The Far Bank of the Rubicon (The Pax Imperium Wars: Volume 1) (14 page)

He chuckled to himself. “Of course, you’re probably much more interested in the gate than in ship’s protocol, eh, Teddy?”

Teddy stepped away from the bulkhead and pointed. “Do you see the way that star on the right is so blue, and it appears to shimmer? It’s the one right next to the edge of the event horizon.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s actually a red star but shifted to the blue because of the acceleration effect of the gate. The shimmer which doesn’t normally happen in the vacuum of space comes from the wormhole continuously trying to collapse in on itself. What we’re doing here isn’t natural. We’re forcing something which wasn’t meant to be forced.”

Jonas didn’t know what to say to that, so he just nodded.

Teddy made a much better student than Jonas ever had been. He had earned a full ride in theoretical physics to a prestigious university at the age of sixteen, although that wasn’t widely known. He would be leaving the palace in a few weeks, right around the same time Jonas graduated from St. Almo’s.

As he watched the main view screen, he felt, rather than saw, Dmitri slip in beside him. The last four years had changed their relationship dramatically. Jonas had grown to depend on his personal secretary and to value his perspective and advice. At the same time, Dmitri had come to embody something of a threat to the prince. All his advice, counsel, cajoling, and pushing was aimed at making Jonas the best possible representative of the House of Athena he could be. Yet, this person that the House of Athena needed wasn't often the person who Jonas wanted to be. He sometimes felt that his mentor pushed him and squeezed him into a mold in which he couldn't fit. He also missed Dimitri's sense of humor, which seemed to have died during the intervening four years.

“Jonas, may I speak to you privately.”

Jonas knew that tone. He was about to get reprimanded for something.

“Dmitri, whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Teddy.”

“As you wish, your Highness.”

Jonas cringed. If Dmitri was using his title, it was bad. He wondered if he had made the right call in having Teddy present.

“You laughed at the renderer's wife.”

“Is that all? Really, all the
sturm und drang
over that?”

“You might make the front page of the Court Reporter tomorrow. The current headline is 'Haughty Prince Shows Contempt for the Provinces.' We’re negotiating.”

Another benefit of the command deck was that it was also one of the places on the ship where the traveling press were not allowed. Jonas continued to look forward as he said, “I couldn't help it. She looked like a camel that had just been at the watering trough with two large humps, and then she was such a ditz.”

Dimitri’s tone turned icy. “She was your royal subject, your Highness. She was a citizen of the House of Athena, and you made her feel dumb. How do you think that makes every commoner in the provinces feel?”

Jonas felt the ever present knot in his stomach get bigger. This wasn't one which Dmitri could laugh off. Jonas changed tack as he turned to look at his mentor. “How bad is it?”

Dmitri shrugged. Now that he had Jonas’ attention, his scolding ended. “It’s not terrible. We will be able to explain it as a reaction to the nausea drugs, but it does mean that we have to reveal that you needed them. Nothing horrible in that, just a bit of making you human.”

Jonas shook his head. “And would that be a bad thing for the House of Athena?”

Dmitri turned and looked out of the ship. “I guess that would depend on the situation.”

A few hours later, after a round of interviews in which he apologized and explained his nausea, Jonas found himself alone in his small quarters. He took out of his desk the Lois Vitreau designer cap which would grant him access to intraspace. He lay down on the bed and put it on. In less than a minute, he stepped out of his transition space and into a simulated garden.

Sophia had picked the venue tonight. She loved neo-realism, so there were no absurdly high waterfalls erupting from floating islands here. It only took him a few seconds to recognize that she had chosen somewhere on Earth as the setting for their rendezvous.

Jonas looked down at his attire. He wore uncomfortable silk tights with navy blue ballooning shorts which hugged his legs at the cuff just above his knee and tall, black, leather boots. He had a white shirt with a lace collar spilling down his chest, and a dark blue waistcoat of the same material as the shorts. A frill of lace-covered ribbon erupted just below the waistcoat where a belt would normally sit. Over all, he wore a lace-embroidered, red cape.

Formal gardens spread out in front of Jonas, full of purple and pink flowers, along with low, manicured hedges. Wide paths of small, shallow gravel ran between them. At the end of the garden lay a sizable fountain and beyond it, a massive monument sat on the hill. While much more formal than the gardens of the palace on Athena, they were nothing but awe-inspiring.

Jonas turned and looked at the building behind him. Even used as he was to monumental buildings, the palace—for clearly this was a palace—impressed him. Painted yellow with white trim, it had a huge double staircase which descended to the gardens.

Sophia Malek materialized at his side, stepping out a door which tore at the reality so carefully constructed by intraspace. The door shut, restoring the alternate reality to wholeness.

With Sophia standing next to him, Jonas felt like he had landed in free-fall.

His initial fascination with the duke’s daughter had drifted into an easy familiarity years ago.
And then there were still moments
, thought Jonas.

Sophia wore yellow satin, billows of yellow satin, miles of yellow satin, except where it was cut low and off her shoulders so that Jonas couldn’t help but notice the swell of her breasts, which were clearly pushed up from below. It all complemented her fair skin, freckles, and flaxen hair.

The prince tried to concentrate. He wanted to say something intelligent and witty. He settled for, “Where are we?”

Four years had changed both him and Sophia. Gone was the fourteen-year-old who had been intimidated by Jonas’ home, and in her place rose a playful and confident young woman. Sophia laughed. “So I take it you like my dress?”

The comment startled Jonas. He had tried not to stare. Apparently, he hadn’t been successful. “Yes, very much.” Get it together, Jonas.

Sophia smiled wickedly and then curtsied—bowing forward a little as she did so.

Jonas blushed.

Sophia stood. “We’re at the Schonbrunn palace. It’s where the Habsburg monarchy would go to escape from outbreaks of disease during the summer in Vienna, fifteen hundred years ago on Earth. It was built in the early eighteenth century, after the defeat of the Ottoman empire in 1695. The original design was meant to outshine Versailles. In the end, the Habsburgs didn’t have the money, but the gardens are still fun to visit.”

Sophia instinctively reached out her hand to take Jonas’. “Come on, follow me.” Jonas passed his hand through hers. There was no sensation of touch, even though every sensation of the garden projected into Jonas’ mind—from the taste of the water to the smell of the grass—seemed real.

“Will your dad ever turn that thing off?”

“Not until I’m of age.”

Jonas looked up hopefully. Sophia’s eighteenth birthday was just a few weeks away.

“Actually, never.” Sophia laughed seeing Jonas’ look.

For the next hour, Jonas and Sophia idly chatted as they aimlessly walked the paths of the garden.

“Do you remember our walk in the garden the first time we met?” Sophia asked.

“Of course. It’s the only time we’ve actually been together in person. How could I forget?”

“It set the tone, didn’t it? We’ve met in gardens on a regular basis ever since.”

“I love to smell the growing things.”

Sophia nodded and led him onward.

Sometime later, Jonas found himself lying on the grass near the edge of a fountain. Sophia sat on the rim above him. It amazed Jonas how long they could just talk about nothing. He never got bored with Sophia. “So, it looks like I’m going to make the papers again.”

Sophia looked at him with mock disgust. “Oh, Jonas, what did you do this time?”

“Well, I laughed.”

“You didn't. How dare you find humor in anything. Don't you know that humor isn't beneficial for the House of Athena?”

“Oh, it's worse than that. I actually laughed at a citizen.” Jonas went on to describe Rena, the renderer's wife, and her behavior.

By the time he was done, Sophia was laughing hysterically. Jonas grinned. He loved it when he made Sophia laugh. Jonas laughed himself. He got up off the grass and pranced around, giving what he believed was a perfect imitation of Rena and her overgrown bosom.

Suddenly, he turned and looked at Sophia, and an unexpected quiet came over him. “Sophie?”

Sophia looked up at him with the corners of her mouth in a grin. “Yes?”

“I just wanted you to know that you’re my best friend. I don't feel lonely when I’m with you. I can be myself.” Jonas gave a shy, embarrassed shrug. “Thanks.”

Sophia's grin turned to a full smile. “Jonas, there isn't anyone in this galaxy I trust as much as you.” She reached out her hand toward him. Jonas reached out in return, and their hands passed through each other.

“Are you any closer to deciding what you’re going to do about schooling?”

Sophia sighed. “I don’t know, Jonas.” She frowned and wrinkled her forehead.

Jonas sat down next to her on the edge of the fountain.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to convince my dad that I shouldn’t end up at court when I come of age.”

They’d been over this ground before, and Jonas felt conflicted. On the one hand, he didn’t want to see Sophia end up like the regulars at court. The finishing school offered for them tended to create vapid, social climbers. He didn’t think Sophia would fit well in that environment. On the other hand, for purely selfish reasons, he would love to have Sophia around the palace on a regular basis. He wanted to be able to actually touch her.

Sophia continued, “Besides, I can’t see the St. Agnes’s Finishing School offering a coursework in comparative xenobiology.”

Jonas laughed. “Probably not. Comparative attire and hairstyles maybe, but not xenobiology. Well, maybe something will work out. I have an idea, but I don’t want to say anything until I talk to my dad about it. For now, just don’t give up.”

Jonas decided he wanted to change the mood. “So, we have about 15 minutes left. I’m done with Schonbrunn. I want to see something a little more active. Any ideas?”

Sophia thought for a moment, “I heard on the net today that the spring meteor showers are at their peak on Huygens 4. What do you say we go and see them?”

“Sounds good.”

For the next few minutes, Jonas and Sophia stood side-by-side as they looked up from the top of a tall mountain and watched with their minds as green and blue sparks crossed the sky.

Athenian Guided Missile Cruiser,
Kronos
, November 30th, Pax year 317, 22:06 UTC,

Patrolling near the Pluton Nebula DMZ:

“Captain, Sensors. Contact. Relative bearing ninety by one-twenty. Speed point one six UPH. Their direction of travel matches their bearing, Sir. They’re coming right at us. The computer is spitting out a ‘bogey.’ The shape and signature are similar to a Unity Fast Destroyer, but the thumbprint isn’t in the database.”

“Thank you, Rian. Get a sample, so we can send it back to command.” Captain Dieter Ramus put down his cup of coffee and looked up, although he remained slumped in his chair.

“Rian, what’s the distance to the target?”

The short-haired sailor answered, “Right around twenty-five thousand kilometers. They hid behind asteroid d-sixteen, or I would have had them earlier. I’d say they were coming from somewhere deeper in-system.”

Ramus turned casually to the navigator sitting to his right with a VR helmet in place. “Helm, put us zero by zero and match speed. It looks like the Korpis want to play today.” he looked at his XO, a man named Joe Gordon, and said, “Sound general quarters.”

As he spoke to his weapons officer, the lighting on the bridge changed, taking on a red cast. “Weapons, standard procedure. Keep our weapons safed, but give me a time to firing range.”

At the back of the bridge, Jack Halloway stood up straight, removing his arm from the instrument panel he had been leaning on for the last ten minutes. In the past two years, in the shared Pluton system, it had become common for Allied navies to face off against Unity vessels who charged at the border. While no expert, Jack knew enough military tactics to understand that the captain of the
Kronos
was working to make sure his vessel no longer ran broadside to the enemy.

The sensors officer spoke up again. “Captain, I make a firing time for the Korpi of two minutes, twenty-four seconds.”

“Very well.”

Jack stood behind the fleet admirals, marine generals and other muckety-mucks, who were the real target of the presentation. For many of them, this was the first time they had actually stood on the bridge of the
Kronos
, and that exemplified to Jack everything which was wrong with the admiralty. He, on the other hand, had been here many times. As King Nicholas’ personal adviser on all matters related to the Unity, the
Kronos
had been a bit of an obsession for Jack over the last four months. It meant something.

The fact that the admirals stood here at all had only happened because, behind the scenes, Jack had pushed the King to ask the admiralty to look deeper into the incident. This was really his presentation.
In a passive-aggressive sort of way
, thought Jack.

“Helm, give me our time to the border.”

“At our current speed, forty seconds.”

“Thank you.” There were a few seconds of silence while the captain watched the situation unfold.

“Captain.” The tone from the young sensor officer registered the first note of concern on the bridge. “They aren’t breaking off. They’re coming right at the border. They will cross into Allied space in less than thirty seconds.”