Twenty-third day after my arrival

Dear Diary

I finally managed to calm down a bit. It's now been two days since I visited the Tystrie ambassador. They are an interesting species, completely different from the Vanaery. They look a bit like bipedal cats with fish scales instead of fur. And no cat ears, theirs are on the side and pretty big, a bit like bat ears. Also interesting how tall the ambassador was. The servants all were around the size of an adult man human man, but the ambassador was as tall as the princess.

I'm still not sure if they did it, but the ambassador definitely acted suspiciously. There was also this one servant who was constantly loitering around, I had a really strange feeling around him. But I didn't find anything concrete. To be fair, in hindsight, I'm not really sure what I was looking for. I was so angry the entire Maybe I should've planned this better.

But it wasn't pointless. My suspicion of her has definitely grown. Once the guard captain comes back, I'll have to tell him about her, maybe he can find something out. Though thanks to this nobility crap, she's basically untouchable until there is damning evidence against her. That includes interrogating her. Until the princess wakes up, I'm more or less the only one who can talk to her without things getting ugly. Stupid politics.

Assuming she really is the one behind this, in an ideal world, my visit made her panic and she'd try something reckless. But I doubt she's that stupid. Still, I better tell the guards to be on the lookout, as well as the captain once he comes back...

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Once she got called in, Githaiy opened the door and entered Nadine's room. After her, two maids brought in an assortment of food, before leaving again with a bow.

The small alien was sitting on the pile of pillows on her chair that allowed her to reach the desk, seemingly writing something again.

"Is she better? Considering you're here," she asked, hopping down to the ground.

"Yes," Githaiy affirmed. "Her readings are all stable, and I couldn't detect any noteworthy traces of calcium, it has all been flushed out. The damage done to her body will take time to heal, but there should be nothing to worsen her condition. And even if, I hooked her up to many control monitors that would warn me of the slightest anomaly. The only thing left for her is to wake up and then rest."

She made a pause before adding.

"You really saved her life that night. You can be proud of that."

Nadine closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"No. Not before I bring this matter to a close. But speaking of resting, shouldn't you do that too?"

"I have. I was able to catch up on my missed sleep, so my body has rested enough. This right here is actually a good way for me to get my head free."

That made Nadine chuckle.

"You sure love research, huh, Doc?"

"Well, I'm the first person in the alliance to examine a foreign sapient species in First Ones know how many generations," she shrugged, chiming in on the alien's delight.

Both kept enjoying the moment a bit longer before Nadine let out a long, melancholic sigh.

"You know, Claire would've loved meeting you."

"Claer?" Githaiy repeated, sure that she had butchered the name. That didn't sound like it belonged to a Vanaery. Another human, maybe? If so, as far as she could recall, this was the first time Nadine had mentioned another person by name.

"Claire Archambeau. She's a biochemist from Belgium and is also part of the colony program. She's the youngest among the adults in our group, so we talked quite a bit."

Seemingly remembering something, Nadine started to laugh.

"She once missed an important assignment because she accidentally discovered something during a test and spent all her time with that instead. Was almost kicked out of the program for it. Seriously, give her a microscope and some biomass, and won't see her again for the day."

She shook her head smiling.

"Fair bit of warning though, if she isn't immersed in her research, she's more hyper than a squirrel on cocaine. Still, you have to meet her if we ever..."

The small alien's gaze fell as the words died in her mouth.

"I'm sure they are fine," Githaiy tried to comfort her. "Some other alliance members may have found them already. Word just travels slowly beyond the hyperlanes."

"Let's... talk about something else, okay?"

Githaiy wanted to say something in return, but she realized her words wouldn't reach Nadine at the moment. So instead, she turned to the food assortment and handed her two small containers.

"Here is the new recipe you asked for. This one is with tikro, that one without"

That at least brought her smile back.

"I wouldn't exactly call a smoothie a "recipe". It's actually strange that you guys never got the idea. But I still hope those fruits work together. Would be nice to have something good and easy, especially when I'm training," she explained as she took a sip. She then put the container away immediately.

"It's liquified, it's mixed with other stuff, and it STILL tastes like dry flour! What is wrong with that stupid tuber? This thing screams nutrients, there has to be a way to make this edible!"

Slightly frustrated, she took a big gulp from the other one. Only to then stop and make a confused face.

"Huh. That one doesn't taste like I thought it would. Is that really just the fruits I listed?"

"I didn't make it, but it should be. So both are a failure?"

Nadine shook her head.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Wouldn't exactly call it a failure, it's just..." She took another gulp. "There is an aftertaste I can't really assign to any of the fruits I tried. Maybe some things in there react weirdly?" She drank some more. "Hm, the fruity flavor is too strong, I can't really discern it. I feel like I know this taste from somewhere, but I can't really put my finger on it."

She thought a bit more, but seemingly not reaching a conclusion, she emptied the rest in one go.

"Still, wasn't bad, so no worries. Anyway, is there something else that's new?"

One after another, Githaiy went with her through the meals the staff had prepared this time. Right before the assassination attempt on the princess, Nadine had given a couple of new suggestions, so there were indeed some new things she hadn't tried yet. By now, they had figured out a decent amount of food the small alien could consume. Whether it was what she needed to consume was a different topic. Occasionally, Nadine recognized the names of some of the nutrients, but this simply wasn't her field of expertise. Could she maybe feel that her body was missing something and because of that was so obsessed with the tikro?

Githaiy explained more about each meal while Nadine quietly listened, though sometimes, she seemed to giggle for no apparent reason. Some time passed until they had finally gone through everything. Finishing her meal, Nadine got up. But she somehow lost her balance and tumbled a bit to the side before getting a hold of the wall. She giggled again.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked, surprised. Nadine had always shown an impressive balance of her body, so this was unusual.

"Yeh yeh, I'm ffffffffiiine."

And that was about the last kind of response she had expected.

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound fine."

"Ahhh, c'mooon, yu gan be a sdiggler when I'm done wif de Columbo-shidd," she grumbled.

"...what?" Was her translator glitching out? But it had worked fine just now. It had to be the translator though. Physical speech impairment wouldn't get through the translator, so something had to be wrong either with the device or with...

...her brain.

Oh no.

"Nadine, look at me!"

"Huuuh? Why? Hey, huu's yur ssissder?"

What? Was she hallucinating now?

"Nadine, I think something was wrong with your food! Come, we need to go to my office!"

Nadine tried to say something else, but this time, it was completely unintelligible. She got away from the wall but lost her balance again, crashing into one of the food trays and breaking it in the process. She didn't get up afterward but simply lay in the wreckage.

"Nadine? Nadine!"

No response.

Githaiy hurriedly ran out into the hallway.

"GUARDS!" she screamed. "GUARDS! WE NEED HELP!"

Quickly, three of them answered the call.

"What happened, Milady?"

"I don't know, I think Nadine ingested something harmful to her! You need to get her in my office, quick!"

"...how?"

"I don't know, get creative!"

With that, she left the guards behind and rushed over to the other side of the palace, hoping she could already do something before they arrived. Running past the princess who was still lying peacefully on her bed, she activated the blood testing machine. All her research regarding Nadine so far only encompassed day-to-day things, so she had no idea what symptoms she showed to what. Therefore, her only hope was this apparatus.

Grabbing a syringe, she ran back. The guards, now six in total, had managed to get Nadine onto her oversized bedsheet and, rather than carrying her, dragged the package over the floor like a heavy sack. Not exactly dignified, but that wasn't something they could care about now. Githaiy quickly drew a blood sample, hoping the machine would be done by the time they reached her office, and rushed back again. She put a drop in each of the testing tubes, every tigg feeling like an entire inva.

The machine didn't have human blood registered in its system yet, so it didn't know what results to ignore. That only served to make the process even more tedious, as irrelevant compound after irrelevant compound popped up on the screen. Calcium, potassium, copper, magnesium, all things that would be concerning in other species, but were irrelevant now. She had already analyzed the alien's blood once, she just needed the machine to show something that hadn't been there before!

Finally, just as the guard managed to drag Nadine in, the test showed a relevant result. And it was one that let all the strength leave Githaiy's body. All the haste she had felt until now was gone, and left was only despair.

"What now, doc?" One of the guards asked. It almost hurt the doctor to move her mouth.

"...nothing."

"Nothing?! What do you mean, nothing?!"

"There is nothing to do. I can't help her."

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"Uuhhh..."

Hearing a groan, Githaiy jumped to her feet. It was the early morning and the doctor had skipped another night. Unable to stop Nadine from succumbing to the poison, all she could do was attempt to keep her stable and hope for a miracle. And somehow, one had come. While her body had gotten hot for a while, her breath and pulse had quickly become calm and steady. No further reactions to the toxin had shown themselves, she was just lying on her bedsheet on the floor, peacefully.

The only way Githaiy could explain this was that whoever had done the deed underestimated her body mass and mixed too little in her food. It was probably the weird taste she had noticed. But who had done it? When? How?

Unfortunately, things were far from good. It was still all but guaranteed that she had suffered permanent neural damage. It was probably especially bad for her since her brain had such high and fast computing power. Wherever the damage would manifest exactly, she would definitely have to live with severe impairments from now on.

"What..."

"Nadine! Oh, by the First Ones, you're awake!"

"Loud..."

"...sorry, what did you say?"

"Could you... talk not so loud, please? And... maybe turn off the light? Ah, fuck, my head is killing me. What happened?" She talked much slower than before.

Githaiy nodded and followed her request, before taking notes. She quickly needed to assess all long-term symptoms. The headache would probably be the least of them.

"Nadine, I need you to stay calm. This will probably come as a shock, but... someone tried to poison you."

"Huh?" She sounded more confused than shocked. "Poison? With what, with alcohol?"

The doctor was stumped. Despite her condition and just from the symptoms, she was able to discern the toxin?

"Um, yes. Ethanol to be exact."

"He. Hehehe-ow. Oh boy, do I have a story for you once this hangover is gone."

With that, Nadine rolled to her side and closed her eyes again. How was she so calm?

"Doctor?"

A voice called for her from the destroyed door. Turning her head, she noticed two guards as well as the guard captain. She signed for them to be quiet before stepping out into the hallway.

"I see you are back, Captain," she greeted him once she was sure they were far enough away so as to not disturb Nadine. "How did your investigation go?"

"I take it you know that the suicide of the culprit was likely staged?"

"Yes, Nadine told me."

"Speaking of, how is she?"

"To my absolute surprise: alive. But despite her luck, there are still severe long-term consequences to be expected. Which ones exactly, I can not tell yet. Ethanol is incredibly dangerous."

The captain nodded.

"I see. When my men told me the name, I asked around. You can't just acquire this stuff normally, right?"

"Correct. Because it is so potent and there is no known antidote, you need a special research license to purchase it."

"Mh-hm. But you have such a license, right?"

That comment made Githaiy stop.

"I do. I don't see how that is relevant though."

"It is insofar relevant that I have to ask you to come with me."

It actually took her a while to process what she had just heard and to understand what the captain was hinting at.

"... you must be joking."

"Most certainly not."

"Are you... why would you even think that?!"

"Well, you were one of few who knew about her theory of the staged suicide, maybe you wanted to silence her."

"Why would I want to- wait, are you saying I attempted to assassinate Her Highness?! That makes no sense, I was to one who saved her!" she shouted, fuming over his audacity.

"Maybe you didn't want her to die, just take her out, I don't know. I mean, our only source that she is fine now and will soon wake up is you, after all. True, I don't know what you would hope to gain from this, but you see: by the time the maid in question was shot, you weren't back to the palace yet, but arrived shortly after, meaning you could've been in the city. You were one of the few who knew about Lady Nadine's suspicion, you were the one who gave her the poisoned meal, and despite alerting the guards, you were rather quick in announcing that she was beyond saving."

"Yes, because as I said, there is no known antidote against ethanol! It's a deadly neurotoxin!"

She took a breath.

"Alright, if you say it like that, there's a hint in my direction, I'll give you that much. But that's not nearly enough. I might be of low rank, but I'm still a noble and in service of the Star Palace! You can't accuse me unless you have either Her Highness's order or solid evidence!

"That is true."

"Then instead of chasing-"

She didn't finish her sentence as the captain held a datapad in her face. What she saw made her freeze.

It was a bill of delivery for a small shipment of ethanol. Ordered with her license.

"What do you say? Does this qualify as "solid evidence"?"