Knee Socks

[Hira Mitsae]

The Homecoming​

It was a silent and mournful morning on the station ‘Obscurity’ deep in the outer rim territory of the Galaxy, the silence permeated through the hallways and clinged to the walls of the observatorium. It was a silence pronounced in three-fold, a distinct feeling layered in obnoxious contemplation, miserable anticipation and the bothersome worry of a man who knew that he was slowly becoming irrelevant in a time of upcoming artificial intelligence and ships powered by droid brains. How long would it take for Ty’rel Holdings to contact their buddies at Hegemonic Automaton to cooperate on an artificial intelligence that could think, reason and calculate probability to such a degree that scientists like him would become irrelevant?

Only the thought made him slowly cringe, and here he was waiting on the bigwig himself to deem him worthy of a short meeting. Cold sweat of fear rolling down his spine, knees shaking like he was on trial for a genocide he did not commit, how did it get this far? Wasn’t he the illustrious Ryran Burian, perhaps the best engineer in his particular field? What was he really afraid of? So what if they tried to replace him? There would be dozens of competitors who would love to get their hands on his brain - metaphorically speaking, of course. He wasn’t going to donate his brain, that would be weird.

Perhaps Titan Industries would be interested, then again… they just finished developing the Maladi, rumours in the Hegemony stated that it was to be one of the first modern droid-controlled ships. Which was almost as bad as a supercomputer that could calculate probabilities and come up with new designs to be developed, no Titan was probably not what Ryran was looking for. Perhaps Silk Holdings? They were a Holdings, before Neuro-Saav was even a speck in Irani’s eye, maybe they would truly appreciate him and what he had to offer, yeah. Burian would show them, he would-

Before he could finish that particular line of thought a light chime burst through his mental process, it was quickly followed by the methodical tick of heels on the durasteel floor. Ryran was currently busy calculating the odds that he would get out of the meeting alive, calculating what the probabilities were that he would be able to hide underneath the sofa and not be noticed by whoever was coming for him. In the end, when the cough waked him from his feverish ponderings the scientist simply sighed to himself, dusted himself off and looked up.

‘Ryran Burian? Mister Irani will see you now.’

No recognition woke up in her cold blue eyes, no pangs of sympathy were noticed from a quark of the eyebrow or slightly raised lips. For all intents and purposes the secretary was entirely devoid of any human emotions, Ryran simply nodded and followed after her. He didn’t try to hold any conversations with the woman, something told him that it would only end in embarrassing silence and fidgeting feets. That was the last thing he wanted to accomplish right before this meeting of a century, but it didn’t stop him from checking her out regardless.

All legs, half-long blonde hair, geometrically pleasant shapes… one would almost say that Irani was hiring play bunnies instead of competent assistants that could actually count to ten. One would almost say that, because there was something in her walk, some form of strut that told Ryran that she could kick his teeth in without breaking a sweat. Then again… most girls could kick his teeth in without breaking a sweat, he wasn’t exactly the most fit of people these days. They kept a brisk pace and Ryran passed multiple closed doors, some of them were marked with codes, while others simply stated that security clearance x or y was required.

The scientist wasn’t entirely sure what the purpose was of mixing several security clearances together in one hallway though, that seemed highly illogical and contrary to security protocol. What would stop anyone from simply waltzing into one of the rooms anyway? Well, probably a feth ton of measures that would eradicate a person from the world, but that wasn’t the point of his tirade right now. Finally they entered the turbolift and the assistant punched in a few codes, of course Irani’s office was located in one of the highest towers, typical.

‘So… eh… nice erm. ventilation system?’ Ryran wanted to stab himself to death, what in the seven hells possessed him from actually talking to the woman. Why, why, why. Ventilation systems? Was he out of his damn mind? For a few minutes nothing really happened, the assistant seemed to mull it all over for a while and didn’t immediately reply. Eventually, when they were about half way there the girl coughed softly, maybe she thought the situation was awkward. Maybe it was a thin-veiled laugh, in the end she answered him though.

‘If my calculations are correct the air humidity is currently on par with the standard levels on Coruscant, would you like me to request modifications?’

This stumped Ryran for a little while and he wasn’t entirely too sure how to reply to it, a part of his mind was trying to alert him to something. The stillness of the assistant, the fact that she didn’t seem to even shift in her stance as they were waiting to get to the penthouse-side, if the scientist had been paying attention to her chest - which would have been perverted and he would never do such a thing- he would have noticed the fact that the rise and fall was entirely too superficial to be of any help in the breathing process.

Such things were beyond him though at this particular moment in time and instead he shook his head in defeat.

‘N-no, thank you. It is fine.’

The assistant nodded her head once and resumed standing vigil over the lift counter. Their journey was almost over.

When Life Gives You Lemons…​

His momma had always told him that when life gave ya lemons you shouldn’t be happy with pure unadulterated lemonade, that wasn’t enough. You had to truly make something out of yourself in this world and so the only thing that would fit was to turn the sour-faced, good-for-nothing lemon into something that would serve you and the world at large. For example, one could make a bomb out of a few lemons, that sounds very unlikely, but trust the scientist in this one. It is all very possible and you do not even want to know how much you can earn with it (a lot). You would be surprised how many assassinations were done these days with incendiary lemonade juice, just a single sip and boom. All your problems were suddenly gone, that was the thought that currently raced through Ryran’s head as the turbolift stopped at its destination and brought them to the highest level of the Obscurity.

The secretary was already waiting outside the cabin, a worryingly patient expression firmly fixed on her face and that told him all he needed to know, things were going to be very interesting in this specific meeting. He took a deep breath, then for good measure took a few more, straightened his tie, fixed his hair and then finally filed out of the lift. Behind him the doors closed and he had to hold himself together, every nerve told him to take a sprint backwards and rip those doors of salvation open again. But that exit was now closed for him and the only way was forwards, so that was what he did, taking one step after another until both of them were finally standing in front of two polished metal doors, initials were carved into them and for once it wasn’t all about mister ‘Darell Irani’. The initials were shaped into the letters… huh. ‘J.O.’ What would that stand for? Junior Operator? Janitor Ordinaire?

Ryran knew that this wasn’t the main office of Irani, that the man was far too sophisticated to spend his office days in some far-flung station in deep space, too far away from the highlights of common society and civilization, no a man like Irani would want to be closer to the party and high society of the ‘realworld’, whatever that might mean. In the end he shook the contemplation off, it didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things and was only leading him astray from the actual reason he was here. The reason was currently patiently stuffed in the corners of the hard drive of his datapad, if everything went well his job would be secured and… perhaps… just maybe there would be a promotion in order. You never really knew with a man like Irani, maybe he would be praised, maybe he would be fired and thrown out, it was like the roll of a dice.

Friends and family had never understood why he insisted on working for Ty’rel Holdings, it had seemed such a droll endeavor when so much else could be done with his talents. Governments that could use his intellect, maybe some kind of humanitarian project that would save the lives of billions, but in the end… the truth was fairly simple for a man like Ryran. Ty’rel Holdings offered one thing that no government could match, it offered a thing that went beyond the simple satisfaction of a good job done. Besides their play bunny assistants even, and this thing could be described with one simple word: ‘Budget’. Few other organizations spend so much cold-hard cash on new research programs and experimental technology as Ty’rel and that meant the world for him, it meant that he never was limited in his scope.

As long as it would make money, as long as it was feasible in the economical sense of the word? It would always be approved and cash flow would be pumped into it. Perhaps their work ethic was barbarian, maybe they were the instigators of everything that was wrong with this Galaxy, it could be that Ty’rel was immoral and unethical at worst… but they had that distinct personality of cutting-edge development that it did not really matter to people like him in the end. Research and development came before anything else in his mind. They settled down before the doors and the assistant slipped in, leaving Ryran behind; probably to make sure that everything was alright and that the appointment was still good to go. Entrepreneurs like Irani were notoriously fickle with their attention span, they were like goldfishes and it was beyond Ryran how he managed to lead Ty’rel with such a devotion as a consequence of it.

Returning from the battlefield the assistant opened the door wide open and waved him through, before returning to her own post. It seemed that this would be an one on one-meeting after all, which meant that his odds were slowly raising, a man like Irani wouldn’t have bothered to make it a private conversation if he wasn’t at least remotely interested at what he had to tell him, right? That was what Ryran was trying to instill on himself as his footsteps brought him into the oval office, and what he saw there was almost enough to bring a sneer up and start a crusade of indignation on the headsman of the conglomerate. The room was a callback to the old romantic periods, finely crafted wooden (probably from Kashyyyk, some people just were the worst.) decoration. A heavy table, expensive books on polished tables, big glasteel windows giving a wide view of the star behind them.

And at the center of it, Businessman Irani, which was the worst offender of them all with his- no, it was too much. Ryran Burian, leading scientist in his field, gave a shallow nod to his boss and walked up to his desk. There was determination in his jawline, for once his back was straight and his knees no longer shook, hands were firmly clasped behind his back and he just opened his mouth to say exactly what was on his mind, when it was firmly shut up again at the sound of Irani’s voice.

‘Doctor Burian, welcome. Sit down, please. I am hearing you have something to show me?’​

Burian did not even consider any other approach, automatically he settled down in the comfortable chair and started ticking on his datapad. In the back of his mind though, the scientist was screaming at himself. The sheer indignation of this situation.

~​

​

2:41AM Research Facility ‘Farewell’
Outer Rim
Deep Space

‘Clocking the time at two point forty-one, Ryran. You sure this is going to work as you are expecting?’

‘The preliminary results told us everything we needed to know, Jim. All levels are in the green, the energy exposure rates are reasonable and the math adds up to zero-plus-delta. We are a go.’

‘Alright, initializing start procedures - rates are steady and the levels are staying the same. We might pull this one off, Ry. Capacitor is holding and the physics aren’t working against us this time.’

Two men were standing in a clinical white clean laboratory, it was one of the many research labs on the ‘Farewell’, which was one of many secretive stations employed by Ty’rel Holdings to do their investigative work. Ty’rel was a firm believer of keeping things decentralized, no one held the entire puzzle which ensured that whatever happened to one cell, the others would stay unbreached and the work wouldn’t be jeopardized. All in the name of keeping the work viable, the money flowing and the patents fluid. Bowed over their workstations at first glance you wouldn’t even be able to see what they were so happy about, fervently they were ticking about on their keyboards and trying to make sense of the calculations being given to them again and again.

Both Ryran as well as Jim were two scientists who believed in the holy trinity of ‘check, check and check again’. But in the end the answer stayed the same to them, they had finally cracked the metaphorical code and managed to make this particular project viable - at least towards the second testing phase, which meant they would have to report their findings to the overseer. Which Jim did and the answer he had received.. hadn’t been all too pleasant.

‘They want you to report the findings to mister Irani himself.’

‘What, why would they want th- no, scrap that. Why me? What did you do.’

‘I eh… might have dropped the P-word.’

‘No you fething didn’t.’

‘Look, I am sorry. But this is how it’s gotta be, relax. This probably means that you will be getting a promotion.’

‘Shut up, don’t even say that word. It makes me disgusted already.’

They kept working on the data - in eery silence this time.

One of them was getting increasingly more agitated by the new prospects that had arisen and the other was getting increasingly more embarrassed at the former’s agitation.

But in the end they worked through it as they were professionals in their fields and that was what they did.

Work through their issues in the name of science and the glory that was the almighty budget.

‘Are you noting the flux in the capacitor?’

‘Noted and accounted for, it’s the high density, they are playing havoc with the systems. Don’t worry about it, we are still fine-tuning the design.’

‘MMmmmhmmm.’

‘You don’t seem very convinced.’

‘I just don’t want us to get killed.’

‘Relax, you graciously put my name forward, if a head’s gonna roll it will be mine.’

‘True.’

‘Nice.’

‘Thank you.’

The scene faded out and went back to the present day, Irani’s current office on the station the Obscurity and the business meeting at hand. It seemed that there was a flashback in order to describe the situation better.

‘So you see the sheer potential of this technology, mister Irani.’ the scientist said very enthusiastically. When Ryran had finally managed to get into the swing of things, really get a rhythm going on with Darell it became easier to explain the audacity displayed in what they were trying to accomplish.

Irani for his part leaned back against his big seat, a hand ticked on the table in contemplation before he nodded - Ryran almost passed out, that was how grateful he was that his head was still where it belonged.

‘A low energy field containing a high level of extremely dense photons. Technical terms aside, there is a lot of potential here. Haptic feedback keyboards projected whenever you need them, camouflage and-’ he stopped himself right there. ‘But you were working on a prototype, a concept to demonstrate the functionality. Tell me more about it.’

Fervent nodding, this was his territory, not some boardroom politics or postering to get his way. No, the realm of the unknown, the creation of the obscure and audacious, yes this Ryran could definitely do.

‘The SG-01 ‘Holodriver’.’ he began, before immediately being interrupted.

‘Holodriver? Very interesting.’

‘Y-yes, so as I was saying. the SG-01 ‘Holodriver’.’ he began anew, adding metaphorical quotation marks with his fingers to illustrate the concept name. ‘There are two portions to the tech at this point in time. At first we have the more obvious Solid State Hologram tech that is employed.’

‘Utilizing these heavy density photons we are capable of producing remarkable results, think a single tool that can change in anything you would like, need or want in an engineering field. Do you need a laser drill? It can do that. Servodriver? Coming right up. You could even make it as precise and small as a micropoint.’

From the case that had been sitting and waiting neatly next to him Ryran revealed a platform, which - with permission - he settled on the table. After ticking in some codes and making sure that everything was working as expected, the scientist finally turned on the machine. It was a projector, one which was bigger and bulkier than what would be the end-product, but it was enough to get the point across.

A hologram appeared at the center of it, of the Holodriver itself and what a beauty it was. Just looking at it made the scientist want to weep, all those hours poured into this research and it was working splendidly, just as he had expected.

​

​

Irani himself was just as impressed about the entire ordeal as Ryran Burian was, but he was far too dignified and had too much self-respect to literally shed tears for the performance currently being delivered in front of him. Which was not to say that he wasn’t shedding metaphorical tears of victory and happiness inside of him, because truly he was. Just the thought of all the money that would be descending into his big wallet was just enough to make him cough a little bit. Eventually he managed to resume control over his emotional faculties though and stood up from his chair, walking around the table towards the holographic representation of the Holodriver, what a name.

He walked around the base of the technology, making Burian take a few steps back to give the corporate magnate some room to bask in the green-lit glory, and oh Irani was basking alright. His cybernetic-like eyes were taking in every detail of the solid state hologram that would mean a new foray into the market of technology. Finally then there was a look exchanged between the boss and his employee, Ryran immediately knew what the look was all about.

The boss wanted to test out the toy.

A moment of doubt passed Ryran’s face, as he calculated the probabilities that something if not everything would go immediately wrong. Images of explosions, melting skin and a dozen of other malfunctions came to his mind. But in the end there was one image, one vivid projection in his mind that kept coming back, the terrible situation where the device would simply dissipate right in front of them as Irani tried to touch it. Of course such a thing shouldn’t happen, they had done the preliminary testings, they had checked their t’s and done the research.

The photons were heavily energized, put into the right phase and should be solid for the remainder of the time they needed to be used, of course they would need to do a few more testings and probably some more preliminary modifications, before it could be actually sold. But it should be good, which was why Ryran eventually simply nodded, hesitantly so, and gave his spiritual blessing to try out the Holodriver in its full glory.

With that done, Irani looked back at the tool and slipped his hand into the gauntlet-form holographic material from above. It closed around him like a glove, at first he did not actually feel anything out of the ordinary, it buzzed slightly at his touch, but it wasn’t entirely solidified. Which changed about two point one second after his arm had finished the motion made.

Around the arm the malachite construction solidified itself, suddenly Irani felt weight on his arm where there had not been weight before. He raised his hand as a demonstration and could almost sense the buzzing and ticking of non-existent particles dashing around his skin, it was… an interesting feeling that was for sure.

Ryran almost exploded in giddiness and it took all the remnants of his professionalism to remain where he stood, instead of running to his boss in a display of misplaced enthusiasm. He cautiously eyed the item instead, looking for signs that could signify something was about to go wrong, smoke maybe (probably no smoke in this particular situation, but you never know), maybe a soft screeching that would indicate the particles were being over-energized, but nothing of that seemed the case. His boss was waving his hand softly, trying to see if it would hold and not do anything funny.

Of course it wouldn’t do anything funny, the scientist thought to himself. It was specifically made to be attached, would have been awkward if someone was trying to drill a hole in a durasteel platform and suddenly the thing escaped his grasp. It probably would cost someone a foot or worse, and they really didn’t need that kind of media attention after the last incident on Fondor.

That was a cluster-feth of untold magnitude. It was good that they had a dedicated PR department that knew their stuff pretty reasonably well, otherwise they would still be picking up the pieces. Kinda like AEI after the oil spill all those years ago. They had never really been all that concerned about good media representation, not if ya look at all the stuff they had pulled over the years.

But apparently Irani had held a good relationship with those people, so what can a scientist do?

Irani on the other hand was currently expecting the various functionalities of the device, first of all testing out all the various filter and settings, changing the size and functionalities of the apparatus, before looking around his office to see if he could test it out on something. Which wasn’t really the case, so he gestured to Ryran to follow him. They would be heading for the hangar, there probably would be something to wreck somewhere around there.

‘Is it to your liking, sir?’ Ryran asked carefully, just the slightest hints of envy apparent in his voice, he should have been the one testing the Holodriver out. That would have been the fair solution, he had made it, he was the leading engineer, but in the end… in the corporate world things were never fair, were they?

Irani looked over to Ryran and a smile was made apparent. ‘Quite so, Burian. We are gonna have a lot of fun with these things. I already have a few buyers in mind, Mandalorians maybe, Levantines, definitely the Abrion Corporate Alliance. They would love for their engineers to get their hands on this stuff, yes. I think we are going to earn a lot of money here.’

Almost as an afterthought.

‘You and your men did a fine job, Burian. I think a raise might be in order.’

‘Thank you sir.’