Tales From the Terran Republic

Chapter Enclaves: Kras

Deep within Lborg, the third largest of the Crown Jewels of the Assembly, sixteen massive arcologies on the surface of Kras, the ruined homeworld of the Vont, a convoy of a dozen long, slender six-limbed beings, each pulling a sturdy wagon, paused as the light from their native tech carbide lanterns, the only illumination in the absolute darkness that engulfed them, revealed a spray painted glyph that had been stenciled on one of the walls of the seemingly endless labyrinth that surrounded them.

Their ancient carbide lamps were cumbersome and inefficient. However, they could be made by hand (or tendril) from easily obtained materials and required no power to operate, nor did they emit any electronic signal.

Besides, carbide was easy enough to make.

Their leader shouldered their human tech “grease gun” and pulled out a rolled hand-drawn paper map from a pouch on their harness and regarded it carefully with their four forward-facing eyes.

“Garng…” it muttered, their version of “Hmm.”

It fumbled with the map and garnged again.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” one of their companions grumbled.

“The only confusion present is that which clouds your own mind,” the leader snarked through their multi-slitted voice box, which also served as their nose. “And I would appreciate it if you did not speak. I find your voice as unattractive as your jacket.”

“At least my jacket knows its function and performs it admirably, unlike our navigator,” their companion growled quietly.

“The only thing your jacket is doing is concealing something even less attractive,” their leader said to the amusement of the group, “an important job for such an ugly garment. Furthermore, both it and I are performing admirably. We have arrived… We are here. Beyond this portal lies their realm.”

They put away their map and opened the door next to the glyph to reveal a large pitch-black chamber beyond.

“And try to relax, Kbk, they said as the group entered the cavernous space. “You are going to exhaust yourself before we even face the ‘terrible’ humans and… Trigger discipline, idiot!”

“S-sorry…” Kbk said as he lifted a grey-green tendril from the trigger of his human-tech “grease gun”, a favorite staple of the less-than-legitimate trades on Kras long before the current conflict.

“We have enough to worry about without you dooming us all with yet another of your clumsy discharges, pun, and all of its implications, intended.”

“…Virgin…” another Vont snorted through their six nasal slits. “Someone take his weapon before the whelp kills us all.”

“No!” Kbk exclaimed with fear. “I’ll be care…”

The chamber was suddenly illuminated by dim light.

“…ful…”

“That’s far enough,” a youthful human voice called from the shadows. “Door latch,” they challenged.

“Hopscrotch,” the lead Vont replied.

“Close enough,” the human chirped as a teenage boy stepped into the light. “Hiya, Lkka.”

“Tony,” the lead Vont said as she stepped forward. “What do you have for us today?”

“The regular shipment,” Tony said as other teens started pulling wagons filled with Styrofoam ice chests into view.

Tony opened an ice chest to reveal clear Ziploc bags filled with amber powder. He opened a second chest to reveal bags of dark blue-green powder as well.

“Ca’nastra!” Lkka exclaimed happily as they secured their submachine gun to their back and dropped to all sixes, loping towards the chests. “I can smell it from here!”

“Fresh from the vats,” Tony said proudly as Lkka opened a bag of amber nutritional yeast and dipped a tendril into it.

“Ha!” Lkka chuffed as she rubbed her tendril along the sensory ridges in her mouth. “Oh, that is the stuff!”

“A hundred kilos of yeast seventeen and eighty kilos of Spirulina Pacifica,” Tony said pleasantly. “Everything a growing Vont needs…”

“Excellent!” Lkka said, “And you mentioned ‘something special’?”

“That I did,” Tony grinned and opened another chest filled with a bubbling, writhing mass.

“Is that… alive?”

“Yep,” Tony smugged, “Fifteen kilograms of meat.”

“M-meat?” Lkka spluttered.

“In a matter of speaking,” Tony replied, “What you see there are fifteen kilograms of void monkeys.”

“Monkeys?”

“They are actually a kind of shrimp,” Tony replied, “not sure why we call them monkeys, but we do.”

“May I sample them?” Lkka asked, “Are they safe to consume as is?”

“Probably?” Tony mused, “They are loaded with e-coli, which means they aren’t safe for us, but you should be okay.”

“E-coli?”

“A bacteria,” Tony replied, “I would get bad sick if I ate them unprocessed, but I don’t think you would have a problem.”

An expressionless teen girl with a long, ragged scar across her once beautiful face walked up with a Chinese carryout container and handed it to Tony.

“Of course, you could try the finished product,” he grinned and offered the container to Lkka.

Wasting no time, Lkka opened the container.

“Monkey fried rice,” Tony said as Lkka shot out their long scoop-like tongue, picking up a mouthful.

“That’s good!” she enthused.

“For the first couple of million times, anyway,” Tony grinned. “Anyhow, we’re now making a surplus of the monkeys, too, and are thinking of adding them to the shipments if you are interested.”

“Actual meat? Are you kidding?” Lkka tooted with delight, “Of course we’re interested! We’ll buy every single monkey you can move!”

“I was hoping you would say that,” Tony smiled. “We can probably do fifty a week easy, more if you want.”

“Fifty kilograms of meat a week?!?”

“Or more, if you can move it.”

“How? How are you doing this?”

“Yellowstone,” Tony replied with a shrug.

“Is that some sort of mineral? Is there a way we can get it?”

“Careful what you ask for, Licks,” Tony chuckled as a faint smirk played across the expressionless girl’s face. “Yellowstone isn’t something you want, trust me.”

“But it is the secret to your prosperity even during this hardship?”

“Yellowstone is the name of the supervolcano that wiped out Earth. It did in a day what took you guys centuries to accomplish. We can do what we do because our ancestors learned how to do it after the eruption.”

Tony chuckled.

“I guess Yellowstone wouldn’t be that big of a deal to you guys after all, but you still probably don’t want it to happen.”

“Forgive me for bringing up such darkness,” Lkka replied as she bobbed in a sign of contrition.

“Meh,” Tony shrugged, “before my time. Besides, thanks to what we learned, we are sitting pretty now. I’m actually in better shape than I was before all this bullshit started.”

“That wasn’t too hard,” the scarred teen snarked.

“True,” Tony said fondly as he smiled back at her.

“We only brought the agreed-upon transaction,” Lkka said as his people started pulling the same wagons the humans used forward. “I have nothing extra to trade for the meat.”

“As always, the first taste is free,” Tony grinned. “Enjoy. We’ll discuss prices for the monkeys later.”

He handed Lkka a data crystal.

“Detailed analysis of the void monkeys, preparation suggestions, and a few porkie recipes that you guys should like. It’s over half chitin, but for you guys, that’s a plus.”

“My Katra will be so happy! I can’t remember the last time we had real meat!”

Tony’s smile grew.

“Speaking of your daughter,” he said as he pulled out a small box. “Her birthday is coming up.”

“It is, and a meat-laden feast will be such a happiness for her!”

“I think you will be able to top even that,” Tony said as he opened the box to the collective gasp of all of the Vont.

“Eggs!” Lkka crooned. “Real eggs?!?”

“Your kid likes these, doesn’t she?”

“They are her favorite!” Lkka gushed, “And I thought I would never see another! Thank you so much!”

“We’ve managed to increase production,” Tony said, “We will be able to supply them as well. We’ll be adding them to the shipments, but these are a present for your little one.”

“I… I don’t know how to process this… I am unable to formulate an appropriate response.”

“A speechless Vont!” Tony laughed. “Now there’s something you don’t see every day.”

“Garng… Perhaps we should just continue with our transaction?” Lkka inquired stiffly, struggling with her emotions.

“Sure thing,” Tony chuckled.

“We have the agreed-upon exchange,” Lkka said as she tried to recover her composure. (Eggs! Can you believe it?!?) “Production filament in several polymers, including that nylon you guys like so much, bulk polymers, medical precursors, assorted flavorings and spices, refined sugar, sugar-based confections… and aluminum foil,” Lkka said proudly as Tony looked over the goods.

Lkka cocked her long head curiously.

“Why the foil? Why would you possibly want so much aluminum foil?”

“Best you don’t know, Lkka,” Tony grinned. “Let’s just say it has its uses and leave it at that.”

“When a human says that one doesn’t want to know something,” Lkka snorted, “I am always intrigued.”

“I can send you some notes,” the scarred girl said impassively.

“Garng…” Lkka said uncertainly. The strange girl always unnerved her. There was just something about her that did not sit right with Lkka. The scar and clearly cybernetic eye were perhaps the least unsettling things about the “child.” Lkka was no saint and quite familiar with the game, dealing with all sorts along the way. Most of those individuals were dangerous…

…but none of them frightened Lkka like that human.

Lkka knew that the humans were at war, but there had been no conflict on their world. The humans simply withdrew deep beneath the arco, void knows where. Officially they were all “enemies of the people,” but nobody had the slightest interest in fighting the Federation’s war for them.

If the Federation wanted the humans, they would have to go down there after them themselves. Technically, they were all “under detention orders” and would be apprehended on sight…

…but the truth of the matter was that nobody was going to risk their hide over a war that wasn’t theirs to fight. The humans had never been a problem for anyone, even their criminals. Their cartels were pure business and very respectful despite their savage reputation elsewhere.

The Razors, the cartel that dominated the human enclave, were professional and polite, a pleasure to do business with…

…and they still were. While the products had changed, Lkka was making plenty of profit selling yeast, algae, and now, most likely, meat and even eggs! It was still “illegal” but drew a lot less heat and made almost as much money. Spirulina and “amber gold,” that divine nutritional yeast, were becoming incredibly popular, much more popular than myst and nicopop.

And that was before the meat and eggs! They were going to make a fortune!

The scarred teen looked into Lkka’s eyes.

Oh no! Had she been staring?

“What?” the teen inquired.

“Oh, nothing,” Lkka said hastily and looked away.

“Sure looked like something,” the scarred girl said smoothly, “You have a problem?”

“No… No problem…” Lkka said. “I… I was just wondering about your injury. We are at war, but there have been no battles here.”

The girl smirked, turned, and lifted her long hair, revealing a small mark on the nape of her neck. It was a tattoo of a stylized cat with big eyes and a heart-shaped nose.

Lkka’s hearts skipped a beat. While innocent appearing, what it signified certainly was not. The cute little kitten was the mark of the Nekos, a vicious juvenile arco gang. They controlled the detention center that was Lkka’s home for most of her own childhood and were the source of most of her nightmares (and therapy bills).

“There have been plenty of battles here, just not with the Feds,” the Neko smirked.

“You’re… Nekos?!?”

“You didn’t know?” Tony asked as he pulled down his lip, revealing another little kitten. “Is that an issue?”

“No… No issue…”

“Cool,” Tony smiled. “We made peace with the Razors once the balloon went up. We might own the tunnels, but those motherfuckers own the warrens. It made sense to link up.”

“But you hate each other!” Lkka spluttered in disbelief.

“Hate is hate,” the scarred teen said, “But war is war. It would be stupid to keep fighting each other when the Fed is trying to kill us both. Besides, part of the deal is that we get officially recognized by the Forsaken. We play nice, and we run this place when the war is over.”

“And the Razors allowed this?”

“This is just one planet,” Tony said with a shrug, “The Razors don’t give a shit as long as they don’t lose face. Besides, who do you think we will be working for?”

“What?”

“We don’t have a fleet,” Tony replied, “They do. When things go back to normal, where do you think we will be getting our shit from? They will still be controlling all of that. We will just be running things down here for them. It’s a win-win. We get their supply chain, and they get us to move it for them in the arcos.”

“We’re their bitches now,” scarface snarled.

“It’s not like that,” Tony snapped.

“It’s exactly like that! If I wanted to be their little whore, I wouldn’t have taken the mark in the first place!”

“Syl,” Tony sighed, “We covered this.”

“No, you covered this…”

“Garng…” Lkka did not want to be a part of this conversation anymore.

***

“Child soldiers?” Jessica said disapprovingly as she cooly regarded an elderly man on one of the Old Earth tech OLED screens in her office. (Holograms gave her headaches if she looked at them too long.)

Besides, OLEDs used less power, something that would soon be a concern.

“Seriously?” she continued as she took a sip from her priceless antique Corelle teacup.

“Everything that we are doing, and this is what you are sticking on?” the old man replied. “Besides, you do realize how old I was when I came to work for you, right? Revising history again?”

“That was the Sol Wars,” Jessica replied, “This is now. And, regardless of your biological age, you weren’t a child. You were already quite well established, as I recall.”

“Same goes for these ‘kids,’” he replied, “The Nekos…”

“Nekos? You must be joking.”

“A cute name for some very ugly people. Those little fuckers are vicious. Even we avoided them.”

“You ran from children?”

“We didn’t run from them. We just didn’t go buying trouble we didn’t need to buy. We might own those hellholes, but they were born in them. Some of them have never even seen the outside. It’s their natural environment, and they are the last thing you want to run into in a dark alley… and alleys don’t come any darker than the ones in which they lurk. They know those places like the back of their hand, are fine in complete darkness, and they are so small that they can squeeze through places you wouldn’t think a person could go... or slither out of. Trust me. You do NOT want to play a game of murder in the dark with them.”

“But they are children,” Jessica sighed. “There isn’t much that all of the sapient races in this hell of a galaxy agree upon, but children are the one thing that the overwhelming majority of sophonts hold dear. This is not a good look, Aiko.”

“And another reason why we left them alone,” Aiko, leader of the Razors, laughed ruefully. “Go in their lairs, lose good men and women, and for what? Pictures of dead kids… and not just human ones. They have a human name, but they are a native org. They have humans, Vont, and the void itself knows what else in their ranks. Besides, we aren’t fighting on Kras. The Vont want no part of this conflict.”

“What is the deal with them, anyway?”

“Well…” Aiko mused, “They aren’t our allies, but they are no friends of the Federation, either. Their planet was wrecked by sophont-induced climate change, far worse than anything we faced before Yellowstone, and while first contact might have saved their species, it did them no other favors. They’ve made the best of a bad situation and done okay, but they hold no love for the Federation. They basically had to trade away their entire solar system for their survival. They have their homeworld, and that’s it. Everything else belongs to the greypigs, including most of their population, who strip mine their entire solar system for slave wages. Their arcologies are amazing, though, wonders of the modern galaxy, and thanks to the agreements they signed, can’t be touched.”

“I went to Illia once,” Jessica said. “Amazing. It was like something right out of a movie.”

“Yeah, the nice parts are very nice,” Aiko agreed, “Something to see at least once in your life. Unfortunately for them, tourism was a big source of their income, and that’s gone, something that they hold us directly responsible for. Then again, the loss of the Fednet and banking network has worked out very nicely for them, something that they also credit us with.”

“Oh?”

“Those arcos are fully self-contained, and their planet has its own internet AND hypernet. Their hyperspace transmitters, data centers… banks… and all the rest have been completely untouched… and, thanks to their original Federation charter and trade agreements, completely untouchable by their trade bloc and subject only to Federation law, which is quite scant when it comes to regulations. They are set up to become ‘Switzerland,’ and more and more systems are setting up massive accounts with them, allowing for transactions that were once only possible through the Federation banking network. Add to that the huge warehouse capacity of the planet, and they are looking at becoming a huge trading center. They already have the infrastructure.”

Aiko smiled.

“You might want to talk to the slug about them. A number of Baleel can now be seen oozing around the upper cities.”

Jessica chuckled as Analytica filled several screens with the latest dirt.

“So that’s why she lost interest in dealing with our people,” she smiled, “That little shit!... Can’t blame her, though. Looks like she cut one hell of a deal with them…”

She paused and took another sip. Terrence appeared almost out of thin air and refilled her cup.

“Who do you have there?”

“Katrya.”

“That old murderer? How’s her cancer?”

“In full remission,” Aiko replied. “For now, but she’s probably half nanite by weight at this point. The doctors give her several decades, though, at least… Pity Hu’s fountain of youth turned out to be tainted.”

“Tell me about it,” Jessica laughed.

“What’s the latest on that whole mess?”

“Her treatment is fundamentally flawed,” Jessica replied, “It will never work.”

She sighed sadly.

“It is also likely uncurable. Even with the Terrans and their bio-magic, we are getting nowhere. Everyone who is infected will die. Some die fast, and others linger, but sooner or later, the end is the same.”

“Just like the rest of us, then?”

“Yeah, but their sooner or later is a lot sooner than ours and their end? I would almost prefer to be dragged…”

A notice appeared with the commentary, “I’m not kidding!” attached.

A rare look of complete surprise and confusion appeared on Jessica’s impassive face.

“What?” Aiko asked.

“I… um… I gotta take this,” Jessica said. “We’ll talk later.”

She closed the Aiko’s screen.

“Well, this proves interesting,” Terrence said with a wry smile. “If you will excuse me…”

“Stick around,” Jessica said, “Off camera.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Jessica took a moment to collect herself and clicked a flashing icon on her screen, opening a new window.

She smiled at the butterfly-embellished face that appeared.

“Monarch,” she said, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”

“Ms. Morgan,” Monarch smiled. “We share a common problem.”

“One that you shared,” Jessica replied. “and one that I haven’t had the opportunity to properly thank you for… yet.”

“Not my call,” Monarch replied, “Not my implementation.”

“Of that, I have little doubt,” Jessica replied smoothly, “And thank God for small favors. How’s your boss faring?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Monarch replied, “And if you don’t already know that, I would be very disappointed in you. I also assume that you have her location?”

“One more bit of long overdue unfinished business,” Jessica shrugged. “Then again, I do hate waiting in line, and there is quite the queue forming up around that bitch. What do you want?”

“A deal,” Monarch said. “I am in possession of the entirety of our research concerning both the treatment and the bioweapon based on it. I am prepared to share everything I have and provide access to the original researchers.”

“Interesting,” Jessica replied. “I assume this won’t be a gift. What do you want?”

“A truce,” Monarch said. “We left her organization behind and would like to leave her conflicts behind as well. We have no quarrel with you or your people and would like that feeling to be mutual. We also would like a research agreement. We have resources you do not, and you have resources that we lack, especially where access to certain pre-fall data is concerned. We would like access to your archives, the real ones.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes.

“That’s a big ask and one that I am not inclined to agree to. We already have one of your researchers, and to be honest, he isn’t terribly impressive. Neither is the data in his possession.”

“That charlatan?” Monarch laughed. “Do you honestly believe he was capable of creating any of this? I have the people who were as well as all of their research… and our work towards a solution that is actually possible.”

Jessica regarded her carefully.

I detect no falsehood. Analytica displayed. Based on my models, she honestly believes she is on to something. She wouldn’t take the risk of contacting you for nothing, and the time it would take to transfer that data would have her communications open for long enough to be a CONSIDERABLE risk on her end.

“I notice that you said ‘solution,’ not cure.”

“Because it isn’t one,” Monarch replied. “It isn’t curable, at least not by us. If we could, Patricia wouldn’t have done what she did. Privately, I don’t think it’s possible. However, I believe that someone could live a ‘normal’ lifespan even afflicted with either the treatment or the bioweapon.”

“Tell me.”

“Make the agreement.”

“Fine,” Jessica said, “but without knowing what I’m buying, I reserve the right to revoke it at will.”

Monarch looked at her silently with absolutely no expression for several moments…

…and then nodded.

“Deal. Transmitting the data now.”

She smiled, causing the holographic butterflies on her face to flutter.

“Strange days, these,” she said.

“And I hold you completely responsible,” Jessica replied impassively. “We’ll be in touch.”

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