Alone among the planet Kuat's ruling households, the lineage of the Kuat family was the only one that was passed down from parent to child by direct genetic inheritance; that was the sole intent and effect of the Exemption. For all the other households, a strict disruption in the genetic chain prevailed: the heirs of the ruling households were not the children of the current adult members, but rather of the telbuns that were chosen to perpetuate the line. Unfortunately, such an arrangement had begun to show its faults when telbuns, chosen more for their physical beauty rather than the high intelligence and other favorable genetic factors that would produce the engineering and corporate leadership skills needed to run Kuat Drive Yards, had threatened to take the corporation into bankruptcy through their incompetence. Thus the Inheritance Exemption that effectively kept the Kuat bloodline, with its innate tendencies necessary for the success of the business, in charge. The Inheritance Exemption, as Kuat of Kuat well knew, had the additional benefit of checking the viciously squabbling ambitions of the ruling households, and keeping any of the world's nobles from conspiring and murdering to place an actual son or daughter at the head of Kuat Drive Yards.
If only, thought Kuat of Kuat, that was the end of the matter. And the end of ambition and conspiracy. It hadn't been; the Knylenns had long chafed under the limit that had been placed on their household's ability to rise to the absolute top of their world's power structure. The Knylenns had been the most aggressive about circumventing the restrictions, by choosing their telbuns from a limited pool of candidates. Rumors abounded in the other households that some of the Knylenn telbuns were in fact the children of the already existing Knylenn adults, born in secret offworld locations and smuggled back to the planet Kuat, infant princes in disguise. Certainly, over the last few generations, the physical resemblance between the Knylenns and their appointed heirs had grown suspiciously close.
Whereas this heir to the Kuhlvult clan, walking next to Kuat of Kuat, had obviously been chosen for her beauty and her lean-muscled, athletic grace-he had to exert himself to keep up with the long strides that billowed her formal robes out behind her. She had obviously come into her inheritance only recently; Kuat remembered having heard, most likely in a report from his security head, that one of the Kuhlvult Elders had recently died and his heir had assumed that preeminent rank in the household. Kuat was grateful that whatever the reason had been for her parent's initial selection as a telbun-the Kuhlvults had long been notorious for its weakness for attractive faces-the result had been the elevation of someone with enough intelligence to see through the Knylenns' schemes.
Whether that would be enough-and whether there was a sufficient number like this Kodir of Kuhlvult in the other households-remained to be seen. Kuat strode on toward the meeting place, concealing his own grim apprehensions about what was to come.
Fortunately, none of the Knylenns or their associates made any objection to Kuat of Kuat's security head attending the gathering of the ruling households. It would have been a bad move strategically, to have started off the gathering with an officious reference to the tradition-bound codes that governed the families' interactions. Better, thought Kuat, to at least pretend that we're all friends-for the moment. And let the Knylenns suffer the consequences of the first hostile move.
"Kuat, your presence is appreciated."
The voice was familiar to him, from the last time he had left the productive sanctuary of Kuat Drive Yards in order to return to the homeworld. He turned and gave a nod of recognition." I understand," said Kuat," that we have much to talk about."
"True." The hatchet-sharp face of Khoss of Knylenn showed a thin-lipped, humorless smile. The formal robes hung easily on his frame; they were obviously his preferred garb." I hope you. . . enjoy hearing the words of your equals." He gestured toward the head of security standing just behind Kuat." I know how tedious it can be, surrounded only by underlings and their too-often flattering but misleading voices."
A roseate, shadowless glow suffused over the robed figures-more than two score of them, the largest number of ruling household members that Kuat had ever seen gathered together-as the perfect opalescent dome diffused the sunlight outside. In that gentle illumination, even the most withered and cronelike Elders, of either sex, appeared as benign, attractive creatures. The younger ones and the appointed telbuns seemed to be almost godlike in their preening splendor. It had been inevitable that such lying arts, enhancement to the point of deception, would have evolved to such a degree on the planet of Kuat. The revenues from the ship-building industry of Kuat Drive Yards, preeminent supplier of military vessels to the Empire, enabled the ruling households to concentrate on all that they considered most important: the gloss of surfaces, the mechanics of deceit. Kuat of Kuat wondered why any of them would consider overturning the financial arrangements of such a system merely to fuel the Knylenns'
ambitions.
"I don't," said Kuat," surround myself with flatterers. When it comes to engineering, it's better to hear the truth, no matter how unpleasant. If a ship being built has a stress fault that will cause it to implode at full thruster force, I would rather know before a client such as Emperor Palpatine has a chance to find out."
"Ah." Khoss nodded in feigned appreciation." Very wise. As you value the truth, then I'm sure you'll find our meeting today to be very rewarding." He turned away, his formal robes swirling at the heels of his boots. A phalanx of younger Knylenns and their telbuns turned their smug gazes upon Kuat before following after their kinsman.
"You realize, of course, that he hates your guts." Kodir of Kuhlvult leaned her head close to Kuat's while keeping an eye on the Knylenns striding away." I don't think I'm surprising you with that information."
"He's always hated every Kuat family member." Kuat shrugged." That's his own legacy from his predecessors. And it's why I'm pretty sure that the Knylenns have been circumventing the inheritance restrictions. You can't learn that kind of hatred; you have to be born with it, right in your genetic material."
Before Kodir could reply, Kuat's security head gave him a discreet nudge." Here comes the Knylenn Elder. The party's about to start."
The light filtering into the pearllike dome shifted in color. A flock of wind-orchids, the rootless semi-vegetative denizens of Kuat's deepest forests, had drifted across the convex exterior of the dome; their rich hues of violet and azure fell across the forms of the ruling household members like a soft optic rain. The air currents outside lifted the wind-orchids and sent them slowly tumbling away; the warmth of the blurred sunlight reentered the dome.
Kuat of Kuat saw a flurry of activity at the other side of the gently illuminated space. The crowd parted way before something larger than a mere human figure.
"That's the life-support system I was telling you about," said Kuat's security head." It wasn't just the functional parts that made it expensive; they had to decorate it."
A vertically oriented cylinder was surmounted with the grey-bearded visage of the Knylenn Elder; his snow-white hair, braided into two thick ropes, looped over the shoulders of the segmented metal encasing his arms. A trembling palsy shook the vein-gnarled hands left bare, restrained by flexible straps from tripping any of the controls and gauges studding the exterior of the system's casing. Bright red arterial blood percolated through a network of tubes and oxygenating devices; above the tank treads that moved the portable system forward, patches of condensed moisture indicated the cryo-storage bins, with their valuable soft-tissue contents inside.