EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“I, uh…” Senjen stammered briefly. There was a good chance he would have been just as confused sober, but as it was he had a few moments of bewilderment, staring down Ruk’s throat at she tried to get her beak around his head. There were a few moments that were just the clanging of keratin on metal, mixed with Ruk’s helpful attempts at onomatopoeia, before Senjen started to laugh. “Oh wait, I’ve...seen videos of this. I’m, uh, I’m prey, right? I’ve got to run or fight.”

Senjen tried to get a hold of her just as she slipped out of his reach, leaving him only with a loose feather. Reaching out a hand towards her, he stumbled at first, but kept his footing well enough to shift that momentum into running after her. “Hey, wait! I’m the one that’s meant to be running, not you!”

Given that Senjen was already generally confused in his current state, the next room was certainly not going to help matters. It was a maze, and he stopped in his tracks the moment he realized it. There were many wooden doors leading to many paths, as well as small rooms that ended up as dead ends. Like the club itself, it kept the theme of an ancient Human temple, and he could see a few figures in the area with realistic masks that had him entranced for just a few moments. He had never seen anything like what they were meant to be: there was some kind of horned creature, another that was an animal with three heads, even another that was a woman with a head covered in legless reptiles. He did not think to try and look up what they were, though, as he was just thinking about following Ruk.

Most of the patrons just outside the room they had came from were Tekeri, though not exclusively. As he wandered the winding paths, with no real strategy, he spied a few QV inspecting one of the masked figures, some Humans holding each other’s faces close, and a lone Tindrel, but they were no one he recognized. Holding on to Ruk’s feather awkwardly, Senjen just tried to keep himself focused to look for her red knapsack and spot her out of the crowd.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Since the Sthrirad could not meaningfully interact with Senjen, he was spared its effects, which was perhaps a mercy for him. He had been more immediately and intensely affected by the party virus than anything Ruk had been drinking, so if it were possible for it to amplify that, then he might have just been incapacitated outright. In any case, with the Sthrirad involved, many of the Tekeri were now similarly as impaired as him. Ultimately, the virus did not perfectly replicate what organics experienced with inebriation, just a close-enough approximation. Combined with the sheer novelty and absurdity of everything around him, and he ended up getting entirely lost in the experience.

Senjen was not particularly sure what was happening, whether it was instinct or improvisation, but his own instinct was to trust Ruk and follow her through it all. He became lost in thought and time and simply embraced whatever whatever each moment brought him.

With him living so far in the moment, Senjen might have even forgotten about the others. He reached out and gave Ruk’s stomach a few pats, laughing along with her. “I’ve, I’ve, um...what does ‘hungry’ feel like, I mean? You have, um, food, right, and it makes you...want it, right? You’re a predator, you...hunt. Does it make you want to chase things?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had inserted the memory stick, though with code execution disabled at first for that slot so he could scan its contents. He got a good idea of exactly what it would do, and it felt like he would be crazy to activate it. If this was meant to simulate intoxication for organics, then he wondered for a moment why they would ever want to do that to themselves? It would not be painful exactly, but it felt like it would just be disabling. Still, as dubious as it was, the program did at least seem like it would perform exactly as advertised.

On his own, Senjen likely would not have considered using it, but Ruk had his hand, and she seemed perfectly comfortable with it. Excited, even. This sort of thing was a particularly popular pastime among organics across species and cultures, before they had even met one another. Even the Utaysi’s own creators, based on what they knew about them. Clearly, they knew something he did not.

Senjen laughed. “Okay, okay, if you insist…”

---

To say that Senjen was out of his element would be an understatement. Unlike for Ruk, the effect on him was immediate as soon as he enabled the program. There was a sort of disconnect between his mind and body, like he was trying to control it remotely. From orbit. The signals he was getting were designed to confuse his senses, and even his own thoughts. A Utaysi personality matrix was not something that could be accessed and edited directly, but the program took advantage of “psychological” tricks to influence how he could think.

Senjen almost tripped immediately as the program activated, saved only by Ruk supporting him. “Oh, I...wowww.” He began, though his words quickly devolved into simple laughter. The scene they were stepping into only compounded his general confusion. The music, the lights, the shouts, the dances, it was all alien beyond what he could understand. Especially now. Blurred as his thoughts were, he took the idea of “talking to the dead” more literally than she might have intended, and became even more confused about the fact that he could not see the corpses anywhere. Being immortal, death was rare enough on Orostro that the Utaysi did not even have widespread funerary customs to begin with. The idea of him understanding any sort of ritual for the dead was doomed from the start. For a few moments while they were outside the circle, Senjen just stood still, mouth slightly agape as he let it all barrage his senses.

Ruk would have to pull rather hard to get Senjen to budge, but once she had drawn his attention forward, his mind latched onto the one familiar thing he could see: the dances. They resembled martial arts, and Senjen was a practitioner of Tekeri martial arts. He had drilled and drilled those motions until they became “muscle memory”, for the lack of a better word. They were closer to instinct now, so he did not need to think or remember them consciously for them to come back to him. He was sluggish, uncoordinated, but Ruk might have been surprised at how well he still matched the general style of her dance, despite it all.

The vapor hardly registered in Senjen’s mind. He could not breathe to take it in, though he did at least have olfactory sensors to catch the scent. His idle thoughts settled more on wondering why the Tekeri’s face was so wrinkly and pink, and how he learned to fly away.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen tilted his head towards Light with a bit of silent surprise. “Really? I was thinking we might have more fun together, but if you really want to split up we can. Might have stories on the other side, at least.” He gave a quick glance up to the doors. “Still, there’s three doors and four of us. Two of us will need to share.”

This time, Senjen turned his head to Ruk. “What do you think, do you want company? Which door would you go through?”

Ferrow’s offer caught Senjen off-guard for a moment. He took the memory stick in his hand and looked it over a bit hesitantly as he listened. Taking random memory drives was something one would want to do cautiously. “Ah, well, if that’s what it does, then I probably would want to wait until the right time to use it. My friends haven’t had too many yet.” He said. Not to mention, he would also want to scan it, though he did not say that aloud.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“We just got here, really.” Jess remarked. Her tone was not rude, though she was predictably cold towards the salesperson.

Senjen nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we haven’t seen much yet.” He added. Senjen did not have the same type of instincts and suspicion about Myrmidon as a whole as Jess, but this “Farrow” in particular did seem a bit uncanny to him. There were parts of his story that were strange, and it made them seem just not quite...right. It might have been that it was nothing; perhaps it was just that they were a peculiar Utaysi that had been living a few decades out of Orostro. Then again, Senjen was a fairly peculiar Utaysi himself, so he felt he would be apt to recognize it. It would also be rather easy to put an advanced AI program in a Utaysi body, or have someone control it by remote.

If he knew Jess, Senjen guessed she would not much care what they did here, so he instead focused on the others. “Maybe we should follow the rooms, then? Tekeri or QV, what do you think?” He asked, putting an arm around both.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Out of all of them, Senjen rather expected himself to be the last to receive any positive comments from strangers. He was replacing his old, worn frame for a reason, and he did not even have time to notice who exactly it was that had spoken up before they were lost in the crowd. Jess was always paranoid about that sort of thing being some sort of corporate advertising trick, but he was not sure what that would even accomplish here. He did a quick search about the club itself, but all he really learned was that they changed theme every so often to a different kind of Human mythology. Honestly, it seemed like an interesting gimmick.

In any case, Senjen quickly shrugged off those thoughts to bring himself more in the moment. Light had looked a bit distracted until he spoke up about the different rooms on the mezzanine. “Eh, seems boring to split people up. Surely the Humans can put together something decent for all of us, right?”

There was a short laugh from Senjen. He looked out over the dance floor as he listened to music that shifted so quickly it did not seem like it could decide what it wanted to be. “I’ve heard of sample platters for your food before; is this like the same thing for music? What do you think about the Human stuff, Ruk?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen had not been aware that it was even possible to transfer an organic mind into a machine, though by the sounds of things, it was not very possible. Even if it was, part of him wondered how many of the organics would even be willing to try. From his experience with them, they tended to be attached to their bodies in ways that did not entirely make sense to him. There were quite a few of them who would refuse cybernetic replacements on principle, even if they were strict upgrades to natural parts. Needless to say, that was not something he could really wrap his head around.

In any case, their arrival at this Cerberus club gave Senjen plenty else to focus his mind on. It was a particularly alien place, compared to most others on Korit. Even other places that were influenced by Human design did not seem much like it, outside or in. After getting through security, they found an interior that was less archaic than the exterior, though quite unique all the same. Senjen could tell there was a strong theme that he had to look up to get a reference of what it was meant to be: an “Underworld”, drawn from some ancient Human mythology.

“Does this remind you of home, Jess?” Senjen questioned with a chuckle.

Jess crossed her arms. “Not...really, no.”

Senjen caught the scents in the air, though they lacked the same connections to him as most of the others. The music and visuals, though, had a striking appeal. Flowers on the dance floor were an interesting choice. There was much to explore, though he was in no hurry. He stepped out in front of the group a few steps and walked backwards, facing them. “I doubt you’d ever see anything like this on Orostro. The old cultural beliefs of the Creators are something that are exclusively meant to be honored in a museum or something. Well, seeing as it’s Light’s day, what calls to you first? Maybe see what is upstairs? Or you all can get drinks if you want them.”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Jess and Senjen were both up and getting ready when the others rejoined them. Senjen was perhaps not as openly excitable as he might have usually been, but that was only because he was still letting his worries about the next day occupy his mind. Even with this new job right around the corner, he was still going to be making a major commitment.

Senjen nodded to the others. “Oh, yeah. Jess already called us a taxi. It should be here soon.”

---

It was getting close to dark as the group’s autonomous taxi took them through the skylanes towards their destination, though that hardly mattered in Setia. If anything, the vibrancy of the city was even more readily on display at night. For Tekeri with a more natural circadian rhythm, this was about when they were waking up to go to work, and it definitely showed in the traffic. It would probably take them a few more minutes than planned to get where they were going.

Regardless, Senjen had managed to put aside his anxiety about the next day by instead focusing on what excited him, of which there was plenty. This was something that had been in the back of his mind since long before he had met any of his friends here, and it was so tantalizingly close. He could not help but to want to talk about it.

Senjen was sat beside Ruk, and certainly did not seem to be concerned by any delays. He was perfectly happy in speaking with her. “You know, I’ve been thinking on if there is anything comparable to getting a new body for organics, but...I’m not sure if there is. Especially with a brand new body, it’s like everything becomes brighter. Sharper. You become so much more aware of all the little things you had been ignoring about yourself. Resistance in the joints, sluggish muscle fibers, it all just goes away. And this one...I am going to own alien technology that would never be sold back on Orostro. I wish I could let you experience it somehow. Is there anything that can do something even a little like that for organics?”

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Of course. How do you think I get through any contracts at work? Still, even with that help, it takes hours to do your proper due diligence. Especially with big corporations like Myrmidon. There’s literal millennia of experience in industry for contract writing. Come on, may as well get started. Oh, and that suit in there could be recording what we say, so keep quiet on this while we’re around it. I’ll fill Senjen in on this whenever you’re out of earshot with it.” Jess explained.

---

When Jess and Light rejoined the others, most of what they would notice would be how Jess seemed to be dreading what she had agreed to for Senjen. That much was completely genuine, but for what she had in mind, she was willing to go through with it. After a quick glance through it with the AI tools, she was reasonably confident to tell the others that she would be able to get through it in enough time that they could still make it to the club Light wanted to go to. Though, given that it was still going to be a few hours worth of rather dull work before then, she suggested that Light and Ruknar do something else to occupy the time, like going out for something to eat or otherwise relaxing. They could all meet back together when it was time to go out again.

While they were away, it gave Jess the chance to fill Senjen in on the job, which provided an entirely new context in which he would be making this purchase. One single job, and he could make potentially about twenty percent of the total cost of this frame. One job that would open up the opportunity for even more well-paying jobs down the road. If this body made him capable enough to complete them, it could end up more than paying for itself.

---

“Okay, so...these videos aren’t anything I would have much control over, then.” Senjen was sat beside Jess, reading over her shoulder as she looked to be juggling five different windows on two different screens.

“You might have some influence over exactly what you give them, but yes, essentially. They will dictate what they want from you, and you will have to give it every month, or else suddenly find yourself responsible for quite a bit more of a debt.”

“And how do I know what they’ll find acceptable?”

Jess flicked over the screen’s focus to a different window. “It says they’ll give you a brief. It would probably be worth asking for some examples before you agree to anything.”

“You see any downsides to trying it?”

“You mean aside from putting out content with your name on it, that you have no control over, promoting a soulless mega-corporation? No, none at all. Aside from maybe the fact that there are no strong definitions of what limits they have on what they could ask you to provide. If it were me, I would want some assurances they aren’t going to ask for anything unreasonable.”

Senjen made a point of rolling his eyes where she could see. “Yeah, I get it. What about the next things?”

“Well, this whole assist program I suppose could help keep you alive in theory, as long as you’re in a settled system. But, it would be expensive to use, and if you’re doing something less than legal, you probably don’t want to be calling in Myrmidon-branded help. You could make some money doing it for others, but the nature of the thing means you’re pretty much guaranteed to be going into danger, and you won’t know how much of it. I don’t know that I would use it in your shoes, but I don’t see any actual problems in the contract. Maybe just that Myrmidon takes a fee for using it, but that’s it.”

As Senjen was not terribly interested in the assist program, he just moved on from there. “What about privacy? I don’t really want Myrmidon spying on me.”

Jess laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. I scanned it pretty thoroughly for that. The point of concern I found for them potentially collecting audio, visual, or location information is in ‘diagnostics’ data that gets sent to the company, as well as with the add-on services.”

“Is there any way to get out of that?”

“If you opt-out, it voids the warranty.”

“What does that get me, even? Can I still get my body repaired myself?”

“That also voids the warranty.”

Senjen crossed his arms. “Maybe I don’t need the warranty.”

“Maybe you don’t.” Jess said, looking over at him. “Since you’re not interested in advertising, the last thing is just the work placements. Basically a job board for limited, fixed-term roles. It’s work. Pay is average, nothing special. I guess you have the option, if you need it. Just make sure that if you accept one, you’re ready to commit and see it through. Don’t want to be penalized for failing your obligations.”

Senjen nodded and, after a few, long moments of silent thought, stood up to his feet. “Okay, alright, I think I’ll be ready. I’ve got notes, I’ve got a plan, just need to...wait until tomorrow. And try not to think about it too much tonight.”

“Yeah, well, at least my job is done.” Jess answered. With something of a relieved sigh, she put away all of the documentation and sent a message to Light and Ruknar both letting them know they were done with all of the contract business.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“It’s no small payday.” Jess answered. “It depends on how many units there are, and if all of them are undamaged, but if the shipment is average and intact, then your cut will probably be somewhere around eight hundred thirty million, give or take a bit. Each. It might not buy that fancy suit in there on its own, but it’s a decent chunk out of it. The bigger point, though, is that this proves our worth to my contacts. Building that connection gets us access to goods you ain’t going to find on the open market, and more jobs. This is a bigger score than most would probably be, but still, it’s regular access to better paying work.”

Jess rubbed the back of her neck. “Tomorrow can work, but I’ve got some prep work to do on my end. We’ll probably leave late. Sen is going to need to go deal with Myrmidon anyway. Now, I have to spend the next few hours reading a stupid contract. We might still have time for that club, depending on how hard it is to get through. Wish he could just read his own contract, but...to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having him with an upgraded body for this job. My ass is going to be on the line too, so a better bodyguard is worth some reading.”