FaRtaL Chpt 17

==From a Ristar to a Lady - Chapter 17 -==
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===Journey from Home===
Dropship Azure Afro
Zenith Jump Point, Inman
7th March, 30610500 hrs
Anastasia peered out of a viewpoint, as the crew of the JumpShip prepared for jump. The Yolander was a Merchant class JumpShip with two attached Mules, and was the sole JumpShip servicing the Trivet worlds, other than the occasional JumpShip bringing in tourists or other irregular visitors to the Trivet.
She could just see the bulk of the Attica recharge station nearby, its exterior worn and dilapidated after centuries of operation. Nevertheless, it was still operational and was a key installation in the Trivet, enabling ships to recharge faster and jump out again instead of spending more than eight days at the jump point recharging through the sail.
The umbilical tube containing the recharging cable joining the Attica to the Yolander had already been detached from the JumpShip. Anastasia had seen the Attica slowly retracting the tube shortly after the Azure Afro had docked with the Yolander. It was apparent the JumpShip crew did not want to take any chances by charging their drive too quickly even with the direct energy feed.
The Yolander was an old JumpShip, constructed during the early days of the Star League and just like the Attica space station, had seen far better days. There was no sense in risking the old and venerable Jump drive when there was no real urgency traveling in the somewhat lackadaisical Outback.
With the dropships docked and the undocking complete, the JumpShip was ready for jump.
The ship PA system chimed a soft pulsing tone, startling an anxious Luisa, also strapped within her own seat. Jump operations were already underway, and they were only fifteen minutes from jump.
Realizing something important, Anastasia asked, “Luisa, do you have any idea if I have TDS?”
The maid looked puzzled, “What’s that?”
Anastasia patiently explained, “Transit Disorientation Syndrome. In short, do I get very sick after a jump?”
“The lord didn’t say anything about that. He said you were fine when you traveled with him from Altoona to Inman years ago.”
Anastasia nodded. That should be good enough. Generally, the Clans regarded most cases of TDS with severe symptoms as psychosomatic, and had otherwise largely bred it out of their warrior caste, and so the warriors of the clans rarely had to deal with the issue. But she wasn’t in her original trueborn body, and who knows how the jump would affect Anastasia’s weak body?
“Luisa, how about yourself?”
The maid suddenly looked nervous, “I… I don’t know!”
Realizing her mistake, Anastasia quickly reassured her, “Oh, it’s not common, so don’t worry about it. I’m sure we can find some dralaxine if you need it.” Stravag, TDS can be psychosomatic. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.
A second tone chimed throughout the ship. Five minutes to jump.
Anastasia took a small sip from the water bulb next to her, careful not to drink too much in case she suffered from a bout of post-jump nausea and vomited all over the place.
She took the time to punch up on the small viewscreen data on Altoona, itself an oddity amongst the many star systems inhabited by humanity.
Instead of being the usual planet, Altoona was actually a moon orbiting the sole planet in the system, a massive red gas giant named Red Eagle. Red Eagle itself orbited a comparatively tiny M7V class red dwarf star, which barely provided sufficient sunlight for Altoona’s agricultural sector.
Despite extensive efforts by the Star League’s Department of Mega-Engineering, the terraforming efforts on Altoona were not complete, cut short by the civil war that ended the Star League. Hence, its atmosphere was still a bit thin, and the oxygen partial pressure was low enough that pregnant women and livestock had to rest in special oxygen-enriched venues in order to carry their children to term successfully.
Problems with the local conditions were exacerbated by the fact that Altoona was tidally locked with Red Eagle, which meant that Altoona’s day-night cycle essentially depended on its orbital period around Red Eagle, which was slightly more than twelve standard days. Red Eagle rotated around its primary with an axial tilt of thirty-five degrees, while Altoona’s orbital had a minus-fifteen degree inclination to Red Eagle’s equator. Combined with the distance between Altoona and Red Eagle, these led to some variation in Altoona’s distance from the primary, which in turn had an effect on the surface temperature. Altoona itself had an axial tilt to its own orbital of ten degrees, which meant that parts of it would always be facing the star.
Due to the tidal lock and axial tilt, parts of Altoona either had prolonged sunlight or prolonged night, and other areas might only receive sunlight reflected off Red Eagle, creating a state the locals called ‘Half-light’. The local agriculture sector obviously positioned their farms to take advantage of the prolonged sunlight to encourage crop growth, but had to provide some shading and extensive irrigation to prevent excessive moisture loss.
Altoona was a relatively cool and dry world, with the highest local temperature being only twenty degrees centigrade despite the constant exposure to the sun, while the parts facing Red Eagle, called ‘Redwards’ by the locals, could go below a negative hundred degrees centigrade when not facing the sun.
As inhabited worlds went, Altoona was one of the most unusual ones she had ever seen.
Despite all the problems with the world, humanity persisted, for no better reason than to extract that most precious of commodities, germanium. Altoona was quite rich with that critical element, and exported significant quantities of it, required to construct the KF drives that enabled faster-than-light travel.
The landhold belonging to House Kalinski produced the lion’s share of germanium, about fifty tons per year. Anastasia could not really make sense out of the estimated numbers, but she knew enough to know that the income via exporting those fifty tons of germanium alone was a huge sum of money.
In fact, if she read between the lines correctly, the germanium was the major source of the Trivet’s strategic importance to the Federated Commonwealth. Inman and Delacambre were only important because Inman exported its agricultural surplus to support Altoona’s population, while Delacambre provided defense, mining equipment, and energy. Much of the money Altoona earned by exporting germanium went back to the other Trivet worlds.
The third warning chime sounded, indicating they were one minute away from jump. Anastasia closed her viewscreen, sat back, and sighed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a nervous Luisa wringing her hands anxiously.
Anastasia closed her eyes and focused on her breathing as she was taught years ago in the sibko, maintaining an even breath.
They jumped.
Instead of fighting it, she let the twisting sensation flow through and over her, her mind blank and formless. Before she knew it, they had snapped back into reality, floating around a new star. She barely felt any dizziness or nausea, and the slight sensation quickly passed.
Luisa, though…
The maid vomited violently into a barf bag she barely had time to grab hold of. Tiny globules of vomit floated in the air, escaped from the barf bag.
Anastasia quickly pressed a button on her seat to call for dralaxine, while her other hand took out a small handheld vacuum pump designed to clean up such liquids floating in microgravity. Poor Luisa, she thought.
----
===Those we leave behind===
Haynes Palatial Manor
Inman, Federated Suns
1400 hrs (1000 hrs on local 28 hr cycle)
It was about five standard days after Anastasia left. Finn was at the palatial manor for a meeting when he came across something unusual.
“Argh! Help me! Help me!”
“…?” He stopped at the sound of a woman whimpering and turned to see two Haynes household guards dragging her along the ground. Her back was bloody with welts and lashes.
He turned to Eric, and asked quietly, “What’s going on?”
“I heard that Baron Haynes is abusing the maids these days. He’s using the wing of the manor allocated to the household guards to keep it away from the Count.”
“I thought he was more careful these days, but I guess he hasn’t changed,” Finn said with disgust.
Eric nodded in agreement.
“But sir, they said he would only select maids with long black hair and single them out for abuse.”
“What?” Finn stopped walking, and turned to stare at Eric.
Eric cleared his throat nervously, “All the maids at the palatial manor with long black hair are either cutting their hair or dyeing them a different color. They’re scared sir.”
“Those bastards are ruining the militia’s reputation.” While the Haynes household guards wore different uniforms from the Trivet militia and had a separate command structure, in practice they worked closely together. The public also tended to view them all as parts of an integral whole, so Finn could not afford to turn a blind eye if they were doing something wrong. “I shouldn’t be surprised, with Spencer as their commander. That’s the kind of ****** he is.”
Finn frowned, “Come to think of it, where’s Captain Larouche?”
“He’s on leave, I heard”
“Why?”
“Personal stuff I think.”
“Where?”
“He’s not on Inman. There was a JumpShip that passed by yesterday. Maybe he got on it?”
“What’s he doing off Inman?” murmured Finn. Then Finn looked back. The guards were still dragging the poor maid slowly down the long hallway.
It was obvious why Renard was doing this. He was taking out his anger on the maids, anger from being wholly ignored by Anastasia. Now that she was on Altoona, she was effectively out of his reach and beyond his machinations.
Out of Renard’s reach? Finn had a bad feeling about it, but he put that aside for the moment. He started walking towards the central part of the manor, where the Count’s office was located.
Eric blinked, “Sir, where are you going?”
“I’m going to get some things settled right now.”
He quickened his steps to the Count’s office. There’s not much he could do for that poor maid right now, but if he acted fast enough, no other maids would need to suffer the same torture.
Shortly after Finn’s meeting with the Count, Count Haynes ordered Renard to be confined to his wing of the palatial manor.
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===Managing a Sleeping Countess===
Fort Lambourne, Altoona
Milligan PDZ, Woodbine Operational Area
Draconis March, Federated Commonwealth
12th March, 30610900 hrs
“Is she still sleeping?”
“Yes, she is.” Matthew, the estate manager, said, while looking at Luisa. He shrugged and sighed.
Anastasia kept dozing off for nearly the entire inbound trip on the Azure Afro, and virtually collapsed as soon as she arrived at Fort Lambourne, the ancestral fort that served as the de facto administrative centre of the demesne owned by House Kalinski.
Regardless, Matthew was content. For almost ten years, he had maintained the fort while waiting for the Kalinskis to come back. Finally, Lady Anastasia Kalinska, the heir to House Kalinski, had returned.
Luisa said in relief, “Finally, she’s able to sleep comfortably now.”
“Hasn’t that always been the case? When I saw her, she seemed to sleep well.”
Luisa, recovered from her short bout of TDS, shook her head and said. “My lady hasn’t been able to sleep properly since the accident.” The maid noticed her mistress always wore a frown even when sleeping, as though she didn’t want to sleep.
“But it’s good that my lady can sleep deeply this time.” Although she still had a slight fever, Anastasia was sleeping with a relaxed expression. “And she seemed to be in a good mood throughout the journey! So since she’s sleeping well, let’s not disturb her rest.”
“Yes, agreed.” He paused. “I hope the lady will like this estate.”
“My lady will like it,” claimed Luisa confidently.
Matthew wondered at Luisa’s conviction. The Lady Kalinska he had known hated this place.
“I heard she lost her memory, but her personality must have changed a lot too.”
Well, since her maids seemed so calm, he guessed there shouldn’t be any major problems.
-----
===Shadows of Bad Memories===
1600 hrs
“Ohhhh, that was a really good rest!” Anastasia stretched her back, then grabbed her waist with a moan, because she had stretched her body so strenuously that she actually heard a creak from her waist.
She still couldn’t believe she managed to take down that Harvester in such a fragile body.
The journey from the drop port took two more days through rocky terrain in a jeep, and Anastasia found it intensely frustrating that her health just seemed to deteriorate. It seemed her illness took a lot out of her, and all the small gains she had made regarding her health had been negated.
During the long ride, she resolved to build up her fitness again, and if possible, convince somebody to let her drive a vehicle on her own. A motorcycle would be nice, though she could already imagine the looks of horror on the servants. Due to the bare infrastructure and lower technological base on Altoona, wheeled vehicles were the norm as they could navigate the terrain better than hover vehicles and were easier to upkeep.
When she arrived at Fort Lambourne, she had no energy to even consider what it looked like, she just plopped into her bed right away.
If any of the Smoke Jaguars knew this, they would surely laugh at me. It was not a forced march over difficult terrain requiring days of intense mech manoeuvring, it was only a ride in a jeep and she almost collapsed.
Anastasia sighed. I think I slept for almost three days. It seemed that when she finally reconciled her past identity with her present, it also led to a better understanding and acceptance of her own body, enabling her to rest fully. Anastasia also had a feeling that when she resumed her training, progress might be faster than before.
She looked around the room. Unlike the lavish mansion on Inman, her current accommodations were simpler and less ornate. She found it a welcome change from the Inman mansion, with ornaments which glittered so brightly her eyes sometimes hurt.
Well, the servants at Fort Lambourne claimed their preparations were all made in haste due to the suddenness of her arrival, but she was actually relieved to be in conditions closer to what she was used to.
Anastasia rose from her bed, feeling refreshed and somewhat excited to be out and about in a new environment. When she opened the door, the maids outside were startled and started scurrying about in a frenzy.
“Ah, my lady!”
“My lady!”
“You should have called us to change your clothes!” Luisa suddenly appeared by her side, bright and eager as usual. Thankfully, her short bout of TDS did not last long, and she had mostly recovered when the Azure Afro reached Altoona.
At her maid’s words, Anastasia pointed out, “Why? This is not Inman.”
“Even if it’s not Inman! The lady is equivalent to a princess here! You have to be presentable!”
The maids immediately dragged her back into her room to wash her up first. Unlike Avryl, who never paid much attention to her eye gunk and simply used her fingers to wipe them off, the people here could not stand even a single grain of dust falling on her long eyelashes, let alone gunk in her eyes.
Luisa, as her personal maid, took charge. “My lady, you need to change your clothes!”
“I’ll guide you, my lady!” One of the fort’s maids ran quickly and pulled her to the main dressing room, which was not the one in her room.
Anastasia frowned. The servants here behaved very differently from the ones on Inman. They had no fear of her and did not hesitate to express their own opinions if they felt it necessary.
She was not aware that although rumours of her capriciousness had reached Altoona, they had no first hand experience of her anger and hence wrote it off as simply unfounded gossip. Furthermore, the first impression she had given was that of a very languid cat that simply wanted rest desperately. Even after she woke up, she still seemed quite meek and reasonable.
Finally, her sheer beauty put them at ease. The maids had even started to brag that there was simply no comparison between their lady and those known to be pretty on Altoona. No contest!
All in all, they had no reason to be afraid of her.
When they arrived at the main dressing room, Anastasia suppressed a sigh. As she expected, it was filled almost to the top with dresses. In fact, if her eyes did not fool her, it seemed to be a former ammunition storage room converted to storing dresses, and it was simply too large a space to be dedicated for just dresses.
She wondered where the Baron got so much money? The Inman mansion, the dresses here. The opulence of the whole thing was just too much for her clan-bred sensibilities.
“Well,” Anastasia crossed her arms. “I don’t want to wear any of these.”
Luisa nodded vigorously. “The dresses here are all out of fashion. We’d just adjust them to suit the new fashions! The Archon-Princess has great taste, we can emulate her style!”
Anastasia raised an eyebrow. “No, I mean, I don’t want to dress up at all here. Don’t make me sound weird.”
Luisa’s bright mood turned glum as she digested the implications of her lady’s words. She had lost the chance to dress and doll up her mistress. And she was so looking forward to it too!
Anastasia slowly walked around the dressing room, and looked at each dress. All of them were eye-catching dresses that could only be worn to expensive events. Still, it seemed she would have to choose one and wear it, since she could not ignore the sincerity of her servants, and their disappointed looks made her feel guilty.
Then Anastasia’s eyes fell on the dresses gathered in a corner of the room. They were clearly different from the other dresses. These dresses were mostly of a single colour, and they lacked fancy decorations.
“These dresses.”
“What?”
“What about these?”
“Ah, my lady! These are very old. They all belonged to the late Madame.”
Oh, the maid referred to Anastasia’s mother as ‘Madame’. But it was strange. Unlike the colourful dresses prepared for Anastasia, the dresses in front of her were so simple that they looked shabby in comparison.
“These dresses are different.”
“What?”
“I meant they looked simple.”
She raised her hand and touched the dress. Even though it was an old dress, it was well taken care of, and the fabric was smooth, did not wrinkle, and felt comfortable. It seemed too frugal for the late baroness, but if it was good enough for her 'mother', then it was good enough for her.
“I’ll wear one of these.”
“What? But, my lady…”
All the maids looked sad. But Anastasia had her own reasons. It wasn’t that she purposely wanted to be thrifty and frugal, she just wanted to wear comfortable clothes that did not glitter so brightly they hurt her eyes, or required her to tighten her waist.
“This one.” Anastasia gave the maids a pointed look, and chose a dark green dress among her mother’s dresses.
After putting on the dress with the requisite grooming, the maids praised her beauty, and said that wearing a simple dress made her look more beautiful. Anastasia brushed off the compliments, since they smacked of ostentatious flattery.
Luisa then led her to an old man with greying hair. “My lady, this is Matthew.”
“Sir Matthew?”
“Just Matthew is fine, Lady Kalinska.” He bowed respectfully. Anastasia hesitated about how to treat this man, since she could not even remember anyway, but decided to speak frankly.
“I don’t remember much, but it’s nice to see you.” When in doubt, be bold.
Matthew nodded. “The Baron, your lord father, appointed me as the steward, so I’m in charge of the overall management of the demesne.”
She understood, having learned that much from Madame Iris.
“I tried to match the clothes and your room to your aesthetic requirements, but I feel it is still far inferior compared to Inman, so please forgive me.”
“…” Anastasia did not reply immediately, but decided to wait and try to understand what he was saying, because it just did not make sense to her.
Then, the steward said with a more desperate look as if he mistook her silence for anger. “I know you hate coming here. Nevertheless, I’m sorry for our shabbiness.”
Did Anastasia hate it? The original Anastasia had never come down here at any point from what she remembered. She thought that even though she could not know the original Anastasia’s mind, she could make a fair guess that the loss of her mother and the attempted suicide of her father made her hate the place.
She decided to reply. “There is nothing to forgive. I have no aesthetic sense, and I don’t know the difference between what’s fashionable and what’s not. You can tell just by looking at this dress, right?” She gestured to the dress she was wearing.
Matthew’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, my lady. I thought the dress you’re wearing looked familiar.”
“Yes, I heard it belonged to my mother. I borrowed it.”
“Oh I see.”
Anastasia looked uncomfortable when she noticed Matthew’s teary expression. The next thing they’re going to say is…
“Oh, you look just like your mother.”
Ugh, she knew they would say that. Anastasia felt a bit guilty, since she was actually Avryl, and it felt like she was purposely using the memory of Anastasia’s mother to deceive them. Anastasia scratched her chin awkwardly.
“Now, is there anything I need to do here?”
“Oh, no, my lady. You can just do what you want.”
“Okay. I would like to have a meal first. Then maybe a tour of this place?”
“This way please.” Matthew smiled and led the way.
----
Fort Lambourne was just another old fort, built during the era of the Star League.
“What do you think of this place?” asked Matthew. After her dinner, Anastasia toured the fort.
Despite the standard time of 1900 hrs, it was still daylight, since Altoona did not adhere to Terran norms, with each cycle being more than seventeen days long, and the position of the demesne was such that they won’t ever be in complete darkness due to the axial tilt of both Altoona and Red Eagle. But the daylight was rather dim, as the system primary was a tiny red dwarf, and the sky a shade of red the locals called cherry.
“It is a really old fort.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for not being able to show you something more luxurious.” The stewart seemed anxious.
“Oh, don’t worry! I’m not blaming you for this place being old, since you can’t do anything about it. Furthermore, it’s neither a good or a bad thing.”
The fort was old, but relatively well-maintained. It lacked the same level of amenities as the mansion on Inman, which spoke to Anastasia volumes about its original purpose as a garrison fort for the Star League Defence Force.
Matthew explained, “During the time of the Star League, this was an important fort housing the garrison for the worlds around Altoona.”
Anastasia thought she knew better than him about how the Star League Defense Forces worked, but she decided not to say too much, “Yes, it looks like it.”
“…”
“When we were approaching by jeep, I saw the size of the fort. Building it can’t be cheap.”
“Yes, Altoona was an important garrison world for the Star League Defense Force. The unit posted here, the 225th Mechanized Infantry Division, was responsible for defending all the worlds within one jump of Altoona.”
Her ears perked up. “It was a division?”
“Yes. Apparently a division is huge, so they needed a lot of housing. This fort was supposed to accommodate a battalion, whatever that is.”
“Single branch or combined arms?” She asked almost automatically.
Matthew looked puzzled, “My lady, I don’t understand your question.”
“Oh,” Anastasia realised her mistake. “Uhm, never mind. It’s not a big deal.” Nice going, Avryl. You almost gave yourself away again!
“My lady, you seem familiar with this.” Matthew commented.
Yes, I am, thought Anastasia. But the familiarity was from Avryl, not the original Anastasia, who would not know anything about forts and the SLDF.
Looking at Matthew’s expression, Anastasia coughed once, then said, “I read about this in a book on the trip here. The journey was so boring that I even ended up reading books I usually found boring!”
Her explanation seemed to convince Matthew. She looked around the fort again, and gave a mental sigh of relief at her impromptu cover story.
The ferrocrete walls looked dull because of age, but still looked solid after centuries. Anastasia was able to appreciate the construction and sturdiness of the fort, as well as the intent behind it. “Sir Matthew, don’t misunderstand me. I don’t hate it.”
“What?”
“I mean, I like it. It’s nice. Historic, you could say.”
Matsy looked confused and said, “Didn’t you hate this fort because it was old? That’s why you asked the Baron to go to Inman, and then you never came back.”
“How can a person always remain the same?” Anastasia said, waving her hand dismissively.
She looked around the fort again, noting its condition. “No matter how I look, this place doesn’t look wealthy. Why is the mansion on Inman so glamorous?”
At Anastasia’s words, Matthew smiled wanly. “Because the Baron was willing to spend that money to make you happy.”
“Oh.” Anastasia tilted her head, thinking of that splendid mansion. Wouldn’t it be better to renovate this fort with that money? Just because they are nobles with a decent demesne does not mean they had enough money to fix up both the fort and the Inman mansion.
In her view, Baron Kalinski seemed like the kind of person who felt proud of spending all his money on his daughter.
“Come to think of it, where does my father stay while in the fort?”
“When he is here, the lord stays in the study or in the south annex master bedroom.”
“South annex master bedroom? Where is it? I don’t think I’ve ever been there? Right?”
“Well… That is the room with a photo portrait of the madame…” Matthew’s words faded off.
“Why is it strange that there is a photo portrait of my mother?” Anastasia raised her eyebrows. What does Anastasia’s mother have to do with this? “My father did not say anything to me about that.”
Matthew spoke cautiously, “Maybe because seeing her photo would hurt you?”
“…Hurt?”
As Anastasia tilted her head, Matthew shook his head. “Because you lost your mother.”
Anastasia felt a bit uncomfortable. What would it have been like if she was the real Anastasia? She didn’t feel anything about losing her mother because she wasn’t the real Anastasia. Instead, she gave the best answer she could.
“I was told I lost my memory, so I don’t really remember anything about my mother.”
Come to think of it, she didn't have any of the original Anastasia’s memories of her mother, which seemed strange. It was as though the original Anastasia did not want to recall those memories at all.
“Whatever the past is, I won’t be so easily affect by it, so don’t worry.”
Matthew nodded at Anastasia’s calm words. Still, he looked worried. She understood he was worried because she returned to Altoona to recover from her mental health issues, and her mother's portrait might trigger another breakdown.
She felt uncomfortable, but she didn’t feel offended due to his genuine sincerity and concern.
The original Anastasia truly received a lot of love from those around her. She thought it was just too bad that she was not satisfied with it.
When the door of the south annex bedroom opened, Anastasia walked in carefully.
“My lady, please wear this…..”
Matthew covered her shoulders with a small cloak. She looked up. There was a swathe of blue cloth covering one side of the wall.
Matthew walked up next to it and pulled a string to bring up the cloth, revealing the portrait obscured by the cloth.
The photo portrait took her breath away. The frame was delicately crafted with platinum, with sapphires, large and small, glittering in this dark room.
However, it was the woman in the photo portrait, not the frame, who was breathtaking.
She was as beautiful as the moon. The fine black hair was down to the waist, and the red cheeks were pretty like peaches. Her eyes were dark blue, like sapphire, embedded in a frame.
She was wearing a dress the color of her eyes, looking straight ahead and smiling playfully. Anastasia could easily see the striking resemblance between herself and the woman in the portrait.
“She is beautiful.”
It was an honest observation. What did Anastasia feel? She reached out with a hand to gently brush away some dust off the portrait, feeling a bit awkward.
“How did my mother die?”
Matthew said, “Really, you don’t remember at all?”
“Yes.”
She had no memory of Anastasia’s mother. Besides, if her mother had held a special place in Anastasia’s heart, shouldn’t it have come to mind? She suddenly felt sorry for Anastasia’s loss.
“She died of leukaemia. The onset was very sudden. The doctors said it was probably due to a huge dose of radiation she took when escaping Rasalhague during the Ronin Wars.”
“Oh? My mother was a commoner?"
"Yes, she was a refugee from Rasalhague, but she was also a trader and had money. Your father fell in love with her. They had you, but then…" his voice trailed off again.
Even in the thirty-first century, mankind was not free from the scourge of cancer. Sure, treatments had advanced significantly, but there was still no 'silver bullet' that could eradicate cancer.
Avryl remembered her time in the 144th Garrison Cluster, after she had just graduated from her first Trial of Position. One of the older warriors approaching solahma age developed acute myeloid leukaemia, likely from some radiation dose he had received as a younger warrior. Since any treatment was unlikely to be successful, Diaz chose an honourable death in suicidal battle instead. She would never forget the massive LRM-sized syringes the scientists gave him that would enable him to continue fighting in his Hunchback IIC despite the pain and weakness from the cancer.
She also never forgot how the survivors on both sides gathered to pay their respects to him after his glorious death in battle against the Nova Cats. For many clan warriors, dying in battle was their preferred ending. They even petitioned to have him in the clan's Remembrance, but the motion failed to pass.
If it was sudden onset leukaemia, a patient’s remaining time could be measured in days.
“My mother died in this room.”
Matthew’s eyes widened. “You remember?”
“I don’t know, it just appeared in my mind.” Anastasia frowned and faced her mother’s portrait. “But leukaemia… there should be treatments for it, right?”
Matthew sighed. “Not in the Outback. Medical treatments here in the Trivet are very limited.”
“Was it a matter of money?”
He shook his head. “No. We had enough money, it was the availability of the treatments. To even have a chance, your mother needed to be sent to the New Avalon Institute of Science, but there were simply no ships that could make it in time. Even the diagnosis required us to transport doctors and diagnostic test kits from Inman, and that’s the most they have.”
Anastasia felt regretful. The regressed technological levels of the Outback finally hit home. She had been too used to the cutting edge technology of the Clans, where they could even regenerate lost limbs, and took it for granted.
She said quietly, “Noble or commoner, in the end we all die the same way.” She looked at the baroness, who had a beautiful smile on her face.
Then a pained face suddenly appeared in her mind, making her stagger a bit.
Matthew rushed over to her. “My lady?”
“Wait a minute.”
In Anastasia’s memory, this room used to be quite bare, with only the portrait, a bed and a flowerpot in her memory.
Her father was kneeling next to her mother on the bed, imploring, “Grace, please, hold on. We’re trying to arrange for transport to New Avalon. I’ll do everything I can to get you treatment. Please, please.”
“Boris,” she gasped. “Breathing… hard…”
Her mother’s face came to mind. Next to her, Baron Kalinski’s desperation was evident.
“My lady? Are you okay?”
Anastasia exhaled a deep breath as Matthew asked again with concern, and shook her head.
“Ana… please. Your… father… kill me… beg… you.”
“No, I remembered a little.” Anastasia tried to act nonchalant. However, Matthew’s face looked particularly stiff, as though he knew she was putting up an act.
“My mother must have been in a lot of pain.”
He grimaced, “Not really. We didn’t have cancer treatments, but we do have a significant opium crop, so there was enough morphine to dull her pain before her passing.”
Anastasia thought about it for a while, then asked, “Did matters improve after my mother passed?”
“No. We don’t have the resources to support any advanced medical technology in the Trivet, especially here on Altoona. Inman has more advanced equipment and specialists, but even then they’re not much.”
Anastasia nodded her head at Matthew’s explanation. Talk about cutting one’s nose off to spite one’s face. The nobles insisted on keeping the population uneducated and poor, but the flip side was that medical treatments common on other worlds became impossible to support. Who truly suffers at the end?
Her heart was still pounding with the feelings from the memories of young Anastasia, the shock she had experienced when her mother died right in front of her eyes. She understood the original Anastasia’s feelings. The reason why she didn’t want to remain at the fort was because she did not want to be reminded of her mother’s death and her father’s attempted suicide.
Anastasia sighed at this uncomfortable feeling. Then she looked at the photo portrait, with the baroness smiling. What was the Baron thinking whenever he saw this photo? Anastasia didn’t dare to guess. After all, she wasn’t actually Anastasia.
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===Chapter Notes===
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*; Chapter Note from the Author : The oxygen-enriched idea came from Kage Baker’s ‘Empress of Mars’.Germanium economics (a paper exercise, with lots of burning catgirls)Price of germanium in USD in 2021: ~$1187 per kgExchange rate (3062) C-bill vs 2021 USD: 1 C-bill to $4.78Price of germanium in C-Bill in 2021: 246.44 C Bills per kgPrice of germanium per ton in 3062 C-bills: ~0.25 million C-Bills per tonAssuming price of germanium is much higher due to scarcity of supply and high demand, leading to 100x the price, then price per ton: 25 million C-bills per ton.Think about it - one ton of pure germanium can get you a lance of battlemechs.Assuming the above figures, the stash of germanium found on Alphard by Johann O’Reilly was 50 billion C-bills (assuming real value pegged to 3062), which translates to about 2,000 tons of germanium. While an argument can be made for the price of germanium to be even higher with a smaller stash on Alphard, I think this is reasonable enough, assuming the germanium composition by mass on Alphard is 5%, which is insanely high. A 5% composition means that to extract 1 ton of germanium, 20 tons of mineral ore are required.By comparison, germanium on Terra in the 21st century is usually extracted from ores with a mere 0.3% mass composition. Getting 1 ton of germanium requires 300 tons of ore.Again by comparison, Altoona produces about 150 tons of germanium, exporting the whole amount to the Galax and Delavan yards. The Kalinski landhold alone produces 50 tons of germanium per annum, bringing in 250 million C-bills of income. Altoona has a mere population of 29 million, processing mineral ores with about 2.5% mass composition of germanium. They process about 6000 tons of mineral ore, which is about 16.5 tons a day, to get that 150 tons of germanium in a year.That’s how precious germanium is, and the main reason why Altoona was colonised at all.One more comparison: Terra in 2020 produced about 150-200 tons of germanium, with a population of more than 6 billion.I won’t go into the chemistry behind germanium, but suffice to say the extraction process is energy intensive and extremely sensitive to moisture as one of the intermediate compounds undergoes hydrolysis easily, so the introduction of water needs to be controlled carefully.In this chapter, I also wanted to highlight again the diversity of tech levels in the setting. Sure, they might have space travel, but in the Outback, advanced medical care, even for nobles, is limited.
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Chapter 17