Chapter 35
Over the course of six dreadfully boring hours I was asked questions that had me repeatedly reminding myself—like some sort of mantra—that these humans were blind to their past. It certainly didn't help that they were in denial as a species, not viewing the Federation as a part of their forgotten prehistory.
When I explained to him a sanitized version of the basics of vampire physiology—which I demanded that he will not take any form of notes on or speak a whisper of—he at first reminded me of the human "Federation" of the past. He struggled to accept the idea that blood from sapient individuals simply tasted better. But unlike his ancestors he came to just accept it eventually. I had to make a small convincing hypothesis—that was in truth mostly an educated guess and common consensus of my ancestors—about it tasting better as the blood was the most compatible. Though he wondered why we didn't just make our bone marrow produce more blood. That was a question I couldn't answer as it would risk exposing my regeneration or my enigmatic ability to basically overclock myself.
I was thankfully rewarded after all of this. I managed to obtain a promise out of him. He promised a method that I could use to acquire large amounts of human blood. Which was easy once he understood who I'd be getting that blood from if I ran out. I could tell he was nervous about this deal. He, however, was even more scared of the idea of me having to hunt humans to simply survive.
I would however honestly vow to hold myself to not hunting humans during this time it simply meant less possible trouble for myself. That would be my code as long as no one threatens MARA or myself. Those who do can only pray that I only drain them, and not just chuck them into the brig as livestock.
"Yes I–I'll see what I can do about your problem, just give me a few days. I'll have it before your reward arrives. Now I probably should be going. Thank you again for answering so many of my race’s questions. I'll make sure to only share these papers with my less inquisitive colleagues." Ryder seemed lightheaded as he clutched the bag carrying his rather limited and preapproved set of papers like it was worth a billion sovra or I guess credits in this era.
I saw a car pull up to the landing pad I was using. Mother quickly identifies it as belonging to the Orenths. Ryder repeated his farewell as he stepped inside. The black car then was forced to sluggishly maneuver past the plethora of security vehicles. All the while I just awkwardly stood on the lift.
"Mother."
"Yes I will make sure his journey back is free of possible hazards."
The personnel lift chose that moment to silently rise. Tomorrow promised to be rather dull though it was better than being placed in more fights. Maybe I should try and find something that could help train the thralls to be more useful. The simulator room was functional—despite what I told Aria—during interstellar travel but it was lacking in any form of training equipment for crewing a voidship or advancing specialized education. The listening post was sadly the sole option for the crew training.
"Thinking about it, could a human even crew this vessel?"
"I am unsure, a situation like this has never occurred in the past. My estimation based on modern human physiology is that it's possible with my assistance. Though the process of hybridizing or a full modification of their reflexes may allow them full competency."
“I see I should probably take note of that.”
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TIME:
5 DAYS LATER
LOCATION:
CYSA, ORENTHIA
GATE OF CYRUS INTERSTELLAR SPACEPORT
LANDING PAD 1/DV
ASTRO DAWN
Today I was greeted by two wonderful messages I have been eagerly anticipating! The most recent involves my reward for reporting the location of what turned out to be a rather significant ruin. The details of what was discovered made me feel rather resentful to the government. I forcefully reminded myself that I had more use for the reward than the half-broken scraps of disassembled infantry and voidship armaments.
The first piece of immensely anticipated news that arrived a minute before the aforementioned reward was about me receiving 150 liters of human blood! Along with some machines to keep it refrigerated with the added help of nontoxic perservatives—though they were vastly inferior to the ones I could create.
I will be receiving the "medical" supplies later today. I planned to go to the governmental offices to receive my reward. It just so happened to help that today's weather was extremely cloudy with not a chance of infernal sunlight glimpsing the surface around the capital, Cysa.
I still made sure to wear some sunblock to prevent the possibility of the UV index not being as low as predicted. I could finally get to leave those sweltering protective clothes behind. That always puzzled Ryder and his guards, with only the latter now knowing the overly exaggerated truth. I made sure to play into me having an immediate, excruciating reaction to the sun. I quickly had to stop as I was almost drowned in his earnest sympathy for me.
Truthfully when I was leaving the void ship's shadow I did feel a moment of dread when the dim light reached my skin. If this was actual sunlight I thankfully wouldn't feel it for about half a day, but soon after I'd be drowning in agony for a few days of hellish "recovery." My body would be shedding layers of possibly harmed—cancerous—skin. It wouldn't be actually flaying my skin as my regeneration would allow for rapid and safe replacement of dead skin. It would however feel like I was being burnt alive. There are many pros at being extremely modified and cancer resistant, but there are just as many cons.
Taking a deep breath I forced myself into the open. Gaining a confused stare from the guard who was standing next to the opened door of the armored car I'd be travelling in. They quickly cleared it away as I stepped inside and the door shut.
Looking out of the tinted windows I saw the sprawling arid plains that had made this world so infamous. There was dreadfully little if anything to try and hide yourself from the cloud of drones that had buzzed like angry Aeths—wasps—over this planet. These plains alone had earned this world its designation as a fortress world.
Soon the sprawling dry plains transformed into suburban sprawl. That was something that took some getting used too after being subjected to training simulations of this world. Cities like Cysa would have long been abandoned ruins by the time the war reached them. The population would have long since either fled underground, or to another safer world.
It eventually became a comforting sight; I gained an appreciation of the city, only if it was because it reminded me that I didn't need to keep my eyes peeled for suicide drones. I stopped gazing out of the window as the suburban sprawl slowly shifted into apartments and various stores.
The remainder of the journey passed uneventfully, not even a hint of being followed. It was almost concerning how everyone seemed to lose interest.
'They probably feel the situation has already grown too hot. Suspecting that any other incidents might provoke a punishment from the government that will be likely tipped off by rivals. We will have to question that assassin thoroughly tomorrow.'
I just let out a deep breath glancing out the window as the vehicle came to a slow stop. The first thing I noticed was a rather large cargo truck docked to the back of the hospital I didn't learn the name of. The next was a tall man in formal clothes stepping out of an exit door. Followed by someone in rather casual clothes who I guessed was some second in command.
"Supervisor Thomas Stephon of the Cyrus Medical Group Darius Center, he is also the one overseeing this exchange. He is the person you will have to talk to. The other isn't important though I wonder why they're here..."
"Sigh Thank you Mother I was hoping I wouldn't be forced into talking with them..."
Nobody seemed to have noticed my muttered conversation with Mom as a guard opened the door. Stepping out onto the empty parking lot—that really only existed for emergencies than actual parking—I slowly tread over to meet the supervisor and his trailing assistant if I had to guess.
We finally met in the middle as I shook his hand with reluctance. Looking up, I felt a momentary revulsion as I noticed his hair color bordered on white from age. It was uncanny for me; this shade of hair might be a distinctly human hair color—thanks to their shorter life spans. When I saw it, it made it an uncanny sight—what with how our two species looked so similar thanks to convergent evolution and simple luck. It was like I was looking at a vampire with slight deformities, lacking many of our facial features that humans had somehow always seen as beautiful.
"Is there something wrong Miss Runethari?" The ancient supervisor asked, looking a little concerned.
I simply shook my head, "No, nothing you should be concerned with."
Suddenly his little assistant spoke up, "Miss Runethari, I can't help but notice you seem rather pale are you okay?"
Before I could come up with a retort the supervisor looked back at his assistant with a rather icy look, "She suffers from albinism and various modifications. You should have known this Senior Specialist Evenson."
"Um, sir I'm not the Senior Specialist he was out today remember? Should I not be here?"
That proceeded with a rather awkward silence as both likely forgot I was here. Seems the Supervisor was rather lacking in his ability to know who's who.
Letting them bask in their self inflicted awkwardness for a moment I cleared my throat. "Ahem, is there anything I need to discuss with you two? I wan–!"
Finishing with my reminder I looked down to my arm and felt my stomach drop. Immediately I pulled my arm away thankfully not hurting the supervisor as he had already mostly relaxed his grip. Making sure to shield both of my arms with my body I started to nervously drum my fingers on my forearm. A tick that I thought I was in control of.
"Is everything fine Miss–!?" My guard quickly walked over concerned. I snapped back at him, "It's fine for now, but I just don't like the sun! So let's hurry this up!"
The supervisor, seeming to come to his own conclusion, snatched the tablet from the person he dragged here; pointing and quickly guiding me through what I needed to do. The process took barely a minute as I just filled everything out with my MID. Finally I shoved the tablet into the supervisor, barely able to stop myself from pushing the man off his feet, and raced into the aegis that is the car. I was inside before the guard could even walk back.
Looking back I saw the stunned looks as I realized I probably showed off a bit of my physical abilities. Not that I cared as I began dreading the next twelve hours of increasing pain. I would have to just hurry to accept the credits. Fortunately that was a rather quick process to start. Unfortunately it would take a day for the InterStellar Commerce Association to recognize it and accept the deposit.
I almost growled as I realized my stay in this system just grew by at most four days. And even worse I would spend those days in agony, I just hoped that nobody would visit.
Now glaring at the back of a seat I could hardly care about the guard's increasingly anxious expressions. But eventually that also started to frustrate me, "If my sunny mood is that anxiety inducing then turn down a window though if it's mine I will kill you before you can scream!"
All I got was a panicked and snappy "Yes ma'am." I just groaned while shaking my head in frustration. Tomorrow had promised a new Thrall that had actual uses, now it was overshadowed by the promised feeling of being burned alive.
"Mother, can I ask you to buy the supplies? I want to leave this station tomorrow."
There was a pause that almost felt reluctant, "... I am sorry Lilith, but the policy of the ISCA on finalization of multi-million credit purchases usually requires physical appearance at a branch for new accounts. I can try and get you the right to not do this, but that will take months to be approved. Outside that I can't find a loophole that could get us past either problem, I am sorry."
Whispering quietly I gave her the go ahead. If we are lucky Ryder won't hear of this, not that it will change all that much; just reveal the sun isn't as big of a weakness as I led on.
'Uggh, I just had to stupidly wear shorter clothes today. I just hope nobody else will hear of this, for their own sake. If someone tries to idiotically weaponize sunlight against me like some fantasy cliche, I will make sure to exhaustively teach them how it feels as a reward for their daring effort.'