Chapter 5: Polite protest.

Rimu carefully read through case studies as she walked down the corridor to her unit conference room. The cross-disciplinary meeting for the week was going to be very interesting with the new batch of wards that’d entered the facility’s care since the defection of that little terran, and the intelligence she so willingly gave. Naturally the crew of the rebel ship was in an appalling state, and that was just the few more receptive sophonts that Rimu had interacted with, the high intensity wing would surely list off a whole slew of problems that the unit would need to face.

Really though, Rimu was fascinated with that little defector terran, working long into the night to make sure she wasn’t missing anything too obvious in her assessment. Thankfully for the affini, there was plenty of documentation in other sophont species of the same general condition, plus some magnificent work in the first year of the Terran Protectorate, and naturally things discovered in the cotyledon program.

Since the incident with the ducting, the terran had been prescribed some stronger class E drugs then the very low level she was initially given. Combine those with some class G’s to help her hormones return to a desirable proportion again and a precautionary dose of an amnesiac immediately following the little terran’s panic attack. In effect the little terran was ‘whacked out of her goddamn mind’ as a previous patient had so eloquently put it before being put on his new regimen last year, and unlikely to hurt herself or annoy maintenance with more innocent antics.

Until the terran was appropriately healed of the injuries she didn’t even appear to have noticed, or have simply forgotten, Rimu found it hard to justify trying to bring her back to a more lucid state until that was fixed. And yet she’d have to justify with her educated guess as to why her care should try to focus first on returning the poor little thing back to health before pursuing social and psychological changes.

Filing in with her co-workers, Terran and Affini alike, Rimu placed her tablet down at her spot, the head of the meeting arriving just a minute later, followed by Nectarios, the care director who slunk away into a corner. As everyone settled the meeting head raised up a vine for silence, a projected slide filling the back wall.

“I’d like to first thank all of you, the sudden capture of the terran rebel ship ‘planar abyssal’ was rather a shock to all of us. Naturally of course Intelligence insisted that they were already onto the ship, but if that were fully the case, then I don’t think they’d have looked like lost florets when they were first told.” A murmur of amused noise rippled across the room. “After the defection of one of their crew, intelligence and others were able to impound the ship and most of the crew alive, though unfortunately a few were lost to acts of self-extinguishing or simple bad luck.” A murmur of disappointment. It was always a shame to hear those terrans who would never live to see a better life. “Regardless, this little event has caused quite a stir both in the Affini and in the Terran parts of the ship. For your dedication in spite of… the complications that have arisen, Nectarios and I would like to sincerely thank you”.

Rimu felt her foliage rustle in pride at that comment, the head always knew when to ply their staff with compliments, not like she was complaining about it. The slide dissolved with a new one forming on the wall.

“And now onto today’s cross-discipline meeting. Nectarios will give everyone the general idea.” the head finished, quickly rushing for a chair as the venerable xenodoctor rose from the corner and made his way to the front of the room, his movement made him look like he was perpetually slouching, though he had earned the right to it, he was easily the oldest of them all, and by far the most experienced.

“Right” he said, forming into a relatively humanoid shape, forgoing the legs. “The general situation we have is this. With the capture of the free terrans we have had to deal with a lot of grim figures.” a new slide appeared, covered in graphs. “Page 5 on your information packets, if you want to read along. Approximately eighty five to ninety percent of the crew are malnourished, on the edge, or essentially half starved to death, whatever system they had to recycle waste, and, knowing how desperate free terrans are getting, their dead into more food was running at a severe nutritional loss. Another six months and there’d only be enough to feed half of them. A year and it’d only be their captain’s inner circle. From what I can tell the crew were intending on stocking up when they arrived here, but the new nutritional intake probably would have caused damage to their digestive tracts”.

Rimu’s leaves bristled, remembering seeing the first of the terrans being brought in by the rapid response teams. Fighting for their kind was one thing, but the idea of them eating, eating. Eating each other? even though some recycling process seemed both terribly disgusting and generally incredibly wrong.

“Furthermore, there are some very concerning signs of systematic abuse. Alongside more… conventional” he started, raising a few vines to produce quotation marks, “forms of Terran naval punishment, it looks like a large portion of the crew were subject to unofficial though likely quietly sanctioned physical and mental abuse.” Rimu started to turn off at that, not that it didn’t interest her, only that she knew that she’d have to read through it eventually, at least that way she could pace herself.

Time passed as the affini’s mind wandered into imaginary clouds, from which she could insulate herself in that moment from the need to pay attention to the grim statistics the others in the high intensity wing would need to pay more involved attention to. Speakers changed as her attention drifted in or out, making sure to note down the briefest bullet points. Those who were generally in a good and cooperative state, minus any other reasoning, were to just be mentioned in the final wrap-up. Most of the dangerously uncooperative were in high intensity anyways, so naturally most of the affini giving presentations were from high intensity, with some outside specialists giving opinions every now and then.

Rimu was woken from her reverie as someone prodded her, shaking a little she realized it was her turn. The slide changed as she took up the speaking position, landing on the little terran, some brief notes on the left hand side and her cosmic navy ID photo on the right, stretching her vines a little to get her into a more talkative mood, she began.

“This is Juliet Glasgow. She was a mechanic before the Terran Pacification Program began and was essentially press ganged into serving the free terran cause. As is so common with this group, she has poor hormonal balance, is undoubtedly malnourished, and has plenty of evidence of both healed and improperly treated workplace injuries, alongside some active ones.” Rimu looked down at her notes. “So far she has been an interesting case to follow, with the brief time she’s been conscious that is.” Rimu looked to Nectarios who gave a movement of encouragement. “From what I believe to have seen she has had some not entirely consistent behaviour. During her surrender she seemed to have accepted our care, and more importantly, done so willingly and in a lucid enough state to clearly imply she had full knowledge and a desire to surrender to us.”

“So I’ve heard.” One of the specialists, a terran, said in a soft, amused tone. “From what I understand it was intense enough to scare the clod out of your roommate” she continued, eliciting a sharp tensing of Rimu’s vines and a puffing of her foliage in response.

“The first time I met her she appeared to be in a completely different state. She tried to leave, seemingly believing that she was dreaming, or rather realized she wasn’t and tried to escape. After subduing her and returning her, our next meeting she seemed to have no solid memory of her escape attempt, just a vague feeling that confused her, I made sure that nobody had given her an amnesiac after either of her subduing, and I made sure to query her name. Overall she had returned to a generally passive state.”

“I assume there’s a point here?” another asked, looking about as bored as Rimu had been.

“I’m getting there” Rimu replied, a little too tersely in hindsight, but she was on a roll. “With the third visit I had a talk with her, she now didn’t remember anything to do with arriving at this station, let alone her escape attempt. More importantly she seemed somewhat less together than the last time we talked. Finally, I asked her her name, which was different from the name she gave before, and neither of those names are her legal name. That combined with the more subtle cues, I’m inclined to believe that this sophont is a pluribus. As such I’d like to request my abdication of some of my other low intensity patients who’re in close-to-release conditions and keep an eye on this little one.”

The affini in the room looked to each other, the specialist who had questioned Rimu before giving a shrug. Nectarios and the meeting head both wrote down a few notes, beckoning Rimu to return to her seat for the rest of the meeting. The rest of the meeting passed as Rimu pondered the logistics of taking care of the little pluribus, should she get approval for it.

Jewel lay in a haze, her head swimming in whatever fowl chemicals the plants had concocted for her. It was stupid of her to try run, she could have tried to play it all cool and she’d have had a better chance. Now she found herself effectively bound to the hospital bed, her mind just conscious enough to process where she was, but nowhere near competent enough to move in her state. Everything just felt off, even accounting for the gravity likely being the highest she’d experienced since she was last on a planet.

Even so, though she wasn’t able to move, she was still more than capable enough to seethe underneath the surface. She was trapped and fuck almighty knew where Jaxx or the rest of the crew were, just that if she was captured, at least some of her crewmates were too. She didn’t understand why she had no memory of being captured outside of the frenzied and blurred dreams she slipped in and out of while time passed. She wanted to lash out, she wanted to scream, and she did the first few times she woke up. Sadly for Jewel, every time she’d get herself riled up some black collar tight around her neck and wrists would beep ominously, followed by a disturbingly relaxing cool moving inwards from around her extremities as little lights would flash red. It was like some cruel modification of sleep paralysis before the relaxing cool blanketed the fear, leaving her empty, staring up at the ceiling as she slipped back down into the dark lake that her consciousness floated atop.

The first time the collars beeped and flashed red, Jewel had tried to scream before whatever it was flowing into her veins took effect. Waking up later, head spinning, she declared it just a dream, she tried to scream when, not long after, her rage boiled at her situation and the cool flowed into her again. The third time she tried to find ways to reach the boundary for the collars between the warning orange flashes and the ominous reds. It wasn’t a fine line she could feel out exactly, but she roughly approximated it after her fifth or sixth go.

The collars didn’t seem to mind when she was simmering, stewing in her anger, so long as her heart rate remained normal. That had to be the trigger.

“Fucking stupid” she muttered to herself as she pondered how she got here again. “When I get my hands on whoever royally fucked us over I’m going to throttle them.” she murmured, putting furious energy into her threat to nobody. The collars beeped once as amber light glowed, soon after being replaced with the normal green. Whoever had fucked them over, however, is always hard to tell when you have no memory of anything surrounding your capture. Didn’t matter in the end though, Jewel was going to find Jaxx first, break them out of whatever torture machines they’d been undoubtedly put in, and escape this horror show.

Her hands clenched as she was rushed with a faint yet visceral sense of guilt when Jax crossed Jewel’s mind, and she had no idea why. “Fucking plants, trying to gaslight me with their drugs” she muttered. “No way should I be feeling guilt for wanting to save them.” Even as those words softly left her mouth, the guilt seemed to grow, and something in her pulled uncomfortably… something bad.

The door slid open and whatever feelings were running through Jewel’s mind seemed to die out in favor of fear as an Affini strode in, wearing some sort of white uniform and holding a tablet. Fuck they were somehow even more scary up close than in her dreams Jewel realized as she saw the hundreds of little vines and branches that formed the mockery of a terran’s form move with every step. The creature’s face was a resident of the uncanny valley, distorted with subtly and obviously wrong aspects to its features and a smile that seemed to pierce Jewel’s soul with malice.

“Hello there, little one” it said, it’s words disturbingly soft for the power it clearly possessed over its prisoner. “How are you feeling today, dear?” it continued, lingering on ‘dear’ with some relish. Mentally Jewel lunged back into her training as the fear boiled up her throat, it was years ago when they practiced in the academy but even lowly maintenance crew were always taught their mantra.”Glasgow, Jewel. 442nd maintenance group, 663-b42-5555” she replied easily despite the fear that otherwise paralyzed her, just like they’d taught her. The affini looked at her for a second, a brow raising for a moment as it casually tapped something on its tablet.

“We already know who you are, little one~” it replied. “You haven’t answered my question. How are you feeling today?” she asked again, moving a little closer to Jewel

“Glasgow, Jewel. 442nd maintenance group, 663-b42-5555” Jewel repeated, gritting her teeth. A low rumble filled the room, the affini’s smirk growing, Jewel tried to stare it down, trying to take control of something while in her position. The affini simply stared back, its deep gold speckled eyes lit with a purple glow.

“You know, dear. That’s how a good number of your compatriots started~ Soon enough though they grew tired of their little cadence and started answering, and you will too, the only difference will be if we’ll need to coax it out of you with our words” it started as a brief bloom of the cool radiated momentarily from Jewel’s neck, wrists, and ankles, “or if we’ll need to coax it out pharmacologically. We already know the few military secrets you’d know; The databanks aboard your ship, the Planar Abyssal were so easy to break after all~” the thing rumbled again. “So I ask again, little one. How are you feeling today?” it asked, a thin layer of malic coating its slick words.

“Glasgow, Jewel 422nd mai-” Jewel started again, willing herself to stick to the mantra even as the rest of her seemed to be collapsing into despair, a vine reached out suddenly, pressing to her lips as if to hush her.

“You served on the Planar Abyssal, a Nautilus class low observable guided missile destroyer, for six years, our arrival coming six months before you were due for shore leave on the fringes. Were witness to the mutiny of former captain Silo’s execution during former captain Helios’ mutiny, and served as the last maintenance officer before your ship’s capture. You were assigned to the GLi-Tech Naval Academy in the Rimshot system under the euphemistic admittance system of ‘community volunteering’, you were changed from sensor officer training to maintenance as a result of your erratic behaviour.” the Affini continued, nonchalant, still looking Jewel in the eyes. “I can assure you, Jewel. That’s only the beginning of what we know about your naval service, and we don’t really care about any of it.” the affini finished with a finality that Jewel took a moment to comprehend.

A part of Jewel wanted to continue, surely they couldn’t have learned everything. Thoughts started to spin in her mind, if they knew her down to her naval academy history… If they hacked into the ship then they could have just vented her. Sure they could have simply raided the Cosmic Navy archives, but as far as she knew nobody ever reported the mutiny against the old man, or his public execution. Jewel’s breath shortened as the lights on her collars flashed orange again.

‘Breathe’ she told herself, taking a deep breath out, then in, the Affini looking with an amused yet, somehow soft looking smile across it’s distorted features. ‘Breathe’ she repeated as the blinking orange lights turned solid, then a flashing green. Jewel was still terrified, of course, but that could be focused if she could calm down.”w…what” she started softly, feeling the collar around her throat, “what do you want from me?” she asked, her shaking suppressed for a moment.

“I’d like to know how your day has been, little dear~” the Affini replied, moving a little forward. Jewel had one shot as she decided her next action, as futile as it’d be.

Jewel breathed for a second, collecting herself to answer, tightening her cheeks. She looked the Affini in the eyes and with a snort spat in its face. “Like I’m looking at a massive fucking weed” she proclaimed, piling her strength into her defiant words.

The Affini raised its eyebrow, face curling to mild disappointment. “You have some manners to learn, young lady” the Affini started, voice much firmer now as it wicked away Jewel’s spit and wiping it on the bedding. Jewel tried to smirk back at the Affini, only for it to melt as the Affini’s returned. “Not to worry, you’ll be a lovely and obedient pet in no time. And if you behave, I may even let you see little Jaxx~” its voice returned to its subtly melodic cadence. “For now though, you’ll need a little more rest”

Jewel tried to cry again, to yell at the weed to let Jaxx and her go, even as a new, unnaturally relaxing warmth suddenly coursed through her, thoughts scattering and the little energy in her muscles giving in an instant of terrifying bliss. The last thing she saw was that fucking weed’s smile.

Rimu looked down at the little Terran as she drifted off, the angry glint in her eye fading as the xenodrugs coaxed her mind into a beautiful fog again. That was always the cutest thing about the terrans as a species, always so defiant when they felt like it, and when the truth of the matter was asserted they’d bluster and fight. Of course many other species did the same, but watching the fight fade as the drugs hit was always made them look so meek. Rimu allowed herself a few vines to snake out and gently run themselves through the little darling’s hair. The soft, vacant, gasp was followed soon after with the most adorable sigh Rimu had ever heard.

‘With this little act of defiance, I have no doubt this one of them would be a threat to everyone’ she added to her patient notes with a smile. Of course there was the very real chance that if all of the sophonts sharing that adorable little head would be passive and compliant they’d be let go. This little outburst and witless defiance was likely a herald of more, and that’d be a danger to both herself and her compatriots that Rimu, the Affini compact, couldn’t let loose.

Rimu extended a few more vines softly wrapping them around the terran’s body, marvelling at the little dear as her body squirmed ever so much, hopefully the little dears in that shared body would all feel it to some degree, deep in the structure of their brain. A word entered Rimu’s mind as she played, a terran one with its fair share of equivalents in other sophont species - Alchemy - the ancient art of transmuting unvalued substances into a universal currency at an efficiency much greater than is conceivable. That was what she did, in a sense. Of course the analogy was not one to one, sophonts were not some barbaric currency to be traded, and there was no loss in value of undomesticated individuals for their status. What Rimu performed over and over was the act of transmuting sophonts into something new and beautiful from simple ingredients, with the jewel of affini bioscience as its focus.

The little terran let out another soft sigh as Rimu continued to stroke, her insides tensing with gratification, she could take the poor thing now she realized, and a part of her did hunger to make the little thing hers. Of course the decision wasn’t hers to make, that’d be for the domestication board in the facility to decide, but if it were up to a slowly growing part of her, it’d be hard to convince her not to take these wonderful little terran minds for her own.

Soft silence reigned as one by one Rimu withdrew her vines from the terran. As the last one slithered back to finish reforming the Affini, one of the Terran’s hands weakly tried to grab it, to stop it from leaving… Poor little thing, she was already missing her touch.

Nectarios was one of the oldest affini that Rimu had ever met, undoubtedly close to at least fifty blooms, if not more. Brilliant xenobiologist, never content to sit down and rest, with only a few florets ever in his care, he’d spent his whole life moving from place to place, always eager to discover new species, learn how they tick, and how to heal them. If it weren’t for some other duties, he’d have been among the first affini to interact with the Terrans, since then he was trying to make up for lost time.

His whole body, an uncontained pile more than any solid form, bristled in an enthusiastic, cheeky greeting as Rimu entered his office. He was old enough to give exactly no thought to how others saw his form beyond when it was absolutely necessary.

“Rimu, my dear student” he greeted, forming a little more coherently. “I see that something has truly caught your eye, little sapling.”

“I’m not your little sapling any more you overgrown bush” Rimu replied, seriously with a face pulled into a very very serious expression. They both burst into the affini’s peculiar laughter only a moment later. Some would have found it somewhat objectionable to perform this little ritual, but they both found levity to be the best motivator for serious conversations. That and normally he was much more dry and sarcastic, though still caring, appearances had to be kept and all.

“Come, sit my dear, and ask uncle Nectarios whatever is on your mind” he laughed again, mass slouching against the desk.

Taking a seat opposite, Rimu offered a small stack of papers, and a big bundle of files that gave a satisfying thud as they hit the desk. One of Nectarios’ vines stroked its mass, as if in thought for a moment. “I’ve made my decision” Rimu said. “I just need your sign off, the others in the wing have all agreed, given your go ahead, to take over the rest of my caseload.” Rimu said simply.

“So you are serious about it, hmm?” Nectarios asked, vines flicking through the stack of forms. “I must say, I do find it interesting why you chose this one in particular. We have many floret pluribus among our many ward species, why this one in particular?” he asked, mass moving forward in anticipation of the answer.

“It mostly comes down to sheer curiosity, my friend. Here we have a ward who surrenders to us, and the rest of the inhabitants of their body do nothing to stop it? Add in the seeming total ignorance the three I’ve met have of each other and the unusually disdained way terran society treats such beings, you have my sociology, my psychology, and my anthropology senses tingling.

“Nectarios leaned back for a second, creaking in a naturally artificial manner to emulate leaning back in a chair as if to ponder.”And are you sure you’ll be able to handle it, little one?” he asked, returning to an upright position for once.”I’m learning more with every day, and I think I can swing at least two of the inhabitants into acceptance with ease.”

“The third?”

“Seems to still be clinging to free terran sympathies. I cannot say for certain, but for all their safety, I think domestication will be on the table.”

“Hmmm.” Nectarios hummed, select vines tensing as others relaxed, now he was really pondering. “If you believe yourself capable, Rimu Phinophyta, third bloom, I’d see no reason why not… but I will require you to keep me up to date with patient information.”