Mech 3: The Empress (24 page)

“I think that’s his brain,” she said. “I pulled it out. The rear access panel wasn’t locked, fortunately.”

“I see,” he said. “Thank you, Lizett.”

Lizett walked around Captain Bellevue’s metal corpse, looking at it appreciatively. “You know, I think he’d make a fine statue as he is. We could mount
him
in
our
courtyard.”

“Uh, I suppose we could,” Sixty-Two said. He looked up at Lizett thoughtfully. She seemed fascinated by Bellevue’s corpse, and even reached out with her grippers to make adjustments to his frozen pose. To Sixty-Two, it seemed a grotesque practice.

What crime had brought her to be convicted and sent to Sunside as a mech? He could not help but wonder about it, and he also could not help thinking he didn’t want to know the truth.

Later on, as his obedient mech troops carried him to the workshop and repaired his chassis, he planned out his march toward Nightside. They must move soon, before the Twilighters came to strike them again.

Sixteen

When Nina got the news that a ship was landing in Lavender City, she gathered company of her finest knights and rode out immediately. They could have reached the spaceport faster by taking a skimmer, but where was the grandeur in that? Instead, she rode her mount at the head of a column of exquisitely dressed and armored knights. Every banner fluttered, every power-sword and power-lance was set to zero—a setting that caused the weapons to run with plasma but which would do no injury if accidentally touched. It was a power level reserved for parades and the like, which was exactly what this was.

Lavender City was built within a natural canyon. Long and gently curving, the deep cut in the stony crust of Ignis Glace was one of the most thickly inhabited regions on the planet. The canyon was built in a two-third’s sunlit region. By virtue of being surrounded by higher land, the city in the shadowy depths of the canyon was given light and warmth by the sun, but not burnt by its continuous smoldering red eye. Likewise, the icy storms of Nightside had been gentled by the time they reached this far sunward. As a result, the city in this cleft among the rocks was forever cool and lush with growths. Permanent shadows stained the rocky walls around it.

As it was a center of culture for Ignis Glace, even Nina was entranced by the city’s uniqueness. There were rows of shops selling fine things only the richest merchants, or nobility with the best lands, could afford to buy. Nina had never been in either of these categories until recently, but she forbade herself to go on a shopping spree now. To do so would play directly into Duchess Embrak’s icy hands.

And so when she arrived at one end of the canyon and glided along its length, following the cobbles of Queen’s Highway, Nina was more plainly dressed than her escort. She carried no banner, and wore neither plumes nor jewelry. She wanted to appear businesslike and ready for battle. She had chosen this dress partly because it suited her, and partly to prevent Duchess Embrak from displaying vids of her wasting funds. But she also did it to impress her father, who she felt sure was aboard the small ship that had finally arrived. She knew her father was above all else a practical man, and she wanted to seem to be as similar in nature as possible upon their first meeting as two adults.

Internally, Nina thrilled as she rode, playing out the drama of the moment she met Lucas Droad in the flesh a dozen times in a dozen varied scenarios. What would he look like? He’d be old, but not as old as he should be. He’d fathered her in his late thirties with the then young, lovely Olivia. More than two decades had passed since then, but she figured with all the traveling he’d done between the stars he’d probably appear to be in his early forties still. Due to time dilation effects, he would have aged much more slowly than she had.

When she finally reached the spaceport, she found the ship was quarantined, as was often the case with rare unofficial visits from out-system. This quarantine was stricter than usual, due to the supposed imminent arrival of alien invaders. It was an understandable precaution, if a frustrating one. The only good thing was it gave her time to gather her knights at the gates of the spaceport. Her honor guard stood at attention behind her when the hatches were finally opened on the disappointingly small vessel.

A dozen other notables jockeyed for a spot in line when the Nexus officials finally allowed them into the ship’s landing pit. There was plenty of room, as it was built for much larger craft. Rather than dismount and be seen as grubbing with the other nobility, she sat her mount in front of her hundred knights calmly off to one side. The others cast doubtful glances at her. Some twittered, particularly the courtly girls from better families. They were future countesses and duchesses from the deepest valleys in Twilight. Their skins were fair and unscarred, as they’d grown up sheltered in the best climates and the least dangerous regions of the world. Nina ignored them. Let them gawk and whisper. She was above all that nonsense now. She led armies, rather than frittering about, creating digital sculptures to transmit to possible suitors.

The hatch finally opened, and yawned wide. It was oddly dark inside. A flashing of lights not unlike the arcing of a power-sword shone in the background. Could something be wrong with the ships lighting?

A wisp of vapor rolled out next. Dark and noisome, it caused those who stood closest to step back, holding their fine, patrician noses. This wasn’t encouraging either. Nina sat her mount sternly, however. The only hint of her concern was a growing frown upon her face.

The old knight Hans leaned close to her. “Are we certain this is a Nexus ship? Seems more like a smuggler’s scow.”

Nina ignored him and continued to stare. She did not want any distraction to prevent her from laying eyes on her father at his very first appearance.

Finally, a figure did appear at the top of the ramp. It was a male, unfamiliar, but distinctive. He was armed with a sheathed power-sword at his side, and his hand rested easily on the pommel. He had a shock of long black hair and an equally dark mustache that drooped at the corners of his mouth. The moment he saw the waiting crowd, he seemed to puff up a bit, pridefully. With a vague smile and watchful eyes, he swaggered forward and down the ramp.

The first man was followed by a woman. She looked attractive and capable. She wore a Nexus officer’s uniform and her hand hovered near her pistol. Whoever they were, these people seemed paranoid.

Nina, like the rest of the crowd, soon removed their attention from these two and turned her eyes back to the hatch. Surely, someone of importance was to emerge next. Neither of these two looked to be of high birth. Where was the diplomat, the official in charge of the mission?

Finally, a third figure did emerge. He was tall and thin. For a fleeting moment, Nina’s hopes were roused. Could this be her father? From a distance—but no, he could not be so gaunt. And the eyes—they were the shifting slits of a stranger. This third man to walk down the ramp appeared
trepidatious
and—odd. His hands fluttered at his sides, and—what was he doing now?
Sniffing
at the countess who greeted him with a traditional wreath of vines?

Nina’s eyes moved back to the hatchway, but no one else appeared. In fact, Nexus uniformed officials marched up to it and sealed it. They did more than that, they produced hand-welders and welded it shut.

She couldn’t contain herself any longer. She dismounted and marched into the milling, confused crowd. Her harsh manner and military dress caused others to give way, despite sneering at her.

Finally, she managed to make her way through the press of babbling nobility.

“So strange,” said one.

“Where is their lord?” asked another.

“Nexus people don’t have lords, Beatrice—only officials.”

“Such an
odd
smell!”

Finally reaching the red carpet, which was now being tread upon by everyone in a horrible breach of protocol, Nina confronted the rakish character with the dark mustache. He latched eyes upon her immediately and a slow smile spread over his features. “Who might you be, my dear?”

Nina frowned. “I’m Baroness Nina Droad. Who is your master? And where is he?”

“I’m Aldo Moreno,” he said, cocking his head. “And I regard no man as my master—no woman, either.”

“Well, please state your mission clearly. Are you three all that came aboard this ship? Why did the Nexus go to all the effort of sending three—people such as yourselves?”

Aldo nodded in appreciation. “Excellent questions. Much more intelligent than those posed by the rest of this crowd. I will show you.”

He escorted Nina back toward the ship. A Nexus official confronted them, but after identifying Nina and Aldo, he retreated quickly. They passed a velvet rope and walked under the ship itself.

“You see here?” Aldo said mildly. “This is where the breach occurred. They made their way up from the lower hold into the crew quarters very quickly.”

Nina gaped at what could only be described as a rip in the skin of the ship. It was in the lower cargo hatch, which would be a weak point in the hull.

“Who breached the ship?”

“Why, the aliens, of course.”

She stared at him. “They are real then? And they were chasing you?”

“Yes, and yes again.”

“What for?”

“Presumably, to prevent us from reaching Ignis Glace.”

Nina blinked and paused, absorbing this information. A foreboding sense overtook her. If they were capable of intercepting another ship at interstellar speeds—all the arrangements of the space defenses over her homeworld seemed suddenly insufficient.

“I’d understood them to be beasts, not technological wizards.”

“They are both, actually,” Aldo said mildly.

“What of the rest of the crew? There can’t be only three of you.”

Aldo nodded. “Right, well, there are only three survivors. It was a close thing, but we defeated the invaders.”

Nina’s heart went cold as the implications of what he was saying sank in. “Three survivors? Where are the rest?”

“The corpses of a dozen more are in the hold. Flash-frozen by the vacuum, I should think. We never ventured inside to check. But they are all quite dead, let me assure you.”

“Aldo, I must ask you this: what of my father?”

Aldo finally turned back to regard her thoughtfully. “Your father? Yes. You would be about the right age I suppose. Lucas Droad is your father, I presume?”

Nina steeled herself for grim news. She felt tears gathering, and she sternly ordered herself not to allow them to bubble up and stream down her cheeks. Why should she cry for a man she’d never met upon hearing of his death? She tried logic and willful stubbornness, but still she suspected she was about to begin bawling in front of this handsome, capable stranger like a princess who’d spilled her ice cream.

“He’s not aboard, my dear. He didn’t come on the trip. Instead, he sent an ambassador, who is now deceased. He also sent me to aid him.”

Nina felt numb. She was relieved and crushed all at once. “He sent others? Why didn’t he come himself?”

“He said he had some kind of—arrangement. With your mother, I believe.”

Nina sighed and walked to examine the rip in the hull more closely. “I see. My mother…of course.”

“I can tell you are upset he did not come himself. But consider: he may not have survived.”

Nina wasn’t listening to him. “My mother drove him away, and forbade him to return, I understand now. She truly was a witch.”

“Olivia Droad is your mother?” Aldo asked. “I am to speak to her.”

Nina gave a harsh laugh. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because I ran this very sword through her body some months back,” Nina said, giving her brother Leon’s sword pommel a resounding slap. “I am Olivia’s heir, the new Baroness of Droad House. You will speak with me privately tonight, after these fops are done pawing at you.”

Aldo’s eyes ran up and down her person, as if reappraising her. He nodded slowly. “Very well, Baroness.”

#

Aldo found that the ‘fops’, as Nina called them, were about to descend. Once they figured out no one else was coming off the ship, and realized these three disreputable-looking characters were the only living creatures aboard, they became the center of attention. Aldo, Joelle and the crazy skald Garth were all swept along in a sea of finely-scented, furred and jeweled persons. All of them spoke at once, saying useless things, but when one known as Duchess Embrak appeared, the others quieted. They soon learned the Duchess ruled here in Lavender City. It was her family’s fiefdom.

The Duchess moved through the crowd as if they were not there, and they melted at her approach, forming a bubble of space in the press. She was tall, blonde, and sour of face. She inspected each of them with cold, calculating eyes.

Aldo stood tall under her inspection, although not so tall as the Duchess herself. Joelle looked annoyed, while Garth appeared addled as always. The skald’s fingers twitched and his face moved in odd patterns. He appeared to be trying to locate an escape route. Aldo smiled faintly, he could not blame the man for that.

There was no escape for any of them, however. As she introduced herself formally, Aldo realized there were strict protocols of behavior in these situations on Ignis Glace, and no warden of protocol was more watchful than Duchess Embrak.

She waved her hand toward a large, ornate building with a roof in the shape and color of a red onion. “Let us walk.”

They followed her, and the crowd slipped away on every side as they approached. Others clearly wanted to greet them, but dared not interrupt while they were in the presence of the Duchess. If for that reason alone, Aldo appreciated her company.

“You three are the ship’s complement—in its entirety?” the Duchess asked.

“We are the survivors, yes,” Joelle answered.

The Duchess’ eyes flicked to her, then back to Aldo. “Who is in command here?”

“I am the Nexus officer in command of the ship,” Joelle said.