Synthetic Reality

Final Report

The diamond structure floated like a glass snowflake. Golden rectangular starships docked near the end of each arm amplified its sparkle. Except for one, where instead of a sleek three-story bar of gold cruiser was parked a rusty chunk of metal called The Brick.

Velasco Verloc looked out the window at the scuzzy stain on his otherwise beautiful station. There was a time when Varan outposts dotted the galaxy like a chain of twinkling stars. He croaked, swallowed the last bit of monkey still stuck in his throat, and climbed down the trunk of a real redwood, the centerpiece and prize of his office. Overhead lights cycled into dusk and the small troop of lemurs that lived in the higher branches settled down for the evening. Verloc reclined on one of the large flat stones that were his office furniture. The lava rock held the warmth of the day's heat lamps and he stretched with delight.

Verloc was an eleven-thousand-year-old Varan Chameleon and Ambassador to Grandor, a post he held for over a millennium. The house of the Emperor referred to his council on all affairs with galactic ramifications. He was considered the most influential being in the sector, though he spoke with fewer than a dozen people a day. A large lizard measuring three meters from crest to tail, his scales changed from shades of green to a faded blend of grays with blue accents and he wore the golden gauntlets of the high command.

His office walls were solid diamond asteroid ore, shiny and crystalline, like the rest of the station. A transparent door slid open and his twelve-hour late appointment entered. Stereoscopic eyes focused, crest flushed red, and Verloc sat up with a stern expression in an attempt to mask his joy at seeing her again.

In walked Taegu, a black and white striped Varan. She was much smaller and more serpentine in shape. From her tongue to the flesh around her eyes and even her inner mouth, not a single color was present on her body, nothing but stark black and bright white. She wore no clothing as her scales protected her from the elements, even the vacuum of space.

Beside her strode an infamous spacer Verloc hadn't seen since his later days of deep space exploration. The news would certainly be worse than expected.

"My dear, you've looked better. But I suppose it's the company we keep, isn't it?"

Verloc glanced sympathetically at her missing tail. It was a stub of its long former self and would take years to grow back.

Taegu approached her former captain and mentor and placed an open palm on his chest. "It's good to see you too, old man."

He smiled at her, then raised his zygodactyl claw to the other party. "Mr. Mox, I presume you're still with that fine pilot of your's?"

The walking Komodo Dragon shot out his tongue tasting the tranquil wood scented air. "Mr. Verloc, you know how he likes to stay with the ship. He sends his regards."

Verloc grinned remembering Zandar Vandar Blunt when he was his pilot. "And you sir, are you alright? Do you need medical attention?"

Mox looked rugged, to say the least, as if fresh from the deck of a burning bridge. A thick belt hung low on his hips with a long-barrelled stun gun and thin fencing rapier. A blackened disruptor burn scorched his snout and half his head.

"The price you pay for trying to help, I suppose. I'll be alright after a good soak and a nice molting." Mox scratched the burnt scales of his cheek with manicured green claws and shrugged off the nasty-looking wound.

With the pleasantries over, Verloc's mood changed and his smile turned to grimace. The scaled crest atop his head faded to a cool blue.

"Down to business. What happened on KlalZorr?" He focused one eye on each of them and waited.