Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 56: chimera

Time kept passing while Cscuicha improved her plan over and over again to the point of perfection. Well almost perfection. The 4 months passed slowly but finally the fateful day arrived. It was time again to face the Esterians and it was time for heavy decisions to be made. Their negotiations could go smoothly or develop into war.

In contrast to the previous time, the Esterians arrived in time, yet they waited that all the other members entered the building before disembarking. Cscuicha was watching from her position using the building cameras. Something was different. 8 ships arrived. One of those was clearly different. It was about 150 metres long, wide about 43 metres and tall 16 metres. It was around 2.5 times bigger than the other ships and it had no retractable guns. It had a double lines of rail guns on top and at the bottom for a total of 42 high calibre guns. It had around the same number of anti-missiles guns. Just by looking it was obvious that it carried torpedoes and also micro-missiles salvos. It was a true machine of war probably as capable as the L.F.Sheridan, and it was floating above them stationary totally unfazed by the strong winds of early spring.

Nixie’s guards were also higher in numbers. She was however followed by only 1 other diplomat. It was almost as if they were expecting troubles.

Something ain’t right here. Does she think I’ll let a fight surge inside my home?. Under my supervision?

On the other hand when Nixie and her team entered the new room Nixie waved her hand in greeting toward Cscuicha. This time the meeting was held into a different room that instead of having a central circular table was more akin to a parliament. It had a podium in the centre of the half circular room. On it Cscuicha, her guards and other Leans. All around as if they were different parties there were the ambassadors. Lorcas and Nixie were sat at the opposite side of the room. One of the left and Nixie on the right from Cscuicha’s position.

Nixie’s fight with Lorcas immediately started but she was a lot more gentle with her tones and ways. The only suspicious thing was her fast distraction from time to time. They were barely perceptible as her stare unfocused from Lorcas to set just behind him.

Who is she looking at? Behind Lorcas on the left… a woman. Never spoke to her. She is some no-name from some useless independent Human planet. What is she after then?. It can’t be her. Their colony is constantly struggling and receives aids from Terrans. Something smell fishy here.

“I see that our criminal has yet to be brought in” said Lorcas. He was still after Idra, or maybe his citizens were.

“just to please you, we informed Idra that your people wanted to speak with her. She didn’t really reply nor sent anything back. The only reply from Weeping Sky recite: Reply already delivered. Waiting response. end quote. Frankly we have no clue what this is about. All I can think of is that somehow you already received Idra’s reply. Maybe you are yet to be aware of it”

Lorcas was agitated. The first think that came to his mind was that Idra went after his family. But it was not totally correct.

That’s something. I can only suppose that Idra went after his family. I bet they are all thinking that. But I don’t think that’s the case. Killing Lorcas family would only trigger a war that they apparently are trying to avoid. Otherwise why even waste time here. More importantly why are they trying to avoid a war? They should have predicted that nobody was going to take easily the death of millions of their citizens. Also if they have so many soldiers and weapons why even caring about ending the Pridians? I’m even more suspicious.

“I hope this is not some kind of twisted joke. I received nothing nor did my people. If she killed…”

“rest assure that it doesn’t include any murdering.”

“how could you say so”

“cause you are still alive. If she wanted any of us dead we would not be here. Trust me on this one.”

During their conversations they heard the Esterian “warship” moving away. But nobody cared much. Moving ships around was already seen during the previous meeting.

“are those treats?” intrude a new face. The Terrans had replaced Jenny with a man that at least looked more experienced.

“not really. I’m stating the truth. Maybe it didn’t go through. As I said previously, the ETU doesn’t possess any authority over Idra 511 Weeping sky, nor it possess any power over her. We are her natural allies not her jailers. We can’t decided for her, nor can you.”

“that’s sound like a lot of words to avoid taking responsibilities for her actions. Unless you prove so, why should we believe you?” said Lorcas.

“very well, be my guests”

Nixie connected to the room network and a translated page of what appeared to be the ETU constitution was displayed. A series of lines were highlighted.

//Remnants of the Founder are to be considered special Citizens of the Esterian Technological Union. No laws if not those written by the Founder’s hands may ever apply to them. No government, entity or third party may ever rule above them except the Founder himself.//

“does this explain why even if we wanted we can’t do anything legally about her?”

This is extremely dangerous. Those 3 lines basically states that she is totally free to do whatever the fuck she wants. Even more worrying is the fact that nobody can control her. The Founder is death so it leaves her totally uncontrolled. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea?

However before any reply could be vocalized a female scream attracted all the attention. It was the woman that Nixie was staring at. Beside her a humanoid figure had appeared out of thin air. The creature was of Esterian nature. About 170 cm tall and covered of strangely hard to define strips of some fabric. Those strips were about 3 to 5 cm wide and approximately from 20 to 40 cm longs depending on the placing. They covered the entirety of the slim figure except 3 horns on the head. The same kind of horns that appears on Idra’s AMS-388. Those who knew had no doubts, those were AMS as well.

Idra! What the fuck? How is it possible? She is out with Scilla.

“hi” said “Idra” and immediately after she pulled the woman from her hair to make her stand. Her voice was different. Less acute and less harmonic.

“what the hell are you doing!” shouted Nixie. That was not scripted.

“giving you a hand” replied the creature, but the sound was not coming exactly from her. A second totally equal Esterian appeared and this one punched the Human woman in the belly making her vomit. Of course panic took over the room.

More Idras!?!?

“Nixie, restrain you troops immediately!”

“Chimera! Fermatevi immediatamente (chimera, stop immediately!)”

“why? This bitch was plotting to kill you. Here catch!” they spoke at unison. The one that appeared later took something out of the vomit and tossed it to Nixie. It was a transmission device.

“SILENCE! EVERYBODY FREEZE IN PLACE. THEY ARE NO TREAT!” Nixie shouting was amazingly powerful. She probably shouted louder than a jet engine. People stopped screaming and running away in fear of something scarier.

“elaborate. Now!”

“Tassrin cunt was transmitting outside. We tracked and sent the ETU-Sisma9883 to retrieve her allies. She probably was waiting for some scheduled communication but it didn’t arrive, so she tried to ingest the communicator. Too bad it didn’t work out.”

So she was staring at them? Maybe, but how could she not know they were there?

“Nixie 112. I need more than this to even remotely tolerate an act of violence inside my parliament” said Csuicha that was surrounded by her guards from every side.

“I agree. Tell all you know Chimera. Now!”

“what? And let the enemy know? No” replied one of the girls.

“Non ti sto chiedendo. È un ordine. Obbedite!. (I’m no asking. It’s an order. Obey!)”

They are rebelling against her authority and those are surely not Idras. They don’t look well trained. What the fuck is going on?

“uff. Fine. She was delivering data about us. She had a group of extremist both Humans and Leans. They worked on a car and filled it with high explosive. Analysis are still ongoing. The plan was to drive a truck into the crowd with the car following and than detonate it to kill you. From preliminary data collection it appears that they wanted to make the terrorist attack fall on Csuicha to damage both our nations and our connection.”

“is the proof inside this?” asked Nixie showing the transmitted.

“partially. Sisma is taking the rest from their operative base”

“you are not off the hook chimera.”

“muuuum?? (mum)”

Mum? Are they her daughters? What the fuck? Did Idra omitted it?

“well you all heard it. Now this changes a lot of things…”

“we have nothing to do with it” said Lorcas while returning to his seat after taking refuge under his desk.

Nixie looked at the too girl that were still holding the Tassrin ambassador hostage.

“true” said one of them.

“just making sure. Even if we are on different sides, I can still appreciate a worthy opponent. So I believe we should suspend our discussion for a moment. This unforeseen event has clearly shook most of you. Lorcas, you and your delegation are free to go, the same goes for the Xoraxta’s delegation.”

“you don’t suspect us?” said one of them.

“you have enough issues after the last time. I’m sure you mostly came just for political show didn’t you?”

“of course not, we have at heart the Pridian unjustifiable massacre. We are here to defend our friends...”

“lie detected” said both chimeras.

“what? I’m not lying. We stand by our commercial…”

“lie detected” replied the due again.

“don’t embarrass yourself any further, just go” said Nixie. Defeated and scared the Xoraxta delegation left the parliament leaving inside only Terrans, the independent Human colonies and the Leans. Most of the Pridians left except Lorcas and few others.

“I wish to remain and see with our eyes how this situation unfolds.” said Lorcas.

“it’s your decision. Now, what I suspect is that Terrans didn’t like how they were excluded from the table of the grown ups. So they decided to organise with the Tassrin this terrorist attack. Am I wrong?” Nixie had a huge evil grim on her face. She knew that as long as a clear deny was provided the truth would be detected by the chimera duo. Some of the ambassador from different planets denies any involvement and Chimera confirmed so they were left free. But the new Terran representative Laswell didn’t strictly deny. He was at least smart enough to know how to act.

“those accusations are inadmissible miss Nixie 112. We won’t stand here waiting to be insulted further.” he was retreating.

“I don’t think you have a choice Laswell. Especially not now that your little scheme is out in the open”

“you are delusional…”

The Tassrin woman screamed again. She had stayed silent to avoid the lie detector but Laswell words angered the chimeras. So they tossed her with force against the ground making her bang her face on the floor. One of the chimeras places her foot on top of the woman arm and started pressing.

“speak before I crush you”

“Ferma! (stop)” exclaimed Nixie. She wasn’t all in for the violent approach.

“no. Gli ordini parlano chiaro (no. the orders spoke clearly)”

“di chi? (whose orders?)”

“D’Idra (Idra’s)”

“avete preso voi la risposta di Idra. (you took idra’s reply)”

“esatto (exactly)”

“cosa dicevano?(what did they say?)”

“neutralizzare l’ambascaitore di Tassrin e il suo piano. Consegnare un file a Lorcas (neutralise Tassarin’s ambassador and her plan. Deliver a file to Lorcas)”

“allora immobilizzatela. La violenza non ci aiuterà. (then immobilize her. Violence won’t help us)”

“no”

the other chimera, the one that initially punched the woman, kicked her in the stomach again.

“speak cunt. Are Terran aiding you?”

The woman remained silent, hoping for some help from the guards she could no longer see. Unfortunately Esterians soldiers were keeping the doors locked. No guard was coming for her.

“I asked a question. One more time and I’ll eat your face” she pulled her up from the hair again. The other chimera was confused and looking at her.

“wait, we were going to split her face.” said one.

“but if I eat it she will talk right?”

“but we made a promise”

“than… you can have both ears and her fingers”

“mmh. Are you sure?”

“what is it not enough?”

“it’s more. Than it won’t be equal. You can have the face and the left thumb.”

“ok”

That conversation was extremely fast and totally one sided. And soon as it was over it was clear that those two were not normal at all. One started drawing a dotted line around the woman face while the other grabbed on of her pinkies. The one who grabbed the finger spoke again.

“too late” then she snapped the pinky breaking it. The screaming mixed with maniacal laugh from the chimeras.

“look look look! She crying”

the other laugh.

“break another, break another”

they were playing.

“I know nothing” said the woman between sobs. She didn’t want to feel that pain again.

“lie detected.” said both.

“I guess we have our answer. So Terran care to explain.”

but before Laswell could spoke the woman screamed again. They broke another finger.

“Chimera stop!”

“why? Asked both.

“cause she confessed”

“no she didn’t” they were denying.

“sis did you heard her confess?”

“no, you?”

“neither”

“see she didn’t spoke. And she still isn’t speaking. So about to crack an other” chimera’s voice cracked with joy at the thought of a new bone breaking. Following the duo uncontrollable laughter there was a crackling sound. As all other sounds died down this remained and only increased in amplitude. It became appeared that it was a growl and it was coming coming Nixie. She was angry, extremely angry at them.

“lo dico solo questa volta. Consegnate il file a Lorcas e tornate sulla nave. (I say it only once. Deliver the file to Lorcas and return on the ship)”

the two girls immediately left the Tassrin ambassador to the care of Esterians soldiers, ran to Lorcas connector and plugged a device in before turning invisible and disappearing.

As the device was plugged it took over the entirety of the network and started showing a loading screen. Idra’s symbol flashing on it. Images of a sky, strong wind around and in the background someone is singing. It’s a strange melody that seems so in sync with the leaves falling from the trees. A male voice started speaking. It was the Founder voice.

“Perfection mere illusion of unfinished beings. Some may get lost. Some may be tricked. Not all enemies choose their side. I failed a well. You will too. Fall and bounce back. Up higher, up stronger.”

The video cut with a disturbing mix of images. They looked like a confused mix of battles with screams below. Then they saw from Idra’s view. She was twisting a series of optical nerves still connected to human eyes to make a crown. Beside her someone was begging to be left alive. Silently Idra placed the bleeding crown on the young man head. She than draw strange symbols on his face with what was now clearly his work colleagues blood.

Then a new disturbing cut and now Idra was staring at a door from the inside of the building. Lorcas opened it and soon his family was around him. He had a wife, a son and a daughter. They lived peacefully. He exchanged how his day was with his wife and so did she. Then they eat all together. What was scary was how close Idra was to them. She was cm away from Lorcas. While they eat she was literally in between Lorcas and his wife staring at him. Then the only bit of audio what was non censored after the kids went away.

“how is he doing?”

“he is scared honey. The dot in his eye is getting bigger”

Lorcas looked sad and defeated in the video.

“we… we can go into debt but if I also sell my stuff we could afford the best care round and save his eyes.”

“are you sure? It’s all you have left of your parents”

“For my family and my son nothing is too much. This weekend I’ll go look around for some loans”

Then it cut again. Idra was staring at Lorcas’ son sleeping. She stare and stare before waking him up, speaking to him and making him inhale something. The video cut again. Now Idra was inserting something into Lorcas wallet. The last minute of the video was the kid shouting at his half asleep dad in the early monring.

“DAD! DAD! The dot is gone away! The dot is gone away! I seen an angel tonight and she took the dot away”

The video ended and the device self detonate. Lorcas immediately opened his wallet. Inside exactly as Idra showed he found a card of plastic with a message printed.

//Not all enemies choose their side. He will see the stars falling//

“what… what’s the meaning of this” asked Lorcas. He was being overwhelmed by a mix of contrasting feelings.

“that your child had been healed. His cancer is gone”

“is this some plot…”

“no. we didn’t know about it. No we can’t prove it. No it was not done to change your mind. You are not speaking as an individual but as your people. If I have to guess you must have amused Idra. Just like the deaf girl she spared.” Nixie returned to her calm self. She quickly regain control of the room and took the lead.

“I suggest to end this meeting even if it has been inconclusive. I analysed your faces when you saw the patrol ship. We follow the same ranking as you, so patrol ship are just corvettes. Above them of course we go to frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and carriers. If you fear the smallest vessel than maybe you should reconsider your approach. If you still believe that war will solve our disagreements so be it. We will periodically retrieve information from the Leans. Use them as our middle men…”

“I don’t remember ever agreeing to this” said Cscuicha that so far tried to remain calm.

“you didn’t. We are deciding for you. Peace is preferable for your trades so I’m sure you would be more than willing to be a communication beacon between my species and the rest of the civilized space”

“This is totally inadmissible! A peace…” Laswell was interrupted by an Esterian soldier coming from outside that had run toward him and jumped on him. He was not the only one that came running. Soon the room was filled with Esterians soldiers that were arresting the Human and Tassrin delegation.

“You are under arrest for the crime of scheming against the ETU and the Lean Federation. Liin Cscuicha we would appreciate some collaboration on this matter”

“I thought I would have to ask”

“their plans put both of us and our nations in danger. It’s only natural to collaborate against our enemies”

Their meeting ended soon after. The criminals were left in Leans hands and were going to be interrogated soon after. This gave Cscuicha both the possibility to speak privately with Nixie and to invite her at her residence. Nixie accepted. In the following days they were going to meet a lot of times but more importantly one of those meeting was going to be mostly informal and not related to the terrorist. Cscuicha was still intrested to learn more about Nixie. Something wasn’t right.