Five

[keaalu]

     Speaking to the bits did Skydash a world of good. She emerged from the atrium with her wings perked, looking distinctly less exhausted than she had been. “Thank you, Bee,” she murmured, giving Blink’s shoulder a little squeeze in passing. “I really needed that.”

     “You look better,” Blink agreed. “Glad to oblige.”

     The flier settled carefully in a clear patch of ground next to the two laima. “I know it’s silly, but I keep worrying they’ll think I’ve forgotten them.”

     Blink gave her a faintly reproachful look. “It is silly. You can’t tell me off for fighting imaginary demons if you’re going to do the exact same thing,” she scolded, with a waggle of a finger. Her frown softened into a small smile. “You saw how excited they were to see you. They’re never going to forget someone so important.”

     Skydash let her gaze drift to the concrete, sheepish. “…So what are you two doing?”

     “Breakfast, mainly.” Blink lifted her nibbled pastry. “And trying to figure out what to do now. The Institute manufacturing bay has started work on the, uh-…” She coughed. “-suit.”

     Skydash tried for a reassuring smile, but it too came out as rather more a grimace. “You’ll only have to wear it as far as tiao’I. As soon as we get there, you’ll never have to wear it ever again. I hope.”

     Blink leaned against her with a sigh. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t feel entirely inspired by a voice not precisely oozing self-confidence.”

     A big hand came down to mantle gently over her shoulders. “I know. I’m sorry. The one we’re building is actually our best effort.” She chuckled. “There’s your lesson for the day; never employ two inorganic chemists in clothing design.”

     Blink snuggled into the hand. “There was me thinking your uncle could design anything.”

     “Only if it’s hard, lethal, and has sharp edges. Everything else is a bit of an effort.”

     Blink snorted, amused.

     Skydash leaned down and pressed her thumb to the wafer, downloading a new set of data onto it and obscuring the image of that suit. “So. This is all the data we managed to find on them.” A stellar map flashed up, covered in a rash of extra yellow pinpoints of light. “Or rather, data we thought might be on them. They’re not easy to track down. They go by hundreds of names, and a lot of the information is anecdotal. Not to mention, this is all… prehistoric data, from pre-industrial societies. We haven’t had explorers out this far in millennia.”

     Blink resisted the urge to question what exactly the point was to bringing ‘prehistoric data’ along. “So how are we going to use this?”

     “Well, I was hoping we could find something on the computers here. Something a bit more up to date, that would help us rule things in or out a bit more conclusively… I mean, if an ancient society talks of powerful magic, and a modern society in the same place talks about powerful aliens, maybe it’s linked?”

     Blink nodded. “That makes sense.” She leaned a little closer to the map. “Where are we, on here?”

     Skydash stretched out a hand and tweaked the display; a single galaxy jumped up to fill the screen. A distinct smattering of yellow dots clustered closer to the centre; Blink felt her ears perk forwards, all on their own.

     “We’re here.” Skydash indicated a bright spot on one of the outer whorls, although it was simultaneously smack in the centre of the emptiest part of the map. “I thought we should at very least get to one of these central systems. There’s a lot of possible reports around there, if we don’t find them we might find some clues.”

     “That would make sense.” Blink chewed absentmindedly on a thumbnail, shuffling forwards to study the map more closely. “Frond said she got weaker the further she was away from her family, and Hesger is about as close to the edge of the galaxy as possible. Maybe they need the power from this big group of stars to provide them with energy…?”

     The pair got so engrossed in research, it was noon before they knew it. Rae emerged with another food delivery just after midday. “Hey ladies. Made any headway?” He handed the plate to Blink, keeping a translucent, bright yellow fruit for himself.

     “A little.” Blink finally noticed how hungry her meagre, unfinished breakfast had left her, and tore gratefully into the selection the spur had provided. “Mm. Thank you.”

     Rae settled cross legged on the opposite side of the map. “You’re going to Brume?” he observed, crunching noisily on his fruit, noting the planet at the middle of the chart and flagged with a blue dot.

     “As a starting point, yes.”

     “Pretty central, huh.”

     Blink eyed him, warily, over the top of a cracker. “Well it’s where we think we’re most likely to find Frond’s people. Why does that matter?”

     “How are you getting there? Still gonna catch a sleeper, or is Sun- uuuhh, Skydash gonna take you?” He glanced up at the blue giant, but she thankfully didn’t catch his slip.

     “…we’re catching the sleeper, yes.” Blink’s suspicion grew another notch or two. Just something about his manner was ringing alarm bells. “What are you getting at, Rae?”

     “Just worried that you might not have thought these plans through very well yet, is all.”

     Her frown deepened. “Enlighten me.”

     “I thought we’d covered this whole thing years ago? Please don’t tell me you’ve forgotten it.” Rae sighed and rubbed his temples. “You’re going to Brume, a planet that might as well be on Tejiva’s doorstep-”

     “It’s nowhere near Tejiva!”

     “-and you can’t see why I might be worried about you?” Rae glared at her. “Couldja try and act like you’ve paid the tiniest bit of attention to everything I’ve told you the past, I don’t know, year or so?”

     Blink bristled. “We’re going past the laima homeworld, Rae. Brume is no closer to Tejiva than Hesger is. Not to mention, it’s right up against the Imperial Kiravai border! They’re who we should be worrying about, not some predatory medusi.”

     “It’s not like the Laima Salire didn’t visit Brume, back in the day. There’s plenty of laima still live there. You’re gonna be a target-!”

     “I’m not going to be there long enough-! We’ll be spending most of the time on a sleeper, doing what? Oh! Sleeping.”

     “Not necessarily-“

     “And do you seriously think some rich medusi is going to slum it with the lowly masses if she has her own private yacht?”

     “Who used to haul baggage onto those damn hibernacula on a regular basis? I saw plenty of big families travelling through tiao’I in my time working there. Sure, medusi like to flaunt their wealth, but how do you think most of them keep hold of it? By being cheapskates.”

     Skydash had watched them dicker for several moments. “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

     Speaking simultaneously, Blink denied it, and Rae confirmed it.

     “What do you know about laima?” Rae asked, before Blink could splutter a better denial.

     Skydash shook her head. “Only what Blink has told me. You’re mammals, and rather… political.”

     Rae snort!ed an agreement. “Right. That’s putting it lightly. And we have three genders, right? Blink here? Is fessine. And mighty pretty into the bargain.”

     Skydash frowned. “…not arguing, but not seeing the point?”

     “Laima society doesn’t think too highly of single fessine. Skeida, laima society doesn’t think much of fessine, end of story. Walking gestation bags, good for manual labour or looking pretty, and with very few rights into the bargain.”

     “What does that mean, in practice?”

     “It means,” he elevated his voice to be heard over Blink’s indignant squawks, “she’ll be a prime target for every medusi who’s bored with her current wives and wants to add to her collection!”

     “We’re barely going to be there long enough for me to even be noticed!” Frustrated, Blink threw a small, spherical fruit at him, and scored a glancing blow off his temple. The fruit exploded into a mess of seeds.

     Rae attempted to swipe the sticky mess from his hair, but only succeeded in spreading it out further. He glared and flicked seeds at her. “Are you intentionally trying to make this whole thing more difficult? I only want to give you a little advice.”

     “I understand that. What I don’t understand is what you’re trying to achieve, because if it’s to get me to stop going? You’ve had a whole year to convince me, and apparently only even considered mentioning it now.”

     “I never said that-”

     “No? So please elaborate on what you do mean, because right now it feel like you’re just trying to scare me, without giving me anything to help me. I’m at risk, I get it. What do I do to stop me being at risk?”

     “I- argh. Zee?” Seeing the fessine emerge from the Institute with her own noon meal and a book, Rae waved an arm, beckoning her over. “I need your help…”

     Skydash nudged Blink with a fingertip. “We’re only travelling by sleeper because I couldn’t afford any other long-haul transit,” she added, guiltily.

     Blink caught the hand and curled her own fingers around it. “Why are you apologising for Rae being an obnoxious troglodyte? I’m not worried about that…”

     By now, Aspazija had approached, warily, her gaze fixed on Skydash. She might have accepted that the giant didn’t intend any harm, but it didn’t make her any less intimidating. Or big. She hesitated at an imaginary line, just a little more than arm’s length away. “So, um.” She coughed, uneasily. “What do you need help with?”

     Rae gestured with his whole arm. “Blink. She thinks she can just pack her bags and jump on a sleeper to Brume, with no further planning.”

     Blink glared at him.

     “Oh, hey, what? No, no. You can’t go to Brume looking like that.” Setting her dinner aside, Aspazija caught the smaller woman’s arm and coaxed her to her feet. “Come on.”

     “What’s wrong with how I look?” Blink protested, dragged along behind the taller fessine.

     “Right now, everything-!” Aspazija hauled her away towards the living quarters.

     “Dash?! Ai! Help!” Blink’s wails disappeared down the empty hallways.

     “What are you going to do to her?” Skydash followed Rae as far as the atrium, uneasily, where the doorways got too small for her to ever stand a chance of following.

     Rae smiled a smile that was more a grimace of bared-teeth. “Hopefully, find her a disguise.”

     “A disguise? What for?!”

     “Hopefully, so she’s not snatched up by the first medusi to take a liking to her.”

     With that, he was gone.

     Skydash sat and stared at the closed door for several long seconds more, and wondered – not for the first time – precisely what they were getting into.


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