Unipsi, lovely entity
chapter 83c: Esterians
Captain Bosco provided Scilla with 3 off-road vehicles, each with 3 rows of seats. Still, even with a total of 24 seats, there were too many of them. So to also save some space, a car was given to Csuicha who filled it with her 7 favorite guards and herself. Scilla took an other alongside Dhalia, Wiola, Liwa and Mira. Nixie, Paz, Nuria, Aura, Jinx and Lynx took the last one.
Driving into the city was as easy as breathing. Once instructed the trucks put themselves in a line and started self-driving to Corvi’s work address. After all it was just 12:44 on a Wednesday, it was just more probable that she was working.
Leaving the military base behind, they traversed a light forest that lived below the dense foliage of the enormous trees that blocked most sunlight. It was a forest under a forest. As the first suburban houses appeared the view started to feel surreal. The entire city was so small below infinitely tall trees. It felt as if they had been shrunk into tiny versions of themselves. They were entering Astera’s capital city, Novergana. It was safe to say that it was the only real city on the entire planet as it was the only one above 10k inhabitants. Novergana had an “astonishing” population of 43718 people.
Driving into the city gave them a lot of surprises. Novergana was spacious. Fairly wide perfectly kept streets dotted with fallen leaves. Alongside the street there were dedicated bike lanes separated by barriers and then the sidewalks. Houses usually had 2 floors and a fair garden with fences separating proprieties. Long lines of trees confined almost all roads with few exceptions. Houses alternated with small businesses while their density gradually increases. Seeing stairs going underground was common. All of them were entrances to different metro lines.
Going deeper into the city they were met with busses, more metro stops and people. Esterians in their natural habitat. They saw peaceful people, speaking to each other. Few cared about military vehicles rolling into the city. Some probably with a passion for cars would take photos of the vehicles if able. They looked so peaceful, too peaceful to be believed.
Alba worked for the government of course. Her work address pointed them to a government building which, with her 6 floors, was the second tallest building in the city. When they left their vehicles people started looking at them. Those stares were not of malice but curiosity. None of them had ever seen a Lean. Scilla led the group into the building to be met with a big hall completely empty and several doors all requiring some special ID. She could only interact with a young woman behind a huge desk.
“Good afternoon” started Scilla.
“Goon afternoon. How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for someone who works here. Her name is Alba Corvi and she should be part of the intelligence department”
The woman, with a smooth movement leaned forward onto the desk to observe the group better.
“I’m sorry, but unfortunately I can’t provide knowledge related to public workers”
“oh… I have this” Scilla gave the woman a data drive. She plugged it into one of her computers and looked.
“I see… an official document…. Oh it’s also signed. Now I’m convinced… How did I red forged one of our documents so well?” the woman lift an eyebrow and stared at Scilla with an inquisitive look.
“I understand that you may not like my race, but it’s not forged I officially…”
“You sure had balls of steel to lie so shamelessly in my face. The document is false. The metadata for tracking is incorrect. I have no grudge against your kind but this is a crime. A serious…”
“he hem!” Nixie cleared her throat loudly while approaching the desk.
“mistakes may happen during production, don’t you think?” she said.
“I think not. So tell me how did you make this document? If you do so you could avoid years in chains”
“don’t you recognize me?” continued Nixie.
The woman at the desk was confused but even more confused was Nixie. She knew she was famous, or maybe it was her ego speaking.
“not really”
Csuicha tried to stop herself from laughing but she couldn’t avoid to let out a chuckle.
“here” Nixie pulled out her ID and gave it to the receptionist.
“mmh. Nixie 112. Remnant. Fair enough your identity is confirmed. So to what unpleasant inconvenience do I owe his presence?”
“what the fuck! You can treat me like this, I’m…”
“bla bla bla.” interrupted the woman while keeping her head up from the desk with her left arm and using her right hand to mimic a mouth opening and closing.
“I don’t care who you are. No documents no knowledge. Easy isn’t it?”
Nixie was getting frustrated and angry. But before she could speak back, Scilla intruded.
“I understand your skepticism. We are an unusual sight. But please. I’m just here to invite a friend of my bride to our wedding. Nothing more.”
“well that changes a lot of things”
“what?! How?!” exclaimed Nixie.
“cause I make the rules here.”
The woman pulled out from below her clothes a gold necklace with a small pendant on it. It was a word but written in composite Estir and twisted a bit to make it more geometrical.
“YOU! How did one of you even make it here” replied Nixie.
Whatever that thing was it was not a good sign.
“You are the minority here traitor. I know perfectly well who you are. Traitor Nixie. Go crawl back to your big fancy city of spinless people.”
“avoiding a completely useless war is no cowardly move. It’s just smart”
“useless to whom? Now get the fuck out before I have you arrested for forgery. You red, stay here”
Scilla was confused by the encounter but remained as the woman ordered. Once remained alone the woman spoke again.
“Which side are you on?” she asked.
“I don’t really know what sides you are talking about. I personally don’t think I should be involved with your politics.”
“such diplomatic stand. You are pissing me off.”
“I… I just want to get married. My bride and Alba used to work together I can’t tell you much more”
The woman remained silent. She was thinking.
“you know who she worked for right?”
“she was Idra’s intelligence carrier. I don’t know much more.”
“then you are on the right side. Unfortunately, Alba is not here at the moment”
“oh I can wait. Does she eat late in the afternoon?”
“no she took a day off. It’s her birthday. I suppose you already know where she lives right”
“yep. Just thought she was working considering the time”
“well now you know. go. And don’t return with that unpleasant thing you carry around”
“you mean Nixie?”
“don’t repeat my words, go”
done with the strange encounter Scilla left as well but before driving to Alba’s house, she asked Nixie about the pendant and their heated exchange of words.
“Nixie, what was that about?”
“that bi(tch)… woman, belongs to a newly formed movement of fanatics”
“fanatics of what?”
“Idra and the Foundation in general. They existed for a while but since Idra’s death they become more numerous and aggressive.”
“what do they believe in exactly?”
“depends on the person. The general idea is that we have become weaker abandoning the old ways for new softer solutions. Their idea is a surge of scientific intolerance and brutal repressing violence. So basically they want war and less political garbage. Are you aware of the ETU political system?”
“not really, but aren't religious and cults of the persons illegal?”
“the ETU is a union of technocracies. We can change the type of technocracy but the techno part must remain. As we stand now citizens are divided into 3 major groups. Minors like Jinx or Lynx are people below adulthood. Which is defined by a test or by age.”
“When do you become an adult, without a test”
“24… now. Then there are adults. Adults must be in possession of a technical degree, pass an intelligence evaluation test every 3 years to become or remain a Technician. All of them define a basic democracy. All of them and only them have the right to vote inside a representative techno democracy. So to reduce complexity people belong to parties either united under common ideas or professions. Each party with enough people defines some members of the planet assembly. Citizen discuss with their party leaders directly by proposing laws and making internal referendums. The leaders then bring those ideas to the planetary assembly. The planetary assembly defines people to represent them in the supreme council of the techunion. They also choose people to have important roles such as ministers of something”
“I don’t see why telling me all of this”
“because this group of fanatics are rigorous scientist so they all can vote and gradually their party is growing. They will reach the Supreme Council soon. If they convince others to go to war, there will be wars. Your people may not be safe.”
“then why don’t you arrest them? They are religious fanatics. And religious are illegal”
“if I could I would have already done so. Unfortunately religions are kind of a limbo. Making a church of people is absolutely illegal and the army would come for your head. But believing in something is not. Individual belief is not punished as long as it doesn’t impact your scientific coherence and method. Basically, you can believe in any god if you please, as long as you don’t try to abandon science. There is only 1 reality and 1 truth. There is no space for feelings or ‘my truth’. What changes among people is how to achieve something. You can understand that a plague is developing and must be stopped. I would look for a cure that I know would exist. But they wouldn’t. They would try with a cure as long as the damage is contained. Once it’s too dangerous they would nuke their own cities to stop the virus from spreading. They are ready to sacrifice their citizens and themselves for a greater cause. A small price of the greater good. I can’t stand that. There is no honor is self-immolation.”
“That's sounds nuts”
“because it is.”
“are you a member of a party?” asked Csuicha.
“I don’t have to. As remnant, I can access the council freely. However, I’m usually aligned with one of the major parties called ‘EquaCerca’. Basically we want to live peacefully and dedicate our lives to just scientific discovery.”
“what’s the name of the fanatic party?” asked Scilla.
“they go by the name of ‘IraNume’...”
“numeric primordial rage… what a name” said Scilla aloud instead of just thinking it.
“you know Estir?” asked Nixie surprised.
“Iris taught me. Well better get moving we don’t have all day to just pick her up”
They left the city center to move to the outskirts of the city on the opposite side of the military base. There the houses were way bigger mixed with mansions of all sorts. They reached a clearly richer zone surrounded by public parks. At the end of a closed road stood Corvi’s home. It was a wide 2 floor house with a big garden in front and a fence all around. Scilla immediately saw an off-road vehicle with a remote turret on top. Not a typical family car. They all disembarked from their vehicles, but Scilla requested minimal presence so all except her and Nixie decided to take a stroll to the nearby park and bar.
Scilla approached the fence gate and rang the intercom. It clearly worked but she received no rely. So she rang again.
“hello? Is this Alba’s house? The intercom says Corvi”
“we have no business with your kind” replied a female voice angrily.
Then the woman on the other side closed the communication again. Scilla insisted.
“I just have a letter to deliver. To personally deliver just to her. Then I’ll go on my way”
No reply but the gate clicked signaling to get closer to the door. Scilla, fairly concerned, approached and knocked. The door opened just a bit and a greenish small hand appeared.
“here. Give me the letter and get the fuck out. You are disturbing my child”
“Mrs Corvi, I can’t do that. I must deliver the letter personally”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“why do you care so much? Just give me that piece of paper”
“I made I promise that I’ll never break even if I have to stand here for hours”
The woman closed the door and they heard her shouting for Alba if she wanted to see who those people at the door were. Even if she was shouting she was totally different with her daughter.
A lot of minutes later someone opened the door again, this time fully. Standing there a small creature at best 156cm tall (shorter outside the suit) with a pale green brownish skin and light brown curly hair. She had light blue eyes and she was wearing an oversize t-shirt and some clearly borrowed soft cargo shorts. Behind her a woman built like a brick wall. 180cm tall, wide and muscular as a bull with an old scar across her right hand and arm. She had a military stance and was angry. Both Alba and her mother had necklaces but both kept them concealed under their shirts.
Alba recognized Scilla immediately as her eyes opened wide with shock.
“YOU ARE ALIVE!” she yelled.
“HOW?!?”
“it’s a long story. I don’t mind telling it, but I have something to deliver to you”
“get… get in.”
“Permesso (permit)” said Scilla. An Estir word used upon entering others' houses.
“who taught you how to speak Estir” asked Mrs.Corvi.
“the same person that asked me to deliver the letter.”
Alba walked them to the couches in the living room they had just entered. Heads of animals were all over the walls alongside several display guns.
“would you like something to drink?” asked Alba. She had a really gentle tone.
“sure. I’m unfamiliar with this planet but sure. I’ll take whatever you prefer and so does Nixie right?”
“yep. Do as you please miss. Don’t mind my presence I thought I was going to be a translator but apparently, I’m not needed”
Alba walked away leaving them with her angry mother.
“you don’t have to stare daggers at me all the time. I understand that you may not like my kind but…”
“Rossa non me ne fotte un cazzo di chi minchia sei. Rompi I coglioni alla mia bambina e io rompo te ( I don’t give a shit who you are red. Break my little girl’s balls and I’ll break you)”
“Maybe we should relax a bit…” started Nixie to be immediately interrupted.
“shut the fuck up kid. I let you in only because I know that you would have not left otherwise.”
“I’ll leave as soon as possible Mrs.Corvi. I just need Alba to read the letter.”
“why is it so important?”
“I’m getting married and Alba is a friend of my bride.”
the woman, strangely, didn’t like those words at all.
“Are you fucking insane? You want to bring my baby to such a dangerous event? I should have shot you the moment I saw your face”
“what? Why?”
“you don’t know?” asked Nixie.
“know what? It’s a wedding. What do you fear? Choking on cake?”
“the bride idiot.” said Corvi.
“what is there to fear? Iri is super peaceful. She doesn’t even step on flowers”
“your bride is obviously going to be all lovely with you. That doesn’t mean she is the same with others” said Corvi.
“I have to agree. Marriages are notoriously dangerous for women. Brides, especially insecure ones, tend to be aggressive toward other women as they instinctively think that they are attending to steal their man. Iris didn’t tell you?”
“not really. All she told me was that sometimes people fight. That’s about it”
“fight? My cousin had a fist fight with her own sister” said Corvi.
“well, that’s a you problem. My Iri is not like that at all”
It was true. Iris was, in general, abnormally calm for being an Idra and a female Esterian. However, that doesn’t make her less dangerous. Yet their conversation reached an abrupt stop when Alba returned with a tray full of small cups and some spiral-shaped fruit. A clearly older man was walking behind her. He was around 178cm with a slim build. He was also greener than both Alba and her mother. He was wearing simple clothes and a gardening hat. Judging by some dirt on his boots he came straight from the backyard garden. He looked happy but his smile had something behind it. He felt strange, felt scary.
“good evening. We don’t see your kind around here often” said the man while Alba placed down the tray.
“I would be surprised if you had ever seen a Lean before” replied Scilla. She was ready for some more free racism but the man smiled.
“matter of fact you are the first one I ever met. Only my youngest had ever seen one of yours before”
“not one of yours, exactly her dad. That’s why I invited her in.”
“please, help yourself. It should not be poisonous for your kind, as we can eat about the same thing.”
“thank you, then if you don’t mind”
Scilla picked up one of those cups containing a light brown liquid. She then took a sip of it. It was similar to a ginseng coffee but sweeter and with a pungent aromatic aftertaste. Peculiar for sure but not bad.
“mnh. It’s unusual but I kinda like the taste”
“thank you.”
“you made it?”
“yeah, dad loves to grow things as a hobby. This is our own brew of Melmotela pods.”
“well it’s good. And what about those… spiral fruits? Do they grow like this?”
“don’t be silly. Dad cut them like this since I was a kid” said Alba.
“why? Isn’t it a pain?”
“because my cute baby deserves to eat cute food.” replied the man. He surely was strange.
“daaaddd. Stop it. I just turned 30. when will you stop babying me”
“never. You are just like your mother. Too cute to be left in such crude world”
Scilla for a moment looked at Mrs.Corvi. She stood firmly like a rock.
Cute? Her? I get alba, but her mum? What is wrong with this dude
“so what is this letter of yours”
Scilla pulled out a sealed envelope. It had been closed with stitches and wax. Something unusual for the time. The envelope was also not made out of regular paper. The texture was off with strange depressions and lines making little indentations. Alba was confused as well by the strange object. With patience, she opened to pull out the letter folded in 3 steps. In instant, her confused gaze shifted to surprise. Her dad beside her took a glance at the invite but he couldn’t read composite Estir. Alba stood up and then she ran off with the latter in hand.
“I have to check a thing. I’ll be back soon” yelled from the distance.
“what is written in there?” asked the man.
“as far as I know it is a wedding invite. I’m getting married to a friend of hers.”
“well let’s see when she comes back”
“… so your wife is a hunter but I doubt you are a gardener”
the man laughed uncontrollably and soon was joined by his wife.
“this is new. My world is not a hunter. She is a xeno-biologist. And about me, I’m the minister of public security. Basically, I overlook and regulate all police forces on the planet.”
“it explains your strange confidence”
“strange? The one strangely confident here is you. You are in the land of the enemy but you are not afraid”
“I’m used to strange places. Used to be a scavenger. Can’t get weirder than that I guess”
“an interesting profession. I suppose that’s how you met your bride”
“you suppose correctly. We have been dating for a while and we mutually decided it was time to move a step forward”
minutes later Alba returned.
“who wrote this?” asked Alba.
“Iris”
“Who is Iris?”
“Did she write something strange?”
“no. it’s just… extremely complex and ancient. No sane person would write like this. Unless you are 400 years old or an Idra.”
Scilla smiled while the room air became cold. Alba had an inquisitive gaze. She was conflicted.
“This is a really elaborate wedding invitation. So tell me again who you are getting married to”
“Her name is Iris, but you have met her previously under the code name Idra 511 Weeping Sky.”
“my queen died 3 years ago. The connection was severed”
“Indeed the connection was cut. Idra was sort of dead, but not completely lost. It took years to recover but we managed and now I’m here inviting you”
“one more question. Why is she not here?”
“Having guests was mostly my idea because she didn’t care. Why did she decide to stay back? No idea.”
Alba smiled and immediately after tears started to flow.
“my queen… she is alive…”
“well sort of. She suffered some brain damage and I doubt she remembers you. But she liked you before so I suppose she would like you again”
“give… give me a moment… I’ll pack something… and… and… do you have a wedding list?”
“take your time and no. we don’t lack material possessions so we don’t need any. Best suggestion if you want to make her happy is coloring books. She recently decided that she likes to color things but there are no such books on Weeping Sky.”
Alba went away with her mother that was strangely happy. Alba’s father remained with Scilla and asked for a one-to-one talk. Scilla accepted and they walked to the garden.
“it has been a while since I saw her smiling. 3 years to be precise. Nothing pains a father more than his own child suffering. Thank you red.”
“I’ll take care of her and… she will be probably back in 1 to 2 weeks. By the way, my name is Scilla. You don’t have to call me red all the time.”
“I’m Cesare.” the man took off his necklace. He was an IraNume as well.
“take it. If you ever need help you will have a friend here. And before you go let me give you some Melmotela coffee. For you and your special bride”
“thanks. Turns out you are a good man”
“Girl we just defend our own. You help me, I help you.”
“still I have to ask you to keep quiet about Idra. We don’t…”
“they will never hear a word from me. I’ll never betray our queen”
“why do you call her queen?”
“Since she is the only one on her planet she is technically a monarch. But usually, it’s because she is important to as like a queen is important to her hive”
They returned back to the living room where they were met with a peculiar scene. Alba was ready and along with her mother was looking at Nixie who was only now drinking the coffee. As she drank her eyes widened and she clearly wanted to spit it out.
“no no. drink it… traitor” said Alba with a grin.
Oh shit. I fucking forgot. If her dad is a Iranume she probably is the same and so is the rest of the family. Fuck… I have to keep them separated on the ship.
“you are one of them. What did you put in?”
“relax Nixie. It was just salty. I wanted to add in some laxative but dad told me not to stand so low. We are not like you.”
Then she turned to Scilla. She immediately changed register and became formal with her.
“Lis, I’m ready. I would appreciate if you could…”
“hey alba, stop that. I’m still me. Doesn’t matter that I’m getting married to Idra”
“ok. Then can you bring me shopping around? I know you told me you need nothing but I can’t do that. Not to my queen”
“sure. We will inform the others”
“who else is there” asked Cesare.
“my family and friends.”
“so your Liin and the heir of the Hakavors?” said alba.
“yep. And some guards and my childhood friend. She is a cool farmer”
While the whole picking up Alba happened. The rest of the group walked to a nearby park. Guided by the chimera duo they went into a small bar built at the edge of a park. The place was small and it was fairly obvious that it was built mainly to provide some snacks and beverages to people spending the day in the park. The inside was empty except for a “young” Esterian behind the counter. As the woman spotted them she immediately began asking questions and photos. She wanted to print them and placed the best one around the place. Following the chimeras they all took some cans of refrigerated sodas and then after paying went outside. They were the only clients and the woman was a chatterbox. She also followed them to the outside tables and benches. Csuicha found her behavior curious. The unknown woman seems completely oblivious to her identity even if she stood out like wildfire even among Leans. Between a laugh and some unknown events related to the place a group of clients arrived. It was composed of 3 adolescent boys with clear school backpacks. They looked surprised by the Lean presence but not intimidated.
“barista! Possiamo prendere il pallone? (barmaid can we take the ball?)”
“certo, sai do sta (sure, you know whe[where] it is)”
One of the boys entered the bar and returned soon after with a ball in hand. He and his friends dropped their backpacks but instead of going away, they stopped before the lean group. They looked at Aura and the chimeras.
“do you want to have a match with us?” asked one in his broken unified language.
“why not. Aura are you with us?” asked the chimeras. Shy and confused Aura just stood still until Nuria spoke to her.
“you should go and have some fun. They look ok don’t they?”
Aura nodded and joined the newly formed group that walked some meters away to a lawn they could use to have a football match.
While the barmaid kept speaking about whatever was on her mind a second group of younglings approached coming from the other side of the park. This time there were 2 boys and 2 girls. They had backpacks as well. Adding in the other group it was reasonable to assume that they were returning from school or something like it. This group however stopped by a tree and the boys, clearly older than the girls, started looking up. They spotted something and tried to reach it. After some minutes they managed to pull down a couple of fruits not enough for all of them. So one approached Nuria as she was the tallest between the Leans. He looked unbothered by the difference in species.
“hey red. Can you lift me up?”
“you are asking me?”
“yep, you are the taller among your friends aren’t you?”
“I suppose so, but we are not friends”
“how come?”
“we are just guests at the same wedding but we don’t know much about each other”
“oh. Well are you going to help me?”
“fine”
Nuria followed the kid and helped him pick up as much fruit as he and his friends could carry. Once back on the ground, he insisted that Nuria had to take some of those black lucid spherical fruits. They also greeted the rest of the group, asked for photos and then went on their way.
Nuria had received 6 of those fruits and started eating them. While munching on one Csuicha spoke.
“isn’t it strange?”
“what?” asked Dhalia.
“so far all the people we met willingly or not don’t seem to hate us. They are just curious”
“I have to agree. And they are strangely friendly” said Paz.
“I kinda already imagined it was going to be this way” said Nuria.
“why?” asked Csuicha.
“cause the time spent with Idra at my place was strange. That girl was both a pain in the ass and a funny friend.”
“I have to agree. The days Idra spent at my house were mostly calm. She was not nasty or anything” said Wiola.
The barmaid reappeared after leaving them for a bit. She overheard the conversation.
“it’s no surprise. We are mostly friendly by nature. Why causing conflict when you can passively avoid it? It’s just more energy efficient. Plus cooperation is usually better than competition”
“where you eavesdropping?” asked Csuicha.
“yes, of course I was…. Big girl how tall are you?” asked the woman looking at Nuria.
“a lot more than you why?”
“Because you are eating a so-called Rangadonna. The higher you go the sweeter they get. Could you lift me up too?” asked smiling.
“you sure are nosy and pushy”
“I know, it’s part of my charm”...
About an hour later Scilla joined them with Nixie and Alba. As requested by Alba they returned to the city center where they went shopping for a bit among the curious looks and interactions. Once Alba found several gifts they returned to the spacecraft and finally departed for Weeping Sky.