Exiled from her home and forced to flee to the furthest reaches of civilized space, Aviina has made a simple life for herself on Amalgam station. There she tries to make her living as a problem solver, working on the colossal galactic ‘Net’. However, she holds within herself a terrible secret. One that will put the denizens of Amalgam station into peril.
Exiled from her home and forced to flee to the furthest reaches of civilized space, Aviina has made a simple life for herself on Amalgam station. There she tries to make her living as a problem solver, working on the colossal galactic ‘Net’. However, she holds within herself a terrible secret. One that will put the denizens of Amalgam station into peril.
The gentle hiss of my suits air recycler working away filled the silence of space with a subtle humming that blended with the slow, small breathes I was taking. A peaceful calm settled as I let the comforting sounds I had become so used to wash over me like an ocean's tide. I held my eyes closed, clearing my mind of anything and everything. The sounds of my shallow breathing and the mechanisms of my suit the only things in existence. Even after the few short years I had lived in the outer reaches this one single moment in time remained the most beautiful. It allowed me to let go of all that I held onto, all my worries, fears, and thoughts just vanished. For only a moment it let me believe I was alone in the universe. That was until a feminine and obviously impatient voice broke through my reverie, shattering the peace I felt.
“If you’re going to just lay there listening to yourself breath I would be happy to just eject you into space, let you enjoy all the peace and quiet you could want. Lord knows I could use some peace and quiet. Otherwise, you have work to do. So, chop chop. This relay won’t fix itself you know.”
Sighing to myself, regretting the loss of my peace and quiet, I couldn’t hide the sarcasm colouring my voice, “Thank you for that Eris. I never realized you were such a cold-hearted bitch that you’d launch the only person around for a thousand light years into deep space, just for some quiet time.” But, she was right. I was here to do a job and the massive relay station I was sent to work on wouldn’t fix itself. A gentle nudge from my thrusters set me slowly spinning, bringing the behemoth structure made of steel and circuitry that dominated the space behind me, into focus.
Setup light years beyond even the closest of inhabited worlds, across virtually all borders of civilized space. The unmanned machine was part of an unbelievably enormous collection of data relay stations designed to passively scan for signals originating from deep space. Be it asteroids, rogue planets, quasar bursts, or more importantly anything alien, the relays caught it all. The whole system meant to act as a Distant Early Warning Line against any potential threat that might emerge from beyond charted space.
After the alien wars that wiped out the Kaladan Empire over a thousand years ago, the ‘Net’ continues to become of ever-increasing importance. Especially as the empires and nations that utilize the ‘Net’ expand into ever increasingly larger areas of unknown space. The ‘Net’ stands as the only galactically unified project that goes beyond borders, worlds, or even species. Sure, after a thousand years humanity, and the alien races allied with them, built more effective means of gathering information, but those typically remain closely guarded secrets. Controlled solely by the governments who own them. The ‘Net’, however, remains both an effective and important project. With new platforms constructed daily and added to the trillions already in existence. To the people of the galaxy the ‘Net’ stands as a symbol of unification. That even with so many differences the galaxy can stand united against all that would come at us from the unknown.
At least that was what they taught in schools.
But in reality, it was all a load of shit. The platforms had become completely outdated centuries ago. Kept working by the governments controlling them in order to placate ignorant masses. To convince them that the galaxy isn’t as fucked up as it truly is. Well, those are my thoughts on the subject at least. Though, my experiences could be colouring my opinion on the matter. Maybe the universe isn’t really as messed up as I thought, but I doubt it. The galaxy is one cold bitch.
Well anyways, thanks to the ignorant public clamoring for the ‘Net’ to be kept active, it means people are needed to maintain the system. Which is where I come in. I had managed to find a steady job as a problem solver. Doing technical work on platforms out along the borders of some small planetary kingdom I’ve never bothered learning the name. The kingdom has always been too small and too poor to matter to the galaxy at large. That suited me just fine. All that mattered to me was the job paid good money and kept me busy. More importantly, it was about as far away from the inner empires, where the real galactic powers sat, a person could get. Even if everything out in this waste of space was old, barely functioning, and the people poor as shit, it was heaven to me. My own personal Eden. But right now, heaven could quickly become hell if a certain annoyance chose to make it so. Which meant I had some serious work to do or I would be in the doghouse for a week.
The relay I was to work on had suffered a sever computer malfunction and stopped transmitting any data over a standard month ago. Most likely something like a micrometeor took out one of the hyper-dishes, causing an electrical overload in a subsystem of some sort. But until I got a good look at the internal diagnostics it could be practically anything. The platform was enormous for what was effectively a simple listening device, expanding to cover my entire field of view as I glided towards it.
Sitting at roughly a million-cubic tonne, the platform was a kilometre in overall length and nearly three hundred metres in both width and height. Its structure pockmarked by hundreds of antennae, with massive hyper dishes sticking out randomly along its length. The whole thing kind of looking like what a giant rectangular porcupine might resemble. The computer system responsible for keeping this behemoth of steel running lay hidden, located somewhere amongst the forest of steel.
“Bring up schematics for relay station B11-24-H7. Locate Main Computer Access.” Bright neon yellow lines began to appear as a holographic overlay of its schematics formed on the faceplate of my helmet, mapping itself onto the structure. A flashing red arrow appeared in front of me, directing me towards a strobing red dot resting a couple hundred metres away. With time and a lot of careful maneuvering, I eventually worked my way through the tangle of relay towers and hyper-dishes swathing the outside of the platform. Finally managing to make it to the access panel. Unscrewing a panel about the size of a dinner plate revealed a number of tiny connection ports that would allow me access to the central computer systems. A twitch of my wrist soundlessly ejected a connector roughly the size of a person’s thumb from my suit, that then magnetically connected to a port on the platform. The moment it connected a deluge of flowing data streams began to bloom on the faceplate of my suit, inundating me with an overwhelming tide of data.
“Woah shit!” Not even remotely prepared for the sensory overload from the sudden influx of information, I reflexively jerked back. Yanking the connector out and sending me spiraling off the platform and into space.
“Well that was fucking bullshit,” I complained as I corrected my spin and sent myself back towards the station. This time making sure to tether myself to one of the many hook lines located around the access panel. No more floating away for this intrepid spacewalker, “Eris, filter out the data to only the diagnostic systems, please. Also copy all the data from the system gathered since it went offline and send a hyperspace burst to the nearest receiver... Please,” It couldn’t hurt to be polite.
“Alright, data has been sent. As for filtering the data to only diagnostics, well alright. But its not because you said please. I just don’t want to have your brain fry and then have to pilot the ship home by myself.” I could only snort at the sarcastic tone oozing from the radio.
“Oh please, you just can’t admit you’d be lonely without me. Just like you can’t admit you’d never launch me into space. If you didn’t have me who else could you annoy?” The spluttering attempt at an indignant response that came back over the radio almost had me laughing. However, the fact that the number of data streams running across my faceplate suddenly decreased to a bearable amount helped me to refrain from laughing at her embarrassment, “Thank you Eris.”
A quietly muttered “Your welcome,” the only reply I received before the line went quiet once more.
Over the next few hours, I silently worked my way through the different streams of diagnostic data that had compiled over the course of the last couple months. It appeared that my earlier assumptions about what knocked out the transmitters was correct. Sometime within the last few months, a micrometeor storm had been detected passing through the region. The main systems responsible for keeping the platform sending out a signal had been struck and the whole system had effectively been killed. Platforms being hit by pretty much anything were a one-in-a-million occurrence. Although, with just how many relays existed, it occurred more often then one would expect.
“Dammit! Well, this isn’t good now is it? Eris, it looks like the main hyper-wave transmitter dish has been completely destroyed,” disintegrated is more like it, “and the secondary data compiler has also been severely damaged. Signal Amalgam Station that they’ll need to send a full repair ship out if they want to get this thing working again. Nothing we can do to fix this.”
Most I’d be able to do is program the system towards relaying any new data received through the light pulse transmitters that connected the platform to its sister relays. I could only shake my head at the thought of how pissed off the suits would be once they learned about just how significant the damage had been, and how expensive it would be to fix. At least the repair crew sent out would have a few decent months of work ahead of them.
I disconnected from the system, screwed the panel back into its place, and unhooked the tether keeping me tied to the relay. Then with a gentle shove, I was sent floating away from the platform. Allowing myself to gently drift as I slowly moved further and further away from the platform and into the inky depths of space. With a pleased groan, I let myself relax into my suit. My muscles seeming to let go of the tension that had built up over the last few weeks. My mouth quirked upwards, a small smile playing itself across my lips. I let myself just enjoyed the sensation of floating in space. The quiet hiss of my recycler and the sound of my gentle breathing once again my only companions.
I was grateful Eris allowed me to indulge myself like this. I told her as such later on and all I received was another quiet, “…Your welcome,” in return. For now, it was only me. A singular being alone in the vast emptiness of space. The ugly bulk of the platform had disappeared in the distance. All that remained were the stars of the Milky Way, gleaming with a brilliance that belied their fiery nature. Alas, all good things must come to an end and the small ship that had been silently cruising just out of sight, its running lights blackened so as not to interfere with my personal time, fired its thrusters and moved to retrieve me.
Chapter Two
The airlock filled with the hiss of pressurized air as it replaced the vacuum that I had been in moments before. Once the pressure stabilized the locks heavy inner door slowly swung open. Drab, dreary walls painted a mute gun grey were the first things to meet my eyes as I stepped into the airlocks antechamber. A closed metal door leading into the ship proper stood opposite me. Three stations, or coffin-like chambers, nestled in the remaining two walls on either hand. Each station stood about eight feet tall and three feet square, their internal chamber radiating a sky-blue light that seemed to come from nowhere. The diffuse glow from the chambers was the only real source of light in the room, giving the dark space an alien and otherworldly feel.
My imagination tended to run wild and fill the space with unseen monsters, or aliens that would reach out to grab me from the shadows. I was eager to leave the creepy, dark, and depressing place as quickly as possible. I opened the see-though door to one of the empty suit stations and moved to stand inside of it. Once in the center of the closed-off space the pale blue glow deepened to a soft navy blue and began to pulse in a slow methodic rhythm. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the space suit I was wearing began to ripple in subtle waves to the pulsing of the light. It rippled and pulsed, then it seemed to slowly begin melting off of me. I had to suppress the urge to shiver as the nanomachines that constituted the suit reacted to the light and started deconstructing themselves. No clothes are worn under the space suits I can afford and I was left feeling as if a million tiny spiders were scuttling across my body. Their micro-sized legs pricking me as they left my skin to flow like water down a drain in the center of the chamber. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Safely out of the prep room I stood naked in the hallway, taking a moment to shake off the heebie-jeebies I was always left feeling after I used it. If I didn’t know any better I would think Eris had made it so creepy as a means of torturing me. Walking down a short and brightly lit walkway I came to the door of my personal cabin, my name written just above it in large golden letters. With a satisfying swooshing noise, the door slid open as I approach it. At perhaps four by five metres in size the cabin was decently sized for a ship as small as mine. A personal washroom was located to my immediate left with a tiny walk-in closet beside it. Over in its own little alcove off in the back of the room was a small but comfortable bed just large enough for me to sleep in.
Spanning the length of the wall to my right was a huge holo-screen. Currently, it displayed the most recent news from several worlds wealthy enough to have their services sent out through the hyper-wave lines. Directly opposite the screen, against the left wall, sat a large metallic desk. My personal computer and some technical files I had been looking over the night before were scattered across its surface. Fitted into the wall above the desk was a small but elegantly carved wooden bookshelf. Its mahogany shelves filled to the brim with books whose spines were crinkled from use and the paper pages yellowing from age. Each book a memory stolen from my home when I had been forced to flee the world of my birth. They represented so much more than the stories they held and were some of my greatest personal treasures.
But the thing about my room that was my personal favorite, along with being the greatest luxury I owned, was the window that opened out into space stretching across the alcove above my bed. Some days I’d lay awake for hours, just staring out into the inky depths of space. The vastness of it filled with a collage of stars reduced to mere pinpricks of light. It was a view I would never tire of and a luxury that very few ship owners could afford to have. Most people used either hyper-realistic screens or cheaper holographic displays. But if one could afford it, they could get nanotech windows that wouldn’t compromise the structural integrity of the ship. To get the window installed had cost me most of two years pay but it had been beyond worth it.
I could feel my shower calling my name and I had to force myself to turn away from the enchanting view. I always felt gross after getting out of the suit stations and desperately needed to take a shower afterward. It was an entirely mental thing since the nanomachines couldn’t possibly leave any kind of residue behind but that never mattered to me. I would always spend ages in the shower afterwards, taking enough time in the shower as necessary to leave me feeling clean once again.
Clean, and naked except for the towel around my neck, I stepped into my small closet. A flicker of motion at the back of the closet caught my eye. I turned to face the movement, jumping back with a start when I came face to face with myself. I found my reflection staring back at me from a body length mirror hung up on the back wall, a cover laying in a piled heap on the floor below it. I flinched at the sight of my body, the young woman in the mirror copying my action.
I’ve always done my best to avoid looking at myself. Always shying away from the memories my image often seemed to dredge up from the depths of my psyche. Except for this mirror in the closet, there were no others aboard the ship. Not in my washroom, not anywhere else on board. There was only this one mirror. It was the only one I could ever bear to look at. Although, most of the time I kept it covered and hidden away. But the covering had slipped off and now that I had glimpsed myself in the mirror I stopped. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then with a sigh of resignation willed myself to open them.
I opened my eyes to find a pair of gleaming emeralds looking back at me. Their beauty was bewitching and a hitch caught in my breath. I was dragged into their radiance and would surely drown within their fathomless depths. Long thick lashes served to draw attention to their beauty and accentuate their exotic shape. Works of art overflowing with life and spirit peering back at me. Those are your eyes now, my eyes. I have never been able to fully reconcile the pair of eyes staring out from the other side of the mirror are my own, and I always found myself repeating the same old Mantra. That what I see in their depths is only a reflection of what exists within myself.
Wandering from their counterparts in the mirror my eyes were drawn up to a head of rich, platinum blond hair. Still wet with dampness the hair cascaded down the middle of her back and ended against the back of her thighs. Currently, it clung to the curves my reflections body, but when dry it would be filled with natural waves. A pair of bangs fell below her shoulders and framed a face that was undeniable in its beauty.
The sharper lines of womanhood could be seen in the shape of her face, but the gentler features of her youthfulness tempered the severity that would come later in life. Thinly arched eyebrows curved elegantly above her enchanting eyes. A small pert nose that ended with a slight upward tilt sat between a pair of well-defined cheekbones. Full pink lips rested upon on a mouth that seemed constantly on the verge of a smirk, as if those lips knew something I never would. A pair of dimples lay hidden, waiting for when she smiled or laughed to reveal themselves. The last remainders of baby fat on her face softened her strong jawline and pointed chin, which slid into a long and slender neck.
Standing at roughly five feet eleven inches she stood tall, her body was slim and clearly already that of a woman’s. Curves that could only be described as sculpted cut out a shapely hourglass figure. A full chest with breasts that were noticeable, but not over encumbering, transformed into a toned stomach with a narrow waist. Wide womanly hips blended smoothly into legs that were long, fit, and slender, ending in a pair of feet with cute little toes. Her skin tone under bright light appeared a light pink that almost bordered on alabaster and was without blemish. Beside her eyebrows and the hair on her head, the only hair on her body was a small delicate patch resting just above her privates.
She was stunningly beautiful. Capable of toppling kingdoms. It was clear that in the future she would become a queen whose beauty would be worthy of conquering nations. In other words, she was perfect. It was as if she had been designed to perfection.
And she was.
She had been built instead of born. Everything about her designed to conform to an idea of perfection. Her femininity had been accentuated and her form was sculpted. She was created to be as absolutely attention-grabbing as possible. Everything about her was meant to underscore one thing, that she was absolutely, undeniably a woman.
Which is exactly what I hated the most about her.
I don’t despise my body, I just can’t. I’d had four years to get used to it. What I despised was everything that all the perfection stood for. For everything I had lost and what she had cost me. I hated her for what the idea of her stood for.
But, she also represented something greater than the idea of her. Something I could never have had if she hadn’t been designed. If I had never become her. Something that without her would have been out of my grasp forever. She was freedom. She was my freedom. A freedom to live a life for myself.
And for that I loved her.
Staring at me from the mirror, a stream of tears gliding down her cheeks, was me, the girl and the woman I had become. I know there is a fire somewhere within her. I could see it burning right below the surface, just needing to be found. But right now, looking into her green tear-stained eyes, I know I’m not yet ready. That I'm not yet strong enough to find that fire within and face the demons that haunt her. A gentle voice filled with love pulled me from the depths of my thoughts, bringing me back to the surface.
“Come now mistress, perhaps you should get some rest. It’s been a long and stressful day.” Eris could always tell when I needed her most. She was always there, able to drag me out of my thoughts when they started to go places they shouldn’t, “for now I’ll handle our course and direction. We aren’t expected at the next platform anytime soon so you can at least get some sleep. We can do the jump tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Eris,” I mumbled. My voice raw with emotion and barely louder than a whisper, “Yeah… that sounds like a good idea. Can you please get me some sleep stimulants? I think I’ll need them tonight.”
I picked the sheet up from its pile on the floor and once more covered the mirror, making certain it would stay securely in place. Back in my cabin, I found a cup filled with a pink fluid waiting for me on my bedside table. With a grimace, I downed the drink, “God, that shits disgusting.” The flavour of the sleep stimulants made me want to gag but the effects were worth the price. As I lay down to sleep under the covers of my bed I could already feel the stimulants taking hold and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Ok so this is the first draft of the second chapter. It's always difficult to write descriptions of people and I really struggled to do Aviina justice. To try and show what she looks like rather than tell what he looks like. To give both her and the reader the respect that she deserves. To keep her organic and alive.
I've also been debating with myself quite a bit if I should keep the reveal of her body being designed in the chapter, or to take it out and save it for later on. Instead, I did a bit of a compromise. I kept some of the info in the chapter and I've taken some out. Regardless that could change and I might just remove it completely, we'll see. This chapter really was a struggle to write and I can only hope the emotions she feels gets across appropriately.