The light on Vort was unlike any he had ever come across. It must have been nostalgia. But something was different about the evening light that bleached red into everything beneath the tattered sky. Whether it was the thick dust in the air or simply the pollutants from the city that made the lights below seem so… so stunning, he couldn't tell. But while the sky was masked out in shades of red and orange, the city stood as an artificial reflection of the stars: nebulas becoming fluorescent neon lights, suns the security lights above the research facilities, planets (more aptly asteroid belts) born from the vast sprawl of circular buildings. Vortians, for all their 'sharp limbs' and 'pointy parts' that Miyuki was keen to point out, had an obsession with anything smooth and round. It was just the fashion. Had been for years.
Irken aesthetics seemed easier to cater to. He'd never worked in marketing or design, but it was plain to see that anything that looked 'cool' or 'shiny' got the go ahead. He'd heard of guys complaining about circular lights having to be fitted on every random pipe, no matter its function. Well, whatever. It was just a job.
He was working on something that would make Vort eternally prosperous. Something that would make the UNIVERSE eternally prosperous, a dawn of new peace, full of new… glorious… HAPPY STUFF! It would be a GIANT SHIP. The Massive was far cooler than anything Foi Thong was doing – I mean, he was just designing some Infinite Energy Producing Thing (IEPT)! Who cared! The IEPT would be meaningless by comparison to the sheer power that could be gained from Massive.
Hmm. Maybe he should have thought about that.
After all, it was the Irken Empire that had commissioned and sponsored his work. Well, no matter. A new age of peace and happiness was definitely just around the corner… yeah, that was right.
OH, WHO WAS HE FOOLING? Irk would use it to enslave and conquer the universe, they would be UNSTOPPABLE. With IEPT pulsing at the Massive's core… Well, whatever. Vort was in no danger of being conquered. Irk and Vort had been allies for years. It didn't matter to him at all, did it?
Still, he couldn't help looking around the other poor saps in Research Station 9 and wonder what would happen to them. Ha… yeah, they were kind of ambassadors of their home planets, just showing how excellent the populace would be to enslave - they clearly had juicy minds so ripe for the picking. He was pretty sure that was another one of Miyuki's sayings.
He'd never really understood that turn of phrase though. Ripe fruit on Vort really just exploded. You didn't want that stuff on your hands, especially not when the seeds started to take root in your veins an-
"Lard Nar."
"Yes, yes, that's my name," he trilled off, broken from his stupor.
"You were thinking again, weren't you?" She laughed, voice like crushed grapeseeds like diamonddust like the five minute darkness between the first sunset and the second sunrise, serene and patient and shiny and tinkling. He was being over dramatic. It was scratchier, like the whine and hiss of dry ice on metal.
"Uh," he studied her scarlet eyes, "Only about you, my Tallest." Romantic and sappy, she wouldn't understand. She took it as a sign of servility.
"You think too much," she waved a hand. "My dearest intellectuals are always thinking. Do you ever take breaks? No one pays you to think when you are not in a lab coat."
"Uh yes, well," he was confused, she had that serious-smirk-smile that he could never read. Anxiety started to rise, his fists clenching – no, no, she'll see that, you'll look like your about to punch her, he rolled his hands out, lifting them as though to appeal and to explain to her, "Thinking… is good?"
She laughed again. "You are a curious creature." Propping up her head on her hands, she tilted it. She looked positively girlish, propped up on the bed like that. Like a bad attempt at one of those pin-up posters he'd seen in lockers (and never owned, of course!) She couldn't have realized that though. Irkens didn't know what sex was.
That hadn't stopped there being endless fetishizing of their race, though. As Vort's most prominent ally, it was important that they were adored – both mentally and well… one part physically. At least, that had been the mantra spewed out of the Pornographi offices trying to frame themselves in the moral white again. He'd seen a poster coming into work that morning, ugh, what was it again? Ah, yeah. 'Irkens are Sexy! Untouchable! Such allure, charm, and mystery!'… Except there wasn't much mystery to it at all, well, apart from how the hell they got Irkens to twist their faces in just the right way… but It was all a shallow delusion. Irkens just did not have sex. Mystery solved. Though that did raise the que-
"You're doing it again," she seemed exasperated or bemused. Clasping her fingers in front of her, she wriggled them. "Tell me."
"Ah, uh, well," he stuttered and began walking around the hotel room nervously. Why was he so embarrassed? It didn't even matter! She'd just find it another 'curiosity' and telling her was definitely not a bad idea. But it felt like a bad idea! "You know… all the naked Irken girls you see in posters everywhere?"
She suddenly seemed nonplussed.
"What I mean is, well, I think it's stupid," nice save. "You Irkens are little more than your PAKs, right? Your bodies are just for moving around and… as a kind of primitive left over when you all decided to uplift yourselves." He started to wander restlessly again, feeling her eyes trailing on him as he paced the room. "So I don't get it."
Her faux-irritation broke away, her smile a little too wide. "Why are you confused?"
No, NO THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. This was the Tallest, yes, a Tallest that was currently lying in his bed and giving him the most soul-sweetening smile that was just asking him to be devoured by her charms but – EXACTLY, she'd do just that, she'd swallow him whole and discipline her pilots with his bones. Why why why why had he gotten himself into the mess he should just keep his mouth shu- "So, why even have a Tallest?"
She leaned over her hands, humming as though to genuinely consider the question. Yep, he was dead. She was considering how to torture him, break his legs first, make him go into a death match with Foi Thong where they would literally butt heads! Ha ha, so witty! What a way to DIE over some stupid poster he was an IDIO-
"But don't you know?" she purred, "Being Tallest doesn't really mean anything."
"What do you even mean?" he had to resist raising his voice on that last word.
"Exactly as it sounds. I am little more than a figure head, a celebrity. Life would be boring without me." She shrugged, "No one wants to believe they are nothing more than the wires on their back. This way, the organism still feels as though it has some meaning." She scrunched up her face, laughing, "Isn't it funny?"
"Eh, no," he paused, fumbled, "It's kind of scary actually."
"You're scared of me?" She laughed that one off, it wasn't like she needed an answer. "Vort should invest in the technology. It must be difficult, all that learning. All that wasted thinking. You could just download it all. Wouldn't it be easier, that way?"
"But that would be just… wrong." She was going to kill him anyway, maybe not yet maybe tomorrow, she was just toying with him so he might as well just jump right in get it all out there, die an honest Vortian. Sure. That's noble. "You don't learn to think at all, then." He clenched a fist, "And BESIDES, what if the information is wrong? No one's going to bother looking over it if they just have it downloaded as the truth. All that old stuff…"
"Is mostly Vortian knowledge," Miyuki smirked, as though somehow finding the key to everything right in the world. "Why ever would that be wrong? Don't you trust your people?"
"I.. uh," he wanted to explain that wasn't how SCIENCE was supposed to work, but before his brain could open up some ancient explanation hidden deep in the recesses, she waved a hand, silencing him.
"Lard Nar?"
"Yes, my Tallest?"
"Why did the naked girl make you think of me?"
-
Since being transferred to Station 9, Lard Nar had struggled to keep his anxieties at bay. Tallest Miyuki seemed particularly interested in his line of work, but that had only increased the constant, rising sense of panic and bravado. It made him want to be sick, but never mind, he supposed he was honoured to have the Tallest pay him such attention.
It did, however, segregate him from the rest of the group.
Particularly when she insisted on taking him out for walks during his breaks (her words, not his own – but she may as well have put a lead on him.) Each walk was less awkward than the last, but after the night she had come to his hotel room, this walk seemed far worse than their first.
She didn't walk, of course, she had Vortian technology in her PAK. Lard Nar was half tempted to ask why only the Tallest were permitted to float around, but before the words wheezed out he decided to denote it as just some form of pomp about being all high and mighty.
The silence continued then, Miyuki looking un-perplexed as she scanned the vicinity. Did she really need to come here nearly every day? Didn't she have an empire to be running? Why didn't she just leave him alone, give him space for a while, why did she have to do this? Why wasn't she talking, wasn't that even a bigger waste of time? Well ok, sure, he usually started the conversations – but how could he after last night, this just wasn't right.
Oh, it seemed she'd slowed to a stop.
He glanced down at the clip board she'd given him ("to make him look more like a scientist. You must look as though you are thinking at all times. That is your job, even with me.") Was he supposed to write in this? Most of the time he'd just doodled stupid crap, but maybe she was annoyed with him today, maybe she'd want to look at it and transfer him down as a subject in the military testing labs for doing nothing but drawing spaceships blowing each other up and blobs vomiting on themselves. Huh, oh, she was looking at him. He hugged his clipboard close, and she smirked.
"You have a lovely art style." Glancing back up at the board she'd stopped beneath however, she waved a hand. "This is my art."
Ok, oh, he knew what this was. It was a chart with the top 10 tallest Irkens. The board updated in real time, and if she'd so desired she could look at the height of every known subject in the Empire. He vaguely thought of the guys at the end of the board and wondered briefly if they had petty races to be the smallest freak of them all. Someone had to get the reality TV contract.
"Growing?" he asked, blinking up at her.
"Yes, what else can I do?" She beamed up at her own name. It seemed her growth rate had gone up a few points, or at least, that's what the green arrow symbolised to him. "I grow and I grow, and with me, so does the Empire."
Nearby, there were a couple of Irken's looking up at the same board. "Is there a kind of… knack to it, growing, I mean?" He had managed to survive a whole night of scrutiny and now he was going to subject himself to it again? What was WRONG with him?
Miyuki raised a finger to her lips, shushing him as she glanced over to the other two.
"Why are you listed above me?"
"I dunno, I think it's alphabetical."
"I guess that makes sense."
Lard Nar glanced over to Miyuki, wondering what had so captivated her interest. They were pretty tall, at least. Maybe she was just scouting for her replacements, something like that. He finally recognised the stupid symbols on their heads, they were Elites. Great. More military minded Tallest. At least Miyuki seemed to have some kind of respect for intelligence, considering her background and all. Vort really didn't need to hold hands with more muscleheads.
"Hey, so who's Spork?" The red elite pointed, Lard Nar following his hand. Oh, cripes. Spork was second in line. Since when had that happened? Oh well, at least his arrow was pointing down the way. Miyuki was bound to not be replaced for at least another hundred of years or so, so that was good.
"Don't you remember? He was at the Academy, the idiot who ate that other guy's legs?" The purple one looked over, a wry smirk on his face. He looked like he was going to laugh, but, ah, of course. Irken military types always found gore so disgustingly hilarious.The red one burst out laughing, "Oh, yeah. That guy, Splink or something, he had to wait for a week for his legs to regrow." Lifting his hands to his head, he grinned, "Man, I want to like, shake his hand or something."
The purple elite shook his head, "That's disgusting. He'd probably eat it."
"Yeah, well," the red one struggled, glancing back up at the board. "At least my score is higher than both of yours in LazR 'SPLODIN'."
"Pfft, that's a stupid game anyway. I wanna know why our highscores in it are even on this board," the purple one rolled his hand towards it. "It's kinda unimportant by comparison?"
"Eh, sponsorship, probably," the red one waved his hand dismissively. "Last week they had something up about how many times we'd downloaded stuff from Evolution Vortica. Who even wants to see that?"
"Wowwowowo, wait," the purple one was laughing now. "I thought you had…? I mean, unless you were just going for the high score again."
Lard Nar glanced up at Miyuki, who still seemed wrapped in the other two's conversation. He didn't understand why, but he guessed he didn't care. After all, it cleared that awkward, judgemental air a bit.
"Yeah, because it's hilarious. Have you even seen it before? All the grinding and squirming and," he was losing his breath, "The moaning. It sounds like they're being, I dunno, shocked with a Taser or something, but more slowed down."
The other just frowned. "You're weird."
"If I'm weird, then so is The Tallest, I mean, she had the 'highscore'," the red elite looked somewhat triumphant, putting his hands on his hips. "Why do you think that is?"
Lard Nar felt a tension tightening in his throat. He glanced back and forth between the elites and the Tallest. Was it really true? Did she… could she get off on that kind of thing…? No, no, what was he talking about. Why did he even CARE. Just because she came asking him all those weird questions and just because she was beautiful and powerful and DEADLY didn't mean anything, he should just quietly scuttle away right now or go back to finishing that doodle of the Massive destroying everything. HA, yes, that would make him feel better!
"I don't care," the purple one shrugged. "Maybe she's as sick as you."
"My, such rambunctious little elites," Miyuki finally spoke, sweeping towards them. Their expressions disintegrated into a kind of abject horror swelled with absolute reverence. Panicked apologies came rushing from their mouths like fountains, and Lard Nar couldn't help but grinning.
"That's right, you're both idiots," he commented… but they didn't seem to hear him anyway (though he was certain the purple one shot him a look of utter distaste before going back to his grovelling.) Miyuki raised a hand, hushing them (well, sort of. There was still a kind of high pitched, disembodied whine rumbling out from one of them.)
"Research is not the goal of idiots, my little Vortian scientist," she smirked, he immediately shrunk. "And that, of course, was the shared task between you and I, was it not?" She was looking at the red elite, who just nodded along with her.
"Yeah, I mean, it was just a research task, my Tallest. Understanding our greatest ally is… good, especially when it comes with a sponsorship deal."
"You are a fine economist," she said. "And you," her gaze became fixated on the purple elite. He fiddled with the edge of his robe. "Are an even finer economist, one already bestowed with all the wisdom he needs. Why learn what one already knows?"
"But I didn't really know any-" the moment of panic passed, the elite catching his friend's disapproving gaze, "Anything compared to what you know, my Tallest."
"Excellent," she said, batting her eyes. With a final smirk, she turned and swept away from them. Lard Nar took one last glance at the elites, noticing the red one pat the other on the shoulder, before running after her.
"It is a heavy burden, monitoring that board every day," Miyuki said. "Those beneath me must be patient, and I must be anxious."
"Well, can't you just ignore it? You're Tallest now, anyhow. Isn't it… I don't know, pointless? And scary?"
She ignored him. "Those two will soon be dead."
Lard Nar stopped, fumbling with the clipboard. "Wh..what? Why?"
"They are a threat, and will soon be terminated. That is why the burden is heavy. It is a pity, to see such well-functioning and tall subjects go to waste, but this is what must be done." She briefly glanced at Lard Nar, a thin smirk forming on her face.
"For… downloading… illicit material?"
"For growing, an artist cannot have too much competition. An economist would agree."
"Uh, but, that is INSANE." He twitched, "Don't you have TRIALS for these kinds of things? The collective brain pool thingyschmozit will be INFURIATED, right?"
"They will be unaware until I have died, and passed my data into the collective." She clasped her hands in front of her. "Every secret lasts until the grave, did you not know that?"
"No, but I mean, how are you going… They're THIRD on that list, can you really just do… that?"
"You are not listening to me. Their deaths will be subtle. Do not worry. I am sure they will make the news." She frowned, "That is what they will surely desire. A small recompense." Leaning down over him, she slipped the clipboard out from between his hands. Glancing down at it, she smiled. "Now you know my little secret." The smile widening, she added, "So now you can stop being so anxious."
"Anxious, I'm not anxious..." He flailed, "…WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
"You never tell me the truth, Lard Nar. Not all the truth. Now you can tell me, because I have given you my secret." She tilted her head, "It is trading."
A/N: This is a really ugly note to end this chapter on, but I really just want to get something published after such along stretch of inactivity. :P If I'm honest, this fic will be fairly directionless and was born mostly out of sheer impulsiveness. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I hope it does go in some interesting directions. All reviews are most appreciated. Thank you. C: