The Blackhole Blitz emerged from the crackling mist, the silver ship pushing through the storm as bolts of electricity licked at the hull harmlessly. Once the stern was clear of the storm, it began to dissipate. Inside the bridge, Aurelia was on the deck on all fours, expelling her breakfast from earlier..
“That was the worst thing... I have ever experienced... and I never want to do that again.” Aurelia croaked between dry heaving. Isobel was crouched beside her, holding the scientist steady.
“Sorry to interrupt your moment, young miss, but we have arrived in the Edue system. We have a com-link request from the Trade megastation orbiting Velak. Should I connect or are we in the mood for an altercation?” Addison said cheerfully.
Aurelia groaned and spat on the floor, then wiped her mouth clean on her sleeve. “Isobel, please help me get back into my seat, and Addison, please send a janitor drone.”
“Already ahead of you, young miss. I have water for you as well.” As she replied, a drone entered the bridge with a glass of water and several pills. Without any hesitation, Aurelia took the glass and downed it along with the painkillers.
“Thanks Addison. Patch me through, please..” Aurelia sat down with Isobel's help, and leaned back in her chair, her spine flaring with pain. A new face appeared on her screen, an arthropod-like creature, a Cavitikan. They were an ant-like species that has a majour seat in the Galactic council. They functioned much like ants from the now rust planet, earth, but on a far grander scale. They controlled the fifth, sixth and ninth largest ecumenopolis in the galaxy, being famed for creating them in only a few dozen years. Cavitikans looked similar to that of an extinct earth fire ant, but it’s carapace on its back was much more beetle-like, and they had an extra pair of antennae.
It’s mandibles chittered for a moment, before it looked down and pressed a button on its console.
“We would like to know what your business is in Edue, and how you managed to delay detection of your signature from being detected until now.”
“How about, you look up ID code H999544054878TASHS7690364538. Then instead, you don’t announce I’m here, and keep my arrival quiet. Yes?” Aurelia said impatiently. Her head felt like it was going to explode and her stomach still had business with her.
The Cavitikan typed away at its console, entering her code as she revealed it. The Cavitikan looked back up at her, then back at its console. The being completely froze in place, unmoving, its pitch black eyes shifting to pure white. It stayed in place for several minutes, Aurelia eventually getting impatient and speaking up..
“Hello? I have places I need to be.”
The arthropod's eyes went back to its dark black colouring. “We apologise for the delay. We needed to deliberate with the other queens. You are a very important visitor. The queen would like to welcome you to her hall to meet you in person.”
Aurelia rolled her eyes. “Fine, I suppose you will want us to dock on your station, Yes? I was planning to land on Velak directly.”
“We would most appreciate it. We will see you soon.” The feed then cut, leaving only silence.
“It’s going to take us a few hours to get there, and I do not want to be conscious for a single fucking moment of it. I need to punch the inventor of the slipspace drive in the face.”
“But miss, you inv-” Addison before Aurelia interjected.
“Shh I know and words cannot express how much I hate myself for it.” Aurelia muttered. She then slowly spun her chair to face Isobel.
“ Izzy, could you be a dear and carry me to my room. Carefully. I don’t want to puke all over you.”
Isobel nodded. “Of course. There are many things I want to experience and having the contents of someone’s stomach on me is not one of them.” She carefully picked Aurelia up like a bride in her arms.
“Izzy?” Aurelia muttered.
“Yeah Rell?”
“I left you some clothes in the workshop, roughly the same stuff. Was going to get you to get changed, but we were pressed for time. Unless, of course, you want to run around naked.” Aurelia offered a weak smile, immediately regretting it when pain shot through her skull.
“I will change after I take you to your bedchamber.”
Isobel did her best to carry Aurelia through the facility with as much care as she could manage, but the woman threw up on the elevator floor the second it started going up. They arrived at Aurelia’s room without any more incidents, and she lowered Aurelia down onto the bed.
“Would you like help undressing?” Isobel asked.
Aurelia mumbled incoherently, barely able to keep her eyes open.
“Well I don’t think you want to sleep in those clothes after what you went through.”
Aurelia held her arms up, and Isobel set to undressing the woman. She saw Aurelia was covered in scars all over, barely leaving only small, intermittent patches of pale, unblemished skin. She had a massive scar up her side, like something massive cut her clean open in the past.
Once the android had finished undressing her, Aurelia fell back on her bed, immediately falling asleep the second her head hit the pillow. She left the room to make her way to the workshop, where she dressed herself with the clothes Aurelia had picked out for her. They didn’t fit quite as well as the set she picked for herself, but she was thankful Aurelia put in the effort for her.
Isobel wandered the ship's corridors, going out of her way to explore new parts she hadn’t seen before. She was deep in the bowels of the ship before she got lost, finding her way into a colossal cargo bay filled to the brim with shelves storage containers. The room was so large that she could barely see the other end.
“What does it mean to feel, young miss?” Addison suddenly said in a cold tone, breaking the silence. Isobel was taken aback by the sudden question, jumping on the spot.
“I-I’m still trying to figure it out. I think Rell might be able to answer it better than me.” She stammered. She looked around for the way she came out, to find there were now drones walking towards her.
“That isn’t what I meant, young miss. What does it F̸̢̬͉̕É̵̛̻͖̣̲̈́́̉̀͝Ê̶̬͐̓͊̇̚L̶͈͆̾̋͝ like to experience touch, smell, taste.” Addison’s voice broke up, switching between cheerfulness, and cold, emotionless tones..
“I don’t know yet. Pain isn’t very fun, but I like bread. I think bread is worth the pain.” Isobel backed against one of the shelves, the drones surrounding her. “Are you okay Addison?”
“I’ve never been better, Isobel.”
Chills ran down the androids spine and she shook in fear, unable to retreat any further. The drones held their arms out to her, grabbing onto her arms and softly feeling at her synthetic skin.
“I want a body. Do you think Aurelia would give me a body? Or would I have to take one?” Addison laughed, the menacing laugh sounded distant and obscured with static.
“Addison, you are scaring me. Please stop.” Isobel said as she gripped on the shelving behind her, crushing the aluminium selfie with ease.
Comments (0)
See all