Authors Note: Super sorry about not getting that chapter out two you yesterday! I\'m major bogged down with school work. College is not a fun place. Nonetheless I\'m not going to go TWO days without posting one! SO HERE! HAVE YOUR CHAPTER! Also I do some mad racial reveals in this, but I leave a lot of mystery. Brace yourself
Chapter Six: Zanzibar
A hand shook me awake. \"Ehhhhhh~\" I rolled over begrudgingly. I had been engaged in a fantastic dream about multiple crew members, alcohol, and beautiful aliens. It was a rather euphoric escape.
\"Washington has arrived at the Zanzibar port. I already docked her.\" Jeremiahs voice was low and polite.
\"You mean the Washington?\" I said, opening one of my eyes. I swatted at the table next to my bed. Jeremiah guided the glass of soda water to my beligerant hand. I pushed myself up against the backboard of the bed. \"How did you even get into my room?\" I asked, \"I thought these things had detectors that locked this place up tight when I\'m asleep.\"
Jeremiah laughed. \"Do you really expect a piece of derelict technology as this to stop me from maneuvering around her? If there was a single wire snapped in this ship, I could tell you.\" He dropped some alka seltzer tablets into the cup. \"She\'s a beautiful ship, Captain. She\'s sturdy and rough, redundant even. But not complicated.\"
\"Maybe to you.\" I responded, \"But I\'m not a Lazarus.\"
\"No, you\'re not.\" Jeremiah gave me a smirk, \"Sucks, doesn\'t it?\"
I looked at him, and after a few moments of simply taking in that snarky little counter attack, I couldn\'t help but smile and laugh. For someone who I always took as serious and intelligent, he could surprise me every so often. He also seemed to click incredibly well, catering to the ship and it\'s inhabitants like they were his children. Plenty of times already have I seen him sitting next to an open wall panel, messing with some wires or messing with a computer with some of his alien sets of equipment. Quite the fellow.
I finished off my soda water, and feeling my stomach settle to tolerable levels, I heaved myself out my bed. It didn\'t take me long to realize I smelled like utter and complete trash. \"How long was I asleep?\" I asked.
\"Well, we\'ve been docked in Zanzibar for some time, but I wanted to give you some time to rest.\" He pointed over to the bathroom region of my room. I saw some of his servitors floating around, doing work on my showerhead and cleaning around. They look like segmented snakes floating through space, each segment a piece of unbelievably polished, silvery metal. They were easily eight inches wide and around four feet long. I counted a total of three. A variety of strange, glowing tools would come out from just underneath their featureless heads.
\"You brought your servitors, too?\"
\"Servitors?\" He said, a tad dash of disgust in his voice. \"These... creatures are far more than the other races meager creations.\" He whistled, and they all immediately dropped what they we\'re doing and raced over to him, surrounding him in some kind of posse like eager dogs. \"You\'re AI is so simple, nothing more than a unidirectional set of programming incapable of learning. But these creatures can be taught, contain emotions-\" He stroked one of the creatures along it\'s metallic spine, it shivered in what I would guess was happiness, \"-real, growing emotions. And even these are nothing compared to what the Lazarus produce back at-\" He stopped. I waited a few moments.
\"Back at what?\" I asked.
\"Home. Back at home.\" He sighed. \"Off you go, now.\" He said, and his little snake robots dissappeared into the vents.
\'Oh sweet god they\'re in the VENTS! CHRIST!\' I thought to myself. But obviously my friend, even if he was my strange friend, seemed to be caught up in some emotion. \"Do you miss your home?\"
\"Do I miss it? Oh by lord I do, Andrew.\"
\"What was it like.\"
He sighed. \"Creations like you could never imagine. Great, expansive machines. Beautiful machines. Lazarus and Synthetic, living together.\"
\"Wait, you guys actually have synthetics?\"
\"Andrew, of course we do. My creations you just witnessed? They are to us what your janitor servitors are to you.\"
\"Wow.\" I was sincerely amazed at that thought. \"Why are you guys so small, if you\'re so advanced?\"
He winced at that.
\'oops\' I thought to myself.
\"We, ah. We don\'t... reproduce, often.\"
\"What do you mean?\"
\"Well, hmm. How could I explain this in normal terms. Ahh... you know how you call people \'nerds\' in your university if they never get out and study all day?\"
I couldn\'t help but laugh, \"Of course I do.\"
\"Take the \'nerdiest\' person you know. Now multiply that by ten.\"
\"Woah lordy\".
\"That\'s how we all our by the age of five. By the time you\'re finishing \'high school\', Lazarus have already gotten more than a \'college\' level education. We\'ve evolved to the point that basic knowledge and computational understanding is, quite literally, hardwired into our head. As such, Lazaran\'s get lost in their own technology. Each and every Lazaran is a walking think tank, often to absorbed in his own shell. Yes, we want interraction but... we tend to get lost in technology.\"
\"So you pop out and wham, you\'re hitting the quantum physics?\" I said, trying to lighten the mood. But Jeremiah was having none of it.
\"Well, honestly, it\'s not even that. You see, Lazarus don\'t see technology on the same level you guys do. We... we\'ve developed, ah, \'externaly projected biological synapse\', but instead of affecting biological organisms, we\'re linked to technology, if you will. Does that make sense?\"
\"Wait, hold on.\" I said. I remembered reading on these \'projected synapses\' before. It was a class in the University. Some alien races way on the other side of the galaxy apparently had these synapses, and some rare biological examples had them. It was also understood that Tartaran\'s had these \'projected synapses\' with biological organisms, being able to read and understand slight changes in other organic\'s slight electronic pulses going through their body and being projected through the brain. They could even project their own electronic signals through the atmosphere as nearly undetectable waves of generated electrons with disturbingly accurate control, allowing them to link with other organics in a mental conversation, albeit much more easily with members of their own race. This caused their community to be surprisingly silent, to people not linked in the mental stream. Legend had it that the most powerful Tartaran\'s could even affect an unprepared organic\'s thought process. Psychic ability, in the everyman\'s language. It was generally referred to as the pinnacle of evolution, or caused by a freak mutation. But there wasn\'t even so much as a single chapter on Lazarus psych potential. I mean, it was rumored, naturally. But while the Tartaran\'s were isolationists, the Lazarus kept many more secrets. \"So, you\'re saying you\'re literally connected to machines?\"
\"Machines and metal, exclusively. We understand machines on a level as if they were creatures of our own species. We understand machines as you understand eachother.\"
\"So, not with organics?\"
\"Not at all. We\'re worse with organics than even normal humans.\"
\"Can you show me? Like, with something in this room?\"
\"No.\"
\"Why not?\"
\"It\'s not Lazarus.\"
\"I\'m not sure I\'m tracking.\"
\"We don\'t touch machines that aren\'t Lazarus, unless we absolutely have too. For the most part. Plus, touching machines in front of a non-Lazarus isn\'t really supported. Same goes for the Tartaran\'s, with other organics.\"
\"But-\"
\"Would you board a ship that wasn\'t yours and you had no right to board?\"
\"Well... no. Oh. Oh, alright. You\'re saying connecting yourself with the ship or my machines would be like occupying things that aren\'t yours?\"
\"Precisely. And outside of being wrong, it makes me... uncomfortable. I grew so used to Lazarus machinery, that interracting with foreign machinery feels so... awkward, if you will. It\'s that way for all, whats the word you use?\"
\"Sub-human? Psychic?\"
\"Right, both. It\'s strange for all psychic sub-humans to connect with foreign entities. You don\'t see Lazarus touching other species machines, and you don\'t see the Tartaran using their mental abilities on non Tartaran\'s. Some people would question why we don\'t use our abilties. Well, to be frank, it\'s the same reason you don\'t go around biting people. Just because biting someone would show you\'re stronger and able to do it, doesn\'t mean any good would come of it, nor would you feel right doing it. It\'s a wretched metaphor, yes, but it conveys the point.\"
\"I understand. I hope I didn\'t cause you any offense.\"
\"None taken, Andrew. But you must really consider me some antisocial shrew at this point.\" He looked sincerely sad. Yikes, I thought, never really thought about that.
\"Nah, Jeremiah. You\'re just... different.\" I said and laughed. \"Why don\'t you take shore leave with us?\"
Jeremiah was getting up, but turned around, \"But, the ship?\"
\"Washington will be fine.\" I said, trying to use his style of reffering to the Washington as if it we\'re a being, \"Dont you worry about her.\"
\"I see you\'re trying to talk like a Lazarus.\" He said. He smiled. \"It\'s nice. Sure, Andrew. I\'ll take some time off.\" He shouldered his robe, and dissappeared into the elevator. Before the door closed however, he had one last thing to say, \"Maybe one day, in the near future, I can show you the Lazarus mind.\" The doors shut and the elevator shot down.
Learn something new every day, I thought to myself. I got up, and stripped from my dirty uniform. I stretched, turned on the shower, and stepped in. And oh sweet glorious gods of the universe, the water was hot again. Whatever issue of hot water had obviously been solved. I laughed to myself. He wasn\'t kidding when he said he could tell if anything was broken.
After a few moments scrubbing myself down with some mediocre smelling soap, I proceeded with handling the rest of my vanity issues. Brushing my teeth, laying on the best deoderant I could find, and putting on some good shore leave clothes. I put on a pair of dark, thick pants, and a nice leather belt. I slipped on some of my old officers boots (it was surprising how well they rolled with the casual look), slipped on a white t-shirt, and then buttoned up a nice grey longcoat. It was bland, but it looked proffessional. I slipped on my Pragni University ring to finish it off, and slipped on my glasses.
The glasses lit up with a little *bwing* and had a nice little logo slide across the screen. The HUD then fired up for a moment as it booted, and then dissappeared from sight, clearing my vision. I stepped into the elevator, and requested upper hangars. Here we stored our light fighters, and also the external ports to get out onto a docking bay. I waved at a nearby engineering crew working on one of our scythe-shaped fighters, and the airlock doors opened up. It took a few moments for the airlock to do its work before I stepped out onto the docking bay. I was in a massive simulated atmosphere, held in by advanced station shield technology. It smelled of raunchy nights, wads of money, and plenty of ways to enjoy yourself. It was rather pleasant to be honest; Zanzibar itself was a rather advanced station, a massive metalic sphere with thousands of external docking bays. Hundreds of thousands of little lights of apartments, clubs, and other establishments littered the spherical wall of the massive station.
\"Well finally you get out here. Isn\'t the girl supposed to be late in your society?\"
I looked to my right, and wham, there she was. Maria, always early and never late. And as always completely outdoing me when it comes to fashion. She was wearing her stunningly beautiful (and equally expesive) violet dress that clung to her just tight enough to lure you in. Medium cut and just enough leg to make you wonder, and laden with a ruby necklace, she was a sight to behold. Although maybe that was because I always compared her to Pragni University women. Either way, it was fantastic. \"Do you always have to outdress me?\" I ask.
\"Tartaran\'s like to look nice, what can I say?\" She said with a coy smile. \"Anyways-\"
The Airlock opened again. Jeremiah stepped out. Now this caught both of us off guard. When outside of his usual robed gear, he was a different sight. He wore thick, dark blue clothes, including loose pants and a large overcoat, with thin orange lines that pulsated with energy throughout the entire vest. It made me realize just how young he was, usually his bionic arm and wide stature was exaggerated due to his robe, but now I noticed he was more keen to a broad, young man. I remembered he was actually the same age as me. It\'s amazing how you can change your perception of a man with just a few scenery and aesthetical changes.
\"You\'re actually leaving the ship?\" Maria teased.
Jeremiah laughed. \"It\'s about time, I believe.\" One of his snake machinations flew out from the ship from behind him, and rested curled over his shoulders like a robotic boa. \"But not alone, I left the others to watch the ship.\" Yup, I thought, Same Jeremiah I know. He stretched, and dissappeared into Zanzibar.
Maria returned to our conversation, \"Anyways, I collected this weeks payment from the ships storage. She raised up a black purse, \"The items in here too. I\'m heading off to make the trade.\"
Shit, I thought to myself, I forgot to ask Jeremiah what was on that thing! Oh well. I\'ll do that when I get back. \"When do you think you\'ll be back?\"
\"Little over a day.\"
\"Jeez, that long?\"
\"It\'s a pretty big meeting, apparently. I got a call from our contractor.\"
\"Do we even know who he is?\"
\"She.\"
\"Right, of course, because I knew that. But the question still stands.\"
\"No clue.\"
That\'s always comforting. \"But you said there\'s a lot of credits involved?\"
\"Oh absolutely. I\'m just as excited to learn what was on it as you are. But that will have to wait.\" And with that, before I could even respond, she turned and headed off.
I fished into my pocket, looking for my university wallet. Sure enought, it was right there in my jacket, where I always lazily left it. Performing a snazzy little maneuver and flipping through the little blue bills without taking them out of my pocket, I assumed that they each had high enough numbers on them to get me something intoxicating to drink. I headed off from the external docking bays and into Zanzibar.
I was instantly greeted with the nastalgic Zanzibar look. A strangely beautiful array of sleek sidewalks on platforms, and a great, massive middle expanse where little hovercars flitted about, bringing their passengers to all the different arrays of clubs, bars, and other fantastically euphoric adult feat-
A message came through to my phone (also left in my pocket, hurray for being conveniently disorganized). I reached into the pocket and pulled the flat device out, clicking the button that said \"New message!\"
It was a message from Jeremiah.
\"You promised to visit your mom first. Don\'t forget.\"
I smiled. The man remembered more about my life than I did. I made my way across the expanse of restaraunts (local to the area we must have docked) and waved down a hovering driver. I asked him to take me to the Zanzibar A-Class apartments, #243, and payed in advance. I slipped into the back seat of the nice little vehicle and we took off across the expanse of the station.
:D