THE COUNCIL OF LIGHT

Chapter 1 - Day 1: A scene of chaotic mess

Lucia thought of herself as a woman who knew the way the universe worked. She may have only been alive for eighteen years, as far as she could remember, but her soul felt like it had seen long forgotten ages. She had a knack for sensing when things were about to turn south, which was why on this particular day, she was not in a very good mood.

Lucia was employed as the cook on an itinerant mining vessel with no kitchen. Cooking in the year X1495 didn't require a kitchen, but the Ataxi miners preferred the luxury of a live-in cook. Lucia preferred to use her skills as a navigator, but she spent most of her days sweating over boiling Pheleranx, instead of feeling the cool wash of stars whip past her on the ship’s flight deck.

There was a limit to the crossover between the Ataxi’s language, produced from grinding the stones in their belly together, and the human tongue, so Lucia spent a lot of time by herself as they bounced from rock to rock, collecting precious minerals. Not that she minded being by herself; that was how things had been for most of her life.

Their mining vessel was parked at a waystation in the P1 quadrant of the Lub Galaxy — not a particularly nice area. Lucia was currently occupied with finding Pheleranx, a lard-like ingredient that, when mixed with salt, heated up to around ninety three degrees celcius. As the cook on an itinerant mining vessel with no stoves, Lucia used the stuff like air. So she stood in the waystation's Goods Window, using her left hand to scroll through the ‘Baking Needs’ section of the Goods Portal while her right hand rubbed the back of her neck, a motion she often did when she was nervous.

They better not leave me again, she thought to herself, remembering a few months earlier when a miscommunication resulted in the miners marooning her on a different waystation along the Lubian Flight Path. Lucia kept a close eye on two of the miners, who were playing a slot machine twenty meters to her right. The flickering lights of the game reflected off their giant, bulbous shoulders, which swayed left and right in alien excitement.

She focused on the Goods Portal screen and selected twelve lbs. of Pheleranx. The screen projected an orange smiley face that then began to spin clockwise, indicating the order was processing. Lucia turned back to watch the slot machines, but an incoming ship grabbed her attention as it landed next to the Ataxi mining vessel.

It was a x1373 Duster — a model used by the Light Police. The hairs on the back of Lucia’s neck stood on end. The Light Police had once been a rare sighting, even in these parts, but their presence now meant certain conflict. Lucia looked down frantically at the Goods Portal screen, but the smiley face was still spinning, oblivious to the violence that was about to unfold. Suddenly, the crack of an electrical weapon pierced the silence, and it began.

One of the gambling Ataxis bolted, her rock-like body scraping the soft Waystation platform as she rolled away. Lucia watched as the other gambling miner had her throat sliced clean through by a neon disc, shot from the gun of a very determined looking human running in her direction. Lucia dove around the corner of the Goods Shop, slid between two fuel compactors, and curled up into a ball. By the Council, they’re after one of the miners?! The Ataxi Race, while appearing to be very menacing and formidable, were generally a non-confrontational and peaceful race. This is why Lucia agreed to join their crew; it was an uneventful, safe existence. Lucia pondered the irony to a symphony of whirring discs, grazing phasers, and the high pitched whine of overheated personal shields. The melody was accompanied by two separate choruses of shouting — one Ataxi and one Human. At times, a soprano shrieking cut through the refrain, begging for it to stop — probably the guardian of the waystation.

The symphony became acapella as the weapons fire ceased and the miner was caught. The sound of rocks grinding together — the Ataxi’s protests — gnawed at Lucia’s ears as the miner was dragged onto the Light Police’s ship. The terrible musical was punctuated with the slight blip of their Duster passing through the exo-sphere surrounding the station.

Lucia extracted herself from her hiding spot and rounded the corner of the building to a scene of chaotic mess. At least a dozen prone bodies, mostly Ataxi, were strewn on top of the remains of the slot machines and waystation structure. As the life bled from them, the stones that comprised their bodies slowly disconnected into indiscernible piles. It was dead and silent, the only movement coming from the Goods Portal, where the smiley face continued to spin, and smile, and spin.

Chapter 2 - Day 1: She can cook

I knew it.

Those words echoed around her head mercilessly. Lucia was sure she was going to lose it. She paced back and forth amongst the carnage, rubbing the back of her neck furiously. The smiley face was laughing at her. She had known something was going to happen...why did she let them stop at the station, why did she join a crew of aliens in the first place, why did she even come to this galaxy...Lucia screamed through gritted teeth.

At that moment, another ship passed through the exo-sphere and landed on the rubbery waystation pad. Another Duster, this one even older than the last. Curse Elia’s name, Lucia thought, they've come back for me. There was no use hiding, the way station platform was only 300 meters end to end. Lucia fell to the ground and put her hands behind her head, signaling submission to her new captors. She could hear them talking as they exited their ship, and was at least a little relieved to hear them speaking Ertish, and not in the broken sort of way her translator usually provided.

"...told you the intel was old, we never should have gave that guy 200 Redits..."

"Old? Look around you, the bodies are still smoking! If you had not taken so long in the bathroom we could have captured him before—"

"If I hadn't taken so long we'd have a dozen more holes in our bodies than we need, so you’re welcome."

Lucia raised her head and shouted, "Please do not shoot! I submit to the authority of the Ertian Empire!”

The pair, an Argruarian and a human, stopped bickering and regarded Lucia conspicuously. The Argruarian — a short, dark green creature that looked somewhat like a dog standing on its hind legs — spoke for the duo.

"We’re not the Light Police, sen, you can stop pissing yourself."

His partner, a muscular woman, stepped forward with a bionic leg and added, "but do not get any funny ideas. We may not be police, but we are bounty hunters. That just means we do not have to fill out a database entry if we kill you."

"I....I didn't have anything to do with this! I'm a navigator who joined up with the Ataxi miners only five months ago. I had no idea they were doing anything wrong!" Though Lucia trembled at the thought of what these bounty hunters might do, she was more afraid they might leave her alone on this Waystation.

"A navigator?” the woman queried. “What is a human navigator doing in the Lub galaxy with a gang of Ataxis? This does not smell right to me."

"Hold on Marim, let’s see what else she has to say. We must be sure." The Argrurian motioned with three clawed fingers for Lucia to continue.

"I'm originally from the Triangulan Galaxy, but I lived in many places before I came to Lub. I don't have a home or family and haven't for a very long time but I'm not a criminal and I'm not crazy."

The Argrurian looked at the large woman. "Well, that's either a good reason to trust her or a good reason not to."

The woman shrugged a hard, uninterested shoulder. "Let us search the victims and leave."

"Wait!" shouted Lucia, "I'm a very good navigator, I can customize your jump scheduler to —"

"Sorry child," interrupted the woman, "we already have a navigator." She had one sharp eye trained on Lucia while she sifted through a dead policetenant's jacket.

Lucia gritted her teeth. She was running out of options. "I can cook too!"

The woman stopped her search and stood up. "You can cook human food?"

"Yes!"

"Ertian food?"

"Of course!"

"Have you ever heard of strawberry shortcake?"

"Take me to another waystation and I can have it for you in a matter of minutes."

It was a simple dish, but not one that could be easily found in most of the universe. Strawberries, or cream, or even shortcake were not so rare themselves, but with the wide variety of food in the universe, finding a particular dish was a tough order.

"Consider my pilot lit," said the woman. "You may come with me to the ship. My name is Marim, and the Argruarian is named Dax," she said, gesturing to the dog-man.

"It’s uh, nice to meet you." Lucia allowed herself to breathe again.

Marim nodded and started back towards the ship. "And by the way," she added, "we do not have a kitchen."

Lucia followed the duo up the bay stairs and into the old Duster. Marim had shimmery, bronze skin and large, angled eyes, common features of the original Ertian race. Her unnaturally large and muscular frame was more of a mystery to Lucia. She appeared to be middle-aged, a hundred years at least, but she moved with the ease of someone half that age. 

Dax stood at one meter tall, his kangaroo-like body covered in a short, shiny, dark fur. His face looked like a common breed of Ertian dog, the Inu, which had a short-ish snout, round face, and piercing yellow eyes. He was kind of adorable, in a devilish sort of way. He was clearly a member of the Argruarian species, but Lucia had never seen one act so…human. For the first time that day, she relaxed a bit. 

Lucia did a double-take as they walked past a heat sink from an industrial mining drill welded to a generator in the hallway. Not only was this ship a decommissioned police vessel, but it seemed to be pieced together with parts from a hundred different spacecraft. After descending a short flight of stairs, they arrived in a sizable, open area plainly decorated as a living space. 

"This is the Great Room," announced Dax. His voice was guttural due to his alien throat, his words filled with “rrr” sounds that shouldn’t be there. 

Lucia had been fortunate enough to have never seen the inside of a police Duster before, but she guessed that most of them didn't have a Great Room, which was probably why Dax was eager to show it off. 

"Ben and I optimized the fission block so that it only takes up half the space, allowing us to expand this room out a good five square meters. Also we cannibalized the kitchen, to be sure. I found this dulcious, aqua couch in an edge-dogs pad, if you can believe it!" 

Lucia smiled politely. "It's very...great!" she said. 

Dax smiled back. "Ben is our, er, mechanic. You'll probably meet him soon." 

As if summoned, a man in a dark jumpsuit with a bandana around his neck appeared at the top of the stairs on the far side of the Great Room. He had messy hair that was equal parts brown and gray, though his face was young. He was covered in dirt and hadn't shaved in a while, which made his light gray eyes pop even from across the room.  

"I thought the guy was supposed to be Ataxi?" He said, not moving from the top of the stairs.

"He was, we can be almost sure," said Dax. "We don't know because the Lighters got there before us."

"God dammit, we needed that Red,” the man groaned. “So who the fuck is this then?"

"She can cook," said Marim, with authority.

"Oh. Does she fabricate the food too? Cause we're going to need someone who does now that we've lost that bounty."

"We wouldn't be so broke if you hadn't let that kid escape last week," Dax retorted, grumbling low in his throat.

"Oh, so you would have turned him in? Let a fourteen year old sent rot in a prison for the rest of his life because he was smart enough to steal some of the endless energy from the Council?"

"We're not judges, Ben, we're bounty hunters, and he was a stupondous bounty," the Argruarian insisted, albeit with mishandled words.

The mechanic opened his mouth to respond but Lucia quickly interjected, sensing his displeasure at her presence.

"I have some money. I'll buy you some food, cook you a meal. Just please don't leave me at this waystation. I have nowhere else to go."

The mechanic softened visibly for a moment, then ran a hand through his messy hair and slowly arched his back. "Fine, no shine off my boots. But if you try to rob us, just keep in mind Marim can rip a man’s head off with one hand. Also, in case you weren't following along, we have no soffing money. Ping me when dinner is ready." He trudged out of the room.

"It is true," said Marim. "I will cause you great bodily harm if you cross me. Now let us get cake."

A couple hours later, the mechanic, the Argruarian, the warrior and the cook gathered around a table that had been raised in the center of the great room to eat a home cooked meal. At first, no one spoke. After a few minutes of silence, Dax lifted his head from his bowl and sat back in his chair. He let out a loud, low yowl that increased steadily in pitch. Lucia rubbed the back of her neck and looked around at the group expectantly. 

"He likes it, kid," explained Ben. 

"Fuck sen, this is incredible!” Dax gushed. “You're staying, Lucia, for sure, I don't even care if we have to share a bed!"

Lucia smiled nervously. "Uhhh thanks." She felt comforted by Dax’s use of the word 'sen', a familiar, colloquial term, deriving from the word ‘sentient’.

“Don't worry kid, we've got an extra bed, you don't need to sleep with this mutt," Ben said.

"Right, uh, thanks."

Lucia was almost too relieved to speak, not because she was getting a bed, but because the group liked her cooking. Though they’d only just met, she found herself caring about what these three storied travelers thought. As a wayward traveler herself, Lucia felt like she could fit in. 

"You sure do say 'uh' a lot don't you," smirked Ben, taking a long drink from whatever was in his metallic mug.

"Oh yeah, uh, sorry, it's just been a while since I've spoken more than a few words to anyone. My translator software isn’t very bright."

"So that's what you were doing with those Ataxi guys? Making money?" the mechanic drawled.

"They were element miners, traveling from cache to cache. I had just finished a navigating job that left me on the outskirts of Lub, so I figured I would hang around a while, get to know the locals. One of the people I met found out these miners needed some help, so I stepped up. Honestly, I thought the Ataxis hated getting involved in anything more complicated than breaking rocks, so it seemed like a solid gig. And it was, until today."

Dax shook his head. "These are tenuous times Lucia, to be sure. Peace is no longer assumed in the ITZ, and Solar Harnessing is lighting the beacon. Even the Ataxis can feel it in their thick, blind rocks. No one will be able to stay out of this mess when the shit hits the fan; not the Ataxis, and not even those ghosts in the Council of Light."

Lucia pursed her lips in a grim expression. She could feel it too, like an electrical heaviness in the air. It was the same feeling she felt right before the Light Police attacked at the way station, but more stretched out and vague. 

"I heard the Relliance took out an Solar Harnessing Core back where I was born, in Triangulum," she said.

Dax nodded slowly. "Yes, I heard the same."

"Whose side are you on?" asked Lucia, unsure she wanted to hear the answer.

"There are far worse things in the universe than the Council of Light or the Relliance," replied Dax, "it is those things that I am concerned with. Surely not a spetty fight between a group of wanna-be Gods, and a group of wanna-be heroes."

"But the Relliance wants to completely eliminate Solar Harnessing. That means no more intergalactic travel. Entire planets would be without power." 

"The power of suns is not a gift that we can return, to be sure,” Dax responded. “The Relliance spreads the message that Solar Harnessing will be the eventual downfall of life, and say that is why they need to overtake the Cores. But what they are truly afraid of is losing control. No one seeks to attain power only to destroy it."

Lucia remained silent.

"This one's a good listener Dax, I like that," said Ben. The mechanic had a slight slur to his speech. Whatever was in his cup must have been strong because Lucia had only seen him take a few sips.

"Come on Dax," he continued, "enough of your politics. Tell us a funny story. The kid is clearly starved for conversation. Regaaaale us with one of your wise Argruarian tales."

Lucia's eyes lit up at this.

"Ah, I’m tired Ben,” Dax responded. “I’ve been talking a lot and my throat is overtaxed. What about Marim? She’s barely said 20 words all day.”

Dax gave a wry look in Marim’s direction. It was true, Marim was not a woman of words, much less stories. She had remained stoically silent throughout the dinner, focusing on shoveling cream-covered sponge cake into her uncharacteristically small mouth. She took another enormous bite of cake and silently chewed while the rest of the table stared at her.

“Perhaps Lucia would like to know where she will be sleeping,” she finally said.

“Um, yes actually, that would be nice,” Lucia said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Fine.” Ben promptly laid his head down onto the table and started humming to himself.

“It is surely bedtime for us all,” Dax said as he hopped off of his seat. He lifted Ben’s head and hoisted him onto his feet by his hips in a practiced motion. Ben stood for a moment, then listed to the side, stabilizing himself on Dax’s shoulder. This was a dance they both knew well. 

Marim took each of the mismatched bowls and stacked them in an uneven tower. "Come, I will show you to the sleeping quarters." 

Lucia followed her down the hall and into a room with six bunks, stacked two high on each of the walls. Considering the state of the rest of the ship, Lucia was surprised to find the beds were relatively normal, with Rollo foam Mattresses and sliding privacy screens that she could change the tint of, or display images on. 

"You take the top left bunk," Marim said. 

"Thank you," said Lucia, "I mean really, thank you." 

Marim huffed, clearly as find of displays of emotion as she was of talking. Lucia hoisted herself into her new bed, felt the mattress expand and conform to her body, and fell into a warm, deep sleep.

Chapter 3 - Day 2: That is crazy illegal

Lucia was awoken suddenly when the privacy screen of her bunk was thrown open. 

"Hey Lou, um Lucia? Right? Are you awake?” It was the mechanic’s voice. Lucia wasn't yet aware enough to verbalize the multitude of obscenities that were forming in her head. 

"What...yes that's my name...what are you...WHO DOES THIS?" 

Ben ignored the question. "You said you could navigate, right?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not an expert or anything like that," Lucia replied, rubbing her cheek that felt fuzzy from sleep.

"No, of course you're not, but I need you to take a look at something."

"Now?"

"Yes now, are you busy?" he asked impatiently. His long eyelashes made his gray eyes pop, as though he were wearing makeup for a theatrical performance.

"I..." she could see this was not a situation that could be fixed by pointing out the obvious. "Give me a minute."

Ben recognized for a moment that he was getting what he wanted. "I'll be right outside, outside of that door there when you're ready."

Like a dog anxiously awaiting a new toy, Ben skipped out of the bunk-room and stood at attention by the door. Lucia sighed, then put her shoes on and slid out of the soft bed, joining Ben outside the room.

"Ok, you're ready, perfect." He immediately took off down the hall, waving a hand to indicate she should follow. "I've invented something I want you to see." 

The slur he spoke with at dinner was still there, but it was cut short by a sharp, staccato excitement.

"Are you drunk, Ben?"

"Sure, you could call it that, not that it is at all important or relevant to what I want to show you."

Lucia saw once again that pointing out the obvious would get her nowhere, so she remained silent.

"Anyways, I've built a program that is going to put us five steps ahead of any other bounty hunter, and even ahead of the damn police themselves," he said, turning a corner into a room that was unmistakably his workshop. 

The rest of the ship looked orderly and normal compared to the inside of this room. Unnatural manufacturing odors assaulted Lucia’s nose, bringing tears to her bleary eyes as she surveyed the half-built mechanical hybrids that littered the room. Ben zeroed in on one particular object, a physical screen affixed to the top of a metal box with a series of short, cylindrical antennae protruding from one side.

"This computer can scan the chatter of every police and Tenant unit in the ITZ,  and then identify when they're talking about a wanted criminal, and then tell you where they think that criminal is," he said, scrolling through long lines of unintelligible numbers and letters on the screen.

Lucia wasn't sure how to react. "Um...how?"

"Inside here is the communication transmitter from an LP jintum radio, well actually, there are a few transmitters in here, but basically, I’ve hijacked the jintum entanglement protocol so that it constantly pings every radio in the ITZ, which then sends the live audio data back to this computer. And then it’s just a simple NLP program, modified with a spatial rendering program."

"That is crazy illegal."

"Yes, but if the police find out about it, then we'll know, won't we?" he said, touching his finger to his temple.

Lucia stared at Ben, noticing he was sweating and breathing heavily. His eyes were wide and bright, his mouth stretched into a manic smile.

"Well, what do you need my help with?" she asked, regretting the question as she heard it in her still-waking ears.

"Right, so, I haven't gotten around to designing a user interface for this," he said. "Right now, the output is raw six dimensional spatial code, ranked by the likelihood that the coordinates are where that offender is.”

“As opposed to where the LP thinks they are, right?” Lucia asked.

“Precisely! Sometimes it outputs an exact location, sometimes it’s more of a general area. Can you decipher raw spatial coordinates?"

Lucia furrowed her brow. "Oh boy, uh, if you gave me a few minutes I could probably work it out."

Ben looked surprised at this. "Really? I would have thought for sure that someone your age would have scarcely seen raw coordinates, let alone know how to navigate with them."

"Well I'm not your average person, I guess. You can't be more than 30 years older than me anyway."

"Close," he said, smirking.

"But if you didn't think I would know how to read it, why did you wake me up and drag me out here to look at this code?"

Ben blinked. "I thought you would be impressed."

"Seriously sen?"

"So you're not impressed."

"You know I am, I already told you I am!"

Ben nodded. "Thank you for not lying just to spite me, even though I dragged you out here at three in the morning."

Lucia was surprised to learn Ben was aware of what time it was, and did indeed have the clarity of mind to recognize this was more than a little inconvenient for her. It was almost a humanizing moment, until she realized that that meant he just didn't care.

"Well I'm not going to be able to fall back asleep now, so let me take a closer look at this...thing you've built," she said.

Ben smiled like he had just won a debate, and took a celebratory swig from a nearby plastene cup.

"It doesn't have a name yet, you can give it one if you want." 

"Let me play around with it first," Lucia responded. "What is that you're drinking, exactly?"

"Something else I invented that doesn't have a name. Want to try it?" he said, holding out the cup.

Maybe it was because it was three in the morning, or maybe she was just curious, but Lucia took the cup and took a small sip. It didn't have much of a taste to it, just a hint of quinine and something else she couldn't put her finger on. Flowers?

"Hmm. It’s not bad, I guess. Sort of tastes like flowers."

Ben laughed, "Ha! You're actually not the first person to say that."

Lucia laughed too, suddenly feeling very giddy. The pair sat in silence for a beat, enjoying a moment lost in their own memories. 

Lucia turned her attention back towards the nameless machine. "I don't see a typing interface, does the AI take voice commands?"

"Yes ma’am, or you can open up the keyboard by pressing the screen here." He leaned over and selected a square icon on the screen.

Lucia spoke, "Comrec - where is the nearest bounty?"

A name appeared on the left of the screen, along with a list of associated crimes. To the right was the string of spatial code containing the probable locations.

Lucia read it for a moment. "Ben, if this thing is right, then this offender is only four lightyears away."

"No soffing way, are you sure?" He jumped up and read the screen, the white letters reflecting in his wide, glassy eyes. "Goddammit, you are right! And he’s worth thirty times the cost of the power jab it’ll take to get to him!"

He ran out of the room to wake the other bounty hunters, leaving Lucia alone. She began to walk toward the exit, but something on the crowded workbench near the door caught her eye. It was a small, expertly crafted model of a planet, with real dirt and water that was held together by an invisible field of some kind. It hovered above a circular plate that read ‘Pluora’ on the face. Lucia bent down to get a closer look, and saw that there was an inscription carved around the outside of the plate. It read:

We knew the merry world was round

and we could sail for ever more

But in the endless sea we found

naught but a longing for the shore

Lucia heard the sound of footsteps pounding on the metal floor and quickly stepped back from the bench.

"We've got a live one!" yelled Dax as he ran past the workroom door. 

Marim followed quickly behind Dax. Lucia considered following them, but was not eager to involve herself in another firefight. A few moments later, Ben came trotting down the corridor with a ludicrously large gun.

"Are you snooping, Lucius?" He asked.

"Lucia. And no," she lied.

"I'm a little hurt that you’re not!" he said, putting his hand to his chest. "Stay here on the Scheherazade, but move aside because I'm going to lock this door so you don't keep — I mean start — snooping."

Lucia slowly stepped forward, out of the workshop, maintaining eye contact with Ben throughout her movements. 

He swiped his hand over the door panel, then ran down the corridor and disappeared around the corner, his enormous weapon scraping the floor as he went.

And so, Lucia found herself alone again in a strange, but not quite alien, environment.

Chapter 4 - Well then sents, gather round

Not 20 minutes later, Marim burst through the docking bay doors of the duster, a small green-haired man slung over her shoulder. He pounded away at her muscled shoulder as she leapt back and forth, dodging weapon fire. Her bronze face was a picture of focus; neither relaxed nor strained. Like a dancer, she swung her body around the rim of the bay door with one hand, the other holding fast to the flailing bounty-head. Continuing the arc of her body, she threw her foot to the right, flipping a switch with her bionic big toe. The bay door slammed shut, whirring as the safety locks screwed into place. 

Marim bounded down one of the ship’s corridors into a room filled with empty, open cells. She touched three of her fingers to a panel on the wall and a single stall lit up with white light. She threw her human cargo into the illuminated stall and a heavy red door closed the open side of the cell. The cell door changed from an urgent red to a satisfying pink, indicating the magnetic padding on the inner cell walls was engaged. 

Marim paused for a moment to stand with her hands on her hips, nodding proudly at her work. After only a moment's breath she was suddenly thrown into the pink door as the ship lurched to the side. As she heaved herself to her feet, Marim cursed the fact that the cells were not padded on the outside. The ship was fleeing, as it should be, but the lack of grace in the takeoff was concerning. Marim ran out of the holding bay, keeping an outstretched hand on the wall to steady herself. She made her way to the flight deck, where Ben and Lucia were frantically steering the ship to avoid the incoming fire.

"I'm guessing you got the Mick?" asked Ben, without looking away from the controls. He had pulled the bandana he wore around his neck up to keep his hair out of his face.

"He's in the holding bay," said Marim, matter-of-factly. "Why haven't we jumped yet?"

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but these guys are shooting MEMPs at us, big ones," replied Ben. “Can’t risk them hitting us with one of them right when we launch, so we've got to lose them the old fashioned way."

A voice came over the ship's com. 

"Ben, we don't have the firepower to take out all of these ships, you've got to drop them, to be sure." It was Dax, speaking from the manual weapons control deck at the ship's stern.

"Soff it. Lucia, where is the nearest planet?"

"Planet? Uh, there's one about 1,500 gigameters from here, but it’s not colonized."

"Don't care, what's the terrain like?"

"Mostly thallium and manganese rock, lots of mountains, some sulfur lakes."

"Perfect. Put in the coordinates."

Ben activated the ship's cloak, and threw the ship towards the planet at sub-light speed. They soon entered a vaporous, fuchsia atmosphere.

"They're still on to us, Ben," said Lucia, rubbing the back of her sweaty neck as she monitored the angry red dots on the radar.

"I said. Sit. Tight," he spoke through gritted teeth.

Ben quickly scanned the terrain map. He pushed the ship into a sharp dive, then a sudden curve to the right. He doubled back, then swerved to the right again. The only way the crew could tell they were careening through the fuchsia fog was the slight pull of inertia every time Ben changed directions too quickly for the dampeners to compensate. Eventually, the ship slid under a large outcropping of rock, and Ben cut all power, encasing the crew in darkness. He touched another active pad and even the pilot lights went dim. Lucia looked down at the metal device on the inside of her wrist and saw that it was off as well. 

"You better not have just broken my Com-Palm," Lucia said to Ben, guessing that was just the sort of thing he would do without giving it a second thought.

"Cool your jets, little girl, it was just a tiny EMP. You can restart it as soon as these pig-diddlers give up the search." He stood, only his silhouette visible in the dim purple light that penetrated the thick clouds outside.

"You really think they won't be able to find us?" asked Lucia.

"Highly unlikely." Ben paused. "About a 1% chance," he said as he rooted around inside of a locker.

No one pointed out that that was still pretty high, considering the consequences of being found by their pursuers. 

Lucia tried to be constructive instead. "Can we turn on a light?" she asked. “Surely one light battery won't give off enough of an electrical field to show up on their radar."

"You're right, one light wouldn't. That being said, I bet Dax is thinking the same thing."

As if summoned, a beam of light illuminated the corridor leading up to the flight deck, wielded by a relieved looking dog. 

"That was some chief driving there, bud," Dax strutted into the room and clapped Ben on the shoulder. "Real chief." He flung a Com-Palm and a small bio-suit onto the floor. "Got the bounty's tech. He surely won't be revealing us."

Ben combed a hand through his brown-gray hair and sighed "Yeah, but now we have to wait for the izzers to leave. Could take hours.” Ben produced a flask from his jumpsuit and took a long, deep swig. 

Dax walked to the center of the deck and placed the light he was holding on the console. "Why don't you tell us a story then, Ben? You've had just about the most interesting life of anyone I've ever known."

"Talk about myself, you say," Ben stroked his chin in a comical fashion, "that may be a good way to kill a couple of hours. What do you want to hear about?"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence, then Lucia asked, with a brave face,

"What is Pluora?"  

Ben stopped in his chair mid-swivel. His gray eyes were fixed on something, except they were no longer seeing anything in this reality. He sat like this for 20 seconds, the longest Lucia had ever seen him stay still.

Finally, he dropped his chin to his chest. "You were snooping, in my workshop."

"Yes."

Ben let out a short, empty chuckle through his nose. Lucia felt a pang of guilt; she had clearly stumbled upon a bad memory.

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to, um, intrude,” she said.

"No, no,” Ben waved his hand, “ask about any period of my life, and odds are, I'm going to have to tell you a sad story. This is one of the saddest, however."

Lucia was frightened by Ben's sudden depression, but nothing in the universe could have made her rescind her question. Marim and Dax were equally enticed, neither of them moving or saying a word.

"Well then sents, gather round," he stood, walking to the center console, where Dax had placed his light. It under-lit Ben’s face, casting long, ominous shadows from his facial features.

  "Let me tell you about the death of Pluora, my homeworld."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pluora was one of four planets created by the Council of Light, a millennia after they discovered how to harness the power of stars. No longer would they have to search for the infinitely rare goldilocks rocks upon which they had molded their other worlds. With such immense energy, they were able to pull space dust into a concentrated point, birthing a molten planet. They cooled the atmosphere at an accelerated rate, until the weather conditions were appropriate for life. Super-plants were cultivated on the surface, turning volcanic rock to soil and removing any toxins from the air. Finally, they introduced animal life; birds and frogs and sagoats first, to make sure the planet was habitable, then humans. 

It was a paradise. Giant trees scraped the blue-purple sky, vines with flowers the size of children covered the giant boulders that littered the landscape. Small streams snaked through the terrain, of crystal clear water never before touched by humans.  There were mineral ponds, giant fields of vibrant yellow and green and red that bubbled and steamed.  At night, the sky was filled with so many stars that it looked gray instead of black, and a nearby nebula blanketed everything in a rosy tinge. 

The idea was to create a utopia, each planet a different experiment, testing the hypotheses of what made a perfect world. I was born on Pluora three years after it was terraformed. Children outnumbered adults thirty to one. We had no parents, only Teachers, but that didn't bother us because we didn't know any other way. We were told we were special, chosen even, destined to unlock the secret to happiness. The lack of adults ensured we weren't overly influenced by the old ways, supposedly allowing us to discover a better path. Who knows if it would have worked out in the end, but I do know I was happy. I’m sure of it.

My first memory is of a Teacher taking me to the observatory outside of town. We walked through a path that was lined with giant white Sinia flowers in full bloom, up to the observatory made of jet black obsinite. It was warm outside, and I could feel the chill emanating off the cool stone walls as we stepped inside. The teacher adjusted the huge lens, and I remember wondering how all the sky could possibly fit into the tiny hole at the end of the telescope. Arval, the Teacher, put my eye to the looking glass, and for the first time I peered into another galaxy. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I asked him if we could see the end of the universe. 

"Not with our eyes," he said. 

"Can we feel it?" I asked. 

He laughed, "If you ever get there, please do tell me what it feels like."

Such is the confidence of a child, I thought he was giving me an assignment, an exciting challenge. A challenge to reach the edge of the universe, and explore the great beyond. I had watched ships come and go from the planet, learned the names of hundreds of galaxies, traveled to them in my mind, but I didn't know anyone who had been out there and returned to talk about it. It just didn't seem real to me, the rest of the universe. That's hard to imagine now.

I excelled in school, even compared to my classmates, who had also been handpicked from conception to colonize the planet. We had lessons every day, designed to hone our mental abilities, without teaching us what was right and wrong. We would memorize history, math, science, but were not taught to internalize them. Instead, we were taught to build structures in our mind: giant buildings where we could store the information, separate from the rest of our consciousness. The lessons would last for a few hours, but the majority of our time we spent together, just the children, playing. There were many places around our town that we weren't allowed to go, but we understood that was for our safety. Pluora was as violent as it was beautiful, as the new planet bellowed and shifted in its crust like a toddler in a new jumpsuit. Accidents were common. 

After our morning class we were instructed to meditate on the mystery of the universe. One day, myself and two other boys, Fett and Neerav, left the grassy knoll where the children lay with their eyes closed, and ventured out into the wilderness. We came upon a black field of fresh, volcanic rock, and ran up and down the mounds of dried lava. We all came to rest there, standing and panting on top of a volcanic mound. The rocks exhaled steam from a recent rain. Fett and I watched the waves crash against the edge of the land. Neerav stared down into a deep fissure in the earth in front of us. 

Neerav spoke. “In my dreams, I’m inside of a giant hole that I can’t get out of. There is nothing, so much nothing, and I can feel it trying to turn me into nothing too.”

“Just run away from it!” Fett exclaimed and began running again. I chased him, yelling, “I’m the darkness! I’m the darkness and I’m going to eat you!”

Behind me, Neerav laughed and began running too. But the rock was slick, and as I turned back, I saw him slip and disappear into the crevasse.

The Teachers explained to me that death was a necessity, for without it there would be no meaning to life. True contentment cannot exist if there is not depression to compare it to, they said. Chaos and order cannot exist without the other, but perhaps even chaos can be controlled within our minds. Think of the rain, they said. It comes every five days, as we command it to, heavy and wet. But we rejoice in the fact that the rain gives the plants life, and we are even happier when the sun returns. 

“But death,” I said, “how can we control death?”

“Perhaps that is something you can tell us,” they said. 

This challenge I was not as happy to receive. The thought of it terrified me. I was very careful after the day Neerav died, never straying too far from the town for fear that death might confront me, and I had no idea how I might fight against it. Little did I know that only by leaving the confines of my home would I learn how to fight death, and wield its terrible power at the peril of countless lives.

But the death in this story is that of Pluora, and every sentient on it. It began on a beautiful day, towards the end of Demeter, the second summer. I awoke that morning and decided to skip lessons. It was not such a big deal to do so; no one was really required to do anything on Pluora except respect one another. My best friend Fett joined me, and we ran to a small beach nearby to race Slyzards; salamander-like creatures that lived in the rocks by the ocean. We would strap mechanical helicopter wings to them and race them like drones. We were ten years old, and obsessed with competition. I kept building faster and faster wings, with better power cells, tighter harnesses, but Fett would always win. Almost always. 

Fett had beaten me nine times that day, each loss only fueling my obsession. I remember looking over at him in the middle of the tenth race, the sun reflecting off of his sweat-covered, freckled skin, his brows screwed tight together in concentration….and I had this desire to bite his face, to chomp down on his cheek as hard as I could. The startling, animal impulse caused me to lose control of my Slyzard drone. The propellers hit the black sand, spraying Fett's drone with tiny particles. His wings couldn't handle the friction, and his Slyzard fell to the earth.  My drone was fine, having been built by my crafty hands, and I was able to complete the course for a victory. 

I celebrated like I had won the Ultimate Prix, waving my wriggling Slyzard in his face. 

“You’re a cheater!” Fett shouted, pushing me into the sand.

I swiped my legs to the side, catching his ankles and knocking him over. I pounced on him and he started flailing, hitting me wherever he could land a blow. But I would not relent, pushing his head further and further into the black volcanic sand.

“Ok, ok, quit!” he shouted, spitting flecks of sulphuric rocks from his mouth. I rolled off of him and we both laid side by side, panting for a minute or two. 

Then we both started laughing; maybe because we realized how stupid we must have looked flailing around in the sand, maybe because we were ten and the only thing we really had to worry about was Slyzard races. If I had known it would be the last few blissful moments Fett and I would ever spend together, I...well if I'm being honest I still wouldn't have said anything special to him. But he was my best friend and the only person I felt like I would see every day for the rest of my life. We were supposed to unlock the secrets of the universe together, but I watched him drown the next day when the planet collapsed.

Fett and I were about to begin another race when I saw something strange on the horizon. It was a huge plume of smoke, billowing forth into the sky. A volcanic eruption, the largest I had ever seen. A second later, Fett and I were thrown to the ground by an immense shockwave. I was knocked out for a couple of minutes, and when I awoke my ears were ringing so loudly I couldn't think about anything else. Fett was on the ground to my left clutching his head. His mouth was open, but I could not hear him screaming. 

I crawled over to him and tore his hands from his head, shouting that we had to leave, but no sound came from my mouth either. The water had already begun to recede from the shore, a clear sign that a tsunami was coming. I grabbed my friend's arm, pulled him up, and ran into the trees, dragging him behind me. We were halfway to our town when the ground disappeared from beneath my feet, then leapt upwards, causing my legs to buckle. An earthquake. Of course, a part of me knew what was happening, but I never thought it would deteriorate as far as it did. 

We ran the last half kilometer to the town bunker, covered in sand and sweat. The damage to the town wasn't too severe, as the buildings were made to withstand the frequent earthquakes of the young planet. There was mass confusion in the bunker as everyone tried to communicate without sound, having been made deaf from the shockwave. One by one, sonic conduction headpieces were distributed. I affixed mine behind my ear, and tested it - "One two three, one two three" - I felt the conductor vibrate my skull, but still could not hear a word above the relentless ringing. The ringing was in my brain, and that was not so easily fixed. 

I yelled to Fett as loud as I could, "Can you hear me?!” 

He yelled back, "Not really!" 

He gave me a small smile, which I returned. Everything would be alright, I thought. Teacher Byora approached me, brandishing a holoboard, like the ones we used in the classrooms. He spoke and the words appeared in the air, Are you hurt, Ben? I shook my head 'no'. 

Teacher Byora dictated again, Good. Mount Azucar has erupted. The seismologists do not predict any further activity, but we must stay here for another 20 hours, at least until the shockwave has traveled around Pluora and passed us again. Please excuse me. 

He disappeared into the crowd. 

After the shockwave had made its second pass of the town, the bunker began to empty out as the teachers concluded that the threat had passed and saw fit to release their students home. By the 50th hour, only one teacher and ten students remained in the bunker, including myself. The ringing in my ears had begun to fade as the biobots in my body repaired my damaged eardrums. Our Teacher had directed us home, but only Fett had heeded the advice. I watched him leave from behind the thick windows of the bunker, too afraid of death to follow him. 

From the bunker’s position on the small hill in the center of town, I could see two girls, who I recognized from class, playing with a fallen sign. I could also see Teacher Byora, who was making his way back to the bunker, holding a package of some kind. The emergency sea walls were raised around the entire perimeter of the town, towering above even the tallest buildings, protecting us from the tsunami floods. 

You are probably thinking, why didn't they start evacuating the planet after a tenth of the population was killed by an unforeseen disaster? It would certainly have made sense to do so, unless you understand the mindset of a Pluoran. We were pioneers, building a new future for sentientkind, on the first completely sentmade planet. We had endured earthquakes and tsunamis before. Apart from the Teachers, every single one of us had grown up with these events occurring on a semi-regular basis. Such events were a small price to pay for being special. We were chosen to live upon this experimental planet, and we did so proudly and of our own volition. Mortal anxiety was a feeling every Pluoran had to embrace constantly, and therefore never really felt at all. I was, of course, an exception to that.

Fett was almost out of my sight when the second earthquake struck. It was so violent that even the bunker shook in its gyroscopic base. I was thrown to the side, my face catching the sharp edge of an open panel as I fell. When I found my footing again, I immediately went to the window. I couldn't see Fett, but a girl was pinned under a beam that had fallen from a balcony above her. I was about to leave the bunker and help her, when I heard a terrible crack, loud enough to overpower the ringing in my ears, followed by the low groan of metal being pulled apart by an immense pressure. Then I saw it. The sea wall had broken, and was beginning to fall. Water poured forth from the growing fissure, engulfing the buildings below. I stared in horror as giant waves swept around the sides of the city, their crests dwarfing buildings far taller than the one I was in. I then saw Fett, sprinting down the street towards me. I turned to run for the door, but a large body stopped me. Teacher Byora. 

"He will never make it in time. If you open that door you'll only doom us all to the same fate.". 

I cried out, fighting against his arms, but gaining no ground. I turned back and pressed my face and hands against the window, my tears covering the glass. In a moment Fett was gone, swept beneath the wall of water that had almost made its way to the other side of the fortress walls that were built to keep it out. I fell to my knees, the ringing in my ears now so loud that I thought my head was going to explode. Teacher Byora grabbed my head and forced it up so that I could see him miming a 'shushing' motion. I hadn't even realized I was screaming. He grabbed my arm and dragged me down the stairs to the lower level of the bunker. The earth shook violently yet again. He threw me into a small pod with thick walls and motioned for me to stay, wait. I had no idea where I was or what was happening, my face and hands were soaking wet with tears...not tears, it was blood, I was bleeding from somewhere...a woman appeared, the one Teacher that had stayed in the bunker. She was visiting from another town so I didn't know her name. She jumped into my pod, slammed the door shut, and pulled the ignition lever. We were thrust upward with such intense velocity that it pressed me down into the floor. 

After a few moments, I was able to pull myself up and watch as we exited the atmosphere. I looked down at Pluora. Almost the entire planet was obscured by dark clouds filled with lightning. The woman began to type something into the control panel of the pod. She was talking, but I wasn’t listening. Suddenly, a bright red light arced out of the northern hemisphere of the planet, like a spout of lava breaking through rock and then a second later - black. We were jumping, away from Pluora, into an endless sea of black.

Chapter 5 - Day 5 - If you’ll listen

It had been five days since Lucia had joined the intrepid team of bounty hunters on their ship. Every planet has their own system of days, but to those of an extra-planetary mindset — such as bounty hunters — a day consists of 24 hours. Always has and always will. When one jumps from world to world, and spends most of one’s time floating in space, following the official ITZ calendar gives one a sense of grounding. 

Lucia was starting to feel like she had begun to blend into the colorful flow of the hunters’ daily lives. She now knew that the good toilet was in the bottom of the ship, and the microwave was in a cupboard in the Great Room, and there was a loose panel in one of the corridors that you had to avoid stepping on. She learned the name of their old Duster vessel: The Sheherazade. She knew that Dax loved Judan meat, Marim loved sweets, and Ben didn't eat very much at all. 

Her endeavors to find out more about the three hunters had been most successful with Dax, who could often be found in the Great Room, passing the time between bounties by playing board games. Lucia would assist him in multi-player games, and in turn, Dax would tell her about some of his past adventures. His homeworld, like all others discovered thus far, hadn't developed to the point of intergalactic space travel when the first humans landed there hundreds of years ago. Dax himself had been born outside of the Argruarian’s home galaxy, to an adventurous mother. They had returned to Gruar not long after that, but not before Dax was blessed with the same wander-lust that had afflicted his mother. She taught him to speak Ertish from a young age, which was no small feat considering the difference between human vocal cords, and that of Dax's species. 

Dax told Lucia that although he had teamed up with Marim first, he had known Ben for decades, after he had attempted to arrest Ben for drug manufacturing. When Lucia pressed Dax for details, he only disclosed that Ben had saved his life all those many years ago, and that he could probably tell the story better.

Ben didn’t look like someone who was old enough to have saved a life ‘all those many years ago’. Indeed Lucia wanted to speak to the young mechanic, but he had holed himself up in his workshop ever since they narrowly escaped the fuchsia planet. He spent almost every hour in his workshop, behind the thick, closed door. Lucia pressed her ear to it on occasion, sometimes hearing clanging metal, sometimes the low buzz of a flash welder, sometimes complete silence. Perhaps telling the story of his homeworld had sent him into a minor depression. It was almost as though he had transformed into another person while recalling his youth; his face became softer, his words more nuanced. Everything about Ben was incomprehensible to Lucia; he was so odd, so flawed, so intense. Where Lucia had been born, a tightly regulated, L2 world, such extremes did not exist. Or at least, they were not supposed to exist.

It took another full day, and a fresh bounty to pull Ben from hiding. This bounty was completed without a firefight, and the success seemed to shake whatever fog had been hanging over Ben's head. 

"Cheers to a stress-free payday," he shouted to the crew, who were gathered around a table at a bar near to where they had dropped off the bounty-head.

Marim held up her hands in a gesture of surrender when Ben offered her a drink. "I will sit this one out."

"Maybe you'd prefer to sit on my face, eh Marim?" Ben winked an exaggerated wink. "Come on, tonight's the night, I can feel it." He cupped his hand around an imaginary ass and smiled wickedly.

"The only thing you're going to feel is my hand down your throat." Marim made an exaggerated gesture of her own.

"Oh Marim, I knew you were kinky, but that's taking it too far, even for me," Ben said with fake shock.

"Before you two take this any further, just remember we've got a young, impressionable girl with us," admonished Dax.

"Oh, I don't care," said Lucia, "believe me, I've heard far worse."

"See Dax? You underestimate our dear chef," Ben nudged Lucia's arm. "But we should get out of here anyway, I don't like the way that guy is looking at me," Ben said, lowering his voice and gesturing to a man sitting at the table across from them.

"Maybe he's imagining Marim sitting on your face," Lucia said.

Ben looked back at her, this time with genuine shock on his face. He burst out suddenly in laughter. "Ha! What did I tell you, Dax? She's got a sense of humor!"

Lucia smiled to herself. Marim, on the other hand, looked deeply troubled.

“What has you perturbed?” Dax asked her.

“I have thought of a story to tell.”

“What, right now?” Ben asked.

“Now is a time to tell it.”

Ben chuckled, clearly amused by the sudden turn of events. “Ok then, tell it.”

“Ancient Ertian stories are most beautiful and powerful, so Ben, keep your mouth shut." She wagged a strong finger at the mechanic.

"I will do my best to withhold my genius commentary."

"Many thanks." 

Marim began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Long ago, there existed a planet that was poor and underdeveloped. The people of this land worshiped Makenchi, the Master Architect, who built the heavens above and the earth below by molding stardust in his bare hands. The people tried with all their might to build structures that would please the Master Architect, but they lacked all skill, and their creations would turn out lopsided and unsteady. One day, one of the largest buildings in the center of town fell, killing all who were inside. But when the dust settled, a woman saw an infant child perched on top of the rubble, completely unscathed. She took the child, naming him Sakenchi. His name meant "great builder", for he was blessed by Makenchi, the ultimate builder, and he was therefore destined to become the greatest architect in the land. 

The child grew to become a man, and as he did, he built incredible structures that were so beautiful the people wept to behold them. Sakenchi's buildings withstood wind and rain, and the people rejoiced that their suffering was over, for now that they had shelter, they were able to devote their lives to farming and medicine. All were happy, except for Sakenchi. His creations were not large enough, not intricate enough to rival his namesake, Makenchi, who built the universe itself. Every year, Sakenchi would build bigger and bigger buildings, with thousands of rooms that each served a different purpose. 

"Stop Sakenchi," the people said. "We do not need all these rooms, we simply cannot use all of this empty space." But Sakenchi did not listen. 

"I will stop when Makenchi tells me that I have pleased him." 

Sakenchi's adoptive mother prayed every night to Makenchi, thanking him for blessing their people with such a precious gift. She begged him to visit her son, and praise his work, but her prayers went unanswered.

After many years, Sakenchi fell in love with the most beautiful woman in the land. To win her hand in marriage, he built a monument that was taller than Mount Jira, the tallest mountain. Sakenchi was sure that a creation built with the love he felt for the woman would impress Makenchi. The tower was so beautiful, the woman was swayed to marry Sakenchi, but still the Master Architect was silent. 

Soon after, Sakenshi’s new wife became pregnant with a son. But instead of being overjoyed, Sakenchi was devastated, for his son would be born and see that his father had failed to live up to his namesake, and he would be shamed. Sakenchi decided he would build a tower so high that it would reach the heavens, and he would ask Makenchi face to face why he was not pleased.

Sakenchi traveled to the peak of Mount Jira, where he would begin to build his tower. There he met a giant bird, with gleaming feathers that glistened in the sunlight. He asked the bird if she had ever flown to the heavens.

"I have," said the bird, "but there is nothing up there that is more beautiful than what you, Sakenchi, have created on this earth."

"That is not possible, for if it were true, surely Makenchi would have visited this land."

"Makenchi sees the world in a different light," said the bird, and with a great flap of its wings, it flew away into the clouds.

Sakenchi set to work on his tower. All day and night, he labored, cutting down the trees from the mountain to use as material. Soon the trees were gone, and Sakenchi began mining the stone of the mountain itself to build his creation. As Sakenchi neared the heavens, the bird visited him again.

"From so high, can you see the beauty of your land down below?" she asked him.
Sakenchi looked down. "I cannot, for the clouds are in the way."

"Climb onto my back and I shall show you."

Sakenchi mounted the bird, nestling into its luminous feathers. The bird soared down into the thick clouds, breaking through them and revealing the land below. She flew over Sakenchi's creations, which were even more beautiful when viewed from above.

"Look at all these monuments you have created, how they gleam in the sunlight,"

"They do not gleam brightly enough," said Sakenchi.

The bird flew closer to the ground.

"Look how happy your people are, safe in the shelters you have built them."

"Safety is not enough."

The bird flew even closer to the ground.

"Look at your wife, how beautiful she is, surrounded by her husband’s creations, while she herself is helping to create your son."

"My son will not please Makenchi."

The bird soared back up through the clouds, placing Sakenchi back on top of his tower.

"Makenchi is pleased by all of his children's creations," said the bird.

"But mine are the greatest, why can he not see that?" said Sakenchi. 

The bird turned away, and with a great flap of his wings, disappeared into the clouds.
Sakenchi was unchanged, and continued building his tower.

After many more days, the tower finally broke through the exosphere into the cold beyond. Sakenchi looked around him, and saw that the stars were no closer, and there was nothing but endless empty space surrounding him. He fell to his knees and wept, for he knew that he could never build enough to fill the empty space around him. The great bird visited him again.

"Why do you weep?"

"Because I can see the vastness of the heavens, and I know that I can never create anything large enough for Makenchi to see, for I am mortal and will die.”

"What do you wish for, Sakenchi?"

"I want to live long enough to fill the emptiness and please Makenchi."

The bird touched his beak to Sakenchi's head, filling him with hot white light.

"It is done," said the bird.

"I want to see it all," said Sakenchi, "I want to see the surfaces on which I will have to build."

"You will never be able to fill the space," said the bird, "you have already doomed yourself to never ending sorrow, for you will never die."

"If I am now immortal, then I am no different from Makenchi. You must obey me," insisted Sakenchi.

"Climb on to my back and I shall show you," said the bird.

Sakenchi did so, and the bird soared into space. She flew over galaxies, filled with millions of planets just like Sakenchi's, filled with millions of people just like Sakenchi. She flew over stars so huge they sucked in galaxies themselves. She flew higher and higher, revealing the universe to Sakenchi. Sakenchi could not stand to behold such immensity, and screamed for the bird to stop, but she flew higher still. Sakenchi ripped his eyes from his head, so that he could no would no longer have to behold the greatness of eternity.

The bird brought Sakenchi back to his home, where he slept for 20 days and nights. When he awoke, his wife came to him, and placed his infant son in his arms. Sakenchi felt him in his hands. "His weight is greater than that of the entire universe," Sakenchi said, "his name shall be Rachem, meaning Endless," and he began to weep without tears.

Rachem grew to a man, and built creations even finer than his father's. He built mountains, and trees, but Sakenchi could never see them. Rachem bore a son, and that son built a new planet, but Sakenchi could not see it. A thousand years passed, and Sakenchi's progeny continued to build greater and grander things, but Sakenchi could never see them. One day, as he sat alone in his room, Sakenchi heard a great flap of a giant bird's wings.

"Do you see now Sakenchi?" said the bird.

Sakenchi fell to his knees before the bird. "I do," he wept, "you were right, oh great Makenchi, I had already created my greatest work when I created my son, and now I will never be able to enjoy his creations for I am blind to them."

Makenchi bowed her head. "You have pleased me, Great Architect."

Sakenchi smiled, and fell into an endless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Marim’s story, and another round of drinks, the gang made their way back to the ship and began to disperse into the many winding corridors. Lucia caught up to Ben as he walked to his workshop.

"I, um, I wanted to talk to you," she said, following behind him like a loyal pet.

"Here I am Lucia, what do you need?"

"I want to know what happened next."

"After what?"

"After, um, well after you left Pluora. Was it completely destroyed?"

"It was."

"Did anyone else escape? Apart from you and that teacher?"

Ben sighed. "How about this Lucia. I've got nothing to do tomorrow except waste away on this ship waiting for the next machine to break down. Come to my workshop in the morning, and I'll tell you what happened next."

Lucia stopped walking. "You will?" 

Ben stopped too, turning to face her. He blinked his long eyelashes a few times.  "Yeah, why not. It’s a damn good story, and maybe it's about time I start working through some of these memories. Like therapy or some shit like that. And this way, I don't have to keep answering your dumb questions."

Lucia smiled, ignoring his insult because she was getting what she wanted. "It’s a deal." 

Ben continued walking. Lucia shouted out to him as he rounded the corner, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

The next morning, Lucia was surprised to find Ben sitting in the Great Room, flipping through news bites on his Com-Palm. She thought he might have changed his mind once he sobered up, if that was something he ever did. She had to admit, he looked fairly sober, sitting there on the large navy blue loveseat, his face clean and calm, his jumpsuit wrinkled but washed. She sat down on the yellow couch that had mysteriously appeared across from the turquoise couch that always adorned the Great Room.

"You didn't tell the others?" he asked.

Lucia hadn't even thought to do so. "Uh, no, should I have?"

There was just a fleeting moment of disappointment on Ben's face, so brief that had Lucia not been studying it, she would have missed the sentiment. 

"Do you want me to get them? I'm sure they would love to hear—"

Ben held up his hand, cutting her off, "No, they will probably walk in here at some point, and they can stay if they want to." He nodded his head definitively, reassuring himself of something. 

As though summoned, Dax and Marim appeared from opposite entrances to the Great Room. Lucia was beginning to suspect that the old ship had a way of making people appear when called upon. Perhaps after all these years of passively listening to every conversation through the neural com system networked throughout its body, it had gained some sort of telepathic sentience, and amused itself by willing its passengers to appear when named. Lucia suddenly felt a little exposed.

"Ah, my dear friends, come take a seat." Ben stood from his loveseat throne and politely beckoned for the two to sit. Neither of them mentioned the appearance of the yellow couch, though both elected to sit on the more familiar blue one. Once they had, Ben took a seat himself and folded his hands on his lap.

"How long have we known each other, hmm? Marim, five years? Dax, I don't even think I can count that high. All that time, and I've never really told you very much about my early life." Ben averted his eyes from the blank stares of Dax and Marim, instead studying his thumbs. Lucia wondered if the other two bounty hunters were as confused as she was when he spoke of his ‘early life’ like he was a wizened entertainer in his fourth quarter and not a 40-something, drug-addicted mechanic.

"Anyways, I'd be cheating you if something were to happen to me without you knowing the full story. So I'm going to tell it to you, all three of you," Ben looked back up at Dax. "If you'll listen."

Dax furrowed his brow for a moment, before relaxing his face and smiling. "Mate, I can't think of a better way to spend a Forday."

Marim simply nodded her head in agreement.

Lucia would have added her vote of support as well, but Ben had already moved on. This was only happening because of her, she reminded herself, so that was acknowledgement enough.

"Fantastic!" Ben said, trying his best to hide his pride. "Then let's begin where we left off, in a tiny escape pod in the middle of the empty sky."