Deviant Empire Pt. 03

He had learned that everywhere else there was some sort of floor cleaning that took care of these sorts of things, allowing people to just shit on the floor and not have a worry... so why not have it be the same here?

"Well, no offense, but that all sounds like things you could do with your technology. I mean, you guys seem to be able to do the straight supernatural with that stuff. I am quite convinced my link is violating several laws of physics, but you claim that to not be supernatural?"

"No. A link uses quantum storage to stow away its extra volume. And yes, most CAN be achieved with our technology. Not everything."

She did not have to say which part was the one in question. Not drinking or breathing? Maybe some remote oxygenation and hydration. These guys had a wireless power network... why not have ranged water transmission? The filth cleaning was done elsewhere through other means... but elsewhere it was instant... here it was... not. His pile was still where he left it, though it felt a bit faded... like it was just... fading out of reality. The seamless construction he could explain already. That left one. How could you just have someone perform a song perfectly? He remembered the easily noticeable and crap results of auto-tune. Proper performance took years to train. Anyone who sang karaoke and heard themselves recorded would notice just how far away they are from a proper singer.

"That last one seems almost arbitrary. Any song? What are the limits?"

"You have to know it well enough to have it be more than just a five second tune stuck in your head. But you don't need to know it by heart... just enough to have heard it once and it stuck with you."

He paused to consider that. Something he knew more than just... an idea. His mind went to something surprisingly simple as he just started... to sing.

"Love and marriage

Love and marriage..."

Go together like a horse and carriage.

His voice got a bit deeper, more resonant, more... pleasing. He did not remember all the words, but he still sang them... perfect pitch, perfect rhythm, as if he was a great cover artist on youtube. Heck, he had no idea it was sung by Sinatra.

And yet the man sang like he was the new and upcoming replacement. Though the song cut halfway since he did not ever hear the full version, just the cut in half version for the TV show.

A couple of blinks as he stopped... that... certainly sounded better than he expected. A finger held up.

"That one was easy. Let's try something harder."

The woman let him try it out this effect with a big smile, eager to see what he had in mind to try. Will expected to trip over the words or forget part of it... having heard the full song, and even if he did not... there was no way he could match the man.

"Two trailer park girls go round the outside

Round the outside, round the outside..."

As he kept going with proper diction, rhythm and spelling, the man's eyes shot out as he could never see someone to even nail a cover of this... as far as he saw. But he performed the song to nodding heads. It was like he was possessed... it was hard to consider stopping... not that he could not if he tried, but it was so tempting to continue.

Five minutes went by as the man did not miss a beat... not even a word, a syllable. The man sang it like he was a living tape recorder. As the performance ended, he just sat there marveling at how that went. With this, you could pretty much bring an amateur and replace any singer.

"That... is pretty incredible. You sure this works only in here? Feels like this is just some amped up version of auto-tune." Or it would be... if it did not also make him say the right words. No, he was.... Starting to see the possibility.

"Only here. We have means to tune the voice, but not the way to perfectly remember lyrics you never learned."

Will held up a finger again. Time to stress test this. If it was a machine, it had to fail at a real test, but if it did not... maybe he could believe in the supernatural.

"Just one more. If I nail this... well, no other explanation."

She sat back as both women waited to see what he had in mind... to this song he barely knew the lyrics. Heck, he could not know them... he did not understand them... and even if he did... he could NOT perform this song.

Will took a breath... despite it not being needed... and began to sing delightfully... in perfect italian.

"Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce!

Ah, quella voce m'è qui nel cor discesa!

Edgardo! io ti son resa."

Since he was here with another blue woman, he was reminded of that song from the Fifth element... but he was certain he could not perform it... maybe it worked only if he believed. Not a chance... he began to sing in a high, melodious tone as if he had been a choir boy to lose his balls long ago, hitting high notes like he just could not imagine possible for a man, performing with such absolute perfection that he expected to look down and see he grew tits. All of it was done right, even the energetic alternation of notes...

It was quite the performance... but as his voice fell silent, the man looked down at his hands... and said this far louder than he expected to.

"HOW AM I DOING THAT?!"

The woman just gave a chuckle.

"You are not... at least not fully. But in the old rules, artistic talent was considered for creation, not performance... "

Will was more baffled at outright supernatural events being reality. And a normal thing for these people. And this god... maybe he could not be certain, but he could no longer be certain that it was mere fantasy. Either this was a very good show to make one believe... or there was something more. He decided to press the issue.

"You said earlier that he... protects you. How so? I mean... you're not gonna say he gives you strength to face your challenges or something, right?"

Another laugh.

"Not quite. He wishes us to find our own strength to pass our challenges, but... sometimes a challenge appears that we cannot face. A danger that gets too great for us to defeat. A man with too much power that one cannot uproot, an enemy fleet that is far too strong for us... times like these... They suffer some very unfortunate accidents. There is a rule in the empire. Any challenge that it cannot undertake, he does so."

"That seems... convenient. You sure it's not some secret order of nuns who go to assassinate them?" He remembered how religion was done in Dune. The man was tempted to consider this similar. But the woman was the furthest away he could consider from those women. Or at least on the surface. Another series taught him that the worst people can have the friendliest faces. And reality also taught him that.

"Convenient. But consistent. Yet other challenges that felt dire he let us handle... and we did. For one cannot grow without passing challenges, but their growth will be cut short if something unreasonable blocks their path."

Will remembered a game he played long ago where unreasonable things blocked your way if you did something the storyteller did not want to. Any time they wanted you could just get ended by them by increasingly ridiculous things coming out of the woodwork. This man seemed to be the answer to such things.

A lot more questions followed as he wanted to find out the fineries of this religion. Other than the godly presence, everything seemed to be all about giving people a sense of community, helping each other... and accepting this debauchery, using it to strengthen bonds... and give no mercy to enemies. She was quite expansive on that, elaborating that their enemies would resort to any means, and thus so did they. This was not an empire of peace, it was one that has been through plenty of wars, hit with unfair odds constantly... when they were the most advanced in the galaxy, the others tried to unite against them in some crusade... that did not work... when the other empires of the galaxy failed, something worse came into existence, wiped all the other empires and wanted to destroy them. It did not work either.

The woman... who was called Shi'a, was a caretaker... like the moral leader of her people, or her group... no more than 50 could be in such a group, focusing in small, easy to manage groups... enough to give one real community rather than having the emptiness of a big faith. Will remembered that issue with big religions versus small ones. The small ones had a stronger sense of cooperation and community when there were fewer, but once there were more, people stopped considering each other as close. It seems they found a way to get that benefit and grow...

It was late when he returned home... dead tired. So much buzzing in his head... he would leave it for tomorrow as he planned to sleep in. Missy did not question his desire to sleep together, the two just slipping their outfits off and settling down in a bedroom, the man quickly falling asleep as he cuddled the soft and furry body of his comfort worker.

Never had he fallen asleep so quickly.