"Excuse my ignorance, Regar. A month ago I didn't know the Union was even a thing. I don't know what that means, I don't know what it means to be First, and I don't know why Metra is freaking out. Can one of you tell me?"
"I'm not freaking out!" Metra protested.
"It's fine," Regar said, making a calming gesture with his left hand. "I'm used to it. Well, I used to be. I've been stuck on this stars-forsaken planet for so long I've almost forgotten what it was like. Let me explain."
Metra sat down nearby and I leaned back against the wall.
"I'm a Seeker. Kiril is too. Everyone that comes to an Infested planet is, generally. Your grandfather Matty was. No one else would be mad enough to come to these places. There are easier, safer ways to harvest Nanite Clusters."
"What are you seeking?" I asked.
"The truth, of course. We seek the truth about what happened when the AIs were born so long ago. How were they made? Where? Who made them? Any answers to those questions that existed died along with the civilizations that knew the truth. The only place we can search for the truth is on Infested worlds like this one. Someday, one of them will have the truth. A knowledge repository, even a fragment of one, documenting what happened. Something that we can use to end this war for good."
"I get it. I thought the Union already knew what happened, though? Some ancient race created the AIs, hard-takeoff Singularity, and bam, you've got a galactic apocalypse."
"All of what you have said is in the same class as myths and legends now, Jake. So many civilizations were lost before the Union formed, that every piece of info we have is either unreliable or something a Seeker found."
"Uh, if I may?" Metra asked. "Jake, the First is right. We are all taught about the AIs when we are young, but how could we really know anything? There are no records of the ancients that made the AIs in Horgrim records, because we never encountered them. They and all of their neighboring civilizations were destroyed before we could. We don't even know their names or what they looked like."
That threw me a bit. I'd had an idea in my head of how the galaxy was, before the war. I'd pictured a lively place, full of different civilizations and trade. That wasn't the case.
"Most of the Union only acquired gates and faster than light travel after we joined the Ahrimani in their fight and switched over to Union tech," Regar said.
"Alright, then what's the First?" I asked.
"It's nothing," Regar said, waving his hand dismissively. "An honorific. It simply means that my brother Seekers respect me."
I caught Metra's expression changing as Regar said that, but she didn't open her mouth to contradict him.
"And life debt?"
"That is simple enough. Without you my life would have ended on the Spike. It's unlikely I would have made it to the top, or even managed to escape. I will do my best to repay that debt. Anything you need, ask it of me. If I can, I will do it."
Regar's arm was nearly completely regrown now, and he flexed it.
"That feels better. It's always awkward to lose a limb," Regar said.
I could only agree. A Cutter Drone had chopped off my arm not that long ago. I had reattached mine, rather than grow a new one like Regar had.
"First, now that your arm has regrown, can we revive Seeker Kiril?" Metra asked.
"Yes, of course. He's waited long enough. He'll be pleased to meet a fellow engineer, Metra. I know he's often bored, with only me and Danner—" Regar said, stumbling to a halt.
"He'll be glad to meet you," he continued after a moment, his voice more somber.
Regar moved over to the bunk that Kiril's stasis pod was lying on, opening the metal locker at the foot. The locker was full of Nanite Cluster storage containers. I recognized them, as they were the same model as the one that Brick had created for me when I was clearing the station. He pulled one free.
"One thing that we're not short of here is Nanite Clusters. What we don't have are materials. Kiril will need them. I have to ask you for another favor, Jake. Would you trade with us?"
"Yeah, no problem. Brick, give Regar whatever he needs to heal Kiril."
"Of course, Jake," Brick replied. Regar's expression momentarily soured, but he nodded to me.
"Thank you. Kiril's a good friend and Seeker. Maybe my last brother. It would be hard to lose him."
I didn't know what to say to that. Part of me wanted to promise that no, of course Kiril wasn't his last brother. What the heck did I know? I didn't even know how many Seekers there were. The whole thing felt pretty awkward. When he'd recorded that message three months ago there had been eight of them. Now there were two left.
I was struggling for something appropriate to say when Regar saved me from saying something terribly stupid by changing the subject.
"Your station, have you given it a name?" Regar asked.
"No, I've just kind of been calling it the station. Why?"
"All things need names. Naming things is one of our unique powers as sentient beings. Your grandfather did not believe in the power of names. He was a practical man and the star's designation was enough for him. AF-718A is the name a machine would grant, a soulless designation in a database. Please, grant it a name."
He was putting me on the spot. I wasn't great at naming things at the best of times. A litany of stupid options flitted through my brain before a good one appeared and stuck fast. Regar waited patiently.
"I think we'll call it Pax. That means peace in an old Earth language."
"Pax," Regar said, the unfamiliar word sounding strange as he said it. "A fine name."
The name felt right the more it stuck with me.
"Listen, Regar, I'd like to stick
