Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights (40 page)

Atiana nodded and looked thoughtfully at the
gzeikolt
. “I’m told we might have such places in our future. Would you be willing to show yours to me?”

Graylee jumped to her feet. “Yes!”

Atiana stood up and looked to Havlock. “Do we have time?”

He smiled. “We’ll make time. This wasn’t part of the plan, but it should have been.”

“I’d like to see a farm tomorrow. Is that possible?”

He chewed on his lip before answering
.
“I have some things I need to get done in person. Reviewing the supplies we’re taking back with us is at the top of that list.” He looked to Hawke and Kori. “How about you two?”

Hawke had been focused entirely on Graylee, mesmerized by her looks, her wonderful voice, and her clear questions and explanations to Atiana. He was not ready for her to disappear yet. He looked to Havlock, his eyes begging. “I’ve scheduled interviews with teacher candidates, but I’d really like to go with them, sir.”

Havlock heard the underlying message. “You’re our Teacher, and that includes teaching Her Majesty while she’s here. Stay with her. I’ll do the initial interviews for you. Kori?”

Kori did not hesitate. “I’m good, sir. Just ready to go back.”

“Galborae, Milae, any plans?”

“No offense, Sky Lord, but she’s my queen. You’re still ending a rebellion here and we just learned that everyone on the planet knows about her. I’ll stay by her side, and I will be armed.”

“Hmm. That presents its own problems. I don’t think people generally walk around inside
gzeikolts
with weapons.”

“Sir,” Hawke said, “she’s a head of state. They can’t say no to an escort of Imperial Marines.”

Havlock nodded thoughtfully. “Very well. Check in with me once in a while, will you?”

Shoes and boots went back on the appropriate feet and Graylee herded the small throng toward the
gzeikolt.

Hawke noticed her walking with a significant limp. She caught him looking and dimpled again, pulling her hair forward to cover her scar. “Old injuries,” she said. “It doesn’t slow me down, but together with the scar it’s been very helpful at keeping you men away.”

“A woman as beautiful as you? No way.”

“Way. It’s quite a change from before the accident.”

He frowned. “Surely you can have them fixed?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t get to advanced medical facilities in time. They worked wonders as it is.”

“What happened?”

“A freak accident as we were pulling up stakes at the colony. A cable snapped and partially severed the major blood vessels in my neck. It was purely a quirk of fate that our doctor happened to be right there. He performed major surgery on the spot, even before they lifted the load off of me.”

“You couldn’t get to a tank?”

“We were months away from the nearest tank. By then, it was too late. I might go back in and let them clean up the scar a little, but there’s no rush. It was a near thing and I’m just happy to be alive.” She dropped the subject and released the children outside the main entrance, then switched roles to tour guide.

When seen from a distance, the bases of
gzeikolts
appeared small, but when standing next to a wall of doors that stretched hundreds of feet, that smallness revealed itself as just an issue of scale. The three from Tranxte felt intimidated by the enormous, bulbous, colorful structure towering over them. Nothing in their experience had prepared them for this. Atiana actually felt her shoulders hunching under the tremendous weight hanging over her.

Graylee noticed and said, “The center of the building is the main support structure. The rest of the structure sort of hangs from that center support. It’s technical and I won’t go into details, but for example, these outer walls do not hold up the building. They function only as decoration and a place to house the doors. Real support begins several layers in.”

“Does everyone here know such details?” Atiana asked.

“No, Your Majesty. I’m an engineer, and I’ve studied this structure in depth as part of my training.”

“An engineer?”

Graylee corrected herself. “Think of me as a builder, Your Majesty. I design and build things.”

“What things?”

“Oh, buildings, roads, bridges, that sort of thing.”

“You seem young.”

Her dimples showed again. “If I may be so bold, so do you. I don’t have a lot of experience, only three years with the colony, but I went with the first-in group so there was plenty to do.
”
She held a hand out palm up. “I came by these honestly.”

Atiana held her own hand out. Graylee took her hand and felt it, surprised. “These are from a sword?”

“No, I’m not strong enough for the sword. Sir Galborae is the swordsman in our group. I became an archer.”

Galborae shook his head and lifted his blaster part way out of its holster. “I prefer these now. They have better range.”

Graylee’s forehead furrowed as she nodded thoughtfully. She looked at the sword strapped to his waist and asked, “Is that the same one, Sire?”

Galborae scowled. “I’m not sire on this world. The same what?”

“The same sword.”

Galborae looked perplexed. Hawke almost stepped in, but Graylee recognized Galborae’s confusion for what it was and beat him to it.

“The recording of you defending Tricor’s wall has spread like wildfire here, Sire. The picture of Queen Atiana holding you at the end of that battle has, I’m told, brought many a tear. The recording did not make it clear if you survived or not. Before returning to Tranxte, you might want to address that.”

Galborae, not the most talkative person even in the best of times, was speechless.

Graylee understood. “I’ll help you deal with that later if you want.” She took his arm and turned him toward the
gzeikolt
. “Why don’t we continue the tour? Most of what you see will be new to you, so don’t hesitate to ask questions. The official name of my building is
Gzeikolt 5
, but the permanent residents call themselves
Gmornys
. It’s a new name for them, borrowed from a local hero of the rebellion.”

“You say
them
, not
us,”
Atiana noticed.

“I’m just a temporary resident here while I finish my training, Your Majesty.” She led them through massive doors that opened silently as they approached.

Atiana felt her eyebrows raising at this amazing feat, but then she pulled herself together and corralled her imagination just as she had learned to do regularly aboard ships.

Graylee sensed her silent battle and dropped Galborae’s arm. She extended her arms to take in the three from Tranxte, saying, “My world will be full of surprises. Might I suggest you focus more on the people and our lifestyles than the technology?”

Atiana stepped forward and took her arm, nodding as she replied, “Well said, Graylee. What’s next?”

“We call this area the lobby. You can’t go any further without permission. Ordinarily we’d go to the visitors’ station and check in, but since you’re armed, I think we’ll wait here. Someone will come to us.”

She strolled with them through the lobby, pointing out that the windows were not windows, they were similar to the screens on ships, then she pointed to the many doors lining the interior wall of the lobby.

“To get around inside a
gziekolt
, we use
olands
, small rooms that can travel to any point inside the building. We rarely know or care where we are exactly within the
gziekolt
, we just code our
olands
to take us to the right place. Most residents don’t want to know where they are, so we have not numbered the floors. Each apartment simply has a code.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t been noticed yet,” Atiana said.

“Oh, we have. There’s no real hurry for security to get here since you can’t get past the lobby without authorization. They’re probably checking other resources before confronting us.”

“We can’t just follow you into an
oland
?”

“No, Your Majesty. The door won’t let you by. Each of you has to be assigned a visitor status first. A priority visitor status I hope.”

Just then six security men approached them from across the lobby on the left and six more from the right, accompanied by a man in civilian clothes. On close inspection, the security men carried holstered stunners but not blasters.

Their leader reached Atiana and went to a knee with his head bowed. “We’re honored to have you as our guest, Your Majesty.” He stood up, essentially ignoring everyone else. “I’m Inspector Loren, head of security here. We have a few formalities to observe.”

“By all means,” she managed to eek out with the help of her Rider. Hawke stepped forward with an outstretched hand holding a translator device. Atiana waited until Loren had attached it to his ear, then added more sweetly in her own language, “Ms. Rodjiks has offered to give us a tour of your amazing home. May we?”

“Of course, Your Majesty, but we frown on weapons here.”

She nodded. “I understand and applaud your rules, sir. Since you know who we are, you know where we come from. All of us are warriors, and though we stand in the midst of your Empire and are probably safe, we are still at war. My associates are senior counselors, all of them, and they are my security. Two of them are Imperial Marines, part of my official escort. I ask you to make an exception in our case.”

Loren turned to Galborae. “May I see your weapon?”

Galborae did not hesitate, handing his blaster over handle first.

Loren took the weapon, but looking toward the sword, he said, “Uh . . . I meant the other one, Sire.”

“Sorry. No,” Galborae said, brooking no argument.

Loren stared into Galborae’s eyes, then his lips firmed and he nodded. “It must be the one.”

Graylee spoke up before things got out of hand. “Inspector, they’re not here to attack the
gzeikolt
. I’m taking the opportunity to show them how we live, what their world might one day become, nothing more.”

Loren nodded. His eyes moved from the sword to the blaster Galborae had handed to him. “Unusual,” he said, studying it.

Galborae nodded. “Do you know our prey?”

“Not intimately. Until a few days ago, I had thought them imaginary creatures of folklore. After seeing you in action, I now know better.”

“The weapon in your hand is specifically designed to kill gleasons,” Galborae said. “It has killed many a gleason, sir, and it will kill many more. As for the sword, it’s far too dangerous to everyone around me. Neither it or I am a threat to you. You have my word as a knight on that.”

“Tell me,” Atiana said, stepping forward, “do you know why we are forced to fight gleasons?”

Loren lowered his eyes for a moment, then brought his gaze back to her. “I do, Your Majesty. An apology is a small thing for such a great matter, but you have my apology.” He turned back to Galborae and handed the blaster back. “You may keep your weapons, and you have complete freedom to explore our home.” He turned back to Atiana. “If you don’t mind, Your Majesty, I will accompany you along with two of my men.”

A smile lit her face. “A balanced solution, Inspector. I accept, and I’m honored.” She turned to Graylee. “What’s first?”

“I told you it would be best to focus on people here, Your Majesty. By that, I mean our lives. Would you like to visit my home?”

The smile broadened on Atiana’s face. “I would!”

All eight of them crowded into an
oland
, Graylee spoke a destination, and the room smoothly accelerated while Kori handed out translator devices to the two additional security men.

When the door opened, Graylee led them down a padded corridor lined with identically sized doors. However, identical ended with size. Every door had been decorated by its owners, making it unnecessary to look at coded designators to find the right room. Corridor walls held colorful decorations, as well, which Graylee informed them changed from time to time so that residents did not get bored with their surroundings.

They passed a number of people headed in the opposite direction, probably toward the
oland
foyer. Most froze at the sight of the strangely dressed group, and some went to a knee when they recognized Atiana and Galborae. She touched each of them on a shoulder as she passed by.

Hawke and Kori had been inside
gzeikolts
before, so they stayed out in the corridor with two of the security people when Graylee invited the group into her home. She led her visitors through a comfortable living/dining area and showed them her separate master bedroom and two more visitor’s bedrooms.

“It’s far more space than I need,” she said, “but if I ever get around to having a family, I won’t have to change rooms. That’s the general plan for the
gzeikolt
. Once here, you do your best to stay where you are.”