The Gardens of Deathworlders: A Blooming Love (Part 109)
Part 109 Deathwish (Part 1) (Part 108)
When Binko Hrevroch Shlin finally received his mother's privately owned shuttle from his father, the vessel had already been sailing the void for over a millennia. It started its life as a Shi-Dem-Lo Conglomerate Swooper-class 1275-Hy-6 midgrade transit craft intended to ferry passengers and small amounts of cargo between nearby star systems or along well developed trade routes. It was only about sixty meters in total length, about twenty wide ignoring the four nacelles, and only about ten tall. Besides being obviously smaller than the Qui’ztar military shuttles, it also featured the more streamlined, aerodynamic design aesthetic common among Kroke spacecraft. Further differentiating it from the boxy, unadorned Qui’ztar ships, Binko's shuttle had been consistently updated and upgraded with each successive owner. By the time Binko actually received full ownership of his ship, it had been physically modified by so many generations of his family that it only bore a superficial resemblance to a standard model fresh from the factory.
Basic Swooper-class shuttles come with a twenty lightyear range subspace drive, four transmedium thrusters mounted on omni-directional nacelles, a middling power plant, and only the most basic systems, defenses, and amenities. However, the availability of both factory and aftermarket modifications, countless open nooks and crannies, and exceptional longevity meant that older models often far out classed newer ones simply because of the degree of customization. The specific shuttle Binko had inherited came with a rather expensive dual hyperlane-subspace drive with a five hundred lightyear range, enough armor and shielding to survive a serious firefight, and the most powerful reactor commercially available in the proper form factor. On top of that, when Binko joined the Nishnabe Militia with Tens and volunteered the use of his ship for mech recovery, it received another full round of enhancements. This particular Swooper-class is likely the only one in the entire galaxy with a Penidon enhanced reactor, Hi-Koth forged armor, Light-Born AI created control systems, and Singularity stealth tech.
“What do you have there, Tens?” Binko noticed Tens crouched down and hiding a decently sized polymer box in one of the many secret compartments throughout his spacious cockpit.
“It's, uh… It's a surp- Gmowjidi!” Despite having grown up with this particular avian, and knowing that many birds have limited eye movement demanding exceptional neck mobility, Tens always had the same extreme reaction to seeing Binko's head turned completely backwards. “You can literally just turn your chair around, weenuk!”
“Yeah but then I wouldn't get to see you get all flustered.” As Binko slowly turned his pilot's seat, cackling as he did so, he managed to keep his head so still that one would assume his neck was gyroscopically stabilized. “But for real though, what's in that box? And why are you putting in a sneaky spot?”
“I'll give you three guesses.”
“I swear, Tens! I will call goko right now!”
“What?!? No!” As Tens suddenly began to scramble both physically and mentally, he contemplated letting his best friend in in this prank. However, right as he began to half explain, he was cut off. “Niji, I swear its-”
“Tens, I need you to be honest with me.” A white, mechanical paw-hand lightly pressed on Tens's shoulder. “Are you trying to smuggle one of those fluffy and adorable creatures off this planet?”
As the tan skinned man slowly rose, his face contorted in an utterly bewildered expression. His eyes narrowed to dark slits, his cheeks raised as high as they could go, and his mouth hung just a bit open. After a few moments of pause where he shifted his gaze back and forth between Nula and Binko, he tried to speak. However, the bewilderment coursing through his mind was so intense that no sounds came out. Instead, he simply pulled the fairly lightweight container from the nook he had just shoved it into and pulled off the lid.
“It's snow.” Tens shook his head in disbelief and a vain attempt to reset his mind. “I- I have some plans for this… But you two need to keep your mouths shut and not ask questions. It'll ruin the surprise… And did you two really think I would take a wild animal from its home and force it to be my pet? It's dander would kill me in a month! I may have a deathwish, but not like that!”
“Even I considered it, Tens.” The canine android used her golden, glowing eyes to quickly examine the container for any traces of life. Upon discovering there was nothing but tiny little water crystals without the faintest trace of the toxic world or its inhabitants, Nula redirected her gaze back towards Tens with an almost disappointed smile. “But it seems your better judgment won out the same way mine did. It truly is better this way. That being said, I think even you would have considered them cute, Binko.”
“Did they have canine features?” Binko asked with a hesitantly friendly inflection while quickly returning to his controls. Try as he might, he simply couldn’t get over his innate fear of things that look like Nula.
“Barely!” Nula laughed in as non-threatening of a manner as she could. If Tarki could look her in the eyes and smile, she was sure Binko would eventually be able to do so as well. “It looked more like a small, fluffy… Prey animal. But their eyes were quite familiar to me. Like a fleeting glimpse of my creators I never got to truly meet.”
“Well… Even the holograms of the small nemoshek in the museum on Shkegpewen scared me as a child, so…”
“I swear, niji.” Now that he fully secured his secret stash of snow, Tens quickly made his way to his co-pilot seat. “You're too afraid of canines. It's almost like you forget you can just fly away!”
“Yeah, whatever, fucker. At least I don’t have a death wish!” The deep purple avian retorted with an annoyed caw. “It’s been what? Over seven years now since you took that first jump? I still can’t believe you actually did it. Hompta was the only one who thought you actually would.”
“That's because he was the only one of us who thought it would work! Which reminds me, we're all going fishing when we get back to The Hammer.” Now that Tens was strapped and ready to go, he wasted no time going through his take off procedures. “We'll kidnap you from Tarki if we need to. By the way, where is your better half?”
“She's submitting some kind of something to the GCC.” As both Binko and Tens finished their final checks, positive indicators glowing all across the physical control panels, Nula marveled at just how efficient this unlikely pair were at their jobs while having a completely off-topic conversation. “I don’t really remember the details, but I think it had to do with this planet. You know how my love gets with her job.”
“The special protected status?!?” Nula blurted out with an excited tone.
“Yeah! That was it!” Binko momentarily glanced at the canine android with a slight smile but quickly turned back. “I think Ansiki asked her to submit the paperwork for that so, of course, she immediately started working on it. But that's one of the many things I love about her. Not only is she dedicated to her work, she's very, very good at it. With her at my side, I'll never catch a smuggling charge!”
“Speaking of smuggling, what were you planning on doing with that snow, Tens?” Though Nula had only brought up the relatively harmless substance as a means of avoiding any less than legal topics, she inadvertently causes Tens to pull his eyes away from his task so he could give the android a rather harsh glare.
“I said don't ask any questions! It'll ruin the surprise!”
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The scene Tens found himself was somehow familiar and nostalgic but still ominous and wrong. He was balled up tightly in a rather uncomfortable cockpit, his hands and feet pressed crude control systems, and a simple display screen was the only way he could see out of this armored coffin. This was the very first test of what would eventually become the BD-series mechanized combat walkers. However, certain things were out of place. He did remember seeing Binko, Hompta, Banitek, and Msko in the corner of that display, either cheering him or trying to convince him it wasn't too late to back out. However, this time his parents and grandmother were there as well. While they weren't saying anything to him, just their presence made this feel strange. Just like every other time he had this dream, the sequence of events began to play out just like they had in reality.
Unbridled fear consumed Tens's soul as the launch sequence began and his ramshackle mech was ejected towards Shkegpewen from the Kokoji-Wango. That first Bmegoj’Dabyanbe, falling machine-person, was built from scrapyard parts, cobbled together by four teenagers over the course of a month, and forced to function through sheer willpower. Even though he has put his life on the line, Tens doubted if his idea would work. This Frankenstein’s creation was little more than a pile of trash welded together with all the precision of untrained, inexperienced kids trying to prove, or disprove, a childish theory from a video game. As the fires of reentry burned and completely obscured visibility through the simple camera systems, Tens experienced the same terror he did all those years ago. The differences between this dream and reality started to become more and more apparent as the plasma sheath dissipated and an out of place, but still familiar, chime began to ring out.
“Hey, Tens! Are you still asleep?” A distinctively high pitched voice pulled the Nishnabe warrior out of his frightful slumber. “You said you were buying us breakfast today, fucker! Wake up!”
“I’ll be out in a minute, Hompta!” Tens grumbled while rolling out of bed, a few light beads of sweat sticking to his body. “I thought we weren’t meeting until 0800!”
“It’s already fifteen after!” Though the intercom allowing this conversation was more than able to transmit softly spoken speech, both Hompta and Tens were shouting back and forth. “Get here, you lanky, furless monkey! Or at least open the door! Delth needs to pee!”
“You don't have to say it like that.” A softer, more feminine, but equally high pitched voice spoke up in a hushed tone then switched to an embarrassed inflection when talking into the intercom. “If I could use your restroom, Tens, I would really appreciate it.
After quickly wiping away the rest of the sweat from his body with a towel, Tens wrapped it around his waist out of modesty. Unlike Kyim’ayik, when humans aren't wearing clothes, they genuinely are naked. And that's exactly how the man preferred to sleep. With the recurring dream fading from his mind, Tens opened the door to his bunk room meant for two to see a pair of beaver-otters standing before him. The one he considered a brother, who was slightly taller, more masculine, and stood upright on his hind legs with his head at about the center of Tens's chest, wore grease-stained coveralls. The other flaunted a cute dress embroidered with an elegant floral pattern and had a diamond encrusted, gold ring hanging from her ear. Despite only having met this particular Shkegpewen-born Kyim’ayik woman a few times, the man already knew her well enough to welcome her in without a word. A warm gesture towards the bathroom was the only thing needed before Delth quickly scurried towards it and shut the door behind her, leaving Tens and Hompta alone.
“You really couldn't wear anything nicer to go eat with your new girl, Hompta?”
“You really couldn't put on pants and shirt before opening your door, Tens?” The furry little man shot back while he watched Tens walk over to his closest.
“I have no problem going to breakfast butt naked.” Tens retorted while grabbing a shirt and pair of short cut, loose-fitting shorts.
“You'd start a riot with all these Qui’ztar women!” Hompta began cracking up at just the thought of Tens walking around fully exposed with so many warrior women present. “Man, I swear… Some of them have even been chasing after my maintenance boys. It’s making some of my ladies mechanics upset! You need to start pulling your weight around here, niji!”
“Why are you like this, you fucking guy?” The Nishnabe warrior roared with laughter while pulling up his shorts and throwing in his shirt. “There's over two hundred Qui’ztar women on this ship. You want me to snag all of them?”
“I mean, I'd do it if I were in your position. Take one, or two hundred, for the team, you know?”
“Of course you would, gnbodewze! Hopefully this new lovely lady of yours can pound some loyalty into you!”
“She might.” Hompta lied through his rather prominent incisors. Though he did truly care about the women he dated when he was dating them, the man was just as fleeting with his passions as he was stalwart in his career. Where he may not be able to fully dedicate himself to one person for more than a few months at a time, he is utterly devoted to being a mechanic. “I don't know, niji. I really do like her. But… You know how I am.”
“I know you're the kind of person who can make anything work if you hit with a hammer enough.” Tens began gathering up his slightly damp bed sheets and quickly threw them into his room's washing machine. “You were the only one of us who actually thought the BD idea would work. I didn't even think I'd make it to the ground in one piece.”
“Yet you still did it, niji! You truly are the bravest among us. The stupidest, too. But that's not the point. If it wasn't for your death wish, I wouldn't be making two hundred grand a year as a mech mechanic. And I probably might have met Delth.”
“She seems like a good one. If you treat her right, she may even teach you to wear normal clothes instead of those nasty overalls. When was the last time you washed those?”
“Don't be turning into your grandma now, Tens.” Binko shot his friend a rather harsh glare before the sound of a toilet flushing forced him to change the topic. “Anyways, I do appreciate you taking Delth and I out to breakfast. Child support for three kids is no joke, even on my wages.”
“No worries, niji. Just… Take it slow with Delth. If you're not careful, you'll have even more little ones you're paying for. And you know what the Aunties will do if you can't keep up with your responsibilities.”
“Speaking of Aunties…” Hompta shot a quick but rather pointed look towards Tens and then to the bathroom door. “Did you hear that Noka got Auntie Pisk pregnant? She's almost forty-five and he's younger than us!”
“I'm not surprised, niji. She tried to chase me when I was 17. I like mature women as much as the next guy but… Auntie Pisk is something else.”
“Are you two talking about Piskwzawankwe from Bebamsat Dodem?” Delth open the bathroom door just in time to catch Tens's last sentence and was already beginning to crack up. The fact this young woman knew the Auntie’s full and that she was a part of Hawk Clan made both Tens and Hompta start cracking up. “By the Creator, did you hear she got knocked by that annoying kid, Noka'pkwenech?”
“He was really annoying, wasn't he?” Tens laughed as he threw his satchel filled with his daily essentials, including his pipe and tobacco, over his shoulder. “I haven't seen him since he was twelve, or something like that. Hadn't even been on his first hunt yet he always tried to act tough.”
“He's in Mek Dodem with me, so I grew up with that mowjidi.” As the young and clearly strong-willed woman nonchalantly mentioned being a part of Beaver Clan, she strode over to Hompta and wrapped her furry little arm around his. “I'll tell you both some stories about him over breakfast. Mbekte! Let's go get some food!”
Posted Mar 8, 2025, 6:43 PM UTC