Page 51 of Ava Stargazer

Ava yawned and rolled back over. “A surprise is better than you poking me because I snore.”

“Well, you do, but now that I know that is normal for you ... no, this is something else.”

“I'm sleepy.”

He reached his hand out to Ava, who took it but didn’t move. Vox tugged, lifting her up until she was sitting. She reached over to the nightstand and picked up her jumpsuit, then put the biologics around her neck. She put the suit on, looking through her curtain of hair. “What is it?”

“You’ll see soon enough.” Vox helped zip her up before he took her hand and led her outside.

Ava hesitated as they walked out, her eyes adjusting. “It’s so dark...”

Vox turned back to her, still illuminated by the light from inside the house. “Yes, I know you do not like it, but try to tolerate it. I promise this is worth it.”

Ava took a tentative step forward onto the soil. “It’s not that I don’t like it, I just can’t see well enough to not trip.” She squinted out into the night, at the stars that she could see overhead, bright in themselves but not bright enough to light the path. “Why is it so dark tonight?”

Vox’s voice came from her side, close. “Ah. I forget your eyes can’t see as well in the night as ours.”

Ava scuffled the dirt, frustrated. “Maybe I can bring a flashlight.”

Vox turned around and picked her up. “No need. I’ll carry you so you do not fall.” He readjusted her high in his arms. “Right now is the opposite time from when the three moons are big. This is not how small the moons can get during our orbit, so it is not true night, but it is close enough. I want you to see this before we leave.”

“Oh, Vox, your shoulder.” Ava shifted in his arms so she didn’t press right against it, or get the healing cream she had put on before bed in her hair.

Vox hoisted her, holding her against his uninjured shoulder. “It’s fine, you have fussed over it enough.”

“But it’s still . . .”

“Look Ava, see.”

“See what?” Ava looked around absently, frustrated she couldn’t make much out in the night as she held on to his torso with her arms. “You just like excuses to carry me.”

“Yes. I do. But this, it is hard to explain. It is difficult to see inside, behind the glass or near the town.”

Ava looked down at the glow of her biologics, then across the meadow while Vox carried her.It is peaceful. The reeds blew in the gentle breeze, and the sky was clear. It had rained the day before, fat raindrops that Ava had stood out in until she got drenched and cold.I love the rain.Being carried reminded her of when he rescued her on Torga, but that memory was now being overshadowed with this walk. A much gentler, calm one. “How much farther?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?” Ava looked up at him, able to just make out his face, confused.

“I just want to get away from the light from the town. There’s a few lookouts here, but it’s still too bright.”

“Are there any animals here?” She had not been in the woods around Xai before, other than just the outskirts to look up at the large trees.

“Yes, some, but none that are dangerous. I can sense them.”

They walked a few more paces, the dirt crunching under his feet until Vox looked overhead and sighed. “This will be good. Let me just find a clearing.”

Ava looked up as well, and then did a double take.It’s beautiful.Her mouth opened in awe. The stars that she looked at all the time from the house’s little window were bright in the sky tonight with the moons dimmed. And what’s more ... there were hundreds of them, now that they were not competing with the lights from the houses. With the trees not crowding overhead,she could also see a bit better in the reflected starlight, the forest no longer as dark.

He set her down on top of a small hill, raised a bit above the towering forest. Vox put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up and to the north.

Ava’s eyes grew wide. There were lights dancing in the distance, flashes of blue and purple.

“What is that? Those colors?” Her voice held notes of disbelief as her hand reached up toward them.

Vox looped his arms around her and said softly, “Back before we ... had contact with other species and the science outside, we thought they were the heavens communicating with us. But now we know that this happens on lots of planets ... they are lights reflected from the sun as its rays hit our atmosphere. And you can only see them when the other lights are dim.”

Ava watched the aurora dance.Heavenly magic. Celestial beings.The stars behind them twinkled in and out. Her tone was hushed as she said, “It’s so magical.” The biologics swirled on her chest as if they agreed. They watched in silence for a moment.

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