[The Delve] 07/01/16: A Visitor In A Strange Land

> Give a nice, friendly ruffle of feathers.
>Let's keep it professional.

You stop him by gently placing your hands on his shoulder blades, his body tense under your light fingers, and affix him with your stare. You breathe out the words steady and deliberate, laden with certainty.

“Ibris, listen. You are a professional, the most prepared and up-to-date person I have ever met.”

It is not even a lie, after a fashion.

“I am very good at what I do, but I need someone to watch over me. Let me do the heavy lifting because I can, while you can be my co-pilot, my vigilant navigator. I’ll take the lead any you’ll have my back, that sound good to you, hmm?”
“U-uh, sure, yes, yes I can!”
“Great! You know what, we’ll go out to eat after work and you can tell me more about yourself. My treat!”
“Sure!”



You pat his tushy and send him away on his merry way, visibly more confident. You think he must be used to people demanding a lot from him, but never actually trusting his ability to provide.

Get changed quickly, like you said, and proceed to do the thing. Success breeds confidence!

In your experience magic smells like cassis.





You love your real arms. They are constructed out of space-age polymers, powered by microservos, and run on proprietary code. They are shielded and can withstand exposure to hundreds of Gray, far surpassing human flesh.



Your delve arms are made of wood, are powered by utter bullshit, and function only because the laws of physics have chosen to look away. They feel alien and heavy, and even when you stay completely still they make tiny creaking noises as they writhe along an intangible wind.



Eight years ago an expedition to Kuiper belt led by your mother encountered something - no-one is sure what - and she has been missing ever since. In the months that followed the Kuiper Incident two things of significance happened. The government put an indefinite ban on further space exploration, and ancient sorceries started working for no explicable reason - actually working in the very real and physically verifiable fashion. The yahoos who were into occult practices were as surprised as everyone else (not that they would ever admit it).

In a single blow your family was broken apart, your father’s hopes and dreams were crushed, and you were stuck on a half-built space station that had lost its sole reason for existing.

But at least you’re not alone. Hundreds of other workers lost their jobs as well and could not afford the passage back to Earth or to relocate to the Moon. Yours became a community of survivors and stragglers making ends meet any way you can, huddling on the whalebone carcass of a defunct behemoth high in the sky, and even though you stuck together you know that in their heart everyone dreamed of finding the golden ticket back to home.

Except you. The station is the only home you have ever known.

When the Corporation moved in it appeared like a lighthouse from stormy seas to many. The gold rush of the 20th century was the Internet, bioengineering uplifted animals the 21st one, but for this century it very much looks like to be mining the afterlife - and the C&M Stellar Insurance Co. has been determined to be at the forefront of exploiting this new frontier. There are less laws, less regulations on the orbit, but the most importantly also less latency to the underworld, giving C&M an edge over their competition on Luna and Earth. They are a ruthless bunch, caring more about profit margin than people, and in some ways life has become even harder now. There are jobs again, but the pay is often a pittance and competition is fierce. In the old days the station felt more like a community, poor and squabbling but also with genuine camaraderie born out of facing hardships together, but that is being rapidly torn apart by the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Enough reminiscing, time to power up!



“Hey, new girl! Me and others from the office are gonna to hit the bar after hours, wanna tag along? Liam’s coming, and Thea from accounting too. Humans only!”