Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 7: traitors

Days went by without mayor event except a new force demonstration by Idra. When Morea was dismissed Idra forced her to keep her words and to hit her back. Both with power amour on obviously. Morea struck with all her force but Idra’s armour didn’t even dent. The event that was meant to show Idra taking responsibility became known for showing how much stronger she is. 8 days of almost total peace were really pleasant for Lis that could focus on her job and also teach something to Idra after dinner. Lis was looking at Idra, she was sitting on the cabin’s floor writing things on her data-pad and drawing on some paper with her blue ink pen. When Lis gave her that pen with some paper to use it on, she was extremely happy. That time Lis also discovered that Idra didn’t know how to write. She really never had a pen. All she had were computers and keyboards. So the first thing that Lis taught her was obviously how to write with a pen.

The mere speed that she need to understand new task is astonishing. 8 days ago she didn’t even know how to hold the pen, now she is writing in both Unified Language alphabet than the Leanir alphabet. She just need to see 1 time how things are done and she basically learned them. Each night she become smarter and smarter. I don’t know if its her or her AI but I suppose it the former that is just an unstoppable learning monster. If all esterians are like her I can easily understand how the become so advanced in such short time.

It was the 10th day of their journey to Icar 3° and a new problem emerged.

Idra was drawing some strange looking flower on a paper sheet then she flipped to look at Lis right in the eyes. Well probably right in the eyes.

“we have a problem, a big one”

“what? Have you lost your blanket?”

“no my blanket is fine, it’s on my bed. The problem is that there are traitors on your ship Scilla”

Traitors. That word shocked Lis that immediately demanded an explanation. Traitors are a big deal on a scavenger ship that usually carry classified informations, and Lis in particular hate traitors.

“you have proof?”

“yes and no. the one I have won’t be accepted and I can’t provide it to you. I know we still have some trust issue between us, however I think this can be a big opportunity. I have a plan but you will obviously have to trust me.”

“what kind of traitor? And what do you have in mind?”

“the kind of traitors that works together to sell informations. My images don’t show much, but it looks like a summary of all our activities. That isn’t suspicious by itself but other time I have seen xoraxtas names on the same data-pad and others unknown names, I suppose filthy non-voters on Icar 3°. I’m 97% sure about my findings so I want to help you out.”

fucking scum bags!. Stealing informations on my ship to sell them to fucking homos and our enemy that helped the droxi. If it’s true the will have to pray to even reach Icar alive.

“supposing it is all correct, I won’t ask you how you got those informations, what is your plan?”

“I’m always with you and they know. However I can play the sick card. Even in my power suit there is something I can’t escape. My menstruation pains. Esterians are humans so like humans we have a fertility cycle that in our case it’s really painful. Leans don’t have it so no medic will be dispatched because I’m the one who know better what I should do to reduce the pain. Then while the news spread I sneak out and go to the hangar. I see that they stay in there often. On my signal you rush in and start asking questions. They will panic and if they try to delete their files I jump in.”

“it’s a mad plan, what if they are innocent? but I guess they aren’t otherwise you would not be saying so. However there is a small problem. How can you get in the hangar? If I add you to the authorize people the will suspect something isn’t right.”

“no need, I can enter without problems”

“since when?”

“since the first day. Didn’t you find in strange that I can enter your room without any identification? I didn’t go in only because I didn’t want to betray you.”

“fuck you are right, I never added you. I appreciate your will to not betray me even if you could.”

“told you. I’m a woman of word.”

“I get it, but how can you go in?”

“can’t tell you...”

“let me guess, restricted informations. Where there be a day when you will tell me anything?”

“yeah, it will be the day our species become ally or the day you marry me”

Lis hesitated for a bit. Idra don’t make jokes because she just don’t understand how they work, so is she really saying that I can marry her?. I should be completely crazy to do such thing.

“then it will be a long time”

“not necessarily, as said there is always a second option”

“yeah, I’m not that desperate”

“me neither but who knows”

Idra then laughed and Lis did the same. The two now looked like some old friend teasing each other.

“let’s go with you plan. I will be ready for your signal. I will trust you that you will take the pad of their hands”

“your trust will be reward with 2 fucking traitors and all their data for sure”

the 12th day was the day. At morning Idra faked some painful menstruation so she was left alone in the cabin. In less then an hour all main deck and more knew that she was sick. It was time to start the operation. Unknown to others, Idra had always been wearing the most advanced armour ever produce by and esterian. The Armatura-Modulare-Spettro-111 or AMS111 was a rare prototype armour that is neurally connected with the user. The AMS111 was know to burn the nervous system of the user so it was never produced in series. However Idra was no common esterian. She was “adjusted” to be able to use the AMS111 that provides her with incredible benefits. The AMS111 boost your strength, it protect you even from small spaceship weapons, it is able to stop your falling, its able to change colour to adapt, it can also go completely invisible. AMS111 has a lot of other feature specifically built in for Idra, the M (modular) is there for a reason. For Idra’s operation 3 function had to work perfectly. 1° the possibility to generate micro channels from inside the suit to the surface. Microchannels where needed to allow a direct path between Idra’s skin and an electronic object that needs to be controlled. 2° the silent movement had to work to erase all her sound. The AMS111 is a really quiet suit but with the right tech you can erase you sound by generating a wave in push-pull to cancel the first one. 3° the cloaking device. By using extreme amount of energy and calculations it generate a distortion electromagnetic field that curve all electromagnetic waves. The field bend the waves to then put them back as if the was no obstacle, it was the best solution that esterian have found to provide selective cloaking. It was also a really precise field so you could modify it to keep see outside by not bending non-visible electromagnetic waves such as infrared.

--cloaking activated--

cloaked she moved to the door. She just has to touch the command to make it open.

--hangar safest route establish--

such a pain in the ass. What I’m doing just for a creature that isn’t scared of me. I could just abduct her but I’m sure that it won’t generate the wanted outcome. This I the best way.

--hangar reached--

--establishing video feed--

From the first moment that she walked on the ship, Idra placed some micro spy bot around capable of moving. It was them who found out about the traitors. As she did before, she putted her hand on the door commands to hack in it and open the door for her. Nobody was watching so nobody knew she was in.

--Releasing holographic projectors--

Idra then moved to an unused corner to switch to passive cloaking and bland without using to mush energy from the suit. How all she had to do is waiting for the traitors to arrive, call idra and wait for her. Then jump on them and take all their information.

--cloaking deactivated--

--passive cloaking activated--

Like the brutal murderer she is, she was waiting, but each minute she was getting angrier. Her pray wasn’t coming and the worst part was that she couldn’t eviscerate them and play with their organs. Fortunately for the traitor they entered the hangar about 2 hours later so Idra informed Lis.

--Natrix support system shutting down. All functions transferred to main computational unit 511. All system under your control master 511. Have a good hunt 511--

Lis, Morea and 3 other Leans, the one she trusted the most where ready behind the hangar door. It was show time.

“follow my order. We go in, point our weapons and surround the 2 traitors, we need to keep them alive and prevent them to delete any informations.”

all her squad responder together.

“yes commander Lis, on your signal”

The hangar door opened.

“now!, go in!”

they rushed in, weapons drawn pointed toward the traitor.

“don’t move!!”

Screamed Lis. The 2 traitors were speaking together, one had a pad in hand, they were obviously scared by the screaming and armed Lis. The one with the pad in hand started to move and hand toward it. In a fraction of seconds 5 Idra’s popped out of nowhere in front of them surrounding the two. They were taken aback for enough time to stop them from deleting anything.

“Idra don’t kill them!”

Immediately, in just a bunch of seconds, all 5 idra’s started to attack the traitors with their bare fist. Obviously only one was physical. A punch hit in the middle of the torso the first traitor that took a couple of step backward. Immediately Idra span on herself to hit with a kick the other one. She let go of the pad. Idra span again to catch the falling pad and to give a side kick to the first lean to make her fall as well. Lis and her squad jumped on them and captured them.

“Don’t move! fucking traitors!”

The hologram disappeared and Idra was standing there. She was staring at the pad. Then she gave it to Lis.

“I was right. Read it for yourself. When you are done and if you want, you can bring me all the other electronics, I will hack into them as well”

it took just a pair of minutes to read enough to incriminate the two. Unauthorized report and activity summary. Idra was right. There were contact for xoraxtas and some idiot on Icar 3°. fortunately for Lis there are no known ways to communicate while using a jump drive, so information was carried to each system by special intelligence ship that spend their all existence carrying informations around. The huge information delay was also the reason why all known domains are relatively small.

“Scilla, I will go back to our cabin. I suppose you have a lot to discuss. Contact me if you need me”

With this I suppose I earned her trust. I can also ask for a reward. She won’t say no to sharing basic personal informations with me. One step closer.

--Natrix support system online--

“thanks Idra!”

Idra didn’t really care about the traitors, she just wanted to help Lis taking care of them. Every possible information that she had revealed was useless, so even if they didn’t capture them it was not her problem. Strangely enough she was somewhat happy. Usually she torture her enemies to satisfy her thirst for blood and pain but this time she helped Lis. The thanks was enough to stop her from making a massacre. She waited the rest of the day in the cabin trying to draw a flower. It was a Wiipsca from her home planet. A breathtaking flower full of thorns that opens only after a heavy rain. Its smells is weak but also hypnotic. It was a special flower for Idra because it grew in the swamp right outside her window. She loved watching it attracting unaware creature to their death gasping for air while sinking in the mud. Idra tried over and over again to draw it, but her new learned skill with the pen and the extremely complex geometry stopped her from coming even close to the real wiipsca appearance. Then after a lot of time, Lis was finally back.

“welcome back Scilla, how did it go?”

“thanks for your help. It’s going somewhere but I will need your help tomorrow with the other devices and another interrogation”

“sure, however I want a reward at least for what I did today”

and here I was thinking that she did all of this just for gaining my trust

“isn’t my trust enough?”

“yes and no. I would like to further improve our friendship and also have an extra pillow and blanket”

“why and extra pillow and a second blanket, the one you have aren’t good any-more?”

“nope, they are fine. I just want a second on both to play with. I actually like pillows and blankets. They are soft and squishy”

“ok, doesn’t seem to unreasonable. Then what do you mean by improving our friendship?”

“I want to know basic informations, like you home planet, your full name if you have one, your age and things like that. Things a friend should know right?”

“fair enough, but you will have to tell me some too”

“then what is you age? How was your home?”

“i’m 41 born on Icar 3° and I guess it was a fine place. We didn’t have a big house but after I started working for the Hakavors I could move my family to a better city and to a better place. How about you?”

“I suppose telling my age won’t kill me. I’m 26 years old. I lived in a big house I guess”

“holy shit, you are like a kid”

“i’m not a kid! Humans grow faster. Leans live for about 160 years so I’m basically your age.”

“well that explain why you know nothing of the world. 12 years of peace plus 7 of war, even if it was not technically all war, you basically where 7 when the droxi extermination war started.”

“is it bad if I’m young?”

“not really. I was just reflecting a bit about how you behave. Now it makes a lot more sense”

then Lis laughed a bit to be interrupted by Idra.

“shut up! Its not like you are a wise old woman with a long ass marriage and tons of kids.”

“in fact I’m not, I don’t really care about marriage at all, but I’m still wiser than you”

--lie detected--

“doesn’t seems so”

“are you saying I’m not wiser you puny kid?”

“i’m speaking about you interest in marriage, you are lying about it”

“it’s none of you business”

“We are friend, you should be able to speak about it with me?

“I don’t want to, it’s personal”

“how about I tell you something personal too and we both swear to keep it a secret until death?”

Why is she so stubborn about it?. Why does she care?. Well I know she will never say a word about it. So if I receive information as well.

“then go on Idra. What are is your proposal”

“you tell me why you want to marry but don’t and I tell you why I’m called Idra 511 weeping sky”

“ok, but you go first”

“weeping sky is the name of my home planet. Its a beautiful planet if you love strong winds and heavy rains. Every time it rains there is also some winds so I looks like the sky is crying because there is rain and the sound of the wind between the trees. Then the Idra 511 is technically my code name. I’m the 511 prototype of the Idra series. But I can’t tell you more. At least not now”

a risky move for me, but she will eventually know the truth once she is I my clutches.

Fucking hell, she is a robot. I knew it.

“I knew it, you are a machine!”

“no I’m not! The hell did you understand. I’m a human experiment you idiot”

“oh, that makes more sense. Robot don’t need to eat”

“you really wanted to believe I was a machine didn’t you?”

“yep I’m guilt of that. Well you title make more sense now but why do you have a title that is the name of you planet? And more importantly if you are 511 are there 510 more Idras around?”

“I can’t tell you any of that. You don’t have to worry about it and now it’s you turn to say the truth”

I guess she told me a lot. Knowing that she basically is a living experiment for hells know what is kinda scary and sad. I don’t think I would be happy to always be remembered that I’m a living test subject. Well it’s my time now.

“I’m almost sterile. That is my problem. Leans are not really fertile by nature, after the war I found out that I’m not really capable of having kids. My only hope is to have them with a female human that are basically extra fertile and compensate for my lack. I don’t want to make my parents worry and I don’t want to force a partner in an almost certain kidless marriage. That is why i accepted this job. Being far way from home, higher death risk than in war, no communication. I suppose just wanted to run away...”

Lis words were heavy and sad. A family is basically a must in a lean life. Living without kids and without creating a family isn’t something a conservative and old school creature like Lis could do. The more she thought about it the sadder she became until Idra sat beside her and leant on her shoulder.

“Idra, what are you doing?”

“I don’t know. In those days I read a book. In it the main character was comforted in this way so I’m mimicking it. Is it working?”

Being cheered up by an emotionless esterian. That will be a funny story to tell.

“I suppose. It just strange and comical”

“you face when you look at the mirror is comical. My acting skills recreating affective moments are perfect”

Sarcasm. In 12 days she even learned it. Well one day she will probably go around making dad jokes.

“thanks”

I won’t let you go away fearless Scilla. This is only the beginning.

While Lis calmed down, Idra’s mind was focused on her next move. She now discovered a new possibility to keep Scilla with her. She just have to find the right timing. From the very beginning she become obsessed with Scilla. Even other esterian have to hold back their intestine to not shit themselves every time they met her, but Scilla was different. She approached her from the start and now she is gradually becoming more and more friendlier. It was a life time opportunity to finally have a friend and maybe even more. A family that has left her alone long ago.