Before they arrived back at Drinax Lady Yemar asked how Lady Nitrane would approach discussing what had happened on Vorito. Nitrane thought for a moment and declared that she'd tell people the truth, but would perhaps seek out Scholar Voha as there were some questions she had that he might be able to answer. She seemed resigned to her fate.
The ship emerged from jump-space into Drinax and Lady Yemar immediately advised starport control that they were a diplomatic vessel with the rulers of Palindrome and Salif, as well as the Drinaxian delegate. They were given clearance to land at the King's private dock and a few hours later they were landed and ready to disembark.
Waiting at the port were Princes Rao, who gathered up Lady Yemar and Tiznee Zazzle, and Lady Hil and her entourage who gathered up Lady Nitrane. Sayed noticed that Rachando was not among the welcoming party and went to find him while Sparrow noticed Kasiyl (who was not so much a part of the welcoming committee as someone who just happened to be around),and went off to speak to him. Unter didn't notice anyone he wanted to talk to, so went off to his old lodgings to see if there were any messages.
Reception
On the way to the reception chamber Lady Hil asked Nitrtane how she was and how it had all done. Nitrane said that she was fine, that the Vorito ceremony had gone well, and that really Lady Hil should really have been the delegate. They swept through the corridors, Lady Nitrane looking for a way to peel off and seek out Scholar Voha, but with no opportunity arising they eventually arrived. What they saw was King Oleb, dressed in a smoking jacket and holding a cigar in one hand and a glass of whisky in the other, talking to Goff who was similarly attired but holding a brandy.
Lady Yemar and Tiznee initially held the King's attention, but as they moved off to speak to Princess Rao and Prince Harrick Oleb turned to Nitrane and asked what she had gotten up to. She replied it was all good. that there was nothing much to report at all, and that it was all fine. Really. Nothing to see here. He nodded. She asked about the Torpolian Water Polo and he laughed saying that it was a foolish game, and that really he'd some to his senses. The King was apparently still easily distracted and turned to someone else. Nitrane started breathing again.
Scholar's Tower
Excusing herself, Nitrane made her way to the Scholar's Tower to meet with Scholar Voha. He was available immediately and so she entered his office only a few minutes after leaving the King. She explained that she'd encountered a hologram that introduced itself as Professor Jarl, a psychohistorian. Voha had not heard of the man, but went on at some length about Psycho-history being a completely debunked pseudo-science. Nitrane, he said, should not worry about it at all. It's just mumbo-jumbo and there's nothing accurate about any projections or forecasts.
Making Plans
Nitrane was much relieved, and returned to the ship. There she met the others. Slayed had talked to Rachando who seemed to take an alternative view to Scholar Voha in that he was going to actively start looking for somewhere else to set up shop. The fact that psychohistory was debunked was well and good, but GeDeCo (or certain important people within it) might not consider it so, and any agreements made would be acted upon by GeDeCo - and fast.
Sparrow had spoken to Kasiyl who had been hearing rumours of the Aslan iHatei (young landless warriors) forming near the border of Aslan space. He was worried, but not unduly so as they took years to get their acts together and raid somewhere. Goff also returned to the ship. The King was fine in small doses but spending long periods of time with him was tiresome. The brandy was good though.
Yemar and Tiznee finally made it back to the ship and the party made plans. They could just return to Salif to meet with their crew there or on the station, or they could take the opportunity to grab some help in repairing the station along the way. With a jump-4 capability they chose the latter approach.
The approach they decided upon was:
- Tech-World - to find an expert in robotics, and possibly pick up some robots to get the repairs started.
- Falcon - to find an expert in life support and living in an artificial environment indefinitely. Goff knew someone they could talk to.
- Pandora - to find an expert in hydroponics and biospheres.
- Wildeman - to find Goff's friend who is an expert miner.
Tech-World
They jumped to Tech-World and met with the ruling council of scholars. They asked for some military style robots to help protect them while repairing the station. Also some repair drones were ordered which would do a lot of the basic repair work. They were told it would take a week to manufacture these so they decided to jump to Falcon and then return.
Falcon
They arrived in Falcon and because Goff was with them they were allowed to dock. Falcon was a hollowed-out asteroid, dating back to the Solomani wave of colonisation. Over many generations the natives of Falcon had become dependent on Falcon’s precise mix of bacteria and germs, and had to wear encounter suits when travelling beyond their home. Visitors were not allowed to interact directly with the Falcon environment – a small section of the asteroid was set aside for them, and it was to this area that the travellers were directed.
Goff's friend met them but due to a father unfortunate turn of events, involving the locating of a bomb on the outer surface of their asteroid by a blackmailing pirate as well as the difficulties involved in getting his required atmospheric conditions right, he was unable and unwilling to come with them. Some discussion about the bomb situation uncovered the name of the pirate as Zhuekvi, which turned out to be the name of the person who very much wanted to talk to Slayed just as soon as he could return to Theev.
With no success in getting a person to come with them, and no immediate plans to help find a bomb (with Goff's friend making it very clear he was not asking for help) they returned to Tech-World.
Tech-World
When they arrived their new robots and drones were loaded on their ship, but they had in the meantime thought of new robots to get.
First off they asked about hydroponics and agricultural robots. These were available almost immediately and turned out to be short squad utility robots that were currently outfitted and programmed for the very things they needed, but which could be modified to perform other tasks later. In addition an expert roboticist would be desirable, but to that the council had no immediate answer and requested that they rest for the night and in the morning there would be an answer.
The next morning they were introduced to Maria, who was an expert robotics specialist, and who herself happened to be a robot. They introduced themselves and found that Maria was not only well mannered and intelligent, but had a good personality and even a sense of humour.
To be continued.
(edit: last jump destination changed)
No comments:
Post a Comment