Page 19 of Cozy Prisons
Everyone ignored Decard’s complaint. They were very aware that Decard and Cassius wouldn’t live apart, even if there were hundreds of empty domiciles. The friends had started rooming together when they were young. They competed and sometimes fought, but given every opportunity, they never moved. There was a running joke that if they ever found a long-term relationship, they’d share the woman too.
“They’re landing now. Come with us to meet the new arrivals,” Dalia said, stepping into Nataly’s domicile. No one gave a second look at the mess. They were all used to the way she liked to surround herself with work.
“I should probably try to finish fixing the clearing bot,” she said, pointing to the “head” of the bot that contained the logic crystals and computing matrix. It had stopped following the designated path input by Massium. The Talin had become so annoyed that she almost ripped the head off to get it to Nataly.
When delivering it, Massium said that if the bot couldn’t be fixed, Nataly should set it on fire! Then the Talin left, her frustrated rattling loud and constant.
Riff made a dismissive noise. “Don’t worry about it. More clearing bots are probably in this shipment. We’ll need them if they want to set up that array on the nearby mountain.”
“Besides, no one will be doing any work until after we get all the new supplies stowed,” Dalia pointed out. “Come with us to meet everyone. There’s supposed to be a human!”
“Really?” Nataly asked, abandoning her soup and letting Dalia grab her hand and lead her out of her domicile. “I guess I can spare a little time. They might need my help.”
Riff scoffed. “As if they’d let us help. It’s hard enough to be allowed to do anything when they really need us; there’s no way they’re going to let us shift a single unit while other Talins are watching.”
Nataly stopped moving, bringing Dalia up short. “Shit, do I need my collar?” She looked around the mess. “I’m not even sure where it is!”
“Nah,” Decard said, getting her attention so he could point at his own throat. No collar. “The supply ship is Progress. We don’t need to pretend around them.”
“Oh, right,” Nataly said and let Dalia finish dragging her outside. She had a moment of disorientation as the bright sun blinded her after spending so much time in her domicile. She liked to keep the lights dim when she worked so when she tested crystals she could easily see any impurities and trace problems.
Shielding her watering eyes with her free hand, she let Dalia lead her away from her dwelling. There was a little apprehension and mild anxiety, but nothing like she felt when she tried to leave by herself. Being surrounded by familiar people made it easier.
“Do we know anything about the human?” she asked.
“They’re nonbinary," Decard said. “And their name is Hale.”
“That’s it?” she asked. “We don’t know where they come from or how they ended up with the Talins?”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Riff said. “Hale might’ve been found at a slave auction. I want to say I heard someone say they’d been purchased.”
Nataly shuddered. “I hope not.”
They chatted about how horrible slave auctions were and often they were a death sentence.
After about twenty minutes they got to the large area they’d cleared of trees for ships to land. The size of Progress always took Nataly’s breath away. It wasn’t a large ship compared to most, but it seemed bigger than life when it was planetside.
Perspective could be a funny thing. Ships and space stations never looked that big because there wasn't anything nearby to compare them to. But Progress appeared enormous because she could see individuals standing under it, and like the trees, they looked tiny.
“Oh wow, are those agri-bots?” Dalia cried, then dropped Nataly’s hand to sprint down the slight decline to the ship.
“Ah, to be young,” Riff said.
Nataly snorted. “You’re only two years older than her.”
“It’s not the years, it’s the wear and tear,” Riff responded with a grin.
“I guess,” Nataly said, exchanging a look with Riff’s wife, Sima.
Riff liked to think that she’d done a good job of shielding Dalia. She liked to think of her younger sister as more innocent. The truth was that Dalia was as traumatized as the rest of them from their time on Dandilow II, but she was better at hiding it behind cheerful exuberance.
There were a few times Dalia came home with credits and refused to explain how she got them. Everyone was well aware of what she must’ve done, but Riff was good at ignoring what was right in front of her face. It helped her sanity.
Nataly could appreciate the approach. They’d all had to do something similar at one point. Sometimes survival wasn’t pretty.
“I’m surprised they sent the agri-bots,” Nataly said, moving closer to Sima. Without Dalia holding her hand, the anxiety had started to creep up. Once she was between Sima and Decard she relaxed a little.
“It’s a good idea,” Riff said. “With only a few agri-bots we could grow enough to maintain minimum calorie requirements if we’re cut off.”
