by F. E. Arliss
The beautiful white-blonde giantess said, “My goodness Tate, you’ve become a regular Idolum knight. Thank you for that lovely introduction.” Turning towards Winter, she added, “I’m pleased to meet you, Winter. I’ve heard many good things about you and hope that we can be friends and partners.”
Winter, ever the pragmatist, simply said, “Perhaps.” She did not bow or say she was pleased to meet the Queen. She wasn’t. The huge woman was making Tate nervous and that was not something Winter liked.
Sasha Kelty came forward, smiling gently at Winter. “Come you two, sit down and relax. We are all friends here and Queen Altum Juls has a proposition that I think the two of you will want to hear,” she said, herding them towards a soft sofa that sat opposite an enormous wing-backed chair. Glasses of lemonade-like beverages and snacks sat on small tables within easy reach.
Winter glanced up at Tate and raised one eyebrow, ‘They’re greasing the skids. Must want something’, she thought. He grinned slightly in return. This new communication was something they’d discovered as they’d roamed the wilds of Renegar these past weeks. When Winter got tired, all she had to do was think about that fact and Tate at the same time, and he’d clamber down the cliff he was climbing as though she’d spoken to him. Neither had actually addressed the phenomenon aloud, but both were aware of it.
Queen Altum Juls picked it up instantly, “Ah, you can communicate with each other through thought. That is impressive!” Sasha Kelty looked startled, then laughed.
“We’re all starting to get this whole telepathy thing going strong,” Sasha laughed again, shaking her long mane of red hair. “Gran and I can talk mentally, too. So can our Queen and her children,” Sasha added with a nod to the regal woman beside her. “I’m beginning to wonder if it’s something in the water!”
Queen Altum Juls laughed. “I’m pretty sure it’s not the water, Sasha, but it does certainly seem prevalent in the company we keep!”
“Please, sit!” The Queen commanded them, sweeping one arm towards the sofa. “We have much to discuss!”
“I know that you two have been undecided about what your future holds,” the Queen continued after they settled on the sofa opposite her. “As the head of the Alliance, I have many worlds to protect and while I am aided in that by my son, General Apollo and many of my Generals, it is never enough. The universe encroaches on our people at every turn. We try to keep hidden, so that our Idolum people are safe from persecution. But that time has come to an end, I believe.”
Sighing heavily, the Queen shared a glance with Sasha Kelty, then continued, “Our biggest block is that we don’t have anyone who can serve as a mediator between our Alliance and the rest of the universe. Some of us have the perspective to do it ... those of us, that is, who have a human as well as Idolum outlook. That is reserved to me and Princess Arc Exousia Quirke ,,, and neither of us has the time to begin this enormous project,” the Queen stated firmly.
“What we do need is someone who can speak for us at assemblies, has the skills to protect themselves while doing so, and the appearance and manners that will project our Alliance in the best possible way,” she finished quietly, while staring intently at the two of them.
“You two are ideal. Tate, you are highly intelligent, well mannered, intuitive about people, a terrific pilot, and a skilled fighter. It doesn’t hurt that you look like a million credits, either,” the Queen added with a laugh.
“That said, Winter has the same abilities, though less desire to talk with people. Unfortunately, fate has given her another gift that is highly desirable in an ambassador...the ability to pretend. She also is intuitive, beautiful, and a skilled fighter. Between the two of you, you also have telepathic communication,” she continued broodingly.
“In a nutshell, there could not be two more perfect people to represent the Alliance to the Intergalactic Universes. You would have to plan and understand species completely. Winter, I’ve talked long and seriously with Jeanie and she tells me that you know the psychological desires of any species with a complete and total plumbing of the depths.”
“Tate, with your understanding of humanity and outward appearance of an Idolum, you are in a unique position to represent us.
This is a job offer, you two. You would have to swear allegiance to the Alliance, though I suspect you are both already prepared for that. Tate has done so in the past.”
“This opportunity would come with an enormous responsibility to the peoples of the Alliance. It would also come with a fully loaded Idolum hybrid ship, a pair of genetically matched Idolum mites that would protect each of you for life, and a squad of completely trustworthy Idolum and human guards that you pick yourselves from a cadre of soldiers we will pre-screen. The roster of scheduled appearances will be delivered to you this evening so that you can see where your duties might take you.”
“Your home base would be a moon in the Rayen System. It is a frozen world, but already has an established and heavily fortified Alliance outpost on it. Should you agree to these duties, there is one thing that Winter will have to do ... dress like an Ambassador. You may, of course, retain your bald head,” Queen Altum Juls said with a smile. “I think it becomes you very well.” Winter just scowled at her.
“I know you are both very young to have this great of a responsibility. You are also mature far beyond your years. In some ways this will be a hindrance. People will dismiss you or underestimate you. At the same time, I want you to think about that fact in a different light. You are both survivors and have the energy it will take to follow through with this project, which is to bring the Alliance into the forefront as a major universal player. You are both fully aware of what motivates people and the many machinations of the ranks of power behind the scenes of polite society. That is an advantage.”
Talk it over for the next few days and let us know,” the Queen said, rising to her feet. “Please think long and hard about this. It will be a tremendously important undertaking and will require total dedication and huge amounts of patience and planning. Thank you for hearing me out,” the Queen said. Then she left the room, floating down the tunnel hall in a soundless glide of energy.
Sasha Kelty smiled at the two of them. “Please feel free to talk here if you wish,” she said quietly. “I know you have much to discuss.”
“Thanks,” Tate said, “but we’ll go walking and talk there. We appreciate the offer.” Practically pulling Winter off her feet, Tate loped from the room, half dragging, half carrying Winter along with him.
Stopping briefly to stare down at her, Tate said, “Holy shit! I mean, Holy freaking shit!”
“Yeah,” Winter agreed. “Holy freaking shit!” With that, the two of them fled to the recesses of the canyon ravines to ponder this rather sudden jumping off point.
Chapter Seven
Helmeted and Mited
Winter rolled over and groaned. Ah shit, she really didn’t want to get up. For one thing, these organic beds on Queen Altum Juls’ ship were just the best things ever. Tiny green tendrils would wrap her up in a hug-like cocoon as she laid down each night. It was like having the hugs she never had before. She’d never slept better in her life!
Plus, today was the day they arrived on Geboren and the Ambassadorial training program began. The few months she’d had to be carefree were over, not that they’d ever really begun. Having the responsibility for a cache of armaments big enough to start a war did not make for days of worry free wonder.
Tate would meet her in the mess as they approached the coordinates for Geboren, Queen Altum Juls’ hidden retreat. She’d been told that the entry to the system was quite spectacular with a chaos of frozen asteroids whirling in a mad death dance throughout the final approach.
It had taken the two of them less than three days to discuss the Alliance’s offer, ask for more specifics, and then solidify what they were doing in their own minds. After a day long discussion with Queen Altum Juls, Princess Arc Exousia Quirke, Prince Apollo, and Sasha Kelty, Winter belie
ved they were all on the same page. Even though she and Tate trusted their own judgement, they had each asked for a representative to support them through the training and to help them choose their warriors.
Today they would also meet their soon-to-be-bonded mites. Winter wasn’t sure how she felt about an Idolum clone warrior who could understand her every motivation and anticipate her wants and needs. It felt invasive and creepy. Princess Arc assured her that after a week or two, she’d wonder what she had ever done without them. Winter had seen that Arc only had one mite, but the Queen had two, Dent and Axel.
Tate was quite a bit more accepting of the idea, as he too was in a clone body. Though he’d had an entire life, spirit, and personality that had stepped into his. The clone mites they would be receiving were blank slates, dedicated only to preserving their owner’s lives and fulfilling their needs. Still weird, Winter thought. Sort of a weird type of slavery. Arc assured her that to the clone-mites, this was the highest honor. Yep, more weird.
Jeanie, as Winter’s chosen representative, was on her way as well. Tate had chosen a Lieutenant from Princess Arc Exousia’s nest by the name of Kor. Tate had come to like the large Idolum as they met repeatedly on Renegar and other outposts on the business of the Idolum Alliance. Kor was accompanying Jeanie from Valoria and they were set to arrive shortly after Winter and Tate.
Winter found Tate in the mess of the Talio, Queen Altum Juls’ personal cruiser that ferried them to their new life, and they both retreated to the observation deck to watch the entry through the system. As they burned into the outer atmosphere, the Talio slowed perceptibly. Once through the burn, they could both see why. The entrance to Geboren was through a galaxy strewn with debris. A huge desert planet was slowly disintegrating on the far edge, while frozen chunks of asteroid and lazily swirling moons entered from the other.
Randomly spinning ice-asteroids would occasionally impact the desert planet and then enormous clouds of dust and hurricane-like storms with orange rain would rage through space. It was spectacular.
It took several hours to navigate the bizarre dance of space rock. As they emerged on the far side of the system, a gloriously beautiful, small, blue and green marble of a planet appeared: Geboren, the homeworld of Queen Altum Juls. The Talio landed on a huge open tundra. Herds of hippolites grazed in vast moving slabs across the expansive vista.
Along one side of the sweeping valley, a steeply-pitched projection of mountains stood silent watch over a low, sprawling green habitat. The rounded edifice looked very much like a giant sideways pea-pod.
Queen Altum Juls met them at the lowered ramp as rows of Idolum warriors lined the path outside in an elaborate honor guard. Following the Queen, Tate and Winter were offered the same respectful bows as the Queen. It was their first taste of the notoriety that might come with their future venture. Winter reached for Tate’s large hand, and clasped it tightly. Mimicking the Queen’s graceful nods of the head in acknowledgement, she and Tate reached the entrance to the habitat with sighs of relief.
Soft, vine-like tendrils swept their forms as they entered the building. The Queen ushered them into a conference room that they would become all too familiar with over the next few weeks. Here they would meet their warriors one on one and get to know them. They would both be exposed to the Idolum ‘learning helmet’ here and see if they had the proper DNA match to sync with its vast databases of knowledge. Both knew this was very important, and if they were not matches, the lack of a DNA-sync might scuttle the whole project.
As the Queen urged them to sit at the large mushroom-like table in the middle of the room, she said, “Tate and Winter, I would like you to meet Galen, our habitat. Say hello, Galen.”
“Hi! I’m so happy you are here,” came a floating young male voice. “It’s so exciting to finally be starting the Ambassadorial program. I can’t wait to get started!”
Queen Altum Juls said calmly, “As you both probably know, all Idolum structures are grown from live brains. The Alliance does not believe in taking these important gifts by force. All our habitats and ships are grown from volunteers. Galen was dying after the bombardment of our planet by the Intergalactic Guard and donated his brain in order to remain with his family who live nearby, and to grow this habitat. He was the center of life that helped revive Geboren after the assault. He’s actually about your same age.”
“I will be excited to help you with anything that you need,” Galen said. “Oh, have to fly, the Centurion is landing. General Monsav and Lieutenant Kor, along with Miss Jeanie, will be here any moment.”
The Queen sank gracefully onto the larger stump-like chair at the end of the table. “Yes,” she laughed, “it IS a mushroom,” she said, reading Winter’s mind. Everything on our ships, as you saw on the Talio, is alive.”
When Jeanie, General Monsav and Lieutenant Kor entered the room, Winter gladly threw herself into the older woman’s arms. “It’s so good to see you. It’s only been a few weeks, but I’ve missed you. How is life on Valoria?” Winter quizzed the older woman curiously. Jeanie simply smiled blissfully in reply. “That’s really good,” Winter said, hugging Jeanie again.
Tate ghosted up beside her, hugged Jeanie gently, and then said, “I was hoping you two could catch up later and that Winter would come meet General Monsav and my chosen mentor, Lieutenant Kor.”
Jeanie shoved Winter gently in Tate’s direction and said, “I’ll be here. Go! I’m not leaving until you’re ready for me to. Ewan took care of himself for years, he can do it now.”
With a grateful grin, Winter turned and accompanied Tate towards the two tall, muscular Idolum warriors. Both had long, wild grey hair and while wearing a high-tech armor as their base-layer, were draped in scarred animal skins. Tate had already explained that the skins were to honor mammals that had given them energy throughout their lives. The relationships were symbiotic, leading to longer, healthier lives for the animals as the warriors saw to their health and lavished care and affection on the animals.
“General Monsav, Lieutenant Kor, I would like you to meet Winter. Winter, this is my mentor, Lieutenant Kor and his General, Monsav. They are part of the nest of Princess Arc Exousia Quirke and reside on their home world of Valoria,” Tate said formally, almost squeezing Winter’s hand in two with his anxiety over the meeting.
“Hello,” Winter greeted the two men politely. “Thank you for bringing Jeanie to me. I am indebted,” Winter said regally. Tate almost gaped. He knew Winter was well spoken, but the posh voice and regal delivery of the greeting had thrown him. Queen Altum Juls smirked happily in the background. She knew Winter was going to be a great asset!
It wasn’t long before the dreaded ‘learning helmet’ was rolled in and Galen had entwined its connections into his energy structures. “We’re all ready,” his voice piped up from the ethers. “Oooh, I can’t wait to see if you’re matches. I bet you both are. Well, Tate probably is already, since he has an entire body of Idolum DNA. We’ll have to see about our Winter girl,” he stated exuberantly to no one in particular.
“Galen, let’s proceed. Try not to have expectations. You may be giving our guests some anxiety over the process,” Queen Altum Juls said gently to the air. “Let’s support our guests with less talking, please.”
“Sorry, my Queen,” came Galen’s rather more subdued voice.
Tate opted to go first, sitting calmly in the chair and allowing the helmet to lower over his head. Several minutes passed as Tate attempted to give a disjointed description of the flood of images and information he was receiving. He was a match. “Wow!” Tate exclaimed as he bounded out of the chair. “That was so cool! I learned a lot in just a few minutes.”
“Any headache?” asked Lieutenant Kor, a serious gleam in his orange eyes.
“No. No, I feel fine,” Tate replied, grinning at Winter with delight. “Your turn!”
Winter tried to calm the roiling wave of anxiety that clawed at her lungs. Being strapped in a chair had never been a good experience for her.
Jeanie, appearing quietly behind her, whispered, “I’m here and I’ve got your back. It’ll be ok.”
Slowly the tension drained out Winter’s shoulders and she allowed herself to be lowered into the chair and the helmet fastened over her head. Later, she would learn to do that herself; for now, Queen Altum Juls did it for her.
Leaning towards Winter, the Queen laid one long elegant hand on her small shoulder and said, “Ready?”
Winter nodded, and in a split second, her entire being was changed forever. A huge flood of information rolled into her mind. It was as though a supernova had exploded in her head. When the helmet was gently lifted from her head, Winter grinned at Tate and said, “Wow! Wow, is right!” Then promptly fainted. She would find when she revived a few minutes later, that the helmet had done an unprecedented thing. It had refused to release Winter for over an hour.
When Winter woke up, as a vial of some noxious smelling vapor was wafted under her nose, she came up fighting. Leaping to her feet, she turned on a dime and sprang into a defensive posture. Tate and Jeanie stepped forward together. “It’s ok,” Tate assured her.