Chapter 1: Leaving Green Hell

The Saresii ship was the product of a Union member society, and yet to him, it was quite alien in design.

The crew consisted of only beautiful Saresii, no other Union Member species represented and all appearing like women.

The quarters he received appeared frilly and had floating furniture that reminded him of shimmering soap bubbles.

Cara ensured him that most of the stuff was made of formed energy and manipulated matter, much like Variform furniture and that it was sturdy enough even for Partner.

After they had taken off, he retired and wanted to catch some sleep, he felt exhausted.

Just as he had dimmed the lights and was drifting into sleep, he had a very vivid dream of a dry planet. with a glaring desert. Of rough canyon rock walls, with thousands of cages. In his incorporeal ghost-like condition, he noticed a filthy woman leaning against a stone wall inside one of those cages, The floor covered with filthy yellowish plant stalks.

He recognized the woman. The images made him bolt straight up in the low grav-bed, and he yelled, “Mother!”

--””--

Only ten days had passed since the Kermac attacked Green Hell, trying to excavate and secure an ancient Saresii space ship, buried there for over a million standard years.

It all culminated with the Union-wide shocking revelation that the President of the United Stars himself was a Kermac Spy.

Roy had been at the very center of these events and he had to admit, most of it it was still hard to understand.

The Kermac, the Galactic Council. A quest by these White-skinned agitators that lasted over 500, to unravel the technical secret of the Translocator Cannons.

Galactic secrets, Union politics, wide-reaching ramifications, and war. He sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes, trying to chase the demons of that vivid nightmare away whispered.”Damn them all, I am just a teenager of a backwater world. What do I know?

His beloved homeworld, Green Hell did not develop into the most dangerous planet in the known universe all on its own, and by nature’s design alone.

He unraveled that mystery at the climax of those recent events. All that lethal life that did not match any genetic commonality, like the naturally evolved life of any other known garden world.

All these diverse life forms had been brought to Green Hell, by a long-vanished and highly advanced society, known to a very few as Seenians, generally and incorrectly called the Celtest.

These Seenians gathered the most lethal and dangerous life forms from all across the galaxy and perhaps beyond, brought them to Green Hell as part of a bioweapon program.

If he understood correctly, the Seenians tried to develop bioforms that could be used as a weapon against an equally long-vanished foe, called the Dark Ones.

Both the Seenians and the Dark Ones vanished long before the bioweapon project was completed.

An advanced AI machine was left behind and it somehow developed a personality and merged with a cosmic entity or spirit, someone or something truly beyond Roy’s comprehension. What he believed to understand was that this machine/spirit symbiont evolved in a kind of planetary mother. A guardian or protector of Green Hell with a deep connection to all that lived on Green Hell.

The most lethal life forms somehow learned to live with each other, find a balance and evolve into the unique biosphere of Green Hell.

This entity was represented by the projection of a woman with the name Qaroniel.

She had revealed herself to him and first called him a child of Oaroniel and then as the Kermac invaded, she called him Warrior of Qaroniel.

He had seen her only once in the aftermath of the invasion. To his disappointment, she too wanted him, just like Uncle Sam to leave Green Hell.

She argued that the true monsters and true evil were to be found beyond the orbit of Green Hell, a sentiment echoed by Uncle Sam. Qaroniel told him, that he would need knowledge and skills not found on Green Hell to become its true protector.

When Cara, his Saresii friend, and mentor offered a chance to receive college education on Sares Prime, everyone he knew told him this was a great honor and a rare opportunity.

Something he had to accept and embrace. Even practical Ma Swenson told him, the day he left Green Hell, that them Doll-faces of Sares were quite advanced and smart as they came.

Those were her words.

So, he promised to everyone be good and try his best.

He had to agree that the events since his last birthday had shown him just how important education, and how dangerous ignorance could be, but deep down there was a voice of rebellion. Perhaps not as stubborn as it was before, this voice still a hallmark of human teenagers since times began; resenting the fact that there were always others telling him how he had to act and what to do.

Less than twelve hours ago. Cara, Partner, and Roy had boarded this exotic looking Saresii space ship at the spaceport of Harper’s Junction.

Not able to sleep after that strange nightmare.A dream where he saw his mother and his father in a cave-like place, dirty and wearing rags and being prisoners of someone or something. Not that this was possible, both his parents fell victim to a pirate attack and perished with all the others of the UES Zengh He.

While the Saresii Ship was quite fast, it still had to cross through the entire Upward Sector. past the gaps of two spiral arms and then cross into the Spinward Sector.

In terms of distance almost 35,000 light-years. Even though the Saresii Ship traveled in Quasi Space at the incredible speed of 42,875 times the speed of light, it would take over 298 standard days to reach the destination of Sares Prime, at least if his calculation was right.

Yet, Cara had told him they would make the trip in less than 20 days.

In moments like this, he knew he should have paid more attention in school and not skip the Neural Upload sessions as he did so often, so he could escape school for his beloved jungles. He wondered how this would be accomplished.

Roy took a cold water-based shower, instead of the also offered perfumed steamed sonics, and got dressed in his usual camo-pattern Bio-seal suit.

His quarters were spacious and everything had an alien feminine character, well everything except that huge black beast, still snoozing in the big bed.

That animal was a true enigma, all Roy really could find out about Partner came from obscure stories and legends.

Some sources suggested that it was the product of highly advanced civilization, today only remembered as the Dark Ones. Perhaps the Green Hell project of the Seenians was a direct answer?

His mind had a hard time believing that this fur-covered, four-legged animal was that old. According to these legends he had discovered so far, Partner was supposed to be a Fury Beast or if Roy paid credence to an Oromal waiter of Harper’s Junction spaceport, Partner was an Imperial Hell-Hound; that his four-legged friend was way more than it appeared was certain, however. There seemed little that could harm or kill his friend, except energy siphoning devices.

Partner could teleport, emit strong energy blasts from those small, always slightly glowing horns, eat pretty much anything.

And when he needed help, the Beast summoned thousands of similar, but smaller Fury Beasts. These other beasts had appeared in the nick of time defeating the landing Kermac, only to disappear once the deed was done.

Roy shared a psionic link, a strong bond with Partner and while his animal was quite intelligent, it was not sentient. It communicated with mental images and emotions, many of Partner’s images made no sense to Roy.

For example, when he tried to ask Partner where the other Fury Beasts came from or where they went, all he got were confusing images of swirling colors and symbolic conditions that looked like abstract paintings of a mad man. At least that was the closest way Roy could describe what he saw when he tried to formulate his question.

He had given up trying to understand his friend. All he know was that he loved this creature as much as anyone could love an animal.

Partner raised his head, always knowing when Roy was thinking about it and a warm wave of affection came over Roy, transmitted by the mind of the animal as if to say. “I love you too.” Then Partner blinked with his deep red glowing eyes and it was clear he tried to say. “Is it time to get up?”

Roy went over and rubbed the animal’s belly. “Don’t get up. It’s still early and there isn’t anything to do anyway, but I can’t sleep, I had a weird dream. I want to see if I can scare up some breakfast.”

Partner sneezed, licked over Roy’s arm and squeezed his eyes shut.

“I said it before, you know. I bet you are the laziest sleepy beast of them all. Whoever owned you before wanted some tough beast and all he got was a big black cuddle monster.”

He hugged his massive pet and buried his face in the dry, warm fur. “I sure glad I have you, though.”

Partner grunted deeply satisfied and then sneezed again. Roy was certain, Partner was completely content. So he let it sleep and then went to the exit.

The door to this pink and pastel blue bubble room without any straight walls or sharp corners was a five-leaf iris and it made a turning motion and chirping sound as it opened.

The corridor behind his door had the cross-section of an egg-shaped oval, the walls and floors were made of a smooth white plastic-like mirror-smooth and translucent material.

Soft bluish light shining without revealing a real source behind the material gave it all a clinical, antiseptic atmosphere.

Cara had shown him to his quarters as they left Harper’s Junction yesterday, so far he had seen little else of the ship.

Not knowing which direction to go, he hesitated for a moment and then simply went to the right.

It didn’t have to walk far when he ran into one of the ship’s crew. Another long-legged, very female shaped Saresii wearing a white catsuit, with fine black lines down the sides.

Her ample chest was clearly defined underneath that shinny white material and on top of her left boob the Union Flag, while a series of alien writing on the right side most likely identified her name.

If it was a she of course, despite the fact she looked like a flawless fashion model with a killer body, long shiny black hair and a beautiful face with large purple eyes and voluptuous lips; he knew she could very well be a Saresii male. From what he learned from Cara there were no visual differences.”

She smiled at him. “Hello Mr. Masters, I am Doctor Seniie and the CMO of this vessel. I am surprised to see you up at this hour.”

“Nice to meet you Doc. I had a nightmare and could not sleep so I decided to find the galley, scare up some breakfast and then look around a little if that is okay.”

“Of course, there are no areas of this ship that are restricted to you, this isn’t a Union Fleet ship.”

She pointed back from where Roy had come from. “There are verbal accessible serve-matics in your quarters able to provide you with a wide variety of breakfast choices. There is a staffed Galley on Deck three. Easy to find if you take the next IST and tell it where you want to go.”

“I suspected there would be serve-matics, but I wanted to walk a little.”

“Why don’t you accompany me to Sick Bay? I always begin my shift with a good cup of Terran coffee and a few doughnuts. I can’t stand this weak Saresii Tea we’re supposed to love.”

“A donut doesn’t sound too bad. Got any Boston crème?”

“I am sure the serve-Matic can print one.”

Roy changed direction and followed the medical officer and decided she had to be female. No man would have such a nice behind.

The doctor sighed and then said. “Cara told me you did not have much exposure to other Union members on Green Hell, and that the Saresii society might be a little challenging for you, but I have to disappoint you. I am a male Saresii.”

Roy blushed and remembered that Saresii were all psionic gifted and almost all of them were Telepaths. “I am sorry for...”

“Don’t be sorry and don’t worry, we don’t dig. That means we won’t go further than the open surface thoughts almost all beings transmit, it’s almost like hearing a spoken conversation to someone with ears. Going beyond that is against the law and we take our Union Psi laws very seriously.”

“I know, my mother is ... I mean she was a Telepath and she too spoke about these laws and always respected them. I know what digging means. She didn’t do it either.”

The CMO gave him a sad smile. “Yes, Cara told me about that as well. From Phantas, right? I mean your mother was from that world, was she not?”

“Yes, she was.”

“Ah, the Phantas enigma. Terran Settlers there developed strong Psionic talents over the almost 2000 years of Colony history.”

The doctor was thinking for a second and added.”If I recall, only recently it was discovered that local pollen of a psionic gifted plant that caused the mutation. This pollen dust is somewhat akin to the dust pods of the Fire Nettle Bushes, producing the famous Calipharm that comes from your world. Leedei scientists think psionic abilities occur on planets that are near psion nodes.”

“I didn’t know that.”

The doctor made a gesture down his body. “If you are curious about Saresii and our ways. I don’t mind answering your questions.”

“How is it you have female hips, and fill out that skin tight thing, without showing ... Uhm...”

“We do this for a very long time and perfected it. It is still sort of a disguise, but after almost 950,000 years it is very natural to us. Then there are Saresii Body-Shapers, these machines able to rearrange the molecules of your bodies in many shapes.”

“Ah, that explains why you all look like tall legged super beauties.”

He laughed. “Well, that. careful dieting and there are of course genetic changes that occurred both naturally and assisted that blur these external visual gender differences, that are more pronounced in the average Terran Human of course. We have a Body shaper in Sickbay and if you want you can try it too.”

“Maybe some other time. I am sort of okay with what I got and all that.”

“But maybe we could look into your Nightmare, only if you want, but nightmares often have psychosomatic causes and psycho med-science is a Saresii specialty.”

They reached an IST tube and stepped in. The Saresii Doctor asked the system for sickbay and Roy said. “Sure I don’t mind that, it was such a weird dream. You will tell me before you do any Psycho Surgery right?”

“I wouldn’t perform it on anyone if my life depended on it. I am very much against these procedures.”

“I thought you Saresii invented it.”

“We did, a very long time ago, like so many other things but it was the Terrans who took it to a whole new level.

To me, it is a very controversial issue, as well as among many Medical professionals all over our Union. I am part of a growing group of physicians all over the Union, trying to outlaw it completely.

I simply abhor the fact that one person can decide what personality another person should have.”

Roy never heard all that much about it, he just knew that Uncle Sam and a few other adults he knew didn’t like it much.

The IST car stopped and released them into a corridor looking exactly like the one they had left, except it was wider. They did not have to go far and reached a transparent iris door with the standard Union symbol for medical services on it. A blue star-like cross with a snake in the middle. The door opened and the doctor led him into bright office in a light blue and white color scheme and gestured towards a visitor chair.

“Make yourself at home while I get the coffee going.” He pointed to a blue and chrome contraption built into the wall. “This is the serve-Matic. Check if we do have that Boston crème thing on file and order two. I’d like to try one as well.”

“Aren’t you going to use it for the Coffee?”

“Oh no, I have an old Terran coffee machine. Using real ground coffee and percolating hot water.

There is no serve-Matic I have found so far, that can reproduce the real aroma of Coffee. A lot of the magic of this wonderful Terran beverage gets lost when it comes out of a replicator, you’ll see.”

Roy turned to the modern shaped serve-Matic. “System, do you have Boston crème Donuts?”

The blue field turned red. “No such item on file, one moment, please. Accessing GalNet. 233 Replication Files found.”

“Check if there is Dunkin Donuts.” That was Ranger Solomon’s favorite brand and Melissa’s parents had a Dunkin Donuts dedicated Replicator in their Restaurant.

“Information found, fee transfer completed. Molecule pattern downloading ... Processing,”

Behind the transparent door of the replicator, the molecule printing arm started spinning and begun to print the Donuts, molecule layer by molecule layer. It spun so fast no human eye could see it, but underneath he could see the donuts grow. Roy always loved to watch Food printers.

Suddenly there was a heavenly invigorating scent in the air followed by a happy gargling sound. Of course, he knew coffee and how it smelled, but this was different. He instantly understood what the doctor meant, serve-matics did not produce any aromas while making things.

He turned and watched the doctor filling two mugs from a bulbous carafe and said. “Milk, Sugar?”