Selenu’s personal shuttle the Momentum was descending from the Odyssey in orbit toward S’Grael University. The whole pack was aboard, Selenu was piloting of course and Firi for once wasn’t dressed in armour she was dressed in a formal and traditional Avali outfit like everyone else. It was all jingly crystals and nano-weave with tassels.
It looked good on her and at the same time very strange, Cri was not used to seeing her in such formal Avali clothes. She was talking to Seinu and Chantelle, the three of them huddled around a screen discussing Seinu’s speech for tonight’s celebration.
The S’Grael were hosting a big fancy dinner at the Chancellor’s Hall, it was a celebration of the new treaty and peace. Everyone had been invited, the Farndos and Cultarvian shuttles flying beside them were transporting their dignitaries both civilian and military. An escort of S’Grael defence drones were flying in formation alongside them as well, the whole contingent of them were due to make an impressive entrance, flying over the city in a show of unity to land in the Plaza of Knowledge. Considering that the threat of invasion from space had been very real until just a few hours ago it was supposed to be a symbol of peace to help reassure the S’Grael and their visiting students from other worlds.
Cri thought it was a bit ostentatious, but apparently that’s how things got when you had four different intergalactic governments throwing a peace party. Everyone wanted a chance to shine (or was required to) hence why the whole pack was dressed up in fancy clothing. Cri felt a little bit under-dressed wearing just a scarf and a hat but he was not planning to go to the fancy reception. Unlike Cal who was technically on duty today as Seinu’s bodyguard and was dressed up in full fig. A long robe of armoured fabric in orange and white with a matching hat and his visor. It even had little aerogel crystal ornaments that matched the others and somewhere under the loose, flowing, free and easy to wear robe he had his spear in-case it was needed.
Cri was a little bit relieved to be able to skip the fancy party. He liked meeting new aliens but it was never quite the same at these fancy shindigs when he was on duty having to eye everyone suspiciously. As he wasn’t scheduled to be on duty he had opted out of going. Shifting in his seat he leant over to speak to his brother but paused as he heard him chirping away, he was on a call Cri realised.
“Tre’ka, Wek’ra I promise you I am fine, my brother is fine as is Seinu,” he was saying and Cri smiled as he realised he was talking to the elderly Tailors he’d met back on Avalon, “I can’t believe you saw me on the news….”
“Mmhmm yes it was a bit scary when those people opened fire,” Cri smiled and reached out for his glasses, putting them back on and syncing them to his tablet as he listened to his brother’s side of the conversation.
“Yes Tre’ka, Seinu is ok and we made peace with everyone,” Cri said, “We are off to some sort of big party to celebrate the fact we decided not to all blow each other up.”
Cri loaded up his plan for once they landed and started to check the route he had to take to reach the Central Library. He was blowing off the fancy party in favour of visiting the largest centre of Academic knowledge in the galaxy! After seven hundred years S’Grael University hosted the largest library of digital and physical books going! From the plaza outside the Chancellor’s hall it was a bit of a journey, he’d have to enter the under-ground transport system, take a pod across the desert to the Campus of Tomes about nine thousand miles away across the desert and a mountain range.
S’Grael University was not small, it was huge, especially considering the size of the S’Grael themselves. The surface facilities for visiting alien scholars acted as both access points to the S’Grael sized underground campuses and more comfortable facilities for the non-S’Grael students and faculty members who were not as comfortable living underground.
“Mmhmm, yeah we will be coming back to Avalon after we are done here I’d love to visit,” Cal chirped happily, “I will see you then and yes take care.”
As his brother signed off the call Cri looked up and smiled, “You sure you don’t want to trade out with Firi and come visit the library with me?”
“Hell no,” Cal laughed, “No way, free food and fancy aliens or a library? No brother, you go read your books. I am going to eat all the swanky fancy fruit I can find.”
Cri smiled and curled up against his brother on their chair, “Ok ok, I will try to bring you back something fast and exciting.”
“That’ll be fun if you can find anything,” Cal sang happily, “It sounds like it is all Academic boring things and teaching materials.”
“You’d be surprised,” Taran said as he leant over the back of their chair, “S’Grael university library has books on all topics, you might enjoy it and their simulation systems are top notch, we built them for them.”
Cal titled his head and considered it then shook his head, “I can enjoy Avali simulators on the Odyssey, that’s not enough to make me skip a big free buffet of fancy alien foods.”
Taran laughed and grinned, “Sounds like you will have to enjoy the library alone Cri,” he flicked his ears, “I would join you but Selenu says we all need to be there for this, the people want to see the Trail pack who averted the war so Trail pack we must be.”
“You’re lucky Selenu is letting you skip,” Ki grumbled, “I tried to get out of it too but she wouldn’t hear it, apparently it’s your day off so you are entitled to do as you like.”
Cri giggled and leant over to ruffle Ki’s crest feathers, “You guys don’t have days off?”
“Of course not,” Ki chirped, “There is no day off from being part of a pack, but sometimes it is nice to sneak off for a few hours to avoid tedious diplomatic parties.”
Cri smiled, “I will sneak off for you today and find you something nice,” he sighed, “It is hard though, even when I am on a day off I still can’t help watch and check everyone I see, and think about how they could be a threat.”
Firi chirped and reached out to pet his head, “It is hard, those of us trained to keep others safe find it hard to switch off,” she smiled, “Which is why it is extra important you enjoy today.”
Cri chirped thanks at the yellow Avali and was about to say more when the shuttle shifted to the left, it curved around in a slow arch and then settled to the ground. The Farndos and Cultarvian shuttles landing on either side of them as outside the brilliant cerulean sky, cloudless and clear shone down on them.
“Ok, here we go,” Seinu stood up and let Chantelle fuss over his outfit before the pack lined up before the boarding ramp, “We all ready? Cal, stand here next to me and…” he touched his visor clearly checking messages, “Open it.”
There was a faint hiss as the top of the ramp opened slowly and the warm dry heat of the desert washed inside accompanied by the booming cry of horns. A traditional S’Grael greeting, the music rising from a bone quaking rumble to a fluting cry that blended into the cheering of the crowd. As the ramp touched down other instruments joined alongside a glittering cascade of crystals and a chorus of voices raised in a symphony, a litany to peace and knowledge, the anthem of S’Grael University dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom.
Cri hung back on his chair, watching as Seinu and the pack descended the ramp, the roar of the crowd increased as he paused at the bottom of the ramp. Ambassador F’rarrk was waiting for them alongside Chancellor Ger’lak and several other important S’Grael, the large worms all drawn up together just ahead of the shuttles at the head of the prescession.
Seinu paused and waited for T’Lorp, Dalant and their entourages to join the Avali from their shuttles and then as a united group they made their way toward the Chancellor. The music swelled, the anthem being sung reached a crescendo as the crowd joined in. For a people who had spent the past month living under the threat of a devastating space invasion and who had since learned that this attack would likely have been followed up by a full on Horker invasion the fact peace had broken out was being received with all the energy and delight they could muster.
Cri watched it all through the windows of the shuttle, it was an impressive site. The spontaneous way the crowd joined in the anthem was nice; everything else had felt choreographed and planned but that was clearly not planned for. The people of S’Grael university from the highest professor to the lowest student were voicing their approval as they stood in the crowd singing an Anthem of Knowledge.
Cri watched for a bit but then made his way to the pilot seat and followed the instructions from University air-traffic control to move the shuttle. That was partly why he had remained behind to fly the Momentum away from the ceremony after everyone was off and this then let him slip away for the rest of the day. As the vampire bunny settled down in the pilot’s seat an incoming call from Selenu flipped up in his glasses.
“Hello Captain,” Cri said, “Shouldn’t you be paying attention to the ceremony?”
“No one is looking at me, the Chancellor is giving his speech,” the lime Avali chirped, “Now remember what we talked about, you are to fly the Momentum straight to the VIP park and then land it.”
“I know what I am doing Selenu,” Cri chuckled, “You don’t have to check up on me.”
“It’s the Momentum Cri! No one else is allowed to fly my ship, now remember it has larger engines then you are used to and…”
Cri chuckled and listened to her rambling on about the various special precautions he had to take as he powered up the shuttle, “Ok Selenu I need the code to unlock the primary interface.”
“Oh…” She went silent, “Ok… I am sending it to you now, do not share this with anyone! Especially your brother or Firi, I will be changing it as soon as we get back to the shuttle later.”
“You can trust me Selenu,” Cri reassured her, “I am not Firi, I am not going to go on a joy ride.”
“I heard that,” Firi hissed over the channel, “I can hear you both and I am not that reckless.”
“Yes you are,” Selenu and Cri shouted at the same time, “Cri just take care of my baby and don’t let her do anything wild with them.”
Cri hung up the call, shaking his head at the way the two sisters were grumbling at each other. Firi was offended at being called reckless and Selenu was way overprotective about her personal shuttle, it was amusing to the bunny. He finished bringing the shuttle online and with permission from University control took off.
It didn’t take Cri long to fly the short distance to the VIP landing pad behind the Chancellor’s hall and then he was finally done with his only real job of the day. Ordering the Momentum’s security system online the vampire bunny headed out of the sun into the shade of the building. His tech specs loaded up his pre-planned route and with a smile the vampire bunny hurried along the wide, worm sized passages toward the transport hub.
It was stupidly quiet, the wide halls were empty as Cri scampered along on all four paws. He zipped left past a series of tall, imposing S'Grael statues showing past chancellors and took a broad spiral ramp down to the underground transport hub. Cri clambered into the waiting carriage and ordered his glasses to connect with the local network. As a list of destinations scrolled through his visor the vampire bunny clambered onto an empty chair and looked around, claws playing with his long, wild neck ruff.
“I guess everyone is at the parade,” he mused aloud as he asked the station AI to take him to the library, “I didn't think it'd be this popular.”
Settling back on the way too large chair, Cri watched as the lozenge shaped car drifted along the rail and entered a tunnel. The route map showed his transport vessel was descending to the bedrock where a tunnel would take them under the desert and mountains to the library terminal.
“Oh… an hour and ten minute journey,” Cri commented as he translated the arrival time then checked it against his translation software. The S'Grael numbers were very ancient runes but he was pleased with himself for translating them correctly. With nothing else to do he released the clips on the three large aerogel beads threaded into his neck ruff and started combing it out before beginning the intricate job of re-braiding it.
It was a type of decoration Chantelle and Seinu had introduced to him, a rebellion in a small way against the natural order of vampire bunnies. Bunnies his age were never encouraged or able to grow their neck ruffs long, that was a privilege for elders who did not go foraging any more. It wasn’t safe for one, not when you were scampering under bushes and over rocks to find enough food to survive and avoid predators. Humming to himself Cri laced the two tails of fluff around a core, weaving them into a braid that reached halfway down his stomach!
It had taken him months to grow it this long with a little bit of help from some of the Packs Avali tech to make it grow faster. Now he could braid it, slide the coloured beads Seinu had made for him into place to hold it together and proudly display it for anyone who saw him! Looking at himself in a nearby reflective surface he rubbed his claws down his ruff and held the beads, “Ok not as good as how Chantelle does it but I am getting better,” he chirped to himself, “Proper space bunny,” he chuckled and swished his thick tail from side to side, checking the three beads clipped around the base of that.
They were identical to the ones holding his braid together, one white, one black, one purple. The three colours Seinu used in the beads that made ups his necklace and bracelets, it let everyone know they were linked, smiling as he thought about the day Seinu had shyly given them the beads he touched a button on the edge of his glasses and opened a file, “This is Cri, personal log onboard S’Grael transport to the Library, so I’m still keeping my space diary like Selenu wants, recording my thoughts and mission logs and all that, I guess I make too many of these but Cal never remembers so one of us has to record these things.”
He looked up at the ceiling, marshalling his thoughts, “So I am on a S’Grael transport to the Library, everyone else has gone to the Chancellor’s big we did peace instead of war party, I am instead going to the real important thing the Library! The biggest Library of books and knowledge in this Galaxy, it has more stuff on record then the Nexus AND it has real physical books too not just digital copies!”
Cri clasped his paws together and stared up at the ceiling, “Lets see personal stuff, well I redid my neck-ruff braid, I am getting better at that, I don’t think the Pack quite understand why it is so important to me, but it’s a way to show, to express that I am not just desperate to survive any more. Seinu gets it, but Chantelle is just excited that I am trying to show some interest in fashion and grooming, Firi thinks it looks good on me,” Cri touched the beads, “I got extra beads made to go in it, those are special, this whole sharing a mate thing I have going on with Cal is still new to us both but it is working out, Seinu is great.”
Cal licked his nose and smiled, “We had such a huge argument about it back when Seinu was in the hospital, we could smell that both of us were interested in the same person. Usually back home if two of us are interested in the same bunny we would let them pick, each bunny putting on an increasing display of gifts and affection during Foraging Party gatherings until they decided who they wanted to mate with,” Cri paused and frowned sadly, “Of course quite often this would resolve itself when one of us died trying to get some rare and exotic fruit to impress them with but I didn’t want to fight with my twin brother. Still, we were clearly getting more and more wound up that neither of us would back off, we both wanted to be with Seinu and not in the casual, Foraging Party way of sharing affection back home but as proper mates.”
Cri touched his visor to pause the recording, thinking his way through what he wanted to say next, he smiled and tapped the record button, “We had no notion of the idea of sharing mates, it just doesn’t happen back home, there is a very strict difference between snuggling as a Foraging Party and risking getting someones mate pregnant, but Firi got fed up of our quiet bickering and sat us both down,” Cri chuckled at the memory, “As she pointed out to us we were not being quiet, she didn’t have four ears for show and could hear everything we were arguing about.”
Cri paused the recording as with a soft and sudden FWOOMPF of compressed air moving his transport tube shot out of a tunnel! It raced along a clear open tube of crystal suspended from the roof of a huge cavern. Down below he could see a pool of magma, glowing orange molten rock pouring down a series of embankments to fill a huge pool. There was machinery built around the lake, huge hulking S’Grael sized machines doing things with the heat and molten rock.
Cri watched it in fascination, recording it with his glasses so he could review it later and try to work out what the machines were for. Soon enough though with another FWOMPF of displaced air the pod he was in dove back into a tunnel of rock and the copper and grey vampire bunny resumed recording.
“So Firi told us about the Avali way of life, it is very rare for an Avali to mate for life, the Pack comes first, they take lovers either individually or as a whole pack, the concept of family is very different to what we are used to. For their family is their Pack first, what did my book call it, nuclear families like on say Earth of Ikor don’t really exist for Avali, they have such an alien concept of family it has taken some time to adjust to.”
Cri looked up at the ceiling of the pod, marshalling his thoughts for how to carry on talking, “You see when a pair of Avali have an egg they would take it to a Nursery, often the one that had raised them if they were close enough or if they are out in space the nearest colony with a well respected nursery program and from there the children would be raised with others who hatched around the same time as them as a new Pack.”
Cri shook his head and smiled, “Of course being a casual lover with Seinu isn’t what either of us wanted, but Firi told us about other options, if we wanted to be with Seinu there was a thing call Polyarmy, were multiple people loved and lived and shared each other. Of course Firi said she wasn't sure Seinu was interested, convincing him to give it a go would be up to us, she was just giving us the tools.”
Cri smirked, “Seducing that big silver dorky slime was not easy, he had never really considered a relationship before, it isn’t a normal Avali way but he is giving it a go with us and he’s very sweet and a big nerd. He spends so much time in public being the Ambassador it is nice he has started to relax around us and not just with his brothers and sisters.”
Cri leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, “It is good, things are good, we’ve learnt many new things from the Trail pack, from our teachers, from Seinu, I don’t know why the Great Protector steered us to this life in space but I hope one day we can go home and share the things we have learned with everyone else, but that’s enough from me today, I’ll be at the Library soon and that will be an amazing adventure!”
Cri spent the rest of the journey to the Library reading one of the books on warp drive physics Taran had given him. It was interesting, Cri couldn’t follow all of the maths but the general theory behind how it worked was something he could follow and pick apart. It was also quite heavy going, the physics behind how an artificial singularity contained in the Warp Drive could bend space outside and allow a ship to travel faster than light, reducing journey times that should have taken centuries to a matter of weeks was mind boggling.
That bit was hard to wrap his head around, the speed of light was constant until it wasn’t. The speed of light was always the same until you applied gravity and then it started being weird. Cri sat back and set his reader down, loading up some extra files on Gravity and Black Holes in his visor and them across to the table so he could cross-reference them. He spent the next hour reading a fascinating series on Black Holes, Gravity and how the increase in gravitational forces messed with everything else. There were some interesting footnotes that claimed that some species believed this “Broke” the rules of the universe.
But the Avali pointed out that it wasn’t breaking anything, after all Black Holes formed naturally, as the force of gravity increased it had an effect on other forces, like light and mass. The rules did not break, they just transitioned to new rules as the gravity was applied. Soon enough the transport pod arrived at Library station and Cri hurried out of the station and took a very large elevator up!
The elevator emerged into a large circular hall, statues of ancient S’Grael held up the domed ceiling and forwards and to either side were row upon row of bookshelves. There was also a large circular desk behind which a S’Grael was curled up, the long dactyl on either side of their head slowly arranging a stack of books. Cri took a deep breath, his sensitive nose inhaling the scent of paper and dust and long lazy sunlight slanting in beams through the crystal windows.
Motes of dust danced and swirled in those lazy golden beams that created patches of brilliance that oozed like golden honey over the reading desks. Cri sighed in delight and approached the desk, the instructions he had received was that he would have to register at the Main Library counter when he arrived. So Cri adjusted the satchel he kept his tablet and other items in and smoothed a paw down his neck ruff and approached the S’grael. They turned toward him and the vampire bunny found himself looking down a throat twice as wide as he was tall full of rings of deadly fangs.
Those rows of teeth rippled and moved as the giant worm crooned out some words in their own language. It was a terribly disturbing sight, right out of bunny legends involving the deep worms swallowing bunnies who went too deep into the caves whole. Cri however kept his cool, he was used to F’rarrk at this point and the other S’Grael they had met on Homestead so he smiled back as his translator printed out her greeting.
“Hello Ma’am,” Cri chirped in Avai, “I am Cri, from the Odyssey,” he lay his identification card on the desk, “I was told I could have access to the library.”
One of those long, motile tendrils of flesh flowed down, picked up his card and scanned it across a device built into the desk. The Librarian considered the information it displayed on a screen then hissed softly, their words translating slowly.
“Yes, this is correct, welcome Cri, you have full access, if you would like any hard-copies printed please place the order before sixth bell so they can be printed today,” they slid an aerogel chip across the desk to him with his card, “This data chip will let your Avali tech sync up to the master repository, you can download up to fifty books and print up to ten, have a good day.”
“Thank you Librarian,” Cri chirped and headed off, he picked one of the empty desks bathed in sunlight and plugged the Avali chip into the desk as the instructions told him. It was warm, the sun shining through the windows was nice, a temperate warmth not the hammer blows of the desert but a warm cosy level of warmth that was just nice. For someone who had spent his life hiding and scampering in the snow, the chance to sit in the open in the sun still felt weird but also really nice.
Getting comfortable, Cri removed his glasses and set up his tablet, syncing it to the desk and watched as the Library catalogue loaded. There were so many subjects and topics to pick from, it just kept going! Thankfully Cri had a plan and had taken time yesterday to plan what subjects he was interested in as well as to pack an extra storage chip.
Loading up his list of topics Cri began to pull up the subjects he was most interested in. Science, Biographies, Physics, Literature, Avali History, Galactic History, Biology, Economics, Advanced Mathematics. As the list of subjects loaded Cri realised even that was too long! Each topic was further broken down into four or five sub-categories and each contained so many book titles, authors, series.
Cri smiled and settled down to reviewing titles, reading the synopsis, checking the reviews, taking a slow and methodical approach to deciding which books to print or download digital copies. It was easy enough to pick up a book for Cal, an illustrated guide of the fastest spaceships, shuttles and land ships in Galactic history. After that he had to hunt up a book for Seinu, there was an interesting historical guide to Tubasinaki the Sleriki homeworld. It was five hundred years old and written by a S’Grael explorer who talked a lot about how the Sleriki were advancing and growing out of the ruins of the old Kasvane colony buried in the ruins of their world's jungles.
This led to Cri running a search on the Kasvane, the enigmatic elder race were an enigma. The library catalogue didn’t contain many books on the “Gate Builders” and the “Choir of the Stars” ; they were an ancient race whose technological abilities made the Avali and other “advanced races” look like children playing with toys. Cri downloaded the two authoritative books by acclaimed Academics and one book full of conspiracy theories because those were always a laugh.
After that the Vampire Bunny started to pair down his long list, deciding which topics he was really interested in and trying not to go on too many tangents. There was one topic he was interested in, it was mentioned in the book on warp drives “Dark Matter.” The warp book mentioned how it was necessary, a part of the mass of the universe but he hadn't really understood what it was talking about. A lot of the books he found on it were very intense, deep maths, quantum maths, real fabric of the universe stuff.
Cri scrolled through the books and downloaded one very in depth book by some Professor of Matter and a smaller, easier to read book for beginners. He then settled down comfortably in his chair, opened the first Biograpjy he had picked and started reading. There was a fountain that provided water and he could order light snacks like fruit to his desk. He had everything he could possibly want and whilst he could only download and take away so many books he could read as many as he wanted whilst he was here.
-0-
Cal had just finished a book on one of the original packs who founded the Illuminate and was contemplating which Biography sounded interesting to read next when his tablet buzzed to tell him he had an incoming call.
Picking up his glasses Cri yawned and stretched, running his claws through his fur as the call connected and Selenu appeared in his vision.
“Cri is everything ok?”
“Sure it is,” Cri said, “Why wouldn't it be? I’ve been having a great time.”
“Firi and Seinu were starting to worry,” the Captain explained, “It has been thirty hours and you haven’t moved from that location.”
“Oh…” Cri blinked and stifled a yaw, one of his big paws pushed against his muzzle, “I.. didn’t even notice I have been reading, there are so many books and they provide water and fruit so I haven’t had to go anywhere.”
Selenu sighed, “According to the pack tracker you have moved twice in the past thirty hours for shot trips to a nearby location and back again.”
“I had to use the bathroom,” Cri said “I could hardly use the S’Grael bathrooms and they don’t have one for Vampire Bunnies so I had to make do with the Avali bathroom.”
“And then went straight back to reading I see,” Selenu chuckled, “Well bunny we are preparing to head back to the Odyssey, we will stop by and pick you up in forty minutes be on the landing pad please.”
“What, forty minutes, no no,” Cri sat up, “I won’t be ready then there are so many books I need to find.”
“Forty minutes,” Selenu said, “Be ready or I will send Firi to collect you.”
The call ended and Cri chirped in a panic and started to download books, he’d been so distracted reading he hadn’t filled his download quota! Chirping and muttering under his breath the bunny suppressed another yawn and started to download books. He had to fill his data chip with as many interesting titles as he could!