Ribbons's invitation arrived in the shape of a glossy, lush handwritten card inside a sealed envelope. Tieria spent some time admiring the calligraphy. Just like Ribbons's ever evolving artistic style, or to be more precise, his cycling through so many styles, Ribbons had no fixed handwriting. Ribbons was as likely to go for variations on cursive writing as to spring into Gothic flourishes. By the time Ribbons and his kin had been activated (Tieria was unsure how else to put it) writing by hand was already very much a thing of the past. Indulging in it was another expression of Ribbons's love for fanciful faux historical glamour. It was right there with ruffled collars.
Just like all of Ribbons's invitations, it was a summons not to be disobeyed. The flowery language did nothing to change this, if anything, it heightened the mandatory nature by contrast. It amused Tieria how Ribbons could "beg the honor of your attendance".
Then again, Hiling would have loved to receive one of these. It gave Tieria pause. Three words from Regene had done much to change his perspective regarding Innovator pairs. It made him feel almost sympathetic toward Hiling. After all, if Tieria got this upset when Regene was a no show for a very short while, Hiling must have been hurting her whole life. Not that he was about to feel too sorry for her but wanting Ribbons's affection must be truly a terrible thing. Were it otherwise Hiling would never have gone to him for help. That was surely difficult and Tieria could only imagine how much desperate soul searching had not gone into it.
It would never cease to amaze Tieria how emotionally stunted the whole Innovator lot was. Part of it was surely this very artificial social ecosystem in which they were locked. Of Ribbons's making, it kept them all so far removed from any intelligent life other than their fellow Innovators that it made sense it all devolved into middle school-like antics. Or what Tieria assumed were middle school-like antics. Tieria had at least managed to interact regularly with some humans as of late but Hiling had no such luck. Not to mention Tieria had lived with humans an interacted extensively with them on a daily basis. This was a time Tieria still felt too raw to invoke, his conscious memory was deliberately set on avoiding it, but it had shaped him and been integral to his sense of self.
It occurred to Tieria that the compound and everything in it was a weird fantasy created not just by Ribbons's insanely hyped ego as by his insanely hyped fear of humans. A human-less utopia had very likely been the one thing urging Ribbons on when things were bleak for him. That there was a truly dark period of Ribbons's early life was not exactly something Ribbons broadcast and despite all this talk of Tieria being part of the Innovator community, there was still plenty about their past- a past that Tieria suspected he had actually been, at one point, a part of but that for some reason had been purged from his memory- that he knew absolutely nothing about. And he was not even sure the others knew whatever had happened to Ribbons. What he did know was that Ribbons did not seem to have purged it from his memory. And Tieria understood all too well how there were vast portions of experience that were unbearable.
Tieria hesitated. He had gone to great lengths to land this meeting with Ribbons. It was meant to be a highly private affair and bringing Hiling around would be seen as crass as bad taste, like bringing a third party to a date. The comparison, once landed on, became more and more valid as Tieria considered it. Ribbons was surely looking forward to it and involving Hiling had the potential for squandering all the good will Tieria had managed to win with him. Ribbons, like all megalomaniacs, could get resentful at the drop of a hat if things deviated from his plans. Not to mention Ribbons's pettiness would not just be targeted at Tieria but was every bit as likely to drop on Hiling.
This settled it. Having made up his mind, Tieria now changed into the outfit he had prepared just for the occasion. It was an altered stillsuit, dark layered with whorls that were ornamental more than anything else. Tieria went for a closer fit than was probably intended but kept the armor-like design. He turned around in the mirror to study the effect. The pants gave him a more masculine look than usual and reminded him vaguely of a flight suit. Tieria decided to forgo makeup altogether and dismissed glasses as well.
He was about to board the shuttle that Ribbons had arranged when Hiling strutted by.
"Hey, you going somewhere?"
Tieria nearly ignored her altogether or lied but odds are this would only make things worse in the long run.
"Ribbons invited me to a reading."
"Sweet!"
And just like that Hiling had invited herself and was already sitting next to Tieria. Short of telling her to get lost, Tieria was stuck with Hiling. Then again it might not even work. Hiling made herself comfortable and stared intently at Tieria before going,
"Nice threads."
Tieria had to laugh.
"Did you update your idiom program?"
Hiling shrugged.
"Ribbons cares about that kind of stuff. Linguistic pragmatics and all that."
"Right. Well, we're going to a reading of Dune so just keep the basic premise in mind and I'm sure you'll do fine."
"I reconstructed Azhar."
"That's pretty impressive. How did you ever manage that?"
"It took a lot of digging into secondary sources and fan speculation. I can't attest to how canonical my reconstruction even is. It's meant to be a secret code language after all."
"Speaking of constructed languages that are abstruse and of dubious origin, can I interest you in Innovate, that most glorious accomplishment?"
Hiling broke into one sudden laugh.
"You are channeling Regene or what?"
Tieria chuckled.
"Regene is the dubious origin here. It is truly something else. There are dedicated verbs for each Innovator and what combination of Innovators is involved so you can imagine how confusing it gets. Inflection is convoluted and depends not on, among other categories, the way in which a particular Innovator presents or interacts with the others. There is "Royal Self", "Sibling Self", "Twin Self", "Merciful Self" and on and on."
"How's the syntax?"
Tieria sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose where he normally still perched his glasses.
"It's profoundly irrational. The language is very recent but it's supposed to be archaic so the syntax changes depending on the fictional period in question. If it were actually spoken, odds are convention alone would end up fixing the syntax or at least giving it a sense of regularity but as it is not, it remains a messy, messy affair."
Hiling chuckled.
"You'd think syntax would be one thing an Innovator would be very precise about! Trust Regene to buck the trend."
Tieria found himself smiling despite himself. Hiling's was going all out with recently updated lingo package but stranger was the way she spoke about Regene, like an incorrigible old friend. It was very jarring. For all the effort Tieria had put into deciphering the interaction between his fellow Innovators, it had never crossed his mind that Hiling and Regene could be in way close. Even a one-sided attachment on Hiling's part did not match Tieria's notions. He wanted to ask about it but Hiling undercut him.
"Where are we going exactly?"
"I'm not entirely sure, actually. Not familiar with this part of the compound."
They had left the usual golden corridors opening up onto gardens, massive plazas, towering terraces and were now crossing a series of bridges that spanned sheer cliffs. The roof rose up to reveal a transparent dome through which space glittered down at them, coldly. They grew intensely silent in something akin to solemnity.
The shuttle came to a halt and right away a pair of large doors swung open to let Ribbons out.
"There you are, Tieria."
Tieria climbed out of the shuffle as he would have done from a cockpit. For once, he was not trying to please Ribbons. It was simply natural. He could see Ribbons enjoyed the sight right away. For all the sophistication Ribbons tried to incarnate his reactions could be of a depressing simplicity. "My, new look. Or should I say a return to form?"
Tieria blinked. The outfit did have something in common with his flight suit, an association Tieria did not precisely like. For all the acquired grace of gossamer, floating gowns, fetish wear and the many permutations between all these and other supposedly sexy clothing, Tieria felt most at ease when wearing something like this. It might be better not to let it show otherwise Ribbons could very well decide to turn it against him.
"Glad to please."
Tieria nodded almost curtly. Playing a part was tricky and all the more so when the part was quite close to Tieria's true self. As to what "true self" might mean in its deepest and widest sense, Tieria would rather not consider for the time being.
"More like glad to please yourself. Very fitting. But do come, I have something to show you."
Ribbons seemed very eager to display whatever it was and Tieria realized that he had not even noticed Hiling. Tieria did not immediately follow Ribbons past the doors but gestured in Hiling's direction instead.
"I invited Hiling over."
Ribbons turned around and finally spotted Hiling. To be fair, she had been half-hidden and seemed almost reluctant to leave the shuttle. Tieria intercepted her glance and smiled reassurance. All her flair had shriveled. Ribbons's presence, or perhaps even more his indifference, had a kind of inhibiting effect.
"Oh. So you did. Come along, then."
Hiling's entire body sagged in a sigh of relief. Ribbons failed to see it, having already turned on his heels. What was beyond the doors turned out to be a revelation. Tieria did not know what to expect but it blew his mind entirely. Instead of a room, they were presented with a wide desert vista. The vast horizon formed an arid line in an untold distance- just how big was the Compound?- and between it and them, a growth of massive dunes sprouted all over, towered over by rocky outcrops that framed a bright, hard, blue sky on which two moons floated.
For a while no-one spoke. For once Ribbons did not ruin the moment with his babbling and allowed the silence to do all the talking. Tieria was the first one to speak.
"You made this?"
Ribbons beamed with such brimming joy that he looked like a happy child. A very pretty, happy child.
"I did, yes. It took some work but I got it as close as possible given the constraints."
Tieria was still dazed at the landscape.
"It looks very much like the books, it's extraordinary."
Ribbons's glee reached a borderline paroxysm, to Tieria's shock he even blushed. Tieria waited for Ribbons's reaction. He knew it would be exuberant.
"It's too temperate. It should be much hotter."
Hiling ruined the moment. Ribbons frowned, very slightly but in contrast with his former naked joy it seemed like nothing short of anger.
"I thought we might as well be comfortable."
Ribbons took a seat on a rock seat that had clearly be arranged for the reading. This was Hiling's hint to shut up. It was not taken.
"Well, it's not correct. If it's Arrakis then it should be warmer, even at the pole. And even then, it'll depend on the time period in question."
"You don't say."
This was not going well. Hiling normally caught nuance and seemed very attuned to Ribbons in particular but for some reason she seemed clueless now. Tieria knew that she did not mean to criticize Ribbons in any way but without a doubt this was how Ribbons saw it.
"That's right, the planet goes through some very drastic changes after all. Any sandworms around?"
Hiling actually looked around as if she expected to see sandworms bursting through the ground. Now Ribbons was not just mildly annoyed, true fury bubbled just below the surface. It was present in the tone of the voice that glided along his all too thin smile as he new spoke.
"No, I am afraid I failed to create a whole species of massive creatures in the space of a couple of weeks. So sorry to have disappointed you."
Hiling nodded. All things being equal, she could detect sarcasm very well but Tieria had seen her entirely miss the point with Regene who went out of his way to refine sarcastic remarks into a kind of art form. Hiling was doing precisely what Tieria had advised her not to do, getting bogged down in the minutia. It could be worse, she was not quoting appendixes but Tieria feared this was a matter of time. Figures on the temperature ranges across the many geological ages of Arrakis were sure to follow, probably arranged in graphs. Ribbons would not appreciate her accuracy one bit.
Tieria knew he had to do something.
"What do you suppose melange would do to us?"
The question was firmly addressed at Ribbons. Tieria shot Hiling a glance that actually made contact while Ribbons looked elsewhere, thinking.
"I don't think it'd do anything. The way drugs don't have an impact."
"It depends. Regene has drugs that work."
Tieria nearly shivered as he remembered the aphrodisiac.
"Those use nanomachinery. I don't know the details, you'd have to ask him."
Tieria wondered if mentioning Regene had been a mistake. Best to steer away.
"But let us suppose it worked. What do you think would happen?"
"That's a good question. I suppose it'd boost our Veda connection."
"You'd reach Level Zero."
Tieria turned in the direction of Hiling's voice.
"Level Zero? What's that?"
Hiling was obviously sobered, having realized she had ruffled Ribbons's feathers.
"It's when you fuse with Veda completely. Your processing speed is unhindered by anything else."
"'Anything else' being?"
It was Ribbons who answered.
"Your sense of individuality. Level Zero is hypothetical, it's unsure whether it is even possible."
"How do you know about this?"
A pause.
"Regene."
Of course.
"Once you reach Level Zero, you're not supposed to come back. The connection becomes permanent."
Now all three shivered. This sounded horrifying. At the same time, Tieria knew there had been times in his life when he would have jumped to the opportunity of merging with Veda completely. Comparisons of Veda to drug addiction had not presented themselves to Tieria immediately but he knew his human friends drew them all the time. He also knew they were very right.
"If someone was ever to reach it, it'd be the Strawberry pair."
"Why?"
Tieria thought it self-evident but apparently not.
"Because they already seem to share an identity across two people, so on an individual level they should have half a sense of identity. Easier to lose, I'm sure."
Ribbons chuckled. Finally, the mood had swung away from anger and unease. The reading went without a hitch. The three took turns reading and both Tieria and Hiling made it so that Ribbons got the most ponderous lines. Tieria found himself observing how Hilling's and Ribbons's voices harmonized together and how odds are they were utterly unaware of it. Of course, the voices did not get equal airtime. It was mostly Ribbons. Hiling kept from comments. So did Tieria. Ribbons, of course, had plenty to say about the text but it was mostly so that he could hear even more of his voice. Tieria paid attention to it because he had to, Hiling drank every single word yet Ribbons did not as much as look at her through it all.
Still, it was not the disaster that it had nearly become. Tieria was almost sure Ribbons was planning on having sex on the sand for the sake of the romance of it all, which was one of those very Ribbons things that could only result in Tieria's discomfort and odds are, even Ribbons's. Fortunately Ribbons let him go with just a wave.
As it so often happened, leaving Ribbons after a sexless encounter was a mixture of relief and disappointment. The disappointment turned into annoyance as Tieria hated himself for it. All this as churning on his mind as the shuttle made its smooth way back. Hiling's barely concealed sigh cut through it and Tieria focused on her as a very welcome distraction.
"I blew it, didn't I."
There was something almost pitiful about Hiling's slumped posture and lowered eyes.
"Oh, I don't know. It wasn't that bad. You'll do better next time."
There was most definitely going to be a next time, Ribbons had announced that he had plans for creating a whole Arrakis by terraforming a planet. It was a matter of finding a suitable candidate. Not to mention there was still most of the book to go through, followed by the other volumes, perhaps even not quite canonical material.
Hiling faced Tieria, a musing expression on her face.
"You make it seem so easy…"
"I make what seem easy?"
"Getting Ribbons to like you."
Tieria shrugged.
"I wouldn't despair if I were you. Good old Ribbons spent years trying to kill me so I'm sure you have a chance."
Oddly enough, if anything, Ribbons's bizarre attachment- Tieria did not quite know how to describe it- seemed to stem from the early violence. Hiling blinked.
"What are you talking about? No-one ever tried to kill you."
Tieria blinked in utter dismay.
"Are you serious?"
"Check your logs. Everyone who ever shot at you was a human being."
Tieria opened his mouth to protest but Hiling was actually right.
Mileina's lower body warped upward awkwardly in the low gravity, legs bent at the knee. Eyes screwed shut, her pigtails floated around the terrified expression in her face. Tieria could feel fear in the sweaty clutch of her hands on his. He spoke very soothingly.
"It's alright, you're safe. Just breathe and open your eyes when you're comfortable."
For a while her entire body merely trembled in silent misery. Her body was parallel to the floor but a contortion ran through it like a vise. At length she opened her eyes. Tieria gave her one of his most reassuring smiles.
"Better?"
She tried a nod but it not go well. The precarious balance she conquered threatened to crumble and she shrieked. Tieria decided it was enough for today.
"I'll lower you now. I've got you, don't worry."
Immediately the flailing stopped. She trusted him implicitly. Tieria brought her legs down, locking her boots on the metallic braces embedded on the floor for anchoring purposes. Mileina still swayed slightly in this upright position but it obviously did not bother her.
"Sorry I got scared, Lord Tieria…"
Once the terror receded, bashfulness set it. Tieria checked her heartrate and was pleased to see it fall back to a normal baseline.
"It was my fault. I should have taken into consideration you're not used to low gravity."
As odd as it was, Mileina was indeed utterly unprepared. Born and raised in a colony and yet unable to cope with low gravity. Tieria did not anticipate it would be this difficult to acclimate her but he was committed to giving it another go, more gradually in the future. It would surely be useful to her and might even play a role in her professional life. But all this was predicated on Tieria achieving a lot of change in human society. He was still very unsure whether this would at all happen.
"Innovators can float so prettily."
As usual Mileina was awash in admiration and awe. Tieria decided to take advantage of it. He unlocked his own boots and slowly swirled to the soft padded ceiling.
"It's not that difficult. Think of it was swimming."
Mileina fidgeted, as much as she could given the circumstances.
"I don't know how to swim..."
Tieria twirled, body arched, toes brushing the top of his head.
"You can't swim? We'll have to fix that, then."
"Really…?"
"Of course."
Tieria made a mental note. He thought of his crew even though he did not want to. They had all adjusted to low gravity despite having been born and raised on Earth. At the time Tieria found them hideously clumsy but he had since realized how well they took to it. While none quite ever reached Tieria's smoothness of movement, Setsuna being the one who came closest, they handled being in space considerably better than Tieria did being on Earth. He still remember his first stint there. There had been preparation and very likely some conditioning that was unavailable in his memory bank but all that, Tieria had found the experience nothing short of grueling. A crushing burden had descended upon him, locking him into a private hell in which even breathing was an effort. The air, foreign to him in its saturation, weighted him down from the moment he struggled to inhale it to the moment it finally left his pained lungs in short bursts like chunks of lead. Needless to say, Tieria had kept his silence, being open about his feeling never having been a strong point of his. As a result the silence was sullen to start with only to become more and more pointed as each moment dragged out his suffering.
Somehow Neil had figured out something was amiss and tried to soothe him. For a split second Tieria could taste the ice-cream he had been offered, the sweat dripping out him had convinced Neil that Tieria needed to cool down, strawberry. A slight grimace crossed his features. He floated down until he was right in front of Meleina.
"Human beings are extraordinary creatures. I hope you know that."
She didn't. Tieria could tell. She was too dazed by the graceful way in which he was suspended, very much like the angel she had had been so indoctrinated to worship but she did try her hand at a smile. It was better than nothing.
