With the cold metal railing in his hands, Foton
leaned over the balcony; a large semi-circle that jutted out of the
Spire not far from its pointed peak. From here, Foton could see to
the edge of New Orbus and to the dusty stone ruins of Orbus beyond.
He looked down to the streets surrounding the Spire. There were
landmobiles on the grey roads, their anti-gravity generators negating
the need for wheels. Foton disliked landmobiles; they didn't have the
sense of freedom that aeros had. The aeros had full 3-Dimensional
movement, within certain bounds; they were to go no higher than 1500
Standards due to aerospace regulations. Sometimes, Foton wished he
could forget his responsibilities and just fly, free of society's
restraints and the bounds of gravity.
Foton moved along the balcony, his arms gliding
along the smooth metal railing. From this position, he could see more
of the parks that been specially grown for this metal hulk of a
landmass. While he could not see the people in them, he knew that
there would be children there, playing together under the watchful
eyes of their parents; this wasn't like Raan, where children were
brought up by Raisers. Further away, Foton could see the ten
biodomes, each mimicking the average climate of one of the other
planets in the Twelve, aside from Oblivion. This allowed New Orbus to
grow food and host animals from all of the planets, not having to
rely on trade in case of emergency. These were huge, each the size of
small towns or large villages; the populace were not running out of
food any-time soon. These were guarded by a collection of orbital
systems, which Foton could just about make out from his viewpoint as
a group of silver dots in the sky. But these were no-where near as
well protected as the Anti-Gravity generator that suspended New Orbus
above the surface of Orbus. Not only were they monitored by a
stealth-orbital system, but their locations were kept a secret, with
several decoys. Each had a mag-pulse generator, to repel
high-speeding metal projectiles, and the thick, dense casing should
be enough to repel orbital cannons. From his viewpoint, Foton could
see one of the decoys; he knew where the real one was. These were
giant cuboid buildings, stretching almost 1000 Standards into the
sky; unmissable, but necessary to house the hulking machinery within.
He started as a sound disturbed him. Turning, he
saw an Irinian woman walking towards him. She was tall, but not as
tall as Foton, and very slender. At certain angles, her skin had a
faint silver shimmer; metal fibres were inserted into Irinians' skin
at birth to protect against the planet's weather. Running along the
left side of her face, stretching from eye to her ear, before
travelling down to the side of her mouth was an Irinian Augmentation,
or Aug for short. “Foton,” she said, bowing her head.
“No need to bow to me, Teriva.” Foton said,
smiling. “What brings you here?”
“I came to see Tahkshi,”Teriva said. “You're
his bodyguard, where is he?”
“He's gone to talk to someone.” Foton answered
solemnly. “Have you heard about Raan?”
Teriva sighed. “Yeah. And still my sister
refuses to come to the capital.”
“Maybe Arias doesn't want to pledge her armies
in a war that may only last a few days,” Foton suggested, “although
the Xaosians are pretty serious; they're not gonna give up.”
“Exactly.” Teriva agreed. She ran a hand
through her black hair. “I only came here to Tahkshi, and now I'm a
political mediator.”
“Tell me about it.” Foton said
light-heartedly, “I'm practically an ambassador for Prauw.”
Teriva chuckled, twisting her mouth as if trying
to hide her smile. “I never knew you were from Prauw.” she said,
folding her arms. “I always assumed Raan.”
“Wha', and talk like this, ma'e?” Foton said
in a Raanian accent.
“Wow...” Teriva said, “You should be an
enemy of Raan for that accent! And I meant the wealthier parts.”
“Nah, Prauw. It's not the best place, but it's
simple.” Foton stated.
Teriva nodded, “Simple's good.”
They fell into silence for a moment, before
Foton's pocket emitted a high-pitched squeal. He pulled a com out of
it and pressed the button in the centre. “Foton here.”
“I know,” came the voice of Lord Tahkshi,
president of the Empire of Twelve, “otherwise your com wouldn't be
ringing. Can you pick up Devilclash and meet me at Buun's com-room?”
“Why?” asked Foton, annoyed at Tahkshi's
sarcastic comment.
“Because Buun would be a good ally in our war
with the Xaosians.” Tahkshi said.
“Alright then.” Foton said, before glancing
over at Teriva. “By the way, Teriva's here.”
“Is she?” Tahkshi's voice sounded more
enthused now. “Pass me over please.”
Foton mentally grinned as he passed the com over;
one mention of Teriva would suddenly make Tahkshi polite. Teriva
began talking into the com, but Foton ignored her; it didn't matter
to him what they were saying. There was a sudden giggling and Foton
saw Teriva's cheeks redden. She waked over to Foton, still talking
into the com. “Love you too!” she called into the com, before
passing it back to Foton, who raised an eyebrow; she was acting like
the child she would've been thirty years ago.
“So, the Buun com-room with Devilclash?” Foton
affirmed.
“Yeah, see you soon.” Tahkshi finished, before
the com began to buzz; the call was over. Foton pushed the com's
button and the buzzing stopped, before replacing it in his pocket.
“What are you doing now?” Foton asked Teriva.
“I'm going to wait for him here.” she said,
leaning on the balcony's railing. “You should probably be going.”
“See you later.” Foton said, turning away.
He walked into the Spire, before entering an
elevator, which took him down to the penultimate floor. From there,
he went into the Tracking room, where he went over to the central
computer and placed his thumb on the pad in front of it. This checked
his thumbprint against the one on the database, whilst monitoring his
pulse to make sure that there was one, or that he was not panicked or
coerced into opening the system. A red light turned green and the
screen turned on, displaying a map of each of the Spire's floors, all
of them covered with blue shapes. Each blue shape was a bodyguard,
all of whom had chips implanted in them; in Devilclash's case, it was
attached to the Hive-Stone rather than in the neck. The Tracking
room's purpose was to allow Foton, as the chief bodyguard, to find
and track the other guards. He brought up a search box and typed in
“DEVILCLASH-pyr”. She was on the seventh floor, standing in the
main hall. Foton sighed; the Buun room was on the floor below the one
he was on, nowhere near the seventh. For a moment, he wondered why
Tahkshi hadn't just commed her as well, but then he remembered that
Devilclash couldn't carry a com with her all the time. On the way out
of the room, he spied the old building-com; this allowed him to
communicate with everyone in the building, or on one floor, at once.
He dusted it off and plugged it in, before selecting Floor 7 from the
menu. He cleared his throat, before saying, “Devilclash, please
meet Foton outside the Buun com-room. Repeat, Devilclash to the Buun
com-room.” He watched Devilclash's dot move towards the nearest
elevator. Foton smiled and nodded, before walking out of the Tracking
Room and moving towards the stairs to the floor beneath.
Twelve doors set in a circle greeted him as he
arrived on the com-floor. The door he had came through and another
door led to stairs, spiralling in opposing directions; one up, one
down. The other ten doors led to separate com rooms; one for each of
the Twelve, aside from New Orbus and Oblivion. One to Foton's left
had “BUUN” engraved on a plaque attached to it. Pressing his ear
to the door, Foton could hear Tahkshi's soft and soothing “political
voice”.
“Should you really be listening?” came a
rasping voice.
“Devilclash,” Foton said, turning to see the
Pyrkagias. “You got here quickly.”
She began to walk over to him, but her feet didn't
touch the floor; they never did. “D.” Foton asked, “Why do you
bother to do the actions? Or even look human?”
“The Primary recommends it, so that we can fit
in.” Devilclash said, “It doesn't work though, people still tend
keep away from us. Also, I think it's a nice form.”
“It is.” Foton admired the Pyrkagia; powerful,
immortal and somewhat graceful. For a swarm of bugs, anyway.
The door to the Buun com-room opened and Lord
Tahkshi emerged, his red and gold lord's robe billowing behind him.
“Foton. Devilclash.” Tahkshi acknowledged them both with a brief
nod.
“Why did you want us, sir?” Foton asked.
“Well, Foton, I'm pretty sure you know your job
description; you're my bodyguard, and you will guard my body.”
Tahkshi said. Foton bit back a retort. “And you, Devilclash;
partially for the same reason, but also because of your species. The
Pykagian Primary refuses to talk over coms; we have to go to Buun to
ask for his help.” Tahkshi turned to Foton. “I'm assuming you've
never been to Buun before?”
“You assume wrong.” said Foton.
“Really?” Tahkshi said, his voice going
higher-pitched in his surprise. “Good. Nixiin has the ship ready
for us, so can you two go there now? I'm going to see Teriva
quickly.”
“You had better be quick.” Foton said, his
deep voice becoming more of a growl.
Tahkshi ignored him and walked away at a brisk
pace.
Devilclash turned to Foton. “Have you really
been to Buun?”
“Yes.” Foton said. “I wouldn't lie to my
client.”
“But you hate him.” Devilclash stated; not a
question, but an utterance of fact.
“Not hate.” Foton said. “Distaste, but not
hate.”
“So, why'd you go to Buun?” Devilclash asked.
Foton paused for a moment, before looking at
Devilclash and saying, “Fancied a change of scenery.”
She gave Foton a strange look and said “Okay
then.”
He nodded, before turning and walking to the
stairs heading downwards, knowing that she didn't believe him.
