"Are you leaving the castle, Your Majesty?
"Oh, I'm just going out to see my fr..." Princess Nadia (or Marle to her best friends) spotted the concerned and disapproving expression on the blue-liveried Royal Guard's face and immediately changed her bearing. Clearing her throat, straightening herself up and fixing him a cold, arrogant gaze designed to accommodate no argument, she corrected herself, "We are attending a meeting with the Director of Research and Development, to discuss matters that are vital to the Kingdom's future. Matters that you are not privy to. You have a good reason for delaying us?"
"The Institute is clear across the other side of town, Your Majesty, and it will grow dark soon. You should take some security with you. I'll prepare a retinue for you immediately."
She sighed, her mind working quickly to think of a reply. A real Queen like her mother would have been able to think of an answer immediately. Her mother had been able to diffuse all sorts of sensitive diplomatic situations, even prevent conflicts with other nations, and Princess Nadia couldn't even get her own personal guards to do what she wanted them to do. A lot of the time, she still forgot altogether that she was a Princess. She was still in training, she supposed, and she was making a lot of progress since she had actually decided to put her mind to it. Until a year or so ago, she had been avoiding the task, hoping it would go away if she could only find enough distractions to delay it indefinitely. It had seemed like an unbearably dull chore at best, when she could be spending her youth outdoors, exploring the world and having a good time. At worst it felt like a threat to her very identity, with people four times her age trying to turn her into the perfect, polite little Princess, stuff her into those ridiculous court dresses that she couldn't even move or breathe in, plan out her entire life until the time came for her to pass the same responsibility onto an heir. Gradually, she realised that she could get a lot done as a Princess as long as she put on a good mask and played the role well, that people were a lot more likely to show her respect and even obey her orders, as long as she phrased them correctly. She was quite good at giving orders and she found herself actually quite enjoying it. People rarely tried to tell her what to do, as long as she gave the impression that she herself knew what she was doing. Her father was increasingly passing on greater responsibilities to her and in the eyes of most people in Guardia's royal court, she was already the Queen in all but name.
Of course, that extra responsibility meant that a lot of expectations were being put on her and the consequences of failure were much more dangerous. She constantly worried that she wasn't learning fast enough, that she had left it too late to start concentrating properly on her studies. Her mother had already been running the castle at her age, but then, her mother hadn't also been busy on a time-travelling adventure, saving the entire planet from a monstrous extraterrestrial parasite. Her quest had taught her a lot that she couldn't have learnt from the royal tutors.
"I thought I made it plain that this matter is discrete. I cannot discuss matters of national security when I have attracted the eye of every casual bystander by swanning through town surrounded by an entire retinue of royal guards!"
In a way, it was true. Lucca had told her to keep the matter private, to let as few people know that she was even present at the Institute. Her genius best friend had even insisted that she actually approach the building after dark, from one of the maintenance entrances rather than the front door. That she was being so mysterious only made Marle more curious. What kind of contraption had she invented now, in her new role as leading researcher for the Kingdom? Was it really a matter of national security, as she was attempting to imply by her half-truth, or did Lucca just want to arrange for them to have time to talk in an informal setting, so that Marle had a much-needed chance to unwind?
"Quite correct, my lady, but the sensitive nature of such a matter might in itself put you at greater risk. What if a foreign agent, also after the information, hears of your involvement and decides to target you? We already suspect that Porre has at least two spies in the court!"
Marle had heard the rumours that Porre was making some kind of aggressive political move on Guardia already, and that it could potentially lead to war if things went really badly. It was beyond her why Porre would want to cause trouble with Guardia now. The Kingdom or Porre was fully aware that a threat to the entire world had been very narrowly averted, mostly by the hands of people from whatever passed for Guardia in the various time periods they had visited. If anything, they should be grateful, and should be worrying more about the fate of the world as a whole than petty disputes between nations. Porre didn't even have any grudges against Guardia and they weren't running out of any resources that Guardia had in any quantity worth invading for. If anything, Marle had expected Medina, a city populated by beings who weren't even fond of the human race, to cause the most trouble. However, as the more sensible of her advisors were fond of pointing out to her, war didn't really make sense, it was a pointless waste of lives and resources, the people involved in it often weren't sure how and when it started and it was best to avoid it unless absolutely necessary, for the good of everyone in the Kingdom.
Anyway, she doubted her friend would be developing military grade weapons. She had invented small-scale weapons and armour for the personal defence of the party during their perilous quest but never really enjoyed fighting all that much. Most of her projects these days were to do with replicating various useful technology they had encountered on their visits to the future, in particular humanoid robots, with some experiments involving fusions of magic and technology. She could see how a foreign spy might interpret some of these as weapons, or at least see potential military applications for the nation who managed to obtain the technology, so she made a mental note to warn Lucca about improving her security if the scientist really was working on something potentially dangerous.
"Two elite guards, then," she said, "Biggs and Wedge. I trust those two the most. And they don't come into the actual meeting with me! As I'm sure you remember from the incident last week, Director Ashtear has rather powerful automated defences in the restricted areas of the institute, so we'll be okay."
The 'automated defences' consisted of a network of cameras and alarms, automated sensors that could detect the change in certain conditions, several turrets around the building, sentry drones that patrolled the corridors as well as new features each time Marle visited the Institute, some of which Lucca entirely forgot to warn her about. It was always amusing, while fortunately remaining mostly non-lethal, when her guards accidentally discovered the new features for themselves. The security features were the least interesting new developments that were rapidly emerging from inside the restored warehouse in the forest near Lucca's house, now known as the Guardia Insitute for Science and Technology Innovations (GISTI for short). It had been a good move to give her friend the role of the institute's Director and head researcher. She was already famous throughout the Kingdom for saving the world using her inventions, so the people knew that the choice wasn't just favouritism, but that the young woman was more than capable of pioneering a scientific revolution in Guardia. It also meant the two friends had legitimate business visiting each other at all hours. It meant prestige and a steady wage for Lucca, rather than having to rely on being able to invent, produce and sell her machines on time. Marle also hoped that it in some way went towards repaying the debt she knew she already owed Lucca, a debt that she could never entirely clear.
The Princess was not unaware that Lucca had also been in love with Crono. As Crono's childhood friend, Marle supposed that Lucca had the stronger claim to his heart, but it didn't change the fact that, when it came to the question, Crono had chosen Marle. She was aware that there would probably be an argument between them at some point, one that would probably make Marle wish she was sitting in a diplomatic council with the Porre ambassador instead, so she wanted to make the situation as favourable as she possibly could between them without actually giving up her very real love of Crono. While she knew a person's heart couldn't be bought off, at least she was showing that she was not actively trying to stop her friend achieving any of her dreams in life, they just happened to have come into conflict over this particular dream.
The day to finish their fight over Crono hadn't come yet, however, and as far as Marle could tell, Lucca was still acting like the same friend towards her as always. At least, she assumed that was why she was still being invited over to the Institute.
Marle had wanted to head into Guardia town to look for interesting trinkets in the shops, see what foreign curiosities the trans-continental ferry had brought to Guardia, say hello to Crono and Lucca's mothers. It would be too difficult to justify such a diversion to the guards, however, especially as she was working the 'clandestine mission in the interests of national security' angle. Even if she was allowed such a diversion, the guards would draw too much attention to her, their military bearing might scare her friends' mothers and generally would prevent her from having the fun, casual trip into town that she wanted.
Lucca's house on the hill, and the small forest with the Institute hidden away inside it, was on the outskirts of the town, on the other side to the castle. It was fairly close to the sea but there was no beach, only a sheer cliff. The building itself looked very different to the creaky old warehouse it had once been, its architecture now far ahead of its time, all sharp-angled, gleaming steel and glass. Several mobile buildings and heavier equipment were dotted around the central building, including a small runway for a few prototypes Lucca had for flying machines. As soon as Marle and the guards started on the forest path, a robot around the size of a five-year-old child appeared from behind a tree, beeping at them in a melodic, rather cheerful pattern, before running around Marle and her startled retinue in a slightly wobbly circle. The robots were not unlike Robo, their self-aware mechanical ally from the future, in appearance. Robo's future had been a doomed world, almost certainly erased from the timeline along with Lavos. Added to this, the project that produced Robo in the first place had been a disaster, the control AI of the factory becoming corrupted by Lavos and turning hostile against humans until Crono's party were forced to destroy it. It was highly unlikely that Robo still existed in the repaired future timeline, or at least not in his original form, so Lucca had become obsessed with manufacturing her own humanoid robots in an effort to start off the chain of scientific breakthroughs that would result in Robo's existence. With the sophistication of the mini-Robos that ran rampant around the Institute these days, Marle wouldn't be surprised if her friend ended up building Robo herself in the next thirteen years, never mind causing him to be built in the next thirteen hundred.
"Welcome, Your Majesty! Director Ashtear is expecting you!" warbled the brightly painted blue robot before tripping over a tree root again. Biggs winced as the robot's clanky voice carried clear across the forest and probably all the way back down to the town. The guards were always nervous around the robots as it was; the mini-Robos had a knack for appearing out of nowhere, without having any obvious stealth technology, and were armed with small but perfectly functional-looking laser pistols and giant armoured fists.
"Are you sure you're supposed to be running around here greeting guests? Didn't Lucca tell you anything about this being a secret visit?" asked Marle, "Do you guys even know your way around the forest? I've never seen you out of the building before."
"LOBO!" Marle heard another female voice yell, slightly deeper than her own, at the top of her lungs, "Lobo, get your ass here or I swear it's the recycler for you..."
"Hi there, Lucca!" Marle waved at her.
"Oh, there you are, Marle! Wait until you see what I have to show you! So that's where Lobo went. I think I made his sensors a bit too powerful. He's supposed to greet guests but he keeps suddenly running off to track people down before we even know they're there, and scaring the shit out of them. Lobo, make Biggs and Wedge a pot of tea for two and show them where the waiting room is!"
"I won't be long," Marle promised them, waving goodbye to the guards as she followed her friend through the side door she had been told to enter through. Wedge gave her a worried look while Biggs still glared suspiciously at the oblivious robot. They followed their hosts in through the front door anyway, jumping when the turrets swiveled to track them, even though the same thing happened each time they visited.
"I'm sorry in advance if those two cause any trouble," Marle looked over her shoulder at the guards, "I tried my hardest to come here alone but the paranoia is even worse than normal lately."
"It's okay. All this is going to have to be shared with the Government sooner or later anyway. One day it's going to have to go public, too. Mostly I just wanted you to be the first to see it. It's you that it affects the most."
"So, there really is a big secret project," said Marle, "And here I was expecting for us to have a nice chat like the old days."
"Ha, like I ever get time to do that nowadays! If it isn't endless health and safety checks, some guy in a suit is trying to get me to do paperwork."
"Don't talk to me about paperwork!" Marle groaned. Then they both began giggling.
"Seriously, they even make Princesses do paperwork?"
"We probably get the most of anyone. I'm surprised genius inventors have to do it."
"I was hoping a position as exciting as you made it sound wouldn't involve any paperwork, but I kind of get the impression it's a part of life when you grow up," Lucca yawned and stretched, "Sometimes I wish I was just back in my lab in the basement, tinkering and making things explode."
"Please don't blow up the Institute!" Marle caught sight of two mini-Robos darting in and out of the rooms that lined the narrow corridors, mostly storage cupboards, power stations and maintenance hatches. She thought she heard a third robot but the noise could have been any one of a myriad of ominous mechanical clanking noise sources. They were inside the bowels of the beast here, not the pretty public eye of the front entrance.
"Don't worry, all the dangerous stuff's underground, same as my house," she said, "Actually, the thing I wanted to show you is also underground. Not next to the dangerous stuff! A different floor. Even deeper underground."
"You've got construction rights on the land, Lucca, not mining rights."
"Trust me, this is very worth it. In fact, I think it might be critical to our future."
"Oh, good. I didn't tell any outright lies today."
"Sounds like you've been getting that diplomacy practice you were talking about," Lucca stopped at a small staff room for the very few maintenance workers who were actually human, mostly there to press the 'on' button on the robots every morning. She keyed some numbers into a large box on the wall, placing a cup from a large stack underneath the chute. There was a low clattering rumble followed by a trickling sound, then a stream of strong black coffee poured out of the chute. Marle had seen that invention before. It was supposed to be operated by placing a coin inside the slot but Lucca had included a secret password for herself and her friends to use the machine for free. It could dispense tea and hot chocolate too. Despite Lucca's best efforts, it all kind of tasted like metallic coffee.
"I wish it was still just practice," she said, "I get the impression I have to watch everything I say, these days."
"I swear this development will make things easier for everyone," promised Lucca. At the end of the corridor, they stopped at an elevator with an unusually heavy door. The small turrets just above the door and the two guard robots armed with laser rifles swivelled around to follow their every movement.
"It's Director Ashtear. My guest has my permission to be here," said Lucca. The robots seemed to react to her voice. They apologised in clanky voice, then stood down and return to their posts on either side of the elevator door. Lucca keyed in a password on a terminal wired to the door, causing it to beep in satisfaction, then slowly rumble open. Lucca and Marle stepped onto the large steel platform, more like a service elevator for some very heavy duty machinery than a personnel elevator, and the scientist pushed the button for the bottom floor. The bottom floor wasn't clearly displayed on the elevator, she had to flip open a hatch that just looked like part of the wall, then press a hidden button. More of Lucca's melodramatic secrets. There was an interminable five minutes of loud rumbling, ominous clanks, creeping claustrophobia despite the size of the elevator, not helped by the stark strip-lighting. Then the elevator lurched to a halt and went 'ding'. The door slowly rumbled open again and the two of them stepped into a world that Marle had no idea existed underneath the Institute.
"Is there something you aren't telling me? This thing looks like it's designed to be Lavos-proof," commented Marle as she looked up at the final set of doors.
"Makes you wonder how those two got down here," said Lucca, indicating two of the mini-Robos who were randomly running around the roughly hewn chamber in front of the thick steel vault-like door to the next room. Lucca walked over to the access terminal and spoke into it, then inputted another password. The door slid open and they walked down a pipe-like metal corridor. As they walked towards the chamber, the temperature began to drop - Marle saw thick black cooling pipes trailing along the floor - and the humming, whirring sound of a giant mechanical heartbeat became louder.