The Gardens of Deathworlders: A Blooming Love (Part 110)
Part 110 Hompta's new girlfriend (Part 1) (Part 109)
The Kyim’ayik species Ascended to the galactic stage around thirty million years ago after nearly three million years of recorded history. Despite many of their features bearing a striking resemblance to beavers back on Earth, their specific evolution and behavior are much more akin to Earth's many river otters. Their beaver-like paddle-tails, prominent front incisors, and marked inclination towards construction all convergently evolved as a means of producing stable bodies of water in order to raise fish as livestock. Unlike the otters of Earth, Kyim’ayik are omnivores who can eat just as much fruits and vegetables as they do fish and other forms of meat. That fact is just one of many which allows Kyim’ayik to easily live with the humans on Shkegpewen and weave together a diverse, harmonious society. Another is the high degree of compatibility between traditional Kyim’ayik clans and those of the Nishnabe.
Both Tensebwse and Hompta Morelich knew that the latter's new girlfriend was one of the few million Kyim’ayik who called Shkegpewen home. After all, the thirty beaver-otters acting as the maintenance crew for the First of the Third’s BD team had all been born on Newport Station and previously served in the Nishnabe Militia in the same role. Considering Tens and Hompta are somewhat active members of Eagle Clan while Delth Harchont is a part of Beaver Clan, neither man was shocked to hear her talk about familiar names or reference current events on Newport Station. However, even Hompta was surprised by how involved Delth seemed to be with her extended-family community. While the two men were prepared for a breakfast conversation that touched on life back at home, neither expected to be talking clan politics.
“Are you serious?!? Mo'ewe Dodem are trying to get Iron-River filled?!?” It wasn't often that Tens got worked up over politics and yet he looked ready to fight someone. “My favorite fishing spot is on Iron-River!!! Why?”
“Iron-River acts as a border for the bshekek reserve.” Though the young Kyim’ayik woman wasn't quite as visibly upset as Tens, the fact she even brought this topic up showed her investment in it. “They want to fill that river segment so they can expand the reserve area and increase the herd size. It's all about getting more hunting permits which, of course, they will claim the majority of since it was their idea.”
“Oh, that's so dumb.” Hompta chimed in with an annoyed tone while using a pair of chopsticks to throw a piece of synthetic fish meat into his mouth. “I never understood why those guys are so obsessed with actual hunting. And why don't they just expand the prairie in another direction if they want to kill things so bad?”
“Yeah! Why can't-” Before Tens could finish his thought, he was cut off by a very distinctive voice that sounded as if it were passing through water.
“There you are, Tens!” One of Doc Nu Nu's tentacles appeared in the cafe nook that the trio were eating in, and was quickly followed by the Derubion medical officer's girthy, chitinous body. “I was just informed that you were exposed to potentially lethal levels of arsenic and cyanide based compounds on your last mission. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really need you to accompany me to the medical bay for a full examination and proper treatment regimen.”
“I'm fine, Doc. I promise. I sweated out any toxins last night. But I'll stop by the med-bay after I finish breakfast if it helps put you at ease.”
“Tens…” Delth gave the Nishnabe warrior the kind of look that reminded him of home. Specifically, his grandmother and her unimpeachably authoritative but kind demeanor. “You and I both know that those Penidons shots aren't inoculation, their recovery aids. If you expose yourself to dangerous amounts of toxins, you really should get checked out.”
“Thank you, Ms. Harchont.” The two very morphologically different women gave each other a nod of support before the armored octopus doctor pointed one of her tentacles straight at Tens's face. “And you, Tensebwse… You shouldn't be relying on technology you don't even understand to save you from poisoning. I reached out to one of my Penidon colleagues. They weren't even aware that your people had been given access to their medical technology, nor could they verify exactly what these regeneration shots of yours are actually capable of. While you may feel fine right now, that may just be a temporary effect. It would put me, and your commanding officers, at ease if you accompanied me to the medical bay. Or do I need to have Captain Marzima or Sub-Admiral Haervria to make that an order?”
“Ugh…” The Nishnabe warrior grumbled, quickly shoved his last few bites of synth-steak into his mouth, and began to stand up while reaching into his satchel. “Letmej-”
“Seh! Swallow your food before you try to speak, weenuk!!” Delth's chastisement of Tens caused Hompta to start cracking up and Nu Nu to roll her massive cephalopod eyes in an amused manner. “I'll tell your nokmes! Wishkebmadzekwe, right?”
For a brief moment, Tens's eyes grew wide and a fleeting look of fear spread across his face. Not only was Delth heavily opinionated and politically savvy like most other women in the Nishnabe Confederacy, she knew the right people. Or, in this case, the right person. All Tens could do was chew his mouth full of steak and mumble as he went back to getting out his tablet.
“Oh, is threatening our Lieutenant here with his grandmother the way to get do what he's told?” The Derubion doctor couldn't help but notice the way the Nishnabe warrior's demeanor completely changed.
“Only for stuff goko would actually be mad about, like talking with his mouth full.” Hompta spoke up half in support of Tens and half to mess with him. “But refusing to see a doctor is just normal Kno Dodem stuff. I remember one of Tens's uncles broke his arm and just reset it himself. Tied it up with some sticks and leather, then went back to work. Tens is just like that.”
“Giving away all my secrets? Tsss…” By the time Tens managed to choke down the oversized bite of steak, he already had his tablet out and was bringing up the payment system. “I'm making you pay next time, Hompta! But it was nice having breakfast with you, Delth. I'll make sure to vote to save Iron-River if things even make it that far.”
“Eeee! Get out of here, weenuk!” Hompta waved his chopsticks at Tens in a sarcastically aggressive manner while Delth gave him a smile and wave goodbye. “But after you're done with your check up, come see us in the mech bay. You need to see what Delth and I came up with for Nula’s BD.”
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Just like every other species in the galaxy, Kyim’ayik experienced a unique course of technological development. There are certain specific developments that are universally required for a species to make it to the galactic stage, including tool use, controlling fire, large-scale construction, and chemistry. However, the order of those developments and the technological branches cultivated from them are always different. Where humans on Earth were able to domesticate several large herbivores to ease development, or simply employed mass labor, many other species had to get creative. Even from a relatively early point in their civilization, Kyim’ayik were using water, wind, weights, and leverage to augment their strength and building capacity. Though it took a million years to go from the first known examples of Kyim’ayik writing to the mass use of metals, and another million years before the development of steam power, the beaver-otters had become masters of mechanical sciences.
A half-million years before developing FTL tech, three hundred thousand years before creating proper internal combustion engines, and back when Kyim’ayik were still living in relatively small and scattered communities, they had something resembling a mechanized walker. Though crude at first, more like heavy machinery meant to transverse rough terrain, those early mechs allowed for building on unprecedented scales. By the time those industrially gifted mustelids had interconnected all of their scattered city-states through artificial canals and river systems, mechs had become just as essential to their civilizations as trains and powered boats. Because of that, once the Kyim’ayik Ascended to the galactic stage, they were in a position to become the most prolific producers and exporters of industrial walker licenses in history. No matter the size of their clients, the need being filled, or the specific requests being made, a Kyim’ayik engineer somewhere could make it happen.
Back when Tens and Banitek got into their childish argument over the realism of a video game mech capable of orbital reentry, Hompta had been the one to suggest trying to build a real version. Little did the others know at the time, he already had his eyes on a heavily used but still functional mech frame waiting to be recycled at planetside scrapyard. All he needed was an excuse to let literally millions of years of generational knowledge manifest. Banitek forged the thermal resistant armor capable of withstanding atmospheric reentry, Tens worked on the active shielding and reactor systems, and Binko clobbered together some retro thrusters. However, all of their efforts would have been fruitless if Hompta hadn't restored the walker’s frame to full functioning order. And though he was offered a place on the Industrial Zone 14 design team, he wanted adventure just as much as he did the opportunity to innovate. Luckily for Hompta, those two things seemed to go hand in hand.
“How's your cognitive load looking, Nula?” Though Hompta knew he wasn't really supposed to be testing any equipment inside the mech bay, there also wasn't really anywhere else for him to do so. And he was also actively monitoring the energy shield being projected around Nula's mech from a nearby terminal to ensure safety. “Having any trouble processing it all?”
“It’s… More than… I initially assumed.” The canine android’s voice was just a bit slower than normal. Noticeably so, but not to a concerning degree. “I'm writing… Compression algorithms… And done! Yeah, I think I got it now. I just wasn't expecting some drones to put that much strain on my primary cores.”
“Remember, Nula, you're still really limited on your available processing space.” Delth was several meters behind Nula's mech, partially shielded by a large crate full of spare armor panels, and kept her eyes focused on a walker monitoring terminal. “Technically speaking, your BD has larger and more powerful processing cores than even that pretty, new shell of yours. Once we get you unbound from that old processing core, this'll probably be a lot easier. You would have direct access to your control-AIs firmware and be able to edit it on the fly. Right now, however, you're stuck writing the code then injecting it the old fashion way. Just let me know when you're ready to start testing your drones.”
“And let's not do too many at one at a time.” Hompta blurted out with a slight hint of hesitation. Though he was sure everything should be fine with all the precautions being taken, he also didn't want to fry off all of his fur, or his new girlfriend's fur. “The drones are small enough that they don't need too much lift. But this is an enclosed space and those ion thrusters do put off a lot of heat.”
“Alright, I think I'm ready to-”
“Hold on one moment, please.” Nula was cut off as two of Entity 139-621's drones decloaked within just a few paces of either Kyim’ayik.
“Fucker!” Delth screamed, nearly toppled over, and instinctively began to reach for a wrench. “Just like NAN! Don't do that shit with me!”
“Aho, Ansiki.” Hompta had barely flinched at the sudden appearance of the liquid-metal mantis. “What's up?”
“Adding a bit more shielding just be safe…” As the Singularity Entity spoke from both drones at once, several blobs of matter detached from their abdomens and moved into position just inside the energy barrier Hompta was monitoring. As half of the blobs rose, only taking a few seconds to attach themselves to the ceiling, a faint shimmer became visible. What couldn't be seen by even sensors in Nula's mech was the nano-scale filaments that connected each blob to the drone that spawned it. “Nula, if you could please deploy your drones one at a time with a five second delay between each release. Then, once all ten are active at once, recall them at the same intervals. I will only be able to absorb roughly one hundred and eighty seconds worth of thermal build up, but that will still leave you some room for error. When you are ready, of course.”
“Are you sure?” While Hompta casually asked the question, more as a means of getting an obvious affirmation than anything else, he looked over to see that Delth was visibly debating whether or not to throw her wrench at the Singularity Entity drone nearest to her. “I don't want the floor and ceiling to start glowing.”
“I may start glowing, but I am sure.” 139 jokingly replied with a nearly human chuckle that instantly reminded both Kyim’ayik of the only other Singularity Entity they knew. “And if it makes you feel better, Ms. Harchont, you may throw that tool at me. I really don't mind.”
“See… Now you just took all the fun out of it.” The Kyim’ayik woman sarcastically pouted while setting the wrench down and returning her focus to her terminal. “Anyways, I'm ready when you are, Nula. I'll hit the emergency shutdown just in case anything goes wrong.”
“Anything goes wrong?!? What is happening on my ship?!?”
Everything froze as the unmistakable sound of an angry Qui’ztar prime roared through the mech bay. With everyone so focused on their work, and Ansiki's assumption that permission had already been gotten for this test, none of them had expected that entrance. And as they turned their sight towards the perturbed Sub-Admiral, they were surprised to see who was accompanying her. By sheer happenstance, Tens had arrived at the entrance to the mech bay to see Hompta's surprise at the same time as Haervria came to investigate the unapproved power usage. And while Harv appeared positively furious, Tens simply looked on with a curious smile.
“We finished work on Nula's drones, so we're running a brief connectivity test to ensure she is ready to use them in support of the rest of the Angels.” Delth was the first to speak up once the shock of hearing Harv yell wore off. “And we're taking every possible safety precaution, ma'am.”
“Did these two not request proper permission to run this test?” Ansiki asked, an impish smirk on both of their drone's insectoid faces.
“No they did not! And if they had, I would have said yes.” Harv quickly approached where Hompta was standing with Tens as her side. “Chief Maintenance Engineer Morelich, I don't know how things are done in the Nishnabe Militia. But in the First of the Third, it truly is easier to ask for permission than forgiveness.”
“Yes, Sub-Admiral Haervria. You have my deepest apologies, Sub-Admiral.” Hompta bowed towards the blue woman that towered over him before giving Tens the kind of look that begged for help. “It won't happen again, Sub-Admiral.”
“Considering this is your first offense, and it does seem like you are taking precautions far above the standards…” Harv shot a quick glance at the Singularity Entity drones and the shielding array they had deployed. “I am willing to let you off with a warning this time. Just be sure to always ask for permission in the future. I need to know what's happening on my ship at all times. No excuses. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Sub-Admiral Haervria. Again, I deeply apologize and won't make this same mistake again, ma'am.”
“He'll figure out new mistakes to make.” Tens chimed in a sarcastic chuckle that drew a harsh glare from both Hompta and Harv. “I'm joking. Hompta is an ardent professional who is only concerned with ensuring every BD is as optimized and battle-ready as possible. But, anyways, let's see these drones, Nula! This will be the first drone-swarm BD, so I'm excited!”
“I am ready to begin deployment.” Nula announced, her mech's speakers the confident excitement she felt in her digital soul.
“Everyone ready?” Hompta half shouted then made eye contact with each person in the room. “Then let's start. Deploy the first drone, Nula. And if anything starts to melt, I'm blaming you, Tens!”
Posted Mar 15, 2025, 6:23 PM UTC