As Allan made his way back to the shuttle, he wondered if he had done the right thing. He shook his head, being careful not to jolt Aly, that was a struggle that he could leave to another time. “I just hope that she got from it what she needed.” Allan thought to himself, He knew that it was not going to be easy for her to confront the deaths of people around her, just because she looked different, but at least she now knew that she was not the source of the destruction, merely its focus.
These thoughts and many more like it rushed through his head as he rode the shuttle through the atmosphere, and it docked with the shuttle station in orbit. When he stepped out onto the platform, it was silent, playing on every screen was a proclamation from the ‘ruling council and its subsidiary organizations.’ Thanks to the translator Allan knew it to be the truth that he had told the council members to release, they surprised him and named himself and Aly as the ones that had brought this about, and whoever the representative on-screen was, they also admitted that there had been a shadow faction within the government killing those who they found to be problematic.
Allan snorted, He really did hope that they could change, they could become better, but he also doubted that. The Edict was playing on a loop, and when he finally got through the shuttle station to the ship, Aly was stirring. He hurried her inside. She finally woke to the last sounds of the food extruding machine making a delicious-looking broth with large chunks in it. She sat up from where he had laid her gently on one of the tables to get them both a bowl of food.
“Hey.” Allan said, being quiet and gentle. Aly did not respond, she simply took the bowl of food that he offered and turned to walk away. He thought she wanted to be alone, but when she got to the door, she turned to look at him, her eyes begging him not to leave her alone. He smiled at her and grabbed his own bowl, and followed her to the bridge of the ship. When they got there Aly set her bowl down, and Allan sat on the floor cross-legged to watch what she did while he ate.
As she worked he recognized that she was setting in waypoints, she moved in silence for almost fifteen minutes. When she finished, she grabbed the bowl and came to sit down right in his lap. She leaned back against him, and he wrapped his arms around her middle, just letting her be close while she attacked the bowl of soupy liquid that the machine had produced for her.
“So.” She said finally setting her bowl in his and then leaning her head back on his chest, craning her neck to look up at him. “I think we just…” She stopped, Allan could tell that she was trying to come up with something to say and that she was already trying to figure out how to resolve the emotional conflict she felt of being happy that she truly wasn’t cursed, and that she was sad that those who had cared for her died simply because she was around.
“Where did you set the ship to go?” Allan asked, hoping to distract her at least a little. While she had been sitting with him eating, the ship had undocked and headed to the Jumpgate.
“Ohh I don’t know, past the first place at least.” She said snuggling even deeper into his embrace, “The first stop is the space station Xenttrop Theta. After that, I just told the ship to make a random number of jumps between three and seven, and take us to the nearest planet that would be capable of allowing the both of us off the ship.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Allan said, trying to think of something else to distract her when a serious question came up. “Aly, how have I been breathing? I mean even on Hilx’Nit’s ship I was just fine, and on your homeworld, I had no difficulty breathing. It hasn’t occurred to me to even wonder…” Allan trailed off marveling at how lucky he had been that he hadn’t wandered into this and died instantly of a toxic alien, literally, environment.
Aly turned so that she was sitting in his lap across his body, laughing the whole time. “Oh, my simple deathworlder man, you have been blessed by the Goddess it seems!” She said, her tone told him that she was teasing him. She kissed his cheek chastely, and then stood, “I will explain but just not right now.” She walked into the medical bay and began working on something.
“Be right back.” Allan said, and she nodded. Allan took the bowls and ran them back to the cook-bot as he had decided to call it, placing the dishes in the receptacle for them, and then ran back to the bridge. He go there just as Aly finished what she was doing, she motioned for him to sit on the table.
“The computer needs a small sample of your blood and bone marrow, as well as an in-depth scan of your neurological systems, and basically all of your other systems.” She said, her voice all business. She looked at Allan and smiled, “If you would be so kind as to oblige me I promise this is for something good.” Allan nodded and lay down on the table. “It will take a while for the scans so could you just.” She looked hesitant like she knew what she wanted to ask was okay, but that she felt unworthy of asking it. “Could you just talk while it's going on? I don’t care about what, but if I can’t be close to you I just want to hear you.” Allan smiled and said yes. “Thank you,” she said with a smile that showed relief. “I can’t be in the room for some of the scans, so I am going to just sit out here.” she gestured towards the bridge.
Allan turned on his commlink and began telling her stories from his childhood, anything that came to mind, old fairy tales, the mythologies of the Norse, Egyptians, and others. The whole time the machines in the med bay whirred. At one point a thick orange and maroon striped door slammed shut across the med bay, and Allan mad as if to jump up. “Allan it’s fine, this is why I had to leave the room, the machines are capable of emitting any kind of radiation including the kind that is used in X-Rays, however, that X-Ray radiation, in the concentrations that are needed for an actual X-ray of your bones, is lethal to Quillinar, so the med bay will take the needed x-rays and then it will remove the radiation, just keep talking please.”
Allan nodded to himself, and kept right on, telling her the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table and explaining how that had been one of the most influential stories, driving him to seek out adventure. Finally, after almost an hour, with a pause in the middle when the ship used the Jumpgate, the shield opened again and Aly quickly stepped inside.
“Okay,” She said, taking a deep breath, “That is everything, now I just want to sleep, we have quite a while until we reach station Xenttrop Theta.” She seemed to be muddling around for the right words. Allan smiled and scooped her up, “I can walk Allan.” She protested.
“Oh I know, but I kind of like carrying you around like this.” He said, holding her in a stereotypical princess carry. “You know that on my world this is called the princess carry.” She blushed at that. She rested her head on his chest as she stopped protesting and let him carry her. He took them to the sleeping chamber and laid her down gently in the soft sand. He stripped his clothing and then lay down next to her. She immediately tangled her legs in his and pressed her face into his chest, her arms wrapping around him. He held her close and they both drifted off to sleep.
-----------------------
When he woke, it was not to the usual pleasant sensation of his face being caressed by her soft breasts as Aly breathed. Instead, it was a feeling that Allan had not felt since his time as a safari guide. Allan continued his slow breathing, as he tried to figure out where the eyes that he felt on him were located in the room. Best as he could tell, they were behind him. So trying not to let on that he had noticed Allan rolled, pulling away from Aly, hoping that it looked as if he had moved in his sleep. And then he exploded into movement, launching himself upright and forward, to grab the being by the throat and press it against the wall.
That had been his intention anyway. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. It was a Quillinar woman, her coloring was brighter than Aly’s, gold, and white, spots that looked to shine with the light of a thousand stars were this woman’s pattern. He realized he had stopped and immediately lunged forward to attack again.
“Peace, Allen James Mac'Millen, son of Sarah Luise Mac'Millen, and clan member of Alyniqual Jushintorg. I do not mean you any harm, I had not expected you to notice me let alone be able to awaken from the sleep I cast on you and Aly.” The being said, a slightly amused smile on its face.
Allan protectively placed himself between the being and Aly. “Well I did, and how do you know who I am, or who my mother is?” Allan said, looking over the being, it pained him to admit it but she was far more beautiful than Aly, for lack of a better word, she was perfect, every scale, and muscle, every hair, and eyelash looking as if it had been sculpted by the greatest artisan to have ever lived.
“I have been watching you and Aly closely.” She said, smiling at him. “And I could not help but want to see you with my own eyes. You have given the Quillinar an opportunity, one that I can tell you struggle with, even in your sleep. You hope they can change. You hope that they will not fall back on these ways. You have seen these things in your own people, and you know what they lead to.” The woman closed her eyes and Allan could swear that he heard the pounding of boots, the crash of bombs falling from the sky and exploding on the ground, and the death cries of people around him.
The woman opened her eyes and smiled at him. “I am sorry that my brother abandoned his creation, but you have grown stronger in his absence, stronger than he ever could have made you, despite the unfaltering belief that some still have for him.” The woman said, and stepped forward, placing a hand slowly on his cheek.
Allan dropped to his knees, at her touch he had felt a rush of emotion. Love of a kind that he could not begin to comprehend, thankfulness, respect, and hope all coursed through the being’s hand, and into Allan. Such a mighty wave of emotion that tears formed in his eyes. “You are one of the gods that Aly has told me of aren’t you?” Allan asked, looking up at the woman knowing he was right without her answer.
“I am.” She said simply. “Though more specifically, I am Elunitra, I am the Goddess that the Quillinar worship.” Her face fell somewhat, “I am the Goddess that the council of purity,” Her voice dripped with such rage and venom that every muscle and hair Allan had tense or stand on end, “claimed supported and agreed with their twisted beliefs.” The Goddess saw that Allan’s body was tensing as if for a fight, and she closed her eyes taking a deep breath, and the aura of anger and rage seemed to melt away, letting Allan relax his muscles.
The goddess stepped forward to Aly, and Allan felt as if he could not move. The Goddess leaned down to Aly and kissed her on her forehead, as a mother would kiss a sleeping child. “She is my most devout child.” The goddess said, brushing a stray hair from Aly’s face. “No matter how alone she felt, how much she raged against what others said to her, she never once blamed me, she always prayed to me, and she always sought out my guidance.” The goddess turned to Allan, and knelt in front of him resting her head on his chest, “Thank you for helping the one who I could not.” The Goddess gently wrapped her arms around him and hugged him for a moment before letting go and standing in front of a still kneeling Allan, and kissed his forehead.
“I can not interfere directly with the free will of any being, most of all of any of my creation, but I will say that when you go to the station you should take that with you.” the goddess said, gesturing to the old music player sitting on his bag. “Thank you Allan, the blessing of the Goddess be on you and your clan.” She said, placing the tip of one finger on his forehead.
----------
The morning came by way of the ship sounding a signal that was a request for communication from the Station AI to take over for docking. Allan was still tangled up with Aly who had a contented smile on her face. She woke a moment after him, and Allan shook his head, “weird dream” he said to himself. But something about it felt hauntingly real.
“Come on let’s go, we can eat on the station.” She said, sounding very rested, and almost excited as she rushed out of the room to accept the request at the bridge. Allan moved to follow, but the dream ran through his mind again, and he shrugged, “I guess it couldn’t hurt.” He muttered to himself, scooping his music player and earbuds into his pocket.
Allan joined Aly on the bridge and looked at the station that the AI of the station and the ship were working together to dock them to. It was Massive, if the shuttle station on Aly’s homeworld had been an orbital city, then this station, positioned at a one-of-a-kind juncture of twenty-five Jumpgates each within thirteen hours of travel, was almost a planet unto itself probably even larger. Allan’s mouth fell open. “Holy crap.” He said, trying to imagine how something so massive could even be built.
Aly smiled at the wonder clearly plastered across his face. “This is arguably the most central point that anyone has ever found in the Jumpgate system. And is the current center for trade for the galaxy.”
“Wait, found?” Allan said, “I thought the Jumpgates could connect to any other Jumpgate, and that they were created and placed by races?” He said as they walked down to the main cargo door. At 70 feet wide and thirty tall, Allan was surprised that it was a docking point, but it was where the AI had wanted them docked.
Aly explained that yes the Jumpgates could indeed connect to any other Jumpgate, but no, they had not been made by any known race. She explained that thousands of years before she had been born, when the first fledgling races had left their worlds and found the Jumpgates, the AI that lived in the Jumpgates had been ecstatic with new masters to sever, its only rule was that it would never deny usage to anyone for any reason. And that it could not divulge who or what had created it, only that it was a form of travel left for future races.
“Wow, that’s lucky.” Allan said, and then a thought occurred, “Is this why there has not been any attempt to develop faster than light travel? I mean you have the technology to warp from spot to spot, and that is fast, but it’s all reverse-engineered from the Jumpgates right?” Allan asked rambling on as Aly smiled, letting him be excited.
The alarm sounded signaling that the cargo hold doors would open, and a moment later the doors began rolling slowly, one section collapsing into the next until they slid into the walls on either side of the opening. Allan looked out across a sea of beings, each more alien than the last, he recognized some Quillinar, Galgax, and the velociraptor-like race whose name he had not learned.
Aly took his hand and began leading him through the outer ring of the station, informing Allan that it was primarily used for docking and cargo loading and unloading. They stepped into a strange-looking shuttle, getting some glares from a few people who saw them holding hands. Allan dismissively smiled at them, making the strange tree-like beings quiver at the threat display, and placed his arm around Aly. When the shuttle stopped, they walked out, and Allan took in a sight that would have made any human architect die of shock, inside the inner sphere of the station, one could look around and see it stretching all the way around. In the middle with a single tublike shaft descending to it, was what Aly told him was an artificial star to light the massive station.
“Now,” Aly said, “first stop is the bank we should set up an account for you, and I need to withdraw a credit voucher.” Allan nodded, his mouth hanging open, he let her lead him through the streets of the shocking megastructure, his head still craning back.
Allan, not paying attention, ran smack into something and knocked it over. Allan looked down to find one of the Velociraptor-looking creatures in front of him. “I’m so sorry,” Allan said and reached down to place the creature on his feet.
The creature was jabbering excitedly in Galcom, and Aly nudged him, holding out the translator. “I figured that you would forget it so I sent a service droid to fetch it when I saw how excited you were.” She said, and Allan silently thanked whatever gods there were for the woman.
Allan set the translator in his head and activated it. The velociraptor-looking creature was waiting for him to finish, having seen the device being handed to Allan. When Allan clicked the device on he, started again, “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to knock you down, I was just looking at this.” He gestured at the station in general.
“It is not a problem Human Allan!” The creature said, “I am glad to see you again.”
“Again?” Allan said, and then noticed the uniform, it was from the Bastion of Law. “Doctor?” Allan said and the creature nodded its head on its long neck. “Hey good to see you, man.” Allan patted the doctor on his neck. “How did the thing with my blood work out?”
“It is amazing Human Allan.” The rear legs of the doctor began tapping excitedly on the ground. “We managed to synthesize a cure to scale-rot, a disease that has been jumping from one scaled race to another, and the best part is that, once a dose of cure has been received, the recipient will remain immune for life.” The doctor collected himself. “Where are my manners, please come with me both of you.” He lead them to a restaurant, that had a symbol that Aly told Allan meant all races were welcome.
A creature that looked what Allan imagined a squid with a propper skeleton would look like, showing the three of them to their seats. And presented them menus. “Aly, how do I know what I can eat?” Each dish had symbols next to it he assumed that had something to do with it.
“I don’t know, usually every race is categorized, and you can tell what is edible to your race by these symbols.” She gestured to the ones that Allan had noticed.
The doctor chimed in, “If I may?” He asked and Aly and Allan both nodded. “In testing your blood, we learned that you are quite capable of consuming most any food, except for some specialty foods used by a few races to act as an acidity increaser. Other than that, you should be able to eat anything that does not have this mark.” One of his talon-like fingers pointed out a lemon yellow symbol that was a circle with three dots forming a pyramid in the middle of the circle. “Other than those, you should be able to eat everything on this menu. Also,” He pointed out a symbol that was a red triangle filled in with black. “This symbol means that it is meat of some kind, most likely lab-grown, but it would fulfill the protein requirements we noted your species had as well.”
Allan and Aly looked at each other, surprised, and then Allan looked at the doctor. “Thanks, Doc, I appreciate it a lot”
“Doc?” Aly and the velociraptor like sentient said in unison.
“Yeah, he is a doctor,” Allan said, pressing the image of a good-looking dish with the meat symbol, and the menu, printed on something that looked like acrylic sheeting, went blank with a string of symbols on it, he set it to the side as the other had done. “On my world, if someone is a doctor, and you are social with them, it’s not undead of to call them Doc.”
“Oh, interesting,” The doctor said.
“What is your name by the way Doc?” Allan asked, Aly sat next to him, and she, thankfully, had requested water to drink for him.
“Oh, Goodness me, I never did tell you who I was or what my race is, did I?” The doctor asked. Then his eyes narrowed, “Though I suspect that you would be incapable of pronouncing either with an alacrity. Regardless, I am,” The string of sounds that left his mouth sounded to Allan as if the Swahili language had made love to a garbage disposal filled with coins and given birth to the language Doc was speaking. “And my race is,” another string of sounds issued forth.
“You win Doc,” Allan said, raising his hands in mock surrender, “there is no way, I couldn’t even begin to describe that.” Aly surprised them both by twisting her head to the side slightly and chortling out the sounds that made up the Doc’s name.
“Excelent work Miss Aly.” The doc said, letting loose a high clicking hiss that seemed to be his laugh. “Though I dare say that was not easy for you to do.” Aly shook her head massaging her throat and taking a drink of Allan’s water. “As for you Allan, it is not a problem, I know of only three races that can readily use my race’s language. I am curious when you first saw me or my people what did you think?”
Allan quickly launched into a quick history of earth lesson, explaining dinosaur fossils, and the infamous movies that brought everyone to fear velociraptors. “So yeah, you guys look exactly like what I picture to be a velociraptor.”
“Fascinating that your people would have an image of a race you had never met, and to a beast that is as far as you can tell, native to your world.” The doctor smiled, only further reinforcing Allan’s belief that his people really were velociraptors, the teeth that filled the doctor’s maw were very sharp. Another strange squid being pushing a cart came out and as it passed tables would take the menus with the strange squiggles on them, and replace them with a dish. He made it to the table that Allan, Ally, and the doc sat at and place down a slab of strange orange-ish meat where Allan’s menu had been.
A knife and two sticks were presented as well. Allan sliced the meat into bite-sized pieces as Aly and the doctor began talking about the ship. When he was done, Allan, using the sticks as chopsticks, began to devour the meat, that despite its strange color, and slightly bland texture, was delicious.
“Oh, now that is impressive.” The Doc said, watching Allan manipulate the sticks with one hand to bring a cube of meat from the dish to his mouth.
“‘Hut?” Allan said, his mouth full, he chewed quickly and washed it all down with water. “What?” He then noticed that Aly, the Doc, and everyone else he could see was using the sticks as skewers. Skewering a piece of meat, or vegetable, or whatever else was on the plate, and then placing it in their mouth. “So I take it that these are not meant to be used like this?”
“No not at all, but it seems that you are far more dexterous than I had anticipated.” The doc said, trying to hold the sticks as Allan was, but due to the rigid nature of his Tallon-like fingers, failing miserably. “Oh well. Anyways, Allan, most people call my race the Gish, as it is the easiest to pronounce syllable in our racial name. As far as my name, you may continue to call me Doc if you wish, but the Galcom name that I have taken is Yilvar.”
“Good to meet you, officially, Yilvar.” Allan said with a smile that the Gish returned.
“Now the reason that I wanted to talk to you, is that myself and Iqualthus, she is the other doctor on the Bastion of Law that helped in taking your blood, have applied to and been granted a rights reservation for the scale-rot cure.” Yilvar looked at Allan, “We also included your name in the reservation application.”
Aly looked up at this. “‘ou ‘id?” She swallowed her mouthful of strange vegetable matter. “You did? Why though?”
“Is a rights reservation a patent or trademark or something?” I asked Aly who nodded.
“Yilvar, I don’t really know how things work here, but I don’t want to benefit from taking advantage of a sick group of people.” Allan said.
“What? No, never, Why?” Yilvar seemed shocked and struggled to understand.
“On my world, if you patent something, even a life-saving medicine, you can set the price that everyone has to pay for it.” Allan said, “It is not uncommon for companies to come up with a cure for something and then attempt to get as much money as possible from the people who need it, even if it means letting those who can’t pay die.”
Yilvar looked to Aly who looked shocked, only less so than Yilvar. “I see.” Yilvar said, thinking for a moment. “Allow me to explain then. Here in the, shall we say, wider galaxy, medical coverage is paid for by the government, and in return for using a medical discovery, every dosage that is used leads to a single credit reward being granted to the creator, we sent the formula to the Gish homeworld, seventy-three trillion doses were administered, all thanks to the blood you gave us, and the synthetic production method that myself and Iqualthus created. You are entitled to one-third of the money and all future money that is earned from the scale-rot cure.”
Allan nearly choked, as he was taking another bite when Yilvar told him this. He swallowed hard and drained his water. A small droid walking over and refilling the cup. “I’m entitled to a third of how much?! And why? All I did was give you the blood, you and the other doctor did all the work.”
“Well considering how easy you made it for us, and honestly, how little work was actually involved, both Iqualthus and I agreed to include you. Not to mention that you saved the lives of both our families who were infected, and probably did not have long left to live.” Yilvar said, then smiling continued with the explanation, and told Allan that he was entitled to receive twenty-four trillion credits.
“Is that a lot?” Allan said, unsure if his reference of ‘billionaires was a good one.
“Yes,” Aly said, “while it is not anywhere near even putting you in range of being considered the ‘richest’ it is most certainly not a number that anyone will look down on.”
“Holy shit.” Allan said taking in what she had just said, “Do I even want to know how much money the richest person has?”
Yilvar spoke up, “The richest person currently has 973 multiplied by sixteen raised to a power of fifty-six. Not a single language I have heard of has labeled numbers quite that high yet, but I’m sure that someone will eventually.”
“Wow. That is insane.” Allan said, and then finished the strange meat. “Well I mean as much as I would like to say I don’t need it and to give it to someone else, I think that I kind of do need it since I really don’t have anything other than what I brought with me and what Aly has been so kind to call our home.”
“What do you mean?” Yilvar asked, looking confused once again. His eyes widened, and he looked to Aly, “You should probably educate the human as to how your races Clan policy works.”
“Allan,” Aly said, sliding closer so that her shoulder touched mine, “This is part of why we need to get you a bank account, with so many races, the only agreed-upon thing that anyone had was banking, so now the bank is also a form of ID, they use a scan based on biological identifiers so that they can guarantee who you are. Once you have an ID, I can officially induct you into the Jushintorg clan, at that point you will have access to the Clan assets. And since any unclaimed assets of dead Clan members revert to the Clan’s public accounts, and I never claimed any of the assets fo the others.” Aly seemed to tense at this. “The Clan’s communal account is staggeringly huge, outweighing the amount from this Rights reservation, by at least two orders of magnitude. The Jushintorg clan did well as a clan and the individuals did even better, creating artworks and maps and devices for private clients that paid ridiculous sums.”
Allan’s head was spinning, “So the clan is a biological thing for your people and a legal entity for everyone else?” He asked.
Aly nodded, “Yes. Once you are part of the Clan officially, ten percent of any private jobs will go to the clan after Core-tax and any specific System-tax, and if you complete a job as a representative of the clan, you will receive sixty-eight percent, Thirty percent going to the clan, and the last two percent paid to the local system, in place of all taxes.” She smiled at him. “You by no means have nothing, you have our clan.” She placed a hand on his arm. “That is why I had to do all those scans, when we docked I sent them to the Bank, and they will perform a couple of their own. Verifying who you are and issue an ID, which we can then assign to the clan, by all means, Allan, take the money, the galaxy has programs that your world would only have dreamed of when it comes to helping those in needs, backed by more money than you can count, and while they would appreciate the donation to what you would call social programs, the galaxy has been in a very good position for the last few generations, the social programs have more money than is needed, a lot more. So it’s okay to be a little greedy, and since you are on a rights reservation, that would no doubtedly be dated to prior to your joining the clan,”
Aly looked to Yilvar who nodded, “It was filed the same day that the Bastion of Law left you near the Jumpgate in” He rattled off a string of numbers.
“Yes, so the same day you gave the blood.” Aly said, turning back to Allan. “It will all go to you, this is not a bad thing, should the thing we discussed a few days ago come to pass, and you leave, you will assets and income that will not remain with the clan.” It clearly pained her to say that.
“Well color me impressed.” Allan said, “And here I thought I was going to be some poor urchin moochin off my rich girlfriend.” Allan nudged Aly playfully. “Alright, Yilvar what do you need from me for this to be official and get those credits moved around?”
“I will escort you both to the Bank, and then we can make the arrangements easier.” Yilvar asked, he then looked over Aly, not in any menacing way as if he was looking for something. “May I ask why the two of you are not wearing the marks that Hilx’Nit bestowed on you?”
“The what?” Aly and I asked, I looked at Aly surprised.
“Ah, I see, tell me what did Hilx’Nit tell you they were. The scales that he tore from himself and carved and painted with his blood. What did he say they were?” Yilvar asked.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my music player and headphones, the scale with the green symbol was tangled in the cord. I quickly untangled it, and in the process accidentally hit the play button on the music player. Though it was quiet, the three of us could hear the music a bit. This caused both Aly and Yilvar’s eyes to go wide. I hit the stop button quickly and looked around, in the corner two beings that had decidedly large foxlike ears looked at me intently.
I held out the scale after putting the music player into standby and then placing it back in my pocket. “You mean this?” Yilvar nodded. “All he said,” I started, and noticed that the waiter had been coming around again and spotting the scale, had retreated from view. I got a bad feeling in my gut. “Was that if either of us ever needs anything, we should present it to a Galgix, and they would do what they can to help us if they are unable to contact his family. If they can get ahold of him, he and his family will help us.”
“Yes, that is all that he said,” Aly had reached into the pouch he had noticed the first night he had met her, dangling from her elbow, as Allan watched, she pulled the painted scale out of it, and then pressed the small bag up to her arm, it shimmered taking on the pattern of her scales and was almost invisible to him. “I have never witnessed a Galgix do that before and never heard of such a practice among their people, is it common?” Aly asked.
“No, it is not.” Yilvar said looking at the tiles, “It is rude, but I must ask, may I see them? I swear to return them upon my life, as I know how capable you are Allan, should I fail to return these, you should hunt me with all aggression.”
Allan was taken back at that, but he shrugged and handed the scale to Yilvar, Aly doing the same, and Yilvar took them with something akin to reverence. “Oh my.” Yilvar said, looking the tiles over carefully. “Yes, these are not meant to be hidden, they should be worn with pride.” He carefully handed the scales back to them, making sure not to damage them with his tallons. “What he has given you, and failed to explain properly, is that while it most certainly can be used in the way he told you, it is, in essence, a mark of honor.”
Yilvar looked back and forth at the two of them. “It means that Hilx’Nit saw your actions to be so incredibly honorable, that he gave you these as an extension of his own honor. I have never met a non-Gish to receive one. You see the Gish and the Galgix come from the same home system, our planets orbit a trinary star system, and the first excursion that the Galgix made into space lead them to meet us. That was countless thousands of years ago, but since then we have been fast allies, hence the reason that we tend to serve on ships with each other. We are also two of the very few remaining species that believe that we must uphold our honor and valor.”
“Aly told me that there were only a few races that she could think of that still did that. Three actually.” Allan said, looking to Aly who nodded.
“She would be right, I know of only one other as well.” Yilvar said, “So the fact that a member of the Galgix has given someone outside those three races a marker like this, is unheard of, what did you tell him when you denied your rights as a victor Allan?”
Allan thought for a moment, “I told him to keep his history, that as long as he upheld our deal, I would consider any debt to me to be paid.”
“Oh, no wonder he gave you both a mark!” Yilvar said, going somewhat pale. “When you won the duel, which he told me about as I set the fractures you inflicted, you not only won the right to make a demand but also the right to wash away his history. When you gave him history, you basically said that his history was not enough to pay the debt owed. But when you said that if he upheld the deal all debts would be paid, you restored his honor by placing faith in him to uphold that.”
“I just didn’t want to destroy his life.” Allan said, “Because wound’t he be unable to go back to his family?”
“True, but you did more than that, you gave him that and also proved his honor,” Yilvar said, and seeing that I was still not understanding. He explained further, “How do I phrase this, basically when you did that you said, that his honor was too great to tarnish and that you recognized that and refused to deprive such a valorous opponent of his family in the hope that he would raise suitable heirs to one day do combat with your own progeny. This is a mark of honor beyond all others for the Galgix.”
Allan, understanding now, sat back and looked at the scale contemplating what it all meant.
“And as to why you do not know this Aly, it is not common outside our races, but those who are around either the Gish or the Galgix enough learn what it means.” Yilvar said. “This station, is a great example of it, with the station serving as a forward post for Core-Sec, and a destination of Rest and Recuperation for its members, it is known to all who work and live her what it is. You both need to wear these if not for you, then for Hilx’Nit, as hiding them would bring shame to his gesture, and those who know of it would see it as you have changed your mind.” Yilvar turned to Allan. “It would mean that you intend to kill him next time you meet.”
“Very well, I guess the first place that we need to go is somewhere that this can be made into a necklace or ring or something.” Allan said, looking down at the mark, still astounded at the level of complexity that had been read into him not wanting to tear apart a family.
“Agreed.” Aly said holding the scale close.
---------------------------------------
A tall squid man walked up to Allan, and seeing that Aly held a scale as well, he went pale. Nonetheless, he spoke and the headset translated. “Greeting honorable ones, it is a pleasure and a gift to serve ones such as you. I am Quelch Min-Da, the proprietor of this restaurant, please eat at your leisure and order all that you would like, your meal will be free of charge.”
Allan’s eyebrows rose high on his face, and he turned to Aly who looked as surprised as he did. “Quelch, was it?” Allan asked, and the squid-man nodded. “That is not necessary, I appreciate it but...”
Allan was interrupted by the two fox-like beings from the corner stepping to either side of Quelch, “We will be buying the honorable one’s meals, and their friends as well, a mark of respect from us to them.” The taller of the two foxlike creatures said in a feminine voice, and the shorter of the two bowed deeply to Allan.
“Thanks?” Allan said, very confused by what was going on. He looked at the plates of Aly and Yilvar, seeing they were empty. “Well either way it seems that our meal is taken care of, am I correct Quelch?” Allan asked something in his body demanding that he get as far away from the fox-creatures as possible. Quelch nodded. “Thank you, the food was exquisite, especially whatever it is that I ate, I’ll definitely have to come back some other time and eat it again.” Despite his opposition a moment before to a free meal, his gut told him to run, so he would run.
Allan stood quickly and ushered Aly and Yilvar out of the shop and looking at Yilvar he said, “Think you can keep up?”
“I think you should worry about yourself.” Yilvar said with that prehistoric grin of his.
