Concerned, she checked her medband, which showed little but calm green lights. Her heart rate was well above normal, but everything else was fine. Perfectly healthy. What is going on?
Kosho turned, looking back at the dazzling lights, and saw she'd automatically followed a bricked footpath winding through ornamental hedges of native flowers and imported fruit trees. Lemon, pomegranate and hibiscus were thriving in the thick, humid air.
Susan stepped back to the edge of the porch, trying to make herself re-enter the house. The atonal wailing of the orchestra had faded away, replaced by a sprightly, soaring sound like the wind rushing through golden aspens.
"This is their music?" she said aloud, surprised by the clean, clear sound. The alien instruments changed pitch and tone, now evoking a rushing freshet cascading over mossy stone. She could feel the vibrations tremble in her skin, almost in the bone itself. Oh, Mitsuharu should have come – he would love this!
At the same moment, Susan became aware of a tight, constricting sensation in her chest. That's just impossible. I haven't been claustrophobic since I was a little girl. But the feeling was the same, even worse for the cloud-filled sky above her. I serve on a tiny Fleet ship every day! So what if there are a thousand people crammed in there, people I don't know, people…oh.
She suppressed a sharp stab of irritation, nostrils flaring, and was filled with relief no one else from the ship was present. Despite the security risk, she'd left her Marine escort with their transport. Kosho had no idea how vigorous the local thieves were, but she assumed there were thieves, and three well-armed Marines should be able to defend the groundcar she'd signed out of the Sobipurй motor pool.
Heicho Felix, Susan was sure, would laugh if the imperturbable Sho-sa admitted to suffering from 'miner's disease.' She triggered a mood stabilizer from the medband. To appease the yurei of her grandmother, she made sure her dress hadn't become stained. She still had her purse. Satisfied with her appearance, Kosho decided to take a leisurely walk through the gardens – which seemed quite beautiful, if difficult to appreciate in the footlights – while her serotonin and endorphin levels evened out.
Perhaps, she allowed to herself, waiting for a gap to open in the stream of garishly dressed civilians passing by, we were out in the dark for too long. Two years of treading the deck without a friendly shore in sight, dealing with marauders, slavers, angry miners, Megair corsairs, the Khaid…No wonder the Chu-sa found the Admiral's dinner party so disturbing.
Now she was a little concerned, wondering if Hadeishi's report had been overly colored by this same tricky sense of paranoia. Susan considered calling the ship on her comm and having Smith run a racial-source analysis on the battle group personnel lists, and then remembered the communications officer was groundside, seeing about shore-leave housing for the crew.
A strikingly alien-looking creature – something like a jewel-crusted mantis – passed into the house and Kosho stepped onto the tiled walkway before realizing everyone had fallen silent for a reason. The kind of supernal calm which crept upon her in the midst of battle threatened, and she turned to see what was going on.
"Stand aside, ma'am." A very alert Eagle Knight with a craggy face was there, motioning for her to step back. Kosho did so, returning the man's polite nod, and one slick black eyebrow rose in alarm at the scene unfolding behind him.
A slim young man advanced grandly down the walkway, head held high, chest rippling with platinum scales, long dark hair threaded with gold, turquoise silk pantaloons billowing around his ankles, and a maroon cape fringed with clattering jade slung carelessly over one shoulder. Another Eagle Knight clad in the darkest possible civilian clothing was moving just behind his shoulder, wary eyes flickering across the faces of the goggling onlookers.
Behind the young man, a huge crowd of giggling, barely clothed courtesans, jugglers, magicians and smug-looking junior officers spilled from the walkway into the gardens. Kosho blinked, took two steps back and stiffened to attention: the reflexive action of an officer confronted with the queasy horror of higher command authority outside her usual chain of command. Worse, the man was an Army officer.
Unmistakably, the Imperial Prince Tezozуmoc had arrived.
The prince's party swept past Kosho with a blare of laughter, leaving a cloud of alcohol fumes, stimulant smoke and eye-smarting perfume in their wake. Two junior Army officers bumped into her, then saluted cheerily. The boys were holding up a civilian youth of comparable age, though he was wearing only a blue serape, one sandal and a liberal amount of octli liquor. A great deal of shouting followed as everyone tried to crowd into the vestibule.
Servants converged from all directions and Kosho caught a glimpse of a tall, assured-looking woman with black hair slashed with white. She appeared from nowhere and took the prince's hands in greeting. Then the jugglers were in the way, tossing lighted brands through the lines of lights hanging from the ceiling. A cloud of smoke wicked up into the red dome.
"Enough entertainment for me, I think." Susan turned away. Many of the people in the garden flocked to gawk at the prince and she strode quickly towards the vine-covered gate, relieved the prince had neither seen nor recognized her.
That might be embarrassing, she thought, amused. Susan began to grin at the thought, her humor improving. Assuming he remembers being six years old anymore.
"Sho-sa Kosho?" A vaguely familiar voice called out. Susan looked up and almost laughed aloud. The monkeys of circumstance are playing tricks tonight.
A familiar-looking blonde woman of medium height and pleasantly even features was in the archway, bowing and smiling in greeting. A balding servant stood behind her, making a belated, but proper bow.
"Doctor Anderssen," Susan replied, matching the bow. "A pleasant surprise."
"The pleasure is ours, Sho-sa. The Chu-sa and your crew are well?"
"They are." Susan relaxed a little. Doctor Anderssen had been their guest on the Cornuelle during the investigation of certain mysterious events on the planet Ephesus Three. Despite some trying times, the xenoarchaeologist had proved herself circumspect and polite. Kosho approved of her, which was not always the case when civilians were concerned. In the intervening two years, the xenoarchaeologist seemed to have lost a little weight and spent far too much time outside in the wind and sun. She seemed a little uncomfortable in a formal dress. Kosho understood how she felt. "You've just missed meeting Prince Tezozуmoc of the Imperial House and all his friends."
"We saw him." Anderssen bowed again, but Susan could see she was hiding a grin. "His arrival delayed ours. We couldn't even cross the street."
Kosho looked out, seeing the traffic had grown much, much worse. A large number of expensive-looking groundcars of Imperial manufacture filled the avenue in front of the mansion. Jehanan drivers were hissing curses at one another and honking their horns. Legation security was trying to clear the traffic, but with little effect.
"There is still time," Susan said, keeping her voice low, "to return to your place of residence and spend a productive evening watching holovee or playing cards."
Anderssen choked back a snort of laughter and covered her mouth. "Thank you for the astute advice, Sho-sa, but I received an invitation from the lady of the house and it would be impolite to disappoint her. And…" Gretchen sighed, revealing a flash of irritation. "…there is someone I am trying to find. I hope he will be here."