Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 27: nightmare

Idra’s plan was all but a safe option, yet they should start from somewhere. Scilla used at her advantage the common hatred for Xoraxtas while explaining to the rest of her crew their new mission. Needless to say that only few Lean were against the use of violence, especially because all of it was going to be done by Idra and she assured that there will be no traces of their presence.

The L.F. Sheridan was loaded and ready for the interstellar trip and so they begun jumping from start to star, letting the engines cooling from time to time. Idra had defined a schedule to reach Shimuya just 2 hours after the patrol change. Just to be safe. Her plan was astonishing even for Lean’s standards. Everything was calculated from trajectory to gravitational slingshot while cooling the engines. Every second was calculated with additional error on both time used and trajectory.

She can’t have just made this. Why do I feel like she had already planned all of this?. Well it’s a solid plan so what’s the point of complaining.

Their journey had just begun and as soon as the ship initiate the first jump “suitors” started flocking around Idra.

Scilla was at her command station on the main deck, beside her Idra had her little workspace that was mostly symbolic. Then while Scilla was still looking into Idra’s detailed plan, a femari Lean approached the Esterian.

“Miss Weeping Sky, it’s a pleasure to have you on board. Me and a few others were thinking that…”

Idra stood up. Absolute silence coming from her suit staring back at the femari.

“yeah, emmh I… I was saying that…”

Scilla was about to interfere but strangely enough Idra spoke back. Her voice was filled with murderous tones but she kept herself at bay.

“you we thinking wrong.”

the ‘fear’ gas was starting to kick in the young soldier. First she started avoiding Idra’s eyes-less gaze then her hands started shaking and finally her legs.

“disappear from my sight before I mince you into a burger. RUN!”

as Idra shouted the solider fell on her butt to immediately panic to regain her stance and ran away.

Well she didn't kill her. Good enough but I will have to find a way to stop this clown show before anything happens.

“good job girl” commented Scilla.

“told you. No need for your defence.”

As time passed nothing happened. Both Idra and Scilla could sense the eyes of several other “suitors” that were looking for a gap in Idra’s action to approach the creature, but they all failed. Idra was extremely defensive and totally indifferent to anybody that was not Scilla or one of the few ship officials.

After already half a day it was time to eat and so Idra and Scilla returned to their “usual” routine in the canteen. While waiting for Scilla with food for both of them a new soldier was approaching.

Let’s see so that is the next sucker that wants to be humiliated.

“can.. can I sit at your table miss Weeping Sky?” started the soldier. Visible tension was all over her body. She was scared as all are but probably the Liin was going to give her a lot of money in case of success.

“what do you think soldier?”

“well… it’s.. empty so I suppose I can sit” the poor femari put her plate filled with food on the table and was about to sit when one of idra’s glove’s probe cut deep into the soldier’s steak and plate. The sound of the metallic pointy probe scratching the table froze the soldier in place.

“suppose again. What. Do. You. Think. Soldier?”

“I...i… I’m sorry if I o..o...offended you… it was… was not…”

“shut up!” shouting so Idra’s probe cut also into the canteen table. Then she retrieve it and sat back.

“one more word and you are next”

as predictable the soldier left all in place and ran away exactly as Scilla was approaching the table with the food.

“let me guess, a new clown?”

“How could you tell? Are you a genius” replied Idra in a sarcastic tone.

“that fucking Liin. I’m looking into all the possible idiot that she could have bought for her plan, but…”

“don’t worry. There were definitely way more this morning but in just few hours their number has drastically drop. A few more and none would try to get close to me again.”

“well I’m still sorry that you have to be the villain in all this”

“Villain… what a funny word. Maybe I am one. I told you before that they are alive only because I don’t care enough to kill them.”

“then thanks for not killing my crew.” said Scilla smiling.

“you are welcome” replied happily Idra.

Without any more surprises the day was ending. Even in space keeping up with a day-night cycle in fundamental for productivity and biological regulation. Scilla was already sleeping but Idra had something else to do. Silently she left the room and hid inside one of the many crew bathroom. There she waited camouflaged in a dark corner. After 2 hours the first soldier that approached her in the morning was ending her turn and getting ready to sleep. Idra let her conclude her business but approached once the soldier was washing her hands. Out of “nowhere” she appeared beside the soldier.

“Hi”.

The femari jumped away scared to find herself shoulders against a wall. The soldier mustered up her courage and spoke back.

“G..Good E...Evening Miss..We..Weeping…”

She had no time to end her phrase that Idra jumped onto her. Idra’s left hand enhanced by the power armour was grabbing the soldier neck. Fighting against a power armour is useless so the soldier tried to beg for her life.

“please… I..can’t breath… I..don’t want.. to die…”

the soldier was crying while her oxygen was running lower and lower, yet Idra didn’t let go.

|/kill. Break. Destroy. Feed. Grow. Rebuilt. Remodel. Feed. Grow. Feed. Grow. Destroy. Consume.|/

“shut the fuck up! I’m the one who decide!”

“meet the others cock suckers like you and convey my message. If even one of you tries to pull anything funny, not only on me but also on Scilla, you will never get back home.”

then Idra tossed away the crying femari that started couching and heavily breathing.

“you are (cough) a fucking psycho.(cough) I knew I should have (couch) never accepted this shit. (cough) you can’t tame monsters.”

if only I could fucking kill her.

Idra obviously was pissed but she refrain from her “usual disposal method” however she had to do something so with all the needed calculation she choose to go for a couple of kicks. The first right in the soldier stomach and the second one on the thighs, just to avoid killing her.

“you better get moving. If tomorrow someone get even close to me I’ll be back. And there is no place in space where you can hide from me”.

As if nothing happened at all Idra just went back to sleep in her shared room with Scilla.

Days passed and “strangely” nobody ever approached Idra gain after the first day, except Lucero Castro. The man was not particularity scared by Idra’s natural presence but he was far from being immune to her fear gas. Still he kept on trying to speak with Idra even if she didn’t even answer most of the time. Needless to say that Scilla was not liking his dedication. Scilla had all needed data about her crew but personal life is not that important to be a member of both army and Hakavor’s army. So to get something related to Castro private relationship she had to go the old ways. Scilla instructed Morea to ask around about Castro’s private life, his colleagues must know something that she doesn’t. At the 4° day of the 24 needed days for the journey, Morea was back with some knowledge and was entering Scilla’s room, to then stop by the door.

“hi Morea. Bringing in some news?”

Scilla was in her small private office with her door open to the main room. As always she was at her computer looking at all kind of data.

“Hi commander Lis and yes I have some news… did you buy a spaceship model? It looks pricey”

in the “living room” Scilla placed a table, with all needed adjustment for containing small pieces while the ship moves, on top of it there was the extremely costly scale model that Idra brought on Icar 3°.

“Idra bought it. She said it was a gift for both on the first evening. Apparently she is interested in scale models or something like that. You know how she is right?”

“yeah, I know way too well. So back to the news I have nothing on Castro. So far all his colleagues and friends have been collaborative and their descriptions are matching. A good man with some highs and lows as all of us. He takes his duties as a male seriously and apparently giving sample of organic matters and taking part of research tests is fundamental for him. He apparently joined us to be also able to travel a lot in order to provide more data between mission to our researchers.”

“previous relationships? Failed marriages, undeclared children?”

“highly unlikely. Sorry commander but so far he seems like a good man. The only suspicious things is that he is 89 but had no relationships. Still he has a secret porn collection so I doubt he has... that kind of problems.”

“so he could be after Idra…”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t feel that way to me.”

“well I will ask Idra when she gets back”

Morea was a bit confused, she thought Idra was always near Scilla.

“you mean that she is not using the toilet?”

“nope, she is around somewhere. Haven’t you seen her?”

“not really. But is it safe to let her go as she pleases?”

“Morea, my friend. We already spoke about this. At least you above all other officials should trust her. Not blindly trust her but at least try. She is not.. ‘not evil’ is not really accurate. Let’s say she doesn’t want to murder you as much as she says.”

“I know commander. It’s just how she feels when she gets close. That eyes-less and soundless suit just doesn’t work with my instinct. She doesn’t feel right. Are you sure she is not a robot?”

“yes I’m sure Morea. She is organic as much as we are. Esterian just see life differently. They prefer to be feared than loved and believe that prevention is better than curing.”

“I can try again, but doesn’t she hates me? You know we kinda insulted each other and well I keep opposing her…”

“just apologise to her. She doesn’t hate you, she is just keeping you in place. If you tell her that you fucked up because you didn’t trust her she will understand. Probably.”

“then I suppose I will come back later so…”

“don’t need for that. She will be here in 20 seconds”

“the fuck?”

“I gave her a time schedule and she always follows it. Just wait”

“as if I would believe such I l(lie)”

“now”—”Morea, you are in the way.”

Idra’s voice came exactly 20 seconds later as the ship clock ticked to 20:00:00. Morea was obviously surprised and jumped forward inside the room.

“Welcome back Idra.”

“Hi Scilla. Morea.”

Still suspicious Morea had to ask.

“where have you been?”

Idra, that was walking toward her bed, immediately turned toward Morea.

“let me answer you as my people would do. Fatti una riga di cazzi tuoi.” (make a line of your own dicks/ offensive way to say: it’s none of your business).

Morea didn’t really like Idra’s offensive tone but Scilla gave her sign to do nothing and then replied.

“Idra can you tell me what you did before?”

“sure Scilla. I walked around. I stopped by the emergency food factory and then I played a bit with one of your fusion missiles. Not bad but not good neither. Too easy to take down as they are now.”

“if you have a solution you can tell me. If you want”

“nah. It’s a military grade technology. We agree upon not selling those for now.”

“well I guess I’m out of luck. Speaking of out of luck Morea wanted to tell you something”

“what?”—”what do I want to tell her commander?”

“you know what Morea. Go on.”

Both Scilla and Idra could see that Morea was not particularly happy at the beginning but then she relaxed a bit before speaking.

“Fuck. You did me dirty commander.”

“I know.”

“well.. I’m Idra… I wanted to apologise. I…”

“shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear your fake shit. You can tell me the truth or get the fuck out.”

Morea smirked but then she stayed and continued speaking.

“ok. I don’t trust you. You feel odd, you are fucking scary and creepy. You are evil and violent. I don’t like it. But I have to admit I was wrong on Icar 3°. I didn’t treat you fairly while you did. So I’m sorry for that but I still don’t really like how you…”

Idra burst out laughing at Morea’s words but still she liked them.

“yeah that is what I wanted to hear. An honest opinion. I accept you apology. I guess you are better than what I believed. so. When do you get out of my room?”

“you fucking…”

“HA! Got you. Sorry Morea, I had to say it.”

Scilla joined the conversation.

“you are making progress. That was a good pun. But don’t bully her too much. Leans have feeling, usually.”

“ok Scilla. You can stay or leave Morea. I have no more grudges against you so do what you want.”

“well it’s not like I have much more to say to our commander. So I will…”

“was is again about the Castro dude?”

“how do you know?” asked Morea.

“traded secret. But let me add that he is harmless as Morea believes. He is just looking for an intellectual exchange. He basically looking for a friend with different idea to speak about science. Nothing more. Not paid by the Liin.”

“well now we know. Thanks Idra” concluded Scilla.

5 more days passed by without much to report, it was the night of the 9° day of journey out of 24. A second meeting was suppose to happen during the 10° day. Scilla and Idra were sleeping peacefully until something disturbed Scilla’s dreams. Her peaceful dreams started to change and become more vivid, more clear. She soon realised that she was back into Idra’s memories but she was not alone. Not the strange creature but Idra herself was there, sort of. Scilla was following a small Idra 511, probably 10 years old, through a dark and narrow corridor. The architecture of the structure was brutal and oppressive. It had no reason to appeal to the eyes all that matters just to be functional. Door after door, corridor after corridor they reached a massive room. Immediately its nature was clear, it was a hospital ward. It had several beds all surrounded by so many machines that it was hard to even spot the patients.

Idra walked between the machines to one of the beds. There dying on it she saw Idra 478, the same Idra that pressed to seal away 511. 478 was not inside her suit and she was clearly dying of rapid decay. She looked old, sick and frail, there was not much in common with Iris’s face but you could tell that they shared some blood. The sick woman was sorry. She was speaking about her mistakes.

“I fucked up 511. I should have control myself yet I imprisoned you. I won’t ask to be forgiven…. You are a good kid. You will do greatness beyond my limited imagination. Don’t let my mistakes slow you down.” Scilla finally reach the bed as well and as soon as she moved beside Iris things changed. She shifted from reality to Iris perspective of the event. The room was suffocating, collapsing and liquefying around her. The floor was full of hands and faces screaming in pains trying to grab her legs and drag her down. 478 was a monster of undefined forms, with hands, tentacles, teeth, sharps bones and all kind of monstrosity emerging from her body. She was cursing at Iris, blaming her for her imminent death, for all the previous Idras. “you are a fucking failure, an aberration that is walking around. We are dying because you are useless as much as a fart against a tornado. You can’t do anything good because you don’t have anything good to begin with. You should have been killed inside the assembly machine.” before Scilla could do anything hands dragged both of them in the ground and the dream collapsed. Scilla woke up and at the same time she heard a thud. It was Idra that fell out of her bed. She was on the floor a bit confused but quickly recovering.

“everything ok Idra?”

“I’m fine… no I’m not fine.” she looked toward the door that locked itself. And then continued in a sad tone.

“I had a nightmare. I suppose they are back.” saying so she stood up and sat back on her bed.

Scilla moved beside her and replied.

“what to speak about it? It could help.”

“I don’t need help. But I guess I could tell you a bit. Idras invented the omni-cure. It was not a medicine to begin with. It was a machine replenish compressed unit. They just took it once they machine sack ran dry to fill it back. With time we improved it until it become useful even for others. Initially it was used for minor problems like a scratch, a small burn and so on. It helped healing faster but with heavy side effects if used on greater injuries. With time it improved but the toll for using it was still to high. I was the one that improved it to make it usable without much side effects. Now it just eat your nutritions but saves your life.”

“it’s a good story but I don’t think you are having nightmares because you helped people”

“it didn’t made it for people, it was for 471. she was the first sister that I saw dying. I wanted to help. I improved the cure but nothing changed. So I repeated the process with the next sister. A new model but didn’t work neither. A made all 4 public variant of the omni-cure that exist but not ever worked. If I was smarter, faster and braver I could have finished the 5° prototype before 484 got sick. In time to give it to her just 20 minute before. Maybe now 484 would have been alive.”

“it’s not your fault if they died...”

“how could it not be my fault!? I was there!, I could have helped them. If prototype 5 was completed faster maybe they would have survived. I let them all down. I let them die. It’s my fault that I have no family. I killed them Scilla!”

But that was clearly not the case. Iris tried her best to the very last moment and failed. How could a kid, built for “fun” be at fault. She was distorting reality. Her memory is different. Her sisters made mistakes as well but never accused her, quiet the opposite. They saw how much she cared, how much she tried and re-evaluate their choices. Seeing their faults, not Iris’s faults. That brief time inside Iris’s nightmare were enough to define Scilla’s action that put her hands on Idra’s helmet and force her to stare back.

“you were a kid Idra. You were even built for test, as an experiment. Nobody ever wanted anything from you. You were not their medic. You told me before that all Idras dies because they are faulty from the beginning. There was nothing that you could have done.”

“no. I’m a genius. I have the knowledge to help them. If I can turn back time I would be able to save them. I just need I way to turn back time….”

Scilla slapped both side of Idra helmet.

“do you fucking hear what you are saying? Turn back time? It’s impossible and even if it was you are NOW able to help or so you think. Without all the try and error you won’t be able to do shit anyway. You tried to help. Do you really think that your sisters wanted you beside them if they hated you? Do you think they all wanted to say their last words to someone they hated? Ha? come one. Reply to me”

“I don’t know. Maybe they resented me. So it could be possible”

scilla shook Iris head as hard as she could.

“use your fucking brain once in your life. And try to think back at what you did. How your life was once you were getting older. Did they really hated you?”

saying so Scilla stood and moved back in her bed. Leaving Idra to think by herself. Not much after, once she was about to fall asleep, she felt something moving around her. Idra climbed over Scilla to place herself between Scilla’s body and the bed wall. She get in to be back to back with Scilla and brought her blanket.

Mnh. What a cute kid. I guess she reflected but she is still scared of a new nightmare. Who would have guessed, being scared of nightmares. Well I suppose all the trauma that I’m exposed to while walking in her mind is worth it.

“can I have a bit of blanket as well?”

“you said that you don’t need it.”

“you don’t need it neither but having it improve your sleeps. So I want mine to improve as well, after all I’m sharing my bed”

Idra didn’t reply. She just moved and covered Scilla as well, to then get back to face the wall.

“can I expand a bit and… hug you?”

“don’t get greedy and appreciate what you have”

“ok. Good night Idra.”

“Good night Scilla.”