Unipsi, lovely entity
chapter 46c: support
The next day Idra was back at full strength. Her suit was covered again in goo and she was already over her fear of being trapped in a different reality. She left the NDU and went directly toward Scilla’s commander spot. She was fairly happy, of course she risked her life just the day before, but the fierce resistance posed by the AIs tells her that she is getting closer to the Leermorf. Or at least closer to discover something about it. Her happy humming however was the only happy element around the ship. All the Leans that she passed by seemed sad.
“Am I missing something? Why so many long faces?”
\|/unknown. Organic entities are out of reach\|/
“I appreciate your new capability to say more words, but next time just say that you understand no shit like I do. Guess we will have to ask”
Arrived at her destination She went straight to Scilla and asked.
“hi, so what is going on?”
“what do you mean?”
“I mean… did you cut food? They all look… sad... I think”
“Idra I know you are kind of special, but are you really not understanding what is going on?”
Idra wasn’t understanding at all. She was not new to the grief of death. However she had trouble understanding that others could feel the pain of death as well. She could barely process her own repressed emotions, understanding others was far too complicated for her.
“… of course I’m understanding. I was just joking. I know that they are sad because they couldn’t loot the ruins. But it was too dangerous for you to stick around”
Scilla facepalmed herself.
She understood nothing at all. I should explain how things are before she does something stupid. But not here.
“Idra, let’s go to my room. I’ll explain it all”
“ok”
“why is she being so secretive? What’s your guess?”
\|/an illegal relationship. Gone unpunished\|/
“you think so? We are in all their camera’s but we never saw anything that could suggest so”
\|/bathrooms. No cameras\|/
“fair enough. We will see”
The Whispers were not helpful neither. They were never built to understand emotions natively. They had feelings but they were rudimental systems implemented mostly for an easier communication. What they could do was mimic their holder so they ended up even more incapable than Idra.
Inside the room Scilla closed the door and incited Idra to sit on her bed.
“Idra, I know that emotions are not your... your purpose. But sometimes you should try to understand them”
“but I’m trying. You are the one being sneaky and all. So what happened? Did you discovered an illegal relationship? Shall I kill them?”
“I’m being sneaky because you are being insensitive, at the fuck is this think about relationships?”
“insensi.. what? My spatial sensors works better than yours. And there is no relationship I guess. Me and the Whispers were assuming why you were being secretive”
“aaah never mind put aside all the shit you have guessed and we are using insensitive in the emotional sense”
“oh, because is there an emotional connotation to insensitive?”
“yes, the word is mainly used for the emotional meaning, not the sensing one”
“well how was I suppose to know? How was I insensitive then?”
“cause you were asking a lot of questions and pressing a lot stating stupid things”
Idra opened the mouth, but Scilla stopped her.
“let me explain. Then you can talk all you want.”
“ok”
“the crew is sad because their comrades have died in battle. We lost 27 people... I lost 27 people. It’s not something that I can ignore and move on. I knew all of them like the rest of the crew. We are sad because our friends are gone”
Scilla was fairly confident in her explanation, but Idra understood absolutely nothing. She worked few times with others, almost exclusively with Remnants. She never cared for those she ordered around as all she saw were numbers and objectives. The only exception were her dead sisters. Idra tilted her head slightly on the left, put it back seconds later and replied.
“I don’t get it. Why should you be sad? They died and so? This is no easy job, death is at every corner. Otherwise why the fuck would I care so much about reducing casualties probability? Why should I care to keep you away from danger if we were not putting our lives on the line?”
Scilla sighed and decided to try again, this time with a step by step approach.
“so you feel nothing for them?”
“no, I have no reason to”
“but you knew them”
“I knew a lot of people that died.”
“fair enough. Would you care if it was my sister?”
Idra stopped for a second, she pondered deeply but in the end she was left with conflicting solutions. Her answer was a no.
“would it make you sad?”
“I would be devastated”
“then I would be sad as well”
“that’s not how it should work. So let’s try again...”
Idra was almost oblivious to the concept of empathy. She cared only for her own blood and even if she was seen as an angel she never cared about others as much she cared about her sisters. The omni-cure was not meant for people. All those she saved were just test subjects to her. She wanted to improve the cure mostly for herself, hoping for the future. Releasing it to the public was going to give her more data and as a by-product happier and healthier people. Or maybe those were all lies that she kept feeding to herself as she was meant to be incorruptible and impassible.
“let us suppose that you have a twin sister”
“but I don’t”
“I said suppose, just image her. Now. You really love her and she lives past 25 like you. But then one day when you are out doing something. She gets killed”
“that would never happen”
“it’s a supposition! So she dead ok?!?”
“ok.”
“how would you feel?”
Idra had to process more to finally arrived at what should have always been the most logical conclusion.
“I would be sad”
“exactly. Now how would you feel if I was the one that died?”
“sad”
“ok, so you understand that if someone you care about dies you are sad.”
“if my blood dies I’m sad”
“I’m not your blood. We are not even the same species”
“then… then I… I feel sad if those I deeply care die, just those immediately around me. Not the others”
“good enough. Now think of the crew as a big ass family. All sisters and brothers. Of them 27 just died. How would you think would the others feel?”
it took several seconds for Idra to process it.
“they would feel bad.”
“do you understand now why the crew is not going around all happily like you?”
“I think I do. So you feel sad too? I mean for them even if you had nothing to do with them?”
“yes. I feel like I failed them as a commander. They died for our greed, my greed”
“well you did a poll it’s not really your…”
Scilla however was not pleased by it. Her face showed all her regret and so Idra stopped. She understood that it was not the way to make her feel better by putting the blame entirely on the deads or the rest of the crew.
“well now that I know I’ll excuse myself. See you around”
Leaving Scilla, Idra consulted the Whispers looking for a plan.
“how do I console them? Any ideas?”
\|/We do. We suggest. A corpses relocation into daily life positions. They would feel like they were never gone\|/
“it’s sound good. I would definitely appreciated that. But most of them are carbonised. They are kinda hard to tell apart”
\|/How about a bone statue?\|/
“that’s horrible. They can’t tell the difference and understand to whom they belonged. You know what?. Fuck it. I’ll console just Scilla… somehow”
In the end neither Idra nor the Whispers understood completely their underlings feelings. Death was already over for them as there was no use to keep crying. Fortunately they decided to leave it be and their horrible ideas soon faded from their collective memory.
Few days had passed and after Scilla ended her shift Idra texted her to visit the NDU. She walked into the ship and approached the connector. Once she was almost inside it she saw the kitchen door open so she turned her head toward it while walking forward.
“Iris, are you in the kit...(kitchen?)”
“boh!”
Iris appeared from the left corner and made her jump.
“hahaha. You should have see your face… Scilla?”
Scilla wanted to get angry, but she couldn’t. For the first time, outside any strange occasion, she was seeing Iris outside her armour. She was wearing a pair of cute black stocking with coloured parrots on them. Moving up she had a long skirt that ended 5 cm before the ground. It was of a dark green with brighter green finishing touches. On top of it an additional skirt like the one she wears with the armour that reached the knees. This one had several words on it but Scilla couldn’t read them. The top was probably multi layered too but Scilla could only see that Idra was wearing a long sleeves shirt with a particularly elaborated poncho on top. To describe it fast she looked like a soft elven armour from fantasy movies mixed with high tech patterns and a nun outfit. However what stood out the most to Scilla was Iris’s hair and face. Without any restrain she had all her massive amount of hair free to move around. With the correct lighting Scilla noticed that they were not just light brown, but literally looked like copper with all the metallic reflexes as if they were small cables. They were extremely long reaching Iris’s thighs. Her brain couldn’t process Iris’s smiling and laughing face so she just stood there.
“hallo hallo? Scilla are you in there? Did I scare you too much?”
seconds later and with a rapid movement Scilla booted back up.
“yeah no, I.. I’m… the fuck… mmh. I shit. I’m fine.”
“ok take your time. I’m not gonna scare you any more”
“wait. It’s not that. I found it funny. It’s just you. Look at yourself. You are too gorgeous that my brain crashed”
Iris blushed immediately and stare at the ground while playing with her hands.
“th… thank… thanks you. You look good too”
“I could look like a model but if you get beside me I turn into an overflowing garbage bin”
Iris laughed. She found the comparison extremely funny and Scilla crashed again. Iris waited for Scilla to be back and replied.
“it’s not true. I like you as well”
recomposed herself Scilla asked
“so why are you out? I thought you preferred to stay in the suit. Not that I don’t like it...”
“I had ideas. I mean I like the suit because it’s safer and because I can see... (in the dark)”
Iris stopped. She didn’t want to expose one of her few fears. It was too early for that, sort of.
“you seemed tired and … still sad. So I wanted to… to. I don’t know the word”
Scilla took Iris’s hands and looked at her. She was supporting her.
“what are you trying to say? Try to describe it like you did with the barbecue”
“well… I saw Nuri pushing her fingers into Paz’s back. As far I understand it was going to help her relax her muscles and make her feel better”
“oh… it’s a massage. Yeah ok, I guess I could use one. Just don’t break my spine”
“how rude of you. You know that I can’t do anything like that without my armour”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Idra was smiling and lightly hit Scilla that once again crashed. Too many seconds later, once she was back to reality, Idra spoke again.
“so… now that you are back do you want to lay down on my bed? Of course you have to lay on your belly”
“no, mean I. Fuck. Sorry. Yes”
“hey chill, you don’t rush me and I don’t rush you”
“shit, sorry. My brain just broke again”
“do you want me to hide my face? I can do that…”
“NO!. I… I like seeing you. I mean the organic part of you. I would rather brain freeze than force you to cover up”
“you would not be forcing me. More traditional dresses usually includes veils for the face. I like those and I have a few. I could just take the veil of one and put it on.”
“you don’t have to. I really like this veil-less dress, and I like to see your smiling face”
Iris tilted her head in confusion. Her ears were moving around at each word coming from Scilla.
“I appreciated the compliment. I like when you are smiling too. But this is not a dress. It’s my nightwear”
“what? Are you serious? You sleep with all of that on?”
“it’s not even that much. I have heavier version that have like super warm trousers underneath with 4 skirts and 3 tops plus cape. Come on, lay down and I’ll tell you a bit about my people history”
“would you mind if I undress a bit…”
Iris blushed and looked away. Scilla immediately corrected herself.
“wait it’s not what I meant. I was already ready to sleep so I just put back on what I had. The sweatshirt is kinda baggy and it would be hard for your massage. Plus I’m wearing a top underneath. So…”
“I get it. You are not naked”
interrupted Iris, still looking away
“you should work on your naked definition. Wearing underwear doesn’t mean naked”
“will you lay down or not?”
“ok ok, so much for not pushing me”
Up in Iris’s bedroom Scilla took out her sweatshirt. She was left with sweatpants and a fairly tight sport top that kept her breasts in place during hectic movements and let her abs exposed to air for cooling. Basically an oversize sport bra that goes on top of a sport bra or can be used as one. She laid on the bed and Iris soon followed. She didn’t expect Iris to get on top of her and sit on her butt. Embarrassed Scilla asked.
“What… what are you doing?”
“getting in position. It’s hard to have a full coverage of your back from the side. I’m smaller than you.”
Their butt to butt connection was definitely appreciated by Scilla and fortunately the involuntary reaction was covered by the mattress. Iris hands soon reached Scilla’s back. She started really softly by passing her small and soft fingers all over Scilla’s back. It was definitely not a massage but neither it felt like casual movements.
“you are…?”
“I’m making a tactile map of your muscular structure. I’ll start in just a few minutes. Let me collect all the needed data.”
“you are taking it way too seriously. But I appreciated it. Thanks”
“no biggie (no big deal). So like I was saying. A lot of Esterians are used to dress heavily and in black. For most now it’s just a tradition but it started with a purpose. Our first planet is called Glacia-2. As the name could tell it’s a really cold planet. At the beginning the max temperature was 2°C. Now it’s way better like around 11°C.”
“that’s brutally cold”
“I know. So in such cold place all light and heat matters. There the black comes into play as it adsorbs all light. Heavy clothing is… well self explanatory. Now we have hotter planets but we kept our beginning and so we still have dark and heavy clothes. We also have less heavy one for hotter planets.”
“fair enough b… Auh”
Iris started the massage and as soon as she pushed her fingers into Scilla’s back she twitched in response. Iris was spot on and reached immediately the more stressed and blocked muscles. Scilla’s back starter cracking like fireworks.
“mmhh, you… ah. Fuck you are good” commented Scilla between a moan and a lament.
“thanks. If the pain is not bearable tell me”
“no, it’s good… don’t take it wrong, I know you did. But massages are meant to stretch and relax muscles with force. So it’s natural to have moment of pain and pleasure ok.”
“ok. I’ll take your word. I don’t really know how they should feel but Paz emitted similar sounds like yours so I suppose I’m doing good”
“you… are doing great”
Scilla had to stop speaking from time to time, to avoid letting out too loud moans. She was really liking it and her back was too.
Several minutes later into her pleasant torture and Scilla decided to ask about the veils.
“So… why do your dresses have veils?”
Iris didn’t stop and replied calmly.
“Actually I don’t know. I mean there are various possibilities but I never bothered to look into them. Maybe it’s because in this way it’s harder to be fooled by momentary beauty and fall in love only with ideas? After all beauty exist only in our minds. However physicality is still a fundamental part of mating so I’m at a loss. Do you have idea?”
“well not really. I don’t even know how those veils look like nor how used they are among people”
“they are fairly common. It’s harder to find them on hotter planets but even on those about 25% of woman wears them”
“males don’t?”
“nope...”
“that sound like some segregation bullshit”
Iris stopped for a moment. She was not really a social creature so all she knew about her own society was acquired through books and stories from her sisters.
“I’m not too sure. For what I know a lot of women cover up because their body is only for the partner that they choose. Like I mean. I would not shake hands with a man, even with gloves, if you don’t allow for it…”
“you can do as you please, don’t have to ask for…”
“but I want to need your permission… it… it’s like… uffi how do I say it…”
“take a deep breath, stop your brain and then try again”
“… it’s like holding hands. I do things because I care about you and you do the same. I want to know that you are in control… I think”
“well you picked the wrong girl. I’m not a control maniac, all I want is being faithful and honest. Well possibly even caring but that's just a bonus. So far you have all I could desire”
Iris blushed and stopped completely, she just sat in the middle of Scilla’s back.
“thanks, but how is it possible to not be faithful? Once you find your… other half... that’s not it… well allow me to phrase it this way. Once you find your soulmate that’s it. Once linked you can’t survived without the other. You can’t go outside it”
Wait what? The fuck is she talking about. The fuck is a link?
“sorry Iris, but I’m not following you”
“Right. I suppose you don’t know, well we don’t really know as well but it’s what it’s. So to make it simple Esterians feel what we call love link. It’s like true love. It’s a mix of instinct and intellect. This brings us to form couples that are stable through all their lifespan. However we observed that if one dies, the other follows the day after. The only exception is if the left one has to keep rising their children. Once they feel that their duty has been fulfil they usually pass out while sleeping”
In fewer words Esterians mate for life. They get only one mate and keep it. If he dies the other one dies as well if their family is safe. Concepts like unfaithfulness were lost in time inside the Esterians society as their new biological structure changed them deeply.
“that is both amazing and horrifying. Well at least I will die after you so I’ll make sure that you will live as long as possible… wait now that I think about it. You are not human, so what is an Esterian lifespan?”
“mmh, emm, good question. It’s not that different from before… like… like a bit longer…”
Scilla could feel Iris’s hands moving around frenetically on her back. She was all but capable of lying, at least to her. So she turned on her self spinning Iris around and making her fall by her side.
“Wiii!!!” exclaimed Iris happy as she was being thrown on her left.
Scilla immediately moved to face Iris that was already in position. Iris’s ears were pulled back, her eyes were shining with excitement and her mouth was open in a wide smile. Small viscous threads of saliva connect her sharp teeth. She jumped toward Scilla that tried to grab her.
“tickles war!” exclaimed Iris. Being spun around activated her playful nature and at the same time gave her the possibility to avoid the undesired conversation about lifespan.
Their childish fight lasted way more than expected. Scilla had by far the strength and size superiority but she didn’t factor in how squishy Iris was. She knew that without armour she was way smaller, but she didn’t take into consideration how flexible Iris was nor that she was not sick. About 20 minutes later a sweaty Scilla finally managed to pin down Iris. By pure luck she was able to step on Iris’s skirts and that blocked the little demon. Now Iris was pinned down with her face on the mattress, her arms held behind by the wrists on her back and her legs incapable to move as Scilla had put her keen between hers and blocked all her layers of skirts.
Fucking hell, finally! She is a fucking demon. I almost lost it, guess I could try to became more flexible as well.
“I guess I won the war didn’t I?” said Scilla.
“wait…”
Iris tried to break free but it was useless.
“yep the victory is yours. It was fun. Now can you release me?” asked Iris.
“mmh, nope. What did I won? Where is my price?”
“there is none, it’s over, you won. That’s it. What else do you want?”
“you think I’m stupid. Tell me, how long can you live?”
“you won’t get mad?”
“as long as it doesn’t turns out that you are a kid it’s fine”
“we live about the same as a lean. So I can get up to 180, sort of. BUT BUT BUT! I’m fully grown. We are considered adult once turn 24, BUT! We stop developing at 17 or 16 depend on the case. Please I’m telling the truth!”
“you thought I was going to get angry at you?”
“sort of. I still lied. Well I lied before you knowing of my different genetic composition as my laws requires. So technically I just never told you”
Scilla laughed and reply. She was not mad. She understood why Iris never told her.
“well I’m happy that we will have to share more time together, but still this calls for a punishment”
“WHAT! You want to punish me? Don’t you dare!”
Iris started to struggle as much as she could. She was never really punished in all her life, she didn’t know what was coming.
“don’t get closer. Free me!..”
Scilla on the other hand had no problem to keep Iris pinned and slowly lowered herself. She placed her face beside Iris’s head and waited for her to turn and say something. Upon being face to face Scilla promptly moved closer and kissed Iris’s forehead and released her.
Iris immediately turned redder than a ruby and covered her face. Iris’s ears that poked out of her hair were burning red as well.
“Was… was it too (much)…” started Scilla. But Iris turned swiftly, pushed toward her and reciprocate the kiss on the forehead.
“you forgot your price” and then she ran to duck completely under the bed covers on the left side, her side of the bed.
Scilla just froze in place. Her heart was exploding in her chest and Iris was totally hearing it in the inhuman silence of the spaceship.
Minutes later Scilla spoke.
“do… what… emh, do I stay?” she asked at Iris that became a small ball covered by her blankets. She replied stuttering in her soft nervous voice.
“y...you...you ca...can if… if you want… just… just… barrier… take pillows… under bed and… and push… push them… undercover… I’ll build… I’ll build barrier”
Iris’s request was fairly simple. As she had stated before in order to share a bed she initially wants a physically barrier between them. Such barrier is made with pillows that she stores almost everywhere she can.
Scilla followed the instructions and soon she found herself on the right side of the bed, separated from Iris by a massive pillows barrier and a personal fort.
“do I… get more pillows?”
“it’s enough... Others are in crates… creates hard… hard to get”
“ok… we can’t sleep… not like this”
“NO. pillows remain!”
“sorry, I meant… we you can hear my heart. I can smell your scent… so… we are both too excited… do… do you mind if I talk… to calm down”
“I don’t mind… sorry if I… stink”
“no, I didn’t say that. Iris you don’t stink. It’s quite the opposite. Your scent is so fucking good that it drives me crazy… shit how could I say it… I… I like your scent and when I sense it, I have to fight the urge to sniff you… never mind I sounded like a pervert. Erase it…”
“oh, thank you… I… I don’t mind… sharing…”
Those words were fairly confusing but then Iris pushed out on her pillow her mass of long hair. They had her scent too.
“Are you… allowing me to touch them?” asked Scilla. She was not believing her eyes. Iris had never been so physical and she could play with long hair that she always desired.
“of course… just don’t… don’t pull them”
Scilla didn’t have to be told twice and gently grabbed a lock of hair to play with. They were softer that sugar candy and really smooth. Each small movement release more scented particles in the air.
“if you like my hair so much, why don’t you let yours grow?” asked Iris.
“well I was never allowed to have them. When you are poor even long hair are a cost that you can’t keep. Then in the army and inside power armour they are just in the way…”
“why don’t you let them grow a little. Like until your jaw line.”
“I don’t know...”
“They won’t interfere with the armour.”
“would you like me with longer hair?”
“I'm not with you because of your body. I mean I… I… appreciate it, but… that’s… not the point. I think you would look good… and I would be able to play with them”
“so that was your objective” teased Scilla. Iris replied in tone.
“shish, it’s not like that. But I truly believe that you would look better and more menacing with them”
“thank you…”
“my advices are free”
“also for today… are you trying to cheer me up?”
“did it work?”
“yes…”
“does it pains you?”
“how could it not? They were my crew. I spent years with them. Going all around, looking for ruins, archaeological sites. Running from our problems or looking for adventures. And I failed them. I didn’t pro...(protect them)”
“you can’t protect them. That is not how our line of work operates. We are worst that soldiers or policeman. Away on foreign lands, our enemies are unknown and beyond our technological level. I have taken a lot of Morfian technology and it’s absurdly advanced. Things that just dissolve matters in femtoseconds. Low cost communication at light years of distance. How could we all survive?”
Iris words were strangely spot on. She had been a scavenger all her life and only God knows what demons lurks on Weeping Sky surface.
“I know. But I just can’t move on like nothing happened. I know you can’t understand…”
“indeed I don’t. All I want is making you understand that you are not at fault. Scavenging is war, is hell and beyond it. There is no safety, no parachute if you fall. Only your demise. You did your best, your crew did as well. More could have died. Yet only one Ostorna was entirely lost. I would consider that a victory, a painful one but nonetheless a victory”
“I guess you are right… but I can’t tell their family that. They lost their daughters, wifes or parents. Depends on the case.”
“can’t help with that. But if your kind gives flowers to the families I want to give you money to buy more”
“can’t you buy it yourself?”
Iris moved and made a gap between the cover and the pillow. In that dark gap her yellow eyes were emitting light. She stared at Scilla and then, adverted her gaze.
“about that… I’m not coming back.”
Scilla jumped up.
“WHAT!”
“it’s not what you think. At the end of this jump I’ll go back to my home. I need to refuel, resupply my ammo and drop all the things that I’m carrying as my cargo is full. I’ll be back in 2 weeks or so. I can’t get back in time to gift flowers for the fallen. So you will do it”
“well I was not expecting you to be present anyway so… ok”
they went on for a bit longer before sleeping.
That night that had one of their best sleep ever. The next morning Scilla woke up and the NDU turned the light slightly on. She looked around and to her surprise Iris was still sleeping on the other side of the pillow barrier. She had pulled her head out of the covers but she was still totally wrapped in them. It was her first time seeing her sleeping peacefully.
How can she be so fucking cute and beautiful even when she sleeps? Well it won’t hurt if a look for a moment right?
That “moment” soon became “moments” then minutes and then more than half an hour. At some point her body remembered that she was thirsty so she got out of bed and went into the kitchen.
Should I wake her up? I guess so… maybe with breakfast or at least a tea as she likes it. Maybe just the tea and if she wants to eat I’ll make her something…
Once she had her 2 mugs of tea, Scilla returned to the bed. Iris was still sleeping like a log. She placed down the mugs on the nearby desk and crawled toward her. She gently kissed Iris’s forehead and moved her hair behind her ear.
“hey sleepy head, it’s time to get up. I brought you breakfast” whispered softly Scilla.
Iris mumbled something so Scilla kept insisting until she woke up. Iris sleepy face made Scilla’s heart skip a beat.
“here, it’s for you. Did you sleep well?” initiated Scilla while passing a mug.
Iris took the mug silently, her gaze was distracted by something more interesting. Abdominals. Scilla didn’t left the NDU nor she had put back her tracksuit. So her belly as fully exposed to Iris’s eyes that appreciated the view. Scilla found such behaviours curious and amusing. She knew for sure that Iris was also attracted to her physicality.
Few minutes later and Iris snap out of her sleepy trance while taking a sip from the mug.
“thanks you… and I slept well… really well. It’s a pity that we will soon part aways. I could have used a second night of good sleep”
“are you asking me to share a bed more often?” replied Scilla. Iris blushed.
“if… if you put it that bluntly… yes. You didn’t like sharing my bed?”
“quite the opposite. I never slept so well in years. I was just making sure.”
“it’s a pity what I’m running low on fuel”
“well 2 weeks won’t be too long. I can manage”
“I’ll try to be back in time” ended Iris. She was not going to keep that promise.