General Tennant was waiting for them when they arrived at the isolated top section of the spire that served as the secluded living area for dignitaries who shouldn't be mingling with the general population, either for safety or because they weren't trusted to be unattended.
In this case, it was all the first, though Max did have some thoughts about how long it would take to find the Dryad again if they left her unattended on the lower floors, with millions of square meters of vegetation planted within the city.
"I think we will retire to our rooms for the evening. Our vessel is running on a very different schedule than the city, and it is late at night for us. Perhaps you would like to meet in ten hours for a bit of breakfast? Is there somewhere serving breakfast at that time of the morning nearby?" The Giant Envoy asked.
"There is a brunch spot in this tower, on level 481, only a few minutes by elevator and right near the elevated walkway. I suspect it might be a bit busy tonight, even at two in the morning, local time, since it has a view of the stars, but there is a Kepler Starred chef there. They're using replicated ingredients, but it's all cooked fresh, so you get to enjoy the personal touch of a skilled human chef.
I know that's something that Terminus doesn't really have on board since all but one of their restaurants uses replicated meals, but I think you will enjoy the new experience." General Tennant suggested.
"That sounds marvellous. Do they take reservations?" The envoy asked.
"They do not. It is part of his business philosophy that those who are truly hungry will show up, so his business is first come, first served." The General answered with a smile.
The Valkia nodded his agreement with that. "I like that level of dedication to one's ideals. Appointments build exclusivity, but if you know you're the best, you can open up to anyone who walks in and make a great impression. We will meet you both there in the morning, I hope. Please direct my wayward assistant back to his room once he is finished playing."
"The directions have been sent to him."
The envoys headed to the Villas reserved for them, and Max followed General Tennant to the Planetary Governor's house, a top-floor mansion that was clearly made as a spot for political negotiations, with ostentatious gardens all around, over a dozen hover limos in underground parking, and the best views in the city.
"I didn't have a hand in the design, but when I arrived, I was directed here by the city's computer. It appears that this is my spot, and there are similar ones in other spires for other senior city officials, as well as the family of former Governors.
I haven't really had time to go through everything yet, there is too much in an entire city to get fully familiar with it in one sitting, but the designers did an incredible job. I am told it was designed entirely by the staff aboard your vessel, and I watched as the Terraforming Devices built it. Who would have guessed back when you were in the Academy that humans would come so far, so fast?
Do you recall the story of the Industrial Revolution that brought humans into the modern age? In a century, we were said to have come from peasant farmers using horses to our first space flights. This feels like that legend is playing out all over."
The General was clearly a bit overwhelmed by the change in station and living conditions, but the myth was one that Max knew, even if he found it a bit embellished to think that human culture could change so much in a hundred years.
The thought of being alive at the start and end of that process was just mind-boggling.
But then, he knew the stories of how Mecha changed warfare as well, and he had seen firsthand how fast a Colony could change when granted advanced technologies, so perhaps all it took was a few key innovations to trigger a whole chain of events that would change everything.
That was their goal, in a way. To set off a series of changes that would reshape humanity into a more functional model.
The wars were beginning to die back on the homeworlds, but they still needed that particular something, the big trigger that would kick them from armistice into a cultural revolution, and he didn't think he had found it yet.
The General noticed Max was lost in his thoughts for a moment and led him inside a sitting room. "Why don't we relax with a bottle of Rum and have a good chat about everything that has happened while I was away?"
"Why don't you start with this battle that left you alone on a derelict ship? Did you volunteer to be the last man aboard as the Captain of the vessel and go down with it as tradition demands after Abraham Kepler was crippled trying to block for the God Class Mecha?" Max asked.
"Indeed I did, but in order to tell you that story and have it make sense, I need to go over the last bit of our trip through human space and how we ended up there with our troops and the design team from Comor fully engaged with the Rebels in the first place."
That was no short conversation, and they were still at it in the small hours of the morning when the General's alarm went off, reminding them that they had forty-five minutes before the meeting with the Envoys at the brunch spot.
"The design of the Planetary Governor's mansion is actually a genius bit of design. Follow me. We have our own private elevator. It runs inside a structural beam and will let us out one floor away from the spot we need. From there, we can take the moving sidewalk or one of the travel discs." General Tennat suggested, just as eager as anyone else to get to try out all of the amenities of the city.
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