by Aer-ki Jyr
“Wow,” she whispered as she passed through a force field and immediately felt the heat and humidity ratchet up as she stepped onto a stone slab that looked out and down into a valley full of rock, water, and greenery. Jessica could have sworn she was on a planet, but this was all inside the space station, though she couldn’t have known that from the view, for the sky looked real, as did the overhead sun that did not match the one in the Jaroon System.
The tracker was pointing her to a nearby dirt path that led down the grass-covered slope into the forest below, so Jessica took off at a slight jog, not wanting to make Starchaser wait. She had to navigate through a maze of crisscrossing trails that were so confusing she would have gotten lost without the tracker, but it knew the way and she just followed the dots until she came to a hidden courtyard made of stone with a square pool in the center next to a grey statue of an Archon in full armor that stood some 15 meters high…tall enough to look over the nearby hedgerows.
And at the base of that statue was a nude Human female laying back on the Archon’s boot as she was soaking in the intense sunlight that was directly overhead.
“Uh…hello?” Jessica asked meekly, not sure if she should disturb her or not.
The woman tilted her head up and smiled, rolling forward with a cascade of long, thin, blonde hair following her. “You must be Jessica.”
“Yes,” was all she could manage to utter.
“Frozen stiff, huh?” she asked as she walked up to the slightly taller women. “Typical. It’ll wear off in a moment. I still don’t see what’s so impressive about me. I’m just popular, that’s all. You’re probably reacting to the legend more than the person, so try and see the girl in front of you and not the hype.”
“I’m sorry,” Jessica apologized, glancing at the ground. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.”
“You’re not. You’re star struck,” Mina pointed out. “Let’s walk. The activity will help you get your spine back,” she said, pointing to one of many gaps in the hedgerows that led to the maze of trails.
“Sure,” Jessica said, with Mina grabbing her by the arm when she didn’t move fast enough and locked it with hers so they stayed side by side. “How many people are you interviewing?”
“A question? That’s good. Most people don’t get that far for at least 10 to 15 minutes. I’ve picked out a handful of people to look at. I’ve got plenty to choose from, but your private entourage needs to be more than fans. They need to become family, and I’m choosey about my family.”
“Why me then?”
“It’s not your voice…well, I mean it is but there are millions of people out there that can sing as good as you or me. I’m not much better than you, just more experienced. Your voice is solid, otherwise you wouldn’t even be considered, but I need more than your voice. I need personality. Do you know why?”
“You travel with people, so they need to mesh with you, I guess.”
“True enough, but as far as the music goes, why?”
“I guess my voice harmonizes with yours?”
“No,” Mina said with an old smile, for this was a conversation she’d had thousands of times before. “You need to realize that I’m not rich because I’m the best singer in the galaxy. I’m not. There are many people that can do more vocally than I can. And don’t even get me started on the other races. The Bsidd totally blow Humans out of the water. Their range makes me feel like a newb. No. What I am is a singer who entertains. And you are here to help me with the entertainment. Now, can you guess how?”
“Um. No,” she said honestly, but with a cringe.
“I don’t like to use recordings, so if I need multiple voices they can’t all be mine overlaid. But more than that, I need people for comparison sake. Me alone on stage works, but its far less interesting than if I can interact with others. A concert isn’t so much about singing as it is an experience, and people need to be enthralled. If they don’t leave with a buzz, you didn’t do your job.”
“Is that why you don’t wear clothes?”
“For them, yes. But being naked is nothing new. Lots of people are naked, so you gotta give them something else. For me it’s about connectivity. Not hiding anything from them. They get to see the real me…or so they think.”
“A hologram?” Jessica asked, a bit disappointed.
“No, no, it’s really me out there on stage. I meant that you can be naked in public but still closed off to people. And you can wear clothes and still be exposed. Do you know how?”
“Emotionally?”
“That’s a simplistic, yet essentially accurate answer,” she said as they turned another corner in the hedge maze and suddenly found a staircase made of stone dropping them a few meters underground. “Emotions are your current mode. They reflect your state rather than being your state,” she explained as they passed through a tunnel of small waterfalls trickling down the stone walls that were bracketing them and lit with small glowing pebbles scattered erratically on the floor. Jessica had to watch her step not to trip, but Starchaser’s bare feet seemed to glide over them with ease.
“You can have all kinds of armor. Physical is the most obvious. Emotional is another. But a third is vision. You can dull your vision without realizing it as a countermeasure to other people getting too close. That’s why I live alone. So I can really expose myself to my surroundings without having to be defensive. It’s a much better way to live, and you can’t do that inside a city as much as you might think.”
“Groppers?” Jessica asked.
Starchaser laughed. “That’s just part of life. The thing is, when someone pats you on the butt when you walk by, they think they’re the only one to do that all day, so it’s no big deal. They don’t realize it’s already happened 12 times in the last 5 minutes and it’s getting annoying. So they’re not the villains as your tone suggests. And don’t tell me you’ve never intentionally bumped into an attractive guy to grab a quick feel.”
“I don’t do that…much,” she admitted, remembering what the man had said about being honest.
“It’s harmless, and just a part of living in a community. If you see it coming you can swat them away…and that’s also part of the game. It’s just a game. But you’re right that I don’t have to worry about that here.”
“It’s not always a game when they do it hard,” Jessica lightly argued.
“So you do have a backbone…good. Yes, there will always be jerks, but most taps are a compliment. The others…well, that’s why you have fists. If you’re of a mindset that your body is a temple that no one should touch without permission then you’re an idiot who should stay in your quarters round the clock. When you’re out amongst people, physical contact is going to happen, and saying parts of your body are off limits is juvenile.”
“You really don’t mind people touching you?”
“You get used to it, like all new things. Sexuality has to be tuned. If you avoid it then it can twist into some very nasty things. And you can’t tune it if you don’t have interaction. It takes two, you know. One is not enough, because procing off of imagination doesn’t allow you to calibrate. You need real experiences. And once you learn your sexuality you realize it’s not as important as you think. Why do you wear clothes?”
“I…don’t like exposing myself.”
“And my being naked and hanging onto your arm is bothering you? Isn’t it?”
“A little. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” Starchaser said, still hanging onto her arm. “Opposites attract, likes repel. Most people don’t realize that likes repel. You’re a girl, so am I, so there’s no sexual attraction. Your personal comfort range is probably really far from your Core, if I can guess. You don’t like anyone touching you at all, do you?”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Do you flinch a little whenever someone bumps into you?”
“Isn’t that normal?”
“If you’re around threats, then yes, you have to be on guard. But if you’re around f
riends, then it’s a sign that you’re not calibrated well. That’s why you’re not repelling me. My sensitive range has been pulled inside my body. Yours is outside your body. That way when someone touches me they don’t violate my boundaries. Yours they do. If you pull in more, then you won’t get so upset by physical contact.”
“Is that important?”
“For the profession? No, but it comes in useful. It’s important for life, Jessica,” she said as they came to another stone staircase that led them back up into the daylight and more hedge maze. “You need to figure out what is actually private and what is public. And if you view your skin as private you’re not going to interact well with people.”
“Is that why you live here alone?”
“Not at all. I prefer this, but it’s not because I’m incompatible with people. Here I can think more clearly without the distraction. And even when you are used to physical contact, you still have to watch your back. Here I don’t have to. That’s a luxury worth buying.”
“Do you still get laid? I mean, if there aren’t many people here…”
“I could if I want, but I don’t. It’s an Archon thing I learned a long time ago from a friend.”
“You have an Archon friend?”
“Yes I do, and I owe her my life in more ways than one. All of my competition in the music industry from when I first began is gone. They’re all dead. A few died during the V’kit’no’sat war, but most just came to a point in their lives where they quit trying. They’d go to the medtechs and ask what was wrong with them, the medtechs would tell them what they needed to do to regain their self-sufficiency, then they would just not do it. They gave up on life for a variety of reasons and just let themselves die. Some even said that death would be a great adventure.”
“That’s sad. But not you?”
“I would have probably ended up that way too if not for my friend. She explained to me that life is like a pyramid. When you’re born the amount of what you don’t know is huge, like the base of a pyramid. Then as you go through life learning you rise up to the next level, which is not so wide. As you pass through the years you get higher and higher and it seems like there’s less and less to learn. You can’t see more than a couple levels above you, as if the higher levels are shrouded in clouds, but you can see the angle of the pyramid going up and you know you’ll hit the peak before too long, and when you do the galaxy will seem a very boring place.”
“The others got bored to death?”
“That’s one way of putting it. But the Archons are curious by default, and even though it looks like there’s not much left to learn they want to explore every last bit of it. And when they did, and they came to that peak, the angle on the walls reversed and started to get wider. They couldn’t see it until they were right on top of it, but there wasn’t a peak to the pyramid. It was a choke point that, after going through, you realized the true scope of the universe is more than you could ever fully learn. And when the Archons found that, they could never be bored again. And thanks to my friend, neither can I.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, you can’t. You’re still near the base of the pyramid. How old are you?”
“127.”
“Yes, you’ve got a long way to go before you approach the peak. So it probably looks like you’re experienced and know what you’re doing. The galaxy is behaving as expected, no surprises here or there…except today meeting me,” Starchaser said with a smile, “and same old, same old. With that outlook you will get bored, eventually, unless you learn enough to climb to the peak and see through it at what lies beyond. And that beyond is what I probe here,” she said, gesturing the ship around her.
“Is that why you take so much time off from touring?”
“I don’t need the money. I’ve got enough credits to last me another 1000 years before I would need to go on tour again. And it’s so easy to make money now. Star Force is so much larger than it used to be. Even if I only performed for Humans I would not have a problem, but the other races regard Humans as special, so they want to see us perform for them even if we’re vocally challenged compared to their race. No, I don’t do it for the money. And I don’t do it for the fans either. It’s just fun. But fun can’t sustain you throughout life. You have to have a purpose, and thanks to the Archon I’ve found mine.”
“What is it if it’s not singing?”
“Where did the first Humans come from?”
“Zen’zat left behind on Earth.”
“Where did the Zen’zat come from?”
“From the Ter’nat.”
“And where did the Ter’nat come from?”
“Um…I don’t know that.”
“Nobody does. Nobody knows where the Era’tran came from, or the Bsidd, or the Tusonec. Nobody knows where any of the races come from. We’re just all here, not worrying about the past and going about our daily lives. But if you stop and think about you, you wonder just what the hell is going on. We can’t just pop into existence, or can we? When a planet gets destroyed, does one arise to replace it? What about the races on it? Eventually you come to question what the fuck is going on in the universe, and the quest to learn more about that mystery has become my purpose. What is yours?”
“I guess I just want to do what you did. Even if I’m only a little successful I’ll be rich.”
“You’re already a little successful, you just haven’t established a fan base yet. To most you’re just another Human singer rather than having a specific identity. To a lot of other races I’m the naked Human, though I’m not the only one. I’m just the one known for it. They don’t care, because they’re not attracted to Humans, but it’s still an oddity to those that normally wear clothes and their reverence for Humans adds extra attention. I have an identity that the galaxy knows, mildly, and that allows me to do a lot. You need to establish a professional identity if you want to make it big, but at the end of the day it won’t be enough. You’ll grow bored if you ever succeed, and if you don’t you’ll work yourself to death trying or just give up when it seems like it’s impossible.”
“Or become content at having a micro-career.”
“Are you now?”
“I dream big, but I’m not unhappy. Especially now that I’ve met you.”
“That will wear off. But do you have a purpose that doesn’t involve others?”
“Not really.”
“Keep an eye out for one, if it ever comes your way. At the end of the day your life has to be about you, not others. Which is why singers often lose their way. It’s sad, but true for others as well. Did you know that 98.9% of all people who survived the V’kit’no’sat war have died since?”
“No I didn’t. Is it because they got bored?”
“Most, yes. They got to a point where they just stopped trying. Maybe just for the change of routine. You have to have a purpose, or life doesn’t seem worth living. Do you know why?”
“No.”
“Because we’re on a quest. We need to pursue that quest. Staying alive is essential to doing that, but if we get stuck in a rut we’re basically abandoning the quest and subconsciously we cannot handle that. We need new stuff, and…”
“Death is new to people who think they’ve learned it all,” Jessica interrupted, then cringed. “Sorry.”
“Well said, though it’s a great deal more complicated than I can explain. It’s more complicated than even I know. Each year I learn a little more, and most of that learning is by looking internally. Why do you wear clothes?”
“Warmth?”
“Not in Star Force cities. I haven’t been outside on a planet for more than 400 years. That was the last time I did an outdoor concert, and it was sweltering. I was covered in sweat even before I got drenched with water.”
“Why do you start out the concert in clothes then?”
“So they can see me take them off. It’s all about what is normal. If naked is normal, you can’t feel exposed. But if you start with clothes you c
an take them off, and when normal changes you get the feeling of nudity. If you’re always naked, you’re never nude. That’s why you and the other singers with me will always wear clothes. To set up the contrast.”
“Me?” Jessica asked, not sure she heard her right.
“You’ve passed inspection. Welcome to the tour.”
“Seriously! You don’t even want to hear me sing?”
“Already checked out. But you haven’t answered my question. Why do you wear clothes?”
“I guess I haven’t thought about it. Lots of little reasons, but mainly because…”
“Yes?”
“Because everyone else is?”
“Because it’s normal. But your normal has made the sight of your body not normal. What you actually are has become lost to you. That’s why I don’t wear clothes in private. I need to see the real me. If I hide from it, cover it up, then I can’t probe the mysteries of the universe because I’m already lying to myself. And that’s another reason people wear clothes. They cover up how out of shape they are. This way, if I start to slip, it will become obvious.”
“You are in really good shape. But if you learned that from the Archons, why do they wear clothes?”
“Excellent question. I think we’re going to get along well. I actually asked the same thing to my friend. She told me it was about function. Have you ever tried to run naked?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, my breasts aren’t super big, but they’re big enough to bounce. Archons wear bras to stabilize themselves so they can run faster, dodge better, and just all around perform at a higher level. Being naked would be a disadvantage for them, including the guys. They bounce more than we do. Originally I thought Archons were shy about being naked, but they’re not. They wear clothes for a reason, whereas everyone else does just because it’s become normal.”
“Should I strip down then?”
“I think you’ve had enough shocks for today as it is, so no, not now. But when you’re alone in your quarters, try it. See if it alters your perceptions. But if you’re shy, that’s not something you get over quickly. Those that think they do really just go numb, and that’s not the same thing.”