All of the outside walls of the palace had huge windows framed by sheer curtains fluttering in the near-constant breeze. Everything was pretty, airy, and luxurious from the shiny white marble-like floor to the stone walls.
What the palace didn’t have was the typical rich people's stuff from knickknacks, pottery, statues, paintings, and unnecessary furniture. You know, junk people collected for no other reason than it was valuable.
We came to an inner hallway that led to a set of stairs with an open channel wide enough for drakcol to fly up or down. Wynignored it and walked down the steps, claws clacking away on his screen and tail flicking. As he wound through more hallways, I mentally started to form a map.
Wyn palmed a panel near a door, and it slid open with a gust of air. Inside was a mess of screens on every wall and consoles and terminals crowded every available space. A few people, who were wearing similar uniforms to Wyn, called out greetings, which he acknowledged. He plopped down next to a cluttered console, staring at the screen.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said, fisting his hair. “How is it here? The phase variance is here. How?How?”
Yeah, I should’ve thought of that when he was stalking me across the whole damn ship like an obsessed hound dog. Sometimes my ghostly self messed with technology. Most people either didn’t notice or ignored any interference I caused, but Wyn hadn’t. Since I was here, it appeared I’d brought the same issues with me.
“Sorry, my Dude. That’s my bad.”
“NAID,” Wyn called.
A face that made me start appeared. An old human woman, though blue, with towering curls, wrinkles aplenty, and a jiggly jaw asked, “Yes?”
“Can you detect the phase variance?”
“Affirmative.”
I barely paid attention to either of them, reaching out. My fingers slid through the monitor. Edith Smith.
“Nana.” If it was possible for me to cry, I would’ve started bawling. I had no corresponding physical sensations to my emotions, like the backs of my eyes burning and shit. All of that had died with my body.
It was the same every time I’d seen her on the Admiral Ven. NAID was an artificial intelligence, or some of her had been. It was confusing, to be honest. When I’d been on the station overa year ago, NAID had been a bland, blue drakcol silhouette. But this NAID had been separated from the main hub and had gained sentience. She and Seth were close friends, and to make herself more friendly, she’d chosen a face—a face that happened to belong to my grandmother.
“Why is it here?” Wyn asked, his voice breaking.
“I don’t know, unless my coding is causing the error,” NAID offered.
“I don’t believe so,” Wyn said. “It was on the shuttle as well. I’ll have to send a report to my superior. Something is wrong.”
“Well, that’s my cue,” I said, heading to the door, though I paused at the last moment because of NAID. She wasn’t Nana. Iknewit, but part of me wanted it to be her because I wanted Nana like I wanted to be able to breathe again.
Shaking it off, I hopped up the stairs.
Chapter 2
You can see me.
I whistled a jaunty tune and began exploring the palace while I kept an eye out for Seth. I couldn’t actually lend comfort, but I needed to make sure he was safe. He was the sole human around for who knew how many lightyears.
Bros before hoes and all that. Though, somehow I doubted Prince Kalvoxrencol, or Kal as Seth called him, would like to be referred to as a “ho.” God, the very thought of calling him that made me grin. Seth would blush; Kal would stare. I laughed, bouncing out of the palace.
All of the paths surrounding the palace wound in nonsensical curves through towering trees and random ferns. Plants came inas many colors as drakcol did. Bright red bark. Gold leaves. Blue vines. Neon orange flowers. It was an array of colors.
I paused, spotting Monqilcolnen or Monty (Seth really struggled with the long names, though they weren’t that hard). His silver-white hair hung around his broad frame and down to his tight ass. He was huge, like many drakcol, well into the six-foot range, probably near seven feet. His deep forest-green scales had a healthy sheen that glinted in the bright sunlight. He was Kal’s cousin, and they resembled each other with the same long noses, full lips, and strong jaws, though they had very different coloring.
“Hey, Monty, or Commander Monqilcolnen,” I said, voice deepening before I broke into a fit of laughter. “Whatcha doing? Anything fun? Please say yes. Or better yet, take me to Seth.”
He didn’t reply and his steps remained steady, but I didn’t allow that to deter me.
Seth had to be here. Somewhere. He’d left the Admiral Ven about a week ago. I hadn’t gone with him, because I missed the shuttle. I doubted Kal had taken him too far away so quickly. I would find him. I had all the time in the world after all.
Monty headed toward an airy cathedral-esque building that gave me the urge to cross myself or say a Hail Mary, not that I did. I was beyond all that, not that I was religious. Nana and my parents were. I’d been dragged to more masses in my short lifetime than I wanted to count.
The building was completely made of glass (drakcol must like light or something) and had a pointed spire in the front that was so tall it appeared to pierce the sky. Even from here, I caught sight of the many plants inside. Maybe it was a greenhouse? That would be fun. I’d always loved nature—being dead hadn’t changed that.
