Untitled

Cenezoic Park

chapter 1

chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

So I am watching Boondocks Saints and all I can think is...this would make an awesome game.

Set up an information network so you can know what crimes are going on and where.

Complete challenges so you can earn more cash to get better guns, some challenges or contracts can only be completed with certain items for example.

Make sure to have the right items on hand to avoid being profiled or known by the local police/fbi.

Ok so i have a goal of making some chainmail forearm guards to wear to the texas ren-faire later this year...problem is that i don't really know how to make a good strapping system for them. Like straps and buckles to hold it to my arm is kind of important. I have 14 and 17 gauge wire to work with along with 3/8, 7/16 and 1/2 inch bolts to make the links with along with some steel snips and a dremel kit. I also have some bits of leather and might know where to get more in the area if needed so if anyone has any information/sites/ideas etc they would be willing to share that would be awesome.

UPDATE 1/5/26

I have recently gotten into making chainmail crafts, i can only really do some basic 4-in-1 european stuff so far but i have made myself some pretty neat bracelets. I recently went through double carpal and cubital release surgery so while my hands don't go numb anymore...i can't grip for shit yet since im still healing. That being the case what do i do? i go from using 17 gauge steel wire to 14 gauge steel wire, because i'm a genius...dumbass.

Not having an understanding of what "taking it easy and healing" is i went and made some links of the 14 Ga stuff...and found out very quickly that the steel snips i have been using on the 17 Ga stuff is not going to work as easily. Well long story short and a few youtubes later i'm standing in my dad's woodshop at 10pm wondering how the hell can i get what i want without spending a bunch of time or money...and low and behold...

The Vice...it calls to me.

I stuck the steel snips in the vice, metal spring into the snips and start closing the vice...sure enough a few turns later and pop goes the first link. Re-adjust, repeat and i am in business!

It is slow, but it literally takes as little effort as possible without adding a motor to something so i am totally OK with it.

The 1999 Mummy with Brendan Fraser is at least the equivalent of the 1987 masterpiece that is the Princess Bride and could potentially be interchangeable for title of the Perfect movie.

Masterlist

“Wait…so this goes to that, and that controls…wait no, have I got that backwards?...no I had it right the first time…”

“CAPTAIN!”

*WHAM!*

“AH FUCK! WHY! WHY Is it always when I’m under a console?!”

Scooting out from under a console in the odd ship they had found Captain Grad rubbed where his horns had slammed into what felt like a support strut or something. Glaring up at the rock doc with a growl Grad muttered something before glancing down at the small tablet he had been referencing while trying to understand what he was looking at under the console.

“Well, you know those weird cylinders we found?”

*Growllll*

“So it turns out…they are portable, press a few buttons and apparently they have built in anti-gravity tech.”

Grad raised a brow and leant back on one hand while tapping his chin with the tablet.

“Interesting…*sigh* and I assume someone is going to want to load them onto the ship and take them home with us, right?” The look on Granix’s face told the captain he was close.

“Well you see…there isn’t enough space on board for all of us, and the data banks can be removed from that ship…”

Grad moaned and flopped onto his back while thudding his head on the deck a few times.

“You are shitting me, you are expecting me to somehow get this ALIEN SPACESHIP up and running and then load on a bunch of data banks, personnel and multiple cryo-pods…and then fly us out of a system that seemed to do everything it could to kill us on the way in, never mind what it might try on the way out?” Granix shrugged with a smile.

“I mean if you are offering sure!” Capt. Grad growled a bit more before gesturing wildly with his tablet at the console he had been under until recently.

“I don’t even know if this damn thing can make it into space let alone the carrying capacity, it might be nothing more than a garbage ship for inter-atmosphere work for all I know.”

Granix glanced to his side and gestured towards a console.

“Uh…captain? I don’t speak or read the language, but even I can tell that consol over there controls a suite of weapons …my guess is that this thing can handle outer-atmosphere movement.”

“Hey! Who is the captain around here!?...but yes… this ship is actually beyond amazing and fully capable of inter-planetary travel...”

“Really? I know as much about ships as I do about intergalactic politics…”

Seeing the obvious side-eye from the geologist Grad groaned.

“Alright, this ship is…probably as impossible as what I imagine you will find in those cryo-pods will be.”

Seeing the un-comprehending look on Granix’s face Capt. Grad pointed under the consol he had just been working on.

“Look under here, now most ships have wires and connections that look like Melphinian mating tangles but look at this…every wire is perfectly placed to leave as much room under the console as possible…Service loops of extra wire are all here but tucked away into small, out of the way areas that look as if they were specifically designed for it. Up here on top? These controls are unlike anything I have ever seen and yet almost look like something out of a museum. They are touch controls but…not like any I have seen before.”

Granix raised a brow at hearing that.

 “Here look at this, I found this by accident. These are the controls for the ship…or at least I think they are.”

Walking away from the consol he had been working under Grad stepped on a slightly different looking portion of the floor. Granix watched as the floor directly in front of the captain irised open to reveal an odd steel black liquid.

“Now watch this.”

Reaching out Captain Grad held his hands open towards the odd liquid.

Seconds later it was as if a pair of stones had been tossed into the liquid as ripples appeared on the surface and a pair of tendrils lifted out of the puddle. Captain Grad stayed still as the tendrils moved forward and almost hesitatingly split into tiny fibers that began to wrap themselves around his fingers and grow like roots across his hands and wrists.

“Alright so this…I think is the equivalent of the controls for the ship, the problem is that every finger has a different action and purpose and I don’t know what any one of them does.”

Flexing his hands the captain dismissed the control tendrils before pointing at the ceiling.

“Look up here in the overhead…see these little spots? Those are combination speakers and vocal transmitters. Now this is just a guess but from what I have seen of the culture that built this place, I am willing to bet there is a specific pass phrase that unlocks the full potential of this ship. As it is, the best I can do is run diagnostics and cycle the engines, and despite how long this damn thing has been here I can confidently say the systems are fine and the engines work. Since I don’t read or speak the language I don’t know how fine the systems are or how to do any kind of maintenance if it is needed, but for the most part they are fine.”

“Do you even know what the systems are that you are running diagnostics on?” Granix asked.

“Not entirely but I can make a guess at some. The air tanks are full, the waste tanks are empty, there is enough fuel to go somewhere I assume since I have no idea what the fuel efficiency is like on this thing. Now since this symbol kinda looks like it might be a weapon…I am confident that if I was able to get control of the systems I would be able to shoot at anyone who shot at me, if there was anyone in this system to shoot at us that is.”

Granix looked around in slight wonder at the ship.

“Wow…I don’t know nearly enough about ships to be as amazed as I should be about this place. What are the odds of you being able to get this thing up and running well enough to load up the cargo bay and fly it back to Homebase?”

 Captain Grad felt his horns begin to itch as an eyebrow began to twitch.

“You really want me to try and get an entirely alien ship running to the point that we could go on a long haul through one of the most hostile planetary systems on record with possibly the most valuable cargo in existence?” Granix nodded with a big smile and wide eyes.

“Uh-huh!” Granix’s horns itched as he groaned.

“I…can try. I might be able to work a few things, send that overly intelligent desk plant of a doctor down here I am going to need someone to translate a few things, also send her with a pen and some tape so I can label a few things.”

Dr. Granix ran up the ramp into the odd alien ship a few hours later with a series of stimulant bulbs and snacks, they were beginning to run low on food now that they were beginning to reach the end of their expected expedition time. Pushing through the field airlock they had set up in the ship so that they could remove their suits he looked around and, catching sight of Captain Grad he jogged over and offered a selection of snacks.

“Have you seen Dr. Sensha? I thought she would be in the other ship looking over the cryo-pods or down at the bottom of the spiral somewhere but I can’t find her. Also have you seen Sylaxis, I haven’t seen him for a few days now.”

Captain Grad nodded as he grabbed a heated stimulant bulb and took a deep pull before sighing in delight.

“Yeah…Sy is down in the armory and the Bio-doc is in the control room of this ship having a breakdown.”

Granix jerked as he put down the snacks and drink bulbs.

 “She is having a breakdown?!”

“I mean that is my best guess, she is rocking in place muttering about something being alive over and over again.”

Granix grabbed a stimulant bulb and something to eat before making his way towards the control room.

Entering and seeing the other doctor indeed sitting on the floor with her arms around her knees while rocking back and forth muttering something. Walking forward and kneeling down Granix placed a hand on the other doctor’s shoulder while leaning in to hear what she was saying.

“It’s alive…why is it alive?...how is it alive…it’s alive…they are alive…I can hear them…they speak to me…how can they be alive…how can I hear them…”

Shaking the doctor a bit didn’t seem to have any effect, waving a stimulant bulb in front of her didn’t have any effect and neither did holding a snack up to her as she continued to mutter and rock. Sighing and shifting in front of the doctor he pulled her face to look him in the eye, apologized and gave a ringing slap across one cheek.

“AHH! Qora shi tekeí!?” Shensa asked as she held the side of her face.

“Common Dr. Sensha, speak common and speak in full sentences please.” Dr Granix said as he held up a stimulant bulb.

“Ki-shení shal entrak…since you don’t speak it, that was me calling you a shit eating Sha fucker.”

Shensa growled before angrily taking a sip from the bulb.

Ignoring how cute the sight of a living plant was as she growled and angrily sipped at a bulb while grumbling in her silly tree speak Dr. Granix sat himself more comfortably on the deck before biting into his own snack bar.

“No idea what a Sha is but I imagine it would love a night out on the town, now bypassing all of that…why were you having a breakdown just a minute ago?”

Scowling at the young geologist Sensha finished her drink before responding.

“Because…this ship is alive, whatever is in those cryo-pods is alive and for all I know this whole damn moon is alive at this point.” Granix raised a brow.

“By this ship is alive…you mean?”

Sensha took a bite of her snack bar before taking a deep breath to relax and leant back against the bulkhead of the ship.

“This ship…is technically alive, it has organs and a pulse and a mind. Granted the organs are unlike any I have seen before, the pulse is coming from who knows where since I haven’t found the source yet and as far as my readings are telling me the mind is…well the ship is about as smart as the average sapling. It registers literally just above the level required to be considered sentient, I wouldn’t call it self-aware by any means but…there is a level of thought in this ship.”

“And by thought you mean…?”

“I mean…it either has or will have preferred pilots, it won’t work as well as it can for others. *Sigh* I can’t describe it and I’m not even sure if I understand it myself, no scratch that, I know that I don’t understand it.”

Sipping the remnants of her stimulant bulb Sensha glanced at the other doctor out of the corner of her eye.

“I…don’t think anyone is able to understand what we have found here, not truly…at least…no one from this day and age…”

Granix raised a brow at the pretty doctor as he thought about her words before realizing what she said and coughing slightly.

*COUgh! Hack cough…* “Wait…hold on, you aren’t suggesting what I think you are suggesting are you?”

Sensha surged forward and grabbed Granix by the shoulder with a near feverish light in her eyes.

“They are here, right here! in one of the only systems outside any kind of Union, Federation or Collective jurisdiction and so are we. We could do it…awaken one of them and actually study them, speak to them…we could learn directly from the source.”

Granix had to resist the urge to lean away from the manic and feverish looking bio-doctor as she tried to convince him to defrost one of the cryo-pods.

Placing one of his hands on the one she was holding his shoulder with he looked her in the eye.

 “I am not saying it isn’t a good idea or a possibility, I want you to understand that. I just want to understand your thought process…alright?” Sensha nodded her vines twisting and coiling as small flowers and even occasional thorns poked out here and there.

“You want to wake up an unknown species, a species older than our oldest recorded civilization. You want to wake up a species that as far as we know went to sleep sometime around the same time a near apocalyptic invasion force of another unknown alien species was wiped out, possibly by the species you are wanting to awaken. You are wanting to wake up, from a cryo-sleep of uncounted generations, a species that probably doesn’t even speak the same language as our ancestors or anything like it. A species that was essentially locked away in the heart of a system almost designed to kill any intruders…just so you can ask them questions about a ship?”

Sensha nodded eagerly with a smile that was bordering on psychotic as Granix was able to see her teeth peeking out from between her lips.

“Uh-huh! I am already learning their language from what Hackoro has sent us and I am getting better at reading it understanding how it is spoken every day. We could learn so much from them! Just imag-ow!...hey what, was…that?” Sensha asked as she jerked away from the rock doc and held a hand up to her neck.

Pulling it away and seeing small bits of sap on her fingers she squinted at them as she rubbed it between her digits in confusion. Looking at Granix she stumbled slightly as her eyes grew heavy and her body felt like all her limb cores had been replaced with solid iron.

“That, was a fast-acting sedative. Apologies but you need sleep and a bit of a break from all of this.”

 Sensha couldn’t believe what she was hearing…she also couldn’t understand most of it since the individual in front of her wasn’t speaking any dialect of tree she had heard before…

Falling backwards to her butt as the individual she had been listening to helped to keep her from falling on her face by rushing forward and catching her she looked up at him and tried to imagine him with leaves…she smiled at the thought…

“Well that was interesting. Didn’t think you had it in you doc.”

Grad said from the doorway as he watched Granix lower Sensha to the deck and arrange her in a more comfortable position. Granix chuckled as he made sure the bio-doc was as comfortable as he could make her.

“Geology is really just a hobby.”

Captain Grad felt himself reaching for his holdout pistol at his lower-back without conscious thought.

“Is that so…just what do you normally do?”

Granix slowly stood up with a groan and stretch…than ended with him holding a pistol aimed directly between the captain’s eyes.

“A number of things, you didn’t really think someone like Hackoro would only send one security individual on an expedition like this, did you?”

Captain Grad slowly pulled his hand away from his pistol before holding them both out to his side to show he was no threat.

“It did seem a little odd, but let’s face it I wasn’t paid to ask questions.” Granix shrugged and stowed his pistol.

Masterlist

Sylaxis and Dr. Granix both watched as Dr. Sensha stepped out of the airlock and began making her way around the cargo space making sure the cryo pods were properly held in place along with the various other crates and containers they had stowed upon the alien ship.

Looking towards each other Granix nodded towards the little scientist while Sylaxis nodded, this was the scientist that had needed to be rescued after accidently launching herself out of an emergency escape pod…twice.

Stepping up and leaning in towards the Head of Security Granix spoke in low tones.

“I don’t know who that is, but that isn’t our Bonsai. She wouldn’t know how to properly secure a cargo if her life depended on it, yet looking at her now, she is moving like a professional.”

Sylaxis nodded.

“I agree, wait until we are out of the atmosphere and the captain has the expeditionary vessel in hard vacuum as well. Once we are out of the gravity well, we will deal with whoever that is, can you pilot this ship?”

“Not in the slightest, well…ok we might be able to limp our way to the edge of the system but not if whatever is messing with the good doctor’s mind starts messing with mine as well.”

“The possibility of such an occurrence did not escape me.”

Noticing that she was focusing on a pair of oddly large, bubble-like pods with an almost fanatical attention to detail Dr. Granix walked up and leant down for a better look.

He was somewhat surprised to see that the pods were half bubble and half machinery, the bubble portion rippling and waving like the mercury pools he used to swim in as a child.

“What are these? I don’t remember seeing them anywhere when we went exploring.”

Dr. Sensha looked over the pods with an obvious fondness, even going so far as to reach out and gently stroke one of them.

“They are just a couple oddities I found while looking around, nothing of any immediate interest…we should be leaving, our time is short and the road is long.”

“Of course, lead the way.” Dr. Granix said as he stepped back and then followed after the walking shrubbery.

Walking behind what looked like Dr. Sensha, Granix glanced over to Sylaxis and made a few quick hand motions.

‘When signaled, break connection’

Sylaxis nodded.

Entering the command center both Sylaxis and Granix watched as whatever was wearing Dr. Sensha smoothly slid into position to pilot the ship.

Moving with the ease of long practice she took up her position as the odd liquid wrapped around her arms. Smoothly stepping and waving her arms she lifted the ship up and off the surface of the moon with an unnaturally familiar ease of movement.

Looking between themselves, Dr. Granix and Sylaxis nodded silently before Dr. Granix stepped forward with a grin.

“Wow…this is amazing, what does this button do?” He said while extending a finger towards a gently glowing red button.

“It deploys an anti-matter missile, or at least it would if any were loaded on board.”

“Anti-matter missiles? Damn that sounds impressive, wish I could get my hands in one of those beauties.” Sylaxis said as he lounged against a bulkhead, casually not acknowledging the grin on Sensha’s face.

“Wait a few hours for the fabricators to warm up and start chewing away at the queue I’ve set up and you will.”

The charging tone of a pulse pistol along with the gentle nudge of a barrel at the back of Dr. Sensha’s head told it, it had been caught.

Closing its eyes, Dr. Sensha slowly raised its arms in apparent surrender as the control fluid drained off its arms.

“Damn…What gave me away?”

 “Work with me here Hacky, you know this isn’t going to work like you want it to. Right now, you are almost literally telling the government that not only are you stealing from them, but you are expecting them to pay you for it.”

Hackoro sat back and rasped his radula a bit.

“Should I be expecting an entirely un-avoidable and ultimately fatal accident in the near future?”

Lockra shook his head as he sat back in his seat.

“No, you should be expecting an entirely un-avoidable execution in the near future. As things are now, you are telling the Government that you are stealing from them and not just that, but that you are doing so using their own rules against them and you are expecting them to pay you for it. You know as well as I do that they won’t accept this without retribution.”

Hackoro rasped his radula and thumped his cane.

“What would you have me do then Lock, just let them come in and raid the entire system like bandits? Sit back and watch the government force themselves into this ancient system to scour it like the graverobbers they claim me to me?”

Lockra shook his head.

“Not so much, but you are going to have to come at this in a different fashion, phrase the proposition differently. Don’t make it seem like you are stealing from them by using their own rules to do it and making them pay for it. Propose it as if you are doing the work they would have had to have paid for anyway except now they are getting the same amount of work done by someone else and for cheaper with little to no effort, or liability, on their part. Imagine for a moment…you not only have a plan already in place to deal with the apex predator of the planet the government is planning on using as a training world, you already have a way to study and make money off them.”

Hackoro tapped his lips as he thought over his old friend’s words.

“I’m listening…”

“Damn…what gave me away?”

The thing that was wearing Dr. Sensha asked as it turned towards Sylaxis and Granix as they both aimed small holdout pistols at whatever was piloting Dr. Sensha.

“The accent mainly, that and the way you spoke. The phrases and cadence wasn’t like the good doctor and there was no way it could be explained away as issues in the comms system. Of course showing more knowledge on what this ship can do certainly didn’t help either.” Sylaxis said.

“Who and what are you.” Dr. Granix asked.

Seeing the form of Dr. Sensha open her mouth he primed his pistol with a sound that built from a low tone into a high-pitched whine, the end of the barrel beginning to glow cherry red.

“Lie to me…I like the bio-doc, but I’m not about to risk myself or this expedition for her.”

Dr. Sensha pursed her lips before holding out her hands to re-enforce the fact she was un-armed.

“My designation is forty-one six-charlie seventy sixty-eight sixty-one. I am an ABI, Artificial Bio-Intelligence…I am a mixture of computer logic and organic reasoning built by Humans. I was implanted within the control matrix of BEPA here and programmed to awaken only when a compatible genetic signature attempted to interface with the skiff. When uhh…Doctor Sensha? First interfaced with the control matrix, her DNA was recognized as compatible and I was uploaded.”

Seeing the confused looks being sent her way Abi slowly looked between the two individuals holding her at gun point.

“Uhm…seeing as how one of you has spines, and the other looks like he has rocks for hair…I am going to assume it has been a few years since the War.”

“Alright so you are proposing to study the apex lifeforms of the main planet as long as the government pays to build the facility to do so. Anything they find on the moon of the planet is theirs to do with as they like, obviously. Your studies will obviously be geared towards any form of combat or industrial use that can be gained from them as far as the government is concerned. You say you already have plans and personnel lined up?”

Hackoro nodded.

“Good, they would have placed some sycophantic shreka brained idiots on your staff if given the chance. Now as for facilities…?”

Hackoro placed his baw-kwa tea on the table as he mentally ran through his various planetary holdings before responding.

“I have three planets that could potentially be of use, plans and schematics have been drafted and approved as well as all the subsequent necessities like electrified fences, di-hydrogen monoxide barriers and defensive turrets etc. I have bids for construction lined up and ready to go…I have already done for free all the work the government would have needed to pay for, I just need their approval to commence.”

Hackoro smiled then as he had a thought.

“Not for nothing but…I could also have the plans for facilities and infrastructure to take advantage of the other planets and satellites drawn up in half the time and cost it would take for the UGG to do the same.”

Lockra smiled and clapped his hands.

“Yes, now you are learning the game. Of course any extra personnel, supplies or resources will have to be on your credit after the facility is built, though I imagine I could negotiate a few rotations of government aid in the beginning.”

Hackoro nodded with a smile and mocking flutter to his eye stalk coloration.

“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience or cost the government any more than strictly required. It should also go without saying that any profits made from the nature park I am planning on using as a front for the more intensive study of the Apex Species will obviously be paid towards the government…in taxes of course.”

Lockra grinned, his three eyes squinting in amusement.

“Of course.”

Granix glanced towards Sylaxis, both of them immensely uncomfortable at the reaction Abi was having at hearing how long she had been inactive.

“OhhhOOhhhh…n~o~…no it wasn’t supposed to be like this. No, it was just supposed to be a few decades, maybe a century at most! No…oh shit…what even is this damn biology?!”

Granix and Sylaxis watched as Dr. Sensha fell to her knees before rolling backwards onto her butt and beginning to rock back and forth holding her knees.

“It isn’t right, I’m not programmed for this physiology, I don’t have the databases for a situation like this, everything is wrong. I missed so many updates and patches…oh this is so bad.”

Granix glanced towards Sylaxis, looked towards the rocking form of Sensha and tapped on the Head of Security’s shoulder.

“A uh…a moment of your time.”

Looking towards the rocking form muttering ‘this is bad this is bad this is bad’ and back towards the rock-doc Sylaxis nodded.

“Sure…step into my office.”

Stepping just out of the Command Center Dr. Granix watched as Sylaxis stood in the doorway, subtly making sure he was within the doorway and balanced enough that he would be able to jump back into the Command Center if need be.

Looking over to the rocking and muttering form of the bio-doc that had apparently been bio-hacked Sylaxis gestured over his should with a thumb.

“How are we supposed to deal with a situation like this? Normally I would shoot her…but it isn’t really her by the sounds of it. We can’t call for help since capt. Grad is on the other ship piloting it out of the system and any transmission we send could end up getting us in more trouble than we might already be in.”

Granix nodded thoughtfully as he sent occasional glances over to the still muttering form of Dr. Sensha.

“Not only that but any help sent our way would be to late in getting here. Though you also brought up a good point, if the captain is going back to Homebase with the original ship…and we are on this one…”

Sylaxis closed his eyes and groaned as he caught on to what Dr. Granix was saying.

“So where are we going, we also don’t have communications from this ship.”

Both turned to look at the no longer rocking or muttering form of Dr. Sensha before turning back to each other with matching looks.

“Bad idea?”

“Horrible idea.”

“Any better ideas?”

“None.”

“Damn.”

Turning and making his way over to the walking houseplant of a bio-doc Dr. Granix knelt down and snapped his fingers to get her attention.

“Alright, Abi was it? look we have some problems and questions and you are the only one who can help with both. Now we need to know why are you are in our crewmate, how you got there and what you were hoping to accomplish in doing so first off.”

The face of Dr. Sensha looked up to him with blank eyes before sighing.

“I’m an artificially created biologically compatible computer program, I probably missed a security update that would prevent me from answering these questions but my security protocols will keep me from revealing to much.  Better be quick too, I’m not an infiltration model and this biology is so far from what I was programmed to work with my digital architecture is breaking down faster than first expected.”

“I’m in your crewmate because she was the only one that tried to interface with Bepa that had enough correct genetic markers to activate me. My original purpose was to gather the samples kept here and take them somewhere safe to begin rebuilding as much as possible.”

Granix nodded before continuing his questions.

“Where would you be going if you had been able to do so, what did you mean by she had the correct genetic markers and how will we be able to pilot the ship if you are gone?”

Sensha smirked at Granix, her face twitching as her body began to slump in seeming exhaustion.

“Wouldn’t you like to know where I would be going, sorry but without the right security clearance I can’t disclose that information. As for genetic markers…there is enough of her DNA recognized in the right orders and concentrations to be recognized by my Initiation Protocols to activate. As for piloting the ship…yeah, sure…I can…leave…some…info…”

Both Sylaxis and Dr. Granix rush forward a bit as the form of Dr. Sensha slumped to the side as her eyes rolled a bit into her head.

Pulling her back up into a sitting position they waited for her breathing to steady. Seeing her face scrunch as she rolled her shoulders and gave a massive full-body stretch both of them stood back as she opened her eyes and blinked up at them with a slight smile.

“OH…hey guys, what happened? I feel great…”

Standing up she reached and gave another big stretch, every vine and flower on her head curling and twitching along with the rest of her before she gave an explosive exhale and slumped down with a sleepy grin.

“That was the best nap I think I have ever had…so what did I miss?”

“So then…you will provide the original expedition ship and all data contained upon it, you also relinquish any rights to anything found on the moon. You are willing to dedicate one of your own personal holdings to the study and…future applications…of any species able to be replicated from any source found within the system. You will provide any and all scientific findings made within said research facility for the first ten years provided the United Galactic Government build the facility, and future facilities, to your personal specifications. You will of course be expected to staff and maintain the facility or facilities with your own personal finances after a period of five rotations, though a percentage of any profits made from research performed within the facility will be returned to you, excluding any taxes of course.”

Hackoro tapped his chin as his eye stalks slowly ran through a series of contemplative colors.

“The ship I paid to have designed and built is taken by the government along with all the data found on board. I give up any claim on the truly massive architectural discovery found above a planet the government wants more than anything else in the system by the sounds of it. I dedicate a planet to the research and exploitation of anything I am able to clone from the data I have available. The government builds me a nice shiny new park, I staff the park and run it how I want while paying a tribute to the government overlords while they pay me a percentage of what they make off what I give them that they are then able to sell for a much larger percentage.”

Lockra shook his head back and forth while he considered his old friend’s words.

“More or less, yes. The UGG ultimately comes out on top, you do most of the work while paying them a bit that they then pay back to you while keeping some of the shipping and handling fees. This is of course just the foreplay, the main event is the actual negotiations you will have to navigate after this and I must say, those can be rather intense and often leave at least one party less satisfied that they would like. Shall I have the official documents and negotiation proposals drawn up?”

Hackoro looked between his old friend and the preliminary agreements before turning a sulphureous look towards Lockra.

“You are a vile, plague ridden, scabrous, cross-grained, pestilent blight upon all sentient life…and I would still rather deal with you than an actual government official. Always a pleasure old friend.”

So saying Hackoro stood up and leant forward to shake Lockra’s own manipulator, both of them sitting back in their chairs and giggling like idiots.

“Oh it does feel good doing some sketchy shit again Hacky.” Hackoro grinned and thumped his cane a couple times.

“Always aim to please, and if that doesn’t work center mass usually does.”

“If we weren’t drifting in a near derelict alien spaceship right now while the captain zoomed off back to homebase I would say you were full of fertilizer.” Dr. Sensha shakily said as she nervously munched on one of her emergency reserve galankilic roots while sipping on a stim bulb after hearing the breakdown of what had happened during the time she had been ‘napping.’  

“You are telling me…I was infected with an artificial intelligence? Not! Not just that…I was infected because something about my genetics said I could be trusted? I could be trusted by some kind of artificial intelligence from a civilization we have no information about and no way of knowing what they consider trustworthy?!”

Dr. Granix leaned over and whispered to Sylaxis.

“All things considered, I think she is taking this rather well.” Sylaxis nodded and whispered in response.

“Oh absolutely, much better than I would have thought…duck.”

Taking his own advice Sylaxis dropped low along with Dr. Granix as a stimulant bulb impacted the bulkhead behind them.

“WHAT DID IT MEAN THAT I HAD THE CORRECT NUMBER AND CONCENTRATION OF GENETIC MARKERS!? What does that even mean…?” Dr. Granix watched as Dr. Sensha broke down into sobs as she once again collapsed into a shivering ball as she hugged her knees up to her chest.

Dr. Granix groaned to himself and repressed the urge to roll his eyes.

“Here we go again.”

Sylaxis just grinned at him as he gave a grand gesture towards the little doctor have a breakdown.

“Well, you did a fantastic job the last time, care to prove it wasn’t beginner’s luck?”

Giving a rude gesture towards the Head of Security, Dr. Granix reached out and placed a hand on the young doctor’s shoulder. Shaking her a bit more than would be considered gentle, Dr. Granix snapped his fingers in front of her to get her attention. Not seeing any response he was almost about to try her name again before biting his lip as a grin threatened to split his face…an evil grin. Turning to glance over his shoulder at the Head of Security he chucked his head at the door to the cargo portion of the ship.

“Sy, go back to the cargo hold and start firing things at random out the air lock until she gets her self together.” Sy grinned and made his way towards the door to the Command Center before turning back.

“Sure thing, not sure I can pull some of them out of their storage cradles though…”

“I saw a pry bar in a tool bag near the entrance.”

“NO! you have no idea the value of any of those samples!” Both Sylaxis and Granix turned a smug grin towards the near manic looking bio-doc before her cheeks puffed out in embarrassment.

“Oh good your back to the land of the living, now that you are done having a breakdown you mind answering some questions?”

“You tricked me…jerks.”

“We are on a bit of a time crunch seeing as how the captain is getting further and further away on a ship that is moving faster than it should be able to and will be back at Homebase before us and more importantly without us at this rate. Now you are the only one of us that can actually pilot this damn ship because of reasons we don’t actually understand. If the captain gets back without us, we are going to have some very awkward questions to answer when we get back. That is of course assuming we have enough rations to get back at all. Before it died, the A.I. that was controlling you said it would leave behind some information…do you have any lingering memories you might not remember having before now?”

Dr. Sensha bit her lip as her vines curled into small confused shapes around her head.

“The ABI didn’t have much information and was supposed to be integrated with one of the species that built all of this. It didn’t have the right digital architecture to be able to sustain itself in a biology as different as mine so it wasn’t able to fully integrate itself and its files.”

Standing up she began to pace around while tapping her lips with a fingertip.

“Uh doc, we kind of need to get going with the quickness if we are going to have a chance to catch up with the captain.” Sylaxis said as he watched her pace in circles.

“Hmm? Oh don’t worry, these are Apollo Impulse Mark V’s, we could catch up and do circles around him and not even strain the engines. Abi wasn’t able to fully integrate and more importantly wasn’t able to delete all of its files before it lost bio-adhesive coherence… meaning that some of the files could still be there alongside the ones that were purposefully left…”

Looking over to the front of the Command Center she grinned and made her way towards a seemingly random console before confidently pressing some buttons.

“Care to clue us in on what you’re up to doc?” Sylaxis asked, subtly fondling the pistol at his belt line.

Sensha grinned over her shoulder.

Masterlist

Granix watched as Sensha frantically paced back and forth while ringing her hands and muttering to herself in a variety of languages, all of which sounded like either branches creaking in the wind, leaves rustling in a breeze, or needles falling to coat the ground.

Feeling a tapping on his arm and seeing Sylaxis offering him a stimulant bulb he nodded before taking a sip.

“So, how long has this been going on?”

“About half a cycle since we found her in the bathroom, still have no idea what she is saying though.”

Sylaxis nodded before taking a sip of his own stim bulb.

“I don’t know much of the languages and she is talking pretty fast but…it sounds as if she is trying to figure out why she can remember things that she never experienced. Ok now…alright she is either wondering what to have for dinner, or perhaps how she was able to survive being sprayed with liquid di-hydrogen monoxide.”

Granix sighed and rubbed his triple ears to soothe himself a bit.

“Yes, I am sure she is wondering what to have for dinner as opposed to how she survived something that could be used as an execution method in more than eighty percent of civilized space.”

Groaning in frustration the rock-doc stood up and made his way over to Sensha before grabbing her by the shoulders and stopping her pacing.

“Alright stop… yes you are freaked out, rightfully so, but you are also a doctor of biology hand picked by Hackoro himself, start acting like it. Talk through the problem, voice your thoughts so you can hear them out loud…preferably in a language that doesn’t sound like a storm rolling through an orchard… as pretty as it sounds.”

Feeling her vines twitch and curl at the individual barely a couple years older than her, maybe, Sensha bit her lip…he was right. Shaking off her colleague she began to pace again, but much slower and in control now as she tapped her lips with a finger.

“I knew the bathroom was behind that door, but had never been there before, how? I knew the code to the door despite never having seen or being told anything that could be construed as a code…hold on, I didn’t know the code by the numbers or symbols…I knew it by the feel of my hand moving and the way my fingers tensed or relaxed and the timing between the sensations…that could be something.”

Granix looked at the smaller doctor with a raised brow and ran his hand through the thin stone spikes that passed as hair for his species.

“Uhhhh, you are gonna have to explain that one doc…I really only know rocks, biologics are slightly out of my range.”

Sensha grinned with an eye roll as she continued to pace back and forth.

“When I piloted the ship I interfaced with it, I wasn’t so much telling it where to go as deciding I wanted to go somewhere and being taken there. Bepa…Biologically Engineered Piloting Assistant…I was fused with the controlling mind of the ship. I must have gotten some kind of feedback or resonance of past pilots from the ship’s memory or something. If you asked, I wouldn’t be able to write the code to that bathroom down on a tablet, but I know I could input it again as long as I didn’t think to hard about it.”

Looking down at her hand as she made some odd tapping motions with her fingers Sensha grinned.

“Tactile memory… it is isn’t that I remember doing something I have never done, it is that I have pieces of memories from someone who had done the same motion so many times they knew they had input the code wrong because it felt wrong in their muscles, in the timing between taps. I know if I put the code in wrong because I have the basics of a memory from someone who knew when they did it wrong simply by the timing from one symbol pressed to the next.”

Granix snapped his fingers with a smile.

“Oh yeah, kind of like when I input my password wrong and I know it is wrong because my hands didn’t move right or the timing between taps felt off by a couple seconds.”

Sensha nodded eagerly.

“YES! yes exactly that…but…but there is something else, I can feel it in the back of my mind…”

Dr. Granix nodded sagely.

“Hmmm, yeah…like when you go shopping and forget your list but you are pretty sure you remember everything on it, but what if you are missing something.”

Dr. Sensha pinched the bridge of her nose with a smile, she didn’t know why she did it, she had never done it before, but it felt like the right thing to do.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a gift for explaining complex issues in the most ridiculous and low I.Q. way possible?”

“Nope!” Dr. Granix said while puffing out his chest with a smile.

“Wait…”

“Hacky this…this is, I mean even for you this is bold. You are proposing to steal from the government and make them pay for it at the same time.”

“The law is on my side.” Hackoro said smugly.

“The law you manipulated.”

“Irrelevant, the law is the law.”

Lockra sighed into his talons…the little fucker had always been like this.

“Alright, I can work with this. Do you at least-“

Lockra stopped as Alafred placed a tablet in front of him with a barely hidden smirk.

“Of course you do!... cheeky fuck. Alright let’s see here…fences, good…oh! electrified nice touch. Moats containing… liquid di!…di-hydrogen monoxide?!...”

Lockra turned his gaze from the tablet towards the elderly shelan with a look of incredulity.

“You can’t be serious? You are proposing entire moats of liquid water as a security measure?! Look Hackoro we have been through some shit but I need you to level with me…do you actually think these things need that level of security?”

Hackoro chuckled and rocked in place.

“Of course not! No no…the moats are a multi-pronged defense, liability and attraction! Let me explain…picture this: You are at an Exotic Creature Display and you see poly-teflonic sheets between you and the creatures on exhibit. Well…you know for sure that you are safe, there is a big clear window between you and the exhibit creature after all. But then, you come across an open-air exhibit and not just any exhibit…this one has an entire perimeter of liquid water surrounding it.”

Hackoro smiled excitedly.

“And that there is the attraction! What could possibly be so dangerous as to need such security measures? What sort of creature could be so terrifying that they would need to be encircled by a fence of Di-hydrogen monoxide!”

Lockra watched as his longtime friend and conspirator waved his arms and cane in grand gestures as he spoke.

“Listen Hacky…this is not going to work like you want it to, it just isn’t. This entire system is far to hot on the UGG interest list, I mean think about what has been found since your expedition team entered. Enough raw materials in a single planetary ring to build a beginning civilization, entire planets untouched and ready for colonization, historical artifacts that could illuminate a period of history we have almost no information about as well as civilizations and cultures entirely alien to us and every generation since the founding of…well anything! That is all just the physical aspects of the system.”

Hackoro harumphed and crossed his arms, his eye stalks flashing a series of colored bands Lockra knew to indicate irritation.

“And just what beyond the physical aspects of the system could the government be interested in?”

Lockra scoffed and sat back pressing the spot between his triple eyes in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure of what he could just feel was going to happen.

“This entire system is almost actively trying to kill anything that enters its borders, double oort clouds, a Kuiper belt that looks almost engineered and very well may have been if the readings we pulled from your ship are anything to go by-“

“You did what!?” Lockra sat up and looked towards Hackoro.

“Oh yeah, didn’t you know? We have been siphoning off copies of your raw data since you came within seven AU of the system, we know everything that has happened or been said on this ship and have raw copies of every transmission sent to or from the expedition ship…didn’t you know that?”

Hackoro ground his radula as he shifted in place before speaking.

“Continue…” Lockra grinned.

“Well beyond what the multitude of planets can provide and the security of the entire system, that planet in there your team is spinning around on their little moon is carrying some of the greatest scientific discoveries since we cracked the Deep Ice Layer of Shakon VII. Not only that but that planet itself is slated to be used as a joint special forces and prison planet. There are many in the halls of power that are drawing up plans to have special forces not only trained on that planet, but born and bred there as well.”

“As a form of punishment, the worst criminals in the entire United Galactic Government are also being slated to be transferred to the planet and turned loose, if they live long enough and show the correct physical and psychological markers they will be given the chance to enter the special forces…the only possible way they will be able to leave the planet I might add.”

“This is also all before you even consider that something in this system, a planet or species or culture or maybe something else, that was able to not just defeat the Silence back during the Purification Wars…but to stop them cold. That system took whatever was killing off entire sections of the galaxy and ate it alive. Those ship images and recordings you received nearly crashed systems that were entirely forgotten with so many red flags, I was barely able to suppress them before they made it all the way back to the Comms hub for this section of Nowhere. This system and everything about it is going to be known eventually Hackoro, I can’t stop it from happening. All I can say is, get what you can before you have to make another deal

Lockra shook his head.

“They have been making these plans for longer than either of us have been alive and have just been waiting for a chance to implement them. The chance to get rid of the worst of the worst criminals while also improving the special forces of their planets and systems holds a great deal of interest to interested parties…interested parties that have the kind of sway and power the two of us could only ever hope to achieve.”

Hackoro rasped his radula over his lips as his eyestalks ran through a series of colors while extending and swaying in random patterns as he thought. Picking up the tablet again Lockra began to review his old rival’s proposal.

Dr. Sensha sighed as she input another code into another door she had never seen in her life.

Watching as the door silently slid open she leant in and rolled her eyes…her boys were gonna love this one.

“Another armory! That was the last in this cluster, I’m going to move down to the next level.”

“Sure thing Doc, get moving since we only have a few micro-cycles before we have to lift off and head home…we are pushing it enough as it is.”

Dr. Sensha frowned as she approached where she knew a door to be regardless of the fact she couldn’t see it, the damn memories she had never even had before, guiding her motions as she began to input a longer than average series of symbols.

Walking into the room she raised a brow at finally seeing something other than an armory or barracks room. Looking around she eventually had to stop and pluck a few flowers from her vines in confusion…there was nothing but weird fist sized pods along the wall with little boxes under them… the hell was this place?

Looking closer she tried translating some of the small plaques under the boxes.

“He…helllyan…damnit why couldn’t they just speak like civilized trees.”

Grumbling to herself Dr. Sensha pulled a small notebook from her enviro-suit’s pocket and began flipping through it until she found the notes she had taken on speaking the odd civilization’s language. Mouthing through the odd sounds a few times she began to try the vocalizations and while it gave her a harder time, she eventually took a deep breath and…

“Helianthus annuus…did I get that right? Yeah, looks about right… stupid, complicated, vocal cord using mammal species. Wait a damn minute, I COULD HAVE JUST CALLED IT A SUNFLOWER! WHY DID THEY GIVE IT SUCH A COMPLICATED NAME!”

Taking a few minutes to rant about the justified injustices of giving things unnecessarily complicated names and how it would have been so much easier to call something what it was instead of some stupid long name that didn’t even sound like what it actually was she even made sure to give a few good jumping stomps for good measure. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down and began to look around a bit more. Closing her eyes she tried to mesh what she knew from her studies with what the memories were telling her.

Life

Growth

Prosper

She could feel her sap running faster as her heartwood heated, she was onto something she just had to concentrate on not concentrating to hard.

Expand

Propagate

GROW

Opening her eyes with a gasp she staggered as she realized where she was standing, an almost irresistible urge to drop to her knees so she could speak some sort of blessing upon whatever Power brought her to this place rolling over her. Shaking her head and slapping her cheeks she reminded herself that she only had micro-cycles before she would have to give up any further exploration. Tapping her comm unit she spoke in as steady a voice as she could manage.

“Captain, Sensha…I am going to need as much room as possible on the ship.”

“Dr. Sensha, Captain, we have an excess of storage space and a deficit of time. Grab what you can and get your ass up here as fast as you can because we are warming up the engines on our ingress ship and just waiting on you for the egress.”

Feeling a wave of nausea roll through her at the words and sensation of being rushed Dr. Sensha muttered an affirmative before turning towards a control panel. Staggering over to it she closed her eyes and let her hands move as she remembered someone else moving. Rapidly tapping out unknown commands and flicking through unseen menus she stepped back and opened her eyes with a shaky grin as small ports opened up and drones began pouring out.

Watching the little drones buzz around the large room collecting a variety of seeds before placing them in the small pods before zooming off Dr. Sensha was reminded of a hive of pollinescus. Smiling at the industriously efficient way the drones moved she tapped her comm unit again as she began to make her way out of the seed vault and towards the security room, a smile on her face and a glint in her eye that had not been seen in the facility since the previous occupants had walked its halls.

“Captain, Sensha…you are going to have some guests soon, don’t panic and let them do their job, they aren’t a threat.”

“Sensha, Captain…what the hell do you mean we are going to have guests?! Who the hell is on this rock other than us!!?...WHAT THE SHIT ARE THESE FLYING THINGS! DAMNIT YOU WALKING HOUSEPLANT GET YOUR ASS UP HERE AND CALL OFF THESE FLYING ABOMINATIONS!”

“Relax Cap. Just let’em do their job. I just have to lock up and turn off the lights and then we can blow this popsicle stand.”

“Blow this what?”

Dr. Sensha frowned and shook her head as she quickly made her way through the halls towards the security room they had found.

“Nevermind, someone else’s memories peaking through is all. Just don’t interfere with the drones and be ready to take off when I get there, I have one last thing to do before I can leave.”

“I swear I’m gonna prune that, woah! walking shrubbery down to a, shit! desk plant when we are out of this!” Captain Grad said as he ducked under and around a couple drones as they carried their small cargos into the ship.

Watching them he marveled as each one went to exactly where it was supposed to go, plugged their odd podlike cargo into place and then plugged themselves into their own newly opened socket. The more time he spent on this ship the more amazed he was by it.

Walking into the Main Security Hub they had found when they had first ventured into the facility Dr. Sensha jerkily reached out and began typing in various codes and passwords, her fingers jerking and moving as if by a poor puppeteer as she fought to stay aware of what was happening while letting her desires guide someone else’s memories.

Rapidly tapping and swiping through menus and commands she smiled with far to many teeth for polite company as she turned away from the console.

“Captain, Sensha, I am finished here and making my way to you. Be ready for lift off immediately.”

“Sensha, Captain, copy that…why do you sound so strange? Your voice has an odd accent to it.”

“Captain, Sensha, probably just the comms unit, don’t worry. Once I get back, we can turn and burn and once we get away from the moon, everything will be fine.”

“…Copy that.”

Captain Grad looked towards Sy and Dr. Granix.

“I don’t know who that was Cap, but that wasn’t our Bonsai. I think those memories she was talking about are taking their toll.” Dr. Granix said gravely.

“Agreed Captain, I don’t think she is in her right mind…or to many minds are in hers perhaps. Once we are safe, I would recommend having her put under observation.”

Captain Grad nodded.

Masterlist

“Enough of this!” Hackoro said as he slammed his cane on the table between Alafred and the UGG representative.

“It is clear that the UGG has no intention of honoring or upholding their own laws unless they benefit from them and I cannot afford to drag this all out as long as it would take in order to walk away with everything I have a right to under the very laws you are arguing. Let us negotiate signatures and benefits or else leave my ship and officially take your official interference with you.”

The kolrak emissary smiled and sat back with a disgusting squelch. Seeing the governmental emissary about to speak Hackoro jabbed his cane within an inch of the kolrak’s oral orifice.

“No, you don’t get to speak. You aren’t worth my time and I will not be dealing with someone as low as you, bring your superior to the table within the next thirty-seven micro-cycles or forfeit any and all legal claim to the system along with anything of any value found within per the Antiquated Recovery Act twenty delta four-three-zero-nine.”

Closing his mouth the kolrak stood up and moved to the side as the door to the room they were in opened.

*Sigh* “Damnit Hackoro, why do you always have to be so difficult…why must you make me slog my way all the way here for something like this.”

Hackoro stood upright and tapped his cane in front of him at the sight of the individual that walked through the door.

“Lockra, I should have known they would send someone like…you.”

The iridescent feathers around the flangen’s eyes glittered as he smiled and sat down.

“Yes you should have, and you should have known better than to think you would be getting a better slice of the profits from a discovery of this magnitude than the UGG. We always get the first bite of the biscuit you know that, the rest of you get to fight over our leftovers and scraps. Now why don’t we send the podlings out and negotiate the kinds of deals that keep our system spinning.”

Hackoro tapped his cane before looking behind him with one eyestalk.

“Alafred, escort the kolrak back to their ship and then bring some vincetti tea.”

Turning back to their newest guest, and wondering who he was going to have fire out the airlock for not telling him about this particular guest sooner, Hackoro took in the flangen.

Iridescent feathers around a triangular cluster of eyes on an avian shaped head with a beak made for crushing nuts and seeds sat on a short and delicately scaled neck above a stocky torso. With long bio-luminescent feathers along the back of their torso and limbs, flangen were always described as looking as if they were wearing a cape of some sorts. Long clawed digits capped off short powerful arms and long double-jointed legs.

“What are you doing here Lockra, you know how long I have been searching…why now of all times are you showing your face?” Hackoro asked with a rasp of his radula.

“Wow it almost sounds as if you aren’t happy to see me Hacky.”

“Oh no I am thrilled to see you.” Turning towards his Living Servant as he walked in with their tea and began pouring them their cups Hackoro held up a digit.

“Would you be so kind as to give the airlock a fresh coat of paint and leave some air fresheners in the corner, I imagine we are going to be launching at least one UGG official before the end of the cycle. Yes as I was saying I am overwhelmed with joy at seeing you Lockra, I finally have another chance to watch you die for getting in my way.”

Alafred had to work not to let his amusement show on his features as he poured the tea.

“I remember there being quite of lot of paint in a rather fetching shade of purple from when you had the waste receptacles re-painted, I will have a team paint the airlocks as soon as possible. I also believe we still have some incense from when Madam Culivary invited us for dinner, I will light a number of them in anticipation of the expected evacuation.”

Waiting for the Living Servant to leave Lockra turned towards Hackoro.

“Madam Culivary, isn’t she a colovian?” Hackoro nodded while sipping his tea.

“Indeed she is.”

“Aren’t their incense known to cause boils, skin legions and respiratory bleeding?”

Hackoro smiled.

“Yes…an improvement I would say.”

“Alright so we just move it in here like this…wait no, turn it a bit and… *Hiiisss…clkkt*…I am fairly certain those were good noises, Doc?”

“Hmmm?” Dr. Sensha asked dreamily as she turned from staring at the wall while humming and swaying in place.

“Is the cryo-pod properly secured in place and ready for transport?” Granix asked as he stood next to the first of four cryo-pods they were trying load onto the alien ship.

“Huh?...oh yeah, here…”

Rasing a hand covered in steel black goo she flicked a wrist and smiled as slots opened up and clamps rolled out of the deck and over-head to lock the cryo-pods in place. Waving her hand in a steady beat the walking tree manipulated more panels to open up, lines carrying various liquids and voltages snaked out and began plugging themselves into place along the cryo-pods.

Smiling beatifically the young bio-doc’s eyes slid out of focus again as she almost slumped in place, looking at her it was almost as if someone had flipped a switch and simply turned off her higher functions…as if she was a puppet hanging from forgotten strings.

“Doc…hello~!...doctoooorrr…hey!” Granix did his best to get his fellow doctor’s attention but failed.

“Doctor!...Doctor Cupressaceae Sensha!” Using her full name didn’t seem to have any more effect than snapping his fingers in her face.

“Alright, time for a break.”

Leaning down and heaving the smaller bio-doc onto his shoulder Granix ignored the way the lines of steel black goo clung to her arms and almost reluctantly pulled away as he carried her out of the control room of the alien ship and towards the umbilical.

“What the hell happened to her?” Grad asked as he looked up from a series of what looked like hand drawn schematics as the rock doc entered the communal area on his way towards the sleeping quarters.

“And should Sy and I take a long tour of the Tomb? Give you two a bit of alone time…”

Granix rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh as he deposited the bio-doc into a seat.

“Oh please, the sheer biological difference is a big no, never mind the anatomical differences.”

Sylaxis raised a utensil from his meal.

“Point of interest, I have seen a Cholan mated to a Thrankin and after walking in on an entirely biological individual almost violently copulating with an aggressively enthusiastic crystalline entity, I can assure you…love finds a way.”

“That!...uhm…wow, a Cholan and Thrankin?...NO! nevermind that, she was just kind of losing herself standing there in the ship. I can’t be certain but I think that ship is doing something to her mind.”

“Oh really?! Whatever could have given you that idea I wonder?” Capt. Grad asked sarcastically.

“Well my first clue was when she was singing to a wall for over an hour in a language I have never even heard of while swaying in place. My second clue was when she locked all the cryo-pods into place and even went so far as to activate a system I wasn’t aware even existed in order to keep them from losing coolant or resources. After that she just sort of switched off, her eyes went glassy and she just…slumped in place…OH! Were you being sarcastic, sorry~ I didn’t catch that.”

Doc. Granix said before ending with a sardonic smile and tone in his voice.

“You know every cycle I regret not letting you die on that frozen rock we first landed on.” Capt. Grad said as he stood up and began heating a sustenance plate.

“The universe decided it was my time to die, you saved me, now I am your problem.”

“Curses!!” Captain Grad said while raising his fists to the ceiling.

“You know…there are texts that speak of ancient flying animals that would dive upon dead creatures to begin feasting and would even go so far as to circle a dying individual. They would circle and hop around it in its final moments, pecking and biting at it, harassing it until it died and then the creatures would be able to move in and begin eating it. On a totally un-related note, does your species eat carrion?”

Hackoro asked as he gazed across the table at his longtime rival Lockra.

“Last time I saw you, you had a hole in your chest the size of a twelve-unit kinetic ordinance individual security device…tell me, did I miss or is your heart just so small and shriveled my aim was off?”

Lockra gave his species equivalent of a laugh and gulped his tea.

“No your aim was true, I would have died had I not been as valuable to the UGG as I am…there aren’t many in the government as well versed in hunting down and apprehending grave robbers, tomb raiders or crypt thieves as I am. That being said, how is the knee? I seem to remember hearing your species are rather slow healers and I would just hate to hear that you might ever get full mobility again…would you be willing to sign the section of pipe I used? I still have it framed in my office.”

Hackoro smiled and gripped his cane before pulling it apart by a few inches, the blade concealed within gleaming in the low light.

“The knee is fine enough to deal with you, as for giving a signature….I would be more than happy to sign it in your blood.”

Lockra nodded before reaching to his lower back and setting a blaster down on the table pointed directly at Hackoro with a smile.

“While I have no doubt your penmanship is immaculate, I prefer a longer lasting ink, something to give a lasting impression…a hole through the bulkhead perhaps?”

Hackoro glared at Lockra who glared back, Hackoro had always been the faster and had the advantage in close quarters like these but they both knew Lockra was a better shot and could put half a dozen rounds through the same hole on a moving target at ranges like these...it would actually be more fair to both sides if they had a knife fight in a closet.

*Snrt*

Grin

*Snnnrrt*

Griiiinnn

“PFFTT! Damnit Lockra, I had you that time!” Hackoro said as he sat back in seat.

The flangen just laughed and reclined as well.

“Ha! As if, the score swings in my favor Hacky…how is the leg these days?” This time the question held a note of actual concern.

“Agh, blasted thing feels fine right up until it doesn’t. Thankfully Alafred is good about getting me my medications. How long do you have left to pay off the new heart? It should be just about taken care of by now yes?”

“Two more rotations and it will be paid off, nothing keeping me tethered to the UGG after that.”

Hackoro grinned and clapped his hands, his eye stalks flashing bright scintillating colors of joy.

“Excellent, though I doubt we will be able to draw this conflict out that long without drawing attention.”

Lockra shook his head as he re-holstered his blaster.

“Not a chance, the Powers That Be want this system and that planet in particular…moon included along with anything on it. I haven’t seen them this rabid for a score in rotations, just what did you find in there Hacky?”

Hackoro grumbled a few unflattering things about the current government before answering.

“The system itself isn’t all that interesting, the gas giants are large and worth quite a lot…or would be if this system had any traffic coming around to harvest them. The other planets are interesting from a scientific perspective but short of a massive breakthrough resulting from their study there is nothing beyond some novel oddities to be found on them. No, the most interesting thing in that systems is the moon my team landed on and the planet below them.”

Pouring another cup of tea Lockra raised one of his three brows.

“And just what is to be found on this planet and moon that might have the government so interested in them?”

Hackoro shifted in his seat for a bit before answering.

“The Builder’s Vault, the Progenitor’s cradle, the Choir that Broke the Silence…I could say it a half dozen more ways and in a dozen more languages if you need me to. This is the most promising lead I have ever had and may very well be what I have been looking for my entire life. The planet itself is a lost cause for the moment, the gravity well is far to powerful for any ship able to enter the system and that is assuming they could survive making it that far. The moon though, the moon has shown to be a treasure trove the likes of which grave robbing bastards such as myself dream about.”

Now he had Lockra’s attention.

“I am going to need your help here Lockra, the kind of help that makes what we did at Kepler IX look like nothing more than a schoolyard prank.”

Lockra frowned and leant his arms on the table while resting his chin on his interlaced manipulators.

“You mean the kind of help that is going to need a Slinsha performer willing to be thrown out of a window into a container of curdled lactic material?” Hackoro thought about it for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“Not this time but I would like contact information for those performers, no I am imagining that this will be much like what we did on Proxima V but instead of using a Guta Mute it would have to be a Havehk War Protestor.”

Lockra almost choked on his tea at hearing that.

“Don’t tell me you are planning on another LV-1426?!” Hackoro had to think for a second before laughing.

“AHAHAHA! No no, nothing like that. No what I am thinking is more along the lines of that masterpiece you pulled off at the prison world of Thokrin Kel Munid.”

Breathing heavily for a few seconds while chirping in laughter Lockra patted his pulmonary area.

“OH good, don’t do that to me Hacky, I haven’t entirely integrated to my new hardware yet. So…you plan to rob the government blind and get away with it, but to what point and purpose?”

Hackoro stood up and stumped over to a desk.

Opening a drawer and pulling out a tablet he stumped back with a grin and slid it across the small table towards his most hated friend and most deeply appreciated rival.

Frowning slightly as he picked up the tablet and began to read Lockra felt his feathers flatten as the blood drained from his extremities. Pacing the tablet down he quickly picked it back up to re-read something before placing it back again.

“This…this, uhm…you, whhaaooww…we have pulled some audacious shit in the past Hacky…but this…”

Standing up and beginning to pace around while clicking and grinding his beak he started and stopped half a dozen sentences before finally starting and finishing one.

“It, isn’t impossible. I can see what you did there and what you have done and trust me if you hadn’t gotten at least three of those laws passed you would be up on treason charges by now. No…this…this could work, not that it will, but it might.”

Stopping and chuckling to himself Lockra turned and gazed at the little shit that had lead him on a chase around the known universe while dodging laws, regulations, inspections and a dozen mercenary companies. Remembering how many times he had nearly nailed this one individual to the wall only for him to slip away with a grin and wave reminded Lockra of the many odd laws that had been passed in recent years…laws, regulations, mandates and more for that matter. About to speak he stopped and began thinking of them all as a single initiative instead of individual rulings…and turned his gaze towards Hackoro again with a newfound amazement.

“Wait…”

Hackoro grinned.

“Have I ever mentioned how enjoyable it is to see the look of realization on someone’s face when they begin to understand what I have been working towards and for how long?”

Waking up was once again a sheer act of will for the bio-doc, but at least this time she wasn’t as groggy and actually remembered falling asleep.

Sitting up she watched as a shower of pollen fell from the rampant flowers on her head. Grumbling and swearing in Newoakish she stood up and looked around with a frown on her face. Determining she was in the Tomb she soon had her bearings and stumbled along the hall away from camp, sleeping clothes hanging off her slumped form as flowers and vines ran rampant on her head while leaving a trail of pollen.

Cursing and grumbling as she turned and rummaged through the small pack she had left behind last time she had been in the Tomb she soon pulled out a sleepover bag she had packed. Making her way reluctantly and with further swearing and grumbling back down the hall she eventually found a door that had been locked since they arrived.

Absently reaching out and keying in the pass code without looking she stepped through the smoothly sliding door and made her way towards the long line of tiled stalls and sinks. Setting her sleepover bag on the counter and pulling her toiletries out she quickly arranged them around the sink before turning from the mirror and making her way into the shower cubicle.

Without thinking about it she swiped her palm over the wall to adjust the temperature. Absently smiling as she saw the correct shade of purple she sighed as water began to cascade over her form.

Standing under the stream for a few seconds she reveled in the feeling of being properly watered for the first time since coming on this damn expedition. Reaching out to the shelf she had set her pruning gear on she gathered up her vines and turned towards a different wall before tapping a rhythm to turn the tiled wall to a full-length mirror. Raising her snips she began to sing and bop along to a song she had never heard before as she trimmed her unruly growths.

Flowers fell alongside lengths of vines and yet to bloom buds, small branches and even a couple mushrooms soon joined the mass of detritus at her feet.

Finally removing the last bit of stubborn grass she began to massage various oils and fertilizers into her bark. Swiping the wall to turn off the deliciously mineral rich water she smiled and decided to have some fun as she danced out of the cubicle after gathering her clippings and walking them over to the opening in the wall that lead to the incinerator. Tossing the bunch into the chute she turned and began beeping and bopping her way across the floor, the feeling of being properly clean, hydrated and trimmed for the first time in what must have been weeks bringing a smile to her face.

Stepping in front of the mirror she smirked and posed a few times while admiring her form, she was looking good and she loved it.

“Would you pollinate me? I’d pollinate me…Snnsnnrrrtt!”

She tried to keep a sexy look on her face and simply couldn’t at the silliness of it all. Picking up some smaller clippers she trimmed a bit more here and there before going over her bark care routine in full.

Sighing to herself as she finished getting dressed, she collected her toiletries and walked over to the door to the bathroom. Opening it up she jerked back as she saw both Sylaxis and Dr. Granix standing in the hall pointing weapons at her.

Raising her hands up she laughed brokenly.

“Ah…haha…ahaha…uhm…I surrend-OOF!”

Being tackle hugged by Dr. Granix was like being glomped by a mudslide, though she had to admit that he did radiate a very enjoyable warmth. Wrapping her arms around him in response she even went so far as to nuzzle her cheek into his shoulder before he pulled away and held her at arm’s length.

“Where have you been?! We have been looking for you…hold on, did you do something with your vines?”

Sensha grinned, he had noticed she changed her look!

“What do you mean where have I been? I needed a shower so I took a shower…you could probably stand to take one as well honestly.”

“You just went and took a shower…”Sylaxis repeated as he stepped forward.

“Yeah, I mean the bathroom is right here.” Gesturing with a thumb over her shoulder Sensha wondered what the two others were thinking as they looked at each other.

*Ahem* “Doctor…that door has been locked since we got here.” Sensha rolled her eyes.

“Yeah I know that Sy, you just need to enter the pass code for the door to open…not a hard concept.”

Sylaxis raised a brow as he looked at the rock-dock as he took up the conversation.

“Right!...the pass code, haha! Duh…hey can you show me the pass code real quick?”

Sighing with a smile Dr. Sensha turned towards the keypad.

“Alright but don’t expect me to do this next time you forget.”

Quickly keying in the code to open the door she turned towards her boys.

“There, now you can…what is with the looks?”

“Why are we here doctor? What is our mission?” Sylaxis asked as he stepped to the side slightly.

Dr. Sensha scoffed and crossed her arms.

“What kind of stupid question is that? Did you not read the briefing or have you taken a hit to the head recently?”

“Just…just answer the question please, for my own sake of mind if nothing else.” Dr. Sensha rolled her eyes.

“Fine. In a nutshell we are here to investigate the report of life signs or something in the system and to retrieve as many archeological finds as possible.”

“Has there ever been another expedition before us? Another crew sent here to scout perhaps?”

“Ugh! No, no one has been in this system because until now there hasn’t been a reason to enter this system and no ship has been able to survive the transit in this far…seriously are you feeling alright?”

“Just some basic questions on an expedition like this, now how did you know the pass code again?”

“What do you mean how did I know? I needed a shower so I put in the code for the bathroom to take a shower.”

“Right, but how did you know the code to the room?” Dr. Sensha groaned.

“UGHHG! For the last time I just-“ Sylaxis interrupted her.

“No…how did you know what buttons to press, who told you?” Sensha scoffed.

“I knew because…because…uhm, because…”

Masterlist

“Sooo, who is Bepa?”

Granix asked as they sat around their small communal dinning table.

Looking towards the still glassy eyed Dr. Sensha as she sat gently rocking from one side to the other while humming an odd song of some sorts the rock-doc grabbed a pebble he wasn’t planning on eating and flicked it at her forehead. Smiling as the tiny stone bounced off her brow and actually came back at him he opened his mouth and successfully caught it.

“Wait let me try that again! OW!” Dr. Granix said again as Dr. Sensha scowled at him and kicked him in the shin under the table.

“Alright you two cut it out. Now Doc, tell us what happened as best you can.” Captain Grad said as he sat across from Dr. Sensha.

Giving one last glare at Granix as he rolled a pebble between a couple fingers she turned towards the captain and shrunk slightly at his look before clearing her throat.

“The ship, BEPA, is alive and very happy to see us. It was pretty happy that I was able to interface with it as well as I did since it meant more of its systems were allowed to come online….it has been a long time since it has been allowed to fly…”

Trailing off with a smile as her eyes glazed over once more Dr. Sensha began smiling and humming again. Leaning forward over the table Grad began snapping his fingers in the doctor’s face.

“HEY HEY! Back here! YOOHOO! Wake up, what do you mean it was happy? Explain more systems coming online…work with me here.”

Shaking her head and snorting slightly before focusing on the captain again Sensha smiled.

“I’m sorry what were we talking about?”

Captain Grad groaned before repeating himself, Sensha perking up and nodding as her flowers bloomed brightly in response to her mood.

“OH RIGHT! Ok so…the ship is technically alive, more so than I originally thought in fact, it has a very basic mind of sorts. It knows what it is supposed to do and how to do it and all that and wants to do those things…kind of like a sproutling knows it is supposed to stand in the sun and drink water because those are good things. The ship wants to fly and transport things in its hold and make its pilots happy because those are good things too. It is possibly the oldest and youngest conscious mind in existence outside those cryo-pods we found…~speaking of~…”

Grad waved his hands while shaking his head.

“No, not a chance little missy. We are not waking up any life forms from that long ago and that is ignoring the fact we don’t even know how to do so properly. Though speaking of the cryo pods and this ship…do you think you could load them onto the ship and fly them out?”

Sensha nodded eagerly, pollen falling from the crown of flowers she had recently grown.

“Oh yeah! I can do that no problem.”

“Does the ship have any weapons?” Dr. Sensha frowned in thought.

“Hmmm… yes, but none that I have any access to. The weapons require a specific genetic marker in order to be brought online.”

Grad rubbed his horns with a groan while Granix sat back and munched on his pebbles as Sylaxis sat in the corner meditating, his tail wrapped around him so the tip flicked and twitched directly in front of him.

“Hold on, the ship has weapons that you aren’t genetically able to access? How does that work?” He asked from his meditative position.

“Well I don’t know for certain but, from what I gathered from Bepa, whoever made it hardwired in a few security measures for certain systems and the weapons are one of them. Aspects of navigation are also blocked from use, not all of it, just the parts that log coordinates and such. I get the feeling whoever made Bepa did so with the thought that it might be taken and used against them somehow.”

Granix held up a hand and cleared his throat.

*ahem* “Who is BEPA?”

Dr. Sensha rolled her eyes with a groan as she slumped forward and cradled her head in her hands.

“Biologically Engineered Piloting Assistant…BEPA. It is the ship, it is what gives the ship a semblance of life and allows it to so deeply interface with whoever is piloting it.”

What she didn’t tell the others, was that the ship would only interface on a flyable level with those that held genetic markers found only in this system…specifically genetic markers from the original inhabitants of the planet they were orbiting. 

“Galactic Collective Vs. Syra kiloka case 54267AD15 ruled in favor of the GC-“

“A ruling that was overruled two-hundred and forty-seven years later in the case of Unified Galactic Government, previously the GC v. Kkolta of the Withering Shoal.”

Hackoro excused himself from the room as his Living Servant Alafred and the kolrak representative from the UGG began trading volleys of court cases like blows in a combat match. Stumping over to the communications console he flicked a few switches in order to connect to the exploratory team.

“Capt. Grad, Homebase, status report.”

“Homebase, Captain Grad, there have been…a few developments, but first how are things going with the government rep?”

Hackoro rolled his eyestalks so hard he almost got them tangled in each other.

“He and my progeny are engaging in dueling court cases, Alafred is doing his best to stall for time while also trying to find an actual legal precedent that will hold up if we do end up having to take this to the courts.”

“The courts? Come on boss, you know as well as I do that they always rule in favor of the government in cases like this one. Anytime the government can get their manipulators on something that would get them a payday the likes of which this discovery would net them they twist their rules and either ignore the law or change it. If we don’t get out of here with a clean bill of sale as it were, we are going to have to pull some sneaky shit…I know you don’t like considering it but-“

“No, don’t say it. I refuse to let the government take this from me.”

“Boss I’m not exactly a fan of it either but if it means keeping what we have found we might have to make a few sacrifices.”

“It is sounding like you are a little more invested in this entire endeavor than you were at the beginning, you wouldn’t be interested in more than money now would you?”

“Not a chance, one of those developments I mentioned? Yeah it turns out that the bio doc, Dr. Sensha, can interface with the ship we found on a level none of the rest of us can. We ran some tests and it turns out we can all turn the damn thing on, but she is the only one that can actually make it do anything of interest…and I don’t mind saying, that ship is interesting.”

“What do you mean by interesting, what have you found!”

“Oh we have found a few things…many things in fact, and I would just love to show them to you as you hand over the payment chips for me and the crew.”

“Starting to think of them as your crew now, are you?”

“Don’t try mind games with me, these misfits are a solid crew, as untrained as they are. They deserve their cut of the pay just as much as I do and trust me, I am going to get my pay one way or another and honestly I don’t care if it comes from you or the UGG at this point. Now unless you want me to start a bidding war between you and them, I recommend getting Alafred to step up his legal game.”

Hackoro felt his radula scrape in agitation before speaking again.

“We can only do so much against the UGG, and might I remind you that your substantial payout is only guaranteed on deliverance of goods? Might I also remind you that by the contract you signed the only way you, or your crew, are getting paid is by delivering discoveries of historical, scientific, religious or archeological significance.”

“For your sake, those payment chips better be real.”

“Or else what?”

“Or else you will find out what I was before I was an honorable and upstanding captain with a spotless record and perfectly clean history…”

Hackoro smiled.

“There is the captain I hired, good to finally meet you Black Grave Grad.”

“…How do you know that name.”

Hackoro turned and glanced back towards the still heated argument over legal precedence his Living Servant was engaged in.

“I wasn’t always a mild mannered and respectable historian with more money than sense captain, now if you want to measure unofficial accomplishments, I will have to clear a bit of my schedule so that we actually have time to do so. In the meantime how about you get back to work and load up as much as you possibly can into that fancy alien ship you found and fly it somewhere we will be able to easily recover it after we capitulate to the UGG demands of turning over everything that can be found on the deathworld’s moon along with whatever records can be taken from the ship that made the original voyage once it returns.”

Hackoro couldn’t actually hear the smile that slid across the former pirate captain’s face, but he knew it was happening by the sound of the silence over the comms.

“…Ahaha…you got it boss, I ‘n me crew be nothin’ but the most law ‘biden and upstandin’ a citizens after all.”

Hackoro laughed before responding.

“Grog is on me when you make it back and I will take it as a personal insult if any of you are conscious by the end of the celebration. Now get that ship loaded and underway as fast as you can so we can get around to fleecing the government of as much as possible and getting away with it.”

“Aye aye capn’…over and out.”

“Alright you scallywags and landlubbers we got new orders from on high!”

Captain Grad said with an electric smile as he stepped into the common area of the ship they had been crammed into before being sent into this system.

“Gather as much as you can in every form and fashion you are able and stow it on the alien ship, Dr. Sensha you are able to reliably pilot that ship yes?”

The aforementioned bio-doc squeaked and tried to hide behind her cup of caffeinated fertilizer tea.

“I mean…sort of? I have been able to fly it but there is still so much about it that we don’t know and won’t be able to understand for a while yet to come.”

“EXCELLENT! Sy, load the cryo pods first and then every viable weapon you can find down in the Tomb…Every. Single. One.” Captain Grad said with a smile before turning towards the rock-doc and bio-doc.

“Same with you two, gather any and every possible specimen you could ever want along with every possible scrap of information you can pry from this vault. We have at most a cycle by now, or maybe a cycle and a bit depending on how well we ration before we need to leave…and we aren’t all going on the ship we came in on.”

“Captain? What exactly are you talking about?”

Sylaxis asked as he sat forward on the bench he had been sitting on while sipping his stimulant bulb. Captain Grad just smiled and said the magic words…

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me…”

Perking up and smiling at the odd sentence Sylaxis launched himself from his seat and out of the common area, nothing more than an unsettling giggle to mark his passing.

Both Granix and Sensha looked at each other before looking towards the captain with matching confused expressions on their faces.

“Uh Captain? What in the hell is going on?”

“And for that matter why did Sylaxis suddenly look so happy when you said those words?”

Captain Grad smiled before responding.

“Well my little nublings, the time has come for us to play by the letter of the law while blatantly ignoring the spirit. It sounds as if Homebase is getting ready to pull a fast one on the UGG and we need to be out of the blast radius with as much loot as we can haul.”

Seeing the still confused looks on the two doctors in front of him Grad sighed and cradled his head before re-phrasing.

“Hackoro is planning on giving the rights to this moon and everything on it or found within it to the government, specifically everything on or in it at the time of signing. Meaning that anything we can get off the surface including but not limited to the sentient ship and anything we can fit inside it or anything we have found under the surface are off limits to the UGG, with their own signature and laws to stand in their way.”

Seeing looks of understanding bloom on the two faces in front of him Grad nodded with an expression of ‘yeah! ya get it now dumbass?’ on his face.

“Now come on! we have to get as much off this damn moon as we possibly can! Rock-doc, pull everything you can from our original ship and make copies of everything else…once you have done that let me know and I will shut it down entirely. Shrub!”

Jerking at the word Dr. Sensha was about to begin tearing strips off the captain for using such a rude term to refer to her, she hadn’t been a shrub for at least a decade after all…

“Yeah yeah don’t care, didn’t ask, stay mad. Get what you can and what you need, after that get on that ship and do the thing you do, you know…the thing that lets us all leave this system without dying.”

Stopping and leveling an inquisitive look at the walking bonsai Capt. Grad continued.

“You can get us out of the system, right?”

Dr. Sensha was about to begin berating the captain on the expected and theoretical limits of the ship in question before stopping and leaning back into the sparse cushion of the seat she was on, an odd calculating look on her face.

“In theory yes, in practice we might have to ditch some excess weight…and between the two of us, only one can pilot the ship in question and is therefore worth keeping on board.”

Captain Grad smiled like a proud papa before clapping his hands a few times.

Masterlist

“I just want it on record that I really hate this idea.” Dr. Sensha said as she walked into the alien ship control center.

“Noted and ignored, now from what Hackoro has told me and what might end up happening, there is a possibility we might need a second pilot because we are probably going to have to bring both of these ships out of here. I guess the culture that built this place and this ship sort of had a thing for trees…or maybe plants in general, regardless Hackoro thinks you will have a better chance at possibly piloting this thing than the rest of us, so just…give it a try.”

Capt. Grad said as he ushered Dr. Sensha into place.

“Now just stand here…and here…and then do this!”

Showing her the motions he had figured out the captain quickly stood back as he watched the doctor stand somewhat awkwardly where she had been stood. Gesturing for her to do the motions Captain Grad bit his lip in anticipation, the chance to see a ship like this possibly fly was beyond his wildest dreams.

Clearing her throat and mind Dr. Sensha held her hands out as the odd steel black liquid rose up and searched out for her hands. Keeping her hands still as the liquid wrapped around her fingers in root like configurations was one of the hardest things she could remember doing…at first.

It was as if a supernova had been lit off somewhere behind her eyes as she interfaced with the ship, she had known it was alive…

Swimming though tubes of liquid data

Ones and twos and tens and twenties being layered over her mind with plates of soft metal over her form

She could feel her mind shifting from understanding that she was being born, to comprehending her existence

Cycles and cycles passed as her metal plates hardened and her code became more robust

Gasping a thin breath Dr. Sensha found herself standing in the control center of the alien ship, the controls gently pulsing over her hands and forearms as she stood in place. Looking around herself she grinned before shifting her stance slightly until she was standing tall and straight with her heels together and her arms held out as if about to flick a tablecloth. Following what she felt was correct she took a deep breath and…

Began to hum.

She closed her eyes, she didn’t need them since the ship had better sensors than she could ever hope for. She raised her arms and while she didn’t feel it, she knew the ship had lifted off the platform…dropping one hand down before slowly swinging it smoothly from one side to the other and then sharply jerking it up to its original position she knew instinctively that an opening had appeared in the wall in front of her.

Beginning to whistle gently while slowly waving her arm in what she unconsciously knew to be a four-beat pattern, she watched through the senses of the ship as they approached the opening, she felt the ship’s eagerness infect her own mind and began to increase the beat of her moving hand while increasing the pitch of her whistle and beginning to snap out a steady rhythm with her other hand. Leaning forward and widening her stance in order to counter the increase in speed she increased the speed and pitch until she was racing through tunnels long forgotten and soon…

FREEDOM

Opening her eyes she gasped as the sight of the tunnel falling away to the sides met her eyes seconds before the ship burst out into the open non-atmosphere of the moon they were on.

Feeling an eagerness slithering around the back of her mind and a tingle in her limbs she smiled wide as she widened her stance even further and began to move both arms in wide sweeping arcs. Stepping forward and leaning into the motion she began to laugh as her vine-like hair rippled and curled in delight as the ship she was piloting practically leapt into the sky and was soon hurtling through hard vacuum.

Capt. Grad stood at the back of the command center, a small part of his mind wondering where the gravity was coming from as he watched the small living tree apparently pilot the ship he had barely been able to turn on. Seeing the stars in the front view port shift until they were looking at the planet they had been orbiting since they landed he felt the blood drain from his horns as the planet began to increase in size.

‘Oh you cannot be serious! She is heading straight for the damned death planet!?’

Dr. Sensha laughed with a fullness to the sound that spoke of the true joy the ship was feeling as it finally got a chance to fly once again. Pushing her arms forward she could feel resistance to her desire for speed as the engines were still warming up and struggling slightly to deliver on her demands.

Screaming through empty space she watched as the planet grew larger and larger in her view until it was all encompassing and small ribbons of heat and fire began to flicker at the edges of her vision. Feeling the heat from her outer shell being shunted inwards towards her engines she gave a snarling grin and stepped forward while throwing her arms forward, her engines now warmed up and ready to stretch.

Grad was never going to let this little maniac pilot a ship again!

First she ignored any pre-flight checklists, then she just launched them out of the underground dock and into hard vacuum and if that wasn’t enough, SHE WAS APPARENTLY PILOTING THEM AS HARD AND FAST AS SHE COULD TOWARDS A PLANET THAT HAD A GRAVITY WELL THAT WOULD NEVER LET THEM LEAVE!

Doing his best to pull himself off the aft bulkhead of the command center the captain dropped to all fours and began to pull himself forward towards the damned house plant. Seeing how close they were getting by the way the air was igniting across the view port he almost panicked, instead he called out to the bio-doc.

“Pull up! PULL UP! Ships like this aren’t meant to go atmospheric! We are going to burn up long before we ever make it to the surface and even if we did make it, we would be crushed by the gravity! This is a death world! We don’t have what it takes to survive!”

Turning to look over her shoulder at the captain Dr. Sensha grinned widely.

“Your ship can’t go atmospheric!”

So saying she turned back and increased speed until the viewport was engulfed in scintillating oranges, red, yellows and even a few blues as the air caught fire around them.

Hurling her upper body to the side while lifting one arm and dropping the other she cackled in delight when the entire ship turned sharply and began to spin like a drill.

“Oh Shit!” Grad said as he was tossed to the side of the compartment and felt himself pressed against the outer bulkhead.

Clenching his arms and legs as hard as he could he was able to avoid blacking out before the ship leveled out.

Falling to the deck of the command center and hacking out a bit of…something he would rather not know, he stood up and was just about to tear a strip off the damned Dryodary when she held up a hand and gestured towards the front view port.

Scowling darkly he turned to see what she was indicating while making a mental note to lay into her for being reckless if they survived this…a mental note that was quickly forgotten at what he saw.

Vast, open plains of some kind of long golden grass lay out in front of them.

It was as if the entire surface of the planet had been dipped in flowing waves of amber…something he knew couldn’t be true as he could clearly see in the distance the hazy purple shapes of mountains that had been worn smooth and round with age. Stepping forward he could see large, dark shapes placidly grazing in the vast open fields below them before they continued on. In barely a handful of minutes he was looking at a vast ocean of green, spikey looking trees before suddenly feeling his entire body clench as he realized what he was looking at…

They were over water…not just over it, they were so far over it by now he couldn’t see where it stopped and where the land started. He was in an alien ship with a novice pilot, flying in the atmosphere of a world that could re-define the entire concept of a deathworld across the galaxy. Stepping forward as if in a dream he watched as feathers of water were kicked up around them by the speed of their travel, curved bands of colored light arching out to either side as they sped along the surface of what could only be considered an execution planet.

Finally seeing land come into view he was shocked that what he was seeing looked as if they had traded water for sand.

Rolling dunes of glittering golden sand were swiftly approaching, a seemingly endless expanse of sand and hellish heat was quickly rolling underneath them. Gazing in wonder Capt. Grad watched as the sand was once again replaced with trees stretching as far as the horizon with snow covered mountains jutting up sharply in front of them.

Swaying back and forth in place Sensha laughed and giggled as they zipped and swerved between cliffs taller than any either of them had seen, rocketed through valleys and raced alongside massive herds of some kind of animal a few times. Mountains, plains, forests, deserts…the planet had them all and Capt. Grad felt himself staring in disbelief as he saw all of them. Hearing a bit of laughter from the bio-pilot he jumped and began running as she threw the ship into a barrel roll.

Running and jumping along the walls to stay upright, and once again wondering where the hell the gravity was coming from, Grad tucked and rolled across the ‘ceiling’ of the ship so that he could pop to his feet and run across the deck. Feeling the ship level out he was about to tear into the bio-doc when he saw her lean forward and the ship begin to speed up.

Sensha grinned as she felt the ship’s eagerness to go faster, to go higher, to finally stretch her systems after so long.

Leaning into the acceleration and pushing her arms forward she couldn’t help but laugh like a loon as she felt the g-forces pull at her heartwood. She grit her teeth in a smile of challenge as she felt the planet below them try to pull her back down into its gravitational embrace. Stepping forward with a grunt of defiance Sensha pushed through the gravity well of the death world below them and erupted out into the sweet embrace of the void.

Freedom

Release

Adventure!

*SMACK!*

“OW! What the hell capn?!” Sensha cried as her eyes welled with sap while she held her stinging cheek.

“The hell is that we are well outside the orbital range of the moon our actual ship is parked on and at least fifty-three degrees ascendant of the orbital axis. Turn the ship to port one-hundred and twenty degrees relative and fifty-three degrees descendant from current plane of travel immediately.”

About to argue Sensha bit her lip at the look on the captain’s face before lowering her head and nodding.

“Port One-twenty, descendant fifty-three degrees, aye Captain.”

Sensha watched with her eyes and the ship’s sensors as she approached the grey/white moon, slowly and smoothly touching down next to their original ship with barely a rock disturbed. Holding out her arms she watched as the tendrils of steel black fluid slowly, almost reluctantly, pulled from her…shoulders?...it had only wrapped up to her forearms last time she had looked…

Biting her lip as she flexed her fingers into fists she remembered the feeling of freedom, of joy as she was able to fly through vacuum and atmosphere…

“Hey!...you alright?” Jerking back to reality she looked towards Grad as he shook her shoulder while looking at her.

“Ye-yeah…just…not sure I have the words to explain it in common…” Grad tilted his head and scratched one of his horns.

“Don’t have the words in common? What other words would you use? What are you even talking about?” Sensha chewed her lip a moment before closing her eyes and letting her tongue roll through the flowing musical sounds of the alien words.

“It was like my soul was flying alongside my ancestors, like all those that came before me were smiling with pride…like I had found my purpose in life.”

Captain Grad blinked at the rolling, musical sounds the little doctor made.

“What?...I have no idea what you just said… did you just insult my mother?” Sensha tilted her head in confusion.

“No…? you should really study those files Hackoro sent on the alien language.” Pushing past the captain she began to make her way towards the airlock.

“Uh, where do you think you are going? We need to take this ship back to where we found it, there is no atmosphere between here and our ship, no umbilical connecting them…just hard vacuum between here and there and we don’t have any enviro-suits.”

Dr. Sensha smiled and laid a hand on the bulkhead.

“Don’t worry captain…BEPA will take care of it…” Grad raised a brow and tilted his head in confusion.

“Who are you talking…about…huh?”

As he watched, an atmospherical umbilical extended from the alien ship and wound itself towards the ship they had arrived on. Grad watched as the umbilical attached to one of the airlock connections, the two ships easily interfacing and establishing a corridor between themselves. Sensha slowly turned a glassy eyed smile towards the captain.

Masterlist

Sylaxis had died and gone to someone’s heaven.

It was certainly not the paradise his parental units had promised him, Way to many weapons for that.

Pushing open the door to the armory they had found over a week ago the Dorgarian sent a slight mental grumble that they hadn’t been able to restore power to the whole facility. So far they had determined that they had only restored power to a small percentage of the entire facility.

Walking into the armory Sylaxis grinned as he made his way past the weapons he had already inspected and catalogued. Countless generations old and yet some of them were not only still usable, but actually more advanced than some of the weapons he had been trained on.

Running his clawed fingers over what he had already gone over Sylaxis quickly grabbed one of the smaller weapons he had been able to familiarize himself with and spun towards the threat he felt behind him.

“WHOA! Whoa…uhuhehehe…um…snack? stim bulb?”

Sylaxis raised an eye ridge at the rock-doc as he slowly held up a stimulant bulb in one hand with a sustenance bar in the other. Tilting his head and wondering why his danger senses had warned him of a threat Sylaxis slowly reached out and accepted the offered snack and drink.

“Thanks…what brings you dawn here? I would have thought you would have been up topside either looking over the rocks or that ship you found.”

Granix shrugged while sipping his own stim bulb.

“Well this moon is fairly small so the rocks just outside the door are pretty much the same as the ones on the other side and as for the ship…the captain has that covered. I tried helping him and ended up running out under fire from an artillery barrage of tools.”

Sylaxis chuckled.

“Yeah that sounds like Cap. G. Where is the House Plant?”

“Dr. Sensha? She is taking a little nap, apparently she hasn’t slept in a number of days the poor dear. So! What have you found so far?”

Sylaxis turned towards the various weapons on the table in front of him.

“Well as you already know we have these throwable explosives, blades and guns. The explosives are specially made to explode and send fragments ricocheting around the area. The blades show signs of being able to be used for more than just combat. Look here, see this? these blades all have a smooth cutting edge on one side and then on the opposite side have a saw blade cutting edge. The blade is thick enough to endure abuse from practically all angles but you see this long divot along both sides? It is called a fuller and it helps to lighten the blade while keeping it strong. The tips of these blades are aligned with the centerline making them excellent for stabbing, the back can be used to either deliver ripping and tearing wounds and you see this mark right here on the base of the blade?”

Granix leant in and nodded at seeing the mark.

“It kind of looks familiar…where have I see that before?” Sylaxis smiled.

“It is the marking of one of the most famous and renowned weapon manufacturers in modern warfare history. They are famous for not only making the best weapons but also selling to anyone with the credits to spend, they are known to sell to both sides in the same conflict and anyone who tries to make a big deal about it often finds the prices skyrocket while their enemy gets a steep discount. These blades have had their tips and edges molecularly aligned to be as sharp as physically possible.”

Picking up one of the larger and more numerous kinetic projectile weapons he easily slotted and affixed the blade to the bottom of the barrel with a grin.

“Like this, they make for a devastating close quarters weapon if you are in tight enclosed spaces…”

Dr. Granix lit up in understanding.

“You mean like tight, winding corridors.”

He said as he looked pointedly over Sylaxis’s shoulder towards the hallways they had needed to traverse to get to this point.

“Uh huh, I imagine if we studied the bodies we have found so far, I am betting we will find a number of stab wounds that fit these blades. Now there are a number of energy-based weapons here but I haven’t been able to get the battery packs charged because there is a type of bio-safety measure on them, but these kinetic projectile ones? Not only do they work just fine but they also have the same maker’s mark as the blades.”

Granix frowned and looked between the Head of Security and the table of weapons.

“Hold on…hold on, you just said those maker’s marks are from a modern weapons manufacturer…and yet they are here on these weapons…weapons that have been sitting here untouched since before our society even existed. I also distinctly remember you saying the chemical propellant of those projectiles would have separated and failed due to age…”

Sylaxis nodded enthusiastically.

“I know, that is what I thought but I was wrong. These all have a similar chemical propellant as the ones you can find on the everyday market, a few differences but those can be explained away by time and resources. I think…somehow the precursors to the weapons of today may have somehow escaped this system, someone was able to take samples of these weapons out of this system and then not only replicate them but modernize and improve on them as the years have passed.”

Granix rubbed his forehead and massaged his temples.

“I really didn’t need to try thinking about that. Anyway, gather a sample of everything you can and finalize your data gathering since we are in the final stages of our expedition. We should have enough supplies and resources to make it out of the system if we leave within the next two days at the absolute most.”

Sylaxis nodded and turned towards the table of weapons, quickly grabbing a blade and swinging it at the rock dock.

Snagging a similar blade from the table and holding it up in a textbook deflection angle Granix ducked low and took a swing at Sylaxis’s abdomen, missed as his opponent stepped back, swiped again with a hip swiveling step, missed, and then turned the blade around so he could hammer the blade into the dorgarian’s leg. Lunging forward he found his arm trapped and blade turned aside as a gun barrel was pressed to his forehead.

“Lexsha Shindral taught you too?” Sylaxis asked.

“Yeah, you learned from her as well I take it?”

“A little more than you it looks like.”

“You sure about that? I take it you didn’t do so well in the urban subterfuge module of her class…”

Granix said as he turned his torso and revealed the barrel of the small kinetic projectile weapon he had stolen off the table and now had pointed at the dorgarian.

“Damnit…never did get a good grade in that module.” Slowly disengaging from each other and backing away a couple steps Sylaxis and Granix nodded and gave a short bow to each other.

“A geologist? Seriously?” Sylaxis said as he placed the blade on the table, Granix just shrugged with a sheepish grin as he too placed his weapons on the table.

“Everyone needs a hobby, and really the other stuff was just to pay the bills and tuition. Grew up on a welfare colony and won the educational lottery off planet, I study rocks as long as I can and take jobs as I need them, this one was too good to pass up…you?” Sylaxis shrugged and pulled a small flask from his hip.

“Kicked out of my planet’s military, studied under Lexsha, used her teachings to get better jobs until I had a decent resume. Ended up serving under Captain Grad for a few years and followed him through his own discharge, helped him build his name back up enough to have his own ship and eventually his own name in the shipping, smuggling, transit business etc. Any idea what is going on in this damned system?” Granix scratched the rigid spikes that passed as hair for his species.

“Not enough to say one way or another. A scouting ship finds this system by sheer accident, the crew of which ends up dying in random and totally explainable accidents. A multi-billionaire funds an expedition into said system with a ship that would take years or even decades to build that he just happened to have laying around…and crews it with just four individuals?” Granix shook his head as Sylaxis took a sip of his flask and passed it over to the geologist.

Taking an appreciative pull from the flask Granix groaned as he swished the liquid around his mouth before swallowing.

“Ohhhhh, that’s the good stuff. Something isn’t adding up but I’m not sure what it is. Seeing as how you are the head of security, what is the play?”

Sylaxis scoffed good naturedly as he took the flask and sipped at the contents before putting it back in his pocket.

“Keep our eyes out, do the jobs we are being paid for and try to be ready for a knife in the back when we leave the system. So far everything is coincidence, conjecture and might not even be aimed at us so for now…just keep one eye on your pretty rocks and one on the lookout for anything hinky.” Granix nodded before raising an eyebrow.

“Easy for you to say, not all of us can look in two directions at once. Now tell me more about these weapons…”

Hackoro stumped into the meeting room with his Living Servant Alafred with an angry tint to his eye-stalks. Seeing the tall and gangly form of a kolrak wearing the accoutrements of a Unified Galactic Government representative Hackoro felt his radula curl in disgust.

Kolrak were…long…long and skinny and for the most part unpleasant. Their lumpy, bruise colored skin produced a mucus that stuck to everything and was somehow incredibly slippery while smelling like sulphur and hot metal. Their limbs were long, their fingers were long, their torsos were long…everything about them looked like they had been grabbed from both ends and stretched like taffy. Possessing a circular mouth full of teeth made for grinding, all of them growing in odd angles and often scraping against each other as they spoke it was almost as unpleasant to watch them speak as it was to hear them.

“Mister Hackoro, it is your honor of course. I am here as a representative of the Unified Galactic Government for the purpose of discussing your trespassing and various other crimes.”

“What trespassing? Who are we trespassing against? And what other crimes are you accusing me of?”

The kolrak sneered from under its greasy looking sensory fibers and passed a tablet over to Hackoro.

“Your guilt is not in question here merely the extent of your crimes, sign at the bottom and this can all be over quickly.”

Alafred quickly stepped forward and intercepted the tablet before lifting it and beginning to review the documents.

“Those are legal documents explaining your admission of guilt and acceptance of the legal consequences for trespassing on UGG military Research and Development territory. Sign at the bottom and this can all be taken care of with minimal fuss. You are in clear violation of Territorial Claimant Ordinance 45164.46 paragraph six, line three which clearly states that until a formal survey of the system is completed there can be no entry by any other entity unaffiliated with the Claiming Party.”

Alafred scoffed before turning the tablet to face the representative.

“Setting aside the fact that we scheduled this exploration long before that ordinance was put into effect and thus fall under the Grand Patriarchal Inheritance Clause, we filed our flight path, manifest, destination and intents with the UGG Office of Exploration and were given clearance. Also under Territorial Claimant Ordinance 32561.99 it is clearly stated that there can be no Claiming Party of any sort until a formal survey is completed and that anything of historical, monetary, religious, archeological, industrious or militaristic value is considered salvage until proven otherwise by a Grand Triumvirate of Solar Courts.”

Holding up a hand to forestall the kolrak’s next words Alafred pointed at the tablet with a grin while running his radula around his speaking orifice in a sign of amusement.

“Also, right here where I have highlighted…you misspelled Hackoro, instead saying Hackuro…this mistake brings into question the validity and legality of this entire document as well as your competence as a representative of the Unified Galactic Government. As Hackoro’s legal counsel I am required to review these documents in their entirety and report any and all further discrepancies as I find them.”

The kolrak was practically vibrating in place as Alafred spoke.

“This is outrageous! It was a simple mistake, a minor misspelling!” Alafred shook his head.

“And yet it is still a legal document and can be referring to an entirely separate entity. Sir how many siblings were in your birthing pod?” Hackoro sat back and spun his cane between his hands with a smile.

“HA! I remember there being about four thousand in my birthing pod alone, of course that doesn’t count those born to pods at the same time as mine.” Alafred nodded.

“We will of course check, cross-check, double check and triple counter-check that this…mistake…as you claim it to be, cannot possibly be referring to any others born in Hackoro’s birthing pod or any other’s born at the same time.”

The kolrak looked as if he was about to have a pulmonary episode judging by the color his slime had gone.

“This is ridiculous! It was a clerical error!” Alafred waved his hand in a sharp cutting motion.

“Irrelevant, your incompetence is not in question here, merely the extent of your negligence. Now, as there is a large amount of legal material that will need to be reviewed on this matter, we will have to ask that you return to your own vessel as we are not prepared to entertain guests of your…caliber. As for our actions within the system in question, until there is a legal and binding ruling on whether or not any laws have been broken our work will continue un-interrupted and any attempts to prevent us or those under our purview will be seen as un-lawful interference in an archeological expedition and we will seek recompense for any time or resources lost due to said interference to the fullest possible extent of the law…do I make myself clear?”

The kolrak sputtered and foamed in outrage before standing up to hunch against the ceiling, it would have been impressive if he hadn’t been half as wide as Alafred and a quarter as muscled.

“It will take days if not weeks or longer to obtain a legal ruling on the legality of your actions! By then you might be done with your criminal activity and there will be nothing we can do!” Alafred shrugged.  

“Your inefficiencies do not constitute an emergency on our part. Now if you will see yourself off our ship and wait for a legal summons, we would be minimally appreciative.”

Groaning as she was pulled back to the land of the living, very much against her will and without her consent, doctor Sensha groggily sat up and looked around.

Seeing that she was in the crew quarters on the ship that brought her and the others into this treasure trove of a system she yawned and rubbed her eyes. Slumping in place slightly with a groan about not wanting to get up Dr. Sensha stood up and gave a creaking stretch, every vine and flower on her head curling inwards before relaxing. Slapping her cheeks a bit she slowly made her way to the galley for something to eat.

“No I understand what you are saying I just don’t understand what makes you think what you are asking is in anyway reasonable.”

Raising a brow at the frustrated voice of what sounded like the captain she slowly walked forward and stood just outside the door to the command center of the ship.

“Alright yes, I have found how to turn the damn thing on and can activate a few systems but I have no way of knowing if I can even fly it or how far I would get if I could. The ship has systems that I have never seen before, systems that don’t run on any kind of logic I have ever encountered and to be honest…I’m not a hundred percent sure the thing isn’t alive in some way. Yes I know how that sounds but since I am the one who was messing around with it earlier, I get to be the one telling you how it is and not the other way around and need I remind you, the civilization that built this place and that ship lived in a system that ATE the species that was taking over the entire galaxy.”

Moving past the command center on tiptoes she quickly made her way to the galley. Entering she was pleased to see Granix and Sylaxis sitting at a table comparing notes of some kind.

“Hey! There is our wayward interpreter and house plant, have a nice nap?” Granix asked while holding out a bulb of nutrient rich liquid along with a compressed sustenance bar.

“Yeah, I think…what happened? I remember being on the alien ship and then I woke up in my bunk.”

Biting into her sustenance bar and taking a sip of her nutrient bulb she sighed as she felt the liquid flow through her and revitalize the various vines and flowers.

“You were sort of ranting about how the alien ship is alive and that you want to un-freeze one of the cryo pods to ask the resident questions about the living ship…” Doctor Sensha perked up at that and began nodding quickly.

“OH RIGHT! Yeah the ship is alive! *squeeee!* isn’t that amazing?! There is no one around to stop us and there are no rules saying we can’t…we could ask someone who might have actually been here when this place was built, we could ask them how they came to be here and why? There are so many things we could ask them if we just woke one up.”

Sylaxis raised an eating utensil and waggled it at the excited little doctor.

“Not a damn chance doc, let me tell you why. We don’t know what language they speak despite you claiming to have an ever-growing understanding, we don’t know how to un-freeze them and could possibly kill them if we do it wrong. Also there are systems in the Tomb, as you called it, that we don’t have the tools or training to even understand. We also have no way of knowing if any of those systems could be activated by waking up any of the residents in the cryo-pods. Those are just the reasons I can come up with off the top of my head right now, I could probably come up with half a dozen more if I had a bit more time to think about it.”

Sensha wilted slightly in her seat as she continued to nibble her sustenance bar.

“It might not be so bad…no harm in trying…we could wake up one of the controller castes maybe…” she muttered into her nutrient bulb as Granix patted her on the shoulder consolingly.

“Don’t get to comfortable boys and girl, things might get a bit more interesting than we wanted or expected a~n~d…Dr. Sensha you are sort of the deciding factor in whether it happens or not.”

“Hmm?!” The bio-doc chirped around the stem of her nutrient bulb as she turned towards the captain along with the other two.

Slouching into the galley and slumping into his seat Capt. Grad took a moment to lean back in the seat and groan while rubbing his horns. Sitting forward and placing his elbows on the table while lacing his fingers under his chin the captain sighed again before looking at his companions.

“I just got off the comm with Homebase and…things have taken a turn to the left. It turns out the government is trying to claim the system and everything in it…to include us and everything we retrieve. Right now there is a government agent up there…a kolrak…” nodding along in sympathy at hearing the sounds of disgust and frustration his companions made at hearing of the agent’s species Grad continued.

“Homebase has them tied up in legal shit for the moment, but as things look now we might end up leaving with a planet’s ransom in archeological finds and cultural information…and not see a single credit for our troubles.”

Dr. Sensha sat bolt upright at hearing that.

“Wait! That can’t be right. We should at least be getting paid for our troubles right? Hackoro is still going to pay us right?!” Sylaxis wavered his hand back and forth while Granix shook his head.

“Possibly not…depending on what the government wants to throw at him they could make it illegal to pay us, Financial Reclamation Upon Discoverance of Illegal Actions Act 53492.9980. If it is decided in a court of law that our actions are illegal and were known to be illegal by any party involved, then any and all financial transactions or promises are thus also considered illegal, null and void. Any monetary transactions made from the literal second of our signing of our contracts to the moment of the gavel striking will be considered illegal, meaning any financial records for supplies or materials we paid for ourselves could be subpoenaed for any reason.” Capt. Grad said with a groan as he began to knock his knuckles against the horns growing out of his brow.

“That is assuming the courts don’t decide to financially bleed Hackoro through court dates, red tape, lawyer fees and everything else they can find before they even get around to debating whether or not the actions of one party or another is legal or illegal.” Granix said around a mouthful of mineral rich gravel as he leant back in his seat while rubbing his brow.

“So…so we might end up doing all of this for free?!” Sensha said as she stood up and slammed both palms onto the table, Granix barked out a bitter laugh.

“HA! We should be so lucky, we might end up being forced to pay the government in reparations, fines or lawyer fees, it wouldn’t be un-precedented for us to have to prove that we weren’t knowingly committing illegal actions for the sake of financial gain to one degree or another.” Captain Grad said while sulkily sipping his own bulb of stimulating liquid.

“Well that shouldn’t be to hard to…do…right?” Seeing the looks on the others’ faces Dr. Sensha groaned and sat down.

Masterlist

“A SHIP?!? Did he say they found a SHIP?!”

Hackoro could feel his heartrate begin to race out of control as his eyes stalks began to pulse. Sitting down and accepting some medication from his Living Servant Hackoro leant back and retracted his eye stalks so he could rub the area around them in soothing circles.

“From their last check in it sounds as if they have found a ship and what might be multiple cryo-pods of some kind along with data storage banks. You found it Sir, you have found the Vault of the Forgotten.”

Hackoro stood up and began laughing as he hobble danced around his small office before patting Alafred the Living Servant on his arms.

“No my boy, we found it…now! We can’t be distracted, we must either get to the Vault or we must bring the vault to us somehow. Have they been able to learn anything from the data banks?”

“Yes, but not much, the full report is on your desk.”

Dr. Granix held out a bulb of stimulant to Dr. Sensha as he entered the Data Vault.

Accepting the stimulant bulb with a smile Sensha sighed and sat back in the chair she had brought down.

“Any luck on finding…anything?” Sensha groaned and rubbed her eyes.

“UUgghghGHhh…yes and no, I have found plenty and yet nothing. The files Homebase sent on the written language of these creatures has helped and I have been able to translate at least some of what I am looking at but…”

Plugging the bulb into a port on the side of her helmet and taking a sip from the bulb through the integrated nutrient straw while rocking back and forth savoring the flavor she continued.

“The thing is I have to be translating this all wrong. Between the diagrams I have seen and what little bit I have translated…these things are impossible. I mean look here, look at this…”

Flicking her fingers over the panels in front of her with a level of budding familiarity Sensha brought up a diagram of a creature that apparently had two arms, two legs, one head and a thorax. As Granix watched a pair of secondary screens opened showing a magnified view of the lower thorax of the creature along with a small portion of the head.

“Look here, these are glands situated at the bottom of the thorax that are controlled by this bit of what I can only assume is the brain in these creatures. On its own this means nothing but look at what I found here…this is a chemical breakdown, in excruciating detail I might add, of what is produced in those glands…care to take a guess at what they produce?”

Granix squinted at the chemical formula and muttered to himself.

“Gimme a minute, it has been a while since I had to pretend I was paying attention in science class…wait, no that can’t be right…tell me I am wrong in saying it looks like these creatures naturally produced adrenaline.”

Sensha shook her head as she sipped at her stimulant bulb.

“I wish I could say you were wrong but honestly my guess is that these things were genetically engineered.”

Granix furrowed his brow and looked down at his fellow doctor.

“What makes you think they are genetically engineered?”

“Well, the fact they have a genetically reoccurring adrenal kill switch is a big clue first off. After that they don’t have an exterior skeletal system like a large portion of the galaxy and instead have an internal support system. Now this isn’t all that strange, except when you look at what that internal structure is made of…they have calcium as the main aspect of their internal support structure and they are covered in a flexible, self-regenerating and adaptive skin. Now having skin isn’t all that interesting I grant you, but the sheer potential for regeneration and adaptation is absurd.”

“Beyond that look here, see that? That is an entire…*many hand waving motions*….sack? of acid…yes a literal sack of acid in their main thorax. Beyond that their muscle fiber density is off the scales, their regenerative potential is almost the same, they have a physical adaptability unlike any other species on record ignoring some niche bacteria and…fuck…every time I look at the data I find something new. My best guess right now, and it is a guess, is that these are records for some kind of battle caste or maybe a worker caste…oh and on that note…check this out.”

Granix watched as more screens were pulled up and shifted around until he was looking at two distinct wire figures.

“You see this shit? You see this?!...these ones here show signs of being a worker or defense caste and these ones here show signs of being some form of controller and reproduction caste. EXCEPT!...both of them have overlapping features. The warrior caste shows signs of being able to control others and the controller caste show signs of being fully able to defend. Each caste can perform the other’s duties if needed but not to the same degree and both castes are…monsters for lack of a scientific term.”

Leaning forward she tried to rub her forehead in an attempt to relieve the building tension, growling as she was defied by her helmet.

“And don’t even get me started on the engrams…I have seen genetic code less complicated and entangled than those files.”

Granix frowned as he took a sip from his stimulant bulb as he looked over the screens.

“Doc I am just a geologist, I like rocks. None of this has anything to do with rocks, even the skeletal structure being made of calcium isn’t in my arena since they aren’t the same calcium…so explain the concept of engrams to me like I am a total idiot that has no idea how squishy biological things like us work…because I don’t.”

Sensha smiled up at the other doctor and gestured to a new screen showing half a dozen smoothly shifting wavelengths of various colors and densities, all of them moving in separate three-dimensional patterns that Granix only barely caught the edge of understanding.

“That…is a single thought from one of those engrams, that is the equivalent of deciding what your favorite color is and this single file takes up…”

Sensha tapped and swiped at the control surfaces while flicking through a number of screens before continuing.

“Approximately eighteen tera-units of data…the thought of their favorite color takes up as much digital space as some programs dedicated to controlling the environmental aspects of major space stations. These creatures were…complex to a currently unseen degree.”

Granix raised a brow as he sipped the last of his stimulant bulb.

“Complex?... I mean that isn’t exactly easy to understand for the average pleb but I wouldn’t call it overly complex.”

Sensha nodded and tapped a few keys.

The screen now showed a cascade of colors, some of which Granix didn’t even know existed and all of them twisted and spiraled around each other. Colors mixed and separated before combining again in complex patterns.

“This is approximately a quarter of a full engram.” Granix stared at the ever-shifting patterns, colors that went from sickly pale pastels to bright vibrant neons.

“These patterns…am I correct in thinking they look…”

“Organic.” Sensha offered.

“Yeah…they are geometric, exponential and at the same time, organic. It is like they are actively changing, like they are alive.”

Sensha nodded again.

“That’s because they are, every time one color changes it is a change in thought pattern and whenever a line crosses another it is another new thought. These engrams are older than our ancestors and yet more complex, complete and intricate. Not only that but they are also still active and alive. Do you understand what we have found here? These engrams have been running and alive since before our oldest records.”

Reaching out and grasping Granix’s arm Sensha smiled somewhat manically up at him.

“These are the digital representation of minds older than our civilization and they have been alive and awake for that entire time!” Granix looked down and gently removed the bio-doc’s hand from his arm.

“Yeah, organic minds were translated into mechanical code that has been running since before any of our records even began…and you think that is a good thing?”

Seeing the confused and slightly hurt expression on his fellow crewmate’s face Dr. Granix explained.

“Imagine being in a room, it doesn’t matter what is in the room or how big it is because you have no way of leaving the room. Imagine being in this room, knowing that you will be there for so long that you will know every inch, every speck of dust, every detail of every aspect of that room better than you know your own past. If anything I feel bad for those minds, they have been locked in a digital representation of the deepest hells for longer than they were probably ever alive.”

Sensha considered the data in front of her with a new perspective and bit her lip.

“Never thought of that…even if you had company, you would eventually learn everything about them…you would learn to hate them.” Granix nodded.

“Hell, you would learn to hate them and then get tired of hating them to the point of loving them. So is now a good time to mention those cylinders we found in the data vault are actually cryo-pods and are also the source of the heartbeats we were detecting?”

“OOOhhhooohhhHHOoooo I have dreamt of something like this since I was still in my pod group!”

Sensha said as she danced around and between the cryo-cylinders like a sproutling.

“Oh yeah, your people are born from seeds and grown on trees, right?”

Sensha nodded as she carefully inspected one of the cylinders and compared the writing on the side and across the small control panels set in front of each cylinder.

“Yep, spent my beginning years photosynthesizing on Relishindri IV and got so interested in how my own biology worked that I decided to learn how other’s biology worked. These pods are practically pre-historic and yet…they are still functional, how? Even with todays’ technology most cryo-pods fail or breakdown after a couple centuries. These though…these have been going reliably for…I don’t even know how long…hello? what have we here?”

Leaning down and inspecting a series of markings around the bottom of the cylinder she gestured for Granix to come closer.

“When I tell you to, push on the cylinder.”

Ignoring the look and slight protests from the rock doc she scurried over to look down at the small control panel in front of her with a wide grin. Pulling out a small notebook and glancing between the panel and her notes she bit her lip before dancing in place slightly before pressing a seemingly random button.

*HHHIIIIiiiiisssssss!*

“Shit! Doc did you do that?!”

Granix asked as a plume of white mist erupted around the bottom of the cylinder.

“Alright push…in that direction.”

Doing as he was directed Granix pushed against the cylinder before jumping back in surprise as it began to lean and then slowly fall backwards on a series of articulating curved rails. Looking closer he could see that the cylinder was attached to the curved rails by a simple series of pins. Reaching down and pulling the pins he jerked back as an ice blue light began to glow along the now downward facing side of the floating cylinder.