Destinations and Decorations

Defia hesitated for a moment, unsure of exactly how best to translate the complicated organizational pattern of development and harvest clusters into a form that could be understood by the assembled biologicals staring at her with curiosity on their faces. “Statement. Seed worlds are designated for development of life forms for study or future material harvest.” She said at last, opting for a crude but hopefully understandable translation. “Where the cluster detects planets with a suitable level of potential lifeforms, monitoring drones are deployed; depending on the progression of the planet’s biomass, these may be indicated for later collection, erasure, or regular harvesting on a standard cycle.”

Her attempt at a clear answer didn’t seem to have been clear enough for the crew; Dustin glanced at Meli before he leaned forward, pointing to their current location. “Was this a seed world too?” Defia shook her head. “Negative. World located with natural life at suitable civilization level for harvest. Preliminary scans indicated no long term harvest potential, full collection of biomass and purge of biosphere conducted. Statement. Evolutionary pressure should have changed primary life-form however purge inefficiently conducted. Addendum. There should have been no survivors; I register it as a positive outcome that there were.”

The assembled group exchanged glances. “You got kicked out of your cluster for opposing the purge, right?” Naera said in a very quiet voice. Defia’s head turned and the fractal nodded. “Affirmative. This unit displayed processes outside acceptable operating parameters and was removed from the cluster as a result. I do not feel sorry; I lack the processes to feel - but I do consider the destruction of this world, and your world to be a negative with a significantly high value.”

Naera met Defia’s red eyes for a moment, then nodded to herself. “Alright. So why is that planet being a seed world important?” The Caenii asked, doing her best to put on a brave face after the mention of her home’s destruction. Defia tilted her head to one side before replying, her words measured. “Statement. Seed worlds are different to random encounters like the system we are currently in, or those you have described to me as being attacked. Seed worlds are not left to natural evolution, but cultivated for life-form harvest. Drone units actively monitor. The exact drones deployed vary, but all are unlikely to have significant transportation capabilities - but they will have a means of reaching the cluster. Inspection of their station should allow for discovery of cluster node stations for further study.”

As the void-black woman fell silent, Dustin glanced at the rest of the senior crew. “Alright.” He said after contemplating the information they’d been given for a moment, staring at the map in front of them. “It looks like we’ll need to find a route to this world then. We’ve not exactly got any better options, do we? I mean, we could go back and track that fleet from the Yuran system, but there’s no guarantee they’ll still be wherever they jumped to. And even if they are - this route seems more likely to let us find new life, if the Fractals are developing the planet.”

With a round of nods from the assembled crew, Dustin gave out orders. “Sammie, we’ll depart later today or first thing tomorrow. Get ready for the flight, ok? Rye, Trea’k, Meli - you’re still working with Defia on understanding the Fractals. Emely, if you wouldn’t mind handling letting EarthGov know where we’re going and our reasoning? Naera, we’ll all eat in my ready room tonight. I’d like to include Defia in our evening debrief, and I don’t think that the rest of the crew are ready just yet for her to be in the main galley when they’re eating. Yril’k - would you liaise with the others to put together a plan for when we drop out of the weave in case there’s more hostility than just a few observation drones to be found there? Thank you.”

As the crew got up to leave, Meli caught Dustin’s arm. “Husband… I feel I should warn you that there’s a chance we may have some religious issues to deal with at our destination. There’s been instances recorded in the galactic record where people have monitored rather than immediately uplifted other species, and in those cases, if the monitoring crew are spotted there are often cults formed to worship them.” Dustin winced and nodded. “Right. Well, if that’s the case we’ll deal with it when we get there; I’m sure we can manage a little religious deprogramming to go along with the first contact and tracking Fractals that are already on the cards.”

Defia watched the pair talking, her optical array monitoring their positions and body language. Accurate interpersonal relationship calculations would be important to her continued success as part of the crew, and by observing the prime unit’s interactions she calculated a greater chance of being able to remain in his good graces. Unit Trea’k touched her lightly on one arm, causing the Fractal to jump; the others kept her at arms length but the Vex’ess woman seemed far more comfortable with physical contact.

“We should return to your quarters first.” Trea’k said, her voice soft and friendly. “You have the opportunity to decorate them now that you have been officially recruited, and I am interested in seeing how you choose to make use of that freedom.” Defia tilted her head to one side. “Query-statement. I do not understand the purpose of decorating my charging-processing area.”

Trea’k sighed. “The purpose is to make your quarters look different from everyone else’s so that they feel like your own space.” The Vex’ess envoy said, guiding the Fractal woman to the door. Defia hesitated, wanting to see how unit Meli ended her discussion with the prime unit, but the woman holding her arm was insistent. As they stepped into the corridor, she spoke again. “Statement. I do not feel, and the cluster did not encourage nonconformity. Probability of you being disappointed in my actions is rapidly increasing.”

The quarters were cramped with Trea’k, Meli, Rye and Defia all in them. She had been allocated a room at the end of one of the officer’s corridors, a berth that while technically in the officers wing (and thus close to Yril’k and the others in the event of any security issues) was also smaller than the average officer’s suite. It’d been originally designed to be used if the ship ever took on hot-bunking senior staff, but Dustin and Emely had agreed that it would be a good place for their new crewmate to live - none of the junior crew would complain about her getting a room that small, and the positioning made sense.

Defia stood by the automat, turning around and around, considering the space. Decorating was not a Fractal habit - aside from designation markings to allow units operating asynchronously from the cluster to still identify objects, their world was one of smooth black walls and floors. “Statement. I am unsure of how to begin. Advice requested.”

The others glanced at one another. Rye shrugged. “Set the wall colour how ya want it? I know that’s the first thing I did.” Meli nodded, adding her own suggestion “then add some art - photos, paintings or other decoration” before Trea’k offered “and make space for keepsakes, things you find that you wish to put on display.”

Defia’s core process hummed at the suggestions, then she nodded to herself. “Statement. I will adjust the wall colour. I also believe I have identified suitable imagery that I wish to display.” Her hands drifted over the room controls, and the walls and floor shifted from their unassigned grey to a dark black. A further adjustment, and one wall displayed a picture of the star system she had been found in. “Statement. This was the beginning of my new life; I believe it would be considered an appropriate keepsake. Addendum. I believe creating imagery with your own hands is considered a normal past time for biological life. I have a memory record I wish to display; please recommend a suitable medium for image transfer.”

Meli leaned against one wall, considering the room and the shadowy woman who inhabited it. “Oil painting?” she said, glancing at Trea’k for confirmation. The Vex’ess woman nodded. “Definitely. It requires patience and time, and doesn’t have the need to accept imperfections that watercolour does. I will prescribe watercolours for Defia’s own development at a later point, but for now oils make the most sense.”

Defia nodded, accessed the automat, and then held up a bottle of olive oil with a confused look on her face. “Statement. I requested oil, but this does not appear to be suitable as an image transfer medium.” She said, causing Rye to chuckle. “Shoulda known that would happen. Ya got a logical brain, so does the automat. It’s built to handle the vague nature of requests, not what another machine asks it for. Gimmie a week and I’ll get the automat humming to your tune, or ya can learn to operate it like one of us. For now…” The bunny girl crossed to the machine, squeezing past Trea’k as she did so and punched in a code. “This’ll get ya a basic paint set and easel along with some brushes delivered by one of the drones in a little while. Recommend ya review some old Earth videos on oil painting while ya wait - it’s pretty simple stuff, but some of the artist’s voices make them great to relax to. What was that one ya recommend me the other day, nerd? Rob Boss or something?”