Chapter 49

The reception at the Governor’s residence was fun. Security was a little tighter in the way of AI scans, but not intrusive. As ever, Amanda was the centre of attention, but, for once, I was running her a close second. Naturally a good few simply wanted a sketch of themselves made, but others just wanted to speak to the ‘Imperial Consort’, my new title and not one I was getting used to any time soon.

It was, in essence a made-up title in that most past Emperors and Empresses had married into the lesser nobility as an Imperial dictate prevented a marriage into the higher nobility in order to prevent inbreeding, though these days the AIs and their compatibility index prevented that. Not that the unredacted histories hid the fact that many Emperors and Empresses had lovers, though a genotype test on the heir was always scrupulously carried out and if you had bad genes, you were out of the succession, no matter the power and influence of the ruler. Hence, unsurprisingly the first two children of the ruler had tended to be quite legitimate. After that it got a bit murky at times, though I was aware that Amantil was the genuine daughter of the Emperor Dittra and his wife Callasa, something she had made sure the newsies knew in order to prevent speculation on her legitimacy as Empress.

There naturally had been good and bad Emperors and Empresses over the Imperial centuries since the days of Amantus the Great, though few were tyrants. It was suspected that the AIs had special protocols hard wired in ... so to speak, to allow for their elimination. Naturally there was no proof of this and the AIs denied its existence when occasionally queried. The only one whom it was suspected might know was Court Arbiter Wellat, and he wasn’t saying either.

So, here I was, at the reception with a new title that was simply just that. It didn’t ennoble me, it didn’t afford me any powers or rights over and above that of a normal subject of my class, and it didn’t give anyone hearing it a clue as to what to do when meeting me.

“Just ignore it,” I chuckled as I sketched Lanci, the Governor’s wife.

“Thank you,” she smiled in return. “Speculation was rife that it entitled you to a half bow of respect at formal occasions.”

“I think it just marks me as officially Amanda’s,” I replied slightly mystified, with a shake of the head.

“Probably, though I doubt she’ll ever use it, from what little I know of her.”

“She hasn’t yet,” I agreed, as Amanda was slightly bemused by the title as well.

“So, any differences in your life since the engagement?” a young lady called Hanni asked.

“I get asked when the wedding will be rather than when are you getting engaged,” I chuckled.

“Oh, my goodness,” she laughed. “Really?”

“Yes, despite the fact it is completely out of our hands,” I replied with a smile.

“Even Amanda’s?”

“Yes, it will be a state occasion. We’ll be consulted, but that’s all. We won’t really get a say on a date.”

“I can see that being awkward.”

“Both of us know the position. It has more to do with the guest list than us.”

“Ah, yes, the availability of foreign dignitaries,” she nodded.

“Yep,” I chuckled and handed over the sketch.

Tunli frowned as he studied the Princess’s itinerary for the visit. It looked like getting near this artist through the activities of the Princess would be extremely difficult due to the obvious security set-up around them. Anyone getting close would be scanned and it was now obvious they were using medical sniffers to pick up traces of battle-drugs. Also worrying was the lack of contact from the elders and what that meant for the task at hand. He had not, naturally, approached any organisations on this planet, though he knew of one beholden to his group. Missions like this required no leads back to a client and so he remained in his room, tracking the Princess by the public networks which, whilst being obsessed with trivia, also were forthcoming with her itinerary and hence the possibility of killing the one responsible for bringing down two of the brotherhood.

As it was a rest day for Amanda, she and I were out in Kansdoorf City experiencing some of the sights as well as getting a feel for the sentiments of the people away from officialdom. Hence, currently we were exploring a market famous for where the traitor Cillort and his cabal had been captured. There were two monuments, one placed at where he’d been caught, by my dad, of all people. The other was more poignant, and listed the people butchered by Cillort in his hideout and in a separate section, those in the market when his cabal had used hyperbeams on unarmed civilians to try and get away.

“Such a melancholy spot,” Amanda sighed as we both knelt down to say a prayer to the gods to be gentle with the souls of the murdered civilians.

“It is, though well looked after by the people here,” I replied, once we’d said our silent prayer.

“Unlike the Cillort one,” she nodded. “It’s not exactly neglected, but I think people couldn’t care less about the man, these days.”

“You got that right, miss,” one of the vendors, a food seller, replied. “I was here that day. We were all stunned by the sheer contempt his followers showed to us when he fired on seeing the two Troopers.”

“I thought Cure David caught him,” Amanda said.

“He did, though he didn’t stand out as he wasn’t in armour, so they more or less ignored him,” the vendor explained. “Still have a tri-dee of him and me. He used to grab a snack here.”

“A terrible crime, from a terrible man,” I sighed.

“Before that you’d not have found many agreeing that he was,” the vendor replied. “Oh, there are some who like to pretend they remained loyal to the Empire. But until that, we still supported him in a sense, even if the Empire Troopers weren’t behaving like the monsters we expected.”

“I think they are just people like you and me,” Amanda acknowledged.

“Yeah, you forget that a little when all you see is the armour,” he nodded as we sat and ordered two tuchs.

On sitting I pulled out my pad and sketched the monument, including the fresh flowers positioned around it. I also added some ghostly figures around it including two children holding a baby with tears in their eyes.

“Oh wow! That’s ... that’s so beautiful,” the vendor said when he brought over the tuchs.

“AI, could you seal it and frame it, please?” I requested, adding my signature.

“Of course, Dayyev,” a reply came as the AI grav lifted the drawing and carried it away to an info-point.

“Dayyev, you said?” the vendor asked me quietly.

“Yes, here incognito to pay my respects,” I replied.

“No problem,” he nodded and went about his business as I made other sketches, including one of him and his wife.

Amanda and I placed the sketch with the flowers, before bowing our heads again and returning to the Governor’s residence.

“Welcome back,” Governor Zuras greeted us enthusiastically. “Your presence out and about whilst incognito has been noticed.”

“How?” I queried.

“A signed print, clearly a Dayyev original left at the memorial monument near the median market,” he explained.

“So, someone noticed the picture?” I shrugged.

“Yes, the AIs are blocking attempts to view the feed and the locals aren’t speaking either,” he confirmed.

“Nice of them, though only one of them realised who I actually was,” I chuckled. “None of them guessed it was Amanda who was with me, or at least said so openly.”

“Yes, what few reports the newsies have gleaned simply said it was a nice polite young man who sketched the monument and left it there having paid his respects.”

“Getting harder and harder not to be noticed,” I sighed.

“Yes, unfortunately your talent is somewhat unique,” Amanda commiserated me.

“So long as it only gets out afterwards, I guess.”

“In this case, yes. Though there’s now a steady stream of people coming to see the monument ... or rather your gift,” Zuras acknowledged.

“It was never meant to be the centre of attraction, just a means of paying my respects,” I sighed.

“I’m sure most are aware of that, even if they have come to see an original work of yours,”

“AI, can we see?” I asked.

A small but steady trickle of people, mostly locals, according to the AI, were seen coming up to the monument. Most looked at the picture, but also stopped to say a prayer in respect. Many also left with tears in their eyes, clearly having known some of the victims.

“I think I can definitely say that you did a good thing, Dayyev,” Zuras finally said.

“Yes, I think you’re right,” Amanda agreed.

The following day, we were back doing Amanda’s itinerary in the form of a visit to a higher learning college specialising in training space construction engineers. Naturally the students were delighted to see us and got to show off their skills in a massive grav free zone almost the size of a grav-ball stadium where they learned the techniques of moving, assembling and testing various structures in a gravity free environment.

“That does look very spectacular,” Amanda commented to the Head of the College.

“Yes, it still fills me with awe after my many years,” she agreed. “Though, if working in space, everything tends to be very much larger.”

“Still, a unique place to train,” Amanda nodded. “There’s nothing like it on any world I’ve visited.”

“Yes, most other colleges have to take their students up into orbit to train and, whilst cheap enough, it is time consuming as well as slightly more dangerous.”

“They do seem to enjoy it, despite any danger.”

“Yes, we tend to be oversubscribed,” the Head nodded.

I was getting all of this down on paper and trying to get a handle on the scale of the operation. Normally my work, other than a few natural landscapes, involves showing the faces and expressions of people. In this though they were dwarfed by the sections they were joining. Still, I did my best, as well as catching up with those involved for a personal sketch.