I was sitting on my bed drying my hair in my night clothes when I heard a muffled conversation outside my door. Before I could wonder who was talking, AVA announced that the override had been approved and the door slid open silently.
My mother strode into the room with the kind of bearing only years of political training could impart. She swept her eyes around my filthy room with a disapproving glance. “Really, Vanessa. You could at least pretend to care about keeping this place clean.” She stated with a slightly wrinkled nose. Mum clapped her hands and a swarm of cleaning bots rushed into my room and started stripping down the piles of dirty clothes, rubbish, and dirty dishes almost faster than a human could perceive.
“Hi mum, how are you? Work was busy? Oh, that’s nice.” I replied with just enough sarcasm to not earn myself a reprimand.
Mum ignored me and continued to stride forwards with a robot following in tow holding a dress. It was branded from one of the only prestige fashion designers in Techropolis. “Your sister tells me that you don’t intend to attend the banquet tonight. Care to explain why?”
With her arms crossed and her face set in a ‘take no prisoners’ stare it wasn’t hard to see why my mother had been acting as an ambassador for the Mechrorian people with our friendly neighbours for decades now. While we were of a similar height and body shape, mum had her hair straightened and styled so it fell down her back like rich mahogany. Rumour has it that she was even a liaison with the country waging war against us. That was before their current king went on a rampage and decided to wage a war against our people.
“I’m not a dresses and banquet person mum, you know that. I hate the fact that I need to put on a pretty dress, face full of makeup, and make empty small talk to a bunch of entitled fops while wearing my best fake smile!” I was close to shouting, but it was hard to maintain the rage when there were a dozen robots whirring around cleaning and polishing in the background.
Mum sighed and walked over to my bed before gently settling herself down next to me. “I know you’re not that kind of girl, you never have been. But you must understand that your father is the High Minister, and that means as a family we have obligations to support him.” She paused to gesture out the window. “Your father is responsible for the running of everything you see out there and much more you don’t see underground. It is our responsibility to support him in his political challenges. While it may seem stupid to you, banquets with foreign dignitaries are perhaps the only time you are expected to show up and demonstrate to the world that we are a family.”
She stood up and stroked my hair tenderly. “The banquet starts at 7:00 tonight. I bought a dress for you and someone will be around for you to make sure you’re presentable at 6:30.”
“Do I have any say in this at all?” I asked bitterly.
“No. You’ll understand why sooner rather than later. Until then, I’ll see you at 7:00 and not a moment later.” She placed the dress on the bed where she had been sitting and turned on her heel to walk out of the totally spotless room. The cleaning bots finished their job and disappeared silently behind her.
o.O.o
“So, what do you do for work?” someone asked, obviously not deterred by the bored expression firmly plastered on my face.
I glanced over to the eager Mechrorian trying to strike up a conversation with me. I took in his streamlined suit that somehow vaguely resembled a one-piece body suit. He looked like he was trying to appear sincere, but there’s no way someone who attended a party like this wasn’t aware of the family of the High Minister. There was a glint in his eye that screamed ‘political point scoring’.
“I’m a mechanic, but then again, you probably knew that already.” I replied with my best bored tone. I swirled the glass of wine in my hand and stared through him. The rest of the banquet took place on the highest point of Techropolis beneath the open sky. “Just so we’re clear, I have no influence over my fathers’ career, no inclination to participate in politics, and no interest in small talk.” I paused to fix him with a look that I had learned from mum. “So, unless you want to talk about the benefits of using gyro stabilization in steel wolf strikers rather than traditional sensor-based tracking systems, I’d suggest you find someone else to talk to.”
He laughed nervously and carefully backed away before joining the conversation of some people who were more receptive.
The banquet was being held in honour of the Nichi Kavu people, who were the desert people to the north east of Mechanoria, and our biggest supporter in the war against the Aseaviel kingdom. They are a nomadic people primarily, with few permanent cities or townships studded throughout their vast and arid country. While their population was only around a million people, due to the nomadic nature of the Nichi Kavu people almost every citizen will have made a complete circumnavigation of their country throughout their lives.
They were our closest supporters due to the fact that they shared a system of representative government that closely mirrored our own, and their extensive seafaring had brought them into close contact with the people of Aseaviel through trade and imparted them with an understanding of how insane their king was and how he would stop at nothing to conquer their land and strip them of the vast resources that lay buried under the sands of their country.
The banquet was a fairly large one, with roughly two hundred people in attendance and half of them being Nichi Kavu, who were dressed in flowing robes of the brightest colours imaginable. Their clothes were even studded with trinkets like bells and chimes, and an undercurrent of faint ringing melded with the sounds of cheerful conversation.
I groaned inwardly when I saw my older brother, Balan, weaving his way purposefully through the crowd towards me, pausing every now and then to greet various dignitaries. “I should have known that you’d be hiding in a corner somewhere. Would it really kill you to have a conversation with someone who isn’t holding a wrench?” he asked in an exasperated tone.
I drained my glass of wine and placed in on a nearby table. “No, but the experience might bore me to death if I’m not careful. All these people want to talk about is who’s who politically, who’s sleeping with who, and who’s climbing the social ladder through a combination of ass kissing and brown nosing.” I said as I swept my hand towards the crowd. “Its like none of these people even care that there’s a friggin war going on and people are dying every day out there!”
Balan sighed and lightly grabbed my elbow before steering me away from my nice safe corner. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve been the go-to security consultant for the armies of Mechroria for nearly 5 years now. Safe to say nobody wants to talk about the war anymore. People are sick of it.” Without missing a beat, he reached out and snatched another glass of wine of a passing waiter’s tray and handed it to me. “But that doesn’t mean that I spend my time sulking in the corner complaining that nobody cares about the war as much as I do. I know you hate this sort of thing, but you must try and not be a downer while you’re here. This is supposed to be a celebration after all.”
I sipped my wine and let Balan lead me over toward the main table where our family was speaking with the highest ranked Nichi Kavu, the current Gavana, Omari Bwana and his extensive family. “And what exactly are we even celebrating? As far as I know this is just another pointless banquet meant to show our allies that we care about everything they’re doing for us while we shield them from our feral neighbours to the east.”
A shocked look flashed across Balan’s face as he dragged me to a stop. “Wait, you mean you don’t know? Hasn’t Tory spoke to you yet?” he asked seriously.
I shrugged and drank more wine, feeling myself start to get tipsy. “You know Tory and I don’t exactly get along. She might have mentioned that he needed to talk to me, but I’ve been so busy with my own life that I haven’t found the time to sit down and have a casual chat.”
Balan sighed and rubbed his eyes a little, betraying how tired he truly was. “Vanessa, this isn’t just a banquet, its Tory’s-”
Before he could finish speaking the music stopped and our fathers voice filled the open space. “Attention everyone, we have an important announcement to make that affects everyone here in one way or another.” My eyes shot over to where dad was standing with the Gavana and his family and saw Tory standing beside him looking slightly nervous and covering it with a smile. “As you all know, the Nichi Kavu people are our closest allies and kindred spirits, and their support to us during this time of turmoil is a reassuring presence we are forever grateful for.” He paused for dramatic effect before turning and placing his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Which is why I am so proud to say that my youngest daughter, Tory, has been asked by Shirai Bwana to be his wife, and they are now engaged to be married!” the crowd cheered and clapped happily while dad looked at Tory with open love and pride.
Tory beamed as he took Shirai’s hand and stepped forward to speak. “Thanks dad. While it hasn’t exactly been a secret that Shirai and myself have been growing closer over the past few months, it brings us no end of joy that we could make this important announcement in the company of our friends and family, and look forward to our respective countries growing even closer as a result of these soon to be forged bonds of matrimony.”
Shirai’s father stepped forwards and started to give a speech, but my mind was preoccupied with processing this new information. “Close your mouth, you look like someone brained you with a rock.” Balan whispered in my ear.
“When the hell did this happen?!” I hissed quietly. “how am I literally the last person to know about this?”
Balan shrugged and raised his glass in toast to the new happy couple. “If you didn’t know until now that’s on you, not us. We’ve been trying to bring you out of your shell and into the family, but you’ve made it clear that all you care about are your machines.” A cheer went out as everyone drained their glasses and Tory kissed his soon to be husband tenderly. “I’ll say this much though: whether you get along with Tory or not. You need to find the time to talk to her about all this before the wedding. I know it hurt her to have to make the announcement without you giving her the chance to tell you the happy news. If you don’t, then before you know it, she’ll be gone to Nichi Kavu with her husband and you’ll be lucky to see her once a year.”
It was all too much to take in. I shook my head and pried myself away from Balan and stalked away from the happy couple, unwilling to acknowledge that I’d been driving the people closest to me away. I grabbed a glass of wine from a waiter and drained it in two gulps before dropping it on my way to the elevator where it shattered with a sharp crack.
The last thing I saw as the door closed was my sister’s face peering at me with a worried expression on her face, then the doors shut her out and the lift dropped.
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