“Why are we looking at rocks in the Void again?”
Atteh’Kus wasn’t particularly smart. But that was fine. Atteh’Kus was the meat tank of Sini’s six guardians. He didn’t need to think, he was there to both body-block threats and also incinerate them. Or stab them with his horns. Or stamp on them. Or just murder threats in general.
Right now though, Atteh’Kus had nothing to attack or defend. He was sat on the ground next to some sort of navigation panel. accompanying Vexer as they kept an eye on the ship, named The Little Sister. Everyone else was outside, inspecting the area.
“Mistress Sini wants to find the perfect rock to build her new project on.”
“The oasis one or the lab one?”
Vexer sighed. He was the most normal of Sini’s six Guardians, everyone else was huge. And because Vexer was of a more normal size, he was now the main pilot for Sini’s ship and did all the things that the other, much larger guardians couldn’t do. Then again, Sini herself was gigantic, and Vexer had learned a while ago that he was now in the same position that Tanahos and Teekay used to be in.
“Both.”
“Is there space for both?”
“Of course!” Vexer snapped slightly. Admittedly, Vexer did snap a lot, but it was mostly because he had a beak rather than a standard snout and he couldn’t really help it. “That’s the whole plan!”
“It is?”
Vexer took a very long, very deep breath. “Are you stupid, Atteh’Kus?”
Atteh’Kus nodded. “Sadly, I am. Different brains, different lots of things. But I try.”
Vexer sighed again. “Sorry. I shouldn’t call you stupid. But yes, Sini’s plan is to build an oasis, and have her lab built underneath it, so she can restart her experiments and her new evolution project.”
“Oh. So the oasis is a distraction?”
“Yes.”
Atteh’Kus thought for a moment. “How will we pay for this?”
“Well, Sini has access to a lot of stuff that other Life Goddesses want. Antiphthoric hemostasin. It will fund pretty much everything. On top of Sini also having converted some of her physical supplies into digital money.” Vexer glanced out of the main viewin pane. He could see Sini still wandering around, testing things out. “She’s a Life Goddess, she’s fine.”
“I guess…” Atteh’Kus grunted. “I wonder why she keeps us.”
Vexer stopped what he was doing (idly watching stuff on the consoles in front of him) and turned to Atteh’Kus. “You know what? I often think the same.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. Kinisis never needed us, and Sini doesn’t really need us either. In Kinisis’s case, she just wanted some guards to make herself look cooler and to stroke her ego. We did basically fuck all, and the one time we had to defend Kinisis, it was mostly because of another Life Goddess wanting to claim us as her pets.”
“I did not like that. Brings back bad thoughts…” Atteh’Kus growled a little. “Decay Lords saved us. Including our old Thantophor.”
“Hmph!” Vexer tutted. “That was a particularly annoying adventure, you’re right there. We were useless. But honestly, these days, we still kinda are. However, I think that us being Sini’s body guards isn’t what we’re here for.”
A buzzer noise interrupted Vexer. He frowned, then glanced at a screen on his left. On the screen was greyscale security camera footage for the entrance of the ship. Standing there was Kayenus, the Athren Guardian, who didn’t look like an Athren at all. He was carrying a box of rocks. Vexer pressed a button underneath the screen, which unlocked the door for Kayenus, so he could come in.
The sound of stomping slowly got closer. Eventually, Kayenus appeared in the navigation room. The box of rocks he was holding though were far shinier than Vexer or Atteh’Kus expected.
“Is that gold?” Vexer asked.
“According to our mistress, yes!” Kayenus smiled as he put the box down next to Vexer and Atteh’Kus so they could look at the gold rocks too. “I think mistress Sini is soon to make up her mind.”
“She likes this place?”
“Yes yes. It has spaces for all that mistress Sini wants. Area for the oasis, area for the bar, area for her villa, area for us, area for her lab. Area for the lab will be underneath the bar, like a secret lair.”
“Oh, good!” Vexer perked up, but suddenly paused. Wait, what do you mean, an area for us?”
“Mistress Sini wants us all to have a little home each. Like She saw when She was at the base of the Thantir. Six houses. Separate ones. So we do not need to share.”
“That is nice, but what if they are small for me?” Atteh’Kus asked.
“I’m pretty sure that Sini is smart enough to make you a bigger home because you, Fragiir and Vokulunaax are all quite large!” Vexer felt much happier now. “But that does go back to what we were talking about!”
“What were you talking about?” Kayenus exclaimed. “Was it important?”
Vexer shook his head. “Nah, not really. Atteh’Kus and I were saying that Sini doesn’t really need the six of us. We call ourselves guardians but we’re not really, well, needed. Twelve of us, six of us, any of us, she doesn’t need us. Sini is a Life Goddess same way Kinisis was and Epani is… I think the reason why Sini wanted to have us around is because she genuinely likes having us around.”
“Friends, not servants?”
“Sort of friends?” Kayenus added. “She does let us go loose occasionally. Or a lot. Kinda like the Decay Lords.”
“Huh…” Vexer thought for a moment. “Actually, Kayenus, I think you’re on to something. We all serve and look after Sini, but she also looks after us. I’ve been messaging with Elkay and Teekay recently, and they said that they have lots of freedoms. Sini doesn’t want us to be servants, she kinda wants what old Arkay has, but mixed in with her own goals.”
“So… are WE Decay Lords?” Atteh’Kus only somewhat understood.
“Legally? No, not at all. But we have the same sort of duties. We’re closer to being Decay Lords than we are Divine Guardians.”
Atteh’Kus twisted his head to one side, looking confused. “Is that a good thing?”
Vexer smiled. “Oh, totally. One day, I think we’ll be able to do whatever we want…”