SKIPS-ONE-STEP
No one had told her just how much downgrading a foundational skill sucked. It was just like having to walk all over again. Except that this walk was at speeds she had previously deemed impossible. She knew that the vessel of Teki was probably following her, navigating by sight, not by tracker. She ran after she heard Rush stirring. She could not be arsed to see him again. She wasn’t even quite sure where she ran to, she just focussed on putting as much distance between her and the cursed compound. She concentrated on running, feeling the wind, the ground, the sunlight. She kept running until she could no more. Not because of a lack of stamina but because a wide ocean (that she first assumed to be an illusion) was ahead of her. She had some idea about where she was, but would need to find a settlement to confirm it: The salt sea. This was not like any ocean on earth, where 70% of the surface was water. On Tsanh, this value was a mere 10%. What was there in terms of surface water was more akin to the dead sea: an ocean that is not just too salty to drink, it is also too salty for any meaningful life in it apart from the microbial and from certain algae. Sometimes nearby settlements harvested these from what she heard. They were far too salty to eat but could be added to food as seasoning or to preserve it for additional flavour.
She undressed and took a dip in the ocean. She floated very well in it and did so for a while. Then she opened her eyes and looked around to see where she drifted off to. She noticed the direction and then returned to the shore. As she hadn’t noticed any wind, she assumed that the drift stemmed from an influx of water. “Better a red herring than no fish at all!” Skips murmured as she moved towards the source of the water movement. She took her dress with her but didn’t wear it. Why should she? The Scorpions-of-Tsanh wore no clothing, neither did the Spiders-of-Tsanh - unless simple web slings to carry things in counted, which to Skips they did not - and no human eye would see her. She moved against the slight current until she found a large metal structure that by all means should not be there. She waded to it until she saw the writing. It was not Tsanh writing but it was imperial. “Teki, that is where you live…” she talked to herself. The construction was surprisingly small. It was small for a human to live in for 5 years. For a much larger keani, it was pretty bad.
She felt claustrophobic just looking at the structure. The Keani must feel worse unless he could swim in the ocean. Which she was not sure was possible with just how buoyant the water was.
She shuddered and left a message written with sand and silt on the structure: “Ask system for integration if this is unbearable.”
Then, she rushed off.
CHIRPS-AT-THE-MOON
Shivers returned from xir current part of the quest in a foul mood. Chirps immediately ran to her kid and offered to lead xir back to their tent. Chirps asked: “What happened? You look like you saw a fata morgana!”
Shivers hugged xir mother: “I haven’t. I am just worried about Skips. You know. She is coping with her world’s people all alone.”
Chirps made an understanding click: “You care for Skips a lot, don’t you?”
Shivers agreed: “I do. I saw her integrate.”
Chirps hugged Shivers tightly: “I see you get involved in something that is way over your head. I would like to tell you that this is a bad idea, but I know that you feel a sense of purpose. And soon, with the quest done, you might want to act on your purpose. I know that Heliciculture is your foundational skill, but people can leave it behind. Foundational skills are not fate. They are just something you excelled in when you were integrated, as such, they ”
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Shivers felt awkward about the parental lesson. So xe changed the topic: “Do you think Skips is doing well? She had a difficult task ahead of herself and she had to downgrade longstrider.”
Chirps released Shivers: “You worry too much. She levelled her Foundational Skill as if it was nothing. She got Longstrider to Repository Level in one moon. She can re-level the skill.”
In that moment, Chirps saw two things: A distant sand cloud and a system message:
Repository Update: Due to reaching the first Level 8 skill, the Village-of-the-Oasis-of-swimming-flowers-that-is-the-source-of-the-river-that-feeds-a-million-mouths repository has reached Level 8. New repository functions available.
Chirps didn’t say anything but both Shivers and her looked at each other in a satisfied moment.
KRILK
“System Maintenance! System Maintenance! System Maintenance!” A voice called for Krilk’s attention.
“Krilk representing Repository Tlkat-Marine-Reef-near-the-West-Continent is present.” Krilk intoned.
“This is Nketjdi of the Tsanh integration project representing Repository Shthiemb-Heat-Desert-of-the-Centre. We have a problem here.” A voice spoke over the interplanetary distance via transmission.
“Please define the issue, Nketjdi. I am listening, paying attention and ready to assist.” Krilk said. Interspecies communication was hard and so a lot relied on formulaic phrases. ‘Listening’ referred to the System translating the communication of the other side into sequential audio waves. In this case, those were transmitted underwater. ‘Paying attention’ indicated that the other side had Krilk’s undivided attention and came with the implied polite request not to abuse the privilege, ‘ready to assist’ meant that Krilk could immediately assist if required.
“Competing system integration on Tsanh has commenced.” Nketjdi said. “Foreign side established itself on one mountain as well as in the ocean.”
“Define ‘the ocean’, please.” Krilk asked.
“Requesting image transfer. Accept?” the other side responded.
“I accept,” Krilk responded. A moment later, Krilk had a mental representation of the planet. It had one body of water that might deserve the moniker ‘ocean’, while other rivers seemed to end in mere lakes. A point of interest marker was shown in the ocean, close to one of the shores.
“Thanks. Acknowledged. Do we have information on the aliens?” Krilk asked.
“We do. We have the biological data of one refugee who integrated,” Nketjdi explained, “As well as the integration conversation that the system saved for analysis. The System already responded with a quest to fortify nearby settlements, which is almost complete. Does this need manual intervention?”
Krilk asked: “Are we syphoning any potential foreign affinited magic?”
Nketjdi confirmed: “We do. But they flood the planet with affinited magic to the level of 6’000 Gigaseren. I ask for permission to apply affinited compatibility to system integrated lifeforms here.”
Krilk asked: “How many are we talking about?”
After a pause, Nketjdi responded: “537’569 creatures of 3 species: Scorpion-of-Tsanh, Spider-of-Tsanh and Human-of-Tsanh.”
Krilk did the equivalent of a nod: “Permission granted. Metaphorically: If they want to drown our system in their magic, we swim. Also, keep the domestically unintegrated foreign entities under surveillance. In addition, inform the domestically integrated ones. We want to be transparent in what we are doing. Remember that while the domestically integrated there so far have not developed a skill beyond even the first threshold, they have full rights in the System.”
Nketjdi responded: “Confirmed. All questions resolved. Sign-off requested.”
Krilk confirmed: “Sign-off accepted.”