Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) (31 page)

Standing change. Empire Military faction opinion of you has improved.

Presumed personal opinion of you: +20 (warm)

* * *

"Where am I?" the room I woke up in was definitely somewhere I had never been before.

"It doesn't matter. It's very hard to get ahold of you, Ruslan. You tried to block mental communication. Did you think you could trick us and break the contract?"

I would have recognized this woman's voice from among a million others. Young, resonant, and at the same time capable of freezing water, so extreme was the cosmic chill it harbored. Miya! I came to in an instant, and started looking around jerkily for the source of the voice.

For some reason, she was nowhere to be seen, though I had no doubt that the extremely powerful Truth Seeker was somewhere nearby watching over me. I took a look around. I was on an open veranda with walls of interwoven vines. There was a small round table nearby with normal earth fruit: pears, peaches, and yellow plums. Out the window, I could see a triangle of penetratingly blue cloudless sky. I tried to sit up, and realized I was not in my own body... Well, actually it was the other way around. It was my actual body! My young healthy body. I wasn't even used to it anymore!

"So, then, as for an answer to my question?" Miya's voice rang out from the opposite side of the small room. I turned my head sharply, but still couldn't manage to see her.

"Show yourself!" I demanded.

All my fear left my body. I was confident that I had not broken the contract with Mr. G. I., so I felt I was in the right.

"No 'please,' no 'would you;' you won't even address me by name. Is that any way to talk with a lady who is several times your elder?"

Nevertheless, Miya appeared literally one arm's length from me. I even got startled. The young, insanely beautiful woman with fiery red hair was sitting in a rocking chair. Her loose white clothes, and sitting pose somewhat hid the contours of her body, but she had simply not been able to fully cover up her big stomach. Off the top of my head, she looked to be five or six months along in the pregnancy.

"It's actually seven," she corrected me, making no effort to hide the fact that she was unceremoniously rooting around in my thoughts. "That means that the mental block the girl put in... The girl has grown a lot, even too much... Take it off immediately after you return to the game!"

"To the game?" I made sure to emphasize the last word. "Maybe you'll finally tell me in more detail what kind of game this is, given that the players can be killed?"

"Don't be insolent, Ruslan." The cold of the grave returned to her voice. "You're in no position to get smart. If you want to know, I recommended Mr. G.I. to take you out right after the contract was over. Yes, Ruslan, I'm telling you the truth and so I won't try to hide it. But then my companion, despite all his negative character traits, is pathologically fastidious in matters of honor. So, we'll hold up our end of the contract as long as you don't give us any reason to doubt your honesty."

Miya suddenly frowned and placed her right palm on her stomach, as if calming a child causing her pain by moving in the womb.

"The future Crown Princess?" I clarified, pointing to Miya's stomach with a nod.

"This should not worry you, Ruslan. My daughter will be born after your contract is up, so all issues of genealogy, inheritance and heraldry, are of no concern to you. Your mission is to defeat the Aliens... and not die. Don't take any more risks like that. Enough raids on Alien bases. And another thing, it was very hard for me to reach you. No matter how strong a Truth Seeker I am, my reserves are not infinite. I need crystals. I have no desire to ask Georgiy for that again, and hear out his telling-off. So, if you see an easy opportunity, call me into the game. Not right now. I spent too much energy on this. I need to restore my power first. In three days or so. Prepare the crystals for me and call me when no witnesses are around. And for now, get back into the game. And yes, I have removed your hangover. I have no idea where you could have learned to drink like that..."

* * *

I woke up from the ringing of my alarm clock in my bunk on the heavy cruiser
Emperor August
. For some reason, I wasn't wearing clothes, and was being haunted by patchy, confused memories that I had recently been making love with someone on this very bed. But who?

Miya was not lying. My head was light and airy, like a student after an exam. I couldn't remember a bit of the previous day's events after the herd of pretty girls in ceremonial combat uniforms pulled me onto the dance floor. It would seem I even danced. But I'm pretty sure I don't know how to dance, right? Or maybe it's that Ruslan doesn't, but Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky had studied it long ago in his younger days? There was a complete hole in my memory after that. What happened last night? I suspect that very many fleet soldiers were asking the same exact question today, after really swinging for the fences after my victory speech.

"How did I get into this room?" I asked a rhetorical question to the empty room.

However, the empty space turned out to contain a totally real individual to answer my question. A barely noticeable haze on my bed transformed into Bionica.

"My Prince, Popori de Cacha and Phobos took you to the cruiser at the very end of the big loud party."

"Is that so? I honestly don't remember..."

I wonder who I had had a tumble in bed with then? The only things other than me in the cabin were members of three Alien species, an Alpha Iseyek, the Arite, and a Chameleon. And what was more, the only female among them was a member of the Ravaash race... I had never been one to over-analyze fantasies, but I was having a very hard time digesting the information before me. The old scandal with Bionica could be considered a childish game in comparison with the "new adventures of the Crown Prince." Fortunately, Pseudo-Bionica explained everything:

"After that, Princess Astra came to check up on your Highness. You were in very high spirits, and sent everyone else out of the room, because you said you were about to explain her your tactics for space battle with some ancient illustrated physiology textbook on human inter-gender relations. But then Astra left, because her punishment isn't over yet."

So that means it was Astra... It felt like a stone had been lifted from my shoulders. I then started really worrying. There were some very weird ideas coming to mind.

"Anything else interesting happen?"

"The Yayho border fleet has arrived. A Swarm
Meresh
battleship, two
Legashes
, six
Umoyges
, twenty-three
Vassars
, and the rest are
Safas
. Admiral Kheraisss Vej is bringing the new arrivals up to speed on our tactics as we speak. By the way, it may interest your Highness that the captain of the
Meresh
is an Arite Iseyek, and since the Swarm Progenitor's coming to power, there has been no more sense in hiding that fact. And that captain has not arrived empty handed. He has an interesting gift for the Crown Prince: an immobilized and neatly wrapped Triasss Zess in the flesh. Nai Igir thought that this gift might be interesting to your Highness."

"Without a doubt. And if that traitor starts to talk, this gift could become simply priceless. By the way, Arite, I still want to ask you: why did you remain on my ship after the end of the war with the Swarm? You are free to live openly among the Iseyek now."

Bionica quickly fixed her hair and smiled her white-toothed smile:

"The Arites know very little about your race. And as I am the first to meet with humanity, I was appointed by my kind to serve as discoverer and ambassador, in a sense, though it may not be on the most official terms. But all the same, your Highness has a channel of communication with the Arite Iseyek. You can speak with those of my kind through me."

I see. I put myself in order, got dressed and went out into the hallway. Despite my slight apprehension, life on the ship had already returned to a completely normal rhythm. There wasn't even a small trace of yesterday's carousing. The staff officers were sitting in their places, the communications officers were talking with remote star systems and clarifying this or that piece of information. When I walked in, Lieutenant Max Stegor stood and approached me with a report.

"My Prince, I am receiving information that Perimeter Sector Nine Fleet Commander Svetlana ton Mesfelle is gathering a fleet from systems loyal to Duke Paolo royl Anjer in the Tian system. At present, the enemy has on the order of three hundred ships."

"How much time do they need to get to Forepost-4?" I clarified.

"No less than six days, your Highness."

It was worrying information, but it still didn't require an immediate response. It occurred to me that it would be nice to have a talk with Katerina ton Mesfelle on the situation that's developed. After all, the Sector Nine Fleet Commander was her niece, and there might have been some possible ways for this to go other than direct confrontation between two Orange House fleets. I went off to meet my cousin. Just to be safe, I didn't open her door with my electronic key and just walk in, as usual. First I knocked politely (it wouldn't be that surprising if my cousin was still sleeping, and there was no guarantee she would be alone).

"It's open!" a scream rang out from Katerina ton Mesfelle, and I walked in.

My eyebrows shot up immediately. It wasn't enough that my advisor really wasn't alone in the room, I had to also be well acquainted with her guest.

"I'm on my way out, Crown Prince," squeaked Corwin ton Ugar, looking brilliant in the space fleet captain's ceremonial uniform bedecked with combat medals as he really was preparing to slip by me into the hallway.

"Hey, stop!" Corwin ton Ugar was already half way out the door, but still stopped and turned around. "Captain, I'm reminded that we had an agreement for you not to show up on my ship or get near Astra."

"Your Highness, I had no thought in mind to break our agreement. I was invited to your flagship by Katerina ton Mesfelle as a guest, and I give you my word as an officer that I have never once left her cabin."

"Georg, what are you getting mad for? You told me to get some before the party, and all I did was listen to your advice. Cory is fun to talk to, a gallant gentleman and a great art expert."

I gave an incredulous chuckle. I'd heard that song before. The captain coughed, turning my attention to him:

"By the way, as we're talking about art... Commander, would it be too much to ask you to sign your work, as is generally accepted practice among artists? To be honest, you really won me over. I truly did want to acquire Astra ton Veyerde's painting. Based on the price of the first canvas, the second work of this talented girl would be worth at least forty, probably more like fifty million credits. That kind of money would be able to return my poverty-stricken aristocratic family to its former glory and guarantee a secure future. I really admired that move on your part a lot, Crown Prince. It was a very elegant plan. But the problem is that I really have been taking art lessons since a young age. My father, Vesar ton Ugar, is one of the leading experts at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Nessi system, and he spent a lot of effort trying to get me follow in his footsteps. And though in the end I chose the path of a soldier, like my mother, I can still tell when an abstract painting was done by a man or woman, even with my eyes closed."

What a twist! I laughed joyously, so unexpected was the turn in this story. Of course I would agree to sign my work.

"And how much might it be worth?" I wondered from the art expert.

"It's a unique work, in place, style, and artist. The value of these kinds of rarities usually starts in the hundreds of millions of credits. I would think you could get one hundred thirty million easily, just from one of my father's rich acquaintances. But I'll never sell this masterpiece, Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle. The very fact that I possess such a masterpiece will return greatness to the Ugar dynasty for generations to come. And as for my visit to your relative Katerina ton Mesfelle... That was up to her, of course, but don't get me wrong. I came to her bunk with no ulterior motives, and very serious intentions."

When the door closed behind Corwin ton Ugar, I flopped down into the big soft bed and asked the room's owner to get a light breakfast together for her cousin, and at the same time tell me about her niece Svetlana.

"I mean, what is there to tell... she's hardcore. Ambitious, goal-driven to the point of fanaticism, extremely greedy for fame. If you're thinking of trying to negotiate peace with her or buying her off, it definitely won't work. When she was about ten, Svetlana suddenly became confident that she would definitely become a famous warrior. Since that time, my niece has done nothing but stubbornly pursue her goal. Against the will of her parents, she left the prestigious Fine Arts Academy and applied to the Space Military Academy, where she graduated with honors, gained experience in the Imperial fleet for a few years, and built up a great resume. And then, through her uncle Count Avalle royl Anjer ton Mesfelle, she got to the point of being appointed to defend Perimeter Sector Nine."