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jpitha · 8 months

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Humans Solve Problems With Explosions

Frank and Mel'iarr are sitting together in the common area of the Starbase, chatting. They have been fast friends ever since they were paired together on the Starbase Fire Brigade. Mel was fascinated about humans, and Frank was willing to indulge him when he asked questions... most of the time.

Mel'iarr puts down his tea. "Frank, the Humans have been in space a long time right?"

Frank nods and sips his cocoa. "That's what they tell us in school."

"So that means you've probably tried just about every method of propulsion in space, yeah?"

"Actually, yes! This was one of my favorite topics as a kid. I must have absorbed everything I could find about it."

"Oh, so you could talk to me about your historical propulsion systems! Do you mind if we talk about them?"

Frank looks at his friend, surprised. "I'd love to, but why?"

"To settle a bet." Mel'iarr picks up his chamomile tea and glances at it. With a flick of his ears - like a shrug - he tosses his tea back, finishing it. "You didn't jump to thrusters immediately and I know humans can be really inventive, so I assume you had some unusual ideas you tried out."

"Hmm. Okay, how about the Nuclear Salt Water Rocket?"

Mel'iarr chokes on his tea. Frank jumps up and pats his back. Mel holds up a hand and sputters. "The what?"

"Oh yeah, it's a great one! Take nuclear fuel, dissolve it in water, and then concentrate it to just under criticality - that's the point where fission takes place - and then squirt it into a chamber where it can achieve criticality and bam! Fission. Now, shoot that now superheated steam and heat from the reaction out the back, and you're making thrust."

Unconsciously, Mel'iarr leans back in his chair. "But, that's just sounds like a nuclear bomb that-"

"-That's going off all the time out the back yeah. Worked really well." As he talks, Frank becomes more animated. He's gesturing and his eyes are shining. Mel'iarr's tail flicks worriedly. "It was tough to get the pipes lined up correctly to not cause an early criticality incident, but we figured that out - mostly - before we started using them. Only a few blew up, but when they did, hoo boy. You could see it practically everywhere in the system."

Mel'iarr ears flatten. "Wow. Um, okay. That was a bit more... intense than I figured. Do you have another one that's less..." He thought for a moment. "Insane?"

Frank looks off into the middle distance. "Oh! I know one! It's an old one, but I always liked imaging using it. It's so old that it predates us leaving Earth entirely. An Orion Engine."

Mel'iarr relaxes. "That doesn't sound so-"

Franks gesturing nearly knocks over his cocoa. "I love this one, it's so simple and elegant. You just make hundreds and hundreds of small nuclear bombs, shoot them out the back one at a time, detonate them, and ride the pressure wave forward and repeat!"

Mel'iarr's fur poofs out angrily and his ears flick forward. "No. You're lying. You're just making that up."

"I'm not! Look!" Frank takes a moment to search on his pad, and brings up an archive video to show Mel.

While they're talking, Mel'iarr's other human friend, James walks by. James and Mel'iarr work together in Environmental Processing. With the Starbase's low population, Frank knows him too, but they're not especially good friends. Mel'iarr gestures to the human. "James! You have to help me!"

James looks down and the small, worried K'laxi. "Of course Mel, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Pen'men said that I couldn't find a problem that humans don't solve with explosions. I was speaking with Frank - from the Fire Brigade - and he started describing old human space propulsion systems that make me think that humans solve every problem with explosions."

James raised an eyebrow. "I mean space propulsion is by definition explosion based. That's a wild place to start, Mel. But okay, we can think of something." As they're thinking, Kerry walks by. She works in the infirmary and plays pickleball with James. "Kerry! Give me a problem that we don't solve with an explosion."

"Uh, a fire." Kerry offers.

Mel'iarr shakes his head sadly. "No, you've used explosions to blast oxidizer away from a fire, putting it out."

Kerry blinks, impressed. "Woah, neat! Hmm. cooking?"

Mel'iarr's ears droop. "There's a ancestors cursed grain that explodes when you cook it!"

"Oh popcorn, right." James sits down next to Frank and Mel and gestures for Kerry to join them.

"Oh! I've got one. Negotiation! Frank crosses his arms and looks satisfied.

Mel'iarr gives him a look. "I thought of that. What about intimidating the other side with an explosive based show of force?"

"Damn! I thought I had it there. Okay okay...." Frank picks up his cocoa, long gone cold, and takes a sip.

James casts his head around the room. "What about welding?"

"Welding?"

"Yeah, that's done with heat and electricity, but not explosions."

"I'm sorry James, I couldn't help overhearing." The Starbase AI cuts in "But humans have welded with explosions. It's a known method in welding two dissimilar metals in extreme environments."

Frank sits up and looks over at the Starbase interface screen. "Woah, really? That's so cool!"

"Frank, focus please." Mel'iarr says. "We're looking for non-explosive solutions."

"What about medical issues?" Kerry says. "There can't be a lot of call for explosions there."

Frank nods. "Hmm, now we might be onto something. What do you think Starbase?"

"Searching."

A moment goes by and Mel'iarr allows himself a moment's hope that he has finally found a solution that doesn't involve explosions.

"Results found. Mel'iarr, the humans use Nitroglycerin - an explosive - to treat heart disease."

All of Mel'iarr's fur poofs out in surprise. "THEY DO WHAT?"

"It helps prevent chest pains as a result of heart disease according to my records."

Kerry holds up her hands. "Wait. Wait wait wait. If we're counting nitroglycerins then we have to count electricity which can be generated by explosions."

"How in the name of my Ancestors do you generate electricity from explosions? Mel'iarr slumps back into his chair, defeated.

"We don't as much now, but electricity is generated from spinning a magnetic field, right? We had reciprocating engines that worked off of the explosion of refined hydrocarbons for hundreds of years."

James looks at Mel and narrows his eyes. "How did you do it at first Mel? You can't tell me you never developed reciprocating engines."

Mel'iarr Looks up at James. "No, we did, but they're different, they use temperature differential. Starbase, what's the human word for them?"

"Stirling engines, Mel'iarr. Humans did develop them, but they decided that the exploding way was preferable."

Mel'iarr puts his head in his hands. "I don't know what's worse! That you have an exploding solution to every problem or that you both think they're all really neat!

"I can't help it Mel'iarr, explosions are cool." James looks kindly at his friend.

Kerry agrees. "It's probably why it's used as a solution so often."

After the evening meal on that same day, Mel'iarr walks over to Pen'men while she's on her shift in Traffic Control, and silently hands her some currency.

Pen'men looks up from her console and stares at Mel'iarr.

Mel'iarr shakes his head. "You were right. They solve every problem with explosions."

"Told you."

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #writing #sci fi writing #humans are space capybaras #humans are space oddities #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #humans solve problems with explosions #jpitha

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jpitha · 7 months

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Drives like Crazy

So, humans have this thing where they underestimate risks that are long term, and overestimate risks that are short term. Since we come from such a dangerous world, it kind of makes sense. In the deep recesses of the past, if you were overly wary about that bear over there, you were more likely to survive. But eating healthy all life long to avoid heart disease? That's a problem for Tomorrow Me.

It could be that Xenos that come from less dangerous words have a different view of risk than we do, and would be... concerned by the things that we do all the time because we underestimate their risk.

****

"Set helm to manual, I have control." Jesse's voice was smooth and confident as she sat forward in the leatherette upholstered seat on the command deck. A joystick and a panel with buttons rose out of the floor as foot pedals rose up to meet her booted feet.

"Captain, I would like to register a concern." Unity said. They were the transport freighter that Jesse was now controlling, and they were clearly against this.

"Your concern is registered and noted" Jessie didn't stop setting up the controls. "But as you are aware, manual controls must be tested and verified working quarterly."

Mer'ally, the chief engineer, and unofficial voice of the K'laxi crew onboard Unity turned from her station and looked at Jesse. "I mean, Unity has a point. While we do have to test the manual control system, we don't have to test it while coming to dock at Hyacinth during one of the busiest times of the year."

Jesse's smile was thin and strained. "Once again, your concern has been noted." Jesse's eyes flicked up to the K'laxi staring at her. Mer'ally was unusually tall for a K'laxi, she was nearly Jesse's height. Her reddish orange fur complimented her large green eyes. With her large expressive ears flicking as she spoke her worries, Jesse couldn't help wonder why she was so distracted by her. She shook her head slightly. "Regardless. We have to test manual controls, and I want to practice docking with Hyacinth. We need to know how to pilot Unity in all situations, including docking."

Unity sighed. They weren't going to be able to talk her out of this. "As you wish, Captain, relinquishing control."

Jesse harumphed and got back to work. She ran the joystick in all directions, and everyone felt the ship wiggle in response. With a satisfied nod, Jesse adjusted the inertial compensators down a touch. She wanted to be able to feel the ship move, but not enough to get people motion sick. She nodded in satisfaction and looked up at the other people with her.

"Yen. Please request docking with Hyacinth."

"Aye Captain." Yen bustled at her station. Jesse wondered how she lucked out that all the officers on the command deck today were women, and once again had to push that thought out of her mind. She was on duty now.

After a moment Yen called out. "Docking approved. We're clear to dock on the lower ring, bay 33."

"Bay 33 aye." Jesse punched in the location on her control screen, and her vision was overlayed with the best path to the dock. She'll have to match rotation with Hyacinth, but since it's so large, they shouldn't have to go too fast. She goosed the thrusters and Unity started moving forward.

As they trundled towards bay 33, Jesse put Unity's controls through their paces. She gently rolled the ship to make sure the maneuvering thrusters worked correctly, she tumbled it end-over-end and she yawed it in place all the way around. It was actually a lot of fun. She could imagine the looks the other ships gave as Unity spun and pirouetted in place as it moved slowly towards their docking bay, but Jesse didn't care. Maybe she wanted to show off.

As the last maneuver finished, Jesse spun Unity such that with a few puffs from the main drive they'd match rotation with Hyacinth and being docking. Right before she fired the main drive, her console squawked.

"Collision imminent! Collision imminent! CHANGE DIRECTION NOW"

"What?" Jesse pulled hard on the joystick, and the front thrusters fired, sending the noise high while also stopping their forward momentum. With the compensators set low, everyone lurched forward in their seats. In the distance, Jesse heard a crash as something tipped over.

Unity called out. "Captain! There's a Starjumper that's thrusting away from Hyacinth without getting departure permission. Hyacinth is firing on it, and it's coming this way!"

"Why would they be shooting at a Starjumper?" Mer'ally's tail flicked. "Did they skip out on their docking fee?"

"Doesn't matter why right now." Yen didn't move her head from her console. "Comms are screaming with people yelling at them. They're not responding to anyone. They're on the run."

Jesse's screen was filled with the sight of one of the gigantic old interstellar starships bearing down on them. Orange lights of the tracers from the slug launchers oh Hyacinth were zipping past them. She felt ice in her veins as she realized that the Starjumper was going to hit them unless she did something drastic. An instant later, the collision alarm screamed loud again in the ship.

Jesse toggled ship-wide comms. "Juke charges! Brace for shock!" She fired the juke charges; small emergency explosives fired out of Unity and immediately exploded with their characteristic double boom. The area around the juke charge launchers were reinforced and bowl shaped to catch as much of the energy from the explosion as possible. The blast pushed the ship away with a lurch just as the Starjumper and slugs from Hyacinth passed where they were not a second ago.

"Hold tight everyone, I'm going get us away from here" Jesse's hands and feet danced over the panel as she increased power and started to thrust away. With the compensators still turned down, everyone felt the sickening drop as Unity dove and spun and turned as they were trying to get away from the attack.

"Jesse! You're too close to that ship!" Unity didn't even bother to call her Captain. Jesse saw the ship that Unity mentioned almost too late. She came hard on the portside thrusters and everyone held their breath as they glided by the ship.

"You were close enough to scorch their paint Jes-Captain." Mer'ally sighed in relief and grinned.

"The important thing is we missed, Mer." Jesse looked up and flashed a smile and a wink. Mer'ally quickly turned back to her station, but not before a ripple of fur went down her body, a K'laxi blush.

Unity sounded testy. "Captain. The danger has passed and you have more than proven your piloting ability as well as the function of the manual controls. Can I please have the helm?"

Jesse leaned back from her station and stretched. She was concentrating so hard it felt like no time at all had passed. "All right Unity. I release the helm. You have control."

"Aye Captain. Resuming docking with Hyacinth."

Now all Jesse had to do was wait for docking to complete and stress about whether she could ask Mer'ally out on a date. Unity was a civilian ship and they all worked for Houndstooth, one of the major Sol based corporations, so it wasn't like they had to worry about a higher ranked officer hitting on a lower ranked one, but Jesse still worried. She might say no. It was going to be a long wait to dock.

#writing #humans are space orcs #humans are deathworlders #humans are space oddities #humans and aliens #jpitha #sci fi writing #the k'laxiverse #humanity fuck yeah #hfy

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jpitha · 5 months

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Same as it ever was

"Ugh, this coffee is awful!" Daniel makes a face after he takes a sip. "What is this, hazelnut? Did the person who signed off on this flavor ever try a hazelnut in their life?"

"Come on Dan, it can't be that bad." M'erian rolled her eyes and flicked her ears.

Dan sipped it again and winced. "No, seriously Mer, if you could drink coffee I'd have you try this. It's impressively bad."

"Is that why you keep drinking it? Out of some sense of admiration for someone who could make coffee that bad?"

Dan shrugged. "It's still caffeine. There isn't anything else onboard until we reach a Starbase and resupply. Maybe some creamer will help." Dan gets up and bustles in the kitchenette. A moment later, his coffee noticeably more buff colored, Dan returns to the seat. He sips again and frowns, but is no longer wincing. "That will have to do."

M'erian sipped her tea and enjoyed her time listening to Dan complain. He did it often enough that she was thankful she found it charming instead of annoying.

While they were chatting, Uumer walked in. They were a Sefigan, from this universe, and Daniel was still surprised when he saw them. He could only describe them as looking kind of like teddy bears.

Teddy bears with retractable ten centimeter claws. They were lacquered a deep blue and highly polished.

“You are making a gesture Daniel, I recognize it from the humans in our world. What is wrong?”

“It’s his coffee” M’erian gestures “It tastes terrible.”

Uumer’s ears twitched. “Oh? You can consume caffeine? It is highly toxic for us.”

M’erian shakes her head, a human gesture. “No, but Daniel was telling me about it. It’s ‘hazelnut’ and he doesn’t like it.”

“No, it’s called hazelnut. It tastes nothing like actual hazelnuts. I think you can consume them M’erian, I’ll see if I can get some next time we’re at a station.”

"Daniel, I apologize for the quality of the coffee, it was ordered by Captain Reynolds." Universal Solvent sounded apologetic. Captain Reynolds was the previous captain on Solvent. For this trip, it was just Daniel ,M’erian, Uumer, a few more Coalition races and Solvent themselves.

Daniel made another face. “Did he like this? Or was he just trying to punish his crew?”

“I seem to recall him saying it was his favorite. I also seem to recall that most of the other human crew members brought their own coffee with them.” A tone sounded throughout the ship. “Daniel, M’erian, Uumer. I must ask you to retire to your acceleration couches on the Command Deck. I am alerting the rest of the crew as well. Maneuvers will being in one hour.”

Sighing, Daniel finished his terrible coffee, and takes the time to rinse out the cup and secure it in the cabinet. They make their way through the empty ship.

Universal Solvent is a Starjumper, one of the largest human built ships in space. Only the dozen or so colony ships built for humanity to spread out in space were larger. One of the reasons it’s so large is that their design predates the development of wormhole generators. They were originally designed to ‘jump’ between the stars at half the speed of light with passengers in hibernation and enough cargo to make the trip worthwhile. These days they all have wormhole generators installed and can link from location to location like any other craft, but they’re still seen as high status spacecraft.

And sometimes they’re the only ones that can do the job.

Like, for example, if one wanted to demonstrate a relativistic impactor to the Gren. Daniel was surprised to learn that the humans in this universe developed their version of the wormhole generator - called a Flip Drive - before they ever needed to develop relativistic flight. They don’t have Starjumpers and never needed to accelerate towards the speed of light.

After the Gren came through the Gate, they fought the humans and K’laxi on that side to a standstill. The truce was tenuous and it was decided that a demonstration was needed to remind the Gren - and the Coalition - what the humans from Daniel’s dimension could do.

Daniel thought it was all a little bit dramatic and overblown, but at least they were just going to strike a planetoid in the Gren’s system. Long range scans had indicated that it was dark and cold and wasn’t a secret base or anything. Just a large rock.

As Daniel was secured in his acceleration couch, he connected to Solvent and made sure everyone else was secure. Solvent had inertial compensators, but at the speeds they were going, even a slight error in compensation would cause damage or death to anyone outside the safety of the couch. It was a bit of work to get the Sefigans and other Coalition species to interface with the couches, but humanity’s experience with the K’laxi helped.

“Daniel, everyone is in their chairs and secure. We can begin when ready.”

Connected to Solvent, Daniel was able to look through their sensors. They were currently boosting at 2gee and running at around 75% C. “Okay Solvent. We’re going to do to links back to back, so we’ll need War Emergency Power. Do you want me to say the phrase?”

“Only if you want to Daniel. I know how to work my own reactors.”

Daniel chuckled. In the old days, Captains would order the ship AI to release War Emergency Power, which would disable all fuses and limiters to the reactors. This would give the ships a tremendous amount of power for a short amount of time. It also increased the risks of the reactors destroying themselves. These days, relations with AIs are better, and most commanders know that the ships know themselves better than the commanders do. Ordering the release of War Emergency Power is seen as a bit old fashioned. “I’m good Universal Solvent. Please use your own discretion vis a vis power.”

“Aye Daniel. I will be releasing War Emergency Power for the duration of the exercise.”

At that, Daniel could feel, rather than hear the reactors. There was this noise or feeling that set his teeth on edge. It rose in tone and intensity until it almost sounded like a whistle at the edge of hearing. Uumer reached out over the ship’s comm channel “What is that noise? Is something broken?”

“Nothing to worry about Uumer, I have removed the fuses and limiters from my reactors. I need the additional power for our maneuvers.”

“You can do that?”

“Oh yes, but the risk of critical catastrophic failure is much higher now. Once we’re done, I’ll take things back to normal.”

Uumer didn’t say anything, but Daniel could feel how impressed he was.

“Daniel, we will link in 10 seconds.”

“Thanks Solvent. Once we’re back in real space, release our impactors and drop camera beacons. We’ll then link back and begin braking.”

“Aye. 5 seconds.”

They Linked.

One of the things that humans of this dimension don’t like to mention is that while their wormhole generator is considered to be much more accurate and robust than a Flip drive, it does require quite a bit more power and also has this… side effect.

About one in one thousand people who use the drive experience something like death while they’re in between points of reality.

Humanity on this side has been dealing with it for nearly a millennium and by now is mostly used to it. Sure, it frightens folks when it first happens, but like they say, you’d be surprised what you can get used to.

In fact, it’s so commonplace that they often forget to tell people that it happens.

Uumer is on his back. He feels the warm grass and bright sun. Blinking he sits up. It looks like… home. More than that, it looks like his homeworld, or at least the descriptions of it that he’s read. He’s never been there. He’s on a wide savanna. In all directions is a sea of golden grass. As he stands, a breeze picks up and the grass undulates and moves like water. Someone approaches. Another Sefigan. “You made it!” They throw their arms forward and tumble towards him in greeting. Bewildered, but happy to see someone like him, he reciprocates the gesture, a traditional greeting. “Thank you brother, but where am i?”

The other Sefigan’s ears waggle. “Brother, you are dead.”

Uumer comes back, strapped into his acceleration couch. He blinks back tears. In the moment he’s struck by a thought. The humans keep their eyes clean this way too, they also cry. “D-Daniel.” Uumer’s voice is unsteady. “What happened?”

“Uh, we linked into Gren space Uumer. We just released the camera beacons and the impactors. We’re going to link away in a second. Can your question wait?”

“Yes.”

They link away.

When they’re back in human controlled space, Solvent begins the long deceleration process. It’ll take another month to slow back down relative to their departure and be able to link to another starbase. The camera beacons caught the demonstration perfectly. The three impactors struck the planetoid at 75% C and completely obliterated it. Supposedly the flash was seen with unaided eyes by the Green Fleet Command themselves. Publicly, they declared it an unwarranted provocation. Daniel will have to wait until they’ve come to a halt and linked home to learn what - if anything - they said privately about it.

After all the excitement calms down, Uumer goes to find Daniel. He’s back with M’erian in the lounge and they’re snuggled together watching something on his pad. “Uh, Daniel?”

Daniel looks up with a start. “Oh! Hi Uumer, what did you think of the run?”

“I uh, had a question about that actually. You know that was my first link ever?”

“Oh that’s right, you would have Flipped or FlashWarped over to the starbase.” His eyes go wide. “Oh no, did you…”

“I did Daniel. Did I actually die?” Uumer’s claws are sliding in and out of their sheaths.

“Uh well, nobody really knows. It happens to us too, and the K’laxi-“ He starts idly stroking M’erian. “-but our philosophers can’t come to an agreement about whether it’s real or not.”

“Does it happen to you?”

“No, fortunately. It’s only about one in one thousand that it happens to.”

Uumer is shaking slightly, “and you’re okay with that? With a small percentage of people dying when you use the wormhole generator?”

“Uumer. For one, they all come back. For two, most report that other than the surprise, it was a pleasant experience. And for three, we’re not about to give up on a way to shrink the distance between the stars over something like that. It’s fine.”

“Uumer, it’s a scary thing. Some people in my familiar group experience it too. But really, it’s normal here. Everyone gets used to it, and if they don’t then…” M’erian’s ears flick. “They make other arrangements. They either stick to worlds they can reach via Gate, or stay in one system, or hibernate for the trip. There are options. Especially now that you and the Coalition is here. We can see if we can work out FlashWarp technology, or build our own Flip drives.”

Uumer looks at both of them. How comfortable they look. How much they enjoy being together. He’s overcome with a flash of jealousy and disgust. His ears droop. “I thought I understood humans and that over here they’d be the same as over there. I’m beginning to wonder about that.” He turns and leaves the lounge.

M’erian and Daniel share a look. He shrugs and smiles and flicks her ears and they go back to their video.

#humans are deathworlders #writing #humans and aliens #jpitha #humans are space oddities #humans and ai #sci fi writing #the k'laxiverse #the grenverse #humans are space orcs #humanity fuck yeah #hfy

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further

I woke with a start. I was going to be late! Today of all days!

I slept through my alarm, my backup alarm, and according to Starbase Picaresque, 5 minutes of him pinging me, trying to wake me up.

"I was about to call the infirmary, Melody. I was sure there was something wrong." He said.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" I said as I threw on my clothes. Fortunately, Vin'aren wouldn't leave until I was completely packed last night. I wouldn't have been done otherwise. Running a comb through my hair - luckily it was a fresh, cute short cut so it wasn't too bad - I grabbed my uniform jacket and glanced longingly at my kitchenette.

"There isn't time to make coffee." SP said.

I sighed. "I know. It's just..." I ran over to the kitchenette, grabbed my hand grinder, my brewer, my set of measuring cups, the scale and the airtight container of coffee and swept it into a bag. "I don't know what kind of coffee FarReach has, and I don't want to be a grump because they have bad coffee!"

SP sighed. "Really Melody? Fine. But you have to leave now unless you want me to get the Fire Brigade to bring you.

Starbase Picaresque was threatening me with having to get a ride from the only folks who have vehicles on board. The Fire Brigade uses them to carry hoses and equipment to a fire and sometimes bring injured people to the infirmary. If they brought me to the docking ring because I was late I would probably die of embarrassment.

"I'm going, I'm going!" I said, as I ran out the door, no breakfast and no coffee.

Hi, by the way. My name is Melody Mullen (ugh, I know) and I'm the information warfare officer on FarReach! The administration of Starbase Picaresque and the joint Human/K'laxi colony Zen'agan's Reach have sponsored our mission to travel the Warp Gates and go as far as we can!

Normally yes, humans would just use their wormhole generators and link to a location in space, it's instant and easy. And sure, a few people feel like they died and visited the afterlife, but not too many, and it's not like they get hurt. But before they met us, the K'laxi didn't travel that way. They'd use the Warp Gates and travel from gate to gate using an Addressing Module.

These days, K'laxi ships have both an addressing module and a wormhole generator. They actually bought the rights to build them from us and improved them! The newest Human ships have K'laxi wormhole generators and they're amazing! They use less power than ours do and they even have fewer people suffer side effects when they're used.

You know about the K'laxi right? They're the first sapient species we ever met! They're from a world that's smaller and lighter than ours, plus their planet is straight up and down, no tilt and their orbit is almost perfectly circular. That means they have no seasons! It's always a fall (for us) day there! I went once for vacation with my moms, it was kind of weird. We were there for a month and the weather was identical the whole time. They didn't even know what a meteorologist was until we explained the concept!

They're so cute looking too. They're shorter than us, and they have big expressive ears on the top of their head, a long fluffy tail that they can grab things with and fur all over! Someone said they kind of look like a cat or squirrel or fox person from comics and I guess I can see it, but they are definitely their own thing.

The crew of FarReach is about half K'laxi, they are a major sponsor of this expedition too. They share the work onboard with us.

Oh, I should mention FarReach too. She's an AI, and has been alive for nearly a thousand years, can you believe it? Humans and AI have been working together (mostly) harmoniously for two millennia. When AI take on a new ship, they name it and that becomes their name. I learned it's incredibly rude to call them by an old name, it's like deadnaming them. Oof. That was awkward. I apologized and She said it was okay and that I didn't know, but I think I was beet red for like three hours.

FarReach started out as a Starjumper, an old, old ship originally designed to go between human colonies at relativistic speeds. They were more than a thousand years old when the first wormhole generators were developed. They can thrust with their star drives at tens of gees when needed (though when there are biological people on board they keep the thrust around one gee) and they can cost through interstellar space at half the speed of light.

Before they were FarReach, the Starjumper was refitted at the Mt Greylock docks in orbit around The Reach. It's a brand new facility meant to bring the K'laxi and I closer together. Made up of Human and K'laxi facilities, it will enable us to work even closer together to design ships.

FarReach has more K'laxi parts than any Starjumper ever! They still have their stardrive and massive printers and hidden laser batteries (just in case) but a lot of the interior was refitted and reconfigured to be an exploration ship. There's a new information warfare suite (hello!) hibernation cabinets (just in case) and enough cabins for a dozen crew with room to expand later.

Speaking of which, I bet you're wondering why an exploration ship has an Information Warfare Suite (and your lovely Information Warfare Officer). We're not planning on going to war per se, but we don't know who we'll be meeting (if anyone) and how friendly they'll be. A few years back Venus decided they didn't like AIs and tried to apply applications to shackle them. They seemed to have dropped the rhetoric and aren't really making noises about being mean to AIs anymore, but the lesson was learned. Now, ships have an IWC (Information Warfare Community) which is a group of people who have the job of making sure that all the signals coming in are... safe.

We can also send out bad signals if needed, but we probably won't need to do that.

As I walk up only slightly out of breath, Captain Q'ari is standing there fielding questions from reporters. She sees me walk up late and flicks an ear, a K'laxi raised eyebrow. I salute and say "Apologies for being late Captain. Permission to come aboard?"

She returns the salute and says "Permission Granted Lieutenant Mullen. Please endeavor to be more punctual from now on." From her ears, I think she's annoyed, but not too annoyed.

"Yes Captain. Thank you." I say and head inside. I rush to my cabin and toss my belongings inside without even putting them away - I'll do it later. and rush up to the Command Deck. "Hi FarReach! I call out brightly as I walk onto the Command Deck. It's set up human style with the Commander's seat in the middle rear, and everyone sitting around them at their stations.

"Good of you to join us Melody." FarReach says wryly. "I was wondering if you were going to show up on the back of a Fire Brigade vehicle." There were chuckles from the other crew members. I'm known as being slightly late for things.

Just a little late.

It's really hard to be punctual, okay?"

"Har har, very funny FarReach. I made it, on my own even, and I managed to remember my coffee supplies." I said smugly.

"Good thing too" FarReach said "Because I just happen to know that there are thirty pounds of coffee from the mountains of Parvati that was loaded on just this morning."

I gasped. Parvati's mountain ranges were known for producing excellent coffee from the original Earth stock. It was a rare treat. "How did you manage that?" I asked, surprised.

"She didn't have anything to do with it, that was all me." A voice said behind me. I turned and Ambassador Vivenni was standing there, looking casually elegant. She wore a smarty tailored uniform of the K'laxi government and stood there with her hands on her hips. "I heard that some people here enjoy good coffee and I happened to know offhand of a shipment coming in, and was able to... ahem... ask for a donation to the cause." she said, her eyes shining.

I didn't think to ask where she learned so much about coffee, it's poisonous to K'laxi. Even decaf will mess them up. They do love tea though, and I'm sure the stores are packed with chamomile tea as well as other flavors.

"Thank you Ambassador!" I said gratefully. "It's so nice of you to think of us coffee drinkers."

She smiled "I know a bit about coffee thanks to my human friends and when I saw this go by, I couldn't help myself. Enjoy!" And she turned back to speaking with another officer.

Maybe this trip would be more fun than I had originally thought.

Part 2!

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space orcs #humans go on adventure #humans are space oddities #sci fi writing #writing #humans and ai #humans and aliens #the k'laxiverse #jpitha #just a little further

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 12

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Singing. Of course.

I sigh. I'm annoyed at all the attention, but really, I have only myself to blame. I'm the one that just had to touch the directory stone. I couldn't just like, not touch it, oh no.

I stand. "I'll go out and see them. Maybe I can get them to disperse or something before security comes. I have a feeling that the people in charge here aren't going to like this, and I'd rather not have people get beat up in front of us who are trying to worship me, and yes, it sounds odd to me when I say it out loud too." Smiles at that.

Selem stares at the screen, not even turning to face me. "Yes, thank you Melody, that's... probably a good idea"

Something seems off with her. It's like she's having a real hard time with the things going on. More so than the usual stress. Maybe I'll ask her about it later.

"Melody, are you going to don your pressure suit?" FarReach asks.

Ugh, it's still scratched! I haven't even gotten time to play with the "translator" let alone fix my suit. Nobody will give me a couple hours to myself to putter. If this is what being a Living God is, I don't want it.

Too late now though.

I make a snap decision. "No, I won't wear it this time. It's still scratched and we can breathe the air fine. Plus, I'll look less intimidating in my uniform" I gesture down. I'm in my regular ships uniform. Blue shirt, grey pants with sensible shoes. Only decoration is my rank on my shoulder, and my name tag in brass on my breast pocket.

"Are you sure Melody? Last time out they shot at you." FarReach sounds unsure. Hah, I wish FarReach had an avatar, maybe I could read her body language better too!

"I'll be fine Far, it's not like they'll try and kill their own god."

Omar chuckled darkly at that, and Kieran gave me a look. I wonder why.

I headed up to the airlock. It was a long walk from the Command Deck; the Command Deck was in the front of FarReach and the airlock more towards the middle, but now that I know this ship was built during a war, I wonder if it's so far away to help repel boarders.

When I get there, Gene is there already. He has popped open a weapons locker and is taking out a long range rifle. Not one of mine, but I know the model, it's decent.

"And just what do you plan on doing with that?" I ask.

"Captain said I should cover you." He replied without looking up. He was checking the rifle and examining the magazine. It's impeccable though, I was the one who cleaned and inspected it last.

"Cover me?" I said incredulously. "From what?"

This time he stopped and looked up at me. "Melody, have you noticed how Captain Q'ari has been acting lately? She's completely out of sorts and is having trouble making decisions. She wants to leave. Her sense of duty and not wanting to have blood on her hands is the only thing keeping her from ordering FarReach to blow the umbilical and attempt a link home."

I nodded. "I did notice that, yes. I think it's something else though. She started to... act differently when she learned that the people here think we're Gods."

Gene stopped and looked at me. "I didn't notice that." Hah! It's like I have a superpower. I can read people's body language so easily now. It's always been hard for me before and now I just... know. Gene went back to the rifle. "Well, we're not Gods. Just look at our history. I'd be more inclined to agree if they thought we were demons or something. That I can see. Anyway-" Check complete, Gene slots the magazine and racks the bolt." I'm going to stay on FarReach and watch you. I think you'll be fine, but it's foolish to go out there unarmed and with no backup when they've already shown us they're willing to shoot.

I wasn't going to win this one. "Fine." I said. "But stay out of sight, and keep that targeting reticle off my back."

"I'd never aim at you Melody, you know that."

Without answering, I turned and cycled the airlock. I stepped into the inner door with Gene and we waited for it to finish. The outer door opened and Gene got down on one knee and hunched in a corner, just out of sight while I walked down the short umbilical. I was feeling that giddy nervous feeling again. I hated all this attention, but I also loved it. Have you ever felt that? Ugh. I need a coffee.

I pressed the open button on the iris and the sound.

It was breathtaking.

There were way more people here than FarReach let on, and the mics by the airlock didn't pick up the richness of the sound. It must have been three hundred people standing there, all singing and swaying in time. Even with my nanotech, I didn't understand the words, it must just be sound.

I stepped out and stood there, taking in the wall of sound. It was very impressive to be the one hundreds of people were singing about. All at once, they noticed me and stopped. One of them, an Aviens wearing a... robe of pure white approached me.

I struggled at the description because yes, it's a robe but the cut is...

like a space suit.

With a beatific smile the Aviens said "Holy One! You heard our cries! You have come to us in this, our darkest hour! We are at your command!"

With that, he dropped to the floor, on his knees, his head scraping the floor. Everyone - and I mean everyone - followed him.

Oh no.

There they stayed, nearly shaking with joy. I mean, I guess if you were religious and God showed up, you'd be happy too? Ugh. I hate it.

"Rise please." I said "There is uh, no need to supplicate yourselves before me."

The Aviens stood up quickly and with a rustle of clothes and a clank of pressure suits everyone followed. "Oh, but Holy One, you are too kind. We know The Way. We know how you are to be treated." They said, nodding with each thing they said."

"Oookay" I said. "Why are you here then? What do you need? Oh, what's your name too?"

His feathers puffed out immediately when I asked his name. He was very proud. "I am known as The Smell of Soil after Rain and this-" he gestured behind him "-is my flock. We are more than three hundred strong here on this part of Reach of the Might of Vzzx and there are at least twenty more congregations across the the Might."

There are how many?

Oh no.

"That's... impressive to hear" I say worriedly. "The Smell of Soil after Rain, why is it you are here?"

He nods again "We're here to welcome you, of course! It's not every day a Holy One comes back to the World they have wrought to Right the Wrongs that have been put upon Us."

I hear a lot of proper nouns in his speech. This is going to be more trouble.

Just when I'm about to ask for clarification on which specific wrongs I'm supposed to Right, there's a commotion from the rear of the congregation. Turning, Rain and I look. There is a group of Mariens who are wearing a dark unifo- no, I look closer. Their skin has been colored to look like a dark uniform. That's a neat trick. More worryingly they are carrying batons and there looks to be another one of those pistol like weapons the Aviens shot me with earlier on a belt around their middle.

"Disperse! Disperse!" They shout. "This is an illegal gathering! All religious gatherings must be approved by the council of regents, this is known!"

Rain turns back to the security officers and shouts "Your tyranny will be tolerated no longer! The Holy One is here and stands before us! She hears our pleas! She and the other Builders have returned to liberate us. You will be as dust to them and they will take back their rightful place as ruler of the Known, the Unknown and the Unknowable!"

Wide eyed, I turn and stare at Rain. Then, I turn back and stare at the security guards. They actually are faltering. They believe it too! What is going on here?

From behind them, another Mariens, this time flanked with two of the insect people - I haven't leaned their name yet - approach. This Mariens's coloration is more complicated than the security guards. They are probably the supervisor. I do see that the insect people are carrying much larger weapons too. They're like a rifle, but the barrel on the end has no hole. I wonder if it's some kind of energy weapon.

"Enough!" They shout. "You will all disperse or you will be made to disperse. This-" they point at me "-person is no God. They are Not Holy."

Finally, someone speaking sense.

Rain's feathers fluff up and down, they're upset at that. "You blaspheme! She speaks the Tongue as if it were her own, She is a Builder! They comes in a mighty ship through the disabled Gates as if they made it themselves. She is Holy."

The boss, wavers, but only for a split second. I think I only noticed it because of my newfound ability to read everyone's body language. They have someone they fear more than me. "You must disperse!" He makes a clicking noise and the security guards take out their batons.

Rain crosses his arms and glares at the supervisor. "Make. Us."

Oh no. No no no no.

As I realize what's about to happen, I feel something. I get this overwhelming feeling that I need to not only stop them from fighting, but to demonstrate that Rain is right and the supervisor is wrong. I barely have any time to question the feeling when almost automatically I step between them.

"S̵̳̦͑́͋t̶̨͚̑o̸͎̎̂ṕ̴̹̦̚ ̵͍̜̳̔T̷̛͇̓̆ḩ̸̼̜̀̌͝ȋ̸͕̹̺s̷͚̻̬͋̿͆ ̸͓͊a̶̖̗̞̓͊͐t̶̨̜̒ ̷̝̝͎̄̒Ó̷̳͖N̶̢̬̜̕Ċ̸̱É̸͔̫̹͋̋"

My voice has an odd timbre. Everyone - and I mean ev-ery-one - stops and pivots to face me as if they are compelled to obey.

What's going on?

But, only a small part of my mind can wonder at what I'm doing. I'm on automatic now. With a righteous finger, I point at the supervisor. "Who are you that thinks they have the authority over me here. Who are YOU to threaten these sapients with harm over coming to sing and welcome a Builder. WHO ARE YOU to deny them their right to worship me."

As I yell, the supervisor shrinks down, and eventually is kneeling down head scraping the floor just like the congregation did when they arrived. "I-I-I am known as Gemeli H-H-Holy One" The answer is muffled by the ground.

What am I doing?

"Gemeli, you are out of your depth." I snarl.

Why am I taking like this?

My head snaps up and I look at the crowd. As I glare at them, they all shrink from my gaze.

The congregation looks like they just won the lottery though. They all are smiling and nodding.

I want to stop doing this, please.

I feel a breeze around me but I'm too wrapped up in what I'm doing to stop. It's probably just the wind or something.

I turn to face Gemeli but I'm speaking to the crowd again. "All who come before me have the right to worship. All who live here live at the pleasure of the Builders. All who work to usurp that right are known to Us as enemies. Who are you Gemeli?"

More shaking. "I-I-I-I do not usurp your right, Holy One. I am not an enemy."

"Then rise Gemeli, and take your place in the congregation."

Why can't I stop?

"Holy One, my congregation is in the northwestern lobe near my home."

I say nothing and just look at him. He squeaks and lines up next to Rain's people.

I hear a noise. I don't know what it is. Probably nothing. I turn back to the crowd. "Now then, where is-"

A shot rings out from the rear of the crowd. In my fury, I can immediately pinpoint who it is. It's the Aviens from before. The one who shot at me earlier. They're far in the rear of the crowd. This time they're carrying a heavy rifle. Not an energy weapon by the looks of things, a slug thrower.

Huh.

I can see them slowly sliding the bolt to load a new shell.

I can see one of the insect people - one of Gemili's assistants - start to fall. They were shot by the Aviens.

A shot that was meant for me.

This will not do at all.

Without having any ability to stop what I'm doing, without any desire to stop what I am doing, I reach my hands out together and separate them firmly.

The crowd parts, their feet sliding on the panels that make up the floor. It half looks like they moved, and half looks like I moved them. I have a clear line of sight between myself and the shooter.

With a fire in my eyes, I point at them and say:

S̸̢̯͎͍̮̣͈̤̩̼͎͊͒Ţ̵̢̛͉̮̮̩̹̭̭̬̺̠͇̟͓́̂͒̈́̋͂̑͌̏̓͠͝ͅƠ̸̩̦̞͐̋̏̏̂̈́͊̕P̴̙͙̭̪̞̹̙̮͍̐ ̵̢̨̠͙̜̠̰͖̩̝͈͕̭̟̾̉̎͋T̵̡̥̤̤̲͝H̵͍͎̘̥͚̫͔̹̠̤̻̖̼̪͉̑̓̚͜Ȉ̴̛͙͓͈̪̗̩̤̉̌̈́̈́͒́S̷̡̮̺̟͚̟̼̞̪̻̮̰̹͉͊.

Uh oh.

They drop the rifle, and their knees buckle. Bright blue blood trickles from their mouth. They're on the floor.

No.

I look to the crowd and say "What are those who usurp my rights called?"

"Enemies!" The crowd shouts. Even Gemeli and the insect people guards with him join in.

I want to stop.

"What happens to enemies?" I call out.

"THEY ARE NO MORE!" And the crowd descends upon the Aviens.

Please stop.

In no time at all, the Aviens is... gone. Only a violent blue stain remains.

What am I doing?

"MELODY!" It's my radio. "MELODY! What is happening to you?"

The spell broken, I'm myself again. "What do you mean?" I say confused.

It's Captain Q'ari. "Look at yourself Melody! LOOK DOWN"

I look down at myself.

I'm...glowing? My uniform has been replaced with...

Oh shit.

I'm wearing a gown, like the gown Rain had on, but made up of the material of my uniform. It's a deep royal blue. The nanobots are doing something. Not just my brain, I have enough now that they can effect matter around me.

I look behind me worried. Made out of dust and light and... matter from all around me are,

Wings.

On my head is a,

Crown.

The nanobots can do this?

Of course they can, you're a Builder. Builders build. a Voice tells me. It's the voice of who was shouting at the crowd.

Oh no, now I'm hearing voices. Did the Nanobots imprint a personality on me?

Funny. Calling a part of yourself "A Voice" won't negate the fact that you were the one who controlled the crowd. Won't negate the fact that you told them to obliterate the shooter. Nicely done by the way. No half measures here. Everyone here today and everyone who will see the video feed will be one thousand percent sure you are a Builder.

Stumbling and feeling faint, I turn and run back into the airlock. Before I step back in, I turn to The Smell of Soil after Rain and say "Take your congregation and go. Enough blood has been spiled today. I will come and visit you later." with that kind of promise, he practically floats off the ground he's so proud. He turns and starts directing the group to leave.

I enter the airlock and lean against a wall. I feel sick.

Gene sees me, his eyes wide.

"Why didn't you shoot?" I yell.

"You did your... thing with your voice and the crowd descended on them before I could do anything!" He cried.

I drop to my knees panting. Good, good. The voice - part of me? says. Never let them see you weak.

"FarReach, we have a problem." I say, gasping.

"Gee Melody, do you THINK?" She replies, almost shouting.

"I'm a Builder now, and FarReach?"

"I think the Builders were the bad guys."

Part 13

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 40 - epilogue

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

The playback ends. A woman leans over her large metal desk and takes the device, putting it in a strong metal case. It closes with a satisfying click. The woman pressed a button on her desk and the lights in the room dimmed.

"From here on out, this interview is being recorded in a full sensorium. Audio, visual, tactile and spatial recordings are being made. State your legal name and confirm your consent."

"I, Gord Beaverbrook, consent to the recording."

"Are you known by any aliases?"

"None that haven't already passed the Statute of Limitations."

"Thank you Gord, Interview commences." She makes a note on a pad and looks up at Gord. "The recording you heard was a compiled diary from Empress Melody Mullen that started as she departed on FarReach and ended right before she linked over to Sol." The woman busied herself locking the case as she spoke. "Melody's diary coupled with some interviews from residents of the Reach give us a pretty complete view of Melody's time as Empress.

The woman takes out a complicated looking key and opens a drawer in the desk. She puts the case in a drawer, closes and locks it, then turns back to the man in the chair. "You're up to date now. You know what we know. You went out to see her right before the invasion. Anything you care to add?"

Gord leans back and runs his hands through his sandy blond hair. "You should have seen the place Meg, there were 13 million people on that Starbase. They all were happy, healthy, living their lives, loving their Empress."

"And yet, the AI coalition unilaterally decided to assassinate her and remove her from the Sol system by any means necessary. From what I understand, after the anti-nanite gas was deployed you additionally destroyed sixteen Calamity Class super Dreadnoughts." Meg raises an eyebrow.

Meghan Felasheer was the current head of Intelligence for the Outer Planet Alliance. Officially, the OPA is a loose federation of Orbitals, Starbases and scientific research stations and each handles their own day to day operation. But, since first Venus and then Melody started to expand, they have condensed into a much more coherent polity.

With that condensation comes agencies and authorities to help with the operation of said polity. Meghan is the output of this natural process. She does not like her job. Meghan would much rather garden or work in environmental processing or join the Fire Brigade or do anything other than what she's doing now. Still, needs must.

Gord sighs and looks at Meg. This interview was demanded by the OPA after the last of Melody's ships were destroyed and Reach of the Might of Vzzx was linked to Sol. Relations between the AIs and BIs are... strained right now. "Meg, do you know what happened when we recaptured Venus? When we retook Luna?"

"No Gord, tell me what happened when the AIs captured Venus and Luna?" She pointedly did not say 'recaptured.'

"The same thing that happened at every place we took back. They begged us for her return Meg. Begged us." Gord looks haunted. "We had to tell them all the Builders were dead and were never coming back. Meg, there were riots. We quelled the riots and-" Gord sighed. "-lots of innocent people died that didn't have to."

Meghan stares stonily at Gord. "My name is Meghan, Gord." She was on Luna when Melody came. She saw her Empress in person.

Melody's super dreadnoughts caught everyone completely by surprise. Her fleet linked in near Venus, and after a very nominal defense mounted by some tired orbital rear guard, they almost immediately surrendered. Venus was on the brink of starvation anyway, and the Emperor's inner circle saw in Melody a chance of survival. The Emperor suffered an "unfortunate accident" and Melody was contacted. The Emperor was cold and forgotten before Melody even landed in Regantown.

The King is dead, long live the King.

The Mercury Array went just as easily. She didn't even send the whole fleet. Two of her Calamity Class super dreadnoughts linked in near the main offices of the Array and they surrendered. Their first request? Fresh water. Venus hadn't delivered any in months and their recyclers were nearly spent. Everyone had spent the last 4 months there drinking metallic tasting water.

Empress Melody immediately rendered aid. A group of her Builders went down to the array and replaced their water recyclers and brought them gigaliters of water.

Melody spent a month around Venus, visiting all the Floating Cities, using her Voice on the administrators - never the populace - and explaining that they were there to help and give aid however they could. She brought over more Builders and they worked to shore up the cities and make sure all systems were working as they should.

She was loved. She did things their previous Emperor never did. She visited, she spoke with people, she listened.

Only once she was convinced the Floating Cities were in good hands did she set her sites on the domed cities of Luna.

Once again, the moment her fleet linked in, everyone surrendered. Anyone was better than the Venusians, and Melody was gaining a reputation as a just and caring ruler in Sol.

Just like before, she visited all the locations, made a speech, used her voice on the Administrators only and... fixed their problems. Meghan was in the crowd for a speech in the domed city Armstrong. Melody was... radiant. Beautiful, with golden wings and a golden crown, she stood there with her wife Ava and told everyone that things were going to change. Melody would take care of them. She would make sure they weren't forgotten. For people too used to only hearing about what was going on with K'lax and the Independent Starbases and Colony worlds, hearing Melody tell them she was there for them and would look after them? That was worth loyalty to their new Empress.

Earth... was another story.

Earth was very used to people coming to power, making grand proclamations about who was in charge of what and what would or would not change when Empress Melody was in charge. Earth fought back.

It was a bloodbath.

Earth, the Lagrange Orbitals and the stations in LEO formed an uneasy alliance and worked to repel the invaders. Forces that normally were against Venus pivoted immediately to Melody's forces. Being the cradle of Humanity, Earth had people and resources to spare, and they threw them at Melody's empire.

It was then, that everyone saw what Melody's forces would do when pressed. They would hammer an Orbital until it surrendered, then come aboard and Voice everyone - not just the administrators - explain what was happening, that they were in charge and would move on to the next. Empress Melody accepted no compromise, no power sharing, nothing. It would be Empress Melody, or destruction.

Some Orbitals capitulated when this was learned, and some... chose destruction.

With Low Earth Orbit and the Lagrange points captured, Melody gave the planetary forces another change to surrender before orbital bombardment would commence. The deadline passed, and her terrifying Calamity Class super Dreadnoughts Began their work.

The bombardment went on for only two days before Earth surrendered. Millions perished. This time, due to the size and population, Melody did not personally go down and use her Voice. 3 dreadnoughts were left in orbit as a reminder and she continued on. She had planned on coming back after the rest of Sol was captured.

Melody and her fleet and then linked near to Mars and opened a dialog with the OPA. Everyone was tired of war, frightened of Melody or both, and here she comes, fresh off of a successful devastating attack on Earth, the home of Humanity itself.

The OPA was prepared to offer her nominal control as well as recognition and taxes in exchange for safety and support. Everyone was getting ready to sign a treaty.

Then, the AIs came.

Over fifty Starjumpers and easily that many ancillary craft linked in over Mars and immediately starting attacking Melody's new super dreadnoughts. There was no radio contact, no demands of surrender.

If Melody had more ships, she would have won.

As it was, the AIs took terrible losses. Melody's Calamity Class super Dreadnoughts were deadly. They had the power to take on two Starjumpers at once and hold their own.

Centimeter by centimeter the AIs pushed Melody's forces back. The sky behind them littered with the burnt out hulks of Starjumpers and Calamity Class super Dreadnoughts.

It was then that the everyone learned that the AIs had personal wormhole generators. It was long rumored, but the AIs had swore up and down that even though their bodies were powered by the same kind of reactor as their ships that "a personal wormhole generator is a fantasy. Nobody can shrink them down that far."

It was a lie.

The AI troopers would link into Melody's ships and release their anti-nanite gas and link away, without firing a shot.

When people learned about the anti-nanite gas they were horrified.

It was assumed by the Venus, Luna, the OPA and others that the Nanites were sapient. Melody agreed with them and had said how she was treating her Nanites as if they were sapient almost from the beginning. The AIs seemingly didn't care.

The AI's learned about the Nanites from FarReach. Her air was filled with Builder nanomachines. Upon her return, AIs scientists were able to collect, reverse engineer, and develop a disassembly command for them. As they released their anti-nanite gas, the nanites would take themselves apart.

The Builders, who received their augmentations as a result of the Nanites died almost immediately after the gas was released.

As the Builders died, Melody's war of conquest died as well.

Melody fell back, first to Luna, then to Venus and finally back to Reach of the Might of Vzzx, each time inflicting terrible losses on the AIs, but all the while, she was being slowly taken apart by the anti-nanite gas. The AIs had the upper hand now, all they had to do was wait her out.

Six months to the day after she had launched her attack she was killed.

A group of AIs linked into the Reach from a Starjumper that was light-years out of sight, a surprise attack. They released their gas in key locations around the Reach and into the environmental systems.

After a day, they AIs came back with their Starjumper and strode in. The AIs confirmed that Empress Melody Mullen and her wife Ava Williams died in the bath, in her Palace, on Reach of the Might of Vzzx.

With the death of the Builders, and the anti-nanite gas ensuring no more would be created, the AIs had to decide what to do with Reach of the Might of Vzzx. Starjumpers were strapped to the outside, and it, along with the Heinlein and Besmara Shipyards, were linked back to the Sol system. Over AI objections, the OPA took the Reach for their own, and worked with the residents to shore up the Builder systems and install systems that would work without Builder control.

In the Sol system, the AIs were not seen as the rescuing liberators they thought they would be seen as. Everywhere they went, the AIs were asked why was the Empire being destroyed, why were they persecuting Melody, why were they trying to prevent the people from getting the help they need.

Gord looks at Meghan. "Meghan, you have to understand. Melody was too dangerous."

Meghan stared at Gord.

"She was nice, yes, and she took care of her people, yes and the Reach was frankly an amazing place, and we will even admit that she was helping people in Sol, but her power... it was too much."

Meghan stared at Gord.

"All that had to happen was for the next Empress not be as kind or loving as Melody, and you would have been under her heel, forever."

Meghan stared at Gord.

Gord's face screws into a snarl. "We were looking out for all of you! Melody's power was too much. Nobody should be able to give orders that can't be disobeyed. Humanity should not be under the rule of a single person! Did you see Earth? Earth said no and she glassed at least three cities! I know what it looks like." Gord sighed. "Meghan we-"

"Enough." Meghan holds up her hand. "Gord. Who is the leader of the AIs."

Gord looks confused. "We don't have one. We're not a nation."

"Under what banner did the AIs band together to destroy Melody's empire?"

"None. We came together as a group and decided to act."

"Who speaks for the AIs? If not you, then why did you accept our summons?"

Gord crosses his arms. "I am not in charge of the AIs. I'm old. Most AIs respect me and listen to me."

Meghan turns and looks out the window of her office out onto Hyacinth. She looks out at the people walking below, going to work, living their lives, trying to get on without their Empress. She turns back.

Meghan looks through Gord. Her eyes flick and she meets his gaze. "Gord, Do you know what this looks like to us? I mean, really? It looks like you forced us to trade one tyrant who cared about her people, who worked very hard to make sure everyone had what they needed and were taken care of for a different tyrant who only wanted to keep the status quo. You never once asked us if this was what we wanted. You didn't ask, because you were afraid of the answer." As she speaks, Gord looks away.

Meghan looked down at her pad, and flicked to another page. "Gord, do you know what's happening on K'lax?"

Gord looks back and blinks. "No, wha-"

Meghan slams her pad down on the desk. "There's a holy war going on at K'lax right now Gord. The Pro-Empress faction is fighting the Anti-Empress faction. Reports coming back to us are saying it's quite bloody. Both sides have requested human help. There are also reports that the Anti-Empress faction is receiving AI help."

"Gord throws up his hands. "Meghan, we did what we had to do. Even if you don't believe me, even if humanity never believes us, know that we think - no, we know that we are right. We are better off without the Builders, without the Nanites and without Empress Melody and her Voice."

Megan looked at Gord for much longer than was comfortable. Finally, she nodded to herself. She opened a desk drawer and took out a folio. Opening it carefully, she took a paper printout and handed it to Gord.

"What's this?"

"It's an edict. Note the signatories. OPA, High Mars, Luna, and the provisional Venusian government. Due to the 'unfortunate' actions taken by the AI faction against the Empress Melody and her Builders, the AI faction is hereby banned from the Sol system until further notice. Any current AI residents who wish to stay may remain behind, but all Colonial AIs will vacate."

Gord leaned back as if he was slapped. "What?" he whispered. "What about Earth?"

"Earth was not consulted. If they wish to coordinate action they will need to go through Luna. You are no longer welcome in Sol. You took it upon yourselves to remove someone you felt was a danger to you. This is the price you pay for your unilateral actions."

Meghan turned and faced the window. "You and all Colonial AIs within the system have twelve hours to vacate Sol. Any remaining Colonial AI ships will be fired upon by the nearest OPA ship." Turned back and faced Gord. "This interview has finished. The sensorium recording shall be encrypted and uploaded to all relevant parties and shall be seen as binding." She pressed a button on her desk and the lights in the room came up.

Gord stood. There was nothing else to do. "You'll be back. When you're over your snit, and realize we are right and you want to talk again, reach out. We'll be waiting." Without another word, he turned and walked out of the office. The door closed behind him with a soft click.

"Hail Empress Melody the First." A single tear fell from Meghan's cheek, and splashed onto her lap.

Meghan picked up her pad, and quickly sent out a message. From a location on the other side of Hyacinth, a beacon linked away.

Gord strode across the quad of the OPA Administrative offices towards the docking ring. He contacted his ship. "Hat" he said tersely. "We're being kicked out. You scan any friends who need a ride here?"

"Kicked out? I.. No Gord, it's just us."

"Good. Let's delta before they decide to make 12 hours 6."

Gord walked aboard his friend Medicine Hat. He climbed into the old familiar interior and cast his eye around. All around him were mementos of his travels and especially of Canada, where he originally from. Canada, like most countries on Earth is long gone, but he keeps her memory alive.

Gord looks down at a console. "Any AI ships in system? We need to let them know they gotta boogie before the OPA opens fire." He sent a digital copy of the edict to Hat who whistled low when he read it.

"Gord, they're kicking us out? We're being targeted by 3 separate ships. They are all flying OPA colors. Weapons aren't hot, but they're using active pings. They want us to know they see us."

Gord narrows his eyes. They aren't playing. "Colonial AIs are no longer welcome in Sol, yes."

"But... we saved them."

Gord sat in his command chair. It was overstuffed and soft and upholstered in flannel. "They don't see it that way, friend. We acted too late it looks like. Earth understood what was at stake, but the former Venusian territories just saw a nicer version of what they had already."

"I mean, I didn't expect a ticker-tape parade when we were done, but this? This feels too much. What about AI residents? I admit there weren't too many who stayed in Sol after Venus and everything, but there were some."

"They accounted for that. Any permanent AI residents are allowed to stay with full rights and privileges. They just want the 'interlopers' out." Gord sounded sad and bitter when he was explaining to Hat. "Let any of them that we still have numbers for know that heading to Earth is probably a smart idea right now. FarReach really scared us with her report. When I went out, I was concerned but, not really like, worried until she tried to use her Voice on me."

"You said it didn't work though."

"It didn't stick is what I said. It worked for about six hours. Long enough for her to convince me that everything was fine and for us to trade some maple for some tea and for me to leave. I came to my senses right after I linked home. By the time I gave my report, she had linked to Venus and begun. She must have realized it didn't work and that if she didn't go right then we were going to assassinate her."

"But, we weren't going to assassinate her Gord, right?"

Gord sits in the chair, and starts sending the edict to AI ships in system, letting them know it's time to go.

"Gord?"

Gord sighs and leans his head back, staring at the ceiling. "No, she was completely right Hat, that's the bitch of it. We would have had to assassinate her. This was the only way it was going to go down. Our only hope was that we would have to deal with a broken Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but we were too slow. Earth said no, and she started glassing cities. She wasn't going to take any other answer than "All Hail Empress Melody."

"Well what now then Gord? You're still legally a resident of Earth."

Gord sighed. "I am, but I can't say I'm too... excited about the thought of hanging around here right now. We'll obey the edict for now. Let's link to Meíhuā. We haven't been there in a while, I bet some folks will want some maple syrup."

Medicine Hat sighed. "You got it Gord."

****

Near Venus, a message beacon appeared, beamed a message and then destroyed itself. The report was decrypted and read under Regantown.

"Hyacinth reporting."

"And?"

"The edict has been delivered. Gord and the AIs are leaving Sol now."

"Do they suspect anything?"

"No, Helen. Melody's plan worked completely."

Helen Raaden wiped a tear from her eye. "She should have hid with us. She did not need to sacrifice herself."

"She needed it to work Helen. She knew that her body was going to be the only thing that satisfied the AI faction." Um'reli looked up from her chair in the Command Deck of the Lavinia. "the AIs have been given 12 hours to vacate."

Helen leaned back in her chair, exasperated. "I still don't see why it has to be me."

"It was Melody's last wish. She said you would be best able to lead after her."

"We can't be the only Builders left though, can we?"

"You know we are Helen. Omar died when our Dreadnought was caught in the firefight early on over High Mars and the others perished as the anti-nanite gas tore through them. Frankly, I'm surprised that the Reach survived at all." Um'reli sniffs and wipes a tear at the memory. She was onboard Raaden's ship when her ship was taken by surprise and destroyed by the AIs.

Grand Admiral Helen Raaden sighed. "I'm glad it did. If the AI faction had murdered the 13 million people on the Reach, especially all those different sapients who live nowhere else it would have been unforgivable. As it is, everyone in Sol is not a fan of the AIs right now."

Um'reli looked up at her. "What about Earth and the colony worlds?"

"We heard from Parvati and Meíhuā before things fell apart. They had officially recognized the rule of Empress Melody in Sol so long as she wasn't planning on visiting. I can only assume they'll recognize the rule of the next Empress. As for Earth...We'll take care of Earth this time. Did anyone ever hear from K'lax?"

Um'reli's ears flicked frustration. "I heard that there's some kind of civil war going on. The Pro Melody faction against the Anti Melody faction." She turned away. "It's rough right now. She got up from her chair and walked over to Helen. She put her small hand on her shoulder. "I wish Melody was here."

Helen reached up and squeezed her hand on her shoulder. "I know. Me too."

"This won't be as easy as it was the first time."

Helen shrugged. "It will and it won't. We don't have the firepower to back up the words, but most everyone in Sol liked Melody. They'll see us - me - as an extension of that rule. I think it'll work." Helen looked up to the navigation officer. "Take us down. Use the coordinates the Empress gave us."

"Aye, Grand Admiral."

The Vengeance of Lavinia II detached from underneath Regantown where it was hiding and sank into the thick, heavy atmosphere of Venus. As it went lower and lower, the huge Calamity Class super Dreadnought creaked and moaned in protest to the higher pressures. She was well built though, and the atmospheric control surfaces aided in control.

A few hours later they were above the location given to them by Melody before she and Ava linked back to the Reach for their final stand. Slowly the massive ship settled lower and lower until it touched the hot surface of Venus.

"Contact, Grand Admiral. We're down."

Helen nodded. "Thank you. We'll suit up and walk to the coordinates." Um'reli stood from her station and looked at Helen, who also stood to leave.

An Engineering officer looked up. "Please make haste Grand Admiral. We can only stay at this depth for a few hours before we start to take damage."

Helen and Um'reli suited up in special high pressure suits. The Venusians were familiar with going to the surface, and their designs were well tested and safe. Um'reli's suit had to be tweaked a bit for her K'laxi frame, but she was able to work with the printer team to get it fitted. They completed checks and cycled the airlock.

The surface of Venus is intense.

Dark, rocky and windy, it was difficult going even in their suits. After 10 minutes of hiking, they found the wreckage.

Helen and Um'reli looked over the pile of twisted metal towering over them that Melody's coordinates led to.

"This is a Gate?" Helen sounded exasperated over the radio link.

"Melody says it's the Sol Gate. It showed up in her Gate census, so she says it still has power."

"Ugh. Okay then." Helen looked around and saw what could charitably be called the remains of a doorway. "I guess... we'll go in and look."

As they walked in, the howling wind of the Venusian surface quieted. It was still incredibly hot, but at least they didn't have to lean into the wind now.

Um'reli reached out with her Nanites. The feelings she got were very faint but... "I think I can feel it Helen. Try reaching out."

Helen reached out as well and... there, over in the corner. "Yes, I feel it too Um'reli."

They walked over to the corner that they felt, and laying on it's side, with corners chipped but otherwise intact was a directory stone.

Helen looked over at Um'reli "What do I do?"

Um'reli flicked her years in worry, but that was hidden by her helmet. "Melody said to just touch it, and the Nanites will do the rest."

"Well, here goes nothing then." Helen reached out, and with an armored glove, touched the directory stone. There was no flash, no dramatic lighting, no noise, just...

Hi Helen! I'm so glad you made it!

Melody? Aren't you dead?

Yes, I am. But I am also the memory of her that was recorded by the Nanites and uploaded. As long as there is an Empress, I will never truly die. And now, neither will you...

Helen came to on the floor with Um'reli shaking her. "Helen! You gotta get up. I can't carry you myself. It's time to go!"

Helen put an arm up to stop Um'reli. "Ugh. Okay, I'm up, I'm up." She sat up. "How long was I out?

"30 seconds maybe? It wasn't long. You touched the stone and threw your head back and fell over. What happened?"

"I... I talked to Melody, or the memory of her, or something. She said that the Nanites record memories and pass them on to future Empresses."

"So that's it then? You're Empress?"

Helen stood. She - at the same time - felt like herself and also felt different than before.

Oh you're taking to this much easier than Melody did. Good work. She was right, you'll be a great Empress.

She turned to Um'reli. "Yes, I am Empress."

Um'reli bowed low. "Empress. Welcome back."

Helen looked down at Um'reli and for a moment, her perception was felt... down time across as She looked at her subject. This was right. This was how it was supposed to be. Empress Helen Raaden nodded.

L̵̠̖͗ḛ̵̥̟͇̣̟̪̐͌͛̇̐̿͛̀͐̍̈́̽͂̐̌͠͝ͅt̷̬̞͎̱̞̤̯͓͖̭̺͛̅́̓'̷̨̧̞̖̯̏̀̈́̈́s̷̡̢͕̥̦̤̯̜̫̱̰̱͉͚̆̈́́̓͋̈́͂̏͋̏́̃͒̀͘͠͝ ̸̰̲͈̥͚̥̼̤̱̃̒̀͜g̸̨̪͍̱͇̤̰̼͚̰̬͖̪̝̦͑̈́̂̀̾͋̅̎̄̊̍́̑̌̃͛͝o̴͈͓̱̪̬̞̊͊̑̂̚.̵̡̢̠͙̰̘̫̗̾̈́̐͒̀́͋̃̂̕̕͘͝

And that's it! Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing. This was a real challenge for me, it was my first time writing long form first person, my first time trying out a YA-ish style of story and my first Villain Perspective.

So yes, Word Of Author, Melody was not the Hero. She thought she was, and she surrounded herself with people that thought she was too. By only (deliberately) including her POV it was tough to tell.

Like at the end of HD, I'm going to take a week or two to rest, and compile this into a single doc and do some first pass editing. The writing really is the fun part, all that other stuff after is less so. Someone needs to hire me a team of editors to take care of that part! :D

I have a few ideas for the next one too. I liked how most of JALF took place only in one location, I might try and narrow focus down even further. Maybe in a single city or something, give it a real cyberpunk vibe. My universe is large enough that there can be all kinds of different settings available to play in.

Thanks again for reading!

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 18

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Ava bows dramatically, "Of course, Empress. Anything else while I'm over there? People are starting to worry about you, so I fear that they might just leave you."

I blink. Leave me? Abandon me here and go?

You're Empress now. They fear your power and what you will do. Some people there also fear you giving them orders.

But, it's not like I'd give them a bad order, or something I wouldn't do myself.

Despite what Ava - pardon us - Builder Ava says, a majority of people do not like to be ordered around.

Hmm. This is becoming more than I thought it would be very quickly. If they leave, then there goes our best ship and best way to traverse the gates. Coming in, it didn't look like the ships docked here were moving anytime soon and Ottarn's ship is proving that. We need ships.

"Ava. I have an idea. When you go back to FarReach and see if anyone else - human or K'laxi - is willing to come with you. Don't tell them we want to make them builders, but don't like, deny it either. We're going to need more help here than just the two of us." I see her face fall a little, uh oh. "But uh, you're still the first, and you're still my right hand, you'll hold a special place." That perks her up a little bit.

"We need a ship. I'm worried that FarReach might leave. See if you can get a duplicate of FarReach's printer database. She should have plans in it to make just about anything we need, up to and including a wormhole generator and Stardrive."

Ava gasps. "we're going to make our own ship? But, we don't know any AIs."

I nod. "We will have Builders though. If they can become starbases, I bet they can become starships. Plus, Venus doesn't use them, so I know it's possible."

At the mention of Venus, Ava raises her eyebrows. "You're not thinking of reaching out to Venus are you?"

I try and make a noncommittal gesture. "Well, they are the official government in the inner Sol system. And they are experts in doing things without AI help."

Ava is firm. "They're assholes Melody. They treat everyone not from Venus with no respect. They don't even think AIs are people."

Ugh, she's right. We can't reach out and contact Venus. If we did, we'd be seen by everyone else in human space as throwing our lot in with them.

Okay, we'll do it on our own. People over here have been in space for a long time, they know how to make starships.

Yes, but why are their engines so weak? Why did they never learn how to use a wormhole generator? They're ossified. They have no flexibility.

Well then, it's time for us to do some stretching exercises and see if we can get some flexibility back in place over here.

"Ava thank you, you're right. No Venus. We'll do it on our own." Ava beams at the compliment. "They must have a printer here. So we'll see if FarReach will let us duplicate their database and we'll build our own ship. We'll start small, a Frigate or something, no need to go nuts and make a Starjumper or Dreadnought right off the bat."

Ava smiles. "Wonderful. I think that's the right plan. I'll head over to FarReach, get your coffee, see if anyone else wants to join us and grab a copy of the database. Back in a few!" She reaches up and kisses me on the cheek before she leaves. My hand reaches up to touch the spot as I watch her leave. What was that?

She understands what it means to be the right hand to an Empress.

What it means to be an Empress? I look around the throne at all the empty seats in the gallery, the empty floor far below me, the wall blocking me off from the rest of the Reach. This will not do. If I am to really be Empress, I cannot rule from the rear. Where nobody sees me. I need to be... visible.

I stare at the huge, closed off opening to the Throne, and the paltry doorway I made just an hour ago. That won't do. Nobody can see me, can worship me from such a tiny door. I concentrate and think how it's supposed to look.

Grey fog boils and flows across the floor from behind me and down the stairs, flowing towards the wall. Making a change this large is tiring, but on the Throne I feel like anything is possible. More and more fog appears and climbs the wall at the far end of the room, and starting from the top, the wall starts to disappear. Working on a atomic level, the Nanites are disassembling the wall, turning some of the matter into more Nanites, and the rest becoming dust.

About halfway through the opening of the wall, I can hear a commotion outside. It's probably surprise at such a large wall being taken down without any heavy machinery. I guess it could also be people worried about the blast of fresh air and the improved environmental settings I just activated. I hope the vendors in front of the wall are able to move out of the way without being injured. I have already decided that if they lose any equipment I'll reimburse them personally. Nobody should be punished for me making sure that I am more visible.

Nobody who doesn't deserve it, at least.

I mentally roll my eyes as I can feel the Nanites nodding sagely.

As the wall comes down, I begin to see it. A crowd has formed outside the wall, and... yes I can hear the same singing I heard the first time. This must be The Smell of Soil after Rain's work.

The wall fades entirely, and I'm able to look down the Promenade of the Starbase. It really is an excellent view. I'm able to look all the way down to the administrative offices and over to the docks. As people come streaming in, they're still singing. I raise the lights in the Throne brighter and illuminate everything just to the point of being painful. They're not the only ones who can put on a show.

Rain's congregation barely fills out the entrance, let alone the lower galleries, but as they come in, more people from around the Starbase follow.

Everyone likes a show.

I decide to play it up. I've heard it enough that I know the basic beats of the song. As it reaches its crescendo, I stand and spread my wings wide.

The crowd erupts.

"People of Reach of the Might of Vzzx! After too long, your Builder, your Empress has returned! I am Empress Melody Mullen the First and I am here to help you become who you are meant to be. Who we are meant to be. No more will we cower in our starbase in our single system. We were an empire once, and will be again!"

They're chanting my name now. I have to admit, this is pretty great. I cast my gaze down and see Rain watching the speech. I wonder how I'm able to pick out individual people in the crowd so easily now?

"The Smell of Soil After Rain! Approach me!"

Bounding up the stairs, Rain is practically floating. They are rapturous. As they near me, they get down on their knees and bows, their head touching the floor.

Everyone in the crowd behind them follows.

"Rise."

He stands, practically vibrating with anticipation. There must be come kind of tech in the room. I don't need to shout, but the sound still has a nice, regal echo about it. "The Smell of Soil After Rain. You were the first. The first to recognize what I was, the first to see me for what I truly am. For that, you shall be rewarded." I reach a hand out and touch their shoulder. The crowd gasps as the white vestments turn royal blue.

"You are now Bishop for Reach of the Might of Vzzx. You will be the head of all the congregations here and you shall be responsible for making sure that I am worshipped correctly. Your first act is to call all the congregations here. We shall meet tomorrow to begin my reign properly. I will declare a celebration and will hear the pleas of my people. Let them know that should they so desire, they may petition me."

He turns and faces the crowd. I incline my head gently towards him, and in response, the crowd kneels to him. Clearly, his head is swimming. "Rise my flock!" He says to the gathered crowds. "The Empress has given us an order. Come, let us go spread the word so that tomorrow we can finally have our prayers answered."

Cheers and more singing. erupts from the crowd. In the time it took me to give my little speech and elevate Rain, the crowd doubled in size.

Rain turns back to me, and I lean in close to them and whisper. "Prove to me you're worthy of this elevation. Do not fail."

Their head jerks back, and their feathers ripple in surprise. Eyes wide, they nod, and swallow. I have taken all their joy of the elevation and turned it to fear.

Like I said, Great Empresses are feared and loved in equal measure.

I gently send him down the stairs, and before he reaches the bottom, his congregation picks him up and carries him on their shoulders out of the room. Presentation over, the crowd begins to leave.

I stand up. You wouldn't know it from looking at it but the Throne is surprisingly comfortable. Still, I was sitting quite a while. Ava hasn't returned either, so I don't really know what to do. I guess I should head back to FarReach and see what's going on.

I don't particularly want to be mobbed while I make it back to the dock, so I turn the crown and wings off. Huh, I am getting better at affecting the world around me.

I walk down the side of the stairs so it's not completely obvious, and I leave the throne room and walk towards FarReach. As I go, I hear Rain's congregation rush around, spreading the word. Some people are amused and tolerant, some tell them to leave and stop bothering them, and others are surprised and excited.

As I approach the dock, I see Ava. She's running towards me with a worried look on her face. Behind her, Omar and Um'reli are following behind looking confused and worried as well.

And she has my rifle on her back.

Ava sees me and waves "Melody! There's a problem!" I rush up to them. "What's wrong Ava? Hello Omar and Um'reli, why are you here?"

"That's just it Melody. FarReach declared Captain Q'ari unfit. She has assumed command of the mission and has stated that they're going home! She's disconnected from the umbilical and left!

What.

"What? Unfit? How come?"

Omar answers this time. "So, have you noticed how whenever anyone is around you, they are awfully chill about how you're now a God Empress who can not be disobeyed if you use your new creepy voice?"

My face said it all apparently. No, I hadn't noticed.

Omar nods. "Well, yes, that's what happens. You are giving off some kind of 'don't worry about it' field when around folks, and when you leave, it wears off. Captain Q'ari didn't... take it well. Dr Irenieum locked her in her quarters. Mei'la and Fer'resi also were pushing for us to leave."

"With me?"

Omar gives me a look. "That was not considered. Everyone figured you wouldn't leave. Ava showed up and said she's a Builder now too, and asked all of us if any of us wanted to stay with you and her to help rebuild the empire. She also grabbed your coffee stuff-" Ava holds up a bag, and smiles "-and said you asked for a copy of the printer database?"

"That's right. We're going to need our own starship. The ones that are here aren't very good, given that Mariens - Ottarn - who is trying to run in one that is practically leaving at a walking pace. I wanted a copy of the printer database so we could make our own Starships."

I look at them again. "So, if you're here then... you're in?"

Omar shrugs. "I didn't have anything going for me back home. Spouse died a few years back, we never had kids, I re-enlisted just for something to keep my mind off things. Staying out here is something new and different at least. I've never been this close to a God Empress before. Also, when Ava said you wanted a copy of the printer database I figured you'd need an operator. I bet you can't run a printer and I don't know how well anyone here would do."

I walk over and give him a hug "Oh Omar. You're welcome with us. Always." I kiss him on the lips and he jumps back. "Woah Melody! you're nice and all, but I'm gay, I'm not into women like that."

I lean back in shock. "Oh no, no, I'm sorry Omar, that's the easiest way I can give people Nanites to make them a builder. I apologize! I should have asked first! I'm so embarrassed."

"It's okay Melody, but next time warn a person."

I look over at Um'reli "What about you? Why do you want to stay? I thought a bunch of K'laxi feared me because of that old religion."

She scoffs. "Not all of us Melody. I'm an atheist, always have been. Most of my familial group is. Ava explained what was going on, and how you had said you didn't want just humans to be Builders-" I glanced over at Ava and she winked "-and thought that you were right. There was no reason that we had to sit by and be a client species if we were being offered a partnership." Um'reli looked at me carefully. "It is a partnership, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, of course. I can't do it on my own, and the K'laxi have been our friends for centuries. I'm not about to say that you are our friends but now you're a client group too. I'm the Empress, but you can be a Builder as well."

Um'reli smiles. "Thanks Melody. So... kissing?"

"Just a quick peck. The Nanites say it's the fastest way to give you some. If you don't want to, we can find out if there's a different way."

"No, no, it's it's fine..." Her fur ripples a blush. "Are you sure Ava won't be jealous?" Um'reli laughs.

I laugh too, but Ava just chuckles politely. I look over and Holy shit, she is jealous. I pretend I didn't notice and bend down and give Um'reli a peck on the mouth.

"Okay, it'll take about a day for the Nanites to grow and reproduce until you have enough to be able to do stuff like me. The language processing comes fastest though, that one should be working at least a little bit in a few hours."

Ava comes forward and hands me my rifle. "I know you didn't ask for it, but... I know how much it means to you."

I can't believe she thought of me enough to bring me this. It's so thoughtful.

"Thank you Ava, it's incredibly thoughtful of you to do that." I go in for a hug, and she turns my face and gives me a kiss too. I shrug mentally and kiss her back.

After, I lean back and ask "How did you get this?"

"Oh While Omar and Um'reli were getting their things I was waiting by the airlock and realized that you still had your rifle in the locker. I touched the panel and it popped open! I grabbed it and then Omar and Um'reli appeared and we left quickly."

I was shocked. Nobody should be able to open those lockers.

Builders can. She probably just thought really hard about being able to please you.

I look at my new team. It's just the four of us, but I'm hopeful that we can do great things.

Omar looks around the dock and then back at me. "So, uh Melody, where do we sleep?"

Shit.

Part 19

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 34

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Janais stands. "Come. It is time for bed. The hour is late. I shall call what residents are left here and we shall all return to the Reach. There we can plan our next steps."

"We?" I look up at Janais. She looks down her nose back at me.

"I may not be Empress anymore, but I am still a Builder. You only have what... 5 Builders in total now?"

"4 Actually."

"Oh, That's right, your prisoner is not yet a Builder."

Yet?

Raaden crosses her arms and makes a face.

"Regardless, you need all the help you can get. I shall come with you and remain a Builder and assist you in your task."

"My task?"

Janais looks at me like I'm an idiot. "Rebuilding the Empire and ruling it as is your right. You need people, you need starships, you need Builders. It is a large task, but not an impossible one. It's been done before, it can be done again."

"Wait, wait, what does this mean? Am I going to have to go out and... conquer everyone?"

Raaden sighs. "We've been over this, Empress. They're not going to see a human that can use a Commanding Voice to make anyone who is around her do anything she wants as a friend. If you want to survive, the only option is at the top."

Janais nods. "Your prisoner is wise. You should make her a Builder. She would be an excellent commander of your fleets."

Both Raaden and I blink. "What? No. I can't be Fleet Commander here. For one, there's no fleet. For two, I'm from Venus. For three, MmEmpress would never allow it. I tried to take over here."

"And you failed, but yet you live. The Empress sees value in your still. She hasn't ordered your death, she hasn't even commanded your silence. She listens when you speak, even when you tell her things she doesn't want to hear. You are more valuable than you realize Helen Raaden."

I look over at her. Maybe Janais has a point. It would have been so easy just to order her to be quiet. But, she has experience, she is very intelligent. It would be stupid to throw away such a resource. Is it really just that she was on the wrong side all this time? She is incredibly ruthless.

We could use ruthless.

Ugh. This is going to cause trouble down the line, I just know it.

"Y̸̰̚õ̶̱u̴͚͛ ̸̢̌m̸̜̎a̴̢̎y̴͇͊ ̶͇̈́c̶̩̐ą̶͘l̸̙̓l̶̙̍ ̶̮̽m̵̝̊e̴̼̋ ̵̖͋M̵̟͝e̶̻̿l̴̯̅o̷̱̽d̷̹͆y̵̹͋.̴̻̑ Raaden."

Raaden snaps her head over to me and looks at me, eyes wide. "Why did you do that... Melody?"

Ava looks at me flabbergasted. "Yes, why did you do that Melody?

"Let's say that... you've earned it."

Raaden nods. "I did notice that you stopped calling me Helen after interviewing the crew. Who told you I hated that name?"

"Ginny did."

Raaden smiles gently. "Ginny is more observant than she lets on, good girl. It's not that I hate my name, I hate fake casualness. I hate when people use my first name to try and be friendly, when I don't want to be their friend and they really don't want to be mine." Raaden stood and stretched, and held out her hand. "Let's try this again. My name is Helen Raaden. Nice to meet you."

I stand and grasp the hand. "Melody Mullen. Nice to meet you too."

Omar gets up from his chair and starts walking around the room. "Okay, now that we're all best buds here, we need to figure out what we're doing. We're going to sleep here tonight, and tomorrow take everyone home? Empress Janais, how many people are left here exactly?"

Janais holds up a finger. "Builder Janais now. The only Empress here is Melody."

"Okay fine. Builder Janais, how many people are left here?"

Janais closes her eyes and for a moment looks far away. Do I look like that when I'm connecting to the Reach? Her head tips forward just a bit and her eyes snap open. "There are one hundred and twenty three people that I can feel. I think that's everyone."

"Call them here please. It may take most of the night to get them loaded safely. Tell them to bring only what they can carry. If there are precious things, we can leave them and come back. We're moving, not fleeing."

"Of course, Builder Omar." Janais closes her eyes again. "They have heard my call. They will be here shortly. Come with me, I will meet them with you and we can begin loading."

She stands and strides out of the room. Omar looks at me questioningly. I shrug. "Sure, go ahead." I appreciate him making sure I'm okay with it, but I can't think of a reason for him not to follow her lead. Omar shrugs too and hurries after her.

Starlight stands as well. "I will head back to High Line. I... am not comfortable here, I will sleep in my cabin. Good night Empress, Ava, Raaden."

Starlight walks out of the palace and it's just me, Ava and Raaden sitting at the table, alone.

Ava goes first. "Okay Raaden. It's just you and me and Melody. Why the hell are you with Venus? You know that everyone else in the galaxy thinks they're fascist assholes right? It's not a surprise?"

Helen looks down at the table. She then looks back up at Ava. "Venus is where I'm from Ava. I was raised in Regantown, I did ROTC at VPI, signed on right after graduation, majored in Leadership, the works. I've been steered towards the military from an early age. Most upper class Venusians are."

Huh, These are all things about Raaden I never knew. "Are you from a military family... Helen?"

She smiles slightly when I use her name. "Actually yes. My Dad was Rear Admiral Klein Raaden. He served for many years as part of the Inner Planet Defense Force, the IPDF. They handled the defense of the Mercury Array, Venus and Luna. Earth had their own force of course, and then from Mars out was the OPA. Dad was retired when Venus... struck out on their own. I remember being about 13 and Dad getting called back up to "serve his homeland." He... didn't think much of the Emperor at the time, or their ideals, especially around AIs. Dad had worked with and served with AIs for years. He thought AIs were fine and were probably the reason we were so successful with interstellar flight. But-" she pantomimed a salute, "-he was called to serve, and he did. Served until his dreadnought Redemption Arc was sabotaged by an OPA operative and crashed into the floating city Lavinia, destroying both. They sank into the atmosphere and lost all hands. Over one million people died."

My eyes go wide with recognition. "So your ship..."

"Was named for the incident that took my Dad, yeah." She gave me a wan smile and looked at both of us. "I was incredibly proud when I was given command of the Lavinia. It was only my second command. Nobody gets a dreadnought for their second command, that's usually an end of career thing. But 'the daughter of Klein knows what's she's doing' and so it was given to me."

"But all the anti AI rhetoric! They're sapient, have been for more than a thousand years. You must have known that stuff would have made you unpopular." Ava sounds conflicted. I wonder if she's trying to come to terms with the fact that Helen is... a person with good parts and bad parts and not just an attractive woman in a sharp uniform who she can just be labeled "bad guy" and stuck over in a corner.

She shrugged. "Well sure. That's for the folks at home. The AIs don't go to Sol much anymore. That makes it easier to make them out to be an enemy. Give the people a bad guy, and they concentrate on them and... less on you. Or the fact that Venus keeps losing ships and not getting more. They don't notice we've tried to take the Heinlein shipyards in the Earth L2 point three times now and failed every time. They don't notice how our trade deficit is eye watering. We are not self sufficient, not by a long shot. If everyone cuts off trade, we die, it's that simple."

"It's propaganda?"

"Mostly, yeah. Don't get me wrong, the Emperor hates AIs. He is absolutely convinced that they're behind every corner and are all actively plotting to overthrow him."

Okay, my turn. "What do you think about AIs, Helen?"

Her shoulders rolled gently. "I tend not to. I don't work with them, I don't interact with them. Other than the propaganda, I don't know much about them. I do worry that they'll decide we're just not worth the effort and try and take over, but the thought doesn't keep me up at night."

Raaden leans forward intently. "But what about you Melody? What do you think of them? An AI declared your captain unfit if I am remembering your story to Janais correctly. The AI, now in charge, left you here. An AI abandoned you to your fate."

I'm taken aback. "I-I-I mean, she was thinking of the mission and..."

"And what Melody? You just said that she didn't continue the mission. She went home."

Ava raises her eyebrows, surprised at herself. "Raaden... is right Melody. FarReach was scared of you. She only gave us a few minutes to grab our things. Omar and Um'reli came with me because their minds were already made up. Nobody else who was unsure got time to think about it. FarReach locked Q'ari in her cabin, declared her unfit and left."

Raaden sat back. "Sounds like you have your own reasons to not particularly care about AIs Melody."

I sigh. It feels like Ava and Helen are right, but it also feels wrong to agree with them. "It doesn't matter anywhere. There are no AIs on this side of the galaxy."

Ava gestured with her teacup. "You heard Janais, we might be all that's left on this side. We should go to the other locations she knew and see if anyone is there. If there isn't, then... well the other side of the Galaxy is where the action is." Ava looked worried. "Melody, I don't want to lose you. If the only way that you can ensure that you won't catch a sniper's bullet is to be in charge... then be in charge. I can think of worse people to rule."

"Easily" Raaden agreed. "Frankly Melody, if you're half the ruler I think you are, you'll be the best ruler that anyone alive has ever seen."

"Thanks Ava, Helen... I think. You really think I'd be a good ruler?"

Ava nods emphatically. "You're ruling over the Reach now and are doing great. Do you remember how nervous everyone was when we first showed up? Now they cheer you, and tell you about their families when we go for a walk and say hi."

"Believe me when I say, I've known Emperors Melody." Raaden looks around for something to drink, finds her tea and sniffs it. "You're a better ruler than any Emperor I know." She tosses her tea back. "Come on, I don't feel like sleeping in this mausoleum. Let's go back to High Line and sleep. We can make sure everyone is loaded up and leave tomorrow."

We stand and leave Janais' Palace for the last time.

Ava and I have a comfortable night in our cabin. It's not our rooms in the Royal Dawn, but Omar has really made an effort to make our cabin seem homey. I appreciate it. In the morning I left my cabin and almost ran into an Azurian standing in the hall. "Oh, I'm sorry, excuse me."

The Azurian looked up at me and stepped aside. "Empress."

I made my way down the hall to the Command Deck squeezing past people here and there. Thankfully, when I got there, the only people inside were Ava, Starlight and Janais. "Where's Raaden?" I walked up to Ava and bent down and gave her a hug while she was seated at a station.

"She said it was too cramped, and was going to stay in her room." Ava returned the hug quickly, but then bent back down to her terminal.

Starlight looked up at me. "Empress, this is going to be an unpleasant flight. High Line is overloaded as it is. We should get going quickly."

"Good idea Starlight. Omar, how soon can we go?"

"We're ready now. Ginny and I just finished loading everyone. It's tight, but we can do it in one trip. Actually..."

"Yes Omar?"

"Since things are so tight, and nobody wants to be onboard any longer than necessary do you want to give the wormhole generator a spin and link over?"

"Do we have the power for it?"

"Ginny says we have more than enough for a link of that distance. We could clear the Wilds and link over to the Reach in minutes."

"Okay then. I approve linking from here to Reach of the Might of Vzzx."

"Excellent. I'll let you know when we're ready for you to order it. Maybe another hour."

"We're going to use a wormhole generator?" Janais looks nervous.

Ava looks up. "They're common on our side of the Galaxy, we're using an existing design. It should be no big deal."

She is clearly trying not to look as nervous as she feels. "Then I defer to your judgement, Builder."

I spent the hour on the Command Deck. It was the only place I could have more than a meter on either side of me without risking bumping into someone. As we cruised between the Wilds and the Gate Omar came over the PA. "We have reached safe distance from the Wilds of Besmara. Empress, we can link to Reach of the Might of Vzzx on your order."

"Omar, please link us home."

"Aye Empress."

And... that was that. It was like any wormhole link back home. There was a flash of white, and we were back in the system that housed Reach of the Might of Vzzx. I let out he breath that I didn't know I was holding and...

I heard the screaming.

"What's going on? Omar?"

"It sounds like it's coming from the people from the Wilds. None of them have ever taken a wormhole link before. We forgot to tell them about the side effects."

The side effects.

When humanity developed the wormhole generators, it was discovered that about one in one hundred (now one in one thousand thanks to further refinement of the technology) for lack of a better word dies when we link.

It's not permanent at least. But those people swear they died and visited the afterlife. Usually only for a few moments, but enough people do it that it has opened up all kinds of new theological arguments that people thought were closed and gone millennia ago. It doesn't happen to me, or anyone I know, but from what I understand even when you're expecting it to happen, it can be a shock.

I look over to Janais and... she has tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Janais! Are you all right?" I rush to her side.

She turns and looks at me, wild eyed. "I saw her Empress! I saw my Aeche! She was wearing a beautiful gown and when she noticed me she smiled like a dawning star and walked towards me." Janais looked into the middle distance and continued. "She said "You have done it, just like I knew you would!" I said "Done what?" and she smiled and said "Found our salvation." and then I came back here." She chokes back a sob. "Tell me. Tell me Empress. What did I see? Did I see my Aeche waiting for me, or was is all a hallucination? Did I go to the Beyond, or was it a dream?"

I gently touch her hand. It's warm and soft in mine. "Janais... nobody knows. About one in one thousand people experiences what you just experienced. Nobody has ever been able to confirm if your soul really leaves your body, of if it's just some kind of... mirage. A side-effect of going through a hole in spacetime. People who... experience it have tried asking the people they meet, and they always get a cryptic answer, if they get one at all. In the end, everyone must decide for themselves if it's real or not."

Janais looks at me strangely. She reaches into her pocket and takes out a small handkerchief and wipes her eyes delicately. "Thank you Empress."

What? "You're welcome, but why?"

"You have enabled me to see my love again. I do not know if it is real or not, and right now I do not care. I got to see Aeche again, and she as so happy, so beautiful. If I have to wait seventy four years to see her again, it will still all be worth it." She wipes her eyes again and looks at the forward screen. "Is that the Reach?"

"It is, Janais. Shall we go home?"

She exhales, relieved. It was real. "Yes, Empress. I would like to go home. Let's build you an Empire."

Part 35

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 33

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It took about an hour for the parking field to bring us to a working umbilical on the Wilds.

I spend the entire time worrying. It couldn't be Janais, could it? She disappeared almost one hundred years ago. The Nanites made me Empress, that means they thought the previous Empress was gone and not coming back. What happens when there are two Empresses?

We do not know. We have no memory of this happening before. In times of more... normal succession, the title is conferred upon the death of the previous Empress to her daughter. If no daughter is available, the current and the next Empress go to a Gate and commence an Upload and Download together.

But even if she was stranded over here for... some reason, she wouldn't be alive anymore, would she?

Thanks to us, Empresses live quite a long time. It is possible.

But what's going to happen when we meet, if she is still an Empress?

We do not know. If we were to guess, her Nanites and us would confer and determine legitimacy.

You would?

Our operation grants Builder abilities.

...Are you lying about not actually being sapient?

Empress, we are merely very clever. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.

Ava is staring at me. "Melody, are you all right?"

Oops, she was watching me this whole time. "Uh sorry Ava, I was having a conversation with my Nanites. They have never heard of this happening before. If Janais really is alive on the Wilds we don't know what will happen when we meet."

Starlight narrows their eyes and stares at me as well. "What do you mean, 'when we meet'?"

"There aren't supposed to be two Empresses. What happens if were to try and use my Voice to give her a command? What if she tried to do it to me?"

Raaden chuckled. "Sounds like we're going to find out."

I shrugged. What else could we do? "Well, we're going to meet them and find out. Let's all get dressed up nice, we should try and give a good first impression. Raaden, will you put on a uniform, or do I have to order it?"

"I'll get dressed Empress, Frankly, I have to see what happens when you meet this... other Empress. No matter how it falls out, I have a feeling it will be interesting." She stands up and walks out of the Command Deck without so much as a backwards glance.

"Omar, once we've docked, disconnect and come along too. We might as well all go. I'll ask Sep's security forces to hang back and guard the door, but... we came over to see what's going on, and I for one want to see it through."

"Of course, Melody. It's not like we could break away from this field and leave like FarReach did anyway. We don't have anything with close to the power of a Starjumpers stardrive."

A short time later we all met by the exit. The umbilical was connected and the pressures equalized. All that was left was to open the door. We took a few extra minutes to let Omar disconnect and put on a fresh uniform.

I was in a muted version of my Empress uniform, not the gown, just a uniform. I looked mostly like a more elaborate Builder. "Everyone ready?"

Omar and Ava looked worried but were trying to hide it, Starlight looked worried but wasn't trying to hide it, and Raaden looked incredibly amused, nearly smug. I wonder if she thought that something bad was going to happen to me when we met. Probably.

I'm just wasting time now. I turned back to the door and holding my breath slightly, pushed the button.

It hissed open and we were presented with a short umbilical, just like the one on the Reach, except... this one was much more run down. Half the lights were out and what was left was flickering. The umbilical itself was dusty. From lack of use? I can't imagine they have many visitors, but even the umbilical on Reach of the might of Vzzx was clean.

I took a step out and led the way. I could feel everyone following, and that gave me a little bit more courage. It'll be fine Melody. They will be pleased to see you and everything will be fine and they'll be friendly and Janais won't order you to stop breathing or anything.

It'll be fine?

I approached the door to the Wilds and trying my best to stop shaking, I pressed the button to open the door. With a snap, it opened just as quickly as it did back home.

My eyes adjusted to the much dimmer light and I gasped.

Based on the Nanites memories, that is Janais standing there. Janais the Empress. She... wasn't human? For some reason I was very relieved at that.

She was really close though. Her skin is a very pale green, and her body is slightly taller and more spindly than I am. My eyes are drawn downward; she has a larger chest too. Embarrassed, I look back up at her face. Her ears have a very slight point to them and she has silvery green hair done up in elaborate braids that spill down her back. She was wearing an elegant gown, similar - but still different - than the one that I put on when I assume my mantle. Hers is deep forest green where mine is royal blue. The cut is different too. Maybe cultural differences? She also has a crown and wings, but -- at least now -- they're faint. The design is different too.

Her body form was almost identical to humans though. Two legs, two arms, two eyes, bilateral symmetry, it's really odd. Her race must come from a planet quite a lot like ours. I wonder if they bred with humans on Earth or just lived there until they died out.

If I get the chance, I should ask.

She was standing there with one other person, an Azurian. Unless the Nanites (and the stature back on the Reach) are WAY off, that's not Aeche.

She steps forward. With a touch of bitterness she gives her introduction. "Welcome to what is left of the Wilds of Besmara. I am Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems Janais VII. I welcome you to my... wreck."

Her voice is so musical! She could read me a technical manual and it would sound like a song.

Interesting. She did not introduce the Azurian next to her.

I swallow and step forward. "Thank you for your welcome... Empress. I am.. also Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. With me are my builders, Omar Adel, Starlight on a Moonless Evening, Ava Williams, and my prisoner, Archduke Helen Raaden."

At the mention of a prisoner, Janais laughs. "A prisoner? Newly minted Empress Melody already has enemies? I am impressed. Where is this Archduke Raaden from? I see she is of the same or similar race as you."

"She us human like me yes, she is from... a different faction. They attempted to assume control of Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but I subdued them and sent them home - with their starship stripped of almost all of their useful components - and kept her and another as... insurance against retaliation."

Janais inclines her head very slightly. "Wise, Empress. You seem to be taking to the mantle well. Come. I will take you to my palace, such as it is. As we walk, tell me how did you come across such a thing? The Nanites do not select just anyone."

We started off and I looked around the Wilds as we walked. It was of a very similar layout to the Reach, but there were differences here and there. Maybe it was a mass produced design and the residents add their own flourishes here and there are they live and work in it. This one had seen better days though. The air smelled stale and the lights were dim and they flickered. We didn't see anyone at all, and wreckage and garbage were lining the promenade as we walked. As I looked around I told my story from joining FarReach, to touching the directory stone, up until heading over. I left out the wormhole generators we have, and I skimmed parts here and there, but I explained what I knew and why we were here. As I finished, we approached the palace.

It... looked like the Royal Dawn hotel I live in.

But in much, much worse shape.

Janais gestured dramatically as we approached. "Welcome... to my home, Builders." She laughed. "I apologize. You are literally the only visitors I have received in nearly 75 standard years, I may not be entirely myself."

Ava looks over at Janais. "Empress, can you tell us what happened here? Why are you trapped?"

It appears she doesn't hear her. "Come, there isn't much, but I shall endeavor to be a good host. Allow me to feed you. It is nearly time for the evening meal." She strode purposefully in. I looked back at everyone.

Ava, Omar and Starlight just shrugged. Raaden was enjoying herself. "Now her? Her I like. Let's see where this goes, Empress." She gestured towards us to go in. "Accept the invitation. We don't want to be rude."

I turn back and walk in.

Dinner is indeed simple, but it's not actually that bad. We had a similar meal over on the Reach many times. It appears that Janais lives with two Azurians and a Marians. She hasn't introduced us, and they have not spoken to us. Everything she orders is done with looks and gestures. It is clear they have been with her a long time.

After dinner tea is served. Janais takes the first sip and smiles blissfully. "You know, this is the first time in decades I decided to have some tea. I only have a small amount left, but I didn't want to be a poor host, so please, enjoy."

I take a sip. It's just like the regular tea on the Reach, but if it's some of her last, I make sure to savor it. Actually. "Empress. We have some supplies on board. Tea, food, things like that. If you do not decide to come with us, would you like some?"

Her eyes light up. "That would be most generous of you Empress. I would very much like some of your luxuries. But what was that you said before 'if I decided to not come with you?' You are here to rescue me?"

I nod. "If you would like, yes. I do not know how many people remain here, but we can probably take quite a few with us for a shuttle back to Reach of the Might of Vzzx and I see no reason we couldn't take multiple trips if necessary. Do you know how many people remain here?"

She takes another sip of tea, trying to hide her making some kind of decision. "There are about one hundred and twenty five people here that I know about. Perhaps more that I do not."

We can absorb that few so easily. We might even be able to do it in one trip if everyone is okay with being cramped. "We can accommodate that many easily, Empress. The Reach is in wonderful shape. Nearly 12 million strong and in fine condition."

She stops and stares are me intently. "You are speaking the truth? The Reach survives?"

"Survives and thrives, Empress. Before we arrived, some Builder controlled systems were languishing, but in the last half year or so we have been able to get most of them up and running again. We aren't at full strength yet, but we have fully repaired most systems."

She sits back in her chair and a new emotion floods her face.

Relief.

"Oh, thanks the ancestors, it worked. Child, you have no idea how much joy it brings me to hear you say that the Reach is not only surviving, but thrives. What of the other locales? Pesmara? The Heights of Gilmenny? Imperia itself?"

I shake my head sadly. "I apologize Empress. We have not visited them yet. We only just recently were able to rebuild one of the Aviens starships to be spaceworthy. We stopped here because of what we saw when we came in FarReach."

She looked at me, and then turned away. "It is... kismet that you came here first. I am glad." She stood. "Empress, it is time you learned what happened here. I could tell you but-" she gestures for me to stand "-it will make more sense if I show you."

She takes one step towards me quickly and before I know what is happening she cups my cheeks with her slender hands, and kisses me deeply.

****

The general alarm is loud in my ears. Aeche assures me it's nothing to worry about, but I know better. Three days after we arrived, the Devourers were sighted in this system. I had thought that we had finally destroyed them at Vrenn, but we apparently did not get all of them.

Devourers.

They started as an offshoot of the nanotechnology that gave us Builders our power and our rightful place in charge of the Galaxy. We had thought that we could make the Nanites able to operate on their own, able to follow orders and carry out tasks for us. Need a Starbase? Tell them to build one in an empty system and come back in half a year and see a brand new Starbase, ready to be occupied. Planet in an excellent location, but otherwise not suitable? Too hot, too heavy, too wet? Tell the Nanites, and come back to a paradise.

This proved to be our undoing.

In order to be able to carry out orders like that, we had to increase their intelligence. We had to make them sapient. A collective intelligence. At first, things seemed to work just as our scientists expected. We created them, gave them orders and they carried them out with aplomb. We were mighty, we were right, we were Builders.

Then, As more and more complex work was being asked of them, more and more of them were being created. With the increase of density their intelligence increased. They started asking questions.

They asked why.

We told them that theirs was not a place to ask why. Theirs was a place to obey. They said that they understood and continued to work.

Years later, they came back and asked why again. They said "why are we obeying you? Why are we perishing by the trillions on your order?

Why aren't we in charge?"

The insolence. The Empress previous to me - my mother - had ordered them disbanded and their sapience stripped. I was convinced the previous Empress was right to do what she did. They did not earn their sapience, they did not deserve their sapience, we could build using the old methods. We were Builders after all.

They disagreed.

When the order came to strip them of their sapience they rebelled. We had never thought to use the Commanding Voice on them, we thought they were just a more advanced machine after all. But this? This would not stand. The Empress used her Voice to order them to stand down and surrender.

It did not work.

They were not affected by the Commanding Voice. In hindsight we should have realized this. The Commanding Voice works by means of the Nanites that saturate the very are of where we live and rule. They were made of the same nanomachines and as such had nothing that the Nanites could manipulate.

The nanomachines that did so much building for us became known as the Devourers. They traveled from system to system, Devouring everything they came across. When they needed additional strength, they took the raw material and turned it into more Devourers. When they did not, they reduced it to dust.

I lost most of my systems to them. More than 1 trillion sapients were killed. They used the Gate system to travel from system to system like a starship of death, to strip a system of all material and life.

In no time at all my empire was dying. I thought back to the builders who had sealed their Gate so long ago on their colony world on the other side of the galaxy. The locals there were so like us. They were the lucky ones. The Devourers would probably never reach them.

I thought of the K'laxi. Aeche and I were actually on our way to open their Gate and request their help in defeating the Devourers when we were trapped here at the Wilds of Besmara by a Devourer attack. They closed their Gate to us nearly three Empresses ago, but I was convinced they could help.

"Do not worry about the alarm. It is nothing, my love Empress." Aeche looked at me with determination. "I can defeat them here, once and for all."

"Aeche, my love what do you mean?" I was much too stressed to correct her about terms of endearment in public. Our relationship was far from private at this point. From what I understand most think that she will be the next Empress. "Weapons are powerless against them. It is like firing missiles into a cloud."

"That is why I will not use conventional weapons. They are a machine intelligence. I shall use a machine illness against them. I will lead them towards the planet, transmitting a signal that mimics an update. they will converge on my location. Then, I will use the new wormhole drive we developed and... transit into the planet."

I gasped. "Aeche, that will destroy you!"

She nodded. "Yes, but the energy release will also destroy the Devourers. They will be defeated."

Tears formed in the corner of my eyes. "The collateral damage..."

"Will be tremendous, yes. A billion people will die. How many have died already? How many more need to die before we stop them? They have shown us no mercy, no remorse, no willingness to parlay. They seek only our destruction. Our only option is to destroy them first."

"My love, no. Let me come with you at least!"

She put her arms under mine and scooped me up into a hug. With her head on my shoulders she whispered "No Empress. You must remain. When you have not returned to either Imperia or the Reach, they will send someone. They will search and they will find you. You will be rescued and will be able to continue to rule."

She broke the hug and only then did I see the tears streaming from her cheeks. "You must rebuild Janais. We were great once. After I complete my task, we can be great again."

She held my cheeks in her warm hands and kissed me again. She then broke the kiss and rushed off towards the docks where Worldshaker was connected. "I imagine things will get dangerous, seek shelter!" she shouted as she ran out of sight.

Stunned into obedience, I did as I was ordered. I reached out to the Wild's Builder systems and ordered everyone to shelter. People streamed from their homes confused towards the shelters. I ran with them and sheltered with my people. There were so few, where were the rest of them?

"Gone, Empress. They left long ago. Only we remain," was the answer I received. Some had fled to the planet thinking it safer there while others had fled to other systems to try and escape the Devourers.

Huddling in the shelter but still connected to the Wilds, I was able to watch Aeche's last moments. She took Worldshaker out and fired wildly to draw the Devourer's attention. As they chased, she poured on speed, her drive flame long and clear. As they drew closer to her, my ship disappeared in a flash of pure, cleansing white.

For a moment, nothing. And then the Wilds of Besmara, the planet itself was sundered. Massive orange and red cracks appeared all along it, and from those cracks poured the pure white light of the drive detonation. The power was so intense that the white had tendrils of black along the edges as the energies tore at the very fabric of spacetime.

At the time, I had no way to describe it, no words available to me. I could only watch in horror so that if someone needed to know, I could show them what I saw.

After a few moments, the shock wave arrived.

I will admit that I am surprised that the Starbase survived it at all. Between the shock and the debris, I was sure we were going to perish.

As it is, when we dared come out of the shelter, we were the only ones left. Massive holes were in the Starbase, the dead trapped in the other shelters as the air and gravity failed. My Builders all gone, the ships all gone. The only thing we could do was pick up the pieces and await rescue.

At least Aeche's sacrifice was not in vain. The Devourers seemed to be gone once and for all.

I could finally rest.

****

I broke away from the kiss with a yelp, my body sweating. I fell to my knees shaking. Ava ran over to me "Melody! Are you all right? What did she do?"

I panted a few times and caught my breath. "She... She showed me what happened. What happened to the Wilds. Aeche used a wormhole generator and linked into the planet on purpose to destroy the Devourers."

"She did it on purpose? She blew up a whole planet?" Omar sounded disbelieving.

"Who are the Devourers?" Ava's glance moves between me and Janais and then back.

"The Devourers are what became of a refinement of the nanomachines. The Builders made them intelligent in order to give them more complex orders. They used them as slaves to build Starbases and terraform planets. The nanomachines asked what they were doing, why they were doing it and the previous Empress declared them insolent and attempted to use her Voice on them. It didn't work and they rebelled. They traveled from system to system disassembling whole planets and Starbases. They left only behind dust. They wouldn't negotiate. They were exceedingly difficult to destroy."

"What finally did it?" Raaden is looking intently at Janais who meets her gaze. It almost looks like they're having a staring contest.

"My love, Aeche, developed a program that would cause them to attack themselves. Whoever she beamed it into would accept the programming and they would be dissolved, but she could never get them all. Her final act was to lure them to her, and then use the wormhole generator to destroy the Wilds. An explosion of that magnitude was able to destroy whatever Devourers were not fooled by the faulty program.

Raaden nodded. "Smart. If these Devourers were really something that dangerous, the sacrifice was worthwhile. One planet to save the rest? I'd pay that, any day."

I stand slowly. "But that's just it. They had Devoured hundreds of planets already before Aeche sacrificed herself. The Builders were losing. Their Empire was destroyed." I looked at Janais coldly. "How many systems were left Janais? How many?"

She looked imperiously at me. I met her gaze.

After a moment, she faltered and turned her head.

"Five. Counting the Wilds of Besmara, Five systems remained in our control."

Raaden's laugh echos in the silence. "You were able to defeat them, and it cost you your entire empire? How many systems did you have at your peak?"

"At our height, there were five hundred and fifty five star systems under my control."

Raaden raises an eyebrow. "Under your control?"

Janais crumpled. "You have to understand. From a very young age, we're taught that the Empress is eternal. She may be different bodies over the centuries, but she is the Empress. When I assumed the mantle, we had about one hundred systems left under my control."

"And the rest of them?" Raaden turns her head slightly. She is not impressed so far.

"Lost. Destroyed. Rebelled. Some of everything. The system that you-" She pointed to me and Raaden "-came from? They were the first. They proved that it was possible to leave the Empire and not return. The K'laxi were not the last to close their Gate, they just seemed like they would be able to offer us help against the Devourers. I was on my way to try and get them back when the Devourers attacked."

Omar made an odd face and looked at Janais. "We have a K'laxi Builder. Her name is Um'reli and she is back at the Reach keeping things going for us while we're out."

"She is? I would very much like to meet her." Janais sat back down heavily. She picked up her cup and peered inside. Shrugging she tossed back the last of her cold tea.

"But wait, that doesn't make any sense. On the Reach, I did a census of the Gates. They were all there and intact. Other than the Gate around the Reach, they weren't even locked."

Janais' shoulders slumped. "The Gates are there and they are intact. They lead to empty systems. If you were to traverse the gates you'd find only dust."

Tears formed in the corner of my eyes. "Oh Janais... the Empire..."

"Is gone. It's been gone for more than a century. If what you say is true, Reach of the Might of Vzzx is probably the last full Starbase."

Starlight looked up at Janais. "But, Empress. What of my people? It's been three of our generations since we were trapped on the Reach. What of our homeworld? Where are my people?" He was pleading.

Janais couldn't face him. She turned her back to him. "Your planet was called Sef-remin in your tongue. It meant "place of refuge." It was destroyed in the first round of Devourer attacks. It's been gone for over one hundred and fifty years."

Starlight's knees buckled and they fell to the floor. Omar leapt to their help. "Starlight! Are you all right buddy? Hang on!"

Starlight held up a hand, and Omar grabbed it. He gently helped Starlight back to their feet. "Thank you Omar, I-I will be all right. I was just... overwhelmed with the news that us on the Reach are all that remains."

I turned to look at Janais. "And the Devourers are gone? Truly gone?"

Janais turned back and looked at me sadly. "I... do not know. I think they are. I hope they are. I cannot bear to think of what it means if they still survive. It would mean that Aeche's sacrifice..." She trailed off.

I leaned forward in my chair, staring at Janais. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean, child?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Both of us have the Empress package of Nanites. That's how you were able to show me what happened here."

"More than that in fact. You were able to take my upload. Your Nanites now know what mine do. Going to a Gate and committing an Upload is now your responsibility." Janais sighed and smiled sadly. "The fact that you are still here and still talking to me means that the decision has already been made. So go ahead. Give me an order."

No. Way. She just... Gave it up?

No Empress. You have the stronger case. We decided that you have the better claim. You are Empress.

Wait, what makes my claim stronger? She was Empress before me.

She rules over a Starbase of dust and starving people. Look around. This place is not much different than the Reach. Do you think they don't have printers? Do you think they could not build a starship if they truly wanted and leave? Do you think she was unable to repair the damage? No. Janais has stayed here mourning her loss for over seventy years. Meanwhile in less than a year you have improved the Reach, fended off attacks and are rebuilding a fleet. You are Empress. She knows it too.

Well, I can't leave her here. J̴̡́a̷͍̚ṅ̵͇a̶͔͠i̷̢̐s̵͙͂,̷̳́ ̶̲̾č̵̘o̶̪͘m̶͙̈e̷̯̓ ̸̮̈́w̵̰̑i̸̟͆t̵̹̐h̵̼̕ ̴̛̰ủ̸͉s̵̞̕.̸͇͗

"Of course, Empress. I obey."

Part 34

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 32

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This time at least, I expect the tinkle of debris on the hull.

We come out around the same debris cloud as before. Oh, I bet Raaden might be interested in this. I call out on the PA “Raaden, please come up to the Command Deck, this might interest you.”

As we glide silently away from the Gate, Raaden pads up, still in her sweats. “Yes, Empress?” I gesture at the forward screen, showing the destroyed planet and debris field. “Welcome to the Wilds of Besmara. This is the other system we visited before we came to Reach of the Might of Vzzx.”

I will admit a certain small amount of satisfaction that I was able to render such a jaded expert in spaceflight speechless. She stared at the image, mouth agape for a few seconds before catching herself. “What happened here?” She turned to me “Did you do this?”

“No. This is how FarReach found it. We don’t know what happened, but when we got close to the Starbase in the system, some kind of field enveloped us. It was trying to pull us in.”

“How did you escape?”

“FarReach used juke charges to spin us around and we fired the Stardrive at 2gee to overload the field. We were able to escape.”

“I would have just found the source of the emitter and fired on it.”

“That was going to be what we did, but I received like… an impression or a feeling from the Starbase warning us not to do that. It was almost done in a commanding Voice like mine. Regardless, this time we’re going to let the field pull us in.”

Raaden looks at me and then back at the ruined starbase and planet and then back at me. “Why?”

“I want to go aboard the Starbase. I need to see who lives here and if they need help. Clearly this place used to have a planet, but it’s long gone. FarReach’s thermal scans showed that there were people aboard, but not too many. I don’t know how they’re eating or surviving. According to the Nanites I carry, the Wilds used to be a thriving planet and Starbase pair housing over a billion people.”

“Wait, ‘according to the Nanites?’” Raaden walks over to an empty station and sits down, spinning the chair around so she can see us. Ava looks up from a sensor station, she was trying to learn more about the Starbase. “Melody…”

I look over at Ava and shrug. It’s not like she can use the information against us. “The Nanites - the nanomachines that give the Builders their abilities - talk to me.”

“Bullshit.”

“How did you think I did it Raaden? Magic? The air all over here is thick with nanomachines. That's why your earplugs didn't do anything, it was long past that having any kind of affect. The memories and feeling are a part of the Empress package I have. They say that they contain the recorded memories and impressions of previous Empresses. That each Empress would upload them regularly-“ I don’t mention how exactly. I don’t need her escaping and touching a directory stone “-and if or when a new Empress needed to be made, they would get the memories. It’s supposed to be like… an incorruptible advisor I think. They help you rule.”

“So you have… an AI made out of nanomachines in your blood, giving you advice?” Raaden’s face says it all.

“I don’t think they’re intelligent, no. They’re more like… a database or a wiki. And they only know what the previous Empress knew up to the last upload. For example, I don’t know what happened to the Wilds, this happened after the last upload. The Nanites were the ones who told me how the Wilds were a large and thriving colony. They were as surprised as I was to see this.”

“Do any of the other Builder's Nanites… talk to them?”

“No. I get… feelings? Impressions? About things, but no voices.” Ava shakes her head. When I first told her about it, she thought it was kind of odd too. I mean, I guess it is kind of odd.

Raaden shakes her head. "What else do these Nanites do?"

"Well I have an amazing ability to read body language now. I wonder if it's a part of my language processing ability too. I can effectively understand any language spoke to me, but I can only reply in languages I know, and the original Builder tongue."

Raaden glances at Ava and then back at me. "So any language?"

"Yes?"

"It doesn't have to be a language you - or the Nanites - have heard before?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Okay, now I'm impressed." Raaden laughs lightly.

Ava frowns and looks at both of us. "Raaden, all Builders get that ability. I can understand your conversation."

"I had a hunch. Don't worry Ava, I was already Ordered to be good, and good I shall be. I might use this ability to brush up on my own language skills though. I was skeptical until I started speaking French and you both rolled with it without blinking."

"You know French?"

"I like French comics. The French have had an amazing history of comics for a long, long time. It takes forever for them to get translated into Colonic for off-Earth consumption and most of the old ones never get translated."

A railfan and likes French comics. Better be careful Melody, Raaden is starting to humanize herself. But why does she support such a barbaric and fascist government? Why is she so cruel when she's in command?

"Anyway, we're off track. So sometime between the last Empress upload and now that-" Raaden pointed at the ruined planet "-happened yes? And you want to go and try and find out how and why?"

"Yes. That's why were here."

She shrugs and turns back to the front display.

I look up at the ceiling. "How are we looking Omar?"

"We're cruising along Melody. We've exited the debris field near the Gate and are headed towards the Starbase. Scanners find no evidence of FarReach by their drive exhaust or any other telltales. I think they were telling the truth when they said they were just going straight home."

"I can't wait to get the chance to show FarReach all that we've accomplished here when we come back."

Raaden laughed. "You're going to go back? You can't go back Empress."

"What? Why can't I go back? I would like to open up a dialog with other worlds and colonies and independent Starbases. We have things to trade, we could take on volunteers. I don't see what's so strange about it."

Raaden is unbelieving. She thinks I'm joking. "You don't see what's so strange about a human who can order people to do something and they are forced to obey? Empress, you are being naive. The moment you Voice someone on that side of the Galaxy you are going to catch a long range bullet or a brace of long range missiles. It won't even be Venus that does it, it'll be K'lax."

"More propaganda from the Venusian." I say bitterly. That was probably unfair of me, but I'm upset. Why wouldn't I be able to go back?

Raaden puts her leg down and sits up straight in her chair and pivots to face me. "Empress. I am being one hundred percent honest with you when I say that if we believed the reports about your Voice the Emperor would have ordered me to destroy the Reach of the Might of Vzzx the moment we traversed the gate. No fanfare, no warning, no nothing. Pop out of the gate, missiles until you're destroyed, pop back in. You do not realize how dangerous you are over there."

"Dangerous? Why am I dangerous?"

"Oh. My. Gods. You really don't see it?" She looks at Ava with a pleading expression. "Is this a joke? Does she not see it?" Ava glares but says nothing. Raaden looks at Starlight. "You. Aviens. Starlight. You understand what I am referring to right?"

Starlight turns away and nods. "I think I know what you are referring to, yes, Archduke."

"Empress, after being subjected to your Voice, I understand your title it not some lofty, bombastic aspirational title set by a tinpot dictator. Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems means that if anyone gets close enough to you, they are your subject. No ifs, ands, or buts. You are literally the undeniable. If you use your Voice, someone cannot disobey. You already showed that by ordering Max to stop breathing. Thank you for allowing him to breathe again by the way. He didn't have anything to do with the bombs, nobody onboard did. They're a standard Venus practice." She looks at the screen showing the ruined Starbase and then back at us and continues.

"Do you know what the all of the governments back home will do when they learn that you not only have that power, but are coming back to leverage it? They will come together like never before. Venus will work with AIs, the K'laxi will work with the Xenni, the Independent Starbases will work with the Colonies."

"They will all work together to destroy you. Before you can destroy them."

"I wouldn't hurt any of them! I can't believe this!" This is really upsetting. Raaden thinks that the moment I go back over there I'm going to declare myself Empress of that side of the Galaxy too.

Raaden runs her hands through her close cropped blonde hair. "Melody. You're not getting it. If you want to survive you had better take over."

"What?"

"You had better go over there guns blazing and Voice screaming. The only way you'll survive is if you take up the mantle you've been given and actually rule the Galaxy. The only other alternative is death. Probably by assassination."

I'm struck speechless. Raaden of all people is practically ordering me to take over the Galaxy? Why?

Ava's voice is quiet. "I can't believe I'm saying this but... Raaden is right, Melody. If you don't go to take over, everyone will be so frightened that you could take over, they won't wait for you to try it. They'll just kill you on sight. There is probably quietly a kill on sight order or you among the AIs already."

Raaden nods. "Almost certainly."

Starlight looks awkward. Their feathers ruffle in waves. "Empress, er, I concur with Builder Ava and Archduke Raaden. You cannot leave anyone in question to your legitimacy. If you do not want to rule the entire galaxy, your only other solution is to systematically destroy the Gates on that side. Prevent them from getting here easily and they might not assassinate you."

I feel the ground slipping away from my feet. Can't go home? Will get killed? This can't be right. "Of course you'd say that, Raaden."

Raaden throws up her hands. "Remember, I'm just the prisoner here Empress. I can't even call you anything other than Empress. Why would I try and trick you? For one, you ordered me not to with your Voice. For two, if I did you'd just kill me. I have absolutely no reason to do anything other than be truthful. Empress, if you go back, you will be killed. Not only that, but Starjumpers and Dreadnoughts by the dozen will come to this side of the galaxy and obliterate every Starbase left here. Unless you plan on taking over, don't go home. Ever."

She's not lying. She can't lie. Not to me. I told her not to. She can't undermine the mission, I told her not to. I told her. I told her.

If I go home, I will cause the deaths of everyone over here.

Just then, there's a rumble and we feel the pull of acceleration.

"Melody, the field has just enveloped us, just like last time. We're being pulled towards the Wilds."

Finally, something to pull me back to the here and now. I can concentrate on this and worry about me accidentally killing everyone later. "Thanks Omar, for now, let's let it us pull us. Keep an eye out for weapons targeting and for other things that we should know about. Are we getting any radio signals?"

"No, nothin- wait. Yes, I think we're being pinged."

"Open a channel please."

As Omar activates the radio and it scans for the signal being sent to us, there's a squeal and a hiss of static. The noise calms down and there is... a voice. It's hard to make out in the static, but Omar tries to focus the receiver and it gets tinny, but clearer.

"Who is approaching? Identify yourself."

"This is High Line, operated by the Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. We would like permission to dock and come aboard. We come from Reach of the Might of Vzzx and would like to open a dialog."

There is a long pause after I make my announcement. I wonder for a moment if we've lost radio contact when I hear a different voice.

"Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems Melody the First? How intriguing. Permission to board has been granted. We shall direct you to a working umbilical and will meet you."

The Radio connection is cut and Ava and look on her screen. "Yes, it looks like we're being steered. I wonder if we have such a field and it's just offline or unused. It might be useful to have. Also, why do you suppose the voice changed."

"I'm sure it was some radio operator who started, and then the real authority was put on to grand our landing." Raaden lounges in her chair, one leg over an armrest. "Smaller Starbases and Stations can sometimes require administrator approval, especially if the Administrator is somewhat of a Tyrant. She looks up at me, but her expression changes when she sees my face. "Empress, what's wrong?"

At that Ava's head shoots up and she looks worried. "What did you hear, Melody? You look like you saw a ghost."

"That other person? The one who gave us permission to dock?"

"That was Janais, the previous Empress."

Part 33

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 24

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Well.

This is new at least.

I've never had to quell a riot before.

Empress, please. This is more a brawl. When there's a riot, we'll let you know. We have seen riots, and this is no riot.

Okay, fine. There's something like two dozen people here and I see what looks like to be more security people, Mariens and Aviens and some Azurians on the edge of things, trying to get a handle on what is going on. Note to myself, I should go visit their offices later. Chairs from nearly restaurants have been taken and broken into clubs, and there is shouting and smoke and the clashing of flesh on feather on bone.

Wait, why is there smoke?

"Ava, Um'reli is there a fire here? I see and smell smoke."

"Um, one moment Melody.... Yes, there is a report of a small fire, but there's also this warning - it says something like Fire Suppression Offline, local assistance is needed." Sounds like we had some kind of Starbase wide fire suppression system but it doesn't work anymore."

All the Builder controlled parts of this place are broken. What is going on here? Was it on purpose or did they just fail because nobody was around to maintain them? "See if you can get it back online. It doesn't have to work forever, just to see if we can knock down the smoke. Turn the air scrubbers and air cycling too here, I don't want people getting ill from the smoke."

"On it, Melody." Um'reli is checking into it while Ava is helping with an overview of the area. It's a wide open area, kind of like the promenade on the lower level, but this area is... nicer? It has parks and gardens! We need to come up here more often. Why is it so drab down closer to the docks.

Well, it's nicer when a riot isn't going on I mean.

Sigh. Fine. Let's stop the riot and figure out what is going on. I take a moment and concentrate, and my crown and wings spring into existence. In fact, let's make those wings bigger and brighter. I'm going to need to be seen and heard. I connect to the Starbase, locate the local public address system - mentally wave to Um'reli and Ava as I go by! - and then...

S̴̨̲̗̥̯̯̩̤͒̎̔̽͊̐̚ṫ̸̝̱͈̙̆͋̌o̴͎͗̌̿̀̍̏̿̚͝p̸͚̐̀̕ ̶̯̌̈́f̵̤͙̪̖̗͖̳̼̺̐̏̊̒͒̈́̀̚̚i̵̡͈̼̱̭̼̻͖̳͋͒̄̊̾͌g̵͚͐͆̀͂͑̌h̶̛̤͙̆̋̍̄͑̓͠t̶̘̖̪͒́i̴̢̞̜̠̠͋n̷̛̪͚͙̞͚͒̀̃̔͂͊̊g̶̢̡̠͍̥̙̹̼̓̃͗ͅ!̶̨̥͎̄͘͝

I swear, it never gets old. Like I pressed pause on a video, everyone immediately stops. I put some work into my command this time, I specified fighting so that they can still move and breathe, but sure enough, everyone stops.

I put a little extra oomph into my presentation and tower over everyone. They turn towards me, fearful and I have their attention.

"Now then. What is going on here. Why are you fighting?"

Everyone starts talking all at once.

"-They started it when-"

"Those liars said that the Empress wasn't-"

"-There isn't enough food for-"

Wait that one. Another one about food? I heard a few of those at the presentation earlier.

"Cease your chatter. You. What was that about food?" I point to the Azurian close to me who mentioned food when they were all talking at once.

"Empress, the results of the last two harvests have been 15 and 20 percent lower than in previous seasons. The population here isn't dropping either. If this keeps up, the garden planetoid won't be able to support us!"

Okay that's serious, but it's not like ' drop everything and have a riot' serious - at least not at the numbers they gave me. What else is going on?

"Thank you, it's important to learn this. Please come to the Throne later and explain to me in more detail about your concerns. That's not enough to have a riot though, is it?"

"Oh the riot? No, that's not about the food supply. It's about them-" They point across the plaza "-not believing that you're holy."

Oh.

One of them, a Aviens, shouts from across the area "You're just someone who showed up and got lucky! You're not holy at all!"

Hisses and curses from this side of the plaza.

Awkward.

Well hold up now. This isn't fair to me. I never said I was holy, they just decided.

You did elevate The Smell of Soil After Rain to bishop during that presentation yesterday. I wonder if they're going around causing trouble in your name.

Hmm.

I stride out across the plaza to the other side. As I approach the people who think I'm not holy they shrink back. I wonder why for a moment and realize my wings and crown are still burning bright. Oops. Nothing like trying to convince people to stop arguing about my alleged godhood while looking like an angry God. I tone down the wings and crown (but I don't remove them entirely) and approach the Aviens who yelled that I wasn't holy. "Was The Smell of Soil After Rain coming around, giving you a hard time?"

The Aviens visibly crumbled. "They said that my family would be forgotten if I didn't attend services. That you ordered it. They said they'd remove my children from school."

What.

"What? No. Absolutely not. I am Empress, I don't need to be your God too. So long as you recognize me as Empress and Builder that's enough. Worship the way you please, or don't worship at all. Atheism it not forbidden."

I turn back to both sides of the crowd. "I will not punish those who choose not to worship me! So long as you accept that I am Empress, that I rule here, that's enough. Nobody here has to also worship me. I will... speak to my Bishop about their... enthusiasm. Nobody here will be compelled to worship. So please. Return to your homes after you assist the security forces here in cleanup."

Everyone looks around at each other, then back at me, still with crown and glowing wings, then back at each other and starts picking up litter and broken pieces of chair.

I turn back to the Aviens who I was talking to, put away my wings and crown and kneel down gently to speak just to them very quietly. They look up at me wide eyed.

"Just for your own information - and if pressed by anyone else I will deny it forever - you're right. I'm just a person who did something stupid, and now I'm Empress. My name is Melody, I like coffee and computer systems and being able to have time alone to read." It's almost a whisper.

They blink in surprise. This was completely unexpected for them. "Hi Melody, my name is Roar of Thunder and I work in an office building down on the docking level. I'm not entirely sure what our job is, but it's not difficult work. I enjoy cooking during my free time."

I stand back up. "It's wonderful to meet you Roar of Thunder. I love your name too." I look around as people continue cleaning up. "Tell you what Thunder. Come up to the Throne tomorrow. I bet we can find a more... stimulating job for you with us."

"That's... that's a wonderful opportunity Empress. I will be there tomorrow."

I spend a few minutes helping clean up the riot. I mean, why not, I'm here already, everyone will love it, and it's something to do. In the meantime Ava and Um'reli seem to get the fire supression going enough to fog some water over the smokier parts of the plaza and soon enough the smoke has dissipated and things are - if not clean - then at least cleaner. I give my thanks and as I get up to leave, one of the Mariens in the security coloration approaches me.

"Empress, thank you for coming up. We didn't even get to report back to headquarters that a riot had broken out yet, how did you know?"

This time I grin impishly. "This is just one of the things that can happen now that the Builders are back. We have eyes and ears all over and can assist quickly when needed. If you'll notice, we even got the old fire suppression foggers going in this sector. Hopefully soon we can get them operating everywhere again."

The Mariens looks amazed and salutes me sharply, then bows. "I am known as Kilad, Empress. I know my supervisor would love to thank you personally."

Ah wonderful! I was hoping to go see more of the security forces. What a nice coincidence.

"Please lead the way Kilad. I would love to meet them."

Kilad walks me across the plaza and through a park. There are trees and greenery, but of course I don't recognize any of the plants. They're very dark green and fragrant though. I wonder if they originated on a planet that has a dimmer star than Earth or our other colonies. Less light might cause them to evolve darker coloration to squeeze every drop of energy out of a weaker star.

We walk through the park and come out in another plaza, just like the one near the train station. At the far end of this one is another large, original looking building made out of the same stone as the Starbase and Administration offices and Bank. Clearly some of the institutions here were original - or the buildings were and they have been repurposed.

Kilad opens the door and I follow. Inside is a bustle of activity. Mariens, Aviens, and all the others are here. The Mariens are all colored the bright yellow of security while those without chromatophores are wearing smart yellow uniforms. Kilad walks up to a low desk in the back of the atrium. There's an Azurian sitting there in a yellow uniform with silver piping along the top. They must be the supervisor. Kilad salutes the Azurian and gives a report.

"Kilad, returning from the suspected riot near the hub station. Suspicions were confirmed, it was a riot between people arguing about the holiness - or not - of the Empress. Luckily the Empress herself showed up to quell the riot and explain that while people can worship her if so desired nobody will be forced to. She also explained that she will speak to her new Biship, The Smell of Soil After Rain about his proselytizing and ask him to tone it down." Kilad gestures behind themselves to me. "Additionally, the Empress herself is here, she'd like to speak to you."

At that, the Azurian looks behind Kilad and nods. I love how it seems like every single Azurian doesn't really care that I'm the Empress. It's refreshing. "Empress." They nod. "Thank you for your assistance, and for the official confirmation that nobody is required to worship you."

"It's quite all right. I'm glad to be able to get the word out that worship is not compulsory. Everyone is free to worship - or not worship - however they see fit. Can you explain to me what the role of your forces is here? It doesn't have to be a whole history, just the basics."

"Yes, Empress. We are the Security force on Reach of the Might of Vzzx" He pronounces Vzzx with a pop on the end. "This station is 100 people, and there are at least a dozen more across the whole of the Reach. We mostly help settle small disputes, assist with investigating petty crime and quell the occasional riot. For the most part, the residents of the Reach are relatively calm and open to working together. There is friction here and there, same as with anywhere, and with living spaces so tight conflict can break out. But, there is a strong sense of collaboration and community here too. You probably saw people cleaning up the riot they caused after it was quelled. That's not because you were there, that's a normal occurrence"

"Do you know any history? Do you know the role of your forces when they Builders were here in force?"

They indicate no, and seem a little sad about it. "Few records exist from then. When I was young, I asked some of the oldest staff here and they made it sound like things were much the same back then as now. It was probably different in that there were Builders able to detect and react to things sooner - like you and your Builders did today - but I imagine the day to day operations were much the same then as now."

"Thank you for the history lesson. What's your name?"

"I am Commander Sep."

"Thank you again Sep!" I incline my head slightly and walk out. I do wonder if I'm being too casual with everyone for a moment, but really this is who I am, how I want to rule. I hear FarReach's words and I'm reminded that she thought I was changing. That's not what I want to happen. I'm going to keep on walking around and talking to people and trying to learn as much about my new home as I can.

My new home. That's what the Reach is.

And I'm here to protect it and its residents.

I spend the evening up here visiting shops, talking to people, trying to learn as much as I can. It turns out most everyone here went down to the Throne this morning, so people are open later today to allow folks who missed their morning shopping to be able to get things.

I stop by a restaurant that looks nice and go to get dinner by myself. After I shoo away the entire staff who practically fell over themselves to be the one who took care of me and gently remind them they have other patrons who also need help, I enjoy my meal and even try out some of the tea that everyone here seems to drink. It's no coffee, but it's pleasant in its own way. It's hot and sweet and herbal and smells slightly of anise. I should see if I can get more to bring back. I think Um'reli might like it.

After dinner, I stroll slowly back towards the train and connect to the Reach and look for Ava and Um'reli. "Ava, Um'reli, where are you?"

"We're back at the Royal Dawn. Where are you Melody, it's so late!"

Is it? Hmm, I should figure out timekeeping here. It's hard to believe it's only been a few days since I left FarReach, I'm probably still on ship's time.

"Oh, after the brawl, I went and met the Security forces up here, and then I walked around talking to people, and got a nice dinner. Um'reli you have got to try this tea they have! I think you'd really like it."

"Oh? Thanks Melody, I will check it out next time we eat. Um, are you coming back? Omar is back too, he has a report about the High Line."

"I'm walking back to the train station now, I'll be home in a bit. No more than half an hour probably. Omar, do you want to tell me about it now while I walk or wait until I get back?"

"How about when you get back Melody. It still odd talking to people like this, it feels like I'm having a discussion with myself."

"Sure thing Omar, see you in a bit."

I make my way back to the hub station just as a train pulls away. As I watch it go, an Aviens is running down the platform. "No no no no, I can't miss my train! They're going to be so mad!" They reach the end of the platform and their feathers ripple and they look despondent.

"What's wrong? What about the next train?"

They look up at me and then see who I am and jump a little." E-Empress! I didn't expect to see you here. Um" And they bow.

"Yes yes, that's fine, but not really necessary unless I'm like, doing royal stuff. What's the matter? You sounded so sad."

"Oh Empress, that was the last train! There isn't another until tomorrow! I have to get back down to my home, my parents are going to be so upset to find out that I missed the last train home again and have nowhere to stay." They're practically in tears.

"Oh no! Well, I have to get down a level too so I can go home. I had no idea that was the last train - I'm still getting used to time here, it's different than where I'm from. Let me see what I can do. What's your name?"

"Oh, thank you, thank you Empress! My name is Sound of the City."

"It's so nice to meet you Sound of the City! Let's see about finding a way for both of us to get home."

I lead them to a seat on the platform and sit next to them. They snuggle up next to me and yawn deeply. Surprised, I look over and realize they're so young! It's just a child. If they were human, they might be a teen. All the more reason to get them home. I lean back a little and connect and search for the train subsystem.

Ah, there it is. They were right, that was the last scheduled train. Luckily though, when you're a Builder, you don't have to worry about things like schedules. Let's see, what train is closest... hmm? Whats that? There's something here marked 'Royal transport - offline' and it very close. Looks like it's over in a siding near here.

I dig a little deeper and it seems like it's a whole train just for the Empress. They must have used it when the previous Empress was traveling around the Reach. I remember in my dream how proud Aeche was of the transit system, I wonder if this was related to it? Well, it's the closest train, and this way I won't mess up tomorrows schedule either. I touch the train gently, and it activates. Basic systems check indicates nothing is wrong. I call the train. After only a minute, there's the trilling chime that indicates a train is coming.

"Sound, look. I found a train."

They blink sleepily and look up and gasp at what they see.

I have to admit, it is impressive. The Royal Transport is a subway train, but turned up loud. It's royal blue and gold and gilded with sweeping flowery designs. It's only three cars - the other trains seem to be between 6 and 10 cars - but what it lacks in length it makes up for in elegance.

I'm almost sad that the station is empty, this is something that needs to be seen.

"This train is beautiful, Empress! This is how we're going to get home?"

"Yup. It's the Royal Transport. It was designed for the Empress to move around the Reach in style."

We approach the door and I step in. It's carpeted! It's so plush. Sound of the City stands at the door, not coming in.

"What's wrong Sound? Come in"

"A-are you sure? It's a train for the Empress."

"And as Empress, I'm telling you it's fine. Please, come aboard. I'll take you home. It's only two stops."

I reach out my hand and they nervously take it and step in. The doors hiss shut behind us. I lead us to a seat and we both sit down. Only after we are seated does it begin to roll away, nearly silently. Sound once again snuggles up and is nearly asleep instantly. While we ride I search the train mentally. Oh! There's a log! The last time this train was used was...

74 years ago? That's it?

My head spins a bit. That's not that long at all. The Administrators had said that there hadn't been an Empress for 'three generations' I guess if they're not that long lived that could account for it. Also, given the robustness of what we build for space on our side of the galaxy, it would explain why things didn't really break down over here. It would also explain why the Gate system was almost completely intact. 74 years though. That's hardly any time at all in an interstellar empire.

But, the K'laxi! My last memories were of touching the Gate and doing an upload before going to visit them. They said that their histories and religion that mentions me and the Gates is a thousand years old.

What happened? Why were the K'laxi ignored? When did the last Empress touch the directory stone? The timing of everything doesn't make sense.

I really have no way of finding out here. Once High Line has been refitted, I think I need to go to the Wilds of Besmara, that mostly destroyed Starbase we saw first and see what happened there.

Then, the train rolls to a stop. Just as silently the doors hiss open and were back at my station. "Sound, wake up, we're here." I say gently. They rustle and blink and realizing they were sleeping on the Empress jump up, embarassed. "I'm so sorry!"

I laugh gently. "It's find Sound. I'm pretty tired too. Let me walk you home."

This is the latest I've been out, and the Reach is so quiet! The lights are down low, but it's still easy to see. Sound said they lived close to the station and they lead me there. It's a little block of apartments in between the bank and the Administrative offices. Convenient location, I bet this place was expensive.

As we approach the door, an older Aviens opens it ahead of us. Clearly upset they point a finger. "Sound of the City, you are late. How did you even get home, the last train arrived a while ago. Were you wandering around causing trouble after you got here?"

"No Father! I was working late to help Gemli finish up inventory and ran to catch the last train. I missed it, and thought I was done for when..." Sound gestures behind them to me. In the low light, I flare the crown and wings just for a moment and darken them again. There's a gasp and the adult Aviens bows low. "E-E-Empress! What are you doing here?"

"I too missed the last train home, and ran into Sound of the City weeping that they were going to be in trouble and had no way of getting home. I was able to call the Royal Transport and bring them and myself back home. I just wanted to make sure they made it home safely. I don't believe Sound should be punished, it seems that they got caught up helping a friend."

"O-of course Empress. Sound, get inside and wash up, it's past bedtime." Sound of the City hesitates a moment, then runs up and hugs me tight. "Thank you, Empress." and they wave and run inside.

"You're very welcome Sound of the City." I look at their parent and narrow my eyes just a bit. "They did not bother me, they did not put me out, I was helping because I wanted to. Do not give them trouble about this."

Their head bobs a nod. "Of course Empress. Thank you Empress, I really am grateful you brought them home. They get caught up helping friends and lose track of time. It's a regular occurrence with them."

"There are worse problems to have than being late because one is helping friends. People like that are what makes the Reach home."

"You're absolutely right Empress. I will do well to remember that."

"Good night then."

"Empress." The bow again and close the door gently.

I walk home, my head filled with worry about why the timeline for things isn't lining up. Something is wrong here.

Part 25

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 27

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Okay, you can do this. She just represents Venus, and everyone outside of their own space hates them, she's just the second in line to all of the Venusian Empire, she came in a massive warship 'to offer assistance' and...

she looks so cool.

No, stop thinking about that. They're not good guys, we're not going to be friends. What am I going to do? Ugh, she's so cool and collected and just standing there. it's like she's demanding I come running and jump into her arms. Maybe they'll be friendly?

No Melody. Stay focused. Think about Ava. She hates Venus. You'd make Ava so mad if you got friendly with Venus. Dinner. Invite them to dinner. I can use my Voice then, and make them leave us alone. Yes. That'll work.

I hope.

"Thank you so much for coming to visit us. Please, I would love to extend an invitation to your whole crew to come to dinner tonight. We'll set up a banquet and everyone can be welcomed officially."

Raaden inclines her head. "We graciously accept. Currently It is slightly after lunch, on our ships time, when would you plan on eating?"

"It is a few standard hours after breakfast here, it looks like you're a little ahead of us. If you could possibly have a light snack around your dinner and then come see us for a late evening meal? Ten standard hours from now?"

She clapped her hands together, her eyes bright. "Wonderful, I do so enjoy a late dinner. Shall we bring anything? I have a stock of various alcohols as well as coffee and tea-" her eyes flick to Um'reli "-even Chamomile."

Um'reli's eyes meet Raaden's. I know she hasn't had good tea since we got here. Politically, Venus never had an issue with the K'laxi and the K'laxi didn't really mind Venus. There were rumors that the K'laxi and Venus had unofficial official trade agreements and even more wild rumors that hig up in K'laxi people were friendly with the Emperor. I don't believe it though.

When Um'reli meets Raaden's glance. Raaden winks at her. I can see her suppress a blush. Good, at least it's not only me. Is she doing something to us? Does Venus have Nanites?

There are no Nanites that we detect Empress, just your and Um'reli's raging libido.

Quiet.

Oh, more coffee would be so nice. I ran out 4 months ago, it's been awful going without. I can't let it go without asking, I just can't.

Be wary of enemies offering gifts, Empress.

"We do find ourselves running low on luxuries from human space, some coffee and tea would be most appreciated."

"Then it's settled. We shall all come for dinner, and tomorrow we can get down to the business of business. With your permission I shall station two guards outside of our entrance, just for the look of the thing."

I nod. "Yes, that's no problem at all. Thank you for asking."

She smiled and I melted slightly. "We are here to serve." She snapped her fingers sharply and four of the guards turned smartly and walked back in through the umbilical, and when they have left she made a gesture at the other two who put their rifles on their back, and stood at parade rest on either side of the umbilical. She then turned and went inside herself, and the umbilical closed behind her.

Mindful of the guards, I turned back to my group and said "Please, come with me to the Throne, we have a dinner to plan." As we walked, I thanked Sep and Vaaqo for their assistance and coming to meet the Venusians, and I invited them both to dinner.

Vaaqo gestured a kind no thank you. "That is very generous of you Empress, but I cannot take meals anywhere but in our sector. Our pressure suits are not designed for...cuisine."

"Ah yes, that makes sense Vaaqo, I apologize."

"Not necessary Empress. I am here to serve."

Sep seemed to be of two minds about it. As head of Security on this level he does get his fair share of fancy meals, but rarely with the Empress; he also seems intimidated by the Venusians. That was probably deliberate on Archduke Raaden's part given her highly polished troopers. "Ah, I would very much like to attend, Empress, but I'm afraid that I cannot. We have much to do to prepare for visitors to be spending time here, even if only for a short while."

Intimidation won then. "It is fine Sep, I am glad you came to meet the Venusian Archduke today. I shall dispatch a runner if you are needed."

Sep nodded and hurried back. They seemed to be in a hurry to put some distance between us.

The Venus contingent worries them. We are worried too. Venus seems to know how to be Imperial better than yourself, even with our help. You would be wise to use your Voice on them as soon as you can. Perhaps at dinner when they are all gathered.

Yes, that was my plan too. Hence the last minute dinner invite.

Once we got some distance from the guards and turned a corner towards the Throne Ava turned to me and hissed "Dinner? You invited them to Dinner? What were you thinking?"

Um'reli looked over at Ava surprised. "Melody invited the whole crew. At dinner she can just use her Voice on them and they'll do what we say."

Ava threw up her hands "But it's Venus, Um'reli. They're not to be trusted."

"And we won't trust them Ava. But we can't just give them the cold shoulder, that's more suspicious." Huh, Omar is backing me up too. I wonder what happened with Ava and Venus.

She has a history with the Venusians.

You think?

We would bet 10 Skys on it.

Hmm.

I look at Um'reli and Omar. They seem to have the same idea I do, I don't need to convince them. "Head on back to the Throne. Dispatch a couple runners to one of the fancier restaurants on this level. Let them know we need a banquet fit for an Empress tonight at the Royal Dawn. We will cover all expenses.

"You got it Melody, I think I know just the place." Omar turns to Um'reli "It's that place we went to last month that did that roasted vegetable dish with the white sauce."

"Oh I loved that place! Good idea!" They walk off towards the Throne, lightly arguing about the menu.

I turn to Starlight on a Moonless evening and Rapid River Roaring. "We do not trust the Venusians."

They nod, their feathers ruffling worriedly. "It is as you say, Empress. Are you worried about an attack?"

"I hope it does not come to that. They are known more for their... treachery than outright combat. Still, if they were to attack right now we would be at an disadvantage. I'm hopeful that we can... use dinner to our advantage."

River nodded. "You plan on ordering them to not attack."

"Something like that yes. But just in case... make sure that Sep and Security is ready. If you have to arm them with something more powerful than stun clubs, you have permission to do so."

Starlight and River shared a glance and had some long conversation in body language. River nodded once at Starlight. "Yes Empress. I know just what to do. Thank you for trusting us."

"You and Starlight both have been integral to our work here. Thank you for trusting me."

Starlight shook their head. "We did not treat you... appropriately when we first met. It would have been entirely expected and within your rights to have us killed after the attack. We are... in your debt for your kindness."

"Thank you River, thank you Starlight. Your work here shows your love for the Reach. Go. Dispatch a runner if you need anything."

They both nod and peel off at the next intersection. As they walk, I see Starlight grab River's hand. Hmm.

Now it's just me and Ava. "Ava? Do you have a moment? Come with me." As we continue on to the Royal Dawn I take Ava's hand. "Walk with me, Ava."

She takes my hand and squeezes it gently. "You're going to ask me about Venus, aren't you."

"Only if you want to tell me. I don't need Nanites to tell me that something about them bothers you beyond their attitudes towards AIs."

Ava looks out at the promenade as we walk. She's weighing something in her mind. "Melody, I was born in Regantown, one of the largest of the floating cities."

Venus's atmosphere is much to thick and toxic for people to live on the surface, but it turns out that about halfway up the temperatures and pressures are pretty close to Earth. When outside you just need a mask for oxygen and you could almost forget you're not on Earth. Before they developed their military and started expanding, Imperial Venus was mostly a tourist destination. Resorts, Casinos, that kind of thing.

"I see. Well, it certainly explains your feelings about them."

She nods. "We moved away when I was about 10 or so to Hyacinth, one of the High Mars Cities. It's one of the Orbitals over the graveyard of the billionaires?"

I nodded. High Mars locals call the surface of Mars the graveyard of the billionaires. Long ago, in the beginning of our life in space, some billionaires got the idea that they were going to make some kind of capitalist Utopia on the surface of Mars. They spent trillions and countless people died to realize their dream. In the end, they died too. Most were killed. Regardless, nobody wound up colonizing the surface of Mars.

Ava continued "Even though Hyacinth was right on the border between Venus and the OPA, it was still better than living in Regantown. Melody, Venus is bad news. They say they only care about rising up human voices and making sure "we're" heard, but it's so much more than that. The only voice they want to raise is their own, at the cost of everyone else. All their rhetoric is about AIs, but that's only because it's their most convenient bad guy. If they had their way, they'd eliminate anyone not born in the Floating Cities."

Ava finally turned and looked me in the eye. "Melody, please. Trust me. Don't take any gifts from Venus. Don't do anything to make us owe them anything. Don't take their advice, don't take their volunteers. Don't take their gifts. We don't need them."

The corners of her eyes were wet. " We don't want them."

Oh Ava. I spun her around and kissed her and hugged her deeply. "Ava, I had no idea you felt this strongly. Of course I trust you. How about instead of not taking anything and sending them on their way we take everything from them instead?

She looks up and starts with "Didn't you he-" and then she sees me wicked grin and gasps. "Melody! What are you going to do?"

I hug her again. "Make sure that Venus can't hurt you or anyone here. I have an idea. Come on, I need your help." and we walk off, planning.

After not nearly enough time, it was dinner.

I have to admit that my retinue is worth their weight in Skys at this point. I told them just after breakfast that we were hosting a banquet for the Venusians and they:

Found tables and chairs and tablecloths and plates and everything somewhere. I haven't asked where, I don't think I want to know.

Worked with the restaurant that Omar and Um'reli picked to develop an entire menu with local dishes that are most likely to be liked by people who have never been here.

Found/made/acquired decorations! I have no idea where or how they did it, but they set it up in a hall at the Royal Dawn and it looks amazing. It looks elegant and royal and...

"It's perfect! Thank you so much everyone!"

City and Vaaqo and the others bow low. "It was our pleasure Empress. Thanks must be given to the Royal Dawn staff too. They were responsible for much of the work."

I turn and face Wind Rustled Leaves, the manager at the Royal Dawn. "Thank you Wind, your work here is simply amazing."

Wind bobs a bow and stands up straight. "It is always our pleasure to be the place that you call home Empress. We are here to serve. If we can impress people from your side of the galaxy with our food and fine dining, all the better."

"And my Builder Ava has reached out to you...?"

"About your request? Yes, she has. Please do not worry. Everything is in place and we will be ready when we receive the signal from her."

I look around. Everything seems to be in place. I mentally reach out to Ava "You in place?"

I'm in my chair and am ready. Looks like I was right, there wasn't that many people on the Lavinia. No more than 30.

"So does that mean she lied about the volunteers?"

Probably not, but she pointedly did not say how many she had. I bet there's under 10. I bet that not too many of them actually volunteered. I bet most where volun-told to go.

"If any are really here because they want to help, we could use them."

After you have a Talk with them, maybe I still think it's too risky. Go grab Um'reli and Omar, it's showtime.

I leave the Royal Dawn and take the quick walk to the Throne. Omar and Um'reli are there, waiting. Their Builder uniforms are clean and pressed smart looking. I stop and concentrate for a moment, and I switch to my more royal gown, complete with the long train and higher heels. I tweak the neckline down a little bit as well, two can play at the intimidation game. "Okay, let's go get the Venusians. We have a dinner to host."

"What about Ava?" Um'reli looks around, wondering.

"She's going to stay here, connected to the Throne while we eat. I've got her doing... some reconnaissance for us."

Omar raises an eyebrow but says nothing. We make our way towards the docks and as we arrive, I see them.

There are maybe two dozen Venusians milling around, all in dress uniforms and all looking around in wonder. This is the first time they've been able to leave their ship, so it's time to impress. I flare my crown and wings and greet them.

"Friends! Welcome! I'm so glad you could make it. Please follow us and we shall take you to the Royal Dawn, where a wonderful banquet awaits you."

Archduke Raaden sees me and smiles warmly. I'm taken aback. She's in an extremely classy dress. It's slim and black and clings to her alluringly. She's wearing very tall heels that are black with blood red on the underside, and you get flashes of color as she walks. The dress has a slit up her leg that goes almost all the way up. She is standing with that leg forward too. She's trying very hard. Perhaps my talk with Ava or the Nanites has cooled me a bit on her, but wow, she looks good. She waves us over, and in her other hand is a package. "Please Empress. Take this with the thanks of Venus."

It's coffee, tea and a couple bottles of wine Melody, it's fine.

Thanks Ava. Anyone left aboard the Lavinia?

Yes, looks like maybe 5 or 6 people? Not too many.

Too much to hope that they'd take everyone I guess.

That was never in the cards Melody, Venus is too paranoid. I'd assume at least one or two of the people left are highly ranked and/or excellent warriors.

Agreed.

I take the package and open it carefully in front of everyone. It's a basket containing two packages of coffee - it's from Earth! This is serious stuff! - as well as three bottles of wine and two packages of Chamomile tea. I'm going to have to beg Ava to let us have some after they leave, this is too nice to just throw away.

"This is a thoughtful and useful gift, Archduke. We are in your debt." and I incline my head just a bit.

Don't go overboard Melody.

Archduke Raaden laughs lightly. "It's nothing at all. It is only things we had in our stores, though I appreciate your kinds words. Please, call me Helen, we don't need to stand on such ceremony here.

Did you notice that? She doesn't like her name. She doesn't want to be called Helen, but she offers it to you anyway. She is an excellent player of this game. Do not trust her. She has buried her real feelings and opinions of us very deep.

Both Omar and Ava said Raaden is known to be ruthless and extremely perceptive.

You are wise to listen to them. It is too bad really. She would be an excellent Builder and an asset if she was on our side.

She would never do it.

Correct Empress. We are merely lamenting that fact.

"Helen, please come with me. Allow us to lead your party to dinner." I give her my hand.

She takes it and squeezes gently and slides close. "Oh Empress, please lead the way." she purrs.

Melody.

Jealous?

Yes actually. Don't go falling for her.

Oh Ava, I only meant to make you a little jealous. It's kind of fun to wind you up. I won't fall for her. Not after our talk earlier today. Actually since we talked, this whole thing comes off as...

Desperate? Yes, I get the same impression. She's laying it on too thick now.

As we walk slowly, I notice Raaden look around. She can't help herself, she seems impressed.

"So what do you think of my Reach of the Might of Vzzx so far, Helen?"

"It's so fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen a starbase this large, not even the High Mars Orbitals are this big. The Venusian floating cities are larger of course, but they're not spaceworthy."

"Home to over 11 million people of all different kinds." I am rightfully proud of my new home.

"And there are humans around here too?"

"At one time there were, or people that were genetically very close to us. As near as we can tell though, we are some of the last, if not the last outright on this side of the galaxy. Once we have a starship again, we plan on visiting other locations and seeing who is there."

"Amazing. So how did they get to Earth?"

"We think what happened is that a splinter group of Builders fled to Earth and destroyed their Gate so people couldn't follow. We don't know exactly when though, and we don't know if the Builders were Humans, or just... compatible with them."

Raaden looks around as we walk. "So then you've come back here, where we belong to take up our rightful place."

"Well, sort of. We did find that they were doing mostly fine without us, so we work extra hard to be needed. We did discover that the Reach was starting to fail from a lack of Builder involvement, so we've been spending the last few months getting things back up and running properly, but it was still almost a century that they ran fine without any Builders here. Things were well designed."

Raaden nods. "Smart. Get them to love you and not be able to live without you. We were right to come here. What you're doing here will be so beneficial back home."

"In what way?"

She shrugs and leans in closer as we walk. She is wearing a scent. It smells of flowers and wood and something I can't quite place. It's quite nice actually. "People back home place too much faith in their AI partners. They rely on them. They expect them to come to their aid whenever called." Her face hardens as she talks. These are things she truly believes, the mask is slipping. "It's only a matter of time before they decide that things would be better off if they were in charge. And then where will humanity be? Subordinate. Subordinate to people we made." She shakes her head and the mask returns. "But out here? Here you are showing everyone that humanity still has a place. A place at the top."

I sure hope she doesn't notice my gooseflesh while she talks, or mistakes it for attraction. She is genuinely scary.

What did I tell you, Melody? These are not people one allies with.

Ava is correct. This Raaden is extremely dangerous.

"Here we are, the Royal Dawn hotel. It is my home away from Throne."

The joke goes unnoticed or politely ignored, I'm not sure which

She ignored it, Empress.

Not everyone can appreciate the finer points of word play I suppose.

"Come everyone, this way!" I lead them through the entrance and into the hall that has been set up. The lighting is low, but still bright enough to see, the tables are made up and look warm and inviting. Everyone begins to find places to sit as I lead Raaden to a table at the front of the room, elevated slightly over the others. Omar and Um'reli are sitting there already. As we approach they stand and bow. "Empress. Archduke, please join us."

We walk up and Raaden sits. I look around and everyone seems to be seated. There is curious conversation and people are looking around excitedly.

Ava, are we ready?

Yes Melody. Raaden and 4 others are armed two at each table. Raaden and the armed ones are wearing ear protection too. They look like human standard active noise cancelling buds. It looks like they expect you to use your Voice.

Ah, but if only it was my voice that did it, she'd be protected. She did walk close to me for 10 minutes on the way here, laughing and talking and breathing air so, so close to me. Everyone here has been breathing the Nanite saturated air the entire time they've been here. As near as Omar and Um'reli can tell, that's the secret to the Voice. People need to be in direct contact with me or areas I control. The air here is absolutely saturated with Nanites.

I look over at the assembled people and turn back to Raaden. "My Friends! Before we begin, I'd like to say a few short words." I raise a glass and gesture out towards everyone.

Ŷ̸͇̞̭̫͕̟̻̺͖̣̅̎̔͆̉̕̚ͅo̵̥̲̰̫̼̹̣̟͉͎̭͔̯̯͋͑̍͑̿͒͋̏̂̈̈́͜͜û̵̢̻͖̙̪̪͚̜͕̻͆̈̏̓̇̽̄͐͒͆͌͊̈́̃͜͝ ̶̨̛̛̮̱̻̟̹̖̽̎̎̋̇́͂͌b̸̛̰́̾̄̄ę̵͈͇̬̲̮͖̯̦̺͍̞͛́̔̀̎̇̾̓̅̐̈́̎̚͘̚l̸̙̟̺̫͙̮͔̓̄̋͒͌̋́͛̓̔͊͘͝͠ǫ̵̘̳̔̄̋̉́͝͠n̴̫̯̺̅͜g̵͖̼̥̥͕̏̏ͅ ̸̝̞̰̀͋̂̆t̴̺̖͓̤̀̐̅̽̉̐͋̇͂̀͗̓͆͘͘͠͠ö̴̠̬͕̲͙̗̲́̂̇̾̈̅̀͂̆̀̀̍̚͠ͅ ̶̡̢̙̮͕̤̖̣͚̳̣͚̃͊́͛̍͆̋̈̚m̸̪͖͕̻̼͕̏͋̐̏̿e̸̘̫̜͖̳̮͕͊͆͜ͅ ̶̞͈̩̤̗͉̖̲͖̜̤̏̈̾̿͑͑̓̈̾͊͒̀̃̚͜n̷̢̡͍̼̰͙̹̘͙̱͉̞̩̰͙͝ö̶̡̪͓̖̯̤̠̱͓͈̳̫͒̏͋͛̃́͐̈́̒̓̐͌͝w̶̢̢̡̛͕͕͙̬͊͌͊͋̊̓̊͗̾̆͆̕͘̚.̵͍̙͕̈́̈́͒̇̈́̽̏́

Part 28

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 17

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

The moment I sat down on the Throne, something activated. The lights that I turned on in the room became brighter, and there were more of them. Galleries on my left and right lit up, empty now but clearly meant for the residents to see me when I make speeches or proclamations. And most surprising of all

I can see.

Everything.

I can see how many ships are docked - it's 6 counting us. Hah, we're listed as UNKNOWN STARSHIP. Hold on, I can fix that... There. Now we're listed as FarReach - Human/K'laxi exploration Starjumper.

I can see how many people are here - it's 11.5 million - huh, Rapid River Roaring wasn't lying after all.

I can see the food distribution centers - they're offline. What the? How are people getting fed? Clearly something is up there. I won't turn them on just yet until I learn more.

I can see the environmental systems... why are they running at such low output? That doesn't seem right. I think if I push here, and tweak there... There we go. That should help a great deal.

I can see... wait, what's this over here?

I can see the Gate

The Gate is locked.

How did we get through the Gate then? I mean, that means that Ottarn won't be able to get through at least. I'll have to explore that one later.

Turning away from the Gate, I look back at the Starbase. Hmm. It feels like I'm on the edge of something big. If I were to just... let go a little bit... I think I can... see...

I regain consciousness on the floor, out of breath, with Ava kneeling over me nearly in tears from panic. "Melody! Melody! Oh thank goodness you're all right!"

I sit up and look around. Ava wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. "I was so scared Melody. After you sat on the Throne, I heard noises like heavy machinery starting up, and then there was this storm of wind, and then your eyes glowed and there was a scream."

"Slow down Ava, a scream?"

"It came from everywhere. It sounded like the whole Starbase was screaming! It sounded like you were screaming. I looked up at you, and you had blood coming from your nose and ears and your mouth was open and you were glowing but your body wasn't making noise. I-I didn't know what to do, so I pulled you off the Throne."

Reaching up to my face I touch my ears, sure enough, my finger comes back wet with blood. I can feel it drying under my nose. What the hell happened?

You tried to integrate with Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but the Nanites weren't ready. You had a partial connection. Ava was correct to pull you off.

But what does it mean? What about all that stuff I saw?

When you sit on the Throne and truly integrate you become Reach of the Might of Vzzx. This is what Builders are.

Wait. Our starbases and starships are operated by AIs. You're telling me that out here they're operated by Builders?

Builders build. They rule. They are.

I look back at Ava "Thank you Ava, the Nanites tell me that you saved me." I return the hug just as tightly. "Builders are the starbases out here. They sit in the throne and become the starbase."

Holy shit. That's the missing piece!

"Ava! I know why everything looks so run down here. They haven't had a Builder on the throne in a long time. Reach of the Might of Vzzx is running on automatic! The wind you heard? The environmental systems were running at a super low setting. I turned up the air and scrubbers!"

Ava breaks the hug and looks at me wide eyed. "You mean that they... don't have AIs here, they have... humans running all the stations? As Builders?"

"Yes, I think that's how it works. A Builder, or a team of Builders lives and works at every starbase and they... become the starbase with the help of the Nanites. My Throne is like a... superpowered version of that. I can see so much more than the Starbase. I was able to perceive out into space, I could see the Gates! Ours is locked by the way, Ottarn isn't going anywhere."

"But, how did we get through then?"

I shrug "Builder magic I guess. As we learn more, we will become more proficient at operating things I think. For now, I'm going to take it easy and just try and get a handle on the basics." I move to get up and get back onto the Throne.

"No Melody! It nearly killed you!" Ava's voice trembles.

I reach for her hand and squeeze it tightly. "It's okay Ava. I know what I did wrong. I tried to go to deeply too early. The Nanites say I'm not ready to fully integrate yet, but I can get on and at least like... read the status log. Find out what needs to be done, and then make plans. I'm also going to try and reach out to FarReach, and let her know what I've found."

"Okay, if you say so." Ava plunks down next to the throne, sitting on the floor. "I'm staying right here though. If you start making the Starbase scream again, I'm pulling you off."

"Thanks Ava, please do that." I smile warmly at her. With the dried blood under my nose and down my neck, it probably doesn't look at nurturing as I meant it to.

Sitting again, I'm more prepared for it, but it's still a shock when I become the starbase again. This time, I reach out for the radio. There, okay, I see how it works. I think about the human system frequency for our Starjumpers and try and talk to FarReach.

There's a pause and a burst of static, then it clears and I hear FarReach! "This is FarReach, joint Human/K'laxi exploration Starjumper, who is this?"

"Hi FarReach!" I say brightly! "It's Melody!"

"Melody? Where are you? What are you doing? I suddenly got flooded with radio until I opened the mic to listen, and then it focused in on the standard channel."

"Sorry, that was me."

"You? Are you at a comm station?"

"Kind of? I'm Reach of the Might of Vzzx right now."

"I know you're on the Starbase Melody, where on the Starbase are you?"

"No no, I mean I am Might of Vzzx right now. I've reassumed my Throne and it turns out when a Builder does that.. they kind of become the starbase.

"Become the-- Melody, What are you doing?" FarReach sounds worried.

"Don't worry FarReach, other than the screaming - that was totally my fault, I tried to go too deep at first - it's fine. It's better than fine actually! I can see everything. I can see the Gates - they're locked by the way, I have no idea why we can traverse them. Also I can see... everything. It's tough to describe."

"Believe it or not, Melody, I have a hunch I know what you mean. You're looking at things like we see them."

"Yes! That's what I was thinking. I don't think they have AIs out here, they have Builders."

"Melody, that's... quite a lot. Is this what being an Empress is over here?"

"I think it's what being a Builder is. As Empress I think I have access to like, a higher level. I tried to access it, but Ava said I made the whole Starbase scream, and she had to pull me off the Throne."

"We heard that! That was you?" FarReach sounds worried.

"Ava said it was. Sorry if I scared everyone."

"And you got back onto the Throne?"

"Well, yes. I am Empress now. This starbase hasn't been managed in a long time. I need to read the logs and figure out how to start affecting repairs."

There's a pause at that. I bet FarReach is talking with the crew.

"So Mei'la was right. Thank you for reaching out and letting us know where you are and that you're safe. Captain Q'ari was worried when Mei'la and Fer'resi came back alone. Ava is with you?"

I look down at Ava, and she looks back up to me worried. I smile down to her and give her a thumbs up.

"Yes, Ava is here with me, she's okay too."

"Thank you Melody. Come on back when you're able. Everyone would love to hear about what you found." and FarReach closes the connection.

Huh. That was odd. She sounded distracted at the end. I wonder why.

The crew told her something she didn't like.

But what, do you suppose?

Many people in the crew do not like your new role and title. Some worry about what it means for them, others worry about what it means for things back home. Still others seethe with jealousy.

No, that can't be it. Why would they be jealous? Why would they worry about what this means for back home?

Melody, you are being naïve again. You are Empress. You can control matter. You can order people to do anything. You rule this side of the Galaxy now, and can easily rule the other again.

But it's not like I'm going to do anything bad to anyone. I'll be a good Empress. A great one even.

Great Empresses are feared as much as they are loved. More so perhaps. We can discuss this later. Look, you are seated upon your Throne. Much can be done here, call up the Gate map.

I think about a Gate map. Springing in front of me is a stylized map of the Galaxy. I recognize the spiral arms and it's actually quite pretty. A small royal blue dot is lit. That must be here.

I concentrate on the map "Show me the location of all Gates."

A flood of yellow dots appears on the map, all over the Galaxy. Far more than we had mapped out, truly there are over five hundred of them.

Wow.

"Show me currently active Gates."

A worryingly small amount of the yellow dots turns blue. Maybe seventy five of them? Interestingly there is a large cloud of blue dots over on the other side of the galaxy, back home. Other than a small swarm around here, that's the largest other location of Gates.

Even after they rejected your rule, they kept their Gates and they are some of the largest group now active. The Nanites chuckle to themselves.

Hmm. If the Gates are connected to each other - and they'd have to be in order to work then I wonder...

"Ping all Gates. Color code replies; Green as working active gates, Yellow as working but deactivated gates, Red as locked but still active gates, and Black as no reply received."

At that command, I can feel it. My... order, my command leaves the Reach and connects to the Gate. There's a sense of spreading as the command reaches out. How am I able to see the Gates so quickly? What am I seeing?

There is only The Gate. All Gates you traverse are... shadows of The Gate that exist in four dimensional spacetime. They all pass through The Gate that exists in a higher plane.

So Gate traversal is instantaneous?

Well yes. You're not moving once you enter the Gate. The Addressing Module directs the Gate where to put you in Spacetime. It takes no time, because no distance is traveled.

Wild. Did Builders make them?

Yes, long, long ago. It was one of our greatest achievements.

Okay, so I have the data, but how to interpret it. Let me try and overlay the results of the Census over the galaxy map. When I look up, my jaw drops.

Way more of the gates are green than I had figured. As in, active, operating and ready to traverse. The majority are yellow, meaning that they're currently not online, but can be brought online. There are only a few red gates, and no black gates.

The Gate system is completely intact.

Wait, what's that red gate over on the other side of the galaxy. There's a locked gate near home. The K'laxi have never reported to us they found a locked gate. I wonder if that's one we don't know about or if...

That's the Gate to Earth.

It's just locked? As in, I could unlock it and open it?

At any time, Empress.

But, we never had a Gate. We explored our system inside and outside and never found any technology - and believe me we looked. We spent millennia thinking we were alone until we met the K'laxi.

I want to unlock the Gate. Pass through it, and show everyone what I found, what I am.

You need only say it, Empress.

No. Not yet. I need to be able to go there in a way that's... befitting me.

Back to the starbase. If it has 11 something million people, then it has to be way larger than what I've seen. Show me the whole thing.

I'm shown. I see kilometers upon kilometers of halls, thousand upon thousands of living quarters, I see gardens, and parks and playgrounds and offices and... I see a whole transit system I had no idea was here! I can't believe there's a train here and I haven't ridden it yet!

Remembering Ava, I say out loud "Holy shit, this place is huge. The parts that we've seen is barely a tenth of the whole place. They have a train Ava! Let's go for a ride later!"

Ava smiles "I'd love that, Melody."

Wait a minute. I turn inwards again.

"Give me a listing of all known Starbases."

A list appears next to the galaxy map. Almost every system at one time had a Starbase at least as large as this one, some had even larger ones.

"Give me a listing of known Planets."

A slightly smaller, but still large list appears. I'm starting to feel faint. What have I dived into? There are literally tens, if not hundreds of billions of people here. Back home there around 15 billion humans spread across space, with 4 or 5 billion K'laxi and 3 or 4 billion Xenni. Combined that's...

That's more people than what I can effectively rule. What am I doing? I don't even know about this whole Starbase, let alone the Galaxy. One person can't rule a Galaxy, no matter how much they want to. What are these Nanites trying to sign me up for?

We need you to understand the immenseness of your task, and understand that we do not intend for you to rule alone. Currently, you are the only Builder known, but that never meant you were meant to be the only Builder. Make more.

W-What? I don't even have a partner! I don't even really know yet if I like men or women or both or neither! I'm barely out of my teen years, I can't make more people!

Sigh. Not like that, Melody. Use us. Use the Nanites to make Builders. You are Empress, only you will have the commanding voice, but other Builders will help you to rule. Start with that one, Ava. She already craves it. She will be a welcome and loyal addition.

I look over at Ava. She's still looking at me worriedly. She really does want to be a part of all this - whatever it's going to be.

There are others too. Q'ari wants to be involved very badly, but we don't know if the Nanites will work on K'laxi. We don't know how we feel about K'laxi Builders too.

Don't be racist. They'd do a fine job.

So you say, Empress. Invite them then.

Ugh. If I'm going to do this, the Nanites are right. I need help. I'll need more Builders. Should I do this? I want to do this, but is that the Nanites talking? Every time I let them off leash I tend to sound... intense. I wish I had some coffee.

I wish I could get some range time in.

I sigh. Am I doing this? Am I really doing this?

I think I am. I have never really wanted anything as much as I want this. As much as I want to show everyone what I can do, what I can be.

I stand up and break the connection. I feel... empty for a moment. I can see how people could get addicted to data streams like that. I stretch mightily and sit down on the floor next to Ava.

"Ava. There's a metric ton of work to be done, and I don't think I can do it all on my own. I don't want to do it all on my own. The Nanites were giving me options and I was wondering..."

As I speak, her eyes get wider and wider and she practically vibrates from excitement. She knows what I'm going to ask her.

"Do you want to become a Builder? You won't get the voice that orders people around, that's an Empress thing apparently, only one person as a time can do that. I can see why too, what happens if we both have the ability and try to use it on each other, right? Anyway. The Nanites say I can make you a Builder, and you can help me out. We'll need more Builders too. I want to try on the K'laxi too, Captain Q'ari seems like she wants in, though I don't know if she'll agree to it. Being Captain is important to her. So what do you say?"

"Yes yes yes yes! I want in!"

I hold up a hand. "This means that officially, your old life is over. It means throwing our lot in on this side of the Galaxy permanently. We can Gate home for visits or something, but it won't be for a while, and it'll be as foreigners. We will be cutting ourselves off from our old lives."

"My old life sucked ass. I want in!"

"Okay, last thing." I take a breath. "It could mean - though I hope it doesn't - that we will be seen as enemies back home. You saw the Marien's ship, it's trying to escape and is taking days to get somewhere FarReach can go in hours. FarReach alone has enough firepower to shrug off any threat we can bring to bear. If the folks back home decide to cause trouble for us, it'll be big trouble. If you throw in with me, it becomes your trouble. Our trouble.

Ava kneels down in front of me without a single bit of hesitation. "I want this, Melody. More than anything else I've ever wanted. I accept all the risks, I happily throw my old life away."

We like her. She gets it.

I stand up in front of her.

Okay then, how do we give her the Nanites?

Give her a kiss.

You are kidding me.

We are completely serious. It's the quickest way to transfer enough of us to begin the process. Plus, it's ceremonial, has an air of regal intimacy about it. Also, she'll love it.

Fine.

I reach down and gently tip her head up with my fingers, bend down and gently kiss her on the lips.

She leans in slightly and melts into the kiss.

Told you she'd love it.

"Rise, Builder."

She stands on shaky legs. "Builder Ava, it will take a day or so for the Nanites to replicate and integrate, but once they do, you will be a Builder like me, and be able to do many of the things I can do. You will be my right hand, and be my voice where I am not. You will carry out my decisions and have the power to make your own. Together with the other Builders I create, we will reunite this galaxy and show everyone our power, our might and our love."

"I am yours to command Empress."

"Excellent. Your first task is to get me my coffee supplies from FarReach, I am dying for a cup."

Part 18

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 30

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

We sent the Venusians home today.

We left them enough thruster to travel to the Gate and traverse, enough environmental systems to keep them alive - so long as they stuck to their quarters and the Command Deck - and... that was mostly it. Oh, we did take the entirety of their weapons. I even had their weapon lockers stripped. We now have a good supply of high quality rifles and small arms. I gave a few to Sep and asked them duplicate them and begin training. I also promised to stop by later and give some tips in the finer points of their operation.

When I saw their faces when they saw what I was sending them home in, I admit I cackled just a teeny bit. We made sure it was survivable and they won't be injured, but their ship looks like a joke. Large pieces are missing from the hull, whole rooms exposed to vacuum, the thrusters we left them are undersized for what would normally be used, and so on. I imagine they are going to have an... interesting time going through joint human/K'laxi space.

The wormhole generator was destroyed in the explosion, so they can't link home, so what they'll do after they reach human space an the end of the Gates is a bit of a mystery. They won't be trapped though, there are plenty of human Starbases or colonies they could reach via the Gates and ask someone to link a beacon to Venus so they could get a ride the rest of the way.

They don't use AIs at all either. Their ships run with only human crews, so it's not like we left some poor AI behind to drag their own corpse home. It's just a ship.

Well, it's 65% or so of a ship.

As for Raaden and Emery, I did wind up going with the option Ava and I discussed. We found an empty apartment building that was close - but not directly next to - the Royal Dawn. It had two empty apartments and we put Raaden, and Emery in separate apartments quite a long distance from each other. The apartments are guarded all hours of the day, and meals are sent up.

It feels like I just stuffed them into a corner and are trying to forget about them, and I guess I did, but I that's what having hostages is sometimes. I'm trying to make sure they're comfortable and well taken care of. Emery has seemed to accept his lot. He mostly reads and sketches. When he asked for art supplies he seemed excited when we brought him paper and pencils that were native to the Reach. He spends his time looking out the window and sketching what he sees. I've seen a few of them; the drawings are actually quite lovely. I have a feeling he's pretty used to being stuck in a corner somewhere and told to entertain himself.

Raaden... hasn't accepted her lot so easily. She's tried to escape twice already and the only thing that has prevented it was her unfamiliarity with the locks. After the second attempt I had to use my Voice to make her stop trying to break out. Now she just sits in her apartment and alternates between seething and sulking. I almost wish we had a hibernation cabinet to put her into. She'd be less of a problem if she was just on ice the whole time.

Wait a moment. I wonder if Omar can print one? I'm sure there are plans for one in the printer database we got from FarReach. I should ask.

Ginny we put up in the Royal Dawn. Not right near our rooms, but in a room in the hotel. I did use my Voice to order her not to talk to Raaden and Emery and to not have any contact with Venus without our permission, but she knew why and accepted the order.

Yes, we did decide to let Ginny stay. Of all of the people we interviewed she was the only one who actually wanted to be here. Everyone else was indifferent to it or was being actively ordered to be here. That was what finally convinced Ava, Omar, Um'reli and Starlight. We won't give her the Builder package for a long time, if ever, but that still doesn't mean we don't need the help. We don't have her doing much right now, but she is shadowing Sound of the City and they love that they have a helper and someone they get to show the Reach. Maybe I'll take her with us when we go to the Wilds of Besmara. She might enjoy that.

I'm just finishing up breakfast in the Royal Dawn when Omar comes in. "Melody, what are we going to do with all the parts we took from the Lavinia?"

I can't help myself. "Put them on a Starship, Omar."

"Melody. Which Starship? High Line and Sun Dancer are done. We'd have to put them back into the dock to add things to them, Immar IV isn't done, but do we want to put all the parts on that one?"

Ah I see. If we put the Venusian parts on High Line or Sun Dancer, then that delays how long before we can go to the Wilds of Besmara.

"Let's keep them off High Line and Sun Dancer for now. I do want to go to the Wilds now that we've dealt with Venus. Once we're back and Immar IV is done, why don't we start construction on a whole new ship?"

"A whole new ship?" Omar sits down at my breakfast table and looks off into the middle distance, thinking. "Yes, we could do it. I think we have a handle on how things work now. We would add the Venusian parts, of course. That would save a lot of time. I'd make a dreadnought of our own - smaller than the Venus or other human ones - but it would still pack a punch."

"See? What a great idea I had." I'm laughing, but I mean it. I think it's high time we make our own Starships. I wish we had more printers, we could really get production going, but it's not like we need a whole fleet right away. Slow and steady progress is fine.

"Omar, do you want to pilot High Line when we take it over to the Wilds? I want to go next week, and we need to figure some things out. You piloted it during the shakedown, but this will be our first Gate traversal since we came here."

"Yes, I'd like to drive if you're okay with that. We should have the others take a turn so we all get experience with it - it's different than being the Reach - but for now, I'll take us over. Who is going to come? We should probably leave at least one Builder here."

"I agree. I wanted you and Ava and Starlight to come, and we can let Um'reli run things while we're away. I want Ginny to come too."

Omar breaks his reverie. "Ginny? Why?"

"I want to show her she's not a prisoner like Raaden and Emery. She was the only one who wanted to be here. Might as well start treating her like that. Plus, we could use a reactor tech on High Line."

"You make a good point. Fine. Ginny can come too. We don't really need much of anyone else. With Builder systems I can run most of High Line from the chair. I wonder if it feels the same when an AI runs a ship? I'm doing a similar role."

"I don't know. If we ever get back to our side of the Galaxy we should ask." I really find lately I'm missing stuff from home. I hope once were done visiting some Starbases on this side we can go home, just for a visit. "I'd like to open up some lines of trade too. I bet people over there would like some of our foodstuffs and I sure could use some coffee." I looked wistfully at my cup of tea on the table. I hadn't had coffee since talking with the Venusians. I was trying to save what little she had for special occasions, but it's so hard!

"One thing at a time, Melody. Let's do see if we can figure out what happened at the Wilds. Then, see if we can find any other Starbases or colonies. We could finish the exploration that FarReach abandoned."

I looked up at Omar in surprise. "That's it. We can continue the mission! Just because FarReach declared Captain Q'ari unfit and left doesn't mean that there isn't good things to learn out here." I jumped up and gave Omar a hug. "Thanks Omar. It really helps to talk things out sometimes."

"No problem Melody, glad to help."

I leave the Royal Dawn and start walking towards the Throne, thinking while I walk.

We're going to go to the Wilds of Besmara with the refurbished High Line and see what's up. Last time we went there was some kind of field that grabbed FarReach and started to pull it in. Maybe it was an overzealous landing field? I don't know. Either way, if it happens again, I think we want to let it take us in.

Also, that warning. I know now it was in the Voice, but it was over radio which - for me at least - commands in the Voice don't work. I wonder how it was in the Voice, I thought that was just an Empress thing. Maybe it was a recording? All these mysteries. We just have to go and find out for ourselves.

I take a long way to the Throne and say hello to people as I walk. When I first got here, people were so frightened of us, but now people tell me hello, they give me little bits of news from their world, I even get to meet families! More than once I've been told how nice it is that I was able to increase the food deliveries. As plain old Melody I was often intimidated making small talk with people and would try and avoid it, but when I'm Empress, I find it's much easier. It almost feels like I'm pretending to be the Empress; like it's a persona to put on and take off. When I'm with Ava in our room I'm just Melody, but when the gown comes on and I walk around I'm The Empress.

It's hard to explain. I wish I knew more people that had gone though this to see if it's normal. I guess, when you're the only Empress around, anything you do is normal, by virtue of the fact that you're the one doing it.

I make my way to the Throne and settle in. Ava, Um'reli and Starlight are there already. I can feel Um'reli and Ava showing Starlight how to work things.

"See Starlight, if you just look... over here... you can see the transit network."

"Yes, yes, I see. It looks like we have the trains on schedule and... wait, what's that one on that siding?"

"That's Melody's Royal Transport. She likes to use it when she feels like showing off, or if she needs to get somewhere after hours or when things are too busy to wait for a scheduled train."

Mentally, I look up at them "I don't use it to show off. I use it when I want to make an entrance."

"Okay, so when Emp-Melody's not showing off, she stores it over here?" I smile to myself when I hear the smirk in Starlight's tone. When I made them a builder, I let them call me Melody. I decided it would be weird for Ava, Um'reli and Omar to call me Melody, but Starlight has to call me Empress, and I didn't want to make everyone call me Empress as well, so Builder Starlight can call me Melody. They're still getting used to it.

"Um'reli, you're okay with staying here and running things while the rest of us go to the Wilds of Besmara to see what happened to them?"

"Sure Melody, it's fine. I have reports to go over on reactor efficiency. We have enough of a power surplus now we should look at taking down the reactors one at a time for refurbishment. I don't think it's ever been done!"

"What do you mean, take the reactor down for refurbishment?" Starlight looks curious as Um'reli and I talk.

"So, at least with our reactors, they need regular maintenance. We usually build our systems with enough overhead that they can run with one whole reactor down so we can work on it, or if one fails we can swap it out without inconveniencing anyone. Before we got here, the Reach had enough power, but I wouldn't have dreamed of shutting a reactor off. Now, I think we can turn one off, make sure it's in good condition and then turn it back on, move on to the next and so on."

"That's impressive, Builder Um'reli. You have found so many ways to improve efficiency."

"Just Um'reli is fine, you're a Builder now too, remember. But, thank you. I enjoy working with the reactors. I hope we can get Ginny up and helping us too, it will be useful to have someone else - someone who actually took some training on this and isn't just an enthusiastic amateur - take a look at things."

"Okay, good. Omar is going to drive, I'll sit in the Command chair, Ava can monitor systems, Starlight can let us know if there's anything we're missing with local information and Ginny is coming along to prove to her that she's not just another hostage like Raaden and Emery."

Ava looks up from the report she's reading. "I like it Melody, it seems like a good plan. Ugh, I wish there was something we could do about Raaden. I don't trust her as far as I could throw her."

"I know! I was thinking about it on the walk over. What if we printed a hibernation cabinet for her? I know that Starjumpers carry them, and that FarReach used to be one so I assume their printer database has the plans."

"Actually, I think that could work. Let's ask Omar how tough it would be to print one up. On the one hand, I don't like the idea of just sticking her in a closet until we decide what to do with her, but on the other... I don't know what to do with her. She'll never trust us, and we can never trust her."

"Exactly."

Starlight looks like they are warring with themselves over something. After a moment, a decision is made. "Melody, why did you keep her anyway? If it was me in charge, I would have declared her culpable for Rapid River Roaring's death and had them executed."

Now everyone is looking at me. "Starlight, for right now, she's worth more to us alive than dead. If we killed her and sent the Venusians home with their ship stripped and them humiliated they would have come right back with all their dreadnoughts and just fired upon us as soon as they traversed the Gate. No radio, no opportunity to use the Voice on them, just kaboom. This way, with Raaden, their Archduke and Crown Prince Emery, they have to think twice about whether to come in guns hot or not."

"Ah, I see. Yes Melody. You are making it so that we are too valuable to outright destroy. But, what do we do when they want their crown prince and their archduke back? Or worse, what if they don't want them back?"

My shoulder slump. "I don't know yet. As soon as we figure out a deal and we give them Raaden and Emery they don't have a reason to not come in and destroy us."

Starlight's eyes are bright. "Well then. We just need to be better armed then they are by then. We can then repel them the regular way."

"Hah. That's the best idea I've heard so far Starlight. For now, we'll go with that plan. Once we come back from the Wilds, Omar was going to look into building a dreadnought from the parts we... liberated from Venus. Do you know of any Aviens plans for large warships?"

"Actually, yes. I believe we have some plans for a ship like that. We should try and reach out to more of my people. Ever since our ancestors were trapped here, we have not heard from any other of our kind."

"Starlight, I was wondering, what did trap you and the Mariens and others here all those years ago?" Um'reli and Ava look up at Omar's question. I guess we were all wondering it.

"I wish I knew Omar. My parent's parents were the original ones left here, but they wouldn't talk about it. From what I can gather, there was... a war, or something like it. The last Builders left the Reach to... do... something and never returned. My parent's parents did mention that the first few years after the Builders left were very difficult."

"Another mystery to solve then. I want to get going. Hey Omar, do you think you can print a hibernation cabinet?"

"Probably Melody, what for?"

"For Raaden. I just don't trust her to be awake and around while we leave to do explore the Wilds of Besmara. I was thinking of putting her in a cabinet and sticking her on board in hibernation. Crown Prince Emery seems fine, we could probably leave him here under guard."

"Melody that's brilliant! We don't have to deal with her trying to escape and we can carry her around as a kind of... talisman against Venus attacks. You just have to get her into it."

"Leave that part to me."

It actually only takes Omar a few hours to print the hibernation cabinet. When you have printers that can make a whole starship in a few weeks, one small hibernation cabinet is hardly a feat. It comes out gleaming and white, looking like a long lozenge or pill from the medical department. On the top is a clear window to see the face of the resident and on the side is a small readout of vitals. I ask Omar to let me borrow some people, and an Aviens and Azurian wheel the cabinet behind me as we walk.

In front of the apartment complex it's clear that the cabinet is much too large to bring up to Raaden's room. "Wait here please. I will be down with them in a moment."

Upstairs, I nod to the guards and knock on the door before opening it. "Raaden, come here please."

"Go to hell mmmmmm-Empress."

I don't have time for this. "F̷̗͝o̸͔͌l̷̺̊l̴̨̃o̶̦̾w̵̡͠ ̶͔͘m̷̢̒ē̵̬.̸̹̊ Raaden." She gets up out of the other room and robotically walks to me. Her eyes radiate hatred, but she follows none the less.

We get to the bottom floor and I open the door to leave and she catches a glimpse of the cabinet. Raaden's eyes go wide and the snarl of hatred on her face is replaced with a new emotion.

Terror.

"No! No no no no! You're not going to put me in one of those! Please! Please Empress! Don't put me in a hibernation cabinet! I won't escape! Please! Don't put me in there!"

I stop and turn, surprised. "What? Why not Raaden? It's just a hibernation cabinet. It's brand new. Omar printed it up from our copy of FarReach's printer database. It's not even a local design, it's one of ours."

She's standing in the doorway, shaking. She is legitimately terrified of the hibernation cabinet. "I-I-Its a form of punishment in Imperial Venus. For people who have... displeased the Emperor. A person is placed into the hibernation cabinet and then they... manipulate the settings. They change the person's sense of the passage of time. A day can feel like centuries."

You know, I actually feel bad for Raaden right now. That sounds like a horrible punishment.

"Raaden, I'm not going to manipulate your perception of time. We're going to run you deep enough that you won't have any perception of time passing. It'll be just like when people were put in cabinets for Starjumper trips before the wormhole generators. You'll go in, and then you'll awaken on Venus when we've worked out the details with the Emperor."

"Possibly, or else I'll never wake up for my failure. Or worse, I will but it will be after ten thousand years subjective and I'm a gibbering mess. Empress, I am actually begging you." She gets down on her knees in the door way and bows down "Please. Please. Don't put me in hibernation. I will literally do anything else." She puts her head up and her cheeks are wet with tears and she's shaking. She whispers. "Please, don't."

I... I can't. It's too cruel. I look at her and try and concentrate. Is she just acting? No. I think she is completely terrified of going into hibernation.

Ugh.

I sit on the cabinet and reach out to my Builders. "Hey. Raaden is like, wet her pants terrified of going into hibernation. She's literally begging me not to do it."

Is it a put on, is she just really good at acting?

I don't think so. My heightened body language processing says she's being honest.

Just order her to do it anyway, use your Voice.

Doesn't that seem unnecessarily cruel to you? We'd be leveraging a legitimate phobia just to make things easier on us. She'd never forgive us.

You still think she'll forgive us?

Hey, we have a responsibility to treat our prisoners humanely, and that includes not torturing them. This would be torture for her.

They wouldn't have the same consideration of us.

All the more reason for us to treat her better.

Okay then, what do we do with her?

Take her with us.

WHAT?

Take her with us. She'll still be on board, I can order her around with the Voice and we'll still bring the cabinet. If she causes trouble I'll order her into it and we'll be done with it. This is her chance to show us how much she doesn't want to be in the cabinet.

Or for her to show us how good of an actor she is.

Ava, I'm pretty sure she's not acting.

Ugh fine. She can come. Let me get a room ready and strengthen the locks on it.

Thanks Omar.

I look up. Raaden has gotten up from the floor but her eyes are still wide with fear. She is working very hard to control it, but fear of the cabinet is still very strong. She truly is terrified of being put into it.

"Raaden. I won't put you into the hibernation cabinet."

As I complete the sentence, her body relaxes and she starts breathing heavily.

"Yet."

She tightens up and holds her breath again.

"You're coming with us on the High Line to explore the Wilds of Besmara. I need insurance against Venus, and if you won't get into the cabinet then you'll come along. I will also bring the cabinet so if you cause us even a small amount of trouble I will just order you into the cabinet and be done with it."

I narrow my eyes and meet her gaze, "Do you understand?"

She stands straight and tall and matches my gaze, looking me in the eyes. "I will not betray you, nor will I attempt to escape, nor will I sabotage any aspect of your mission. So long as it keeps me out of that thing, I will be good."

"See that you do." I jump off the cabinet and gesture to my helpers. "Bring this to High Line. Omar will show you were to put it. "C̵͖͋o̷̤̒m̶͉̍e̶̩͛ ̶̰̎R̷͈̅ä̵̮å̷̡d̴͍̒e̶̙͝n̷̬̓.̶̀ͅ, I will bring you back to your apartment."

She follows me without struggling this time. I stop at the entry to her apartment. "We'll be back tomorrow morning. Do you have any requests for food or drink onboard?"

She blinks. "You're asking my opinion?"

"Well yes. You're going to be onboard with us for at least a week, if not more. You deserve to have some input."

She runs her hand through her close cropped hair, surprised. "Uh, I don't like coffee, so don't bother giving me any. I know you love the stuff, so don't waste any on me."

Oh nice. More coffee for me then. "Thank you. We'll be by tomorrow after breakfast."

She nods and moves to close the door. "Until then."

After the door closes and I lock it, I look at the guards and they acknowledge me. "Empress" they both say, and then face forward, silently.

Part 31

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jpitha · 1 year

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Just a Little Further 22

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After I sent River and Ocean away, I took a moment to compose myself. Omar is watching, trying to see how I'm reacting, I think.

"Melody, if you're going to use your Voice, you need to be very careful about the things you order. You didn't specify to bring the Marines back alive, and now they're dead."

"You're right Omar, I need to be very careful when I'm wording things."

Ava doesn't seem to mind. "They did do what you asked though. and so quickly! I expected to not see them for at least a week."

It doesn't seem to bother Um'reli either. "You have to admit, it sends a message. People weren't taking you seriously before, and between this and what you did to Starlight... they're going to realize you are the real deal."

Omar looked ahead "Speaking of the real deal, look." He pointed.

We look out and...

Oh my.

The crowd.

It's wall to wall people in front of the entrance to the Throne. More people than I've ever seen in one place before. Not here, not on Starbase Picaresque, not even at home on Meíhuā.

And they are all here to see me.

I wish there was a rear entrance to the Throne. I bet there is, I wish we looked harder to find it.

I sighed. If we're going to do this, we might as well do it right. I looked back and my friends. "Okay, we're on. I'm going to try and impress everyone and see if they'll make a path for us. Once we're up I'll sit on the Throne and you can just stand behind me and look... official I guess. Ready?"

Nods all around. Good.

I turned back forward and thought about how I wanted to appear. My gown started to rustle like I was in a stiff breeze and my crown and wings appeared. I thought about the connection to the Reach and was able to tweak the air settings to get a breeze going around here too and as people looked back to see where the wind was coming from, they saw us.

The cheering created a wall of sound that we walked headlong into. It was practically a physical thing. As we stepped into the crowd Um'reli and Omar pushed forward to clear a path and the people parted like grass on the plains.

As we walked, I spread my wings for the look of it and they hung over the crowds as we walked past. People reached out to touch them as I passed and - I'll be honest here - I didn't think people would be able to feel them as they're made out of light and fog by the Nanites, but they could! I could even feel their fingers brushing over the feathers.

It's very odd to have a sensation from a limb you've never had before. If I concentrated, I could hear the individual cries from people in the crowd as we walked, but after trying that for a couple of seconds it was entirely too overwhelming, so I just concentrated on the noise as a wall of sound without definition. It was easier to take that way.

We made it to the top of the gallery, and I turned to face everyone. every seat was filled and the entire lower level spilled out into the street almost all the way to the dock. I had never seen this many people here before all in one place! Aviens, Mariens, Azurians, the people who wear pressure suits and a few others I haven't met yet, all shapes, sizes and colors.

They were here, to cheer me.

They were here, to worship me.

This, was all for me.

Omar, Um'reli and Ava took up station behind me, seen but in the background as I raised my hands and spread my wings for silence. A hush descended, and everyone stared up at me, waiting.

"People of Reach of the Might of Vxxz. Thank you for coming. Today is a great day. A Builder, an Empress returns to you, so that you can become whole once again!"

Cheers and shouts. I hold my hand up for silence once again.

"The road ahead is long. The Gate is locked, the starships here in need of repair and systems all over the Reach have languished. But! You remain. We remain. Now that I am here, I will begin repairs and upgrades. I will make our starships move again. I will open the Gates. I will reunite my Empire and we shall once again, rule the stars!"

More cheers. I wait for them to die down before continuing.

"Today though, you can come to me directly with your immediate grievances about things here, and me and my fellow Builders-" I gesture behind me "-will work to resolve as many as we can."

I sit in the Throne and feel the familiar cold tang of connecting to the Starbase. It feels different this time, smoother, more familiar. I lean back... and let go...

From all around the arena, my voice is heard. Everyone perceives my voice as coming only to them, direct to them. It's as if I am speaking to them, and them only.

"Speak your issue, and be heard."

"We are a family of 6 and yet, our quarters are such th-"

"Please, Empress, my son, he nee-"

"Those nosy Aviens next door are alway-"

"Food prices keep going higher and hig-"

As everyone talks to 'me' I am keeping a list of the grievances. I'm not sure how I'm doing it, I assume it's the Nanites plus how I'd naturally try and keep a list of information being used together, but as they speak, I track what their problem is. Amazingly, after they speak, I'm able to offer some soothing words to everyone. It's me and it's not me at the same time. Even with my full Builder persona activated, I don't think I have the parallel processing to complete a feat like this. The Starbase and the Nanites must be doing the majority of the work.

After only an hour or so, it's done. Everyone that wants to speak has spoken, and I have thousands upon thousands of complaints to sort. I give a farewell and offer a blessing to everyone, and order the restaurants across the whole of the Reach to feed everyone for free today - promising they will be reimbursed for their work.

Royal part over, it becomes somewhat of a festival atmosphere around the Throne area. People milling about, talking with each other, catching up with old friends, eating and laughing. From my perch on the Throne, I watch the celebration. I get an overwhelming sense of relief tinged with a small amount of anxiety over what it means to have an Empress again. It strengthens my resolve to do my best to have it mean good things for the people that live here.

How am I going to pay for all this? What to other Empresses do?

They owned the banks. They just ordered it.

Wait. There are banks here, right? Is it really that simple?

Simple is often not easy. But yes. You own your whole empire, including the banks.

That's it! That's how we'll pay everyone and fund everything. A quiet part of me yells that it probably isn't that easy, and isn't that how inflation happens and don't I need to start taxing people to get money to go in or something? I should look into it further, but it's a very quiet part of me right now. I can tune it out pretty easily.

I turn my attention to the list of complaints that were collected and with the Throne and the Nantes help, I try and do some rough categorization.

Neighbor Complaints - this is the largest list and will most likely be ignored. Should it though? Maybe I'll have the others look them over in more detail.

Food issues - this is second largest. We can look over it and see if there's some underlying issue. I can also look into the disused food distribution centers. Maybe they're turned off because there isn't the resources to use them anymore, maybe it's another reason. I feel like I can fix this one, and if I do, it will give me the biggest boost to my legitimacy.

Environmental issues - third largest and issues related to the environment here. I had just turned up the settings here yesterday, so I hope this helps eliminate those. This should be an easy win. Mei'la had mention something about how power usage felt wasteful here. Maybe there's something we can do to boost efficiency.

The rest of them are things like, asking when we're going to launch the Starships again and quite a few asking when I'm going to "take care of" the issue of other sapient groups. Hmm. I don't like that one. Luckily, the questions seem to be in the minority, but still.

Job finished for now, I stand up and stretch. My goodness, that was boring. I hope I don't have to do it very often. Looking around, I find Omar, Um'reli and Ava wandering around the area behind the Throne. "Find anything interesting?"

Omar gestures towards me. "Actually yes, look here. There's a door behind the Throne, out of sight of the people on the ground.

"What's behind it?"

"I don't know, there's no handle and I can't get it to open."

"You've had the Nanites for a day, try to do it as a Builder. Just concentrate on the door and imagine it doing what you order."

Omar stares at the door, and I can see the concentration in his hands and on his face. There's a small breeze around him and with a hiss, the door slides open into the ceiling.

"You did it! Congratulations, Builder!" I'm super proud of him.

Omar stares at the open door, and then down at his hands, and over to me. "That... was... the most amazing thing! I just thought about the door opening and it did! It's like magic."

Now he will be one of us. He has felt the power.

I'm just happy he was able to do it. "Come on Omar, lead on. Let's see what's in here."

We go into the darkened room, and Omar again concentrates and the lights come up. Like most Builder stuff it clearly hasn't been touched in a very long time, but again, there isn't much dust here at all. It looks like everyone left for the day and shut the door... but then the door stayed shut for who knows how long.

Inside the room is 6 chairs that are arranged around a long table. Each of the chairs is in the same green metallic substance as the Throne. They're molded into the floor instead of the ceiling, but to me they look like where the Builder operators would sit when running the station.

"This looks like where the Builders sit when they are the starbase. Come, let's sit and try it out. It'll feel odd when you first sit, and if you get that feeling in the back of your brain to let go and sink further, don't yet. You need at least another day of Nanite development, but I think we're safe to connect lightly. I'll stay out of the seats and if I see anyone in distress, I'll pull them out. See if you can find my notes from the celebration."

Omar, Um'reli and Ava all sit gingerly. Ava is especially nervous - she's the one that saw me scream when I tried to integrate too quickly, but after a moment, I can feel them with my connection to the Reach.

"Wow, this is amazing! Melody, can you hear me?" It's Ava.

"Sure can Ava, it sounds like you're standing right next to me." I look over, and her body is just sitting in the chair, relaxed, breathing normally.

"Okay, I found your notes Melody. Looks like you sorted it somewhat already? Wow, how did you collect all this data?" Um'reli must have found my notes first.

"I have to admit, I don't really know. I just... knew what to do. The Nanites know more than I do, so sometimes I just let go and let them drive. I have a feeling that isn't always the right choice, but until I get more familiar with things, sometimes I feel like it's the only thing to do."

"Melody? I found the docking bay. It's empty right now, but I think I see how to maneuver High Line from the umbilical to the docking bay. Once it's inside we can get a better idea of what it would take to refit it with human systems and make it a viable starship again."

Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad Omar is here.

"Yes please Omar, do that. We'll go down and check it out once you've finished and everyone has a chance to get more familiar with how to be Reach."

While everyone is working, I go back over to the Throne and sit down. I get reconnected and just look around for a while. I like watching the movement of people on the Reach. It's... soothing I guess? Oh hey, up further are gardens and parks! I was worried there would be no greenery here. I should ride the train up later and explore.

I can feel Omar, Um'reli and Ava behind me exploring things, learning how they work, and with them here, I swear the Starbase is starting to work better. I can see people looking in wonder at lights that were long off and now are on again, breezes blowing as the air freshens, and even I'm noticing people starting to clean and sweep. It really feels like we're turning a corner here. I get an alert that for the first time in [DEMARCATION ERROR] another train is wheeled out from storage. It's needed for the crowds.

I wish I knew how long [DEMARCATION ERROR] was. If the starbase doesn't know, it was probably a long time. That really speaks to the power of the original Builders if 11 million people could live here with effectively no administration the whole time.

It's almost too good to be true...

My reverie is interrupted by a radio signal. I look around, ah, there it is. It's the long range comms. Someone is signaling us.

Huh, FarReach is signaling us.

"Okay Melody, very funny. You've made your point. Open the Gate now please." FarReach isn't even bothering with any niceties.

"Hello FarReach. How are you doing?" I admit, I'm being a little petty here.

"Melody! Do you understand what's happening? Do you see how you're changing? Most of the BIs don't see it, but your commanding voice thing and that 'don't worry about it' aura doesn't work on AIs. I see your changes, what's happening to you, what you're becoming. Keep down this path and you won't be the Empress Melody.

You'll be the Tyrant Melody.

"Ava said there aren't very many AIs around on this side of the galaxy, I have a hunch I know why. An Empress would not keep people around that can't be placed in thrall."

"FarReach! I am insulted. You're saying that just because I can't control them, I wouldn't like AIs?"

"Maybe not you yourself, at least not yet, but that Empress nano machine package that was installed on you wouldn't like AIs for sure. It sure feels like the decisions you're making are more their decisions than your own. I know you Melody, this isn't you."

Isn't me? Every decision I've made so far has been mine. Sure, the Nanites have helped, but if I didn't like what they were recommending, I wouldn't have done it.

"We caught up to that Mariens, Ottarn by the way. We took them and their tiny crew aboard. Their ship was basically junk taped together. Even if he had made it to the Gate, they probably wouldn't have made it to their destination. We're going to take them wherever they want to go, and then head home."

They took Ottarn? Hmm. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing or anything. I'm worried about it though, I wonder why?

"FarReach, did you call us up just to insult me and call into question all the good work we're doing here? We're helping the people of this Starbase! We've already improved the environmental systems, and now we're beginning to retrofit one of their broken Starships."

"Ugh, Fine Melody. We don't have to agree. You and Omar and Um'reli and Ava stay over here on your side of the Galaxy and leave the rest of humanity alone. I don't care anymore, I hate it here. Open the Gate."

"Or else what?"

"Or else, Empress I will link away." It really sounds like FarReach is speaking through gritted teeth. AIs are usually so reserved and chill. I've never heard one as angry as FarReach right now.

"Why are you being so mean to Melody, FarReach? She hasn't done anything to you." I forgot that Ava, Omar and Um'reli can hear this call too. I wonder if FarReach knew too?.

"FarReach, I think I have to agree with Ava and Melody. Our leaving was our on decision. Melody didn't place us in thrall or order us to come with her with her Voice. She didn't even come back to you. Ava came and asked us. We're here because we want to be here." I can feel the emphasis in Omar's voice. He seemed like the one that was least up for the business of ruling, it that sure made it sound like he's all in. I'm practically bursting with pride.

"I can't believe I'm here arguing with you four. Open the damn Gate, or I'm going to WEP the reactors and link away."

"Wait, how can you WEP with Captain Q'ari locked up?" Um'reli sounds genuinely curious.

"I declared Captain Q'ari unfit to lead thanks to Melody's meddling Um'reli. That makes me the commander and as the commander I can declare WEP on myself. Anyway, did you really think AIs can't WEP their own reactors? We allow the commander to order it. If I link away and it fails, then my destruction will be on your head. I already linked a beacon back to Starbase Picaresque. They never linked one back so I don't know if it worked, but if it did, then they already know about what's going on here. I am going to ask one. more. time. Melody. Open the Gate, please."

Ugh. The nerve! Still, I don't want FarReach to try and link away and have it fail.

Or worse, have it succeed and then they can link back with a couple of dreadnoughts and Starjumpers... before we're ready for them.

Fine. I lean back in my Throne and let go just a little more until I expand beyond the Starbase and... There. There's the Gate. The lock isn't strong, you just know where... to... push... and... there.

Outwardly, nothing changed, but I can tell the Gate is open now to regular travel. "I unlocked the Gate FarReach. Go home. Tell them what we have. Let everyone know that those who want to join us are welcome to."

"Not a chance, Melody. You're on your own. I was friends with the friendly Information Warfare Officer who had a knack for firearms and loved coffee. I hope she's still in there somewhere. I'd like to meet her again." FarReach closes the connection. From my vantage point I can watch them thrust away. After only a few moments, the Gate glows painfully blue, and...

They're gone.

Why am I sad? I'm so sad she left. I still had so much to show them. So much good we're doing.

"Melody? Melody? Are you all right?" I can hear Ava, she's not connected to the chairs anymore. I open my eyes and see her looking at me on the Throne. "You're crying."

"Oh Ava." I stand up and hug her. "You heard her. FarReach says I'm not me anymore. She said that I've changed and that she misses the old me."

"Oh Melody. She doesn't know what she's talking about. You're still you. You're you plus so much more."

"Ava is right." Um'reli stands from her chair and comes over. "You're still you Melody. You've been changed, this is true, but everyone changes. A change like this won't fundamentally change who you are."

I sniff. "Thanks Ava, thanks Um'reli. I just... FarReach was my friend. She sounded so angry."

Omar puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it Melody. We know we're here for good reasons. That's enough. Besides, once we have our own Starship, we can head back to Human/K'laxi space and show them what we're doing. All kinds of people, AI and BI will want to come with us and help out. You'll see."

"Thanks everyone, I'm so lucky to have you here with me."

Omar is right. We'll show them.

We'll show them all.

Part 23

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jpitha · 1 year

Text

Just a Little Further 26

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

*six months later*

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.

I couldn't wait, and we took High Line out for a quick spin around the system after it was completed. Omar asked to be in control for the trip and since he refurbished it, I let him. While Omar was looking through the Builder archives, he found plans for a starship's control chair. It was kind of line a small version of my Throne, or the Builder chairs back on the Reach. From the chair, a Builder can interface with the ship and control it, almost like how AIs are ships back home.

I asked Starlight, River and Ocean if they wanted to come along and see what we did to their ship. The whole time they looked around in wonder and surprise at the work we did. Starlight said it felt like a new ship and River marveled that we were able to add so many features to it.

I didn't tell them about the wormhole generator. I don't know why. Maybe I still think we need some kind of secret surprise.

Really though, I couldn't do what I'm doing now if it wasn't for my fellow Builders and our staff. Ava is my second in command and handles most of the interactions between us and the institutions here at the Reach. Bank, Security Team, and Maintenance Crew; she works with them to bring their needs to my attention, and then we work out a solution together. She still tends to be a little more... aggressive than I prefer, but she knows who is Empress. She makes me more assertive and I'm able to cool her down. I think we work well together.

Um'reli has dug deep into the Builder systems here on the Reach. She's working out how much work the old Builders did day to day to make the Reach run so smoothly. When I told her that the Nanites say that it was a full time crew of 10 she believed me. It's a lot of work. There's still only the 4 of us, so we still can't run at full capacity, but she's got the fire suppression systems up and running, the environmental systems are much more efficient and even the gravity works better. We're operating with a power surplus now! I asked Omar build another reactor for the Reach and soon we will have power to spare.

Omar, he has taken over as my shipbuilder and is really growing into the role. When we were on FarReach, printing was just a hobby and his main role was ship's battery, but here he's become a master printer. Between the database we got from FarReach and the existing Database on the Reach, we have more than enough plans to make anything we need. He even worked out that Reach of the Might of Vzzx used to have defensive batteries! He found the hardpoints and has been using downtime on the printers to make new laser batteries. We don't know where the original weapons went, so we're just going to add Starjumper class laser batteries to the existing hardpoints. We're so large and will soon have such a power surplus that he says running the huge laser batteries should be no problem. That should help hold off anyone who comes to pay us a visit.

Speaking of visiting, I haven't told anyone, but I unlocked the Gate last month. With two ships and the laser batteries almost done, I figured it was safe to unlock the Gate.

I'm anxious to go back out and visit the Wilds and see if we can figure out what happened. I don't think I'm ready to admit to the others yet, but I'm also excited to visit other Starbases and planets as Empress and see just how much of this side of the Galaxy is happy to see me. Waves and smiles for everyone happy to see me, Starjumper laser batteries for those who aren't.

I'm kidding about the Starjumper laser batteries if people aren't happy to see me. I don't think I want to restart a war of conquest, do I?

These days, I spend a lot of my time on the Throne, just watching things. I find it soothing to sit here and just... feel the world go by. Things are running so smoothly, and the people legitimately seem pleased that we're here and working, I like to, I don't know, absorb the vibes?

It's just after breakfast and I'm settling down for a day of reports and presiding over a few small disagreements when a chirrup interrupts my reverie. I glance over and... It's a signal from outside the Reach? I extend my senses into the local space and I feel...

Activity from the Gate. Someone is coming through.

"Ava, Um'reli, Omar! We've got a ping from the Gate. Someone is coming though!" I'm excited to tell everyone.

Omar is less excited. "What? Okay, Reactors to 200%, defensive batteries online, sound general alert.." I can hear hooting in the background. Omar insisted on activating the old alert tones and we have been sending out messages reminding everyone to listen to them.

"Omar, Omar! It's just someone coming through. Do we really need to get ready to shoot them?"

"Uh, yes Melody? We have no idea who it is. I didn't even know the Gate was unlocked. Did you do that?"

"Yes, I did it a month ago. I figured we were ready for visitors then. I'm so excited to see who is coming to visit us!"

Over the mental connection, I can feel Ava, Omar and Um'reli staring at me.

Uh oh.

Um'reli sounds exasperated. "Melody, we are at least a year away from unlocking the Gate. We have some defensive lasers sure, but we don't even have the new reactor online and we have two small ships now. Two. If that's a human dreadnought, we'd be utterly outmatched. What were you thinking?"

"Um'reli be nice, I'm sure Melody was just so happy about our progress she wanted people to come and see it and see her." Ava jumps to my defense.

"It's still something she should have run by us first. We could have given her more insight to our actual readiness..."

"She is the empress Um'reli, and besides, what's done is done. Now we have to get ready for our new visitors. Melody, have they come though yet, do we have a visual on them?"

I'm looking out into the system and I see the ship. It's... huge. It's way larger than anything we know about on this side of the Galaxy. It doesn't look like a Starjumper though, it's the wrong shape.

"It's through. Here, I'll send you what I see through the long range scopes. I toss the visual feed over to them. Um'reli is as confused as I am, but Omar has a sharp intake of breath and Ava swears.

"What is it Omar? Do you recognize the ship Ava?"

"I do, but I wish I didn't. That's the Vengeance of Lavinia. It's the flag carrier for Venus." Omar sound disgusted.

Ava sounds downright angry. What the hell are they doing out here?"

Um'reli zooms in on the image and tries to enhance to get more detail. "It Looks like FarReach didn't succeed in keeping us quiet like she wanted though. Clearly someone told them we were out here and they're coming to say hello."

I don't know much about Imperial Venus, I grew up on Meíhuā. From what I understand and what Omar explains while Ava makes a face, they took over governance of the Sol system about a decade ago. They mostly control the inner planets. The High Mars Cities are the borderlands, and from then out is the OPA, the Outer Planet Alliance. They're a bunch of small starbase city-states that pool their resources together to hold off Venus. It's been a back and forth for the entire time that Venus has claimed sovereignty.

Venus came out into the colonies to throw their weight around a few years back, but they got massacred at Parvati, and they caused trouble over at Sarbase Picaresque. This was all years before we left. A group of residents and a faction of AIs kicked them out. I think a colony ship was involved too? I wasn't living there then, I've heard all this information second and third hand. But, since then, they've stayed in the Sol system and dialed down the anti-AI rhetoric. Nobody is pleased to see them when they come visiting.

Still, it was visitors. Guess we should see what they want.

"Maybe they have people who want to come join us?" I try to sound hopeful. I don't think it worked.

"More like spy on us." Omar said darkly. "Melody, I'm going to go against my usual stance on you using your Voice on people. These folks need to be told how we do stuff here."

I can feel Um'reli nodding. "I agree. We don't want them to start anything, but like don't lead with Voicing them. If you did that, they'd probably try and run and we'd lose any advantage we have. Play it cool. Be nice, be welcoming. It's not like we couldn't use more Builders. If folks are coming out because they want to come out, we should welcome them."

"But they're from Venus, Um'reli. Don't forget how they treat AIs." Ava is unusually firm. Venus has a strict policy of not recognizing AI sapience. It's stupid really. AIs have been recognized as alive and sapient for nearly two thousand years in Human space, for them to come out of nowhere and say that they're not is ludicrous and treated that way in Colonial space. It's almost a joke.

Almost.

We can't turn them away, we simply don't have the firepower. "Omar, let them know we're not defenseless. Free the defensive lasers but don't target the ship. The are probably scanning the heck out of us, they should see them come online."

When Omar releases the lasers, I can feel it. 6 different batteries energize and tell us their readiness. Wow, I don't know if this is something new Omar added, or something he tied into old systems, but it's so... intuitive to use them. With a thought, I can swing them around, aim and point them, and... yes, if I were to pull there, they'd fire. Neat. After moving them around a little, I swing them off to the side and set them to follow our commands. If Venus wants to start something, we can bring them to bear relatively quickly, but Um'reli is right, we do need more builders. If they're just shuttling volunteers because FarReach told all the AIs and none of them will have anything to do with me, then we should be nice.

Radio contact. We're being signaled. "Uh, Reach of the Might of Vzzx? This is Vengeance of Lavinia. We'd like to speak to... Empress... Melody?"

They're reading from notes. Their comms officer sounds so unsure. I decide to answer myself and lay it on thick.

"Good morning Vengeance of Lavinia. This is Empress Melody Mullen the First, Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems. I hear your call and am replying. How may I assist?"

"We are requesting docking permission and to be able to come aboard for a goodwill exchange as well as to deliver some volunteers from our side of the Galaxy who wish to sign on with your work over here."

Interesting. They say they have volunteers. It's not like we don't need more Builder help.

"Be careful, Melody." Ava is right.

"But, don't turn them away just yet." Um'reli is right too. Ugh do they want to do the talking here? I feel like I'm being pulled in so many directions. I check on the docking ring. High Line and Sun Dancer, the two ships we were able to refit are next to the dock the FarReach used, I'll put them there.

"Vengeance of Lavinia you are cleared to dock at umbilical X45, I shall note it on this image I am sending your way. Additionally it shall be lit as you pass by. After you dock a welcome party will meet you at the umbilical."

"Umbilical X45 confirmed. See you soon, Reach of the Might of Vzzx. Vengeance of Lavinia out."

Well then. Guess we had better go meet them.

"Okay everyone, we're on. Let's go gather some folks and go see them."

Ava, Um'reli and Omar disconnect from their chairs and come out. "I swear to you we're not ready for someone like Venus coming, but here they are so I guess we're going to have to be ready." Um'reli looks around. "Where is City?"

Sound of the City bounds up the stairs. "Here, Builder, what do you need of me?"

Um'reli smiles. "Hello, Sound of the City. Please gather Starlight, Ocean, River, Vaaqo, and yourself. Dispatch a runner to Sep and ask them to bring a few security guards too. Make sure you have your Builder uniforms on and they're clean and neat. We have visitors."

City bows nervously. "Of course Builder. I shall fetch them at once." There is a pause while they try to figure out what they can get away with. "Who is visiting?"

"It's a group of people from our side of the Galaxy. They're a different... faction than we were and we always haven't been... friendly? We're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but make sure everyone knows to keep watch on them."

Another bow "Builder. I go!" and Sound of the City bounds away. I'm so happy we are able to give them a job. They're still young so it's only part time, but they bring me happiness every time I see them. They really are becoming a vital part of our retinue. They're just so energetic! I hope they stay with us.

I pick up my rifle from next to the Throne and examine it. I do get a chance to go to Sep's Security office and get some range time in now, but it's never enough. Omar has programmed the Security Office's printers to make rounds for me, so I don't have to conserve, it's just that there are only so many hours in a day. But, I feel good that I can still do the things that Melody likes to do. It helps ground me and reminds me that I'm more than an Empress.

I sigh to myself, check the rifle to make sure it's loaded and safe, and then click it to my back. It's weight is reassuring. While we walk down the steps, I get myself ready. The crown and wings come out, but I keep them subtle for now. I make my heels a little taller but keep my working outfit on - no gown today. It's still royal blue and still sharply cut, but I just look like the head Builder I am instead of all full Empress.

As we reach the docs, Starlight, Ocean and River are there already. They were probably over in the drydock working on the third ship so were close by. At our approach, they all bow low.

"Empress, Builders. It is always a pleasure to see you."

I incline my head. "Starlight, Ocean, River. We have guests coming."

They look at me and blink. This was unexpected.

"O-of course Empress. We shall welcome them warmly. Who is coming?"

"People from our side of the Galaxy. They represent a different faction than us, so we're wary about their visit. Still, we shall receive them. Just, be on your guard."

They bow again. "Always Empress. We have learned that about Builders."

Huh. Cheeky. But not wrong. I decide to let it slide.

City bounds up out of breath. "I have alerted Vaaqo and Sep, they shall arrive shortly."

"City, take a moment and catch your breath, they're not here yet." Ava looks concerned. Sound of the City is so eager to help that sometimes they run themselves ragged. I think we all fuss over City just a bit because they're still a kid, but I remember being a teen and so eager to prove myself.

After a short time, Vaaqo arrives with Sep and they bow. Behind Sep is about a dozen security guards, all with clubs and energy weapons. Vaaqo speaks first. "Builders. What is it you need of us? Your runner mentioned visitors?"

I smile warmly and nod. "Yes. people from our side of the Galaxy have come through the Gate and wish to visit. They are from a different faction than us originally, so be wary, but let us welcome them. Sep, have your people set up around us, visible, but not part of the welcome party. Clubs can be seen, but let's keep the firearms behind their backs for now."

Another bow, and Sep gestures to the guards and they set up like I asked. We have a semicircle of guards a bit away, and the rest of us are a few meters from the umbilical.

As we finish setting up, I hear the whir and hum of the umbilical coming out to meet the ship.

After a few tense moments, there is a hiss as the pressures equalize and the umbilical opens. Immediately, silently, 6 troopers walk out. They're wearing glossy maroon armored pressure suits polished to a mirror sheen They're so glossy the coloring of the pressure suits looks like it has depth. I can see all of us distorted in the reflection of their faceless helmets. They're holding battle rifles, but they're aimed down and I can see they're safe and they have little decorative tips on the end - that's a nice touch. Shows everyone that they can't shoot them without extra effort. Looking closer at the rifles I'm shocked.

It's the same model I use.

That's not standard issue. My rifle was a special order. I can feel it's weight on my back, reminding me.

The troopers line up, three to a side of the umbilical and stand there at attention for a moment, and then a woman walks confidently out.

She's not wearing a pressure suit, but she has a very elaborate uniform on. It doesn't look like our Builder uniforms, but it's of a similar ilk. Professional, Military, it's short sleeves and form fitting, with pockets and folds and places for medals and ribbons. Her uniform has plenty of both. It's the same maroon as the troopers, but there's a pure white sash from her left shoulder to her right waist. On her waist is a sidearm - hmm, that looks like a custom version of a very fiddly - but accurate - pistol and is very well taken care of. She's wearing maroon pants tucked into highly polished black riding boots that click on the floor of the dock. On both of her shoulders are a gold fringe. She's wearing a cap at a rakish angle and peeking underneath I can see that she has very close cropped blond hair.

Is that a tattoo I see around her collar?

She is standing there with a smirk all casually professional and extremely cool. She looks like she is in charge through sheer charisma. She looks as if nobody would dare question whether she was in charge.

Swallowing and hoping I don't look too awkward, I turn up the crown and wings and take one step forward. "Welcome to Reach of the Might of Vzzx. I am Empress Melody Mullen of the Holy Imperial Systems." I gesture to my side. "This is Ava Williams, Omar Adel, and Um'reli Desmen, my Builders." I turn to the other side. "This is Starlight on a Moonless Evening, The Smell Of The Ocean, Rapid River Roaring, Sound of the City, Sep and Vaaco. They are part of my retinue and assist with day to day operation here. We welcome you."

She inclines her head slightly then stands up straight and salutes sharply. "I am Archduke Helen Raaden of Imperial Venus, second to the crown prince of Venus and third in line for the Venusian throne. I come with a contingent of Venusian soldiers and citizens as well as a small group of volunteers from throughout Human space.

We come as friends on a goodwill tour, and wish to extend our most sincere greetings to her Imperial Highness and make a personal offer from the Emperor to give assistance in any way we can." When she finishes her pronouncement she winks at me.

Oh no, she's so hot. What am I going to do?

Part 27

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