Reyne refrained from breathing a sigh of relief as they passed through the security cordon. There was little doubt that the pair of them were being scanned with visual and biometric sensors and it wasn’t unlikely that they were monitoring their heart rates and other statistics. Such devices were common among the nobility, the sort of thing that Mia used to monitor her guests back in Lord Armond’s manor and to a lesser extent aboard the Bonaventure, and so Rene had received some training in how to keep his readings steady.

“Where you go, I go,” he responded simply to Solae’s question, the honest conviction in the statement more powerful than any flowery rhetoric might have been. He wanted very badly to take her hand and squeeze it, but such a gesture would be out of place for a bodyguard and his employer and might be remarked upon by the security team.

The hallway rounded a corner and opened onto a large chamber with three transport pods standing on small pedestal. A security checkpoint with a scanning frame blocked their advance and was manned by two security guards in non descript suits. Both men carried miniaturized sub-machine guns on patrol slings and looked like they knew how to use them.

Solae walked through the frame without slowing and one of the guards glanced down at the readout. Rene followed suit and the scanner made a low pinging sound as it registered his sidearm. Again the guard glanced at the read out but didn’t make a comment as Rene followed Solae toward the central transport pod. They evidently were not concerned about weaponry as prosaic as a plasma pistol that posed little threat to the armored vaults they protected. If Rene had been shown to be carrying detonite or some other explosive, he expected the result would have been different and probably lethal.

The door to the pod opened smoothly revealing a plush bench and a small computer terminal. Solae stepped inside and Rene followed without hesitation, standing and bracing himself while she seated herself on the bench.

“Welcome Lady Carrow,” a pleasant contralto voice without dicernable sex announced. It was the first AI Rene had encountered on Zatis.

“Are you ready to depart?” 

Solae nodded and the pod slid shut. There was a slight hum as the pod began to move, but gravitational dampers functioned so expertly that there was no sensation of movement as the pod sank into the armored vaults beneath the bank. Rene did squeeze Solae’s hand now, giving her as much encouragement as he dared. Though the AI might see the gesture, he hoped that it wouldn’t be taken as anything more than a noblewoman who entertained herself with a bodyguard.

The pod door opened to reveal a new room. This one a simple sterile room with a small kiosk at one end. Holographic windows were fitted to the walls, giving a pleasnt view of a simulated beach on some world other than Zatis.

“Do you understand the security protocol Lady Carrow?” the AI asked as they stepped towards the kiosk.

“I do,” Solae responded shortly, eyes fixed on the vault and whatever secrets her parents had kept from her.

“If you choose to have your bodyguard present, he may not speak, any attempt to communicate once the test begins will constitute a failure and meet with dire consequences,” the computer cautioned.