Page 21 of Ava Greasemonkey

The Tuxa with the purple armband was the first to break the silence. “The amount of food brought to us last cycle has been inadequate. It will need to be doubled. This Vali will need to go get more if she has brought the same amount as before.”

Ava breathed out in relief at hearing him refer to her as a Vali.It worked, it worked.

Nuor smiled and bowed. “Understood. After she has finished serving she will leave and bring back double the amount. She can type on her transmitter pad in Common should you need to communicate with her further.”

Nuor smiled reassuringly at Ava, patted her arm, and then left the room.

Ava forced herself not to watch her leave and kept busy sorting the trays on the cart. A wave of panic rose in her chest, but she quickly squashed it, forcing herself to breathe deep. She wished Nuor could stay but understood she couldn’t be away from her post any longer herself. It would look suspicious on all fronts if she lingered, observing.

The Tuxa watched her with beady eyes, tracking her every movement as they ate their food. Ava breathed rhythmically to keep her motions steady. Once she finished serving the Tuxa in the main room, she made for the door to the prisoners. With no one stopping her, she walked through, sighing when out of direct eyesight from the Tuxa. The cart squeaked in front of her as she moved it slowly along, afraid to go fast and have something fall off.

In the prisoner area, Ava walked forward carefully. As she did, a sense of calm washed over her.

There were four other Tuxa asleep in the two cells not currently in use, sprawled out on two mattresses per cell, their limbs strewn about. Trying to not awaken them, she carefullytook trays from the cart and left them next to where the empty ones were piled up before taking those and storing them on her cart to remove them.

No one followed her from the other room as she moved to the Vorbax in their cells, walking slowly to keep the cart’s creaking to a minimum. The Tuxa thankfully appeared to be in a dead sleep and didn’t stir.

Ava walked until she was right in front of the first Vorbax cage, and immediately stepped back. She’d underestimated the Vorbax’s size when she viewed them from above in the vents. The first one she came to stood up and walked over to stand in front of her. He easily towered over her smaller frame. But he gave her a kind, open smile that stuttered her heart as she pushed the tray into the flap built into the cage.

Ava motioned for him to return the empty tray from earlier, gesturing to it with her hand. He pushed it back the same way she had put the full one in. She also handed him a water bag through the slot and repeated the same exchange with the empty one as well. He sat down to eat on his pallet, body moving fluidly as he did so.

Glancing at him and then the one in the next cell, she could see that the one she just gave the food to was smaller, even though he was still massive.

Ava regarded him warily through the bars while he continued to watch her silently, a soft smile on his lips. Her gut told her that he was a juvenile, but what would her gut know about the Vorbax?

“Hello,” he said softly.

Ava felt panicked at being talked with, so she shook her head no rapidly and pointed to the sleeping Tuxa.

She gave the universal sign of deference and moved on, but then slowed again when the cart started squeaking, her heart pounding. She just needed to get this job done quickly.

The one in the next cell was more intimidating. While the first one smiled, this one displayed a stone-flat affect, indifference on his face. He mechanically exchanged the trays and water without making eye contact or attempting to speak. Ava felt cowed by him and didn’t linger, gathering the empty items he pushed through and putting them on her cart. She briskly moved to the third cage, tripping over her feet in her haste to move on.

Ava looked into the third cage with more care. She remembered that this was the one she had spent the most time observing from above. Just like then, he was glowing slightly with a luminescent, pleasant blue. The same muted calm also seemed to be radiating from him.

Is he making me feel calm?She immediately disregarded the thought, eyeing him distrustfully.

He was sitting on the pallet, not by the entrance to the cage at all, his head not even turned toward her. She stood and watched him for a minute, not feeling rushed with his eyes being closed and him being turned away, before she moved to put the tray in the slot.

He still hadn’t budged when she straightened up so she bent over and grabbed the waterskin to put through as well. When she looked up, the male had moved to stand right in front of her.

She stopped herself from speaking just in time, only letting out a small gasp as she quickly inhaled. He moved so fast and was now staring at her only around six inches from her face. Ava quickly backed up to put some space between herself and the creature.

His eyes, all liquid dark with no pupils, narrowed in on her face. He was no longer glowing.

“You are not a Vali,” he said softly in perfect Common, her translator not needing to engage.

His voice rumbled so low she could almost feel it vibrate in the air. He inhaled deeply in her general direction, tilting his headtoward her as he did so. His jumpsuit shifted to show that some of the raised swirls on his neck wound down to his arm under the brown material.

Ava almost responded verbally, startled as she was, but instead held her trembling hand to her chest in the universal sign of deference like she did to the other one a few minutes ago. Then she motioned to his tray that was sitting on the floor inside his cage.

Her heart was pounding from fear, and the only thought running through her mind was for him to not announce what he’d just said softly.Please don’t say anything. Please. Please. I beg you.

He ignored the tray. Ava motioned to it again and held up the dirty ones while pointing to his cell.

Not taking his eyes off her, he gathered his trays and pushed them through the flap over to her side of the bars.

Ava skittered back, dropping a tray in her haste, and put them on the cart. The sound of it hitting the ground echoed through the hall and Ava winced as she heard one of the sleeping Tuxa stir.

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