Page 18 of Ava Greasemonkey

“I’ll put a message in to Wert. He seems to be the one our queen favors most.” Ebel turned down to his com to do just that, delicate fingers flying.

Nuor sighed, looking at Ava consolingly. “Try that. In the meantime, let’s figure out what we can do to Ava to make her less appealing or noticeable.”

“Could I pretend to be a different species? Would a hologram hold up if I projected other features?” Ava questioned, dropping her hair and turning around to start digging in their cabinetry of extra parts. She didn’t know what she was looking for. It was all a mess of grease and gears in her area compared to the pristineorganization of Ebel’s drawers. She pulled out a half-smashed ration bar and began ripping it up the rest of the way fretfully while Nuor talked.

“No. If they touch you, a hologram wouldn’t hold up, and then they would just look at you more closely.” Nuor reached out and fingered Ava’s hair, almost dry now from her shower.

“We can hide this under a cap or cut it short. Maybe even get you a hood that covers your face . . .” She trailed off, voice ending on a harmonious sigh. “Or maybe a hologram for just your face if we cover the rest of your body. They wouldn’t go and touch just your face if the rest matched. Problem is sourcing those; the ones you got for the Phor last time have already been sold.”

“I’m pretty sure there were more in this shipment. I could get some more.” Ava put down the ration bar and fingered a stray gear from the cabinet.

Nuor ran her eyes up and down Ava’s slight frame. “Hmm . . . you are too small to pretend you are a male of your species. And even then, I would rather them not look at what Humans are in general.”

Ebel, finished from sending his message to Wert, looked up and joined in, “I think disguising her as a different species is a good idea. What would be the most similar and still pass?”

He moved over closer to Ava and grabbed under her chin, turning her face roughly. “Maybe a Haroo?” Ebel turned Ava’s head the other way. “We could project the fur with a hologram.”

Nuor shook her head. “Haroo rarely wear clothes.” She tilted her head as she contemplated further. “Stick with what you know. I will go grab some of my clothes for her and we can see how she looks as a Vali. I can put her in my ceremony hood. The Tuxa fools don’t know our customs. I can say she has taken a vow of silence and is undergoing her training in order to serve them in the future. We want her to serve now to get used to their splendor. Blah blah, they’ll eat it up. I’ll go there personally withher at first and tell them that if they try to engage with her in any way and mess with her training, I’ll report back to our colony to terminate their agreement.”

Ava let out a sigh of relief at hearing a solid plan. She leaned forward and hugged Nuor, who hummed out a note and hugged her back.

Ebel looked on and nodded. “Okay, lets see how that works.” A ping from his com made him look down. “Wert says the queen is in a foul mood, though he will try to approach her. But let’s not plan on changing anything. She is mighty pissed.”

Ava let go of Nuor. Her tiredness was gone. She was now amped up thinking about how the next cycle would have to go.

“Tell him to take some of the yavi fruit when he goes to ask.” Ava motioned to the red fruit on her desk.

Nuor looked where Ava pointed and took a few fruits for herself, letting out a pleased hum. “Oh, that’s a lucky find.” She took a bite as she began to walk out of the room.

Ebel nodded absently while watching Nuor leave, a frown permanently etched on his face from recent events.

Nuor turned around and called over her shoulder, “I’ll be back. Don’t go to sleep before we figure this out.” The control room door dinged after she left, and then the engine hall one let out a separate ding as she exited the area.

Ava and Ebel stared at each other, the engine’s whirl filling the silence. Ava rubbed her eyes. Even without Nuor saying it, she couldn’t sleep anyway. She wasn’t tired anymore, but her eyes didn’t seem to get the same message, feeling heavy and gritty. She also had a slight headache developing.

“Did you replace the pistons?” Ava asked, trying to distract herself. She rubbed absently at her forehead.

“Yeah, it didn’t take too long. Got everything done on your list.”

Ava nodded and grabbed a few rags. She might as well check the east side of the engine and keep herself busy. The biologics were hungry too. The pin pad that they communicated to Ebel with was flashing a muted orange. It would turn bright red before long if they were not fed.

“Ava?” Ebel’s voice stopped her as she was walking out of the control room. She looked back at him questioningly.

“You’re not just a tool to me.” Ebel’s antennas picked up and connected at the top as he said it. His convex eyes quickly met her dark brown ones before he turned back to his touchpad.

“You’re not just a drone to me either,” Ava replied, looking away. She then left the room before either could feel more embarrassed.

Nuor took longer than Ava would have thought just grabbing a few outfits. Ava had already topped off the biologics tank with more powder and they were back to swirling around merrily.

Technically she didn’t need to be sitting up on the engine, greasing the gears on the east side with her bucket and rags, but she was just too jittery on the ground. It was better up on the engine, where she had the simple goal of making sure everything was not wearing out and had enough lubricant. It was relaxing. Or it would have been, if she didn’t have so much on her mind making her nervous.

Over the massive engine noises, Ava kept an ear out for the ping of the engine room doors opening. Once she heard it, she scampered down so fast that she beat Nuor walking down the long hall toward the control room. Looking over her shoulder,she saw how much Nuor was carrying and walked back to take a few bags out of her arms.

“This is a lot.” Ava opened one bag to look inside.

“Stop. Wait until we get in and then unload it; I don’t want it flying around in here. Some of this are feathers, and that would suck if they got stuck in the engine.”

Ava closed the bag and carried it with Nuor to the control room where they laid the bags down with huffs in the middle of the floor.

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