Episode 32- I spy with my little eye.

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"Trixie, out." She breathed a sigh, and leaned back. Work was always tiring, especially when working with other people. "Now, what's next on Trixie's agenda?" She took out her device, and scrolled the checklist. "Taking a peek at Mar Sara? Still too many zerg. Regular check of homeplanet? Already did that. Look for critical resources? That one I did months ago. A few smaller things, all done. Help the new outpost? It's still a work in progress, I guess. All things are done, it's Trixie Time!"

She stood up stretching, and moved around her tent. Bringing some Great fizzy drink and a Powerful snack, she sat back again before her observer of many things. "Let's start with the most boring part."

The ocular before her filled with mist, which vanished a few seconds later showing a certain planet. It was filled with the pale red sand and a big cluster of glowing lights, signs of terran city. Some battlecruisers were patrolling around, and the transporters with people and materials were cruising in two directions with very high frequency. Some space platforms were slowly created by the massive teams of ERK's. In short, it was nothing else than "Korhal, the current seat of power of Dominium. Trixie thinks that this observer was specially outfitted with scan resistant something, because otherwise it would be destroyed long ago. Anyway, nothing new, next."

This time, it showed… A certain odd zerg base, with a familiar boat sailing away, and a Giant Command center slowly setting down. "Trixe already knows what those two are and will be doing, next."

This time, an image of a beautiful planet, similar to Po'midor but many, many times bigger, appeared. Many different streams of purple flowed to the planet, and some blobs were fighting together with shiny ships. "Aiur, it sucks to be Protoss right now. Thankfully this observer is far enough to be ignored by the zerg. The ones in the middle of the fight are destroyed and replaced so quickly, it's so bothersome to delve through all this Protoss network and stumble across the right observer. Nothing new, nex- wait. Are some ships flying away from the Aiur? Are they part of my prophecy? Trixie will check it later. Next."

"Destination almost reached… Okay, but what else does this giant have to offer?" He didn't go far, because almost next to the movement panel was… "Nuke? So this base even has a built-in nuke launcher? And small construction for thereof? Wait, critical damage to the both, and no prepared nuke inside. Ehh, it just couldn't be so easy. I have no tools or even the faintest idea how to repair it but… zerg have no way to stop the nukes don't they? Build something against it? I'll shelve this for later, when I have the foggiest idea how to get around to it."

The base positioned itself, and slowly started lowering. Considering its mass, it took ten times longer than any other terran building but it was necessary to keep it safe.

Dobromir turned to his mindless buddy and said "Come on, let's meet your new friends". His reply was some garbled noise, and the shambling (almost) corpse followed him.

This time, Dobromir saw the rough layout of the base on one of the many panels and this time, decided to walk through the front door. He needed to open it anyway for easy access for himself and his forces. After not a long time, the first hurdle appeared. A fleshy wall blocked the passage forward.

"Do I want to bother…? What a stupid question, of course not. Let's go on with it." He quickly took his brand new weapon and quickly slashed his way through. On the way they met many more obstructions like this ,but thankfully most weren't on their way. After the second time, his infected buddy started attacking what he was attacking with his big zerg arm ending in even bigger claws.

So they went, before finally arriving. The hall, if it could be named that, was big enough to fit maybe twenty siege tanks, or twice as many goliats. The door was pretty big too, but it was held in… grip? By several tentacles, at last from the inside.

Dobromir walked over, and quickly stopped his buddy from attacking this door too. "Don't, we need this one intact." The infected didn't understand his words, of course, but the simple feeling of 'stop', was enough.

"Now let's see…" Thunk* Thunk* Thunk* The dull thuds caused by his balled fist hitting the door certainly didn't sound as they should have. "Something is covering the outside completely. Ehh, what a pain in the neck, so hard to get rid of." He walked closer, and started concentrating. The tentacles on the inside slowly receded, but the mass outside remained stubborn.

"Come, on! You, stupid, piece of meat!" It didn't budge, it seems that his streak of 'Like a boss' just ended. He tried some more, then tried prying it open with his arms, still nothing. "Damn it!" He hit the door once again. He thought he was getting better with the whole controlling zerg stuff, but he was overwhelmed by the scale. He hit it again, and heard a weird sound from outside.

Something was shifting ever so slowly, before going faster and stopping after a moment. The big doors finally started sliding open, showing on the other side…

"Zerg aren't consistent. Even if you can treat zerglings like a pack of wolves, their buildings are a completely different matter."

Seeing the and hearing this lonely figure, Dobromir instantly recognized it "Oh no! A wild moralist appeared!" Right response activated, together with hand to the cheeks and wide eyes.

"Ha, ha, berry runny, Brother." Despite the mask, the voice was still perfectly unclear, as it should be.

"I gotta say, your costume is top notch. Only the hat…"

"Yeah, all those things are important but" it's youngish voice made a dramatic pause. "Take me to your boat, will you? It's weird to just talk here, out in the open."

"You got it." was his answer, together with two finger guns.

"Hmmm, now this is weird. It's not just darkness, Trixie knows it!" She leaned closer and stared more into the big ocular. "Is this… void? There are some brief star flickers after all. "I think it is not worth banging my head against This wall. Trixie is just a legendary seer, not some op wizard who could do everything with little effort. Anyway, next!"

This time, when mist dissipated, there wasn't a bigger or smaller view of some world or location but… a shiny gold & blue room, with a protoss standing there. His, (trixie guessed it's a he, she saw earlier some protoss looking much smoother and somewhat softer than the typical ones) eyes were widening.

"Aren't Trixie just Magnificent?" Considering her pose, only her head was currently seen. Together with a Great, pretty and pointy witch hat perched atop her head and defying gravity. "And Shocking too it seems! Your eyes are telling me this. Is it simpler to read protoss emotions because there is less to decipher…? Trixie wonders…" And she switched off, leaving a stunned protoss who after a moment rushed away from the observers control room.

Mina was told that she could come, if she wanted. Considering she already witnessed so much of the semi secret events, she decided to answer the call. Now, Mina was sitting on a bench, waiting for her young employer? No. Friend? Too early to tell. Comrade? As she was sitting there and pondering, a sudden voice from behind startled her.

"Surprise!" Mina jumped up and quickly whirled about to see the speaker. "Surprise for me, I mean. I thought you would pass on this golden opportunity but here you are."

Mina would have some snarky reply, if not for the fact that Mila looked stunning. Not in the beautiful meaning but more literal, because her clothes were completely out of the wide scope of 'ordinary'. "What are you wearing?! Why?"

"It's a kontusz." She stated this proudly, with hands on hips and head held high.

"A what?"

"You can call it a… robe? Close enough, I think."

"But shouldn't the robes be more… covering? Why do you have so much of the chest area out in the open?"

Bogumila looked down at the material which was split open from her neckline to just above her belly button. Her female dignity was kept only by the bandages taking the role of covering. The robe was pleasant to the eye, a slightly shining blue color, accompanied by some random patterns which naturally faded to the background. The robe reached almost to the ankles, but was open enough in the middle to show her brown pants. The boots were as important as the pants, i.e. just blend in with the rest of the outfit.

"Because, it was made for men."

"So why are you wearing it…?

"I won't run around in a full dress you know?"

"O- kayyyy"

"The weapon is still in the making, for now. Anyway, come on, I will show you something truly wondrous."

"So… where to start?" They were on the Dobromir's boat, the zerglings around doing the usual, as in completely ignoring.

"Sit here buddy." The infested awkwardly did just that, even if he looked more crouched than seated. "The beginning always should feature the most important part."

"Most important… is my hat. It's the consistency of wood now, more or less, but that is as far as I could go. Here," He whipped out a knife and threw it in his brother's direction. Who clapped it between his hands, he wasn't that dexterous.

Dobromir brought it closer, it certainly was too thick to be a kitchen knife and… that's where his knowledge ended. He looked at his… sibling. With his mask down, for the moment, it would be so easy to declare his brother HIM! Just a moment later change it to HER! To finally settle on KID! With this youthful face, short height and voice clear of any mutations, he was the very definition of pretty/cute. "What's this knife for?"

"You will carve a hat out of this something on my head. I can't quite do it by myself."

"Ermm, you know none of us ever carved in the wood right?"

"If you botch something, I will just regrow it, come on!"

He looked at this knife, over to his sibling, on the knife again and shrugged. Dobromir walked over and kneeled down to have the perfect angle to start the work. After a few careful tries, he slowly started to carve.

"Anyway, about the zerg buildings." Wit decided to talk further, there was no point to wasting time after all. "Becoming a mushroom, and then gaining the blessing of the forest gave me some insight. The zergy creep and the rest of biomass is something like mushrooms, just much more crude. It's more like a mass, without a mind and only one purpose, spread. So if you want it to move it away, it's more like ordering it to go somewhere else. It will be a total pain in the ass for you."

"Great", that's all Dobromir said, careful carving wasn't easy, especially this close to the eyes.

"Ah, and I am supposed to find Raynor, that's my path."

"But if you are here, it means Raynor is here too… We have no way of knowing, so it's a certain Great and Powerful seer who told you. But how did you intend to find him?"

"My dearest brother, YOU are the answer." The dramatism of the situation was that much bigger because of the knife almost between the eyes. Dobromir stopped, and looked at his siblings' eyes. Now that was new, he didn't remember if his eyes were different before, but now they had many lines of color, something like a rainbow but outfitted with many more colors. He slowly returned to the carving.

"Hmm… Hmmmm… Kerrigan mentioned something about tormenting Raynor in dreams, but her telepathic powers certainly aren't sophisticated. So maybe some link formed…? But I am practically an anti-psi, so how could I use it?"

"I guess it would require a team effort. Remember this, when it comes to connections, I am number one!"

"What about Doctor Flow?"

"Okay, so I am an expert in telepathic connections, to be precise."

"Standby, just observing, doing nothing, watching the emptiness of the cosmos, BOOOORING! Nothing new so Trixie finished. Now where oh were are those cookies hiding?" She began rummaging through the back of her tent, which was just a big ol' pile of a lot of things, more or less useful.

The sound of the tent's flaps opening was heard, and a young voice loudly exclaimed "Knock, Knock Trixie!"

After some grumbling, she re-emerged with empty hands and an annoyed/tired face. "Come on, Trixe already finished her work, couldn't you come the next day?"

"No, no I couldn't. Something is calling me and I need to know what and from where. The sooner I am done with this, the sooner this infernal racket in my head will go silent." A call of agreement was heard from outside, Marshmallow unfortunately received some backlash from her bond and it didn't make the hippogriff happy at all.

"Okay, okay, Trixie doesn't have a choice anyway. Come Pixie, let the Tired and Totally Done With this Day Trixie show you the way.

"It's right here, one of our labs."

"But why is it inside the forest? And why so far? And even if walking among nature was soothing, it also took a lot of time."

She turned to her speaker, hand outstretched it the air to amplify the Greatness "My dear friend Mina, this is a branch of the bio-maniacs, especially responsible for animals. It's here that DNA from Earth was used to recreate the animals and later adapt them to new environments. Also lately the ones responsible for uplifting all the different races."

"Wait, what do you mean, uplifting?"

"Uplifting them to near human intelligence, of course. And overall making them better. You have already seen the giant boars, they start at the level of a smart animal, and have the potential to declare 'I think, so I exist."

"That… just… Wow, simply wow. But wait, why only near human level?"

"Too-" "Too not overwhelm them with the sudden influx of completely new. to them, information." A new voice butted in. They both turned around to see the newcomer. He looked like a generic cool scientist, with short swept back hair, classical glasses and the white doctor coat. Mila already knows him, through her earlier existence as just Dobromir.

Mina, on the other hand, had seen him briefly during the memorable ritual, and knew him as "Dr… Flow, was it?"

"That's me. I guess you came in to greet your new travel companion. And Bogumila?"

"Yes?"

He put his hands in pockets, "Did you thinked up some nickname for yourself? Trust me, it is the greatest thing you can do with your current name."

"What's wrong with my…! Who I am kidding, I have no idea, even if I wish I already had one."

"Well, the sooner the better. I speak from experience. Anyway, come with me, your order is waiting."

"It's really, really weird. Normally, even if I smell psionic, it's still more or less in the standard range. But now? I feel a weird two way trail with two smells trying to overpower each other. Kerrigan's usual is tainted with zerg's corruption, but Raynor is slowly overpowering hers with his own. Which is completely new because he had no psi aptitude to speak of. Really weeeeird."

"Could be worse, oh brother of mine. You could feel ALL the smells on this planet."
Dobromir was overtaken with a shudder, what a terrible fate it would be. The overpowering stench of corruption would make him vomit and fall unconscious at the same time. What a terrible thought.

"Hey, mister Bit! Do you see something?!"

The infected just looked at him with a vacant stare, and then returned to observing the land passing them by. Considering the circumstances and the distances, Dobromir took some of the vespane gas the drones gathered and packed it all to his star's boat fuel tank. Now, it works with 150% efficiency! He adjusted the curse, his nose wasn't as accurate as gps, but more like a compass. With one arrow pointing Kerrigan and the other Raynor.

"You seriously named him… wait, I know you, of course you would do something like that. I guess it's at last less cringy than our names.

"Hey! I take pride in this cringe, I try to find my inner boomer only at the worst of times. Anyway, how is the hat?"

Wit didn't stop using a small mirror to see himself since they lifted into the air. Finally, he put it away with a sigh, and said "It's botched in a few places, but I will regrow it with time."

"That's what you got from counting on complete amatour."

They entered the building, went past the reception hall and… started passing the… rooms? They clearly were rooms but, adjusted to many different needs of its plethora of residents. In short, instead of doors there were flaps, some spread and some drawn closed. The beds were usually just very big flat baskets with generous padding and additionally there was a… toilet? It was very flat with constantly running water, perfectly adjusted for the occupants.

Right, all the animals? walking around offered a very weird feeling. There was a big wolf walking before them with a swaying tail, a very big house cat darting to and fro. Some bears walking in different directions and…

"Where are the boars?" Asked mina. She knew all those species through some information packages about the Earth, but it still was a little surreal watching them in real life.

"Oh, they were the first species to be genetically augmented. They were also our first try, so we were focused only on them. The boars reached full stability and functionality, so they now live in society. The rest of the races are slowly being uplifted as well, but it's not an easy process. All of them that you see before you are under surveillance to make sure nothing wrong happens with them."

"Okay, but I only saw the wolves, bears and cats in here. What about the white hippogriff? I didn't see any other than Marshmallow."

"Because that's an entirely different matter. Marshmallow is entirely functional but as individual. She is sterile, as are all other special cases. It's easy to alter one animal, it's so much more complicated to make a whole race."

"But, where is the actual lab? From the outside, it's just a two story building and I doubt there would be enough space for the equipment I imagine is needed."

"It's simple, really. The rest of the facility is-", "Mr. Flow, she doesn't need to know."

"Ah, yes yes, it's not often we see a complete newbie in here. Anyway, she's right here."

"You mean the cat?" Mina looked at the individual, and the black and very furry cat looked back at her. Among the enhanced house cats, this was certainly the biggest. If it stood on two rear paws, it would be only a little shorter than the average human.

"No, that's just your typical attention seeker. Here, you can pet him."

Mina slowly put her hand on the majestic beast's back, and slowly started the worship. The other two just stepped over the big mass of fur, and vanished behind the flaps of the room.

Mina was amazed by the softness of this furr, and she lost herself in the feeling. After some time, she moved her hand over the furry head, and started petting it too. The cat accepted it with the majesty of the king, still laying down, paws extended and head held up, pointing forward. Some time has passed, and the muted voices from inside ended, just the flaps opened again. Over the black beast stepped the expected duo, and a…

"Fox?" Indeed a certain orange furred creature from the dog family hopped over the cat, its fluffy tail swishing back and forth. It was following the trend of being bigger than the original, as in a little bigger than an adult human.

"Meet Vixen, our new traveling companion." The fox let out a high pitched bark in greeting.

"Wait, is it her name or…?"

"It's the first part, at last. I still think about the second. Anyway," Mila turned back to Dr. Flow, "are you sure one tail is the max?"

Righting his glasses, he replied "Yes, I am ninety nine percent sure. If you want something like this, talk to one of the Crones."

The fox was already poking the cat with its nose. The majestic beast, annoyed, stood up, and stretched. Even smaller, the cat's presence was so much bigger than this fox. After ending its daily workout routine, it slowly walked away, with its tail tip gently swaying.

The fox looked back at them. The two looked back, but Mina was currently occupied with the cat hair which miraculously had gotten all over her clothes.

"This, my dear fox friend, was the very definition of cat."

"Eee… Commander? You want to see this."

"Come one, I don't really feel like a commander in this situation. Leading thirty people doesn't really…?" His words stopped just as he took the offered binoculars. A ship, or rather boat to be exact, was hovering in the distance. Its solar sails were gently waving in the wind, even if they were useless in a planet's atmosphere. To tell the truth, Raynor was reminded of his new friends? especially when it came to the shiny gold part. Adjusting the binoculars to get the closer view, he saw a hauntingly familiar figure. There, on the bow of the ship stood he… in all his zergy glory, waving a hand in his direction. Considering what a weirdo he was, it would make sense for him to be infected without consequences too. The only change was the hair, skin color and now glowing eyes. The armor remained the same, together with his stupid grin on face.

And he turned to the… infected? This was a regular one, a marine in the armor broken and with the disgusting infection only… his mouth was free, and his eyes didn't glow their usual red. Dobromir was… taking his hand and weaving it in their direction too? There couldn't be any doubts, only one man that Raynor knew could do this kind of thing.

Unseen by the small group of Terrans, a certain shroom individual slowly floated down, just out of view. At last, the standard view, not the invisible small floating device.

"Knock knock!"

"Oh come one, give Trixie a break! It's already dark outside!" The name bearer was laying down with a big tablet in hands, soft light from a few sources illuminated her figure, adorned in purple pajamas full of stars and moons. The pointy hat was, of course, absent.

"Don't worry, don't worry, it's not an immediate task."

"Then why, The Mayor of this fine Colony is intruding upon the Tired and Sleepy Trixie at this late hour?"

"Because if I hadn't told it now, I would probably forget it."

"Then just write it down."

"I would forget that I wrote down anything. There are so many different things occupying my mind and requiring my attention that.."

"Okay, just forget it. Tell me already so Trixie can be done with this full work day."

"Ehm… Right! I need to know if there will be another sudden influx of people coming our way. Living space is mostly filled, farms working on full throttle just meet our people's needs. We're slowly expanding, but I want to be ready for the future."

"Okay okay, I will send you a report later, as usual."

"Thanks", with that the figure disappeared, and Trixie let out a Great and Powerful sigh.

Authors something something:

There is the book Queen of the blades which talked about Raynor and how it came to be with the protoss but… I don't have it, digital version doesn't exist, and half thing are non-cannon so I just taken the link between Kerrigan and Raynor, and current situation of Jim's people and that's it.