Space Cats Fix* Night City

[cat messiah]

Oriθori​

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"Two warp arrows, purchased, not rented. Two Indis environment suits, both with superpolarization capability. A Zero-Point Leverage Tool with a Grade 2b power pack and beam-type emitter. A personal defense Gluon Pistol, also with a beam-type emitter, modified to allow a corded power draw from the zero-point leverage tool's power pack for overcharging. A Tauon Accelerator long gun, fitted with an impulse switch. Reloading, recharging and maintenance equipment for all of the above. All of this on top of a long-term survival kit including matter refabricators and data chips with preset files for the refabricators." Nat poked down at the list he'd written out–a stock of all the equipment currently taking up the majority of Ori's garage. "What the fuck did you do, Orithori, and how long do you need to disappear for?"

Natrybdis was a thorough one, Ori knew. It would take a lot of smooth talking to get him on board with this one…

"Nothing, I swear! I just thought that maybe I could go on sabbatical with my favorite soldier-boy? I was looking over the starmap and found this beautiful little primitive world out through Wormhole Eridani, just a little bit past the edge of a Warp Arrow's travel range, maybe we could even go shooting targets!" Orithori explained, excitement coloring her voice.

But Nat only narrowed his eyes, holding in what was almost a sigh of relief in the face of this new shenanigan. "Shooting? …Okay, I'll bite. But how primitive are we talking?"

It was at that that Ori started to rub her neck, "Ah, well… we're getting some good-quality radio signals from them at a little over ten lightyears from their homeworld. Nothing from them has reached the cradleworld though, so they can't be so advanced."

"Ori…" Nat started, standing a little taller, tail flicking to the left.

"Nat..!"

He just stared flatly; "Ori. Ori, that's illegal."

"Nat!" The actress whined, "That's what the polarization mods are for, Nat! It isn't illegal if we aren't caught!"

But the once-soldier just crossed his arms over his chest. "Extraterrestrial Noninterference Act, 14–"

"Don't go citing law at me, mister defector! You broke like, eight laws just to get to this side of the Northern Parallel!"

"--Noninterference Act, 14 E.R.L. § 1023. We could get in very serious trouble for this, Ori. The kind your old money can't buy us out of."

But she just growled, "That's why we're not going to get caught. Natrybdis. It's like you weren't listening!"

"Listening to what, the crime you're threatening to commit?"

"Threaten is such a strong word, you know. I prefer 'conspiring'," Ori grinned a grin that died in the face of Nat's unimpressed frown.

"'Conspire' is worse, Orithori. You understand that's so much worse, right?"

"Baaah!" She snarled in irritation, nose turned up. "Loosen up, you goober! I've already got everything ready to go, I already picked out a spot that's a decent way away from one of their more isolated urban centers! You don't even have to do any work, and you're getting a free warp arrow out of this!"

The soldier just blinked, face twisting into confusion with a slight recoil in his neck like he'd tasted something unexpectedly sour. "How do you know where their urban centers are?"

"I… may have already gone in for a fly-by?" Ori couldn't meet his eyes, her hands came before her chest as she softly caressed the back of her left hand with her right. Nat only let out a frustrated groan…

"Fucking–, Ori… How close did you get?"

Her eyes locked back onto his, her confidence redoubled. Surely he'd see reason this time? "I only went as far as… oh, something like a light-week? Their solar system isn't even a whole light-day in radius. Nothing too close!"

"Right. A light-week. And you kept your arrow warp shielded, right?" His hands planted firmly on her shoulders, head angled downward like he was talking with a child he'd suspected of doing something naughty.

She just scoffs, "Duh. I didn't want to be seen! I ought to slap you stupid for talking down to me, too!"

Nat just let his hands slip from her shoulders, and he straightened his spine again before taking a deep breath, and considered… She'd already gone through all of this effort, and even made what she obviously believed was reasonable measures against detection. To be fair, near perfect invisibility was in fact good preparation. But worse, if he didn't go, he was certain she'd just sucker someone else into going on 'sabbatical' with her…

"...You've obviously put some thought into all of this," he let out a heavy sigh. Cautiously he replied, "Fine. Fine, I'll go with you. Someone's got to make sure you don't do anything stu–"

Before he could finish his sentence, the actress stood as high as she could to wrap him up in a tight hug, head buried against his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, you're gonna have so much fun, I promise!"

It took him a moment to process, a complicated expression passing his face before briefly settling into a drooping smile. "I'd better not have so much fun. We're already skirting the law just by doing this…"

"Please, I mean your kind of fun," she teases, pulling away with a grin so smug it could've only come from her. "We'll be documenting pretty much everything we see, after all, 'being productive' should be right up your alley with the way you treat days off."

Naturally, this was not good news to him. No, the drooping smile only morphed into a drooping frown, and with an exhausted voice; "Why are we recording evidence of us committing a higher-order crime against equatorial republic law and interstellar treaty?"

"Well, because I managed to get this approved as a council-sanctioned xenosociological observation mission, after all."

Natrybdis' stare went uninterrupted for all of five seconds.

Orithori simply stared back, the actress's eyes betraying nothing but innocence.

The soldier moved–the actress reacted, but on this day improv and instinct was beat out by military precision, and Ori was placed into a headlock, a six-fingered fist grinding against her scalp! "Fucking– lead with that next time, you idiot!"

"Nat–, nat noo! Lemme go, lemme go, lemme go!"

---

Nætrybdis​

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Warp Arrows were the Ariral response to the Grey's own lighter voidcraft. A massively-elongated tetrahedron with a thruster at the back, the hull was little longer than ten meters and no wider than three. All white in construction, except for the rear where the indis plating gave way to exposed hull of yet-classified structural alloys. It was two of these Arrows which shot past the Oort cloud, inbound for a star travelled scarcely by their kind...

The cockpit was a cramped space, of course. It could fit one, maybe two Arirals if one wanted to lay flat in the scant cargo space. Between the two arrows, there was only just enough space to transport all that they were supposed to bring. Cargo that Natrybdis just so happened to be quite concerned about.

"Ori," he started over transmission. "I've some concerns."

He heard a scoff through his earpiece, "You always have concerns. What are they today?"

"The weapons," he states plainly. "This is an observation mission, yes? I get the leverage tool–I don't understand why you've got such an insane grade on its powerpack, but I do understand bringing a handheld forklift. I kind of understand a personal defense weapon like the gluon pistol you're packing. No telling what wildlife an inhabited world might throw at you."

"Right. No kill like quantum destabilization~"

Nat rolled his eyes. "But why bring the long gun? This is a primitive world, if the worst we're going to encounter isn't made out of exotic materials then there's absolutely nothing there that won't be overpenned by the Tauon Accelerator."

"For fun!" his friend chirped through transmission. "Come on, I had just enough space left between our arrows, you can't tell me you don't want to shoot relativistic leptons at some asshole bird!"

"Yes, I do kind of want to shoot relativistic leptons at asshole birds," he murmurs… "It's still irresponsible. The trails on those things are too visible, especially at night. The ionization effect on the atmosphere–"

Orithori interrupted at great speed; "would make it look like a lightning bolt to the primitives, yes. Hey, hey, maybe they'll mistake it for some kind of divine judgement cast 'pon some foul fowl?"

"And for what crime is that bird being punished?" He humored her, lighter in tone.

"Thievery! All birds are thieves. This is known."

Most seriously, he nodded. "All birds are thieves! True!"

A moment of silence descended upon them… Nat took the moment to examine the inside of his arrow. Really, he was fascinated by the vehicle, even more so than any equatorial native would be. Anyone from across the parallel would be, the equator was possessive of its technologies. The vehicle's exterior was sleek and smooth, of such quality that not even the seam of the doors were detectable even to touch. But windowless though it was, the interior had still lit up with a near-seamless three hundred and sixty degree view around him, almost like he was travelling exposed through the void. Under him, a saddle-shaped pilot's seat, his digitigrade legs slotted neatly on either side, feet pressed against pedals acting as throttle. Before him hovered a little white sphere, just big enough to grasp comfortably with one or both hands–this acted as the control mechanism. Pull it upwards, the arrow would pull up. Push it downwards, so too would it push down. Rotate it to the side, the arrow would follow, or push it forward and the arrow would redline its thruster. There were even a couple of buttons where the fingers lay–triggers for one of two weapons mounted on the vehicle. Weapons officially listed as asteroid deterrents, but even mining tools could be 'repurposed' by the sufficiently determined.

Below the control ball was a small array of buttons, each one a different function on the warp arrow. Functions like opening the cockpit, or altering the strength and range on the artificial gravity, or opening the cargo hatch. And before him on the three-sixty degree screen was a light-blue holographic display, displaying an artificial horizon, velocity, current heading, and even the current time.

"I think this will be fun," Ori stated out of nowhere, optimism clear in her tone.

"Pardon?"

She restated, not so much as a damper in her tone. "I think this will be fun."

"...Is this not too much?" He asks back–really, wasn't it? Even if it were just the two of them, it was a whole year to spend down there, if everything went right. Even if they were careful about their… recreational activities, there'd be at least one or two encounters with the locals. Even the greys couldn't avoid sightings for long, and they were so twitchy about being seen that the Equatorial Republic has still failed to establish an embassy with them. "What if we're seen?"

"Don't worry, we can always fix it later!" Fix, of course, would mean to arrange something for the witness. Not death–never death. The Republic simply would not tolerate a first contact built on a bed of blood and bone. The despots and the plutocrats past the north and south parallels might happily do as they pleased, but the equator simply didn't work that way. "We can handle this, Nat."

A short pause, the words sinking in. Outside, the outermost planet in the alien solar system passed by, just close enough to make out color. Just a few minutes left in their flight, now… "...If it's you, then I'll trust it. You're a little stupid sometimes, but you've never done wrong by me. Not yet."

"...Aww!" She cooed over the short radio, "You're not too bad yourself! Could do without the insult, though."

He just snorted, "I'm your friend, it's my job to call you stupid."

"No, you're stupid," was her expert reply.

Natrybdis didn't bother to humor it.

"Oh, hey, by the way, I just realized our warp shields got knocked. Get yours reset, yeah?"

"Fuck, you couldn't have said something sooner?"

---

Oriθori​

---

Nat had just the silliest look on his face when he stepped out of his arrow, and reflexively she reactivated the warp shielding on both of their vehicles. Discovery was a mission failure, after all. Armored feet hopped out of her still hovering ship, and she polarized herself as well–though his helmet's HUD would still display her outline.

She understood. Really, she did. That city was a beautiful sight in the distance… The buildings were simply massive, so packed together that they cast a gargantuan silhouette against the skyline, eclipsing even the mountains behind them. The city was so bright at its center that it was almost like the sun was rising, the building lights drowning out even the stars above. That problem was only exacerbated by the trio of scrolling holographs, advertisements nearly as large as the buildings obscuring their base scrolling higher and higher, fading as the light from their emitters began to diffuse at thrice the height of the city itself…

"I told you this would be fun! Look, there's gonna be so much to record in there! Nat?" She poked the soldier on the shoulder, breaking him from the stupor.

Natrybdis turned to her, and blinked dumbly with his jaw slightly ajar before catching his bearings again. "That's primitive to you?"

She just took his hand and started leading him away from the warp arrows–the computers in their suits would remember where they were, would keep their silhouette displayed overlaid within their helmet screens. "Well, maybe not like banging rocks together, but they're at worst banging particles together. I bet they haven't even touched zero-point energy yet."

"Ori! There's a giant metal zeppelin over there! A city like that is going to have cameras, metal detectors, fuck they might be playing around with lasers and drones, Ori! Do you have any idea how much this complicates things!?"

"Groan!" She said in a groaning voice, "Come on! Like any of those things are a threat? We're wrapped in indis, Nat. Polarized, there isn't a single form of radiation known to physics that interacts with the stuff. They'd have to be using sonic devices to detect us or our arrows!"

His head shook incredulously, "You think they don't have sonar? I'll eat my hat and rifle if they don't have sonar, you idiot!"

But she took his head into her hands, and held firmly. "Of course they have sonar," she agreed, "And sodar, for that matter. There's not a flame's chance in space they don't. But those devices are really only practical for vehicles. Am I a warp arrow, Nat?"

The soldier gave her a long, withering stare–made less effective through the helmet, and less effective still that all she could see of him was the overlaid outline her helmet provided. "No, Orithori, you're not a warp arrow."

"Then I see no issue!" She chirps happily. "Now come on soldier-boy, we've got a city to see!"

---

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He was a no-name radar techie on a space station orbiting Pluto. Back on Earth, he had a wife, two kids and a license for a goldfish. Still hadn't managed to buy one yet, of course, but he was working on that. The kids deserved something nice, after all.

Mostly, he spent his days idle, spinning uselessly in his chair, simply glad that his job hadn't yet been replaced by a robot. Too many moving parts that could go wrong in such unpredictable ways, it was cheaper in the long term to pay him (or, his family, rather) a nice and juicy paycheck on the first of every month than to put some idiot hunk of junk that'd get stuck on the second or third problem Fortune would send its way and force the corps to send a guy up here to fix the problem anyways.

When he wasn't spinning idly, or exercising to stave off atrophy, or measuring medication to stave off even worse atrophy, or solving issues up here on his section of the station, he was scrolling through the many signals the station would record, minor celestial objects, comets and asteroids and the like, space dust thick enough to send back a radar ping.

Sometimes signals from earth would bounce back from off of the Kuiper Belt, distorted so bad he couldn't make out more than a couple of words. Those ones were funny, and sometimes just a little creepy. He'd get those ones downloaded and sent back home as a souvenir for the kids.

Sometimes, signals would bounce back home from off of more distant stars, like from the Proxima Centauri system, or Tau Ceti, or Epsilon Eridani. Those would be distorted enough to just sound like screeching, he didn't like those ones at all.

Sometimes, the signals would come from nowhere at all, and he was left scratching his head at it.

This was none of those times. No, this time the detector proudly displayed two alabaster-white arrowheads soaring through the stars ahead.

Maybe it was two comets on the same trajectory? Unheard of. And too… geometrical, to be comets. The detector had a higher fidelity than that.

Or maybe he'd just been drinking too much synthcoffee, or maybe a coworker spiked his cup with something… except, no, imports up here were very tightly regulated. His coworkers had paychecks too big to risk to pull something so asinine.

His eyes fell upon the 'play' button. There was always audio attached to a signal, a radio signal to decode. This time was no different.

A sweaty thumb pressed the button. The computer obeyed.

"Zu hero hesœ uθuθ θo æsat," the computer relayed.

And the man went a little mad. The voice simply wasn't human! Humans didn't make those sounds. Maybe with the right cybernetics, they did, but what did that mean? Was this some corpo project? Why would they be inbound, then, rather than outbound? There was just no way Arasaka or SovOil or the ESA would have colonies so far out without anybody noticing.

"De uθ hesœ la daœg? Ziœg æt sulæ hœœd?" the computer relayed.

And the man went a little madder. The darts, that's all they could be described as, passed practically right by his station, just having a casual chat. What was probably a casual chat. He had no idea, of course, because even the computer couldn't translate what they were saying!

"Ni uθ œdsi go æz ed hesœ esθi," the computer relayed.

And the man went a little madder. This station had every single language on a chip ready for translation. This station had a computer the size of a room dedicated wholly to codebreaking to make sure if anyone got any funny ideas up here in space, the folks back home on earth would know no matter what it was. There wasn't a man made signal that it wouldn't be able to decode.

"Go æz agsa hesœ, Nat." the computer relayed.

And the man began to chuckle. A silly little chuckle that turned into a laugh, a mad laugh that turned into a cackle.

Oh, he was lucky the rooms were soundproofed! No, this was aliens! There was no other way to call it! No other alternative fit, nothing else matched! It was either aliens, or a cruel prank by his coworkers! And again, his coworkers had too much on the line for that!

He laughed away as the ACTUAL REAL LIFE ALIENS!!! made for Earth. The man made to send the signal out–until a thought occurred.

If he thought it was a prank, so would his superior. If his superior thought it was a prank, he'd think the man was altering and potentially even damaging his equipment. Worse, he'd think the man wasn't taking his job seriously.

And if his superior thought he wasn't taking his job seriously, he'd be on the first flight back home.

It didn't matter how loyally he'd worked for the Kuiper Signal Observatorium, it didn't matter how long he'd been here. He'd be sacked, and after so long up here it didn't matter how much exercise he performed or how much medication he'd been taking, he'd been atrophied anyways. And employers back on earth weren't looking for terminated astronomers…

He'd be left without pay. He'd be left destitute. His wife, his kids, they'd be left destitute.

No, his kids deserved better. There wasn't a soul who'd believe this signal anyways, he'd be laughed at on his way out.

…A slow finger selected the recording, and had the signal deleted.

The man let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and slumped over in his chair, a mad little chuckle still on his breath.

Just another ten years, and he'd have his retirement.

---

okay. five sites i have put this story upon. i have to fit sleep, hygiene, breakfast and transit to work in the space of... nine hours, no big deal. is this qq's first time seeing arirals? go play voices of the void its free on itch.io. is that against the rules, to solicit people to play someone elses free video game? im not sure and im too goddamn sleepy to check. goodnight fake internet people