Innu-Akku

Settlement

Hearing returned first. As if voices were breaking through a dream. High and low. Male and female.
At first, they merged into a cacophony, interrupting each other and distorting with static. But gradually, what was being said became clearer and clearer.
"Guilty!" - boomed one.
"Familiar!" - accused another.
"Again! Do as you're told!" - the third screamed hysterically.
"Where can we run? Can't move a hundred meters away - we'll disconnect..."- the fourth lamented.
"Now it's clear why you're going crazy so fast! With these frequency cut-offs!" - marveled the fifth.
And annoying "coward" and "stop hiding behind other people's backs, manipulator!" encircled, making the headache unbearable.
And only two voices broke through the endless circle of lashes - the tender "Lana" and the shrill "Danya."
- Snap out of it,- something foreign cut through the drowsiness again, -...it! Snap out of it!
A sensation of cold appeared. A new electric crackle sounded, and with it, ultramarine sparks filled the darkness. For a moment, an image of earthly mountains with the beams of a cosmic bridge in the distance flashed by, gazing at each other like lovers on an observatory, whispering a tender homage: "someday."
The voices spoke again, discussing transmitters and their names. The female voice argued that the name "Amaranth" was just an abbreviation, while the male voice refused to agree, considering it a reference to the plant - a symbol of eternity. But somewhere in the distance of this argument, there was another voice persistently shattering the idyll.
— Dear lady, snap out of it! Don't startle gray! —the dream completely dissipated.
Jumping up as if from a nightmare, Esma saw the same crimson sky and clouds floating in it. In the distance, one of the "crowned" was rising, as if in a solar eclipse.
Her head was splitting. Nausea was rising. A metallic taste was in her mouth, and her ears were blocked. The overload turned out to be unexpected. From the experience, Esma could barely keep herself from whimpering: "Please! Enough! I can't take it anymore!"
Overcoming herself and looking around, the guest realized that the lights of the settlement had disappeared. A faint and barely discernible spot fluttered to the side. But soon it also died out, swallowed by the crimson haze.
A few more moments, and the vision distorted, carrying her further. Esma herself didn't understand how she ended up near a small island of weak white light already inside the colony.
- It's black out!- confirmed one of the two dozen dogs hastily assembled after the catastrophe. - I can't check anything! Everything crashed, except the local network!
- What should we do? - worried the spitz, pressing her hands to her chest. -We're out of options...
- We certainly can't just sit around and do nothing!
- Correctly. We need to check the reactor and generators. Then seal off the upper levels. First and foremost the greenhouse and residential block. Even if there are no leaks. This city is vertical - we can handle it. At the very least, we need to re-solder the controllers and redistribute them to ourselves. We'll have to insulate the garden from below and pull a new electrical grid. Children have arrived according to my data. More than half of them, like our previous charges, are carbons*. I doubt they can handle everything on their own. Especially if they were born on the ship.
- And the water purifiers too,- added pomeranian. - I found hallucinogens in the samples an hour ago. The filters may not be able to handle it and the entire biome will perish.
- And what about us getting fried, huh?- barked the Akita. - We need to check the emergency systems faster! Before we all crash like masters! Or remind them that we're tied to their 'balls' and we're running out of time? If something happens in the server room, we'll all be passed away!
- Panic is a bad leader, miss,- Buran intervened, trying to extinguish an unnecessary and dangerous scandal. - We shouldn't be fighting like chained dogs over a thrown bone!
- Shut up, bozo! We're on this galley because of your tricks and intrigues!
- Exactly!- the pug chimed in. - Big talks coming from a little pup!
- He's right. We need to save the newcomers! They don't have drone body's. And they won't have them anymore - we sent the capsule for production a long time ago, and there'll be only one or two for hibernation on the ship by the grace of the Almighty. We won't be able to handle everyone at this rate,- calmly remarked the spaniel. - And us? What about us? We're treated like dogs!
- Oh, screw you! - the Akita exploded, quickly packing a bag in the light of a small flashlight. - You're all useless! I'll check everything without you. Don't complain later!
- Wait, Tanya! I'm coming with you.
Just as the troublemaker and her friend left, the rest quickly made a plan and began to execute it. Through the sound of drills, the whistle of descents and lifts, the light of welding and the roar of blows on metal sheets, Esma understood the efforts it took to maintain the settlement. Overloaded, the familiars didn't wonder why their bodies kept working. The city and its salvation were the priority. Only in a short conversation during the check of the purification systems, with subsequent calibration, pomeranian mentioned something about "Arxelonams" and their properties. But that was it. Having completed all the work, the dogs were already getting ready to go up to the people. By that time, part of the internal communication network had been restored. Many looked forward to returning to their previous duties as educators and nurses, comforting themselves with the hope that they wouldn't have to part with their charges.
- Smoke detected!- the announcement thundered. - There's no combustible there, right?
- No. And nothing could have shorted out. I bet it's that clown's doing. He can pull off anything,- the Akita was offended in the best way. Deciding it was worth checking what had happened, two familiars quickly gathered what they needed and went up to the greenhouse. They didn't make any contact again. An hour passed. Two. Three. Two more went. And silence again. "Help!" the scream from above raised even more questions. It was pomeranian, Kasia, begging to be taken up to the people ahead of the others. At her request, Matvey just chuckled: what could be expected from a liberated woman with a bootlegger husband vouching for her? Unlike the others, they were volunteers, flying out of curiosity and boredom, rather than duty. Mutilated, with charred skin peeling off and terrified - that's how Kasia appeared to the team. Crouching and making a lot of noise, she hoarsely uttered some nonsense. After that, her eyes blinked several times with green and blue, and then went out completely. Akita immediately darted to the server room, returning after a minute and sighing with relief. The brain in the canpic jar wasn't damaged. Thinking that a fire had started, the others scrambled upstairs, leaving Buran alone.
- Tanya pinned on you entire city! God forbid anything happens! - the spaniel explained the decision, patting his friend on the shoulder. And even though this once again brought up unpleasant words about hide-and-seek, the Saluki couldn't disagree with what was said. If something happened to him like with the central processor, the city and its residents would agonizingly perish in a few days. Not even a distress signal would help.
Time was passing, the silence began to weigh heavily, and the unknown was becoming burdensome. Unable to bear the waiting, Buran took the risk and went on a reconnaissance mission, taking Esma with him. They had to make their way around. The reconstructed city began to resemble a labyrinth, connecting the valley, andeplex, and the summit, acropoex, with both man-made tunnels and lava pipes. The ascent was long and unpleasant, stumbling, bending, and even crawling – without the technology and lifts.
Finding the source, Buran rushed there in the hope that the fire had not spread, and the air conditioners would quickly absorb and process the poisonous smog.
"Tailed bastards! Burn in hell!" - a loud rant with a bludgeon struck the unprepared familiar, forcing them to slow down. The cries continued, becoming more deafening:
"Not enough bootlegs? Did you want to take our lives?"
"Exactly! Not enough supplies for them, cannibals!" - a vaguely familiar female voice echoed.
This was followed by the crackling of fire and the clinking of stones against metal.
Approaching closer, the dog saw a crowd lynching the bodies of familiars. Stunned and immobilized, the familiars were one by one thrown into a huge bonfire. Animal skins fell off and fell into the flames, exposing mechanical innards, while the carcasses blackened from soot. The smell of burnt fur was everywhere; the smell of death.
What was meant to reduce aggression towards the familiars played a cruel trick on them. This was the phenomenon of the "uncanny valley" in all its glory, as there is nothing more terrifying to a human than losing their humanity. This anthropocentrism was ingrained deep and guided unconscious fears, whether they were Titanians, Martians, or earthlings.
"Demons! - echoed. - Murderers..."
Soon, other technology from the entire floor was thrown into the fire.
"Why? We're just..." - Buran muttered understandingly, hiding and hoping that the transmitters would shut off before cutting them off from the world, leaving his comrades to die from shock.
The world suddenly distorted for Esma, dissolving in an ultramarine flash.
***

Turbulent feelings made her restless, unable to find peace. Everything was mixed up, making it hard to distinguish between her own emotions and those of others. Noise, flashes of bright light, pain in her hip, and the weight of something in her hands. Sticky fear, licking at her, seemed to reach her very soul. It was as if in a pot, two minds melted from these feelings, sometimes becoming whole, and then unraveling again, entwining a mass of thoughts into a single tangle.
When the haze finally cleared, the pain dulled, although it didn't completely disappear. Her head was spinning. The smell of smoke and food made her queasy. The feeling of overwhelming nausea seemed so disgusting and humiliating that she had to reprimand herself.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to endure these jumps. How many more would there be, through the corridor of someone else's consciousness? Clearly, she needed to concentrate - otherwise everything would fall apart.
After catching her breath and calming down, Esma looked around. Before her, as an outsider, a celebration unfolded.
Bonfires were burning. Music was playing. Many people in rough woolen clothes had gathered on a clearing next to a log temple, laughing, dancing, and jumping over the flames. Nothing about them gave them away as colonists, or the landscape around them as a distant planet. Even a naive person wouldn't have been able to suspect otherwise under the weight of this illusion.
Buran was somewhere nearby. The Martian woman knew this for certain. But she had no strength left to search.
Looking around, Esma saw in the distance a row of shabby huts and a plowed field almost to the horizon on one side, and a shining speckled lake on the other.
Dusk was falling. The doors of the temple opened with a deep groan, letting out a procession led by a woman in flowing white clothes. Her face was covered by a veil with strange red symbols.
"Matron," - whispered foreign thoughts.
The music faded. The voices fell silent.
The procession slowly made its way to the bonfires, carrying staffs with the heads of family members.
What was happening kept bringing Esma back to the events of that fateful night.
A reverent whisper was heard, taken up by the crowd.
After performing an occult ritual, consisting of sprinkling the staffs with strange symbols with blood from a ritual bowl and reading some kind of liturgy, the matron loudly uttered a familiar phrase, crossing and then sharply uncrossing her arms. The other servants surrounded the bonfire, facing away from the flames, and began to sprinkle the people with water.
It seemed that the gathered people were waiting for this. The music played again, and the crowd burst into loud cheers, shedding their clothes and starting an orgy.
The procession seemed uninterested in what was happening. Turning around, it also ceremoniously made its way back. An invisible thread pulled Esma back to the temple, puzzled by what she had seen.
There was a rustling in the bushes. Foreign thoughts spoke again, comparing what they had seen to an Earthly celebration. Fatigue took hold, not allowing her to remember the name of the wonderful sight.
Only at the closing doors, she managed to distinguish another dark, hunched figure, resembling an Earthly cantor, slipping away after the procession.

* - carbon copy, CC - reverse to first cloning cat.