WSP 046
Spacewalk
“So…” Jeh asked from her seated position on a workbench behind the Cabin. “Does anyone know why Krays called us here?”
“No,” Vaughan said, not looking up from his gyroscopic experiment. No matter how he turned the outer casing on a spinning wheel, the wheel more or less kept the same orientation. However, it was that ‘more or less’ that was the problem, if this was to be used for orientation it needed to be far smoother than that.
“She’ll show up eventually,” Blue offered. She was currently scribbling down some calculations in her notebook focusing primarily on the space station’s logistics.
Jeh groaned, flopping onto her back. “More waiting…”
“We do a lot of waiting here,” Margaret pointed out.
“Wait wait!” Scurfpea, the last person present, added. “We watch things grow while we wait!”
“Like you?” Margaret asked.
“Like me!”
“Uuuuuuuugh… I wanna go to space…” Jeh put a hand over her face. “Or go hang out with the Twins. Or something.”
“Hang out with me!” Scurfpea suggested.
“We’re doing that.”
Scurfpea gasped. “I’m boring!”
Jeh sat up. “Scurfea that’s not what I mea—” She noted Scurfpea’s smug expression. “You’re getting smarter.”
“I’m learning!”
“We’re all pretty good at banter at this point,” Margaret said. “Even Big G can keep up, as can most of the Minor Wizards. I think the dynamic you started this Space Program with is infectious.” Margaret put a finger to her chin. “Hmm… actually, Jeh, you did point out that, on your trip, the others were still odd ducks over there.”
“Odd in a different way,” Jeh said. “Only Claire I think would do the kind of messing around we do. And she wasn’t exactly very nice about it.”
“Mikarol’s space program is far more serious,” Margaret commented. “Xanava is clearly an outlier, most of the people there were to the point soldier types.”
“The Emperor didn’t seem like that…”
“Well, he’s in charge, he can afford some eccentricity. Which, yes, I did get to meet him. It was…” Margaret paused. “At first I was terrified, and then we sat down to have a meal and he got started talking about his conquests and that eventually turned into an amusing story about his childhood where an angry fruit tree tried to kill him. He’s an… interesting character. Much happier than I expected.”
“I bet he’d be fun…”
“Jeh is not bored!” Scurfpea declared. “Conversation, win!”
Jeh blinked. “...Okay fine, talking is fun.”
“Perhaps you should have started there instead of complaining about being bored,” Margaret suggested.
Jeh grumbled something incoherently.
“Point for Scurfpea! Me!” Scurfpea threw her hands into the air. “Yay!”
“And this is where I come in!” Krays said, walking up to them with a large box strapped to her back. “Somebody help me with this…”
Blue levitated the box off of Krays’ back and set it on one of the tables.
“What is it?” Jeh asked.
“A box!” Scurfpea declared.
Krays smirked. “Kid knows what’s up, unlike you, not-really-a-kid.”
Jeh crossed her arms. “I knew it was a box.”
“Then why’d you ask?”
“I want to know what’s in the box!”
“Ooooh, well why didn’t you say so?”
“I DID!”
“Did you?”
Jeh twitched. She marched up to the box and undid the latch, opening it herself just so she didn’t have to deal with the nonsense anymore. Everyone crowded around to see a suit neatly folded up in the box, made out of strands of blue, pink, and brown plast that seemed melted into each other. The bulk of the box’s interior was filled not by the suit, but by a glass plate about the size of Jeh’s face.
“...The spacesuit,” Jeh said, eyes wide.
“Yep!” Krayz pointed a thumb at herself. “It just passed all my rigorous testing this morning! Airtight as the Skyseed! Puts all diving suits to shame, stupid things, so heavy.” She pulled the suit out of the box and unfolded it, revealing its jarring colors and mismatched stripey patterns from the various materials used. When the brown blended with the blue and pink it formed some truly awful and inconsistent colors. “Also uglier than a scarred beaver butt, but we’re here for practicality, not aesthetics. If you want aesthetics, paint it or something, I don’t care.”
Jeh walked around the suit. It was exactly her size. “Hmmm… how do you get in?”
“That is somewhat awkward,” Krays admitted. “See, wherever you go in will be the weakest spot on the suit—or, well, it is now, getting the face shield properly shaped was annoying but that’s been dealt with. Putting the entrance around the neck would be near a crease, and that’s a structural weak point. So I put it… on the back.” She turned the suit around, revealing a lot of what looked like buttons at first, but were actually spools that controlled threads running through the interior of the suit. “This mess back here is a bit like… tying up prisoners and throwing them in the dungeon.”
Vaughan raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“I needed a knot simile.”
“Boats, maybe?”
“Does anyone here go sailing? No? Then shut up, we’re tying Jeh up like a prisoner.”
“TO JAIL!” Scurfpea shouted.
“Space jail,” Jeh snickered.
“Anyway, before my simile was called out for absurdity—the gall of some wizards I swear—I was going to talk about how it worked. First off, you can’t secure your own suit, someone with fingers or telekinesis has to do it for you. What’s really happening is that the fabric layers in the back of the suit get pressed together by all the threads. In order to keep it actually airtight there has to be a whole lotta pressure, so much that it ends up like a big lump on your back. But it’s almost seamless.”
“...Can I try it?” Jeh asked.
“Sure. The only thing you have to be careful of is the air restorer built into the face shield.”
“Gotcha.”
Krays had clearly been expecting Jeh to try it on, because just a few cranks of the dials allowed the back of the suit to open up, and when fully unfolded it extended into a tube-like opening that was half as long as the suit itself was tall.
“...This is some impressive fabric work…” Blue said, gaping.
“That’s the sound of someone assuming glassblowing is my only skill,” Krays said.
“I never…”
“You’re still surprised that I know how to work with all the materials. Tut tut, when will the great genius Blue actually learn?”
Blue glared at her.
Krays grinned back. “Not today, it seems.”
“And I just go in?” Jeh asked.
“Well, you have to undress first,” Krays said. “It is made to your measurements, bulky bear furs aren’t gonna be good in there.”
Jeh nodded, undressing until she was standing in only the black-and-teal top and skirt she regenerated with.
“...Actually, come to think of it, I have no idea what material that is…” Krays said.
“Krays!” Blue huffed. “Don’t ask Jeh about…”
“It’s fine, I don’t know.” Jeh tore a small piece off the skirt. It didn’t regenerate—it wouldn’t unless she was actually injured around that area. “Here you go.”
Krays took it and narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the fabric. “Self-regenerating clothes may be the way of the future…”
“You… sure?” Blue asked.
Jeh shrugged. “Not sure why, but the clothes don’t bother me. They’re almost like… part of me, if that makes sense?” For a moment, Jeh got a faraway look. “Not that all parts of me are… nice…”
Scurfpea sensed Jeh needed a hug, so she gave one to her. Jeh patted her on the head.
She remained there in awkward silence for a few moments before she coughed. “Scurfpea, I want to get in the spacesuit.”
“Oh! Right! Sorry!” Scurfpea backed away and gave Jeh a salute.
“Into the great unknown I go!” Jeh declared. She crawled into the back end of the suit, finding that while the back was all plast materials, the interior was actually coated in a furry fabric. “It’s fuzzy in here!”
“Well yeah! You don’t want to chafe the entire time, do you?” Krays asked.
“Good point.” Jeh finished climbing into the suit, finding that her arms and feet fit just perfectly. Her hips and chest were given some room for motion, but her head was the only part that could be considered to have space. She felt the internal air restorer brushing against the back of her neck, allowing her to make physical contact with it. She stood up and wobbled, because the back of the suit was still extended.
“Right, this is going to take a while,” Krays said. “Stand tight, everyone else watch.”
The process of sealing the suit up wasn’t particularly complicated, but it had a lot of fine steps that involved twisting dials to layer different plast fabrics over each other in just the right way. If it was done wrong, it wouldn’t be airtight, and that would be a huge problem.
While Krays set to work on this, Jeh had to stand and just look at everything. The face shield was the heaviest part of the suit, as it was made from glass. It gave the “helmet” area enough structure that Jeh was able to move her head around with or without taking the suit with it, depending on how she held her shoulders. Her arms were completely free and disconnected from what Krays was doing, and Jeh’s hands were in some very neat and comfortable gloves. Very flexible, had lots of dexterity, but were just as ugly as everything else on the suit. The pinks and browns mixed into a red into a few places.
Red Gloves.
Jeh took in a sharp breath, starting to breathe very heavily.
“Jeh?” Blue asked. “You okay?”
“M-mostly,” Jeh stammered. “G-give me a minute…” She looked away from her hands and instead directed her gaze to the sky, allowing herself to place a hand on her chest and feel her breathing through the stretchiness of the suit. Slowly, but surely, her breathing slowed, and her heart returned to beating at a reasonable rate.
“O-okay…” Jeh sighed in relief, allowing her gaze to go back downard. Seeing her hands like this made her stomach turn into knots, but… but that was fine.
“What happened?” Vaughan asked, kneeling down so he was eye level with her.
“I… it was a feeling. Like… when talking about… what I used to be. Like…” Jeh paused. “Like the lava near the Guardian Spirit.”
“Do you want out of the suit?”
“No!” Jeh shook her head. “Suit’s fine! Really comfortable, actually, if a bit warm… goodness, I was sweating a lot there, wasn’t I?” She moved her hand to wipe her brow, smacking into the face guard. “...Krays, I see a problem.”
“Just suffer through it,” Krays commented.
“What if I need to scratch my nose!?”
“Same answer.”
Jeh groaned. “Kraaaaaaays…”
Seeing Jeh play with Krays alleviated the worry evident on Vaughan’s face.
“Did you… remember anything?” Blue asked.
Jeh shook her head. “I never remember anything. I think… it’s all just feelings. Instincts. Like my muscle memory for cooking. My body knows what it’s been through. I don’t.” She gave Blue a big smile. “But it’s probably better this way, you know? Pretty sure whatever happened to me was not fun. Not like space, space is fun.”
“Space!” Scurfpea called.
“Yeah, space! …When can I go to space?”
“When I’m done!” Krays said.
“And when will that be…?”
“Later!”
“How are we actually going to send her to space?” Vaughan asked. “The Moonshot II isn’t ready for testing yet, we don’t have a ship with a big enough airlock right now.”
“Not my problem,” Krays said.
“Idea!” Jeh said. “What if Margaret takes me up… strapped to the outside of a Skyseed?”
Margaret’s eyes widened. “That’s insane.”
“I’ll be fine!”
“It’s still insane! What if you fall off?”
“I burn up on reentry and make my way back to you guys, duh. We’ve been through this before. It’s how I met you!”
“That… yes..”
“Do you think I’ll put you in danger by being on the outside?”
“Well… no…”
“Then you can do it!”
Margaret clearly still did not like the idea.
“I can do it!” Scurfpea suggested.
“Okay, no, not you,” Margaret declared.
“But you do not…”
“I’ll do it, you don’t go doing more crazy things, you aren’t Jeh.”
“Okay!” After she said this, Scurfpea’s smile faltered slightly. “...I mean it. Ashen was very serious. I should be very serious. Serious.”
“I’ll go get the rope,” Vaughan said.
“It’s gonna be so cool riding on the outside of a ship!” Jeh declared.
Margaret pressed her hands together. “It’s going to be… an interesting trip, that’s for sure.”
~~~
Across the Western Ocean, one of Kroan’s Skyseeds flew over a distant shore covered in grand, spiked, metallic buildings; the great Mikarol port city of S’dleif. Virtually all visitors to Mikarol from across the sea would have to pass through this port city, and in fact there were a few Kroan ships easily identifiable in the harbor. However, S’dleif was not the location of Mikarol’s Space Program, and so the Skyseed flew right overhead. The pilot did, however, use Purple to signal to the ground what he was and what his intentions were so no one got testy and shot him out of the sky.
Which was unlikely to begin with, the Mikarol army was more likely to send dragons to intercept, but that would still be annoying to deal with.
This particular Skyseed was one of the larger ones, designed for a single pilot to carry cargo from one location to another. In this particular case, the cargo was none other than Queen Riikaz. She currently had her face pressed into the glass, watching S’dleif pass below them. They were too high up to make out any people who weren’t dragons, but nonetheless she could tell that the city was a bustling one. It was just before sunrise, so all the city’s great lights were still on, brightening the great streets. Mikarol had a love for structures of metal and sharp points, and so the city below often reflected brilliantly into Riikaz’ eyes. However, the city was slightly too regular for Riikaz’s taste—she far preferred the sprawl of Axiom to this regimented grid. Though, to be fair, she was far more at home far from cities, even though she lived in one of the biggest in the world most of the time.
The price of being queen…
They quickly left S’dleif behind them, traveling westward into the night side of Ikyu. They did not travel very far, for the capital of the Mikarol Empire was not far from the ocean—it was built on a mountain. Though, at this point, the mountain itself hardly existed, for most of it was covered in metallic spikes marking the glory of the empire. This was the city of E’min, which was not a proper name in Mikarolian, but a word with a literal meaning: Foundry. It was a glittering city of spikes with trails of smoke coming from the many, many metal processing centers within itself. The air quality was decidedly lower than most cities, though it was not sufficient to encase the city in smog, as the mountain had regular winds to blow it all away. Still, Riikaz knew full well that walking down one of the denser streets or tunnels could be somewhat suffocating.
As they approached the city, two great armored dragons with scales as black as night flanked them on either side, their faces obscured by their helmets. Riikaz waved at them—she knew the Emperor’s two greatest warriors, eternal pillars of the great Mikarol army, Grim and Daisy. Grim was a jokester, Daisy was notoriously brutal. Riikaz had found kindred spirits in both of them in the past.
In fact, most of Mikarol had kindred spirits, the land was one of warriors and loyalty. Riikaz always enjoyed visiting and having friendly spars. However… she knew enough to know she disagreed with the goals of the people here. She had seen the spark of the truth that defied violence in Redmind long, long ago, taking her out of the Wild Kingdoms…
…That beautiful memory was tainted, now, with her current quest.
Is this still even a quest of revenge…? Riikaz wondered as Grim and Daisy shepherded them to E’min’s launchpad. I know what I know… I must see it through. She shook her head. And I don’t exactly trust the kids to handle this… I am where I need to be.
She closed her eyes as they landed, forcing herself to remember the picture of her enemy. The dryad. In her metal throne. Vraskal.
She was one step closer.
Not to revenge… to saving her people.
She opened her eyes. The top of the Skyseed was being unscrewed by a Mikarolian greater unicorn soldier in full armor.
“Have a nice trip back,” Riikaz told her pilot as she climbed out. Besides the clothes on her back, she was only carrying one small satchel of belongings.
“Enjoy your stay and be safe, my Queen.”
“I’m sure going to enjoy it but safety isn’t exactly on the menu, sorry.”
“...Your children will await your return.”
“...I know.” Riikaz clenched her jaw. “Be sure to tell them I’ll come back the moment I think I have something we can use.”
“Very well.” With that, the Skyseed’s lid was screwed back on and the pilot began his journey back to Kroan.
Riikaz surveyed her surroundings. The launchpad for Mikarol was a flat area the size of a large house, made not of metal but of stone. Right next to where she’d landed was the diamond-shaped Mikarol spaceship, the Skyripper; currently the only ship present. Riikaz did not know if Mikarol had any others operational. Leaning against the ship was a flauxi, obviously the Mikarolian astronaut Riikaz had heard about on during her prior stop in Axiom.
“Xanava, yes?” Riikaz asked.
“Um…” Xanava glanced to the armored soldiers around her as if they could help her escape this situation. “...Yes, Your Highness.”
“My daughter told me about you. Rest assured, I too know how to ‘play ball,’ do not worry, though I may challenge you to a spar if you get too insulting.”
“Um… I am… not supposed to be the one greeting you..”
“Oh, I know that I’m a prized guest who should be greeted by the Emperor personally, and that I have arrived at a time when he will be asleep and some poor sap is going to have to go wake him up and suffer terror for it.” Riikaz chuckled. “Give him time, he’ll be here.”
“Do you know me or do you know me?” The Emperor called, walking onto the launchpad with his powered armor, though he was helmetless. Two armored humanoids stood in rigid formation behind him; their armor clearly increased their stature as well, but they were still dwarfed in the presence of their Emperor’s grand golden plates.
Riikaz grinned. “Nathaniel! Good to see you!”
The extremely old man let out a delighted, gruff laugh. “It has been too long since you graced our lands with your graceful strength, Riikaz!”
“Had things to do. I still have things to do, but they happen to be here, now.”
“Will we be seeing you in the arena during your stay?”
“Hmm… maybe, it’ll be good to keep my strength up, but I can’t have myself getting injured, you understand. I know how rough you love your battles.”
The Emperor clicked his tongue. “Ah, yes, a legitimate challenge without spilling blood… I shall have to think on it, perhaps a private viewing would be in order for such an event.” The Emperor turned to his guards. “Disperse.”
They gave him a salute and marched off in opposite directions.
“They really don’t like you trusting me,” Riikaz said.
“Bah, I’m too old to care about that.”
“Those doctors and magineers of yours really do work ‘magic’, huh?”
“I’m not the oldest man on record yet!” the Emperor chuckled. “Have over a decade before we hit that!”
“Hmm… the oldest human I’m aware of lived to a hundred and nine, so you must be… approaching a hundred! That’ll be quite the party, won’t it?”
“It’d be even better if I could still battle in the arena.” The Emperor shook his head.
“The armor doesn’t help?”
“Oh I could put up a good fight, but my bones are brittle. My next real fight will be my last.” He chuckled. “I await every day for a foe worthy enough to take down with me.”
“I hear the Sourdough Twins are on your list…”
“Hah! That made it all the way back to you?” The Emperor nodded. “Yes, they have the spark! I long to see what they will do.”
“They have done a few things already.”
“Ah yes, space…” the Emperor nodded slowly. “I suppose a tour of the facilities is in order…”
“Might I recommend we postpone that until later in the day? There are some matters I wish to discuss.”
“Riikaz, getting to business? What has the world come to?”
Riikaz’s smile vanished. “Take a wild guess.”
The Emperor’s own smile dropped. “You have learned something.”
“We need to talk.”
“I agree. Come, this way…”
~~~
Lila looked up from the paperwork she was reading, just one sheet of many from a massive pile on her desk that had recently multiplied into three other stacks on the floor.
In front of her desk were two nekos, a husband and wife, tied to their chairs. Keller was behind them, leaned up against the wall, somehow looking more displeased than usual.
“...I’m not apologizing for anything,” the man said.
“Dear!” his wife hissed.
“I’m not! They’re hiding things from us and we were just doing what we needed to get to the truth!”
“You don’t have to tell her that!”
Lila sighed. “Mr. and Mrs. ‘Jellybean’, none of this is helping your situation.”
“You’re just gonna kill us for knowing too much! About all the fake reports! About all the things you’re hiding from us! I’ve seen what you’re building in there, it’s going to explode! Laced with destruction!”
“Please stop talking…” his wife whined, tears streaking down her face. “We could have gotten out of this with our lives…”
“We know too much!”
“You idiots don’t know nuttin’,” Keller grunted.
“Why do you still keep up the act?” the man shouted. “You already have us, we’re at your mercy! Why the secrecy?”
“Has it occurred to you that there isn’t a secret?” Lila asked.
“Of course there is, why else do you have that guy!?” the man gestured at Keller.
“To protect us from threats. It is no secret that the technology we are developing has been the target of a lot of intrigue. The scars from some of the battles are still visible.”
“Oh, and you totally went to the moon and found it to be a boring hunk of gray rock? Nonsense, if you’d been there you’d have a lot more to say!”
Lila looked to Keller. Keller shrugged.
“You should have come up with a better story,” the woman said, though she was a lot less violent in her accusations. “Just a bunch of gray rocks and craters? An age of the moon’s surface far larger than anything reasonable? Just… it’s obviously a lie, anyone with a brain can see it.”
“Well.” Lila tapped her paw on her desk. “What do you two think I should do with you?”
They stared at her in disbelief.
“I am not going to kill you, real names or no, you’re clearly Kroanites, not some foreign spies, and you have no intention of actually harming anyone, you just want to find ‘the truth’ that doesn’t exist.”
The man stared at her in disbelief. His wife snorted. “Told you we could have gotten out of this, but nooo, you had to go and say too much.”
Lila put one of her paws to the side of her head and scratched her ear to calm herself down. “Nothing you’ve said has made it any worse for you. Mainly because breaking a Skyseed is far worse than accusing us of nonsense. What were you thinking!?”
“Your secrets were held within!” the man shouted. “The way you spun your lies…”
“You can see the Skyseeds fly! They work! They can go into space!”
“Then why lie about the moon?” the woman asked. “Seriously, why?”
“Because we’re not lying, it’s a gray rock almost everywhere! The report really does describe the moon: gray, dusty, crater-ridden, filled with small Colored Crystals!” Naturally, we don’t actually mention Wanderlust, or the rigids, but they’re not natural to the moon in the first place, so…
“I don’t even understand how you think that’s reasonable to believe…” the woman shook her head. “We can all look up at the moon and see a face, clearly it’s living in some manner!”
Lila stared blankly at her.
“I don’t think she knows…” the man said, suddenly. “She’s not acting like it… I think her superiors have lied to her and she believes them!”
“I dunno…” the woman tilted her head to the side.
“How sad that you trust them so well…”
“No, hold on, she was part of the Space Program before the government. She knows, she has to. She’s just acting exactly like someone who didn’t know would act in order to throw us off the scent!”
“Devious!” the man gasped.
Lila sighed. “Right, so, you’re going to keep on believing there’s some sort of conspiracy. Fine, we can just leave that be. You’ve still broken a Skyseed and I can’t just let that slide, nor can I have you pulling something like that again.”
“The truth will be known!”
“I sure hope so…” Lila muttered. “Right, so, here’s the deal. I’m going to fine you.”
The man was clearly confused. The woman chuckled. “Good luck doing that, you don’t even have our real names, you can’t tie us to anything!”
“I’m sure Keller could turn up something, but I don’t even need that.” Lila sat up on her haunches, increasing her height. “I am going to keep you in custody until you can pay off the fine. There we can keep a good watch on you and ensure justice is done. Of course, at any time you’d be entirely free to tell us who you actually are and I will cut the fine in half…”
“Never,” the man said, hissing at her.
“Alright then, enjoy the rest of your lives of hard labor. Keller, take them away.”
“You got it, Miss Mayor.”
“Wh… that’s it!?” the man shouted as Keller tilted up their chairs and wheeled them out of the room. “That… that can’t be it! Hey! You can’t just…” And after that Lila couldn’t hear him anymore.
Perhaps working closely with the processes of the Wizard Space Program will show them its truth and they can move past this.
One can hope.
Lila shook her head and returned to the papers on her desk. Even when there isn’t an actual secret, people want there to be one… Reality is unrealistic, it seems.
~~~
Jeh was strapped securely but awkwardly to the exterior of a Skyseed, face pointed to the interior so she could see and talk to Margaret easier—sound may not have traveled in space but it did conduct through glass, thus the need for constant contact. And a second rope that made sure Jeh’s head was always in contact with the Skyseed and not about to crack open from a rogue jostle.
Jeh’s only degree of freedom was turning her head Everything else was strapped so tightly to the Skyseed that she was not going to be able to move it under her own power—especially since she didn’t have access to her crystals. Only her personal air restorer needed to be active, the suit prevented the needed contact with anything outside.
For all Margaret’s concerns, though, the ride was smooth. Launch had no issues, and they were currently climbing up through the upper atmosphere as the blue sky slowly became black.
“...My nose itches,” Jeh said.
“You’re just gonna have to deal with that,” Margaret said. Her voice was slightly muffled due to her tightly wrapped flight suit that ensured there was no exposed skin anywhere.
“Well. See. I can’t. Because I can’t scratch my face.”
“I believe Krays’ suggestion was to suffer?” Margaret tilted her head.
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“Well. I’m doing that now. It’s only getting worse.” She was silent for a moment. “It’s also getting really humid in here. My feet are in a pool of my own sweat.”
Margaret took out a notebook and wrote that effect down. “Anything else we should be concerned about?”
“Well, I can still breathe just fine. It’s just uncomfortable. And I itch.”
“Think it would cause any problems for anyone else?”
“I mean… sitting in a pool of your own sweat is probably bad for some reason? But on the actual Moonshot you wouldn’t be sitting in the suit for hours, you’d only put it on to go out.”
“Mmmm…” Margaret wrote that down.
“The itch. It’s. Augh. It’s just getting more intense…”
“Calm down, you’ll live.”
Jeh’s eye twitched.
“...I’d help you if I could, but there’s glass between us.”
“Can you scratch my nose with Orange?”
“...Um…” Margaret tilted her head. “...Maybe?”
“Try. Please, just… agh it’s so tingly!”
“Completely immune to pain but an itch drives her to insanity.”
“Just help me.”
Margaret stopped pushing her will into the drive and took out an Orange crystal, focusing it on Jeh’s nose.
Jeh felt like her entire nose had been flattened. “...That’s. Not scratching. Maybe… you could cut my nose off and I could grow a new, itchless one?”
“...A copy of your nose floating in your helmet with you sounds like a bad idea.”
“It is. Just… I need something to scratch—oh! Try my hair! Just move it around!”
Margaret made the attempt, winding some of Jeh’s hair into a very loose rope, running it across her nose.
“Ah… much better. Thanks!”
“There has to be a way to make you able to do that yourself.”
“Install crystals in the gloves?”
Margaret shrugged and returned to the drive, lifting them a little higher. However, their test didn’t need them to be very high, just high enough that they wouldn’t feel the effects of air and could stay there a while in freefall.
Margaret eventually cut power to the drive. “All right, I’m cutting you loose. Ready?”
“Ready.”
Margaret used her Orange to untie the ropes that had Jeh affixed to the Skyseed. Jeh was immediately relieved to move her arms and legs—but after that came the disorientation. There was nothing for her to hold onto other than the loose ropes now, and she had no Orange to help her orient herself. She was just… drifting.
“Neat…” She attempted to pull her arms in and out to control her rate of spin, but quickly found that her arms didn’t want to move. Once she had been cut loose the suit expanded into a starfish shape due to the air pressure, and moving it away from that shape required a lot of force. With much grunting she was able to slowly move her arms closer to her body. This did increase her rate of spin, as expected. She released the strain on her muscles and the suit returned to the starfish position.
She was not particularly strong. Simply moving her arms in and out was at the limit of her physical capacity. “We’ll probably have to fix this… Another reason to add Orange to the suit.”
Margaret pointed to her ears and shook her head.
“Right, no sound. Guess I’ll just… drift for a bit.”
Jeh made a valiant effort to control her motion. Her original idea had been to swim through space, but not only was moving her arms around exceedingly difficult, it didn’t change her trajectory. All she could do was control the rate of her spin.
At this point, the strain on her muscles was becoming too much. Everything she tried to move was sore. She gave her arms a break and tried doing some stretches with her legs, but it was just as difficult. The suit itself didn’t prevent any motions she tried, they were still possible, just at an immense physical cost. Moving her fingers was all but impossible, she had to hold the ropes with her by placing them between her digits without actually gripping on anything. Her original intent to experiment with lassoes and rope tricks were completely shot. She could barely bundle up parts of the rope and throw them to the side to check how it moved her. It did act as expected; when she threw a bundle of rope to the side, she went the other way. Nothing particularly surprising.
Besides the issue of being splayed out like a starfish most of the time, the spacesuit just seemed to be… working.
She could go out and walk on the moon with this thing if she wanted.
She turned herself around to gesture at Margaret and indicate she was done… but she stopped herself when she looked down at Ikyu.
From her current perspective, she could only see Ikyu. It was just her. No Skyseed, no ropes to be seen, just her looking down at the blue orb below.
So small… so tiny… so fragile…
Fragile?
Where had that thought come from? Fragile? Ikyu was hardly fragile, it was massive. It wasn’t like she could just…
She reached out her hand. Ikyu still dominated the field of view at this relatively low altitude flight, but she could still hold out her hand in such a way that her fingers touched both ends. As if… the world was in her hands.
So fragile…
Almost as though…
Jeh clenched her fist around Ikyu. In her mind, it shattered into thousands of pieces, spreading a molten lava interior throughout the cosmos.
Her gloves were red.
Jeh shook her head, returning to reality. The truly beautiful orb of Ikyu was below her, still present, still inspiring.
But to her… it looked weak.
Like it could break at any moment.
Margaret’s Skyseed drifted into view at this point. She looked a little concerned as she waved at Jeh.
Jeh, with some difficulty, waved back and tried to give Margaret a thumbs up. Her fingers did not cooperate. With a sigh, she gestured with her entire arm for Margaret to strap her back to the Skyseed. Once Jeh’s face was pressed into the glass once more, conversation resumed.
“You stopped moving there for a while, you good?”
Jeh nodded. “Just… felt like the world was in my hands for a moment there.” She paused. “...I can’t shake the feeling that the world is… fragile.”
“Fragile?”
“Like… the right person could just clench a fist and… that would be that.”
Margaret nodded. “...Eyda could do that.”
“Could we stop her?”
“No. Or. Well…” Margaret paused. “You’d need a very powerful ally to help you…”
“Maybe we’ll find one out here.”
“Who knows what the stars have to offer us?”
~~~
Riikaz and the Emperor met deep within the mountain on which E’min was founded, far from any prying eyes, political intrigue, or even soldiers. This room was meant for secrets; but the Emperor was still an Emperor, and the place was comfortable, if dark. The only light source was a Red-powered device that heated up metal until it glowed a bright orange. This was on the far side of the room, the table and chairs were furthest from this. There were chairs of every size for every species, all covered in cushions and armrests should the species they were designed for have arms. However, the chairs were without decoration—practical. Even the truly massive throne the Emperor himself sat in was simple.
“Still in your armor, even down here?” Riikaz asked. She took a swig of the Emperor’s finest stock of fire wine, a Mikarolian delicacy.
“Heh. These days, it is not so much my choice…” the Emperor shook his head. “Since secrets will be spilled here, I shall tell you one of mine. My body is far more frail even than it looks. I cannot do much without the armor and the magic.”
“...Have you chosen a successor?”
“Naturally, though they know it not. Nor does anyone else aside from those of the Silent Legality.”
“Think he’ll continue to be our ally?”
“She, actually.”
“Oooooh, risky.”
“Unexpected, so highly unlikely to be assassinated prior to my death.” He paused. “She is more suited to a the future coming world of cooperation than you or I.”
“I was able to adapt.”
The Emperor chuckled. “You’re here now. I see it in your eyes. You haven’t really.”
Riikaz frowned. “...Perhaps not. I am not a leader for peace, you are correct. But there are times when peace is not an option.” Riikaz paused. “Will your people accept the change?”
“I do not know. But it will not be my concern, and I have not exactly discussed it with her, just made guesses. But this space station project… I hope it’s the push that will be required.”
“You have softened in your old age.”
“Only from you would I consider that a compliment and not an insult.”
“Indeed, who else has walked the same path as us?” Riikaz downed the rest of her wine and poured another glass. “...I have not let myself enjoy wine this much in quite some time…”
“I sure hope you don’t need your wits about you soon.”
“We’re safe here, right?”
“We are still speaking secrets. There are some you may not wish me to know.”
“Bah,” Riikaz said, waving a hand. “You’re an old friend at this point, Nathaniel, I trust you.”
“Mistake.”
“Possibly, but you just said… we are approaching a newer world of cooperation.”
“Naturally. So…” The Emperor leaned in. “What have you found?”
“I have entered the Tower of Knowledge.”
The Emperor’s eyes widened. “Deep secrets, then, the kind man was not meant to know.”
“Maybe.” She folded her arms. “I hunt the society that assassinated my husband, the nameless workers of the shadows who have orchestrated countless things without anyone knowing, attempting to be the masters of some kind of new world order.”
“The Guardian Spirit has kept me informed of the happenings in the Tempest,” the Emperor said. “And your people of the Benefactor incident. I myself have begun noticing… odd patterns here, in my very Empire. Be very cautious, Riikaz, being an honored personal guest of mine may not be sufficient to protect you if they catch wind.”
Riikaz nodded. “I am aware. After this I am not going to make my movements known if I can help it. I just wanted to share knowledge and see what we can come up with together.” She looked him in the eyes with a steeled gaze. “They’re based in Vraskal, deep underground. Their ruler is a free leaf dryad hooked up to some kind of Green arcane chair device. This is what the Tower of Knowledge permitted me to remember.”
The Emperor nodded slowly.
“I also know she suffers for this goal. I… do not know why that is important. But it may mean we are dealing with an idealist, not simply someone hungry for power or control.”
“A dryad in Vraskal…” The Emperor shook his head. “Such an unlikely pairing. The wastes of Vraskal are particularly brutal on their kind.”
“I notice you are not doubting me at all, or questioning it.”
“Because now that you’ve said it, a lot of what I know has fallen into place.” The Emperor crossed his arms. “I told you I have been seeing patterns. These patterns extend very deep—the latest Tempest Incident was not simply a fluke of one man in the right place. Orders from seemingly unrelated sections of the army got him there where he could execute his plan. Many have been executed, but it persists, and trusted members of the Silent Legality have found similar patterns in history. Notably, they have clearly changed their strategy now, but the record of dealings does, in fact, go back. And there are a higher frequency of events closer to the Vraskal border… in the past.”
“They had to expand…”
“But perhaps the most disturbing of the revelations is that we have found records of their activity prior to the founding of the Empire. As close as our records get to the Second Cataclysm, we find them.”
“What is their calling card?”
“The Silent Legality has noted the difficulty of finding a calling card, but there is one thing. The loss of black cubes, or of ‘ancestries’ as I believe we’re calling them now. They vanish. In the old times shortly after the Cataclysm, incredible powers were reported far more often… but now they are exceedingly rare, enough so that we were not sure they existed until recently. And it is your intel that connected them to the black cubes… of which we have found hints of a few in history that vanish inexplicably.”
“And the ones in Vraskal vanish first.”
“Precisely.”
“They seek to control knowledge of certain things, and to get the black cubes…” Riikaz scratched her chin, frowning. “...The black cubes have no knowledge.”
“Perhaps the knowledge they are trying to hide has to do with the black cubes. I think they have a secret. A terrible secret.”
“One that they are certain must never be widely known, and that they use to justify whatever atrocities they commit.”
“It seems as likely a theory as any other.”
Riikaz tapped her fingers on her glass. “We’re planning to launch our black cube into the sun, for the record.”
“It is curious that you have been able to hold onto yours even after the… interesting events with that escaped demon.”
Riikaz nodded. “Either they don’t know, which is possible, their information network can’t be perfect, or they don’t mind us throwing it into the sun since we’re not actually using it.”
“Or it’s a cube they don’t need.”
“For what?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? For what? To know exactly what they want would be to ruin their plans, it seems. The moment we truly know what they’re doing, what they’re trying to avoid or cause, they have failed.”
Riikaz looked at the empty drink in her hand. “Do you ever wonder what truth could be so terrible that they would do such things to keep it?”
“I do. I have also considered what it might mean to beat them… would we unleash something?”
“...What they are doing cannot be right. Manipulating empires, starting wars, assassinations…”
“Those are things I do on a regular basis.”
“And it’s no secret that I don’t approve of Mikarol’s ways.” Riikaz frowned. “But I know you, and I see the chance for change. And you care for justice, and honor. These people have neither.”
“They are like those who see no higher purpose. There is no limit to what they can justify for their goal, whatever it may be.” He frowned. “There is… other information I have that may be relevant.”
“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this.”
“You are not. In the Silent Legality’s investigations into ancient history looking for the acts of our enemy, we found indications that the Second Cataclysm originated in Vraskal, and is at least partially related to why their land is such a harsh one.”
Riikaz paused. “Oh no.”
“The two might not be related…”
“They most assuredly are.” Riikaz stood up and turned to look, vacantly, at the Red heater. “...Either they caused the Second Cataclysm, or are trying to stop it from happening again.”
“...And if they were trying to stop it, if it was the only way?”
“...Dia would not demand such evil.”
“Oh, great, you have an assurance, what about the rest of us?”
Riikaz gave him a sad smile. “I don’t have one for you. But you know your honor cannot allow this disrespect to stand.”
“Indeed not. They will be faced.”
Riikaz sat back down. She poured herself another glass of wine. “So we might be dealing with the fate of the world here. And we might be on the side that destroys it.”
“We can see what we can to avoid such a result. What do we know of the Second Cataclysm? Everything was wiped out seemingly in one instant.”
“Benefactor has told us that wasn’t the case,” Riikaz said. “It wasn’t exactly instant. Benefactor was working as some kind of communication network back then, part of her started shattering before the rest of her, so she purposefully divided the rest of her coherent self up so it would reform naturally as one in time. Whatever it was only seemed to target Crystalline Ones large enough to hold a spirit. …But it was explosive. Extremely explosive. Unfortunately, she does not know what caused it, nor what happened immediately afterward since it took her a century to reform.”
“So. Something originated in Vraskal, spread out across Ikyu, destroying all spirited Crystalline Ones in such an explosive manner that any society near them was also taken out.”
“And the world was in an era of ash.”
“Much like how Vraskal always is.”
Riikaz took another long drink of her wine. “But… it didn’t reach the moon. Wanderlust remained.”
“True… true.”
“My daughter’s Lunar Library project is seeming a whole lot more important than it did when I first heard about it.”
“I wish her luck. If she wants Mikarol records, simply ask.”
“Send some over, she’ll probably take the starts of the Library up on the next mission. I think it’s scheduled to happen before winter.”
“That does bring us to our other new… ‘friends,’ the blimps of Descent.”
“I don’t think they’re related to this, but I don’t trust them,” Riikaz said. “They evidently have a superiority complex that makes yours look pathetic by comparison.”
The Emperor let out a laugh. “I see we have similar assessments of my superiority complex! Yes, I gathered as much, and while Envila was here I asked her of her people, she had a similar attitude; though I must say, she did not go to the upper city and had scant information on it. Your astronaut’s quest has been most illuminating.”
“I sure hope that space station really does band the three of us together,” Riikaz said. “I have a feeling like we need it.”
“Almost as though, if they needed to, our enemies would set us against each other?”
“Exactly.” Riikaz frowned. “...I don’t trust the blimps, but should we warn them?”
“...Normally I would say no, but our enemies are apt to take advantage of that. We can tell them… limited information. The assassination of Redmind and that surrounding it may be sufficient, but refuse to give them details. Hide behind the need for security, which is required, but nonetheless make them aware.”
“The problem is if they’ll listen to pathetic ground-dwellers like us.”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” The Emperor leaned back. “...I despise this.”
“Eh?”
“An enemy that can’t be fought.”
“Oh, I’m going to try my best…”
“I wish you luck on your journey. I will provide you with covert transportation and set you on Envila’s path—I believe she can be trusted with your quest.”
“Thank you.”
“Now… are there any other secrets we need to speak of?”
“Probably thousands, but none that are immediately relevant. Actually…” Riikaz folded her hands. “This is a more personal question. Has the name Jenny Zero come up at all in your research?”
The Emperor shook his head. “The name means nothing to me.”
“If you do find something, send it over if you can. Just… a personal favor.”
“May I ask why?”
“Sorry, Nathaniel, there’s sharing secrets to do the best we can, and there’s sharing my secrets… but then there’s sharing other people’s secrets.”
“Ah, fair enough.” He stood up, giving him a smile. “Should we get to that tour, then?”
“Please, I’d love to see how you intend to go to space.”
“Oh, we’ve already gone…”
~~~
The Red Seekers still primarily lived at their little settlement on the mountain, though their numbers had grown substantially since the day the demon attacked. As more and more people moved into Willow Hollow, more and more of them were Seekers of one kind or another, and the Red Seekers tended to find their way here.
Joira made it very clear that the ways of violence and divine purging fire were not tolerated. Fortunately, most of the new Red Seekers coming in were not the sort looking to get away from society to plot its downfall, but those sorts who saw the power of fire in the sun and wished to touch it.
Now, while it wasn’t exactly public knowledge and was still hidden behind highly academic papers, the knowledge that the sun was the center of the Solar System wasn’t exactly a secret. Arno had figured it out first, and then he had run to tell everyone at the Red Seekers about it.
The great light of the sky, the fire of day, was the center of everything.
Some Red Seekers had taken to this like candy, desperate for something to hold onto after the death and tragedy at the demon’s hand. The newcomers and the young people, mostly. However, most of the older crowd did not like the sudden focus on the glory and life giving light of the sun—it wasn’t even red! Of course, then the young people would argue that actual fire was orange but not Orange and then a fight would have to be broken up.
Joira herself was so disillusioned she didn’t really care either way. She didn’t trust either sides’ wild claims; all she knew was that she was done with all the pain. So when the fights were broken up, she had the instigators brought to her.
She was not shocked in the slightest when a greater unicorn woman and Arno were brought to her.
“Joira, Nill was being mean!” Arno called. “She called me stupid and dumb and in—”
“Arno, what have I told you about starting fights?” Joira asked.
“But…”
“You have to stop.”
“But she…”
“I don’t care what she said about you or the light of the sun.”
“She also insulted Vaughan! And Blue!”
Nill spat on the ground. “They’re worse than you, dumb kid.”
Joira turned to Nill. “Well, unrepentant are we?”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“You were around when the tragedy struck.”
“I have no interest in causing that to happen again, rest assured. But there is history to consider, and the way things ought to be. You are allowing our faith to become diluted.”
“Intentionally.”
“I know. I cannot fight against that. I do not wish to. But I am not happy.”
Joira glared at her. “You should still know better than to pick fights with children.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a fight. I insulted him. He punched me. I kept insulting him. This went on until we were dragged here.”
“She was so rude!” Arno huffed. “Didn’t even fight back.”
“I could have cracked your skull open with a kick, kid.”
“Wanna try!?”
“Stop it, idiots!” Joira shouted. “Look, I could care less what you two think, but learn to live with each other. Nill, just stop insulting people for what they think about the sun or the Red or whatever, got it?”
“Obviously.”
“And just to make myself clear, become enough of a problem and I will kick you out.”
“I know. If I had anywhere else to go I would not put up with any of this. But I don’t, so here we are. Am I done?”
Joira put her hand to the bridge of her nose. “Fine, fine, just… stop stirring up trouble.”
“...Yeah.” For a moment, a look of deep sorrow crossed Nill’s face, but she left Joira’s house before she could discern anything else about it.
Joira then turned to Arno. “Arno, you get in here every month or so, and you’re at the bottom of the mountain most days out of the week. You have got to stop picking fights.”
Arno crossed his arms. “Not my fault everyone’s stupid…”
“Arno. Arno. You are stupid.”
Arno glared at her. “No. I’m great. I know things, they teach me things.”
“I can’t believe this, started out too angry one way, is now too angry the other way…” Joira rubbed the sides of her head. “Look, for now, you’re a kid and everyone has to put up with you. But you aren’t making any friends. If you’re still acting like this when you grow up, I will kick you out like I just threatened Nill over there.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“...Arno, before that day, I wanted to get rid of you.”
Arno stared at her.
“Look at me, telling all this to a kid…” Joira shook her head. “Arno, we gave you over to them as part of a way to not have to deal with you all the time. That was wrong of me. You shouldn’t have to even think about these things, but I’m running out of things I can think of to get through your thick skull! I just… don’t become me, Arno.”
“No danger of that. I’m a boy!”
Joira stared at him. “You… aren’t getting any of this, are you?”
“All you adults say all sorts of things, but all of it always turns out to be wrong. So…” Arno shrugged. “I’ve made up my mind not to listen anymore.”
Joira stared at him blankly.
He was being so insufferably stupid, but he did have a point, basically everyone he looked up to had either misled him or just been wrong about where they were leading him.
“At least in space you can do tests to see who’s right. I asked Blue to do a test with all you Red people. She seemed confused.”
Joira stared at him. “...You don’t consider yourself a Red Seeker anymore, do you?”
Arno shrugged. “Can’t test it.”
“You know they believe in things that can’t be tested down there, like Dia.”
“That’s what they’re wrong about. All you adults. You all tell me you know things and you’re always wrong.”
Joira sat back in her chair, staring blankly ahead. “Arno…?”
“Yes?”
“You… are free to go. Just… just try not to cause more trouble, okay?”
“Okay.” Arno tilted his head. “Joira…? You seem…”
“Just… go. Please.”
Arno suddenly ran out of there.
Joira stared at a blank wall.
She knew Arno was wrong.
She just couldn’t figure out why.
~~~
The spacesuit was laid out on a table outside Vaughan’s cabin.
Blue, Vaughan, and Krays were the only ones there. Margaret had left a while ago. Jeh was taking a full-on bath.
The suit itself reeked.
Vaughan and Blue had their mouths and noses covered, Vaughan with his hands, and Blue with a towel she had levitated in front of her face.
Krays smirked. “Noses are a biological weakness, take that! I’m immune!”
“Never sit in a pool of your own sweat for hours,” Vaughan observed.
“No, really,” Blue deadpanned.
“We didn’t exactly think of it before sending it up there!”
“...Right. Uh. So. How are we going to clean it?”
Krayz held her hands up in the air. “I don’t know, I can’t smell, dingbats. I hear we gari naturally smell pleasant.”
“You all smell very vaguely fruity,” Vaughan commented.
“...I’m not sure how to respond to that.”
Vaughan shrugged.
“Jeh’s gonna have to wear this suit again….” Blue noted.
Krays nodded. “Of course she is, we aren’t throwing it out even if it reeks like a beaver that was grilled and then left in the sun for a week. This thing costs more than a Skyseed.”
“Yeesh…”
“The stink will probably come out eventually with enough water,” Vaughan said. “And soap.”
“That’ll get all the skin oils and stuff out,” Blue said. “The stink will probably stay.”
“...Plug your nose while wearing it?”
Krays chuckled. “Maybe have Jeh just cut off her nose while doing it?”
At this point Mary showed up with a massive wooden tub on wheels, filled with water. Several kinds of soap and herbs were hanging off the side. Mary herself was wearing a mask with some kind of mint leaves all over it. “Margaret told me the problem, hand it over, I’ve got every cleaning thing passed down from the women in my family for generations. We’ll get that stink out.”
“Be careful with it,” Blue said.
“I know, it’s the only spacesuit we have. Anything I should be aware of that might break it?”
Krays shook her head. “It’s pretty much indestructible, the airtight layer is actually only the middle layer, there’s a veneer on the outside that protects it from any elements. Probably not space rocks but we haven’t been able to test that yet.”
“All right, time to get this good as new…”
“How did you get that tub all the way here?” Vaughan asked.
“It’s Alexandrite water. His nose was too sensitive to get any closer so he got me the water and then left me to push the tub the rest of the way.”
“Oh.”
Mary violently threw the suit into the tub and began scrubbing. “Stains, it’s time for pain!”
Blue, Vaughan, and Krays slowly backed away from the tub and the stink, eventually removing their various mouth covers.
“I can breathe again…” Blue gasped. “My goodness…”
“Apparently Alexandrite can’t,” Vaughan noted.
“Dragon noses are too good, apparently.”
“So good his brain decided to check out!” Krayz chuckled. “We have discovered a new anti-dragon weapon, the STINK BOMB!”
“Joy… anyway…” Blue looked back to Mary. “At the very least we have a spacesuit. Jeh will be able to use it on the next trip to the moon. The question is, though… can we make suits for everyone else?”
“Not for Scurfpea,” Vaughan said. “She’s still growing and will probably put down roots anyway.”
“Gari are problematic, we have sharp pointy things.” Krays gestured at the points at the edge of her gauntlets. “They can be sanded down but that… that would be like shaving your head. We like our spikes. The suit would have to accommodate them somehow.”
“Unicorns?” Blue asked.
Krays scratched her chin. “Your hard hooves are probably the worst part, always scraping and clattering and tearing away at the interior. …Gari plast is also a problem on the foot, come to think of it.”
“But humans are easy?”
“Humans are squishy.”
“Hmm… the design flaws can be overcome though, right?”
“Definitely! What do you take me for, little miss genius, a hack who sells fake potions at a stand in the middle of the forest?”
“You called?” Seskii asked. She was up a nearby tree, kicking her legs back and forth.
“Yes, actually,” Krays said. “Got any lemonade?”
Seskii tossed her a lemonade inside a potion bottle. Krays downed the thing in one go. “Diadem, I was thirsty…”
Seksii rolled her eyes. “You know, I can’t just always show up when you want a drink.”
“But it’s worth a shot, right? Eh?”
“...Yeah, probably.”
~~~
“The Emperor graces you with his presence!” an armored humanoid shouted down to the populace below, which was largely engineers, all working on a half-dozen nearly completed spacecraft of similar design to the Skyripper, though they were each of slightly different sizes, and a few of them were cubic rather than diamond-shaped. The work was performed in a massive warehouse partially dug out of the mountain. Unlike Kroan’s manufacturing, which sourced materials and goods from several different places across Kroan, this warehouse had everything needed on-site: a forge in the back that could both smelt and assist with glass work, powdered crystal tubes with every Color of crystal, and even a few bookshelves filled with detailed scientific data.
The workers who could safely put down their work did, and bowed as the Emperor strode in through the warehouse’s main doors, Riikaz at his side.
Riikaz was mildly surprised to find that most of the engineers were women of various different species. This surprise quickly vanished—she knew full well that in Mikarol the men were usually the warriors and leaders while the women were usually the creatives and caretakers, of course in their culture precise engineering would be thought closer to women’s work than men’s. She found herself mildly surprised that she’d never been this deep in a Mikarolian factory before; the Empire was well known for its industry and metalworking, not just because it fueled the majority of their army.
Almost none of the engineers were in armor, and the warehouse was so large, so Riikaz managed to get a good look at the demographics of Mikarol. Mostly humans, a fair number of gari and nekos, and a decidedly large variety of other humanoid races of all sorts. There were a few greater unicorns present as well, though they were among those who could not stop their work for the Emperor as they were currently using their levitation attribute to work with red-hot metal.
“You may return to your work!” the Emperor called. “I am merely giving Queen Riikaz Kroan a tour of the premises. I ask what comes next knowing it is impossible but expecting an attempt nonetheless: act as though we were not here unless we address you.”
Riikaz smirked. “Striking fear while being reasonable. I like it.”
“It is an art I have perfected over the years.”
The two of them slowly walked through the warehouse, observing the various ships.
“Most of these are almost complete,” Riikaz observed.
“Some could be flown,” the Emperor said. “We’re just adding the finishing touches.”
“You’re much faster at building these than we are.”
“You’re spending a lot of time into initial development and continually trying new things. Meanwhile, Mikarol industry is suited to quickly producing lots of similar things. We have nothing even approaching your Moonshot yet, but we will soon have dozens of these Skyseed-style designs.”
“And the space station?”
“It is currently looking like we will be primarily responsible for the bulk structure and segmentation,” the Emperor explained. “There are only designs as of now, of course, and since everyone has to approve them the going is slow. It will become faster once we no longer have to rely entirely on your Skyseed messengers.”
“You have other uses.”
The Emperor chuckled. “Of course! Take this one, for instance.” He gestured at a diamond-shaped ship with a hatch on the bottom. “This one has the lower cargo space converted into a bomb hold. Simply open it up and watch the object fall from as high up as you want. Chances of you going up against someone who can shoot you down are low!”
“Aiming would be difficult.”
“Naturally. We are considering replacing our crystalline explosives with mundane ones for this purpose. Less power, but also far more reliable and doesn’t rely on a timing mechanism.”
“Had you had these things in the Tempest…”
“I would never have been in the dark about what was happening. For all everyone around here talks of weapons, destructive potential, and threats, by far the biggest benefit of these things is a higher speed of communication. I can get a message from anywhere in the world in a day.”
“It really has made our lives a lot easier too,” Riikaz admitted. “Though, I will note one difference between your program and ours.”
“What is that?”
Riikaz gestured at all the workers around them taking careful, precise measurements in silence, working like they themselves were part of a well oiled machine. Even the theorists over by the bookshelf were quietly studying books and writing things down on a chalkboard. “It’s so regimented.”
“Expected everyone to be like Xanava, did you?”
“Not because of Xanava, but because I’ve been around the Wizard Space Program’s founders. They’re all delightfully eccentric oddballs and their work is colored by that. Spontaneous. Lighthearted. Excitable.”
“Your program came out of a man’s crazy dream that turned into more than he expected. Our program has arisen in the attempt to copy your results—these people are all the best of the best, career engineers who have proven their mettle again and again in the greater industry of Mikarol. Not a person here is an unknown, everyone has their great achievements. That does tend to reduce the eccentric personality types.”
“True… but would that not hinder creativity in such an endeavor?”
“Perhaps,” the Emperor admitted. “But I know not how to specifically search for eccentrics, do you?”
“No, they kind of just… show up.”
“Exactly. Unreliable. Unpredictable. Often good on the battlefield, but not when you need standardized and regular output.”
“Which you want.”
“And you should want, too,” the Emperor said. “You are struggling with a certain plague, after all.”
Riikaz nodded. At this point, they had reached the back of the warehouse, where the greater unicorns were working the red-hot metal into shapes that could hold the glass panes and provide a ship structure. “It’s taken a few of our ships.”
“While you do not have a very large rigid population yourself, we have a sizable one, and should it reach the Empire the results would be… quite catastrophic.”
“I only see the flauxi among your soldiers…”
“Most of the rigid peoples are not suited for battle, their forms are weak, and very small, easy to overlook. They perform a lot of city maintenance and management.”
Riikaz nodded. “Are you offering help?”
“Now that I’m about to have a small number of ships that can transport people and resources to you quickly and reliably, I am. Your ships are not intended for battle, but some of mine are. Perhaps I can provide the edge you need.”
“It will be most welcome, we do feel somewhat closed in at the moment. It is so infuriating… an enemy that hides behind the faces of others.”
“There are too many of those, these days…” the Emperor scowled. “Honor must be upheld.”
“...I prefer to think in terms of justice, these days.”
“Then justice will be attained.”
“So…” as they turned to walk back out of the warehouse, Riikaz gave him a grin. “How about we talk about those sparring matches?”
“Oho… yes, I do believe we have put that off long enough…”
~~~
The sun had just set, but it was not yet dark, for the memory of day still streaked across the sky. The Moonshot II stood tall, a silhouette against the sky.
Currently, only Krays and Darmosil stood in front of it.
Krays knew it wasn’t complete. The interior hadn’t been fully furnished, the drive wasn’t fully installed yet, and the airlock was only half complete.
But at this moment, where all the features were hidden in the silhouette, it sure looked complete. An echo of a dream that was near arriving.
“It’s… almost done,” Krays said, putting a hand to her chest. “It won’t be long at all before we launch again. Another friendly jaunt to the moon. Just…” Krays lifted her hand into the air and put her thumb and finger around the moon, which was currently high in the sky.
Darmosil put an arm around his wife.
“Ah, look who’s getting all sentimental, how weak.” She put her arm around him as well.
“This has been good for you.”
Krays blinked. “Eh?”
“You have something in your life that isn’t just you and me. I remember when you first came here…”
“Well that was a terrible time.”
“Yes. But. You were on top of the world. You were determined to become great, to be the best. But then we settled down, and you were content but… something was still missing from the fire you originally had.”
“Psh, I’ve always had my fire.”
“You don’t know yourself as well as you think.”
“Eh. Maybe.” She paused. “I really have thrown myself into this. So many things I know how to do that… weren’t used in my job. I just… I just didn’t know doing something like this was possible for anyone who wasn’t a wizard.”
“And now the history books will remember Krays, space materials engineer.”
“And you too!”
“Me? Krays, I never wanted to be in a history book.”
“Too late! I’m gonna make sure you’re in it and that our spats will become the stuff of legend.”
“Like they aren’t already?”
“Hah! The rumors at the bar are nothing compared to what will come in the future! Generations down the line, they will tell stories about us that are completely wrong, paint us in a terrible light, and maybe we’ll even become demonic entities used to scare children into behaving!”
“That would be an amusing story to hear. I think I’ll be painted as the reasonable one, while you the psycho.”
“You’ll be painted as the boring one.”
“As I should, if we’re talking about blatant lies.”
“Oh if we’re going that route, I’m the princess of Kroan, look at me go!”
“I dunno, Tenrayce could make you an honorary member.”
“Yeah, right, we were friends for, what, a day?”
“That could be enough.”
“Unlikely.”
A silence fell over them. A wind blew past them.
“I am just… really glad you’ve found something to look forward to.” Darmosil paused. “...I am sorry.”
Krays sighed. “...You don’t have to keep telling me. I know.”
“I need to remind myself every now and then. I…”
“It’s not your fault you can’t and you know it and I have to tell you this every time you get in this stupid mood.” Krays took in a sharp breath. “I can live without kids. It’s okay. It’s fine. Get that through your thick skull.”
“...I’m not sure it will ever get through.” He looked down at the ground for a moment. “Is… is it enough?”
Krays forcibly grabbed him by the face and made him look her in the eyes. “Even if I didn’t have an amazing project to the stars to work on, it would be enough, you absolute buffoon. Nimrod. Numbskull. Peabrain.”
“Trying to lighten the mood, are we?”
“The moment you realize how stupid you are the happier the entire world will be.” She paused. “...But mostly me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Krays chuckled. “No you won’t.”
“Well if we’re doing brutal honesty, neither will you.”
“I wouldn’t want a perfect man anyway, couldn’t get any pot shots off on him. Would be insufferable.”
“Doesn’t that mean there is no perfect man and your entire point is, in fact, pointless?”
“Darmosil, we’re gari, we’re all points.”
“I know something on me that’s not a point.”
“Oh?”
And that’s when the passionate kissing began.
~~~
SCIENCE SEGMENT
Spacesuits aren’t actually that complicated of a concept to understand. They keep air and a person inside while allowing the person to still interact with an external environment. Diving suits and hazmat suits operate on a similar principle: create a bubble for a human to live in that will protect them from the elements. Now, what the elements are changes how the suit is made: diving suits need to deal with water, hazmat suits with biohazards and radiation, and spacesuits need to deal with the vacuum.
The primary goal of the spacesuit is to keep air in. This is accomplished using rubbery materials as discussed last time. Our spacesuits also have layers just like Krays’, but the one layer she hasn’t really considered much is one that’s somewhat important: insulation, ensuring that the internal temperature remains the same.
Bizarrely, on normal spacewalks around a space station, temperature regulation is not a big issue for short periods of time, as the only way heat transfers in space is due to radiation; so the sun will be warming you up like it will on a normal sunny day, though the atmosphere isn’t in the way so it is a bit stronger. A human’s internal temperature generation will also cause a heat buildup, which was part of the reason Jeh ended up sweating so much. But on short scales temperatures don’t change readily in space, so going out and coming back in would be no issue. Now, our spacesuits still have to be designed for long spacewalks with temperature regulation and we would rather have our astronauts comfortable. Also when working on the exterior of, say, a space station, touching said space station will transfer heat, and if the sun is currently out that’s likely to have warmed to a blistering hot level in certain places like solar panels. So just a good idea to temperature regulate your spacesuit somehow.
Our spacesuits have chilled water systems in place to keep things cool, and internal vents to keep sweat from accumulating. The other layers of fabric besides the rubbery one are also good insulators, stopping heat from flowing in or out as much as possible. However, we also need a lot more resources to maintain the atmosphere—we don’t have magic air restorers and need giant packs with compressed air and ways to cycle the air in and out. In fact, modern spacesuits have so many features, fancy fabrics, and internal systems that we could go over them for an eternity—but, strictly speaking, most of those systems are not necessary to it being a spacesuit. All it has to do is keep the air out and allow for enough range of motion that astronauts can do work in space. With a way to breathe and a way not to be cooked or frozen, that is accomplished.
Though we are all thankful we don’t have to sit in pools of our own sweat.
ADDENDUM: in the original chapter, Jeh had no issue moving around in space. However, it turns out that a single atmosphere of pressure inside a soft spacesuit makes it REALLY difficult to move around as the suit tries to expand to its full size from the pressure alone. NASA solved this problem by having their spacesuits be at low pressure, but at 100% oxygen content so people can still breathe. The Wizard Space Program doesn’t know how to isolate oxygen so this is not an option, so it’s a good thing they have Orange crystals on hand to force movement.