It took some time before Jan was able to slip into a troubled sleep. When she woke it was to find the gross and wheezing bulk of Guild Master Bannion looming over her.
Chapter Fifteen
What the Aristos enjoyed, at the expense of the other inhabitants of the Lord Pangloth, was the luxury of space. That became clear to Jan soon after her arrival in the Aristo section of the airship, but was confirmed beyond doubt when she entered the ‘Grand Saloon’. The room was huge. It was hundreds of feet in length and, at its broadest end, equally wide. Jan realized it was located in the bow of the Sky Lord, probably not far below the airship’s actual nose. Two rows of tall windows, much bigger than the one in Magid’s quarters, converged at a rounded point at the far end of the room. Jan could see wisps of white cloud passing by the windows.
There must have been about three hundred people present but so vast was the floor space that the room didn’t seem the least bit crowded. The majority of the people, judging by their clothes, were Aristos but there were a large number of servants, or slaves, passing among them carrying trays of drinks or food. As Jan stood at the top of the short staircase, flanked by Prince Magid and Mary Anne, she again felt a wave of unreality wash over. The feeling intensified when the crowd below her all turned in her direction and silence fell over the hall-like room.
Then someone started to applaud and before long everyone, apart from the servants, were clapping. With a sense of shock Jan realized they were applauding her.
Prince Magid touched her elbow, a signal that she should move forward. She did so. Magid and Mary Anne accompanied her down the stairs. When they reached the bottom the assembled Aristos, still applauding, split into two groups so that a wide corridor was formed between them stretching all the way to the end of the room. In front of where the rows of windows met to form their rounded point stood a small dais. On it were seated two figures; a man and a woman.
Jan knew who they were. The man was Prince Caspar. The woman was his mother, Lady Jane. As far as Jan could gather they reigned supreme within the Sky Lord.
She had been surprised to learn that Lord Pangloth didn’t exist. There had been a Lord Pangloth a long time ago. Several, in fact, but from the small scraps of information that Magid had reluctantly given her on the way to the Grand Saloon it appeared that the Pangloth dynasty had been wiped out centuries ago by a rival Aristo family. She wondered if the present day Aristos were still prone to similar power struggles.
As she passed among the clapping Aristos, with Magid and Mary Anne one step behind her, Jan saw that Prince Caspar was much younger than she had expected. In fact he was nothing more than a youth and she guessed he was her age or even younger. He was also, she observed with interest, the prettiest male she had ever encountered. His long, angular face was framed with shoulder-length black hair, his smoothly textured skin was very white, and he had brown eyes that she could only describe as enormous.
Lady Jane, seated further back on the dais, was an older version of her son. She had the same long, handsome face with its immaculate cheekbones and very white skin, but her eyes were blue instead of brown. And unlike her son’s, they were cold eyes.
When Jan, Magid and Mary Anne reached the dais Prince Caspar and his mother stood. Both were dressed entirely in black except for the white lace collar and cuffs worn by the Prince and a blood red jewel that hung between the breasts of Lady Jane. The Prince raised his arms and the clapping abruptly ceased. He looked down at Jan and smiled. It was a beautiful smile which stirred something somewhere inside her. She smiled back. Then she felt Magid poke his finger sharply into her back and she remembered what she was supposed to do. Awkwardly, she dipped her knees and bowed her head as Mary Anne had instructed her to do.
Prince Caspar said, “Jan Dorvin of Minerva, all of us here owe you a great debt of gratitude. If it hadn’t been for your act of bravery against the Hazzini intruder the Lord Pangloth might well have been destroyed.” He spoke in a soft but clear voice. “We therefore take pleasure in pardoning you for all past crimes against us and grant you both freedom and the honorary status of an Aristo. This means you will enjoy all the rights and privileges of being one of us, with the exception of being able to marry into an Aristo family. Welcome, Jan Dorvin. And thank you.”
“Thank you, your Highness,” said Jan in as sincere a tone as she could manage.
Prince Caspar raised his arms and the applause resumed. Jan dipped her knees and bowed again. She tried to fight back her tears. She was filled with shame. Mother God forgive me, she prayed. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t mean to save the Lord Pangloth!
While Jan was being presented at court Milo was lying on his bunk and dreaming. …
His armoured flipper had landed on the gravel courtyard in front of Kagen’s mansion. As he got out, a two-legged cyberoid paused and turned in his direction for a few moments then, satisfied, resumed its patrol alongside the wall. Kagen himself, accompanied by a blank-faced clone warrior, came hurrying out of the house to greet him. He was obviously very excited. Milo watched his approach with wry amusement. Kagen had had himself modified to the extent that no physical trace of the old Kagen remained, but his gait betrayed him. He still walked like the fat man he had been. The little fat man.
“Glad you could make it, Haze. You won’t be disappointed!” he said as he shook Milo’s hand. “Come and see. …”
“Didn’t think it was going to work,” he said breathlessly as he ushered Milo in through the front entrance. “Lost the first three foetuses during the growth acceleration process. Struck lucky with number four. The white coats celebrated for a whole week straight.”
Kagen took Milo down into the basement. The journey ended at a metal door guarded by another clone warrior. Kagen pressed his palm on the indentilock and the door slid open. It was dark beyond. “She doesn’t like the light,” he explained. In the dim light from the corridor Milo saw the outline of a figure sitting on a bed. A woman and, by the look of it, quite ordinary in shape. Two arms, two legs, one head. …
Then Kagen turned the light on.
The woman – girl, really—gave a cry and covered her eyes with her forearm. Milo stared at her.
“Unique, eh? A real collector’s item,” said Kagen proudly.
Her skin was transparent. Beneath it, clearly visible, were pulsing arteries and veins, layers of fat deposits, muscle fibres. …
“Girl, take your hand away and look this way!” commanded Kagen.
Reluctantly she did so. Frightened eyes stared out through transparent lids. Two green pools of life set in what appeared to be a flayed, raw skull.
Kagen turned to Milo. “Well, what do you think of her?”
Milo woke and sat up. He clutched his head and moaned. Then he leaned forward and threw up on the clean floor of his cubicle.
Jan was relieved when the twittering Mary Anne finally said good night and left her alone in her bedroom. She removed the rest of her underclothes—Mary Anne had helped her out of the garment called a corset—and then put on a robe made of the sheerest material she had ever felt before. She sat on the soft bed with a tired sigh and stared out at the starless night through her single window. The presentation at court had exhausted her. All that smiling and being polite to the Aristos while her inner voice had kept repeating to her ‘These are the people who murdered your mother, your father, all your friends … the people who destroyed Minerva.’ But I have no choice! she had argued back. I must do as Milo said and take advantage of the situation. He has a plan.