“Well, of course it didn’t make sense – that was the point. Who in their right mind would vote for a literal animal, right? But that’s why you have to consider the political situation of the USA during the mid-21st century. When your choices were statesmen so corrupt even the devil wouldn’t take them, false flag candidates purely designed to confuse the public and many degenerate elitists obsessed with ego and pride, I think people were in right to support Poo Poo the Bear. Yes, an actual, literal animal, one they had to dress for every pointless campaign ‘speech’ of him growling into a microphone was still the absolute best option. I can imagine every politician at the time must have been absolutely livid that he had not only been running in but also winning the race for the presidency. Shame about the assassination, though. I think I would have voted for him, had I been around back then.” – Logan Carmichael, Historian of the Combined Neutral States, 2101. Taken from ‘A Bearly Understandable World – The Life and Death of Poo Poo the Bear’.
Elias sat on the rooftop of Nucleus Two as the last light of day faded over the horizon, casting the usual green skies of Kral-Thul in golden rays mixing into purples. Leaning against the popup canvas chair he had dragged up, he relaxed as the stopwatch he had activated on his comm device was nearing the hour mark. Just as he was prepared for it to tick over, the slam of the door to the roof behind him shattered his dreams.
“Damnit, nearly an hour Kurt,” Elias said. “And I was so close to breaking a new record.”
Kurt stomped over and glared down at him, puffing heavily.
“With all due respect, sir, what the hell is your problem?” Kurt growled. “You think this is some game?”
Actually, yes. Elias felt he had done a half decent job of avoiding his bodyguard. If nothing else, the robust man had done a great job looking for him. When Kurt had first messaged him, asking for his whereabouts, Elias had gone radio silent. Had he actually been kidnapped, he wanted to test Kurt’s skills. Considering Elias had needed to dodge and dash through dozens of laboratories as his suited ogre of a guard hunted him down with shocking speed, he felt Kurt had done as well as any mortal could. Still, moving to the roof had kept him hidden for a couple extra minutes, enough time to get a chair ready.
“No game, Kurt. Just testing your skills. I must say, considering the size of this place and the fact you are my only guard here, you did a great job.”
“Yeah, well, I could do that job better if you stop hiding from me.”
“Ah, but Kurt, how else would I keep you slim?”
The bulky man looked down at his body, now wearing a slightly more appropriate suit but one that still barely restrained his form, and glowered back. For as abrasive as the Tylas appeared to be in diplomacy, it had to be said they were more than happy to splurge on resources for their newest guests. Or maybe that was GaltCorp trying to make up their shortcuts. Elias shrugged and opened up another folded chair he’d taken before placing it next to himself.
“Sit with me. The sunset’s real beautiful, and I would hate for you to miss it,” Elias gently patted the red and white striped seat of the chair.
With a grunt, Kurt took his spot next to his VIP and released a sigh of relaxation.
“Alright, as much as you’ve almost been the worst man I’ve ever needed to protect, that is a damn nice sunset,” Kurt admitted.
“See, there are some good aspects about looking after me. My good looks for one, my charming personality for ano- wait, what do you mean, almost?”
Elias wouldn’t stand for such defamation of his trained skills. Jesus, ‘almost’. Elias was certain he had done almost everything possible to break the man’s professionalism and all he had gotten was an almost. That wouldn’t do. Kurt tipped his sunglasses down to look Elias in the eye.
“Well, I would normally use a textbook phrase about client confidentiality, but I think the two of us are well past proper conduct. That, and I’m pretty sure manners would be wasted on you, Savage. Let’s just say I’ve had people with qualities a lot worse than ‘being a pain in the ass’ or ‘making me do pointless bullshit’.”
“Huh, I’ll take that as a win, I guess.”
A pause took the air. It had been nearly two weeks since the two of them had arrived at Kral-Thul, and Elias had felt he had already done his best to crack the protective layers the bodyguard had built for his job. Elias didn’t want a robotic husk to protect him – he wanted a person who would actually have feelings towards him. Whether that was a feeling of respecting him or hating his guts, it didn’t particularly matter. The only thing worse than a guard who fought against every fibre of their contract to let their VIP die was a guard who didn’t care. Well, maybe a guard who actively tossed their client to the lions, but Elias hadn’t pushed him that far. Yet.
“So… Kurt,” Elias said awkwardly, defibrillating the conversation. “Thoughts about our new home for the foreseeable future?”
“Eh, I’ve had worse. Nucleus is pretty empty, and has some nice security, so looking after you will be relatively easy. Emphasis on the relatively part. Still feels really weird with how few people there are. I’ve seen the records, at least a few dozen people here, but so far I’ve only really come across a handful of scientists from the other wings. At least they all seem mostly normal. Well, ‘mostly’. There was this one bald dude who kept watching me, but I think that’s just how some of you nerds look when you see someone with less than five PhDs.”
“Right,” Elias said. His criteria was ten papers, but he let that slide. “But outside of the bodyguard side of things, the place seems alright for you?”
Kurt scratched his jaw. “It’ll do. Not sure how I feel about these Tylas yet. Hell, I’ve barely got my head around the Cambiar yet. I still do a double take when I see Dr Rannos running about. Not in a bad way, they’re just… different. Not even that bad on the eyes. I guess my main worry is that I have no idea about what’s gonna happen after this contract. Don’t think daddy Savage likes to keep the same guard with you for long.”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
Elias looked at Kurt, head tilted. That was news to him. He had figured that GaltCorp had switched his guards around out of some standard professional policy. That, or Elias usually pissed them off a bit too much with his shenanigans. If it was his father being involved with the process, that was worth looking into. Before Elias could even formulate a response to dig in deeper, the door to the roof slammed open. Kurt jumped up and reached for his holster before relaxing at the sight of Dr Bernard Warnick swaggering over to them.
“Hey, hey, hey!” the rock star scientist howled into the twilight. “How’s my favourite nerd and musclehead doing?”
Bernard’s Echorist necklace swayed around his neck, matching the tempo of his open lab coat trailing in the chilled wind. It seemed that Kral’Thul’s winds tended to pick up when the last of the daylight dipped beyond the horizon.
“Hello Dr Warnick,” Elias said. “I hardly think you of all people have the right to call me a nerd, but whatever. Care to join us? I’d offer a chair, but Kurt took the last one and I don’t think he’s in the mood to have you sit on his lap.”
Bernard didn’t even seem to register the question, sitting down next to Elias on the concrete of the roof. Kurt seemed to slightly relax at the realization he wouldn’t be forced to have an impromptu lap dance from the scientist.
“So, what’s the happening with you two?” Bernard said with a smirk. “Fitting in well with the alien?”
“It’s… working, I think. We’ve reached a compromise that keeps us from killing each other, so that’s fine by me. I hope to put forward my initial project plans next week.”
“Next week? Are you sure?” Bernard cocked an eyebrow. He ran a hand through his long hair before humming in contemplation. “That seems rather soon. I’ve heard a lot about you, Savage. Plenty of rumours of your skills, and I’ve read your work first hand. This might be a big opportunity, but you shouldn’t rush this, alright Scratchy?”
“Scratchy?” Elias said.
“Yeah, Scratchy. Cause of your glasses?” Bernard mimed putting on a pair of exaggeratedly large glasses before running his nails along its lenses.
“Ah, right. Scratchy.”
Elias did not like that nickname at all. In fact, he probably preferred the racist ‘ape’s and ‘monkey’s he’d be getting from Chel-Lin. Bernard could keep the name for that night, however.
“Yeah, well,” Elias continued. “Sometimes I feel I don’t have all the time I need, despite our timeframe. Like I have to get things done as soon as I can.”
Instead of a witty rejoinder, Bernard seemed a bit stunned for a moment. “Huh. That’s fair.”
Elias leaned back, “Well, that, and let’s just say I’ve been waiting for this event for some time.”
“Just make sure to get what you can out of it. I’d hate to see you give up.”
Bernard continued to survey the younger man. It seemed he was still trying to work out Elias’ persona. Was his arrogant prick attitude a fa?ade, or the real deal? Of course, it was a bit of column A and a lot of column B. Nevertheless, Elias tried to understand Bernard would care. The work itself? Bernard was a very good researcher, but their fields didn’t align at all. Resource hogging? No, aside from the restriction on his shared workspace, Elias had no shortage of materials and tools at his disposal. That left the obvious aspect left.
Glory, fame, everything that Bernard seemed to feed off in the interviews Elias had read.
“Well, Bernard, it’s fair to say that whilst I’m excited about the work, I can’t say for certain I’ll enjoy the attention. I was thinking – if I have some spare time, I could help you out. If we both put our initial proposals forward at the same time, I would be more than happy to let you take the headlines. I’m sure Birkdale’s Gate would love to hear from you how quickly you made your mind up, right?”
The rock and roll scientist’s eyes had widened as Elias spoke. Every word had been absorbed in its entirety, but his reaction hadn’t been exactly what the younger man expected. Instead of immediately accepting, rubbed the back of his neck.
“Oh, sure,” Bernard said. “Thanks! I- uh, didn’t expect that. Y’know, I didn’t really come here for the attention, but if you insist…”
“I do. People hear about me a lot back in CCH space, but that’s mostly because of my father. If it was up to me, I’d rather be just a name on a research paper.”
Bernard seemed to weigh up the decision as if he would turn it down. The choice of what seemed to be a clean cut decision from Elias view of the man hung about for a moment. It was when Dr Warnick reached down and touched his Echorist necklace that he appeared to make up his mind. Finally, the long haired man sighed and stood.
“If that’s the case, then I’d better get started on my proposal. I hadn’t expected to get to it so soon, but I suppose time isn’t always as plentiful as you expect. We’ll talk more tomorrow about timing our proposals, alright?”
Elias said his farewells to the outwardly aloof and clearly excited glory hound as he departed back downstairs. It was after Elias saw him dip through the doorway that he noticed Kurt staring at him.
“What?” Elias said.
“Why’d you do that?” Kurt asked in disbelief. “What do you get out of letting him grab the spotlight? I thought you lived for that sort of thing.”
It was as if Kurt had almost pieced together an Elias-shaped jigsaw puzzle, but found the last piece had rearranged the entire thing.
“Oh, Kurt, Kurt, Kurt. You see… this?” Elias gestured towards his tatty apparel, the shoes down worn to the last of the soles and his messy hair.
“This isn’t Dr Elias Savage, the scientist. This is Dr Elias Savage, son of Kantor Savage, young genius and confirmed dickhead. If I look like this, act like this, talk like this, then people think I am this. But I’m not, not really. I am, however, that name in study’s abstract on ‘Intersystem Waveform Collapse Pattern Structures’ or the like. I’m not the name that appears in the headlines of Titanlock Life. So yes, while I do often appear in the spotlight, it’s the work behind that attention that is what I live for. So no, I don’t live for the camera, far from it. It’s just a side effect of my efforts.”
Kurt sat silent for a moment. Then, sighing deeply, he folded his sunglasses and put them away.
“Well, Elias… I… don’t know what to say,” Kurt mumbled
“Yes, well sometimes silence is sometimes best, both for learning and living.”
“Hmm.”
Kurt seemed to accept the answer, looking down at the surface of the roof. Night had fully set in, the stars of the galaxy winking through the now transparent gases of Kral’Thul. Beneath the pinpoint of light, Elias thought on how Chel-Lin felt. People spoke of her father often. Daksira seemed to be the highlight when people met the Tylas.
For a minute, he considered how she viewed life. Did she see the spotlight as another obstacle in the way of progress, or a heat lamp to warm herself in? How did she think when she floated about, every movement a graceful motion?
Before Elias could question the sudden intrusion of unwanted thoughts, Kurt spoke up. “Wait, what about all the stuff about making me run around? Is that part of your persona? Does making my job a hundred times harder help you somehow?”
“Oh that?” Elias stood and prepared to run. It was moments like then that he was glad he exercised each morning, though it wasn’t often he got to use it for the purpose of survival. He tucked in his laces into his shoes hastily before flashing a smile and responding. “That was just for shits and giggles. Sorry!”
He took off in a sprint towards the door as Kurt took a second to absorb the last line. Then, he roared.
“Damn you Savage, damn you!”
Jumping down the stairs, three, four steps at a time, Kurt pounding the flight behind him, Elias came to a realization he should have figured out days ago - maybe the IGS could be fun as well as useful.
