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For some hearing the Shadow's words would be enough to count as a religious experience. For others it would be considered an omen of death. I don't have either of these reactions; instead I find myself paralyzed with indecision. Most of me is in shock with the sheer incredible improbability of the situation. Shadows are the only truly alien intelligence I am aware of. All of the others either descended directly from Earth, or were created by those who did. Nobody seems to know when they were first encountered, or how long it took for their existence to be confirmed. They have turned into legends, with tales to match.

The parts of my mind that are still functioning are having a lively debate. For some that would be a figure of speech, but part of my training involved learning how to hold an unbiased debate with myself. Unfortunately right now none of the different sides of the debate seem to be able to convince the others. I find myself caught between curiosity and fear, with no clue which to follow.

While I sit frozen the source of my inner conflict seems content to just float. Something about its manner gives me the impression of confidence, like it knows exactly what my response will be. Eventually it is this impression which shifts my internal debate in favor of curiosity, which by itself makes me wonder how much the Shadow actually knows.

I try to speak, but my throat hasn't caught up to my new curiosity. I cough a few times, then try again. "You, of all beings, have a job for me? What use could a Shadow possibly have for a calculator, especially one with my reputation?"

The Shadow's reply comes instantly as soon as my question is finished, further reinforcing the impression that it knows far more about what is going on in my head than should be possible. "There is a job for which you are the only person qualified. I have information on what that job is, but that shall wait until everyone is present. There are others who must hear at the same time."

At these words my curiosity increases tenfold. I have heard tales of Shadows seeking out individuals, with a mix of consequences for the recipient of their attention, and have even heard of groups that met after each of them separately encountered a Shadow. But never have I heard of a Shadow talking to multiple people at once. I have even read speculation that the Shadow's psychology doesn't allow them to accept the presence of more than one other person at a time. Evidently that is a false hypothesis.

I begin to ask a question, but this time the Shadow doesn't even bother to wait for me to speak before answering me. "There are four. They are all already here in this place. You will be able to figure it out." Even though I can see nothing that changes about its appearance, I feel like the Shadow is laughing at me.

I take a moment to control my reactions. It wouldn't do to yell at the only potential paying client I have seen for months. It surprises me how quickly I have gone from awe to annoyance with this whole situation. The Shadow isn't even very aggravating compared to many of the clients I have taken in the past. I decide that the strangeness of the situation must still have me off balance, and resolve to humor the Shadow's oddities for the moment. I don't bother replying to it though.

I take another look around the room, trying to assess who might be a candidate for the one of the four positions. My eyes are immediately drawn to the group of dragons, who are the main source of noise in the bar. Keeping in mind the Shadow's earlier statement I don't take the time to remove the noise filtering from the conversation, but instead concentrate on what I can see. Utilizing another of my implants I run an active record/compare on their motions and gestures. After a few minutes I begin to see how they are interacting with each other. I notice that only two of them know each other well, but four of them have something shared in their backgrounds that set them apart from the fifth. The odd one out is the female with her natural wings; the rest don't seem to appreciate her presence in the group.

Having identified that particular female as unusual for more than just her wings, I take a few more minutes analyzing her. She seems to be aware that she is unwelcome, but her posture indicates that she feels that being in the presence of other dragons is more important than avoiding their aversion. She forces the others to include her in the conversation, despite their obvious desire to talk around her. I admire her persistence, but it isn't until I notice the distinctive surgical scars along her forelimbs that I discover the reason for the dislike directed at her.

Looking carefully, and activating another implant, I notice similar scars along her neck and sides, as well as a faint pattern of darker lines in her wings. The only time I have seen such scars was when I talked with a human that had gotten implants for deep space engineering. He had the capability to work unprotected in full vacuum for upwards of an hour, and had dozens of other implants that helped him with his job. One of the implants changed the makeup of his skin, which led to the scars healing in odd ways. Looking at the extent of the dragon's scars, I determine that she likely has more implants than I have ever seen in a single person. Far more than most consider acceptable, and enough that I wonder what she might be capable of.

I turn back to the Shadow. This time I wait for it to simply answer my question without my having to say anything, but it remains silent. After a few moments I give up on my minor defiance. "Her?" I ask, indicating with beak and wing who I mean.

The Shadow pauses for a moment before responding, which further reinforces my impression that it is playing with me. "Go talk to her and find out." it says. I find that its humming voice is becoming more annoying with every sentence it speaks, but once again I control my reactions and simply hop down from my perch to do as it commands.

The time it takes me to walk over to the dragons' table is more than enough for me to decide on my approach. They stand as tall as I do, which is a bit less than half the height of a human, but are much longer. As I step through the privacy field it makes my feathers itch, but I ignore the sensation as all five dragons turn to look at me. What I have just done is considered a minor taboo, and not to be done without significant cause. I focus my attention on the one with wings, ignoring the others for the moment.

Taking on what I remember dragons consider an apologetic tone, I say to her "My name is Aen. Sorry for interrupting, but there is someone over at my table I think you might like to meet." I point in the Shadow's direction.

The other four dragons all look where I indicate, and scoff at me. The object of my attention begins to follow suit, but freezes up halfway through the motion. Her eyes grow wide, and she turns to stare at the Shadow as though entranced. The others notice her reaction, and confusedly look back and forth between her and the Shadow several times, obviously not able to see the latter. I file their reaction away under unsolved mysteries, and keep my attention focused on her.

After several seconds I hear the winged female finally speak. "It can't be...." she mutters to herself, before turning to me. "Is that what I think it is?" she asks, awe obvious in her voice. Her wings flare out, and I can feel slight ripples in the gravity as they do. The other dragons' expressions of confusion double in intensity at her question.

"It is." I reply. My apologetic tone is gone, replaced with a mildly sarcastic one. I wonder what she expects, and am interested to see what happens when the being in question fails to live up to those expectations. "It evidently has a job for us."

She shakes her head as though to clear it, folding up her wings again. Then she starts walking over to the corner where the Shadow hovers, her eyes fixed on it, and acting as though she has forgotten everything else. I hurry to keep up, my strides being somewhat shorter than hers. The remaining four dragons watch us leave for a second, then shrug and get back to their conversation.

I arrive back at my table just as the dragon does. I am somewhat surprised when she bows before the Shadow, looking very much like she is worshiping it, and her greeting to it confirms this impression. "I humble myself before you, emissary of the Universe," she says, pointedly looking down, "My name is Dehhv Thirteen Fifty-Six. I await whatever commands you see fit to give me." Her wings flare out, again causing small ripples in the gravity as the quantum-conducting fibers embedded in her wing membrane interact with the gravity generation net.

I don't have to wonder for long what the Shadow's response to Fifty-Six's worship will be, but when it comes it surprises me. "Don't worship me," it says, "Save your worship for when the universe shows itself to you directly." I decide that for now I am just going to give up on trying to predict the Shadow, a difficult decision for me to make. I notice that Fifty-Six seems to take the command in stride, standing up and visibly calming down.

Fifty-Six opens her mouth to speak, but I interrupt her before she can begin. "I suppose they are also going to be joining us?" I ask the Shadow, pointing at the human and computer that I was listening in on before. They have left behind the corax couple, and are making their way around the tables in our direction. Fifty-Six gives me a glare at my interruption, but I ignore her. The Shadow remains silent, which I take to mean I am correct.

The computer is fitted into a harness equipped with six long metallic tendrils, allowing it to walk with an odd gait. Computers need such harnesses to be able to interact with things physically, and most of them are much more than they initially seem. The human is male, wearing a suit with an elaborate yellow Celtic knot design to indicate that he is a weaver, specializing in jumps. It is blatant advertising, since jump-weavers are always in high demand. He carries a briefcase with him, which is somewhat unusual, but not unheard of.

When they arrive at our table the human speaks first, talking over Fifty-Six and myself to address the Shadow. "I am Kenac, and this is Draobyek. We received a message to come here and 'wait for something unique.' Sir, I assume you are the one who sent the message?" His accent is distinct high class Solar, which doesn't produce a favorable first impression from me. However I find myself more put off by his literally talking right over my head. Even when Shadows are about, I feel this is rude.

To reinforce my presence I reply before the Shadow can, though without any visible way to tell it is talking I have no idea if I am actually interrupting it. "I think you can safely assume that, yes. I am Aen, that is Fifty-Six, and dark-and-floaty back there is looking to hire us all for some mystery mission." Fifty-Six hisses at me loudly as I disrespect the object of her worship, and once again I ignore her. I just don't have much admiration for the Shadow at this point, despite its legendary reputation.

Kenac stands up taller, and looks down at me in a way that clearly says he is affronted by my apparent interruption. I look back up at him with my beak slightly open in a faint smile, though I have no idea what he makes of the expression. While we are busy with our staring contest, Draobyek brings up the question on all our minds. "Request: What is the nature of the job?" Its voice is emotionless, but otherwise sounds just as organic as my own. If it weren't for the preface, I would easily be able think it was natural.

For once I am able to predict the Shadow's reply exactly. "Not everyone is present who needs to hear this information. One person remains to find." I roll my eyes at the statement, and break eye contact with Kenac to take another look around the bar. I faintly hear the others questioning the Shadow, but pay it no attention as I cross one after another of the patrons and staff off my mental list. I go with my gut feelings on the matter, figuring that whatever the Shadow is looking for won't be what I consider logical. Eventually I am left with only one possibility. The others suddenly look at me, and I realize I just swore loudly.

I turn to look at the Shadow, hoping I am wrong, but somehow knowing otherwise. "It's her, isn't it?" I ask, pointing at the corax with the blood addiction. The others look where I am pointing, then give the Shadow and me various quizzical looks.

The Shadow confirms my fears. "Yes, she is the one we need. Meet me at the fourth docking ring when you are all together." With that it vanishes right before my eyes.

_______________________

Finally got this done. I consider it to still be in rough draft form, so tell me all the things I did wrong. I personally feel my diologue is fairly atrocious. I am also considering changing the name, since I have altered my idea on where things are going.

I am working on not revealing everything about the setting immediately, but I have no idea how I am doing. If there are questions you have, then feel free to ask them. Not everything is supposed to make sense yet, but if something not making sense breaks your enjoyment I want to know.

Khaesho Scorpent gave me the numbers for Fifty-Six's name. If you comment then I might ask you for such things. Khaesho is also responsible for pushing me into writing this, so if you like it thank him.