Chapter 32: Little by Little
Jasmine ran over to her alien friends, trying to save them from the living nightmare.
Xant’s ears stood on end while he was trying to swipe away the bugs off his snout while Rynard’s eyes were glazed over. The behemoths claws sinking into his face ready to peel off his skin, Jasmine was terrified he might actually try.
“Xant! Rynard! Listen to me!” She called their attention, demanding they focus on her, “the bugs arn’t real, they’re not here, its all a dream, do you understand me?” she spoke clearly, slowly, her commands cutting through the shock and fear.
Xant stared at the bugs crawling over his body, front and back of both hands, tickling his face, even just looking at them made him feel itchy he needed to scratch them.
“But I can FEEL THEM,” Rynard roared, driving his claws in deeper to his face, skin parting but no blood seeped from the wounds. Xant watched the bugs crawl over his friend but the patterns became erratic, they did not respond to anyone's physical reactions, like shadows upon a surface, visually there but physically not.
“A nightscare..” Xant breathed slowly, gulping as he swallowed his new reality, “but we’re awake, how is that possible?”
Jasmine looked at him with tired, bloodshot eyes, the freq duel she had with Ryo had taken its toll on everyone. She didnt have an answer, more concerned with the increasingly disturbed Rynard.
“Close your eyes, they’re not there if you can’t see them…” her instructions were a plea to the veteran solider, he listened to her command but his growl was low and stressed.
“How do we stop it, Jasmine?!” Xant shouted.
“We cant stop it!” she shouted back, “Ryo, he’s the one doing it!(he can’t control it)”
Xant understood and pulled a medipen from his white coat, the depressor he held on hand for emergencies.
This situation was a fucking emergency.
The doctor watched as Beau and Ryo struggled on the end of the deck, and then making the decision to intervene. If Ryo was like Jasmine, the single-shot of depressor would be almost instantaneous, he couldn’t send harmful freq signals if he was unconscious.
Xant ran with all his might, tail swinging violently behind him to counteract his legs throwing him forward with his newfound strength he crossed the deck in seconds, sliding to a stop to jab the pen into Ryo’s leg.
The youth had stopped struggling against the soldier, his dark cloud of emotions shattered to shards of wet glass. Begging for help from a man who couldn’t understand him, but Xant could. He had known such desperation before.
“Goodnight, Ryo,” Xant said with sympathy as he administered the tranquillizer.
Beau shouted as Ryo’s body went limp in seconds.
“I had him!” Beau shouted defensively, Xant jumped back and Jasmine screamed from across the deck so Beau could hear.
“Xant it worked! The bugs and shadows have stopped!”
Beau was caught off guard, looking between Xant and Ryo’s body. Beau shook his head, more freaky alien telepathy, he was never getting an implant.
Beau placed Ryo’s unconscious body on the couch, then walked himself behind the bar to pour Jasmine a drink.
She sat on one of the lounge chairs, shaken but trying to stay calm, Xant was beside her just the same, his ears vibrating, eyes closed still trying to comprehend the event they all witnessed.
Rynard was laying down outside, too big to fit under the bar’s cover, he opted to have his face under the shade. Patching up his exterior face wounds with some of the salve Xant carried with him. He was quite happy to take the opportunity to sleep, he wouldn't have been much help with the bulge brain discussion anyway.
“So,” Beau said, placing the glass firmly on the table infront of Jasmine, “what in the sweaty, southern hell is going on?”
Jasmine looked to Xant, who gave a little nod before she picked up the drink, she threw back the water like a shot and attempted to answer.
“The translators dont just translate language, it translates thoughts and emotions. This means you can share memories as well, Xant and I have done it a couple of times, but it required a lot of concentration.” she played with the glass in her hands, rolling it between one palm and the other with her thumbs. “When Ryo and I were arguing I could see his memories with little effort, and he saw mine, it must be easier between humans then…” she looked over her hands, where the bugs had been, “I think he started hallucinating, and the translator projected them out to everyone-” Jasmines head shot up with sudden realisation and she looked out to the hanger, “oh god, the other engineers, if any of them were in range,” she turned her worries to Xant, who gently kept her on track.
“If anything happened to them I’m sure we’ll hear about it soon,” He placated “theyre military units, if they couldn’t work under combat conditions I don’t think they’d be here, for now, he is more important,” Xant said pointedly to Ryo’s body.
“Hallucinations,” Beau folded his arms, still only privy to Jasmines side of the conversation, he had to work the rest out through context, “that explains a lot, before we came here every now and then his eyes would glaze over, he’d mutter at something to shut up, thought it was me a few times but,” Beau clicked his tongue, annoyed at himself he didn’t think anything of it sooner. “Guess he’s more scrambled than I first thought...” he turned his head away so the others couldn’t see, a hand over his face as he collected his thoughts.
He should have known better.
“It was really bad,” Jasmine described to Beau, “little black bugs crawling all over us and a faceless shadow man screaming insults, right in our faces” she mimicked how close the intrusions had been with her hand, shuddering at the painfully personal abuse. Her nerves reacted, sending goosebumps all over her skin, she raised a hand over her arm and attempted to rub them away.
“Nightscares while awake,” Xant inquired incrediously “why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?”
“Its not common,” Jasmine replied defensively, “like at all, hallucinations only happen after extreme measures, almost dying, weeks without sleep, certain powerful drugs and-”
“Schizophrenia,” Beau interupted ominously, the word hung over the humans, Jasmine became quiet but her concern was obvious.
“Do you think he has it?” she asked.
“Its a condition, isn’t it?” Xant deduced.
Jasmine nodded sadly.
“Yeah,” she returned the empty glass to a table, trying to find a way to explain the gravity of the situation, “they suffer involuntary hallucinations, eventually deteriorating to not being able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, it’s genetic and incurable, a complete shit sandwich,”
The way the humans spoke of it as though it were a terrible and inevitable demise.
“There is no way to treat it by your standards?”
“it can be treated with medication, but there are usually awful side effects and thats if you get the right dose to begin with.” Jasmine looked to Beau who gave the nod that she was right, “with a wrong dose it can make it even worse, sometimes, its not worth it to keep trying…”
Jasmine and Beau fell into a strange silence, Xant could feel Jasmine’s words carry a weight that was lost in the finer points of translation. A deep sadness, for a friend who could not be helped.
“What medication does he need?” Xant asked, now with new determination to help in any way he could, “it shouldn’t be too hard to facilitate a reproduction?”
Jasmine shook her head hopelessly.
“We don’t know, only Ryo would know what kind of meds he would need and even then its not like we can produce the formula, they dont have chemical composition written on the side of the packets-”
Beau let out a laugh, a surprisingly optimistic yelp.
“Ryo’s a chemist!” He exclaimed, “he knew how to work the chemical machine back on the station we were imprisoned at, he might know the formula for his own medication!”
The air of hopelessness vanished, the new information bringing a rolling excitement with it.
“He could know? Would he know?,” her heart fluttered at the possibility.
“The kids a smartass, I don’t doubt for a minute he’d know the formula,” Beau grinned.
Xant stroked his ears in thought.
“But if the medication has harmful side effects it might be prudent to inspect his translator as well,” The doctor proposed, “if the nightscares are involuntary, then it may be a miscommunication of Industrial Freq with conscious ones, we might be able to untangle them, or block them if need be,”
“Wait, so we could stop the hallucinations altogether?!” now Jasmine was grinning as wide as Beau “Thats even better! But, do you think he’d let us help him?”
All three of them looked over at the sickly young man.
“He asked me for help before the lights went out” Beau sighed, “He’s been running from his problems his whole life, there ain’t nowhere else to go except to someone who can help.”
Ryo felt a small pinch.
Down near his ankle, it didn’t hurt, but he didnt like it all the same.
When he opened his eyes he wasn’t in his room.
His body was wrecked, he was so tired, he swore under his breath while staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling.
“Hey, its okay,” Jasmines voice was quiet, she sounded just as tired as he did, “take it slow…”
Her aura wasn't as fluorescent as her personality usually suggested, but then he wasn’t as dark either.
Like the world had been muted.
“The depressor would have had you unconscious for hours, but the stim should have you in a reasonable condition soon,” the alien stated, the doctor called Xant, the one who had tranquillized him.
Ryo rolled his head.
Everyone was at his bedside, well, couchside.
Beau and Jasmine had that look in their eyes.
Pity.
They knew about his condition.
The moments before his involuntary incapacitation came roaring back.
They knew because he had told, or rather, shown them.“So,” his mind’s voice asked, no longer able to hide it, “now what?”
“You’re not in any physical pain are you?” Xant asked him with a tone of concern he wasn’t expecting “Your companion was handling you rather roughly,”
Ryo wasn’t used to Xant’s bedside manner, it almost made him seem human.
“No, but, I do feel exhausted…” he answered truthfully.
“Don’t worry mate, I’m in the same boat,” Jasmine laughed tiredly, slumped over in the matching suit chair. She looked how he felt, drained.
“You both exerted an incredible amount of military-grade Freq, I suspect we will be visited by a Commander of some description very shortly,” Xant mused, talking to Ryo as though they were more than just acquaintances, “letting off such a blast inside the engineer’s wing would be breaking a few protocols, I will handle the explanations where I can.”
Beau walked up to Ryo, a glass of ice water in his hand.
“Do you think you can sit up?”
Ryo reluctantly righted his position and once his feet touched the floor, Beau insistently handed him the water. Even the smalls sips soothed Ryo’s parched throat.
Beau took a step back, leaning up against Jasmine’s chair, as Xant took the footstool.
“How long have you been seeing them?” Beau asked once Ryo had finished the water.
“Do you mean how long since I was abducted or since they started?” Ryo’s mind fired back, but the snark was gone, and he answered his question with his own voice. “A year,”
Beau nodded his head, accepting the simple answer.
“And you’ve been taking meds since then?”
There was a hesitation, the urge to lie and cover-up the truth returned for a brief moment, but that had done nothing to help him so far.
“Yeah…” was the answer.
“Have they always been that bad?” Jasmine asked concerned, genuine worry like his mother used to do.
“Without the meds they are,” Ryo looked over his left hand, where the scar had been, “with them it blocks out the voices, I still have to second guess which shadows and bugs are real though…”
“Even with the medication? The doctors couldn’t find you a better fit?” she pressed.
The hesitation was longer this time.
“... A doctor, didn’t prescribe it to me.” Ryo shifted in his seat, there wasn’t a way to give an answer without them asking more questions, he had to tell them the truth, “My mum had the same condition, I had a container from before she was… institutionalised. When I ran away from home I took the capsule with me,”
“I know this is a long shot but,” Beau took a piece of paper and pen from the bar and handed them to Ryo, “Do you know the chemical composition to your medication?”
Ryo blinked looking up at his audience.
“Beau informed us of your education,” Xant explained, “if you indeed know the chemical composition we can recreate it for you,”
“Like the machine back on the station,” Ryo understood, “it won’t be exact, the company copyrighted the exact formula, but I can get close…”
“We can also, calibrate your translator,” Jasmine offered gently, “We can try to block out the hallucinations entirely.”
Ryo frowned, eyeing Jasmine and Xant suspiciously.
“Humans are unique among the galactic community in that their ‘Industrial frequency’ and their consciousness haven't been separated. Jasmine can only render Industrial Freq when she is asleep, if your brain triggers while still conscious we might be able to filter out those Freq signals entirely at the cost of you never ‘dreaming’ again.”
Ryo nearly dropped the pen.
He was silent for a long time, pondering the decision while drawing out the long and complicated hex formula for his medication.
He handed the page to Xant.
“If I never dream again, it will be too soon,”
Chapter 33: Moving Pieces
Lieutenant Commander Nako sat at his terminal alone, preparing for his future.
The icons hovered in the light space, a collection of Audfiles he had meticulously gathered over the past year. A damning account of every mistake and misstep the Knight Commander had a taken in the name of 'duty'.
Quietly listening and curating the audfiles, most of which were Kotorn’s voice screaming at him in his ear. This particular one was demanding that he auction off whatever was in the Rajavan ship, nevermind the uncertain circumstances of its capture.
AudFiles that proved at every turn, the Knight Commander had denied and avoided the subject of humans and their existence. The denial of a Dynasty making event, and everything that followed it.
Nako had gathered them all into one dataslate that he would present to the Councillor.
The transcripts of Jasmine’s and Xant’s interviews that proved her creator level status, the DNA results of the dogs and their user level intellegence. The devastating Freq-bomb Jasmine had set off at Essander and The damage the two human Princes had caused to the progenitor company all could have been avoided if not for Kotorns negilence.
All of them vital in his meeting with the Counciller.
Hopefully, when all presented in a cohesive manner it would Make Kotorns single mindedness apparent and glaring.
His machinations were cut short, however, when an alarm went off.
A notification on his terminal demanded his attention, blaring bright yellow and blocking his field of view until he acknowledged it.
He dipped his fingers into the light field, activating the message.
An unauthorised Freq-bomb had gone off in the engineers wing.
Nako didn’t have to guess what had happened, he was already preparing to go to the internal transport when the comms in his armour started as well.
He tapped the frantically blinking light, suspecting an angry voice on the other end.
“Lieutenant Commander Tar Nako speaking-”
“Your charges have caused quite the disturbance.” Viitoics cold voice growled through the commons device.
“Oh? Engine lord? I barely recognise you when you get straight to the point,” Nako snipped, striding out of his quarters but honestly quite happy with the news. Better the Engine lord than Kotorn. The Lieutenant paused for a moment thinking of a confrontation between the KC and the humans, a yellow alert would not have sufficed that encounter.
“My engineers have stopped working,” Viitoic snapped, “I don’t mind distractions if they are interesting and productive, but I’ve lost an entire floor team! they’re refusing to go near the ‘yacht’ after something as simple as an errant blast! Get your humans under control, I have more work than patience these days… ”
“Of course Engine Lord,” Nako replied happy for the excuse to go and talk to Jasmine and the other humans. They had not been able a single meeting since their arrival at branch,
He was beginning to worry that the humans would be pounced upon without his presence.
His announcement that they be left alone would only work for so long. Its not every day you find aliens after all, even regular rangers would be curious.
Then there was the matter that Jasmine was outnumbered by her own kind, who did not take kindly to his own, he hoped that she had sorted out her entourage, “Tifera, meet me at the transport dock, we’re needed in the engineering wing.”
When Nako and Tifera arrived at the engineers wing, the atmosphere had changed completely. The engineer drones werent bustling and fussing about their work. They huddled amongst the single fighter vessels and weapons racks. The human tech lay abandoned.
The engineers were shaken.
Meekly they scuttled out of Nako and Tifera’s way.
"an impressive impression," Tifera muttered, "they've all been swayed,"
Now, the lieutenat was a little frustrated, the blast must have truely been spectacular to cause such a fuss!
He was a little worried when he could not sense the bright warmth of Jasmine’s presence, usually a becon for her location. While the yacht was smaller than most vessels, it was a laberynth of rooms, finding a single human in one was still a daunting task. Much to his surprise, the human and her entourage were waiting for him, up on the high deck. Obviously their blast was big enough for them to understand the severity.
Rynard stood guard, the old ranger however, looked as though he had been in combat. Deep claw marks scratched across his face, his stance straight but weary.
“Namegiver Jasmine is up on deck, Your honour,”
Nako nodded, raising his hand.
“Tifera, keep the captain company,”
“Yes sire,”
Nako lifted his cape and spread his wings, flying up to the yacht deck.
The mottled lot stood up on the open deck, watching for anyone to approach.
Jasmine bowed her head, Xant, as always stood at her side while everyone else stood behind.
“Namegiver Jasmine, I hear you’ve been causing a disturbance,”
“Sir Nako, you know thats never my intention yet always my fault,” Jasmine greeted, she looked tired, drained. Nako quickly glanced over her retinue and saw much of the same, minus the enigmatic Beau.
“Then it is a good thing that I arrived here before another unwitting commander,” he relaxed a little, seeing everyone else was just as tired as the Captain. “I must confess I should have been here sooner, The Knight Commander conspires to keep me busy,”
Jasmine shook her head.
“Its alright, we’ve been rather busy ourselves…” she gestured to the sun beds “care for a seat?”
Nako took a chair and the human and her entourage followed suit, Ryo spoke to Beau and the pair sat further away from the meeting but still within ear shot.
“Jasmine, the blast was pretty serious, what caused it?”
“Ryo and I got into a rather ‘heated’ argument,” Jasmine replied, “it wasn't pretty, were still recovering from the aftermath. Human arguments are exhausting without the Freq element, neither of us are keen to try again any time soon.”
Nako looked over at the sour prince, the youth had severely diminished presence, a good thing in his opinion. Jasmine, as he expected, had brought her Princes’ under her call.
“I’m sure he deserved whatever you inflicted upon him,” Nako replied approvingly, which earned him an unexpected glour from Jasmine.
“Not quite,” she said curtly “in fact his ‘demeanour’ is something I need your help with,”
“Oh?” Nako’s antennae twitched, wondering if Jasmine was proposing that he be allowed to further discipline the sour prince.
“Ryo’s temper was mellowed by medication that he has been without for a troubling amount of time,” She presented Nako with the paper recipe, “its a very potent and rare drug, we don't expect to find any amongst the belongings here,”
“We formally ask that we be allowed access to a FabriChem,” Xant translated the request into a requisition.
“We need that medication,” Jasmine insisted, “please,”
“I’d be more than happy to facilitate,” Nako nodded, noting the added urgency in her words, humans certainly could say so much with so little, “you always ask the simplest things as though they were a great burden,”
“You’ve been so generous with us Lieutenant, I don’t want to outstay my welcome,” She bowed her head deeply with respect.
“You will always be welcome in my presence Namegiver,” he replied with a sincere reverence, “it is not every dynasty a common man such as myself meets an alien maiden,”
Jasmine laughed, a polite flattered response.
“There is more,” Xant prompted, almost eager to interrupt the exchange, “We suspect that Ryo’s translator is at its limits, if we could reproduce the human translator on premises to exchange it would definitely help,”
“Again, easy enough to facilitate,” Nako smiled, shoulders back and chest puffed out, to have new translator placed in the sour prince was excellent news, “I shall communicate with the Engine Lord, he would be happy to provide us with our requests, especially if it means no more interruptions to his work. I believe we still have the rights to the same translator as yours,” He looked over to Jasmine who shook her head.
“Its not that simple I’m afraid,” she sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“Humans are not engineered or have any sort of control over their reproduction,” Xant enlightened the lieutenant, “I will need to investigate to be sure, but we are currently running on the hypothesis that every human will need a custom translator model, to compensate for Freq type and strength,”
Nako sat confused for a moment.
“But, why?” he looked between the pair, “the arvas don’t need such catering too, why would a Human translator be so different?”
“But the arvas are still conditioned,” Xant offered, “your brains are mapped and we have built translators to compensate for those drifting conditions,”
“Humans have a greater variables on top of that,” Jasmine added, “and it takes an arvas lifetime for a human brain to fully develop,” She looked over at her companions, “our nerves are a ‘jumbled mess’ of memories and instincts, not all of them healthy.”
Nako considered the options, he wouln’t likely get away with adding a failsafe to Ryo’s translator like he had done to Jasmine, the Engine lord and Knight Commander would NEVER allow it, but, Jasmine was in control of Ryo now, so perhaps he didn’t need to.
“Very well, if that is what you need, I don’t see any reason to hold back,”
Jasmine gave very relieved sigh, smiling at him, a small portion of the bright light returning.
“Thank you Nako, I promise relations will go a lot smoother once we’ve got this sorted,”
“Actually, speaking of relations,” Nako leaned forward a little, “there was one other reason I came to speak to you today, A counclier will be arriving soon, along with a Praetor,”
Jasmine and Xant both shifted in their seats,
“Yes, Xant informed me,” Jasmine replied,
“I was wondering if you had prepared for their arrival?”
“Not as of yet,” Jasmine relayed, running her fingers behind her ear, “I’ve been looking over Galactic council Laws and doctrines but I haven’t even gotten to custody and copyright-”
Nako raised a hand and chittered, waving away her concerns.
“Oh no, I did not mean that, I have every confidence you will come across as civilised in your mannerisms, but have you considered your appearance?”
Jasmine blinked, again, rather more dower than he expected.
“My appearance? I suppose presentation still carries a lot of weight even in transgalactic societies,” she replied.
“Very much so, if you so need, I have a cape or two you may borrow for the occasion,”
“Thats very generous of you, perhaps you could give me some pointers on what dress I should wear to give off what is expected of me?” Jasmine lead on, “I doubt my beach-wear is going to impress a councillor,”
Nako’s antennae stood up excitedly and he placed his hands on his knees, the second set stroking his chin, excited to be discussing the humans first impression to the galactic stage.
“I can indeed! A new set of armour would go a long way in addressing your authority,”
“Even though I’m a non combatant?”
“But you are a commander of authority! I’d be happy to commission you a suit, a cape to properly express your grace, and if you have any more gems available, use them in abundance” he tapped the red gemmed brooch she had gifted him, “Rarity and elegance is what you should exude, its only fitting for someone of your stature,”
“According to an arvas mindset,” Xant interjected bluntly, Jasmine used her foot to lightly kick Xant’s shin, startling the zenthi to silence.
“Your suggestion is very helpful, thank you Lieutenant,” Jasmine nodded her head deeply with respect. Nako returned with a slight nod, happy with the proceedings.
“I shall send the requests to the Engine lord and have the cape pressed, you will look magnificent,” He stood proudly, a new list of tasks he was more willing to execute.
“And with that, may your calling be clear,”
“Live long and prosper lieutenant,” Jasmine returned the greeting, Nako happily took his leave, although he did wonder why Beau seemed to be laughing…
“Live long and prosper? Really?” The large man laughed, hugging his sides to keep from letting it all out at once.
“Well, it was either that or ‘may the force be with you’,” Jasmine laughed back, hands on her hips, “I figured the star trek one was more,” she waved her hand in the air “suitable,”
“And speaking of suit-able,” Ryo interjected with a pun while sipping on his water, “did I overhear you saying you were going to get a ‘suit’? Like a suit of power armour?”
Jasmine sighed, looking away.
“Yeah, I supposed I’m getting a suit of power armour,” she didn’t sound too happy about it.
“What about us?” Beau pressed for details, “do we get a suit?”
“Uhh,” Jasmine turned to Xant, asking for the social norm. “I don't know, I suppose it would be silly if I had some but my entourage didn't?”
“Indeed that would be the case,” Xant nodded his head, hoping that the human would interpret the gesture correctly.
“Oh Right on!” Beau practically beamed, suddenly running below deck,
“Hey!” Jasmine called, but Beau didn’t answer, “Wonder whats got into him?”
“About the suits…” Ryo asked Xant, short, sharp questions, “they would be made to fit us? Could we customise them to suit our needs?”
“We’d have to ask the Engine Lord, but since they would have to be made custom from the cells up, I’m sure they'd be able to,” Xant looked over at his own set of armour, that was rapidly in need of a body refit, “We are in the perfect place for it, there is no ‘standard’ human armour for them to compare-”
Beau returned rather rapidly, a plastic case in hand, thrusting it into Xants hands.
“Tell ‘em I want mine to look like this!” Beau said enthusiastically.
Xant, Jasmine and Ryo all looked down at the object, Xant’s ears went up curiously, the picture on the front of the case was a set of power armour, human power armour.
“Master Chief?” Ryo said incredulously.
Beau looked the kid dead in the eye and with all seriousness,
“Mjolnir Powered Assault Armour Mark IV, If were gonna suit up, this is a good start.”