22. Soirée (1)

Daniel came into his apartment again. He carried a large package. The trip to the clothes shop had gone well, the final fitting of the new clothes was swift, and Arvin had also sold him a pair of new shoes.

"Do wear them today, sir, and take them off a few hours before you will be going to the soirée tonight."

Daniel had no idea how much this purchase had set him back financially. He still had not figured out how much he had to spend. As long as nobody complained, he assumed things would be fine.

After hanging up the new suit he stripped and stepped into the small bathroom. Carefully he rubbed his forearm. Very good, he thought, the painter lady knew what she was doing: the colour did not yield. Carefully despite that, he showered. The colour held.

He spent most of the day walking around his apartment in his new shoes, reading a few newspapers he had picked up earlier, and chatting to Tomlin for a few minutes. The hydger surprised him: he was using it many times and there was no indication it needed to be recharged. Hooray for puzzling technology.

As he had not the faintest idea until what time the soirée would go on, he took a nap for a while. After waking up from a disturbing Rhonda-filled dream, he took another shower, as most of the day had already gone by.

Putting on the suit, Daniel wondered what he was going to encounter that evening. The princess of course, he thought with a snort. And the mouse was probably going to be there. "Do not use that word, stupid ass," he scolded himself. It would be too easy to let that slip out in a conversation. If he had to go through this, he would do it as well as he could.

Daniel looked himself over best he could, using the small mirror in the room. It would have to do. He locked the door, unlocked it, went to fetch the invitation, and then went out to the street.

He opened the hydger and switched it on. It spluttered and crackled at him. "Oh no. Not now." He closed the cover and slapped it. Then it worked. "Percussive maintenance," Daniel grinned, remembering the expression from a star base mechanic from so long ago.

The carriage came to pick him up. He used his revived box and the vehicle got in motion. As it left the Skarak city limit it suddenly picked up its pace. Daniel had never thought these things could go so fast, and he admitted to himself that the velocity worried him. The carriages did not exactly strike him as being built for speed.

The need for it became clear however, as the trip took some twenty minutes. Clelem's house was located in the Zoroon Community, where the high society of this area lived. The houses that the carriage took him by proved that, and after slowing down upon entering Zoroon city itself, the houses became mansions. Daniel was amazed by the size of the homes.

The carriage stopped and the door swung open. Daniel left the cart and was greeted by two men in red uniforms. They stood near a small platform that was circled by many torches. He handed them the invitation.

"Ah, Mr. Zacharias. Welcome to the house of Seigner Dandra ko Galem," one of the men said. "If you would please wait a moment, the floater will return soon."

Floater? Daniel looked upwards as there was no house where he stood. He saw an oversized football come down. The thing was about fifteen foot long, and as it was almost over the platform Daniel saw that the yellow blot beneath it was a basket. They were going to bring him up in what looked like a hot air balloon! He fought an upcoming grin and lost.

Another carriage arrived, and two people stepped from it. They were greeted as Seigner and the lady Porval ko Winkui. They looked magnificent, Daniel thought. Not his style or taste, but still.

The two uniformed men held open a hatch in the basket. Daniel let the Seigner and his lady step in first, then he followed. He'd trail behind and see what happened.

The floater slowly moved up again. No one had pushed anything, it just went. The ride was only forty-five seconds, but it allowed for a truly amazing view of the bay that was coloured by the setting sun. The floater stopped its ascent at a wide bridge that led into a small building. Daniel grinned again; he had seen this in Tomlin's house.

The people left their basket, and the floater went downwards again to pick up more visitors. Daniel followed the couple inside, where three ladies in black gowns welcomed the guests, relieved people from their overcoats and beckoned them to walk on.

As Daniel had expected, there was a transparent tunnel which led to the main house. It was considerably longer than the one he had seen before.

Daniel stood to the side of the tunnel and took some time to take in the place of his boss. It was huge and richly decorated with small statues on all the railings of the patios that where made around each of the three floors. There was an enormous garden. There were many patches of grass in it. He recognised it as Turut grass, extremely hard and sharp. Every patch of grass had many flowerbeds in it, in enough colours to be the envy of the average rainbow. There was a maze of walkways throughout the garden, many benches and other seating arrangements. Everywhere in the garden also were high conifer-like plants and glowing sticks that provided a very nice lighting. The entire place breathed riches.

Daniel followed a small group that walked through the tunnel and reached the entrance to the main house. Three servants were there to look at the invitations once more and hand out glasses with wine. He then followed the people in front of him as they seemed to know what to do next.

It ended him up in a queue that did not move along very quickly. Daniel looked around the large hall. There was a fountain in the middle of it, spraying water in wide arches. He could not see where the water went, as there were too many people in the way. There was a lot of talking going on already.

The queue moved along a little at the time. Then Daniel saw the reason for the slowness: Clelem and his family were lined up, greeting all the guests personally and taking the time to exchange some words with them. At the end of the line he saw the mouse. Gaguran Slindris. This was going to be fun.

"Mr. Zacharias. How gentle of you to come," Clelem said, shaking his hand shortly. "I am pleased to see you are doing well."

"Thank you, Seigner, I was honoured by your invitation."

"You are most welcome, Mr. Zacharias. Your heroic actions aboard the ship should not go unnoticed."

Clelem's wife was clearly the blueprint for their daughter. The same dark hair and eyes, and a lady through and through. "Mr. Zacharias, I have heard of your bravery. Thank you for joining us on this evening."

"I was merely doing my job, Lady Dandra ko Galem," Daniel said, bowing to her.

"It did cost you, sir. Do not talk down your actions. It is not befitting." She smiled at him. A nod told him that she was done talking to him, so he moved on.

Rayko stepped backwards. "Stay away from me," she hissed, keeping a smile on her face. "I want my clothes to stay in one piece." It was fierce enough for her mother to quickly glance at her daughter.

"Very pleased to meet you again also, Miss Dandra ko Galem," Daniel smiled, enjoying a strange delight in her reaction. "Will we enjoy your company aboard the Pricosine again?"

She glared at him, venom in her eyes. Daniel's eyes lingered for a moment on the unusual strip of red jewellery that the young woman wore on her cheek.

Daniel moved to the next person in the line, a young man he did not know. He had long black hair hanging over his shoulders, deep dark eyes, and a strong chin. He also had a cane in hand.

"Warlem Dandra ko Galem," the young man introduced himself. "I am the disgrace of the house, and deemed useless to boot."

Daniel was surprised about this introduction.

"I have heard what you have done, Mr. Zacharias, and I applaud your daring," Warlem said, bowing to him. "I'm afraid that I am not made of the material of heroes."

Daniel grinned. "We are not all the same, sir."

"And that is a good thing," Warlem shared, only then releasing Daniel's hand. "After all, what good are acts of heroism if there are no poets to recite their achievements?"

"Uhm, I guess you're right, sir," Daniel said, rather out of his field with that remark. He nodded and faced Gaguran.

"Mr. Zacharias. Good evening. Welcome."

"Good evening, Mr. Slindris." That and a nod completed the round of introductions.

Daniel stepped away and positioned himself near a large plant, out of the crowd. He took his time to get a feel for the people who were there.

"Are you feeling out of place, Mr. Zacharias?"

To his surprise, it was his host who addressed him. "Oh, good evening, Seigner. I am just trying to get in the proper spirit. I am not used to venues like this."

"I understand." Clelem nodded. "Have you been treated well during your stay in the hospital? I worried about you, Mr. Zacharias. It was a fortunate occasion that the medical person from your former location was present to assist. Our Glandrine skin is becoming you."

"The staff of the hospital was wonderful, Seigner Dandra ko Galem," Daniel said, as he caught Gaguran trailing after Rayko who was disappearing in the crowd. "I hope to be able to reimburse the people who paid for my stay there."

"No need to worry about that, Mr. Zacharias. The Ship Owners Society has provisions for incidents like these," Clelem said.

Then Warlem, his son, cut in. "Father, the senator has arrived, would you please join us?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Zacharias." The two men walked off to greet a thin guest who wore a remarkable green robe. The man had long, wavy blond hair and a large nose. That was a senator?

Daniel frowned and sipped some more of his wine. Then he slowly walked into the large hall, to satisfy his curiosity. He had to know where the arches of water ended up.