It felt weird hearing my somewhat new name attached to an even newer last name. It was only twenty-three days since I had woken up on theDestinyand met Xylo for the first time. I was just a series of numbers before then—only seen as an object to further the Yaarkins' future.
Now, I had others depending on me to make the right choices.
What if I failed? I didn’t know what I was doing most of the time—I was just using whatever I’d studied and applying that knowledge in current situations. There was no room for failure. Not when there were members of the CEG who wanted me to fail and wanted to find a way to strip everything I graciously gained over the last month, for their own benefit.
I took a deep breath, needing to clear my thoughts as I relaxed in the massive chair.
Zirene had explained everything when he took us through his dreamscape. It couldn’t be hard to do. He gave me full access to the Dreamdome, so he had to believe I was fully capable of doing this on my own. We had met in the dreamscape for the last nine years, so it had to be similar.
All I needed to do was relax and trust the Dreamdome would record what I did in the dreamscape. I wasn’t traveling with anyone else, so there would be no reason for me to send or receive any mental threads.
I hissed. I forgot to ask my nestmates how to send or receive mental threads. Mwe believed I could do so, but I just hadn’t learned how to do so yet.
Perhaps I could later tonight. I needed to plan dinner with Mwe as well.
A groan escaped my lips. When would everything settle down? With everything that needed to be accomplished before we left tomorrow night, there was pressure to do everything correctly and not waste any time because one thing gone awry could spiral into a multitude of issues.
And I felt like I had caused many of the problems.
That needed to change.
Once we settled onDestima, I would learn to carry my weight better and be the leader everyone needed.
The lights started to dim, warning me to relax.
I scrambled and closed my eyes, forcing myself to take deep breaths, willing my heartbeat to slow. The silence in the room was broken by my struggle to calm my unstable breathing.
Moments passed, and I waited, confused why nothing was happening…
Suddenly, my consciousness slipped into the familiar blackened space, where I hovered for twice the length of time before it thrust me into my dreamscape world.
“What was that?” I asked myself. The sounds of splashing waves answered my call as theDestima’s familiar landscape came into view. I willed myself to appear above the largest island and studied the layout closer. Now that I wasn’t rushed, I could take my time and design the new layout for the island.
From what I picked up by eavesdropping on Xylo’s conversations, the current population onDestimawasn’t capable of reproducing—at least, there weren’t any females reported of conceiving. This meant the current layout needed improvement. I didn’t want segregation between the demi-humans and the Circuli, yet I understood the comfort of being near familiar folk.
The main island had a mountain in the center where Zirene had built my property, which overlooked the three main islands. On the north and south sides of the island were shallow lagoons, protected by the atoll surrounding the whole island. This meant I could create buildings in the water to expand the space available.
My goal was to have two separate districts—the north, housing for permanent residents, and the south, entertainment. The lower parts of the main island would have the necessities—the moon’s main hospital, a research center, Xylo’s study hall, a galactic academy, the Circuli population’shatchery, security and government offices, and enough space to build anything else needed. The small spaceport could remain, along with the fishing docks. I would replace everything else with warehouses for incoming and outgoing goods.
I would design a high-speed tram system running along the inner shore of the atoll and crisscrossing the center island, effectively making travel along the island easier. The north side lagoon was large enough to have twelve housing apartment buildings circling a central social hub. There could be four main pathways connecting the hub to land, three to the main island, and one to the atoll—each ending at tram stations. Each building would have a lower floor filled with cafes, restaurants, and stores to give the occupants basic services with no need to go into the entertainment district. Each apartment would be fully customizable—using the new living building concept Zirene wanted to test out before implementing it on his next generation of ships—and have a personal deck suitable for whatever the renters needed.
There would be a garage and storage in the basement for those who needed it. I didn’t want the moon to be filled with vehicles but knew citizens would need an easy way to transfer goods—and I highly doubted anyone would have the tech Kaede had, especially civilians.
I wanted to use the same circular format I used in the housing district for the entertainment district, but instead of apartment complexes, it would allow for the freedom for markets and such.
Odelm deserved his music hall, and it should hug the southeastern quadrant. I knew that I wanted it to be shaped like a flower floating along the surface of the water—similar to Earth’s lotus flower. He may not be a Wudox, but a glass dome surrounded by wings for galleries and a theater would be both functional and gorgeous.
Everything about the island would be designed for sleekness and beauty—while being functional and practical.
Art was something the CEG species were slowly forgetting as they battled to have better tech and advantages over others. If I could makeDestimaa hub for artists to gather, put on their shows, and sell their work, I would be happy. There would be enough jobs created to keep the island stabilized, along with the mining company.
TheDestiny’s disabled members would have a place to work, providing for their clan while the others defended Zirene’s star system’s territory in rotations, leaving their nestqueens onDestima. The nestqueens could conduct their research, allowing their bodies to adjust to being planetside and being able to cycle with time.
This was my vision forDestima.
Gathering lost souls looking for a place to call their own reinforced my feeling that I was doing the right thing. There were others out there looking for a safe place to call their own—to be free from the fear of being used or abused. A place to have the freedom to be who they were and grow a business and a family.
I wantedDestimato be that place.
