Fortunes of the Imperium Read Online Free Page A

Intellectually I knew it was less than the depth of my boot. I hesitated, one foot hovering over the abyss.
    “Come on, my lord,” Nesbitt coaxed me. He held out an enormous hand that filled my vision. I reached for it. To my astonishment, my hand seemed almost as large as his. I could have covered my entire body with it. Together, we stepped into the depths. My boot sole hit the pavement long before I thought it would. The force of it landing sent juddering vibrations up my leg and into my hip. Somehow we managed to cross the street. Every bump in the terrain took on epic proportions. I stumbled as I attempted to dodge a huge pink monument obstructing my way. My friends righted me.
    “When did they erect that?” I asked, appalled. “It’s nearly as ugly as the sculpture they dedicated to my late great-somethings-aunt!”
    “That’s just a piece of gum, sir,” Anstruther said.
    I glanced back over a clifftop that was my own shoulder, and realized that the wad of pink had receded to a spot miles below me. When I swung my gaze back, I was daunted by the approaching wall over which a cascade of giant feet descended.
    “May I, sir?” Plet asked, in a tone of understandable exasperation. She elbowed the giant Nesbitt out of the way, and placed a vast hand over my eyes. Kindly darkness descended. I felt myself relaxing for the first time since I had emerged from the medical facility. “All right, lift your left foot. There. You are up on the curb. Please walk forward. I will guide you.”
    Once I could not see, everything felt normal. I stepped forward with the utmost caution. Shortly, Oskelev took my shoulders and turned me sharply to the right. I heard the swish! of a door opening, and the temperature dropped precipitously as we passed inside and were enveloped by the atmospheric controls of the building. I was steered over a smooth floor, onto a deep-piled carpeted riser, and made to stand still while I heard the squeak of a chair being pulled out for me. Together, Oskelev and Nesbitt maneuvered me into it and pushed me down. I sat. Only then did Plet remove her shielding hand.
    I gazed down a table as long as the carpet to my imperial cousin’s throne. My friends, rendered giants, stared down at me. I was, indeed, inside the walls of Social Butterfly, though I viewed it as perhaps no one else ever had, except for the health inspectors. I could see every detail of every wall, chair, table and decoration.
    “What a relief!” I exclaimed. “How did you all manage this perilous landscape following your own treatment?”
    “Mostly confined to barracks,” Oskelev said. “I had to be blindfolded until the effect wore off. Lucky that I could smell the head without having to see it. Everybody brought me food. I listened to music and dictated my Infogrid updates. I got along fine.”
    “Opposite reaction mine,” Redius said. “All too small. Doorways size my snout.”
    I chuckled. “If you were a cat, you could pass anywhere your whiskers went.”
    The gigantic face of the Uctu wrinkled, his people’s way of showing amusement.
    “Not standard issue.”
    “Alas,” I agreed.
    “Uctu Syndrome passes swiftly. No worrying.”
    The surface of the table, which resembled cobalt blue glass, shimmered with light. Before each of us, the menu appeared. Holographic representations of each appetizer and entrée spun into being as one touched the name on the bill of fare. I cupped my hands around the display, causing it to render into a space that I could read without having to turn my head from side to side.
    “Please, have anything you like,” I said. “I won quite a bit from my cousins for coming in first in the skimmer race.”
    “And how much was your fine for damaging the sculpture?” Plet asked.
    I waved a careless hand. “Probably twice that. It was worth it.”
    “Nice, that,” Redius said. “Tridee most entertaining.”
    Though I possessed the highest noble rank of the group, I deferred to Lieutenant Plet,