Inufandom
Combat Rainbow
Xen peered across the terraced decks of the spaceliner as her crystalline dome covering the forward star terrace deck shifted opacity to allow for a more Earth-like viewing, being that four large sister stars were hovering in a sea of blue as the ship allowed for a partial orbit, essentially slingshotting it between them as it entered the orbital gravity wells of the stars themselves. The potted plants around him seemed to beckon him to them, the perfectly manicured rose vines letting their lovely and enticing aroma drifting on the air. Xen smiled, and he allowed himself to sit in the soft breeze generated by the air controlled environment. This garden was the pinaccile of artificial environments, little ecosystems unto themselves. Truely, the Starry Night was every bit the magnificent display of elegance and comfort that it had been made out to be in advertisements. Though perhaps to be picky, Xen knew he’d been aboard luxury far more excessive once upon a time. He suddenly shuddered, pushing his more unpleasant memories to the back of his mind as he accessed the ship and her smorgasboard of data.
While his body enjoyed the sensations a cool spring day, his mind however was much more satisfyingly occupied. His cyber-brain was hooked up wirelessly to the Starry Night’s data center, enjoying the many sights and sounds of the ship all at once. One of the benefits of a completely prosthetic body, he supposed. Xen gazed down at his own hand, and how perfectly flawless and lifelike his skin appeared, albeit he had quite litterally no arm hair. In fact, the only ‘hairs’ he had were where he had designed them to be. Having had such a body since he’d been a child himself had been an inspiration to not only create and enhance prosthetic body parts, but to then offer said parts to those who needed them most at no charge. And that, in turn, had led him here to today.
But perhaps his body was a different story than his mind. His personal cyber-lobby was joined up in the stream of the thousands of other devises’ lobbies linked to the ship. Some had direct neural interfaces like him, and others had devices that linked them neurally to the network. The different devices were easily to detect in the network for Xen, especially since so many of his aftermarket parts were installed with infiltrating networks in mind. It wasn’t something he broadcast out loud, but he was considered to be a wizard class hacker which was achievable by very few humans, even those as heavily cybered as he was, and even more so those cybermechanized for battle, like he also was, but even then there were those far more fearsome than he. There did come a point that enhancements could be only so lifelike depending on their nature, but Xen himself was a sucker for lifelike appearance.
The device signatures Xen was observing allowed him to differentiate between low-intelligence robots and human/alien interfaces easily and even then the secondary versus primary type human/alien interfaces were discernable from one another, and where everyone and thing was venturing. Of course, as Xen groaned upon realization, the Net’s smut storages were being accessed by over 65% of the guests aboard. What was fascinating Xen was the amount of people accessing the star maps and the constant chatter between guests aboard the Starry Night, while their physical bodies were on complete opposite sides of the ship. The Age of Digitizing and Cyberization had its perks of bringing people together, though Xen shuddered to think of the data abuse he was often hired to discover. His prosthetics company had become more of a side-job due to the many contracts outside of his buisness contacts for various governments, salvage operations, and so many others he could hardly name them off the top of his head. Wizard class programming skills were a hot commodity, something that had come with age and rather also hand-in-hand with the prosthetics design carreer participation in his company’s subcontracts with galactic military, police, and scientific organizations. Indeed, it was as much his programming skills as his various other talents that kept his presence in high demand, on the books and off. Wizard class programmers was the polite name for ‘hacker’ in these glorious times. Paired with the fact he was one of the best operators of a cybermechanized body in the known galaxies, Xen was often out on business for weeks at a time. As to whether he was allowed to discuss what work he was doing was another topic entirely. Not that travelling aboard this luxury Spaceliner was truly something to behold, but his memories repeatedly came rushing back as he ventured through the Starry Night. It wasn’t too bad this time, but he was still shaky at times while aboard these marvels of space travel. But those were memories for another day to confront, the now was too positive to just get lost in his nightmares.
The gardens of the gracefully aging spaceliner were simply breathtaking, the plants landscaped in ways that defied the laws of physics. This truly was a vacation from the hum drum day to day of planetary life. Flashbacks of his times in gardens so much like these echoed in his head as he scanned the constant flow of information aboard the ship, searching for irregularities in the various streams. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so Xen gave it a rest and shut his connection down, leaving behind a few scanner programs to notify him of anything fishy going down if it occurred. He stood up, and stretched his muscles. His lifted his hand up to the third and largest star, looking at his bio-tech flesh and chassis. He sighed and lowered his hand as he began walking along back into the ship proper, headed for one of the many restaurants somewhere deep within. The hardest part was being able to decide what tickled his fancy more.
He accessed his mental phone, and left a voice message for his assistant, Jade, to meet him at the China Food restaurant on the forward B-deck as it had a lovely poolside atmosphere with delicious food and some potent cocktails.
Xen stopped in his tracks when his personal e-mail beeped within in his mind, and he paused to take a look. As he read the e-mail, he began to smile. New job prospects were in order, and they were suitable to his pandering whims. Death Planet exploration… with suitable volunteers to go to make the job easier. He had, in fact, just finished his business on Terra-2 and he really wasn’t wanting to go back to Seraphim Industries to do all the hum-drum day to day activities that running the company entailed.
Xen began to go over the details of the message as he began walking again Several screens popped up in his mind’s eye, each one containing the different aspects of the mission. He brushed most of his programs aside as this took his focus. As he was expecting, he found out upon inspecting the first tab he was to foot the bill, with compensation for expenses to be paid on completion of the mission parameters. Xen immediately began the arduous task of providing the advertisements for said mission, and started to bombard various planetary network points through the Net as he continued to go over the various tabs his e-mail had opened. It should be only a matter of time before applicants began to apply to him. He left the advertisements surprisingly devoid of information, listing the details minimally as he was still going over the files himself. As an after thought, he decided to mention his company name as the lead sponsor, and not so subtly hinted at substantial monetary rewards for participation in the mission at hand.
Zen began searching the documents detailing the mission in search of the location they were headed off to. It was only once Xen discovered the star system they would be going to that his jaw dropped, he stumbling into an elderly woman from the shock. “Well I never! How rude!” she scoffed, and turned her snobby nose up and indignantly walked away. Xen, however, didn’t even hear the old bat.
Falo. They were going to Falo…
Falo… The Star Ocean… the Pirates… all of this and more whirled through Xen’s mind. His knees buckled as he began to hyperventilate. It was like all of the ugly monsters hiding in the shadows had all appeared at once, and Xen was struggling to cope with so many nightmares coming at him all at once. As Xen struggled to deal with this sudden onslaught to his mental state, he gripped a railing to help himself up.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnkrrrrrrrnnnk!
Looking to the railing he had just used, Xen signed as he realized he'd gripped it so hard, he'd completely bent the metal tube completely in on itself, his handprint all too visible. "I'll need to have that repaired...." he muttered, and began taking his first tentative steps to the restaurant he'd intended to go earlier before seeing this e-mail. Using his mental phone again, he sent Jade another voice message... to order Xen the strongest drink they had for him.
While his body enjoyed the sensations a cool spring day, his mind however was much more satisfyingly occupied. His cyber-brain was hooked up wirelessly to the Starry Night’s data center, enjoying the many sights and sounds of the ship all at once. One of the benefits of a completely prosthetic body, he supposed. Xen gazed down at his own hand, and how perfectly flawless and lifelike his skin appeared, albeit he had quite litterally no arm hair. In fact, the only ‘hairs’ he had were where he had designed them to be. Having had such a body since he’d been a child himself had been an inspiration to not only create and enhance prosthetic body parts, but to then offer said parts to those who needed them most at no charge. And that, in turn, had led him here to today.
But perhaps his body was a different story than his mind. His personal cyber-lobby was joined up in the stream of the thousands of other devises’ lobbies linked to the ship. Some had direct neural interfaces like him, and others had devices that linked them neurally to the network. The different devices were easily to detect in the network for Xen, especially since so many of his aftermarket parts were installed with infiltrating networks in mind. It wasn’t something he broadcast out loud, but he was considered to be a wizard class hacker which was achievable by very few humans, even those as heavily cybered as he was, and even more so those cybermechanized for battle, like he also was, but even then there were those far more fearsome than he. There did come a point that enhancements could be only so lifelike depending on their nature, but Xen himself was a sucker for lifelike appearance.
The device signatures Xen was observing allowed him to differentiate between low-intelligence robots and human/alien interfaces easily and even then the secondary versus primary type human/alien interfaces were discernable from one another, and where everyone and thing was venturing. Of course, as Xen groaned upon realization, the Net’s smut storages were being accessed by over 65% of the guests aboard. What was fascinating Xen was the amount of people accessing the star maps and the constant chatter between guests aboard the Starry Night, while their physical bodies were on complete opposite sides of the ship. The Age of Digitizing and Cyberization had its perks of bringing people together, though Xen shuddered to think of the data abuse he was often hired to discover. His prosthetics company had become more of a side-job due to the many contracts outside of his buisness contacts for various governments, salvage operations, and so many others he could hardly name them off the top of his head. Wizard class programming skills were a hot commodity, something that had come with age and rather also hand-in-hand with the prosthetics design carreer participation in his company’s subcontracts with galactic military, police, and scientific organizations. Indeed, it was as much his programming skills as his various other talents that kept his presence in high demand, on the books and off. Wizard class programmers was the polite name for ‘hacker’ in these glorious times. Paired with the fact he was one of the best operators of a cybermechanized body in the known galaxies, Xen was often out on business for weeks at a time. As to whether he was allowed to discuss what work he was doing was another topic entirely. Not that travelling aboard this luxury Spaceliner was truly something to behold, but his memories repeatedly came rushing back as he ventured through the Starry Night. It wasn’t too bad this time, but he was still shaky at times while aboard these marvels of space travel. But those were memories for another day to confront, the now was too positive to just get lost in his nightmares.
The gardens of the gracefully aging spaceliner were simply breathtaking, the plants landscaped in ways that defied the laws of physics. This truly was a vacation from the hum drum day to day of planetary life. Flashbacks of his times in gardens so much like these echoed in his head as he scanned the constant flow of information aboard the ship, searching for irregularities in the various streams. Nothing was out of the ordinary, so Xen gave it a rest and shut his connection down, leaving behind a few scanner programs to notify him of anything fishy going down if it occurred. He stood up, and stretched his muscles. His lifted his hand up to the third and largest star, looking at his bio-tech flesh and chassis. He sighed and lowered his hand as he began walking along back into the ship proper, headed for one of the many restaurants somewhere deep within. The hardest part was being able to decide what tickled his fancy more.
He accessed his mental phone, and left a voice message for his assistant, Jade, to meet him at the China Food restaurant on the forward B-deck as it had a lovely poolside atmosphere with delicious food and some potent cocktails.
Xen stopped in his tracks when his personal e-mail beeped within in his mind, and he paused to take a look. As he read the e-mail, he began to smile. New job prospects were in order, and they were suitable to his pandering whims. Death Planet exploration… with suitable volunteers to go to make the job easier. He had, in fact, just finished his business on Terra-2 and he really wasn’t wanting to go back to Seraphim Industries to do all the hum-drum day to day activities that running the company entailed.
Xen began to go over the details of the message as he began walking again Several screens popped up in his mind’s eye, each one containing the different aspects of the mission. He brushed most of his programs aside as this took his focus. As he was expecting, he found out upon inspecting the first tab he was to foot the bill, with compensation for expenses to be paid on completion of the mission parameters. Xen immediately began the arduous task of providing the advertisements for said mission, and started to bombard various planetary network points through the Net as he continued to go over the various tabs his e-mail had opened. It should be only a matter of time before applicants began to apply to him. He left the advertisements surprisingly devoid of information, listing the details minimally as he was still going over the files himself. As an after thought, he decided to mention his company name as the lead sponsor, and not so subtly hinted at substantial monetary rewards for participation in the mission at hand.
Zen began searching the documents detailing the mission in search of the location they were headed off to. It was only once Xen discovered the star system they would be going to that his jaw dropped, he stumbling into an elderly woman from the shock. “Well I never! How rude!” she scoffed, and turned her snobby nose up and indignantly walked away. Xen, however, didn’t even hear the old bat.
Falo. They were going to Falo…
Falo… The Star Ocean… the Pirates… all of this and more whirled through Xen’s mind. His knees buckled as he began to hyperventilate. It was like all of the ugly monsters hiding in the shadows had all appeared at once, and Xen was struggling to cope with so many nightmares coming at him all at once. As Xen struggled to deal with this sudden onslaught to his mental state, he gripped a railing to help himself up.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnkrrrrrrrnnnk!
Looking to the railing he had just used, Xen signed as he realized he'd gripped it so hard, he'd completely bent the metal tube completely in on itself, his handprint all too visible. "I'll need to have that repaired...." he muttered, and began taking his first tentative steps to the restaurant he'd intended to go earlier before seeing this e-mail. Using his mental phone again, he sent Jade another voice message... to order Xen the strongest drink they had for him.
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