An Imperfect Princess Read Online Free Page A

Montares. Almost five hundred from the
Seven Sisters.”
    “Ergh,” the
Pharinae said, frowning at the readouts. “The third planet from the star has
markers of organic life, although they’re not broadcasting any kind of radio
signal at all.  It might be a primitive world.”
    Primitive
worlds, like Yertarf, had not developed sufficient technology on their own to
reach space.  They ranged from tiny rocky worlds with microbial life to fairly
advanced civilizations on the brink of space travel. 
    “Are there any
Pharinae around here?”
    Aijo closed her
eyes, reaching out through super strings and alternate dimensions to try to
discern the signals of her people.  “Not as far as I can tell.”
    “Well, if there
are any people on that primitive planet at all, they’re about to encounter some
intelligent life from outer space.  Let’s go there.”
    The dark matter
engine had dropped them off above a beautiful ringed planet, but the nearest
inhabited world was still several hours by sub-light speed away.
    In the meantime,
Eneria tinkered with the remains of the offending brooch.  She refused to
believe that the village chief had deliberately betrayed her; she suspected
that the brooch had been planted to track any random off-world jewel smuggling
or activity from Perihelion.  Yertarf was a primitive world, but with valuable
materials that the Konkastians were probably keen on keeping to themselves.  
Only native organic matter products were permitted in trade, any metals or
jewels were forbidden.  Captain Kordan hadn’t realized who she was or else he
would have fired without the message.  The Konkastians wanted her dead, not
captured alive.
    She tried not to
think about how she was going to get back home, not stopping to determine what
exactly “home” meant at this point.  A primitive world would probably not have
the electricity needed to jump start her dark matter engine.  The amount of
power needed was enormous, and her tiny ship only had enough for one trip at a
time.   Normally it would be a matter of just re-energizing the hydrogen fuel
cell, something that could be done at any orbital station in Konkastian or
Lathlian space, but she doubted they had a handy power station around a
primitive world.
    After a few
hours of drilling and soldering, she had transformed the opal brooch into a
heavy pendant on a real platinum chain.  She put it on, noting with wry
amusement that it looked quite out of place against her Perihelion uniform. 
She put on a pair of matching diamond and platinum earrings, her one remaining
vanity.   She shook her head, admiring the way the earrings glinted in her
reflection on the dashboard.
    “I’m not going
to sell this one,” she told Aijo, fingering the chain as she eyed herself in
the tiny mirror.  “I paid too dearly for it.”
    “We’ll arrive at
the planet in about six more hours,” Aijo said, not needing to glance at the
instrumentation.  “We need to figure out a game plan.  It’s a primitive world,
so there isn’t an orbital station to give us landing coordinates.”
    “We’ll have to
eyeball it then.”
    “Limousine
shuttles weren’t made to eyeball it.”  Aijo sighed.  “I can probably get us on
the surface intact, maybe.  But then what? It’s an oxygen atmosphere and the
local fauna seems to have similar bio-signatures to you so I guess it’s safe to
say that you’ll be able to breath, but they obviously won’t have fuel for a
dark matter engine or any means for you to contact anyone for help.”
    “Let’s see those
bio-signatures again.”  Eneria tapped a few buttons on the dashboard and
examined the data that came up.  “At least it looks like they’re burning coal
in some places.”  She zoomed in on an exquisitely beautiful blue world ringed
with green continents.  “And it appears like it’s mostly centered around here.” 
She jabbed at a tiny island beside one of the continents. “If they’ve developed
steam