Okay setting a timer for 30 minutes and just going.
Cerule watched the viewscreen as the large, undulating, planet-sized mass of water grew in front of his ship. It wasn’t a true window, of course; such a thing would be unspeakably dangerous in the pressures of space and water this ship was built to experience. But the fidelity of the feedback made it a nominal issue. He leaned across the instrument panel as he twirled some dials, pressed a button, and adjusted course, then sat back.
He didn’t relax into the seat; Cerule felt he hadn’t relaxed since the Aquaritan Council of Aethershore gave him this task. Find the Star-Collate Bone. Sure, no problem. Everyone knew it existed because all magic was catalogued somehow in the web of the aether that spanned the galaxy, and finding out about magical artifacts was just a matter of finding the right way to read that information. And something like the Star-Collate Bone made waves. But no one knew where it was for sure. Somewhere in this sector and Cerule was quite convinced the likelihoods led to this… this planet-shaped ocean. The surface rippled and wobbled like a falling water droplet even as he watched. The tides inside this must be massive.
A sudden hail took him from his reverie. Another ship in the sector? But this area of space was unpopulated, inhospitable. He put the call on the monitor and immediately wished he hadn’t.
“They sent you?” a voice sneered. The face that looked back at him was so different from his own. Pale, luminous skin speckled with opalescent patches unlike his mottled green and blue. Flowing hair black and gold and relentlessly straight, not his purple-toned kinked, short mass. Eyes of blue like a summer sky, not his green with an extra clear lid. And yet the sharp chin, the high cheekbones, the pointed ears, the aquiline nose, the small full lips– Cerule shared this shape, a mark of his heritage as half elf, half aqui.
The elf on the screen nudged the person next to him. “Fantirall, you’ll never believe. The aqui sent their disgusting little half-breed on this mission.”
Another face, nearly identical to the first, joined the screen. “Oh, look at that, the jetsam of the world thinks he’ll beat us to the deadline. Only three days, you know, kelp-breath.”
Cerule heaved a long sigh. Honestly they weren’t even very creative with their insults; he’d heard far worse. “Did you have an actual reason to call?”
“Of course. We’d planned to hail the aqui representative and compare notes. You know, for the sake of collaboration.”
“Share notes.” Cerule’s voice was flat. “For collaboration. In a race to find an artifact that will change the fate of our world.”
“Well yes,” the first elf said. “It’s not our fault you sodden aqui don’t like working together.”
Cerule stared at them for a moment. “Sure. Tell me what you know.”
“What?” said the one who was presumably Fantirall. “That’s not how collaboration works. You tell us then we’ll tell you.”
“Right, sure,” Cerule responded. “Well, I was here to restock my water tank obviously but I heard the bone was on the far side of the sector, stuck to an asteroid. What about you all?”
“An asteroid? Nothing better than that?”
Cerule shook his head.
“Hmph. Well, our scanners will be superior, I’m sure. As are our wits; thanks for the info, salt-blood, enjoy your trip!” And the viewscreen blinked back to the water globe.
Cerule couldn’t quite muster up the emotion to be mad at them; of course they just wanted information. And if they had given him any intel, it probably would have been about as suspect as his own tip-off about the asteroids. If they took it, more fool– Cerule saw their lights streaking off in the direction his sensors told him the asteroid belt lay. More fool them. He rolled his eyes and prepared the ship to dive.
Okay, time’s up for now, we’ll probably be back in a week or two with the same sprint goal.
Intellectual Property of Elizabeth Doman
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