Embrace of the Night

I saw a dream.

Of exotic ceilings, of gilded vases; of crystal shoes, and of extravagant dresses; of elegant music, of rumbling machines; of men of high standing, and of the women whom they escorted.

An announcement interrupted the men and women’s chatter. A golden door opened, then a man and a woman entered. The man was of a solemn, but dull look; the woman, however, was exceptional. With her slender figure, fair skin, youthful face, and curious eyes, she captured the attention of everyone in the room, men and women alike.

The woman turned towards me, her long, brown hair shining in the gentle sunlight. A voice reached out to me, so subtle that I thought it will be scattered by a gust of wind.

“…Awaken…”

A familiar voice. Where have I heard of it?

“…You are sleeping on the floor…”

I opened my eyes. I found myself in an unfamiliar room, lying on the ice-cold floor, a giant teddy bear standing beside me.

It was my first night on the Kexteran home world. Now that I was woken up, I decided to take a walk outside.

----------------------------

The Bibliotheca extends not only across the surface of the planet, but also skywards: far above the surface, there are a myriad of floating islands serving as extensions of the great city. “Anchors”, as they were called, were hosts to many different facilities --- laboratories, administrative offices, parks, and sometimes residential districts. My dormitory room, of course, was on one of them as well.

To say it was a dormitory would be a misclassification. The facility --- Anchor 42D --- was more akin to a palace with its lush gardens and opulent buildings, as if someone pulled an 18th Century European palace out of a book. I was even given an entire wing of the building to myself; though I understood I will need space to have my personal research labs and other facilities built, it was really too much space for one person.

It made me uneasy.

“I am not some sort of princess…” I whispered, as I pushed open the door to the garden.

But of course, this world was more foreign than anyone can imagine.

Directly in front of the garden was the sky. A graceful, azure, yet slightly green-tinted sky, decorated by a myriad of stars, in constellations unknown. Below it, the bioluminescent flowers were in full bloom, exuding a mysterious blue light that soothed my very soul. The beautiful flowers, however, did not extend more than 5 metres from the balcony, for that was the end of the land, where a wrong step would land you 10,000 metres below.

Unless you are as enhanced as I was.

With a single leap, I jumped over the edge of the island, howling wind flowing through my hair. I began to fall into the embrace of the night, into the lethal attraction from the grey planet. But of course, I had no intention to die.

As if trying to grasp the fading silhouette of the Anchor, I extended my hand and clenched my fist. My descension abruptly stopped, and slowly I started gaining altitude instead. Soon, I found myself standing where I jumped off --- the beautiful, anachronistic, yet alien garden.

“As I thought, I could control the anti-gravity device with my mind alone.” I told myself, as a blue light shined slightly below my skin. Must be the effect of using the anti-gravity device buried within my body. Within a moment, the layer beneath my skin returned to its original colour: an inorganic grey, topped by a mysterious metallic sheen.

Those were nanomachines in my body, a result of Kexteran cybernetic enhancements. They assimilate part of your body and replaces their functions, greatly enhancing the user’s abilities and providing a brain-machine interface. Enhancing physical strength and allowing the user to survive in harsh environs are a given, but they could also prolong the user’s life or cure injuries --- it is not uncommon for Kexterans to live for centuries, even millennia, apparently.

…Even though human eyes are not supposed to see the nanomachines at all.

“I wonder if I still look human right now…”

“Oh, of course you do. Just as good looking as the humans I saw on TV!”

An energetic voice replied, and I hastily turned around to see the source of the voice, but…

There was nothing but a two-metre-tall, red-capped mushroom.

That was my first encounter of Reina, my dear friend and colleague.

----------------------------------------------------

“Hmmm?”

“Hmmm?” It replied. “May I ask what is that… thing next to you?”

“She’s Paddington. She’s cute, isn’t it?”

“That’s not what I mean-”

“And who are you?”

“Aww, me? Name is Reina, from the great forests of Rah’tan in the Pegasus Cluster. Arrived 4.2 Earth years ago to become an Archivist here. You are our new colleague, right? Let’s be friends and take care of each other!” Her tentacles flapped in excitement; this mushroom person seemed to have a very friendly personality.

“I am Constance Rainsford, from Earth. I just arrived tonight, and will be joining as an Archivist after the orientation. Paddington and I will be in your care.” I extended my hand, and the giant teddy bear next to me mimicked my action.

“So the giant teddy bear’s name is Paddy. What a cute name!” Reina bent down --- not something I expected a mushroom to do --- and started poking Paddington. The dots on her red cap shone a white light as the tentacles went around the giant teddy bear. It’s a common occurrence when Rah’tanians examine things, as their compound eyes in their caps, though way more resolving and capable of seeing through more wavelengths than human eyes, need ample light to function --- or at least that was what was written in the textbooks.

“Hmm, Paddy’s made of cloth and feathers, at least looking from the outside. She moves, so something must be driving it? But she is so squishy and fluffy. So it’s some sort of nano-actuators? Doesn’t look like the Kexteran kind, though.”

For some reason, I felt I could see a mushroom making a serious face --- even though Rah’tanians lack any physical features that look like a face.

“You have keen eyes, Reina. Paddington is my brainchild, a teddy bear with nano-actuators and a nano-cermet frame; I brought her here as my robotic servant. Those idiots at the Department of Robotics --- that is, back on Earth --- laughed at the idea of a flexible robot powered by nano-actuators, so I had to prove them wrong. So I chose the cutest and most squishy object, put in the actuators, and paraded down the Robotics lab riding on it. You should see Jack’s and Kevin’s dumbfounded faces-”

“That’s hilarious! I suppose Paddy is pink because of that too? To make her cuter.”

“Precisely. Nothing is more refreshing than forcing a bunch of toxic idiots watch their research turn into a puppet in a kid’s show! And you know, the Department-”

For some reason, Reina held a few seconds of silence.

“…Reina?”

Without speaking, the mushroom lady pulled out a piece of cloth from her bag and offered it to me. And it is at that time, I realised a terrible torrent had been going down my eyes, as I stood in the calm embrace of a clear, starry night.