Starbound

by Brenda Hiatt

  A complicated-looking landing area below us grew larger and larger but before I could quite pick out details, the viewscreen suddenly went blank. A few seconds later there was an almost imperceptible jolt which I assumed meant we’d landed.

  “Whoa,” was all I could find to say.

  Yeah. Pretty awesome, came Rigel’s voice in my head. I turned slightly and saw him a couple of rows back, near one of the exits.

  When did you come in? I was amazed I hadn’t noticed, though I realized now that I did feel better than when I’d arrived.

  That was a pretty big distraction, he pointed out. Especially the part when we—

  He was cut off by the Captain’s voice, coming from the speakers overhead. “Disembarkation will commence momentarily. Your belongings are already being transferred to the arrivals lounge, where they can be retrieved once you in-process. You will leave the ship by level and section, so please listen for your group to be called. Thank you for traveling aboard the Quintessence.”

  So, did Mr. O tell you? I thought quickly to Rigel as everyone undid their harnesses.

  Late last night. You must have been pretty convincing to get him to agree. Thanks!

  I had a lot of incentive.

  “What did you think of that?” Sean asked with a grin.

  “Pretty awesome.” I resisted the urge to look back at Rigel. “What was your landing on Earth like?”

  “A lot bluer, but also awesome.” He chuckled. The landing seemed to have improved his mood. “You nervous?”

  “A little. I wish I could just blend in with the crowd and avoid all the craziness.”

  “I wish you could, too, but it’ll be okay. If they don’t love you right off, you’ll win them over.” He sounded a lot more certain than I was.

  The first announcement came a moment later, clearing Level One—me—to disembark. I stopped to say goodbye to Jana, since she wouldn’t be leaving the ship. She surprised me by smiling—the first real smile of hers I’d seen.

  “It has been my great honor to serve you, Excellency, though I regret the circumstances that made it necessary. From what I now know of you, I have no doubt this will prove only a temporary setback. Faoda byo Thiarna Emileia.” Fist over heart, she bowed, and I could have sworn I saw the glimmer of a tear in her eye as she turned away.

  Drawing some much-needed confidence from her reaction, I turned to the others with a determined smile. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Arregaith (ah-ree-GAYTH) (pop. 1,413): town in southeastern Nuath containing spaceport and supporting industries

  Rigel fell into step behind me as we left the Commons. The four of us headed down the short corridor to the outer hull, where Captain Liam waited to bow his farewell. I thanked him warmly, then stepped through the portal, shoulders back and head high, determined to appear every inch a Sovereign.

  My first impression of Nuath was a brightly-lit expanse the size of a football field and a wall of noise—the roar of a huge crowd standing behind a shiny barrier twenty yards from the ship. I paused at the top of the ramp, taking in the scene and gauging the mood of the crowd. To my relief, most seemed to be cheering, though a few shouted things that sounded vaguely hostile and there were two signs reading “Na ga Rioga” near the back—anti-Royals.

  Vehicles of various sizes and shapes crisscrossed the area between us and the crowd, silently piloted toward different sections of the ship by official-looking people in red bodysuits. None of the cars, trucks or flatbeds seemed to quite be touching the ground. The underground landing area consisted of an enormous cavern with towering walls of pinkish-gray, punctuated by tall windows and occasional gaps in the wall wide enough for vehicles to pass through.

  I was about to continue down the ramp when four men I hadn’t immediately noticed in the confusion stepped forward to greet us. All wore silvery body suits under dark gray short pants with shoulder straps and holsters, very similar to Rigel’s Bodyguard uniform. They also wore extremely serious expressions. At the foot of the ramp they stopped and bowed.

  “Greetings, Excellency,” said the tallest of the four, whose uniform had a star-shaped emblem on the right shoulder. “I am Kernan, acting Minister of Security, and these are three of my most trusted officers. As you can see, emotions are running high due to your arrival, so I thought it best to secure the landing area in order to guarantee your safety. We will escort you to the Arrivals Lounge.”

  “What about us?” came Gordon’s panicked voice. I glanced back and saw that all the other Royals had come up behind us while I’d hesitated. “We were assured we’d be safe before booking passage. No one mentioned organized protests against Royals. I demand a security escort!” A few others nodded worriedly.

  Suddenly realizing this could be my first chance to demonstrate leadership on Mars, I stiffened my backbone and my resolve and turned to the Royals behind me. “Please, everyone, calm down,” I said, using a bit of “push.” “You don’t want to upset the other passengers, do you?”

  Then, to my small welcoming committee, “Perhaps we should go someplace a bit more private so that you can tell us exactly what the current situation is.”

  Kernan was visibly relieved. “I completely concur, Excellency. Thank you. If you—all of you—will follow me?” He and his men led us across the broad floor of the cavern at an oblique angle to the crowd, which continued to shout and cheer. I smiled and waved as we approached. The cheers increased in volume and the shouts grew noticeably less hostile. Maybe I could win these people over after all.

  As we continued walking, now away from the corralled throng, what I’d taken for walls resolved into individual buildings packed closely together, with occasional narrow streets between them. I looked around eagerly, taking in the crystalline look of some of the buildings, the thin strips of metal criss-crossing the darker pinkish-gray pavement beneath our feet.

  With a start, I realized that we weren’t in a cavern at all—we were outdoors! Something in the quality of the light, subtly different from real sunlight, had made me assume otherwise. Well, that and the knowledge that we were a mile or more underground. I looked up and instead of the dark shaft I’d half-expected, I saw an amazingly real-looking sky—blue, with thin wisps of cloud. There was no visible sun, so I glanced down at my shadow to figure out where the “sunlight” was coming from. I didn’t have one. At all. Huh.

  Yeah, definitely weird, Rigel agreed from behind me. So, can we trust these guys?

  Oops. Feeling both foolish and guilty for not checking sooner, I focused my new ability on Kernan and his companions. What I sensed reassured me: concern, determination, and a fair bit of awe, presumably over meeting me. The only “bad guy” vibe I picked up from our whole group came from Gordon, and him I already knew about.

  They seem okay,

  We approached a building and the doors automatically whispered open to reveal a large, high-ceilinged room with a counter running along one wall. Two red-uniformed people stood behind the counter, presumably to in-process the arrivals, while a few others unloaded suitcases from a cart floating just off the floor.

  Our group bypassed the counter to go through another door at the opposite side of the lounge, this one palmed open by Kernan. This was a sort of conference room, with a long oval table surrounded by more than a dozen chairs. We all sat, Sean on my left, his father on my right and Molly on her father’s other side, still looking a little scared. Rigel stood behind me.

  Kernan also remained standing, at the head of the table. “First, let me assure you all, and particularly you, Excellency, that we don’t foresee the slightest danger to any of you. Cordoning off the crowd was merely a precaution, until we can gauge the strength and size of this new anti-Royalist movement, or ‘Populists,’ as they’ve begun calling themselves. Until today, we’ve considered them too small and disorganized to worry about. The Princess’s arrival appears to have unified them somewhat, but I expect they will disband in short order, once they realize how little s
upport they have from the general population—as all polls indicate is the case.”

  “What alerted you in time to set up the barriers?” Mr. O’Gara asked.

  Kernan looked grave again. “Three hours ago the power across all of Nuath failed for a few seconds. Emergency backups kicked in for all critical systems, so the populace was never at risk. Still, this failure lasted twice as long as the one last month—long enough to be generally noticed, unlike the first one. These anti-Royalists immediately claimed responsibility, though we have not yet been able to ascertain how or if they could have done this.”

  “Such a thing shouldn’t be possible.” Devyn sounded almost angry. “Our Engineers have put in so many safeguards, so much redundancy, that the backups should never even be necessary.” Several others nodded, some looking frightened.

  Mr. O frowned. “Do you think it really was the anti-Royalists?”

  “Personally, I think it unlikely. Not until after today’s outage did they begin taking credit, saying it was a warning, an illustration of how the Princess’s return bodes ill for Nuath. Whether they were responsible or not, they used it to bring more attention to their agenda.”

  Kernan glanced at me. “Having grown up on Earth as you have, Excellency, you may not fully appreciate how very frightening the prospect of a power loss is to our people. Ah, your people,” he amended. Gordon shifted in his seat. “Indeed, I imagine they are far more worried about the possibility of future outages than about any political conflict.”

  That made perfect sense to me. “What worries me most is how many more of these anti-Royals are scattered throughout Nuath and how they’ll react to my being here.”

  “Their numbers cannot be large, Excellency. Certainly not when compared to those eager for your Acclamation. In any case, I can assure you that my Ministry is fully prepared to ensure your safety for the duration of your stay. Can you give me an idea of how long that will be?”

  “Not yet.” Since no one had told me yet! “It will depend on how things, um, progress.” I looked to Mr. O’Gara for confirmation and he nodded.

  “The original plan was for the Princess to spend most of the current launch window on Mars. Of course, should her safety be in question, that plan would have to change.”

  Gordon apparently couldn’t contain himself any longer. “And what about our safety? It’s possible that every Royal on Mars is at risk! I demand a security detail. For every one of us.” Though that last bit was obviously added as an afterthought, most of the other Royals muttered their agreement.

  “That shouldn’t be necessary,” Kernan assured them. “None of the Royals already on Mars have been directly threatened in any way. Those who survived Faxon’s depredations unharmed have stepped up in recent weeks to help with our recovery under the direction of Interim Governor Nels Murdoch. If anyone were going to be targeted, it would be him.”

  “And the Princess,” Mr. O’Gara added. “Given this development, I assume you will assign extra security for the duration of her stay?”

  Kernan nodded. “Cormac, here, has volunteered to act as her personal Bodyguard.” He gestured toward the burly man on his left, then glanced at Rigel. “Of course, if she already has—”

  “No, that will be fine,” Mr. O broke in decisively. “Under the circumstances, someone more experienced seems wise. Rigel here can still be a part of her security detail, as he has proven himself both motivated and well trained to protect the Sovereign.”

  “Surely you can’t—” Gordon broke in indignantly, but I interrupted before he could say any more.

  “You have no say in the matter.” I was startled by how authoritative I sounded. And though Gordon glared, he did shut up…for the moment.

  Kernan’s omni lit up in his hand and after a quick, low-spoken exchange, he smiled. “How very timely. The protesters have been segregated from the crowd for questioning and our investigators have determined that there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety, to include the Princess’s. If you’ll come this way, Excellency, we will shortly have you and your party settled in Tullymayne.”

  We all followed Kernan back to the big check-in area, where passengers from the Quintessence were claiming their luggage and waiting to be processed. I was expedited through, along with the O’Garas and Rigel, and Kernan led us all out a side door while the other Royals were still in line.

  A long, brightly-lit hallway ended in an area nearly as large as the courtyard around the ship, only this one enclosed half a dozen sleek, futuristic-looking trains, all lined up across the middle. When I looked closely, I saw that, like the vehicles and luggage carts, they were suspended about six inches off the ground. I remembered then what Sean had told me about the trains here.

  “The tapacarrs, ah, zippers, were temporarily deactivated as a security precaution. They’ll resume running shortly, but this one will take us to Tullymayne before it’s put back into general service.” Kernan led us to the first train as he spoke.

  A door that had been invisible a moment before slid open with a soft hiss. I followed Kernan inside, Cormac and Rigel immediately behind me. The other two security guys loaded our bags onto the train, then did a quick sweep of the car with little hand-held gadgets. One nodded to Kernan, who turned to me.

  “The coach is secure, Excellency. This trip will be very brief, but please make yourself comfortable.”

  I took a window seat and Sean, of course, sat beside me. As the zipper started to move, I looked fixedly out the window while “talking” to Rigel, who was seated with Cormac behind me.

  You okay with playing backup to that guy?

  I guess, as long as you trust him. It’s a heck of a lot better than either of us expected this time yesterday, he replied practically. Shoot, I’d take a job as your janitor, if it meant staying close to you. This way I can still protect you. Officially.

  A not-quite-Earthly city scene flashed past outside, too quickly for me to notice much except that it seemed much cleaner than any Earth city and most of the buildings were of that same pinkish-gray stone, which I assumed must be the primary construction material here. The buildings thinned slightly, then grew denser again, and a minute later we slowed to a stop in another depot even bigger than the one we’d just left.

  “Wait. Are we there already?” I asked, startled.

  “Yep.” Sean smiled for the first time since leaving the ship. “Tullymayne is the main transport hub, so it’s only a mile or so from Arregaith. Here in the south, the towns and villages sort of flow into each other except for where the mines are.”

  I knew from studying Nuathan geography that the south was mostly industrial and was more densely populated than the northern, more agricultural region. I hadn’t realized things were this close together, though.

  “Doesn’t look much like Ireland,” I commented, remembering what the O’Garas had originally told me about Nuath last fall. “I haven’t seen so much as a blade of grass yet.”

  “Wait’ll we get to Glenamuir. The north is totally different. You’ll love it.”

  Before I could reply, Kernan ushered us off the train and toward a silver, bullet-shaped vehicle with a fancy logo on the side. Like the zippers, it hovered just off the ground. A few people were hurrying to various trains, probably trying to make up for lost time now that they were running again.

  “No tracks?” I glanced back at all the trains, then ahead to our bus or van or whatever it was.

  “Magnetic ones, but they’re buried,” Sean said. “They crisscross pretty much all of Nuath so the zippers and other transports can use them. I told you about that.”

  “Oh, right, sorry. It’s all kind of—”

  “Overwhelming?” He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything as we go.”

  I sensed Rigel’s irritation from behind me and stifled a sigh, wishing the tension between him and Sean could have been left back on the ship. Cormac climbed into the driver’s seat of the floating transport while the other security guys transferred our
bags, then bowed to me and left us. I got in, followed by the others.

  “When will I be able to see Thiaraway?” I asked Kernan as Cormac maneuvered the hover-thingy out of the huge transportation depot. “Do I have to be formally Acclaimed first?”

  “That’s the tradition, but I’ll be very surprised if that doesn’t happen within the next day or two. That power interruption this morning will make people even more eager to have a proper Sovereign in charge again.”

  “That would be…excellent,” Mr. O’Gara said from behind me, his hesitation echoing my own doubts. It would be great if I could get Acclaimed before the news about that video broke big time, but it seemed awfully unlikely.

  Though shorter, distance-wise, this trip took longer than the first, since we had to go slower to navigate the confusing maze of buildings. Along the way, people stared at our van, then gathered into small, excited clumps. That logo must have told them who was inside. Of course, I did my share of staring, too, especially at the clothing they wore, subtly different from anything I’d seen on Earth.

  The women mostly seemed dressed in colorful tunics over flowing, wide-legged pants, while the men wore bodysuits in shades of gray, brown and blue under knee-length pants and tunics shorter than the women’s. A few wore ornate hats that glinted with metal or crystal embellishments.

  Finally we stopped in front of a tall building that looked like a fancy hotel. A crowd immediately started to gather, some holding up omnis, probably taking pictures or videos. I was starting to worry I’d be mobbed when I got out when two large panels separated at the base of the hotel and Cormac drove us right into a tunnel. Glancing back, I saw the doors slide shut behind us, leaving the crowd outside.