Watching the lines of text scrolling over the interior of his visor Senu sighed and rubbed his temples as he watched Chantelle re-arranging his calendar for the evening for the fourth time.
“Problem?” Selenu asked, his twin sister was dressed in her finest Avali captain’s uniform, perched on the bench opposite him. Firi was standing up, her armour stopped her from sitting down so she was just there, swaying with the motion of the travel pod as it zipped them around the grand toroid of the Hastalan space station.
“Chantelle is re-arranging this evening, for the fourth time in an hour, they are having a real heated debate over who will be hosting me tonight.”
“Why?” Selenu frowned, “I thought it was all settled?”
“Apparently some big wig from some political union just happens to be in orbit this evening so we obviously can’t meet in a venue that isn’t appropriate to their status, so the whole social dynamic needs re-arranging.”
“Well forget about that for now,” Selenu said, reaching over to pluck the visors off Senu’s head, “That’s Chantelle’s problem and hey, just think whilst she is distracted with this she won’t be coming up with more ridiculous outfits for you to wear.”
“Ugh don’t remind me,” Seinu sighed, “I swear next time I see Eikomi and D I am going to slime them both! The nexus is now full of images of them both wearing the strangest new fashions together.”
“Focus,” Firi said as Selenu brushed her claws through his mohawk, straightening it up, “We are here to finalise the design of their new ships, check our final queries over the blueprints then the Odyssey can start manufacturing them.”
“Right,” Seinu adjusted his mantle, playing with the crystal tassels to make them jingle as he considered his list of questions, “I just wish the humans would be less weird about social status.”
“I know,” Selenu smiled, “But you are doing good and it is working. You heard the Ambassador last night that they are scrambling to approve his new embassy on Europa to make sure he doesn’t park an Odyssey class embassy in orbit.”
“That feels like the only thing we have been successful at so far,” Seinu sighed, “Everything else has been an endless stream of words and vague maybes and nothing concrete.”
“That’s just how humans are,” Selenu shrugged, “You’re doing fine.”
“I’d rather be down on Earth with the twins and Ki but oh well,” he frowned and stared out the view-port on their pod, watching the flashing lights of the transit tunnel swish pass, “It is just baffling that it has taken us this long to have a sign off meeting about the ships.”
“Eh, the Director understands,” Selenu shrugged, “He knows the game here better than us, I doubt he’s annoyed, he knows our visit to Hastalan is all a cover for the rest of the circus”
“I know,” Seinu sighs, “I just think I prefer dealing with aliens who are less baffling. At least I knew what the Farndos and S’Grael wanted… but fine, we are nearly there, let's do this.”
He picked up his visor and slipped it back on just as the travel pod slid to a halt. Waiting for them on the platform was a young human male in one of those super formal looking business suits they all seemed to prefer. Seinu thought they looked uncomfortable, especially the tight collars and ties, they must be so constricting to have something that tight wrapped about their primary airway.
Still they were congenial and polite and escorted the three of them across the concourse and through the array of passages and corridors beyond to the meeting room. As they stepped inside the conference room that had been set aside Seinu paused as he saw Director Talcor. He was a human, wearing a roll neck jumper, thermal regulation trousers and sensible space boots. For a local human corporation leader he wasn’t too bad.
It was the two aliens with him that made Senu pause. He had to tilt his head back to look up at them. They had to both be about 22 feet tall, with large pear-drop shaped bodies, thick gooey looking translucent hair and both of them were wearing long intricate scarfs that wrapped around their necks and shoulders. He knew immediately what they were.
“Sleriki,” Firi breathed out, suddenly sounding a lot more alert, “What are they doing here?”
“We’ll find out, I am sure,” Seinu said as he walked across the room, already holding out a hand, “Director Talcor, thank you for meeting, sorry it took so long to arrange.”
“No trouble at all,” the human clasped Seinu’s claws in his hand shook, “I am glad to see you all, from what I can see the Odyssey has been having an interesting effect on all sorts of things.”
“I am sure it will get even more exciting when we open for tours tomorrow,” Selenu said as she shook his head, “So who are your delightfully large slime friends?”
“This is Reilan and Fildan, the leaders of two of our toxic reclamation teams and shortly to be captains of our two new ships.”
Seinu shook the hands of the large Sleriki, Reilan and Fildan were both purple sleriki; Seinu knew enough that after spending enough time in space all Sleriki evolved up to the final stage of their adult forms, the purple slime. It took a few years to happen but it looked like they had both been in space long enough for the colour change to finish. Both were covered in the short fur covering natural to Sleriki though they had both styled their hair in different ways. Reilan’s was long trailing down their back whilst Fildan’s was shorter, an arrangement of gel-like spikes resting between their ears. Seinu sighed in relief as he shook both their hands then glanced across at Talcor.
“Well that clears up the first item on my agenda,” the Avali said with relief, “I was going to query the dimensions of the new ships, they were wildly out of spec for humans or most aliens, now it makes sense.”
Director Talcor blinked as he took his seat then glanced up at the Sleriki then back to Seinu, “Oh, I guess we never did tell you about why we want these new ships did we?”
Seinu shook his head, “That is ok, it was a simple oversight and won’t delay things, the Odyssey is ready to receive raw materials and start work,” the Avali gestured off in the vague direction of Earth through the window, “Despite the political circus carrying on down there over my visit.”
Talcor chuckled, “It sure is interesting watching them all manoeuvre around for positions, it’s a bit farcical,” he sighed softly and shook his head, “It must be driving you all mad, on behalf of my people I apologise, but at least this will lead to something useful for HWR,” he nodded toward his colleagues, “We are lucky, we have a small group of Sleriki on the team, they are the best experts at organic waste removal we have in our employ but they have to squish to fit inside our current vessels so we want to set up a pair of new ships that can accommodate their size.”
“Well that is fine then,” Seinu set his table down on the table and activated the holographic matrix, producing a three dimensional render of one of the new ships, “I thought we were going to even more delayed due to the dimensions, but if we are building a ship comfortably Sleriki sized then it makes sense.”
“We would like to review the waste recycling system,” Fildan said in a soft voice, “The specifications we saw use Avali waste reclamation systems, which are good but we have some modification we would like to suggest.”
“Additionally we would like to review the display equipment,” Reilan added, “We Sleriki see via heat, so we will need heat-mapping screens and interfaces that can also work alongside our team members who have light based visual receptors.”
Seinu nodded and made a note, “We can show you some options for integrating different displays for sure,” he glanced up at them all, “We should also make sure we are all on the same page regarding raw materials,” Selenu said, “The Odyssey has been hired to produce your ships but you are due to provide the raw materials?”
“Yes,” Reilan said, “We have three inter-system tugs on route with asteroids from the Sol asteroid belt as we speak. They should be here within three days.”
“Excellent that should match up with our schedule,” Seinu glanced at Selenu and frowned, “I just thought, we are going to show the entire solar system how the Odyssey can chew up raw resources and spit out a complete ship.”
“That’ll make the Earthians sit up and panic.” Selenu said with a smile, “What are the odds the Ambassador planned this?”
“Pretty good odds I’d say,” Talcor chuckled, “I hear you are still having some issues with regards to your new embassy?”
“Oh yes,” Seinu shook his head, “But I reckon that will sort it out, the Ambassador has every legal right according to the Earthian United Nations to move an Odyssey class ship into the system as his permanent Embassy.”
The Sleriki laughed and shook their heads and Fildan spoke softly, “They are an enigma, but there are many good Earthians alongside the strange ones, but if you are happy with the changes we have to propose we can get these blueprints settled.”
Seinu nodded and turned his attention back to his tablet, “Of course, let's go through each bit of the design and sign them off.”
Despite the group of them mostly being on the same page with regards to the ship design there were some minor tweaks, changes and adjustments they had to make. Taran came over to assist in updating the models that accompanied the blueprints with Ifelse’s help and so whilst his teal and orange feathered brother was working Seinu called a break.
Seinu moved over to the lounge area away from the conference room and picked at the plate of Earthian food he had selected from the lunch buffet. As he was trying to work out what the weird pinkish-grey paste was made from, Reilan walked over. Despite their large size they were surprisingly gentle and careful in their movements. Fildan was just behind them so Seinu set his plate down and smiled at them both.
“Are the designs shaping up how you wanted?”
“Oh yes,” Reilan said softly as they sat down gently on the floor, their translucent hair swaying gently as it reflected the phosphorescent overhead lights that Earthians seemed to enjoy in their meeting spaces, “We thank you for being so accommodating.”
“Not at all,” Seinu shook his head, “Hastalan and the Earthian contractors are paying a lot of money for quality and these ships are going to be your homes and workplaces, the least we can do is make sure they suit your needs.”
“Thank you,” Reilan asked, “But I wanted to ask, what are you?” they leant forwards, “We can both see… well sense, the radiation pattern of heat coming off you is not normal and does not match your siblings, you if anything radiate heat like one of us.”
“I can see your thermal regulation spike,” Fildan said, “It’s the hottest part of you and looks exactly like what we are both wearing for heat dissipation in space.”
Seinu froze for a moment, his eyes flicked across the room to Talcor and a few other members of his staff before speaking, “I can’t talk about that here, but would you both care to see the Odyssey this evening? As we will be building your ships it seems only fair you get to visit.”
Fildan bristled their tail shifting but before they could speak Reilan placed a hand on their arm, the purple Sleriki’s long hair swaying from side to side as the shook their head slightly at Fildan before speaking, “Yes Diplomat Seinu, we’d love to see the Odyssey and talk to you more over there.”
Fildan blinked then frowned as they slowly caught on to what Seinu was suggesting. “We would like that very much, will you be able to fit us in?” they asked.
Now Seinu had spent some time with them and he could see they were both different. It wasn’t just the different way they both wore their gelatinous hair, but Fildan was shorter and plumper around the hips. Reilan was narrower in hips but stood taller, their body more streamlined and less round. It was fascinating to see how they differed in personality as well as looks, they were not identical slime aliens as one might assume on first meeting them. Fildan had a fiery personality, brash and energetic whereas Reilan was more measured and inquisitive.
“Oh yes,” Seinu smiled, “You and Hastalan Waste are our priority, I’ll make it work.”
The two Sleriki nodded and Reilan drew Fildan away, it was clear they both wanted to grill him but Reilan was being cautious. They knew as well as Seinu that nothing they talked about in this conference centre would remain secret. Sighing and ignoring lunch Seinu tapped his visor and called Chanetelle, she answered after a couple of seconds.
“You’re not going to like this,” Seinu started, “But we are having Fildan and Reilan, the two Sleriki team captains, over to the Odyssey tonight, can you make that work please?”
Chantelle stared at him and then swore, “Seinu, I just finished re-working tonight's schedule!”
“So?” Seinu smiled, “Now it's our turn to be difficult, they've been messing me around all week, throw it back in their faces; something urgent has come up with our official reason for being here, they’ll hate it but they won’t be able to object.”
Chantelle paused mid-swear and looked pensive for a moment then nodded, “Actually, that’s not a bad idea… ok but it won’t be long, an hour, hour and a half tops.”
“That’ll do,” Seinu said, “I knew I could count on you sis, see you in a bit,” he stood up and ended the call, ran his eyes quickly over the pack channel as it was filling up with pictures from Ki, Cri and Cal. They had just landed in an Earth city called Constantinople after their tour of South America and were sending back pictures of the ancient historical buildings. Seinu tagged them all for him to look at properly later and took his lunch and moved over toward Selenu and Talcor, he had to network and then they had to finalise these ship designs; it was being a day for sure.
Sitting back in his office chair back aboard the Odyssey Seinu sighed and closed his eyes, removing his visor and setting it down on his desk. He had a mild headache from spending all day staring at holographic ship designs, talking and tweaking the designs and discussing technical specifications.
“Long day I take it?” Chantelle said as she let herself into his office, “Your guests are on their way here, so what's it all about?”
“It’s fascinating really,” Seinu said with a smile as he leant against his blue and white sister as she played with his crest feathers, “The Sleriki, they actually use their bodies to process waste, their slime can melt down anything organic, so they can wade into say a polluted pool or a slag heap full of organic toxins and just… melt it all down into safe, harmless slime.”
“Oh,” Chantelle paused, “I meant why are they visiting suddenly, not how do they do their job, but… if they process toxic waste what happens to the radiation or poison?”
“Depends,” Seinu said, “That’s why the new ships need such large decontamination systems, there are methods where the Sleriki can eject the radiation or toxins and purify their slime, it’s fascinating, if the source of the radiation is organic in nature or say the toxins poisoning a watersource are organic they can remove the source, melting it into slime and well no more radiation problem if the thing causing it is gone.”
He shook his head and gestured at the wall of ship designs, “Most of the ship is a template design so we can print it easily with minor adjustments to suit their working process.”
“Ah,” Chantelle nods, “And that’s why Hastalan has Sleriki on staff? I looked that up, apparently they employ thirteen Sleriki, which is the largest number in one place off Tubanisaki according to the nexus.”
“Apparently they are a good employer and this particular family of Sleriki help others like them who want to go exploring find a job and get off planet,” Seinu said, “And the Sleriki who want to visit and explore space get to visit all sorts of places working for them and get to do good deeds by taking part in these toxic cleanup missions.”
“Now why are they coming here tonight?” Chantelle demanded, bapping Seinu on the snoot firmly, “I mean it was a good opportunity to tell the humans to sod off and mess with them back but it still caused me a huge headache.”
Seinu paused, he really wanted to keep talking about the Sleriki but he sat back, “They know I am not an Avali, they can sense it, my heat signature gives me away. Our nanites can bamboozle scanners but it seems no one thought about Sleriki heat vision,” he pulled his necklace away from his throat, exposing the spikes that stuck into his neck, “They can literally see the heat radiating off my heat regulator.”
“Oh,” Chantelle frowned, “What are you going to tell them?”
“I don’t know yet,” he gestured at a nearby holographic screen, “I am waiting for Ck’akk’s reply, “I spoke to her when I got back and she is talking to her pack before giving me a final answer.”
“It’ll be hard to lie to them,” Chantelle frowned, “I mean they can literally see you, it’d be foolish to risk angering them.”
“That’s what I thought but she wanted to talk to her siblings first which I can respect,” Seinu slumped back in his chair, “But this trip has been one thing after another, so after I meet with the big slimes who do I have to be entertaining at tonight?”
Chatelle gave him a look and lifted off her goggles, “You have a cocktail party and Earthian music show aboard the Ragnalan at nine o’clock orbital time so in about four hours so I managed to get you more than just an hour with the Sleriki.”
“What is the Ragnalan?”
“It is a private space yacht, it belongs to a steel magnate and asteroid mining CEO,” Chantelle informed him, “Apparently this counts as neutral ground for a meeting between the ministers of several countries who all happen to be going to this party tonight.”
“Do we know what they want yet?” Seinu asked as he glared at his schedule as it rolled past on another holographic screen.
“Most of them want to just be seen on camera meeting you or talking to you. But the Ambassador thinks two of them are angling for involvement with the new Europa mines but their countries have been blocked by larger companies from getting involved in the talks.”
“Right,” Seinu stood up and pulled off his mantle, tossing it over his chair, “Give me their names and I will be non-committal and hand them over to Ambassador Ka’er.”
Chantelle picked up the discarded mantle, “And what do you think you are doing? Put this back on.”
“No,” Seinu said firmly as he picked his visor back up, “I am meeting the Sleriki, I am going like this, I will wear whatever frippery you pick for dinner tonight but I am being myself for a bit.”
Chantelle let out an angry squawk, “Frippery! It isn’t frippery, Seinu. I am not organising these outfits for fun, they are to help you and your career.”
“Sure,” Seinu gave her a level look, “But you enjoy dressing me up, you can’t hide that from me sis.”
“Well maybe a bit,” she admitted, “Your feathers go so well with everything, I take it Ck’akk has sent a response about the Sleriki though?”
Seinu tapped the side of his visor, “Ck’akk wants me to tell Reilan and Fildan what I am, she is keen to foster good relationships with Tubasinaki.”
“Ok,” Chantelle stood up, “I will escort them here, your office is the most secure room on the ship so it is safer to talk to them in here.”
Seinu nodded and moved over to the windows, staring out at the cluttered orbital space around Lunar whilst he waited. The sun shining off the bright grey regolith of the Earth’s moon was pretty and the gleaming stars and sparkling points of light that were ship engines and stations filled the space outside with fake stars. The sheer amount of light cast by Sol washed out the actual stars; it was one of the things that surprised Seinu the most about space really. Unless you were in the shadow of a world the stars were washed out by the constant brilliance of the local sun.
It took about twenty minutes for Chantelle to return with their guests and Seinu turned to face the entrance as she showed them inside. Both of them had to duck and wedge themselves through the door but once inside their heads stopped just short of the ceiling. Reilan was wearing a flowing green cape that complimented their purple fur, his hair caught up in a matching set of ribbons to add colour. Fildan was dressed in a long sea-green scarf and mantle combination, it swathed their neck and shoulders before trailing down around their arms, they had both clearly dressed up in what counted for formal wear for Sleriki.
“Welcome,” Seinu smiled as Chantelle exited, “I would offer you both a chair but I am afraid we don’t have anything in Sleriki size.”
“That is ok,” Fildan said softly as they walked over and settled down on the floor, “We are used to people not being able to accommodate our size. Thank you for acknowledging it; however, most humans just expect us to sit or stand and would never apologize for being lacking as hosts.”
“They are very peculiar at times,” Reilan said as they settled down on the floor, “Living here in their home system one sees so many examples of their society just being strange, on one hand they care so much about things and yet can be completely callous and ignore others who are not part of their immediate circle of relations or friends.”
“I’ve noticed that,” Seinu said as he settled down in a beanbag, “But you aren’t here to talk about humans, you want to know about me.”
“Yes,” Reilan said leaning forward and staring at Seinu, “I can see it, you are radiating heat like one of us, what are you?”
“I am…” Seinu fiddled with his claws, “I am a Sleriki, but I was born an Avali, when I was very little I was in an accident, one of the Doctor packs experimenting with inert Sleriki slime samples and our Guardian nanites was able to use it to save my life.”
“Oh,” Reilan relaxed, “Well that’s interesting, we were not aware Avali had access to Sleriki slime?”
“It was an experiment our medical teams were working on,” Seinu explained, “Due to the rush to try and save my life the slime they combined with our nanites and applied to my body was not as inert as it should have been, some core cells were still present and they resulted in saving my life.”
“Ah yes,” Fildan nodded, “That can happen, over time those who ingest our slime and core-cells can be transmutated, your doctors found a way to speed this process up.”
“Wait, that's a thing?” Seinu blinked, “We thought this was just a unique accident.”
“Well it is,” Reilan said, “It takes decades for the change Fildan is talking about to occur, those who consume Sleriki slime will find it slowly assimilating their biomass whilst transferring their neurological process. Over time, decades even they may still look like themselves on the surface but underneath they are entirely Sleriki.”
Seinu stared in surprise and Reilan picked up, “It doesn’t happen often, aliens don’t often want to consume our slime, but I am aware of a few cases, people in relationships with one of us slowly becoming contaminated over time.” they reached out to ruffle Seinu’s ears, “Usually it takes decades but with you we can see the conversion was completed years ago, that means you are one of us.”
“One of…” Seinu started but Fildan cut him off.
“It’s obvious you have retained your Avali senses as well,” the purple Sleriki leant forward, “But your file states that you also have the ability to shapeshift, we saw your documentary on those Bunny people, you were one of them, how does that work?”
“That’s down to the nanites,” Seinu rubbed a hand against one of his ears, “I can actually change my external appearance entirely due to a combination of the Nanites and the composition of my body.”
“That’s fascinating,” Reilan nodded, leaning forward to peer at Seinu, “Can we see you change shape?”
“Reilan,” Fildan objected, “That is rude to ask…” they then glanced at Seinu curiously, “But we would very much like to see it.”
Seinu hesitated for a moment then shook his head, “I am sorry but no, I can’t do it, it’s not a nice thing to see happen, I can go change in private and come back.”
“We do not mind waiting,” Fildan said, “We understand it must be a personal thing.”
Seinu stood up, “I will be right back, wait here,” with that Seinu hurried through the door into his private bathroom, reached inside himself and triggered the cascade order to his nanites, his body contracted, his external feathers shifted and he shrank down into the familiar, fluff coated shape of a vampire bunny. The whole process took about five minutes and was an unpleasant and unnatural feeling as usual, but by the time he was done he had shifted entirely. With his body now shorter, fluffier and more bunny-like he walked back into his office and presented himself to the two Sleriki.
“Here we go, this is the shape I wore during my fact finding mission to Babupekkakerok.”
“That’s amazing,” Fildan chirped, “What else can you turn into?”
“Well let’s see…” Seinu thought for a second, “I can do Cultarvian, I could also transform myself into an Unmizu or an Earthian creature known as a reindeer. I can also do a Kobold which is fun and has really funky horns.”
“More so than this?” Reilan laughed and shook his head, “That’s amazing, can you turn into one of us?”
“Ah no,” Seinu admitted as he ran a hand through his furry hair, pushing it out of his eyes, “I can transform into a set series of shapes but I can’t turn into a Sleriki, I don’t seem to quite understand how my basic anatomy works, all my senses filter through my nanites but I don’t seem to get how to be one of you.”
“Oh, well of course,” Reilan held up one hand and focussed for a moment, their muzzle scrunching up in concentration before they quite casually pulled one of their fingers off, “Here, eat this.”
“What!” Seinu stared at the lump of slime being offered towards him, watching as the soft fur covering it transitioned back into a lump of gelatinous slime. It gleamed with a faint translucent orange light, “I… you just pulled your finger off.”
“It’s fine,” Reilan held up their hand, wriggling the finger that was already growing back, “We cannot feel pain, and the self that is me is spread all throughout my body, I’ve loaded the core cells in this piece of me with the information you are lacking.”
“You’ve never had one of us to teach you,” Fildan added, “From the sounds of it what core cells you inherited helped save your life but you didn’t inherit the basic knowledge our children are given.”
“I am not sure I follow,” Seinu frowned as he accepted the lozenge shaped lump of purple slime off of Reilan, holding it carefully between his claws, feeling the way it squished against them.
“Well when we shed slime to create a new child we infuse them with core cells,” Fildan explained, “Basic knowledge on how to be one of us, at first they’ll be mostly driven by instinct until they gain enough mass and then one day they will wake up as a new Sleriki.”
“Your whole transition was an accident,” Reilan said, “So you were never given the knowledge you need to exist as one of us,” then nodded toward the lump of slime, “Ingest that, you will learn. It may take some trial and error to sync this knowledge with your tech but you will have a much better understanding of who you are.”
“I will admit we have run into issues,” Seinu said softly, “A while ago I was really ill because we didn’t really understand how the nanites and slime were interacting, it’s why I am wearing heat spikes now, my nanites can’t manage transformations and regulate my heat.”
“Then eat,” Fildan said with a smile, “You are one of us, it doesn't matter if you were raised as an Avali or can change shape, you are still Sleriki and thus we will help.”
“I thank you,” Seinu hesitated for a moment, “How long will it take? I have quite the busy evening ahead of me, is this likely to disrupt that?”
“That we aren’t sure of,” Reilan said, “But the core cells from me should impart their knowledge to you over the course of a few hours, it will go easier when your mind is at rest, so possibly eat that just before bed tonight? Until then be sure to store it someplace warm and humid, do not store it in the cold or it will die.”
“That may be a good idea,” Seinu took a storage jar off his desk and carefully placed the lump of Sleriki slime inside of it, “Well we have some time, would you like to see the Odyssey properly? We have time for a proper tour.”
“I’d like that,” Fildan said as they carefully stood up, “Can we see where you will be producing our ships?”
“Certainly,” Seinu started for the door, “We are setting up the preliminary systems now ready for when the raw materials arrive, let's go.”
With the two Sleriki in tow Seinu headed out to the rest of the ship, calling ahead to Selenu and Taran. This was not how he had expected this meeting to go, he was super excited, he had to find the time to settle down and absorb all the new Sleriki knowledge and learn how to be one of them properly!
But he had to be sensible about it, or he was going to get shouted at by Selenu for disrupting things. So he’d wait until there was a proper gap in his schedule and then no force in the Universe could stop him from ingesting that lump of slime! But for now he had new friends and guests to show around the Odyssey which would be good practice ahead of the big tour groups due to invade starting tomorrow.
To be continued…