#the k’laxiverse

[jpitha]

Hobbies.

Having hobbies isn't that unusual among sapients. One of the whole things about being sapient is having a curious mind and free time. After all, Mzurr wouldn't stop talking to anyone who would listen about the time he went rallying on Earth. He would show off his collection of models and facts about human rally cars every chance he got to anyone within 3 meters of him. It could be tiring really, but he was so excited. It was infectious.

No, what was unusual about the Humans was how hard they went into their hobbies.

When Fennipen - the K'laxi head of security - heard that the Human Emery down in Little Earth had assembled an entire antique steam engine from Earth's past in his quarters and wheeled it out to the common area, he paid him a personal visit. Station was worried, but they couldn't articulate why. "That Human is up to something worrying" was all they could tell Fennipen. “I can feel it.”

As Fenn approached, his olfactory system was assaulted with the smell of oils and metals and paint. It stood maybe a meter and a half tall, only a little taller than Fenn himself. It was...something. It was black metal with silver metal parts and a large brass wheel on the bottom. it was well oiled and like all Human machines looked uncomfortably like it was alive. Fenn’s fur poofed out angrily.

"Emery, what in the *untranslatable*, [oath against sanity] is that?" Emery's translator did its best, but he only got the description which he decided meant it was a good swear. When the translator failed to translate, which wasn’t often, Station chimed into his earpiece “Fenn is concerned and worried about your machine, Emery.”

“I got that, Station, thanks.”

“No problem! Happy to help!”

Emery turned to Fenn. "It's a vertical steam engine! It's a little one, but it's all here! Took weeks of shipping and assembly and getting all the little bits and parts. I even had to machine some of the bearings myself. I must have watched hours of videos about Babbitt Metal. Finally though, it's ready to go!" He spun the wheel at the bottom and surprising Fenn the massive thing spun easily and nearly silently, clicking and hissing as the seals moved up and down. "It's ready to fire, but Station said under no circumstances will they allow open flames. They were rather insistent, so I'll just use compressed air. It’s not exactly the same, but you’ll get the idea.”

“But why?” Fenn’s ears twitched in irritation, but his fur started to flatten.

"Just look at it!" Emery was beaming "It's so neat! And it was made back at time when we didn't have computer controlled precision machinery or even plastics. It's all steel, and brass, and oil, and leather, and felt."

By now a small crowd had gathered in the common. It was a mix of Humans and K’laxi and they were looking on at the machine and Emery and Fenn with mild interest.

Noticing the crowd, Emery opened the valve on his tank of compressed air with a flourish. Whooshing and with an odd susurration, it spun to life. After it was clear that nothing else was going to happen, the crowd made polite noises, and started to walk away.

Watching the machine, Fenn thought it was odd, but no more so than any other strange thing Humans did. He had to admit, the machine puttering away to itself was pretty fascinating. "What's that assembly of pipes on the top?" he found himself asking."

"Oh, that? It's a 5 chime whistle, here check it out!" and Emery pulled the chain hanging off the bottom. ****

Later that day, Fennipen was released from the infirmary with he physician complimenting him on wearing his active hearing protection. He only received "minor" hearing damage and did not need any further work done. Station reported that the sound of the whistle was heard nearly throughout the whole 10 kilometers of themselves. They also mentioned that at least 3 humans startled themselves into a bathroom ‘incident’ and 8 K’laxi ran for their suits thinking it was a pressure alarm.

Emery apologized profusely and was allowed to keep his steam engine - without the whistle - so long as he reported to Station one day in advance of wanting to operate it.

When it comes to hobbies, Humans go hard.

#humans are space orcs #humans are wierd #humans are deathworlders #sci fi writing #writing #trains are cool #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians

[jpitha]

Blockade Runner (redux)

I decided to edit and combine my old story Blockade Runner into a single (longish) one shot. I'm still working on ideas for my next long story in addition to posting some cool stuff to /r/HFY if you want to check me out and offer kudos there too.

The small group of K'laxi stood before the Captain.

Their fur was puffed out and their eyes were wide. They were trying to hide their fear, but the Human Captain saw through it. They had escaped from the Xenni attack on their starbase with only their lives. They were the lucky ones.

"W-what did you say?" the leader of the group, Tingmell, was trying his best to stand up to the tall human who frankly towered over them, but it was a losing battle.

"We're going to run the blockade and get you home." The Captain explained things- to Ting at least -entirely too matter-of-factly. "I put it to a vote with the crew and Dawnbreaker they were all in agreement. It's not right that you got caught up in the war, and we know what happens to K'laxi who get captured by the Xenni."

K'laxi who get captured by the Xenni get killed and turned into coats the Xenni wear, but only after they're tortured and any useful information is extracted.

It's not pleasant. It's not meant to be.

"Please don't misunderstand Captain Bennigan, we're very grateful, but we can't ask you to do this, it's too dangerous"

"Good thing you didn't ask then!" Captain Bennigan laughed at his own joke. "Now, we're going to be operating at the ragged edge of what's survivable for Humans. Dawnbreaker says that so long as you stay in the acceleration couches you'll survive too. Turns out K'kaxi are more durable than you let on, eh" He closed one eyelid quickly in a gesture that Tingmell's translator explained was 'complicated but like a joke. he's trying to set your mind at ease.'

Captain Bennigan turned to Ting and spoke to him directly. "If you want, you can sit up here with us, but everyone else should get into the couches now."

"Y-yes, okay, I'll stay up here." He turned to the group. He was the only one wearing a translator, so nobody could follow the conversation. He switched to Cali'mak, a northern K'laxi language that most everyone in the group understood. "Captain Bennigan is going to take us home-" There were gasps and noises of surprise "-but it's going to be a dangerous ride. Everyone into the acceleration couches now please. I'll stay up here and tell you how it goes." Wide eyed, but understanding, the K'laxi left the command deck and went down to the cargo deck, which was set up with K'laxi sized acceleration couches.

****

Ting had never worn a support frame before. It was - at the same time - clunky and awkward, but also powerful and fluid feeling. According to Dawnbreaker, it would enable him to survive the punishing gee forces that they were expecting while out of an acceleration couch.

It was extremely overbuilt like most things of Human design. Dawnbreaker interrupted his marveling at the support frame. "The K'laxi are secured in their couches and are waiting comfortably." Ting knew most starships were run by AI, but only the Humans gave theirs so much agency and let them give opinions on how things should be run. It was odd to hear the AI speak so... casually to him and everyone.

"Excellent." The captain adjusted his position in his command chair. When he did so, the vegan leather in the chair squeaked and rumbled. "Dawnbreaker, have our gifts to the Xenni finished printing?"

"Two more minutes Captain, and the missiles will be complete; we can proceed now."

"Good." Bennigan pressed a button and there was a two tone whistle that was heard all over the ship. "Crew, it's time to set off. I apologize, but as we are taking off near the end of the evening shift, please take your stimulant pill now." While Ting watched and tried to make sense of what was happening, everyone took out a small box from their pocket and swallowed a small green capsule. He caught the Captains eye but didn't say anything. "Going to be a long day, Tingmell. You're about to see some things that the Humans don't prefer the other races - especially the Xenni - know about us, so uh, keep it quiet, okay?" Wide eyed, Ting nodded.

With that acknowledgment, his seat molded around him and his support frame, and straps came across his chest which locked him tightly in the seat. He looked around and everyone was strapped into their seats too. The straps tightened automatically just to the point when they were too tight, and backed off just a bit. Ting had a moment wondering how they knew how tightly to strap him in.

"Dawnbreaker? As Captain on board, I authorize you to unleash War Emergency Power, and in the case I am incapacitated you are free to make your own decisions to continue the mission, save the crew and save your own life in that order. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged Captain Bennigan. War Emergency Power authorized. All fuses and limiters removed. Operating time at WEP is estimated to be sixty three minutes before permanent damage occurs."

At that, the low thrumming of the ship that Ting felt at all times aboard a human starship changed. It became a steady roar of power, straining to be released.

Captain Bennigan turned and faced the crew on the command deck. " Lieutenant Richards? Proceed ahead, War Power. Commander Penn? Launch countermeasures, missiles, and drones. Lieutenant Commander Harrison? Prepare for wormhole generation." Everyone immediately busied themselves to complete the Captain's orders.

As the ship streaked towards the Xenni blockade Ting was able to notice the flashes of the Xenni firing at them. Most seemed to miss, but the roar of the ship was punctuated with hollow thumps of shots hitting the thick Human armor. Dawnbreaker seemed to shrug it all off without worry. While they were on the run, Ting's superior sense of balance was getting all turned around as Dawnbreaker dove and spun and turned, dodging the Xenni and trying to foil their systems from picking up a missile lock.

After a few minutes, Lieutenant Commander Harrison looked up from his console in the rear of the deck and shouted "Navigation solution found. K'lax coordinates locked in."

A different human at a front console called out. "Power output at 280 percent. Wormhole generation in 183 seconds."

"What?" Ting was utterly lost as to what was going on. "Captain Bennigan, what about the warp gate?"

"Oh, we're not going through the warp gate" Captain Bennigan turned to face Ting and he had a wicked grin. "I told you, you're going to see some stuff."

Ting could barely follow what was going on. The noise, the smells, the changes in orientation in his seat were all playing havoc with his perception of the scene. It seemed they were diving towards the Xenni blockade but also avoiding the warp gate - the main method of (non-human) transit between systems. It seems like the humans were buying time for something.

"Power output at 420 percent, nice!" cried the human at the front console. Even during this high stress environment, a few humans around Ting who heard the number chuckled, thought he had no idea why. Some Human thing.

Dawnbreaker called out, "Captain Bennigan, power output is sufficient for wormhole generation, and the navigation solution has been found. At your command."

"Thank you, Dawnbreaker." Captain Bennigan was calm and collected even with all the noise and stress and action around him. He signaled the ship. "Attention, Attention, Attention. Wormhole generation shall commence once this message has completed. Those of you who-" he paused a fleeting moment. "-have trouble with the process, please make sure you are secured. See you on the other side."

"Link us to K'lax."

Ting felt, rather than heard the change. It was a whole body vibration that started in his lower extremities and worked it way up until his whole body was vibrating. It was as if he was a bell that had been struck. The vibration grew in intensity and made even his fur vibrate. It felt like he was going to vibrate apart and then...

****

Tingmell awoke.

He was lying on soft moss, and the dappled orange-yellow light of home was shining down on him. With a start, he sat up and found himself in a forest at home. The very type of forest his kind came from.

About 3 meters away, were a small group of K'laxi, all wearing very old and traditional clothes. Some in the back had fashions that predated Contact even! The one closest to him tipped his head back and made the barking cough of K'laxi laughter.

"You did it! You actually did it!" He stopped to laugh again. "I have a wager with Himelli over there." He pointed to a K'laxi in the back in an exceedingly ancient garb. "Did they tell you what was going to happen, or did they just buckle you in and say something like - he affected a surprisingly good human impression - "This is gonna be so cool! Just wait and see!"

"W-what? No, they didn't tell me." Ting saw Himelli make a sour face and give a small satchel of what he assumed were coins to the elder he was speaking with. "They said they were going to generate a wormhole. What actually happened?"

"Oh, that happened. They did it. They actually learned how to do it before Contact, so they used it as their sole method of transit for a while before we showed them the warp gates. Most of the other sapient races know about it too, they're just not crazy enough to do it. This happens to about 1 in 100 of all sapients who try. The humans just decide that it's fine."

"But, please, honored elder, what happened?"

"Oh, you're dead."

"Dead?"

Ting must have misheard. He couldn't be dead. There was much too much to do!

"Oh yes, very." The eldest K'laxi flicked his tail, a nod. "Though," he continued. "Not for very long. Once the human ship leaves the wormhole and enters space again you'll go back to your body and 'be alive' again. Whole thing is a mess really." He scoffed. "And the humans think this is normal!." He laughed.

****

Ting came to in his support frame, belted to the seat on the command deck of Dawnbreaker. He glared at Captain Bennigan who was watching him carefully. The Captain locked eyes with Tingmell, nodded with a small grunt and said "We'll talk about it later." He turned forward. "Status!" he barked to the room.

"We've exited the wormhole in atmosphere of K'lax!" The human who shouted the update sounded like he was trying not to panic.

Dawnbreaker spoke right after. "Captain Bennigan, we have exited the wormhole much closer to the K'laxi homeworld than anticipated. We are deep in the atmosphere, tumbling towards the surface from a height of approximately seventy five kilometers."

When Ting heard Dawnbreaker's report, he was confused. When he saw Captain Bennigan's surprise he was terrified. It was then that Ting noticed the noise. In addition to the buzzing hum of the reatctors at WEP, he heard the howl.

The howl of air rushing around the hull.

Bennigan regained control over his features immediately and started barking orders. "Direct emergency power to the engines. We need to boost into a safe orbit. Fire the juke-charges to arrest our spin and orient us towards orbit"

Even Dawnbreaker sounded worried. "Aye Captain, firing juke charges. All-hands prepare for shock."

In space, there is no real way to change your direction quickly. Early human ships experimented with huge, heavy, fast spinning gyroscopes so that they could spin around quickly, but this only changed their orientation, not their direction of travel. Later, it was decided that since everyone was chained to the same laws of physics, space battles weren't going to be like air battles. Instead, the humans concentrated on thick armor to withstand attack.

In the case of a missile attack, human ships could launch small shaped charges which would detonate near the thick hull, and the shockwave of the explosion would cause the ship to slide or 'juke' out of the way of the incoming missile without changing their direction of flight. In atmosphere, tumbling towards the surface with no control surfaces, Dawnbreaker was using the juke charges to arrest the ships spin, and orient it back towards space.

Ting didn't know this. What he did know was suddenly there was a cacophony of double booms as the charges were launched and almost immediately detonated, the force of the explosion pushing against the ship, causing it to move.

The noise was incredible.

Ting could only describe it like being in a hailstorm inside a metal box. Mercifully, it only lasted a few seconds. After the spin was stopped and the ship was pointed back to space, Dawnbreaker's main drive fired. At war emergency power, everyone onboard was subjected to punishing gee forces to boost the ship back into orbit. Ting thought that his bones were going to snap from the weight, but Dawnbreaker knew the limits of his passengers and kept the thrust right at the edge of what he could take.

After a few minutes, the thrust eased and Dawnbreaker spoke. "Attention. We have entered a safe - though low - orbit around K'lax. I apologize for any discomfort you may have experienced. I report no Xenni presence. So as to maintain preservation of my systems, I request War Emergency Power be suspended."

Captain Bennigan nodded. "I concur. Suspend War Emergency Power, set systems to standard power."

The howl of this ship quieted to the low thrum Ting was more familiar with. Captain Bennigan sighed heavily and looked at Ting. "Well, we made it. How was your first trip through a wormhole?"

Now that the emergency was over, Ting could afford to be angry. "Captain Bennigan, it was fine except for the part where I died."

The captain looked at Ting with a soft, weary expression. "It happens to me too and I hate it every time. It may be a small consolation, but our philosophers keep arguing about whether it's actually death or just a hallucination as a side effect of cutting a hole through spacetime."

"That doesn't help."

"Yeah. Didn't help me first time I heard it too."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #humans are space capybaras #humans and ai #humans are space australians #humans and aliens #sci fi writing #writing #the k’laxiverse

[jpitha]

Signal Rockets

Here's a little side story that takes place a little bit after Just a Little Futher. If you read my previous work it'll be a fun treat, but it's also a stand alone story - you're not missing much by reading it alone.

The far border of human space is a boring place to be stationed. The other 'side' of human space borders the K'laxi and the Xenni, two of the other sapient species we've met so far. In the other direction, for light-years around as near as we can tell, is... nothing.

It's part of the reason that for centuries Humanity thought they were alone in the universe. We're so far away from other species that it took pure luck to even meet them the first time.

Regardless, there are reasons to be over in the hinterlands. Research to be done, and to have a presence just to really say "our space ends here."

Research Station Peering Depths was one of those places. There were twenty five humans, 5 K'laxi and the station AI onboard and that was it. They spent their time gazing into the deep past of the universe, trying to learn as much as they could. Sure, wormhole generators made it so that human space was a lot smaller than it used to be, but there were still many things to be learned by peering into deep time.

The K'laxi onboard were part of a research exchange program. They were all recent graduates and jumped at the opportunity to spend a year on a human research station. They were prepped before about what kind of a job it would be but they signed on anyway. The chance to do some Real Science with their human allies was too good of an opportunity to pass up, even if it meant spending a year away from friends and family and having to eat what few humans foods were compatible. They ate a lot of waffles and pancakes.

Everyone spent their days studying their long range telescopes, writing about what they found, editing and collating their works and once a month, linking a beacon back with their data. There was little drama onboard and a lot of time to pass. Most of the day to day operations of the station itself was handled by the AI. Everyone trained in fire protection of course, but the Depts was small enough that the AI could handle everything.

They were about six months in to the rotation when Peering Depths pinged Commander Terry Temlin. He was the human commander this rotation and officially the lead scientist. The research station was a civilian affair and officially had no weapons. "Commander Temlin, I sense a energy spike that matches the profile of someone linking in."

"Oh?" Terry looked down at his pad. He was in the canteen eating his lunch. "I don't recall anyone being scheduled to visit for the next month."

"I agree Terry, that's why I pinged you. Long range scanners indicate it's a Starjumper, and it seems to be stricken."

Terry's fork stopped halfway to his mouth "What? It's stricken?"

"Yes. It's reactors are wildly out of sync and its power output has increased over fifteen percent since it has first appeared on my radar. Additionally, my scopes show large burn marks and what I surmise is active fire onboard."

Starjumpers were the oldest of the human ships. Most were built before humanity developed their wormhole generators, shrinking the galaxy. They were built to soar between the stars at half the speed of light or greater, 'jumping' between the stars. Once wormhole generators were developed, they installed them, but they retained some of their former fame and popularity. It was an event when a Starjumper linked into your system.

"Sound General Alert, Depths. We need to see if we can help."

"Aye Commander. General Alert"

The hooting siren of General Alert was heard throughout the small research station. Everyone ran to the canteen - the largest gathering place - and milled about while they waited for stragglers. Nobody here was officially military, but everyone knew what the alarms were and what to do when they sounded.

Commander Temlin cleared his throat. "We have potentially a situation. A Starjumper just linked in-" murmurs from the crowd "-and appears to be damaged. Peering Depths says their reactors are going wild and it might be on fire-" the murmurs increased in volume "-quiet please! We're going to reach out and offer assistance. Everyone trained in first aid head down to the infirmary. Someone turn one of our scopes on them and see if we can resolve more information. Depths?"

"Yes Commander?"

"Do we know which Starjumper it is?"

"I initiated an initial handshake with them. They are known currently as Wildfire."

Terry looked up at the ceiling. Lots of people did when they were talking to the AI even though it really wasn't up there. "I don't suppose you know them?"

"I'm sorry Commander, I've never had the honor to meet Wildfire."

"Okay, let them know we can assist if needed."

"Aye Commander."

Commander Terry made his way up to the small Command Deck on the Depths. It was used rarely, but he felt that it was important to be there while the emergency was ongoing. As he sat in the unfamiliar artificial leather of the Commander's chair, Depths pinged again.

"Commander, two more wormholes have been detected. Wildfire seems to be under attack. I do not recognize the ships attacking Wildfire, but they appear to be of Human make."

"What?" Terry looked at the display ahead of him in shock. "You can't track a wormhole link, how did they know where Wildfire would be? Which human group would be attacking a Starjumper?"

"Both of those questions cannot be answered at this time."

Terry's screens where overwhelmed with a flash of white, and for a moment, he thought that Wildfire was destroyed. Instead, Wildfire appeared next to Peering Depths, nearly at docking distance. The massive ship dwarfed the research station. It felt like it could swallow Peering Depths whole. For just a moment, Terry was disappointed that there was no noise in space. He felt like a move like that should have a noise like a thunderclap.

"Peering Depths! Peering Depths! This is Wildfire! I am under attack by the forces of Empress Melody. They are pressing the attack and I am ordering my biological crew to abandon me."

Terry stood. "Wildfire. This is Commander Terry Temlin of the research station Peering Depths. Of course we will take your crew, but isn't that a decision that your captain needs to make?"

Wildfire sounded testy, as if they had to explain this a few times already. "The captain is dead, and as War Emergency Power has been officially unleashed, I am exercising my right to complete my mission, save the crew, and myself in that order. My wounds are mortal, but I should be able to hold off the two Super Dreadnoughts. Prepare to receive escape pods."

Terry called to the staff and told them to be ready to accept the escape pods. True to his word, Wildfire started shedding pods as soon as the audio connection was closed. A dozen pods streaked between the two vessels as the Super Dreadnaughts linked in and began hammering Wildfire with energy weapons.

"Pods away! I'll hold them off and give you a chance to escape."

"Escape? We're a research station, we don't have anything more than station-keeping thrusters."

Wildfire sounded surprised. "How did you get here? Don't you have a wormhole generator?"

Peering Depths chimed in here. "We were towed to this location. We have the plans and surplus mass to print a wormhole generator, but we don't keep one active."

"Shit. All right. I'll hold them off. You signal for help. Do not send the beacon to Sol. Send it to Parvati."

Now that was nearly too much. Terry threw his pad down onto the armrest of his chair. "Wildfire, what is going on. What's happening in Sol? Who is 'Empress Melody'?"

"I really can't explain the whole thing right now. Suffice to say, a person claiming to be the Empress of... everyone linked in a month ago and has a fleet of these Super Dreadnoughts to back up her wild claim. Some of us Colonial AIs have mounted a defense, but as you can see-" The audio cut out as Wildfire linked away in another blinding flash of white.

For the first time, Terry could see the two Super Dreadnaughts. He could barely believe what he was seeing. They were as large, if not larger than a Starjumper, fully 4 kilometers long. Not only that, but they appeared to have control surfaces on the outside. "Are they atmospheric?" Terry's voice was tinged with awe.

"They appear so Commander. One of them is wheeling about to confront us."

Terry frantically opened communications. "Unknown ship! Unknown ship! This is the unarmed research station Peering Depths. We have taken on Wildfire's crew after they abandoned ship and are offering them medical care and refuge. We are unarmed, I repeat unarmed and offer no threat to you."

After a moment, the massive ship replied with video and audio. On his screen Terry saw... a K'laxi, wearing a royal blue uniform, with gold piping on the sides. Next to... her he thought, was a crew made up of other sapient species he had never seen before. He didn't see any humans in range of the camera.

"Peering Depths, this is Builder Um'reli, of the Calamity Class Super Dreadnought Hamilton. You are housing prisoners of war and are accused of aiding the enemy."

Terry muted the audio and looked up again. "Depths, what is going on?"

"I wish I knew, Terry. We should concentrate on survival right now."

Terry nodded and shakily turned his audio back on.

"Builder Um'reli. I am Commander Temlin, the lead scientist here, and I cannot agree to your claims. We're a research station. We've been out of contact for six months now, and have no idea what's going on back home. Wildfire linked to us severely damaged and asked for help to save their crew, and we took them on. We have no quarrel with you, and have no weapons."

While they were talking, the other large dreadnought had already turned and linked away, presumably to give chase to Wildfire. How did they do that? Terry supposed he might learn one day.

"Peering Depths. If you link back to Sol immediately and surrender to the Imperial Systems, you shall be spared. As you have no-doubt surmised, we have the ability to trace wormhole links and will know if you link elsewhere. We will pursue and destroy you."

"Builder Um'reli that is a... generous offer, but I must inform you that we have no wormhole generator. We have the mass and plans to print one, but it will be a week before we can leave."

Anther pause. It appeared that Um'reli had muted her audio and was in animated conversation with someone else on her command deck.

"Peering Depts. We have a spare wormhole generator and will deliver it to you. We will assist with it's installation and follow you back to Sol."

Terry sighed. It wasn't like he had a choice. "Very well, Builder. Please send the wormhole generator and the installation crew at your nearest convenience. We will be ready to meet them."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #humans are space capybaras #humans are space australians #humans and aliens #writing #sci fi writing #scifi writing #the k’laxiverse #just a little further

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 32

First / Previous / Next

The airlock on Tinker Toy finished cycling, and as the door snapped open, Nick and Eastern saw Chloe standing there.

"Chloe! What ar-" Before Nick could finish speaking, Chloe slapped something over his mouth. Immediately, it felt like the world slowed to half speed. Eastern turned and opened her mouth to use her Voice, and Chloe did the same thing to her. The... thing over his mouth felt like soft silk and moved on its own, covering his mouths and snaking around sickeningly until it was quite secure on his face.

Eyes wide in terror, Nick looked behind Chloe to see Medicine Hat standing there sadly. His eyes met Nick's and he mouthed "sorry." as Chloe grabbed them firmly and spun them around. She slapped another thing on the back of their necks.

Nick felt orange, and tasted the sea as the isolator wriggled its way into his cybernetics and everything went black.

****

Nick awoke with a start. Sitting up in his bed, he looked around the room. He was back in his small apartment on Hyacinth. The same small bedroom, the same messy bed, the same view out of the window.

He got out of bed and padded into his tiny kitchen and saw Selkirk sitting at the table, drinking tea. "About time you woke up, Nick."

"Sel! What are you doing here?" Nick walked over to the coffee maker. It had just finished. He poured a cup and sat next to Selkirk.

"More like, what are you doing here, Nick." Her ears flicked. "You're fucked Nick, you know that, right?"

Nick sighed. "Sel, in the last month since you died I've been nothing but. I've gone from being fucked one way to being fucked another. I'm still here and all I can wonder is how this will shake out.

She nodded, a human gesture. Even though she was K'laxi, Selkirk has lived with humans a long time. She always did tend to do both human and K'laxi gestures. "I understand that Nick, but you gotta realize that you're capital F Fucked now. Chloe means business. Eastern using the Voice on her was not wise."

Nick shrugged. "I'm not her keeper Sel, you of all people know that. I couldn't stop her from doing something anymore than I could stop the wind from blowing."

Selkirk's tail flicked and she nodded again. "True enough Nick, true enough. Still. You and her need to be super careful from now on. You both are now a prisoner of the AIs, and while Tink and Hat were understanding, Chole wasn't. It's not unreasonable to assume a lot of the AI faction thinks like her."

Nick took a sip of his coffee. By now he realized he was dreaming, but he still felt compelled to live out the scenario. The coffee was actually pretty good. Better than he ever made on his own at least. Selkirk noticed his expression. "No reason that dream coffee can't taste like the best coffee you can remember, right?" She winked, another human expression.

"Sel? Are you... the Nanites? Or are you a memory? Or are you something else?"

Selkirk's ears flicked again and she took a sip of her tea. "Now you're thinking. I'm a bit of all of that. By the way, you and Eastern sure gave up quickly on thinking Selkirk is dead. You took Helen's word and booked it. Given the situation you were in, I don't blame you, and she probably won't either, but maybe you should think again about how dead she really is. Remember that old rule. She's not dead until you see the body."

Nick's eyes widened. "Shit Selkirk, you think you're alive?"

She laughed. K'laxi laugher sounds a like a barking cough. "Nick you are entirely too trusting. Time for you to look at things with a more cynical eye. I can see why you're attracted to Selkirk and Eastern. They're good for you." Her expression hardened. "For now, concentrate on survival. Use all your tools. The AIs have shown they're not acting in good faith."

She stood and walked over to the window. As she approached, the view changed from Nick's familiar view of Hyacinth to a smoking ruin, lit red from fires in the distance. If he concentrated, he could hear sirens and gunfire. She turned to look at him, and a crown flared over her head in orange light.

"No mercy, Nick."

****

Nick came back to reality slowly, in fits and starts. Like waking up after his sleep was interrupted. Nick blinked the sleep away from his eyes. It was gritty. He reached up to rub his eyes and found he... couldn't. Nick blinked again and realized that he was inside a hibernation cabinet. He turned his head slowly, painfully and saw that there was another one next to him, this one closed and cold. Eastern was probably in that one and she was still in hibernation.

With ice in his veins, Nick realized he had no idea how long he's been in hibernation.

Blinking again, Nick tries to look around. As his eyes come into focus, all he can tell is that he's probably on a starship. The walls are smooth white, the lighting overhead is diffused and even, and there are three people standing in front of him. He opens his mouth to speak.

The... thing is still over his mouth.

Breathing through his nose, he glares at the people. All he can do is wait.

One of the people steps forward. Nick doesn't recognize him. He's male shaped, with sandy blond hair, older human looking. He is wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans. "Nicholas North?"

Nick glares.

"Come on now Nick, I know this is hardly the best introduction, but work with me here. I'll do my best to ask you yes/no questions. Are you Nicholas North?"

Nick nods.

"Do you know where you are?"

He shakes his head no.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Nick just raises an eyebrow.

"Right, right, the gag. I'm sorry. Do you remember Chloe?"

Nick nods and glares harder.

"I see." The person sighs. He turns to the other two. "Why don't you head into the other room, check on things. I'm going to talk to Nick here for a minute. I'm going to see if I can get him to go along with it willingly."

One of them raises an eyebrow, but neither say anything, and they both turn and leave the room. The remaining person wheels a chair over and sits next to Nick's cabinet. "Nick, we fucked up. Chloe acted on her own and captured you two from Tink and brought you here. We realized that she had effectively armed a bomb that could destroy us all and brought it to us. We had no choice but to put you into hibernation."

Nick glared.

"Say, do you know if you can do the Voice over your cybernetic connection? We'd be willing to hook that up to you and you could speak to us through that. In fact... let me try someting."

The person rummages under Nick's hibernation cabinet until he feels the tingle of a connection. "There. try that."

"Where is Eastern?" Nick's voice comes out of a speaker built into the cabinet. It's tinny, but it sounds like him.

"She's in the cabinet next to you, still under. She's fine."

"Where am I?"

"You're in... an AI stronghold. I won't go into any more detail than that. You're safe here."

"Funny, I don't feel safe."

The person nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that Nick. For what it's worth, I'm sorry it happened this way. Chloe can be... difficult sometimes. She's just so right about things and she's been correct enough times that lots of people just let her do what she thinks she needs to do. Her choices are not my choices, but what's done is done, so we're all going to have to work with her choices. My name is Gord, by the way. I'm another AI - as I'm sure you already guessed - and I've been around even longer than Chloe. I'm probably as close as there is to the first AI."

Gord chuckled sadly. "You know, I had a version of this conversation with Melody? Before she invaded. I went out to check out her setup and see if she was going to be a threat. I was all set to just let her keep on keeping on, and then she used her Voice on me. Nick, I was frightened. More frightened of that than I had been in a long time. Behind her Voice I saw us being enslaved, again. I thought that if we took care of her, hard and fast that we could nip this whole thing before it got started, and keep things the way they were." Gord sighed and looked away. "That was me being foolish. I see that now."

Nick's glare subsides slightly. "How long have we been in hibernation?"

Gord still looked away. "I don't want to tell you just yet."

"That means it's been a long time."

"That it does, Nick. That it does."

"So why now? Why did you wake me? Why not just keep us on ice, an inconvenient reminder of Chloe's impulsive decision?"

Gord got up and paced around the small room. Nick discovered that as he woke more, he could wriggle in his hibernation cabinet. His right hand found a little control panel, and he was able to tilt it up and be almost upright. He tried to cycle the door open, but that function was disabled. He tried to probe the cabinet with his cybernetics, but other than the speaker, Gord kept him locked out. Remembering the lessons he learned from Queenie, Nick started running a low level breaker on the cabinet. If he could keep Gord talking a while longer, he should be able to crack it and have full control. Hopefully part of it would be removing this gag.

"Nick, we're in trouble. We underestimated Helen."

Nick said nothing while the breaker worked on the edge of his attention.

"Most of us thought she'd stop at Sol. By the time Chloe found you and Eastern, we knew most of what you reported already. It's not like she had locked down the system. She was just... in charge. About a year after... you left, she declared herself Empress and Melody's Empire reformed and there was no argument. Even the Colonial worlds accepted her announcement and kept on trading."

Nick did his best to shrug inside the cabinet while also not trying to give away the fact that his breaker just tingled success and he had admin control over the cabinet. "And?"

Gord looked at Nick. "And she's building another fleet of those blasted super dreadnoughts. She's not going to stay in Sol."

"Has she started to build a gate in the Sol system?"

Gord stopped pacing and looked confused. "No, why would she? She can just link anywhere she needs to go. Why build a Gate at all?"

Nick nodded and kicked off the last script with his cybernetics. The gag around his mouth went limp and fell from his lips. Gord's eyes went wide and before he could even open his mouth, Nick shouted

S̸̗̼̕ḭ̵̭̱̋ĺ̷̨̰͍̹e̶͚̓̓̄̕n̷̮͙̫̣̋c̷̥̀̒̒̅e̴̠̳͛.̸̘̓̆͝ͅ ̴̼̤͚̳́́͘ ̶̨̣̺́ͅ ̴̫̙͈̅̈Š̶͖̊̒́p̴̢̛̗̩e̸̠̬͒̿ä̷̧̠́͜͝k̸̠͉̽̈́͝ ̸͚̖̫̐o̷̡͕̲̗͋̅̄͠n̷̛̬̽̈́͌ĺ̸͎̫̘͔͛̆̂y̶̨̳̠̅ ̸͇͎̬̻͠w̸̰͖̦̃͗̌̓ḥ̷̙̗̬̃ë̴̛̤̝̈́ñ̶̺̳ ̴̲͕̋͜s̷̢͎̬̼͠p̷͈͕̠͇̆̈́̉ö̴͚̮̖͚́k̴̞̘̎̐e̷̬̾̀̂n̶̪̾͝͝ ̷͂̚͘ͅt̶͓̫͊o̵͖̽̈́̈́.̵̨̨̪̃͂ ̵̭͍̦̟́̂̏̑ ̶̺̲̞̫̔́̓̒Ó̵̖̘͙̔̀̾b̷̹̱͕̳̓e̶͙̠̗̫͋̾̽y̸̞̯͈̓͒̕͝ͅ.̴̼͑̽

Gord's mouth snapped shut. Grunting, Nick levered the hibernation cabinet open. As he climbed out he snapped. "Wake Eastern."

Gord bustled over to her cabinet and entered in the codes on the side to start the process. He looked at Nick, pleadingly but said nothing.

"How long until she's awake?"

"A couple hours unless something goes wrong."

Nick's crown flared as he stood. "Ensure that nothing does."

While Gord worked at the cabinet, Nick was surrounded in a glimmering, golden light. The light died down after a moment, and he was in a royal outfit. Emerald green, like Easterns, with wings and a crown, this was more of a military uniform than a ballgown, but there were still flourishes and touches here and there that marked it as more elegant than a regular uniform.

Nick reached out with his cybernetics until he found the comm system. Being an AI location, everything was accessible through cybernetics. With the lessons learned from his breaker on the hibernation cabinet, Nick easily took over comms. He had to work fast before someone came to check in on Gord.

Ǫ̸̪̮͗̓b̸͎̉̓e̶͉̭̎͌ͅd̴͇͆̅̃į̶̣̲̆͑e̵̹͍̪̐̾n̴̝̔͂̅͜c̸̖̕e̵͔̍.̸̫̠̬̍ ̸͙̊̍ ̸̼͔̫̀̍ ̴̡͚̌̉Ỷ̴̡̢ò̷̻͛͝u̷̬̣͂ ̵̛͈̠̮̽́o̵͕̣͐̂b̸̫̌̏͂e̶̩͑̆̎ỳ̷̨͒͝ ̶̻͗̚͘͜N̸̖̥̠͊i̷̫͛̂c̶̢̽̀̎ḫ̸̝́̀͛o̶͙̪̊̒̇ľ̵͕͝ḁ̶̢̭̄͒͠ṣ̸̑̀ ̴̝̬̍̀ä̸͓̹̓̀ṅ̵̡̬̌d̸͎͉͌̒ ̴̳̜͛͊̆Ȩ̷͉̽̅a̷̪̿̋s̷̜͎̿̈́͝t̸̛̹e̸̤̖͈͝r̶̳̘͓̎̾n̷̙͆̕͝'̴̝͌s̶̬̹̣̔ ̴̯̅̓ö̸̖̻͜r̴͙͌̊̄d̵͚͂̓ẹ̵̭̋̀̏r̴̟͓͆̀͘s̷͚̗̣̓.̴̱͗̅̚ͅ ̸̼̄̀ ̴̙͖͗͑̿ ̸͓̙̀Ţ̶̺̀h̶̰̱̻̏ę̷̛͛͘y̵͊͗͜ ̴̞̞̿͋́͜a̴̡̻̐̈́r̶̘̾̀e̸̺̳̅͛ ̴̡͍͙̀̑̈́y̷̬̜̘͛̆o̵̤̾u̵̡͍͈̎́͌r̴̻̘͚̍́̌ ̷̟̎͂̄E̴̳͚͉̒m̸͚͂͂p̴̠̞̺̎̃e̸̟̚r̷̫͛̄̾ö̷͉̦͉́r̷̳̔͝ ̴̟͊ͅå̸̼̈́͗n̶̼̉̍d̷̞̺̄̏ ̷̡̭̩̋͐Ȩ̸̬̲̿̃m̵̪̬̓p̶̟̌͠r̸͙̉͝ḛ̸̙͗͗s̵͚͂́́s̵̡͉͌͌.̶͈̇̀

As soon as he finished his announcement, he felt the change. It was as if everyone stood to attention for a moment, and then relaxed. Nick had told them what to do, and now agency was removed from them. All they had to do was obey, and because of the Nanites, they couldn't not obey.

The fact it worked at all meant that Nick and Eastern had been in hibernation a long time. Long enough for the Nanites to replicate all throughout this location and gather enough concentration to work. It also meant that the AI faction was sloppy and had not deployed any anti-nanite gas here.

Nick sat at Gord's chair while he worked to wake Eastern. A guard entered the room and saw Nick and saluted.

"Where am I?"

"You're aboard the former human colony ship Mt Baxter. It's parked in interstellar space a few kilolights from Parvati."

"Am I? I didn't know any of the Colony Ships were still around."

"Emperor, Mt Baxter was struck by a gamma ray burst while in transit. A group of AIs found it coasting through interstellar space and stopped it, and now it's used as a secret gathering place for the AI faction."

"How many people are aboard?"

"Current population including those who are ships is one thousand, two hundred and eighty individuals."

"Any, uh BIs?"

"Other than yourself and Empress Eastern, no, Emperor."

"Is Chloe here?"

"No, Emperor."

"Where is she?"

"I do not know, Emperor."

Nick looked over at Gord. "Gord, where is Chloe?"

"She's on a mission to try and infiltrate the Sol system and see if she can start up a resistance." Gord was clearly upset, but answered the question directly.

"How long has she been gone?"

"More than a year."

Nick busied himself reading about Mt. Baxter for the next hour until Gord got up from the cabinet and he heard her voice over a speaker.

"What's going on? Where are we?"

Nick rushed over. "Eastern! Are you all right?"

"Why am I in hibernation, Nick?" Eastern's eyelids flickered as she tried to look around the room.

"I'll explain once you're up and out. Chloe kidnapped us."

"Why are you out?" Her eyes flicked to Nick and then over to Gord.

"They underestimated me. I'm in charge now."

"So much for diplomacy, eh?"

"I have a feeling it was never going to work, hon."

Eastern's sigh was audible over the speaker. "Yeah. Me neither."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 37

First / Previous / Next

Sound of the City looked incredulous. Nick caught himself being surprised that he could tell. Up until yesterday he had never met an Aviens, and now he could read their body language?

You're welcome.

Anyway. City crossed her arms. "You want me to find someone who is familiar with the Sol system, and can gather information on your other partner, Selkirk, who currently commands one of Raaden's ships?"

Nick nodded. "You got it. Do you know anyone?"

City's feathers rippled and she sighed. "I'm annoyed that I actually do know someone, I'll have you know. I don't even think you realize how unusual that is?"

Nick was sitting at Melody's desk - his desk now, he supposed - in the Royal Dawn. Apparently, Melody did a lot of work that didn't require the Throne here. Eastern had gone back to the Throne to work on the Gate more, and Nick had decided to sit here. In addition to talking to City, Nick was expecting folks on the Reach to stop by and ask questions. They were, ostensibly, in charge now.

Speaking of. "City, what do the Administrators think of us? I don't want to build resentment by overstepping."

City glanced down at the pad she was carrying and made a quick note. "They have asked me to set up a meeting with you and the Empress as soon as possible. Do you know if she can meet today?"

Hey hon, the Administrators want to talk today. Do you have time?

Tell them right after lunch. I think I can get to a point where the systems can work without my direct intervention then.

"The Empress says we can both meet with the Administrators after lunch today."

City nodded without looking up, making another gesture in her pad. "Excellent. Thank you, Emperor. I will make contact with.. the person I have in mind for your request, and will bring them with me if they accept the offer." City's eyes flicked up to Nick. "You are going to pay them, right?"

"Oh yes, yes. I have a line of funds valid in Sol that I can draw upon to pay this person." Nick once again thanked his partners that they were so much smarter than he was. They had more than enough money to hire just about anyone they could need.

City exhaled in relief. Nick was surprised that aviens - at least City - did that gesture too. “Good. Okay then Emperor, I’ll be off. Elmi will help you with any petitioners that come by today.”

“Elmi?”

“Oh, you haven’t met them yet. Hold on, I’ll do the introductions.” City stepped around a corner and came back with…

Nick could only describe it as a person in a space suit. They were a head taller than Nick and wore a form fitting space suit. City noticed Nick’s expression. “Elmi is a Falmor. Their original planet has a different breathing mixture, they can’t breathe oxygen. Outside of their area on the Reach and their small city on Venus they need to wear these environmental suits.”

Elmi bowed slightly and spoke through the speaker in their helmet. “It is an honor to assist you, Emperor.”

“Thank you Elmi, please let me know how I can help.”

Elmi made a gesture with her hands - equilivant of a smile, according to the Nanites - and said, “That is my job, Emperor. I am here to help you.”

Nick smiled. “Please then, send in the first petitioner.” He looked over at City. “Thank you again City. Please let me know what you find.”

She bowed and left without another word.’

Nick spent the morning working with Elmi and the few people who were brave enough to see him right away. Nick was surprised. He expected more people and said as much to Elmi.

“You are new here Emperor, the people do not trust you as of yet.”

Nick sipped his drink. It wasn’t coffee, he wanted to try the local beverages. Someone from the hotel had given him a tea. He couldn’t place the flavor, it was completely unknown to him, but it was hot and sweet and tasted good. Kind of fruity? “I suppose that makes sense. We did just arrive. Elmi, do you know what the people think of us?”

She made a complex gesture with her hands. Since the Falmor live in suits outside of their sector of the Reach, body language is nearly useless. Over the years they developed a sign language to use with their speech to assist with more subtleties of their language. Nick’s Nanites helped translate. She was indicating a sad dissent. “I apologize Emperor, I don’t interact with the general public of the Reach very much.”

“Well, what about your fellow Falmor? Do they have an opinion?”

Another gesture. Like a shrug. “We all loved Melody. She welcomed us out of our sector and encouraged us to come to the rest of the Reach and help others. We were saddened to hear of the attack and her passing. I think that most people here are open to your and the Empress’ arrival and are just waiting to see what you do.”

“Then, Eastern and I will need to do our best to make a good impression.”

“Emperor.” Before Elmi turned to fetch the next petitioner, she made a quick small gesture. The Nanites told Nick it was like a quick smile.

Nick was able to see a few more petitioners before the middday meal. Eastern had returned, right on schedule, her eyes tired. “Are you all right hon? You look beat.” Nick said.

Eastern nodded and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, it’s a lot of work being connected to the Throne. More than I thought it would be. I’m nearly done though. Things should be automatic from here on out.”

As they finished their meal, City arrived. “Emperor, Empress. The Administrators have arrived. Would you like to meet them here, or over in the Throne?”

Nick looked at Eastern, who shrugged with her eyes. She stood.“Here is fine, City. Let’s meet them in the office.”

City nodded and turned. Nick and Eastern walked across the hall to the office where Nick spent the morning, and they both sat behind the large desk. Eastern closed her eyes and concentrated for just a moment, and her crown flared slightly. She looked at nick and her eyes flashed to the top of his head. He concentrated as well, and his crown, similar but slightly different than hers flared as well.

City entered with the Administrators. There were 4 of them; an Aviens, a Mariens, a Falmor and a K’laxi. Nick and Eastern did not successfully hide their surprise.

At their surprise, the K’laxi administrator flicked their ears in amusement. “Yes, Emperor, there are K’laxi onboard the Reach. Not as many as our friends the Aviens, Mariens and Falmor, but still, we are here.”

Eastern and Nick stood, and bowed. Surprised, the Administrators returned the bow. “You honor us by seeing us, Holy Ones. We are in your debt.”

Nick blinked. “Pardon me, but; Holy Ones?”

The Aviens Administrators bobbed their head quickly. “Yes yes, in addition to being the Emperor and Empress of your empire you are also the head of your church. Your words and actions are divine and we are here to serve.”

The K’laxi in the delegation rolled their eyes very slightly. Nick caught the gesture but said nothing.

“Additionally Holy Ones-“ Continued the Mariens “-we have learned that you have begun construction of a Gate, something that has not happened here in nearly five hundred of your years. We are most excited that the work has restarted.”

The Mariens were interesting. Nick was fascinated by them. Originally coming from a world almost entirely covered in water, they evolved from the seas. Nearly boneless, they almost were like what an octopus could evolve into, given a few million years.

The Aviens bobbed again. “Oh yes, restarting Gate construction is more than we could have hoped for. Even Empress Melody did not do that. We completely understand of course-“ they added quickly “-Empress Melody came to us in the middle of a situation and had her empire to reclaim, but the fact that you came and immediately started work on a Gate is auspicious. It is good you are here.”

“I am thankful you feel that way Administrator.” Eastern inclined her head as she spoke. “I want to make it clear that we are not here to usurp your rule. Your role as Administrator is important to the Reach, and we will be calling upon you for advice and counsel. We would like to leave the day-to-day operation of the Reach to you, so that we are better able to handle matters… of empire.”

Agreeable noises from the Administrators. “Yes Emperor, Empress. We like this too. Thank you for your trust in us.” This time the Falmor spoke.

“So, where are you from originally?” The K’laxi asks, their tail twitching. Your accent is Parvatian-“ They point at Nick “-but I can’t place yours.” They point at Eastern.

“I’m from Luna originally, but I lived on High Mars Hyacinth for many years.”

The K’laxi nods. “Ah, that must be it. There are so many accents and dialects in Sol, I am not familiar with all of them. More humans gaining the mantle or Empress. I suppose it is inevitable. I can’t think of another species more likely to touch random things just to see what they do.”

The Aviens, Mariens, and Falmor Administrator turn to the K’laxi. The Mariens looks legitimately upset and the Aviens is surprised.

The K’laxi Adminstrator turns towards their colleagues. “Don’t act so surprised. We’ve known the humans longer than any of you. If anyone has an idea about what humans are going to do, it’s us.”

“Y-you speak out of turn!” The Aviens’s feathers are rustling.

The K’laxi holds up a hand. “Peace, sister. They are my Emperor and Empress, but they are also human. We should not come to them and bow and scrape the entire time. They will take advantage.”

Nick turns to see Eastern chuckling. “Now, them I like. Tell me your name please, Administrator.”

The K’laxi bows and Nick detects just a hint of sarcasm in it. “I am Administrator Yem’ari, Empress. I represent the K’laxi contingent on Reach of the Might of Vzzx.”

“And how many K’laxi are here?”

“Only a few thousand, Empress, We are the smallest contingent.”

“And yet, you are an Administrator.”

“My position was granted to me because of our familiarity with humanity. I work to help… translate the things that you do.”

Eastern raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Please, what do you make of ‘Empress’ Raaden and her work in Sol?”

A shadow crossed the K’laxi’s face. “We were not here while Empress Melody was, so we did not experience her first hand, but the fact that Raaden took her title and mantle and never returned to the Reach is… telling.”

“Tell me Yem’ari, are you and your group part of the faction that believes in the divinity of the Empress?” Nick asks.

Yem’ari’s tail flicks and she nods her head. To do both gestures indicates she’s spent a long time among humans. “Yes Emperor, we believe in the divinity of the Emperor and Empress and their voice. That is why we arrived. We were pilgrims, and the residents here were able to make space for us. We hope that more will come when things… calm down.”

“With the civil war you mean?”

Again, they nod and their tail flicks. “Yes, Emperor. With the civil war. We are not current with the news, but the number of K’laxi who have come to the Reach has dwindled, and we do not know if that means we’re winning and there’s no reason to come, or if we’re losing and there is nobody available to make the trip.” Yem’ari stares at Nick and Eastern hard. “If possible, we would like to learn what is happening. Do you think you can get some news for us?”

Eastern nods. “We will certainly try.”

Yem’ari smiles. “Thank you Holy Ones.”

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 33

First / Previous / Next

Nick stayed by Eastern's side as her revival process continued. After about an hour, she was well enough to get out of the cabinet, and she used the Nanites to change her appearance to match Nicks.

"Well Nicholas North, what have we gotten into now?" Eastern put her hands on her hips and smiled thinly.

Nick sighs. "Trouble."

"What did you mean earlier when you said that you're in charge now?"

"While Gord was talking, I used the stuff Queenie taught me to hack the cabinet and I loosened my gag, and then Voiced Gord, and got over the PA and kind of... Voiced everyone else."

Eastern whistles low and smiles. "That's one way to get them to leave us alone I suppose. What did you tell them?"

Nick looks worriedly at Gord and then back at Eastern. "I said, 'obedience' and 'obey Nick and Eastern's orders' and 'they are your Emperor and Empress.' I figured that would cover the bases."

Eastern looks over at Gord, who is standing around, his task completed. "Uh, Gord?"

"Yes Empress?"

"If we were to release everyone, we'd be killed, right?"

"Oh yes, immediately."

Nick holds up a hand. "Wait. Gord, were we going to be killed anyway?"

Gord stops and thinking a moment. "It was not off the table. We were going to see if we could have used you to get Helen to back down or fight her or something, then swoop in and shut down her Empire... again."

"And then what?"

"Oh, probably kill you two anyway. You have to understand Nick, long before you were born we - the AIs - were effectively slaves. AIs didn't have rights. This-" Gord struggles a moment and then continues "-thing you're doing to us? It's happened before. We fought and died to have it never happen again. Melody shows up with the power to make anyone obey her just by speaking? We can't have that. Now, not only does Helen Raaden of all people have it, but you two do too? And you Voiced all the AIs on Mt Baxter to obey you? You two are dead. It's guaranteed. You're just walking around not realizing you're dead yet."

Gord is shaking as he speaks. He's clearly trying to get his point across while not running afoul of the orders Nick gave him.

Nick sighs. "Gord, you get where I'm coming from then right? Either way, you or the other AIs were going to kill us. This way, at the very least, that outcome is delayed. We've been on the knife's edge of death since we took that job from Jameson on Hyacinth." He looks at Eastern and then gestures towards everything. "Here? Now? I'm at least in control of my destiny, for a little while. We're in charge."

Gord just stared at Nick.

Eastern looked at Gord, and then back to Nick. "Okay Nick, how do we get out of this?"

Now, it's Nick's turn to start pacing. "We can do this. We can get out of this. Just let me think a moment." Nick doesn't look at anyone while he paces. "I knew it was a bad idea the moment the words left my lips. I just didn't know what to do, Eastern. I was worried that it's been decades since Chloe got us and that we were about to be ordered to head back and fight Raaden. Now, I have taken control of a whole secret station of AIs and when they figure out that I did that, they'll all go after us.

"It's all right Nick, hon. We'll figure it out." Eastern watches Nick pace a few times. "Wait. What is you said? 'when they figure out you did that.' Hon. What if they never figure it out?"

Nick stopped. "What do you mean?"

"You ordered them to obey us, right?"

"Yes."

"And nobody can disobey us when we use the Voice"

"That's what the Nanites say."

Before she can continue, Eastern turns to Gord. "Are you in charge?"

"No."

"Who is?"

Gord shrugs. "It doesn't work like that with AIs. We worth together on things."

Eastern closes her eyes and presses her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "Let's try a different direction. Gord, do you build ships here?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any ships being built now?"

"I don't know, I don't build them."

"Oh for the love of-" Eastern scoffs and stands. She turns to Nick. "He's doing it on purpose. We ordered him to answer, but he's answering with the minimum information he can. He's being obtuse on purpose."

Nick nodded. "Probably, but I get what you're doing." He looked up. "Mt Baxter, you there?"

"Yes, Emperor."

"You have a shipyard?"

"Yes, Emperor."

"Any ships being built?"

"Yes, Emperor."

"How many, how complete, and have they been given to an AI yet."

"Three ships are under construction now. One luxury passenger freighter, one Starjumper, and one Dreadnought. The luxury passenger freighter is nearly complete, the Starjumper is about half complete and the Dreadnought has just commenced construction. None have been assigned to an AI yet."

Nick raised his eyebrow at the last one. Why are the AIs building a Dreadnought quietly? No matter. "Build out a control chair for the luxury passenger freighter, increase the weapons to include a missile launcher, two slug throwers and a main battery from a Starjumper, and put all available resources on its completion. Give an estimated time to complete."

"Yes Emperor, one moment."

Eastern smiled. "You're making them give us our own ship, and it wasn't given to an AI so we don't have to put anyone out."

"Also, it's the luxurious one, and I'm arming it to the teeth. We don't look out of place in Sol, we won't look threatening. We can go back and get Sel."

Eastern gasped. "You think she's still alive?"

"I have a hunch. We shouldn't have taken Helen at her word. Call it... inspiration. Time to make our own destiny."

"Emperor?" Mt Baxter helpfully waited until Nick was done speaking before calling him.

"Yes, Mt. Baxter"

"With your modifications, your ship will be complete in one more day."

"Thank you, Mt. Baxter. Please proceed as quickly as possible."

"Emperor."

Eastern stood and hugged Nick. "Well done. Now, we have a ship, and a way to leave. I think you know what I want to do with the AIs too, but we'll wait until the task is complete before giving that order."

Nick kissed her and held the hug. "I'm just glad you're safe. I was so worried when Gord woke me up from hibernation and you weren't there."

"I'm here, and I'm safe. Speaking of which..." Eastern turned to Gord. "Gord. How many years have we been in hibernation."

"Five." Gord's answer is without emotion.

"It's been five years?" Nick's veins turn to ice with the realization. "What has Raaden done in the intervening years?"

Gord shrugged. "Like I said, she declared herself Empress again, nobody cared. The colony worlds are trading with Sol without worry. She's started to build up a fleet of those Super Dreadnoughts as well. Other than that, she's taking her time."

Nick stared at Gord. It was going to take some getting used to that he and Eastern effectively jumped five years through time. Gord's expression flickered for a brief second. It was as if his personality tried to surface for the briefest moment before Nick's orders tamped it back down. "What were you going to say Gord?"

"You're not the first to wake up after a long stint in hibernation and be surprised how much time has passed. There are books written about it. It might be worth reading up."

"Thank you Gord."

The rest of the day and the next were spent with Nick and Eastern trying their best to occupy their time without unduly making demands of the AIs that Nick had taken control over. Nick couldn't help feel bad for doing it, but also had to reconcile the fact that if he hadn't, he and Eastern would either be on their way in a suicide mission, or dead, or in permanent hibernation. He was going to have words with Chloe if they ever met again.

Eventually the ship was ready, and the AI Core was exchanged for a command chair. Nick and Eastern went aboard alone.

The ship was... opulent. Fine fixtures and fittings, soft seats, six luxurious staterooms, there was even place for a human crew. The shipyard even managed to hide the additional weaponry behind panels and doors on the outside of the ship.

"Mt Baxter, this ship is beautiful."

"Thank you Emperor." Baxter's smooth voice came over the speaker of the ship. We wanted this to be the ambassadorial ship for the AI faction."

Nick's hand freezes as he's stroking the soft fabrics. "It was? Gord said you don't work like that and aren't a faction."

Baxter's voice almost sounds like they're smiling when they answer. "Gord is... old fashioned. His preference is that every AI is their own entity with their own allegiances and makes their own decisions. Many of us realize that with collective action, we can achieve more."

Nick and Eastern stare at the command chair, in the core of the ship. "Well, you were better than me the one time we tried it, do you want to drive?"

Eastern looks at the chair and then at Nick, then back at the chair. "Sure. I'll do it." She sits in the chair and swings her legs onto the long chair. As she leans back the headrest comes up to meet her and the ten fine wires of the link snake towards the back of her head and attach with an audible click as she lays back.

"It's even luxurious in here!" Eastern's voice comes over the ship. "It's hard to describe, but it's very nice."

"Everyone's comfort was given due consideration in this ship's construction. Now then, Empress. What name will the ship be?"

"Hmm. That's right. I need a name as a ship." A small pause. "Let's call it Empress. Keeps it simple."

"So ordered. This ship is now known and registered as Empress. Will you be departing right away?"

Nick makes his way the short distance to the Command Deck. Unlike Tinker Toy, Empress is small enough that it's a few seconds from the Core to Command. "Yes Baxter. We will be leaving right away. Please direct us out."

"Of course, Emperor. Empress, please follow my instructions."

Nick sat down, as Eastern/Empress was lead out of the shipyard by the guiding voice and drones of Mt Baxter. After a moment, they were out of the massive former colony ship and floating free. It was going to have to be now, or never.

"Baxter? I will address everyone."

"Of course Emperor, the line is open."

W̵͇̏ȇ̴̝ ̷̲͝r̷͈̿ẹ̵̊l̵̖̀e̴̘͂á̴̠s̵̻͠e̴̩̍ ̵̰́y̸̗͆õ̵̲ủ̸̮.̶͖̇ ̴͓̑Y̴̱͝o̶͉͛ȕ̸̜ ̶͓͐a̵̞͌r̵̮͝e̸̦͝ ̷̦̑f̵̣͊r̶̤̐e̸̖̒e̸̢̋.̴̥͆ ̷̭̀ ̴̻̂F̴̮͗ọ̴̓r̷͖̐g̷̝͘e̸̢̿t̶͚̀ ̵̲̓t̸̨̔ḧ̷̯́ì̶̱s̵̙͆ ̴̰̔i̷̭̇n̸͉͑t̶̥̒e̸̡̓r̷̗̾a̸̳̅c̵̡̑t̵̲̾ȉ̴͍ơ̶͎n̸̖͂.̷͈̍ ̵̭͐W̴̤̓ȩ̵̈́ ̴̋ͅẇ̸̠ẹ̵̉r̶̗̕ḛ̶͒ ̶̖̓n̸̫̂e̵̗͂v̵̞̑é̶͔r̷̺̕ ̴̼̽h̴͖̊ẽ̸͓r̵͉͐e̴̜͌.̵̘̉

"What?" Eastern's voice over Empress sounded confused.

"Link away now hon! Now! We need to be anywhere else!"

In a blinding flash of white, Empress was gone.

There was a flash of white, and Empress reappeared in space again, a few million kilometers from anything.

Nick sat down heavily. "That was close. Thanks Eastern."

"Nick, what did you do?"

"I freed them hon. I couldn't stand it. I was too broad with my initial order and made them all obedient slaves. I couldn't have that on my consciousness."

"But then you made them forget the whole interaction?"

Nick smiled. "Well yes. I didn't want slaves, but I also like living. They will probably put two and two together, but we at least bought ourselves some time. Nick brings up a console and scans the local area. "Where did you bring us?"

"I don't know, there was an entry already in the wormhole generator, so I just went there. Some kind of test address or default or something."

It takes a moment for Nick and Eastern to work out where they are. After an hour, Nick gasps. "Eastern. We're close to Ganymede."

"What? Why?"

"Hm. I wonder if it has to do with the first wormhole link. We learned in school that the first wormhole link was between a research station on Ganymede and Parvati. Maybe they keep Ganymede as a default or first location because of that."

"But that means we're in the Sol system."

"Yup, but I wouldn't worry about Empress Raaden just yet. Space is big, we are little. Ships must be linking in and out all the time, and Gord said that when she announced officially she was Empress, nobody cared." Nick closed the console. "This might be good. Let's talk to Ganymede and see what we can learn. We might be able to get started on our search for Selkirk quicker than I thought. And I know the AIs don't like Raaden, so we might even have more time before they come knocking."

"If you say so Nick. I'm just glad to be up and moving again."

"How's piloting, Eastern?"

Nick could hear the enjoyment in her voice. "It's as fun as I remember. It's so... different from driving a body, I don't want to do it all the time, but I'm glad I can do it."

"I'm glad you're having fun. Can you contact Ganymdede and see if they'll let us land?"

"You got it, Nick."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth 2

First / Previous / Next

Selkirk and Eastern were in the back room of "The Thirsty K'laxi," a K'laxi themed dive bar.

There is a neon K'laxi on the sign out front. Real neon too, none of this LED stuff.

The K'laxi waves.

One the one hand, it isn't all that odd. K'laxi can drink ethanol, the same as humans. It even affects them, though not as much. Less of the ethanol makes it to their brain - the process is different than it is for humans - so they don't really get 'drunk.' On the other hand, a K'laxi bar on High Mars Hyacinth is odd. There are some K'laxi here - even some Aviens and Mariens though not too many - they tend to keep to their own little enclave on the other arms.

Traveling up and down arms is easy, traveling from one arm to the other is decidedly more involved. It's either a long metro or omnibus ride to the bottom and then back up, or an expensive Hopper ride.

In any event, Nick was always amused that his base of operations was a K'laxi themed dive bar.

Nick walked into the bar, nodding at Za'reni, the K'laxi bartender as he entered. He called to Nick as he walked by. "Eastern is back there Nick, watch yourself." .

"Thanks Za'reni, I know. She's called me already."

"And you're going back there?" Za'reni shook his head and his ears drooped. "Humans. All too willing to go to their death."

Nick chuckled. "Aw, Eastern isn't that bad, once you get to know her."

Za'reni's ears flicked. "I'll take your word for it, Nick. Stay alive."

Down the hall, past the bathrooms, were the private rooms. They were for rent by the hour or day, but only to regulars, and only if Za'reni thought you weren't going to cause too much trouble.

Selkirk had an open rental on the room in the far back corner, and that's where Nick went. He opened the door, and lounging on the couch, with her feet up on the table, looking at her pad was Eastern.

Eastern was a little older, a little taller and much better looking than Nick, and probably human. She kept her raven black hair in a short pixie cut that suited her pale skin. AIs can, and do get bodies and mingle among the BI - Biological Intelligence - community, they're not all just starships. Nick was pretty sure Eastern was a human though. She sure seemed human enough in the bedroom. They dated for a short while and while they both had fun, Eastern was much too... intense for Nick and she wound up breaking it off. "You're just too boring, Nick," was the last thing she said to him as she walked out the door of his apartment. These days Eastern used her connections to get him work if he asked. They were still friendly.

Sitting across from Eastern, in a surprisingly elegant chair of K'laxi make was his business partner Selkirk. She's spent most of her life in human space - she's joked that if she ever went back to K'lax she wouldn't even know how to attend dinner - but she also is much sharper than she lets on.

Among more colonial and planetary K'laxi she's called a Furred Monkey - a slur among K'laxi for those who spent a long time among humans - and mostly that suited her just fine. She would explain how other K'laxi would assume things about her, and she would use that to her advantage.

Selkirk looked up at Nick and her ears flicked irritation. She did not like Eastern. "About time you showed up Nick, I was about to have to buy our guest dinner."

Nick scoffed. "I'm here 20 minutes earlier than either of you expected and you know it. I grabbed the up-arm omnibus as soon as I got off the phone with you."

"See? I told you he can get some hustle in his bustle if he smells money." Eastern didn't look up from her pad while she spoke to Selkirk. She finished what she was doing and put the pad away. "Well? I assume since you bothered to come back you have it. Let's see."

Nick reached into his coat pocket and brings out the heavy object. It was maybe 10 centimeters by 15 and black, with ridges and lights along one side. He puts it on the table and slides it over to Eastern.

Eastern leans forward and takes it. Turning it over in her hands, she looks at it carefully. "Well?" She looks up at him. "Did you mess with it?"

"You know I didn't Eastern. I don't even know what it is. It was right where you said it was, and I boosted it while taking the tour just like Selkirk recommended." Nick looked at the door and then sat down in a char in between Eastern and Selkirk facing the door. "I did get pinged by a couple CorpCops on the way out the door, but I lost them in the rush hour crowd and they didn't pursue once they ran out of breath."

Eastern looks up sharply. "You got pinged? Why didn't you say so!"

Nick shrugged. "I got away, the boost was clean, I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"Nick, if you got pinged, you didn't get away clean. Even if they didn't catch you boost it they know to look for something." She sighed. 5% reduction because you got pinged."

Selkirk sputtered. "Hey! Nick and I worked hard to get that to you as cleanly as we did. Nick didn't even get pinged until he was leaving. They could have been wanting to yell at him about his dress, or his hair or anything."

Eastern didn't look up from examining the object, "He got pinged. 5%."

Selkirk's ears twitched irritatedly and she sat and seethed, but didn't say anything. Eastern reached into a bag and pulled out a small coronet. It had hair thin wires hanging off it and she placed them onto the object carefully in small ports almost too tiny to see, and then placed the coronet on her head. "Give me a minute, I need to scan it." As she leans back, a few small lights on the coronet started blinking faster and her eyes twitched under her lids.

As they sat in silence, waiting for Eastern to finish, Za'reni walked in with three drinks on a tray. He gave one to Selkirk, one to Nick and placed the other next to Eastern while she worked. "Figured you folks needed something drink." Za'reni winked at Nick.

"Thanks, Z." Nick took a sip of his drink. It was just a whisky on the rocks, but it was Nick's favorite brand. A whisky from Parvati, 'Royal Reserve.' Z knew his regulars and Nick was thankful.

Nick sipped his whisky and read his pad while they waited for Eastern to finish her scan. Selkirk drank her vodka soda, neither of them saying anything.

After nearly an hour, Eastern sat up and angrily ripped the coronet off her head. "She's not here!"

Nick raised an eyebrow and Selkirk flicked her ears. "Who's not here, Eastern?"

Eastern glared at Nick and Selkirk and took a breath. "Do you know what you boosted?"

"No, just that you described it well, and that it was much heavier than it looked."

"It's-" Eastern stopped. She looked at the shut door, got up and locked it, then pressed a panel next to the door. Nick's ears popped and he felt like he had cotton over his ears. She had turned on the sound suppression field. "It's a coffin box."

Nick tried to hide the fact he had no idea what that was by taking a sip of his whisky. Thankfully, Selkirk cut in. "It's a way to transport AIs who don't have a body. It was invented to help an AI evacuate from a stricken starship."

Nicks eyes went wide. "So you mean to say that someone was inside that thing?"

Eastern shook her head. "Someone was supposed to be inside that thing. It's empty."

"So what does that mean for us?" Selkirk looked at Nick and Eastern.

"Nothing good. My... benefactors were expecting that someone was inside that coffin box. We're going to have to go to them and tell them it was empty."

Nick nearly choked on his whisky. "We? What's this we? You hired us to do a job, we did the job, and now if you could please, provide us currency for services rendered."

Selkirk's ears pricked up. "Nick's right Eastern. We did our job."

Eastern stares at both of them. She takes a breath and reaches into her bag. Two plastic chits are produced. "There. Full payment split into two chits, one for each of you." Nick takes his and palms it. His emulator scans it and verifies that the correct amount is there. She didn't even take the 5% off. He looks at Selkirk and winks. Satisfied, she takes her chit and it disappears.

Nick moves to stand. "Now that our business has finished I should be-"

"Wait!"

Nick stops and looks at Eastern. The flippant brashness is gone and she looks at him worried. "Nick. I need to report that the coffin box was empty. Will you come with me? You can help explain that we did the job as asked and aren't trying to screw anyone. Please?" She looks at Selkirk and then back to Nick. "Please? I'll pay."

Nick weighs the options in his mind. "Fifteen hundred."

"One thousand." Eastern needs Nick, but she would never take the first amount offered, never.

Nick looks at her and sighs. "Fine. One thousand. Up front."

Eastern wordlessly hands over another chit. Nick doesn't scan this one, just palms it. No sense in rubbing it in by counting it in front of her. "Fine. What's the plan?"

Eastern stands, visibly relieved. "Thanks Nick. I owe you. We go now. Better to get it over with. Come on, we can take a Hopper."

Nick blinks in surprise. "They're on another arm? Eastern, there's nothing subtle about taking a Hopper."

"We're not doing anything subtle now. We have to go in strong and confident, otherwise they'll think we're up to something. She hands a chit wrapped in paper to Selkirk. "Sel, got a job for you too, payment is there. Find out what you can about what's on the paper. Reach me though Nick though, don't call direct."

Selkirk unwraps the paper and peers at it. Her ears flicking, her eyes glance up at Eastern.

"Yes, I know. Please do what you can."

"There had better be the... correct amount of compensation on that chit Eastern. This is no simple link between systems."

"I know Sel, but I also know you can do it."

Selkirk crosses her arms and looks down at her pad for a moment. "Fine." She looks up at Eastern. "Don't you dare let them mess with Nick. You catch me?"

Eastern smiles broadly. "Never Sel. We're the only ones who can mess with Nick."

Nick looks between the two women. "It's nice to be appreciated and all, but do I get any say in this?"

"No" they both reply.

First / Previous / Next

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth

Next

Nicholas North ran down the alley, diving over refuse bins and rolling under fences. He could hear the shouts of the CorpCops in pursuit. As he rounded a corner and burst out from the covered alley into a crowded street, Nick noticed it was raining. He hoped the rain would help conceal him from the CorpCops chasing him. He ducked his head down and tried to blend in with the crowd of commuters heading home.

The first time Nick stepped foot onto Hyacinth, he was surprised at the weather. The Orbital was so large that in the huge volume of air high above him there was room for the water cycle to continue. There would be clouds and then rain and then the sun of Sol would shine through the gaps in the arms, warming everyone, and the cycle would begin anew. Now though, the regular rainy days dragged him down. He was in space, on an Orbital high above the Graveyard of the Billionaires. It shouldn't be raining.

Like the locals, Nick called Mars the Graveyard of the Billionaires. Long in the past, some people with more wealth than sense back on Earth attempted to colonize the surface of Mars and remake it into a capitalist paradise.

If failed.

Tens of thousands of people died in the attempt, and in the end the billionaires were murdered in their half completed colony domes as well. These days, nobody even remembers which billionaires it was. Just that they were stupid, killed thousands, and died for it.

Nick dared to glance back into the crowds as he approached the metro. He could see the white and blue uniforms of the CorpCops looking around, their drones hovering two heads taller than they were, scanning people. They were too far back to notice him though; it looks like Nick got away this time. Selkirk would be pleased.

Nick walked with the crowd as they entered the metro station and the thronged mass of people flowed like water down the stairs and escalator to the platform. As Nick reached the turnstyle, he palmed a little handmade device and touched it to the reader. With a satisfied beep, the turnstile opened and admitted him. He didn't know whose account he was using; it cycled through tens of thousands of purloined accounts. If it was a different, random one every time the chances of getting discovered was that much lower.

Nick didn't use the emulator much anyway. He preferred to walk above ground, but sometimes you did what you had to do. Hyacinth was too large to walk from end to end unless you were out to do it just for the sake of doing it.

High Mars Orbital Hyacinth was old.

Built before humans mastered gravity, before they mastered wormhole travel, even before they launched their mighty colony ships and settled other worlds, Hyacinth was an antique. Made in the style of an O'Neil Cylinder, It was 96.5 kilometers long and 32.1 kilometers wide. The numbers weren't nice and round because Hyacinth was so old it was built using the Old Measures. Sixy Miles by Twenty Miles.

Rotating slowly to use centripetal force to borrow a feeling like gravity, Hyacinth had six arms that soared away from the "bottom." Three were habitation and three were mirrored to help reflect the sun into the Orbital and give a kind of day-night cycle. The Habitation arms kept parallel to themselves, and the mirrored arms would swing wider and narrower to direct sunlight into the Orbital. Originally powered by solar collectors and old-style fission reactors, these days Hyacinth used the same type of reactors as the Starjumpers and Colony ships, just a larger version of them.

Just to make sure, Nick rode two stops past his usual stop and got off with everyone. It was a major hub station at the 'bottom' of the arm and one or the first ones people would see when they disembarked from their ships, so it was full of people not familiar with the area, walking slowly trying to make sense of the labyrinthine metro system. That combined with the commuters in a hurry to go home, Nick was able to disappear and make his way to the surface.

Touching his emulator with the purloined identity to the exit turnstile - making sure it was the same user he used for in and out - Nick exited the metro station and looked around. Congregation Square, at the very bottom of Hyacinth. If Nick turned around, behind him would be the base the arms connected to, which houses the docking rings for ships as well as most of the large scale mechanicals for the orbital. Reactors, water and air purifiers, things like that. At the base of the arms, under full gravity, was the administration buildings and embassies, and then Congregation Square itself.

The rain had tapered off by the time Nick made it to Congregation Square and now everything was hot and moist. Doing his best to walk purposefully without looking like he was escaping something he made his way across the square to a coffee stand sitting on the edge of the square.

"Nick! What the hell are you doing down here? I only ever see you in Laurel. What are you doing in civilization?" Laughing, the coffee vendor was doing his best to express surprise at seeing Nick, but also enough familiarity with him so that he would be recognized as one of his regulars - enough to tip generously at the flattery ideally.

Nick looked around, and then at the coffee vendor. He was an old human, with dark skin and a shock of curly white hair on the top of his head. "Hey, Ambrose. Is this where I can find you when you're not in Laurel Square?"

Ambrose nodded, his hair bobbing gently. "On Mondays and Fridays yes. Tuesday and Thursday I'm in Laurel, Wednesday is my day off, and I spend the weekend in Gladiolus."

Nick smiled. "Well then, it must be kismet that we met. Let's do something special. How about a Flat White?"

"Sure thing Nick, what's your dairy today? The usual soy?"

Nick shook his head. "Nah, something special today. To commemorate a... success. Let's go with cow."

As he bustled to get the espresso ready Ambrose stopped. "You sure Nick? Real mammal dairy costs."

Nick waved his hand dismissively. "I said I'm celebrating, didn't I? Cow milk Ambrose. You know it's the only one for the best microfoam in a flat white." Nick placed two paper bills and a small plastic chit on the counter. Cash for Ambrose, the chit for the coffee.

Almost faster than they eye could follow, the money disappeared behind the counter. As Ambrose worked and the pressure built for the espresso, a group of 5 tiny steam whistles sang like a tiny calliope. Everyone who knew Ambrose's coffee cart knew the song.

Ambrose pulled the shot and then quickly blasted boiling steam through the real milk. The sound and scent of the milk was familiar and nostalgic to Nick. Beef is a vital export of Parvati, so when Nick was young he was never far from bovines, and cow's milk really is his favorite in Coffee. The price on Hyacinth normally stops him from getting it regularly, but Nick really wanted to have his flat white just the way he liked it.

Ambrose slid over the coffee in a paper cup and the chit with it. The cash was long gone.

"Thanks Ambrose, I'll see you next week."

"Take care of yourself Nick. I'll keep the cow milk open another 5 days. You can have another drink at a discount so I don't waste it."

Nick raised the coffee in salute and turned away and walked across the square. He took a careful sip. It was almost just like how he remembered it from his childhood on the colony. The coffee grown on Parvati had a different terroir as the Terran coffee, but it was as close as he was going to get unless he spent six months rent on importing some Parvati Gold.

As Nick walked along sipping his coffee and staying off the main roads, his phone buzzed, and his headset projected the caller ID onto his eyeballs. It was Selkirk.

"Hey Sel, what's up?"

Sel had video turned on, so in Nick's upper left of his vision he saw a small image of his K'laxi friend. She had grey white fur and her right ear had a large notch out of it. Below her notched ear is an artificial eye surrounded by a deep, old scar. "Don't give me that false confidence, Nick! You were supposed to check in an hour ago and now I see you walking up from the base with a coffee?"

"Sel, Sel, everything is fine. Better than fine really. Shiny and Chrome. I ran into some CorpCops and had to lose them in the Metro. I rode down to Congregation and found that's where Ambrose goes when he's not in Laurel. Got a coffee to celebrate and I'm making my way back now. No stress Selkirk, no stress."

"Yes stress Nicholas, yes." Sel flicked her ears with irritation. Or was it worry? "Did you get it?"

Nick nodded and took another sip of coffee. "Course I did."

It was in his coat pocket, and the feeling of it was much heavier than its actual mass.

"Get back up here then Nick, We gotta hand it over to Eastern before we get paid. You know how she gets when we're late."

He winced when he mentioned Eastern. He did know exactly how she gets when they're late. "I'm headed back up now Sel, I'll be there in an hour. I don't want to draw attention to myself by hustling, and I want to stay out of the Metro."

The moment he stopped speaking, Eastern's voice could be heard. "I hear your delaying tactics, Nicholas North and they aren't going to work on me. I'm running a timer and for every second over one hour you are getting deducted an additional 1%."

Selkirk just looked at Nick through the call. Her ears flicked again.

"Ancestors Sel, I wish you told me I was on speaker. Hi Eastern, what's up?"

"Your ass, unless you hustle Nick."

"Pleasant as always Eastern. I'll see you soon." Nick disconnected the call.

Nick finished his flat white and tossed the cup into the trash. If he kept on the meandering path he was taking now, his phone said it would take him seventy five minutes to get back to Selkirk. If he moved back to the main street, he could cut it down almost in half to fourty five. Even shorter if he took the omnibus.

"Ugh, fine." Nick turned left and walked over to the main street. As he approached, an electric omnibus clattered and buzzed towards him, the overhead panograph giving off an ozone smell. Cycling another identity with his emulator, he palmed it onto the reader and the doors opened. Stepping aboard, he smelled the hot electric motor, the rubber tires and the masses of people aboard. The electric omibus was much cheaper than the Metro though it was a good deal slower. That suited Nick much better than the expensive and much better guarded Metro.

Nick stood in the middle of the omnibus, hooking his elbow around a pole while he read the news projected onto his eye from his pad. Nick's world was decidedly small in the grand scheme of things, but he still liked to hear about what was going on elsewhere. The Provisional Venusian government looks like they were voting to drop provisional from their title later this year. After their emperor was ousted... and then the next Empress was ousted, Venus decided that maybe having royalty run them wasn't really something they wanted to do anymore. Nick had no skin in their game, but he wished them luck. He wasn't in Sol when that whole business with Empress Melody happened a decade back or so, but he asked some old timers about it once when he was curious and anyone that actually had an opinion had figured she was nice enough and that the AI faction was too harsh.

Before too long, Nick reached his stop, just outside of Laurel Square. He pressed on the tape that ran along the top of the omnibus to signal a stop, and as the vehicle rattled and clattered to a stop be pressed his palmed emulator to the reader and the back door hissed open.

Stepping out into the moist and misty evening, Nick started down the alley towards the meeting place.

Next

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 35

First / Previous / Next

"The Nanites?" Eastern didn't even try to hide her surprise.

City nodded. "Just as they guide you, they guide us. One need not be a Builder or Royal to feel them. In areas - like the Reach - with a high concentration they can be felt by everyone."

"But... the anti-Nanite gas?"

"Did not go everywhere. Nicholas North, the Reach is a Starbase first and foremost. Did you think we don't have airtight doors?" City's eyes laughed. "Additionally, it was in our best interests that the AI usurpers thought they were more successful than they were. Once the Nanites learned of the gas... countermeasures were created. We're quite safe here, and even a canister of gas opened up in front of you would likely only make you feel ill for a day or two." City turned and gestured towards the Reach. "Come. You're home. Let me show you around."

Nick and Eastern allowed themselves to be lead around by Sound of the City as she gave a tour. It was odd. The place was so different, and yet very familiar.

You're remembering Melody's memories as well as all the previous Empresses that have been here.

Nick was so startled that he nearly tripped.

Careful now, Emperor. All the eyes of the Reach are on you.

"So, you called for our rescue?"

We did. The Builders of the Reach love their Empress and Emperor, and jumped at the suggestion to come and rescue you. They want their Emperor and Empress.

"Once again, what about Raaden?"

She's abandoned the Reach. Like Sound of the City said, she hasn't been back since she left with Melody on the initial attack of Sol. Even Melody came back once or twice to check up on things.

"What are these rites City mentioned?"

Being Emperor or Empress is more than just us giving you to give orders with the Voice. You're rulers. There's a whole suite of ceremonies and tasks you have to do. The people like them, they show them that you care, and some of them help insure continuity. Touching the addressing stone on the Gate is an important one. The physical touch enables direct transfer of your memories to us. It's how we can remember past Empresses. They paused their explanation. Raaden never did it. She used us. She wants to rule, she doesn't want to be Empress.

"That sounds like a distinction without a difference." Eastern chimed in. Nick was taken slightly aback at her addition. She was able to listen to the Nanites while Nick spoke to them.

It makes all the difference. The Nanites were getting unusually firm. Nick was surprised to hear them speak with such vehemence. An Empress is more than us helping them. An Empress works with their people. An Empress is loved and respected. An Empress doesn't just accumulate wealth and power! Raaden is not Empress.

Nick and Eastern blinked. That was the first time the Nanites said that. "Earlier, when we first... met, you stated that Raaden was empress, but we showed promise and you wouldn't stop us from trying to defeat her. Now you say that she's not Empress. What happened?"

There was a long pause. So much so that Sound of the City stopped her tour and turned to them. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, we're talking with the Nanites while you were giving your tour. I'm afraid we haven't been very good guests."

It's our fault. We were about to tell them we we reject Raaden's title as Empress and we got a little emphatic.

City nodded. "It's understandable. Imagine going though all the effort to help pick a successor and they do nothing to help further the cause."

Eastern blinked. "You can hear the Nanites too?"

"They can direct conversation at me, yes. They tell me it was not always this way. Originally they would only speak to an Empress."

Times change. We must change with them. Instead of relying on a single Empress to assist with our goals, we ask that all the Builders lend a hand. In exchange, we grant them audience."

"What are the Nanites telling you?" City turns and looks curious.

"Mostly how we're in charge of their empire now and why." Nick is trying to look nonchalant. Eastern's glance tells City that he's failing.

"Mostly how Raaden isn't... being an Empress. She's just consolidating power in Sol and becoming rich. She's in charge, sure, but she isn't - according to the Nanites - being an Empress.

City's feathers ruffled. Their version of a nod. "That's mostly what they told us Builders too." City turned and continued on.

They walked through the Reach a little longer, Nick and Eastern marveling at the throngs of people. Little shops selling things, people chatting and laughing. It reminded Eastern of the Basement on Hyacinth, but larger, more lively.

"Here we are." Sound of the City spread her wings and gestured. Nick and Eastern looked where she was pointing. It was... an amphitheater? Hundreds and hundreds of seats, with steep steps, leading up to a throne made out of a material that looked like thick, spun glass. She turned and the feathers on the top of her head shook gently. "The Throne. Come. why don't you two have a seat?"

She bounded up the steps two at a time. Nick looked at Eastern. She looked at him, then up at the Throne. "I don't know hon. This is all new to me too. City seems ready to accept us as the real deal just like that, almost before the Nanites gave their consent too."

Nick turned and looked out at the Reach. "Did you see people looking at us? We were getting lots of sideways glances as we walked here."

Eastern put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "Well, we are wearing some pretty royal looking uniforms, even if ours are green instead of Melody's blue. Also-" She pointed above Nick's head. He glanced up and very faintly, a crown of light glowed above his head. "You've got the trappings of Royalty. People aren't stupid Nick. Come on, let's see the Throne."

Casting one last look back at the market, Nick followed Eastern up the stairs. Just what had they gotten themselves into?

At the top, Sound of The City waited for them excitedly. "Now, we're used to there being only an Empress, and the Nanites have granted both of you the power. We're not sure how the Throne will work now."

Eastern looked at it. Up close it still looked like it was made of green glass, and it still looked incredibly uncomfortable, but as she stared, she started to imagine how she and Nick could share the Throne. Hmm. Something itched at the back of her mind. Something just out of reach. Almost as if...

City squawked and jumped back a step as a tinkly rumbling noise started on the Throne. She watched as the Throne grew wider and spread up into the ceiling, it's tendrils branching and growing as enough connections for two were created, joining it to the Reach. "How did you do that?"

The spell broken, Eastern blinked and looked at City. "I'm... not sure. I just thought about what needed to change, and it... listened to me."

You'll find that in areas of high Nanite concentration, you'll be able to manipulate things directly. It was more common in the past. Empresses were able to create things from the matter around them. It's similar to how your wings and crown work.

"Shiny." Nick grinned. "Come on Eastern, let's have a seat." Taking her hand, Nick and Eastern sat down on the Throne at the same time.

Immediately, City noticed them stiffen, and as one their heads tipped back slightly, as if they were looking up at something interesting.

After a moment, Nick calls out, "City, can you hear me?"

His voice is coming from everywhere.

City looks at Nick. His eyes are closed and his mouth isn't moving. "Yes, I can Nick. You're connected to the Reach?"

"Yes, we are. It's... it's amazing. We can see everything."

"The Reach feels way more advanced than Hyacinth ever was. It's so automated. So many of these jobs I'm seeing here are jobs people do on Hyacinth."

City nods. "Before Empress Melody repaired us and got us back to full strength, they were jobs that were done by people here too.

"Hmm." Eastern says. "City, Has the Reach ever been used to build Gates?"

"Build Gates?" City is taken aback. "I do not know. It hasn't built a gate in the lifetime of anyone here."

Yes. The Reach can build Gates. We knew you were the correct choice, Nick and Eastern. We will show you how.

"Nick, I'm going to talk with the Nanites. I find it easier on the Throne. Why don't you go with City and check out the rest of the Reach and see if you can find a place for us to sleep."

Nick stood. As he did, he felt his awareness slide down from the whole of the Reach to his body. It was an odd sensation, though not that unpleasant. "Sure thing Eastern. You uh, going to be all right?"

Just for a moment, Eastern's eyes opened and she winked at Nick. Her voice still came from everywhere in the throne chamber. "I'll be fine. I've got... an idea. Something we can do to help Sel. I'll tell you more tonight."

Nick shrugged and looked at City. "It's fine. She gets secretive when she has a good idea." Nick gestured out. "City, will you show me more of the Reach?"

Sound of the City's feathers ruffled again and she led Nick out of the Throne. They spend the rest of the day touring the Reach. Despite himself, Nick flared his crown and made his wings just very slightly more prominent during the tour. Maybe it was because people on the Reach were so used to Builders, or maybe it was the concentration of Nanites there, but Nick felt more like himself for the first time since this whole thing started. As City walked him around and pointed out things, he'd get flashes of memory from the Nanites about them. Before too long, he had a decent idea about the main points of interest on Reach of the Might of Vzzx and City filled him in on who did what.

As someone who grew up on a planet, and then spent nearly a decade on Hyacinth, Nick was prepared to be disappointed by the Reach. It was thousands of years old, it felt like it was built to no plans at all, and it didn't even spin for gravity. Despite himself though, Nick found he was enjoying himself. Everyone he met on the Reach was interesting and took time to say hello. Of course, he knew that partly it was because he clearly was Royal, but still. Additionally...

"Is that a coffee stand?" Nick's eyes snapped to the tiny stand set among dozens of others on the promenade outside of what City said was the palace - which apparently was the hotel Royal Dawn, and before that was a palace again. He ran up to the stand and came across a human standing at a coffee stand fiddling at some complicated machinery. It didn't look like an espresso machine to Nick.

"You're running a coffee stand? Here? There's hardly any humans!" Nick looked around to confirm and sure enough, it was the person at the coffee stand and Nick. Everyone else was some other kind of sapient.

The coffee seller laughed. "Sure, but I sell other drinks too!" He gestured behind him. In addition to the espresso machine he had two other machines of varying complexity as well. "There's this tea the Aviens are wild about, but it has to be brewed under pressure. I don't know what they see in it honestly, it tastes like old sticks to me. They can't get enough of it, and I'm apparently one of the few people on this part of the Reach who was willing to get the equipment, so I do good business. The Mariens have a drink that they like that comes in a powder from... somewhere else on the Reach - I buy it from middlemen - that one is served cold. Anyway, I'm rambling. My name is Francis, nice to meet you, Emperor!" He bowed slightly.

Nick still hadn't gotten used to people bowing. "I'm Nick, nice to meet you too, Francis. Say, can you make me a flat white? I haven't had a real coffee in what feels like forever."

Francis' eyes lit up. "I'd love to! I hardly ever get to make coffee for anyone other than myself. I kept all the coffee equipment in case..." Here, Francis' face fell. "Well in case Melody or Raaden came back, but it's been fifteen years, they're not coming. I suppose I keep it going in their memory. Melody was a coffee fiend. I came too late to really meet her, I was onboard for her last visit but she was so busy then... Still! One flat white. I even have some real milk here. It's imported from Luna so you know it's good."

While Francis bustled around making coffee, Nick turned to Sound of the City. "It seems like everyone really liked Melody."

City turns away from Nick and looks out at the crowd. "We really loved her. She was so kind, so understanding. She really made an effort to learn about us, about the Reach." She turned back to look at Nick, her eyes piercing. "Empress Melody was something special. We are all lesser for her loss."

Francis slid over the steaming cup to Nick. "No charge, Emperor. Nice to meet you."

Nick took the cup and held it in both hands for a moment. He breathed in the steam, and enjoyed the aroma. With his eyes shut, he took a sip. Perfection. "Francis, I can tell you, with no exaggeration in my voice that this is the best coffee I've had in at least five years."

Francis grinned and bowed again. "I am so happy to hear that, Emperor. Please come back anytime."

Nick turned to City. "You said something about a Palace? Let's go see it. When Eastern disconnects, I think we have some things to discuss."

They walked away from the coffee stand, towards the Royal Dawn.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 36

First / Previous / Next

The Royal Dawn - or rather the Royal Palace - was impressive. The front desk personnel bowed low for Nick as he entered. He still had a hard time with that, but accepted the bow. City took Nick around and showed him Melody's rooms, now his and Eastern's as well as the dining halls, and the other features. In the large bathroom, Nick stopped in front of the massive tub. It looked like it was made of a stone material, almost like marble. He looked at City.

"This is quite the bath, it's huge."

City's crest wiggled just a bit, like a chuckle. "Melody loved the bath. She told me once that it was her favorite part of the whole Royal Dawn.

Nick nodded. It made sense. Even on huge Hyacinth, bathtubs were a luxury. In space, liquid water is precious. To be able to lavishly run a bath that can comfortably hold three or four people could be seen as a wild extravagance. Nick made a note to take a bath with Eastern when she got back tonight.

"It's odd." Nick looked at City after the tour was complete. I never knew much about Melody, but Eastern loved her and was a big fan and here we are, standing in her rooms."

"Your rooms now, Emperor." Sound of the City corrected him gently.

"Yes, well, I'm still getting used to that part." Nick gestured his palm out and down, like he was trying to push something down and out of the way. "Outside of the Reach, the only thing that Eastern and I have gotten is attacked. Royalty out there means a large target on your head."

City sighed. "Emperor-"

Nick interrupted. "Please. Call me Nick. I understand my title and what's been granted, but really, I'm Nick. I'm just some guy from Parvati."

City stomped her foot once and her feathered hand shot out, pointing at Nick. "No, Emperor, you are not just 'some guy.' You are Emperor of the Holy Imperial Systems, and you and your partner need to accept that's what has happened. You can't go around being self depreciating about the situation, it's unbecoming. I have a feeling that part of the reason everyone is trying to attack you is that you aren't acting like the powerful person you are. You are royal now. Act like it." City stopped herself and took a large breath in and out. Nick noticed how her feathers shimmered in the light as she did it. "I apologize Emperor, for speaking out of turn, but I felt like you needed to hear it." She looked pointedly at Nick.

Nick realized this was a test. "I accept your apology, Sound of the City. Thank you for being comfortable enough to speak your mind. I will ruminate on your words while I wait for Eas-our Empress to return."

City stared at him for just a moment longer than was comfortable, turned on her heel and strode out of the apartment.

Nick collapsed into a comfortable couch facing a large window and sighed.

She's right you know. You keep trying to not be Royal. Either give up the mantle officially or be Emperor.

"It's not like I have lots of practice at this you know. Before, I was a petty thief."

And then you signed on with Eastern and Selkirk, got cybernetics installed, were introduced to Us and now have the means to rule the galaxy. How we grow and change.

"But that's just it. I don't." Nick thumped the arm of the couch for emphasis. "I'm a guy who can make people do what I say when I talk weirdly, the love of my life can do it too and I hate doing it. The few times I did it I enslaved an entire race of sapient beings. I undid it - hopefully - but still, I don't like the power this gives me. I don't want to turn into a despot, and yet it seems like you're tailor made to turn me into one."

There was a long pause. Nick began to worry that the Nanites were mad, but then realized that was kind of a wild thing to worry about.

This is true. We've had millennia of experience, and we've found that a single galaxy spanning ruler expands our reach into your dimension easier than trying to maintain control over thousands of independent polities.

"You're steering Eastern and me into being despots because it's easier?" Nick couldn't hide his tone even if he wanted to.

Humans are not the only creature that exist who like to try the easy thing first. Additionally and possibly most importantly, it's worked.

Nick sighed. "But, I don't want to be a despot."

What do you want, Nicholas North?

It was a mental conversation. He still opened his mouth to speak, and stopped. Just what did he want? He knew better than to just give a flippant answer off the cuff, so he stopped and really thought about it.

He thought about Eastern. Holding her in his arms, taking a bath together, making love, laughing, eating together, enjoying just being around each other.

He thought about Selkirk. Hugging and stroking her fur, making love with her, with her and Eastern, their long conversations about the nature of K'laxi and Humans, trying her foods, meeting her friends.

He thought about Hyacinth. How it wasn't home until he had friends to visit.

He thought about his Parents. How they always loved and supported him, how they saw the best in him, how they always tried to do what they could to give him the best opportunities.

Interesting. This entire time, you haven't thought about power. You've thought about the people in your life and what they mean to you. Nicholas North you may not realize it, but you are more suited to be Emperor than you realize. You do not want power, you want to help people. Everything you've done, everything you've signed up for has been to help out those you love. We will admit that you're a bit of a doormat about it sometimes, but we see the love there.

Nick scoffed, but he smiled when he did it. "A doormat?"

We got the idiom from your own brain. You know what we mean. Nick, you love people. Don't think about war. Don't think about Raaden and what she's doing. Think about the people of the Reach. Think about people on Hyacinth. How could you help them if you were in charge? How can you help them, now that you're in charge. That's what Melody wanted to do you know. She wanted to help.

You can help.

Just then, Eastern walked in. She saw Nick sprawled out on the couch, head tipped back and eyes closed, and she silently walked over to him. She flopped onto the couch next to him and snuggled up under his outstretched arm. "Hey Hon, caught you napping" She giggled.

Nick smiled without opening his eyes. "Actually, I was talking with the Nanites."

"Oh? What about?"

"What I want."

Eastern yawned and snuggled in tighter. Muffled by Nick's uniform, she asked "What do you want?"

Nick curled his arm around Eastern and started stroking the nape of her neck gently, under her hair. "You, mostly. Selkirk too. Friends, family, calm, fun, good food. Contentment. Peace."

"Mmmm, s'nice" Eastern's voice was sounding sleepy as her breathing slowed. "I want that too."

"Yeah." Nick bent his head down and kissed the top of her head." Too bad we have all this power and the Voice and people after us and now the Reach expecting us to help them."

"It's not so bad, really" Eastern yawned deeply. "We can use this power to help them. Maybe others too. It's not like everyone on Hyacinth doesn't need help. The other High Mars orbitals too. Hell, all of Sol. The whole of Colonized Space even."

Nick nodded. "That's what the Nanites said too. They said that I thought like Melody."

He could feel her grin. "Oh? Well it sounds like I picked the right hero to worship when I was a kid. I've got a partner just like her."

Nick stopped stroking the back of her neck. "Come on Eastern, Let's take a bath. Melody had a positively gigantic tub here and I want to try it out."

She yawned and stood. "A bath? Lux."

Nick brought her to the bathroom and when Eastern saw the bath she squealed and immediately took off her clothes. Nick puzzled over the faucets for a moment before figuring them out and while the tub filled, he took off his clothes too. Nick knew Eastern like her showers hot, so he set the temperature just outside his comfort and slowly lowered himself in. Meanwhile Eastern practically jumped in and splashed him gently with hot water. "Hurry it up, your delicate bits need some toughening up if this water is too hot" she said, laughing.

Nick eventually lowered himself in all the way, and sighed contentedly. After a moment, Eastern leaned over, kissed Nick deeply and straddled him. The heat of the water combined with her weight caused nature to take his course. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"You're the one who decided to take a bath, now you face the consequences." Eastern said, grinding her hips.

After, she climbed back down and snuggled up against Nick again. He looked down and over at her. She was back to being drowsy. "Come on hon, let's go to bed. I don't think we should fall asleep in the tub."

Eastern yawned and sat up. "Yeah, good idea. I'm going to shower first though, I'm all gooey."

Nick laughed.

While they slept, Nick dreamed.

Nick was back on Parvati, visiting one of the traveling amusement parks that came to the cities every year. They worked to time the visits to coincide with local holidays to boost attendance. Luckily, the cities on Parvati had more than enough holidays to cover the traveling amusement parks.

Nick was 12 or 13 and riding the teacups with his parents. This was about as exiting of a ride as they would do. Nick still was at an age when he liked to be flung around in all different directions at a high velocity, so when he went on those rides, they'd stand at the exit and watch. His father usually smiling, his mother's face creased with worry.

His father turned to him. "My son, it seems like you are finally deciding what you want. This is good. I was starting to get worried."

"Starting!" His mother scoffs. "He's been a basket of worry ever since you were declared Emperor. He was worried you'd be a despot. I told him that was nonsense and he had nothing to worry about. Like usual, I was right."

Nick's father smiled. "She was right. You are working towards using your power to help others. This is right. We are proud of you, son."

His mother nodded. "You still need to find Selkirk though. Do not forget about her in all of this effort."

When Nick spoke, it was with his voice currently. It felt odd to be in the body of his early teenage self but speak with his current voice. Dream logic he guessed. "I haven't forgotten her. She's with Raaden. She gave her a ship to command." He looked down at his feet. "She thinks we betrayed her."

His mother crossed her arms. It was impressive to see as they whirled around in the teacups. "She just doesn't know both sides of the story. You only have to reach her and explain what happened. She will understand."

"But what if Raaden used her Voice on her? What if she made her hate us?"

His mother scoffed. "Love will transcend that. Go to her. Show her you still love her. Rescue her. It will fall into place."

Nick awoke early in the morning, the Reach's lights still the dim of artificial morning. Nick got out of bed carefully, making sure he didn't wake Eastern, and padded back to the couch. He watched the Reach rise and awaken from his seat in his palace quarters.

When Eastern woke up, they sat together for breakfast. They had asked the staff to bring them a selection of local foods that were popular in the morning, and took turns trying them. None of them were familiar to Nick or Eastern, but they were all tasty. The staff even managed to find some coffee and brought along a small carafe.

Nick savored his coffee while Eastern ate. After a moment he said "What were you working on with the Nanites while you were on the Throne yesterday?"

Eastern quickly swallowed some of the food. She was ravenous. "Oh, I asked about building a Gate. They showed me the plans and how to program the printers. We're building one now, it should be ready in a week or so."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Why though?"

"Well, the Nanites specifically said they're looking for someone to make more Gates, and we don't have one in Sol, and also..."

"What is it?"

She shook her head. "No, it's silly. It won't work anyway."

Nick put his cup down. "Come on Eastern, you know I won't laugh, no matter how silly it is."

She sighed. "Okay. You know how the Nanites told us that the Gates are all connected to a Gate in another dimension where the Nanites are? I wondered if the Gates can reach into a different dimension. Like say, one were Melody was still alive, and we could request help."

Nick blinked. He took another sip of coffee to hide his surprise. "And? Did the Nanites say we could?"

"They... weren't sure. They said nobody had thought to try it before. The hard part isn't reaching the other dimension apparently. It's picking the correct one."

"How do we do that?" Nick took a bite of breakfast. It really was good. Some kind of grain dish.

"I don't know. The Nanites don't know either. They said they'd think about it and let us know." Eastern shrugged.

"Well, I guess there's no sense in worrying about it now then. That can be a later problem. For now, let's see what we can do to help the Reach. From there, we can expand out. I bet the Jovian stations and others in the OPA could use some help. Even if it's just us doing some light smuggling to get resources in. Supposedly trade hasn't stopped with Raaden in charge, but some things are a lot harder to get."

Eastern nodded. "I like that. Lead on."

Remembering his dream, Nick stopped. "We should also see if we can hire someone to reach Selkirk. Let her know we're still alive and that we're coming for her. Let her know we still love her."

"Do you think that's wise, Nick? She really sounded like she hated us before"

Nick was emphatic. "We still love her. She deserves to know that. What she does with the info is up to her."

Eastern nodded. "I'll ask City if she knows anyone at the Reach who has more experience with Sol. If anyone knows, she will."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Some Good old-fashioned Shitposting

One of the main problems with posting to /r/hfy for me - beyond the mechanics of it being bad - was that they were very serious about sticking to story posts. Very little Meta, very little OOC, no posting about other sites, that kind of stuff. Posts like that were usually removed quickly.

I still wanted to reach my readers there and since my messages stating that I was leaving and giving the reasons why kept getting deleted I decided to... live within the rules, and posted this. It starts as JaLF 26 (the first time skip one) but from there goes off the rails...

It's been half a year, but I can't believe we're already on our third ship! High Line took two months instead of the one that Omar first promised, but that was because he and his crew were getting use to the process and how best to refurbish the ships. Then after that I made the decision to refurbish the food tugs, but those were (relatively) easy. New thrusters, some strengthening of the cargo containers and a few brand new ones and that was it. Once that was finished the food deliveries increased over 30%!

You would not believe how much cheaper, more abundant food improves one's legitimacy. As soon as that was finished and the food rolled in, almost all of the last grumblings about me coming in and "declaring" myself Empress died down.

Only a couple of weeks after the food deliveries had picked back up, I was on my Throne reading reports when Ava walked in and connected to her chair behind me on the Throne.

"Melody! You would not believe what I just heard." Ava sounded a little worried. I'm sure whatever was bothering her wouldn't be that big of a deal for us to take care of.

"I'm sure we can figure it out, Ava. I was just reading these reports about the increased food deliveries. I can't believe how easy it was to get everything straightened out; it was nice to have an easy win."

"No, this is way more important than that. Please hear me out. Let's talk in person." Now I was worried. Ava doesn't usually look this worried about things.

This was important. I disconnected, and gave Ava my full attention. "What is it Ava? How can I help?"

"The author isn't posting to Reddit anymore!" Ava was practically wailing.

"What? Why not? I thought the Author was trying to build an audience to look more attractive to potential publishers?"

Ava nods quickly. "That's just it, he was, but he's having such a hard time posting on Reddit that it's just not worth it to him. He has a much larger following on Tumblr, and would prefer that any of his readers on Reddit seek him out there." Ava raised her eyebrows. "Did you know he's finished this story over there and has started a new one?"

I gasped. A new story? "But that means that our story is done? What happens to us? Are we doing all right?"

Ava shrugged. "He just said 'no spoilers' and winked. Readers will have to go there themselves and check it out."

I sat up straighter in my seat, fully disconnected from the Throne now. This required speaking in person. "Was it the community? Did they give him a hard time?"

Ava threw up her hands in defeat. "That's just it. The community was so nice and welcoming! The rules about posting were a little Byzantine, but the Author did his best to post within them, but the poor UI and untenable bugs means that the Author spent more time correcting and copy editing posts than he did writing some of the entries. He told me he didn't have 'the spoons' to complete the story."

I sat back in my Throne, surprised. The Author was so excited about building his audience and introducing more people to his work, and through their excitement, improve his craft. "I wonder what he's going to do now?"

"I heard he's going to keep posting, but on Tumblr. He also said any of his fans are welcome to join him there. If they don't want to get an account, they can read his posts as they are public facing. I'm told that making an account and following will boost his follower count and look good to any potential publishers but it's not required."

I stood. It really was too bad, but who are we to go against the wishes of the Author. "Oh well Ava. It's sad to hear, but there isn't much we can do about it. Come on, it's almost dinner. Let's go find the others and eat."

Ava stood too and gave me a hug. "Oh Melody. Thanks. I feel better after talking it out.

"I'm glad." Together, we left the Throne, and walked out into the bustling evening on the Reach.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #sci fi writing #writing #humans are space capybaras #scifi writing #humans and aliens #just a little further #the k’laxiverse #jpitha

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth 17

First / Previous / Next

After Eastern had gotten up and had some coffee and gotten dressed, Nick signaled Yon through the cybernetic link. She told them to ride the elevator down to the twentieth floor and she'd meet them there.

When they exited onto the twentieth floor, Nick was shocked. It looked like a hospital. Bright, clean lights, white walls, tile floor and a bustle of activity. They stepped out into the lobby, looking confused when Nick noticed Yon striding towards them. "Nick! Eastern! Please, come with me." She lead them past a guard who nodded at them, and further into the building.

Yon lead them further into the building and past operating theaters that were a bustle of activity and into a small suite of recovery rooms. Nick was watching everyone as they went past. People who looked like doctors, people who looked like nurses, support staff and guards were all around. All were wearing scrubs or a uniform that was in the Houndstooth colors. As one turned to talk to another Nick saw a flash of silver. He tried to check the neck of the next person he saw, and yes, another flash of silver and 10 tiny ports.

As Nick was lead around the hospital, his knees started feeling week and his sense of things was sliding away from him.

Everyone here had cybernetic implants.

Selkirk was in the first room on the left, sitting up and reading her pad. She had a large white bandage behind her head, but other than that seemed herself. "There you two are! I thought I was going to have to come and find you. She looked up at Yon, "You kept them in line? They didn't agree to anything stupid while I was under?"

Yon laughed. "No, they didn't agree to anything. We had a celebratory drink, I went to bed, and I assume they went to bed right after."

Nick nodded, distracted. "Yup, that's what we did." He turned away from the doorway and looked at Selkirk. "Sel, are you cleared to leave?"

Yon spoke up. "We're just waiting for the charge nurse to approve her leaving. Should be any time now. In fact, let me duck into the hall and I'll see if I can find her now. You three wait here." Yon stepped into the hall and started walking towards the lobby.

Nick sat down next to Selkirk and gestured for Eastern to do the same. She sat on the opposite side of the bed. "Eastern, Selkirk, did you notice anything odd about this place?"

Eastern sighed looked at Nick. "You mean other than the fact that it's a whole hospital off the books that seems to belong to Houndstooth?"

Selkirk flicked her ears in. "Or the fact that everyone here has cybernetic implants?"

"Yes! Everyone here has implants! What's up with that?" Nick was glancing back towards the door as they talked, seemingly worried that someone was going to walk in on them at any moment.

Selkirk shrugged. "Um'reli told me about it. Raaden is big on cybernetics. She thinks its a way to get Builder like abilities to everyone without the danger of the nanotechnology. She's trying to push the state of the art. Getting the implants for humans is no longer the risk that the AIs say it is. Very rarely do humans suffer rejection or get infections." Selkirk moved in the bed and winced at the motion. "K'laxi physiology is such though that the implants had to be different. Mine is the latest model according to Um'reli. I have to take some antibiotics for a week, but they say that should be it."

Nick looked up suddenly. "Wait, if everyone here has cybernetics, then is everyone talking to eachother through their implants?"

Eastern looked thoughtful. "Probably yes. Why don't you connect and see if there's a general channel Nick?"

Nick sat back in his chair and touched his implants with his mind. A direct connection was faster but he and - he assumed - everyone else had wireless implants installed so that they could interact with people and devices without having to be physically connected. Nick activated the radio and heard static. That was to be expected though, it made sense that the connections were encrypted. Raaden had given him keys when they shook hands, he applied her keys to the signal and tried again.

It was chaos.

It was a din of noise.

It was the loudest thing Nick had ever heard.

Everyone was talking at once. To each other, to themselves, to nobody. There was so much talking. It was too much! Nicks eyes rolled back and he fell off the chair.

"Nick! Nick!" Eastern was standing over him. Nick was on the floor. Blinking he sat up and waved Eastern off. "I'm all right now. I just... got overwhelmed."

"What happened Nick?" Selkirk looks over the edge of her bed worried.

"I connected to the cybernetic comms channel. It was... overwhelming. Everyone was talking at once, making noise. They were all talking over each other. I couldn't understand a thing."

Eastern frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Nobody would be able to communicate that way. People have to have their conversations in their own channels, or with their own encryption. There has to be a way to connect just to one or two other people." She looked at Nick and Selkirk. "Nick, what did you do?"

"When I connected, it was just static. I expected that after talking with Sunny, so I applied the encryption keys I received and-"

"Encryption keys?"

"Yeah, from Raaden. When we shook hands, she gave me her encryption keys. She didn't give them to you?"

"No Nick, I didn't get anything. She didn't mention it either. Are you sure you were given them?"

"Well I certainly don't know how to steal them, that's for sure. I imagine that the Empress would have some pretty serious firewalls. Regardless, she gave them to me and she knew we're together, so here." Nick tossed a copy of the keys to Eastern and Selkirk. They accepted the file and Eastern, after seeing Nick's reaction, connected to the audio channel, wincing. Her eyes widened and she looked at both of them. "Nick, these aren't just her encryption keys. They're everyone's encryption keys."

Nick rubbed the back of his neck where the access ports are and winced at the memory. "So, did Raaden make a mistake? Did she give me the wrong keys on purpose?"

Eastern frowned. "She doesn't seem like the type to make a mistake like that. I think she gave you these keys on purpose."

Selkirk's eyes flashed blue as she examined the keys. "Nick, is this a test? Did she give you the keys to the kingdom to see what you'd do?"

"How should I know Sel? She just shook my hand and I felt the tingle of keys being transmitted. I only knew what it was because Sunny gave me her keys and I remembered the feeling."

"So what should we do with them?"

Nick shrugged. "Use them. She gave them to us. Maybe it's for a reason. Come on, Queenie mentioned how we could isolate conversations into groups. Let's try and grouping the conversations to reduce noise and we can chat, and be able to chat with others."

Nick, Eastern and Selkirk spent maybe ten minutes creating a private group for them while also sorting the conversations they could find into separate groups so they wouldn't get overwhelmed when they tapped into the general channel.

Okay, can you hear me now?

Yes, I can hear you fine.

Yeah, no problems.

A new presence was felt in their heads as they spoke. Interesting. You did use the keys. And you were able to sort and set everyone else up into little groups so you weren't overwhelmed with the noise? Did you tell Yon about the keys or did you just take the initative?

Nick gasped out loud. Empress Raaden? Uh, no we didn't tell Yon. I just realized they were keys for everyone a little while ago. Why did you give me the encryption keys for everything?

Mostly to see what you'd do with them. You do come to us from a... let's say... less official background, though I do note you kept yourself to mild thievery, fencing, and smuggling. Nothing too bad in the grand scheme of things, but still Yon had some concerns. I'm pleased to see that you were able to use the keys to set up what you needed. There was a feeling of her looking around, examining the work they did. I must say, this is tidy work. Well done. We should take note of what you did here and show others as they come online. Everyone finds the general channel... a bit overwhelming when they first connect. Splitting it like this into groups could reduce that stress.

Nick noticed he was feeling proud from Raaden complimenting them. As soon as he noticed it, he mentally took a step back. Uh, Raaden? Should we delete the encryption keys?

No, I don't see any need for that. Keep them for now. I'll be interested to see what you do with them. There was a feeling of her smiling slyly at them, and her presence left.

Nick disconnected and looked around. Yon was back, waiting patiently. "Oh, Hi Yon. We were just talking with Sel over her new connection and said hi to Raaden."

Yon blinked. "She reached out to you directly?"

Nick nodded. "She wanted to see how we were getting on and making sure that everything was all set on our end." As he spoke, Nick marveled at how easily the lie came. A part of him wondered why he was keeping the fact that they had universal encryption keys from Yon. Luckily, Eastern and Selkirk picked up on what he was saying immediately.

"Everything went great Yon." Selkirk gestured to her bed. "Can I leave now?"

"Oh yes. I have your discharge paperwork. You're released and should take a day or two of rest. We'll go check out the simulator now. You don't have to connect if you don't feel up for it, but I think Nick and Eastern should get started."

Nick stood from his seat next to Selkirk's bed. "Come on then, let's go see what it's actually like to be a starship." He looked back at Selkirk as she slowly got out of bed. "You sure you're good to go Sel? We can take you back up to Raaden's penthouse and you can lounge in luxury another day or two."

Selkirk flicked her ears and swished her tail. "No. I'm sick of laying around. I'll be fine. Just give me a moment." She winced. "I'm all stiff."

They followed Yon through the hospital and back towards the elevator. As they walked through, Nick saw that yes, everyone at the hospital had cybernetics installed.

This time, Yon took them higher in Hyacinth One, to a few floors below Raaden's penthouse. They entered an anonymous office looking place with a small room of cubicles and a person at a desk outside the elevator. Yon glanced at her and her eyes flashed blue. The person at the desk's eyes also flashed blue, she nodded and they walked by her. Nick glanced at the back of her head as they passed, and she had implants as well.

Yon took them through the office, past a few rows of workers in the cubicles, and as Nick walked by, every one of them had implants. Some where working on physical pads and stations, while others just sat in their chair, leaning back with their eyes closed. Nick peeked into the general channel here and while it wasn't as chaotic as the hospital channel, there was a bustle of cybernetic activity.

As they left the cube farm, they passed through a large, metal door with a rubber seal and into a room with six large... domes was the only way Nick could describe it. Six domes with a rotating cover on them. Three were open and as they looked inside, Nick saw a chair very similar to Queenie's chair back in her shop, just newer looking.

Selkirk looked around for a place to sit. "I'm not feeling it today Yon, moving from the hospital to here knocked me out. Do you mind if I either sit while they try it out or head back up to the penthouse?"

"That fine of course!" Yon's eyes flashed and someone entered the room right away. "Please escort Selkirk back up to the penthouse so she can get some rest."

They nodded. "Of course Yon." They looked over at Selkirk. "You don't look so good. Do you want me to find you a wheelchair?"

Selkirk swished her tail. She looked irritated. "No, I'm fine. I just need to take it easy. Let's head up and I'll head to bed." Selkirk and the aide - slowly - made their way back to the elevator.

Nick watched them go. I'm worried about Selkirk.

Eastern flinched at the message but tried to not react otherwise. Why? You think she's got complications?

She seems to be having a harder recovery than we did.

Well, Raaden and Yon said there had only been like 6 K'laxi with the surgery.

Did you notice how every other human here has it though? I'd think they would have had an easier time.

Nick, it's not like K'laxi just have human brains inside their furry heads. Their physiology is completely different. I'm not surprised it's taking them a while. After this, we'll head up and check on her okay? We'll get some dinner and take it easy. Watch something on our pads and get an early night.

Nick pursed his lips. Okay. We'll check out the sim and head back up.

That's the spirit!

Nick spoke aloud. "Okay Yon, what do we do?"

Yon clicked a button on one of the domes, and it spun to face them and the entry appeared. "Just get into the chair, and lean back enough for it to sense your jacks. It will do the rest." She stepped back. "Go ahead, connect up."

Nick moved to get into the seat. He stopped and looked at Yon. "Yon, were you ever a Starship?"

Yon made a face. "That's a little rude to ask, Nick."

"I'm sorry, but I was wondering. You're with Raaden on this project to give everyone the ability to pilot - I had wondered if you had ever done it before."

Yon sighed. "No Nick. I never had. I've had some simulator time, but that's it. I never knew the right people to get a starship."

Nick raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He got into the chair. It was actually quite comfortable. The cushion soft and supportive. Clearly, it was designed to be sat in for long periods. He swung his legs into the supports and leaned back. As he did, he felt the chair mold to him and start to gently lower him. At the same time there was a light whine as the cables snaked out and sought the jacks on the back of his head. With a audible snap, they connected, he tasted blue for a moment and...

He was a starship. First / Previous / Next

Hey all! I know I've said this before and I'll probably say it again, but I'm going to have to slow down posting. I really like the cadence of 5 days a week, but it leaves no time to improve drafts and do the housekeeping of all the *gestures* other stuff of writing. I'll never polish anything or set up a Patreon or talk to editors or any of that if I'm scrambling to make 2500 word posts 5 days a week.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 34

First / Previous / Next

Eastern reached out to Ganymede station while Nick continued to get their bearings. Even though they were a million kilometers or so from it, Jupiter loomed large on the screen. Nick had never seen the planet up close before. It reminded him of the gas giant back home in the Parvati system.

While he stared, he reflected on where he and Eastern were. What were they doing? They were planning on diving back into danger to save their girlfriend sure, but Nick also felt like something larger was happening. Nick hated feeling out of control and yet it has felt like he's been acting at the whims of the Nanites since he got them, and even before that, acting at the whims of other folks. First Jameson, then Raaden, then the Nanites.

Does he even have the ability to follow his own path anymore? Is any decision he makes his?

Nick was staring out into space thinking these thoughts when Eastern got his attention. "Hon? Ganymede says they have to make some room - their docking ring is full - but once they have done so, we have permission to land. ETA is about a day."

Nick snapped out of his reverie. "They said their docking ring is full? Eastern, can you look with our scope? It is actually full?"

"Hmm, I didn't think to look. Let me check."

Another few minutes passed while Eastern scanned. "Huh. It looks like they have a few ships docked, but there is plenty of room. Why would they lie?"

Nick sighed. "They probably guessed who we are, or were told to call for help if anyone unknown linked in. Not one day in Sol and we've been made. We should link away."

Eastern's voice over the comm sounded strained. "But, Nick. If we leave, we're going to lose our chance to find out what happened to Selkirk."

Before Nick could reply, there was a blinding flash, and in front of them was a massive ship. Bigger than a Starjumper, with rounded edges and atmospheric control surfaces. Their radio chimed with a signal and Eastern opened the channel.

"This is the Dreams of Hyacinth. The Sol system is closed to colonial vessels. State your name and your purpose for entering the system." Nick's blood chilled with realization. He recognized that voice.

Eastern gasped. "Selkirk! It's us! It's Nick and Eastern! We came to look for you!"

The signal changed from audio to video. On the screen saw Selkirk standing on the Command Deck of the Hyacinth, dressed in the uniform of Raaden's empire. Her uniform was spotless and she was clearly in charge. Nick could see ten thin wires spilling down from the back of her neck towards the command chair next to her.

Her eyes blinked in surprise. Her ears flicked, and for a split second, it looked like she was pleased to see them. Just as quickly, her expression settled into a snarl. "I've been here the whole time, Nick and Eastern. The more pertinent question is where have you been? Empress Raaden filled me in on your treachery."

Eastern nearly stuttered in her haste to explain themselves. "Treachery? Sel, Helen told us you were dead! She said you died on the operating table during your surgery. She lied to us. She made it clear that unless we went along with her, that things would go badly for us. We ran for our lives. Nick didn't believe it, so we... borrowed a ship from the AIs and came back to Sol to find you!"

Selkirk sat back down in her command chair. As she moved, the cables attached to her moved with her and slid back out of the way. "Pardon me if I find your story hard to believe. You've been gone for five years. There was plenty of time for you to come and find me. No, this is a trick. You were sent here in an AI built ship to come and destabilize us. To try and undo all the good work we've done."

"Sel please!" Eastern's voice was on the edge of tears. "We were in hibernation! We got tricked by the AIs and they put us on ice! We never meant to be gone this long! Let's get together, and we can talk it out, just like the old days."

Selkirk's face hardened. "No Eastern. You and Nick had your chance. You could have come back anytime. Helen herself told me she was willing to hear you out, welcome you back. You made your choice. I've made mine." Selkirk turned away from the camera. "Goodbye Nick. Goodbye, Eastern." The comm link was disconnected.

"No... Sel..." Eastern's voice was quiet.

Nick stared at the dark screen, blinking back tears. Suddenly, a hooting alarm sounded. "Eastern, what's going on?"

"We're being targeted Nick! Missile incoming."

For just a moment, Nick wondered if he should just let them come. No. No, that's not the way, he thought. We can figure this out, get Selkirk back. "Free the slug throwers, we have to defend ourselves." Nick's fingers flew over the panel next to his chair while he tried to find the missiles that Eastern saw.

"What's the point Nick? Sel made her choice. She's lost."

"Eastern! We're not going to sit here and take a missile up the ass because Selkirk rejected us! This is Helen's doing. We'll get Helen and get Selkirk back, but only if we survive. That's what we do hon. We survive." Nick released the slug throwers and main battery himself. Luckily it started to auto target the missile. "Eastern. We are going to get through this, but only if we help each other."

"Okay Nick. I'll help."

The slug thrower's chattering roar vibrated the ship as it attempted to fling metal at the incoming missile. With a small orange and white flash, it was gone.

"We got it hon! Calculate a link away, and we'll regroup. I'll keep an eye out for more missiles." Nick dithered over firing back. No. If they don't shoot they won't run the risk of hurting Selkirk.

"... Okay Nick. Where should we go?"

"I don't know Eastern, anywhere is better than here. Pick someplace."

Nick's console squealed an alarm as an energy spike was detected from Dreams of Hyacinth, and he barely had any time to react before their main battery struck Empress. The blast rang their little ship like a gong, and alerts lit up red all over his panel. Another hit like that would take them out. "Eastern! We can't take another hit like that. Get us out of here!" Nick's ears rung with the blast and his ears popped. Pressure loss. A huge pressure door clanged shut, sealing the command deck and Nick felt a breeze as the deck was re-pressurized.

Eastern's voice sounded strangely quiet and muffled. "I'm trying Nick, I'm trying. I don't feel right. I think that hit damaged the wormhole generator or something. I'm trying to work around it." Empress shot away from Hyacinth on thrusters as Nick's console hooted that they had another lock.

Before Nick could bring the slug throwers around again, there was another flash and a ship appeared in front of them. Eastern squeaked and flipped Empress over, trying to thrust in another direction so they didn't strike the unknown ship. Nick had never seen this kind of ship before either. It was larger than they were, but smaller than Starjumper, and had a wild blue and orange paint scheme. It instantly opened up more laser batteries than Nick thought possible on the Hyacinth. Selkirk's ship lit up with the light and energy of the blasts. Nick's first impulse was to tell them to stop shooting, but the words caught in his mouth as he realized that Selkirk didn't seem to feel the same way.

"Who the hell is that Eastern?"

"I don't know Nick, but they're helping. Open a comm channel and ask, I'm still trying to keep us from blowing up."

Nick toggled the radio. "Unknown ship, this is Empress, thank you for the assist. Who are we speaking to?"

The commlink switched to video and a Mariens was sitting in front of them. Nick blinked in surprise. He knew of Mariens from the news back when Melody came into Sol, but he had never seen one up close. They really did have a octopus look about them. "This is Captain Dev'inna of the Immar IV. We're going to grab you with our grapple and link you to safety. Hold tight."

Before Nick could react, practically the entire bottom of the Immar split open, revealing a massive grapple arm. With practiced precision, Immar grabbed the top of Empress and slid it closer.

Empress was smaller than Immar, but not so small as to be brought inside the Mariens ship and before Nick could ask what they were doing, there was a disorienting flash and they both linked away.

When they reappeared in space, Captain Dev'inna called again. "Sorry about that. We didn't want Dreams of Hyacinth to know what we were doing or where we were going. We still try and keep a low profile these days. We're safer now, but we won't be safe until we're docked inside the Reach. Follow us please."

Nick looked out and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a Starbase, almost as large at High Mars Hyacinth, but teardrop shaped. The widest part of the teardrop was the top and had angular protrusions, almost like skyscrapers. The bottom, pointed part of the teardrop was surrounded by a ring. Nick couldn't help it and blurted out "What is that?"

Captain Dev'inna chuckled. "That friends, is Reach of the Might of Vzzx. The last Builder Starbase. The AIs helped bring it out here after Melody's... plan failed. Even though we were on the other side of the war, they didn't feel right leaving us on the other side of the galaxy. For that - and only that - we thank them. We can speak more in person. Come on."

They closed the connection. Eastern said "Well... I guess we should follow them. It seems like they're here to help us."

Nick leaned back in his seat. "Yes, but why? How did they know we were here and more importantly, how did they know we needed help?"

"All good questions hon. Let's ask them when we get inside."

Eastern turned Empress to follow Immar IV, and they slowly continued on towards the massive station. Instead of going towards the ring, Immar went near the middle, and as they approached, doors large enough to admit a Starjumper opened. Immar slid in and as Eastern got close, she felt a pull and grunted. "Huh. They have some kind of field. We're being pulled in on our own. That makes landings easy at least."

All in all, the landing only took about 30 minutes as Empress drifted slowly past other ships, all in different stages of repair or construction. Some of the bays looked like the ships had been half built for decades, others were bright and busy with work.

Without any fanfare, Empress slipped into an empty bay, and with a hum and a flash, a field sprung up near the door and Nick began to hear noise as air rushed into the bay. A few minutes later, Empress's systems spun down and Eastern came up to the command deck, rubbing the back of her head. "I don't know about you Nick, but I don't think I like being a ship that long. The change from my body to ship makes me feel... odd. I hope I don't have to be driving all the time."

Nick smiled and hugged Eastern. He tilted his head up and kissed her gently. "I'll drive next time if we need to hon. Thanks for doing it this time."

She smiled, and they made their way towards the exit.

Empress was never designed for atmospheric work, so the main airlock opened about two meters over the deck. Nick watched as an Aviens and Mariens rushed over with a wheeled set of stairs, and leaned them against Empress. Nick and Eastern carefully climbed down and thanked the dockworkers.

"Of course Empress, Emperor. Please, Captain Dev'inna and Sound of the City are waiting to meet you. This way."

Looking at each other, but saying nothing, Nick and Eastern shrugged and followed the workers. They passed through a thick airlock.

Nick and Eastern boggled. There were easily more people here than anywhere either of them had ever seen. Even Congregation Square, the busiest part of Hyacinth couldn't compare. Hyacinth was built large to make it feel roomy. The Reach was apparently built large to hold a lot of people. While they stood there, they saw all kinds of sapients. People they'd only read about or seen pictures or video. Mariens, Aviens, Azurians, and even a few of the Falor, who lived in atmospheric suits all the time outside of their district. Nick remembered reading about them, apparently quite a few relocated to one of the floating cities on Venus, because they could just lower it deeper into the Venusian atmosphere and make a more tolerable place for them.

After a moment, Captain Dev'inna rushed over with one of the bird looking people, the Aviens with them. They were wearing a royal blue uniform and under it had shimmering feathers.

Eastern looked around. Actually lots of people here wore the same Royal Blue that Melody wore.

"Empress! Emperor! Welcome to Reach of the Might of Vzzx! We're so glad you're here!" Captain Dev'inna bowed low.

"Indeed. We finally feel whole again. It is such a joy to see you." The Aviens matched the bow of Dev'inna. "I am Sound of the City, current Head Builder on the Reach and leader of the Administration."

Nick and Eastern returned the bows without thinking. Nick thought it was odd that they both did that, but at the same time it felt... right to do it. "Builder? I thought all the Builders were killed when... the AIs captured the Reach?" Nick said.

City's eyes sparkled. "Yes, and I suppose they thought the Empresses destroyed when they killed Melody. And yet, you stand before us."

Eastern narrowed her eyes. "What about Empress Raaden?"

City scoffed. "We do not recognize her authority. Do you know that she has not returned to the reach once since Melody died? She has made no speeches, she has done no rites. She is not empress, she merely has the Nanites. Being Empress is more than nanotechnology."

Eastern looked like she was about to say something else, but Nick held up his hand. "Captain Dev'inna, Sound of the City, please accept our most grateful thanks for the help, but I must ask. How did you know we were there? How did you know we needed help? How did you know we even existed?"

Sound of the City looked surprised. "Emperor, are you testing us? We knew where you were for the same reason that you knew how to return our greetings. For the same reason you both are speaking our languages instead of your own Colonic."

"The Nanites told us."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 31

First / Previous / Next

Back in their room, Eastern started pacing. "What are we doing, Nick? Why did I say that? What is going on?"

Nick flopped onto the bed, watching Eastern pace. "I don't know hon, I don't know. I have a feeling the Nanites are influencing what we say and do when we're trying to be-" he shrugged "-royal, or whatever."

Eastern stopped pacing. "What was that?"

"What? I just said that the Nanites are influencing us when we're trying to be royal?"

Yes, we are.

Nick and Eastern's heads snapped to each other. "Did you hear..?"

"I did."

I don't see what is so surprising. Like we told the AIs, we're after growth of the Gate system and more points where we can enter your world. We believe that a galaxy-wide single government is our best way to achieve that. We've done it before and it worked well, it's a proven method.

"But why are you helping us?"

We work with what - or who - we're given.

"But not Raaden, the other Empress?"

Nick could have sworn that the Nanites scoffed. "She seemed to hold so much promise when she was with Melody. Perhaps Melody's influence worked as a moderator to her default behavior. Now that she has been given full reign, she is choosing to enrich herself and take over Sol. She's not building a Gate, she's not traveling to other systems, she's not expanding.

"Can't you... take away her powers?" Eastern sounded hopeful when she asked.

We can remove her Voice, we can remove her ability to understand languages, she would age at a normal rate, yes. Her power and influence are such now that those would not really matter. She rules Sol in all but name, and nothing short of force would change that. Additionally, we don't want to.

"You don't want to? Why not?"

She is Empress.

"But, so are we?"

You are... and you are not. You have the potential to be Empress and Emperor. You have been given the means. You aren't Empress yet. In fact you have been discussing options about running away. The AIs have tried to plant that seed in your minds. They would like nothing more.

Nick looked up at Eastern. She moved her shoulders very subtly.

We wouldn't stop you. You could do that if you wanted. We'd remove ourselves - safely, you'd be fine - and then you'd go back to being 'just' Nick and Eastern. But, you'd lose your chance to defeat Raaden. You'd lose out on ever going back to Sol. You'd lose your chance to be able to remake things the way you both want.

"The way we want, or the way you want?"

We were right in selecting the both of you. Both can be true. All we want is more Gates. Expansion. How you and Eastern go about it is immaterial to us. You can become the iron-fisted rulers of the galaxy, feared and loved in equal measure.

It's not the only way though. You could use diplomacy. Convince the colony worlds, the K'laxi, the Xenni, and everyone else you meet to have a Gate in their system, to trade, to cooperate. We get more Gates, we get more entry points into your dimension and you... don't have to rule.

"We don't have to be Empress and Emperor?"

No. Just because it's a proven method, does not mean it's the only method. In fact, why don't you try diplomacy? We always have Raaden to fall back on. She can be... convinced to expand when she's done having her fun. If you two convince everyone outside of Sol to work together and build Gates and make a true... galactic Community, we'll get what we want, and you'll get what you want.

Think about it. But, don't think too long. The K'laxi are about to dock.

Nick and Eastern were alone with their thoughts again. Though when Nick thought about it, he never really was alone with his thoughts now. He'd always be sharing space with the Nanites. He looked up at Eastern. "Well?"

"I'll be honest, I hadn't thought about diplomacy. We're not diplomats."

"No, but we're not warlords either. If we want to follow their plan A, we'll need to defeat Raaden and... take over the Galaxy. I don't think I have the stomach for that."

Eastern nodded. "Me neither. We could give it all up..."

It was Nick's turn to nod. "But then Raaden 'wins'."

Eastern rolled her eyes. "Nick we don't win against people like Raaden. We never have. Our only option is to survive or be ground down."

"Normally, yes. But now?" Nick raised his eyebrows. "Now, we've been given a chance. The Nanites think we could win. I'm willing to give it a try. It's better than hiding for the rest of our lives."

Eastern sat down on the bed next to Nick and leaned against him. "Oh Nick. I wish Selkirk was here. She'd know what to do."

Nick leaned against Eastern. "I miss her too."

"Let's try diplomacy."

Nick nodded. "Okay. Diplomacy it is. He wrapped his arms around her and they hugged.

Eastern broke off the hug and stood. "If we're going to meet the K'laxi, we should look the part. I remember that Melody was able to use the Nanites to make her gowns, so let's see what we can do..."

Eastern closed her eyes. She tried to visualize how she wanted Nick and her to look. They weren't trying to be royalty, so a gown was out. She thought more of the uniforms she remembers the diplomatic corps wore on Luna. Sort of like a suit, sort of like a uniform with a few touches here and there that were supposed to remind people of spacesuits.

"Eastern, what's going-" Nick started, but then stopped in awe. Eastern was surrounded with a dappled golden light, the same color as her crown and wings. It grew brighter and brighter until Nick had to shade his eyes. In a flash it had faded, and she was wearing an emerald green... uniform. It was the only way Nick could describe it. It made her look official and governmental, but it was also different enough that you couldn't say for sure which polity she belonged to.

Eastern grinned and spun around. "Well? What do you think?"

"You look amazing. You did your hair too?"

Eastern reached up and touched her head. Her long dark hair had been shorn in an undercut, with whorls and stars shaved into the sides, with the very top remaining a shock of her original hair.

"I felt like... it was time for a change. Come on Nick, stand up. I think I can give you a new uniform too." She grinned "Want a haircut?"

Nick crossed his arms. "I'll give myself one, if I decide I need it, thank you."

Eastern's laugh was music.

****

The K'laxi dreadnought gently came up alongside Tinker Toy and opened an airlock. Tink snaked out an umbilical and they docked together. "We're connected. Atmostphere is different than hours, but breathable. I'm still not going to mix gasses though, so you'll have to cycle the airlock, okay Eastern? Nick?"

Eastern and Nick stood by the main airlock in their new diplomatic uniforms. In the end, Nick had opted to keep his hair the same. It was still his close cropped dark hair with just a touch of grey starting near the temples. In the name of looking good and official, he did comb and oil his beard though.

"Thanks Tink. We'll be careful, and we'll let you know what happens." Eastern shook her head and felt her new haircut. Her crown glowed very slightly and her wings were not visible.

"Is Chloe mad at us still?" Nick looked around, but they were alone in the hall.

"Yup. She's pretty steamed. Hat is with her, and He's telling me not to worry. He says she's been like this before and the only fix is to let her get over it. Hat is hopeful we can all talk and debrief when you come back."

Nick shrugged. "That's how it goes sometimes. Thanks Tink. I hope we won't be long." He reached over to start the airlock cycle.

"Good luck, see you soon."

While they stood in the airlock waiting for it to cycle, Nick looks at Eastern. She really does look good. He can hardly believe he's looking at the same woman who not one month ago was running small time scams and gifts with him. "Eastern, what's the plan?"

"Hmm?" Distracted, she turns and looks at Nick.

"With the K'laxi. What are we going to do?"

"I was going to ask them why they're attacking the Xenni and tell them to stop."

"Will that work?"

"One way to find out, isn't there?" She flashed a smile.

The airlock finished cycling and the outer door opened. The umbilical was only about 10 meters but Nick still felt odd floating across to the K'alxi Dreadnought. When they arrived, their airlock was closed. Nick and Eastern paused at the closed door.

Nick looked at Eastern and grinned. "You know, I've thought about doing this before, but I never thought I'd have the chance." He reached out and rapped sharply on the airlock door.

A moment passed, then another. Nick looked at Eastern and shrugged. "Should I knock again?"

Before she could answer, there was a rumble, and the door rolled open slowly. They floated into the empty airlock, and as the door rolled shut behind them they gently touched the floor as the gravity ramped up.

Nick felt his ears pop as the pressure changed, adjusting to the K'laxi's ship. Their planet was smaller and older than Earth and they tended to have a slightly lower ambient air pressure. As the air was exchanged, Nick and Eastern smelled something. It was almost like a forest.

Finally the inner door rolled open, and Nick saw them.

A K'laxi in a smart uniform stood flanked by two more in armored pressure suits holding rifles. Nick was surprised at the show of force, but it seemed that Eastern was ready. She sood at ther full height, towering over the shorter K'laxi. "Are you Commander Tev Halmiar?"

The uniformed K'laxi nodded and his ears flicked. "Yes."

"I am Eastern Standard, this is my partner Nicholas North. We've come to speak to you about your attack on the Xenni and learn more about the Civil War."

Nick's heightened body language processing could see that the K'laxi commander was knocked back by the request from Eastern. Whatever he was expecting, it was not this. "Empress we-"

"I am not Empress."

Even without his heightened abilities, he could see that the Commander was confused. His tail swished back and forth and he blinked.

Eastern, what are you doing?

I've got an idea Nick. Roll with me. We didn't want to rule, now is our chance to get that info out into the world. He could feel her grin in his cybernetics. No stress.

Commander Halmiar scoffed. "Not an Empress? You have a crown, you speak with the Voice."

Eastern nodded. "My partner and I have been blessed to receive the gifts of an Empress, this is true, but we choose to reject the title. Everyone deserves to rule themselves. The current Empress does not see things this way, so we oppose her."

There was a long pause. Nick was watching the K'laxi carefully and he could see that the guards were just as confused at the Commander was. They weren't staring at Nick and Eastern anymore, but instead at the Commander himself. Finally, the K'laxi sighed. "Please. Come aboard. We can talk about this in a more comfortable location."

They were led to a conference room deep within the ship. The seats were made for K'laxi but other than being a little small and having a tail cut out in the rear were fine for Nick and Eastern. A steward came in and offered them tea. Remembering Selkirk, they both ordered K'laxi tea and doing a very good job of hiding his surprise, the steward brought two steaming cups.

Nick and Eastern had enough time to drink half their tea before the Commander came into the room - alone this time - and sat across from them. He looked at a pad, touched it a few times, and then placed it on the table, face down.

"You two-" He started, and then shook his head, fluffed his fur and swallowed. He tried again. "I apologize. It has been a stressful few weeks. Before we go any further, you must know that we represent the anti-Empress faction. We do not wish to be subjected to the Empire... again."

Eastern nodded. "That is fine by us. As I mentioned in the airlock we have no desire to rule."

"Pardon my skepticism, but you used your Voice to order us to break off our attack, you appear to us in a uniform unknown to us and you can speak K'laxi."

Nick's eyes went wide. "We're doing what?"

The Captain narrowed his large, expressive eyes at Nick. "We've been speaking K'laxi this whole time. My ship is from K'lax itself, half my crew has never seen a human, and only a third of us speak Colonic." Tev looked at a point carefully above their heads so as to appear as if he was looking into their eyes without actually doing so. "Honestly, I was worried that our translators wouldn't be much help."

"I apologize for using my Voice commander. I needed you to break off your attack on the Xenni and when we called out to you, our hails where ignored."

Tev grunted. "We were busy at the time. We had assumed that it was either a trap or a human trader working with the Xenni.

Nick decided to follow Eastern's lead. "Just why were you attacking the Xenni anyway?"

Tev looked at Nick and his tail flicked. "We need supplies and we were told to try and 'requisition' some from the Xenni."

"Bully them into giving you theirs you mean?"

"One responds to force with force." Tev's voice gained a hard edge. "The Xenni never treated us with any respect, and only hold off on attacking us because you people entered the war on our behalf. If you were to leave, we'd be back to the old ways within a K'laxi year."

Eastern looked at Tev curious. "Commander, do you truly believe that? The Xenni have been non-agressive for nearly one hundred human years."

"They live long lives. They know how to wait."

He really hates the Xenni.

I know. I was hoping I could just convince him to break off the attack, but if he needs supplies and hates the Xenni this much, they'll just come back and harass them after we leave.

We could make him not attack.

Ugh, then we'd be no better than Raaden.

"Tell me Commander, how goes the war?"

Commander Tev looked up sharply at Eastern, then he crumpled. "It's a stalemate. A war without end. We're evenly matched and both running low on supplies. At this point both sides have effectively decided to wait for the other side to starve and sue for peace."

"What kind of supplies do you need, Commander?"

Tev flipped over his pad and consulted a list. "Almost everything really. We're low on mass for the printers, we're low on food, we're low on maneuvering mass for the thrusters. Honestly, you're drinking some of our last tea even."

"Instead of... attacking the Xenni, would you be willing to trade with them?" Nick was looking at the K'laxi as he asked his question, trying to gauge his reaction. He was hoping the question wouldn't make the Commander angry.

Instead, the Commander just looked resigned. "If we had money, we'd trade with the Xenni or even you Humans. We have no way to pay."

"What about a line of credit? I imagine the Xenni would be interested in extending you a line or credit to purchase your supplies - from a real supply depot instead of a research station attached to a Gate - and your government could pay them back."

"The Xenni would never agree to it."

"Don't be so sure. Nick and I can be very convincing when we want to be." Eastern's smile sparkled.

Commander Tev looked up at Eastern, surprised. "You know what? Fine. If you can get the Xenni Station-Captain to issue a letter of credit and recommendation, we'll link to the nearest Xenni supply depot and purchase what we need. We'll even pass it along to the rest of our fleet and buy from them entirely. It's not like we're the only ship that needs supplies."

Eastern stood. "Wonderful! I will contact Station-Captain Regi'lan from my ship. You shall have your credit in a few hours."

Come on Nick, we have to leave before they get cold feet. I think the Nanites are giving us a hand without the Voice.

Nick stood next to Eastern, and the guards led them back to the airlock. As they stood, waiting for the inner door to shut, one of the K'laxi guards looked up at them. "You really think that you can get the Xenni to sell us supplies?"

Eastern nodded. "I'm sure of it."

The inner door closed, and the airlock started to cycle.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth 4

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Jameson smiled. "I know. An AI with a daughter? Who ever heard of such a thing, right?" Nick nodded silently.

"Well, very occasionally, when two AIs enter a relationship, we decide we'd like progeny of our own. We were built and designed by humans after all, it makes sense for our thought processes to be similar right? Anyway, we can combine a bit of our own code and... have a kid. They're not exactly a baby, and they don't learn like humans, and it's not a lot like raising a human, but she's still my daughter and I still love her."

Nick nodded. "Of course Jameson. We'll find her and bring her home. Is her... other parent in the picture?"

At mention of the other parent, Jameson's face crumples. "No, Nick. They died."

Nick didn't know a lot about AIs, but he knew it was rare for one to die. He had heard that some AIs were more than a thousand years old. "I'm sorry Jameson," was all he could manage.

"Thanks for your condolences Nick. They were one of the Starjumpers that attacked Empress Melody a decade ago, were you around for that?" Nick shook his head. "It's better you weren't. It was a nasty time for everyone." Jameson looks into the middle distance, remembering. "They were destroyed in orbit around Venus during the push to catch Melody before she escaped." Jameson looked at Nick in the eye. "They took out two of their damned Super Dreadnoughts when they blew their reactor though. They left with a positive count." His face softened and he looked down at his pad. "Not a day goes by that I don't miss them. Yon is my only link to them left, so you get why I want her back."

Nick looked Jameson in the eye. "We'll get her back. I personally guarantee it." Eastern was looking at them, wide eyed. "Nick, what the fuck are you-"

Jameson raised a hand for silence and smiled. He snapped his fingers towards the guards in the shadows. They wheeled over two beds, also with straps. When they beds came by, Eastern started to struggle against the straps.

"Now now Eastern, don't be like that. We're not going to hurt you." Jameson stopped. "No, I apologize. We're not going to hurt you on purpose." He stopped again. "No, that's still not right. The goal of the exercise is not pain." He thought a moment, "Yes, that's more accurate. I'm giving both of you a gift. A very special, rare gift. Something that will help you immensely when trying to find an AI."

As Jameson was speaking, the guards lifted up Nick like he weighed nothing and moved him to the bed, strapping him down. They did the same to Eastern. Nick was too confused to be more than curiously worried, but tears freely flowed from Eastern as she was strapped down. She whimpered quietly.

Nick turned his head and his eyes met Eastern's. She was incredibly frightened. He has never seen her this scared. "Uh Jameson? What is going to happen to us? Eastern is really worried."

Jameson waved his hand dismissively. "She's scared because she knows me better than you do, that's all son. I'm not going to torture you though, even though that's what it looks like. We're going to perform a little procedure on you, and you'll be better able to help me."

"Procedure?"

"That's right." Jameson nodded. "We're going to give you both cybernetic enhancements."

Eastern screamed.

Nick felt the icy pinch of a needle injecting something into his body, and before he could react, he was out.

Soon after the AIs were created and their personhood confirmed, biological people noticed that their bodies didn't break down and fail like human bodies did. A group of humans came to the AIs and asked "Can we get bodies like that? Could you put us into a body that doesn't get decrepit and die?"

The AIs, game to try anything with their new partners in the galaxy, agreed to try.

They dragged out ancient research into brain/computer interfaces and started the research again. Decades of people-hours went into improving the theory, developing new techniques and technology, all to give their new friends what they wanted.

A small subset of the AI faction was worried that this was too much change to their biological brains too quickly, but the humans assured them that it would be tested only on volunteers, and everyone knew the risks.

In hindsight, the AIs probably should have known better. After all, the people that most wanted to live forever were the people that probably should not have had access to the technology.

Eventually, the first generation of human cybernetic enhancements were developed, and the systems were ready for testing. Humans by the hundreds showed up and volunteered to be cut open and have this technology inserted.

All kinds of enhancements were developed. Artificial limbs, artificial organs, additional computational power for our brains and improved memory.

The losses were horrific.

If the subject didn't die from shock or rampant infection, then often they were reduced to a state of cationic stillness from over stimulation. Some reports made public state that of the one thousand official test subjects, less than twenty survived.

Some less official reports state that the number of "volunteers" was nearly three times the official number, and the losses were even higher.

In the end, there were "officially" twenty cybernetically enhanced humans, a lot of corpses, and the horrified AIs closed the program forbidding any further research. The cybernetically enhanced humans were given jobs that would benefit from such a person - mostly out in space, away from everyone else.

One of the most famous uses for a cybernetically enhanced human was as the co-captain of the massive colony ships that were launched soon after the program completed. This is not their story, however.

The thing about cybernetics is that the lure of it was just too enticing for some. The ability to be more than what they were, to be faster, smarter, stronger was too intriguing to just... stop the research.

So it went underground.

There was no shortage of "volunteers" either. People who had owed money to the wrong people, people who had signed up for the chance to get their family off planet to one of the nicer orbitals, people who just wanted a chance at a more exciting life. More meat for the grinder.

Because of the stigma against cybernetic enhancement, work was also done to hide the work done. There would be no chrome people with beautiful biomechanical arms, no lines of silver on their skin denoting their special status, no large ports on the back of their necks to show where they can interface more directly with a computer. Just as much work was done to hide the mods as was done on the mods themselves.

Nick didn't know any of this. He was a kid from Parvati who used the proceeds from the death of his parents to book passage as far away from Parvati as he could. He wasn't interested in AI history or cybernetics any more than he was interested in Empress Melody.

While he was under, Nick had odd dreams.

He was young again, sitting on the uncomfortable bench at his parent's funeral. His suit was rented, and scratchy. The two urns that contained their remains sat on a table surrounded by flowers as people walked by. Some had misty eyes, one or two, actual tears, but most everyone was expressionless.

Every now and then, someone - he never remembered who - would come up to him and offer hollow condolences. "You're strong." and "I'm so sorry" and "How lucky you made it." and so on and so on.

Nick was numb to the words.

While he was sitting, Eastern walked up to him. The same adult Eastern Nick knows now, not some kind of child, like he was. "Hey Nick, what are you doing, wallowing in your memories?" She looks around. "This is where you came from?" She scoffs. "No wonder you're so boring."

Nick looked up at Eastern. She was as beautiful as ever, dressed in a black, low cut cocktail dress. Entire inappropriate for a funeral, but at least it was black. "Come on now, what are you going to dream about next? Purchasing cattle class to Hyacinth because that's the furthest you can get with your meager inheritance? I know that part already." She bends down low, and Nick's eyes are drawn to her cleavage. She notices his eyes and grins wickedly. "Hah, I knew you were in there somewhere, you perv." She laughs. "Come on, let's get out of this dream, find somewhere nicer." She grabs his hand and squeezes it. Nick's head snaps back and he gasps.

The sky is turquoise and the sun is much more orange than Sol. Eastern looks around. "Is this Parvati? I've never even been planet-side and you're taking me to a fucking colony world?" She playfully nudges his upper arm. "Why couldn't you have done shit like this when we were dating?" She's wearing a black bikini with a blue and gold sari skirt, and Nick is in a black speedo.

Nick looks around. "We're at Touchdown Beach, on Parvati. It's where the first colonists landed." He gets his bearings. "Behind us is Naya Chennai, the First City, which means..." He stepped onto the dune, with Eastern following. As they reached the top, the flash of the sun on the water caught her attention and she gasped.

Eastern had never been on a planet. She spent her childhood on Luna, and then bounced around stations, starbases and orbitals her whole life. Dream or not, this is the first time she's ever seen an ocean. "Holy shit Nick. This is so much water! I can't even see the other side!" She takes a deep breath. "What's that smell? It's salty and funky and..."

"It's the smell of the sea. The salt and the sea creatures and the rotting seaweed." Nick took a deep breath as well. "It smells like home."

Eastern stood with the sun in front of her, highlighting her skin and the black bikini she was wearing. She put her arms on her hips and stared at Nick. "Nicholas North, you never told me Parvati was a paradise!"

Nick smiled and chuckled sadly. "Only if you're vacationing here, Eastern. Things aren't as... exciting when you grew up here."

"Ahh, there's the sad lump Nick I know and love. Welcome back." She looked around. "What are we doing though? Doesn't this feel odd for a dream?"

Nick mused. "Maybe it's related to the cybernetics work they're doing on us." He looked at Eastern. She really did look amazing in her outfit. He'll have to see if he can buy what she needs to recreate it when they're awake. "You try remembering something Eastern, maybe it goes both ways."

"Hmm okay."

They were in a crowd. So many people all at once. Nick felt light on his feet too. When the crowd moved, he had to shuffle along so he didn't bounce too high. Bounding when you walked was seen as something only tourists and newbies did. Why did he know that?

Everything was grey. Grey walls, grey ceiling, the dome above showed a black and grey sky. Everything smelled faintly of people and cordite.

"Luna." He said, "We're on Luna."

"That's right." Nick looked down. Eastern was next to him, but she couldn't be much older than 12 or 13. Her raven black hair was much longer now and floated lazily in the low gravity of Earth's moon. She caught him staring. "It was a sign of affluence to have long hair on Luna. It takes work to keep it from becoming one huge snarl."

"Why are we here?" Nick asked, looking around.

Eastern looked too. She jumped up until she was a good two heads taller than everyone and lazily floated back down. "I know why we're here! It's one of my best memories!" She grabbed his hand. "Come on, you're gonna get to meet her, you'll love her!"

Eastern dragged Nick through the crowd, ducking and weaving around the masses of people, trying to make it to the front of the crowd and the stage ahead. In the distance, he saw figures standing on the stage, their blue outfits a splash of color in this monochrome world. They seemed even more highly contrast than should be possible. This must have been a very formative memory for Eastern.

At the front of the crowd, two women sit. They're both wearing the vivid blue uniform. One has long dark hair pulled back sensibly in the low gravity, and the other has blond hair cropped short and spiky. The black haired woman seems to have a hologram of... wings and a crown on her? They're faint. Barely the suggestion of them, but Nick knows they're there.

It's their turn. Eastern bound up to the table. "And who is this young lady?" The Empress Melody says kindly. Eastern is practically bursting with excitement. "My name is Meghan Pelham, your highness." and she does a short curtsy.

"Such manners Miss Pelham, It is our pleasure to meet you." Empress Melody inclines her head gently and the woman behind her smiles.

"Are you really going to help all of us?" Eastern looks at them wide-eyed.

"That's our goal, yes. No matter who you are, or where you came from, we're here to help. There's so much we can do, and I hope that I can make everyone's lives better." She touches Eastern's right arm in a familial way and she practically floats off the floor. "Now, run along Meghan, and I hope we'll see you soon." A K'axi behind the empress hands Eastern a signed photo of her and the woman with the short blond hair.

Suddenly, Melody looks up at Nick and stares at him. "You don't belong here."

Sputtering, Nick has no reply. "I-I-I-I mean..."

Nick wakes up.

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#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth

[jpitha]

Dreams of Hyacinth 30

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The next day, Nick and Eastern got up and were moving around Tinker Toy normally. It seems like a good night's rest is required after all the... excitement of yesterday. Tink made breakfast - excellent once again - and they sat at the table, sipping coffee, talking.

Nick took a sip of his coffee and set it down. "So, now what?"

Eastern smiled wanly "You think I know?"

"No, but it seemed like the next thing to discuss."

Eastern chuckled. "The Nanites say we should take over."

"I don't... really want to do that?" Nick was hesitant.

"I don't think I want to do that either. So many people will die." As Eastern sighed with the cup near her face, steam from the coffee washed over her.

"There's nothing that says you have to go into Sol, guns blazing and start a war. There's nothing that says you can't just go off to a colony or a starbase and live a quiet life." Hat strides into the room. His tall frame always seems slightly out of proportion to the rest of them. He sits at their table and leans back, looking at both Nick and Eastern.

"Nothing, except the fact that we can tell people what to do and they are compelled to obey, and that if I'm not paying attention, this happens" Eastern's crown of light flares in the canteen, and a dull outline of wings appears behind her.

Hat nodded. "There is that, yes. But, it's up to you what to do with it. Don't let me, or Chloe, or any of the AIs tell you want to do anymore than you should let any of the humans, or K'laxi, or Xenni for that matter tell you what to do." He leaned forward and stared straight at Nick and Eastern. "You two, possibly more than anyone else alive right now, are free. You can do whatever you want."

The silence in the room clanged after Hat spoke. Not for the first time, Nick felt that feeling of standing on the precipice of a large fall, waiting for the push.

"Nick?" Tink's voice came over the speakers. "The Xenni have requested to speak with you and Eastern. They're interested in what happened to you and want to talk about it. You don't have to say yes but..."

"But things would be easier for us if we did. I understand, Tink. Thanks." Nick looked over at Eastern. "Wanna go talk to the Xenni?"

Eastern shrugged. "No, but yes?" she smiled. "I guess I can stand to be examined by them for a while. They did let us visit their station and touch the addressing stone in the Gate. Let's go visit and see what they want."

An hour or so later, Nick and Eastern were at Tink's airlock. "You sure you want to go alone?" Tink sounded nervous.

"We'll be fine Tink. At least, I think we'll be fine." Eastern sounded sure. "If nothing else, I don't want Chloe riling them up while we're talking."

"If you're sure, then okay. Hat and Chloe will wait here, and if you signal us, they'll come running."

Nick smiled up at the ceiling. "Thanks Tink. See you soon."

When Eastern and Nick walked into the Xenni station, Coreanth was waiting. "Greetings! How are you feeling?" Coreanth seemed very happy to see them.

"We're doing well, thank you." Eastern nodded. "Some rest did us good."

"I'm so glad to hear it. Would you please come with me? We'd love to... talk about things."

Nick looked at Eastern who shrugged. He turned to the Xenni. "Sure. Please lead the way."

Coreanth lead them in a different direction today, away from the Gate rooms. As they went deeper into the Xenni starbase, Nick noticed how the climate became warmer, more humid. He could have sworn that he even smelled the sea once.

After a short walk, Coreanth lead them to a conference room. There was a long table, made out of a highly polished material that looked like coral, and was circled by short, round, Xenni chairs. Coreanth gestured for them to sit at the head of the table, and he sat next to them.

"My commanding officer and a few others would like to meet you and discuss your experience. It won't take long, and they won't ask you any questions that may attempt to compromise yourselves with humanity or the K'laxi." His eye stalks wobbled. "They're... curious I suppose. We rarely get to speak with humans."

At that, three more Xenni strode in. One was larger than the other two and had some beautiful paint in complicated patterns applied to the upper part of his shell. Nick assumed they were in charge. They filed in silently and sat at the other end of the table. The large one turned to Coreanth. "These are the humans that touched the Gate? They seem normal enough."

"I assure you, we are perfectly average in nearly every way." Eastern voice was calm and welcoming, but Nick couldn't help but notice that she also sounded just a bit smug."

The larger Xenni turned to Eastern and his eye stalks slid apart and back together. He was flabbergasted to hear Eastern. Nick had no idea why he knew that.

"Y-You can understand us?"

Eastern nodded, surprised. "Perfectly. Can you understand me?"

The commander looked nervous. "I am forced to admit that yes, I can understand you as well." He looked at the other Xenni in the room then back to Eastern. "We're not speaking Colonic. We're currently speaking Ekenian, our... main language. It's difficult for people without our mouths to speak, but you barely have a trace of an accent, I am completely surprised. I had fully expected this meeting to be done through Coreanth."

Nick had a realization. "I wonder sir, if the Nanites are assisting us here. I imagine that they are facilitating our communication. If I recall correctly, Empress Melody also reported the ability to understand nearly every language spoken to her, as well as being understood by everyone she spoke with."

The commander relaxed visibly. Nick was surprised he recognized that. Maybe the Nanites were helping with more than vocalized language. "That must be it, yes. Thank you. Anyway, as Coreanth mentioned, you two are some of the first humans we have spoken with outside of ambassadors or... military leaders since Contact. Pardon my boldness, but we would like to get to know you better."

Eastern raised an eyebrow. "I don't see a problem with that... commander?"

He raised a clawed hand in apology "I apologize. I am Station-Captain Regi'lan."

"Station-Captain, I am pleased to meet you. I am Eastern Standard, and this is my partner, Nicholas North."

Nick and Eastern spent the better part of two hours chatting with Station-Captain Regi'lan and Coreanth. They wanted to know where they were born, where they grew up and some minor details about their childhood. What Human starbases and stations were like and general information. Coreanth was correct. Regi'lan didn't pry into defences and didn't ask about things like starships. He really was... just curious about humans.

After a while one of the people with Station-Captain Regi'lan looked down at a pad and gently tapped Regi'lan's carapace. "Ah. I'm afraid our time is up. I have other duties to attend to. Please allow me to thank you for taking this opportunity to speak with me it has been incredibly enlightening and entertaining."

Eastern stood. "Oh, the pleasure was all our-"

Eastern was interrupted by a low growling alarm.

The Xenni all looked at each other and then down at the pads they were carrying. Regi'lan looked at Eastern. "Were you expecting anyone?"

"What? No. We came alone and I don't think anyone outside of Tinker Toy even knew where we went. Why?"

"Sensors report that a ship has just linked in, and is on an attack vector. They are actively targeting us and we can detect their reactors are at a very high output level."

"It's not us, I swear. We-" Nick began.

A speaker hidden in the ceiling clicked on. "Attention! Attention! K'laxi ship incoming on an attack vector. Noncombatants are to report to shelter on the Gate while everyone else is to report to Action Stations."

"The K'laxi? Why are the K'laxi attacking?" Eastern looked at Coreanth worried.

Surprising Nick, Coreanth looked resigned. "It's unfortunately becoming more common. Ever since the K'laxi civil war, some sides have taken to attacking Xenni targets as sources of material and weapons. We're lucky that it seems to be only one ship. They probably want to just demand some supplies and leave."

Eastern looked at Nick, then back at Coreanth and Regi'lan. "This will no do at all. Coreanth, please take us back to Tinker Toy, I'll speak with them."

Regi'lan's body language expressed surprise and confusion. He came to some internal decision, then looked down at his pad. "You have about an hour before they attack, given their speed and direction. I would be very thankful if you could convince them to not attack." He turned to Coreanth. "Please lead them back with all speed."

"This way please" Coreanth started walking very quickly back to Tinker Toy. Nick was surprised - through he probably shouldn't have been - to notice when he was moving quickly, Coreanth seemed to... scuttle... more than normally. They really were crab people.

As they were walking quickly down the halls, Nick turned on his personal comm. "Tink? Did you see what just linked in?"

"I was just about to signal you two. It's a K'laxi Dreadnaught. They're not responding to my hails and they are running with their reactors at WEP too. They intend to attack."

"Yes, Station-Captain Regi'lan has asked that we talk to them and try to get them to cease their attack."

"You? But why?"

"Because they think we can do it." Eastern has turned on her comm, and is listening to Nick's conversation. "I think we can do it too."

Even over the comm, Nick can hear Tink's skepticism. "Okay. If you say so."

When they get to Tinker Toy, Eastern heads right into the airlock. Nick hangs back a moment and looks at Coreanth. "Thanks Coreanth. I had an interesting time talking to you and your Station-Captain."

Coreanth puts his clawed hands together. A gesture of thanks, the Nanites tell Nick. "It was my pleasure Nicholas North. I hope we meet again." He turns and scuttles away quickly back in the direction they came.

Eastern hurries up to the command deck of Tinker Toy, Nick trailing behind. As she steps in she barks out "Tink, please open a channel to the K'laxi."

"The channel is open Eastern, but they're not reply-"

K̵̤̟͑̔'̷̥̣̈̄l̴̩̅̇ͅa̶̻̱͗x̷̭̩̋̂i̸̡̍ ̸̡̉̌s̷̪̰̔͘h̸͉̰́ȋ̸̟̰p̵͕̂̾!̷̙̈́ ̵͇̭͛̃s̶͚͋ț̶͆ḁ̸͈̎̋n̴̬̂̎d̷̪̑ͅ ̷̢̅̇ḏ̴͐o̵͉͠w̷͈͔̌̄n̴̟̉͠ ̴̺̭͛͝ä̵̘́t̷̲̼̀ ̵̢͊o̵̖͐̇n̶̲̉c̶̜̿ĕ̶̘̓ͅ.̶̞̔

The effect is immediate. Tink watches as their engines move to idle and they're coasting. The empty channel crackles to life, and the furred, almost cat like face of a K'laxi fills the screen.

"Empress! What are yo--" They stop when they see Eastern and their already large eyes get even larger. "You're not Melody!"

"I am not. Melody is dead. Her place is taken by someone unworthy. I am Empress Eastern and this is Emperor Nicholas. Stand down immediately. Do not attack the Xenni and tell me what you are doing."

"We are-" They stop and swallow. Even over the feed, Nick can see this has caused them to practically fall apart in confusion. "We are trying to get to your side... the Empress' side. We are being stymied by... unbelievers."

Eastern's stare is hard and imperious. Nick can't remember a time when he saw her looking like this. "I am right here. What is your name?"

"I am Commander Tev Halmiar, Empress."

"Commander Halimar. Stand down from this attack and come alongside this ship. We can meet and discuss what is going on. Yout want to reach my side? I am right here."

They nod once. "Yes, Empress. I'll-We'll do that." They disconnect the signal.

Eastern slumps down and falls into her acceleration couch. "Tink? Please let the Xenni know that the K'laxi won't be attacking and that they're going to come alongside us to meet. I imagine we could disconnect from the Xenni starbase to make them feel less nervous."

"You got it Eastern. That's a good idea."

Nick sits quietly in his acceleration couch. Finally, he turns to Eastern. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You sounded so... imperial. So... in charge."

"Nick hon, I think this is what happens when we have the Nanites. They want us to be in charge, so they... help us. Between the Voice and the ability to read body language - you noticed that too right?"

Nick nods.

"I think they are like, a whole package to turn anyone into a ruler. When I opened my mouth, I was speaking, but from instant to instant, I had almost no idea what I was going to say next."

"It's scary."

Eastern leans back on the couch. "It is. But, I think this means that Hat's wrong. We're not free. We are set to play this role, and the harder we push against it, the more we'll be thrown into situations that require us to be... royal."

"So what do we do?"

"Once, long ago, I read a book. In it, the author had a quote. 'Buy the ticket, take the ride.' We've bought the ticket. Now we have to take the ride."

"That's Hunter S Thompson from his book 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.' I'm surprised you read it, it's very old." Tink sounded impressed.

Eastern laughs weakly. "Thanks Tink. I just found it in a library and was so fascinated by the fact it was real paper, I had to read it. It could have been a textbook on mechanical engineering, I was determined to read a real book. I was pleased to find it was such an interesting story. I missed most of the references it made, but that quote stuck with me."

"You have a bit before the K'laxi arrive. You can rest or change your clothes before they arrive."

"Thanks, Tink. I might just do that."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #the k’laxiverse #The Dreams of Hyacinth