Re: [WP] Beacons (Story Thread Only)
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 2:54 pm
Originally posted here.
Krulle wrote:Beryl was frustrated. She had to admit it. There was no other word for it.
The "day" started so fine. She had a wonderful "breakfast" with Alexander, which was a real morale booster. Alexander was curious for her, her world, and whatever she said. He listened. And he posed the right questions, too.
For all intents, this was a male who was interested in her. And she was interested too.
It felt so familiar, sitting at one table and just chatting. That was so enjoyable.
But that damn Mizol!
How did she know just when to appear and butt in between us?
She practically denied us all telepathic contact, but for the most simple one, because Tempo appeared whenever there seemed to be a chance to do so. Since the morning food this has been the case.
When he placed his hand on the table, more like across the table. She had wanted to put her hand on top, when the <-argh-> appeared...
Also, Alexander praised me at nearly all possible times, in front of my commanding officer for this mission. But he was in such cases nearly always looking directly at Tempo, and not at me.
Why?
What does that mean?
Obviously, he is interested in me, why else would he praise me like that?
But he seems to be interested in Tempo only, because he's looking at her.
Does he want to make me jealous?
Well... I am.
She sighed, and tried to turn a bit.
That damn Mizol denied her permission to leave the shuttle to find a bed on the station. She had to remain close to Alexander "for the complete record". But Alexander was sleeping in a make-shift bed in the cockpit after his last training session with Tempo, while she had to sleep in one of these... chairs.
At least the Mizol was also not aboard right now.
Alexander conceded that Humanity was simply too far behind technologically, and industrially, to be of any real help. Their solar system with locally grown food they could use as refueling base. But it was too far out for effective use. And without contact, nothing was possible right now, but they did learn that Humanity as a whole would likely side with the Loroi instead of the Umiak, for the looks of the Loroi and Umiak alone. Humans seem to have a nightmare of being subjugated by "insects", and would squish a bug. They apparently fear genocide less, but would fight being enslaved or destroyed with all they have available.
Also, Humans valued "individuality" to a degree, that their society would likely collapse under the uniform rule of a "hive mind" like the Umiak's. They were disgusted by The Enemy.
Seeing that Earth is considered to be "overpopulated", they could help bolstering their own planets and industries with more manpower, but Tempo refused this as unnecessary. If the Loroi would need more "hands", they could just loosen access to males for a short while.
They've been discussing this for quite a while, but the constellation of the Human worlds being so far out, and also "backwater worlds" for their technology, just gave no obvious advantage. The few things for them was the speed of their development. The Umiak did not seem to develop technologies of themselves, they just adopted conquered technologies. The Loroi were close to stagnation, as since unification the guilds have basically controlled research to a degree that only minor improvements were made, but no new developments. But Humanity went from steam powered to star faring with only their own imagination within only 400 of their years.
Well, some Loroi leaders are older than that...
Yet only the war has changed the Loroi culture considerably within that time.
Humans could therefore bring a fresh view on things.
And there was Tempo's idea. Of covert deep missions of mixed crews.
But without contact, there wasn't much they could actually do right now.
With the short telepathic connection between Tempo, Alexander, and herself, she also learned that the Mizol was having further plans. Something beyond using Human Lotai for their own purposes. She grinned You must be as frustrated as I am.. Morale boosting.... Hah!
To pass the time, Alexander tried to introduce the Loroi to a game called "chess", which he quickly sketched with some paper and a pen.
The rules were simple, it didn't take long for her to understand them. But as Alex said, understanding the rules is not understanding the game.
And Beryl did not understand the game he was playing. He was so obviously attracted to her and Tempo. But he did not move. He made appearances of moving, but then stopped moving. And he strictly kept it off-Sanzai. Why?
And apparently Beryl also did not understand the rules of this game.
At least the damn Mizol was at least as confused as she was. Beryl thought with a grin.
That poker game he made was fun, at least when we played without Sanzai as Alexander suggested.
Whatever move the Mizol was playing, Alexander apparently had a countermeasure ready.
While the Mizol was much better than me (did she really not pick at my mind when we played?), but Alexander trumped us both easily.
It was as if Alexander was able to read the cards from the backside.
Even the new card set they had the station manufacture. There were no markings a Loroi eye could discern, yet once I or Tempo held our cards in our hands, Alexander knew if we would win (and which one would win) or if he would win. And the grin in his face when he predicted that, while looking at Tempo.
And that frustrated the Mizol! Hah! Beryl concluded with a grin.
During that game, Alexander had tried to reach out to Beryl telepathically a few times, especially towards the end of the game, and indicated some minor body or facial movement Tempo did in certain situations.
That was unexpected for her, but his thoughts were there. Definitely. He wanted her to see something, and she was barely able to receive him.
Well, the body language he is teaching me to read is indeed helpful. Never knew the Mizol disclosed so much of her thoughts in her body language.
Alexander kept contacting her, and the connection got better and better.
In the few moments she and Alexander were able to talk without Tempo's interference (which apparently only happened after they've somehow been arranged to not sit close together), she tried to give him all kind of cues that she's interested, and as decorum demanded, she waited for his signal to commence. But besides quite a few signals that he's interested as well, he made no signal of allowing her to pick him up. But he kept smiling at her.
And whenever she managed to close the distance, Tempo appeared again, stepping up to separate them, and subtly indicating her rank priority over Beryl.
Weirdly though, Alexander also made no signs to Tempo either, beyond showing a lot of interest.
And rank was on Tempo's side. Rank prohibited Beryl from starting without approval from the male and/or her superior. So frustrating.
Then she thought back to the second training session between Tempo and Alexander. This time at least his face seldom turned red. But Tempo's face did turn blue several times (coinciding with the few times Alexander turned red, she observed).
She needed to find out if Human faces turn red from exhaustion. Wait, she knew that. Physical exhaustion can Alexanders face turn red, as he proved when he did some "exercises" (if jumping and running up and down an asile can be called "exercise"). Clearly the human physique was not as efficient in staying in peak condition as the Loroi physique was. He asked them for access to physical training apparatuses. Tempo didn't promise him much in that regard, just the usual "We'll see what we can do". (And both Loroi agreed some kind of shower and clothing cleaning would soon be necessary for Alexander. - She wondered if he could smell her as clearly as she smelt him...)
But mental exertion? Can that make his face turn red too?
She needed to find out.
But how?
She oh so wanted access to his telepathy/Sanzai as well, but the Mizol was very clear on that. After their training, Alex retreated to the make-shift bed, where he was still sleeping.
The Mizol commented only, that Alexander is learning fast. "He learns control of his mind's capabilities much faster than anticipated." And there was a slight chagrin present.
Even pointing out, that her orders were for Beryl to record everything around the human, Tempo just looked at Beryl and sent "not this" with a very strict undertone of keeping other mental undertones away.
But her body languaged betrayed her. That Mizol was "dense". The training did not go completely according to her will.
Ah well. Damn. I cannot sleep anyway. Beryl stood up from her uncomfortable chair, and went to the cockpit door. She stood there undecided, but finally did not knock on the door or open it. She went to the sanitary room, and refreshed herself. With a lot of cold water to her face.
When she felt slightly refreshed, Tempo and a small service crew from the station was present with some exercise equipment, and a mobile decontamination shower unit. They apologized, but since the station had been evacuated, no crew was available for a more elegant solution.
Then the cockpit door opened, and Alexander stepped out. The whole service crew froze and stared when they became aware of Alexander, apparently not having been forewarned why some passengers were not allowed to debark the shuttle. Even Beryl had to admit that the sight was something to behold.
Alex stood there in his orange jumpsuit. But the jumpsuit was open at the front, down to his firm, musculous stomach, and his usual clothing beneath the jumpsuit was in his hands.
She looked again at Tempo and the crew, and save for Tempo, their faces have turned quite a darker shade of blue. The envy of having a male aboard their shuttle was very... thick.
Alex looked first at Tempo, then at Beryl, and with a smile he asked "Sorry to interrupt, Beryl. I'm feeling somewhat uncomfortable in my clothing, which I find has been worn for far too long and has become somewhat smelly. Can you provide me with some alternative while I try to wash this?"