FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 17

Kendra and Wei stood on the counter and faced it, the Rider. It raised itself up on its two lower tentacles and slowly swayed before them. The emergency lights above flickered constantly making it flit in and out of sight every few moments, its motion appeared jerky and even more unnatural. Its body, normally translucent and showing off much of its internal organs, was heavily smeared with blood and bits of flesh from the host it had just climbed out of. Bits of shedding cells and mucus sloughed off its body, landing on the counter top with barely audible plopping sounds. It had some manner of high-tech device grafted onto its head, something that looked far more refined than the yutri Kendra had seen the last annelid using. Wires ran down from it to a metallic collar or belt just above its first pair of tentacles which encircled the barely thirty centimeters wide, tubular body. They hooked into various pieces of machinery upon it; either hung on it or was a part of the belt. A second metal belt was lower than that, between its top pair of arms and the next lower pair. Wires connected to some machines there as well, none of which were familiar to either woman. Even though the creature was several feet away from the women it gave off a slight stench similar to sour milk. Both of their noses wrinkled at the pungent odor.

Wei’s jaw hung open, shock and revulsion at once across her face. “Holy… fuck. It really is one of them,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

Kendra didn’t reply. She couldn’t bring herself to speak. Her teeth clamped together so tight that they scraped along each other audibly. Not us. It was here. It followed her here, all the way back into the heart of the Union. Her hands trembled and she felt a terrible churning in her stomach, like she wanted to vomit where she stood. Her foot moved almost involuntarily and she took a step back from it, dread descending upon her. It felt like a vice was squeezing her heart in her chest. The pounding of it filled her ears, louder and louder. Not us. A brief memory of Neji laying on the floor, dead, a hole blasted through her head by her own weapon, filled Kendra’s mind.

A hand gripped Kendra’s shoulder tight, holding her in place. She looked at the hand then up along the arm it was attached to. For a moment she stared at Adam. That wide cheerful smile was across his face. “Hey captain. It’s me. Don’t worry. We’re going to be all right. I promise you,” he said. She heard him clear as day in her ears. Kendra blinked and it was Wei staring at her, eyes wide and filled with fear. “Snap out of it Kendra. Hey, do you hear me?!” she cried, struggling to get her attention.

<I hear… you.>

The voice was cold, deep, synthetic, and devoid of inflection or emotion. It was truly the voice of a machine. The sound stabbed into her and made her feel sick to her stomach. Wei turned to look back at the Rider. “Y… You speak,” she whispered.

<Language… is the province… of the sapient.>

“The fuck…” Her hand slid off Kendra and her eyes darted about wildly looking for something on the human sized work stations around her to use as a weapon. A knife, a scalpel, a pen, she didn’t care. She needed something. They found something for sure. It was a laser scalpel, a simple medical tool. It had a small tight beam length, but at least it was something. She slowly began to shuffle back towards the scalpel.

<I am… here for… Kendra Forrest.> Its head turned and faced directly at Kendra. A few centimeters of length of that spike in its mouth slid out slowly, mucus dripping off it onto the floor, then slid back inside the elongated head.

“Why?” asked Kendra in a whisper. “Why won’t you leave me alone? You took… everything… away from me. Why do you keep following me? Why?!” She shouted at the end, still frozen in place. Her mind was a roiling cauldron of terror and memories.

It began to slither/walk towards her, pushing its raised body forward with the half of it still on the ground while the lower tentacles shuffled along the floor to keep it elevated.

<Because you… exist. Because you… are not us. Because you… dared to kill… Elder.>

“You killed my friends. My family,” she cried. Tears poured down her face as she stood there before it shaking.

<They are… irrelevant.>

It slid up before her, barely a meter away. It was focused on Kendra and Kendra alone. It had reached her, finally, after all this time. The slim tentacles slowly moved towards her. There was no need to lash out swiftly. The human was consumed by pathetic emotions, a victim of her own weak mind. The lights flashed and flickered and the Rider appeared to be moving in stop motion. Tentacles stretched out longer and began to carefully slide along her arms, leaving a trail of slime on her. Still she could not move as it began to embrace her. The Rider’s head slid closer, the circular mouth filled with needle-like teeth in a circular pattern barely ten centimeters away from Kendra’s face. Stench rolled off it in waves and made her gag. Its spike pulled back a little deeper inside its head, ready to strike the ending blow personally. One tendril slid along Kendra’s cheek, the scores of tiny hooks on the end of the tentacle scraping little lines on her flesh. It was letting her fear sink in and consume her. It wanted her to die in terror. Too scared to think and scream. Then when her mind begged for release, it would give it to her and she would be no more. A soft hissing came from the Rider as it prepared to finish the act and fulfil the demand.

Kendra was frozen in place.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

It caressed her face like a twisted version of a lover.

It was her life now.

It would be her death.

A near primal scream came from Wei as she lunged at the annelid just before it struck Kendra. It was so focused on completing its goal, consumed by its victory, that it was distracted enough for her to tackle it back and away from its prey. The Rider let out a shrill squeal as she snatched its victory away from it. The pair went down in a heap on the ground. Wei felt its slimy body against her. Her cheek was pressed against some of its bare flesh, filling her with revulsion.

“Get the fuck away from her you fucking monster!” she roared and tried to get into a mounted position atop it. It writhed under her like a runaway fire hose, thrashing about wildly. She could barely stay atop it. Despite it being so slim and boneless it felt like it was made entirely of muscle. Her left hand held the laser scalpel and she swung down at it. It was still recovering from the surprise and left itself momentarily open. The scalpel raked across its head and the laser slashed through one bulbous oval eye and seared into some of the flesh. The eye sizzled and burst, ichor spurted out and ran across its head, some splashed across Wei’s chest. Another high-pitched, shrill squeal came from it.

The pain made it focus.

Wei swung her arm back down at the annelid to slash across its head again with the short, focused beam but two tentacles intercepted it and one wrapped around it. She was astounded to find it stopped her arm. The thing was strong despite its appearance. Wei yanked her arm hard to try and free it. The annelid let it pull back and dragged its tentacle along her bare upper arm until the bulbous pad at the end of it contacted flesh. All of the tiny hooks under the pad ripped across her skin, cutting her upper arm scores of times, flaying the flesh off her and exposing raw, torn muscle under it. A splash of blood erupted from her and Wei screamed in pain.

She rolled off it to the side and came up to her feet, stumbling back a few steps. Wei stared down at her arm in shock and horror at once. She could see her torn muscles clearly. Her arm twitched and trembled from the pain and she barely held onto the laser scalpel.

The annelid twisted and shoved itself back up, four lower tendrils supporting it now. They pushed against the ground, launching its bulk at her. As it rapidly moved towards her it rotated its entire body along its length, arms out and flailing and spinning wildly at Wei. All the pads and hooks aimed at her as it spun. Wei cried out and threw herself back to avoid those hooks at the ends of its tentacles. One still caught her pants and raked across it, only ripping at the sturdy fabric and tearing some off to reveal her muscled thigh.

She hit the floor after losing her balance, scrambling back towards one of the work stations. The annelid slithered after her, arms helping to shove its body at her far faster than she could crawl backwards like she did on her butt. As she reached the workstation, hand gripping the counter to try and pull herself up to her feet, the annelid slammed into her, almost knocking the wind out of her. She shoved the laser scalpel against it, burning and cutting at its body between the second and third pair of its tentacles. More ichor spilled out on her as it shrieked in pain and rage.

The Rider became a flailing mass of tentacles pressed against Wei. Two more wrapped about her bleeding arm holding the weapon, keeping it pulled back and out of play despite her struggling. It was all she could do to stop the others from tearing into her as they buffeted and bashed into her body and head. She felt more pain as hooks raked across her shoulder. Her vest was torn and torn again, fragments of cloth and blood flying about. Wei slammed her knee into its body twice, the creature hissing at the impacts but little more than that.

The flailing halted for a moment. Time seemed to pause as she looked up and saw the mouth aimed directly at her face. “…oh shit…” she whispered and jerked her head to the left an instant before the spike in its mouth shot out. The organic weapon drove into the Formica-like material of the work station, piercing it with a loud crack sound and sinking in almost five centimeters deep. Mucus from its mouth spattered along the side of her face and she stared in horror at that spike out of the corner of her eye. It retracted a moment later and fired out at her head again, Wei once more darting her head to the right to avoid it and the spray of spit. It if hit her she was dead, she knew it for certain.

Wei tucked her legs up close to her chest and kicked out with both of them together. Her heavy boots slammed into the annelid and drove it back and off her. She grunted and rolled to the side, gripping the counter again and getting to her feet. Blood covered her arm that it tore open. Her vest was in tatters and some flesh was torn under it. She also had a few ripped parts on her thighs, blood mingling with the torn fabric of her pants. Wei looked at the laser scalpel and scowled at it. “Useless fucking thing,” she growled and tossed it to the side. She slammed her hand down on the counter and gripped a bone saw firmly in it, raising the medical tool up. The woman stared at the jagged blade approvingly, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“This is more like it… Come on you fucking freak show! You killed my brother! I’m gonna carve his name in your fucking corpse when I’m done with you!” she shouted in a rage.

Wei pushed away from the table and ran at the annelid which had recovered as well. As she closed on it the creature leaned back and whipped out the lower half of its body like a thick tail. She tried to jump over it but it was too fast and her lower legs were clipped by the Rider in mid-air. Wei half flipped over and crashed down onto the floor heavily. She grunted as she landed on her side. The annelid wasted no time and swarmed atop her, dragging its body on her. Wei let out a gasp of disgust and shoved the saw against one of its arms, pushing it all the way down to the table top under them. She half rolled onto the arm to pin it under her then yanked back sharply with the saw as she pressed down. It tore almost all the way through the arm in one pull. The annelid let out a keening wail and yanked back, the last of its arm tearing away, leaving it with only a third of that one limb remaining. Fluid spurted out of the wound. A wicked grin spread across Wei’s face.

“Bet that hurt mother fuc…”

Her words were cut off as the Rider threw itself down atop her once more, all five remaining tentacles flailing at her, two at her head directly. She waved the bone saw and her arms about, trying to ward off the attacks best she could. It had too many limbs to easily deal with. She felt another explosion of pain at the side of her chest even as she stopped it from gripping her face. The bone saw slid across another tentacle, cutting it, but not deep enough to disable it. Her struggles against it continued, her legs kicking at it, until she heard the sharp crack of the spike slam into the table top the two of them fought upon. Both of them paused and Wei felt a terrible shiver run up and down her spine. Pain surged through her and she slowly looked down. The annelid had its mouth pressed against her stomach. The spike punched a two centimeter wide hole through her, the tip of it ramming into the table below, cracking the surface. Blood welled up from under its mouth and began to spill out on the table below.

The spike slowly retracted into its mouth, the pain of feeling that made Wei’s body spasm under it, gasps of agony escaping her even after it was out. She dropped the bone saw with a groan and her trembling hands slid down to the hole to cover it. Her eyes shut tight, the young woman trying to will the pain away, to keep moving, to get up and fight, but it was too much for her body. The pain sapped her strength. She mumbled over and over, “…I’m s-sorry Adam. So s-sorry… I c-couldn’t kill it for you… s-so sorry…”

The annelid slid off her body and rose up on its lower tentacles, upper four swaying slowly in the flickering light of the lab. Its head was smeared with her blood now as well as the blood of its dead host. The Rider stared down at her and Wei met its gaze, tears streaming from her eyes. There was no expression to read on it. It was too inhuman. She couldn’t tell if it was happy, sad, angry, or anything. It was just a cold, alien thing gazing at her. She was going to die here as it stared at her and that made it feel all the worse. It wouldn’t even finish her. It just wanted to watch her bleed out; to see the light go out in her eyes. For the second time in her life, the first being when she heard her brother died, Wei felt true despair.

“Hey… worm. You forget me?”

Again the Rider’s focus was torn away from the thing it wanted to watch most. It desperately wanted to see the least race expire before it but the voice, and who it was attached to, was far more important. Kendra stood there, about seven meters away from it. She was near the last of the four human sized work stations atop the desk. The metallic handle of a broom was held in her hands like a staff, one she clearly detached from the cleaning portion of the tool. Behind her was the giant sized sink installed in the alien work station. Her brow was covered with sweat, her hair stringy and matted down from it. Her shirt was off and only her undershirt on, also drenched in sweat in a v shape down the middle.

She had watched it fight Wei, saw how brave the young woman was. Her mind reeled at how Wei could fight back but she did. The terror that had gripped Kendra started to melt away though as Wei began to lose. She saw her, Adam’s only sister whom he loved dearly, hurt over and over again by it until it gained the advantage on her. The terror was gone to be replaced by anger. It was anger at herself, for being so scared for so long at a creature that was still only flesh and blood. It wasn’t a demon. It wasn’t the end of all things. It was still just another alien and it was right there, in front of her, trying to kill another person she loved. Finally, after a cycle and a half, Kendra woke up. She just prayed it was in time to save Wei.

The annelid turned to face her and slowly began to close in.

“That’s right. Me. You want me. Kendra Forrest. The woman who killed your Elder. Well I’m right here so come and get me,” she snarled at it.

It moved even faster and closed the distance between them in moments. The tentacles reached out for her but even Kendra could see that it wasn’t moving quite as fast as when Wei first began to fight it. She had taken some of the wind out of it, though at a terrible cost. It was just slow enough that when it closed, Kendra acted first and smashed the make-shift staff across the creature’s head and implant with all her strength. The blow hit with enough force that sparks flew from the device attached to its head and burst another of its eyes, coaxing a squeal of pain from the Rider, but not felling it at all. She knew that they didn’t even need eyes to see so it didn’t matter if she destroyed all four of them. The brain. The brain is what had to be destroyed; or at least over fifty percent of its entire body mass. She noticed that the few lights on the implant on its head stopped flashing as well.

The Rider turned around after the blow, twisting its body to face her again and darted at her. She swung but it went under the staff and tried to slam into her. Kendra barely skipped to the side and swung again. The staff crashed down against its body and smashed one of its belts. Sparks flashed from something on it but little more than that happened. A few of the wires dangled loose, flapping about as it moved.

More tentacles lashed out at Kendra and she used the staff to bat them aside again and again. She thrust with the staff, rammed the tip into its body, and was rewarded with what she knew would happen. Their flesh wasn’t superior to human flesh despite all their uplifting. A hard enough thrust was just as dangerous to them as any human. The blow drove it back and broke some of the creature’s hide, ichor pouring out of the wound. Another hiss of pain was earned by her. She wanted more of them. Kendra thrust at it several more times with the tip of her staff. Each time it batted it away with multiple tentacles, fighting more carefully and no longer underestimating the human’s rage. The staff gave her a longer reach than it had, removing one of the Rider’s advantages. She made a few feinting thrusts at it and the Rider backed up slightly more each time.

“Wei! Necesito tu ayuda!” shouted out Kendra as she drove it back, praying that its implant was a translator and that she disabled it. “Se que puedes levantarte! Tienes que levantarte!”

She spoke Spanish as she knew the annelid more than likely would have no data of that language since it wasn’t used by humans in daily Union life. Only the Union Common was used by humans throughout the galaxy. Humans mostly only spoke their native world dialects to each other. She knew that Wei knew it though. The girl was like her brother in more ways than one, including a talent for languages.

The Rider was annoyed by its lack of comprehension and disabled translator but ignored the alien words and took advantage of the tiny error Kendra made with one thrust. Two of its tentacles wrapped around the staff and yanked her up to it. She stumbled forward, slamming into the thing and felt one tentacle wrap around her leg and another around her waist. It tore the staff from her hands and tossed it aside, where it landed with a clatter a distance away. Despite its stench and the feel of its clammy wet body against her, Kendra smiled at it. Her eyes were wide, almost a look of madness on her face.

“I got you, you sunnuva bitch,” she hissed at it.

The Rider’s head twitched slightly and Kendra swore it almost seemed like a look of confusion ran across it momentarily.

She shoved forward instead of trying to pull away as the Rider expected. Its lower tendrils buckled, only providing balance for it if it leaned forwards. She knew it couldn’t remain standing if forced backwards. The annelid simply weren’t designed that way by both evolution and themselves. The creature’s body folded back allowing Kendra to continue pushing forwards until she shoved it all the way back to the edge of the sink. The Rider’s lower worm like portion thrashed about as she shoved it to the edge and then over it. Both she and the alien fell down into the three meter deep metal sink. Kendra cried out as she fell. They both landed on their sides heavily and slid down deeper, coming to a stop near the drain hole in the center of it.

Above, Wei groaned when she heard Kendra call her name. She needed her help. Her head turned and she saw both Kendra and the Rider vanish over the edge to fall into the sink basin. She let out a sharp cry of pain as she moved. The injured young woman rocked to her side and pushed herself up onto one hand and her knees. Wei began to crawl towards the sink fast as she could, the woman stumbling over and over as she came towards it. She started to hear cries and shouts and unnatural squeals below from both Kendra and the alien thing. It felt like it took an eternity. Too long. She was taking too long. Kendra needed her help. A long trail of blood was left behind her as she moved.

Wei pulled herself to the edge and peered down. She saw the two of them together, embraced. Three of the annelid’s tentacles were wrapped around Kendra, holding her in place so she couldn’t escape. One flailed about and attacked her relentlessly. Another was sprawled out to the side, limp and unmoving, though still attached to its body. The pale ichor in it that must pass for their blood oozed out of multiple stab wounds on the arm and all around where it connected to its body. She saw Kendra holding something in her hand that looked like a large pen or pointer used to point at classroom writing boards on the walls. She stabbed at the thing with it over and over, screaming obscenities at the creature again and again; demanding it die. The Rider ripped at her with its one free tentacle, tearing her flesh on her sides and legs and one of her arms.

“K-Kendra,” called out Wei as she stared at the horrifying spectacle. There was so much blood she couldn’t tell what had originally coated the annelid and what came from Kendra. All she did know was that the woman down there, fighting for her life, screaming in defiance, was the Kendra she knew all her life. She was fighting for Wei’s life now too.

Kendra looked up and saw Wei’s head poking out over the edge. A calm look washed over her face, only broken for a moment as the Rider’s spike impaled her shoulder, driving through to scrape on the metal sink below. The look of pain partly faded and Kendra smiled up at Wei. She looked at peace for the first time since Wei had seen her again. Wei shook her head side to side slightly. “No.” Kendra only nodded to her. “Yes.” The Rider’s spike pierced her again just shy of her heart, scraping on the metal sink.

“Encienda la… la eliminacion de residuos…” called out Kendra to her. Then, in Common she added, “And tell Imacha… I love him…”

Kendra wrapped her working arm around the Rider and jammed the pointer she held deep into the back of the creature. It pierced through flesh and muscle and into some of its meter long brain mass. The Rider released a shriek and squirmed against her body. She pushed at the sink with her feet and rolled over, moving the alien with her to the edge of the drain. Kendra saw its head whipping about, the creature’s motions growing more frantic.

“That’s right. You can’t speak or understand Spanish but you know this one,” she whispered to the annelid in Common, “You’re far from dumb. You can feel it. You can feel that f-fear of dying creeping up into you. The same way you… made my Neji feel. That fear makes you… nnn… a-alone. Always alone. I’m not dying alone though. I got friends… waiting for me… and ones here who get to live so I live on in them. I b-bet… you live on in no one and n-nothing.”

Wei had to force herself to do what Kendra wanted. She knew it was the right call and she would have made that same call herself, but she didn’t want this. She crawled to the rear of the sink and came before a small panel with two buttons on it. Wei half collapsed atop the bottom white button. A mechanical whirring sound started up and she could feel the vibrations coming from below, making the entire sink shake. She shut her eyes tight and rolled off the button onto her back, crying, her body wracked by pain in her heart so great it made the pain in her body fade away.

As soon as the sound began it knew what it was. The Rider let go of Kendra, tendrils flailing about wildly as it tried to get away from her. She had wrapped her legs about it as well, teetering on the edge of the drain, the waste disposal unit churning away in the dark below them. Kendra twisted the pointer rammed into the creature’s head and it twitched helplessly under her action. She leaned in and rested her head against it. The woman looked to the side and saw Adam… Hakurr… Neji. All stood there and smiled at her, all equal in her eyes, the same size as each other. They were just as she always remembered them on the best days of her life spent on the Capher with the trio. They were dressed in civilian clothes and happy to see her, each of them letting her know that is was finally safe to rest.

“It’s time to come home Kendra. We’re waiting for you,” said Adam, holding his hand out to her. He winked at her once in his usual charming way.

“You’re what helped me understand what makes humans so special,” rumbled Hakurr, the burly tiger looking ra’lai smiling down at Kendra. He rubbed his cross under his big thumb.

“Stop beating around the shrubs and come on already. We miss you,” laughed Neji as she held her arms out for a hug. The viliti bobbed up and down on her toes.

“I miss you too my friends. I’m coming home,” she whispered. Kendra rocked her body to the side.

The annelid halted as it heard her speak. It saw, heard, smelled, and felt nothing, despite all its senses and uplifted abilities. To it they were alone in the basin. For just one brief second in time, only a moment, it wondered who she was speaking to and how she could not be alone when ceasing to exist while it… was.

Then they fell.

Wei heard the horrible buzzing sounds and the shrieking wails of the annelid as it was torn apart in the grinding gears of the waste disposal unit. Kendra though; Kendra never made a single sound.

Despite her small size as compared to the giant aliens she lived among and the huge halls they built to hold them, Wei’s cries of sorrow filled the entire lab and echoed through all of the sub-level’s dark and empty rooms and corridors.

Soon the cries faded as her pain consumed her. She had run out of tears. Her breathing grew shallow as she stared up at the flickering emergency lights on the ceiling. Her eyes began to close. “I… don’t want to… go too…” she whispered as a dark shadow fell over her. Something reached down for her. Wei’s eyes shut and she felt nothing more.

Chapter 18

Imacha stood in the Memory Gardens found in the heart of Anatalay city. It was a beautiful place, filled with trees from seven different worlds and untold numbers of species of flowers. A riot of colors across the spectrum surrounded the short tordenchi and there were a hundred times as many scents to take in as there were sights. It was a place for reflection and gatherings, often favored by those who were religious or at least spiritual in some way. Though he was nothing remotely close to either of those things he felt it was a fitting place to be at this moment in time; more fitting than anywhere else in the city really.

His hands were jammed into the pockets of a long coat he wore. It flapped slightly in the stiff breeze that blew through the vast garden. His upturned collar batted at his cheek over and over, but he chose to ignore it right now. A patch covered his right eye, matching the color of his beige coat. His more neutral fur color and drab clothes almost looked out of place compared to the beauty surrounding him. He didn’t care though. Imacha never cared about how the entire universe felt about him. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that just one person cared. If he had just one person who understood and accepted him, then it was all right to him.

The heavy thumping and whirring sounds of a security class mech came to his big ears and drew closer step by step. A mech which stood almost two heads taller than Imacha stopped at his side. It was much more brightly colored with shades of blue, some white, and some gold across its humanoid figure. Several places on the mech were adorned with the ACBS logo and identification markings as head of security. A few hissing sounds came from the mech, followed by the metallic clangs of security latches being released. The chest of the mech opened and lowered down until parallel with the ground. Imacha’s ears picked up the light clanking of armored boots walking along the docking plate. He turned to the side and stared only slightly down at Wei Sheng, dressed in tactical pilot’s armor. A plasma pistol was holstered at her hip. Her mech interface helmet was cradled in her arm and a smile was across her face.

“How’s the eye doing?” she asked casually.

“Better. Only a tenday more and my replacement will finish growing in the labs. The implant surgery is minor. In and out in one day. I look forward to it because I keep feeling phantom tingles as if my old one was still in the socket,” he prattled at her quickly.

Wei shivered slightly and an amusing grimace crossed her face. “Thanks for giving me the willies on that one Imacha. Appreciated.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t mean… never mind. Sarcasm is so hard to use among your kind.”

“You’ll get used to it. We will be working together.”

“Yeah, about that, are you coming back soon? It’s been two tendays and we need to get the ball rolling in the labs. You’re director now, so it’s kind of important for you to be there,” said Wei.

“I understand. I’ll be there the day after tomorrow. You will make sure I have the extra security personnel I request, yes?”

“Sure thing Imacha. Glad you’re coming back. You know, soon.”

Imacha barely nodded as a response to her.

They both remained silent for a little and turned to stare at the smooth stone obelisk before them. It was one of the many Memory Stones in the Garden. Though it looked like a simple black marble obelisk about as tall as a neishor, it was actually part of a complex holographic display system. The stone could easily be replaced with other images. A leaf blew past on the wind and slipped right through the hologram, not disturbing the image in the slightest. It was completely opaque and almost impossible to visually tell it was not what it looked like.

Wei cleared her throat a few times to get Imacha’s attention. He sighed and said, “You can just speak up when you want to Wei. I wasn’t praying or self-reflecting or anything like that.”

“Well, I just thought that here and all and what it means… you know you might just want to give it a try.” She shrugged a little as she looked up at him.

“No thank you. That’s not me.”

“But you still chose to get one of these Memory Stones. Why? I mean, I totally think it’s great. Really. But, why here? Why not somewhere else important?” she asked.

“Where is more important? What quantifies what is a more important place than another? It’s all subjective really. To most all tordenchi the home world means everything to them. For me, it is nothing but bad memories and somewhere I have no desire to ever return to. My work is here. My life is here now. To me, Anatalay is the most important of places. It’s also where she died."

“I know Imacha. I was there for fuck’s sake.”

“I want it here because I believe people need to at least see her. Even if they never find out what she knew. What we know. Even if somehow this all gets swept under the rug and no one ever realizes what is out there, people should still see her. She was the first. The first ever.”

“The first to ever see one of ‘them’ you mean, huh? The first to, you know…” She ran a finger along her neck and made a ‘kkkkkk’ sound. “…to not one, but two of them.”

Imacha frowned. “No. That doesn’t matter at all. That shouldn’t be any form of honor.”

Wei crouched down and set her helmet on the dock at her feet. She stood up, running her hand through her hair a few times, squinting as the wind blew over her. “Then what? Why? Why should people know her?”

“She was my first friend. Ever. She accepted me for me. All of me. All of my faults. All of… this up here,” he said. He waved one hand near his head. “Despite all my troubles getting along with others and not understand things sometimes, the people part of things, she was always patient with me and she cared about me. She tried to teach me. She always tried to include me no matter how awkward I was in the social gatherings. Everyone else would give up but not her. Never her. Kendra Forrest was my first friend ever and to me, everyone should know her for that and that alone. ”

He looked down at her and Wei saw that his eyes were filled with tears. She had never seen Imacha cry, ever. Wei never even heard anyone else tell a story about him crying. One of his hands gripped the dock and the tordenchi sniffled.

“She should not be forgotten. Ever. She died once. I won’t let her die a second time after the last person alive who remembers her dies. So I will put her here, for all to see, forever,” he said.

“Imacha, you can’t afford to…”

“Can’t I? I barely buy anything for myself. I don’t have many wants and needs. I read and listen to some music and watch documentaries. I don’t take trips. Work is my pleasure. I have a very respectable amount already saved up, which includes successful investments I have made over time as well.”

Wei was silent a few moments then started to ask, “How many cycles are you renting this Mem…”

“Two hundred sixty three and one quarter.”

She was stunned into continued silence by the amount of time. Wei started to do the math in her head and tapped on her fingers a little.

“That’s one million three hundred sixteen thousand two hundred fifty credits. You can stop trying to calculate it in your head. You’ll likely fail or be woefully in error.”

Her hand dropped down and she frowned at him. “No need to be so rude.”

“Why not?” he snapped. “You’re not as smart as Kendra. Not even close. I know she was not the most brilliant either, there are far more so out in the Union. But, I do not believe I will ever see another with her intellect combined with her compassion and tolerance. Tolerance for me.”

He gripped the dock with both his hands and lowered his head until his forehead rested against the metal surface. His body shook as he was overcome with sobs and grief. “Why does this hurt so much? It’s not fair. She didn’t do anything wrong… to anyone ever. But now she’s gone and I’m alone. I lost my only friend. I can’t… go back to being alone again,” he cried out, his voice hoarse. “I need her… alive. I was able to carry on just knowing she was alive but now she’s not…”

Wei walked over to Imacha and placed her hand against his head. She ran it through the fur, petting him firmly and slowly. She let him sob, feeling the mech under her feet shudder slightly with each of the tremors from the tordenchi. Slowly he calmed down and composed himself. When he stopped shaking she leaned over and draped her torso and arms across some of his head, rubbing her cheek against the fur. Imacha realized what was happening and blinked a few times in confusion. It certainly stopped him from feeling as sad but it made him feel unlike he ever felt before. He knew he shouldn’t move though he very much wanted to and wasn’t sure what to say, but he decided to try anyhow.

“I don’t believe I am comfortable with this.”

“Shush. Yes you are,” sighed Wei.

“Seeing as it is my head you are sprawled across, I can most assuredly say I am not comfortable with you being on my head.”

“Yes you are,” she repeated.

“Is this some manner of prank or humor or abuse?”

“I just want you to get used to it Imacha.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re going to have to get used to me doing this with you. I did it with the falashai Guardian I was paired with in the integration training I had when in the exo-marines. I was a hands-on kinda girl,” she said as she started to scratch the top of his head.

“This is definitely abuse of some sort.”

“Then why haven’t you told me to stop or get off? It’s clear as day in Guardian Charge manuals. Stop means stop. The word is important. You haven’t said it.”

Silence reigned for a little longer as she continued to scratch and pet his head.

“You’re not my Charge.”

“And you’re not my Guardian, but the word still stands.”

The time of day reached exactly noon, the sun at its apex above in the sky. It was the precise time scheduled for the change. There was a flicker of light from the side and both of them were able to see the Memory Stone vanish to be replaced with a holographic image of Kendra Forrest. She stood there, tall as the stone was, which made her much larger than life. She was dressed in her uniform she wore as captain of the Capher, one hand resting on her hip, the other down at her side. Her hair was worn loose and down over her shoulders. The look on her face was solemn, but not mean. The light chocolate color of her skin was captured perfectly, as was the color of her eyes and the light inside them. The hologram even captured the scar on her cheek. Music started up with it as well. Wei didn’t know the name of it, but she had heard it before. She was sure of it.

“The musical piece is Bolero by a French composer from Earth named Maurice Ravel.”

“How did you…” Wei began to ask, wondering how the tordenchi read her mind.

“You were either going to comment on how it looked or what the musical piece was. I made an educated guess that you never heard it before or at least did not know its name so I chose to go with the latter over former. It was more likely.”

Wei had to chuckle at that. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

“Nonsense. But deducing your question was simply elementary. It was her favorite piece of music you know. She would listen to it every journey we started on the Capher. I would listen with her. This piece of music is her to me.”

Wei listened to it a little more, never once stopping the pets and scratches she gave to Imacha. “She looks beautiful you know. It fits her. She didn’t smile a lot so that’s more her than one with a stupid grin across her face.”

“I know.”

“Hey, something I never got to ask her and I wonder if you know the answer. How did she get that scar on her cheek? I know she had a rocky childhood and a bad father. I figure he must have hurt her or something in the past. Did she ever tell you?” asked Wei.

“She didn’t have to. I gave it to her.”

“What?”

“It was an accident on the first day we met. She demanded I pick her up to see how good I was at it, just in case it was necessary on a dangerous assignment. I picked her up but I became nervous. I fumbled her in my hands and gripped her too tight. One of my fingers brushed against her cheek and I had not taken the precaution yet to blunt all my claws as one should when in a job with common human interaction. It barely ran across her cheek but I still cut her. I wanted to rush to get her to the medics to fix the injury but she refused. She wanted it to scar. She told me I would never forget now, every time I looked at her, to be more careful with humans. Kendra was right. I never forgot and made sure to never turn away from looking at the scar,” he said calmly. He almost sounded proud of the entire event.

Wei smiled and understood what he meant. She continued to do what she was doing before, petting and scratching. Imacha never moved his head. He never said stop. Together they stared at Kendra and listened to the music rise and blare out it its majestic sounds. Minutes passed until finally Imacha spoke up softly so as to not interrupt the music.

“Wei?”

“Yes Imacha?”

“Would you be my new friend?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

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Epilogue

Seven rynar soldiers tromped through the muck and mire. Their massive, wide, clawed feet splashed down and left brief prints in their wake, quickly filled in with dark muddy water. They were heavily armed and armored, wearing the gear common to their heavy infantry. Bulky cera-metal plates covered their torsos, shoulders, arms, and legs; leaving only their heads, hands, and feet exposed. Even the joints of the armor had significant mesh cloth layers to provide some protection. Six of them carried plasma repeater rifles, capable of emitting rapid pulses of plasma blasts that could tear through most any adversary faced. One had a shorter carbine weapon in his hands. He had markings on his armor designating him as the leader of the small squad.

He and his soldiers had been walking through the swamp for half an hour and were nearly at their destination. This pleased him greatly. The stench on this world was awful. He could taste the rotting vegetation and animal life every time his long black tongue reflexively flicked out of his mouth.

“Commander Issax,” growled one of the soldiers to his leader, “We are nearly at the crash site. It appears the Union military was hiding something important out here after all. This must be the reason they had quarantined this area of space.”

Issax only nodded his head as an answer. He was a veteran of seven major conflicts. He even fought in the Battle of Terra sixteen cycles ago. The commander was not afraid of war or any foe, but something about this entire situation disturbed him. He wanted to voice his feelings to his superior officer, but her word was absolute. His duty was to do as the matriarch said and no more. Thus he led his loyal soldiers out to this wretched swamp world the UTO stellar cartographers had no name for, only a pithy code, RT-4522. He despised worlds with no character, no name. They were meaningless and cold. A name was important. He was determined to make sure his name would not be forgotten in time.

He still was not sure why the Union would render such an enormous area of rim space a no flight zone. The rim was important. The Rynar Empire and the Union had both been delving deeper into it for the past two decades, discovering new resources and riches out there to be exploited. To declare literally thousands of light years of space off limits made no sense at all to him. He quietly believed that they were engaged in some manner of secret military project out here. It had to be the answer. Nothing else made sense to him, until they discovered the only sign of Union presence on over three hundred worlds their probes had scanned the past half year. Their probes found a single derelict vessel; a science vessel they had been able to identify as the Lothia according to intelligence records. Yet it was left here, alone on this world. The Union, with all its resources, had to have found it. It made no…

“Commander, the ship is before us,” growled another rynar.

Just beyond the mist Issax saw the remains of a craft half buried in the ground. The ship had an enormous amount of growth covering it, vines creeping up over half of its massive hull. Even through all that, the rynar commander could see the terrible damage the vessel had suffered. The crash ruined it completely and yet, he saw more signs of damage he was utterly unsure of.

“Fan out, full perimeter search of the ship in two teams. Stay in constant contact,” hissed the commander.

The squad split apart without even a word needed to discuss who went with whom. They were all well trained veterans, having fought and served under Issax for four cycles now. Issax was accompanied by three soldiers, as was custom, to provide him with the protection his status demanded. They moved along the side of the vessel, carefully looking about their surroundings for any signs of danger or the presence of hidden Union troops. The stench was still prevalent to Issax and he did his best to stop tasting the air. He felt his heart beating fast in his chest. It was an uncommon feeling for him, especially on what seemed to be a scouting mission.

It took several minutes moving slowly to cross around to what appeared to be the remains of some small camp that had been set up by a large rupture in the ship’s hull. It, like the rest of the ship, was all but overgrown by creepers and other flora. A few small native animals scattered at their approach. Issax cast his gaze all along the ruins. He saw no signs of bodies. No remains of any species of the Union at all. It appeared abandoned, likely any survivors of this having long since been evacuated by rescue services.

His keen eyes spotted something off to the side. Long strides took him over to a humanoid shape overgrown with the vines. He tugged them off to reveal a badly damaged and weathered mech. It was one of the machines that the Union helped construct for the tiny race of humans that his people had nearly conquered. A scowl crossed his face at that thought. How such an insignificant species could result in the worst loss his kind had suffered militarily in the past two decacycles was an insult to his beliefs. One of his soldiers picked at the mech and peered inside its open hatch. The soldier quickly looked back at Issax.

“The machine has been stripped of almost all controls and computer components. No likely presence of any data logs or recordings. It is a dead piece of metal,” growled the soldier.

The commander was about to respond when the sharp crack of a plasma weapon firing echoed out across the area. It had to have come from the second group all the way around the other side of the ship. It was followed by two more loud cracks and several cries. They were a mix of fear and pain and swiftly stifled. A bestial sounding roar was heard last, then silence.

The three soldiers with Issax snapped their weapons up at the ready, their tongues flicking at the air reflexively to taste for an enemy’s approach. On this world, with its masses of vegetation, it was a mostly futile effort. Issax quickly raised his own weapon and was about to utter commands to his troops as he turned around. The words died in his throat as he beheld what had crept up on them in almost utter silence. A group of a dozen quadrupedal beasts stood before them in a semi-circle. They were massive, bulky, and alien in appearance with huge fangs and claws. The heads were eel like while the bodies resembled that of great cats. A long whip like tail thrashed behind each of them. They all massed in easily over twice what Issax did. The commander felt fear creep up into him now. Not because of the sheer number of the creatures, but how they stared at him. He swore there was a glimmer of intellect somewhere behind those eyes.

One of Issax’s soldiers reacted without order. He raised the weapon up to fire before Issax could tell him to stop. From out of the hazy mist behind the monsters a thin white light lanced out. It ran across the plasma weapon and the rynar all at once, like tracing a laser pointer at something. Sparks flashed from the weapon and armor as the beam scribbled across them. Part of the repeater fell to the ground, sliced in half, the metal sheared through in a clean, perfect cut. The soldier’s left arm also fell to the ground along with the weapon, shorn clean off his body. Blood poured from the wound a moment later. With a look of confusion and fear mingled together, the rynar stared at Issax, as if begging him to help. A moment after that his torso slid apart and fell to the ground with a sickening thud and splash. His lower half collapsed to the ground, legs buckling. Everything in his body spilled out across the ground in display of gore that nearly sickened the commander. The mouth of the fallen soldier still moved and little gasps came from him for a few seconds more before he went still, eyes frozen wide in death.

Issax stared at this in horror, unable to look away until the fallen soldier stopped moving. He finally turned his head and stared back at the beasts, desperately trying to see what did that. He and the remaining two soldiers partly lowered their weapons. From out of the mists Issax saw a figure approach. It was unlike any being he had seen before. It stood about as tall as one of the falashai and had ears larger than one of those aliens. Its dark eyes were sunken into deep sockets and glared at him, full of malice. An oddly shaped nose was upturned on its short muzzle and long fangs poked out of its mouth. Massive leathery wings extended from its arms though they were currently folded down, the hands of the creature coming from said wings. Were a terran to see it he would name it a bat, a vampire bat to be specific. The alien had loose grey robes draped over its body, a silver belt from which hung several tools of unknown nature, and carried a slim technological rod which it held like a rifle.

Silence fell over all until Issax worked up the courage to speak once more. “What… are you?” he asked in his native rynar, not expecting an answer.

“Not you,” said the alien in response, speaking perfect rynar.

“Why did you…” began Issax but the alien cut him off.

“You are not us. You come to a harvest world. You invade our territory when we left dictum we are not to be disturbed. You are an alien presence and not tolerated. Your simple existence is anathema to us,” said the bat.

“But Commander Issax’s kind, we never came here be…”

“You are not us. None of you are. It is not our onus to deliver the dictum to all. Your second arrival here resulted in the death of one of our Elders at the hands of a least species. This is intolerable. Your incursion into what is ours is now considered a declaration of hostility to us. We will begin measures to ensure that which is ours shall not be intruded upon any further. So demands the Eldest. So demands the slith,” said the bat in a low, menacing hiss.

“Please, the Union came here first. Commander Issax is from the Rynar Empire. We only seek peace with your species,” he said, throat dry and words coming out in a plea of panic.

“You claim empire. You know not the meaning of the word. We do. We deny your claim. We consider you a lesser race; simple, unevolved, and unworthy of negotiation. We shall show your species what empire means. What it is to incur our wrath. We do not accept the name rynar.”

Two more flashes of white lanced out from the mists and with horrible precision Issax’s other soldiers were sliced in half by the weapons. Their bodies fell to the ground in a rain of gore, twitching and caught in reflexive spasms until they died. A pair of the bats emerged from the mist to stand at the sides of the first one. Both of them wore robes and hoods and silvery metallic masks with slits for their dark eyes to peer out of. Though Issax could see no armor, he heard the clattering of plates upon plates under the robes. They lowered their weapons and began to change some manner of sphere at the rear of it. Terror gripped the veteran soldier. He did not want to die like that. That was not a worthy death.

“Wait! Please!” cried out Issax. “We… we can negotiate! Let Commander Issax carry a message to his people, to our Empress.”

“You shall,” said the first bat. “You shall be my host and I shall ride you into the heart of your empire and see your unworthy Empress. Then your species will understand us, will learn what empire means. After we ride your lesser race and cleanse the Void of the least race that would dare slay our Elder, we shall discard you as the offal you are and strike you and them from our collective memories. Hold him so I may transfer to this new, pathetic host.”

Issax saw the other bats come for him and realized that sometimes death was better…