Page 73 of Ava Stargazer

Vox forcefully asked, “Who? Who do you serve under?”

The Yar’s voice twisted, as if in pain as Rhutg shone brighter. “The Riolie. Yes, yes. And we serve as their hands, and as their shield. Yes, we are loyal. Yes, we serve.”

Fijjak’s antennas raised higher. “Oh. It is deep then,” he murmured.

Vox closed his eyes, feeling out the truth. “These Yar are the front so the Riolie stay unblemished.”

He looked back at Ava, and saw Pyra’s eyes widen over her shoulder. Ava made the same connection he did and she said aloud, “Where Joy was at the farm ...”

Vox watched Ava’s eyes grow wide as well as she repeated, “The Riolie owned the farming planet Joy initially worked at.” She then looked at Fijjak. “What do you mean by deep?”

Fijjak’s antennas swiveled back to her, even as his eyes remained on the Yar. “The Riolie are almost as old as us. We have a cordial relationship, but have kept our distance. They were too mercenary for us to consider anything more.” Fijjakwalked closer to the Yar, its reflection in his eyes. “I have never seen these Yar creatures before.”

Vox remembered seeing one of the Riolie at Elyheim. Its tall body had caught the light, reflecting it back in a way that drew attention. They looked majestic.And beautiful.They even had a similar face to him and the Humans, but instead of being covered with skin, they were crystalline, with harder angles. An off-white color that shimmered in the light. “They are one of the main species on the board and hold much power. And influence. They are reputed to be ... respectable.” Vox added, as an afterthought, “I think we found who planted the cameras in Iryl’s quarters. I feel the same signature here.”

Ava’s words from when they first met filtered again through Vox’s mind. How Humans were incorrectly classed.They had us listed next to the plants and fungi.It was indeed a willful cover-up. The kind only one very high in power could achieve. Vox looked back at the Yar and said out loud, “These creatures have no classification at all. They are truly the Riolie’s puppets.”

Ava asked, “What does it mean then?”

Vox didn’t answer, still trying to study the information from the Yar, angling his head back and forth in concentration. A broken mind could be fully examined, but you still had to ask the right questions, or you would find nothing. And sometimes the data was inaccurate, as memories often were. And that damn crystalline coating . . . “I do not know.”

Zeed spoke, holding a steady shine. “These Yar are puppets, through and through. Look at the childhood memories it has. It was raised by the Riolie and injected with that crystal coating until they go insane and only obey orders. This one doesn’t know anything more, just its experiences growing up.”

Ava took a shaky breath before she asked, “How many other ... species are involved here at Cipra under their watch?”

Vox shook his head. “This underling does not know any more. It came after the facility was no longer being used, but he does know there were many.” He regarded the broken form, the broken Yar, in front of him, then stood and shook his head. “Other species would be livid to learn this. The Tuxa had to hide their actions toward us. And here, a whole operation was happening, facilitated by the board’s power.”

Fijjak nodded, his antennas forward as if they were spears, and asked in his stilted voice, “Are they ... connected? With the Tuxa?”

Vox shook his head “No. I’ve felt enough Tuxa minds now to know this is unconnected. But I could see them working together in the future. The Riolie apparently love having underlings.”

Rhutg snorted. “I doubt it. Tuxa are not as easily controlled and too stupid to be useful.”

Vox stood frozen in the hull, thinking of how this knowledge had been sitting here the whole time. In this hidden, tundra wasteland.

Sai spoke softly, her voice breaking over the distance. “The Tuxa wanted us for themselves. Not to sell like ... this. Or at least, they never talked about selling ... only...” She looked away and rubbed her arms. “So that’s different.”

Vox turned to see how Ava was taking it and saw a blank look on her face already.Will the rest of this be too much for her to handle?But it was too late to stop now.

Pyra came up then, extending his hand to the Yar, and Vox felt him weakly connect to try to see for himself. He watched as Pyra’s eyes opened wide, then connected with Vox to say,“It is evil. What was done here. Is being done here.”

“Yes. Now you see what is out there beyond Xai.”

Tiral made the Yar walk in front of the six young Vorbax. He had it stand and extend its arms in front of them. “Practice. He is already broken. Sift through yourself.”

Vox turned away from their practice, knowing it was necessary in order to develop but also seeing it as barbaric. He turned to Ava, gesturing behind him toward the open cargo bay. “There is an entrance, off to the side. It opens into a maintenance walkway in the facility. We should go there. The main entrance still has extensive security hookups. I am unsure how many we can override.”

Fijjak, still staring at the Yar, quivered his antennas. “Make this one put the security system in testing mode. If it is like the board’s one I will share the schematics. It would provide a good excuse for being offline for a bit. It won’t last for long, but enough to go in and out.”

Vox turned to the Yar and asked. “Will that work? Will the Riolie be alerted? Are they constantly watching?”

“No, only if triggered. No one comes here any longer, not for many rotations.”

Ava steeled her shoulders, and he saw determination flash in her eyes. “Vox, I still want to go. To see. I also think I can remember the way, down the halls. Where we need to go.”

“Yes,” Vox said briskly back to her, adjusting the strap on his chest holding the various phasers before meeting her eyes. “You shall. There are different minders in sectors. The place extends into the planet. There are still operations ongoing. Some longer term experiments that they had running...” He took a deep breath and then said in an undertone, “In addition to guarding, these Yar were in charge of collecting that data.” Turning toward Fijjak he said, “Your idea about the testing mode is good, but it will not last long enough for us to explore without something suspicious being on the logs. I don’t want any additional video evidence that can be used against us.”

Vox turned roughly to the Yar in front of him. Though he’d gone through his mind and hadn’t seen anything remotelyHuman there, he still asked the broken Yar in front of him, “Do you recognize her form?” He gestured to Ava.

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