Chapter 10 - Talis

Quin walked into the sparring room. There was a sort of conviction in his eyes.

“It doesn’t look like you’re here to tell me you give up,” said Seil.

“Nope,” responded Quin, candidly.

“Very well.”

Quin put on his blindfold, assumed a fighting stance. He was completely prepared for this.

Seil put his finger to the string, and plucked it once. A sound filled the room, but this time, it wasn’t so ear-piercing to Quin.

This time, he had gathered his aura in his inner ear canal, strengthening the organ severalfold. It wasn’t a melody to be certain, but it was tolerable to Quin. 

Quin could see the image of Seil’s Arima clearly and went to take a step toward it, but still, he fell over.

The vibrations were also battering his brain. He could not move his body properly without putting a stop to that. Quin understood that he wouldn’t get it right the first try, so he was prepared for this.

He called forth more Arima radiation, and coated the inside of his head with it. He stood himself up off the ground.

“How do you like that?” said Quin, only to realize there was no sound coming out of his mouth.

He walked toward Seil once more, and Seil strummed his instrument. Quin was unbothered by the sound mentally, but still, he stopped in his tracks and knelt to the ground.

This time, the issue was the most load-bearing part of the Human body – the lumbar spine. It’s the body’s only means of transferring force from the lower half of the body to the upper half and vice-versa. If the lumbar spine is injured or is under too much stress, regular movement becomes impossible.

Quin was able to think clearly about this now that the sound didn’t disturb his thoughts. He allowed himself this moment of amazement at how well this technique had worked.

He stood up through the sound and brought forth more of his aura, filling his lower back with it.

He charged at Seil, who strummed his instrument again. Quin faltered slightly, but he kept moving. He was finally within an arm's length of him. He smirked.

He held out his hand and tried to take the instrument from him, but Seil leapt back.

“Did you think I’d just stand there and let you do that?” he taunted as he plucked the string again.

Quin pressed on to Seil’s position, walking slowly, and as the sound subsided, he moved his aura from his lower back down to his legs. Once the sound completely faded, he made one big leap at Seil, grabbing his arm before he could move to play the instrument.

He held his arm up into the air, his smirk grew a little wider.

“I noticed that you were playing it rhythmically for me,” said Quin, “Are you sure that you should’ve given me such a huge opening at every turn?”

“It’s not like I can just keep playing it over and over again, it gets pretty tiresome,” Seil smiled and closed his eyes, “Alright, I admit defeat. You pass.”

Quin released Seil’s arm. He sprawled out on the floor.

“Finally,” he exhaled.

“Congratulations. You now know the method of counteracting a study,” Seil said with a grin.

“Is that really it?”

“I mean, it’s not universally the same, but really all you have to do is reinforce the affected area. Eventually, you’ll be able to do it around your whole body, though it’s not as efficient as targeting one area or another.”

Suddenly, the door burst open. Vaichehen stood in the doorway.

“We’re in the Mosar system. Talis is just around the corner,” he said, “You should get ready to move.”

“Perfect timing,” responded Seil, “We were just finishing up here.”

“And?” asked Vaichehen.

“Teek was right… he’s terrifying.”

Quin sat silent.

“I see. Anyhow, pack whatever you want to bring out with you.”

**

Talis was visible from the cockpit. All six members of the squad looked out the window.

Mosar, the star that Talis was orbiting, was light-blue in color.

Clouds covered most of the planet, but what could be seen through the cracks was blue water in the seas and violet vegetation covering the mountainous land. On the dark side of the planet, city lights shone through the clouds.

Quin had seen pictures of the planet, but it was truly a spectacle to behold up close. He grinned at the sight.

“We’re here, boys,” said Fenres.

“Yeah, I’m out,” said Teek, sneaking off to the living room before the idea of the ground became palpable as they approached the atmosphere.

Chugol spoke to someone over the radio, “This is Squad Fenres. Are we clear?”

There were some indistinct mutterings emitted from his headset.

“Alright, we’re going in.”

The ship cut effortlessly through Talis' atmosphere, assisted by its high rigidity and finely-honed aerodynamics.

As they descended through the clouds, it became clear that their composition was much thinner than it appeared from a distance.

They descended down further, eventually reaching the starport. Chugol landed the ship with precision and grace. The ramp on the underside of the ship opened, and the crew walked out.

“So this is Talis,” said Quin, staring out into his surroundings. 

The air was hot and humid. The gravity was around fifty percent stronger than it was on earth, but that didn’t bother Quin much. Rays of light shone through the thin clouds, even through the parts of the sky that were completely covered. 

The light coming off of Mosar was oppressive, even given the distance from the star and the near ninety-five percent cloud coverage on any given day. The plants of Talis being purple and the thick manes of the Veetans could be attributed to evolutionary adaptations geared toward staving off the malicious rays of light present on the planet.

Walking around the spaceport, there were plenty of Veetans with varying ear shapes, hair colors, skin tones and tails — some with little-to-no tails at all. There were even some non-Veetans present at the port, but they were far and few between.

One Veetan stood on a watchtower and waved a flag, and another one pushed a button on a control console. Several giant poles slowly came up out of the ground, and myriads of blurs shot out of them into the sky. They were out of sight in an instant. Rather than simply being aerodynamic, it was more like they didn’t interact with the air at all. There was no sonic-boom.

Anyone seeing this for the first time would likely be shocked, but most had seen the interstellar-neurons get fired off.

These interstellar-neurons, of which several billion circulate the galaxy at any given moment, are how data is transferred from system to system. These tiny objects, no more than a meter in diameter, are launched off at sixty percent of the speed of light, whereas most vessels could barely cross ten percent physically. Paired with a sail system installed in each one, this allows them to cross the galaxy in less than a month.

They ride the currents in predesignated paths, transferring information to other neurons and vessels their entire way through and only stopping to refuel at the end of their journey. They also map out the behavior of the currents that they ride, some of them being designated entirely to exploring new currents.

They never collide with other objects.

“Alright, let’s get a move on, guys,” said Fenres.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Chugol affirmed.

They made their way out of the port with their luggage in tow. Quin was quite unsettled by the idea of carrying so many weapons out of a spaceport, but as Rangers, they were pre-approved to bring whatever they wanted anywhere in the galaxy.

They got on an empty tram and began moving towards the city.

“So do we wanna call a taxi or what?” asked Teek.

“Hmm,” Seil scratched his head, “Well, it’s Quin’s first time here, let’s just walk! It’s not too far, anyhow.”

“Sounds good,” said Chugol.

“You guys do what you want,” Vaichehen said as he was already requesting a cab for himself on his mod.

After not too long, they reached the city. The crew deboarded the tram.

The city was very populous. Unlike the starport, this place was teeming with various races. People were walking their pets of all shapes and sizes. 

The buildings were square for the most part, but they had rounded, white roofs. Most of them didn’t exceed twenty stories, but there were a few skyscrapers scattered about. Historically, Talis' buildings were kept relatively stout to avoid collapse from the planet's gravity and frequent earthquakes.

Vaichehen’s taxi arrived. It had no wheels, and was suspended in the air by a propulsion system underneath. Vaichehen opened the door.

“You got the right address, right?” asked Fenres.

“Yeah. I’ll meet you guys at the hotel,” he replied.

He boarded the vehicle and off it went.

Since they had so much luggage to carry, Fenres rented out a large, square, floating platform. They placed their bags onto it, and it followed the group wherever they walked.

Walking through the town, it was busy everywhere they went.  It became clear that this was a tourist area. There were stalls selling all sorts of things; one was even selling graphic tees with a picture of Earth on them with the text “Arkipeligo” on it. The standard translation system didn’t account for attempting to write a foreign script directly, so spelling mistakes were common.

There were murmurs from the crowds in the street as Fenres Squad walked past.

“Is that Fenres?” a man said.

“Eek!” a young woman exclaimed excitedly, “He’s got a Human with him this time!”

“Hehe. Looks like that troublemaking-Ranger finally brought back something good,” an old woman said.

“Could he be the hero of Gaia?”

Quin gritted his teeth at the remarks and looked down at the ground as they continued walking.

“So what do you think of this place?” asked Fenres.

Quin’s focus returned as he responded, “I don’t know… it seems to be lacking something.”

“Hmm…” Fenres hesitated, “If that’s what you believe, you’re probably right.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Quin spotted a Veetan woman standing outside of a bar, glaring at him with sharp eyes.

Quin looked back at her as he walked. 

Her stare turned into a grimace, and she turned around and entered the bar, slamming the door behind her.

Quin looked back to the ground, when suddenly, he felt a hand slap his back.

“Pay it no mind, Quin,” said Seil with a grin, “Those types are everywhere.”

“Yeah…”