Chapter Nine

“How are you feeling?” Zafir asked as we got comfortable in a plusher corner of the mess hall, him taking up a seat on the sofa, and me picking out a recliner. When I gave him a questioning look, he smiled and clarified, “Your arm and shoulder.”

“Oh. Still no feeling from the shoulder down. It’s really…strange.” I nudged off my slippers and pulled my legs up onto the chair.

Zafir sighed and scribbled something on his data pad. “I wish they would listen to my warnings. Such strong doses are liable to do more harm than good. You have interesting abilities, yes, but that doesn’t mean you need deadly-to-humans degrees of dosages.”

“I don’t blame them, considering how much tranquilizer they had to use to subdue me after the Resonance Incident,” I stated. Zafir frowned slightly as he swiped through the records.

“That…should have killed you,” Zafir murmured after a moment. “I see here that large doses are their norm with you. They’ve never tried smaller… Honestly. I must wonder if your persistent amnesia is due to the stress these dosages put you under…”

“Who knows. I’m not exactly worried about recovering my memories. Anyone I knew is dead.” I shook my head.

“You don’t wish to remember the dead?” Zafir frowned.

“I don’t particularly see a point in remembering or mourning people who have already moved on to reincarnation,” I countered with a shrug.

“Reincarnation? Have you been hanging around other alien races too?” Zafir gave me a lopsided smile.

“Huh?”

“Elara, humans don’t believe in reincarnation or life after death. If the— If we did, then we never would have pursued ways in which we could upload our consciousness to virtual reality and later to new bodies.” Zafir shook his head faintly. “Reupload to a body may only be available to those who can afford it, but it is still common practice. On the other hand, there are still species who live out their lives…mostly naturally.

“Then there are the Syldrari. To our knowledge they live forever—or until they die in battle or grow too bored. I can’t say I know their beliefs on the ‘afterlife.’”

“Uh huh…but reincarnation makes sense. Our energy has to go somewhere when we die—and reuploading a consciousness is essentially synthetic reincarnation.” I leaned forward in my seat. “Besides, if—”

“Our bosses would be very upset with you for calling it that,” Zafir remarked with a lopsided smile, before glancing somewhere behind me. He lowered his voice, “The others are back, and it appears Calder, Maelor, and Amara are joining us. Further discussions will have to wait. They’re not privy to…most of what we need to discuss.”

“Fine.” I sat back and crossed my arms.

“The Syldrari Sector is so cool!” Sarah called from somewhere behind me, followed by the sound of several large boxes being placed on a table—and Zafir’s dubious expression. “Mr. Rel is so nice! We have food for everyone here. He said Elara’s is more ‘challenging’ but the rest is entry level. Come on, you two! Sit at the table with the rest of us!”

I bit back a groan and let Zafir help me to my feet.

“Here you go, Professor. The reports you asked for.” Amara plopped a stack of folders down at Zafir’s seat. “I didn’t peek, promise.”

“They threatened you, I take it?” Zafir walked over to his own chair once I was situated. He grimaced when she nodded in reply. “I am sorry for that, Amara.”

“So, you gonna explain what Elara did to subdue that chick downstairs?” Maelor crossed his arms.

“You saw that?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We saw it on Amara’s monitors, but we also felt it.” Calder shook his head, turning his attention to Zafir. “You said she’s got more control of her feral, but whatever that was didn’t feel like a feral. It felt like some other kind of power.”

“It will require more study,” Zafir answered dryly. “She stated that it is the same manner her attacker subdued her—she merely mimicked it.”

“Merely, he says.” Amara rolled her eyes.

“Well, whatever. We brought the food, Sarah and I got to see the Syldrari Sector for the first time, and it sounds like you guys weren’t bored either. Win-win?” Nikolai shrugged, hands in pockets, and dropped heavily into a seat. “These Syldrari are way nicer than I ever heard of. Why is the empire so scared of them? On the list of ‘scary looking aliens’ they’re at the bottom for me.”

“Well…” Zafir sighed. “Simply put, Syldrari are so much more advanced that the empire sees them as a threat automatically.”

“But they’re so artsy. What are they gonna do, murder us with a paintbrush?” Sarah asked sarcastically.

“Their planet sounds dangerous. I’m sure those hunting and self-preservation skills are what translate into their ability to destroy a human if they need to,” I pointed out thoughtfully. “But enough of that. I’m hungry and all this smells good. Which one is mine?”

“Oh, these,” Sarah stated, pulling a good twelve boxes along the table to me. She stopped beside me and nudged me with her knee, drawing my attention down to an envelope in her hand. Unfamiliar handwriting scrawled across it, spelling out, ‘Elara.’ “So, when I told Rel that you’re super hungry, he kinda just smirked and said he had an idea. We ended up with all this for you, and all the other ones to cover the rest of us. Let me know if you need help with anything? you can’t cut up your food while in a sling.”

While Sarah talked, I took the envelope and snuck it into my robe while no one was looking. I reached out and pulled the lid off one box, revealing a cut of the blue meat Syldrari seemed quite fond of.

“Whoa, that color!” Maelor balked.

“It’s basically steak,” I stated, glancing over at him. “I’ve noticed most of the meat they utilize bleeds blue.”

“Copper instead of iron,” Zafir murmured absentmindedly while he read his reports, though he must have sensed us all turning to look at him. “Ah…there are some creatures native to our own planet who bleed blue too. It is usually due to copper content being higher than iron. That may explain the Syldrari and their fare.”

“The Syldrari too?” Sarah asked.

“Yes. You may recall that the university I studied at predated the empire’s current levels of paranoia. One of my Syldrari classmates broke a beaker and cut his hand on the glass—blue everywhere.” Zafir stroked his chin in thought. “The empire has tried to replicate the diet and atmosphere of the Syldrari home planet before to create super soldiers. They’re quite desperate to surpass the species. There’s rumors they’ve even attempted to replace someone’s blood with that of a Syldrari before.”

“Not at the table!” Sarah whacked Zafir with a stack of napkins. “Time for relaxation, not work and nauseating theories.”

“Ah…fine…” Zafir sighed.

“So, uh…” Maelor stared blankly at the many boxes of food left for them to open. “Help?”

“Um, let’s see…” Sarah pulled crumpled paper out of one pocket and skimmed it a few times. After, she stacked five boxes in front of each remaining person. “There. He even wrote on the boxes for us what box is for what part of the meal. Rel is seriously nice!”

“Syldrari hospitality—” Zafir started.

“Come on, man, it’s too early for lectures!” Maelor shook his head hard.

“…I wanted to hear about it.” I pouted while rummaging through more of my boxes. “You know, I’m starting to think the thing challenging about my food is the quantity.”

“Mmm?” Sarah glanced over, mid-bite on a piece of bread. “…maybe he wanted you to have enough for later?”

“It is…an odd amount of hospitality…” Zafir murmured, walking over to get a better look at my boxes. “It’s more a meal fit for…a… Hmmm.” Zafir fell silent and nudged his glasses absentmindedly, though I noticed his attention drifted to my dumpling-looking-things a few times.

“You want one? I can’t eat fifteen by myself.” I pointed at the dumplings.

“Ah…” Zafir looked surprisingly conflicted for a moment, then gave me a sheepish smile. “Please.”

I handed Zafir a dumpling and watched him return to his seat. He didn’t so much as hesitate before biting into it. I shot him an amused look, “I take it you also grew ‘used to’ their food while you were attending this odd university of yours?”

“Ah…yes.” Zafir shot me a wary look. “Part of our activities was cooking and sharing traditional foods among the student body, to promote cultural understanding and friendship.”

“So, this must be what, your fourth or fifth body?” Calder asked bluntly. “I can’t imagine the empire supporting that any time recently.”

“…something like that,” Zafir answered with a mysterious smile. I wasn’t buying it, but I wasn’t ready to pry yet either.

“Alright, this isn’t half bad…” Nikolai muttered from nearby—that surprised me. “It’s kinda spicy though. He said they usually put how much seasoning on this, Sarah?”

“Uhm, like five cups for the whole cut of meat, I think?” Sarah tilted her head in thought. “Granted, what we have here is like 1/4 of the thing he showed us. I’m glad he was willing to chop off part to make a milder version for us.”

“Syldrari like their food strong,” Zafir remarked. “I’m uncertain if it’s a similar phenomenon to fluid shift in early space travelers, or if perhaps it’s something more permanent to their physiology, but most humans can’t handle the strong flavors—let alone taste them right.”

Sarah was silent for a moment, then pointed down at the potato-things on her plate and looked at me. “These taste kinda like potatoes with butter, lemon, salt, and pepper. Right?”

“Mmm…” I snatched one with my fork. “Wow when you said mild…”

“Huh?” She promptly stole one of my potatoes. “Holy flavor overload! How can you eat that so casually?!”

“How indeed…” Zafir murmured, rubbing his chin.

“So, how was the Syldrari Sector?” I asked, picking up a slice of pale pink bread in my working hand.

“Oh! Once we told them we’re friends with you, they were all really nice to us. They were super wary at first.” Sarah shook her head slightly. “A few helped carry all the food back to our vehicle, and this really nice lady gave us free candy to try.”

So, every single Resonance Incident survivor here is fine with Syldrari food… I peered around the table, noting everyone was happily chowing down. “Prof…Doc… Fuck it. Zafir. We should see what that captive thinks of this food.”

Zafir shot me a smile. “I have several doctorates and I have taught in universities. Call me whatever you like. Zafir is fine as well.

“You want to determine if this oddity is due to the Resonance? I am in agreement. Usually it takes months for humans to grow accustomed to even mild Syldrari food. Something interesting must be different about you all.”

“I’ll make a plate for her. I can’t eat all this.” Sarah volunteered, and that was that.

I fell back into silence to enjoy my mountain of food, eating around half of everything before finally going for dessert. Once finished, I went to excuse myself so I could read Rel’s letter, but Zafir stopped me.

“I want you to spend the day teaching Calder, Nikolai, and Maelor methods for controlling the feral,” Zafir informed me. “Our bosses are growing ever more inclined to send them out on missions before they’re ready.”

“Alright…” I turned to look at the three men. “Are you done? Good. Let’s go then.”

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