet twenty-seven.

Of course, Lord, but—

It's all right, doctor, responded Regnar, curbing a flare of irritation. I understand that you have only your daughter's good in mind. All we can do is wait to see what Janet thinks, when she matures. He put a sarcastic twist on that word and left the man to think whatever he would.

Janet had been under no obligation to stay at home just on the chance that he would come to see her some time. No one knew where he had gone or how long he would stay.

While he conversed with Dr. Melanese, Regnar had assumed an attitude of moderate anxiety verging on businesslike concern, but he was dying inside. And when he left the room, he wanted urgently to be somewhere where he could allow his face and voice to express his hurt. Janet was the only thing he had to come home to. The thought of seeing her graceful movements, touching the soft skin, hearing the childlike tone of voice typical of a scarcely mature woman had given him a goal. For that, he had put out the effort required by the active therapy and endured the agony of enforced immobility necessitated by the physical alterations required of him. Now she was not here, might come back holding hands and looking adoringly at some other man, might even write to say she was not returning at all. Regnar needed her. Now, where expectation had been there was only emptiness and a mist of anger. What had it all been for if he came home disfigured and disheartened, to nothing but a future of work and responsibility? He thought of Jan-Alard's talk of living virtually only for others. What had he said about joy? That did not enter into the expectations.

* * *

When he returned to his rooms after that stunning night when Jan-Alard had not only declared him to be crown prince but also had confided to him secrets only to be known by the emperor and himself, the emptiness of the rooms had depressed him. He wished Hugh was there as he always had been before. Even though Regnar would be unable to tell Hugh of the emperor's decision, they could have talked comfortably together, caught up on what each had done since their separation. That had been long ago, he now realized. Living with the Aags and all the times he had been anesthetized and woken up in new circumstances had destroyed his sense of time. After so long, was it possible to renew a friendship such as they had had?

Almost in answer to his self-thought question, he noticed a message waiting for him. It had been there a long time, he saw by the date, more than a month. Still, when he picked it up and read it, it seemed so appropriate that it could have been left there earlier today.

My Prince,

Although I have kept busy and not am in need, I should like to be able to be with you to talk about our recent lives. Whenever you read this, day or night, call and I will come. I have never considered my service to you to have ended.

Hugh

Regnar smiled. What a happy end to a day that had brought both distress and happiness! Even though the events just passed had seemed so complex and absorbing, it was only late evening. He must compose himself and think of what the declaration would