Continuing from FFM 2026 10: Escapism. Surprisingly, this one managed to be exactly 1000 words in the first draft. In exchange, these dumbasses went against my plans and Steirdrar had an encounter with a drunken Beyari, which was not supposed to happen. Consequences I did not intend have to write will ensue tomorrow.
The bit of escapism helped a little. Beyari acting normal helped a lot more than that. Well, Beyari acting normal and its byproduct of positive interactions. He would not admit even to distract an IRS Interrogator that every kind touch that came with interacting with her lingered on him to the point that they sometimes appeared in barely rememberable dreams now.
If he did not know that he could not avoid it forever, he could delude himself into thinking that Beyari offering to make a utility belt for him never happened. She never made even a single hint towards that conversation. A part of Steirdrar was morbidly curious about how long he could stall before she would bring it up. The logical part of him knew that he would have to make a decision and communicate it eventually.
Before he would do that, however, he had to get backing out of QWERTY’s project over with, before QWERTY would come to him to ask if he has time to work on it again.
The perfect opportunity came when Beyari was out meeting with the saboteur crew whose work helped make her and QWERTY’s previous mission a success; QWERTY was having aers rest period and not recharging.
“You wanted to discuss your role in the project?” QWERTY started, getting straight to business as soon as greetings were done.
“Yes.” Steirdrar swallowed. He took a deep breath, steeled himself the same way he used to as an IRS Enforcer and explained, “The thing is, before I defected, I used to infiltrate enemy organizations and destabilize them from within. The results of getting back at Peth reminded me of that vividly. I haven’t been able to shake off the gut feeling that I shouldn’t be a part of this, no matter how illogical that gut feeling is, knowing the facts.”
“So, you want to stop taking part,” QWERTY concluded.
Steirdrar nodded. “That’s correct.”
QWERTY nodded. “Very well. I’ll let the others know so they won’t bother you about it. Assuming you are not opposed to the rest of us continuing?”
“I don’t oppose you doing it, no. I just don’t feel it’s right for me to be an active participant after all.”
“Understood. Thank you for informing me.”
Steirdrar felt a little dizzy with relief. He had not dared to expect that it would actually be that easy. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Anytime. Is there anything else that requires my attention?”
Steirdrar shook his head. “That was all.”
“Very well.” QWERTY picked up aers tablet and resumed reading something on it.
“I’ll be going then.” Steirdrar tried not to cringe at the awkwardness of trying to navigate the terse way QWERTY ended conversations.
QWERTY nodded. “See you around.”
Steirdrar felt like he was retreating when he left, but he managed to make a smooth exit. From the accommodations floor, that is. When he was almost at the ramp off the ship on the cargo floor, the sound of raucous laughter nearby made him freeze. A conversation in Eskel-Zai grew louder and louder — approaching. Multiple people.
He shook his head to snap himself out of it. If these were Eskel-Zai, it likely meant that Beyari was coming back. He was not in any danger.
He steeled himself again, feeling a little guilty about still making use of techniques that had helped him keep his eyes closed to the reality of what the IR was doing, and resumed making his way off the ship.
He came face-to-face with a group of Eskel-Zai, including a staggering and very distinctly flushed Beyari.
“Oh, hey!” one of the unfamiliar Eskel-Zai, a Frel, cried out in heavily accented Earth-Common. “Iss Commander Urrang!”
The rest of the unfamiliar Eskel-Zai roared a variety of greetings, all of them either in Earth-Common or Eskel-Zai, while Beyari just chuckled and waved at him.
“Hello,” Steirdrar greeted in Eskel-Zai.
The unfamiliar Eskel-Zai cheered. A Pryzis patted Beyari on the shoulder and said something that Steirdrar was half-certain translated to “good catch” — something that came with the adjective good anyway — and turned to address Steirdrar in Earth-Common, “The overrdrinkerr’s aaall yourrs.” Then they pushed Beyari towards him from behind.
Beyari stumbled but, fortunately, kept her balance well enough that Steirdrar did not have to intervene. She let out an indignant, somewhat slurred “Oi! Rude!” in Eskel-Zai while the group of unfamiliar Eskel-Zai left, laughing.
Steirdrar blinked a few times and did a reality check to ascertain that that just happened.
Beyari turned to him and tried to speak in Earth-Common, “Sso, full dis… diss… dis… uh-“
“You’re drunk,” Steirdrar stated the very obvious. If his species had a better nose, he would have noticed it from the smell too.
“Yea. Douzzomok noltefea…” Beyari paused to probably try to remember how to speak Earth-Common. When she continued, it was very indignant but also more intelligible, “…They drunk me under the table. Ssso rude. They can hold ‘eir alc’ol too well. And I even ate well and drank water beforehand! And drank water while we were drinking!”
Steirdrar did another reality check because dealing with a drunk nonhostile anyone, let alone a drunk Eskel-Zai and/or friend, had not been something he had expected to experience here. “Sounds like you need to sleep it off then.”
Beyari grimaced. “I know.” She paused, scrutinizing him as well as someone intoxicated could. “You okay? Like, you talked with QWERTY, yea?”
“Yes. The discussion went well. I’m fine, just surprised by this.” Steirdrar gestured to Beyari and the direction the rest of the Eskel-Zai went.
“Right. Good. Yea. Good.” Beyari nodded a bit too much. “Guesss I gotta sleep. Talk ag’n when ‘m not drunk?”
Steirdrar nodded. “Let’s talk more then.”
Beyari patted him on the arm lightly. “G’night then.”
“Good night.” Steirdrar shifted to allow Beyari to walk straight inside the ship. Once he was sure that she was heading towards the engine room lift, he headed off too, already anticipating a conversation with a hungover Beyari the next day.
A bit of vocabulary: noltefe is Eskel-Zai for idiot (lit. No-brain person). Douzzomok is Beyari trying and failing to intelligibly say “Those Zomok“.
WindySilver 