Spatial Orientation

Slight tension. Things had improved since last night but there was an expected teething period for them to clear still. Char had offered Tay her chair but instead she had programmed her own. The Destiny drifted slowly towards the Soloss System.
Lore leant over to Char and grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry.” They kissed it.
“It’s alright. I’m just glad we’ve moved past all of the secrets.” She smiled and gripped Lore tighter. Tay looked uncomfortable.
“Not all…” She pushed her chair as far back as it could go. “Mum,” But before she could begin her sentence, a twitching Lore shot up and removed her from the bridge. Closed doors between them, she pushed her parent away. “What was that for?”
“She can’t know just yet. You’re from the future, you even told me! She doesn’t find out until the first Quatarrian scan.” Lore nodded, Tay nodded. “So, we need something that Char doesn’t know that you’ve kept quiet about…”
“Got it.” Tay burst back onto the bridge and reclaimed her chair. “My name isn’t Tay.”
Char shrugged. “Assumed that much. And I’m guessing for time travel reasons you can’t tell us your true name then.”
“About right. Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that we still follow the naming tradition despite it being totally obsolete?”
“It’s not just about trust?”
“No. Long ago, before we left our own system, we encountered a species of shape changers. The Uradorne. They came to Quatarr under the guise of peaceful exchange but their true plans were quickly revealed. The Uradorne were an intelligent species but never built their own technology. They would scavenge what they could then use that to reach their next civilisation. From there, they would assimilate themselves into the foreign societies, get their tech upgraded and improved then kill everyone and move on again. They believed that it strengthened their fleet by keeping their ships plans and specifications secret. They eventually made their way to Quatarr but we caught onto them. One of their early victims had only just changed his name. The Uradorne didn’t correct anyone or change their appearance to match the changes so suspicion grew. They hadn’t been on planet long enough to learn the language so we made it law that all Quatarrians were to take a second name and keep their true name to their family and friends.” Char paused. “We used this advantage to utterly destroy The Uradorne presence on Quatarr with many believing that we drove their species to extinction.”
“The Uradorne actually made a comeback. Although Quatarr pissed them off, the majority of the species was indifferent to glad about their demise.” Tay had a wide smile across her face. “The Uradorne on Quatarr were the last of a dying breed. Nomadic Uradorne keen on keeping their ancient traditions alive. The rest of the species lives in Aetar space now.”
“Perhaps we’ll run into them when we meet the Paragon of Life.” Lore smirked. Tay nodded.
“We are now in orbit of Solosur Prime.” Destiny focussed the planet on the viewscreen. “And they’re calling us.”
“Unknown ship, you are currently violating Soloss space. Please present a valid landing ID or proof of refugee transport mission before proceeding further. Failure to do so will result in the destruction of your vessel.”
“This is Lore, ID L052Ω, looking for permission to land.” There was a pause with only static crackling through the speakers.
“Lore, your ID has been accepted. You are late so please proceed to the highlighted docking area and make your way to the grand tunnels as soon as possible.” With a fizzle and pop, the channel was closed.
“Late?” Lore and Char spoke in unison. Tay held her head in her hands.
“They know I’m with you…”
“What?”
“The Paragons of Space can see all of space, at all times. They probably expected you to jump here as soon as I mentioned bringing the Paragons together.” She shook her head. “Cheeky gits.”
The Destiny lowered them through Solosur’s atmosphere, touching down close to a mountain twice as tall as anything Lore or Char had seen before. Waiting by the docks, the attendant stood inputting data to a pad. They were clad head to toe in high visibility protective gear with a glass dome encasing their head.
“Here’s your ticket. Hand this to the machine over there and we’ll get your parking fee sorted out for you.” The attendant handed the pad to Lore before turning to walk away.
“You’re not from around here are you?” The attendant stopped.
“I’m and O’Raes so no, I’m not from around here.” Their tone was understandably curt but after looking at their tablet, they grew more confident. “You’re the reason I’m here. Well, thanks. I guess. Thanks for saving us so we could be prisoners to our environmental suits on other planets. I mean at least I’m not on Earth. Say what you want about the Solosian gravity but it’s better than being with humans twenty six, seven.” The attendant placed their hands under their arms and flapped their elbows angrily before leaving.
The moment Lore’s foot left The Destiny’s ramp, it stuck. They tried to recoil in pain but it seemed to have fused to the floor. Char bent down and attempted to lift the foot but failed until Tay joined the effort. After a few minutes healing, Lore was able to climb back up the docking ramp and into the garage.
“Destiny, what’s the local gravitational strength?”
“Solosur Prime has a gravitational field strength of three and a half Earth G units. In hindsight probably should have mentioned that earlier.” Lore waved their arms at the nearest speaker.
“Here we go.” Char handed each of them a circular device. “They clip to your shirt and create a temporary field that reduces the effects of heavy gravity. Instead of being stuck to the floor, it’ll be like walking up a hill. Not much harder than normal but noticeably different.”
Fields established and foot no longer hurting, Lore hovered a tentative toe over the boundary of The Destiny. Where last time it was immediately drawn to the floor, this time it remained airborne despite dipping slightly. First step taken, they took a second and prepared to make their way to the Paragons. The mountain.