A Song in Ebony Ch. 03

They kept rising higher. Larry could feel his brain begin to fray with the strain of taking her all in. Knowing what everything was helped, but there was so much of her. At last, the edges of Izastetlhrandopolthrunf began to be seen. She was shaped like a starfish, with titanic generators occupying a good portion of each 'leg'. Those structures provided power for her by tapping into the infinitely hot and dense plasma that existed 'between' the spacetime layers of reality. She lay twinkling and throbbing below him, a single construct the size of a galaxy. Around the vast and alien machinery within the titanic structure flowed the swirling green of her thought. And all of her thought was feeding towards him, his spark still somehow visible in the center of all of this.

He felt satisfied and humbled, and also grateful. But he could also feel his mind creaking with the strain of comprehending it all. He couldn' t take much more.

[I see, I really do. I see how much effort you're making for me. I'm happy with this, really I am. Please, no more.]

[No. You Must Understand. SEE.]

She threw him away from her at terrifying speed. Larry looked around in a panic and saw nothing around him. There was no light, no heat. He saw nothing but the glow of Izastetlhrandopolthrunf, her intricate pattern of light shrinking into the distance as if he was flying away from an oil refinery at night. Larry remembered her saying that there was nothing on this gamma-level of spacetime. He tried to control his breathing but he didn't seem to have any lungs. He was just a bodiless viewpoint. His panic grew as he whirled on into nothingness. The size and immensity of the blackness around him pressed in on him and threatened his sanity more than viewing Izastetlhrandopolthrunf ever had.

And then his view twisted in a way he couldn't describe. He felt a huge swell of vertigo as he realized he was also looking 'down' into the layers of spacetime below this one. There was nothing down there either. It was all black and empty void; if the Irie were still down there, they had long ago gone extinct or passed well beyond anyone's sight. The black abyss below him was huge beyond comprehesion, and he finally felt terror start to fracture his mind. He cast his sight around, looking for something he could latch onto.

He saw Izzy.

She clung to the lip of that infinite spacetime abyss, a little glowing spider hanging on the edge of a bottomless well. Her bright and tiny form held another, smaller spark within herself. His spark. And Larry Braydon finally saw the two of them through Izzy's eyes.

Two small sparks, giving each other light and warmth against the eternal and pitiless night.

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He blinked, and now he was merely a human again. The gray floor below him was spongy and comfortable and the air was warm on his bare skin. Across the room from him the seething mass of Izzy's last incarnation was slumping back into nothingness. It left behind a large and eel-like blob of black material that crawled its way towards him.

Larry caressed the long blob as it nuzzled up against him. He stroked its velvety flanks and whispered to the shapeless mass what a brave, brave girl it was. It slowly pulsed and morphed into the shape of a slender, petite woman the color of midnight. She moved and nestled herself under his chin.

Izzy slowly opened her bright, featureless eyes and looked up at Larry. There was a long moment while they gazed at each other.

"So that's what you call 'a little weird'?" asked Larry.

They both held deadpan expressions for another long moment, then both burst out laughing. Larry hugged her as he felt himself give the first real belly-laugh he'd had since...well, since putting together that near-suicidal mission to Glypso 431.

"You little snot," said Izzy through her laughter. "Here I am, brain the size of a galaxy tryin' to communicate with your dumb ass, and you gotta go and sass me." She straddled him and ran her hands forward through his sparse chest hair. "So...you're staying?" she asked, almost shyly.

"Until you get sick of me, babe."

She leaned forward with a maniacal grin and pressed her forehead against his. "That will be never! And you agreed, so now you're stuck here!" She sat up. "Now I can have my wicked way with you! MUUUAHAHAHAHAAA!" Izzy rubbed her hands together like a Bond villain. "So what'll it be? Ya want the laser up the crotch, or maybe I'll just feed ya to the piranha fish."

"Don't you need a white cat to stroke, Little Miss Evil?" asked Larry as he stretched his arms above him. Amazingly, he felt perfectly fine in spite of what had been done to him by Izzy's more 'primitive' avatar.

"Nah, their hair gets everywhere and since I'm black it really shows up on me. Oh, yeah...I did have to rebuild some of your soft tissues before you woke up. Sorry about that, it got a little more intense than I expected."

"I guess I'm okay with it. It all worked out in the end," replied Larry, and smiled at her.

Izzy returned the smile and then looked at the gray walls around them. "Jeezum crow, this is boring. We've both been working hard, I think we deserve a vacation." She snapped her fingers, and Larry shut his eyes against a bright light that suddenly beat down on them. He felt the floor under him warp and move up around the pair of them. As he blinked and opened his eyes, he saw that they were now swinging gently in a large hammock suspended between two palm trees. Bright sunlight filtered through the leaves above, and off to one side was a white sand beach. The distant surf crashed and rolled, giving a pleasant background of white noise.

"Cerveza?" asked Izzy. She leaned down over one side of the hammock and pulled a couple of bottles out of a bucket of ice underneath them. She handed one to Larry and they clinked bottle necks together in silent toast. Izzy leaned back against the other end of the hammock from him and put her feet on his chest. His legs splayed to either side of her.

He took a swig of his beer. The ice-cold drink was the best thing he had tasted in a long time. "I hate to be all serious right now, but I have to say it. I'm so sorry I ever doubted you."

Izzy shrugged. "Ehh. I would have done the same in your shoes. Like you said, it all worked out in the end." She took a drink as well, then rubbed one of her feet along his sternum. "We've gotta work on a lot of stuff, now that you're here for the duration. I imagine you want to get word to friends and family that you're not, ya know, dead. Plus we gotta get your people some tech that'll let 'em give the Vish'tari what-for."

"Are you willing to intervene that much?"

"Why not? You guys seem cool. And in the longer term I might be able to cure their madness. Oh, and that 'old age' thing of yours is just not gonna fly with me. I wanna have you around for a good long time. I'm working on a couple of different schemes right now. We gotta get those telomeres back up to snuff, plus get rid of your intercellular plaque buildup..." she trailed off as she looked at his incredulous face. "Don't worry, dude. We'll go slow with the aging reversal stuff and test everything out. We've got time."

Larry burst out laughing again.

"What's the joke?" She genuinely looked puzzled.

He patted her foot. "Izzy, you really are a silly goose sometimes even if you do have a brain the size of a galaxy. I'm here for as long as you'll have me, but even if I'm not here forever..." She shuddered, and he stroked her leg comfortingly. "Shhh, it's okay. Like I said, even if I'm not here forever you'll never be alone again."

"I don't get it."

"Babe, during that whole experience you just showed me there was only one thing you didn't do. You didn't look up."

She blinked. "Oh. Right. Up to the alpha-level. I guess my basic programming gives me a bit of a blind spot in that area unless something calls my attention to it." Izzy smiled wide. "Yes, of course! More people..." Her smile faltered. "More than one? Do you think that I can handle dealing with more than one person at a time?"

"Oh, I think you'll manage. We lesser beings all manage to work it out between ourselves, even if we don't have quite your brainpower."

"Are...are you going to be okay with it? If we have other people come here, I mean." She rubbed his shin. "If they're up for it, I'd like to play with them too. But you know you'll always be my number one guy."

"I'm not the jealous type, Izzy." He tapped his temple. "And I know how you feel about me. Besides, you're a bit of a unique case. I think you have plenty of love to give."

She relaxed back against the far end of the hammock. "Mmm. You said it." She brought her foot back farther and rubbed its velvety sole on his cock. "And you know, neither of us really got off properly the last time." She winked at him as she took another long drink of her beer.

Larry mirrored her movement, taking a long swig out of his bottle as well. He held the bottle over the side of the hammock and dropped it. He heard it hit the sand below with a thud as he sat up and reached forward. He grabbed Izzy's knees and gave her a savage yank, pulling her crotch down to meet his.

Izzy gave a yelp and dropped her beer. "Mr. Braydon!"

Before she could say anything else, he let go of her knees and ran his hands up her thighs. Then he gripped her hips and dragged her forward up onto his lap. Her mound rubbed against his growing hardness. He ran his hands up her back to bring her closer and growled into her shocked and happy face.

She brought her face towards his. "Why Mr. Braydon, I'm thinking I like this side of you-"

He interrupted her by roughly mashing his mouth onto hers. She melted against him, almost literally. He gripped the back of her head and kept up the pressure of his kiss. Larry was filled with the need to claim Izzy, to show her that she was his. To show her that her days of isolation were forever over.

Izzy finally managed to break her mouth away with a gasp, and he leaned forward and bit softly into her neck. She gave a little cry of pleasure, and he slid his hands back down to grip her ass. Larry ground her against his groin as he roughly kneaded her pert rear cheeks. He could feel his cock getting bathed with her juices. Izzy cooed wordlessly and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled himself back a little and reached down to line himself up, then grabbed her ass again to pull her onto him. He felt her hungry flesh expand and clench around his cock with a wet squelch.

Izzy's head fell back as she cried out. She wrapped her legs around his back and tried to set up a rhythm, but Larry was moving faster. He used his grip on her succulent ass to slam her onto him in a hard and fast pace. Her arms went limp around him as she gave up and let him have his way with her. Izzy's head lolled against his neck, and she breathed a soft moan into his ear with every thrust. The sound filled him with a lustful energy as he pounded her mercilessly. He felt the familiar pressure rising in him, mirrored by the rising joy from Izzy.

She clutched his shoulders as they both climaxed and shuddered. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as the distant surf rolled in.

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Doctor Hans Liechtenauer, esteeemed Professor of Naltar Studies at Trinity College, strode across Scholar's Lawn. His gray-haired bulk was clad in full academic dress and his gown billowed behind him as he walked. It was a typical English day, overcast and threatening to rain. The weather fit well with his mood. He was tired of the seemingly endless round of festivities and traditional banquets that festooned the day-to-day life of the ancient college, and he wanted nothing more than to just sit in his office and get some proper work done.

He slowly climbed the stairs to that office, feeling every bit of his weight and advanced age. But even though he was effectively 'retired', he knew that he'd keep coming here. They would have to shovel him out the door after he died at his desk, like an old plow-horse passing away in its traces. He idly wondered how much glue they could make out of his body.

Hans had an office on the smaller side, which was just how he liked it. A larger office made him feel like a pea rattling around in too big of a pod. He had just managed to hang up his robe and settle himself in his chair when his terminal rang. He sighed and tapped the oak surface of his desk. A glowing hologram of a young woman appeared above it. Her thin face framed a pair of red-rimmed eyes; she had clearly been crying.

The professor sighed again, his jowls settling into a sad frown. Karen Braydon had been Larry's only living sibling, and ever since the young man's quixotic attempt to reach Glypso 431 she had never given up the hope that he was still alive. But when ten months passed after Larry's ship dropped out of contact, he had gently tried to break it to her that yes, her estranged brother was certainly dead. For the next two months, she had periodically called him seeking more news. Unfortunately, he had none to give.

"There's no new information, Karen," he said aloud. "You know I would call you if-"

"He's alive!" He suddenly realized that in spite of her watery eyes the girl was positively beaming with excitement. "He was here!"

Hans tried to get his brain back on track. "You mean...no that's nonsense. You can't mean-"

"Larry! He was here. He held my hand. We talked for...a long time. At least two hours. We had a lot to say to each other, and a lot to apologize for. We've both said a lot of nasty things in the past. But he's alive. And..and he gave me this," and here she held up a small green sphere. "In case I want to see him again."

Hans leaned back. This was more serious than he thought. The poor girl had suffered some sort of psychotic break with reality. He had to help get her treatment before she hurt herself. He nodded as if in agreement. "That's very interesting, Karen. You should come here and tell me more about it."

She shook her head, tears of joy welling in her eyes. "You can't fool me, you old bear. You're thinking that poor Karen's gone around the bend. But you'll see. He said he was going to visit you next." She gave him another happy smile and broke contact.

He sat in silence for a moment while he figured out which health care professionals to call. They had to get to Karen's flat in London as soon as possible. Just as he leaned forward to place a call, the door to his office opened. Whoever it was didn't knock, and Hans got ready to deliver a righteous bellow at the presumptious interloper.

The sound died on his lips as Professor Emertius Hans Gilbert Liechtenauer got one of the two biggest shocks of his life. A dead man stood in his office, smiling gently at him.

"Larry..." the professor breathed.

"Hey, Hans. Sorry for not knocking. I never did put much stock in ceremony, you know." The dead man stepped towards his desk and held out one hand. He was clad in a plain black tee shirt and black jeans and had a black messenger bag slung casually over one shoulder. His mop of sandy-brown hair was still as unruly as ever. Hans shook his hand in a daze, feeling the solid grip of warm flesh. He noticed that Larry was wearing some kind of black bracelet on his wrist, one that had a small green gem embedded in it. Larry motioned towards one of the nearby overstuffed leather chairs. "You mind if I take a load off?" He set his bag down near the chair.

Hans shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around the situation. "You made it," he said softly. "You came back. You survived. Karen wasn't crazy."

"Oh, she's nuts," replied Larry. "But no more so than the rest of us. It was good to see her again. I neglected her for too long." He relaxed into the chair and stretched out his legs with a sigh of satisfaction.

Finally Hans could speak properly again. "They didn't tell us!" he thundered. "Those thrice-damned Confed bureaucrats never said that you'd made it back out of Vish'tari space! Why didn't you call?"

"Because I didn't make it. Not really. I died on Glypso 431, or was as good as dead. I was rescued by somebody who became a good friend. More than a good friend, actually." He smiled wistfully. "We had a lot of things to work out between us. But I think we're in a good place now."

There was a knock at the office door, at about knee-height. "Come!" said Hans automatically as his mind whirled. The door opened, and in scuttled a creature that looked much like a jumping spider with six legs. The being was about a meter across. Its neon-blue carapace was covered with soft fuzz and shone under the office's overhead light. Its six bright black eyes peered cautiously around the room.

"Sorry to intrude, Hans," said the creature in a piping voice. It rubbed its front palps together in a manner indicating nervousness. "I got a weird email saying to come here...LARRY!"

The arachnoid creature launched itself like a blue missile at the young man sitting in the chair. It smacked hard into his chest and clutched its multiple limbs around his middle.

"Oof! Hey, Jaxalla. It's good to see you too." Larry smiled and gave the xryakx a gentle scritching on top of her thorax.

The alien peered up at him. "You cheeky shell-less so-and-so! How did you make it back?"

"Well, that's a bit of a tale. I wanted to make sure you both were here to hear it."

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"The 'all-mother' was real," said Hans in wonder. "We had some phrases and scraps of information on that religion. It just sounded like a standard fertility cult. But it...she was real."

Larry nodded. "We always wondered how the Naltar managed to advance so quickly in their technological development. Turns out they had a helping hand." He had provided them both with holodisks out of his black bag, and both the human and alien were busy paging through his report.

Jaxalla hunched down as she thought about the implications. "Is this...Izzy entity willing to perform the same function for us?"

Larry smiled. "Yes, she is. Izzy wants to help the Confederation with our fight against the Vish'tari, and there's an entire appendix at the end of my report. It details several scientific areas where we should focus our research, plus some suggestions for improving our current tech. And that's just the start. But she wants to proceed carefully in what she gives us. I'm inclined to agree. The people that built her took a terrible chance in doing so. They could have unmade creation."

She rubbed her pedipalps together. "And what do we give her for payment?"

"There's no payment required. The Naltar turned her into a religion, which Izzy hated. She just wants people to visit her. I'm leaving behind a few gems so that people can do so. We're going slowly with it, just like with giving out her technology."

"She just wants company?" Hans felt his credulity getting strained. "You've described a being, a...a construct larger than I can imagine. What sort of company could we possibly provide?"

Larry's face clouded a bit. "You'd be surprised. Let's just say that I had the same doubts, and Izzy answered them to my satisfaction. She's huge, but there's a lot more sheer nothing out there. We're precious to her." He reached into his bag and pulled out a green sphere the size of a fist. He rolled it across the floor to Jaxalla, who caught it easily in her front palps. The xryakx held it up in front of her and stared at it curiously.