Chapter 11

One of the first things you notice about the people of Radiance is their white or silverish hair, particularly when you get close. They all, without fail, tend to wear a coverall with a tight hood when outdoors, even in the controlled environment of the station. Our dress, of course, had immediately identified us as outsiders, though I was picking up no signs of hostility. Still, I soon set up in a covered market and began to sketch the inhabitants as they went about their daily lives whilst Liono set herself up where she could observe me. Torric had headed off to the medical centre to pick up any details of specific conditions and if they needed extra resources, as well as see if there were any issues that weren’t getting back to Vreekoos. Verlig and Haelee were off to visit the local ImpSec office and find out what the various Corporates were doing, before doing their own nosing around. Sakla was currently travelling down to the surface to look over the various sites Amanda would be visiting before he checked in with the surface ImpSec.

“What are you doing?” one of the vendors asked as he paused in his work.

“Sketching the scenes to show in an exposition on Vreekoos,” I replied with a friendly smile.

“Really? Can’t imagine they’d be that interested in our general activities,” he replied.

“Well, the Princess is here, so they’ll be interested.”

“Guess so. Whoa, you’re good!”

“Thank you. I can sketch you if you’d like?”

“Maybe later, got work to do,” he nodded then headed off.

“You can draw me if you want,” a young boy piped up.

“My pleasure,” I chuckled. “So, what’s it like living here?”

“It’s OK, lots to do and school is fun,” he replied as a crowd began to gather.

“You like school?”

“Yeah, our AI and teacher always make lessons good. We even visit the surface.”

“What’s it like down there?”

“Hot and bright. We got to always wear our coveralls and covers ... oh, and never look up to the sky or you get to visit the medical centre.”

“Wow, that’s different.”

“Yep, the AI says other worlds are OK to do that on, but not Radiance.”

“Guess so. Here’s your sketch,” I replied, handing it over.

“Thanks. Wow! That’s great.”

“Get the AI to seal it.”

“I will.”

“Anyone else?” I asked, getting a flood of volunteers.

It was soon pretty obvious that the station was a good place to live and bring up kids. There appeared to be little crime and certainly no gang activity. That was in part down to the low numbers living there, but the people, particularly the natives, seemed to have inherently good manners as part of their culture anyway.

“That’s because the planet itself can be dangerous and neighbours help each other out,” the original vendor explained as he came back with his wife and daughter to be sketched.

“It’s a good culture to have,” I agreed.

“Yes, we’re told other planets have wild gangs,” his wife replied.

“Only on the lower levels. Even there they tend to behave, going too far will get the likes of the Guardians after them.”

“Oh, we call ours Peacekeepers.”

“Same people, different name on a good few planets,” I chuckled.

“You come from Vreekoos?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“What is it like?”

“Erm ... big, occasionally crowded, but generally a nice enough place to live, even in most of the lower levels,” I explained.

“I hear the Empress has a whole continent to herself?”

“She does, though it’s a small one and there are a few other people who live and work there as well.”

“Don’t people get jealous?”

“No, not really, there are big parks and open areas on the main continent as well.”

“Oh, I just thought they might.”

“There’s lots more to do on the main continent, probably less boring,” I chuckled.

“Are you here to sketch the Princess as well?” she asked.

“Yes, though I did that earlier when it was more crowded.”

“We were all thrilled when she chose to visit us.”

“She is popular, yes.”

“I know, but doesn’t the Empress get worried about her daughter being more popular than she is?” the vendor asked.

“I suspect Her Serenissima is far too busy with running the Empire to worry about that,” I chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he chuckled in return. “Probably why no one complains about her having her own continent; she needs somewhere to relax away from it all.”

“You know, I think you’re right,” I nodded and handed over the sketch.

“So, nothing really to report?” Amanda asked when we all assembled before attending the reception given to honour her visit.

“Nothing I picked up on the lower levels, just a few warnings not to look up when on the surface and a bit of speculation as to why your Mum has a whole continent to play with,” I chuckled.

“Oh, that continent thing came about by design when the ship captains of the conquering ‘adventurers’ decided they weren’t going to live amongst their crews and the ... assimilated native miners,” Amanda admitted.

“And like a lot of things with the Empire, once a tradition starts it’s damned hard to get around it,” Haelee giggled.

“You got that right,” Amanda smiled.

“Most seem to think she deserves it because she works so hard,” I shrugged.

“She does, but that’s mostly in Vreekoos itself, not the palace. She only uses that for Security Group meetings.”

“Nothing going on in the ImpSec observations either,” Verlig added, bringing the conversation back on track.

“Medical centre had nothing either. The people here are really well behaved,” Torric noted as well.

“Their history is one where everyone pitches in together to make life easier for all,” I explained.

“A good system for a not so friendly environment,” Amanda agreed. “OK, let’s party and mingle and see if there’s anything we missed.”

The meet and greet went pretty much as planned, along with the rest of the reception as the station ‘elite’ got to meet Amanda and fell under her charm, like so many others. Other than gossip on who was up to what there were no signs of any major issues within the station itself and so we retired back to the Gloriana before our trip down to the planetary surface.

Our dress for the trip down was decidedly different from our normal clothing. The coveralls were designed for the planet itself and contained a miniature cooling matrix as well as being totally resistant to ultra-violet radiation, unlike the natives who could get away with normal clothing. Ours also contained a hood to cover our heads as well as a clip-on visor to assist with the brightness, which, we had been told, could even be an issue on a cloudy day. To reduce the effects of the glare we also wore contact lenses.

Still, there were massive crowds gathered at the shuttleport to greet us and a massive cheer rang out when Amanda emerged and waved to the crowd. It was incredibly bright, even with the contact lenses we were all wearing. The Governor, who was a native, simply wore sun glasses though, as well as a far more comfortable-looking dress coverall.

“Serenissimé, welcome to Radiance,” he greeted us under a canopy, which had, no doubt, been assembled for the purpose as it was seriously hot in the manner of a deep desert.

“It is a great pleasure to be here and visit one of the Empire’s unique marvels,” Amanda replied with a broad smile.

“Unique, yes, but we are still Imperial subjects,” he nodded.

“And a planet that produced one of the greatest Imperial heroes within recent history. For which the Empress herself acknowledges what a jewel in her diadem Radiance is,” Amanda replied in all sincerity, making the crowd gasp then begin cheering like thunder.

“You honour us,” the Governor replied in obvious pleasure at Amanda’s reply.

“The Empress recognises the truth of my statement. The honour is ours for the efforts of sub-Commander Loss on our behalf.”

Amanda then went on a walkabout, taking her time to meet and greet the masses who were clearly thrilled to be able to see her in person. As ever she took special pains to talk to the young and accepted with a warm smile their home-made offerings, many of them encrusted with a shimmering dusting of the crystalline rock formations to be seen everywhere. Although it was incredibly hot by our normal standards, Amanda took her time before we finally departed to attend an event presented by the Peacekeepers. Here they showed off their sword wielding skills, to both Trusha and Liono’s particular fascination as well as our own. Again, afterwards Amanda went down and congratulated the participants and the head of the Peacekeepers presented her with a blade which she accepted graciously. Afterwards we were escorted to the Governor’s Palace to rest and refresh as well as cool down. Torric examined us all, mostly for dehydration but also inadvertent UV exposure.

“Wow, seriously warm out there,” I sighed as I downed a cool drink.

“It was, but the treatments we had plus the clothing we wore minimised any outdoor exposure we faced,” Torric replied. “You’re all OK, nothing at all to worry about.”

“Nice blade,” Verlig commented as he examined it along with Liono.

“Yes, very sharp and very deadly. You should look for a way to carry it with you when out and about doing your own thing,” Liono added.

“I rather think the AIs might object,” Amanda commented. “Princess or not, it isn’t a recognised tool of any trade except Ground Force.”

“Can we wear our normal finery at the reception?” Haelee asked.

“Yes,” the AI replied. “It will be after dark and hence quite safe.”

“Good. Despite how effective these coveralls are, they aren’t exactly stylish,” Amanda commented with a smile.

“Too true,” I chuckled as, unlike our normal wear, they were quite bulky.

“They’re keeping you alive and healthy, so don’t complain,” Torric chuckled.

“I’m not,” Haelee giggled. “Just prefer something more stylish for formal occasions.”

“Me too,” Amanda agreed.

“Tomorrow we’re off to open the new crystal mines in the Glass Mountains,” Trusha informed us. “Well, Amanda is. Sakla reports that they are safe enough from a security standpoint, though they do have a labour dispute in the offing.”

“Anything serious?” Amanda asked with a frown.

“Poor quality equipment. Sakla’s passed on something for you to look into, Verlig, Haelee.”

“We can do that after the reception,” Verlig replied. “It’s likely down to cost cutting and using cheaper equipment not designed for the special conditions here.”

“See what you can find out. If it’s deliberate, report it to ImpSec. There’s no excuse for this sort of thing,” Amanda ordered.