Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 15: depth

Natrix was landing on the roof garden. Scilla and Wiola were outside looking at the landing process. The thrusters’ wind was blowing on their faces. It was way hotter than the rest of the atmosphere however that strange, almost supernatural screeching sound coming from them, was enough to freeze their blood. Then all stopped. Scilla was stunned by it’s beauty while Wiola was terrified. She was seeing this massive metal object totally alien to her. Natrix had no visible guns, probably retracted inside the hull, no access doors, no windows. It looked like a bunch of metal sheet welded together that somehow was capable of space flight. It was a weapon of destruction, the opposite of what she believed in as a medic.

“Idra, how do we get in?”

“before I take you in, I suggest you to bring back your little sister. She doesn’t look fine. If she goes too close to the wrong thing she could hurt herself.”

“give me a second I will be back”

Then Scilla moved to Wiola and walked her back inside the house. Once she was back Idra extended her hand.

“grab it. You won’t be able to see so this is the only way”

Scilla grabbed the hand then as at the HQ the ship emitted an interference field. This time it was smaller, just enough to cover the main body of the ship. The entrance was somewhere in the front of if. Metallic noises started ringing in Scilla’s hears. Then out of nowhere light, she was inside a small room that looked like an airlock. It was dark, just some emergency red light at ground level.

“is it always this dark?”

“yes, I can turn in up if you want. But I don’t see why I should illuminate an airlock.”

On the other side of the airlock the real ship. The first room at “ground level” was a massive hangar that was basically long the entire section of the ship. The almost rectangular hangar had 4 small airlocks for humans in the corners, so the 2 in the back would lead you right next to the main thrusters. Then on the front there was also a bigger airlock to move in and out the objects inside. Scilla was sure that Natrix “face” was opening entirely to let big objects go in and out. Along the side there was some step-ladders that lead to some hatches which looked like emergency passages. In the back a staircase to go on the upper level. All the sides and the celling were full of cables, some were even hanging out lose to go somewhere inside the walls. Near the back of the cargo bay there were some small doors probably leading to the others ship’s sections. It was really strange and chaotic. The hangar was around 4 meters tall. It was a place full of crates and other containers. It looked like Idra had already done some successfully expeditions.

“follow me I will bring you to the living quarters.”

Idra moved easily through all her stuff while Scilla had to squeeze a bit to pass.

This feel surreal. Everywhere I look it seems old, even older than the first satellite ever made, but I also know that it’s the most advanced shit out there. Then there is this strange smell in the air. Metal and burned rubber but also an unknown scent. It’s not a bad one neither a good one. I can’t tell what it is but I’m sure she didn’t put perfume on the ship ventilation system for me.

Once they reached the staircase Idra stopped before walking up.

“the ship is a bit of a mess. I don’t really get guests, to be fair you are the first one. I will show you around but my ship is unusual so...”

then she walked up. A short narrow corridor was leading to an open space that worked as a connector. The connector was small and filled with just cables. There was enough space to move around and it was obvious that it was just an intersection to somewhere else. On their back some holes like a capsule hotel that lead inside the walls of the corridor they just walk in. Those where 4 single unit room for the ship. A crawl only space that now was filled with some ship supply. A pair of step-ladders lead to an upper cabin inside the ceiling. The room had 5 more doors. Idra decide to show them all. The closes to the beds lead to the toilets. Nothing fancy but not so bad considering that everything is just the bare minimum to survive. Then the door next to it was for the canteen. A small place with a table built in the wall. Cables everywhere and the table was occupied by what looked like lab machine. On the other side a machine that Idra explained was the mush machine. Then in the remaining corner, inside all the cable a cocoon made with a blanked and a small pillow.

So she sleeps here sometime and what is this smell? It’s the same scent that was inside the hangar but stronger. It’s not that bad when its not mixed with metal and burned rubber.

“next that door would be the cockpit, but I can’t show it to you, sorry”

“don’t worry about it. I’m grateful that I was even allowed on your ship”

“however I could show you the storage for all my supply, my armoury laboratory and my bedroom”

then Idra moved in what she said was the armoury, Scilla followed her inside. The room was way bigger and full of unknown machines. Then Idra stepped on a platform and from the ceiling a series of mechanical arms reached for her armour. Piece by piece they where removing all the external protective plates. She was left with her hexagonal skin-tight black suit that could be considered revealing.

Don’t open you mouth and drool, don’t drool… Scilla contain yourself. She is completely covered. Think of something not exiting like dead bird, a grandma dancing naked…

“everything alright Scilla? You look a bit off.”

“yes, yes I’m fine. I’m just exited to see your armour builder that’s all.”

“I knew you would like it. It’s capable to remove all my armour, clean, repair and store it for when I need. This way I can always change my suit base on the mission. Usually I remove all, took off the inner layer as well and put on some ‘normal’ clothes but as per usual I can’t do that for now”

Then Idra also put away her 3 guns. 3 of the armoury’s walls where full of shelves, each one overflowing with stuff. There were weapons of any kind, from small pistol to massive heavy anti-matter sniper rifles. The same could have been said about the armour plates. Hundred of them of different shape, resistance and colours. It was an arsenal to allow a perfect gear for every possible eventuality. But it was not all. On the last side there where a lot of strange machines, mostly unknown but some of them looked like a centrifuge for some biology stuff.

After removing all her armour Idra rubbed her hands along all her body as if she was boasting about it to Scilla but it was not her intention.

Scilla resist her temptations, she isn’t doing what you think.

“do you like my armour? You see to make it works I need several layers. First you need special underwear that has a touch connection port. Then you put on the input transmission suit that looks a lot like a wetsuit but with arms and legs cut in half. Then there is the suit itself that is the one I’m wearing. It is the real first protective layer and is based around hexagonal modules so it can be adapted. The black gluey substance is an additional protective and sealing layer. It can change colour and shape isn’t it amazing. As far as I know it can be used even for corporeal waste disposal systems but I didn’t want an eating tentacle up my ass all the time. Then you put on the extra layer to become as sturdy as a tank and finally the insignias. It’s a long but beautiful process isn’t it?”

Scilla however was absorbed by something else, she was visualizing the so called waste disposal tentacle doing some inappropriate action to Idra’s body.

“Scilla are you there?”

“Yes, yes sorry I just zone out for a bit. Never thought you had to make so many step just to get in a suit. Lean’s tech is totally different you just get in and that’s it. Also you lab is amazing it’s like a dream becoming true.”

“About the power suit we started like that too but such suits basically moves thanks to an AI or by reading your constrained movement and then execute them. Such system has too much delay and you can’t really feel through it as if it was your normal body. About my lab thanks, one day I will show you in details”

“wait a moment you can feel object with your suit accurately? Not just a generic reaction pressure from some emulating device?”

“yeah, I can feel almost everything: touch, humidity, heat, wind and so on. I can also block those feeling otherwise I couldn't tank a shoot.”

“the fuck! That’s amazing”

“I know… now let me guide you to my room. It’s big enough for both of us but you are a bit too big to stand in it.

then Idra left the armoury grabbing, probably subconsciously, Scilla by her hand and climbed up the short step-ladder to her room. While doing so her butt was right in front of Scilla’s face. After all she walked Scilla right in front of the stairs.

Fucking hell, if I didn’t knew her I would immediately think that she is doing it on purpose. How could I keep it down if every-fucking-time you put your ass in front of my face.

After Idra, she took the ladder too and reach a bedroom. It was not possible for her to walk inside it. It span the entire space above the capsule rooms so it was fairly big in comparison to the others. Big enough for the 2 of them. The room was symmetrical and right next to the doors, built in the walls, there were a pair of desks one per side. Both of them were full of object. The one closer to Idra had some scientific lab machinery while the other had something that looked like clothes of some kind. In front of the bed an empty space like a small living room covered with blanked and some pillows placed down as if they where furnitures. Then the rest of the room narrowed down with the wall enclosing the extra sized bed. In front of the bed some shelves full of object as well and some small dressers. On the sided and ceiling there were some shining star like object, those famous night lights of hers. In the middle the big bed was basically a massive mattress with tens of blanks and pillows on top of it. Idra attention focused on the nearby desk where she saw a couple of vials inserted in some kind of spinning machine. She move a bit forward to be immediately scolded.

“don’t touch it!”

Scilla jumped back and looked at Idra surprised.

“sorry, but it’s a dangerous experiment you can’t touch it. Let me move it out”

“what is it?”

“I will tell you the truth because I can always make your head go boom. It’s an experiment about something that is in my blood”

Scilla was a bit confuse but she was also intrigued.

“so you have some lack of nutrient or an illness?”

“nope, do you remember the pain from the liquid I used to torture you?”

“how the fuck could I forget? It was so painful that I would fucking prefer to get shot multiple time that going through that again.”

“well I extracted that from my blood. Don’t worry it’s a metabolism waste or for now I suppose it’s. No eventual blood disease or shit like that from it, even if I have never had such kind of disease in the first place. Back to the substance I still don’t know what it is but it’s probably the worst poison ever discovered. It comes in two types, the weak one I used on you and a stronger one. I don’t know how to cure it but if you want I can show you the effect of the strongest one.”

“sure, maybe I can help being your thoughts resonance chamber.”

“thanks I suppose it would help, maybe I could even find a solution”

“do you want to use this molecule as a weapon?”

“not really. I just want to find a cure just in case. I want to help and I know I can. We are the one that made the first omni-cure. Maybe this things could even help us solve some problems if I learn how to control it.”

Then Idra took the experiment and left the room, probably to move it in the lab. The ship was totally silent so they kept on speaking. Her voice was becoming sadder and sadder the more she spoke but Scilla didn’t notice it at first.

“wow, so you are not completely evil”

“evilness is relative, especially to us. Most esterian are guided by their scientific nature. We study, we discover, we built. Sometimes we have to do what has to be done. What if to cure a mortal illness all you have to do is kill 10 infected. You could stay still waiting for you end, you could try to find a solution but the virus doesn’t wait for you. Or you can remove those creature. It’s not the best solution for all, but it’s the most efficient”

“never-mind that sounded like a real villain doing a monologue”

Then Idra reappeared at the room entrance she didn’t reply to Scilla’s last words. I suppose she is not really in the mood for stupid jokes and small teases.

Idra then lied down on the bed and incited Scilla to lied down as well but first she had to remove her shoes. The bed was really soft and soon something hit Scilla’s nose. It was that strange smell from the rest of the ship but here it was stronger.

So this is the source of it. Here it’s sweeter but not like a flower more like a tea with a bit of honey added in. it’s hard to describe but it’s good, not really intrusive or concealing for something else. Maybe I should ask what it is, at least it will distract her for whatever depressing things she is imagining now.

“idra can I ask you what this sweet scent is?”

“uh?? what scent?”

“don’t know, but here it’s stronger, is it the mattress that is made of some scented material?”

then Idra jumped on Scilla and put her hands on top Scilla’s nose and partially mouth.

“you pervert! You sly and lustful being! How dare you!”

Scilla’s voice was muffled by Idra’s hands

“what the hell, I just asked what did I do? You are the lustful one that is flirting with me putting around perfume”

“that is not perfume it’s my body smell you moron! I sleep here! it’s obviously stronger”

Saying that Idra was embarrassed was an understatement but then, while Scilla was enjoying Idra’s panic due to embarrassment, something clicked in her brain.

“would you describe my scent as sweet, is it always pleasant for you?”

“well yeah, it’s like the smell of a really good tea with something sweeter mixed in it. Not to sweet not to strong. I would say it’s basically the perfect ambient perfume. Why? Does it make some difference?”

Idra then jumped back and took a data-pad that was on the side of the bed. She didn’t really touched things on it, but windows and programs popped up, worked for a bit and then close. Then she stopped on a file with some 3D chemical structure of some molecules.

“I knew it! You are genetically resistant to esterians fear devices”

She was going to lie a bit, but the truth was not so distorted. Esterian are a mixed species between humans and morfians an ancient species precursor of humanity. The morfians were capable to produce chemical component to modify how their were percived. They could emit all kind of molecules and some were even capable to make the target hallucinating and die. Esterians were less capable but they could have the same ability. Everybody that could leave the esterian territory know how to emit molecules in order to make everybody else fear them, but Scilla was immune to the most common molecules used. Scilla’s genetic coded removed some receptors so she was physically unable to feel fear from such elements. Idra human disguise would be destroyed if she said something about it, but a little lie won’t hurt.

“fear what?”

“fear devices. We have part of our suit dedicated to emit defined molecules that modify how we are being perceived by other organic creatures. This molecules are scentless so nobody notice up until now. But you change everything.”

“how? Because you smell different for me?”

“well I’m not suppose to have such amazing scent as you described it, especially because I use scentless detergent. That can be possible only if you smell things in a different way. That would explain why you only feared me psychologistically and not also physically.”

“but I smell everything else fine. It’s not like I perceive smells totally different from others leans. How does that work with your theory?”

“you all can’t feel shit. Esterians and some humans can sniff with absolute precision but almost all humanoids have lost such capability so nobody of you can detect the non dominant scents.”

“I suppose it make sense, after all you are the one that can detect illness by sniffing peoples. The best I can do is understand if you have shit yourself”

Idra was gazing at the data-pad. Files where opening and closing at inhuman speed. She was composing a new file, about the scent effect, the leans possible resistance and so on. Then Scilla interrupted her by touching one of Idra’s hands that was holding the pad.

“I have to ask you, even if you don’t answer back. Why do you want to be feared?”

Idra placed the pad beside her on the bed, then she curled up her legs and enclose them with her arms. She placed her head on the knees and looked at Scilla that was lying down beside her.

“how knows. Maybe it’s to keep other away, maybe it’s our solution or maybe we are just crazy”

“madness.. an easy way out for a tricky question”

“don’t try to outsmart me with your fancy words girl”

“I’m not pulling trick on you, but it’s hard to believe that your kind is gone crazy. You all work too efficiently, too coordinated and in ways that are far outside our comprehension. A bunch of psychos won’t be able to achieve so much”

“you are right. Psychos won’t be able to compete with us. But what are we now? What do we stand for? And more importantly what is my purpose.”

Idra emitted a long sigh then she spoke again. This time she opened her helmet to let her real voice flow out, to let her expressions speak as well as her words.

“I have been built for a reason, I was created from necessity and despair. Born in darkness to be light.”

“Idra I...”

“I’m young yet I have seen so much that could fill thousands of lives. I have seen madness, I have witness insane desperation and its insane solutions. I have been hope, I have been strength, I have been a guide. They needed me and they still believe they do. I have done so many things yet they name their child after me. I have destroyed so much yet they praise me, they build statue of my heroic actions…”

Scilla perceived that something wasn’t right. She stood and hugged Idra. It was not the first time that she touched her armour but this time it was different. The usually perfectly ambient temperature suit was now cold. It was hard as a diamond and it was reacting. The black fluid was moving along the suit pushing Scilla away.

“I know that you are thinking. You are not a monster. And you will always have a purpose”

“what could that be?”

“are you sure you are the smartest esterian around? It’s obviously me. You will have to win the biggest price of all history”

A big smile on Scilla’s face, she was trying to lift the mood and it worked. Idra burst out with laughter, happy laughter.

“that’s the stupidest shit I ever hear, why would you be the best thing ever?”

“what?!? are you saying I’m not? You ungrateful kid that need a blanked to sleep”

“shut up space fanatic”

“at least I don’t have my mum milk on my mouth”

Idra laughs again.

“thanks Scilla. Sometime things can get out of hand…”

“I will always be here for you, or there in my house don’t really know” then a long yawn.

“I suppose the omni-cure is kicking in. You should take I nap, my bed is really comfy”

“yeah it’s soft as hell, you won’t mind if I sleep a bit right?” another yawn. That was definitely the side effect of the cure.

“I told you. Go on I will wake you up after some time.”

“will… will you sleep beside me?” Scilla was slowing loosing consciousness. It was becoming harder and harder to stay awake.

“nah, I will be working. I will be back after you have rested a bit”

“wait… Idra...don’t… … go…” now she was asleep.

“sleep well… my treasure” then Idra left the room. She had some experiment to do.