Maggie landed on the planet of Adahovi a few stels later. The planet was a sphere covered in caves. The ship sailed into one of the wider caverns and landed in a shallow pit. People milled around the ship, ready to receive the arrived passengers and the cargo the ship carried.

After the ruthless sunlight of Rangul, Adahovi was a shadowy respite. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the darkness. There were tiny holes in the roof of the cavern that offered just enough light. She couldn’t tell if they were made by nature or some more intentional force, but nothing more had been done to illuminate the surroundings.

From what she could see, the people kept to themselves. The diversity of species that existed in big metropolitan planets was not present on Adahovi. Most of the beings around her were natives, and they regarded her curiously as she stepped down to the ground.

The beings were about the same size as humans, but with narrower eyes and four limbs. They had no hair, and their six-fingered hands were a paler shade of blue than the rest of their bodies. They were all blue, ranging from the lightest of baby blue to the deep midnight.

The gravity was less on Adahovi, the planet smaller than Earth. She followed the stream of people who left the cavern and descended down a wide flight of stairs. There were multiple routes out of the landing space, and all headed downwards.

As she went down the stairs, her surroundings grew brighter. The light wasn’t from any star or celestial body. It glowed white and illuminated the lavender walls of the stairs. Don told her that the royals lived as close to the core of the planet as possible. She had wondered how they were able to tolerate the heat. Most aliens lived within a narrow range of temperatures, and their interstellar travel was enabled only through advanced homeostatic suits.

The temperature on Adahovi was constant. When she entered the first town, a settlement inside a massive cavern, she saw why.

Pillars of some unknown crystal extended up from the cavern floor to its ceiling. Symbiotes were rare in the universe. Beautiful, guileless, selfless beings that gave far more to their planets than they took.

Planets with symbiotes thrived, usually. Unless the planet was host to some equally parasitic being, the beings on the planet lived comfortable lives.

She made her way into the town, and found an inn. It would take time to find her way to the palace, even with Don’s specific directions.

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“It’s like cottage cheese,” he had said, shaking his head. “Easy to get lost.”

She believed him. Her sense of direction had never been the best. Dunburg was a town so small she knew the name of every street and had been to every cul-de-sac. There was never a time in her life where she required a sense of direction. And space was directionless. Only the advanced AI systems of the spaceships could navigate to their ever-moving destinations.

A few of the locals stared as she walked into a building that looked like a bar. It was funny how so many things were different in the universe, but the places where people congregated were often the ones that served some liquid or another. Her first year as a free woman in space, she’d wandered into a watering hole for the muscata, giant housefly-like beings who sipped from decanters of amber through their proboscises. They were surprisingly friendly. Most beings were, when they were hydrated. Even friendlier when they were inebriated.

Water was safe on most planets. Maggie settled at a table and ordered herself a jug. She took a hesitant sip. Rarely the water was filled with magnesium or potassium salts that did nothing to the local population. To humans, however, the water became a laxative so potent one could die of dehydration. She’d learned that the hard way.

The water was fine. A small band of musicians sat on cushions in the corner of the bar, playing electronic instruments and emitting noises Maggie could only describe as low wailing.

The server who came to her table placed a tray of nutrient pods in front of her.

“Service,” she said bluntly.

“Excuse me,” Maggie asked. “I need to get to the capital. Do you know the fastest way how?”

She didn’t need directions. She could access all of the information in the universe from the wristband she was wearing. What she wanted were things only an organic creature would know. At the worst, she might get a few tidbits about how the people saw their royal family. If she was lucky, the server was in a mood to gossip.

“Why would you need to go there?” the server asked.

“I heard there was a job opening, with the royal family.”

“And you just packed your bags and came here for an ‘opportunity’?” the server asked. She slid into the chair opposite Maggie. “That wasn’t wise.”

“Perhaps,” Maggie agreed. “But it was too lucrative an offer to risk losing.”

Maggie disliked that she was speaking more, despite being the one with more questions. The server nodded.

“I’ve taken sillier risks myself. There’s a tunneler that goes right to the royal palace. It leaves each dawn. You can stay the night and set out for the next one. You look like you are in need of a good night’s sleep, as it is. We offer a free meal to storytellers from the cosmos. We don’t get enough news of what is going on in the rest of the universe.”

Maggie said, “I don’t have any stories to share.”

“Just ones you’d like to keep to yourself?” the server asked. “Understood. You’ll have more with this job. Our beloved royal family are all insane.”