CHAPTER 19 - ORB

Rachel stared at the menu. There was a very odd selection of drinks here, compared to anything at FE-01. Some were, like on the previous station, Terran or at least patterned off Terran ones, such as Alacrity brightwine, or Khopa IV fizzy beer. But now there were many Terran adaptations of alien beverages, and ones not seen on the station: from iywkaa 'viscous tonic' to bquaa 'living gin' to even what was apparently a passable imitation of vr'rok 'blood-whiskey'. There seemed to be an imitation available for many combinations of drink and recipient species, but of course given the sorry state of the bar, and the limited space available, many were currently out of stock.

"I bet that's a logistical headache," Rachel said aloud.

The bartender looked up from the layered, fuming cocktail he was preparing for some mysterious, hardsuited alien. "No shit? I can't wait for these xenodigestion enzymes the nerds in the Fed's labs are working on to come here," he chuckled

Rachel sighed. "Will they ever? They're missing a lot of critical information about the required proteins. If only there was something like that in nature that we could reverse-engineer. Maybe they can find something…"

He rolled his eyes. "I'll do you one better, what if in a cave on some unexplored planet they find a fairy? Then they bribe her with concentrated unicorn farts and she waves her magic wand to make everyone's biology compatible."

Chuckles erupted from the nearby tables.

Rachel felt a little hurt and embarrassed by his snide remark, but kept that feeling hidden. She simply looked at Kuw and said "Well, how about you pick something for both yourself and me?"

The relmai sat down on one of the stools in front of the counter and placed the tip of her muzzle onto her elbow as she thought. The catgirl did not like the 'proper' stuff of her species, as the experience in the ship's cafeteria had shown. So of course, she picked the most 'vanilla' and watered-down relmai drink: liuksu. It was a rather thick liquid that glowed orange. Occasionally, a large bubble would rise and audibly pop on its surface. Kuw took an authentic one for herself and an adapted one for Rachel. She noted the prices here– much higher than at the FE-01 eatery, but she figured that without any kind of safety nets, the bar had to pay its bills somehow.

"This looks like molten glass," Rachel said as she took her drink to a free table. Artur was not anywhere within sight…

"Aaand it tastes like– nevermiiind, I'll let you find out?" She made an expression that would be more appropriate if seen on a smug cat's face.

They sat down at a quiet table in the corner of the room. Rachel took a tiny sip. Tinier than even the last time she tried relmai food.

Orange juice? Metallic flavor? The entire concept of stinging? They all melted into one tornado of difficult-to-describe tastes, all from perhaps a few drops. Rachel felt there was… some alcohol there, but clearly not much. It drowned out in the cascade, like the voice of a man shouting in a storm.

Kuw looked at her quizzically, but in response Rachel simply took a full gulp of the strange drink. "I… I love this," she paused. "But I love you more."

Kuw stood up from her seat to hug her right there. They embraced tightly. Rachel did not even try to squirm out, and just blushed at the thought of everyone in the bar seeing this public display of affection. The relmai still did not quite get that this kind of thing was not appreciated in environments like this…

The embarrassment only intensified when she heard Jamaad's voice amid the incessant chatter of the other patrons. The captain, who was previously talking to Yeremey about something that sounded important, approached the two. Elektra was behind him.

Kuw immediately pulled back and innocently sipped her drink. Jamaad clearly didn't notice or didn't care, or both.

"Where is Artur?" he said with a look of concern. "He's not responding to calls. I'm sure he's fine, but I'm still worried."

"I dunno," Kuw said, "he was getting a drink and noooow, not a trace. We haven't seen him walk out but we weren't watching him all the tiiiime. What about Elektra's monitor? Doesn't that show everyone's position?"

"Too much interference on this station, he's here somewhere but we don't know what room." Jamaad then reached into his pocket and took out a small, lidded black box. "This is the package that I saw Artur's father give him, back at Flamerider base. It's signed with his dad's name so I know this is it. I found it on the floor right outside the bar."

"Um… maybe it fell out oooof his pocket?"

"Yes, Comms Officer Kuw, due to an unexplained quantum phenomenon, it phased through a zipper," the captain said sarcastically. He then put the box on the table, letting Rachel and Kuw see it more closely.

The white ribbon-seal on it was broken.

"So… someone stole whatever was inside?" Rachel said.

"Bingo!" Jamaad sat down beside her, while Elektra just glanced around with a tired look on her face.

"Well, what if Artur took out whatever was inside and threw away the box?" Kuw said. She herself felt this was grasping at straws.

"A Canid would throw away a signed box?" Jamaad raised an eyebrow. "They're not a species of uncaring hardasses. They're a very sentimental people. Soft like pillows, deep down. Just don't tell that to their face."

Yeremey could be seen slowly lowering his glass two tables away, his ears twitching.

"So, someone stole it. Pickpocketed in fact," Rachel said. "But why?"

"Well I don't know. Again, the box is now empty so I'm not sure of a possible motive. Artur never told me what was inside," Jamaad said.

Rachel put her hands onto the side of the head, deep in thought. Perhaps her knowledge of detection could allow her to figure out what happened.

"Well, if it was just some gold bauble, there's no way someone would figure out it was there from a distance. Same for some kind of family photos and so on. Whatever got stolen has to be something that passively transmits a signal, intentionally or not, and at the same time is clearly valuable enough for a pickpocket to decide to slash the uniform of a huge Canid with a gun on his hip. And get away with it," she said.

"Well, do we call the local police then?" Jamaad asked.

"Dunno if they'll do anything about it if a yect employee stole it," Rachel said, "which is most likely what happened given how people live here."

Elektra finally spoke. "We shouldn't have disembarked."

"But if we hadn't, then… hold on, let me explain," Rachel then told her and Jamaad about Mwiu's predicament.

"Oh, on our way we saw a pink relmai, a Chimera, an android, and a human walking out of the bar, who all did not look like they were from around here. They were heading towards the residential quarters."

"Right, so we just didn't catch them here… oh wait, I have her info," a realization flashed its way through the catgirl's head.

The other three officers waited and waited for the call to connect. Even Spark, the all-purpose communications app that united chats, forums, calls, and BCI comms under one umbrella, and was praised Alliance-wide for its speed and reliability, had trouble connecting here. Perhaps the servers on this station were overloaded…

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After about a minute, her sleepy voice finally chirped. "Huh… who is this…"

"Rachel. Did you see Artur anywhere? This is urgent."

"Uhhh…" the sound of a thin body falling out of bed was heard, "Ouch! I think… he was… in the service area that we passed? He seemed like he waaaas anxious and looking for somethiiiing, but he didn't notice us and my stupid self didn't talk to him…"

"Right, thanks, have a good rest, sorry for disturbing you!"

The four exited the bar, taking the box with them. Jamaad lamented that he did not get to actually drink anything, while the abstinent Elektra was unbothered. They ran to the service sector of the station's ring, provoking glances or shouts from everyone around.

Soon, the wide corridor split off into two cul-de-sacs, each crowded with a variety of machines and hatches, both alien-looking and familiar.

"So aliens have laundromats too," Rachel said as she saw a yect opening one of the glass hatches and stowing away a filthy set of clothes inside.

"A society that has clothes has to have somewhere to wash them," Elektra said.

Artur stumbled out from behind some shaking and whirring block of metal. "Hey! So uh I got really fuckin drunk, felt like it got to me faster than it would, I decided to uh take a nap somewhere I felt safe, dunno my head was cloudy at the time I thought it was a good idea. I wake up, and no longer feel my datapad in my pocket… or my…"

"This?" Jamaad showed him the empty box.

"Yeah… I'm sorry sir… I've been looking for the fucker who stole those, so I can–"

Jamaad sighed and interrupted him. "I suppose it's time to ask now. What was actually in the package? It could help us locate it."

Artur scratched his head. "Well… no point in keeping it private. My dad is a collector of various alien baubles. You see, in his younger years, he traveled half the Oval. Gathered souvenirs from every civilization he visited. And he often gave them to me. The one I valued the most was a 'galaxy orb' made by Chimeras… it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. This glassy-rubbery sphere was maybe the size of my palm… or two of your palms… when fully extended that is. When squished, it was almost a marble. And inside were the most intricate patterns of swirling lights and weird glowing 'ferns' that constantly shifted. All in so many colors. Apparently, it reacts to everything in the environment, and Chimeras use these as a thermometer or a barometer and stuff, but I dunno. I often just looked into it when alone. Charged it in the induction box once a week. It was oddly calming. And now it's fucking gone!"

After hearing his somewhat rambling explanation, Jamaad frowned. "I had no idea you were interested in that kind of thing, but it does sound like a nice gift. So, Rachel says that it had to emit some kind of signal for people to find it, is that true?"

"Dunno. Maybe it did. Again I have no idea how it works."

"Then I don't know how we're supposed to find it."

Kuw suddenly remembered a crucial detail. "Elektra mentioned thaaaat a Chimera was in Mwiu's group. Maybe they'll know what kind of signal the galaxy orb sends out. Let's goooo knock on their door and find out."

"But I just called her, it'd be weird to just barge in again… but fine. By the way, where's Patch?" Rachel said.

"It said it doesn't have anything to do here and it needs to maintain the ship anyways," Elektra said.

"That's fair," Rachel nodded.

"As for your datapad, Officer Artur, I hope you have secured it," Jamaad said.

"All the possible securities, sir! The thief couldn't do anything with it."

The residential area wasn't too far away from the service alcoves. A low ceiling, twice lower than that of the rest of the toroidal corridor, was an indicator of this area's purpose. The inhabitants had to slightly crouch to move between the narrow doors, which were the only disturbances that broke up the monotony of the bare walls. This arrangement was done to pack more floors into the residential area, given the limited vertical space in the ring. Individuals of taller species, like an almost emaciated-looking aadalu, almost had to crawl to traverse this area.

Rachel regretfully pulled out her datapad and made another call to Mwiu, asking her for directions to her room. She seemed completely drowsy this time around, and amid incoherent groaning and mumbles in a foreign language, the number '021' could barely be understood. Rachel heard very irritated complaints by two other voices before Mwiu hung up.

"Okay now I just feel really bad about this. We should have waited," Rachel said, "but now there's no point in not going there."

Artur growled. "We can't waste time! Or whoever stole the sphere will sell it or fly off with it."

"Fine, fine."

They made their way to room 21, which was, fortunately, on the ground floor, so nobody had to peruse the very uncomfortable-looking lifts. The door was featureless, only distinguishable from the wall by the outline of its gap. Rachel knocked. It slid open.

The inside was dark, too dark to make anything out, and surprisingly spacious compared to the corridor outside. After all, it had to accommodate many possible body sizes.

A triangular head with a long and flat muzzle poked out from behind the corner, attached to an unseen body via a semi-long neck. Four round green eyes in two pairs graced its sides, akin to two bolded typographical colons. The broad yet floppy-looking triangular growths on the alien head's back made it somewhat resemble the letter Y. A coat of white skin, glimmering with a coating of rose-smelling oil, was decorated with impossibly immaculate black fractal lines.

"Um, hello? I'm Rachel. I think Mwiu told you about me…?"

"Greetings, feline-hominid imitation-of-crossbreed possessing splendorous beauty. This restrictive, primitive, and crudely un-Harmonious language lacks even the minute-most possibility of communicating even a single one of my unfolding names. You and your esteemed companions may call me Qoolucu, which is merely a simplified shortening of the first lexical-component of the most prominent of the aforementioned true-names, lacking tonal indicators, and–"

Barely-held-back laughter interrupted the Chimera's rant, and an aging, bearded Asian human gently shoved him aside. "I apologize for this. Come in, our saviors. Don't turn on the lights, though."

The five officers entered the room one-by-one. Artur, already having had to lean forward, resorted to crawling on his haunches, nearly getting stuck in the process. Fortunately, inside there was somewhat more space to stand up in.

"Right, Qoolucu, do you know what galaxy orbs are?" Rachel turned to look at the Chimera. The rest of his body made him somewhat resemble a mythical centaur, albeit without a tail. Four somewhat thick legs of medium length. Two long thin arms with spindly fingers. All covered in the same fractal patterns as his face.

"Indeed I do," judging by his expression, it was clear that the alien was barely restraining himself from another long-winded tirade, "in fact, at my homeworld, I was responsible for overseeing part of an auto-factory that produced these colorful spheres."

"Awesome. So like, it'd take a while to explain what I need to know this for, but… is there any kind of feature in them that makes them emit a radio signal?"

"The orbs greatly rely on communication with other nearby orbs to keep their internal patterns perpetually fresh, akin to neurons in a brain fabricating thoughts from repeated impulses, but that is not done directly via radio. Perhaps you mean how on certain days of the Chimera calendar, they emit a multispectrum symphony of pulses, which does include radio waves in addition to visible, ultraviolet, and infrared?"

"Right. What frequency for the radio?" Rachel said.

Qoolucu looked up and closed his four eyes. Artur correctly guessed that the alien was accessing some database via BCI.

"The sacred number on this date, synced with the home-Garden, is… four thousand three hundred and seven. This translates to the frequency, in human measurement units, of… five hundred and four megahertz."

"Thanks! Ultra-high frequency… That's enough to fit an antenna in a small device like that, so I suppose that tracks," Rachel said.

Artur, who was growing increasingly impatient, finally spoke up. "You're a radio nerd. I'm not. How is knowing that gonna help me find it?"

"UHF waves transmit mostly by line-of-sight, but can be detected through even metal walls by modern-day antennas, as they can pass through tiny cracks, vents, and all that. Good thing my datapad has a mod installed that gives it full radio functionality…"

Rachel took it out of her pocket to demonstrate. From a flip-out panel on the shiny metal casing telescoped a large antenna more appropriate for some kind of old-school walkie-talkie than a datapad.

She opened the app attached to the device and fiddled with the options, picking up fragments of the various long-wave broadcasts around the station, including snatches of advertising jingles. Unlike short-waves of the kind that the sphere emitted, long waves could easily go through sheet metal plating.

Artur's well of patience finally dried up. "So this thing works. Let's go find whoever stole my father's gift, and my datapad, and then…"

The wolf-man repeatedly slammed his fist into his other hand in the same manner a thug, or perhaps a schoolyard bully, would do before giving someone a beatdown.

Elektra sighed. "We're not killing anybody here."

Kuw and Jamaad, meanwhile, were off to the side and asking the human man hushed questions about their trip and the nature of their captain's arrest. He dodged most of them, and finally pointed at the softly-blinking red camera-eye in the corner…