“I'm not sure yet. It's as if I just learned a very important lesson, but the teacher was speaking an unfamiliar language. Like there are thousands of possibilities, but you can't grasp onto any of them... I need to grow and learn more to be able to use them.”
"This can't have been so necessary, Flora? Crystals have a very bad effect on the body."
"I couldn't be any worse off than I am now. That's why I agreed without hesitation when the Dark Mother's servants suggested I become a Mystic. But I'll figure that out later. For now, explain to me, Crown Prince Georg: how do I manage all this? A bunch of windows, some menus, a map, help..."
"What?" I looked carefully at Flora and discovered with surprise that I could now call up a popup on her:
Florianna Blidge (Veyerde)
Age: 13
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Class: Mystic
Achievements: Survived Truth Seeker Attack, Paralyzed in Combat
Fame: 1
Standing: 0
Presumed personal relationship: Unknown
How can this be? An NPC had become a player. That can't be possible, can it? Or maybe someone decided that the character would be interesting to play and chose to be the paralyzed girl?
“The doctor said that while I was asleep, there were two microcameras sewn into my eyes and an implant put into my brain. I woke up, my nose was itching like crazy, my eyelids hurt, and I couldn’t blink. There's always some kind of flashing in my eyes. How do you manage all this?”
Geeze. I can't believe this new player is covertly trying to get me to explain the rules of the game! This will be an interesting experience for us both. I'd be glad to teach him (or more likely her) to use the game interface.
"Flora, watch and listen. It's not as hard as it seems. In the main menu, you can open a map of the current room, call up popups on objects or words, see the big guide, call up the standing menu...”
* * *
"What's new in the game?" As usual, Mr. G.I. appeared in my dream exactly when I needed sleep the worst and could think of nothing else.
"I had a run-in with Duke Paolo royl Anjer and even, they say, offended him..."
"That's nonsense. There's just no way of talking normally with Paolo. He's pathologically greedy," Georgiy interrupted me and, it seemed, strongly underestimated what I had meant by a "run-in" with the Duke, supposing it had just been a normal argument.
I decided not to disenchant him of that notion and tried to change the topic.
"Miya came to me in a dream."
"Miya?! And what could that creature have possibly wanted?" the new topic aroused the most vivacious interest in my employer.
"She said that I had grown inadvisably close with another Truth Seeker and had to be taught a lesson. After that, Miya maimed a little girl, depriving her of the gift of speech and paralyzing her forever."
"That sounds like Miya, yes. But, I apologize, I'm totally on Miya's side here. Getting too close with Truth Seekers is dangerous for you. They can read thoughts you know. Sure, you may not believe in it but, believe me, it's true!"
"What makes you say that? Of course I believe in it," I began, going over the topic in detail once again.
"And did Miya happen to say where she's living now? Perhaps she left her address for me?" some hope slipped through in his voice.
"I didn't get an address. But, based on what I saw, I can say that she's near a warm sea. The climate was hot, and there were grape vines growing."
"What a bitch! She sure got sick of the February cold in Moscow quick. She and I had been planning to go somewhere in Cyprus or Greece together. It looks like she took off down there on her own... What a sleazebag! I can't even go out on the street here. There's snow and ice, rivers of meltwater in the streets, and mud up to your ears. What really gets you, though, is the head colds. And she's lounging around at resorts! Well, alright. You probably don't care about this at all. Ruslan, if something really interesting happens in the game, you can tell me later. And as for me, I'm gonna throw back some water to ward off a cold..."
* * *
The reeducation campaign undertaken by the colonel on the ore freighter crews had been to good effect. All the freighters came along together with the Sector Eight Fleet. They caught the beacon in the two seconds it was on and came to charge at the stations along the way in a timely and precise manner. Without the slightest problem, the fleet followed along the chain of beacons and arrived at the Li Colony star system.
Unlike uninhabitable systems with automatic warp beacons, there was a small colony in the Li system with two hundred people who lived under a transparent dome on the surface of a huge ice comet. It had once been a prison colony for only the most hardened criminals. Being sent to Li was the equivalent of life in prison without parole for an Orange House citizen. Those times came to an end in Leta when the watchdog police station placed to keep the colony in check with especially harsh measures was destroyed by a Swarm fleet during the war with the Iseyek. The colony itself was not touched by the insects, who thought it would be doomed without food and fuel imports coming in.
The Iseyek were wrong though. The people on the surface of the ice comet survived despite the extremely harsh conditions, starvation and freezing temperatures. The prisoners started extracting the methane and oxygen that were frozen into the ice, using the solar batteries and other equipment that had fallen to the surface from the station. And they were even able to track Swarm ships in the system, and sent that valuable reconnaissance to the Orange House fleet. When, after fifteen years of occupation, people were able to reconquer the Li Colony, there were no more than fifteen haggard inhabitants remaining alive at the frozen station. Despite receiving amnesty, the former prisoners refused to leave their base and began establishing a population of free citizens with their own tiny space port. Several times a year, private trading spaceships came here, and the colonists were able to trade the high-deuterium and -tritium oxygen to them in exchange for what they needed to survive.
While my ships recharged, I decided to take a look at this harsh ice world and meet its inhabitants. I had to don a space suit over my shoulders, which were still itching after the two Princesses’ art session. On my left shoulder, Astra, as she had planned, spiked me with a three-eyed skull flanked with a flourishing pattern. On my right shoulder, Lika tried to paint Joan the Fatty. But my daughter didn't have the artistic ability, so Astra had to put another black, three-eyed skull over the weird, angular starship, making it even more sinister than the one on the left.
And then a passenger-freight shuttle, filled with containers of food and equipment, touched down on a small, cleaned-off pad near the entrance to the tunnel that led under the dome. We had to walk very carefully. Our bodies were practically hovering due to the near total lack of gravity. The leader of the colony, a man named Janek, met us in the tunnel beyond the air-lock. He was a middle-aged man bundled up in fur clothing. He immediately invited me to his office.
"That's just about the last thing I expected to see here on this icy world. A member of the upper aristocracy!" Janek exclaimed, not hiding his surprise.
The first thing the local leader did was open a safe and retrieve a bottle he had stashed there.
"The alcohol regime here is strict. Only for the very biggest celebrations. With this climate and such low gravity, alcohol puts you on your ass in a second. And the people here are sturdy. They can get things done under unreasonable conditions, which is why liquor is forbidden – except for the most important celebrations: the birth of a child or midsummer, when our comet goes by the Li star, the ice on the glass melts, and the water boils here due to the low pressure."
Popori de Cacha appeared and inserted a thin straw unceremoniously into my glass. The Chameleon checked something only he could understand on his palmtop device connected to the straw and, without saying a word, nodded to me before slipping back into his camouflage. I thought that Janek would be surprised, but the leader of the
colony took the sudden appearance of the Chameleon with utter calm, clearly evidence of his system's proximity to Sss.
"To the arrival of such an important guest!" Janek toasted, drinking his glass in a gulp.
I was expecting it to put some hair on my chest, with a strength at least as high as absinthe or even pure grain alcohol, but it was just wine in the glass, though fortified. Janek, on the other hand, having thought the welcoming host's mission accomplished, wondered directly:
"So, your Highness, I am prepared to hear your offer. After all, clearly such a busy man wouldn't make such a long journey just for a swallow of wine, right?"
"Indeed, Janek. I'll tell you directly: I'm interested in acquiring this star system and the loyalty of the station's inhabitants. Understand, I could take it all by force, but I do not need the glory of a boorish conqueror, when I could solve everything peacefully instead. My offer would be to declare that you will not accept anyone else as star system holder other than myself or people appointed by me. Do not try to interfere in the working of the warp beacon, and stop telling Duke Paolo about all ships that come to the system."
On my last phrase, Janek lowered his eyes. It wasn't hard to guess that Duke Paolo royl Anjer had already been informed of my fleet's arrival. Well, alright. My subjects had already turned off the Li Colony warp beacon, so the head of the Orange House could do nothing but fume in impotent rage.
"Alright, Prince Georg, I have understood your demands. My price is ten million credits for the star system and thirty new settlers for the station. No less than twenty of them women. We have a serious lack here."
"I'll give you twenty-five million credits. That'll be enough for you to pay for thousands of women to come work here in all kinds of professions. I have just brought fifty androids with me on the shuttle, packed and ready, and thirty of them are female. They are all set up with twenty-year contracts, so you'll have skilled workers living here for a long time..."
Based on how Janek's eyes lit up, I figured out that I had guessed right bringing the androids. We clapped our hands together, and soon I received an official certificate signed by the local powers that I was the holder of the Li star system. Yes, Duke Paolo royl Anjer could deny my rights to the Li star system all he wanted, but I had little to worry about now: in one way or another I had become the ruler of the system linking the Chameleons, the Swarm and my capital Unatari.
I had barely returned to Joan the Fatty and come out of the shuttle when a message came in from headquarters:
"Commander, the Kingdom of Fastel fleet has entered the system. Shall I sound the combat alert?"
I thought I had only invited one ship that was to bring my daughter to her mother on Fastel-XI – which is why I hurried into the fleet headquarters. The Kingdom of Fastel was on Duke Paolo royl Anjer's side, so formally we were enemies.
"Two hundred fifty miles to the enemy. It's a group of targets. Forty marks on the radar. They're returning correct friend-foe codes. It's the full first fleet of the Kingdom of Fastel. Three heavy assault cruisers: one Flamberg, one Katana, one Yataghan. Three light Thrush cruisers, five Flycatcher destroyers and twenty-nine Pyro frigates. Enemy flagship determined: the Katana by the name Fastel Beauty."
"Realignment into battle formation is nearly complete!" I took my place at the console and took over control of the fleet. "Both battleships, advance. Twenty heavies go with them. Electros and anti-support, put on your brakes and stay twenty-five behind the heavies. Frigates, get ready. Your mission is to blast off suddenly and catch the cruisers on my command."
"Crown Prince, incoming call from Fastel Beauty."
"All ships, continue approach!" When we get to one hundred twenty out, the frigates will jump in front and capture everything valuable. But do not open fire first! I repeat, do not open fire! Put me on with their flagship."
A gray-haired, and very, very well fed man appeared on screen. That's the guy: the King of Fastel himself. I could remember the way the fat drooped down around his eyes from studying family pictures!
Valesy royl Pir ton Fastel, ruler of the star kingdom of Fastel
Age: 78
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: Aristocrat
Achievements: (see Attachment)
Fame: +5
Standing: + 19
Presumed personal opinion of you: -25 (strong dislike)
Kingdom of Fastel's opinion of you: -13 (dislike)
"Crown Prince Georg, I'm glad to see you at the borders of the Kingdom of Fastel," declared the fat man, though I didn't notice any happiness in his body language.
"I cannot answer you in kind, dear father-in-law," I honestly admitted. "The fact that the King himself is on the flagship has upset my plans.
To be honest, I remember these ships from when they were in my own fleet. If you had been not the monarch, but just some admiral, I really would have attacked and captured or destroyed these ships, as they are my formal enemies. And what's more, I would have been legally justified in having done so. You invaded the Li Colony system without being invited, and I have been its ruler for just going on forty minutes now." Yes, the pretext was stretched quite thin, but it served perfectly well as a casus belli.
Clearly, the attack would be canceled now–a direct assault on the ruler of a Kingdom allied to the Orange House would be equivalent to aggression against the very Empire or Emperor himself. I called off the frigates, which had already jumped out in front and brought his fleet to a stop.
"Crown Princess Likanna is ready for her trip to the Kingdom of Fastel. Her things have been packed for some time now. I'll send her to you in a shuttle in ten minutes."
The fat man on the screen smiled an exhausted smile, constantly looking with the corner of his eye to the side, clearly at a tactical map. It seemed that the King still couldn't believe that a hundred and a half frigates that had been tearing off toward his fleet had stopped sharply and gone back the other direction.
Standing change. The Kingdom of Fastel's opinion of you has improved.
Present Kingdom of Fastel opinion of you: -12 (dislike)
"Crown Prince Georg, I understand perfectly that you don't especially like the fact that my fleet has come to the Li system. I promise that my ships will return immediately to Fastel as soon as they've recharged for another jump. For now, I want to make use of the occasion and ask you a question that's been on my mind for some time. Could you explain to me directly and openly the status of the refugees from Veyerde in your retinue?"
I could understand that the King wouldn't have much of an interest in the paralyzed Flora, but her older sister could easily make him ponder. By the way, who was Astra to me? I thought and laughed happily.
"If only I knew that myself... I can't exactly send the foundlings back, as their home has been captured by Aliens. A pretty doll, a true Princess with flawless mannerisms, a favorite and just a fun companion. Are you interested in whether or not she is my lover? I will answer you honestly: no, she is not. Not for now."
“I have no interest in who is or isn’t your lover, Crown Prince. But is your Highness preparing to end his marriage with my daughter and take this sponger as a wife?"
"Ask your daughter about that," I answered, redirecting the monarch's implacable curiosity at someone else. "After all, Marta often threatens me with divorce and promises to send the papers as soon as possible. I would be perfectly happy with her as a wife if she could remember how princesses are supposed to behave and reign in her vocabulary, or as my android translator would put it, 'turned on her obscene language filter.' And if Marta also began taking care of herself and lost a few hundred pounds, I might even be perfectly happy with her as a woman."
I thought Marta's father would be insulted. But he only smiled back at my sharp words:
"She really took after me. There's nothing to be done; it's just our nature. But I will tell her your wishes, Crown Prince Georg. Thank you for your answers. I found out everything I wanted to know."
/>
Standing change. Valesy royl Pir's opinion of you has improved.
Presumed personal opinion of you: -10 (disapproval)
Standing change. The Kingdom of Fastel's opinion of you has improved.
Present Kingdom of Fastel opinion of you: -11 (dislike)
I answered the monarch with a similar improvement in relations, then added:
"I admit, dear father-in-law, we haven't always seen eye to eye. Sometimes we had our reasons, sometimes we really didn't. Probably, my scandalous behavior in the past served as the reason for the Kingdom of Fastel joining my enemies. But times have changed. Now I give your Highness one piece of advice as a close relative. I know of your loyalty to the Orange House, but try to keep your distance from Duke Paolo royl Anjer. The head of the Orange House is losing support quickly, though he hasn't realized it yet. In a month or two, everything will become clear. And if the Kingdom of Fastel doesn't change its policy and sends ships to the United Orange House Fleet, it will simply be losing them in vain. Think about my words. And for now, I'm signing off. I need to say goodbye to my daughter."
* * *
"Your Highness, I still recommend you strongly against coming down to the planet!" The head of my guard was being very stubborn today. "The level of radiation on the surface of Sss is so high that a person could easily develop severe radiation sickness before the end of the two-hour-long ceremony."
"But I have already visited your planet, Popori de Cacha! And nothing bad happened. I'm still alive, as you can plainly see!"
The Chameleon made a fairly faithful imitation of a human smile:
"My Prince, last time you were on the plains. The level of radiation is much lower there than here at the mountain temple, where the ceremony will take place. Also, when you visited last, the Ravaash, honestly, couldn't have given a shit about the health of any humans visiting their planet. They came to a dangerous planet of their own free will. Let them worry later about getting the radionuclides out of their bodies. But now, everything is different. Your health and long life are extremely important for my whole species. There is no reason whatsoever for you not to participate in the burial ceremony for the remains of the heroes and the later swearing in remotely, sitting in your star cruiser over the planet Sss. I assure you, Crown Prince, all my compatriots will approve of your doing so."
Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) Page 11
