“I need to get out of here. Very quickly, please. I don’t care where. Just get me out.”
Those were roughly the words with which a weird pink fish-jellyfish climbed into my taxi.
Creepy aliens.
Their heads look like fish, but they have four tentacle arms. The two front tentacles each have four fingers. Technically, the species is called Feralle.
But “fish-jellyfish” stuck.
As it turned out, the Feralle was Ubuntus K89zweio.
Trader. Fence. Con artist. Thief.
And spectacularly stupid.
Or completely insane.
I don’t really see a difference.
Anyway, the idiot jellyfish had somehow managed to make every major faction in the Eris Sector want his head.
And normally, only wannabe heroes manage that.
Or Sheppard.
But that’s another story.
Either way, the jellyfish was sitting right at the top of the galaxy’s dinner menu.
And he was sitting in my taxi.
Fucking idiot.
I decided to take him somewhere everyone eventually ends up.
The Notalive.
Far away from my taxi and my bones.
I intended to keep both.
Especially my bones.
I like my bones exactly where they are.
Inside me.
“How did you manage to piss off the entire fucking galaxy?”
You have to ask these things.
Maybe he’d tell me something useful. Something that might help me keep my blood where it belongs instead of encouraging it to go on a little journey of its own.
I didn’t want to get murdered just because I was driving a fucking jellyfish across the galaxy.
That was not how I wanted to die.
“It’s really not that difficult. I just sold things. Like always. Maybe I didn’t look too closely at who I was selling to, and maybe I miscalculated a little when it came to what I owed the seller. But that happens sometimes, right?”
The jellyfish wiped sweat from his forehead and glanced around, nervous and frantic.
“Wait. You screwed over every single organization? Sold their goods to their enemies? Stole their money? Made yourself a fucking fortune? How long have you been doing this? And how did they find out?”
Stupid jellyfish or not, this guy was worth a fortune if what he was saying was true.
“Well… for a while. Sort of. And not really that long. Fifty years or so.”
“Fifty?”
I stared at him.
“How did they find out? And don’t tell me it was stupid. It obviously was.”
“It really was stupid. Like, incredibly stupid. I was on the phone with a customer when the guy whose merchandise we were talking about walked in. And since everything here runs through these enormous monitors, he obviously saw immediately that I was doing business with his enemies and alerted his boss.”
He swallowed.
“And yeah… now I’m here. I just ran for it and jumped into your taxi.”
Fucking idiot.
No, wait.
“FUCKING IDIOT. Tell me we’re being followed!”
I swerved onto another route and took a small detour.
Then something occurred to me.
“Wait. Does that mean they’re only hunting you because they think you’re doing business with their enemies? They don’t even know that you’re selling their own merchandise to those enemies and ripping them off at the same time?”
“Nope. I’m not an idiot.”
Ubuntus sounded very confident for someone who was very obviously an idiot.
But he was clever.
I had to give him that.
All right.
I was convinced.
“What if I take you to someone who can save your fat ass? Would you be willing to show some gratitude and work for that person? You can keep doing your crooked little deals. You’d just have to expand your selection.”
I paused.
“And move your business.”
“Interested?”
The fish was on the hook.
I could see it in his eyes.
I steered my vehicle toward the back entrance of the Notalive.
Not the front entrance, where half the galaxy’s murderers and assassins were waiting for Ubuntus.
Because…
We’re in the Eris Sector.
That’s just how things work here, okay?
So instead of following my original plan, I headed for the back entrance, pressed a button, and let Ubuntus out.
“Go to the cloakroom and tell them Terrix sent you. Tell them he wants you to speak to Miri.”
The jellyfish nodded excitedly, thanked me profusely, and paid.
Unfortunately, I’d miscalculated.
I charged him twice what I normally would.
Oops.
Miri’s real name is Miria L’Lony.
An eight-hundred-year-old Endoran.
Wild.
Cold.
Bloodthirsty.
THE Pirate Queen of the Eris Sector.
And my best friend.
And my employer.
The Notalive?
Her palace.
And that’s how Ubuntus became her loyal…
servant.
Whether he wanted to or not.
That was one door he would never walk through again.
At least not in one piece.
I’m Raven Morrigan Hawke, artist and worldbuilder creating Elyndor and the Eris System—two worlds shaped by stories, characters, mysteries, and countless little details.
Elyndor is a dark, living fantasy world of ancient secrets, strange creatures, magic, and stories that rarely go exactly as planned.
The Eris System takes those ideas somewhere else entirely: into the vastness of space, where technology, distant worlds, and new stories are waiting to be discovered.
Through art, stories, and worldbuilding, I invite you to step inside both worlds—and see what you find along the way.
