Song of the Void

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”Huh. I did not expect that.” Selendil declared to Pharaa and Nox as she looked through the one-sided window at the representative of the Prime race she was supposed to help question in just a few minutes.

The being was very large. Easily three meters tall and he was large and burly as well. Calling him obese would’ve been inaccurate, but he wasn’t that big due to having excess muscle either. His dark-green leathery skin was thick enough to be called a hide, and everything about the being seemed oversized as a rule. He had large hands with thick fingers and his hands and feet were almost thick enough to be called pillars. Most importantly, the being had a large and flexible trunk, as well as wide and flat ears almost the size of his large head. He also had two rather magnificent tusks coming from his jaw. The being could be counted as a humanoid, but only barely.

“It was bound to happen in at least one galaxy.” Nox commented. “They weren’t dumb animals even back then, so the odds of them developing actual intelligence dictate that it would happen eventually.”

“Still, it’s a bit odd to see what the Elephantines of our times have developed into in this galaxy.” Selendil agreed but it was still somehow outside her expectations.

“Elephantine?” Pharaa asked confused.

“Ah, right. You wouldn’t know. That’s what we called his now probably distant ancestors.” Selendil said while gesturing towards the representative.

“You did mention that your kind visited this galaxy long ago, so I suppose it's not too odd that you're familiar with some of our distant ancestors," Pharaa muttered, not exactly excited at the prospect as she somehow felt naked at the idea. It was like Selendil had seen all of them at their worst.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. We didn’t just accidentally meet the ancestors of his kind. We brought them here.” Selendil dropped a small bombshell.

“What? Why?” Pharaa asked in shock.

“Well, I think I already mentioned that we terraformed many worlds in many galaxies, and this galaxy isn’t an exception, even if we didn’t terraform it as heavily as many other galaxies. The problem with terraforming is that it alters the ecosystems already present on those planets. That means many of the local species would die off while others would adapt. On other occasions, the planets we created used to be nothing but barren rocks or clouds of gasses. In every case though, we needed to bring in some new flora and fauna to inhabit the new ecosystem. We had a set of species that we really liked and used often due to their ability to thrive in such situations, and Elephantines were one of those species. I think we used many of the same species in almost every galaxy. That's partially why the worlds you colonize are often so similar. If enough time has passed the species have evolved slight differences or they've mixed with the local ecology to create something new, but there will be some similarities." Selendil explained one of the mysteries that had haunted CAS scientists for thousands of years.

“So the other species that are a part of the Prime race…?” Pharaa’s mind suddenly jumped elsewhere.

“Can’t say without actually seeing them.” Selendil retorted immediately. “Though if they are similar to the representative here, then I wouldn’t be too shocked if they had similar stories. A lot can happen with enough time, and if the world they come from had one species we brought there, they would have several.”

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the Suzerain’s representative. The small Phrin with colorful wings approached her immediately as it was pretty hard to confuse Selendil with someone else. Energy beings were rather rare after all. “Keeper Selendil I presume? I’m Special Counsel Lak’cho. I will be conducting today’s questioning.”

“Special Counsel.” Selendil nodded simply.

“Shall we then?” The Phrin asked without preamble. The tiny being didn't even ask if Selendil had been approached by others wanting to sway her. The Special Counsel simply trusted her integrity. Or the being was confident enough to detect any attempts at misdirection by judging the reaction of the Prime that they were questioning.

As they entered the rather sizeable and comfortable room that had recording equipment everywhere, the Phrin flew to sit down opposite the large representative and gestured for Selendil to take the seat to the side. “Representative Silvertusk, have you been apprised about your rights? Are you aware that this questioning is completely voluntary and that you can refuse to answer any questions? And are you aware that the whole thing is being recorded and might be broadcasted to the public?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.” The man had a loud and deep voice fitting his stature. As a politician, it was necessary to be able to get along with people and to invoke trust in others, so it wasn’t a surprise that his voice was one of those that you almost implicitly trusted when you heard it. It also carried quite a bit of authority.

“And you have consented to a truth-scan by a neutral party designated and named as Keeper Selendil here?” The Phrin continued as if reciting a rote script.

“I have, though I must warn you. The diplomat core of the Primes undergoes training to resist any mental intrusions without even knowing what's happening. It is also an involuntary reflex that I cannot control, so our telepath is going to have to work a bit." The man looked towards Selendil. He didn't sound smug or like he was trying to show off. Instead, he seemed slightly worried that this would impact on the proceedings.

"That will not be a problem," Selendil stated confidently. "Well, it won't be a problem for me. On the contrary, it will make things easier if you have a strong mind. It's annoying how fragile people's minds can be. It's not going to be pleasant when I force my way through, but it will be rather easy."

The representative smiled a bit, revealing a row of large dull teeth used to chewing through rough materials. "Well, that's good. Before we start, I want to ask you a question and I want you to look me in the eyes when you answer. Are you going to be truthful about what you discover, or did someone manage to get to you?”

Selendil gave a small dismissive wave with her hand and looked in his eyes in a way that actually caused him to shiver a bit as he felt tiny for the first time in his life. “There’s very little anyone in this galaxy can offer me that would be worth it for me to compromise my integrity. Most certainly not for a minor affair like this.” The man could feel the truth of her words. For her, this really was rather inconsequential, even if it could throw the entire galaxy into chaos.

“I’ll take that. We can begin.” He stated simply. Then he grimaced and grabbed at his head in pain as Selendil’s probe shattered his mental defenses. Luckily for him, Selendil only needed a surface level entry into his mind to confirm the truth of his words, so his mind was able to hold against the pressure from her. It was still a bit of a burden and he sweated at the effort.

“Excellent. Then let’s start with the obvious question. Does your race support the rebels or have you formed secret deals with them?” The Phrin questioner didn’t waste any time and launched into the most important question.

“No.” The Prime representative stated clearly, and they both looked towards Selendil.

"True," Selendil confirmed and the representative started to smile before Selendil continued. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?” The Special Counsel asked, a little surprised.

“Yes. To his knowledge, which is quite extensive according to his thoughts, their government has had no deals with the rebels and they have not knowingly supported the rebels either. There are certain parties among his race that have, but the government has tried to crack down on what they consider traitors. These traitors endanger their entire race, so they have not been gentle with their efforts. They’ve been mostly successful. There have also been some cases where the funds from the government have been misused to support the rebels, but all of those cases have been shut down as soon as they were discovered, and everyone involved was harshly punished.” Selendil explained.

“Wait, you got all that from a single word answer?” The Phrin asked with disbelief, while the Prime representative was opening and closing his mouth not sure how to react.

“Yes. Those were the thoughts that surfaced when you asked the question. He personally has to keep up on such things and considers the traitors a real nuisance, which is why he thought about them immediately. These thoughts were also true as far as he understands it, and they were not planted. There is the possibility that he is being misdirected by his own government, but he has seen no signs of that and he has looked for such signs due to enlightened self-interest.” Selendil explained. She had told them that she was good with such things. Even a relatively inexperienced interrogator of the Dhar could’ve gotten this much. The only reason she didn’t get more was because she had to be so careful about accidentally breaking her target.

“Is what she said accurate?” The questioner wasn’t entirely convinced and wanted a confirmation.

The representative sweated a bit more as he weighed the advantages of trying to deny things against just admitting it. “Not the way I would’ve phrased it, but yes.” He finally admitted, coming to a wise decision.

“Well then. This will make things easier. Would you say that your government has gone to sufficient lengths to deal with these traitors?” The Special Counsel moved on, sensing a golden opportunity to find out more than the other party had been prepared to reveal.

“Yes.” He replied and looked towards Selendil to see what bombshells she’d drop this time.

“True. He would have personally done even more, but the efforts of his government would satisfy a neutral observer in his opinion.” Selendil didn’t add too much this time. She didn’t explain the representative’s personal stake in the whole affair despite becoming aware of it, as that was private and not really her business.

“If your government is not involved, how do you explain the evidence the investigation discovered?” The Phrin moved on.

“I can’t say with full confidence. However, the evidence is mostly based on conjecture and things that could’ve been planted.” The representative retorted. He originally had a much firmer reply prepared for this question, but Selendil’s earlier words had thrown that plan into the bin. In a situation like this, it was more advantageous to just stick to the truth. Even if it wasn’t the whole truth.

“Mostly true. I have no idea why he didn’t just mention this as he knew I’d find out anyway, but some of the evidence, particularly the pieces that are the most convincing were recently stolen from secret black sites, and they do not yet know how something like this could’ve happened. They are trying to find out what went wrong as we speak.” Selendil added and caused the representative to make a deep sigh. She hadn’t actually been told before what the evidence was, nor did she really care after what she had learned already.

“What kind of black sites?” The questioner jumped on the opportunity immediately.

“I’m going to have to exercise my right to not answer that question.” He wiped his forehead and the two of them once again looked towards Selendil.

Selendil simply waved them to move on. She had found out of course, as the man had immediately provided her with the answer as his mind betrayed him. However, he had refused to answer, and she would stick to the rules. The representative looked relieved at that. The Phrin on the other hand knew when to give up, as it knew that if Selendil had replied, the Primes would’ve protested and perhaps invalidated the whole thing. Benefits either way. “So you think you’re being set up?”

“Yes. If the materials had just been something widely available, then we could’ve just been a convenient target and they could’ve targeted anyone. But the fact that they brought out secret materials means we were targeted specifically.” The representative replied, now more calm and collected as he was on firmer ground.

"Truth," Selendil added simply. In this case though, she only implied that the representative believed his own words, not that the theory was true.

“In that case, do you have a theory on who is behind you being set up?” The expected follow-up question was asked immediately.

“We have theories but no real proof. Our kind are not well-liked in certain circles and we've made enemies over the years. The real question is who would benefit? And the next question would be who has the capability?" The representative suggested.

“Truth. They have their guess, but it is not based on solid evidence. It’s more of a case of wishful thinking. It would be great for them if their guess was correct, as it would explain things.” Selendil provided.

“The next question comes from…” The Phrin questioner had a whole list of questions and the entire process went on for hours, but the major revelations had already been made, and the representative declined to answer many of the more probing questions that were not directly related to the issue at hand.

As they finally stood up to leave the room, the representative turned to Selendil. “I…thank you for your honesty and integrity. The things you revealed were not in our plan, but they did clear the air and you knew not to say too much. I’m sure you found out more than you revealed after all. As the representative of my government, I’d like to extend an apology to you for the way you were treated when you first arrived in our galaxy. As a further apology, I’d like to extend an invitation for you and your ship and crew to visit our worlds.”

“Apology accepted, and I was only performing the job I was hired to do. I will consider your offer. It might be good to see more of this galaxy from a different perspective.” Selendil didn’t dismiss the idea completely. So far, everything they knew about this place had been provided by the Eriad. Even if she trusted them to an extent, the information would always include biases.

Special Counsel Lak’cho waited for her with Pharaa and Nox. “Keeper. This was a fruitful session. I can’t say anything for sure, but I’m almost certain that there will be more in the near future and your presence will more than likely be requested. Especially with the results of this session. We will need to question a few more of their officials to confirm the representative’s story, as he could just be out of the loop, but that’s not really the issue. If I know anything about the local politics, and I do, the Primes will spin the whole thing to their advantage in the media.”

"I can already see the headlines," Pharaa added. “Something about them clearing their name and challenging the other Prime races to do the same.”

“A very likely scenario.” Lak’cho nodded towards Pharaa. “And since their representative was forced to have you dig up details, the other races should do the same. So I wouldn’t make any plans for the next few weeks that you can’t cancel.”

“Take a word to the Suzerain. I can do it, but I won’t waste too much of my time on the whole thing. If you people want to arrange such things, then you better do it fast.” Selendil stated and looked towards Pharaa. “I’m assuming the Eriad will be among those questioned?”

“More than likely. We were among those to get this whole investigation started, so naturally we’ll have to prove our own innocence.” Pharaa confirmed with a nod.

“In that case, you might want to have someone other than your representative take part. The Special Counsel here might want to ask a question about trying to bribe me before this non-interrogation-but-really-interrogation.” Selendil pointed out.

"I will now," Lak’cho stated firmly.

“Noted. I might even do it myself.” Pharaa replied with a grimace.

“Now then. If I’m going to be used as a political tool, you’re going to have to keep me happy in the meantime. I suggest good food and drink. The better I enjoy myself, the more patience I will have to stick around.” Selendil declared shamelessly.