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When a Tallest dies, the next tallest Irken is recalled to Irk immediately.
It is meant to happen subtly. To not clue in the Irken themselves, or the Empire of what has occurred.
It is to be kept a secret, what their newest assignment will be. The new Tallest is not informed of their title until their PAK has been updated with the script needed to run the Empire.
The Control Brains keep track of the top ten heights of the empire, keeping it secret who is nearing the lofty height of ‘Tallest’ even from the Irken’s themselves.
But even then, it is not uncommon for others to know or suspect who is the unofficial next in line.
But sometimes, there are unusual occurrences that make the list void.
Toot remembered when Miyuki was recalled to Irk.
She had been growing, getting taller and taller. She had become the primary manager of the entire planet.
She had reassigned him as her personal servant, had kept him close and had handed him the keys to the servers, had let him arrange the entire shipping manifest to his own specifications.
But then, one day, she had gotten a call from Irk.
And her eyes had glazed over.
(Toot had later learned that Tallest Twit had been watching the testing of a new gun, and that the resulting explosion of the firing range had killed a number of Irkens who had been there to witness it.
. . . apparently it had been Tallest Twit who had turned the gun toward his own face, confused on why nothing had come out of the muzzle.)
She had left suddenly, walked right out of her shift, had driven the only ship available right out of the planet’s hangers.
Toot had watched her ship disappear from the doorway, certain that something terrible had happened, that she was going to be punished for using a shorter’s ideas, that she was being reassigned to separate them from each other, that he would never see her again.
And then she had appeared on every screen in the empire, standing as the one declared the tallest of them all.
All hail Tallest Miyuki, long may her shadow fall.
Toot had been elated and -
Toot had been exhilarated and-
Toot had been euphoric and-
And-
And-
Agonized
Miyuki was at the peak, the tallest of them all.
So far out of reach, he would never lay eyes on her ever again.
Toot had- had been unable to function.
With the reshuffling of the planet’s command structure, Toot had been recycled back to his original position.
A janitor once again, when before he had been all but in name, the second in command.
He lost the respect, the power, the efficiency-
He lost Miyuki.
. . .
Toot got his scar during that period of time, when she was on Irk, having her PAK be updated. Downloading the many clearances and keys needed to access the full network.
When she had been unable to leave, beholden to the demands of the Control Brains, stuck in a coma like state as the information integrated with her PAK.
During that time, when Toot thought he would never see her again-
Toot stopped being careful.
Stopped paying attention around the assembly lines, stopped labeling the cleaning fluids, stopped wearing the protection that janitors needed to keep from inhaling the harsh chemicals.
He had stopped resting, stopped eating. He had just worked and worked, forgoing breaks just to waste more calories on mopping another spill.
To weaken himself. Wearing himself down.
Depleting stored calories, using up what stored nutrients he had managed to obtain while eating with Miyuki.
Killing himself by inches, leaving him open for true damage that his PAK wouldn’t be able to repair.
One of the taller workers, someone only a few inches above his own height, had knocked him into the moving machinery while he had been mopping a spill.
The side of his face had hit the edge, cutting into the flesh. His skin had been caught in the moving parts, ripping off a significant strip. The belt nearly took his eye and antenna with the skin as it had traveled along, dragging him across the floor.
But eventually his flesh had given out, leaving behind the muscle and bone as the skin had torn free.
Toot, left kneeling on the floor and clutching his mangled face, only mourned that it hadn’t been enough to kill him.
He had noted the worker who had bumped into him, had recognized the Irken as someone who had a history of being nearby during workplace accidents.
Had made a note to do make sure that he would be in the areas that the worker was scheduled.
He was certain that more ‘accidents’ would happen.
Toot had estimated that it would only take a few more ‘meetings’ with that Irken before his meat gave out and his PAK black boxed.
But then-
But then!
Only a few work shifts later, before his face had even finished healing enough to let him see from that side, a reassignment had come.
A ship had come, the Tallest Miyuki aboard, and she demanded her old servant back.
Toot had been dragged before her, brought by frantic workers who didn’t understand why this janitor was being called, who thought that perhaps the Tallest was simply getting revenge on an old enemy.
They had dropped Toot before her, still half blind and face not even healed enough to be scarred. His skin had still been tearing with every expression he made, dripping blood down his neck.
Toot remembered that his neck had been warm with blood, that his uniform had been soaked.
That he had ripped his barely healed face open with how wide he had been smiling, his joy making him bleed as he had stared up at his Tallest.
At Miyuki.
She hadn’t been able to hide the horror from her scent, not yet contained enough to stifle the smell of her fear. Only able to keep her antennas stiff as she sent out all other Irkens and cameras.
Toot had stood before her, wondering if she would cast him aside for being marred, for being weak in her absence.
He hadn’t cared, just happy to see her once more before he eventually destroyed himself. Choosing to prematurely end his life instead of living without her.
But then she had snatched him up, clutching him close and uncaring of the blood that stained her robes. The very room had shivered with her hissing rage. Toot’s body humming with the noise, pressed as close to the source as he had been.
She had retreated back to her ship with him in her arms, his body dangling from her grip, willing to mangle any who came close to her wounded servant.
Toot had spent the first day of the rest of his life serving his Tallest in her lap. Forbidden from leaving.
Toot had snack after snack forced down his throat as Miyuki assigned the worker who had pushed him to the frontlines, growling the whole time.
She had doted on him, had kept him close, had demanded he rest and recover from what he had allowed to happen to him.
She had cracked his PAK open and coded in a self-preservation function that would stop him from allowing himself to become hurt or weakened like that ever again.
He would never allow himself to be killed ever again. Not while his PAK still functioned.
Miyuki kept him hidden in the beginning, blocked from sight by her own mass or a table that he could easily stand beneath.
But time passed. Years and years passed.
She became more settled in her role as Tallest, became confident and comfortable as she directed the empire.
Toot waited for her to abandon him in the beginning, for her stride to lengthen and outpace his attempts to keep up with her. For her greatness to only make more apparent his own lack.
But that didn’t happen.
They began to spend more and more time apart, errands being run simultaneously, to optimize their efficiency.
But he would always be recalled back to her side before long, always brought back to her side, always told he was needed next to her.
Despite how he barely grew taller, how his body continued to widen and his scars never fully disappeared-
He was able to match her stride!
He had not been taught how to lead an empire, not been given the downloads from the Control Brains, but he still learned at her side.
Watched her choices, watched her mistakes and triumphs.
He did all that he could to support her, and she leaned on him without a single thought to whether or not an Irken of his lowly stature could rise to the challenge, could bare her weight.
But oh.
Oh, his meticulous Miyuki was right.
He was able to anticipate her needs and wants. Able to solve the problems she shared with him. Able to share the load of the Tallest, able to support her and defend her.
Miyuki grew and grew, but she didn’t outgrow him.
Toot stayed with her, stayed at her side.
Toot used her passcodes and keys, used her name and header on reports. Toot was acting as her hands and voice with her easy acceptance.
Miyuki took him for granted, never thought for a moment that she would ever be without him. That she could ever have a moment where she would call his name and not have him appear at her side.
Toot didn’t know that he could be so proud, that he could feel so tall.
Toot had thought that he would live out the rest of his existence at her side, that he would last for as long as she needed him before their bodies both broke down.
He had already coded in a modified order for their PAKs to be placed next to each other in storage, when the meat finally gave out and their PAKs black boxed.
But then his Tallest Miyuki died, and Toot still had centuries left on his lifespan.
Toot had more than half his life left in front of him, and it was all going to be alone. With no monolith striding forward at his side, no Tallest to keep pace with.
. . . Toot had been forced to rest and eat by the survival code every shift since Tallest Miyuki’s PAK had stopped transmitting a living signature.
. . . there wasn’t even a PAK to place in storage. Nothing had managed to be recovered from the rouge experiment, the creature having disappeared into space.
He couldn’t even create an AI to speak to or search through her memories for comfort.
She was gone, only her works as Tallest left behind to mark her existence.
He could only see her through his memories, only watch her from recordings, only experience her through the thoughts of others in the past.
Could only desperately try and relive the moments that had already passed.
Toot spent the first week of his new existence without Miyuki in a daze, pushed forward by the codes she put in his PAK. It made him eat, made him rest.
But it could not make him work, could not make him move away from the private connection she had made for him on her private ship.
Toot had just . . . stayed on the ship. Had only used his connection to the net, used the codes she had given him, had accessed the information that only the tallers could.
He had watched Miyuki through a million different perspectives. Through the cameras in hallways, the videos made for her glory, through the eyes of the dead and black boxed.
He had only wanted to see her, only wanted to see his Tallest again-
But other information had seeped through.
He, like every other Irken in the Empire had gotten an alert, had been informed of a new Tallest.
And Toot felt-
Elation-
Exhilaration-
Euphoric-
Agonized.
The false emptions tasted violently artificial, like biting into the wrapper of a snack but being forced to swallow the inedible plastic.
Toot unwillingly flooded the dark room with his pheromones, was forced to feel joy and excitement as a video of his new Tallest played over his screen.
The feeling mixed with his misery, with his mourning, as he was forced to watch this- this lesser being take up the mantle that Miyuki had been forced to drop.
This new Tallest- this Spork was only 2/3rds of Miyuki’s height-
. . . he was only 2/3rds of her height?
Toot’s brow furrowed, his eyes focused and for the first time since the death of Tallest Miyuki, Toot’s antenna’s rose from their slack and dismal position.
Toot reached for the computer controls, but instead of bringing up a new video of his dead Tallest, he enlarged the Tallest announcement.
The new Tallest was . . . a slumped specimen. His eyes were unusually small, and he was . . . much much shorter than he should have been?
No. That can’t be right . . .
Toot accessed the official height list, because he knew that this ‘Spork’ had not been the next in line for Tallest.
Spork had been keeping track of the Irkens closest to Miyuki in height, had been carefully watching them and suppressing attempts to gain power or attempt sabotage.
The Irken that should have been closest in height was an Irken in the Advisor position named Kito.
An Irken that Miyuki had been keeping close, both to suppress and to train in the event that she was overtaken or –
. . .
If something happened.
Something that did happen.
Where was Kito?
The official height list finally loaded, and the dark room that Toot had been languishing in was suddenly awash with bright pink light and a little celebratory kazoo noise that sounded every time the list was accessed.
Toot stared at the official ‘Tall Tracker’ webpage.
. . . the top seventy tallers were all dead.
Not only that, but many other Irkens of lesser height were grayed out to signal known deactivation while a couple others were simply labeled ‘missing’.
Toot stared, antennas twitching wildly, trying to understand what could have possibly happened to remove so many over 8-foot Irkens from the active list-
Ah.
Right.
Toot had been so focused on Miyuki that he had forgotten that most of the Irkens at the Science exhibition had expired as well.
. . . Irkens that were nearly all of the older, taller, and experienced Manager class.
Gone.
Well.
That did in fact explain how this much shorter Spork ended up as the reigning Almighty Tallest.
Toot refocused on the video, on the slightly panicked smile of his new leader, on the new advisors behind-
Toot froze, a burst of ice racing from his stomach to his hands.
Because Toot knew exactly who the new advisors were.
Knew every single one of those Irkens by name and placement-
After all, it had been one of his jobs to keep track of the loudest voices of opposition to Miyuki’s decisions for the direct of the Empire.
And there they were, all of Miyuki’s enemies, wearing advisor robes and smiling like a group of cannibals behind a fresh tallest.
A fresh Tallest that had no training, no idea how to run the empire, no context for what Miyuki had been trying to do for the last century.
Toot felt his blood rush through his veins as he downloaded Spork’s records, bashing through the walls and locks with his still functioning code keys.
It only took a glance to understand what had happened.
Spork had been a fairly normal Irken who had gotten his position when he had outgrown the last Waste Management head after working below them for half his lifespan.
It had apparently been a slow growth, easily seen and anticipated. Spork had been trained for the role, and the former head had gracefully taken another position.
Waste Management, from the numbers that Toot was seeing, seemed to be a job with a fairly high turnover rate for the shorters, but the upper management seemed to have stagnated. The managers were seemingly content with their unglamourous jobs.
At least on the surface.
Just like all other stagnated manager positions, there was an underlying web of favors, bribes, deals and debts.
Spork had not abstained.
And why would he?
His growth had slowed a century ago, barely an inch added to his height since he finally overtook his former boss.
As far as Spork had been concerned, he had reached the highest rung of the ladder available for him.
And like all others, he had begun to put down roots.
Debts and favors were excellent ways to network. Owing another Irken something ensured that they would want to keep track of you, keep up contact and communication. It was a very clever way to keep tabs on others, to keep track of who was where and what they knew or had.
It had been an intelligent move for a Waste Management head to make, to branch out and owe small favors to many others, to keep himself on their minds and in the loop.
A very smart move for an Irken who had already reached their highest potential.
But it was a curse for an Irken who could still grow.
Suddenly, all of those owed favors, all of those small debts-
Were invaluable.
Toot remembered when Miyuki had been young, when she had always made sure to repay any debt promptly, when she had rather bleed than owe a favor to anyone.
How careful she had been to ensure that she would have no chains as she continued to grow and grow, putting on height much faster than anyone had anticipated.
She had been careful, even if she had only ever expected to manage the planet they had been stationed on, to never have anything owed.
And she had been right to be so careful, as Spork now showcased exactly why owing favors and debt was so dangerous.
Every favor, debt, or bet had been bought out by the various ‘advisors’ that Spork now had.
And it appeared as though every one of them had spent it on the Advisor titles they now had attached to their names.
Toot stood in the half-lit room, staring at the screen.
Those Irkens-
No.
Those Soldiers-
Were going to tear down every single thing that Miyuki had ever built.
They were going to pervert her every accomplishment for mindless war, going to unravel every single regulation she made, reinstate every mindless archaic rule that kept their race seen as nothing but a war hungry plague.
They were going to ruin everything that was left of Miyuki.
And Toot-
Couldn’t-
Stop-
Them!
Toot breathed deeply, ignoring the blood that was dripping from his mouth as his bared teeth contorted his face enough to rip open his scar.
They would ruin it! Ruin it all! Destroy what Miyuki - what Toot- what they made!
These mindless warmongers would destroy everything-
And Toot couldn’t- couldn’t-
His PAK- the codes she left behind-
He couldn’t do anything to stop them.
They had the right.
The titles, the height.
They had it all.
And Toot was just a relic, an old favorite companion of a past Tallest. Powerless now that His Tallest was gone.
Just as powerless as the rest of his species to the hierarchy, to the ones above. Kept chained and in line by the codes in-
The codes in his PAK.
His PAK, which was keeping him alive. His PAK, that Miyuki had coded to make him take care of himself. His PAK, that kept him loyal to the Tallest, no matter how inferior this new one was.
His PAK, that he would die in ten minutes if it was removed.
. . .
In that dark room, with a new Tallest on the screen, with his life in ruins around him, with no reason to live but to try and preserve what Miyuki had created-
Toot reached up and disengaged his PAK from his back.
He felt his mind begin to fog over immediately, his thoughts slowing.
But even as he forced himself to breath, even as he kept his eyes locked to the timer he had set up-
Toot thought of how exactly, he would go about killing a Tallest and as many of their advisors as possible.