Page 34 of Ava Greasemonkey

Ava stepped backward, feeling like she was under a microscope already. It was a lot to absorb. She put her hands on her hair and tugged down her bun. If she refused them anything,what would they do? She could still hear screams, far off. But still . . .

“I don’t know if I want to do that.”

Vox raised a hand to her cheek. “We will discuss this later. It would be in your species’s best interest for us to know more about you.”

Ava stayed still as his hand brushed her hair away from her face to behind her ear. He looked at her ear carefully, a feature not present on his own skull. Instead, a divot on one of his frills seemed to serve the same purpose.

Lirell came bounding around the corner, blood splattered over his jumpsuit like Vox. Ava startled away from Vox at his approach, flattening herself against the wall before she registered who it was. Lirell’s eyes were bright and he carried one of the Tuxa’s phasers in his hands, raised, pointing it at them as he turned the corner. He quickly dropped it to his side after seeing Ava next to Vox, whose hand was still raised from touching her face.

Ava recoiled from Lirell, seeing him covered in gore, thinking of Rhutg and the reception she received there. Unconsciously she moved closer to Vox, hoping he might provide a shield in case Lirell was a foe as well. Her aching side from where Rhutg had her pinned in the vent throbbed, as if to remind her to be extra cautious.

It seemed the fear she felt was not needed, as Lirell broke into a friendly smile. “Ava? That is you? You look beautiful!” His grin was wide and open, at odds with the gore and blood on his face.

Ava nodded, carefully, feeling exposed in the silent corridor. She was very aware of being only a few steps away from bloodshed. She felt a prick on her mind, a soothing feeling, and heard a slight hum that came from Vox.

Erox walked in slower behind Lirell and also stared at Ava. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric of the jumpsuit, whichwas not nearly as stained as either Vox’s or Lirell’s. Erox’s gaze shifted to look at Vox, who returned his hand to his side, before fixing again on Ava.

Ava didn’t know what to say, feeling cowed by them looking at her with no cage cell between them and no disguise, but thankfully Erox and Vox began glowing and looking at each other. Ava quickly realized they were having a private talk now that she understood they could communicate telepathically.

She slowly went up to Lirell, who was staring at her raptly. She made the universal sign for deference to hopefully further convey she was no threat, her hands shaking.

Lirell grinned even wider, ignoring her fear and speaking in an eager voice. “Ava, you look similar to our females, only a different color and with strands on your head. No wonder we liked you right away. Do all Humans look like you?”

It was a hard question to answer. Ava’s mind was scattered and couldn’t collect itself. Lirell stared at her, expecting an answer. She pulled her mind together to focus on his questions. “No,” she stammered. “We all look a bit different. If we’re from the same mother we can look alike.”

Lirell looked at her, hungry for more information. Ava thought of all the Humans she had seen over her years. The list wasn’t long, but there definitely was enough to show that Humans came in all shapes and sizes. Hesitantly, she suggested, “Can you see what I think? Look and I’ll show you what I’ve seen.”

Lirell started to glow and Ava thought hard on her mother and sisters and others in the Human logs she had seen, cutting it off when she felt herself become even more emotional thinking about them. Tears ran down her cheeks, both from thinking of that and the silence she now heard in the ship. It was so silent.

By the time she was done, Lirell had fallen out of his glow and was staring at her, a bit awestruck. She noticed that both Eroxand Vox had been looking at them and most likely seeing what she was thinking as well.

Ava wrung her hands together nervously and flushed thinking about all the unguarded thoughts she’d had around them these past few cycles. What a fool she was, thinking they could use her help.

“Not a fool,” Vox said softly.

Ava startled again, audibly swallowing and looking away. She kept forgetting that he was able to literally look inside her.

It would have been embarrassing had she time to think and wasn’t so on edge after this recent turn of events. They’d killed almost everyone, people she was talking casually to less than a cycle ago. How could she be sure that they wouldn’t just turn around and see her as a threat or inconvenient and end her as well?

Ava whipped back around to Vox, adrenaline pumping through her veins. “Vox?”

He tilted his head to her, looking away from Erox.

“Are . . . is . . . everyone dead?”

Vox shook his head. “No, not everyone. We will spare a few.”

“The drones are innocent too. They just follow orders.” She thought of the few she saw, bloodied and lifeless in the halls. “They just do as they’re told.”

“There were a few that stood down and were not harmed. The one in the engine hall you are close to, Ebel? He will be spared. We need to keep up the pretense of a functioning Phor ship for a little while longer. The queen has already been killed, so the rest of the drones will obey our orders now.”

Ava didn’t question how he knew of Ebel. She felt relief that he would be spared, and little in the way of remorse about their queen.

Now, if she only had the same reassurance about Nuor, she would feel much more comfortable. Wert too, but Nuor was atthe forefront of her mind. It was becoming very apparent that they knew a lot more about her than she was aware of. Vox said they didn’t harm innocent females, which meant she was probably okay. Immediately after having that thought, she felt guilty over the relief she experienced by thinking her two closest friends were okay while the rest of the ship was gutted.

Nuor was on the tip of her tongue to ask about but Erox motioned to Lirell to follow, interrupting her before she could get the words out. She turned back to Vox.

“What are they doing?”

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