"Bob, at your service." The sim strides with eager steps onto the main deck. His grin is genuine, if a bit stiff, and his ear buds whir slightly before settling against his head. He stops and bows before Jupiter. Caine stands to her right, his great bronze wings tucked beneath his long black coat. The entire deck is a sea of gray and black on black Aegis, Kiza's silver shoulder wings the only bright spot of color.
"Great!" She chirps. "The same Bob, right? My Bob?"
"As requested!"
Kiza leans forward between them to whisper in Caine's ear. A jealous chord twangs in Jupiter's heart. Even though her head knows full well that Caine is hers alone, young life had been hammered with enough disappointments to beat her security into a twist of nerves.
"Why this sim? It could have been any sim. There are a million 'Bobs'."
Jupiter sneaks a glance at the crew beyond Captain Tsing. With a bit of an conspiratorial grin, and an equal bit of claiming space, she whispers back. "Nope, I wanted our Bob." She speaks for other hears to hear. "Captain Tsing, you had mentioned a small contingent would come with us?"
"Given the nature of attention you seem to attract, Your Majesty, I would be remiss not to."
"Can we have Gemma?" Captain Tsing's eyebrows raise only slightly.
"Only?"
"Oh, well," Jupiter's cheeks turn a bit pink, "anyone else you think should, you know, come."
"I had intended Philo and a hand squad." She nods at the five Aegis standing at attention near the grav beam chamber. Jupiter chews her lip as she assesses the extra body guards.
"Ah, I see, that many? Won't we stand out?" Bob offers his best reassuring face.
"Six and minus any royal guard is a small company for most entitled, your Majesty."
"Ah." Somehow this was already getting out of hand, and she wasn't sure how to get her plan back on track.
"I could spare a larger team..." Captain Tsing begins.
"No, no, more than enough. I just," and she waves halfheartedly at Gemma. Captain Tsing tilts her head.
"if Gemma is your wish, your Majesty..."
"No, nothing like that! I just thought, I meant... Gemma, would you like to come?" The concept seems to perplex both Captain Tsing and Gemma, that an entitled would ask their opinion. Captain Tsing takes a breath, as if to remind herself that this is Jupiter, not some high handed royal expecting her to fulfill every whim.
"I don't know if 'like' is the term I would use," Gemma replies in her even tones, "for a visit to the courts."
"I trust her to have my back," Caine interjects from Jupiter's side. She startles a bit, turning to him with a smile blooming on her lips. Captain Tsing considers a moment.
"All right Caine, your Majesty. Gemma can keep a log for the Aegis, as well. I have a feeling this simple trip could be anything but."
"Where would you get an idea like that?" Jupiter quips as she tries, having achieved her first step of the plan, not to hustle too quickly towards the grav chamber. Caine ducks his head to hide his grin as he falls in step behind her, but protectively enters the beam before.
"Should I get one of those?" She says as Kiza flicks off the strap on her twin energy guns.
"Should you?" Kiza teases.
"Probably not." Jupiter grimaces. "But I can do stun."
"I'd still rather not be stunned in the line of duty," Philo dares his own tease, then rapidly follows with, "Your Majesty." Caine tries hides his wry grin by stepping into the beam.
"Surely the courts are safe enough," Bob says, affronted.
"I was just shopping for a dress the last time, remember?" Jupiter shrugs and steps in after Caine.
Gliding down onto the wide, gilded landing platform beside Caine, Jupiter alights and then steps aside to clear the way. She takes a steadying breath, and Caine leans closer, watching where her eyes look as if he could see as she sees.
"I'd forgotten we would be expected to take the royal route." She grimaces as the each of her entourage emerges one by one from the beam to array themselves in a protective circle. Caine shucks his coat and shakes out the full extent of his wings, signalling that a Skyjacker has come among the entitled throng, and is prepared to defend at all costs. Jupiter has spent too much of her life in hiding. Now, surrounded in the sea of the glittering Orousians, she feels absolutely exposed. Caine senses her discomfort, and attempts to understand.
"You don't have to do this."
'"Probably. I don't even understand why." She looks away, rifling through her own thoughts, "She died for it."
"Seraphi?"
"Yes."
"You aren't her."
"Of course. But, if I think about it, until all this," and her wave encompasses the distant, arching ceiling, the din of colorful entitled, the Aegis at her elbow, then turns to look deep into Caine's eyes, "until this, until my family was in danger, I never never had anything that important to me. And I think," she takes his hand, locking her fingers in her own, "I think I need to finish it, for all of us."
"You have all these other duties that need your attention."
"Duties? What does that really mean, to be Queen of Earth?" Caine glances down and to the side with a slight shrug before replying slowly.
"I was actually thinking about the legal issues." Jupiter's cheeks turn pink.
"Ah. But that, all that seems so unreal. This, this is real. It changed her life. And she changed mine."
"You don't owe her anything."
"Maybe not. But what if whatever she found out is really that important? What if I'm the only one who might be able to find it again?"
As he looks into her eyes, his own deepen and warm with devotion, and respect. She had respected him as himself. He had been intrigued, then entranced, then in love with that part of her.
"I'll help you however I can." She tilts her head upward with a wide smile and lays her head upon his chest. His wings shudder with emotion.
"Thank you."
"Mmmm, mmmm," Kiza teases when she steps onto the platform.
"This way," Bob interrupts with a cheery wave. We can catch the train just up that corridor."
"Train?"
"The courts are difficult to access by design," Philo offers. Jupiter takes a deep breath for courage, noting how their little band sticks out with their matched black on black amidst the chaotic sea of gilt and dye and towering hair. A stream of light high above their heads directs the entitled travelers toward their appointed connections. They joined the throng beneath a light beam pointing the way in steps high above them, people peeling off to follow the flashing symbols for their train.
"I wonder how much these trips actually cost," Jupiter murmurs, resting her wrist over the glowing pillar. The wide, tall double doors swung back and revealed the opulent tables and chairs of the 'train.'
"We'll survey the car." Philo motions the Aegis troops forward, hands resting on their weapons. Jupiter nods them on, waiting at the edge of the platform. She chews her lip and gazes around, standing on tip toe now and again to survey the crowd and the layout of the platform. Caine takes in all the same information with a quick glance.
"I filled in Kiza," he whispers to the agitated Jupiter, which does little to settle her nerves.
"Oh, of course," she replies absently, while inwardly she fights another twinge of unwarranted jealousy.
Philo motions them aboard.
"Everything looks clear. Might be a bit crowded as we didn't schedule ahead for fear of detection."
A little crowded translated into only a few open seats among the wide round tables. Caine stands by the door, watching the sea of faces with a cautious eye. Jupiter and Kiza remain close beside him. Bob takes in all the glitter and gold with a smile, but Jupiter gently catches him by the arm before he can move farther beyond the doors.
"Bob, where is the Archive?" She asks in a low undertone.
"The Archive? Which archive do you mean?" She waves him to keep his voice down. He leans in, seeming to enjoy a bit of skulduggery.
"The entitled Archive. Where they keep their stored ledgers."
"Nowhere near the Aegis court complex."
"Then where?"
"Nearly the other side of Orous, in the deeps. No one goes there."
"I need to go there." Bob's ear buds whiz and spin with consternation.
"We can schedule another outing. I'm sure these court proceedings will take days. Months even."
"So I've heard. Gemma," she calls her over with a nod of her chin.
"Yes, your Majesty?"
"What do you know of the Archive?"
"Dangerous place."
A soft chime heralds the closing of the doors for embarking.
"Now!" Caine hisses, and thrusts Bob and Gemma through the doors as he, Jupiter, and Kiza leap back onto the platform. Bob, unbalanced by the shove, trips, and he and Gemma go sprawling onto the platform just as the doors slide shut. Jupiter turns to see Philo's confused face pressed against the frosted glass as the train began its rapid move.
"What was that?" Bob wails as Gemma unceremoniously dump him over and off of her. She, in turn, leaps up and begin racing after the train. She grasps the doors and begins to pull them apart with her fingers, but the train begins to pick up speed. She glances back at the gaping faces and leaps back off the train.
"I was unable to affect our entrance to the car," she relates as she sprints back to them.
"Um, quite," Jupiter coughs a bit. Bob lifts himself and brushes imaginary dust from his pants.
"We will now be fashionably late to the court proceedings."
"Not today, Bob."
"We can just catch then next train. You can negotiate the fine with the magistrate, I'm sure."
"Her Majesty has a different plan," Caine instructed.
"We are here to address the charges against you, your Majesty," Gemma reminds them.
"Not today, Gemma. We are taking a side trip to the Archive instead. Are you going to stop me?"
"I don't have any orders in that regard. I am here to protect you. I go where you go."
"Then," Jupiter says with a swing of her arm in the right direction, "we go. Now!" Bob stands in confusion for a moment before he trots after them.
"Every time I work for you, I receive another demotion."
"None of it is your fault. Your real job today is to get us to the Archive."
"The Deeps? I hear it was a nice place, long ago. Are you quite sure?" He asks one last time as they come to a stop just outside the arched and gilt platform.
"Definite." Bob sighs, then motions to a grav beam station. And they go down. And down. Jupiter's face twists with a look that 'he wasn't kidding about Deep!' and she blows out her cheeks while she descent continues. Then, her feet touch down with a bit of a crunch.
"Holy crap. Maybe I shouldn't have complained about the royal station." Caine scans the small, grimy platform, his wings snapping against his back. As their much smaller party emerges from the beam, many of the drab clothed people step hastily aside with furtive glances and frowns at the obviously Aegis clothed companions.
"Wow," Kiza mouths as she steps out and ogles the low ceilinged, rust hued platform.
"Which train, Bob?"
"That one, Your Majesty."
"I see," Jupiter says, swallowing the lump in her throat. Her eyes widen with a look that says 'no wonder entitleds wouldn't come here' upon gazing at the dust encrusted train. The cars, while much larger than any subway she had ever seen, were slightly listing on rusty track, and the doors appeared to not quite be willing to close. When Jupiter placed her wrist above the short, squat pillar, it stuttered a bit before accepting her royal seal, as if it is too, didn't believe she meant to be there. The whole made the old family station wagon look like a Cadillac. Squaring her shoulders, Jupiter steps onto the train car side by side with Caine and Kiza.
"I am so demoted," Bob's shoulders sag with dejection, lifting his hand to survey a sticky blue jelly from the overhead grab bar.
"Well, can I buy you or something?" She grimaces at the goo dripping from his hand, then finds anything else interesting to look at. Flickering images she guesses must be advertisements limn the walls, the windows, the floor, like a giddy, glitchy carnival. "Everything seems to be for sale around here."
"You would do that?"
"I already own my own family," she says with a touch of hysteria. "Why not one more?"
"Really? An entitled sim? You wouldn't have to wipe me, would you?"
"Um, wipe you?"
"His mind," Kiza giggles, her own adrenaline on high.
"You can always just program him for guard duty, You Majesty, maybe increase his memory capacity." Bob glances at Gemma, all his gears a-flutter.
"Oh, never! Then he wouldn't be...Bob!" Gemma gives the slightest of shrugs as the train jerks and jumps beneath their feet.
"I've never quite understood the purpose of the Bob line." Bob's face falls and he looks away. Jupiter shakes her head.
"This is going to be a long ride."