Adventures in Parodyverse: Universal Joint, Part 3


    Shen Rae grew up in a large city, on a planet named Reyas.  It was a planet with many races, similar to Earth in climate and in that most of its surface was water.  She was one of a small tribe of beings her world called the Chosen Ones.  

    Almost identical to everyone else genetically, the Chosen Ones were born with a very long life span, and immeasurable strength, stamina, and speed.  And while they couldn’t change their physical form, they could change some of their features, like hair and eye color - which led them to seem to be a lot more insidious than they actually were.  After all, they could be hiding anywhere.

    They also had an attraction toward discovery and technology - but that was less a birthright, and more a result in the fact that they spent a lot of time separate from the other races, and putting their minds together.

    Naturally that was because the other races of Reyas were terrified of the Chosen Ones.  As virtual outcasts, they were forbidden to rule, to fight in wars, or do anything that put them in a position of power.  Because they were born powerful, they were destined to be kept down at all times.

    Several times in Reyas history, there was an age of famine, war, and destruction.  During each of those times, it’s peoples felt vulnerable, and weak as their civilization burned and crumbled.  And each time, they feared the Chosen Ones would rise up and take control of them while they were weak - and they struck pre-emptively.

    They learned that the Chosen Ones, while powerful, were still subject to death by weapons of mass destruction.  Firebombing, or simple one-at-a-time firing squad proved sufficient in reducing their numbers.  And reducing them to fear, so that they would never even think of seeking power.

    After the third such culling of the Chosen Ones, their elders made a decision - that they would no longer live in a single tribe.  In order to continue as a race, they had to split up and hide among the general population of Reyas.  And so, the Chosen Ones vanished.

    That strategy proved beneficial to them once Reyas achieved space travel.  They did so before any of their neighboring systems, so they shared their knowledge in exchange for forming a Trading Alliance.  The Alliance prospered, and the Chosen Ones hid within it.

    And now, Shen Rae found herself what had been feared by her people for many generations:  She was the last one left.  Either the last living, or the last free, of the Chosen Ones.

    There were only the broken empty houses left of every one of her people brought to Caph for safety.  They had been taken away, with no escape, and it was her fault for taking the ship.

    Kiivan and his soldiers could only watch as the weight of those revelations crashed down upon her, and she sobbed quietly.  She felt as if all her efforts to save them were for nothing; and she wasn’t even there to defend them.

    Finally, when he felt it was appropriate, he kneeled beside her.  The  Caphan soldiers were taken aback, seeing their ruler lowering himself like that - but they could say nothing.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Caph will have a grand ceremony that will be remembered for all its history, to honor your missing friends.”  Kiivan promised in a whisper.

    Then he looked at his guard, and waved at them in a royal fashion.  “Make it so,”  he said.

    As commanded, the guards rushed to their official palace vehicles to begin their planning.

    Shen Rae nodded in sad agreement.  But then she cleared her eyes long enough to say with a sniff, “I’m going to have to leave.  The Galactic Government will realize they missed me.  They’ll come back, and they’ll annihilate the whole planet if they believe I’m still hiding here.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where will you go?”  Kiivan asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“The one place they will never look for me, a place that has powerful beings to protect it.”  She looked up, and tried to dry her eyes again.  “Earth.”


---


    It was indeed the one of greatest celebration Shen Rae had ever seen.  Those Caphans really knew how to throw a party.

    Though rather than a memorial service, it had become more of a sendoff party for Shen Rae.  Kiivan asked her to meet him at the palace; when she arrived at the front courtyard in her shuttle, dressed in a body hugging muted silver and blue outfit, she was greeted by a parade so large that she couldn’t see the streets of the capital city to the limit of her visual range.

    Millions of green bodies waving banners, singing and chanting, wearing colorful strips of fabric.  Kiivan’s entire palace guard were in their formal best, lined up perfectly with their heads bowed, like a reception line that never ended, all the way through the opened palace doors and beyond.

    Kiivan himself was in formal Caphan attire as well.  It was strange attire to see indeed - it wasn’t much clothing as brightly colored decoration made of the finest smooth, flowing fabric available.  Acres and acres of strips of smooth, flowing fabric through the palace guard, and the crowd outside.

    And then the procession started.  Shen Rae was led into a very large room in the palace - and she learned it was something like a very large dining area.  At first, it was empty, the floors covered by long, narrow strips of smooth fabric.  But then a crowd started to stream in from outside, each one bringing in a food item that was their Caphan specialty.  Before long, there was no visible fabric left, it was all covered by platters of food and drink.  Live music was playing, and people were dancing.

    Shen Rae fell asleep at one point.  She only knew that because when she awoke she realized that a couple of aides of Kiivan’s placed her on top of the softest pillows she’d ever slept on, in his suite.  Once she was awake again, she stumbled back to the dining hall, and realized that the party had continued all night, and past dawn.  The music was still playing, too.

    They had stayed awake the entire night to see her off for her final departure to Earth.  She had to smile at that.  Once again, Caph really knew how to party.

    Kiivan took her hand and led her back to her shuttle, followed by...well, the entire population of the planet, most likely.  They cheered as she was about to depart.

    Finally, Kiivan told her, “You will always be welcome back here.”

    Shen Rae nodded.  She was so overwhelmed by the display that she didn’t have any words.  She instead stared into Kiivan’s eyes, and gave him a partially tearful smile.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You don’t need to say anything.”  Kiivan guessed the way she was feeling.  “Come back someday, and tell me then.”

    She nodded, and then boarded her shuttle.  She looked down at the cheering crowd, and she missed them already.  Caph had been her home for so long, and here she was being uprooted again.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I will come back,”  she said.  “I promise.”


---


    Boarding the Heart of Light again was both an adventure and distasteful.  It meant leaving one of the few places Shen Rae was accepted for one she was unsure about, and a little fearful of.  Those protective heroes there might not understand her predicament; they might choose to protect their home by sending her away, or by handing her over to the Galactic Government.  

    Going there was a calculated risk.  Since Earth was far out of the way of the Trading Alliance, and off-limits since it wasn’t a trading partner, it was less likely to be part of a normal patrol which would find her.

    To avoid being tracked, Shen Rae used one of the Anchors to arrive just outside of Earth’s system.  Once the Anchor safely self-destructed, she switched the Heart of Light to stealth mode to make sure the telescopes and satellites on that planet wouldn’t spot her approach.

    She quickly zipped past Saturn, then Jupiter and Mars.  The ship slowed drastically as it passed the Moon.  Then she got a surprise communications call.

    It was the Lunar Public Library.

    Shen Rae completely forgot that she was an member.  D.D., the Library computer, probably recognized her ship’s signal.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Are you stopping by for a visit?”  D.D. asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Not today, sorry.”  Shen Rae replied.  “I’m visiting Earth on some pretty difficult business.  I need to concentrate.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I heard.”  D.D. replied.

    Once again, Shen Rae forgot how efficient the Intergalactic Order of Libraries was at getting information.  Fortunately, they were sworn to secrecy and wouldn’t share any of it with the Galactic Government.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If you’d like to check out anything and learn about Earth, you’re more than welcome,”  the Library A.I. told her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Thank you, D.D.”  Shen Rae said.

    She set the Heart of Light into an stationary orbit behind the moon, with D.D.’s permission, and set it to hibernation mode - that would keep the beacon and the wormhole gate available for emergencies.

    Shen Rae took one of the Fighters - it was light, not very heavily armed, and could hold only two passengers.  But more importantly, it would be easy to hide on Earth.

    The sleek silver-blue Fighter, invisible from the ground due to stealth mode, coasted flaming through the atmosphere, and then cooled as it descended further over Paradopolis.  She spotted the perfect parking spot above a hotel downtown.

    The Fighter slowed With a burst of air beneath it, kicking up dust and debris, it landed gracefully atop the building’s unused helipad.  Once she exited the Fighter, she tossed a small blue object beneath the Fighter, which attached to it.  She stepped back, and watched it fade from transparent to visible, and then to its false holographic image of an Earth helicopter.

    Shen Rae entered the building carrying a silver bag.  She headed straight for the first floor, and to check-in desk.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’d like your penthouse,”  she told the receptionist.  “I have a my own aircraft, so I need access to the helipad.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You need to make an reservation,”  the receptionist replied coldly.

    Shen Rae opened the bag, and then dropped one gold bar on the desk.

    Gold bars were also valuable to the Trading Alliance, but not nearly as valuable as on Earth.  Shen Rae kept quite a lot of them aboard the Heart of Light for just such trading emergencies.

    The receptionist became wide-eyed.  Without the coherence to pick up her phone, she just yelled for her boss.  “Jiiiim!  Jim, come on out here!”

    Jim came out of his office looking suitably annoyed.  But then he too became wide-eyed when Shen Rae added a second gold bar.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’d like the penthouse.”  Shen Rae repeated.  “I saw the sign outside.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well um...”  Jim started to say.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Can I exchange these a key?  And the use of the helipad?”  she asked.

    The boss nodded quickly.  He then fumbled with trying to tell his receptionist to get the keys and paperwork for the penthouse.

    Around ten minutes later, Shen Rae opened the door to her penthouse suite and looked around.  It was fully furnished, so that saved her some time, but she also had some of her own equipment to bring in and hide in plain sight.

    Then she would need to find something to do.  She had quite a few gold bars, but not enough to support her through her extended lifetime.  She would need to find some way to invest some of the currency from a few of them so the dividends would support her.

    But more immediately, she needed food.  The stress of the trip made her tired and hungry, and there was nothing to eat in her new place.

    She peeked into the bathroom and was amazed to see a bath tub in there.  Those were rare back home because of efficiency and conservation efforts, and on Caph, they were public because of water use restrictions.  But on Earth, they seemed to be a common form of decadence.

    Shen Rae reached into the bag she brought, and pulled out clothing she thought was more appropriate for Earth.  She realized that she would need more of those.  First, though, she would take a bath, and get something to eat.

    Once the tub was filled, she settled into the hot water and sighed.  Maybe Earth wouldn’t be so bad after all.


TO BE CONTINUED


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2010 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin