Chapter 10: Arrival on Yeley

Meno continued to study the Datapad, looking over the Houses and their territories, but delving into seminars on Resonance itself, learning as much as he could. The histories were shown to be very much inflammatory and to some extent, propaganda itself - something which both Angie and Paba reiterated to him. He could hardly believe how much data he had access to through the Datapad. He could see the leaders of each House, each more impressive than the last. He saw their Sigils, their histories, from their own perspectives, being careful when speaking of other Houses. He thought that all of it was fascinating, nonetheless.

He also used the time to run through seminars from professors on Resonance, and intergalactic travel, finding the most appealing version to be a clipping on the history of travel which combined the principles of resonance, in the creation of gravity cascades. He had watched that at least four times now. The Professor, named Dr. Horkel, an odd man, and somewhat reminiscent of Swan, though, if anything, slightly more dishevelled. He still was not sure how much of it he actually understood.

He had been sitting for hours, absorbed in the holograms, when Angie told him that they would be arriving at Yeley soon. He shook himself, somehow seeming to forget that he was about to see a new planet!

Hurrying to the cockpit, he saw the blue lights in front of them dissipate, launching a heavy black curtain in front of them. Then Meno saw it. A luminous green and blue orb hung below them. It had specks of white like brush strokes across the planet. He had never seen colours like that, never seen vibrancy like that. He marvelled at the sheer scale of the planet, its atmosphere shimmering in the light of their yellow star. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. That was a planet, he thought to himself. That was Yeley.

Paba began moving her hands through the holograms, pulling light panels from side to side, and almost immediately, they were hailed. A young, mildly bored-looking man appeared on the hologram.

“Entry codes,” he said, glancing at Angie and Meno, lifting his eyebrows in greeting. Paba began punching in a keycode on a holographic keypad. It seemed that she held her breath as she finished. After the briefest of moments, he responded with,

“All right... Det’em port, bay one,” the man finally responded, sounding surprised. “Welcome to Yeley.” His face disappeared from the display. A collective sigh of relief passed through the cockpit as Paba and Angie exchanged a look that said more than words. Meno had the distinct feeling they’d been more worried about this moment than they’d let on.

Paba began to move the ship closer to the planet after Angie and Meno strapped into the seats on the side of the cockpit. Meno watched as they descended onto the planet. He was trying to gauge how big it was. After leaving Gol, he had seen what a moon moving further away from them looked like, but this was incredible. It just got bigger and bigger. He couldn't quite grasp the scale of it.

They sat in quiet anticipation as Paba dropped the ship into the planet's atmosphere and then dropped beneath the clouds. The planet, washed with greens and blues like Meno had never seen before, started to come into sharper focus. He could see the defining features of the farmlands below him. Organised partitions of land, neatly manicured and structured farms spread beyond the horizon. The mountains with their green-topped peaks and white stone cliffs stood in sharp contrast to the deep greens of the lands cut only by the deepest of blue rivers, sometimes turning black in the landscape as they fed the lands around them. Meno had to keep blinking at how bright the planet was, he had never been subject to so much sunlight.

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They travelled along the planet for some time as he watched the pattern shapes of squares and triangles of different shades pass below them. Some red and some purple mixed in with every tone of green, and then a mountain appeared ahead of them. Meno needed to take two glances at it before he could understand what he was seeing, and when he could understand what he was looking at, he physically laughed.

It was a gargantuan statue carved out of the mountain's face. A statue of a woman sitting cross-legged with her hands held out in the air, water passing through her hands, forming cascading waterfalls between her fingers, which were captured by aqueducts below. The waters sprayed into mist that fell gently below her. She was remarkable, blindfolded, with basic robes that had been carved out of white stone. Meno could see that it was old, but it had been cared for.

“Who is she?”

“Must be Det’em”, said Angie, who was also in awe of the view. “She is said to be the founder of Yeley”

The size of it was indeterminable at first; it was as though the white stone had been littered around the statue after its carving, but then Meno realised that this was a city that spanned kilometres around the mountain. Tall stone buildings that were turned to face the grand statue. The buildings, crafted from the statue’s white stone, boasted towering pillars supporting their roofs.

The statue must have stood some five hundred meters tall, and confirmed as much when he remembered that he now had tech he could use for that. The statue stood at five hundred and seventy-five meters tall, and it had a diamond-shaped frame that stood as the carved backdrop to the statue. Meno peered closer at the statue’s base and discovered a five-level building carved into her form, soaring above the city. All floors sitting well above the city's tallest building. The waterfall coming from her hands fell over this, what Meno could only imagine was a temple of some kind. Her waterfalls gleamed, as if she were pouring life into the land below.

A great river stood between the farmlands and the city that fell at the foot of the mountain, with a grand highway that intersected the river and flowed into the city. Meno focused on the city and shook his head at the sheer size of it. He had heard about places like this, and even seen some on the holograms that he was studying just a short while ago, but seeing it paled everything he thought he knew. Meno laughed again, holding his hand to his mouth.

Before the river and opposing the city was a large stone port with three expansive domes, each of different sizes. Meno could see that the port was itself enormous, stretching for kilometres. Magnificent ships were docked there, with elegant yachts that he had only ever heard of. They were sleek and beautifully designed vessels, very different from the ship that they were in. He found himself still struggling to comprehend the absolute size of everything.

“It’s wonderful,” said Angie, more to herself than anyone. He smiled and looked back out of the viewport of the ship. As they got closer and dropped towards the port. Meno kept looking at the towering statue in the mountain as its head rose above them. It was looking up towards the clouds with eyes covered, her hair flowing behind her.

As they came into land, Meno noticed a small congregation of people awaiting them, and that he was not the only one feeling the anxiety creep in. Both Angie and Paba began to fidget and shift in their seats, respectively. He took in a deep breath and nodded to the other two.

Once they docked in port one, next to a magnificent silver, metallic yacht that dwarfed their freighter, they made their way to the back of the ship and opened the cargo door. They took a deep breath and steadied themselves, each checking the other.

The doors opened, and they were met by three people. The first was an older man with what looked like a permanent smile etched on his face, judging by the laugh lines. He was bald, hunched over and wore simple white robes with wispy white hair. The other two were both in exosuits. A man and a woman, he being tall and well built with dark, short hair and a stoic expression, she also being tall but slim with blonde hair that suited her tan skin and a welcoming expression. The suits were similar to what Meno had seen before, but they had a deep purple running through them and gold plating.

“I am Harold,” said the small, balding man with a shallow bow, “Welcome to Yeley”