“Look, the market ain’t even close to a fair playing field anymore. All bets are off now. The free market’s new currency is paid for with blood, assassination and blackmail. I blame the Cambiar, personally. Since Henry and Huell bit the dust, blood is in the water and everyone’s a shark. I saw a senior executive get cut in half on the way to a meeting today by a hit squad. That used to be the highlight of the financial quarter – now that’s just daily life. The CCH has always been shady, no doubt, but now the darkness is bleeding into the light. How the hell can we keep going with this? Shit, I reckon if I don’t borg up tonight, I’ll be the one bisected next time.” – Wade Walkins, Second Sun Management Staffer, 2258. ‘Titanlock Life’ Issue #872.
Elias walked through the clean, minimalistic halls Nucleus’ entrance atrium, doing his best to hide his glare towards a certain aggravating alien. Sleek, windowed corridors led them past an automated reception towards an office complex segregated from the main laboratory wings. Reflective walls and fluorescent lights marked their route as they made their way to a pre-planned meeting room. The clack of shoes on the tiled floors were a familiar sound to him, one he had heard all across human space. Even the tattiest of colonies, labs and research centres always had the same echoey sound to them. Despite the initial impression from the entrance, Elias could feel something was different about the Nucleus. Was it the natural temperature of the facility, a fraction above a comfortable room temperature? Or perhaps it was the overall lack of staff he passed. For a site of its size, Elias expected the halls to be packed and the rooms stuffed with overworked assistants and office monkeys. Instead, it was practically deserted. The one person Elias’ convoy met, a bald headed man with a light grin, raised an eyebrow at their appearance, as if he hadn’t expected to see anyone else that morning.
Letting Rannos and the, annoyingly graceful, Chel-Lin take the lead, Elias matched step with Kurt who was frantically checking their surroundings.
“Sir, if I may say – it would help me do my job of keeping you alive if you don’t try to antagonize the aliens within, you know, ten goddamn seconds of meeting them,” Kurt said.
Elias shrugged, “You can’t blame me for that little argument back there. She clearly had no intention of meeting us on equal footing, and I won’t let that sort of disrespect slide. Kurt, would you let someone who treated you like that get away with it?”
“Well, I’m not sure. My whole job is pretty much that – the only difference is that I need to resist the urge to punch them in the face as I keep them safe. In fact, I’m still thinking about what I would do if a particularly recent client, say, kept pushing the boundaries of their contract and we found ourselves alone.”
Kurt slid off his sunglasses as he stared deep into Elias’ soul, punctuating his point with a cracked knuckle. Ah, well that answered that. Elias was deeply glad that Kurt was not some robotic solider of a man, his personality burnt out for the sake of a job. Instead, there was someone very tired and sick of people like Elias behind those eyes of Kurt’s. That being said, the look the scientist got from his bodyguard told him that he was putting his potential safety on the line with his act so far. Eh, Elias could live with that. Was protection really worth it if the rest of his life was so utterly boring?
Turning into a meeting room, Elias was met with three more human faces and one of a more metallic disposition. The room was wide; a circular table made of actual real wood stretching across the carpet occupying most of the space. The design of the room seemed perfectly made to instil a sense of claustrophobia – the ceiling was too high up, likely for the sake of any Tylas attendees wishing to drift up a bit, but the walls felt too close to the chairs. Maybe the Tylas did have a sense of humour – that being the discomfort of their hosts. In that sense, maybe Elias could respect them from the perspective of one asshole to another. Just slightly.
The two people sitting next to each other on the closer side of the table were clearly fellow scientists. Disregarding the fact that Elias had read about both of them in the past, their way of sitting was confident enough for an expert in their chosen field, but just a tad too tense for someone used to alien environments. Elias felt that the pair also hadn’t been at Kral’Thul particularly long.
A longer haired man, flashing a wide smile, was famous enough that anyone at Birkdale’s Gate would know of him. Dr. Bernard Warnick – a media-darling ‘rock-star scientist’. A wizard at genetic engineering, he had various successful projects on his resume. Though the work he had done was respectable in Elias’ eyes, albeit not to the same level of worth as his own, Bernard had certainly made a name for himself through the exploitation of his own image through his ties to Glass Tip Productions. Using his contacts there, he had been in numerous exclusive interviews and tours to show off his work, allowing even the most stupid of people to at least see the man behind the studies. Hell, Elias was sure that the most people cared for genetics was to tell they could find a cheaper way to make their cock bigger, or to argue over parentage around the Christmas table. That, and to see if they had caught some sort of space AIDs from a Cambiar.
Still, regarding whether the man was an attention whore or not, Elias was glad to see Dr. Warnick at Nucleus. The way he rubbed his soul patch beard as he looked the younger scientist up and down was enough to see that Elias was clearly drawing his attention. The real question was whether he could tell if Elias’ persona was fake. A feature Elias didn’t expect from the celebrity was the Echorist necklace dangling from his neck. The newfangled religion, one born from the general fading of belief in the older religions following the Eternal War and a general shift in public perception toward materialism, seemed a far cry from the image Bernard had shown off in public. He definitely didn’t seem the pious type when he cheered to crowds of people about how he could cure their ails.
Elias took a seat as he inspected the other scientist. A woman in her early thirties with dark skin, a sharp bob-cut and an incredibly strong nose, she excitedly hummed to herself as her eyes darted from person to person. Compared to Elias’ mess of an outfit, Kurt’s clearly undersized uniform and Bernard’s casually unbuttoned lab coat, Dr. Madison Dallas clothes were as neat as could be. Her coat was steam pressed and her tie aligned perfectly, practically down to the millimetre. Compared to her contemporaries in the same room, Madison was far less known to the public, but was still a popular name in particular spheres. Her previous work on industrial chemistry, especially in the field of production and usage of exotic matters like syraline, made her a valuable figure in the increasingly war-filled times humanity was finding themselves in. Of course, she wouldn’t be hundreds of light years from CCH space if she wasn’t the best of the best, and the few studies Elias had analysed on her work seemed to confirm she was the real deal.
The next… person… in the room stood out from the rest. Standing in the corner was either someone sporting a full-body cybernetic replacement, or some sort of humanoid robot. Along its surface, glinting against steel and hydraulics, was the repeated emblem of a golden blade, point tilted downwards. A small line of text was imprinted across its chest, reading ‘EXCALIBUR-1’. Androids had their usages for simple tasks, but were still a rare sight even in the core worlds of the CCH. Considering its placement at such a delicate facility and the way it rocked back and forth on its heels in a rather human-like fashion, there was another possibility, one far more enticing to the young scientist than a mere robot.
Surely, they wouldn’t have brought one of those to Kral-Thul, right? Oh, god yes.
Lastly was a man in business casual attire, face embedded with jutting cybernetic plating around the jawline and a flat top haircut. His overall posture and girth hinted at the possibility of more cybernetic beneath the man’s skin, not a particularly uncommon sight for people to have. With thin lips, daggers for eyes and a faint smile, he turned towards Elias and lightly raised an eyebrow. Direct eye contact between the two was blocked by the pair of red-tinted glasses rested atop the bridge of his nose.
Knowing two out of four, if he was counting whatever laid behind the glassy lenses of the android as a person, was not bad for a surprise meeting. Leaning back in his chair and fighting the urge to rest his feet on the table, Dr Rannos took position at the front of the table, his squat form relaxing for the first time since they met. Interestingly, Chel-Lin, the Tylas, did not rest in a chair. Instead, she simply pulled one out from its spot and floated downwards until her gold and black shroud nearly touched the floor. Just as Elias was considering a snide comment about being some sort of carpet-dragger as an allusion to knuckle-dragging, the Cambiar started to talk.
“Thank you everyone for your patience,” Dr Rannos said. “Apologies about the delay – Dr Savage’s ship was delayed in orbit. Now, we can finally begin! Welcome, everyone, to the Interspecies Galactic Symposium!”
He slid out a small confetti popper from a pocket and set it off, sending the paper fragments all over the table. The crack made everyone in the room jump slightly, giving Elias some pleasure at seeing the Tylas shudder in the air for a moment. She caught his smirk and intensified her scowl at him.
“I would like to introduce all attending members here, if you are not familiar with them. Whilst I will not be directly participating in your group, as I will assisting with overlooking the project as a whole, I would like to be here for this initial meeting.”
As the Cambiar stood to gesture to Elias, the unknown man stood, scratching at the skin around his metal augments.
“Please, allow me, Dr. Rannos. As one of the initial suggesters for this whole event, I wouldn’t want you to carry the burden of this discussion alone.”
There was an awkward pause before Rannos made his way to a chair. Elias was no expert on Cambiar body language, but based on the snapping of his jaw, there was clearly a disagreement in hierarchy between the two – a common reason why he always felt it was best to establish his own superiority above others when working with them. That always went well, definitely no hard feelings between him and older researchers with a quarter the number of PhDs he had under his belt.
Clearing his throat, the tall augmented man began, “As Dr. Rannos said, thank you all. I am Lucian Valentari, one of the head diplomats for the Interspecies Galactic Symposium, or IGS as we like to shorten it. I would say ‘I hope we will work well together’ but I know for certain we will get on like a house a-flame.”
This ‘Lucian’ released a hungry smile that he had been holding in, the reflective metal on his face only exacerbating the expression.
“So, some background information. Everyone should know this, but it never hurts to refresh. You will all be assigned to the Nuclei Wing Two in preparation for the main opening. Now, we don’t expect you all to work on the same projects, as we know how much you nerds love your space. However, that being said, any cooperative projects would certainly look good from the optics side so… feel free to go nuts.”
Lucian reached to the side of the table to pull out a number of slim data tablets. They were passed to each person in the room, including slotting one in the hand of an increasingly suspicious android, before leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets.
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“As the last one here, I imagine you’re feeling a bit lost, Savage. The rundown for you, as I’m sure daddy didn’t give you all the information on purpose, is that later this year the Tylas are going to officially open up their borders, kicking it off with a big song and dance. A proper celebration and conference – all that good stuff. That’s where our role in the IGS comes in. What we and the boys upstairs need, as was so thoughtfully proposed by our dear Dr. Rannos, is a series of pre-liminary smaller projects from the best of the best eggheads humanity can offer to go alongside the meetings. Hell, we even managed to drag a couple Doctrine, or ex-Doctrine I guess, specialists here.” A light sneer made its way onto Lucian’s face before he pushed the expression down. “We’ll have you all doing what you do best – getting numbers and making papers. Consider this whole project to have a blank check for all your resource and data needs. We’ll happily give you all the sensory toys and shit your ‘tistic asses need to cook up some results and maybe even a prototype or two.”
The looks the rest of the room were giving Lucian were those of apprehension. Flicking through the leaflet displayed, with most of what Lucian had been said confirmed, autistic requirements notwithstanding, and he was satisfied with the resources at hand. He could see that, indeed, the facility had much to offer in terms of tools, materials and- Wait, hold on, did people think Elias was some autist? He might be a rude, abrasive asshole but not in that sort of way, right? Never assembled train models. Well… very rarely, perhaps. Whatever, it didn’t matter; he could ponder that later.
From the document, it appeared a number of other teams were already getting to work within the other sectors of the Nucleus complex, Elias’ team being the last to begin. The main idea was to try and put the research already developed in human and Cambiar space into practice with Tylas technology. Though they wouldn’t be given anything particularly classified to work with, there would be more than enough alien data to make something interesting with. Elias was already thinking up a number of starting concepts when a note on the last slide of the tablet gave him pause.
“Apologies, Mr Valentari, but what is this last point meant to mean?” Elias rested his jaw on a fist as he turned the data slate around.
“Ah, that.” Valentari smiled. “So, as you can all read, there will be a slight… stipulation for this project. Now, as our own Scribe Daksira can attest to, things are still a bit ‘dicey’ with the Tylas, to say the least.”
Elias turned and gave said alien a look, wiggling his eyebrows. Chel-Lin didn’t look impressed. Elias felt it was far healthier to air out any grievances with someone who you disliked as opposed to hiding behind fake cordiality and artificial smiles.
“And so, whilst the IGS will be the seed that opens up real discussions with the rest of the galaxy, but needless to say this is a… delicate situation. As such what we really want from you guys is… a good image, a nice picture we can use. By the end of this we want something physical and real, but not too… dramatic, if you understand?”
“I think I understand.” Dr. Bernard spoke up, voice smooth and dry like fine whiskey. “You’re telling us to not ‘rock the boat’, so to speak?”
Huh, so that actually had been Bernard’s natural voice whenever he did an interview. Elias swore he was putting it on for optics.
“If that’s the way you want to put it, then sure! We won’t be putting any restrictions on your work, but… keep that little point in mind, ok? Nothing too crazy or over the top, alright?”
Before anyone could react to what Elias saw as a serious limitation, a new voice rattled out, echoing from the corner of the room.
“Don’t worry though, there’s still a good reason to try your best!” The energetic voice said.
With a spin and a pose, the robot sprung to life, servos whirring. The moment it activated, the icon of the sword on the computer screen became a blur of motion as the sword began to bounce against the borders of its display.
“As you can all read on page 14, the Wing that produces the best results by the Symposium will graciously be offered a lifetime grant by the Baraldian Heralds. Isn’t that neat?”
Lucian did not appear pleased by the interruption but swallowed any annoyance down quickly with a false smile.
“That’s correct, EXCALIBUR,” he said. “As it said, there will a reward at the end of all this, so don’t you guys worry. Even if you don’t win, which I seriously doubt considering your shared expertise, I am sure that being part of this grand event will be enough of a career stimulant for your future dreams. If you should need that sort of support, that is. Say if… you are currently reliant on your family, or father in particular, for assistance.”
Lucian met Elias’ eyes once again, lips pulled into a grin. Who the hell was this prick? Did he have a bone to pick with Elias? Better yet, did the smug asshole have a grudge against his father? That wouldn’t be a particularly surprising motive – it was exponentially harder to find someone who liked Kantor Savage than someone who wished him dead.
Before Lucian could begin again, the robot interrupted him with a snap of its mechanical fingers. “Thanks Lucian! As a your automated site advisor for Nucleus Two, allow me to give a quick rundown on your team members and the Nuclei Complex itself.”
The lights in the room dimmed, darkness swallowing the space around them. Slowly, an image of the same golden blade was projected onto all four walls around them.
“I am EXCALIBUR-1, the Copied Artificial Intelligence for the Nucleus Research Facility. An intellectual property of Galant Corp, or GaltCorp as the hip and cool kids say, I am here to keep your work running smoothly and to aid you if you need any assistance. If you need me at any time, call out for me, or speak to me directly at any of my connection points! The Nucleus installation is a combined effort on the part of our gracious Tylas hosts and GaltCorp themselves, and we thank them for this opportunity. Though the other companies will be arriving come the IGS, we could not have started this journey without them.”
It was as Elias thought - a CAI. Jesus, they weren’t just playing with cutting edge with Tylas tech, this was the sort of thing unheard of in standard CCH space. The only time things like CAIs were seen were on black-sites held under the strictest lock and key by Tripwire Services. Hell, Elias would have begged just get in contact with the creators behind these things, let alone a CAI itself. He could feel the itch to begin picking the thing’s brains as soon as possible. Before he could finish the thought however, a light shined down from the ceiling on top of Elias, the angle focusing the beam into his face and forcing him to shield his eyes.
“And now, a look at the team!” EXCALIBUR-1 continued. “This here is Dr Elias Savage, son of GaltCorp executive, Kantor Savage. Don’t worry, we don’t discriminate against those who got here by nepotism here in Kral-Thul!”
Oh, that fake excuse of a real artificial intelligence could just fuck off. First the floating jellyfish alien was giving him grief, then the smarmy corporate suit running the project and now the goddamn advanced door opener; was there anyone in the room who wasn’t judging him today?
“With a focus on practical Post-Müller Physics and null-point field analysis, I am sure he will be a great asset to the team. His past works include The Haljor-Maxwell Theorum, Extensions of the Markowsky Principle in S-Wave Collapse, Intercommunication of QIS Binding Patterns for Dummies, The Savage Constant, The Second Savage Constant, The Third Savage Constant, The Fou-“
“Ok, that’s enough,” Elias interrupted. “Yes, yes, you guys get the idea. Kid of some corpo big wig, who gives a crap. You probably know of me already, so can we just move on?”
Bernhard found the exchange funny at least, as he tried and failed to hide a chuckle. The computer spent some time going through each of the other researchers, switching to each new target with the floodlight, and not providing many more details about them than Elias had already knew. Bernard had embraced the light, looking up and pulling finger guns to the rest of the room whereas Madison sat stiffly as she nervously waved.
“Hello everyone!” Madison squeaked out, hands frantically attempting to fix her tie as she startled for a moment. “I… don’t think I’ve met any of you before, but I am sure we can do this! Good luck everyone!”
A good mixture of excitement and nervousness – probably the best combo for any reasonable scientist out there. Seeing as she didn’t seem to have shown any problems with Elias so far, he figured he would get on with her well. Then, the light moved on. Surprisingly, it stopped on Kurt for a moment to explain his role as Elias’ private guard before moving onto the real meat of the meeting. It seemed Kurt had quite the long list of past clients, most of whom were still alive as far as Elias recalled. The suited man squirmed in his chair the whole time, much to Elias’ delight.
When the Tylas was cast in the spotlight, she gracefully rose off the ground. Elias had noticed she didn’t make any of the usual motions one would expect from a human, such as breathing or scratching one’s face. Instead, she drifted from position to position when needed before halting all motion on the spot when idle. That was, aside from the light curling of her outer cape when frustrated, as Elias had seen so far. As she finished her little ascent off the ground, her cloak froze around her. Elias couldn’t deny that there was an almost ethereal quality to her. At least, when she wasn’t looking down on others, that is.
“This is our one and only Burning Scribe, or I suppose ‘Doctor’ in your fleshy tongues, Chel-Lin Daksira,” EXCALIBUR announced. “Nucleus Two’s resident Tylas and a proud member of the Baraldian Heralds, she has more than enough experience to match the rest of you, so am sure she will fit in well. With many studies on Post-C Reality Modification, top researcher in Daksira-field Bending, Altered Reality Bubble Displacement and pioneer of Exotic Matter Encapsulation Constants One through Six, I am sure she will make her people proud!”
Elias was hoping for a bit more information on the alien, like where she came from, how was her family doing, and what things really pissed her off. You know, the standard affair any guest needs to know about their hosts.
And yet, it appeared he would be forced to pester her more for more details. However, Elias doubted that Rannos letting them even occupy the same hectare of the facility together considering their first meeting. Instead, he decided to bug the next, less bitchy Tylas he met for answers on their people when he got the chance. Nonetheless, Elias was intrigued by the apparent work Chel-Lin had done in the past. It would appear that he was not the only scientist in the room with a few mathematical constants named after themselves. Elias pictured himself working with the alien for a moment before the reality of such as situation settled in – a complete and utter impossibility. There was no sane reason for the two to even see each other until the IGS. Considering the space of the Nuclei’s wings they could likely work for months without even coming close to one another.
Finally, the meeting was thankfully adjourned, giving each member of the newly formed team time to explore the facility. In total, less than a hundred people manned the facility, far below what Elias would expect for even a skeleton staff to work. As such, the self-contained Wings of Nucleus, containing not only laboratories, but also living quarters, recreation centres and cafeterias, felt like a ghost town. Exacerbating this fact was that as the last team to operate, Elias, Dr Warnick, Dr Dallas and the Tylas would be the only scientists working in Wing 2. Needless to say, space was not a limited factor at Nucleus. The team weren’t expected to start any real work for a day or two at least. Elias let Kurt take some time to check Nucleus out in detail; a task the guard quickly undertook with gusto. Like a dog yearning for a walk, Kurt needed to check out his surroundings with each new positing it seemed. As he departed for his reconnaissance, Elias sincerely hoped the man-shaped gorilla would find some new clothes.
Now alone, Elias visited one of the various rest areas, a mixed kitchen and dining area fitted with a balcony looking out towards the city of Urestior. Breathing in the, thankfully safe, gas mixture of Kral-Thul he sighed and admired the tall city, spires of unusual metal reaching for the heavens beyond. The meeting had been a lot to take in. The biggest diplomatic event since the New Horizons incident was underway, competing teams were working for a lifetime guarantee of cutting-edge work, he had a group of new colleagues he’d be stuck with for the next few months, and countless worries on his mind.
If it came down to it, could he really work with that alien? They’d barely shared a few sentences and their relationship seemed to be cemented in hostility. Would the other researchers on his team play ball, or would they act as glory hounds? Lucian hardly seemed like the best boss to work under, and Rannos seemed a bit of a people pleaser. Worst of all, Elias was wondering how his father would take the news of the Interspecies Galactic Symposium? Did he already know, and purposely leave Elias in the dark? Shit, was he pleased to have his son out of the way? These worries were minor, nothing more than aberrant errors in data, compared to the real fear he had.
The only real question left in Elias’ mind was how the hell was he going to scratch his itch for real science under these conditions. A ‘good picture’? ‘Nothing too dramatic’?
Bullshit. Elias was going to change the galaxy. He would take everything the Tylas was offering and break every rule in the book. If Lucian wanted a quiet result by the end of this, he was in for a sour surprise.
No, the better question to worry about now was how the hell would Elias hide it until the IGS?
