Chương 78: 051 – Invitations

Tiikasia eyed the injector that would be inserting the inoculations into his body. It was a barbaric-looking thing, looking like something that the accursed demons had used, which probably had some truth to it.

"A highly advanced space-faring civilization, and we can't find a less painful way to get medicines into someone's body."

"It's either this or having everything injected into the seam between your eyes and your face plate," Wozyogen Nera said cheerfully, his tone of sympathy so fake he might as well not have bothered as he hefted the injector, its massive needle glinting ominously. Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration on Tiikasia's part, but he felt it was warranted, given how the mirha doctor was holding the injector in all four hands like it was a pistol.

It wasn't even because the thing was heavy, the injector grip was sized to be usable for anyone, and while mirha arms were slim they were filled with lean muscle as much as they were filled with venom glands.

"Stop being a softshell, Ohmadia. This is good for you, full of vitamins and minerals and antibodies."

"Just get it over with, Nera," he said, turning away to present to his left rear knee to the chief medical officer, though he angled his head to let him see the procedure with one of his eyes. Nera gripped the limbs on either side of Tiikasia's knee with one pair of his hands, while his free hand gently rested the tip of his finger on the flesh between segments of exoskeleton, feeling for gaps between the muscle.

When Tiikasia felt the finger resting on a familiar spot, the shinkamrai forced himself to relax with the familiarity of long practice. The jab of the injector was an old demon at this point, his flesh resisting it even as Nera made a decent effort to stab him so the needle would get through the dense layer protecting his insides from the outside.

The Tsokeri were never to be sufficiently cursed, but they had made the first of the Shinkamrai with all their prodigious skill with the intention of creating soldiers that were hard to kill, intelligent, tempered, and could be a threat with only their bare claws. Eventually, the needle was withdrawn, and there was the mild sting of disinfectant and then the pressure of an adhesive bandage.

It wouldn't be necessary, as Tiikasia could already feel the area surrounding the wound swelling slightly to push the entry point shut, but it was standard procedure.

"All right, that should do it," Nera said.

"You will likely find yourself feeling fatigued, that's normal. If you feel feverish, digestive distress, headaches, swelling or any other symptoms, let us know immediately, Ohmadia. Keep your exertions down for the next day while your immune system adapts." Tiikasia clicked his claws in acknowledgement.

"Have there been any reactions to the inoculation?"

"A few. We've had three instances of fever under observation and someone had their venom glands start abnormal production, but they got here in time and we're in the process of keeping their venom drained while the gland suppressants take effect. There's nothing to worry about, it was just a reaction while their immune system adjusted, but they'll probably be off-duty a bit longer than the others. Someone found their wings becoming sensitive, we gave them a mild anesthetic and having them sleep it off.

We have about six people with aching joints. Those are the most extreme cases. The rest are just some mild feelings of feverishness but no fever, soft frass, dehydration, the usual." Another click of the claws.

"Good. You know what to do if any of it mutates into something nasty and contagious. Am I cleared for talking to our hosts, or will that be too fatiguing?"

"Casual conversation only, no trying to negotiate alliances or the local laws," Nera said immediately.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem. They don't have local laws."

"… what?" A little tiredness was starting to set in by the time Tiikasia reached his office, where he settled gratefully onto the cushioned seat behind the workspace. Sitting there, he took a moment to diagnose if he had the energy for this. … It would have to be a short interaction. He'd need to avoid any tangents that could lead to more shocking revelations about Kaydekeen society.

Decision made, he reached for the controls of his office terminal to contact the communications department, and ask them to send a signal towards the Kaydekeen space station… and remembered in time that he'd need Rirris to translate the difficult terms. And this discussion would probably require at least one difficult term. … Well, this was probably the randomness of the universe telling him he shouldn't have this conversation.

While his ear for human speech was getting better, actually pronouncing the words was still difficult for him, and while Water From The Sky-probably-Rain was fairly understandable when using freespeech, there was still some degree of misunderstanding that— The alert on his office door whistled. Out of habit, he reached out and pressed the button that would confirm his presence and allow the door to open. Rirris stepped inside, an adhesive bandage on the joint of her elbow.

"Oh good, I guessed right. Do you have a few paize, Ohmadia? I've got the preliminary scans of Nightmare's oceans and I think I found the dustbound that Rain mentioned." His antennae flicked at her skeptically.

"How do you know they're the dustbound? No, how did you identify anything at this range?"

"Because the animals in question are about a quarter of a tain wide and about three khion warmer than the surrounding water," Rirris said.

"The heat is probably a result of their void dust. It's fascinating, they each support an entirely different aquatic ecosystem on their backs because they're actively heating the water around them." That did sound interesting…but unfortunately, it looked like the randomness of the universe thought it was being funny today.

"As fascinating as that sounds, and believe me, I want to hear more about that, I need your help with some translation." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Translation? Oh, are you going to contact Rain? About what?"

"I want to ask if we can take up their invitation if we use isolation suits," Tiikasia said.

"As long as there's no intermingling of our atmosphere with theirs it should be fine." Rirris made one of those strange human voice sounds, the kind someone who wasn't a dragonshaper couldn't really do because you needed a human soundbox.

"Well, I suppose we can ask. I admit, I do want to see what their society looks like, because what we have now implies that society should be some kind of leaderless, lawless, violent anarchy. It's probably not, but until we see it at work, we're all going to think it. Besides, it will probably give my poor political science and legal scholars some sort of functional framework for their theorizing instead of clawing at their plates and muttering about how it couldn't possibly work."

"Oh. how are they taking it?"

"They keep focusing on how someone would take advantage of there being no laws, then have to stop when someone reminds them that it was explicitly stated punching someone in the face is the socially acceptable response to someone taking advantage of others," Rirris said.

"Then they go on a tangent about how that would result into a society where might would be considered right where the strong dominate the weak, and then someone reminds them that the Kaedekin have been very polite and considerate and have shown no indication they act like that, and then they either start arguing or crying… I'm going to have them go on leave for the next day so they can get their heads together, otherwise they'll be too worn out when we find out even more about our hosts." Ah.

Yes, Tiikasia could understand that. He already felt uncomfortable simply considering the possibility they didn't actually have centralized leadership, he couldn't imagine how disturbed someone who both knew more about political systems and had to seriously analyze the concept would be.

"I'll trust your judgement on that matter. Shall I have communications contact our hosts, or are you too busy right now?"

"I can translate," Rirris agreed, walking over to the corner where the visitors' seats were stored and unfolding one, setting it at the edge of the slightly bowl-shaped area of Tiikasia's workspace.

"Thank you. I'll do my best to keep this short, I'm not feeling well…" Tiikasia contacted the communications officer, and after a short wait, a connection had been established with ' Lamppost Fortress'. It was a bit longer than the usual wait. That was the first irregularity. The second irregularity was when the connection was limited to only audio. The third irregularity was when a voice that wasn't Water From The Sky answered." Bawipu guranah weepuh ninibong.

This is Star Ranger Paladin Princess, responding on behalf of Star Ranger Paladin Rain. We apologize for the delay. What can we do for you?" Tiikasia and Rirris looked at each other at the unfamiliar voice.

"May I ask who this is?" Tiikasia said cautiously." We have met before, Ohmadia. Paladin Rain introduced me as 'Star Warrior Stronghold Warrior First To Command'. That was an over translation of my name."

"Oh, I remember you being mentioned," Rirris said." Greetings, Wozyogen Rirris. It is nice to finally speak to you for the first time." Whoever this was, they spoke much better freespeech than… well, it was apparently confirmed her name was Rain.

"May I ask where… Rain is?" He hoped he'd pronounced that correctly." Paladin Rain is currently undergoing medically required maintenance. I will inform her when she is functional again."

"She's sleeping?" Rirris said, parsing the strangely phrased, if grammatically correct, sentence faster than he could." Currently undergoing medically required maintenance, yes." Rirris laughed very strangely when she sounded human." We understand. The Ohmadia has something he wished to inquire about. Ohmadia?"

"Regarding the invitation Paladin … Rain extended earlier," he said slowly so Rirris could translate.

"Would it be possible to accept it while clad in environment suits?" The next time the dark room saw Ash, she appeared very embarrassed and was carrying several bottles of alcohol in a box. In defiance of the last time Falling Stillness had seen her, these bottles were clearly actually meant for the consumption of people who hadn't declared they were immune to every form of poison. They had labels and those humorously absurd 'nutrition facts' sidebars on them and everything.

"I'm very sorry for how I acted last time," Ash said after she'd finished setting down the three boxes she had been carrying under the table, where the ankle-height lights allowed most people to read their labels.

"I wasn't in my right of mind. I said several things I shouldn't have, and spoke from a place of frustration and envy. I behaved atrociously and took advantage of your hospitality. I know it's not much, but… well, I brought an apology offering, I guess?" She gestured towards the bottles.

They were hefty and made of nearly dark green plastic, meaning they were either the good-but-not-quite-as-good as the human alcohol that was put into glass bottles, or it was the good stuff that was packed for space travel, since humans had not yet gotten used to the idea that mass was no longer a limitation in space travel. Or maybe they just didn't want to retool their manufacturing processes. As Falling Stillness investigated the bottles, Tree Season, Drasner, Phingui, and Otro looked at each other…

or at least, as much as the gesture could be done when only half of the people involved could functionally do so, since none of them had the same physiology, half of them couldn't make eye contact, and one of them didn't actually have a face. Finally, Tree Season said, "It's fine. You weren't the worst guest or the worst drunk we've ever had." Drasner tried to look innocent while everyone else avoided looking at him so pointedly they might as well have stared.

"Next time, bring snacks too. Just drinks is boring."

"…wait, next time?"

"Oh? Were we such poor hosts that you dislike our company?" Tree Season said. Ash's face wore an expression Falling Stillness had never seen before, but she felt she could take a guess.

"Y-you want me to stay?" she said.

"You were a moody drunk, but your company wasn't terrible," Phingrui said.

"And it would be rude to take your alcohol and kick you out. Besides, I need someone to tell these apart for me."

"This is good stuff," Falling Stillness said, a pseudopod wrapped around a bottle to pull it out.

"Why do you have so much? And why were you drinking that raw distillation if you had this?"

"I like methanol," Ash said.

"It's sweet. As to why I have all that… alcohol is a very common gift in my family. That's just a few of the bottles I got in care packages at the last port." Falling Stillness made a note to be very careful to never drink directly from anything Ash was drinking from.

"Well, stop standing around like a tree and sit down properly, wizard," Tree Season said.

"If you're still feeling guilty, you can hand over any good gossip you have."

"And hand me one of those bottles. Something tasty," Phingui said, one tentacle pointing at the bottles. Ash hesitantly bent down and picked up a bottle. Some kind of mango beer according to the label, which declared that it was 'Proudly a Product of the Philippine Star Federation'. She handed it to the pajhadin, who examined it for a moment before popping off the cap.

"Hmm…delicious."

"So, what's interesting down in engineering?" Orto asked as Ash hesitantly sat down and accepted a package of llama jerky from Nhanhaja. For some reason, Ash stared at the package of jerky before shrugging and tearing it open.

"Well, something came down from the skipper today. The Kaedekin sent message for us quantum engineers specifically…"