Cal held the small orange and white aerogel card he had just been given like it was the greatest treasure. He chirped and turned it from side to side to make the photo of himself shift, the hologram showing a forward facing and side facing image. The card also had text embossed into the aerogel in Avali script and Galactic standard and he couldn’t have been prouder to have been given it.
Name: Cal
Species: Babu (Vampire Bunny)
Licence: Illuminate Registered, Certified Space Crew
“This is it,” Cal beamed at Cri who was holding a similar card and then threw himself at Ki and Firi and hugged them both, “We did it, we really did it!”
Laughing warmly Firi hugged them back and Ki rubbed his head-fur, “You really did it, congratulations both of you.”
“Yeah, well done little dudes,” Berly said, the Avali lifted his visor and smiled, “You guys smashed it and I mean that literally, no Avali could pull their way through those physical challenges like that, you guys are packing some real strength under all that fluff.”
“Thank you,” Cri chirped, “It means a lot to us, we made a promise to help look after Seinu and we can’t do that if we are being treated like younglings.”
“Well my fluffy friends you are both space certified,” he nodded to the cards, “You can technically use that to join any ship in coalition space.”
“Which includes the Odyssey,” Ki said with a smile, “And your test results will help us tailor your next set of lessons and training courses, you are both good at different things and now we know what to suggest you focus on next.”
“I can’t wait,” Cal chirped, “Flying! Please, Please tell me, I get to learn how to fly things!”
Firi laughed, “You do, an aptitude for quick reactionary work such as piloting is in your record. But we will have to ask Selenu to teach you, she’s the one rated to train pilots. I can just fly things, not teach.”
“Eeheeee yes,” Cal did a little dance and hugged Cri tight, “Yes, so what do we do next!”
“Well we thank Berly here and then we head for the hotel, we are going to dinner tonight” Firi chirped, “There is this place that does great food and we deserve to celebrate your success!”
“I wish Seinu was here,” Cal sighed as he held the card, “I wanna share this with him!”
“We’ll send him a message from the hotel,” Ki promised, “I am sure he’d love to hear from you both,” the black, white and pink Avali turned to Berly and smiled, “Thanks for helping us with these, as you can see it means a lot to the twins.”
“Any time, it’s been a blast to meet the Trail pack too, can’t wait to see more of your adventures tonight!”
Cal smiled and thanked Berly again and followed the others back outside into the cold, fresh air of Protion. Snow was whirling down out of the sky as they headed around the curving walk-way toward their hotel. He was glad for the mantle he was wearing, Firi had insisted and she was right to do so. It was frigidly cold, his breath was actually misting in the air as he breathed out. The robe at least trapped the heat inside it against his fur which made it a lot more bearable, he thought she had been being overprotective but it was really chilly. The EPP made it easy to breathe and took the edge off the cold, but did not protect you perfectly so it was overwhelmingly bitter.
Trying his best to ignore the chilly weather Cal tried to focus on the good things, like he couldn’t wait to tell Seinu the good news and hear about how he was doing. He held his card close, peeking over at Cri who smiled at him from beneath the brim of his hat.
With this all those weeks of work had been worth it, they were adults in the eyes of the Avali, they could do their bit now and keep their promise to Sher and their grandmother, Seinu would have them on his team officially!
It was going to be awesome!
Sat in bed Seinu looked over the vast array of data Selenu had brought him from Director Ck’akk and her pack. There was a lot of information, theories, discussions, essays and notes for him to review. Just reading through the executive summary made his head spin, add to that the fact all this data was logged on an ultra-secure data-chip he had plugged into his visor and it was clear it was super important.
He had been required to verify his identity four times and the holograms the visor was projecting were the most secure kind. To anyone else they would look like glowing squares of orange light, their content hidden and occluded if you were not the one wearing the visor.
Seinu however was glad for the distraction, despite how dry and clinical some of the reports were. The lessons on understanding Illuminate finances and past foreign policy decisions were informative but lacked sparkle, very much written by a bureaucrat. It was quite an in-depth curriculum however, and though he wasn’t expected to make a start until he was well and released from the hospital, he was welcome for the distraction so had started reading.
He didn’t have much to do when his family were not here visiting. Doctor Taluni had returned from Tubasinaki (the Sleriki home land) and they were busy running tests on samples of his body and the nanites. So until they were ready to proceed with the operation to reset him all he could do was sit around in his room being a bunny.
So he had cracked open the summary and started to read his way through the introductory course. It was a long summary about what was expected of him, the courses he would have to take, the reading material he would have to learn. Ck’akk expected Seinu to improve his skills, absorb material and prove he had learned the lessons prepared and not just worked to pass an exam or write an essay.
Settling back in the nest of pillows and blankets he had made for himself Seinu closed the introductory summary and turned to the first chapter of his new lesson plan, it was going to be quite interesting. Ck’akk wanted to elevate his skills as a diplomat and move him into more challenging missions to help raise his skills and profile. It was a challenge he was well up for, he wanted to excel and get better and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t push forward and keep trying to get better.
The main thrust of the first module was to present Seinu with a diplomatic scenario, to outline the whole case, all sides of the argument, negotiation or diplomatic issue and then ask Seinu to input a solution that would get the Avali Illuminate what they wanted or needed in a manner that would not upset the other parties. It was an interesting challenge and Seinu did not get them all right, often there was no right or wrong answer but each scenario was a lesson in and of itself. Even if he gave an answer that was entirely wrong he was still learning and discovering new avenues which he could follow, concepts to grasp and more importantly a slow introduction to new ideas that built on his earlier education, opening a whole new layer of nuance to what was required of an Avali diplomat.
Avalon was a bright white, cloud wrapped sphere, the surface hidden by the thick, endless weather systems. The moon hung above the blue banded storm clouds of the ice giant Valaya and was wreathed in lines of glowing orange lights. A seemingly endless series of orbital stations, satellites, ships, construction yards and hollowed out asteroids filling the orbital layers of Avalon in a perfectly choreographed dance of endless movement.
Cal was watching it get closer with awe, the grey and copper bunny pressed up against the shuttles viewscreen, “That is a lot of stuff, can that be seen from the surface?”
“Only when the cloud cover clears,” Firi said from the controls, “Which isn't that often, the weather is pretty thick all year long,” the yellow Avali smiled over at the bunnies, “Unlike your homeworld it is quite dark down there, it's why our eyes are so weak, they're designed for dim light so they're quite weak in bright environments.”
“This will be fun,” Cri chirped as he pulled his brother back into the seat so he could see as well. Firi smiled at the twins, the pair of them had been in constant training for six months now and even though they had passed their exams both of them showed no sign of growing bored of learning things. Cri would read any book he could lay his hands on and Cal had rung the pack dry for practical lessons concerning the tech on the Odyssey.
Cri watched the view for a moment and Firi waited patiently, Cri was slowly but surely developing a deep academic interest in the universe. One question always led to several more and then right on queue he asked a follow up question, “Why do you use so many colours in orbit?”
“So many colours?” Firi queried, turning away from controls to look at the rings of orbital lights, “They’re all orange.”
“No they aren't,” Cri giggled, “I count at least eight shades of colour out there… maybe nine?”
Firi stared ahead for a moment then laughed warmly, “Maybe to your eyes bunny boy, I see one shade, Avali orange, it's the best colour for our eyesight, it stands out the best against the snow and ice and void of space.”
“Oh right,” Cri giggled, “That's a shame, I can see so many shades, you're missing out on all the colours.”
“Well that's OK,” Firi said with a smile, “It’d be boring if we were all the same.”
“What are all the lights for?” Cri asked, leaning forward to look at the different shapes in orbit, “They’re all different, what do they all do?”
“Well let's see,” Firi brought up a hologram of the orbital structures, “These first ones are communication satellites, with the ice flows and glaciers moving about landlines aren't very reliable so the inner sphere is wrapped in a layer of communication satellites which keeps the whole moon connected to the nexus.”
I know what that means,” Cri chirped, “It is the Avali interconnected information system.”
“That’s right,” Firi switched to another hologram, showing a lace like pattern of interconnected modules and large open bays, “This is a ship-yard.”
“Like the one the Odyssey is in,” Cal said, “Where they make ships, are they making anything fancy?”
“It’s a public yard,” Firi said, “Lets see,” she brought up info on the three ships docked in the construction bays, “We have two colony cargo haulers and one private pack yacht, so yes, that's fancy, very fast according to these specs.”
“Ooooh,” Cal chirped, “I wanna learn how to fly fancy things like that.”
“One day,” Firi said, “Now the structure we are approaching is a public docking post. Where we can leave the shuttle to recharge whilst we head to the surface.”
“Yes,” Cal chirped and hugged his twin brother, “Where we can both start learning how to be real crew members and warriors to keep Seinu safe.”
“Indeed,” Firi looked at the twins with a frown, “Are you both sure about this? You don't have to train to be bodyguards, you know, the universe is yours, you don't have to stay with us either if you want to head out on your own and explore.”
“We talked about it,” Cal said, “We want to stay with you all and we want to be useful. Protecting Seinu is a job we can do, we're strong, Cri is smart, we want to do this.”
“We also promised Sher,” Cri said, “He told us to look after Seinu and we're going to do just that.”
“Very well,” Firi moved her hands on the controls, slotting their shuttle into a line of similarly sized vehicles and relinquishing command of the auto-pilot to Avalon orbital traffic control, “The friend we're going to visit was the pack trainer in charge of my unit when I was serving in the military and learning how to protect my pack.” the yellow avali grinned warmly, “Tyk’r is as much a brother to me as Seinu or Taran and he is a master weapon expert, he taught me a lot and he's the Avali who trained Kig too, which is why the Ouakkia’ pack brought Roi, Sher's sister here for training alongside Mekari. So if anyone knows how to train a vampire bunny and test you to work out what skills to hone, train and focus on it'll be him.”
“That’s so cool,” Cal chirped excitedly, “He really trained Sher's sister?”
“Yup,” Firi chirped, “And me and Sher's Sleriki chief bodyguard Mekari, so he knows all about training aliens as well as Avali. He'll be able to tell us what you both should focus on.”
“I can't wait to meet him then,” Cal chirped, “I want to be helpful and keep you all safe.”
“Me too,” Cri piped up, “But I want to be more than just a warrior. I want to be able to give Seinu advice too, like Chantelle and Taran do.”
“Tyk’r and his pack can all help with that,” Firi said, “We can consult the Oracle too and run your test scores through its career algorithms, it'll give us advice in extra things for you to read and learn about,” she glanced sideways at Cal who was pressed up against the window again watching the nearby ships zoom past, “and we'll ask about pilot lessons for Cal too, since Selenu probably won’t have time for awhile.”
The grey and copper bunny shot Firi a happy smile before turning back to watch the ships outside. She smiled and reached over to squeeze Cri's paw reassuringly, “We’ll be down soon and after we've seen my Tyk'r I will try and get us permission to visit Seinu in hospital too.”
“That’d be nice,” Cri chirped, “I miss his smell and being around him, how long until we land?”
“About fifteen minutes, we need to dock at a transit hub and take an atmospheric shuttle down to my Tyk'r's home. His pack has sent a ship to collect us.”
“Awesome,” Cal chirped, “I can't wait!”
“It sounds like fun,” Cri murmured, “But why do we have to change ships? Can't this shuttle take us down like it did on Protion? Or isn't there a transporter?”
“They don't have a transporter and this shuttle can't deal with the weather on Avalon. So we need a special shuttle and it'll take us straight to their compound. This friend of mine and his pack live in a remote region near the north pole, they value privacy.”
“Oh, OK,” Cri murmured, “I didn't think the weather would be a problem. How does that work?”
“Ok well I can explain that,” Firi said with a smile for the inquisitive, curious bunny, “We have time before we land, let me just bring up the right files. She started to bring up the nexus interface to explain about weather and how atmosphere and weather patterns could affect ships designed for the vacuum of space. The twins, especially Cri had an insatiable appetite for knowledge and since this involved vehicles and piloting them Cal was interested too. There wasn't anything else to do until they landed so Firi settled in to give them both an impromptu lesson on weather.
After all back on their homeworld the weather rarely changed, it was either clear, snowing or thundering and their understanding of weather was based entirely on what subsistence living Vampire Bunnies needed to know to survive. They had very little background in the science of meteorology or aerodynamics so it was fun to teach them something new and watch them come alive more.
Reading through the information Dr Taluni had brought back from Tubasinaki and the twins had used to come up with the planned procedure to correct Seinu’s body for the third time, Seinu wasn’t feeling any more confident about his up-coming operation. He scrolled through the neat lines of digital text being displayed on the orange Avali tablet and tried to imagine the clinical, technical sensations being described as they may actually appear when he transformed into a Sleriki. It was hard, Dr Taluni had clearly written down what she had been told by the Sleriki but their explanation on what it was like to be one of their species was being filtered through an alien language and the mind of the Avali doctor to be presented in text format. He still remembered the shock upon learning how vampire bunny eyesight worked, and wondered if the experience would be as weird as back then.
“Are you ready?” Selenu asked from her seat by the side of his bed, “We need to get going to the lab soon.”
“I am so not ready,” Seinu sighed and let his arm holding the tablet drop and turned to look at his twin sister, “I don’t… how can you be so calm about this! I… I am not even your brother, they confirmed it. I am just a Sleriki who thinks he is an Avali.”
She hit him, straight up whapped a paw down firmly atop his vampire bunny head, “Stop that line of thinking,” she ordered, “We’ve been through this 45 times this week, you are still our brother, you were raised with us, you lived with us, you came out of the same egg as me.” She shook her head and leant over to hug him, enfolding him in a wall of wing feathers, “You are my twin brother, it doesn’t matter if you are a Sleriki under all of this, that’s just your species, you are still Seinu. And that wouldn’t change even if you had come from somewhere or something else.”
He sighed and closed his eyes, leaning into the hug, he could feel himself trembling and Selenu squeezed him gently with her arms, wing feathers burying his head in her scent and touch, “You are our brother, it doesn’t matter if you are slime underneath all this bunny fluff, or Avali feathers or whatever shape you are on the outside, or how much you jiggle inside like gel, you are still Seinu.”
“Thanks Sel,” he whispered softly, holding onto her tightly, “I was so scared you’d all reject me out right.”
“Never,” she chirped and shook her head, the large, single feather that made up her crest swaying from side to side as she held her twin, “You are pack and pack is family that’s all there is to it. And even if that wasn’t the case, we went through so much last year. Do you think that means nothing?”
Seinu sighed into her feathers then sat up, turning his head as the door swished open bringing a familiar scent with it. Chantelle was standing there, her blue and white feathered sister, she was wearing a long light blue cloak over an Avali kilt and had her crest pulled back into a short series of fluffy feathers.
“It is time,” she said as she stepped into the room, “Halyu and Halyan say everything is set up so we should get started.”
Seinu nodded, unentangled himself from Selenu’s hug and dropped to the floor, “Well at least if this works I won’t be as short any more, everything is fucking huge here, I’d gotten used to everything being bunny sized on Babupekkakerok.”
Selenu chuckled as they started down the hall outside, winding around the curved corridor that circled the central core of the hospital tower, “Everything is just the right size here, I for one do not miss having to crawl through that entrance tunnel to reach Tri’s village.”
“I mean it made sense,” Chantelle chirped up, “Small tunnels that predators couldn’t fit in and bunnies are short so they don’t need lots of tall stuff.”
“I know,” Seinu smiled up at his sisters, “But here on Avalon everything is Avali sized, it makes reaching stuff a bit of a challenge.”
“Well hopefully you’ll be back to being an Avali soon,” they stopped outside a set of doors which swished open to reveal a tiled room. There were several white and orange pieces of medical equipment and a large circular glass tray resting on a dais in the centre of the room. Also present was his medical pack, Dr Rhaii, Dr Taluni and the medical technology experts, the twins Halyu and Halyan. They waved the pack to come inside and Seinu eyed the large container, various arms holding sensors and other equipment had unfolded from the ceiling above it but there were a short set of steps that led up into it.
“I take it, that's for me?” Seinu asked as he eyed the glass container, “It looks like a giant petri dish.
“Yes,” Dr Taluni said as she came over, “Once we shut down your nanites we aren’t entirely sure your gel will hold a shape,” she placed a hand on his head, gently stroking his soft fluffy hair, “We want you someplace secure whilst we run the upgrade on your systems.”
“Ok..” Seinu leant against Taluni’s paw, glad to see her. In a way his medical pack where as important members of his extended family, he’d spent years in their company. More so than the Parent packs of the Nursery spire who had been responsible for raising them. Despite how nervous he felt it was comforting to have them here. Breathing out slowly and steadying himself Seinu removed his bracelets and necklace, handing the beaded items to Selenu as he spoke to Dr Taluni, “I’ve been reading the Sleriki biological data you brought me, it’s tricky to get my mind behind it.”
“Anything in particular you’re stuck on?” she asked as she helped Seinu up the steps and into the containment unit.
“Well this one,” he held up his tablet and scrolled, “Listen to this,” he scanned the text then started reading, “Sleriki have three hundred and sixty degree vision, they see not on a visual spectrum but use heat as their primary sense with them seeing the world based on the thermal signature radiating off of each object.”
“Like night vision goggles?” Chantelle asked, “That must be interesting.”
“I don’t think I have ever worn night vision goggles,” Seinu grumbled as he took his visor off and handed it and the tablet up to the doctor, “It also says they feel the world on every inch of their surface, they do not have sensory organs like Avali ears, no inner tympanic auditory system but instead feel and process sound across the surface of their body, with their surface level fur acting as the auditory receptors that help their core cells interpret what they are hearing.”
“That will be interesting to experience,” Selenu said with a smile, “What are you so worried about? You’ve transformed into all sorts of creatures before.”
“Never like this,” Seinu chirped, “It’ll be raw, no nanites interpreting the data or helping me to assume the instincts of the species I am shaped as. I will just be slime, heck it doesn’t explain how they speak, they have no lungs, no larynx, no vocal chords, how do I talk as a slime?”
“Well you are about to find out,” Dr Rhaii said, “We are all ready to begin, so please Seinu relax and let us work. This will take about two hours, you don’t have to master the Sleriki form, just exist as one for a bit whilst we work.”
“Ok,” Seinu chirped and settled down, “Ok, you’re right, let's do this.”