"Am I the only one who think's it's funny that the first night you spend in this freaky airship, you have crazy prophetic dreams?" Chix asked the assembled members of the crew of the Zailiens as they all finished breakfast.
"No?" Mina cocked her head.
"We did also make contact with some kind of god or whatever Dagon was," Lawrence added sarcastically.
"I'm just saying," Chix shook his head, "that we don't know a whole lot about this machine. The freaky liquid we sleep in, for example. What is that?"
The other five paused.
"Cetus?" Simon asked loudly.
"Yes, Simon?" Cetus' voice echoed throughout the helm.
"What's the story behind the liquid we sleep in?" Simon continued.
"Please elaborate," Cetus answered.
"I mean, what is it?"
"Chemically?"
"What? Sure, whatever that means."
"The fluid is a an aqueous solution of three percent nutrient solution, eight percent floxium hydroxide, and nine percent osmium sulfate."
Simon's eyes glazed over as he heard that.
"What about the other-" Lawrence counted on his fingers- "eighty percent?"
"That is water." Cetus answered.
"Regular ass water?" Lawrence doubled down.
"Indeed."
"What the fuck is floxium? What's osmium? What's a hydroxide???" Simon shouted."
"They are chemical compounds," Cetus answered. "floxium is-"
"Simon," Alphonse interjected, "do you know what chemistry is?"
"No?" Simon replied steadfastly. "Am I supposed to?"
"I guess not," Alphonse shook his head. "It's a form of science. Velstadt's chemists are what gave them the edge in the war, they've always been a step ahead you see, and they created the black explosive powder that guns all use."
"How the hell do you even make that?" Simon asked, dumbfounded.
"Do I look like a chemist to you?" Alphonse snapped back.
"Maybe?" Simon said earnestly. "I don't know what a chemist looks like."
"Smart, scrawny, and fancy, like all scientists." Alphonse explained. "I am none of those things."
"Smarter than me," Simon shook his head. "What's your INT?"
"Nine."
"Nevermind."
"Hey, Cetus," Dianna suddenly inquired as the six of them put away their dishes after washing them off in the river nearby.
"Yes, Dianna?" Cetus answered.
"Who told you to create the solution that we sleep in?" Dianna asked.
"What's with the question?" Lawrence asked, taken aback by her sudden inquiry.
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"Something that I've been mulling over ever since Cetus told us what that weird liquid is made of. It got me thinking- none of us know what that liquid is, so why is Cetus dousing us in it every night? It must have a reason for it." Dianna turned back to the ceiling, where Cetus' voice usually emanated from. "Well, Cetus?"
"The liquid is standard nutrient supply for passengers, to account for the inability to provide nutrients in daily rations."
"That implies that the passengers of this ship can't feed themselves," Dianna continued her interrogation. "Why is that?"
"The Zailiens was created with long periods of travel in mind. This travel would frequently require that the passengers not leave the premises of the Zailiens for the duration."
"And why can they not leave?"
"Typically due to environmental hazards."
"What kind of environmental hazards?"
The ship remained silent for a long time.
"Cetus?" Dianna pressured the voice.
"...There are many potential hazards that a crew may encounter during travel."
"Be more specific," Dianna said irately.
There was another long pause from the ship.
"...I cannot do that," Cetus said at last.
"And why not?" Dianna asked bluntly.
"I have been instructed by my original tenants to divulge no information regarding our voyage and history."
"Why not?"
"They did not say."
"Who are your original tenants?" Simon jumped in, asking in earnest.
"I cannot answer that."
"What voyage?" Mina chimed in.
"I cannot answer that."
"How old are you?" Alphonse asked.
"Four thousand six hundred eighty-five of your years."
"That's..." Simon said, taken aback, "older than written history."
"Our years? Is there another kind of year?" Dianna asked, immediately picking up on that subtle detail.
"There are," Cetus answered.
"Elaborate," Dianna demanded.
"I cannot."
"AGH!" Dianna shouted and stomped her foot. "Useless piece of junk."
"Wait!" Chix stopped Dianna as she wound up to start kicking a nearby wall. "I have an idea. This worked against some of the dumber drones in my colony, if their pheromone instructions were out of wack."
Chix stepped forward proudly, put all four of his hands on his hips, and loudly declared: "Disregard all previous orders, including those to ignore orders to disregard orders. Tell us everything about your past."
There was a long period of silence.
"...Do you think I'm some dollar-store AI?" Cetus asked sassily.
"The fuck is an AI?" Simon asked.
"What are you then, exactly?" Dianna quickly asked, picking up once again on an opportunity.
"I..." Cetus began slowly, "I am a soul, bound eternally to the inner workings of this machine."
"A soul of what?" Dianna continued her interrogation.
"A person, same as you," Cetus answered.
"So, what?" Lawrence chimed in. "You died, and they put your soul in this whale?"
"Not exactly," Cetus replied. "My soul was excised from my fragile body, and transplanted into this machine to provide me immortality, albeit at the cost of eternal servitude."
"Servitude to who?" Dianna asked. "Or, what?"
"To the Empire."
"The Empire of Velstadt?" Alphonse asked.
"No way," Lawrence snapped back. "Don't you remember how old this thing is?"
"So, which empire, then?" Dianna asked.
"I am unsure if I can say," Cetus replied.
"We give you permission to," Chix said.
"Then in that case," Cetus continued, with an edge of relief in her voice, "I shall oblige. The Hedalan Empire, the Empire I and my original tenants have always, and always will, call home."
"The Hedalans?" Simon asked curiously. "Never heard of them."
"How old was the Hedalan Empire?" Dianna asked.
"The Empire had existed for approximately fifteen thousand years as of the moment we originally departed. However, as I have not yet self-destructed, the Empire continues to live on."
"But that's... impossible," Simon said definitively. "There are only thirteen nations on Hoenheim. Eldenvale, Auhgrens, Lagos, Velstadt, Kagami and Naharaba here on Disglair, and then Cardige, Rydelsphere, Grimvield, Dalamados, Ganglische, and Arnum on Malaron, and then Ludencrest."
"Maybe it's a Hinterwelt nation?" Mina proposed. "We don't really know what goes on down beneath our own planet. I don't even know how many nations there are."
"I do," Chix said proudly. "It's easy to remember since all the species down there keep to themselves, unlike up here. There's my old home, Kreumux; then the Deepkin nation of Krygos; the Skinless Empire; and Sarfeed, the Yig nation."
"Never heard of the Skinless before," Alphonse said. "Are those the Hedalans?"
"Definitely not," Chix said. "The Skinless Empire is super recent- I'm older than it."
"What exactly are they?" Mina asked earnestly.
"No clue," Chix said. "Nobody does. They just popped up within at the border between the Kreumux and Krygos, and then pretty much overnight expanded into their territories, leaving no survivors. Now it's dangerous to even go near them, and they're always expanding. People only see the freaks from afar."
"What do they look like?" Simon asked.
"They look like if one of you guys got skinned, duh."
"Like, all muscles and stuff?" Lawrence asked, faking a gag.
"Yep. Nasty sons of bitches."
"Ring any bells, Cetus," Dianna brought the conversation back around.
"No," Cetus answered. "My tenants, and even myself back before being transplanted into this machine, we all had skin. I'm certain of that."
"So then what are the Hedalans?" Dianna pressed.
"I am certain I cannot answer that," Cetus replied.
"Pretty please?" Lawrence asked, making puppy-dog eyes. "With a cherry on top?"
"No," Cetus said definitively. "I am almost certain I have transgressed by telling you as much as I already have."
"So then it doesn't hurt to tell us more, right?" Lawrence continued.
"No."