Laria Prell hurried through the nighttime corridors of the imperial palace, doing up her jacket as she went, finger-combing her short hair. She was not enjoying being stationed on Grand Central. The gravity was higher than on the small worlds she was used to, and she didn’t like the summer heat. It had taken her a while to get to sleep that night, and no sooner had she drifted off than she was being woken, summoned to the Emperor’s conference chamber for an emergency meeting.
Which was good, she supposed, because it must mean that there was an emergency, and there might be a chance for her to see some action after all. She just wished that whatever had happened could have happened in the daytime.
Her uncle — it still felt strange to think of him as the Emperor — was in the big meeting room at the heart of the Durga. Some other family officers were there with him, but surprisingly few, which made Laria wonder what she had done to warrant being asked to such an exclusive meeting. But before she could do more than salute, her eyes were drawn to the big holoscreens that hung above the livewood conference table. That was her first sight of the images that had started flooding into Grand Central’s data rafts a few hours before, carried on the night train from Khoorsandi. The bony archway forming out of light and dust in some high valley, the huge, spiny biotech vehicle crawling out of it, dragging its shining trail of rails…
“How can there be a new K-gate?” she asked, reading the scrolling banners. “That’s not possible, is it?”
“Of course it’s not possible,” snapped her uncle. “Everyone knows that the Network is complete. This is a hoax. Doctored footage, and an old train made up to look like a… whatever that big spiky thing is meant to be!”
“But who would do such a thing?” wondered Laria.
The Emperor grunted again. “Khoorsandi is a Noon world,” he said. “I’m guessing there are people there who don’t like us Prells being top dogs. People who will try any stunt to spread… well…”
“Instability,” growled another voice. Laria, looking away from the screens to see who dared interrupt her uncle while he was speaking, noticed for the first time the Mako brothers standing in the shadows behind him.
“Instability,” her uncle agreed. “That’s why the Twins are concerned.”
For a moment, Laria thought he meant the Mako twins, but of course he meant the actual Twins. Elon Prell was a man who talked with Guardians; the Twins themselves shared their concerns with him, and they might be watching him right now. She tried to stand even more rigidly straight and look even more intelligent and attentive as he continued.
“Laria, I want you to take a wartrain to Khoorsandi and find out what’s going on. Most of our wartrains are tied up keeping the peace on the branch lines, but the Twins themselves have provided us with a high-speed locomotive, very advanced. You’ll take a small squad — we don’t want any fighting, not with half the media in the Empire watching. Just establish a presence, and take a look at this new gate and the thing that’s supposed to have made it.”
Laria felt herself blush. “But, Emperor, I don’t know anything about K-gates, or hoaxes…”
“You don’t need to,” said her uncle. “My envoys here will handle that side of things.”
The Mako brothers stepped forward. Their ivory faces creased into helpful smiles that made them look no friendlier at all.