Unipsi, lovely entity
chapter 40c: WAWC
Walking back to Ibarra’s farm was quite. Idra replied when called but never engaged beyond, leaving a sour aftertaste to any conversation. Yet she didn’t seem angry but absent. Almost as if she was hiding into her mind or maybe she was thinking too much about something. Either way nothing relevant came out of her mouth.
Upon reaching the farmhouse they saw light coming from the restaurant and shadows of people inside. Rare customers.
“We will meet up tomorrow. Tell Nuria and Paz that they did a good work harvesting the flowers. Oh and more importantly don’t disturb me. I have some work to do” Idra’s voice was normal, as if she was just going on with her day.
“Idra you can come with us…” said Scilla.
“I know, but I don’t want to. The flower harvest needs my intervention to be processed. See you tomorrow. Bye Wiola”
“bye” replied Wiola.
Idra walked away toward the darkness that had already filled the field where she parked the NDU.
“you could have helped me a bit” said Scilla looking at Wiola.
“to what use? Whatever I could have said was not going to convince her. You couldn’t stop her, what makes you think that I could? Also she didn’t seem angry nor hurt to me. As far as I can tell she doesn’t like social interaction so I bet she prefers to spend her time alone… doing whatever she is gonna do with her flowers.”
Scilla sighed, she didn’t want to part ways but Idra made sure to express her desire to be left to herself.
“it just pisses me off. I’m sure she notice the others behaviours and I’m positive she is hurt because she had to let go of what she wanted. She is amazing and all this dickheads around us only think of themselves. She alone provided more help to our society that whatever they will achieve with their entire life, yet they dare to offend her. To make her sad. Even the kid could have refused the gifts. Who the fuck goes so far from the city at sunset?”
Wiola didn’t say anything. She just placed her hand on Scilla’s back stating her supporting position. Actions usually say more than thousands of words. Those rules usually apply even more to logical creatures.
Inside the farmhouse they talked a bit with both Paz and Nuria, they eat and in the end went to bed. Scilla was the first to prepare and was already under the covers when Wiola entered the room after preparing herself for the night. Looking at her sister face she could tell that Scilla was worried, so after joining in bed her she spoke.
“do you have a contact? Like a phone number for Idra?”
“yes why?”
“why don’t you call her? I can see on your face that you won’t be able to sleep well…”
“you don’t mind?”
“I’m the one suggesting it. So go on. I will read some news on the phone”
Almost as if she was waiting for Wiola’s approval all along, Scilla picked up her space-phone and initiated the call. Soon after Idra replied.
“Hi Scilla? Why are you calling?”
“nothing…”
“then I will hang up…”
“WAIT! It’s not nothing.”
“then what is it?”
“are you ok? I mean not sad, ang...(angry)”
“yep. Why should I be sad?”
“well you were not treated fairly and you gave up on your food…”
“Scilla heard me out. I don’t care. I care not of your species nor a care about how they treat me. I also renounce spontaneously to my belongings. I don’t regret my actions, I can always buy more stuff.”
“I’ll believe you, just because it’s you. So… what are the flowers for?”
“you don’t want to know”
“what if I do?”
“fair enough. However I won’t tell you via phone. Don’t care if it’s encrypted. If you want to know come to my ship tomorrow”
“I guess I will. Good night”
“night”
The following morning Scilla decided to wake up “early”, borrowed Nuria’s car and went in the city. She bought again the same donuts and comic that Idra wanted the day before to surprise her. At her return Wiola was up and she was having a light breakfast with Nuria.
“did Idra came in?”
“nope” said Nuria.
“good. I bet she went to sleep really late so I’m going to wake her up. Don’t touch the donuts, those are not yours”
“we were not going to do that anyway”
With haste Scilla left the farmhouse and went inside the NDU that accepted her. She walked her usual path and once reached the main connector Idra’s voice greeted her.
“hi”
“good morning, lab?”
“yes, is it already morning?”
Scilla walked in to see Idra busy with some schematic at her computer.
“yep it’s morning, so what are you doing with the flower??”
“your plants contains quite a lot of inorganic materials. In particularly this…”
Idra shower on her terminal a contorted structure that was a complex chain molecule.
“totally useless for most, but not for me. I can line them up fairly easily. Once I produce a reticle I will dope it with what I call switching mechanical cells, then a second doping process to add inside the reticle sub elements that I already possess. In short I will replenish some of my goo which is running low as it has some components that are consumed with usage.”
“oh, you were right. Whatever is given to you will become a weapon” said Scilla while chuckling
“told you. Also as I want to be honest, the flowers subparts could also be used for something else that I’m experimenting on. However I sincerely doubt you want to know about it.”
“is it so horrible?”
“for your standards, yes it is. For me is just an experiment that may partially succeed with the flowers help.”
“can you tell me just a bit?”
“sure. I’m trying to build a wall of tentacular chains to hopefully contain in a solid form the metabolic waste that I designed as WAWC-1 which stands for Whispers Activation Waste Construct. In short if I could produce a solid form of the by-product of the Whispers that flows in my body I could make bullets with 100% fatality rate on any leaving being in existence.”
“please no. I saw that that shit does. You made a promise”
“indeed. I promised to never use animals as tester. Never said I was going to stop experimenting”
“Iris, we have been through this. If you make bullets you will use them on animals. It’s the same shit”
“no it’s not. I’m not experimenting on them. I know the effects and I’m using them to kill. It may seems like a minor difference but it’s not.”
Scilla grabbed Iris’s shoulders from both side forcing Iris to look back at her.
“what I want is that you don’t weaponise this shit. You said you wanted to know a way to cure it, in case… I don’t know in case of some accidents I suppose…”
Iris’s reply however was going to bring her back to feel the same primordial fear as when they met and when she saw the WAWC-1 at work for the first time. Iris’s voice was overflowing with a sadistic happiness and unmoral excitement.
“Scilla Scilla, but time has passed. Now I know. I’m the cure and I’m the source. I can no longer produce weak variants but I can produce the pure form at will, after all it’s a by-product of the Whispers activity. I can also dispel it at will. How? Don’t know yet, it just works. So as it exist only if I exist, I can weaponise it as I please. Can you imaging how devastating they could be? One bullet and a soldier is totally dead. If the reaction is an explosive uncontrolled expansion it could infect nearby living creature generating a chain reaction.”
“THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO STOP! How could you even think to weaponise that shit. You understand the devastating implications and you don’t care? I don’t give a fuck if you can dispel it like some magical shit. It’s too dangerous and horrible to be used. It serves no purpose if not to inflict pain.”
“but it’s not internationally banned.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“how could they even fucking ban it? Nobody knows about it except me and you. That is why I want you to stop. Stop with the experiments, stop with the bullets and whatever else you could even think about. Seal it away…”
“NO!” Iris replied angrily, her voice was closer to a teenager that has just been grounded but nevertheless she was opposing.
“it’s my discovery, my substance and I do whatever the fuck I want with it.”
“Stop being a crying cunt. The WAWC is too dangerous even for you, it’s too fast…”
“shut the fuck up! It’s mine!. Making weapons defines me, it is who I’m. I’m not telling you what to do with your life and hobbies. I didn’t judge you for your career choices nor your lack of education. So stay out of my life choice, my work and my passion.”
The WAWC-1 is just too dangerous. If it touches somebody like me, or Wiola. She won’t have time to react that we will be already gone. The chain reaction that she loves so much could annihilate life on entire continents. We don’t know how that shit works nor we know why such reaction to living matters. Make a weapon out of something that you know nothing is madness. No matter what I must stop her, for mine but also her good.
“you are giving me no choice. You told me that Esterians like to be possessed, that you like to be possessed, so be it. I forbid you from doing anything with the WAWC!”
“FOTTITI (fuck you)! It’s only a suggestion. I give no shit about it. Get the fuck out. I don’t want to talk with you. Especially not today.”
Iris started to push away Scilla that couldn’t resist as she was inside her suit. Losing terrain Scilla had to think fast for a solution as she was already walking down the stairs into the hangar.
“WAIT! What if we make and agreement? An exchange?”
Iris stopped. She was going to let her speak.
“ok, so I don’t want you to do anything with the WAWC. You can weaponise whatever else you want. Do whatever you want with other shit. I won’t oppose even if you burn people alive. But not the WAWC. So what can I exchange this ban for?”
Iris was understandably angry and so was reflecting in her voice that was harsh and hard.
“you have nothing other than yourself to offer me. I’m stuck on this rock only because of you. I don’t care about your job, your hobbies or links. You can do whatever you want. It’s none of my business.”
She moved forward with the intention to push Scilla out again.
“wait a moment please. How… how about myself? I… you can have me? I will… I don’t know. I will let you kidnap me, bring me on Weeping Sky as you planned…” but Iris didn’t stop walking toward her.
“fuck I really don’t want to say it but. I’LL BE YOUR SLAVE! I’ll do whatever you want, if all I can give is myself than I will. Take me.”
Scilla stood still opening her arms. Iris stopped and sat on the end of the staircase.
“why? I know how hard it is for you just to think of becoming a slave, so why? Tell me what is going on inside your head.”
Scilla sat too on the hangar floor, few steps below Iris, back against the cold NDU hull.
“I’m afraid. I’m scared and confused. How much WAWC is needed to kill a person?”
“5 molecules per kg of mass”
“mh. It’s the most powerful… poison or whatever that has ever been discovered. What would happen if I come in contact with it?…”
“it won’t ha...(happen)” but Iris stopped mid sentence. She let Scilla go on.
“it doesn’t matter how fast your brain is, how good your dispel command is. If that thing touches me, by the time the light signal reaches you I would probably already be dead or damaged beyond your capabilities. You can’t re-spawn, this is not a game. This apply to everybody that you could care about but that are not you. You don’t even know how it works yet you want to weaponise it. If words get out there will be war. Nobody will feel safe with something like that around, something that they can’t even study. I don’t want a new war, I don’t want to go to a new one. But more importantly I don’t want you to go to war.”
“you can’t avoid conflict. Peace is an illusion of the deluded. To keep peace you must fight, but I understand you. I was… I was to blinded by my excitement, my own… need to build. You are right, if the WAWC infects you I won’t be able to react. It expands underneath then explodes on the surface. When the light waves reached my body it would be already too late. Sorry, I will stop any experimentation and dispel the few substance I have.”
“thanks, at least we reach an agreement. So I don’t have to be enslaved right?”
“no you don’t, but if I can ask…”
“go on”
“I don’t thrust Dhalia. Your Liin is fine, she is smart. But Dhalia will betray us, she will betray me. When the time comes, no matter what, can you take my side?”
“I promise that I will defend you no matter what.”
“thanks, it means a lot to me”
“no problem. I follow Dhalia mostly out of convenience, but I can see her limits. Seeing that we are confined her, can I ask you something as well?”
“yeah”
“ok then… how mush possessive can I be? How does it work? Is it like a tradition? Something that most like so they follow such concept of possessiveness or….”
Iris laughed as the conversation moved to more light tones.
“so it’s all based on unwritten but also written rules. By default the male component in a couple has some decisional power over the female companion. In my society you could fit both the male or female role based on your partner. Considering that I’m a woman then you are the man in our duo. As part of your powers you can enforce me to dress more modestly but can’t force obscenity nor humiliation. You can’t force me to dress less than what I want but you can obligate me to cover up more. Esterian society is… polarised. Women are allowed to do things that man can’t and vice-versa. For instance I can forbid you to touch any existing female humanoid. You can almost do the same by blocking me to have physical contact with males. There are others stuffs but I don’t remember them all. Most of them comes naturally if the relationship is healthy.”
“the fuck? That seems a hell of shit. I don’t want that.”
Iris laughed again.
“you don’t have to worry. Even if some of those rules are laws that doesn’t make my life worst, because as I said I can also enforce shit upon you. But you see in general there are no abuses as the couples that forms are so stable that there is no use of them. Also our legal system heavily punishes abuses. You will understand with some practice, but in general their purpose is to allow a more modest and less promiscuous society. Which is good”
“I still don’t like it. So I won’t use any of that shit”
“well you tried just a moment ago and that was exactly how they are meant to work. Use them to stop bad shit to happen and initiate a forced conversation to reach an agreement. The Founder was a really smart and wise man. I wonder if he had ever fought with his wife.”
“for sure he must had. Nobody is perfect.”
“true.”
“well I guess another fight resolved successfully. Would you mind having breakfast with me?”
“of course not.”
Scilla stood up but instead of moving toward the exit she moved toward Iris, grabbed her and lifted her up.
“what are you doing?!?!”
“can I carry you?”
“how would you carry me?”
“like a big potato sack, why?”
“then give me a second”
Scilla put back Iris that rushed upstairs and got back few minutes later. The only change she could notice was an extension of the insignias that she usually wears. Instead of only having a couple of rectangular pieces of cloth dangling from her pelvis both on the front and back, now she had 2 additional pieces that were shorter but larger covering the sides. The totality of 4 pieces were connected to each other forming a skirt of insignias.
“before we go… can I ask you something?” Iris voice was hesitant, uncertain. She opened her helmet to show her yellow glowing eyes and plain mouth. She was concerned about something.
“if it can change that sad expression into a smile, then ask me anything” replied Scilla smiling.
“are you afraid of me?”
Scilla stopped. She knew that she could lie, but to what use. Iris was going to detect it.
“...yes… sometimes you terrify me… sometimes you scare me… most of the time thou, you make me smile. You make me happy… and also angry. You could me my last foe, fighting to the death against you would be an honour and memorable match. Yet I know you will never harm me. Something else that you want to know princess?”
Iris eyes lit up as she detected no lies. She smiled happily without care to conceal her fangs.
“not for now, but thanks” then she put her arms forward and stood still waiting to be lifted.
Scilla placed her on her right shoulder keeping her up by her legs indeed like a big potato sack.
“why did you swap to a skirt? Not that I don’t like it but just to know”
“Nothing relevant. I just wanted to as it’s a friendlier outfit.”
No more question asked and Scilla carried her girlfriend to the farmhouse where Wiola and Nuria were waiting.
Some minutes later Scilla was entering the farmhouse carrying Idra. Due to her positioning Idra couldn’t see where Scilla was carrying her. Scilla walked in while Wiola and Nuria stared at the strange event. Then she placed Idra down at the table were she previously left the new donuts and the comic.
“tada! Those are for you” said Scilla pointing at her gifts.
Idra was taken aback. She didn’t know what to do and this gave Scilla some time to sit beside her. The table she chose had a similar configuration as the NDU kitchen. Two benches and a table in between with the short side attached to the wall. Getting in she pushed Idra toward the corner which she seemed to prefer.
“I… are they really for me?” asked Idra.
“yep, good deeds should be rewarded”
“what good did I made?” Idra seemed confused. Hard to tell if it was just a facade to be praised or she didn’t really understand.
“just take them”
“thanks”
Idra briefly hugged Scilla to then proceed to open the donuts box. Aside from them Nuria spoke to Wiola. She was seeing her best friend way to close to a faceless that in theory should have already cut away her face.
“are they a thing?”
“not that I know. Scilla didn’t tell me anything. But she has been close to me too yesterday. I guess this is how an Esterian behaves with friends.”
“probably”
“HEY you two, get here. I have a donut for you” exclaimed Idra.
While they are getting closer she pulled out 6 donuts. 2 with yellow glaze, 3 red and 1 purple. There were more in the box. Idra picked up a red donut and the purple one.
“Wiola the red is yours, Nuria you have the purple one”
“thanks”—”thanks, why mine is purple?”
“I don’t know what flavours they are, so yesterday I picked base on eyes colour. Wiola and Scilla has red eyes. You have purple eyes like Paz.”
then Wiola asked out of curiosity.
“so you have yellow eyes?”
“yep, it’s rare among Humans but I have yellow eyes. We have more eye colours than Leans. Being stuck between shades of red or purple is kinda boring isn’t it?”
“well it’s no like we can get more colours.” replied Scilla.
“also true”
“so what are you gonna do for today?” asked Nuria.
“don’t know, maybe look more around. It’s been so many years” said Scilla
“yeah a second walk would be good” added Wiola.
“you will go with them?” asked Nuria again looking at Idra.
“no. I will eat, read the comic and assist you with the preparation for this evening”
“oh… a helping hand is always welcome. By the way, what is your holiday about?”
“it’s Idra’s discovery day. Marks the day sister 115 got release to the public. Now it’s all about me as I’m the only living Idra.”
“what the fuck, that’s so cool, you have a holiday all about you” exclaimed Nuria. She ignored the implication. Having a national holiday dedicated to you was no small achievement. It was another indicator of how impactful her existence or at least Idras’s existences had been to Esterians.