Of Procul Preview - Chapter Two

3201

Venus

“Good morning Princess.”

The sun streamed through the immense stained glass window, and onto the equally immense quilted blanket covering the princess’s bed.

“Good morning, child.” She replied, airily.

She stood, and the servant approached her. His tiny hands undid the claps of her peignoir, and slid the covering off. The princess approached the window nude, and stared out over the domed capital of Venus. The cream minarets and arches of the city reflected the suns warm glow effortlessly, as the gilded screens atop the cities dome opened slowly.

“Pleasure to you, this morning.” The child’s voice was quiet, barely louder than the sounds of the princess’s feet as she glided towards her mirror, slender, and pale skinned. She wound a lock of her perfect white hair around her finger, and sighed.

“Would the Princess like to wear a darker shade today?” The youth opened a draw, and with difficulty pulled out a long robe, and offered it to the princess. She waved a hand approvingly, and the child begun to dress her, occasionally asking her to move an arm or a leg.

“Is the Logistician from Revere in the city?” The princess asked suddenly, as she fixed her hair with a collection of black beads. The boy did not reply. The Princess sighed again.

“Pleasure being to you, Princess.” The child begun, worryingly “But your father has expressed his wishes to the entire servitude, that the Revere Palace Logistician is not to see you again.”

The princes, now clothed, walked away from the mirror and back towards the window. She kneeled, as the servant attached her mantle, fastening the billowing epaulettes with special care. He walked to a counter, and picked up the royal pendant. It was entirely silver, a perfectly moulded star of innumerable points, attached to a minute thin silver chain of tiny links. The child clasped the pendent behind her neck, treating the ornament as tenderly as a new born.  

When she stood, the princess was even more beautiful than when she was nude. She was the very image of spiritual and bodily exquisiteness, the wishful thoughts of a benevolent god made reality.

“When did my father tell you this?” The princess turned back to the child, and her face took on an expression of sad disappointment. “I had quite longed for the Logistician’s return.”

The youth squirmed. “The morning, when I rose princess. My teacher told me not to tell you, but-” His voice faded away, and the princess smiled. 

“Child, it is no fault of yours. My father’s wishes are as important as mine after all. I will not tell your teacher what you have said, let us simply assume I never mentioned the Logistician.” She checked her mantle once more, and floated towards the door.

“Yes princess, pleasure to you. Thank you, princess.” The child said hurriedly, as he opened the door for her, bowing deeply as she moved past him into the corridor.

“I will see you this evening.” She said to him absentmindedly as she descended down the polished marble stairs. He muttered a respectful farewell, and shut the doors behind her.

As she finished the last step, a low hum begun to fill the corridor. A panel bearing the mural of a vortex moved aside, and a tall man stepped out. The princess did not respond to his appearance, as he bowed deeply and saluted as he stood up again.

“Pleasure to you this morning, princess.” She nodded curtly at him, as he fell in behind her down the corridor to the courtyard. The guard was dressed appropriately, the ceremonial curved club fastened to his hip swayed with his steps, but the small pistol clipped to his thigh did not. The buttons flowing down his breast jangled slightly as he walked, harmonising with the gentle swish of the princesses gown as she emerged into the courtyard.

Molten silver flowed hot from the top of an elegant fountain, and as it flowed downwards, it hugged the shapes and curves of a great hand pointed upwards. The princess deliberately moved around the heat of the fountain, passing a row of sharp dark bushes which followed the path out of the courtyard. She entered a lift adjacent to the path, and the guard followed her in.

“Where to princess?” He asked, his hand hovering over the tablet on his forearm.

“I would quite like to visit the libraries today. But first I would like to take a walk along the docks before my breakfast I think.” The guard frowned, and looked down at his tablet.

“Princess, your wish is mine, but why the docks?” He had obeyed the order, as the lift descended to the level of the palace where it joined the royal dockyard.

“I would like to see if the Logistician from Revere is docked.” She turned to the guardsman, whose apprehensive eyes flew away from hers as she sought eye contact with him. He stared nervously at the line where the wall of the lift joined the ceiling. “Princess” He said “I have had orders from my superior, your father has-”.

“No, sir.” The princess cut in sharply, as she continued to try and draw the man’s eye. “My father has merely advised me against meeting with the Logistician.” The lie came quick and easily for one so used to them. “We spoke yesterday over our supper. His advice has been received and I wish to continue to meet the dear Revere minister.

The guard squirmed. He was new, and his this was the first shift he’d drawn to guard the princess. She knew this well, but didn’t let on. He lowered his eyes to hers, and the warmness and sincerity that met him couldn’t not convince him. “As you wish then, princess. Pleasure to you.”

The lifts doors swung open, revealing the docks of the palace. It bottomed out onto the immeasurable airship the Venusian capital floated upon. The balloon was huge, larger than most meteoroids. It was not the first airship to float in the Venusian atmosphere, but it was undoubtedly the greatest. They were made of a material unlike any found in the Solsystem, and it was a miracle of engineering. It was the most advanced technological feat on Venus, and conveniently left out of the sermons and speeches about the dangers of technological advancement. A living fibrous sheet of bacteria and nanoparticles, engineered to respire and reduce the harsh atmosphere of Venus into breathable gases for the inhabitants of Venusian cities, while maintaining a low internal pressure to keep them floating. The balloon could also bud and yield mitosis, like a vast cells creating smaller airships for transport around Venus. These smaller daughter balloons could not last long without their parents, but were enough for most journeys.

As the princess began her walk along the wide gangway overlooking the docks themselves, she could see through the window beneath her several small airships coming and going. One that had just returned was fusing its balloon with the capitals, and masked men hurried to pull the raft they had been standing on back onto solid ground. The princess stopped at a lookout, and surveyed the docks. A majority of rafts were tiny vessels, mainly used for maintenance and repair work, but a few large ships were present. The princess smiled as she saw the curved spine of the Logisticians barge poke out from behind a battery craft.

“Princess, I must urge you to hurry” said the guard anxiously, “If my captain or any of my more zealous brothers see us, I would be in terrible trouble.” The princess turned, and without comment quickly made her way back to the lift.

“Of course sir. I would hate for you to become inconvenienced” she announced, as she stopped in front of the lift. “And likewise I assume you will not mention this?” He agreed submissively, resting his shoulder against a rack of dark red dockhand robes by the lift. He stood back to attention immediately however, as the lift pinged its arrival. Following the princess in, he directed the elevator to the palace hall. A minute later, the lift slower, and the doors slid open.

“Goodbye, loyal guardsman” the princess murmured, as she stepped out into the hall, and walked towards her family.