Perrine sighed as she stared at the displayed starscape on her cabin wall. The Second Daughter of the House Du Maurier had long since abandoned any notion that the inner worlds would ever hold anything for her, other than a life of droll servitude. Hopefully this ship would carry her into a life free from the expectations her family forced upon her. She wasn’t going to be a demure submissive lady-in-waiting for another great house. No, Perrine would not be reduced to a bargaining chip in her family's political machinations.

She had other ideas.

 

She flopped onto the bed with a gentle sigh, contemplating how things had led her to this plan.

Anika, and her damned parents.

In her younger years, Perrine had grown a reputation for her independence and desire for adventure. Friendships with the maids. A penchant for pranking. Vanishing, one day, into the twilight and returning the next morning with a mischievous smile and dirt under her nails.

 

Sadly, this did nothing but increase the interest of a certain Princess Anika... A young woman who never learned the word no, who could buy a starship on a whim, and whose every wish was made fact.

 

‘How could I have possibly known that wanting more than a damned dress would ruin my chance to pursue a life worth living?’ Perrine mused grimly

Rocking up to a seated position Perrine hugged one knee and stared across at herself in the tall triptyque mirror arranged across the quarters, her hair was longer than it had ever been before, and it disgusted her.

Perrine’s father had smiled as bouquets of flowers and hand written cards arrived, for he knew the power that they would curry. In turn Perrine fled further into her desires for adventure, taking to anything that could pull her away from her expected courtly existence. 

 

She took up ship piloting against the protests of her mother. She began to study fencing, and she begged to join the royal guard, all to the utter dismay of her family. They refused where possible or bent just enough to keep the young woman under control. This continued, each year, an ongoing war between them.   

 

Through a twist of fate she was allowed a modicum of freedom in her activities, as her wild and adventurous nature only seemed to fascinate the Princess, who often called the other young woman to court to hear her tell tales of adventure or witness one of her daring exploits. 

 

This became the price of freedom, which Perrine begrudgingly paid. Perrine knew though that she would not be able to avoid the Princess when she finished her final year of schooling. Anika wanted an entertaining lady-in-waiting, and she knew she finally found her.

 

Her desire to flee grew with each passing day on this damnably long trek around the solar system. Her cabin felt like a prison, her clothes manacles, and her social status a constricting burden. With every day that they drew closer to her planned point of escape, she felt more like a caged animal.

Perrine’s plan relied on being able to leave the Sol system. Luckily, her graduation coincided quite closely with the launching of a new wave of colony ships bound for deep space.  A perfect opportunity for escape, which was why she intended to be aboard one when their immense drive launched it out into the freedom of the frontier. 

This, of course, was provided that she had a plan to get aboard a colony ship.

To the Du Mauriers’ surprise during her final year of schooling, the young woman suddenly took tirelessly to her studies and no longer objected to her expected duties as a royal.

All according to her plan.

 

She guarded her hopes, only mentioning a desire to tour the solar system after graduating with flying colors. She talked of Venuitian jungles and Martian mountains, but she never once mentioned the colony fleet being formed around Jupiter.

Her parents acquiesced: she deserved this tour, a final adventurous gesture before her true purpose in life became reality.

 

There was however a caveat; she must take Lucienne, her firm and rather droll tutoress with her. Perrine resolved that while this wasn’t an unexpected setback, she would be forced to put on her charade even longer.

It all led to now, alternating between pacing and staring idly at a large, wall-mounted display, the way one might have once stared out of a porthole. Through the enhanced optics of the ship she could see her destination looming in the display, the lustrous blue pearl of Neptune ensconced in a halo of faintly glittering rings.

 

Her feet itched and she leapt to her feet to pace again, feeling trapped inside the luxurious cabin of the starliner. She wanted anything but to be here, yet this would be her only chance to escape her awful future.

 

Perrine eyed the outfit that Luciene laid out for her earlier that day. It was everything she wished to flee: lace adornments and fine gold embroidery, black silk and a silhouette only a stiff stay could achieve. 

 

Cursed garments.

 

Stays were abhorrent, in Perrine’s humble opinion, as they limited her range of motion and made high intensity activity annoying at the best of times. Having to work around a stiff, shaping undergarment had quickly become another hellish nightmare in her daily court life.

Her watch pulsed gently on her wrist reminding her that her evening engagement could not wait. She sighed, swiping the notification off the small screen and began to dress herself in her bonds.

A soft chime pinged from the front of her cabin.

“Come in.”

 

The door retracted with a gentle hiss as Lucienne entered.

 

“Oh, good you're dressed,” Lucienne observed as she crossed the cabin to begin examining the tall, young woman's form. “I was worried I would find you buried in one of your games, again.”

 

“Well, I have been trying to cut back a bit on all that, since it isn’t particularly becoming of a lady my age.”

 

“Yes, it really isn’t. Though I find myself surprised to admit that you’ve finally started to come to terms with that. When I first began working for your family I never thought I’d see you out of britches,” Lucienne commented as she guided Perrine to the vanity and began to style her hair.

 

“I know, but that was something that was never going to last. Maybe it was the last vestiges of my boyhood tainting my behavior, but now I truly believe that I am able to conduct myself as a proper Lady, Lucienne.”

 

The tutoress smiled softly as she worked the young woman's hair up into a braided pouf, which slowly climbed higher on Perrine’s head. 

 

Perrine despised the feeling of her hair being tugged tightly into the fancy styles expected of her status. They always left her feeling like her brain had been tied in a knot.

 

Many extensions and a few well placed toques later, her hair had taken shape into what would be called a rather fashionable display... by Lucienne at least. The crowning moment came when the tutoress flicked a switch concealed in a bow. Many strands of thin, fiber-optic thread woven into the hairdo glimmered to life with a gentle pulsing glow which shifted between vibrant purples and soft pinks.

 

“I think I may have outdone myself this time,” said Lucienne delightedly as she applied a few finishing adjustments.

 

“Yes. You, uhm... Certainly seem to have,” said Perrine haltingly, trying to conceal her annoyance. After a few final touches she was deemed acceptable for public consumption and ushered from the cabin by Lucienne.

 

Upper class passengers always dined in a provincially sized dining room on the uppermost deck of the grand starliner, hosted by the captain and a swarm of servers attending to the needs of their precious cargo. Perrine did her best to entertain, but her thoughts were distant at best, not that anybody noticed amid the festivities, as her reputation for being a lively and adventurous woman hadn’t made its way here, thankfully.

 

Later that night, she sat on the edge of her bed, contemplating the vast emptiness of space visible through the wall display. Her face was illuminated only by a tablet as she wrote what hopefully would be her final letter to her parents,

 

 

When they made landfall at the massive station Poseidon’s Trove she planned to send the letter before slipping away.