A Most Unlikely Hero Vol. 7 Page 4

  “What is that?” asked Alex.

  “That’s a blade-class battleship,” Gabrielle said, squinting. “This one is bigger than the ones I’ve seen. I guess it’s because this is Arty’s flagship.”

  “Blade-class battleships are some of the largest in the galaxy,” Nyx added.

  “Hm!” Gabrielle nodded. “They combine a perfect balance of attack and defense. There are over one hundred and twenty-five laser batteries and seventy-five turrets. They also use the most recent angelisian energy shield, which is powered by a miniature pulse generator. One blade-class battleship is equal to about ten destroyer-class cruisers.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this ship,” Alex said.

  “I should,” Gabrielle said. “After all, I’m the one who built the first prototype.”

  “What?”

  Their shuttle soon reached a blue energy field, which is straight through. Alex had never seen anything like that.

  It’s probably a shield designed to keep the atmosphere from leaking out of the ship.

  They didn’t have anything like that on Mars, or in the rest of his solar system, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. Most of the galaxy was light years ahead of them.

  Alex’s toes tingled when the shuttle set down in the docking bay. Prince Arthur and Gwenn came back into the cargo hold. While Gwenn lowered the boarding ramp, Prince Arthur clapped his hands as Alex, Gabrielle, and Nyx unhooked themselves from the crash webbing.

  “Be sure to watch your step, especially you, Alexander Ryker,” Prince Arthur said. “It’s pretty obvious to me that you don’t have much experience with being in space. Gravity is simulated on this ship, so it will probably feel a lot different than what you are used to.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Alex said, standing up and frowning.

  Prince Arthur grinned. “In that case, just follow us.”

  As they stepped out of the shuttle, the first thing Alex realized was that gravity really did feel different. It wasn’t huge. He wasn’t floating up to the ceiling. However, it was enough to affect his balance, and he almost stumbled before correcting himself.

  The docking bay was huge, far bigger than the one on Mars. Alex couldn’t judge its size at a mere glance, but there were nearly two hundred ships located inside of this. It was more of a hanger bay than a docking bay. Most of the ships looked like fighters, but there were a few shuttles like the one they’d flown on. Dock workers were moving around the hanger, connecting fuel lines or performing maintenance.

  There were also a number of droids. Most of them were squat little things. They looked like barrels on wheels. However, walking among some of them were bipedal robots, though these, unlike Madison, actually looked like robots. Light reflected off their silver frames. They had green photoreceptors built inside of metal sockets. Spindly arms and legs. Thick carapaces. Alex was reminded of the droids he’d seen holopictures of from the late 2500s before the change of the new calendar.

  Several people were present when Prince Arthur exited the shuttle, a group of men and women who were lined up on either side of a durasteel walkway. Black pants contrasted with white collared shirts. Everyone wore a shoulder cape that only covered one arm, and a strange black rifle was slung across their backs. They clacked a heel against the floor and saluted him.

  “Welcome back, Prince Arthur!”

  Prince Arthur grinned. “It’s good to be back.”

  Alex followed behind Prince Arthur and Gwenn as they walked between the two lines of people. So, this was what being a prince was like, huh? Even nobles reveled in less pomp than this, though Alex supposed the ruler of a solar system, or soon-to-be ruler, would warrant more respect.

  There was a person standing at the end of the line. Her hair descended from her back in dark girls, and eyes like obsidian gazed at Prince Arthur with a tenderness that made Alex pause. Her skin was an olive-color, lighter than Selene’s but darker than Gabrielle’s. A white gown covered her body, pleated and descending down to her ankles, though from the way she moved, it was clearly more functional than it looked. Unlike everyone else, who carried rifles, she had a sword strapped to her left hip and blasted on the right. Her ears were slightly pointed.

  “Darling,” the woman said. “I’m guessing you failed to win Princess Gabrielle over?”

  Prince Arthur scratched the side of his head and sighed. “Well, it would seem as though I never stood a chance.”

  “I told you it wouldn’t work out.”

  “You did.”

  “And now we’ve found ourselves in quite the predicament.”

  “Urk. I’m sorry.”

  As Prince Arthur was subtly brow-beaten by the woman, Alex sidled up to Gwenn and asked, “what’s going on here?”

  “Please do not concern yourself with this,” Gwenn said. “They act like this all the time.”

  “Who is she?” asked Gabrielle, who had come up alongside him with Nyx. While Gabrielle had tilted her head, appearing curious, Nyx remained impassive.

  Gwenn opened her mouth to respond, but Prince Arthur beat her to the punch.

  “Please allow me to introduce her, Gwenn.” He stood beside the beautiful woman, one arm around her shoulder as he smiled at Alex, Gabrielle, and Nyx. “This is Nimue, my fiancé.”

  “Oh…” Alex mumbled. “So, she’s your fiancé. That makes… sen… se…?”

  Alex trailed off as Prince Arthur’s words finally penetrated his brain. He blinked several times, trying in vain to process the other boy’s words. It took a while, longer than it should, but he eventually realized what the other boy had said.

  He blinked once. Twice. Thrice. Alex took a deep breath. Held it and counted down from three, two, one…

  “YOU MEAN TELL ME THAT YOU ARE ALREADY ENGAGED AND STILL TRIED TO MARRY GABRIELLE?!”

  … and shouted in a voice so loud that everybody there had to cover their ears, lest they find themselves going def.

  5

  The blade-class battleship was called Excalibur. Alex’s initial estimation of it being a kilometer in length was way off. At a grand total of 2.5 kilometers from aft to bow, Excalibur was one of the largest ships that he had ever seen. Were it not for the fact that it only had twenty levels, it would have been the same size as the space barge that hovered around Mars.

  Alex and the others had not been given a grand tour of the facilities, but that was for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it would take around a week to see everything. Second reason was that they had no time to a tour. The ship had already entered hyperspace. However, the biggest reason was because of Alex’s anger at Prince Arthur.

  “I can’t believe him!” Alex ranted as he paced back and forth across the room, the soft carpet under his feet the only victim of his wrath. “That pig! That chauvinistic bastard! Who the hell does he think he is?!”

  The room that he, Gabrielle, and Nyx found themselves in was beyond luxurious. Alex had visited Jasmine’s house (Jameson was rarely there, so he wasn’t worried about getting in an argument), so he was used to posh, but her home had absolutely nothing on this room.

  Red walls covered in intricate designs, beautiful mosaics, and extravagant landscapes met his eyes no matter where he looked. Even the domed ceiling was covered in gorgeous art, revealing in the splendor of a clear blue sky that changed colors to depict morning, midday, evening, and night. A sitting room, a bar, and a lounge made up two-thirds of the room. Nyx was currently sitting on the couch as she watched a holographic monitor depicting a battle between two alien fighters. The rest of the room was made up by a bed, one covered in red velvet and large enough to fit at least six people.

  Alex ignored all this as he continued to rant. “I can’t believe he would try to marry Gabrielle when he’s already engaged! What is his problem?!”

  “I’m still not sure why you’re so angry,” Gabrielle said. “Is something wrong with what he did?!”

  Alex whirled on her, his expression no doubt reflecting the shock that coursed through him. “What do you mean? He tried to marry you when he’s already engaged!”

  Gabrielle tilted her head. “Is that bad?”

  “Is that…” Alex actually had to stop himself from yelling. Did this girl not understand? Prince Arthur was engaged to another woman, but he had tried to take Gabrielle as his bride! He had never heard of someone trying to do something so horrendous. “Of course it’s bad! He tried to two-time!”

  “I don’t know what ‘two-timed’ means.” Gabrielle shrugged, and then paused. “Oh! Does this have something to do with that polygamy thing?”

  “Polygamy thing?” Alex blinked.

  “Yeah!” Gabrielle nodded. “Kiri--Kazekiri and the others were saying something about how polygamy was about someone marrying more than one person.”

  “Yes, that is the definition of polygamy.” Alex also nodded along with her.

  “They said it was wrong.”

  “That’s because it is.”

  “But it isn’t.”

  Alex needed a moment to register her words. Even then, he still couldn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

  Before Gabrielle could answer, Nyx stood up from the couch and walked over to them. Her bare feet padded along the ground before she came to a standstill beside Alex, who had stopped pacing back and forth thanks to Gabrielle’s words.

  “Please allow me to answer this question, Princess Gabrielle,” she said.

  “Okay!” Gabrielle acquiesced easily enough.

  Nyx nodded in acknowledgement of Gabrielle before turning her attention on Alex. She fixed him with a stare that he knew well. It was blank, seemingly dead, but Alex had gotten used to her impassive nature.

  “In your solar system, monogamy is the only legally acceptable practice for marriage,” she began. “However, that is not true for the rest of the galaxy. Polygamy is legally practiced across the entire galaxy. There are many men and women who have their own harems. Some, like Prince Arthur’s father, have eleven wives. Even King Lucifer, Gabrielle’s father, is married to three women.” She paused and gave Alex a look. “You should already know this. You learned about it the other day.”

  Alex felt heat spring to his cheeks. “I think I became so angry when I found out Prince Arthur was already engaged that I forgot.”

  “I assumed as much.”

  “I’m sorry you two had to hear me rant like that,” Alex said.

  “It’s okay.” Gabrielle smiled at him. “You got angry on my behalf, right? That makes me really happy!”

  Alex could do nothing but blush. Meanwhile, Nyx frowned at him and Gabrielle. It was just a slight one, but the fact that he could see it meant something was bothering her. He thought about asking if anything was wrong, but the door to their room slid open and Gwenn entered seconds before he could.

  “Princess Gabrielle. Alexander. Nyx.” The stern-looking woman nodded at each of them in turn. “It looked like you have unpacked. Would you like me to give you a quick tour of all the more important facilities on Excalibur?”

  “Yes, please!” Gabrielle said before either he or Nyx could voice their own opinion.

  Alex gave Nyx an amused smile. “I guess we’re going on a tour.”

  “Indeed,” Nyx said, nodding slightly.

  Excalibur was not only a large vessel, but there were a number of recreational and otherwise nonstandard facilities within it. Alex didn’t know what surprised him more: the fact that there was a bath within this ship, or the fact that it was unisex, meaning men and women bathed together. Gabrielle had wanted to try the baths. Fortunately, they were still on tour.

  The mess hall was could hardly be considered such. It was more like an expensive restaurant that Alex normally only saw in the upper district. Crew members could eat there for free, apparently it was one of the perks for working on this ship, and all of the food was beyond divine. He, Gabrielle, and Nyx had been allowed to sample some of the food. He had no idea what they were eating, but it made him feel emasculated as a chef.

  By this point in the tour, Alex would have been surprised if that was all this place had, but on top of a massively luxurious bath and restaurant, there was also a theme park, a gigantic training facility, an engineering room, and several shooting ranges. Not only did Gwenn show them the facilities, but she also let Alex see the engine room.

  “This… what is this?” Alex asked as he looked through a see-through material that he did not recognize. It wasn’t glassteel. It was something else. He had no idea what it was.

  “That’s a pulse generator,” Gabrielle answered for him.

  Alex looked at her. “This?”

  “Yes.”

  “That thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Huh…”

  What Gabrielle referred to as a pulse generator looked nothing at all like a generator--not from his perspective. To him it looked like a large floating ball that was spinning really fast inside of a room shaped like a sphere. A pulse of energy would be released every two seconds. It was a vibrant blue that washed over the room before being absorbed into what looked to Alex like cooling vents, though they were probably something else entirely.

  Gabrielle had taught him about pulse generators, another one of her inventions. They were quasi-dimensional engines that generated energy by tapping into a power source not of this galaxy. According to what she told him, one pulse generator produced the same amount of energy as a star every .5 seconds. It was so ridiculous that if Alex didn’t know Gabrielle, he would have never believed her.

  “I give up.” He pressed his forehead against the glassteel. “I have no idea how I can even compete with this kind of technology.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.”

  After the tour concluded, Gwenn led them back to their room, which was good because Alex didn’t know where anything was. They had taken so many twists, turns, and lifts. He had gotten completely lost.

  “I’ll be back when it’s time for dinner,” Gwenn told them. “There are outfits in the drawers. Please use them to make yourselves presentable.”

  The door closed behind her. Alex frowned at the parting comment that Gwenn had made, but when he looked at his plain clothes and compared them with the clothing that Prince Arthur had been wearing, he could see where she was coming from. The prince had been decked to the nines. Meanwhile, he was wearing jeans, a white shirt, and a gray sweater with a hoodie. It didn’t exactly mesh with the people around him.

  “Hey! Look at this!” Gabrielle said as she held up an outfit, having, at some point, wandered over to the dresser. “It’s an angelisian fishtail gown! I haven’t seen one of these since Papa tried forcing me to wear one!”

  Nyx was also next to Gabrielle. She stared at the dress like it was an enemy. “I have never seen something like this before.”

  “Wanna try it on?”

  “Very well.”

  “If you two are gonna get dressed, then let me go outside,” Alex called out.

  “Huh? Why would you do that?” asked Gabrielle.

  “Because Nyx hates perverted things,” Alex said, giving Nyx an amused smile.

  6

  Alex did not feel comfortable in his white tuxedo, or rather, he supposed it would be more accurate to say that he felt too comfortable. The pants and undershirt were softer than velvet. They caressed his skin in ways that his normal clothing did not. It was soft--too soft. Added to it was the necktie. He’d never worn a necktie before. It felt like he was being choked.

  Gabrielle and Nyx looked much more stunning than him. Gabrielle had chosen a green gown that matched her eyes and had no back, revealing her supple muscles and slender shoulder blades. Meanwhile, Nyx had chosen an all-black gown--with Gabrielle’s help--which showed off her modest amount of cleavage. Oddly enough, when Alex had looked at her breasts, she had not tried to beat him for being a pervert.

  Half an hour after they were dressed, Gwenn came back and escorted them to a private dining room. The carpet was dark red but inlaid with golden designs. Low lighting complimented the warm woods and lent the room a romantic atmosphere. Alex could see plenty of dinner dates happening there. That said, the room only had one table--a long table shaped like a rectangle that could seat about half a dozen people.

  Prince Arthur and Nimue were already present. While the prince had changed into white silk pants, black boots, and a white, long-sleeved collared shirt with a purple doublet thrown over it, his fiancé, Nimue, was dressed in a much simpler evening gown made of shimmering purple. It complemented the slightly darker skin tone, which looked a lot more natural than those people who went to tanning salons only to come out orange.

  The talking sword, Caliburn, was noticeably absent.

  “I’m glad you three could make it for dinner,” Nimue said as all three of them took a seat. Alex found himself sitting in between Gabrielle and Nyx. “And you, Alexander, have you calmed down?”

  “Yes… erm, I apologize for my outburst.” Alex could feel his face flush with shame as he looked down, unable to meet the calm gaze of this girl who couldn’t be much older than him. “I was already aware that polygamy is legal in the rest of the galaxy, but when I heard that Prince Arthur was already engaged and tried to marry Gabrielle, I just sort of lost it.”

  “That is quite alright. Your feelings for Gabrielle must be strong indeed, and I’ve learned that your solar system does not allow polygamy, so I understand why you might be angry.” Nimue smiled at him, and Alex’s stiff shoulders involuntarily relaxed. “That said, if you insult or yell at my prince while in my presence again, I shall not hesitate to lop off your head.”

  Alex was nonplussed. “Erm. What?”

  “Let us not be antagonistic now,” Prince Arthur said. “It’s dinner. That’s a time for good food and pleasant conversation, not death threats.”

  “Yes, dear,” Nimue said.

  As the group all sat down, several waiters came out and presented the group with what Prince Arthur called their “first course.” Alex had no idea what it was. It was definitely a type of soup, red, and slightly bubbly. When Alex tried a bite, it had a taste that he could not quantify. It wasn’t bad, but it was so foreign to his taste buds that he couldn’t decide whether or not he liked it. The second course consisted of crab legs from something called a Cameleon Crustacean.