#cycyatfacetroid

[halleyatfacetroid]

*Celum looks up at the Chairman, then back toward Cynthia* There are... other people that care, you know. I... mmnh. I just want to... help. So I can live again...

[halleyatfacetroid]

*Celum attains a look of despair as Cynthia starts to leave*

Cynthia-!

*He looks at his hands as they begin to shake*

Don’t leave me alone again...

*He gets up and runs outside after her*

[halleyatfacetroid]

*With that he straightens up slightly, despite that throwing off Cynthia’s balance against him*

But-! That’s the whole reason I’m even here!

*He looks around at the other people snacking on donuts and drinking coffee, and recedes back into the seat a bit*

I just need to do something actually worthwhile... otherwise my life will have no meaning.

[halleyatfacetroid]

*Celum looks around, somewhat nervous that the other people in the building are watching their interactions*

Well... you asked about Urtraghus. Or.. mentioned it, at least. I don’t know, it’s just... seeing these worlds alive in this time period.. is somewhat enlightening. Before I started jumping through time, there were only a handful of planets that weren’t poisoned beyond repair or scarred by nuclear war. The pirate infighting had gotten so bad that Mother Brain was really one of the sole leaders remaining. Her solution to the population problem was time travel. But the Admiral made a device for me before she was able to do anything destructive.

But now I wonder... did I really change anything by going back? Or did I just move into some other dimension where those events didn’t happen? In which case... I guess I didn’t do anything to my original timeline... I’ve just permanently switched over to this one.

So...

*His voice turns solemn as he looks down at the floor*

I seem to be the only one saved from that world... And yet even this one has problems bad enough to require time travel. So my efforts were somewhat pointless after all...

[halleyatfacetroid]

*Celum seems to shiver slightly as Cynthia leans against him again. While the situation itself is not unpleasant, he, having grown up in a strict hierarchy, completely devoid of physical contact with all but his brother, is definitely not used to the concept*

Ehh... After the genocide, the planet was basically useless to the higher-ups. Without slaves to sustain their mining operations, the whole place kinda.. became a wasteland. With the exception of the production plants and refineries, the place became useless to us.

I saw it in its prime when I was younger, but... I don’t really know if it was that much better. I saw the way they treated their slaves, at the very least. For such an important job as mining, you’d think they’d be more appreciative. For most of that planet’s life, there’s been two kinds of people who live there. The elites, managing the training arenas, refineries, science labs and whatnot.

And then... the natives. Most of the pirates born as Urtraghians spend their whole lives on that barren rock. As time went on and the scientists started doing advanced gene splicing... the rest of us evolved and the urtraghians... stayed behind. There aren’t many of them left now, but the ones that are still here are more genetically pure than normal zebesians.

Most of us have a little bit of every Federation species’ genes, which is why it’s even possible to crossbreed and have half-human pirates like myself. But our species is so different now from our... purer ancestors, considering the massive amounts of genetic infusion and crossbreeding with the original Zebesians...

But Urtraghus was never a fun place anyway. It had no atmosphere, no life... Just metal, rock, and acid. I’m at least fortunate that I never got stationed there for fear of what my father would think, even if I was never supposed to know him. But, that never seems to work out for-...

*He looks toward Cynthia for a moment, finding her eyes closed. He nudges her slightly, and his hands start to fidget*

Did... did I bore you to sleep?

[halleyatfacetroid]

*Celum turns slightly to face Cynthia, just staring at her with a strangely endearing glance* Yeah... I'm messed up, I know. ... I've had my share of paradoxes. I once killed a corrupted version of myself. Kicked him into the Urtraghian Abyss. I'm... done with that though. You're my anchor now, and I barely even know you, but I love you. I-In a sibling type way, of course.