Voyage of the Void-Lost by Stephen Hunt

Author:Stephen Hunt [Stephen Hunt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Green Nebula
Published: 2023-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Green Riding Hood

Zeno appeared overjoyed to see Lana not only alive but un-tortured inside the Baronial chambers. The android’s escort of soldiers stepped back as he approached her. ‘You eventually got through to one of these fleshy Medieval Re-enactment Society members, then, skipper?’

‘Just about,’ said Lana. ‘Green Riding Hood over there is Doctor Rayli Saxe of the Guild of Artificers. Her guild still seems to possess half a clue as to their origins and the fact their world isn’t simply a tube-shaped planet. They’ve been keeping the flame of technology alive in this habitat, such as it exists.’

The young woman was currently deep in conversation with Baron Demeter, who seemed to have a few issues grasping the pertinent facts as outlined by Lana to the good doctor. The remaining members of the Baron’s local court moped around, mainly looking tough in armour. But to be fair, their role inside a basic feudal system was pretty much just hanging about flashing muscles, until truculent peasants needed to be reminded of their lowly place in the hierarchy on the sharp end of a piece of steel.

‘Where’s Sally and her hit team?’ asked the android.

‘I thought it might be best for diplomacy’s sake to leave her languishing inside a cell for a little longer,’ said Lana. ‘Having Lady Cho and her squad of rowdies trying to stab the guards, the doctor, and the Baron will not do us any favours moving forward.’

‘Doctor Rayli Saxe is what passes for a scientist here? Her guild, they have a cadet branch, or is she still studying?’

‘In this society, the rest of the court look down on the doc for not having squeezed out a couple of children already,’ said Lana. ‘She’s a sharp cookie, age notwithstanding. The kid’s committed to memory the equivalent of half the Gravity Rose’s library, like a walking technical manual – albeit one grounded in the Terran 1970s. Her guild maintains access to the station’s functioning systems, including CCTV. I gave her a gander of the Gravity Rose on their sensors, which is what won us our audience here. The kid’s also got a hidden radio transmitter good for local Guild-to-Guild comms. The guild tries to dress up their technology as magic. Keeps the grasping nobles in awe and in line.’

‘I bow down before the awesome and mighty Oz,’ noted Zeno, sarcastically. ‘Did you get any sense from the kid on how the hell this rust-bucket ended up all the way out in the Edge?’

‘Not a complete picture,’ admitted Lana. ‘A few snatches of local legend passed on as Chinese whispers and mightily garbled in the retelling. As best as I can fathom, this bunch abandoned Earth in the first flush of the early space age, as our recon of the habitat’s industrial section suggested. The settlers believed humanity was imminently about to destroy itself in atomic Armageddon, so they set off to establish a backup drive for mankind. They regarded their exodus as a fine and noble mission, recreating a new Eden far from the old world’s stupidities and troubles.

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