Brokering Trust - Gay Edition

"I take it that the tone of this message is intended to be sarcastic?" Selkie asked.

"Indeed, and you'll note that this part here spells out ASSHOLE."

"You are a true poet."

"I have my moments."

"What of the information on the insects that Weaver provided?" Selkie added. "Will you not send that to the Admiral?"

"I'll send that to the UNN, yes. He can hear about it along with everyone else."

"Now that our work is almost complete, and the phase grows late," Selkie began as he coiled a tentacle around David's shoulders. "Perhaps you would like to watch the first act of the original opera with me?"

"The full version?" David asked, raising an eyebrow through his visor. "Are we allowed to take snack breaks?"

"We will probably have to spread the viewing over a period of Rains," Selkie replied apologetically.

"Sounds good to me. You know, movies are a traditional component of human courtship."

"Perhaps, if you pay attention, I shall find myself in your habitat again," Selkie said as he began to slither away. He beckoned, curling a tentacle into a spiral, and David bounded out of his chair to follow.

EPILOGUE: SOME MOUNTAINS LATER

David took a sip of his steaming coffee, looking out over the beach through the open window of the observation lounge. The mushroom-shaped tower rose a little above the slanted treetops a short walk from where the sand gave way to foliage, giving him an admirable view of the white shore as it transitioned into the lapping surf, the perpetual sunset bathing the shimmering ocean in pinks and oranges. It was a misty phase, but the fog that shrouded the surrounding trunks didn't quite obscure the other structures in his little estate - some half-dozen domed buildings connected by covered walkways sprawled out below.

He turned and set his mug down on the nearest table, which was flanked by two chairs. One was made from netting stretched over a skeletal frame, while the other was larger and padded with cushions. Rather than his pressure suit, which was hanging on a rack on the ground floor, he was wearing a shirt and slacks. While he still had to don the suit when he ventured into the city and other underwater regions of the planet, it was a relief to be able to dress casually at home.

Jeff had stayed true to his word, and the Board had gifted David with a permanent residence, both as a way of thanking him for his service to Reef and to keep him from running his mouth. The Brokers could be very generous when one had something they wanted. The buildings had been constructed specially for him, which hadn't taken all that long due to the way the Brokers printed their dwellings, and they included many human conveniences. Several of them were entirely dry, with living spaces and amenities suited to his unique needs. There was the observation lounge that served as the living room, a kitchen area, an office, a bathroom, and a bedroom.

David descended through the shaft that led to the ground floor, using the ladder that had been installed for when the structure was drained, stepping out into the dome-shaped building. There was a door to the outside and several walkways branching off it that led to other structures, some protected by force field emitters to prevent the water from going where it wasn't wanted.

At sea level pressures, there was no need to wear his full suit, so he plucked a simple rebreather from a rack beside one of the doors. The device covered his mouth and nose, filtering oxygen from the water and expelling waste gasses. He stripped down to the simple swimsuit that he was wearing beneath his clothes, then stepped through the wavering barrier, cool water enveloping him on the other side.

He bounded along the walkway, soon emerging into another of the bubble-like rooms. This one was completely submerged, the furnishings and appliances of the Broker style, with netting chairs and waterproof computer terminals dominating the space.

Selkie glanced up from his work when he heard David arrive, giving his partner a flush of pastel colors in greeting. Flower was more energetic, winding her way through the water to meet him, the little slug licking his face with her antennae. He ran his fingers through the animal's feathery gills, watching it flex its gelatinous body contentedly.

"I thought you might stay up there forever," Selkie mused, turning his attention back to his terminal.

"It's a pain in the ass to import anything to Trappist," David replied, walking over to Selkie's chair. He leaned a hand on its frame, reaching down to cup the Broker's cheek with the other - a gesture of affection that did not require him to take off his rebreather. Selkie pushed his face into David's palm, giving it a nuzzle. "That's the first pot of coffee I've had since I arrived on Reef. I feel rejuvenated."

"An addictive, psychoactive chemical, if I'm not mistaken," Selkie added with a chitter of disapproval.

"The black gold that keeps human society running," David insisted. "It'll double my productivity - you'll see."

"I do not think more energy is what you require," the Broker added with an amused click, his tentacles dancing across his touch panels. "Even after all this time, I am still getting used to seeing you walking around without your suit..."

"Well, human skin is impermeable," David replied as he patted his bare chest with a fist. "The only suit I need at these depths is my birthday suit."

"Perhaps it is because I have grown to associate your nudity with...other activities," Selkie added as one of his tentacles began to wind its way up David's leg.

Almost as soon as David had moved into the new estate, Selkie had left his apartment to join him, occupying the aquatic partitions. The Broker had always aspired to own a home in the shallows, which was usually a sign of wealth and success, and his chance had finally come. As lavish as Selkie's apartment had once seemed to David, living at the bottom of the continental shelf surrounded by only murky, freezing water was a lot less appealing than a view of the beach. They both still had many reasons to visit the city, and the estate was connected to the transportation network via a tube that would whisk them off to the nearest shuttle bay.

The last few months - or rather Mountains - had been like an extended honeymoon. Their new home was designed from the ground up for habitation by both species, and as much as the wet and dry sections were separated, there were many rooms that could be partially flooded or drained to comfortably accommodate both partners.

The Board's generosity didn't extend to letting David live on their dime forever, but work for an alien consultant was easy enough to find, especially when saving the planet from a potential AI uprising was on his resume. As the foremost expert in his field - and being similarly credentialed - Selkie had quickly been able to get work in another research position. Neither of them were working on drone software anymore, however. Selkie was focusing his talents on writing software for autonomous survey vessels that might one day help to map out the Orion spur.

As Selkie had posited, nobody had been able to recover anything of value from the drones that Weaver had left behind. The software was so alien and incomprehensible that even if he had been willing to reverse-engineer it, he would not have been able. What data was still on the facility's servers wasn't much help either, as so much of the legwork had been done by Weaver itself, weaving neural networks within its inscrutable lattice. It seemed that anyone who wanted to reproduce Weaver's work would be starting from scratch, and without Selkie's expertise or Board investment to boot.

"How are things progressing?" David asked, peering over Selkie's shoulder at the readouts. He had learned to recognize enough Broker characters by now that he could read most things unaided, though the spoken language would forever be beyond his vocal capacity.

"The public forums have been awash with discussion for several Rains," Selkie replied. "The Regulators are supposedly almost ready to announce the results of their preliminary investigation."

Their plan to have bots leak the truth about the Reclamation and Betelgeuse had worked out better than they could have imagined, the virus spreading throughout Reef's networks, dumping the information onto everything from tube terminal kiosks to the virtual forums the Brokers used to socialize. It had spread throughout Trappist like wildfire before any real measures could be taken to suppress the information.

Over the following weeks, outrage had grown until the Board had no choice remaining but to address it or face a vote of no confidence from their Council members. There had been hearings involving surviving Board members who had served thirty years ago at the time of the Betelgeuse incident, and a couple of current Board members had even resigned preemptively. There was nothing concrete yet, but it seemed that at least some of them had been privy to the information and had elected to keep it from the public for reasons of system security. Nobody who had been responsible for manipulating the Krell could still be alive after so many hundreds of years, but knowledge of their actions still survived, protected by ironclad contracts that only the Regulators could declare void.

At this rate, the entire Board might eventually be replaced, and with that could come sweeping policy changes. There were already factions within the Council demanding that Trappist end its policy of isolationism and increase trade with the rest of the Coalition, some for moral reasons and others for purely financial reasons. David didn't really care what their motives were as long as the outcomes were positive. Others were demanding that PMCs be allowed to take contracts from other Coalition species and engage in joint combat operations against the Bugs, while some voices even suggested technology-sharing programs - at a price, of course.

Many factors had contributed to that policy, least of all the antisocial leanings of the Brokers. There was the fear and mistrust ingrained both by the invading hives and humanity's rapid expansion, the technological protectionism that maintained their advantage over their more numerous neighbors, and even the personal anxieties of Board members who feared their secrets coming to light.

David had been right to put his trust in the Broker people. More of them were like Selkie than were like the Administrator. To his knowledge, the revelations had not made it to human space yet, but they would likely do so in the form of an extended hand of reconciliation. The two species would get over this bump in the road together, and the Coalition would be made all the stronger for it.

"Do you think Jeff suspects anything?" David asked.

"Well, I know that the Regulators believe this attack is a trap left by Weaver, since the bots are behaving in a similar manner to those originally created by the AI. They do not think that your shutdown code erased everything, and they are currently trying to reverse-engineer the neural networks in a bid to stop them."

"How do you know that?" David asked skeptically.

"Because Jeff contacted me this phase and asked if I would lead the project," Selkie replied with a smirk. "Unbeknownst to him, he will be paying me to devise an antivirus solution for software that you and I created. We could not have hoped for a better outcome. The opportunity will allow us to both cover our tracks and give the Regulators a satisfying solution to their problem."

"I should be surprised, but you are a genius," David replied as he gave the alien a pat on the shoulder. "Hey - I'm gonna whip up some grilled fish in a little bit if you feel like eating anything."

"I feel as though I am living with a dry chef," Selkie giggled, placing a fleshy hand over David's. "I doubt that even Board members are fed as well as you feed me. It is becoming decadent."

"Well, it's one of the perks of living with a land-dwelling mammal," David replied. "I'll flood the observation lounge, and we can eat up there."

"Alright!" Selkie chimed. "Allow me to finish my work, and I shall join you."

David gave Flower another pat, then headed for the kitchen.

~THE END~