"We lie to ourselves daily. " - Anrus Anree, seneschal to the Autonomous Emperor
They lived among modern technology, but it was apparently obvious that they did not need it. The planet Krist did not have the buzzing and humming momentum of the rest of the Imperial planets. It in fact almost seemed removed from time itself, as if it ran on its own system of measurement.
Nearly the entire planet was warm and gentle, with only scattered regions ever dropping in temperature enough to warrant snowfall.
The purple sunlight didn't hamper vision as much as one would have thought, rather it exaggerated the stark beauty of the village Nami was in. On other planets it might have been called a town, or even a small city, but village was the only word that seemed to apply to the place.
He was pulled through a hole in space, and the ensuing shock had thrown him into a coma for a good three days; him waking groggy in a soft bed in a wooden room, with regular wooden furniture. The medical scanner buzzing above him seemed out of place, its silvery finish and buzzing red numbered readouts just seemed gaudy.
His awakening had summoned the reptilian looking man, Xarath, who had grabbed him from Star City; he was somehow aware that he was no longer on Alphanas even before he saw the purple glow of the sun. The man explained what had happened and that his mentor was still alive, despite what he saw.
"You will just have to believe.", he told Nami, and strangely, he did.
There were many races here; humans, loshan, maruvians, xerans, some he didn't know (the Imperium was stupendously vast) and many more that would have taken more time than it was worth to count.
The houses and shops were lumped together, with an orderly number of streets, people milling and the smells of hot bread, meat, or spice mingling together so peacably.
It took Nami a few moments to realize that he was seeing Outside races as well, the ferocious Leonines and serpentlike Nerags.
Something was weird here, but it didn't smell rotten.
YOU ARE READING
Beacons in The Dark
Science FictionA futuristic cyber thriller with a multigalactic empire threatened by strange secrets that could tear the universe apart, or bring humanity home again. Get enraptured in the action and struggles of the gargantuan Imperium with its Autonomous Emperor...
