EliteCommander

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

“Oh...oh yeah!” Senjen remarked. Light’s suit was one that stood out among a crowd, though Senjen still had not noticed them at all until Ruk had pointed them out. “Let’s hurry and get another boat before they get too far away!” He took her hand to encourage her to hurry along with him to catch up with the others. Although, trying to rush just ended up with him stumbling. At the very least, he had the courtesy to let go of her before falling flat on his face.

Senjen did not get up quickly. In fact, he did not stand back up at all, but rather took a stance on all-fours. It was just as natural of a way for Utaysi to move, and far more stable than trying to stand in his current condition. The sound of him hitting the ground was deep, heavy, and for those with the presence of mind to think about it, a reminder of the fact that he was fairly heavy. He would sink a crowded boat.

Price of Life (EliteCommander and Cath)

Senjen was relieved to have found Ruknar again. He did not want to be alone here at any point, but it made him even more glad to have run into her again. Even if that was more literal than he had intended. “Oh, good, I didn’t know...couldn’t find you for a second. There was this whole maze, and monsters, and I think some Humans were trying to eat each other’s faces. I think...I think you started a trend? I don’t know, but I found you, so...that’s good.” For some reason, Senjen got it into his head to try and put the feather he had been carrying around right back from where he had plucked it.

Bringing himself more into the moment, Senjen could not quite wrap his head around what he was looking at. His scrambled senses did not completely stop him from understanding his surroundings. He still knew they were in a club, consciously, which was hard to reconcile with what he was actually seeing. “Huh?” He began, staring off in the same direction as Ruk. “A hologram, or...I guess?”

“Can we go up there? It’s so strange, but it’s so far away.” Senjen questioned. Most would not be able to tell, but Ruk could have an inkling that he was mildly afraid. “Or maybe the lake?”

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?”