Neraka - A Guide

Parallel Name	Neraka
Parallel Code	247N2
Number of known native human species present	2 [i]
Number of non-human native intelligences present	0

Albian Common Name	Tamaratry (both singular and plural), Tammies (slang)	Kalpanar (sing.), Kalpanari (pl.)
AHIT (Albian Human Index Type)	2	1
Ethnonym	Tamaratry - “noble race” [ii]	Kalpanar (sing.), Kalpanari (pl.)
Kingdom	Animalia	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata	Chordata
Class	Mammalia	Mammalia
Order	Primates	Primates
Family	Hominidae	Hominidae
Tribe	Hominini	Hominini
Genus	Homo	Homo
Species	Homo sapiens	Homo sapiens
Subspecies	Homo sapiens nerakus	Homo sapiens sapiens

Species 1 - The Tamaratry

The Tamaratry physical layout is largely similar to that of an Albian Type 1, but the Tamaratry are generally much more massively built. Tamaratry have a deep affinity for water, very little body hair apart from the head and both sexes are sleeker than type-1 humans with a deep layer of body fat over their muscular frames.

Most Tamaratry are a deep golden colour with platinum blonde hair and the race is sexually dimorphic. Tamaratry females are an average of 5ft 8 and generally slender whilst the males are an average of 7ft in height and heavily muscled.

In most Tamaratry mythologies there are tales of their ancestors having come from the sea and Albian scientists believe that their ancestors underwent an aquatic phase. Tamaratry cities, towns and estates are usually situated on sea coasts or lakes, islands are particularly prized.

Species 2 - The Kalpanari

The Kalpanari exhibit a wider range of body types than seen amongst type-1 humans on any other single known parallel. The reason behind this is that the Tamaratry have been breeding them for hundreds of years to suit particular needs as detailed below. The first three types (and the kaligtermut) are considered untouchable except by their owners and have forehead tattoos to denote their status, rank and owner. Any kalpanari found without a forehead tattoo is likely to be captured and summarily executed.

1	Blessarak “soldier slave”	Police, janissary soldiers and estate guards. Life for a blessarak, although physically demanding and often dangerous, is comparatively good as they are allowed certain freedoms and many are allowed their own families.
2	Omsterlak “house slave”	Estate/Household Managers, medics, chefs, cooks, book-keepers, civil servants, concubines, nurses and nannies. Omsterlaks have possibly the best lives amongst the Kalpanari. They are generally trusted and well treated. Most of them live in their owner’s estates or houses and are usually allowed a family life. Many old omsterlaks are allowed to live out their retirement as long as they do not become a significant drain on resources.
3	Hemosterlak “outer house slave”	Domestic and menial workers including plantation/farm workers, gardeners, porters and factory workers. Hemosterlaks are bred for physical endurance and are generally of low intelligence. Although generally well fed and adequately clothed and housed they rarely live beyond the age of 40.
4	Liktyar “meat”	Liktyar means “meat”in Listantal-ji. Liktyar are bred purely for their meat and taste. Most liktyar grow quickly and if left unculled they would reach puberty early by about age 10. Selective breeding has left them with very low mental capacity and are generally docile. Few live until puberty apart from the luckier and brighter ones who may be selected as hemosterlaks or very rarely, omsterlaks.
5	Janagali Liktyar “running meat”	These are Kalpanari who live in small communities on Tamaratry estates and in wilderness areas. In the main they are allowed to live as they choose but are hunted and culled by the Tamaratry under strict laws. Culled janagali are either used to eat or as breeding stock. These Kalpanari are very close to the Albian type-1 human norm.
6	Kaligtermut “half breed”	The kaligtermut are the humans born of unions between Tamaratry and Kalpanari parents. The vast majority of these have Tamaratry fathers and Kalpanari omsterlak mothers. Kaligtermut are known for high intelligence and whilst they may not always be as large and strong as their Tamaratry fathers they are generally stronger and healthier than type-1 humans. Kaligtermut occupy a difficult position in Tamaratry society as their mixed heritage forever taints them in both Tamaratry and Kalpanari eyes, and they are rarely fully trusted or accepted by either human race. Kaligtermut often find positions as blessarak army officers and police chiefs or amongst the omsterlaks as estate managers. The elite guard of the Taymat known as the “Randanatani” or deathless ones are drawn solely from the ranks of the kaligtermut officers.

Nerakan Society

The society that the Tamaratry have created is a difficult one for Albians to comprehend. Tamaratry are generally good and kind to those of their own tribe or nation. They love and care for their children and their parents. They treat their pets and domesticated animals well and are accomplished veterinarians, but they view any non-Tamaratry humans in the way that an Albian would view cattle, horses or dogs. At best they consider the Kalpanari as pets and more often as tools to be used, moulded and often consumed. Once you understand this then you are just beginning to comprehend the Tamaratry mindset.

Kalpanari are in essence treated like pets, slaves, servants, livestock and beasts of burden. In their own fashion the Tamaratry treat their blessaraks and omsterlaks well. Life for an hemosterlak is often brutal and short. The life of a liktyar is akin to an Albian pig or sheep, short with a violent end in a slaughterhouse.

Neraka is currently in a state of uneasy peace. Although Tamaratry history is comparatively old (they have been building cities for about 12,000 years) current technology is roughly at the level of the Albian 18th Century or the 21^st on Henry Tudor. The Tamaratry have electricity, computers, aeroplanes and satellites but have not yet travelled to the moon or beyond. The warlike temperament of the Tamaratry is the reason why they have not advanced further, as at least 3 times; wars over the entire continent of North Columbia has reduced them to pre-industrial levels. The last major war - 1500 years ago - almost reduced them to the Stone Age.

Any Kalpanar who deliberately attempts to injure a Tamaratry or to escape is considered to lose their untouchable status and become kailusterlak liktyar or running meat. Punishment is meted out, is always savage and few escape. In extreme cases such as the murder of a Tamaratry the punishment is shared by every member of the immediate family from grandparents down to infants as a lesson to others. The punishment for an old blessarak or omsterlak who becomes kailusterlak liktyar is normally to be hung upside down (to increase blood flow to the head and reduce fainting) and to have all their limbs broken with a metal pole. Their eyes are popped with wooden stakes and they are then slashed with razor blades from foot to head before being dangled into a cage full of wild dogs. Younger kailusterlak liktyar are treated exactly the same way except that after their eyes are popped they are dismembered limb by limb with an axe and served up for a Tamaratry feast. If a family is being punished then the Tamaratry do it in strict age order from oldest to youngest with each person being made to watch the others being tortured to death before them. According to Tamaratry tradition this ensures that the meat for the table becomes ever tastier and more tender as the punishment continues.

Janissary Blessarak

The janissary blessarak form the corps of the slave soldiers and kalpanari police forces of Neraka. Any future candidates for life as a janissary blessarak are identified before puberty commences (usually between the ages of 9 and 11). They are indoctrinated into corps belief systems, circumcised and supervised around the clock by battle hardened elders. For 8 years they are raised in compounds where they undergo intensive physical training including martial arts, use of weapons and communications. Life is physically tough for the janissary recruits but they are well looked after and fed to meet the demands of their training.

Janissaries serve in the Nerakan armies for a minimum of 30 years after which they generally become estate guards for the remainder of their useful lives. Veteran blessarak return to train new recruits after about 20 years and rotate back into their active units for the remainder of their service.

The more intelligent of the janissary blessarak are given enhanced status and education and form the officer corps of both the janissary armies and police forces.

---

[i]

                        [i] There is archaeological and fossil evidence to suggest an extinct 3^rd human species present on Neraka which died out some 10,000 years previously. Destruction caused by Tamaratry warfare has made further investigation very difficult.

[ii]

                        [ii] Listantal-ji is the main Tamaratry language spoken by about 77% of the Nerakan population including both human species. There are other tribal languages spoken only by the Tamaratry but Listantal-ji is used for trade and commerce globally. All Kalpanari are raised to learn Listantal-ji.

                Studies of the Kalpanari have shown that they have a sign language that they use to communicate unknown to their Tamaratry masters.

Sashad

Sashad was tired. She'd spent hours searching for food for her kits. Night had fallen as she made her way back to the nest with only a pouch of bifstu leaves to feed her litter. Bifstu was tasty but not enough to sustain two increasingly demanding kits who would mewl loudly upon her return.

Sashad was a Benglar. She was an type-two human that could be described as cat-like or feline. When she stood tall she was a meter high, she was slender with a lustrous black pelt and a mane that reached down past her shoulders. Her retractable claws were half out as she stalked through the trees with her tail twitching behind her.

A Brief Guide to the Albian Parallels

Central to the Metaverse, Albion is where transparallel travel was first discovered. This level is called Arthur Tudor after the monarch credited with leading the way to the Golden Age of Albion.

King Arthur I barely survived tuberculosis early in his life. This, and the fact that the 15th Century had been devastated by plague, lead Arthur to encourage the sciences and their practical application. This improvement in medicine and healthcare led to the English Scientific Revolution in the mid 1500's. This, in turn, led to the English Industrial Revolution as the new knowledge was applied.

King Arthur and his wife, Catherine of Aragon had 14 children and 42 grandchildren who married into other European royal houses earning Arthur Tudor the nickname “the grandfather of Europe”.

The two English Revolutions led to what became known as the Golden Age of Albion as increasing industry and mechanisation and increased health, vitality and long life brought lessened toil and freedom. Free education for all brought in an era of peace, harmony, stability, and prosperity. This golden age attracted many of the great thinkers of the world to settle in Albion and the nation's stability and freedom encouraged a huge influx of refugees fleeing religious persecution.

By 1701 England had peacefully united with Scotland and Wales to form the Royal Union of Albion (RUA). The name Albion was chosen as it was an ancient name for the island of Britain and it was considered neutral and all encompassing. The head of the Tudor College at the time, Leonardo Pallavicini was Italian. "Alba" means dawn in Italian and the name was considered to be a particularly fitting way to herald the new age.

In Albion education was free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 20. 

A Citizen of the RUA was known as an Albian, as was the language. Although formed from three separate countries Albians considered that none were separate, all of Albion was Scottish, all of Albion was English, and all of Albion was Welsh. (This ethos followed through when the 7 Parallels of the Commonwealth of Albion were formed, each CoA parallel may be considered a separate state but all are equally Ashanti, Bharatiya, and Avalonian etc.)

1747 Albian astronauts land on the moon 

1765 Albian astronauts land on Mars

1793 Barnaby Fitzwilliam disappears from his laboratory in the Royal Tudor College whilst performing experiments with an FtL (Faster than Light) engine

1795 Barnaby Fitzwilliam reappears in his lab after being returned to our universe by the K’afamjadali humans who exist on a parallel earth. Three K’afamjadalis return with Fitzwilliam - Eshvan Alstus, Rarter Bish and Gweth Jutla.

1801 Albion embarks on an era of exploration into new parallels and the Royal Albion Rangers are formed to lead the exploration. By 1810 the RA Rangers are the sole military force of Albion and have 5 components, Air Rangers, Land Rangers, Scout Rangers, Sea Rangers and the Space Rangers.

1803 The first parallel colony - Nova Anglia is formed

1804 The parallel colonies of Caledonia and Avalon are formed

1805 The Irish are the first non-Albion people to be given their own colony. It is called “Éire Nua” or New Ireland 

1806 The parallel colony of Cymru is formed.

1807 The Swedish are allowed to form their own colony called “Nya Sverige”.

1808 The Greater Netherlands are given their own parallel which they name “Nieuw Nederland".

1815 Scout Rangers enter a stricken parallel and find two surviving populations - the Ashanti in West Africa and the Bharatiya in northern India.

1816 The Ashanti and the Bharatiya are moved to an empty parallel which was originally called “Vita Nova” or New Life. Six months later the Ashanti express a desire to move to their own, empty parallel (empty of human life) and are allowed to move to one which they simply call “Ashanti”. Vita Nova becomes “Bharatavarsha” or the Land of the Bharatiya.

1840 France, the German Confederation and Spain declared war on Albion after the Heidelberg Pact. The war was about access to new parallels as the Albians allowed only their allies to form parallel colonies. Many other European powers feel that they should also have the right to access the metaverse and form their own colonies. The Albian Alliance (which included Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands) may have had better technology, the Heidelberg Powers were prepared to use nuclear weapons.

1842 A nuclear bomb was exploded on the Falkland Islands with the threat that others would be detonated close to the Albian mainland if the Albian Alliance did not capitulate within 7 days. The Albian Alliance responded by opening temporary gates in Sweden and the Netherlands in an attempt to evacuate the entire populations of both countries into their parallel colonies. Albion herself turned on machines given to them by the Nantktar which translated all the Isles of Albion and Ireland into new parallels.This meant that from that point onwards both countries existed in isolation on separate parallels. These machines worked only once and are believed to have been have be powered by vacuum energy, which was at that time, beyond the capability of known science.

1844 The 5 parallels of Albion plus those of the Ashanti and the Bharatiya form the Commonwealth of Albion (CoA). The CoA is a federation of independent states each with its own government to run the affairs of the parallel. Military and foreign relations are run by the CoA. All parallels are considered to be separate but equal in every respect. As it was in the old RUA - although each parallel is a separate state, all are “of” each state in that all 7 parallels are equally of Caledonia, Cymraeg, Albion Bharatiya and Ashanti etc. Free movement of commonwealth citizens, goods and trade is allowed between all parallels.

Éire Nua, Nya Sverige, and Nieuw Nederland all declined the offer of joining the CoA but citizens of these parallels are allowed to visit, trade and even emigrate to the Albian parallels. These three parallels are all military allies of the CoA and military officers from all parallels are regularly involved in secondments to other parallels.

The head of each Albian state is the reigning Monarch of Albion. The monarch on each state is represented by the First Lord of the Parallel who is generally a person elected from the state that they represent, the title is the same regardless of sex.

The Monarch of Albion, as the head of state for each parallel, is considered to be in residence on each parallel as represented by the First Lord. The official home of the Monarch is one of the Seven Palaces of Albion which exist on each parallel state. Officially the monarch lives on each parallel for 4 years before the monarch and the Albian government move on to the next parallel in a revolving residency (it takes 28 years before a parallel again becomes the official home of the monarch and government).

The Senate of Albion is the body that runs affairs at Commonwealth level. The Senate also acts as the upper house for each parallel state and, in theory, the Senate has the power to scrutinise, over-rule and amend bills passed by any of the 7 Parallel Governments. In practice it is extremely rare for the Senate to use these powers.

Senators are directly elected by the parallel state that they represent and cannot serve terms longer than 7 years without elections. However, they are allowed to serve consecutive terms if re-elected.

New Albion is something of a misnomer as it contains all of “Old Albion” in a new parallel that was previously uninhabited by intelligent life. London remains the capital of New Albion and is still considered to be the heart of the Commonwealth. Inhabitants of New Albion proudly call themselves “Arthurs” after the legendary Tudor King.

Chapter III - The Yak

Chapter III - The Yak

Colonel Thomas Yaxley or "The Yak" was still an imposing figure at 62. Thanks to Albian science he was barely middle-aged and to anyone from Henry Tudor he would have looked like a man in his late 30's, or perhaps early 40's. Despite lifelong attempts to tame it he still had a mop of blonde bushy hair just beginning to turn white, plus he still looked like the archetypal Avalonian surfer that he had once been. He didn't get much time to surf the Isles of Avalon these days but he was still strong and suntanned. His deep brown eyes were still bright but I could see dark patches under them as his aide ushered me into his office. I came to full attention and saluted as I reached the front of his desk.

"Cut the crap Izzy," he said to me as he came round the desk to hug me. "You're with friends now." Even 40 years of living in Nova Anglia had done little to alter his clipped Avalonian tones.

Tom was a famously informal man and we were also old friends. I hugged him back hard and found myself getting emotional, I hadn't realised that my time amongst the Tamaratry still affected me so much. I took a seat in the big armchair to the left of the desk as Tom poured Ashanti coffee from the pot left by his aide. Like me, he took it strong and unsweetened with a splash of milk. Tom was the only officer I knew who could say that he personally knew all his scouts and took an interest in every one of them. They would all say they loved him too, that is apart from the ones who had fallen foul of his wrath for a lack of discipline or for the breaking of scout law. Memory like that would be no easy feat for an ordinary colonel in the Parallel Scouts, but Tom took time to speak to them all and had a knack for remembering personal details that bordered on the phenomenal. In reality I knew he'd been augmented by the Edelseun and forgot nothing. Every detail, every conversation and every step of his life since augmentation could be recalled with perfect clarity. The only give away was that sometimes he seemed distant as he replayed previous events in his head.

Tom had a husband from Cymru called Bryn Yorath and they'd been together for as long as I could remember. They'd had a brood of 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy all of whom had followed their fathers into the scouts. Bryn had recently retired from the service and it was rumoured that he wanted more children - which may go some way to explaining the dark patches under Tom's eyes. Father-Children may be common now but it still requires that the parents practice the old-fashioned way.

"A shot of Cally Mist in your coffee?" Tom asked me with a wink.

"No thanks Colonel," I replied. "Too early for me and you know that stuff has a bad effect on me."

"That rather depends on your definition of a bad effect." he said with one raised eye-brow.

I blushed and just shook my head. Many of my teenage evenings had been spent in the Yaxley-Yorath household and I was still friends with Tom's children. We were all of a similar age and Tom was referring to a particular evening when his daughter Gwynne and I had gotten drunk on Caledonian Mist. Tom had been the one who held my hair out of the toilet as I was sick whilst Bryn looked after his daughter. I can't even smell Cally Mist even now without my gorge rising.

Tom leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee before saying, "I know that the events on Neraka were bad Izzy. I also know that no amount of training and conditioning can really equip you for torture. But if Albion is ever going to really understand the Tamaratry it's always going to be a risk that scouts have to take."

"I know that Tom," I replied. "And so far I'm doing OK, really. This new body and the redaction that Arturius Prime did on me have had a positive effect. My life on Neraka is still clear and Arthur knows that bastard made me suffer, but the torture now has a dream-like quality which doesn't affect me as much as it otherwise would. The death I don't remember at all."

"You wouldn't remember the death, one of our people was on that crash team that treated you when Ifshar was finished. He put you so deep under that they could have pulled you apart and you would never have known. But still, you will undergo counselling and there'll be no active duty until I am completely certain that there are no long lasting effects. My time on Matlatzinca and the recovery afterwards taught me that sometimes terrors can surface when you least expect it. We all know the dangers when you sign on as a Para, but it would be wrong of me to put you back in the field too soon. Not the kind of karma I am prepared to risk. So, tell me about the Tamaratry."

I spoke for nearly an hour about my 6 months amongst the Tamaratry on Neraka. I had no doubt that my mission had been a necessary one. The Tamaratry are a difficult race to understand, they are generally good and kind to those of their own tribe or nation. They love and care for their children and their parents. They treat their pets well and are even accomplished veterinarians. But, they are often unspeakably cruel to humans of other tribes, to other human species or to those of their own kind that they consider traitors.

They are also extremely warlike and their society is built on slave-labour. The Tamaratry do not consider any species other than their own as fully human and to be treated as animals - and at best pets, at worst as livestock.

Chapter II - Debrief in Tudor City

Chapter II - Debrief in Tudor City

It took 10 minutes by train to get to Bishopsgate Station from Sheppey Airport in Essex. At Bishopsgate I went into the ParaTrans Station and transferred to the Bethlem ParaTrans Station in Tudor City, Nova Anglia. The move between parallels always left me feeling little-light headed and dizzy but I’ve been told it’s all psychosomatic. ParaTrans is old science now and I’ve done it hundreds of times but still the feeling of stepping into a Cubicle, seeing the doors close and then open on a whole new universe never fails to thrill me.

It was sunny but cold in Tudor City and I was glad to be in full uniform with my greatcoat tightly buttoned up as I walked over Arthur’s Bridge. The bridge was beginning to fill with tourists, shoppers and office workers on their way to work. To my right I could see the canopies of the Frost Fair and people skating on the frozen waters of the Tamesis. Beyond them was the new St Edmund’s Bridge and I could just see the Tudor Column in Nelson Square. To my left I could see the skyscrapers and towers of the Isle of Avalon in the distance beyond Bermondsey Bridge. On the south east of the bridge stood the Akshardham Temple Cathedral which served as a place of worship for both Bharatiya Hindus and New Albion Catholics alike.

I was still early for my debrief so I stopped to have breakfast at the Frost Fair. As I walked down the steps at the end of the bridge I could smell coffee, spices and fresh bread coming from the food section at this end of the fair. I sat down under a canopy and ordered orange juice, ande ki bhurji, plain paratha and a pot of coffee as the smiling Bharatiya waitress placed blankets over my legs and shoulders.

As I sat eating my eggs I watched the families skating on the ice and kept an eye on the flatscreen hung in the corner of the canopy. There was news from the parallel we called Henry Tudor as it is the only parallel that we’ve found where Saint Arthur died young and his brother Henry became king instead of pope. The news from Henry Tudor always seemed to fascinate us Albians and the coverage was a feed from one of the Henry news channels who were filming a war somewhere in their middle-east. 

The eggs were delicious and spiced just right for a cold day. As I paid the waitress my phone rang and I pressed the button on the side of my cap just before it went to voicemail. I could see my father’s features beaming at me from the vizard screen on my cap. He looked well, much younger than his sixty-two, his full beard was only just starting to grey. 

“Hello Dad,” I said as slid the screen down.

“Izzy my darling! Wonderful news!” He beamed. “I’m going to be a father again and you’re going to get a new baby sister!”

“Congratulations Pop. I wondered if you two were ever going to have your own children.” Hugh had three children from his first marriage, this would be Aesha’s first.

“Yes well, as you know we’ve been busy getting the farm going for the last few years. Between the farm, the reserves and building the new house there’s not been time for us to plan a family.”

“Well, it’s wonderful news Dad. How does Aesha feel?”

“She’s very happy, she’s on her phone speaking to her mother in Dhillika right now. Knowing Mrs Mehta she’s busy packing her case to come and stay with us already. When are you coming over Izzy? I know it’s not easy but I haven’t seen you in months.”

“I know Dad, sorry about that but I have been off the commonwealth for a few weeks, in fact I only got back yesterday.”

“I know love, I spoke to Tom Yaxley yesterday. He said that you’d had a difficult mission but you’d done a great job. Shouldn’t you get some leave now?”

“Hopefully, I could use the R & R but I’ll know more when I’ve met with Tom. In fact I meet him in 10 minutes. Can I call you later? If I do have time off coming to me I’ll try and get over for the weekend.”

“OK my child. Let me know what’s happening. I love you.” And with that he rang off, no doubt to speak to my sisters in Kumasi and Caliburn. Hugh Barnestone always liked to do things in the right order.

Chapter 1 – Izzy Barnestone

Parallel – New Albion

The colours were too bright and everything seemed to have a sharp edge when I woke up from my death. Once I’d realised where I was I got the shakes but they didn’t last long. After all it wasn’t the first time I’d woken from death and I had a brand new body now.

The sun was streaming in over the full length mirror which meant that it was late afternoon in my Chausey home. Standing in front of the mirror I examined the figure reflected back at me. My breasts were higher and fuller than they had been when I was last a Type 1 Human. I had fine, dark hairs all over my legs and when I lifted my arms I could see that all my body hair was back. Arturius Prime had obviously reset my physical appearance to my mid 20’s, removed all my scars and crow’s feet and I could see no outward sign that I’d been 44 before I was modified. Most importantly I no longer resembled T’Gira Seeneta Gerhant, the Type 2 Tamaratry female whose sleeve I had worn until I’d been executed. I’d miss T’Gira’s body; she had been a foot taller and curvier than me. My skin was its natural light tan colour once again and my hair was raven black courtesy of my Bharatiya ancestors. My eyes, however, were deep blue and I missed the sparkling green that they’d been when I was T’Gira.

My full name is Isabel Amla Barnestone; I was born in 1966 in Kingsferry, London, New Albion. I grew up in New Normandy on New Albion and I am a Captain in the Royal Parallel Scouts. My ancestry is half Caledonian, a quarter New Albian and a quarter Bharatiya. My father, Hugh Barnestone, is Caledonian and also served in the Paras. He is now a farmer in New Normandy where he lives with his new wife Aesha. My mother Elizabeth Khatri was half Bharatiya and half New Albian. She grew up in Dhillika and was a linguistics professor at the Royal Tudor College in Winchester. My mother died in the first Tamaratry incursion when I was 11.

When not away on missions for the Paras I make my home in Chausey which is one of the Channel Islands and the closest to the Normandy mainland. I live alone apart from Oorar the cat, who is very forgiving of my long absences. 

After a long, hot shower I threw on a shirt and went downstairs to the kitchen where I put the kettle on. As I spooned instant tea and sugar into a mug I saw that there were 30 odd messages waiting on the console. 

“House,” I said to the Domestic AI, “play messages.”

“Yes Izzy,” said Domai. “Would you like them in chronological order or in order of importance?”

My domai had never been brilliant at deciding what was most important and sometimes seemed to consider a spam message about cleaning products more important than messages from the scouts. Not for the first time I wondered how much they paid the programmers for product placement.

“Just play them in time order please Domai,” I instructed the machine.

“OK Izzy, message 1 received on the 27th of April at 16:43 from the Dhillika Deli...”

“Delete,” I instructed.

Many were also sales pitches, one was a call from my bank, one from my friend Ellen and the final one was from Colonel Thomas Yaxley, my commanding officer.

“Izzy, I just heard about what happened,” his accent still held traces of his upbringing on Avalon. “I know that you are probably disappointed, but I am proud of you and what you’ve done. Please report to Tudor City HQ tomorrow morning at 10:00 for a full debrief.”

Tom wasn’t only my commanding officer; he was also a family friend. He was from Caliburn on Avalon and had been posted to New Normandy soon after his basic scout training when he’d been selected for the Paras 30 years ago.

I sat with my tea on the wooden deck behind my house watching the sun dip towards the horizon. There were gulls riding the evening breeze around the sailing boats as the sun dipped down towards the English Channel. Thinking back over what had happened I was pretty sure that there wasn’t anything I could have done to prevent my execution and it had been relatively painless after the torture. After Ifshar Rewede Beneklat, my captor, had departed the Chief Pain-Nurse had left the Tamaratry medical team to repair my body for crushing. The Pain-Nurse who had taken over was another Albian operative. He woke me up, told me what had happened and explained that he was going to kill the body of T’Gira so that I could escape. He then fed false feedback into the monitoring machines to make it look as though had suffered for another two days.

The next thing I knew I was back in my bed on Chausey. What worried me the most was that it seemed clear that someone in the Tamaratry hierarchy knew things that they shouldn’t. That meant that either we had a traitor, or the Tamaratry had succeeded in doing exactly what we in the Paras did - they had planted undercover operatives to gather intelligence.

As the evening progressed I caught up on social media, watched the news and ate the meal prepared by my domai. Oorar refused to leave my side and I appreciated his purring company as the dark descended over the island.

Prologue "A Routine Torture"

Neraka Parallel

Ifshar Rewede Beneklat was Taymat mir Beneklat or King of the House of Beneklat. He was 91 inches tall, big even for a Tamaratry male, heavily muscled his oiled, golden skin and twin hair-braids shone in the harsh lights of the cell as he pursued his favourite hobby. His current plaything was a Tamaratry female called T’Gira Seeneta Gerhant who was accused of being a spy from the House of Albalanta.

T’Gira was in a metal frame that fit closely to her body. Attached to the frame at the neck, forehead, wrists, waist, knees and ankles she could be moved into a wide variety of positions to make things easier for her tormentors. She was currently upside down which meant she was unlikely to faint whilst Ifshar applied a hot iron to the soft skin of her inner thigh. The smell of cooked meat began to fill the air and the Pain-Nurse turned up the extract fans in the ceiling. T’Gira’s screams were muffled by the clamps which held her mouth shut.

Ifshar put the iron down, examined the instruments on the table and turned the frame around so that T’Gira was upright and her face was at the same level as his. He picked up the miniature blowtorch and watched T’Gira’s eyes widen as he flicked the ignition and narrowed the flame to white hot. He hummed to himself as he methodically burnt the flesh from her right thumb and forefinger leaving blackened, oozing bone. When he looked up T’Gira was unconscious and he shouted at the Pain-Nurse to adjust her medication.

“Wake her or you’ll be the next one on the frame!”

“I’m sorry my lord,” said the Pain-Nurse. “She should be awake quickly now.” She pumped chemicals into T’Gira’s ravaged body.

“Welcome back my sweet,” Ifshar taunted T’Gira as her eyes flickered open. “How could you want to leave your party so soon?”

Ifshar grabbed one of T’Gira’s breasts in his taloned gloves and twisted hard. His other hand stroked her cheek the way he had done when they’d been lovers.

“I know that you’re in the pay of the Albalanta. Why not just tell me who you report to and the names of the other rats who spy on me? I promise that your death will be quick. If you won’t tell me then I will bring your son in next, attach him to the frame opposite you and burn the skin from his body.”

T’Gira tried to speak and her head made frantic motions as she tried to say yes and no at the same time.

“What’s that my love?” crooned Ifshar. “You won’t tell me?” Ifshar picked up a pair of pliers and gripped T’Gira’s nipple. “Then perhaps you need a little more persuasion.”

The torture continued as Ifshar had always intended it would. He didn’t know or care whether T’Gira was really an Albalanta spy. She’d been beautiful and an enthusiastic lover but he was weary of her and he had already moved against the House of Albalanta. This was a routine torture and not as enjoyable as the fun he’d had with the Albalantan matriarch, Ayishgtagar,  that he’d eventually had impaled last week. Ayishgtagar’s body was still on the main spike in the  courtyard of the Cathedral of the Glorious Pain. Rotting, bloated and stinking - but still impaled and upright.

Growing tired of his sport Ifshar turned to the Pain-Nurse on duty at the control panel monitoring T’Gira’s vital functions.

“Have it recorded that she refused to speak and as such the penalty will be that she be crushed until she speaks or is dead. Now wake her up, patch her up, make sure that she can never speak and have her crushed in the courtyard. Make the crushing last two days and I’ll see that you get a healthy bonus.”

“Yes taymat!” shouted the Pain-Nurse as she saluted. “At your service, always!”

As Ifshar stalked from the room the Pain-Nurse brought T’Gira’s frame level and called in a crash team to revive and treat her. Only the healthy and those able to properly feel the glorious pain were crushed. If the taymat had been displeased then T’Gira would have been impaled - and that could last for a week given the proper care and attention to detail.