Raindrops fell onto the facility, but thanks to the insulation, we couldn't hear a thing. That is, until the facility's main door opened. As the main door opened, the wind hit my feet first. Velsil, to my side, stepped behind me to keep warm. Ilya, in her resource collector uniform, stood waiting for the guests, hands clasped over her chest. Goma was busy yawning, hands on her hips. Alora was there purely out of curiosity for the Custodians. Because the Custodians were one of the few organizations of the SWR (Supreme World Republic) that could be considered sacred. Alora, who was fascinated by all things sacred, couldn't stop herself from seeing these people.
The fossil, placed inside a capsule, waited at the doorway. As the facility door opened further, energy shields activated and cut off the wind. One of the robot servants took the capsule and lowered it into the garden in front of the facility. We followed the robot's steps.
The Custodians were the most basic unit—and it wasn't a large unit—of the Space Archaeology and Heritage Preservation Agency (SAHPA). This organization, abbreviated as SAHPA, had a lower budget on official records than even the Bioethics Oversight Agency, but everyone knew that this agency did not conduct its affairs in an official manner.
Most of the support they received from the SWR was unofficial because they couldn't formalize most of their work. Alien civilizations were buried in history when humanity was just beginning to adapt to the space age. Most alien civilizations were nothing more than ruins. Humans and various institutions expanding into space for exploration had only discovered these dead civilizations. The ones who held the secrets of dead civilizations were, naturally, the Custodians. You couldn't find a single linguist professor in any university who wasn't a member of SAHPA. You couldn't find a single xenoscientist, cosmologist, evolutionary biologist, or similar scientist who wasn't a member of SAHPA. They wouldn't allow such an academic to exist anywhere. Most doctors working for the Health and Bioengineering Agency were even required to be members of SAHPA. Why? Because SAHPA had a secrecy law, and the SWR attached great importance to the enforcement of this secrecy law.
Few people knew what secrets the Custodians kept. Even their own members were often unaware of most secrets. The rumors were countless, of course… But the biggest rumor was this: a large segment of people believed the Custodians were hoarding information about the Incompatibles.
In its official statements about why the Incompatibles came, the SWR has always given simple explanations. They talk about how they came to our galaxy for planetary resources and withdrew to their own galaxy after collecting enough resources. They claim that most alien civilizations in our galaxy slowly went extinct because the Incompatibles took their resources. I call these rumors. Because as an official working for an organization, I know that institutions cannot be trusted.
"They got here in just three days," Ilya said in a surprised tone. "We could have just sent the fossil to them. Just getting the genetic coding would have been enough. But they chose to come in person." When I looked up, we could see the spaceship landing on the pad on the other side of the energy shield above us. The symbol of SAHPA, 'a high-tech monolith inside a circle,' was engraved on the hull of the spaceship. Below it, in large letters, was 'SAHPA'. "We are two days away from the nearest point of the SWR Network, even by hyper-jump."
"So the saying, 'A Custodian is everywhere on the Network,' wasn't wrong then, was it?" I replied.
Humanity's encounter with the Incompatibles dates back to the year 2438. It was said that the Incompatibles arrived at many colonies with their superhuman spaceships. One planet was mentioned specifically in the records: Mars… Some sources even claimed that Mars was quarantined at that time, which the SWR denied many times with its historians. Yet, during those dates, Weapons Security had placed many colonies under martial law; evicted people from their homes on the planets, and stayed on the planets for a very long time. Every source states a different duration for how long the Incompatibles stayed. Some said a few years, some said dozens of years. It seemed impossible to accurately determine those aliens, whom human intelligence could not fully perceive or see, with the underdeveloped human technology of that time. SWR official records mentioned that the Incompatibles left after 2 years and that the economic effects of the Incompatibles disappeared after 20 years. After all, when the Incompatibles arrived, most colonies and companies were put under martial law, so economic effects were inevitable.
Now, an organization that hides most of the Incompatibles' secrets was coming to take a fossil from us. Under normal circumstances, any person might recoil. They might not know how to act in front of these people whose status was uncertain.
Walking behind the robot, I gripped the crest on my noble outfit. I still wore the 'W' of the Weisshafen family as a symbol. My noble title had been revoked because I defied my father. Officially, I might not appear noble, but everyone knew that formality could change at any moment. At any moment, I could become a Weisshafen again with a small pardon. I could return as the son of Hyperion ship commander Damon Weisshafen. No one would want to confront such an heir, even if he had lost his right to inheritance. This is why I knew how to behave. I would act like a spoiled nobleman. Fearless, a noble aware of the power of his family's name…
The spaceship the Custodians landed in was one with a huge, frog-like head and a body that tapered downwards. It could be said to resemble an iron camel with four legs and short hind legs. It had no head; instead, it had black-windowed cockpits that descended after the body. As it descended, the ship's legs, which faced backwards, began to face downwards. This spaceship consisted of crude squares and rectangles.
The mouths at the ends of the legs containing those flaming engines shrank and grew, balancing the spaceship's speed. Exotohn language writings were engraved on these spaceship legs—or rather, they were wings, but I thought of them as legs. Exotohn was a common language with more than 3000 words and 2100 punctuation marks, created to read ancient alien languages. Only lunatics would bother to learn this language. There were, of course, computers that could translate this language, but what was the point of translating it? Those who used the Exotohn language often embedded a numerical encryption within it, as each word had over 150 meanings. In short, to read the Exotohn language, knowing the words was not enough. You also needed a clue about the numerical encryption that explained what was written there.
The Custodians used the script of this Exotohn language on their ships because they were conveying information about their ships. What kind of information, I don't know. Nor do I know why they would write it on their ships when they could store the data on the Republic Network. If there was one thing I knew, it was that every member of this organization was terrifyingly freakish.
"What do these writings tell? I'm seeing such a language for the first time," Ilya asked. It must have caught Ilya's interest too.
"A branding… A coded message among the Custodians…"
"Nothing is legible."
"That's the whole point."
As the spaceship landed, the landing cockpit was also covered by an energy shield. The robot in front of us pushed the capsule a few meters beyond the landing pad and walked away, saluting Ilya. Alora was uneasy. Velsil was even more uneasy. Goma, oblivious, was scratching her nose. Ilya, on the other hand, looked quite confident. By fearlessly bringing my three alien friends here, I was actually challenging my brother. By having my alien friends witness this, by having them witness a corporate event, I was making it official. Everyone would know that half-alien, half-human test subjects lived in this facility…
The ship's door slowly opened. As the ship's door opened, the locked safes and other things inside were slightly visible. As the door opened, a blue atmosphere inside was expelled outwards. This atmosphere was probably a coolant liquid. It was likely that they kept the inside of the ship cold so that the tissues inside wouldn't be damaged. Or perhaps it was a sterile gas. It was trying to keep the tissues inside sterile. And then what happened? Two freaks emerged from inside the door. Horrible, unusual types… I had heard rumors that Custodians looked strange, but I hadn't expected something this different.
Most institution officials dressed like officials. They had their own dress codes, their own status-defining insignias, and many other things. The sight that the Space Archaeology and Heritage Preservation Agency was an exception was right before us.
The first official to emerge from the iron door braced his hand, which was covered with long metal claws, against the ship's door and pulled himself out. It was clear he was two meters and 10 centimeters tall. He had an extremely thin waist and a very long neck. He wore a black sarouel, the kind worn by priests in ancient times. Every piece of fabric on his sarouel was connected to the others with alien teeth of different sizes. He wore a mask on his head. It was clearly a nano-fabric mask, but what was interesting were the metal chains on his mask. Metal chains fell from the top of his head toward his face, and through these metal chains, the black goggles he wore over his mask occasionally peeked out. He walked very upright, which made him even more uncomfortable. He wore a black ritual robe with layered pieces connected to each other; on his chest was a matte monolith plaque, engraved with the SAHPA symbol. Thanks to his thin metal skeleton, he maintained an upright, almost menacing posture as he walked. There were spikes extending upwards from the shoulders of his robe. His feet were like metal peacock feet. He didn't step flat. He walked on his toes. Since the sleeves of his robe were short, the cables going in and out of his metal arm were clearly visible.
The other official wore a helmet with two massive metal horns on his head. These horns curved backward, like the horns of the demons described in old stories. His eyes glowed red between the helmet. He had a mouthpiece connected to tubes that ran to a canister on his back. Two massive rings were placed at both the beginning and the end of this metal canister on his back. It was accurate to say that these massive rings were made of alien bone.
This second official, although shorter than his friend, was bulkier. He wore armor covered with metal plates. His huge belly widened the metal plates. On his shoulder was the monolith symbol of SAHPA. In his hand, he held a gigantic ballistic long-range weapon. A cloak attached to his shoulder fell down from his right shoulder, leaving his right arm beneath the cloak. Some strange, incomprehensible alien symbols were drawn on this ripped cloak. These symbols also appeared at certain points on his armor. His weapon glowed with orange lights as he stepped off the ship and began to walk. His official friend also walked cautiously, following the bulky figure.
I looked at my companions. Each of them was trembling with great fear. Normally, I wouldn't hesitate to stand with my friends against any official, but the men in front of me looked more like fanatics than officials. Only Alora was watching these two men with admiration. Even Ilya's face clearly showed she was startled.
The two officials walked slowly and stopped a few steps in front of the capsule. My team and I stood a few steps away on the other side of the capsule. These two officials seemed uninterested in speaking. Alora, like noble ladies, bowed gracefully in a curtsy.
"It is an honor to welcome you," Alora said. There was no reaction from the men.
"Welcome to the Weisshafen s-MP023 Facility…" Ilya began to say. The slim official raised his hand and cut her off.
"Are you Aldoux Weisshafen?" the thin official asked, looking at me. The fact that his voice resembled a human voice reassured me. His bulky friend's gaze was also upon me. If I was going to be a spoiled nobleman, I shouldn't back down in any way. I placed my hands on my hips and sighed deeply:
"Yes, that's me… And you must be those Custodians."
"Yes!" the bulky one said with a muffled mechanical sound. "We are those Custodians!" His angry tone seemed to tense the atmosphere. That's why the slim one cut in and said:
"You must be expecting us to introduce ourselves. We Custodians do not easily disclose our names. Especially in front of such helpless creatures…" he said, pointing at our team. Goma looked behind her. Then, realizing that the hand was pointing at her:
"Us? We're not that important. I'll forget your name in two days anyway."
At that moment, Alora stepped in front of Goma and curtsied once more, saying, "It is an honor to meet you."
"They…" I said in a very confident tone. "…will be the witnesses to the agreement."
"Are these the creatures who are your toys? I don't think these creatures have Bioethics Oversight approval."
"Those creatures you look down upon are my team. They help me manage this facility, and they also found the fossil you came to collect."
"The fossil… yes…" At that moment, the slim official placed his hand on the capsule. He scanned the capsule with a light that came out of his palm. "…the fossil you violated procedures by sending to the Weapons Security before sending it to us…"
"There might have been a mistake."
"Or…" he said, looking at me with his goggles, "…you think you are very clever…"
"Mistakes made are not what's important," I cut in. "Let's get to the result. The capsule is in your hands now. Let's just sign the agreement and everyone can go their separate ways."
"What insolence!" the bulky one suddenly shouted. He moved the mouth of the gigantic weapon in his hand, creating a pressure wave. The pressure was so fierce that almost everyone was displaced by the wind that scattered around. "You can't talk to us with an ultimatum!"
"I had no intention of talking with an ultimatum." As I said that, I managed to get a chance to examine the man's weapon. This weapon was a modified version of a multi-million-credit pressure cannon. The sound wave pressure created by a single projectile fired from this weapon could destroy half of the facility behind us. What kind of threats could these two officials be fighting against?
"Since the atmosphere is tense, it's time for us to leave," the slim official said and raised his hand. "So, take your creature friends away from here. And let's start our agreement."
"They will stay here…"
At that moment, the bulky man played with the mouth of his weapon once more. His weapon was like a vacuum, constantly drawing in the surrounding air. As the wind continuously filled the weapon; Velsil and Alora had stepped behind Goma. Ilya finally broke her composure and came next to me, whispering into my ear: "Please let's go, Aldoux. You're going to get us into trouble!"
At that moment, I pulled out the weapon from my pocket and aimed it at the bulky man. The man, realizing that a small weapon was pointed at him, was surprised. "I don't understand the threatening atmosphere you are creating here, Custodian!" I shouted.
"You are obstructing our agreement by not withdrawing your creatures here, Weisshafen!" the slim official said, putting his hand into his sarouel pocket and drawing out two weapons. He aimed one of these two weapons at Goma. He aimed the other at the air. I knew these two weapons. They were smart-bullet weapons. It didn't matter where those bullets were fired. They would find their target somehow. The goggles on his head were probably what determined the target. It didn't matter where he aimed the weapons. "We must assume that with these aberrant behaviors you do not wish to agree, that you are trying to violate SWR laws, and we are obligated to intervene! Lower your weapon!"
While the two men had multi-million-credit weapons, the one I took out of my pocket was a simple, handmade ballistic weapon. It was doubtful that a bullet fired from this weapon could even penetrate their skin. Especially with this constantly flowing wind. "Who gave you the authority to come to a facility and threaten the facility's manager?"
"It was granted by Tiberion Solegard in the year 2469. He legislated that if the matter is to preserve heritage, the Custodians should be given the same authority as a legal comptroller," the slim official said.
"Laws are sacred to us," the bulky one said, aiming his weapon at me. "Whoever violates our sacred, we destroy them."
"No one is violating anything sacred!" I shouted.
"Then send your creature friends away."
"They are not going anywhere!" I shouted. "If you want this fossil, if you are coming to this facility; if you are coming to my facility, you will show respect to me and my team! Even if you have to step over my corpse, I will not listen to you! You cannot scare me!"
At that moment, I noticed that the slim official's eyes were fixed on the 'W' symbol on my chest. I could see him smiling as he put his weapon into his sarouel pocket. His bulky friend also played with the mouth of his weapon and restored the surrounding pressure to its former state.
"A Weisshafen… And one of the spoiled ones," the slim-voiced official said. "I truly don't want to deal with a family that owns the Hyperion ship… Your family is unpredictable. Besides, you have a stubbornness specific to the Weisshafen family… And we're not going to do the Bioethics Oversight's job, are we, friend?"
"No, friend," the deep-voiced official said.
The slim-voiced official coughed. At that moment, an eight-legged robot came out of the ship and handed a holographic tablet to the slim official. Similarly, Velsil hurriedly ran to me and handed a thin tablet to my hand.
At that moment, two official names were written in the recipients section of the screen. "Mealizen, Koldra." I didn't know which was which. I didn't care much either. Details like them being Custodians and the institutions they worked for were written, but I didn't want to waste any time looking at the details. Because my hands and feet were still trembling from the fit of rage I had just gone through.
At that moment, my name was written in the handover section. "Aldoux Weisshafen." Then I pressed 'add name'. I added the names "Goma, Velsil, Alora, Ilya" as witnesses. All those names did not have definitions. At least I defined them by their names since I had their genetic signatures. There were two names in the approver section, and both were empty. Both the recipient side and the handover side…
Velsil placed the holographic communication device he held under his arm on the ground. Similarly, the two officials' robot also placed one on the ground.
The image of Orve Dailo suddenly appeared on the communication device Velsil placed. Orve Dailo was probably busy, so he was working on the computers he was connected to. I had previously sent an email to my brother about this handover. Therefore, what surprised him was probably not being called to the agreement. What probably surprised him was the presence of my alien friends during the agreement.
The inspector who appeared on the communication device placed by the robot was not a freakish-looking person, unlike the officials. In fact, it could be said that he looked like a normal inspector, except for being slightly overweight, which put me at ease.
"Lucius Varden…" the Heritage Inspector said.
"Orve Dailo…" my brother, the Resource Inspector, said. Then he looked at my alien friends once more and slapped his forehead. "I'm sorry Orve… I guess the agreement…"
"The agreement has been reached…" the slim official said. "You just need to approve it."
"I need to quickly return to my work. So I trust my officers and approve it," Orve Dailo said.
"I approve," my brother said. Then, with a face I guessed was red, he turned to me and said quietly, "I will talk to you." I was able to understand what he said by reading his lips. The holograms soon disappeared. The officials were about to take the capsule and leave without even a thank you, when the slim one turned back and said:
"We will return to this planet, Weisshafen. There may be more heritage that needs preserving on this planet. Until then, take care of yourself." As the spaceship's hatch closed, both their eyes were on me.
Everyone seemed to hold their breath until their spaceship left our atmosphere. With their departure from the atmosphere, each of us slumped to the ground and began to breathe easily.
"They finally left!" Velsil said, crying.
"Weren't they total badasses, though?" Alora said, clenching her fists. "I wish I could be like them!"
"Please don't be like that, Alora! You're both prettier and less scary this way!" Goma said.
"What was that all about?" Ilya asked me. "Why were you so insistent?"
"Right now…" I said, pointing at the hologram in my hand. "You are officially citizens. Look… Your names are on an official document as witnesses. Do you know what this means? It means the SWR has accepted all of you as individuals! The fact that these fools had the authority of a legal comptroller worked in our favor because we didn't even have to deal with legal matters!"
"Hooray!" Goma shouted. "I am an individual now! I always wanted to be an individual."
"An individual? I don't want to be an individual…" Velsil said in a tired tone.
"Is being an individual a bad thing?" Goma asked Velsil.
"So what good will this do?" Ilya asked.
"I wasn't showing you as working here because you were illegal test subjects. Now that you are individuals, we can show you as working here. If you officially work at a facility, it's harder to get fired, killed, or kidnapped. I know this best."
"So how are you going to show us as working here?"
"I'll have to convince my brother."
"He didn't look too happy to see you…" Alora said from behind.
"I hope he doesn't hate me even more after our conversation."