Space Dragon Allepexxis

by C. K. Pershing

  At this, Paress’ mother finally did get up and take Jane from the room. “I want to stay,” the little girl said, but after a hard look from her mother, they quietly left the room.

  “There’s something else about all this,” Behlen said after they had gone.

  “We should wait for my wife to return,” Paress’ father said.

  “Maybe not,” Behlen said. “The biggest side effect to the suppression device is that after years of long term exposure, permanent damage will be done. Paress will slowly go into a state where his body will no longer respond to his brain. He’ll be a prisoner in his own body until eventually it shuts down from no longer receiving the brain’s basics unconscious commands— things like breathing.”

  “What kind of monsters are you people?” Paress father demanded. “Are you saying that the nanotech given to us from the ancients is so terrible that it can also kill us?”

  “That’s just it,” Behlen said. “This is technology from tens of thousands of years ago. From the time of God and the Great Journey. Actually, it even predates that. We don’t know. We’ve discovered a lot since Gustav II unlocked these things 500 years ago, but nowhere near enough. At best, we’re monkeys trying to do brain surgery, so we have to work with what our limited understanding gives us.

  “I have no doubt that the Ancients themselves could make all of this work perfectly with no untoward side effects. But I’m certainly not an Ancient and neither are my colleagues, so we have to do what we can.” While Behlen’s words sounded defensive, his expression was actually one of sorrow and defeat.

  “How long would I have to live?” Paress asked.

  Behlen’s expression grew even more somber. “Eighty. Maybe the mid-nineties if you’re lucky.”

  “So if I become a Space Knight, I’ll outlive everyone…but if I don’t, I’ll actually have a shorter life than most normal people…” Paress said. He let out a low breath of air. “This is a hard decision.”

  “I’m sorry,” Behlen said. “This would be a lot to dump on anyone, much less someone only twelve.”

  Unlike a lot of the other kids he knew, Paress didn’t try to think of himself as an adult ahead of his time. He was quite happy enjoying his childhood and so didn’t take any offense at Behlen’s mention of his age. He was realistic enough to know that twelve really was a terribly young age to have to make such a decision.

  “How long do I have to decide?” Paress asked.

  “About a week,” Behlen said. “We don’t know how much more powerfully your abilities will manifest, so we can’t take too long before settling on a plan of action.”

  Paress’ mother returned just then, without Jane. “The girls are playing in their room.”

  Behlen nodded and stood. “Well, I’ll be going. You’ll all have to get on the same page and Mrs. Handrel needs to be brought up to speed on what we discussed.” He set a pile of pamphlets and booklets on a nearby coffee table. “Here’s information that should answer any questions.”

  “Dr. Behlen?” Paress asked.

  “Yes?”

  “A Companion. I only get one if I go to the Academy, right?”

  “Actually, no. You’ll get one whether you go to the Academy or not.”

  “Really? The video made it out like it was only if I became a Space Knight. And you kinda made it sound that way too. So why do I get a Companion either way?”

  “Because even if you don’t become a Space Knight, you’re still a special person. We want you to always have someone who can be with you to share your experiences. Someone who is also special and can communicate with certain aspects of your nanotech in ways that if they see anything out of the ordinary, we can quickly try to diagnose for a solution.”

  “So, basically a spy for you people,” Paress’ father said.

  “If you want to look at it like that,” Behlen said. “But we really do see a Companion as just that: someone who provides companionship. They’re a combination of friend, confidant, nurse, and so much more.”

  Paress had heard stories of Space Knights and their Companions: men and women who lived and loved together as they adventured across the galaxy. To have someone like that with him whether he became a Space Knight or not would be amazing. Not the least because Companions were always beautiful. Lindee’s Companion, Shandlin was certainly cute. Paress’ attempts at finding a girlfriend had so far been a series of disasters. But now he would suddenly be given a girl who was better than any normal girl and she would be with him always.

  As the Space Knight got older, the Companion would receive a body made to reflect his age. Most Space Knights even married their Companions. Paress had to admit that he was kinda lame if the only way he could get a girlfriend was to have one built for him, but he’d take what he could get. His outlook brightened.

  “Okay, that’s actually pretty cool,” Paress said.

  “Well then, I leave you a week to make your decision,” Behlen said. He shook hands with Paress’ parents before taking Paress’ hand. “I’m so happy we met,” he said with a smile before growing serious. “But Paress, I want you to know that your decision must ultimately be your own and nobody else’s. Of course you should consider your family’s wishes, but the final decision has to be yours alone. Otherwise you’ll be miserable.”

  “Do you understand?” Behlen asked. After the other three nodded, he said, “Excellent. Then in that case, I’ll see you all in a week with your new Companion, so it should be a pretty big meeting.”

  “Yeah,” was all Paress could say as he watched Behlen go out the front door with his parents following close behind.

  “Take care and I’ll see you in a week, then.”

  The front door closed with Paress’ parents walking Dr. Behlen to his car and leaving Paress alone in the living room with his thoughts.

  Chapter Two

  A week passed during which Paress did a lot of soul-searching, held long intense conversations with his family, and just plain prayed. And he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do as he watched out of his living room window to see the white luxury car with the seal of the Space Knight Academy on the side pull into the driveway and park.

  Paress stared out intently— no matter what happened today, he was still excited because he was going to meet his Companion. He didn’t want to appear like he was glued to the window, but he made certain to hold the curtain open just enough to see what was happening.

  Behlen got out of the driver’s side and walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. The small form that had been sitting inside slipped out and stood up, looking around. Much to Paress’ shock, it wasn’t a cute girl. It was a boy. Paress almost let out a curse of anger, but stopped, waiting to see if maybe somebody else would also get out of the car. When nobody did, and it was only Behlen and the boy coming to the front door, Paress couldn’t stop himself from growling angrily.

  His mother came down stairs and heard him. Walking over to the window behind him, she said, “Are they here? What’s wrong? That was quite a sound.”

  “It’s a boy!” Paress said angrily.

  “What boy?” she said, moving to open the curtains.

  “No, don’t look! They’re coming to the door. The Companion is a boy.”

  “Oh! Really?”

  “Yeah!”

  And then the doorbell rang. Paress scrambled away from the window as his mother went to the door. Despite his worry and disappointment, he found himself tagging along behind his mother, his curiosity having gotten the best of him.

  The rest of the family emerged from various parts of the house as Paress’ mother opened the door. “Dr. Behlen, please come in. And who is this?”

  Behlen stepped in the door and ushered the boy in with him. The family formed a half-circle around the visitors as Paress’ mother took Behlen’s jacket.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Handrel, it’s good to see you,” Behlen said before nodding to the family in turn. When he got to Paress, he said, “Hello Paress. I’d like you to me
et your Companion. This is Casten. He’s a triple rank created by a good friend of mine, Dr. Glynnis Machten.”

  Casten stepped forward and made a graceful bow to Paress, “The Companion greets the Space Knight and looks forward to a life of friendship and service.” After the bow, he stood up and held out his hand to shake Paress’.

  “Hey, I’m Paress,” Paress said. “It’s good to meet you. But I’m not a Space Knight.” He shook Casten’s hand. It was small and slim and Paress’ hand seemed large and clunky in comparison– odd considering that Paress was by no means burly in size. Casten was just very sleek in comparison.

  “I know, but it’s tradition,” Casten said with a grin.

  His eyes were the color of rich, deep brass and Paress could see tiny stylized “M” designs in them– the mark of Casten’s creator. His skin was a smooth, creamy white, and his hair was almost black. Unlike Paress’ skin where some acne threatened and slight sunburn made red splotches, Casten’s was perfect. Paress couldn’t help but be jealous of this perfect boy standing in front of him, who was almost elven in refinement, despite being based on a human design.

  “He’s amazing,” Paress’ mother said from behind him, confirming his thoughts on Casten’s appearance. “We have plenty of friends who are Mechanisms, but Casten, none of them hold a candle to you.”

  “Thanks!” Casten said with a bow and his winning smile.

  “I’d imagine most of your friends are double-ranks,” Behlen said.

  “Yes,” Paress' father put in. “A couple singles too. So of course, he’d be beyond them. Single ranks are pretty robotic and the double ranks are way more natural-looking than them. But the jump from double to triple is amazing. He’s so natural looking.”

  “To be fair, the components in Casten’s construction are of the highest military grade,” Behlen said as Casten beamed proudly. “And that’s not hyperbole. This guy is made of higher quality stuff than a lot of dedicated assault Marines. So, all of the highest grade servos, micro mesh synth-skin, eyes, carbon-fibre bones– the works. It makes him move more naturally. But he also carries a Glamour produced by one of the best mages in the field, probably even the Empire. Dr. Machten does some of her best work with a high-elf mage who’s been making Glamours for three-hundred years. That Glamour brings it all together, smooths out any aspects that make Casten seem odd or artificial, and makes him rather perfect in overall presentation.”

  At this last part of Behlen’s explanation, Paress could see Casten’s smile slip slightly to a frown that revealed some embarrassment at being described in such glowing terms. It made him go from wanting to maybe punch this perfect little kid to maybe liking him a tiny bit.

  “Ah, that explains why he seems somehow elven, even though he has human features,” Paress’ mother said, mirroring his own thoughts.

  “If we look at Dr. Machten as his mother and Mage Yndric as his father, you could say he has human-elven parentage,” Behlen said with a smile.

  “I’m all human,” Casten said. “Er, that is, I like to think of myself that way, even though I’m a Mechanism. I’ve always been raised as a human, so that’s how I identify.”

  “But why’s he a boy?” Jane suddenly asked, and it was all Paress could do to not hug her before demanding, “Yes, why is he a boy?”

  Behlen laughed. “I knew it was only a matter of time before someone asked that question.”

  “Well, it’s a good one,” Paress couldn’t help but say. “I mean, I’ve never really been into guys, so why is my Companion a guy?” He glanced at Casten and said, “Uh, no offense.”

  Casten laughed. “No problem! Actually, me and the doctor have been talking about this almost the entire ride over. When they told me I was gonna be a Companion to a boy, I didn’t understand why. I thought I’d be with a girl. Because yeah, I’m not into guys either.”

  At this Behlen laughed some more and said, “Please, can we sit down? I’d hate to have such a big conversation while standing here in the foyer.”

  “Oh! Of course,” Paress’ mother said hastily and they all moved into the living room.

  When everyone was settled, Behlen said, “It’s a common misconception that a Space Knight’s Companion is always meant to be some kind of lover or sexual partner. And while it often turns out that way, that has more to do with the individual Space Knight’s situation.

  “Many Space Knights become incredibly strong or beyond most normal people in other ways. So yes, in those cases, we try to give the Space Knight a Companion who can be there in all things, including physical intimacy. We don’t need Space Knights running around fighting battles and then being unable to feel the touch of another person, intimate or otherwise without potentially harming that other person.

  “So, along with everything else, we try to provide a Companion who can be there for all the Space Knight’s needs, both emotional and physical. Of course, there’s always the possibility that the Space Knight and Companion won’t develop an intimate physical bond, and then we have to figure out other ways to keep everybody happy.” Behlen glanced sideways as Paress’ two little sisters and said, “But that’s a conversation for another time.”

  “I took all of those psychological tests and had all those evaluations,” Paress said. “That’s how you determined my Companion?”

  “For the most part, yes,” said Behlen. “It’s those tests and interviews that allow us to select a Companion that would make for the best partner. If the Space Knight is the type for which finding a physical partner is going to be a rarity, we make sure to pay close attention to what the Space Knight lists as things he or she wants in a perfect mate among other things.”

  Paress remembered with some embarrassment how he answered those questions. Apparently, if the Academy would have decided to provide him a Companion who could also be his mate, he’d be looking at a girl with long blonde hair, even longer legs, a taught muscular body, a firm butt, and healthy breasts. But instead, he was looking at Casten, a boy who was listening intently to Dr. Behlen.

  “But see,” Behlen continued, “your abilities and Blessing are mostly in the realm of the mind, not the body. Sure, you’re much tougher than most humans and stronger, but not to any sort of overly dangerous levels. There are Space Knights who can rip a car in two with their bare hands and fall from a building and get up with barely a scratch. You’re definitely not at those kinds of levels of physicality.

  “There are plenty of girls: elven, Mechanism, skeyr, sylvain, dwarven, and so on, that you can live a happy, healthy relationship with while not exposing the girl to any undue physical harm. It’s even possible to be with a human, although she would have to be in excellent physical condition, and you’d have to pace yourselves between…sessions.”

  Paress’ mother got up to shoo his sisters from the room, and maybe excuse herself too, but Behlen coughed and waved for them to sit down. “I’m sorry, I should have planned this conversation better, but I think we can all get the picture of what I’m saying and can move on.” He nodded reassuringly and the three sat back down.

  “So that brings us back to the other aspects of the testing and evaluations: what kind of person do you work best with, what do you look for in a long term friend, what personality traits do you like, and yes, what do you find attractive and unattractive physically and mentally?” Behlen grinned, “After all, we may not be trying to find a potential mate for you— but we still don’t want to pair someone up with a work colleague who has red hair if the person has always had some kind of deep mistrust of redheads.

  “And so, based on all of these different points of data that we’ve gathered from both of you, we determined that you’re both each other’s best match with a 95.2% chance of accuracy,” Behlen said. “Companion design and selection isn’t my department— you’ll remember that I’m from the Hyper Battle Machine division— but I have to say that those Companion folks were pretty damn proud to have made such a match. Especially when some of the greatest Space Knight and Companio
n partnerships have hovered somewhere in the 85% to 90% range.”

  Paress met Casten’s eyes. “95.2%? That’s pretty cool.” He started to feel ever so slightly better about this. He was still kind of bummed that he’d have to go and find a girl for himself instead of having his perfect girl always with him from the start… But on the other hand, at least he had so many fish in the sea to choose from, from the plain to the exotic.

  In a lot of ways, those Space Knights who mostly had to take their Companion as a mate were actually sad and pitiful. They could never fully experience life if their powers dictated what they had to do and who they could see. Of course, it was possible Space Knights could hookup with each other, but there was no way a long-term relationship could develop considering the often solitary lives of Space Knights as the Empire was spread so thin with such rare people and the two would-be lovers could likely find themselves at opposite ends of the galaxy for years.

  So while Paress wouldn’t receive any would-be lovers today, the knowledge that his dating pool was actually rather large made him happy. Surely, there would be plenty of girls into a guy who had the opportunity to be a Space Knight.

  “Yes, we at the Academy believe that the two of you could accomplish great things together,” Behlen said.

  “Hey, just now you said something that I meant to ask you about last time,” Paress said. “You’re from the Hyper Battle Machine Division and usually these interviews are handled by somebody else.”

  “Yes, the Instructional Division usually handles these interviews. Sometimes someone from Companion Creation. People like me usually stay buried deep in the Academy working on the big Machines,” Behlen said.

  “Right,” Paress said. “And I think you said something about how you’ve interviewed a couple of others besides me.” As Behen nodded, Paress continued, “You said that I might be the right person to pilot a Hyper Battle Machine that you’ve had sitting for sixty years. Is that what got you to talk to the others?”