Cath

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Or a reeeeally big building…” Ruk cawed, drooling a little.

“Uh yeah, we could totally go check out that creepy castle. Aren’t they our friends?” She pointed down to the lake, where a long, thin boat was overladen with intoxicated party guests. At the stern, brandishing an oar was a white Myrmidon QV suit with golden flecks. A short female Human was pouring something into the suit from a clay amphora.

The boat appeared to be making for the river that led from the mountains to the lake.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Even in his inebriated state, Senjen was adept enough of a tracker to reunite with Ruknar. Exiting the maze, he nearly knocked her over as she stood gawping at the place they’d arrived in.

A huge meadow dotted with grand trees and dilapidated ruins undulated gently in three directions, lit by the setting sun. A lake of azure water gleamed nearby; crowds of people of all species socialised loudly in groups around it.

Far off in the distance behind the lake stood a mountain range. A long twisting path sloped past the horizon, riding the shoulder of this range to a formidable palace sat on the highest peak like a crown. It was made of blackened blocks that seemed to leech into the rock below. The sun did not shine there - dark clouds gathered above it and lightning struck the highest towers. It struck something else too, hovering just above the castle but below the clouds. A perfect sphere, gleaming red.

“Woah.” Ruk breathed.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Hmmm.” Ruk didn’t seem to know how to answer this simple question, then she suddenly leaned in. “It feels like this!” She opened her beak and tried to fit Senjen’s head inside. Sadly her beak was neither long enough nor able to open wide enough to accomplish her aim, so she nipped at the front of his visage, making a metallic scraping sound that mingled with deep vocalisations within her chest. “Num num num num!” Came the translation. Ruk paired this by trying to tickle Senjen with her long feathery fingers.

Then as though fleeing the scene of a heinous crime she hopped quickly away, wing-arms raised slightly. Her red knapsack jangled behind her as she whooshed away through the door at the opposite end of the room from where they’d entered.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

The vapour contained Sthrirad essence, a semi-sentient gaseous being that could be often found co-existing with the Tindrel. It lived in their respiratory system, improving their energy efficiency and giving certain flight-or-fight hormones a time dilation effect. It often inhabited other species for short periods in social settings to enhance the effects of other substances but also to increase tolerance.

It disappeared inside most of the people within the ring. When it found no adequate entrypoint for Senjen it just hid inside Ruknar instead. She shivered all over, feathers standing on end. She looked at the Utaysi and laughed throatily.

The circle disintegrated into random flurries of movement for a while, before reorganising as a long line that weaved about the room. The person at its head was mostly inside of a large serpentine headpiece. Black tendrils reached from the ceiling and picked people off the ground one by one.

This seemed to only last a few minutes but the pair of them were in the room over an hour. Ruk was completely obliterated, staring wildly around. Eventually she said “I’m hungry.” and laughed.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“What a team we’ll make.” Ruk chattered by way of agreement with Senjen.

“Good luck, everyone! We’ll see you on the other side.” She led him towards the Tekeri doorway, where a quiet barrier stood between them and the interior. Shapes moved inside, obfuscated by the silky grey surface. On glancing back, he might have seen Light dive head first into the QV bubble. Ferrow hung around Jess as they headed to a rocky Tindrel entrance.

“Ok, plug that party virus in. I don’t need you judging me in there.” Ruknar ordered with a chuckle, poking Senjen with a long feathered phlange. She then pulled a small vial of purple liquid from her rucksack and poured it into her beak.

“Oh yeah, that hits the spot.” She cooed, then grabbed the Utaysi’s hand and they walked through the quiet barrier.

-



The room was pitch black except for the floor which glowed red and orange. It had the appearance of a dried out riverbed, pocked with burning fiery stones. The dull shapes of Harpies flew overhead, and below them a rotating circle of mostly Tekeri moved in perfect sync.

It was half dance, half martial art with a lot of extravagant limb movements and verbal ululation. Some of them wore frightening masks of old predators and others wore a stylised costume approximation of the other sentient species. Others held wooden bells, metal shakers and big skin drums which they played vigorously. Some non-participants stood around the outside of the space, just watching.

Ruk’s eyes were like black saucers in her feathered face. Her head rotated to take it all in while her body stayed fixed in place. Eventually she looked at Senjen.

“They are talking to the dead.” Her voice was changing, getting deeper and more gravelly.

“We need to join in.” Still holding his hand, she dragged Senjen into the circle which parted naturally to let them in. Ruk began throwing shapes with her body, falling into a natural rhythm with the others.

After a few minutes a thin, bald Tekeri wearing a colourful tabard broke ranks and gyrated to the middle of the circle. Opening his beak, he issued four sharp, slow croaks. Producing a small orb of glass, he smashed it on the floor and produced a cloud of green vapour at his feet. It siphoned directly towards the noses of the individuals assembled in the circle, including Senjen.

Black tendrils descended from the ceiling and plucked the bald Tekeri up, taking him into the darkness above.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Well, QV is obviously going to be the best room.” Light joked.

“But what if we miss the Tindrel room and that’s where the action is. I say we split up, meet back on the other side.” This statement was uncharacteristically bold for him, but there was something about today that was pushing the boundaries of his fears.

“The Tekeri room could go either way. It could be relaxed and bohemian, or it could be…the opposite.” Ruk finished her glass of champagne and chucked it over her shoulder. A waiting servile drone caught it in a manipular field before it hit the ground.

“I’d highly recommend executing this program, whichever way you go.” Ferrow handed Senjen a small consumer-grade memory stick.

“It's a party virus. Self-depreciating, makes you feel how organics do when they’re…imbibed. Enjoy!” He giggled, producing another one and sticking it to the back of his head.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“The real surprise is at the other end of whichever rooms you decide to explore.” The Utaysi salesperson from the Myrmidon showroom materialised from the crowd, spreading his arms wide in a welcoming gesture.

“Hello! I am glad you could make it! Senjen, Ruknar, very pleased to see you again. Please forgive me for not introducing myself properly. I am Ferrow. What do you think of our little shindig so far?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“I’m all set for drinks right now.” Ruk raised her flute of complimentary champers. Light looked at it then at his own as if he’d already forgotten it existed.

“Upstairs seems interesting.” He concurred, weaving between a small gaggle of Tekeri wearing ornate masks to ascend the left-hand staircase.

The mezzanine wrapped all the way around the dancefloor, giving a great view of all the various cliches roiling within it. Concentric waves ripple over Light’s suit from the bass, tickling his skin. The music seemed Human-centric in here, but in a way which may have been deliberately sensitive to other species’ tastes. Songs cut in and out at a blistering rate, the AI DJ monitoring the vitals of everyone in the area to determine what came in next.

Even through the music, the acoustics on this mezzanine meant a properly tuned ear could listen in to practically any conversation. Light only half listened as he picked his way through the crowd standing around on it.

“Hey, nice suit!” Someone called out to Senjen, before melting into the crowd

“I heard one of the ships Myrmidon made for Outremer fell off the grid last year, how do you suppose that-...”

“Every year more of my shipments are disrupted, these death cults have to be-...”

“How can you stop a plague that doesn’t display any symptoms?”

From the middle of the mezzanine, Light finally spotted the reliefs above each of the three doors. A Tekeri, A Tindrel and a QV.

“There is a room for each species!” Light exclaimed, not sure whether to be excited or appalled.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Organics can replace pretty much any body part with a synthetic improvement. It's the full personality transfer operations from organic-to-synth that usually fail.” Ruk countered.

“Apparently the Vermilion Consortium’s Quadrumvir device could be used to improve the success rate, but centuries of horror stories seem to have put most people off the idea of a machine brain.”

The taxi turned into a wide boulevard lined with trees before pulling up outside an imposing building modelled on the Parthenon from ancient Earth. Moving and colour changing spotlights traced the exquisite architectural replica from the ground.

A thin stream of people of all species were filtering up the marble steps to the giant double doors. The dull thud of music came from inside.

“Wowwww.” Light gushed; his vision was becoming sharper by the minute as darkness fell.

“This place looks fancy.”

He disembarked with the others and headed for the entrance. Security was tight at the door, but they flashed their tickets and the greeter waved them through, offering yet another glass of champagne. Light gratefully accepted and rushed inside, eyes wide.

The music was loud and infectious, thumping into his suit from all angles. An intoxicating cocktail of pheromones filled the air. The interior was not what he was expecting at all, with enough moving parts to warrant a moment to stop and evaluate.

Instead of replicating the interior of the Parthenon, his suit explained it was modelled after the fictitious Underworld from Greek mythology. Dark except for jagged blades of light streaking the floor and ceiling, the large rectangular front room had a staircase on either side and a dancefloor in the middle that was dotted with mature Asphodels. All manner of creature surged through the area, with many heading upstairs to a mezzanine with three large openings to other rooms. At the back of the room was a long bar, lit up and decorated with an exquisite frieze of winged chariots.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Ok…..It's safely stowed away in my cabin!” Light protested, following her back to the others.

When Jess and Senjen settled down to review his new contract, Light looked immediately to Ruk who was sitting placidly on the floor.

“Foods?”

“Yeah.”

Light wiggled back into his new suit and shot out of his ship’s cargo bay doors with the Tekeri in tow.

“Thanks for being here with me today.” Light said.

“Don’t mention it. I’m just glad you’re OK.”

Light ululated in agreement. “If you don’t want to come to this thing later, that’d be fine.”

“Oh no. I’m invested now, may as well see it through. Have you been to this place before?”

“Me?” Light laughed. “Do I look like the club type? No, they’re too extravagant, but it sounds like there may be free stuff there.”

“Are you sure that’s the reason you’re going?” Ruk asked, studying him.

“Yeah! Well maybe to show off my new suit.” His hide said otherwise.

“Its not yours, remember.”

“Alright, don’t keep reminding me.”

They reached the bank of vending machines equidistant to their oblong neighbourhood of landing pads. Nearby a large Tindrel slept on a filthy trash pile. Light bought a set of large fish morsels wrapped in rice and seaweed, Ruk bought a mixed bag of nuts, fruits, seeds and sweets.

“Senjen and I may be on a job for a while after this.” Light said conversationally.

“Is that the new quarantine zone the Foundation is talking about?”

“No, uhh, something a bit different this time.”

“Ahh. I keep forgetting. Your allegiance to Good Causes is over.”

“No! I still want to work with them, I just have the freedom now to uhh…explore other options.”

“Got it.”

They headed back to the ship, going out of their way to avoid a particularly rowdy party out the front of another lot. Once back inside they collapsed on the floor and ate in silence. Then Light curled up asleep and Ruk quietly read.

---

Jess’ message woke Light up. He checked the time - the advertised start of this Myrmidon mixer had already been and gone. “We’re late!” He wailed.

“Relax. People never appear right on time for these things. Besides, doesn’t it go on all night?” Ruk said quietly from beside him, eyes not deviating from her holo pad.

Regardless, Light shot through the tunnels of his ship to Senjen and Jess.

“How did it go? Are you ready to head back out?”