None of them spoke, and their facial expressions were neutral, but they emanated a psychic aura of friendliness and power that made Eva’s core muscles clench involuntarily. She could almost hear her mother berating her for being so suspicious of authority figures.
Mala, who had nestled herself in the hood of Min’s zippered sweater, clambered up to rest her forelegs on Min’s shoulders and glare at everyone, her pupils wide and her tail lashing back and forth. The turtle-looking Attuned made a hissing sound like a sudden air leak, and Mala’s ears angled back toward her head.
Eva consulted the VI and learned that these xana were called Watchers, and were agents of the aforementioned Community Outreach Program. Apparently, they were tasked with ensuring the city remained peaceful and happy for all its residents and visitors, though how exactly they managed to do that was unclear. Compliance with their requests was strongly recommended; Eva’s lip curled up in a snarl that pulled at the scar on her face.
As if that weren’t enough, it seemed like every building and statue and decorative element featured at least one form of surveillance equipment. Even Nuvesta, capital of the biggest damn federation of planets in the universe, didn’t have the sheer quantity of tech this place did. Whether every centimeter of the city was being recorded, or it was all just used for remote viewing and listening, the sheer density of the devices suggested there must be sophisticated software constantly checking for suspicious activity. That or hundreds of xana somewhere were poring over the feeds; Eva wasn’t sure which was creepier.
Eva passed yet another display of “authentic handcrafted local wares” that looked as if they’d been spit out by an authentic local 3-D printer as she continued perusing the guide VI, its helpful overlays almost as distracting as the food smells drifting down the street from somewhere she couldn’t see. She came to a section that gave her pause, and she opened it up to examine it more closely.
“Hmm,” she said.
“That was a loaded hmm,” Pink said. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we need to adjust our plans,” Eva replied. “Get out of this tourist trap and into the kind of place a person might actually disappear into.”
Pink’s eye narrowed. “Rilia?”
“Sí.” Eva passed a clip of what she was reading over to Pink’s commlink.
“These tours don’t look like they’ll take us anywhere useful,” Pink said after a few moments.
“Check out the one with the fewest reviews.”
“Huh,” Pink said. “That’s different. ‘Explore the true City of Light with an esteemed local historian who is pleased to escort all honored guests along paths not frequented by visitors.’ Could work. Vakar, take a look at this.” She passed the info to him, and he examined it, waving his palps pensively.
“This listing appears to be relatively new,” Vakar said. “Its government licensing key is fraudulent, however. I suspect it will be removed by automated scanning processes in the near future.”
Eva grinned like she’d won a prize. “As Min would say, jackpot. I’m setting up a tour now.”
Vakar blinked his inner eyelids in confusion. “Why would we hire someone clearly operating illegally and under false pretenses?”
Pink patted his shoulder. “Because he’s going to try to hustle us, sweetie.”
Eva nodded. “And if he’s a hustler, he can get us to where we really need to be.”
Their esteemed local historian was named Krachi, and he arrived to pick them up in a cable car that smelled like it had been recently cleaned. His eyes were huge, his face expressionless, but his psychic emanations were overwhelmingly friendly in a way that tipped over the edge into uncomfortable, like he was straining to immediately ingratiate himself to all of them. Instead of hooking his tail onto a neck loop or other body harness strap, he held it in one hand as if it were a hat, occasionally stroking it nervously.
“Welcome, honored guests, welcome,” Krachi said, his voice tonally flat as his psychic emanations did the work of adding that layer of meaning. “Please be invited to step into my vehicle for the purpose of transport to the exciting and untraveled paths through the great home-trees of Rilia.” He shifted from one leg to the other in a way that, if he were human, would have made him look as if he needed to pee.
“Thanks,” Eva said, gesturing for everyone to climb in. “We’re super excited, too. Rilia sounds amazing. Can we get moving?”
A pair of Watchers had apparently noticed what was happening and were conferring silently with each other while staring at Eva. She smiled at them and winked, eliciting a weird horking sound from one of their Attuned, which looked like a huge spiky mouse.
“Are my most excellent and favorite passengers prepared for an experience unlike any other in the entirety of the known and unknown portions of the universe?” Krachi asked, taking up a partially reclined position in a gently swaying hammock-like seat.
“We were born ready,” Eva replied, glancing at the Watchers again. “Let’s go.”
One of the Watchers began to approach the vehicle, but stopped and returned to his companion, and the cable car drifted away as slowly and quietly as a dandelion seed on the wind.
Within a few minutes, the transport had attached itself to a massive cluster of cables that led toward Rilia. They were one of many cars sliding in that direction, though the density was nothing like the traffic Eva had experienced in some places with personal transports. Most of these vehicles held at least a dozen xana, standing or resting in hanging seats like the ones Krachi swung in, exuding cheerfulness as if it were a profusion of sweat. Eva wished he would ease up on the projection, but she wasn’t in a position to negotiate yet.
The seaside tourist area was at water level, its small cluster of buildings much lower to the ground than the rest of the city’s architecture, so the trip to the capital was by necessity a long, slow rise. Slow enough that Eva got antsy almost immediately.
“Thank you for choosing the services of my excellent and esteemed self,” Krachi said, shifting slightly in his seat. “Is this your first experience in exploring the untold and unique delights of the Rilian culture?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Eva replied. She smiled with her mouth closed, not bothering to argue about what the hell “Rilian culture” meant when she was pretty sure a half dozen cultural groups lived in the enormous city. That was tourism for you.
“And what has brought you to our glorious planet, may it forever be embraced by the Light?”
“Sightseeing,” Eva replied. “We really like seeing sights.”
Pink snorted, but Krachi didn’t so much as blink. He did launch into a longer lecture that, despite his lack of verbal tone, had the cadence of something that had been memorized.
The views gradually shifted, from thick building-adorned cables hanging from glassy central towers to a squat sprinkling of what looked like tents arranged haphazardly around vertical farms where xana climbed and glided among their Attuned.
“Much of the sustenance provided to Rilia and Spectrum City is grown in the fields of Verulia,” Krachi said as they glided past. “It is also common for Rilians to plant their own gardens in their home-trees for the benefit of the entire branch.”