“I thought the piano incident would be of interest. Anything else, well, Ryan out.”
As the link ended, Hardy twisted one end of his moustache, deep in thought. Perhaps he should have listened to Grossmith’s warning about Patrick, though it was inconceivable to him that Alice might have reached a stage where her sexuality had emerged, she showed no signs of it on Saturn Station, never even noticing the half-dozen or so councilmen who always managed to arrange their mealtimes to coincide with hers.
When Alice woke again, her room was still in darkness. She looked up at the top of her bed to check night mode. Still two hours before daytime. She had been asleep for ten hours or more and felt crumpled and washed out. She got up to look out of the window. The moon hung in its proper place, far from Earth, looking comfortably bright and familiar.
Alice showered and brushed her hair then pulled on yet another grey shift and grey knickers before slipping into her sandals and Amelia’s jacket before making her way to the guest deck observation lounge. The environmentalists from the assembly were there, standing with their backs to her, taking in the view in complete silence.
Alice couldn’t feel movement from the ship but there was plenty of movement in space outside, small shuttles buzzed about, and even smaller vehicles followed in their wake.
Space dock. This mighty ship had slipped noiselessly into its berth above the world while she slept. Beyond the busy vessels hung a world, blue and green, haloed in gold.
Unprepared for the beauty of the planet below, Alice took a few steps forward, disturbing the environmentalists, one of whom turned.
“Magnificent,” was all he said and didn’t wait for Alice to reply before returning to marvel at the scene.
But there was nothing to say. She held her breath, her joy at returning and awe at the splendour of her homeworld blowing around in her head like leaves in the wind. Only part of the Earth was visible, much of it covered in white clouds. Below those swirling mists, she caught glimpses of continents and geographical features she couldn’t name. Here, on the observation deck of a starship, goodness knows how far above the Earth and so many centuries into the future, she felt comfortingly close to home.
Alice blew out her breath. Magnificent? She didn’t agree. One could describe the Significator as “magnificent” but this…this wondrous sight was beyond the limits of common adjectives, even beyond the beauty and majesty of Saturn.
Amelia found her much later in the same spot, still captivated.
“Now, how did I know you would be here?” she placed her arm over Alice’s shoulder and joined her in admiring their world.
“The moon’s behind us so I supposed Earth would be in front.”
“Very logical, but we need to get you packed. The shuttle is leaving soon.”
“Leaving?” Alice echoed. Standing here, looking at Earth, she had forgotten that her time on the ship was at an end. There was only ever time to get used to somewhere and make friends, and then she got moved on, only to start the process over again, pushed from pillar to post.
“Yes. We’re leaving.”
She followed Amelia back to her quarters and let her help put the few borrowed possessions in a bag. At the shuttle portal, Tyro Drake passed their bags to the pilot and waited for the signal to board.
“Alice!”
They all turned. Patrick was slowing from a run to a fast walk. He nodded to Drake and Amelia without using their names or titles and then, defying protocols, took Alice’s hand and held it gently, just for an instant. Drake shot a look at Amelia, who, trying to stifle her own smile, engaged Tyro Drake in distracting small talk.
“I couldn’t let you go without seeing you, Alice. I’m on my way back to engineering so I took a detour.” Patrick lowered his voice, throwing a meaningful glance at Drake and Amelia to encourage them to turn away. Alice blushed a little at the public display of affection and was thankful Amelia had somehow manoeuvred Drake to turn his back to them. She smiled, but only managed to summon up a no-nonsense response.
“Then off you go. I’m not going to keep you from your work.”
“Are you happy I came to wave you goodbye?” he treated her to his devastating smile.
“Yes, I am,” she gave him a small, shy smile of her own. So much for no-nonsense.
On board the shuttle, Amelia stilled her tongue. But not for long.
“ ‘Off you go? I’m not going to keep you from your work?’ ” Amelia’s brown eyes were wide with disbelief. “You sound like his mother! Alice, he’s gorgeous! What! have you got heaps of others in line?”
Tyro Drake was listening, but Alice knew he was pretending he wasn’t.
“What was I supposed to say? He breached a few protocols, not least the one of him even being here.”
“He knows what he’s doing. No-one will tell on him; they all love him, besides, after Principal Ryan, he’s the chief. Anyway,” Amelia nudged her, “were you really pleased to see him?”
“Of course.”
Alice had been pleased to see Patrick. She’d hoped she wouldn’t have had to leave without seeing him but when he arrived, felt awkward and exposed with his show of affection. She hadn’t yet learned how to respond to him and just didn’t want it so public.
But the Earth proved a perfect diversion, Alice watched as it became larger and larger until it swallowed the entire front viewport. Then larger still until it surrounded them. First, a particle followed by a dot, then a blob, headed toward that huge world.
Amelia had seen all this before and though she glanced up on occasions, she and Tyro Drake were involved in deep conversation. Alice was too busy with the view to join in and not sure she would be welcome anyway. As the shuttle flew lower, Alice made out fields and farms and a building, white and gold and gleaming. The shuttle came to rest on a lawned area and the pilot released the door.
For the second time that morning, Alice’s first sight of Earth took her breath away. A wide lake opened out before her, clear as glass and reflecting the blue from the sky. Willow trees dipped their branches into the water, sending ripples to a sculpted fountain, with cherubs facing south, east, north and west, and shining white in the morning sun. There were separate, smaller fountains with ducks bobbing up and down. Ducks!! Oh, my goodness, ducks! Immaculate lawns surrounded the lake and the garden beds held tall flowers which nodded in the breeze. At the far end stood a white summerhouse. To Alice, it was a vision of heaven.
Amelia stood beside her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Alice couldn’t speak, only moved her head slowly from side-to-side, then she realised her mouth was hanging open in wonderment.
“Well, turn around,” Amelia took her hand.
Alice obeyed. She’d seen the Tabernacle as they flew over but from the ground, she could gaze on it in all its glory. The wide pavilion overlooked the lawns. Broad, sweeping steps extended along the entire width. At intervals, slim, square columns, covered in a blaze of many coloured bougainvillea in full bloom stood like sentries. Above the pavilion, the dome, brilliant, and golden in the sunlight, rose to proclaim its importance.
“It’s a palace!”
“Well, I suppose the Tabernacle is like a palace, though we no longer have those. This is where our main seat of government resides.”
“I’m spending today with my mouth open, Amelia. First the view of Earth from the ship, then this. Where will it all end?”
“Not until you experience everything Earth offers, Alice. Now, the pilot is waiting for me, but I’ll check on you tomorrow. When you’re settled, we’ll arrange a visit. I’m your new best friend; have I told you that?”
“No, but I’m relieved to hear it.”
The two new best friends embraced, and Amelia climbed into the shuttle with a wave, on her way to her own principality. Principality 49. France, in Alice’s time. Alice didn’t have a principality, she only had what and who was in the here and now. And for now, she had the beautiful lake where the air smelled of flowers and freshnes
s, and the Tabernacle, covered in its cascade of purples and pinks.
As she gazed in admiration at the beautiful palace-like building and the perfectly manicured gardens, she heard a sound coming from the lake, a familiar sound, the blessed sound of a quacking duck.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Its beauty aside, the Tabernacle was the grandest and most imposing building Alice had ever seen. Decisions made within its walls affected the lives of every citizen of Earth; where they should live, whom they could marry, if they should have children, where in space they might go and almost every aspect of how this society functioned had its foundation in this place.
She didn’t know what awaited her here; she was still learning how to communicate with the people she met and overcoming her feelings of inadequacy, and faced with the grandeur of the Tabernacle, some of her confidence was in danger of slipping away. It was as though her life was playing out as a character in a book, and not knowing what happens next until someone turns the page.
A man and a woman appeared on the Tabernacle steps. They spoke briefly, and the man bowed, remaining on the steps while the woman hurried across the lawn towards Alice, waving when she was close enough to be sure she had been seen.
Principal Katya. Alice recognised her from the image on the registry. It would appear the age 65 retiring rule didn’t apply to Principal Katya, not even with extensions, Principal Katya was around 75, dressed in a plain, black ankle length shift. She had short, white hair which floated in little wisps around an impish heart-shaped face, her eyes were little half-moons, curling down as her mouth wrinkled up in a smile of welcome. She reached Alice and clasped both her hands, only slightly breathless from the exertion of hurrying.
“Welcome, welcome, Dr Langley, I am Principal Katya and we were waiting for you, my adviser and I. Watching and waiting then foolishly taking our eyes from the lake so we did not see the shuttle arrive a few minutes early. Oh, how we were caught out! We thought to be here as you arrived. What little we knew!” She turned and took Alice’s arm, giving Alice no opportunity to reply or greet her in return.
“Now, to the Tabernacle!”
Principal Katya, a little shorter than Alice and despite a noticeable limp, took off in the same hurry she had been in to greet Alice. Alice had to tilt slightly to the side to accommodate the difference in their heights. Principal Katya spoke with an accent Alice guessed, after meeting different cultures on Saturn Station and in consulting maps, was Northern European—Principality 7 or 8.
“Now I will not call you ‘Dr Langley’. It is too fussy. Dr Grossmith tells me your name is pronounced as Alice and we do not use the ‘x’. Am I correct?”
Alice smiled, sending silent thanks to Dr Grossmith and Kelly for helping her out with this. It would feel awkward at this early stage to explain why she preferred Alice to Alexis.
“Yes, Principal Katya, that’s right.”
“And Dr Grossmith also tells me your memories are confused and you believe you are someone else?”
“Oh, well, yes Principal Katya, I suppose I do.” So much for Principal Katya not knowing about the name issue.
“Then you are to have a vacation! That is the order of the day! We will not be pestering you to remember anything at all. Do you hear me now, young Alice? You will remember whatever you want, or you will remember nothing at all!”
A vacation! A holiday? Alice never took holidays. Mother thought them a waste of time. Ted thought…well, he thought like mother, so Alice’s delight was genuine.
“I would love to, Principal Katya, but I don’t know where to go for a vacation.”
“Here, my dear girl. You will vacation here! With me! It will be splendid!” Principal Katya laughed and rubbed Alice’s hand.
Alice laughed too, she was bowled over! A holiday! In a Palace with the Principal of the World. Even her mother would have approved! Principal Katya responded to Alice’s delight by squeezing her arm and giving her a beaming smile.
As they reached the building, Principal Katya stopped and invited the tall, massively built and impeccably dressed man with a goatee beard to step forward.
“Dr Langley, this is Statesman Mellor. He is my most senior adviser and will fill my shoes after I die in my bed.”
What?
Statesman Mellor was unperturbed by the comment, just dipped his head in acknowledgement. Then Alice saw the twinkle in Principal Katya’s eye, it would seem the Principal of the World didn’t take herself too seriously.
Statesman Mellor then bowed to Alice,
“Dr Langley.”
Principal Katya’s morbid humour seemed not to have ruffled him at all and Alice liked him on sight.
“Statesman Mellor, Dr Langley prefers Alice, don’t you, Alice?” she didn’t pause for any confirmation from Alice before moving on, “and that is how we will address her in private. In official company, observe protocols,” then with a wave of her hand to signify the introduction was over, she led Alice up the steps. Statesman Mellor winked at Alice behind Principal Katya’s back and Alice smiled at him.
“I saw that Statesman,” Principal Katya declared, without stopping. “Winking is not protocol.” Statesman Mellor grinned and together, he and Alice followed Principal Katya into the building.
The hall was vast, furnished with grandeur and opulence. From end to end, along its length and against huge arches that propped up the ceiling, real mirrors with frames had been placed in such a manner, a person, standing before any one of them, would see countless echoes of their own image, reflecting eternity. Throughout the hall, huge doors, each thrown wide and hewn of real wood and polished to a brilliant sheen, heralded an entrance to other, vast areas. Accustomed to technology in recent months, Alice assumed on Earth, ordinary doors would be deemed cumbersome and redundant, so to see such beautiful carving was heartening. The large central doors were the only ones closed and a red and grey banner hung above.
The furniture, an eclectic mixture of antiques, coexisted comfortably and tastefully alongside modern tables and sofas. The floor, all wood and polished to the same high sheen as the doors, was garnished with large rugs, cleverly scattered about to add colour and design. Where no mirrors hung, paintings of different sizes graced the walls with scenes of the countryside—landscapes, Alice recalled, alongside portraits of noble-looking people.
Despite the immensity of the hall, despite its grandness, Alice felt welcome there. This was a place to congregate; to sit and talk. People milled around, in small groups or alone, entering and leaving rooms and going about their business, all without disrupting the sense of warmth and calm that pervaded throughout. None of it struck Alice as official or imposing though she couldn’t help noticing the ceilings were rather high and found herself at a loss to imagine a ladder tall enough to climb up to knock down the cobwebs.
Chandeliers dangled from central carvings and Alice supposed those lights came on at night like sensors. The only source of natural light was the entrance which led out to the steps from where they had entered, but it was still nice and bright.
Principal Katya told her the two large, bannered and closed doors led to the Tabernacle and Cloisters, the place of governance and only principals and members of the council and invited guests are admitted.
She conducted Alice around the hall, pointing out specific areas and informing Alice of their role and history. Through that door is the library, she said, warning Alice that many of the books were ancient and fragile, but that she would have unrestricted access. Principal Katya pointed to another open door, the dining hall.
“But we go to the garden for meals when the weather is nice,” Principal Katya made a vague gesture somewhere towards where Alice supposed the garden would be found. She drew Alice to the base of a lavish, curving, carpeted staircase.
“The staircase leads to the level in front of the dome, Alice. I occupy a small suite and I have arranged the same for you.”
Alice learned the unmarried statesmen who lived at the Tabernacle
also had suites but there were no children as Principal Katya thought it too solemn a place for little children, who should run and play and laugh and make a noise. It was plain to Alice she didn’t need to speak or comment, only listen, or perhaps speak only when questioned. But what use were words anyway, when faced with a place or a person, this remarkable.
“I am an old lady Alice,” Principal Katya smiled as Alice turned almost a full circle to view the hall from all angles. “I am used to my routines. At this time, I take tea. Tea with bread and butter. Do you like tea with bread and butter?” Principal Katya had Alice’s attention. Alice couldn’t believe her ears!
“I love it, Principal Katya, I love tea and bread and butter at mid-morning. I’ve missed it so much!”
“Then there is a little old lady inside you waiting to get out, Alice! We will sit here—”
She showed Alice to a small table, with two chairs, beside an arch which rose from a ledge above the floor and tapered to an elegant point just below the high ceiling. On the other side of the arch, a fernery, interspersed with strange curling flowers and stems, that Alice didn’t recognise, grew green and lush.
“—and the steward will wait on us and make-believe we are important.”
But Alice knew this pleasant, dry humoured lady was very important, possibly the most important person on the planet. Even sitting with her made Alice feel special.
The steward brought tea on a hover-trolley, Alice had seen them on the Significator and found them satisfyingly enough like a trolley with wheels to make them civilised and homely. The tea, served in a pot, with china cups and saucers and odd-looking, reddish-bread with normal-looking butter arranged neatly on a plate, was placed on the table. Principal Katya checked inside the teapot as Alice always did, to see if the tea leaves were still floating.
“My nephew informs me you play the piano. Excuse me if I am ‘mother’,” she said as she poured the tea.
“Your nephew?” Alice looked up from the tempting spread before her.
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