Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 109

Chapter 109 - Half Steps

There was a small procession of people waiting for them next to the clearly outlined landing zone. A moderately interesting choice given the Chinese government couldn't have been sure which of their approved destinations he had chosen until he lowered the jumpers cloak.

“And you're sure they're all cleared to know about me?” Eventus asked Xiaoyi, since he didn't want to cause anyone to get executed because they saw something their government didn't want them to know about.

Xiaoyi gave a light laugh. “They would not be here if they were not.”

“If you're sure.” Eventus said. “Because we can exit the jumper without decloaking.”

“We can?” Xiaoyi asked in surprise.

“The cloak is a projective field.” Eventus explained. “So physical objects can pass through it without issue.”

There had been constant attempts to make a cloak that could also act protectively like a shield, but even with entirely different emitter systems handling each process there were fundamental incompatibility issues with the two field types that had been stymieing progress on that front for longer than human civilization had existed on Earth.

“I see.” Xiaoyi murmured, looking around the cabin as if she might be able to visually identify whatever mechanism was generating the cloaking field. “So it’s somewhat like a hologram?”

Eventus made a so-so motion with one of his hands. “Behaviorally yes, technologically no.”

He could have explained it more clearly of course, but he really didn’t want to accelerate their development of cloaking technology anymore than their experiences with it already had. Since it was almost surely going to end with someone’s military research branch getting the bright idea to build cloaked fission missiles.

“But you still haven’t answered my question.” He reminded her.

“Oh.” Xiaoyi blinked before shaking her head slightly. “Sorry. My government would likely appreciate the ship remaining visible while on the ground.”

“Visable it is then.” Eventus said, issuing a mental command to lower the cloak while manually triggering the rear hatch to open. “Do you want to go first?”

Xiaoyi shook her head. “That would be considered… Impolite.”

There was a slight undertone to her words that suggested she wasn’t particularly happy with whatever cultural expectation was behind that bit of politeness, but Eventus was here to relax, not subtly guide their culture away from its more objectionable points.

Offering the woman a smile as he walked past, he stopped to grab his luggage case before walking down the ramp to confront the welcoming party.

The group of six that was lined up in wait consisted of two men and four women, an oddly slanted choice given what Eventus had read about the ratio of males to females in various Chinese government and military positions.

More interesting than their gender balance however was their manner of dress. Both of the men were wearing tang style suits that, from the lack of wear patterns, had very likely been issued to them in the past few days. While all four of the women were garbed in over the top looking hanfu robes that Eventus half suspected had been requisitioned from some upcoming movie set.

“Welcome honored Ancient, representative Shen.” The older of the two men greeted, clasping his hands together and giving a partial bow in a move that was duplicated moments later by the rest of his group. “I'm Xu Yong'an, president of the Hengdian Group responsible for overseeing this location.” He motioned to the younger man next to him. “And this is Bai Xiuying, the supervisor for this studio’s guest entertainment division.”

“Thank you for having me.” Eventus returned, since it never hurt to be polite to the people in charge of your vacation destination. "Representative Shen has had nothing but good things to say about your group's accomplishments here.”

She’d given him a brief breakdown on all the location choices, and even knowing she was probably upselling the accomplishments, it had still been a moderately impressive series of accomplishments given the limits their people were working under.

“That is good to hear.” Xu Yong'an offered a small nod of acknowledgement to the woman. “And I hope your time here can live up to the promises she has made.”

That wouldn’t be particularly hard given the only promise Xiaoyi had really made to Eventus was that he’d get some time away from the constant deluge of work related problems. 

“Will this be where I’m staying?”

The villa grounds were very moviesque in their design, a small pond with a wooden bridge crossing it and a single strategically planted sakura tree were the obvious centerpieces meant to draw the eyes of those viewing it. While the buildings themselves were an odd mix of classic chinese architecture and well hidden modernism that left him wondering just how much money must have gone into constructing the location.

“Yes.” Xu Yong'an confirmed. “It is our studio’s finest villa.” He motioned to each of the four women standing behind him in turn. “This is Zou Fu, Qin Tai, Lai Jun, and Qin Su. If you will allow, they will be handling housekeeping duties.”

All four of the women looked to be in their mid to late twenties, and were the type of pretty you would expect more from the entertainment business than housekeeping. But Eventus supposed there was probably some cross over in those two areas for humans above a certain economic level.

“I have no objection to that.” He agreed, offering each of the women a friendly smile. “Though I should warn that it has been requested by the IOA that I not tip in precious metals or gemstones so as to avoid disrupting local economies.”

Which was kind of a shame given he had synthesized a couple hundred gold coins while at Janus’s lab to hand out to various people on Earth as a joke.

Xu Yong'an and Bai Xiuying exchanged an odd glance before the president offered him a wan smile. “Yes, well, I suppose things like that are for the best.” 

He motioned to the tallest of the four women, who took a single step forward and bowed her head in acknowledgement. “Zou Fu can show you to your room, Representative Shen will be along shortly as there are some matters that need to be discussed amongst ourselves.”

“If you’ll follow me.” Zou Fu said as she walked over.

Eventus gave the president a nod of understanding before moving to follow Zou Fu, only to stop mid step and glance his shoulder at the group. “Just be sure you’re more than a couple hundred feet away if you don’t want to risk me accidentally overhearing it.”

With that warning given, he tapped the button on the jumper remote to close its hatch before continuing on after the housekeeper.

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Author’s Notes: Shorter chapter today, but I was having monitor problems so things fell a bit shorter then usual.