Unipsi, lovely entity
chapter 35c: fields
The next day, almost at noon, Scilla went into the NDU. She went straight for Iris’s room yet she didn’t found her, so she turned to the most common call. Yelling.
“IRIS! WHERE ARE YOU?”
a second loud yell came back to her from below.
“GET BACK DOWN. I’M INSIDE A MAINTENANCE CORRIDOR. THE RIGHT ONE”
Somewhat exited to maybe peek at the armaments, Scilla rushed down to notice a small square metal door open behind some crates. It was really narrow but she was confident that she could get in.
“can I get in? Wasn’t it too dangerous before?”
“don’t worry everything is offline. Just watch out form hanging pipes and sudden steps.”
Exited Scilla pushed herself in. The passage was narrow and surrounded by electromechanical machinery. They were partially active as sound was coming from them. After few meters the corridor made a 90° turn on the left. It was now in the middle of the right branch. Few small led lamps placed inside the floor sides were the only light source that barely allowed to see the borders of the corridor. Behind her a second small door, probably leading to the engines. Upon her a perfectly smooth surface. Below her, visible through the punctured floor, the same smooth and flat material. On the left side she could see Heavy walkers and android hanging like clothes from the ceiling. On the right a multitude of machinery and ammunitions. Auto loaders, feeding belts and so on. It was a paradise of geometrical figure perfectly modelled to avoid any kind of interference and empty spaces. It was beautiful.
“whoa. This place is ama (amazing)”
a dull sound filled the narrow gap as Scilla’s head impacted on an hanging cooling pipe.
“ounh! Fuck this tube”
“hahaha told you to watch out for tubes”
“don’t laugh at me. It hurts. The fuck are those made of? Titanium?”
“nope, they are a tungsten hybrid alloy so they contain gravron elements.”
“well now is see why you didn’t want me inside this place. It’s not made for my size”
“indeed it’s not. So why are you here?”
“oh yeah sure. Me and Wiola will take a VTOL and get to our old town Saryvona… emh so what do I do? Do I send you the coordinates to...?”
“oh yeah, you don’t have my phone number”
phones were such a good invention that everyone had at least one. However they were not speaking about standard phones or smartphones used inside a single planet but spacephones, that had to be built differently to allow communication on several specified planets. They were bigger and less stylish yet they could self adapt to almost every network and communication protocol around. What they call as phone number is not a static value but a unique equation shared between the devices allowing them to always reach each other while inside the same network.
As Scilla pulled out her massive device as big as a brick, Idra pulled out of a suit pocket a slim device reminiscent of those old smartphones.
“what? Is that you spacephone? How?”
“what do you mean how?”
“well it’s… what is it? 1 cm thick? How the fuck…”
“you should know by now that my technology is far superior to yours. We studied and developed new miniaturization methodologies. That’s all. Nothing fancy about it. So give me your phone so I can sync them”
Envious Scilla lend her “brick” to then console it after having it back.
“don’t worry bricky brick. Slim also means fragile...”
“I can use it as a hammer”
“oh come on. Let me win sometime”
Caught off guard Iris struggled to find a compliment. She didn’t understand that Scilla was joking.
“emh… eeer. Yours… yours…. Have a cool name??”
Scilla laughed loudly.
“it was a joke, I was just kidding. Well anyway… how do we go there? You get in the VTOL with us? Or…”
“nah, once you get there just send me the landing coordinates and I will get to you with the NDU”
“ok… so… I will go… bye”
Iris had already returned to her checks on the armament so her voice cooled down to her usual death tone.
“sure. Bye”
Few hours later Scilla and Wiola were on their VTOL directed toward their home town Saryvona. They grew up in what is still a farm city build around a lake. Their city took the name directly from the lake Sary and makes an intensive use of its coastline. Saryvona started as a group of farms all independent from each others, all using and abusing the multitude of creeks and rivers that feeds the lake. With time they grew into an extensive farmland covering almost half of the lake perimeter with a small town at one edge. Even if most would define Sary as a small lake compared to the usual sizes on Icar 3°, Sary lake was still a massive kinda rectangular lagoon long about 70 km and wide 35km. It was a place of unparalleled beauty especially because the farmers that takes care of the lands belongs to a peculiar political group called Armori. Those inside the group believe with scientific evidences in the importance of harmony. Harmony among them, harmony with nature, harmony with what keeps them going. They understood the need of balance and actively search for it. They don’t exploit the lands, they use it with moderation, with time and love. They respect the laws of nature, they respect its timing and needs. This culture brought immense beauty to Sary which banks fills with colour as season changes. Each year there are millions of flowers blooming along its sides. This beauty was not unnoticed but the Armori fought back against urbanization bringing to the actual situation. Saryvona town was allowed to grew enough to sustain itself, but never beyond. Scilla and Wiola were raised in the outskirts of Saryvona. Away from the chaos of extreme urbanization but not inside the isolationist Armori. In her youth Scilla made some friends, among them Nuria Ibarra a pure-blood Armori whose family never left Sary’s banks and fields. She was a female Lean a year older than her. It was the same Nuria that called and asked if Scilla could visit her.
Nuria’s farm was now reduced in size and was one of the furthest away from civilization. War hit their family hard as most of them participated to defend their home. Unfortunately not everybody can come back, Nuria’s family was among those. She lost both her Mother and Pama, along with her older sister. Only her grandma Paz was spared as she was needed to produce food and too old to serve efficiently. Upon landing near the main structure, Nuria popped out of the building and went in for a hug. Her walking was clumsy as her right rusty mechanical leg was a bit shorter than her organic one that the war spared. As a female she was taller than Scilla and Wiola reaching an astonishing 262cm of height. 32 cm taller than Scilla that was above average for a Femari. Even without being a soldier Nuria’s body was buffed and defined. Her massive muscles were barely contained under her dark red skin. Her hair were straight and reached just a bit below the end of her heck. Her face was damaged by small scars cause by the explosive fragments that took away her leg. Her voice was loud. She was not deaf by any means but she probably become uses to constantly shouting to compensate for the long distances inside the farm. With her arms she grabbed both sisters and lifted them up in the air.
“fucking fuck little girls. Those days getting in touch with you is getting harder and harder”
“Nuri… Let us down… we can’t breath…” grumbled Scilla as Nuria’s grab was way too energetic.
“Oh shit. Sorry” Nuria let go of the two smaller Femari.
“No problem, we still have our bones”
“Big Nuri long time no see. So how is it going?” Said Wiola calmly. She was the one that picked up the initial call while Scilla was away. Nuria however didn’t explain much yet Wiola had a hunch that it was about Nuria’s farm.
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“yeah, it’s been a while kiddo. Come on let’s get it” Nuria pointed toward her farmhouse. It was a big building that was both a restaurant and her house. The structure was an old farmhouse directly from the first colonization that was not really converted and upgraded to modern standards. It was built with the purpose to sustain multiple families working on the fields and allow guests to stay over.
“I would love to, but we are waiting for a friend...”
“you didn’t come together? How strange…”
“well she prefer to move alone. So… that field over there is unused right?”
Scilla pointed at a square of grass not far from the farmhouse. It was clearly unused, probably resting for the next season. Beyond the field just a dense forest.
“ja it’s empty. Whose this friend? Is she Morea?”
“na. You will soon know”
Scilla sent the landing coordinated to Idra that was already flying toward them. Few minutes later and she was landing in the field. Nuria was restless, after the war she didn’t want to have nothing to do with anything that reminded her of it.
“who the fuck it this? And what is this ship? Never seen one so strange”
“what? Don’t you watch the news?” asked Wiola
“who the fuck you think I am?. I give no shit of outsiders. What I know come all from reliable sources.”
“like other farmers?” continue Wiola.
“exactly. They know what important shit is going on and that is enough”
“then you will like this one” shouted Scilla as the NDU engines noise was becoming unbearable.
Then the sudden stop, the dark distortion field followed by mechanical sounds. A lot of them. Too many sounds.
This is not the airlock sound. What the fuck is she doing?
As the darkness field disappeared they found themselves face to face with Idra, 2 heavy walker armed with machine guns and 2 flying armed drones.
“the fuck? Idra the hell are you doing?” Scilla was not pleased by the presentation as she knew that could upset Nuria.
“I detected some invasive species in the woods. Looking into Saryvona net I can see that most people are having a problem with them. So I’m allowed to kill them and so I will.”
Nuria was indeed not pleased but most importantly she was shocked. She knew of the Esterians but never saw one in real life, like basically everybody else.
“fucking hell! A faceless!” exclaimed Nuria. Faceless was a mix between an insult and colloquial way to call Esterians. None had seen and Esterian face and with just few encounters they become known as faceless. Most didn’t bother to call them Esterians as faceless was more practical to make strange rumours around them, build stories and tales. After the war it become common practise to use the faceless as threat for kids and adults alike. Don’t misbehave or the faceless will take you away. Don’t go alone in the forest because the faceless are there and will eat you. But who could blame them. The faceless were all scary, all aggressive and hostile. They were perfect as deterrent and for stories. Even if most could think that such nicknames was disrespectful, the Esterians were pleased by it. Esterians want to be seen as scary, as monster lurking in the corner of the eye. Some like Idra even felt proud of being called as such.
“indeed I have no face. But I’m not the only one missing something. Shall I take the other leg” After the ominous series of words Idra laughed loudly. Nuria was already putting herself into a defensive and scared stance. Just in case she was not peaceful.
“relax big girl. I’m joking. I won’t harm Scilla’s friend. I’m Idra 511 Weeping Sky.”
Nuria relaxed and went back into a normal position but her organic leg was shaking a little.
“of course I knew… I… I was playing along…” She definitely wasn’t.
“attach to my bots and be the one killing those creature. Eat away their head but leave me the bodies. Can you do it?”
\|/with ease our friend.\|/
“thanks”
Then Idra waved her right hand and the walkers sprinted away toward the forest followed by the drones.
“so are you not even going to greet me with your name red one?”
Idra detected the hostility in Nuria’s voice and was replying accordingly. Before, when Droxis were still a things, Leans were called red one due to their colour. It was a discriminatory way to address them and for sure none liked to be called as such.
Nuria was about to fight back but Scilla intrude.
“WAIT WAIT WAIT! Chill girls. I didn’t come here to fight or get pushed into your shit. So get a hold of yourself. No more shitty naming and alike childish shit. Got me?”
Idra was the first to reply.
“I don’t mind being called faceless, quite the opposite. What I mind is her hostile tone toward me”
“then fuck you I won’t…” replied Nuria to be promptly interrupted.
“HEY! The fuck did I just said?”
“ah shit. I guess it was my fault. Let’s get in. But you faceless… don’t touch anything”
“as if I would”
Still clashing with each other the group of four went inside the restaurant. The place was massive and peculiar. It was composed of a long rectangular room. Right after the entrance on the right there was a long counter almost as if it was a bar. The counter reached almost the other side of the room creating an L shaped space were several tables were placed. Then the passage between the counter chairs and the tables lead to the kitchen and toilet. Behind the counter several local products of the farm and the area around. Most of the place was old and had a rustic feeling. Adding up to it the walls and almost all free spaces were decorated with stuffed animals. Hunting trophy of some kind.
The inside was empty, no customer as it was mid afternoon. Once inside Nuria went on the other side of the counter while Scilla and Wiola sit at it. Idra on the other hand was mesmerised by the animals. As a fellow hunter she wanted to see the actions of those akin to her. She spotted a full small furry creature similar to a badger and went straight for it.
“hey the fuck are you doing? Get you ass back here” yelled Nuria, but Idra kept moving toward the stuffed badger.
“Idra what are you doing?” asked Scilla calmly. She was not enjoining their constant fighting but she didn’t want to make it worst.
“observing.” then she grabbed the badger and inspect it.
“HEY YOU CU... (cunt)”
“who killed it?”
“the fuck you care about?”
“none of your business”
“then it’s none of your business neither. Put it down before a make you”
“it wasn’t you. Then who else?”
“then you are wrong. How…”
“you are left handed. This cut is right handed. So I want to meet who killed all this creatures. I like her style.”
That few words changed Nuria’s mood. A direct compliment to her family, how could she not like it.
“Impressed?”
“not by the prey, but definitely by the techniques. Precision and finesse. Most hunters lack them, they all just go for big AI aided guns and easy preys. Those fucker ruins our names”
Nuria couldn't avoid boasting about her grandma skills as those were all hers achievements.
“I see. You have a good eye. Grandma hunted them all, but she is working in the fields so you will have to wait”
“ok. Oh and I like this place. I know you are the one that places all this around. This room reminds me of my home.”
Scilla seeing how the tensions disappeared let them talk while Wiola was interested, mostly on Idra’s words. She wanted to know more about Idra and her home. But she was going to be left empty handed.
“I wanted to show off my grandma’s works. She is a really fierce woman, and I don’t know how I would do if she was not her”
“call me Idra. It’s my name”
“ok. Then I’m Nuria, but you already know that.”
“indeed I know”
Idra sit at the counter as well and as soon as her ass touched the chair Nuria spoke to her again.
“why the 511 in the name? Isn’t in strange to have numbers in your name?”
is she gonna get mad again?
“it’s strange, but I like it. I had numbers all over my house. They guide me”
“ok. So what can I get you girls? It’s on me”
“whatever big Nuri, I love your cooking” said Wiola.
“ooh thanks, you are too sweet little Lis. You bigger Lis?”
“same. I don’t care” from Scilla.
“and for you faceless Idra?”
“nothing. I don’t want free food. But I will pay for 2 roasted Buloghi with fried Bulbuna as side. Do you accept Unified Credits right?”
“yeah sure”
“wait you never let us pay. Why do you allow her to do so” asked Wiola.
“I can’t make my friends pay. But I can let a customer pay”
Scilla turned to Idra and asked
“why 2 portions? You barely eat”
“cause I want to. As long as I pay there are no problems right?” replied Idra staring at Nuria.
“yep no problem at all” and winked at her. She intuitively knew that Idra decided to pay for Wiola and Scilla as well. In fact it was impossible for such small creature so eat a Buloghi, as Buloghi are strange mammals with feathers. A normal Buloghi is around 40 cm tall when sit on it’s butt, wide 15cm and with same depth. They weight around 8 to 10kg and looks like a cute owl mixed with a fat a fluffy dog. However their cuteness is an illusion as they wreak havoc on fields and plants that grow flowers. They don’t need to feed of flowers yet they do so to intentionally to damage the plants.