The Celestial Way

Chapter 12.2 - Exploring Ways

Kryoon was a large domed city, erected on the great featureless plains of Terra Para's southern hemisphere. There was no snow here, only barren grey earth and shallow seas. The temperature was still well below zero, though waves lapped the sea shores.

"Why is the water not freezing?" Veralla asked, pointing a claw beyond Vorzii's observation window.

"Salinity saturation," Zuckeroff explained in a knowing tone. "I aced my test on basic oceanography in college!"

"That's not the case here," Stamat said. "And the temperature is too low anyway."

"Then what?" Kiana asked.

"Don't know for sure," the stout Highlander replied. "It's got something to do with the paraworld itself. Pressure's way higher in the seas than normal, keeping them liquid, but once you draw a cupful out, it takes only a little shake to make it freeze explosively."

"Huh, ain't that something cool," Kiana remarked.

The city was visible only with enhanced imaging, being currently nothing more than a glinting spec in the distance. Vorzii was several hundred kilometers away, keeping stable altitude in the high stratosphere. The skies were again crystal clear, and if it wasn't for the skyship's sophisticated stealth systems, their approach would've been detected long ago. Even so, Airo wasn't taking chances.

"How are passive sensor readings?" he asked.

"Nothing has detected us so far, Commander," Yeoman Cloud reported."We're practically invisible for baseline visual inspection, and the skyship's hull absorbs all known spectrums while simultaneously producing low-level emissions compatible with background noise."

"Impressive," Zuckeroff whistled. "But what if they have aethertech?"

"I doubt it," Stamat said. "Most of it was lost during the Starblaze."

It had taken three whole days to reach Kryoon City. Airo wanted to avoid the Beacon Highway – what remained of it, anyway – and thus Vorzii had to power through the perilous super-topography of the planet. The skyship frequently rose to the upper atmosphere to keep its bearing, and had to skirt around warpstorms several times. By the end of the journey everyone aboard was on edge. Only Airo's mood improved, as he felt he was finally making progress towards his ultimate goal. He used the downtime during travel to learn about Vorzii's combat and utility capabilities, and spent some time training in simulspace to use its systems, in case he ever needed to pilot the skyship or fire its weapons. He kept little contact with the Radiant Knights beyond learning their names and specialties.

"Is the shuttle ready?" Airo asked, studying Kryoon City and its outskirts through the skyship's sensors. He had ordered the Knights to strip down one of their transport shuttles, masking its appearance as a worn-out civilian model.

"Yes, sir," Stamat said. The large Highlander served well enough as an executive officer, though his demeanor carried a degree of uneasiness all Radiant Knights had around Airo. "All modifications are done as you requested."

"Then let us not waste any more time, and proceed with the matter at hand," Airo said. " Lieutenant Kiana, Lieutenant Zuckeroff, and I will be part of the away team. The rest of you will stay here and await our return."

"Wait!" Veralla bounced. "I want to come, too!"

"You cannot," Airo said firmly. "The Consortium does not take kindly to the presence of dragons." He looked around the bridge. "And neither to the Radiant Order. That is why those who are affiliated with either cannot go to the city itself."

"But I want to come with you," Veralla keened, wings drooping. "And I want to see what a city is like."

"Well, I can't do anything about your first request, whippersnapper," Kiana said, glancing with disdain at Airo, "but I can show you something which may satisfy your second wish." She gestured before the dragonet. "Skyship, cast an AR screen here."