The Leonine Games [Afternoon 1]

[Kannon]

From the outside the pyramid might have looked dormant, put to a siesta by the sun just past zenith, ornithopter wings circling like dragonflies around its top, but it was an illusion immediately dispelled once the boundary of Nikeion's surface was however crossed.

Crowds streamed like rivers from the Terminus, filtering through layered concourses and upward spirals, countless feet converging toward the Oon, suspended at the pyramid’s centre like a pearl trapped in gravity’s teeth, or an egg from which splendour would hatch. The sun had just angled itself in the Eye of Notos, setting the interior ablaze with metallic reflexes of the terraces filled with seats and balconies. The sphere's insides were coming alive.

Thopters started shimmering in from above, spiralling down into landing bays discreetly tucked on upper balconies. Security patrols drifted along the aisles with polite precision. The deeper one entered, the more you could feel it: the thrum, the tension, the hush before performance — before the lions. Before Pankratos.

Nikeion did not shout yet. It listened. It expected. It hummed.

Below the Oon, the Galleries buzzed. Lounges, restaurants, and viewing rooms hosted well-off enough visitors who were in no rush to take their seats because of privileged access. Or lulled into false conviction that the show would wait for them.

The common crowd seeping from below was neither frenzied nor unruly. It seemed to be obeying the security protocols, particularly stringent after one rather recent embarrassing incident few now wanted to talk about. Those fans were still adorned — officials, merchants, and foreign guests had made themselves presentable by wearing embroidered tunics. Some, who had got to the meridional lifts first, were already leaning over balconies with their binoculars at work, discussing the projected mise-en-scene or making casual bets between friends. Others conversed in codes of implication and wine.

Queries about seats of Xanthe's special guests would lead to the designated shaded balcony at 179° West, suspended for now slightly below the equatorial axis, and just right of the Strategos' grandstand — still unoccupied. From here there would surely be a commanding view of the central arena, the forcefield plane yet inactive. The celestial doors of the Apex from where lions and athletes would soon emerge on the platforms for now served as display screens for teasers showing lions prowling across the Harmonthepi steppes, a tribute to the greater glory of the Corrino Imperium.

[Cuyler Gray]

True to her nature, Cuyler lingered around the food vendors, studying the offerings and observing what people commonly chose.

[Kannon]

She would quickly recall that she had actually sampled Harmonthepi fare before, on the Guild Heighliner en route to Arrakis, during her time with CHOAM. She had tasted it with Bomilcar, Dorian and Reyyan around. Where were they now, she wondered. Did they go to Issimo with the Corps of Engineers?

Here, the tastes were similar, though much fresher and less gourmet, especially the packages of fried osthmir crisps sprinkled with less than obvious herbs, red like beets but with a sweet potato feel. Everybody was taking a crunchy package to the race. Wine, to her chagrin, served in long tubes, was mostly Caladanan not Mutelli, but then these beverages were meant for the masses.

Xard was somewhere around, more focused on the solido displays of running lions than else. As usual, he was forgetting to eat.

[Cuyler Gray]

She knew there would be food at the balcony, but she picked up a few common snacks anyway. Then, she joined Xard in looking at the displays.

[Kannon]

"Those are doctored." Xard concluded. "The lions don't waste energy like this, especially that their blood efficiency is low on this world. They lounge in shades most of the day and hunt mostly before nightfall."

[Cuyler Gray]

"That's not as exciting for the crowds." She said. "I'd like to see a more accurate and natural version, though."

[Kannon]

"There isn't much of the natural to the setup of the race. But I think we are promised a thopter, and the reserves begin not that far from here up north." Xard mused. "Landing could be problematic though. The Lions are attuned to seeking out haemogloblin-based organisms like us given how local fauna has the wrong blood and its meat is mostly inedible to them. Herds from other worlds must be imported to keep them healthy. This is not a self-sustaining ecosystem. Human mistakes and negligence in managing it may trigger almost immediate degradation."

[Cuyler Gray]

"There's no chance they've found a way to adapt?" She asked. "You've speculated on the nature of fauna here The cycle of life on this world. It sounds like a difficult balance."

[Laila Bridger]

Laila was now on her fourth planet, and was glumly confirmed in the fact that no matter how far you went, your reflection always stared back at you.

But for right now...

For right now she still had to keep an eye on Hadrian.

In a crowd full of people whose customs she didn't really understand, in the full knowledge that they'd been made the second they had arrived.

[Kannon]

"There's no chance they've found a way to adapt?" She asked. "You've speculated on the nature of fauna here The cycle of life on this world. It sounds like a difficult balance."

"It is a difficult balance. The indigenous fauna comes from a different branch of life, adjusted to the minima of this planet. The lions don't metabolise excesses of copper and manganese too well. To breed lions here... it was a political and aesthetic decision of some Padishah Emperor of old. In order to make lion populations self-sustaining the trophic ladder would have to be thoroughly remodelled. As it stands, it is maintained despite being irrational, through endless interventions. Perhaps that's the point. The victory of Imperial power over nature." He shrugged.

[Kannon]

Strategos Philadelphos was the first of the ruling house to come to the Oon. He arrived by ornithopter, entering through the Eye of Notos. He settled it on top of the 180° grandstand, which doubled as his control room. The race was a huge logistical undertaking, requiring mastery of the systems at work in the Oon. Once he took his seat, on his command layers of force-fields shimmered in a test sequence.

The shaded balconies connected to the grandstand, at 179°W and 179°E, from where family and guests of the Strategos were usually watching the sports, looked empty for the time being.

[Cuyler Gray]

"It is a difficult balance. The indigenous fauna comes from a different branch of life, adjusted to the minima of this planet. The lions don't metabolise excesses of copper and manganese too well. To breed lions here... it was a political and aesthetic decision of some Padishah Emperor of old. In order to make lion populations self-sustaining the trophic ladder would have to be thoroughly remodelled. As it stands, it is maintained despite being irrational, through endless interventions. Perhaps that's the point. The victory of Imperial power over nature." He shrugged.

"Typical." She sighed. "Shall we make our way to the balcony?"

[Hadrian Martikova]

snip

Hadrian was there too of course. First order of business would be to touch base with the others.

[Kannon]

"Typical." She sighed. "Shall we make our way to the balcony?"

"Where the Bene Gesserit likely await?" He chuckled in self-derision. "But it's going to be fine, I hope. They didn't seem too interested in me. I admit I must have lost a lot of the undertones in that conversation. They young lady Ptolemaios seemed both familiar and uncomfortable with them, right? No idea why this could be, though. I have always pegged Hagal worlds as friendly to the Sisterhood."

[Laila Bridger]

Hadrian was there too of course. First order of business would be to touch base with the others.

Laila stayed close- both because she would have wanted to anyway, and because the cover they'd chosen pretty much demanded it.

And besides, he was way more likely to know his way through this sort of crowd than she was.

[Cuyler Gray]

"Where the Bene Gesserit likely await?" He chuckled in self-derision. "But it's going to be fine, I hope. They didn't seem too interested in me. I admit I must have lost a lot of the undertones in that conversation. They young lady Ptolemaios seemed both familiar and uncomfortable with them, right? No idea why this could be, though. I have always pegged Hagal worlds as friendly to the Sisterhood."

"She definitely seemed uncomfortable and seemed somewhat relieved that their focus might not be on her." She agreed. "Whatever is going on, she may appreciate allies."

[Kannon]

"Well, she's the one who has authorised our free movement and offered us an ornithopter. Those are rather friendly gestures." Xard mused as he tried to plot the course through a small labyrinth of escalators leading up to the Oon.

[Cuyler Gray]

She nodded. "So, if I can distract the Bene Gesserit for her, I will."

[Kannon]

"Don't they have an interest in us as well? Not me, I suppose, but one of you?"

It seemed like he found the right escalator. There was a crowd both before and after them, debating not whether but in what style Pankratos would win the race.

[Cuyler Gray]

"That's the other reason for me to run interference, if I can." She nodded.