Oh, joy. I was going to be able to remind him of his grandmother. Great.
I prompted, “And my energy reached out to you?”
“You came by when I was having a bad day and, okay, this is going to sound totally corny, but I immediately felt your heart, your pure intentions in trying to comfort me. There was nothing fake about you.”
“And we lived happily ever after?”
“Yes, we did.” She smirked and rolled her eyes.
“Okay. I get how things went down.” I smiled brightly. “Let’s go shopping.”
I have to say, the local shopping mall was not quite what I expected. I came to learn that there is no front door to any structure in Milak. There were transport centers within structures, which was how everyone traveled. Due to the large deposits of mylunate beneath the northern surface crust, it wasn’t hard to stand in the center of Ryder’s big rec room, give Cynthia a hug while shutting my eyes tightly and find myself going through a brief, internally tumbling, dizzying few seconds. The transport was less intense, with a shorter travel time than the one from Earth. When I opened my eyes a few seconds later, it was to find myself in a massive indoor marketplace with hundreds of people moving about.
The room was cavernous, the size of an indoor stadium, like the swap meet at the Rose Bowl or something. Semipermanent stalls made with deep, rich wooden frames were set up in rows and rows, selling all manner of goods. Glass lanterns with glowing trinium rocks hung from posts at regular intervals, giving off warm light and making the room feel dark but cozy. It was colorful with movement and textures. People were socializing, creating a din of white noise, and something good was scenting the air and making my stomach growl.
“Not what you expected?”
“No. I figured you guys would be all high-tech with glass domes or something. This almost has a medieval feel to it.”
Women really were all covered up, but even within the culture of conservatism, there were designs that were flattering and feminine, reminding me of the women’s clothing in India. It was just strange not to see any T-shirts and jeans, or miniskirts and flip-flops. The height of fashion for men seemed to be more formal wear, suits for the most part.
“We can’t afford to be.” She looked around. “We learned over time not to draw attention to our social centers. They’ve been targeted in the past.”
“So now...no front doors.”
“No entrances to any structures. We all use mylunate transport.”
“To be safe from the Brausa?”
“Yes. If they’ve never seen it, they can’t find it.”
“But Ryder said it was so dangerous, then he brings me here using that same method—”
“Travelling locally is perfectly safe. The power of the ore is somewhat dissipated through a layer of earth. What can get tricky is having actual mylunate in your possession and then trying to transfer, because its power is not at all diluted. At that point, you really have to control it, because it can take you farther, and it doesn’t absolutely need a deposit on the other end.”
“So, if I had mylunate back on Earth, would I be able to travel from the apartment to the beach?”
“Easily. With the amount on your toe, you’d be able to travel from the apartment to the Rocky Mountains.”
“Unbelievable. This feels so unreal.”
“And the larger the deposit that you’re surrounded by, the farther you can go. As you can imagine, you need a lot of ore on both ends to jump light-years, and that’s what requires a lot of training.”
“So we needed lots of ore on Earth and lots of ore here to make the trip?”
“Yup. Now, explorers are the ones who are most at risk. They never know where they might end up.”
“Ryder’s grandfather died this way? Exploring new land?”
“Yeah. It’s because of him that new regulations were developed. We haven’t lost anyone since.”
“Why don’t you guys just transport yourselves to the Brausiian side of the planet and blast them away?”
“We’ve launched attacks like that in the past, but since they don’t have deposits of mylunate to the south, we’ve only been able to transfer partway. Then our troops have to go by foot, which is highly dangerous for a number of reasons. One being they look for our blue transfer light.”
“So they can easily see you guys coming and are prepared?”
“Exactly. Another reason it’s dangerous is that beyond our borders are the Savage Lands, which are only inhabited by wild animals, and have treacherous terrain. We’ve been more concerned with protecting our provinces from bomb attacks than extending our civilization.”
I thought of the bomb explosion Ryder had been caught in recently and shuddered, feeling anger toward anyone who would seek to damage him. Going over the conversation I’d had with him just before he left, I suddenly understood what he was doing today. The borders were being tested, and he was visiting them to compile some kind of report. Was he in danger? Would anyone try to attack him?
I worried my bottom lip as we walked through the marketplace. Ryder wasn’t a superman. He was flesh and blood, and he could die just like anyone. But he was tough. He knew how to take care of himself. Nothing would happen to him out there. Right?
“Everything okay?” Cynthia glanced over at me.
“Tutti-frutti.” I smiled and tried to find the spirit of our outing again. “Can we grab food first? I can’t even remember the last meal I ate.”
“Sure.”
We walked through the rows of vendors, which let me see many facets of the Sunan culture. There were beautifully and finely designed pieces of furniture, fabrics, rugs, pottery and glasswork. There were vendors that specialized in various knickknacks that would help to organize or decorate rooms in a dwelling. Then there was the whole other side of the market. It had stalls of different foods, most of which looked familiar. Vegetables and fruits, meats, breads, cheeses and some canned goods were all available. It was like an all-purpose market on steroids, but with a Middle Ages feel to it. I liked it.
Cynthia steered us toward one of the stalls, where the smell of something absolutely delicious filled the air.
“You’ll like these. They’re like empanadas. Sort of spicy meat pies.”
“Meat I’d recognize?” I asked, though in all honesty, I was sold on the smell alone.
“A fowl-like critter,” she replied, and then she smirked. “I promise it’ll taste like chicken.”
“Well in that case...”
She purchased us each a meat pie and a cup of what smelled like warm cider, and I practically inhaled it, it tasted so good. Warm, spicy chickenlike substance with melty cheese, potato and peas all wrapped in a handheld piecrust, like a chicken potpie. Heavenly. I could feel life returning.
“I take it you were hungry?” Cynthia grinned, still only halfway through her own food. I flushed and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Luckily no one else saw me snarf up my food like a pig. Sheesh.
“Tell me about this place.”
Cynthia gave a skittish look around before sharing in a hushed voice, “I don’t want to have to explain our conversation to anyone, but we seem to be good.”
“Right.” I looked around. No one was paying us any attention. We were far enough away from others, at a rectangular communal table, that they wouldn’t be able to hear us. I also made sure my mental wall was way up and strengthened.
“Well,” she began, taking a quick sip of her drink, “we’re hugely proud of being a completely democratic society. We’ve got seven provinces, and each province has seven representatives who must be elected every year. Then one is chosen from the seven to be a council representative in high court.”