Parting


© 2018 by Walter Reimer



Later, Meredith opened the door to her cabin and smiled as Varan came in. The vir hugged the mare and asked, “How did things go with Captain k’Jen?”

“Not well,” Meredith replied, and explained what had happened. “He did say that he’d like to have me aboard again, after this is over, and that we should be able to correspond.”

“Aka, I had thought such would be the case.” Varan nuzzled the mare’s neck. “And correspondence is not the same as actually being with you.”

“True,” and the mare reluctantly broke the embrace as she added, “but he also said that I should cherish the time I have with you.”

Varan gave her lover a warm smile. “Time’s all we have. Let’s eat, and you can get the game set up. We’re on level ten now, yes?”

“Yes, and it’s going to be a beast.” Meredith smiled as Varan sat down and started eating as she took her own seat. “I’ve read the notes on it.”

“Aka?”

The mare nodded. “It says that we’ll be under constant attack, facing all new monsters – “

“No more baristas?” They both laughed at that.

“No, no more baristas, and it says something vague about a quest.”

“Then we need to eat,” Varan said, giving Meredith a wink. “We’ll need our strength for the trials to come.”

The quest, it turned out, was to get to the portal to the final, bonus level, and the game notes didn’t lie. Meredith and Varan’s characters fought their way through flying squads of demons and policemen, and it required cooperative tactics to defeat the various tentacle-bearing creatures that the game called ‘hentai beasts.’ There were at least six different types, all bent on one thing.

Varan paused and saved the game after they defeated a Type 3 hentai beast that sported at least five sexual organs and two mouths full of nasty teeth. “I seriously believe that whoever designed this was either very perverse, or completely insane.”

“Or both,” the mare added. “I had no idea that things like this were in the game. Do you want to stop?”

“Stop? We can’t stop now,” Varan said firmly. “We’re in what looks like ‘Bat Country’ on the map, with an additional note; something about ‘blood-sucking umpires.’” She sipped at a cold glass of fruit juice. “I think after we have a break we can resume.”

“Good idea. I need to use the garderobe.”

A short time later they were back in the game and fighting their way through a region filled with flocks of wooden clubs with wings and sinister black-uniformed entities that attacked them with thrown balls, small brushes, and long fangs. Both of their characters took damage, but managed to make it into a safe space called a ‘dug-out’ where there were supplies of food, water and healing tokens.

“Any idea what that means?” Varan asked, indicating a sign that read Beware of Phillies.

“No, but it can’t be good – and has nothing to do with young equines,” Meredith said. She opened a chest, momentarily recoiled at a bright light, and then pulled a scroll from the box. “A clue,” she laughed and opened it so they could both read it.

Varan looked mystified. “This makes no sense at all . . . ‘Turn the paper over, keeping your eye on the camel, and paste down the edge of the sailor's uniform until the word 'Maudling' is almost totally obscured.’ I take it back; the game designers are insane, not merely perverse.”

“Hmm,” Meredith said. “It’s indicating clues for other items we need. Somewhere around here there’s probably a paper with a camel on it, and a sailor’s uniform.” She looked at the status bars on her character. “I’m at nearly a hundred percent. Are you ready to go on?”

“Yes, but I don’t recommend splitting up.”

Meredith shuddered. “Neither do I. There may be more of those hentai beasts.”

It turned out that there was a camel, but it wasn’t on paper. Dressed in robes and a fez, it sat placidly smoking a hookah as the pair fended off more attacks from the umpires. A padded square set into the ground revealed, when lifted, a block of whitish material bearing the words ‘The Phillies Use Lifebuoy – and They Still Stink!’

Meredith shook her head, but put the block in her cache anyway. At this level, virtually everything could have some significance.

Varan found the next piece of the puzzle, a large scroll that bore a picture of a sailor. “Let’s see what this does,” the vir said, and the two made their way back to the camel.

Fortunately, the dromedary sat still while they oriented the poster and set to work, and as the word was covered up a shining gateway appeared. A trumpet fanfare sounded and within the glowing portal paws could be seen beckoning them onward.

Meredith saved the game, and then paused it. “It can’t be that easy. What do you think?”

“Ernnh. Give me that white block you found. I have an idea.” Meredith transferred the block from her inventory to Varan’s, and the kobold mage character hefted it while casting an Aim and Throw spell. She threw it, and as the block hit the portal dead-center a multivoiced scream arose. Fissures opened up, and the portal exploded as a score of tentacles erupted from the rift.

The game’s dungeon master announced, You are fighting the Hentai Emperor.

Varan and Meredith exchanged glances, and exited the game without saving it.


***


A few days later, the Kith emerged from hyperspace near another border station, NZh-3569. Meredith had finished packing, and was wearing her dark blue Confederacy Fleet uniform as she waited in her cabin for the cruiser to dock. She had the cabin’s projector displaying a copy of what the Pilot was seeing on the command deck, and the mare whistled.

The Rani Anitra was docked, but the Deity-class battleship Mixcoatl and her group of escorts hung in normal space a light-minute away. Clearly, Fleet was taking the threat as seriously as the Kashlani were, but were content to wait for now.

The door chimed.

“Come in,” and the mare smiled as Varan stepped into the room. “Narchak.”

The vir smiled. “Hello,” she said in Basic, and the two women embraced. Varan’s tail wrapped around the mare’s waist as they gripped each other tighter.

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, lir demef.” Meredith slowly relaxed her grip on the vir, and looked up at her. “I saw that we’re coming in to dock.”

“Yes. The Captain asked me to see if you are ready.”

The mare glanced at the satchel that held her belongings. “Packed and ready to go. I even managed to find my uniform,” and she stepped back before pirouetting on one hoof, her tail flowing behind her. She spun straight into Varan’s arms, and she caught her breath in a half-sob as they embraced again.

“Mifā mō.”

“Mifā mō. Come, we’ll be docking soon.” Varan picked up Meredith’s bag and waited as the mare dried her eyes and blew her nose. When she was ready, the vir extended her hand.

The mare took the hand in her paw and they left the room.

The Kith docked on time and with no issues, and the pair made their way to the Rani Anitra’s berth. The standard warnings about a higher gravity gradient were present, and the boarding hatch stood open. Meredith could see Lieutenant Bor, a lean ferret, standing watch as the Officer of the Deck.

She paused just outside the zone of Terran-normal gravity and looked up at Varan. “Captain k’Jen said that we could correspond. Stay safe, Varan.”

The vir smiled in Terran-fashion. “You as well, Meredith. And we will stay in contact with each other.” The smile faltered. “We are both assigned to patrol vessels, so we should be safe while the Fleet does what it must.”

They embraced one more time, and Meredith took up her satchel and braced herself before moving in to the slightly higher gravity. She paused and waved at Varan, but the vir had already left. The mare closed her eyes, taking a moment to fight back her tears.

Squaring her shoulders, the mare marched up the boarding tube and saluted.

“Lieutenant junior grade Meredith d’Estcourt, returning. Permission to come aboard.”