Dr. Jess walked briskly down the empty living quarters corridors. She had just handed in her reported findings on studying the Creator pre-translator tapes, a rather lengthy study on the language and emotions used in Jasmine’s singing behavior. She had rambled a few times on purpose, just to spite Laandi; Behavioral Studies was always looked down upon, and yet it was HER work that allowed Laandi to weave through negotiations with other Creator sects’ species, that secured trade deals with Modifier planets and kept User level workers happy.

Often those who had never studied the field tended to think its only application was the study of ‘lesser’ beings. They all too often forgot that it could also be applied to the modern workplace. Cultural causation was always shifting; as far removed as the modern Creators were from those tribal Users, hints of the ancient past still connected and resided in them. It was the study of actions that allowed Jess to advance as far as she had done at such a young age.

Her professor at the Institution wasn't a morning person? She sent her reports in the afternoon so her works would be listened to with more appreciation. When she was looking for an experience placement she studied the prior employee candidates and appealed to the characteristics that the recruiters preferred. When Jess wanted to gain the affection of her upperclass mate, she supplemented the skills he lacked in his own studies.

It had worked to great effect.

It was easier as she grew older - identifying the powerplay behind company politics and exploiting them to her gain. It was all a delicate balance of risk and reward.

“Dr. Kyda Jess.”

The door chimed, but it was not the only thing to greet her.

Marsen Duuarn stood in her quarters, pretending not to have noticed her entrance. He continued to face the dataslate in hand, the light reflecting off his glossy black eyes, but she had noticed how he had gone to extra lengths for her. The white jacket was new, custom fit, it gave Duuarn a clean outline of his broad shoulders and thin hips. His tail swished unconsciously toward her, and the hand that sat under his chin was being gently stroked by his thumb, the place she often had her own trimmed claws tease him. He must have rearranged the scheduling times for his own rest quarter to overlap with hers, or he was blatantly ignoring it. The man had pride, he had ambition, but without her vision he had nothing.

She smiled perversely.

“Oh, I didn’t realise they had demoted you to maintenance staff.” She struck the first blow in their courtship duel. “Is that why I’ve seen so little of you?”

“They only send me to deal with the most atrocious equipment,” he retaliated, with an effort not to even face her with his smile “You’re due for a service.”

“I'm not sure you're qualified to handle it,” she sneered slyly, refusing to be the one to make eye contact first. “You’ve missed quite a few appointments, how do I know you’re still certified?” She slithered past him to her clothes rack, removing her own white coat so he could watch her tease him. She was wearing an open shouldered top today, her lavender scales shimmering in the bright lighting. Jess waited for the snarky reply but was instead surprised by something new.

His gloved hand slid across the soft scales of her back and his voice soft in her ear.

“Allow me to make it up to you…”

Duuarn hovered the dataslate over her shoulder before she could turn, her jacket left to fall on the floor.

“Laandi and Subject Jasmine had a conversation without her attendant, I thought you would like to analyse it?”

Jess’s claws reached up to snatch the precious piece of technology, her eyes gaining a ferocity the geneticist envied.

“How old is this?” she asked.

“Less than 4 [hours], Isk sent it to me after the meeting as he promised. I was hoping you could read into the nuances for me… and that I might help with whatever plan it is you have threading together in your beautiful mind.”

Jess almost winced, she playfully bumped his hand from her shoulder and made her way to the sleeping alcove, ensuring her hips swayed with extra vigor as she did so.

“Flattery is unbecoming of you, Marsen. You should stick with insults, you’re far more talented with them.” She slid onto her gel mattress and lay on her side facing out, blocking entrance so Duuarn was forced to lean on the wall beside her bed. She pressed play and listened to the audio, her mind anticipating the possibilities.

Miss Howe: Miss Jasmine Anne Howe of Earth, Terra Firma, Sol system.

Jess was muttering under her breath after the second line. Duuarn waited, content to watch her work, his eyes set firmly to the movements of her lips.

Miss Howe: I, Jasmine Anne Howe do conduct these discussions on behalf of myself. -

Jess sneered, apparently unable to hold her tongue any more.

“Hmph, she's very inconsistent with her own title, this is the fifth iteration I’ve heard across recordings. She uses ‘Jasmine’ with Dr. Xant, ‘Jasmine Howe’ with her own personal logs, ‘Jasi’ in the pre-translator recordings and now she was using ‘Miss Howe’ with ED Laandi only to drop the ‘Miss’ during this statement! It’s almost as convoluted as a Khitariish procession.”

“Is there a discernible pattern?” Duuarn asked, his tail wavering between them.

“Not an obvious one, it doesn’t shrink with social status like an Arvas, and it’s not an indicator of birth like Zenthi. I would say maybe lengthens according to the status of the addresser, with her giving the longest name while speaking with the Director, but then why would she have the shorter name for Xant and not herself? It’s out of order then.” She placed down the Dataslate to her side, finally looking up at her companion.

“Maybe its familiarity? Like with our own names Kyda.” Duuarn suggested sarcastically, Jess chuckled, sliding onto her belly and lifting her tail ever so invitingly..

“It’s cute you're trying to contribute from outside your field of expertise, but after the hours of recordings I’ve been listening to the ‘human’ might be more unstable than she’s letting on…”

Duuarn’s features darkened with glee as Jess let that little snippet slip.

“Unstable? How?” He beckoned an answer from her and she was happy to comply, her tail flicked toward her dataslate shelf.

“Third from the top, the seventh recording… halfway through the song.”

Duuarn was quick to follow instructions, taking the dataslate and flying through the menu to the recording, he let it play.

>Subject F17:

And they say

She's in the Class A Team

Stuck in her daydream

Been this way since eighteen

But lately her face seems

Slowly sinking, wasting

Crumbling like pastries- [sigh]

[Long pause]

Subject F17: He's not that bad…

[Long pause]

Subject F17: I've already poisoned the universe with Wonderwall- No.

[Long pause]

Subject F17: God I’m such an idiot…

[Long pause]

Subject F17: I’m not singing it.

[Long pause]

Subject F17: Nope.

[Long pause]

Subject F17: God damnit anything else please.

[Long pause]

Subject F17: Fuck you brain.

Subject F17: Of all the fucking songs…

Subject F17: NARWHALS NARWHALS SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN CAUSING A COMMOTION ‘CAUSE THEY ARE SO AWESOME NARWHALS NARWHALS SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN PRETTY BIG AND PRETTY WHITE THEY BEAT A POLAR BEAR IN A FIGHT THEY'RE LIKE AN UNDERWATER UNICORN THEY HAVE A KICKASS FACIAL HORN THEY'RE THE JEDI OF THE SEA THEY STOP CTHULHU EATING YE NARWHALS THEY ARE NARWHALS NARWHALS JUST DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOUR BALLS NARWHALS THEY ARE NARWHALS NARWHALS INVENTORS OF THE SHISH KEBAB!!

[Long pause]

Subject F17: There, you happy? I’m going back to singing shitty pop songs now because fuck you brain.

[Session Ended]

Duuarn looked back at Jess with the most confused look on his face, momentarily forgetting where he was and what he was doing.

“That is quite possibly the most unexplainable thing I have ever had the displeasure of enduring...” He turned the dataslate off. “And I’ve met your benefactor.” He returned the dataslate to the shelf and rubbed his temples. “That was so irrational it almost hurt.”

“You’re not curious about who she was talking to?” Jess queried, ignoring the slight to her progenitor beneficiary.

“Talking to? She was spitting inane gibberish, clearly fried her neurons beyond repair-”

“No. You truly have the most intense, yet impaired focus Marsen, have you heard the other reports?”

Duuarn’s confusion morphed into suspicion.

“I’ve seen the incident at Krydon’s office, if that is what you’re implying…” He stroked his chin again. “I would love to see how they managed to design the Frequency manipulation and Zenthi telepathy, condensing it into such a small frame. It would do wonders for infiltration specialists… That genescript alone would earn enough credits for property on Clentesia. I've been trying to keep up with the reports as much as I can, but Xant is acting like he's on Pre-pain time.”

Jess smiled wickedly.

“I've gone over the Audio recordings of that very incident, and it seems the human can give orders by speech and Zenthi telepathy simultaneously...”

“Dual neuron simultaneous interactions, yes, I saw the footage, There is no possible way her body could handle such an exhausting task without repercussions,” The geneticist mused, intrigued.

“There is more of course...” Jess continued “ Because of the duel neurons functions she’s naturally multi-skilled as well, and, for our benefit, emotional to the point of constant VEFS…” She delighted in watching Duuarn’s face slowly transition as the dark mechanisms in his brain clicked into place.

“Constant VEFS? And you’re sure of this?” Duuarn stalked over to his partner's side, looking over her on the bed, leaning in ever closer.

“Half of her ‘songs’ could hold enough emotional impact to be used as a Freq-bomb if the right recorder is used. They detailed the physical pains of separation, of loneliness, more than enough allusions of it causing the breaking of her very circulation system…” She expanded excitedly, finally able to share her theories and hypothesis with him. Someone who wasn’t afraid of repercussions for his actions, and who stood by them even as disaster struck.

“VEFS so strong it destroys the subject’s circulatory system, being hurt by its own emotions.” Duuarn’s tail slid along Jess’s back temptingly. “What purpose could that possibly serve in the species’ benefit? I know how we could harness such a devastating natural offensive, imagine the military contracts-”

“Marsen.” Jess’s own tail coiled around his, pulling taut so he was almost caught off balance. “We have to be in control of the project before we can start making plans with her genescript. The conversation, the simultaneous neural broadcasts… she was talking to herself!”

“So she has already fried her neurons.” He leaned over her with a devilish grin, their faces almost touching. “If the subject has already done this extensive damage to herself, there is no way that walking Freq-filter Xant isn’t being affected by it. We just have to wait for him to suffer an extreme VEFS attack and then…” His gloved hand stroked the underside of her chin, she turned her head to the side, letting his fingers trail down her neck.

“Present ourselves as the better alternative,” She finished his sentence. “It’s obvious he isn't qualified to handle a Subject Creator, he hasn’t got the cultural sensitivity training to understand her actions. He’s one VEFS attack away from causing an intergalactic incident.”

“Shouldn’t have to wait too long for that attack either,” Duuarn added, sliding onto the bed beside her. “He already suffered an extensive attack before the translator was put in...”

“My thoughts exactly, but are you sure the VEFS attack will happen soon? I was going to suggest we try to trigger it through a forced separation of the Subject and Specimen.” Jess purred to his touch.

“Oh…” Duuarn’s voice grew husky. “It will happen soon - The Subject is scheduled to meet with the other Specimens under my care, if she reacted so strongly to the presence of one of those furry itch sacks, then I can only imagine the force she will be emitting when she’s surrounded by three of them.”

“Your deductions are getting better Marsen, have you actually been listening to me for a change?”

“You know I always follow your lead...Director.”

Jess’s golden eyes fluttered, her claw reaching up to his collar as he rubbed his cheek down her neck. She pushed him back forcefully with her hand and tail, off the bed so he stumbled on the floor. He let out a soft growl but quickly stood on his feet.

“Not yet, you’re not certified. I’ll have to do an evaluation…” She laughed teasingly, resting her head on her hand, while the other traced the edge of her tight fitted shorts “... and you’re not dressed for the interview.”

Duuarn smirked reaching to pull off his uniform.

“Wait,” She raised her hand, and licked her lips. “Keep the gloves on…”

-*-

Xant took the time to observe Jasmine as they made their way back to his quarters. Her entire posture had changed with the addition of the hardsuit. Where once she had walked carefully, cautiously even, she now took confident, casual strides. Sieglinde walked beside her, as Jasmine had done to him on their first tours so many weeks ago.

It was a moment of clarity for the researcher, the simple act of walking beside instead of behind. Occasionally Jasmine would look to her side, to ensure Sieglinde was still there and the dog always was.

Xant reflected, he had never turned around to ensure a companion was still behind him, he had always entrusted they would follow as they trusted him. There was no reason to check if they were still there, they either were or they were not following you in the first place. He wanted to ask, but that would require stopping to gather her complete attention and then they would lose more time toward meditation.

Jasmine’s head turned at every angle, searching the walls and floors, pausing before every hallway turn off, getting a bearing on her surroundings. Before she almost took a wrong turn.

“Jasmine,” Xant called as she confidently walked passed the hallway. “We need to take this corridor.” She spun around to face him, transferring all her weight to the comparatively tiny instep of a single foot, while the other lifted to the toe.

“Oh? But, I could have sworn the next hallway was the right one, (there’s no tile mark)”

She steadied back down to face him, Xant frowned curiously.

“Tile mark?”

“Yeah,” Jasmine began to explain while she was walking toward him. “I mean, without any signs this whole place is just white wall after white wall, I gotta look for some sort of landmark. I remembered that the elevator hallway had a small black scuff mark on the tile corner…”

Xant looked up at the wall beside them, the walls before him were imprinted with the elevator symbol, then his memory aided him once more.

“Ah, you cannot see ultraviolet, the elevator symbol is printed here.” He raised his hand to the wall. Jasmine stopped mere centimeters from the wall inspecting it, her eyes squinting.

“I… I can just see the line of paint, but it just a plain rectangle- ohhhhhhh, that’s how you can tell the difference between all the dataslates! They’re printed in a spectrum I can’t see. huh.”

When she pulled her attention from the wall her eyes rested on Xant, and she stopped. He looked at the shape of Jasmine’s eyes, the tiny pupils there in, it was a wonder she could see anything at all with such a narrow light intake. Often they were moving, constantly surveying the scenery around them, but now, they were firmly fixed on his own eyes. Perhaps she was analyzing his in the same manner.

At least, the thought that was the case until she suddenly turned her entire head away, and a strange burst of anxiety and warmth smacked him out of his thought process.

“So umm, the elevator is this way right? Might be better if you take the lead.” She replied, holding onto Sieglinde’s leash tighter. Xant found himself caught again, wanting to ask questions but being reminded of the time constraints.

“Yes it is,” He answered and began to motion down the hall but he stopped, compelled to look back. Jasmine’s eyes were firmly on the floor, not at Sieglinde or anything of significance.

The anxiety creeping back in.

“Jasmine, when we are back in my quarters we need to talk-”

Xant was hit with another burst, seemingly triggered out of the blue as her head shot up and she drew pale.

“Talk about what? (oh god he knows, he knows everything, stupid brain stop thinking about it)”

“Whatever it is that has you so worried about answering questions…” Xant walked forward yet again, back to a close speaking distance. “You were so happy to answer and to speak with me, this new development has me worried.”

“(YOU’RE WORRIED???!! HOW’D YOU THINK I FEEL??) I’m sorry,” her head spun, checking her surroundings again, “We can talk in your quarters…”

Xant again marveled at her duel thought process, how she was easily able to hide the distress in her voice compared to the quite clear agitation of her dominant frequency.

“Good,” he sighed “This way Jasmine, if you please.”