Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Except it shouldn’t have been possible. There were no records of Harht using the Calluvian TNIT at any point after his return from Earth. Granted, it was possible that Harht had left on a spaceship and used another planet’s TNIT to travel to Earth, but Harht didn’t have any connections off-world. He also didn’t have the connections to remove his identification chip that could have been used to contact him through a long-range communicator, and yet Harht’s chip was inactive—and likely replaced by a fake one.
None of it made any sense. Harht simply didn’t have the resources to pull it off.
But when Borg’gorn informed him that Seyn was absent, too, Ksar sighed. Of course. A brief check of his one-sided bond to Seyn confirmed it: Seyn was also far enough from Calluvia for Ksar to stop feeling his emotions.
In hindsight, perhaps he should have expected this.
He had thought it strange when the Queen had told him that Harht had asked to go back to Earth to see a friend. But since the Queen had denied Harht’s request, Ksar had put it out of his mind, knowing that Harht wouldn’t do anything without their parents’ permission. He should have remembered that Harht had horrible taste in friends, friends who weren’t as obedient as Harht and who had too many off-world hanger-ons vying for their attention.
Shaking his head in exasperation, Ksar headed toward the nearest t-chamber. “Borg’gorn, inform the TNIT technicians to prepare the teleporter for a long-distance trip to Sol III. The same location Prince Harht was transported to when we left him on Earth half a year ago.” He wished he could simply request the location Harht had been transported from, but the TNIT didn’t work that way. After transporting a person, it left a temporary transponder in the person’s identification chip that acted like a beacon for the trip back, no coordinates required. Normally it was convenient, but now it just complicated everything. Unless he found the off-world teleporter Seyn and Harht had used to get to Earth this time, there was no way to know where exactly they were on Earth—if his suspicions were correct and they really were on Earth.
Briefly, Ksar contemplated finding the person who had helped them—one of Seyn’s legions of admirers, no doubt—but it would not be an easy task, considering that Seyn’s…suitors weren’t exactly fond of him. They wouldn’t tell him anything willingly, and he had no time to travel to other planets to obtain the information by other means.
“I delivered the message, Your Highness,” the AI said. “Do you want to travel there yourself?”
Ksar felt his lips curl. “Want? No. But it’s not something I can delegate to anyone else.” Not only should the matter be handled with utmost discretion—it would cause problems for Harht if anyone was to find out that he took an unsanctioned trip to a pre-TNIT planet like Earth—but, as a Lord Chancellor, Ksar was the only person on Calluvia with unlimited access to the TNIT. He didn’t have to explain to anyone where he was going or why. Even the Queen didn’t have such luxury. So he had little choice but to go himself.
But before Ksar could leave the palace, Borg’gorn announced the arrival of Harht’s bondmate and her parents. Apparently they had concerns, and they intended to go to the Council unless Ksar spoke to them.
An hour later, after calming them down as best he could, it was a much more irritated and worried Ksar who got into the t-chamber and punched in his access code to the Calluvian Ministry. A few moments later, he was walking out of the t-chamber on the TNIT level of the Ministry. Ksar nodded to the nearest technician, who bowed to him and scrambled for the TNIT’s controls.
“Is everything in order?” Ksar said, stepping onto the transporter pad.
“Of course, Your Highness,” the technician said. “Your preferred modified transponder will be activated when you wish to return, but please keep your communicator on you in case of an emergency. Aren’t— aren’t you taking bodyguards with you, Your Highness?”
The man was sweating, probably anxious that something would happen to him on his watch. It was a little amusing, truth be told. He had no need for bodyguards. On the rare occasion he took them with him, it was for appearances’ sake.
“No,” Ksar said before noticing the hesitant expression on the technician’s face. “Is something the matter?”
“You might want to change into more appropriate clothes, Your Highness,” the technician said before flushing, mortification coming off him in waves. “Not that there’s anything wrong with your clothes—you look good—you always look good—I mean…”
“You’re right; I should have thought of that,” Ksar said, pretending not to notice the man’s intense embarrassment. No matter what Seyn thought of him, he wasn’t a complete asshole. Most of the time. “Do we have suitable Terran clothes?”