We wait out the next few days until the official bugging Lex inevitably shows back up.
It’s one of the nicest few days I’ve had in ages. Better than Falla with the giant bird, at least to me. We don’t do much of anything, just focus on Zane getting better while Bat and I help Abraham fix the robot up with the limited supplies Lex has here on her property. She can always get more.
Yvonne takes Anya to the hotsprings with me and Bat and we watch them splash around, the youngest princess shrieking. I thought perhaps Yvonne would hang all over me, and as much as I begrudgingly like having her close, seek her out even, I was more than a little terrified of the idea of everyone watching her get all cuddly with me. I’ve seen how couples act both in real life and in fiction, and none of it seems like something I can do. But she doesn’t. She takes my hand often, gives me a kiss every now and again, stares at me with an expression I’ve decided is probably affection, and doesn’t treat me any different than usual.
Good. If she started being nice to me I might have an aneurysm.
I try not to think too hard about the fact she might be going out of her way to make me comfortable, and how she must truly care if that is indeed what’s happening.
Zane is eventually up on his feet and walking around, though he’s far from better and I hover behind him when he does leave the house, ready to catch him in case he decides to faceplate into the ground. Letting a human walk around leaning on me wasn’t exactly where I planned to be at the start of this bounty job, but it feels good to help him, even if I didn’t get revenge on his behalf.
One evening, we’re sitting outside while Lex is watching Abraham work on the robot, Anya is back playing with Bat in the grasses, and Yvonne is with Lalia in the kitchen, making some sort of food I’ve never heard of. The princess keeps trying to catch my eyes out the window, and I’m certain Zane notices.
Zane says, “Thought about Hytha?”
“Thought maybe you’d forget about it.”
He shorts, rubbing his side. “No, you didn’t.”
“I’ve thought about it. I really don’t know.”
He nods. “I get it. I really do… They know all about you, ya know.”
I glance sideways at him. I know they’ve been sporadically calling their parents since Falla, but I’ve been trying not to listen. “That can’t be good.”
He rolls his eyes. “They know about most everything that’s happened. Not with all the gory details, obviously. Don’t wanna traumatize the parents…but they’re very interested in you.”
“Are you trying to tell me they want me brought over?”
“They’ve been hinting. I’m sure they’re frightened of meeting you, but I think they rather would than not.”
“And you think doing that before testing my DNA is wise?”
His expression smooths, goes serious. “I don’t know, Aaron. I just know we’re closer to Hytha than Zar, and they’ve been hinting, and I can’t shake this feeling that if you come home, you’ll remember.”
“You didn’t really mention before you’ve been telling them everything.”
“Thought about it. Figured it might send you into full-panic mode.”
It takes a great deal of effort not to elbow him. He may not be wrong. I try not to think about it too hard. Not for the moment, at least.
“Ya know Lalia told me you called me your brother.”
I blink, forgetting the weird, tart fruit I’ve been figuring out how to eat. “Excuse me?”
He grins, not looking at me. “Yeah, she said you were ready to drop-kick Kel into another galaxy and you called me your brother.”
“I did not.”
He glances at me. I glare back. Keep glaring. “Lalia’s a traitor.”
Zane’s chuckle builds into a laugh. I think about drop-kicking him into another galaxy, but he’s still too beat up for me to be properly annoyed.
“Fine,” I tell him, and he stops laughing enough to look at me. “Fine. Fine, if you think it’s the right thing to do and your parents really want us to, we can stop by Hytha while you heal up some more. I’m not promising you I’m gonna get all chummy with them, but I might as well check out the orphanages on the planet to see if they have any records of me, maybe I can piece something together. Anyway, I don’t want you at Zar in your condition—”
Zane gives me a sideways hug. I sigh. Apparently, these people are never gonna stop touching me.
“You done?” I ask him after letting him be all cuddly and human for a whole five seconds.
“Nope.”
“Zane.”
“Fine, fine. But I want you to know when we get your stupid DNA tested and it’s confirmed that you are who we know you are, I’m gonna print out a copy on actual paper just so I can keep it in my pocket and wave it in your face every day.”
“Lucky me.”
He hugs me again.
“Zane.”
“Sorry.”
It’s the next morning when we spot the first signs of another ship. The skies here are shockingly clear, both in atmosphere and out, so it’s fairly obvious when the glint over the horizon is something we need to look out for.
Grabbing Bat from the cupboard where he’s looking for any snacks Lex hasn’t already given him, we get ourselves down to the basement—Zane in better shape this time but still leaning on me—and settle in. Abraham presses his face back up to the slots against the side of the house and I join him alongside Lalia, hoisting Bat onto my shoulder so he can look.
I’m more relieved than expected it’s just the same nosey man—Myrk—stepping out. Means he probably hasn’t told anyone else he thinks there’s something suspicious going on, and definitely means he hasn’t told anyone from Amerov. There wouldn’t be anything for him to report to the cyborg planet, the average small planet doesn’t have any contact with them whatsoever, but it was still a vague worry in the back of my mind.
Lex is sitting on the porch with her coffee, the steam drifting in the foggy air. She doesn’t say anything, still keeping up the annoyed exterior. We don’t want it to seem like anything’s changed since the man’s last visit.
This time, he does actually come down the gangplank, approaching the porch. I glance at Abraham. His eyebrows are furrowed, but he doesn’t seem too defensive.
“Morning,” the man says.
Lex sighs. “Morning.”
Now that we’re less tense about the situation, her reaction is kinda funny.
“Still no passersby, huh?”
“No, still just you annoying me.”
Bat snickers softly.
“Lex, I like you and I’ve known you a long time,” the man says. “But if you’re going to lie to me I can’t just ignore that.”
Bully. Someone thinks they’re much more important that their station. Probably should shoot him, but I know I’m just trigger-happy after not shooting Kel.
“Lying because one of my neighbors saw something walking with me in the woods,” Lex says dryly.
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh. And that’s super important to you, is it?”
Even from this distance and with my glitchy eyes, I see how her tone annoys him. His eye practically twitches. Someone doesn’t like being dismissed. Too bad. He’s an idiot.
“I told you—”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t like being lied to. Whatever. Stay there.”
Lex gets up and disappears from view inside the front door. Leaning close to Abraham, I whisper, “I say if he still keeps coming back after this you shoot him. Bury his body in the woods. No one would know.”
Lalia jabs me in the side but Abraham presses his lips together like he’s trying hard not to laugh.
“I second that,” Zane says softly from behind and Lalia shoots him an exasperated look.
I nearly laugh myself when Lex walks back out to the porch and the idiot official blinks, expression blank.
The robot rolls out after Lex on the wheels we found it and managed to attach rather well over the past few days. I’m pretty certain, with the body it had, it originally had legs, but this will do for the little plan. Lex and Abraham can get him some legs later.
“What is that?” Myrk asks much more disrespectfully than I’d like sent toward the kind robot.
“You don’t know what a robot is?” Lex asks. Her tone makes up for my annoyance.
Offended, he gets snippier. “I meant, why does it look like that.”
Lex shrugs. “I found him in an old ship crash, figured I could try putting him back together, took me years but I managed it. And I don’t appreciate you being rude to him.”
Myrk’s expression is skeptical but a little like he got caught being dramatic over nothing.
“I cannot believe that worked,” I mutter.
“It was your idea,” Yvonne whispers, chin on my shoulder as she stands on her toes to get a look.
“Only because none of you had a better one.”
“I think it’s brilliant,” Abraham mutters, grinning. “It’s stupid, that’s why it’s brilliant. It’s so stupid it couldn’t possibly be untrue.”
“Gee, thanks,” I say, but I’m struggling not to laugh.
Myrk gets a better look at the robot, tapping it on the head. Lex smacks his hand away, playing the part of gravely annoyed. “Are you happy now? You’ve been considerably rude about something none of your business, so can I go back to enjoying my morning?”
He gives her a dirty look but doesn’t seem to hold it very well. He was acting childish and knows it. Or he wasn’t, not really, when Abraham was the one walking through the woods with Lex. But he’ll never know that. Hopefully, he’s suitably humiliated he won’t come back for a while.
Once his ship is flying away, I snicker. Abraham and Bat join in. All the humans as well.
I think I’ve laughed more this week than ever.
We stay one more day.
I’m tempted to give up and stay longer. Lex and Abraham certainly seem to enjoy our company. But I’m frightened to linger in any one place for an extended period of time. We could accidentally bring Amerov to their doorstep from the smallest thing I haven’t thought of yet.
Anya plays with the robot on the last day we’re here, leading it around the property. It does fairly well on wheels and seems to like following us around. It doesn’t take much to make it happy, even if it doesn’t speak often.
Anya names it Byn and it seems pleased.
Eventually, though, I maneuver my ship out from the caverns it was hiding in and land it back in the front yard, the dogs getting excited all over again. We pack up our things and I help Zane into the ship, settling him back in my bed, not wanting him to be sitting up while we head out of atmosphere.
“Come back and visit,” Abraham says, leaning against the airlock while Anya says goodbye to each dog Lex has running around the place, hugging the woman herself as well.
“Not sure when I’ll be back, if ever,” I admit. “We, uh, have some things to do then I’ll probably be heading out of the galaxy.”
Abraham raises an eyebrow but doesn’t question it. If he was going to be nosey, he would’ve been this last week.
He shakes my hand instead.
“Tell me something,” Lex says with a grin, joining him and doing the same. “If I had looked for you people on the planet records or bounty sheets or something, how much would I have gotten?”
Lalia snorts, hopping into the airlock next to me.
“Heh,” I say, “No way. I’m not telling you that.”
“That much, huh?”
Yvonne drags Anya up the airlock, both of them giggling, and deposits her inside before giving both Lex and Abraham a hug. The other cyborg looks startled. Yeah, you and me both.
“Thank you two for all the help,” I say. “I really can pay you, it feels wrong not to.”
Lex waves me off. “Told you, we don’t need it. And you did help. It was a little weird, but I certainly appreciate it.”
Her eyes flicker to Abraham when she says it, so I’m certain she’s not just talking about the little charade with the robot.
But I say, “I’ll try to visit.”
Bat hops inside the airlock, gives Abraham a quick bump with his nose, and scurries into the ship before the cyborg can actually attempt to pet him.
“Thanks,” I say again, and give a wave as the airlock cycles shut. I’m surprised to actually find myself hoping we can come back and visit one day. Who knows, maybe we won’t be out in uncharted space forever. And I like the two of them. They seem to like having us all around.
I’m not entirely foolish enough to think we’ll all be together as a group again after this is over—the odds of it seem out of this world—but it’s a good thing to keep in my mind.
I watch them out the cracked viewport—we’re gonna have to get that fixed next, right along with getting the siblings some new clothes—until the little house is too far to see, and the atmosphere crackles around the ship as we head into space.
Yvonne puts an arm around my waist while I check all the stats on the ship. I let her, ignoring both Anya and Bat shooting us amused, knowing looks. At least Lalia is in my bunk room with Zane.
“Did you decide?” Yvonne asks.
I nod. “Zane still wants to go Hytha, so we’ll go. He says their parents have been hinting at them bringing me there anyway. If everyone’s on the same page, it can’t hurt, I suppose, and maybe I can find out something before we get to Zar. It’ll give Zane some more time to heal up, anyway.”
She nods and kisses my cheek, releasing me to wrestle with her sister who giggles and makes kissing sounds at us. Bat snickers.
I try not to smile, setting a course for Hytha.
We wait out the next few days until the official bugging Lex inevitably shows back up.
It’s one of the nicest few days I’ve had in ages. Better than Falla with the giant bird, at least to me. We don’t do much of anything, just focus on Zane getting better while Bat and I help Abraham fix the robot up with the limited supplies Lex has here on her property. She can always get more.
Yvonne takes Anya to the hotsprings with me and Bat and we watch them splash around, the youngest princess shrieking. I thought perhaps Yvonne would hang all over me, and as much as I begrudgingly like having her close, seek her out even, I was more than a little terrified of the idea of everyone watching her get all cuddly with me. I’ve seen how couples act both in real life and in fiction, and none of it seems like something I can do. But she doesn’t. She takes my hand often, gives me a kiss every now and again, stares at me with an expression I’ve decided is probably affection, and doesn’t treat me any different than usual.
Good. If she started being nice to me I might have an aneurysm.
I try not to think too hard about the fact she might be going out of her way to make me comfortable, and how she must truly care if that is indeed what’s happening.
Zane is eventually up on his feet and walking around, though he’s far from better and I hover behind him when he does leave the house, ready to catch him in case he decides to faceplate into the ground. Letting a human walk around leaning on me wasn’t exactly where I planned to be at the start of this bounty job, but it feels good to help him, even if I didn’t get revenge on his behalf.
One evening, we’re sitting outside while Lex is watching Abraham work on the robot, Anya is back playing with Bat in the grasses, and Yvonne is with Lalia in the kitchen, making some sort of food I’ve never heard of. The princess keeps trying to catch my eyes out the window, and I’m certain Zane notices.
Zane says, “Thought about Hytha?”
“Thought maybe you’d forget about it.”
He shorts, rubbing his side. “No, you didn’t.”
“I’ve thought about it. I really don’t know.”
He nods. “I get it. I really do… They know all about you, ya know.”
I glance sideways at him. I know they’ve been sporadically calling their parents since Falla, but I’ve been trying not to listen. “That can’t be good.”
He rolls his eyes. “They know about most everything that’s happened. Not with all the gory details, obviously. Don’t wanna traumatize the parents…but they’re very interested in you.”
“Are you trying to tell me they want me brought over?”
“They’ve been hinting. I’m sure they’re frightened of meeting you, but I think they rather would than not.”
“And you think doing that before testing my DNA is wise?”
His expression smooths, goes serious. “I don’t know, Aaron. I just know we’re closer to Hytha than Zar, and they’ve been hinting, and I can’t shake this feeling that if you come home, you’ll remember.”
“You didn’t really mention before you’ve been telling them everything.”
“Thought about it. Figured it might send you into full-panic mode.”
It takes a great deal of effort not to elbow him. He may not be wrong. I try not to think about it too hard. Not for the moment, at least.
“Ya know Lalia told me you called me your brother.”
I blink, forgetting the weird, tart fruit I’ve been figuring out how to eat. “Excuse me?”
He grins, not looking at me. “Yeah, she said you were ready to drop-kick Kel into another galaxy and you called me your brother.”
“I did not.”
He glances at me. I glare back. Keep glaring. “Lalia’s a traitor.”
Zane’s chuckle builds into a laugh. I think about drop-kicking him into another galaxy, but he’s still too beat up for me to be properly annoyed.
“Fine,” I tell him, and he stops laughing enough to look at me. “Fine. Fine, if you think it’s the right thing to do and your parents really want us to, we can stop by Hytha while you heal up some more. I’m not promising you I’m gonna get all chummy with them, but I might as well check out the orphanages on the planet to see if they have any records of me, maybe I can piece something together. Anyway, I don’t want you at Zar in your condition—”
Zane gives me a sideways hug. I sigh. Apparently, these people are never gonna stop touching me.
“You done?” I ask him after letting him be all cuddly and human for a whole five seconds.
“Nope.”
“Zane.”
“Fine, fine. But I want you to know when we get your stupid DNA tested and it’s confirmed that you are who we know you are, I’m gonna print out a copy on actual paper just so I can keep it in my pocket and wave it in your face every day.”
“Lucky me.”
He hugs me again.
“Zane.”
“Sorry.”
It’s the next morning when we spot the first signs of another ship. The skies here are shockingly clear, both in atmosphere and out, so it’s fairly obvious when the glint over the horizon is something we need to look out for.
Grabbing Bat from the cupboard where he’s looking for any snacks Lex hasn’t already given him, we get ourselves down to the basement—Zane in better shape this time but still leaning on me—and settle in. Abraham presses his face back up to the slots against the side of the house and I join him alongside Lalia, hoisting Bat onto my shoulder so he can look.
I’m more relieved than expected it’s just the same nosey man—Myrk—stepping out. Means he probably hasn’t told anyone else he thinks there’s something suspicious going on, and definitely means he hasn’t told anyone from Amerov. There wouldn’t be anything for him to report to the cyborg planet, the average small planet doesn’t have any contact with them whatsoever, but it was still a vague worry in the back of my mind.
Lex is sitting on the porch with her coffee, the steam drifting in the foggy air. She doesn’t say anything, still keeping up the annoyed exterior. We don’t want it to seem like anything’s changed since the man’s last visit.
This time, he does actually come down the gangplank, approaching the porch. I glance at Abraham. His eyebrows are furrowed, but he doesn’t seem too defensive.
“Morning,” the man says.
Lex sighs. “Morning.”
Now that we’re less tense about the situation, her reaction is kinda funny.
“Still no passersby, huh?”
“No, still just you annoying me.”
Bat snickers softly.
“Lex, I like you and I’ve known you a long time,” the man says. “But if you’re going to lie to me I can’t just ignore that.”
Bully. Someone thinks they’re much more important that their station. Probably should shoot him, but I know I’m just trigger-happy after not shooting Kel.
“Lying because one of my neighbors saw something walking with me in the woods,” Lex says dryly.
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh. And that’s super important to you, is it?”
Even from this distance and with my glitchy eyes, I see how her tone annoys him. His eye practically twitches. Someone doesn’t like being dismissed. Too bad. He’s an idiot.
“I told you—”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t like being lied to. Whatever. Stay there.”
Lex gets up and disappears from view inside the front door. Leaning close to Abraham, I whisper, “I say if he still keeps coming back after this you shoot him. Bury his body in the woods. No one would know.”
Lalia jabs me in the side but Abraham presses his lips together like he’s trying hard not to laugh.
“I second that,” Zane says softly from behind and Lalia shoots him an exasperated look.
I nearly laugh myself when Lex walks back out to the porch and the idiot official blinks, expression blank.
The robot rolls out after Lex on the wheels we found it and managed to attach rather well over the past few days. I’m pretty certain, with the body it had, it originally had legs, but this will do for the little plan. Lex and Abraham can get him some legs later.
“What is that?” Myrk asks much more disrespectfully than I’d like sent toward the kind robot.
“You don’t know what a robot is?” Lex asks. Her tone makes up for my annoyance.
Offended, he gets snippier. “I meant, why does it look like that.”
Lex shrugs. “I found him in an old ship crash, figured I could try putting him back together, took me years but I managed it. And I don’t appreciate you being rude to him.”
Myrk’s expression is skeptical but a little like he got caught being dramatic over nothing.
“I cannot believe that worked,” I mutter.
“It was your idea,” Yvonne whispers, chin on my shoulder as she stands on her toes to get a look.
“Only because none of you had a better one.”
“I think it’s brilliant,” Abraham mutters, grinning. “It’s stupid, that’s why it’s brilliant. It’s so stupid it couldn’t possibly be untrue.”
“Gee, thanks,” I say, but I’m struggling not to laugh.
Myrk gets a better look at the robot, tapping it on the head. Lex smacks his hand away, playing the part of gravely annoyed. “Are you happy now? You’ve been considerably rude about something none of your business, so can I go back to enjoying my morning?”
He gives her a dirty look but doesn’t seem to hold it very well. He was acting childish and knows it. Or he wasn’t, not really, when Abraham was the one walking through the woods with Lex. But he’ll never know that. Hopefully, he’s suitably humiliated he won’t come back for a while.
Once his ship is flying away, I snicker. Abraham and Bat join in. All the humans as well.
I think I’ve laughed more this week than ever.
We stay one more day.
I’m tempted to give up and stay longer. Lex and Abraham certainly seem to enjoy our company. But I’m frightened to linger in any one place for an extended period of time. We could accidentally bring Amerov to their doorstep from the smallest thing I haven’t thought of yet.
Anya plays with the robot on the last day we’re here, leading it around the property. It does fairly well on wheels and seems to like following us around. It doesn’t take much to make it happy, even if it doesn’t speak often.
Anya names it Byn and it seems pleased.
Eventually, though, I maneuver my ship out from the caverns it was hiding in and land it back in the front yard, the dogs getting excited all over again. We pack up our things and I help Zane into the ship, settling him back in my bed, not wanting him to be sitting up while we head out of atmosphere.
“Come back and visit,” Abraham says, leaning against the airlock while Anya says goodbye to each dog Lex has running around the place, hugging the woman herself as well.
“Not sure when I’ll be back, if ever,” I admit. “We, uh, have some things to do then I’ll probably be heading out of the galaxy.”
Abraham raises an eyebrow but doesn’t question it. If he was going to be nosey, he would’ve been this last week.
He shakes my hand instead.
“Tell me something,” Lex says with a grin, joining him and doing the same. “If I had looked for you people on the planet records or bounty sheets or something, how much would I have gotten?”
Lalia snorts, hopping into the airlock next to me.
“Heh,” I say, “No way. I’m not telling you that.”
“That much, huh?”
Yvonne drags Anya up the airlock, both of them giggling, and deposits her inside before giving both Lex and Abraham a hug. The other cyborg looks startled. Yeah, you and me both.
“Thank you two for all the help,” I say. “I really can pay you, it feels wrong not to.”
Lex waves me off. “Told you, we don’t need it. And you did help. It was a little weird, but I certainly appreciate it.”
Her eyes flicker to Abraham when she says it, so I’m certain she’s not just talking about the little charade with the robot.
But I say, “I’ll try to visit.”
Bat hops inside the airlock, gives Abraham a quick bump with his nose, and scurries into the ship before the cyborg can actually attempt to pet him.
“Thanks,” I say again, and give a wave as the airlock cycles shut. I’m surprised to actually find myself hoping we can come back and visit one day. Who knows, maybe we won’t be out in uncharted space forever. And I like the two of them. They seem to like having us all around.
I’m not entirely foolish enough to think we’ll all be together as a group again after this is over—the odds of it seem out of this world—but it’s a good thing to keep in my mind.
I watch them out the cracked viewport—we’re gonna have to get that fixed next, right along with getting the siblings some new clothes—until the little house is too far to see, and the atmosphere crackles around the ship as we head into space.
Yvonne puts an arm around my waist while I check all the stats on the ship. I let her, ignoring both Anya and Bat shooting us amused, knowing looks. At least Lalia is in my bunk room with Zane.
“Did you decide?” Yvonne asks.
I nod. “Zane still wants to go Hytha, so we’ll go. He says their parents have been hinting at them bringing me there anyway. If everyone’s on the same page, it can’t hurt, I suppose, and maybe I can find out something before we get to Zar. It’ll give Zane some more time to heal up, anyway.”
She nods and kisses my cheek, releasing me to wrestle with her sister who giggles and makes kissing sounds at us. Bat snickers.
I try not to smile, setting a course for Hytha.
