Sprout of Life

A loud snore and senseless chatter filled the air in the Night Owl Bar! His feet up on the table, slumped in the chair, cap over his head, dirty, raggedy uniform, and a stench of booze. A hand slammed on the rotten, dirty bar’s table. He sighed as he moved his cap, covering his face, to the side to peek at the intruder. His right eye, sleepy and bloodshot, stared at the stranger before him. 

“Are ye the captain seeking crew?” the man in raggedy uniform blinked slowly in response. “Ye don’t look like no captain I know! Ye got coi to pay?” the man in uniform removed the cap from his scar-covered face. He had obviously been hit by shrapnel in the past. Scars all over his face told of battles he had been in. He cleared his throat, reached for a mug of some muddy drink, picked it up, and downed it in its entirety in a single gulp – “Captain Thebes! And yes, I got the coin to pay!” 

The stranger before him was dressed in worn-out worker’s clothes, a jumpsuit, burned in places, stained with oil and other permanent stains, stitched and patched all over and still had holes – “Captain? Pfft! Don’t make e laugh!” responded the stranger as he pushed a dirty stained paper flyer towards the man – “ye be looking for crew? I Theo! Engineer! I can fix anything and pilot a dock mech!” 

Thebes looked at the stained piece of paper on which he had previously scribbled his advertisement for crew recruitment – “ah… you’re the first 1 to… ahem… apply should we say?” he sighed and looked the tall man up and down – “Alright, Theo, i’ll give you a chance! How familiar are you with the SRJ71 engines of the freighters?” 

Theo scratched his head – “wormhole 2, runs on anti-matter, arhm… pass cooled through exposed radiators with backup cooling in ye shape of liquid hydrogen! Is also cheap to find parts for even he’ in the slums! Hell, ye can fix the da’ thing with parts from toasters if ye wish ta! I fix em all the time at the port! But they also have a tendency of exploding if mishandled and not cooled proply” Thebes grinned – “engineer Theo, you’re hired” 

Theo shook his head – “nay mister cap’! What ye coi pay?”  Thebes nodded – “Of course! I’ll start with 100 coi for sign up, and upon completion of the mission I’ve lined up, a pay of 10,000 coi!” Theo’s jaw practically dropped as his eyes almost watered – “te..ten thou??? Take me cap’ I’ll keep the baby SRJ71 purri’ for ye!” And thus the 2 shook their hands. As the new engineer took a seat beside his new captain, the 2 shared stories and discussed the upcoming mission in brief detail. 

No more than an hour passed when another man strolled in, wearing an owls hat, spoke with the barkeep who pointed at the captain’s table where now the 2 men sat. The man in the owl’s hat approached – “Hoo-hoo! You need a croo?” Captain Thebes pulled away from his drink and raised an eyebrow at the stranger – “ahem… m..maybe? What ya go?” The owl hat man-made very wide eyes – “I can hoo! And see!” 

The engineer laughed – “Ha! Ye weirdo can only see? I got me own 2 eyes we don’t need a crew to see!” the owl man turned his neck to the side with a loud snap – “HOO! Hoow disappointing…” Thebes laughed at the weird – “get lost, druggie” The next ‘applicant’ wasn’t any better, that 1 claimed to be a spider. After a few more weirdos and druggies from the slums, at last a sensible person approached them. 

This time, a woman, in her 30s, with a rolling pil in hand, a woman, with a capital W you could say! She was taller than either of the 2 men and wider than them too! The rolling pin looked like a weapon in her hands. She sat at the table ballsily and spread her legs wide, then spat at the floor and grunted – “Sooo, which 1 of you 2 morons is the captain in search of… oh… OH MY!” her eyes widened upon seeing the uniform.

She leaned on the table staring at the shrapnel scarred face of the captain Thebes – “well well well, what’s an imperial pilot of first rank doing here, on the 3Q9D?” Thebes sneered at her – “well, didn’t think my uniform would get recognized on the world classified as ‘doomed’” she chuckled – “Ohh darling boy! I have seen your kind around here, and generally, they’re not welcomed!”

The engineer turned his head towards the captain – “huh? Imperial pilot?” Thebes raised his hand – “my past matters not!” the woman slammed her fist on the table – “Listen here imperial scum boy! If you seek to have me on board you’ll tell me what a former captain is doing here!” her eyes practically scanned his scars – “Judging by the scars, you were in some nasty incident, and the shape of your uniform tells me you were dumped here like trash, like the rest of us, citizens of 3Q9D!” 

He sighed – “And why would I want YOU on board of MY vessel?” She sneered – “darling boy you need a cook on your ship for any mission takes more than a few days! Don’t want the crew rioting from the trashy MREs (meal ready to eat) and I’m the best cook in town! Heck, the best cook in this entire ‘slums’ separation as you imperials called it!” she spat on the floor again – “now spill the beans, pretty boy!” 

He sighed and told her his story, the story of his life, rising through ranks and eventually stepping on the wrong toes. Getting in the way of the high command, despite being a captain of the 3rd quadrant’s flagship. Disobeying the order to destroy another world classified as doomed and ending up in a firefight between the imperial ships. He refused to fire upon his own comrades and their ship was heavily damaged. His crew assisted him in escaping, and his escape pod crash-landed on this planet. 

“And that’s how I ended up here, 3rd Quadrant, 9th system, 9th planet, doomed world..” he sighed. The engineer’s eyes wide as the coi that he so desires – “m…my god! The former first ran captain of the flipping flagman of the 3rd quadrant?”  Thebes just shrugged – “former… and now, a captain of the Sandra!!!” The woman nodded as she attentively listened to his story – “Very well captain, I’ll be on your ship, you are an honest man!” 

And thus Thebes now had a cook, engineer, and himself, and only needed a navigator and pilot for his crew. It did not take long for a young teenage girl to approach their table “I take 300 coi a mission” she demanded as she slammed the flyer on the table. After a brief negotiation between the captain and the teenage girl, which confused the engineer and the cook as the costs the Captain was naming were not at all what he told the others

“300” demanded the girl! “150 is my final offer!” the girl groaned – “FINE! Find somebody else!” the captain chuckled – “even 50 is too much for a brat like you!” she turned around – “FIND! SOMEBODY! ELSE!” he chuckled as she turned to leave – “Ten thousand!” the girl stopped after hearing the number, her face expressed nothing but excitement, so she returned to turn and face him -, trying to contain her voice – “uhm.. T..ten??” he nodded – “Ten thousand”

The girl pulled her scarf up to hide her smile and at last turned around – “I’m Essa, ace of the aces, the best pilot in the region! I’ll… allow you to hire me!” He smirked – “Oh, prove yourself to me, sunshine!” and nodded at the flight simulators in the corner – “play me in a game of ‘space race’ and if you win, I’ll think about it” She chuckled – “Pfft! Sure!”

Most people never realized that the game is surprisingly correct and the physics simulation within it is surprisingly accurate to real flight. Thebes knew this as the former captain of the imperial star fleet and when he was on the hiring committee for new pilots, this game was 1 of his tests. He himself was an ace, else he wouldn’t be the former captain of the flagship, Essa did not know whom she was against. 

However, to Thebes’ surprise, she was no easy target, and during the game he watched her pull maneuvers even he wouldn’t dare do and succeed at that. She thoroughly impressed him, a true prodigy child. If she were given a chance to get into the imperial academy she’d be the lead of a fighter squadron in no time. He wanted her, he was willing to pay her double if she demanded so, she was the pilot for his mission. 

And thus the crew was set, and so they met by the Sandra. “What the hell is this rustbucket???” exclaimed the cook – “You sure this thing can hold my weight? Let alone fly?” Thebes grinned – “ain’t she a beauty? Sandra the dirtbag is what I call her! Sure, not as magnificent as the ‘starfinder’ i used to pilot, but she’s my new home” 

Engineer just snorted and laughed – “ey cap, ye sure this ‘ere has an engine at all?” He nodded – “the best in its class” Essa mumbled to herself – “and the most explosive one too!” 

And so they took their positions, ran their checks and awaited the captain’s orders – “Alright crew, listen up” said Thebes – “this mission is no easy task! We have to deliver a questionable, mysterious cargo to the 1Q3P. We know not what’s in the cargo and only been informed that it is to not be discovered. In addition to that, we do NOT have an imperial exit permit from 3Q9D, as you all know, imperials don’t like vessels and people leaving worlds classified as ‘doomed’. 

Essa clicked her tongue – “great! Dodge the station’s armament, escape the pursuit on a rustbucket that might, quite literally, blow up! Carrying a cargo of questionable origin, to a world 2 quadrants over, and a god damn P-classified world without a permit? Anything else you wanna tell me, captain? How about something else that’s quite literally impossible to do? Ohh i know! Why don’t you tell me to fly us through a black hole?”

He laughed – “slingshot around a blackhole to escape pursuit, there’s a blackhole in the …” she snapped at him- “SSHHHHut the f… ugh… buckle up idiots we’re on a suicide run!” She pressed a sequence of buttons. The SRJ71 coughed up to life and a loud hiss echoed through the ship. “Atta gir” said the captain. Essa checked the gauges as the pressure built up. Engineer on the intercom – “all systs nominal, ready for flight” 

The last bits of cargo were loaded up into the hull and the cargo bay was sealed. “Essa, send us!” she grinned – “aye captain, that’ll be a hot flight! Buckle up” Sandra slowly lifted off the rusted platform of the dock she sat and switched into flight mode. The engine’s hum and whine shook the ship but the crew was quick to get used to it. Within a few minutes, they were leaving the atmosphere. Essa punched in some numbers on the keypad and nav map opened up, overlaying the window

Thebes watches as she pondered over the set course before adjusting it – “Cap we’ll need to…” he interrupted her – “I know, do what needs to be done, our lives are in your hands” And so she did. She plot the course right through the space station, a sharp swirl through the left, straight into 3Q8D’s asteroid belt to put up distance between them and the pursuit, heading straight towards the blackhole that’d be a few light years away, it’ll be a gamble. 

And thus Sandra escaped the atmosphere and flew straight toward the station. Auto-cannon fire opened up, but fortunately, the station defenses were quite outdated and did not prove challenging to avoid. Essa with ease flew past the station. A couple of fighters were dispatched and hot on their tails. Any communication attempts from them were instantly blocked off as Essa gunned it full speed into the asteroid belt of 8D. 

The systems activated and the alarms wailed – “WARNING! COLLISION! WARNING! COLLISION!” Essa skillfully maneuvered the ship between the asteroids, sending any items which were not tied up, flying all over the interior. Thebes and others simply held on for their dear lives. “MISSILE! MISSILE!” wailed another alarm “I FUCKING KNOW!” screamed back the pilot as she suddenly yanked the joystick up and disabled the engines! 

She slammed a button which dropped flares, the ship hovered upside down, asteroid but a few dozen meters ahead of them, Essa watched the missile fly right below them as it impacted the astroid a flare landed on. In that instant, she slammed the engines back online and in a swift jerk, she sent the ship flying backward through the newly destroyed asteroids. Shaking followed at the smaller debris impacted the rusty raggedy hull – “EASY THERE” Shouted Thebes as Essa grinned – “If we die, we die” 

Another sudden jerk sent an ashtray flying from the other side into captain’s face, Essa looked over her shoulder and laughed at the captain’s ash-covered face – “Serves you right!” she exclaimed as she pushed the engine power to the max. Thebes growled – “You did that on purpose…” she chuckled – “Who kno..” her sentence was interrupted by another alarm – “COLLISION! WARNING” her eyes darted to the radar, something was incoming from the top

She swiftly rolled the ship sideways. The object scraped against the top of their hull in a deafening metallic scritch, a harpoon scratched their hull! She suddenly slammed front thrusters to the full, coming to a stop almost instantly, and as she did, a loud ‘thud’ echoed through the ship, as the bow of it impacted a large asteroid – “PHEW!” exclaimed Essa. She glanced at the captain who was passed out in his chair from the sudden Gs overload. 

The thrusters roared back to life as she glided around the asteroid. Right behind her 1 of the fighters, in an attempt to catch up to them, impacted a smaller asteroid and lost 1 of its engines “One down 1 to go” grinned Essa. The pursuit through the asteroid field continued full of close calls and intensity. As they got out of the asteroid belt, now it was a light year of travel with barely any cover, and an imperial fighter on their tail. 

It’ll take about 10 minutes before SRJ71 is up to speed where the fighter can’t keep up. Essa used the cargo claw of Sandra to grab 1 smaller asteroid before escaping the field. She rolled and pitched in high-intensity maneuvers, avoiding the gunfire and grappling hook shots from the pursuer, but still, occasional impacts were made. Her top priority was the safety of the cargo bay and the engine, any other damage could be fixed. 

They lost their communications array! No big deal, they weren’t permitted for flying anywhere they would be flying anyways, so it didn’t matter! The close proximity collision systems were out of service! Long-range sensors were no longer detecting missile fire. “THEO WE NEED MORE POWER” shouted Essa into the comms – “The engn is performing at peak capacity” replied the engineer in a calm tone as he checked the gauges – “Then OVERLOAD IT!” 

Theo grunted – “ugh.. I’ll see what I ca’ do!” It took no more than 3 minutes of being tossed around as Essa fought to avoid taking more damage to the ship before the engine hummed louder than before “the core won’t last more than 15 minutes at this load, you have 13!” Essa smirked and whispered – “I only need 7!” The ship jerked as it suddenly accelerated, the fighter behind them, in an attempt to catch up hit his afterburners. After a short chase, she suddenly stopped the vessel once again, Essa positioned the cargo claw with the asteroid in a way that’d be right in the path of the fighter following them, in that moment she released it, at a trajector that the fighter would, per her calculation, take, to avoid the collision. A truly masterful maneuver, the rock floated right up to where the pilot attempted to maneuver to avoid a collision. In a bright flash, the fighter exploded. 

Essa set the speed to max and told the engineer to remove the overdrive. The engine was fine even though more than half of their other systems were out of commission but navigation and flight controls were fine, and that’s all that mattered to the crew of Sandra. The mission went on, they prepared for a wormhole to make a jump to the quadrant 1. 

The jump went fine to their surprise and the captain, post jump, went to check on the cargo. All seemed well, no damage was done. Upon returning to the bridge and obtaining a status report, he ordered the engineer to work on repairs to the long-range detection and close proximity sensors. In the meantime, Essa found an asteroid and landed on it, to hide their presence from any pirates or imperial patrols in the region. 

The repairs went well and the crew gathered for a meal and a discussion of the plan. “We’ll arrive at the 1st system of Q1 in a couple of days at cruising speed, challenge is that the Q1 is heavily patrolled so we must mask our presence and signature.” Essa poked the engineer – “Hey big dumbo! Can’t you install a signature relay and just let us fly straight through pretending to be an imperial cargo freighter?” he shrugged – “sure, but i ain’t got 1” 

She scratched her head – “eh… so hiding it is” Thebes grinned – “Oh no! I have just what we need! Be back in a minute!” he said and left to the cargo bay. Returning, a few moments later, holding in his hands, a basketball-sized device. Essa choked on her tea – “You dumb fucker! Why didn’t you have us install this from the get-go?” 

he shook his head-  “well, you see kiddo, imperial freighters don’t land on doomed worlds, as a result, it’d raise even more suspicion if we suddenly showed up as imperial freighters to the station, and it’d get us tagged in their system and they’d 100% demand an inspection even if we pretended to be an imperial freighter. The cook nodded – “Yea that makes perfect sense” 

The engineer finished his chicken sandwich and wiped his hands on his dirty old jumpsuit – “ye cap, I’ll insta it right away! Then we can sail smoothly” Essa nodded – “Y..yes.. Sorry for my mistake”. Thebes grinned at her – “it’s quite alright, a hell of a piloting job you’ve done so far by the way!” She looked at him before snapping away, her cheeks turned slightly red – “Shut up tha..that was nothing! I was just warming up!” 

And so the signature relay was installed and they got to their destination system without any challenges. But as the crew rejoiced at their safe arrival, as per the law of getting screwed, they were tagged by an imperial scout. Any attempted communications failed since their comms relay was not repaired. “How the hell did we not detect them?” angrily prompted Essa while checking the systems – “Scout vessels have top-of-the-line stealth tech… there’s no way a rustbucket like this can ever spot a scout” 

She groaned – “So what now? Do we make a run for it? Or… let them board us? Which they’ll demand, due to damaged comms…” Thebes sat back in his chair and scratched his head – “That is… a great question… what do we do…” 

*****Audience Input*****

Orlena Frex: Offer them some of those chicken sandwiches? :3

Atheris Hispida: Bribing officials, sounds like a great plan.

Nagisa Shokushu: let them board and counter board them! xD

Nagisa Shokushu: swap ships

Vikiridi Mikwel: so…. they try to bribe the scouts with… chicken sandwiches??

Vikiridi Mikwel: ohhhhh my

Mimi Shadourendo: sounds like it’ll work out

Mimi Shadourendo: i would take that bribe anyday

Leona Lucifra: I say they let them boar this time.

Ashlandis Kahkol: “Show them a door, and beside it, it’s the scout ship to confuse them!”

**********

Thebes grinned – “Our cargo is relatively small…” Essa nodded – “yea and…?” he smirked – “And… we let them, board, set SRJ71 to overload, while they inspect our ship we knock them out, take our cargo to their scout, and hijack their scout!!!” Essa raised her eyebrow- “You’re a fking psychopath… and I love this plan!” And so Thebes informed the crew of their plan – “The scouts are smaller vessels, with focus on stealth, there’s no more than 3 crew members aboard, pilot, engineer, and captain.” 

And so they came to a stop and opened up their docking hatch. A loud thump indicated that the boarding sleeve was attached. Captain Thebes stood by the hatch waiting for the scouts to board, and so they did. 2 younger men climbed through the hatch and then looked around the rusty, worn-out interior of the Sandra – “Uhmm.. captain..?”

Thebes nodded, beside him, Essa stood, sucking on a lolipop, leaning against the wall. It did not take long for the scouts to recognize Thebes’ rank – “Oh! Sir captain first rank, our apologies for the intrusion!” Taken aback by his rank, momentarily they got distracted by the rusty and ghetto interior of the ship – “Sir, we had to check due to the communications being damaged on your vessel” 

He nodded – “I understand, our engineer is currently attempting to repair the comms but we’re lacking the parts” 1 of the scouts saluted – “Sir! We might have some spare parts, or we could escort you to the station’s dock” Thebes’s eyes widened as he nervously shook his head -”n..no that won’t be n..necessary! I’ll…” the 2nd scout stepped up – “I can assist your engineer with repairs.” 

He looked over at Essa nervously who just shrugged, and then back at the scout – “of course… this way please” he said as he guided the 2 scouts down to the engineering bay. Behind them, the cook lady walked with a rolling pin in hand. In the meantime, Essa snuck up the boarding sleeve onto the scout’s ship. 

Using a knock-out taser she snuck up to the pilot of the scout ship and waited for him to finish his comms report to the station regarding the encounter with the freighter without communications, before stunning and knocking him out. Meanwhile, on Sandra, 1 of the scouts, at last, took notice of the captain’s raggedy, dirty, worn-out uniform – “say, captain, why is the vessel in such a bad shape?” 

Thebes stopped and turned to look at the scout who asked the question – “uhm, it’s a.. Undercover mission to 1 of the…” *THUNK* followed by a sound of somebody falling, the cook had smacked the other scout on the head with her rolling pin, knocking him out cold. The moment scout turned – “What the..” captain wrapped his arm around his throat, choking him – “TO HELL WITH IT!”

At last, he chocked the scout out. As the scout passed out and the captain rested his slumped body on the floor, he glared at the cook who just shrugged – “I… didn’t know what else to do! They got suspicious” he sighed – “Yea… it’s done now, Theo! Compromise the engine so they can’t move and lets get out of here” 

And thus they carried cargo over to the scout’s vessel. Essa familiarized herself with the controls, which were vastly different from anything she had ever used before, in addition a ton of tools and functions she has never heard of before. The cargo was swapped over to the new ship and they took off, heading towards their destination. 

“So, captain, do you know what any of these buttons do?” Thebes looked over her shoulder and shrugged – “I was a captain of a flagman frigate, not a scout. No clue” he reached over to the control panel and touched a button – “BEACON! DEPLOYED” spoke the system. Essa facepalmed and slapped his hand- “STOP TOUCHING!!” 

A moment later comms came live – “This is D.E.V. Rosenheart! S.V. Wer come in? We see a beacon deployed at your location!” Essa rolled her eyes and looked at the captain who shrugged – “I DON’T KNOW!! Tell them it was a misclick?” she sighed – “No, you do that!” 

She activated the comms – “No! I uhh…. Uhh! Ahem! This is Scout Vessel Wer, the beacon deployment erhmm, system… malfunctioned! Ignore it! I repeat, Deep exploration vessel Rosenheart, this is scout vessel Wer, ignore the beacon, system malfunctioned”. A long, deafening, terrifying, moment of silence later, they replied- “Roger that” 

The rest of their journey went safely. Flying an imperial ship made it quite easy, and having an imperial former captain who knows calls, commands and jargon helped immensely. They made landing at the trade port which was their destination. Thebes took Essa along with him, since she stood out the least from the rest of the crew, and verntured to the Broken Glass inn where he was to meet the client. 

With him, he carried the crate that was his cargo to deliver. Essa, rather displeased with having to go along simply asked – “So, when do we get paid?” to which Thebes replied with a – “should be at the exchange”.  And so they arrived, safely at the broken glass inn. And there they were greeted and asked if they desired a room. Thebes, denied the room “We’re here to meet with an old friend”. 

The receptionist looked them up and down, his white and purple, clean uniform, made both of them feel cheap in comparison – “Very well, let me check something for you” he input some information into the desk computer and then a device in his ear lit up “sire, your friends have arrived! Yes! Two! Man and a girl! Yes! Correct! Very well” he pulled out a keychain in the shape of a Celtic cross from under the desk and placed it on the table – “77th floor, room 111”

Thebes and Essa made their way to the elevator, in this rather elite-looking hotel, their raggedy, dirty clothes, stood out quite a lot. All other patrons who boarded the elevator stared at them for a while out of shock. In the meantime, Thebes simply held the crate up on his shoulder – “Listen here Essa… if…” she shook her head – “shut up, it’ll be fine…” 

He continued, when the elevator was, once more, empty – “Yes, but if something goes wrong, make your escape, I’ll..” she sighed – “listen here you dumb fuck! I’ll be fine! I’ve survived imperial crimes and literally what should’ve been impossible! We’ll be fine! And besides… I really need that money so it HAS to be fine!” Thebes nodded – “yea.” The door dinged and they stepped out into a long hallway, littered with rooms to either side. There were still another 23 floors above them. 

They walked down the lengthy hallway, rooms were numbered from 1, alternating odd and even on either side of the hallway. A short walk later they found themselves at an intersection with signs hanging above each hall – 1-50, 51-100, 101-150, 151-200. Thebes walked down the hallway where a sign leading to 100+ was. Just a few rooms over, they stood before the door to room 111. 

As Thebes reached to knock on the door, Essa pulled his hand away, her eyes, wide from terror – “s…” she took a deep breath – “I.. it’s fine! The key, we have the key”. He watched her terrified expression with great concern – “what’s wrong?” she shook her head-  “n..nothing. I just feel, I don’t know.. I can’t describe it!” She took a step back to be behind him – “you go first”. 

Thebes swallowed hard as he stood in between the door and the girl, holding up the Celtic cross-shaped access key to the door, realizing that, unlike other doors, this 1 did not have a proximity scanner, and literally required using the cross as a key. He slotted it into the key hole and turned it. A loud click echoed through the hall. 

A moment later, he blinked in disbelief as he stood, his hand, as if holding onto a key, to a door that was no longer there. He found himself, standing on a lush green field, decorated with beautiful, blood-red roses, perking up between the lush green grass. A voice, a shapeless voice that came from seemingly nowhere and everywhere, from each strand of grass, the soil beneath his feet, and the air all around – “Ohh! guests!”

In that moment, a shape, tall person in a black robe slowly sat up – “Ah, indeed, my couriers!” Essa clung to the back of the captain’s jacket, her eyes closed, her body trembling” the shapeless voice echoed once more – “There there, little one! Fear not for there is no harm to be done” She slowly opened her eyes, still trembling like a leaf in the wind. 

All around them she could see the same green lush field, with blood-red roses perking up in between the grass. The tall, black-robed man stood up and stretched. His face, shrouded by darkness, spoke with a kind voice – “My dear guests, I welcome you” Thebes stared at the man – “w..what the hell? What is this place? We were at …” 

The black-robed man interrupted him- “A hotel, yes, that was but 1 of the doors to the ksshhh kschhh” the words he spoke, could not be comprehended. Otherworldly wouldn’t begin to describe it, they were out of existence. The man standing before them was at least twice his height, he slowly walked towards them, and yet, he did not feel intimidating – “I am the kssshhhhhh.. Hmmm.. in human terms, I guess you could call me ‘overseer’”

Thebes watched the being approach – “uhhmm” the overseer knelt down and extended his rather human-looking hand – “the crate?” Thebes nodded – “y..yes”. He handed the crate over to the overseer, still only darkness could be seen where his face should be. Essa pulled on Thebes’s jacket and pointed at the horizon, of endless length field and light and whiteness and nothing else! No clouds or color. The sky was white, the land was a lush green field with roses. 

Thebes looked around in admiration, and then switched his gaze back to the overseer – “s..so… what’s inside?” he watched the robed man slowly pull the lid of the crate open. The shapeless voice replied – “Have you heard of Yggdrasil ?” Thebes shrugged – “a myth, tree of life connecting all worlds or something?” The black-robed man, slowly, took out a potted, tiny, rose bush from the crate and admired it in the omnidirectional light of this world. 

He spoke at last – “yggdrasil is a tree of existence, not just life! It connects all worlds across all universes! And I am the overseer. Each of these roses you see beneath your feet represents a world, and I am overseer, the watcher of the the ksshhhhh kschhhhh” In his hands, the pot disintegrated, the soil opened up, and he gently placed the rose bush into the soil.

He turned and faced the captain and the young girl beside him- “What you brought me, is a sprout of yggdrasil representing your world, a planet that I will now watch over. Sprouts don’t always grow here, and sometimes I need beings of the world to deliver them to me, for I am forbidden from leaving this realm”

Thebes’s eyes widened more and more and his jaw agape, as he listened to the overseer speak – “So…yo..you’re a god?” the overseer’s tone changed to a mocking one – “God is an overstatement. I simply watch over the existence and worlds, and in some cases, intervene, should the world meet its doom in a way I deem unfair. But for every life, there must be a death, so a decision is never quite easy.”

A few meters away, a rose withered away. The darkness which shrouded the overseer’s face faded, his rather normal, young human male’s face was shown to the Thebes and Essa for a moment, a tear glittered on his cheek as he slowly turned to face the withered rose – “ah… that was, a sad one” He turned to Thebes, in his hand, a bag of coi appeared – “here’s your payment, my courier. I shall seek your services in the future” 

Before Thebes, or Essa, had a chance to say a word, the bag was thrown at Thebes, making him lose his balance and stumble backward, before eventually falling over. But as he almost impacted the ground, a shapeless voice spoke for the last time “Thank you” and thus Thebes, found himself, sitting on his ass, back in the hotel’s hallway, with a bag of coi in his hands. Essa, confused, stood beside him. The door to room 111 was gone, only a wall in its place. 

Captain Thebes shared the bounty with his crew, and they all found a new home in Q1! With enough coi for each to buy and begin a new life! Except for Essa, the skillful pilot returned to 3Q9D to rescue her younger siblings from living in the doomed world.