Chapter Three: James
James rolled out of bed as his alarm went off, tying a plum colored dressing robe around his body. Barefoot, he walked down the halls of the ship to the dining room. He could feel the smooth metal of the floor vibrating slightly beneath his feet from the hum of the engines. He had been named James because his father insisted that it was a good name, a classic name. It would make him seem older. It didn't. Ever since he was little, he felt dwarfed by the history in his name, but he did his best to ignore that.
Breakfast was given to him, and he began eating, scrolling through the newsfeed at the same time. They were headed to…some planet. Damn it, he couldn't remember the name now. But it was known for being a den of thieves, most of it. The tourist sector was the best part of it, and the gates to it were guarded to keep our the riffraff. Tourists could leave, but at their own peril.
James shook his head a little, black hair falling into his eyes. He brushed it back from his face, and looked up as his father came in.
The older man was tall, just like James, but where James took after his olive skinned mother, his father was, well…pale. The man looked as if he had never seen the sun in his life, and his hair was an iron grey color, his goatee peppered with white hairs. "James." His father greeted. "Put some clothes on before the meeting, would you?"
James dipped his head. He had clothes on, but he wasn't about to argue about that with his father. He adjusted the dressing robe. "Yes father. By the way, when is our predicted arrival?"
"Later today. We have much to get done before we meet with the queen. And the princess." The businessman tacked on that last part as if it were simply an afterthought, but James knew better. Knew what his father wanted. He wanted James and the princess, Acenthia something, to fall in love or some shit like that. He couldn't even remember the girl's full name.
"Yes sir." James replied. He would marry the girl if he must; it would be a business marriage, no more. It would be good for his father's company for him to marry a princess, and then the royals would be able to dip into RTI's sizable coffers and use it to pull their planet out of debt and into the future. A win-win for everyone but him. But he would marry the princess and obey his father. He could do that. He had never held any illusions that he would fall in love, or marry for it.
"And James? You must be the model gentleman." His father added, then turned his attention to his newsfeed.
"Yes sir." James said again. He stood, breakfast forgotten, and left the room. He went to the exercise chamber, wanting to get out all the excess energy. As he began working through different exercises, he realized. He was nervous. Nervous, to meet the princess that his father wanted him to marry. He almost laughed at himself. Of course he was nervous! Who wouldn't be?
Who wouldn't be?
He shook his head a little. It had been two hours, and sweat dripped down his body. He had pushed himself through a grueling routine. His muscles were hard-earned, formed from doing things like this for years. Most of the upper class, like his father and cousin, simply had their bodies Sculpted, altered for them to be muscular. It resulted in a perfect, symmetrical musculature, not the slightly lopsided, firm muscles that James had earned.
He got in the shower, and pressed a hand to the wall, pulling up a small Holoscreen that would show him whatever he wanted. He knew that a lot of men used it to watch porn while in the shower. He didn't. Never had. He did, however, look up an image of the princess as he got out of the shower, wanting to know what she looked like.
She was pretty, in a…rather unique way, he would give her that. Golden hair trimmed short in a messy pixie cut. Blue eyes that stared straight at the camera as if asking the picture-taker a difficult question. She had a spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, which was interesting. He wouldn't have thought that her guards and governesses would allow her in the sun long enough to freckle. But perhaps he was wrong. He toweled off and got dressed.
"Impeccable as ever, sir." Said a Droid as it came into the room to help him, though he didn't need it.
He dipped his head, buttoning his pale shirt. "Thank you." He said, despite knowing that the Droid didn't care about pleasantries like that. Dark slacks and a pale shirt, a dark waistcoat buttoned over the shirt, and a tie that was tucked under the waistcoat. That was what he wore. It was simple, in comparison to what he could have worn, but as he looked in the mirror, he had to admit; he did look good. He brushed out his hair, though it did the loose curls no good; they simply stood out however they wanted, and he couldn't do anything about that.
Well, he could. He could get them straightened, if he wanted to. But he didn't want to.
"What's up, Twosie?" He asked the droid as he put on socks and shoes.
"The meeting with the council board is in ten minutes. I was sent to fetch you and remind you." The droid replied placidly. It was shaped vaguely like an egg, except with arms. The bottom was smooth as glass, and contained a technology that allowed the droid to hover, which was how it got around.
"Right. Well, thank you, Twosie." James adjusted the tie carefully, and turned to the droid. "Let's go, then."
The droid gave no response, which was normal for their kind. It simply led James through the hallways of the ship, the Consequi. Finally, it opened the door to the meeting room, and James sat down in one of the holo-chairs. These chairs were designed to make meetings like this easier. There were slots all around the room where more holograms could be projected; this was where they would be able to see the members of the Council Board, and they would be able to see him and his father. That way, no matter what planet everyone was on, meetings were still quite easy to do. You just needed a holo-room, and any place worth its iron had a holo-room.
His father was already there, dressed even sharper than James was. "James, good. The board will want to know more about what we plan with Queen Aline and Princess Acenthianrae." his father said.
So that was her name! God, he hoped she had a nickname that she liked, because no way in the stars was he calling her Acenthianrae every time he needed to get her attention. "Yes. What would you like me to say?" he asked.
"The usual. Just agree with me, and express your hopes for a union between the two of you." There it is. James knew. There was the confirmation of what his father had planned for him. He had suspected it, but he had lacked confirmation. Now he had it.
"Yes father." James replied, facing forward to hide the flicker that he knew flashed through his hazel gold eyes. He adjusted the sleeves of his shirt.
"Twosie, close the door." his father ordered the droid. The droid complied, of course it did. It had to.
A few minutes later, the figures of the Council Board appeared, their forms slightly wavy and indistinct. The only tell-tale that they weren't actually there. They talked for what felt like hours. James had a polite smile plastered on his face the whole time, answering questions on the rare occasion when they were directed to him, deferring to his father when he wasn't sure what the answer was supposed to be. He made an effort to never look bored, even when talk turned to stocks and rising and falling and things that he had no interest in. To be honest, he had no interest in any of this. He would rather be working in the Consequi's engine room, rather be getting his hands dirty with engine grease and oil and handling the parts. He knew how. In fact, he enjoyed it. He could pilot the ship, too. But according to his father, and everyone else he knew, such tasks were "beneath someone with such a future as his", so he hardly ever had time to do what he loved.
Instead, his time was consumed by mindless meetings and talk, by pretending to enjoy meals that lasted for hours, exchanging pleasantries with people he didn't know nor care about, while counting down the minutes until he could disappear.
The meeting finally, finally ended, and the holos of the Council Board members vanished. His father turned to him, said something. James nodded along, pretending to be listening, pretending to pay attention as his mind wandered even further, towards the ancient "computer" that he had stashed in his room. He had been working on taking it apart, seeing what made it work, sketching the parts and how they fit together. It was in pieces now, and today he would reassemble it.
His father dismissed him, and he bolted, taking off his tie and waistcoat as soon as he was in his room. He carefully set out the pieces of the thing that used to be a "laptop", and carefully began reassembling it. He would pass the time like this until it was time to meet the princess.
That time came all too soon, Twosie entering the room and telling him that he needed to get dressed up to meet the queen and princess. He did, putting on a fresh suit. He carefully gelled his hair to get it to behave, though he knew it would never quite lay flat. Which was just fine with him, though he knew it tended to irritate others to no end. Twosie led him from the room, and he thought wistfully of the laptop, lying half-built on his desk.
"James!" his father exclaimed. "Good, good. We've just landed, as I'm sure you noticed. The queen herself is here to meet us!"
No, James hadn't known they just landed, in fact. He hadn't been paying attention. He reached into his pocket, touching the bundle of wires in his pocket. It was to keep him entertained if he got bored. He nodded mechanically, not knowing any other response. The hatch door hissed and released pressure as it opened, and James felt his ears pop as the pressure between ship and planet equalized.
He saw the queen, then. Stately and beautiful, though she was probably around his father's age. Her hair and gown were immaculately styled, and he could see even from this distance that her makeup was only very light. His father bowed, and James did the same.
"Your majesty. We are honored." his father said as they rose, coming closer to the queen. Guards stood just behind her, along with a few others that James assumed were people of her court.
"Yes. It is good to see you. We welcome you." the queen replied. Her voice was cool, detached.
"We thank you for your hospitality." his father said. He elbowed James, who blinked.
"Right, yeah. We're…we're happy to meet you and the princess." James said quickly. They were close enough now that he could see the queen's expression. At his mention of the princess, her eyes dimmed.
"The princess." she said softly, and shook her head. She looked at his father, and that cold, indifferent mask fell away, revealing someone who looked worried. On the edge of tears. "The princess is missing."
James blinked. His first feeling was one of relief. He wouldn't have to speak with her! Then, shame. How could he be happy when a girl was missing?
His father looked thunderstruck, and upset. James knew it wasn't because a girl was missing. It was because his father's plans were derailed if the princess was gone. "Do you…do you know how to find her?" his father asked gently.
"No." the queen replied, wiping one of her eyes delicately. "We don't. And we're so worried for her."
"Well…I'm sure James could find her." his father said, thumping James on the back with a pleasant smile.
James blinked. "Me?" he replied slowly, looking at his father. The man couldn't be serious.
"Of course! You're a bright young lad, I'm sure you can find one missing princess, right?" his father raised his eyebrows, and James saw the unspoken order in his father's eyes.
"R-right, yes, of course." James stammered quickly, giving the queen a hopeful smile that he didn't feel. "I'm sure she couldn't have gotten far, could she?"
The queen let out a breath. "You…I would be ever so thankful for your help. But…let's not let this throw off the rest of the evening. Come, it is time to eat." she began to walk again.
James's father grabbed his shoulder in a vice grip. "James. You will find Princess Acenthianrae. You'll leave in the morning. You don't come back until you have her, do you understand?"
James stared at his father, and forced a slow nod as he began to panic.
"Good." his father walked away, leaving James standing on the landing platform, staring wide-eyed at the horizon. He had to find a girl he didn't know, in a planet known for how dangerous it was outside of the tourist sector and palace. Him. He wasn't a hero. He wasn't…he couldn't do this. He sat down heavily, squeezing the wired device in his pocket to try and calm himself down.
