DIVA/WISP: Time Enough For Tea #1

deucexm deucexm at gmail.com
Tue May 9 18:45:06 PDT 2017


It's high time I use this meta tag, yes?  I wanted also to do something a bit 
more bite-size than my usual fare, in order to get the creative juices flowing 
- Mr. Perron's work has been quite inspirational.  Even in the far reaches of 
the DiVerse, there is, in fact:

TIME ENOUGH FOR TEA: A DiVerse Alpha Chronicle
by Colin Stokes

01

Frontier worlds rarely had it easy, particularly those on the border of Imperial 
space.  Viverde, despite its enticing name (and more enticing scenery), was in 
the even less enviable position of bordering both the Empire's territory and the 
depths of unknowable chaos-space; not a common predicament for worlds aligned 
with the Nilium Collective.

Critical Eye was ostensibly Viverde's guardian, though she slept in a stasis tank 
most of the time, her twenty-one satellites keeping watch over her chamber.  It 
wasn't strictly necessary; the authorities only activated her in emergencies.  Or 
more accurately, they'd come in and tell her to do her business out in space, 
well away from anything she could damage with her distortion feedback, and then 
leave in a hurry.

She'd gotten used to it over time.  There were enough incursions into the system 
to keep her from getting too bored - and besides, she was... happy... to be of 
use.  When she didn't think about it too deeply, in any case.

In the depths of slumber, she vaguely felt one of her satellites swivel to regard 
something.  Time for another crisis to avert, no doubt...  Then the bubbles 
started to form in the tank, prickling coldly against her skin, and she 
reluctantly opened her eyes.

There before her stood not the harried government officials she was used to 
seeing, but a young child with sandy hair and inquisitive jade eyes, dressed in 
an unfamiliar white robe that looked like some sort of uniform.  She only had a 
moment to take in the view, and then the tank purged its fluids and fogged up 
with a rush of hot, moist air that brought her to full wakefulness.

By the time the tank slid open to let her out, Critical Eye had slipped on her 
matte black body-sleeve with its stylized seafoam double V - for the Viverde 
Vanguard, of course - and wrangled her soaked auburn hair into submission with a 
simple ponytail.  The stasis tank was quite good for her physically, but it took 
time to look her best; time which she never got.

Her guest didn't seem too put off by her appearance, though, simply standing with 
their hands behind their back and rocking up on their toes briefly.  "Hello," 
they said, in a voice as androgynous as their appearance.  It was nice, actually, 
contrasted with the usual gruff or brusque tones she most often heard.

"Um, hello," Critical Eye returned tentatively, her cloud of satellites spreading 
out to let her examine her guest more closely.  Whoever they were, they were a 
little taller than she'd first thought from the other side of the tank - perhaps 
not a child after all.  Their white robe was a simple one, high-collared and 
knee-length, with sleeves ending at the wrist - and perhaps most notably, lacking 
any sort of identification, Viverdean or otherwise.  White gloves and heeled 
white boots rounded out their outfit.  "So where's the problem this time?  Where 
do I need to go?  And if there's time for it - who are you?  You're not the 
usual... person for this."

"Problem?" came the echo, accompanied by a headtilt.  "-oh!  Oh, yes!  There's no 
problem at all," the figure replied with a small smile.  "I suppose there's been 
something of a misunderstanding.  My name is Laurel, and I'm just here to talk, 
that's all.  Do you have some time, then?"

Critical Eye stared for a moment, vaguely confused by the turn of events, and 
finally nodded.  "Well, yes, it takes some time for my stasis tank to reset."

Laurel's face lit up with a brighter smile.  "Time enough for tea?"



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