Synopsis for Morph Queen

	The Morph Queen; a synopsis
	Science Fiction, 130,000 words, written by: Lee Smith

Hold Castle, in the mouth of Zekeliah's cave:

I am Sybell Overbern, Morph, Android, Witch, Queen of Orlene and Pentelstyk, and fourth in line to the throne of Overbern: this is my testament, written after the horrible death of my father, Garnebulous of Garlon9.
Who is to tell what will happen now? Eventually Garlon9's engineers will discover that one of their precious morph kernels is missing, and then they will slowly, inexorably, assemble the puzzle pieces and come searching for me here on Shaba. Still, that belongs to tomorrow. Today, I shall bury my father. He made an error and now he has paid dearly. It ought to be enough I think.
I knew from the beginning that Garn had made a terrible error and that if I managed the destruction of all of the swarming scrabblers, his life would be spared. I knew this on the same day that he made me, because, Garn's past, his instructions to me, and Garlon9's history, are a part of my memories. I also knew that, in the end, he would have to destroy me to remove the kernel and return it to Garlon9. I did not know that I would be afraid to die; that was because of the ghosts.

What neither of us recognized was that there are ghosts who dwell in the cave of Zekeliah. They watched as Garn fashioned me to closely resemble a woman in a cave painting there. These were the wraiths of long dead warriors called Zekes. They interfered with my birth, though neither of us understood it at the time, and in the end they interfered with my death by murdering my father.

The task of a Garlon9 environmental engineer is to protect this vast and unspoiled galaxy from outside environmental interference. Away from Garlon9's surface, I am an interference, and so were the scrabblers that Garn, through a few days' inattention to his monitoring equipment, allowed to be deposited here. He had but two choices: go to jail for dereliction of duty, or roll the dice and double his liability but also have a chance of covering up the whole affair. He chose to risk it. Too bad.

My mother is the beautiful Princess Gwynwyd Overbern. Knowing that I would need the assistance of the Shabian citizens, Garn counted himself fortunate to place me directly into such a lady's care until I learned the local customs. He returned to Garlon9 to make an appearance and to await my success. But he could not predict the extent to which she would go. Morphs are obedient and Princess Gwynwyd is one of those who does not hear what she does not wish to hear, and who makes up her own mind. Shaba is large, and communications are poor. Gwynwyd saw no great danger. She adopted me as her daughter and then, like any mother, forbid me to do anything that might result in my being injured. She also forbid me to consort with men. Both commands are at odds with my programming, an unexpected dichotomy, and they constrained me severely. Eventually she freed me to fight the scrabblers, but never would she free me from being a lady. It was and still is hard.

Jon Featherson told me that he loved me. Poor man, he doesn't know nor would he understand what I am, and I can't tell him.

My mother freed me when her father, Gregory, king of Overbern, commanded that she marry Prince Aman, of Orlene. It was a birthday celebration for his majesty, and after we attended they did not permit us to leave. Though she didn't think that there was much that I could do, but now understanding the dreadful danger the scrabblers presented, my mother arranged my escape.

I built the city of Pentelstyk using the tools implanted in me by my father. The natives called it magic and I, of course, let them believe that, because magic is no environmental heresy. My mother sent Sir Edmund, my personal hero and the commoner who loved her, to protect me. We met the scrabblers on the plains of Feln and there I thought that I would die. We defeated them and the lower left of my face was burned off and my teeth exposed, but I did not perish. And since I survived, my body restored itself to its original specifications. Upon seeing this, the Wikkan, healers, who are wise in the way of politics and also very direct in their responses, poisoned the royal family of Orlene. The Orlene army, confronted with civil unrest and without instructions, surrendered to me and awaited my orders. I became a queen in reality. Now I could hasten the complete destruction of the scrabblers.

To free my mother, I agreed to marry Carl Overbern. Jon was crushed, and his face became like stone. What could I do?

Now I am the queen, the absolute ruler of Orlene, a morph without a master, another dichotomy one would think. However, I have learned much. Now I have two-million masters and I will, at last, be happy.

THE END

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