“Play that again for me, please.”
Teekay did as he was told, scrolling back through the recording and hitting the play button so his queen could view the audio again. This was the third time Teekay had replayed the recording, and each time he hadn’t heard anything.
This room wasn’t very big, and it was made more cramped by the fact that, aside from Teekay and his mistress, there were eleven other beings present. Most of them were at the back of the room, either guarding the entrance or stationed in the two turret-bays at the room’s side, keeping an eye on potential threats. In the centre of the room sat the queen on her throne, flanked by her two favourite Guardians, the armoured, humanoid Lanex and the half reptilian, half mammalian Ksithan.
Manning the consoles alongside Teekay were Tahnahos and Tahvra, and between the three of them, they seemed to make up most of the brain cells in the room.
“I don’t get it, Queen Kinisis…” Teekay frowned. “What are you looking for?”
“That signal…” Kinisis didn’t elaborate. Teekay turned to his fellow ship commanders. Despite the three of them being different species, they all rolled their eyes. Tahnahos rolled all four of his eyes.
“My queen, we are sitting out in rather open void-space, we should move somewhere else. Perhaps on to the next part of your apology tour…” Tahnahos suggested.
“Or perhaps literally anywhere but here…” Tahvra piped up. “We’re sitting in a Decay Lord shipping lane, we’re not doing anything bad but we don’t want to look suspicious either.”
Kinisis tutted, not liking any of her Guardians’ suggestions. “No.”
“Why not?” Akah, the Lanex by Kinisis’s side, asked. “Are you looking for something in particular? Is that why we are here?”
After a quick glance at the large panel ahead of her, Kinisis tutted again. “I’ll know when I see it. Teekay, Tahnahos, please send that recording to my personal quarters so I can study it. Then set course back home to the Life Oasis. Atteh’Kus, Phovos, I’d like you both to accompany me to my quarters, the rest of you are dismissed.”
A massive, horned being, probably a little too big for the ship in general, climbed out of the right turret-bay, then followed Kinisis and Phovos as they left the room. They were swiftly followed by the rest of Kinisis’s Guardians. Vokulnaax and Kayenus, a draconic Temthan and a slightly less draconic Athrevok, the second largest beings after Atteh’Kus, left first. Fragiir, the flame-coloured Temthan, left afterwards, with Lissandra, the watery Fidavok, wrapped across his shoulders. Vexer, a pale Vrekan, and Akah both followed afterwards, but not without closing the turret-bay doors first.
Tahnahos and Tahvra both glanced at Teekay, who began setting up the engines and the coordinates. They both then glanced over to the one being who hadn’t left the room, the rather lithe, winged Rethan, who was hovering awkwardly at the exit.
“Queen said you were dismissed too, Relkir!” Teekay waved, finishing up and setting the ship into motion.
Relkir didn’t really move at first. Instead, he edged slightly closer to where Teekay was sitting.
“Why is he like that?” Tahvra asked quietly. “Makes me not want to leave.”
“I don’t know…” Teekay tutted. “Relkir… seems to like me.”
“He’s a Rethavok, he should have ended up on our level of intelligence, but he barely speaks…” Tahnahos whispered, fluttering his two pairs of little wings. “I… I think it’s to do with the Time Before. Back before Kinisis saved us and remade us.”
“Relkir, can you move so Tahvra can pass, please?” Teekay asked.
This time, Relkir did as he was told. Tahvra nodded a thank you to Teekay and Tahnahos and headed down the corridor, down to his own quarters. Once Tahvra was out of sight, Relkir slowly made his way to Teekay and sat down on the floor beside him.
“You don’t have to stay, you know…” Tahnahos grunted. “Teekay and I are perfectly capable of getting this ship to where it needs to go.”
“I know…” Relkir whispered. “Wanted to keep watch on you. Lonely up here.”
“Well, go stand by the corridor and guard that or something. We have work to do.”
With a grunt, Relkir picked himself up and did as ordered, standing in the corridor. Tahnahos and Teekay both turned to each other.
“That is kinda weird…” Teekay lowered his voice, hoping that Relkir couldn’t hear them. “I mean, we are all kinda weird around here, but him and Phovos, they are the weirdest.”
“Well, we did all wake up, find ourselves being subservient to Kinisis while also being told we were saved from our universe dying…” Tahnahos frowned. “It’s all been suspicious. Sure, we all have our own rooms and cupboards filled with whatever we want, our wishes fulfilled in exchange for our servitude, but… I don’t remember what happened before. None of us do.”
“That’s the weird thing…” Teekay quietly exclaimed. “I think… we kinda all knew each other in some way… before all of this. But as we are now isn’t the same as what we were like before… whatever it was that happened.”
Tahnahos nodded in agreement. “Maybe it’s worth asking Kinisis. See if she’ll tell us more.”
“We’ve all been happily serving her this entire time without any real question.”
“Exactly…” Tahnahos paused to check a couple of consoles. “We’re all good here. I’m gonna go grab something to eat and I’ll be right back. You fine here on your own for a moment?”
Teekay glanced over at Relkir, then shrugged. “Sure, I’ll be fine…”