Prologue

“Greetings, Miss Mori.  I trust you are well?”

“Well, not great to be honest Rex.  I keep getting this cramp in my foot; honestly, I’ll just be sitting here sometimes and suddenly it feels like it’s trying to fold itself in two length ways.  I also keep throwing up in the mornings; I know what you’re thinking, but no, it’s not that.  Oh, and the port thruster keeps sticking, so that should probably be looked at soon…”

“Erm… right…”

“Oh, sorry.  I’ve done it again, haven’t I?  I’ve made the mistake of believing your question was a genuine enquiry into my well being, but actually you just wanted me to lie and say everything was fine, right?  I’ve been out here so long I’ve forgotten how to speak to people.”

“Shall we skip the pleasantries, then?”

“Probably best.”

“Although I do have some good news for you; we’re sending to a place where there’ll be lots of people for you to interact and socialise with.  You might even be able to relax and let your hair down a bit.”

“You don’t want me to kill anyone?”

“That’s left entirely to your own discretion.  Really, we just want to go this place and look around, try to find out a bit about the locals.  Don’t kill them if you can help it.”

“So, it’s an exploration mission?”

“Essentially, yes.  I know it’s not usually what you do, but things are a bit slow on the assassination front.  You can think of it as a vacation.”

“The inhabitants of this world are human?”

“Oh, yes.  Likely some genetic engineering at some point in their history to increase their longevity, but still very recognisably human.  Possibly descended from a lost colony ship thousands of years ago, although for some reason they seem to have regressed technologically speaking to a primitive pre-industrial society.  That’s one of the things we’d like you to find out about.”

“(sigh)  So long as they have some real food and drink, it’s all right I suppose.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper bath with water as well.  And a man.”

“Ahh… yes.  About the man part… it’s… not really on the cards, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well that’s one of the interesting things.  The planet is called Themis; it’s just beyond the eastern frontier.  Pretty isolated.  So far, we’ve only sent a few probes and one of the things they reported is that of the planet’s half a billion inhabitants, not a single one of them is male.  Isn’t that amazing?  We have no idea how the population sustains itself.”

“I guess.  Doesn’t sound like much fun though.  Not for me, anyway.”

“Really?  Well as you can imagine, when a mission to a planet inhabited solely by youthful females came up, there were no shortage of volunteers here.  But we decided it was best to send a woman; there’s no telling how they’d react to a man if they found him, whereas a woman might be able to win their trust more easily.  To be honest though, the reason we chose you specifically was because everyone here at the ministry was convinced you were a lesbian.”

“What!?  Where did you get that idea?”

“Well… I suppose just because none of us have ever seen you hanging out with any men.”

“I’ve just been busy.  Not a lot of chances to ask anyone out on a date in this job, y’know.”

“True enough, I suppose.”

“So what else do we know about these Themans?”

“Well, like I said, their technology level is very primitive.  On the surface, anyway.  But the scans indicate that there may be power sources beneath the surface of the planet, and some indications of holographic technology.  It might have something to do with how they breed, so we’d like you to take a look; whatever the secret is, it could be invaluable to us.

The population is divided into many groups, tribes, nations, whatever… each one originating from a single palace or temple or other such thing built right over one of the power sources.  So you’ll have to get into one of those, somehow.  Each tribe has its own customs, culture, way of dress and all that, so you might find that some are more willing to co-operate than others.    I should warn you however that conflict and even all out war between the tribes is rife, so be careful who you make friends with.

I suggest you try to make contact with a group who inhabit these co-ordinates, called the Asrie or some such thing.  They seem to be a bit friendlier than most, although don’t underestimate them.

And that’s it, really.  You ready to go?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Okay, then.”

“You can take as long as you need.  Although you will remember to report in every so often, won’t you?”

“Sure.  I’ll send you a postcard.”

“Good luck, Sayuri.”