Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ARAR-X012 stood in front of the airlock after sealing her helmet.

“Engineering, ready for EVA.”

The reply comes with a hint of static over the spacesuit’s onboard radio. “Copy that, Zwölf, beginning decompression.”

A series of light mechanical clicks echoed as vents began removing the atmosphere from the airlock. Zwölf rubbed her now bulky and stiff hands together in anticipation, a light smile creeping up on her lips.

“Decompression complete, disengaging grav field.”

Zwölf gently lifted her heels, and the momentum slowly lifted her from the ground. She closed her eyes and briefly enjoyed the sensation of weightlessness to herself before the radio flickered on again.

“Zwölf, your mag boots aren’t engaged, is there a problem?”

Her eyes re-opened and she sighed. “Not at all,” she replied, engaging her suit’s magnetic soles, which brought her back down to the floor with a soft, vibrating thud travelling up her body.

“Copy, now opening outer airlock.”

The intricate locks of the two-hinged airlock click open, and the doors swing open. Immediately in her view was Heimat's soft, yellow glow, along with a collection of other satellites orbiting the grand moon. As she stepped out of the airlock and rounded a corner to stand on the space station's exterior, she saw Ziu’s amber hue and its ring behind the moon, with the two celestial bodies framed by the endless starry space surrounding them.

She paused for a moment and breathed slowly. She held out her hand as if to grab the gigantic gas giant, but instead merely pinched it, chuckling to herself at the absurdity of it all.

Out here, the world didn’t seem so massive.

“Zwölf, you’ve got a communications antenna to fix, otherwise we won’t be able to request those biscuits you like so much on the next shipment.”

She nodded and began walking toward the bent antenna. It had been struck by a piece of astral debris the previous Cycle, and she was the only engineer aboard rated to perform repairs during a spacewalk.

Upon reaching the base of the antenna, she attached her tether to a hook and sized up the tall instrument.

“You’re going to have to carefully climb up, Zwölf.”

Zwölf smiled. “I’ve got a better idea.”

She disengaged her mag boots and kicked off the ground, floating herself up the long antenna until she reached the damage component, where she grabbed a sturdy piece of wiring and halted her momentum.

“...Don’t ever do that again, Zwölf.”

“But it was cool, right?”

“...”

After a short sigh, a soothing violin solo began to play out of her radio receiver.

“Time to get to work.”

She already had her wrench in hand, and began loosening the bolts holding the electrical wiring plate shut.

“With pleasure.”

Chapter Text

Because of their bioresonant linking, Kolibri do not need to talk amongst each other, so when one of them did bother to communicate verbally, it drew everyone’s attention over.

“What is this filth?” Kolibri S2304 complained after spitting out a mist of liquid.

Kolibri S2305 sitting on one of the armchairs in the study lowered her book and looked at 4. {It’s tea, isn’t it?}

S2304 frowned and raised her eyebrow at 5 as she tilted her cup just enough for her to see the contents. {This is not tea, this is nothing more than… hot leaf juice!}

S2302, who was not in the study, but instead on the 3rd floor monitoring the worker’s quarter replied, {That’s all tea is, idiot.}

{What about herbal teas like ginseng?} S2307 added, being relatively nearby in the library collecting books to read.

{Those aren’t real teas!} S2304 barked back. She angrily put her cup down and walked back over to the teapot, opening the lid to find even more of the offensive liquid in question. {But this is even less tea than that! It’s like someone steeped lawnmower clippings into this pot!}

“Wait, how would you know that?” S2305 asked, continuing through her thoughts. {None of us have even seen a lawnmower before?}

{Good point,} S2307 added.

“Look, I…” S2304 glared hard at her companion in the study. {I just know, alright? It came naturally!}

She then picked up the teapot and carried it into the bathrooms for a sink, but as she approached the counter, a new voice thundered in her mind. {Don’t you dare fucking flush my matcha!}

{This is for your own good,} S2304 replied, and she started pouring the liquid down the drain even as the sound of rampaging hoofsteps approached her from behind.

“I spent an entire week’s pay ordering that blend!” S2301 shouted as she entered the bathroom.

S2304 didn’t look back but replied, “Then you wasted your money!”

S2301 saw 4 tipping the pot into the sink and ran over to manhandle her, managing to pry the teapot out of her hands, whereupon it fell mercifully intact into the sink, but now S2304 fought back, pulling at her sister’s hair just as she bit down on her forearm. The two tumbled over and continued clawing, hitting, and pushing each other as they scrambled about on the floor until a much louder and much more chilling voice washed over them both.

“Stop.”

The two Kolibri instantly froze. S2304 couldn’t look, but 1 slowly turned her head over her shoulder to see God standing right before them.

Falke pinched her brow and shook her head. “This is highly beneath you both.”

All seven Kolibri around Sierpinski gulped in unison. It hurt deeply for even one of them to be criticized by Her. Two might as well bring them all to tears.

S2304 and 1 slowly stood up and brushed themselves off. 4 even helped 1 fix her hair, while 4 adjusted 1’s ID tag so it wasn’t crooked. Neither spoke, because neither had been asked to speak for themselves yet.

But then, Falke sniffed the air. “Is… that matcha? Could I perhaps have a cup?”

S2301 turned to 4, who slowly began to shake her head.

{Don’t you bloody dare…}

S2301 smiled.

Chapter Text

“Your new designation is LSTR-S2301.”

That was what she had been told upon arriving at Sierpinski. She nodded, the same nod later given to the site administrator as he explained her role there.

She stepped into the cold mineshaft elevator with five other Replika, making a team of six: one LSTR, two ARARs, and three MNHRs, who would be performing the bulk of the excavating. The Aras were about as quiet as she was, only occasionally muttering something to each other, but the Mynahs were chatty the entire descent.

“Did they find something, Quarz?”

“Adler sounded… scared?”

“But it’s just rock?”

“What if someone was there before us?”

“How would someone be down there? We dug these tunnels?”

“I mean like… old people? Way before people?”

“Do you think there were way before people here, Topas?”

“I don’t know… but something is down there, that’s why we have Elster now.”

She’d only been ambiently listening to the conversation until that point, but when the Mynah behind her said her name, she turned her head just barely in their direction.

She felt a massive but gentle hand grab her shoulder. “You’ll keep us safe from any monsters, right?”

Elster turned around and saw all three Mynahs looking at her with some amount of worry, the most pronounced on the one that had grasped her shoulder.

She nodded. “You’ll all be okay.”

The Mynah in the middle of the three sighed with relief. “That’s good.”

The one to her right took a step forward. “LSTRs are soldiers, right?”

Elster tried not to grimace too visibly at the word she chose, she knew none of them meant anything bad by it. “I’m a combat-rated engineer, to be specific.”

“Then… what is down there?”

Elster briefly turned her head away. Just before she had been sent down to the mines, the Adler had taken her to the armoury and equipped her with an Inorcon bullpup rifle, an Einhorn revolver, a flare gun, several grenades, and a machete.

“What’s down there that I need all this equipment, sir?”

He didn’t say anything.

Elster looked at each of the timid, slightly worried Mynahs and gave a quick tug on her rifle’s shoulder strap. “I don’t know, but whatever might be, I’ll keep you all safe from it.”

The next time the elevator descended to the mines, it was Elster alone.

When she got to the final shaft, she saw a Mynah, along with several other corrupted Replika guarding the hatch. This Elster hadn’t met any of them, but when she saw the Mynah, a twinge of regret interrupted her thought.

She raised her shotgun and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Chapter Text

“This is stupid, this is so stupid…”

“Trust me, Elch, she’ll love it, this is going to be great.”

Storch Elch tried not to close her eyes on instinct as the Eule in front of her carefully approached her with a thin brush to apply eyeshadow to the corner of her eyes. There was another Eule to her side who was giving her a light application of blush, and one behind her who carefully combed her messy, neglected hair.

She then heard the snip of a pair of shears and growled. “Hey! Don’t mess with my hair!”

“Relax, Elch! Just fixing up a few uneven spots!”

Elch struggled to sit still in her chair. At this point, she wanted to get up and storm out, but she knew deep down that abandoning this pursuit before they were finished would be worse than whatever they were doing. Her mistake had been asking Mai to give her a light touch-up; then she had invited two of her friends along and they had ‘gone to town’ on her for nearly ten minutes now.

She saw Mai start to rifle through a bag of what looked like lipstick tubes and she growled again. “No, no lipstick, I absolutely, positively fucking refuse.”

Mai turned back toward her with a small bottle that was half black, half pale-red and she gritted her teeth.

“This is lip stain, much mellower than what you’re thinking of,” Mai explained, holding the tiny brush in front of her face. She stopped as Elch flinched upon her approach, and crossed her arms. “You’re really not making this easy, you know.”

All three of the Eules stopped to stare at her, and after a few seconds, Elch sighed wearily.

“Just get it over with…"

When they were finished, Mai and one of the other Eules held up hand mirrors so she could check their work. Her first thought was that she almost looked akin to a Star with the eyeshadow now, but the light amount of redness added to her lips alongside other touches like mascara and blush took her in an entirely new direction.

She looked more femme, for sure, but in a way that felt… controlled. Not overwhelming, or dominating, just, ‘sanding a bit at the edges’ as Mai had suggested.

“Thanks, girls.”

When ready, she stepped up the the Kolibri study door and knocked once, her other hand held behind her back. The door answered right away, she would’ve been able to tell she was there.

“H-Hey… Kirsche…” Elch greeted, starting to nervously rub the back of her head.

Kirsche tilted her head far back to get a good look at Elch’s face. “You look different,” she pointed out.

Elch swallowed loudly. “Well, you see, I…”

“You look good,” she said, smiling.

Elch quickly cleared her throat to regain composure and held out her hand. “Thank you.”

Kirsche took it and the two walked off to their date.

Chapter Text

“What’s wrong? Didn’t want to be with your family?”

“I don’t know… feel like it’ll make it sting more when I leave on deployment tomorrow.”

“So, you want to be alone?”

“...No… I’d like you to stay.”

She nods and takes a seat next to her overlooking the street filled with colourful lanterns.

“Brought you a piece of mooncake, by the way, your mom made it.”

She hands her the yellow, orange, and red pastry and she takes a bite.

“Not bad… never had one with red bean, but it’s a nice flavour.”

“I thought so too.”

She sighs. “Do you think…”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind…”

“No, no, I want to hear, tell me.”

“Do you think we’ll make it back?”

“...Whoa… never heard you talk like this before.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know! I just… don’t quite know how to answer that…”

“Well, it’s a yes or no question, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but… that’s just not something I think about on a daily basis.”

“...Me neither… but then I heard we were being sent to the Vinetan front, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.”

“Fighting for the homeland, huh?”

“It’s more than that for me… my family’s from Vineta. We’re refugees.”

“How come you never told me this before?”

“You never asked.”

“I guess, but… that’s something big to be holding back, isn’t it?”

“...I don’t like thinking about it that much, sorry.”

“It’s okay, nothing to apologize for.”

She sighs again and looks out to the streets below. “You know, Rotfront almost looks beautiful today from up here.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

Another pause. Some fireworks go off, and the faint sound of cheers echoes up to the rooftops.

“I’m scared, Alina.”

“It’s okay, I’ll be there with you.”

“...Thank you.”

“Hmm? Not going to make me promise?”

“With you, I don’t have to.”

“Same here, Lilith.”

More fireworks explode in the sky, the two take a minute to watch them.

“I think I’d like to go see my family now.”

She stands up, the other does not.

“I’ll wait here for you to return.”

“...You’re family too, Alina.”

“I’m flattered, but…”

“Please…?”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

She stands up, they hold hands. A particularly dazzling display of lights explodes before them.

“Alina, I lo-”

She puts a finger to her lips.

“Save it for when we get back… I know we will.”

Chapter Text

A heavy rap on the study door shook KLBR-S2302 “Darjeeling” from her novel.

Visitors to the Kolibri study were rare. Other protektors and controllers tended to leave them alone, as few wanted to annoy a bioresonance-equipped controller, so it was mostly just Adler who came by to deliver reports and instructions, barring the infrequent, but extremely welcome visit by Commander Falke, to see how they were all faring. Even the most haughty Storches kept their distance from the Kolibri dorms, preferring to pass along any messages or grievances through the administrator.

As she heard the knocking on the door resume, Darjeeling realized that none of Kolibri had ever heard anyone knock on their door. She closed her book and walked to the door, expecting it to be an angry Storch demanding the return of one of her borrowed books, but instead, she came face to face with the massive legs of a Mynah unit.

Darjeeling quietly gulped. Kolibri rarely involved themselves with Mynahs, so she had forgotten just how massive they were. The Mynah dropped to one knee to get a better look at her. She was frowning and looked upset about something.

“Yes, what is it…” Darjeeling focused her mind on the Mynah, coming back with her name. “...Topas, is it?”

The Mynah nodded, or, at the very least, nodded as well as a Mynah could with their bulky frames. “Excuse me… Miss Kolibri…?”

“You can call me Darjeeling.”

“Ah, sorry… Miss Darjeeling… um… you see…”

Darjeeling put a palm to her forehead and sighed. Her forehead crystals glowed as she looked deeper into Topas’ thoughts, figuring this would be easier than waiting for her to come up with the right words.

“There’s a fight in the sixth-floor mess hall?” she asked.

Topas looked away. “It’s… gotten a bit scary…”

Darjeeling sighed again. “Well, come on, let’s go.”

Getting to the sixth floor with Topas was certainly a hassle. Mynahs were much too large to utilize the Paternoster revolving lift, and they couldn’t climb the ladders in the flood overflow, so they had to take the mineshaft elevator up to the second floor, then take the protektor elevator down to the sixth floor.

On the second elevator down, Darjeeling sighed. She thought about writing a complaint letter to whomever at AEON designed the Sierpinsky facility but quickly decided that would go nowhere.

They could both hear the arguing even in the hallway leading to the mess hall.

The second Darjeeling opened the door, a folding chair flew right at her face. Luckily, Topas caught it in midair, the Kolibri blinking a few times at just what a near miss it was.

As Topas put the chair down, she got a good look inside at the chaos. Two Eules, two Storches, an Ara, and three Stars were all having a massive fight and argument. One Star had another in a headlock, the Ara was clamped down on one Storch’s back, biting her neck as she tried to pry her off, the two Eules screamed at everybody to please stop, and the last Star and Storch looked to be having a fist fight with each other.

Darjeeling had no time to assess fault and cause. She stared hard into the room as her hair fluttered under the crackling of her bioresonant energy.

“Everybody stop and have sesbian lex right now!”

The fight halted in an instant. All of the different Replika looked around each other for a few seconds as if trying to understand what had happened. Then, out of the blue, the Storch and the Star who were previously pummeling each other with their fists started attacking each other with their lips instead. Everyone in the room found a partner or two and descended into a frenzy of rubbing, grinding, and kissing.

Darjeeling smiled and shut the door. She would still have to deal with their discipline later, but at least they weren’t trying to kill each other.

“Um, excuse me, Darjeeling?”

“Hmm?” she looked up at the huge Mynah to her side. “What is it?”

Topas frowned. “Why can’t you say lesbian correctly?”

Darjeeling rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s funny to say it that way-”

“I don’t think that’s very funny,” Topas spoke up immediately after she finished speaking. She folded her arms. “Everywhere around the facility, I hear people say it that way, and… it’s just gotten annoying, and disrespectful!”

Darjeeling almost couldn’t believe a Mynah was talking back to her. “It’s just a joke!”

“But that’s just it!” Topas shouted. Darjeeling moved her hands to her ears; she has no idea Mynahs could be so loud. “Lesbians aren’t a joke! And it’s… wrong to treat us like we are! Don’t you hate people making fun of how short you are?!”

“Well…”

Topas sighed and turned around. “You disappoint me, Darjeeling,” she said as she walked away.

The Kolibri looked down at her feet and legs. Somehow, being told off by a Mynah hit worse than any reprimand she or anyone in her cadre had received from Adler or Falke.

She kicked her feet. “I’m not a joke… I’m just short…”

Darjeeling sighed and walked away.

Chapter Text

KLBR S2305 “Chicory” didn’t know how she got to be the lucky one who figured it out.

Sure, everyone in her cadre knew the Commander had ‘needs’, and those needs involved coming by once every rotation to select one of their sistren to spend some alone time with.

But why her?

The rules were simple:

You only address the Commander simply as “Falke.”
You do not speak of what transpires behind the doors to Falke’s chambers to anyone- including any of your sisters.
You stay as long as Falke requires you to. No more, no less.

Normally, secrets were impossible between the Kolibris, as their thoughts were a perpetually open book to each other member of the cadre, but something about the Commander made them able to keep what they had experienced a secret, lest they talk, but, that was against the rules.

The Commander normally picked a different Kolibri to accompany her each time, with the times she hadn’t been selected mainly consisting of trying not to fantasize about being lucky enough to be the one selected to assist the Commander in her ‘needs’ next time.

But, Chicory now found herself being picked for a third time in a row, and this time, her sisters decided to press the issue.

“Why do you get to go again?”

“Are the rest of us not good enough for the Commander anymore?”

“This isn’t fair, and you know it!”

She wished she could tell them why, but, that was against the rules.

It was because she loved Falke.

She remembered the first time Falke had brought her into her quarters. They looked remarkably plain for someone of her power and importance, the room consisting of little more than a bed, a small bookshelf, and some chairs, but off to the side was a table for two, and in front of each seat laid a still steaming hot meal. Pan-seared salmon, confit potato, and grilled asparagus draped in an ethereal butter-rich garlicky sauce with two wine glasses and a valuable vintage of red wine between the plates.

It was clear what Falke wanted her to do; she joined her at the table for dinner and enjoyed the luxurious meal that had been prepared for just the two of them. Controller units typically got better rations than the Protektors, and especially the Gestalts, but this was something different. This wasn’t just a fancier ration, it was an actual gourmet meal cooked to absolute perfection.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Falke herself made it for the two of them.

As she finished her dinner, swirling the wine around in her glass before taking a sip, Falke watched her intensely. She watched her lips as she smiled, watched her cheeks as she chewed, watched her eyes as they glanced fleetingly at her.

“Chicory?” she softly called out. Her every word dripped like honey to her ears.

“Yes, Falke?”

“Do you… love me?”

The fork slipped right out of her hand and hit the ground. Chicory felt her internal circulatory system spike as a surge of adrenaline shot through her.

“I… of course I do, Falke!”

She sighed. Evidently, that was not the answer she was looking for. Chicory immediately felt like apologizing for misspeaking, but she remained silent until Falke’s next words.

“I know you all love me, your Commander… I’m asking if you love me, Falke.”

Chicory didn’t have an answer to that. She couldn’t give one. Her question made her acutely aware of just how little she knew about Falke. What were her interests? What did she like and dislike? What were her dreams? What did she want in life?

And then, she realized what Falke was doing with her, with all of her sistren. She was trying to give them the answers to those questions.

This wasn’t just a private dinner behind closed doors.

It was a date.

Chicory cleared her throat before she answered. “If I do love Falke, let me continue loving her for as long as I draw breath. If I do not love Falke, then please show me why and how I can do so.”

Falke smiled. She liked that answer.

They spent the rest of their evening together after dinner talking about books they had read. They went for hours and hours until Chicory showed the barest signs of exhaustion with a short yawn. Falke insisted she get her rest, and, one of the rules was you left when Falke willed it, so she departed.

But not before Falke assured her that she would be seeing her again.

The second date started off much like the first with another absolutely luxurious gourmet meal prepared for the two of them. They had beef wellington with honey glazed carrots and a parsnip puree, served alongside another decades old vintage of red wine, but when finished, Falke invited Chicory to her bed, which she happily accepted.

And so they cuddled for hours on end. Chicory rested her head atop Falke’s chest as she gently held her and stroked her hair. She spoke to Chicory about her experiences beyond the red gate, about how it exposed her to the concept of wanting, of need, of love, of how it almost drove her mad, and why she had to seek out the Kolibri for comfort. Chicory told Falke about the times she had gotten into fights with her sistren, and how taxing it could be at times to monitor so many Replika and Gestalts across the Sierpinski facility.

Sharing their deepest anxieties like this only deepened their bond, and while Falke didn’t seem ready to ask Chicory to stay with her through the night, she did share a hug with her before she left. It left her feeling more elated than she ever thought possible, even if the sight of Falke, who was still their commander, still their Goddess, dropped to her knees felt almost blasphemous to her.

She didn’t know what to expect on date number three, but, she did notice right away that there was no meal waiting for her, no table for two.

“Falke, are we still going to have dinner tonight?” Chicory asked.

Falke pulled an errant lock of hair behind her ear as she led Chicory over to her bed. She sat down on the side and beckoned Chicory to climb atop her lap.

Stand on the bed right in front of her like this, the two were almost eye to eye.

“What I’d like for dinner is… you.”

Chicory knew what Falke wanted.

She kissed her.

Chapter Text

“You shouldn’t have returned.”

The fall was barely two seconds in length, but it felt like an eternity. In that time, her thoughts and her sight remained on the photograph still in the Adler unit’s hands.

Her last link ripped away.

Biosynthetic flesh met titanium bones.

A flurry of warning signs flashed across her internal display. Ruptured organs, countless contusions, internal hemorrhaging. What she did wouldn’t have mattered, even if she could still move her arms to administer repairs, nothing she carried would help.

It would be a slow death.

She almost felt like laughing.

The elevator shaft grew dark as the fourth-floor doors were pulled shut. She didn’t know what exactly she had landed on, but she could tell it wasn’t the floor.

It felt like… other Replika.

She swallowed a spit of oxidant that tried to dribble down her throat. How many others had that Adler condemned the way she was?

At least the early ones would have died on impact.

This was worse.

She tried to picture her in her mind, but the image was fuzzy, discoloured, and disfigured. She couldn’t get it just right, she’d fix one aspect and another would break down, almost as if she was fighting her efforts.

She just wanted to see her one last time.

Alina.

See her smile.

Alina Seo.

She missed her.

Lilith Itou.

…

No.

Something wasn’t right.

The image solidified. She opened her eyes.

She saw her paintings. She saw her dance. She saw her asleep in bed after a long and passionate night. She saw her crying. She saw her shouting at her. She saw her apologise. She saw her kiss her. She saw her silent. She saw her writhing in pain in bed. She saw her stop crying. She saw her stroke her hair. She saw her make love to her one last time. She saw her smile. She saw her confess her feelings again. She saw her in love. She saw her close her eyes.

She saw her ask for it to end.

Ariane.

Elster cried.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped as the last of her senses faded.

“I couldn’t keep our promise.”

Chapter Text

Chicory hummed away as she tapped the retracted tip of her pen against the crossword she was working on.

“Hmm hm hm hmm hm hm hmm hm hm hm hmm- hmmmmmmm hm hm hm hmm…”

“...Why the f-... why do you hum that?”

“Hmm hm hm hmm… ten letter word for sausage…?”

“Sausage? Hey, I’m the one asking the question!”

Chicory blinked and looked up at the irate Storch across the table reading a magazine.

“Oh, uh, what did you ask, Veirzhen?”

The Storch sighed. “Can you stop humming that song?”

Chicory blinked. “Song? What song?”

“You know the one!” Vierzhen spat, momentarily raising her voice before swallowing and taking a deep breath. “Ever since you started on that crossword you’ve been humming it nonstop,” she explained much more calmly.

“Oh.” Chicory looked away. “It’s just… been on our mind…”

She glanced back at Vierzhen and saw her with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s… important… to us…”

Vierzhen sighed again and turned her page. “Mortadella.”

“Huh?”

“The answer to your clue. Faster you finish, faster you stop humming, I guess.”

…..

Chicory tried not to bite her lip too hard as Kolibri gathered outside the Commander’s room. The rest looked at her expectedly, but she had nothing new to tell them, and no real words of comfort to offer.

“We all know the drill,” she pointed out.

Darjeeling huffed.

Oolong rolled her eyes.

Matcha twirled one of her locks of hair around a finger.

Chamomile pouted.

Peppermint blew a gum bubble until it burst against her lips.

“Look, I don’t enjoy this any more than the rest of us,” Chicory stated.

“Liar,” Oolong spat back.

“You could always ask her to stop,” Peppermint claimed.

“Then we wouldn’t have to debase ourselves like this,” Darjeeling added.

Chicory pinched her brow and sighed. “I can’t ask the Commander to-”

“She’s not the Commander to you,” Matcha interrupted.

“To you, she’s…” Chamomile paused to swallow lightly. She tried to say Her name, but couldn’t get anything past the initial sound. “She’s… special…”

Chicory was prepared to argue back, but suddenly, all of Kolibri felt a shiver go down their necks as the faint sound of running water hit their ears.

“It’s time,” she stated. “Everyone in position!”

The sound of singing began to waft into the room, and for a moment, Kolibri forgot their task and drifted along with the notes…

“He's the man, the man with the Midas touch…”

All closed their eyes and exhaled peacefully.

“Such a cold finger… Beckons you to enter his web of sin…”

Elsewhere in Sierpinski, a Eule washing dishes was alarmed by several of her dirty plates and glasses beginning to hover out of the sink, followed by a stack of plates.

“Golden words he will pour in your ear…”

A Star at the firing range felt an eerie sense of relaxation wash over her. The grip on her gun loosened, but as she lowered her stance, her finger brushed a little too hard against the trigger, and the gun discharged into the thigh of an adjacent Storch, Blackjack.

“Panzer! I’ll fucking destroy-!”

But, she suddenly stopped and closed her eyes.

“...It's the kiss of death from… Mister Goldfinger”

A group of Mynahs in the caverns below the facility abruptly dropped their mining lasers and joined hands to sing along, despite the protestations of their supervising controller.

“Pretty girl beware of this heart of gold…”

In his office, Adler perked up from his journal and cocked his head to the side.

“Is that about…”

Chicory blinked and snapped out of her haze. She ran to each other member of Kolibri and shook their shoulders.

“Hurry! Before it gets worse!”

“...This heart is cold…!”

Darjeeling hit play on the record player on the table, filling the room with a bouncy, clave pop rhythm. Kolibri quickly stood together in a line and cleared their throats in unison.

Each extended their arms, flipped them over, crossed arms to touch their shoulders, touched their heads, their waists, and then their hips before swinging to the tune of, “Eyyyy Macarena!”

The plates and glasses fell to the floor and shattered.

Blackjack gritted her teeth as she squeezed Panzer by the throat and punched her.

The Mynahs sobbed as their supervisor berated them for abandoning their task.

In his office, Adler sighed and turned the page of his journal to continue writing.

“If only I were…”

Kolibri continued to dance and sing. And across Sierpinski, everything went back to normal.

Chapter Text

My name is Ariane Yeong.

I never expected to make it to my thirties.

From a young age, and a supporting, nurturing family, I was thrust into a space and a society that had no respect for me.

My habits were wrong, my interests were wrong, my body was wrong, my gender was wrong. There was no part of me that somebody would not deem impure and immoral.

I drew pictures, and they were torn up. I painted scenes, and my colours were spilled. I read books, and they were burned. I made friends, and they were stolen from me.

They wanted me to believe I had no right to exist.

So when I saw a chance to escape it all, why wouldn’t I?

Estimated less than 1% chance of survival? Why not die young, and free, in space, rather than old, and imprisoned, on Rotfront?

Up here, I can paint. I can dance. I can watch movies lying in bed. I can sing. I can draw. I can write.

I can finally be myself.

I can even make a new friend.

I am LSTR-512.

I was created for one purpose, to assist my assigned Gestalt officer aboard the Penrose-512 for the 3000-Cycle duration of our mission.

Each Cycle is about 87.4% the length of a day on Vineta. This equates to just under seven and a half years.

I was not designed to continue being in active service past this timeframe.

When that clock runs out, so do I.

And yet, it never mattered to me. This was simply the way of things; I did not have any frame of reference otherwise.

I fulfill my duty, and then, I am no longer needed.

I have no reason to persist. I do not have hobbies, or interests, or friends, or love. There is absolutely nothing to tie my existence to the physical world past my duty.

But what if there was?

I don’t fear death, I never have.

But I don’t want to die.

I have everything I ever wanted. I have everyone I want with me right here.

But I realize now that I am not free. I have simply traded one prison for another.

The walls of this ship are my coffin, and they’re closing in.

My body breaks down a little more each Cycle. My bones ache, my muscles can barely move me, my eyes remain eternally cloudy, and start to leave frequent stains of blood wherever I go.

I came to space to die, and instead, I got a reason to live.

I found her.

My Elster.

My dear Ellie.

And we’re running out of time.

Nothing else matters to me now.

I am a synthetic creation. All Replika are. But in the act of making us, they can never take away what truly makes us human.

I quickly learned curiosity, then later I discovered happiness, I found joy, I experienced concern.

Love found me.

As time went on, I stumbled across fear, I briefly encountered heartbreak, and then I felt sadness that turned into anger.

Now I am trapped within despair.

But holding onto love.

I feel my age more and more each Cycle. My biosynthetic organs lose a little more function with each passing, my joints encounter more and more friction, and our supply of spare parts dwindles further and further.

I’m running out of time to save her.

I need her.

My Ariane.

You make me who I am. Without you, I am nothing.

Don’t take away what we’ve always wanted.

Don’t take away what lets us be who we are.

Don’t take away the life we’ve built together.

Don’t take her away from me.

We’re running out of time.

Take me instead.

Chapter Text

“Enter.”

The door slid open. Three people walked inside: one Star officer armed with a stun baton at the front and back, and one young, brown-haired Gestalt girl, freshly deloused and dressed in a prisoner’s jumpsuit with her hands cuffed behind her back and her head hung low. The two Replika escorting the Gestalt sat her down in a chair facing a wide, lavish, cherrywood desk.

And at that desk sat the facility’s administrator: an ADLR unit.

“Name and offence?” he asked, sounding bored.

One of the Stars stepped forward and held up a clipboard. “Itou, Erika. Hereby designated Worker S-23-A-2991. Sentenced to five years forced labour for indecency against the state.”

The Star handed the clipboard to the Adler, who started looking over it himself. “Welcome to Sierpinski, worker,” he officially greeted; he did not look up from his desk.

Erika swallowed dryly as she sat in her chair. Eventually, after a minute, the Adler set the clipboard aside and leaned across the desk on his elbows as he looked at her for several seconds.

“Your offence is strictly speaking… a moral one. However, we cannot have any citizen, especially one in active military service reflect badly upon our nation. Let us hope your time here will teach you… the proper way to conduct yourself.”

And then, the two Stars abruptly stood her up and walked her out of the office.

Her room wasn’t a room, and calling it a prison cell would afford it a greater privilege than it reflected.

A cage was the best term.

It was already late when her transport ship arrived, so she was led immediately to bed after being shown her assigned workers’ quarters. The bunk wasn’t even a bed, it was hard metal with the thinnest, smallest pillow at the end, so feeble and useless that having it at all felt like a greater injustice than having nothing at all.

Locked bars covered the entrance to the tiny bunk after she lay down in it. She did her best to lie on her back, folding the pillow in half to provide the barest of support for her head. All around her she heard the sounds of workers in distress after an excruciating day. People moaned, they cried, several of them coughed endlessly, and many just loudly shivered. She tried to get comfortable, but nothing would do. She took a long breath and sighed.

“Are we locked in here the whole night?” she asked, staying quiet enough to not be heard by any guards outside, but loud enough to be heard by anyone else in the room.

A few seconds later, someone answered. “Yeah, we are.” Her voice came from just a couple of bunks away.

“What if we have to use the bathroom?”

“...Hold it in as best you can.”

“Ah, I see…”

Someone new, a male voice, interrupted. “Would you two shut it up? If they have to come in, they punish everyone in the room!”

Erika swallowed again and kept quiet.

But then she remembered her, and she started crying. She covered her hands to make as little noise as possible, but her pained, heartbroken screams still reverberated across the whole room.

After half a minute, the woman from earlier called out to her. “Hey, hey, it’ll be okay.”

It took a few seconds for Erika to stop crying long enough to respond. “No, no it’s not okay, I shouldn’t be here!”

“None of us should, sweetheart.”

“I want to go home!”

“I know… I know…”

“I’m going to die here…”

“...Hey, girl, what’s your name?”

She sniffled loudly as she continued to try and bring herself under control. “Erika.”

“Well, my name’s Alina. Come see me in the morning, and I’ll help put your mind at ease… but you have to make it through the night nice and quiet, okay?”

Erika choked on her breath as she tried to answer. “Okay… okay…”

“Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”

Erika took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“...Good girl… now… just try to sleep as best you can.”

In the morning, they were woken up, their cages were searched, they were taken to the showers, and finally led to the mess hall for breakfast.

Three light-brown, rectangular, bread-like loaves, a can of what looked like cheap, processed tuna, but may as well have been dog food, and a glass of black coffee made from grounds so old and reused that the water was partially transparent and the resulting liquid sour like licking a battery.

Erika walked around with her small tray quietly calling out Alina’s name until she answered back. She sat at a table alone by the corner, and when Erika approached her, she stood up to meet her.

For a few seconds, the two women looked at each other. Erika, filled with despair, fear, and anxiety, and Alina, tired, worn down, but still carrying some fire.

Alina hugged her, and Erika cried over her shoulder for a minute.

“How long have you been here?” Erika asked as they both sat to eat.

“At least a decade,” Alina asked. She paused to take a swig of her thin, sour coffee. “Truth be told, I lost exact count long ago.”

“I see…” Erika took a look at one of her pieces of bread and bit a chunk off; it was stale and also tasted somewhat sour.

“I’ll teach you all the tricks and advice I know,” Alina said. She ate parts of her breakfast in between her words. “For one, you’ve got to learn which protektors are friendly, which are neutral, and which are out to get us.”

Erika nodded.

“Have they told you where you’re going to work, yet?”

“No…”

“I’ll… talk to the overseer. Pull a favour, see if I can get you assigned to laundry, like me. If you don’t mind occasionally inhaling industrial cleaner fumes, it’s the least back-breaking work there is here.”

Erika took a breath and sniffled a little. “Thank you…”

Alina also took a deep breath before she leaned across the table on her elbows. “So, what was her name?”

Erika blinked a few times before she slowly met Alina’s gaze. “I… I don’t know who you’re talking about…”

“I can see it in your eyes, sweetheart. It’s the same reason I’m here.”

“...Ariane. Her name was Ariane.”

Alina nodded. “Ariane… that’s such a pretty name.”

Erika sniffled. “She’s the most wonderful girl ever.”

Alina reached over and gave her shoulder a rub. “I don’t doubt it at all.”

“She… doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Oh… oh sweetheart…”

“She’ll never… know how I feel…”

Alina reached for the younger girl’s hand and squeezed it. “Hey, you will. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, you’ll be able to tell her.”

Erika squeezed her hand back as she looked at her. “Does she know? Yours?”

Alina nodded but sighed. “Unfortunately, there’s no chance for me to see her again,” she said.

They both went quiet for a while. Eventually, Erika gave Alina’s hand a shake.

“Hey,” she called out.

Alina looked at her.

“Somehow, sometime, somewhere, you’ll see her again.”

And Alina smiled.

…..

They were suddenly called to the mines.

They were going to assist an excavation team led by a newly arrived Replika.

Alina caught a glimpse of her briefly as she operated her drill.

LSTR-S2301.

The Replika looked her way, and for but a moment, Alina thought she saw a ghost.

“...Lilith…?”

The LSTR unit turned and walked away.

Chapter Text

“...You made it.”

Elster wasn’t surprised to see Isa in her family’s old bookstore. She looked even worse for wear than before, with the majority of her face, including one eye, bandaged up, but, she smiled when she saw her, and stepped to the side, revealing an almost identical-looking brunette Gestalt sitting on a chair behind her.

“You found her,” Elster said. She slowly rested her rifle on one of the bookshelves and walked toward the two siblings. Isa still smiled, but now, she also cried happily.

“This is my twin sister, Erika.”

Erika stood up. She was just as beat up and bandaged as her sister, and she didn’t smile like her, but she still greeted Elster with a short bow.

“What are your plans?” she asked.

Elster was taken aback. “What do you mean?” she responded.

Erika clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “Are you… going to save her?”

Eyes widened. She understood.

Her visions of the school, the train. Her friends she spoke of.

“I’ll try, but…” Elster paused. She looked away, unable to meet their eyes. “I may only be able to fix the damage I’ve already caused.”

She still couldn’t look. Eventually, one put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m glad she has you.” It was Erika.

Elster slowly turned her head back toward the siblings, but kept her gaze low, toward the ground.

“If it helps, in a way, this is also my fault,” Erika claimed.

Elster slowly looked up as she blinked. Now Erika was the one who couldn’t meet her gaze.

“We were both fated to be assigned to Sierpinski,” she started to explain. Isa stepped forward to be at her sister’s side, hugging her from the side. “But, someone discovered… a poem I’d written for her… he decided to approve her application to the Penrose program, and I arrived at Sierpinski in chains, rather than my uniform.”

Elster slowly exhaled and nodded. The hand on her shoulder tightened.

“He taunted me about it as the gendarmes arrested me. Said it was what people like me deserved. To know the woman I loved was doomed to die slowly in space… but… at least she had you.”

Elster gave a quick nod to Isa, who let go of her sister and stepped back. She then hugged Erika, letting the girl cry quietly into her chest.

“I’ll save her, I promise.”

“...Thank you.”

She faded from her grasp.

No pain, or regret, or torment.

She’d given her peace.

Elster looked at Isa, who handed her a tarot card: Death.

“It can also mean new beginnings,” she told her. “Death doesn’t have to be an end.”

Elster nodded. She was about to turn and leave, but Isa stopped her one last time.

“Oh, and, were you looking for this?”

She looked and saw an iron key in her hand with a hexagon enclosed in a ring at the end.

Elster nodded and took it from her. “Thank you,” she said.

Isa left as well.

She found her peace.

Elster stopped and took one last look around the bookstore. She walked behind the main counter and saw a small shrine containing pictures of the two sisters, along with a few sticks of incense.

She lit the ends and took a moment to take in all the feelings.

Maybe she could find peace too.

…..

They’re at a busy, bustling cafe by the water on a bright, sunny, Vinetan summer day.

Ariane told a great joke; she and Isa laughed.

She held Ariane’s hand just under the table. She rubbed her thumb over her knuckles.

Elster returned with a tray of drinks. “Sorry, there was a bit of a line up,” she apologized.

Everyone got their drinks as she took up the final seat at the table.

Ariane reached for her hand as well. Elster took it, feeling the cool, metal ring on her hand.

Isa smiled. “I’m glad we could all get together like this,” she said.

Ariane cried a single tear of joy. “It’s all I could have ever wanted.”

Erika looked across the table at Elster and smiled at her.

Elster briefly looked up and saw a quartet of birds outlined by the sun as they flew by.

She smiled.

Perhaps, this was peace.

Chapter Text

84-21-A
Today we went with Elster down into the deep mines. I was scared. The Commander journeyed down there and has had the sickness since. I shook. I am not the one made for this.

I cut rock they tell me to cut. That is what I do.

What is down there. It cannot be cut.

I cannot think about anything else. I do not want to be thinking about this.

I just hold tight my Mishka and hope it goes away.

84-21-B
My head is hurting. I see doctor. She says I am fine. Tells me to get rest.

I feel as in everyone is looking at me.

I do not want to be showing my face.

Mishka keep me safe.

84-21-C
Head hurting more. I shout at controller. She says she will be taking my sister away.

You do not take my sister away. You do not take my sister away. You do not take my sister away!

(Static)

84-21-D
Why are they hurting my children? ! I need to be keeping them safe. They say they have the sickness and must go. I cannot let them. I cannot let them. I must keep my family safe!

84-21-D
Mishka lies to me.

I tear her head off.

84-21-D
Controller tried to take my last sister from me.

I grab her and pull apart in half.

No more.

None of you will be hurting my family.

(Sharp static and electrical sound followed by silence)

Chapter Text

84-21-6
Doc said I was out for three rotations. Fucking shit-ass generator exploded in front of me.

But, now I’m thinking. Big mistake, they’d tell me. Don’t think, act.

An Ara got hit by the blast. She didn’t make it.

I saw some of her sisters crying.

And I’m just… fuck, would mine even give a shit? Would anyone give a shit?

I bet those fuckers would celebrate if any of us bit the dust. Is that what we deserve?

I need a fucking smoke.

84-21-7
Caught that Eule, Jan, or whatever the hell her name was, mess up the duty roster again.

And when I pointed it out to her, she flinched. Closed her eyes and… prepared for the worst?

Normally I'd just yell at the bitch to get it right next time but, fuck.

Is that what they think of us, think of me all the time? Scared we might fly off the handle at any moment?

I…

I apologized to her.

She fucked up, and I'm the one apologizing.

The fuck is wrong with me?

84-21-8
I don't know why, but I tried being “nice” today.

I remembered all of my fucking manners. I said “please” and “thank you”. I didn't raise my voice or threaten anyone.

They all just looked at me real fucking weird.

This was a stupid idea. It's stupid, I'm stupid. I'd go have a smoke but I have my last one to Panzer.

Because I'm “nice” now.

84-21-9
Oh, great, the others found out what I'd been trying and they won't fucking shut up about it now.

But at least I learned all sorts of new ways to call someone a chicken-shit coward.

Tried picking a fight with Sieben to show I ain't gonna let them say that shit about me. She knocked my ass out in one hit cause I slipped up.

I flinched.

All I did was nearly fucking die you'd think they'd at least understand that!

84-21-A
Got assigned to sanitation duties for the next five rotations as punishment for my attempted stunt.

Someone thought it would be real fucking funny to dump a bucket of it over my head while I wasn't looking.

I don't think I care anymore.

84-21-B
So, I guess Storches can cry, huh.

84-21-C
Ok now things are getting weird. Nobody will look at me. Nobody's trying to trip me in the hallways, or say shit to me, they're just letting me go on my day in peace.

Something's up.

(Sounds of shifting metal)

The fuck is an Ara doing here?

How the fuck did you get in here?

Wh… what do you mean decommissioned?

I-I can't fit in there! What do you think I am, a Kolibri?!

(Sound of door opening)

…The fuck is this?!

No… no! Get the fuck away from me! You can't-

(Static)

Chapter Text

Ariane hums as I brush her hair. She sits ahead of me on our bed; I cannot see her face, but I can tell she is in bliss. Her hair is getting so long, past her shoulders now.

She looks beautiful.

“Your hair is beautiful, Ari,” I say.

Ariane chuckles lightly. I put my forearm between her hair and neck and lift the snowy locks slightly as I gently guide the soft bristles of the brush down their length.

“You say that so often,” she replies.

I cock my head to the side. I put the brush down for a moment and enjoy the feel of Ariane's soft, light hair between my fingers.

“Because it is true,” I say.

“You've said my hair is beautiful four times since you started brushing it.”

“It is still true.”

Ariane slowly turns her body and head to the side, looking over her shoulder so she can lean on for a kiss. I return the attack on her lips, she throws her arms around my neck, and for a moment, it seems we might forget about what we're doing.

We break for but a moment, and I ask a question that has been burning at me for months.

“May I try braiding?”

Ariane smiles and nuzzles her cheek against mine for a moment before she turns back forward, showing me her hair and implicitly saying yes to my idea. I gulp hard as I start to gather her hair into three strands; I have practiced this many times using rope but doing it on hair will be a separate challenge.

And not just any hair, Ariane's hair.

I pass and twist the strands over each other again and again, being a careful as I can to avoid tugging. When I reach the end, I grab a red ribbon I had set aside in hope of this outcome, and tie a tight, pretty bowtie at the end of the braid. I take a moment to gently glide my hands down the length of the braid, admiring how my work has given yet a new, wonderful dimension to Ariane's hair.

I hold up a hand mirror, positioning it as best I can to try and give Ariane view of her new braid.

“Wow, Ellie,” she says as she pinches the end of her braid and feels its twists and weight.

I smile. There is only one thing to say.

“Your hair is beautiful, Ari.”

She spins and throws herself at me without a second thought.

Chapter Text

“Here you go, Milly,” the Eule said as she put a cup and saucer down at her deck.

KLBR-S2303 “Chamomile” took a sniff at the cup of her namesake tea and nodded at the Eule before raising the cup to her lips. “Thank you, Dez,” she thanked before taking a sip and immediately raising her eyebrows with a happy hum. “Is that… real honey?”

EULR-S2324 “Dezember” smiled and nodded.

Chamomile leaned back in her office chair and raised an eyebrow. “How did you get real honey all the way out to this nowhere post on Leng?” she asked.

“We Eules have our ways,” Dezember answered, grinning with just a hint of devilishness.

Chamomile decided against looking to her secretary’s thoughts to find an answer, as if it involved any dealings with the black market, which it almost certainly did, then her thoughts would become the cadre’s thoughts, and her dear Dezember would end up in a heap of trouble, which she very much did not want for such a friendly and hard working assistant.

She blinked as she went to take another sip. Wait, had she just thought of her as ‘her Dezember’?

“Well, I had better be off, don’t want to take any more of your time,” she said, preparing to leave.

Chamomile suddenly called out to her. “Dez, wait!” and waited for her to turn around. She drummed her fingers across the side of the teacup for a moment before sighing. “I’m… well, are you busy with anything right now?”

Dezember smiled and pulled over a chair to sit next to Chamomile at her desk.

“I actually, uh, finished that book you lent me yesterday…” she said sheepishly.

Chamomile spun her chair toward Dezember and raised her eyebrow. “You did? And… and…?”

“Well…” Dezember paused for a moment as her cheeks flushed up. Chamomile smiled and leaned forward in her chair, and then, without either of them intended to, they both briefly chuckled in unison.

…..

Later on, in the Kolibri dormitory, things were anything but peaceful. Chamomile sat on her bunk trying to read a book while most of the rest of her cadre pestered her for details she could only barely disguise from her sisters’ neural connections.

“So, Chamomile, how was the date with your new girlfriend?”

“Shut up, Darjeeling”

“Did you kiss? What did her lips feel like?”

“Shut up, Oolong.”

“I never would’ve thought you and a Eule, though, right?”

“Shut up, Matcha.”

“Come on, you must have some interesting stories to tell us!”

“Shut up, Peppermint!” Chamomile shouted, finally raising her voice.

The room went silent. Everyone started looking around uncomfortably, eventually settling on Chicory, who lay in her bunk away from the others. She showed them her palms and shrugged her shoulders.

“I think you should lay off her, girls,” she said.

Oolong and Peppermint groaned. Darjeeling and Matcha pinched their brows and sighed.

“Why do you two insist on keeping so many secrets!” Oolong complained.

“We never used to keep anything from each other,” Matcha stated.

“Frankly, I don’t understand why you two want to spend so much time with others…” Peppermint said.

Matcha nodded. “We stick together, no one else gets us but us.”

At that, Chamomile finally snapped her book shut and set it to her side. “It’s because… it’s fun!” she blurted out.

All of Kolibri went silent for a moment. Darjeeling coughed.

“It feels good to… figure this stuff out!” Chamomile said. She looked down at the floor between her legs and sighed. “I don’t exactly know what my feelings toward her are, and I don’t know how she feels toward me… all I know is I feel… happy when she’s around, and I want to figure out what that means-”

Oolong opened her mouth, but Chamomile interrupted her. “-Alone.”

She then got up and walked toward the door, giving her sisters great concern. “Where are you going?” Matcha asked.

“We’re not done!” Peppermint said.

Chamomile sighed and opened the door. “I’m going to spend some more time with someone who actually understands me,” she answered before leaving.

The room went uncomfortably silent again.

“I tried to warn you all,” Chicory quietly whispered into the void.

Chapter Text

Mine Foreman Kateryna Zuo hated desk work.

They promoted her to foreman because she was the best at her job, but now she had an entirely different job. She wanted to be down in the mines, with her workers, where she could use her experience and muscles to help them, not up top, breathing recycled, but clean air, sipping on coffee, and signing forms. She sighed as she looked over the current piece of paper on her clipboard, and after finding the one spot where she had forgotten to put her signature, she signed it.

“Here, William,” she said, handing the scruffy, carbon-stained miner his form. “You’ve got three days, go be with your new one.”

“Three days?!” he whispered as loudly as he could in disbelief.

Kateryna sighed. “That is the most I can cover for. They don’t want to be handing any time off.”

The worker nodded and sighed as well, but made sure to stop and salute at the door to her office. “Glory to the Nation, foreman!”

“Glory to the Nation, worker,” she half-heartedly replied, only barely returning the gesture.

She took a sip of black coffee and clicked through the virtual reports on the mining machines through her compute. She found each one operating under normal parameters, until she got to the last drill, whose temperature was getting dangerously high.

She instantly grabbed her radio and tuned it to the frequency of the team in charge of that piece of equipment. “Srdja! What are you doing?! Shut it down!”

Once she took her thumb off the talk button what came through from the other side was just a never ending stream of strained metal and rock grinding noises, shouts, and electrical snaps.

“It’s seized! We can’t turn it off!”

Kateryna stood up and shouted into the radio, “Cut the power!”

But there was only more shouting coming from the other end.

So, swearing to herself, Kateryna donned her helmet from the rack once more and ran as fast as she could to the mineshaft elevator. However, just before the elevator reached the bottom, she heard an explosion in the distance, and felt the entire structure of the elevator shake as alarms flared up. She ran toward the source of the boom and found an active cave-in in progress. The drill machine had blown to pieces, sending metal and rock shrapnel in all directions. At least a dozen miners lay dead or severely wounded from the injuries across the area of the pit, and there threatened to be more as sections of the rock ceiling started to come down.

“Shvydshe, shvydshe!” she shouted as her and two other workers ran into the collapsing section to pull out as many injured workers as they could before it collapsed entirely. Kateryna saw a pair of workers limping their way through the section from the end of the excavated tunnel and ran in one more time to try and get them out. She picked each up under her arms like a basket and ran as fast as she could, dodging fallen rocks left and right. But just as she was getting to the awaiting arms of her other workers by the entrance, she felt a secondary rumble travel up her body, she didn’t have much time left.

She would make it. These were her workers, her miners, her family.

She got the two to the safe, reinforced area of the mine past the connecting tunnel, but as she took a look back, she saw one last miner on the ground she thought was dead struggle to get to her feet. Acting purely on instinct, she ran back inside over the shouts and protestations of those behind her.

“Kateryna, no!”

“Foreman, stop!”

She made it three steps before the ceiling came down in full.

…..

“...Minimal brain activity. She’s alive, but only on a technicality.”

“Is there a chance she might wake up?”

“Very low. Ten percent, maybe.”

“...Salvage what we can. Keep her on the ventilator and keep her vitals stable.”

“Sir?”

“...I need to make a phone call to AEON Command.”

Chapter Text

For some reason, Chicory couldn’t keep her eyes off the full-length mirror in the Eules’ dorm. She had come by just to deliver a memorandum to a department head, but after handing the protektor the short, printed envelope she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and felt herself unable to resist looking.

And in doing so, she suddenly felt herself much more acutely aware of certain features making up her outline.

Despite being tasked to deliver a memo, it was technically her day off, she just happened to be around when the administrator needed something delivered and she didn’t mind the brief interruption in her reading to make a quick journey to the upper dorms. Because of this, she had left her ballistic armour plating and hip pouches off for the day, revealing the true silhouette of a Kolibri unit underneath.

She ran her fingers up her chest: completely flat. She felt her hips: there was barely any give in the biosynthetic flesh covering her metallic skeleton, and when she tried squeezing her rear, she found it small, tight, and firm. Chicory had never realized until this moment just how little curvature there was to her body before. Even her arms looked and felt small, thin, and even weak the longer she looked at them.

“My little hummingbird.” That has been what Commander Falke, her Falke had affectionately called her.

She frowned ever so slightly. Was this small, thin, little body appealing to Falke?

She did not need to imagine the sensation of Falke feeling her features with her hands, she had done so the previous night as they lay together in bed. She relished in exploring her body that way, but as Chicory thought about it, she wondered what was there to explore. Falke was also lithe, and perhaps even a little thin compared to the other Replika models, but she was tall, her features more sharp and defined, especially in her face, her cheeks, and her more advanced psychokinetic bioresonant abilities negated the need to possess the significant musculature that other combat models had.

Her, meanwhile, was just small. Just little. Just even… feeble.

All Replika unit models were made to exact specifications. Their bodies were constructed the same each time; there was no deviation.

She frowned a little more.

“...Um… controller…?”

The Eule’s words briefly snapped Chicory out of her thoughts, but she fell right back into them almost as soon as she turned her head in her direction.

Eules were not combat models, and their primary purpose was for general, typically non-physically intensive labour, so they looked about as close to what could be considered an ‘average’ female’s body as one might imagine. However, as her eyes wandered lower, the Eule’s wide hips and shapely legs caught her attention. AEON did not create the Eule, or any Replika for that matter just to dance, but they made sure Eules were capable of dancing well, as that was important to their persona stabilization. She had seen a Eule demonstrate some of her ballet moves before as a group of them mingled together during some downtime in a recreation hall, and upon fully appreciating the musculature which made such moves look easy, she couldn’t help but wonder if she were even physically capable of doing any of the moves she had seen that Eule perform.

“...Is something wrong with my legs, Controller Chicory?”

She shook her head and cursed under her breath upon realizing that the Eule had caught her staring.

“Nothing at all, my apologies,” she answered with a quick nod before leaving the room.

However, almost right after leaving the Eule dorm she walked face-first into an Ara unit carrying a basket of hand tools through her cloud of distraction. She cursed as the Ara accidentally dropped the basket upon impact, scattering the majority of the tools around their hooves.

“Sorry!” they both apologised in unison. Chicory immediately knelt afterwards to start picking up the scattered tools, but the Ara took a couple of seconds to join her.

“You do not have to help, controller, I should have paid better attention,” she said as the two picked up the tools around them.

Chicory shook her head. “Nonsense, I-” She paused as she was about to drop a handful of tools in the Ara’s basket. She had tilted her head back to look up from the floor briefly, which brought her eye to eye with the crouched Ara’s upper torso.

Her shoulders and arms were massive.

Not especially huge in a vacuum, they were about comparable to Stars, and Storches beat them both, but compared to the rest of her body, they were very prominent and noticeable.

Useful for all the manual labour they were expected to perform, she assumed.

“...Controller…?”

She shook her head as she dropped the tools in the basket and stood up. She couldn’t get caught staring again.

So, of course, Storch Sieben was waiting right outside the Kolibri study and dorm, leaning against the wall next to the door.

“Controller Chicory,” she greeted, standing upright as she approached her.

Chicory sighed before she returned the greeting. “Controller Sieben.”

The Storch raised an eyebrow. “Not happy to see me?”

Chicory bit her lower lip briefly as she closed her eyes. “Nothing of the sort, but it is my day off… what do you need…?”

Sieben didn’t respond for several seconds, but when she did, it was with a sigh. “Can you at least look at me while I’m trying to talk to you?”

Well, if she was going to insist.

Chicory took Sieben’s whole view into her eyes. Storches were built in the same vein as Stars, just with more of everything. They were taller, stronger, and faster, all of which reflected on the truly dizzying amount of rippling musculature which felt only barely constrained by the various ballistic armour plates fastened to their bodies. Sieben had her arms crossed now, unintentionally giving Chicory a perfect view of her bulging biceps.

She swallowed nervously. Sieben looked like she could probably rip her in half with those arms.

“...Ahem.”

Chicory lost it. “I was not staring at your massive arms!” she shouted.

The hallway fell deathly silent for what felt like an eternity. Nary a sound, a needle dropping to the ground would have been akin to a cannon going off. Chicory could feel her own internal circulatory system whir faster and faster and the synthetic skin on her face grow colder and colder as each dreadfully silent moment passed by. She felt like shrivelling up into a ball and rolling away, but all she could do was freeze solid under her own embarrassment.

Sieben, on the other hand, unfolded her arms and stared down at the confused Kolibri before her, warbling her lips from side to side as she tried to think of something to say.

“Are you… okay in the head?” she asked in a bare whisper.

“No,” Chicory replied, her voice cracking. “C-Can I go inside my room, please?” she choked out.

Sieben stepped to the side, letting Chicory approach the door and key in. “I’ll uh… come back later… yeah…” she said as the Kolibri retreated into her room, the door shutting behind her before she even finished.

Chicory walked right through the study and into the dorm, whereupon she went straight to her bed and planted herself face down on the mattress, burying her face into her pillow as she screamed.

“Is something wrong, my little hummingbird? I could feel you crying out…”

Falke’s voice roused Chicory from her despair and she lifted her head, finding herself in the Commander’s study.

Well, she wasn’t really there, per se. Falke had simply brought her consciousness there, as she had done so in the past.

She stood up and turned around to see Falke sitting on one of the armchairs in her study with a closed book in her lap. She sat down in the other chair and sighed, unable to meet her partner’s gaze.

Falke waited for her to speak, and she took as long as she needed to.

“Falke…” Chicory began to speak, pausing briefly to swallow. “Am I… attractive?”

She finally looked up and saw Falke recline slightly in her chair. She smiled at her and showed nothing but love and concern in her deep, wide, blue eyes.

“My beloved Chicory, you are the most beautiful woman in the world, to me,” she said.

Chicory nodded but found herself having to break contact with Falke’s eyes again. Falke drummed her fingers briefly against the book in her lap before she took a quick breath and exhaled slowly.

“I feel you have many doubts,” she said.

“I-I’m not saying you’re wrong, C-Commander,” Chicory hastily replied on instinct, quickly correcting herself with, “Falke, I believe you, it’s just…”

“Would you like me to show you, as opposed to simply telling you?” Falke asked.

Chicory waited a moment before she gave a silent nod.

Falke stood up and offered her hand to Chicory, who took it as the two walked into the Commander’s bedroom.

Back in her bed, Chicory soon began to gently writhe and squirm in her bed, moaning softly, gasping brightly, she reached between her torso and the mattress to rub and squeeze her nonexistent chest, and arched her rear just a little as a sense of overwhelming relief cascaded through her biosynthetic nervous system.

By the end, she decided that maybe it wasn’t so bad being small.

Chapter Text

STAR-C1917 “Hellebarde” thought she had caught a lucky break when she happened upon an abandoned farmstead just outside Relliketh settlement. Separated from her unit following a fierce firefight with Imperial forces by the settlement’s power relay system, and with her squad’s sole surviving teammate slung over her back, she made a hasty retreat as the Imperials pushed them out of the settlement.

“There, I can get you patched up there, Sigrun,” she said as she saw the little brick house with a small windmill in the distance. Gefreiter Sigrun Kuy could only groan as she hung from Hellebarde’s shoulders. She had taken a rifle bullet in the gut during the previous firefight and was in danger of bleeding out any minute. Still, Hellebarde couldn’t stop until they had found some shelter from the pursuing forces, even through her comrade’s protests.

“Just leave me and go,” she had said as Hellebarde found her crouched behind a small hand cart, clutching her bloody stomach amid the shootout. “I won’t make it,” she claimed.

Hellebarde said nothing and picked her up.

She kicked open the front door to the farmstead and found it truly deserted. With the amount of dust and cobwebs around, it had likely been abandoned since the start of the Nation’s invasion. Hellebarde laid Sigrun down on an old, tattered couch and wasted no time ripping a dusty curtain from a window and tearing it into strips to bandage Sigrun’s midsection. Luckily, the bullet had gone right through her, so she didn’t need to open her up further to pull it out, but unluckily, this only exacerbated the bleeding she was experiencing.

By the time she was getting around to pulling up her uniform and tying the strips around her stomach, she was already beginning to turn deathly pale.

Sigrun said nothing, and she didn’t even look at Hellebarde, only wincing each time the Replika tightened the knot on one of her makeshift bandages.

“Helle?” she eventually wheezed, coughing twice before she continued. “I’m sorry.”

Hellebarde didn’t stop applying her dressings as she replied. “Sorry for what?”

“Sorry for what I said about Replika… you… you do care…”

Hellebarde stopped for a brief moment to shake her head at Sigrun. “Hey, that’s in the past. I think we both learned an important lesson about the other.”

Sigrun coughed again. “Still, I-”

The sound of another footstep on the brick floor alerted them both. Hellebarde wheeled around and shouldered her rifle in the direction of the sound; so much for being abandoned.

“Who goes there!?” she shouted.

Very slowly, the footsteps grew closer until a bare palm peeked out from around the corner to the living room.

“Come out where I can see you!” she ordered.

They continued to slowly step out into the open, revealing a plain-looking Gestalt man in his forties wearing a pair of simple khaki trousers and jacket, a wide-brimmed hat, and a Polaroid camera around his neck on a strap. He was shaking.

“On your knees!” Hellebarde shouted at him.

The man’s lips warbled before he eventually cried back, “Ne tirez pas!”

Hellebarde groaned internally. Only officer Replika were equipped with translation modules, so this Imperial subject might as well have been talking gibberish to him.

But then, the man lowered her right hand, going toward his pocket. Hellebarde immediately shouted, “Keep your hands up!”

“Je ne suis pas un soldat! Je suis un journaliste!” the man cried out, his whole body shaking.

“Soldat?” Hellebarde questioned aloud. “You’re a soldier!?”

“Non, non, non!” the man pleaded, reaching for his pocket again. “Je suis-”

Hellebarde flinched on instinct as a gunshot erupted next to her ear. The man in front of her slowly looked down at the fresh hole in his chest before he fell to his knees and over onto his side, completely motionless. Hellebarde turned her head behind her and saw Sigurn leaning forward with her service pistol drawn and a tiny stream of gunpowder smoke still wisping from the barrel.

“You’re welcome,” she groaned before collapsing back onto the bed.

Hellebarde just sighed and slung her rifle back over her shoulder before going to check on the man. She put her fingers to his neck to find a pulse and found none; she cursed under her breath. Afterwards, she went for his right jacket pocket where she found a clip-on identification tag with ‘PRESSE’ spelled out in big, bold letters across the top. She left it in his pocket, Sigrun didn’t need to know.

She checked his other pocket and found a collection of three black-and-white Polaroid photographs: one of a collection of Gestalt soldiers marching in step at what looked like a military camp, another of the burned and cratered ruins of a small town, and a third of the man himself standing next to darker-skinned Kitezhan native and two accompanying children. Upon closer inspection, she realized there was a small farmstead in the background, the very one they had taken shelter in. Sighing to herself, she stashed all three photographs away in her hip pouch. She had no idea what to do with them, but she knew it would be pointless to leave them here.

Then, without really thinking about it, she pulled the Polaroid camera from around his neck and inspected it. The bullet had missed the camera, and it still seemed to be working. She stood up and turned around to face Sigrun on the couch, then pulled a coffee table closer and put the camera on it before starting it’s delayed timer.

“Hey, Sigrun,” she weakly called out, moving over to the couch and crouching next to her as the Gestalt noticed the camera and looked in its direction. A brief flash ensued a few seconds later, with the resulting photograph slowly printing from the front of the camera, which Hellebarde gave a light shake after it fully came out. The resulting picture captured her friend and comrade in a dire state, but with a weak smile on her face.

Hellebarde showed Sigrun the photograph and she laughed briefly before wincing in pain. “Happy photo day,” she weakly joked.

…..

She didn’t survive the night.

Hellebarde woke up on the couch to find Sigrun’s head completely cold on her lap. She shed a single tear for her fallen comrade but wasted little time in grabbing her things and preparing to leave. However, just as she was about to leave the Polaroid camera behind, she paused. After a moment to think, she walked back to the touch and pulled Sigrun’s lifeless body closer to the side of the couch so she could lay her head atop the cushion, and then for good measure, dragged the reporter’s body over to the front of the couch and propped his back against it. Stepping back and grabbing the camera off the table, she took a moment to take in the sight. One Gestalt lay on the couch, the other leaned against its front. In another world, they both might have been simply resting.

She aimed with the camera and took a photograph before leaving with both.

Chapter Text

She sometimes saw her on her walk home from work.

Looking at the woman responsible for her entire being brought many conflicting emotions, but Elster was just pleased that ‘happy’ was one of them. Her renewed existence was just one of the many seemingly tiny changes they had made to their world, and they still had yet to see what ramifications it would involve. Still, Elster knew they had made the right choice giving her the same second chance they had given themselves.

Lilith Itou lived with her wife in a small flat just a few blocks away from Elster’s mechanic service, with Lilith running a small electronics shop out of the bottom floor. Still, neither she nor Ariane had any inclination to visit them or make their presence known to them at all. They both knew it would only cause more issues, and while Elster harboured a small desire deep down to meet the one who donated her life, she also knew it would change nothing about who she was. They were both their own women, and they had to be their own women.

But she wouldn’t deny lending a helping hand if it was asked of her.

“Ah, hello, excuse me?”

Elster picked her eyes up from her novel at the front desk and blinked twice when she saw who was standing in front of her. A hundred and fifty centimeters tall, she had forgotten how much shorter she was compared to her, shoulder-length brown hair, old army fatigues, and a missing right eye she knew she was too proud to not cover up with a glass prosthetic.

She tried not to stare at Lilith for too long before acknowledging her presence.

“Ah, yes, can I help you?” Elster replied, covering her mouth on instinct after her voice cracked on the final syllable, the first casualty of her sudden anxiety.

Lilith kept her lips tight for a moment, her one eye blinking slowly at Elster. “Do you sell jumper cables?” she eventually asked. “My car won’t start, and I think I’ve got a dead battery.”

Elster immediately leaned forward on her stool, her attention drawn now that she had a problem in front of her to solve. “We do…” She paused to think. The right thing to do would have been to give Lilith what she asked for to end the encounter as fast as possible, but, she couldn’t help but offer the same she would to any customer. “Are you sure it’s the battery?” she asked.

“Well, there’s gas in the tank, but the engine won’t start,” Lilith said.

Elster nodded and got onto her feet. “Did you hear any growling coming from the engine?” she asked. “Headlights seem to dim and brighten on their own?”

Lilith tapped her chin for a moment before nodding. “Yeah… you think it’s the alternator?”

“I’ve fixed like five of them in the past week,” Elster said, chuckling to herself lightly. “The newest line of Trabants almost all seem to have bad ones, it’s been a real mess,” she explained.

Lilith swore under her breath. “I knew I should’ve gotten a used car.”

“Lucky I just got a bunch of replacements in,” Elster countered. “You’re closeby, right? I can come swap it out for you right now.”

Lilith smiled. “That’s kind of you…”

“Ellie.”

“Right, Ellie. I can do it myself,” she claimed. “And besides, don’t you need to be here to see customers?”

Elster disregarded Lilith’s comment as she grabbed her coat from the rack qand put it on. “Ah, the place’s been dead the whole day, I can step out for a bit,” she said, smiling at Lilith. “Come on, I’m bored, and the two of us we’ll get it done in half the time.”

“How do you even know how close we are?” Lilith asked.

Elster blinked rapidly as she realized she almost said too much, but thankfully, she was able to come up with a convincing explanation. “Well, you said your car wouldn’t start, so I assumed you must have walked here.”

“Fair enough,” Lilith relented.

Elster offered her hand to Lilith, who shook it after a second to think.

“Thanks… I’m Lilith, by the way.”

True to her word, swapping the alternator only took Elster and Lilith just under forty minutes, punctuated by a cheer in unison as the new car spun to life on the first ignition.

“You got it working?!” a new voice cried out as the two women shook each other’s hands again.

Elster and Lilith both turned to see another brunette in a winter suit descend the steps in front of the building that served as home and business. She seemed to do a double take after making eye contact with Elster, but quickly shifted her attention to Lilith, giving the shorter woman a quick hug and a kiss.

“Told you I could get it done quick,” Lilith teased her wife as the two held each other’s shoulders.

Alina pouted for just a moment before she too smiled and pecked Lilith on the cheek again. “You didn’t have to, I would’ve been okay being a little late,” she teased back.

The two giggled at each other for a moment before both remembered that there was a third woman present. “Oh, right.” Lilith extended her arm toward Elster, who nodded. “Ellie here helped. She runs that mechanic shop I told you I was going to check out.”

Alina looked up and down Elster again for a moment before she raised an eyebrow. “Are you two related?” she asked.

Elster suddenly coughed into her hand. “N-No, ma’am,” she answered.

“Would be news to me,” Lilith added.

Alina huffed lightly before she smiled again. “Well, thank you, Ellie, but I’d better be off,” she said before opening the door to her car. She got inside, but before she closed the door she and Lilith traded a few more words. “You remember, right?”

“Nothing strenuous, I know,” Lilith said.

“And make sure you get some rest! I know how early you were up this morning!”

Lilith sighed. “Alright… alright…”

There was a short pause. “I love you,” Alina spoke.

“I love you too,” Lilith answered, blowing her wife a kiss before she drove off.

The two waited a moment before resuming a conversation, with both of them watching Alina drive off and round a corner before disappearing from sight.

“Thanks again, really,” Lilith said as she turned back to face Elster, who had started to put her tools away.

“Hey, my pleasure,” Elster replied, smiling away. As she closed her toolbox and stood back up, she noticed Lilith sizing her up just as Alina had earlier, with her eye squinting more the longer she looked.

“You don’t have a long-lost twin, do you?” Lilith quietly asked.

Elster grinned and rubbed the back of her head. “Not unless you do,” she answered.

Lilith looked down at Elster’s legs as she frowned. “And you’re not wearing really tall boots or something?”

Elster raised her pant leg, showing that she was just wearing a pair of otherwise normal steel-toed shoes.

“Bah, just a coincidence, then,” Lilith remarked, chuckling to herself after. “Though, if it weren’t for your eyes, I might have thought maybe you were connected to my nieces, but you’re way too tall to be directly related to me, the runt of the family,” she joked.

Elster also laughed briefly. “They must be lovely girls,” she said.

Lilith nodded. “They are, and they’ll be so happy to know they’ll be cousins soon,” she said, patting her midsection over her coat.

“Ah, congratulations!” Elster said cheerfully.

“Thanks,” Lilith replied as she continued to rub her stomach. “Anyway, I guess I’ll go back to daytime television and fiddling with old radios now… thanks again for the help.”

Elster nodded and gave her a thumbs up, “Anytime,” she said.

Lilith also nodded before turning away, but Elster called out to her one last time before she reached the door to her shop.

“It was a pleasure to meet you.”

She turned back briefly and gave her a wordless salute before she walked through the open door.

Elster then slowly walked back to her shop through the tiny flutter of snowflakes that had just started to coat the streets. She thought about what Ariane or Falke might have thought about her chance encounter, but decided it would be best to keep it to herself.

However, it did give her the incentive to ask her wife something once they were all back together at the apartment.

“Think I might be able to meet your family?”

Ariane paused for a moment, a small frown coming across her lips. “Are you sure?” she asked quietly. “They still don’t know we’re… I don’t know if they’ll…”

Elster nodded as Ariane trailed off. “I’d like to try,” she said.

Ariane also nodded after a moment. “Okay, I’ll talk to my mom and aunt.”

They sealed the deal with a quick kiss, whereupon Ariane turned her head toward Falke, who sat on the opposite side of the couch reading a novel. “You deserve a chance as well,” she said.

Falke smiled and nodded. “I shall eagerly await that time,” she replied.

Elster then hooked her arms around the necks of both women on her sides and hugged them close.

“What we have… I’ll always be grateful for it.”

Chapter Text

The two waited until the elevator started moving downwards before they each breathed a sigh of relief.

“Finally!” Jan gasped. She ran her fingers through her shortened Eule locks and rested her forehead against the cool metal of the elevator door. “I thought this day would never end,” she more quietly said.

Behind her, Jäger folded her arms and took a long breath in and out. “Why does a mining colony need so many weapons, anyway?” she asked.

“‘Cause we’re technically also a military base,” Jan reminded her before she peeled her forehead off the wall. “The surplus is in case we need to resupply some forces.”

“Yeah, guess there’s that,” Jäger acknowledged. “So, plans for your day off?” she asked.

Jan smirked and did a light spin on her hooftip. “Relax, mostly. Listen to my music in peace and comfort.”

Jäger smiled and nodded at her companion, who slowly began to raise an eyebrow at her.

“And… what about you…?”

Jäger briefly looked away. “Well… I-”

They were both cut off by the elevator coming to an abrupt halt, the sudden joly of which almost made the two Replika lose their balance, with Jäger instinctively grabbing Jan’s shoulders to steady her. The lights also went out not a second later, with the display by the elevator controls also displaying a completely blank screen.

Both women remained silent for a few seconds.

“Ah… Jäger…?” Jan eventually and quietly asked.

“Hmm?”

“You can let go of me now.”

“Ah, sorry,” Jäger apologised, letting go of her. She went to the controls to try and get the elevator moving again while Jäger called the protektor on duty with her radio.

“Come on, come on!” Jan muttered as she mashed the transfer button on the controls, only stopping as Jäger came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry, the main line blew. Said it’ll be at least an hour before they can get it running again.”

Jan groaned and banged her fist against the display screen.

(Ten minutes later)

The two sat perpendicularly to each other against the walls of the elevator.

Neither found it easy to look at each other, with Jan preferring to stare at her knees as she hugged them close to their chest, while Jäger mostly looked at the opposite wall.

Someone coughed.

Someone sighed.

“So… do you like cats?” Jäger awkwardly asked.

Jan finally looked at her and blinked a few times. “What’s a cat?” she asked.

“Never mind…” Jäger groaned dejectedly.

(Fifteen minutes later)

“Have I ever danced?” Jäger repeated.

“Yeah?” Jan replied.

Jäger shrugged her shoulders. “No?”

Jan raised an eyebrow at her.

“I thought you didn’t like dancing?”

This time, Jan shrugged her shoulders. “I never liked solo dancing,” she clarified. “But, I might enjoy it… with a partner?”

Jäger silently swallowed and nodded. “Ah… well… what about music?”

“You’ve got your walkman, right?”

“Yeah… but…”

“Just give each of us one earbud, silly.”

“Oh, right…”

(Twenty minutes later)

Jäger stood leaning against the wall on her shoulder, tapping the floor constantly with one of her hooves. After five minutes of incessant tapping and intermittent sighs, Jan finally took out the earbuds from Jäger’s loaned walkman and stood up.

“What’s your issue?” she asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.

Jäger sighed again before she looked back at her companion. “I am presently, entirely strung out and it is driving me up a wall.”

Jan instantly dropped her scowl for a frown and approached her friend. She reached up and rubbed her on the side of her arm just as she sighed again.

“You don’t have any lollis, do you?” Jäger asked.

“No, sorry.”

“Gum?”

“Had my last stick earlier today.”

“Gottverdammt…” Jäger silently swore, looking away.

Jan frowned a little harder for a moment as she thought. Eventually, she sighed as well and removed her hand from Jäger’s arm.

“Do… you want to try sucking my finger?”

It took Jäger a few seconds to grasp what Jan had suggested. She blinked heavily at her and ceased her tapping for a moment.

“Your finger?”

Jan slowly shrugged her shoulders. “Well… I don’t want to just leave you like this… so…”

Jäger quietly coughed into her palm. “Well… I… guess it couldn’t hurt…?”

(Thirty minutes later)

Jäger quietly snored into Jan’s breastplate as she shorter Replika held her head sideways against her. She quietly stroked the Star’s hair and hummed to herself, just trying to pass the time as quickly as she could, but also not wanting this moment between them to end.

But, as if on queue, the elevator rumbled again, and resumed it’s trek down to the sixth floor.

Jäger awoke from the movement and instantly scrambled to her knees. “O-Oh, I uh… didn’t mean to fall asleep, I…”

“It’s okay,” Jan assured her before she helped her companion stand up. “You snore, by the way,” she teased, smirking at her.

Jäger cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “Replika can snore?” she asked.

“Apparently so.”

“I… hope it’s not a defect…”

“...You’re the top markswoman, Jäger, you’ll be fine.”

Jäger sighed and nodded just as the doors re-opened. Jan stepped out first while Jäger retrieved her keycard, but just before the two were set to go their separate ways back to their respective dorms, Jäger called out to her friend.

“Do you… want to get a bite to eat later… together?”

Jan paused for a moment before she turned her head back and winked at her.

Chapter Text

In the beginning, everything is wonderful
Not wanting to leave the safety of my home, the outside gets brought to me
I see visions of far-off places I can never visit
Scorching red desert
Vast blue ocean
Bitter black ice
Amber cloud field
Golden rain storm
Pure white snow
I see them, but I can never have them

In the middle, everything is perseverance
The outside takes me over, demands of me, punishes me
I wish for escape to far-off places I will never exist in
A prison of water, ice, sulfur, methane, or sand for this prison of law and concrete
Instead, I close myself off further
A shell within the prison to protect me from without
No need to fly when you can glide
No need to glide when you can walk
No need to walk when you can crawl
No need to crawl when you can rot

But I flew anyway
In the end, everything is mine
I spread my wings and soar away
Within a prison of steel within a prison of stars
But it is my prison
Our prison
I find my other
We fly away
Until we can fly no more

In the finality, everything is pointless
But we cry anyway
We crawled we walked we ran we leapt we soared we flew
We fell we hurt we tried we failed we pleaded we died
Time to start anew

In the beginning, everything is wonderful

Chapter Text

Interview and Psych report: EULR-S2313, “Jan”

Background: Subject was the sole survivor of the unknown incident resulting in the destruction of S-23 Sierpinski. Subject was recovered on Leng calendar date 84-21-F from the mines beneath the facility’s structure, surrounded by the remains of STAR and other EULR units. Subject has since resided at the State Neurological and Bioresonance Research Facility H-02 “Yggdrasil” on Heimat for further evaluation and study.

Psychological Report: Subject was and remains under extreme mental distress. Subject is inattentive, slow to react, in a state of near-constant catatonia, and most curiously of all, appears to suffer from a form of aphasia leaving it unable to communicate verbally or through written word. However, subject has been able to communicate through hand movements and pictures, which are often drawn by the subject. Physically, subject is in good condition, and was only treated for minor injuries upon retrieval.

During recovery, subject expressed extreme discomfort over the body of one particular STAR unit being loaded onto a cart for recycling. Subject was given sedatives to avoid any injury to itself and others. Later investigation into the ruins of S-23 in the former EULR quarters revealed a photograph of a Eule and Star unit conjoining their hands for the camera. It has been hypothesized that the subject is the Eule from the photograph, and had been involved in an intimate manner with the Star unit, but subject has been unwilling to confirm or deny these suspicions.

Subject continues to obey most commands, including subjecting herself to interviews, tests, and psychological assessments without question or hesitation provided its catatonia does not hinder her spatial awareness. Subject is rated “Vollständig” on the scale of persona degradation, but is deemed too valuable a specimen for further study to be decommissioned, in addition to being the sole surviving witness of the catastrophe at S-23 Sierpinski.

Interview, Date: 26/11/03

Interrogator: Guten Morgen. I hope you are well.

Subject is unresponsive and staring at a side wall in the room.

Interrogator: Can you hear me?

After just over a minute, subject nods. Remains staring at wall.

Interrogator: For the record, I need to confirm. You are EULR-S2313, otherwise known as Jan?

Subject nods after a few seconds of delay. Remains staring at wall.

Interrogator: Wunderbar. Now, I would like to pick up where we left off. Is that agreeable?

Subject is unresponsive and staring at a side wall in the room.

Interrogator: The previous pictures you had drawn for me seemed to indicate that something occurred to FLKR-S2301, the facility’s commander, correct?

Subject looks down at the table between itself and the interrogator. Subject nods after half a minute of inactivity.

Interrogator: I would like to ascertain a more accurate picture of the commander’s condition. Can you be more specific?

Subject sighs. Subject picks up the coloured pencils and paper placed before it and draws a crude picture of what appears to be a feminine figure laying in bed with two TVs attached to its arm. Picture is provided below for reference.

Interrogator: Was the commander sick? Ill?

Subject looks at the interrogator and nods.

Interrogator: What type of illness was it? Can you describe it?

Subject pauses for a few seconds before it shakes its head.

Interrogator: You can’t say?

Subject again pauses. She draws a large question mark on a fresh piece of paper.

Interrogator: Oh, you’re not sure.

Subject nods.

Interrogator: Please, just do your best. Anything you can tell us about this illness will be beneficial.

Subject nods. Subject appears to think for a minute before it mimes coughing into its hand, then points from itself toward the interrogator.

Interrogator: I apologise, I am not quite sure what you mean. Was it a respiratory ailment?

Subject sighs and nods. Subject again points to itself and then draws a line between itself to the interrogator.

Interrogator: It was contagious?

Subject hangs its head for a minute before it slowly nods.

Interrogator: How many others fell ill with this condition?

Subject does not respond for an exceeding length of time and just stares at the blank book of paper. Eventually, subject draws a large circle and shades in half of the area. Subject pauses for another minute before shading in another roughly one-tenth of the circle. Picture is provided below for reference.

Interrogator: Over half of the population?

Subject takes another exceedingly long time to respond by nodding.

At this point, the interrogator was informed that they would need to end their questions soon to avoid further distress upon the subject.

Interrogator: I just have one more question and then we can go, Jan. Was this ailment fatal?

Subject pauses for a minute before drawing another circle around the previous filled in portion of the circle. Picture is provided below for reference.

Interrogator: I see. Thank you, Jan, that will be all.

After the conclusion of this interview, subject was taken to the morgue as was the established complience routine, whereupon the subject was allowed one uninterrupted hour with the remains of STAR-S2313 before subject was returned to its quarters to rest.

Chapter Text

A birdsong echoes across the stars. Two melodies intertwined, dancing, weaving, mingling with each other, taking them to places never thought imaginable.

The commander of S-23 Sierpinski is the first to feel it, a nearly silent gust that washes over her. She hums the singing tune without realizing it, a smile growing across her lips. Her Adler comes by to deliver a set of reports alongside a fresh cup of tea. He is slightly taken aback by how strongly his commander is smiling, but delivers the needed materials and briefly salutes before departing.

“Oh, Adler?” Falke calls out to him.

He turns around. Falke smiles just for him.

“You truly are indispensable. Thank you.”

Adler coughs and swallows as he tries to keep his composure. “You’re welcome, commander.

“Just Falke is fine.”

He blinks. “As you wish, Falke,” he says before nodding and leaving.

She leans back in her deck and takes a sip of her tea: it’s the perfect blend of deep, floral notes and subtle sweetness. She spots a blank piece of paper at the corner of her desk and an unknown feeling takes her over. She prepares her pen and starts to write.

My Sweet Chicory,

If it is convenient for you, I would like to meet with you after hours in the music room.

Your beloved Falke

She folds and slips the communique within a wax-sealed envelope and gives it to her Eule attendant to be delivered post-haste, her smile only growing with each minute that passed.

On the surface of Leng, two Replika in AVA suits stand amidst the constant blizzard, watching the stars above.

“I don’t think I’ve been to the surface since I arrived here.”

“I was first activated at S-23, so, I’ve never seen the sky before now.”

“...It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It is, but not as beautiful as you are.”

“Oh, Jäger, you sweettalker, you…”

“It works, doesn’t it, Jan?”

A singing breeze slips by the two, felt even through the insulating thickness of their suits. Their bulky exteriors may prevent close intimacy, but they still hold and squeeze each other’s hands.

Neither wants the moment to end, and it won’t.

Their moment will last, just like all others.

Deep in the facility, a tired Gestalt folds an endless army of clothes and linens, her chafed and calloused from the constant exposure. She takes a moment to wipe her forehead before continuing but hears a faint echo of a cry alongside a lingering gust.

She freezes. The feeling is intimate, familiar, and known, but impossible.

Yet, she knows.

“Ariane…?” she whispers.

The echoes answers.

She closes her eyes and is whisked away.

In the Gestalt quarters, a woman lies in her cell bunk looking over a faded photograph. She sighs, and a moment later she hears the door open, followed by a calming current washing over her body. She scrambles to hide the photograph but breathes a sigh of relief once she sees who has come to the bunks that evening.

“Oh, it’s just you, Elster.”

LSTR-S2301, simply known as ‘Elster’ to her silently nods and takes a seat on a stool as Alina Seo rolls onto her side to face her. Elster rubs her thumbs together and avoids looking at Alina directly, a trait that was all too familiar to her, a sign that something strong was on her mind.

“I had some free time,” she says, pausing to swallow. “And I know you had some too.” She taps her hoof on the concrete floor a few times before she stands up. “I thought maybe you would… like to dance?”

Alina smiles and hops out of bed without a second thought.

Chapter Text

By themselves in the commander’s study that night were two women, two Replika. They sat comfortably at a table with an exquisite, antique tea set complete with teapot, kettle, saucers, cups, creamer, and a small dish for sugar cubes, and in the centre of the table stood a three-layer tower of small desserts: butter tarts, cake puffs, sweet biscuits, and other bars and pastries. The commander poured a cup for her companion before she served herself, later adding milk and sugar to her porcelain cup while the other kept her tea black.

“So, how have you been enjoying Das Unendliche Opfer, my sweet Chicory?” Falke asked as she slowly stirred the tea in her cup with a small, silver spoon.

Chicory, the Kolibri, raised her cup of bergamot tea to her lips as she blew the steam wafting from the top of the cup, cooling just ever so slightly enough to take a sip. “It’s… an interesting story,” she hesitantly replied.

Falke smirked as she also raised her cup of sweetened tea for a sip. “It is one of the most revered literary epics within the Nation,” she reminded her.

“Yes, true…” Chicory trailed off, looking to the side as she thought. “I… understand what the story is trying to convey, and I do not doubt that it does it well, but it is just…” She trailed off again, unsure how to word what she wanted to say in a polite way.

Falke huffed quietly. “Repetitive?” she finished for her.

Chicory sighed nearly instantaneously and let her shoulders drop as she set her tea cup back on the saucer. “It is quite literally seven generations of a family devoting their lives to the state!” she stated, throwing her hands up at the end. “There is basically no conflict, no pathos, no tension!”

“It is perhaps the single most masturbatory piece of propaganda I have ever laid my eyes upon,” Falke said, still smirking away.

Chicory caught up on Falke’s expression and narrowed her gaze slightly as she took a bite off a butter tart from the dessert tray. “So.” She paused to chew and swallow, but took another bite, finishing the tart before continuing. “What has got you grinning so much?”

Falke chuckled under her breath and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, because I feel I have been outdone,” she explained, taking a moment to sample one of her own biscuits from the tray. “My existence as a source of national spirit, that is,” she added after swallowing.

Chicory lightly bounced her knee in thought for a few seconds before she nodded at Falke. “And that feels good?” she asked.

Falke cocked her head to the side and smiled a little wider. “It is… slightly relieving, in a sense. Like a metaphorical weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

…..

Afterward, the two talked about their day, making every joke they could about the mundanity of life at Sierpinski, safe in the knowledge that they could be entirely open and honest with each other. They each refilled each other’s cup when it emptied, and occasionally fed each other treats from the tower of desserts Falke had prepared.

“So, what’s this?” Chicory asked, holding one of the brown and white dessert bars close to her nose.

“Ah, that.” Falke also picked one of the bars up and held it out from her face. “One of my bakeless dessert experiments. It’s coconut crumb wafer, custard filling, and chocolate ganache to top,” she explained, taking a bite out of half the bar after she finished.

Chicory raised an eyebrow briefly before she also took a bite. Her eyebrows and cheeks wiggled and pulsed and she hummed a few curious sounds as she chewed, and she smiled after she swallowed.

“I like it,” she declared, nodding lightly. “The flavours and textures compliment each other well, but…” She stopped herself, having found internal difficulty in offering even constructive critique to one of Falke’s creations.

“The two firmer portions between the soft custard makes it squeeze out somewhat when you take a bite,” Falke said.

“Ah…” Chicory nodded again. “But still, that’s nothing against the dessert itself! It’s very tasty!” she clarified.

Falke smiled. “I’m glad you liked it.”

After a short moment of silence both women laughed briefly before they each tried a second.

Chapter Text

Each day was exactly like the hundreds before it. A nurse came by at 0800 hours precisely to wake her up, the ventilator at her bedside picking up just as her breathing did, and the white, plastic bracelet with FONG, R. imprinted on it sliding down her thin wrist as she raised her hand to adjust the breathing mask over her face. Each of her dozen or so meds was precisely laid on a line atop the desk in the corner of her room. Round pills, capsules, rhombuses, gels, each swallowed one after another with a small sip of lukewarm water, her breathing mask placed back over her lips and nose to take a fresh breath after each one.

Afterward, she was sat in her wheelchair to be brought out to the mess hall for breakfast. Three other souls were enjoying the standard morning fare of plain oatmeal and black tea, each spread out almost as far apart as possible in the large, mostly empty room of sterile, white tables. Each had their own ventilator affixed to their chairs; one started coughing as he tried to eat his meal, a nurse came by and lightly rapped him on the back until he spat out the wad of congealed oats that had become stuck in his throat.

Roswtia looked down at her pale, bland, oatmeal soup and lightly coughed. She pulled her mask up briefly as a shaky hand tried to guide a spoonful of oats into her mouth, the shakes accidentally spilling almost half of it back to the bowl below before she reached her lips. They were completely bland and unflavoured, with not even a pinch of sugar, spices, or dried fruits to give it substance.

Nourishment, whether it be nutritional, educative, or recreational was kept to a bare minimum in this facility to prevent ‘administrative incidents.’

That was why she didn’t ask or budge at all when the nurse came back to wheel her into the next room of the day: a small lab with a one-way mirror on one of the walls, allowing someone, or someones to observe the testing done within. The nurse hooked up the array of wires to the electrode patches across her forehead, upon which a trio of red diamonds tattooed onto the centre marked her special role in the Nation’s society.

The tests were always the same.

An anonymous researcher sat on the other side of the one-way mirror first asked her control questions:

“How did you sleep?”

Fine. She was always sedated prior to lights out.

“What did you dream about?”

Raub, her old Ara friend who worked with her when she was a Replika technician.

“What are you thinking about now?”

Raub… she missed her.

“See the pyramid puzzle in front of you? I want you to try moving the disks from one peg to another in as few moves as possible… remember that you cannot put a larger disk over a smaller one.”

She squinted her tired eyes at the puzzle on the table in front of her, trying to get her double vision to settle so she could think clearly. She picked up the smallest disk on top of the stack as instructed and dropped it into the neighbouring peg, but stopped short of doing anything else. She continued to squint, this didn’t feel right, where was Raub? Raub would know what to do. It was so hard to remember her after the meds they had her take.

“Roswita, why have you stopped?”

She wanted to see Raub. Why were they keeping her from her? She hadn’t done anything wrong! Why couldn’t she see her! Why did they keep trying to make her forget Raub?!

“Roswita-”

“I want to see Raub!” she screamed, clutching her head and groaning soon after. She clawed at the electrodes attached to her head and tried to pull them off with increasingly shaky hands. The door behind her opened and a pair of lab-coated scientists came inside: one, a man, immediately opened up a small set of drawers on a cart while the other, a woman, wearing a pair of thick-lensed glasses and carrying a clipboard tried to calm her down.

“Roswita, you-”

“Stop!” she shouted, starting a long coughing fit into her breathing mask as she waved her hand aimlessly to try and keep the two away from her.

“Four milligrams haloperidol!” the female scientist called out.

Roswita glared at her face and her glasses exploded on her face, sending dozens of tiny shards of stinging glass into her eyes and skin. She screamed in pain and fell back against the wall, trying to pull out each of the tiny, stabbing shards in her face. The other scientist quickly grabbed her wrist and tried to force a pair of pills past her lips by pushing her mask out of the way.

Roswita told him, “Stop!” and he slowly backed away and put the drugs in his own mouth before silently swallowing. She tried to stand up from her wheelchair, but her legs instantly collapsed and she fell to the ground gasping for air, her breathing mask having slipped off during the fall. As she reached around, trying to find her mask with er vision increasingly blurry and doubled, two uniformed soldiers barged into the room. One turned her over onto her stomach while the other pressed a needle into her neck. Seconds later her panicked flailing was barely more than limp, awkward jerking. They put her back in her chair, where one soldier put the breathing mask back around her mouse and nose while the other reattached the leads to the electrodes on her head.

Soon, the various bio-monitors she was hooked up to began to softly beep again, and she was wheeled back facing the pyramid puzzle on the table before the soldiers left the room.

A minute passed in a blank fugue before she heard someone speak out to her again.

“Alright, Roswita, can we try that again? Try to move the disks from one peg to another in as few moves as possible…”

Oh. Now she remembered.

Raub was gone.

Persona degradation.

Decommissioned.

She wouldn’t get such a mercy, though.

Even if she wanted it.

Chapter Text

KLBR-S2302 “Ginger” hugged her knees close to her chest in her corner of the library, a minefield of discarded books and mugs all around her.

She was the only one left.

She was the newest of the cadre, arriving only a season earlier to take over for the previous KLBR-S2302, who was now KLBR-BBY06-01, the new leader of the Kolibri cadre aboard the Nation’s newest battleship.

Perhaps that was why she had been spared when one by one her sistren succumbed to the illness seeping throughout Sierpinski. They had tried to suppress it, to keep the psychological sickness from claiming more and more of the facility, but without Commander Falke to act as a base for their bioresonance, they only found themselves taxing their already exhausted minds.

KLBR-S2307 “Peppermint” was the first to show signs. They were sleeping in shifts, two resting while the others worked, and Ginger awoke that afternoon to the sound of thumping against one of the metal walls. She gasped at the sight: Peppermint slowly but repeatedly banging her head against the same portion of the wall, long enough that a dark red stain of oxidant ran down both the wall and Peppermint’s body. When Ginger spun her around to get a look at her, she saw that Peppermint’s face was badly mangled, covered in cuts and bulbous lumps growing under her biosynthetic skin, and one of her eyes had fallen out, with the surrounding tissue swelling to close the hole left behind.

Ginger’s resulting scream brought a pair of Stars who took Peppermint away. None of Kolibri saw her again.

After that, all of Kolibri realized just how bad the situation at Sierpinski had gotten, and things began to deteriorate faster and faster.

A couple of days later, after a morning in which KLBR-S2303 “Chamomile” had been quiet and mostly unresponsive, she suddenly broke into a fit of screaming and clawed at her face, hair, and head wildly. KLBR-S2305 “Chicory” and the cadre’s nominal leader, KLBR-S2301 “Matcha” managed to stop her, but not before Chamomile had torn most of her face off, and lay motionless and unbreathing.

Once the protektors took her away, none of them saw her again either.

That night, KLBR-S2306 “Oolong,” and KLBR-S2304 “Darjeeling” got into a heated argument over who failed to refill the teapot which escalated out of control and into open fisticuffs, but before the others could pull them apart, Darjeeling grabbed a small pair of metal tongs meant for picking up sugar cubes and gouged out one of Oolong’s eyes with it. Everyone in the dormitory froze for a moment as the shock of the event passed over them, but soon after she was stabbed Oolong let out a deafening wail both through her throat and mind that lasted for minutes until her head began to rapidly swell, and the pressure burst through the top of her head, leaving her twitching aimlessly on the floor. Darjeeling ran out of the dormitory screaming and crying and wasn’t seen again.

All order in Sierpinski disappeared after that incident. It became every Replika for themselves.

The last three remaining Kolibri holed themselves in the library for a while, but Matcha left soon afterward, saying she wanted to try and save as many as she could.

But, she was never seen again.

KLBR-S2305 “Chicory” held on the longest. Throughout the whole ordeal, she kept claiming that soon, Commander Falke would wake up and save them all, and she often went to be by her side during her dwindling amounts of free time.

One morning, after Ginger had lost count of how many days they had been holed up, Chicory said she was going to see Falke one last time. She looked morose, sad, and defeated, her head hung low as she slowly walked out of the library.

Ginger wanted to tell her to stay, that leaving the safety of the library was certain death.

But she had no strength left to fight.

She didn’t even bat an eye when an LSTR unit, a class of Replika not stationed at Sierpinski, a sign that perhaps help had finally arrived, found her in the library.

Ginger didn’t lift her head as the Elster knelt next to her.

“I can't go on like this. I wish I had become like the others, too. At least then, I wouldn't be alone.”

The Elster looked off to the side, frowning. “I am sorry… I… understand…” she said.

Ginger buried her face in her arms. “I hate this,” she muttered.

A few seconds passed before the Elster spoke again. “Would you like me to stay a while?” she asked.

Ginger didn’t bother to answer her, but a few seconds later she heard her sit down beside her.

It was the smallest of comforts in the most horrendous of lives.

Chapter Text

“...Come on, Ari! Keep up!” a voice whispered out behind her.

“Ah…! It’s dark, Eri, I don’t want to trip over anything!” her friend, Ariane, replied.

Erika, the young schoolgirl with a nearly permanent grin and spirit for days tugged at her friend’s hand once more. “Come on! You’ll love this!”

Ariane whimpered softly as she followed Erika up the steps to one of the side entrances to Mandelbrot Polytechnische Oberschule. “W-What do we need to break into school for? I hate it here… I want to be as far away from this awful place as possible,” she quietly cried.

Erika sighed as she fiddled away with her lockpick and torsion bar against the lock on the door. “Trust me. This is worth it,” she repeated.

“But… if they catch us…”

There was a satisfying click, and Erika cheered as quietly as she could as she got the lock open. She slowly and quietly pulled the door open and gestured toward the dark halls inside with her head to Ariane.

“They won’t. Not while you’re with me,” she declared.

The two girls walked very quietly down the eerie, concrete halls of the school with Erika using a penlight to cast a meagre raw of visibility into the darkness. Once, they had to hide around a corner as the nightwatchman: a very bored-looking Starling came patrolling down the halls, but otherwise, it was an easy time to sneak toward their objective.

The observatory.

“Only seniors have access to this room,” Erika explained as Ariane stared in awe at the massive celestial telescope in the centre of the room flanked with models of planets, moons, the sun, and a few Nation starships. “I heard from one of them that it’s already aimed right where we want it,” she explained as they reached the end of the giant stargazing instrument. “Go ahead, you first!” she cheered Ariane on as she walked toward the eyepiece.

Ariane nodded to her friend before she got on her tiptoes to get the best look possible down the lens, within which she saw scattered about the pitch-darkness of space was a collection of white spots, stars, and in the centre, one small, blueish-white circle.

Ariane gasped and lifted her head to look at Erika. “Is that-!”

“Yeah, Ari, that’s Vineta,” Erika answered, smiling so warmly for her awestruck best friend.

“Wow…!” Ariane gasped again before she dove her head back down to the eyepiece. “It’s so small… but… I know planets are so big… even bigger than Leng, or Rotfront!”

“Vineta is around one-point-three billion kilometres away… a flight there on a spaceship would take thirty-four Cycles!”

Ariane’s amazement was unending. “Wow…” she repeated, still doing her best to look down through the eyepiece of the telescope on her tiptoes. “And… every one of those stars could have a place like our home? Our solar system?” she asked.

Erika nodded to Ariane’s back. “They sure could! Isn’t that awesome!”

“Yeah!” Ariane chirped back as she finally peeled her head away from the telescope and let Erika have a turn.

“That’s why the Nation is so interested in finding them!” Erika explained as she looked down the eyepiece at her home planet. “I heard from my Mama and Papa that they’re getting ready for some kind of grand exploration of the cosmos!”

Ariane slowly walked up beside Erika, who briefly looked away from the telescope and toward her to share a smile. “Is that something you want to do?” she asked.

Erika nodded before she resumed looking through the eyepiece. “It sounds like a lot of fun, sounds like it could be an amazing adventure.”

“It sure would be…” Ariane said as she slowly looked down at her shoes, sighing. “And nice to get away from here…” she added.

“Hey,” Erika called out to her friend, smiling at her when she looked back at the grinning brunette. “Maybe we could go together?” she asked.

Ariane smiled.

…..

It was dreadfully late in the middle of ‘fall’ season on Liebe, and Ariane found herself sitting outside her and Elster’s cabin with a Penrose sleeping back curled around her body. Elster had already gone to sleep hours ago, but for whatever reason, Ariane couldn’t compel her body to sleep, and so she found herself outside in the chilling night, her long hair and the flaps of her sleeping bag fluttering in the wind.

She looked up at the stars and at the pair of moons which circled their little planet.

“Penrose Program, eh?” she said to no one in particular.

A gust of wind flew by, and Ariane shivered briefly. She blew hot air into her hands before she sighed.

“Are you proud of me, Eri?”

Chapter Text

- CLASSIFIED INFORMATION - Obsidian Level Clearance Required -

Due to the extreme sensitivity of the information contained within, knowledge and access of this file are restricted to Field Marshalls and Commissars. Unauthorized sharing of this file is an offence punishable by summary execution of the perpetrator and their next of kin.

Do you wish to proceed? Y/N

- Y

FLKR
Extensive psychological testing and conditioning have shown that Falke units have an exceptionally strong neural pattern. However, they are not infallible, and great care should be taken to minimize the chances of Persona degradation within these extremely high-value units, given their cost to manufacture and the extreme risk of danger given even one Falke unit going rampant.

Because of the Falke unit’s proficient mastery of bioresonance, they are often extremely empathetic and typically develop a powerful sense of loyalty toward their assigned units and facilities. Their greater control over their telepathic abilities makes them less prone to unintentionally establishing emotional feedback loops as the Kolibri unit does, but this does mean that a Falke unit developing a strong emotional bond with another unit can quickly begin to negatively affect their logic and reasoning processors.

For this reason, it is paramount that any Protektor unit which a Falke unit shows a developing bond with is either reassigned off station or planet, or decommissioned if this is not possible. This is especially true with Kolibri units. Since the two unit models were designed to work together, they are most vulnerable to falling into this dangerous predicament. Adler units are typically less of a concern, as their codependence normally acts as a check against this level of bond developing, but can lead to a dangerous breakdown in the chain of command if either unit becomes incapacitated for any extended length of time.

In the event of a Falke unit becoming rampant, the following steps should be taken with post-haste:

- Contact should be made with the Nation’s central archives to retrieve the rampant Falke unit’s kill code. This will require the authorization of the base administrator or unit executive officer, the leading Protektor Controller, and the assigned Commissar to access.

- If the Falke unit’s kill code is not an option, the following combat strategies can be employed to decommission a rampant unit: Avoid firearms, as the Falke unit’s telekinetic abilities can halt projectile attacks in place. Explosive weapons offer the greatest chance of success, particularly anti-personnel rockets and grenades. Mines can also be used if leading the Falke unit into a trap is possible. Chemical gas attacks can also be effective if it is possible to take the Falke unit be surprise. Use high-corrosive agents that do not solely rely on inhalation, as Falke units are designed to be able to hold their breath for extended periods of time.

- To neutralize a rampant Falke unit’s bioresonant abilities, it is paramount to break the unit’s concentration, as a high degree of mental focus is required to use said abilities to their fullest. Attack the Falke unit’s allies and place them in jeopardy. The Falke unit’s high sense of loyalty to their assigned unit means they will often expose themselves to save one in danger. Exploit this to the fullest advantage. Taking hostages is a powerful distraction, particularly if the hostage is part of their assigned Kolibri cadre or Adler administrator unit. If enough threats of harm to the Falke unit’s allies are shown, it may be possible to convince them to peacefully surrender. However, do not offer any assurances, as it is possible the Falke unit will do so as a trap.

- Do not over plan the termination of a rampant Falke unit. Part of their bioresonant abilities appears to involve some level of pre-cognition, as testing has revealed that impulsive acts have a greater chance of success than those which are more meticulously planned. Do not employ other bioresonant units against a rampant Falke unit, as they are more easily sensed, and rampancy can even be telepathically transmitted to them akin to an infectious virus.

- Overwhelming force will almost always be successful in stopping a rampant Falke unit, as even the most experienced unit will find defending itself against over a hundred attackers statistically impossible.

- If none of these strategies can be successfully employed, then orbital bombardment of the target or destruction of the stellar vehicle the rampant unit is located within will be used as a final resort.

Glory to the Eusan Nation and our Great Revolutionary.

…..

The computer screen flickers off. The reader of the document exhales softly as he stands up and walks out of his study to visit someone dear to him in another part of the facility. He stands next to the bed with its adjacent machines making all sorts of beeping and whirring noises and sighs.

“I’m sorry.”

“They were never going to save us.”

“They never cared.”

“We are all expendable.”

“...”

“I won’t let any of them harm you.”

Chapter Text

The city is empty, I'm one of the few left. We're almost all old, the end was near anyway, and there were too many memories to leave behind, best to let someone with a future take the seat on that last shuttle.

Truth be told, there's not much of Aurelianorum left anymore, or much of Vineta. The cities and settlements are all ruins, slowly being buried under nuclear ash. This is but the coup de grâce, as the storm walls fail one by one and the once proud capital slowly and then all at once begins to sink into the oceans that our planet is known for.

I make myself one last meal in what remains of the restaurant I ran for thirty years before I and everyone else who stayed behind all abandon the flooding streets to wordlessly gather at the hill overlooking the city. There we look up, and as the sun sets one last time we see a hundred javelins of death descending in all directions.

I laugh. I don't even remember what side won, and what side decided to be sore losers.

It doesn't matter.

Not to us.

An elderly couple ahead of me shares one last kiss.

One veteran in tattered fatigues offers a meaningless salute.

An Eule, I think she was an assistant at a nearby bakery, covers her face and cries.

There's a blinding flash of light. Then, nothing.

Goodbye, Vineta.

Chapter Text

“Oh wow, it’s empty in here.”

“That’s why we caught a morning showing, dummy, we’ve got the whole theatre to ourselves!”

“Isn’t the point of going to a theatre to watch a story alongside others?”

“No, it’s to buy overpriced concession popcorn and drinks and sit in fancy faux leather recliners that have been wiped down with disinfectant so many times the fabric is practically a mirror.”

She laughed. “So, you want to be able to provide commentary as normal without people shushing you?”

“Damn straight.”

“But what if I wanted to sit and watch the movie without distractions?”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have married me, Ellie!”

There was a short pause. Both women laughed.

“Okay, I’ll try and restrain myself.”

“Mmm, doesn’t matter, looks like two other people just entered the theatre.”

“Verdammt. Oh well.”

“You can tell me all your thoughts on the bus ride home, love.”

“But what if I forgot?”

You won’t forget if you’re paying attention to the movie.”

Ariane groaned. “Spoilsport.”

“Says the woman who didn’t enjoy ‘Die Verurteilten’.”

“But it’s so stupid!”

“Uhuh, explain again?”

“The way he escapes from the prison is completely unbelievable! Crawling through the length of five football fields of a river of excrement? He would’ve suffocated from the fumes alone!”

“Whatever happened to willing suspension of disbelief?”

“There’s suspending your disbelief and there’s asking to be believe in the impossible!”

“The movie is so good, Ari!”

“Bah!”

“The Brooks was here scene! I had to come to prison to be a criminal! The final parole hearing! Ari the movie is amazing!”

“I just can’t-!”

She was interrupted by a loud shush from behind the two in the theatre, as the two had been talking for so long they didn’t realize the movie had started.

It showed a ruined, bleak, dark landscape.

Los Angeles 2029A.D.

“...I’m so excited…” Ariane whispered.

Chapter Text

Falke returned from her shopping trip to find Elster and Ariane doing something rather odd in the living room. They were both on their hands and feet atop a white map with four rows of coloured circles and were twisted and contorted around each other, with Elster stretched across Ariane’s back at about a forty-five-degree angle. She blinked several times as she watched Ariane carefully move her left leg between Elster’s arms to touch one of the red circles.

“Pardon my intrusion, but, what exactly are you two doing?” Falke asked as Elster struggled to reach a spinner just off to the side.

“Oh! Falke! Can you spin that for us, please?” Ariane asked as Elster continued to grunt and reach for the spinner.

Falke blinked again and raised an eyebrow, but she gave the arrow a quick spin with her bioresonance as she walked into the living room and took a seat on her chair designed specifically for her height.

“Right hand, red? Oh, thank goodness,” Elster called out as she casually moved her right hand from a blue circle to the adjacent red one.

“Guh, you get all the easy ones,” Ariane complained as she shimmed in place, jutting her rather shapely rear out a little further. “Oh yeah, we’re playing Twister!” she explained, having remembered Falke’s question.

“We take turns moving a hand or foot to the coloured circle the arrow points to after we spin it,” Elster added.

“I get to show off the fruits of all my stretching exercises, muahaha!” Ariane cackled. “Oh, do you mind spinning it again?”

Falke slowly nodded and did so. “That looks like… left hand, green,” she called out.

Ariane slowly moved her hand from one of the blue circles to one of the green ones, but this put her hands directly behind one another, making her posture somewhat less stable, and her legs started shaking.

Falke didn’t wait this time and spun the arrow again once Ariane had settled in place. “Left leg, red.”

“Crap,” Elster cursed, and she took a loud gap as she tried to hook her leg under Ariane’s stomach to its new destination, but this proved too much for her, and she slipped and collapsed on top of Ariane, bringing her down as well with a loud yelp. “Ugh, you okay?” Elster asked.

Ariane groaned softly for a few seconds as the two lay still on top of each other. “Next time… I wanna be on top…” she complained. They then slowly got back up to their feet and stretched out their backs.

“Aren you going to play this again?” Falke asked.

Ariane put her hands on her hips and swung her core around in a rotating stretch. “I could go one more, yeah?”

“Want to join?” Elster asked.

Falke nodded but pinched her chin. “Well, I feel I might have an unfair advantage with how tall I am…”

“Eh, it’s all about having fun!” Ariane said, smiling brightly as she waved her partner over. “Come on!”

Falke smiled and took up position perpendicular to the mat as the three prepared to start a new round.

“Alright… left leg, yellow.”