Free Agency

“Well, on a lighter note,” Asami waved her hand, “What exactly are you Valertexans and how do you function?”

“How can I explain this in your terms?” Zarp resisted the urge to sample the ceramic because it seemed important to Asami, “We are a hybrid lifeform of carbon and silicon components resulting from our planet’s slow transition from a hot a volcanic climate to an environment that is slightly less hot, slightly less volcanic, and more oxygen friendly.”

“What are those gems on your skin? And the horns. The ones that Yuki are growing?”

“The horns are the silicon component of our body. They are primarily inert, but do react with our skeletal structure and the surrounding carbon super structure. The gems are a combination of silicon and carbon material that can change composition over time. They are said to reflect our personalities. As for Yuki, her central gem is exceptionally large because she is the queen. It seems to be composed entirely of gem silica. They can absorb electrical currents into energy and absorb dark matter. They’ll also allow you to interface with the gravitational subcurrent to manipulate its fields.”

“She’ll be able to manipulate gravity?!”

“Ah yes, like this,” Zarp floated above his bean bag for ten seconds before flattening it once again, “But it consumes a great deal of energy and can take time to recharge. We’re currently feeding off the currents running through this domicile and accessing the even flow of dark energy.”

“Dark energy. This is physics stuff. My brain is going to burst. Turn it off.”

Yuki smiled, “If you can feed off dark energy, doesn’t that give you a limitless amount of food. How would that affect the universe?”

“Hopefully slow its expansion. Our great philosophers opine that our existence is the universe’s attempt to stabilize itself. However; there are not nearly enough of us, nor are we properly dispersed. Essentially, we have no effect whatsoever because our presence is a minimal aberration that doesn’t register on the cosmic scale.”

Eyes glowed like stars as her mouth hung open. The central gem on her forehead gleamed blankly. Cylindrical teeth remained exposed as she thought about this. Acid burned at the corners of her lips; skin had not yet adjusted to her more extreme biology.

A tea cup shattered against the wall. Tea streaked across the paint while chips fell to the carpet. Asami conducted the toss like a major league pitcher. She stood over her desk chair, fuming, “I don’t care if this was some accident, you’re all treating it like some cosmic joke!” she turned to Yuki, hostile and towering, her face bright, “Especially you Yuki, how can you take this so lightly when you’re already unrecognizable in one day. Who knows what they’re going to do to you.”

Yuki remained planted in her wood chair with legs folded, head tilted back, hair fell, ruby red eyes assessed her friend while the eye in her central gem peeked cautiously, “But Asami, their entire civilization will die out if I refuse this and change back. Do you want me to be responsible for ending an entire civilization?”

“I, what if they’re just using mind control on you? We don’t know anything about them. This could all be a big trick. What if you aren’t even a queen? What if they want to torture you and do experiments?”

Fists trembled on Zaap’s lap, “We assure you we aren’t a dishonest species. If anything, it is hum-”

A gentle withered hand tapped Zaap’s shoulder, “Now, now, for all their shortcomings, humans are not enemies to the Valerexixian. Enemy status is reserved for the Flarions.”

“Tell me more about the Flarions,” the tiny future regent sat straight and imposing, “I order it as your future queen.”

“The Flarions stole the Gribbeck stone and fled to this system. Most likely they intended to find a way to destroy the stone before we could retrieve it. But the stone itself can escape the core of a black hole by using vorpal energies to teleport. Any serious attempt to destroy it would simply teleport it back to its pedestal on our home planet. However, we still needed to retrieve the stone so our next queen can merge with it.”

“If they can’t destroy it, why steal it? What could they possibly hope to achieve?”

“Perhaps they found a way to-” Zaap stood, he looked agitated as he glanced to the windows, “I’m going to outfit our new queen into standard combat uniform, if don’t mind Captain Zarp. I understand she is yet untrained.”

“I agree with your haste Captain,” Zarp gestured to Yuki, “If you could stand giant one. That would be appreciated. We have an outfit that will protect your body while complimenting your great beauty.”

Yuki stood on the seat of her chair, “I’ve never been glazed so much in my life. Is this what being popular feels like?”

The shirt draping her shoulders stretched and melted across her body. It gained components from miniature vortexes floating around her. The fabric became leathery, shiny, and pressed tightly against her flesh. Splashes of navy about her thighs and up the inward curve of her waste complimented the mechanical pastel grey. It resembled a body suit, except without shoes, gloves, or a helmet. On each of her shoulders was the number, sixty-seven, in big white block print. Yuki twisted her frame to look over her body, and lifted her arm to look at her hips.

“Sexy! This is a space suit?”

“Yes,” Zarp glowed, “As a diplomatic touch, we’ve included the lucky number for humans for aesthetic purposes. You can activate the boots, gloves, and helmet by tugging at the openings. However, the vacuum of space won’t kill you as it would a normal human. Your silicon super structures absorb radiation while keeping essential functions healthy through stasis. The suit is simply to prevent you from needing to go into stasis.”

“What about you two?” Asami asked.

“Our bodies are essentially vessels formed into humanoid shape for interfacing with your local population. The crew of which form our separate hive minds.”

While Asami tilted her head and hung her mouth open to process this information, a gentle earthquake shook the apartment. A door banged open on the first floor, followed by another. Boots rumbled in the staircases.

“Protect the queen and her friend,” Zarp commanded.

A field of energy glowed along the walls momentarily. The hail of bullets brought down the door, but were kinetically dampened in a field of looping gravitational energy. They fell in a line along the outer wall. Broken pieces of the door and plaster danced in the gravitational loop like bugged set pieces in a video game.

Asami grabbed Yuki and dove between the two aliens.

“We’ve been detected by one of your agencies no doubt,” Zaap turned to face the invaders as windows unlatched, rose, and black suited against crawled through. The red laser sights of their pistols targeted them. Bullets bounced off their horns. One crunched into Zaap’s hand, only for him to pull it out with his teeth and eat it, “We’re surrounded with our queen and a vulnerable one. Probability of conventional escape without high sacrifice, unlikely. Should we use a teleportation sphere?”

“Do it!” Zarp commanded while wielding two giant smelly Mackerel like nunchaku, “I’ll hold them off while you set up. Ho, ho, ho, heee, fun times for me!”