A Fearless Voyage: Tiziana's Adventures in Space Opera.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but there's nothing I can do."

"No," Princess Tiziana says in desperation. "He must be here!"

Queen Marie-Thérèse is not impressed by her daughter's insistence. She starts to stand up from behind the desk.

"This is the fourth time you've visited us and asked for help to locate this boy of yours. Maybe he doesn't want to be found."

"That's not it." Tiziana turns away from the Queen and looks out the window, giving herself a moment to banish the tears forming in her eyes.

You can do this, she tells herself. You have to be strong. She takes a deep breath and turns back to face them, swallowing hard as she does so.

"I know that I've said this before, but I really do believe he's still alive! And I'll keep looking until I find him!" She forces herself to make eye contact with her parents again. "And there was something else too - we've been hearing rumors that some of the newer planets are being attacked by - by space pirates or something." The tears are gone now, replaced by anger that pulses through her veins like fire. "I need to go find him now, before it's too late!"

King Boris stands up from his chair behind where his wife is sitting at the vast wooden desk and walks over to his daughter. He puts his arms around her and holds her for a moment, trying to give her comfort. But he knows that he will never be able to tell her what he knows: that Jean is dead.

The first message they received was short and brutal: Jean was captured and executed by someone who called himself 'The Butcher'. The second message came just three weeks later: Jean had escaped from The Butcher, but he would be killed if they attempted to rescue him. And then finally came the last message: The Butcher wanted their youngest daughter in exchange for Jean's life. They didn't hesitate - they said yes right away.

It was obvious what was going on: The Butcher was trying to marry off one of his daughters in exchange for power or money or whatever it was that people valued most in this age of peace and prosperity. But Boris couldn't bear to tell Tiziana any of this, so he tries his best to put on a convincing performance as he embraces his daughter, noticing as she bites down on her lip again so she won't start crying again.

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After several hours of travel on a rickety ship bound for Earth, Tiziana finally arrives at the spaceport outside Paris and immediately heads into town. As she approaches the bridge across the Seine River into the city center on foot, Tiziana notices a crowd gathered outside one of the buildings lining the riverbank on the left side of the bridge - crowds were always gathering at these kinds of places nowadays where people could project pictures onto huge screens so everyone could watch together. This particular group seemed particularly excited about whatever they were watching; they kept shouting things like 'bravo' and 'encore'.

[They obviously didn't get my messages yet.] Tiziana mutters under her breath as she quickens her pace toward them. Just as she pushes through them towards the building entrance and closes out their noise with one hand over her earpiece speaker, four men emerge from inside carrying an enormous statue between them on their shoulders - a man carved entirely out of gold! They set him down carefully near where Tiziana just entered, then place a golden crown atop his head and step back as everyone applauds even louder than before! [What kind of weird world am I living in?] Tiziana thinks as she starts up the stairs toward a room that appears to be filled with people watching another large screen showing what's happening outside in front of them all at once. When she gets close enough she realizes it's not one screen, but many - rows upon rows stacked all around this room with people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder watching different parts of what she can only assume is some sort of live performance show unfolding outside below them all in real time! [How am I supposed to find anyone in a place like this?] As if reading her mind a woman wearing a headset who looks like she might work here approaches Tiziana at once as soon as she enters through the door and speaks into her mic loudly enough for everyone around them to hear what she has to say: "Can I help you?" [Yes.] Tiziana replies back loudly while covering one ear with one hand so she can hear what's being said over her earpiece speaker more clearly while trying not to look annoyed by how loud everyone around her is talking right now: "I'm looking for someone named Jean?" [Jean?] The woman repeats back with an exaggerated smile while pointing behind Tiziana toward one particular row of screens where two young men are standing next to each other facing cameras while speaking excitedly into microphones held up towards their faces: "His name is Jean? Well let me show you our Jean!" Tiziana rolls her eyes and sighs heavily as yet another person walks up behind them both holding an enormous sign above both their heads that reads 'JEAN' along with little hearts drawn all around it in red marker ink! [Seriously?!] As if reading Tizelia's mind again after seeing how frustrated she looks when seeing these two men on these screens together holding giant signs in front of their faces filled with hearts drawn all over them like teenagers falling in love for the first time ever like it's cute or something when really guys like these can get married without even knowing each other's last names these days because politics mean everything now more than ever if you ask me or anything for that matter besides maybe sex which seems more important than ever nowadays almost like everyone is getting laid constantly which is nice I guess sometimes but it feels kind of fake considering how often women seem willing just because they want money which seems kind of gross somehow considering how often men seem unwilling because they want money which also seems gross somehow sometimes especially if they're married but whatever none of these guys look familiar anyway so maybe they're just famous or something who knows anymore probably not me anyways let's just look around some more shall we?]. For once Tiziana is grateful that no one seems able hear what she says directly into anyone else's ears when someone talks directly into theirs instead because otherwise whoever might overhear wouldn't know why someone would say such strange things out loud like this without any shame whatsoever despite sounding fairly angry about whatever it is that inspired such vulgar thoughts speaking aloud out loud in public places like this feels especially odd somehow especially if you ask me or anything for that matter besides maybe sex which seems more important than ever nowadays almost like everyone is getting laid constantly which is nice I guess sometimes but it feels kind of fake considering how often women seem willing just because they want money which seems kind of gross somehow considering how often men seem unwilling because they want money which also seems gross somehow sometimes especially if they're married but whatever none of these guys look familiar anyway so maybe they're just famous or something who knows anymore probably not me anyways let's just look around some more shall we?]. Eventually after searching each row while saying 'Jean' loudly enough over and over again so everyone within earshot could hear her say those exact words until someone responds positively (or negatively) by either nodding or shaking their head up-and-down slightly while looking directly at whoever says those same exact words aloud (as if sensing someone nearby saying those exact words aloud suddenly), Tiziana finds herself standing face-to-face with someone whose face has been plastered onto every single screen within sight except for these two screens where whoever might overhear wouldn't know why someone would say such strange things out loud like this without any shame whatsoever despite sounding fairly angry about whatever it is that inspired such vulgar thoughts speaking aloud out loud in public places like this feels especially odd somehow especially if you ask me or anything for that matter besides maybe sex which seems more important than ever nowadays almost like everyone is getting laid constantly which is nice I guess sometimes but it feels kind of fake considering how often women seem willing just because they want money which seems kind of gross somehow considering how often men seem unwilling because they want money which also seems gross somehow sometimes especially if they're married but whatever none of these guys look familiar anyway so maybe they're just famous or something who knows anymore probably not me anyways let's just look around some more shall we?]. Finally after staring into his eyes long enough without blinking (as if waiting for something magical), Tiziana suddenly recognizes him instantly! It's Jean! This guy looks exactly like Jean except for a few minor differences here and there: His hair isn't quite as dark as Jean's usually was; His eyes aren't quite blue enough; He talks faster than Jean used to talk; And he looks younger than Jean used to look... [Of course!] She realizes suddenly after studying him more intently now that he isn't wearing glasses today (like he usually did during all those times when Jean would stare directly into most girls' eyes when talking directly into their ears). [He must have had surgery recently!] Noticing how shocked everyone around them appears right now after realizing who exactly it is standing right