Page 86 of Ava Stargazer

The important bits, the logs they took from the facility, were already in Vox’s hands, being carried up to navigation to properly transfer over to Iryl. For not only her sisters, but for the rest of Humanity that still lived.

Ava watched the biologics spin until her com pinged, showing a note from Joy.

“The men are talking again. I hear Iryl in the next room here. Are you okay, after Cipra?”

Ava sighed and looked back at the engine.How do I answer that?She sat on the railing and watched the biologics spin instead, and inspected the gears.Maybe I’ll go get my grease bucket. Then I can mother the ship for a bit.

Vox’s comments about her mothering him from earlier still stung a little, and that thought was flavored with some disdain. She frowned, tugging on her jumpsuit where it stuck to her.I’m not being fair. Vox was hurt and just didn’t want to be told what to do about something he feels strongly about.Ava bit her lip and clarified further.And then he did try to talk with me more about plans instead of just making them himself.

Her com pinged again. Ava looked down at the words, holding her arm out in front of her as she sat on the railing.

“Ava? They are saying you want to make it more official? Have us, you and me, be a part of Xai? Have Humans re-registered?”

Ava wanted to ignore the message again. But, Joy was Human too. She had a stake in this as well. There would be a biggertarget on her back too, even if it all went well.I can’t make all the decisions for Humans alone either.

“Ava?” Sai asked from below, interrupting her thoughts. “Get down here. I finished painting the hall. Come and help me with the rest.”

Ava leaned over and smiled at Sai. “Can I draw more flowers?”

Sai made a show of sighing dramatically, holding her paintbrushes up high. “If you must.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there. One second.” Ava slid down the railing, getting to the ladder where she could walk down easier.She’s right. I need to get down.

She messaged Joy back before descending from the engine.“Yes, I want a place to belong. Don’t you?”She snapped the com shut as she jumped to the ground, feeling the metal vibrate under her feet.

Sai handed her a brush and Ava walked out the hall, and then down quite a bit away from the engine room. Most of the wall right outside the engine hall was now completely covered in paint. She stopped right outside the area where Sai was working.

Ava leaned over and pat Sai on the arm. “Thanks for helping me, Sai.”

Sai smacked her hand away. “Yeah yeah, keep painting.”

Ava sat and began drawing flowers again, real ones instead of handprints.They are starting to get better.

Her com lit up as she painted one pink. Ava glanced down, then put the paintbrush back in the paint to have her hands free.

“I heard their plan. There is enough agreement on Xai. They will have you come here on the way back to take some sort of test to show that we can think, and have us added to Xai as a subspecies, so we belong to the planet officially.”

She sighed and responded back to Joy,“Are you okay with this?”

Ava twisted the com on her arm, lost in thought again, wondering what she would do if Joy wasn’t, as she was now firming up her commitment to this plan.

“For what it’s worth, Ava,”Sai gently said in her mind, “I think you’re making the right moves.”

She looked up at Sai. “I think so too.”

“You’re becoming part of Xai, right? Officially?”

Ava nodded. “Yes.” She looked closer to Sai’s face and wrinkled her nose at her, then said teasingly, “Are you okay sharing?”

Sai snorted. “Please, I told you the women were okay with it. In fact, it would alleviate some of the pressure we feel to pick a mate when we would rather wait, or not pick one at all.”

“Even if the men start matching with us more? If we find a lot of Human women?”

“The men need that. There’s not enough of us to go around. There was a shortage before the Tuxa war because we give birth to a higher rate of males naturally. Now it’s become extremely lopsided. I can’t stand all their lusty, unfulfilled thoughts.” Sai continued in a more somber voice, “You saw all the empty houses we have. Most of those were females that were killed first. We never could fight as well.”

“I remember.” Ava sat back on her legs and considered. “I don’t think there’s many Humans still alive anyways to be much competition. It’s been too long and life has been hard. There would be more records if there were more. They have to just be in weird safe pockets, like me with Ebel or Joy when she worked on that farm, then at the fighting ring. Protected by being isolated somehow, and hiding.”

That was the one thing she did see from her first glance at the Cipra logs. The program was not large, and Humans were frequently sold off to who knows where.

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