I was nervous, and still a little shell shocked thanks to the sim pod, but I was getting better. Real food certainly helped with that. But there was something else, I could tell that there was something wrong with Intra, she was more distracted than usual, more unsure of herself. She wasn’t the confident and sure woman she had been before reaching Earth. Clearly the stuff that's happened to her has affected her deeply, and shaken her to a degree where she has become a detriment to herself… and possibly me as well. I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about rejuvenating her confidence, but I would find a way, eventually.

She however was confident enough in her piloting skills to do that, as she guided the shuttle down towards the planet. I watched it grow closer and closer, streams of small and large vessels coming to and fro. It reminded me a bit of Earth, except there weren’t many large ships heading down to the surface there. Those ended up at the anchorage, but there was no anchorage here.

“I warn you there may be a bit of a language barrier. Your suit will do its best to decipher anything that’s being said, but without a frame of reference it’ll be slow going. My first suggestion would be to find a terminal or something that looks like it's for the public to use and jack the suit into it, I’ll go trolling for the required information.”

“Got it, find a terminal, jack in… What does jack in mean exactly?”

“Plug in… Er, I mean, look at your right wrist.”

I did so, and found a bump of sorts right below my hand near my palm.

“That is the cable housing, inside is a cable which you can connect to most terminals or even other suits, and if a person has the right implants, to them as well. It’ll provide a data connection which I can use to search their systems. Think of it like… a straw, a very flexible straw but instead of food or drink, it’s information that flows through it.”

“Ohhhh okay… What if the terminals don’t have the right ports?”

“Then… We’ll just have to improvise.”

Right, improvise… What could go wrong? Well a lot could go wrong, but it wasn’t good to dwell on it at this time. I glanced up from the console that allowed a pilot to navigate the shuttle, and noted that the planet didn’t seem to be doing so well. It looked broken, polluted and toxic. Not a place my people would have ever wanted to visit voluntarily.

“Erm… Intra, why does the planet look sick?”

“Oh yes, that. That’s caused by rampant industrialism and not a single thought given to planetary health. If the native flora and fauna hadn’t already adapted to the new conditions this planet would probably have died a long time ago… I suggest you keep your helmet on at all times, even indoors.”

Well that was a given, I didn’t even want to think what this place could do to me if I breathed in any of this faintly glowing smog. Already the shuttle seemed to be getting alerts about high toxicity levels and radiation, which probably wasn’t good either, so I’d be staying in my suit for now.

I heard her start humming some song, and cocked my head as though trying to hear it better while the starport came into view. It wasn’t anywhere near as grand as Themis Anchorage, or the ones on Earth that’d flown over.

“Banging on a trashcan…” Intra sang softly, using an accent I’d never heard before.

“What?”

“Oh, sorry. I thought I was keeping that to myself. But it seems fitting for this place doesn’t it?”

“Uhhh yeah, I guess so.” I was heartily confused while Intra did what she had to in order for us to land. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect once I got down there, but I knew Intra would watch over me and if need be, help me get out of any bad situations. I just hoped to avoid said situations as much as possible.

I landed finally, the shuttle sliding itself into a free berth that seemed to be reserved just for us, though that was probably Intra’s doing thanks to her contact with the station. Automated systems are sometimes easy to understand, no matter the origin… At least, that’s what I thought.

The shuttle landed gently, with all the grace and care of a delicate bird. And then Intra helped me learn the suit's functions, just the really important stuff. Most of it was synced up to my implants, allowing me to think my commands and they’d be carried out almost instantly. I couldn’t tell it to do anything outlandish, because of course not, it was a suit, not a Swiss Army knife… whatever that was.

At her bidding, I activated the suit’s built-in helmet, which rose up from the neck guard and closed around my head, before turning mostly transparent. Clean, fresh smelling and tasting air flood the helmet, filtered of course of the various toxins that would soon surround me as I stepped up to the door that would release me into the care of this blighted planet.

“Intra?”

“Yes?”

“Is it… Is it silly that I’m scared?” I asked, and there was silence for a long moment, before I heard her sigh, I could almost see her shaking her head as well, though that was more a construct of my imagination really.

“No, no it’s not. Scared is good, just don’t let it control you. Remember, I’ll be right here the entire time.”

That helped yet again, and I felt so foolish for even being afraid. I had Intra, as she said, with me at all times. How could I be scared when someone as attentive and powerful as she was watching over me like the goddess she claimed she wasn’t.

“Are you ready? We can always go back for now, wait till later?”

“No! I mean… No, I’m fine, let’s do this… And Intra, thank you.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“You’re welcome. Opening the door.”

I quelled the shaking of my limbs and watched as the ramp lowered, checking the weapon that was sat upon my hip one last time before I stepped out and onto this new world.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

The more I scanned and documented the world upon which Ula now stood, the more displeased… Nay, disgusted I became. I have seen several worlds that were heavily industrialized, but even these planets had some modicum of care put into them. Pollution was kept to a minimum, toxic waste dumping was taken elsewhere, to be cast into systems that could do something with it or dumped into stars and singularities, where the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ held true.

This however, this was a travesty, and the inhabitants of this world seemed content to wallow in the decay and filth they had wrought. It was disgusting to me, and I felt a certain revulsion in the bowels of my hull that I don’t think I’d ever really experienced before. I was left wondering what the planet must have looked like before these people came to it, and I felt a pang of sorrow and loss for what had once been.

But then I focused on Ula, who even now was making her way through the almost ramshackle port upon this planet, a place filled with countless, nameless species that neither of us had ever seen before. There were several that were familiar to us, but they, like all the others in this place, were best avoided for the time, as they had a fairly criminal air about them, and so it was wise to be wary of their intentions.

For now, until Ula found a terminal, I settled in to see the sights as they say, seeing through her suit for the time being. A part of me wished I could have walked beside her, but I could not, and again, I felt a pang of sorrow.

I wished to walk as she did… And so when I had the chance, I would look into a solution to this conundrum of mine.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Once again, they had been rebuffed. This was nothing new, just another grievance to add to the list, and the list was long indeed. Behind their borders they sat, watching the other species that flaunted their profane technology openly, who spat in the face of the natural order of the universe. One day, they would not be able to resist their glorious might, one day they would be extinguished from existence.

The Yil’kaa are a patient species, and though the hated machine had managed to evade them, there would be other opportunities to destroy it. Their listening posts, small structures that vaguely resemble jellyfish, detected something strange. A signal, the same that had slipped past the attempted interception at the neutral zone. It was now outside Terran space, in a place that even the Yil’kaa could travel without fear of repercussion from any known species.

This was surprising, as it did not seem the hated machine traveled with any sort of escort, based on the lack of other drive signals in the area of Terran origin. Perhaps now was the time to seek vengeance for the ships and crews that had been lost in the attempt to destroy it, perhaps now was the time to strike out into the unknown regions and see what there was to see, and if needed, wipe more insolent heretics from existence.

They could not determine the exact location of the signal, but that wasn’t an issue, they would hunt them down eventually, even if that meant spreading their forces far and wide. Once more the Yil’kaa prepared for battle, fleets and crews preparing and moving out. The galaxy was due a good cleansing, it might as well be now.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I wasn’t sure what to expect, the people here were far larger than I, and more… Well, different as well. I saw one species that appeared to be a blob with a face and many, many tentacles, who had several presumably female aliens in attendance. Intra seemed almost amused by this, and when I mentally questioned her as to why, she informed me that she would explain when I was older.

I shrugged, and moved on. Eventually I found what I was tasked with finding, and after waiting for the terminal to be free, I slipped up and briefly forgot how to do as Intra had asked. But it came back to me, as I pulled the data cable from its socket and looked for a port. Intra found it before I did, highlighting the port for me and I held the cable up to it. It took a moment for it to reconfigure, but once it had, it sat snugly.

My view changed drastically, the visor of my helmet darkening a bit while strange words and numbers flowed by in sequence, leaving me rather confused. I knew not the things being displayed before me, for I am not that well versed in technical languages and jargon. Some things made sense, but the rest might as well have been gibberish to me.

But whatever Intra was doing, it was working, because there was a brief pop in my ears that left a light ringing sound behind, and then the alien babbling all around me became far more comprehensible.

I almost wished it was still random sounds and other strange noises, because some of the stuff being said left me blushing and wishing I could turn invisible. But at least I could read the alien text around me now, which would make navigation far, far easier.

“How are the implants feeling? Do you feel any sort of pressure or anything?” Intra asked me, and I focused for a second, before speaking.

“No, why, should I?”

“Nope, it’s a good thing you don’t. I did just download sixteen different languages into your head, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t cause discomfort or anything.”

“Ah, okay. Good to know. If I start feeling weird I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you. Now, where should we go first? I’ve got a map of the area so I should be able to provide paths to anything you wish to see.”

I thought about it, then before I could even respond, Intra spoke up again.

“Fuck.”

“What?! What’s wrong?”

“Oh I just… Ugh, I forgot about money. We don’t have any technically, well, that’s not true, I have money, but it probably won’t work out here. We’ll need to find a way of making money… Or if you’re fine with it, perhaps acquiring it via less than reputable means. But I would recommend that it be a last resort decision.”

“Okay… Um… Where should I start then? I mean, how do I go about getting this… Money stuff… What even is money?”

“Well… Money is used to buy things. Think of it like trading, you give a certain amount of money to another person, in return, you get something from them. Like food, clothing, resources, even weapons and sometimes… Ahem, other services. But we won’t talk about that just yet. Still too young.”

I huffed, rolling my eyes before planting two hands on my hips, the other two arms crossed over my chest.

“Alright, I guess that makes sense… Now, where do I go to get this money? Do they just hand it out for free?”

“Pfft no. We’ll have to find you some sort of job… I wouldn’t suggest anything violent at this time, though perhaps… Hmmm… I wonder… One moment.”

I felt her focus recede slightly, as to one side of my vision I saw flashes of strange symbols and numbers. I didn’t even try to make sense of it all, but eventually it stopped on some sort of bulletin, complete with a picture of a scarred alien with many facial tentacles that seemed to be braided like hair.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s a fellow by the name of Kryrgym, it seems he has a courier job and nobody is taking him up on it. But the payout is large, and it would be easy for us to do honestly. It would cut our stay here a bit short however, but honestly, I don’t think that’d be such a bad thing, this place is… Dangerous.”

I thought about it, essentially we’d play the role of delivery people, which was fairly easy depending on what we happened to be carrying. It was also, hopefully non-violent as well, which was a thing that I would be happy if true.

“Call him up or whatever you have to do, let’s take this job of his.”

“Aye aye.”

There was silence for a minute or two before she displayed a path for me to follow.

“He says he’d like to meet face to face. I don’t like it, but that’s the only way he’ll let us take the job.”

“No, let’s see what he has to say.”

And so I started to walk, keeping my shoulders squared and my head held high. It was time to earn some money.