I'm starting to get suspicious that Mother knows that I've been sneaking out, or that I stole the ruby I used to pay for Million Suns. I feel as if the guards have been watching me more intently. Last night, when I went to sneak out again, there seemed to be more of them patrolling the palace halls than usual. They aren't allowed to enter my chambers to check on me (my orders), but if they noticed me leaving, they would surely report it to Mother (to whom they are ultimately subservient).
Sneaking out, aside from avoiding guards, is relatively easy. There are very few blunt physical safeguards protecting the palace. What keeps people from breaking in is mostly fear, and those slightly more motivated than scared meet their end via a guard or an automated laser turret. These measures are to keep people out, not to keep me in. There is no moat or castle gate. And, I - and I alone - am impervious to the sensor sweeps. Why? I'd rather not say, it's unpleasant, but this is one of the few positives.
It usually takes me about ten minutes to get from my chambers to outside the palace grounds, give or take a few minutes of waiting for the patrols to get out of the way. Then begins the long journey to Nayla and Max's place. Down the icy cliffs, around the outskirts of Plutonia City, through the quiet neighborhoods and chilly farmlands of Tombaugh. I wasn't afraid of being recognized because I always wore a cap and a scarf along with regular civillian clothes. And I knew well enough to stay far away from any people I might see this time of night.
Usually when I get there, Max is in the barn, turning a wrench or smoking a fatty. Nayla is usually with him. But recently, we've just been meeting at the ship's hiding place. That's a few kilometers further, into the wastelands of carbonaceous dust and methane snow. I know the way by heart. Despite the anxiety I have about getting there and back, I'm always filled with a warm excitement to see them.
Nayla seems very excited about the ship now. She has all sorts of ideas for places we can go, things we can do, with our very own ship. We'll never be far enough away from this rock for my liking, but we can definitely still have a lot of fun. Max says we're going to visit some guy named "Squiggy" about re-upping his stash, and finding he and Nayla some jobs. (Squiggy is an odd name; but it is traditional in the Plutonian sense. Plutonian names always have only one or two syllables, an odd number of letters, and must contain a letter U, V, W, X, Y, or Z. They are sometimes unique, but you won't meet anyone named Xyzzy Zyxyzyx.) I'm excited to see what Squiggy has for Max's stash. I've been told it's some pretty cosmic stuff.
I plan on leaving the keys with my friends so they can use the ship to make some money. I'd just steal them another one of Mother's precious gems instead, but I don't think I can get away with it a second time. We all collaborated on this plan to get Million Suns. For each of us, it was about a different kind of freedom. For me, I've always loved having adventures with my friends. And now we're just moving on from glidecars to something more. Nayla and Max have always had to get by in unconventional ways.
The farm is sort of the last holdout of an older generation of Plutonians, before Grandmother changed certain laws. Now all the farms, except for a few below a certain size, are controlled by the crown. The Nemo family farm is one of those few, and the farmer families in general were oppositional to say the least. Some were dealt with, the rest took the example and fell in line. But they passed their values onto their children. Nayla and Max have opened my eyes over the years to how citizens live, and the conditions they have to put up with, because of things my family has done. I'm very glad that they don't hold it against me. Though, I shouldn't be surprised, given how we met and all.