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The countryside overlooked a small village of stone cottages and dirt paths, it was picturesque with amber waves of grain blowing in the gentle afternoon breeze. The clouds were large and bubbly with an unknowable amount of potential for freshwater to rain down to the ground. The sky was a smooth rich light blue with not a ripple to be found, and this world was nothing like the much smaller aquatic worlds they were from. Quayl had thought to himself that there was nothing but oxygen between them and a harmful vacuum. He wondered why the air stuck to the planet the way it did. It likely had to do with gravity or something like that.
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“Please, come this way.” The little goat man suggested. Junne went first, at least he had a gun should he need to protect them or his ship. “Master will be pleased that you arrived so quickly. Normally special guests don’t get here until many, many days later after the invitation, if they make it through the clouds, or even come at all.” The crew was feeling unsure as the crowd split and created an aisle for them to walk through. On both sides, the little goat people half their stature watched them, some in wonder, some in fear, women and children included. They had all come to see them.
“What is this place?” Quayl asked.
“It’s a sanctuary where refugees and displaced people can come to be safe. We heard that your worlds are being destroyed by the Namina. We expected a lot more of you to come, not just four of you.” The crew felt responsible, but they didn’t have much of a chance to gather people up for transport. Everything happened too fast.
“Yeah… Just us. I’m Quayl, this is Captain Junne, doctor Stevero, engineer Rob. Our ship is the Aerios, it’s just a trawler for catching eels.” Quayl shrugged. The goat man seemed very surprised by the ship that made the journey.
“We were expecting a high-class military transport or a cruiser or something much larger to withstand the pressure and obstacles in the nebula. But… this?” The goat man gestured generally at the Aerios. Junne was bitter about the comment, not liking the insult to his ship.
“She’s a tough one, we got here quickly once we went to lightspeed, that was his idea.” Junne pointed a thumb at Quayl and he shrugged it off like he did nothing special.
There was a voice from behind them, it sounded commanding and confident, and it addressed the crew. “Light speed in a dark nebula? That takes guts.” He said. They turned to find a man who had appeared. “I am Hermes, welcome to our home. This is Lundy, he’s basically the town’s leader, at least his people listen to him like he is. They are the Puuqpu, a gentle and very advanced race that had never developed weaponry. They thought they were alone in the universe, but then the Namina came for them a decade ago.” Lundy was traumatized and sad, lowering his head in shame that they couldn’t fight off their attackers.
Quayl was very curious about hearing of more attacks. “A whole decade ago? Why is the Namina doing this?” It was an answer everyone wanted to know, but Hermes shook his head.
“I don’t know, but they’re gathering forces for something… something big.” He didn’t provide any answer at all, only more fear for their lives and the lives of others. For the first time, the human population was threatened by extinction if they continued at their rate. “Either way, I’m very glad you’re here. I would like to employ you. Give you a job, a better job than catching eels.” He stated. “I need you to deliver special letters to people of a… certain demographic. With the Namina attacks, there is more need than ever for this special service.” Quayl stroked his beard and thought about it before asking.
“What makes it special?” Hermes smiled. He took a step back, and with an outward flap, wings sprouted on his back. He lifted himself from the ground and held a hovering motion in the air. The crew was in awe.
Hermes smiled. “That look never gets old. I assure you I am human, I have special abilities and skills I’ve earned by doing this service.” He let himself down to the ground and the wings receded into his back. There was no evidence that they were there at all. Quayl snapped his finger once with a realization.
“Hermes, I remember now, you’re a messenger deity.” Hermes tipped his hat in acknowledgment.
“The one and the same. In the way of the mail system, I’m your superior. So these special deliveries are divine. Letters to and from the dead, among the mythical, between deities even. We need your help, and for you to join the few that we are. It’s been almost two years since we’ve had a visitor such as yourself. The Puuqpu has been developing weapons and armor to outfit your ship so you can defend yourselves.”
A short silence followed before Rob asked. “Against the Namina I presume?”
“The Namina have super weapons as well, but there are things much bigger and deadlier. Sea monsters and mythical beings try to intercept and consume the divinity of the letters. Each letter is written with a small sample of one’s soul like a signature. It can be dangerous in the wrong hands as divinity can strengthen the creatures. Each letter must be protected. With each successful delivery, gratitude turns into divine essence and will transfer to you, making your skills and abilities better and stronger. This is a lot to ask of you, I know. You can decline if you so choose.” Quayl thought for a moment.
“Let us come up with a decision.” He turned to the crew and consulted them in private. “What do you guys think?” He asked, and Junne spoke up first.
“Defenses to the Aerios would be a great help in keeping us alive against the Namina.” Stevero chimed in as well.
“None of this is our business, none of this makes any sense. I don’t think we can do anything just by ourselves, for this ‘god’ man or for anyone. We should stay here and be safe.” He pointed out.
Rob was next to speak. “Lobora was no match for the Namina. We could stay here, sure, but if we fight, we can make a difference, even if it’s small. I’m not a coward, I don’t want to exist as one.”
Junne spoke again. “Nothing will ever be the same again. We can never go back to simply fishing for eels. No one likely cares about what money we owe for the Aerios either at a time like this. We have entered a war, and a deity wants us to do something simple for him. We could get a favor from him, or even be in his favor for that matter. I’ll take my chances with Hermes, we may not even need to fight if we play it safe so I’m in. All in favor?” Junne asked for a vote. Quayl hadn’t let his reasons known yet. He was still deciding what the best choice of action would be.
“We all don’t have to do the same thing. We can split up if that’s necessary. Go fight, deliver letters, stay here, do what you want.” The truth in his words silenced them, and he made them all think. Individual choices needed to be made. Without any decision, Quayl returned to Hermes.
“We need time to think about it.”
“I understand. Either way, your ship will need to be upgraded with defenses. There is only a layer of clouds between Olympus and everyone else. Any brave Namina could find us, it’s only a matter of time.” Hermes turned to Lundy. “Tell your people to go ahead with the upgrades and repairs. I’ll show our guests around in the meantime.”
“Yes, boss.” He said and blew out a loud whistle between his hoofy fingers. “Alright people! Let’s get to work!” He ordered.
Rob stayed behind to oversee the upgrades to the Aerios. He soon found that the Puuqpu is a very stubborn yet highly intelligent race of people. They were diligent and careful, and worked at a smooth efficiency Rob had never seen before, even as if they were all in tune with one another. For the first hour, Rob was picky about which systems were to be touched and modified, but after that, the Puuqpu engineers shooed him off and got tired of his nitpicking. He had to trust them and trust what they were doing.
Hermes strolled with the crew towards the village along a dirt road. He continued on about himself as Quayl’s mind attempted to grasp what he was saying. “It’s taken me a long time to build up enough divinity to be what I am.” He explained. “I’ve gained both magical abilities like wings and the ability to communicate very well across languages, barriers, and distances, and gained talents and skills like writing, music, and the arts of expression. It’s all very personal. I was once a regular man such as yourself, but I was recruited all the same. The person that got me into the job was Thoth. That was a long time ago.”
Quayl wondered. “So, are you thousands of years old or what?” Hermes smiled, he didn’t look a day over 30.
“People like us live long healthy lives, sure, then we die and are reborn with our divinity and most of our memories about it intact as divinity stays with us in our souls.”
Junne chuckled. “You could be a superhero if you wanted to.” Hermes chuckled back.
“Superheroes have nothing but enemies and problems, there’s enough work out here as it is.”
There was a scream from a nearby field, and a few of the Puuqpu ran into the road wielding pitchforks. They were being chased by a large 10-foot tall bird with black oil-like feathers and a sharp beak for picking at its prey.
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“That damn bird!” Hermes cursed with hatred while it harassed the farmers. “It was let loose by the Hawjin when they came here. It’s an invasive one, scratches them up.”
Junne asked calmly. “Don’t like the bird?”
“No, I don’t like the bird,” Hermes replied, and without missing a beat, Junne pulled his gun on it and fired a clean shot. He hit its eye in a split-second moment of opportunity. The sound of the shot startled everyone until they had a moment to realize what had happened. The farmers saw that the annoying and harmful bird was indeed dead, kicking it a few times to make sure before one cheered out in joy.
“We’re having fried chicken tonight!” He called out.
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The night was calm and cool, and the crew of the Aerios joined the Puuqpu in their celebration of their new friends. The special event involved music and dance within a large bandstand filled with digitized torches that emitted room-temperature fire yet provided ambient light. The chairs and tables hovered above the ground though they were somehow anchored to not float away. It was a grand communal dinner — all meals were communal with the Puuqpu — but this one was special because of their guests — and it was fried chicken. Lundy and his nightshift crew continued with the upgrades of the ship while the crew enjoyed the festivities.
The tune of a jig with violins and flutes is played by the musicians on the stage with tight kicks, crisp snare drums, and plentiful melodious cow bells. The party drank Meade to loosen their laughter and hooves to dance in circles, there may even be a dance-off at some time. All the while, Junne was enjoying a game of Nopes on a round platform with the ladies. Nopes was very similar to Pool but played on the ground with similar balls being hit with mallets to knock others into holes. The platform could shift forms to add hills and obstacles, their first game being rather flat to learn the rules, but Junne had a delightful time with a bit more challenge for his shots. Rob was with the daytime upgrade crew going over the specifics of the additions, learning all about Puuqpu technology, and understanding the fundamentals of what made their unique anti-gravity gadgetry work so well. Matter compression and replication were also key parts of their systems, as he had learned earlier that day involving ammunition and the repair of damage. Stevero was learning handfuls about new medicines, as well as receiving portable first-aid tools for simple lacerations and bruises to heal almost instantly. There were applicators to inject medicine without needing to swallow a pill or piercing the skin with a needle. He knew Junne would like that for his medicine.
Quayl was isolating himself. He was staring at the pink crescent moon over the horizon while sitting on a weathered rock atop a low hill just beyond the bandstand. Beside him a few yards away was a small tree planted in the soil that might have been a bonsai at one point, but had grown above and beyond its original size and needed a home.
Hermes joined him to make him feel included, standing next to him and speaking softly. “Hey Quayl, I brought you a drink.” It was Meade, and he hoped it would lighten up the weight on his mind. Quayl was neck deep in thought though, but that was interrupted with some alcohol, it was a party after all, for what he didn’t understand.
“Thanks. Our crew might split up, might fight, might stay here, but none of us know for sure.”
Hermes nodded. “It’s not an easy decision and every consideration has to be made.” They both took a drink of their Meade. “See that tree there?” He meant the tree a few yards away from them. “It’s a burial tree. She was Lundy’s sister. The Namina invaded their planet and executed a great number of them to show their dominance. They were there to gain what technological advancements they could find but were disappointed when they found no weaponry. Lundy was left with her body and he barely had the time to cremate her. Her ashes are a part of the soil beneath the tree now. He’s been a bit of a wreck lately about it, so he asked me to bring her his letter tonight.” Hermes brought forth a special letter from his pocket. “He is hell-bent on doing anything he can to stop the Namina, even if it’s as little as spit-shining the barrel of a gun to have it fire a fraction better. He hates what they made him become.”
He presented the letter to Quayl.
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“Take it, set it over there.” He told him and pointed at the small tree.
Quayl sat the letter to lean against the base of the tree with care. He didn’t expect anything to happen, but to his surprise, a ghostly figure in the shape of a female Puuqpu pulled a faint ethereal letter from within it. The paper letter stayed inside the envelope, but the soul of Lundy’s sister received the message all the same. After a quick read, she looked Quayl straight in the eye, and in a whisper, she spoke.
“I beg of you, make them stop. For all of the people suffering at the hands of the Namina, please, make them stop.” Lundy’s sister faded back into the ether from the living world, and what was left floating in the air was a glowing gold coin.
“That’s a nummus, a tip from the universe for doing a good deed for the dead and divine. Take it, it’s yours.” Quayl did, and as he touched it, it transformed into a glitter-like substance and coated his hand, then sank into his body.
“What does it do?”
“It’s the divine essence. It’ll be with you forever. You can use it to learn a new skill, be good or better at something, or be more focused. Maybe one day you’ll have enough nummus to get your own pair of wings.” The thought was intriguing.
Quayl thought about what Lundy’s sister had said. Like never before, he had clarity and confidence in himself. Everything made sense and he could feel how the universe was strung together. Every little thing mattered, it was all connected, and Hermes could see the revelation in his eyes.
“The last crew to come through was a military detachment. We did what we could for them and sent them on their way. The Namina destroyed them before they had an opportunity to fire back. One of the crew members survived. I want you to find her and add her talents to your team. She’ll be a great asset and improve your chances of surviving. Go to Greener Junction, you’ll find her there, she’ll give you your first assignment.” Quayl nodded, he got the information loud and clear.
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Morning came bright and early. On the landing pad sat a new and improved Aerios. Its fresh coat of polish was gleaming in the sunlight as the crew walked towards it. The grin on Junne’s face was ear to ear, not only was it a fact that he likely didn’t have to pay off the ship, but also it was now supercharged. The only thing missing from it were decals of blazing fire. Even Stevero was smiling at it.
Quayl addressed the crew. “We all haven’t agreed about what we’re doing yet. The options are to stay here or deliver letters. We don’t have to fight in a war, but we can defend ourselves if needed, that’s a fact now. There will be no shortage of trials no matter what we choose. But know that if you stay here, no one will judge you.” The conviction in his voice stopped the crew and they gave him their attention. “You owe me nothing, but I owe you. Captain, you and your ship saved me from a slow death in an asteroid reef. Stevero, you could’ve said no to me on Lobora and I would have died right along with it but you took me on anyway. Rob, you saved all of us in the nebula when the Aerios were under immense pressure. I owe you nothing but my life three times over, and the best way to repay you all is with this.” Quayl held his hand out, and in it was the golden glowing nummus. They marveled at it, curious and full of wonder
as they had never seen anything like it. “I vow to share these with you as I get them from delivering letters. I would have it no other way. This is the divine essence that makes Hermes who he is, and it’ll grow and be with us forever if we help those in need now.” He closed his hand and the nummus flowed back into his hand. He moved to make a close circle with Captain, Stevero, and Rob. He put his hand out palm up at its center. “Who’s with me?” He asked. Junne was in. Rob was in. Stevero was in. They all had their reasons whether it was to fight, to deliver letters, or to help.
“To the Aerios,” Captain said.
“To the Aerios.” They all said.
The essence from Quayl’s hand flowed equally to each of them, and they were bound by the fates to be divine mailmen.
Hermes bid them a humble farewell with all the Puuqpu crowding and waving goodbye. If they ever needed a place to lay low, they would come to Olympus, or if any Namina threatened them, they would answer the call.
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They were on the edge of vacuum space staring into the murky and muddy waters of the nebula. Junne and Rob were doing a last-minute systems check, hoping they wouldn’t have to turn around for fine-tuning.
Junne was giggling with joy. “Yo check it out.” He changed the heads-up display on the glass before him. In a whirring moment, he had engaged infrared vision in hyper fidelity. They could see straight through the nebula clear to the other side. “We have infrared, sonar, ultraviolet, spectral, heat, cold, energy, biological, metal composition, heartbeat, motion, and many more views and scan types. This is insane!” Junne plotted a quick course out. “We can go a whopping 120 lightyears per hour all the way through, that’s twice our speed before!”
Rob made a suggestion. “Let’s stop halfway through and find a target. We should try out some of the firepower we have. It would be best to understand it before we need to use it.”
“Good idea. There’s a rocky planet along the way. That can be our test target.” Junne was now really excited, he considered it to be delightful fun.
The mid-way clouded sector was just as dark as before, but the new armor made the pressure problem non-existent, and their new display showed everything in crystal clarity. The ship sat a further distance away from a planet — a giant rock of iron — and the Aerios had it within its targeting reticle.
Rob listed the armament. “We have particle beam weaponry with different power types, flak missiles, a tractor beam, a heat and ice beam, and a battering ram ray. The one I want to try is this one called the Trident gun. It says to use caution. We should see why.” Nobody knew what to expect of that one, so it was the weapon they went with.
Junne flipped the safety off for the fire button. “Alright, test fire, here we go.” Squeezing the trigger, there was a flash of light in front of them with a deep note radiating from it. It was a blink, but the ship recorded what happened. The gun materialized a literal trident, but not just any trident, it was large and half the size of the ship itself. The density of the trident was unreal, it was made almost entirely out of quark matter, the densest possible material in the universe. It would’ve been impossible to move, except that it had been materialized with an innate velocity intact at the speed of light. It was a streak across their view straight into the center of the planetoid. Their target, which could’ve been an actual livable planet in the future, had been stolen of that future, it was beyond obliterated. So much force — too much force — hit it and turned the finely diced pieces into a dense display similar to that of a large blue spread of fireworks. The sparks were miniature suns, forced to be birthed by nuclear fusion, and they will illuminate the dense clouds surrounding them for millions of years. The blast sent no debris at them, the force blew it all away from them like the loose petals of a flower.
The Puuqpu knew all too well what they were doing when they bestowed this level of destruction on them. For a race that had no weapons, they were too good at making them, and perhaps they had stopped for this reason. The Namina still overcame them though. They all knew as one that If they should find the Namina homeworld, they would end it. They could lay waste to worlds with a single shot of the trident gun.
They were silent, for they now knew they were all sons of bitches.