fandomhigh | Galactic Field Trips, Monday

Lana nodded as people showed up, and began once they were all at Portalocity. "Today we'll be visiting the other main capital of the galaxy, Coruscant. Coruscant is the seat of the Galactic Republic, and houses the Senate, which will be our first stop. Coruscant is the name of both the city and the planet, because the entire planet is the city. It reaches thousands of stories into the air, and the lower levels, from what I understand, are all but abandoned except for mechanical infrastructure."

You thought Kaas City was bad? Vials of Coruscanti soil are sold as luxury goods. All the trees here are holos.

"After that, we'll again have a bit of an aerial tour before you can use the taxis to revisit any area that strikes your fancy."

She grimaced. "I would recommend sticking to the main lines and the tourist areas. Some of the places you can end up otherwise are less savoury."

She led them through the portal and into a plaza with a fountain looking out over expensive buildings and some of the main traffic lanes. When they turned around, the plaza opened up on the front of the Senate building, beings of all species wandering, talking, dealing, and bickering.

They headed across the plaza and through opulent corridors to the main hall of the Senate, then upstairs and into gallery seating to watch the current session. Which was mostly more beings of all species bickering. Or trying not to fall asleep.

After a bit of that, there was the promised taxi tour (the taxi was actually enclosed) around and through some of the local buildings and areas. And then Lana would be sitting in a cantina doing work while the rest of you did what you wanted until it was time to return.

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It's really busy here. And really high up. Careful around the edges; this galaxy has no OSHA.

Okay, yeah. Yeah, this was in some ways so much fucking worse than last week. Steph wasn't sure if the unsettling sight of nothing but duracrete and transparisteel for as far as she could see in any direction was a fair tradeoff for her general sense of unease in Kaas City.

On the one hand? Cool as hell aesthetic. On the other hand? Holy shit, I'm fucking dying here.

“Rather unsettling, isn’t it?” Watts remarked.

"It's just." Steph turned to look at him and grimaced. "So much."

“Concise, yet accurate,” Watts agreed. “I am still getting accustomed to modern cities on our own planet. This is- so far beyond that.”

"The idea that the entire planet is one city makes my brain want to leak out of my ears a little," Steph admitted.

“And once again I am left in awe of your propensity for calling up incredibly disturbing mental images,” Watts informed her, although this was said with a degree of fondness.

"I'm not even trying right now," Steph laughed. "Wait until I'm narrating a big dramatic combat scene."

She was fond of literal mayhem in those scenarios, just saying.

“Hopefully a fictional one,” Watts said. “And not a- what is the term? Play-by-play of a scene we witness while exploring today.”

"Entirely fictional," Steph assured him. "I prefer keeping mine that way... You don't think we're actually going to end up witnessing something like that?"

In this galaxy? Who knew.

Oh boy, these classes really were making him deal with his height-induced vertigo head-on, weren’t they?

Edited 2023-05-22 15:48 (UTC)

"Are you all right?" Steven asked, quietly.

Watts nodded. “I think so.”

"You'll let me know if there's anything I can do?" Steven asked.

Libby had been doing much better with heights, but, without Kurt around, she was definitely going to be very careful around the edges, yes. But she had to admit, the scenery was so unlike anything she'd ever seen or even imagined before that she was wholly and completely fascinated by it all. Probably wouldn't be her choice, personally, but it was definitely going to make some of the worlds in her sci-fi books pop a bit more in her head a little. For some reason, it was so much more difficult for her to imagine those worlds than the fantasy ones.

Steven was taking loads of photos. Even with all the things Lana had told him about the place, his imagination had been surpassed by the reality.

"Would you like to purchase a holorecorder?" Lana asked. "They're bound to have some."

"What?" Steven asked, before he realized what she was talking about. "Oh. No. Cheers. But trying to get into a new habit, you see. Taking photos on my mobile. So I don't forget things."

Lana cocked her head at him. "You worry about that so much, but I've never known you to forget anything important."

Steven looked around nervously to be sure no one else could overhear them, particularly anyone from the class. "Did Marc or me tell you about losing days? Recently?"

Lana frowned. "I don't believe so. Does the detective remember things you don't?"

They did seem to spend most of their time together.

"Be handy if he did," Steven said. "He does know about it though. The forgetting. See, turns out me and Marc? Been doing things for Khonshu this past year. Only neither of us remember it happening. Only know 'cause Khonshu told Marc about it back when we were in London."

"Hm." Lana frowned. "Is that the sort of thing you'd deliberately hide from him?"

Steven looked at Lana with confusion. "From Khonshu? I mean we'd hide loads of things from him if we could. But doubt working for him is one of those things. Bit involved with all that."

"No, I mean Detective Watts. Is doing work for Khonshu the sort of thing you'd hide from him? Otherwise I would expect him to notice you were gone."

"Ah! I see," Steven said. That made much more sense. "No. If we knew we were going to be out of town we'd tell him. Or at least we'd try to. Llewellyn's said he's going to keep a particular eye out now that he knows about it."

Galactic Field Trips, Monday

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