The epitaphs lined the walls, staring at her in wait. This was their eternal home, and here, she was the queen of nothing.

Vraxi Dynix – planet Ytti's last remaining queen – stood among the immense rows of memorials lining the mausoleum's dim, narrow hall. She wore a simple grey robe as opposed to her fanciful white garments, delicately draped over her four-armed, carapaced figure.

She took some extra time meditating in the spacious room. There were things to be done – many pressing matters to be dealt with – but Ytti's days were long, and treating the dead with utmost respect was something she would never compromise on.

Each tablet was inscribed in the same way. Name, age, guild, and whatever the deceased had deemed necessary to write beneath it, all in a faintly glowing cyan font. At the very bottom, a small artifact or diorama representing those who had passed. Each epitaph was arranged in a perfect array for onlookers to view: 20 spacious rows against each of the walls, leaving enough room to allow even the tallest genofexians to stand straight.

Vraxi walked forward. A curved stairwell at the end of the ground floor brought her deeper into the structure.

Each floor was the same, though the tablets glowed brighter than the ones above. The luminescent ink faded over time, giving recent deaths a vivid, dispiriting appearance.

Floor after floor, the genofexian queen descended, until the tablets began increasing in density. No longer were they aligned in perfect rows parallel to the wall, but they had begun accumulating in small piles near the end of each hallway.

First, a few dozen.

Then, hundreds.

By the time she'd reached the final floor, the entire room had been flooded with countless memorial tablets and artifacts, each inscription shining bright cyan.

It was a travesty. A disgusting disrespect for the deceased, yet there were no feasible alternatives. Every other mausoleum had drowned in memorials in the same way as this grand chamber.

The queen held utmost reverence for those who had departed. The foul rot, however, did not. It did not care about the lives of the genofexian race, nor did it care about the overflowing graveyards that were once a place of reflection and peace.

“I am sorry,” she spoke. With a nigh-featureless face – save for a pair of large purple eyes and a series of ridges along the bottom of her face – her words were brought to life by the amulet hanging around her neck. The device was discreetly attached to the back of her head beneath her long, violet hair. It was her ruxvy, a device available to genofexians who required the benefits of vocal communication in their jobs.

“None of you will be forgotten. You will all be brought along with us, and you will be granted the respect you deserve.”

Her hearts throbbed at the sight. She turned and ascended the stairwells, silently cursing the helplessness of the situation.

Opening the door to the outside world, Vraxi's attendants were all waiting outside the mausoleum's entrance: 12 on each side in perfect formation, all wearing identical grey robes. Their faces were covered by a smooth, white, four-eyed mask, and a head of black, straight-cut hair with flat bangs.

No attendants were allowed to deviate from that dress code. They were paragons, designed by the queen herself.

Vraxi stepped outside into the light morning rain. On opposite sides of the roads, dozens of civilians stood and watched. It was not an unfamiliar sight; the queen was used to people gathering and signaling for her attention, but today was different. Her procession's robes were a sign of mourning and quiet peace. To disturb the tranquility would reflect poorly on one's character, especially in the presence of their Mother.

Vraxi delicately walked down the street, with her attendants following close behind. Although she wanted to comfort her people, today's tasks demanded punctuality. The queen's reassurances would come in the form of an announcement later that morning.

Aside from the group that had gathered at the mausoleum entrance, the streets were still rather bare. Most essential shops were still open – nutritional balm and salve markets, clothing storefronts decorated with fashionable outfits, spaceports extending high into the sky, and the occasional service kiosk tucked away on tiled street corners – but a disappointing number of businesses had shut down permanently. No more carapace engravings, fewer luxury bathhouses, and a somber lack of art exhibits.

The mega-city of Zetomerxy showcased tall, muted, eco-brutalist architecture that was grand in its own right. However, between all the buildings along the southern horizon was a vast, dark silhouette: a spacecraft named Grand Devotion, the size of which was unprecedented in all of genofexian history. The mausoleum wasn't unreasonably far from it, thus, Vraxi decided to walk there with her entourage.

~~~

A plain, square building stood between the queen and her mothership. Clearly a temporary structure, it gave access to the scaffolding connected to the enormous vessel. Vraxi stepped inside.

An exceptionally tall, dark grey genofex stood in the middle of the room, awaiting the queen's arrival with an electronic tablet in hand. As Vraxi approached him, he remained quiet and still, as if expecting something.

Then Vraxi remembered. “Please disregard my attire,” she spoke. “I visited the nearby mausoleum on the way here to pay my respects. You need not be silent around me.”

“Understood!” The other genofex seemed relieved, speaking aloud with his own ruxvy. He introduced himself as Voddox, the overseer of this particular section of the spaceship, who would essentially be acting as her tour guide to showcase Grand Devotion's progress.

The queen informed him she had little time today, requesting to forego the usual small talk. Voddox agreed, but his wavering gaze suggested there was still something on his mind.

“One question, Mother,” he asked.

“Yes?”

“There are meant to be two of you here today, right? Both queen and king?”

Vraxi looked to the side, waiting before answering. “Indeed, you have a point.” She turned around as her eyes slowly wandered the ceiling. “Fortress! You are required here,” she announced.

A gentle thud echoed from the far corner of the room. Seconds later, a genofex clad head-to-toe in white combat gear appeared by the door, seemingly walking out of thin air next to the building's entrance.

Voddox stared at the soldier. “Is that–”

“Vasis Dynix.” Vraxi held out her two left hands towards him. “You may know him as my personal bodyguard, Fortress, but he and the king are one and the same.”

Fortress joined the group without a word. The heavily armed genofex locked his eyes on the overseer; although he wasn't as tall as Voddox, he effectively stared the overseer into submission with a sharp glare.

The queen turned to face Voddox. “Let us continue.”

“Understood, Mother.” Although Voddox's ruxvy didn't portray emotion particularly well, his face betrayed his nerves, with his gaze flicking between the two royals and the attendants behind them. Before long, he mustered the courage to guide the group up the metal scaffolding.

“Vraxi, are you certain about this? Surely, people will identify me.” Fortress asked, keeping his volume low. His ruxvy conveyed his words with a gruff, synthesized tone.

“In these times, we should take every opportunity to prepare for the future. It would be wise for you to focus on the Grand Devotion's layout rather than scurry about the walls.”

“Perhaps so.” Armed with cutting-edge stealth equipment, wall-grappling gear, and marksman weaponry, Fortress was the pinnacle of the Dynix lineage's military creed: quality over quantity. He would keep the queen safe without ever being noticed – that is when Vraxi wasn't specifically requesting his presence.

“Do you expect any incidents?” Fortress continued.

“No.” Vraxi paused. “But I don't think a touch of extra caution will do us any harm.”

The conversation ended abruptly as the group approached a junction in the scaffolding where the Grand Devotion could be seen in its entirety. An enormous section of Zetomerxy had been dedicated to the rapid construction of the ship, leaving the fields, forests, and buildings below covered in endless scaffolding to support the vessel.

It was hard to fully comprehend the scope of the ship. Large enough to blot out an entire horizon, the spacecraft could house a population eight digits in size while also remaining capable of subspace flight. Built over 28 of Ytti's long years, it was the mothership that would save Vraxi's kind.

At least, that was her vision. Whether it would become a reality was yet to be seen, and with hundreds of thousands of workers still visible on the ship's exterior, it was evident that the genofexian exodus was not yet at hand.

The Grand Devotion sported a circular, reinforced window spanning the ship's height, located right in the middle of the hull. On her previous visit two seasons ago, Vraxi couldn't see anything inside. This time, she witnessed a shining replica of Ytti's natural, verdant environment beyond the window.

“Gorgeous,” Vraxi muttered, staring at the centre of the ship.

Fortress glanced at her before following her gaze to the artificial biome. Voddox turned to her and did the same.

“I suspected you'd appreciate that,” Voddox explained. “It's almost finished. Your workers' efficiency is worthy of awe.”

“I'm sure they all know the importance of this project by now,” the queen mused.

Ahead of the group was a section of the hull that hadn't been sealed yet, allowing easy access to the belly of the ship. Immediately upon entering the vessel, Vraxi and the others found themselves in a carpeted administration room, with several dark grey hallways, stairwells, and a pair of elevators providing access to other control rooms. Panels and buttons lined the walls, with a security booth sitting in the far left section of the room.

Voddox led the way across the room, into a spacious lift at the bottom of an angled shaft. The platform was large enough for the overseer, rulers, and attendants to all comfortably fit – a promising detail, given the sheer number of genofexians who would eventually be living on board.

“That replica of Ytti's environment is just the beginning. I'm eager for you to see the rest of our progress,” Voddox commented.

“So am I,” Vraxi replied.