An attractive middle aged and serious looking woman was reading the news, ".. after the loss of another city to gangs of the enraged I am sure we are all excited to welcome the arrival of the space-cruiser 'bless-sed fire' in orbit around Liberty. And escorted by a number of Noble ships too. I am joined now by a panel of experts, joint services muster reservist and author of 'battles of Lemenkainen: a history of the Vuldrok wars, part 1', Vladamir Copernicus; Lecturer of modern affairs at Sophonus college and author of 'True freedom under Imperial rule', Jessica Lannis; Karl Lutz, a spokesman for the radical 'AliensRfree' movement and Reverend Tabitha Lucas, of the church of the Celestial Sun."
The woman turned to the panel and greeted them, the group immediately started arguing. They were clearly not going to anticipate the reason for the imminent arrival of the Inquisitorial Synod's transport vessel, but he had been wanting to hear Karl Lutz speak for a while, so he settled in to his morning cereal substitute with white-milk flavour sauce and turned the volume up.

Most people do not have a personal magic lantern show in their living room. It was a luxury by any standards. His apartment was also fairly luxurious, rented of course. It was on the 7th floor and overlooked the street below, high enough to see the matrix of the giant ceramsteel girders which criss-crossed the outside-ceiling. The slow moving handful of cars in this part of town never stopped, but in this small suburb there were never more than a couple of dozen within sight. The town's limits were around 200 blocks in each direction, and around a hundred of these cavernous halls high. The 'Elle' as they called it was a train which travelled vertically as well as horizontally, and according to legend was one of the few things which had been kept working since the great fall.

Work was in an office on the 10th sublevel, the Elle was a mile and a half away, and it dropped him off, practically right outside so he walked most days and took an Elle to work. Sometimes when there was a bad vapor cloud wafting through his suburb or if he was running late he took a taxi-cab. He did not own, nor need to own a ground-car, though he did have a bicycle for recreational use. Today however he was on leave. Headed into the Kesperate city, the planetary capital. For that journey he would need to get a connecting Elle train to the surface, and there the bullet into Kesparate. It was only a two hour journey, in spite of the distance.

He was not too far away from Sophonus College, only a few hundred miles and so there were a lot of nice 'living domes' where he could take his bike. These parks are miniature ecosystems, built a thousand years ago or more they were preserved gardens. On one long exploration he found a place where one of the original golem gardeners stood stock still in mid grass-cut. The only one he had ever seen. It was surrounded by unmowed grass, the modern day gardeners had been mowing around the old machine and it had become a recognisable statue and landmark for the kids of that district. Of course only the 'living domes' closest to the college were actually on the surface, and later in the year he hoped to visit the 'safari'. The latest popular holiday destination, a giant 'living dome' with animals from the Savannah's of Shantor; Elephants, Giraffes, Elk, Zebras, Flamingoes and even a pride of Lion's. Things were certainly looking up for the Empire of the Known Worlds, well at least as far as the people of Liberty were concerned. Except for the gangs of enraged that seem to crop up in the poorest districts of course, and the lack of food for the poor, it would be a long time before the unemployed stopped starving to death. But on a planet with 40 billion people there were bound to be extremes.

It was years since he'd been into Kesparate, of course last month at the will reading he had changed in Great Central for Reeve city so he'd had a glimpse of the station, but the planetary capital had far more to offer than that sight. It was predominantly on the surface for a start. The undercity was a cramped four stories per level due to the very early second republican architecture. Actually because of that it had a quaint charm all of its own, from the narrow low ceilinged passageways of the fifty or so undercity residential levels to the vast sky scrapers of the overcity. It had, in it's prime been the jewel of the second republic. The heart of a vast space empire which stretched to a hundred worlds. Sure it was a bit run down, but it was still the cultural and romantic heart of the people of Liberty. There were museums, art galleries and of course restaurants. It probably seems odd to any outsider with access to unsynthesised food, but the key to a restaurant on Liberty was its sauce. Kibble comes in thousands of different consistencies and textures. Most if not all are totally bland, though the water of each district can effect the taste to a certain degree it was the sauces which really counted. Kibble contained all of the nutrients a person needed in chemical form, the only thing it lacked was flavour. That was where the sauces came in. And for Liberty, Kesparate was the heart of the most imaginative sauces, most of them didn't even have proper chemical names, strange words from the old texts like 'blueberry', which was actually a sort of greyish-purple and 'potaato' which was a sort of funny off yellow with brown swirls.

He locked his apartment door with his hand-print and eye reader, nothing special. He had left his dishes in the machine, they would be clean when he got home. That was going to be very late if the train times were correct, they sometimes skipped a train here and there. So he prepared to be back even later. He could not expect too much, the Elle was over a thousand years old, the bullet even older. As the life link of the planet they were always maintained as well as they could be, but they still broke down from time to time. He walked to the Elle station, waited in the cramped confines of the gate area, swiped his credit chip when it was his turn, then headed for the sythacaf stand.

It was a regular thing, he liked to start the day with a sthacaf from this booth. The owner had his own coffee sauce and it was pretty close to the real thing, well as far as he could remember anyway. While he waited in line he checked his mail on his personal secretary. It started to read out a payment receipt, "arse" he thought "how have I knocked it into voc mode?. What bad luck." He felt the need to explain to the guy in front of his in the queue, "Oops, charity donation." he said, it was sort of true. "The best lies are based in fact." he reminded himself, then just as it popped into his head he remembered his Grandmother again, that had been one of her sayings. He quickly flicked the device onto silent but did not dare open it again in case it blurted out his secret donation again. It was not illegal to donate to charity as such, but AliensRfree was getting a lot of bad press of late. Given Karl Lutz's inflamitary rant that morning he kind of saw why now. Technically AliensRfree was a student run charity who upheld that aliens, mutants and psychic's should be given equal rights compared to regular citizens. HOwever all of these groups were feared for one reason or another, mutants were supposed to be contagious, psychic's could read your mind by accident if you believed the morning cartoons and Aliens, well they've always been downtrodden. Aliens don't help themselves by being migrant workers that dodge paying taxes. His problem, his secret ability was the only reason he even thought about the group. He had seen the posters, and read the student press for more than a decade and then while drunk on synthahol, alone in his appartment just after returning from the will reading, he had made a pledge to the cause. Anonymous of course, well except for his mail. The thing was that what he had considered a mundane donation, 5% of his salary per year, it was apparently enough to rank him in the groups 'platinum club'. If he had known what the level was at the time he would have skirted just under it, just like his grandmother had told him. "Keep it secret at all costs." Although he had spent almost no time at all with the woman really her few comments had formed a cornerstone in his life.

He was actually a master at telling lies and obfuscating the truth, but when it came to careful planning he was a genius. Meticulous, measured, and with the ability to visualise all angles of any situation ahead of time he had risen to the very top of his field. He used a his powers here and there of course, as the majority of people expect psychics to scream and shout or grow an extra limb when they were using a power his mostly went unnoticed. When his 'tell' was going to expose him he had always planned ahead and positioned himself out of sight, around the corner or sometimes in the room next door. A little more tiring, but worth it to avoid the risk. He knew full well that if the charity succeeded his style was the one which would have to remain in the shadows, but he dreamed that one day a descendant of his, if he had any, would live on this world and that this world would fit it's name. The legends tell him that it used to. And as the Engineer's Guild advertising goes "anything can be fixed".

He looked across the foyer and saw a poster being put up. The planet was called Liberty. It had been the birthplace of the second republic. The second republic fell and, gave way to a galaxy wide dark ages. Religion and feudalism grew out of the ashes. Through it all Liberty, clung on. These days it had reinvented itself as the financial capital of the universe, and though no longer the galactic capital it was still a vital cog in the new Empire. The poster was part of this process, there was a long running campaign to change the name of the planet. He watched the last segment get shunted into place with a broom. "Leagueheim - food

, water

, clean air

" it was a simple advertisement, eye catching, to the point. He approved of it professionally, it was a good move. The last few name suggestions had failed to convince the 40 billion people who struggled to exist on the dilapidated city planet. Maybe this one would actually get adopted. He could see the influence of the great imperial house, involved. House Alecto's primary holdings were only a jump away, they had an abundance of real food, an ocean filled with water. They had the only things that the common Libertan's wanted these days. The risk of course was that House Alecto would one day seek to rule, but thankfully, as the imperial house, they had bigger fish to fry.

He was in his early thirties, far younger than any of the other executives at the company. They sold automated public newsfeed systems. He headed up the sales and marketting division, he had no idea how an automated public newsfeed system worked of course. That was an Engineer's Guild secret. He did know that the big silent holograms that moved inside the sort of hazy blue cloud, appeared as if by magic and that there were no wires. The news was broadcast like this to most public places on the planet, there was actually one just around the corner from the busy coffee stand where he was stood. The key to the business for them and their competitors however were the cheap headphone sets. Each headphone set lasted only a few weeks, and then needed replaced. They recycled the parts, extracting stuff from the power system somehow, he was not sure on the details. He was no techie but he knew they were not the more common fusion power cells, this was deliberate. It was cheap and it needed replaced weekly. That was the business model, and it worked.

He moved along the line another place. The coffee vendor was now serving the guy in front. He noticed that there were two cups on the machine hissing away. He smiled, "the advantages of being a regular" he thought to himself. The man in front swiped his credit-chip and moved away, so he moved up.

*thud* someone behind bumped into him suddenly, he stumbled but caught himself on the counter to avoid losing his footing. He spun around quickly, alerted to the danger his credit-chip might be in, whilst simultaneously reigning in his psi talents, intently aware of how public the scene was.


The coffee seller asked after his wellbeing, but he was not going to answer. He couldn't. He was standing face to face with a rather attractive middle aged woman. She was clearly a guilder, as she was dressed for an office. But, the style was not common, perhaps an offworld representative of some important group. Her skin was highly distinctive, grey. A very unusual colour, he could not place it but there was a group of nobles which looked like that. (see GM for a roll at -2 for the details, 1 success for the name, 3 for the home planet and distance in jumps away from Liberty).

"Oh, I'm really sorry", the lady broke the uncomfortable silence for him, she was equally flustered. "I was distracted by the poster. I can't believe they would do that. Anyway sorry."
"Heya bud, coffee . hey are you ok, you look funny." the coffee seller was speaking, though it seemed to be distant. This woman had his attention. He was instantly smitten. Now hopefully he won't blow this first meeting with a dumb comment. "Err, yeh, they've been trying for years, not this name, but well .. others. Now this one is probably some noble group .. err I mean not that that's a bad thing necessarily... " he managed to stop himself finally,
Another uncomfortable silence, he took the coffee and swiped his card absentmindedly and walked away from the coffee stand with a grimace on his face. He would facepalm, but he was now holding a hot cup of coffee-like liquid. He settled for a private thought. "oh yeh, real smooth. You dumbass."

He turned the corner and the blue haze of the silent holonews came into view in the centre of the little concourse. Then there was a gentle tap on his right arm, "Lovely weather for this time of year", the attractive woman said. Their eyes met again, he could not help but giggle when she did at the silly joke.
He answered with a smile, finally relaxing into the flirtatious conversation "Sure is, I'm just glad it isn't raining, down here that's an entirely more suspect problem".
She smiled politely at his joke and sipped her coffee. "Is it ok if I tag along with you for a little while? I'm meeting some people in Kesparate city, but I think it's quite a long way from here and I am a stranger to this planet."
"Hey, err, well of course, sure. I .. well I don't usually go there but I am today actually. Hey, did you know that?" He smiled at her.
She nudged him playfully, "Well you are holding a ticket with Kesparate City written on it, so I assumed that was where you were going."
He looked down at his coffee hand, sure enough he was holding his tickets, ready for the machine to swipe them. "Ha, mystery solved then. Well of course m'lady I would be happy to accompany you."
She took his arm formally, and said "Why thank you good sir, pray tis this voyage one of great duration?"
He answered, and they talked. They chatted until the journey on the Elle ended, and they disembarked. He helped her dodge the conmen, tricksters and street urchins in the district capital and soon they were safely on board the Bullet bound for Kesparate city.

They sat side by side in a carriage with six strangers, it was full so he nudged her into the window seat. After a while she whispered "You do a lot of that, staring into space, thing. It's obvious you are concentrating. So what is it? Trying not to let them hear your thoughts?"
He stared back at her, sudden panic set in. Every possibility he could think of leapt to mind, "oh crap, she's a detector or an inquisitor, I'm screwed" he thought. In complete opposition and with a practised ease he explained as if absently "Oh I don't know, I just daydream really"
The man next to him shuffled away, while doing his best not to look.
He thought he had made an error, "Darn maybe I didn't play it cool enough" he thought to himself.
The woman laughed, "Relax, I'm just playing with you. I could tell you were a teep from miles away. It's kind of my thing."
He nearly had a fit of panic, in this packed compartment even her whisper may have been heard, and just a mention of the word 'teep' was enough to cause a stampede. He checked the man beside him, the guy was still nervous about something. He looked uncomfortable, but he wasn't running for the guard and demanding an inquisitor.
"Erm, listen, you wait here I'm just going to the err buffet car." he said while getting up.
He walked down the full length of the train, bribing the carriage owners to let him through. This was a flight response, he had just been exposed by a beautiful woman. Who herself was also afflicted with the same curse. She probably just wanted a friend. She may have wanted more. It may have been the start of a perfect and happy life, there may even have been little grey skinned children.
He sat down in a new compartment at the other end of the train and hung his head in his hands. "Am I being a coward?" he thought, then he reasoned those children would be alien mutants and telepaths. There could be no fate worse for anyone. It was for the best.
After a while, long after she would have realised that there wasn't a buffet car on a bullet train, he closed his eyes and slumped into his hands. "How much of an idiot can I be?" he thought to himself. He knew he had blown it, there was no going back. He was ashamed at his cowardice, he had been embarrassed by her openness, yet he knew almost nothing about her. On her world such openness may even have been commonplace. And he realised with even greater embarrassment, the irony of going to a rally to change the opinion and fears of the public when he himself could not admit what he was to another telepath. He held his head with his hands until the conductor announced that he had arrived at his destination.

He disembarked at the grand central station of Kesparate city. The vast hall was big enough for several bullet trains, and once passed them he saw several dozen Elle platforms. He looked for the woman, whom he realised he had not actually exchanged names with. He couldn't see her. And once he joined the crowds exiting the station he realised he was not going to.

He joined the crush of people in the cages as they were exiting the station. He was distracted, and absently pushed his ticket into the machine. At that exact moment a young boy came from behind and skipped in front of him. The boy took his place in the turnstyle and knocked him back. The ticket he was going to use was now inside the machine, already on its way down the pipes to be recycled. He was now trapped. He yelled at the boy who had just taken his spot, the irritating youth spun and stuck his fingers up at him with a big grin on his face, then ran off to the right out of sight to get lost in the metropolis of the biggest city in the universe. There was nothing for it, he pushed back against the crowd of people. Finally exiting the cage he trudged up to a platform guard to explain his plight.

The guard he found was understanding, but suspicious. He explained that he receives hundreds of these reports every day and that not all of them were genuine. The debate was lengthy and circular, eventually the guard agreed to let him walk away without a fine but he was forced to buy a ticket to some nearby Elle station. It was irritating that the ticket had to be a return one and that the machine was going to eat it. At least he had his return ticket home safe.

As the ticket selling machine was creating the little plastic tab which allowed him travel to and from a place he had no intention of ever going he looked out of the large glass wall into the sunlit city centre. He could not believe it, accross the street was the grey skinned woman. She was here, and she was only a hundred metres away. He looked back at the constant crush of the cage. It would take him a while, but if luck was with him she might be willing to take a taxi. He would have to lie to her of course, the truth about why he had not returned was beyond embarassing.

He pushed through the crowd at the cage, he received more than a few irritated complaints from the queue. Finally he made it out of the station and was in the open plaza. Technically this was the roof of an endless building hundreds of metres high, but everyone called it the 'surface'. The girl was no where to be seen. He had failed to get through the crowd in time.

With a sigh he joined another queue of people and hailed a taxi when it was his turn. When he stepped out a handful of kilometres away he could hear the music pumping. The political movement, the freedom of mutants, aliens and telepaths was secondary to the thing which students really wanted to do. This was a party. Like everything on Liberty though, this party was of an impossible size.

A million people, some of them wearing mutant masks, some of them wearing alien masks, some actual aliens, and actual mutants, were crammed shoulder to shoulder in a vast complex of screens. Somewhere in all of this chaos was an actual stage where the 2d real colour musicians on the screens could be seen in person. He stopped at a stall to ask for directions. The guy instead gave a sales pitch for a pair of goggles. These things allowed the viewer to witness the stage from any angle. He knew the device fairly well, the ones he was being sold were the disposable type, other similar devices could be bought in his local high street which were both better quality, had more camera view options, some even had zoom and walk-around capability, all were re-usable fusion cell powered. Rather than argue with yet another stranger he decided to throw all caution to the wind. He said "I was actually wanting to see the Karl Lutz in person."

The stall owner was a little taken aback, but after only a moment of thought he pulled a programme off a side display and opened it to the map. He kindly pointed out where they were, where the central stage was (in the middle) and then proceeded to give patient and comprehensive instructions to a side road filled with carnivalle guild game stalls. This route he explained would be quiet and would lead almost directly to the front of the stage. After the help he did not mind buying the programme, even though it was four times the re-embursement of the recyle. The stall owner gave him a pin-badge with the AliensRfree logo on it. He decided given the way his day was going that he would leave it on his lapel, at least until the rally/ concert was finished he felt sort of among friends.

The directions he had received led him down a bizarre alley, every few metres there was another game. He gave a few a go, trying his luck on the 'hoop the hull-rat' and the 'fling the waste pie at the portraits of the guild leaders and the dean of the great university' more than once. He eventually walked out into a crowd of revellers a hundred thousand strong. And just as he had been directed the physical stage was less than a hundred metres away. The alleyway had been what he considered busy, but he could see that the other routes were densely packed. He wandered back up the alley a couple of stalls to a kibble vendor. The seller here was offering hot dogs, over priced of course but he was starting to feel the party vibe and didn't mind. When he found out that 10% of all proceeds were going to the AliensRfree movement he added a few energy bars to the order. The seller was grateful and advised on the kind without the amphetamines, with a kibble-syrup sauce called 'chocolate'.

After so many encounters with nice people, he was feeling kind of high on life. The badge he wore might have been opening doors or something, but he was enjoying it all the same. He reasoned "We are all gathered here to listen to the voice of the movement, the voice of freedom of expression, the voice of a future where everyone could live and be who they are without fear of oppression or slavery."

He stood at the end of the alleyway for quite a while and was enjoying himself. After a while he turned around and saw the grey skinned woman. She was in the bottom left corner of one of the giant screens which showed the musicians on the stage. He realised that meant she was in almost exactly the same sort of spot, but on the far side of a three-hundred metre wide stage. He watched her dancing on her own for a little while. "Damn she's pretty" he said out loud. As he said it audibly, she looked up at the screen and smiled. He realised that in any normal encounter the thought that she had heard him would be sheer lunacy. She was a teep though, and in spite of his age he had no idea if she could hear him or not. It was still lunacy as she looked away a moment later but, there were fools all over the universe who were prompted into action for less.

"Ahh, the hell with it" he said out loud again, though above the music nobody could hear him. He lifted up his head up and walked into the crowd.

He got to the centre just as the musicians ended their set. The crowd erupted in applause. He tried to continue but the crowd was too dense. He had to get his bearings, but the crowd around him made that impossible, he was not going to give up, but he decided that patience was called for here. So he watched the screens on his left and right for the girl. A speaker came on next, and while they spoke he listened. After a couple of minutes he realised that if anything the crowd was getting more dense, he checked the programme and realised that the next band was a big name. He might be able to carry on, but he would have to wait.