[RL log with Zombie Loan]

[elloran]

Hokh'Ton Karakael was amused by the whole situation more than anything else. He too had had arguments about what was common and rational in his universe, and yet was considered insane in most others. So he was happy to help his former friend when the younger man foolishly gotten himself into such an argument.

Though he did take the precautions to ensure that Elloran did not recognize him.

The Overcosm easily lead him to the Zombie Loan world, and he arrived on time in a chaotic swirl of color. He was curious to see what these child-corpses were like.

Elloran waited on an Uran S'Varek far back in Karakael's past, idly preparing an appropriate welcome for the two young Zombies. He hoped that his palace Servo-Corpses would be able to convince them of his good will.

Comments

[hok-ton.livejournal.com]

The Inquest was an interesting place to live, but Karakael would never say it was pleasant...unless you were one of the few on the top. It was a galaxy where humanity reigned supreme, and there were amazing wonders and beauty that came out of it, just as there was horrors and suffering.

"Have you striven for a millenium to fix the problems of the galaxy? Or to attempt to save as many as possible despite the ever present guilt of being unable to save all? Or will you be done when you complete your contract, ready to go back to the gray world and fight no more because the problems that the 'real' world faces are impossible to fix with bullets or violence?"

"I am not wrong." The Inquestor replies with absolute, justified, certainty. "But I will give you the chance to prove it to yourself, as Elloran wishes."

"Then what would you have us do, child? Deny people the right to do what ever they can to survive? My death would have allowed ten people the ability to survive. Would you prefer us to destroy worlds and restructure societies simply because they allow the practice of slavery? There are a million worlds where such an occupation protects the poor from worse forms of work. There are a million others where it is just as evil as you say it is. A million where it is illegal and shunned. And tens of millions of variations in between.

Were we to stop manufacturing servo-corpses five worlds would loose the only thing that gives its people a job. Seventy billion people would die if we were to create robots to do the job that a dead body would do. Would that be more preferable to you than the possibility that one child among a million might die?"

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito hesitated. The numbers were overwhelming, too large for him to think about. Not really. His convictions were personal, and his world small in comparison to this. Did Karakael really rule an entire galaxy with so many worlds?

He didn't really have an answer, except to shrug. "Okay, so the world is complicated, and it sucks. The fact that lots of people do it, and you can't stop them, doesn't make it right. All I really care about is myself, anyway."

He glanced at Karakael. "And if you're just going to whine about how hard it is to rule the galaxy, maybe you should give it up and let someone else do it."

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

Chika wasn't having any easier time of comprehending the numbers. His world-view was even smaller than Shito's, and he had a great deal less experience than his partner, though he didn't know it. He shook his head and growled. "Yeah, like he said," was the best answer he could come up with. "Saying 'it's a big problem and there's nothing I can do' is just a cop-out. At least we're trying to make a difference. We might be wrong, but we're trying."

It was true that he had every intention of returning to his old life when his contract was up and he'd paid off his loan. That was the whole reason he was doing this, after all. But would he be able to pretend that nothing had changed, to ignore the existence of all the things he'd learned about, like evil people-eating zombies?

Probably not. But he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Right now he had a different bridge to deal with.

[hok-ton.livejournal.com]

"Some of us do not have the luxury to be selfish. Yet the sacrifice that we make allows people like you to think such a way...and it is a worthwhile sacrifice to make."

Karakael laughed. "I tried to escape my duties once. But it seems I still have much to atone for. But perhaps you should ask Elloran what his reasons for remaining an Inquestor are. He truly has a choice."

"I commend your efforts. It is important to try. In this galaxy our attempts at 'trying' is the never ending search for a Utopia. Perhaps if we find one we Inquestors will change our views on the inevitability of the world." He lied easily, knowing for a fact that humanity destroyed the only Utopia within its grasp. But that was another story for another day.

"We are here." A portal opened in the color to reveal a solid patio and a young man waiting on it for their arrival.

"I enjoyed our conversation. Please, give my regards to your host."

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito rolled his eyes. There was pretty much nothing more pathetic than someone with godlike power and domination over the whole universe complaining about how difficult his job was.

"I'm sorry you had to sacrifice so much that you're only master of the whole entire universe," he grumbled, mostly under his breath. "Poor you."

He stalked towards the portal with a contemptuous snort. Akatsuki would have to take care of the pleasantries, if he were so inclined.

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

Chika rolled his eyes, but he wasn't sure if it was from amusement at Shito's snark, or just agreement. "Good luck with that saving the universe thing," he said over his shoulder as he followed his partner out.

As they stepped out of the portal he looked around, curious. Whatever this place was, it was sure to be even less like Tokyo than anywhere else the two of them had yet visited.

[hok-ton.livejournal.com]

Karakael laughed again as he faded from view. Shito was quite wrong if he believed the Inquestor had any intention of saving the universe. It was far more interesting just to observe it. "Thank you. When you need transport back, simply request it on the community."

But before he was completely gone he glanced back at his past, the spires and tunnels of the endless Inquestoral Uran S'Varek. It certainly was a sight to behold.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito looked around warily as the portal vanished, walking towards the man who was waiting for him. He felt strange and out of place in a t-shirt and jeans, in this otherworldly place, but he was determined not to let it show how nervous he was.

As was usual for the young zombie when he was nervous, he reacted by looking angry.

He stalked up to his host and folded his arms, looking him up and down as if he were finding him wanting. "I never got your name. I'm Tachibana Shito. I assume you're the one we're supposed to meet."

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

Elloran turned towards the portal, smiling slightly. He had been looking out across his gardens when the two Zombies had arrived.

"Welcome to Uran S'Varek, the seat of the the High Inquest. I am Ton Elloran n’Taanyel Tath. It is a pleasure to meet you." He bowed slightly, looking completely at home in the strange world and crazy palace he inhabited.

Uran S'Varek had a green sky and no horizons. His palace was a riot of crystal spires and gravity defying bridges, all colored in pastel stripes and waves. There was a constant chorus of sound around their host, and his cloak moved and twitched in time with the quiet beat.

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

Chika was a little distracted by staring at the bizarre landscape around them. Only belatedly did he remember to introduce himself. "Akatsuki Chika," he said, still staring at the non-existant horizon. He really hoped he didn't need to say the guy's name at any point. Not as tongue-bending as some American names he'd encountered, but bad enough. And long. He was pretty sure he'd only be able to mangle the name of the place.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito felt the same way after he finished introducing himself. Ton it was, then. Or something.

This place was really weird, too. He struggled to keep his eyes on Ton, rather than letting them wander to the weird landscape like Chika was.

He stepped on Chika's foot, deliberately, trying to get him to focus.

"Good to meet you, Ton," he said. "...Now what?"

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

"Just Elloran, please." The Inquestor replied. "Ton is a title, much like your -san or -chan."

"I thought you might like to meet a few of my servants, as you seem so disturbed by the thought of the enslavement of my Servo-Corpses." He gestured to a wall where a door appeared at a sub-voiced command. "I was told not to take you by way of the displacement plates, as your world has nothing similar."

He nodded to a child guard on the opposite side of the terrace, and she crisply fired off a salute and fell instep behind them, scanning the potential threats to her master.

"I hope you do not mind the music. It is a new symphony Sen Sajit composed for me, and I must admit I have yet to have the time to listen to it. Is it not a wonderful piece?"

The Inquestor was far more courteous in person.

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

"Ow, hey!" The step on his foot certainly got Chika to focus - on glaring at Shito, but it might have been a step in the right direction. It was certainly normal for them.

He opened his mouth to ask what a 'displacement plate' was, then closed it again and shook his head. He didn't even want to know. This place was hard enough to handle already. The guard made him pause and stare again, and he wondered if this was one of the so-called Servo-Corpses.

"It's, uh, very melodic," Chika said, trying to do the polite thing but not succeeding very well. He liked music well enough, but this was nothing like the rock and rap that he listened to.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

"Elloran, then," Shito said. He didn't bother to tell Elloran which of his names he'd prefer him to use. He obviously knew enough about Japanese to know about their suffixes, which mean he should be polite and use Tachibana. If he called him Shito, that would tell Shito something.

He started at the gunfire, whirling around to look at the child and then staring dumbfounded for a moment.

He ignored the bit about the music, pointing at the child. "How old is she?" he demanded. "Is this one of your servants, too?"

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

The girl snapped her golden eyes off the surroundings and back to the two zombies. She gave Chika a contemptuous stare, and then transferred her eyes to Shito, where upon her irises slitted, ready to tear the zombie in two.

"Stand down, Sheta!" The Inquestor commanded. "They mean no harm. They are my guests."

"It is my duty to protect you, Hokh'Ton. Even from your 'guests'." She strode quickly to her masters side, and stood solidly between him and the zombies. "I am Sheta, child soldier for the High Inquest. You would do well to show the proper amount of respect before your superiors, boy."

A hand on her shoulder forced her to stop, and she glanced up at the Inquestor.

"Sheta is twelve years old. She is one of my most dedicated body guards. Does that answer your question?"

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

"The fuck kind of world is this?" Chika muttered, eyes narrowed. "Little kids as bodyguards, jumping to kill someone who talks to you rudely? Cutting dead people up and using them as slaves... fuck, I'm glad I live in Tokyo, that's for sure."

The whole place was starting to creep him out. He wanted more than anything to check on one of the 'Servo-Corpses', make sure it didn't have a soul, and get the hell out of there again. At this point he really hoped that Elloran was right and they didn't have souls, because then he wouldn't have to stick around and do something about them.

They'd agreed not to switch their hands before leaving, in case violence only erupted later. They hadn't wanted to be screwed over if they'd already had their hands switched for an hour. Now Chika was starting to wish he had an easy way to defend himself, if little kids with guns were going to be jumping to kill him.

Though he honestly wasn't sure he could kill someone living. Especially a little kid.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito knew he could kill someone living. He'd done it before.

But little kids were something else for him, too. He didn't know if he could kill a kid, either.

He glared at Elloran, then frowned at the child. "He's not my superior," he told the girl firmly. "And don't throw your life away for no reason. We're no threat to him."

Right now, he added silently.

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

"Sheta duty is to protect me. Please do not fault her for her zealous nature."

"You're not an Inquestor." The girl responded. "There for you are inferior to Ton Elloran." A pause. "And it is my duty to throw my life away for him if necessary. I would happily sacrifice myself for him. Not that I would need to."

Sheta had absolutely no qualms about killing either of the two zombies, even if her actions would result in her own death for displeasing her master. (Though Elloran would never punish his servants in such a way.) Her loyalty was absolute, as was the loyalty of the hundreds of other soldiers that Elloran commanded.

Another door opened in front of them, and a young woman walked through, trailing a shambling creature that held a tray with various refreshments. The woman stopped before Elloran and bowed deeply.

"I am sorry to interrupt your Lordship, but I regret to inform you that Elsiketha has Fallen Beyond." Her voice dropped, and she whispered to the Inquestor, breaking only to offer the Zombies refreshments to be served by the corpse-creature.

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

The idea of eating something that thing had carried was just plain gross. Chika ignored the whispered conversation, since it clearly had nothing to do with them, and studied the creature. It certainly resembled an illegal zombie in some ways.

Elloran had said that the creatures could be programmed to mimic any emotion, for plays if Chika understood him properly. Which meant he couldn't be sure that anyone on this world wasn't a zombie, but he could at least be sure this one was.

The problem was, he couldn't tell if it had a soul without killing it and trying to send the soul on. He wasn't Michiru, with her ability to see the black rings of death on people's necks. He wondered idly what she would make of this thing.

He glanced at Shito, a question clear in his eyes. Trade hands now and kill the thing while they weren't expecting it? Or wait?

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

"I don't fault her," Shito said contemptuously, but then the woman and the zombie entered.

He also studied it, ignoring the whispered conversation, though he wondered what she meant about someone 'falling beyond'. Beyond what?

He met Chika's gaze, and nodded fractionally. Better to just do it, though he was a little nervous what the kid would do if he produced a gun and started shooting. Well, he'd cross that bridge if they came to it.

He pulled his right hand off and held it out to Chika quickly, trying to keep the movement subtle and fast. The stump was sheared cleanly off, and clearly showed muscle and bone, and there was no blood.

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

"I am proud to serve -" But she silenced herself and fell back at the entrance of the dignitary.

Elloran's gaze flickered to his guests but he made no motion to stop them. Instead he signaled for another waiter to come and sub-voiced a request for the cleaning crews to be ready.

Both the woman and Sheta were distracted by the conversation and the Inquestor was able to maneuver them farther away from the potential danger scene.

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

Chika could tell Elloran had at least some inkling of what they were up to, and he was grateful the guy was at least getting the women out of the way. He didn't really want to find out how that kid would react to having a gun pulled, either.

He pulled his hand off and traded with Shito, then flexed his fingers to make sure everything was attached properly. It always felt good to have his own hand back, and he wished they had longer than just an hour they could spend this way.

They'd done this hundreds, maybe even a thousand times now. Chika's sword materialized in his hand with no effort on his part, and he knew without looking that Shito's gun would be there, too. He positioned himself to guard Shito's back, in case the child guard decided they were a threat after all. It would be a lot less messy if Shito was the one who killed the corpse.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito attached his hand onto his wrist also, the skin melding with only a small scar for a seam. A revolver emerged through his palm and he caught it in his left hand, pointing it at the servo-corpse. A chain ran from the gun to his right wrist, forming a circlet like a handcuff around the wrist.

Without a moment's hesitation, he cocked the gun and fired three times. At this range, he could scarcely miss, and the bullets hit the corpse in the head.

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

The creature stumbled backwards, then collapsed with a sigh. 'Puppet with its strings cut' was Elloran could think of as the pitiful corpse twitched and then grew still.

The servant woman was standing open mouthed in shock at the sudden attack, while Sheta was grasped firmly by Elloran so she would not immediately attack. He had a hand in front of her eyes for the same reason, assuring that the lasers embedded in her eyes could would not react automatically at the threat.

"Shall I send for another, Tachibana, Akatsuki?" He asked, referring to each of them in turn as his vassal snapped her mouth shut and preformed a few hasty gestures to summon another waiter.

"Was the food not to their liking, my lord? If I have done something to displease your guests..."

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't the food," Chika replied, rolling his eyes. Shito was done, so he stepped forward and pointed his sword at what was left of the rather pathetic body. He found himself hoping fervently that there wasn't a soul in it - both so they wouldn't have to take on this whole damned planet to free all the zombies, and also so there wouldn't have been someone trapped in there, suffering, all this time.

Being a zombie himself, Chika could think of few fates worse than to be aware and not in control of something like that.

Energy gathered around him and swirled around the blade, but failed to focus into the brilliant rings he was used to. He concentrated harder, but there was no change. "Nothing," he said with a sigh, stepping back and reabsorbing his sword. "If there's a soul there, I can't touch it. Shito, you wanna try?" Not that he thought his partner would have any better luck, but he wanted to be sure.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito was content that if Chika had tried and no soul had emerged to be sent on to the afterlife, that there was probably no soul to send on. But since the offer had been made, he nodded and stepped over to the creature, raising the barrel of his gun to the sky.

Nothing, once again. He couldn't sense anything, either.

"It's just a hunk of dead meat," he said, glancing at Chika and then looking at their host. "Thanks for letting us check," he said, somewhat more politely than he had been thus far.

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

"Of course. You left me no other options." The Inquestor sighed. "You may believe otherwise, but I cannot in good conscious allow millions to suffer when I have the ability to fix it."

[tiedbydestiny.livejournal.com]

"Yeah... sorry about that," Chika said, not sounding - or feeling - very sorry, but knowing they'd probably overreacted just a touch. If it was possible to overreact to such a thing. "And sorry about the Corpse-Server or whatever." He did feel a little guilty about that. Gods alone knew what the things cost to make.

[tiedbyfate.livejournal.com]

Shito frowned down at the creature - no, the robot made of meat. He prodded it thoughtfully with his foot, then crouched down and began to examine it in more detail.

It was mostly out of curiosity now. Were the things warm to the touch, or cold like a zombie?

"It's good that you care," he said carelessly, somewhat surprised by Elloran's words. "If it had had a soul, would you really have done something about it?"

[ton-elloran.livejournal.com]

"It was an old model. Due to be retired soon anyways." The Inquestor shrugged. What was the loss of one corpse to him?

The creature was cold, with clammy skin that showed a hint of rot around the worn joints. Its face was deeply lined and its eyes yellowing. The pretty young boy who had appeared during their conversation with a tray posed a marked contrast to the older corpse. He moved with a fluid grace that showed the expert craftsmanship and artistry that Elloran's palace was already known for. Yet even he was obviously a construct rather than a live human - the flesh was embalmed, and the eyes did not move or dance. There was no extraneous movement in any servo-corpse.

"I do not know." Elloran answered truthfully. "Servo-corpses are an important technology to our galaxy. There is little I can do to end their production on a galaxy wide scale. Yet I could at least decommission those which worked within my palace and petition for a reduction in the use of the corpses in brothels. But none of that is necessary if they do not have souls."