It was time. They were traveling by rail to the Great Docks. It was only the Fifth train ride Aleph had ever gone on. And two of those were in the last three years to reach her Centrifuge training. And now she was taking what very well might be her very last trip on terra by train! And they were going to the PORT!

The great docks!

Where thousands of conscious Colonists had passed and hundreds of millions of stored souls had shipped out. Over the years the port had been built up, as the colonization project settled into a full production line of educated experts like Omega and hopeful dreamers and representatives like herself and their mysterious third member.

She had heard over the resonance that it was expected that some of the infrastructure would be abandoned without the constant flow of outgoing colonists. But already there was talk and murmurs of the more conventional trade that would flow as more Visitors arrived. Apparently Terra was already being added to several itineraries and some Visitors even had made plans to swing back around in the centuries to follow after certain industrial bases were more developed!

It was a heady thought to consider the business practices of such beings. One ‘promised’ repeat trader was V-89 who was already long past. But had made a deal to return with a group of passengers from the colony as a cultural exchange program. The first native born to the colony returning to experience the world of their ancestors!

The crew of V-89 were peculier, they resembled factory machines more then people but on the wide view of all visitors that had come were very amiable and had even had suggestions and information to trade on better sealant techniques and hull manufacture processes. Apparently the crew came from a similar style of ‘habitat’ as the one that the colony would be living and were excited to share their expertise and knowledge. For a price of course.

A price that most people on Terra considered absurdly low. Without fail every single Visitor had a great love for how ‘cheap’ meat and rendered fats/oil was at terra. They also were interested in the local manufactured storage crystals that was used in the resonance network. But apparently Terrans still did not understand how to best format and utilize said crystals for universal sale.

The massive outpouring of technical schematics, astrometrics, treatises on physics and just recipes for technological wonders that the Port distributed honestly did not feel like particularly cheap pay for livestock and data storage devices older then Aleph.

But Omega had an answer for that.

“We are a unique kind of Market Aleph... There is a MASSIVE demand here for all the doodads and whatsits that these Visitors probably take for granted. To them they are selling us something everyone else knows and is thus worthless elsewhere. But to US? It’s worth hundreds of head of cattle!”

“Oh... OH! Like how people pay extra for cliff blossoms that grow in our in the cliffs next to the village?”

“Yeah, uh but kinda in reverse? Anyway I think you get the idea right? So they-”

Suddenly someone was standing between Omega and Aleph. Someone who kind of smelled. Not exactly bad really, but sort of weird and ripe and was grinning in her face with teeth that seemed a bit too pointy.

“HAILOO! Oh! Neat! Two Cute Fembobs laik are with me on either side!”

The ‘person’ (who the more she looked at the more she felt kind of uncomfortable being next to them) had Wedged herself into the space that had been left comfortably empty between her and Omega on the train seat.

“Uh... excuse me?”

“YOUR WELCOME! Hah joke I know I’m awesome Who be ya doing?”

“What?”

“Loafsters! I’m Quarti! So would you like sum fuk now or should I write it in my oracular for later?”

“Sum fuk?”

“Beserker!”

“What... ?”

“That Ain’t no answer I ever heard! They speak ~#@*lp In what?”

The figure was crazed, wild. And also wearing quite a bit less then initial impressions had provided. The clothing also seemed much less clean than Aleph was comfortable with. There was something that might have once been a robe. But it appears someone had taken it apart into thin strips, tied the shreds together in knots to increase the total size while destroying any coverage and then patched over the gaps occasionally with indecently porous mesh.

She kind of suspected there might be something LIVING in the fibres and her hydroponic tech experience was twitching with potential of weevils and lice and contaminating fungus. The vibrant scarlet and pink skin barely was notable compared to the net like mess that seemed to be toeing the line of decent cleanliness at every turn.

Aleph is not sure but she thinks maybe there was some leather straps or something holding the thing TO the figure underneath but she tried not to think too hard about it. The matted braids of hair above that face was covered in splatters of something that she hoped was just food stains and the smell was definitely edging from ripe to spoiled honey the longer she was in close proximity to it.

“Whu?”

Omega came to the rescue, gently grasping the interlopers shoulders, lifting her up out from between them and placing the net swaddled red menace down to stand on the floor before them (instead of almost touchingly close between them).

“Okay... Hello, I’m Omega... This is Aleph... Who are you again?”

“Chortles on concrete! The idiot skin slinkers don’t know what saying is! I’m Quarti! the monks told me to git this way like a wozzle for some space times! So I gitted and wozzled and I thought maybe I’d get some skin and skin twitching last sups on the dirt plate and all but guessing not your jammies lil ladies?”

Omega frowned a moment then her eyes widened as often happened when she realized something. Although her smile looked really strained.

“You... Are Quarti?”

“Is the lotsaluvin blu-wench delux daft to deafness? I said it thrice-some now wise ya thigh splittah!”

The expression fell from strained smile to worry.

“You are Quarti? The Scion Prophet?”

“Oh Hai there! That is a me! You heard of mee-some? A little squeech squeech in the futures after all for her holiness? Man monks of the thing one and thing two persuasion might be actually worth a smack of good luck? Zounds feels bad I said a grue twold git’em if it got darks out”

The face of Omega fell from worry to cringing despair. Aleph had not seen that expression on her friend before. It made her stomach do a flip.

“Omega... what’s wrong?”

The newcomer, Quarti. Apparently a Scion Prophet (whatever that meant) started cackling and dancing in circles. Kind of badly, But also with such precision and purpose it had to be intentionally.

“Aleph... Meet Quarti, Scion Prophet of the departed, Oldest Soul in all surviving memory on Terra, Author of ten thousand and one stories of beyond. Least muse of wiseness. Incarnated for the first time in over four thousand and seven years twenty two years ago”

Aleph blinked. She looked at the... she was not sure what to even call the figure who was sashaying her rump around wearing what she suspected could have been a waste processing filter. That bizarrely intent grace seemed so wrong being used to fall over and laugh silently.

As in moving as if she was guffawing uproariously but without making a sound! It was actually really impressive considering how it looked like she should be banging the floor loud enough to hear but was actually stopping her motion before striking anything hard enough to do so.

“She gets to go to space? With us?”

This was not fair, this could not be true.The universe was a sane and logical place. Omega cringed and nodded.

“Why does she get to go to space?”

There has to be a reason. This cannot be true,this mad mongrel slathered in scum and refuse masqurading as clothes could not be considered an equal candidate as her.

“Cultural heritage of Aoria... She’s a symbol of the divine nature of humanity. They wanted to send her to the colony to support them in the abyss beyond terra... A pure soul they said on the mission statement”

Aleph stared at Omega.

“She’s pure? PURE?!”

“In theory? They raised her special this whole life to avoid any corruption of the essence of her soul?”

There were suddenly hands on Aleph’s shoulders. And a voice that carried the scent of that rotten honey. Oh the smell was so much worse right next to her ear and billowing over her face.

“The Monks left me in a room... Till I remembered how to talk!”

Aleph blinked...

“They what? All alone? For how long?”

She turned against her better judgement to face Quarti and saw eyes haunted by sorrow and loneliness. Already brimming with tears and lips pouting. It was like looking in a mirror and back in time to herself at her loneliest and saddest. The voice was pitch perfect to match.

“For Years and Years and YEARS! No one even touched me or looked at me!”

Aleph was pretty sure the black sphere visitors would have cracked under the combination of that voice and those eyes.

“Oh you poor dear!”

She was already hugging quarti before she realized what she was doing... But what was that? It was sticky...

She was covered in something gross and sticky and it was all over her now and-

“OH NO! YOU! YOU’RE OOZING ALL OVER! GET OFF ME YOU FREAK!”

Quarti was laughing then as Aleph shoved her off. The prophet tumbled hips over head into the middle of the train’s walkway and just sat there on her own head staring up at aleph. Slowly she uncrumpled herself. Legs crossing and back straightening so she was balanced on the very top of her skull with legs crossed over her as if gravity had inverted, hands going to rest on/support her knees. Face serene and voice calm. Aleph didn't even see a quiver of strain from the posture.

“What? I thought you wanted some skin-ta-skin that’s what being super close means dese years right ya? You talk, introduce yourself... Eh something something... and then bam slinky-skinny-skin?”

That voice was calm, smooth, it was the voice that should have been bestowing secrets of the universe, not half garbled unintelligible filth! If anything it made it even worse!

“AUgh what... no You grabbed me I... I need to shower!”

She rushed for the washroom. She didn't want all this moron’s bits on her skin a moment longer! She didin’t want to think about what it could be, she hoped it was just her imagination that made it feel like it was crawling on her. She slammed the door to the train car open and pushed her way through. Omega’s words were the last thing she heard before the door between train compartments closed.

“So... We are going to be together a while”

“Oh?! You two are my brig-britches? Sweet! Yah I can’t hardly Wait Ya prime-grade-Thick-belle and cutie-two-shoes!”

Aleph momentarily wondered briefly if maybe she should just cancel her lifelong dream of seeing the universe and the stars beyond. But then remembered, that would mean leaving Omega with Quarti.

Alone.

Until they reached the colony.

She had only just met The Prophet. But Aleph already knew she would not wish that on her worst enemy. Let alone her best friend. She stared at her face in the mirror of the cramped train washroom and could already see how the prospect ahead of her was haunting, dragging her features down in horror.

“You can do this Aleph”

She tried to pump herself up, THen shuddered and stumbled into the stall. She turned the shower up to max heat and pressure. She didn't even disrobe, She could get a new sweater out of her luggage, this one had to burn after this ordeal anyway.

Yeah and she didn't need that outer layer of skin either.

Had to get clean!