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92. Biological Parents
🕑 Added 2023-09-29 12:15:58 +0000 UTC
On the edge of the Island of the Great Heartsong a bright flash of light with the sound of space folding and stabilizing at the same time from the Tek Teleporter as two figures appeared above it until now an empty and flat platform of metal.
One of the figures was that of an otter-like creature of two meters (~6ft6) in length from the tip of its muzzle to that of its flattened tail, it's body was partially replaced by metal such as two metal arms above its back that turned to flat ring void of anything but that gave it the capability of hovering, which it did.
This was Cupla, the cybernetically augmented Pandoran otter the All-Father and All-Mother rescued years ago. A substantial amount of its flesh had been replaced when it was younger and it only increased as time went on but its own will, synthetic material replacing what had once failed for the implants that changed it such as part of its spine replaced by Tek for it to access this same technology.
This was how the otter could use the Tek Teleporter without the need of a Scout and how it and the second figure got here from Hell's Gate. Speaking of, the second was a ten-year-old human boy who might as well pass for a few years older due to his height and musculature, his wild dark blond hair waved with the wind as his brown eyes looked at everything with familiarity.
Taking a deep breath of the normally toxic air whole blue hexagon flickering slightly all around his face Miles sighed and jumped down the metal platform.
Why wasn't he in the middle of falling unconscious and dying was simple. Held tightly around his waist was a belt of metal and dark grey synthetic material, the thin line on it glowed a faint blue with alien energy, Element.
It was a Tek Exopack, the upgrade of the Exopack V1.2, and what an upgrade it was, this one used technology beyond Miles or anyone's understanding except for one individual, it's the creator but the boy knew this device worked on a somewhat similar principle to the Tek Forcefield. A technology he couldn't comprehend and wouldn't be able to without untold decades of study and augmentations to improve his mental faculties.
This belt was a miniaturized version of it that emitted a weak forcefield giving minor thermic, and hazardous radiation protection and the ability to breathe on Pandora, it essentially filtered out anything dangerous for the current wearer, though it wouldn't protect the wearer on physical front from anything stronger than small caliber bullet. It had more functions but its main advantage was that it let the wearer function as if nothing was on them.
His cyborg otter friend hovered behind him silently as he advanced on the cleared-out path in front of him that led to the dense jungle, one he knew like the back of his hand
Three dozen meters in the jungle and a massive anima was trailing behind the unaware human child, the creature approached its obsidian black wickedly sharp claw equating to the tallest of Na'vi in size touched together like a deathly lullaby but one that would be unheard thanks to the sound of nature and it's high frequency, only ones gifted with an exceptional sense of hearing would have the displeasure of listening to such a sound.
As such Miles didn't react while he was being crept on only once the creature was right behind, breathing down his neck with four eyes staring into his very being with an intelligence no such beast should have did Miles finally feel something was wrong.
But it was too late for the preteen to react, only his eyes dilated as he felt his feet leave the ground against his will, his heart felt as if it was going to explode out of his chest all the while a piercing cry of shock sounding like a prolonged 'fuuuuck' escaped him but it all stopped when he was grabbed back by his chief then placed in a warm cozy place.
"Aah… It's just you Gladius… You scared the life out of me haha.", Miles laughed rather awkwardly looking up at the great austrapede's massive head looking down at him, its two pairs of eyes filled with amusement.
He had just been placed in the massive clawed bird's ventral pouch, one quite similar yet different from the marsupial of Earth, all extinct in the wild.
"And why didn't you tell me anything, Cupla?! You're supposed to protect me, or inform me of threats!", the boy said with anger at the grave betrayal pointing his finger at the hovering otter as Gladius began its walk, long step by long step, shaking the boy's point of view.
*CUPLA ANSWERS WITH SERIOUSNESS AND AMUSEMENT: MILES LACKS AWARENESS LUCKY IT WAS GLADIUS AND CUPLA IS NO CRUTCH*
The otter's synthetic voice echoed and Miles couldn't rebuke it, though the boy was quite certain this wasn't Cupla the one behind it all. Still, he grumbled in relative silence about how unfair it was but ultimately calmed down as they advanced further on the island.
'She isn't here…', Miles thought as the lack of the enchantingly bewitching beyond normalcy yet slothful pure white-haired female Na'vi that usually was around the young Tree of Souls they were in the middle of passing by.
'Is she with Dad? Probably…', he wondered, she was his Father's wife-mate if he understood correctly but he couldn't understand her. She wasn't like any people he ever talked to, quite alike to his Father, both so far apart in way of thinking and acting to anything else.
Kiri was calling her the All-Mother just like Mo'at, and it correlated to the Na'vi name in question being Eywa, but for his young mind, it couldn't be possible for her to be the true goddess, maybe a fragment somehow? In any case, she wasn't a forest but a Na'vi albeit the singularly most unique one from all that he knew but one all the same.
She was venerated, and treated by a seemingly random and irregular amount of Na'vi, even some humans like a divinity and a superior being. For the latter, he could agree, from her disposition, and presence to her movement, gaze, and how being near her brought a sense of utter inferiority and a deep acknowledgment of one's weakness, this type of thing was impossible to not remark.
It was just like with his Father and it explained why the post-human accepted her and only her. Not for the fault of lacking options but because they weren't worth his attention, nevertheless his love.
One thing that brought annoyance to Miles was the already little time his Father could give him was reduced due to her but Liam was direct about it. This would not change for the foreseeable future. It will continue this way as he has many other projects to work on and he couldn't split himself.
The boy understood this more than any other, he bragged a lot about what his adopted Father could do, had done, and was doing and the sheer importance for everyone behind his actions but Miles was not pleased with this situation at the end of the day.
As for his biological parents… Well, it never was hidden from him as he realized a week ago, his Father never lied, he was honest, too much at times for many but that didn't mean he spoke of everything or would answer everything for no reason.
The common mortals were not privy to certain information for knowing them would be dangerous and pointless as they wouldn't be able to do anything with them.
His Father guided others to form their answers and opinions, particularly on such delicate matters relating to the realm of chaotic and illogical emotions where mathematics failed. A delicate matter Miles discovered while he was doing a test given by Liam. A discovery he truly wished he never made for it brought great shame.
It was a routine combat practice where he needed to fight robots while being handicapped by artificial bugs and malfunction in his mech frame and system, it was a run-against time where he either needed to fix this problem while defending himself and then win or focus on winning and not fixing the problem while they got worse and worse.
He randomly stumbled upon those unbiased and highly detailed documents related to his biological parents as he was trying to fix an error that caused a massive one-second delay in the mech's right hand between it and his movement.
The documents were not even hidden, he just never found them until now as he didn't look for them. For obvious reasons, who thinks such information would be here? And at this point, he wasn't thinking about who his biological parents were, one could be considered bad but the other… The other was a monster in human skin and that would be putting it very lightly.
Frankly, he didn't want to believe it was the truth. He needed spoken answers.
*Caww?*
The inquisitive caw of Gladius snapped Miles out of his reverie, his eyes the caught glimpse of the high-tech mansion fused with the wild local flora. Climbing out of the ventral pouch he waved to the great austrapede goodbye, a movement that was answered in kind.
After this Miles hurried himself to the mansion, the large door slid open before him automatically and he entered with great familiarity.
The immediate things one might notice aside from the sheer technology present, inhuman level of organizations, almost alien aesthetic, and the impossible quality of everything in sight was that the house was fitted for creatures far above humans' regular size.
From doors, mugs, to chairs and pretty much everything else that might be thought of, however, it was no problem for Miles, there was accommodation for the problem tied to his vertical deficit. A deficit he hoped wouldn't remain so for too long, he understood he would never grow that tall but he could hope to grow to a high he wouldn't be just a midget to at the very least Kiri.
Neither was it for Cupla following behind him, the otter chirped and happily hovered over the massive obsidian black couch and plopped itself onto it before promptly beginning to snore. The highly advanced memory foam is bending and forming the most comfortable resting place.
Rolling his eyes at the sight Miles progressed within, turning to his right he entered a short corridor. At its end, a door slid open and he strutted inside an holoscreen came to life but as soon as it did the button for level '-3' pressed itself and the door closed.
None of what happened was truly automated, it was all under his Father's control, a simple extension of his will and body. The way down was smooth and silent, the only sound was that of his breathing and heartbeat, only once the door slid back open and he walked did the general silence was broken.
What greeted him was a truly massive room that lacked a wall as there was an opening leading to the outside, the cliff, right before the fall was a vaguely humanoid figure of synthetic material of shining gray and electric blue kneeling on one huge denigrated metallic leg with one of its equally huge fists serving as further support.
If it were to stand up it would reach five meters off the ceiling at a roughly towering eighteen meters (~59ft) of height. He knew what it was, a mecha, a Mek to be exact, and it was being worked on for him. It was the reason Miles was here today but he wasn't as excited as he should be and he knew why.
The Mek's torso was spread open revealing both synthetic structure and black organic tissue pulsing with blue light two major characteristics of Tek, from where the heart for a human should be was a strange sphere of blinding color and from it several cables that fused into one as Scouts flocked around it.
"Good afternoon Miles.", a deep voice rumbled from the other side of the room, owner none other than his Father, Liam, a fully armored, expect-from-head, 2.62 meter tall man, and his two pure silver iris adorned with soft blue and purple energy locked onto the individual in question.
"Hello Dad and… Eywa.", the boy said, his voice rather strained and conflicted, he got merely a glance with an imperceptible smile from the letter, a sign she acknowledged his existence but not much more.
Then she intensely looked into Liam's eyes, unknown to him the two were having a Psionic discussion that concluded in a short kiss with him cringing at the sight before the Na'vi flicked her long tail and jumped off the cliff.
Miles looked at the scene unfolding feeling no ounce of surprise, he didn't even feel shock as he saw her rise with no aid on her body, like he supposed it was due to some kind of gadget.
He walked slowly, his nervous gaze switching between the chair growing from the ground and the cable connected to it mingling with the one jutting out the heart of the kneeling mecha.
His body language, micro expression, and the smell, even if he tried to hide it. It was so blatantly obvious to the post-human that it might as well be written in big letters on his adoptive son's forehead. The addition of Miles' vitals reading from the belt and the knowledge to put the situation made this the more obvious of what he was going through.
'As I thought… Not one of the worst scenarios still. It's an unpleasant sight, he shouldn't have to go through this. He is but a victim of circumstance. But it's a step he must take at some point and the earlier the better.', Liam internally analyzed the situation rather coldly as he understood what must be happening inside the preteen's head and there wasn't much to do but respond honestly accordingly to his doubts and questions.
"Are you okay, Miles?", and so he asked crouching down but still with his size, he was a few heads taller than the boy, and as he tried to keep eye contact he noticed Miles held some difficulty doing so.
"I have read the document about my biological parents… What they have done… Will others hate me, if they learn about it? Will Kiri hate me? Will everybody hate me? Do you hate me?", the boy blurted out looking down at the ground, his body shivering at implications, implication that contained the fact his biological father was immolated in an explosion made by Liam.
And if not Liam what of others? He was glad beyond belief it was never shared but it was still with great effect on his person.
"Miles… I will not lie to you, even if it might hurt to hear and you might not understand now. The most honest answer I and anyone can give you is it depends on the individual, there is sadly never will be a universal truth for this. That doesn't mean their feelings represent reality or are justified, there is only the objective truth, then there are opinions and blind hate for an innocent child is of uniquely that realm.", Liam said in an unsettlingly calm tone as he placed his armored finger below Miles' chin for the boy to look into his inhuman eyes, the cold metal washing the daze out of the boy.
"For me… For me, I do not hate you, you are my son even if not of my blood, our relationship might not be perfect but it is what it is. I do not hate you or harbor any negative feelings for what you are and who your biological parents are, the sins of the parents are not that of the child. Paz Socorro and Miles Quaritch's actions are not yours and you should never think so, particularly for the latter.", he started smiling slightly at how Miles relaxed at his words.
"Thank you… Dad.", the boy said, a smile of his own, if strained bloomed upon his features, his reddened eyes filled with relief as he hugged the much bigger post-human whose muscular armored neck was almost as thick as his torso.
"Miles, do you still want to proceed with what has been planned for today?", once the hug was finished Liam said and the answer he got was a slightly larger smile and a positive nod.
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