Salvage Mind (Salvage Race Book 1) by Jones David Alan

Author:Jones, David Alan [Jones, David Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 16

The flight down from the Emperor Nikolai took less than twenty minutes. Symeon spent that time watching Bastrayavich grow from a blue-green sphere on a holo projector into a landscape covered in life, its jungles at this latitude seemingly endless. Roughly the same mass as Phoenix, the fecund moon boasted a diverse ecosystem largely untouched by people.

Humans.

Symeon nodded.

Bastrayavich boasted one city, the capital of the Shorvexan Empire, Bishkek, a symbol of the empire’s wealth and might. By royal decree, no other part of the planet could be despoiled, and, besides some small robotic mining operations, the Shorvex adhered to this law. Of course, the city grew every year, spreading out from the emperor’s palace at its center in a haphazard pattern like mold, but it was nowhere near as large as some metropolitan areas on Phoenix.

Symeon watched through his passenger view screen as the sprawling city hove into view, its forerunners the square patchwork of farms tended by Luxing slaves and robots. Increasingly taller and more intricate skyscrapers dedicated to industry and living spaces followed soon after. Personal flyers darted between them, their shiny exteriors gleaming in the yellow sun.

The emperor’s palace stood upon a hill at the center of it all, bordered by a circular park two kilometers in diameter. While not as tall as the skyscrapers surrounding it—its largest tower a mere five hundred ninety-five meters high—the palace more than made up for its lack of space with abundant grandeur. Shaped like an inverted egg, the thinnest portion at the bottom, the main building’s multifaceted surface could change color according to the occupants’ whims. Today, it bore red in the center, though the hue lightened to a delicate pink as it spread to the edges of the Great Egg. More impressive, at least to Symeon’s mind, the palace floated twenty meters above the planet’s surface. He couldn’t imagine the energy costs to maintain that type of repulsor field running year after year, but the royal house likely took it in stride.

“It’s quite the spectacle, isn’t it?” Kavya asked. She sat in a plush chair facing Symeon, her silver-blue eyes on the holo monitor affixed to her seat, watching the landscape flip from one angle to another. “It’s meant to overawe the vassal houses with the emperor’s might.”

Czarina, who was riding down on a separate shuttle meant for lesser Luxing slaves, had dressed Kavya in a diaphanous red gown that hinted at revealing the princess’ body underneath and yet covered her perfectly.

“It does a fine job of that, Princess.”

“I suppose.” Kavya swiped away the image. “We’ll be in the thick of it all in a few minutes. Any last words of advice before we start this charade?”

Tell the emperor that the subjugation of the Luxing is a crime against nature and should be ended this very hour.

Symeon shook his head as much for Yudi’s intrusive commentary as the princess’ question. “No, Princess. I think you’re ready. Remember to step first with your left foot, and everything else will fall into place.

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