Toledo and Random ambled unhurriedly down a long interspace hallway, observing archway markings. They wore a pair of loose robes that were a contrast to their fitted work gear. From the presented options, they’d selected these for some time-off clothes, without inquiring or wondering much to their usual purpose – they looked comfortable. The two agreed with each other on recognizing the marking, and navigated through the doorless curving entryway.

Inside a clear room with sunglow polyhedral walls and a soft mat floor, Arcta Hydraia knelt with three spheroid physical models. She played with them like puzzles, adjusting a piece here, a piece there. Though they were separate models, she also superimposed them with one in each hand, momentarily interchanging some of the interlocking dynamic indicators. Toledo and Random let her do this while they stood there, without interrupting. Having registered a pleasing triangulation, a smile arrived on Arcta’s face. She put her objects down and looked up at the pair.

“Welcome. I’m pleased to have you in my playroom. Now is a great time for some human companionship.” Arcta patted the comfortable surface and stood to acknowledge them. “Random Arriba and Toledo Vadr… you don’t hate me too much, it seems. Maybe I can do something for you. Exactly what, I’m not sure; sometimes, my expertise affords me privilege, though I’m continually amazed by the different world we now live in. The behavioral flexibility here, I still find it refreshing.” Her imprint of a smile grew a little. “So, you’re interested in possible new directions.”

“Right. The party host, Oven. He reminded us to try you. And yeah no, I don’t hate you too much,” said Random with an amiable shrug. Then, turning to their partner, “Do you?”

Toledo shrugged and shook his head no.

“I really appreciate that,” said Arcta. “Well, as far as what I’ve got going on, if I had people like you to enable my schemes, I’d start tracking down my own ripple effect.” Toledo motioned to take a seat, and they all took it easy on the mat. “I’ve had enough impact on various forefronts to know that advances, even in theory, create ripples. Some are less stable, while others are golden. It’s actually not a bad idea to engage in further generations of my own science. Learn what’s new from those who took my work a step forward, and give them my refreshed originator’s insight, when welcome. Sometimes, I feel like it’s even a little bit of a duty. On occasion, I can fix that wheel and set things rolling in the right direction. To what extent I can do that amongst the Vedani, or even in the Imperium somehow, will be a matter of discovery. It all results in what I call a career, which has been an interesting thought to navigate from here.” Arcta trailed off, gazing into a corner. “So, maybe you could come with me on some kind of road trip. It is not my predilection to render my shipmates unconscious; that was context-specific. I hope you wouldn’t expect that regularly.”

“I like sleeping,” Random put forth, “mainly when that’s what I intend to do. My main expectation is to work for reward.”

“Noted. I don’t think I would drive you too hard, but it’s worth mention that the field can be volatile.”

“Hmm,” Toledo uttered, looking around him.

“We’re out of the military now,” Random said, scritching their back, “but we still signed up. This wouldn’t be our first such reckless decision.”

There was an unoccupied microlevel in Alisandrean orbit, like a hidden floor on an elevator. There, the Princess Ascendant sat on a Vedani sled’s platform, her back to the handlebar column. Here she had the time for a moment of removal, when information could come together in her mind and in the world. Moonshadow could access certain stream spectra. Together they ascertained this location, using some of Soleil’s familiar public database cross-referencing.

Once here, they were able to tap into sets of signals, sifting for specific importance. They found floating pieces of the scroll, in the Vedani aetherscape accessible to Moonshadow the coaster sled.

SOLEIL LOOK WHAT I FOUND

“Very good. Yes, very good.”

It was extremely moving, though it would command radical shifts in order to adapt. Somehow, all put together, the enormity of what was occurring socially cracked her heart open; all the tragedy and hope, personal loss and unbelievable discovery poured out in the swirling mist of shuddering breaths of revealed exertion. She wasn’t cold, but she wasn’t warm out here in the bubble of field that this light vehicle could create for her. Sweeping social movements often send one to perspective’s outer reaches of space, far from the comforting center.

The cosmos moved, and Soleil created a point of stillness where she sat.

This is always the way it is, isn’t it. Everything’s always happening.

UIXTR: Semi-incorporeal though the Kao-Sidhe may be, they conduct discussions of great substance – and, on the other hand, little matter.

OIBHN: I’m glad they invited us to the Fray, after we noticed its effluvia in our uncharted aethers, where we usually detect their sparkling traces. Certain among my social spheres are very engaged! People are communicating their own contributions, like Yykth here.

YYKTH: Hey, I’m “here.” I’m mostly just listening to the statements that are being collected. I am circulating related topics, which I also see speakers picking up. Then to one side, but not totally separate because concurrence-feeds-generation, new Spheraeonic samples are mutating, and becoming really interesting with added volumes. So, that’s a form of multi-wave artistry that’s circulating with the Dragon edits of the scroll.

UIXTR: The scroll reads better and better as it comes along. It’s clear which parts can be regrouped for subsequent iterative understanding. But it’s all out there as soon as it comes, and it’s coming together nicely. We might soon have exhausted a full account of the needs of the dawning age, the age upon us wherein we cannot unsee each other.

OIBHN: I’ve never unseen anyone – unless there’s somebody I’ve forgotten.

YYKTH: Forgivable slips can be remedied, I’m learning.

UIXTR: Perhaps much can be remedied. Beyond that, the path will show itself.

The demilitarized tech craft sped away from the dark planet in dark space. It looked different than when it had been an Alpha signal relay ship assigned to untangle the anomaly; its identifiers had been removed, and it looked more like a pricey civilian status adventure vehicle with an unusual modification or two, and a new coat. One of the benefits of going mercenary for alien vehicle enthusiasts. Random wondered, were they aliens if they weren’t part of the Imperium, and sentients if they were? Figured they were sentients either way, had to be to manage nice work like this.

There weren’t any Vedani onboard this time, just a gaggle of Phronium Triangle subterfuge veterans leaving the wreck of their old home once again. They were subdued and, in some way, content. They looked different than when they’d stepped off.

One of them, a lithe woman with her black hair done in a tight bun, gave them their next co-ords. Another unassuming point of hinterspace, surely to a Vedani loading bay. “We may not be seeing you again for a while, or at all.” There had been an errand here, an unexplained errand there throughout the tumult of these recent events, and they’d gotten almost familiar with these former enemies (of the state) turned saviors from ordered suicide… in a conflict they’d initiated, because of trouble caused by the Imperium. There weren’t many other humans to know in their dead-world, though it wasn’t as if things weren’t interesting.

Arriba & Vadr might not have much else to do, if it weren’t errands from them. “So, how about us – are we getting severance? Some kind of new job, Vedani superfood barista?”

“Oibhn might be able to find someone to teach you if you really are interested. You’ll be alright regardless, they don’t operate under human capitalism. I’m not sure what kind of social climate you’d have to find in order resurface anywhere in the Imperium. Surely, you’re not the first pair of soldiers listed dead yet looking for work – you’re just the ones we lucked into.”

Random exchanged a look with Toledo in the copilot’s chair next to them. He made a silent half-shrug, half-nod. “I suppose we could, uh, go down our list of numbers,” Random mused. “Our very short list.”