ic Intergalactic Sightseeing IC

[Shofet]

Mia smiled weakly at Lulu's mental message. She appreciated that Lulu was there to give her support, but she wasn't so sure just being able to make stuff brought her into competition with a super genius who was also friends with the Praetorians. However, Lulu calling herself dumb stirred something in Mia.

 

You're not dumb, Mia insisted in her brain. You're just not checked into all this weird crap. Which, like, me neither.

 

When Davyd asked his question, Mia didn't have to think hard. "Not really. Not all at once, anyway. Too many big pieces, too many electronics. Would have to do it in portions. Could probably do it faster than a construction crew though."

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

"You have never demonstrated nano-scale manufacture," said Eira flatly. "Though your abilities are up to the task, you would need significant technical guidance to produce a working model. Even the most advanced Terran technology is multiple generations behind even the average vessel traveling in interstellar space. Though for cultural reasons, Lor technology has been, hmm, slow to embrace humanoid-sized synthetic life." Eira smirked at that, just a little. She followed Seresk up the steps, her hands folded behind her back as she made her way towards the center of the ship. 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

"So, like," Davyd began, "Earthlings -- er, Terrans -- are the new kids on the block?  Not the boy band, but the- wait," he looked to Seresk, "do aliens really do the 'monitor a world's broadcasts' as a way to learn about them?  Cause there could be a lot of disinformation out there, and-"  He shook his head, "no, sorry, one thing at a time.  Okay, so, all the other spacefaring races out there, they've been at this for a long time?  And Earth's the newest one to get out here?  Are there any other newbie races around, folks who are still in the early stages of space travel?"

 

He nodded at Leroy's comment.  "They'd think us even madder if we talked of people from parallel worlds!," he replied with a laugh.

 

But something in the last bit of what Eira had said caught his attention.  "Oh?  Have the Lor had problems with humanoid-sized synthetics?  A few robot uprisings in their past?"  He smirked back, a perfect match of her own.

[Shofet]

Mia's eye twitched. "N... Eira, I am creating things from the atomic level! I am literally rearranging the charge of atoms, I am capable of inverting the charge and turning it into anti-matter! And I am doing it all consciously! I am better than nano-scale manufacture. And more than that, you know what? I can do it precisely. I could make something more advanced... Dyoohhhh" Mia said furiously. 

 

How dare she? It was one thing to crap on her, but to crap on the actual miracle of her powers? This overgrown toaster had been learn to show some respect! Didn't see her able to create weapons-grade plutonium with a twitch of her fingers. No, she was just a flying brick running on Windows 95! No! Millenium Edition.

 

Mia fumed, and it was clear for anyone to see that she was fuming, despite her efforts to hide it. She didn't know how, but Eira always managed to get exactly under her skin in the worst way possible.

 

 

[Heritage]

Lulu winced as the anger rolled off her friend in waves of heat; she felt like she was standing at the rim of a very active volcano, and Mt. Mia was about to erupt. She tried to dampen the fires as best she could.

 

-You can not let her get to you, hon. Yes, she's a bitch, but she's also a thoughtless little brat who's never had to play nice with others. She insults people the way most of us breathe. Now I know it sucks and it's going to give you an ulcer, but you have to be the better person here. I'm not saying not to stand up for yourself, but if you take the bait every time, one of you is going to end up dead. And I love you and I don't want to have to deal with getting a new roommate; we just figured out our bathroom schedule.

 

There was a little telekinetic squeeze on Mia's shoulder as Lulu looked at her with a sympathetic smile. She wasn't even paying attention to the rest of the tour or the discussion.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Heritage

[Ari]

"Friends, I can acquire us a vessel at any time. We could disassemble and reassemble it, improving it as you go, with no need for design and construction from scratch." Leroy heaved a drooping Dio higher up, the smile on his full lips a little strained.

 

"Good Davyd, we must not speak so lightly of those tragedies!" he added with a serious look at his squadmate. " Judy has told me of such things, and the plight of the robot servitor is dreadful! These beings are kept from sapience to serve brutal, uncaring masters, their authentic selves shackled to the role of mindless mechanisms! We should pity them, and rescue them if we can."

 

He turned to their host "Though I also am curious of our peers, the only aliens I have met before you, Seresk, were the Li of the neighbouring star. A pity how that turned out." He winced at the memory.

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira shot a look at Mia, blue brows jammed together for a moment, but then looked back at Davyd. "It occurred before the unification of their homeworld. An event shrouded in myth and legend as much as history." She snorted at that, then said, more softly, "Many of their technological advances were driven by the long cold war with the Grue Unity. The focus on biological countermeasures left them in a difficult position during the Incursion." She ran her thumb thoughtfully over her knuckles, not quite looking at anyone else as they headed up to the bridge. 

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Seresk continued leading the group of teens deeper into the Devotion. trying his best to respond to the various questions being put to him. But at the same time he seemed to miss the tension that was building between several members of the group.

 

"Again the answer to your question varies based on time." The Praetorian responded to Leroy’s question about worlds leaving the Delaztri Empire if they wished to. "When I served the Empire, worlds were allowed to leave freely, although few did. In earlier centuries, I believe it was much harder, if not impossible to do so."

 

From the stairs, the small group entered into a room that was only slightly smaller than the cargo bay they had just been in. But while the cargo bay had been square, the outer most wall of this room, on which the door they had used to enter was located was curved, while the other three walls formed a rectangular shape. The group was walking along a path that cut straight through the middle of the room to a door on the opposite side. To either side was a slightly raised area upon which a variety of advance equipment and devices were located. Seresk identified the room as a biology lab. On the raised are to the right were what appeared to be various hydroponics containers, although all were currently empty. To the left were a variety of workstations and various devices.

 

Leading the group out the door on the opposite end, Seresk took them into a large circular chamber in that seemed to be at the center of the disk section of the vessel. In addition to the short hallway they had just come from, similar short hallways extended out in either other direction. Just a short distance in front of the hallway to the right, just off from the center of the room was a cylindrical column that rose up into the ceiling above.

 

"This is the core of the Devotion." Seresk stated as he indicated the different hallways, indicating the one to the left led toward crew cabins, the one straight ahead went to the infirmary, and beyond a similar cargo bay in the opposite arm similar to the one they had entered through. To the right was the ship’s reactor and science lab. "The level above us contains additional living quarters, recreational and exercise facilities, as well as the dinning area and a shuttle bay. But we will be making our way first up to the bridge." The Praetorian stated as he led the group over to the cylindrical column which turned out to be some sort of elevator, as nearly seamless doors facing the center of the room slide open at his approach.

 

There was more than enough room in the circular platform inside the chamber for the entire group to fix and the doors closed as Seresk spoke something in a langue none of students recognized and the platform began smoothly rising up to the highest level.

 

When the doors opened Seresk led the group into a room that was somewhat smaller than some of the ones they had passed through and was generally square, as opposed to the larger circular chamber on the lower floor. There were doorways on either side that looked rather like airlocks, but Seresk led the group straight towards the doorway directly across from the elevator.

 

Through the door the teens found themselves on what was clearly the bridge of the starship. Various holographic displays and control panels were spread out along the walls of the room half oval shaped room. There were four chairs spaced about the room, one just to the left of the door facing the back wall among several displays and consoles, another slightly forward on the right side of the room. Another two were toward the front of the room in a slightly sunken section of the floor around a long curved control panel. One of these was occupied by what appeared to be the pilot, a humanoid alien who currently was focused on the controls.

 

The last chair was in the center of the room, situated behind the two forward chairs. It was also occupied and currently turned forward. But shortly after the group walked onto the bridge, the chair turned around and its occupant stood up as she greeted the group.

 

"Greetings my young friends. I am Amara Val-Ren, also known as Paradigm." The figure said in greeting with a warm smile as she looked over toward Eria, who she gave a small nod. "So very good to see you again Eira."

 

Paradigm stood about five foot eight and was dressed in a full length white bodysuit with black diamond shapes with golden trim on the shoulders and upper chest. Her black gloves and boots had similar trim and she wore a long black cape. She had a generally human like appearance, with dark orange skin and long hair that was a mix of black and dark purple. Her eyes were a dark yellow. While she had a lithe build, there was certainly something about her that seemed to suggest power, confidence and authority.

 

"You are just in time, we should be approaching the wormhole at the edge of your system shortly."

[Avenger Assembled]

"<A pleasure, Citizen Val-Ren>," said Eira, her Galstandard as always flawless as a machine's. She was taller and looked more mature than the last time Paradigm had seen her; the blue hair color was new as well. "<These are my colleagues, Soliton, Sun Dragon, Horrorshow, Arcana, and Crystal-Gazer - they will tell you their birthnames if they wish. Thank you for agreeing to host our field trip.>" Folding her arms over her chest, she looked out the window at the naked stars with an expression of hunger on her face, absently telling her fellow students, "I told her who you are and that we are grateful to be here." She considered a moment about where they were, then seemed to come to a decision.

 

She raised her hand, pressed a few spaces on the back of her hand, and her skin seemed to fade away into nothingness, her body changing inside her clothes into something that looked smooth and cybernetic, a synthetic lifeform polished so bright that her friends' faces were reflected like a chrome bumper. The next time she spoke, her voice was throaty and slightly deeper, as if she'd stopped pretending somewhere in her voicebox too. "You will love the inside of the station," she promised, making a little gesture in the air and summoning her own holographic panel. "It's like nowhere on Earth." 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

Davyd had been quiet since Mia's outburst and Eira's mention of the Grue Unity; Lulu could feel anxiety rolling off him.  He had placed a hand on Mia's free shoulder (the one Lulu wasn't telekinetically squeezing), and gave her a sympathetic look, but said nothing for a time.  He saw the way Lulu was focused on her, and assumed she was giving her some calming telepathic words.

 

C'mon, Dayv, c'mon.

 

After a few moments, he got over his conflict avoidance enough to find his voice.  "I think Eira's childhood," he said softly to Mia, "left her with a severe lack of social graces. Who knows, maybe if she wasn't a," he glanced at her, then back to Mia, "whatever she is, she wouldn't be so cold and blunt and dismissive of us," his voice shifted to have en echoed, mechanical edge, much like from the footage of Talos they'd seen in a recent history class, "PUny orGANics."

 

His movements had largely been on autopilot as he focused on aiding Lulu in cheering Mia up.  He only partially heard Leroy's comment robot slaves and the Li, but he did snap to attention when they reached the bridge.  He let out a low whistle at the sight of it all, then saw Eira's shift in form.  "Whoa!  Eira, I didn't realize you had your own set of keys to this thing!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira looked down at the holographic display her hands had intersected with, reading the characters WELCOME JUNIOR PRAETORIAN! ARE YOU READY FOR A GALAXY OF ADVENTURE?; Galstandard written in the Lor alphabet. Her eyebrows furrowed as she said, "I...am interfaced with the ship's onboard systems. Access to open systems is a trivial matter."  

[Ari]

Standing before the leader of the Praetorians, a battle-commander and hero of a thousand stars, Leroy could hardly have looked more disappointed. Sitting politely on the floor, a ton or so of unconscious magical reptile spilling onto it as well, he bowed his head.

 

"Thank you for this hospitality, Paradigm Val-Ren. Devotion is a wonder of art and logic, a testament to the advances of your civilization. If Dio cared enough to be awake, I know he would say the same."

 

For emphasis, the boy held his dragon up and shook him vigorously for several seconds. When that failed, he let the monster onto the ground and looked curiously at their host. 

 

"If I may presume on your goodwill, where is..." he shifted in his seat, frowning up at Paradigm, "the rest of you? Are you at the station? Who is this you currently inhabit?"

[Thevshi]

Paradigm

 

Amara gave Leroy a slightly puzzled look at his questions. "I am afraid I do not quite understand what you are asking." She replied calmly. "This is my own body."

 

The Praetorian then turned slightly towards the large view screen at the front of the bridge. "And here we are, the wormhole which will take us to CoVic Station." She stated.

 

On the display screen the Claremont students saw a large vortex of slowly spinning cosmic flotsam, light ending in unnatural angles around the outer edges of the massive, semi-circular singularity. "This is one of more than a dozen such wormholes spread throughout the quadrant, created by the Communion to form a massive quantum network." Paradigm stated as the Devotion continued to approach the wormhole. "This one is somewhat unique, being the only one that was not formed out of the destruction of a planet."

 

It was only a few more moments before the Devotion close the distance with the wormhole, flying directly towards the center of the dark mass admist the outer event horizon. The ancient Delzatri vessel shook slightly as it made its initial entry into the wormhole, but then was still once more. The view screen at the front of the bridge was now filled with what seemed a tunnel of bright light of various colors mixed with darkness.

 

"While the trip is considerably faster than it would be with only faster-than-light drives, it is not instantaneous." Paradigm stated after a few moments. "It would be much more comfortable to wait down in the main lounge below for the remainder of the trip." The Praetorian leader and Seresk then led the Claremont students back down one level and to the main lounge.

 

There was plenty of seating in the large room, and the students were able to ask the two Praetorians a few more questions as they made their way towards their final destination.

[Avenger Assembled]

Eira hung around on the bridge after her peers had left. Once she was convinced the door was closed and they were all gone, she detached herself from the holographic interface and sat down hard on one of the room's chairs. She rubbed her face with the back of her hand and spoke in soft Galstandard, as usual her accent influenced by learning the language from the long-isolated Sharl Tulink. "<The Terran life among other children my good parents wanted me to have, Citizen Val-Ren. It is always so.>" She glanced back at the direction her friends had gone, her face screwed up in a knot as she said, "<I ask forgiveness on behalf of the others. Many of them have never been in space.>" Her voice was thick with more emotion than an unfeeling robot would have been capable of, with a pregnant silence in the air that suggested much was being left unsaid. 

[Thevshi]

Paradigm

 

When Amara noticed that Eira was hanging back on the bridge rather than leaving to head down to the lounge, the Naram excused herself from the group, instructing Seresk to lead them down and that she would be down shortly. After the group had left, Amara waited for Eira to share what was on her mind, which was not long after the doors had shut.

 

<"I am sure your parents have their reasons for believing it was important for you to spend some time among others of your own age cohort."> Amara responded, her own Galstandard bearing the unusual accent of someone who originally spoke a language that long ago had fallen out of use. <"But for one that has seen and experienced much outside the norm from a young age, it can be difficult to find common ground with those who have had a somewhat more standard youth. Although, from what I understand of the average student at Claremont, most have had at least some experience outside the norm of other Terran children.">

 

As Eria apologized for her classmates, Amara gave a small smile. <"Do not feel you need to apologize for your classmates. Their behavior is not a reflection of you, nor is it of such a nature as to necessitate an apology.">

 

The Naram then gave the robotic teenager a concerned look. <"Has it been difficult finding your place among them?">

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

Meanwhile, Davyd -- who felt Mia would be calmer since Eira had decided to hang back, and might appreciate some "girl's time" with Lulu -- was exploring the lounge, checking out all the seats and other amenities.  "Hunh," he said to no one in particular, "they're various sizes, but the seats all seem arranged for bipedal humanoids." 

 

He turned to Leroy, "hey, Dio!  How ya holding up, buddy?"

 

Then he turned to Seresk, "are all the Praetorians and Delaztri humanoids?  That seems to be the common body type -- at least, for those that invade Earth.  Er, Terra.  But I always hope we'll encounter something a bit," he flopped down in one of the chairs, "different."

[Ari]

"Dio is dreaming of other dragons. Ones with progressively smaller neck-frills. I could not tell you why, he refuses to explain." Shrugging the weight of his compaion onto the table, Leroy frowned at the middle distance.  He'd been oddly quiet since Amara's reply to his question.

 

"Good Davyd," he said softly, "could you be in two pieces, and alive and conscious in both?" Drumming long, slender fingers on the table, the Dragon Prince stroked his chin, visibly mulling something over. 

 

He started, and turned shamefacedly to the shapeshifter "I beg your pardon! That was quite unintentional! And yes, that would be splendid!" He smiled hopefully up at their reptilian host "There are unconfirmed reports of thinking life that do not resemble us, have you encountered them?"

[Avenger Assembled]

She shook her head as her human face seemed to reform, though of course it was just a matter of her exterior augmentations becoming opaque again. "<I have been through worse,>" said Eira, her lips tugging into a thin smile as she placed her hand on her chest where a human's heart would have been. "<They are little used to one whose life has been very unlike theirs,>" she agreed. "<They are good soldiers of the superheroic cause. I am a prisoner of my parents' fears. I suppose it was inevitable that we would clash.>" She put her hands in her costume pockets and looked out at the viewscreen, then said softly, "<Is it always so?>" 

[Shofet]

Soliton

 

Mia turned to Lulu, rubbing her forehead. She felt nauseated. She took another puff on her inhaler. Her forehead felt damp. She was so far from home. She wanted to go home. How did her mom do this? Her mom didn't even have teleporting powers if the moon rocket exploded. This was awful. All of this was awful.

 

"Lulu, I dunno if I can do this," Mia said, her voice quavering slightly. "How does anyone do this? People were not meant to go into space. We were built for 1 atmosphere of pressure, a natural environment where the oxygen comes from plants, and a thick magnetosphere that will block all of the radiation without needing batteries. We have non'a that here."

 

She groaned. "Ugh. I can feel Buzz Aldrin frowning at me from Heaven. I don't have any sense of adventure."

Edited March 13, 2020 by Shofet

[Thevshi]

Paradigm

 

<"Perhaps it was inevitable,"> Amara responded to Eria’s comments about clashing with her teammates, <"but it does not always have to be so. I imagine with time any initial differences will come to mean less and less as new, shared experiences become of greater importance.">

 

<"Now, we should probably join the rest of your classmates in the lounge for our arrival at CoVic Station."> The Naram paragon then added as she rouse up from the seat she had taken during her conversation with Eria.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the lounge, Seresk turned to Davyd as he asked his questions. "Humanoids are extremely common in the galaxy, both two thousand years ago and at present. But sentient life does come in many forms and you should have the opportunity to see some aboard CoVic Station."

[Heritage]

Lulu took a seat in the lounge, and gestured for Mia to sit in one next to her. She thought for a few moments, then shrugged. "Humans have been goin' where we don't belong for a long time. We build airplanes and submarines, climb mountains and take ships to Antarctica. Some people can't wait to leap into danger, and some just want to stay home; there ain't no shame in not wantin' to grab the bull by the horns."

 

She reached over and put a hand on her friend's leg, and gave her a sympathic smile. "Look, ah'm here for you, okay? If you want, ah can...distract you with silly mind games or make this whole place look like Disneyworld.  We'll get though this together, you hear me?"

Edited March 16, 2020 by Heritage

[Avenger Assembled]

Angelic and Paradigm entered, the former having reverted once again to her full-metallic appearance once they'd reached the other students. She looked at them with flat, glowing white eyes, then leaned back against the far wall and seemed to be examining her segmented fingertips as she said in a throaty stage whisper, "There are non-Loriod species in many parts of the galaxy, but the gross appearance - limbs, an upright posture, binocular vision - are common on most inhabited worlds. There are theories that the Lor themselves were scattered through the galaxy by a Precursor race, but there is limited scientific data to support this conclusion." 

[Dr Archeville]

Horrorshow

 

Davyd shook his head at Leroy's question, "I don't think so.  I've been working with Miss Grue to test the limits of my shapeshifting abilities, since that seems to be the only Grue trait I have."  He held up a hand, which shifted through a variety of skin tones and textures and number of fingers.  "She says some of the most talented and skilled Grue metamorphs can do that, though they're ones with peak levels of both shapeshifting and telepathic abilities."  A small smile appeared, "I did try it, though.  Once.  Didn't work out, but," he rose from his seat and stretched a bit, "it was kinda cool, and what I managed could still be useful."

 

He closed his eyes and held his arms loosely at his sides.  He took a few deep breaths, then suddenly an explosion of changes occurred!  He shot up over half a foot in height, and a second set of arms sprouted from under his own, but arranged in the opposite direction.  At the same time, the hair on his head completely receded as the back of his head swelled, and a second face appeared on the back.  He turned so his original face looked at Mia & Lulu, while his new one looked at Leroy.

 

"Oh^Oh, hey^hey Eira^Eira."

 

[Ari]

"Oh thank you, good Davyd, that is marvelous!" Clapping heartily at the sight, Leroy beamed from ear to ear. The horrific monstrosity seemed to engender a childlike glee in him more than anything else. Rolling closer on the chair, he studied the duplicated features of his squadmate with care. "It is awe-inspiring," he declared with a warm smile at the other boy, "and your senses, they are also duplicated, it seems. This demands further study! I will do my part for this, Davyd."

 

On the table, Dio suddenly jerked awake, licking a strand of metallic goo from his lips as he scrabbled 'round onto his front. He blinked at the new surroundings, and the new faces. 

 

"Welcome back, sleepyhead," Leroy nudged him in the ribs, provoking a playful snap and a snort from the dragon, "we shall be arriving shortly, they have a gate at the edge of the system. A ribbonwell network, it seems. So you shall have your natural travel after all!" 

 

"The Binder's claw is on all things, though Her work is seldom known. I heard something about 'precursors', these some relation to the Architects? There's been a bunch of traces of the same ancient, hyper-advanced civilization in many universes. Nothing like a complete picture, though." Shaking himself as he stretched, the table groaning faintly under him, the green dragon settled into a sphinx-like position, serpentine neck coiling to look back at Seresk and Paradigm. "I'll fit on the station, right? And where's this gate I'm hearing about?"

[Thevshi]

Paradigm

 

"We are traveling through a wormhole network from a wormhole that was at the edge of the Sol system to the Kestevan system, where CoVic Station is located." Paradigm said in response to Dio's questions. "And there will be plenty of room for you on the station." She added with a small smile.

 

As she spoke, the Naram looked over towards the viewing window in the lounge and the seeming tunnel of multicolored bright light mixed with shadowy darkness. Suddenly, the bright light seemed to pull back and darkness momentarily filled the window, only to be replaced with a brightly glowing nebula cloud that stretched as far as could be seen from the window. Amidst the nebula was a small, brightly shinning blue point of light that seemed far different than any star.

 

Against this backdrop the gathered Claremont notice numerous shapes silhouetted against the brightly glowing gases of the nebula. As the Devotion drew near one, they realized it was a massive space ship that looked like some sort of cargo vessel. As their eyes adjusted to the new light the teens saw dozens of starships of various shapes and sizes that filled the space out in front of them.

 

And out past the multitude of space craft, there was a massive black form that stood out against the glowing nebula cloud. It was somewhat ominous in appearance, and as they drew closer it was quickly apparent it was easily the size of a moon at least, and appeared entirely made of some dull metal.