by Marcus Sloss
The door connecting the Griffin to my new ship slid open after I was confirmed authorized entry. A two and a half meter tall lancer greeted me. He was awkwardly naked in his all black fur. I never got that. Maybe it was a status thing to let your balls hang low.
“General Nurando, it is good to see you not looking like you want to spill my guts… Pun intended.” I said. It probably was not the wisest thing to antagonize the giant warrior but I was still angry at him. If I had to guess he was not allowed to kill me again on strict orders from his boss.
“I rarely make mistakes human. My battle records are the top for my species, and I let raw emotion of losing the bounty to a lessor… to a different species get the better of me. Do not let my one action define me, and allow me to apologize.” Nurando said.
“You may apologize.”
“I just did you stupid monkey.” Claws extended from his paws and were retracted. I was agitating the hulking killer.
Ouch, I guess that was probably as good as I would get. I was ready to let the matter drop when a shower of fireworks in my brain gave me an idea.
“You mention you’re a mighty warrior with an outstanding battle record. I happen to be forming a four man team to battle in a royale.” I was interrupted as anger flared on his face. I saw his teeth barred and then relax.
“The Emperor mentioned you may be audacious and ask a favor for my mistake. It took me a day of destroying human dummies in your image to get to this point of calm. You disgust me human. Your luck astounds me. Your audacity angers me. Yet… my Emperor favors you. I will not compete in your event. Instead, my youngest son Captain Larz will carry you to victory. He has over ten thousand confirmed kills, and one day may even be capable of replacing me.”
I nodded. This was probably why he did not get demoted. He certainly was playing up his accolades. I also had to close out the image of this giant lancer shredding replicas of me in some training room. A battle hardened son would do nicely. I thought I would get flat out refused.
“Excellent, let me check… Oh… The Lunish government added a few more days to the start. Ten days from now. He can meet me here or there.” As I was talking Nurando grew tired of me and left mid sentence. “Thank you for your sincere heartfelt apology.”
I chuckled when he flipped me off. Awe… I made him so angry he studied how to offend a human. It was flattering.
“Mila where to next.”
“You are so lucky he did not kill you again. I could smell his rage from this ship… Through locked doors Mack. Maybe not antagonize a general who has died millions of times and won tens of millions of battles.” Mila said and I gulped. “His son will probably get you a victory. They are both heroes among our people.”
“Excellent. I need to see if Bexso is willing to compete and maybe Astrid. Are they training right now?” I asked.
“Yes they both expect to be on your team Lorie was hoping you would not ask her, and Starla is with your mom making nursery plans. Congratulations I think. I do not look forward to tiny humans climbing on me. Okay, I got word back from the family about naming the ship.
“Rio – The Tempest. Starla – Hope. Astrid – Executioner. Lorie – Condor. Bexso – Sanctum. Me – The Swan. You – Oralis. In the end, it is your decision. Funny how the personalities reflect the names. I like Sanctum and Oralis the most. The problem is half of the dragumi ships have sanctum tied into their name. She gave something generic on purpose.”
I tapped my chin with my index finger. The reality was it actually mattered what the ship was called. If I chose sanctum it may offend other species, which meant it was off the list. I liked the Tempest the next best but ultimately it was my ship. There was no perfect answer. I would let the girls win with baby names.
“Oralis it is. Make it official please.”
“I figured as much. It fits the behemoth. Speaking of which. You are in the lower section only one tier above the vast lake below you. It is not filled and I already hired humans to start transferring water. Oralis will stimulate Earth's economy and more. Water is being imported from all corners of your Empire. E-bits dropped a bit after the event and I have been steadily converting. Getting work done by you humans is laughably inexpensive...
“Actually, I am going to tour our new home with you. At least until we meet the dragumi. ” I saw her turn her head in the video call screen and shout at Rio that they were leaving.
I snickered at the poor man. Clearly, she was the boss.
While I waited I did something I had not done in a while. I displayed the latest news on ZBall. Sure it was offseason but I could still see if there were trades or teams had moved. I saw the Elephants had traded two star players to try to win championships next year. The Griffins decided everything was perfect, and some of the lower tiered teams were doing major shuffles. It made me miss simpler times. It also placed a spur in my motivation to investigate how much teams went for. Maybe I could add ZBall team owner to my growing list of businesses. The problem was I had no time to manage it and had no idea if it returned a profit. I did want to build a zero-g arena for myself on Oralis… I could generate income and interest by hosting games on the ship… The dots started to connect as I gave myself excuses to indulge in a fantasy of owning my own team. It would be amazing to be bored and tube down ten levels to a live professional game.
I needed a human assistant. Someone who had the inner working of commerce within the human empire. Astrid was doing great building a new network, but I needed someone tied into it. I penned a digital message to the Emperor requesting someone with connections to help me stimulate the economy. I knew he would send a qualified hard worker. My hope was it was not some super hottie I wanted to get naked. That was also on my radar of issues that I realized were a problem. The sex this morning should go a long way toward resolving it… Telling myself this and not drooling at curvaceous babes were two different things. This brought another thought to me.
I decided to order sleeping pods for all of us. For a few reasons. There would be times when I did not want to get woken up from a mumbling bed partner or sexy foreplay. If I needed sleep I wanted the option to crash for some quality rest. Or if the girls wanted to start a rotation they could seal themselves away for the night allowing just me and one of them. To me, it seemed smart to get the sleeping pods, worst case – we removed them, anything other than that would be an improvement. Again I wished for a human assistant and instead pinged the request to Astrid. I figured I would have to wait for a response but she immediately replied and liked the idea. Moments later I got a purchase confirmation and delivery time within the hour.
Rio and Mila waved as they exited the Griffin. We got in step as Mila led us further into the ship.
“Lorie has been on here since the moment we docked. That woman is radiating lust and love. From the smell of it, this is the happiest she has ever been in her life. She has all sorts of plans she wants to add to the ship. The problem will be that you only are offered so many options by the dragumi work teams. The choices will be nice though. Let us tube up to the top deck and start there. The top dragumi in charge of construction is up there.” Mila said. She was in a good mood for a change and giggled at her silly wordplay. I also notice Rio walking awkwardly with a grin plastered on his face. Good for them.
“Lorie, we are heading to the city deck. Meet us there if you want to give input on how the Oralis is built inside.” I sent a video message to her.
“The condor was perfect… Alright, Oralis it is. I will meet you there shortly. Leaving the bridge now.”
Mila paused at a cylindrical shape on the edge of a wall. Only half the circle projected into the walkway. “There are tens of thousands of these everywhere on the ship. Personal tubes are easy to install and fit well with electrical, plumbing, and such. They are a great way to get around and will operate even if the hull becomes exposed to space. There are a hundred standard elevators for shuffling goods up and down. Then there are three massive supply trains that run in a loo
p on the exterior of the ship. Goes all the way around, should be empty right now and easy to get off at an exact point. They are really for large amounts of supplies over personal transit. One is not too far, which method of travel would you prefer?”
I thought about it briefly. Riding a train on the exterior of a ship, of course. I told her that was the only real choice and Rio chuckled. We walked by contoured hallways devoid of decorations. The endless task of turning the plain white hallways into elaborate displays was daunting. Luckily I knew some people who were up to the endeavor.
We went through an airlock, then passed through the five meter thick outer hull. The three of us entered a clear tube. The loss of horizontal gravity startled me and I floated awkwardly. Arms escaped from pouches to guide us to stand on what was the left wall. Vertical gravity returned and now the left wall was the floor. That was awesome. Rio was as wide eyed as I was. While Mila sauntered off with a purpose not realizing we were wowed by shifting gravity.
The train had a large seating area that was the size of the shuttle I flew down to Narshak… well, Lorie flew it but the point stands. I saw docking stations as I looked up to the top of the ship ever few hundred meters. The purpose of the trains dawned on me then. Incoming and outgoing supplies utilized these gravity free pads to move goods. The expansive train carts could deliver the goods to any section of the ship with wide bay doors. The trade vessels never had to dock inside and could detach easily. In fact, that was exactly what I witnessed as I watched. A water tanker soared to an extended pad and linked. A tube snaked out and connected. Water pumped in.
I was thoroughly impressed and again I saw Rio light up too. Mila was busy with her tapper working. I guess when you get old and have seen it all before it loses its appeal. The train shot from the bottom of the dreadnaught to the top in a few seconds. It wrapped around the ceiling of the vessel to get us at the right spot to exit.
We entered a clear bendy tube. Gravity released. We were reoriented, and the gravity returned. The three of us entered the top floor of Oralis. I imagined myself riding the train while digesting a book or watching the ZBall game on a display. It was epic to be able to view so much on the exterior like that. I was so entranced with my imagination I almost fell over when Lorie jumped on me.
“Hey handsome, I love this ship!” kisses showered my face as she paused to speak. “I am so excited to see the options the dragumi present.”
I set her down and caught up to Mila. “Keep up Lorie… Mila is in a rush to get this started.”
The tall, wide, and very pristinely white hallways opened up into the largest indoor space I had ever seen. It was so vast you could fit four of the Lunish malls inside here. The ceiling was transparent with a dozen meters of crystalline armor. I saw the three belts from the tracks of the trains. One roared around the top. It was fantastic. I never knew I was so into trains until I owned three. The stars decorated the night sky and in the distance and I could see the moon. That was only the top. The floor spanned eight kilometers long by three kilometers wide. The walls vaulted a hundred meters high until they curved to meet the ceiling. It was a mighty, big, impressive, and very empty.
Mila never slowed her pace. In the middle of the empty floor were four dragumi females huddled together. They were endlessly talking and our translators were jammed. When we got close they stared daggers at Mila but the largest female calmed them. Mila hauled Rio away from the mess and alerted me she would be heading back to the Griffin. She had to oversee business dealings with humans, order more supplies for the Griffin, and coordinate for the shuttles I ordered. I frowned hoping the Emperor would be rapid in his reply for help. We seemed to be taking on more and more work.
“Greetings human Mack, so marked by our illustrious den matriarch Beeso. I am V-vari. Uniza was right, he is not much too look at but what you do see sparks interest. Alas, we are not here to flirt… Maybe with that pretty thing on your arm.” The dragumi elder eyed Lorie like a candy. I knew the look because I eyed her the same way. Lorie simply shifted closer to me and turned up her nose. “Too bad. Work it is. The ceiling is your limits. We have rendered the space with five options.
“Before I go into them, know these styles come from your cities and your history. If you want dragumi walls or lancer ramps we can do that but know it is not going to work long term. Before I continue with the demonstration do you want to see displays for humans only?”
“Greetings V-vari. I will defer to your judgment. My wife is lovely thank you for noticing. There is a planet down there filled with them. You may want to visit on your downtime,” I replied.
V-vari was yellow with green eyes and looked older than den matriarch Beeso. There was no appeal here for me besides she was nearly naked. I was firmly able to keep it in my pants as they say. Her three assistants, on the other hand, were curvy and young. It seemed Bexso, and Uniza kept a trim figure while these girls were more rounded. I got a slug on my arm from Lorie when I lost focus.
“Alright, we will go past to present for your styles. Up first is ancient architecture.” She punched in some keys and the assistants added to the fast typing. The floor sheened as a scan progressed and then a digital city populated the space from the ground up. It lifted one pixel at a time. There was so much to display even the super computer was struggling to render it all. The vast space became a city of intricate marble. The houses were open and flowing. No windows anywhere. Few doors and limited outdoor space. The structures were narrow and tall most going halfway to the ceiling at fifty meters. Everything was made of stone or marble. In the center was an elaborate market with a towering water fountain. Business buildings spread from the center to less than half way to the walls. The homes ate up the majority of the space. There were a few governmental buildings that shot the highest in the air that segregated the homes from the commerce center.
I spun and absorbed the image. I placed a top down shot into my eye and noticed very few parks. A few key stats were present.
ANCIENT
Max population – 75,000.
Costs – 60 million D-coins.
Time to completion – 2 human months.
Notes – (Costs can be reduced by changing material from stone to foamcrete. Reinforced flooring for excess structural weight. Some tweaking of comfort items would require more funding and time. May run into issues acquiring all the stone in short time frames. The extended project would reflect in higher costs.)
I liked it but it wasn’t sold. Having all the data I needed I asked for the next option. It was very impersonal and cold.
The four dragumi nodded and the display faded. A new rendering reached for the ceiling. In medieval architecture. There were pointy tall buildings with blocky structures. Large windows and arched doors were prevalent. The streets were narrow for walking as the building raced high. The central fountain theme remained merely it was a different art style. The market and vendors were still in the central area that as it spread outward and transitioned into governmental buildings. Then tall gothic apartment buildings. I liked how these were taller and utilized more of the space. The medieval look inside a ship held an appeal. Time to view the stats.
MEDIEVAL
Max population – 100,000.
Costs – 65 million.
Time to completion – 2.5 human months.
Notes – (Costs can be reduced by changing material from stone to foamcrete. Reinforced flooring for excess structural weight. Some tweaking of comfort items would require more funding and time. May run into issues acquiring all the stone in short time frames. The extended project would reflect in higher costs.)
It was a better option than the ancient one because there were windows, a higher population and it utilized more space. I had a feeling this was going to take hours.
“V-vari, what are the remaining three options in stats only please?” I asked.
A notification was sent and I opened the display.
RENAISSANCE
Max population – 55,000.
/> Costs – 55 million.
Time to completion – 2 human months.
Notes – (Costs can be reduced by changing material from stone to foamcrete. Reinforced flooring for excess structural weight. Some tweaking of comfort items would require more funding and time. May run into issues acquiring all the stone in short time frames. The extended project would reflect in higher costs.)
There was an overview of the building design without a full city rendering and the art it reflected. All these stone cities were nice to look at but I think they utilized archaic stairs. I wanted to ask but kept reading. Next.
MODERN
Max population – 150,000.
Costs – 53 million.
Time to complete – 1.8 human months.
Notes – (All foamcrete and thin walls. Quickest of the options and the houses all stretch to the sky. Modernization of lifts, tubes, and assisted walkways included.)
Now we were talking. I loved it, mainly because it was cheap, quick, efficient, and held a shipload of people. I wondered what was last on the list then.
WOVEN ARCHITECTURE
Max population – 80,000.
Costs – 75 million.
Time to complete – 3 human months.
Notes – Custom dragumi design. It blends the styles together in an art form we felt best suits humans. It is the most expensive because it is the most extensive. Modernization of lifts, tubes, and assisted walkways included. Costs can be reduced by changing material from stone to foamcrete. Reinforced flooring for excess structural weight.
“Have Woven Architecture populate please,” I said. The rendering crawled higher as it required more computing processes than the other images. I waited a full three minutes for it to complete. The first difference was five fountains in the center. The main large one was tall and narrow. Its water spilled to a play zone for kids to get wet in. The four little fountains all reflected the unique beauty of an era. The largest was a combination. Every building had modern features like auto scanning doors, tube lifts, and other features the populace would be accustomed to. The difference was the construction of the buildings. There were overhangs, decorative balconies, and piercing gothic peaks. It was a unique combination of art that I walked through. There were more parks and a feeling of a city beautiful designed for families. The other images were more of an utilitarian design. A large vendor market transitioned and consumed a lot of space. A stand at the end showed it could be converted into a music or theater production field. The housing went to the roof. Each floor containing an entire home that had balconies overlooking the city center or the darkness of space. I loved it. The price tag not so much but I knew that this was it. I wish this had been shown first.