Shrouded Dreams

I knew it.

I knew the identity of this old man. The one who held the Seat of Indigo, one of the Archons of the Council of Seven, the “Charter of the Infinite Frontiers”: the Beak of the Tranquil Sea.

Was it his Earth-inspired estate that gave it away? Each Archon on the Council was responsible for a function of government. Archon Burgundy, the Lord Admiral of the Fleet; Archon Aurum, the Minister of the Treasury; Archon Amber, in charge of medical sciences and the Reserve; Archon Azure, the Grand Curator of the Archives; and Archon Emerald, the Controller of Internal Affairs.

For the Archon of Indigo, who also happened to be the rotational Primus of the Council at the time, that responsibility was the acquisition of knowledge through scientific expeditions to other worlds. With the stealth and camouflage technologies the Kexterans possessed, it would not be impossible for him to have travelled to Earth before.

I took a sip of the Darjeeling. It was something that could be served in the Ritz in London. It was definitely the real deal.

Or maybe it was the fact that Kante, someone who was serving under Archon Indigo, was there. Or maybe it was those glasses; his speech patterns; or that the estate was named after his seat.

But perhaps, it was something much more than that.

There was a hint of nostalgia in the air. This estate, this old man, this tea… It should have been my first time here, yet somewhere deep in my heart I felt I had been a returning customer. Yet fickle was that feeling, for the vagueness that clouded it made it as distant as a sweet dream.

Yes, like the dreams of palaces and soirées that had been haunting me every night…

“Awaken. For you are the chosen, the one who will finish the work I left behind unfinished.”

…who?

“Awaken. For you are Constance Rainsford… the heritor of my will… Our will.”

A sense of dizziness assaulted me, flushing my consciousness away, as the mysterious voice faded.

“Until next time. We shall meet again.”

————————

“Are you OK?” Reina’s voice was the first thing I heard as I opened my eyes. “You suddenly went blank in the middle of the conversation. Are you feeling a bit off?”

“Sorry that I made you worry. It’s nothing. It’s probably just my old illness again. I used to doze off like that a lot, but thanks to the nanomachines that doesn’t happen as often now. I don’t even need a wheelchair to move around now.”

“You had to use a wheelchair?” Kante asked, while using something functionally the same.

“For anything more than an indoors stroll on the university campus, yes. I even brought my wheelchair here, but I haven’t got the chance to use her because she can’t fly. I am truly grateful that I can move around as much as I could now.”

“Her? You mean Paddy?” Reina realised something.

“Yes.” I brought up an image of Paddington on an AR window. “I had been using her as my wheelchair and had her carry my shopping whenever I went outside.”

“I heard about it from Scribe Reina. An automaton with nano actuators? It is primitive in both power output and in flexibility compared to our own, but considering Earth’s technology level, it is an impressive feat. Many civilisations could not do it better when they were at just a few years from first contact.” Archon Indigo looked at the image with intense interest. “So, you were the one who made it? No wonder you were invited here. You are an excellent scientist. …too excellent…” The last part of his sentence turned into a whisper.

…Invited, huh. It’s not like I had a choice.

“She has been working very hard under me. Her grasp on construction nano-algorithms are truly great. I did not expect anyone to be able to understand my code! If only her tutor can lend her out to me more often…” A comedian’s voice popped up out of nowhere. It seemed that Archon Emerald had arrived.

…So it was you who wrote that horrible spaghetti code with no comments and documentation whatsoever?

“Such words of praise are wasted on me.” I replied, trying my hardest to hide my scorn for a certain green window.

“Hey hey, don’t be overly humble. Or you would end up like that idiot… oh, it seems he’s here. I’d better get lost.” The green window disappeared. Why were you even here to begin with?

The bells at the door rang, and Archon Burgundy walked in. Noticing the gentleman in a tuxedo, Archon Burgundy greeted him.

“Good day, Archon Indigo. I hope my subordinates are not troubling you too much.”

“Well, isn’t that the young boy of the Red Mountains. Your subordinates are not troublesome at all. This old man has too much time to kill as is, and more talking partners are always welcome.” Archon Indigo replied, sounding as if he was a village elder meeting a young man he knew since the young man’s childhood. “To begin with, I should be the one apologising. It was my responsibility to bring Constance here. Sorry for pushing that onto you.”

“No worries, really. You had been working hard training other newcomers, after all, and its not like my trip to Earth had nothing to do with my own duties. I just couldn’t let you endure such an arduous trip.”

…With your advanced age, Archon Burgundy seemed to imply.

“Arduous trip…”

Archon Indigo turned his gaze to the window, fixing it on a piece of cloud floating in the azure, but artificial sky. “Trips that I once happily embarked on, expeditions in the name of science.” He whispered, a loneliness floating in his eyes, as an uncomfortable silence enveloped us.

…I need to do something.

“Ah!” I yelled out of the blue. “I forgot to give my self-introduction. I am Constance Rainsford from Earth. I just arrived a month ago, and now I am working as a Scribe under the guidance of Archon Burgundy. Though, Archon Emerald often forces me do his bidding. Mostly construction work, construction work, and construction work.”

“Nice to meet you, Constance of Earth. But you said you caught Emerald’s attention… Well, I suppose that does make sense. He is responsible for maintaining this city and your specialties are very handy for that.” Archon Indigo seemed happy.

“Is it rare for Archon Emerald to take interest in someone?” Kante asked.

“Well, no… quite the contrary. He would take interest in random things or persons, play with them, by that I mean work them to death, then loses interest in them completely.” Archon Burgundy replied, “But as irresponsible as he is, I can’t deny you can learn a lot from him. That’s why I let Constance work under him despite my reservations, but unfortunately he seems more obsessed than usual.”

“Hmm, I do understand. I would have taken her under my wing myself.”Archon Indigo replied.

“If that is what Your Excellency wants, then I have no objections—”

“You are an ‘Excellency’ yourself! Don’t give in to this old man’s selfish requests that easily.” Archon Indigo objected. “I won’t be a good tutor. You understand that. My life will run out before hers and there will be no one left to guide her.”

Archon Indigo suddenly turned towards me.

“Sorry, young miss. It must have been very confounding to hear an old man’s rambling.”

“Ah, no worries. I had gotten used to people getting emotional anyways. But that aside, may I ask something?”I replied.

“Oh, what might that be?”

“Was that human someone you knew?” I pointed my finger at a noblewoman’s portrait on the wall.

“What made you think so?”

“I’ve been to this place, or rather, its original before.” I answered calmly. “The Osborne on the Isle of Wight was quite a popular tourist destination, since it was one of Queen Victoria’s palaces after all. And they had a café that looked exactly like this one.

“Except for the portrait. Why did you go through the trouble of recreating everything else, but changed the portrait?”

“…”

Archon Indigo lost his words for a moment, but eventually he replied:

“…Why not have another cup of tea? It looks like this old man has a long story to tell.”