High Lord Thorton

Cassie followed directions and she, Sten, and Frau arrived in front of an imposing structure. The house was huge with several domed sections merging to form a circle around an open courtyard. All that could be seen from the front of the house was reflective glass triangles that made up the domes and an aperture that seemed to be the door.

Frau had been here before helping Thorton with some negotiations resulting from a dispute over proprietary rights to a recipe. He knew that walking up the path alerted the servo. As they all approached the door, the servo robot opened it to allow them into the entry hall.

Cassie looked around and stared at the crystal chandelier the size of Volkswagen that hung over the intersection of hallways leading off of the entryway. There were six matching sofas lining the walls of the hall with tables in between them with huge bouquets of fresh cut flowers on each. Understatement did not seem to be Thorton's strong suit.

Frau explained to the servo that they would like to talk with Thorton about helping Cassie with obtaining a Quintanian vehicle. The servo intoned, "Please wait in the seating room while I see if High Lord Thorton is receiving supplicants." The robot led them to a room off to the right which was larger than Cassie's entire house. There was a musical instrument in one corner that resembled a grand piano, only larger and with several rows of keys. It took up less than 10% of the space in the room.

"Supplicant?" Cassie asked Frau. "We are supplicants?"

Frau explained, "Quintan is a hierarchical world. There is a strict enforcement of the old feudal-type systems from Old Earth's medieval history. But Thorton wasn't at all 'uppity' and really a home-style kind of man."

They waited patiently and the servo returned within minutes, "The High Lord Thorton will receive you as soon as possible. Please wait here. I will come for you when he is ready to grant you access." And then the servo rolled out of the room. The three of them waited.

And waited. Cassie knew that time wasn't the same at The Station, but she knew a long time when she was in the middle of it. "How long have we been waiting here?" she finally asked Sten.

"I would guess about an hour, more or less. Oh, that would be a New Earth hour. I guess about 80 minutes for you."

The three continued to converse, pass time, and Sten even played tentatively with the musical instrument. After about another 15 minutes, the servo reappeared. "High Lord Thorton will see you now." It rolled out of the room, expecting the humans to follow. They did.

They were led into an even more imposing room and High Lord Thorton was seated behind an ornately carved desk of highly polished wood. It was beautifully rendered, but Cassie was more impressed with the drop-dead gorgeous man behind it. His features were smooth and even with beautiful, full lips that were curved in a slight frown at the moment. His cheekbones were sharp, his eyes were glacier blue, and his hair was midnight black. He had a curled mustache that reminded Cassie of silent movie villains.

"Frau, how nice to see you again. My claim has seen no more encroachment. You are a true negotiator. My servo said you needed some help?" The voice was a deep baritone.

"Yes, milord, our friend Cassie is new to The Station. She was hoping to procure a vehicle that is from Quintan, but was unsure if she could manage to operate it. We thought of you and came to see if you could help her with it."

"You want me to help this … this … " he eyed Cassie up and down and didn't even try to hide the disgust, "this … serf buy a car?"

"I'm not a serf," Cassie said in her own defense.

"Silence. I have not given you permission to speak."

"This should go well," thought Cassie.