Chapter 5 - Classified
The platform at the manifestation ceremonies looks like something out of a history lesson, definitely not a product of modern technology. It’s a huge circular metal platform, as wide as a train carriage is long, to accommodate the truly huge sizes some symbionts can manifest. The edges are etched with runes from another millennium, pulsing a glowing red with symbiont energy. Along the edges, a spiderweb of wires and sensors are rigged up to detect and monitor the symbionts that manifest there.
Around the whole affair is an amphitheater of seats: friends and family always come out for these ceremonies. It’s the most significant moment of a young person’s life, even more significant than graduation from Murasaki’s mandatory undergrad program or promotional celebrations. Huge screens hang above, one listing the order of names for the day and a second flashing up information on the manifested symbiont for everyone to excitedly gawk and celebrate. We - well, everyone except for me - might not be able to see symbionts, but we’ve developed plenty of technology through the years that interacts with their energy such that species are usually identified for the waiting crowd within moments. The third screen has been empty for the ceremonies so far.
Above, blacked-out glass hides the private seating booths for recruiters and inter-company Manifestation Resources.
The previous candidate trails off stage, a newly manifested Columba sitting between their cupped hands as they stare at it in awe. The middle screen still shows
“Jason’s up next,” whispers Meiko in my ear, grasping my hand so tightly it hurts.
I adjust my grip, twining her fingers between my own, and give her a reassuring squeeze. “He’ll be fine.”
As Jason’s name hits the top of the first screen, he’s led out onto the platform from the wings by a handler with a black and white tamarin, Saguinus, perched on their shoulder. The suit Jason is wearing looks brand-new. He pauses before the platform and then steps up onto it.
The runes almost vibrate. The red energy flashing between them seems to swell. Jason holds his hand out in front of him and pricks the end of his finger with a lancet. Kneeling, he wipes the tiny amount of blood against the metal surface of the platform. From this far away, it looks like he’s just bending to adjust his shoes, but we’ve all already been told how the manifestation will occur.
The platform thrums with energy, and I blink to watch his symbiont manifest with my second vision. From the tiny spot of blood a dark form blossoms and solidifies; from up here it’s maybe as large as his head with a coat of long, thin white spines and a pale, narrow face. An Erinaceus hedgehog, then. I don’t even realize I’m holding my breath until I let it go in relief.
“Just like his brother!” beams Meiko proudly. I open my mouth to congratulate her when suddenly the third screen lights up.
Two company names appear under the header
“Murasaki needs every generator they can get their hands on, there is no way they’ll consider terminating his contract” I whisper, gripping Meiko’s hand with my own just as hard now.
Jason has spotted the third screen now, and he stands slack-jawed and staring, waiting to see if any other bids come in. I glance up at the blacked-out glass of the recruiter booths, hoping some reflection or shine off the surface will give me a clue what is happening up there. A clock at the corner counts down the five-minute window until bids close.
Meiko is almost rocking in her chair with anxiety, her white-knuckled grip on my hand the only part of her that is staying still. She’s shut her eyes as if not looking will make it go away.
“There’s no other bids,” I update her hopefully. “There’s no way it went high enough for Murasaki to consider it.”
Meiko is too tense to reply, her eyes scrunched shut. As it hits <00:00> and there is a pause.
“Safe!”
Meiko surges to her feet, punching the air. “Yeah, Jason! Go Jason!”
His family explodes into cheers as well, and Jason drops to his knees in relief. He has barely a moment to gather his Erinaceus before a second handler is pushing him along, spray bottle of cleaning fluid in hand to clean up the blood smear.
“C’mon, c’mon! We gotta go celebrate!” says Meiko, bouncing in her chair and grabbing my hands to pull me to my feet.
I grin and nod, following her as the next participant begins the walk up to the manifestation platform. I recognize his name, but I can’t remember if we ever shared any classes together. We weave our way through the legs of those sitting near us, still waiting to see whoever they came for, excusing ourselves along the way while Meiko positively vibrates with excitement.
“Did you get your paycheck?” she asks. “I’m getting so drunk tonight!”
I laugh as we climb the stairs with our backs to the platform. “You know it. Nothing’s stopping me today!”
My next step falters as cold wave of silence fills the amphitheater.
I swallow. I know exactly what that means. I don’t want to look but Meiko tugs my sleeve silently and I turn over my shoulder, eyes down to the platform again.
Stolen novel; please report.
The symbiont standing before the tiny human is huge, taller than a man, with a muscular white and black striped body that ripples with violent potential. It curls back its terracotta lips to reveal serrated teeth and flexes its paws to extend claws. Its eyes are the color of brass, set deep and dark in its face. My breath catches in my throat as it tests its voice - silent to everyone but me and its new host - a low, resonant growl.
I feel like my heart has stopped. This time the middle screen has no descriptive biography. It almost feels like I’m watching a premonition of my own fate.
The third screen fires to life, bids coming in so quickly that the screen scrolls to keep up with the employer names.
I’m transfixed watching them; there’s no sign of it slowing down and it just keeps on scrolling. The new host just stands there staring at the symbiont in front of them, the lights gleaming off moisture on their cheeks. I can’t help but linger my own eyes on the platform as well, even though I’m meant to see nothing there.
The symbiont is truly stunning, wisps of blue energy dancing through its coat. I’ve never seen a Panthera in person, only illustrations. If Murasaki even had another, it would be far too dangerous to keep around residential areas. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, feral and powerful in ways I can only dream of. I wish I could touch it.
The crowd is waiting in a hush so quiet I can hear his family sobbing across the amphitheater; the quiet moans of his mother are so gut-wrenching you’d think he’d died. He might as well have. Panthera have only a few uses, and most of them only matter to companies with questionably violent business operations at best. All the rest of the crowd can see is that damning designation - ‘Military’. I’ve never been on the other side, but I guarantee the recruiters get a full description of the manifested symbiont and not just ‘Classified’ like the rest of us.
“Fuck,” mutters Meiko, her previous mood subdued in empathy with the watching crowd and ex-classmate below us.
My chest feels tight, and I watch the clock count down as the stream of bids slows to a trickle. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many bids,” I croak out.
“Wasn’t he in chemistry with us? Oh, I feel terrible, Conrad, I can’t watch.”
My mouth is too dry to respond. I don’t want to give her false reassurances.
The clock is still counting down, but the bids have trickled to a stop now. The final name is a company called ‘Allied Personnel Solutions’. There is no way that’s anything except a private military contractor. He’ll probably not even have a company district or place to call home, damned to be shuttled from company contract to contract as needed. There is no way his buyout bid didn’t climb phenomenally high. Murasaki has to be seriously considering taking any offer to terminate his contract. What use do they have for a Panthera? We do R&D, sure, but not military tech.
Unemployment is a near death sentence for a freeman. It’s the whole idea of the bids, making them easy prey for the alternative employment contracts the recruiters behind that black glass are preparing.
The clock hits <00:00.> The pause feels so much longer than when we waited for Jason’s fate.
Below me in the crowd his mother wails, climbing forward across several seats to scream “I love you” over and over again as someone else tries to contain her. He won’t even get to see them to say goodbye. His family will pack his belongings before the end of the night and send them via Human Resources for his transfer.
Two handlers come forward to clear him off the stage for the next person. He dodges them. “I won’t do it, I refuse!” he yells, coming down from the platform as if he intends to climb into the crowd with his family, no longer paying attention to his symbiont. The Panthera lowers itself, lips drawing back into a snarl as its brass eyes dart between the handlers near the platform, landing on the closer one with the Saguinus on their shoulder.
I grab Meiko below me on the stairs by the arm, a warning of “Don’t look” all I can gasp out.
The Panthera leaps, catching the first handler around their middle with its vicious claws and clamping its jaws around their shoulders. Blood splatters across the metal platform, sending the runes sparking red with archaic power. The handler screams. Their own symbiont beats the Panthera in the face with bunched fists and screeches its high-pitched calls. The Panthera’s muzzle crinkles around the handler’s shoulder in its jaw, and blue energy billows off its body and out its mouth like exhaust fumes.
I lean on the chairs off the side of the aisle, my second vision blurring as I blink from shock. The Panthera and screaming Saguinus phase in and out of my sight as the handler contorts in the air, leaving blood dripping off unseen textures mid-air in one moment, and glossy white pelt the next. Alarms blare to life, warning of the imminent electrification of the manifestation platform. The bonded boy turns back to see the stage, his eyes widening as he joins the terrified screams of the watching crowd. The second handler is grabbing his arms and pulling him away.
The Panthera’s billowing blue clouds of energy seem to thicken with violet-white plasma crackling between them. Then, with its eyes locked on its new host, the energy pauses its congelation, and there seems to be a moment of hesitation...
The klaxon finishes its call and is followed by a terrifying electrical crack that blinks out the ceiling lights in the amphitheater and plunges everything into darkness.
In the remnant glow of the Panthera’s dissipating plasma, I watch its eyes roll and legs buckle as the electricity seizes its body but does not kill. The newly bonded boy passes out along with their Panthera into the second handler’s arms mere feet away. The human handler in the symbiont’s jaws falls slack, the Saguinus on their shoulders topples forward and collapses unconscious onto the floor.
It’s over in less than a few seconds. I draw a shaking breath and grip Meiko’s shoulder. The silence of the amphitheater is as sudden as the darkness was.
One screen fires into life, dim red lights beginning to illuminate under our feet.
“What the fuck just happened?” whispers Meiko.
I stare at the stage, trying to process if what I saw was real? The Panthera was just reacting to its new host’s panic. It was just protecting itself. Did it even understand what was happening to it, newly manifested into existence? I suddenly wish I had shown more interest in the labs studying symbiont-human bonds.
From the darkness behind the stage a black Ursus pads forward, its huge clawed feet dragging across the metal of the platform with each lumbering step. Meiko grabs my hand, pulling me to evacuate with the crowd, but I tug back against her to watch the bear a moment longer. It stands over the unconscious handler, lower lip hanging as it rocks from side to side while assessing the human and symbiont in front of it. Then it lifts a paw, and places it down on the handlers throat. Their body stiffens and arches, eyes opening and mouth gaping. Blood drips from the corner of their lips. Then, they quietly relax. At their side, a black fog rises from the Saguinus until it dissipates to nothing.
Meiko pulls me onwards, and I surrender to her. Between steps upwards, I glance back over my shoulder to watch the bear again. It stands aside, letting other handlers swarm the platform now who grope for the Panthera and tie reflective ribbons around its limbs to move it. Several drop to their knees by the dead handler, rapidly beginning to assess the state of their injuries as if they don’t already know they are dead. Why did the Ursus kill them? Why didn’t it wait for the medical teams to help them? They might have been saved?
The bear pads back into the darkness. Meiko tugs me into the corridor and the stage disappears from my view.
The thought of drinking just makes my stomach turn now.
Columba rupestris is almost the pigeon you think of when you think of a pigeon. The one you are thinking of is C. livia (or a subspecies) and is the dirty sky rat of many metro areas worldwide. See how you use the shortened genus in a sentence! Because I already introduced it you know what I'm talking about.
Saguinus is the genus for Tamarin monkeys! I do not have time to research how they got that name (it means blood btw).UPDATE - it does not, i assumed wrong! I may have to do a whole new ramble about this one day. It means marmoset...
Erinaceus are hedgehogs! It means, repeat after me, "hedgehog". Concolor is 'one color' I think, I didn't check before writing this. And there is a real Erinaceus concolor. The common hedgehog I was thinking of has a geographic name in its species name and that would be a bit world breaking... although I guess by using these systems I'm implying ancient Latin and Greek were a part of this world at some point. Don't think too hard about it at this point.
Panthera is very famous. Lions, tigers and leopards live here (oh my). It means panther. You get it. Weirdly, the animal sometimes called 'panther' in the Americans (the cougar/puma/mountain lion) IS NOT in Panthera. (*shakes fist* Americans!). It is in... wait for it... Puma. And I did not plan this when i was writing this note but it's full Latin binomial name is Puma concolor!