Dead Star Dockyards

"Welcome to the room I call my office, watch your step." Donovan pushed open the door to a dark room, the only light being that which filtered in through the door. "Please keep in mind that you are not to enter this room unless given my express permission. Am I understood?"

"A-uh, yes sir." Petunia couldn't hide the shiver that slid down her spine when she made eye contact with him. "I-I understand."

"Good. It should go without saying that you can't speak about what you will see in here, but I have little expectation that you will understand much anyways." Peeling his focus away from her, Donovan entered the void without so much as a sliver of hesitation. Diana did much the same. Titanyana was not quite as nonchalant as the other two, but she was certainly less hesitant than Petunia, who was almost frozen out of concern.

She could not see much, but what little of the interior she could make out did not reassure her. There were what appeared to be vines or tentacles strewn throughout the room, each wandering off and disappearing into some dark corner. She could not discern their purpose, nor could she determine their origin. Was there some form of plant here? An animal or beast, perhaps? Was that the thing that possessed the capability to save the Nekh? Petunia did not know, but she wasn't going to find out by being a coward.

Cautiously, she stepped forward into the room, relieved that there was enough light to make out a path towards the couch. Carefully as she could manage, she stepped around the vines on her path forward. It would not do for her to anger or damage this thing, whatever it was. All the excuse she really needed was that Donovan had told her to watch her step.

It was only once she was seated that Petunia felt a modicum of relief. She might not be able to stretch her legs, but she was no longer in danger of offending Donovan. That relief was banished once she raised her eyes. She could not get a good look at it because of the darkness, but there appeared to be some form of abstract blob sitting on the table before her. She stifled a scream, her capacity for shock approaching the limit, as her ears and tail moved to high alert.

THUD

Donovan had unceremoniously shut the door, frightening Petunia into jumping. Still seated, she looked to the floor in a panic to make sure that she had not kicked that thing's appendages. 

"Alright Arc, light it up."

Petunia was not given the time to react to Donovan's words before the air in the center of the room lit up. She wanted to scream, her legs urged her to get up and run, but she could not allow herself. Petunia could not allow herself to seem like a child when the Princess was sitting there unperturbed. Biting the tip of her tongue to stymie the rising tension, Petunia endured.

- - - - -

Donovan waited a few seconds for Arc to complete the device's boot-up sequence before leaving the door. He had faith in his ability to avoid the wires, blindfolded if need be, he was just fending off some mild paranoia. Despite being assured of the secrecy of the display by the Arboreal Maiden and informed that no interlopers were detected by Arc, Donovan could not shake the biting sensation on the back of his neck that suggested he was now under observation. 

The severity and magnitude of what he had done was not to be underestimated, he had just revealed to the galaxy what he was capable of - even if the only people to see it were 'allies'. Now that the cat was out of the bag, he felt the need to heighten his level of alertness and tighten security surrounding 'technology'. He knew full well that there was no such thing as an eternal ally. The sands of the political desert shifted constantly, and there was every chance that the news would spread in spite of the Arboreal Maidens assertions to the contrary.

For now, all he could do was soothe the worries by giving the door and covered windows yet another once-over, fruitlessly scanning the room for any particularly well hidden spies.

"Arc, pull up the Trawler and project our model of our average passenger." Almost instantaneously, two glowing entities appeared. The way Petunia almost jumped out of her seat almost made him laugh. "Petunia, this is a rough estimation of the body size of the average adult male Nekh based on what Titanyana told us. Is this accurate?"

"H-huh? What is that!?!?!" Petunia was still in a bit of a panic.

"Petunia, calm down." Donovan walked through the projection of the generic Nekh without a shred of apprehension. Demonstrating that it wasn't 'real' would probably help her chill out. Unfortunately, the chilling seemed to be more of a shock than a reassurance. "Hey. Hey! Look at me. They aren't real, okay? They can't hurt you, alright?"

Mouth still ajar, Petunia nodded. She still shuffled away from the 'threat', but she had demonstrated that she could respond to his orders.

"Alright, is it the right height? Does that look to be about how tall a Nekh is?" Petunia shook her head. "Too tall?" Another negative response. "Arc, increase height by by five centimeters."

The model 'slid' into a larger size, smoothly enlarging to represent the change in height. Petunia's fearful reactions were nothing new at this point, but at least she could keep from screaming. 

"Is this about right?"

Petunia looked the model up and down a few times before nervously nodding.

"Good. How about the shoulder width? Does everything appear to be roughly proportional?" Donovan flicked his finger, a signal for Arc to begin rotating the Nekh in place. "We used an approximation of the Terran build based on Titanyana's body for the female model, but we recognize that there may be a great deal of sexual dimorphism. We haven't seen a male Nekh yet, so the best we can do is make an educated guess."

"T-thinner."

"Thinner, Arc. Five percent seems like a good start." Donovan gave the model time to 'shrink'.

"M-more."

"Another five percent."

"I think that's right. . ."

Donovan looked in moderate disappointment at the model. If Petunia's testimony was true, and he had no reason to believe she was lying, then the Nekh were going to struggle with manual labor. Convincing himself that their punier statures were the result of generational malnutrition, he continued.

"How much larger can your men get? Titanyana has mentioned the existence of clans. Am I correct in my understanding that some of them tend to be much larger or smaller?" Petunia nodded. "Alright, how big do they get?"

"W-why do you need to know all this?"

"We need to know how big your people are so that we know how many we can fit in a ship." Diana responded in Donovan's place. She had a feeling that he might be making her nervous. "We want to optimize the size of your seats so that you all fit within a comfortable margin while still maximizing the amount available. We are considering the possibility of creating a few variants of the Trawler specialized towards your larger and smaller brethren in order to save as many as possible."

She had tried to keep her explanation simple, but Diana had to admit she did not completely understand the nuances of this process herself. Equipped with only a basic understanding, that was the best she could provide. 

"U-um, I believe that the men of the Red Striped clan are a little bit taller than you, maybe?" This time, Donovan put his hand flat above his head and moved it up, the height of the model reaching his palm. "That's about right."

Donovan nodded. "How about the shortest?"

"A little taller than her majesty."

A shorter model appeared alongside the first larger one, marginally taller than Titanyana. A nod from both of the Nekh signaled to Donovan that this was as good as he was going to get for a while.

"Alright, onto nutrition."

- - - - -

Diana observed in silence from the side as Donovan interrogated Titanyana's maid about the specifics of what the Nekh needed. She would interject in the rare instances she felt her input was needed, but for the most part she was waiting her turn to ask a few questions of her own. Her focus was more on the current culture and laws, and the level of social cohesion the Nekh currently enjoyed.

That didn't mean she wasn't intrigued by what was playing out before her. She fully understood that the information they were gathering now was way more important than anything insights she would be able to achieve. Understanding the society of the Nekh meant little if there were no Nekh with which she could utilize it with. 

"Arc, factoring in the new data, what do expect the capacity of the average Trawler to be?"

"Based on the new size and consumption metrics, I believe it may be possible to provide space for 3532 Nekh of average build in each ship."

"And what is our evacuation rate in the expected worst case scenario?"

"Operating under the assumption that it will take 25 days to make a round trip, that the construction for a single Trawler unit will take 25 days, we will only have enough material to feed one slip way, and that we will only have two years to evacuate as many Nekh as possible before the mass extinction event kicks off, we will be able to evacuate somewhere between 1.4 and 1.6 million Nekh."

Diana winced at Donovan's short bout of irritation. He had come to accept the fact that they may not be able to evacuate nearly as many as they had previously predicted, but it always hurt to have those numbers reinforced by solid calculations. She couldn't bear to see what Titanyana's face looked like, but she wrapped her arm around the ailing Queen's shoulders. 

"Might I be permitted to provide an estimate based on more ideal circumstances?"

"Go ahead."

"Very well. If instead we were to operate under the assumption that a round trip would take half as long, 12.5 days, that we have enough material to feed a large amount of slipways, that a slipway can be put into operation roughly every 100 days, that it will take the same amount of time to construct a Trawler at 25 days, and that we will still only have two years to evacuate, the number of Nekh we can expect to save sits between 8.1 and 8.9 million. That is still lower than our initial worst case predictions, but it represents a considerable boost to our initial manpower."

Diana felt Titanyana's spirits rise for a moment before crashing right back down. This was a substantive increase, but it was ultimately less than their first prediction. 

"I-if you don't mind my asking, w-what is that noise?"

Petunia, who had yet to be exposed to English, was understandably confused by what Donovan was doing. He seemed to be speaking to no one, giving commands to a strange noise from which he extracted some form of information.

"That's Arc. You may consider him to be a friend." Diana stood up as Donovan sat down. For some reason he had decided against giving her any form of elaboration as to what the Trawler was. "He can't use Split, so you can't understand him yet. In order to do so, you will have to learn our language, English."

"Language?"

"It is a way of communicating both verbally and non-verbally without the use of Split. It is incredibly important that you learn it, as he can offer instruction in our absence and provide insight and information about certain subjects should you ever become confused. Titanyana is learning to read and speak it as well, though it seems the Great Csillacra did something to her which made her able to understand it when spoken." Diana gestured to Titanyana, who nodded. "Honestly, we do not yet have the most concrete of plans in place to get you all to a satisfactory level of literacy, but I believe that you may be able to perform the crucial task of tutoring people on the basics. I will not take from you your break, but I expect to spend plenty of time hammering it into your brain. Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Perfect!" Diana clapped her hands together and rubbed them in front of her chest. A pale control panel appeared in front of her. "Let's start with those clans we mentioned earlier, shall we? I want to know what kind of relationship they hold with regards to Titanyana, the Monarch."

"Relationship?"

"Yes. Do they have a feudal relationship? Are they more like governors? Is there a system of tribute?"

"Um, I would say that they are more akin to lesser temporary nobility than governors, but they rule in accordance with the edict of the Strappers."

"Why are they called clans then? Are they not just noble families?"

"No . . . The only position ruled directly by lineage is that which the Strappers hold. The heads of clans and their territories are generally decided by some sort of competency test." Petunia's ears flattened, ashamed of something. "There is no guarantee that a ruler will produce an heir each generation, so we would much rather avoid the confusion and conflict involved with a contested succession. We've never had the people or resources to spare for such a problem."

"Oh, fascinating." Diana took some notes. "Are those tests elections? Or is there something more?"

"We would never assign people to such an important position by a popularity contest!" Petunia probably wanted to sound indignant at the suggestion, but she came off sounding tired and disappointed. "No, most positions are determined through one or more examinations. Scavenging, hunting, combat, farming, crafting, each clan is a little different, and the leaders are expected to help preserve and develop the more unique skills of their clan."

"My apologies for misinterpreting. Would you mind telling me about a few of them and what they do?" Diana noted that introducing a system of governance based around elections might be difficult. "I recall something about a 'Red-Striped Clan'. If you don't mind, could we start with them?"

- - - - -

By the end of her line of questioning, Diana had found herself both surprised and disappointed with what the Nekh could offer. Their system was a little bit more complicated than she had been expecting from a culture on the verge of extinction, though she found what could be considered spots of egregious inefficiency and a lack of foresight. For example, while each clan considered the Strapper bloodline to be their legitimate rulers, there was an acknowledged understanding between all clans that they were only under the jurisdiction of their clan leader.

To Diana, this seemed especially problematic when considering the fact that most of these clans shared living spaces. Petunia relayed that it was entirely possible for a married couple consisting of individuals from two separate clans to be subject to completely different rules. This also meant that there was the chance for a competition for resources, two governments existing in the same state and all that. Fortunately this never seemed to pan out, though she had to wonder if this was because there weren't any resources to fight over in the first place.

The most fascinating part of this set up in her eyes was to do with the philosophy of shared governance. See, there were governors, but they were separate from clan heads. In fact, Diana had to seriously consider whether or not the concept of a 'clan' was really accurate to what was being described and if it was just another facet of Split translating a concept that did not exist in her mind. Really, this seemed to be more along the lines of a Caste system focused around race rather than religion, yet the castes were not hard coded.

They might have different rules, but they didn't really seem to be particularly relevant. There were no restrictions on occupation, accompaniment, or residential location. Most of the differences had to do with responsibilities in a social gathering and the levels of punishment for different crimes. No one clan considered themselves to be above another, but each of them believed that they were below a single family, the Strappers. Petunia didn't seem to know why this was, perhaps the story was lost to time, but the general understanding was that each and every Nekh would lay down their life for a Strapper, and each and every Strapper would lay down their life for the Nekh.

Diana had already seen ample evidence of that in the way that Titanyana and Petunia acted, both towards each other and towards the Nekh at large, though she wondered why it was that so much faith was put into so few. She determined that to be a question for later, instead focusing on the more unique aspects of each clan. 

The Red Striped Clan were by and large a clan of warriors - which Diana was made to know were distinct from peace keepers. They were the largest of the clans on average, and could last longer than the rest in a protracted fight. They seemed to be unique in their focus on their clan's traditional career, the only ones who openly shunned those in their clan that possessed a body capable of combat yet did not follow in their forefather's footsteps. Their examinations, unsurprisingly, were performed by tournament. 

The Shadowing Tails, the clan which Petunia belonged to, focused around 'service' based jobs. Cleaning, regardless of type, seemed to be something they were good at. Supposedly this was owed to a greater attention to detail and level of stamina when compared to the average, but Petunia admitted she thought that to be nothing more than speculation. Their little quirk was that their clan did not select a leader, they simply did as the other clans needed of them, 'shadowing tails' as they performed their duties. 

The Silver Clan mostly kept to the colder regions of the planet. Far smaller than the average and possessing some of the best hearing and speed amongst the Nekh, they traditionally worked as hunters and trackers. Aside from that, they were generally considered to be the 'coldest', their social norms emphasizing a focus on reservation and remaining calm while outside of the home. Titanyana's mother belonged to this clan, which seemed a little obvious when considering her stature.

There were the Wood Ears and Timber Tails, a pair of clans who shared a lot of similarities with clannal focuses on woodland regions, while the Pebble Feet primarily patrolled the mountains. Fish Eared Clan members tended to crowd ocean, lake, and river villages, while the Plain Faced Clan tended to the fields.

There were many other clans - the Thin Eared, the Flat Footed, the Swamp Eared, the Nimble Clawed, the Broad Backed and Vine Chosen being just a few - each with their own little peculiarities.

"So, how does one determine which clan they are in? I imagine that it can become hard to tell the differences over years of intermarriage right?"

"Not at all. Each child will primarily take on the characteristics of a single parent. Your clan is often easy to determine once the features present themselves." Petunia looked to Titanyana. "The Strapper bloodline is the prime example of this, each and every child born of a Strapper will possess the primary traits of a Strapper, green eyes, brown and black striped hair, and a greater affinity for split than the average. They might retain characteristics of their other parent, body size and tendencies being among them, but the identifiers of a Strapper will always be retained."

Diana relayed that information to Arc while silently musing to herself about the implications. What would Donovan and Titanyana's babies look like? Would they adopt the traits of a Strapper? Or would Donovan's Terran genes somehow overpower those tendencies of the Nekh? Perhaps this was a race specific thing, only pure-breds exhibiting such behavior.

"Hmmm, I think that will be enough for now. I'll need to think about more questions." Diana swiped away the keyboard, returning to her seat. "Now, what was it that you wanted to ask us?"

Diana had a sneaking suspicion that she was about to gain an incredible powerful and valuable ally in her quest for legitimacy over the Nekh.