Liùyuè 4th 250X

Sirka blinked groggily as she tried to wake herself up. Tasha had already been in to draw back the curtains, not that they made much of a difference during the day. They were really only there to block out the pervasive lights of the city's night time hours.

She stretched as she propped herself up on the bed, her fingernails slipping on the synthetic silken sheets. Glancing up, Sirka saw Iskra perched by her feet, the fractal was sat back on her haunches with her chin resting on her knees.

"Feel sick today," Iskra announced before the sudden wave of nausea hit Sirka. She gagged as she scrambled out of the bed and rushed just in time to the bathroom.

After emptying the meagre contents of her heaving stomach, Sirka wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gingerly looked up into the mirror. She had managed to get vomit on her loose hanging hair, meaning that she would have to shower before breakfast.

Sirka sighed as she leaned backwards to twist the silver plated knobs and watch as the water droplets began to cascade down.

It had been two months since Medic Poulter started injecting her with the preliminary boosters deemed necessary in order for her body to withstand the as of yet, unlicensed, Panacea drug.

Being the adopted daughter of a high ranking military official certainly had its privileges and Sirka was quite aware that without the attached social position or influence there was no chance she would ever have gotten near the drug.

The initial trials had apparently displayed highly promising results and Medic Poulter had assured Akeem that he was convinced Sirka's case would be a resounding success.

The only downsides for Sirka so far were the side-effects of the cocktail of booster medications that she had been forced to take. Sirka hadn't been able to stomach solid food for three weeks and was now even having trouble keeping water down.

That wasn't the worst of it either, Sirka had had to come off all her usual suppressants so as not to cause any detrimental chemical interactions. Although they'd never actually stopped her from seeing Iskra, the withdrawal had certainly increased her fractal's appearances. It also seemed to have served to make the other girl even more agitated and erratic than usual.

"Carved pumpkins - all in a row. He keeps crushing them Sirka - make it stop!"

Sirka sighed as she tried to block out Iskra's anxious ramblings, she shed her nightdress and stepped into the shower, turning the valve and increasing the flow in order to drown out some of the noise.

She could still see her fractal out of the corner of her eye, Iskra had moved to stand in front of the mirror, rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of her feet. She repeatedly reached her hand out and jerked it back before she made contact with the steam clad reflective surface.

A little while later Sirka walked, freshly washed and dressed, into the breakfast room with a towel wrapped around her still wet hair.

"We do have a dryer you know," Akeem commented with a fond look. He was sat in his usual chair with the day's paper and a cup of coffee.

Sirka had heard that coffee used to be made from beans, now it was a blackened concoction of synthesised stimulants in barely legal doses.

"Isk...I don't like the noise it makes," Sirka replied, biting her lip as Akeem frowned up at her. She swatted at the side of her head to try and rearrange the voices that were shouting in panicked exclamations. Sometimes if she hit hard enough they all stopped talking and she could hear herself think.

"Stop that," a voice scolded from her left as Tasha walked in, carrying a bowl of sugared protein flakes. "Time to eat. You've got a big day today - going out of the penthouse again."

Sirka's hand fell limply to her side as she smiled and replied, "I'm going to the Medical Centre." She nodded contentedly before stepping forwards and sitting herself down in front of her breakfast.

"We'll leave in just under an hour," Akeem commented, not looking up from his paper. "Tasha make sure she wears something warm won't you? You'd swear it wasn't summer out there."

"Yes Sir," Tasha paused before pointing to the article that Akeem was currently reading, "is it true Sir?"

Akeem looked up with a quizzical expression and Tasha gestured further, "About the Fye and the Zia-li going to war I mean?"

"You can't believe everything you read in the tabloids Tasha," Akeem replied with a sigh, closing the paper and leaning back to rub the bridge of his nose.

"It's not just the news Sir - I overheard it in the market the other day, some of the folk from the ASD airbase were there and they were talking about how the Fye are getting more aggressive towards the Zia-li. They mentioned it might turn into a full scale war at some point!"

Akeem huffed a dry laugh, "People from the airbase need to learn what 'confidential information' actually means." He reached to pour himself another cup of coffee as Tasha waited patiently for him to elaborate further.

"Alien politics," Akeem muttered as he rolled his eyes at Sirka with a conspiratorial smile, "didn't we have enough diplomatic problems when we only had one advanced species to contend with?"

"So it's true!" Tasha exclaimed triumphantly. "Only I hear that Earth favours the Zia-li?"

Akeem's mouth twitched, "Earth can't afford to be making any kind of official treaty with the Zia-li right now. It would be taken as an act of hostile intent towards the Fye. We've already got enough worries what with the Shon Empire snapping at our ankles. We have plenty of arguments of our own regarding territory borders and resource allocation - let alone becoming embroiled in someone else's spat."

"What about an unofficial alliance with the Zia-li Sir?" Tasha asked with a thoughtful pout. "Only, the Zia-li territories seem to be the perfect location for strategically placed military bases between us and the Shon. If we're that worried about the Shon that is, also if it's 'unofficial' the Fye can't really take it as an act of aggression towards them can they?"

Akeem narrowed his eyes at the maid before shaking his head with a bark of hard laughter, "Tasha either I've made a terrible mistake in employing you in my household rather than on my military taskforce, or those airbase staff really have been rather loose-lipped at the market."

Tasha started to clear away the breakfast table with a coy smile, "Well I might have helped them haggle down the price on some barrels of plum wine..."

"Aha!" Akeem exclaimed whilst beaming. "We need more sharp minds like you in government Tasha, perhaps you could try running in the next Council elections?" he teased with a wink at Sirka who shifted excitedly in her seat, pleased to be included in the fun.

Alien politics may be complicated Sirka thought, but at least it was a topic on which she was well versed due to the nature of her father's position in the military.

She knew that there were three main players in the problematic Quadrant Two. One of them being the Shon Empire, which was large and dominant with a heavily militarised society.

The Shon had many territories in the nearby Quadrant and beyond. Their technology was also rumoured to be evolving at a rate that certainly outpaced humanity's floundering efforts to try and pave a brighter future from the Post-Golden-Age era.

Shon space stations were numerous and many of them were undeclared to the Quadrant's other resident species, leading to a great deal of suspicion over their expansionist motives.

The Fye Peoples, on the other hand, inhabited a smaller part of the second Quadrant. The majority of the Fye were housed on their home planet of Fye-ak.

The third alien race that Sirka knew for sure were also located in Q2 were the Zia-li. Traditionally having maintained friendly relations with Earth and somewhat less friendly relations with their other neighbours, the Zia-li were popular figures with the humans.

The thread of underlying tension between the Zia-li and the Fye had been growing tighter and more strained every day. This had only been exacerbated by a new governmental leader having taken command on Fye-ak, bringing with him a manifesto of Fye dominance and superiority.

Tasha snorted at Akeem's suggestion of her embarking upon a political career. "Oh I think I'm fine here Sir, besides I quite like our new Council Leader Li Mei Chen, she's got some good ideas on cracking down on crime in this city."

"So I heard," Akeem replied with an amused nod, "our newly elected official has already begun conducting raids on the Polis' notorious Opium and Dust districts."

"About time too," Tasha huffed, "you can barely move nowadays for all the street rats begging for change - but you just know what they're going to go spend it on!"

"Quite so, quite so," Akeem mused, "it would seem that half the city is on drugs. Sickening habit." He sighed before standing up and brushing the crumbs off his dark coloured suit, glancing questioningly over at Sirka, "You ready to go my dear?"