The Cycles of Revelation Series

Artifact of the Dawn: Accommodations (A Queer Sci-Fi Adventure)

Episode 22: Jevan and Ardyn learn to appreciate their new high-tech accommodations before reconvening with Takyra.

Jevan woke, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. He sat up, startled, unsure of where he was. It took a moment for his sleep addled brain to remember everything that had happened before he’d laid down to sleep. Looking down next to him, he saw Ardyn was still fast asleep. Ardyn was usually the first one to wake, but he was so exhausted earlier, Jevan decided not to wake him.

As silently as possible, Jevan rose and went to enjoy another hot shower. He’d rarely ever had a hot bath in his life, and he’d never seen something like these showers before. It was ingenious, and the hot water helped ease some of the tension he’d been feeling. After he’d finished showering, he picked up his old clothes and realized how rank they were.

Folding his dirty clothes again, he stashed them in a corner of the room and made his way to the clothing replicator. He whispered to it, and it showed him a variety of clothing options it could make. Some looked more practical than others. In the end, he opted for a white shirt, and a simple pair of brown trousers, with a matching jacket and boots. There had been no options for any style of cloak, as he was used to wearing, so the jacket would have to do.

By the time he finished dressing, he heard Ardyn stir behind him. Looking at the bed, he smirked when he saw the elf also startle awake. “Where are we?” Ardyn asked sleepily when he saw Jevan.

“In our quarters aboard the Rahn’naa,” Jevan replied, the new word still feeling strange on his tongue. “Remember?”

Sitting silently for a moment, Jevan could see the elf processing his memories of the previous day. “Oh, that’s right,” he recalled. “Are you sure I’m not still dreaming?”

Nodding, Jevan smiled. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Staring at him more intently, Ardyn squinted. “What are you wearing?”

“I picked out some new clothes from the replicator,” Jevan explained. “My old ones are really dirty and after taking another shower, I didn’t feel like putting them on again.”

“Another shower sounds like a good idea,” Ardyn admitted. “I would also love something to eat.”

“Go shower and get dressed,” Jevan suggested. “I’ll figure out how to make us some food.”

Making his way into the kitchen, Jevan touched the display next to the food replicator. Cytra helped him navigate the menu and the dizzying array of choices. “Cytra, we just need something simple. What is customary to eat as the morning meal on Aria’naa?” Jevan asked.

This narrowed down the menu and Jevan selected something that resembled a meat stew served with bread. He was pulling two servings from the replicator when Ardyn made his way out of the bathroom. Looking at Jevan sheepishly, he tilted his head toward the clothing replicator. “You’re right about our clothes. I feel so clean now. It would be a shame to put mine on without cleaning them. Can you help me make some new clothes? I was too tired to process what Takyra explained.”

Setting down the plates of food, Jevan came over and showed Ardyn how to use it. “There are a lot of options and color choices. I opted to stick with something that I could wear in the forest once we leave here.”

Looking up at him, Ardyn had a quizzical look. “Leave? Where do you think we could go? Back to the woods?”

“That’s a good point,” Jevan replied. “We should ask Takyra if we can stay here. At least until a better opportunity presents itself.”

Ardyn opted for a similar set of clothes to Jevan’s, although he chose a forest green color instead. While they sat and ate their meal, Jevan tried not to stare at his elven companion, or the way his new green jacket complemented his slender form.

Ardyn enjoyed the stew and bread that Jevan had prepared with the mysterious replicator. It was delicious, but not as heavily spiced as the meal Takyra had made for them. As he ate, he studied the Medellan, while trying to sort through all his own doubts and fears. “Are you feeling as overwhelmed as I am?”

Jevan nodded. “We knew they were hiding something in the Aria’una, but this?” he gestured at his surroundings. “How could your ancestors condemn all these people to an indefinite sleep? It seems so… cruel.”

“I wish I knew,” Ardyn replied with a shrug. “Our whole lives were a lie and I feel so used.” A shudder ran through him when he remembered the matings they had forced him to endure, all for the sake of honor and tradition. A tradition based on twelve centuries of lies.

“Now the truth has to come out,” Jevan said with a note of optimism, reaching for Ardyn’s hand. “I’ll make sure no one ever uses you like that again.”

It was almost as if Jevan could read his thoughts, making Ardyn blush. He squeezed Jevan’s hand, enjoying the warm touch. “Thank you.”

Once they had eaten, Jevan went to put the dishes back into the replicator, where they magically disappeared. After putting the small earpiece back into his ear, Ardyn went to the communications panel to contact Takyra. She told them she was back in the control room where they’d been the day before, and Cytra helped guide them there.

On entering, Takyra looked up from what she was doing to greet them. “I hope you both slept well,” she said. “I’ve made progress on orienting myself to the current situation, but I could use a break. Come and sit.”

There were chairs in front of each station around the room. They took a seat in the two closest to Takyra. “I was wondering,” Ardyn said. “If all your people on board this ship were sleeping in those cryopods, why does this ship have all those living quarters? Why did you need the cryopods in the first place?”

Takyra swiveled her chair around to fully face them. “It takes a long time to cross between solar systems, even with as fast as this ship could travel. We expected the journey to our colony world, which we named Maal’dak Five, to take twelve years. We designed the cryopods to keep us alive, without aging, until we reached our colony. However, there is always the possibility of running into a problem. In case of an emergency, we programmed the ship to wake us all up. In that eventuality, we would need someplace to live while we made repairs.”

“Cytra also mentioned something about building a city using the ship?” Jevan interjected.

“Yes, exactly,” Takyra confirmed. “That’s the other reason we needed the ship to be so large. We designed it to be broken down and turned into our first settlement. We planned to convert all the quarters into homes and apartments, and the rest of the ship would be converted into various facilities to serve our new community, including a hospital.”

“That’s clever,” Jevan said. “Bringing the building materials with you so you don’t have to manufacture them on the world you are colonizing.”

“It was a controversial decision,” Takyra admitted. “Considering how scarce the resources were becoming back on Aria’naa. However, they decided to give each colony the best start at being successful. The hope was that eventually the colonies could then provide raw materials to the homeworld, which would make the sacrifice of materials to build the colony ships worth it.”

“What do you plan to do next?” Ardyn asked. “You said you had made some progress?”

“Yes! Come, follow me back to the cryopod chamber. I’ll explain along the way,” Takyra said.

They followed Takyra as she led the way. “Since you mentioned you were being pursued by a hunting party, the first thing I need to do is wake a few more of my people, before your pursuers find their way inside. If what you say is true, that they likely know about the ship, then it will be only a matter of time before they come looking for you in here.”

Once back in the cryopod chamber, Ardyn walked to the edge of the platform and stared at all the rows of pods, stretching farther than his eyes could see. “How many are there?” he asked, still in awe of the size of this structure.

Working at one of the display consoles, Takyra explained. “We were carrying ten thousand colonists. Nearly half were from the agricultural Paahr’dak class. The ones that remain in cryostasis are the technical and scientific members of the Baaru’dak class.”

“If those who left the ship were mostly farmers, how did they know how to control this ship? Did all your people know how?” Jevan asked.

“No, they would have needed help from someone in the Baaru’dak class to do it,” Takyra replied, before giving Ardyn a strange look.

“You know who helped them, don’t you?” Ardyn asked.

“Yes,” Takyra confirmed, as she turned back toward the console she was working on. Her hands flew over the controls and a moment later, a name and other information appeared with an image. “He was a young Baaru’dak named Kyrael.”

Thank you for reading. If you enjoy my writing and are not yet a member of Medium, for a nominal fee you can join and support me, to unlock more of my articles and all the content on this platform.