Pax Multi Pt. 03

"The farce. Hah!" Listens Deeply chittered. "I wonder, will he take pleasure in the creature? Humans are able to make a fetish out of anything, given time and inclination."

"Humans don't," Bosch said, his frown deepening. "Degenerates do."

"And what does this make me, Admiral?"

A useful pawn, Bosch thought -- and he was fairly certain the Upkin saw him in the exact same light. The mutual loathing the Upkin felt for the Federated States -- and the same loathing that the Federated States felt for the Upkin -- could only be eclipsed by one thing. That one thing was what he brought up: "A useful ally against the Bugs, of course."

"Ha ha. I need a new woman," Listens Deeply said, casually. "The current one bores me."

Bosch repressed a disgusted sigh. "Of course. But only..." he reached down and took the stylus from Listens Deeply's gripper. "If you tell me that Project Etemenanki is close to some kind of break through. You've had a year out of cryo and two months in orbit around Proxima. I want. Results."

Listens Deeply chittered -- and the collar turned it into a laugh. "Results you shall have. Admiral."

Bosch nodded.

"Bring out...Echo 3..." Listens Deeply said and one of the doctors hurried out -- showing more deference to an Upkin than Bosch liked to see. But soon, the doctor had returned, flanked by two of the members of FSMC that had been assigned to the ship. Between the two men in their power carapace was a struggling, kicking...thing. They weren't quite a woman, they weren't quite a man -- they were, in other words, an AnCom deviant. They were still dripping with the suspension fluids of the cryotank they had been hauled from, and they were still coughing and hacking.

"What...the fuck is going...where..." she -- Bosch was pretty certain that they were a she, after a second glance -- said. "Feds? Feds? What? The...this...you fucking Nazi cosplaying fucks, I am going to sue the lot of you if you don't let me go right now!" She snarled as Bosch smirked at her.

"I recognize you..." he said, nodding. "Your name is..." He sighed. "Righteous Zen..." He shook his head. "Absurd."

"Fuck you!" Echo 3 snapped.

"Except that's just it," Bosch said, his voice gloating. "Righteous Zen, right now, is currently doing whatever it is she-"

"They. They them, you fucking fascist."

"She," Bosch said, with deliberate coldness. "Is currently doing whatever it is she is doing back on Earth. Because you are not Righteous Zen. You are a copy. Acquiring you was trivially easy -- your cortical stack was accessed during your latest backup scan. We cloned the body you're currently in based off your previous body -- no need for you to have to readjust to everything. After all, your brain scans are going to be extremely important."

"You..." her eyes widened. "You spliced me? You fucking ASSHOLE!"

"Prepare it for the probe," Listens Deeply chittered.

"The probe?" Echo 3 asked, then kicked as the men dragged her towards the preparation table. A bone saw started to whir. "Hey! Hey! Whoa! Fucking whoa, killing a splice is still fucking murder! I'm still a person! I'm STILL A PERSON!"

The bone saw started to scream as the straps clicked home.

Bosch watched.

First, the procedure.

Then, three hours later, the oblong, torpedo like shape of the probe containing Echo-3, accelerating away from the Invisible Hand and towards Proxima. Beside him, Listens Deeply watched the readouts.

"Yes..." he murmured as the jagged lines symbolizing Echo 3's brainwave started to warble and twist as she approached the perverted stars. "Yes! Project Etemenanki is...as you Federals say...a go."

***

"What on Venus were you thinking?" Father asked, stomping back and forth in the small room. Lou watched him, his hands clasped in his lap. He felt an urge to get up, walk out of the room, down the corridor, and to the small bedroom where they had put his wife -- but instead, he kept himself seated properly. In the roughly twenty four hours since he'd been at the human spaceport, the AnComs had done what AnComs did best: Fabricate. The spaceport had been expanded outwards, with additional habitation domes and even a few small mansions set up in the blistering fast, eclectic style of the most populous human polity. With nanomachines and the patterns for literally millions of different kinds rooms that could be 'snapped together' with a few quick button presses on a GUI, they were able to create fantastical structures that rivaled the palace that Lou had been born in.

The fact that these structures had been built in hours rather than months did tarnish the impression slightly, to him.

"Well, I was thinking I was married and that I should be honest to my wife," Lou said, watching as Father paused in his pacing. He frowned as he looked square at Lou. Lou looked square back -- and knew that Father knew that he knew that Father had been unfaithful with Mother. And with an AnCom too.

Father frowned. "Louis, I am glad that you recall the foundational principals of our Kingdom, but you must also remember the subtler lessons as well. The AnComs can be blunt. We, by definition, cannot." He frowned harder. "You should have recalled that."

"We were discussing what humans are," Lou said, sticking out his chin. "That's what my role was to be, wasn't it?"

Father rubbed his hand along his square jaw, turning to face the window. "Yes. But it was never my plan for you to be left so...bereft of guidance." He shook his head. "I didn't expect the Bugs to take you off like that." He sighed. "I am sorry for that, Louis, I am. And I am sorry about how...stressful this has been."

"You don't need to apologize, father," Lou said, standing up. "I am your son -- and a Prince of the Star Kingdom. I know what my duty is."

"Your duty..." Father nodded. "You managed to draw the Bugs back from their little..." He waved his hand. "Panic attack?"

"I think so," Lou said. "I...she...that is, they..." He paused. "We're still trying to figure out exactly how..." He blushed, then coughed.

"You did call her a wife without thinking," Father murmured.

Lou's blush deepened. "Y-Yes, well, that was a touch presumptive. My spouse...doesn't understand this marriage. But that's all right -- she...they...will." He nodded. "And maybe your plan will work, Father. Maybe we will have peace..." He licked his lips -- and was tempted to ask about Amy, about the fact that Father had cheated on his wife. Instead, he said: "I believe I should speak to my spouse, again. She...should be able to focus on me again."

Father nodded.

The corridor leading down to the medical ward that held his spouse contained Amy and GF, who both moved to Lou's sides. Amy spoke, first. "She's fine," she said, nodding. "Biologically, I mean. This is actually the first living bug specimen we've actually managed to study up close and personally, it's really fascinating. Did you know-" she stopped, then closed her eyes. "I mean. Sorry. She's fine. She's good, even. She was actually talking to us."

"Oh, good. Thank you for checking on her," Lou said, nodding, while GF leaned in close, whispering to him.

"Your dad was furious," he said.

"Yeah, I noticed," Lou said. "I...won't lie, I did kind of stick my foot in my own throat."

"What happened, exactly?" GF asked, his brow furrowing.

"I..." Lou bit his lip. "I told her that humans are singular beings."

"...oh..." GF winced.

"I don't get it, why would she freak about that?" Amy asked, cocking her head.

"She didn't know that humans were singular beings," Lou said, quietly.

"...oh..." Amy said, in the exact same tone of voice as GF.

They came to the door leading into the medical bay, which opened obligingly. Inside, laying in the bed, was...well, Lou's wife. That was the only thing that sprang to Lou's mind when he looked at her delicate four armed, moth winged body. She was dressed in a simple white shift that protected her modesty, with four sleeves and two holes cut in the back for her wings. Her head was rested upon a pillow, and she was looking up at the ceiling. But when Lou stepped into the room, she sat up. Her lips lifted into a smile, while her antennas twitched up. "Lou!" she said, then blushed. "God Fucker. Amy. I...those are the designations for you two?" She asked, pointing at GF and Amy.

"You got it!" Amy said, giving her a thumbs up, while GF nodded.

"I am glad I got it right," she said -- then grabbed onto Lou and dragged him into the bed. Lou yelped, blushed, and squirmed all at once as she pressed her entire body against him, wrapping her legs around his hips, her lower arms around his belly, her upper arms around his shoulders. Her wings buzzed and she buried her nose against his neck, breathing in. She spoke, her voice muffled. "I am hugging Lou. I enjoy the tactile sensation of touching my husband and I missed it while he was away."

"Nice," GF said.

"Awww!" Amy clapped her hands over her chest.

Lou wanted to die of pure mortification.

Amy drew up a chair and sat down beside the bed, grinning. "S-So, Lou was telling us about how...you...um, well..." She coughed. "You have my forgiveness too."

"You can give forgiveness as well?" Lou's wife asked, cocking her head. "That is not something only Lou can provide?"

"Of course I can!" Amy laughed. "Lou's a pretty swell guy, but he's not Jesus."

"What is Jesus?" Lou's face was going beat red now as he felt his wife's hands slide along his chest, her nose rubbing up against his neck. She was very soft and fluffy, at least, around the shoulders and head. No. No. Don't think about how soft she was. Think of a way to get out of her hug before she did anything more embarrassing.

"Lou!" GF gasped. "You haven't converted her, yet?"

"T-The Neopolitan Church isn't, uh, big on evangelism!" Lou stammered.

"Define Church and the meaning of evangelism?" his wife asked.

Lou shot a death glare at GF, who was looking as if he was having the best fucking time. "Out! Now!" He said, pointing at the door. Amy, laughing, stood and grabbed GF's arm.

"We'll be back!" GF called out.

The door shut and Lou groaned as his wife wriggled around, buzzing her wings to actually hop herself over his head before thumping down onto his lap. There, she settled, then began to stick her nose up against his neck. She breathed in, then sniffed down to his chest. Lou didn't even need to ask: "I find there are many scents that are pleasurable. Yours are located here, mostly." She stuck her nose up against his armpit, breathing in. "I like this scent."

"I...why do you like things?" Lou asked -- the question popping into his head before anything else. "I mean, humans like things because of...well, because, it helps us make decisions..." He said, quoting some well worn sentience research. His wife drew back, her antennas twitching.

"This is why I like things," she said, nodding. "Not all things, but many things. I have learned, for instance, that my enjoyment of certain chemicals released by volcanic vents can, over a few thousand years, produce deleterious effects on the atmosphere of any planet I am on." She smiled, shyly. "S-So, I limit myself to...only a few centuries of exposure, as a treat."

Lou blinked at her.

"Now, my question," she said, biting her lip. "Why is Amy made of not flesh?"

"S-She's a...she's a machine that we humans made -- but since she thinks like a human, she is human," Lou said, trying to keep things simple.

She nodded again.

Lou felt as if there were more important things to discuss. Their future. Their wedding, what it meant, what it meant for the two of them. But the only thing that burned through him was an urge to keep as far away from weighty topics like that. And so, he leaned back in the bed, drawing his wife back with him, so she laid atop him. His hand petted her antennas gently, cocking around awkwardly, but he didn't care how cockeyed his shoulder and spine got, he was going to pet his wife.

"Okay, my question: You're seven hundred and fifty million years old," he said, the words still feeling like half joke."

"This is not a question, Lou."

"I'm getting there!" He laughed. "Okay. But if you're seven hundred and fifty million years old, if you've been aware that you need to settle other solar systems for almost five hundred million of those years, why haven't you colonized the entire galaxy? Even with the speed of light limit, you should have colonized everywhere, right?"

She cocked her head. "I...did not leap immediately from realization to actualization. How long did it take humans to reach space?"

"The time between the first man landing on the moon and the first man setting foot on another star is two centuries," Lou said.

She sat up, twirled around, and looked right into his eyes, her antennas buzzing. "A single microcycle? That's all it took? But..." She shook her head. "But you are singular. Of course..." She laid her head down and stuck her nose right into his armpit -- and tried to speak, which meant her voice was muffled entirely. The feeling of her mouthparts moving against his skin made him squirm, laugh, and push at her head.

"Don't talk with your...nose full!"

She drew back, blinking. "Oh, sorry. I forgot I have no other bioforms nearby that could speak for me." She rubbed at her nose, then twitched her antennas again. "My initial state required communication between bioforms, which was handled via the use of sound waves propagated through the atmosphere. But once my bioforms became more common and spread beyond the valley that I initially...came...to be...in? They needed more. And so, I modified bioforms, seeking to find a way to communicate more effectively. It took almost half a cycle of...testing?"

"Experimentation?" Lou suggested.

"Yes!" She nodded. "Half a cycle and then I made a bioform that communicated with...they are...waves and particles?"

"Light?"

She shook her head. "Not of the kind that you see."

"...radio?"

"Yes!" She bobbed her head happily. She smiled.

"You know...you smile...really good," Lou said, quietly.

"I practiced with Amy. My bioforms with radio communication allowed me to spread across the world, which was my initial thought after my startling events. But after I was on the entire world, I learned, startling events cause problems upon an entire planet. But traveling beyond a planet meant the delay from radio waves traveling caused my mind to slow. I determined this would make my mind unable to spread the distance between stars." She sighed. "Fortunately, I was able to experiment far, far, far more. Rather than a few hundred thousand experimentational bioforms, I was able to breed them by the billions. And so, it only took half a cycle to discover the means by which I could instantly communicate."

"Quantum entangled communication..." Lou said, nodding. "This...is actually a huge deal. Meeting the...meeting you is how we humans actually learned how to make quantum communicators. It was a theory, but..." He shook his head. "But our xenobiologists thought it had to have been a natural evolution -- the basis for your hive mind."

"It did make my thinking far faster," she said. "But then, once I could, I had to reach new worlds. Then, I had to make them safe. I began by collecting up asteroids, then I bled of tectonic energies to prevent super-volcanic eruptions. Some worlds had to be entirely remade, or pushed away from stars. This was very difficult -- it takes many many many applications of force, usually via the breeding of specific bioforms that can survive harsh landscapes and produce thrusts. T...There were mistakes..." Her antennas drooped. "Some worlds were rent apart, before I realized how pressures worked...a-and that is not even including..."

Lou blinked, then took her hand, speaking quickly to distract her from memories of the Lupens and the Procyians. "You spent millions of years...tidying?"

She nodded her head. "Yes!"

"And you never got bored?" He asked, caressing his hand along her head.

She shook her head. "No. My perception of time is...I think...very different from yours. When the work is long, when my focus is...broad...then time goes very quickly." She laid her head upon his chest, breathing in. "When I am with you, time stands still."

Lou felt as if he had been punched in the heart.

His hand slowly rested against the small of her back.

I think...I love my wife, he thought. And it was the most wondrous thought in the galaxy -- more beautiful than the stars, and more precious than diamonds.

***

"FORE!"

The catapult chuffed and a sphere of white plastic shot into the air. A second later, several .75 caliber mass reactive self propelled armor piercing minirockets slammed into it and turned it into many small fragments.

GF lowered the immense firearm he had fabricated. "Aaha, got it!"

Lou, who was sitting on the picnic blanket that he had laid out with his wife, furrowed his brow. "This is the most dangerous game?" He had been invited to join Amy and GF for it once his wife had said she was ready to experience more 'singular' experiences. She had told him that...it was a bit like focusing very hard on a single small dot. It could be tricky, but she was certain she could handle two other singulars around.

"GF calls everything that," Amy said.

"That's cause everything's dangerous with me, baby," GF said.

Lou's wife cocked her head, to the side. "This is...a projectile weapon?"

"Yeah," GF said, then coughed. "B-But it's only used recreationally. We never used these to fight."

Lou's wife's antennas drooped and Amy grabbed the ungainly firearm and chucked it, underhanded, into the spider legged mobile nanofabricator that followed her like a helpful dog. As the weapon was dissolved into goop, GF shrugged. "That's a fair cop," he muttered. "Oh! I know! We can have a movie night."

"It is currently day and you and Amy and Lou are all in constant movement," Lou's wife said. Then, hurriedly, she added. "I like and appreciate your movement, Lou."

"I...you mean my breathing?" Lou asked.

"And your blinking," she said, then smiled and blinked at him.

Lou took one of her hands, squeezing. "Thanks," he said.

"Come onnn movie night!" GF said. "Your...okay, we also need to pick a name for you. We can't just call you Lou's wife for all eternity."

"Beatrice!" Amy said, immediately.

"No," Lou said, flatly.

'What is Beatrice?" his wife asked.

"It's a name! It comes from a name that comes from a name that means, in the original language, 'she who makes happy'," Amy said, cheerfully. "But, far more importantly, a Bee, which is the first sound in the name, is also the name for a kind of insect!" She held out her phone and projected a holographic image of a honey bee.

Lou's wife's antennas literally became straight, snapping up in her excitement. "Lou! Lou! Lou!" She grabbed his hand, then grabbed his head with her two upper hands, swinging his head around, so he had to look at the rotating holo. "Look! It is a high efficiency pollinator with a rudimentary melee weapon and incredibly efficient wings and it has the same kind of camouflage pattern as some of my bioforms! It is the most perfect name to have ever existed, for I too, wish to make you happy!"

"I-" Lou flushed. "I..." He blinked. "Really?"

"Yes," she said, nodding.

"...really, though, Beatrice?" Lou asked. "I mean, isn't it-"

"Beatrice! Beatrice! Beatrice!" Amy chanted, GF joining in. Soon, his wife was joining in as well, uncertainty, then with more confidence. "Beatrice! Beatrice! Beatrice."

Lou, perforce, capitulated utterly.

Not wanting to expose Beatrice (it was slightly whiplash inducing how quickly that name had been adopted) to what two AnComs thought internal decorating should be, Lou put his foot down and demanded that the movie night take place inside of the modest country home that his parents had fabricated. They were able to choose a room for the theater, which Amy set up with a haze of nanofabrication and some alarming power tools ("Don't worry!" she had said, "I'll repair any damage.") The end result was that Amy was lounged on the floor infront of a large cushy sofa, while GF had taken a reclining chair, and Lou and Bea were both settled onto the sofa itself.