AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Unlike the Urib, we Ahn’hudi do not have domestic service breeds. Some highly placed households employ other species to perform domestic services, but most Ahn’hudi use technology.”
“You mean robots?”
“Yes,” Horas said, deciding her term sufficient for the sophisticated, nearly sentient machines created to perform the necessary work advanced, intelligent beings dismissed as beneath them.
Evangeline got the impression he was humoring her, but said nothing. She stared out the travel pod’s transparent lid into dark nothingness. The bullet-shaped pod streaked through a dispersal tunnel that both collected information and imparted coordinates that sent the conveyance deep underground through a network of cool tunnels to its destination. Without visual landmarks for navigation, Evangeline had no idea how fast they traveled or the distance they covered.
“I don’t suppose you have a map I could look at?” she asked.
“Why do you need a map?” Sarus inquired.
“I want to see how far our destination is from the city we just left.”
Sarus glanced at Horas who shrugged. Neither quite understood her desire to orient herself, but they saw no harm in allowing her the information. Horas keyed the request into the console, and a map of the continent displayed on the pod’s lid.
“This is Ush’Hadar, the port city we just left,” Horas explained and pointed to a dot on the map. His finger moved across the continent, traveling northward and coming to a stop over a dot in a mountain range. “This is Gyor’col Haas’zhi where the emperor reigns.”
She studied the map and realized that she could not get a sense of scale. “Um, how many miles is that?”
“Miles?”
“It’s a unit of measurement my people use to measure distance.”
“Ah,” Horas said with a nod. “From Ysh’tuva to Gyor’col Haas’zhi is one thousand seven hundred twenty-two ells.”
Unfortunately, Evangeline did not know how long an ell was. She figured asking that question wouldn’t enlighten her either, so she asked, “How large is Ahn’hudin in comparison with Earth?”
“Ahn’hudin is approximately four times larger in diameter than Earth,” the pod’s computer answered.
Evangeline gasped in surprise, not having expected her question to be answered by the pod’s artificial intelligence. “Then how long is an ell compared to a mile?”
“An ell is comparable to sixteen-point-six-two-two imperial miles,” the computer replied.
She attempted to calculate the distance in her head and failed. “Wow, that’s big.”
“The distance from Ysh’tuva to Gyro’col Haas’zhi is approximately twelve thousand of your miles,” Sarus said.
“Thanks,” she replied. “Um … how long are we going to be traveling?”
Horas grinned. “We will arrive at the palace in time for supper.”
Evangeline blinked, barely able to comprehend the speed at which they traveled.From the Eastern Seaboard to Australia in twelve hours? That’s amazing!
“Do we just sit here the whole time? Or do we get pit stops?”
Horas chuckled. “This is a long-distance travel pod.” He gestured behind them. “Beyond the fourth row of seats are a privy, a sleeping chamber, and a food station.
Sarus rolled his head and shoulders. “Horas’ rank commands the luxury of this travel pod. Were we regular troops being transported, we would have neither the food station nor the sleeping chamber.”
“But there would be two privies,” Horas added.
“Because there would be at least a company of fifty warriors on board.”
“That is true.”
Evangeline blinked, trying to keep up with the conversation. “Um, guys, when we get there, what’s supposed to happen?”
Sarus responded with a small shrug. He didn’t know. He wasn’t curious, because nothing he could say or do would change the situation. He’d follow orders.
