Chapter 9: Blacklisted
The man on the screen was sat on an expensive brown leather office chair, padded and stitched in extravagant patterns. The walls behind him were lined with plaques and awards for various achievements related to the development of Mars and its wildly successful steel fabrication and manufacturing. His desk was a simple dark oak affair, a thick layer of lacquer polished to a mirror shine on the surface. A few knick-knacks laid on it to give it character and not in light of any personal attachment for the items as they all followed a sterile and generic theme of shiny, sliver, and nondescript.
Although the room was filled with so many items and aligned just so, it held all the personality of cardboard box, being designed to seem presentable and professional without any real substance or feeling as if it was used for anything other than suffocating meetings with people who forgot what the sun looked like from their view in their own ass. It was an office that Joseph was more than glad he had never owned before lest he die from the lack of creativity.
The man’s appearance, however, spoke in greater volume than any stock-photo office you could ever put him in, the statement being that he was both tired and pissed. His maroon two-piece suit looked to have been worn for several days in a row, wrinkled and lacking the sheen associated with freshly pressed dress wear. His shirt below it was much the same, a slight stain barely hidden below the collar hinted that it also had not been changed out in a while. His hair was far more grown out than an expected two-week haircut routine would leave it, brushed but oils beginning to build up. The ‘salt and pepper’ look, used to make him look older and more experienced to gain a slight advantage in negotiations, was absent from it, indicating he had not had the dye redone in quite some time.
The biggest tell that the man had long since forgone a healthy sleep cycle were the dark bags under his eyes that seemed to droop and drag the rest of his face with it, the owner seeming haggard and stressed. His eyes themselves were tinted red from strained hours staring at screens unblinkingly, perhaps moments ago listlessly wondering his work space but were now staring daggers at his brother and the alien that had taken a comfortable position behind him on the bed while nursing a glass of water.
Unflinching, the man shifted to burning a hole through his brother with his glare, causing Joseph to rub his neck nervously. “Joseph. I heard back from the company that runs the ship you were on; they told me the ship blinked off their system and the last report the system gave them was a catastrophic failure in several of their reactors and that the ship itself likely evaporated everything in a two-hundred-mile radius, so far off course that they don’t even have the slightest clue as to where it happened, or why it was out there. They told me that the only reason I could connect to your pod’s communication relay was because it was a custom prototype that must have been falsely reporting whatever it was reading before the receiver got turned to smoke and shrapnel.”
Joseph’s expression shifted from embarrassment at the attention to a sullen look of resignation as the gravity of the statements weighed on him.
Robert rested his forehead in his hands, strained and raw emotion cracking his voice. “I called every week, as soon as I could, praying to every god I had even heard about that you would be okay. That they didn’t know what they were talking about.” He shuddered an inhale, wiping his now wet eyes and refocusing on the call in front of him. “And the first thing I do when I discover my brother is alive, is yell at him.”
Joseph’s face contorted from hesitation to sorrow. Feeling small at the grief his brother had obviously gone through at the prospect of losing his last family member. “I’m sorry, Rob. A lot of shit happened.”
Robert’s pained look softened, shifting to concern as he took in the weight of those words. “What happened, Joe?”
Joseph began to tell a summary of his exploits, omitting the several near-death experiences until he apologized weakly and included them. By the end of his tale Robert had fully leaned back in his chair, soaking it all in before lazily returning his eyes to the screen. “So, I now know how you met an Atmo. From your description, it doesn’t sound like a home world, so why are you able to meet an Atmo?”
Taken aback, Joseph raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean why? why wouldn’t I be able to? It’s as strange as meeting anything else here. Last I heard this was a developing world with only a few scattered research posts. Even then, the presentation seemed so surface level that i wouldn’t be surprised if they just cobbled together whatever the scanners relayed and passed it off. Given the report they gave you, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.”
Robert leaned forward again, opening his mouth and closing it again as he worked out how to phrase his next statement behind tented fingers. “They’re a quarantined species, Joe. Hell, I'm not supposed to know about them, but here you are playing host.” He closed his hands and laced his fingers together, resting his lips on his index joint, eyes searching for nothing as he thought. “I know someone who should be more informed on this. If I'm right; this might be bigger than a missing cruise ship and a stranded human making friends with the locals.” He blinked slowly, untangling his hands and running them through his hair.
Joseph’s brow furrowed, a small scowl forming as he processed the concept of him running into a species that was hidden from the greater Union populous. “What does it mean for them to be quarantined?” He asked, eyes begging for answers.
Robert lowered one hand to his lap, the other pinning his hair to his scalp. “It’s a procedure to stop races from jumping the gun and initiating first contact before the species is ready, though some things I've heard tell me that it’s going a bit beyond that this time.” He held his free hand up to stop Joseph from asking another question. “I don’t know. Not enough to say anything for sure, anyway. All I can say is that I think the Union is pulling some shit behind the curtain. Hard to say what specifically. I’ll message my contact and let you know what’s happening next.”
“Next? It isn’t getting us home?” Joseph sat on the bed and crossed his arms, his frustrated demeanour in light of the speculation sharpening his words.
The businessman shook his head slowly, planting an elbow on the armrest. “Like I said, I have no idea where you are. The relay installed in your pod was experimental to say the least. It was designed to be damn near impossible to decode but still get to its receiver as long as they’re not in warp. It was installed in your pod as a field test, location tracking was a few steps down the priority list because I was supposed to know where you were by virtue of being onboard of a public vessel.”
Robert rested his cheek in his palm as he shifted his weight in the chair. “Assuming you’re right about the outposts, my friend might be able to locate you relative to the nearest one. Even then that will only tell them how far you are from it, not what planet it's on.”
“How the hell can they tell how far I am from something without knowing where that thing is?” Joseph’s arms fell to the bed below him as his shoulders slumped with the question.
Robert waved off the question dismissively. “From what I hear, their systems are so tightly obfuscated that even that much is asking a lot. Put simply, it’s like placing two people in a blank room, then calling one to ask how far away the other is. They don’t need to know where in the cosmos they are to answer that. The usual relay you’re supposed to have is dead for some reason, which is both good and bad. Good because it stops people who would want to find you for other reasons than to get you home, bad because that makes you harder to find for us. I don’t think it will be the biggest issue since we’re talking on the prototype right now but we’ll see.”
“Fantastic.” Joseph muttered, the eye roll almost audible.
Muffled clicks sounded through the bathroom door, drawing Joseph’s attention for a moment before he turned to look at his ex-Mantis Atmo. “Mama, I think Violet’s done in there. You mind helping her dry off while I finish up here? Just use one of the towels next to the shower. Looks like this.” He held up the towel that he had around his neck. “You can take yours after, should be an extra towel for you as well. Violet can show you how to work everything.” Mama nodded as she got off the bed casually, bowing slightly towards Robert before going to tend to her daughter.
Robert watched the interaction, his eyes searching for something. Curiosity and confusion worn on his face as he failed to find what he was expecting. “Joseph, can you understand them? As far as I can tell, neither of you are using a translator.”
Joseph shrugged, swaying his body with the motion. “They’ve gotten pretty good at understanding me, but I'm still pretty much guessing based on gestures and context. They started copying the pretty simple stuff like nodding, as you might have noticed, but anything that requires any sort of real explanation is beyond me.” He looked somewhat forlorn as he gazed towards the bathroom door, quiet chittering and clicks could be heard as the two Atmo carried out whatever they were doing.
Robert looked conflicted, his voice underlined with concern. “Why did you trust them enough to bring them back?” He broached the topic carefully, ensuring to keep the question as soft as possible.
“I told you. They saved my life more than once now. They took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself. They showed me which plants they discovered had medicinal properties and what I could eat.” Joseph turned his head back to his brother. “They took me in as family when all I could do was accept their good will. I consider them the same. If I can improve their lives, even a little, then I would fight through hell to make it happen.” His words were calm and measured, but spoken with unwavering certainty.
Robert paused for a moment before breaking into bellowing laughter, struggling to calm himself as stress melted from his visage. “You sound just like mom.” The laughter devolved into a light chuckle as he continued. “Family, huh? Good enough for me, I’ll work on something from my end for them too. If it comes down to it, we’ll welcome them home here. I can only use this thing about once a week, I'll pressure the lab boys to see if they can’t figure something out for the location and power issues. Oh, and like I said, I'll get in touch with my contact and see if we can’t point you to a research outpost. Terminals there should be able you to get in touch with them a little more often than me, assuming everything is half-way recent. Go and get some answers for both of us.”
Joseph nodded deeply then continued the gesture lightly a few more times as he settled away the plan in his mind. “So, I need to wait a week to find out what’s up?”
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“I should be able to send you a plain text message without screwing up much, so I'll send it your way when they get back to me. Hopefully a general distance if not specific directions.” Robert operated a separate terminal on his desk, biting his cheek as he mulled over his next course of action. “Alright, I’m out of time. Tell the blue one I'm sorry for talking about them like they weren't there, it’s been a long two months.”
“I’ll be sure to tell Mama. Take care of yourself, you look like shit.” Joseph jabbed playfully.
Robert rolled his eyes with a smirk. “And you suck at naming things. Stay safe Joe, you got family that loves you here, too.”
A warm smile complimented his tone. “Love you too, Rob.” He said as the terminal went dark.
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Joseph laid the trays of food he had cooked for them on the bed, the meal consisting of wolf meat and a rock-worm each. He was tempted to use some spices but wasn’t sure if the others were gastronomically compatible with the ones he had on hand. They seemed to be happy regardless, though he intended to hold a taste testing session with them at some point. The smell of the meal was only slightly distracted by the scent of the body wash the two seem to have commandeered from the bathroom, either for fondness of the smell or a common practice of using such items. The pine tones reminiscent of air fresheners but much more natural. The two Atmo reflected the soft white glow of artificial lighting as layered dirt that had escaped notice previously was fully scrubbed off in the more advanced bathing arrangement.
He grabbed his utensils, taking a seat against the wall at the head of the bed as the others sat either side of him in the middle of the mattress. The lack of a dining table had seemed to be a boon initially, having such a large space to himself should he want to avoid the on-deck gym for any reason, but now it was a slight issue. He didn’t mind eating on his bed, it was what he did any time the daily specials were not to his liking, but it didn’t quite feel right to have a meal like this without proper seating arrangements. Yet another DIY project to add to the ever-growing list. He waited for the two to settle in and begin their small feast before starting his own. He had been delaying filling them in on the details that they had each missed while in the bathroom and figured now was as good a time as any for it.
He drew a deep breath. “Long story short, the Union might be doing something to screw with you guys and the only way we’re getting answers is if we head to a research outpost. Rob has someone looking into where the closest one is and will get back to me when they find it.” He took a bite of the wolf steak, mulling over what to do next. “I say we chill here for a few days, get ourselves set up and lick our wounds, then work out what we’re doing after. If the place is half close, we can move in wholesale, assuming the facilities are sufficient. That or we turn the outpost into a secondary base. Depending on terrain and distance, it might be worth having you two do a little deforestation to speed up the trips back and forth.”
He leaned his head back against the wall at the scope of their potential work sighed out of him. “If we can swing it; a wagon would be ideal next, could set up a harness for Mama to pull it. We should really increase the defensive capability of wherever we end up staying, because it sounds like it might be a while ‘till we get off this place, if at all. We’re going to have to figure out what plants are edible because it’s a miracle I haven't suffered from any vitamin deficiencies eating only this. That, and it would bolster our food stocks assuming you could eat it. We should check to make sure everything works here first, nice to know the kitchen and bathroom are functional but if the water recycler got messed up in the crash that could ruin things pretty quickly.” The thoughts were unorganized, a chaotic maelstrom of ideas and plans that would have to be sorted after a good night’s rest.
He took another bite of his meal as he mulled everything over, the two Atmo looking at him and listening attentively as they ate. “That’s not even digging into how you guys got here and I can’t understand you two enough to even guess, even if you mime your hearts out. Now there’s potentially some shady plot to keep you guys from the rest of the galaxy for reasons I can’t even begin to speculate on and my cruise went who knows how far off course, with no notice to the patrons, straight into a collision course with another ship. Oh, and Robert says he’s sorry for talking like you weren’t in the room, Mama.” He completed his tirade with a heavy sigh, turning his focus to the remains of his supper. Mama simply accepted the apology, having finished her meal and was just waiting for everyone else.
They continued in silence that was broken occasionally as Mama talked with her daughter, him watching and trying to parse some meaning behind their language but was never much for learning them. Finishing his meal, he crawled over to collect the other trays they had emptied before depositing them on the kitchen counter to be cleaned later. His feet felt heavy, Barely dragging the man to the counter and back before he listlessly flopped onto the centre of the bed onto his back, staring at the ceiling of their potentially temporary home. “So, here we are again, middle of nowhere on a planet in the middle of nowhere, with no idea when or even if we can get off this rock.” His eyes wet in frustration, having met his short-term goal only to find a much larger one he had been suppressing had been all but ripped away.
The pod had become the ‘be all, end all’ since he woke up in the cave, being the only goal he could reasonably accomplish with what little he had. Now that he had achieved that, the only feeling was one of a void, having expended what he was capable of. The feeling of waiting for someone else to even confirm if he could proceed further weighed heavily on him.
The soft rustling of bed sheets was barely audible over his own tired heartbeat, his mind too dishevelled to register it. Warmth enveloped him from both sides as the two Atmo had shuffled close to him to cuddle into him, their presence instilling and reaffirming his previous drive. Even if they had to make do with living on this planet, he would make damn sure that they did so at least somewhat comfortably. He laid his hands on their scales, noticing that the more thorough cleaning afforded to them by the bath had resulted in Mama’s exterior feeling the same as Violet’s. The hard scales and carapace proved pliable to his touch, the smooth texture interrupted as the scales layered over one another. Their gentle heat bled into his fingers as he lay there, running his hands over their backs while lost in the comforting contact. The soft purrs of the two pulled him out of his mental spiral, their slight rumbling soothing him and his somewhat distant worries.
“Thank you, for everything. I really don’t want to know what would happen to me if I didn’t have you two to keep me sane.” He chuckled to himself as the two wiggled more into him, covering him almost entirely as he absentmindedly caressed their backs. It didn’t take very long for the two to fall asleep on him, though he remained awake for a while longer, just enjoying the warmth.
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The next day was spent doing preparations for the next trip and repairs on whatever was broken. The moss-wolves were butchered and stored in the freezer. Any excess materials they had brought with them was removed from the back, leaving any they might need for the next possible journey ahead of them. Laundry was cleaned and folded before Joseph started on minor electrical repairs on the outside of the pod. Violet skirted around the perimeter of the area, collecting more healroot after using most of it to patch him up. His hands were mostly healed by now, smaller scabs lay in dots on his palms where he had forced them onto teeth to prevent the wolf from biting him.
Mama seemed more attached than usual after yesterday, the Atmo spending any time she wasn’t doing something to stand close by as he removed panels and used what limited knowledge he had to inspect the wiring of the pod. He wasn’t going to complain, her blades were useful for cutting and stripping wires that had been torn or had shorted at some point and he was rather enjoying having someone listen to him talk his thought process out while he assessed any damages he could identify.
Mama briefly looked over a few sections that he had yet to get to, but seemed to have next to no experience with any of it as she missed even more obvious damages or broken wires. Still, she watched him work and laughed when he startled himself by sparking wires as he joined them. He was thankful that one of his jobs in the past consisted of mostly carrying around tools for people that did work like this, as he managed to identify the wires to the communications portion of his terminal before haphazardly joining them. He stopped himself before committing to the act, musing that it was probably for the best to wait until Rob’s contact confirmed or denied finding them. The system had been ripped from the pod in its hasty ejection, but that didn’t mean that some location hardware wasn’t still functional. He mulled it over before getting Mama to cut the ends flush so that he would know at a glance what they were, should he decide to reconnect them for whatever reason.
After the minor repairs outside, he set the terminal to do a full diagnostic scan of the pod to search for problems he missed or issues he couldn’t identify otherwise. Noticing the scan would take a few hours, he fetched some of his loose weights in order to get a workout in, having been more idle since he landed. He wasn’t excited about having to drop a few pounds as he would have to work back up to where he was, but it seemed like a productive enough use of his time until he needed to cook their next meal.
Mama claimed a seat on the bed, watching Joseph perform various exercises with a curious head tilt until he explained that by doing it, he would regain the muscle he lost spending so much time recovering. She didn’t seem to quite get it but accepted the answer anyway. A mixture of exercises that did and did not use the equipment he had access to left him with a moderate sweat, his musk permeating the room. He took a quick breather after laying down some free weights, grabbing a glass of water and offering his spectator some. He took a quick seat to explain what each exercise was and what they were designed to do, to which Mama simply nodded or tilted her head when she understood the content of the explanation or required further elaboration. Once he had regained his breath, he told her he would do one last exercise before grabbing a bath and cooking them supper.
He stood in the middle of the room, standing at a slight angle, feet at shoulders width apart. His fists were raised to about jaw level, left ahead of the right. He closed his eyes and remembered the hours he spent training on the holo-deck, a feat he could accomplish in his room, but some minor adjustments to the systems would be required, adjustments that he didn’t want to do at the moment.
Mama watched her human stand in place, weight shifted from his heels to his toes. He dropped his hips slightly, loosened his shoulders, and took a slow, deliberate breath. His eyes shot open with a focused expression on his face, looking at something she couldn’t see. Joseph burst forward, stopping on a dime to duck an attack from his imaginary opponent before backing off a step with a heavy lean to dodge a follow-up. He tightened his arms in front of him to block hits aimed at his face, dropping his guard to intercept a shot aimed at his body. On pure reflex he shot his lead fist forward, recalling it about half way before sending it back out and stepping in to pressure the imagined adversary. He rolled himself to the right, slipping a hook to his head, countering with his own on the return.
Joseph danced as he fought, feet never remaining planted for more than a second as his hands blurred the space in front of him in reaction to attacks and openings. Straight punches were met with cross-counters, hooks met with body blows or uppercuts. He drilled reactionary counter attacks, halting himself occasionally as the spectre adapted to the assault. He continued until he finished his shadowboxing with a jab into a controlled but powerful right hook, satisfied that he had either won the speculative bout or a self-admission of how far he had drained his stamina. The Observing insect walked over to grab a recently emptied glass off the counter.
Mama offered him the refilled glass of water, clicking at him and purring, seeming impressed with either the display or how long he performed it. Sweat dripped off of him as he fetched the towel he had discarded last night to wipe his brow, polishing off the water in a few long gulps. He noticed Violet near the entrance, having returned at some point from her excursion with a mound of healroot in her saddlebag. The little Atmo seemed mystified at the display she had witnessed, having never seen him do anything so strenuous or disciplined directly. As he was about to explain that it was mostly exercise, she launched herself at him, stopping barely in front of him before jumping a small height in front of him in sheer excitement at the spectacle. The bouncing child clicked and purred excitedly, glancing between him and her mother as Mama returned the presumed conversation.
It lasted for a while until she separated from them, going to the fridge and finding a few cuts of meat that were thawing, pointing at them to request Joseph prepare them a meal. He shook his head as he relented to the excitable party member, gathering the cooking implements and frying the meat on a pan for them. The two continued their talk as they waited for their meal, chittering occasionally at jokes in a language he couldn’t understand. They enjoyed the meal together, Joseph telling stories of Robert and himself as children.
Shortly after the cleanup, Violet fell asleep on the bed, Blade hanging off the edge as she dozed. He excused himself to grab a much needed bath, setting a comfortable temperature and sinking into the chest high water. He washed his hair and scrubbed off the sweat and grime that had accumulated from digging around the electronics for most of the day, settling into the water and closing his eyes to enjoy the sensation for a while before he rejoined the two for the night.
The door to the bathroom opened, soft clacks on the floor approaching the tub. He opened one eye, sparing a glance to the intruder. Mama had wandered in, towels slung over her blade. He looked to the normally populated rail where he had hung them usually to find it empty.
“Thank you, I forgot to check before I got in. I won’t be too much longer, just going to soak in the water to relax for a while, then I'll hop in the bed.” He said, closing his eyes again as Mama placed the towels on the rack. He waited for the clacks to exit the bathroom and the door to close behind her but instead he felt the water level raise up to his neck, a soft splash as the water overflowed into a drain echoed in the room.
Opening both eyes, he looked at Mama, who had decided to join him after testing the water, settling into the massive tub next to him, blades crossed and resting on the ledge for her chin to sit on. A soft purr emanated from her as she soaked, sending small ripples across the surface of the water. Joseph felt his cheeks burn as he noticed that he was completely naked in the water with a guest, stalling his thought when he considered that the Atmo did not wear clothes and thus were always naked, on top of not being humans or anything similar. Unsure why he would start being embarrassed by this now, as they had seen him in various stages of dress plenty of times while they lived in the cave, he kicked himself for getting worked up and simply decided to enjoy the company.
He offered light-hearted stories of co-workers he had the pleasure of working with and friends he had made but since grown away from. Each memory a small warmth, even if they were melancholic. He shared his experiences, meandering from one story to another with only tangential relation to the previous one. His company listened as he talked, never needing to affirm that she was paying attention as she seemed content to hear him speak. The soft trickle of water running over the rim of the tub as they adjusted themselves every so often soon became their only ambience as Joseph settled into a peaceful silence, lacking the energy to recall more to talk about.
Mama nudged her way closer to him, stopping when she lay resting against his shoulder. Curious, but too spent to put any more thought into it, he leaned his head to rest on hers. The two quietly enjoyed the warmth of the bath together and the haze of promised sleep lingered in the background.