A Song in Ebony Ch. 04

Author's Note: This chapter is more heavy on the plot, especially at the beginning. The sexy times don't start until about midway through. Also, since Literotica doesn't show tags until the end of the story, I'm going to start putting tags/warnings at the top of each story going forward.

This story contains: anal, fellatio, bondage, tentacle sex, alien sex, and some romance. Thanks for reading!

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Violet Helstrom gave her boss a sour look. "And you can't tell me anything about it?"

Geoff Palmer gave her the best disarming smile that he could. Given that he was more-or-less a politician, it almost worked at making her feel better. What stopped it from working completely was the knowledge that he not-so-secretly lusted after her. He must have had a thing for petite, curvy redheads. And if Violet had a thing for slightly creepy silver-haired men with prominent noses, she might reciprocate that interest. But she didn't, so she didn't. They were in his office, which was the classic drab and prefabricated setup of the mid-level bureaucrat.

"Now Vi," he soothed, "You know the rules. We have secrets to keep, after all."

"I usually get at least some information on their origin, Geoff." She regarded the small metal case on his desk. "I mean, how safe is it? Is it explosive? Radioactive? What if I drop it on my foot?"

He stood and placed a sheaf of notes on top of the case. Given the sensitivity of what they worked on, the facility still tended to use printouts instead of electronic storage. "We had a few initial tests done. The item appears to be completely inert. But they also couldn't find out anything else. The only other thing I was told was...don't look into it."

Her green eyes gave him a disbelieving look. "What does that mean?"

He spread his arms out pleadingly. "I know, I know, it sounds stupid. But that's all they said. You can look 'at' it, but you shouldn't look 'into' it."

Violet gave a short laugh. "What is it, a palantir?"

"A what?" Geoff looked puzzled.

"You know, a palantir? A seeing stone? 'Lord of the Rings'?"

Geoff still looked clueless.

"Never mind." Violet reached out and took the notes off of the case. She tossed a lock of red hair out of her eyes as she quickly leafed through them. "How fast do you need my report?"

"Tomorrow morning. By nine."

She glared back up at him. "It's now four PM, Geoff."

"I'm getting huge pressure myself, Vi. Trust me, I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter myself over this. Something has really got the higher-ups in a tizzy, and this...item is a big part of it."

The scientist blew out an exasperated breath and shoved the next-to-useless report in her messenger bag. Then she picked up the metal case. "A tizzy, eh? Fine, I'll work on your little mystery here. But stay out of my way. And don't send anyone around to my lab to bother me, either. I'll have your damned report by nine AM."

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Violet was the one they sent all the weird stuff to. 'They', in this case, being the Confederation military. Odd relics and other bits of strangeness were always being found as humanity and its allies encountered new places, and they eventually made their way to Violet. Always with the same questions. What is it? Is it dangerous? Is it useful? Can we replicate it?

In a secure wing of a research facility underneath Denver, Violet set the metal case on a bench in her lab and opened it. Inside was some foam padding that held what looked like a small polished sphere of a brilliant green gem-like material. It looked boring compared to some of the other things she'd worked on. Her initial thinking was that this would wind up being a natural rock of some sort. She mused over how best to proceed, tapping one finger on her chin as she regarded the gemstone.

Her musing was interrupted by a chime from the laboratory door. She was deep in the bowels of the Confederation research facility; the only ones down here would be those who had been sent by Geoff or his ilk. Violet rolled her eyes and stomped over to the door.

"Yeah?" she snapped as the door slid open.

It was Geoff, of course. "I just wanted to see how you were getting along."

She rubbed her eyes. "Jesus wept, Geoff. I just got down here."

"I know, but...I don't think I impressed on you how important this is. We really need to figure this out."

"And I will give you my full report in the morning. Assuming I am left free to actually get some work done."

He nodded apologetically, his slicked-back silver hair bobbing under the harsh overhead lighting. "Right, like I said I'll be here too. If you need anything at all, you let me know."

"Goodbye, Geoff."

The man turned away and walked back down the hallway. He was actually in pretty good shape, so Violet took the opportunity to get a long look at his ass as he walked away. She had a momentary pang of sadness as the door closed again. Geoff was a creep, but at least he seemed interested in her. Violet didn't have many friends. Most of her colleagues...hell, most people tended to avoid her.

She tried to be friendly, honestly she did. But her vivid green eyes had the habit of fixating on someone when they were speaking and getting across the message whatever comes out of your mouth next had better be very interesting. It tended to intimidate people. That look, combined with her bossy behavior, meant that she spent a lot of her time alone.

Her little moment of pity was washed away as she walked back to regard the green gemstone in its metal case. It was time to go to work. Violet took one look at the notes Geoff had given her and tossed them aside. She had no faith at all in whoever had done the initial testing; she decided to start from scratch.

Violet started with the usual materials tests, but got no real information from them. The gem was harder than tungsten carbide...harder than any materials she had in the lab, actually. It was inert to any standard acids or bases, and its density was close to that of steel. Whatever this was made out of, it didn't fit with any known naturally-occurring compounds.

Spectroscopy was next. The stone gave out no apparent emissions in any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. That was not so surprising, as it looked like a rock. What was surprising was that it seemed to reflect all EM radiation perfectly. The only exception was in the visible spectrum, where it absorbed everything except for a few green wavelengths. That result really puzzled her. This appeared to be a physical object, made out of some physical material. The surface should have varying infrared absorption based on what it was made out of. But trying to measure its surface with a spectrometer was useless. Everything just bounced right off of it, even X-rays.

She then chucked the thing into a scanning electron microscope, hoping to get some idea of its surface structure. It also reflected electrons, again perfectly. But it didn't seem to have any real structure to it. The gem's surface was utterly smooth, which in turn made it hard to focus the SEM. Oddly, there didn't seem to be any debris or particulates on the surface either. That in itself was a real puzzler; just moving it around in her lab should have gotten some dust on it. The smoothness of the stone's surface made her wonder just how perfect of a sphere it was.

Violet stretched her arms above her head and felt her lab coat bunch up around her shoulders. At least the facility's dress code was pretty relaxed, and she was able to get away with wearing jeans and a blouse. Violet hated wearing suits. She dropped her arms and rubbed her forehead tiredly. She had dealt with a lot of weird stuff, but this was by far the weirdest. Apart from its basic properties, there was nothing she could get a handle on.

She couldn't get normal spectroscopy data, but maybe she could use its shape to determine its nature. If it was very precise in its dimensions, then the stone would have to be an artificial construct. She decided to use a interferometry method to measure its dimensions.

After a little while, she had cobbled together a the necessary setup. All of it was focused on the green sphere on her bench top. Violet nodded in satisfaction as the data came in. But her results only added to the gem's strangeness. Apparently this sphere was perfect in its dimensions. Even setting aside the EM-spectrum weirdness, this thing was impossible. Certainly no natural processes could form such a perfect shape. And if it was artificial...well, this little gem was also beyond the manufacturing abilities of any race in the Confederation. And beyond that of the xenophobic Vish'tari.

She thought of other tests that might give her a clue. Violet hadn't been able to probe the gem with every part of the EM spectrum. She had gone up to hard X-rays, but the higher energy of gamma radiation might show something. That was going to require specialized equipment. No matter what Geoff said, it would take weeks to get the approvals...unless she tried to lash something together now. Violet had justifiable confidence in her own ability, and she was sure she could put together a gamma emitter safely.

She needed to go 'shopping' for components, however. Violet placed the gem back in its case and then went on a parts-hunt through the Denver facility. Her sneakers squeaked on the freshly polished tile floor, the sound echoing in the silence around her. By now it was ten PM, and there was nobody else here. There were a few bits and pieces she needed in other labs and she took them without hesitation. Violet wasn't a total monster, however. She made sure to leave little scribbled notes telling the owners where their equipment had gone.

Two hours later, she was ready. She ducked behind some impromptu shielding as she activated the gamma-ray source and then shut it off immediately. A second would be plenty of time to get the data she needed.

Except that there was no data; the sphere reflected gamma radiation just as perfectly as everything else. There weren't even any scattering effects that indicated any sort of atomic or subatomic structure. She growled in frustration, then picked up a radiation detector and carefully approached the gem and her home-built setup. The gamma emitter source had a little residual radiation, but nothing significant. The gem, of course, showed nothing.

"It must not be made of normal matter," she mused aloud. There had been hints that the long-extinct race known as the Naltar had advanced beyond even nanotechnology, using individual protons and neutrons instead of large 'clunky' things like individual atoms. But this gem didn't even have that kind of a structure. It was an ideal Platonic solid made real. It was as if a little chunk of spacetime had simply decided that it wanted to be a sphere today.

She set the gem back in its case and set her forehead in her hands in despair. There wasn't a whole lot more she could do. If she couldn't figure this out, then Geoff was going to be crawling up her ass for the foreseeable future. Violet prided herself on her ability to produce results, and so far she had nothing but speculation to show for nine hours of work.

She folded her arms on the bench top and rested her chin on them as she regarded the gem. "What are you, you little bastard?" she asked the gem rhetorically. Then she thought back on the one instruction that she'd been given, namely 'don't look into the gem'.

"Ridiculous," Violet muttered. "Utterly ridiculous. What is it going to do, bite me?" She brought her head closer to the case and stared into the depths of the gem.

And now, finally, she saw a reaction from it.

A very faint pulse of light began to throb in the green depths of the gem. It must be that the gem was only activated if something sapient stared into it, because her previous testing had never elicited such a response.

"Holy shit," she muttered. "It really is a palantir!"

She stared in fascination as the glow became a helical pattern that looked almost like a DNA molecule. Violet had a brief thought that this might be dangerous, but her scientific curiosity overrode any fear. The double helix rotated and spun in the gem, faster and faster...

And then Violet got the greatest shock of her life as a cheerful voice sounded loudly in her head.

[Hey, good looking! I'm Izzy! What's your name?]

"Fuck!" yelled Violet as she jerked back from the gem in surprise.

[Well, we could if you really want to. But maybe we should take it slow before going all the way. You know, see a movie, have dinner, all of that?]

The voice had a feminine lilt to it as it echoed in her head. Violet began to be very afraid. What the hell was this?

[I'm an Izzy, like I said. You're...you're not the old dude that Larry gave the gem to, are you? I can sense you have a definite lack of external junk.]

"Junk? What? I...hello, can you hear me?"

[Loud and clear, sweetie.]

"Don't call me sweetie!" Violet definitely felt like she had lost control of the situation.

[Can I call you Honey Pie?]

"Definitely not!"

[Honey Lamb?]

"Please, no."

[Honey Boo?]

"No, damn it, my name's Violet! What the fuck..." she pressed her hands to her head. Had she snapped under pressure? Was this what madness felt like?

[You're not crazy, Violet. I understand that weird voices in your head might freak you out. But let me prove to you that you're sane.]

For one split second she thought about running right out the door and not stopping until she hit something large and immovable. But then she considered what she'd have to tell Geoff in the morning. 'I got scared because I had a disembodied voice speak in my head' was a non-starter of an explanation. She'd get shitcanned, or institutionalized, or both. She raised her head and stared warily at the gem. "How can you prove it?"

[Do a search on 'Trinity College Incident Braydon'. That'll tell you where this little piece of me came from.]

Violet sat back, then stood up and moved over to a nearby terminal. They only had limited network access in the lab, but even with that handicap she was able to find multiple stories about some kind of outlandish demonstration or magic trick that had occurred a few days ago in the middle of the Great Court at Trinity College. The prankster had been identified as one Larson Braydon, which was impossible because Mr. Braydon had been given up for dead in deep space months earlier. He claimed that he'd befriended a powerful extra-dimensional being with a long tongue-twister of a name. That entity's name had been shortened to...

"Izzy. That's you."

[Yep!]

"Larson...that's the 'Larry' you mentioned. So you're the one who helped him with this, er, demonstration?"

[Yeah. We were trying to make my existence public, but it seems like the Confederation higher-ups are still trying to keep it all quiet.]

Violet read more. "Yes, it looks like they're claiming it was some kind of publicity stunt for a new movie. I have to say, as a cover story that's pretty weak."

[They're scared. Scared about what I might be rather than deal with what I am. Scared people do stupid things.]

The redhead looked at the gemstone again. "So if they're trying to keep this quiet...damn. If I tell Geoff I've spoken with you, then they might stick me in seclusion." She glanced up and was grateful that they didn't have any security cameras in the labs themselves. Given the classified nature of the facility, it had been deemed too much of a headache to deal with so much classified camera footage. Only the hallways were monitored.

Her fears faded into the background as she realized the opportunity she had in front of her. She had so many questions that she didn't even know where to start. Violet felt a palpable hunger at the thought of getting a hold of even the tiniest portion of the technology used to create this gemstone.

[Can I make a suggestion? Let me bring you to where I am. It'll be easier to explain about myself if you're here. Don't worry, I can always send you back whenever you want.]

The proposition made her pause. Assuming she was indeed 'brought' to wherever this Izzy character was, how could she be certain that it wouldn't just kill her? Or keep her forever?

"What are the risks?"

[There is no physical danger. But your bosses won't like it for sure. They'd be frantic enough knowing that you talked to me. And visiting me in person would be even worse in their eyes.]

Violet felt torn. On the one hand, this was a not-to-be-missed opportunity for advancing the Confederation's scientific capability. But on the other hand, this might be letting herself in for a lot of trouble if her 'visit' was discovered.

She chuckled darkly. "Well, I'm already in trouble, I guess. In for a penny, in for a pound. I'll do it."

[That's the spirit! I have to confess, I prefer meeting face-to-face.]

"I see. So, um, what do I do?"

[Pick up the gem with both hands and hold it tight. Then step into the middle of the room. I'll take care of the rest.]

Violet felt her heart beat a little faster as she scooped up the glowing green sphere and clutched it with both hands to her clavicle. It felt a little warm against the skin of her hands. She walked into the center of her lab and waited.

She was just beginning to feel like she was indeed crazy when a curtain of jet-black material flowed up all around her. It rapidly closed over her head, sealing her inside a dome of darkness. The only light came from the little gem in her hands. Violet started to panic a little.

"Relax," said Izzy's voice from all around her. It was now a proper voice and not speaking directly into her head. "You're flying Izzy-Air, and I assure you we have a perfect safety record. Today's flight will be at an altitude of, oh, about two feet."

In spite of her misgivings, Violet chuckled. Then she felt the oddest little lurch in her stomach, as if she'd suddenly been spun around. The dome above her head cracked open, and the black material flowed back down into the ground.

She was standing in a coffee shop. It was one of a chain of shops local to Colorado. It was now mid-day, judging by the angle of sunlight coming through the large picture window. The shop was narrow and sparsely populated with a mix of species. There were a couple of xryakx sitting on cushions along one wall, as well as the huge therapod form of a kleothic tucked into one corner. The dinosauroid alien was sipping from a big glass of something green and chunky. Whatever the drink was must have been tasty, because the kleothic's skin flashed with the rippling pink pattern that indicated he was happy. Violet didn't recognize anyone here. The utter banality of the place confused her.

"Yo, Violet! Over here!" A black arm waved towards the back of the shop, and she cautiously approached. The speaker was a human made out of what looked like black velvet. He was wearing jeans and a beige shirt and sitting cross-legged on a cushion next to one of the low tables intended for xryakx use. His eyes were featureless and green, and they glowed with an inner light. His angular, cheerful face looked oddly familiar to Violet. He stirred what looked like a cup of black coffee in front of him. He gave her a smile; his teeth were a green shade slightly lighter than his eyes.