“Queen Vahna? Do you mind Lady Regalia visiting with you?” Tiana asked, voice cold, both Queen Vahna and Belia picking up on that fact.
“Why of course not, Lady Tiana. I've had nothing but enjoyment these past few days and have presented Lady Regalia an open invitation to visit whenever she sees fit,” Queen Vahna responded as she turned away from the mirror and walked towards them, her spiral shaped, violet gown, flowing majestically over her curves. Tiana glanced at Belia, whose head slumped while she continued to brush her daughter's hair.
“May I ask what brought that question to light, Lady Tiana.” Queen Vahna stopped at her side, hands on her hips, boring holes in Belia with her threatening gaze.
“Mother was just concerned I was being disrespectful to you, Queen Vahna, and doing her duty as my tutor to make sure that wasn't the case,” Regalia responded, matter-of-factly, letting both Tiana and Queen Vahna know what she thought of pursuing this matter any further. Tiana smiled, glancing at Belia, who seemed to be holding back tears.
“Very well. Shall we adjourn our conversation to an appropriate sitting room? I seem unable to completely remove the awful taste of that deconstructed plant matter and would very much enjoy a stiff beverage,” Queen Vahna puckered her lips, shooing away the servants who kept fiddling with her dresses hem.
The queen guided them like a skilled explorer through the twists and turns of her private apartments until they came upon another sitting room, setup identically to the previous, except the furniture and wall decorations being of a different design. Drinks were provided and Regalia forced her reluctant mother to sit at her side, apparently so she could hold her hand.
“Your Majesty, I've been waiting very patiently for an explanation. I have promised not to tell anyone and I do think it is fair you fill me fully in on what has occurred,” Tiana said mischievously, unable to mask a grin as the queen's content expression shifted to annoyance, an identical look that Sasha had shown during many a past conversation.
“Lady Tiana, you forget that the queen owes no one any explanations...besides the emperor, of course,” she sipped her tea, a sly smile flashing behind her mug. So, the Queen is experienced at this game as well, Tiana thought with devious delight. She’d assumed since it was ever so easy to get Sasha riled up with a little teasing, that Queen Vahna would be a similarly easy mark, though she was glad that was not the case.
“How about an empress?” A black streak swirled across the room as Ori, the empress's catillian, and Ash, Tiana's catillian, squeaked in delight. Empress Yukie slid into the seat at Tiana's side, slipping her arm around Tiana's waist.
“I missed you, my love!” Yukie leaned in as if to kiss her cheek, but Tiana pushed her away, tickling her unceremoniously as giggles escaped from both girl’s lips. It took only a moment to recover, but the astonished expressions of both Queen Vahna and Belia would forever be burned into her memory.
The queen's lips trembled, eyelashes fluttering, and her skin turned a pasty white. She looked side to side, in search of something, of what Tiana couldn’t image, while her mouth moved but words didn't escape. Her eyes had gone dark, the normal emerald green luster being vanquished as if two black holes had been born beneath. Belia looked little better, having become a living statue, as if she'd seen a ghost that just wouldn't disappear. Tiana figured she'd fainted in her seat. Regalia, oblivious to the reactions of both her mother and the queen, looked on with obvious longing.
“Yukie, you'll never guess what I found Queen Vahna and Rega-,” a cough interrupted her.
“That is enough, Lady Tiana...Empress Yukie...” Queen Vahna stood and presented a crisp curtsy. “Your presence honor's me. If you would have sent a message ahead of your arrival I would have prepared a welcome equivalent to your rank,” the queen explained, voice of reverence, lowering her head to await Yukie's judgment.
“Oh! Queen Vahna, that doesn't matter. If we constantly followed protocol then all I would be doing is attending official welcoming parties,” Yukie said. Tiana forced down her laughter. Yukie was a bundle of energy and never said anything lightly.
“But...but, Empress Yukie,” the queen started, quite clearly flustered, “formalities must be foll-.”
“That is enough, Queen Vahna!” Yukie flew to her feet. “While I live on Alutia'Earth there will be no welcoming parties! I'd like to spend my time how I see fit. And if that means I must temporarily do away with the formalities of my rank, then so be it!” Yukie stomped her foot, repeatedly, puffing out her cheeks like they would burst. It was too much, the exchange like a scripted play, and Tiana finally lost control. The room glared at her as hysterical laughter escaped her lips, causing, to even her surprise, Regalia to join in. After a few moments, as the tension eased, Yukie followed suit, the laughter contagious. Queen Vahna sighed, knowing the laughing girls had won.
“Very well...but I will not be responsible! You must tell your father at least that I attempted the proper formalities of your rank, Empress Yukie,” Queen Vahna said with a hint of pleading.
The empress suppressed her mirth and stared, eyes serious, at the queen. “Of course, Queen Vahna, I have already informed father of your assistance in the creation of my own personal wing within Alutia Palace...as well as the dignity and respect you have shown me since my arrival,” Queen Vahna beamed with delight, but quickly recovered to her normal, stern self. “But I still must hear what you and Regalia have been up to while we were gone. It sounded like a very juicy story and I'd much rather hear the facts from you then have to browse through the restricted records!” Yukie pushed, falling back into the couch beside Tiana.
Tiana had learned, the hard way, that the smile Yukie adorned when she spoke of such things was not born of humor, but the fact that she knew she would get what she wanted, no matter what anyone else might think, or how implausible her declarations may sound. The queen took a slow sip of her tea, seeming to have realized this as well.
“It all started five days ago,” the queen began, little sign of her earlier reluctance present, “when I found a hole in the wall of one of my sitting rooms and an unknown “substance” on the floor leading from said hole. I thought one of the servants had gone overboard while cleaning, but Lady Regalia had appeared, informing me that said “substance” led to another hole in a different wing of the palace,” Vahna paused, looking to Regalia, who nodded.
“I was lonely since everyone left and I thought it would be fun to investigate the hole Donnlie and I found. After I told the queen, she agreed to help,” Tiana glanced to the blushing Alutia Guard Knight Trainee Donnlie, who stood ridged against the wall, looking out-of-place alongside the towering Empress and Royal Guards. Belia, who had regained some of her composure, lost her coloring, once again, as she heard Regalia's explanation.
“Yes, I did insist that she allow me to join her. Having finished my design work and saw off Countess Liana, I was very bored and lonely as well.” The queen, having noticed Belia's lapse, spoke in her direction. Belia lowered her gaze as she once again realized her mistake. “So, with my botany collection kit in hand, we explored the palace. The initial trail of the “substance” had been cleaned and the holes had been repaired, so we were unable to find anything to test. But we soon realized that would not be a problem,” Vahna activated a hidden PDU, a schematic of the palace appearing in the air between them, dots flashing at seemingly random locations. “Additional holes started appearing all over the palace, all with the same “substance” originating from within. When we tested the samples we quickly realized it is actually made of the same organic material as the wall, but with trace amounts of a unique dissolving and repression agent,”
“What are dissolving and repression agents?” asked Yukie before Tiana could voice the same question.
The Queen smiled. “A fine inquiry, Empress Yukie. Dissolving agents restructure a biological substance into another, while keeping the substance alive. A repression agent stops the growth or repair of a living biological substance, such as why the walls didn't re
generate instantly after the holes were created, like they are programmed,” Vahna gestured to the projection. Tiana nodded, noticing Yukie inching closer to the edge of her seat. “This morning we were performing additional tests, to decipher what was actually creating this substance when...ahem...we added a standard growth agent to overpower the repression agent,” Queen Vahna seemed to shiver. “Which was weaker than we anticipated...causing the explosive growth phenomenon.” Tiana thought to herself, but found she had never heard of what the queen spoke.
“Explosive growth phenomenon...Isn't that what happened quite often during the early use of biological construction?” Yukie asked, pushing herself so far forward that she looked as if she would tumble off the couch.
“That is correct, Empress Yukie. When we force a plant to grow faster than nature intended, we must do so in a manner that allows the plant cells to form adjacent to each other correctly. If you try to force replication at an overly aggressive rate, cells will be created in the same location at the same moment, causing sudden replication that result in an explosion. Lady Regalia and I saw this occur first hand when a picoliter of the converted plant matter changed into a couple hundred liters in an instant,” Tiana nodded, understanding now why the two ladies had been covered, head to toe, when she arrived. The memory almost caused her to, once again, break down in laughter. But she resisted the urge, knowing laughing at the queen a second time might not be a good idea.
“Did you find anything else? Like what created the substance?” Empress Yukie queried, her interest obviously piqued.
“Not yet, Empress, but we have planned on beginning the next stage of the investigation. Some of the holes appear to originate from outside the palace, while others appear from the inside,” the queen glanced at Regalia.”Which was noticed thanks to Lady Regalia's insightfulness,” the complement caused the young girl to blush. “So we planned to embark on an expedition to view the palace exterior and see if we can catch the culprit in the act.” Yukie stood as the queen finished.
“I shall accompany you! We will leave immediately!” Queen Vahna raised her hand to head off the excited empress.
“Empress Yukie, we planned on waiting till the morrow. An observation outpost is currently being grown for our use.” Yukie seemed to fall into depression, but quickly became excited again.
“Then I would like to see this “substance” and any of these holes! Come, let us search!” Yukie grabbed Tiana's and Regalia's hands, dragging them to the door. Six of her guards took point while the rest fell in behind Queen Vahna and Belia, who hastily tried to keep pace. Tiana overheard a shallow whisper.
“She is a lovely girl, Belia, remember that...” Vahna trailed off and Tiana noticed Belia had started to cry, “yes, yes,” the queen slipped a caring arm around her waist.
*********
The pool hissed, green bubbles rising to its surface to release a pungent odor of sulfur tinged with salt. He carefully jumped over, finding a path between the others, making sure not to slip on the moss covered rocks that surrounded their edges. A squeak, followed by a loud splash, told him someone behind hadn't been as careful. He turned, frowning as he realized it was the one person he expected, and did not want on this expedition in the first place.
Lady Vicki was quickly pulled free of the puddle by his guards, dripping wet with hands extended, scrunching her nose at the smell. She noticed Georigi's gaze, turning away immediately, ignoring him, like he had done her over the past two periods. One of his guards provided her an auto-drying towel and after waiting a few minutes for her to dry her jumpsuit, they continued on.
The planet they were exploring, Alutia Q3945, orbited a class 1 star, being of the pure yellow-white spectrum, and had been classified as class A, exception H. Based on this classification the planet should have been very similar to Origin, the capital planet of the NHA, making it prime for human colonization. But it had only recently, in galactic terms, stabilized, the massive volcanoes that gave birth to its life supporting atmosphere becoming dormant only a few million years earlier. This required the classification to include a class H exception, meaning that it may still contain, or evolve, unknown life or dangers that are not readily apparent. It also provided that the environment would be richer in oxygen than a standard class A, allowing budding life to thrive and most likely cover every millimeter of its virgin surface.
This had indeed, been the case, and when they made their initial approach, the planet growing on the viewscreen looked like a massive emerald, its surface reflecting the yellow-white sunlight majestically. It had been a sight he would never forget and only made possible by one particular plant species, a colossal vine covered in tiny, shimmering green leaves, appearing more like fur from a distance. This vine specie had spread across the entire planet's surface, quite obviously the dominate plant species. The largest of the vines appeared to extend for thousands of kilometers before vanishing into a budding of similar vines, then spreading out in multiple directions. It was possible, they had realized, that these single vines continued on, circling the entire planet. But no in-depth study had yet to be performed.
Smaller cousins of the larger vines covered much of the ground, while extremely thin red, white, and green grass grew wherever there was exposed dirt. The only exceptions were the rocky outcroppings surrounding the planet's many steam vents, which were surrounded by a fuzzy white moss, while the edges of the many pools were covered with a similar species, but with a greenish tint. They had performed an initial survey of the pools after they landed and found them teaming with rapidly evolving single-cell life-forms, a primordial mix that every few years would release a new genus of spore that had the possibility of evolving into a brand new plant species.
The planet had yet to evolve any native, higher-level life forms, thankfully, but there were a few rather large types of animal-like plants, that were very similar to insects, that had taken them by surprise. The odd plants could be seen lumbering slowly over the largest vines, only visible because of their green, shell-like skin, reflecting the sunlight. It appeared they weren't dangerous, seeming to be photosynthetic while having some sort of symbiotic relationship with the colossal vines. But they decided to be safe, providing the animal-like plants a wide berth until a more thorough study could be completed.
There were initial planetary studies available, however, that stated Alutia Q3945 was unlikely to evolve any higher level life-forms for millions of years. This was due to a lack of consistent surface water, which historically had been found to be the melting pot that allowed for the evolution of carbon based species, which would eventually venture onto land. Of course, there was plenty of water on the planet, the abundance and size of the vine species being a testament to that fact.
The studies had discovered that underground rivers cut through the planet’s crust, and when they intersected the magma that still lay close to the surface, would explode through existing cracks and enter the atmosphere as steam. This fueled the immense weather systems that constantly circled the planet, raining life giving water across its surface. The short term affect being a very humid world with flash floods, massive rain storms, and unpredictable weather patterns. While in the long term, a million years or so, it would eventually lead to the creation of seas and oceans as the water began overflowing the crevices in which it would drain after each storm.
He liked this planet, the idea that there was no native intelligent species requiring removal and the ability to drive the direction of its maturation, making it perfect for humans through long-term terraforming. It will take work, he knew, but at least it would be something to keep him busy. Another splash behind him caused him to turn, rubbing his temples as he caught sight of who he expected. Lady Vickie had fallen, yet again. But this time it appeared she caught her ankle, her pain evident as she scrunched her nose.
He trudged the 10 meters separating them. “This is why I told you not to come!” His pent up rage overflowed, filling his words. She stared back at him, eyes abla
ze with hate.
“You expect me to just sit on the starship as you go gallivanting around planets? Excuse me, Sir Georigi, but I've had enough of “nobles” trying to lock me away! I will do what I wish, when it pleases me!” she forced herself to her feet, but collapsed as her ankle buckled.
Still blustering, he picked her up. “Put me down you noble ass!” she slapped him, but he stood his ground, trying not to slip in the process.
“You are hurt, Lady Vickie, and no matter what you think of me, and I of you, I am still responsible for your well being!” she stopped struggling, but kept the blaze burning in her eyes, constantly feeding in fuel from some unknown source.
“Really? I thought you sent a message asking to be removed of that duty? Since I offend your noble morals?” Her words were like daggers, but they were true, nonetheless.
“I did and there is no shame in admitting one's mistake. My mind convinced me you are a woman who you are not and I am sorry for that.” She looked away, hiding her expression from him. He sighed as he continued on, carefully moving between the small pools until another tangle of vines rose before him.
As had been common since they started their expedition, small trails were almost always present between the vines as they seemed to follow a similar growth pattern, creating narrow gaps in their bunches. He easily located another, pushing aside a few stray leaves while stepping carefully on the slippery red grass that showed the path. They had been lucky so far, finding the trails mostly safe, having stumbled across only a few pitfalls scattered throughout the landscape, mostly created by the escaping steam, but some from roots of long dead vines. No one had been unlucky enough to find one unaware, a dead spot in the vegetation usually giving them away well before they came into range.
The ground collapsed below his feet, and he felt himself falling down a narrow hole. His back struck the wall as the hole angled, a pained grunt escaping his lips as he started to slide. He pulled Vickie tight against his chest and rolled as he felt his legs crash into a flat surface. They tumbled across cold, wet stone, a deafening rumble making the utter darkness seem to move. He activated his combat PDU as soon as they stopped sliding and its display spread before his eyes, providing him dark vision, clearly showing the cavern they now found themselves.
The Noble Petty, Complete Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 2) Page 30
