May I buy you another round, friend?  No?  That’s fine.  So, as I was saying, not knowing what else to do, I sat down next to them.  I just came back for my tablet, really, but there they were.  They were clearly caught off guard by my presence.  Two of them looked at each other, then back at me, while the third was still coming down that tiny ladder.  They were small, each only coming up to my knee, and were a pale yellow with very fine scales. Their eyes, large and expressive, conveyed panic.  They seemed to have extra hands where their feet should have been.  One held a tool of some sort with his ‘hand-foot’, while another had apparently been operating a holoscreen with theirs.  The third one, with its back to me, climbed off the last rung, pulled some elaborate goggles off its head, then motioned at one of the others.  It hadn’t yet noticed me. 

“This one’ll take leasta full cycle to charge,” it said, pointing up at the huge, bipedal machine it climbed down from.  “Sensors in that arm are done for, too, after that last show.  Not sure why.  Have to mebbe replace tha’ whole arm, dependin’ on what we can salvage.  If we start now… what?”

The one it was speaking to motioned behind him, at me.  It turned and looked, dropping the goggles on the shiny white floor. “Wha… who da Fek are you?! Not supposed to be here!” it said, with a mix of surprise and despair.

I had never seen a sentient species this small before but had heard stories that they existed.  Judging by their size and their seeming lack of gender, I guessed they were maybe Dilintiri, or possibly Crittig, but couldn’t be sure.  No living person had seen either species, right?  Not since the Matriarchy wiped them out, generations ago.  I suppose ‘wiped them out’ is a euphemism of sorts, though a terrible one.  As you know, the Matriarchy didn’t just conquer species and assimilate their technology.  Once they were done, they would systematically devour the species for their entrails.  Not the flesh, mind you – just the entrails.  The Matriarchy referred to this as the Dal Ra-katta, or ‘to take what is best’.  It was the only real rule they lived by and the only unifying creed for an otherwise violent group of loosely-knit clans.  

The one from the ladder put its hand to its face and paced around the other two.  “No good!  This is no good…” it muttered, looking at them, then back at me.  “No good.”  The other two put down their tools, stopped what they were doing, and crouched down.  One started rocking back and forth.  All three started chanting “No good”, eventually in unison.

I thought I understood, but really didn’t want to believe it.  I held up my tablet so they could all see it.  “Look”, I said, putting it in my case and zipping it up “I’m putting it away, ok? Let’s just talk.  My name is Tal Harnen.  I guess you already know that since I introduced myself at the ceremony earlier, right?”  I stuck my hand out in greeting, as I had seen other species do.  None of them moved.  Then, one of them hesitantly ambled over, shook my index finger with one of their hand-feet, then quickly withdrew back to the others.

“None of this”, I motioned at the colossal figures seated behind them “is real, is it?”

“Whazzit matter?!” asked one, thrusting its chest out as it spoke, its eyes brimming with tears.  The one with the goggles calmly walked over to it, put its hand on its shoulder, shook its head, then sat in front of me. The shadow cast by the seated figures behind it made it hard to see its face, except for those eyes.

“As real as it needs to be, Recorder.  Now more’n ever, needs to be real.”

“How did you do it?”

“How’d anyone do anything?  Made it work.  Figured it out.  Took four generations.  Plannin’.  Collectin’.  Buildin’.  Secret bases on two moons.”

It pulled out a small device from its left breast pocket, pressed a few buttons on it, then waited until a pale, orange light started blinking.  “Aahhh…” it said, positioning its mouth on one end of it, then inhaling.  Vapor slowly trickled out of all three of its nostrils, with more coming out of its ears and spilling to the ground below. It motioned for me to try it.

“No, thank you.  I’m, um… good.”

It shook its head dismissively and then pointed at me.  “So, now you knows. What next?”

That was the question, wasn’t it?  Earlier that day, I had served as the Prime Recorder for the ceremony.  It’s what I do – what I’ve always done for my whole professional career.  I bear witness.  I remember the truth.  As you know, my testimony can be used in legal proceedings as a verified witness, as can any of my species.  Barring traumatic injury, we are incapable of forgetting any event we witness, down to the last, most minute detail.  We remember every single word of every conversation we’ve ever had, our entire lives, and are incapable of lying.  We only occupy two relatively small planets and one moon, on the outskirts of the Rim, but we are sought after by all for our ability to remember without fail, without error.  

We are always in demand, my friend, yet most people avoid us when they can.  I understand it must be hard to socialize with someone who instantly and constantly records everything they’ve ever experienced.  Given this, most of us are surrounded by different species all the time at work and then are completely alone outside of that.  It can be jarring at first, but you get accustomed to it after a while.

I witnessed the surrender of the Matriarchy to this godlike species no one had ever seen or heard of before, until just a few cycles ago.  You were there, too, weren’t you?  I saw you in the back.

The Matriarchy has had everyone on their heels for generations.  As each species was conquered and inevitably consumed, the Matriarchy paused – sometimes for a few cycles – to adapt their technology, to satiate their hunger, to plan their next conquest.  During this time, we were all, well, relieved, weren’t we?  It’s okay to admit it.  We felt extreme guilt – I know I did – but knew each species that was devoured bought the rest of us more time.  There was no real plan to beat them.  Not with their size, their strength, their claws, and the combined weapons of every species they conquered.  The rest of the galaxy tried feebly to fight back from time to time, but were basically cowards just waiting for the clock to run out.  That is, until they came.  The Colossals.

Do you remember how utterly shocked we all were, the very first time their vast, vast fleet appeared?  Each massive, gleaming ship blotted out the stars.  None of us had ever seen anything like that before – certainly not of that scale.  The sheer amount of energy required to power a fleet of that size and strength would have drained an entire moon, maybe two, yet there it was.

They had weapons so advanced, so fantastical that we all just stood in awe as their fleet surrounded the Matriarchy ships.  I believe they were equally in awe, having never come up against a species so incontrovertibly more powerful than they were.  The Matriarchy had grown accustomed to being the strongest, the most advanced.   They assumed they could go on destroying and devouring indefinitely.  The Colossals proved otherwise.  

They didn’t call themselves that, of course.  They didn’t call themselves anything.  Or, if they did, they simply didn’t feel we were important enough to tell.  We filled-in that gap ourselves.   

They were dispassionate, if not aloof.  They really didn’t seem to care about any of us.  They just announced that the Matriarchy put the galaxy out of balance, and that they were there to correct it.  Even when we all saw their biomechanical forms on our holoscreens for the first time, three times the size of the tallest of us, they did not so much as talk to us but through us – like they were patiently addressing children in a schoolyard.  They addressed the Matriarchy much the same way, with one important difference: they told them to stand down, disarm, and retreat to the Outer Reaches.  Permanently.

And now, three cycles later of defiance, denial, and demonstration, here we are.  Unconditional surrender by the Matriarchy, brought on by a species of godlike, omnipotent… frauds.  It still didn’t seem possible.  I am a Recorder.  I witnessed with my own eyes, ears, and other senses as the Colossals hurled unimaginably advanced weaponry against them, pounding them into submission, yet it was all apparently fake?  How could this have happened?  

I looked up at the one with the goggles again, with a mix of disbelief and curiosity.  “What about that stasis ray?” I asked.  “We all saw you freeze Balrak Na Goreth, Destroyer of Gith Prime,  when she lunged at you and hurled that ion spear.  It went straight into the torso of the Colossal you operate.  You lifted her off the ground without even touching her, effortlessly.  She was frozen – unable to move.  We all saw it.  Then, once you dropped her,  you calmly plucked the spear out and handed it right back to her – as if it were so insignificant that you didn’t even comprehend it was a weapon.  One of your colleagues here froze Thracin Andara the Almighty at an earlier ceremony, and Fentana Vinsreich Stiletta, Annihilator of the Fek, prior to that.”

“Freeze only lasts a moment, then drained,” it said, shaking his head. “Takes enormous energy – enough to power a freight hauler.  Batteries depleted.”

“So, when you dropped her to the floor…”

“Had to. That was it.  Takes half a cycle to recharge, sometimes more.  Fried it this time.  Too heavy.  Too powerful.”

“But what would’ve happened if she charged at you again, or if one of the others did the same?”

“Would’ve been kilt, of course!” he said, as the other two, still seated, nodded in agreement behind him.  “Whole show would’ve been exposed.”

“And the ion spear? It went straight into the torso of your colossal.  Why were you not skewered, or at least mortally wounded by the radiation?  Just one of those spears would be enough to kill an entire squadron – even if it didn’t make contact.”

It shook its head and waved me away. “Just missed me,” it said, pointing to a small mark on its neck. “Fried that arm. Was tryin’ to fix it when you came in.”

“And the radiation?”

“Immune,” it said, actually smiling a little.  “All our species.  Always been that way.  We knows what radiations is, a’course, but they never been a concern to our kind.  Never understood how alla you get so sick from that stuff.  Need to be tough, like us.”

“But the spear…”

“Didn’t even know those spears did that ‘til you said so.  Mebbe explains why I still can’t get that arm workin’.”  

“What of your armada?  We’ve all seen your impressive fleet.  You outnumber the Matriarchy at least seven-to-one, and each one of your ships has enough firepower to destroy one of their heavy cruisers.  We all witnessed you destroy their flagship – the Ravenosa, wasn’t it?”

“Echoes.”

“Echoes?”

“We gots two ships.  Two real ships.  Even those’re mostly empty space.  Look intimidating, don’t they?  Rest are radar echoes, projections.  Trickery.”

“But we saw you destroy it.  ”

“Had enough real weapons on one to knock out that evil ship.  Gladda do it.  Deserved it.  Whole generations of families got kilt on that ship, since before I was a pup.  Ravenosa hadda come down, at long last, for the sake of my parents, and my parents’ parents.”

“Yes, I see.  I understand.  But you destroyed the Matriarchy command world, too.  You used the Nightmare Shroud.  We all saw it.  An actual, functioning Nightmare Shroud.  Prior to that, those were only theoretical.  That’s what finally got them to surrender.  Was that ‘trickery’, too?”

“Was real!”  he said, spitting on the floor in front of me.  “All of it!  Do it again right now if we hadda chance.”

“Well, if that was real, why do you hide behind these, these… marionettes?” I motioned to the Colossals seated behind them.  “Why not just let them see you for what you are, then hit them again and again if they didn’t back down? Why not just wipe them out completely with the Shroud?”

“Was our only one.  Had been workin’ on it before they first attacked, before they devoured our families.  Couldn’t finish it in time to save anyone.  All died horribly… because we was too slow.  Took us eight more spawning cycles to develop, to build.  Hoarded all those materials in secret, even if it meant not feedin’ what was left of our broods.  More of us died so’s all of you could live.  We start again right now, take 3 mebbe 4 generations to build, if lucky.  Hadda do it real public like – make a big show.  Let ‘em think we gots more.”

“So, if they hadn’t capitulated then and there, right after the Shroud hit..?”

“Was our last big trick.  Woulda kilt us for sure, and alla you.  Nothin’ left now but bluffin’ – bluffin’ and hope.  All outta tricks.”

The other two stood up and gathered next to it.  All three looked up at me.  The one with the goggles took one more drag, slowly let the mist seep out from its nose and ears, then pointed at me.  “We won, Recorder,” he said, slowly, if not accusingly.  “Now what?  Your show.”  

And that’s how I left them.  I couldn’t give them the response I knew they wanted – they needed – to hear.  It wasn’t that simple.  You see, I am a Recorder.  I have to bear witness, to tell the truth.  It is my only purpose.  It is all I know – all I have ever known – and all I am.  I have to do this. 

This is why I am telling you, here and now in this nearly empty tavern so late at night, my inebriated friend.  Are you certain I can’t buy you another round?  No?  Maybe you’ve had enough. 

My contract as a Recorder dictates that I must provide testimony to an officer of the court.  Your uniform denotes your rank as a bailiff, I believe.  Is that not correct?  You are technically an officer of the court.  That should suffice for this purpose.

You were there with me earlier today, weren’t you?  I remember seeing the fear in your eyes as the Matriarchy cohort entered.  I imagine we all felt much the same way then.  I know I did.  It was the first time anyone had seen members of their species in person and lived to tell about it.  Seeing those scales, those claws, those impossibly sharp fangs – it left an impression on me that I shall never shake.

I even saw you inadvertently make eye contact with one of them.  In that brief moment, I witnessed her take measure of you – saw her size you up, as one of your species might say.  It was clear she viewed you as little more than food – a crop to be carefully tended to, then eventually harvested.  You saw this, too, and you struggled not to let your fear overcome you.  I respect that you remained in place, that you performed your duties until it was over.

Later, I watched you enter this tavern.  I came in shortly after but remained in the back corner, waiting.  I watched you drink, and drink again.  Did that stare from the Matriarchy drive you to such despair?  I understand if it did.  To know that they would use you – would use all of us – essentially as cattle to feed from if given that chance, is a grim reminder of how precarious our situation is.  

Now, I must use you, my friend.  You acknowledged my presence as a Recorder by way of your retinal scan moments ago, though you perhaps were only passingly aware of this exchange due to your current state.  I provided my full, unaltered testimony to you – an officer of the court – as I am required to do.  There will be a log showing that we met and discussed this, along with a date / time stamp. The file attached to the log will be corrupted.  You will not be able to fix it, but you will not bring it to the attention of your superiors, either.  Doing so would bring your… current state to their attention.   

You will likely not remember this meeting with me at all.  Even if you do, you will only remember that it was an uneventful, perfunctory exchange.  Any other half-remembered musings on your part will be written off as drunken ramblings that would no doubt negatively impact your career.  

Thank you, my unknown, drunken friend, for being there when we all needed you to be. You are a true hero in every possible sense, though no one will ever know it.  I have completed my contract and will now leave back to my homeworld.  I will not take another contract as long as I am alive.  No one will ever see me again.  

We are safe.  All of us.  

I am whole.  

I bid you good night.