To Build A God

Yani was sitting on the couch, holding some warm beverage that Terra had pushed into her hands. She felt like she needed a shock blanket, too, as she stared at the pair of siblings casually getting along.

“Wait, you two made up? Without my help at all?” Yani asked, slightly incredulous. When she last saw them, she was sure the situation would go unresolved for good.

“I guess so, yeah.” Trip replied. “It seemed like the end of the world at the time, but eventually it just… Stopped mattering as much. Shit happens. Siblings fight. At the end of the day, she's my sister, whether she likes it or not.”

“Oh- you did help, though!” Terra cut in. “Your reaction to hearing the whole story, and how much you totally hated me for it- which I'm not mad about, by the way!- It gave Trip something to rib me about, which opened the gates to us fighting in a normal way instead of a scary way, which made us cool down about it in the end.”

“So like I said on the call.” She continued. “Whatever that top secret project it is you need, we're down to help!”

“You do still have to pay us.” Trip interjected.

“Oh! Yeah! Definitely pay us!” Terra grinned. “I need that new Glumiére bag!”

Trip leaned forward. “But I am curious… What’s so secret that you couldn’t reveal it over a call? All of Terra’s communications are encrypted end to end, you know. Thanks to me, of course.”

“And not at all the programming you swiped from mom’s work stuff?” Terra poked her sibling in the ribs.

“Maybe a little bit of that, too.”

Yani cleared her throat, setting her drink down at the table in front of her. That was enough to pull the siblings’ attention back to her. “I have a request from Imon. It’s never been done before, and it might not even be scientifically possible. The amount of cross-discipline knowledge it would require would be enormous.”

“Now you’re speaking my language.” Trip leaned forward, an interested smile growing on their face.

“That’s not even getting into the materials and time needed. I can cover those costs, of course, and I plan to compensate you out of my own salary as a Godsinger.” Yani continued.

“And now you’re speaking mine!” Terra grinned, still shoulder to shoulder with Trip. “But, like, shouldn’t your god be paying for her own project? I thought they basically had infinity money.”

“That may be true under normal circumstances, but these aren’t normal circumstances. She was barely allowed to do this by the other gods. It’s only happening under the condition that I orchestrate it herself, as her… Most loyal follower.” Yani took a breath. This was the make or break moment, and she hoped the Cygnus siblings weren’t about to laugh her out of their home, or immediately sell her story to a gossip holoshow. “I want you to help me build Imon a body.”

Trip didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead, they kicked their chair back to balance on its hind two legs, their feet pushing against the coffee table for stability. Their eyes traced the shadows cast on the ceiling, like they would find an answer there. Yani waited with barely-held breath as they thought for probably nearly 45 seconds. Finally, they took their feet off the table, and the chair landed its four legs back on the floor with a mildly unpleasant screech.

“Well, I don’t think it’s impossible.” They started, and Yani sighed with relief. “It would be rough, for sure, and we’re limited in scope here. I assume you’re on some sort of time crunch?”

“Well, I might be forced into a marriage soon. Once I’m engaged, I’ll have to stop being a Godsinger, and I’ll lose the ability to communicate with Imon through worshipwell links. So, kind of?”

“Oof. That’s rough.” Trip said.

“You should kill him.” Terra interjected. Somehow, it actually made Yani laugh.

“But I should be able to get enough materials to start today if we act fast.” Trip said. “Plus we can use the school labs since Terra’s still enrolled. The stuff I have here is great and all, but not ten-foot-tall god-body great.”

Noticing Yani’s eyes widen, Trip cocked their head. “You do know her body would have to be about nine or ten feet tall to hold all the processing power and parts she needs, right?”

“I knew she would have to be taller than me, but…” Yani didn’t know why the idea of craning her neck to look at her god four feet above her made her head spin so fast, but it did. She shook herself out of her imagination.

Trip didn’t seem to take notice. “Yeah, ten feet would probably be better, just to have some wiggle room.”

It felt so easy to fall into ‘shop talk’, listening as Trip researched and mused, drawing up far more detailed schematics than Yani had been able to imagine. Before she knew it, she had been listening to the siblings make tech plans for almost two hours, and they were ready to step out and get started.

“Are you coming shopping with us?” Terra asked.

“I probably shouldn’t.” Yani sighed.

“Why not?”

Yani paused. She thought. Her instincts said that she shouldn’t go, but was there any real reason for that? She didn’t have a shift as a Godsinger, and she didn’t have anyone who was expecting her back home. It almost felt like she assumed she couldn’t go. Like she didn’t think she deserved to, maybe? It was strange. She had never noticed a thought pattern like that in herself before. Now that she was aware of it, she wasn’t sure she liked it. She couldn’t imagine Imon wanting her to be unhappy, after all. There was no nobility in suffering.

After a few moments of hesitation, she spoke. “Actually, I guess I could.”

“Awesome! You definitely won’t regret this.” Terra grinned.

“Hint. You will almost certainly regret this.” Trip added to the conversation in a stage whisper as they transferred information from their notebook to a digital shopping list.

Yani laughed. It was starting to feel like her relationship with the Cygnus siblings was something more than just religion, or a business partnership. As they all packed up and walked toward the train station, she felt a little glow in her chest. Something warm. Maybe in another life, she thought, they all could have been friends. But another thought never truly left her mind. There was a bone deep instinct she had, and she couldn’t shake it. It told her that in this life, she was already too late.