Worldship Files: Cityships

by Erik Schubach

  They started to take a defensive stance again and I shook my head. “Unlike you Fae and some of the other preternaturals here, we humans have a limit. I appreciate you allowing me to beat the shit out of you for a bit. It really helped relieve some of my helpless frustration.”

  Delphine smirked slyly. “That was dangerously close to a thank you, Shade.”

  “You wish.”

  Mir said to me, “Speak for yourself, Knith, I'm not even winded yet.”

  I whined out, “You don't need to breathe!”

  She struck a seductive pose as she said teasingly, “I know, I can go all night.”

  I muttered to the others, “She's hopeless.”

  Yar informed her, “You are a most formidable Human opponent. I'd like one day to see how well you'd fare if we could use magic attacks.”

  Unphased, Mir just winked at me as she said to him, “Can't hurt what you can't hit.”

  Then the Captain of the Winter Court whispered to me, “Is she always like...”

  I nodded. “Yup, pretty much.”

  And the woman surprised me by asking just loud enough for me to hear, “Why does the master of the Underhill need an assassin close? And who trained her to fight in the old Un'Tchea open hand Fae style?”

  I shrugged and whispered back, “I don't know, why don't you ask her?” I had the same question but I wasn't stupid enough to ask. But the little tidbit about it being an old form of Fae combat Mir used was interesting, and just solidified my thoughts on Mac.

  Delphine just chuckled. “Do I look like a null or something? I'm not suicidal.”

  I told the others, “I have to get cleaned up, do my rounds, and call my girl.”

  Yar muttered to Delphine, “You let her refer to the Winter Maiden as her girl?”

  I was grinning like a loon when I heard her countering as the sparring began again behind me, “Nobody lets that Human do anything, she just does.”

  If I wasn't positive those two would wind up killing each other if they were ever locked in a room with each other, I'd almost swear their constant banter was filled with sexual tension. Now there was an interesting thought.

  It was the same type of vibe I got off of Mab and Titania when they were together. Like they were moments from either striking the other down or just tearing each other's clothes off. And a comment Queen Titania made to me when she thought I was Mab during the Firewyrm indecent, alluded to the fact that at one time they had been lovers.

  Once I cleaned up... in a sonic shower, really missing a good water shower, but we needed to ration the water right now, I redressed and headed out to check with everyone at their posts and checked to be sure the shifts were all assigned for the tenth time.

  When I was in the cargo hold, it struck me as odd. I mean, the medical personnel were moving between the cots, and their voices echoed in the space as they dictated things to the other aid workers. Then I got it. All the people from the Cityships were all still here in the cargo hold in their cots, none were even curious enough to explore this ship, and they weren't even talking among themselves.

  I walked over to the senior Med-Mage. “Everything ok in here? It seems too quiet.”

  The Elf shrugged, then she offered, “I think their ailments are just making them lethargic. Possibly? We don't know much about their culture, so maybe their social interactions vary from ours?”

  She was just guessing too.

  I looked at the big chrono on the wall and smiled. “Well, I know how to animate them.” And right on time, Jane and the quartermaster brought in a large mag-sled that had a table loaded with bowls, spoons, and three large kettles of delicious-smelling soup. They had prepared a chicken broth-based soup with fresh vegetables from Madame Zoe's garden, and dehydrated chicken chunks.

  It was simple to prepare for large groups and didn't cut deeply into the limited supplies we had left on the ship. We would only have three meals on a two-day journey back home. Even so, it was likely more food than any of these people had seen in years.

  I called out, “For those of you who are mobile, we've soup, just line up here. Aid workers will bring you some if you're not able.”

  And the last thing I had anticipated happened. Instead of people desperately getting into line to get what little food we had, most just looked around at each other, standing almost leisurely, a few even stretching.

  Only two men and a woman, who looked to be in worse shape than the rest, did make their way swiftly to us, with desperate hunger in their eyes. And the two children almost tripped over themselves to get to us.

  The rest sort of looked over, then languidly made their way over. I helped hand out bowls and Jane and the Quartermaster, whom I really needed to ask his name without insulting the man by admitting I didn't know it, ladled out generous helpings of soup.

  The three didn't even bother getting back to their cots as they sat against the bulkhead and shoveled the hot soup into their mouths as fast as they could cool it on their spoons. The girl looked almost ready to burst into sparkles and rainbows as Jane smiled at her. Fauns had that effect on people. Too cute to not smile at.

  Then the madame of the brothel ladled two scoops for her and handed her the bowl. “It's hot, sweetheart. Don't eat it too fast.” The girl moved to the other adults long the wall and sat, closing her eyes tight as she just inhaled the steam of the soup and sighed heavily.

  Then my smile threatened to split my face when the little boy beamed up at me, tapping his button light on. I inclined my head. “Well hello there little man, we meet again. I'm Knith.”

  “Lincoln.”

  I held the bowl out and Jane double ladeled again and I handed him the soup, winked and saluted. “Hello Lincoln, I'm happy to meet you.”

  The little guy blushed and saluted with the spoon, blurted, “You got pretty lips,” and then rushed off to the others to eat.

  Jane chuckled. “I think he's smitten.”

  I pointed at my lips. “No, I think he likes my curses.”

  “I thought they were the marks from the Queens.”

  “Trust me, that is a curse.”

  Then the others moved past, not in any hurry. They moved back to their cots after getting their soup and some just sat it there to cool as they pulled out what looked, to be honest to goodness paper books to read. Why weren't they eating? Weren't they ravenous like the others?

  Just like the Cityships, I was starting to get freaked the fuck out there.

  I went over to sit by the people at the wall and looked over at Lincoln. He was eating as fast as he could, blowing on the soup. I asked the man near him, “I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone on the Redemption. What is it like living there?”

  The man looked from me to the others in the cots. He shook his head. I assured him, “It's ok. I'm just curious if life on the Cityships is like life on the Leviathan.”

  Looking nervous, he looked back at me and said in hushed tones. “It was better when I was young. Before the insurrection. Before the Outliers reign of terror.”

  He hesitated then quieter he said, “I remember the tales my parents would share. Of how the people of Earth so many generations ago, saw the launch of the great Worldship the size of the sky. How they were the great hope of mankind that we would be remembered by the new civilization on the faraway planet the Mighty Leviathan was traveling to.”

  The man spoke like he was relaying a fairy tale, a myth almost forgotten. “Then the great builders, with the ingenuity unmatched, and the last of the resources of mankind, devised a way to use the great stations of the orbiting shipyard into the six Cityships that could join the Worldship on its journey, so more of their descendants might know the new world one day.”

  He looked at his empty soup bowl. “But as each generation passed, there were those who thought that instead of joining our brothers and sisters on the journey, that it should have been our people instead of yours to have inherited the Mighty Leviathan. That the Fae and
other magical creatures had fogged your minds to use you to save themselves.”

  “They spoke of the Ka'Infinitum, the power of powers that controlled you. And that the Ka'Infinitum was the birthright of the Outliers, who suffered the generations on the Cityships, while the Fae lived in opulence with a ship full of human slaves.”

  He whispered almost too quietly to hear, “They want the Worldship for their own. Even if it kills us all to get it.”

  I nodded and asked, “Why haven't your leaders put an end to the Outliers? Why do they let them terrorize your people? I saw them in the crowds on your ship.”

  People were looking our way now, and he said, “I have to get back to my cot. Thank you for the food. I've not eaten like this since I was a child.” Then he was limping back toward the cots.

  I looked from him to Lincoln. “Sir, what about your son?”

  The man looked back then at the boy, “He isn't mine.”

  Oh. I looked around the place, I didn't see the woman I had seen him with on the Redemption, so I assumed one of the ones too sick to stand was his father then.

  I looked at the boy and winked again as I stood. Then I stepped over to ruffle his hair. “Be a good boy for your dad, I'll see you later when I do my rounds again.” He just nodded as he drank the broth from his bowl, giving me a thumbs up with his spoon.

  He was going to be a heart-breaker when he grew up, with that shaggy mop of blonde hair. I really hope the Med-Bay back home could repair his eye, or give him a color-matched cybernetic-implant.

  After checking with all my team, and then visiting the cockpit to see Mac familiarizing Richter with the upgraded flight controls, I headed to my cabin to make a call before I hit the rack. My turn on the watch was in seven hours.

  I checked in with Myra as I walked. She was hissing when Mother opened a channel. “Stupid fucking rock farmers, learn to fly!”

  Chuckling I asked, “Everything going ok out there, Kitty Cat?”

  “Shade? I'm ten seconds away from spacing myself just so I don't have to keep on these space bumpkins. They have no discipline and are always drifting off course. Those flying cans of space debris weren't meant for precision flying nor space travel. It like herding...”

  She trailed off and I giggled. “Herding cats?”

  She hissed in a chuckle, “I hate you. But yes, like herding cats... drunk space cats.”

  Nodding I offered, “I remember a certain drunk space cat who...”

  “That's enough of that. Did you ping me just to tug my whiskers and bring up embarrassing college tales? And if I remember right, I wasn't the only one who was too drunk to...”

  “Right, changing topics. We going to get this ragtag fleet back home in one piece?”

  She yowled and said, “We'll get them there. I may not have any sanity or patience for fools by then, but we'll make it. They don't even have flight computers to slave to my ship so Mother can keep them flying straight.”

  Nodding as I made it to the cabin I was assigned, I told her, “Well, you've got my number if anything pops up. I'm going to call home then hit the rack for some z's.”

  She teased, “Oooo, someone's getting some virtual princess nookie.”

  I offered her a helpful, “Go space yourself, Myra.”

  “Oh lighten up, Fae Lips, I'm living my sex life vicariously through you and your Winter Maiden.”

  Shaking my head and feeling the blush burning on my face, I told her, “Hanging up now.”

  And Mother cut the connection, and I already saw the icon for channel to Rory's lab connecting. I cocked an eyebrow and Mother said, “Oh please, Knith, Commander Udriel isn't the only one living vicariously through your sex life.”

  My eyes widened at that. Did AI's have a sex life? I mean, I knew she had emotions, and as she had said, she has all the same senses as us except touch. It just struck me as both fascinating to think of the concept of a sentient computer having a sexual identity. Then again, why not? She was a person.

  I told her, “Our sex life is none of your business.”

  Aurora said in a lilting, amused tone, “Then I won't pry.”

  I blurted, feeling ready to space myself on the sheer principle of it as I spluttered out, “What? No... I... you... she... I was telling Mother to butt out of our sex life.”

  “Really now?” I could hear the delighted smirk in her tone.

  I muttered under my breath, “Oberon's balls.”

  Then I regained a little composure and said like a smitten schoolgirl, “Hello, Rory. I can't begin to tell you how much I miss you. The Cityships were draining on my humanity and my soul.”

  She flickered into my vision as Mother activated video. Was my girl blushing? She said, “I've been looking at the reports and the footage Mother has been feeding us.” Then she whispered as she said, “I've missed you too, my impulsive Enforcer.”

  I sat on the bed with my back to the wall and beamed at my girl as Mother started plating an archaeological archives tune called ‘Hangover’ by Hey Monday. “How was your day, lady?”

  We talked and laughed and got lost in each other's eyes and voices as we spoke. It was almost as if I had been going through some sort of withdrawal that was draining away my happiness. But after just a few minutes, I was feeling... well, like me again. This woman was a wonder in more ways than one.

  Then I prompted, my curiosity getting the better of me, “So where did you run off to the morning the Underhill launched on the mission?”

  Her smile fell and she exhaled audibly and shared, “Mother sent me on a fact-finding mission. Rumors floating around the world about someone gathering classified data on my old experiments in Fae reproduction. Since I'm the only one who could verify anything we found.”

  That chilled me to the bone, and I had flashbacks of Lord Sindri trying to steal my free will from me and have me kill myself after he had cut my eggs from my body.

  She looked around as if someone might be eavesdropping as she gave someone, I assumed her personal guards, a warning glare. Then whispered, “An informant in the Summer Court has shared that Queen Titania is in a rage because someone had broken into Sindri's old labs and had taken all of the documentation on his parallel work months ago.”

  I whispered, feeling the blood drain from my face, “Is someone trying to duplicate your results?” Her results... that would be me. Her greatest failure and greatest achievement all wrapped up in a Knith shaped bow. I was supposed to have been a Changeling, a half Human, half-Fae to help to repopulate the losses in their population since Exodus.

  Static Equilibrium of the population of the Leviathan has been achieved all this time with the exception of the Greater Fae, who have not been able to reproduce since they left the massive wellspring of magic at the heart of the Earth.

  Instead of a Changeling, she made... well... a human. What she calls the next evolution of humans, without many of the weaknesses of my race. But the fact that that occurred, and I have partial immunity to magic, she believes that by studying me, she could one day fix what she did and save the future of her race. Only... I don't want to be a guinea pig for the Fae. I'm sure one day I'll be able to look past feeling like a victim after what Sindri had put me through, and look past my own emotions. But today is not that day.

  She exhaled loudly, looking distressed as she said quickly, “I'm sorry, I know it causes you distress, I just didn't want to withhold anything when you asked.”

  I nodded and said, “And that's why I love you, ice geek.”

  She giggled and said, “Well I love you too. Geek? I'm no geek.”

  I sighed as we bantered until I had to get some shuteye. Then as we were saying our goodbyes, I let her know about Graz being missing. She muttered something about impulsive Sprites then said, “I'm sure she'll be waiting at the airlock on the next visit. Sleep tight, Knith Shade.”

  “Good night, Princess.”

  Chapter 11 – Mac?

  I woke just before s
omeone tapped on the door to wake me for my shift. I swung my legs down and started putting on my Tac-gear, pulling my SAs up over the contact points on my skinsuit as I yawned. “Enter,” as I checked the charges on my MMGs and looked around for my helmet.

  The Orcish woman ducked her head under the doorframe and said, “You left a message on the duty roster to wake you for your shift... ma'am.”

  I nodded, suppressing another yawn and said, “Thank you, Corporal Tonga is it?”

  She huffed with a nod, her nostrils flaring with the exhale almost touched her lower tusk fangs. “Yes, ma'am.”

  Then I started to the door and she started to turn her impressively muscled bulk toward the corridor when she paused and looked back at me. “Is it true?”

  I cocked my head, inviting her to clarify. She looked almost embarrassed asking, “You beat a Greater Fae in combat?”

  It was my turn to feel embarrassed. That story keeps circulating, even though I had plenty of help taking Lord Sindri down. Mother and even Mab's magic with the help of the harmonica I carried everywhere. The one Mac gave me that seems to amplify Fae magic flowing through it when played. All that, and I was pissed the hells off.

  She confided, “I wouldn't have believed it until LNN News broadcast the wave of you outside on the skin, fighting two skin jockey Mech-Rigs barehanded.”

  I shook my head. “Everything you heard and saw is taken out of context and you don't know the whole story. There were a lot of extenuating circumstances, and I had a lot of help.”

  She nodded and said, looking relieved, “Good, because, I mean... you're a human. If you know what I mean.”

  Sighing, mostly because I really did know what she meant. But it would do her good to be a little wary of humans, so I shamelessly said as I clapped her shoulder as I pushed past into the corridor, “They don't even mention that after that, I had finished my day by challenging the Summer and Winter Queens.”

  It happened to be a true statement of fact, so I tried hard not to snort when the Orc just peered out of my cabin at me, eyes wide. Then she started shaking her finger at me as she smiled, “You almost had me there, Lieutenant.”