Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 5. Chapter 5 - Healing

Stawren and Lyoth were staring at the biomechanical jellyfish.

“This, I’ve got to see!” she declared to him.

“Please, come this way,” one of the medical technicians requested. The man helped Lyoth remove the bandage from his shoulder and added, “Please, lie down on the hover-bed.”

Another medic stepped up to Stawren. “Would you like to take a seat over here?” he offered, waving her toward a small table to one side of the room.

“Thanks,” she replied as Lyoth stretched out on the bed. It slid under the robotic animal, which reached its wispy limbs to Lyoth’s injury. He winced as they came into contact with his open flesh, but he looked up in surprise. “It doesn’t hurt!”

A few of the technicians smiled and nodded. “The process takes time,” one of them informed Lyoth. “Also, you may experience some side effects. Most people enjoy them, but occasionally someone undergoes healing and doesn’t like the sparkle; that’s what we call it. You’ll see why.”

“I don’t feel anything unpleasant,” Lyoth said. He was very relaxed, more relaxed than he remembered feeling in a long time. “Thisss isss niiiice…” he slurred. He grinned at what appeared to be nothing.

The medic turned to Stawren with a satisfied expression and said, “He’s seeing some happy hallucinations,” and Stawren laughed. “You are free to stay here,” the man continued, “but the process will take a little while. Whenever you’d like some refreshments, I can have another team member lead you to the local eatery. It’s not far, down on a lower level.”

Stawren turned to the technician. “Actually, yeah, thanks, I could go for a snack.”

“Your companion will not need to eat again for more than a day,” the medic informed Stawren. “The Medusozoa is flooding his body with nanotized nutrients as it removes his damaged tissue. The nutrients are then used by the Medusozoa to weave an organic matrix of healthy cells from his own body.” The man led Stawren to the computer, and he paged someone to take her. “Right over here,” he concluded, and he opened a door.

Behind it, standing in the hallway, was a very peculiar being. Its flesh shimmered and was the color of amethyst.

“Oh, wow!” Stawren said at the sight. “Are you a Diliop?”

I am indeed, said a voice in Stawren’s head. My name is Eleemin.

“I’m Stawren,” she replied aloud. “It’s so smashing to meet you, Eleemin! And it really is such a pleasure to meet a Diliop!”

Stawren, I’m so happy to make your acquaintance, Eleemin continued in her mind. Please be careful not to step on my limbs.

Stawren lowered her eyes to her feet. “I shall,” she informed her companion with a smile.

The physiological makeup of the Diliop people is very unique among the sentient species in the universe. Diliops are invertebrates, and they are in some ways reminiscent of cephalopods. Standing about six feet tall when fully grown, adult Diliop bodies are columnar, with the same girth from top to bottom. Their bodies do not possess humanoid bilateral symmetry; they are armless and legless, but beneath the purple cylinder that comprises the majority of every Diliop, multiple tentacles stretch out along the ground. Their many limbs help them stay upright and allow them to move. Diliops do not have heads, and instead, a smooth mound crowns their frames. They are also faceless, but a ring of as many as twenty eyes circle each individual about two thirds of the way up their bodies allowing them to see in all directions at once. They do not possess the ability to speak, but their psychic capabilities are wondrous.

It is so nice to have a visitor, Eleemin said as they headed down a hallway toward another doorway. We haven’t welcomed anyone new to the system in ages!

“It is delightful to be here,” Stawren replied. “Sorry,” she added, “but I have to ask, how old are you?”

Eleemin laughed and it felt like fluttering birds in Stawren’s head. He understood why she was asking. I hatched from my protoplasmic membrane almost two-hundred-seventy years ago, but before my sentient stage, I was a paralarva for over thirteen-hundred years. Most of us Diliop only count our age from when we gained sentience, but technically I’ve been alive for more than fifteen-hundred years.

Stawren gawked at Eleemin. “That’s mindboggling!”

Eleemin let out another psychic chuckle that tickled Stawren’s brain. My people don’t think of age in the same way as most species. Technically I’m young according to Diliops. Eleemin then added, This is it.

The two of them stopped walking, and one of Eleemin’s limbs lifted from the floor and pointed like a long finger.

Please, step through the portal.

Stawren was confused. “Portal?”

Yes, Eleemin replied, the portal will transport you to the eatery.

“But it’s just a door to an empty room,” Stawren said. “Wait a second,” she added as she noticed a rippling in the air around the wood of the frame. “I see it! It looks like liquid.” She stuck her hand through the portal, and it appeared to Stawren that her hand was submerged in water, but when she withdrew it, her fingers were dry. “Okay,” she conceded, and she stepped through.

Stawren experienced nothing. There was no whoosh, no feeling of falling, not even a subtle sensation of being drawn forward. It simply felt like she had stepped from one room into another, walking through nothing more than air, but she suddenly found herself in the center of a quiet courtyard with several tables and shade awnings.

Quite a few people were there, chatting and eating together, but as they began to notice Stawren, they all fell silent and stared.

Stawren felt like an exposed nerve as she looked around the courtyard at all of them.

“Who are you?” someone finally asked.

“Erm… I’m Stawren.”

Another person chimed in, “Where did you come from?”

“Most recently… Allthrin.”

“But what are you doing here?” asked a woman.

“And how did you find Aergoroth?” added a man.

Stawren was feeling a little more than uncomfortable, and she wished that she had stayed with Lyoth.

“Hey!” a wrinkly older woman squawked at the others. “Lay off her, will ya?!” She rose from one of the tables. “Come, child. You hungry?”

Stawren looked around at everyone again, but she focused on the woman and nodded.

“I’m Ogdia,” she informed Stawren with a kind smile. She did not pester Stawren with any questions, and added, “I guess I should say, welcome to Aergoroth.”

“Thank you,” Stawren replied in a mumble. She could still feel the others’ eyes on her.

“I’ve been enjoying a bowl of cabbage and sausage soup,” Ogdia told Stawren, “and I heartily recommend that you have some as well. Right over this way.” She led Stawren to an automated station. “Just punch in your request here,” she said, pointing at a digital panel and hitting one of the buttons, “and your food comes out there.” A small window in the wall opened and a bowl of soup was waiting. “Grab it and come sit with me.”

Stawren obeyed and joined Ogdia at the table where the woman had been sitting. There were several other people at the table.

“This is Stawren,” Ogdia said, and she added in a dismissive tone, “and Stawren, this is all of them.” She immediately ignored everyone else. “Go on and indulge yourself,” Ogdia urged, “have a bite.”

Stawren tried not to stare at the others, who were all staring at her, and she dipped her spoon into the steaming bowl. She took a bite. “This is good, really good.”

Ogdia grinned.

A little boy walked up to Stawren and tapped her elbow. She turned and looked down at him.

“You’re new!” he squeaked.

Stawren swallowed and replied, “Yes, I am.”

“No one’s ever come here before in a long time! How’d you get here?” The boy’s eyes were bright and clever.

“That’s right,” Ogdia confirmed. “It’s been a long time since our last visitors.”

Stawren looked from the child to the older woman and back to the boy. “My father’s from Allthrin,” she began, “and while I was there looking for gear, a friend of mine found your system recorded in some science files from like twenty years ago.” Stawren shifted her gaze to the others around the eatery. “We came here looking for help.”

“There are more of you?!” the boy asked excitedly. “There’s somebody else?”

“Yes,” Stawren replied, “but my companion was hurt, and the Meduso-thing is helping him.”

“Medusozoa,” the child clarified for Stawren, and he continued. “I’m sorry your friend was hurt. Are you two gonna stay here with us on Pilia from now on?”

Stawren glanced at Ogdia for confirmation. “Pilia, is that the name of the planet we’re on right now?”

Ogdia nodded with a smile, and the boy said, “Yes, silly! This is Pilia. The other two planets are called Gartrio and Xecot.”

“We saw all three of them,” Stawren replied, “as we made it through the nebula.”

“Pilia is where all of us people live,” the child continued with confidence. “Gartrio is the one that’s locked, and Xecot is the science workspace.”

Stawren looked to Ogdia again. “And the planets are unnatural bodies, right?”

She nodded and the boy confirmed Stawren’s assumption. “Right! They’re all big machines.”

Stawren chuckled at him. “What’s your name, kid? And what did you mean by locked?”

“This is Roovin,” Ogdia said, pulling the boy close and scooping him up to sit on her lap. “Gartrio is tidally locked,” the woman explained to Stawren. “The machines on the surface of the planet syphon energy from our mech-star. Gartrio processes the absorption through its core and expels a gaseous matrix that comprises our nebula’s protective shell.”

“So, they’re really not planets,” Stawren marveled. “How were they constructed?”

Ogdia chuckled. “Pilia, Gartrio, and Xecot are planets, but yes, all of the Aergoroth Nebula was constructed. The three planets are cosmic machines. Our sun is the largest void-generator in the universe. And like I said, even the cloud around us is not natural.”

Stawren was puzzled. “How’s this even possible? Your star’s a power station?”

“That’s right, but it’s a void-generator, not a power station. They don’t create their own power; they transfer it into our universe from the inversiverse.”

“The what? What’s the inversiverse?” Stawren asked, scrunching up her face at the word’s awkward pronunciation.

Ogdia explained. “The inversiverse is the name we’ve given to the hyperspace dimension. It’s been very difficult to study, but we’ve learned that its universal laws are unique and unlike those which exist in this universe. The void-generator withdraws raw energies from the inversiverse and focuses them. Our planet, Gartrio, refines the focused energy and converts it into usable power. The nebula cloud surrounding this system is continuously replenished by the byproduct of the conversion process; we utilize the harsh gases and particles to hide ourselves.”

“But why haven’t you shared your advancements with the rest of the universe?” Stawren asked. “Wouldn’t the things you all have created help the rest of us?”

Ogdia frowned. “We realized that if our creations were shared, like the design for our planet Gartrio for example, smaller versions could be constructed and used as weapons. The process of converting the energy into power creates such vast levels that it could be used to destroy entire planetary systems. Also, it’s not a clean conversion process. The gas and dust byproduct is virulent and needs to be disposed of or used; there’s no way to produce the energy without massive amounts of waste material. We utilize it for our nebula, but if it’s not properly dealt with, the byproduct all on its own is also a system killer.”

Stawren finished eating her soup while Ogdia talked. When the bowl was empty, Roovin hopped down from the woman’s lap and stepped up to Stawren.

“Dirty dishes go over here,” he declared, pointing at something behind her.

“That’s right, Roovin,” Ogdia confirmed.

Stawren turned in her seat. She expected to see some sort of advanced dish-cleaning system, or at least a machine of some kind, or even anything at all, but there was only a bin filled with soapy water. Stawren laughed out loud. “Lead the way, kid,” she said, standing from the table and picking up her bowl. She smiled to herself at calling Roovin the simple term of endearment that Neptithia almost always used for her. Stawren stuck her dish into the bin, and a thought struck her. She looked at Ogdia. “Are you one of the scientists who decided to stay here when the nebula was set up to hide this system, part of the Consortium of Light and Darkness?”

“I am. All of us are,” Ogdia added, waving at the other people in the eatery. Most of them were still silent and staring at Stawren.

She looked down at Roovin. “And what about you, kid?”

“Roovin was born here.”

“Yes, I was,” he confirmed. “I live with my mommy and daddies in the Nest.”

Stawren shot an inquisitive glance at Ogdia, who said, “The Nest is one of our living complexes on the opposite side of the planet.”

“Yup, that’s where I live.”

Stawren turned back to Roovin. “And you have one mommy and two daddies?”

“That’s right!” he declared.

“Very cool. My dad was with my mom, and they had me,” Stawren explained, “but my mom passed away when I was a teenager, and my dad ended up falling in love with this gorgeous drag queen named Perk Elation. My dad runs a drag club.”

Roovin was excited to respond. “I know about drag queens! My mommy Clatha was a drag queen first, and now she’s a glamorous lady. She and my daddy Lono were in a drag family when they had me.” The boy beamed as he told Stawren about his parents. “Daddy Lono was a drag king, but when mommy decided to be a lady all the time, my daddy decided to be a man all the time.”

Stawren was nonplussed. “Cute! I’d love to meet them. And tell me about your other daddy.”

“Daddy Igga,” Roovin stated, “my mommy and other daddy married him when I was four years old.” He held up four of his little fingers.

“And how old are you now?” Stawren asked.

Roovin grinned. “Seven and a half years old.”

“Your family sounds lovely!” Stawren declared.

Roovin suddenly focused on something behind her again. “Is that your friend?” he asked, pointing past her. “I don’t know him. Is he your husband?”

Stawren turned and laughed. “Yes, Roovin, that’s my friend, but he’s not my husband. Lyoth!” she called out. “How are you feeling?”

He rubbed his shoulder where the wound had been. “I feel incredible.”

Stawren turned to Ogdia and Roovin with a smile and said, “This is Lyoth.”