The next two weeks passed easy, thanks to his regular schedule and the time he spent with Faring in the meantime. Faring had invited Cedric to the bridge, to get a good look at the planet they had been traveling for a little under three weeks to get to. They were ahead of schedule, and most of the crew seemed to be excited about getting some shore leave time. Cedric now had the vocabulary of a toddler, very basic words and meanings he was able to pick up on. The last week of their travel, Faring spent most of her time teaching Cedric her language. She wanted to get him to the point he could pick up children's books, and try to learn the language that way. It kind of worked, because any new words he encountered he had to ask Faring their meaning.

Faring gestured out the main viewport on the bridge, a large - almost glacial blue planet lay before them. It was beautiful.

"Here she is, Saint Amelìon! Hub of the houses."

Faring began to introduce Korellei into her English vocabulary when speaking, to get Cedric more exposure time with the language. Using it in day to day life made it significantly easier to memorize, and he was already making incredible progress. Said progress was only possible because of the time Faring volunteered to teach him. Cedric was grateful for her time, nobody else would dedicate as much time to teaching an entire language to someone. Or if there was, he certainly didn't know they existed. He was even engaging in small talk with some of her officers, but it never lasted long. Learning the language he noticed though, had them see him with much more respect than they first showed him. A natural boon of attempting to learn someone's culture, he surmised. In fact, he had enough knowledge of the words to look up new ones - as he understood the more basic words used to describe the more complex ones. He was proud of himself, he wondered if anyone else could learn a language as fast as he could. He still couldn't speak high Korellei, but most people used low Korellei anyways - so it wasn't important. Besides, those that spoke high Korellei all knew low Korellei regardless. He wouldn't impress anyone at a ball, but at least he could communicate. It helped that sentence structure was identical to English, one-to-one even - so for him it was more like simply learning new words, rather than a new language as a whole. He wondered if Korellei actually evolved from English over time, given just how identical they were.

"It's beautiful."

"Isn't it? It looks icy up here, but it's actually really nice when you get planetside."

Cedric noticed that over the course of this week, it had been getting harder to breathe. His micro tank was finally running out. Three weeks of air was incredibly impressive for such a small tank. It was his exercise routine that likely used up much of it. Given the time frame, it was probably supposed to last him a month.

"Is it? Gotta say I'm excited."

Cedric took a deep breath, feeling tired regardless.

"Actually, I really need a refill."

"Really? That tank supports atomized compression, that oxygen should've lasted you at least three months."

"Three months?!!"

"Yes, how did you go through it already?"

"How did you fill it so quickly?"

"Well, it's kinda jury-rigged from the life support magitech. I just had my magineers get oxygen from our stores and quickly toss it in there. Was sixteen percent not enough?"

"No, I need closer to about twenty-one percent oxygen or so. Speaking of, why do you have a gas that's poisonous to you just laying around?"

"It's securely stored, and necessary to keep the torch magic working on tools and the collectors."

"Ah, that makes sense. Need oxygen to create flame, after all."

"Let's go ahead refill it now then."

"No more admiring the planet?"

"That was before your life was in the balance - again."

"Hmm, I suppose that's true."

"Besides, you'll get to look at the planet plenty when we take the shuttle down!"

He followed her to the first deck, where they came upon a maintenance access hatch not too far away from the elevator. A few words on the hatch described its function.

"We're going through a maintenance hatch?"

"It also goes to one of the magitech workshops where the engineers store whole parts. It's also where we keep extra cargo stored until the more easy to get stuff runs out."

"I see, so it literally also functions as an auxiliary storage area?"

"Pretty much."

The workshop, much like the rest of the vessel, was covered in pipes and cables - secured to the walls. A few workbenches lined the room, resting ontop of some rusty metal plating. Tools and mechanical components such has screws, hinges, and other things were splayed about. Secure, enclosed shelves lined the opposite of the small shop - designated areas for whole storage of smaller parts - such as small motors or whatever else would classify. The orange lighting was a bit brighter in here, probably for ease of visibility while working on components.

"I thought you replaced entire parts to ensure the magic worked?"

"We do, but you still have to attach them. Screws, nuts, and bolts get lost all the time."

"Makes sense."

That would explain the loose components, he thought.

Faring walked up by the shelving units, and asked for his canister.

"How am I going to breathe if you have the canister?"

"Oh. Right. Uh, one moment."

She then walked to a door opposite of the one they entered, she pressed a button next to what looked like a small vent - probably an intercom.

"This is Lady Faring, I need one magineer to bring an empty, depressurized atomization tank please."

She then hopped onto one of the workbenches that was mostly cleared of parts and things.

"Putting 'Lady Faring' in a sentence like that in a workshop feels so strange."

"Does it?"

"I'm looking at the lady of a noble house, sitting on top a workbench in a jumpsuit."

"Were you expecting something different?"

"Yes, actually. When I think 'Lady', I imagine frilly dresses with wine and cheese dinners."

"Well, you'd normally be right. That is how things tend to go - but that's not how I do things."

"What about the rest of your family?"

"My parents do the wine and cheese thing. Those of us that operate the industrial vessels regularly though, we do similar work."

"Given how you act, I imagine your house is pretty popular."

"Believe it or not, we're barely floating above being considered a minor house."

"How? Your family deals in budget consumer goods right? That's a pretty big deal."

"You'd think so, but believe it or not, the profit we make off them is modest at best. The Pentarchy takes a percentage of everything to support police and military forces. Our products, while middle class, aren't actually stocked at a lot of major hubs."

"So even your house has competition with others. I thought the houses had a monopoly in their specializations."

"There's a lot of houses Cedric, most of them minor. There's some houses that only consist of a few people."

"I thought the houses were more like grand structures - feudalism like."

"We're more like corporations. Just bigger. As for the minor houses, they'd be more like small businesses."

"Interesting, so instead of products being made by say, Produce Corporation - they'd be labeled as House Produce."

"That's a way to look at it."

"With as many houses as there are, I'm surprised they haven't been absorbed by the larger ones - I assume those are what you are referring to when you mention 'Noble' houses."

"Right! Noble houses tend to be the ones with political influence, and those are the 'wine and cheese' kind of houses like you're referring to. They also get granted far more autonomy."

"So how is it the minor houses don't get scooped up immediately by the larger ones?"

"They aren't worth it, is the cut and dry of it. They aren't worth acquiring in most cases. Not enough profit, connections, or political skill."

"I see, so there's incentives to actually remain as a minor house."

"My house was actually in danger of being absorbed by another when profits got rolling at the start of it, during the first generation of its nobility."

"Generations of nobility? That makes sense, that never occurred to me."

"Yes. My parents are second generation, myself and my siblings are third."

"How did House Kilik manage to not get absorbed?"

"My grandfather married into House Kiligan. He was from House Ikander. The marriage was arranged, but when they married it formed a permanent alliance between the two, forming House Kilik. Because of that, they became a 'Noble' house."

"So if two minor houses form an alliance, they are considered a 'Noble' house?"

"Only if they're large enough as a whole. Noble houses gain protection from House Von Strauss, promising to de-escalate any problems caused by the larger houses attempting to annex the new ones. A grace period of one generation, starting with theirs and ending with their children."

"If you're generation three, then that means you're no longer protected by House Von Strauss then."

"That's right. Most houses aren't able to secure their positions by that time, and get absorbed. House Kilik was one of the few that didn't."

"Either your family was incredibly smart, or incredibly lucky."

"Probably a bit of both."

Their conversation was cut by young looking canidae male - he reminded Cedric of some kind of sheep dog.

"You called? I have the-"

The young male realized that Cedric was also in the room, and stopped mid sentence.

"Don't mind him, he's harmless."

"O-okay. H-here it is." He stammered.

Cedric was tempted to spook him, the urge was strong - out of curiosity more than anything. Like before though, he restrained.

Faring gingerly acquired the canister, and loaded it into one of the slots near the shelving units, she input some information on a screen above it - and Cedric saw a small bar on the canister begin to fill.

"It's that easy?"

"I make it look easy, but you have to input the correct amount of pressure and gas mix into the screen. I... kind of expanded the security limit a bit so they'd last longer."

"You went above the safety limit?.."

"It's fine! It's more like a suggestion anyways. They tend to be over-safe to avoid incidents. But! If you know the tensile strength of the material itself, then you know its actual safe limits - not the ones recommended to make new workers' jobs easier."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"That's impressive. I don't even have a remote idea of all that works."

Faring's tail began to wave in response - "You just gotta learn it."

As he concluded before, she was smart. Clearly well educated in her craft. It was nice to finally see what she was good at, she even seemed to enjoy it. That may be helped by the fact he was complimenting her regular work tasks too. He knew that if someone was in such awe about him explaining how a gun works - which to him was basic knowledge - he'd be rather happy to show off as well.

After a few minutes of silence, a beep resounded from the monitor.

"That's that, three months worth of twenty-one percent oxygen and seventy-nine percent nitrogen. That's what you needed, right?"

"Yeah, thank you. I can't wrap my head around the fact that there's so much air in such a tiny space."

"Atomizing canisters use magic that super compresses the material inside them. It's why they can be so heavy sometimes, depending on what's in them."

"What if they get breached, and blow?"

"Well, I've only ever heard of that happening once - that's when the factory responsible for these was first started. Archeologists ran experiments on it, and in one incident they accidentally launched a magnetic shot at one. The explosion took out half the building they were conducting research in."

"You have railguns?!"

"I don't know what a railgun is, but there has been some ancient tech that utilized high-velocity magic. It's expensive, so they aren't really used as weapons though."

"I see. Probably used for pulverization or digging right?"

"Yeah, industrial applications."

She hauled the canister to him, struggling to move it with two paws. He threw it up in the air a couple times. It didn't feel heavy.

"I don't understand how you can just do that."

"Do what?"

"Just... Toss it with one arm like that."

The canister was no larger than a football, easy to handle.

"It's heavier, but not heavy - if that makes sense."

"I wonder just how strong you really are."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the stories about the Ancients it was mentioned that they had super strength - and were invulnerable to convential weaponry. I figured it was just an exaggeration, but seeing you in the flesh - I can believe it. Is it true you can survive being exposed to radiation, and your body can heal itself?"

"Technically, yes. Your bodies can't handle that?"

"No, they can't! If we break bones, or lose a limb, even if we get cut - it's a medical emergency."

"How is getting cut a medical emergency? I assume you're talking about something as small as say, accidentally cutting yourself with a knife."

"How can you say that so casually? You better hope you don't get cut with a knife, you'll bleed out!"

"What? No, you just apply pressure and staunch the flow. Then it'll scab over and heal."

"You're saying that your body just... Heals everything on its own? No equipment needed to sew it back together?"

"Yeah?.."

"Wow! All those stories about the Ancients, and about humans - they're all true..."

"They're exaggerated. Radiation for example. We can handle it in moderate doses. After that, it's guaranteed death."

"The fact that you can handle radiation at all is incredible innate of itself. Just a little bit of exposure for us Korellei and that's it, you don't come back. You don't even get to think."

"Any exposure at all and you just... Fall over dead?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I've heard a lot of horror stories..."

"I didn't realize you guys were so fragile."

"We're not fragile! We're one of the strongest species in the galaxy!"

"You mean, the Korellei aren't the only ones in space?"

"We're not, no. I guess I never mentioned it because it was never related to what we would talk about."

"What other species are there?"

"Well, there's the Elvir. They're believed to be direct descendants of the Ancients so they have a bit of a superiority complex. They look a lot like you, actually. They're smaller, with fur on half their body - they have pointed ears, unlike you."

"How come you never mentioned this before? Actually, why haven't I heard anyone talking about them?"

"They're beyond the outer planets - separated from imperial rule."

"I see. Like you said, relevancy."

"Yeah."

"Any others?"

"There's the Orekesh, big green mutants that are really strong, they have tusks and tend to be tribal in nature. The Deepers are small, and stout - with hair covering most of their bodies. They do a lot of mineral work and drinking - not a lot else going for them. They're almost impossible to find. Let's see... The Yennen are smaller than Korellei, and look like hairless Elvirs. They're also hard to find, not a lot of them around. Lastly there's technically the Ferai, which are very similar to the Korellei but they aren't civilized. Like us, they have a lot of different looks. They're a little bit bigger than we are, they kinda remind me of feral Korellei, actually."

"You guys can go feral?"

"Yes, but it's not a comfortable topic to think about."

"I see, I won't press the issue. You know they sound a lot like... No, that's not possible."

"Sound like what? Something from your time?"

"Yes, actually. There's some differences, but for better or worse - they sound a lot like fantasy races."

"Fantasy races?"

"Yeah, made up. Variations of humans made for entertainment."

"What?"

"Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Gnomes - or maybe Halflings. Then there's your people and the Ferai, they sound a lot like Beast-kin."

"That's crazy, they're hardly fantasy."

"Maybe, but humans are a fantasy race in your time too are they not?"

"Yeah, I suppose they were - until now."

"This is interesting... Could there be a genetic link here?"

"If we were a genetic link, wouldn't the factories work for us? If humanity was the ancients."

"They did work for you - just not all of them."

"That's technically true, but there wasn't any kind of magic preventing their use like some of the other ruins."

"Maybe that's because you're just missing something, like a key."

"Or someone genetically compatible..."

"Yeah, like me. I was hoping I'd be able to avoid being used if there was some kind of genetic pathway we're missing, but maybe it's just not possible."

"Ugh, I don't know. My head hurts - you think too much."

Faring rubbed her furry forehead.

"Feels like all I do is think nowadays. There's so much going on, I can't ignore it."

"Why can't you? At least for a day."

"Every day I don't think about these things is a day wasted that could've given me a solution to a problem. Plus, we still have to go planetside."

"Yeah. I got so caught up with you and this whole situation I forgot about that already. I'm... Not sure how much longer I can deal with it if I'm being honest, it's all so sudden."

There it was. He knew she'd start to lose interest in him. It was only a matter of time before the baggage inherited by his situation would get to her. She was still young, after all - and already she was dealing very much with adult issues that shouldn't even be considered until she had time to be a teenager. He wondered if it would have been better for her and her time if he hadn't survived cryo. Then, at least, he would've gone peacefully in his sleep while he accepted that he may not come back from the freeze. That's just not how things worked out - now his presence could be endangering the entire foundation of her generation.

"I don't know. Let's just get ready to go to the planet. We can see the hub of Saint Amelìon, you can meet my parents and servants! This is gonna be great."

Cheery as always, she was. But Cedric knew that this particular case was most likely a farce - an effort to try and ignore the gravity of the situation - in a effort to lessen the stress from proxy of it existing in the first place. Before they left the workshop, she filled his first canister and showed him how to lock it into place on both its rack and his contraption. It was a simple lever system. The cannister clicked in - to remove it, you simply lift a small lever mounted on top of its mounting racks - then it would pop back out. A timeless design for a convenient locking mechanism - no need to fix that which isn't broken in the first place.

Cedric intook a deep breath, already feeling more energized with the higher concentration of oxygen. Hell, he even felt stronger. More than he already was. Was oxygen really that potent of a substance for the human body? Considering it was a requirement for the body to actually live, it wasn't an unrealistic thought. Their walk to the hangar was a silent one - the air still heavy with current events. Thoughts ran deep, and Cedric's brain drifted from one topic to the next. A common symptom of ADHD. He stared at Faring's backside as he walked, admiring her form. He was confidently heterosexual, and had an appreciation for art in its many forms. The slender shape of a woman was always attractive to him, the curves clicking whatever deep grained instincts the male body had in its genetic memory.

The Korellei very much looked human, minus the animalistic traits of course. He wondered if the Ferai truly were as identical as she claimed. From the sound of it, they were just tribal Korellei - albeit larger. Different enough apparently to be considered their own race. She must've learned about the other races of the galaxy vis schooling. It seemed that the Empire was dominated by the Korellei race, and any other races were either ultra rare or perhaps more sinisterly - removed from the Empire. Both were plausible, as Cedric saw more of this time maybe he'd find more definitive answers for things. He still couldn't get over their resemblance to the animals from Earth. Clearly, they were from there - somehow. This was not a case of parallel evolution, there was no way. His best guess was one of two possibilities.

Either gene therapy had taken an extreme turn - or humanity wiped themselves out. This would mean that billions of years would've had to have passed for them to evolve in sentient beings. There's no way he was asleep that long. So maybe it was something related to gene therapy? Theoretically, if they figured out how to splice animal DNA with that of a human, there'd be a lot of incentive to subsidize and popularize the technology. Advanced soldiers, smarter scientists, more mechanically inclined engineers - it wouldn't be a completely ridiculous case. Conversely, he wasn't confident that humanity would actually engage in such extreme behavior unless there was a reason. As he intently studied her sway and gait, he appreciated her body. It's clear that she took care of herself. In his time, obesity was a very real problem.

Arguments online were common, relating to body positivity and modern standards of beauty. He couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that it was those that rationalized extremely unhealthy lifestyles, who were also those within the highest percentage of people dying early deaths. Diabetes, cancer, heart problems, and various other diseases and dangerous medical conditions were a direct result of such a way of living. Fat was necessary, even healthy. Recalling his now chiseled body, he wondered if his body mass index was actually at dangerous levels. A layer of fat is important to lubricate the body and keep things running smoothly, that was just basic biology. Modern medicine was expensive, but it did a good job of remedying many of the maladies experienced in day to day life. Those treatments did nothing if the patients receiving them did nothing to further prevent them.

People tended to have a strange sense of believing that once they visited a medical facility, they were cured and could keep on living as they had before. Followed by wondering why they needed to visit the hospital regularly for checkups, or even find themselves returning having to fix the same issue they had just been 'cured' of months before. In this time period though, either through proper diet or perhaps their methods of medical treatment - obesity didn't seem to be as critical of an issue. That's not to say he hadn't seen a few overweight Korellei here and there, but for the most part it wasn't out of control. It could also be that because of the fragility of them, at least compared to himself, too much weight gain would lead to a quick death.

A tap on his shoulder from a familiar paw awoke him from his contemplative stupor.

"Hey, you there? We're at the shuttle."

"What? Oh, sorry I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

Faring's muzzle blushed.

"You were staring at my backside the whole time."

"I spaced out, more or less. Thinking about parallels between then and now."

"That's really got you worked up, huh?"

"What?"

"You're always talking about how things used to be, or commentating on how things are so different now. To be honest, it's annoying me a little bit - kind of concerning too."

"Concerning?"

"Yeah, you're so wrapped up about then and now, that you aren't paying attention to the moment."

"The moment?.."

"Yes, we're about to go to a planet you've never been to before! Doesn't that excite you? It's like you're so concerned with what was, you're ignoring what is."

Cedric's eyes gleaned. She was right. The past was the past, and he needed to stop thinking about it so hard. He would still naturally draw parallels between the two, but he needed to focus more on what was happening now, and figure out how to go about things in the future. Saint Amelìon was just a stepping stone to events that were about to come. If he got too caught up in the past, he wouldn't be able to focus on the present. He was going to need that focus if he wanted to survive, and puzzle together the events that transpired while he was on ice.

"Well, are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"You've been treated well on my ship, but things that happen off it are really outside my control. Since you're shackled as a slave, you'll be treated like one by pretty much everyone. I'll be right with you entire time! But I feel that it's only fair I should let you know you should prepare for it."

He had already come to the same conclusion himself, of course, but it was nice of Faring to inform him regardless. He wasn't sure just how bad it was going to be though, let alone how questionable their behavior towards him would be from what he was used to.

"There's uh, one other tiny thing you have to do before we go."

"What's that?"

She blushed and produced a collar and leash from her pockets.

"You're fucking joking."

"Well, it's either this or a brand."

"Why the fuck would I need this or a brand?"

"Language!"

"No no, I have a right to be pissed. Do you understand how humiliating this will be?"

Surprisingly, she snapped back.

"Do you have any idea how much it would humiliate me if you don't?"

"I see, so that's how it is."

Faring caught herself, seeming to immediately regret her response.

"I'm sorry, I don't-"

"You're as stressed as I am about this aren't you?"

She didn't reply.

"The least you could do is give me an explanation. I'm willing, but not without a damn good reason."

"As a slave, you need an identifier."

She tried her best to hold up the collar so he could see it, courtesy of being effectively more than half his size. It was a relatively standard collar made of leather material, it wouldn't choke him - but it'd be snug. He noticed an emblem embossed in gold, presumably the symbol of her House. It featured a heater shield, divided into quadrants. The upper left was checkered, the bottom right was striped. On the upper right quadrant, featured something akin to a bird of some sort standing upright - its left wing a silhouette alongside its body. Possibly a hawk or falcon. The bottom left quadrant featured the side profile of a greyhound's head. In front of the shield itself was a large K. A ribbon adorned the bottom of the design - featuring the words "Aus zwei, eins." From two, one. Without a doubt, this was the heraldry of House Kilik. symbolizing the two minor houses merging into one.

"This tells perspective buyers who you belong to, should they want to make a deal. I of course, have no intent of selling you. Besides, there's already a deal going down - and we're gonna hear a lot of rumors about it."

"And the leash?"

"You're basically a giant hulking monster. No one probably knows what you are, and because of your size and -"

She scanned him up and down intently.

"Shape... You're going to scare a lot of people. Since a lady of House Kilik will not only have you marked, but also be controlling where you go - it'll put them at ease. Actually, you're going to be quite the status symbol for me!"

She puffed out her chest, seemingly proud of her societal knowledge.

"So the Lady of a noble house gets to parade around one of the hubs of society with her high value prize. A status symbol indeed."

"Don't say it like that, it's just a formality."

"I get it, but I don't like it."

"Sorry, but this is the best way to go about it."

"If it's the only reasonable course of action, then so be it."

She reached up on her tip-paws to try and place the collar around his muscular neck.

"Could you?- Thanks."

He bent down to make her task easier. She fastened the collar around his neck successfully, and attached the leash. The material certainly felt like leather, but it didn't rub against his neck as badly as he anticipated it to. Her quality of choice was notable. The leash was made of a similar high quality material, and had enough slack after attachment to avoid pulling him down to her height. It left some room to move around her as well, within reason.

"You don't need to re-attach my cuffs together?"

"Shouldn't have to. You're already wearing them, that should be symbol enough. I also feel bad for making you have to do this in the first place, I'm not going to prevent you from moving your arms around too. Just... don't try to smack anyone please?"

"Yeah, sure."

They boarded the familiar shuttle, her previous pilot also present. It seemed that the pilot was more used to him at least, either that or he was consciously trying to ignore him.

"Annnnd we're off!"

With a jolt upward and a groan of protest, the shuttle ascended. It slowly made its way through the stasis field, and they were on their way to down to the planet. Saint Amelìon, one of the biggest hubs of activity in the United Empire.