After the decontamination procedure was done I exited the outer decontamination tunnel door with a thoroughly impressed view of how durable the common spacesuit would be if I decided to buy some for export back to earth. I was unaware that I had been subjected to life-ending levels of sound and energy while the process was active.

I was met by two burly Yelvos who looked drastically different from how I remembered them from the game. Perhaps it was the fact that they were dressed up in an all-encompassing and oddly designed spacesuit that threw me off. Their spacesuits made them look like avocados with smaller avocados cut in half attached all over the upper surface of their suit. I instantly realized that the smaller avocados were their smelling sensors from how they immediately locked onto me and started to vibrate.

Both of the Yelvos were acting rather oddly as well, not that I knew first hand how a Yelvos typically acted, mind you. The one on the left was pointing its sensors back into the tunnel that I had just come out of and the one on the right seemed to be bobbing up and down studying me with his/her/its sensors.

‘So Yelvos are all scent-based?’ I thought questioningly, seeing if Nurse would agree with me while I studied the odd behavior of my greeters.

“Yes?” Came her reply tentatively. “They are an odd species, I must say.” She said as she looked up more information while using the helm’s interface. “They can see, but instead of using sight as we do, they have developed a smelling technology that rivals sight as we know it. It uses light, similar to lidar, and builds up a ‘smell’ of their surroundings for them. This is why they use different materials to build different parts of the space station. Keep an eye out, you might be able to see what I mean. Then again, cancel that, I get the feeling that navigating or completely understanding this station will be a nightmare. They cater to five space-faring races here and each has different requirements for navigation. Can you imagine how bad advertisements will be?” She started to mutter near the end as she got bogged down by the deluge of information that she was getting from the helm about the station.

Right, go slow and take it easy, this station wasn’t built for a human.

My communications panel beeped with a request to communicate with me so I accepted it and found that it highlighted the Yelvos individual to the right of me as the speaker.

-Joining communications with Yelvos Security Agent Jjjjimpvv-

“Greetings human trader. We hope you have suffered no ill from our malfunctioning decontamination system. My associate has informed me that you might want to seek medical attention immediately for sonic, radiation, and illumination poisoning.” A robotic voice came through my helm. It seemed that the Yelvos didn’t have vocal cords to speak with so everything would be typed in some way and transmitted to my helm for me to hear.

“Oh, don’t worry, my suit took care of me while I was in the tunnel,” I said as I instructed my helm to listen in on the conversation that Agent Jjjjimpvv was having with his counterpart at the same time. It seemed that the Yelvos could literally hold multiple conversations with more than one person at a time without needing to pause.

“J, make a log to inform Command of this alien’s suit. If they harvest Leva nest material like the briefing said then they must have technology that our people can profit from.” Said the Agent to my left who had been so interested in the tunnel interior just a few moments before. It was now trying to bring its nose-like sensors that adorned the outside of its suit in an array around its body as close to my cr space suit as possible without seeming like it was intruding into my personal space.

“Also J, inform command that the human’s suit does not show any signs of residual particles from the decontamination procedure. Of all forms!”

Interesting. It seemed that the Yelvos on the left was quite possibly the one in charge and who had orders to investigate this human for the big wigs. The one known as J or Jjjjimpvv might just be a lower rank guard on the security totem pole. At least that was my initial guess.

At the same time as the one on the left was giving orders, Jjjjimpvv on the right started talking over the information being given and telling the one on the left to notify their security chief that he had opened communications with the alien human and to ask for further dialog options. It seems that the alien on the left was named M.

“That is good news, human trader. My associate, whose name is Mmmmimpvv, and I will be in charge of offering you security for the duration of your stay. We, for a little fee, can also be guides for you around the station if you require directions. On top of that we also both know several of the commonly used languages on station and can ask various difficult questions for you like ‘Where may I expel bodily fluids?’ and ‘How much is this in Yelvos currency?” The one named four J’s and some other letters said as I realized that these little punks were low-grade extortionists at their finest.

‘Wait? Did he just say that the best that he knew how to speak other languages was where is the bathroom and how much is this?’ I asked Nurse in exasperation.

“Yup, he sure did.” Nurse replied as I looked down at the intercepted communications from the two Yelvos and found that several of their relatives who owned businesses had also joined their private conversations and were asking what the new alien liked and what they might profit from bringing me by their establishment.

Both M and J were quick on their replies and were even still talking between each other and reporting to command all the while that I read the copied intercepts.

It was at that point that my brain started to hurt and I decided to not listen to all of the conversations and to only focus on what Jjjjimpvv decided to officially speak to me about.

“Don’t worry, I can monitor their conversations easily enough. It is just like controlling a swarm, you don’t need to look at all of the data, just two parts. The whole picture and to make sure that nothing small will grow into a blade to eviscerate you when you step over its body.” Nurse said as I mentally was thankful again that I had her to help me. Not for the psychopathic thoughts mind you but more for the actual help that she could offer.

Soon enough the additional dialog options arrived and Jjjjimpvv continued to speak to me while his counterpart started to wander around us randomly. He might have been doing his job and patrolling the area to keep me safe but part of me just figured it was on its cell phone and busy talking to a dozen people while Jjjjimpvv spoke to me.

“The one known as Mmmmimpvv says that you are like a black hole of smell. I have started to cause the swarm to pick up any random dust that swirls by us in the air so that it will negate this assessment. It seems that Yelvos are very much about smell identity and we are almost invisible to their noses simply because gold cr doesn’t have any cell walls for anything to stick to. Ah… now it says never mind. We stink like the station now.” Nurse said before Jjjjimpvv spoke again.

“Honored Human trader please feel free to tour our beloved station or to get some rest in one of our finest hotel establishments while we source and gather traders and those who are known to seek Leva nest billets. We have two esteemed traders who are going to be flying from in system and they would be glad to ask that you wait for their arrival. As a consolation gift for your patience, they each have gifted you three Yelvos momps for you to spend on station while you await their arrival.” Jjjjimpvv dictated to me, making it seem like I was speaking to whoever had been behind the communications while we were preparing for arrival at the station.

Even without her prompting me that it was incorrect I could feel the sleazy fingers of J when I read the amount of momps that the traders had given me to keep me happy. I didn’t even know how much a mump was but my radar had already been triggered once with these guards so I instinctively figured that something was up.

“Yup, you are right. The amount was supposed to be ten momps from each trader. That equates to around ten grand in earth money.” Nurse told me without needing me to ask.

‘Nurse, please connect up with the same communications channel that we were in contact with when we were being guided to the station and be sure to thank the traders for their ‘generous' gift of three momps each for me to wait for them.’ I thought as anger started to build inside me. It was at this point that I started to become really thankful that I had created Nurse.

I still felt really bad that I had lost control of myself earlier, regardless of the fact that Meditati hadn’t been a victim of my rage. It could have so easily have been a different story if that salvage guy hadn’t been so focused on looking through the greasy leftovers from the Core.

“Will do.” Nurse said as she sent the message.

“In addition, it would be advisable since you have never been on our station to head to the Navigations Offices and Department of Lunar Travel to register your ship and travel routes before attempting to leave the station,” Jjjjimpvv said.

‘Did J just try to direct me to the Yelvos DMV?’ I asked Nurse with a sinking feeling. People in charge always seemed to build mazes or games to trap the little man inside.

‘Nurse, I don’t have time to waste burning it at a DMV or waiting on traders.’ I thought to her as I remembered that we had set the timer to meet up again in two days. I had already almost burned through an entire day with my wasting time looking for Meditati amongst the goop of the asteroid and really didn’t want to have to get stuck in what could possibly be an alien Kafkaesque nightmare.

Nurse was quiet for a little bit while she seemed to consider options.

All of a sudden I got a new communication request in my helm and my two high-quality guards started to jerk as though they were being tazed verbally, either that or someone had passed gas into their nose sensors and they were unsuccessfully trying to get away from it within their suits. Seems their superiors were busy ripping them a new one in their chat.

“Esteemed Human Trader, it is with great news that we have discovered an error in the communication’s lines and have found that the traders have instead offered you 50 momps each to wait for their arrival. Please respond to this channel in the future if you have ANY requests or ANY needs during your stay here. In addition, ALL of your medical needs, ALL of your ship repair costs, and ALL of your food, lodging, and entertainment costs will be footed by the station.” The communication from Jevex 1’s Command room said.

“Son of a gun,” I muttered into my helm as I realized just how sleazy the Yelvos chain of command really was and just how hard the main guy in Command was trying to work through all of that sleaze to keep me here and happy.

“Yup, every person that that communication passed through took a share before it reached our boneheaded guards.” Nurse said as she listened to the chatter.

I turned and walked away from my two guards, completely disgusted. I had totally lost all desire to be anywhere near the two individuals who had been tasked with my safety.

They stood still, locked into inaction from being caught in their misdeeds and from not wanting to ask for assistance or guidance from those that had just given them a verbal beat down. In the end, they both slowly started to follow me from a distance. They still needed to do their duty, even if it was only to just stay near me.

“Let me guess. All the crap rolled down the hill onto these two stooges?” I asked as I looked back at them trudging dejectedly after me.

“Yes, currently they are being berated by their family members who blame them for lost income that you could have brought to their businesses. It seems that your message made all of their communications get inspected and it revealed everything to whoever is running Command. This revealed side hustles and caused trouble for their family members who wanted a piece of your momps for themselves. Plus, all the other guys who took cuts got in trouble and are blaming these two for getting caught.”

“Serves them right.” I said as I turned away from them and through one of the side hallways that had a sign that said “Welcome to Jevex 1” in bright and bold alien letters. I was a little too angry at recent occurrences to fully notice how pretty the text was lit up and how alien the flow of the script was to my human eye.

The hallway leading in towards the station however did work hard at changing my mood. The curved walls around me started to change with each step I took and it wasn’t until I had taken the fifth step that I even realized what was occurring.

“Is this for real?” I asked as I paused for a moment to look further down the forty-foot hallway that I yet needed to walk. All around me there seemed to be plants growing, changing, dying, blooming, and then morphing into something else right in front of my eyes. I could feel the air stir across my body as scents rushed past me and small strobes of light flashed in my eyes.

“Um… it might be a form of advertisement? Realistic holographs maybe?” Nurse asked as I stepped closer to the strange wall and reached out to try to touch one of the rapidly blooming flowers nearest to me. My hand came into contact with something that wasn’t the flower.

Whatever it was became visible the moment that the illusion was broken and was revealed to be a circular pad of some sort. It developed rapidly scrolling braille on its surface and tried to maintain contact with my hand for some reason.

“Huh.” Nurse said in surprise, causing me to look up and to notice that the rest of the tunnel had changed to become a braille-enabled path. Everything was suddenly all tactile and awaiting me to walk past and to place my hand nearby.

“Did I just make walking through the station harder if everyone thinks that they need to press a touchpad in my face for me to be able to understand them?” I asked as I moved my hand away from the sensor. Or at least tried to, the thing was persistent in following me.

“Honored Trader. The Tactile Pad thinks that you communicate through touch and is trying to guide you to take it for communication while on the station.” Came a message from J unexpectedly.

“Say whaaat?” I said as I turned in place and looked back at our two guards. “Did they just try to become helpful?” I asked Nurse aloud.

“So it would seem.”

“Jjjjimpvv, is there a way to turn off all of these features and for me to just go on my way?” I asked.

“Yes. Please allow me.” J said as the tunnel quickly reverted to its inactive state that I had first noticed when I entered back at the start.

“Thanks.” I sent J as I began moving again.

When I reached the end and looked out at the station beyond the tunnel I just had to stop and try to find my jaw on the floor.

The station was massive! Huge structures reached every direction to fill the space of the carved asteroid. There were lights, some steady and other flashing and even strobing inside the buildings. One building looked like it was home to a permanent disco with all of its crazy lights playing across its surface and through its windows. This place was a madhouse with visual stimulation.

Aliens were zipping around everywhere. Some were using their limbs while others rode various methods of transportation.

And the sound! There was sound blasting from everywhere. Some sounds had a low vibration that I could feel through my feet while others could almost be called notes or parts of songs being played or crisply blasted through the atmosphere around us.

“What the actual heck is going on here?” I asked as I stared at the apparent madness around me.

“Would our Honored Trader like for us to get him a ride? We can take you wherever you would like to go.” Jjjjimpvv totally surprised me again by speaking up.

While I agreed and added a few tokens toward not hating these two anymore I got to watch while M walked over to a wall and pulled something that looked like a large oval decoration off of the wall for us to use as a cart to get around the station.

“What the heck did I just watch him do?” I asked Nurse as the cart inflated to become a rather large bean bag ride with seats for each of us to rest on.

“You know how they have carts at Airports for people to put their luggage on? Well, those off circular panels on the wall appear to be similar things… just for moving people as well.” She said as we both studied our surroundings.

“Where would you like to go, Honored Trader?” J asked once I climbed on and sat on the largest seat in the front. It didn’t seem to matter where anyone was sitting because each passenger had a control panel to guide the craft with next to them. I didn’t know how to drive this thing so I was thankful that J was offering his help. Two more tokens went to them in my mind.

“Just…. can you take me to where I can get ahold of Oppino’s Salvage?” I asked as I followed the only lead that I had.

I could feel the air buzzing between J and M as they tried their hardest to work out where I wanted to go between themselves. I didn’t need to ask Nurse to show me the dialog options to figure out that they had no clue who I was talking about.

“We can take you on a tour of the Mining and Harvesting sector.” J sent after a couple of moments of silence.

“Sure. That will do for now.” I sent back and sat back in my soft chair with a little sense of failure. The station was huge and I was paired with two guys who probably didn’t even know other languages besides what they had been forced to learn to get by from day to day on the job.

The craft started moving suddenly underneath us, jolting me to sit upright as it felt like we were riding on a hidden and badly built rail ride in an amusement park. I couldn’t see the bottom of the craft to tell how we were moving but I quickly learned that driving lessons were another thing that my guards were lacking.

‘At least we are moving.’ I thought as I looked around at the chaos that was going around us as we slid roughly through the crazy hubbub of life inside a multirace trading space station.

The urge to find Meditati within less than 36 hours quickly glossed over how amazing everything was around me and made me get lost in thought as I tried to figure out a way out of this mess. Hopefully, by using my helm I would be able to make out Oppino’s Salvage amidst this colorful and chaotic mess around me.

My guards seemed to be directing us along a path that led down to the bottom of the asteroid. There were less pretty and ornate buildings down this way and instead everything seemed to be geared towards showing huge images and replicas of grinding and mining equipment next to mounds of ore. Most of the things that we drove past meant nothing to me. I could read most of the names posters by using the translation software my helm provided but the words weren’t translatable until I asked the helm to speak to me like I was stupid.

After that everything suddenly became clear as their actual names were changed with stuff like Rock Grinder, Dust Collector, and Parasite Killer. Who knew that mining was so easy?

The next couple of hours went by in a blur as Nurse and I tried our best to find anything with Oppino’s Salvage written on it. We had even resorted to asking several of the shop workers for guidance but to no avail.

Why hadn’t I asked Mr. Command Bigshot for information on Oppino’s Salvage right away instead of wasting time looking by myself? It was because of the fact that doing so would draw attention to what Oppino had collected and possibly give away what the neighboring Tela Science Core had misplaced. Something that I didn’t want to do.

My guards never gave up looking though, I have to at least give them credit for that. They may not have had enough brain power between the two of them to light up a 5-watt bulb but they did have determination aplenty.

“Nurse! What shall I do?” I cried out in frustration as I browsed through the ship registration numbers that were available to be searched by the public. J had informed me that the list, massive as it was, was limited in scope because it didn’t contain family or guild listings. Unless I was mistaken, Oppino might have been a family name for all I knew.

“I have a solution and it is actually quite a good one.” Nurse said inside my head as though she was testing the waters. My fingers scrolling through the listings slowed and stilled as I realized that this was the first time that I had heard this tone from her.

“Go on,” I said out of curiosity.

“Well. Up until now you have been playing by everyone’s rules, staying inside the pens and lanes that they created for you. I think, from your memories, it all is similar to placing a mouse inside a maze and watching it run around looking for cheese.”

“Yes? And?”

“Why should you remain a tiny little mouse in everyone else’s maze? You are a Monarch.” She said, making me hear the capitalized M.

What really did that mean? What was I missing?

“You are a Monarch. You are not beholden to anyone here or anywhere. Take control of the situation rather than letting others make mazes and rules for you.”

At first, I didn’t understand so I sat there and thought about it. I was afraid of abusing my power and doing things that would get me in trouble with figures of authority. This was how I was raised. On Earth that meant following the laws, staying within the speed limit, and paying your taxes. Everything was set up to train the ones within the system to stay within the lines of the same system.

My thoughts turned to the Tela and how they looked over from above, watching with the Arbiter from afar.

From afar? How then had my mind been almost erased when I was a child? Surely the Tela had to have had cr everywhere for the AI to notice Kevin witnessing a Citizen returning as a child. The only solution that I could think of was that Earth was swimming in hidden cr that reported back to that AI that inhabited the Arbiter. The Tela must do this everywhere to maintain control of their cr technology.

Slowly I began to understand. It was like a lightbulb slowly turning on.

“That is the basic idea, yet the Tela are so weak compared to what you can do as a Monarch. You can control everything if you so choose.” Nurse said as she showed me glimpses of what the swarm could do.

Wow.

I possessed the power this whole time but was unwilling to use it because it would be many things to many people. To some it would supplant their authority, to others, it would invade their privacy, and still even to others it would rob them of the power they held over me. I supposed the first and last reasons were the same but they just tasted differently in my mind. As though they were distinctly different and belonged to different types of masters.

‘Just make sure that there is no killing or damaging the station ok?’ I asked, making sure that I understood her and that she understood me.

“Yes, yes. You are the monarch now. They will obey whatever you tell them to the last command or die trying.” She answered.

“Ok then,” I said as I stood up and lifted myself above and away from the moving cart. Finally giving up the show that I was normal. My guards slammed on the brakes in surprise as I revealed that I could fly.

“Enough playing games,” I muttered as I let out the swarm that I held inside my body, sending a cloud of black and white specks of obsidian and gold cr spraying away in all directions and rapidly vanishing from sight. I could feel that the inner unused layers of my ship obeyed my commands as well, leaving everything as it appeared to be but just leaving behind a one-layer shell of cr in its place to maintain the form that I had originally created. No one would be able to tell that my ship’s walls were now hollow. To the outside eye, both I and my ship looked as they had before.

Except now my presence was expanding and spreading all throughout the station with no resistance.

“We could have shown you to the bathroom Honored Trader.” J sent, unaware of what I had just set loose on their station as I hovered above their heads.