Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

The auger, Bast

[on al Dahni in space orbit over the planet Wasp, Winnecke 4 System]  

The small group stood on the promenade at al Dahni's external hatch. They were waiting for the tiny mining colony's shuttle to connect with the giant ship, like a fly landing on the back of the universe turtle. On board the shuttle was the other new Ethnaa Aashar recruit.

Standing idly around annoyed Sen to no end and, even now after a month on the ship, she found the fancy patterns on the walls and floors highly irritating. But, rather than do or say something that she'd regret, Sen instead found distraction in studying an overlay schema of the ship. She was amazed at the unique qualities of the super strong hull, a feature that was emphasized by its thickness which was the same as the depth of the passage to the iris hatch; at least twenty feet of exotic alloy matrix.

Sen was still getting used to the special access that she had to information, things that were normally classified, even corporate secrets like the technical plans of an elite starship, were freely available to each of the twelve; the idea being that, in order for the Ethnaa Aashar to reach their full potential, information must be provided freely. In exchange for access, the civilisations of the galaxy were in turn provided access to a  share of the advances of the Learned.

The Amaran also held an age-old pact with the stellar colonies that they would refrain from entering into any conflict or use their advances for their own profit at the expense of others.

The ban on offensive action suited a culture that was based on a fundamental, peaceful  philosophy of intellectual advancement and pacifism (even though they actively developed weapons that they weren't permitted to use themselves). Sen had wondered on the Amaran's pacifist nature and how, without weapons, they could pass safely through dangerous regions of space. When she asked Xe'ed on the lack of offensive capability of the ship, the mawla explained that the Amaran's defensive tech was the best in the galaxy and that they didn't need weapons. As an example, she referred to the fortress class of ships, of which al Dahni was a member. These ships, like none before, could withstand a direct drive collision with a vessel of comparable mass. Apparently, al Dahni had even sailed through the unbridled assault of a pirate fleet unscathed. Xe'ed suggested that Sen research the defensive capabilities of the ship as her weekly learning task and later forwarded to her a thread to the complete schematics to the fortress class ship.

Sen couldn't wait for full access to the Ethnaa Aashar processor. While her technopathic gift allowed her to potentially access any pax ever created (even pax that had been lost by time), what she lacked in her innate ability was a way to find the actual information that she needed at the time.

Most of her useful technopathic finds were due to luck or from mysterious dream visions rather than research. It was the potential combination of catalogue and access that was the big reason that Sen had needed so badly to join the Ethnaa Aashar. She knew what she needed to do, but required the assistance of the Library and processor to work out how to do it.

She snapped out of the daydream with the announcement of a name; it was an energetic greeting from Captain Bashshar, directed to a boy who had boarded the ship along with a small entourage consisting of, Sen guessed, his mother, father, and a man that looked part machine, no doubt an auger. Sen was instantly jealous of the boy and his apparent network of family support.

"Welcome, young Bastian Grant of the order of the Augi. I am your humble Captain, Bashshar. I and the crew of this ship, al Dahni, are at your service.

Sen watched as the introductions continued, in the same way as she had been introduced to Xe'ed and the other Mawla, Sedek. Only in this iteration, the Amaran lord Sedek was announced as the new boy's aide.

"...and this is your new companion for the next twelve years, Senniella Atriplex."

The feeling of jealousy was rushed away by the anxiety of the suddenly being in the spotlight. A reserved "Hi," was all Sen could muster. Then she noticed the boy's eyes. They were completely black, like the void of space. She quickly looked away.

As Sedek entered into a polite discourse with Bastian and his family, Sen discretely commenced an assessment of her new rival. The boy was tall for his age, a full head taller than her, and seemed incredibly skinny. He wore a neat black suit and had pale skin. His black hair was cropped super short. Overall, Sen thought, as far as boys go, he looks quite cute.

Later that day the two found themselves sitting alone in the Captain's ante-cabin before dinner. The meal with the Captain and Mawlas was the formal part of the day that Sen hated.

Bastian was the first to talk. "Hi, it's Senniella right?"

"Right."

"I'm Bastian. But please don't call me that. I hate it. Everyone calls me Bast."

Sen wasn't in the mood for talking, so nodded slightly to acknowledge the boy's friendly advance.

"So, what do I call you?"

She wanted to say Salty, as it was the nickname that her family and friends called her before, but Salty died with her father and brother, "Sen. My name is Sen,"

"Sen. That's wiz." He continued when he noticed that Sen wasn't going to pick up the conversation. "So, Sen, I saw you staring at my eyes. It's okay, I'm blind is all."

This tweaked Sen's interest. "Blind? How then could you see me staring at you, huh? You look like you get around okay. Besides, can't they just grow you new eyes or something?"

"Yeah, they could. But I don't need eyes like most people. I'm an auger."

"I heard Bashshar say that. He called you of the order of the Augi. I thought you had to be thirty-two before you could become one of them."

Bast sat up proudly, "Well, I'm the youngest Auger ever. Like, in the whole of the Galaxy ever."

Interesting, thought Sen, and reluctantly surrendered to her curiosity, "How did that happen? I mean the auger thing, I guess you were born blind right?"

"It happened at the same time. My brother -- he was there today -- he's an auger too -- an important one. So, you see,  a couple of years ago he was visiting the colony with some bits and pieces that he was going to use to induct someone into the order. He went out one night and I snuck into his apartment and plugged the auger control system for this other guy into my v-tex. The pieces weren't compatible and the auger tech fried my standard implants along with my eyes; optic nerve, retina, the lot. The thing is that the cognitive synaptic connectors took hold just as good as they do for grown ups -- all other kids that they tried it on in the old days went crazy -- and they couldn't take it out either or it would kill me, so, after that, there was no going back. They say I'm the youngest auger ever. Sweet, isn't it?"

"You talk a lot." responded Sen to the boy's enthusiastic rant, but didn't want to hurt his feelings, so asked "Well how can you see then? With those black things where your eyes used to be?"

"Na, my eye sockets are full of other stuff, processing extensions mostly. The sensors that allow me to 'see' are now hooked up through auditory enhancements. It's like radar.

So, what's your story? Sedek says you're super special, but no one knows exactly what you can do or how you do it."

He was right, Sen's ability was a puzzle to everyone, even she only had a sketchy theory from her grandfather on what allowed her to access pax telepathically.  Nobody else, perhaps with the exception of her sister Wattle, knew just how powerful and far-reaching her talents were. "It's nothing. I might tell you one day--" She added hastily, "--If we become friends."