Jordan Baxter, empoverished doctor just arriving from Earth.

Dr. Jordan Baxter MD
Edwardian Royal Hotel
Room 2043
New Thames
New India Provence, Rajah-4

Sir Williard Johnson MD, K.R.T
King’s College Medical School,
Tai Pei, China Province
Earth

March 23rd 2072

Dear Sir Williard,
It is with the deepest gratitude and respect that I am writing to thank you for your kind advice and letter of introduction. I hope you do not find this letter too forward, but as I believe you are aware, other than my mother I have no close family to share my experiences and you will see that the contents of this missive would be either of little interest to a member of the fair sex or accounts that would be unseemly for any woman to read. Through my years of study at King’s College I have always looked to you as a mentor and guide and it is because of your wise council that I have left my homeworld to make my fortune here on Rajah-4. This letter will have to be written as a serial account of my adventures here on my new planet because after the raid on Kanda we have been informed that the Royal Mail service to Earth will not be delivered any time in the foreseeable future. God knows what my mother will think when she does not hear from me in a timely manner, but that is a matter for a different letter.

It is my intention that these accounts will be of scientific value so I will try to recount all that I see in this new home in an objective, factual manner no matter how disturbing or strange these observations might be to a peer of realm lacking your scientific credentials. Of course it is my intention to collect many of the natural flora and fauna of this marvelous planet although if the reports of the early colonists can be given credence many of the animals that are native to this strange land are too big to ship home even if somehow I was able to collect and preserve them. As a trained man of science I tend to be skeptical of the first accounts of explorers to a new land, but you can be assured that at least some of the accounts must be true. I have already seen trees far taller than even the mightiest of the cedars in His Majesty's imperial forests in the province of Greater Palastinia-Syria, and flying creature that leave streaks of glowing phosphorescence as they fly through the night sky.

Although the weather in New India is no hotter than the muggy summers of Tai Pei, the system’s sun seems both larger and more intense with a ruddy glow that the colonials assure me is actually far safer on my fair skin than the sunlight that reaches Earth. The air on Rajah-4 is marvelously free of soot and other pollutants, I have had no trouble adjusting to the different proportions of gasses and find the higher levels of oxygen exhilarating. I am informed that the gravity is slightly less than Earth’s as well, but after nearly a year on H.M.S. Sigfried I find my muscles struggling to adjust. It would not be so bad but at six feet tall and with my broad shoulders most people here in New Thames expect me to be as strong as I look. The inhabitants of this city tend to be either of golden skinned Hindu origin or as pale-skinned and common place as anybody you might see in London, although I have seen the occasional dark skin of a Africaner and the porter that carried my bags into the Royal Edwardian had the distinct Sino broad nose and narrow eyes.

I hope, Sir Williard, that you will forgive me the focus on skin-tone in this first installment of my report, but as it is my first day here I have not had much interaction with the local peoples so my initial observations must deal with the superficial. Furthermore, the local clothing covers far less than would be acceptable in any civilized part of the empire; even an untrained eye would be unable to fail to note both the colour and glowing health of the skin the inhabitants of Rajah-4 all seem to share. I should add, (in the interest of completeness) it is not only the Hindu servants on Rajah-4 that expose their shoulders, backs and even legs as high as the knee. Even the landed gentlemen and ladies of the most affluent families expose far more of their bodies than you or I would deem proper. What makes this fashion particularly disturbing is that all of the inhabitants of the town seem unusually attractive; everyone I've seen so far is in the peak of health. Not merely the muscular Ghurkas that patrol the hotel grounds, the young Englishmen and women who stroll about the city streets are most pleasing to the eye, in truth, even the older gentlemen and women of the city have a vitality that as a man of medicine I find intriguing.

At first I attributed this disturbing lack of modesty to the warmth of the climate, but after what I happened last night in the hotel's gardens I wonder if there is more at play than I originally believed. Allow me to describe to the best of my ability the occurrence; when and if this missive ever reaches you please understand that the details of this encounter are to help you fully understand my situation. Should it ever seem appropriate for you to share this letter with others, you may find it wise to edit this report…