Chapter 54: 54
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After Ivan's rejected proposal to include a hidden guard over planets where the interests of Celestial Trade lie, he decided to change his approach. He could easily remove members from the board or force the decision through taking advantage of his authority and prestige, but he treated the Celestials as his own people and had his own set of rules for such a thing.
He had initially threatened the senior executives to remove them, but that was only to assert his position as the head of the table and ensure they didn't get too full of themselves.
He chose to instead sway their opinions into his favor with directed information.
He first took some clips out of the footage from the Scalian attack on Kav'sall, making sure to capture their entire fleet as well as the most brutal parts of the battle where the Scalians caused wanton death and destruction across the planet's surface.
Ivan included predictions on the result of an attack to the Vulpes home world and how much damage would be done by the time they responded and arrived at it. He also focused on the protection on several key planets and potential consequences if they didn't have someone stationed there to defend against such attacks.
"Hmm, it's a bit biased, but this will help in the next meeting," Ivan said with a sly grin as he posted the document into the Celestial Network, somewhere everyone could access it.
The report would eventually find its way to the common people as well as the other Senior Executives, who would have to agree with Ivan's proposal next time or else face the discontent voices of the general population. While most Celestials had a disdain for lower level lifeforms, they still viewed the Vulpes race, which they originated from, in favor.
The next task on Ivan's agenda was the fund allocation toward purchasing the 50,000 new stasis pods which were to be modified. Vulpes and Celestial technology still couldn't reproduce them as they were incredibly precise instruments which couldn't simply be copied. They required a unique process and several synthetic materials they didn't have the ability to reproduce at the moment.
A single stasis pod cost approximately 34,000c, while Ivan's tablets sold for 4,000c as well as the 0.5% transaction fee on trades conducted through the SubNet. The sales contract would provide Celestial trade 266 million credits with the discounted sales price per tablet, while the other initial 20,000 he put up for sale would add another 80 million to that total.
The total cost of 50,000 stasis pods however was a staggering total of 1.7 billion credits. Even with everything, he could only buy approximately 10,000 stasis pods. Ivan took his time crunching the numbers on sales, commissions, and other predicted income from certain large clients he hoped to produce and came up with a preliminary three year plan to implement it.
Ivan looked over at a business card on his desk. It was a three-dimensional card sealed in a special clear sealed pocket to allow it to exist in subspace.
This was the introduction card to meet with Everal Argentear. Ivan knew he had at least a significantly large amount of money, and was interested in the four-dimensional technology, so he considered meeting him sooner and probing his goals along with what financial investment he could provide.
*****
Once he finished up his scheduled business and had no more important pieces of business to attend to, Ivan travelled through the towers of CTHQ toward the main research subdivision.
Iris followed by Ivan's side while Valeria tailed not far behind.
The inside of the CTHQ was becoming more detailed every day. There was an entire subdivision dedicated to interior decorating. They commissioned, created, and decorated the inside of CTHQ with intricate tapestries, carpets, woodwork, and art pieces in the Victorian style.
Upon reaching the research subdivision, Ivan let himself in and calmly looked over some of the experimental energy circuit designs and research. In the center of the massive research room was the blue cube left by the future Ivan, the Tesseract as Mazur had named it.
A small number of research team leaders were crowded around the Tesseract as Mazur manipulated it to alter the projection it emits and reveal a different energy circuit along with the related scientific data on how it works.
"President!" Tsaire, who had become one of the leading researchers, happened to turn around upon hearing footsteps and saw Ivan, Iris and Valeria.
"How is your research going?" Ivan asked briefly.
"It is going excellent, President."
"Good, so why is there not a database on known energy circuits and what they can be applied to or used with?"
All the researchers were rooted to the spot at a loss for words. Several of them began to stammer and look for excuses, but were saved by Mazur who held up a hologram of recent company changes.
"He's just messing with you all. There is new policy changes during the recent meeting of senior executives, we are required to contribute to a confidential database all energy circuits we have finished researching and potential usages of said circuits. This database hasn't been formed yet, so we don't need to do a damn thing."
Ivan chuckled helplessly at being outed by Mazur while the researchers wanted to cry but had no tears.
"Indeed, the paperwork will be handed down through the company to all research subdivisions soon. It is important because how are other Celestials supposed to create things if they don't know what it is possible."
"So what is the boss here for? You even brought the Mrs. President and the brat," Mazur bluntly asked with a twitch of his whiskers.
"You seem to be comfortable here, no?"
"I spent too long connecting those damned SubNet satellites to the Federation ones. Don't think you can make me go anywhere else anytime soon!"
"Really, because I came here to drag you over to some barren corner of the Galaxy to run some research on some atypical phenomena of the local physics occurring on planet Kilaris II."
"You're joke isn't funny,"
"I'm not joking though."
"Shit, I haven't even had time to put my feet up! Are you fucking serious!?"
"You mean paws, right? Don't worry, I was only joking."
Ivan talked through the entire thing with a poker face and in a serious voice too.
Meanwhile, Mazur's whiskers were twitching in a suppressed rage that was about to explode, especially once Ivan told him he was just messing with him.
"That is happening, but another team of Celestials will be going to investigate it. It is all over the galactic web and has been designated as a Class V danger zone. 500 Galactic Fleet battleships have surrounded the planet and are investigating the cause, but haven't been able to come to any conclusions."
Mazur was actually interested in the phenomena, but not so much he would immediately depart to investigate. With his lifespan issue solved, the only thing that currently grasped his obsession was the study of energy circuits.
"What I do want you to research into is a method to store more energy in the subspace ships. When using the weapons in the surface universe, they empty the reserves simply too quick."
"Hmm, that is a difficult problem. It is possible to install more energy storage tanks and some more energy absorption circuits. But to have more compact storage or a wider energy absorption area would take a lot of research."
"Can you do it in six months?"
"We have a lot of projects, and with the new energy circuit database to start, the workload is larger than the number of researchers we have."
"Why don't you outsource some of the less important research to other research subdivisions."
"And let them take the credit for it?! Not a chance! Give us 12 months."
"Good, 12 months it is."
With his task completed, Ivan consulted the researchers on several thoughts he had before leaving.
*****
Running some small errands during the day, Ivan returned to his home with Iris and Valeria. Iris had recently gotten some dark red and burgundy Victorian rugs and had used them to start decorating the floor.
In the bathroom was a massive bath inlaid in the ground and lined with brass. It was big enough that it could fit four people comfortably, but it was usually only Ivan and Iris who shared the bath, while Valeria bathed on her own.
Tonight though, Valeria hesitantly asked Ivan to help wash her. Ivan acquiesced to this small request of hers when she normally wouldn't ask for anything. Iris nodded with a smile and Ivan went into the bathroom where he saw Valeria sitting on the edge of the bath naked, her feet dipping in the luminescent blue energy water.
"How am I supposed to wash you if you aren't in the water?" Ivan sighed as he looked at her narrow back.
Valeria had a fully matured body, but was mentally still a child in Ivan's eyes due to her missed mental growth during the development period of the brain.
Ivan stripped off and joined Valeria in the water, feeling the euphoric sensation of thousands of small electric shocks licking over his skin. The Celestials had already created some basic bathroom necessities which work well with the energy water, including shampoo and a body lotion used to was and leave a pleasant scent behind.
After pulling Valeria to sit in front of him, Ivan grabbed a small cloth and rubbed some body lotion into it. He softly scrubbed her back before moving onto her shoulders and then her arms.
Valeria turned limp and allowed Ivan to do what he willed with her body. He even turned her to the side as he scrubbed her stomach and breasts, feeling her twin mounds, each just the right size to fill up a hand, through the thin cloth covered in lotion.
Ivan simply treated it as business as he scrubbed her legs down and the narrow crevice in between. He had no filthy thoughts as he made sure not a single inch of her body wasn't cleaned properly.
"Why did you want me to clean you today?" Ivan asked Valeria curiously as he began to shampoo her hair.
Valeria was silent for a while before finally quietly saying, "I remember when you first picked me up. I was dirty… and discarded… but you still chose me. Things have changed so much, sometimes I fear you will no longer want me. Before that happens… I want… to at least remember… you looking after me."
Valeria was facing away from him. She had tears running down her face, but didn't make a single sob as to not worry Ivan. She cried in silence as he washed her hair rhythmically.
Ivan may not be able to tell if she was crying without looking due to her hiding it so well, but he could hear the pain in her voice.
"You worry too much. I will always need you."
Ivan's words were short and curt, but it still reassured Valeria who leaned back on Ivan's chest feebly and closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep.
Ivan couldn't just leave her in the bath, so he carried her out and had Iris place some night clothes on her before placing her in bed.
"What happened?" Iris asked Ivan as she looked as the sleeping young woman.
Ivan just shook his head in response.
"Unsure. I think it may be signs of mental development. I should send her away on some tasks to see the results."
"Are you still thinking of training her to be a soldier?" Iris crossed her brow.
"You are getting too attached to her. That is what she was from the very beginning."
"Isn't that a bit too cold hearted?"
"Nonsense. Branding her a Kivsharr and treating her like a wild animal is cold hearted. Don't try to pretend you didn't look down on those refused their humanity."
"That's different! They were criminals!"
"And what of her? She wasn't branded for no reason. She stole food to eat and killed several people to protect herself. Both are criminal acts."
"But still-"
"You are worried about personal feelings too much. I taught you better than that, Iris. As for Valeria, I didn't just feed her and cloth her, I gave her back her dignity as a human and even gave purpose to her empty life."
"…"
"Anyway, tomorrow is the annual visit to the Vulpes home world and induction of new Celestials. Let's head to bed and get some sleep."
"…"
"Are you coming?"
"Sleep by yourself tonight!"
Ivan stared wide-eyed at Iris who glared at him before grabbing a rug and wrapping herself up on the couch. He wanted to make amends on anything he said to offend her, but his pride prevented him from doing so, instead just leaving her there and going to bed by himself.
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After Ivan's rejected proposal to include a hidden guard over planets where the interests of Celestial Trade lie, he decided to change his approach. He could easily remove members from the board or force the decision through taking advantage of his authority and prestige, but he treated the Celestials as his own people and had his own set of rules for such a thing.
He had initially threatened the senior executives to remove them, but that was only to assert his position as the head of the table and ensure they didn't get too full of themselves.
He chose to instead sway their opinions into his favor with directed information.
He first took some clips out of the footage from the Scalian attack on Kav'sall, making sure to capture their entire fleet as well as the most brutal parts of the battle where the Scalians caused wanton death and destruction across the planet's surface.
Ivan included predictions on the result of an attack to the Vulpes home world and how much damage would be done by the time they responded and arrived at it. He also focused on the protection on several key planets and potential consequences if they didn't have someone stationed there to defend against such attacks.
"Hmm, it's a bit biased, but this will help in the next meeting," Ivan said with a sly grin as he posted the document into the Celestial Network, somewhere everyone could access it.
The report would eventually find its way to the common people as well as the other Senior Executives, who would have to agree with Ivan's proposal next time or else face the discontent voices of the general population. While most Celestials had a disdain for lower level lifeforms, they still viewed the Vulpes race, which they originated from, in favor.
The next task on Ivan's agenda was the fund allocation toward purchasing the 50,000 new stasis pods which were to be modified. Vulpes and Celestial technology still couldn't reproduce them as they were incredibly precise instruments which couldn't simply be copied. They required a unique process and several synthetic materials they didn't have the ability to reproduce at the moment.
A single stasis pod cost approximately 34,000c, while Ivan's tablets sold for 4,000c as well as the 0.5% transaction fee on trades conducted through the SubNet. The sales contract would provide Celestial trade 266 million credits with the discounted sales price per tablet, while the other initial 20,000 he put up for sale would add another 80 million to that total.
The total cost of 50,000 stasis pods however was a staggering total of 1.7 billion credits. Even with everything, he could only buy approximately 10,000 stasis pods. Ivan took his time crunching the numbers on sales, commissions, and other predicted income from certain large clients he hoped to produce and came up with a preliminary three year plan to implement it.
Ivan looked over at a business card on his desk. It was a three-dimensional card sealed in a special clear sealed pocket to allow it to exist in subspace.
This was the introduction card to meet with Everal Argentear. Ivan knew he had at least a significantly large amount of money, and was interested in the four-dimensional technology, so he considered meeting him sooner and probing his goals along with what financial investment he could provide.
*****
Once he finished up his scheduled business and had no more important pieces of business to attend to, Ivan travelled through the towers of CTHQ toward the main research subdivision.
Iris followed by Ivan's side while Valeria tailed not far behind.
The inside of the CTHQ was becoming more detailed every day. There was an entire subdivision dedicated to interior decorating. They commissioned, created, and decorated the inside of CTHQ with intricate tapestries, carpets, woodwork, and art pieces in the Victorian style.
Upon reaching the research subdivision, Ivan let himself in and calmly looked over some of the experimental energy circuit designs and research. In the center of the massive research room was the blue cube left by the future Ivan, the Tesseract as Mazur had named it.
A small number of research team leaders were crowded around the Tesseract as Mazur manipulated it to alter the projection it emits and reveal a different energy circuit along with the related scientific data on how it works.
"President!" Tsaire, who had become one of the leading researchers, happened to turn around upon hearing footsteps and saw Ivan, Iris and Valeria.
"How is your research going?" Ivan asked briefly.
"It is going excellent, President."
"Good, so why is there not a database on known energy circuits and what they can be applied to or used with?"
All the researchers were rooted to the spot at a loss for words. Several of them began to stammer and look for excuses, but were saved by Mazur who held up a hologram of recent company changes.
"He's just messing with you all. There is new policy changes during the recent meeting of senior executives, we are required to contribute to a confidential database all energy circuits we have finished researching and potential usages of said circuits. This database hasn't been formed yet, so we don't need to do a damn thing."
Ivan chuckled helplessly at being outed by Mazur while the researchers wanted to cry but had no tears.
"Indeed, the paperwork will be handed down through the company to all research subdivisions soon. It is important because how are other Celestials supposed to create things if they don't know what it is possible."
"So what is the boss here for? You even brought the Mrs. President and the brat," Mazur bluntly asked with a twitch of his whiskers.
"You seem to be comfortable here, no?"
"I spent too long connecting those damned SubNet satellites to the Federation ones. Don't think you can make me go anywhere else anytime soon!"
"Really, because I came here to drag you over to some barren corner of the Galaxy to run some research on some atypical phenomena of the local physics occurring on planet Kilaris II."
"You're joke isn't funny,"
"I'm not joking though."
"Shit, I haven't even had time to put my feet up! Are you fucking serious!?"
"You mean paws, right? Don't worry, I was only joking."
Ivan talked through the entire thing with a poker face and in a serious voice too.
Meanwhile, Mazur's whiskers were twitching in a suppressed rage that was about to explode, especially once Ivan told him he was just messing with him.
"That is happening, but another team of Celestials will be going to investigate it. It is all over the galactic web and has been designated as a Class V danger zone. 500 Galactic Fleet battleships have surrounded the planet and are investigating the cause, but haven't been able to come to any conclusions."
Mazur was actually interested in the phenomena, but not so much he would immediately depart to investigate. With his lifespan issue solved, the only thing that currently grasped his obsession was the study of energy circuits.
"What I do want you to research into is a method to store more energy in the subspace ships. When using the weapons in the surface universe, they empty the reserves simply too quick."
"Hmm, that is a difficult problem. It is possible to install more energy storage tanks and some more energy absorption circuits. But to have more compact storage or a wider energy absorption area would take a lot of research."
"Can you do it in six months?"
"We have a lot of projects, and with the new energy circuit database to start, the workload is larger than the number of researchers we have."
"Why don't you outsource some of the less important research to other research subdivisions."
"And let them take the credit for it?! Not a chance! Give us 12 months."
"Good, 12 months it is."
With his task completed, Ivan consulted the researchers on several thoughts he had before leaving.
*****
Running some small errands during the day, Ivan returned to his home with Iris and Valeria. Iris had recently gotten some dark red and burgundy Victorian rugs and had used them to start decorating the floor.
In the bathroom was a massive bath inlaid in the ground and lined with brass. It was big enough that it could fit four people comfortably, but it was usually only Ivan and Iris who shared the bath, while Valeria bathed on her own.
Tonight though, Valeria hesitantly asked Ivan to help wash her. Ivan acquiesced to this small request of hers when she normally wouldn't ask for anything. Iris nodded with a smile and Ivan went into the bathroom where he saw Valeria sitting on the edge of the bath naked, her feet dipping in the luminescent blue energy water.
"How am I supposed to wash you if you aren't in the water?" Ivan sighed as he looked at her narrow back.
Valeria had a fully matured body, but was mentally still a child in Ivan's eyes due to her missed mental growth during the development period of the brain.
Ivan stripped off and joined Valeria in the water, feeling the euphoric sensation of thousands of small electric shocks licking over his skin. The Celestials had already created some basic bathroom necessities which work well with the energy water, including shampoo and a body lotion used to was and leave a pleasant scent behind.
After pulling Valeria to sit in front of him, Ivan grabbed a small cloth and rubbed some body lotion into it. He softly scrubbed her back before moving onto her shoulders and then her arms.
Valeria turned limp and allowed Ivan to do what he willed with her body. He even turned her to the side as he scrubbed her stomach and breasts, feeling her twin mounds, each just the right size to fill up a hand, through the thin cloth covered in lotion.
Ivan simply treated it as business as he scrubbed her legs down and the narrow crevice in between. He had no filthy thoughts as he made sure not a single inch of her body wasn't cleaned properly.
"Why did you want me to clean you today?" Ivan asked Valeria curiously as he began to shampoo her hair.
Valeria was silent for a while before finally quietly saying, "I remember when you first picked me up. I was dirty… and discarded… but you still chose me. Things have changed so much, sometimes I fear you will no longer want me. Before that happens… I want… to at least remember… you looking after me."
Valeria was facing away from him. She had tears running down her face, but didn't make a single sob as to not worry Ivan. She cried in silence as he washed her hair rhythmically.
Ivan may not be able to tell if she was crying without looking due to her hiding it so well, but he could hear the pain in her voice.
"You worry too much. I will always need you."
Ivan's words were short and curt, but it still reassured Valeria who leaned back on Ivan's chest feebly and closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep.
Ivan couldn't just leave her in the bath, so he carried her out and had Iris place some night clothes on her before placing her in bed.
"What happened?" Iris asked Ivan as she looked as the sleeping young woman.
Ivan just shook his head in response.
"Unsure. I think it may be signs of mental development. I should send her away on some tasks to see the results."
"Are you still thinking of training her to be a soldier?" Iris crossed her brow.
"You are getting too attached to her. That is what she was from the very beginning."
"Isn't that a bit too cold hearted?"
"Nonsense. Branding her a Kivsharr and treating her like a wild animal is cold hearted. Don't try to pretend you didn't look down on those refused their humanity."
"That's different! They were criminals!"
"And what of her? She wasn't branded for no reason. She stole food to eat and killed several people to protect herself. Both are criminal acts."
"But still-"
"You are worried about personal feelings too much. I taught you better than that, Iris. As for Valeria, I didn't just feed her and cloth her, I gave her back her dignity as a human and even gave purpose to her empty life."
"…"
"Anyway, tomorrow is the annual visit to the Vulpes home world and induction of new Celestials. Let's head to bed and get some sleep."
"…"
"Are you coming?"
"Sleep by yourself tonight!"
Ivan stared wide-eyed at Iris who glared at him before grabbing a rug and wrapping herself up on the couch. He wanted to make amends on anything he said to offend her, but his pride prevented him from doing so, instead just leaving her there and going to bed by himself.
After Ivan's rejected proposal to include a hidden guard over planets where the interests of Celestial Trade lie, he decided to change his approach. He could easily remove members from the board or force the decision through taking advantage of his authority and prestige, but he treated the Celestials as his own people and had his own set of rules for such a thing.He had initially threatened the senior executives to remove them, but that was only to assert his position as the head of the table and ensure they didn't get too full of themselves.He chose to instead sway their opinions into his favor with directed information.He first took some clips out of the footage from the Scalian attack on Kav'sall, making sure to capture their entire fleet as well as the most brutal parts of the battle where the Scalians caused wanton death and destruction across the planet's surface.Ivan included predictions on the result of an attack to the Vulpes home world and how much damage would be done by the time they responded and arrived at it. He also focused on the protection on several key planets and potential consequences if they didn't have someone stationed there to defend against such attacks."Hmm, it's a bit biased, but this will help in the next meeting," Ivan said with a sly grin as he posted the document into the Celestial Network, somewhere everyone could access it.The report would eventually find its way to the common people as well as the other Senior Executives, who would have to agree with Ivan's proposal next time or else face the discontent voices of the general population. While most Celestials had a disdain for lower level lifeforms, they still viewed the Vulpes race, which they originated from, in favor.The next task on Ivan's agenda was the fund allocation toward purchasing the 50,000 new stasis pods which were to be modified. Vulpes and Celestial technology still couldn't reproduce them as they were incredibly precise instruments which couldn't simply be copied. They required a unique process and several synthetic materials they didn't have the ability to reproduce at the moment.A single stasis pod cost approximately 34,000c, while Ivan's tablets sold for 4,000c as well as the 0.5% transaction fee on trades conducted through the SubNet. The sales contract would provide Celestial trade 266 million credits with the discounted sales price per tablet, while the other initial 20,000 he put up for sale would add another 80 million to that total.The total cost of 50,000 stasis pods however was a staggering total of 1.7 billion credits. Even with everything, he could only buy approximately 10,000 stasis pods. Ivan took his time crunching the numbers on sales, commissions, and other predicted income from certain large clients he hoped to produce and came up with a preliminary three year plan to implement it.Ivan looked over at a business card on his desk. It was a three-dimensional card sealed in a special clear sealed pocket to allow it to exist in subspace.This was the introduction card to meet with Everal Argentear. Ivan knew he had at least a significantly large amount of money, and was interested in the four-dimensional technology, so he considered meeting him sooner and probing his goals along with what financial investment he could provide.*****Once he finished up his scheduled business and had no more important pieces of business to attend to, Ivan travelled through the towers of CTHQ toward the main research subdivision.Iris followed by Ivan's side while Valeria tailed not far behind.The inside of the CTHQ was becoming more detailed every day. There was an entire subdivision dedicated to interior decorating. They commissioned, created, and decorated the inside of CTHQ with intricate tapestries, carpets, woodwork, and art pieces in the Victorian style.Upon reaching the research subdivision, Ivan let himself in and calmly looked over some of the experimental energy circuit designs and research. In the center of the massive research room was the blue cube left by the future Ivan, the Tesseract as Mazur had named it.A small number of research team leaders were crowded around the Tesseract as Mazur manipulated it to alter the projection it emits and reveal a different energy circuit along with the related scientific data on how it works."President!" Tsaire, who had become one of the leading researchers, happened to turn around upon hearing footsteps and saw Ivan, Iris and Valeria."How is your research going?" Ivan asked briefly."It is going excellent, President.""Good, so why is there not a database on known energy circuits and what they can be applied to or used with?"All the researchers were rooted to the spot at a loss for words. Several of them began to stammer and look for excuses, but were saved by Mazur who held up a hologram of recent company changes."He's just messing with you all. There is new policy changes during the recent meeting of senior executives, we are required to contribute to a confidential database all energy circuits we have finished researching and potential usages of said circuits. This database hasn't been formed yet, so we don't need to do a damn thing."Ivan chuckled helplessly at being outed by Mazur while the researchers wanted to cry but had no tears."Indeed, the paperwork will be handed down through the company to all research subdivisions soon. It is important because how are other Celestials supposed to create things if they don't know what it is possible.""So what is the boss here for? You even brought the Mrs. President and the brat," Mazur bluntly asked with a twitch of his whiskers."You seem to be comfortable here, no?""I spent too long connecting those damned SubNet satellites to the Federation ones. Don't think you can make me go anywhere else anytime soon!""Really, because I came here to drag you over to some barren corner of the Galaxy to run some research on some atypical phenomena of the local physics occurring on planet Kilaris II.""You're joke isn't funny,""I'm not joking though.""Shit, I haven't even had time to put my feet up! Are you fucking serious!?""You mean paws, right? Don't worry, I was only joking."Ivan talked through the entire thing with a poker face and in a serious voice too.Meanwhile, Mazur's whiskers were twitching in a suppressed rage that was about to explode, especially once Ivan told him he was just messing with him."That is happening, but another team of Celestials will be going to investigate it. It is all over the galactic web and has been designated as a Class V danger zone. 500 Galactic Fleet battleships have surrounded the planet and are investigating the cause, but haven't been able to come to any conclusions."Mazur was actually interested in the phenomena, but not so much he would immediately depart to investigate. With his lifespan issue solved, the only thing that currently grasped his obsession was the study of energy circuits."What I do want you to research into is a method to store more energy in the subspace ships. When using the weapons in the surface universe, they empty the reserves simply too quick.""Hmm, that is a difficult problem. It is possible to install more energy storage tanks and some more energy absorption circuits. But to have more compact storage or a wider energy absorption area would take a lot of research.""Can you do it in six months?""We have a lot of projects, and with the new energy circuit database to start, the workload is larger than the number of researchers we have.""Why don't you outsource some of the less important research to other research subdivisions.""And let them take the credit for it?! Not a chance! Give us 12 months.""Good, 12 months it is."With his task completed, Ivan consulted the researchers on several thoughts he had before leaving.*****Running some small errands during the day, Ivan returned to his home with Iris and Valeria. Iris had recently gotten some dark red and burgundy Victorian rugs and had used them to start decorating the floor.In the bathroom was a massive bath inlaid in the ground and lined with brass. It was big enough that it could fit four people comfortably, but it was usually only Ivan and Iris who shared the bath, while Valeria bathed on her own.Tonight though, Valeria hesitantly asked Ivan to help wash her. Ivan acquiesced to this small request of hers when she normally wouldn't ask for anything. Iris nodded with a smile and Ivan went into the bathroom where he saw Valeria sitting on the edge of the bath naked, her feet dipping in the luminescent blue energy water."How am I supposed to wash you if you aren't in the water?" Ivan sighed as he looked at her narrow back.Valeria had a fully matured body, but was mentally still a child in Ivan's eyes due to her missed mental growth during the development period of the brain.Ivan stripped off and joined Valeria in the water, feeling the euphoric sensation of thousands of small electric shocks licking over his skin. The Celestials had already created some basic bathroom necessities which work well with the energy water, including shampoo and a body lotion used to was and leave a pleasant scent behind.After pulling Valeria to sit in front of him, Ivan grabbed a small cloth and rubbed some body lotion into it. He softly scrubbed her back before moving onto her shoulders and then her arms.Valeria turned limp and allowed Ivan to do what he willed with her body. He even turned her to the side as he scrubbed her stomach and breasts, feeling her twin mounds, each just the right size to fill up a hand, through the thin cloth covered in lotion.Ivan simply treated it as business as he scrubbed her legs down and the narrow crevice in between. He had no filthy thoughts as he made sure not a single inch of her body wasn't cleaned properly."Why did you want me to clean you today?" Ivan asked Valeria curiously as he began to shampoo her hair.Valeria was silent for a while before finally quietly saying, "I remember when you first picked me up. I was dirty and discarded but you still chose me. Things have changed so much, sometimes I fear you will no longer want me. Before that happens I want to at least remember you looking after me."Valeria was facing away from him. She had tears running down her face, but didn't make a single sob as to not worry Ivan. She cried in silence as he washed her hair rhythmically.Ivan may not be able to tell if she was crying without looking due to her hiding it so well, but he could hear the pain in her voice."You worry too much. I will always need you."Ivan's words were short and curt, but it still reassured Valeria who leaned back on Ivan's chest feebly and closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep.Ivan couldn't just leave her in the bath, so he carried her out and had Iris place some night clothes on her before placing her in bed."What happened?" Iris asked Ivan as she looked as the sleeping young woman.Ivan just shook his head in response."Unsure. I think it may be signs of mental development. I should send her away on some tasks to see the results.""Are you still thinking of training her to be a soldier?" Iris crossed her brow."You are getting too attached to her. That is what she was from the very beginning.""Isn't that a bit too cold hearted?""Nonsense. Branding her a Kivsharr and treating her like a wild animal is cold hearted. Don't try to pretend you didn't look down on those refused their humanity.""That's different! They were criminals!""And what of her? She wasn't branded for no reason. She stole food to eat and killed several people to protect herself. Both are criminal acts.""But still-""You are worried about personal feelings too much. I taught you better than that, Iris. As for Valeria, I didn't just feed her and cloth her, I gave her back her dignity as a human and even gave purpose to her empty life.""""Anyway, tomorrow is the annual visit to the Vulpes home world and induction of new Celestials. Let's head to bed and get some sleep.""""Are you coming?""Sleep by yourself tonight!"Ivan stared wide-eyed at Iris who glared at him before grabbing a rug and wrapping herself up on the couch. He wanted to make amends on anything he said to offend her, but his pride prevented him from doing so, instead just leaving her there and going to bed by himself.
